2 Jun 2010 15:30

Cost of Sitronics borrowing up 0.4 of a percentage point over year

MOSCOW. June 2 (Interfax) - The average weighted cost of borrowing by OJSC Sitronics was 8.8% per annum in Q1, up from 8.6% at end-2009 and 8.4% a year ago, the company reported.

Sitronics' combined debt stood at $756.5 million on March 31, up from $739.9 million at end-2009 and $700.3 million a year earlier. The combined figure does not include the $18.8 million the company borrowed from Sitronics-Nano, a joint venture with Rusnano created to produce integrated circuits based on 90-nanometer standard technology.

Director of the Sitronics investor relations department Natalya Tsarkova told Interfax the source of the funds source was 6.5 billion rubles Rusnano put into Sitronics-Nano charter capital. The joint venture is not consolidated in Sitronics reporting, so the money put into building and installation work under this project is formally considered debt, the company said.

Cash funds and equivalent stood at $119.7 million at the end of Q1, down from $161.9 million at end-2009 and up from $77.1 million a year previously.

Sitronics attributed its Q1 debt growth mainly to the 400 million rubles the company received from Bank of Moscow for developing its microelectronics business.

Long-term debt obligations represented 56% of overall Sitronics debt, up from 54% at the end of last year. Roughly 37% of the debt was denominated in rubles, 33% in dollars, and 29% in euros.

During the first quarter, Sitronics repaid, refinanced, or extended repayment term on credits totaling $17 million, and signed an agreement with Bank of Moscow for a credit line of 4 billion rubles. The company raised $230 million from the bank last November to refinance debt to Vnesheconombank.

Sitronics, formerly Science Center Concern, was set up in December 2002. It produces telecommunications equipment, microelectronics, computer programming, and consumer electronics. The group includes Sitronics Telecom Solutions Czech Republics (formerly STROM Telecom), Sitronics IT B.V. (formerly Kvazar- Micro), OJSC Mikron, and Kvant Production Association, and has a 51% interest in Greece's Intracom Telecom. The main shareholder in the company is AFK Sistema.