11/06/2024 | 18:00 CEST | Group Announcements
Stäfa (Switzerland), June 11, 2024 – Sonova Holding AG, a leading provider of hearing care solutions, announces the results of the 39th Annual General Meeting (AGM) held today. The shareholders approved all the proposals submitted by the Board of Directors. 385 shareholders personally attended the AGM in Zurich. In total, 68% of the share capital was represented.
The shareholders approved the Annual Report, the Annual Consolidated Financial Statements of the Group and the Annual Financial Statements of Sonova Holding AG for the 2023/24 financial year and authorized the proposed appropriation of retained earnings and a gross dividend of CHF 4.30 per registered share. This amounts to a payout of approximately CHF 256.3 million, corresponding to an adjusted payout ratio of 43%. Payment of the dividend is expected to take place from June 17, 2024.
The shareholders formally approved the discharge of the members of the Board of Directors and the Management Board for the 2023/24 financial year. All members of the Board of Directors stood for re-election and were confirmed individually for a further term of office. Gilbert Achermann was newly elected as an independent member of the Board of Directors. As part of its medium-term succession planning, the Board of Directors intends to nominate Gilbert Achermann at the 2025 AGM to succeed the current Chair, Robert Spoerry, who was also confirmed in office for another term. Roland Diggelmann (chair), Lukas Braunschweiler, Stacy Enxing Seng and Julie Tay were re-elected to the Nomination & Compensation Committee.
The report on non-financial matters and the compensation report for the 2023/24 financial year were accepted by the shareholders in a non-binding advisory vote. The Board of Directors acknowledges the low level of approval by the shareholders for the compensation report. In two separate binding votes, the shareholders approved the maximum aggregate amount of compensation of the Board of Directors covering the period from the AGM 2024 to the AGM 2025 and the maximum aggregate amount of compensation of the Management Board for the 2025/26 financial year.
Robert Spoerry, Chair of the Board of Directors of Sonova Holding AG, stated: “We acknowledge the concerns of our shareholders expressed in today’s advisory vote on the compensation report. We would like to emphasize that the points raised by our shareholders and the proxy advisors mainly related to the level of disclosure in the compensation report and did not concern the level of remuneration or the compensation system as such. The Nomination and Compensation Committee will carefully consider further improvements in the upcoming compensation report and we will engage with shareholders and proxy advisors during the upcoming financial year.”
Ernst & Young AG, Zurich, was re-elected as Auditor for a period of one year and the Law Office Keller AG, Zurich, was re-elected as the Independent Proxy.
The next AGM will be convened on June 10, 2025.
The minutes of the AGM 2024 (in German), which also include the detailed voting results, will soon be available on the Sonova website under the following link: https://www.sonova.com/en/AGM.
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