DGAP-News: Scout24 AG: Annual General Meeting of Scout24 AG resolves dividend and paves the way for further capital repayments
DGAP-News: Scout24 AG
/ Key word(s): AGM/EGM
Scout24 AG: Annual General Meeting of Scout24 AG resolves dividend and paves the way for further capital repayments
18.06.2020 / 14:45
The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement.
Annual General Meeting of Scout24 AG resolves dividend and paves the way for further capital repayments
Dividend of EUR 0.91 per share Share capital reduction through share buybacks of up to EUR 1.0 billion Authorization of further share buybacks Dr Elke Frank as newly elected member of the Supervisory Board
Munich / Berlin, 18 June 2020
Today's Annual General Meeting of Scout24 AG approved all resolutions proposed by the administrative bodies with large majorities. Due to Covid-19, the Annual General Meeting was held as a purely virtual event without the physical presence of shareholders or their proxies. Key agenda items were the dividend of EUR 0.91 per share, the regular elections to the Supervisory Board, and key resolutions on the return of capital to shareholders following the successfully completed sale of AutoScout24.
In his speech, CEO Tobias Hartmann addressed the most important strategic, organizational and operational developments of the 2019 financial year. He illustrated the business model of the Scout24 Group, which focuses on the real estate segment, with examples and emphasized its excellent strategic positioning and high growth potential: "With ImmoScout24, we want to develop from a classifieds portal to a fully networked digital marketplace of the future. The ever-increasing interconnectedness opens up additional sources of revenue and associated growth opportunities for us. Our focus is on the further digitization of real estate transactions."
Dr Dirk Schmelzer, CFO of Scout24 AG, explained in his speech: "Through the successful sale of AutoScout24 we have realized considerable cash proceeds, some of which we have already used to repay debt. We therefore have a very healthy balance sheet structure in the current Covid-19 crisis. We want our shareholders to participate in this, too. In addition to the current share buyback program and this year's dividend payment, we will distribute a further EUR 1.2 billion to our shareholders in the coming year."
The reports and speeches of the Supervisory Board and Management Board were broadcast live on the Scout24 AG website. Duly registered shareholders were given the opportunity to follow the entire Annual General Meeting live via a protected internet service. A total of 78.43% of the voting share capital was represented. The following agenda items were put to a vote:
Appropriation of unappropriated net income of Scout 24 AG for the financial year 2019 (99.92% approval) Approval of the acts of the Management Board for the financial year 2019 (99.96% approval) Approval of the acts of the Supervisory Board for the financial year 2019 (99.95% approval) Appointment of the auditor of the financial statements and the consolidated financial statements for the financial year 2020 (99.99% approval). Elections to the Supervisory Board (approval rates: Dr Hans-Holger Albrecht: 76.82%, Christoph Brand: 98.22%, Dr Elke Frank: 99.76%, Frank H. Lutz: 88.19%, Peter Schwarzenbauer: 98.60%, André Schwämmlein: 92.73%) Reduction of the registered share capital through redemption of shares after purchase by Scout24 AG (99.99% approval) Authorization to purchase treasury shares (97.31% approval) Creation of an Authorized Capital 2020 (91.95% approval) Approval of the profit and loss transfer agreement with Scout24 Beteiligungs SE (99.99% approval)With Dr Elke Frank, Chief Human Resources Officer at Software AG, a new member was elected to the Supervisory Board of Scout24 AG. She succeeds Ciara Smyth, who was not available for re-election. The lawyer Dr Elke Frank has 20 years of management experience in listed companies and contributes to the competence profile of the Supervisory Board in particular with her expertise in the areas of personnel and remuneration.
The detailed voting results, the recording of the speeches of the Supervisory Board and Management Board and the corresponding presentation are available on the Scout24 AG website under www.scout24.com/en/General-meeting.
About Scout24
Scout24 is one of the leading digital companies in Germany. With ImmoScout24, an online platform for residential and commercial real estate, we successfully bring together owners, realtors, tenants, and buyers to make complex decisions easy - and we have been doing so for more than 20 years. With around 14 million users per month, ImmoScout24 is the market leader for digital real estate marketing and search. To digitise the process of real estate transactions, ImmoScout24 is continually developing new products and building up an ecosystem for renting, buying, and commercial real estate in Germany. Scout24 is a listed stock corporation (ISIN: DE000A12DM80, Ticker: G24) and member of the MDAX. Further information is available on Twitter and LinkedIn. Since 2012, ImmoScout24 has also been active in the Austrian real estate market, reaching around 3 million users monthly.
Investor Relations
Ursula Querette
Head of Investor Relations
Tel.: +49 89 44456 3278
E-Mail: ir@scout24.com
Media Relations
Jan Flaskamp
Vice President Communications & Marketing
Tel.: +49 30 24301 0721
E-Mail: mediarelations@scout24.com
Disclaimer
All information contained in this document has been carefully prepared. However, no reliance may be placed for any purposes whatsoever on the information contained in this document or on its completeness. No representation or warranty, express or implied, is given by or on behalf of the Company or any of its directors, officers or employees or any other person as to the accuracy and/or completeness of the information contained in this document and no liability whatsoever is accepted by the Company or any of its directors, officers or employees nor any other person for any loss howsoever arising, directly or indirectly, from any use of such information or opinions or otherwise arising in connection therewith.
The information contained in this release is subject to amendment, revision and updating. Certain statements, beliefs and opinions in this document are forward-looking, which reflect the Company's or, as appropriate, senior management's current expectations and projections about future events. By their nature, forward-looking statements involve a number of risks, uncertainties, assumptions and other factors that could cause actual results, including but not limited to the Company's financial position or profitability, to differ materially, also adversely, from those expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements. Statements contained in this document regarding past trends or activities should not be taken as a representation that such trends or activities will continue in the future. The Company does not undertake any obligation to update or revise any information contained in this document (including forward-looking statements), whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise. You should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date of this press release.
18.06.2020 Dissemination of a Corporate News, transmitted by DGAP - a service of EQS Group AG.
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