For Immediate Release

13 May 2020

 

 

 

PhosAgro Board of Directors Acknowledges Effective Performance During Pandemic, Discusses 1Q Financial Statements and Recommends Dividend Payment

 

The Board of Directors of PhosAgro ("PhosAgro" or "the Company") (Moscow Exchange, LSE: PHOR), one of the world's leading vertically integrated phosphate-based fertilizer producers, acknowledged at its meeting today that the Company's performance during the coronavirus pandemic has been effective.

 

PhosAgro CEO and member of the Board of Directors Andrey Guryev presented information about how the Company was responding to the pandemic and thanked the members of the Board of Directors for their ongoing dialogue, recommendations and sharing of international expertise in combatting the coronavirus.

 

Mr Guryev noted that PhosAgro's absolute priority is to protect the health of its employees and of the residents of the cities where the Company operates, as well as to maintain the stable, uninterrupted operation of production facilities involved in ensuring national and global food security. PhosAgro has already spent over RUB 1.5 billion on measures to prevent the spread of COVID-19 both at company facilities and in support of medical and social infrastructure in the cities where it operates.

 

Mr Guryev said: "The comprehensive measures we have taken are having the desired effect. At the moment, we are performing fully in line with our production plan. Moreover, PhosAgro enjoyed record production and sales of mineral fertilizers in the first quarter, both of which increased by nearly 10% year-on-year. Sales of mineral fertilizers to our priority Russian market increased by 50% year-on-year."

 

The Board of Directors discussed the Company's 1Q 2020 financial performance and a draft of the revised 2020 budget, as well as the interim consolidated IFRS financial statements for 1Q 2020, which will be published on 14 May 2020. On the basis of these results, the PhosAgro Board of Directors recommended that an Extraordinary General Meeting of Shareholders ("EGM") approve a dividend payment of RUB 10.101 billion, or RUB 78 per share (RUB 26 per global depositary receipt), from retained net income as of 31 March 2020.

 

The EGM will be held on 19 June 2020 by absentee ballot. The record date for shareholders eligible to vote in the EGM has been set as 25 May 2020. The Board of Directors approved the EGM agenda and recommended that 6 July 2020 be set as the record date for shareholders eligible to receive dividends.

 

The meeting also heard information from the chairs of the Board of Directors committees on the work of the respective committees in 1Q 2020 and on the results of the implementation of the Company's information policy in 2019 and its main focus areas in 2020, as well as on the key aspects of ensuring the cybersecurity of PhosAgro enterprises.

 

In addition, the Board of Directors noted information on the Company's work in the areas of energy efficiency, meeting regulatory requirements on occupational health and industrial safety in the operation of production facilities, as well as on compliance with environmental regulations and environmental safety in 2019.

 

The Board of Directors was also informed about the Company's compliance with the provisions of Russian laws on protecting and sharing insider information and about the basic requirements for persons discharging managerial duties imposed by Russian and European laws.

 

Summing up the meeting, PhosAgro Board of Directors Chair Xavier Rolet said: "thanks to successful implementation of its long-term development strategy, the Company has maintained a confident outlook on the future and stable dividend payments while continuing to finance new investment projects using best available technologies and implementing social and charity projects."

 

For further information, please contact:

 

PJSC PhosAgro

Andrey Serov, Head of Investor Relations Department

+7 495 232 9689 ext 2183

ir@phosagro.ru

 

Timur Belov, Press Officer

+7 495 232 9689 ext 2652

pr@phosagro.ru

 

EM

Sam VanDerlip

vanderlip@em-comms.com

+44 207 002 7859

 

About PhosAgro

 

PhosAgro (www.phosagro.ru) is one of the world's leading vertically integrated phosphate-based fertilizer producers in terms of production volumes of phosphate-based fertilizers and high-grade phosphate rock with a P2O5 content of 39% and higher. PhosAgro's environmentally friendly fertilizers stand out for their high efficiency, and they do not lead to the contamination of soils with heavy metals.

 

The Company is the largest phosphate-based fertilizer producer in Europe (by total combined capacity for DAP/MAP/NP/NPK/NPS), the largest producer of high-grade phosphate rock with a P2O5content of 39%, a top-three producer of MAP/DAP globally, one of the leading producers of feed phosphates (MCP) in Europe, and the only producer in Russia, and Russia's only producer of nepheline concentrate (according to the RAFP).

 

PhosAgro's main products include phosphate rock, 39 grades of fertilizers, feed phosphates, ammonia, and sodium tripolyphosphate, which are used by customers in 100 countries spanning all of the world's inhabited continents. The Company's priority markets outside of Russia and the CIS are Latin America, Europe and Asia.

 

PhosAgro's shares are traded on the Moscow Exchange, and global depositary receipts (GDRs) for shares trade on the London Stock Exchange (under the ticker PHOR). Since 1 June 2016, the Company's GDRs have been included in the MSCI Russia and MSCI Emerging Markets indexes.

More information about PhosAgro can be found on the website: www.phosagro.ru.