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Russia's En+ fourth-quarter core earnings rise, beat forecasts
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MOSCOW, March 15 (Reuters) - Russia's En+ Group, which manages tycoon Oleg Deripaska's aluminium and hydropower assets, said on Thursday its core earnings rose 32 percent in the fourth quarter of 2017 due to higher aluminium prices, beating analysts' estimates.
En+ Group, the largest shareholder of Russian aluminium giant Rusal (HKSE: 0486-OL.HK - news) , raised $1.5 billion in an initial public offering (IPO) in November, and has said that trading firm Glencore (Frankfurt: 8GC.F - news) would swap its 8.75 percent stake in Rusal for shares in En+ by the end of March.
The share conversion with Glencore is currently expected to be completed by the end of April, En+ said in a statement on Thursday. It did not explain the reason for the one month delay but said that the deal remains subject to governmental and regulatory approvals.
Following the swap, En+'s stake in Rusal will rise to 56.88 percent from 48.13 percent, while Glencore will hold new global depositary receipts (GDRs) representing 10.55 percent of En+'s shares.
On Thursday, En+'s GDR was at $12.6, up 0.8 percent from the previous day. It priced its IPO at $14 per GDR in November.
En+ said its adjusted earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) rose 32 percent to $907 million, beating $892 million predicted by analysts in a Reuters poll.
Its fourth-quarter net profit fell 37 percent year on year to $505 million because of a high base effect a year ago when Rusal recorded a $299 million gain from the sale of its Alpart alumina refinery in Jamaica to China's state-owned Jiuquan Iron & Steel Group.
En+ spent part of the proceeds from the IPO on deleveraging and in its results it said net debt fell 13 percent from a year ago to $12.2 billion at the end of 2017.
Its board of directors has also recommended a dividend payment for 2017 of $68 million per share (or $0.1190 per GDR), the group added. (Reporting by Polina Devitt; editing by Andrey Ostroukh and Jane Merriman)
