V-ZUG Holding AG / Key word(s): AGMEGM/Sustainability
V-ZUG Group - 2022 Annual General Meeting and publication of the Sustainability Report

28.04.2022 / 18:07


Zug, 28 April 2022 - At today's Annual General Meeting of V-ZUG Holding AG, shareholders agreed to all motions proposed by the Board of Directors. The Annual General Meeting accordingly also waived the distribution of a dividend, thereby continuing to support the use of available funds to drive sustained growth in V-ZUG Group's value.

V-ZUG's positive developments in the area of sustainability are outlined in the Sustainability Report for the 2021 financial year, which was published this week. Therein, based on extensive analyses and assessments, quantitative sustainability targets for 2030 were set and published in various target areas for the first time.

 

2022 Annual General Meeting

The 2022 Annual General Meeting of V-ZUG Holding AG was held on 28 April 2022 without shareholders being present in person, as was the case the previous year. The Board of Directors decided on this approach back in January for organisational reasons and to ensure an appropriate level of planning security in the context of what was then an unpredictable situation surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic. Shareholders were able to exercise their rights through the independent representative. 1,510 shareholders took advantage of this opportunity, representing around 77.8% of the voting shares. The Annual General Meeting approved all motions proposed by the Board of Directors with a large majority.

Alongside the approval of the Annual Report, the annual financial statements of V-ZUG Holding AG and the consolidated financial statements of the V-ZUG Group for the 2021 financial year, the Annual General Meeting also agreed to the appropriation of the retained earnings for 2021 proposed by the Board of Directors, and, accordingly, to waive the distribution of a dividend. The Annual General Meeting thereby supports the Board of Directors' current dividend policy, communicated as part of the stock market listing, of using available liquidity primarily for investment in products, markets and production sites in Zug and Sulgen as part of the ongoing transformation process, and thus continuing to ensure sustained growth in V-ZUG Group's value.

The Annual General Meeting re-elected all members of the Board of Directors for another term of one year and re-elected Oliver Riemenschneider as the Chairman of the Board of Directors and Prisca Hafner and Jürg Werner as members of the Human Resources & Compensation Committee.

The 2021 Compensation Report was acknowledged and approved by the Annual General Meeting in a consultative vote. The fee of the Board of Directors for the coming period of office until the next Annual General Meeting and the fixed compensation of the Executive Committee for the 2023 financial year (both prospective), as well as the variable compensation for the Executive Committee for the concluded 2021 financial year (retrospective), were approved by the Annual General Meeting.

The next Annual General Meeting of V-ZUG Holding AG is expected to take place on Tuesday 25 April 2023 at the Theater Casino in Zug.

2021 Sustainability Report

Since 2012, the V-ZUG Group has periodically published a sustainability report on a voluntary basis. The purpose of this report is to communicate sustainability targets, progress and challenges in a clear and open, comparable and self-reflective way. In the 2021 financial year, the following sustainability topics were particularly relevant to the V-ZUG Group:

  • Establishing quantifiable medium- and long-term targets for relevant areas such as reducing CO2 emissions in Scope 1 and 2 (in accordance with the Greenhouse Gas Protocol) by 80% by 2030 and increasing the proportion of women in senior management positions to over 25% by 2025.
  • Ensuring transparency with regard to the environmental footprint of products and sites by producing extensive and informative life cycle assessments.
  • Investing through the internal CO2 fund in a forward-looking project involving the production and use of hydrogen at the Zug site for the purposes of reducing emissions and increasing supply security.
  • Piloting and preparing new circular business models such as rental agreements for household appliances (Product as a Service, PaaS) with the aim of keeping resources in circulation for as long as possible.
  • Targeting measurable progress in employee satisfaction and engagement and formal confirmation of equal pay between the genders on a regular basis.
  • Driving the transformation to a sustainable and efficient production set-up at the Zug and Sulgen sites in Switzerland.

Sustainability is an integral part of the V-ZUG brand; it is a key aspect of the V-ZUG Group's strategy and has been entrenched in the corporate culture of the Group for decades. The organisation pursues a holistic approach in this regard. More information on this topic is available - alongside additional interesting facts and figures - in the comprehensive V-ZUG Sustainability Report for the 2021 financial year at: www.vzug.com/ch/en/nachhaltigkeit_overview.

About the V-ZUG Group

'Bringing simplicity into your home and creativity into your kitchen.'

V-ZUG is Switzerland's leading brand in household appliances and also markets its products in selected premium markets abroad. V-ZUG has been developing and manufacturing kitchen and laundry appliances in Switzerland for more than 100 years and offers comprehensive service in all of its markets. SIBIRGroup AG, which focuses on the Swiss-wide provision of all-brand service and the sale of household appliances, is another part of the V-ZUG Group. The V-ZUG Group currently employs around 2,200 people.

The holding company V-ZUG Holding AG is listed in the Swiss Reporting Standard of SIX Swiss Exchange in Zurich and represented in the Swiss Performance Index (SPI) (securities number 54 248 374, ISIN CH0542483745, ticker symbol VZUG).

Key dates

22 July 2022 Publication of Half-Year Report
15 March 2023 Publication of Annual Report
25 April 2023 Annual General Meeting

Further information

Adrian Ineichen
CFO
Phone: + 41 58 767 60 03

Patrik Leisi
Head Legal & Compliance / Investor Relations
Phone: + 41 58 767 60 03

This media release is available at: www.vzug.com/ch/en/investor-relations-news.

Legal notes

The expectations expressed in this media release are based on assumptions. Actual results may deviate from these assumptions. This media release is published in German and English. The German version is binding. V-ZUG Holding AG processes personal data in accordance with its privacy statement, which is available at: www.vzug.com/ch/en/privacystatement.

Media release (pdf)



End of Media Release


1339031  28.04.2022 

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