Good morning, everybody. I'd like to welcome you to this annual shareholders meeting for EssilorLuxottica, and thank you for attending. It is with great pride that I declare our sixth ASM open with Paul and alongside us, all the executives of the group. With Leonardo Del Vecchio, we dreamed of a great group, a European champion, full of young, talented people, innovation, and technology. Today, we are celebrating the fact that this dream has come true. Six years have passed since EssilorLuxottica was established today or created. Still with the same enthusiasm, we are working with determination to continue to achieve our shared vision. Paul and I would like to thank all our colleagues for the results they have achieved and to express our deepest gratitude for your support and your trust. I'm now going to hand over to Mr.
Alexander Lunshof , secretary to the meeting, for the legal and technical formalities. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Dear shareholders, welcome to you all. I'd like to first of all draw your attention to the public nature of this general shareholder meeting, where there are a number of journalists attending in the room. It is forbidden to film or broadcast images of this meeting without prior authorization from the company. This meeting will be broadcast later by the company's website, starting from 6:30 PM this evening. Before we go into the presentations of all the speakers, I propose that we compose the executive bureau of the meeting, of which Mr. Francesco Milleri will assure its presidency in his capacity as chairman of the board of directors.
To fulfill the position of scrutineers, I'm going to ask two shareholders present with the largest number of votes and who have accepted to fulfill this position. Mr. Romolo Bardin, representing the lead shareholder, Delfin, and Ms. Virginie Mercier-Pitre, representing Valoptec Association. I'd like to thank them for accepting that position as scrutineers. I'd like to thank Mr. Francesco Milleri and the scrutineers for having appointed me as secretary to the meeting. The statutory auditors of our company are in attendance, in particular, Mr. Jean-Luc Barlet from the firm of Mazars, who will present the reports concerning the resolutions submitted to your approval. The provisional quorum amounts to 83.28% of shareholders.
The general meeting, having convened more than 25% of shares with voting rights and is now legally constituted and can deliberate legally, both for the ordinary and extraordinary agenda. The final quorum will be announced before we vote on resolutions. The executive bureau of the meeting has available to you the newspapers in which the convocation and the prior notification of the meeting stipulated by law, along with all the documents stipulated by current statutes. All prior documents have been made available at the head, the company's headquarters and on the websites under legal and regulatory conditions. Shareholders were able to vote via internet before the annual shareholders meeting on the secure, dedicated website, which opened on the 12th of April, and which closed yesterday at 3:00 PM, in accordance with current legislation.
This meeting will be organized in the form of presentations, in particular, those by Mr. Francesco Milleri, Chairman and Chief Executive, and Paul du Saillant, Deputy Chief Executive. To be followed by the presentation by Mr. Stefano Grassi, concerning the 2023 annual results, and then by Stefano Genco, who will present an insight into Nuance Audio, a new disruptive technology that is at the crossroads of vision and audition, and Pierl uigi Longo, who will present the vision and strategy of EssilorLuxottica for the digital transformation of the eyesight health sector. Elena Di Michino and Anurag Hans will talk about the noteworthy events in 2023 in terms of sustainable development and the EssilorLuxottica mission. In conclusion, I will hand over to Andrea Zappia, Chair of the Nominations and Compensation Committee, and to Jean-Luc Barlet, the statutory auditor.
This will be followed by a session of questions and answers and votes on the draft resolutions. The agenda is displayed behind me on the screen. I therefore suggest that we have a brief summary... The 34 resolutions proposed by the board of directors include 24 resolutions under the ordinary session of the meetings. Resolutions 1-3 concern the approval of the company and annual consolidated accounts and the allocation of results. Resolution 4 is intended to cover the agreements and regulatory commitments submitted to your approval as per legislation or regulations. Resolutions 5-7 are intended to improve the compensation factors paid during 2023 to the company officers, say on pay or what we call ex post. Resolutions 8-10 are intended to improve the compensation policy paid in 2023 to company officers, the say on pay or ex ante vote.
Resolutions 5 to 10 were specifically reviewed and adopted upon the proposal of the Nominations and Compensation Committee. Mr. Andrea Zappia will report on the committee's work on these compensation factors. Resolutions 11 to 22 are intended to appoint members of the board. Resolution 23 concerns the appointment of PricewaterhouseCoopers Audit as the statutory auditor to certify the information concerning sustainability. Resolution 24 is intended to renew the authorization, enabling the company to buy back its own shares. Then there will be nine extraordinary resolutions. Resolution 25 concerns the authorization to be given to the board of directors to reduce the company capital by canceling treasury shares. Resolutions 26 to 31 are intended to implement a range, a comprehensive range of financial delegations to give the board of directors the requisite flexibility under strictly defined limits to make the most of the operations that may occur.
Each of these resolutions make it possible to increase capital, equating to specific conditions and terms with a specific ceiling. Resolution 31 defines a global ceiling for all operations if they had to be combined. Resolution 32 is intended to renew the delegation of authority granted to the board of directors to decide on the increase in capital by issuing shares reserved or restricted to members of a corporate savings plan, with the elimination of preferential subscription rights. Resolution 33 is intended to authorize the board of directors to award freely current shares, known as performance shares, to members of the staff and/or company officers and executives. Finally, the last resolution, number 34, under the ordinary system, concerns the authority required for the legal formalities following the decisions made by the annual shareholders meeting. Now I'm going to hand over to Mr.
Francesco Milleri, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of EssilorLuxottica.
Now let's start with our presentation, which will give you more color on the strong result we have achieved as EssilorLuxottica. Six years ago, we merged Essilor and Luxottica, two industry pioneers and leading global companies. After six years, after two board mandates, with the acquisition of GrandVision and more than 100 other M&A transactions, we have built a vertically integrated powerhouse, unlike anything else in the world. Today, we are among the top 10 CAC 40 companies, but EssilorLuxottica still remains a young company, a start-up with plenty of opportunities ahead, from med to tech, from luxury to digital. We are well on our way. I'm proud to share today an update on the key numbers we presented the last year that better describe what we achieved since the merger. These figures tell us a great story of success. Market capitalization.
When we announced the merger on October 1, 2018, EssilorLuxottica had a market cap of EUR 46 billion. Today, it's above EUR 90 billion, but our aim is to cross soon the EUR 100 billion milestone. Revenues. In 2018, our pro forma revenues was approximately EUR 16 billion. We closed 2023 with EUR 25.4 billion revenues, a 57% increase. Net income, it amount to EUR 1.8 billion six years ago. Today is EUR 2.9 billion, with a 66% increase. Dividends. In 2018, we paid EUR 0.9 billion in dividends. Six years later, we have doubled that value, distributing dividend for EUR 1.8 billion. Employees and employee shareholders. We had 140,000 employees at the birth of EssilorLuxottica. Today, we are a global community of more than 200,000 people.
Nearly half of our employees around the globe are shareholders of the company. They are 80,000 today, almost double in the original community, reflecting their confidence in our group. In six years, we have redistributed to all our employees EUR 4 billion of the value created, EUR 1 billion just in 2023, in the form annual performance bonus, performance shares, share matching, profit sharing, and dividends. All this on top of ordinary remuneration. The share price have moved in the last six years with the same pace. We closed last Friday at 203 EUR per share, almost doubling our first trading day in French stock exchange.
As you see, despite the difficult and uncertain time we have gone through, the pandemic, ongoing conflict in Ukraine and in the Middle East, growing inflation, and more, our group, your group, is stronger than ever. We have built the only end-to-end player in the industry. Think about it. EssilorLuxottica has a leading presence across all geographies, all business segment, and all trade channels. We are one of the leading specialty retailers in the world. We realize our vision of EssilorLuxottica as an open, collaborative, and omni-channel company, capable of elevating the whole industry, bringing every player with us. To continue writing this beautiful story of our industry and to expand beyond its boundaries, we have a clear vision based on three main strategic drivers. It's coming. Yeah. First, AI and wearable. Ray-Ban Meta, especially with the multimodal AI, is showing that...
Is showing what our future in wearable may look like, hands-free, easy to use, and voice-activated interaction with an AI-based digital companion, with style and comfort. In our future, we see more and more simple, light, comfortable pair of good-looking glasses with a tech heart inside. We have a real opportunity to build both our daily universe and growing metaverse around our product, finding new synergy and convergence with other industry and categories. One of the most highly anticipated tech products of the year is our Nuance Audio, which bring together sight and sound into one single product. Then med tech and big data, which are closely connected.
Something you may not think about is the fact that hundreds of millions of consumers interact with our brands every day, and hundreds of millions of data every day help us to predict consumer trends and market needs, and to develop our innovation path. Varilux XR, the new lens technology we launched last year, is an example of the way big data is improving our product. For us, this is a gateway to med tech we are increasingly going into. Software and services for the vision care space, advanced diagnostics, telemedicine, and more. HELIX, our new digital division, and Vision(X), launching soon in North America, will transform the way eye care practices use modern technology to run their business. This kind of transformation is one we want to lead, even beyond our industry. And to close the loop, our iconic brands, loved by people everywhere in the world.
We manage today more than 150 brands, from eyewear to lens technology and retail banners. Our house brands, together with our long-lasting licenses, will support our growth in the years to come. They will be our ambassador of style and innovation to consumer everywhere. And now, with this clear ambition in mind, I hand it over to Paul, who will give more color on our asset. Thank you.
Thank you, Francesco. Hello, and welcome to everyone. It's always a great pleasure to be with you. This event, as you've seen, our strategic vision, which Francesco has just talked about, made it possible for us to carry on in 2023, the solid growth at 7% that we have experienced since 2021, driven by our unique position and bold position at the intersection of multiple categories: spectacles, digital, med tech, and now hearing solutions. As you've understood, this makes EssilorLuxottica a group that is entirely unique within our sector and beyond. I wanted to share with you six key priorities that are the major assets for our company. Firstly, innovation. You know how much it lies at the heart of our strategy.
Francesco talked to you about the three major initiatives in the fields of med tech and big data that we announced to the market in 2023, and which will shape our future. But at EssilorLuxottica, innovation also means a high degree of inventiveness at the heart of our products and our brands. So, we have continued to develop new categories. For example, managing myopia with Stellest. We launched our biggest pipeline of innovations to date with a new Varilux, the XR series, based on artificial intelligence and the digital twin. More recently, Transitions Gen S and Ray-Ban Reverse, products that are really innovative. We've also added, alongside the very main major marks that we are proud to have, Armani, Chanel, Prada, other iconic brands in our portfolio.
In one year, Swarovski, Brunello Cucinelli, Ferrari, Jimmy Choo, Moncler, and a collaboration with Oliver Peoples, with Roger Federer, while renewing over the long term, specific agreements with our historic partners such as Michael Kors and recently Dolce & Gabbana. You can see a lot of dynamism in the core of the product offering and brand offering. I wanted to mention in passing that one of the things and one of our strategic things we, we will be presenting to the... They'll be there at the Olympic Games through all our ambassadors, with a dedicated space at the Palais Brongniart, the Sephora. Now, this growth is based on deep industrial know-how that's key, and which we will strengthen with significant investment we have done in recent years.
In 2023, we launched two key industrial campuses, one in Thailand, the other in Mexico, as well as a prescription laboratory in the Paris region, just 20 kilometers south of here. That is home to the best technologies and will be a global worldwide reference. Our strong commitment in sustainable development lies at the heart of these projects, with considerable investment in our carbon footprint certification, LEED certification, and optimization in all forms. Third priority, the creation of a unified company. It's important that we've mentioned this to you. It's a huge task that we have done through all our colleagues worldwide. The integration of GrandVision continued with great efficiency in the last year and contributed to the development of the market. We have continued to unify our IT infrastructure, supply chain, and cover and consolidate our teams through all over the world.
Through the Leonardo platform, an initiative that is very highly innovative initiative, our ecosystem of online training, we have created a shared culture, a platform of shared knowledge for all our staff members and players in the industry. Over 2.7 million hours of training were given last year. Let's talk now of our presence in the heart of our markets. It can be expressed now through relations with partners, with 300,000 professionals, eye care professionals, third parties, who are our clients, and who are supported by the full division of Professional Solutions that, as you will see in the figures later, had very good growth.
But in the markets, we're also present with 18,000 shops in the world and 73 e-commerce platforms, and we are constantly developing them. Two examples last year in the direct-to-consumer activity, the Chalhoub activity we created in the Gulf area, and more recently, the acquisition of Washin Megane in Japan, an important milestone to move our market of eyewear distribution in those countries. Elena and Anurag are going to tell you more about sustainable development and the progress we have made in our program, Eyes on the Planet, and all the OneSight EssilorLuxottica Foundation activity. To close, our teams. You know how much the human dimension is dear to our hearts, both for Francesco and myself, and also all the leaders in this company. Now, three things we need to consider and bear in mind.
We have consolidated our organization around a team of outstanding leaders who are managing 200,000 coworkers who are both skilled, rich in diversity, inclusive culture, and very much committed. I think about our teams in Israel and in the Ukraine, facing a very challenging situation right now. At the beginning of this year, we deployed new values, both strong and modern, which represent us and to which we adhere. They are derived from the collective work conducted by 100,000 people, bringing together our values and expressing them around a common culture.
Finally, as Francesco already has said, we continue reinforcing our worker shareholding program, thanks to your trust, with two programs: Boost, trying to include as many colleagues as we can, and the performance share, shares, which are targeting 5,000 managers, based on the company's performance. 80,000 people are involved in 86 countries. This is unique. In total, 30,000 people are also members of the Valoptec Association, which speaks volumes regarding their trust in the group's strategy and how committed they are. These are the main ideas I wanted to share with you to add to the strategic vision we've already shared. EssilorLuxottica is in an ideal position to continue grabbing all the opportunities and to continue on this beautiful industrial and human adventure path.
I would like to give the floor to Alexandre, but before that, I would like to show you a video which illustrates the beautiful community which we have at our disposal across the world. Thank you very much for your attention.
Merci, Francesco.
Thank you very much, Francesco. Thank you, Paul. I'd like to give the floor to Stefano Grassi, who is going to speak English and share with you the annual 2023 financial results for EssilorLuxottica.
Madam and Monsieur, les actionnaires.
Ladies and gentlemen, good morning. Ladies and gentlemen, shareholders, I'm very happy to meet you today to share with you the results that we have achieved during this record year. Our turnover has grown during this year, and we have been able to retain a strong profitability and a robust cash flow generation.
English. That is more appropriate. So, let's start with the 2023 results, and, there are really four numbers that better describe our 2023 results. The first number is, 7.1%. That number represent our growth at constant currency for the full year 2023, the third consecutive year on which our revenue growth exceeded 7% at constant currency. The second number is represented by our profitability. 16.9%, is our adjusted operating margin at constant currency, 10 basis points improvement compared to the 2022 level. The third number, EUR 2.4 billion. That is the free cash flow generation that EssilorLuxottica delivered last year. EUR 140 million more than the result we achieved in 2022. The fourth number is represented by a growth, 22%.
That is the increase in our dividend per share that we are proposing today for your approval, for a dividend at EUR 3.95 per share. Now, let's start taking a closer look to our performance, beginning with 2023 in the top line, and afterward, we'll take a closer look to our profitability. Our revenue are represented here, broken down through the four different geographies. The white circle that you see on the slide is represented by our growth at constant currency, 7.1%. The number that you see right next to it, 3.7%, represent our growth at current exchange results. The difference between constant and current, and current results is represented by the devaluation that we've seen in few currencies, namely the U.S. dollar, namely the Turkish lira against euro during the course of 2023.
That's why we insist on some currency headwinds during the course of 2023. But in order for you to better appreciate and understand our underlying performance, it's important that we focus on constant currency result, the golden column that you see right in the middle of the page. North America, the biggest geography, 43% of our revenue base, delivered a top-line growth of 4.2%. Both professional solution, B2B, and direct-to-consumer delivered mid-single-digit growth during 2023. When we look in North America B2B, our growth driver was our main distribution channel with the ECP, the eye care professional, that represents about 50% of our revenue base on the B2B channel. Moving to the direct-to-consumer, we have two polarized picture. On one side, strong performance of our Optical Retail Banner, LensCrafters, Pearle Vision, Target Optical, and our EyeMed Insurance.
While on the other side, beginning from the second quarter of last year, we start to experience some softness in the demand of sun, in particular on our Sunglass Hut division. Moving to Europe now, 8.2% revenue growth. 11 consecutive quarters of growth in this region. We were double-digit in Eastern Europe. We were double-digit in Turkey. We were high single-digit in Italy, in Spain, in South Africa, and we were mid-single-digit growth in France, in U.K., and in the Middle East. So as you can see, a very compelling picture for our EMEA region everywhere. On the professional solution side, strong delivery of our lens business, strong delivery of our sun luxury frame portfolio in the course of 2023.
While when we look at our direct-to-consumer channel, I would say strong delivery on GrandVision, the integration of GrandVision progressed at a high pace, integration on the front end of the business with assortment, with new stores, front end and back end integration. On the other side, we have another outstanding year of Sunglass Hut that deliver a double-digit growth in the region. The third and best performer region for the year is Asia Pacific, so we move east now. 14.3% in Asia Pacific region, double-digit every single quarter in 2023. We experienced a rebound in China after a 2022 that was very challenging due to the COVID restrictions. We were double-digit there. We were double-digit in India, in Japan, and in Korea.
Our biggest assets in China, the Stellest lens for myopia management, delivered more than 1.5 million pair of lenses just in 2023, representing more than 15% of our revenue base in Greater China, a category that just few years back didn't even exist. Moving to the fourth region, Latin America, our top line at constant currency was just a touch below double-digit, 9.9%. Double-digit on direct-to-consumer retail banners, and high single-digit on our professional solution division. Very much positive, I would say, across all the countries that make up this region. Now, this is the breakdown by geography. In the following slide, you would see the same total, but with the division, with the breakdown between two operating business unit: the professional solution, B2B side, and the direct to consumer.
As you can see, both of them deliver high single-digit growth at constant currency, and I can tell you that within each of the four regions, both Professional Solutions and direct-to-consumer deliver solid growth at constant and current exchange results. This is the picture for the revenue. Let me walk you through the next couple of slides, what was our profitability results for the full year 2023. This is our profit and loss. There are a variety of numbers here, but to help you to get the proper direction, I would ask you to focus on the golden column, as usual, the constant FX results, and I would ask you to focus on the three wide circles that you see on this slide. The first one, represented by our top line, 7.1%, we already commented that before.
The other two, representing first, the operating profit adjusted growth, 2023 versus 2022. As you can see, it's 7.7% up, meaning that we are growing operating profit before taxes at a faster pace than our revenue, meaning that we are in the accretion territory, 10 basis points at constant currency. Good management of our operating expenses basis, and I would say good management also below the operating profit. Since you see that our group net profit grew in excess of 9% for the full year 2023. Tight management of our interest expense and a favorable tax rate allowed us to grow at a faster pace, our net profit at constant currency.
When you look at our result, at current exchange result, clearly you have the impact of the currency headwinds, which are true for the top line and are even more so, are true for our bottom line. Now, it's important that we focus on operating profit, and I think it's important to understand the underlying dynamic that we see in the operating profit between 2022 and 2023. This slide very much represents a bridge. From the left-hand side, you have the 2022 margin rate for EssilorLuxottica, 16.8%. Then you have three building blocks. The first one is the inflation that hit EssilorLuxottica in 2023. Inflation is inflation mainly on labor. More than 40% of our cost base is labor, and obviously, that has an impact on our profitability when you have an inflationary environment.
But we were capable, thanks to price mix, thanks to the synergy delivery derived from the integration of GrandVision into the EssilorLuxottica platform, thanks to the strong operating efficiency, to more than compensate the headwinds coming from the inflation. The middle box that you see over there, 270 basis points, represent the delivery of those operating efficiencies and synergies. But we didn't rest on that delivery. We also wanted to invest in the key area that we believe are strategic for the long-term health of EssilorLuxottica. The investment on Ray-Ban Meta, the diversification of our Manufacturing Footprint in Thailand, in France, in Mexico, the continuous investment for getting ready for the licenses that we launched in 2023, Brunello Cucinelli, Jimmy Choo, Swarovski, Ferrari, and Moncler, that we're gonna launch in 2024.
Those investments, that we call strategic investments, accounts for about 50 basis points in our profitability. So you can see that our landing point for the full year 2023 is 16.9%, 10 basis points accretion compared to the 16.8 that we had in 2022. The last chapter related to currencies. As I mentioned before, currency created some headwinds in our results, in the top line, but also in our profitability. And that's why you see the 40 basis points very much due to currency devaluation that reduced the margin from 16.9 to the 16.5% margin rate. So this is the picture for the full year 2023. Let me now give you a little snapshot on how we start 2024.
This is the revenue breakdown, very identical, I would say, breakdown than what you've seen before through the four region. We started the year at a solid pace. 5.5% was our revenue growth at constant currency, and this revenue growth happened on top of the toughest comparison base. Q1 2023 was the best quarter for EssilorLuxottica, with revenue that grew 8.6%. So we, we deliver strong growth against a tough comparison base. In North America, as growth was close to 2% at constant currency, clearly, we have a tough comparison base here in the U.S. We had a good delivery of the frame business, positive on lens side, and on the direct-to-consumer, we continue to see pretty much the same trend: strong optical retail banner, a bit of softness on the sunglasses part.
EMEA, it's another outstanding, I would say, remarkable growth of 8.5%. Further acceleration compared to the 8.2% that we commented for the full year 2023. We continue to see strong B2B and strong direct-to-consumer in both sun and optical. The third region is Asia Pacific, 8.2%. We were double-digit in China, double-digit in Japan, double-digit in Korea. The Optical Shanghai Fair was a great success. It's the most important optical event in China, where we had more than 1,600 guests that joined our stand at the Shanghai Fair. We launched a new collection, Ray-Ban Asian Fit. We had a lot of discussion around myopia, with key opinion leader fully engaged on stage. The last region is another double-digit growth story. It's Latin America. Very pleased with the performance that we are seeing over there.
So if there are, in a way, a way to describe the way we want to start 2024, I would use confident and commitment. Confident commitment to deliver another outstanding year for EssilorLuxottica. Thank you.
Merci beaucoup. Merci beaucoup, Stefano.
Thank you very much, Stefano. Now, I'd like to hand over to Stefano Genco, Director of Nuance Audio. Stefano will also speak in English and will be presenting Nuance Audio.
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Bonjour à tous. Today, I'm pleased to introduce you to Nuance Audio, our disruptive technology in the space of hearing. So Nuance is a pair of eyeglasses with complete invisible solutions included in the temples. I'm wearing Nuance, and no one will ever understand that this is a pair of glasses that is meant also for supporting my hearing. With the Nuance, we aim to solve mild to moderate hearing loss.
That, as you can see, from this chart, is affecting 1.2 billion people in the world, out of 1.6 billion people that has any kind of hearing loss. If you project this data to 2050, those number will become 2.4 billion people, of which roughly 2 billion affected by mild to moderate hearing loss. So this is the size of our opportunity. As you have seen in the video, mild to moderate hearing loss is that kind of hearing loss that are causing issues when people are in noisy environment. So they start missing some words. They start asking: "Can you repeat, please?" They start asking: "It's too noisy here. Why you are whispering?" And so on.
So, those kind of consumer that has mild to moderate hearing loss, at the end of the day, don't have any solution available in the market, because the traditional hearing solutions are meant for people with upper moderate to severe hearing loss. And there are different reasons behind this. So the first one is that because they are looking for invisibility, complete invisibility, because they don't want to go around with the traditional hearing solutions, because they don't want to be perceived as older than what they are. And this is, believe me, the main reason that is with which the traditional industry is fighting. So Nuance is clearly going in this direction. The second super important factor is the hearing in noise. So technically speaking, we call this directivity.
Directivity means that, of course, you want to listen in noisy environment, what you see. And with our Nuance glasses, this is perfectly explained. So what you see is what you hear amplified. There is a cone of roughly 20 degrees that is almost like a laser pointing. So if you are in a noisy environment, so surrounded by any kind of noise, and you look at the eyes of someone that is close to you, you will feel amplified only the voice of the people that is talking in front of you. And when it comes to this specific, super important factor, that is directivity, Nuance is the best product that you can find in the market. The third important factor is comfort, because wearing hearing solutions, even if you overcome the stigma, is not easy.
Going around with something that is into your ear for all day long is not easy for anyone, even if you are just wearing, let me say, AirPods. After a couple of hours, you want to get rid of it. In our case, as you can see, the solution is not just invisible, but my ears are completely free. So, by the way, I will continue listening with my Nuance Audio glasses what is in front of me, amplified, plus I will continue hearing what is around me through my ears. And again, this is something unique. If you have a traditional hearing solutions, your ear canal is blocked. Everything comes through your hearing aids, and this is something that is not natural. Best value, so in other words, pricing.
The price that we will have at launch in the U.S. is going to be less than one-fourth of a pair of traditional hearing solutions in the U.S. market, and we are planning to have similar pricing points also in the other regions. Simplicity. This is another super important lever. So when it comes to traditional hearing solutions, we have to embark in different appointments with the audiologist, meaning that the first time you have to spend roughly an hour with the audiologist in a store, and then subsequently, you have to come back any given week for roughly one month. So if you combine all these moments with the that you will spend in the store, is roughly two and a half hours. In the case of Nuance, is one single minute that will be done through an app.
So super easy app: you put the glasses, push a button, and then the system will do what it has to do to calibrate one by one for your need in that single minute. And then style. Of course, for us, is super important. So we are not launching just one model, one size, and one color, but different colors and sizes and styles at launch. So you will have six combinations, but this is just the beginning, meaning that in the months to come after the launch, we will have new models and new colors. So Nuance targets. If you compare Nuance with the target that is served at the moment via the traditional industry, you see that the lady on the right side of the slide is roughly 75 years old, and she must be health conscious.
Why I said that? Because this is the only reason to embark nowadays into the purchase of a traditional hearing solution, because of the stigma, the price, the comfort, all the levers that I mentioned. In our case, we aim to serve different customers, starting from a very young target. For example, the working professional, that could be 50, could be, could be even 40. When you are exposed to noisy environment, maybe you are able to listen, but you have... You are exposed to a certain listening fatigue. With the Nuance, this fatigue is not anymore there. What you see is what you hear amplified, as I said, and this is something that, believe me, if you are in a crowded environment, you can enjoy even if you are 30 years old.
So we aim to serve those customers and also the active senior that, let me say, should be 75+, so the target that is in the middle between the other two. We are at launch in the U.S., we will start serving our customers through our retail stores. So of course, we are planning to launch in all our chains there, meaning LensCrafters, Target Optical, and Pearle. At the same time, we are talking with all the biggest wholesalers in our space. I'm having a lot of meetings. We are already attending all their conventions to presenting the product. Of course, we let people try the system because the most important thing at the end is to try the system and to enjoy the experience.
For the first time in our history, we are going to serve also the audiological industry. So again, we are already in contact with the top five players in the industry. With some of them, we are already not just talking, but planning to have at launch in their stores, Nuance, because for them is gonna be a new product and a possibility to serve that customers that, again, are maybe younger or maybe are mild to moderate, and that today are not able to find any solution in a traditional hearing aid store. So this is our launch plan. We will launch it in the U.S. for the simple reason that in the U.S., there is the OTC, so over-the-counter category for the hearing aids.
So we will classify with the FDA. We are already in the process, our Nuance product as OTC. And subsequently, so beginning of next year, we will launch it in Europe and in the rest of the world as traditional hearing solution. Thank you.
Merci, Stefano. Thank you, Stefano. I'm now going to hand over to Pier Luigi Longo, Director of Mergers and Acquisitions and Business Innovation, who will present the vision and strategy for the digital transformation of the visual... the Eye Health Center, and he will also speak in English.
Good morning, Madam and Monsieur. I'm very happy to be here again after five years. My last time at the general meeting was in 2019. I had the pleasure to tell you about the details of the integration plan of EssilorLuxottica. A lot has happened since then, and thank you to the contribution of all our people and teams. Today, we are much stronger, more united, and with a new organization, with a unique positioning in the market. Today, I'm here to tell you more about our new innovation strategy. Since the integration, EssilorLuxottica continued to pursue the commitment to innovate our services and products in the interest of all of our customers and partners.
As you heard from all my colleagues, we are fully devoted to achieve a durable growth, leveraging on new technologies, embracing innovation, and staying ahead of trends in all the segments of our industry, both current and future ones. This means investing in research and development, adopting cutting-edge technologies such as advanced analytics, artificial intelligence, machine learning, to anticipate the future demands and to bring changes and transformation to the entire market. With this in mind, we are venturing more and more in the digital solution and MedTech space, with the ambition of positioning the company as a relevant player in the market. Digital innovation is a key pillar and a key enabler of our group strategy. We will continue to leverage on new technologies to accelerate the pace of our innovation in the next years.
As part of our strategy, we will continue to introduce innovative digital and medical tools to address the changing and various needs of our customers and partners, both in the medical and in the retail field. As you can see from the screen, among the various project we are developing, our main focus is on the following transformation application: a new Teleoptometry platform, which is live already in the U.S. and which has been completely developed by our teams, which allow doctors to perform a medical and eye exam remotely, but with a unique and an immersive patient experience. It's like having the doctors with you while it is at home or in another store. We are also developing advanced clinical diagnostic tools, which can identify ahead of time potential pathologies of the eyes based on machine learning and data analytics.
This will allow doctors to refer a patient to specialists in case of diagnoses which are dangerous. Last but not least, we aim at completely revolutionizing the way our optical partners and doctors manage their stores, introducing a new digitally native and state-of-the-art IT platform that we named Vision(X). Vision(X) integrates all the different modules and software solution, which today are needed by doctors and used by doctors, and optical retailers to run their practices. We were creating a new centralized deck, allowing them to have a simplified access to a variety of tools such as patient booking, electronic healthcare records, lens and frame ordering solution, practice management system, revenue cycle management tools.
For the ones knowledgeable and familiar with the eye care and vision care industry, these are critical tools for the doctors and the, or the optical retailers to run their practice and interact with their, with their consumer or patient. As part of this exciting journey, in 2023, we launched this new division, which we called HELIX, dedicated to providing a holistic technology offer to all doctors, community, and optical retailers. HELIX is our innovation hub, our digital factory, our center of excellence, is the, is the new house for our talented and skilled people focused on software and med tech solution to foster creativity and collaboration between teams and people, which were located in different functions and in different geographies. With HELIX, we will accelerate technology adoption in the optical market for the benefits of the doctors and of the patient.
We will also improve the patient and doctor journey by merging medical and IT solution. We will create a new software to facilitate the interaction and the interconnection of the different players and operators of the market, but with an open platform approach, so everybody is invited to join and will be able to to have a dialogue with the different stakeholders. This will translate for doctors, for patients, for optical shops, in a higher efficiency, in a higher productivity, a better medical and in-store experience, and a higher attention to customer and patient needs. I'm looking forward to meet you again next year, to tell you more about this fantastic new chapter of EssilorLuxottica. With this, I hand it over back to Alexandre. Enjoy the rest of the day. À bientôt.
Merci, Pierluigi.
Thank you, Pierluigi. I would like to give the floor now to Elena Dimichino, who's Sustainable Development VP, and she will talk about the Eyes on the Planet program. She will speak English.
Good morning. It's a pleasure to be here and share with you our progress around sustainability. When in 2021, we launched our sustainability program, Eyes on the Planet, we committed to addressing sustainability at each stage of EssilorLuxottica's value chain, starting from its vertically integrated business model. Eyes on the Planet, which is in fact our program, is a matter of taking care: taking care of the environment, of territories, of people, of communities, fully respecting everyone, everywhere. And this is also the basis of the program and of its five pillars: carbon, circularity, inclusion, ethics, and oversight. So five key areas that are at the core of our sustainability journey....
So within the most significant accomplishments of last year, definitely it is worth mentioning that we reached carbon neutrality in our direct operations, direct activities in Europe, meaning Scope One and Scope Two emissions. We are setting the stage to become Scope One and Scope Two carbon neutral worldwide by 2025. But how did we get there? By continuing to improve our energy efficiency in our facilities and by continuing to increase the use of renewable energy, whether it is purchased or self-produced. Actually, we have continued to increase the self-production of renewable energy at a double-digit pace also last year.
On circularity, well, by continuing to our actions on eco-design, continuing to take opportunities on the reuse and recycle aspects and on the wastewater management, the combination of all these factors have allowed us to improve our waste valorized rate to 63%. Just a couple of examples to be a bit more concrete. Eco-design. On eco-design, this has allowed us to avoid 1,250 tons of plastic in our lens manufacturing. Varilux, the latest Varilux XR series is a great example of this. We continued our internal opportunities to recycle scraps deriving from the frame manufacturing, and this has allowed us to internally recycle over 90 tons of scraps last year. And then we continue to increase the penetration of alternative bio-based materials. Think about bio-based acetate, bio-nylon, biocircular polycarbonate.
Again, nice improvement also in the penetration of bio-nylon in all our frames and lenses. But then, you see, when we enter the social dimension of Eyes on the Planet, I believe it is important to remind the role that the Leonardo platform is playing in building our inclusive learning culture inside and outside our company. 2.7 million of education hours are equal to over 43% increase last year. And these included live sessions to celebrate Earth Day, International Women's Day, the World Children's Day, and a global awareness campaign on diversity, equity, and inclusion topics. And all this is coupled also with the common culture that the group has built with the launch of our shared value, but also with the launch of our new code of ethics and of the business partners code of conduct.
So Eyes on the Planet. Eyes on the Planet is the name of a journey, and is a long-term responsibility that belongs to all of us. As said before, we are on track to reach our 2025 carbon neutrality objective worldwide. But you see, 2025 is around the corner. So what we did last year was also to commit to setting a near-term science, near-term emission reduction targets according to the Science Based Targets initiative, to further reduce our emissions in line with the Paris Agreement objectives. And this will also mean that we will have to address what we call the Scope Three emissions. How to do that? Well, we will have to engage our suppliers and business partners on, our climate journey.
So think also about the constant, let me say, extension of the life cycle of our products, but also making our business model more and more circular. This is coupled with this other important topic that I mentioned before, that is eco-design, and basically the fact that we continue to shift from fossil-based materials to bio-based materials or recycled materials, and also to continue to embed eco-design in our product developments by 2025. My last point is more something new that we have recently launched, and this is the inclusion board that actually is comprised of senior executives across different functions and geographies, to provide accountability, guidance, and advocacy across the different diversity, equity, and inclusion topics, and I'm a proud member of it.
My goal today was more to remind that every step that we take with Eyes on the Planet is the result of careful planning and investment. Each project initiatives that you see as is the result of an important journey that is entailing a strong collaborative mindset across different functions and geographies worldwide, in line with our being an open company and in line with our mission of helping people see more and be more. Thank you.
Merci, Elena. Thank you, Elena. I'm now going to hand over to Anurag Hans, Director of the Mission and of OneSight EssilorLuxottica Foundation. Anurag, who will also be speaking in English, will be presenting the achievements of 2023 to contribute to eliminating poor vision, uncorrected poor vision.
Merci, Alexander. Bonjour, and hello, everyone. It is my pleasure to be here with you today to share an update on the impactful initiatives carried out by the group and the OneSight EssilorLuxottica Foundation in 2023. Initiatives and actions that help us advance our mission of helping everyone, everywhere, see more and be more. In 2023 alone, the group, along with its partners, provided 14 million people in underserved communities with a life-changing pair of glasses. That translates to changing everything for 26 people in need every single minute, simply by giving them good vision. The scale of our activities makes us the largest foundation focused on refractive error in terms of impact and reach, and 2023 was the biggest year by far of impact in our shared history.
Because of our actions at the end of 2023, nearly 72 million people now have clear vision in underserved communities. Because they see more, their lives have changed, helping them to be better students, to be more productive, to be more confident. Simply put, be more in life. Nearly 28,000 optical points in rural areas have been established, providing young people in remote communities with a chance to earn a livelihood by providing vision care to their fellow community members. And at the end of 2023, our impact had been felt in 130 countries, and we are on track to expanding that to 138 countries in 2024.
This kind of scale, reach, and impact, combined with the experience and expertise and dedication of our teams globally, is why governments, multilateral organizations, NGOs, other corporate foundations seek to partner with us. We welcome such partnerships that have helped us create unprecedented awareness of the need for vision care. In India, for example, we are working with state governments on localized strategies, including the integration of vision care into existing healthcare services. In India and in Africa, we are pioneering a new approach to enhance the delivery of vision care in remote communities through our teleconsultation model, connecting vision care providers in rural areas to optometrists who can be based in urban areas. We believe that our leadership in deploying such innovative approaches can substantially reduce the main barrier to vision care in these communities, which is a lack of technical manpower.
Thanks to this and many other actions of our teams, 2024 is going to be the first year when we will equip more than 1 million underserved community members in Africa in one year. 2023 was also our biggest year of serving underserved communities here in Europe. Working with old friends like the Special Olympics, the Rothschild Foundation here in France, and new partners like the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees or UNHCR. We equipped over 87,000 people here in Europe in need, including France and Italy. Our partnership with UNHCR will provide more than 100,000 refugees with vision care that they need over the next two years. We've already run clinics in Moldova, in Greece, in Italy, with many more to come.
We also continue to advocate for vision care at the highest level. Last year, on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly, the OneSight EssilorLuxottica Foundation raised the awareness for global lack of eyeglasses and the commitment to deliver high-quality vision care services. This and more, coupled with our global capacity, ensure that we are well-positioned to help governments to take action on World Health Organization's SPECS strategy, which was launched in 2023, and I look forward to sharing more with you in the near future. Support for our work and the foundation has never been stronger from within EssilorLuxottica. We are working towards a world where millions of consumers, thousands of customers, hundreds of suppliers, brands, and ambassadors are all part of our story.
We've seen firsthand the power of superstars like the French football icon, Kylian Mbappé, and the Indian cricket captain, Rohit Sharma, who have joined us in our cause, where one social media post from these people can reach 6 million and inform them and encourage them to go and get their eyes checked. We've seen the power of thousands of our retail colleagues, who take great pride in telling their customers about the work that we are doing and asking them to join us in our efforts. And we've seen the dedication of thousands of employee volunteers, who contribute their time and share their skills in what was our biggest year for volunteerism within EssilorLuxottica. Incredible opportunities await us in 2024.
It's within our power to help the world see more and be more, because we know the power of good vision, it changes everything. Thank you, and have a great day ahead. Thank you.
Thank you, Anurag. I'm now going to hand over to Andrea, Andrea Zappia, Chair of the Nominations and Compensation Committee, who will also be speaking in English. I'd like us, I'd like him to join us here at the stand.
Ladies and gentlemen, good morning, and thank you for your attention. I'd like to take you through today the work that the Nomination and Compensation Committee has done in the past year. But first of all, I'd like to thank also those shareholders that have been patient enough to listen to us, and they have given us a lot of inputs already last year that we have received and incorporated already this year, and more to come to improve the work we did. Now, last year we really focused on trying to really continue providing this company with the support it needs for its leadership. This is about providing the right stability while supporting, as you have seen, the high degree of innovation that this company provides and on which build a fantastic performance.
So today, I'm going to take you through four key points. The first one is the compensation on 2023. The second one is about the renewal of the board of directors. The third one is the compensation for the key corporate officer for the period of 2024-2027. And finally, the last point is about the employee shareholding plan. So starting from the compensation of corporate officers that tackles... I need to go back to one. Tackle the fifth resolution and the sixth, which is the compensation of 2023, and the sixth and seventh resolution relates specifically on the 2023 compensation of the chairman and the deputy executive officer. Can we go back to the previous slide, please? This one. That's great. Thank you.
So as you can see on the screen, the compensation reflects what approved last year. It is the result also of an outstanding performance, as both Francesco and Paul and Stefano highlighted earlier. 80% of the performance is related to the variable performance to financial results, and 20% to the one of corporate responsibility. The overall achievement was under 40%, reflecting this great performance. As a reminder for everyone, the CSR targets are related to CO₂ reduction, which was taken as an indicator, as a clearly recognizable one. Now, let's spend a bit more time into the results achieved by the corporate officer and that are part of this compensation. Starting from the financial results, you see here the comparison result 2023 to 2019.
We used 2019 and not 2020, because 2020 was heavily affected by COVID, and 2019 was a much, so-solid and stronger base. You can see how the evolution of the revenue grew from EUR 17.4 billion to EUR 25.4 billion, which is a 46% increase. The capitalization, the market cap, grew by 39%, and the collaborators, the employees, grew to 223,000, plus 26%, which is an indicator of complexity of the business. Now, as we do our job as a committee, we look at our peers. We created a benchmark panel of companies, and we measure their growth and their compensation. When you look at the compensation we propose, this is always benchmarked in this respect.
If we look at the performance of these peers, we see that the company has overperformed and has now reached compared to 46%-27% in revenue growth and 39%-16% in the market cap. But success is not only the financial results. You have heard a lot previously about this, but I think it's good to remember these three points. First of all, nearly 80,000 colleagues, employees at EssilorLuxottica, are active shareholder as well, which means sharing the benefits of this growth, which also means more and more buy-in and support to the strategies that the leadership provides. The second point, and Elena just show it, is that the company reached the carbon neutral-...
a result in 2023, and the third one is, the one that we have just seen, is that 72 million people around the world, by the foundation actions, are now being helped in their vision. This figure has tripled since 2018. That's for the results of 2023. Let's now move to a second point, which is the corporate governance and the board proposal we have for you. So first of all, when this year, as you probably know, is the end of a cycle, the last mandate closed today, and as a committee, we had to decide how do we face the next one. So as everything we do, we started with information.
So we assessed how this board has performed over these three years, how its components, the skill set of the board members, and we came out to the conclusion that we're going to share very, very quickly. First of all, starting from our board composition. 58% is made by independent, providing, as a, for good governance, a good independent view. All the... All the committee are led by, chaired by... Sorry, just go ahead. Here we are. 100% of the chairperson of the committee are independent. 42% of the board members are women, and there are five different nationalities represented. On top of this, there is also a director representing Valoptec, which is the employee shareholder association, and two director representing the employees.
So given all of this, we recommend the extension for the next three years, we'll see now how we do it, of the composition of the same board members of the previous cycle. I'll now introduce all of them, because each of them is related to a specific resolution. Of course, you know very well Francesco and Paul, that have been co-chairing this meeting. After them is Romolo Bardin, which is a non-independent director. Romolo is here in the first row. Jean-Luc Biamonti, which is our leading independent director. Marie-Christine Coisne-Roquette and José Gonzalo, both independent directors. Virginie Mercier-Pitre, that is the non-independent director representing Valoptec. Mario Notari, non-independent director. Swati Piramal, independent director, as Cristina Scocchia, also independent director, and Nathalie von Siemens, and finally myself, also independent director.
We have Margot Bard and Sébastien Brown, who are the representatives representing the employees, whose terms will end on September 21, 2024. The Group Working Council will appoint two directors representing employees for a three-year term. So while we recommend to extend all the board members, we are also introducing a new approach with a staggered renewal approach. And this is also something that was agreed and supported by a lot of the insights we received from shareholders a year ago. Our recommendation is therefore that four board members will be extended for three years, and these are Francesco, Paul, Jean-Luc, and Marie-Christine Coisne-Roquette, while everybody else will be extended for two years.
This is very important because give the chance from 2026 to have every year, a minimum number of four board of directors that will come up for renewal, allowing the company to adjust, the, the competence in the board and, support therefore better the development of EssilorLuxottica. This also support having, at the same time, continuity, as we said earlier, as well as the ability to inject fresh blood into, into the board. Now, before going ahead, I also would like to, mention one point that has been raised during, also our meetings with shareholders, which is the combination of the Chairman and the CEO roles into, into one. This decision was taken when, sadly, Mr. Del Vecchio, passed away, and I would like also to take the chance to really pay a tribute to, to Mr. Del Vecchio today.
At the time, we really thought we didn't have a choice. It was very important to provide continuity, and we asked Francesco to take both responsibility on, and Francesco kindly accepted the weight of the role at the time. Over the last 18 months, we have seen this governance in action, and we are very pleased with the results. Not just the financial results, as you have seen, but the speed, the dynamism, the agility of the company in this period. And therefore, we are very confident to recommend to keep go ahead with this, with this, in this way. And we think that it's fundamental to provide the continuity and the decision-making we need going forward. So that's it for the corporate governance.
We now move to the third point I want to share with you today, which is the compensation from 2024 to 2027. First of all, let's clarify, this is a compensation for the mandate of the 3 years. It is part of the resolution number eight, nine, and 10. As for the board of directors, resolution number eight, the compensation remains stable for the next mandate. Resolution 9 and 10, instead relate to the compensation policy for the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer and the Deputy Chief Executive Officer. The committee has decided to recommend a variation in this compensation, and I'm gonna take you through it now. First of all, why we do it? Francesco and Paul has led the transformation of the company in a brilliant way.
I think as a board, we have all witnessed this, supported this during meetings, and the results are a proof of the outstanding work that has been done by both of them. We put together, the company put together two European leaders, has now created a global leader that is not only becoming and become by far the undisputed leader in the eyewear market, but is now entering new segments, as you have seen today. Nuance Audio or the Ray-Ban Meta are two great witness of this. Second point is of our work is that we want to make sure that the interest of shareholders and the focus of management is fully aligned, and therefore, 80% of their compensation is directly related to the results that is shared and expected by the shareholder.
We also think that in a moment of this, which is a moment that combine continuity, as we discussed earlier, but also a point of inflection as the company steps into new categories, the ability to, have the these two leader going forward in the next mandate is fundamental, and so we need to have something that is appealing, for them. Which leads to a competitive remuneration. As I said earlier, as we set compensation, we look at benchmarks, and we have decided to position the chairman and CEO in the 75th percentile of this measure. So we are not at the super top, even if honestly, when you look at the compensation of the performance of the company compared to the peers, we are at the very top.
But we think this is the right level that we propose to. So going to this... Having said this, now let's move to the numbers of the compensation. The fixed salary goes to EUR 2.1 million for Francesco and EUR 1.35 million for Paul. Their variable bonus goes to 150% and 125%, and the allocation, the performance shares, is 200,000 and 45,000 respectively. We discussed about having alignment with the shareholder. Here, I'm gonna share with you now the way we will measure the variable compensation, both the yearly bonus as well as the performance shares. Now, we created a set of KPIs. We tried to minimize the duplication of these KPIs between short and longer term. It's a work done with my colleague at the committee, clearly.
We decided to allow 40% for benefit per EPS, earning per share, sorry, 30% to revenue growth, and 30% to the operating margin. The longer term performance instead is measured now this time with 3 KPIs rather than one. This is again one of the request, one suggestion coming from our meeting with shareholders. Instead of measuring it only through the share price, we are now introduce two more parameters, which are the CSR, which we discussed quite a lot at the committee. You remember that in this year, the CSR targets were in the bonus.
We decided to move into the long term because we think the impact of CSR metrics are more in the long term, and 40% to EPS, which is the only KPI, the only indicator, which is duplicated, but is also considered the most important by our shareholder. We also introduced several changes in the overall policy, and this to follow, again, suggestions from conversation with shareholder. I will be... Sorry. In terms of the change we did, we introduced a clawback performance, which is particularly important. We introduced a prorated principle at retirement of the executives. We introduced, as you've seen before, three different KPIs and not one only for the share plan, and we also introduced two extra conditions.
One is the non-compete is now subject to board approval, and the other one, which we think is also important, is the introduction of stricter indicators for the annual performance out of the three-year cycle. Last point, which I am personally particularly proud of, is the success of the employee salary plan, shareholder plan. Your approval is required, and the 33rd resolution, to approve the co-investment plan, and Resolution 32, and instead the long-term incentive plan, which is Resolution 33. They're both extremely important. The long-term incentive plan align the performance of all the leaders of the company to the one of the key executive. And the co-investment plan is a way to share the success to the company to more and more employees, and the company is committed to expand this very broadly.
That's the end of my presentation, and I hope it's been clear enough, and have a good day. Thank you.
Merci, Andrea.
Thank you, Andrea. To close the list of presentations, I would like to ask our statutory auditors to join me, especially Mr. Jean-Luc Biamonti, who is going to share with you the synthesis of their work.
Mesdames et messieurs, les actionnaires.
Ladies and gentlemen, dear shareholders, hello. I have the honor of introducing, in the name of the statutory auditors, company, WSA and Mazars, the reports which we prepared for you for the mixed ASM, which is meeting today. All of our reports have been made available by the company and can be found in the universal document, which have been submitted to the Market Supervisory Authority and published on the EssilorLuxottica website. I would like to summarize the reports and statements for the ordinary part of the ASM, our audit reports regarding the accounts and the regulated conventions and the main retribution programs, and our four special reports for the extraordinary part. Our report on the consolidated accounts, consolidated financial statements, and the company's financial statements.
The idea is to have a reasonable insurance, and our accounts are established in compliance with the accounting rules which are applicable and give a loyal image of the consolidated situation of the group at the end of the fiscal year. We have taken in consideration the specificities and characteristics of your group. Our audit approach has been shared with your financial management, and submitted to the audit committee. The work has been submitted with a detailed report to the Risk Committee on February 12, 2024, and the accounts have been closed during the board meeting, fourteenth of February 2024. In synthesis, we release a certification without reserve on the individual and consolidated accounts for the fiscal year closed on 21st of December...
Thirty-first of December, 2023. Our report on the account submits the most important items and highlights them. As you can see, the key items are evaluation of the recoverable value for the acquisition test of goodwill intangible assets, valuation of litigation reserves, and uncertain tax position and contingent liabilities. Regarding annual accounts, the only highlight point in the audit is the valuation of equity investment. Our report on the accounts include for each item, a description of the risks identified, and our responses thereto can be found in our reports. Regarding the specific verification required by law, we have summarized on this page the nature and extent of our verifications. All of our conclusions can be found in the table which is shown on the screen. We know...
Don't have no matters to report and no observations to make following these observations. Regarding our special report on related party agreements, we inform you that a tripartite contract has been signed with Covivio S.A., a service contractor, which was authorized by your board, which met on the 15th of May, 2023. The idea is for Covivio S.A. to provide assistance in managing EssilorLuxottica real estate assets. This contract has been authorized by your board of directors on May 15, resolution number 4. We also have a single agreement, which has already been approved in prior years and which has been pursued during the last year. I am referring to a non-compete agreement concluded on between your company and Mr. Francesco Milleri.
We also have released a certificate regarding the total amount of the retributions and remunerations paid to the highest-paid employees. Finally, regarding the extraordinary part, we have released four reports, resolutions 25-33. The report regarding authorizations or delegations required by your board for securities operations does not need a special report. The conditions in which the resolutions 26 and 31 are not fixed, and therefore we have no observations. The resolutions are likely in the future to have an influence on your company's equity. We will therefore write additional reports when these authorizations will be used by your board. Ladies and gentlemen, this is the end of my presentation regarding our reports, and I thank you for your attention.
Thank you, Jean-Luc, and thank you to our statutory auditors for their work in 2023. We now move on to the Q&A session. There will be 30 minutes dedicated to Q&A. So I would like to draw your attention to the fact that we received a number of written questions before the ASM meeting. The board of directors has approved the answers provided to those written questions, and the answers have been posted yesterday on the company's website. In so that we have more time for exchanges with the shareholders present today, we will not read the questions and answers posted on the website today. So you can have a look at them on the website. Therefore, we can start asking for the audience whether they have any questions.
We will take five questions before we answer in order to organize ourselves in a more efficient way, so that more people will be able to ask questions. So please limit yourself to one question so that everybody gets a chance to ask questions. Please note that the questions being asked should be relative to the agenda of today's ASM so that more people will be able to talk. So please ask your questions in a very short and precise way. When you ask a question, please introduce yourselves. In the room, we have attendants who will circulate the microphone. So please wait for a microphone before you ask a question. Are there any questions from the audience?
Hello, Christian Jabouri. I'm an individual shareholder. I had a question and an observation to begin with.
You have shown products which are relatively high tech, Ray-Ban Stories, Nuance. And I believe that... I mean, my observation is the following: You succeeded where other players failed in the field of technology, and I believe you have not sufficiently publicized this. You won an award in the Las Vegas meeting. You impressed Gary Shapiro, who's been organizing the Las Vegas trade fair, and you have been acknowledged by him, so congratulations. But my question is the following: How do you think of improving the autonomy of your eyewear so that the eyewear can be used for longer? I'm talking about batteries and energy consumption. How can you make sure that you will be able to... Your people will be able to use this technology for longer?
Um, le, uh.
Buongiorno a tutti. Sono Francesco.
Thank you. I'm a shareholder since the 1990s. It's a pleasure to be here with you in this room, which is the best in of those we've chosen in the past. I have four very quick questions. First of all, congratulations for these solid results of 2023. In 2024, growth can it be double-digit, or will it be double-digit only through acquisitions? A second question I'd like to ask is there still an interest in Marcolin? We saw from the values that they were in favor, but perhaps this is too much. And then a third question, so the profit we've saved EUR 42 million in shares, EUR 142 million. What is this saving due to?
This was the gross profit. Last question: I'm very happy to see that all the members of the board have been reconfirmed to two top-profile people. I would have seen all 12, all of them here present today. Apparently, someone is missing. This is just to understand who has to remain 3 years and who has to remain for 2 years. The last proposal, a few years ago, the Fiat Chrysler Stellantis Group did a spin-off of Ferrari, and it was listed separately. Now, Ferrari is worth EUR 76 billion in market cap capitalization, compared to EUR 69.7 of Stellantis. It's more than the former holding company. So the Ferrari of EssilorLuxottica probably is Ray-Ban. Is it plausible to think of a spin-off of Ray-Ban, listing it directly, or is this science fiction in the financial field?
Thank you for your attention. Congratulations for your work, and always inspiring ourselves to the principal values and vision of Mr. Del Vecchio. Thank you very much.
... La numéro four.
Number four. Yes, good morning, gentlemen. I just point to the secretary to the meeting, the convocation. I think is extremely sober, the brochure. I think you could add some colors and some information, and not just cite the universal declar-- registration document. Now, here's my question: With regard to the per share buyback, there is a project that's in underway in France to tax these-- a draft bill to tax these buybacks. What is the position of EssilorLuxottica on this matter? May this lead to a reduction in these buybacks? A final point: have you, in France, and perhaps in other countries in Europe, it is difficult to have a-- get an appointment with an ophthalmologist. The profession is less well-staffed than before, unfortunately, as in other sectors, medical sectors. Do you think that the company is...
The company is considering to act to encourage the studies in ophthalmology and to promote students in this field? Thank you for your answers. Thank you. I can see you're at the bottom, at the end of the room, microphone three. My congratulations for Nuance. I'd like to know if it's already available. Can it be connected to a telephone and to a car? And what's the real saving when you have extensive corrections to do, both for vision and for hearing? Thank you. An additional question from microphone number four. Good morning, everybody. I am Michelle Belair, and I've been. I left EssilorLuxottica. I retired from it a few months ago.
I have a question concerning the instruments division, which is, I'm particularly sensitive to this division because I spent 50 years of my life in it, and I'd like to know what future you have in store for this division. Thank you in advance for your answer. Let's move on to the answers now.
Sorry. The translation, it is looping in. So first, thanks for the congratulation. We are very proud to our new product, Nuance. It was really a big challenge that is really started two years ago. So in a very short term, we are bringing to the market a brand-new product. And thanks also for remind us the CES success and the Capitol Hill presentation. We have senator from U.S. very really enthusiastic and proud that we are taking care to another problem that in U.S., but around the world, is really strong and difficult to correct.
Our company, it would like to take the same commitment that we took on the vision, also on the audiological part, because there are a lot of people around the world, they cannot really afford traditionally hearing aids, and they cannot correct. And that's bring people really to remain isolated and start very early really to the degenerative, neurodegenerative pathology because of this isolation. So we are very proud of that. Is something that we have to improve? As usual, it is our first product. It will be available in the U.S. at the end of the year, and after September, October, and then it will be available in Europe in the next year.
We are quite satisfied about performance of battery, amplifier, and speakers, and also the algorithm that we have. And as you know, it's coming from a research center that we have in Israel, and the company, the Nuance, that we acquired and we integrated in our company. So, of course, in one year or six months, maybe we will come out with a second release, as you noticed, for Ray-Ban Meta, the second one is much better than the first one. I believe we learn a lot during the process of building together with the Meta company. We learn a lot about integration of technology, electronics, into the eyewear. And so that experience help us to start from the beginning with a very good and performing product.
So we believe that Nuance will be a success, but at the same time, we have teams that are working on the next product, next generation of product, and also to really expand our portfolio of product on the hearing aids. Thank you.
So I'll, I'll take the two questions. I guess one, related to the tax rate, and there was another question, related to the share buyback. So when we look at our tax rate, on a, on a reported basis, the benefit that we got in 2023 is related to, a release, of a provision that was, set, due to a litigation, a discussion with the French tax authority. As we reached a settlement in 2023, we released, the excess of that provision, to the profit and loss and created the benefit. While when we look at our tax rate on a, on an adjusted basis, you compare the 2023 level with the pre-COVID of 2019, for example, the tax rate is broadly aligned. The other question, related to buyback.
I think right now we observe and read the debate that is happening in France. We're not in a position to evaluate the impact. However, I think it's important to highlight that the buyback program that we're putting in place, it's dedicated to employee shareholders, and that's important because I think there would be probably distinctions between the purpose of the shares buyback program to preserve the companies that put in place those program to grant shares to the employees.
So, spin-off. So far, we didn't really think about that. We have been an heritage to put all together to grow all together. All the pieces are a part of a big puzzle that can works if they stay together and tight. I don't see in the short term a spin-off of some of our brands, because as you can see, we use technology, brand and platform in a really integrated way. It's not the case of maximizing financial result, but building a real solid long-term company for all the stakeholder. But who knows? About, I don't want comment on marketing because it's ongoing, and so we have been a part of the discussion, so we will see what happen about that.
It's not really a strategic part for us. As you understood, we love a lot our origin based on frame and lenses, but the company now is taking a slightly different direction. And already we have on frame and brands, close to 31 different brands that cover almost all the segment. But at the same time, I would like to reassure all our shareholder that we are really focused on the M&A, and I hope we will show to the market that our activity, it will be strong and fast in the year to come.
Yeah, I can take the instrument question. Clearly, the instrument division of EssilorLuxottica is a key asset of the company that we plan to expand into, to invest into, through internal development and potentially through a build-up, to combine the med tech strategy of the group and connect that with what also Pier Luigi Longo explained earlier, of creating a platform starting from the eye exam for the full vision care journey of the consumer. So clearly, the instrument division is part of the future and a key asset we want to invest in. I can connect also to the question on the ophthalmologist. Yes, this is a filière that we support, that we think we should invest in, and that is part of this vision care need that is becoming more and more...
...My apologies. I have actually started off in English, and I'm gonna move into French now. So the whole issue of ophthalmologists, clearly, it's a field in which the group supports and in which there should be studies that should be bolstered to consolidate this part of medicine, which is very important in the consumer journey. I wanted to go back to a quick point that was very important that Stefano mentioned in the share buybacks. In the position of the group, we don't know, as clear, clearly Stefano said, if there are any draft bills or not, but the purpose of the share buyback at EssilorLuxottica is to help employee shareholders. And quite clearly, our position is that this part of the share buyback should be protected to continue to support what works really well in France, the development of employee shareholders.
Our position is very clear, if we ever had to have one.
All members are here, showing very high consideration. I really... I ask all the board member to stand up and show to everybody. So please with us. Really, I have to thank all our board members for the support. Most of the result depend on their support and their capability really to take the right decision in the right time. That is so important, and this is why we really all together, we supported the renewal of this board. I don't know, sometimes in the future, we will force to replace someone of them, and they will be very tough and hard to find someone at the same level of the board members that we have now.
Okay. We still have a bit of time if there are any other questions. I can see one from the floor over there. Number one.
Alessandro Da Corta, I'm a shareholder. First of all, congratulations to all the board, and I took note of the board that is very composite, and I paid more attention to the board when I realized that there is a part of the board which is going to last for three years and part of the board which is going to last two years. And Mr. Zappia gave some explanations related to the corporate governance. Still, I have some doubts because now I'm wondering what is... If you, if you're thinking, given that the board is performing, what is your succession plan since you have a board, part of the board just lasting and another part which is not lasting?
So what is your succession plan if you have meetings related to the succession plan of this new entity, which is an integrated entity? So another point related to the articles of incorporation, and I read that the maximum age for the president is 95. Okay? So a person who is 95, according to the statistics, is not the place for a president, which plays an active role. So which is more of a representative president, which might well be, but in this very moment, we have active presidents. So this is one question related to the corporate governance. The second question is related to Meta and Ray-Ban. First of all, congratulations for the fact that you proceeded very fast in the direction of high-tech glasses, okay?
Still, I see that the Meta name itself considered as a brand, because as you know, in this industry, in the eyewear industry, people buy brands besides technology. They buy a frame because also there are brands. And, I have to say, I must confess that, maybe the Meta brand has not been, very lucky in the past few years. I just put on the side the fact that, they changed the name from Facebook into Meta, but they, they did it for a rationale into, into the Metaverse. But just recently, also, the visibility that they have in the financial markets is not, beneficiary for the Ray-Ban, brand. This is my point of view.
Needless to say that you just need to walk into an electronics store in the United States and see how the Ray-Ban Meta is exposed compared to the way the Ray-Ban brand is exposed in own stores or just independent stores? These are all my two questions. Thank you.
Thank you. Numero quatre.
Thank you, number four.
Bonjour, Marc Vieux-Dey.
Yes, Marc Vieux-Dey. I'm an individual shareholder. I have a question, which is: Will your hearing aids are going to be covered by the health system, the national health system, and what's the extent of that coverage? I think there's another question. No? Number three, over there.
Sorry, I didn't hear whether somebody actually answered concerning a Nuance in English. Would it be possible for you to answer in Italian? Because I would definitely understand much better your Italian compared to your English. I do apologize for saying this, and I'm wondering whether you actually need someone to test this new equipment. I am willing to actually test it for you, if you wish.
Don't-
Okay, I think we've got all the questions, so we can start answering. About staggering.
Uh, concerning-
With regard to staggering, the fact that the terms will be different within the board. It's actually recommended, and this is why we are going to apply this system to comply with the recommendations. We did not comply with it for a few years for the purpose of integrating everybody, but now we're going back to this staggering system in such a way that we will ensure there is continuity in the board evolution. There is an appointment committee, and it will be in charge of identifying the best candidates and making sure that the board will be replaced in a progressive manner, in such a way that there will be complementarity between the board members. As I speak, four people will be appointed for three years. Mr. Milleri, Mr. du Saillant, Mr. Biamonti, and Mrs.
Coisne-Roquette will be appointed as directors, and the other directors will be appointed for two years. In two years, there will be more appointments in a staggered way, so that in 2027, we can renew every year, one-third of the directors.
... Text discussion.
Ray-Ban versus Meta is a good one, but I have a very simple answer: We are very complementary. I agree that is at the end any technology has to be very easy to use, and people has to have confidence with the device that is using. So our approach from the beginning, it was not so easy to explain to Meta that first has to be a beautiful frame, a beautiful eyewear to be a successful one, and technology has really to be hidden inside. Less you see, better it is. And technology has to be so powerful to be useful with no very big effort. So now we are splitting the role in a clear way.
We are taking care to distribute the Ray-Ban Meta, and the future, many other product that will incorporate technology in eyewear through the optical channel, with the capability really to take to get together the medical part and the superpower that now are in our product. But at the same time, we have to recognize that Meta is a wonderful partner, is a partner that has a, a, a very clear long-term vision. He was one of the only entrepreneur that in the last decade, create a totally new world, that it did not exist before. Half of our life now is based on social, and that is something so important for us, because we believe that our product, our Ray-Ban Meta, tomorrow, maybe our new product, they will be really a gateway between our real life and our metaverse or social life.
They will bring the two things together, and Mark Zuckerberg, as entrepreneur, he really gave to us the right vision years ago. So what we achieve now is, we are proud of that. Style is our side, but we learn a lot on technology, and we learn a lot how to reach the customer and support the customer to social devices and social part of their life. Thank you.
There was also a question on Nuance Audio on the reimbursement of the hearing aids. Regarding the vision part of Nuance Audio, because you understand now it is a normal set of frames with the prescription glasses, and now in every single country, obviously, the health insurance will reimburse the eyewear in a different way. And for the audio part, we're going to have to work with the insurance companies to determine how the audio, the hearing aid part will be reimbursed and covered by the local insurance.
In Italiano.
There was a question, we should have replied in Italian. I'm sorry, but we've actually lost the habit of replying in Italian.
We really rarely use Italian in, in our company.
But we willingly will reply, and we take note of your availability to test our products. Thank you. Merci beaucoup. Thank you so much. We now will close the Q&A session, and we will move on to the resolution vote. The final quorum is 83.23%. I suggest we do not read again the resolutions because they have been posted on the company's website, and also sent to the shareholders who registered and all the shareholders who requested to obtain the resolutions. A slide summarizing the resolutions will be shown, and you will be able to vote with the device that has been handed to you at the beginning of the session. The video, which we will see now, will explain to you how it works.
Please ask the attendants who are present in the room if you have any questions regarding the devices and how they work, how they operate. Ladies and gentlemen, dear shareholders, the device that you were given is personal. The number of voting rights which you hold or are representing is downloaded into the device. So all you need to do is push the green, yellow, or red keys. Green is for vote, yellow is abstention, and red is against, when you're voting against the resolution. After every resolution is read or mentioned, you will be able to vote, and you will hear the vote is open. You will see on the screen of your device a rectangle that will show you the progression bar and how many seconds you have available to vote.
When the progression bar reaches the far right end, you will find the vote is closed on the device, and therefore you will no longer be able to vote. The results will be displayed on the screen a few seconds after the voting is closed. One last information: please switch off your mobile phones during the entire voting session, and please do not forget to give back the devices when you leave the room. Merci. For legal and technical reasons, I am kindly asking you not to leave the room during the voting session. Resolution number 1: approval of the accounts of the fiscal year closed on the 21st of December 2023.
The vote is closed.
Vote is closed. Resolution adopted 99.71%. Second resolution: approval of consolidated financial statements for the fiscal year 2023. The vote is open. Vote is closed. Resolution is adopted, 99.90%. Resolution number three: allocation of earnings and setting of the dividend. As was reminded by Stefano Grassi, EUR 3.95 per ordinary share is proposed. The dividend will paid on June 3, 2023. The vote is open.
The vote is closed.
Vote is closed.
Twenty-six.
Resolution adopted 99.26%. Fourth resolution: agreements falling within the scope of articles L.225-38 and subsequent of the French Commercial Code. Vote is open. Vote is closed. Resolution is approved, 96.77%. Fifth resolution: approval of the information relating to the compensation of executive corporate officers referred to in article L.22-10-9 of the French Commercial Code. Voting is open.
Le vote est clos.
Voting is closed. Resolution approved, 92.64%. Resolution number 6: approval of the fixed variable and exceptional component, comprising the total compensation and benefits in kind paid in or awarded in respect of the year ended December 31, 2023, to Francesco Milleri, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer. Voting is open.
Le vote est clos.
Voting is closed. Resolution is approved, 86.13%. Resolution number 7: approval of the fixed variable and exceptional components, comprising the total compensation and benefits in any kind, in or awarded in respect of the year ended December 31, 2023, or awarded for said year, fiscal year, to Paul du Saillant, Deputy Chief Executive Officer. Voting is open.
Le vote est clos.
Voting is closed. 88.81%. Resolution is adopted. Resolution number 8: approval of the compensation policy applicable to the members of the Board of Directors. Voting is open.
Le vote est clos.
Voting is closed. Resolution is approved, 99.29%.
Neuvième résolution.
Resolution number nine: approval of the compensation policy applicable to the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer. Voting is open.
Le vote est clos.
Voting is closed.
Résolution approuvée à 72-
Resolution approved, 72.68%. Resolution number 10: approval of the compensation policy applicable to the Deputy Chief Executive Officer. Voting is open.
Le vote est clos.
Voting is closed. Resolution is approved, 75.32%.
Onzième résolution.
Resolution number 11: appointment of Francesco Milleri as Director. Voting is open.
Le vote est clos.
Voting is closed. Resolution approved, 82.96%. Resolution number 12: appointment of Paul du Saillant as Director. Voting is open.
Le vote est clos.
Voting is closed. Resolution approved, 98.01%. Resolution number 13: appointment of Mr. Romolo Bardin as Director. Voting is open.
Le vote est clos.
Voting is closed. Resolution approved, 98.73%. Resolution number 14: appointment of Mr. Jean-Luc Biamonti as Director. Voting is open.
Le vote est clos.
Voting is closed. Resolution approved, 91.31%. Resolution number 15: appointment of Mrs. Marie-Christine Coisne-Roquette as Director. Voting is open.
...
Voting is closed. Resolution approved, 99.73%.
Seizième résolution, nomination-
Resolution 16, appointment of José Gonzalo as director. Voting is open.
Le vote est clos.
Voting is closed. Resolution approved, 97.23%. Resolution number 17, appointment of Mrs. Virginie Mercier-Pitre as director. Voting is open.
Le vote est clos.
Is closed. Resolution is approved, 98.26%. Resolution number 18, appointment of Mario Notari as director. You may vote.
Le vote est clos.
Voting is closed. Resolution approved, 98.43%. Resolution number 19, appointment of Swati Piramal as director. Mrs. Swati Piramal. Voting is open.
Le vote est clos.
Voting is closed, 92.26%.
Vingtième resolution.
Resolution number 20, appointment of Cristina Scocchia as director. The voting is open.
Le vote est clos.
Voting is closed. Resolution approved, 99.28%.
Vingt-et-unième resolution.
Resolution number 21, appointment of Nathalie von Siemens as director. Voting is open.
Le vote est clos. Résolution approuvée à quatre-
Voting is closed, 98.68% in favor. Resolution number 22, appointment of Andrea Zappia as director.
Le vote est ouvert.
Voting is open.
Le vote est clos.
Voting is closed.
Resolution approuvé à quatre-
Resolution is approved, 88.31%. Resolution number 23, appointment of PricewaterhouseCoopers Audit as statutory auditor in charge of certifying the sustainability information. Voting is open.
Vote est clos.
Voting is closed. Resolution approved, 98.16%. Twenty-fourth resolution: authorization to be granted to the Board of Directors to proceed with the purchase of the company's own ordinary shares. You may vote.
Le vote est clos.
Voting is closed. Resolution approved, 99.05%. Resolution number 25: authorization to be granted to the Board of Directors to reduce the share capital by canceling company treasury shares. Vote is open.
Le vote est clos.
Voting is closed.
Resolution approuvé.
Resolution approved, 99.65%. Resolution number 26: delegation of authority to be granted to the Board of Directors to issue, by means of public offerings, other than those referred to in paragraph 1 of Article L. 411-2 of the French Monetary and Financial Code, ordinary shares and/or equity securities giving access to other equity securities or that confer rights to the allocation of debt securities and all securities giving access to equity securities to be issued without preferential subscription rights, but with the option of granting a priority right. The vote is open.
Le vote est fermé.
Voting is closed. Resolution adopted, 97.66%. Resolution number 27: delegation of authority to be granted to the Board of Directors to issue ordinary shares and/or securities giving access to other equity securities or that confer rights to the allocation of debt securities and/or securities giving access to equity securities to be issued without preferential subscription rights... by means of public offering, referred to in paragraph 1 of Article L. 411-2 of the French Monetary and Financial Code. Voting is open. Voting is closed.
Resolution adopted at 96.
Resolution adopted 96.42%. Resolution number 28: Delegation of authority to be granted to the Board of Directors to raise the number of securities to be issued in connection with capital increases, either with or without preferential subscription rights for shareholders. Voting is open. Voting is closed.
Resolution adopted at-
Resolution adopted 96.48%. Resolution number 29: Delegation of authority to be granted to the Board of Directors to issue up to a maximum of 5% of the share capital, ordinary shares or equity securities, giving access to other equity securities of the company, or that confer rights to the allocation of debt securities in consideration for the contributions in kind to the company of equity securities and/or securities giving access to equity securities to be issued granted to the company.
Le vote est ouvert.
Voting is open.
Le vote est clos.
Voting is closed. 98.62%, the resolution is approved. Resolution number 30: Delegation of authority to be granted to the Board of Directors to issue ordinary shares and/or equity securities, giving access to other equity securities or that confer rights to the allocation of debt securities and/or securities giving access to equity securities, to be issued in consideration for securities tendered to any public exchange offer initiated by the company. Voting is open.
Le vote est clos.
Voting is closed.
Résolution adoptée à 80-
99.09%, resolution is adopted. Thirty-first resolution: Determination of the overall limit for capital increases to be carried out immediately or at a future date pursuant to delegations of authority. Voting is open.
Le vote est clos.
Voting is closed. Resolution adopted 99.54%. Resolution number 32: Delegation of authority granted to the Board of Directors for the purpose of deciding capital increases reserved for members of a company savings plan in French Plan d'épargne d'entreprise, without preferential subscription rights. Voting is open.
Le vote est clos.
Voting is closed.
Resolution adoptée-
Resolution adopted 99.67%. Resolution number 33: Authorization to be granted to the Board of Directors to proceed with the award of free existing shares, also called performance shares, to the benefit of members of the employed staff and/or executive officers, corporate officers. Voting is open.
Le vote est clos.
Voting is closed. Resolution adopted 96.10%. Resolution number 34: Powers to carry out formalities. Voting is open.
Le vote est clos. Resolution-
Voting is closed. Resolution adopted 99.99%. This was the last resolution, and I would like to thank and congratulate the board of directors who have just recently been appointed.