Amman, April 29, 2024 -- The General Authority of the Jordan Phosphate Mines Company, in an e-meeting, Monday approved the company's Board of Directors' report for 2023 and 2024 work plan.
The General Authority approved the company's Board of Directors' recommendation to distribute cash dividends to shareholders at a rate of 130 per cent of the nominal value of the share.
The Authority elected a new board of directors for the next four years. The shareholder attendance rate for the meeting reached 95 per cent.
The new board held a separate meeting, during which Muhammad Thneibat was unanimously elected as Chair of the company's Board of Directors for the next four years.
Thneibat stressed that the company's "successful" policies of countering challenges supported the company's cumulative reform approach.
He added that reforms helped increase spending on the company's capital projects by 167 per cent compared to 2022, carrying out sustainable maintenance work for factories and production units in various locations and implementing a balanced job replacement policy.
He added that the company came seventy-first among the 100 most powerful companies and eighth among the 10 most powerful industrial companies in the Middle East in 2023 with a market value of the company amounting to $4.1 billion, according to Forbes Middle East.
Thneibat explained that despite the "noticeable" decline in the prices of the company's products in global markets and the noticeable increase in some production inputs, the company had achieved returns on shareholders' equity, as in 2023 the company achieved net profits amounting to JOD454.3 million.
He said ownership rights registered a "significant" JOD200 increase in 2023 despite the "lucrative" profits distributed to shareholders during the year, explaining that the rise reflects an annual growth rate of 13.4 per cent in shareholders' equity.
He added that the company's assets increased by 4 per cent during 2023 compared to 2022 as the company's assets at the end of 2023 exceeded JOD2.145 billion.
On the company's contributions to enhancing the overall changes in supporting the country's economic growth, Thneibat said the group achieved export sales of approximately $1.736 billion, adding that the amount comprises a "notable" contribution to reducing the deficit gap in both the trade balance and the balance of payments.
He added that the company's direct contribution to supporting public revenues amounted to JOD300 million, which mainly includes income tax on year’s profits, mining revenues, customs, and sales tax on foreign purchases, in addition to the company's indirect contribution to supporting the treasury and the revenues of public institutions.
Thneibat said the company is striking new partnerships and creating and implementing projects to develop the group's revenue power and strengthen its financial and competitive position.
He added that the company is establishing a company to produce phosphoric acid in partnership with businessmen from Turkey and India, with a total investment cost of $400 million, a production capacity of 300,000 tons annually and sales estimated at $300 million annually.
Partnerships and projects also include establishing a diversified fertiliser company with the Arab Potash Company with a cost of $600 million and a production capacity of more than 400,000 tons of fertiliser and phosphoric acid, adding that the estimated sales for the project would be at $400 million annually.