Ratos takes measures to reduce risk of spreading Covid-19 virus at AGM

Regulatory Information 2020-03-17

The information was submitted for publication at 8:30 a.m. CET on 17 March 2020.

Transmission speed of the Covid-19 (corona) virus remains difficult to assess, and Ratos is closely following developments. With a view to shielding the health of shareholders, Board members and co-workers, several new decisions have been made regarding the company's Annual General Meeting, scheduled for April 1, 2020.

The Swedish Public Health agency instructions for limiting general contagion include avoiding larger public events, and when these cannot be avoided, minimizing time spent as well as avoiding crowding situations and other interactions with many people. As a cautionary and risk-minimizing measure, Ratos has therefore decided to alter arrangements for the planned AGM. Measures are being activated from two perspectives: Serious regard for the health of shareholders, as well as maintaining the opportunity for shareholders to fully exercise their shareholder rights.

Arrangements for Ratos’s AGM at 2:00 p.m. on April 1, 2020, will accordingly be altered as follows:

• Registration will begin at 1:30 p.m. and shareholders are kindly requested to wait outside. Controlled-entry solutions to limit congestion could also cause further waiting times.
• No refreshments will be served.
• The company's Board Chairman and CEO will give shorter speeches than normal. The CEO’s speech will be made available at Ratos’s website after the AGM, as usual.
• The number of non-shareholders participating will be limited.
• No nomination committee members, board members, auditors' representatives, officials or employees who have visited countries outside the Nordic countries or those who have experienced respiratory problems in combination with fever for two weeks almost before the meeting will attend the meeting.
• Cloakrooms will be closed, and all who attend are requested to bring their outerwear into the auditorium
• The choise of premises: Skandiascenen at Cirkus, Djurgårdsslätten 43-45, Stockholm, remains in force, but of all of those in attendance will be seated in widely spread 'social distancing' formations.
• Allotted time for the AGM will be minimized, without restricting the rights of shareholders. Shareholders and their proxies are requested to pay extra attention to avoiding virus transmission.

Shareholders who are concerned about the spread of infection or belong to one of the risk groups, we would like to remind them of the opportunity to participate via proxy instead of attending in person. We also ask shareholders who are suspected of being infected, have experienced illness symptoms for the past two weeks or have been in a risk area - not to attend in person but to attend through a representative. This also applies to those who have been in close contact with someone who is infected with the corona virus. A proxy form is available at www.ratos.se. Please note that Ratos is not able to collect proxies and act as agents.

To enable shareholders to vote whilst not being physically present at the AGM, the registrar Computershare is offering a service to any shareholder registered to attend the AGM and holding no more than 100,000 shares to appoint Computershare to vote on their behalf, the proxy is available on request by contacting Computershare at telephone +46 8 518 01 550 or by e-mail info@computershare.se – Ratos encourages shareholders to exercise their voting rights accordingly.

Ratos is closely monitoring contagion risks and requests that all those who intend to participate at the meeting stay updated via www.ratos.se, on potential further measures.

For further information, please contact:
Jonas Wiström, CEO Ratos, +46 8 700 17 00
Helene Gustafsson, Head of IR and Press Ratos, tel: +46 70 868 40 50, email: helene.gustafsson@ratos.se

About Ratos:
Ratos is a business group consisting of 12 companies divided into three business areas: Consumer & Technology, Construction & Services and Industry. In total, the companies have SEK 38 billion in sales and EBITA of SEK 1.8 billion. Our business concept is to develop mid-sized companies headquartered in the Nordics that are or can become market leaders. We enable independent mid-sized companies to excel by being part of something larger. People, leadership, culture and values are key focus areas for Ratos. Everything we do is based on Ratos’s core values: Simplicity, Speed in Execution and It’s All About People.