The ordinary Annual General Meeting 2017 of Barry Callebaut AG, the world’s leading manufacturer of chocolate and cocoa products, was held today in Zurich-Oerlikon under the chairmanship of Patrick De Maeseneire, Chairman of the Board, and Jakob Baer, Vice-Chairman of the Board.
1,174 shareholders attended the meeting, representing 4,575,977 shares and equaling 83.37% of the issued share capital.
All motions were adopted as proposed by the Board of Directors, including the reelection of Patrick De Maeseneire as Chairman and the election of Elio Leoni Sceti as new Board member.
Barry Callebaut Annual General Meeting 2017
The Board of Directors also honored the two Board members who had decided to step down: Andreas Schmid, who retired after 20 years on the Board of Barry Callebaut, of which six years as Chairman, and three years also CEO, and nine years as Vice-Chairman, as well as Wai Ling Liu, member of the Board since 2014.
The Board of Directors expressed its sincere gratitude to Andreas Schmid for his passion for Barry Callebaut and his outstanding contribution to the development of the company over so many years, and also thanked Wai Ling Liu warmly for her valuable contribution on strategic topics such as market and talent development.
All other Board members, namely Patrick De Maeseneire, Fernando Aguirre, Jakob Baer, James Donald, Nicolas Jacobs, Timothy Minges and Juergen Steinemann were reelected for another term of office of one year.
The shareholders also approved the proposed payout of CHF 20.00 per share, an increase of +29% versus prior year.
The payout will be effected partly in the form of a capital repayment by way of par value reduction (CHF 7.27 per share) and partly through a cash dividend (CHF 12.73 per share).
The distribution of the part related to capital reduction will not be subject to withholding tax or – for individuals who are taxed in Switzerland and hold the shares privately – income tax.
The payout to shareholders is expected to be executed on March 2, 2018.
