Holmen AGM - Dividend of SEK 6.75 per share
Holmen’s AGM, held on Thursday 11 April, resolved in favour of paying a dividend of SEK 6.75 per share for the 2018 financial year, which is an increase of 0.25 SEK per share compared to the preceding year.
The AGM re-elected Fredrik Lundberg, Carl Bennet, Lars Josefsson, Lars G. Josefsson, Louise Lindh, Ulf Lundahl, Henrik Sjölund and Henriette Zeuchner. Alice Kempe was elected as a new member of the Board for Carl Kempe, who declined re-election. Fredrik Lundberg was re-elected Chairman of the Board.
KPMG AB was re-elected as company auditors. Joakim Thilstedt, authorised public accountant, has been appointed principal auditor.
The AGM resolved in favour of mandating the Board for the period until the next AGM to make decisions to buy back the company’s own shares via the stock market. Acquisitions may be made of up to so many Class B shares that the company’s own shareholding does not exceed 10 per cent of all shares in the company at any time. The Board was also mandated to make decisions to use bought-back shares as settlement for acquisitions or to finance such acquisitions. The 2018 AGM gave the Board a corresponding mandate.
The AGM also resolved in favour of implementation of a new long-term share saving program directed to the Executive Management and Business Area Managers. The program shall be implemented after the Annual General Meeting 2019 in Holmen. The AGM also resolved that the company's commitment to deliver shares to the participants in the share saving program will be completed by transfers of previously held as treasury shares.
Excerpt from President and CEO Henrik Sjölund's speech to the AGM:
“Overall, 2018 was a good year for Holmen. Demand for raw material from forests was strong and prices gradually increased over the year. This is obviously good news for us as forest owners, but it also brings increased costs for our industrial production. Thanks to price rises for our end products, we have nevertheless managed to improve the Group’s profits by over SEK 300 million and increase the return on capital employed to 10 per cent.”
The whole speech to the AGM is available on our website www.holmen.com
For more information, please contact:
Hakim Belarbi, PR and Public Affairs Manager, Holmen, tel. +46 70 482 44 87
Holmen’s business concept is to own and add value to the forest. The forest holdings form the basis of the business – an ecocycle in which the raw material grows and is refined into everything from wood for climate-smart building to renewable packaging, magazines and books. The forest is managed to provide a good annual return and stable value growth while our production operations are run with a focus on profitability and greater value added. In 2018 Holmen’s net sales were just over SEK 16 billion and the group has approx. 3 000 employees. Holmen’s shares are listed on Nasdaq Stockholm, Large Cap. For more information, visit holmen.com.