Moscow press review for April 25, 2016
MOSCOW. April 25 (Interfax) - The following is a digest of Moscow newspapers published on April 25. Interfax does not accept liability for information in these stories.
POLITICS & ECONOMICS
The idea of requiring Russian state companies to pay dividends equivalent to at least 50% of net profit to RAS or IFRS, whichever is higher, has fallen flat, despite the fact that the prime minister signed an order to this effect last week. Rosneftegaz and Rosneft only plan to pay out 25% and 35% respectively. The government will only insist on increasing dividends paid by Gazprom and Transneft (Vedomosti, p. 1).
Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Kozak held a meeting on the social and economic development of Crimea and Sevastopol last week. Officials again discussed the slow implementation of over a hundred measures of the federal program for the region. Regional leaders have been ordered to "ensure the absolute elimination" of violations in the program schedule by May 31 (Kommersant, p. 1).
The Russian government has rejected a bill that would ease rules under which a company cannot open an account at another bank when it has an account frozen by the tax authorities and the bank in which that account was held loses its license. Instead, the Tax Service is proposing that in such circumstances the taxes be paid from the personal account of the company CEO (Kommersant, p. 1).
Interview: Dmitry Pristanskov, Deputy Economic Development Minister and Head of the Federal Property Agency of Russia (Kommersant, p. 2).
OIL & GAS
Kuwait Petroleum Corporation plans to buy up to 1.5 million tonnes of Russian LNG annually. Negotiations are underway with independent gas producer Novatek. Kuwait, primarily an oil producer, does not have enough of its own gas and wants to expand the geography of suppliers. Russian companies could supply gas under swap contracts (Vedomosti, p. 11).
BANKING, FINANCE & INSURANCE
VEB, Russia's troubled state development bank, posted a profit of 15 billion rubles for 2015 compared to a loss of 250 billion rubles in 2014. But most of the profit was the result of state support. The bank is gradually replacing expensive money with subsidies and deposits from the government, and is counting on the growth of its interest margin (Vedomosti, p. 4).
The economic forecast approved by the Russian government projects that retail lending will slump by about 5% in 2015 and see negligible growth in 2017, amid weak consumer demand, but then grow 7-9% in 2018-2019. Bankers are more optimistic and expect moderate growth of retail lending this year already (Vedomosti, p. 10).
RETAIL & CONSUMER MARKET
The Russian government's version of amendments to the law on the retail sector does not restrict the price of logistics services that retailers provide to suppliers. Despite this concession, retailers are still unhappy with the bill and are even prepared to abandon self-regulation, which they previously supported. Suppliers, meanwhile, worry retailers will continue to demand inflated bonus payments (Kommersant, p. 7).
TELECOMMUNICATIONS, MEDIA & TECHNOLOGY
Russia's Industry Ministry, on orders from the president, is developing a national standard of radio communications for government agencies using cognitive radio technology, and is considering developing equipment that can operate in such networks. The introduction of a cognitive radio standard in government networks could benefit former Communications Minister Leonid Reiman's Angstrem plant and the company Sozvezdie (Kommersant, p. 1).
Shareholders of Ural Mining and Metallurgical Company are seeking regulatory approval to buy 74.99% of SDS Media Holding, the sole owner of European Media Group, one of Russia's biggest radio broadcasting groups. SDS will retain a 25.01% stake. Media market players value EMG, which owns popular radio stations such as Evropa Plus, Dorozhnoye Radio and Sport FM, at about $150 million (Vedomosti, p. 10; Kommersant, p. 10).
The departure of MegaFon CEO Ivan Tavrin might be announced in the next few days. His most likely replacement is the Russian mobile provider's chairman, Sergei Soldatenkov, who served as CEO from 2003 to 2012. His job will be to return MegaFon's financial results to past highs while maintaining its position on the market. Tavrin is expected to join billionaire Alisher Usmanov's USM Holdings (Vedomosti, p. 11).
Interview: Vladislav Martynov, CEO of Yota Devices (Vedomosti, p. 8).
TRANSPORTATION & LOGISTICS
Russian airlines have asked the government to raise ticket prices for subsidized flights to the Far East, Kaliningrad and Crimea. These prices have remained unchanged for several years, while airline's costs and airport fees are constantly growing. Airlines are also unhappy that subsidized tickets can only be sold in the high season, at the expense of margins. Sources believe the whole approach to subsidies should be rethought (Kommersant, p. 1).
The Russian government has raised the levy on foreign truckers hauling freight on the country's roads, citing the appreciation of the euro. In rubles, the fee has more than doubled to 850 rubles per day. In addition, Latvia and Lithuania have been added to the list of countries whose truckers must pay the fee. The increase in revenue for the road fund will be negligible (Vedomosti, p. 5).