Siemens to pay dividend of €5.20 per share – New Supervisory Board member elected

The company’s shareholders approved the extension of the term of office for Jim Hagemann Snabe (59), chairman of the Supervisory Board, by two years. They also approved the early extension of the term of office for Werner Brandt (71), chairman of the Audit Committee and deputy chairman of the Supervisory Board, until the end of the Annual Shareholders’ Meeting in 2029. In addition, Kasper Rørsted (62) and Grazia Vittadini (55) were both reelected for another four years. The shareholders elected Mark Schneider (59), former CEO of Nestlé S.A. and of Fresenius SE & Co. KGaA, as a new member of the Supervisory Board and potential successor to Jim Hagemann Snabe as chairman of the Supervisory Board. Mark Schneider’s term of office is four years. As already announced, Martina Merz (61) had decided to step down from her office to take on another Supervisory Board position. In addition, employee representative Bettina Haller will leave the Supervisory Board at the end of the day on February 13, 2025.

“Over the past four years, Siemens has achieved impressive successes: strong, profitable growth, consolidation of its technological leadership position, and groundbreaking progress in sustainability. These achievements provide a solid foundation for the next step in our company’s transformation. With the ONE Tech Company program, Siemens will add more value for customers and sustainably accelerate profitable growth,” said Jim Hagemann Snabe, chairman of the Supervisory Board of Siemens AG. “Today’s resolutions of the Annual Shareholders’ Meeting strengthen the Supervisory Board in its work to successfully accompany Siemens on its way to the next level of value creation. I’m very pleased that my appointment has been extended. In this way, I can help shape the company's upcoming transformation and ensure ideal succession for my role as chairman,” added Snabe. 

“Last year, Siemens once again proved its leadership as a technology company with considerable value creation for all our stakeholders. The increase in our dividend to €5.20 per share demonstrates our strength and confidence,” said Roland Busch, president and CEO of Siemens AG. “We’re building on our position of strength and accelerating our transformation: Our ONE Tech Company program will help us to achieve even stronger customer focus, faster innovations and higher growth.”

Under agenda item 9, Siemens proposed that the Managing Board be authorized for two years to use the option of holding the company’s Annual Shareholders’ Meetings in a virtual format. The possibility of holding such meetings online has been enshrined in the German Stock Corporation Act since 2022. Based on the positive experiences gained with the two virtual Annual Shareholders’ Meetings in previous years, the encouragingly high participation rates and the increased active participation of international investors, the format had proven its worth from the perspective of Siemens and many market participants. Although the majority of shareholders (71.10 percent) voted in favor of the proposal, the three-quarters majority required to amend the company’s Articles of Association was not reached.                   

“Siemens stands for the digitalization of key areas of business and society, and we would like to take our shareholders worldwide on this journey,” said Jim Hagemann Snabe. “Although the required 75 percent majority for the possibility of holding virtual Annual Shareholders’ Meetings was missed today, we want to continue the debate about the format of shareholders’ meetings in Germany and about the way they work. Especially for Siemens, a company with shareholders all over the world, having in-person meetings as the default format seems outdated. At the same time, we take the criticism of the virtual format expressed by some market participants very seriously.”