Polymetal shares down as gold miner scraps final dividend

Polymetal International PK

22/09/2022 11:24

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      This content was produced in Russia where the law
restricts
coverage of Russian military operations in Ukraine
    

  
       MOSCOW, Sept 22 (Reuters) - Russian gold and silver
producer Polymetal  POLYP.L  said on Thursday it had decided to
cancel the final dividend for 2021 and recommended no interim
dividend payment for 2022 due to lower cash flows, sending its
shares in London down 11%.
    Polymetal has not been directly targeted by Western
sanctions imposed on Moscow since it sent thousands of troops to
Ukraine in February.
    However, its net earnings adjusted for impairment and rouble
fluctuations fell to $203 million in January-June from $422
million a year ago with lower sales, the miner said in a
statement. It also raised its forecast for 2022 production
costs.  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nS8N30G06K
    Future dividend payments will depend on the company's
ability to unblock part the 22% of its shares frozen in the
sanctions-hit Russian National Settlement Depository (NSD),
Polymetal said. Owners of the shares held via NSD, Russia's
domestic paying agent, are unable to receive dividends now.
 urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL8N2YI2W7
    For these investors, Polymetal proposed exchanging the
shares from electronic to certificated form, the miner said,
adding this option would not solve the problem for holders of
11% of the shares due to sanctions restrictions on Moscow and
retaliatory Moscow restrictions.
    Polymetal also said the idea of a business restructuring,
which could focus it on its assets in Kazakhstan and spin off
the Russian ones, had been hit by Moscow's August decree to
freeze sale of certain Russian assets, including gold mining
firms, if they are controlled by residents of "unfriendly"
countries - unless a special presidential approval is granted.
    To ease the process, the miner is currently considering 
changing the jurisdiction of the parent company - Polymetal
International Plc - from Jersey to a "friendly" territory, it
said. No final decision has been made.
 (Reporting by Polina Devitt
Editing by Mark Potter)