SolarWorld AG / AGM/EGM 21.05.2008 Release of a Corporate News, transmitted by DGAP - a company of EquityStory AG. The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Supervisory Board Reelected Profit and Loss Transfer Agreements Approved At todays 9th ordinary Annual General Meeting of SolarWorld Aktiengesellschaft, at which some 1,000 shareholders as well as shareholder representatives were present, the proposed resolutions of the administration were accepted with a large majority. For fiscal year 2007 the distribution of a dividend was approved in the eigth year. Thus the dividend increases to 0.14 (previous year: 0.10) EUR per share going up for the fourth year in succession. The payout will be made on 23 May 2008. Chairman and CEO Dipl.-Ing. Frank H. Asbeck made it clear to the AGM that SolarWorld AG wanted to continue to pursue this consistent dividend policy in the future. The reelection of the Supervisory Board has also been approved with a large majority. Dr. Claus Recktenwald (Chairman), Dr. Georg Gansen (Deputy Chairman) and Dr. Alexander von Bossel who have been on the Supervisory Board since the inception of the company were reappointed for another five years. Furthermore, the resolution to agree to profit and loss transfer agreements between SolarWorld AG and the Freiberg subsidiaries backdated to 1 January 2008 was passed with a large majority of the votes cast. The reason is to strengthen the financing structure of SolarWorld AG. As a result the profits and losses of the subsidiaries go directly to SolarWorld AG which, as the holding company, is responsible for the entire financing of the Group. This responsibility also includes raising loans for corporate expansion. The resulting interest payments on these loans can only be set off against tax as of this year if and when the holding company has a sufficiently high level of profits which would not be guaranteed without the profit and loss transfer agreements. The new agreements with the subsidiaries thus make for an additional stabilization of the Groups sound financing also guaranteeing the possibility of future dividend payments from the profit of the stock corporation. SolarWorld AG supports rain forest exhibition Bio-diversity is the topic discussed by the 9th Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity that takes place in Bonn at the same time as the Annual General Meeting. With the support of the Rain Forest Exhibition Project by the 'Museum Koenig' in Bonn which was introduced to shareholders on the occasion of the AGM public awareness and understanding is to be created for the uniqueness and the irreplaceable character of the rain forest as well as its value in fighting climate change. As the main sponsor SolarWorld supports the museum in the realization of this international exhibition in cooperation with the Alexander Koenig Gesellschaft. The Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Alexander Koenig Gesellschaft is Dipl.-Ing. Frank Asbeck. 'The exhibition is designed to inform about the fact that the rain forest is indispensable to the equilibrium of the global climate and at the same time forms the cradle of an enormous bio-diversity that will be irreplaceably lost with the destruction of this habitat' he says. 'For us it is a central concern to support the interests of the climate and of creation. Under the umbrella of Solar2World we are pooling our Group-wide no-for-profit activities'. Amendment of the law on renewable energies (EEE) Frank Asbeck commented on the discussions about the amendment of the law on renewable energies (EEG): 'Only a moderate reduction of the feed-in compensation within the framework of what the Minister of the Environment has proposed will guarantee the continued existence of the innovative German solar industry', he says. 'If reasonably reduced compensation rates are maintained we will succeed by way of production expansion and leaps in efficiency in making sure that clean power from the roof will no longer be more expensive than conventionally generated fossil or nuclear power from the wall socket.' About SolarWorld AG: The SolarWorld AG group of companies (ISIN: DE0005108401) is a world leader in high quality solar power technology. The company is involved at all levels of the solar value chain and combines all activities of the industry from silicon as the raw material to turn-key solar power system. SolarWorld AG is represented in all international solar growth markets. The group is exclusively dedicated to its core business of photovoltaic power generation, operating production facilities in Germany and the USA. They in turn supply the SolarWorld AG sales offices in Germany, Spain, USA, South Africa and Singapore. In South Korea SolarWorld AG is currently building up a solar module production facility in order to be able to serve the growing demand in Asia on the spot in the future. A central element of the business in addition to the sale of turn-key solar systems and solar modules to retailers is the distribution of solar silicon wafers to the international solar cell industry. Apart from grid-coupled (on-grid) products the SolarWorld Group also sells off-grid solar power solutions that make an important contribution to the sustainable economic development of threshold and developing countries. Under the roof Solar2World the group has pooled its ethical commitment to solar power especially in developing countries. SolarWorld AG employs about 2,000 people worldwide. At the stock market the company is listed among others in the technology index TecDAX, in the ÖkoDAX, in the Dow Jones STOXX 600, in the international MSCI index as well as in the sustainability indices DAXglobal Alternative Energy and NAI. Contact: SolarWorld AG Investor Relations / Marketing Communications, Tel.-No.: +49 228 55920 -470; Fax-No.: +49 228 55920-9470, E-mail: placement@solarworld.de Internet: www.solarworld.de DGAP 21.05.2008 --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Language: English Issuer: SolarWorld AG Kurt-Schumacher-Straße 12-14 53113 Bonn Deutschland Phone: +49 (0)228 - 559 20 470 Fax: +49 (0)228 - 559 20 99 E-mail: placement@solarworld.de Internet: www.solarworld.de ISIN: DE0005108401 WKN: 510840 Indices: TecDAX Listed: Regulierter Markt in Frankfurt (Prime Standard), Düsseldorf; Freiverkehr in Berlin, München, Hamburg, Stuttgart; Terminbörse EUREX End of News DGAP News-Service ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
DGAP-News: Annual General Meeting of SolarWorld AG Approves Dividend Increase to 0.14 EUR
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