Auditors see Aeroflot paying 2.3 bln rbl 2017 dividends to govt

MOSCOW, Oct 12 (PRIME) -- Russian national flag carrier Aeroflot plans to pay 2.3 billion rubles of final dividends for 2017 to the government, the owner of 51.17% in the company, the Audit Chamber said in a statement on Thursday after analyzing a 2018–2020 budget draft.

The sum accounts for 25% of the net profit of the airline calculated under International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS). But Aeroflot submitted only the forecast for dividend payments in 2018 to the Federal State Property Management Agency, auditors said.

Aeroflot’s data showed that high volatility of macroeconomic indicators over the past five years forced the company to develop budget forecasts for no more than one year in advance, so it had not submitted any data forecasting net profits and dividend payments for 2018 and 2019 to the government, the auditors said.

Previously, the company paid 17.48 rubles per share, or more than 19.4 billion rubles in final dividends for 2016.

Besides the government, shareholders of Aeroflot include Aeroflot-Finance with a 4.5% stake, affiliates of state industrial corporation Rostec with 3.26%, institutional investors with the combined stake of about 35%, individuals with 6.1%, and the airline’s management with 0.1%.

(57.9210 rubles – U.S. $1)

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