MOSCOW, Oct 19 (Reuters) – Russian listed companies are
buying back their stock and re-examining dividend policy in an
attempt to shore up share prices and assure investors following
the sharp market correction in August and September.

Potash miner Uralkali (URKAq.L: Quote, Profile, Research) announced a $2.5
billion buyback earlier this month, using abundant cash flows
generated from rising sales of the in-demand fertiliser
ingredient.

MOSCOW, Oct 14 (Reuters) – Russian gold and silver miner
Polymetal has secured a $100 million investment from
Moscow investment bank VTB Capital as part of its
planned listing on the London Stock Exchange, the company’s deal
prospectus showed on Friday.

Russia’s fourth-largest gold producer and largest silver
miner last year, Polymetal said in September it wanted to raise
$500 million and gain a premium London listing in an attempt to
enter the FTSE 100 blue-chip index .

MOSCOW, Oct 10 (Reuters) – Russian food retailer X5
cut its full-year revenue growth forecast as worsening economic
conditions began to have an impact at the till, an early sign
Russian consumers have been tightening their belts ahead of a
possible downturn.

The company, Russia’s biggest food retailer by sales, said
full-year gross rouble sales growth would now be closer to 35
percent, down from an earlier target of 40 percent.

MOSCOW, Oct 7 (Reuters) – Russian potash miner Uralkali
(URKAq.L: Quote, Profile, Research) is to buy back up to $2.5 billion of its own
stock, using its abundant cash flows to snap up its beaten down
shares on the cheap and maintain leverage targets.

Shares in the company, controlled by billionaire Suleiman
Kerimov and associates, were up 6.5 percent at 1040 GMT, leading
large-cap Russian stocks higher and outperforming a 1.3 percent
rise in the benchmark Micex index .

MOSCOW, Oct 4 (Reuters) – Two of Russia’s most powerful
oligarchs are set to compete with each other in a multi-billion
dollar auction for state-owned rail group Freight One, which
goes up for sale at the end of this month.

Steel magnate Vladimir Lisin, Russia’s richest man with a
$24 billion fortune, will bid for the Russian Railways unit via
his transport arm Universal Cargo Logistics Holding (UCLH), a
spokesman for UCLH told Reuters on Tuesday.

MOSCOW, Oct 1 (Reuters) – U.S. carmaker Ford is
confident sales growth in Russia will hold up amid tough
economic conditions and that the government will support Western
involvement in the industry long after upcoming elections, its
new Russia chief said on Saturday.

“It seems the Russian market does not have any jitters.
Demand remains strong,” said Ted Cannis, who took over as the
new CEO of the joint venture between Ford and Russian player
Sollers last month.

MOSCOW (Reuters) – Russian stocks are expected to recover some recent losses by the end of 2011 but previous hopes for a far stronger fourth quarter have been dashed by global financial turmoil and disillusionment with domestic politics, a Reuters poll showed.

The poll of 12 analysts, taken over the past week, showed a median end-2011 forecast of 1,725 points for Russia’s dollar-traded RTS index, up over 35 percent from 15-month lows hit earlier in September.

MOSCOW/BEREZNIKI, Sept 22 (Reuters) – Russian potash miner
Uralkali (URKAq.L: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) will pay at least 50 percent of its
profit in dividends, citing strong cash flow and increased
production, while also unveiling plans for a potential new
$2.5 billion greenfield mine from 2018.

The company, controlled by billionaire Suleiman Kerimov
and associates, said the new mine could have 2.5 million tonnes
of capacity, a move that would help it leapfrog Canada’s Potash
Corp as the world’s biggest producer of the fertiliser
ingredient.

MOSCOW (Reuters) – Sberbank’s (SBER03.MM: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) move into Moscow’s ultra competitive investment banking sector will see it eat into rival VTB Capital’s (VTBR.MM: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) market share more than foreign players, JP Morgan’s Russia CEO told the Reuters Russia Investment Summit.

State-controlled Sberbank bought Moscow investment bank Troika Dialog for $1 billion in March, a move it hoped would give it a slice of the Russian capital’s deal-making scene dominated by the smaller VTB.

MOSCOW (Reuters) – Russian potash miner Uralkali (URKA.MM: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) (URKAq.L: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) wants to buy a controlling stake in Belarussian trading partner Belaruskali, but does not yet have enough information to value the firm, Chief Executive Vladislav Baumgertner said on Tuesday.

Belarus has been under pressure to give up control of Belaruskali — among the world’s biggest four miners of potash — since being rescued from financial crisis with a Russia-led loan earlier this year.