Page 91 - RusRPTMar19

share prices rally and return investors double digit gains. Raw materials were the biggest winner in 2018 thanks partly to a 20% devaluation of the ruble against the dollar further improving their profitability, but the leaders in most sectors have been their share price rally.
When stock picking investors start with the companies paying the best dividends as Russians firms currently pay an average 7.7% dividend yield, the highest in the world and more than twice the benchmark MSCI EM average dividend yield.
Below is a list released by VTB Capital (VTBC) of the best paying dividend stocks in the Central and Eastern Europe (CEE). The story is no unique to Russia, as Kirill Chuyko, the head of research at BCS Global Markets pointed out in a recent interview and podcast with bne IntelliNews. The market has shrunk, but the pieces of pie on offer have become bigger.
All the companies in the list are paying dividend yields in excess of 4% -- on a par with the MSCI EM average dividend yield -- and the majority of them in excess of 5%. Six names on the list pay a huge dividend of more than 10%.
The leader remains Russia’s privately owned oil company Surgutneftegaz with a whopping 16% dividend yield, but again this is a special case as three quarters of that is earned not from producing oil, but it interest earned on its giant $40bn cash pile.
But interestingly the next five names are all Russian utility companies or real estate companies. Both these sectors have seen heavy investment in recent years and are now returning profits to their shareholders.
CIS Top dividend payers
Name Ticker CCT Dividend Yield DPS Next Dividen
d due
perio dicit y
LTM NTM FY1 FY1 LTM NTM FY17 FY18 ex date DY DPS 78%
Surgutneftegas pref. SNGS RUB 3.4 16 3.4 16 1.38 6.49 1.38 6.49 18/07/1 16 6.49 A P RX 9
Globaltrans GDR GLTR USD 14.4 14.4 14.4 14.4 1.41 1.41 1.41 1.41 23/04/1 6.7 0.66 semi- LI 9A
NLMK GDR NLMK USD 13.9 13.2 14 14.1 3.14 2.99 3.15 3.18 24/06/1 7 1.57 Q LI 9
NLMK ord. NLMK RUB 13.7 13.2 13.1 14.2 20.3 19.71 19.4 21.09 24/06/1 7 10.39 Q RX 769
Moscow ord. MOEX RUB 6.1 12.6 6.1 12.6 5.54 11.56 5.54 11.56 10/05/1 9 8.23 semi- Exchange RX 9 A
Enel Russia ord.
ENRU RUB 13.3 12.6 13.3 12.6 0.14 0.14 0.14 0.14 21/06/1 12.6 0.14 A RX 9
Norilsk Nickel ADR MNOD USD 10.8 12.4 10.8 12.4 2.17 2.5 2.17 2.5 23/07/1 5.9 1.18 9M+ LI 9A
91 RUSSIA Country Report March 2019 www.intellinews.com