I have been investing in stocks for a long time and I know for sure that the most reliable and profitable investments are in securities of proven large companies. I always try to choose assets of oil and gas companies, since they are not at risk of bankruptcy even during a crisis.
One of such companies is Surgutneftegaz. What kind of company this is, who heads it and how to buy shares - I will tell you this in this article.
About company
Public Joint Stock Company "Surgutneftegaz" is a private oil and gas processing company. The organization is registered, as the name suggests, in Surgut. The company's headquarters is located in the same city.
The company was founded in 1993. The organization separated from Glavtyumenneftegaz. After some time, the enterprise was privatized.
Shareholders
After the Surgutneftegaz company separated from Glavtyumenneftegaz, part of the main stake, namely 45% of the securities, went to the state. In addition, 8% of assets were sold in a closed auction. 7% of the shares were transferred to the team, according to privatization.
A year after the formation of the independent enterprise Surgutneftegaz, the remaining shares were sold. At that time, the remaining stake was 40% of securities. The assets went to the unknown organization Neft Invest.
In 1995, the state put up its own shares for a collateral auction, which were acquired by the non-state pension fund Surgutneftegaz.
Main risks for minority shareholders
For shareholders whose share in the total shares is insignificant, there are a number of risks in terms of making a profit from investing in the company’s assets, namely:
- high competition in the industry;
- global fall in oil prices;
- revaluation of company funds stored in foreign currency on bank deposits.
- the global situation and the introduction of sanctions that affect the activities of the enterprise.
- closeness and lack of transparency in the company for minority shareholders.
Shares
Some of the company's shares are listed on the Moscow Exchange. Both legal entities and individuals can purchase the assets of an enterprise.
The company's assets are characterized by high profitability and liquidity, low investment risks and a high level of social responsibility. At the same time, the company is not advertised and information about it rarely appears in the media, so shares are still freely available on stock markets.
The company's securities are considered blue chips. This means that the assets are produced by a reliable company, which is Surgutneftegaz, so the shares will bring stable good profits.
Types of shares
The company issues two types of securities:
- simple - there are 35,725,994,705 pieces in circulation with a nominal value of 1 ruble, the real price of one paper is 35 rubles;
- preferred - there are 7,701,998,235 pieces in circulation with a nominal value of 1 ruble, the real price of one asset is 40-45 rubles.
The authorized capital is divided into 2 parts, the General Fund allocates 80% to common shares, 20% to preferred shares.
Both types of assets are listed on the Moscow Stock Exchange. Securities are traded in lots, with one lot containing several shares at once.
The main difference between common and preferred assets is dividends. If we take data for 2015, the difference will be clearly visible. One common share brought the holder 60 kopecks, when the income on the preferred security will be 7 rubles.
Hypothetical participation in the Saudi Aramco IPO
The second rumor on the market is that Surgutneftegaz will take part in the IPO of one of the world's largest oil producers, Saudi Aramco, says Verevkin. “Basically, Russia already has a lot of its own oil potential to invest massively in Saudi Aramco. Nevertheless, indeed, a number of Russian investors have an interest in this IPO,” said the head of the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF), Kirill Dmitriev, during the Russian-Saudi Economic Forum in Riyadh on October 14. This IPO, scheduled before the end of the year, could become the largest in history: with a 2% stake, the company could raise $40 billion.
Surgutneftegaz, which adheres to a conservative financial policy, has made only one major purchase abroad in its entire history - in 2006 it acquired a stake in the Hungarian MOL. But this purchase was received with hostility by Hungary, so the Russian company had to sell the asset.
Advantages of enterprise securities
Shares of the Surgutneftegaz company have the following advantages:
- financial stability;
- high liquidity, which allows you to sell securities at any time if the need arises;
- good supply of hydrocarbons, which indicates the reliability of investments;
- high dividends, thanks to which the holder receives a good, stable profit;
- affordable cost and minimum amount for entry;
- availability of purchases on the stock market for individuals and legal entities.
In addition, a large number of securities are available for free sale. This allows anyone who wants to purchase the required amount of assets, unlike, for example, Gazprom, whose shares are extremely difficult to buy.
Industry situation
The agreement between OPEC+ member countries to regulate the balance in the global hydrocarbon market imposes certain restrictions on oil production, which negatively affects the entire industry as a whole.
2018 was quite successful. The growth in volumes of Russian oil produced increased by 1.7%, which is more than 555 million tons, prospecting and exploration work increased, and a little more than half of the total amount of raw materials produced went into processing. Exports amounted to 258 million tons.
The enterprise's share in the total volume of oil produced in the Russian Federation is 11%, which amounted to 60.9 million tons, and oil refining - 6.3% and 18.2 million tons.
Dividends
If we look at the graph of the value of the company's assets over the entire period of its existence, we can conclude that the price of preferred assets increases if dividend payments increase. In addition, these types of securities exceed ordinary shares in terms of trading volume. As a result, the liquidity discount is reduced to zero.
Preferred securities have a clear rate of return. In addition, if the Surgutneftegaz company is liquidated, then all property of the enterprise will be transferred to the holders of such assets. This explains the increased popularity of this type of promotion.
The only disadvantage of such assets is that the holder does not receive the right to vote on the board of shareholders. However, for most investors this minus is insignificant.
For any type of securities, their holder receives dividends. The exact return on assets is presented on the official website of the Moscow Exchange and directly on the enterprise itself.
Who is behind Surgutneftegaz? List by surname
“Surgutneftegaz” remains a thing in itself: since 2003, its employees have been at the helm of organizations whose financial investments are equal to the value of 73% of the company’s shares.
Surgutneftegaz “belongs to its employees,” said Deputy Prime Minister Igor Sechin at a meeting of Rosneft shareholders in June (Surgut CEO Vladimir Bogdanov was elected to the board of directors of the state-owned company), recalls Alexei Navalny, a minority shareholder of both companies. Unofficially, Surgut employees also say this. Formally, not a single major shareholder of the company is known: Surgutneftegaz has 37,585 owners (as of June 30), but no one has owned more than 5% of ordinary shares since 2003. Therefore, “Surgut” is not obliged to reveal the owners. Its board of directors consists of only former and current managers, but the directors do not say who votes for them.
Sechin was hardly mistaken. Since 2003, 23 legal entities from the Tyumen region (funds, non-profit partnerships and LLCs created by these NPs) have financial investments close to the market quotes of 73% of the shares of Surgut (see).
The heads of these organizations are employees of Surgutneftegaz. Until 2007, ten of them (with an estimated stake of 42%) were personally led by Bogdanov, the rest were top managers of the company. In 2007-2008, they were replaced by ordinary Surgut employees.
The investments of these organizations at the beginning of 2008 amounted to 915.9 billion rubles, and by January of this year, according to Rosstat balance sheets, they decreased by 44% to 511.8 billion rubles. Both then and now this corresponds to the value of 72.8% of Surgutneftegaz (about 85.8% of ordinary shares): since 2003, investments of 23 organizations exactly repeat the dynamics of the company’s capitalization.
Bogdanov never confirmed that these organizations own his company; a request to his reception yesterday remained unanswered. But the fact that billions on the balance sheets of funds and partnerships are shares of Surgut, said a source close to the company.
The Unified State Register of Legal Entities (USRLE) lists 16 telephone numbers of these organizations, but comments from their leaders could not be obtained: the general director of five organizations (investments - 116 billion rubles, or approximately 16% of Surgut) - deputy head of the investment planning department Elena Maryina is on vacation, said her colleague ; in four numbers, different employees of “Surgut” assured that they did not know these people; For the rest, no one answered.
Most of the founders of these 23 organizations (alleged shareholders) were created in the late 1990s with the participation of Surgut’s subsidiary, Invest-Zashchita LLC. But now these legal entities are not formally affiliated with the oil company, O Ilya Rachkov. Non-profit partnerships and funds, in principle, cannot belong to anyone, they simply exist, adds legal partner Arthur Rokhlin. Who and how manages the property of the funds is defined in their regulations, and how decisions are made in the NP are determined by their charters, adds Rokhlin.
How to become a shareholder of a company
Due to the low cost of shares, every investor can afford to purchase securities. This will require a minimum amount of money.
The easiest way to purchase Surgutneftegaz securities is on the stock market. The algorithm of actions in this case will be as follows:
- Choose a broker that has access to the Moscow Stock Exchange. You can choose a bank that has a brokerage department, or a private person, but only if you have a license to carry out the relevant activities. It is impossible to trade on the stock market without a broker, so choosing one should be approached with all responsibility.
- Open a brokerage account. It is through him that all trading transactions on the stock market are concluded.
- Fund your brokerage account. Deposit as much money as is required to purchase the assets, including all fees. The amount should be enough not only to purchase shares, but also to cover the broker's remuneration and bank commissions.
- Download and install the exchange terminal using either a computer or a mobile device. Thanks to this program, it will be possible to participate in trading and enter into relevant transactions on the stock market. Access to the terminal should be obtained from the broker.
- Find the required asset in the table. From the presented options, you should choose the one that is presented at the lowest price of all offers. After this, create an application to purchase Surgutneftegaz securities. After the transaction is concluded, money is debited from the brokerage account and shares are credited.
When purchasing Surgutneftegaz shares, you should take into account that they are traded not individually, but in lots. One lot includes 100 securities. In this case, one package contains either common or preferred shares.
On average, purchasing a lot of a company's securities costs an investor an average of 3,500-4,500 rubles, depending on the established value of the asset.
Inside trading
Market excitement and emotional buying are unlikely to explain the dynamics of the price of Surgutneftegaz shares, says Bakhtin. A sharp increase in price may be associated with purchases by large players who have internal corporate information. “Naturally, private and small investors bought securities, there is the influence of algorithmic trading, this all intensified the movement, but it is so strong and long-lasting that there is probably a driver here in the form of large corporate money. Even at 30-minute intervals there were large purchases and high turnover,” notes the investment strategist at BCS Premier.
“The market is behaving as if Surgutneftegaz is going to do something with its savings, for example, acquire some kind of oil and gas asset,” admits Alexey Kokin, senior analyst for the oil and gas sector at Uralsib Bank.
At the end of the first half of 2019, Surgutneftegaz had almost 3 trillion rubles in its accounts. But the company is greatly undervalued because the market did not value the money it had on its balance sheet. “The entire cache (cash - RBC) on the balance sheet was valued at virtually zero, as if this money did not exist. Accordingly, any action with this cash in terms of investments, even unprofitable ones, should have a positive impact on the shares,” Raiffeisenbank analyst Andrey Polishchuk told RBC.
“Even if a company invests in an unprofitable asset that is worth half as much as their investment, half of this cash must be included in the valuation one way or another,” Polishchuk explains. He refused to comment on what upcoming corporate events could trigger the growth of Surgutneftegaz shares.
