Report from Atlas Copco AB’s Annual General Meeting
Stockholm, Sweden, April 25, 2008: The Annual General Meeting of Atlas Copco AB was held in Stockholm on Thursday, 24 April 2008. The meeting was chaired by Sune Carlsson, Chair of the Board of Atlas Copco AB.
The income statements and the balance sheets of the parent company and the Group were approved, together with the Board’s proposal for profit distribution.
The proposed dividend of SEK 3.00 per share was approved. Record day for the dividend is April 29, 2008, and the dividend is estimated to be distributed by VPC (the Swedish Central Securities Depository) on May 5, 2008.
Nine Board members were elected. Sune Carlsson, Jacob Wallenberg, Gunnar Brock, Staffan Bohman, Ulla Litzén and Anders Ullberg were re-elected. Margareth Øvrum, Christel Bories and Johan Forssell were elected as new Board members. Grace Reksten Skaugen had declined re-election.
The Annual General Meeting re-elected Sune Carlsson as Chair of the Board, and Jacob Wallenberg as vice Chair.
The Board of Directors fee for 2008 was resolved as follows:
A fee of SEK 1 500 000 to the Chair, SEK 550 000 to the vice Chair and SEK 450 000 to each other board member not employed by the company.
A fee to the Chair of the Audit Committee of SEK 170 000 and SEK 110 000 to the two other members.
A fee of SEK 60 000 to each of the three members of the Remuneration Committee.
A fee of SEK 60 000 to each Board member, who in addition to the above, participates in a committee in accordance with a decision of the Board of Directors.
The Board members have elected to receive part of the Board fee in the form of synthetic shares and the remaining part in cash.
The Meeting approved the Board of Directors proposal regarding the guiding principles for remuneration for senior executives (the President and the other members of Group Management) and the Board’s proposal to introduce a performance related personnel option program for 2008.
The AGM authorized the Board to decide on the purchase and sale of the company's own shares in order to be able to continuously adapt the capital structure of the company and to give the possibility to transfer shares to the employees and to secure the costs, including social security payments, in connection with the personnel option programs for 2008 and 2006 and with the allocation of synthetic shares as part of the remuneration to the Board members.
The Annual General Meeting approved the proposal presented regarding the Nomination Committee.
The statutory Board meeting was held after the Annual General Meeting. Ulla Litzén, Chair, Sune Carlsson and Staffan Bohman were re-elected to serve on the Audit Committee. Sune Carlsson, Chair, Jacob Wallenberg and Anders Ullberg were re-elected as members of the Remuneration Committee.
The speech to the shareholders by Atlas Copco’s President and CEO Gunnar Brock will be published on the Group's website: www.atlascopco.com/AGM, where also the minutes from the AGM will be published.