Novartis shareholders approve all resolutions proposed by Novartis Board of Directors
(Thomson Reuters ONE) -
Novartis International AG /
Novartis shareholders approve all resolutions proposed by Novartis Board of
Directors
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The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement.
* Shareholders approve 18(th) consecutive dividend increase to CHF 2.60 (+6%)
per share for 2014
* Dr. Joerg Reinhardt confirmed by shareholders as Chairman of the Novartis
Board of Directors as well as all other members who have stood for annual
re-election; Dr. Nancy Andrews elected as new member to the Board of
Directors
* Shareholders approve revisions to the Articles of Incorporation of Novartis
AG for full implementation of the Swiss rules relating to the Minder
Ordinance
* Shareholders approve all proposals of the Novartis Board of Directors,
including the 2014 compensation report as well as future Board and ECN
compensation
Basel, February 27, 2015 - More than 98% of Novartis shareholders today followed
the Board of Directors' recommendations for all proposed resolutions at the
Group's Annual General Meeting. A total of 1,703 shareholders were present at
the meeting held in Basel, representing approximately 61.1% of the issued shares
of Novartis.
Shareholders approved the eighteenth consecutive dividend increase per share
since the creation of Novartis in 1996, with an increase of 6% to CHF 2.60 for
2014 compared to CHF 2.45 in 2013. Payment for the 2014 dividend will be made
with effect from March 5, 2015.
"In 2014 Novartis embarked on a major transformation, encompassing our product
portfolio, our company structure and our corporate culture. The planned focus of
our operations on our three divisions - Pharmaceuticals, Alcon and Sandoz, the
consolidation of our internal services into a single organization and the
revision of our core values and behaviors will strengthen Novartis for the long
term, improving our ability to grow sales, profits and dividends while at the
same time increasing our ability to research and develop innovative medicines
and therapies for the benefit of patients worldwide," said Dr. Joerg Reinhardt,
Chairman of the Novartis Board of Directors.
Strengthening and simplifying Novartis governance in line with Minder Ordinance
In 2013 and 2014 Novartis implemented significant changes to its governance
system In accordance with the Swiss Ordinance against Excessive Compensation in
Listed Stock Corporations (the "Minder Ordinance"), including the adoption of
both a new governance structure and a new compensation system. Shareholders now
approved changes to the Articles of Incorporation for Novartis to finalize
implementation of the Minder Ordinance in line with current best practices for
corporate governance and compensation. Already in 2013, shareholders approved a
new compensation system with a simplified structure, allowing shareholders to
better evaluate long and short-term performance relative to objectives.
Votes on Compensation for the Members of the Board and the Executive Committee
Shareholders approved in two separate binding votes the total maximum amount of
compensation for the members of the Board covering the period from the 2015 AGM
to the 2016 AGM and the total maximum amount of compensation in respect of 2016
for the members of the Executive Committee. Furthermore, shareholders endorsed
in an advisory vote the 2014 Compensation Report - compensation for the
Executive Committee of Novartis for 2014 was comparable to the aggregate
compensation for 2013.
Annual re-election and election of Members of the Board
A large majority of shareholders re-elected each member of the Board of
Directors who stood for annual re-election and Dr. Joerg Reinhardt as the
Chairman of the Board of Directors for one year. Further, shareholders elected
Nancy C. Andrews, M.D., Ph.D., as a new member of the Board. Ulrich Lehner,
Ph.D. decided not to seek another term of office keeping Board membership to 11
members. The Board and management team of Novartis thank Mr. Lehner for his many
years of distinguished service on the Novartis Board of Directors.
In addition, shareholders re-elected the following members of the Novartis Board
of Directors to the Compensation Committee for one year: Srikant Datar, Ph.D.,
Ann Fudge, and Enrico Vanni, Ph.D. In addition, shareholders elected William T.
Winters as member of the Compensation Committee. The Committee will be chaired
by Enrico Vanni and each member will serve until the end of the next Annual
General Meeting.
Furthermore, in line with the Board's recommendation, shareholders also approved
the cancelation of 29,200,000 shares repurchased on the second trading line
under the sixth share repurchase program in the financial years 2013 and 2014.
This will effectively reduce the Novartis share capital accordingly by CHF
14,600,000, from CHF 1,353,096,500 to CHF 1,338,496,500.
Disclaimer
The foregoing release contains forward-looking statements that can be identified
by terminology such as "recommendations," "will," "embarked," "planned," "long
term," "advisory," "recommendation," or similar expressions, or by express or
implied discussions regarding the potential future impact on Novartis of the
matters described in this release, including matters involving the planned and
ongoing transformation of the product portfolio, company structure and corporate
culture of Novartis, changes to Novartis' governance system, full implementation
of the requirements of the Minder Initiative, and involving executive
compensation. You should not place undue reliance on these statements. Such
forward-looking statements reflect the current views of management regarding
future events, and involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other
factors that may cause actual results to be materially different from any future
results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by such statements.
There can be no guarantee as to the ultimate outcome of the matters described in
this release. In particular, management's expectations regarding these matters
could be affected by, among other things, unexpected impacts of the changes on
Novartis, including on its management and on its financial results; the
potential impact of these matters on the competitiveness of Novartis or
competition in general; the public reaction to these matters; the impact that
the foregoing factors could have on the values attributed to the Novartis
Group's assets and liabilities as recorded in the Group's consolidated balance
sheet, and other risks and factors referred to in Novartis AG's current Form 20-
F on file with the US Securities and Exchange Commission. Should one or more of
these risks or uncertainties materialize, or should underlying assumptions prove
incorrect, actual results may vary materially from those anticipated, believed,
estimated or expected. Novartis is providing the information in this press
release as of this date and does not undertake any obligation to update any
forward-looking statements contained in this press release as a result of new
information, future events or otherwise.
About Novartis
Novartis provides innovative healthcare solutions that address the evolving
needs of patients and societies. Headquartered in Basel, Switzerland, Novartis
offers a diversified portfolio to best meet these needs: innovative medicines,
eye care, cost-saving generic pharmaceuticals, preventive vaccines and over-the-
counter products. Novartis is the only global company with leading positions in
these areas. In 2014, the Group achieved net sales of USD 58 billion, while R&D
throughout the Group amounted to approximately USD 9.9 billion (USD 9.6 billion
excluding impairment and amortization charges). Novartis Group companies employ
approximately 130,000 full-time-equivalent associates. Novartis products are
available in more than 180 countries around the world. For more information,
please visit http://www.novartis.com.
Novartis is on Twitter. Sign up to follow (at)Novartis at
http://twitter.com/novartis.
Novartis Media Relations
Central media line : +41 61 324 2200
Eric Althoff Dermot Doherty
Novartis Global Media Relations Novartis Global Media Relations
+41 61 324 7999 (direct) +41 61 696 8653 (direct)
+41 79 593 4202 (mobile) +41 79 536 9755 (mobile)
eric.althoff(at)novartis.com dermot.doherty(at)novartis.com
e-mail: media.relations(at)novartis.com
For Novartis multimedia content, please visit www.thenewsmarket.com/Novartis
For questions about the site or required registration, please contact:
journalisthelp(at)thenewsmarket.com.
Novartis Investor Relations
Central phone: +41 61 324 7944 North America:
Samir Shah +41 61 324 7944 Richard Pulik +1 212 830 2448
Pierre-Michel Bringer +41 61 324 1065 Susan Donofrio +1 862 778 9257
Thomas Hungerbuehler +41 61 324 8425
Isabella Zinck +41 61 324 7188
e-mail: investor.relations(at)novartis.com e-mail:
investor.relations(at)novartis.com
Media release (PDF):
http://hugin.info/134323/R/1898147/673936.pdf
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originality of the information contained therein.
Source: Novartis International AG via GlobeNewswire
[HUG#1898147]
Unternehmensinformation / Kurzprofil:
Datum: 27.02.2015 - 13:45 Uhr
Sprache: Deutsch
News-ID 374900
Anzahl Zeichen: 11041
contact information:
Town:
Basel
Kategorie:
Business News
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