As we mark the 25th anniversary since this company was founded, Rusneftegaz held our annual general meeting on 5 April in Moscow, attended by a plethora of delegates from every corner of the world. Not only did this include all our executive leadership, but also a number of key stakeholders and managers, each of whom made proactive contributions to the discussions that were held at the event itself. This included productive talks pertaining to our next research and development plan, due to be reviewed early next year, in addition to our corporate investment strategy, which is similarly expected to be revised in due course. While this element of the conference constituted the vast majority of time in these conventions, the disclosure of our consolidated financial statements for 2023 served as the highlight of the assembly, where our organization unveiled record revenues from our activities during the twelve-month period.
Such fiscal results were audited pursuant to all relevant laws and prepared in full compliance with International Financial Reporting Standards, otherwise known as IFRS. At the conclusion of the yearly congress, all proposed resolutions were passed unanimously, including motions to approve the aforementioned financial statements and the corresponding director’s report. It was likewise resolved to maintain the board of directors and audit committee as each is currently composed, in conjunction with retaining the services of the current auditor. It was also mutually agreed that once again a dividend will not be paid this year, with the consensus amongst the quorum being that our corporation should continue its existing practice of reinvesting earned profits to maximize long-term growth and to ultimately expedite the expansion process. At the end of the event, our Deputy Chief Executive Officer, Aleksandr Filyurin, gave the following statement:
“I think that first and foremost the board and I should place on record our thanks to everyone here who has done so much to make the past year such a big success. A lot is going right here despite what is going on around us now, and there are a lot of people here that can take credit for that, and I hope that they know who they are. Breaking records in what is supposed to be a hard time to do business is an utterly enormous achievement, especially when you look around us and see that a lot of our competitors are struggling at the same time as we are doing really well. Now, it is obviously a very important time for us too; heading into a 25th anniversary year is a big deal, and we are going to mark the occasion. I am not going to pretend that I don’t know what we have planned, but I think you are going to have to wait a little while longer before I can tell you anything. There is a lot to look forward to here at the moment, and I am sure that it is going to continue for a long time yet.”
Overall, our rapid rate of fiscal growth over the past few years did not abate in the last twelve months, with our corporation once again recording record revenues and profits in 2023. At this point in time, our trade in commodities is now the largest element of our business, composing the bulk of our turnover in spite of the ongoing challenges that our company faces externally. Although it is difficult to project how the geopolitical situation may evolve over the course of the next year, we believe that these conditions are unlikely to change significantly within this timeframe, and thus it is doubtful that our firm will be overly impacted. However, due to the continuing volatility in global commodity prices and the potential for political actions against both the Russian Federation and the oil and gas industry, there shall always be a substantial degree of uncertainty in our forecasts.
That said, our latest projections for this current year foresee our organization surpassing these previous totals, with the success that has seen Rusneftegaz develop so rapidly since the beginning of the decade set to continue into the foreseeable future. The scale of this growth is unprecedented in our corporate history, and as a result, our management is keen to capitalize on the progress of our international commodity trading arm, which has been the main catalyst of this enlargement. Therefore, we recently disclosed our intention to increase the scope of this area of our business by starting to deal in agrochemicals, such as urea and ammonia. Previously, our enterprise had been solely focused upon exchanging crude oil and refined products, ultimately to great accomplishment, although we do not anticipate developing this sector of our operations much further. Instead, we intend to improve our market share in the goods we do sell, rather than seeking to expand our remit.
In spite of this, our leadership cannot rule out the prospect of further expansion entirely, with ambition being innate and fundamental to the core philosophy of Rusneftegaz throughout our history. This is no more acute as we begin to mark our 25th anniversary year, a considerable milestone for us and a time to reflect upon what we have accomplished during this timeframe. We plan to hold a major celebration of this notable achievement over the coming months, with additional details to be announced in due course. As this is such a significant event, we are hoping to include all our employees in these festivities regardless of their location or schedule, some of whom have worked for us for the entire span of time. Although it should be noted that despite the fact that this is a monumental occasion for us, we are wholly optimistic that there will be many more similar celebrations of our triumphs yet to come. Any queries pertaining to the subjects mentioned may be submitted via email or telephone in haste. We necessitate your cooperation and understanding with this matter.