Siemens Gamesa Renewable Energy (SGRE) held its General Meeting of Shareholders today. At the event, the shareholders approved the 2018 financial statements, together with a cash dividend of €0.02567 gross per share.
Miguel Ángel López, Chairman of the Board of Directors, highlighted that “looking back on our financial year 2018, I can say it was a good year for Siemens Gamesa. I would like particularly to thank all the employees of Siemens Gamesa for their dedication, and also the management team led by Markus Tacke, who in a complex market environment, generated value for all our stakeholders, specially our shareholders”. He added that “We need to continue to work hard to achieve our objectives. We are a young and dynamic company in a changing market. We are a diverse company - made up of 23,000 people of more than 100 nationalities. This diversity enriches us and gives us the capacity for adaptation, innovation and agility, our pillars for achieving success”.
The Chairman also stated the company's commitment to sustainability and its important role in society by leading a sector that helps to avoid climate change. "Specifically, our more than 52,000 wind turbine generators installed around the world help reduce the carbon footprint by over 233 million tons of CO2 per year and we are committed to achieving carbon neutrality by 2025," emphasised López.
Addressing the meeting, CEO Markus Tacke noted that it will be the second anniversary of the foundation of Siemens Gamesa one week later: "The company has successfully navigated the challenging post-merger period. We have clear goals and we are on track to achieve them: to become the industry leader by 2020. The company has a bright future ahead; we are in the right business at the right time."
Tacke reminded his audience that the company has deployed the ambitious L3AD2020 programme with the goal of attaining and retaining a leading position in the wind industry. The programme is structured in three sequential stages: merger and stabilisation, leveraging scale economies, and sustainable profitability. "At the end of fiscal 2018, Siemens Gamesa Renewable Energy had completed all planned milestones and targets for the merger and stabilization phase and we have moved into the next and second phase leveraging economies of scale" he added.
Motions approved
The resolutions adopted during the meeting included ratifying the appointment of Miguel Ángel López, the non-executive Chairman of the Board of Directors, as a proprietary director, of Pedro Azagra as a proprietary director and of Rudolf Krämmer as an independent director. Gloria Hernández and Andoni Cendoya, both independent directors, were re-elected.
The shareholders also approved the Sustainability Report, a new Director Remuneration Policy valid until 2021 and a new Long-Term Incentive Plan for executives.
