Green shoots for PhosAgro
THE chief executive of PhosAgro said he did not plan to cash in his shares in the fertiliser group, as it announced its maiden results since its $538m (£337m) listing in London in July.
Maxim Volkov told City A.M. he was “not inclined” to sell his stock after PhosAgro went public, in a float that valued the firm at $5.2bn.
Russian oligarch Andrei Guriev, who owns more than 80 per cent of the shares in the company, sold a 10-15 per cent stake but at nearly a third below analysts’ top-end estimates.
PhosAgro posted a 156 per cent rise in first half net profit to 12.3bn roubles (£261m) yesterday. Group revenue rose 35 per cent to 48.8bn roubles during the period.
Moscow-based Volkov said PhosAgro chose London because of its proximity to other markets but several other Russian firms, such as Nord Gold, steel pipe maker Chelpipe and coking coal producer Koks, have scrapped or postponed IPOs amid market turmoil.
“They probably pulled because the economy was not so good,” Volkov said but declined to discuss the plans of gold and silver miner Polymetal to list in London. He also said he did not expect a fresh economic crisis.
“We see continued tightness in soft commodities markets at least through the end of the year supporting fertiliser prices and volumes globally as farmers invest,” Volkov said in a statement.
Phosagro added that the impact of new phosphate production by Saudi Arabia’s Ma’aden had yet to materialise, while Chinese exports were down due to internal demand.