2021 Annual General Meeting

The Annual General Meeting of Givaudan SA took place on 25 March 2021, and in view of the continuing uncertainty around COVID-19, the meeting was limited to the statutory meeting with minimum required attendance by its representatives. Shareholders provided their voting instructions to the independent voting rights representatives in writing or through a secured online platform. In lieu of the traditional meeting, Givaudan donated the sum of CHF 200,000 to the Givaudan Foundation to support a number of worthwhile projects in our communities.

“The global pandemic brought much disruption to our business and the wider market in 2020, but we found ways to navigate successfully through and I’d like to thank our employees, customers, partners and suppliers for their great collaboration and commitment in these testing times. I would also like to thank our shareholders for their continued support and interest in our company.” 

Calvin Grieder, Chairman of the Board of the Directors

 
The Annual General Meeting approved the 2020 Integrated Annual Report, the annual financial statements and the consolidated financial statement with 99.43% of votes and discharged the members of the Board of Directors with 98.79% of votes.

With 92.17% 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 64.00 gross per share. This is the twentieth 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, on 31 March 2021.

Thomas Rufer retired at the AGM 2021 after twelve years serving as a member of the Board of Directors and therefore did not stand for re-election. 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 2022, in accordance with the legal requirements and Givaudan’s Articles of Incorporation.

This includes Mr Michael Carlos and Prof. Werner Bauer, who were presented for re-election exceptionally although they had exceeded the age limitation of 70 years at the time of the Annual General Meeting 2021, to ensure continuity of the Board of Directors during the continuing COVID-19 pandemic.

• Victor Balli*
• Prof. Dr-Ing Werner Bauer*
• Lilian Biner
• Michael Carlos
• Ingrid Deltenre*
• Olivier Filliol
• Sophie Gasperment
• Calvin Grieder (also re-elected as Chairman)

* Also re-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 2022 and Deloitte SA was re-elected as auditors for the financial year 2021 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:

• maximum aggregate amount of compensation of the Board of Directors for the term until the 2022 Annual General Meeting of CHF 3,250,000, by 98.27% of the votes,
• aggregate amount of short term variable compensation of the Executive Committee for the fiscal year 2020 of CHF 4,827,783 by 96.90% of the votes and
• maximum aggregate amount of fixed and long-term variable compensation of the Executive Committee for the fiscal year 2021 of CHF 15,400,000, by 93.29% of the votes.
   

“At Givaudan, besides keeping our operations running and serving our customers at our best, our priority is the health, safety and wellbeing of our employees, customers, our partners and suppliers, and all the communities where we operate. Our business has proved resilient and we have worked in partnership with our customers, suppliers and partners to navigate the challenging environment of 2020. I wish especially to thank our employees who made this possible.” 

Calvin Grieder, Chairman of the Board of the Directors

For further information please contact
Pierre Bénaich, Head of Investor and Media Relations
T +41 22 780 9053
E pierre.benaich@givaudan.com