On 30th December, the last trading day of the year 2005, capitalization of North-West Telecom JSC overpassed the level of 1 billion US dollars for the first time, amounting to 1.006 billion US dollars according to the results of RTS trading.     

For the year 2005 on the whole, the market capitalization of NWT* grew by 81%, the value of common shares having increased by 76% and that of preferred shares by 104%. From the start of the trading in the shares of the united company in October 2002, capitalization of NWT JSC has grown more than 5 times. 

The year 2005 can be called a breakthrough in the increase of the liquidity of NWT's securities. From the start of the year the number of stock exchange venues where investors can buy NWT's shares and ADR has increased to five: SE MICEX, NP RTS, SE RTS, Frankfurt and Berlin stock exchanges.

As a result, the annual turnover of common shares has tripled, to 81 million, while that of preferred shares has doubled, to 45 million. Meanwhile, the distribution of trading among Russian stock exchanges has become more uniform: half of the transactions are effected at MICEX and half at RTS. 

Commenting on this event, IR & PR officer of JSC NWT's Ella Tomilina noted that "having overpassed the psychological mark of $ 1 billion, NWT has entered the so-called "Mid-cap" category of companies (those having middle capitalization), which expands the circle of company's potential investors". Assessing the results of the year on the market of the company's shares on the whole, she emphasized that "the progressive growth of capitalization is a logical result of NWT's efforts aimed at improving the investment attractiveness of the company. Creating prerequisites for the growth of the market value of the company is an integral part of NWT's corporate strategy, to which we invariably adhere in the framework of the approved "Concept of Increasing the Capitalization of JSC North-West Telecom for 2005-2007."   

* according to the data of RTS