GAZ raises $21m from additional issue of shares

The revenue from the additional issue of shares of the automobile manufacturer GAZ amounted to 655.684m rubles ($21.43m). As a result, the company's authorized capital increased by 18.9 percent to 7.093m rubles (about $232,000), the press service of GAZ reported. The issue was carried out in the period from July 17 to August 23, 2003. Some 1.128m shares were placed at 581 rubles ($18.9) per share. The raised funds will be spent on developing production and implementing investment projects.

GAZ's net income in the first half of this year was 180m rubles ($5.9m) against 259m rubles ($8.5m) in losses in the first half of 2002. The company's revenue was 17.42bn rubles ($570m) in the first six months of 2003, which was 2.9-percent growth compared to the corresponding period of last year.

GAZ produced 89,080 automobiles in the first six months of 2003, including 67,879 trucks and 21,201 cars.

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