Good morning. Welcome. It's a great pleasure to have you all here today. Before we start officially, I will switch into English shortly. In our language, I would like to thank the Greeks who for the last 30 years have been with us, but they will allow us, because of the particularity of our English company and the London Stock Exchange and special regulations, the whole presentation will be in English. The President will speak in both languages. Hopefully, all of you may have your headsets so as to be able to listen.
Before Mr. Mytilineos starts formally the AGM. For the benefit of those being present in person and who does not speak Greek, we have the equipment, and for the shareholders joining online, these matters might not be relevant to you, but as you probably know, mandatory to hear them. Safety is a top priority for us in Metlen. We have measures in place to support the security and the orderly conduct of today's meeting. In the case of an emergency, please follow the instructions of our team, who will lead you. Please make sure that your phones, and this is very important, are off, switched off, or on silent mode. I would like to remind you, and especially those members of the press, that they are present.
Also, I want to thank the journalists from London that they have joined us livestream, that the meeting cannot be recorded, cannot be transmitted on any platform, and you cannot take any pictures. I'm pleased to inform you that the meeting today is being livestreamed, so shareholders that cannot be here, cannot join us today here in Athens, can stream it remotely. The board will be delighted if you will join them later on, after we're done, for refreshments following the conclusion of our meeting, which will be served outside the reception. I will now hand over to our Chairman, Mr. Evangelos Mytilineos, to start officially the AGM.
Good morning, everyone. I want to thank you for being here today in the first meeting as PLC. It will be a totally different general meeting. I ask for your understanding in case we have certain inconveniences regarding the voting, which is totally different. We will follow the English standards. The general meeting is carried out in Athens, but we will carry it out in English. Nonetheless, the questions can be in both languages. If you ask in Greek, you will get the answer in Greek. If you want to answer in English, online or live, you can ask in English, and you will get your answer in English. Your understanding, it's our first time in case something goes wrong.
This AGM, as I said, following our listing in London, you will notice some changes in the procedure today driven by U.K. company law and U.K. listing requirements. Nevertheless, you will also find much that is familiar to you, including some of the directors here today. Before turning to the formal part of the meeting, I am pleased to inform you that the meeting today, as Vivian said, is being livestreamed so that shareholders from all over the world who cannot be present can stream it remotely. The Metlen communications team has already informed you of the relevant practical and housekeeping arrangements. Our board. I would like to introduce our board to you, starting with the executive directors. Next to me on the right side, Mr. Christos Gavalas, who is the Group Chief Executive Officer. Mrs. Fotini Ioannou, who is the Group Chief Financial Officer.
The independent non-executive directors who chair the four board committees are Mr. Ioannis Petrides, who is our Senior Independent Director and Chair of the Remuneration Committee. Mr. Anthony Bartzokas, who is Chair of the Audit and Risk Committee. Anthony, over there. Mrs. Xenia Kazoli, who is Chair of the Sustainability Committee, and Mr. Spiros Ioakim, who is Chair of the Nomination Committee. The other independent non-executive directors who are here, Mr. Philippe Henry, Mrs. Konstantina Mavraki, happy name day, Mrs. Fiona Paulus, and Mrs. Katharine Smith. Last one, Mr. Jamie Lowry, who is a non-executive director, but not independent. Mr. Michael Kumar, an independent non-executive director, has been unable to attend the meeting today in person and sent his apologies. He does join us through the live streaming platform. The biographies of all directors standing for election are contained in the notice of the annual general meeting.
I would also like to introduce Mrs. Leda Condoyanni, our Company Secretary. Leda. Also present here today are Matthew Hall and Socrates Leptos-Bourgi of PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP and PricewaterhouseCoopers SA, respectively, the company's U.K. and Greek statutory auditors, together with representatives from the company's registrars, Computershare. I would now like to start the formal proceedings of this annual general meeting. The notice of annual general meeting, together with explanatory notes, was sent to shareholders on the 20th of April 2026 and is available on Metlen's website. Accordingly, the requisite notice of the meeting has been given. I propose therefore that with your consent, the notice of meeting should be taken as read. Is that agreed?
Yes.
Thank you. The purpose of the meeting is to consider and pass the ordinary and special resolutions set out in the notice of meeting. Additional copies are available from our Company Secretary, should you require one. Mrs. Condoyanni, our Company Secretary, as I said, will cover the procedural arrangements for today's meeting, including the voting, which will be by way of a poll. We will provide a brief review of the year. After that, we will take your questions as usual. For now, I declare that the poll on the resolutions presented to this meeting is open for voting. The poll will remain open until I announce its closure, which will be after the end of our question- and- answer session. I will now hand over to Mrs. Condoyanni to take you through the resolutions and voting procedures. Mrs. Condoyanni, please.
Thank you, Chairman. Good morning to everyone. As the Chairman indicated, and as stated in the notice of meeting and in accordance with our articles of association, the voting today will take place by way of a poll. This is seen as best practice, as it gives all shareholders the opportunity to participate in the decision-making of the company and have their votes recorded in proportion to the number of shares they hold. As far as the resolutions themselves are concerned, the full text of each one is set out in the notice of meeting. Resolutions 1- 20 inclusive are proposed as ordinary resolutions, which means that for them to be passed, more than 50% of the votes cast must be in favor in each case.
Whereas resolutions 21-25 inclusive are proposed as special resolutions, which means that for them to be passed, at least 75% of the votes cast must be in favor in each case. If you have already voted by proxy by submitting a proxy form prior to the meeting, your vote will be counted, and you do not need to complete a poll card. Shareholders, proxy holders, or corporate representatives were given a poll card when they registered their attendance for the meeting. If you believe you should have a poll card and you do not have one, please approach a representative of Computershare. If you have not voted in advance by proxy, or if you wish to change your previously submitted vote, please also approach a representative of Computershare. If you are voting on behalf of more than one shareholder, please complete a separate poll card for each shareholder.
Our chairman, as chair of the meeting, will complete the poll card on behalf of the proxy votes for which he has been appointed. The company is appointing Computershare, the company's registrar, to act as scrutineers. Please complete your poll card by marking with a cross in the appropriate box next to the resolutions, depending on how you wish to cast your vote. You have three options for each resolution. You can vote for the proposed resolution, against the proposed resolution, abstain, or withhold your vote. A vote withheld is not a vote in law and will not be counted in the calculation of the proportion of the votes for or against the resolution. Once you have voted, please sign the poll card and hand it to one of the Computershare representatives. Should you require further assistance, our registrar will be happy to assist you.
You can vote at any time until the Chairman declares the voting closed at the conclusion of the presentation questions. Now I will hand back to the Chairman for an update on the business.
Thank you, Ms. Condoyanni. I appreciate all this procedure is a bit alien to many of you, but we will have to get used to it. It's like a poll, like the elections we are going to have soon in Greece. The same thing, more or less. Ladies and gentlemen, 2025 marked the continuation of our growth trajectory and the beginning of a new chapter in Metlen's evolution as an international industrial and energy company within an increasingly complex global environment. Energy markets remain sensitive to geopolitical developments, while metal markets were shaped by shifting supply chains and the transition to a low-carbon economy. In this context, our diversified strategy proved resilient, allowing us to navigate uncertainty while continuing to invest in Europe's industrial and energy future. Financially, we delivered strong revenue growth, reaching EUR 7.1 billion, driven by momentum across our core activities.
Profitability was affected by execution challenges in certain energy projects and the timing of renewables asset rotations. While impacting short-term performance, these developments led us to strengthen governance, improve execution discipline, and reinforce planning processes. I also want to be candid about the challenges we faced. No secrets. This period has been a steep learning curve, particularly in project execution, where unforeseen complexities increased costs and extended timelines. As Executive Chairman, the way these challenges were addressed ultimately sits within my own remit. With hindsight, some issues could have been addressed earlier. However, we acted decisively, strengthening structures, tightening processes, and reinforcing accountability. This is not about revisiting the past, but about building solid foundations for Metlen's future in the FTSE 100. Our objective remains clear, to establish Metlen as a business of reference within the index. This AGM marks a turning point.
The foundations are stronger, the portfolio is progressing, and we are on track against our roadmap. My role as Executive Chairman was to guide this company through this transition and take responsibility for the most difficult decisions, enabling the management team now to focus fully on execution and future growth. We are on track to meet our targets. Energy and metals as our two core engines, supported by new pillars of growth where we are advancing, like Circular Metals, defense, and infrastructure, including METKA's next stage of development. Strategically, 2025 was a year of progress across all segments. In energy, we strengthened our position as an integrated utility, expanding upstream and downstream capabilities. Protergia progressed towards its market share targets, while our presence in natural gas and LNG remained critical for regional supply security. In renewables, we further developed a platform combining project development, asset rotation, and long-term value creation.
In energy, a 330 MW battery storage, the largest standalone energy storage system in Greece by a long way, and among the largest in Europe, is now in commissioning and is expected to be operational in Q3 2026. Through Enerset, we are executing 87 construction sites across 11 countries, covering solar parks, standalone, and co-located BESS and grid projects. In metals, we reinforced our role at the core of Europe's industrial ecosystem. The expansion of alumina capacity, which is on the way, and our investment in gallium, which is also on the way, a strategic raw material recognized at European level, reflect our ambition to shape new industrial value chains at the intersection of energy, technology, and industrial policy. The defense sector is gaining importance, and we have made progress in expanding our industrial footprint and preparing facilities for the new generation of defense-related projects.
At the same time, we are progressing a disciplined investment pipeline with clear milestones. In Circular Metals, our demonstration plant is about 65% complete, targeting operation in Q1 2027, with initial production of copper, nickel, cobalt, and zinc oxide. In metals, the alumina refinery expansion from 865,000 to 1.25 million tons is under construction, with full operation expected in Q4 2027. The gallium pilot plant is already operational, while the main facility is under construction, targeting readiness also in Q4 2027. Exploration in our bauxite mines continues steadily, supporting future resource availability. Within infrastructure and concessions, METKA continues to strengthen its execution capabilities, and we are preparing the ground for its next step, including IPO readiness, positioning it as a clear investable infrastructure platform. A defining achievement of the year was our successful listing on the London Stock Exchange in August.
The milestone enhanced our international profile, broadened our investor base, and secured our inclusion in the FTSE 100 and major global indices. It validated our strategy and reinforced investor confidence in our long-term prospects. At the same time, we strengthened our governance framework, including the separation of the roles of Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, aligning with best practices and supporting the next phase of growth. During the Capital Markets Day in London in April 2025, we outlined our ambition to reach EUR 2 billion in annual EBITDA through organic growth, supported by a roadmap focused on strengthening our core businesses, developing new activities, and executing a transformation that keeps us ahead. Looking ahead, ladies and gentlemen, the environment will remain challenging. Global uncertainty persists, the pace of change across energy, industry, and geopolitics continues to accelerate. However, Metlen enters this phase from a position of strength.
A diversified portfolio, a strong financial base, proven execution capabilities, and a clear strategic direction. Most importantly, we have highly skilled, committed people who drive our success. In many ways, 2025 confirmed that our ability to adapt and evolve is as important as our ability to grow, and more importantly, energizing our strength to face unforeseen execution problems. It also reinforced our belief that the combination of energy, industry, and innovation will shape Europe's future, and that Metlen has a meaningful role to play. As we move forward, our focus remains unchanged. Disciplined execution, strategic clarity, and sustainable value creation. Once again, we prove that Metlen is, as we often say, made of metal and full of energy, ready to reach even higher.
As heightened in the Q1 2026 trading update, Metlen has delivered a strong start to the year, reflecting solid momentum across the energy, metals, and infrastructure sectors, alongside the continuing execution of its strategic investment program. The company expects performance to strengthen further throughout the year and remains firmly committed to its medium-term EBITDA target of EUR 2 billion. For 2026, the company expects to achieve record turnover, with EBITDA fully recovering to a range of EUR 1 billion-EUR 1.15 billion for the full year, likely reaching a new all-time high. For more than 30 years, you have remained loyal to the company, and you demonstrated that again over the last year. The overwhelming acceptance rate of the public exchange offer for the dual listing in Athens and London was remarkable. Despite a broad base of approximately 33,000 retail investors, we achieved our objective from the first attempt.
This reflects not only the professionalism with which the company approached a demanding transaction, but above all, your trust in this new chapter. For me, the annual general meeting is one of the most important moments of the year, giving us the opportunity to come together and discuss how we will continue to build the future of our company, because the company is not only mine, it is ours. Thank you once again for your continuing trust and support. I would like to ask now Ioannis Petrides, our Senior Independent Director, to provide a statement on the composition of the board, please.
Thank you, Chairman. Good afternoon to everybody. As many of you probably know, I've held the position of senior independent director of Metlen for the past seven years, a period that was very transformative for the company, a period where our revenues and our profitability have increased significantly. Over the next few minutes, what I'd like to do is give you an overview of the role of the senior independent director and of the board in general. Let me move on to the role of the board and the role of the senior independent director. It's essentially one of supporting management in its effort to create shareholder and broader stakeholder value by coordinating and bringing together the diverse skills and capabilities and experiences of its board members while providing an external and an independent perspective on our operations.
Our priority is to ensure that the interest of all shareholders are fully represented, and then there is proper oversight in the operations of Metlen. Let me come to board composition. Our board has an independence ratio of 75%. It's a very high number. We have a female representation of close to 40%, and about 62% of our board are actually foreign nationals. That clearly represents the international scope of our business. Let me look at the initiatives that the board and the non-executive members of the board have taken over the past year since our listing into London back in August of 2025.
As the senior independent director of Metlen, I lead and coordinate meetings of the non-executive directors aimed at discussing strategic and governance matters and preparing recommendations to the company's management. Since our listing in the stock market in London back in August, we have held more than 20 such meetings. It's a very high number if you compare to the benchmarks of any of our other listed companies in the FTSE. During these meetings, we discussed things like the strategic direction and strategic initiatives of the company, organizational topics and remuneration matters, financial performance, enterprise risk management, and of course, broader corporate governance and board effectiveness, just to mention a few of the initiatives that we have undertaken.
Another important aspect of the role of the senior independent director is that of leading the evaluation of the board, the effectiveness of the board, and also leading the evaluation of the chief executive officer. This process is rigorous, it's externally informed, and focuses not just on leadership effectiveness, but also on the continued suitability of our company's corporate governance structure. Let me come to shareholder communication. Over the past four months, I have met in a corporate governance roadshow with shareholders representing about 40% of our share capital. The purpose of these meetings obviously was to present the company, but more importantly, to actually get feedback and comments from our shareholders, from the proxy advisors on things like corporate governance, succession planning, remuneration, ESG, and their observations, where this was relevant, have actually been included in the way that we operate and in our corporate governance.
In closing, I would like to note that the Board recognizes that a founder-led model like ours has significant strengths. It also has some specific corporate governance considerations. The impressive growth of Metlen since its initial listing in Athens, as the Chairman mentioned, over 30 years ago, with an initial capital of EUR 50 million, and the fact that we are where we are today with a growth of over 100 times in our market cap, is solid and undeniable proof of the unique strengths and the high differentiation of the model that we have under the leadership of our Executive Chairman and our Founder, Mr. Evangelos Mytilineos. In closing, I'd like to assure our shareholders that I remain available to discuss any comments or observations that our shareholders might have on our operations, on our corporate governance, and we always take these comments very seriously.
I thank you. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Thank you, Mr. Petrides. May I just make a small correction? The initial capital of the company at the IPO of 1996 was EUR 10 million, not EUR 50 million.
It's 300 times, sorry. It's not 100 times, 300 times, even better.
Just-
Yeah
just to set the record straight.
Plus dividends, by the way.
That's right.
Mr. Chairman.
I would now like to ask Christos Gavalas, Group Chief Executive Officer, to present his review of the company's performance during the year. Christos, please.
Thank you, Chairman. Dear shareholders, members of the board, associates, and colleagues, thank you for being here today. Such an honor to have you. Such an honor to address to you my statement. It's been a year of growth. It's been a year of changes. It's been a year of challenges. I'll try not to repeat. I'll try not to go through things that we have said numerous times. I'll try to be on spot on what you have to know. Of course, after the strong statement of the guidance provided by Chairman, we understand that parenthesis is closed for sure. This was all that happened in 2025. Now, it has been a very long, difficult, and successful journey to LSE. It has been the year that we have communicated to the markets and the people our thoughts, targets, and outlook for the years to come.
EUR 2 billion are there. We strongly reaffirm our position to make it happen probably much earlier, but I will elaborate on that a bit later, if I may. It was the fifth year of continuous investments of the group in order to become larger, expand our footprint, and become who we are today, expecting to have more than EUR 10 billion probably in the years to come as top-line number. It was a year that we've launched gallium, Circular Metals, and Defense, responding to what we see in the market, which is coming from our DNA, from the way that we operate, from the way that we always have the evolution in the way that we think and provide business. It has been the year that we have made public our plans to invest heavily in expanding by 50% our alumina production, and at the same time, bauxite.
That it's going to be the balanced portfolio of Metlen, the core one, reflecting energy and metals for the years to come. You see on the map that we are having in our screen where we are, where you are, actually. This is your company. The footprint keeps on expanding. More than 50% of what we're doing is extrovert. This is the share capital breakdown. Almost 50% is with institutionals, most of them foreign, and the other 30% is retail, and of course, 22% is with the chairman. As has been stated, and you can see on the graph at the lower part of the page, right after having our company listed in London and having a dual listing in London and Athens, you can see the trading volume that has been more than double, probably 3 times from 2024, from EUR 8 million-EUR 25 million per day.
This is amazing in a company that has 78% free float, that provides all the entry and exit possibilities for all the investors willing to invest in us. In the upper part of the page, what you can see is how we grew over time, what has been the dividend payout, what has been the constant policy that we followed, which was a 35% dividend payout, which has been deviated a bit only for once for this year as a proposal that we have made. This is exactly the part that is showing our consistency and the capital allocation policy that we follow in order to keep the leverage ratios in a trajectory that will allow us soon enough to go back and get the IG level. This is the composition and the contribution for our parts that we are having.
More than 90%, and this is something that you have to have clear, is coming from the core business that we are having, which is Energy & Metals. 30% metals, something like 60% energy, and of course, 13% Infra & Concessions. Going forward, we're expecting new volumes to come after the investments concluded in 2026 and 2027 that will allow us this contribution to be even more balanced in favor of metals. What you can see in the lower part of the page as a bar chart is how we grew over time in terms of profitability and what was the contribution between the different parts of the business that we are having. As Chairman stated, it has been painful what we went through during 2025.
It has been the first incident after 30 years of operation, but it has been a nice lesson for us in order to change what should be changed, in order to rectify things, in order to make Metlen operate in a safer mode, in a way that we will comply and apply all the governance and controls as should have been. It didn't have any spillover effect. It was a one-off, and it was in a non-core operation that we were having. These were the numbers. I'm sure that you know, but let me try to emphasize in two out of them that have to do with the liquidity, showcasing the strength of our balance sheet at the end of 2025, which was close to EUR 4 billion.
After a successful issuance late October last year of a EUR 600 million, 5.5 years at 4% Eurobond, that allowed us to maintain all this liquidity and address the coming maturity of the Eurobond next October. At the same time, net leverage ratio went up to 3.1 times, and it's a commitment after the guidance that we have provided in the parenthesis that has been closed, that this is going to come down again to 2 times, if not lower, allowing us to go into the IG trajectory. We have made a clear commitment that this is the path for us. This is an interesting page showing what? In the lower part of it, what you see is that 2029, 2030, 2031, and 2032 is the main bulk of the leverage that we have to pay back to the markets. Meaning what?
Meaning that during 2026 and 2027 are the years of heavy spending in order to grow furthermore, in order to increase our volumes, in order to expand our footprint, in order to make EUR 2 billion a reality. After that, our profitability and cash flows will allow us, A, to deleverage heavily, and B, to repay all this debt and lower the financing cost, allowing us to increase net profitability and consequently dividends to our shareholders. In the upper part of the page, what you can see is, first of all, how we heavily invest through the green part of the bar chart year in, year out, the last five years. If you make an addition, it's more than EUR 3 billion. It's heavy. Even though that we went through this heavy spending, currently, we are about to go at 2 times this year as well net debt to EBITDA.
It's a year that we do expect the heavy spending of energy to end because we do have all the assets in place. We do expect delivery of plants into our customers. We do expect collection of cash to come in. That will allow us to deleverage. That will allow us to turn into positive working capital. That will allow us to get into positive free cash flow and eventually to go into ratios that Metlen is. At the same time, you see the line indicating the ratio. You know that we do have a rating provided by S&P and Fitch. We're working with them the last 10 years. They showed us the confidence last February that we had to go into this profit warning, saying and acknowledging the fact that this was a no one-off. It was a parenthesis.
It was like an incident that didn't have any spillover effect, that didn't have any balance sheet effect. They stick to the thesis that Metlen is going to come up to the levels that market knew that it was for the last three years or four years as an average, as has been stated by the guidance provided before. These are the financial policies, the discipline. Yes, we grow. Yes, the outlook is there. Yes, we do have a firm commitment that it's going to come. It's going to come probably earlier. It's going to go even higher, probably, but we do have a firm capital allocation policy going from the cash flows to the CapEx, the dividend, the buyback, probably going into the free cash flows and ending into the leverage ratio. We are mindful of both.
We are mindful of the leverage, and we are mindful of the growth. It's a balance that we have to keep on being mindful, and this is what we are doing at the same time. Liquidity is where it is, providing us the ability to operate, to weather all the unforeseen circumstances coming from geo and macroeconomic instability that is out there, and leverage ratios are expected to get into a level lower than 2 times. Last but not least, financial risk management, as has been stated in our full-year results and the call that followed that. Even before crisis in the Gulf area started, as a consequence of the prudent rolling financial risk management policy, we have covered 2026 and 2027 entirely, providing us a clear path without risks and a strong profit, especially in the area of metal segment.
We are happy that these higher prices may allow us to get even more profitability. At the same time, we are conscious of credit and liquidity that is out there. This is the reason why we do have all the protection needed in order not to face any unpleasant things that we have to deal with. It's a page that you all know. It's a page that we showed last year, April 30 in London. It's a page that showcase where the outlook is, coming from two, and of course, METKA segments. Three things to say without going into further detail. We do expect energy, as you see in the right-hand side, energy to land at probably EUR 1.1 billion right after concluding what we're doing currently.
It won't require any additional capital, as I told you before, because first, we have constructed everything that has to be constructed, and we do have all the fleet of gas and RES. At the same time, collection time has come. The cycle has closed, and we do expect heavy inflows to occur 2026, 2027 onwards. This is going to take us there. In relation to Metals segment, this is the heavy spending that has to do A, with increased alumina and bauxite, gallium, and of course, M Technologies. Out of this probably EUR 0.5 billion Spending, two are estimated to come through subsidies, whereas all the other are fully funded through facilities that we have already secured. Let me also tell you that these are going to have a payback period, these new investments, of not more than two years.
Last but not least, we do expect infra and concession. That is an operation that we all believe we need so much to go up in the levels of 150, not more, and stay there, create a blended portfolio coming from construction and concessions. As has been stated, and it's public, we may consider, according to market conditions, to float it. Everything has been said, of course, the statement has a disclaimer that you can see as a footer, is that capital allocation provides that everything is going to be there on time, providing the additional volumes and profitability, but always mindful of the leverage. This is what happened during the recent crisis in Gulf. Right before that perfect disorder and storm, everything has been hedged by us.
Some of them could affect us, some of them not, and we do have some upsides, as I told you before. The most important thing that you should know is that Metlen does not have any physical presence in the area. Metlen does not have any business or commercial activity in the area, and anything that has to do with financial risk have been already addressed, and security of supply as well is addressed. I would like to conclude my three pages that has to do with the sectors. This is the energy sector, that you see the balanced portfolio between our production through the utility and sales, which is always going to be balanced in order to be immune by what is happening into the markets.
At the same time, in the pie chart, what you can see is the pipeline that we are having in RES. Of course, there is a new wave of green towards batteries, towards grids, towards data centers, which is something that, of course, Chairman will elaborate on this much more. It's a very interesting topic to discuss. Metals is where it is, running its operation at full capacity, which is expected, as I told you, next and the year after to scale up, both coming from the integration, bauxite, alumina, and aluminum.
Last point to make for METKA, for infrastructure and concession. You just see that this is a journey of just four years, I mean, from 2022 to 2025, almost from nothing to EUR 100 million recorded in 2025, expected to go up to EUR 150 million this year, whereas they have already secured more than EUR 2 billion of backlog.
With that, I would like to conclude. Thank you very much for attending, and thank you very much for your continuous trust and confidence to us.
A perfect performance for Group CEO, his first one. Congrats, Christos. The time has come for you to speak. It's a Q&A time, and we are all here to answer your questions. Q&A is here. As we said earlier, we receive questions in English and Greek. Use the microphones in case there are Greek question- and- answer.
Thank you. Nikos Kagkarakis from Alpha Finance. Please give us details regarding the investment in gallium. If you can give us some more information, how does this evolve? You talked about offtake contracts abroad. This is the first question, and if you answer that, I will proceed with the second one.
It's quite interesting what is happening with gallium. All these years, we have been involved in various sectors. I've never remember have material or project or whatever for on sale and have demand 50 times more than what we have available. Usually, the effort is to try to sell something, but now the effort here is how to allocate the quantity available, how to take into consideration geopolitical issues. I was reading this morning that China, which exported gallium from Japan 40 tons yearly, exported 65%, and this year she stopped. Zero exports. 40 tons. We?
We believe that in 2028, we will have 50 tons. What is happening with gallium is unbelievable. I was reading also this morning that the European Union eventually decided to move forward with the creation of a platform, probably in Rotterdam, in which we will have tradings of natural delivery of rare earths, including gallium. In Rotterdam now, we have only financial transactions based on which the price is determined. I need to add that the gallium price, which is around $2,500, it started some years ago around $400 per kilogram, that is. The Chinese, with these prices, had managed to marginalize the rest of the competitors from the market and kick them off the market, in other words. Our advantage is that our R&D has given a cost we estimate that is half the Chinese one. Pay attention to what our position is.
We have 50 tons of gallium in our hands in half price than those of Chinese. We will gain a lot of money irrespective of what they will be doing. If prices continue this course and the Chinese continue to limit the exports of gallium, I don't know where the prices will go. The only thing I can tell you, and forgive me for that, is that there are many things we've been discussing for years, and I have never avoided answering question. As president of PLC, there are things I cannot share with you. It's a totally different situation. I know the figures of the end of the year. I know. I'm aware of the figures. When we say that we will record our turnover, I know exactly what the turnover will be. If I say so, I will be led to jail. I won't say.
Allow me, those who know me for years now and you know that I explain everything I'm asked, I would say, though, that all candidate customers insist on pricing to have a cap. When we say cap, we don't mean $2,500+ , but we talk about a cap, which will be cap. Otherwise, we won't have a contract because they don't know where the price of gallium will go. Since the discussion is for a multi-annual contract, let's have a cap. High price, capped. Take that into consideration. The second of traders are from Japan that has a lot of use of electric, electronic, and high technology products, and the United States, Europe, and South Korea, this is where the demand is located. I cannot tell you more.
The second question. Well, I focus on metals as well. You talked to Capital Markets Day regarding metals that you can have germanium and scandium as well. That could change the economy of the whole project. Can you tell us something more on that?
I can share with great joy the following. I love my job, metals that is. The hopes that we have placed on the progress of this work are evident from the fact that one of our strongest executives, my son, Georgios Mytilineos, has undertaken the management of this sector. This alone allows you to understand the importance I place and the hopes I have in this sector. From R&D, we have exceptional things. Scandium and germanium won't be the difficult cases. I have seen more. We will have a very interesting and big project. Give us some time. You know why we need more time?
This very moment, the factory in Syros which is in a constant commissioning, every month we have a meeting, we're talking about the commissioning, et cetera. What is happening, because we have the technology, we cannot call a company from abroad and tell them, Can you build this factory here? Like an aluminum factory or a refinery. We cannot explain to them what we need. It is only us that know, and we don't want to share it with anyone. You understand, it is a pilot factory plant besides its size. We prefer to have it like that in order to be able to make all the tests there, which will proceed in higher scales in the next two or three plants that will be bigger than the one in Syros. Another question.
Do you have an idea about the IPO of METKA? METKA, the IPO. This is the question.
Thank you for the question. This gives me the opportunity to say a couple of things about METKA. I do admire this company. METKA is a very heavy name in specialized constructions in our country. It was founded in 1972. So many years it is dominating the market, and it was actually reborn via constructions with an excellent leadership, Mr. Benroubi and Mr. Xafis as president. The course of METKA is galloping. The market is very much satisfied with the performance and the delivery of METKA. We have seen that we have the confidence to proceed to IPO for METKA. IPO for METKA has two good things to give. First, it will give liquidity to METKA so that it can rise higher in the sector of concessions.
You need not consider METKA only as infrastructures and concessions because it is going to surprise you. Number two, it will come autonomous. For sure, Metlen will have the vast majority, but METKA can be standalone so that it can face competition with a very strong capitalization by itself. Don't forget that the turnover of METKA this year is almost EUR 1 billion with zero debt. Do you know any construction company with zero debt? Very unlikely in Greece.
Zero debt, nevertheless, by itself, it doesn't say much. We will need on top to have some capitalization via IPO so that it can do much more than it has done until now. EUR 50 million one year, EUR 100 million the next year, EUR 150 million the next year. You see that the course is very steady, stay tuned for the METKA IPO. According to how market goes, we will take the decisions.
Next question.
What about the free cash flow? We understand it's going to be positive based on the levers you mentioned. Can you please say a few things about CapEx and the cash flow accordingly?
Fotini Ioannou is going to answer this question.
Thank you. As Christos said, we will reach leverage ratio 2 times lower to EBITDA, a bit over 3 times, which was the end of 2025. This will be the result of profitability and the absolute reduction in debt leverages. This improvement will come as a result of mainly substantial inflows that we expect from asset rotations that were made in the past, plus significant organic functional flows, which are positive. CapEx, as Christos said, had reached a peak in 2025. In 2026, we expect a good year with important investments. By the combination of our organic flows and CapEx, we'll reach 2 times the EBITDA.
Thank you, Fotini.
Allow me to add. As Christos said, to repeat it, we're not a startup. We are not a pure growth company, which never pays a dividend and which has a very low capital adequacy. No. On the contrary, we are a company that has all the characteristics of a heavy company, at the same time, it can combine growth plus liquidity, plus dividends. Usually, in the market, you can't see these three together. When you have billions per year, usually you don't give up dividends. When you have so high investments, usually your debt is high. We have managed, excluding 2025 and the setback that we had with this incident, we have managed to deliver all these three I mentioned, and in 2026 you're going to have the same image for us. This was the only addition from me. Next question.
Batistakis from Optima. You said that the uncertainty worldwide continues. Two questions here. Which were the influences from Iran War, which is the global renewables forecast?
One month ago, I posted on LinkedIn an explanation about how we have entered the next big wave of renewables increase. Here we have the following. The various countries, mainly the poorer countries, which cannot pay natural gas at the prices that we have today, they cannot pay electricity from natural gas at these prices neither, when they find it, because sometimes they cannot even find it. The Gulf War has shown that there is a serious problem in security supply. We had forgotten about that. We found it in Ukraine War, now we forgot about it, then we find it again.
This makes the countries, European and also international countries, with the exception of the U.S. maybe, due to the policy that they have, all of the countries, they ride on a wave of major heavy investments. We read that the exports from China in panels, inverters, materials for PVs in the first quarter of the year is 43% up. We see this trend ongoing independently from the Gulf War. We're very happy because it shows that a new ascending cycle has started, and we have invested much, and Made a lot of expenditure, and we made a lot of efforts for this ascending cycle, and here it is now. Yesterday, the ZDF president came so that we could discuss about thousands of megawatts projects. This is where we stand in renewables. Regarding the Iranian war, I believe that you all have your opinion about this war.
Every day, all day through, we just hear on the news, the Greek elections and the Gulf War, nothing more. I don't have any view, any opinion about the Iranian war. This is one of the very few times that I don't have an opinion to share with you. I hope we have peace there. Maybe this turbulence will continue for six more months. We don't know. No matter what happens, the damage is already very severe in numerous value chains all over the world. We are impacted, we are influenced in two ways. One is a positive one. Is positive. The increase of aluminum prices. From the average price, $ 2,300, now it has reached $3,600. Also premiums that we pay on delivery and on quality have also grown. The other thing is natural gas prices. Before the year, it was EUR 25 to EUR 30.
Now it's EUR 50, meaning for electricity, almost tripled with EUR 130, EUR 150 per kilowatt hour. This creates a major problem. This, again, the number one problem worldwide, we have it in our front yard. All the responses to this problem are related to the time period of the war. If the Gulf remains closed, we don't have natural gas from Qatar. If we don't have natural gas from Russia, since in 2027, Europe will face a very difficult situation.
I do not know which will be the political priorities. I am reading in Financial Times that there is a discussion in Europe to send Angela Merkel or Mario Draghi as an interlocutor for Putin so that we can start a new discussion. If this happens, we might come back to a better position in terms of energy products with lower prices, mainly. It's too early to say anything. Next question.
Hello, my name is Panagiotis Fragkos from World Energy News. Could you give us a broader picture about your investments in storage renewables?
Thank you, P anagiotis . The storage business is at the moment the hottest item in the renewable sector. I remind you time-wise, the renewable business started with windmills, with wind parks. It was mostly solar, PVs. Now at this third stage, it's mostly batteries. I think we have an experience of many years in the business of batteries, long before it became so popular and so sought after in the renewable world. I also remind you that in the U.K., we have a dominant position in batteries for more than 10, 12 years, which is a very big market for batteries. This battery expansion, either standalone or together with solar, continues. We do also for ourselves, as I said in my speech a few minutes ago, we are now finishing our second or third battery storage plant in Larissa, which is 330 MW.
330 MW is probably one of the 10 biggest in Europe. In Greece, the second biggest is below 100 MW. The answer is yes, we believe in batteries. There is a big future in batteries, either standalone or co-located with solar. Please.
Good afternoon. My name is Marius Nikas. I'm a shareholder for the last four years. I have one technical question and one more, let's say, theoretical question. I will start with the first one.
I can't hear you very well. I'm sorry.
Sorry. One theoretical question for Mr. Chairman. How do you make sure that the company has the ability to fight off the ABCs of business decay, and that be arrogance, bureaucracy, and complacency? That's one. The second one for Mr. Chairman has to do with the capital allocation, a favorite subject for my questions the last three years, four years in the annual shareholders meeting. Practically, the shareholders effectively entrust the allocation of their capital, the savings, to the management of the invested company. Do you think the shareholders do well in entrusting you with their precious capital? Any comments, further expansion on the subject would be greatly appreciated from our shareholders so as we understand the way you think. One last technical question for Mr. Evangelos. It's a little bit counterintuitive and provocative, the request. Could you please consider stop using the measure EBITDA?
For several big investors, really good ones, the last 60 years, that retired the last three years, four years, EBITDA measure is not a good one to showcase the capacity and the capability of the management to bring net profits for the company in and actually indicate the real picture of net profits of the company, and whether the management would consider stop using the EBITDA and instead use net profit plus free cash flow divided by two, a really good measure of profitability and the capacity, the capability of the management to bring the cash, the real cash in the company? Those three questions. Thank you very much.
Okay. I'll just say one word about EBITDA, and then make a comment on the ABC, and then I'll pass it on to Christos to give you some more information about your question. In our financial committee, I am the one who always argues that EBITDA is a very good metric for bond holders. That is from where bond holders are expecting to be paid back for the coupons and the money they invested, out of EBITDA. No matter if the bottom line is zero or not, if the EBITDA is high. Out there in the market, then, there is an expression which goes like this. Oh, there is an acquisition. Say, Oh, this acquisition is nothing. He bought EBITDA. Unfortunately, I am so much in favor of bottom line, the American way, earnings per share. That's it. This is what stays in the company. What is EBITDA?
Suppose I buy a big infra, which has a toll, and I spend huge money, and I get very big EBITDA. All the EBITDA goes to the interest because it was a very big acquisition. What is this? Is a meaningful business? I agree with you 100%. Having spoken with all our brokers in London, no other names, big names, they all said the markets here understand EBITDA. I agree with you, but I cannot fight the markets. I am too small to fight the markets. Maybe NVIDIA could fight the markets for me. This is difficult. Arrogance, bureaucracy, complacency. I agree with you also on all three. These are the symptoms of companies that have such a speedy and high growth. I am afraid we suffered some of these diseases ourselves as well. My personal paradigm of humility, unfortunately, did not apply.
That's why I said before that the setback of 2025 was a good lesson for all the things you said, and I thank you very much sincerely for the note. I appreciate. Christos, please.
Thank you for asking. Couldn't agree more. I'm a cash flow guy. I come from treasury, that says it all. It's not just a net on the P&L, it's on the cash conversion, the language that I'm using. I cannot make any stronger statement than this. It's true what Chairman said, it's a big debate internally that we all agree that we have to get rid of EBITDA, nobody else listens from the market. We're going to be trying that, our targets internally are set on the bottom line, not on the middle line. That's what I told you before, the targets that we have set on the leverage, on the working capital, on the FCF, these are all cash flow metrics.
This is what matters at the end of the day, and I guess my statement before regarding the outlook of deleveraging, A, reducing financing cost, B, increasing net profitability, C, increasing liquidity and increasing our ability, provided that we opt to pay more as a dividend payout, showcase exactly what we have in our minds. Capital allocation policy, I guess it's as clear as it could be, meaning that, yes, CapEx is close to EUR 1 billion year in, year out, but only 10% or 20% is the maintenance one, is the recurring one, is the one that we have to go to, meaning that 80% is discretionary. We go for it provided that our operating cash flow supports that number, and at the same time, we are within the leverage ratios that we can maintain.
If we go for both, meaning that the operating is very strong, we do have room to invest and to grow, then we consider how we are going to distribute this money to dividends, something that we did, provided that our balance sheet and P&L allowed it. This is where we derive bottom line into the net, into the cash flow, into the cash conversion, and finally into the leverage ratio. This is the way that we operate, and this is the way that we do expect this year working capital and FCF to turn positive. Thank you.
Any other question, please?
Okay. [Giorgos Sindakis from Eurotoday]. My question regards defense. One month ago, in the Greek-French forum, you were present and you mentioned especially the significance of these cooperations with foreign companies, especially French companies, as regards defense systems. If I understood well then, you had actually implied some future international cooperations in third countries, outside Greece, along with foreign partners. Could you please give us an update on that? In general, as regards the cooperation with French defense companies, do we have some news on that?
Thank you for this question. Defense, as we expected, goes very well. You need to expect very good news. As regards the time horizon, allow me to say that defense doubles its contribution, more than doubles. I'm very optimistic that it will follow a course similar to that of METKA, or even better.
This is not an information, it is just my own prediction. The discussion I had with Mr. Pommellet from Sinodal in the forum that you just mentioned, indeed, regarded, at a great extent, some business in third countries. I have to say that this moment, defense hub of Volos, and on the occasion, let me remind you that we had two factories, and we said that until the medium term, 2028, 2030, we will have five such factories. Already we have six of them. We're not buying out companies because this is our hobby. We buy them out because we need them for business. However, we haven't seen any jobs coming, any business coming from our own country. We've seen other countries, the U.S., Germany, Norway, but no Greece.
Nevertheless, I truly believe that the commitment of the Prime Minister will show us that 25% of the defense systems will be the Greek added value. Very correctly, you say that it is not exactly where we expect defense to grow. Defense is going to grow in the cooperation with other European or other international firms, so that we can have good personnel, good executives, and good prospects. Especially in the sector of defense, our welders are considered to be of the best in Europe. Defense will come back to our discussions in the next years, I'm sure about that. Any further questions?
Athanasopoulos from Asset Management. Do you believe that investors still underestimate the share, and do you want to see any change in mindset?
I think that you have not followed many general meetings. If you had, you would know that I never speak about the course of the share. It was EUR 1, it went up to EUR 57, never had I mentioned anything about the share value, the share price. We work for the company to grow, to be good. I do believe that our share nowadays is heavily undervalued. This is why one of the decisions that the general meeting today will need to take is to proceed to a massive buyback. Of course, this is not a secret. This is the view of the board of the company. This is why we propose to the GM to take this decision. Of course, you know that it's the markets that decide about everything. Comments are off the mic, unfortunately. We cannot hear.
Looking at your presentation, the growth part and the EBIT until 2028, I saw data centers in small letters. Since I am involved in this sector, I want to ask you, is this a construction part for METKA, or you will enter the market of data centers? It will be quite pioneering, I want your opinion on that.
First, we have already built the two biggest data centers in Greece. They were built by us. This is not a job for METKA. This is part of the energy transition that goes with the renewables.
Error reset. Okay, that goes there. It was one of the main topic of discussions we had yesterday with the president of EDF and from the old NPP that remained are the networks and data centers. After this clearance, to put it politely, that is what remained. We will place emphasis on that. M Renewables has undertaken this task. They have the knowledge, the people working in this, and we kept executives from NPP who knew the job and had to stay. They had nothing to do with NPP's failures of the past. We will see a lot of data centers in the future, be sure.
Hello, Caravalli, Lena, shareholder. You are hedged for the increase of aluminum price. This increased price will be shown in the results after the end of the year. The problematic works in Poland and London, how have you tackled them?
We don't have a problem in England. No. Well, in London, we have to actually be accustomed to LSE. We have no other problem.
What about aluminum?
Well, Fotini will share that with you because beyond the technical part, this is not technical, but financial. Fotini? Questions to Fotini for aluminum.
Well, I think that aluminum has rallied. My forecast is that independent, even if the war finishes tomorrow in Iran, the deficit in aluminum are millions of tons, and it will take time to balance this deficit. Having said that, because I know the figures of next year's, I won't share the figures with you because this is a crime, as you can understand. Aluminum.
We have a very conservative policy with stock exchanges. It gave us the opportunity with its increased price to have locked exceptionally high prices for aluminum for the next, as we speak now, two and a half years. We continue doing so. In the future, when the price will be EUR 2,300 or EUR 400, we will be above this figure. I don't know if you have understood my answer. That is for aluminum and for England and Poland, there are some problematic projects. All these three projects are above 90% completion. We believe they will be delivered within 2026 and within 2025. As the President said, we have reviewed all our projects. According to revised budgets and revised timelines, we got everything we had in the case of losses or forecasts.
As the forecasts move along the timetable and within the time, we have given everything in order to finish these projects. The priority of business is timely delivery of all these projects within 2026. In London, well, you said London, but it's U.K., except for this project that has become famous because of our stupidity, mostly, you forget that we are the main subcontractor in the network, Scotland, England, subsea interconnector, which is of GBP 2.5 billion and which is quite successful.
Not everything is bad in the U.K. We find opportunities there as well. Other questions, please?
Agelis, shareholder for 20 years. I've never sold Metlen shares. My man, says the president. Maybe it's high time that we held for an increase of capital.
Capital increases and elections are never said beforehand, are never announced openly. Thank you so much that you have been with us for 20 years. I'm very happy that for these 20 years, you have gained a lot. It is shareholders like you that gave us the opportunity to become what we are today. We are truly thankful. One last question before we finish.
Andreas Karambinas. Shareholder since 1995. How much money have you gained? says the president. I have been present in 30 of the 31 general meetings. I wasn't present during the COVID. Of course, I sold some pieces in 1999, I'm still very unhappy about that. I can say to the president that you are my friend, dear Vagelis. What do you think, dear friend, about the nuclear energy in Greece and in Europe? Second question, what about cooperation with PPC on batteries? Do you have any further projects with PPC? Thank you.
Dear Andreas, I brought good luck to the PPC. I was very reluctant, everybody was reluctant. I came out and I said that everything is going to go well, it happens. I'm very happy. We're very content from this cooperation that we have with the PPC, the Public Power Company. If we were their clients, I do not know whether we would be happy, but now that we are their associates, so we are happy.
In all projects that we had together, we had the perfect cooperation, impeccable, and the geographical range of the PPC's expansion is big. We believe that we will meet again, and we are open. Of course, each company has its own course, its own program, but nevertheless, we are opened for a good relationship.
What about the first question? Nuclear energy.
Okay. I knew that you would ask that. Just yesterday I had this discussion. I was in a conference last week and I had a similar discussion. I'm not against nuclear energy, but I think that we would need a lot of time in Greece to reach that stage. Greece has a lot of earthquakes. Seismic activity is important for these type of investments. We have already problems with photovoltaics, so what about the nuclear projects? Nevertheless, we could see other countries.
Spain, for example, it has the lowest price for energy in Europe. Why? Because it has hundreds, thousands of photovoltaics, double capacity that it needs, actually. So it has very good days, it has very long days as a Mediterranean countries, and during the nighttime it has nuclear units. We have a lot of PVs, but during the nighttime, we have natural gas, which is double or triple the price than nuclear. So in principle, I would be in favor, but we need to go through a long discussion to decide. We need to close. I know that you will have many questions, but we need to close, says the president. Let me answer about the natural gas. We use natural gas in two ways. First, we feed our factories. Metals use natural gas as a raw material, especially for alumina.
The electricity companies use it so that they can produce electricity. This is the first thing we do with it. The second thing is trading. In our first business, it is a matter of cost, so we want low prices there. In our second business, in trading, we need high prices of natural gas. Because when we get a 5% margin, it is better to have a value of EUR 60 than a value of EUR 30. It is a balance between the two businesses of ours.
Thank you, President. I would like to congratulate you for your effort. I would like to wish you success with gallium and the other rare earths, and I hope that you find more elements underground. I wish you stay successful in the future. I cannot see that the European market recognizes the effort and the success that you have made.
At the moment, we have seen this result, and the valuation of the company is 18 times or maybe, let's say, 20 times its profits. The dividend that the company will give is 2.5%. The market does not recognize what you say. You spoke about gallium for 50 tons with EUR 2,500 revenues from gallium. We will reach EUR 100 million to EUR 120 million when we have a turnover of EUR 7 billion, then we'll reach 1% to 1.7% of the turnover. Of course, the shareholders want to see a better price for the share and a better yield. I wish you every success in everything that you do.
Thank you for your wishes. I can accept them and I'm grateful. I thank you for your support. I refer to 2025. I want to look forward, though.
Allow me, as I said before, to say that I cannot comment on the share price. Our shareholders are usually happy and I see this every day. If we have any share backs or any turbulences, I am sad about it. If you know me, you can know that I am more anxious about anything than anyone inside this room. I assure you that hard work and everything that we have done so that we don't have these types of cases in the future, everything will be recognized by the market sooner or later. The next time that we'll meet again here, next year maybe, you will have a different story to share. Thank you very much.
Spiridas is my name. Shareholder for 20 years. I always come to the general meetings. I speak for the first time. I have three questions.
First, in the case of increased interest rates, will we have a problem due to increased loan and borrowing? In the market, we hear about the short funds, which are fighting against the share. Where do we stand at the moment? Have we finished with that? We don't have enough information. Third question. You mentioned EBITDA EUR 2 billion to EUR 2.15 billion in the medium term. What does medium term mean? 2029? 2030? Further? We used to speak about four years periods. Thank you and my congratulations because until now you have had a very successful course.
I thank you that you're coming here for so many years. A very short comment. Medium-term is a word that was imposed to us from the investment banks in London. In London, you cannot speak about any specific year. You're not allowed to say 2029.
You should say short, medium, and long term. Usually I say, in London, when you speak about medium term, you mean three years to five years. That's the year. Regarding the short funds, just one thing, because this a very interesting question. The 5.19 for the multi-year American product today, the short funds, if they go over 0.5%, they have to be declared. This is public information. This is not a blur image. That's the case. You can read about them. Short funds and short sellers in general is a pretty risky business. It has a certain particularity. It's for very tough players, very tough gamers. The long funds, you, for example, in relation to the Metlen share, you have invested a sum of money, EUR 50,000, let's say, a random number. The maximum that you could lose is EUR 50,000.
If you have shorted your share, you might lose EUR 50 million. This is not for the average person. Shorting is a risky game. The disadvantage of shorting goes against the advantage of the company, which is that we know what we are, where we are, and what we do. Shorting never knows where will they stand. They base their information on uncertain data. If things evolve in such a way so that the first companies that we mentioned for any reasons are accelerated, then the short sellers should leave this room and never show face again. Why? Because the longers do not sell. They sit on their shares, and they have to find the shares at any price. This is the short squeeze phenomenon, and be certain that I have it in mind very much. The last thing to say, this is a game.
Shorting is a game for tough gamers. Always, the last man standing is the only winner. Thank you.
Very good question about the interest rates. As you well know, 80% of our debt is in fixed rate, so our exposure in upward trending interest rates is low. We have EUR 3.7 billion of excess liquidity, which is an important buffer to us all in cost of our debt is below 4% fixed rate and competitive levels of debt.
Thank you very much. We have finished with the questions. I will come back to English.
I thank you all for your questions. Let's now move to finalize the voting process. Can I have some information about the voting process? Are we finished with this? Are we still on or what? If you have not done so, please now complete your poll cards for all resolutions. While you complete your poll cards, the total proxy votes received by the 19th of May 2026 are displayed on the screen. Proxy votes are all the shareholders that have voted earlier. Please pay special attention. I would like to see this on the screen, please. I am pleased to report that proxy votes received ahead of the meeting show exceptionally strong support for all resolutions, with votes in favor ranging between approximately 94%-98%. I can now confirm that the poll is closed. I need to tell you, I have never had a general meeting.
I have to say that in Greek. I've never had a general meeting after 30 years in which all the items in the agenda, the resolutions, as we say in English, to have a majority of 94% or 98%. I've never remember such a majority voting. Results of the voting, including the proxy votes on each one of the resolutions, will be announced to the market through the Regulatory Information Service and the Hellenic Exchanges' remote messaging services and published on our website as soon as reasonably practicable. Based on those proxy votes and the shareholders represented in the room today, our registrar has indicated that all resolutions are expected to pass with overwhelming support. This is an outstanding result, and I understand the strongest level of shareholder support the company has ever received at an annual general meeting.
It is a clear testament to shareholders' confidence in the company, its strategy, and its governance. Ladies and gentlemen, that concludes the business of this meeting. On behalf of the board, I would like to thank shareholders for their continued support and trust. You are all invited now to join the directors for refreshments inside.