Page 125 - RusRPTMay20

Russian e-commerce major​ ​Ozon Holdings​ started selling medical services, ​such as certificates for on-line medical consultations and testing for coronavirus (COVID-19), Vedomosti daily reported on April 19 citing the representatives of the company. As followed by ​bne IntelliNews​, Russian internet and e-commerce majors are quickly adopting their infrastructures to introduce new services​ that help curb the spread of the virus. At the same time, this could have lasting effect on the sector should ​e-majors remain in the online medical services and pharmaceutical segments​ after the epidemic is over. Ozon is one of the anchor assets of multi-industry investment conglomerate AFK Sistema. The company is rolling out medical services in partnership with another Sistema's subsidiaries, mobile major MTS and Russia's largest private clinic chain Medsi. Currently the services are only available in Moscow. Last month Medsi said it would ​re-equip some of its facilities to treat COVID-19​ and pneumonia patients, while the ​biotech subsidiary of Sistema developed​ COVID-19 tests to be implemented in both private and public healthcare clinics.
9.2.8​ Telecoms corporate news
MTS has been recognized as the second-strongest telecoms brand anywhere in the world​ in the 2020 Brand Strength Index (BSI) by Brand Finance, a leading independent brand valuation and strategy consultancy. The Brand Strength Index (BSI) forms a core part of the agency’s broader Telecoms 150 assessment, which tracks the branding dynamics of 150 telecommunications companies around the world. The BSI aims to assess the relative strength of company’s brands in their respective markets, taking into consideration a variety of factors, including “marketing investment, familiarity, loyalty, staff satisfaction, and corporate reputation.” MTS was the only Russian operator included in the list of the world’s top-20 strongest telecom brands and was also named the most valuable telecom brand in the country
9.2.10 ​Utilities corporate news
Russian hydropower holding ​RusHydro​ posted strong 1Q20 operating results, posting a 51% year-on-year increase in electricity production at its flagship Volga-Kama cascade. ​As reported by ​bne IntelliNews,​ Russian utilities names are closely watched as one of the most attractive equity segments, also seen as one of the ​most resilient to the coronavirus (COVID-19) crisis​. RusHydro was ​helped by warm weather​ in the beginning of 2020, achieved the biggest share price gain in the sector, and had its investment case re-rated upwards by analysts​. "The 1Q20 performance of these [RusHydro] HPPs [hydro power plants] in the middle part of Russia is attributable to an early flooding season and extremely strong water flow. This, however, goes hand in hand with a substantial expected decrease in water flow already in 2Q20," Sberbank CIB commented on April 22.
Enel Russia became the first utility to report its 1Q20 IFRS numbers, which halved YoY, in line with forecasts​. The key reason for the decline was the sale of Reftinskaya GRES, which was still part of the group in 9mo19. The company, though, is to deliver a 9.1% dividend yield for 2019 (already recommended) and this is to be the case up to 2022 (despite the profit shrinkage from the Reftinskaya sale, DPM phase out and COVID-19 pressure on production and RSV prices and bad debts), while it turns itself into an even
125​ RUSSIA Country Report​ May 2020 ​ ​www.intellinews.com