ALROSA shares fall 3% on news about no divs after gas asset sale

MOSCOW, Jan 24 (PRIME) -- Shares of Russian diamond producer ALROSA fell by 3.05% to 81.44 rubles on the Moscow Exchange at 12:13 p.m., local time on Wednesday, after Deputy Finance Minister Alexei Moiseyev said that the company will not pay special dividends after selling its gas assets.

“No special dividends are envisaged. Besides, a question which accounting revenue the company will get and whether it will get it at all is still open because the historical value of the assets, which is reflected in the books is below the current estimate,” he said.

“It is clear that the sale will be done at a price above the estimate, but it may not exceed the historical book value, this is why there may be no profit as a source of dividends.”

He said that special dividends are not planned regardless of the outcome of the sale.

ALROSA set the initial price at 30 billion rubles for Maretiom Investments Limited and Velarion Investments Limited, which own the diamond miner’s natural gas producers Geotransgaz and in Urengoi Gas Company.

(56.4115 rubles – U.S. $1)

End