Polyus freezes dividends in spite of profit on results of 2013

Polyus Gold, which made the profit in the amount of $143 million in 2013, won’t pay dividends for the first time since the crisis 2008. The company needs money for development, only capital investments for this year are estimated at about $700 million. According to analysts, the company will return to payments to shareholders not earlier than in 2015.

The largest Russian gold-mining company Poluys Gold (40.22% are controlled by Senator Suleiman Kerimov) won’t pay dividends for 2013: such recommendation was given by its Board of Directors yesterday. Polyus explained that it will be more reasonable to save the profit for the development of the company. The reduction of gold prices by 17% led to decrease in the Polyus’ net profit 6.7 times to $143 million in 2013 (the proceeds fell by 13% to $2.3 billion). The second Russian gold miner, which announced accounting for the previous year – Nordgold of Alexei Mordashov – made the loss in the amount of $170 million, but it will pay dividends for $5.4 million.