Abramovich’s Evraz Rises After Resuming South African Operations

Evraz Plc (EVR), a Russian steelmaker part-owned by billionaire Roman Abramovich, rose the most in a week during London trading today after resuming operations at its Highveld unit in South Africa following a strike.

Evraz rose as much as 3.4 percent today, the biggest intraday gain since Aug. 7, and traded up 1.8 percent at 273.20 pence by 11:30 a.m. in London.

The South African unit, Evraz Highveld Steel & Vanadium, reached an agreement with its biggest labor union after a four- week strike, allowing operations to resume Aug. 13, the metals producer said in a statement today. Highveld said yesterday by e-mail that the steelworks were starting and would be fully operational by the end of the month.

“Evraz is rising on the resumption of South African operations and market improvement in Russia,” said Anton Rumyantsev, an analyst at Troika Dialog in Moscow. Prices for rebar, a key product for Evraz, have added 1 percent since last week, he said, citing data compiled by Steel Business Briefing.

The unit has converted a three-shift system to a four-shift system and agreed on “certain compensation” for workers hurt financially by the change, according to the statement. The four- week strike had “no material effect” on Evraz’s financial performance, according to the statement.

To contact the reporter on this story: Ilya Khrennikov in Moscow at ikhrennikov@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: John Viljoen at jviljoen@bloomberg.net