17/06/2014 | 18:30 CEST | Group Announcements
Stäfa (Switzerland), 17 June 2014 – The shareholders of Sonova Holding AG approved all motions of the Board of Directors at the Annual General Shareholders’ Meeting (AGM) on June 17, 2014, and decided on a dividend of CHF 1.90 per share. 467 shareholders attended the AGM of Sonova Holding AG in Zurich, representing approximately 64.4% of the total share capital.
The shareholders approved the Annual Report, the Annual Consolidated Financial Statements of the Group and the Annual Financial Statements of Sonova Holding AG for 2013/14 and ratified a gross dividend of CHF 1.90 per share. This amounts to a payout of approximately CHF 127.6 million corresponding to a payout ratio of approximately 37% of the net profit of last year’s reporting period. The distribution will be made with the anticipated value date of June 24, 2014.
The shareholders formally approved the actions of the members of the Board of Directors for their activities during the 2013/14 business year. All members of the Board of Directors standing for re-election for a further term of office in accordance with the new provisions of the Ordinance against Excessive Compensation with respect to Listed Companies (OaEC) were re-elected. During the course of these elections, the current Chairman of the Board of Directors Robert F. Spoerry was also confirmed in office. Re-elected to the Nomination & Compensation Committee were Robert F. Spoerry (Chairman), Beat Hess and John J. Zei. Furthermore, Stacy Enxing Seng (born 1964, US citizen) was newly elected to the Board of Directors.
As a consequence of the required amendments to conform to the OaEC, votes were held this year on numerous amendments to the Articles of Association. The various proposed amendments to the Articles of Association were divided up into two agenda items and put to a vote. The shareholders agreed with the proposals submitted by the Board of Directors and approved the two agenda items. In addition, the AGM ratified the compensation report 2013/14 in a non-binding advisory vote.
PricewaterhouseCoopers AG, Zurich, was re-elected as Auditors for a further period of one year. Andreas G. Keller was elected as the Independent Proxy in accordance with the OaEC provisions, which state that independent proxies must now be elected by the AGM.
The next AGM will be convened on June 16, 2015.
The presentation and the minutes (in German) of the AGM 2014 will soon be available on our website: http://www.sonova.com/en/AGM
– End –