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En+ Board anticipates dividend payments for 2019, says board chairman

At the end of 2018, the board of directors recommended that the annual general meeting should not approve payment of dividends due to the difficulties stemming from the introduction of US sanctions

Lord Gregory Barker Press service of En+ Group

Lord Gregory Barker

© Press service of En+ Group

MOSCOW, October 16. /TASS/. The Board of Directors of En+ Group expects resumption of dividend payments for 2019, the Group’s Chairman of the Board of Directors Lord Gregory Barker, said in an interview with TASS.

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"The Board anticipates paying dividends for 2019, taking into account several factors including the macro environment and long-term deleveraging targets at the time," he said.

He also noted that the company is still "committed to the dividend policy announced prior to the IPO" (in 2017).

Earlier, commenting on the group’s financial results for the first half of the year, Lord Barker said that despite the current challenges in the industry, the achieved results allowed the company to expect payment of dividends for 2019.

At the end of Q2 2019, the company's net debt amounted to $11.3 bln (an increase of 2.2% since the end of 2018). At the end of 2018, the board of directors recommended that the annual general meeting should not approve payment of dividends due to the difficulties faced by the company after the introduction of US sanctions against it. The sanctions were lifted in January 2019.

The En+ dividend policy approved in 2017 involves the payment of dividends at least once every six months in the amount of 75% of the free cash flow raised by the power generation segment of the group (but not less than $250 mln per year), and 100% of dividend payments received by the group from Rusal.

Ratification of Paris Climate Agreement

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Russia's ratification of the Paris Climate Agreement could double En+ Group spending on research and development (R&D), Lord Gregory Barker told TASS.

"I think we will see an increase in the investments in R&D. En+ has extensive expertise in research projects. For example the inert anode technology. Potentially, it might lead to the production of carbon-neutral aluminium," he said.

He recalled that Rusal (controlled by En+) "has been working on this project for some years."

"We plan to commercialize it in early 2020s," Barker said.

When asked if most of the changes will be focused on the company’s metals division Barker said that the company will be constantly upgrading both its segments — metals and power generation.

"But the progress in the metals segment will be more visible," he noted.

In September, Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev signed a government resolution related to Russia’s entry into the Paris Agreement on climate action. The signing of this document confirms that Russia is "proactively involved in measures undertaken by the international community in this sphere," Medvedev said. By the end of 2020, Russia is to adopt a law regulating emission of greenhouse gases.

En+ Group is a leading vertically integrated producer of aluminum and electricity. The company includes electricity generating assets with an installed capacity of 19.6 GW (including 15.1 GW of hydropower assets) and aluminum production with an annual capacity of 3.9 mln metric tons. The main shareholders of En + are Oleg Deripaska's investment company B-Finance (44.95% — of which voting rights are limited to 35%) and VTB Bank with a share of 21.68% (7.35% of voting shares).

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