Welcome! So welcome. On behalf of the board of directors, it's a great pleasure for me to welcome you to Lundbeck's general meeting here today. Thank you for giving priority to being here. I'd also like to mention that we offer our shareholders to follow the AGM via webcast in Danish and English. There is simultaneous interpretation into English, so the shareholders all over the world can follow proceedings, and when our CEO, Deborah Dunsire, speaks, there'll be simultaneous interpretation into Danish. Let me start by introducing you to Lundbeck's current board of directors. Those elected by the AGM, apart from myself, are Lene Skole Sørensen , who is the vice chair, Jeffrey Berkowitz, Lars Erik Holmqvist , Dorothea Wenzel, Jeremy Max Levin , and Santiago Arroyo. In addition, we have four members elected by the employees: Dorte Clausen, Lasse Skibsbye, Camilla Gram-Andersen, and Hossein Armandi .
Looking back at the work we've done on the board in twenty twenty-two, I'm very pleased. The board has a good, open dialogue with the executive management regarding strategic business development, the implementation of strategies, and certainly also concerning a lot of sort of more practical items. Now, let me also introduce you to the company's executive management. We have Deborah Dunsire, she's the President and CEO. Lars Bang, he is the executive vice president in charge of production and supplies. Thomas Gibbs, EVP responsible for the business in the US. Elise Hauge, EVP, HR and communication. Jörg Hornstein, EVP, finance. Keld Flintholm Jørgensen, EVP, strategy and business development. Johan Luthman, EVP, research and development, and Jacob Tolstrup, EVP, who is in charge of marketing and sales outside the US. As you may see, two members of the executive management are new.
Jörg Hornstein joined Lundbeck in August last year, and Thomas Gibbs joined us in February this year. On behalf of the board, I'd like to thank the executive management and all of Lundbeck's employees for their efforts, their commitment, and the results achieved in 2022. As a board, we are very pleased with the annual result and the strong growth that we were able to deliver on revenue and operating results. I'll get back to that. Now, according to our articles of association, the board appoints the chairman of the meeting of this AGM. Again, this year, we've appointed lawyer Jørgen Kjergaard Madsen from Kromann Reumert as the chairman of this year's AGM. Welcome to you, and I hand over to you, Jørgen.
Thank you very much, Lars. Thank you for appointing me. I hope we will have a good and constructive AGM today. Before we go through the formal items on the agenda, I have a few practical remarks. As the chairman said, the AGM is webcast, and therefore, it can be seen and re-seen on the website of the company. The AGM is also interpreted simultaneously, and that means that there are headsets for anyone who wants a headset. Let me ask if anyone is in need of a headset. Please raise your hand. Sorry. The chairman of the meeting has asked to speak louder, and I will. Well, headsets. If anyone hasn't yet received a headset, please raise your hand. It seems that you have all received the headsets you need. Right.
Then, as usual, I would like to ask the shareholders who want to speak during the AGM to approach the rostrum and bring your access card so that I can introduce you. Should any of you leave the AGM before the end of the meeting, please deregister at the Computershare desk outside. As in all listed companies, the press has open access to today's meeting. You have the right to record sound for press purposes, but it is not allowed to record any videos at today's AGM. I can also inform you that today, about 76% of the company capital is represented and about 82% of votes, and we are approximately 80 participants in the room today. And now, to the business. First of all, I need to conclude whether the AGM is lawfully convened and is quorate.
It has to take place in the Capital Region, and that is indeed the case here in the auditorium in Valby. It should be before the end of April. That is also the case, and it should be. The notice should be given with between three and five weeks, and the notice was published on the twenty-second of February on the company's website and via Nasdaq Copenhagen, and the notice has also been sent to the shareholders who has asked for it. So that is all in order. We have also published the documents needed in accordance with the Danish Companies Act and the articles of association. All the information has been available on the company website since the twenty-second of February.
I can also say that the agenda is in accordance with the articles of association, and there are no items on the agenda today that requires a certain percentage of the share capital or the votes, represented, so all items on the agenda can be adopted by a simple majority. I can therefore conclude that the AGM is lawfully convened and quorate. Are there any objections or are there any comments under this point? That does not seem to be the case, and I can therefore conclude that the AGM is indeed lawfully convened and quorate. Let me briefly take you through the items on the agenda today. As usual, we have item one and two, the report of the board of directors on the company's activities during the past year, and the presentation and adoption of the annual report.
Item three is the resolution on the appropriation of profit for the year. Item four is the presentation of the company's remuneration report with an advisory vote. After these items, we have item five, which is the election of members to the Board of Directors. Item six is the approval of remuneration for the Board of Directors for the current financial year. Item seven, the election of auditor. Item eight is the proposals by shareholders or the Board of Directors, and I will get back to the proposals in question when we reach that item on the agenda, and as usual, we'll end with item nine, which is any other business.
For the sake of good order, I can inform you that with the received proxies and postal votes, we already have a clear majority to adopt the proposals on the agenda today, except for the proposal under item eight three. And that means that we will not have any formal need for any votes in order to determine the adoption of each item under the agenda. Those were the practical remarks, and I will now pass the floor back to the Chairman of the Board, Lars Rasmussen.
I've been looking forward to giving you the board's report and to review the annual report from 2022. Let me start by reminding us all of our purpose at Lundbeck. Lundbeck is driven by helping people with brain disease so that everyone can utilize their full potential. Many people in the world live with a brain disease. Lundbeck continues to be very dedicated to helping these people. It is now one year ago we were last together here for the AGM at Lundbeck. At that time, it was under a month ago that Russia has started its attack on Ukraine. Unfortunately, we can see today that the war continues unabatedly, and here from the rostrum, once again, I'd like to stress that Lundbeck supports the Ukrainian people fully, and we condemn the Russian invasion of Ukraine, which has now lasted for more than a year.
In support of the Ukrainian people in early March 2022, we donated DKK 10 million to Red Cross in Denmark. We've donated a number of different products when we were approached by the Psychiatric Association of Ukraine. We have also a number of initiatives here in Valby and from our office in Poland, since most refugees escaping the war have come through Poland since the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Now, I'd like to change to our strategy. Our strategy is to expand and invest with the purpose of growth. It was launched in 2019. It's beginning to show visible results, so we maintain the strategy. Basically, the strategy is to always work to get the maximum out of our current portfolio of products while investing in future growth.
Our purpose is to help patients by producing and delivering innovative drugs that can change the lives of the people that live with brain diseases. We are well on the way with the strategic conversion of our business. We focus on finding and developing transformative drugs against psychiatric and neurological ailments treated by specialists. We're doing our best to deliver solutions to patients with brain diseases while maintaining a leading position for a European company of our size and scope. We also want to be recognized as number one in brain disease.
We will be there by maximizing the potential and maintaining the momentum for our existing products, by expanding our business areas in brain disease, by developing and strengthening our pipeline for new treatments, and by focusing on business and profitability, by making adjustments if and when necessary, so as to maintain focus on cost management, and we do it by ensuring that we cooperate closely across the organization. In 2022, we introduced a new share structure with A shares and B shares. We believe that with this initiative, we have expanded our financial capacity when it comes to pursuing additional growth and value creation. This gives us an extra tool to pursue strategic opportunities when the right opportunities arise.
Lundbeck's ambition is to become leading in brain disease, and this really covers strengthening of the pipeline through organic growth and growth in the form of partnerships, incoming licenses, and acquisitions. With a new structure, with A shares and B shares, Lundbeck has increased its opportunities to accelerate this development. In 2022, we delivered the highest turnover ever, DKK 18.2 billion, an increase of 12% compared with 2021. We've seen strong growth from our strategic products. They are 67% of the total turnover. From strategic products, we have seen an increase of 31%, and all regions have contributed double-digit growth for the strategic products. The revenue from our key product, Vyepti, grew by 104% compared with 2021. This increase can be seen as a result of an increasing market share and underlying market growth.
The product was also launched in a number of European countries in 2022, and Lundbeck's CEO, Deborah Dunsire, will tell you more about that. The operating result before the depreciation and value impairment, EBITDA, also shows clear growth compared with the previous year, ending at DKK 4.7 billion in 2022. This is an EBITDA margin of 26%. Lundbeck's pipeline contains two products that are awaiting approval in the U.S. These are brexpiprazole for use in patients suffering from agitation in Alzheimer's dementia, and aripiprazole, in a two-month version, will be used for people suffering from schizophrenia or bipolar disease. We expect the feedback from the U.S. drug authority, the FDA, concerning these two products in at the end of April and early May. We have, furthermore, two clinical studies in phase III
We have finalized the enrollment for this, and Deborah Dunsire will tell you more about that later on. Now, staying at the financial numbers. So we've seen this great increase in revenue, but we have delivered 40% growth on the operating result, EBIT and earnings per share. DKK 1.93 per share was the earnings in 2022. 2022 was characterized by increasing cost of marketing and sales compared with 2021, which can primarily be attributed to the fact that the level for sales activities has basically returned to the normal level after COVID-19, and there have been increased establishing costs because of the launch of Vyepti in a number of European countries. The cost of research and development, the R&D costs, have gone down by 2% compared with 2021.
This was because of the completion of a number of clinical studies of products that have already been put to the market. So all in all, we see the financial results for 2022 as very satisfactory. The board proposes that for 2022, we again pay out a dividend of 30% of the year's net profit. That's DKK 0.58 per share, or a total dividend of DKK 578 million. The total dividend per share thus goes up from DKK 0.4 in 2021 to DKK 0.58 in 2022, and this is an increase of 45%. The comparative numbers for proposed dividend per share, they have been...
These figures have been corrected because of the share split in June 2022, when each of Lundbeck's current, existing shares of nominally DKK 5 were divided into one A share of DKK 1 and four B shares of DKK 1, nominally. If you look at Lundbeck's development over the next three or four years, Lundbeck will have increased earnings, and the company's ambition is to continue our growth journey over the next three or four years. We expect our strategic portfolio to continue to display double-digit growth. The operating profit before depreciation and value impairment, the EBITDA, will increase by 30%-32%, we expect. R&D costs are expected to be sort of stable, but we are working to launch investments to drive growth in the medium term, which is also in accordance with Lundbeck's long-term strategy.
Generally, Lundbeck is continuing to focus on profitable growth also in the future. Lundbeck has a solid financial foundation for our strategy. If you look at matters that have influenced our cash flow in the period, I would say the negative impact has been payment of a significant milestone because of the approval of Vyepti from the EMA, payment of dividend, investment in fixed assets, and an increase of stocks because of preparation for the launch of Vyepti in a number of markets. Here, you can see the net debt and the net debt in relation to EBITDA. Because of two company acquisitions in 2019, our net debt in 2019 grew to DKK 6.6 billion, but over the last couple of years, our strong liquidity has reduced our net debt. In 2022, our net debt was about DKK 2.2 billion.
It is estimated that the net debt will be at around DKK 250 million at the end of 2023, and that net debt in relation to EBITDA is expected to be at around zero. So Lundbeck has a solid financial background with its current facilities. In addition to the financial foundation, Lundbeck focuses on building up our business sustainably, and executive management has a shared ESG goal as part of their variable pay. Our focus on the environment continues. For the eighth year in a row, the Carbon Disclosure Project has awarded Lundbeck the highest mark in climate reporting. We've reduced Scope 1 and 2 carbon emissions by 29% to 100% of our electricity consumption, and Denmark is covered by our own solar panel park.
We have a plan to achieve zero emission of CO2 by 2050, and we cooperate with authorities concerning PFAS finds at our Danish factory in Lumsås. The challenge with PFAS is an international matter, really. In Denmark alone, Danish Regions say that up to 15,000 different areas may potentially be challenged because of a high level of PFAS, but very little about this is known, because only 10% of the 15,000 areas have really been examined. We made further progress in 2022 in regard to the access to our medication in low and medium income countries. We've done that through our partnership with International Health Partners. On a daily basis, more than 8 million people receive our products. As mentioned, we have given donations to Ukraine, also to Turkey that was recently hit by a very serious earthquake.
We continue our focus on business ethics across our functions, and at the end of 2022, 98.6% of our employees had completed the internal training program, and the current number here today is 99.8%. Last but not least, it's important to mention that Lundbeck focuses on building up a diverse, inclusive workplace. 43% of our leading employees globally are women. We comply with new legislation in Denmark from the first of January, so as to have gender diversity in management and on the board. Our goal for 2026 is to reach about 40% of the underrepresented gender among the members of the board, elected by the general meeting and in the top management. We've also launched a neurodiverse workplace. We want to be an inclusive workplace.
We want to give the best possible conditions for all employees, also those with a neurodiverse profile. I'll now give the floor to our CEO, Deborah Dunsire, who will tell you more details about the company's result in 2022. Over to you, Deborah.
Thank you, Lars, and good morning, everyone. I don't know if I could have the next. I don't have a changer for the slides, so you'll have to help me. The first thing I'd like to do is thank all the people of Lundbeck around the world. Approximately 5,400 people who have put heart and soul into forwarding our business during the year in all the countries that we operate. It was another challenging year as the world came out of COVID, and particularly, I'd like to recognize the people who are in our production departments, who have kept our supply chain running and made sure medicines are provided around the world for the 8 million people a day who use them.
That's taken a lot of work to make sure that we could react appropriately when supplies were short on certain things. So I thank all of those people who have done great work. Next slide, please. As Lars said, we achieved our highest revenue ever in Lundbeck's history in two thousand twenty-two, and the growth came from all regions of the world and was driven by the strong momentum in our four strategic brands. Next slide, please. Vyepti, the newest of our strategic brands, has grown strongly, over 104% up in revenue over the prior year in reported currency, and you can see the beginnings of the launches outside the U.S. starting up.
We achieved approval in the EMA in February of 2022, and so the countries in Europe are beginning to roll out, and we've had strong success and a great reception in the countries in which we've launched. We have another approximately 15 launches planned for 2023. In the US, the growth has really advanced, and we found that Vyepti is performing extremely well for people who are heavily impacted by migraine, allowing some people to return to work, and indeed, some people who've been severely compromised by migraine to come to the workplace for the first time in their lives, so really transformative results for certain patients. And we achieved a market share of approximately 5.4% in the prevention market for migraine by the end of the year, against strong competition. So we're delighted with the performance of Vyepti. Next slide, please. Brintellix.
Brintellix is our largest brand and has continued to grow around the world. Japan is particularly notable in that it has achieved a 10.1% value market share in its third year on the market. Of course, we have a great partner in Takeda, but this is Lundbeck's first time having our own sales force in Japan, and we're delighted with the strong performance that they have delivered. Next slide, please. Rexulti has grown very strongly in its indications of schizophrenia and particularly in major depressive disorder, and you see that strong growth now in its fifth complete year on the market and growing strongly, and this is an exciting product because we have a new indication coming in Alzheimer's agitation, if we achieve approval on May tenth.
The product is only approved for major depressive disorder in a few countries in the world: the USA, Canada, Brazil, and Saudi Arabia, and it is that indication that's really driving the growth very dynamically, which is why you see the US as such a strong contributor to the growth of Rexulti. Next slide, please. Abilify Maintena, the once monthly form, has also continued to grow very well with strong market share gains in Europe, particularly notable growth in the US, Spain, and Canada. And of course, we have initiated the regulatory process for a two-monthly version, where patients would only have to receive six injections a year as opposed to 12, which is much more convenient and also helps people with schizophrenia stay on medicine, so that they don't have exacerbations. Next slide, please. Our R&D portfolio is expanding.
We now have activity across all the four areas of neuroscience biology, where we have chosen to focus, and you can see progress in all of those areas. Under Johan Luthman's leadership, we have been focusing our organization, driving a much higher focus on having biomarkers to help us de-risk development, so that we are investing most appropriately in our pipeline. We've completed a number of life cycle management programs, like the agitation in Alzheimer's disease for Rexulti. We've made good advances in the mid-stage pipeline with two phase II assets, and we're building that early stage pipeline with some dynamism. We've also kept looking on the outside for the appropriate things to bring into our pipeline and have started a phase II trial with a CD40 antibody that came into us from a deal we did with a Korean company, AprilBio. Next slide, please.
We still have some life cycle management to do with our products as we try to maximize the value that each of these products can bring. Rexulti's next life cycle management in post-traumatic stress disorder will read out in the middle of the year. This is a very high unmet medical need. In the U.S. alone, 8.6 million adults are affected, and approximately 80% of people are estimated to be undiagnosed. So we would be very delighted to be able to bring a therapy forward to address this, very, trying condition that's experienced by both war veterans and victims of abuse and trauma. For Vyepti, we continue to progress in another headache indication, cluster headache, which is sometimes described as the suicide headache. It is so severe. And we will have...
We have two trials ongoing, a phase II trial called Chronicle in chronic cluster headache, and a registration-directed trial called Alleviate in episodic cluster headache. Next slide, please. In phase II, we have two of our molecules moving forward, and they both completed accrual of these phase II trials in 2022. Our PACAP inhibitor, that's a molecule that will also be investigated in headache and other pain syndromes. We've taken it initially into migraine to test whether this new biology can be productive for people with migraine, and that will allow us to understand that biology better and potentially expand its use into other areas of headache, and we expect the results of this phase II trial in the middle of 2023.
The other monoclonal antibody that we have in development in phase II is our antibody against alpha-synuclein, and that's a protein that accumulates in the brain of certain patients with different conditions like Parkinson's disease, Lewy body dementia, or multiple system atrophy, which is a rare disease that causes people to die much earlier than they should, and we are trying to address that through the use of this antibody, to try to clear away that abnormal protein within the brain. We expect results of that trial at the beginning of twenty twenty-four, because we treat people for longer to see if we can change the outcome for them. Next slide, please. In our phase I pipeline, we've got some very interesting molecules moving forward.
In the area of neurohormonal diseases, we've brought forward another antibody therapy against the hormone ACTH, in an area of medicine where people have a much too high production of that hormone, and it affects their life with multiple different symptoms and syndromes, and we're hopeful that our ACTH antibody can overcome that. In our newly formed cluster neuroinflammation, neuroimmunology, as I said, we have our CD40 antibody moving forward, that will give us the opportunity to treat a variety of neurological diseases that are generated when our own immune system reacts against our body. So we're excited to see the early results of that particular antibody and see which areas of neuroscience we'll be able to move it forward in.
Of course, in our neurocircuitry, an area where Lundbeck has been very traditionally strong, we're moving forward a oral small molecule to help Parkinson's disease patients who are experiencing increasing rigidity and an inability to move in some parts of the day, and an over expression of involuntary movements in other parts of the day. So we're very hopeful that that can be an advantage for Parkinson's disease as we go forward. Next slide, please. Our financial guidance for 2023 has us growing our revenue strongly to between DKK 19.4 billion and DKK 20 billion, and delivering an EBITDA of between DKK 4.8 billion and DKK 5.2 billion, driven by the solid momentum in those four strategic brands....
Vyepti will continue to roll out and grow, and we will weather the continued slight decline of our old product that is still used by so many millions of patients around the world, as Cipralex, Lexapro. Profitability, we'll have an amortization of product rights of about DKK 1.5 billion, and we are investing in our selling and promotion as we launch Vyepti outside the US, and as we prepare the launches of Rexulti in agitation and Alzheimer's disease, as well as the launch of the two-monthly version of Abilify Maintena. R&D costs are broadly stable as we bring forward the life cycle management in later stage, and move our phase II pipeline, forward and build into the phase I area. Next slide, please. Lundbeck is focused on driving long-term, sustainable growth.
Building on those strategic brands, we look forward to Vyepti accelerating all the way through to its loss of exclusivity out in 2034, with that drug having the ability to become a blockbuster medicine by that time. Rexulti in agitation and Alzheimer's disease will treat millions of people who experience that symptom of agitation as their Alzheimer's goes through the stages of progression. And that is the symptom that most often moves people from home care into institutional care. So we're very delighted to be able to bring forward a medicine in an indication where there is no approved medicine to date, and that is fulfilling Lundbeck's purpose of being entirely dedicated to restoring brain health.
We're capitalizing now on a number of years where we have no major regions losing exclusivity, so that we can build our revenue base and invest behind that long-term pipeline as we continue our R&D transformation. We will be looking to bring in molecules from the outside. No company in our industry is fully successful only on its own R&D. Our researchers are constantly looking externally for other good ideas to bring in to our pipeline. And so we'll focus on neuroscience, where our strength is, and bring in products across the stages of development that Lundbeck can successfully move forward. Next slide, please. With that, I will hand back to Jørgen for the progress of the meeting. Thank you for attending today.
Thank you. That was items one and two of the agenda, are the report of board of directors and the presentation of the annual report from 2022 for approval. I'd like to hear if anybody wishes to speak. There's one person here. You have the floor. In the meanwhile, I can just add that, as usual, the annual report has been given an unqualified report from the auditors. You can see it on pages 102 to 105 in the annual report, if you have a special interest in that. If you'd like to give your name first, please. Thank you. I'm Jørn Bolt. I'm going to ask you about the environment concerning the Lumsås factory.
In your sustainability report, 2022, the most recent one, there's a section on soil pollution, focusing on this very toxic PFAS in Lumsås, as you mentioned. You say that it's been used in fire-inhibiting foam, but that ended in 2011. According to a new report from NIRAS, your environmental consultant, there is no major PFAS pollution at the fire exercise area, but east to building S 48 and S 62, there seems to be pollution, and that is not from fire-inhibiting foam it would seem. It didn't end until six years later in 2017. This soil pollution goes beyond the quality criteria of the Environmental Agency by a factor of 600, and groundwater is polluted by a factor of up to 100,000.
So it is to be expected that you will be ordered to remove some of this polluted soil. Based on these measurements, there's 5,000 tons of PFAS polluted soil. You can compare that with one of the biggest pollutions in the country, Kærgaard Klitplantage, which had been used for dumping toxic wastewater. 7,000 tons of polluted soil has been removed for about 15 years, and they're still at it. It has cost millions of krona for the Region of Southern Denmark . In Lumsås, the situation could be worse. It will be more expensive. This is an area, compared with Western Jutland, is an area that has a production plant. So I have two questions. In the mentioned sustainability report from last year, in the section on societal changes, it says, environment in the entire value chain, we risk restrictions that can disrupt our production.
The question is, what's management going to do to avoid disruption of production in Lumsås with a negative impact on the value of our shares? Question two, why doesn't this sustainability report not even mention other pollution than the fire inhibiting foam? The other types are much more dangerous, they would seem. Thank you for your attention. Thank you. Two specific questions. The chairman, please. Lars Rasmussen, you have the floor. Thank you, Jørgen Bolt, for these questions. I mean, we knew in advance that we were going to talk about this topic, and let me start by saying a bit about PFAS first. It's a concept I didn't really know much about years ago, but now it's very important because we all now understand that there is PFAS pollution.
As I said in my presentation, it's a global phenomenon because these are compounds that are in firefighting foam. That's the primary source of pollution for Lundbeck, and also the easy slip pads that we used to have when we did our cooking bags back home. The thing is that when the wind blows and there is a foam on the top of waves, it contains PFAS, this foam. Most of the protected areas in Denmark that are close to the sea actually have quite a lot of PFAS pollution. That is certainly a worry that we all have. How much are we to get that? How much do we absorb in our bodies? What happens to our children and to our grandchildren? I do understand the worry that you are expressing.
As far as Lundbeck is concerned, there is a PFAS pollution on the site that Lundbeck has in Lumsås. Let me add that, in February 2023, we have seen numbers from the drinking water drills in Lumsås that contain no PFAS, so we do believe it is isolated. It's only on the Lundbeck site. We do not really know what to do about it at this point. This is a problem which goes across a number of units. There are 15,000 places in Denmark that have been identified. 10% of them have been examined. There you know the level of pollution. But a fast-acting group has been established in the Ministry of the Environment that will recommend how to handle this. How, well, how to handle the situation that exists. We believe that makes sense.
Obviously, we'll be complying with the recommendations coming out of that in regard to how to handle this pollution, because this is what we have on our site. Is it best to leave it where it is? Is it best to dig it out, to remove it? How do you do that safely? So anyway, we cannot go and do something on our own. We take it very seriously, let me add that. The factory management that we have over the years, that we've been there in Lumsås for more than sixty years. Over the years, they're really focused on having good relations with neighbors and complying with instructions from authorities, obviously. But it's also quite clear that we are dealing with making drugs, right?
These are active, very potent substances that we deal with, so we need to protect our surroundings and our factories as much as possible. Until 2011, we had a firefighting facility that contained PFAS and PFOS. Looked like a soap foam, right? And we were told we couldn't use that anymore. We're using something different today. Obviously, it doesn't contain these substances. But this is a situation that we know more now than we knew back then. We cannot act in retrospect. We can... I mean, hindsight is nice, but, I mean, we're waiting for the instructions from the authorities, but we are certainly aware of the problem. Thank you. Thank you. Are there any other interventions? That would seem to be the case. You have the floor. Good afternoon. Good afternoon.
My name is Keld Beyer . It was very generous that you give money to Ukraine. Now, the chairman mentions it, and I would like to touch upon it as well, because that is a war that no one likes. But what I would like to say today is that the previous Secretary of State, Madeleine Albright, said that you cannot achieve peace without listening to both sides. If you go to the website Rumble, then you will find out that the world is completely different from what we're told in the Danish media. So we're donating loads of money for this war, but I would just like to draw the attention to the fact that this war was not unprovoked. Since two thousand and fourteen, Zelenskyy and his new Nazi companions have killed 18,000 pro-Russians.
I know that Putin is a bad guy, but Zelenskyy is, too, and therefore, I don't think it's right that we donate money to his pockets to continue this war. We should listen to Madeleine Albright. We have to listen to both parties in a conflict. Not only did they assassinate these people, they also have biological weapons close to the Russian border. They have infected flies and mosquitoes with diseases and had them fly over the Russian border. And you, you can see that if you look at the alternative media, that Ukraine was also part of developing COVID-19. Yeah, go, go read X22. We have censorship in this country, and that's why I'm saying it here. We have to be open to what's actually going on. We shouldn't just listen to the prime minister all the time, because she's part of it all.
The World Economic Forum, who wants world dominion, and they also had a role to play in developing COVID-19, so you have to wake up. That is my message. The other thing I wanted to say was congratulations on the annual accounts. In 2018, you had profits of DKK 3.8 billion, and I am sure the projects you have going right now could perhaps increase your profits again back to those DKK 3.8 billion. Can I ask you whether that is realistic to go get back to that level of DKK 3.8 billion? I'm sorry I had to bring up Russia, but when the chairman touches upon it himself, I really had to say something. When I have this knowledge, I have to distribute it. I really urge you to look into it. It's...
We cannot have Denmark be a third-world country who doesn't know what's going on. So please go to Rumble and have a look for yourselves.
Thank you. Are there any other shareholders who want to take the floor? If that is not the case... Yes, I'm sorry. I can adjust the microphone. If that is not the case, then with the votes already cast, I would conclude that the report for 2022 has been taken note of, and that the revised annual accounts for 2022 have been approved. That leads me to the next item on the agenda, which is item three.
This is the proposal for resolution on the distribution of profit or loss, and as the chairman already said in his report, the proposal is to pay out a dividend corresponding to about 30% of the year's net profit, which is DKK 0.58 per share, adding up to proposed dividends of a total of 578 for the year. Are there any comments? If not, I can conclude that this proposal has been adopted. I can tell you that there is a vast majority in favor of this proposal, and in that case, I also assume that we do not want to vote.
If anybody in the room should wish to vote against, specifically, I would ask you to approach the registration desk when you leave the room and let them know that you want to vote against, and you will hand in your voting slip. In that way, we don't have to break up the annual general meeting in order to have a vote on an item that's already adopted. That leads me to item four, which is the approval of the remuneration report for twenty twenty-two. I refer you to the published report, which is available on the company website. Does anyone wish to comment? That is not the case, and that means I can conclude that the proposal here is also adopted, meaning that the remuneration report has been approved.
That leads me to the item, to item five, which is the election of members for the Board of Directors. I can refer you to the complete proposals in the convening notice, and then I pass the floor to Chairman of the Board, Lars Rasmussen.
At last year's AGM, we elected seven members of the board. You can see the committees that they sit on. We are proposing that they be re-elected and continue on the board in 2023. So it's yours truly, it's Lene Skole Sørensen , Dorothea Wenzel, Lars Erik Holmqvist , Jeremy Max Levin , Jeffrey Berkowitz, and Santiago Arroyo. Now, in order to increase more flexibility and ensure that we always have the right competencies, we suggest to expand our competencies to increase the number of members of the board elected by the AGM to eight. We are proposing to elect Jakob Riis as new member of the board. The board finds that the eight candidates together have the necessary professional international experience to maintain the company's position as a leading pharmaceutical company, focusing on research and development in brain diseases.
Furthermore, the board finds that the size of the board is appropriate in relation to the needs and the aim of ensuring constructive debate and effective decision making. You can see Jacob's, well, he has a very expensive CV, as you can see, but it's a lot to have on one page. I'm not going to read it all out. You can see that he has a lot of experience from life science and from pharma, and Jacob is in the room, so you can actually see what he looks like. Well, he looks more or less like the person in the picture, I think. So anyway, he is deemed to be a non-independent member because he works for Falck, where Lundbeck is a main shareholder. That was the proposal. Back to you, Jørgen. Thank you.
And let me hear if there are any other nominations. It's not the case, so congratulations to the seven board members who are reelected, and congratulations to Jakob Riis as a newly elected member. Item six on the agenda, that's the approval of the remuneration for the board of directors for 2023, and there are no changes compared with the previous year, as you can see from the convening notice. So all figures are unchanged. The remuneration is unchanged. So I'd like to hear if anyone has comments concerning this point. Not the case, so that has been duly adopted. That brings us to item seven on the agenda. This is the election of auditor. The proposal is to re-elect PwC, state-authorized audit company. I can tell you that this is in accordance with the recommendation from the audit committee.
As you can see from the convening notice, the audit committee is free from influence from any third party and is not subject to any contract with a third party restricting the choice of the annual general meeting. Are there any other nominations? That is not the case, so they have been duly re-elected. Congratulations. That brings us to item eight on the agenda. It is the proposals here from the board of directors and shareholders. Eight one is the sort of usual proposal: authorize the board until the next AGM to acquire treasury shares within a framework of a total nominal value of up to 10% of the share capital. The purchase price for the relevant shares may not deviate by more than 10% from the price quoted on Nasdaq Copenhagen at the time of the acquisition.
Let me hear if there are any comments on that one. That is not the case, so that has been duly adopted. That brings us to item eight two, which is an amendment to the company's remuneration policy. The remuneration policy that applies to the board of directors and the executive management of the company. You can see from the convening notice that it reduces the maximum pension contribution percentage for the executive management, and it redistributes the funds from the reduction of the pension contribution to the STI, this short-term incentive program. So, it is deemed to be a better model for the overall remuneration. I'd like to hear if there's anyone who wishes to speak on that one. That is not the case. This has been duly adopted. That brings us to item eight three on our agenda.
This is a proposal from a shareholder, Astrid Skotte, and you can see it from the convening notice. Is she present? Yes, she is. Would you like to motivate your proposal? You have the floor.
Thank you. Dear co-shareholders, I put forward a proposal for Lundbeck to purchase the properties closest to the Lumsås factory. Unfortunately, the board of directors is not in favor of my proposal, but for the sake of good order, I would like to correct the reasoning given by the board of directors for not wanting to follow my proposal, because I think they misunderstood. Their reasoning is that the pollution with PFAS is a national and global problem to be solved by the government, and I agree, but that doesn't have anything to do with my proposal. My proposal is about easing the burdens and concerns of the closest neighbors to their factory, because this factory creates some very specific local problems in Lumsås. The government cannot solve Lundbeck's own problems. We have to do that ourselves.
The neighbors experience problems and concerns because the Danish authorities, back in two thousand and eighteen, labeled the factory as a risk company, category three. That is the highest hazard class. The problems that they are experiencing has increased with the current pollution cases, not just with PFAS, but also other kinds of pollution due to leaks on the pipelines of the factory. Therefore, their concern has been increasing among the closest neighbors to the factory, and in recent years, it's made it difficult for them to sell their properties. Therefore, I am here today to talk about decency in the way you act as a company and responsibility. I recommend that as a responsible company, we take this opportunity to give some feeling of safety and security to the neighbors of our factory.
The security that they don't need to stay in a property, in a house that they feel increasingly unsafe living in. And it doesn't even have to cost a fortune to restore the reputation of Lundbeck in the local community and in the Danish society as a whole. A good reputation is worth a lot to our company, and you shouldn't put it on the line by misunderstanding my proposal to take it to only concern the pollution with PFAS to be solved by the government. We can and should take responsibility ourselves. When your production in Lumsås is a risk in the highest hazard class, it is no wonder that our closest neighbors are concerned. About 12 properties are located 100-150 meters from the factory. That is way inside the so-called attention zone for risk companies.
And the factory wasn't a risk company back when the houses were built. Some of the houses were there long before the factories was built in 1962. So I understand that the neighbors are increasingly concerned, and I particularly understand that their concern has risen only more after a new development plan has been decided on by the municipality, which means that the factory can now move even closer to their homes, up to 60 meters from the closest property. 60 meters. Even though the factory has been well examined, it's not difficult to understand the neighbors. They feel threatened by being such close neighbors with a big risk company that is moving even closer to their houses. And that risk scenario is the main reason why the owners cannot sell their properties.
Does anyone here want to buy a house that is located only sixty meters from a risk factory? I'm just asking, and I also understand that the current pollution cases are a cause for concern, because it's not just PFAS. There's a long-term leak, which has led to injunctions from the Environmental Agency to examine how far the leak has gotten into the ground surrounding the factory. The municipality has issued a ban on eating animals who have grazed on the adjacent fields. The bog, that is the neighbor of many of these houses, has been contaminated by substances that have leaked from this factory.
The twelve closest properties, which are all-year houses with families, with kids, as well as beach houses and summer residences, cannot be sold because they are in a beautiful location, close to the beach, but nobody wants to buy houses with ongoing contamination cases that haven't been really examined yet. And many of these owners and neighbors are concerned that even more pollution cases might turn up, and therefore, I have proposed that that Lundbeck purchase these twelve closest properties. You can find inspiration in the wind turbine area, where wind turbine production have been seen to purchase the closest properties to their locations or give them compensation. Of course, wind turbine is not connected to the same sense of risk that pollution and contamination is, but we could see the...
We have, and we have seen indeed in the wind turbine field, that the purchasing of properties or the compensation has given rise to greater trust in the wind energy sector. I agree that PFAS is a global problem that Lundbeck cannot deal with alone. However, that has nothing to do with my proposal, and that cannot be used as a reason for dismissing my proposal. I urge Lundbeck to take local responsibility when it comes to the local pollution, and also when it comes to the fear that the neighbors, with good reason or not, feel when it comes to the expansion of this factory. A good reputation is worth a lot, and we shouldn't put that on the line by behaving in a less than decent way.
When you make a living creating happiness, you should also make an effort to make sure that your closest neighbors can feel safe, because a good neighborhood can be restored in a quite simple and cheap way. Thank you for listening.
Yeah. Thank you. This was a specific shareholder proposal. Over to the chair of the board. Lars Rasmussen, you have the floor. Thank you, Astrid Skotte. Obviously, we are sorry to have read your proposal. I mean, we're sorry, we read it more as related to PFAS, more than these other points you talked about. So, but so we should have replied differently. But, the feeling of insecurity that people have living next to a pharmaceutical factory. I agree with you that a good reputation is very valuable, and I also agree that when you have a company that produces drugs and is classified as a risk enterprise, what does that mean then?
There is no doubt that we, as a company in a local community, must point out what it really means, because we operate our companies in accordance with the highest standards available throughout the world. I think we are a company and that really makes sure not to do any shortcuts. We're not doing that. So the fact that we're being classified as a risk enterprise means that there is more inspection of it than ever before. So there are stricter guidelines we need to comply with, and we do, obviously. Now, we need to have dialogue in order to point out the kind of risk that exists. So we've been there more than sixty years there in Lumsås.
I believe we have 60 years of being a good neighbor, and we'll do a lot to make sure that we also seem as a good neighbor going forward. But to go to the point of acquiring neighboring properties, we do believe that would be a lot to ask. We don't see that as the solution, but obviously we'll do whatever we can to be a good neighbor. And obviously it takes two, and we'll do what we can. And if we do not do it adequately, we really want a dialogue to ensure that we have the necessary dialogue so that people can feel safe and comfortable living close to Lundbeck. Because we are a company that does things as best as we possibly can. We do not support the proposal, that is correct. We've written that also in the convening notice.
But thank you for the reasoning you gave, which I think was, fair and very extensive. Thank you very much. Thank you. Does anyone else wish to speak on this point? Keld Beyer has asked for the floor. I'm not gonna say a lot other than I propose, support the proposal. I live near an airport, and and there were buildings there before the airport came. It's like the big companies that just, are neglecting the population. We say we have democracy. We have it on the day we go to the elections, but the next day we have nothing to say. The big companies decide. I think that you should, take up negotiations with, these landowners living next to your factory to see if you could purchase these properties. Perhaps offer some sort of a replacement house, somewhere else.
If you were the only ones doing this thing, the problem was not so big, but I do believe it's an accelerating problem. Companies simply neglect the local population. Thank you for your attention. Thank you. Does anyone else wish to speak? Does that give rise to any further comment from the company? No, that is not the case. As the chairman indicated, the board cannot support the proposal, and more than 99% of the votes that have been received concerning this item on the agenda are against. So it doesn't find favor, so the proposal has not been adopted. I can also mention that if anyone in the room wishes to vote in favor, please contact the registration desk outside and give your vote, where you can vote in favor of the proposal if you wish to do so, but it hasn't been adopted.
That brings us to the next item on the agenda. This is item eight-four. This is the sort of usual proposal to authorize the chair of the AGM to make such amendments and additions, as may be required by the Danish Business Authority in connection with the registration. Any comments? I think not. So that has been duly adopted. It means that we will bring... That brings us to the last item on our agenda, which is any other business, item nine. You cannot adopt anything, but it's the last time to express a praise or the opposite. Does anyone wish to speak under any other business? That is not the case. We have exhausted the agenda then. I give the floor back to the chairman, Lars Rasmussen. Right.
Thank you, Jørgen Kjergaard Madsen, for taking us through the AGM, and thank you to everyone who was present here this year. Look forward to twenty twenty-four. We expect the AGM to be held on the twentieth of March next year. See you then. Thank you for coming today.