Please find attached a press release concerning the General Meeting of shareholders of Bekaert.
Summary:
General Meeting of Shareholders
- Approval of a gross dividend of € 0.85
- Approval of the proposed appointments
- Changes at the top of the company are in effect
Today Bekaert's Annual General Meeting of Shareholders took place, with Count Buysse, Chairman of the Board of Directors, in the chair. The following main subjects were considered.
The meeting approved the balance sheet and the income statement as at 31 December 2013, as submitted by the Board of Directors, including the distribution of a gross dividend of € 0.85 per share.
The dividend ex-date is 16 May 2014. The dividend will be payable on 21 May 2014 by the following banks: ING Belgium, Bank Degroof, BNP Paribas Fortis, KBC Bank and Belfius Bank in Belgium, Société Générale in France, ABN-AMRO Bank in the Netherlands and UBS in Switzerland.
The meeting acknowledged the 2013 annual report of the Board of Directors, and approved the remuneration report for the year 2013. The meeting discharged the Directors and the Statutory Auditor for the performance of their duties during the financial year 2013 and approved the remuneration of the Directors and the Statutory Auditor.
The meeting accepted the recommendations:
- to re-appoint Dr Alan Begg as independent Director for a term of four years, until the Annual General Meeting to be held in 2018;
- to appoint Mrs Mei Ye as independent Director for a term of four years, until the Annual General Meeting to be held in 2018;
- to appoint Mr Matthew Taylor as Director for a term of four years, until the Annual General Meeting to be held in 2018.
In light of the retirement age applied by Bekaert Count Buysse and Sir Anthony Galsworthy are withdrawing from the Board. Count Buysse, who was appointed an Honorary Chairman by the General Meeting, is succeeded as Chairman of the Board of Directors by Bert De Graeve, who is himself succeeded by Matthew Taylor as Chief Executive Officer.
In view of the corporate governance rules the Audit and Finance Committee of the Board will henceforth be chaired by an independent Director, Lady Barbara Judge.
Today an Extraordinary General Meeting of Shareholders took place as well. The meeting extended the authorization granted to the Board of Directors to increase the registered capital (authorized capital). Though the meeting did not reach the qualified majority required to extend the authorization granted to the Board to buy back company shares, the present authorizations remain valid till June 2015 and 2017 respectively.