Siluanov: State firms must pay 50% of profit in divs, uphold invest

MOSCOW, Aug 30 (PRIME) -- The Russian finance and economy ministries insist on state companies’ paying at least 50% of the net profit under International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) in dividends with no reduction of investment, First Deputy Prime Minister Finance Minister Anton Siluanov said on Thursday.

“The source of their (investment programs) is both increase of investment project efficiency, and optimization of financing sources, in particular by the use of the profit remaining after dividends and by borrowing at market conditions,” Siluanov said, adding that in some cases, the government can give budget subsidies on projects.

Gazprom’s shareholders earlier approved payment of 8 rubles per share in dividends for 2017, which accounts for 26.6% of the company’s IFRS net profit. Gazprom’s dividends for 2016 amounted to 190.327 billion rubles, or 20% of the IFRS net profit for the year. The company explained lower than required dividends with a growing investment program.

Siluanov said that ALROSA and Aeroflot can start to pay 75% of their IFRS net profit. Aeroflot paid 50% of the net profit under Russian Accounting Standards (RAS) in dividends for 2017. ALROSA’s new dividend policy envisages 50% of the IFRS net profit payment with conditions concerning the free cash flow and the ratio between the net debt and EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization)

(68.1451 rubles – U.S. $1)

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