CFO: Russia’s Norilsk Nickel mulls options to raise money

MOSCOW, Aug 20 (PRIME) -- Russian metals giant Norilsk Nickel is considering different options of raising money, including Eurobonds, CFO Sergei Malyshev said in a conference call on Tuesday.

“We are considering all options that are there on the market, but there is no ready deal lying on the table,” he said.

The board of directors of Norilsk Nickel has recommended paying 883.93 rubles per share, or a total of around 140 billion rubles, in dividends for January–June.

Aton brokerage said in a research note that the interim dividends show the yield of 6%. The company expects its earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization (EBITDA) to be higher in July–December than in January–June and to amount to about U.S. $4 billion.The final dividend yield should stand at 6.6%. Free cash flow (FCF) may fall to $1.1 billion in the second half of the year due to higher capital expenditures.

“Net debt should rise to $8.3 billion in 2019 due to contraction of FCF and allocation of $4.1 billion on dividends. Still, we expect that the net debt to EBITDA ratio will remain low at 1.1x due to the growth of profit of the main business,” Aton said.

(66.6082 rubles – U.S. $1)

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