Scout24 AG: Annual General Meeting passes resolution to increase dividend further and elects three new members to the Supervisory Board

- Dividend increases 14% year on year to EUR 0.64

- Annual General Meeting elects Frank H. Lutz, André Schwämmlein and Christoph Brand as new members of the Scout24 AG's Supervisory Board

Munich, 30 August 2019 - The Annual General Meeting of Scout24 AG ("Scout24", "the Company" or together with its subsidiaries "the Group") took place in Munich today (Friday). The attending shareholders represented more than 79% of Scout24 AG's share capital. Key resolutions included the further increase in the dividend by 14% from EUR 0.56 to EUR 0.64 per share and the election of three new members to the Supervisory Board. In addition, the Annual General Meeting exonerated the Management Board and Supervisory Board of Scout24 AG for the 2018 financial year by clear majority.

Speaking before the shareholders present at the meeting, CEO Tobias Hartmann outlined the successful development of Scout24. He also discussed the plans for implementing the strategic roadmap that was announced on 19 July 2019. Tobias Hartmann then presented several product innovations that clearly underscored the leading position held by Scout24 in its markets. CFO Dr. Dirk Schmelzer provided an overview of the financial figures for the 2018 financial year and for the first six months of 2019.

Specifically, the following resolutions were passed at the Annual General Meeting chaired by Dr. Hans-Holger Albrecht, Chairman of the Supervisory Board of Scout24 AG:

- Appropriation of unappropriated retained earnings of Scout 24 AG for the 2018 financial year (100.0% approval)

- Exoneration of the members of the Management Board for the 2018 financial year (99.7% approval)

- Exoneration of the members of the Supervisory Board for the 2018 financial year (72.3% approval)

- Appointment of the auditor of the financial statements and the consolidated financial statements for the 2019 financial year (98.1% approval).

- Elections to the Supervisory Board (approval rates: Frank H. Lutz: 78.8%; André Schwämmlein: 83.8%, Christoph Brand: 53.8%)

- Approval of the profit and loss transfer agreement with Consumer First Services GmbH (100.0% approval)

- Approval of amendment of existing profit and loss transfer agreements (100.0% approval)

"From an operational perspective, Scout24 is stronger than ever before: we are in an excellent position from which to grow further. We have a clear strategy for creating long-term value for all of our shareholders and we have the right team to successfully implement this strategy. This also entails using Scout24 Group's high financial power in order to allow our shareholders to participate more generously in our Company's success - be it through increasing dividends or the planned share buyback programme," says Tobias Hartmann, CEO of Scout24 AG.

New members of the Supervisory Board
A total of three members of the Supervisory Board of Scout24 AG have relinquished their board mandates before the end of their term of office. Specifically: Michael Zahn stepped down on 1 July 2019. Mr. David Roche and Dr. Liliana Solomon stepped down with effect as of the end of the Annual General Meeting on 30 August 2019. In accordance with Article 9 (4) Sentence 1 of the Company's Articles of Association, a successor thus had to be elected for the remainder of the term of office of each of the members of the Supervisory Board who stepped down.

Accordingly, the Annual General Meeting elected Frank H. Lutz and André Schwämmlein as new members of the Supervisory Board of Scout24 AG, as proposed by the Supervisory Board. In addition, the Annual General Meeting accepted the countermotion of the shareholder Pelham Capital Ltd, London, to elect to the Supervisory Board of Scout24 AG Mr. Christoph Brand, Deputy CEO and Head of Classifieds and Marketplaces, Tamedia AG, Zurich. The term of office in each case ends at the end of the Annual General Meeting that decides on the exoneration for the 2019 financial year.

The Chairman of the Supervisory Board, Dr. Hans-Holger Albrecht, took the opportunity to thank the former members of the Supervisory Board for their dedication and to welcome the new members of the Supervisory Board: "On behalf of the complete Supervisory Board, I would like to thank the members of the Supervisory Board who have stepped down for their highly constructive and trust-based work together and I wish them all the best for the future. We naturally respect the Annual General Meeting's vote on the appointments to the Supervisory Board, even if this does not entirely reflect our proposals. We look forward to an intensive and vigorous cooperation between the newly assembled board and the Management Board, which we will support to the best of our ability in successfully advancing down the growth path indicated by Tobias Hartmann."

The detailed voting results and presentation by the Management Board on item 1 of the agenda are available on the Scout24 AG website under www.scout24.de/hauptversammlung.
 

About Scout24

With our leading digital marketplaces ImmobilienScout24 in Germany and Austria and AutoScout24 across Europe we are creating a connected network for living and mobility. More than 1,500 employees empower our users to find their new home or their new car quickly and easily. Individual additional services, such as the brokerage of relocation services or construction and car financing, by Scout24 Consumer Services support this purpose. Scout24 AG is listed on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange (ISIN: DE000A12DM80, G24). For further information, please visit www.scout24.com, our Corporate Blog and Tech Blog or follow us on Twitter and LinkedIn.
 

Investor relations

Britta Schmidt
Vice President Investor Relations & Controlling
Tel.: +49 89 44456 3278
Email: [email protected]
 

Media relations

Jan Flaskamp
Vice President Communications & Marketing
Tel.: +49 30 24301 0721
Email: [email protected]
 

Disclaimer:

All information contained in this document has been carefully prepared. However, no reliance may be placed for any purposes whatsoever on the information contained in this document or on its completeness. No representation or warranty, express or implied, is given by or on behalf of the Company or any of its directors, officers or employees or any other person as to the accuracy and/or completeness of the information contained in this document and no liability whatsoever is accepted by the Company or any of its directors, officers or employees nor any other person for any loss howsoever arising, directly or indirectly, from any use of such information or opinions or otherwise arising in connection therewith.

The information contained in this release is subject to amendment, revision and updating. Certain statements, beliefs and opinions in this document are forward-looking, which reflect the Company's or, as appropriate, senior management's current expectations and projections about future events. By their nature, forward-looking statements involve a number of risks, uncertainties, assumptions and other factors that could cause actual results, including but not limited to the Company's financial position or profitability, to differ materially, also adversely, from those expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements. Statements contained in this document regarding past trends or activities should not be taken as a representation that such trends or activities will continue in the future. The Company does not undertake any obligation to update or revise any information contained in this document (including forward-looking statements), whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise. You should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date of this press release.

Scout24 also uses alternative performance measures, not defined by IFRS, to describe the Scout24 Group's results of operations. These should not be viewed in isolation, but treated as supplementary information. The special items used to calculate some alternative performance measures arise from the integration of acquired businesses, restructuring measures, impairments, gains or losses resulting from divestitures and sales of shareholdings, and other expenses and income that generally do not arise in conjunction with Scout24's ordinary business activities. Alternative performance measures used by Scout24 are defined in the "Glossary" section of Scout24's Group Annual Report 2018 which is available at www.scout24.com/finanzberichte.

Due to rounding, numbers presented throughout this statement may not add up precisely to the totals indicated, and percentages may not precisely reflect the absolute figures for the same reason.