Good afternoon, and warmly welcome to Novo Nordisk's 2021 Annual General Meeting. My name is Helge Geland, and I'm the Chair of the Board of Novo Directors of Novo Nordisk. And due to the COVID-nineteen restrictions, I'm calling in from my home country, Norway. And let me start out by wishing that you all are safe and well. We had, of course, hoped for the COVID-nineteen restrictions to have been a thing of the past in 2021, but we still need to be careful and to have precautionary measures in place, why this year's general meeting is fully virtual.
So a warm welcome to all, and thank you for joining us online. Please note that this broadcast is available both in English and in Danish. Just choose your preferred language. Allow me to take a minute to reflect on the year that has passed, and 2020 proved to be one of the most difficult years in recent history. The devastating impact of COVID-nineteen on societies and economies intensified existing challenges such as inequality and poverty.
And in times of crisis, Businesses play a critical role in mobilizing resources and providing solutions. Through 2020, Novo Nordisk's priorities have been to ensure the safety of our employees and the uninterrupted supply of our lifesaving medicines for patients. We achieved this while also supporting society's response to the pandemic. Despite the pandemic and turbulent business environment, Novo Nordisk made important steps towards delivering on our purpose of driving change to defeat diabetes and other chronic serious chronic diseases. The pandemic has exerted an immense economic and human cost on societies, and it's inevitable that public finances will remain fragile for many years to come.
Consequently, we will have to find new ways to ensure that our products are accessible to those relying on them. Beyond COVID-nineteen, scientific innovation and sustainability have been recurring topics with the Board, and these are both vital to ensure the future of the company, and it is therefore highly satisfying to see a healthy product pipeline representing what we consider to be our biggest societal contribution, namely innovation. We have broadened our scientific focus to include therapy areas adjacent to our core competencies. This, for example, includes finding ways to treat cardiovascular disease, obesity and most recently also Alzheimer's disease. Consequently, we are establishing more external alliances and partnerships to complement our in house expertise.
We have focused on sustainability for many years, but we are determined to continue to raise our game. In 2020, we launched our social responsibility strategy, defeat diabetes, And as part of our environmental strategy, certainly for CERO, we achieved our ambition of all production sites running on 100% renewable power. And is set out to ensure renewable power with our direct suppliers by 2,030. And we also launched a recycling pilot program. Lastly, diversity and inclusion is also a key priority for Novo Nordisk.
One element of our diversity and inclusion aspiration is to achieve a balanced gender representation at all managerial levels. In 2020, the gender split for managers was 59% men versus 41% women. For senior managers, the split was 76% versus 24% compared with 18% women in 2019. Consequently, we have room for improvement. And in order to accelerate diversity and inclusion and ensure accountability for driving progress, all levels throughout the organization have implemented local action plans.
And in addition, diversity and inclusion has been anchored in both short- and long term incentive programs. The strong stance on diversity and inclusion will continue in 2021 with a focus on realizing continuous progress of the local action plans. Above all, 2020 underscored the need for strong corporate values and a shared sense of purpose. At Novo Nordisk, we are fortunate that both are well established within our company. And now I would like to introduce you to my fellow Board colleagues, and you can see them all presented on the slide here.
We have, during the past year, had an excellent collaboration in the Board, although we only have been able to meet virtually since the last general meeting. And all board members are, like you, participating virtually in this meeting. This brings me to the executive management team, and President and CEO, Lars Jorgensen is physically present at the headquarters in Denmark, while the rest of the management team is participating virtually. The management team has done an outstanding job in the recent here, which I will come back to later. I would like to mention a recent change in the management team.
After a distinguished career of more than 30 years with Novo Nordisk, he wrote 20 years as a CSO. Mats Krogsgaard Thompson retired and 1st March 2021 took up the position as CEO at the Novo Nordisk Foundation. And I want to take This opportunity is to thank him for his many contributions to Novo Nordisk over the years. The responsibility for research and development was subsequently split, allowing for 2 members to join the team. Martin Lange, responsible for development.
He joined Novo Nordisk back in 20, CO2. And Markus Schindler, CSO and responsible for research and early development, having joined Novo Nordisk in 2018. I would like to welcome Martin and Markus to the management team. I would also like to present the company's auditors from PricewaterhouseCoopers, Morgans Morganssen and Mats Melgaard. Both Morgans and Mats are participating in the meeting virtually.
And finally, I can inform you that the Board of Directors again this year has appointed Atomy Claus to act as Chair of the General Meeting. Claus is chairing the meeting from Novo Nordisk's headquarters in Denmark. So Claus, with these words, I leave it to you to take us through the agenda.
Thank you, and welcome to the Novo Nordisk headquarters in Denmark. As the Chairman already stated, this will be a different Meeting compared to the ones we usually have as it will be fully virtual. My first obligation will be to confirm the actual legality of the meeting, And special legislation was put in place by the government and the parliament last year, allowing listed companies like Novo Nordisk to carry out the meetings as a fully virtual meeting. In accordance with the articles of association and the company's law, the meeting must be called with 3 to 5 weeks Notice. Here it took place on the 23rd February.
The notice must be posted on the company website. It must be announced by a company announcement over the stock exchange, and it must be forwarded by electronic means to those shareholders who have requested it. Some of the proposals on the agenda today, it's under Item 8, involve changes to the articles of association, And there is a special requirement in the articles association that requires a quorum to be present. That is 2 thirds of all votes Possible, and I can confirm that that is the case today. Besides that, such proposals for changes to the articles of Association must also be approved with a 2 third majority of those represented as well the votes as the capital.
Based on this, I can confirm that the meeting is legal, and it may decide on all the items on the agenda today. The company has received a proposal from a shareholder that is included as agenda item number 87. No other proposals have been received from shareholders. And according to the articles of association, Such proposals have to be forwarded to the board no later than 6 weeks prior to the general meeting. Those shareholders who have signed up for the meeting today can join the meeting through the Lumi AGM, And they have received the necessary link.
By joining this way, these shareholders are counted as participants today and will be able to Participate by writing questions to us and to vote. This right does not apply to those who participate via the general access on the webcast on the homepage. In respect of attendance, I can inform the meeting that 444 shareholders signed up for the meeting today that another 314 have granted proxy to the Board of Directors That another 4,250 have used the specific proxy voting form, allowing to vote specifically on each item on the agenda. And besides that, 86 shareholders have forwarded a written vote. A total of approximately 87% of all votes present and 61% of the capital have signed up for the year, General Meeting.
The technicalities and specialties are important today as we are fully virtual, and I'll explain a little about the procedures to follow if a shareholder wish to ask a question or to submit an opinion. Submission of comments can only take place in writing and only through the Lumi AGM system, as I indicated before. To ask a question, click on the question icon marked here, then type your question or comment in the question box at The bottom of the screen and click on the send arrow to the right. It's very easy. But be very much aware of the fact That when using the Internet, there will always be a delay in the transmission.
I'll therefore strongly recommend that those who know they have a question or a comment that they write this as soon as possible, and you can do it already now, forward them as soon as possible. Questions will here be received at a moderator desk and forwarded to me afterwards. I'll then read out the question or the comment, And please be as specific as short as possible to make it easy. We'll try to handle the comments in relation to the relevant agenda item, and we might bundle comments which address the same matter. Based on the proxies and written votes we have received, I do not expect that a formal voting will become necessary today.
Any shareholder does, however, have the right to request a formal vote in respect of a specific item, and that will then have to take place through the chat function. Whether or not we vote, we will afterwards publish the details of the actual vote, which has been received before the meeting, and that will take place together with the minutes of the meeting, which has to be available within 2 weeks. If voting has to be conducted, it is as indicated on the screen now. It will be through a voting window, which will automatically be shown on the screen when relevant. If you experience any technical problems, Then don't write on the screen.
Don't write to us here. Call the number you see on the screen now, Denmark, 45, and then the number 45, 4,609, 97, and you will be able to get technical assistance that way. The resolutions of the meeting will, as usual, be recorded in English and translated into Danish. It will be made available as the minutes at the website within 2 weeks. And now it's time to go to the more interesting part, to the actual agenda.
And the first three items will be presented together by the CEO, Lars Voor Gorjansen and the Chairman of the Board, Mr. Helje Lund. The first three items are the annual report. It is the annual accounts, and it is the proposal for the distribution of profits. Following that presentation of these 3 agenda items, the Chairman of the Board will then present the items 45.
They relate to remuneration. The first one is the remuneration report for 2020, And the other one is the actual remuneration of the Board of Directors with regard to 20202021. After this presentation of the items 1 to 5, we will present the questions which we might have received. So please again make sure right in due time so we are sure that we get it in here despite any delay on the transmission. After all these boring formalities, I'll give the floor or more precisely the screen to the CEO of Novo Nordisk, Mr.
Lars Vorgor Janssen. Please.
Thank you, Helje, and thank you, Claus, and also a warm welcome from me to our shareholders today. The COVID-nineteen pandemic has taken a terrible toll around the world, but the pain has not been shared equally. The risk posed by COVID-nineteen to people with underlying conditions such as diabetes, obesity is a clear wake up call. We must continue to do more to tackle these diseases or the risk of future harm to millions of people as well as societies and economies. We steer our company based on our strategic aspirations 2025.
I would like to touch upon each of the 4 dimensions relative through our 2020 performance, with the first of the 4 dimensions being purpose and sustainability. Over the past year, we have stepped up on our commitment to environmental, social and governance responsibility. As part of our environmental strategy, Circle F. S. 0, we launched a supplier target aiming at our direct suppliers asking them to using 100 percent renewable power when supplying Novo Nordisk by 2,030.
This follows our achievement of 100 percent renewable power across all our production sites. Within social responsibility and building on our purpose of defeating diabetes and other serious chronic diseases, We launched our social responsibility strategy, Defeat Diabetes. This is built on 3 pillars: Innovation, access and affordability and prevention. 1 in 11 people in the world live with diabetes, a number that is projected to rise to 1 in 9 by 2,045. So we want to accelerate the prevention of type 2 diabetes, provide access to affordable care for vulnerable patients in every country and to innovate to improve lives.
In 2020, we reached 32,800,000 patients with our diabetes care products. We lowered the ceiling price from $4 to $3 per vial under our access to insulin commitment, and the commitment now covers 76 of the least developed as well as low- and middle income countries. In addition, more than 28,000 children received Care as part of our Changing Diabetes in Children program, aiming to reach 100,000 children by 2,030. In the U. S, we expanded our affordability options in early 2020 with a better reach for existing programs.
This includes providing free medicines through our patient assistance programs to eligible patients who lost their health insurance due to COVID-nineteen. Furthermore, we launched our unbranded biologic versions of no log and no log mix at 50% list prices as well as my $99 insulin program. We reached more than 1,000,000 Americans through our various affordability options in 2020. Lastly, in 2020, we made a self assessment on our alignment to the disclosure standards from Social Accountability Standards Board. Here, we found our disclosures partially or fully aligned with 20 out of 25 SaaS B metrics.
In addition, We're taking a stepwise approach to integrate the climate change scenarios from the Paris Agreement as recommended by the task force on climate related financial disclosures. We must deliver on our core societal contribution, Scientific Innovation. Thanks to a targeted investment strategy, our scientists are currently raising the innovation bar across more therapeutic areas than any point in the company's history. In 2020, we made significant progress within innovation and therapeutic focus, and I would like to highlight a few things. The Phase III program for semaglutide in obesity called STEP, showed encouraging results in June, and we filed for regulatory approval in the U.
S. And in EU in December. Consequently, we expect regulatory feedback in June 2021 from the U. S. And around the turn of the year in the EU.
Within diabetes care, we completed the Phase III trial for high dose Ozempic. Subsequently, we filed for regulatory approval in the EU and the U. S. This week, we received a refusal to file letter from the U. S.
FDA for high dose Ozempic. In the letter, the FDA is requesting additional information, and we expect to resubmit the file to the FDA in the coming quarter. Furthermore, in early 2021, we initiated a Phase 3 program for once weekly insulin iclodec. Within biopharm, we initiated the Phase III trial for MIMEADE, while we within other serious chronic diseases completed the Phase II trial for cintivekumab in cardiovascular disease and semaglutide in nonalcoholic steatohepatitis. Commercially, 2020 was challenging as lockdowns reduced the time doctors spent with patients, leading to lower initiation of new treatments.
Despite this, we expanded our diabetes market leadership to more than 29% and thereby progressed on our 2025 strategic aspiration to reach at least 1 third of the diabetes value market. We continue to help more people living with obesity and progressed on our ambition to secure sustained growth within biopharm. Now turning to financials. Both sales and operating profit grew by 7% at constant exchange rates. Sales in International Operations increased by 10%, while North America sales grew by 3%, with 38% of U.
S. Sales now coming from products launched since 2015. We continue to provide attractive capital allocation by returning DKK37 billion to shareholders. As just mentioned, 2020 sales grew by 7%, which was driven by a 10% growth in International Operations, where growth was supported across all areas and therapies. Sales in North America Operations increased by 3%.
Total sales growth was supported by all therapy areas, with diabetes care sales increasing by 8%, obesity sales growing by 3% and biopharm growing by 1%. Insulin sales declined by 3%, driven by a 20% sales decline in North America Operations, partly offset by sales growth of 9% in International Operations. GLP-one sales grew by 29%, driven by the continued uptake and global rollout of Ozempic, which has now been launched in 52 countries and further supported by the launch of Rebelsus. ReBelgis has now been launched in 10 countries. Obesity care sales grew by 3%, driven by international operations, Partly offset by North America operations, sales growth was negatively impacted by COVID-nineteen, driven by fewer patients initiating treatment.
Biopharm sales grew by 1%, driven by hemophilia sales declining 4%, reflecting Declining NovoSeven sales, partly offset by new launches of Esperoct and Refixia. Nootropian sales increased by 8%. Novo Nordisk continues to be GLP-one market leader in the U. S. With 50% total volume market share, and the market is growing around 30% yearly.
Despite lockdowns and occasionally having to stop Face to face interactions between the sales force and doctors in the U. S, we are encouraged by the Rebelsus sales performance. We have secured around 90% market access for Brubelsus. More than 80% of new prescriptions are new to GLP-1 class, and direct to consumer advertisement continues. In 2020, total Rebeldo sales reached DKK1.9 billion In its 1st financial year after broad launch, Enozempic was our best selling brand across the total product portfolio with DKK21.2 billion.
In International Operations, diabetes care sales grew by 11%, supported by all areas. Infine and GLP-one sales increased by 9% and 32%, respectively. We continue to tailor make our sales and marketing efforts and utilize our broad portfolio. We call it our market fit approach. This has resulted in a 1 percentage point increase in our diabetes value market share to 23%, while Novo Nordisk share of growth is well above this at 37%.
We have a broad pipeline that supports short, medium and long term opportunities. Within diabetes care, our commitment to insulin innovation continues. 2021 marks the 100 year anniversary of the discovery of insulin. What better way to mark this location than by progressing both early and late stage pipeline projects within insulin? Based on the encouraging Phase II results for once weekly insulin, we initiated the 1st Phase III trials for insulin ICODEC in the beginning of 2021.
Also towards the end of 2020, we initiated 2 Phase 1 trials with the IDEAL pump insulin and DNA immunotherapy for people living with type 1 diabetes. Within Obesity Care, we had a broad we had both regulatory submissions for semaglutide in obesity and Phase 1 results for the combination of amylin and semaglutide. Within other serious chronic diseases, 2 Phase II trials successfully completed, 1 with semaglutide in NASH and one with cintivecimab in cardiovascular disease. Consequently, we expect to initiate Phase III program for these assets in 2021. In addition, we expect to initiate Phase III trials with oral semaglutide in Alzheimer's disease.
I look forward to 2021. By the end of the year, we expect to have ongoing Phase III programs across all therapy areas and reaching an all time high number of patients enrolled in clinical trials. In closing, I would like to reiterate my belief that we are on track to deliver on our strategic aspirations 2025. We will hold ourselves accountable and provide updates on an ongoing basis. Looking to the future, I am confident that our clear strategy will make us a valued partner to society as the world continues on the road to recovery from the pandemic.
A special thanks to my colleagues around the world, our partners and collaborators, without whom we would not have succeeded. Lastly, I'd like to thank you, our shareholders, for your continued support. We have now reached item 2 of the agenda, presentation and adoption of the statutory annual report for 2020. The annual report was published on 3rd February 2021 and included financial results and the outlook for 2021. Sales and operating profit both grew by 7% at constant exchange rates.
In terms of functional lines, cost of goods sold increased by 5%, resulting in a gross margin of 83.5%. Sales and distribution costs increased by 6%, reflecting the continued investment in the global launches of Rebelsus and continued promotional activities for Ozempic as well as continued rollout of Saxenda. Research and development cost increased by 10%. This was driven by amortization of the priority review voucher for semaglutide in obesity, a higher activity level within other serious chronic diseases with the progression of the early pipeline as well as patient recruitment for ongoing cardiovascular outcome trials. Administration costs increased sorry, yes, administration costs increased by 1%.
Net sales net financial items showed a loss of around DKK1 1,000,000,000 driven by losses on unhedged currencies, which was partly offset by gains on hedged currencies. The effective tax rate was 20.7%. Furthermore, net profit increased by 8% and diluted earnings per share increased by 10%. Total assets increased by DKK19.3 billion to DKK144.9 billion from the end of 'nineteen to the end of 2020. The increase in total assets is primarily driven by non current assets due to the acquisition of Covidia Therapeutics and Hemisphere Technologies.
Free cash flow declined from DKK34.4 billion in 2019 to DKK28.6 billion in 2020. This was driven by the purchase of intangible assets of DKK16.3 billion, mainly relating to the 2 acquisitions. Hereby, we conclude the presentation of the income statement and the balance sheet. Now over to you, Helje, for our proposed capital allocation to our shareholders.
Thank you, Lars. In 2020, Novo Nordisk showed agility and resilience in very, very challenging times. And the COVID-nineteen pandemic has underscored the importance of continued innovation and relevance of businesses in times of crisis. We have delivered on our financial guidance and invested significantly in commercial launches and Research and Development. All in all, we are very satisfied with the progress made on our strategic aspirations, which has resulted in an attractive capital allocation to shareholders.
In 2020, the dividend payout ratio was 50%, and Novo Nordisk continued to buy back shares to return cash to shareholders, resulting in DKK 37,000,000,000 returned to shareholders. The proposed total dividend for 2020 will be elaborated upon later. I will close with a few words about what to expect in 2021. We have in our annual report mentioned that sales are expected to grow between 5% 9%, measured at constant exchange rates. This reflects expectations for continued sales growth in international operations, in line with the strategic aspiration as well as growth in North America operations.
Furthermore, the guidance reflects continued diabetes care sales growth, mainly driven by Ozempic and Rabelsys as well as growth within Obesity Care. The guidance also accounts for intensifying competition within diabetes care and biopharm and furthermore, continued pricing pressure within diabetes, especially in the U. S, is expected to impact sales as well. Operating profit growth is expected to be between 4% 8%, measured at constant exchange rates, reflecting the sales outlook as well as continued investments in current and future growth drivers. Reported sales growth is expected to be around 4 percentage points lower, and operating profit growth is expected to be around 6 points lower, both relative to constant exchange rates.
You can read more about the assumptions in the annual report. This brings me to item number 3 on the agenda, resolution to distribute the profit. And in August 2020, Novo Nordisk paid an interim dividend of NOK 3.25 per share, And the board proposes that the final dividend for 2020 is DKK5.85 per share, which is to be paid this month. Consequently, the total dividend will be DKK9.10 per share, and the total dividend increased by 9% compared with 2019, corresponding to a payout ratio of 50%. No dividend will be paid on the company's holding of own shares.
Moreover, early February this year, the board approved a new share repurchase program of up to DKK 17,000,000,000 to be executed over the course of 12 months. And the total program may be reduced in size in case of a significant bolt on acquisition. So now back to you, Claus.
Thank you. And that was the presentation of the first three items on the agenda: the report, the accounts and the distribution of profits. We will soon come back to questions and comments. We have already received some. But before we do so and in order to give everybody a chance to write questions to us, we'll also have a presentation of Item number 4, which is the remuneration report for 2020 and item number 5, which is support remuneration, the final one for 2020 and the level for 2021.
I hand over to Helje Lund again.
Thank you, Kjell. Again, this year, we have published a detailed description of the remuneration of board members and executives, and the remuneration report is accessible on our website. Let me give a description of executive's remuneration for 2020. Our remuneration principles approved by the Annual General Meeting provide the framework for the executives' remuneration. And the remuneration did not deviate from the remuneration principles.
And remuneration packages for executives comprise a base salary, a short term cash based incentive and a long term share based incentive, in addition, a pension contribution and other benefits. The total CEO remuneration was DKK56.5 million, that's 3% up compared to 2019. 51% of the remuneration has been paid out as salary and bonus, while 49% linked to pension and share incentive is deferred to a potential later payout. The targets for the short term incentive comprised growth in sales and operating profit, progress on our strategic aspirations and progress on leadership. In reviewing the CEO's and the company's performance against the targets set for short term incentive, the board has assessed that the performance results in 100% payout of the maximum.
The targets for the long term incentive comprised sales and economic value creation as well as targets relating to research and development and Environment, Social and Governance. Due to solid performance, the payout resulted in 83% of the maximum. We benchmark the remuneration of our CEO against 2 peer groups, a Nordic peer group consisting of large listed Nordic corporates from different industries and a European pharma peer group. And relative to the Nordic peer group, The CEO remuneration is above the upper quartile. But when comparing against the European Pharma peer group, the CEO remuneration is below the lower quartile.
The Board is very much aware that the company's executive remuneration is high viewed in a Danish context, and we are closely monitoring the public debate on executive pay levels, inequality and social cohesion. And 2020 was another very good year for Novo Nordisk despite the COVID-nineteen crisis. And Lars and the entire executive team have wisely led the company through the pandemic. We have safeguarded employees and secured continued supply of lifesaving medicines to patients and the society. At the same time, they have evolved the performance culture, which resulted in strong operational and financial performance.
In conclusion, I find the total remuneration of the CEO as well as the other executives to be at the right level. This brings me to the approval of the actual board remuneration for the 2020 and the remuneration level for 2021. Elaborate information about the board's remuneration is provided in the remuneration report, so I will limit my presentation to providing a summary of key elements. The Board remuneration consists of a fixed annual base fee, a multiplier of the fixed base fee for the chairmanship and members of the Board committees, fees for ad hoc tasks and a travel allowance as shown on the slide. At the Annual General Meeting in March 2020, it was decided to increase the annual base fee for board members to DKK 720 DKK 1,000.
And the actual remuneration for the members of the board for 2020 amounted to a total of DKK 17,000,000 and that corresponds to the remuneration level approved by the Annual General Meeting in March 2020. This is a decrease from 2019, primarily a result of less travel activity by Board members due to COVID-nineteen restrictions, leading to a reduction in travel allowances. You can see a breakdown of this amount in the remuneration report. The board remuneration has been implemented in in accordance with our remuneration policy as approved by the Annual General Meeting. We also compared board fees to a Nordic and a European benchmark.
And measuring against the Nordic benchmark, our Board fees are above the upper quartile with the exception that the Chairman fee where the board is between the median and the upper quartile. Comparing against peers in the European Pharma Industry, our board fees are either below the median or below the lower quartile. However, the fees paid for board committee membership are between the median and the upper quartile, and further details of all benchmarks are captured in our renovation report. On this background, I propose to the general meeting to adopt the actual remuneration for 20 '20. As regards the remuneration level for 2021, the board proposes to adjust the remuneration level in line with general salary inflation and thus increased remuneration by 2.2%, resulting in a base fee level of SEK 736,000.
Kroner. In addition, the board proposes that the travel allowance is similarly adjusted, in line with the salary inflation. The proposed remuneration level is as shown on the slide. I propose that the general Meeting adopts this remuneration level for 2021. Over to you, Claus.
Thank you. And we will now proceed to answering questions and taking comments from the shareholders. And we have received a couple of questions before the general meeting, and I will read them out loud. I'll read them in the language We received them in, and of course, it's possible to follow in English and Danish through the translation system. The first one we have is from the Danish Shareholders Association, and it's received from its Chairman, Mr.
Ole Soper. And I read, Jack Pfohl?
Thank you for giving me the floor, and thank you for a good full report. The Danish Association of Shareholders really appreciates that. Despite COVID-nineteen, we still have shareholder democracy. Contributions are read aloud. Replies are given by board management, and full minutes of the ATM can be found on the company's website subsequently.
Novo Nordisk's development in 2020 was a positive But positive after a number of years when revenue and operating earnings have sort of not changed much. The price for the share since 'sixteen has also not changed much. But in the annual report 2020, that's a good description of market opportunities and the company's aspirations up to 2025. They expect growth in sales and operating earnings every year. External analysts estimate that to be 5% to 10% Per year.
We live in a world of mobility and movement, things change. So what new developments are required, for instance, in NASH and obesity for the company's guidance towards 2025 To be more positive or negative, that was a specific question. The Danish Association of Shareholders have 3 things that we focus on in 'twenty one. First one is succession. Is the company good at finding new managerial candidates?
Secondly, the use of resalebearer schemes and thirdly, ensuring good guidance in an unpredictable era. Novo and its employees that work with shareholders are very good, very skillful. Guidance in 2020 was handled very well. So let's have a look at your talent development. How can you ensure you have good talent on the bench Ready to get on and take over the important positions in the company going forward.
And what about young people who have potential as top managers? How can you make sure they are not sort of sidetracked when they have maternity leave and small children? That was another specific question. The remuneration program, the full executive management received €50,000,000 8 to 10 years ago. But in recent years, it's now risen to over €200,000,000 even if the price of the share It's sort of flat compared with 10 years ago.
Now we have a good remuneration report, But we prefer to see pay based on results achieved. In America, they talk about greed is good, But greed? No. That's a risk of short term decisions, not beneficial in the long run. So what we're asking is, how is the executive management and the board Ensuring that on the bench you have talent with good balanced motivation not only attracted by high pay.
Finally, on behalf of the private investors, we wish Novo Nordisk all the best in 2021 and onwards. We look forward to seeing you again, hopefully, physically next year at the AGM.
As Forgo to comment on some of the questions and to the Chairman afterwards to follow-up.
Thank you, Claus, and also thank you to Jens Gagner, Schneur Feining, for both the comments and the questions. I'll start by addressing the first question in relation to what can impact the development of our future business. I'll start by noting the macroeconomic developments As the world is coming out of a pandemic, which has caused a lot of national governmental budgets to be put on the squeeze, In many countries, those are the same budgets that's going to pay for health care, including a product from Novo Nordisk. So the degree to which The macroeconomic growth will rebound and continue will be impacting the funds available to pay for what we provide to patients. Another aspect is as we enter new disease areas like it was mentioned in the letter, NASH and obesity, obviously, the quality of our clinical trials, the level of differentiation our product Springs compared to competition will be important.
These are very competitive categories, and we are fighting on the height of innovation each and every day. Then finally, I've mentioned that As we are developing markets, both for obesity, which Novo Nordisk is actually the key company developing, But also for NASH, which is a market characterized by no treatments today, depending on how we succeed in developing those markets and also Executing commercially against competition can provide a range within which we will perform. But we feel, as I mentioned in my report, confident in our ability to achieve the aspirations we have outlined in these strategic aspirations for 2025. With that, I'll hand over to you, Helje, for the other questions.
Thank you, Lars, and thank you for very important questions related to people, capability and leadership development. And Novo Nordisk, the company has high ambitions and therefore to build organizational capability to develop Talent is a critical item also in the board dialogue, and we are looking to build a capable, a diverse an inclusive organization. And we do that because we think that an inclusive And diverse organization actually can innovate better and therefore be better able to deliver on our purpose and deliver on values in value in the long term. We also know that leadership matters. So therefore, a systematic approach to develop leaders is important.
And this the way we work on this in the board that we have 2 very significant sessions per year on leadership Development and Succession and Organizational Capability is on the agenda on the chairmanship Meeting. And basically, in every conversation that Lars, the CEO, and myself have in talking about the challenges and the opportunities in Novo Nordisk. And of course, the objective should be that in every critical position in Novo Nordisk, there should be a leadership pipeline of succession candidates that can jump in if we need to move people on into new positions. The second question is how do we take care or ensure that also female leadership talents can compete for the relevant positions. In my mind, and I think the way the board thinks about this, it starts with a deep commitment on the Board of Directors and with the top leadership team, including Lars, to really create a diverse and inclusive organizations.
The way we have approached it is now that in every part of the Nordisk Organization, there should be local action plans to develop more diversity. And those are followed up in the performance conversations that we have in the company. And it's also included in incentive plans to make sure that we treat this as a performance item as it is. We also are working with Very specific and concrete tools to make sure that we take away biases in our processes. That means that we expect people to have diverse cadet lists when we are employing new deploying into new positions, that we have recruitment plans for the most important jobs so that we ensure that we have a broad and diverse views on candidates.
I think also it's important to work with Flexibility in terms of work pattern as we have done during the COVID period so that couples can have a more flexible and be in a better position to take demanding Jobs, part of that is also to look at ways we can share in a better way paternity or maternity leaves, which hopefully over time will improve the opportunities for both gender to compete equally for jobs. So it's a very comprehensive effort. I would like to say that we are making progress, but the performance or the progress has not yet been transformational. So we have a job to do at the board and in the executive team on this. So more to come over the next couple of years.
On remuneration, I very much agree with the line of the questioning. If we recruit people that are only motivated by salary, we are doing a mistake, and we are not. The driver, I think, of the whole effort in Novo Nordisk is our purpose to defeat diabetes and other chronic diseases. And that sends the signals what kind of people we would like to recruit to know, people who would like to have an impact to own patients positively on the society and on other stakeholders. Over many decades, also the companies have worked to make sure we always have very strong values that direct the actions that our employees and the leadership are taking at all times.
And also, you have seen that we are not only incentivizing leaders and the organization on financial performance only. We have we follow a broad set of scorecards that covers purpose, society, innovation, execution out in the markets and in our manufacturing sites and also, of course, the financial performance. So in that sense, we feel that we have a quite balanced way of incentivizing our workforce and our leaders, and we will continue to work in that light. Thank you.
And we have received another question. It's from Kriti Skaggs Schone, and the question reads,
So what can the board say about the purchase of green
The question on our efforts for reducing CO2 emission and thereby allowing us to address our circular financial responsibility strategy. In Novo Nordisk, our energy consumption is a mix of different energy sources such as power, steam, district heating, gas. And around half of our energy consumption is electrical power. In 2020, the electricity consumed by all our global Production facilities was based on renewable power emitting no CO2. And this was achieved as we have For 2 decades, focused on supporting large and long term energy and infrastructure projects rather than building and operating our own local wind farms or solar plants.
So through this strategy, we have been instrumental in ensuring the viability of the offshore wind farm, Hornslow-two in Denmark and more recently, a solar farm in North Carolina in the U. S. So this means that Novo Nordisk has not added any CO2 emissions through its power consumption in 2020. For us to be able to document that the power is renewably sourced, we purchased the supporting certificates. And these certificates ensure that the amount of power resourced is renewable.
And that's a mechanism that's recognized by the EU, by Danish states and international organizations such as IE100. So it's important for us to support the green transition by sending a very clear signal of demanding renewable energy to the market, so we thereby support establishment of that market. Thank you. And now back to you, Claus.
Thank you. And we have received another question, which really relates to what has already been presented By the Chairman, but the question came in before you said what you did. I'll read it out loud. It's from Sinead Ellinbauer. You talked about your work to further diversity.
What are your thoughts on diversifying the Board and the leadership team? The percentages of women in leadership decrease with the leadership levels. Also, when you attend this general meeting, Well, for instance, 0% women presenting. That doesn't make Novo Nordisk look like a very diverse company. Hand over to you.
So thank you, Claus, and thank you for the question. It is an important question, and it is important for many reasons. One of them is that we would like to create a company that performs and that innovate over the long term. And in order to do that, We have to be able to attract and develop a diverse workforce. We are making progress.
We have a whole range of initiatives in action, but we have not yet made the acceleration that we want in this area. So we have a job to do. And I think it's a good challenge that you give us also that When a company presents itself, ideally, we should have a much more balanced gender composition than we have today and also cover other diversity The perspectives, I'll take you into the board agenda of Novo Nordisk. This is one of the most important topics we discuss in our strategy session now in June and again in December later this year. And I can assure you that this is a topic that is part of every conversation that Lars and I have, and we are committed to make change over the next few years on this in the right direction.
And probably an issue that will be followed up on coming general meetings. We have received no further questions with regard to the first five items on the agenda. So we will close the year debate on those 5. And I know from the proxies, from the votes we have already received that they will all be approved, so I won't carry out any Formal voting, I'll just state that item 1, that was the report for the year That has been taken notice of. Item 2 was the annual accounts.
They have been approved. Item 3 was the distribution of dividend. That has been approved. Item 4 was the remuneration report. It has been approved.
And item 5 was 2 things. It was the final An unchanged approval of the year board fees for 2020, that was approved. And the other one was the year levels for 2021. That included an indexing as described, and that has been approved too. And that brings us to the next item on the agenda, which is item 6.
That is the Board of Directors, And it is, as a follow-up to that, the appointment of auditors. And we'll make a presentation of those two items together and then come back and conclude afterwards. Please again remember that it's still possible to submit questions. So if you have Any questions, proposals, suggestions for other candidates and so forth, please make sure to do it as fast as possible. We will come back with a conclusion when we have been through the two items.
It follows from Article 10, 2 of the articles of association that all board members are elected by the general meeting each year in addition to the ones appointed by the employees of the company. The general meeting shall elect the Chairman and the Vice Chairman of the Board directly, So it's not for the board to make that afterwards. And the total board elected by the general meeting must be between 4 10 members. It is good corporate governance to reflect on the results of the Board's self evaluation before turning to the actual election of the Board members. So I'll hand over to Helge Loth again to present that.
Thank you, and let me start with a few words on the collaboration among the board members and the composition of the board itself. As previously mentioned, we I've had a very good collaboration in the board the recent year. We have had at each meeting discussed our response to the pandemic, both from a business and a societal point of view. At the same time, we have made sure that the company developed in the right direction, among other things, to meet our strategic aspirations for 2025. Each year, the board conducts an evaluation.
In 2020, the evaluation was facilitated by an external consultant working exclusively with board effectiveness reviews. And the evaluation resulted in a continued focus on board culture, evolving the induction for new members of the board, documentation and presentations, competency profile and also the ask for more informal time between the members and also how the company have been affected by the COVID-nineteen. With respect to the composition of the board, The Board, assisted by the nomination committee, has defined a set of competences and experiences to be represented on the Board, and these are listed in the notice for today's meeting. In December 2020, the board also renewed Its diversity ambition, thus, it is aimed at at least 2 shareholders' elected members, our own Nordic nationality and 2 are on non Nordic nationality. It's also the ambition to have at least 3 shareholder elected board members of each gender by 2024.
With the candidates proposed for election today, the board will fulfill its nationality ambition but not the gender ambition, and the board will collectively process the desired competencies and experience. The board and the nomination committee will stay mindful of closing the gap on our gender ambition. So now back to you again, Claus.
Thank you. And we have received no other questions or candidates during this presentation, so I'll go to the Actual agenda. The first item is the election of a Chairman, and the Board proposes reelection of Henrik Lund, Helje Lund, as Chair of the Board of Directors. With regard to executive functions, etcetera, I can refer to the call for the meeting where they are detailed. With regard to the Vice Chairman, The Board proposes reelection of Jepa Kristiansen.
And also with regard to educational backgrounds, other executive functions, etcetera, I can refer to the call for the meeting where they are specified. With regard to the rest of the Board, the current Board members, Brian Daniels and Liz Hewitt, have decided not to seek reelection to the Board of Directors and thus will not be up for election. The Board proposes to reelect Laurence Debrault, Andreas Fiebig, Sylvie Gregoire, Kassim Coutay and Martin Mackay as members of the Board of Directors. And besides this, The Board nominates Henrik Poulsen for election as a new member of the Board, a total of 6 members for election to the board as ordinary board members. And I hand over to the Chairman of the Board to motivate the proposal.
Thank you, Ist. So Henrik Posen is a Danish national and a senior advisor to AP Mueller Holding and as part of this role, also Chair of ERK in Denmark. He is Deputy Chair of the Board of ISS and Carlsberg and he's member of the Supervisory Board of Bertelsmann and Board Member of and Novo Holdings. Until end April this year, He is Deputy Chair of Kinnevik. And prior to this, Henrik was the CEO and President of in Denmark, a global leader in renewable energy.
His CV is presented here, and his detailed qualifications are also described in the notice convening this general meeting. And we recommend election of Henrik Paulsson due to his extensive executive and Board experience In large international companies, significant financial knowledge and in-depth knowledge of strategy, transformation, innovation and mergers and acquisitions. The selection process was undertaken by the nomination committee and assisted by an executive search firm, and several suitable candidates were identified. And it was a requirement that diversity was taken into account with regard to experience, background and gender. At the end, the best candidate was a male Dane.
As previously mentioned, the board does not as of yet fulfill its gender ambition of at least 3 shareholder elected members of each gender by 2024. We find that being diverse in gender and nationality is of continued importance, and we'll continue to work with securing the desired diversity on the board. So back to you, Claus.
Thank you. And we have now received the presentation of the proposal from the Board with regard to the Chairman, the Vice Chairman And the ordinary members of the Board. I can mention that in addition to that, of course, there will be employee representatives on the Board of Novo Nordisk. Board employee representatives are always elected for a 4 year term by the employees, and they were elected in 2018. The employee representatives, therefore, remain to be made by Jenssen, Anna Marie Klaerneeland, Thomas Randhsaer and Stig Stoeberg.
Before I conclude on the actual election on the Shareholder elected board members. I will present item number 7, which is the appointment of the auditors, And I will still remember the audience, the shareholders, that it is possible to ask questions if you have any with regard to item 67. In respect of the year proposal under Item 7, it's a proposal from the Board of Directors that Deloitte states how to assure that revision partner, salescape, is being appointed as the company's new auditors, and I invite the Chairman of the Board, Hilud to go through the rationale for the appointment.
Thank you, Claus. First and foremost, I would like to thank to price Waterhouse Coopers for their aspiring and services to Novo Nordisk since 1982. And most recently, Morgans, Morgans and Mats Mel Gore have been the lead auditors, and I will extend a personal thanks to both of them. In 2019, we initiated the process of identifying a new auditor due to the legal requirements of rotating auditors. The selection process was undertaken by the audit committee, who found 3 potential candidates.
The audit committee recommended proposing Deloitte as new auditor due to their significant experience with the pharmaceutical industry, its experience working with the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board and insights into the U. S. Market as well as its approach to digitalization in auditing. In addition, Deloitte possess good insights into Novo Nordisk. During 2020 and the beginning of 2021, Deloitte has functioned as a shadow auditor, and the audit committee upholds its recommendation, and we have decided to follow the recommendation and propose the appointment of Deloitte.
If Deloitte is elected, then I look forward to working with the lead auditors, Anders Danz and Jeffrey Ellis. So back to you, Claus.
Thank you. And we have not received any other proposals or any questions during the presentation of the items 6 And item 7. So I think it is safe for me to proceed and conclude on these items. That means That with regard to the Board of Directors, the Chairman, Helio Lund, has been reelected for 1 year. The Vice Chairman, Jeppe Kristjansson, has been reelected for 1 year.
And with regard to the ordinary board members, Laurence Debrault Andreas Fiebig, Sylvie Gregoire, Cassim Coutay, Martin Mackay and Henrik Paulsen has been elected. And that is then in addition to the employee representatives on the board. And with regard to item 7, we can also conclude that Deloitte has been confirmed as auditors for the company in the coming year. Congratulations with that. That brings us to item number 8, which is proposals from the Board of Directors and proposals from the shareholders.
Some of these proposals include changes to the articles of association where there was a special quorum Requirements and where it has to be a super majority that will approve. And I've already mentioned at the start of the meeting that we do fulfill those requirements thereunder so we can proceed. I would still like to emphasize that shareholders can presents questions to us with regard to all these different issues we have on the agenda under agenda item number 8. If a request for voting has been received, the voting will take place following the full presentation of the year items. I will present them individually.
The first one is 81, which is a proposal to reduce the capital, which is something that has been going on for several years. It's a part of the repurchase of shares. We followed up every year by a reduction of the share capital, and here the proposal is to reduce with 8,000,000 shares. If that is approved, which I expect it will be, then there will be issued a notice that's required under the law, and the actual reduction will take place 4 weeks later. The second one is 82, which is treasury stock, its own shares, Well, the company, like always and like basically all listed companies, ask for a general authorization to be able to purchase its own shares.
And that's also a part of the buyback program that resulted in the capital decrease we just looked at. The authorization, which the board is asking for, is the standard. 1 year until next year, It is 10% of the share capital. There is a holding limit. So even including those the company is already holding, it should not Be more and it should not exceed 10%, and the price should be based on the stock price with a deviation allowed up to 10%.
The next one is 8.3. It is authorization to the Board of Directors to increase The company's share capital, it is divided between 2 authorizations. They are both quite uncontroversial. The first one is simply taking away an authorization, which the board already has because the board says it has no need for it. And the other one is simply to extend the existing authorization to increase the share capital with up to 10% and at the same time reducing it, taking care of the reduction of the share capital, which we treated under 8.1.
So it's again business as usual. Then coming to 84 and 85. The first one, 84, is indemnification of the Board of Directors and the executive management. And item 5 is amendments to the remuneration policy. And this is not just technicalities, so I hand over to the Chairman of the Board, to Helio Loth, to present the proposals.
Thank you, Claus. The board has proposed to adopt a scheme for indemnification of board members and executives, And let me first provide a bit of background. Our current remuneration policy adopted by the Annual General Meeting in 2020 stipulates that it is the company's policy to take out customary directors' and officers' liability insurance. And if the insurance coverage is insufficient to indemnify to the furthest extent permitted by law and the company's articles of association. Novo Nordisk has taken out customer DNO insurance, but we are experiencing increasing difficulties in taking these insurances with a sufficient coverage on reasonable terms.
So we consider it in the best interest of the company and the shareholders that the directors and officers are offered appropriate indemnification with respect to claims raised by 3rd parties against them in the discharge of their duties, inter alia in order to attract suitable candidates for board and management positions. But as the insurance cover may become more restricted, more expensive or both, the importance of the company indemnifying board members and executives increases. Accordingly, the Board proposes that the Annual General Meeting adopts a scheme for indemnification of the directors and officers to the fullest extent permitted by applicable law and that the scheme be reflected in the remuneration policy. The details of the proposed scheme are described in the notice for today's Annual General Meeting and in the proposed remuneration policy. Any material changes to the scheme will be presented to the general meeting for approval.
And in any event, the scheme will, together with the remuneration policy, in general, be presented to the general meeting every 4th year for approval. That brings me to agenda item 8.5, amendments to the remuneration policy. And last year, the Annual General Meeting approved a new remuneration policy. In addition to the proposal to reflect the indemnification scheme, the board proposes clarifications on 5 points: allowances to support executives' international mobility clawback of incentives paid in cases of breach of implied conditions and in cases of bad faith, the board's discretion to override the formulaic outcome under the incentive programs, a clarification that the long term incentive program offered to executives is capped at the number of shares at the time of grant and finally, a clarification that the targets applied in the long term incentive program may be waived or adjusted if the target becomes obsolete or not appropriate due to events which could not be taken into account at the beginning of the performance period. The same possibility already applies to our short term incentive program under our current policy.
The proposed remuneration policy will, if adopted, apply to remuneration in relation to the calendar year 2021 and later as well as to agreements on remuneration entered into extended or changed following today's Annual General Meeting. The Board proposes 3 amendments to the company's articles of association, as you can see on this slide. 1st, to be able to conduct general meetings virtually just like today without having to rely on emergency legislation. But this week, we can continue to support by the shareholders' possibilities for participating in posing questions and voting at our future general meetings irrespective of potential hindrances to participate in person. This does not mean that we only will conduct virtual meetings in the future, but it will be it will enable the board to decide the most appropriate approach.
Secondly, to be able to issue documents used for the general meeting in English only. This will align the language to other corporate documents such as annual reports and company announcements. And lastly, the board wishes to secure and support that individual voting preferences of holders of American depository receipts can be submitted by the ADR depository and included in the voting results of the general meetings by allowing differentiation awards. So back to you, Claus.
Thank you. And that was a presentation of the 6 Proposals from the Board of Directors in 8.1 to 8.6. And that brings us to 8.7. 8.7 is a proposal received from shareholder, And the proposal is described in the year in the notice for the general meeting, and it has been received from Kratiska Arschnei, and it can be approved with a simple majority. And I'll read out the proposal.
The Board of Directors of Novo Nordisk must, together with the Novo Nordisk Foundation, make a plan for how to Change the ownership to be without private shareholders through continued purchase of shares so that in time the company shall not pay dividends Private investors and shall not direct the business based on benefiting foreign investors by dividends, but shall only spend the company's profit on developing and producing vaccines and as far as possible on reducing the prices paid by consumers. And the reasoning behind it, In 2020, Novo Nordisk had a profit in excess of DKK 40,000,000,000 40 percent of the profit, more than DKK 20,000,000,000 is proposed to be distributed money which could have otherwise been spent for the benefit of health related purposes. In no way does Novo Nordisk need to be stock exchange listed and should therefore, through increased purchase of shares, Work towards freeing itself from the stock exchange, concurrently, the distribution of dividends can be reduced. I know that there will be an additional comment from Kritikskaya Achonea. And I think I will read that out now in loud before I hand over to the Chairman of the Board to comment, and I do that in Danish because we have received that in
In the last 5 years, Novo Nordisk has paid out extraordinary dividend to external private shareholders, Approximately something like €19,000,000,000 to €20,000,000,000 has been paid out to the shareholders. 2020, the amount has even increased. You're paying out more than €21,000,000,000 to shareholders is a huge amount, but that's not the end of it because the company is also Giving away other money, you could say, share buybacks, also going up, but it's like €15,000,000,000, €16,000,000,000 a year That they're spending on that. So all in all, the company, Novo Nordisk, over the last 5 years, has paid just under DKK 180,000,000,000 krona in the form of dividend and share buyback. It's really shocking because this is money that could be spent much better to the benefit of Far more people in 2020.
You had a profit of €40,000,000,000 is a wonderful amount. This is a very healthy company. And it continues. Again, it's a wonderful amount. It's a very healthy company.
But unfortunately, They give the money to private shareholders, half the profit. This is money that could and should be spent on health purposes or to the benefit of consumers. It's a very rich company. They have a lot of capital. The financial statements show that very clearly.
That kind of company does not need To go for profit together with external sort of shareholders, it's not necessary at all. So you should drop your listing on the stock exchange. You don't need it. You don't need external investors. The money as you go where it can benefit society.
The need for development, production and accessibility has never been bigger. The right thing to do in this connection I'm conditioned in this situation is to free yourself from the stock exchange by buying more of your own shares. It actually continues. In line with this, The payment of dividend can be reduced and phased out in favor of more beneficial investments. You can develop vaccines.
You can Your progress can be cheaper. I hope you can see this is reasonable. You need to take a long term perspective. Novo should not look at the short term profits And should realize how much the company could do if they really wanted to. Thank you for your attention.
With additional comments, I hand over to the Chairman of the Board to comment on the Proposal 87.
Thank you, Clausen, and thank you for the proposal. I'm pleased to see the trust that a shareholder has in Novo Nordisk, and this is, of course, positive. However, the Board of Directors does not support the proposal. Our current ownership structure allows for long term stability and short term flexibility, and the board considers it to be of benefit to Novo Nordisk to have many shareholders and to be a listed company. For example, it exposes us to the perspectives from multiple shareholders.
And further, it provides capital flexibility. For example, if Novo Nordisk were in need of funding of future activities such as additional research and development activities or wish to acquire a large company. Back to you, Claus.
Thank you. And I can also inform the general meeting that the shareholder, Kriti Skaarz Schoneer, have asked for a vote on H7, and that will take place in a moment. I will go back now because we have received no more comments to the Seven proposals we have under 8. And I will conclude on 8.1 to 8.6, and then we'll take the vote with regard to 87. I will consider the reduction of the BCR capital to have been approved with the required majority.
The authorization to repurchase own shares under A2 has been approved. The authorization to increase the company's share capital, the 10% one, has been approved, and it's been approved to remove the other Authorization. Under 84, the indemnification of the Board of Directors and the executive management has been approved. 8.5, the changes to the remuneration policy, which did include adding to the text The decision concerning the indemnification and certain other changes as described has been approved. And in H6, we had the 3 Different proposals with regard to the articles of association, and they have also been approved.
And as I have said before, A lot of shares have voted already before the meeting, and the numbers we have received will be indicated in the minutes or as exhibit to the minutes, which will be available within 2 weeks. And that brings us to Section 87, the proposal from Kritigskap Where we will carry out the votes, and we will now start the votes in the way that Those who are in favor of the year proposal from Kritiska Axioneia can vote
for.
Those who are against the proposal and thereby following the Board's recommendation are against. And if you neither want to say yes or no, you can abstain from voting. And you will have it directly on your screen. We'll start the voting, and it will be open for about 30 seconds. And we have the results, and we can get it on the screen.
And as we can see, the year proposal has not been carried. It was a majority no with 99.54 Percent. And that finalizes item 8, which was a long one with many separate items and brings us to Item number 9, which is any other business. Under this item, we could catch you up if We have any outstanding comments from before. Of course, we can't change the conclusions, but we have this far not received any other questions Comments.
So if anybody has a question or a comment, it's really time now to inform us. But before I conclude, finally, I will hand over to the Chairman of Support, to Hilli Dord.
So I would like to extend thanks to Liz Hewitt and Brian Daniels. Liz has served on the board since 2012 and has for many years also been the chair of the Audit Committee. Further, Liz has been both a member of the nomination and the remuneration committees. And Brian has been a member of the board since 2016 and been a member of both the research and development and the remuneration committees. And I would like to thank Liz and Brian for their valuable contributions to Novo Nordisk, to the work of the Board of Directors and in the Board of Committees on which they have served.
I now give the word back to you, Claus.
Thank you very much. And I can see that no more questions or comments have been received, and that Actually finalizes the formal part of the agenda, and I'll hand back to Helio Lund to conclude and close the general meeting. Thank you from me.
Thank you, and I would like to thank all the shareholders for attending this first fully virtual Annual General Meeting. And Novo Nordisk values the interactions with shareholders, and we had hoped to conduct the Annual General Meeting physically this year. In 2021, we will evaluate the different options for conducting the Annual General Meeting, including the option of conducting the meeting as a hybrid meeting with the possibility of attending both physically or virtually. I want to thank the chair of the meeting for having guided us professionally through the meeting, and I hereby declare the general meeting were closed. Thank you.