The Annual General Meeting of Ratos AB - Changes in the proposed dividend

Regulatory Information 2020-03-23

 

This information is information that Ratos AB (publ) is obliged to make public pursuant to the EU Market Abuse Regulation. The information was submitted for publication, through the agency of the contact persons set out below, at 8:00 p.m. CET on 23 March 2020.

Due to the situation with COVID-19, the Board of Directors proposes a dividend of SEK 0.30 per share, which differs from SEK 0.65 per share, which was previously communicated. However, the Board's ambition is to call the shareholders to an Extraordinary General Meeting later in the year to decide on a further dividend, if the market has stabilized at this time and the company's visibility in earnings has normalized.

Amendments to the Board's proposal regarding dividend and record date (Item 11):
 

The Board of Directors has previously proposed, in the notice of the Annual General Meeting published on February 28, 2020, a dividend for the financial year 2019 of SEK 0.65 per share, where the record date for the dividend was proposed to be April 3, 2020 and payment from Euroclear Sweden AB is expected to be made on April 8 2020. In view of the current market instability and uncertainty factors about COVID-19's medium-term financial effects, the Board for precautionary reasons no longer considers that the Annual General Meeting should resolve in accordance with the previously announced proposal.
 

The Board has therefore today adopted a new proposal for the dividend for the financial year 2019 of SEK 0.30 per share, where the record date for the dividend is proposed to remain unchanged on April 3, 2020 and payment from Euroclear Sweden AB is still expected to take place on April 8, 2020. However, the Board expresses its ambition to call the shareholders to an Extraordinary General Meeting later in the year to decide on a further dividend, if the market has stabilized at this time and the company's visibility for profit has been normalized.

 

For further information:

Jonas Wiström, CEO Ratos, tel: +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.