A statement made by the Board Of Directors of a company to its shareholders (and other users of information). Its purpose is to outline the future prospects for the business, definition of strategies, background to key numbers, and to provide segmental analysis, historic business and departmental commentaries.
A part of the annual report, it's the big chance of the Directors to have their photos taken, and say what a wonderful job they have done. It's part business review, part strategy document - but seriously for a moment, it has a small part of the content that is governed by law - but you couldn't spot it.