Annual General Meeting of BAUER AG: shareholders support Management Board's strategy by a large majority
Schrobenhausen (euro adhoc) -
Dividend payment doubled: EUR 17.1 million, representing almost one quarter of consolidated profit, to be distributed among shareholders Professor Thomas Bauer confirms forecast for growth and profit Standard & Poor's upgrades outlook for existing BB+ rating
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companies/Annual General Meeting
Schrobenhausen, June 26, 2008 - The shareholders of the SDAX-listed global construction and equipment manufacturing group BAUER Aktiengesellschaft supported the strategy of the Management Board by a large majority and voted almost 100 percent in favour of all the resolutions proposed at today's Annual General Meeting, with 73.20 percent of the share capital represented. In response to the most successful financial year in its history, the company has doubled the dividend and is paying out EUR 1.00 per share for the past financial year. This means that almost one quarter of consolidated profit is to be distributed among the shareholders. The Annual General Meeting in addition ratified potential capital measures and extended the authorization to increase the share capital by up to EUR 2 million until 2013. In his presentation Professor Thomas Bauer, Chairman of the Management Board of BAUER Aktiengesellschaft, voiced his optimism about the future of the Group and confirmed the outlook for the current year: "Business is making very healthy progress. We are excellently positioned with our three segments Construction, Equipment and Resources, and have a broad international base. We are confident of achieving total Group revenues in excess of EUR 1.4 billion (previous year: EUR 1.2 billion) in 2008, with profit after tax topping EUR 90 million (previous year: EUR 74.4 million)." He also stressed the positive response which he received from institutional investors at a roadshow in the first half of June; the international rating agency Standard & Poor's has moreover confirmed the "BB+" rating that has applied since June 2007, upgrading its outlook from "stable" to "positive". In place of the retiring Freiherr Wilken von Hodenberg, the Annual General Meeting elected Professor Dr.-Ing. E.h. Manfred Nußbaumer, Vice-President responsible for technical affairs on the Presidium of the German Construction Industry Confederation, to the Supervisory Board. The actions of the Management Board and Supervisory Board were ratified by 99.90 percent of the voting share capital respectively. PricewaterhouseCoopers AG Wirtschaftsprüfungsgesellschaft, Stuttgart, were again elected as auditors for the 2008 financial year. The Ordinary Annual General Meeting was attended by around 600 shareholders and shareholders' representatives at the company's home base in Schrobenhausen. The results of the vote and the presentation by the Chairman of the Management Board can be found in the Investor Relations section of the website www.bauer.de.
About Bauer Bauer is an international provider of services, machinery and ancillary products in the earth-working and groundwater fields. The Group markets its products and services all over the world. Its global spread allows it to remain largely unaffected by fluctuating business cycles. The operations of the Group are divided into three segments: Construction, Equipment and Resources. The Construction segment carries out specialist foundation engineering work all over the world, developing foundation and excavation projects as well as providing related construction services. In its Equipment segment, in which it is a world market leader, Bauer offers an extensive range of machinery, equipment and tools for specialist foundation engineering. The Resources segment encompasses the Group's operations in the exploitation of raw materials, in environmental technology, in geothermal drilling operations and also in equipment for wells (including pumps and drills, screens and casings). Bauer profits greatly from the collaboration between its three separate segments, enabling the Group to position itself as an innovative, highly specialized provider of complete solutions and services for demanding projects on the specialist foundation engineering and related markets. Founded in 1790, Bauer today generates more than two thirds of its total revenues outside of Germany. Employing nearly 7,000 people, the Group's total revenues in 2007 were EUR 1.2 billion (previous year: EUR 980 million). BAUER Aktiengesellschaft has been listed on the official market of the Frankfurt Stock Exchange since July 4, 2006 (Prime Standard, ISIN DE0005168108).
end of announcement euro adhoc
Further inquiry note:
Bettina Mestenhauser
Head of Corporate Communication & Investor Relations
BAUER Aktiengesellschaft
Wittelsbacherstrasse 5
86529 Schrobenhausen, Germany
Tel: +49 8252 97 1918
e-mail: investor.relations@bauer.de
Internet: http://www.bauer.de
Branche: Construction & Property
ISIN: DE0005168108
WKN: 516810
Index: SDAX, CDAX, Classic All Share, Prime All Share
Börsen: Börse Frankfurt / regulated dealing/prime standard
Börse Berlin / free trade
Börse Hamburg / free trade
Börse Stuttgart / free trade
Börse Düsseldorf / free trade
Börse München / free trade