7th Annual General Meeting: Shareholders approve all proposals
Press release, Wednesday, 10 April 2024
The seventh Annual General Meeting of Galenica Ltd. was held on 10 April 2024 at the Kursaal in Bern. The shareholders approved all the proposals put forward by the Board of Directors. They also approved the proposed dividend of CHF 2.20 per share. All members of the Board of Directors were re-elected for a term of office of one year.
The seventh Annual General Meeting of Galenica Ltd. was attended by 418 shareholders representing a total of 73.3% of the registered voting shares of Galenica Ltd.
Re-elections to the Board of Directors and the Remuneration Committee
Dr Markus R. Neuhaus, Pascale Bruderer, Bertrand Jungo, Judith Meier, Prof. Dr med. Solange Peters, Dr Andreas Walde and Jörg Zulauf were re-elected as members of the Board of Directors for a term of office of one year. Dr Markus R. Neuhaus was re-elected as Chairman of the Board of Directors for a term of office of one year.
Bertrand Jungo, Pascale Bruderer, Prof. Dr med. Solange Peters and Dr Andreas Walde were re-elected as members of the Remuneration Committee for a term of office of one year, with the Board of Directors re-appointing Bertrand Jungo as its chairman.
Approval of the 2023 financial statements and discharge of the Board of Directors and Executive Committee
The shareholders also voted in favour of the proposals put forward by the Board of Directors for the other agenda items: For example, the 2023 Annual Financial Statements of Galenica Ltd., the Management Report and the 2023 consolidated Financial Statements of the Galenica Group were approved and the actions of the members of the Board of Directors and the Executive Committee for the 2023 financial year were ratified. In a consultative vote, the shareholders endorsed the Remuneration Report 2023, with 94% voting in favour. For the first time, shareholders also approved the report on non-financial matters pursuant to Article 964a of the Swiss Code of Obligations with 88.7% voting in favour. The proposed binding maximum total remuneration for 2025 for the members of the Board of Directors and the Executive Committee was also approved with 95.6% and 96.9% votes in favour, respectively.
Sustainable and stable dividend
The Annual General Meeting also approved the dividend at the prior-year level of CHF 2.20 per share proposed by the Board of Directors. Half (CHF 1.10 per share) is paid out from the capital contribution reserve and the other half from retained earnings. This corresponds to a total expected distribution of CHF 109.6 million. Galenica strives to achieve strong and sustainable dividend growth and plans to pay a dividend equal at least to the previous year’s level in 2024. The dividend for the 2023 financial year will be paid to shareholders from 16 April 2024.