Annual General Meeting of Schaeffler AG 2019

The annual general meeting of Schaeffler AG generated a high level of interest. Around 730 shareholders traveled to Nuremberg to attend the meeting in the Frankenhalle. They voted for a dividend of 55 cents per common non-voting share (unchanged from the previous year). In the fourth year following the listing of the company, the dividend payout ratio is around 40% and therefore at the upper end of the target range of 30 to 40 percent of net income attributable to shareholders before special items.

A positive signal to the capital market

The unchanged dividend payout is a clear and positive signal to the capital market, particularly given the fact that the company – like most of its competitors in the automotive business – had to deal with severe stock market losses, particularly during the second half of 2018. The good cash flow generation and the further improvement in the key financial performance indicators confirm that the company is on a solid financial footing and allow a dividend payment at the prior year’s level.

“The past financial year was a year of light and shade. However much things may change, we will stay on course and continue to shape the future of the Schaeffler Group – actively and decisively. We will maintain our strategy and our position as an automotive and industrial supplier. In doing so, Schaeffler will remain in motion and consistently drive forward its transformation”, explained Klaus Rosenfeld, CEO of Schaeffler AG.

With regard to the business development in the first months of 2019, Klaus Rosenfeld said that Schaeffler had started the financial year as planned and that conditions on the market remained challenging. He added that the growth dynamics should not be expected to speed up again until the second half of the year. The company will publish the interim report for the first quarter of 2019 on May 8.

CEO Klaus Rosenfeld and Supervisory Board Chairman Georg F. W. Schaeffler at the annual general meeting of Schaeffler AG (l-r).

New appointments to Schaeffler AG’s Supervisory Board

At today’s annual general meeting, the ten shareholder representatives of Schaeffler AG’s Supervisory Board were elected as scheduled.

With the election, eight members of the Supervisory Board were confirmed in their posts. The following members were re-elected: Maria-Elisabeth Schaeffler-Thumann, Georg F. W. Schaeffler, Prof. Dr.-Ing. Hans-Jörg Bullinger, Dr. Holger Engelmann, Prof. Dr. Bernd Gottschalk, Robin Stalker, Prof. KR Ing. Siegfried Wolf, and Prof. Dr.-Ing. Tong Zhang. Sabine Bendiek and Sabrina Soussan were newly elected to the Supervisory Board.

Ms. Bendiek is the Chairperson of the Management Board of Microsoft Deutschland GmbH. She has many years of experience in digitalization, IT, and artificial intelligence.

Ms. Soussan is the CEO of Siemens Mobility GmbH and also manages the Siemens Rolling Stock business unit. Siemens Mobility offers innovative solutions for rail and road transport and for interconnected mobility worldwide.

“We are delighted to welcome two top managers with an impressive technological background, Ms. Bendiek and Ms. Soussan, to the Supervisory Board of Schaeffler AG. Their knowledge and experience will significantly strengthen the board, especially with regard to digitalization and technology,” said Georg F. W. Schaeffler, Chairman of the Supervisory Board.

The voting results and a recording of the report by the CEO at today’s annual general meeting are available at www.schaeffler.com/agm.

The online annual report can be found at: www.schaeffler-annual-report.com