Our annual general meeting was once again convened in Moscow on 4 April, where we were joined by various delegates, including our key stakeholders, managers and senior leadership, for major discussions relating to our long-term ambitions and our immediate objectives. The event began with the disclosure of our consolidated financial statements for 2024, that were audited pursuant to all relevant laws and compiled in accordance with International Financial Reporting Standards, otherwise known as IFRS. This was later approved in a vote by our shareholders, in conjunction with the corresponding director’s report, amongst a plethora of other motions that were also considered on the day itself. Whilst several ballots can be deemed routine, such as reelecting all the members of our current board, reappointing our third-party auditor for another year and retaining the composition of our audit committee, a number of exceptional measures were also carried. Foremost, the research and development strategy that was publicly announced last month was endorsed unanimously, in addition to our preliminary 2025-2029 investment plan, which will now be disclosed within the new few weeks. After the conclusion of these polls, our Deputy Chief Executive Officer, Aleksandr Filyurin, delivered the following remarks:
“I am delighted that we are able to report excellent results for 2024. I have worked for Rusneftegaz for over ten years now, and I cannot believe the transformation that has happened here in that time. You have to remember that when I first joined this company it was in a bad way, almost the entire board had been dismissed, and everything seemed in decline. If I think back to it, I am sure that Rusneftegaz announced a big loss for 2014, and that was after making a lot of cuts in the years before I arrived here. Well, now it is completely different, and when I say different, I mean really, really different. I mean, if you had said that I would still be here ten years later announcing billion-dollar revenues, I am not sure that I would have believed you. It really has been a great year for us, I mean, not only from a business point of view, but to be here marking our 25th anniversary and undergoing a big rebranding. It has definitely been a high point in my time here. That said, all this wouldn’t be possible without the great team that we work with, and the board and I would like to thank all our staff for another fantastic year here. I hope that for all of us, there are many more years of success to come.”
Perhaps the most significant decision resolved during the session was related to our corporate structure review, with each of the corresponding proposals arising from this set to be implemented over the next twelve months. Despite the fact that the results from the final report will not be publicly released at this present moment, we intend to make various announcements pertaining to this subject accordingly. It should be noted that this analysis of our organization has been made necessary as a result of our rapid rate of growth in recent times, and comes just over one decade after an almost identical assessment when we opted to replace several members of our board. Whilst the findings of this particular study have ultimately recommended a different course of action to this, we believe that the suggested approach to this matter will have a much greater impact not only upon our company, but on our wider business itself. The broader consequences of the implementation of these changes are liable to be similar to the outcome of our new research and development strategy, in addition to the latest incarnation of our investment plan, both of which are facing a real terms cut in spending over the next five years.
Although this may be construed negatively as an indictment on the performance of our business, the difference between this perception and reality is vastly different. Ultimately, our firm has spent vast sums on new infrastructure during the past ten years, and in combination with the transformation of our operations that has simultaneously unfolded throughout the same timeframe, there is no need to for us to maintain our previous levels of expenditure. All our current facilities are now wholly modernized and utilize state-of-the-art equipment, and thus we have no need to make any further improvements at present. By formalizing these reductions, our management forecasts that we shall retain a substantial volume of the funds we earn, which can then be reinvested into alternative areas. In the latest version of the spending program, the capital would instead be used to acquire crude oil and refined petroleum products that are essential for the success of our international trading division. This proposal received a comprehensive endorsement from all our key stakeholders, who similarly opted to forego a dividend for another twelve months to enable this scheme to function as planned, therefore significantly increasing our future holdings of inventory as a result.
With the potential to substantially expand our market size because of this new strategy, we are projecting that our enviable financial performance shall be noticeably boosted within the next few years. In the more immediate term, however, we can disclose that we once again achieved record revenues and profits for the last twelve months, with this success also forecasted to continue into the present fiscal year. As previously discussed, the vast majority of this turnover can be attributed to our global commodity trading division, which in recent times has emerged as the most critical area of our business, whereas our conventional production activities now report more modest progress in economic terms. Nonetheless, the expansion of the former is only set to intensify further as we incrementally increase sales of agrochemicals in due course. Although this particular area of our corporation only commenced trade recently, it is exhibiting the capacity to become a large proportion of our commerce by the end of the decade. Whilst this is currently less significant in scale than many of our other corporate undertakings, when considered in tandem with our wider international marketing operations, it provides us with strong reasons to be optimistic regarding both our imminent and long-term future. Any questions pertaining to our annual general meeting or the subjects in this article may be submitted via email or telephone in a timely manner. We necessitate your cooperation and understanding with this important matter.