V-ZUG Group – 2022 General Meeting and publication of the sustainability report

Zug, April 28, 2022 – At today’s Annual General Meeting of V-ZUG Holding Ltd, the shareholders accepted all the proposals of the Board of Directors. The General Meeting therefore also waived the distribution of a dividend, thus continuing to support the use of available funds to stimulate sustained growth in the value of the V-ZUG Group.

V-ZUG’s positive developments in terms of sustainability are described in the sustainability report for the financial year 2021, which was published this week. In this document, based on in-depth analyzes and assessments, quantitative sustainability targets for 2030 were defined and published for the first time in various target areas.

2022 Annual General Meeting

The 2022 Ordinary General Meeting of V-ZUG Holding Ltd was held on April 28, 2022 without the physical presence of the shareholders, as was the case the previous year. The Board of Directors decided to adopt this approach as early as January for organizational reasons and to ensure an appropriate level of planning security in the context of the then unpredictable situation surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic. Shareholders were able to exercise their rights through the Independent Representative. 1,510 shareholders took advantage of this opportunity, representing approximately 77.8% of the voting shares. The Annual General Meeting approved all motions proposed by the Board of Directors by a large majority.

In addition to approving the annual report, the annual accounts of V-ZUG Holding Ltd and the consolidated annual accounts of the V-ZUG Group for the financial year 2021, the General Meeting also decided on the allocation of the retained earnings for 2021 proposed by the Board of Directors and, consequently, to waive the distribution of a dividend. The General Meeting thus supports the current dividend policy of the Board of Directors, communicated in connection with the listing on the stock exchange, of using available cash primarily to invest in products, markets and production sites in Zug and Sulgen as part of the ongoing transformation process, and thus continue to ensure sustained value growth for the V-ZUG Group.

The annual general meeting re-elected all members of the board of directors for a further one-year term and re-elected Oliver Riemenschneider as chairman of the board of directors and Prisca Hafner and Jürg Werner as members of the board of directors. human resources and compensation.

The 2021 compensation report was taken into account and approved by the annual general meeting in an advisory vote. The attendance fees of the Board of Directors for the term to come until the next Annual General Meeting and the fixed remuneration of the Management Committee for the financial year 2023 (both forward-looking), as well as the variable remuneration of the Management Committee for the year ended 2021 (retrospective), were approved by the General Meeting.

The next ordinary general meeting of V-ZUG Holding AG is scheduled to take place on Tuesday, April 25, 2023 at the Theater Casino in Zug.

2021 Sustainability Report

Since 2012, the V-ZUG Group has periodically published a sustainability report on a voluntary basis. The purpose of this report is to communicate sustainability goals, progress and challenges in a clear and open, comparable and self-reflective manner. In the 2021 financial year, the following sustainability topics were particularly relevant for the V-ZUG Group:

• Establish quantifiable medium and long-term goals for relevant areas such as CO reduction₂ emissions in scopes 1 and 2 (in accordance with the Greenhouse Gas Protocol) by 80% by 2030 and increase the proportion of women in management positions to more than 25% by 2025.
• Ensure transparency on the environmental footprint of products and sites by producing comprehensive and informative life cycle analyses.
• Invest via internal CO₂ funds in a future project for the production and use of hydrogen at the Zug site with the aim of reducing emissions and increasing security of supply.
• Pilot and prepare new circular business models such as appliance rental contracts (Product as a Service, PaaS) with the aim of keeping resources in circulation for as long as possible.
• Target measurable progress in employee satisfaction and engagement and formal confirmation of gender pay equity on a regular basis.
• Drive the transformation towards a sustainable and efficient production organization at the Zug and Sulgen sites in Switzerland.

Sustainability is an integral part of the V-ZUG brand; it is a key element of the V-ZUG Group’s strategy and has been embedded in the group’s corporate culture for decades. The organization pursues a holistic approach in this regard. Further information on this can be found – together with other interesting facts and figures – in V-ZUG’s comprehensive sustainability report for the financial year 2021 at: www.vzug.com/ch/en/nachhaltigkeit_overview.

About the V-ZUG Group

‘Bring simplicity into your home and creativity into your kitchen.’

V-ZUG is the leading household appliance brand in Switzerland and also markets its products in selected premium markets abroad. V-ZUG has been developing and manufacturing kitchen and laundry appliances in Switzerland for more than 100 years and offers full service in all of its markets. SIBIRGroup AG, which focuses on the provision of all-brand services and the sale of household appliances throughout Switzerland, is also part of the V-ZUG Group. The V-ZUG Group currently employs around 2,200 people.

The holding company V-ZUG Holding AG is listed on the Swiss Reporting Standard of SIX Swiss Exchange in Zurich and represented in the Swiss Performance Index (SPI) (security number 54 248 374, ISIN CH0542483745, symbol VZUG).

Key dates

More information

Adrian Ineichen
CFO
Telephone: + 41 58 767 60 03

Patrick Leisi
Head of Legal & Compliance / Investor Relations
Telephone: + 41 58 767 60 03

This press release is available at: www.vzug.com/ch/en/investor-relations-news.

Legal Notice

The expectations expressed in this press release are based on assumptions. Actual results may differ from these assumptions. This press release is published in German and English. The German version is authoritative. V-ZUG Holding AG processes personal data in accordance with its privacy statement, available at: www.vzug.com/ch/en/privacystatement.

Press release (pdf)