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08.04.2010
Svyazinvest to disburse one quarter of its profits: subsidiaries to pay out RUR 7.331 bln in dividends

Kommersant, Inna Erokhina


The subsidiaries of state holding Svyazinvest are expected to allocate a total of RUR 7.331 bln for dividends on the results of 2009 performance. This is about 25.7% of their net profit and is approximately 18.3% more than the payouts made a year ago.  These are the latest dividends which Rostelecom and regional telecommunications operators (RTOs) will pay out on a standalone basis, since as a result of the restructuring of Svyazinvest these companies are to be merged into a single operator in March 2011.

According to information provided by Svyazinvest to Kommersant it follows that the holding’s companies will allocate 25.7% of their 2009 net profit to dividends (see table below).  In 2009 net profit amounted to RUR 28.513 bln compared to RUR 23.616 bln in the year-earlier period.  “A dramatic increase in dividend payouts (by 18.3% compared to 2008 – Kommersant) points to the high efficiency of the holding’s companies”, the director general of Svyazinvest Evgeny Yurchenko remarked.

Closure of the shareholder registers of the holding’s subsidiaries as required for calculation of dividend payouts will take place from April 16 until May 10, while the boards of directors which are to make recommendations on making dividend payouts are scheduled to meet before the end of May.

Svyazinvest’s subsidiaries will not be earmarking a larger percentage of net profit as dividends.  The point is that the revenues of these companies have increased considerably.  “Thus, at the end of 2008 many companies experienced a decline in their net profit as a result of negative currency exchange rate differences, since most of their obligations were denominated in foreign currency. In 2009 there were no such sharp fluctuations, while many operators managed to refinance their foreign currency liabilities and switched over to rubles.  Rostelecom was the sole exception, and due to deterioration of the operating environment the national operator’s losses continued to pile up in 2009, while a smaller amount was paid out as dividend to shareholders.

Gazprombank analyst Anna Kurbatova points out that the amount of dividends fell in line with analysts’ expectations, but in general they should be regarded as “a small token of gratitude to the minority shareholders of RTOs and Rostelecom that have given their consent for the reorganization”.  She went on to say that the returns on stocks of Svyazinvest companies (which, according to Metropol ‘s estimates, range from 1% for Rostelecom to 7.1% for NWT on common shares, and from 2.6% to 7.6% on preferred shares, respectively.  As for MTS, we expect 4% returns, while VimpelCom’s ADRs should return 1.6% in 2009, but this figure could go up if the operator adopts a decision to pay out full-year dividends”, the analyst pointed out.

Mr. Vasin went on to say that next year should be “the time for the preferred shares of Rostelecom, since the preferred shares of RTOs and Dagsvyazinform will be converted into common shares of Rostelecom”, the current owners of Rostelecom prefs could win out big time from the consolidation of net profit generated by Svyazinvest’s subsidiaries”.

Dividends of Svyazinvest’s subsidiaries for 2009 

Source: Svyazinvest