March 11, 2021 – The Supervisory Board of ALROSA approved a
new version of the Company’s Dividend Policy
ALROSA’s Supervisory Board supported the
management’s proposal to amend the dividend and financial policies
to ensure greater financial stability and resilience of its business.
On 10 March 2021 the Board approved
amendments to its Dividend Policy and Financial Policy.
Dividend Policy: the amendments include
adjustments to the methodology for determining the amount of
dividends based on the free cash flow (FCF), for Net Debt /
EBITDA between 0.0x and 1.0x. Depending on the Net Debt / EBITDA
ratio, the semi-annual dividend pay-out ratio is determined based on
the FCF for the respective half of the reporting year:
1) if the Net Debt /
EBITDA ratio as at the end of the respective period is below 0.0x,
the semi-annual dividend payout ratio is no less than 100% of the FCF
for the respective half of the reporting year;
2) if the Net Debt /
EBITDA ratio as at the end of the respective period is within the
range of 0.0x to <1.0x, the semi-annual dividend payout ratio is
from 70% to 100% of the FCF for the respective half of the reporting
year;
3) if the Net Debt /
EBITDA ratio as at the end of the respective period is within the
range of 1.0x to 1.5x, the semi-annual dividend payout ratio is from
50% to 70% of the FCF for the respective half of the reporting year.
This decision will allow the Company to improve
targeting of its net leverage amid fluctuating demand, ensure
stability of cash returns to shareholders, and improve flexibility in
managing the debt portfolio.
Financial
Policy: target minimum liquidity reserves consisting of
cash and committed credit facilities are increased from RUB 35 bn
to RUB 70 bn to allow the Company:
to maintain operational resilience and
optimal utilisation rates;
to ensure stable funding of long-term
business development projects;
to have sufficient liquidity reserves to
maintain the market balance.
The new Dividend Policy is available on the
Company’s official website. For the overview of ALROSA’s
Financial Policy, please follow the
link.
Notes:
(1) Free cash flow
(FCF) is the operating cash flow calculated in accordance with the
International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) net of
capital expenditure (posted as Purchase of Property, Plant and
Equipment in the consolidated IFRS statement of cash flows).
(2) Net debt is
calculated on an IFRS basis as the amount of debt less cash and cash
equivalents as well as bank deposits at each reporting date.
(3) EBITDA stands for the Group’s
earnings or loss for the last 12 months adjusted for income tax
expenses, financial income and expenses, share of net profit of
associates and joint ventures, depreciation and amortisation,
impairment and disposals of property, plant and equipment, gain or
loss on disposal of joint ventures, revaluation of investments, and
one-off items.
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