Vladimir Putin is facing a construction nightmare as stocks in Russia’s biggest construction group plummet.
Bonds of the country’s largest developer – the Samolet Group – have undergone a downward spiral through the summer and autumn.
Russian news agency Interfax describes the Samolet Group as “the leader in terms of current construction volume in Russia”.
At the time of writing, according to Investing.com, the firm’s stocks have decreased by 78.05 per cent in a year.
The site says the company develops “large-scale and complex urban areas” primarily in Russia.
It also operates Samolet Plus, an online real estate services platform, and manages commercial and rental real estate funds, as well as development projects across segments, such as residential housing, resort real estate, and others.
According to Interfax, Samolet expects sales of around 1.3million square meters in 2024, and at least the same level in 2025.
The agency added: “Samolet sold 1.192 million square meters totaling 258.3 billion rubles in January-November 2024, the developer said, with the average price rising 16 per cent year-on-year to 213,600 rubles per square meter.
“Cash receipts reached 251.2 billion rubles. Account balances total 30 billion rubles.
“The share of contracts concluded with the participation of mortgage funds totaled 74 per cent.”
Science reports that Russia’s plans for building or improving major research facilities have “hit a snag”.
Officials announced in October that they postponed efforts to build a new synchrotron light source, modernise another, and expand a neutron research centre.
It comes as Vladimir Putin faces a fresh sanction nightmare as a new wave of economic measures hits Russia.
The EU’s Council – the bloc’s institution that defines its “general political direction and priorities” – announced this week that it had approved its fifteenth package of measures aimed at impeding Putin’s capability to wage war in Ukraine.
Officials say it is designed to address the avoidance of sanctions by targeting Russia’s “shadow fleet” of ships and weaken the country’s military and industrial complex.
The sanctions also affect Chinese and North Korean “actors”.
The EU’s 14th package of sanction included a “prohibition on providing goods, technology or services to LNG (liquid natural gas) projects under construction in Russia.”
These included new terminals like Arctic LNG 2 or Murmansk LNG. Officials say this limits the future expansion of Russian LNG capacities.
