On 17 March 2021, the Board of Directors of PAO Sovcomflot (“SCF Group”) approved the Group’s Long-Term Development Program (LDP) for the period up to 2025. The Board reviewed the results of the Groups’ operations for 2020, net profits for dividend distribution and the Group’s ongoing decarbonization and sustainability program.

The Board noted the Group’s strong operational and financial performance for the year to 31 December 2020. Net profit grew up by over 18 per cent year-on-year to USD 267 mln and EBITDA increased by almost 10 per cent year-on-year to a historic high of USD 903.4 mln. 

Sergey Frank, Chairman of the Board of Directors, commented:

“The Board of Directors is grateful to management and teams both at sea and ashore that despite the operational challenges faced by colleagues over 2020 in the face of unprecedented restrictions imposed to personnel travel and supply chains arising from the COVID-19 pandemic, the Group has continued to provide uninterrupted marine services and fulfilled its contractual obligations to our clients. On several of its KPIs, the Group has achieved record results. Over 2020, SCF Group made further progress in its long-term growth plans with substantial growth in core strategic business segments such as LNG transportation. Given the sustained performance of the Group’s industrial business augmented by the high returns from spot rates achieved by the conventional fleet during the first half of 2020, the Board gave a provisional recommendation to allocate RUB 15.8 bln[1] for dividend payments for the 2020 financial year, in line with dividend guidance within the IPO memorandum. The Board notes that all vessels currently included in SCF’s newbuilding portfolio are backed by long-term time-charter contracts and their funding is fully covered.”

David Moorhouse, member of the Board of Directors, Chairman of the Board’s Committee for innovative development and technical policy, said:

“A strong commitment towards protecting the environment, reducing its carbon footprint and increasing the energy efficiency of its fleet has long been and remains an integral part of SCF’s strategy. From 2010 to 2020, the Company fleet’s carbon intensity reduction index was 22 per cent. SCF’s ‘Green Charter’ has been formulated taking into consideration Pathways in the Paris Agreement, emission reduction targets set by the IMO for 2050 and other regulations on an international, regional and national level. We are confident that SCF’s goals are shared by its world-leading charterers and business partners in the energy sector, as well as manufacturers of vessel engines and equipment and the global shipbuilding community. The Board of Directors believes that all resources SCF plans to invest in fleet renewal will be exclusively used to build vessels designed to the highest available standards of environmental protection and energy efficiency.”

Igor Tonkovidov, President and CEO of PAO Sovcomflot, said:

“I take this opportunity to express my gratitude to all SCF’s crews for demonstrating their high level of training, self-discipline, dedication and loyalty, showing the best capabilities of Russian seafarers, despite borders being closed and air travel suspended amidst the pandemic. Equally, I am grateful to our shore-based personnel for their continuous professional work, under conditions requiring a high degree of communications proficiency and prompt actions. Thanks to the timely integration of digital solutions into its core processes, SCF was able to ensure the stability and continuity of its operations through the disruption caused by the pandemic. This may be illustrated by the fact that the Group’s vessels called at some 580 ports located in 111 different nations. In 2020, SCF initiated a large-scale, in-house programme to train the personnel required for 18 next-generation Arctic LNG carriers ordered in 2019-2020, which will create over 1,000 new jobs for Russian seafarers when these vessels are delivered from 2023 onwards. In partnership with Russia’s major maritime academies, SCF has also begun a new phase of targeted training programmes for cadets selected as future officers of the SCF Group.”