| TNK and Sibneft earned $350 million The oil company Slavneft yesterday announced the payment of the first large dividends in its history. The payment of $350 million will be made (after approval at an extraordinary meeting of shareholders on September 29) based on the results of the first half of the year, the closing date of the register is determined “retroactively” - August 25. Many analysts immediately rushed to assess the event as the end of negotiations regarding the division of Slavneft between its parity shareholders - Sibneft and TNK. However, Roman Abramovich’s company claims that dividend and corporate policies in this case are in no way connected. Meanwhile, shares of Slavneft's main production company, Megionneftegaz, rose in price on the RTS by 14.5% after the announcement of the payment of dividends by the parent company.
Slavneft reported to the Vremya Novostei newspaper that the company decided not to pay dividends based on the results of last year, but to formalize the payment as interim dividends. This was done because the new owners (TNK and Sibneft became almost the sole owners of Slavneft at the beginning of this year) wanted to compare the results of the work of the previous management in the first half of last year with the work of the team of the current president of Slavneft, Yuri Sukhanov (he leads company since May 2002, before that he worked at Sibneft). Now the semi-annual reporting is ready, and therefore it has become clear whether the company requires additional funds from profits for capital investments. Since the entire profit for the first half of this year (4.8 billion rubles), as well as retained earnings from previous years, will go to dividends, it is obvious that the company will have money left exclusively for the implementation of investment projects that have already begun.
Dividends, according to Sibneft press secretary Alexei Firsov, will go to his company and TNK in proportion to their share. At the same time, he did not clarify the flow of money (the fact is that the auction for the sale of 75% of Slavneft shares in December last year was won by the Invest-Oil company, representing the interests of TNK and Sibneft), but stated that in In the reporting of Roman Abramovich’s company according to GAAP standards, Slavneft shares are taken into account, therefore, ultimately, dividends on them will go to Sibneft. Mr. Firsov found it difficult to answer what this money (about $175 million) would be spent on, saying only that it would “start working for shareholders.” A source close to the company suggested that Slavneft's payments will become one of the sources of Sibneft's already announced dividends.
According to the overwhelming majority of analysts at Russian investment companies, the fact that Slavneft paid dividends indicates that management close to Sibneft is preparing the company for sale. “Slavneft is becoming more and more like Sibneft,” said Maxim Shein from BrokerCreditService. -- More than 20 percent production growth in the first half of the year, now unprecedented dividend generosity. It is possible that the company’s management is preparing the company for sale, where the most likely buyer will be TNK-BP.” However, Mr. Firsov from Sibneft refutes these allegations. “The issue of selling our share is not being considered at all,” he told the Vremya Novostei newspaper, “and the discussion of the division of Slavneft between its shareholders continues on the previously outlined parity principles.”
TNK yesterday chose not to answer any questions related to Slavneft. Nikolay GORELOV |
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