Evraz costs Roman Abramovich
CHELSEA football club owner Roman Abramovich was over £155million worse off yesterday after Russian steelmaker Evraz axed its dividend, sending its shares diving.
The fall in Evraz shares saw its stock market value slide by £339million to £2.7billion, reducing Abramovich’s holding by £105million.
Abramovich, who has a fortune estimated at £9.5billion, holds a 31 per cent stake in the company which is listed on London’s FTSE 100. Its shares tumbled by 11 per cent, down 24p to 185¾p, after it slumped to an unexpected loss of £217million for 2012, prompting it to scrap its dividend payout.
That compares to a profit of £294million in the previous year when the Russian football boss collected a dividend of £50million. The fall in Evraz shares saw its stock market value slide by £339million to £2.7billion, reducing Abramovich’s holding by £105million.
It blamed weakening demand for steel in China and Europe, particularly in the second half of the year as revenues dropped 10.2 per cent to £9.54billion.
Chief executive Alexander Frolov said conditions were unlikely to improve significantly this year and he warned global prospects “remain fragile, with strong downside risks and volatility likely to persist throughout the year”.