Welcome to FLSmidth's annual general meeting. It's a pleasure to be able to welcome you in my capacity of board chair. We are physically in Valby, and we also have a webcast so you can follow proceedings online, and it will be uploaded so that you can watch once more or watch later. As I said, we are in FLSmidth's premises in Valby, where we have actually been present since 1954. Once again, the board has decided to ask Attorney at Law Klaus Søgaard to be chairman of the meeting. You have the floor, Klaus.
Yeah.
Thank you very much for wanting to look at me once again. I will try to be as informal as at all possible. My first job is to find whether the meeting has been lawfully convened and is quorate, and I checked that before I arrived. So that is going to be my conclusion. But there are certain formalities that we need to comply with very briefly. First of all, we have to have the meeting in the Greater Copenhagen area. That's easy to control. Before the 1st of May, that's also easy to control. There must be a convening notice period of between three-to-five weeks. That too has been done, and those shareholders who requested to be advised by mail received such a mail. The right documents have been available on the company's website, so generally, we are quorate and we have been legally convened.
I think it's sensible also to inform how many people we are and a bit of statistics with regard to postal votes, etc. 117 entry cards have been issued, 91 to shareholders five minutes ago. 65 people had appeared. That is in accordance with the average. About half of those who sign up actually turn up. 25 have given proxies to the board in advance, and 302 have voted in advance. The thing is that there are forms available either to give proxies or to vote properly on the internet that you can send to the board in advance. About 58% of the capital is represented. That's a fine figure. Those who have voted in advance account for 96% of the represented capital, so they carry a lot of weight. And much more than two-thirds have voted for all the proposals on the agenda in advance.
There is no doubt with regard to the outcome of all the votes, but that shouldn't prevent us from having a good discussion. On the other hand, I hope that we don't have to go through a written ballot in relation to any of the decisions to be made at the meeting. The figures that I have just mentioned to you, also the specification concerning yes, no, and don't know in relation to the individual votes that may be held, will be sent out in connection with the minutes of the protocol, which will be available within two weeks from today's date. I hope that we can do without ballots, but any shareholder is entitled to require that a written ballot be made. We will take the first four items in one go, and we will first hear from the chairman of the board. You have the floor, Tom.
Thank you. 2023 was yet a dynamic year for FLSmidth. Our focus was on the transformation, and it continued at full speed. Thanks to the hard work from our dedicated employees and colleagues, we continued improving our business performance in a world that constantly changes. Looking back over the past year, a number of things are prominent. An increase of the supply of critical minerals in a sustainable way, that is crucial for continued financial development and for the green transition. That's quite obvious. At the same time, the cement industry remains one of the big CO2 emitters in the world. That is why our value offer is more relevant than ever before, especially in light of increasing macroeconomic uncertainty and geopolitical unrest. As the leading supplier to global mining and cement industries, we are proud and we feel responsible for promoting more sustainable business processes, business practices.
Our goal is not only to improve the performance of our customers, but also to reduce the environmental impact from mineral processing and cement production. In 2023, we delivered important results on sustainability. Later on in my presentation, I'll give you more details about that. Since we launched our so-called Core '26 strategy in mining at the beginning of 2023, we've been working hard to secure strong and fast integration of mining technologies. It used to be called thyssenkrupp Mining Technologies, which we acquired in the autumn of 2022. We want to simplify our business, optimize our operations, and improve our profitability. In the year under review, we have considerably improved our mining business, and we've exceeded our expectations in integration of mining technologies.
As a result, we've been able to increase our goal for the total cost synergies to around DKK 600 million a year from the acquisition, compared with our original expectation, which was DKK 360 million. Furthermore, we have ended up spending less money on obtaining these cost synergies than was originally assumed. We've continued simplifying our business and reducing the risk in the order intake. Both these elements have had a considerable impact on earnings in the mining business. Our exit from the segment non-core activities, that exit has continued with good progress. We still expect full exit at the end of this year, 2024. As a part of the process of segregating mining and cement, in which the two business areas each will pursue their own pure-play strategy, we have examined various business models and ownership structures.
As a consequence, the board and management have reached the conclusion that the cement business will benefit from an alternative owner structure in the long term. We've thus started the process of examining the different possibilities of divesting the cement business. I'm now going to comment a bit more on the basis of this historic and very significant decision. The cement and mining businesses are very different, both when it comes to market dynamics, but also the fundamental elements of these various industries. Furthermore, today, there are very few synergies between the two businesses, and there's a very small overlap, if any, in terms of customer base and product offering. That's why a separate ownership will permit each of the two companies or businesses to focus on their own unique opportunities and challenges. We find that that will maximize their respective business potential.
In the year under review, we have simplified and adapted our cement business to further strengthen its market-leading position, improve its profitability, strengthening its strategic focus on core products and services in the areas required in the cement industry. We continue to believe that the global economic development and the green transition will offer attractive long-term growth opportunities for our cement business. Particularly, the service business has a considerable unutilized potential. It's also important to say that we, the board in the company, are so proud of what FLS has achieved with the cement business for more than 140 years. Without the cement business, we wouldn't have been there. I'm convinced that the business is well positioned for future success and that it has a considerable role to play in the decarbonization of the global cement industry.
However, when we've reviewed the long-term possibilities for FLSmidth as a company, for our customers, for our shareholders, we have concluded that segregating ownership will be benefiting both mining and cement. To reach the full potential for the cement business will require considerable investments and dedicated managerial attention, and we think that can better be attained under a different ownership than FLSmidth. A possible is still just possible, but a possible divestment of the cement business is also crucial for us to be able to realize the long-term full potential for our mining business, which today represents actually 80% of our total revenue. The natural question is, of course, right now, what is happening in this process? Let me start by saying that we are still at the very early beginning of this process. There's no guarantee that an agreement can be or a divestment can be made.
We are still working towards full segregation of mining and cement, and we expect to complete this process during the first half of 2024, so in the next few months. Furthermore, we do not expect a transaction to be able to be carried out until, well, at the end of this year. That's a bit optimistic, perhaps, but that's the earliest. The cement business will thus continue to work towards its Green '26 strategy and the long-term goal for an EBITDA margin of 8%. As previously mentioned, sustainability is an important integral part of our daily business procedures. It covers our responsibility to our customers, employees, societies, well, to the planet, really. In 2023, we showed good progress in all of our so-called science-based targets. Again, this year, we have increased the acquisition of purchases from suppliers that have also signed the science-based targets, the goal to reduce emissions, right?
We have considerably reduced emissions from our own operations. This last bit came from a combination of locations, ongoing dedicated initiatives to reduce emissions, and finally—and I think this is actually what's most important in the great perspective—we've reduced emissions from the use of the products we have sold. That's really the important point. It's important to mention that these improvements have been achieved even if we have now fully integrated mining technologies in our calculations. These are really significant improvements. Mining operations often require large quantities of water for different processes, and the recycling of water, particularly in regions with water shortages, is very important. Therefore, it's good to see that in this area too, we are showing good progress.
We will continue implementing ongoing targeted initiatives such as the recirculation of water in operations, installation of technologies to help with water savings, and also collection of rainwater. Diversity. This is another important area in our ESG agenda. We believe that diversity promotes innovation, creates better problem-solving, and it increases the well-being and commitment of employees. In 2023, we saw progress in terms of the number of female managers in the organization. We are well on the way towards our goal for 2030, which says that 25% of managers in the organization will be women. The progress we've seen, well, that can be, it comes from the focused engagement processes and the fact that an increasing number of women in the organization are promoted to managerial positions. But we do not see progress in all parts of our ESG agenda. Safety. The safety of our employees is very important.
So it's disappointing that we've seen a reduction in that area. We are firmly determined to change the statistics, so we are implementing further dedicated initiatives in knowledge-sharing training of employees so that accidents can be minimized and optimally avoided. More than a year ago, we held a Capital Market Day where management introduced a number of strategic initiatives that will set the direction for FLSmidth in the coming years. It's important for me to stress that what I'm talking about here is the mining business. Since, as you know, it's our expectation, this will be the continuing business at FLSmidth in the long term, so allow me to focus on that here. The first link in this strategic direction has been to define and strengthen the core business. In 2023, we have delivered important results on that front.
We have accelerated our exit from non-core activities, and we have carried out operational segregation of mining and cement. As mentioned, we have decided to look at possibilities of divesting cement, and we've carried out the integration of mining technologies, and that has given considerable cost synergies. The next link in our strategy is to build a scalable foundation, strengthening our ability to create growth for FLSmidth. This means, among other things, further simplification of the business, optimizing our global setup of locations, simplification of the ERP or IT landscape across the business, the establishment of a so-called principal business model, and a number of other activities. We will carry out further commercial—we are carrying out, actually, further commercial investments in the pump business and the so-called mill liners, mill liners as they are called. Finally, the business will continue to offer services. We must focus on services.
There's a lot of work ahead of us ensuring that the service business has a strong foundation on which to grow. Growth is the important next step in our strategic journey. We've made it clear before that it's our ambition to grow, particularly in consumables, wearing parts, that is, in pumps, cyclones, and valves, also called PCV. At the beginning of the year, we have announced that we have established a PCV business leg, and the responsibility for this is now part of corporate management. PCV is an area with great growth potentials for FLSmidth, so it's important that we establish the right foundation and obtain the right competences so we can maximize value creation in this area. In that connection, we are very pleased that Pat Turner has come back to FLSmidth to be in charge of this business leg.
Obviously, it's the goal that our strategic focus will lead to the business growing organically, but we remain open to acquisitions. We are ready to strike if and when these possibilities arise. We've already announced a couple of mine acquisitions: Morse Rubber in the U.S. in the summer of 2023, most recently Fenal Thompson at the beginning of March this year in Canada, and we are looking at a number of possible acquisitions. Obviously, we'll give you more information when that becomes relevant as and when things develop. Despite the short-term regulatory challenges, the geopolitical unrest, macroeconomic uncertainty, the long-term opportunities in the global mining industry, they remain very attractive. This positive picture is, in particular, a result of the expectation of an increasing demand for minerals driven by the green transition and general economic growth.
At the same time, industry-specific challenges mean to our customers, including reduced quality of the ore that minerals will come from. So, I mean, you need to produce more ore to get the same quantity of minerals, and that increases the pressure on machinery and equipment. FLSmidth is in a strong position to help our customers solve these challenges. In 2023, global mining markets have been active in important raw material groups. This applies in particular to copper, which is our biggest market, but lithium and gold. Gold, the price is record high, as you know. All of these markets are important markets for FLSmidth. However, we still see delays in customers' major investment decisions. This is a result of the delays and the very regulatory permissions required in various countries, and also, it's a consequence of the continued macroeconomic uncertainty that I referred to.
These effects, we can see most clearly in the product market, which is all other things being equal, more volatile than the service market. There's still a good demand for products, ensuring operational efficiency and more sustainable mining operations. The service market, well, that remains stable and active. Over the year, we have seen a constant flow of customer inquiries for services that can help customers improve their operations. We also find that mining generally delivered good results in 2023. The order intake fell by about 9% compared with 2022, driven by the product business, where the order intake seen in isolation fell by 25% compared with the year before. This was partially the result of the mentioned market dynamics, but also because of our own initiatives, including the goal of reducing risk to our order book and because we want to optimize our product portfolio.
Over the year, we received five big orders, total value DKK 1.5 billion. We had seven the year before with a total value of DKK 2.8 billion. In services, the order intake grew by 3% compared with 2022. This reflects the stable market I talked about. There's good demand, particularly for spare parts and wearing parts, consumables. Service and products were 67% and 33% of the total intake for the year. This is fully in line with our general goal and the balance between these two areas. The organic growth in mining's revenue in 2023 was 18% compared with 2022, while the reported growth was 13%. This is exchange rates that have an impact here. So the revenue was DKK 17.1 billion. The revenue for service and products increased by 16% and 9% respectively.
The adjusted EBITDA for mining increased by 16% to about DKK 1.9 billion, corresponding to an adjusted EBITDA margin of 10.8%. This adjustment that I referred to consists of the costs in connection with the integration of mining technologies. This was DKK 481 million. When you include these costs, the EBITDA margin in 2023 for mining was 8% compared with 7.6% the year before.
Now cement. As in 2022, the cement industry in 2023 had to navigate its way through macroeconomic uncertainties and geopolitical unrest. In other words, difficult times. In 2023, we've seen the cement business being much more volatile and much more challenged than mining. However, it doesn't change the fact that in the long term, we still see good opportunities for cement driven by the aforementioned growing focus on service and the necessary green transition of cement production. The order intake declined by 26% from the 2022 level, driven by both service and products. In service, order intake declined 16% mainly because of a lower demand for consumables, upgrades, and retrofittings.
In products, the order intake declined 40% from the 2022 level, a reflection of the current market dynamics, and-and this is important-the implementation of cement's Green '26 strategy, which also contains a reduction of the risk of the order book and a pervasive optimization of the product portfolio. In other words, it was something we chose ourselves. Service and product orders accounted for respectively 57% and 43% of the total order intake in 2023. Revenue declined organically by 1%, reported by 3% to just over DKK 6 billion, primarily as a result of lower revenues in service caused by market circumstances and the divestment of our filter business, also called AFT, which was divested in the third quarter. Revenue and products increased 3% from the year earlier level as a result of a good execution of our order book. EBITDA was doubled and came to DKK 408 million.
This was, among other things, a result of the proceeds from the sale of the AFT business and lower admin costs following from the current transformation activities. It meant that in 2023, we had an EBITDA margin of 6.7% compared to 3.3% the year before. Then, if you deduct the proceeds from the sale of the AFT margin, the EBITDA margin of 5.1%, which explains everything. Now, let's look at the non-core activities, which is the part of the business that we don't wish to continue and will close down. We continue the planned and speedy close down of non-core activities, and we expect to have the job done by the end of this year. In 2023, the order intake was DKK 208 million, which is more or less unchanged from 2022.
The total order book is now down to DKK 531 million, and we still expect to be able to cancel a number of these orders. This is a good announcement, actually. Revenue came to DKK 951 million, which led to a total operational loss for the full year of DKK 345 million. If you add all this together, we find that compared to our outlook, we have, nevertheless, delivered good results. Not where we want to be ultimately, but we are still working with the right direction. Generally, we have delivered good results, and although the order intake for FLSmidth together fell by approximately 13%, much of this can be explained by own priorities and activities. Revenue grew by more than 10%, and the adjusted EBITDA grew by more than 37%. The adjusted EBITDA margin came to 8% compared to 6.4% the year before.
If you include the costs for the integration of mining technologies, the EBITDA margin came to 6% compared to 4.3% the year before. The last thing I want to say is that if you deduct the proceeds from the sale of AFT, then the EBITDA margin came to 5.5%. Last, but certainly not least, we delivered cash flows from operations of a total of DKK 623 million, and our debt was further reduced. Our financial gearing came to 0.4 times the net interest-bearing debt ratio to EBITDA at year-end. Let's look to the future now, 2024. If we look at our financial guidance, we expect the market demand in mining to be slightly below the year-earlier level, primarily because of the products area, and it has to do with some customers' continued postponement of large capital investment decisions.
However, we still expect the mining industry to benefit from the long-term demand for minerals, which is decisive to continued global economic development and the green transition that we have referred to on many occasions already. In 2024, we expect revenue in the level of between DKK 16 billion-DKK 17 billion and an adjusted EBITDA margin of between 11.5%-12.5%, which is over the 2023 level. The guidance for adjusted EBITDA margin will exclude costs for transformation and separation of a total of DKK 200 million in 2024. It should also be mentioned that although earnings in mining in 2024 will be positively affected by synergies from the acquisition of mining technology, there will still be cost inflation, which we have to suffer and cope with as many others.
There will also be reinvestment of parts of the synergies in commercial initiatives that will support our Core '26 strategy and also create further growth. In cement, we expect the market in the short term to remain challenged and affected by macroeconomic uncertainty. We expect a revenue level in 2024 between DKK 4 billion-DKK 4.5 billion and an adjusted EBITDA margin between 5.5%-6.5%. These expectations reflect the continued implementation of our Green '26 strategy, which also contains a continued simplification of business processes and optimization of the product portfolio. And an example is the recent divestment of the gear business, also known as MAAG. The outlook concerning the adjusted EBITDA margin is, without cost for transformation and separation on the cement side, a total of DKK 100 million in 2024.
Non-core activities, what we are closing down, is likely to see a revenue between DKK 250 million and DKK 350 million, which reflects an expectation of cancellation of parts of the total order book. We expect a loss in this segment of between DKK 200 million and DKK 300 million. That loss, between DKK 200 million and DKK 300 million, is included in the total expected loss of approximately DKK 1 billion that we announced would be the result of the divestment or the phasing out of the non-core activities segment since it was established in the fourth quarter of 2022.
It is a considerable amount, we know. As a result, we expect in 2024 a total revenue for FLSmidth between DKK 20 billion- DKK 21.5 billion and an adjusted EBITDA margin between 9%- 10% that is likely to result in a reported EBITDA value of between 7.5%- 8.5%.
Before I turn to our remuneration report, I wish to say something about capital allocation. We, of course, constantly focus on cash flows and ensuring that the company has a good balance. We have maintained a low financial gearing. At year-end, it was 0.4x net interest-bearing debt rated to EBITDA compared with 0.6% at year-end 2022, and the objective is below 2. So there's still headroom. The board proposes that, based on the result for 2023, we will pay a dividend of DKK 4 per share, a total payout of DKK 231 million, and a payout percentage of 47%. This should be compared with our general objective to pay out between 30%-50% of the profit for the year in dividend to shareholders. So we are at the high end of this interval. Remuneration.
As recommended by the Committee for Good Corporate Governance and with reference to the published report, I will now go over and attach some comments to remuneration to members of board and management. First of all, I'd like to say that in 2023, there have been no deviations with regard to the general guidelines for remuneration adopted by this AGM on an earlier occasion. Total remuneration to group management, the CEO, the CFO, registered with the Danish Business Authority, came to DKK 38.2 million compared to DKK 29.4 million in 2022. This is an increase of DKK 8.8 million, and it is attributable to the following. First of all, the CEO received an increase in his basic pay of 4.5%. Moreover, both the CEO and the CFO have received shares in connection with the long-term incentive program from 2021.
Moreover, the CEO and the CEO have received RSUs in order to secure maintenance and retention and execution of our transformation in coming years. Lastly, I should point out that we also have accruals of costs for the long-term cash bonus program for the CEO that runs until 2026, and that has affected other incentive programs as it says in the report in 2023. This is just a savings measure under the program, and that's why the amount has not yet been paid out to the CEO. We need to see a good continued development in order for that to happen. Payment under the short-term incentive program builds upon performance above the target in relation to four out of the five KPIs that are used as measurements. The total payout under this program was slightly below the 2022 level. We have the board of directors.
We received a total remuneration of DKK 6.8 million compared to DKK 6.6 million in 2022. The fee itself was unchanged, but the rise is attributable to the fact that there was an additional board member in the compensation committee and the nomination committee, respectively. We have not seen an increase in board fees since 2027, and as appears from today's agenda 3B, we propose an increase in the remuneration to the board. It is 5.5%, but it has been unchanged since 2017, so we find that this is appropriate. But more about this later. The board carries out an annual self-evaluation process to evaluate the individual members' contribution, commitment, and competencies, and not least, how we make sure to benefit from the composition of the total set of competencies, etc. I'm chair of the board, and I'm responsible for carrying out the process.
It proceeded well, and the general conclusion of the evaluation is satisfactory as it was in 2023. The process is important because it helps us define focus areas and work prioritization. It's not a waste of time. In conclusion, and I have been talking now for a long time, and before I open for the debate, I have a couple of concluding remarks. I started out by saying that 2023 had been another interesting year for FLSmidth where we continued our very important transformation initiative. I wish to repeat also that I am incredibly proud of our committed employees who have worked hard all over the world to improve our business in an ever-changing environment. It is obvious that we have major challenges ahead that we need to resolve. We have plans to do that, but there are also great opportunities.
We know how important it is to increase the supply of critical minerals in a sustainable manner while, at the same time, reducing the environmental impact from cement production, which we also need. I've already said, and I will report, that our effort is more relevant than ever before, in particular because of the growing uncertainty in this world. We've had a busy period implementing our pure-play strategies in both mining and cement, and we've made major progress in integrating new technologies and simplifying our business. We have also worked hard to optimize our cement business and focus on our core products and services. We have accelerated our exit from non-core activities. This will make FLSmidth much more efficient and effective and also much more profitable in future.
And we've also started out checking out the possibilities of finding a new owner for our cement business in order to release its full potential and maximize the value for our shareholders. We have delivered important results to our strategic agenda in 2023, but there's still a lot to do. And in this connection, we are fully convinced that these changes will affect our organization in both a positive and a negative way. Saying goodbye to good colleagues is never easy, and being put up for sale will, of course, lead to uncertainty. We try to do all this in a responsible and decent manner, and we fully believe that by doing what we do in a business-like manner is the best way of creating the best opportunities for all parties.
In 2024, our focus will be on continuing the transformation process and making sure that we are well-prepared for the future. We will continue simplifying our business, optimizing our operations, and investing in growth opportunities to the benefit of our mining business in the long term. Thank you very much for your patience, and I would now like to hand over to the chairman of the meeting. Thank you very much.
Thank you. We have now heard not just the annual report but also the main points that you can see under items one to five on the agenda. It's now possible to ask questions and make comments. I've heard that ATP, Kristian Gaarde, has asked for the floor. Over to you, Kristian.
Yes.
Thank you. I'm Kristian Gaarde. I represent ATP, the Labour Market Supplementary Pension Fund. Thank you for the report and the presentation of the financial statements from 2023. It was a busy year for FLSmidth, particularly on the internal lines. The division of the cement and mining business has been high on the agenda. We are now close to reaching the goal there. In January of this year, the cement business was officially put up for sale. It was really an important part in the 140 years of FLSmidth. Unfortunately, the conditions and prospects for the cement market are not promising. The potential in the mining business is much bigger. So ATP finds that FLSmidth has made the right decision in terms of prioritizing its resources. In 2023, FLS has also done a lot in transformation and the integration of the German thyssenkrupp Mining.
It's very good to see, as an investor, how this is reflected in increasing underlying earnings. The synergies have been adjusted upwards. But I also think that the optimization of the existing business in FLS has been something that has really driven the improved earnings. Seen from the outside, you can have the impression that there are even more possibilities for reaching synergies also after the full separation of cement and mining. If you look at some of your competitors in the mining industry, it would seem that earnings over time could perhaps be even higher than what is the goal for your current strategy period. I have a couple of questions in that connection. Which further optimization potential does FLS see in the longer run without cement? Is there anything structural that would suggest that FLS should have a lower earning margin than its competitors?
I have a couple of comments on ESG. See remuneration report. It's agenda diversity and CO2 emissions. In its remuneration policy, you can give a retention bonus to the executive management, and you've done that this year. I find it's important to retain important resources in the current situation, but this is not an instrument that ATP is very happy about. It's important for us that it is only used in rare cases. So I'd like to encourage you to take that into consideration when you plan future adjustments to your remuneration policy. Gender diversity. This is also a topic that ATP has talked about before. This is a big challenge in your industry. It has been difficult for FLS to increase the number of women in managerial positions. So it's good to see that you've done something in the year-end review.
There's still a bit of way to go until you reach the 2030 goal, but I hope the good development will continue. Last point, CO2 emissions. FLS, in its business activities, has quite high Scope 3 emissions. We know it's complicated to estimate and reduce these emissions, but we appreciate the measures you've already launched, including your MissionZero program and your continuous work to improve your calculation methods. Particularly, we'd like to say we appreciate your work to increase the transparency of the reported Scope 3 numbers, for instance, the calculation of realized emissions. This increased transparency helps us better to understand the size and actual annual changes in your total CO2 emissions. With these words, I'd like to wish management and employees all the best in the coming year. Thank you for your attention.
Thank you, Kristian Gaarde. There are a number of specific questions here, wide-ranging questions.
I think it would be relevant some of the numbers would be Roland M. Andersen, the CFO, who will comment on that, I think, and Mikko Keto, the CEO, will comment also, and finally, the chairman of the board. I think that's going to be the, so you'll hear from all of them, I think.
Chair first?
Yeah. Thank you, first of all. Thank you, Kristian. As I wrote down, I think there was a question about what we're going to do internally to increase growth. What unutilized potential is there? What we are continuing to do under simplification of the group is we still have geographical locations that we're going to shut down. We will have fewer but bigger locations. We have withdrawn from a couple of countries. That's one important point. Another important point is that we are positioning our ERP landscape. We will enter into a principal model that Tom Knutzen talked about. We will be gathering all of our products and product dates and prices, technical specifications, in one ERP platform.
It's going to make us much more efficient than we are today in our order execution process and in many of the support functions also, such as order execution, but also in the financial functions and in IT and HR too. This means that when we get a bit further ahead, we will be much more efficient than we are today, and we'll also be more scalable so it becomes easier for us to continue our growth journey in the form of acquisitions and bolt-on acquisitions. Thank you.
I'd like to also take the opportunity to thank you shareholders for continued support in our journey to transform the company. There's a question about closing the gap to the peer group. Firstly, we are closing the gap to peer group in top-line profitability, and you will see that when you look at our gross-profit percentage. So you see that gap closing first. We have one close peer group, and then the closest competitor, which has slightly different portfolio. But you see that close. There's no reason why our gross profit would be significantly below that of the peer group. I think we aim to achieve that one. Secondly, below gross profit, we are still suffering from high SG&A. As Roland was saying, we are simplifying the business. We are simplifying the way of doing business, and we will make support functions leaner.
There we get an additional boost for our bottom-line profitability by addressing too high SG&A at the moment. That benefit will come over the next 1 and 3 years while we simplify the operations. Thirdly, we continue to look at our portfolio because different products, different space, and wear part categories are inherently different profitability. We are looking to grow the high-profit area faster and then continue to make portfolio decisions. As a part of the portfolio decisions, we are also driving supply chain so that the product cost, which is either manufacturing cost or then procurement cost for the outsourced product, continues to be competitive. Gross profit, which has more to do with the pricing, that gap will close. Secondly, we are addressing our SG&A with business simplification.
On the bottom, we also address our product cost in terms of manufacturing cost and efficiencies and also program management. I would say that with those actions, we look to close the gap to the peers.
[Foreign Language] .
Yeah. Thank you. Also to Kristian Gaarde from me. The questions that were at the end, I think I should add a couple of things here, other incentives. This thing about retention bonus. I just want to make a note of the point of view. I've seen it in the newspapers also. And I accept your point of view. This is an extraordinary situation, and this is a situation where it can be appropriate. We were in a situation a couple of years ago where we had a long-term incentive program that there was no value in it. So we had no retention element there. We were in a big transformation journey, so the board found that this was a situation in which it was wise to do something. So we fully agree. It has to be an extraordinary situation. Thank you for your comment concerning gender diversity.
Yes, it is a long journey. We're on there, but I know that there is active work being carried out. Yeah. We are on the way, but we will succeed. Scope 3, the emissions that are not the energy that we use ourselves or purchase ourselves, but the energy that is all the raw materials we acquire or the emissions that come from the use of our products, which is by far the biggest part, that is what we are focusing on now. Most companies, they have their Scope 1 and Scope 2, their own consumption more or less under control via green energy and other measures. So the interesting thing is that, yeah, we've been working on this for many years. We need to get better at measuring on that, and customers want to talk to us about it.
Customers must go from talking about it to actually investing. We are about to be ready. There's a great potential there in what has been developed in the business, both in cement and in mining. So that we are ready, we need to get our customers on board. Increasing costs of CO2 emissions in the longer run will certainly move customers in the right direction. I'm confident about that. Thank you.
[Foreign Language]
The next speaker comes from the Danish Association of Shareholders, Bent Sandberg. You have the floor, sir.
Thank you. Good afternoon. My name is Bent Sandberg. I represent the Danish Association of Shareholders at this AGM. My association has 18,000 members, and we look after the interests of small and medium-sized shareholders. We try to develop a healthy share and investment culture in Denmark. We are here today because we find that the plan changes to FLSmidth are very interesting, seen from a shareholder point of view. We've read the company's annual report, and it raises a lot of questions. But it would take far too long to deal with all of them at this meeting, so we have concentrated on the following three questions. Question one. As shareholders, we're interested in growth in the form of increased revenue, organic growth, or via acquisition of companies. It's been announced that FLSmidth plans to sell its cement business.
That sale will not lead to an increase in revenue, at least not in the short term, but there will be a profit from the sale. What do you intend to use that amount on, and what is your future strategy in the business area that is left, which is mining? When it comes to mining, then who are your competitors, and how large a market share do you have in the relevant geographic areas, and in particular in areas with metals that are in high demand and that you don't find in so many places? There is increasing focus on the company's impact on this globe's resources.
So could you please explain how you in FLSmidth calculate the impact from cradle to grave in mining, and what is your annual target with regard to a reduction of the environmental impact, for instance, the production of raw materials for your products, transportation of these raw materials and the products, etc.? My third question. The figure for work in progress in 2023 is lower than the similar figure in 2022 according to your annual report. Does this mean that the value of long contracts is going down? It may be part of your strategy in connection with what you want to do with the cement business, and if yes, what's the reason? We look forward to hearing your answers. Thank you very much. Thank you to Mr. Sangberg and the Danish Association of Shareholders. Let's hear the chairman of the board. Thank you to Bengt Sangberg.
You were so kind as to send your questions to us in advance. You said there were three questions. There was an awful lot of questions built into your three questions, but I'll try to answer as much as I can. We have about 52,000 shareholders in this company. This is about well, one-fifth of the share capital is held by private investors, most of them Danish. So you are a very important group of shareholders. You are private. You are Danish. And I just want to thank you and your association for the work you do for making sure that we have a good share and investment climate and policy in Denmark. We need that. Now, your questions. You talked about competitive environment and proceeds, etc. I did comment on that in my report, and so did Roland and Mikko.
The mining business is about 80% of our business today. The most important competitor is Metso, a Finnish company, which is very similar to us in its offerings. Together, we are the absolute biggest flow sheet companies. Then a British, Weir, they are big in pumps. So it's not the same as us, but there is a certain overlap, nevertheless. In the mining Core '26 strategy, it's all a question of organic growth. We've talked about service. We've talked about consumables. We don't have the capacity to produce it. We need to be more efficient in our business. Roland and Mikko have talked about this. We also want to do value-creating acquisitions whenever the opportunity arises. All of this is covered by an overarching preamble of sustainability. That's what we want, and we also want to create or generate value.
What do we need the money for from the cement divestment? Well, let's wait and see what happens. I don't want to sound too superficial, but if we say that it all follows the plan, then that is a strategy we will apply. We have a strategy, and we need money in a certain pattern as we move forward in it. We may find ourselves in a situation where we have more money or less debt than we need. Then, of course, we could do something about the capital structure, either by means of share buybacks or more dividend. It's not the same as saying that that's what we're going to do. I'm not promising anything. I'm just saying we have thought about this. Now, the special, the rare types of minerals.
I just want you to understand that the volumes in rare minerals are very, very small compared to, for instance, copper. The order of MAAGnitude is like this. So the business area is important. We are present there, but it's not a core area for a lot of our revenue amounts. How to measure all this? Well, I talked about Scope 1 and 2, the energy that we consume ourselves. Here, our target, and it's fairly easy to measure and to control it. So our target is a reduction of 100% by 2030, and we are well underway. You do that by reducing your energy consumption and buying green energy. And we can do that. Then we have Scope 3, what's before us and after us, and that's 99% of the emissions. So that's where the hard work sets in.
Most of this is customers, and that's why our MissionZero program is very important to understand. We would like to offer our customers by 2030 that if they are to build a new mine or a plant, we can give equipment to them that will use the lowest possible energy, and it's all something that will allow them to become neutral. Not all the mines in the world will be neutral, of course. That's not at that time, but we are making good progress, and we are well underway, as I said. I don't think that we can do this only with our technologies. We can perhaps cover half of the distance. The rest is capture of CO2 and storage of it or using it for something else. But there is a certain interface to our cement business. Then we have something called Science Based Targets initiative.
That's an external partner that helps us setting the targets and what we wish to achieve in order to stay within the 1.5-degree limit in increase by 2030. It's important for us to measure the economic intensity. So when we sell something from the order book, we measure what is the expected useful life of this machine, what is the expected emission footprint of this machine throughout its useful life. If we can sell machines where these figures are declining, then we help do something. We have reduced it by 56% from 2019, and that's including the mining technologies that we have taken on board. So we are well underway. That's an explanation of the different types of measurements we do. Water we'd like to reduce. I could talk a long time about that, and I really encourage you to look at our sustainability report and our website.
There are such a lot of reporting requirements, and they don't make it easier to understand, but we're doing our best to try to communicate it to you. It's important for me to emphasize that we are well underway, and we are in a good position to help with everything that's required in this respect. Work in progress. The decline of 16% is a correct observation. That happens automatically when you accept smaller projects. We are slowly winding up our non-core activities. That also pulls in the same direction. We are growing our services. In our service business, that doesn't change an awful lot, but stocks are slightly increasing. But there is a conscious choice of smaller project business, and we are slowly phasing out the order book of NCA. The decline was only to be expected, and it is also okay.
Now, I hope I answered all your questions.
[Foreign Language]
Many good questions and comments and detailed replies. I hope that you agree with me. We have Leif Guntoft from the FLS Employees Association. You have the floor, Leif Gundtoft.
Dear board, dear management, dear shareholders, and dear colleagues. So as you heard, my name is Leif Guntoft, and there's tradition for the employees association to give an input here today at the AGM. And as chairman of the employees association, it's my privilege here to speak at the AGM on behalf of my colleagues here in Denmark. This year is the fifth time I'll try to summarize the year under review and take a look at the coming year seen from an employee perspective. This year, that task has not been easy. Lots of emotions are involved concerning the changes we've seen and will see.
So even if the road ahead is the right one for FLSmidth, it is both with sadness and pride that we enter the new time. FLSmidth was founded more than 140 years ago. Since it started, it has delivered world-class technology for the cement industry. Furthermore, FLSmidth has delivered similar technologies to industries such as paper and chalk industry. Throughout history, our basis has been a strong, competent presence as a supplier for cement factories globally. This has also been a fact that this industry is moving slowly since projects are often complex and long-term. So where the general trend has been an increasing use of cement at world level, but there's always been fluctuations in the short run. We've often talked in biblical terms about seven fat years and seven meager years.
Maybe it wasn't precisely seven of each type of year, but in any event, FLSmidth's main business area has been characterized by cyclic activity. There's no doubt about that. Our managements have tried over time to counteract these challenges by finding other legs to stand on to generate earnings in the meager years. Who cannot remember exotic ideas such as maintenance of aircraft and various other activities that were sort of quite far from the key business, the cement business? Previously, when the owners had a direct connection to Smith, Foss and Larsen, mainly to Larsen, actually, it's now been considered not to be a considerable technology supplier for the cement industry. I think there was more patience back then with the business. In the recent decade, the overall principle has been to invest in activities that were not unlike the technologies of the cement industry.
It was found that there were benefits from overlapping technologies. However, it is clear that the situation today is different. There's no longer an advantage compared with in the synergies between mining and cement. The synergies we saw before because of combination of technologies is no longer an advantage to the business since mining and cement are fundamentally different business areas with different dynamics. Today, there is more focus on finances and earnings, and the development of the two business areas has resulted in the decision to establish two independent business areas under the so-called pure play system. Many employees, particularly in the original business area, cement, have found it difficult to get used to these changes in terms. In FLSmidth, we are about 9,000 employees, about 3,500 mining. No, 6,500 mining, corrects the speaker. In Denmark, we have about 700 colleagues sort of evenly distributed between mining and cement.
What was said at the beginning of the year that cement business has been put up for sale is a big challenge for employees in this traditional cement area. There's a lot of frustration here. This has not been made easier by the repeated termination rounds and reorganizations that there have been within this area. It is therefore a big task for management to explain to employees in cement what their future is going to look like outside FLS and why it will be a good place to be. I do believe that this turbulent time for cement will end up with a good future for all parties concerned when cement has found a new owner, if it happens, and both cement and mining can again focus on developing their core areas. For my colleagues in mining, the situation is probably different.
There are many challenges, but these are good challenges relating to growing and not reduction. On previous occasions, I've said that FLSmidth is a Danish company with strong, proud traditions. In addition to technical innovation that has characterized FLSmidth for many years, decency has also been an important element in our understanding and our values. We expect it to behave decently both as employees, as a company, and as a part of the world that surrounds us. FLSmidth has achieved this by working together, respecting differences, and being at the forefront of changes of a social, financial, environmental, and technical nature. You could see that the decency I just mentioned is expressed in the great development, the great piece of work that's been done in developing cement and launching the investment to give cement the best possible future.
It's an interesting and challenging assignment to carry on these characteristics in the future FLSmidth mining and FLSmidth cement companies. I'm sure we're all interested in maintaining as much as we can of the FLS spirit. The many challenges and changes because of internal and external matters that are expected to happen in the coming time will mean that FLSmidth will be different from the FLSmidth that many of us employees know and love. This will take a huge effort from everyone, both those that are continuing in FLSmidth, those that are being divested, and also the many new colleagues that have not yet become part of FLSmidth. On behalf of the employees, I wish FLSmidth a safe and good year with lots of progress. Thank you for your attention.
[Foreign Language]
Thank you, Leif Guntoft, from the shareholders. Sorry, from the employees association. I give the floor to Tom Knutzen.
Thank you, Leif. Thank you to the employees. You opened by saying this is not the easiest speech that you had had to write on behalf of the employees association. I understand that. I said it in my report. There are positives, and there are negatives in the effects of all changes. This is a big change that we are carrying out. It doesn't change the fact for me that we are doing what is right to do. But really, I'd like to say that we appreciate the cooperation and the values, creating something that has a good purpose for all. We are here for the shareholders. Yes. We are there for our customers. Yes. But we are certainly also here for our employees and the surrounding society.
This is collective responsibility we have. We must strike the right balance. So thank you for your input, and thank you for your messages, which I understand and share. Let's do it in a decent way and create a good future for all parties involved, both in cement and mining.
[Foreign language]
Thank you. Anyone else? Kjeld Beyer, I'd like to hear if there are others. Yes, I have one more speaker requesting the floor afterwards. Okay, first, Kjeld Beyer.
[Foreign Language]
Thank you. I didn't really have a plan to take the floor today, but CO2 is the emperor's new clothes, as far as I can tell, because you listen more to Greta Thunberg than you listen to experts who really know about the weather developments and climate changes. 78% of air consists of nitrogen, 20% is oxygen, and 0.93% is iron. The proportion of air that is CO2 is 0.02%-0.04%. There's something wrong in this calculation about CO2. I think it's Al Gore that actually invented this so that he could make some money because what else to do? But if you go to the internet, you can see what experts have found out about the weather.
I think that FLSmidth, who really are experts here, should check things out more thoroughly because why are we trying to destroy our own agriculture in an attempt to take away CO2 that agriculture needs in order for the plants to grow? Let's do away with all of this emperor's new clothes thing and allow the agriculture to make money. What if the World Bank is brought into the picture? Is that what you really want? All the initiatives out there, well, the same people were involved in COVID-19 and the continuation of the war in Ukraine and World Economic Forum. They sabotage things in the process because there were things that they couldn't make enough money on.
I look forward to the U.S. elections this November because then we might finally, at long last, have an adult in the White House because the current resident in the White House is taking the U.S.A. down with him. There will be a lot of things happening in the U.S. society. Just look at chemicals and destruction of agricultural areas. A lot of things are done to destroy the American society. You never hear about this in the Danish press because they are owned by the same people, by deep state and Democrats. Danish companies really need to make sure that they are well prepared for what is happening because of the Danish government that is trying to destroy agriculture and focus on CO2. This is out of proportion. As a company, you should take a closer look at this.
Perhaps with help from you, we can wake up the Danish Prime Minister and others. Thank you. Thank you very much, says the chairman of the meeting. While the representatives of the general management are looking at these figures, we will hear from the next speaker, which we hope will talk a bit more about cement and mining.
I'm Søren Isaksen . I'm a normal shareholder in the company. I'll be a bit more down-to-earth than the previous speaker. I want to ask you how you're doing with your new domicile in Nordhavnen. How's the construction going? Have you considered adaptation to the local plan there so you can get the best possible price here when you sell these wonderful buildings and land here so that you can get money for the shareholders for acquisition of companies? Thank you for your attention.
I think I passed by the building site yesterday. I think the shovels were working there. Before I give the floor, I'd like to hear if anybody else wishes to speak. That is not the case. Over to the chairman of the board.
Thank you, Kjeld Beyer. There were many things. Let me start by saying that as a company, we must be geared to a changing world, and we will be that. I'm not going to comment on the more political considerations, and I'm pleased that we are not part of agriculture. That would be my comment. I think we will listen to the right experts and understand how things are really connected. It's about the construction.
Roland, our finance, our CFO, has to do with that. I think the construction is going quite well. It takes a bit longer, I think, before we can move there. But I think it's going to be the end of 2025 or thereabouts. And this area, yeah, we are considering what to do with that. The world has changed over the last 24 months, hasn't it? Interest levels and the property market, it's been quite active, but it's gone down.
The number of newly built buildings is going down. But still, there is a perspective. There is a need for more dwellings in Copenhagen. That's for sure. So anyway, we know we need district plans. We need local plans, what have you. We must ensure we have the right time to maximize the value of the area that we own here. It's not become easier over the last 24 months, but we'll succeed. Roland, could you give us a bit of factual knowledge? This thing about the district plan, I don't have that fully under control.
[Foreign Language].
Well, I don't know if I can add an awful lot by way of factual information. We expect to move in in late 2025, and we will then spend the next 12-18 months on finding out what to do with this property. Perhaps we can lease it, or perhaps we will put it up for sale once the markets are mature. I hadn't made a note of any more speakers on my list. Are there no more speakers? Okay. Now I will look at the individual items on the agenda we have had. Now I've covered the first five items. First, we have the report from the board. We will not vote. We will just discuss it. That's what we have done now. You have now discussed it and made a note of it. Secondly, presentation and approval of the annual report.
We've heard the numbers and figures. I don't get the impression there is any opposition in the audience with regard to the history in the numbers, so I take this as your acceptance. Then we have item three, approval of fees to the board of directors. There are two elements here. First, you have a preliminary determination of fees for the current year, and after that year has expired, you get the final approval. And as we heard from the chair, the proposal is that last year we adopted a base fee of DKK 450,000 with twice that amount to a vice chair and three times that amount to the chair, and then additional fee of DKK 125,000 for committees, and chair committee chairs, DKK 225,000. This is all explained on page 77 in the annual report, and the total is DKK 6.8 million.
This is unchanged from what was approved on a preliminary basis last year. I don't think that there are any comments. I take this as approved. What is more interesting is the preliminary determination of fees for this year. There has been no change since 2017, as the chairman of the board has said. So the proposal is for a preliminary decision, but there will be the final approval next year that there will be a minor increase, DKK 25,000 increase for the base fee from DKK 450,000- DKK 475,000. And that also applies to the vice chair and the committee membership and committee chair fees. Well, an ordinary member of a committee will not have any increase in the fee, but this is all described in detail in the proposal. Any comments? No. Okay, this has been approved. We will get back to this next year.
Then there's distribution of profit or cover of loss in accordance with the approved annual report. In accordance with the dividend policy, there is a proposal for a declaration of a fairly high dividend for kroner per share. Would anyone like to reduce this amount because you can only reduce it? You can't increase it as an AGM. Okay, it's approved with acclamation. Then we have five, presentation of the remuneration report 2023 for an advisory vote. This is due to Danish legislation that we say advisory. The chairman went over the report in his report. Any questions or comments? No. I take it this has then been approved, which brings us to election of members to the board of directors. This is a new item. According to the articles of association, we will have between five and eight members plus those elected by the employees.
We have six currently, and there's a proposal for this to continue. The board of directors proposes that Mr. Tom Knutzen, Mr. Mads Nipper, Anne Louise Eberhard, Mr. Thrasyvoulos Moraitis, and Daniel Martinez-Valle be elected. Gillian Dawn Winckler does not seek re-election, and there's a proposal that Anna Christina Hyvönen be elected as a new member of the board.
[Foreign anguage]
Thank you. Yes, I said before about the evaluation by the board because you have to be careful when you say something like that. But I do believe we have a well-functioning, very skillful board that represents the competencies that are relevant for our work. We are, therefore, suggesting, as the chairman just said, to reelect people except Gillian Dawn Winckler, who is not seeking reelection. And I'd like to take the opportunity, Jill, you're sitting here right in front of me, to thank you so much, ever so much. You've been on the board since 2019. You have given a committed, valuable contribution to FLSmidth, and you have also been part of the audit committee. You live in Vancouver in Canada, and to make ends meet with other professional tasks is the reason why you have to make this choice. We fully respect that.
Thank you for a wonderful cooperation. So really, really, give her a big round of applause. So that left us with a task, and we think we've solved it very well because we'd like now to nominate for the board Anna Christina Hyvönen as a new member. As you can see here, Anna is Finnish. We are not making a Finnish mafia here in the company, but it's because Anna was the right person. As you can see from the convening notes, Anna has managerial experience and board experience from international companies, listed companies, so we could check that. Anna will contribute with her strong competencies in strategy development, environment, sustainability, digital transformation. You have an educational background in the digital field, and at the same time, you have relevant experience in services and the aftermarket, very important with the strategy that we have in FLSmidth.
Anna Hyvönen is going to be an independent board member. With Anna on board and the proposed reelections, we believe we'll be braced to be the right partner for the shareholders, and we are the right ones to pursue our strategy together with management. Thank you. Questions or comments? You can actually run as a candidate. In the light of the figures I gave you, 96% of the votes have been cast, so you can do it. But I think that it's safe to say that the board's proposal has been duly adopted. I congratulate you with your new election and congratulate with the reelection of those that have been reelected. That brings us to the next item on our agenda.
It's very rare to have any other candidates for that job, but obviously, there has been a thorough assessment in the committee, in the audit committee, that has been carried out, that's for sure. So the board is proposing to reelect Ernst & Young. And this year, strangely enough, here and in all other companies, it is not just for the financial accountancy and auditing, but it's also the sustainability report, which has not been finally adopted, but it's coming. So you might wonder why we have to decide on a proposal that hasn't been adopted yet, but we'll then avoid having an extraordinary general meeting in a month. So anyway, it is proposed to reelect Ernst & Young. Any questions? No. I wish Ernst & Young all the best for the coming year. That brings us to item eight, which is proposals from the board of directors.
The first is approval of the remuneration policy. It's not dramatic, but it is not. According to legislation, you have to submit it to the AGM every four years. Since it was at the AGM four years ago, it has to be approved again. It's not really dramatic. Any questions? If not, I conclude that it has been duly adopted. That brings us to amendment of the articles of association. Also sounds dramatic, but it is not. Most companies are asking for an authorization to expand their share capital with preemptive right or without preemptive right for existing shareholders. You can give it a maximum for five years. It's asked here that it should be extended to expire on the 10th of April, 2029, just a year that's being changed. Any questions? No.
It's been not just approved with a simple majority, but actually with two-thirds majority as is required. The next real item left is treasury shares. It's also a standard item on the agenda for all listed companies. All companies are asking for flexibility. They're asking for the possibility to be able to acquire own shares, treasury shares, up to 10% of the share capital. But you are not allowed I mean, including those that you already have, you're not allowed to hold more than 10%. And you are not allowed to deviate more from the price of the stock exchange by more than 10%. This is business as usual. It's the same as in all other listed companies. Any questions or queries on that one? Nope, duly adopted. That brings us to the last item on the agenda, which is any other business.
Nothing can be adopted here, but you can have the floor if you wish to. You must ask for it now, Kjeld Beyer, for a brief comment.
Yeah, tak, Morgan.
Thank you. Thank you to FLSmidth for not, as others, to have not to thank you for not having introduced fully digital AGMs. I've rarely seen anything as undemocratic as that. The known shipowners, we saw that recently, and it's a very sad development. As I said before, if you want to know about things, then don't listen to Danish broadcasting services. There are other sources that give you an entirely different reflection of what is going on out there in the world. All we hear is Steffen Kretz, one of the reporters, who appears to be sort of a star in all respects. He is keenly interested in CO2, etc. But try to take your news from other sources because the Danish broadcasting service is really not doing a good job, and we're destroying our own agriculture by the imposition of CO2 taxes.
In other places all around the world, they like CO2 an awful lot because they have groomed people to enter political parties. Lars Løkke, our foreign minister, Troels Lund Poulsen , our defense minister, I don't know if our prime minister has been to World Economic Forum to be groomed to have certain specific attitudes. There's also the digital coin. We will have virtual coins in the future. And the chairman of the meeting says, "Please stay within the framework of the company's interests." "Yes," says the speaker and continues, "What about these virtual coins?" And one last thing I want to say and do some advertising. Look at my website and listen to my songs.
I have a song there that tells you what happens in relation to the airplanes we see in the sky and the jet stream that is toxic, and they have been allowed to emit this for years. The chairman of the meeting says, "Mr. Beier, you really ought to stop now." "Yes, and they make so much money on that," he says. And Greta Thunberg is exactly the same thing. "Thank you very much, Mr. Beier." Anyone else? Yes, there's a gentleman at the back. Please approach the rostrum, and please introduce yourself by name.
Dan? Yeah.
Renowned event.
I'm Werner Westermann. I'm from Unicon Concrete. I was part of the old concrete company that was under FLSmidth. It's sad to hear now that the cement business is closing down. But I'd like to say that the chairman of the meeting did not ask the speakers to stay to the agenda, and I think he should have done that. Thank you. "I'm a patient man," says the chairman. I listen to people who have something to say. But anyway, any other interventions? If not, I will discontinue my task and give the floor back to the chairman of the meeting to conclude the AGM.
Thank you. Kjell Beier, there are things we agree on. I'd like to stress that we at FLSmidth, we intend to hold our AGMs as physical AGMs at the same time as they're being webcast so you can follow them online.
We have no plans to change that. So that was it. Anyway, to Werner Westermann, the only thing I'd like to—I'm not going to comment on the chairman of the meeting was very patient, I agree. But you said shutting down FLSmidth cement. That is not the case. I think there's a good future for FLSmidth cement. The only question is who's the owner? Who's the owner of it? So that was my comment. Anyway, this brings us to the end of the AGM. It is my duty and something I do with great pleasure. Thank you, Klaus. Once again, as chairman of the meeting, you took us through the AGM very well.
And I'd like to thank you, shareholders, those that are present here today and those that are following online, for your continued support that we get through your ownership of the ambitious transformation we are carrying out for FLSmidth. I mean, it requires the right strategy. It requires courage when you have to deal with a company with more than 140 years' history. It also requires respect, but it also requires the right team. So I'd like to thank the management of the company, which takes good care of the company. And thank you to the many, many employees that we have in the company. Thank you to my colleagues on the board, and thank you to our owners for allowing us to develop FLSmidth with the trust that you show us. 2023 has shown that we are on the right way.
But I mean, there's still a lot left to do. So we will continue doing that. In 2024, we'll continue the transformation work we have started. And when we communicate in quarterly announcements to the market, we'll give you updates on how the work is going. So that was the end of the AGM. Thank you for attending. I wish you all a wonderful day and a good evening, and see you next year. Thank you.