Ladies and gentlemen, dear shareholders, I declare the meeting open and thank you for being present via its retransmission on our company website in this very particular context. Owing to the COVID-19 epidemic and in compliance with measures adopted by the government to curb the spread of this epidemic, your board has decided to hold the AGM in closed session at our company's head office. Consequently, only Messrs. Antonio Belloni, Jean-Jacques Guiony, and Bernard Kuhn as well as the two scrutineers, Messrs. Florian Ollivier, representing Société Financière Jean Goujon, and Charles de Croisset are physically present at this meeting. No admission card has been issued, you were invited to exercise your right to participate before this AGM by giving power of attorney to the chairman or a designated third party, or voting by correspondent or by postal vote, or via the Votaccess secure platform.
To allow you to take part at this AGM, we gave you the possibility, and in addition to the legal framework of written questions, to send email questions as of 8th of June until noon yesterday. We'll be answering on the basis of a represented selection of themes brought to our attention. As permitted by legal regulatory provisions linked to the current health crisis, the Board, at its meeting on the 15th of April, appointed as scrutineer Société Financière Jean Goujon, represented by Mr. Florian Ollivier and Mr. Charles de Croisset, who's Lead Director and who chairs the Selection and Compensation Committee. That's a duty they accepted. Mr. Bernard Kuhn , General Counsel of the group, was appointed to act as Secretary. They will comprise the Bureau of the AGM. This information was published on our website the 23rd of June 2020.
That the AGM can take valid decisions, we need a quorum of one-fifth of the shares for ordinary resolutions and 1/4 for extraordinary resolutions. Given the exceptional conditions of the convening of this AGM that I recall at the outset, the final quorum and the results of votes were stopped at 3:00 P.M. yesterday when the platform Votaccess was closed. The quorum has been reached. I inform you that all the legally required documents for this meeting, as well as the answers given by the Chief Executive and Group MD by the board to the written questions sent by the shareholders, are on the desk. In compliance with law, documents that had to be disclosed to the AGM were made available to shareholders at head office 15 days before the meeting or sent to those who requested them.
Regarding the written questions received as well as those sent in by email, I suggest we address them after the presentations. The agenda of our meeting and resolutions are to be found in the notice of meeting that you received and the documents placed on site on the 8th of June. I therefore propose that we do not read that and we turn straight to the results for 2019. This AGM is part of our shareholder outreach policy, just like in 2019, gave rise to a notice of meeting available on the website, available to the unsighted, and the presentation of results of the meeting on internet. Before handing over to Jean-Jacques Guiony, CFO, who will comment in detail the results of the year, I'd like to stress how much 2019 was another outstanding year for LVMH. Record level of sales and results.
The excellent performance that all our teams contributed to against the backdrop of a promising market and a group environment that was very dynamic in terms of creativity and geographic expansion. New record in terms of sales and profit from recurring operations. Revenue reached EUR 53.7 billion, up 15%. Profit from recurring operation came in at EUR 11.5 billion, up 15%. Free cash flow in 2019 comes in at EUR 6.2 billion. Geographically, Europe and the U.S. experienced excellent growth, like Asia, in spite of a challenging context in Hong Kong in the second part of the year. It's clear, unfortunately, that in 2020, the general situation is not at all what it was in 2019. Over now to Mr. Jean-Jacques Guiony, who will discuss the figures of the year.
Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. Let me go through the financial highlights for the year 2019. A few items about sales, and then I'll get into the details of the financial statements. Let's start with this chart, which shows the growth of sales in 2019. Organic growth, that is not including Forex and scope, was on average 10%. We will get into the details of business areas. The scope effect is limited to the acquisition of Belmond in April. Forex is positive to the tune of 3% because of appreciation of the U.S. dollar and the yen. All in all, sales growth over 2019 was up 15%. Let's look at the business areas. I'll look at the organic figures. Wines and Spirits had a sound year, driven by cognac in China, but also the U.S.
Outstanding year also for Fashion and Leather Goods driven by Louis Vuitton, Christian Dior, and by and large, by all the brands of that business area. Remarkable performance by Perfumes and Cosmetics, higher than the competition. Good figures also for Watches and Jewelry. Also Selective Retailing with the growth of Sephora, in spite of the difficulties encountered by DFS on the Hong Kong market since the summer 2019. Let's look at the details of the performance. Looking at sales growth margin, that is, gross margin rather, was stable at 66.2%. SG&A were up 14%. Within that, sales and marketing were about the same. Admin G&A was 11%. On this basis, we have remarkable growth of profit from recurring activities, our main indicator at 15% to EUR 11 billion 504 million. Operating profit from recurring operation was 21.4%, same as last year.
Other expenses and income was at EUR 231 million, up compared to last year. That includes, of course, mostly write-down of impairment of tangible and intangible assets. Financial profit was in fact a charge of EUR 559 million. This is only because accounting financial expenses related to leases because of IFRS 16. Taxes were 27%, slightly up compared to last year. Minority interest was stable, reflecting better performance by Moët Hennessy and degradation of DFS. All in all, net profit attributable to the group was EUR 7.171 billion, up 13% compared to last year. A new record in the history of the group, as is the case for profit from recurring activities and sales. Let's look at profit from recurring activities and the breakdown by business areas.
As regards Wines and Spirits , the year was a good year since profit for recurring activities was up 6%, in line with sales in EUR. Fashion and Leather goods had an outstanding year, since the profit were up 24%. The performances of Louis Vuitton and Christian Dior were outstanding. Many other brands had a remarkable year, Loewe, Fendi, Berluti. I can't go through them all. Perfumes and Cosmetics had a good year, but operating profit was impaired by inventory write-downs in the second half of the year. The year was good for Watches and Jewelry, whose profits were up almost 5%. Last year, in 2018, the increased profit growth was 40%. Finally, selective retailing had a contrasting year, especially at DFS, which suffered from the situation in Hong Kong. Let's look at the details of our balance sheet.
I will not go into the detail, but you can see that we have a sound financial structure. Equity accounts for 40% of our assets, and undrawn credit line are a significant amount, which will enable us to face possible difficulties on the market. About the debt, it stood at EUR 6.2 billion after the acquisition of Belmond. It was EUR 5.5 billion at the end of 2018, so not much change. At EUR 6.2 billion, free cash flow is also at a new record, and the debt-to-equity ratio is a modest 16%. A few words about the dividend. We are proposing a dividend of EUR 4.80 per share, down 20% compared to last year. As you understood, this is not because of the performance in 2019. That was an outstanding year, but because of the COVID-19 pandemic, whose effects we are suffering and which require, from our viewpoint, a certain level of caution.
Finally, a slightly negative note about sales in Q1 2020. They were down 15% over that period. While it's difficult to forecast the rest of the year in present circumstances, but we know that the effects of this very exceptional situation will continue to be felt in the months and weeks to come. Thank you.
We propose not to read in detail the management report, part of the documents available on our website. During this meeting, we will favor the themes that drew your attention, those that you sent to us via the email address sent to you. Let's look at the main trends of the group during 2019, starting with Wines and Spirits that delivered a good performance in 2019 with balanced geographical expansion. Hennessy, met with great success, has become the leading world brand of premium spirits. In Champagne, our prestige cuvées, the new vintage Plénitude 2 1998 of Dom Pérignon, La Grande Dame de Veuve Clicquot met with considerable acclaim. The acquisitions of Château Galoupet and Château d'Esclans mark the entry of the group into the buoyant market of high-end rosé wines.
For Fashion and Leather goods, Louis Vuitton, Christian Dior experienced great performance buoyed by inspiring shows, great exhibitions, and prestigious collaborations. Great progress of Fendi, where a fine tribute to the creative ardor of his iconic artistic director, Karl Lagerfeld, passed away early 2019, was paid, but also strong increase of Loewe with Jonathan Anderson, creative director, as well as RIMOWA. Let's mention also the buoyant growth of Celine and the other brands of the Fashion and Leather goods business unit. Perfumes and Cosmetics delivered an excellent year in a competitive sector with remarkable momentum of our leading brands, Dior, Guerlain, Givenchy. The success also of Fenty Beauty, that is at the head of the makeup startups league table. Watches and Jewelry still buoyed by the strong creativity of our houses, where Bvlgari is going from strength to strength and increasing its market share. Very dynamic expansion of Chaumet and Fred.
The watches, TAG Heuer prepared the launch of its new connected watch that has just been unveiled and that is already a big success. Hublot continues on its trend and experienced an excellent year 2019. Selective retailing, now Sephora delivered strong growth with a major increase in online sales, whereas DFS in the second half faced to a tourism slowdown in Hong Kong owing to the events that we all know about. Let me recall amongst the highlights of the year, the advent of the outstanding hotel group Belmond in the LVMH group, and the tie-up with Stella McCartney, as well as the agreement with Tiffany jeweler. Having presented a few successes of 2019, let's now move to the group strategy measures taken since the start of the epidemic and the outlook for 2020 in the current context. With the COVID-19 epidemic, LVMH was faced with an unprecedented situation.
The top priority was given to health and safety of our employees and our customers globally. The group worked closely with the employees in each of our houses to provide them with the necessary support. LVMH rallied to support the collective effort undertaken to fight this virus. In images, here are a few example of this collective effort conducted by many employees. Many supportive initiatives supporting the health authorities and medical staff were rolled out by the maison of the group throughout the world. Help to caregivers, manufacturer of hand sanitizer, delivered pro bono to the medical authorities and hospitals, help to delivery and production of face masks, search of PPE for hospitals, financial support to the Chinese Red Cross, the foundation of Paris and French hospitals. LVMH has displayed good resilience in this disrupted environment.
The teams of our group displayed great agility to confront the situation, and adaptation efforts were conducted to control costs and increase selectivity of our investments. From Q1, our stores unfortunately had to close, as well as our manufacturing sites, and in most countries when international travel was, for the most part, halted. The closure of manufacturing production sites and group stores during the first half will, of course, have an impact on sales and the annual results 2020. This impact cannot be assessed precisely at this stage because we don't yet fully know the timetable of the return to normal in the various geographies of the group, and in particular, we don't know when the virus will totally disappear.
We can but hope that the recovery will occur gradually during the second half, and signs of recovery in June in a number of our activities are quite vigorous. In the current context, we remain imbued with our long-term vision, the horizon to which we're rolling out our strategy. We remain focused on preserving the value and the development of our brands, the image of our brands, the desirability of our products, with a very strong ambition for all our Maisons. Develop this desirability is the long-term goal that each of us is setting. Buoyed by their creative dynamism, our brands will continue to be renewed and enrich their iconic lines. The growing digitization of our activities will improve customer experience and showcase our brands. Customer interaction will, of course, continue to be at the heart of the development of our companies.
We're convinced that the creativity of our houses and the agility of our organization will allow us not only to overcome this crisis, but to perform even better when it recedes. Vigilant and responsive for the immediate, confident for the future, we're determined to strengthen still further our lead in the universe of high-quality products and to gain market share. Our resolve is all the stronger, since it rests on a bedrock of unchanging values shared with our employees, partners, customers, and shareholders. Creativity, the taste for innovation, the quest for excellence in all our initiatives, entrepreneurship, which pushes us to development and being open on the world, and now we've added a fourth value, which is engagement. It's these values that guide us and lead us to permanently progress. That's why I've chosen this fourth value that I've just cited, that we add to the other three.
Engagement, a sense of responsibility, a duty of exemplarity transmitted from generation to generation in each of our houses since the outset. It's even the secret of their longevity, the form of this engagement, alike the group, rich and diversified. Since the pioneering introduction of environmental policy back in 1992, we've constantly renewed efforts and innovations to limit the impact of our activity on the environment, to preserve the natural materials that are the excellence of our products. Ahead of the very demanding roadmap set out by the LIFE program, we took many engagements, commitments in 2019 in favor of biodiversity, animal welfare. On biodiversity, we signed with UNESCO a partnership aimed at preserving the biosphere with, for example, a program to preserve bees and to safeguard beekeepers.
On the climate front, our objective, LIFE 2020, of reducing 25% CO2 emissions linked to our energy consumption, was reached as of 2019. On traceability, lastly, the excellence of a product requires the discovery of its origin. The platform Bee Respect of Guerlain informs on conditions of manufacture, the origin of ingredients used and suppliers selected. It's an exemplary product. We can't manufacture products and experiences that are aspirational without strict compliance with ethical principles and traceability with our partners, nor by providing answers to today's problems. It's in this spirit that we've taken many inclusive initiatives, rallying many resources to save Notre-Dame de Paris, the fight against deforestation in the Amazon, or more recently, against the spread of COVID-19, are available on our website, the environment report and the corporate social responsibility 2019, or you'll find detailed information on the group's initiatives in 2019.
Lastly, I'd like to stress the importance of our talent in the diversity of profiles of the group throughout the world is a unique asset, incomparable success of our group. Diversity is a key competitive factor. Our commitment is strong in terms of inclusion. Since the beginning, the group condemns all forms of discrimination and sets it out clearly in its code of conduct. Our efforts were strengthened in 2019 through the creation of a diversity and inclusion division. The executive committee of your group and our houses cited the global standards for conduct for companies in the fight against discrimination in respect of LGBTI persons of the UN. This sum of commitments and achievements converges towards a key notion, transmission. At LVMH, we constantly strive to nurture the know-how that contributes to the renown of our houses.
It's a responsibility that we assume by recruiting and changing every year thousands of new employees, but by disseminating more widely our skills and spirit of enterprise through our Institute of Métiers d'Excellence or the programs such as DEI or the Startup House to stimulate innovation. The group's still developing strong ties with schools and universities with the Inside program. Lastly, I'd like to stress how much our group is a forward-looking group. It's a family group, buoyed by a long-term vision, positive and sustainable as to the role of the company and society, has a strong ideal of perfection quality, driven by its commitments to be aspirational. In light of the presentations that have been given, I request that we not read the reports of the committees of the board. Over now to the statutory auditors.
Thank you, sir. Ladies and gentlemen, dear shareholders, good morning. It is my pleasure to introduce, on behalf of the statutory auditors, the reports that we prepared for your assembly. These reports were made available to you. I will just summarize them. There are five such reports, one on the parent company financial statements, one on the consolidated financial statements, a special report on related party agreements, two special reports related to transactions on the share capital. Starting with the parent company financial statements, it is resolution number one. These financial statements were prepared according to French accounting standards. We considered the valuation of equity investments and provisions for contingencies and losses, which were the key items of the audit. As a result of which, we certified the accounts without reservations.
Regarding the consolidated financial statements that are prepared according to IFRS standards, we believe that the following items were the key items. Valuation of fixed assets, valuation of inventories and work in progress, provision for contingencies and losses and uncertain tax positions. Finally, the initial application of the IFRS 16 standard related to leases. As a result of our audit, we again certify these consolidated financial statements without reservations. We draw your attentions in 2019 of the effects of the new IFRS 16 standard on leases and the IFRIC 23 provisions regarding uncertain tax positions. Regarding resolution number four in your AGM, we produced a report on regulated related party agreements. The new agreement, which was authorized by the board of directors, concerned an amendment on the assistance convention with Groupe Arnault.
The other agreements and commitments authorized in prior years and which remained in force in 2019 are also presented in our special report. Finally, as part of the extraordinary part of the AGM, we produced two reports regarding your share capital. They are operations of authorization to reduce the share capital and authorization to award bonus shares to employees and/or senior executive officers. Our report has no particular comment on these operations, which are provided by the French Commercial Code. Ladies and gentlemen, sir, thank you for your attention.
I inform you that the company's received written questions put by shareholders. I'd like, first of all, to give the floor to Mr. Bernard Kuhn to read the answers provided by the chief executive and the group managing director on behalf of the board. As I said in my introduction, we also gave you the possibility, in addition to the legal provision, to send in your questions by email. Mr. Antonio Belloni will then speak to present a selection of questions that represent the topics that attracted your attention.
Mr. President. Thank you, sir. We received questions from three shareholders. Shareholder number one was FIR, Forum pour l'Investissement Responsable, Forum for Responsible Investment. In fact, they sent us as many as 12 questions. Question number one, what is the list of activities that are not compatible with the Paris Agreement? What actions have you taken to disengage from such activities in 2020? The answer is as follows. The carbon footprint of the group stands at 250,418 tons equivalent of CO2. The idea is not to pull out of incompatible activities, but to reduce carbon emissions in keeping with the trend defined by COP 21. It is according to that trend that the climate objective of the LIFE 2020 program was worked out. That target considers 2020, with 2013 being the reference year, as follows.
A 25% reduction of CO2 emissions related to energy consumption by resorting to a 30% renewable energy mix as part of the energy mix of the group, and thermal energy of the shops, the boutiques, improved by 15%. The minus 25% objective was reached in 2019, even though over the past six years, LVMH enjoyed significant growth. Question number two, how are your CapEx development plans aligned with a climate scenario compatible with the Paris Agreement? Answer. Since 2015, all the houses of the group have integrated the LIFE program as part of the strategic plan that they have proposed to the Executive Committee. In this respect, they have proposed action plans and development plans to reach these objectives in 2020. Moreover, 310 of the product proposed by the houses were validated as part of our carbon fund for the period 2017-2019.
Question number three, how do you analyze the effects of your activities on the world and global and local ecosystems, for instance, biodiversity? What are the five main impacts, positive and negative? Answer. The products of the LVMH houses have an interdependent relation with biodiversity and water resources. Preserving biodiversity and regenerating it is a key objective for the group, whose policy has three dimensions. Number one, deploys the most stringent social and environmental requirements in 70% of the supply chain by 2020, 100% by 2025. For instance, 100% of French vineyards are covered by certificates of sustainable winemaking, the Living Soils program also helps regenerate biodiversity. Number two, direct innovation towards new materials and biomaterials and eco-design has led to the proposal of as many as 450 eco-responsible materials for various activities. Number three, support basic and operational research.
LVMH is a partner of the Man and the Biosphere program of UNESCO, as part of which, for example, Guerlain has been rolling out a program to preserve bees and preserving apiculture, that is beekeeping know-how. Question number four, the COVID-19 crisis will weaken the economic fabric and in particular, very small companies. In this respect, is your group considering to change the payment conditions for its suppliers, and if so, how and over what geographical territory? The answer is, by and large, throughout the sanitary health crisis, clear instructions were given to the group to remind everyone of the need to respect contractual payment conditions. Specific measures were taken by the houses of the group in view of the difficulties encountered by suppliers. Indeed, paying the bills early, providing protective equipment for employees, such as masks and gel, or organizing screenings on their business.
Question number five, how is your company preparing its employees to the changes in the 21st century that are shaking the industry? Well, the need to permanently adapt to the situation and to be agile is part of our corporate spirit and indeed our corporate culture. We are promoting entrepreneurship to be open to the world in all its diversity. LVMH is very much committed to help its employees get new training and new skills in a changing world and is allowing significant resources for this. Amongst the many initiatives in this respect, there is LVMH House, which proposes training sessions and personal development sessions, bringing together executives from the whole world and dedicated to business excellence and open innovation so as to build the future of the group. After London and Singapore, new LVMH Houses were opened in Tokyo and in New York.
In 2019, EUR 138 million were invested in training. 57.5% of our employees had access to that training. Even though these are not provisions for its own employees, LVMH should also like to mention two initiatives that are taken, which are also illustrative of its commitment to training and social responsibility in a world in transition. You have, on one hand, in 2014, we created the Métiers d'Excellence, which were intended to help the younger generations get an introduction to the trades of luxury. Number two, we launched this year in Clichy-sous-Bois LIVE, that is the Institute for Vocational Training. The idea is to help the younger generation that has not yet found its vocational path. Number six, do you have a definition of decent wages, which is not the minimum wage?
If there is a definition, what is it, and how do you guarantee decent wages to your employees? Answer, the group has not got its own definition of a decent wage, but our code of conduct specifies that the group should ensure that activities be conducted in the respect of human rights and encourages continuous improvement in social, societal, and sanitary conditions, which are essential factors for the development and protection of human beings. The choices made by the group for decentralized management of human resources ensures that everywhere around the world, the group has adapted provision, especially as regards compensation. International surveys that take into account the specificity and diversity of the various business areas have been conducted on an annual basis to ensure that wages are properly positioned. Employees in the company do have their own bonuses and therefore take part in profit-sharing.
Moreover, employees in France have specific profit-sharing provisions, which accounted to as much as EUR 320 million in 2019, up 13.6% compared to 2018. The group is also mindful of specific provisions for its employees' health, that is medical coverage, and that is in line with what is on offer in mature countries. Question number seven, as part of the profit-sharing provisions for your employees in France, do you take into account environmental and social criteria? If so, how much and how? Well, the houses propose to adopt an ethical, social, and environmental approach. In this respect, many houses have profit-sharing agreements that do take into account social and environmental criteria. For example, in the Champagne area, the two profit-sharing agreements include sustainable development indicator, energy and waste sorting, and a social indicator, which is the accident rate.
For Guerlain, profit sharing includes sustainable development, which is a result of the ISO 14001 audit. Christian Dior has also, in its profit sharing, an indicator of environmental performance, which concerns the reuse of waste that is the recyclable part of rejects, and that item will be part of the next negotiation. Question number eight, as part of employee savings plans, what funds are using responsible labels? The answer is as follows. Even though the law doesn't impose upon companies to use such responsible funds for employee savings plan, this practice is very much common in our companies, and indeed, the houses are proposing a number of solidarity funds with the proper label, such as CIES, FIR, Greenfin, and ISR, which makes it possible for employees to invest their profit sharing in an ethical way.
These houses also propose to improve the possibility to invest in such funds in the future. This ethical and environmental policy is regularly discussed with social partners. Question number nine, the distribution of taxes on a country-by-country basis, is that discussed by the Board of Directors or by the Audit Committee, and will you publish the results? The distribution of taxes is, of course, an issue that is considered by the Audit Committee and the Performance Committee, and indeed, the Board of Directors. It is not compulsory to publish this, and of course, we do not propose to publish information that could cause difficulties for companies, but we are happy to declare that 50% of the taxes paid by LVMH is paid in France, and that the share of the group in the total amount of corporate income tax paid in France is 5%. Question number 10.
Are there social cohesion problems linked to compensation gaps, and is there a policy to address this? The answer is we don't have such issues because of a compensation linked to compensation gaps, but the registration document for 2019 publishes the compensation packages for executive officers as planned by present regulations. Question number 11. To ensure gender equality in terms of compensation, career, and access to executive positions, are there objectives that are discussed by the board of directors? Well, every year we have quantitative and qualitative details discussed in terms of gender parity, and that is published to the board of director, and there are discussions about that. Number 12, do you propose to publish the positions of the social partners on the extra-financial performance of the group? Well, the extra-financial performance consolidated at group level is indeed published by the registration document on page 65.
It is presented every year to the bodies that represent the staff at group level. That is, we have the group committee in France and the European Works Council. There are talks with its representatives about these issues. A question by IPAC, Initiative Pour un Contrat pour un Actionnariat Citoyen. Can you tell us if, as part of the health crisis, your group has benefited from public subsidies to support jobs worldwide? Can you tell us the total number of layoffs for economic reasons in the year 2019? Whereas most of its manufacturing capacities are located in France, LVMH has made it a principle not to resort to subsidies made available by the French government. There was only a few rare exceptions for very atypical situations. Abroad, some of our units that were impacted did answer favorably and accepted offers from the local governments.
In France, fewer than 20 employees were laid off for economic reasons. Only a small percentage of departures in 2019 could be assimilated to layoffs for economic reasons. Final question by the French Central Bank, the Banque de France, which is a shareholder. Does LVMH propose to publish qualitative criteria that are taken into account to work out the bonus of this Chief Executive Officer and his Deputy? The registration document for the year 2019 on page 167 lists the qualitative criteria decided by the Board of Directors and taken into account for the bonus of the Chief Executive Officer and the Deputy CEO, but does not give the details of that for reasons of confidentiality vis-à-vis the competition.
Every year, the committee in charge of selecting directors and compensations assesses the performance of the CEO and the Deputy CEO in view of these qualitative criteria, looking at strategic, organizational, operational, and managerial skills, and that do relate to social and developmental responsibility. In as much as some criteria are not sensitive from a competition viewpoint, the company may consider publishing more details about these criteria. These were the answers to the written questions received from the shareholders. Toni, you have the floor.
Thank you, Bernard. Concerning the questions received by email, we've selected several amongst them, representative of the issues that withheld your attention. The first question concerns Tiffany. Are you still satisfied with the agreement with Tiffany? When do you expect the transaction to actually complete? Well, we believe that Tiffany is one of the most iconic jewelry brands, and in that respect, it has its full place in the LVMH portfolio. We've already disclosed on this matter and therefore have nothing to add. Another question was received from PETA, asking us if we're going to give up using fur and exotic skins as of today. This is a recurring question on their part. Our position is that natural raw materials constitute a precious material and are at the heart of the outstanding products of our houses.
Each house can decide on these materials, but must strictly comply with our code of practice pertaining to responsible sourcing of animal raw materials that sets out long-term commitments in three areas. Traceability of supplies, animal welfare, and lastly, the respect for local populations, the environment and biodiversity. Another question concerns the future of the luxury sector and possible change in our development model. We view the future of the luxury sector with optimism. Consumer habits will, of course, continue to evolve, as will their priorities, and that because the crisis plays an accelerating role. Yet, our brand portfolio is solid, diversified, created centuries ago for some houses, and the values that contributed to the strength of the group, quality, creativity, and entrepreneurship, are timeless and will continue to function.
Question on the reasons for the reduction of the dividend in respect of fiscal year 2019, whereas the results of the year were excellent, and to know whether the 2020 dividend will once again be on the increase. This crisis requires a significant effort on behalf of all stakeholders. It's therefore quite logical that shareholders should contribute to that effort, and that is the decision that was taken by many companies. We must also consider reviving companies and the economy. These resources can be placed at the service of the recovery. Several questions came in on the share of online sales. Have you seen major changes in the digital front since the start of the year? Digital sales grew very strongly with growth rates higher than 100% in certain cases, countries or brands. All brands strengthened their infrastructure and focused on developing their own online website.
Last question on the proportion of activities linked to tourism. What strategy for Belmond in this new context? Well, the share of sales to tourists varies by region. Europe represents the largest share. Our strategy with Belmond is aimed at investing in the wonderful existing properties to improve customer experience and take advantage of the coming recovery in tourism. Thank you for your attention. Back to Bernard Kuhn.
The quorum was reached with as many as 80.65% of the shares with voting rights. Resolution number one, approval of the company financial statements. The resolution was adopted with 99.99% of the votes in favor. Resolution number two, approval of the consolidated financial statements, adopted with 99.99% of the votes cast. Resolution number three, allocation of income, setting the dividends EUR 4.8 per shares. We have 99.97% of the votes in favor. Resolution number four, approval of related party agreements. That was passed with 83.09% of the votes cast. Resolution number five, reappointment of Delphine Arnault as director, adopted with 92.01% of the votes cast. Resolution number six, reappointment of Antonio Belloni as director. That resolution was passed with 92.30% of the votes cast. Resolution number seven, reappointment of Diego Della Valle as director. The resolution was carried with 81.62% of the votes cast.
Resolution number eight was to reappoint Marie-Josée Kravis as director. The resolution was carried with 96.93% of the votes cast. Resolution number nine was to reappoint Marie-Laure Sauty de Chalon as director, and this was passed with 99.90% of the votes cast. Resolution number 10, to appoint Natacha Valla as director, and this was passed with 99.98% of the votes cast. Resolution number 11, to appoint Lord Powell of Bayswater as advisory board member, and that resolution was carried with 83.70% of the votes cast. Resolution number 12 was to approve the information referred to article L. 225-37-3 of the French Commercial Code, and this was passed with 86.16% of the votes. Resolution number 13, to approve the compensation paid during fiscal year 2019, and awarded in respect of that year to the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Bernard Arnault. This was accepted with 82.89% of the votes cast.
14, Resolution number 14 was to approve the compensation paid during fiscal year 2019, and awarded in respect of that year to the Group Managing Director, Antonio Belloni. This was adopted with 83.86% of the vote. Resolution number 15, to approve of the compensation policy in respect of non-senior executive officers. This was adopted with 99.55% of the votes. Resolution number 16, to approve the compensation policy in respect of the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer. This was carried with 83.85% of the votes. Resolution number 17, to approve the compensation policy in respect of the Group Managing Director, adopted with 84.03% of the votes. Resolution number 18, to authorize the board of directors to trade in the company's shares. This resolution was adopted with 99.16% of the votes.
Resolution number 19, to authorize the board of directors to reduce the share capital through the cancellation of shares held by the company. That was carried with 99.89% of the votes. Resolution number 20, to authorize the board of directors to award bonus shares to be issued with the removal of preferential subscription rights for the benefit of employees and/ or senior executive officers. This was accepted, passed with 82.65% of the votes. Resolution number 21 was to modify Article 11 of the bylaws to define the terms for the appointment of directors representing employees. That was accepted with 99.69% of the votes.
Resolution number 22, modification of Article 13 of the bylaws to change the method by which notice is served for the meetings of the board of directors, and to introduce the option for the board to take decisions based on written consultation pursuant to the provisions set out in the regulations. This was adopted with 99.54% of the votes. Resolution number 23, modification of Article 14 of the bylaws regarding the powers of the board of directors. That resolution was passed with 99.70% of the votes cast. Final resolution, number 24, harmonization of the bylaws with various provisions, legal and regulatory, in particular of the French law of May 22, 2019, known as Pacte Law, Articles 20, 21 and 23. Resolution passed with 99.5% of the vote.
I regret that we had to hold this AGM in closed session in unusual conditions. Hope to see you next year in different conditions. It's scheduled to be held on the 15th of April. I declare the meeting adjourned, and thank you for your attention.