Globaltrans S Regulatory News (GLTR)

16 Jul 2008 07:01



GLOBALTRANS BOARD APPROVES CREATION OF UKRAINIAN SUBSIDIARY

Globaltrans Investment PLC ("Globaltrans" or, together with its consolidated subsidiaries, the "Group"), Russia's largest privately owned freight rail operator, today announces that its Board of Directors meeting held on 15 July 2008 approved the creation of Globaltrans's Ukrainian subsidiary.  The Group will hold 100% of the share capital of the newly created subsidiary. 

Commenting on today's announcement, Sergey Maltsev, CEO of Globaltrans, said:

"In line with the growth strategy we presented during our recent IPO, we believe that Ukraine provides significant current and future opportunities for Globaltrans. We intend to focus on the gondola cars segment and to provide competitive and customer focussed transportation services, primarily to large companies operating in the steel, iron ore and coking coal sectors".

Further details will be announced in due course.

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NOTES TO EDITORS

Globaltrans is Russia's largest privately owned freight rail operator and the second largest freight rail operator in Russia after Russian Railways and its affiliates, including Freight One, by number of rolling stock operated. The Group provides rail freight transport and logistics services, as well as certain ancillary services to large industrial customers and medium-size corporate customers in Russia and carries customers' cargos to destinations in Russia and Ukraine. 

The Group's key customers include member companies of a number of large Russian industrial groups active in the metals and mining, oil and oil products and other major sectors of the Russian economy, including, Evraz, Lukoil, MMK, RITEK, Rosneft, Severstal and Ural Steel, as well as their affiliates and suppliers. 

The Group's modern rolling stock fleet comprised 21,310 cars as at 31 December 2007, including gondola (open top) cars, oil tank cars, hopper cars, flatcars and 19 locomotives. The average age of the rolling stock owned by the Group or leased by the Group under finance leases as at 31 December 2007 was approximately 3.1 years.

The Group's business model is based on (a) an extensive modern rolling stock fleet, consisting of several types of railcars, which enables it to cater to the high-volume transportation requirements of its key industrial customers, (b) a strong customer focus and sophisticated logistics know-how, enabling it to provide complex rail transportation and logistics solutions tailored to the needs of its customers, and (c) utilisation of advanced destination management and route optimisation, which reduces "empty runs" of the rolling stock and maximises the efficient commercial utilisation of the Group's rolling stock.

Globaltrans operates through its two wholly owned operating subsidiaries incorporated in the Russian Federation, OAO New Forwarding Company and OOO Sevtechnotrans.

Financials

The Group's operating profit for the years ended 31 December 2007 and 2006 was US$127.6 million and US$76.8 million, respectively. The Group's assets as at 31 December 2007 and 2006 were US$778.0 million and US$697.7 million, respectively.

Legal disclaimer 

Some of the information in this press release may contain projections or other forward-looking statements regarding future events or the future financial performance of Globaltrans. You can identify forward-looking statements by terms such as expect, believe, anticipate, estimate, intend, will, could, may or might the negative of such terms or other similar expressions. Globaltrans wishes to caution you that these statements are only predictions and that actual events or results may differ materially. Globaltrans does not intend to update these statements to reflect events and circumstances occurring after the date hereof or to reflect the occurrence of unanticipated events. Many factors could cause the actual results to differ materially from those contained in projections or forward-looking statements of Globaltrans, including, among others, general economic conditions, the competitive environment, risks associated with operating in Russia, rapid technological and market change in the industries Globaltrans operates in, as well as many other risks specifically related to Globaltrans and its operations.