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leverage is brought down from 2018 level of net debt to Ebitda of 2x. Gutseriev pledged to trigger the higher payout once net debt is equal to Ebitda.
The annual meeting of shareholders of Rosneft on June 4 will approve record dividends for 2018. The company has already paid RUB154.5bn in the first half of 2018 as part of an interim payment of RUB274.6bn.
Gazprom Neft has pledged to increase the dividend payout gradually to 50% of net profit over 2019-21. For 2018 overall Gazrom Neft doubled the total dividend payout to RUB142bn, or 37.8% of IFRS net consolidating profit.
The shareholders of Russian oil company Gazprom Neft have approved paying 30 rubles per common share, or a total of 142.23bn rubles in dividends for 2018, the company said in a statement on Friday. The record date for the dividends is July 1. The payment will account for 37.8% of the company’s net profit for the year as calculated under International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS). Gazprom Neft paid 71.1bn rubles in dividends for 2017, which accounts for 28.1% of the IFRS net profit for the year.
The management of Russia's state oil pipeline monopoly Transneft expects to pay 50% of IFRS net profit in dividends for 2018, Interfax said on June 7 citing the CEO of the company Nikolay Tokarev. Transneft remains the next big SEO to confirm its dividends, but its dividend outlook, however, is endangered by the ongoing risks surrounding the Druzhba pipeline crisis.
● Banks
Leading Russian consumer lender TCS Group that operates Russia’s only pure online bank Tinkoff Bank will suspend 2019 dividend payments due to preparations for the upcoming SPO, the chairman of the bank's board Oliver Hughes announced. The pause in dividends payments was initiated by the investors themselves, Hughes argued. TCS plans an SPO of up to $300mn on London Stock Exchange, by issuing new shares, needing the capital to ensure growth with 2019 loan portfolio growth outlook improved from 40%+ to 60%+. The group's founder and main shareholder Oleg Tinkov (43.8% stake) recently made headlines by flirting with the idea of a merger with Russia's internet major Yandex. "Suspension of 2019 dividend payment is positive as it removes some corporate governance issues, raised by us and investors," BCS Global Markets commented on June 11. TCS dividend policy sets the payment at 30% of net profit under IFRS. Suspended dividend payment accounts for RUB8.5bn on BCS GM estimates, which is roughly half of $300mn potential SPO placement. The analysts maintain the Buy recommendation for TCS with a target price of $29 per share. The group trades on 3.1x P/BV (price to book value), which is the level of 2017, for ROE (return on equity) of 60% pre-placement.
● Metal & Mining
Russian metals major Norilsk Nickel approved a final dividend of $1.9bn for 2018 at the general shareholder meeting of June 10, together with interim dividends making a payout of $3.7bn or 43% more than $2.09bn paid for 2017. The company's dividend policy assumes a payment of 60% of Ebitda in dividends should the leverage be below 1.8x, and 30% of Ebitda if it exceeds 2.2x. In 2018 the company made $6.2bn in Ebitda (53% margin) while the net debt to earnings ratio stood at 0.8x. The owner Vladimir Potanin still believes that dividends of Russian metals major Norilsk Nickel "should be revised downwards," so that the company can carry out its 2019-2022 investment programme and expand palladium projects, he told Bloomberg in an interview in March 2019.
● Other
Russia's largest port and stevedore group Novorossiysk Commercial Sea
73 RUSSIA Country Report July 2019 www.intellinews.com