THE YEAR IS COMING TO AN END, AND WE ARE SUMMING UP THE RESULTS ACCORDING TO GOOD TRADITION!

Dear friends! The year is coming to an end, and we are summing up the results according to good tradition.

It is gratifying to note that we have remained true to ourselves and maintained the dynamics of steady annual growth.

For the group of companies, the growth was 30%. There are enterprises, for example, Drobmash, which has doubled production, Grankom - by 60%. In difficult conditions of tightening sanctions pressure, we have ensured stable operation, mastered a wide range of new products, including import-substituting ones, adequately responded to new challenges and market demands, satisfying on a large scale all those who turned to us for new products and materials that are in demand in all areas of mechanical engineering today.

If we talk about Ruspolimet, the company has traditionally shown a trend towards creating new production facilities. Despite all the difficulties, the building is ready for the development of special metallurgy, new equipment has been received: in the I-II quarters of 2024, 5 more furnaces will be installed - together with our colleagues, we will cover the needs that have formed in the domestic industry.

Conditions have been created for the development of gas-conditioning production. Grankom, increasing production, discovering new markets, has completed a colossal R&D program for the development of new products from metal powders and is confidently moving towards a "gateway breakthrough" towards the formation of a new technological order in responsible mechanical engineering. Of course, the company has many partners and assistants, but the work that the team does is difficult to overestimate in today's conditions.

Drobmash, having doubled its production, has mastered a whole line of new products. Together with a reliable partner, the engineering company "MEDIA", a whole series of gas stations has been developed and put into production. The GIP 720 is ready for shipment to the customer, the GIP 900 has been shipped, and installation is underway. Our most important asset this year is the gas station 2200, the installation of which has been completed at the customer's site. New products for the nuclear industry have been mastered, in particular, the production of a pilot transport packaging container (TUK) for the Turkish Akkuyu NPP is being completed, work is being carried out for our traditional customers - TSKBM, OKBM Afrikantov, FSUE RFNC-VNIIEF.

A number of partnership agreements have been signed with Chinese companies. Moreover, these are real programs that will allow the localization of a new range of crushing and screening equipment that was not previously produced by the enterprise. A guest visit is scheduled for March to coordinate the program for the next five years. If this year the sales volume of Drobmash is about 3.7 billion rubles, then in 2024 we plan 4 billion rubles. Cooperation with Chinese manufacturers will also contribute to achieving this goal.

The sales volume for the group of companies is gradually approaching 40 billion rubles - we have tripled since 2018. At the same time, we did not grow at the expense of any acquisitions, but in most cases from scratch, startups, due to the fact that we created new workshops, technological lines, acquired new competencies. For example, Grankom - in 2018, with the participation of the governor, a capsule was laid in the foundation of a gas atomization plant for powder production. Then it was a pit, and now Grankom has reported for the program of the outgoing year in the amount of 2.5 billion rubles, practically replacing by 100% the consumption of imported high-speed blanks, not to mention powder for 3D and gas-stabilization. At the same time, the "Vacuum Metallurgy Plant" was under construction, which has now reached its design capacity. The increase in production volumes also affected the growth of tax payments. This year, the group's consolidated tax payment increased by 1.5 billion rubles.

Speaking about the results, it is important to note a serious increase in the level of communication in the group, interaction at various levels on all issues. There is a consolidation of forces, more structured intellectual work. I am sure that this factor will allow us to match the traditional long-term growth trend next year.

All enterprises have formed an investment program for 2024 - investments in the group are planned in the amount of more than 3.5 billion rubles. It is important to say that the programs and budgets that we have drawn up not only provide growth dynamics, but, most importantly, are mobilizing in terms of increasing efficiency, labor productivity and guaranteed deadlines.

We have announced new projects in the Kulibin special economic zone in Dzerzhinsk - 3 innovative projects for products that are either not produced in Russia or are just starting to be produced. We are actively cooperating with the government and the Nizhny Novgorod Region Development Corporation in this direction.

The fact that we have resisted and multiplied is due, first of all, to our teams - workers, craftsmen, engineers, who have demonstrated simply fantastic results. And we know these names - Sergey Shushurin, Denis Shishov, Alexander Gordeev, if we talk about gas stations. Our production workers at Ruspolimet are Yuri Simashov and Pavel Igoshin.

Let me remind you that last year, by Decree of the President of the Russian Federation, the title "Honored Metallurgist of the Russian Federation" was awarded to Andrey Sapunov, technical director of Ruspolimet, Mikhail Klimov, a blacksmith on hammers and presses of the forging and rolling workshop, and Alexey Tarazanov, a thermist of the pressing and thermal workshop.

Special thanks to our partners - suppliers and customers. The results of the work, I want to emphasize once again, are such that, apart from words of gratitude to all participants, nothing else can be said.

The coming year 2024 has been declared the Year of the Family. I wish comfort, peace, kindness, mutual understanding, sensitivity, love and kind attitude to each other to all families of employees of our enterprises and our associates. Take care of each other. A leap year is always fraught with some kind of pitfalls. Let's hope that they will not be significant for us, and we will successfully cope with any challenges.

Happy New Year and Merry Christmas! Good luck! May all your dreams come true!

V.V.KLOCHAI, Chairman of the Board of Directors of JSC Ruspolimet.