“Yunipro” (controlled by German Uniper) again postpones the launch of the third unit of Berezovskaya GRES, now at the end of the year because of the pandemic. At this time, long repair will affect the dividend policy in the current year, payments to shareholders will be reduced by about a third, to 14 billion rubles. taking into account the economic situation, the company will Finance the dividends from credit funds, analysts said, but after entering the unit the size of dividends will once again return to the previous level.Prolonged repairs of the third unit of Berezovskaya GRES (800 MW) and crisis against the backdrop of a pandemic will negatively affect dividend policy “Yunipro” (83,73% of Uniper German, proficient in Russian five GRES 11.2 GW), it follows from the presentation of the company. In June—July of the current year the volume of payments to shareholders will amount to 7 billion rubles., as previously planned. While “downside risks to the cash flow on the background of the pandemic” and the rescheduling of the input unit does not allow you to “lock reasonable level of dividend payments in December,” according to company materials. Payments to shareholders in December can reach 7 billion rubles. Thus, the total dividend in 2020 is set at 14 billion rubles instead of the planned 20 billion rubles. “Yunipro” takes the input of the power unit of Berezovskaya GRES is the seventh time in a row: now the launch is planned at the end of the year, although previously “Yunipro” expect its launch in the third quarter. This time the reason for the shift — “strict quarantine measures” related COVID-19, according to the materials of the company. The repair has already invested 36 billion rubles remained to invest another 7 billion rubles. the power Unit of Berezovskaya GRES was burned in February 2016, during the repair “Yunipro” does not receive the increased payments for power from the wholesale market under contracts for the supply of power (PDM). Drop-down the company’s earnings due to postponements of planned from the beginning of the input block is 54 to 57 billion rubles, according to Vladimir Sklyar from “VTB Capital”. If the start block will be shifted by another three months, “Yunipro” get to the end of the period of validity of the PDM about 60 billion rubles., said the expert.Causes: the decline in electricity production and falling prices on the market for days forward (RSV) on the background of abnormally warm weather. Margin for electricity returned to the level of 2018, according to the presentation “Yunipro”. Core net income (a measure adjusted for impairment losses of fixed assets and other one-time expenses) in January—March amounted to RUB 5 billion, a decrease of 19.6% year-on-year. EBITDA in the first quarter decreased by 15.8%, to 7.6 billion rubles for the year expected to be level of 26-28 billion rubles, but the forecast may be revised.According to the calculations of Vladimir Sklyar, given the falling production, prices for day-ahead market, increasing defaults and new ��uvidennogo forecast, “Yunipro” we will need 15 billion rubles in 2020, which means 100% of dividend payments will be funded from borrowings.The decision to reduce dividends is logical against the background of postponing the introduction of the third unit of Berezovskaya GRES, not to mention the prices and demand in the market, said Sergey Geramita from Raiffeisenbank. Quarter idle unit costs the company about 3 billion RUB of EBITDA because of the shortfall of payments for power, he continues. “Perhaps the last transfer associated with the current quarantine. As soon as the unit enters, the company will easily increase the dividend to 20 billion rubles per year”,— the analyst believes.Pauline Smertin
