News and Press-releases

GV Gold announces new composition of the Board of Directors and dividends for FY 2017

The Annual General Meeting of Shareholders (AGM) of GV Gold (Vysochaishy, PJSC), held on 25 June 2018, approved the new composition of the Board of Directors as follows:

1. Sergey V. Dokuchaev — Chairman of the Board
2. Valerian A. Tikhonov — Member of the Board
3. Natalia V. Opaleva — Member of the Board
4. German R. Pikhoya — CEO
5. Sergey G. Popov — Independent Director
6. Nikolay V. Gavrilov — Independent Director
7. Anthony Nieuwenhuys — Independent Director
8. Elizabeth Kirkwood — Independent Director

Vladimir S. Kochetkov, shareholder; Sergey A. Filippov, member of the Board; and Mikhail I. Leskov, Independent Director; have left the Board of Directors. GV Gold thanks them for their contributions to the success of the Company.

The Company has appointed international experts Nikolay Gavrilov, Anthony Nieuwenhuys and Elizabeth Kirkwood as independent directors to comply with advanced standards of corporate governance. As a result, half of the new composition of the Board of Directors now comprises independent directors.

The AGM also approved a dividend payment of RUB 2 237.7 million for 2017. The total dividend equates to 30% of adjusted EBITDA, based on the Company’s consolidated IFRS financial statements, and is the highest dividend payment in GV Gold’s history. Including dividends of RUB 12.731 per share (or RUB 700 million in total) already paid to shareholders for the first six months of 2017, it is expected that in July 2018 shareholders will be paid RUB 27.9663 per ordinary share (or RUB 1,537.7 million in total).

Biographical information

Nikolay Gavrilov is First Deputy CEO at JSC Rusatom Energy International (JSC REIN). Between 1995 and 2004, he held top positions at the Department of Foreign Credits and External Public Debt of the Ministry of Finance of the Russian Federation. Between 2004 and 2014, he was the Chairman of the Management Board of CJSC Roseximbank, member of the Board of Directors of Vnesheconombank and Senior Vice-President at PJSC VTB Bank. Graduated with distinction from the socio-economics faculty of the Moscow State University. Fluent in English, Italian and Arabic.

Anthony Nieuwenhuys is the CEO of Lesego Platinum. The company’s assets are located in South Africa. He has extensive experience in mining industry. Between 2011 and 2016, he was Chief Operation Officer at Polyus Gold International Ltd. where he was overseeing the construction of the Verninskoye mine. Prior to that, he lived and worked in South Africa. Between 1988 and 2011, he supervised mining projects of SNC-Lavalin, BATEMAN and other international companies. Holds an engineering degree from RC Elliott Technical College, Kimberley, South Africa.

Elizabeth Kirkwood is a renowned international expert with more than 26 years of experience in telecommunications and retail. Between 1991 and 2001, she held management positions at MediaOne Group. She served as CFO and Vice-President of WalMart USA between 2002 and 2007, and WalMart Russia between 2009 and 2011. Worked as CFO and Executive Director at Metro Cash and Carry Russia between 2011 and 2017. Studied economics at the School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University and holds a number of postgraduate degrees, including MBAs from Georgetown University and Bauer College of Business (University of Houston).

GV Gold (Vysochaishy, PJSC) is one of largest and fastest growing Russian gold mining companies. It develops open pit deposits and washes gold at the country’s largest alluvial deposit. In 2017, the Company produced 225 koz of gold, becoming the 7th largest gold miner in Russia. In 2018, the Company expects to produce 280-300 koz.

The Company adheres to high corporate governance standards and has a transparent ownership structure, with BlackRock among its shareholders (17.99%).

For further information, please visit http://gvgold.ru