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Articles & publications
14.05.2010
Ratios push up share priecsVedomosti, Oleg Salmanov
The shares of Rostelecom yesterday emerged among the top outperformers on the MICEX. Investors were upbeat about the terms on which the other subsidiaries of Svyazinvest are to be folded into the operator, according to media reports.
The common shares of Rostelecom yesterday soared 9.19% on the MICEX to RUR 118.69, while preferred surged 8.11% to RUR 72. By contrast, the MICEX index pulled back 0.95%. The stocks spiked after the company released the ratios that would be used to convert the shares of regional telecom operators (RTOs) and Dagsvyazinform into the common shares of Rostelecom as well as Rostelecom’s buyback price for shares from dissenting shareholders (see. www.vedomosti.ru [http://www.vedomosti.ru]). Rostelecom recommended its Board of Directors to approve these terms.
The terms coincide with reports published in the media, but now they have been confirmed and this prompted shareholders to buy into the operator’s shares, Renaissance Capital analyst Alexander Kazbeghi pointed out. Recently, Rostelecom’s shares have retreated in line with the overall market (due to fear about a second wave of the crisis), and also because of the operator’s lackluster reports, Troika Dialog analyst Evgeny Golosnoi pointed out. In less than two months the company’s share price declined 37% from RUR 158 (on March 17) to RUR 100 (on May 7). Their discount compared to global peers had reached 30%, Golosnoi went on to say. But now investors have remembered that Rostelecom’s shares are a good entry vehicle into the merged company.
The board will also discuss at the shareholders meeting a transaction aimed at purchasing a 25% + 1 share stake in Svyazinvest from Comstar-UTS for RUR 26 bln and the approval of dividends: RUR 2.1 for preferred shares and RUR 1.4 for common shares. All in all, Rostelecom could pay out RUR 1.53 bln to shareholders (30% of net profit) as was the case in 2008.
Back in the black
Svyazinvest’s 2009 RAS net profit amounted to RUR 15.1 bln compared to a loss of RUR 120.5 bln in the year-earlier period. The holding revalued its stakes in Rostelecom and RTOs: whereas a year ago Rostelecom had lost 43% of its market value, RTOs gained 165-506%.
Rostelecom, DLD and ILD telecom operator. Shareholders – Svyazinvest – (50.7%), VEB (9.8%), Deposit Insurance Agency (about 30%). MICEX capitalization – RUR 104 bln. Financial indicators (2009, RAS): revenue – RUR 61.2 bln, net profit – RUR 5.1 bln.
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