Page 165 - RusRPTApr21

This comes on top of the $25.6mn paid out in 1H20 dividends earlier, meaning the final payout should reach 50% of the company’s 2020 net income.
During its conference call, Rusagro CEO Maxim Basov said that the company’s capex is planned for RUB18bn, the bulk of, which will go towards investments in its pork business (RUB8bn) and oil-and-fats division (RUB4bn). Investments in agriculture will mainly hinge on land acquisition, which may not occur if the company does not find suitable prices. The investments in its sugar business will be insignificant. As such, the final capex may be below RUB17bn.
Mr. Basov was generally positive about 2021. Pork prices exceeded RUB100/kg in February and should remain solid until autumn thanks to rising poultry prices and African swine flu. Prices for crops may drop from the record levels seen in 2020, but the segment is still set to turn in its second-best ever results in 2021. Even with record-high sunflower prices currently, Rusagro can make money in its oil-and-fats segment. Mr. Basov sees ND/EBITDA of 2.0x as optimal leverage, given that the company’s debt is subsidized. On a separate note, Mr. Basov does not expect the current price caps on sugar and sunflower oil to be extended beyond 1 April.
View: The results were broadly in line with our 4Q20 forecasts when excluding inter-segment eliminations, although they were well above our initial 2020 expectations and consensus estimates. Rusagro thrived on surging prices for sugar and soft commodities in 2020. However, this will feed through to increased production costs for the company’s sugar, pork and oil-and-fats divisions in 2021. Coupled with the uncertainty around soft commodity prices, we believe it will be difficult for the group to repeat its 2020 success this year.
9.2.7 TMT corporate news
Wildberries purchased a small bank (369th in Russia by assets) in
February in order to develop its payment service and create a card loyalty
program.
FAS confirms that deal between Yandex.Taxi, Vezet Group does not require regulatory approval. On 24 March, Russia’s Federal Antimonopoly Service (FAS) confirmed that Yandex.Taxi’s acquisition of some of Vezet Group’s assets does not require FAS approval, as the book value of the acquired assets is less than RUB400mn (the current regulatory threshold). That said, the FAS noted that although the transaction complies with the current legislation, the acquisition could negatively affect the Russian taxi market’s economic concentration. As a reminder, after Yandex.Taxi completed the acquisition of Vezet Group’s call centres and cargo business for $178mn
165 RUSSIA Country Report April 2021 www.intellinews.com