OREANDA-NEWS. On 15 June 2009 Uralsvyazinform (RTS: URSI/URSIP, ADR: UVYZY/ UVYZYP), the leading carrier of fixed-line and mobile services in the Urals region, Russia reported the results of the Annual General Meeting of Shareholders

The shareholders approved the annual report, annual financial statements including profit and loss statement, and profit distribution as of FY2008, as below.

Operational and financial highlights:*

Financial

2008

2007

Change, %

Revenues, RUB mln

40,581.0

39,152.6

+3.6%

Costs, RUB mln

33,456.4

30,503.4

+9.7%

EBITDA, RUB mln

13,318.2

13,208.3

+0.8%

EBITDA margin

32.8%

33.7%

-

Operating profit, RUB mln

7,124.6

8,649.3

-17.6%

Operating margin

17.6%

22.1%

-

Profit before income tax, RUB mln

4,146.4

5,546.4

-25.2%

Net profit, RUB mln

2,677.9

3,685.3

-27.3%

Net margin

6.6%

9.4%

-

Operational

31/12/2008

31/12/2007

Change, %

Fixed-line subscribers, million

3.72

3.70

+0.6%

Mobile subscribers, million

5.7

4.1

+11.8%

Broadband subscribers, thousand

541.2

294.6

+83.7%

Cable TV + Utel-TV subscribers, thous.

117.0

106.0

+10.4%

Data traffic, TB

23,392

3,703

x6.3

Digitalization of local fixed-line networks, %

77.2

74.5

 

Number of employees

23,520

26,218

-10.3%

[1]EBITDA is calculated as a sum of pre-tax profit, interest payable, depreciation and amortization, leasing payments less interest receivable.

The Meeting approved the annual dividend as of 2008 at the below rates:

RUR 0.034175 per one preferred share payable until August 03, 2009;

RUR 0.012437 per one common share payable until December 15, 2009.

Overall, dividend payout will amount to RUR 669.5 mln, or 25.0% of net profit as of 2008. The rest of undistributed net profit at the amount of RUR 2,008.4 mln is used to increase the equity capital.

The AGM elected the Board of Directors consisting of 11 persons.

Mikhail V. BATMANOV

ОАО “Svyazinvest”

Deputy Director of Corporate Governance and Legal Department

Alla B. GRIGORYEVA

OAO “Svyazinvest”

Deputy Director of Corporate Governance and Legal Department

Sergey M. KERBER

ZAO ‘Lider’ (Pension Fund)

Investment Director

Olga G. KOROLYOVA

OAO “Svyazinvest”

Chief Accountant

Eduard V. LEBEDEV

Uralsvyazinform
Advisor of General Director

Mikhail A. LESCHENKO

Advisor of Minister of Communication of the Russian Federation

Alexander Yu. PROVOTOROV

OAO “Svyazinvest”

Senior Deputy General Director

Dmitry Y. TUSHUNOV

ZAO “Lider”

Head of Analytical Section

Elena V. UMNOVA

ОАО “Svyazinvest”

Deputy General Director

Anatoly Y. UFIMKIN

Uralsvyazinform

General Director

Evgeny V. YURCHENKO

OAO ‘Svyazinvest’

General Director

The Meeting also elected the Audit Commission.

Irina A. ARKHIPOVA

Head of Section of Economy and Finances Department of OAO “Svyazinvest”

Valentina F. VEREMYANINA

Deputy Director of Corporate Governance and Legal Department of OAO “Svyazinvest”

Svetlana F. VORONKOVA

Leading specialist of Accounting, Tax and Statistics Department of OAO “Svyazinvest”

Yan S. GRINCHENKO

Leading specialist of Corporate Governance and Legal Department of OAO “Svyazinvest”

Elena O. KONKOVA

Leading specialist of Internal Audit Department of OAO “Svyazinvest”

Ivan V. TOPOLYA

Deputy Chief Accountant of OAO “Svyazinvest”

Olga S. CHETVERKINA

Leading specialist of Internal Audit Department of OAO “Svyazinvest”

Auditor Election

The AGM approved KPMG (ZAO) as the company auditor for 2009 (As recommended by the Board of Directors for approval at AGM following the tender to nominate the Auditor).

Other Decisions

Other decisions included the approval of the amended Charter, and Regulations on the Board of Directors, and validated the amount of remuneration paid to the Board of Directors.The Meeting voted for the termination of participation in Association of Network Operators (CDMA).

Address of the CEO

Summing up the Meeting’s results, Anatoly Ufimkin, CEO said,

“In 2008 we have turned around an important milestone – our subscriber base exceeded 10 million, including 5.7 million in cellular, 3.7 million in fixed-line services, 541 thousand in broadband Internet and 117 thousand in cable TV + Utel.TV. Uralsvyazinform launched its satellite-based services for corporate customers located inside the license territory. Our satellite first-comers include Sberbank, Lukoil, Federal Customs Service, Russian Post and others. We anticipate 2009 to be an uneasy year for us. Regardless, the company has all the resources and opportunities to cope with economic challenges, and equally to maintain its development momentum”.

New Chairman

The first session of newly elected Board of Directors has nominated Evgeny Yurchenko the Board’s Chairman.