Gazprom pulls out of crisis

Analysts give their positive estimations to the interim financial statements of the Gazprom gas company published for the first time on October 17, 2003. According to the documents, Gazprom showed better results in almost all balance issues, including its profit and loss report. In other words, the company is gradually pulling out of crisis and turning into a company with a growing cash flow.

However, there are still a number of questions regarding the company's financial performance. For example, it remains unclear, how much the company's tax payments went down. Currently, the company is paying 61.7 percent less. Its efficiency rate is only 18.5 percent, which is a lot less compared to 24 percent set by law.

At the same time, the situation with Gazprom's shares owned by the state remains unclear also. In March, 2003, Gazprom's officials declared that they had managed to consolidate a 51-percent stake in the company. This news should have initiated the liberalization of Gazprom's share market. However, the company's interim financial results show that at that time, the government failed to acquire total control over Gazprom. Apparently, the 51-percent stake was consolidated only on paper, and the real process of acquiring control was completed later. However, the fact that the company's management rushed with voicing the consolidation results is quite surprising, experts say. In general, analysts are positive about the first interim financial results of the company and suggest "to buy" Gazprom's shares.

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