


	Remember me on this computer
	Forgot your password?
	Register

MT news

The Moscow Times Moscow Guide – Winter 2008

Since the middle of autumn one of the most important topics of discussion, could only be … no, not the financial crisis… New Year! The winter issue of The Moscow Times Moscow Guide is entirely devoted to New Years celebrations. Seven great ideas for celebrating the “Night of Nights” will help readers finalise their plans and choose how and where to party, give fresh ideas and lots of practical advice.

And don’t forget – problems will come by themselves, but happiness and luck need an invitation. That why the more cheerful and light-hearted your celebration of the coming holiday is, the happier and more successful 2009 will be for you.

The Crisis: Signs of a Kremlin Fearful Of Unrest
Sociologist Yevgeny Gontmakher has painted a disturbing picture of what might emerge from the financial crisis, forecasting continued unemployment, huge protests and spreading violence.

Market Matters: Huge Grain Harvest No Boon for Farmers
This year Russia is enjoying the biggest grain harvest it has ever seen -- and farmers couldn't be more worried.



Tuesday, January 06, 2009 Updated at 31 December 2008 22:36 Moscow Time.

The Moscow Times » Issue 4003 » Business

Denis Grishkin / Vedomosti

VTB said Friday that nine-month net income at Bank VTB, its biggest unit, fell to 7.44 billion rubles after a revaluation.

VTB Group Drops on Trading Losses

06 October 2008VTB Group, the country's second-biggest bank, fell Friday after trading losses reached 9.31 billion rubles ($360 million) in September because of "negative market dynamics."

Nine-month net income at Bank VTB, the group's biggest unit, fell to 7.44 billion rubles from 16.8 billion rubles in the first eight months after a "revaluation of the bank's securities portfolio," the lender said in an e-mailed statement Friday. The results were calculated using Russian standards.

"This is confirmation that VTB can't meet our profit estimate of $1.6 billion for the year," said Natalya Orlova, banking analyst at Alfa Bank. "Profit will be much lower, although it's hard to say to what extent," she said.

Alfa put its "buy" recommendation for VTB under review Friday.

VTB Group fell 5.5 percent to 4.57 kopeks. It raised $8 billion selling shares for 13.6 kopeks apiece in the world's biggest initial offering in 2007.

State-run VTB, which had $453 million in trading losses in the first quarter and $276 million in gains in the second quarter, is "actively hedging" against risk, chief financial officer Nikolai Tsekhomsky said in the statement.

The September loss may be less under international standards, which will reflect completed hedging transactions not included in the Russian results, Tsekhomsky said.

Tsekhomsky said Sept. 24 that the bank expects slower loan growth and wider trading losses this year after the biggest market rout since the 1998 devaluation and default. The bank's first-half profit under international standards rose 41 percent to $666 million.

"Volatility led to VTB's loss," said Leonid Slipchenko, a banking analyst at UralSib. "I don't expect the market to collapse, so the fourth quarter should bring an improvement."