- Dividend of EUR 3.10 per share (including bonus)
- Ewald Nowotny succeeds Rainer Wieltsch as member of the Supervisory Board of voestalpine AG
- Share split at a ratio of 1:4
- Management Board authorized to repurchase own shares
On Wednesday, 5 July 2006, the 14th Annual General Shareholders’ Meeting of voestalpine AG determined the dividend for the financial year 2005/06. The shareholders entitled to vote approved the Management Board’s proposal to distribute a base dividend of EUR 2.0 per share and a bonus of EUR 1.10 per share, resulting in a total distribution of EUR 3.10 per share carrying dividend rights. In addition, the AGM elected Ewald Nowotny as new member of the Supervisory Board of voestalpine AG*). The Chairman of the Managing Board of BAWAG PSK succeeds Rainer Wieltsch, who resigned from the Supervisory Board. The AGM also passed a resolution with regard to a share split at a ratio of 1:4, which will raise the number of voestalpine AG shares from currently 39,600,000 to 158,400,000.
Due to the strong increase in the share price over the last few years, the stock split is intended to enable voestalpine AG to “facilitate the share’s tradability, particularly for minority investors, without adding new funds or diluting existing shareholders’ interests”, explained Wolfgang Eder, Chairman of the Management Board of voestalpine AG, in his statement supporting the decision. The implementation of the share split, in the course of which each shareholder receives three additional shares for each existing share, is scheduled to take place in August 2006.
The Annual General Shareholders’ Meeting also authorized the Management Board to repurchase own shares to an extent not exceeding 10 percent of the nominal capital. This repurchase authorization will enable the company to expand its employee shareholding scheme and to service the stock option program, which was also approved by the AGM. In this context, the Management Board of voestalpine AG was also authorized to effect the compulsory redemption of own shares.