Summary Joint-stock company “Lifosa”

Summary

Joint-stock company “Lifosa”

I will start from the history of the founding joint-stock company “Lifosa”. The ideas and intentions to build a large superphosphate plant in Lithuania emerged as early as in the strategy plans of 1952; however, the implementation of these plans began only in March 1959, in the geographical center of Lithuania, Kėdainiai, when “The Directorate of Kėdainiai Superphosphate Plant” started to organize construction and manufacturing activities. Actually, joint-stock company “Lifosa” is situated in Kėdainiai, it is a phosphate industry company based in Kėdainiai, Lithuania. Starting business in 1952 as a state-owned enterprise of the Lithuanian SSR, it was privatized in 1996. From 2002, the controlling interest in Lifosa is owned by Russian company EuroChem, which is the main supplier of raw materials to Lifosa. In 2006, Lifosa received 37.22 million litas net profit. What is more, a separate railway branch to the chemical plant, the length of which in the territory of the Company is 18 km, brings the raw materials and transports the major part of the Company’s production. The Company occupies the area of 292 hectares. What do they produce? The basic product manufactured at AB “Lifosa” is the nitrogen-phosphorus fertilizer Diammonium Phosphate (DAP), the process of which requires phosphoric acid and sulphuric acid, which are also produced at the Company. Fluorine, the by-product of phosphoric acid process, is further utilized and reprocessed into Aluminium Fluoride. Feed additives, such as Monocalcium Phosphate, are produced from phosphoric acid. High quality production and favourable geographical location of AB “Lifosa” (ice-free Klaipėda port – open door to global markets) determines that the major part of the Company’s production is exported. Export comprised 97.7% and 98% of all the production sold by the Company in 2009 and 2010 respectively. Thousands of tons of the production are sold in many countries of the world.

Since the year 2000, the process heat released during the sulphuric acid production process is further beneficially utilized to heat the local and Kėdainiai city objects. With the help of special steel pipe heat exchangers, the heat released by sulphuric acid heats the water up to 900 C. The heated water is provided to Kėdainiai city heating plant and is further used to heat the dwelling-houses. Indeed, in 2007, the Company installed the HRS (Heat Recovery System) and utilizes surplus heat sources to produce about 250 million kWh of electricity, 50 million kWh of which are provided to the electric power network of the country.

The mission of this company is to help the world grow the food, feed, fiber, and fuel needed to sustain our growing population. The objective of the company is to become a top five global producer by both nutrient capacity and profitability. The aim and the vision are: to achieve top five global statuses by focusing on: investment in potash production to complement the leadership in nitrogen and phosphate fertilizers. Also the maintenance and development of the vertically-integrated business model to give us raw material self-sufficiency and expand our low cost base. What is more, continued development of value-added products and services. Their vertically-integrated business model includes programs covering sports, healthcare, education, environmental protection, and charities.

As this company is very big, so it has over 22,000 employees. Few words about the governance structure of the company. The company’s highest-ranking governance body is the General Shareholders Meeting (GM). The Board of Directors reports directly to the GM. The primary focus of the Board itself is company strategy; it oversees strategy implementation and setting out the company’s investment policy. Reflecting the requirements of Russian law, the Board of Directors is elected annually by the GM for a term of one year. The Board of Directors appoints the General Director and the members of the Management Board and determines the length of their terms. These executive bodies report directly to the Board of Directors. The Board of Directors works in line with a forward agenda that is updated annually. Its schedule includes six joint-presence meetings and issues requiring substantive discussion and where necessary, additional meetings are held either by conference call or, for procedural issues, by absentee vote. The Board considers all issues that are referred to it by law and the company Charter. This includes taking key decisions for the manufacturing companies and exercising oversight down through the holding’s vertical management structure. The Corporate Secretary oversees all preparations for Board and Committee meetings. All of the paperwork for the Board of Directors and the Board Committees are prepared in both Russian and English, and synchronized interpretation is provided at meetings. These efforts allow each director to express his own opinion in his preferred language.