Sixth Annual General Meeting of GfK SE
• Dividend stable at €0.65 per share
• Twitter manager strengthens Supervisory Board’s expertise in digital media and Asian market
• High approval rating for resolutions
Nuremberg, 27 May 2014 – At today’s sixth Annual General Meeting of GfK SE, between 99.76 percent and 99.99 percent of shareholders voted in favor of all resolutions proposed by the Supervisory and Management Boards. The dividend remains stable at €0.65 per share. The election of Twitter manager Aliza Knox to the Supervisory Board further strengthens GfK’s competence in digital media and the Asian market.
Overall, more than 200 shareholders and proxies, representing 88.4 percent of all shares, attended the Annual General Meeting.
Shareholders agreed to the proposed dividend of €0.65 per no-par share for the 2013 financial year. The dividend matches the amount of the previous two years and reaffirms the Group’s stable dividend policy. The total amount distributed was €23.7 million.
Succeeding Dr. Christoph Achenbach, who is retiring from the Supervisory Board as of today’s date, Aliza Knox, Managing Director Online Sales, Asia Pacific at Twitter Singapore, was elected to the Supervisory Board of GfK SE. Dr. Achenbach, Founder and Managing Partner at BfUN Beratung für Unternehmensführung und -nachfolge GmbH, has been a member of the Supervisory Board since June 2003, as well as being a member of the Audit Committee. The change is intended to further internationalize the Supervisory and align it further with the requirements imposed by digital media. Matthias Hartmann, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of GfK SE, comments: “I sincerely thank Dr. Achenbach for his support of this change, and particularly for his great engagement and competent support of GfK for more than ten years. I am delighted that Aliza Knox has joined the Supervisory Board, enhancing it with her expertise for digital business models and the Asian market.”
The Annual General Meeting approved the annual financial statements and consolidated financial statements prepared by the Management Board for the 2013 financial year and granted discharge to the members of the Management and Supervisory Boards.
In his speech, Matthias Hartmann, CEO of GfK SE, explained the financial statements for 2013, which were strongly influenced by the restructuring of the company as part of the new strategy. Targeted investments in a standardized digital and global product portfolio are beginning to prove successful. Hartmann stated: “GfK is in the best possible position to play a role in shaping the changes sweeping across the market research industry, and will benefit as a result. We invest so we can fully exploit all the potential offered by digitization and globalization. The transformation of our company is on exactly the right track. It is helping us to become even better and more efficient, thereby opening up growth opportunities for our clients in the digital world.”
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