ProCredit Holding AG & Co. KGaA (ProCredit Holding), based in Frankfurt am Main, Germany, which is the parent company of the development-oriented ProCredit group consisting of commercial banks for small and medium enterprises (SMEs) and whose operational focus is on South Eastern and Eastern Europe, held its Annual General Meeting for 2021 yesterday. In view of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, the Annual General Meeting was held as a virtual general meeting, as in the previous year.
A total of 72.93% of the registered share capital participated in the voting. The Annual General Meeting approved by a large majority all of the proposals that were put to the vote.
The Management Board reported on the positive operating performance of the ProCredit group in the 2020 financial year and in the first months of the current year. With 9.5% growth in the customer loan portfolio and another positive consolidated result of EUR 41.4 million, the ProCredit group had demonstrated the soundness of its sustainability-oriented business model in the challenging environment of 2020 posed by COVID-19. With portfolio growth of 3.0% and a consolidated result of EUR 15.6 million for the first quarter, up by EUR 1.9 million on the previous year’s figure, ProCredit has also made a good start to the current financial year 2021.
The Annual General Meeting approved the actions of the General Partner and Supervisory Board in the 2020 financial year.
The Annual General Meeting also resolved to pay a dividend of EUR 0.18 per share. This amount corresponds to a value of 20 basis points of the Common Equity Tier 1 capital ratio of the ProCredit group and thus to the European Central Bank’s recommended maximum amount for dividend distributions, which is in effect until 30 September 2021. In addition, the Management Board, in coordination with the Supervisory Board, intends to propose to an Extraordinary General Meeting, to be held by 31 December 2021 at the latest, that a further dividend of EUR 0.35 per share be distributed for the 2020 financial year, provided that no recommendation from the German Federal Financial Supervisory Authority or the European Central Bank precludes such distribution.
As part of the Supervisory Board elections, Mr Rainer Ottenstein was re-elected to the Supervisory Board after his regular term of office expired. In addition, Mr Christian Krämer and Mr Petar Slavov had resigned from their positions as members of the Supervisory Board of ProCredit Holding AG & Co. KGaA as of the end of this year’s Annual General Meeting. Ms Jovanka Joleska Popovska and Dr Jan Martin Witte were newly elected to the company’s Supervisory Board in their place. Ms Jovanka Joleska Popovska served for many years as Managing Director of ProCredit Bank North Macedonia and is today a member of the supervisory boards and the respective audit committees of the ProCredit banks in Moldova and Albania. Dr Jan Martin Witte is Director of Global Equity and Funds (LNd) in the Development Bank division of Kreditanstalt für Wiederaufbau (KfW). He also has many years of experience in development finance. The Chairman of the Supervisory Board of ProCredit Holding, Dr Claus-Peter Zeitinger, speaking also on behalf of the other Supervisory Board members, thanked Mr Christian Krämer and Mr Petar Slavov for their commitment and their valuable contribution over the past years, and welcomed Ms Jovanka Joleska Popovska and Mr Jan Martin Witte warmly to the Supervisory Board of ProCredit Holding.
BDO AG Wirtschaftsprüfungsgesellschaft, Hamburg, was appointed as auditor of the group’s consolidated financial statements for the 2021 financial year.
The results of the voting on the individual agenda items as well as further information on the Annual General Meeting will be published on the company’s website at https://www.procredit-holding.com/investor-relations/general-meetings/
Contact:
Andrea Kaufmann, Group Communications, ProCredit Holding, Tel.: +49 69 951 437 138,
E-mail: Andrea.Kaufmann@procredit-group.com
About ProCredit Holding AG & Co. KGaA
ProCredit Holding AG & Co. KGaA, based in Frankfurt am Main, Germany, is the parent company of the development-oriented ProCredit group, which consists of commercial banks for small and medium enterprises (SMEs). In addition to its operational focus on South Eastern and Eastern Europe, the ProCredit group is also active in South America and Germany. The company’s shares are traded on the Prime Standard segment of the Frankfurt Stock Exchange. The anchor shareholders of ProCredit Holding AG & Co. KGaA include the strategic investors Zeitinger Invest and ProCredit Staff Invest (the investment vehicle for ProCredit staff), the Dutch DOEN Participaties BV, KfW Development Bank and IFC (part of the World Bank Group). As the group’s superordinated company according to the German Banking Act, ProCredit Holding AG & Co. KGaA is supervised on a consolidated level by the German Federal Financial Supervisory Authority (Bundesanstalt für Finanzdienstleistungsaufsicht, BaFin) and the German Bundesbank. For additional information, visit: www.procredit-holding.com
Forward-looking statements
This press release contains statements relating to our future business development and financial performance, as well as statements relating to future actions or developments affecting ProCredit Holding which may constitute forward-looking statements. Such statements are based on the management of ProCredit Holding’s current expectations and specific assumptions, many of which are beyond the control of ProCredit Holding. They are therefore subject to a multitude of risks, uncertainties and factors. Should one or more of these risks or uncertainties materialise, or should underlying expectations or assumptions prove incorrect, then the actual results, performance and achievements (both negative and positive) of ProCredit Holding may differ significantly from those expressed or implied in the forward-looking statement. ProCredit Holding does not undertake any obligation to update these forward-looking statements or to correct them in the event of deviations from the expected development.