Page 109 - RusRPTOct20

figure should be approved by the government at the AGM today, according to
the company’s website. The record date may be settled on 20 October.
Installment payment risk subsides. We have no doubts that the government
will approve the proposed DPS size today and the company will pay 50% from
adjusted net income under IFRS in October. This, long awaited announcement
is positive for shareholders, as the announced DPS size suggests a moderate
premium to that announced at the end of April (RUB11,200/sh – +0.3pts to the
yield). Also, it suggests a 100% DPS payout this autumn, when the company
intended to pay the dividend in installments and only 50% of this amount in
2020 – Transneft only recently received a refusal from the government on this
issue. ​
Most recent reports suggested that Transneft and Russian Railways (RZD) so far ​lack a clear decision on 2019 dividends,​ despite the Finance Ministry counting on ​compliance with the 50% of IFRS net profit payout requirement​.
Russian Deputy Minister of Energy Sorkin said that the Ministry of Energy has suggested several ways to finance the regional gasification programme, one of which could be a lowering of​ ​Gazprom​’s dividends, accordingtoInterfax.Asreportedby​bneIntelliNews,​ therewererisksthatthe costs of connecting retail gas consumers to gas infrastructure would be ​shifted on to the state-controlled gas giant Gazprom​. According to Sorkin, other options include a break in Gazprom’s Mineral Extraction Tax (MET) or property taxes, and all have yet to be discussed with the Finance Ministry. "The value of the new dividend policy to Gazprom shareholders is profound, and any threat to reverse must be taken seriously by the market," BCS Global Markets analysts warned on September 25. BCS GM reminded that the breakthrough on Gazprom’s dividends in May of 2019 (calling for an increase in payouts to 50% of IFRS net income by 2021) triggered a 60% rally in the stock, as investors "rightly saw higher dividends displacing value-destructive capex on the margin, increasing dividend yields without any discernible reduction in future growth opportunities." That said, BCS GM believes that lowering Gazprom’s dividends to finance a politically driven project of gasification is a likely outcome, especially since the idea will be run by the Finance Ministry that for almost a decade struggled to establish strict dividend policies for all state-owned companies.
● Banks
The shareholders of Russia’s top bank​ ​Sberbank​ have approved paying RUB18.7 per share, or a record amount of RUB422.4bn, in dividends for 2019, ​the bank said in a statement on Friday. The record date for the dividends is October 5. The payment accounts for 50% of the bank’s net profit for the year as calculated under International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS). For 2018, the bank paid RUB361.4bn of dividends, or 43.5% of the IFRS net profit. The Finance Ministry controls 52.32% of the bank’s ordinary shares, or a 50% plus one share stake of the bank’s shareholder equity. Foreigners own a total of 43.75% of the bank’s equity, while Russian companies own 2.25%, and private investors have 4%. The bank’s shareholders also elected a new composition of the supervisory board on Friday. They expanded the amount of government officials in the board to three, and reduce the amount of central bank’s representatives to one. So, the shareholders replaced central bank’s first deputy chairpersons Sergei
109 ​RUSSIA Country Report​ October 2020 ​ ​www.intellinews.com