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 ...

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an offer to exchange up to $360 million principal amount outstanding Senior Notes properly tendered (and not validly withdrawn) and accepted by the Company for its newly issued 16% Second Lien Junior Secured Notes due 2014 (the “Second Lien Notes”), subject to proration and reduction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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Melik Kaylan, the fellow who in 2007 wrote a pretty popular travel piece about spending time in the Mikheil Saakashvili entourage, has a Georgia war anniversary opinion published on Forbes:The West has furnished way too many levers and excuses to Moscow propagandists in recent years, from the instability in Iraq to the recent collapse in the global economy. Russia's proffered alternative grows closer and closer to the Soviet one daily: command economies, Russian-backed political elites, subsidized industries, protected jobs, state-owned media--the whole gamut. Plenty of folks, especially those in power, in numerous countries from Venezuela to Uzbekistan now consider this a viable alternative. If an iron curtain should descend across the globe anew, we have to decide who to save and how much to sacrifice. Solzhyenitsyn once said that the Russians were more likely to triumph in the long run because they were more accustomed to suffering and sacrifice. ...

TODAY: Georgia and Russia, one year on, guns quiet but war of words blazing: who started it?  Opposition says democracy far off; humanitarian issues remain; strike on Twitter linked to conflict.  Chavez military deal; Russia to calm Uzbekistan; launch radar.  Bloggers detained.'Differing narratives of the war persist': the New York Times looks back.  'There's even disagreement on what day marks the beginning of the five-day conflict'.  A 40-page report released by the Georgian government and a Russian Foreign Ministry statement highlight the different spins.  The Guardian outlines the arguments on both sides.  Georgia's Reintegration Ministry has defended the actions of President Mikheil Saakashvili in relation to the war, whilst the Georgian opposition brand the ministry's ...

TODAY: New NATO chief asserts Russia needs to acknowledge sovereignty; nuclear chief fired; Uzbekistan wary of Kremlin's Kyrgyzstan plans.  Moscow-appointed judge in Yukos case to step down. Anniversary of Solzhenitsyn's death. The new head of NATO, Anders Fogh Rasmussen, has said that the alliance will attempt to pursue a 'strategic partnership' with Russia, whilst 'insisting on Russian compliance with her international obligations including respect of the sovereignty and integrity of her neighbors'.  The Commander of the strategic nuclear missile forces, Nikolai Solovtsov, has been fired after the repeated failures of the Baluva missile.  He will be replaced by General Andrei Shvaichenko.  Russia has renewed its backing for UN sanctions against North Korea, initiated to deter it ...

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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TODAY: Medvedev reiterates warning to Georgia as tensions simmer; Russia will not impose sanctions on Iran at Washington's behest; activists slam 'repressive' army measures; hrono up again.'I would not like to specially recount what happened last year ... and to what we were forced to give a tough and pretty effective response,' Medvedev has repeated a warning to Georgia over South Ossetia and Abkhazia. Meanwhile a US warship has anchored off Georgia's coast for joint war games.  Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili has recently played down the threat of Russian military action: RFE/RL suggests US guarantees an a explanation, quoting sources claiming that Obama told Medvedev privately that any attack against Georgia would have 'grave consequences' ...

Russia is busy hosting this week: the city of Yekaterinburg will be both the first destination for newly re-elected Iranian President Ahmadinejad, and the site of the first meeting between Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari since last year's attack on Mumba.i There's a flurry of talk about the first formal BRIC summit.  Will the countries, manage to achieve concrete advances in cultivating a united front?  Or will their differences overpower?  The Moscow Times reports:  "Between the BRIC countries, there is really little in common," said Yevgeny G. Yasin, head of research at the Higher School of Economics in Moscow. "Each of them has its own destiny, its own special character, and it will be much more difficult for them to agree among themselves than separately with Western countries." Is the organization, ...