31 July 2008
Poltava Iron Ore (PGOK: BUY) and Sumy Frunze (SMASH: BUY) will be included in the leading Ukrainian stock index, the PFTS, from tomorrow, August 1. Zaporizhstal (ZPST: Susp) meanwhile remains indefinitely suspended from the index and from trading due to its conflict with minority shareholders. The moves increase the number of stocks in the index to 14 (13 while ZPST is suspended). Eugene Cherviachenko: We welcome this move, which we think makes the index more representative of the broader market. PGOK is an established blue chip that has been included in our definition of “first tier” stocks since March. SMASH has the longest history of real trading among all machine building companies on the PFTS. Several leading investment banks including Concorde Capital are continuing to challenge ZPST’s move to dilute its shares without a fair buy-back offer.