UPDATE: MTS approves new strategy, confirms current listing on NYSE, MOEX

(Adds comment, quotes in last two paragraphs)

MOSCOW, Oct 25 (PRIME) -- The board of directors of major Russian mobile operator MTS has approved the group’s new strategy for 2020–2022 and confirmed its current listing structure on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) and the Moscow Exchange (MOEX), the company said on Friday in a statement.

“Today we have approved MTS Group’s new three-year development strategy, which envisions accelerating the establishment of a large-scale ecosystem of digital products for our customers by leveraging our telecommunications leadership and expertise,” President and CEO Alexei Kornya said.

“We intend to concentrate our efforts on improving people’s lives, as well as balanced business development, growing our capitalization, and increasing returns for investors. We plan to publicly present the new growth strategy at our Investor Day on November 25.

“The board also confirmed the continued suitability of the company’s existing listing structure. This decision reflects the wishes of our investors who engaged in consultations with MTS management over the past half year. The current listing structure also complements our new digital strategy, which envisions developing a variety of innovative services for a range of industries, and provides significant opportunities to attract international and specialist investors focused on the technology sector.”

Kornya said MTS remains committed to the best-in-class standards of governance, disclosure, and transparency.

An MTS spokesperson told PRIME that consultations with investors showed that possible losses from moving to other floors would have been much higher than the current cost of listing on the NYSE.

MTS’s American depositary receipts (ADRs) went up 0.58% to U.S. $8.68 as of 5.52 p.m. Moscow time. Its common shares rose 1.20% to 278.55 rubles on the MOEX.

(63.8600 rubles – U.S. $1)

End