By the end of June this year, the Swedish media holding MTG plans to complete the sale of its share in the Russian company “CTC Media” and to pay out dividends to shareholders.
According to the MTG, as of April 1, 2016, that asset was estimated at USD 125 million (SEK 1.01 billion), while in the previous year, its value amounted to USD 198 million (SEK 1.6 billion). The MTG’s financial losses referred to the assets in the Russian company amounted to USD 8.67 million (SEK 70 million) in the 1st quarter of this year, whereas a year earlier, the “CTC Media” rendered a profit of USD 19.1 million dollars (SEK 154 million) to the MTG.
The deterioration of financial performance is associated by the MTG with the US currency weakening, on the one hand, and with the sale of 75% of “CTC Media”’s stocks, on the other hand.
The MTG’s losses related to the cumulative currency translation difference (so-called non-pecuniary damage) amounted to USD$ 124 million (SEK 1 billion).
Earlier, the Swedish media holding expected to complete the sale of its 38% of the Russian “CTC Media”’s stocks until late March this year.
We shall recall that in early 2015, the MTG announced its eagerness to sell its share in the “CTC Media”. The financial statements show the MTG’s participation in the Russian company as “discontinued operations”. There is actually under execution the sale transaction of 75% of the “CTC Media”’s stocks to the Russian residents Ivan Tavrin and Alisher Usmanov, and that purchase would cost them USD 220 million.
