Ukio Bankas loses a quarter of its value in one month

AB Ukio Bankas, the Lithuanian bank controlled by Edinburgh soccer club Heart of Midlothian Plc owner Vladimir Romanov, fell to an eight-year low on the Vilnius exchange, losing a quarter of its value in a month.

The shares fell as much as 12.4 percent today, closing down 7 percent at 0.12 euros ($0.15), the lowest since Oct. 28, 2004, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Volume of 766,022 shares was 11 times the three-month daily average. The shares have lost 24.5 percent since Oct. 10.

The decline began after the bank reported a nine-month net loss on Oct. 29, and accelerated on Nov. 6, when it said it took over a Lithuanian sports arena developer from debtors. Swedbank changed the shares to ‘no recommendation’ from ‘buy’ on Nov. 9, citing a lack of information about the effect of the arena transaction. Romanov owns 64.9 percent of Ukio Bankas (UKB1L) shares, according to a note in the bank’s earnings report.

“Investors really question the valuation of that property developer, which is a big part of the bank’s assets, and so they don’t know how much its equity may be worth now,” Finasta investment bank analyst Tadas Povilauskas said by phone. “And if Romanov hasn’t rescued his soccer club and hasn’t increased the share capital of Ukio Bankas as was planned some time ago, it probably means he just can’t find the money.”
Read more...