Russian oil company becomes world’s most profitable

Russia’s Surgutneftegaz is now the world’s most profitable oil company, reported Bloomberg on Feb 20.

The company, which is now more profitable than ExxonMobil and Royal Dutch Shell, has become the only major player in the world that is continuing to generate income for investors after the collapse of oil prices.

Over the past 15 months, the dividend yield of the securities of the company reached 18.5 percent.

Due to the high dividends the company managed to cover the loss of the falling prices of Surgutneftegaz shares (which slid by 14 percent) and bring profits to investors.

Investors in other oil giants are bearing losses due to the fact that their dividends are not able to cover the decreasing value of the shares.

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The secret of Surgutneftegaz’s success is in its huge dollar deposits. Over the past 10 years, Surgutneftegaz did not invest its profits in new assets, but simply saved them, managing to accumulate more than $30 billion.

Since the company pays dividends in rubles, and the ruble fell by almost 50 percent over the past two years, the company is managing to show a high yield due to the difference in exchange rates.

As a result, Surgutneftegaz will pay record dividends, while other Russian oil companies, which do not possess such an “airbag,” face a fall in stock returns.

One of Russia's largest oil companies, Surgutneftegaz was established in 1993. Its net income for the first nine months of 2015 increased by 39.4 percent and amounted to $6.4 billion (498.437 billion rubles).

Based on material published by RIA Novosti and RBC Daily.

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