Rheinmetall AG is moving this year’s General Meeting to 19 May 2020. For the first time ever, the event will be conducted entirely online. In doing so, the Düsseldorf-based Group is reacting to the current threat posed by COVID-19 pathogens, and is making use of new German legislation that permits companies to conduct their General Meetings in a completely virtual manner. The company originally planned to invite its shareholders to a conventional, physically attended event in Berlin on 5 May 2020.
“In order to dispel the uncertainty as to whether we would be able to conduct our General Meeting due to the pandemic, and because the health of our attendees now has to be our top priority, we have decided to proceed in this manner. To make sure that all of our shareholders have adequate time to successfully register for the online General Meeting and exercise their right to ask questions and vote, we opted to push back the original date by two weeks. Moreover, it’s important to us to be able to disburse the full amount of the proposed dividend of €2.40 per share, which reflects our robust business performance in 2019. Particularly in light of the current crisis, that’s something all of our shareholders need to know they can count on”, explains Armin Papperger, Chairman of the Executive Board.
In keep with the new legal stipulations, Rheinmetall will be soon be sending out new invitations for the virtual General Meeting, now scheduled to begin at 10:00 AM on 19 May 2020. The agenda and recommended resolutions remain unchanged from those originally announced for the General Meeting that was originally supposed to take place on 5 May 2020. The new invitation will inform shareholders about the modalities for participation under the new rules, including, among other things, audio-visual transmission of the virtual General Meeting, the possibility of voting and granting proxy authority electronically, and being afforded an opportunity to ask questions.
“In order to dispel the uncertainty as to whether we would be able to conduct our General Meeting due to the pandemic, and because the health of our attendees now has to be our top priority, we have decided to proceed in this manner. To make sure that all of our shareholders have adequate time to successfully register for the online General Meeting and exercise their right to ask questions and vote, we opted to push back the original date by two weeks. Moreover, it’s important to us to be able to disburse the full amount of the proposed dividend of €2.40 per share, which reflects our robust business performance in 2019. Particularly in light of the current crisis, that’s something all of our shareholders need to know they can count on”, explains Armin Papperger, Chairman of the Executive Board.
In keep with the new legal stipulations, Rheinmetall will be soon be sending out new invitations for the virtual General Meeting, now scheduled to begin at 10:00 AM on 19 May 2020. The agenda and recommended resolutions remain unchanged from those originally announced for the General Meeting that was originally supposed to take place on 5 May 2020. The new invitation will inform shareholders about the modalities for participation under the new rules, including, among other things, audio-visual transmission of the virtual General Meeting, the possibility of voting and granting proxy authority electronically, and being afforded an opportunity to ask questions.
