Railway operators sent for dividends the amount of twice as much as their net profit

Large railway operators paying dividends sent an amount for these purposes last year, more than two times the amount of their net profit. This deprived the company of a financial pillow this year, so the market participants consider the payment of dividends unlikely. Experts believe that, despite the difficult situation, the operators for the most part as a result of 2025 will not go to net loss, and in 2026, when maintaining the current situation, this is quite possible.

The composition of the TOP-3 of the largest railway operators, according to the results of the first quarter of 2025, has not changed, and the top 10 has changed cosmetically, it follows from the Infoline Rail Russia Top rating. The rating leads First Cargo Company (PGK)that retained leadership in terms of transportation and cargo turnover. By the size of the park in management and the ownership of the PGK is inferior Federal cargo company (FGK) And « Demeter-Holding »occupying the second and third place, respectively.

In relation to loading to the park in management – the parameter showing, the wagons of which company on average transported the largest load – leads « Apatite »not even entering the top 20. By relative cargo turnover (transportation of the greatest cargo to the maximum distance to the car) – « Coal-Trans »in the ranking in ninth place.

PGK CEO Aleksey Vinnikov, emphasizing the difficulty of holding the positions of “in current difficult conditions”, said that the company would continue to increase the cargo base and improve operation with a rolling stock. First Deputy Director General of the Federal State Property Committee, Sergei Efremov, noted that the company remains one of the key operators in the Russian Federation, providing mobile composition with most of socially significant transportation. “The total share of transportation data in the company’s cargo base is more than 50%,” he said. According to him, according to the results of the first quarter, the company accounted for about 9.7% in the car park in the Russian Federation, 5.9% of loading and 5.4% of the cargo turnover. In the total volume of loading into the rolling stock of the FGK 47%, coal occupies, 22% – construction goods, 12% – metals, 9% – ore.

The ranking also summarizes the financial results of 2024 by the operator sector, which traditionally occurs later by the publication of the general rating for 2024 (See “Kommersant” from March 19). Not all operators disclose reports, and not everyone is allocated from the composition of industrial holdings.

• The revenue of companies that opened reports in 2024 increased by 11.6% to 1.36 trillion rubles, but net profit fell by 6.5% to 230.7 billion rubles.
• The revenue for the wagon in management per day increased by 6.2%, to 4.71 thousand rubles, but the profit for the carriage in management – decreased by 10.9% to 801.3 rubles.
• At the same time, the companies sent 355.3 billion rubles. For dividends, which is more than half as much as their net profit for 2024, according to the ranking.

The head of Infoline Analytics, Mikhail Burmistrov, expects a large-scale decrease in revenue and profit in 2025. The sector will not have a pure loss, but a company with a high fraction of leasing in the park or with a high debt load can become unprofitable, he believes, paying attention to large dividends paid in 2023–2024. Despite the favorable financial results of recent years, most operator companies have no financial reserves and a debt load has grown, the expert indicates.

“The probability of paying dividends in 2025 is evaluated as low,” says Kommersant’s source in the operator company. According to him, with the current fall of world raw materials, a high key rate, strengthening the ruble, a difficult situation on the network and, as a result, a fall in the volume of transportation and the rate of profitability of the business, the business chooses the use of funds to maintain current activities.

Mr. Burmistrov says that the operators today either engage in the standardization of the park, setting aside its part in order to maintain profitability under the current contracts, or fight for the market share, sometimes dumping.

The first strategy adheres to the FGK and, forcedly, small operators with a limited client base, the second-for example, Novotrans and Muchi-Trans. According to the expert, since many operators are ready to dump, bona fide cargo owners who fulfill the terms of service contracts find themselves in less favorable financial conditions than focused on the spoke market, where companies with an idle park prevail. Coarseers, he notes, refused to fulfill long -term contracts and lowered the wagon component to a minimum, referring to losses. In 2026, the analyst predicts if the current conjuncture of the global coal market is preserved and loading will not grow, the destruction of the service contracts system will continue, and against the background of dumping, the growth in the cost of repairing and maintaining a high key rate, the operator sector as a whole can go to a loss.

Natalia Skorlygina