[Forein language] Good morning.
Good morning, and welcome to GN Store Nord AGM here in 2021. I'm Per Wold-Olsen, and as you know, I am Chairman of the Board of GN. Last year, at the last moment, we had to cancel being present personally because of COVID-19. This year, we have known it was not going to be possible to have a general meeting with a physical appearance, so today, unfortunately, it's 100% electronic, our AGM. Because of restrictions, unfortunately, I cannot travel to Denmark or be in Denmark. The executive management and the chairman of the meeting, however, they are at our headquarters in Ballerup. So this is how the global pandemic has changed a lot of things, also in our company, and I will come back to that a little bit later.
I hope that, in any event, the technology will work so that we'll be able to give shareholders a good impression of how we have been faring over the last year at GN and how we expect developments to be in 2021 and in the future. First, over to our chairman of the meeting, Klaus Søgaard, attorney at law, who will take us through the meeting and explain the practicalities of an electronic AGM. Klaus has already tried this special mode of holding the AGM in this AGM season, so we hope that the technology will work out very well. Klaus, over to you.
[Foreign language] Jeg skal gøre mit.
Thank you very much. I'll do my best, and as the chairman says, this is going to be a somewhat different type of meeting this year because we are a fairly selected crowd gathered here. This is because of the COVID-19 restrictions and the recommendations not to meet in person, and it is possible, through legislation, as an extraordinary measure in 2020 and 2021, to have a general meeting in this manner. It is a wholly virtual meeting, although it's not provided for in your articles of association, so I find that it is legal to have the meeting like this. This is one of my special duties as a chairman, to make sure that the meeting is duly convened and quorate, but before I get to that point, I wish to explain how we are going to do this meeting.
First of all, you need to be aware that there's a slight delay in the signal when you use the internet. And this means that it may be as much as 30 seconds from we say something to it reaches you. And this, again, means that it takes time when you send questions and comments to us. So we will have some breaks as we move along to make sure that it's possible for you to contact us. And we will also try to deal with the items on the agenda in batches so that we can have a smooth meeting. The first break will appear after we have had a review of the standard items on the agenda. And I would also point out that we have simultaneous interpreting, and the website explains that you can switch between the languages, English and Danish.
I will just talk to our English listeners now because you may have ended up on the wrong channel.
The general meeting will be held in Danish. However, an English translation is available. If you by mistake have entered the Danish side and wish to have the English side, please click on the right-hand corner of your screen to switch into English.
Så går jeg tilbage.
And now back into Danish. There's another circle on the slide here. If you have technical problems, don't use the chat function to alert us. Call the hotline. You see the number indicated on the screen, 45460997. I'm sure these people will be able to help you. Another important detail in being a shareholder at an AGM is to be able to provide comments and questions to the business to be transacted. And there is a chat function on the website. It's possible to put questions and make contributions by using this function. It is in the circle indicated on the screen. It's to the right-hand side of the chat icon that you simply enter your comment. But you have to log in on the Lumi page as a shareholder or an accompanying person. You cannot use this function if you are just attending via the company's website.
You cannot be anonymous. We know who the shareholders are. If you represent a company or a foundation, it might be a good idea for you first to enter your own name so that we can also introduce you in the correct manner. Incoming messages will go to a moderator here on the premises, and I get the message from you, question or comment, in order for me to read it out. We can have a response. To make sure that this is a smooth meeting, it is a good idea for people who know that at some point they are likely to make a contribution on the agenda to write it down already now and send it to us. We will make sure that it is dealt with at the right time and in the right place on the agenda.
Also, you should make allowance for the fact that it takes time to write a comment. So we will have breaks as we move along to make sure that this is all accommodated. Those were the practical details in connection with the electronic AGM. So now I'll go back to the more usual and standard duties of a chairman. I need to make sure that we are quorate and that the meeting has been duly and lawfully convened. According to Article 11 of the Articles of Association, the meeting must be convened with minimum three and maximum five weeks' notice on the company's website and by email sent to all shareholders that have asked for such a notification and also in the form of a stock exchange release. On the 23rd of February, this meeting was convened, and this then meets the rules.
The convening notice contains all the information according to Danish legislation and the information required for the meeting. This information has also been available on the company's website in the period in question. Here you have the agenda. I will not read it out, but I would point out that we intend to deal with to each in one batch. Then after that, it will be possible to have a debate. We will then move on to the proposals from the Board of Directors. There are several of them under i.1. Then we will have a break in order for shareholders to contribute. Then we have i.2, proposals from shareholders from A+ and LD Fonde. We have the standard items on the agenda A to H as provided for in the articles.
And if something has to do under i.1 with the articles, they have to be adopted by a majority of two-thirds. All other items or votes only require a simple majority to be carried. We will also talk about the remuneration report, but this is only an advisory vote that we will have. I can also tell you that on the basis of what I've seen so far, it is highly likely for this report to be adopted. If not, the Board of Directors would have to explain why next year. About 47% of the share capital, and hence the votes, are represented today, including postal votes and proxies. This is slightly below the level of last year when we were upwards of 50%.
But I find that the meeting today is lawfully and duly convened, and we are quorate in all the respects where we need to be quorate in relation to the business to be transacted. We have postal votes and proxies to an extent, which means that I could say a while ago that I was pretty sure that some of the items on the agenda would be approved. But actually, it applies to most of the votes, also what we will be dealing with under i.2, the proposal from A+ and LD Fonde. We usually only have votes in case this is needed. So this year, I'll do the same. I will tell you that things are likely to be adopted. But of course, it is up to every shareholder to ask for a complete report concerning the outcome of the individual votes, in particular when we talk candidates.
We will now transact the business on the agenda. First, we will have a total presentation of everything under A to H. I am about to give the floor to the Chairman of the Board, Per Wold-Olsen. He will give us the report from the Board of Directors. He will then hand over to Gitte Aabo and René Svendsen-Tune. Towards the end, Mr. Per Wold-Olsen will be back and talk about the outlook and guidance for 2021. Then I will be back, and then we will have a debate. First of all, the Chairman of the Board.
Thank you, Klaus. So I'm going to give you the report from the Board of Directors concerning the company's activities in 2020. 2020, in a very special way, tested us all individually and as an organization. Looking back over the year under review, I would say that GN handled the challenges extremely well. Our management has steered our ship safely and professionally through unknown waters, waters often with hurricane gusts of wind. First of all, let me take you through GN's overall development in 2020 and explain why I think that it is fair to say that we have handled things relatively well. Then the CEO for GN Hearing, Gitte Aabo, will talk to us about the development in the hearing aid business. And the CEO for GN Audio, René Svendsen-Tune, will talk about that.
Then I will come back and talk about our expectations concerning 2021 and the future and the other traditional items on the agenda. First, let me remind shareholders where we were at precisely one year ago. At last year's AGM, I presented GN's strategy for 2020 and the years after. We are going in for leadership in innovation, individualized customer experiences, and commercial expertise. This new, I would rather say, updated strategy we designed at the end of 2019, and it was published in February 2020 in connection with the 2019 annual report. Obviously, this was before we had heard anything really about COVID-19. So we presented quite ambitious growth targets in the short and medium term. We wanted to outgrow the market in general, and we wanted to deliver EBITA margins in excess of 20%. But then this happened.
Soon, it became clear that COVID-19 was going to become a challenge. At that point, nobody had any deep understanding of the enormous global challenge we were going to face. In March-April, GN proactively took action. We were not going to allow the virus to become an excuse, explaining why we couldn't achieve short-term results. We wouldn't permit the virus to ruin our good momentum and we were certainly not going to allow the virus to ruin our foundation, saying that we want to win via innovation. We didn't want that to be ruined. No, we wanted to sort of manage the effect of the virus on the company and not allow the company to be governed or managed by the virus, if you like. The pandemic affected our two business areas in GN very differently.
It's a very good thing for GN that over the years, we have stuck to what we are good at in regard to innovation. It was very beneficial that our strategy did not move us into retail, and also that our core focus is still on expanding our two divisions, hearing aids and audio, and now actually also adding video tools for professional use. In this way, we were able to balance the business safely through 2020. All in all, 2020 gave us organic growth of as much as 9% and a revenue of DKK 13.4 billion. Despite the difficulties of the year, we created a profit of DKK 1.9 billion. I think I would venture to say that this is a good result for 2020, even a very good result. We managed GN with good cost control in the year under review.
We focused a lot on cash flow. We reduced costs in all areas where it was possible without compromising on our wishes as to where we want GN to be the day the virus issues are behind us. Our free cash flow increased by 44% to DKK 1.9 billion, corresponding to a cash conversion of 100% for the group compared with 56% in 2019. Despite all the uncertainties in the world concerning the future, we decided quite early in 2020 that we were not going to reduce our innovation. We did not send home our engineers. We actually increased our investments in research and development. We maintained our strong focus on GN creating high growth, driven by innovation, innovation, and then innovation. And we certainly succeeded in GN Audio. We created even higher growth in sales, while GN Hearing naturally was prevented in doing so because of the pandemic.
The pandemic shut down their markets, but in both divisions, we maintained our innovative strength and force, as illustrated here. We have here many of the new product launches from 2020, new innovative products. Gitte and René will come back to this in more detail in their presentations. As a consequence of what we've been able to do, we saw that analysts in the leading banks expressed satisfaction with the development of our company after we had presented our financial statements for 2020. These quotes that you can see here reflect the fact that they, like we, see that GN Audio can't be beaten, really, and GN Hearing, despite a difficult year, is in a strong position to win market shares with what I think I would dare to call one of the strongest portfolios of the industry, a portfolio of new innovative products.
Shareholders and investors also recognized how well GN handled the COVID-19 challenges. Before any one of us had heard about this virus when we started 2020, the share price for GN was around DKK 313 . On the 11th of February last year, we published GN's total results for 2020. And just before that, the price for the share reached an unparalleled price of DKK 559 , the highest ever. So we shareholders, I would venture to say, should be quite happy with the value creation in 2020, even if there was recently a decline in the price for the share. But this is more a function of the market. It does not reflect our ability to deliver results. In a moment, I'll give the floor to Gitte and René so they can explain why we succeeded in taking GN so excellently through the challenges of 2020.
But before I do that, I would like to touch upon another important topic that is of growing interest to investors and customers, partners, associates, and employees. That is how we at GN ensure that GN continues to be and is perceived as a sustainable company. The United Nations defined 17 SDGs, Sustainable Development Goals. We all need to relate to how can we support these goals. At GN, we focus our efforts on six of these goals where we believe that we can have the biggest positive impact. These six SDGs we have, and we will support them in three different areas in the coming year: climate change. The science is clear. This is the biggest challenge we are facing. And as always, we also want to assume responsibility. Next one is products and packaging. This is how people know GN.
Sustainability should also be reflected in our products and packaging. And then health. Our core business improves health. We help millions of people. And obviously, we want to do that even more. So this has been a detailed report that we've published. You can read more about there, more there about our specific 2025 goals for sustainability goals within each of these three focus areas. So that was it from me for now. I'm going to give the floor to Gitte Aabo. She is the CEO of GN Hearing. Over to you, Gitte.
[Foreign language] Guten Tag, Pierre.
Thank you, Pierre. 2020 was, as the chairman just described, an exceptionally challenging year in the hearing aids industry in general, and hence also for us in GN Hearing. It was a year where the markets developed in an entirely different manner than anticipated at the opening.
We were off to a good start to the year in GN Hearing. But when the pandemic spread globally during spring, the global market for hearing aids saw a drastic decline in sales due to lockdowns. This made us make some very fundamental decisions. We introduced an extra effective cost control to be sure that we could navigate our way through the pandemic. We decided to hold on to our investments in innovation, and that's why we also decided to make sure that our development engineers remained on the premises. We introduced new health and safety rules to prevent, in the best possible manner, contamination among employees and customers. Thanks to this, we made sure that during the pandemic, we could launch the probably most advanced hearing aid ever, ReSound ONE and Beltone Imagine.
And that's why we are now at an extremely competitive level when the markets gradually open again. While the market situation remains challenging, that goes without saying, we have seen an extremely favorable reception of these new products. Of course, the financial results were not what we planned at opening. When the COVID-19 virus spread all over the world, we saw the bottom of the trough reached during spring, but we saw considerable restoration of the levels in the hearing aids market over the summer. This then came to a halt again during the autumn and winter when infection levels rose again all over the world. In North America, the comeback has been generally very slow, with major differences from one state to the next and also across the sales channels.
In Europe, we saw a strong level of comeback, in particular in Germany and Southern Europe, while the U.K. remained strongly affected by restrictions. In the rest of the world, the picture remains slightly uneven. There was a particularly strong comeback in China, Japan, and South Korea. We achieved an organic revenue growth of -24% in the course of the year, but despite the decline in revenue, we could deliver a positive EBITA and cash flow for the whole year because of the effective cost control. We are convinced that our end markets are intact. People still need to be able to hear, and that's why we continue investments in research and development in IT and in digital marketing. Although the pandemic has affected the global market for hearing aids very negatively, the market is fundamentally attractive, and in recent decades, it's been very robust with stable growth rates.
This is because of increased affluence levels and an increasingly aging population, and that's why our market remains very attractive in the medium and the long term, whether or not we have a pandemic. Also, the extension of the use of hearing aids, the market penetration remains low, in particular among those that have less serious hearing losses, and this gives considerable room for growth and to give more people the ability to come back to being able to hear things with their own ears. The need to be able to have a good hearing sense has become even more clear to many people who are now referred to communicating with other people via mobile phones or computers. You cannot use lip reading if people have face masks. That goes without saying.
That's why generally I am very optimistic as regards the market prospects for the hearing aids industry and for GN Hearing in the medium to long term. Let me explain a bit about what types of products that cause me to be optimistic with regard to the future of GN Hearing. First and foremost, ReSound ONE, launched in the late summer of 2020. The reception and feedback have been overwhelmingly positive. Audiologists all over the world greatly appreciate the technological breakthrough and the user advantages delivered by this product. ReSound ONE is doing really good in the free market. I'm talking here about the independent hearing aids shops and audiologists across geographical areas. In the American clinics that look after the demobilized servicemen, Veterans Affairs, sales have been slower than anticipated. Under normal circumstances, Veterans Affairs very quickly absorb new trailblazing technology such as ReSound ONE.
This is a brand new technology, and that's why it's extremely important for our specialists to be able to meet face-to-face with the staff of the clinics and to instruct them in all the new things. This has not been possible under the present circumstances with a pandemic, and also these VA clinics are very busy because they have a huge backlog of patients, so it's been difficult to find time to read about a brand new technology, and that's why sales have up until now been slower than expected. I also wish to mention the recently launched product family, ReSound Key, which includes 10 different models in the so-called essential category, which is the more affordable end of the spectrum. ReSound Key includes the possibility of recharge and advanced streaming possibilities covering both iPhone and Android phones.
ReSound Key, together with ReSound ONE and ReSound LiNX Quattro, constitutes the strongest and widest ReSound portfolio ever, and this is just one more good example of our continued investment in innovation and also a good example of how well prepared we are once the markets reopen. Although the entire industry has seen considerable headwind from COVID-19, I am happy to see the energy and the focus that the organization of GN Hearing has shown in the course of this year, and this covers everything from research and product development to the sales efforts. Here, the employees have really shown a high level of dedication. 2020 was a challenging year, and I am proud of the fantastically innovative products that we have brought to market and the comprehensive portfolio of products that we are now capable of offering customers and users all over the world.
All the mentioned launches were part of our plan when we stood on 2020, and I'm happy to see the results despite the serious effect of the pandemic. With this, I'd like to hand over to René, who will give us an update of GN Audio.
[Foreign language] Tack.
Thank you, Gitte. 2020 was a fantastic year for GN Audio. We continued the extraordinary growth, 42% in organic revenue growth for the year. And mind you, this is on top of the already very strong growth rate of 26% achieved in 2019. We won considerable market shares driven by our leading product portfolio and the continued strong execution across the organization. Growth was primarily driven by a sustained strong demand for office and home office products across the regions.
It goes without saying that demand was also positively affected by the many companies that invested in helping those staff members that had to work from home in whole or in part due to the COVID-19 situation. Sales of our consumer-targeted headset products in the first half of the year were negatively affected by the lockdown among retail shops all over the world because of the pandemic. There was a comeback in the second half of 2020 and also to two-digit organic growth rates. Total EBITA rose by 68%, but that also included a one-off income item from a court settlement. If we leave out this item worth DKK 114 million, EBITA grew 58% over the year before. The EBITA margin came to 22.9% or an improvement of 3.7 percentage points. The free cash flows were at an impressive level, DKK 1.7 billion in 2020.
So generally, an extremely strong financial performance once again in GN Audio and a strong foundation for 2021. Now, in relation to 2021, I'd like to share with you an updated overview of our portfolio and market segments and our market estimates. First of all, two of our growth segments in sales to businesses, we're talking about the office solution and the corporation solutions. Corporation solutions are primarily solutions for plug and play, conference calls, and video calls, solutions for the home office and for small meeting and conference rooms. It includes our Jabra Speak series and Jabra PanaCast video products. This market is estimated at $1 billion in value, and we have a fairly small market share as it is, but we expect this to be a high-growth segment that allows us to capture market shares in the years ahead.
The office segment, however, here we are leaders in the market. It's a market that grows extremely strongly based on the increased transition to internet-based telephony and headsets in replacement of the old-fashioned phones and also the new demand from people working at home. So let's take a closer look at the global professional headset market. The current professional headset market is estimated at around $1.8 billion. This market grew by 7%-9% per year in recent years. However, in the past year, this market is estimated to have grown by approximately 25%. And this growth comes both from an increased use of these products in the office segment, but also because of increased use in new segments such as training and education, the public sector, and the health sector. And we believe that this is likely to continue about 20% per year in growth in coming years.
The extension of these products will grow steadily from about 17% of the labor force in offices in 2020 to 30% in 2025. This estimate is based on some of the positive accelerating trends that we have observed during the past 12 months. First of all, the phenomenon of working either full-time or part-time with a kind of sandwich effect between working a couple of days from home and going to work on the other days, we believe is here to stay. We hear from customers and partners that an increasing number of businesses all over the world prepare for flexible home work solutions to support their employees and their business also after COVID-19. Secondly, people are now working in more flexible manners, and their need to be able to close out irrelevant noise will grow.
We see how, as the number of online meetings and get-togethers grow, people increasingly recognize the values and benefits of professional headsets and video equipment of a high quality. And thirdly, we see how employees, far more than before, adapt to new ways of working by means of the so-called Unified Communications platforms in their daily work and lives. Let's have a closer look at these platforms. The number of people using Unified Communications platforms such as Microsoft Teams or Zoom in their daily work and also in their private lives has risen dramatically over the past 12 months. For instance, during the pandemic, 6x as many daily active users of Microsoft Teams have been registered, whereas up to 30 x as many people participate actively and daily in Zoom meetings.
This growth that was characteristic of 2020 moves far beyond the growth in the professional headset markets, which, as I said, is estimated at around 25% in 2020. In GN, we have absolute leadership in products to offer to this portfolio. And this gives us huge opportunities in future years. We will be a central and dedicated partner for the leading providers of Unified Communications platforms. And I now give the floor back to the chairman of the board.
Thank you very much, René, and thank you, Gitte. So these were our reports concerning the company's activities in the year under review. So now I'm going to say a bit about our future expectations 2021 and beyond. Let me be quite clear.
We do not know what the autumn of 2021 is going to look like, the virus, its effects on societies, and how we can and will live our lives. But we do hope that at some point, things become more or less normal. As I said in my introduction, in connection with our new strategy, we set rather ambitious goals in the medium term. We fully still support these ambitious goals. They are still intact. They are unchanged. We fully believe in them still, and as soon as the pandemic is not holding the world in its fist, so our goal for this year, 2021, these goals are ambitious, but it's clear that there's more uncertainty than what would be normal because of the pandemic and the national and regional lockdowns we are seeing.
But with this caveat, with this reservation about the pandemic described on this page in detail and also in our annual report, so with these reservations, we do expect that GN Hearing in 2021 will deliver organic revenue growth in excess of 25% and an EBITA margin of more than 16%. GN Audio, here we expect organic revenue growth to exceed 20%, and we expect an EBITA margin of more than 21%. For GN Store Nord, we expect EPS, earnings per share, of more than 50%. Against this background, the Board of Directors proposes a dividend to shareholders of DKK 206 million. This is DKK 1.45 per share. So precisely the same as the dividend for 2019, the year before the pandemic. As in previous years, we ask for authority to buy back shares up to 10% of the company's capital, shares worth up to 10%.
Shareholders will probably remember in April last year, we decided to postpone the share buyback program that the AGM had approved in March. We did that to ensure that GN would have a strong balance sheet for times of uncertainty. For the same reason, we also decided to cancel the capital reduction we had planned and which had been approved by the AGM in March. Now that we have more certainty about the continued effect of the pandemic, so we do believe it is now time to resume the share buyback in order to focus on creating shareholder value. And that is why today we are asking for this authorization. 2020 also became a very work-intensive year for the board. For example, we had 32 meetings of the chairmanship against normally about one meeting per month, and we had 13 full meetings of the board directors of GN Store Nord.
The remuneration of the board in 2020, you can see on this page, just like you can see the remuneration of the executive management in the remuneration report. Here and in the company's remuneration policy, you can read about the company's policies concerning a ceiling on the executive management's variable remuneration. You can read our rules on clawback, etc. All of it in accordance with the recommendations on good corporate management from the Committee on Good Corporate Management or Governance. The board decided in April last year as a temporary measure based on the uncertainty we saw at the time, we decided to reduce our remuneration by 10% from May onwards. The remuneration was reestablished in October last year when we had more of an overview of the economic impact and financial impact of COVID-19.
I should also mention that the executive management and the top two leadership levels of management and the employees of GN Hearing and GN Store Nord also accepted a temporary salary reduction all over the world. So for 2021, we propose that the remuneration for the Board of Directors should be maintained at the same level that had been approved for the 2020 financial year. We also recommend all members of the Board of Directors for reelection. As you can see, we now have a very diverse composition of our board with varying international competencies described in detail in the annual report and on our website. In this context, I should mention that Wolfgang Reim and myself are no longer perceived as independent when you look at the recommendations from the Committee for Good Corporate Governance.
The reality in 2020 was that the board with as many as three new members has not been able to meet physically more than one single time. All other meetings have been digital, and because of the many new members and the stormy weather we have in societies here, we have found that we should prioritize a calm, stable situation on the board, and therefore, we think it is in the interest of the company and shareholders that we should not change the composition of the board of directors at this juncture. The board carries out ongoing assessment of the work of the executive management. It's an integral part of our ordinary board meetings since 2009. The board has also carried out an annual self-evaluation. It comprises the contribution from each board member to the board and then the work, the results of the board, and the board committees.
The board takes this annual evaluation very seriously, and we want to comply with the recommendations from the Committee on Good Corporate Governance. That is why we had planned to have external assistance for the board evaluation process in 2020. Because of the new composition of the board with three new external members that took office in March 2020, and because of the extraordinary circumstances resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic, the board decided to postpone the involvement of external assistance to a later point in time. The general conclusions and information about the board's self-evaluation process are described in the annual report and published on the company's website, gn.com. So, I'll read out any questions that I may have received.
And again, I recommend that if you have a question or a comment, please send them now via the chat function that I reviewed at the beginning of the meeting. But let me take them from one end here. A, that's a report by the board of directors. We've just heard it. At some point, when there are no further questions or comments, we have taken note of the report. B, that is the submission of the audited annual report. And you can see the annual report you have from page 129, the auditor's report. It is an unqualified report. No reservations from the auditors. C, that's the resolution of discharge to the board and management so that they will not be held liable for things that you can see from the financial statements you've just approved under B.
Whereas things that may have been hidden and that may be discovered later on, there you can still hold them liable. D is the decision on the application of profits. We have heard the proposal from the board. Dividend, DKK 1.45 per share has been proposed. And then E, that's a presentation of an advisory vote regarding the remuneration report. As I mentioned before, this is a new thing. It's new in legislation. A remuneration report must be prepared for the year under review. And then there's an advisory vote now. 129B in the Danish Companies Act has that. So it's not a binding vote. It's advisory. So if you vote against it, it doesn't mean you can get a payback of salaries from last year. Now, it just means the board has to explain next year what happened.
The report has been prepared in accordance with the legislation and for the purpose of transparency about our remuneration to management. It is remuneration to board of directors and executive management in the financial year under review. The report is available on the company's website, and the board is proposing that it be approved. F, that is the approval of the remuneration of the board of directors for the current financial year. The chair just took us through that. The board is proposing to maintain the remuneration at the level of 2020. Most listed companies' board fees are based on a base fee, and then there are multiples for the chair, vice chair, and separate pay for participation in committee work. In addition, here, it has been split between the companies in the group.
GN Store Nord, the parent company, the base fee will be maintained at DKK 290,000, 2x the base fee for the deputy chair and 3x the base fee for the chair. In audio and hearing, it is proposed to maintain the 115,000, 1.7 x the base fee to the deputy chair and 2.5 x the base fee to the chair. There are also separate fees for the Audit Committee , the Remuneration Committee, and the strategy committee. The proposal is to retain them at DKK 175,000, 2x the base fee to the chair of each of these committees. The nomination committee, it's a smaller amount, DKK 85,000, that is proposed, 2x the base fee to the chair. Then there are other regular items, reimbursement of travel and meetings abroad and meetings in general as specified. G, that's the election of members to the board of directors.
We have heard the proposal from the board to reelect the members. So it's the existing members, Per Wold-Olsen, the chair, Jukka-Pekka Pertola, Hélène Barnekow, Montserrat Maresch Pascual , Wolfgang Reim, Ronica Wang, and Anette Weber. If you look at the convening notices except appendix one, you can see the other positions of the individual board members. I'm just referring to that. Now, the last item in this sort of group of items is H. That's the election of a state authorized public accountant to serve until the company's next AGM. And here, it is proposed to reelect the auditor. The Audit Committee supported by the board is proposing to reelect PricewaterhouseCoopers. In accordance with legislation, I must state that the Audit Committee has not been influenced by any third party in connection with this recommendation.
Now is the time when we can have a discussion about the items we have discussed once again. Before I read out comments we have received, I'd like to say that if anyone else wishes to make a comment, please write now. We have received one comment from the Danish Shareholders Association. On behalf of that association, I'm going to read it out to the AGM, and subsequently, you can comment on it.
[Foreign language] Fra Dansk Aktionærforenings side takker man for ordet og.
The Danish Shareholders Association thanks for the report and finds that it has been a challenging year, in particular to GN Hearing on the bottom line. The Danish Association of Women in Management says that it is a pleasure to see that four out of seven board members are women and one of two CEOs is a woman.
Unfortunately, it's still rare to see equality at the top level of Danish businesses, and in particular in C25, the stock exchange index. And that's why, as a C25 index company, GN Store Nord is making a good example. Also, we don't like the development that we've seen in other businesses where top managing people are brought in from abroad. We like to see the high number of Danes at management positions. The annual report, 130 pages, is a good representation of the group and the individual businesses. However, it is a problem that you don't have a financial statement or a summary in Danish. Other Danish businesses know how to give at least a summary in Danish, and we strongly encourage you to do the same. And then there are some questions. I will read them out. First question is: One of our focus points in 2021 is succession.
The preparedness system that allows the company to find good management candidates whenever needed. Can you explain how you make sure that you retain and develop strong management candidates that make sure that you have a large and qualified talent pool to choose between when we look at the period up to 2025 or 2030? Also, do you make sure that there is equality between the genders? Have you any talent programs in your company that we would like to hear about? And then the whistleblower arrangements. In 2020, we had seen much more activity in relation to whistleblower arrangements, and they will also become statutory under EU law. How do you work with whistleblower arrangements? And in the past 12 months, have you used these arrangements to a smaller or higher degree? How do you make sure that whistleblowers are not marginalized and possibly even excluded from the workplace?
This is a widespread problem, and it may deter people from reporting irregularities and even illegal practices. The third question: GN Hearing's patent activity defined as patent applications and active patents is much lower than competitors such as Widex, Demant, and Sonova. They have several thousand patent activities each. What is the reason for the low level from your business? GN Hearing is in a market with keen competition. How will you survive in competition where you are at a much lower level than the competitors? And question four: The market for GN Audio grew because of the many people who were working from home in 2020, and there was impressive organic growth on the bottom line. How do you make sure that you hold on to your competitive advantage in the period going forward?
We are satisfied with the development in your share price in 2020, and the proposal of dividend for DKK 1.45 per share is also fine. We would like, however, this to grow in future. Earnings per share declined by 13%. We hope that this will improve in 2021. Remuneration to board members was increased 5% last year, but there was the voluntary reduction of 10% in the midst of 2020 because of the pandemic. So in reality, this was a positive move in our view. Thank you very much for the good job put in by both board and management to make sure that we have good hearing, all of us, and also with a sensible earnings level, and keep up the good work in 2021, and good luck.
This was the contribution from the Danish Shareholders Association, and we will now hear from the Chairman of the Board in reply.
[Foreign language] Många tack, Klaus.
Thank you very much, Klaus. The first question about our sort of preparedness when it comes to new management candidates and our succession plans, I'd like to remind the AGM that this has been a priority for board and management for years. In the U.S., there is now a trend where the remuneration committee also works as kind of a talent management committee. In GN, we also use our remuneration committee to follow up on that, on succession and talent management. The executive management and other managers, in their annual goals, have specific goals when it comes to developing the next generation of managers.
At a meeting in the remuneration committee, I mean, at meetings there, we will hear managers from parts of the organization that will focus on talent management and the next managers. And they sort of review their development program. And when it comes to female talent, we always say two women and two men. So what we are doing now, I think we are doing quite well in regard to management development and succession planning. And I think we have documented that well when you can see our CFO, Marcus Desimoni, move back to Germany on the 1st of January this year. But we were ready. Peter Gormsen, he was ready, and he could be appointed as the new CFO for GN Store Nord. So Peter's former position, there we have Morten Toft coming in. He was ready for that.
Morten Toft's position, well, there we could fill his position with Henriette Wennicke, another internal candidate. Yes, we had them. We had these promotions internally that we could manage. They were part of the program that we have had ongoing for a number of years. I see that as clear documentation that we are doing an excellent job in GN Store Nord, also in this field. The second question, the whistleblower activities and making sure that whistleblowers are not marginalized or sort of expelled from the workplace. I'd like to remind the AGM that after 15 years in the U.S. in one of the Fortune 500 companies, when I joined GN, I really knew whistleblower issues very well. That's why for more than 10 years at GN, we have had a global whistleblower scheme or arrangement.
It means that we cooperate with a professional independent company that has specialized in these issues. We receive between 10 and 15 reports or complaints, if you like, per year. They're all secret. We in the company do not know where they come from unless the person wants to identify him or herself. All these cases are reviewed thoroughly and addressed, and if necessary, the external parties will initiate an investigation. The governance overview of our whistleblower activities rests with the Audit Committee , and I can tell you that the AGM can rest assured that no one has been marginalized or expelled from the workplace by speaking out and saying that there were things they're not comfortable with or things that are not the way they should be at GN, so I think these were my attempts at replying to questions one and two.
Questions three and four, I'd like to give the floor to Gitte and René. Gitte, over to you.
[Foreign language] Tak, Per.
Thank you, Per. Question three was about how we would hold up in competition if we have a level that is inferior to that of our competitors in relation to patents. The patent activity in GN is high. And this is actually also borne out by data. We are actually at the same level or even above the level of our competitors. We have had a growing activity level over the years, and we have established a strong and robust patent portfolio. Public data shows, for instance, that GN Hearing's patent activity in the form of new activities is either at level with or higher than many of our direct competitors. Data also show that GN Hearing has a strong position as regards the central technological areas.
I can mention, for instance, that we have a particularly high patent level in the U.S., which is one of our most important markets. So the patent position that we have, the portfolio that we have, is one of the factors underpinning our strong position in the market. That also applies to ReSound ONE, which is supported by not less than 10 patent families. So data clearly shows that we have a patent activity which is either at the same level as or even higher than that of our competitors. And the next question will be answered by René.
[Foreign language] Thank you.
Question four was about the possibility of maintaining the competitive edge after four years of strong growth. Well, I think there are two areas that we need to highlight. The first one is that we always try to position ourselves in segments of the market with strong growth.
The second thing is that we invest in innovation in order for us to maintain our competitive edge. Let's look at the market first. We believe that even in the current situation with strong growth in the markets for several years in a row, there are parts of the market where we are present, where there will be a 10% market growth in coming years. An example is the transition from classic telephony to internet-based telephony. We use here the unified communications platforms and a headset or a camera or a speaker. This phenomenon is still being developed, and it's growing very rapidly. We also see the high number of people that have flexible working conditions, working both at home and on the job. This requires equipment at home of good quality. Also, the use of video is growing rapidly.
If we look back three or four years, video camera was something we used from time to time, but it is very rare for us to have a conference call without also using the video feature, and if we are to look at the competitive edge from a product point of view, we have grown our investments in innovation, in product development, in research, year in and year out. We have been able to generate revenue growth, and we intend to continue on that trail. We have a very strong budget. We employ a high number of people in our innovative system with a view to making sure that next year and the year after, we have strongly competitive products that we can bring to market. There is a strong system out there. We have a strong execution when it comes to innovation and going to market.
So that is what will underpin our competitive edge. And the chairman of the meeting, thank you very much. We have now heard the replies to the four questions put by the Danish Shareholders Association. We have received no further comments or questions from shareholders, but we will have a short break shortly so that anyone with a question or a contribution of some sort will have time to use the chat function. Just after that break, I will read out the contributions that have arrived. And after that, I will go over to the individual items to declare them for adoption. So we will now have a short break.
[Foreign language] Velkommen tilbage.
Welcome back. We have not received any further comments or contributions or requests for votes. So I find that the individual items have all been approved. I'll go back to sum up item A.
The report from the Board of Directors has been taken note of. The annual report has been approved. We have granted discharge to members of the Board and executive management. We have adopted the proposal for distribution of profit. The remuneration report has been approved in an advisory vote, and the fee to the board members has been approved as unchanged. The sitting Board of Directors will continue. All members have been reelected. Congratulations to the board with this. We will now turn to i.1.1 . Proposals from the Board of Directors. This is the first one, and it needs to be dealt with by the AGM. Some of these are standard items. First of all, we have a proposal to authorize the Board of Directors to acquire treasury shares. This is an authorization that covers up to 10% of the company's share capital.
This is a standard phrasing that is used and is used generally in all listed companies. But it is also to allow the Board of Directors to respond in case they need this headroom. Then we have i.1.2 . Proposal to authorize the Board of Directors to reduce its share capital. There has been a buyback program, as you heard, with regard to cancellation of the shares. Last year, there was a cancellation of this measure because of the uncertainty of the COVID-19 situation. But now we are talking about having bought up to DKK 2 billion worth, as described in the text. If this is adopted, and it will be, it has to be notified in the Danish Business Authority's computer system where it will remain for four weeks, after which the reduction will take effect.
This means that the size of the share capital will be adjusted accordingly. The third proposal from the Board of Directors has to do with an authority to decide to have annual general meetings in a partial or fully electronic manner. The proposal is that the Board of Directors should be able to decide this from one year to the next. As was mentioned in the report from the Board, the plan is for future AGMs to allow physical attendance, and this will only be used if it is considered appropriate. For instance, because of the need to comply with restrictions issued by public authorities as we see it now. This will be a new article 9.1 in the company's articles of association. 3B. Proposal from the Board of Directors to amend the articles of association 9.4.
It has to do with the financial diary of the company. There has been a change in the rules for issues of shares issued by Nasdaq Copenhagen. This is a non-event if you ask me. It cannot possibly give rise to any controversy. Anyway, I have now outlined four proposals, and I have not, while I was speaking, received any comments or questions. But let's allow time and opportunity for the attending investors and shareholders to contact us. So we will now have a break for two minutes.
[Foreign language] Velkommen tilbage.
Welcome back. We have not received any contributions during the break. So I find that the board's proposals that I went through before the break have been adopted. Which brings us to item 9.1. A proposal from A+ and LD Fonde .
There's a proposal to the effect that beginning with the fiscal year 2021, the board has to complete an assessment of the ability of GN Store Nord to publish country-by-country tax reporting in line with GRI 207 tax 2019. The full motivation is included in the convening notice on pages 7-8. A+ and LD Fonde have also sent the oral statement that they intended to use. I will read it out.
[Foreign language] Hele holdet.
This speech is given on behalf of AP and LD. We have invested DKK 230 million in GN Store Nord and we are generally very pleased shareholders when looking at the business in the current financial perspective. The audio division is seeing fantastic growth at the moment, driven obviously by the COVID situation, but even before that, there was strong momentum in that business.
It's impressive to see how the company has taken the opportunities given by the market and how Jabra has established itself as one of the leading brands in the sector. In the hearing division, we are comfortable. We are confident that we will maintain the position. You will maintain the position as the situation normalizes. We have made a proposal at a number of AGMs, including this one. We believe it can make the company an even better investment in the long run. So we are saying assess the possibility about more transparency concerning tax because I think it's a precondition. We think it's a precondition for a good business. We can understand the board's reservations concerning country-by-country reporting on tax payments. It can be a challenge to communicate, but the level of transparency must not undermine competitiveness.
But also, on the other hand, transparency should ensure a level playing field in the market. And this is the balance that our proposal is trying to strike. The background for our proposal is when the tax base is eroded in countries, sustainable development cannot be carried out. In international politics, the problem has been recognized. And the European Council a few weeks ago adopted a text to say that if a company has a turnover of more than EUR 750 million, they must publish their tax payments country-by-country. This was a very important step in the direction of statutory rules in this field. Few companies have done country-by-country reporting in the annual report yet in line with these international guidelines. Ørsted is a case in point. They have done it. They're at the leading edge here, and I do believe they're drivers of an important development.
We do believe that GN Store Nord and most Danish companies will gain from taking a lead here by looking into the possibility of increasing transparency in regard to tax payments. Thank you for your attention. Further to that, well, I can refer you to the board's statement here in the convening notices. But I'm going to read out here what the board of directors' position is. As you can see from the convening notice, the board of directors cannot support the proposal to make an assessment of the ability of GN to publish corporate country-by-country tax reporting. We assess a number of parameters all the time, including taxes, but we do not believe there's the right balance between publication of detailed information about taxes from one country to the next and the competitive disadvantages that there will be from that. It's too narrow.
It will take many resources with the wrong focus. The board recognizes and supports the general move towards increasing transparency on corporate tax matters. Our tax policy underlines this position, and we do intend to revise our current tax policy to make it more focused on GN-specific questions, offering more transparency on relevant tax issues in line with what the company has discussed with other pension funds. At the present time, we have not received any further interventions on this point either, and that's why in a little while I'm going to conclude on this one, but I will give shareholders the possibility to comment on this one and also on the any other business point, so this is your last chance to write anything. See you in a little while.
[Foreign language] Velkommen.
Welcome back to GN's headquarters.
I've not received any further comments, and that is why I hereby conclude that the proposal from AP+ and LD Fonde has been adopted. Brings us to any other business. You can have the floor, but nothing can be adopted. You can summarize here if there are questions that haven't been answered, but nothing has been received. So on that background, we have finalized the formal part of the AGM. So I can discontinue my work and give the floor to the chairman of the board, who will round off the AGM. Over to you, Peter.
Thank you very much, Klaus.
But before we end this electronic AGM, I'd like to just stress some of the most important points that I hope shareholders are taking home from today. The immediate future is still uncertain because of the global pandemic. That is true.
But vaccines are being rolled out, and also spring is coming. It is here. At GN, we can see that for the company, new opportunities arise during and after the pandemic. We can see GN today in a strong position today. We are well positioned to take new opportunities and to utilize our strengths. We will continue to do that. Our innovation machine is working just as planned as a necessary part of a growth enterprise. We are now clearly able to commercialize our innovation. We have a robust business platform that has handled the pandemic with flying colors. We have an experienced management. We have skillful employees. Our financial base is solid. Our strategy for 2020 and the following years is fundamentally unchanged.
And last but not least, the company has shown to be able to deliver a very competitive return to you as shareholders, regardless of the storm that we and the whole world are living in at the moment. Finally, thank you very much to the Chairman of the meeting, Klaus Søgaard, attorney at law. He has taken us very elegantly and professionally through this year's AGM. Thank you very much, Klaus. And to you, our shareholders, thank you for listening in. I certainly hope that we can meet again physically in Ballerup in 2022. Thank you very much. Bye-bye.