Page 49 - Russia OUTLOOK 2024

• 2.6 Multinationals’ exit from Russia
Western companies that have announced departures have declared more than $103bn in losses since the start of the war, according to The New York Times (NYT). The Kremlin has also subjected those exits to ever-increasing taxes, generating at least $1.25bn in 2023 for Russia’s war chest.
Only 9% of foreign owned businesses have actually left Russia, unwilling to walk away from the billions they have invested over the last three decades. Many of those that have left sold their businesses to their local management, but included buy-back clauses so they could return should relations improve some time in a post-war future.
KSE has been tracking Western companies that remain in Russia. As of November 23 less than one in ten foreign companies have fully exited from the market. KSE tracks more than 3,600 Western brands with operations in Russia, from which:
● 297 companies (8.2% of the total entries or 23.5% of companies with the revenue identified) have completely ceased operations in Russia
● 1,221 (33.8% of the total number of entries) foreign businesses employing 341.2K people, generating annual revenues of $65.7bn and owning assets of $112.3bn have curtailed operations in Russia or announced their intention to leave the country.
● 1,551 (42.9% of the total entries) foreign companies still have no plans to leave the Russian market.
● At the same time, 548 (15.2% of the total entries) businesses have reduced their current operations, suspended new investments and continue to wait.
The Leave Russia database maintained by the KSE shows that about 20% of foreign firms have withdrawn all business in Russia or exited the market. The database currently tracks about 3,600 firms.
The Yale CELI List of Companies Leaving and Staying in Russia tracks roughly 1,600 firms and estimates that about a third of these firms have withdrawn or exited Russia. The methods and sources used in the databases differ somewhat in their methods of evaluating company operations.
The share of companies that have left Russian markets varies much across countries. The KSE database shows that about half of firms from countries that imposed sanctions on Russia are either in the process of leaving or have already withdrawn from the Russian market. In relative terms, Finnish and other Nordic companies have been most active in leaving the Russian market. Within the EU, the share of companies still present in Russia is highest (about
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