News

• Enhancement of company’s growth strategy to improve performance
• Activities of the Executive Board and Supervisory Board formally approved
• Dividend increased to €0.70 per share
• Restrictions on the transferability of registered shares dropped
• Auditing firm PKF Deutschland appointed as the auditor of the consolidated financial statements for financial year 2016
• Election of five new members to the Supervisory Board
• Supervisory Board elects Carl Ferdinand Oetker as its new Chairman, Jens Steegers as the new Vice-Chairman

Bad Vilbel, August 27, 2016 –

At the ordinary Annual General Meeting of STADA Arzneimittel AG on August 26, 2016, the Chairman of the company’s Executive Board, Dr. Matthias Wiedenfels, looked back today in Frankfurt am Main on a solid financial year 2015 and a strong company performance in the first half of 2016. “In the past year, we operated in a market environment that was shaped by economic and political crises. That is why I am all the more pleased to report that, in addition to our Group sales, we almost boosted all reported key earnings figures. We continued this momentum in the first half of 2016 and generated excellent results. We significantly improved our performance and are confident that we will be able to remain on this successful path in the second half of the year,” Dr. Wiedenfels said.

In his address, Dr. Wiedenfels stressed the need to systematically enhance the growth strategy acknowledged by the market in order to adapt STADA’s successful business model to changed competitive conditions. “Today, we are presenting a new, even more ambitious company to you: a company that is more modern, dynamic and future-focused,” Dr. Wiedenfels told shareholders. “We want to grow – and we want to grow profitably. We will tap our potential better in the future, significantly improve our performance and thereby make STADA even more appealing to you.”

To achieve this goal, the Executive Board will accelerate the global marketing of successful products, focus the company’s business operations on high-margin branded products and increasingly tap attractive growth markets such as Biosimilars. At the same time, the company plans to significantly reduce costs and improve the Group’s efficiency. Dr. Wiedenfels also noted that he planned to promote cultural change in the Group as a way of further boosting company performance through more transparency and openness as well as improved networking of the individual business units.

After the address, the Annual General Meeting formally approved the activities of the Executive Board and Supervisory Board. During their votes, shareholders followed most of the proposals made by the company’s management. As part of the shareholders’ decisions, the dividend for financial year 2015 raised by 6 percent to €0.70 per share and the elimination of restrictions on the transferability of registered shares were approved. The Annual General Meeting also appointed the auditing firm PKF Deutschland as the auditor of the consolidated financial statements for financial year 2016. Shareholders did not approve the proposed remuneration system for the Executive Board that was modified to meet new regulatory requirements.

In addition, the process of reshaping the Supervisory Board ahead of schedule was completed today with the election of five new shareholder representatives to the Supervisory Board. Dr. Eckhard Brüggemann, Dr. K. F. Arnold Hertzsch, Dieter Koch and Constantin Meyer who resigned effective at the end of the Annual General Meeting, as well as Dr. Martin Abend who was removed by the Annual General Meeting, are followed by five new shareholder representatives on the Supervisory Board:

• Eric Cornut (59), most recently Chief Ethics, Compliance and Policy Officer at Novartis
• Rolf Hoffmann (57), most recently a member of the expanded Executive Board of Amgen, Senior Vice President of U.S. Commercial Operations at Amgen
• Dr. Birgit Kudlek (49), most recently the Chief Operating Officer of Aenova
• Tina Müller (47), Director of Marketing and Chief Marketing Officer at Opel
• Dr. Gunnar Riemann (58), former President of the global Environmental Science Division at Bayer CropScience

The counter-motions for the election of Dr. Birgit Kudleck and Dr. Gunnar Riemann as well as the request for Agenda supplement to remove the Supervisory Board Vice-Chairman, Carl Ferdinand Oetker, were refused.
The former Chairman of the Supervisory Board, Dr. Martin Abend, said after the vote: “I would like to congratulate all newly elected members of the Supervisory Board. The personnel realignment of the Supervisory Board has long been a goal of mine. Today, it became a reality. I am pleased that our proposed team has found a majority among the shareholder representatives. This is important to me. I fought to see it happen, even though I will no longer be a part of the team. I would like to wish success to the new Supervisory Board, STADA and its employees deserve it.”
Following the Annual General Meeting, the Supervisory Board elected Carl Ferdinand Oetker as its Chairman and Jens Steegers as the Vice-Chairman.

The new Chairman of the Supervisory Board Carl Ferdinand Oetker said: “I would like to thank the Supervisory Board members for their confidence. We agree on progressing consistently on the path of renewal in the interest of the company – to the right extent and at an appropriate pace. A key part of our work will be the constructive dialogue with all shareholder groups. In the name of the new Supervisory Board I sincerely thank Dr. Abend for his work. He has substantially brought forward the renewal of the Supervisory Board.”

The Chairman of the Executive Board, Dr. Matthias Wiedenfels, added: “I am looking forward to a constructive working relationship with the new Supervisory Board. With this decision, STADA is well-prepared for the future.”
Today’s speech script of the Chairman of the Executive Board and the exact voting results for all items on the agenda can be found at STADA’s website. The voting results to all items on the meeting’s agenda will be posted on the STADA website on Monday, August 29, 2016.


Additional information for analysts:
STADA Arzneimittel AG / Investor Relations / Stadastraße 2–18 / 61118 Bad Vilbel – Germany / Phone: +49 (0) 6101 603-113 / Fax: +49 (0) 6101 603-215 / e-mail: [email protected]
Additional information for journalists:
STADA Arzneimittel AG / Media Relations / Stadastraße 2–18 / 61118 Bad Vilbel – Germany / Phone: +49 (0) 6101 603-165 / Fax: +49 (0) 6101 603-215 / e-mail: [email protected]

You will find photos of the Annual General Meeting 2016 in our press center.
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