Net profit doubled in 1999

Published: 7/11/2000

The reasonably optimistic outlook of helicopter producer Rosvertol was reflected in the announcement by Boris Slyusar, the company's General Director, that they would pay a full year dividend of 11 cents after a payment of 8 cents at the nine-month stage. Slyusar announced that in 1999, the company under Russian accounting had doubled its net profit to 33.6m rubles ($1.2m) The reasons for the improvement in turnover for the producer largely came through improved revenues for export sales, which grew by 130% over the period, according to Slyusar, and the better cash flow of the plant, which allowed payment of debts by the plant and clearance of the $3.6m that the company owed at the beginning of 1999. During the year, Rosvertol delivered Mi-26s to Tyumenavaitrans for operation in West Africa and a number of Mi-35s (Mi-24) to customers in Mexico, Zimbabwe, Sri Lanka and India, in addition to blades for the Mi-24 operated by Uzbekistan. Slyusar however, publicly stated that Rosvertol was not happy about the government's arrangements that required all exports, both aircraft and spare parts, to pass through the government export agencies and was seeking the right to bypass them and sell direct. Payments by the state to the producer continued to be a problem in 1999, but there was a substantial drop in the state's debt in the form of monies owed by the Ministry of Defence and the Federal Border Service, who brought the debt down from $10m in the middle of June 1999 to $0.5 in June 2000. The lion's share of the outstanding debt is owed by the MoD. The MoD in 2000 has in fact considerably increased the level of its orders with the plant, having committed to $7m of business for 2000 compared with $0.5m in 1999. According to Slusar, it is paying in cash for the 15% of the plant's activity it accounts for. Given ongoing improvements in defence spending, Slyusar appears confident that the government could spend as much as $50m with the plant in orders and ongoing funding of the development of the Mi-26T flying hospital. The current priorities for Rosvertol according to the General Director are: · The serial production of the Mi-28N, although no mention was made regarding the ultimate customer. Although there have been reports of army interest despite the official selection of the Ka-50 as the attack helicopter. The plant will assemble its first Mi-28N by the end of 2000 according to the company. · The continued modernisation of the Mi-24 with tests planned for the last two quarters of 2000 for production at Rostov and modernization of aircraft in service · Production of the lightweight Mi-34A with Allison engines with luxury interior first displayed in 1995 The company's shareholders, as of June 2000, included the plant's employees, subsidiaries and the company's pension scheme, the Russian Credit Bank and the Kaskol Group, through Rostechimport. The latter is represented on the board of the helicopter maker through Sergey Nedoroslev, its President and the only non-Rosvertol employee, with the exception of Vladimir Kolesnikov, the rector of Rostov State University of Rail Roads.

Article ID: 1920