Page 72 - RusRPTJul19

8.3.2 Dividends dynamics
Russia's steel majors Evraz and Severstal are included in the Dividend Basket of BCS Global Markets, after the dividend estimates on both companies were revised upwards 43% and 27%, respectively, BCS GM said on June 4. As analysed by bne IntelliNews, sharp post-sanction deleveraging of Russian blue chips released cash flows that were converted into some of the best-paying dividend stocks in the world, the trend being reinforced by a cascade of state owned enterprises (SEOs) announcing record-high dividend payouts. BCS Dividend Basket now includes preferred shares of oil company Tatneft, shipment major Globaltrans, mobile major VEON, and now Evraz and Severstal, together yielding a forecasted 12-month forecasted dividend yield of 13.4% double the consensus expectation for the RTS Index of 6.8%. "We removed [oil company] SurgutNefteGas prefs (2020 divis risk 4-fold y/y decline) and [diamond major] Alrosa (12MF DY significantly below steel newcomers)," BCS GM commented on the changes in the basket.
● Oil & gas
The board of Russian state oil pipeline Transneft recommended paying RUB77.6bn ($1.2bn) in dividends for 2018, making about 51.8% of normalised net profit of the company.
Russian oil company Russneft could boost its dividend payout 2.5-fold to up to $100mn annually in the next three years, the head of the company, billionaire Mikhail Gutseriev, told the shareholders as cited by Vedomosti on June 21. Russneft doubled its IFRS net profit in 2018 to RUB14.8bn ($228mn). The company is one of Russia's six largest crude oil producers with assets in key extraction regions such as West and Central Siberia, Volga-Urals regions, as well as Azerbaijan. Russneft' dividend policy could be revised once the
72 RUSSIA Country Report July 2019 www.intellinews.com