2017 Annual General Meeting
- All proposals by the Board of Directors approved
- 16th consecutive dividend increase: 3.7% increase vs 2016
- Dr Jürg Witmer retired from the Board of Directors and from his position as Chairman
- Calvin Grieder elected as Chairman
The Annual General Meeting of Givaudan SA took place on 23 March 2017. It was attended by 363 shareholders or proxies, representing 3,752,938 shares (40.64% of a total of 9,233,586 registered shares).
The Annual General Meeting approved the 2016 Annual Report, the annual financial statements and the consolidated financial statement with 98.91% of votes and discharged the members of the Board of Directors with 97.89% of votes.
With 79.59% of votes, it also approved the Company’s compensation report on a consultative basis.
The Annual General Meeting approved a distribution to the shareholders of CHF 56.00 per share. This is the sixteenth consecutive dividend increase following Givaudan’s listing at the Swiss stock exchange in 2000. The amount will be paid out of available earnings as an ordinary dividend, taxable in Switzerland.
After serving on the Board for over 18 years, first as CEO and then as Chairman for 12 years, Dr Jürg Witmer retired as Chairman and member of the Board. Calvin Grieder, newly elected Chairman, thanked Dr Witmer for his exemplary guidance and oversight as CEO and as Chairman, which created an environment for continued company growth and significant value creation for shareholders.
All other current members of the Board of Directors were re-elected, each for a term of one year until the next Annual General Meeting in 2018, in accordance with the legal requirements and Givaudan’s Articles of Incorporation:
- Victor Balli*
- Prof. Dr-Ing Werner Bauer*
- Lilian Biner
- Michael Carlos
- Ingrid Deltenre*
- Calvin Grieder (who was also elected as Chairman)
- Thomas Rufer
* Also elected to the Compensation Committee for a term of one year
Mr Manuel Isler, attorney-at-law, was re-elected as independent shareholder representative until the next Annual General Meeting in 2018 and Deloitte SA was re-elected as auditors for the financial year 2017 with Ms. Karine Szegedi Pingoud as lead auditor, partner.
Finally, the Annual General Meeting approved the remuneration for the Board of Directors and the Executive Committee. In particular, it approved:
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maximum aggregate amount of compensation of the Board of Directors for the term until the 2018 Annual General Meeting of CHF 2,950,000, by 95.20% of the votes,
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aggregate amount of short term variable compensation of the Executive Committee for the fiscal year 2016 of CHF 3,287,520 by 96.68% of the votes and
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maximum aggregate amount of fixed and long-term variable compensation of the Executive Committee for the fiscal year 2017 of CHF 19,800,000, by 91.35% of the votes.
Note
Calvin Grieder is a Swiss national born in 1955 in the USA. He has had a successful career, holding various executive positions at Swiss and German companies including the international engineering group Bühler, where he was appointed CEO in 2001 before becoming Chairman in 2014. Calvin Grieder joined Givaudan’s Board of Directors in 2014 and was nominated Vice-Chairman in 2016, and Chairman on 23 March 2017.
Dr Jürg Witmer has overseen significant milestones in the growth of Givaudan since he joined the Company as CEO and Board member in May 1999. He successfully orchestrated the spin-off from Roche and the IPO of Givaudan in June 2000, and was elected Chairman of the Board in March 2005 with Gilles Andrier as new CEO. His exemplary guidance and oversight has created an environment for continued Company growth and significant value creation for shareholders. The share price has increased five-fold since the Company's listing on the stock exchange. During the same period, the Company has returned CHF 3.1 billion of cash to shareholders in the form of dividends or share buy backs.
For further information please contact
Peter Wullschleger, Givaudan Media and Investor Relations
T +41 22 780 9093
E peter_b.wullschleger@givaudan.com