Russian contractors delist: With its market capitalisation having dived from £895m to £174m in the seven years since its IPO, the Moscow-based construction company Rose Group has decided to delist from the London Stock Exchange.“An LSE listing cannot bring any liquidity or additional investment to a company, although it does impose certain restrictions and quite substantial costs,” said David Wood, Financial Director of the Group which specialises in the capital’s high real-estate sector. “Given a decline in Western investors’ interest in Russian equities, some companies prefer to delist from the London stock exchange,” commented UFS IC ‘s chief analyst Alexei Kozlov. “A large number of Russian equities were not particularly liquid in the best of times, and in these times of crisis companies have to cut costs”. Last month another Russian construction company, Gals-Development also decided to delist from the London exchange as did the Russian bank FK Otkrytie in September. This is being seen as part of a long-term trend, as Russian companies increasingly turn eastwards in search of investment. rbth