Russian Railways expects 2019 RAS net profit above 27 bln rbl

SOCHI, Oct 30 (PRIME) -- Russian Railways expects its net profit calculated under Russian Accounting Standards (RAS) to outperform the forecast of 27 billion rubles for 2019, CEO Oleg Belozyorov said on Wednesday at a meeting with reporters.

“We see that judging by our internal forecast the net profit will exceed the planned figures for (2019) and the figure of 2018. Our long-term development program states the forecast at more than 27 billion rubles,” he said.

CARGO LOADING

The company plans to maintain cargo loading flat on the year in 2019 despite a recent worsening of a forecast to a 0.5% contraction this year from a 1.5% growth. “We’ve amended the loading forecast to minus 0.5%. But we still have the goal of maintaining loading flat on the year,” he said, adding that the company supports cargo senders.

Cargo loading fell by 0.7–0.8% in January–October, but cargo turnover grew 0.7–0.8%in the period mainly due to good transit traffic at the beginning of the year, he said.

In 2020, Russian Railways plans to up cargo loading by more than 3% in order to compensate the fall of 2019. Under the current forecast, loading will grow 1.8% in 2020, but the company needs to grow faster to meet the parameters of its long-term development program, he said.

INVESTMENT PROGRAM

Russian Railways also reduced its investment program for 2019 to 690 billion rubles from 747.5 billion rubles. In 2020 it will amount to 821 billion rubles.

“This year, (the investment program) stands at 690 billion rubles. Changes are connected to optimization and adjustments as we work more efficiently. There are different factors there. There may be slight adjustments, we may amend the figure for high-speed railway until the end of the year,” Belozyorov said, adding that spending on high-speed railways may be reduced in 2019.

When asked about investment planned for 2020, he said, “821 billion rubles.”

KEDENTRANSSERVICE

The board of directors of Russia’s leading railway container operator TransContainer, in which Russian Railways owns 50% plus two shares, has approved the sale of 50% in Kazakh logistics terminal operator Kedentransservice, which may happen before the auction of the stake of Russian Railways in TransContainer scheduled for November 27, Belozyorov said.

“As far as I am aware, the board of directors of TransContainer has generally decided on the possibility of the sale of Kedentransservice, but it does not change the cost of TransContainer as the management has weighed and balanced all interests,” he said, adding that the sale of the Kazakh company may happen before the auction of TransContainer.

Speaking of TransContainer, he said that three companies planned to participate in the auction.

(63.8320 rubles – U.S. $1)

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