Big changes dominated the agenda of the LEONI AG’s Annual General Meeting. The shareholders unanimously accepted the conversion to registered shares and the payment of a dividend amounting to 1.08 Euro per share. As announced, Ernst Thoma, Chairman of the LEONI AG Management Board for 25 years, resigned from office and is succeeded by the board member Dr. Klaus Probst who has been with the company for 13 years. Following the General Meeting, Ernst Thoma has been unanimously appointed by the newly elected Supervisory Board as its chairman.
The dividend has been raised by 24 % which is almost the same as the increase in profit for the financial year. The dividend ranged at 0.87 Euro in the previous year. The LEONI AG shareholders thus receive a share in the successful business year 2001 with a turnover of 1.1 billion Euro (previous year: 962 million Euro) and a profit for the year of 28 million Euro (22 million Euro). For the current business year LEONI expects a time of moderate growth with a turnover amounting to 1.15 billion Euro.
The proposal to change from bearer to registered shares has been received very positively by the shareholders. For the reason that each individual shareholder is registered a direct and fast communication with the shareholder is made possible.