Stock Exchange Announcement no 2007-05 29 March 2007
Annual general meeting and election
of Directors
Today, William Demant Holding A/S held its annual general meeting at the
Company's premises, Kongebakken 9, 2765 Smørum, Denmark. The Board's proposals
were approved in full by the ge-neral meeting, implying among others the
following decisions:
The year's profits, DKK 901 million, will be transferred to the Company's
reserves.
Mr Lars Nørby Johansen and Mr Michael Pram Rasmussen were re-elected as
Directors of the Company and Mr Peter Foss, President (CEO) of FOSS A/S, was
elected new Director of the Company.
The Company's auditors, Deloitte Statsautoriseret Revisionsaktieselskab and
KPMG C.Jespersen Statsautoriseret Revisionsinteressentskab, were re-elected.
The Company's registered office was changed from Ledøje-Smørum municipality
to Egedal municipality (as provided in Article 2.1 of the Articles of
Association) and the venue of the Company's general meetings was changed from
Storkøbenhavn (Greater Copenhagen) to
Region Hovedstaden (as provided in Article 7.2 of the Articles of Association).
The Company's share capital was reduced by nominally DKK 2,336,675 through
the cancella-tion of the Company's holding of own shares. After the reduction,
the Company's share capital amounts to DKK 60,986,527.
As provided in Article 6.2 of the Articles of Association, the Board's
authorisation to increase the share capital by up to a total nominal amount of
DKK 6,664,384 was prolonged until 1
January 2012.
As a result of new statutory requirements, annual general meeting convening
notices will in future also be registered with the Danish Commerce and
Companies Agency (Erhvervs- og Sel-skabsstyrelsen) as provided in Article 7.4,
first sentence, of the Articles of Association.
As provided in Article 11.2 of the Articles of Association, the term of
office of Directors elected by the general meeting was changed from alternating
two-year terms to one-year terms.
The Board was until the next ordinary general meeting authorised to let the
Company acquire own shares with a nominal value of up to 10% of the share
capital.
At the general meeting, the Company's Chairman, Mr Niels Boserup, gave an
account of the mar-ket conditions and the Company's expectations for the
future. He said among other things:
"The Directors can look back on the past year with great satisfaction, a year
of growth throughout the William Demant Holding Group. 2006 was another banner
year with market shares, revenues and profitability reaching record levels.
In 2007, we expect revenues to the tune of DKK 5.45-5.60 billion, an
improvement of 9-12%. The gross margin is thus expected to increase. We expect
consolidated research and development costs to outmatch sales growth in 2007
and we estimate a general increase in costs. This will di-lute the favourable
development in gross margin, but will not affect the consolidated profit margin
of about 26%."
After the general meeting, the Board of Directors elected Mr Lars Nørby
Johansen Chairman and Mr Niels Boserup Deputy Chairman of the Board.
Also today, the following employee representatives were elected to the
Company's Board of Direc-tors: Ole Lundsgaard and Ivan Jørgensen were
re-elected and Susanne Kold was elected new Di-rector.
• • • • • • •
Yderligere information:
Adm. direktør Niels Jacobsen
Telefon 39 17 71 00
www.demant.dk
