London Stock Exchange suspends trading in 27 firms with strong links to Russia
The London Stock Exchange has suspended trading in 27 companies with strong links to Russia, including energy and banking giants Gazprom and Sberbank.
The LSE said it was moving to block trading in the companies, which also include EN+, Lukoil and Polyus, with immediate effect “in light of market conditions, and in order to maintain orderly markets.”
International pressure is taking an increasing toll on Russian businesses, while the invasion of Ukraine is also disrupting those with operations in the region, with miners Evraz, in which Roman Abramovich owns a 29% stake, and Polymetal dropping out of the FTSE 100 in its quarterly review as their market values have plummeted.
On Friday, the LSE suspended VTB Capital, a subsidiary of Russia’s second-largest bank VTB, from trading. Earlier this week, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) suspended trading in the bank’s global depository receipts on the LSE, where it has a secondary listing. Its main listing is in Moscow.
On Wednesday, Sberbank, Russia’s biggest lender, announced it is pulling out of the European market, after it said it faced large outflows of cash in the region as well as threats to the safety of its employees and branches.
The announcement came only hours after the European Central Bank ordered the closure of Sberbank Europe, warning that the business could fail following a run on deposits because of Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine.
The LSE, which said that its own operations in Russia and Ukraine account for less than 1% of total income, added that it would “continue to keep this situation under review”.
LSE reported an almost doubling of pre-tax profits from £492m in pandemic-hit 2020 to £987m last year. Total income more than tripled year-on-year from
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