Financial Results SIBUR for year to 31 December 2008
SIBUR, Russia’s largest petrochemical company, today announces its consolidated financial results for the year ended 31 December 2008: Revenue increased by 21.6% to a record 173.5 billion rubles. Net income decreased by 29.2% to 16.0 billion rubles. EBITDA increased by 22.6% to 40.7 billion rubles.
The key factors that caused the net income reduction were an increase in the overall tax burden, higher interest charges as well as losses from operations as a result of dramatic fluctuations in foreign currency exchange rates.
Total capital expenditure on the expansion and upgrade of facilities comprised 33.6 bln rubles in 2008. The expansion of Nizhnevartovsk and Belozerny gas processing plants were among the largest completed projects. The design work for the production of polypropylene at Tobolsk city, the PVC plant in the Nizhny Novgorod region and the increased capacity of Yuzhno-Balyksky gas processing plant is underway.
Net debt to EBITDA (for the year ended 31 December 2008) remains low (index 0.95) and allows scope to increase debt in 2009.
In 2008, the company distributed dividends for the year ended 31 December 2007 amounting to 5.5 billion roubles, as well as interim dividends for the first 9 months of 2008 amounting to 8.7 billion roubles. A final dividend is not expected to be paid following the deterioration of the financial results for the 4th quarter of 2008.
For the last year, the company’s asset configuration has not undergone any important changes. At a business level, we report our exit from the company’s methanol business and the purchase of a minority stake in the subsidiaries of the company.
Commenting on the results, SIBUR President Dmitry Konov said:
“In the first half of 2008 petrochemical prices were at an all-time high. However, in recent months our company, as well as the petrochemical industry overall, operated at a loss. As a result, at the end of 2009 we expect to report a downturn in our financial performance, whilst maintaining current margins”.
