14/06/2016 | 18:00 CEST | Company announcement
Stäfa (Switzerland), June 14, 2016 – The shareholders of Sonova Holding AG approved all motions of the Board of Directors at the Annual General Shareholders’ Meeting (AGM) on June 14, 2016, and thus decided on a dividend of CHF 2.10 per share. 474 shareholders attended the AGM of Sonova Holding AG in Zurich, representing approximately 62.8% 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 2015/16 and authorized the proposed appropriation of retained earnings and a gross dividend of CHF 2.10 per share. This amounts to a payout of approximately CHF 137.4 million corresponding to a payout ratio of approximately 41% of the consolidated net profit of last year’s reporting period. The distribution will be made with the anticipated value date of June 20, 2016.
The shareholders formally approved the actions of the members of the Board of Directors for their activities during the 2015/16 financial year. All members of the Board of Directors standing for re-election for a further term of office were re-elected individually. During the course of these elections, the current Chairman of the Board of Directors Robert F. Spoerry was also confirmed in office. Furthermore, Lynn Dorsey Bleil (born 1963, US citizen) was newly elected to the Board of Directors. Elected to the Nomination & Compensation Committee were Robert F. Spoerry (Chairman), Beat Hess and Stacy Enxing Seng.
The compensation report for the 2015/16 financial year was accepted by shareholders in a non-binding advisory vote. Shareholders also approved in two separate binding votes the maximum aggregate amount of compensation of the Board of Directors covering the period from the 2016 Annual General Meeting to the 2017 Annual General Meeting and the maximum aggregate amount of compensation of the Management Board for the 2017/18 financial year. Furthermore the capital reduction through cancellation of shares was accepted by the shareholders.
PricewaterhouseCoopers AG, Zurich, was re-elected as Auditors for a further period of one year. Andreas G. Keller was re-elected as the Independent Proxy.
The next AGM will be convened on June 13, 2017.
The presentation and the minutes (in German) of the 2016 Annual General Meeting will soon be available on our website: www.sonova.com/en/AGM
– End –