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Eastern Europe
March 30, 2018 www.intellinews.com I Page 18
In addition, CCTV footage of the start of the blaze that was posted on social media seems to show
a man tossing a bag into the children's play area on the fourth floor where the fire started and then hurrying away shortly before the flames appeared. One of the owners of the mall, Denis Shtengelov, told a press conference that he believes the cause of the fire was arson.
“I have data from the employees of the [mall]. They are inclined to the version of arson in the children's room: someone set fire to foam rubber. This is the only version I heard from them. Rescue
Private oil major Lukoil beats Rosneft’s capitalisation as new investor darling
bne IntelliNews
Russia's largest private oil company Lukoil over- took the state-owned oil major Rosneft in terms of capitalisation on the Moscow Exchange (MOEX) on March 27.
Lukoil's shares gained 2.09% and capitalisation reached RUB3.29 trillion ($57bn), narrowly beat- ing Rosneft’s RUB3.27 trillion and lining up behind gas giant Gazprom’s RUB3.325 trillion, with state- controlled bank Sberbank remaining the leader with a RUB5.7 trillion capitalisation.
Lukoil's new strategy, presented at an inves-
tors’ day in London on March 23, has been met positively by analysts and investors. The strategy outlined four key goals: organic extraction growth, optimising refining to maximise free cash flow, development of petrochemical segment, and pro- gressive dividend policy.
work is still ongoing, more time is needed to sort out,” Shtengelov said, adding that the sharehold- ers in the company that owns the mall will pay RUB3mn to the families of each victim.
The Investigative Committee is putting the blame on the shoulders of the owners of the mall and has already stated that serious violations were committed both during the commissioning of
the shopping centre and in its management. For example, fire exits were blocked in the building, which made it difficult to evacuate people during the fire, according to the investigators.
Russian oil major Lukoil is now one of Russia's most valuable companies and an investor's darling
Prior to the investors’ day presentation, the com- pany released solid fourth-quarter 2017 earnings that showed a sound free cash flow (FCF).
"We believe the company’s ambitions are sup- ported by its lucrative assets base, experienced management team and an improved incentive programme," Renaissance Capital (RenCap) wrote on the company while maintaining a Buy rating with RUB4,400 per share target price.
FCF was mentioned in Lukoil’s presentation 26 times (compared with four mentions in Gazprom’s recent investor day presentation) and represents the core focus of its new strategy, the analysts stress.
"One of the presentation slides seems to suggest that between 2018-2027 Lukoil plans to generate