Mobile TeleSystems (MBT), Eastern Europe’s largest cellular operator, announced results for third-quarter 2009 with earnings per ADS of $1.31 exceeding the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $1.17. Net income, however, dipped 4.1% year over year to $494.4 million on lower revenue and higher interest expenses on US dollar denominated debt.  Revenue, ARPU & Churn  Consolidated revenue declined 19.4% year over year to $2.27 billion, affected by the macroeconomic volatily across key markets and unfavorable exchange rate (rouble versus dollar) movements which hurt the company’s dollar-denominated revenues. On a geographic basis, revenue increased in Russia (7.2% year over year) and Turkmenistan (113.2%) while declining in Ukraine (1.7%), Uzbekistan (1.9%)and Armenia (3.1%).   In Russia , churn (customer switch) increased sequentially and year over year while ARPU (average revenue per user) increased from the previous quarter but declined year over year. Churn at Ukraine declined year over year while increasing ...

Everybody has probably already heard about the first exercises of the CSTO rapid reaction force in Kazakhstan today, where President Dmitry Medvedev wanted to make sure he was the most well dressed autocrat to show up to the party.  I do often wonder if the Kremlin hired the same people George W. Bush used to use to stage manage these kinds of Hollywood-esque media performances.  From Reuters:Dressed in combat fatigues, the leaders of Russia, Armenia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan looked on as the force carried out a mock attack to destroy "insurgents" who had taken control of a chemical plant. Smoke rose from a dew-drenched firing range in the Kazakh steppe, revealing paratroopers landing from helicopters and storming a building ...

Energy XXI (Bermuda) Limited (EXXI) Gulf Coast, Inc. (the “Company”) today September 4, 2009 announced it has commenced an exchange offer and consent solicitation in respect of its 10% Senior Notes due 2013 (the “Senior Notes”).

The Company has commenced an offer to exchange up to $360 million principal amount outstanding Senior Notes properly tendered (and not validly withdrawn) and accepted by the Company for its newly issued 16% Second Lien Junior Secured Notes due 2014 (the “Second Lien Notes”), subject to proration and reduction to $311 million principal amount of Senior Notes, depending on the aggregate principal amount of Second Lien Notes sold in a concurrent private placement.

About Energy XXI

Energy XXI is a Houston-based independent energy company engaged in the acquisition, development, exploration and production of oil and natural gas reserves in the U.S. Gulf Coast and the Gulf of Mexico. The Company an indirect wholly owned subsidiary of the

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Yesterday, VimpelCom (VIP) posted second-quarter profit of 69 cents per ADR (based on an average exchange rate 32.21 RUR/US$) that outpaced both the Zacks Consensus Estimate of 42 cents and the year-ago earnings of 46 cents.

The company reported quarterly net income of RUR22.6 billion ($701.5 million), more than double the net income of RUR11.1 ($345 million) reported in the year-ago period. This significant year-over-year growth was largely attributable to the RUR10.6 billion ($329 million) in foreign exchange gains from a strong ruble versus the US dollar.

VimpelCom’s net operating revenue in the quarter was RUR69.0 billion ($2.1 billion), reflecting 12% and 3.3% increase over the year-ago and the previous quarter, respectively. While sales from its wireless operation came in at RUR58.2 billion ($1.8 billion), the fixed-line business generated revenue of RUR14.6 billion ($453 million). The reported OIBDA of RUR35 billion ($1.1 billion) reflects a year-over-year growth of

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Mobile TeleSystems (MBT) announced results for the second quarter with reported earnings of $1.49 per ADR beating the Zacks Consensus Estimate of 85 cents. Eastern Europe’s largest cellular operator reported revenue of $2 billion, down 23.3% year over year, hurt by the macroeconomic volatility across its markets. Net income dipped 14.6% from the year-ago quarter to $563 million on lower revenue, higher interest expenses and increased handset costs.

On a geographic basis, revenue rose 7% year over year in Russia, 4% in Uzbekistan, 35% in Turkmenistan and 3% in Armenia, while sales declined 8% in Ukraine.

Mobile TeleSystems added approximately 2.8 million customers in the quarter (up sequentially), primarily driven by a 2.3 million net subscriber growth in Russia. This was marginally offset by 155,000 subscriber losses in Ukraine. At the end of the second quarter, the company served approximately 99.5 million subscribers (67.4 million in Russia), up

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Given all the news this week of Russia and Italy's South Stream deal with Turkey in exchange for a nuclear power plant, I thought I would repost an article written by Robert Amsterdam last fall in Energy Risk on Turkey's political pipelines.

FROM OCT. 2008, ENERGY RISK:

Turkey's political pipelines

Turkey's strategic position at the crossroads of East and West has put it at the centre of a geopolitical tug of war, with energy supply a key driver. Robert Amsterdam examines the energy policies being brought to bear in the region

Turkey's role in global affairs is defined by its geostrategic importance as the bridge between Europe and the Near East. Following Russia's invasion and occupation of Georgia in August, which caused considerable energy supply jitters, Turkey was once again thrust into the spotlight as the European

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Reuters points out some members of the CIS are having some disagreements with the Kremlin.

This year's Presidential Cup horse race, a traditional cue for an informal gathering of the 11-member Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), drew only five top guests: the leaders of Armenia, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Moldova and Tajikistan.

The presidents of Ukraine, Belarus, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan and Kyrgyzstan all failed to show up, citing personal reasons. Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko went instead to ride a Harley-Davidson at a local bikers' rally.

"The CIS leaders used the chance ... to show they are unhappy with the state of relations with Russia," said Alexei Mukhin, head

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As readers are likely well aware, Russia is shutting down most of its casinos this week under a new law that will isolate legal gambling facilities to just a handful of regions, far from the capital of Moscow.  This new piece from Tony Halpin in the Times of London sums up the story pretty well, and even points out that developers will be looking to pour billions into creating the next big Las Vegas-like equivalent destination for the punters of the East.  It occurs to me that if Georgia could develop a thriving casino industry, they could re-ignite the flow of Russian capital and help keep the peace.  As for all the leftover slot machines from Novy Arbat, perhaps United ...

Over the weekend I had read the reports about the bitter "milk war" going on between Russia and Belarus, which is actually just one of many food-related trade disputes we've seen in recent months (see also the confusing ban on U.S. pork imports).  Most surprisingly, the Belarusian delegation refused to attend the summit of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO), a relatively new regional grouping consisting of Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan.  Thanks to the Belarusian boycott of the summit, the CSTO was unable to sign the agreement to found a new NATO-like rapid reaction force to jointly respond to threats in the region (though the Uzbeks also refused to sign).  The Russians are naturally quite upset about the disobedience of Europe's last dictator - and at least one official let his/her tongue slip, threatening to ...

Silver has a long history. Ancient cultures used silver for trade, jewelry, and crafts.  Silver ore was first processed by the Chaldeans around 2500 BC as well as in Asia Minor (Turkey).  In an effort to meet rising societal demand, ancient Mediterranean cultures eventually looked to silver deposits in modern-day Armenia.

Later, Rome exploited deposits from the Laurium mines in the Black Sea region.  The Romans used silver and other metals for coinage. The Carthaginians looked to Spanish mines for their silver ore supply. Most cultures have valued that shiny metal known as “gold’s poor cousin.”

As for modern times, silver prices were stagnant for decades before exploding upward the last few years.  A huge gain in silver, along with a similar move in gold, is causing many investors to revisit precious metals……..

…….#3 – iShares Silver Trust (SLV)

As you know, we

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