Dear Shareholders,
The spread of the COVID-19 virus disrupted economic acitivity across Russia. Our industry did not escapte the impact of this although it was very much a year of two halves for freight rail transportation.
In the first half of 2020, demand slumped as the sector suffered the full economic impact of COVID-19; in the second half, our markets recovered and overall frieght rail turnover returned to the pre-COVID levels.
Globaltrans again delivered a resilient business performance even at this exceptionally challenging time. We out performed the market in freight rail turnover, secured further new contracts and extensions of existing contracts, and invested in the growing specialised container transportation segment. Although our financial results were inevitably impacted by the weak market conditions, our focus on cost control and expansion CAPEX flexibility resulted in the Group delivering increased Free Cash Flow and solid dividends for shareholders as targeted and announced beforehand.