PRIORITY ACTIVITIES OF THE EXCHANGE

GROUP STRATEGY 2028

On 27 September 2023, the Supervisory Board of the Exchange approved the Group’s new strategy to 2028 and a new dividend policy.

The new strategy is largely based on trends in the Russian market. These include the increasing role of the retail investor, which is becoming one of the key demand providers in a number of financial market segments and the growing need of Russian companies to raise capital in the domestic market.

The development of capital markets is the most important priority of the new strategy. To promote this direction, the company will expand the list of instruments, including ESG products, and work to improve their liquidity. The company will focus on working with issuers to raise capital market financing for companies through equity and bond offerings, including through OTC and investment platforms.

The key provisions of the new development strategy naturally continue the previous strategies and are based on the strengths of the Group’s business model and the key competences of its employees.

Consistent implementation of the new strategy will allow the Group to maintain a leading growth rate in fee and commission income over a mid-term, achieve sustained growth in business efficiency in terms of cost-to-fee & commission income position and business model profitability of at least 18% ROE.

An integral part of the strategy in terms of capital management is the new dividend policy, which implies a minimum limit on dividend payments set at 50% of the Group’s IFRS net profit. Free cash flow for dividend policy purposes includes necessary capital expenditure to maintain the business and investments in further development, as well as regulatory requirements for the Exchange and its subsidiaries.

The strategy will be considered successfully implemented in case of a significant increase in Group’s market capitalisation supported by a steady growth of key financial indicators.