Welcome to the annual general meeting of shareholders of Wolters Kluwer N.V. This is a hybrid meeting, and we welcome both shareholders attending in person here in Alphen and those participating remotely. This is my fifth general meeting of shareholders for Wolters Kluwer, but my first as chair of the supervisory board. I am thankful and pleased that I may fulfill this role. During today's meeting, all members of the supervisory board and executive board are present, with Jeanette Horan joining us virtually from the United States as unfortunately, she has a short-term inability to travel. Our auditor, Mr. Savert of Deloitte Accountants, and our company's notary, Ms. Leemrijse of law firm Allen & Overy, are joining us here in Alphen as well. This is a hybrid meeting, which means that shareholders can participate either in person or remotely.
Remote participants can ask questions through a dedicated audio connection and can vote during the meeting through an electronic voting platform. This meeting is also being broadcast live via video webcast, and a recording will be made to correctly produce minutes. We appreciate that many shareholders took the opportunity to exercise their voting rights by way of electronic or written proxy. Shareholders participating remotely who wish to ask a question in relation to the items on the agenda can do so by logging into the ABN AMRO e-voting platform and dialing the phone number displayed for this Wolters Kluwer meeting. An operator will ask for your name and the conference ID. To ask a question on today's agenda, press star one on the telephone keypad, and you will be placed in the queue. Your line will be muted until the operator announces your name and opens up your line.
If you have more than one question regarding an agenda item which is being discussed, please pose all of your questions when your line has been opened. Similar to the last few years, we will conduct the meeting in English, for which we ask your understanding. We kindly request that shareholders who ask questions in the room or via the audio connection do so in English. A live translation into Dutch will not be offered. We have complied with all statutory provisions and the provisions of our articles of association for convening this meeting, and therefore, resolutions can be validly adopted at this meeting. As soon as the exact number of shares present or represented is known, I will inform you. Let us now turn to the meeting agenda. I would like to discuss agenda items 2 A, B, C, and 3 A together.
To introduce agenda items 2 A, B, and 3 A, I would now like to give the floor to Ms. McKinstry, CEO and Chair of the Executive Board.
Thank you, Ann. Good morning, everybody. I wanna welcome all of you who have joined us here today in Alphen, and for those of you who are joining remotely. Today, I'd like to take a look back at some of our key achievements in 2022, covering strategic, financial, and ESG performance. Next, I'll talk about the new division that we formed in March, and then finally finish off with the highlights of our first quarter trading update and our outlook for 2023. Looking back at last year, I'm pleased to say it was a very good year for us with positive developments on many fronts. In terms of financial performance, we delivered 6% organic growth and a significant increase in our adjusted operating profit margin. Excluding the favorable effect of the stronger US dollar, we delivered 8% growth in diluted adjusted EPS in constant currencies.
Adjusted free cash flow increased 7% in constant currencies, we delivered a return on invested capital that increased to 15.5%. Our balance sheet remains strong, allowing us to continue to make significant returns to our shareholders. In terms of strategic and ESG achievements, our expert solutions, which are products that deliver both trusted content and workflow automation, grew 9% organically and reached 56% of total revenues last year. We continue to pay great attention to our employees and increase both our engagement and belonging scores. We completed an assessment of our greenhouse gas footprint and submitted our near-term targets to the Science Based Targets initiative for validation. Let's look more closely at a few of our key developments last year. It was the first year of our three-year plan, our first strategic priority is to accelerate our expert solutions.
Our expert solutions grew 9% organically, of these, our cloud software revenues grew 17% organically. We supported this with a record level of product development spending, amounting to 11% of total 2022 revenues. The second pillar of our strategy is to expand our reach. Here, I'd like to mention a couple of notable achievements. Our health division signed a partnership with Microsoft last year, which allows third parties to build on Microsoft Azure platform and integrate our highly regarded medical content into their solutions. Our tax and accounting team expanded its CCH Axcess Marketplace, which allows third parties to offer services to our customers who are using this open architecture cloud platform.
Our third strategic priority is to evolve our core capabilities, by which we mean enhancing our own operations in areas such as sales and marketing, finance and technology, but also advancing our own ESG performance. We've made early progress on these goals. For example, strengthening centralized functions and improving our climate-related data collection and disclosures last year. Let's take a closer look at our financial performance. Our performance in 2022 extended our track record of delivering incremental improvement in key financial metrics. Fundamentally, this has been achieved through the strategic transformation of our business, which has driven steady improvement in organic growth. This strategic shift in business mix, first towards digital solutions and now towards expert solutions, underpins the steady improvement in both recurring revenues that you can see on this slide.
The improved business mix and organic growth profile and the unrelenting efforts by our teams to find efficiencies has helped us drive steady increases in our adjusted operating profit margin over the years, as you can see in the top right chart. The efficient use of capital has helped delivered steady increases in both diluted adjusted EPS in constant currencies and return on invested capital over the years. These achievements have been managed while paying close attention to important sustainability factors for our business, which I will talk about now. Here you can see just a selection of the many ESG measures that we monitor at Wolters Kluwer. I will highlight just a few. Innovation is critical to sustained value creation for our customers and drives the organic growth of our business.
As you can see in the top left chart, we have sustained investment in innovation at high levels and even increased it in 2022. As part of our innovation strategy, we work with our customers to bring advanced technologies to their workflows. For many years now, we've been investing in artificial intelligence, such as machine learning and predictive analytics, and more recently, working with large language models such as ChatGPT. As we continue to grow our cloud-based solutions, we are also working with blockchain, AR and VR, and other advanced technologies. We believe these technologies will advance our customers' decision-making and productivity. We've also been investing in security and through a range of ongoing security awareness initiatives led by our global information security team, we have significantly advanced our cybersecurity maturity score last year.
For many years now, we have been taking actions to reduce our Scope 1 and Scope 2 emissions. You can see the results of our real estate rationalization program in the bottom right chart. In 2022, the real estate team achieved a 5% underlying reduction in our global office footprint. There is more to come. I'd like to spend a few minutes on a couple of the programs that are advancing our ESG initiatives. The first is around employee belonging. The second is around climate reporting. Belonging measures the extent to which employees believe they can bring their authentic selves to work and be accepted for who they are. We believe this is one of the best measures of diversity for a global business like Wolters Kluwer.
Each year, we conduct an employee survey to measure engagement and belonging, and the anonymized results give us insight into how we can attract, retain, and develop a high-performing workforce. This is important to us because of the highly competitive talent market that we operate in. In 2022, through the efforts of many, we improved our employee engagement and our belonging scores by 1 point to 77 and 73% respectively, we are making efforts to further improve these scores in 2023. In the area of climate reporting, we've also made important progress. We took steps to align with the recommendations of TCFD, which is the Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures. We completed our assessment of our greenhouse gas footprint along the entire value chain, including Scope 3 emissions. Finally, we developed targets and submitted these to the Science Based Targets initiative.
All in all, a very busy year at Wolters Kluwer. Now I'd like to turn to our proposed dividend and share buyback plans. As mentioned, our balance sheet remains strong, and we ended last year with a net debt to EBITDA ratio of 1.3 times. This situation allows us to continue investing organically in the business, make selected acquisitions, and at the same time, reward our shareholders. Today, we are recommending a 15% increase in the total dividend per share to EUR 1.81. This will bring the final dividend to EUR 1.18 per share to be paid out this month. We are also returning cash to shareholders via a share buyback plan.
Last year, we repurchased a total of EUR 1 billion in shares. In February of this year, we announced our intention to do the same amount in 2023. Far this year, we've completed nearly one-third of this year's EUR 1 billion buyback plan. Now let's take a look at our long-term share price performance. The chart on the left shows in blue Wolters Kluwer share price since the end of 2019 compared to the Dutch AEX in orange, the EURO STOXX Index in black, and the MSCI Europe Commercial & Professional Services Index in red. Over the three-year period ending December 31, 2022, Wolters Kluwer shares increased 50% in value, substantially outperforming the stock market indices. Granted, in 2022, our shares were down 6%. This performance too was significantly better than the AEX, the EURO STOXX, and the MSCI sector.
This year, the markets have been quite volatile. As of Monday's closing prices, Wolters Kluwer shares are up 11% year-to-date, broadly in line with the AEX and the EURO STOXX, but well ahead of the sector index. I'd like to talk about the new division that we formed earlier this year. In March, we combined 4 of our global enterprise software businesses into a new division, called Corporate Performance & ESG. The new division includes our corporate performance unit, CCH Tagetik, our EHS ORM solution, Enablon, our finance, risk, and reporting business, OneSumX, and our internal audit solution, TeamMate. All of these businesses serve global corporations and banks with cloud and on-premise software solutions. All 4 units have leading market positions in their respective areas of expertise. Combining these businesses will allow us to accelerate synergies in the area of product development and go to market.
In the near term, growth will be driven by core solutions, but over time, we believe we can meet the growing demand for integrated financial, operational, and ESG performance solutions. I'm pleased to say that the execution of this organizational change has gone well, and that we now have all of the leaders in place for the five divisions. Despite the macroeconomic challenges that we all face, I'm happy to tell you that the new division and the business as a whole is performing well. Now let me give you some updates on the trading update that we provided last week. We have seen a good start to the year with trading broadly in line with our expectations. Organic growth was up 6%, supported by recurring revenues that were up 7% organically, and expert solutions, which were also up 7% organically.
Non-recurring revenue streams slowed to 2% organic growth against a challenging comparable of 9% a year ago. Adjusted operating profit margins decreased 270 basis points, largely as expected, due to personnel increases and increases in personnel-related expenses. Adjusted free cash flow decreased 23% in constant currencies, largely as expected, and mainly due to the timing of payments. With trading in line with our expectations, we are confident in reiterating our overall guidance that we gave back in February. We continue to expect organic growth in line with 2022 levels. While the first quarter margin decreased, we continue to guide to an increase in the adjusted operating margin for the full year in the range of 26.1%-26.5%.
We maintain our expectation that adjusted free cash flow will be around EUR 1.2 billion in constant currencies. We continue to guide to an increase in return on invested capital of 16.5%-17%. Finally, we reiterate our guidance for diluted adjusted EPS growth in constant currencies, which we expect to be in high single digits. All in all, a good start to the year with trading broadly as expected, and I'm pleased to reiterate our guidance for 2023. With that, I'd like to turn it back to the Chair. Thank you very much for your attention and for your continued support as shareholders.
Thank you for this presentation, Nancy. Jeanette Horan, Chair of the Selection and Remuneration Committee dealing with remuneration matters, who is participating remotely today, will now introduce agenda item 2 C, the advisory vote on the remuneration report, as included in the 2022 annual report. This agenda item is submitted to you for an advisory vote in accordance with Dutch law. By voting, you can indicate whether, in your view, the 2022 remuneration report provides a clear and comprehensive overview of all remuneration awarded or due to individual members of the executive board and supervisory board in the last financial year. The remuneration report can be found on pages 87 to 108 of the 2022 annual report, and is also separately posted on the company's website.
I'd also refer you to note 38 of the financial statements, which can be found on page 201 of the annual report. Jeanette, the floor is yours.
Thank you, Anne. Related to agenda item two C, I'd like to provide a brief summary of how the company's performance compared to short-term and long-term incentive targets determined the remuneration outcomes in 2022. The first slide, please. This slide shows the short-term incentive plan, measures, targets, and actual performance for 2022. This cash incentive was linked to three financial measures and three non-financial measures. ESG measures, as shown. The financial targets were weighted at a combined 90%, while the non-financial measures were weighted at percent in total. Regarding the three financial measures, performance for each was ahead of target.
For revenues, performance was 1% above target. For adjusted net profit, performance was 4% above target. For adjusted free cash flow, performance was 2% above target. Regarding the three ESG measures, performance was either in line with or ahead of target. For the employee belonging score, performance was at target, which was a 1-point improvement compared to the prior year. For the cybersecurity maturity score, performance was above target, indicating considerable progress in 2022. For the number of on-premise services, servers decommissioned, performance exceeded target by 5%. In aggregate, the ESG measures resulted in performance 5% ahead of target. Let's move on to the long-term incentive plan performance on the next slide.
As a reminder, the long-term incentive cycle covering the period of 2020 to 2022, which matured at the end of 2022, reflects the remuneration policy in force in 2020. As such, there are two performance measures driving the outcome over the performance period: relative TSR and diluted EPS, both weighted equally. With respect to relative TSR performance over the three-year period, Wolters Kluwer ranked third amongst the TSR peer group companies, as you can see in the chart on the left of the slide. This strong relative performance on total shareholder return resulted in an above target payout for TSR related shares. With respect to diluted EPS, Wolters Kluwer delivered a compound annual growth rate of 15.9% in constant currencies, which was ahead of the target of 10.8% set three years ago.
This overperformance resulted in an above target payout for the EPS related shares. Further details are provided in the 2022 remuneration report published in March. Before I hand back to the chair, I'd like to preview what you will see for 2023. For the short-term incentive, the supervisory board decided to continue with the same measures as 2022, including the three ESG measures as we feel these important KPIs for our company and our strategy, and we want to maintain or improve our performance in these areas. For the long-term incentive for the 2021-2023 performance period, there is a change compared to previous years as this will be the first cycle that reflects the remuneration policy approved by shareholders in 2021.
Starting next year, the long-term incentive outcomes will be based on three measures: relative total shareholder return and compounded annual growth in diluted adjusted EPS and return on invested capital. The prospective three-year targets for these measures were disclosed in our remuneration report published in March. With that, I'd like to turn the proceedings back to the chair.
Thank you, Jeanette. The financial statements for the year 2022 have been audited by the independent external auditor, Deloitte, and their opinion can be found on pages 214 to 223 of the 2022 annual report. I would now like to invite Bas Savert, partner at Deloitte, to give a brief overview of the audit work performed by his firm. Bas, the floor is yours.
Thank you. My name is Bas Savert. I'm a partner at Deloitte Accountants. I was responsible for the audit of 2022. I will provide a brief overview of the audit. There are a couple of slides to support this presentation. Let me go to the first one. We finalized our audit as indicated on the 21st of February, 2023, and issued an unqualified auditor's report. This report is included in the annual report starting on page 214. This report covers the audit of the consolidated and the company financial statements for the year ended December 31st, 2022. It also includes our report on the other information included in the annual report, such as the report of the Executive Board. On the next slide, I will address some of the key areas of our audit, such as scope and materiality level.
Our materiality was set at EUR 70 million, considering the increased level of profitability. It is based on a percentage of 5.5% of profit before tax, and we allocated lower levels of materiality to the audit of the consolidated components, not exceeding EUR 29.4 million. Furthermore, in selected areas, we reduced our materiality based on qualitative considerations, and you may think of areas such as remuneration and certain disclosures. Based on our audit scope, 79% of revenues and 90% of assets were subject to audit procedures. The most significant components are located in the United States, which is also the reason for us to visit the US component audit team in late 2022. With our other audit teams, we performed mostly remote reviews, and we attended closing calls as well as reporting disclosure, deliverables and file items.
Our key audit matters are described in our auditor's report. Key audit matters are those matters that, in the judgment of us, were most significant to the audit. For 2022, we reported on internal controls, including IT, revenues, and goodwill. As described in our report, the key audit matter on internal control and IT is linked to the diversity of processes and IT platforms throughout the group. This required extra audit efforts to understand relevant internal controls. We have worked with our local teams and IT auditors to obtain sufficient understanding and perform the necessary audit procedures. For revenues, we linked our key audit matter to the non-standard or manual adjustment to revenues and to revenue recognition in accordance with IFRS 15, including disclosures. We used a mix of audit procedures, including the evaluation of the design and implementation of relevant controls.
We tested journal entries, and we performed detailed testing of contracts and other evidence supporting revenue recognition. Our third key audit matter related to goodwill, especially because of the significance of the goodwill to the total balance sheet and because the significant levels of estimates needed to perform the annual impairment test. We were supported by valuation specialists in performing our work on goodwill. Besides these key audit matters, we were also involved in other areas, such as those related to fraud risks, risk of non-compliance, and ESG. In assessing the risk of fraud and non-compliance, we involved forensic specialists, and we considered the risk of management override of controls, performing specific focus procedures, including inquiries, testing journal entries, reading board minutes, reviewing speak-up notifications, and obtaining representations from management.
We also considered the company's analysis of the impact of climate change, as explained by management in the governance section of the strategic report. We have not been engaged to provide assurance over the accuracy of climate change information. We did, however, discuss and challenge the risk assessment with support of our ESG specialists. In addition to the matters reported in our auditor's report, we also issued a management letter and a year-end report to the management and to the supervisory board. These reports cover audit approach, significant risks, internal controls, and other observations. The observations included in these reports are for the consideration of management. In case such observations are considered key audit matters, we have also included relevant information in our auditor's report.
Moving to the final slide, we are currently planning our 2023 audit, which will be largely consistent from an approach perspective with 2022. One specific change that we will consider in 2023 relates to the new fifth segment for Corporate Performance & ESG. With that, I end my presentation. Thank you for your attention.
Thank you for that presentation, Bas. We would now like to take questions relating to agenda items 2 A, B, C, and 3 A. We will start with questions from the room here in Alphen. Then we will turn to any questions of shareholders attending remotely. The operator has opened the queue, remote participants can press star one to indicate if they have a question. Please note that these questions should be about the 2022 annual report, consisting of the report of the Executive Board, the report of the Supervisory Board, the remuneration report, and the 2022 financial statements. Are there any questions from shareholders or representatives in the room? Please make use of a microphone and mention your name loud and clear.
I do understand that VBDO is present here today, and so I would like to start by asking their questions or having them ask their questions.
Thank you, Ms. Chair. Good morning. My name is Liesbet Hanekroot. I'm here indeed of, on behalf of the VBDO, which is the Dutch Association of Investors for Sustainable Development. We've been engaging with you for a couple of years now, and we see improvements clearly. First of all, we would like to compliment you with these, this new division on compliance in ESG. We really think that's at the core of your business where you can make a difference in these areas. Compliments on that big step forward. At this very moment in the agenda, I would like to raise two topics, discuss with you two topics. First is about labor conditions in the value chain, and the second one is quite a new topic that requires some attention. It's lobbying.
Let's start with the labor conditions in the value chain. That is of material topic for Wolters Kluwer. It says in the annual report, page 39. Indeed, let's look into that. You have made progress in this area, it clearly, yeah. You're making progress, especially focusing on your own employees. At this very moment, we would like to raise more attention on how is this, the labor condition in the supply chain, the value chain of Wolters Kluwer. We're challenging you a bit in that sense to make some next steps in the coming year and report on progress on how you would like to address, yeah, the labor conditions in the supply chain of Wolters Kluwer.
For instance, you could think about, yeah, child labor, human rights, et cetera. Another topic that we've discussed in the past is living wage, where you have indeed organized a living wage benchmark, and you're living up to that for your own employees. Would it be useful, sensible, for you to make progress in that area to extend that benchmark to employees in your value chain? That's the first question. Thank you. The next question is on lobbying, which is quite a new topic. Makes people sometimes feel uncomfortable. Especially because of that feeling uncomfortable, it is an important and interesting topic to discuss and to be more open about. Lobbying, what does it do?
It tries to influence legislation, that means not only it influences the company, but it influences society and how we interact with each other. Yeah, it's an important topic that requires more being in the light of our discussions. Recently a report has been published from InfluenceMap that found out that 89%, eight nine, 89% of industry associations do not always lobby in line with the Paris Agreement. That is worrying. If we all agree that the Paris Agreement is something that we really want to work towards to, how could it happen that some specific associations lobbying for legislation do not adhere to this Paris Agreement? That's worrying. I'm not saying Wolters Kluwer is involved in that, it's something to keep in mind. There is a risk.
Do we have control and insight in the lobbying activities, direct and indirect from Wolters Kluwer? If not, how can we make that more clear and have a focus on obtaining the sustainability objectives of Wolters Kluwer first and secondly, for example, being aligned with the Paris Agreement? That's important. That brings me to the question indeed. Could you please confirm that the direct and indirect lobby activities are fully aligned with your own material sustainability objectives on the one hand and on the other hand, on the Paris Agreement? The second part of this same question is indeed, would you be willing to publish more details about your lobby activities and objectives and how you relate to the associations relating to it? Thank you.
Thank you for your questions. Nancy, would you like to answer?
Thank you very much. Thank you also for your question. First on the labor topic, particularly within the value chain, we are currently carrying out a double materiality assessment in 2023, which is required as part of the CSRD. As part of that assessment of course, labor conditions is an element that we are looking at. It's too early at this moment to report on those findings. We will plan to report on our double materiality assessment in the 2023 annual report. What I can say is that in the past, we didn't consider labor conditions to be a high-risk topic for Wolters Kluwer, in part because if you look at what we do, it's highly professional, expertise-driven, roles across the globe.
These roles tend to be paid at high salary levels. We do not anticipate that coming out of the double materiality assessment, that we will find anything among either our own employees and our suppliers as well. Clearly, again, it's early to fully come back on that given that we're still in the process of the assessment. We will plan to report on that when the assessment is done in this year's annual report. As it relates to lobbying, we tend as an organization to join very specific industry associations. Things like the Institute of Internal Auditors, the Healthcare Information Management Systems Society, you know, very specific to the kinds of customers that we're serving, and we have those engagements across all of Wolters Kluwer.
The element financially of how this works is we pay membership dues. Then the society itself may choose to lobby on part, on, in part on the entire association, right? It's not directly related to Wolters Kluwer. In the end, if you look at all of the dues that we pay for these societies, it's immaterial to the cost structure of Wolters Kluwer. Again, as part of our double materiality assessment, we're gonna look at your question, which is how many of these associations are involved in supporting the Paris Agreement. We don't know the answer to that question right now, but we will of course report on that. If you look at the total spending, it's immaterial. Thank you.
Thank you. You mentioned you had four questions. I don't know if they're on these four agenda items at hand. Are they on the current agenda items or will they come later in the meeting?
Well, they're four questions, so I thought it's.
Okay.
long range indeed.
Okay. All right.
to cut them in two.
Okay. All right
Chunks and might come back later on the agenda.
Yeah. Okay.
Thank you very much.
Very well.
Okay.
Thank you for this response.
Thank you. Yeah.
looking forward to your double material-.
Yeah.
materiality and the lessons we are going to learn from that in these two areas. It's really exciting to learn more about that. Thank you very much.
Thank you.
Thank you. Are there any other questions from the room? Are there any questions on items two A, B, C, and three A from shareholders participating remotely? I'm sorry. Please, there's another question in the room.
Good morning. My name is Robert Vreeken of We Connect You Public Affairs and Investor Relations. I'm very pleased with the splendid results of this wonderful company. We're facing a few minor problems in the world, such as China, Russia, Ukraine. You've wonderful spearheads, tax law, and your medical division. It's time now for medical leadership, because we have an enormous problem with obesity and people, and a lack of exercise, a lack of drinking water, enormous problems with climate and migration. I feel that it's important that we look at, and there's you already make a good step with your ASG, ASD division. I'm worried about the accessibility of medical, your medical division, medical things, and medical leadership.
China, at the moment, is leading worldwide in 26 of the 24 scientific fields. That worries me because there's a tendency in China to dominate the whole world. They're making an enormous progress. I wonder what your view is on those developments, because there are major things, climate, China, Russia. Another thing which worries us is that more than 40% of the countries are now less democratic. They are growing. What, let me see. An important thing is, at the moment, that to produce 1 kilo of meat, you need to have 25 kilo, 25 kilograms of animal feed, which is not very sufficient.
We see a number of tendencies and all these splendid authors of all the publications of, for, of Wolters Kluwer can keep this in mind to make this a better world. If we don't do it now, then we are late. I'm looking forward to hear your view on these topics.
Thank you for your views. Nancy?
Yes. Thank you very much. One of the things that we strive to do in our health business is focus very much on distributing evidence-based guidelines and medicine. If you look historically, it would take 10 years often for, you know, a new medical development to emerge, and for that medical practice to get into the care system around the world. One of our goals is to shorten the timeframe between a new way to approach a disease and the implementation in terms of patient care. UpToDate has been a tremendous vehicle for shortening that timeframe. We have a lot of evidence to demonstrate that those customers who use UpToDate get better results in terms of mortality and morbidity.
That is a major platform for us to continue to push the kind of the goals around evidence-based medicine around the world, so places like China, Russia, et cetera. So that's number one. Number two is that we make our medical information available in parts of the world through the UN that can't necessarily afford to buy our products, so that we ensure that we try to get wide distribution of these developments. In our health division, we actually distribute our products in 190 countries around the world and that's a big focus for us, is to continue that process of driving good outcomes or better outcomes for patient care. That's how we feel we can have a difference in the world.
China?
Yeah. China is a relatively small part of our revenues today. We operate in all of the verticals, you know, health, legal, tax, financial services, ESG. Our customers are all, you know, again, professionals that are working in those businesses. Again, our goals are very similar, to promote the delivery of evidence-based care, to promote better productivity and better outcomes. We've been growing our business in China because they are growing their professional class of classes within that region of the world.
Mm-hmm. China is striving to be the worldwide leader in everything. What's the opinion with a few of Wolters Kluwer, of the board, both boards, on China? We missed Russia and Ukraine, that should never happen again, in my opinion.
Yeah. for Wolters Kluwer, 65% of our revenues, roughly, or over 60% come from the US.
Mm-hmm.
The US will continue to be a very important region for us over the medium term. Second is Europe, again, a very important region in the world. We serve our products across Wolters Kluwer are embedded in both North America and in Europe. The rest of the world is less in terms of its contribution to revenues and profits. China, India, Brazil, we see are important growth markets, so we have a specific organization that focuses on those three countries, and we're working to, again, distribute our global expert solutions. We believe that our products have a positive impact. In the markets that we operate in terms of, again, driving better outcomes, driving our customers to make better decisions and helping them with their productivity. And that remains true for China as well.
Probably, you know Thank you for your feedback. Probably, you know Erik Scherder, and Erik Scherder is someone who's very worried about obesity in the Netherlands, but also worldwide, because people do not exercise enough, and they don't have proper food. That's a huge problem because in about 10 years' time, 50% of the Dutch population has too much weight, and the same applies, of course, for the U.S. How can you make that a spearhead in your activities?
Yes. We produce information and software across all the medical specialty areas, of obesity being an area that's served generally through primary care physicians, but other specialties within medicine. We, again, you know, part of our mission is to make sure that all the new developments, new drug therapies, all of that is well distributed, that information to our customers, and that they begin to use that information in practice.
Yeah.
I think we have another question coming from others.
We do.
maybe we can move off this topic, and you can come back, later in the, in the program.
Okay. Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you. We appreciate your views.
I believe we have we do have a question on the phone.
Yes. Yeah.
If there's nobody else in the room.
That's what I was just gonna check, 'cause I was gonna look more carefully this time.
If there isn't anyone in the room, then Mr. van den Heuvel from the VEB. He's put his hand up.
Mr. van den Heuvel, your line is open.
Hi. Good morning. This is Erik van den Heuvel on behalf of the VEB. Dear chairwoman, first underscore that, as I reflect on the past decade, organic growth has accelerated and operating margin has expanded, resulting in shareholder returns of well over 20% per year. I do have a few questions on the business, or to be specific. As investors are likely well aware, legal and regulatory is the smallest operating segment in terms of revenue and has by far the lowest adjusted operating margins. As such, legal and regulatory accounts for an estimated 7%-8% of Wolters Kluwer's enterprise value. A number of explanations have been provided: the fragmented nature of legal information markets in Europe, its print heaviness, restructure costs, and investment in product development, sales, and marketing.
While the level of print of legal and regulatory has come down from 40% in 2014 to 17% today, the adjusted operating margin has not improved over that period. At the H1 2022 result, legal and regulatory had a margin of 15.6%, yet ended the year lower at 13.5% due to one-time items related to pension. My question is, were it not for the aforementioned one-time items, would have the adjusted operating margin of legal and regulatory climbed towards that 16% like at H1? When we will see the structural improvement to become visible?
Thank you for your question. The audio is a little bit hard to hear. I guess I'm gonna refer that to Kevin. Were you able to hear the question?
I was. Yes, I do understand that the performance in legal and regulatory's margin is below some of the other divisions, and you have touched on a number of the reasons for that. You know, it is still our most print-centric division, yet print will be declining. I would imagine that decline will continue. We are investing in digitization. We are investing in new products, particularly in software and workflow tools. I do expect that over time, and with the absence of one-time items, we will see improvement in that margin in legal and regulatory. I'm not quite sure it will necessarily come to the same levels as some of the other divisions, just because in legal and regulatory, we do operate over a number of different geographies all across Europe, unlike some of the other divisions.
We do see opportunities for improvement in both organic growth and in margin, and you have seen progress in that in the last several years.
Yeah. If I look at the at the minute April 2021 AGM, I noticed that Mrs. McKinstry said that over the medium term, high teens adjusted operating margins are achievable. Just what is your definition of medium term, and what type of time period should we think about?
I would say, 3-5 years is generally how we see the medium term. What you should see within the legal and regulatory portfolio is that our digital information products last year grew 6% organically. As we are able to accelerate the growth in legal and regulatory, that again helps on the contribution level. We are making a substantial amount of investment in our software products within the legal and regulatory division, so they today are subscale and therefore not at the margin level that they will achieve when they scale. The mission for legal and regulatory as it relates to improving their margin is really around continuing the good growth in digital information and scaling the software businesses.
That is one of the reasons why when we formed the new fifth division, we brought in our enterprise legal management.
Business, which was part of our GRC division into legal and regulatory. We now have all of our legal software businesses together, and we believe that will help with the scaling.
Okay. Thank you. My second question, as you're probably well aware, generated AI or ChatGPT is having a negative impact on US-listed check. Now, obviously your offerings and consumer base are not in any way the same as checks. Shares of Wolters Kluwer did decline on the news when they came out. I was just wondering if and where, in terms of your business segments, you feel most vulnerable for generated AI in general or ChatGPT in specifically.
Yeah, we use artificial intelligence technologies across a wide range of Wolters Kluwer products, and we have been doing that for probably a decade now. ChatGPT which is part of these large language models called generative AI. We do believe there are opportunities for us to use that technology both internally for process efficiencies and for some of our customer base products. We've been experimenting with these large language models for a couple of years now, so more to come. We see ChatGPT as just another tool in this sort of broad bucket of AI tools that we have, which would include things like natural language processing, machine learning, predictive analytics. We are already using a lot of that today.
We just again, we see this more as an opportunity than as a risk to the Wolters Kluwer business. Our products are highly sophisticated. Our customers use them in their daily work and therefore they really provide substantial value. We believe, again, with the deployment of additional AI kinds of tools, they'll just increase in value.
Okay. My third question. Your largest expense of EUR 2.3 billion is personnel costs. Recently, you reported, of course, that the adjusted operating margin declined by 270 basis points in the first quarter, reflecting, among others, an increase in personnel costs. Wolters Kluwer has a very significant proportion of revenues tied to annual or in fact, multi-year subscription contracts. I was just wondering, in practice, how does that work in terms of passing on higher costs, such as personnel costs, in order to restore these operating margins?
Just quickly for the order of the meeting, can you let us know how many questions you have for this agenda item and whether it might be possible to bundle them to make the flow of the meeting as efficient as possible?
Oh, yeah, sure. I don't know if I think I mentioned I had four, so I have four questions. This is the third in terms of my questions, I have one more on the leverage ratio.
Okay. If you wanna ask them both at the same time, that would be great. Most likely Kevin can answer.
Yeah, sure. That's no problem. I think I asked it. The first question is on restoring the operating margins in terms of passing on these higher costs for the personnel. The second question is, yeah, I think you all noticed, of course, that net debt to EBITDA has declined now to 1.3, the lowest, I think, in your recent history. If you look longer term, you guys want to go to around 2.5. You think it's an appropriate level and the temporary deviations will be there. Temporary deviation today has lasted for over a decade. Where I'm going with this is I just want to know your honest thinking about the appropriate level of financial leverage.
What is the healthy balance that gets you both the beneficial tax shields, both the benefits of the tax shields, and at the other end of it does not involve more risk than that takes you to financial distress. Your optimal capital structure to minimize the cost of capital and thereby enhancing shareholder value.
Let me take the personnel item first. We do in fact see that personnel cost is the largest component of expenses. As Nancy mentioned, we are a professional organization. Many of the employees we have are professionals working to create the content software workflow solutions that serve the markets that we're in. We did note in quarter one of 2023 that we saw an increase in personnel. I will say I'm pleased to say that's because we've filled a number of open positions. We did have a number of open positions in years prior, some of that due to COVID. I'm delighted to say that we are filling open positions. A lot of these professionals are coming in and helping develop new products and new solutions to solve the problems of our customers.
You are also correct that, you know, we do see wage inflation on the increase with the current inflationary environment. I am happy to say that as a matter of policy, we look to pass on our wage inflation through price increases on our products, and we have been successful in doing that in the past. I imagine we will continue to be successful because our customer base does recognize that that is what we are looking to do. I hope that gives you a little bit of insight into development of personnel costs.
With your question on leverage, indeed, our leverage ratio is at 1.3 times net debt to EBITDA. Clearly, we've said in the past that for a business like Wolters Kluwer, you know, a target would be around a 2.5 times. In coming up with that target, we look at the nature of our business. We are a recurring revenue nature business. There is a fair degree of predictability in renewal rates, contracts that renew year in, year out. There is a fair predictability of our cash flow generation, and that leads us to the target of the 2.5.
That being said, we say we can deviate from it, I will say that, you know, being slightly below that target is probably a more comfortable place for me to be as a CFO than above that target, particularly in environments when there is some uncertainty in the economy going forward, as we do see right now. I will say our balance sheet is strong in the sense it allows us to not only take advantage of investment opportunities, but just as importantly, rewarding our shareholders. Rewarding our shareholders with a progressive dividend and a share buyback program that is currently underway this year at EUR 1 billion.
I think that, you know, we are comfortable at the leverage ratio that we are right now, but, you know, you know, going forward, you know, we will continue to closely look at that.
Thank you, Kevin.
All right. Thank you. A short follow-up. If you, if you look at in terms of those multi-year subscription contracts, are you able to open those contracts and then adjust the pricing because of inflation? Is there like a clause in that somewhere? Second question on the leverage ratio. At what level do you feel under-levered, and at what level does this under-levered balance sheet start to hurt shareholder returns, which have been very good, but yeah, at some point... At what point do you feel under-levered?
Well, I will say that, you know, we feel comfortable right now at the leverage we are. As I said, it allows us the flexibility to invest in the business and to reward our shareholders. Clearly, while we're slightly below the target in the times that we're in right now, where you see a bit of uncertainty in the future, I think that is the right place to be. We are constantly looking at, you know, the value that we bring not only to our shareholders, but to our employees and our customers and alike, and we look to strike the right balance there.
Yeah. In terms of the multi-year contracts, generally they have price escalations built into the contract, and so that we don't open them up again. We have those provisions in many of our contracts.
Thank you.
Thank you. I understand there are no more questions. Thank you for your questions and comments. As we are conducting a hybrid meeting today, I would like to inform all shareholders that the polls for all voting items will be open as of now and will be closed after the last voting item on the agenda has been discussed, which is agenda item nine. Voting results will not be disclosed during the meeting. Only after we have dealt with agenda item nine will we show the voting results.
Before we proceed and open the voting process for all agenda items, I will pass on the notary's formal observations, which are: according to the registration list, 4,962 shareholders are present or represented who can jointly cast 195,573,613 votes, representing 79.21% of the issued and outstanding capital. Before the meeting, 4,952 shareholders submitted a total of 195,556,564 votes to the notary by proxy. The voting operator confirms that the voting system is now activated for all voting items.
I propose to acknowledge the report of the executive board and the report of the supervisory board for the record, and agenda item 2 C, the remuneration report, as included in the 2022 annual report, will now be submitted to you for an advisory vote. You can choose to vote in favor of the proposal, against the proposal, or abstain from voting. As mentioned, voting is now open, and as said, we will share the voting results at the end of the meeting. This will include votes cast in advance by proxy to our notary. Shareholders in the room or participating remotely may change their vote until the end of the meeting. I propose we now proceed to the next set of agenda items.
Item 3A, the proposal to adopt the 2022 financial statements, which is a voting item. Nancy already gave you a summary of highlights. Item 3B, explanation of dividend policy. Item 3C, the proposal to distribute a total dividend of EUR 1.81 per ordinary share, resulting in a final dividend of EUR 1.18 per ordinary share, for which you can vote as well. While you consider your voting on items 3A and 3C, I will describe the company's progressive dividend policy. Wolters Kluwer aims to pay a higher dividend per share in euros each year compared to the prior year. The annual increase depends on factors such as our financial performance, market conditions, and our need for financial flexibility. It is also part of our policy to pay an interim dividend after the first six months of each year.
As in prior years, the supervisory board has carefully reviewed the financial situation of the company and feels confident that the company can indeed pay out the dividend as proposed without liquidity risks. I also refer to the earlier presentation of Nancy McKinstry in this respect. In line with this progressive dividend policy, we propose a total cash dividend of EUR 1.81 for ordinary share to be paid for the full financial year 2022, which represents an increase of 15% over the prior year. Since an interim dividend of EUR 0.63 per share was already paid in September 2022, the final dividend payable later this month will amount to EUR 1.18 per share.
Upon your approval of the dividend proposal for 2022, this will be the 17th consecutive year in which the company has increased its dividend per share in euros under its progressive dividend policy. As in prior years, we intend to set the interim dividend for 2023 payable in September at 40% of the prior year's total dividend. I would now like to address any questions about the dividend policy and the proposed dividend of EUR 1.81 per ordinary share for 2022. We will start with questions in the order I set out before. I kindly request the operator to open the queue so remote participants can press star one to indicate if they have a question. We will discuss the questions on agenda item 3B and 3C.
I would like to remind you that you can already cast your vote for agenda item 3C as well as for all other voting items if you wish. Are there any questions of shareholders in the room? Are there any questions from participants remotely?
No. No questions on the conference line.
Thank you. I would now like to discuss agenda item four, the proposals to release the members of the executive board and the members of the supervisory board from liability are separate agenda items and will be voted on separately. However, I will deal with questions on agenda items four A and four B together. I kindly request the operator to open the queue so remote participants can press star one if they wanna indicate they have a question. As a reminder, you can already cast your vote. Are there any shareholders in the room who would like to raise a question? Any remote questions?
No. No questions.
I understand there are no questions. Now we will move to agenda item five. As detailed on the explanatory notes to the agenda, the first terms of office of our board members, Bertrand Bodson and Chris Vogelzang, expire today. Bertrand has informed us that regretfully, he is not available for reappointment due to the current demands on his time and his other activities. On behalf of the supervisory board, I would like to thank Bertrand for his highly valued and appreciated contributions as a member of this board. I wish Bertrand continued success as CEO of Keywords Studios. In my role as Chair of the Nominating Function of the Selection and Remuneration Committee, I can share with you that we are looking for a new member of the supervisory board to bring the number of supervisory board members back to seven, in line with the profile.
Chris Vogelzang is available for reappointment. Chris is a valued member of the audit committee and brings extensive managerial experience in global financial services, and in particular, experience in digital transformation. Further information on the background of Mr. Vogelzang, as provided to you in the explanatory notes to the agenda and his more detailed curriculum vitae, was also made available in the meeting materials. I would now like to open for questions on agenda item five, the proposal to reappoint Mr. Chris Vogelzang as a member of the Supervisory Board as from today, May 10, 2023, for additional period of four years, ending after the annual general meeting in 2027. Are there any questions in the room? Yes. Is it specifically on this agenda item?
Of course.
Okay, thank you.
Absolutely.
Chris, maybe you can explain to us and how you saw the past few years, what's your opinion on the past few years, and what you are view on the future, the coming years, and what's the motivation to continue with this wonderful job in the supervisory board of Wolters Kluwer? Given your background, that must be a very interesting story.
I believe that, Chris, if you wanna talk specifically.
That's fine.
-interest in Wolters Kluwer, I think that would be-
Yeah, yeah.
That would be good.
No, no. I mean, I've spent now four years with Wolters Kluwer, I am amazed by the strength, the agility of this company and the sharpness at which the company's managed. I have seen the further development of expert solutions as a strategy, which is highly appealing to me and which I believe is the right way to go. The formation of the fifth division underlines for me the quality of the things the company is doing, and I really hope to be able to contribute to that for the next four years.
Thank you, Chris.
Thank you.
Are there any remote questions?
No questions.
Thank you. I'd now like to move on to the next agenda item. I would like to discuss agenda item six, seven, and eight together. These are annual authorizations given to the Executive Board that return to the agenda each year. Under agenda item 6A, it is proposed to extend the Executive Board's authority to issue shares and/or grant rights to subscribe for shares for 18 months as of today, up to a maximum of 10% of the share capital issued as of today.
Agenda item six B concerns the proposal to extend the executive board's authority to restrict or exclude the preemption rights of holders of ordinary shares for 18 months as of today, up to a maximum of 10% of the share capital issued as of today. Under agenda item seven, it is proposed that the executive board be authorized for 18 months to acquire shares in the company up to a maximum of 10% of the share capital issued as of today. Agenda item eight requests a resolution for the executive board, if it so wishes, to cancel the ordinary shares in the company share capital that the company has purchased or will purchase on the basis of agenda item seven, up to a maximum of 10% of the share capital issued as of today.
For your information, in August 2022, the company completed a reduction in share capital by canceling 5 million ordinary shares that were held in treasury, representing less than 2% of the then issued share capital. The precise wording of the resolutions can be found in the agenda with its accompanying explanatory notes. I would now like to turn to questions about agenda item six, seven, and eight. The operator is kindly requested to open the queue. Are there any questions in the room? Are there any remote questions?
No. No remote questions.
Thank you. For all shareholders participating, please be reminded to cast your vote for this agenda item as well as all other agenda items as we are nearing the end of this meeting. I would now like to give the floor to Jack de Kreij, who is chair of the Audit Committee, to discuss agenda item nine. Jack?
Yes, thank you, Ann. I would like to introduce to you the proposal to appoint the external auditor for the financial years 2025, 2028. That's quite a period ahead, and you will understand that as part of independency rules, we need some time to ensure that the auditors can be independent. In line with auditors' rotation regulations, the audit firms have to rotate after a maximum period of 10 years. Since the current auditors, Deloitte Accountants, a member firm of Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu Limited, were appointed in 2014, a request for proposal process was organized for which four audit firms have been invited.
For a detailed description of the process, the considerations, the criteria, and the diligent involvement of the audit committee, I refer to the agenda and its accompanying notes, where the precise wording of the resolution and a more extensive description of the audit tender selection process can be found. Following the recommendation of the audit committee, supported by the executive board, the supervisory board proposes to appoint KPMG Accountants N.V. as the external auditor of the company and to instruct them to examine the financial statements and annual reports drawn up by the executive board and report thereon to the supervisory board and the executive board and make a statement on the subject as stipulated in Article 27.3 of the Articles of Association for the financial reporting years 2025 up to and including 2028.
The supervisory board reserves the right to submit the appointment of the external auditor to the general meeting of shareholders before the lapse of this four-year period, being 2025 up to and including 2028, if this is deemed necessary by the supervisory board. The scope of the audit assignment includes the consolidated and the company financial statements of Wolters Kluwer N.V., ESG, and LTIP agreed-upon procedures, as well as certain local statutory audits. Deloitte will remain the auditors for the financial statements of 2023 and 2024. I now give the floor back to Ann Ziegler.
Thank you, Jack. I would now like to take any questions on agenda item nine. The operator is kindly requested to open the queue. Are there any questions about agenda item nine in the room? There are no remote questions.
No remote.
We have now concluded the last agenda item. Dear shareholders, this is your last opportunity to submit your vote on any of the agenda items. We will take into account any potential delay in the transmission of this video webcast. I will then request the voting operator to present the results. Gathering and presenting the voting results will take a few minutes, for which I request your patience. In the meantime, you can watch a short video highlighting Wolters Kluwer. Oh, sorry.
I would like to, discuss also two more topics, general topics.
Would you like to do it in the other business section, or would you like to-
Yeah.
Okay. We'll come back to you for the other business section. Thank you. Are we gonna see the vid? Yeah.
We're driving cars on the Mars. We're blasting off to the stars. We wanna go. We wanna go.
I have a dream today.
We're driving cars on the Mars. We're blasting off to the stars. We wanna go. We wanna go.
May I request the voting operator to share with us the voting results for items 2C, 3A, and 3C as soon as they're available. The results are as follows: 93.66% of the votes have been cast in favor of agenda item 2C, and therefore, the 2022 remuneration report has been approved. 99.98% of the votes have been cast in favor of agenda item 3A, the proposal to adopt the 2022 financial statements. I hereby conclude that the 2022 financial statements have been adopted. On behalf of the entire supervisory board, I would like to express our appreciation to the executive board and all employees of Wolters Kluwer for their work performed in 2022 and their efforts in support of the company.
100% of the votes have been cast in favor of agenda item 3 C, the payment of a total dividend of EUR 1.81 per ordinary share, resulting in a final dividend of EUR 1.18. I hereby conclude that the meeting has resolved to pay a total dividend of EUR 1.81 per ordinary share, resulting in a final dividend of EUR 1.18 per ordinary share. May I request the voting operator to share with us the voting results for agenda items 4 A, 4 B, and five. Thank you. 98.73% of the votes has been cast in favor of agenda item 4 A. Therefore, the proposal to release the members of the executive board from liability in exercise of their duties has been adopted.
98.73% of the votes has been cast in favor of agenda item 4 B, and hence the proposal to release the members of the supervisory board from liability for the exercise of their duties has been adopted. 99.14% of the votes has been cast in favor of agenda item five. I hereby confirm that the meeting has reappointed Chris Vogelzang as a member of the supervisory board for a period of four years, so until the annual general meeting of 2027. Congratulations, Chris. May I request voting operator to share with us the voting results for agenda items 6 A and 6 B.
The results are as follows: 98.41% of the votes cast in favor of agenda item 6 A, and therefore the proposal to extend the authority of the executive board to issue shares and/or grant rights to subscribe for shares has been adopted. 96.34% of the votes has been cast in favor of agenda item 6 B, and therefore the proposal has been adopted to extend the authority of the executive board to restrict or exclude statutory preemptive rights. May I request the voting operator to share with us the voting results for agenda item-seven , eight, and nine. Thank you. 98.3% of the votes has been cast in favor of agenda item seven, and therefore the proposal has been adopted to authorize the executive board to acquire shares in the company.
99.75% of the votes has been cast in favor of agenda item eight. I hereby conclude that the resolution to cancel shares held by the company itself has been adopted in accordance with the proposal. Last but not least, 99.94% of the votes has been cast in favor of agenda item nine, and therefore the proposal has been adopted to appoint KPMG as the external auditor for the financial years 2025 to 2028. I will now proceed to the any other business section and handle any remaining questions. Would you like to proceed with your remaining questions? Thank you.
Thank you, Ms. Chair. The other two questions that we prepared, I would like to discuss both biodiversity and, yeah, the climate change, the Scope 3 efforts that you've made. Biodiversity, yeah, I could imagine last year also, people here in the room were talking about like, hmm, biodiversity and Wolters Kluwer, what could potentially be the impact? Biodiversity is a major risk and a major issue that we have all to deal with. Not only the World Economic Forum has, you know, announced that, but everybody seems to be in line with that. There's a major concern, and it really is relevant to assess what the impact and the responsibility could be or is for Wolters Kluwer in this respect.
Not only the CSRD and the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive is preparing us to focus on this and to get clarity, but anticipating the official CSRD becoming legal, we would already discuss with you what it could be potentially the impact that Wolters Kluwer has and how could we diminish that potential impact or manage this risk. Where could be the risk for Wolters Kluwer is then the question, of course. Paper already mentioned it is diminishing in terms of revenue profit, and that's also the future. Still, for Wolters Kluwer, it's diminishing, it is still quite some paper that is passing and being used. More importantly, we think, could be the e-devices, the servers that are being used in the cloud.
More and more, Wolters Kluwer is making use of the cloud. Which seems to be remote, but they're still servers, they're physical. Not only is there e-devices, e-waste concerns related to it, but also mining of raw materials to create these e-devices. I think there's more to say about that. I would challenge Wolters Kluwer, having or preparing already on the double materiality assessment this year, as you announced. Would you already first acknowledge that there is a potential risk and impact from Wolters Kluwer? Also, would you already be willing to describe in the coming annual report how you're going to assess your potential risk and impact on biodiversity? That's the biodiversity question that we would like to discuss. The second is on the climate change.
It's a smaller thing, compared to biodiversity, but we're already working on it for a longer time, and it's made more tangible at the moment. The good news is that Wolters Kluwer has completed this assessment of its greenhouse gas footprint. It showed that the impact is not so much on its own businesses and operations. It's in the value chain. Again, there is the value chain. It's about the goods and services. It's not biodiversity only, it's also the greenhouse gases. It's about 70% of Wolters Kluwer's greenhouse gas emissions is, you know, provided by the products and the goods and services. That's huge.
On the other hand, you're very ambitious saying that in 2030, you would like the greenhouse gas emissions to be limited by 30%, which is ambitious, and we really would like you to be successful in that, in reaching that goal. How are you going to do that? We're really curious to learn how you're going to achieve that, and how could you invite partners to join you and to make that really happen? That's the question about the greenhouse gases.
Great.
climate change.
Thank you very much for your two questions. On biodiversity, as you mentioned, we are conducting the double materiality assessment in 2023. That will be instructive on whether or not biodiversity becomes, you know, a material risk. It's too early to conclude that. The results of the double materiality assessment will be disclosed in our 2023 annual report. Based on our preliminary work, we don't believe that biodiversity will turn out to be a material topic for Wolters Kluwer, in part because, as you point out, paper is declining quite rapidly and we use a lot of recyclable paper, so the impact is not, we believe significant, although still we have to confirm that.
As it relates to moving to the cloud, one of the benefits of cloud is that, when in that journey, as you move your applications over, you are able to take advantage of things like virtualization, which allows you to better, you know, consume energy and consume the cloud, versus having your own servers, which is much more difficult. We believe that actually as we make these, you know, as our cloud revenues continue to grow, that that's actually gonna help with things like biodiversity. Again, too early to conclude, but, based on the preliminary work that we've been doing over the years, we don't see that this will turn out to be material, but we will obviously be disclosing that.
As it relates to the supply chain, as you rightfully point out, you know, most of 70% roughly of our emissions is coming from our suppliers, not from our direct work. The efforts that we have underway are to begin to work with our suppliers on gathering the data, and that is the whole goal of the circular economy, as you know, is that as we ask them for data, they have their own programs to try and reduce their carbon emissions. We will be gathering that data. We will be working on specific initiatives. We are confident that through our efforts, we will collectively be able to make some progress. Thanks very much.
Thank you for your response. Still being more, becoming more tangible in that sense.
Yeah.
-on, on labor or on the biodiversity thing. question or topic which is really important. We, of course, we appreciate you cannot say for sure-
Yeah.
if it's going to be or is, material for Wolters Kluwer. Still, would you be willing to publish the process on how you're going to make that clear, on the biodiversity-?
Yes.
the impact on the biodiversity? Is that something you could publish next year in the annual report following the assessment of the double material?
Yeah. What we plan to do is make transparent what is material after the assessment and then what are we gonna importantly do about, you know, this, these areas and the initiatives. For things that are not material, we don't plan a lot of disclosure because, you know, then you'd end up with 300 pages of material in the annual report. You will. You know, but we clearly will be transparent on what we think is material. Yeah.
Not only about what is material, but if it's material that you describe the process of how you.
Yes, of how we're gonna attack the.
Right.
the area. Yeah.
Okay. We understand each other.
Yeah.
Back to the greenhouse gases.
Yeah.
You described a bit about the process, how you want to work with partners, et cetera. Is there a serious roadmap where at points that you're going to monitor progress, et cetera? Is that something you were working on and that you're willing to disclose with us?
Yeah. We've already been working with our suppliers on a lot of things, you know, that we make them comply with our code of conduct and business ethics, et cetera. This is really more a data issue of making sure we can get the suppliers to provide us with the data that we need to formalize, you know, who is most responsible for some of the greenhouse gas emissions. From that, how are we gonna work together to reduce that? We have a substantial number of suppliers around the world, and so it is a time-consuming effort to get all of the data. That's what we're focused on right now.
At the moment, you're not going to publish any specific roadmap on the steps you, that you wanna take. It's more data gathering, and then you can make...
talk about-
-roadmap.
-initiatives at a broad level.
Sure.
not so much the roadmap that would have de-defined targets along the way. Very much more at the initiative level of how we're gonna work with them.
Thank you very much. Yes.
Thank you. Are there any further questions in the room? There are no remote questions. Given there are no further questions, I will now proceed to close the meeting. Your participation and input today are greatly appreciated. Have a great rest of your day. Thank you and goodbye.