The 17th Annual General Meeting of Swisscom Ltd in Zurich was attended by 1,757 shareholders, representing 70.84 per cent of the voting shares. Registered Swisscom shareholders at the end of March 2015 numbered around 69,000.
According to Chairman of the Board of Directors Hansueli Loosli, Swisscom can look back on a very successful year: “We have considerably increased the number of customers and raised both revenue and profit. In addition, we have once again invested a very large amount of money in the expansion of the network and IT infrastructure, CHF 1.75 billion in Switzerland alone. We have done this in order to maintain and strengthen the long-term sustainability of the company. This high level of investment will ensure faster Internet and better coverage in remote regions for our customers.”
Shareholders approved the annual report, consolidated financial statements and financial statements for 2014 and followed the Board of Directors' recommendation to set the ordinary gross dividend per share at CHF 22, the same as in the previous year. The dividend yield, based on the current share price, is around 4%. The total dividend amounts to CHF 1,140 million. A net dividend of CHF 14.30 per share will be paid out to shareholders on 15 April 2015 after deduction of Swiss withholding tax of 35%.
At a euro exchange rate of CHF 1.00, Swisscom expects revenue of over CHF 11.4 billion and EBITDA of approximately CHF 4.2 billion for the current year 2015. These figures do not take into account the possible negative implications of the currency situation for the economy. Considerable investment continues to be needed in the expansion of the network infrastructure in Switzerland and Italy: Swisscom anticipates investment spending to total CHF 2.3 billion, CHF 1.75 billion of which will be in Switzerland. “If our targets are met, we plan to once again recommend payment of a dividend of CHF 22 per share for the 2015 financial year at the 2016 Annual General Meeting,” said Hansueli Loosli.
Discharge was granted to the members of the Board of Directors and Group Executive Board for the 2014 financial year. In a consultative vote, the meeting unanimously approved the Remuneration Report.
The one-year term of office for all members of the Board of Directors introduced last year expired at the Annual General Meeting. All members of the Board of Directors stood for re-election. Michel Gobet and Torsten G. Kreindl marked a term of office of 12 years in total at the 2015 Annual General Meeting, and the Board of Directors proposed them for a final additional term of office in the interest of optimum succession planning. All the members of the Board of Directors, the Chairman and the members of the Compensation Committee were individually elected at the Annual General Meeting for a term of office of one year. For the first time, the maximum total remuneration of the members of the Board of Directors and the Group Executive Board for the coming 2016 financial year was approved.
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