An ordinary share carries a vote at the general meeting of shareholders and a right to a dividend whose size is set by the meeting on the recommendation of the board. The company is under no firm obligation to pay: in a poor year the payment may be cancelled altogether, and that is a lawful decision rather than a breach.
The vote is far from a formality for a large holder and almost always a formality for a private investor: where a controlling shareholder exists, the outcome is settled in advance. The right acquires practical value during reorganisations and major transactions, when the law grants dissenting shareholders the right to demand a buyback.
The dividend policy is a document in which the company itself describes what share of profit it intends to distribute and which figure to measure it against: net profit under international standards, free cash flow, or adjusted earnings. The policy creates no obligation, but it sets the market's expectations, and departures from it are usually reflected in the price.
Ordinary shares form the base of the main Moscow Exchange indices. Index membership matters not in itself but because funds track the index: inclusion means obligatory buying by index funds, and exclusion obligatory selling.
