The Helvetia Shareholders' Meeting approves all proposals by the Board of Directors

Due to the measures to combat the spread of COVID-19, the Ordinary Shareholders' Meeting of Helvetia Holding once again took place without shareholders physically in attendance this year. Represented by the independent proxy, shareholders approved all proposals by the Board of Directors

30.04.2021 | Media releases

As was the case last year, Helvetia Holding shareholders participating in the 25th Ordinary Shareholders' Meeting were only able to exercise their rights via the independent proxy due to the measures in place to combat the spread of COVID-19. 9,205 shareholders submitted instructions, meaning that 34,641,510 of the 53,025,685 voting shares were represented, equating to 65.3 percent of the share capital. The Shareholders' Meeting approved the management report, the financial statements and the consolidated financial statements for 2020. It also granted discharge to the Board of Directors and Group Executive Management for their activities during financial year 2020.

New helvetia 20.25 strategy presented to shareholders
In a video message ahead of the Shareholders' Meeting, Chairwoman of the Board of Directors Doris Russi Schurter briefed shareholders on helvetia 20.25, the new strategy through which Helvetia aims to become the best partner for financial security and to set standards in terms of customer convenience and customer access. Four strategic priorities have been set for the strategy's implementation: customer convenience, a right offering, profitable growth in the core business and the utilisation of new opportunities. "Our new strategy builds on one of our strengths – broad diversification – and thus ensures a long-term increase in Helvetia's success for investors, customers, employees and all other stakeholders", explains Doris Russi Schurter.

Successful, value-enhancing acquisition of Caser in Spain
Philipp Gmür, Group CEO of Helvetia, also addressed shareholders in a video message ahead of the Shareholders' Meeting. Here, he summarized the main points from the 2020 financial statements. Last year, Helvetia benefited from its acquisition of Spanish insurance company Caser, as Philipp Gmür explained: "This healthy company brings us additional contribution income of over 700 million for the second half of 2020 and a contribution to profit of over 50 million Swiss francs. Caser has enabled us to boost the Helvetia Group's growth and profit potential substantially."

All members of the Board of Directors re-elected
Doris Russi Schurter was confirmed by shareholders as a member and Chairwoman of the Board of Directors for another one-year term of office. The Shareholders' Meeting also re-elected all nine of the other existing members of the Board of Directors to serve a one-year term of office. Shareholders filled the positions on the Nomination and Compensation Committee by appointing existing members Jean-René Fournier, Gabriela Maria Payer, Andreas von Planta and Regula Wallimann.

Dividend unchanged
As proposed by the Board of Directors, the Shareholders' Meeting resolved to distribute an unchanged dividend of CHF 5.00 per share. "Helvetia pursues a sustained, long-term dividend policy. To our shareholders too, we wish to be a reliable partner", said Doris Russi Schurter, commenting on the dividend.

Remuneration approved
Furthermore, shareholders approved the total amounts of fixed remuneration for the members of the Board of Directors and the fixed and variable compensation for Group Executive Management. Finally, the Shareholders' Meeting confirmed Schmuki Bachmann, Attorneys-at-Law, St.Gallen, as independent proxy and re-elected KPMG AG, Zurich, as auditor.

Contact information

Analysts
Susanne Tengler
Head of Investor Relations

Phone: +41 58 280 57 79
investor.relations@helvetia.ch

Media
Jonas Grossniklaus
Head of Media Relations

Phone: +41 58 280 50 33
media.relations@helvetia.ch

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About Helvetia

In over 160 years, the Helvetia Group has grown from a number of Swiss and foreign insurance companies into a successful international insurance group. Helvetia is one of the leading all-line insurers in its home market of Switzerland. With the countries Germany, Italy, Austria and Spain, which have been combined to form the Market Area Europe, the company has a second strong pillar. With its Specialty Markets market area, Helvetia is also present in France and in selected regions worldwide. Some of its investment and financing activities are managed through subsidiaries and fund companies in Luxembourg. The Group is headquartered in St.Gallen, Switzerland.

Helvetia is active in the life and non-life business, and also offers customised specialty lines and reinsurance cover. Its business activities focus on retail customers as well as small and medium-sized companies and larger corporates. With some 11,600 employees, the company provides services to more than 7 million customers. With a business volume of CHF 9.71 billion, Helvetia generated an IFRS result after tax of CHF 281.7 million in financial year 2020. The registered shares of Helvetia Holding are traded on the SIX Swiss Exchange under the symbol HELN.

Cautionary note

This document was prepared by Helvetia Group and may not be copied, altered, offered, sold or otherwise distributed to any other person by any recipient without the consent of Helvetia Group. The German version of this document is decisive and binding. Versions of the document in other languages are made available purely for information purposes. Although all reasonable effort has been made to ensure that the facts stated herein are correct and the opinions contained herein are fair and reasonable, where any information and statistics are quoted from any external source such information or statistics should not be interpreted as having been adopted or endorsed as accurate by Helvetia Group. Neither Helvetia Group nor any of its directors, officers, employees and advisors nor any other person shall have any liability whatsoever for loss howsoever arising, directly or indirectly, from any use of this information. The facts and information contained in this document are as up to date as is reasonably possible but may be subject to revision in the future. Neither Helvetia Group nor any of its directors, officers, employees or advisors nor any other person makes any representation or warranty, express or implied, as to the accuracy or completeness of the information contained in this document.

This document may contain projections or other forward-looking statements related to Helvetia Group which by their very nature involve inherent risks and uncertainties, both general and specific, and there is a risk that predictions, forecasts, projections and other outcomes described or implied in forward-looking statements will not be achieved. We caution you that a number of important factors could cause results to differ materially from the plans, objectives, expectations, estimates and intentions expressed in such forward-looking statements. These factors include: (1) changes in general economic conditions, in particular in the markets in which we operate; (2) the performance of financial markets; (3) changes in interest rates; (4) changes in currency exchange rates; (5) changes in laws and regulations, including accounting policies or practices; (6) risks associated with implementing our business strategies; (7) the frequency, magnitude and general development of insured events; (8) mortality and morbidity rates; (9) policy renewal and lapse rates as well as (10), the realisation of economies of scale as well as synergies. We caution you that the foregoing list of important factors is not exhaustive; when evaluating forward-looking statements, you should carefully consider the foregoing factors and other uncertainties. All forward-looking statements are based on information available to Helvetia Group on the date of its publication and Helvetia Group assumes no obligation to update such statements unless otherwise required by applicable law.