Moody's affirms Sovcomflot; outlook down to negative

Moody's Investors Service said it affirmed Sovcomflot JSC's issuer rating at Baa2, but changed the outlook to negative from stable.

At the same time, Moody's Interfax rating Agency, which is majority owned by Moody's, said it affirmed the company's Aaa.ru long-term national-scale rating and changed the outlook on its ratings to negative from stable.

The change of outlook was prompted by Moody's concerns about the ability of Sovcomflot to restore, over the medium term, a financial profile which would be commensurate with the minimum ratio guidelines outlined by the rating agency for maintaining a Baseline Credit Assessment of 11.

"Sovcomflot's position in its BCA category had weakened throughout 2009, given the negative condition of the tanker market; Moody's therefore anticipates that credit metrics at year-end 2009 could be weak for the current rating category," said Marco Vetulli.

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