Valmet Oyj's stock exchange release on March 26, 2025 at 4:15 p.m. EET
ESPOO, Finland, March 26, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- The Annual General Meeting of Valmet Oyj ('Valmet' or the 'Company') was held in Helsinki today on March 26, 2025. The Annual General Meeting adopted the Financial Statements for 2024 and discharged the members of the Board of Directors and the President and CEO from liability for the financial year 2024. The Annual General Meeting adopted the remuneration report for governing bodies, for which the decision is advisory. The Annual General Meeting authorized the Board of Directors to decide on the repurchase of the Company's own shares and on the issuance of shares and special rights entitling to shares.
Dividend payment
The Annual General Meeting decided to pay a dividend of EUR 1.35 per share for the financial year which ended on December 31, 2024.
The dividend will be paid in two instalments. The first instalment of EUR 0.68 per share will be paid to shareholders who on the dividend record date March 28, 2025, are registered in the Company's shareholders' register held by Euroclear Finland Oy. The dividend will be paid on April 8, 2025.
The second instalment of EUR 0.67 per share will be paid in October 2025. The second instalment will be paid to shareholders who on the dividend record date are registered in the Company's shareholders' register held by Euroclear Finland Oy. The dividend record date and payment date will be resolved by the Board of Directors in its meeting preliminarily scheduled for September 25, 2025. The dividend record date for the second instalment would then be September 29, 2025, and the dividend payment date October 7, 2025.
Composition of the Board of Directors
The Annual General Meeting confirmed the number of Board members as eight and appointed Pekka Vauramo as new Chair of Valmet Oyj's Board and Annika Paasikivi as new Vice Chair. Anu Hämäläinen, Pekka Kemppainen, Annareetta Lumme-Timonen and Monika Maurer were re-elected as Board members, and Bernd Eikens and Jonas Gustavsson were elected as new Board members. The term of office of the members of the Board of Directors expires at the close of the Annual General Meeting 2026.
Remuneration of the Board of Directors
The Annual General Meeting decided that the annual remuneration payable to the members of the Board will be as follows: to the Chair of the Board of Directors EUR 155,000; to the Vice Chair of the Board of Directors EUR 85,500; and to the other members of the Board of Directors EUR 68,000 each.
Furthermore, the Annual General Meeting decided that a base fee of EUR 7,300 will be paid for a member of the Audit Committee, EUR 16,700 for the Chair of the Audit Committee, EUR 4,200 for a member of the Remuneration and HR Committee, and EUR 8,500 for the Chair of the Remuneration and HR Committee.
In addition, a meeting fee in the amount of EUR 750 will be paid for members whose place of residence is in Nordic countries, EUR 1,500 for members whose place of residence is elsewhere in Europe and EUR 3,000 for members whose place of residence is outside of Europe for the Board meetings attended, including the meetings of the committees of the Board of Directors. For meetings in which a Board member participates via remote connection, including the meetings of the committees of the Board of Directors, a meeting fee of EUR 750 shall be paid to Board members. Furthermore, a meeting fee of EUR 1,500 shall be paid to Board members for a Board travel meeting.
The Annual General Meeting resolved that, as a condition for the annual remuneration, the members of the Board of Directors are obliged, directly based on the Annual General Meeting's resolution, to use 40 percent of the fixed annual remuneration for purchasing Valmet shares at a price formed on a regulated market on the official list of Nasdaq Helsinki Ltd stock exchange, and that the purchase will be carried out within two weeks from the publication of the Interim Review for the period January 1 to March 31, 2025.
Auditor
The Annual General Meeting elected Authorised Public Accountants PricewaterhouseCoopers Oy as the Auditor of the Company for a term expiring at the end of the Annual General Meeting 2026. Pasi Karppinen, Authorised Public Accountant (KHT) will act as the responsible auditor. PricewaterhouseCoopers Oy was also elected as the Sustainability Reporting Assurance Provider of the Company, and Pasi Karppinen (Authorized Sustainability Auditor) will act as the responsible sustainability auditor.
The remuneration to the Auditor and Sustainability Reporting Assurance Provider will be paid in accordance with their invoice and the principles approved by the Audit Committee.
Authorization to resolve on the repurchase of the Company's own shares
The Annual General Meeting resolved to authorize the Board of Directors to decide on the repurchase of a maximum number of 9,200,000 of the Company's own shares in one or several tranches, corresponding to approximately 5.0 percent of all the shares in the Company. Based on the authorization, the Company's own shares may be repurchased otherwise than in proportion to the shareholdings of the shareholders (directed repurchase). The Company's own shares may be repurchased using the unrestricted equity of the Company at a price formed on a regulated market on the official list of Nasdaq Helsinki Ltd on the date of the repurchase or at a price otherwise formed on the market.
The authorization shall remain in force until the close of the next Annual General Meeting, and it cancels the authorization granted in the previous Annual General Meeting related to the repurchase of the Company's own shares.
Authorisation to decide on the issuance of shares and special rights entitling to shares
The Annual General Meeting resolved to authorize the Board of Directors to decide on the issuance of shares and the issuance of special rights entitling to shares in one or several tranches. The issuance of shares may be carried out by offering new shares or by transferring treasury shares held by Valmet. Based on this authorization, the Board of Directors may also decide on a directed share issue in deviation from the shareholders' pre-emptive rights and on the granting of special rights subject to the conditions mentioned in the Finnish Companies Act. Based on this authorization, a maximum number of 18,500,000 shares may be issued, corresponding to approximately 10.0 percent of all the shares in Valmet.
The authorization shall remain in force until the close of the next Annual General Meeting, and it cancels the authorization granted in the previous Annual General Meeting to decide on the issuance of shares and special rights entitling to shares.
The minutes of the Annual General Meeting
Advance voting was held on matters 7-19 on the agenda of the Annual General Meeting. The detailed results of the advance voting are recorded in the minutes of the meeting. The minutes of the Annual General Meeting will be available on the Company's website as of April 9, 2025, at the latest.
Decisions of the organizing meeting of the Board of Directors
The Board of Directors of Valmet Oyj held its organizing meeting after the Annual General Meeting. The Board of Directors noted that all Board members are independent of the Company. With the exception of Annareetta Lumme-Timonen and Annika Paasikivi, the board members are independent of the Company's significant shareholders. Valmet's definition of Board members' independence complies with the Finnish Corporate Governance Code.
In its organizing meeting, the Board of Directors elected the members of the Audit Committee and the Remuneration and HR Committee from amongst its members.
The members of the Audit Committee are Anu Hämäläinen (Chair), Bernd Eikens, Pekka Kemppainen and Annareetta Lumme-Timonen.
The members of the Remuneration and HR Committee are Annika Paasikivi (Chair), Jonas Gustavsson, Monika Maurer and Pekka Vauramo.
Personnel representation
The Board of Directors decided to invite Juha Pöllänen to participate in the Board of Directors meetings as the personnel representative elected by Valmet's personnel groups in Finland. The personnel representative will participate in the meetings of Valmet's Board of Directors as an invited expert, and his term of office is the same as the Board members' term.
Further information, please contact: Rasmus Oksala, General Counsel, Valmet, tel. +358 50 3173 830 Pekka Rouhiainen, VP, Investor Relations, Valmet, tel. +358 10 672 0020
VALMET
Katri Hokkanen CFO
Pekka Rouhiainen VP, Investor Relations
DISTRIBUTION: Nasdaq Helsinki Major media www.valmet.com
Valmet has a global customer base across various process industries. We are a leading global developer and supplier of process technologies, automation, and services for the pulp, paper, and energy industries. With our automation and flow control solutions, we serve an even wider base of process industries. Our more than 19,000 professionals around the world work close to our customers and are committed to moving our customers' performance forward – every day.
The company has more than 225 years of industrial history and a strong track record in continuous improvement, sustainability, and renewal. Valmet's net sales in 2024 were approximately EUR 5.4 billion.
Valmet's shares are listed on the Nasdaq Helsinki, and the head office is in Espoo, Finland.
