The shareholders of VAT Group AG approved all motions proposed by the Board of Directors at today’s Annual General Meeting (AGM), including the payout of a 22% higher dividend of CHF 5.50 per share.

Due to health and safety concerns and in line with Ordinance 3 issued by the Swiss Federal Council on measures to combat the coronavirus (COVID-19), the meeting was held without the physical participation of shareholders. All legal proceedings were carried out as required and shareholders were asked to exercise their voting rights using an electronic platform or by written grant of Power of Attorney to the independent proxy. Shareholders also had the opportunity to submit written questions or remarks to the Board of Directors prior to the meeting, but none were received. In addition, the AGM could be followed via a live video webcast.

The meeting took place at VAT Group’s headquarters in Haag, Switzerland, in the presence of the independent proxy, Roger Föhn, with Simon Niklaus representing the external auditor, KPMG. Mike Allison, CEO, Benno Lichtsteiner, VAT’s Head of Legal & Compliance and six Board members were present as well. Dr. Martin Komischke, Chairman of the Board of Directors joined remotely via video link.

A total of 19,001,521 shares were represented by the independent proxy, representing 63.33 percent the company’s share capital.

“It is regrettable that today and for the third year in a row we are holding our annual general meeting in the absence of our valued shareholders,” Dr. Martin Komischke, Chairman of the Board of Directors said. “The COVID-19 pandemic is still a threat and the health and well-being of all of our stakeholders – employees, customers, suppliers, the communities in which we operate and, of course, our shareholders – are of utmost importance to us, but we are looking forward to hopefully meeting you all again in person in 2023.”

Approval of 22% higher dividend of CHF 5.50 per share

Dr. Komischke was re-elected as member and Chairman of the Board of Directors. Urs Leinhäuser, Karl Schlegel, Dr. Hermann Gerlinger, Dr. Libo Zhang and Daniel Lippuner were confirmed as members of the Board of Directors for a further one-year term of office until completion of the AGM 2023. In addition, shareholders elected Maria Heriz as a new Board member, replacing Heinz Kundert who did not stand for re-election.

In addition, shareholders re-elected Dr. Martin Komischke as member of the Nomination and Compensation Committee (NCC). They also elected Urs Leinhäuser, Hermann Gerlinger and Libo Zang as new members of the NCC. Karl Schlegel and Heinz Kundert did not stand for re-election to the NCC.

Shareholders approved the payout of a dividend of CHF 5.50 per registered share, CHF 5.25 from accumulated gains and CHF 0.25 from reserves from capital contributions. The dividend will be paid on May 24, 2022. The last trading day with entitlement to receive a dividend is May 18, 2022 and VAT shares will be traded ex-dividend as of May 19, 2022. The shareholders also approved the 2021 annual report, VAT Group AG’s annual financial statements and the consolidated accounts.

In an advisory vote, shareholders endorsed the compensation report 2021 by a large majority. In separate binding votes, shareholders approved the short-term variable compensation of the Group Executive Committee (GEC) for the financial year 2021. The total maximum amount of fixed compensation and the maximum amount of the long-term incentive of the GEC for the financial year 2023 were approved as well. Last, the total maximum amount of compensation for the members of the Board covering the next term until the AGM in 2023 was approved as well.