Pfeiffer Vacuum conducts harmonious Annual Shareholders Meeting in Wetzlar
* All administration proposals adopted by clear majorities
* Another high dividend distribution
* Guidance for fiscal 2010 and equity investment announced
The Annual Shareholders Meeting of Pfeiffer Vacuum AG was held today at the Stadthalle in Wetzlar with an outstanding presence level of 58.58 percent and some 400 shareholders in attendance. Supervisory Board Chairman Dr. Michael Oltmanns chaired an harmonious Annual Shareholders Meeting. Chief Executive Officer Manfred Bender s presentation on the past fiscal year was followed by an animated discussion, which was characterized by fairness and a lively interest in the well-being of the company, its people and its shareholders.
By a sweeping majority, the shareholders voted for the distribution of retained earnings proposed by the Management and Supervisory Boards, calling for a dividend of 2.45 per share. This means that, as in the preceding years, some 75 percent of net income as presented in the Annual Financial Statements will be distributed on May 21, 2010.
The actions of the Management and Supervisory Boards were ratified by over 99 percent of the votes cast. The resolution of a further share buyback program, the authorization to create conditional capital and the reelection of Wirtschaftspruefungsgesellschaft Ernst & Young as the company s independent auditor also passed by clear majorities. Dr. Wolfgang Lust was elected as a new member of the Supervisory Board to replace Michael Anderson who retires at his own request.
Traditionally, Pfeiffer Vacuum announces at its Annual Shareholders Meeting the company s guidance for the business development in full fiscal year: The Management Board anticipates that sales revenues in fiscal 2010 will parallel their 2008 level and that the EBIT margin will reach over 22.0 percent.
The Pfeiffer Vacuum additionally announced plans of an equity investment in a company which is specialized in the service and maintenance of vacuum pumps. In addition, the company develops and sells equipment for micro- and nanotechnology and medical particle therapy. Currently, the company conducts research regarding a new product which enables promising applications in surface treatment and medical engineering. The vacuum portion in this product will be around 50 percent. With this equity investment, Pfeiffer Vacuum intends to intensify its service division as well as broaden its expertise in the field of vacuum applications for the medical sector.
Chief Executive Officer Manfred Bender noted: Pfeiffer Vacuum got off to a brilliant start this fiscal year. The level of new orders for the first quarter was up 28.6 percent year on year. In fact, this means that we have nearly reached the 2008 level again. The integration of Trinos, too, is moving along swiftly. Bender announced the following guidance: All in all, we assume that we will be able to match our 2008 sales revenues in fiscal 2010. With respect to our EBIT margin, we will still have to wait and see the extent to which the positive effects stemming from the reorganization of our manufacturing operations and the moderately negative effects from the Trinos consolidation will offset one another. However our minimum objective is to keep the EBIT margin for the first quarter of 2010 at a stable level. This would represent an improvement of at least 2 percentage points over the year before."
Manfred Bender s presentation plus detailed information relating to the results of the voting are available at
www.pfeiffer-vacuum.de/shareholders_meeting.
