Shares in Russian retailer Fix Price tumble after sanctions hit VTB
Shares in London-listed Russian retailer Fix Price plunged yesterday after it suspended a planned share buyback programme due to sanctions slapped on the firm’s bank, state-owned Russian lender VTB Capital.
The retailer, which runs 4,200 shops across Russia, Belarus and Kazakhstan, confirmed it had ended the buyback programme with Moscow-headquartered VTB yesterday.
The firm’s global depository receipts depositary plunged by 76.9 per cent, to 60 cents yesterday, down from $2.
Fix Price was floated in London last March and backed by asset management giant BlackRock and Qatar’s sovereign wealth fund, but the firm’s London traded receipts have since plunged from $9.75 a year ago.
The tumble in Fix Price comes amid a wider sell-off in London-listed Russian stocks as investors look to dissociate themselves from Russian state-backed firms and reduce their exposure to Western sanctions.
State-owned Sberbank saw 70 per cent wiped off its London-listed shares after sanctions were slapped on the lender by Western nations.
Shares in FTSE 100 steelmaker Evraz, in which Roman Abramovich holds a 30 per cent stake, fell up to 28 per cent yesterday before rising slightly at market open this morning.
Russian mining firm Polymetal International fell beyond 56 per cent and has seen a further fall this morning.
The plunging share prices come after the UK and US ramped up its sanctions and kicked out several Russian lenders from the international payments system Swift.