Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. Welcome to this Salle Wagram. I hope there's not too much of an echo in here and that you can hear me properly. I'm very happy to see you after two years where our meetings were held in camera. Thank you very much for taking part in today's general assembly that I will be chairing. The meeting is open. Alongside myself, we have André François-Poncet, President of the Executive Board, David Darmon, member of the same board, and Caroline Bertin Delacour, General Secretary of Wendel. In the room, we have my cousin, friend, and predecessor, François de Wendel, who's been kind enough to come over today, and we have the different members from the Wendel Supervisory Board. For the bureau, we have. Sorry, I'll be chairing this assembly and the bureau.
I suggest that we appoint two tellers and I will be, so once again, chairing this assembly. Two tellers. I'm going to call upon Miss Priscilla de Moustier, representative of Wendel-Participations, and Mr. Humbert de Wendel, who represent the largest number of people who can vote today, either in person or by proxy. With the approval of the tellers, I should like to appoint Caroline Bertin Delacour as secretary of today's general assembly. First of all, I'd like to say a few words about the chair of our supervisory board. As you might have noticed, André François-Poncet has decided not to go all the way to the end of his second term to focus on personal projects.
The supervisory board has taken note of his desire, and on behalf of the board, I should like to thank him for the incredible amount of work that he's carried out at Wendel over the last five years. You've probably noticed that the share price of Wendel dropped by 6% after the announcement of his departure. That testifies to the huge amount of trust that shareholders have in André's ability to steer the Wendel ship, and I, too, fully trust André and his ability, and I'm very sad to see him leave. Second comment on my part, Wendel is a company that is in good order, and the reason why he is leaving is not down at all to any internal problem at Wendel. Please rest assured on that.
André carried out perfectly the mission that he was trusted with in spite of the pandemic and the war in Ukraine. As I said, Wendel is in good order with a NAV at a record high, or at least a few months ago, a dividend that is stable and increased under his tenure, a solid financial structure. I think that we can all be very grateful for André because he helped deleverage the group. The debt levels were much higher when he arrived at Wendel. With deleveraging, it puts us in a better position to weather the hurricane that is on the horizon, and it allows us to be much more nimble going forward.
The debt at Wendel and all our shares, all our companies really went down over the last four years. Bureau Veritas was a key, in fact, player in that and was able to weather the pandemic without any major issue. It allowed Wendel as a group to pay out the dividend regardless of the pandemic. From an operational perspective, André completely transformed Wendel with a refocused organization on North America and Europe, with teams that are beefed up and more focused on the operational aspects of the companies. André brought in the operating partner concept, so it's no longer about sourcing, about investment ideas, structuring or execution. It's really about following up administration and operational support to company leaders. We've got operating partners, thanks to André, who are doing a great job.
Once again, thank you very much to you, André. It allows us to really extract as much value as possible post-investment. Broadly speaking, we've got a very strong portfolio. The companies in the portfolio are doing really well with top management teams. André also introduced the ESG dimension that allows Wendel to stand out. Thanks to all this structure, work, and with the roadmap for 2022, 2024, that was approved by the supervisory board, André, David, and the executive board, and with the recent investment in Tarkett and ACAMS after the investment in CPI that have all been very successful. A lot of growth and a lot of profitability and gradual deleveraging. We're going to therefore look out for a new chair during Q2.
André, of course, is going to have his say in the process, and we'll continue to be the chair in the interim, and we would like to thank him for supporting us in this transition that will be smooth as a result. The new president of the executive board that we will pick in Q2 will have to open up a new chapter for Wendel, redeploy its growth assets and will have to head a large family European-listed company. He or she will make up an executive duo alongside David Darmon, who's General Director, member of the executive board, and who helped us develop our business in North America. He's the one who went to the U.S. and helped Wendel break into the U.S. 10 years ago.
David will continue to share his investor insights, and, as you know, he's got a very good understanding of Wendel and what Wendel is about. Thank you also to Guylaine Saucier, whose term will end at the end of today's meeting. She's been working at the board for 12 years, and for 11 of these 12 years, she was chair of the audit committee. I'm now going to hand over to Caroline for the details of today's proceedings. Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. This general assembly is both ordinary and extraordinary in light of the resolutions. Like every year, Maître Simonin is going to check that the proceedings go to plan. The agenda was published on the bulletin on the website of Wendel and in the convening notice.
It outlines the businesses of your companies and also sets out the resolutions that you will vote on later on. All the documents and information that are set in law have been made available to you three weeks before the assembly, and you can pick up a copy on the desk if you want to. We haven't received any suggestion from shareholders to add any items to the agenda. I suggest that we don't read all of the reports, nor the wording of the resolutions, not in total, in any case, at any rate, so that we can have some time for discussion and presentations. Now, for your questions, you can either put them in writing by using the form that you were handed on the way in.
You have up until the end of the presentation of the executive board that ends at 3:30 P.M. Otherwise, you can still ask your question in the room before we vote. Now, by looking at the attendance sheet, we have 71.24%. In other words, 30,896,140 million shares, and the final quorum will be given out just before the vote. We'll be voting on 30 resolutions. If you haven't voted prior to the assembly, you can vote with the tablet that you've been given. More explanations later. Thank you very much. Okay. Let's follow today's agenda that is currently displayed on the screen. David will be talking about 2021 and portfolio performance. Jérôme Michiels will be talking about Wendel Lab and the consolidated accounts for 2021.
David will come back and talk about the beginning of 2022 and recent developments, and he'll be also sharing with you the roadmap for 2024. Christine Anglade-Pirzadeh will give you an update on the group's environmental performance, and Jacqueline will share her report on governance and compensation. We will have the resolutions with Caroline and the reports from the chartered accountants. We'll take your questions, and we'll end with the vote on the resolutions. Over to you, André.
Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. First of all, thank you, Nicolas, for your kind words. I don't think that this 6% drop is down to my departure. I'm afraid that there are other external factors that are much more powerful out there that have to do with macroeconomics.
I will never be happy to see the share price of Wendel drop. Nonetheless, thank you very much to shareholders for having trusted me over the last 5 years. Thank you very much for taking part today, and thank you to all the shareholders who have trusted me and my team over the years, because it's not just one person, of course. It's a group of people and an executive board with David Darmon, whom I've been working with for more than 2 years now, who'll be walking you through the bulk of this presentation. He's going to take over some of my or part of my role and also because he knows Wendel inside out. Now, I'm leaving for extremely personal reasons. I want to echo what was said earlier.
The Wendel Group is in good order and is very solid, probably more solid than other players. I'm in good health and fine fitness, so please, don't worry, 'cause I receive a lot of emails from people who are concerned about my health. I'm gonna be very sad to leave the team and the executive board that is fully aligned with the supervisory board. We are, as you know, a listed group, so as soon as we have potential applicants, we have to draw up a list. We don't know how visible this list is, who knows, who is on the short list.
It's not a very comfortable situation to be in, sorry, but we need to be transparent, and I think that it will all wash out in the end because my position is one that a lot of people would like to have. I'm sure that soon enough, the Supervisory Board will come up with a good and new pick. I will leave once somebody has been chosen, so I'm fully available and at the disposal of the Supervisory Board, should we need to go a bit faster or a bit slower. I want this change in personnel to be a positive one, and then I will exit the stage, so to speak, and let the teams get on with their work. The assets are doing well.
There's a lot of energy in our companies. We've got great managers and themselves have very good colleagues and teams working under them. Wendel is made up of more than 100,000 people. In terms of headcount, we are quite small, but behind the Wendel group, there are more than 100,000 people, including 80,000 at Bureau Veritas. Previously, we had up to 300,000 people. We need to offer this drive and allow everybody to express their potential. David and myself will then be taking all of your questions, including questions on the topics that we've just covered. We are very happy to be able to actually have this meeting in the same room. Over the last two years, the general assemblies were in camera. You can also stream the general assembly on the website.
A special hello to the people who are following us online. I hope that the presentation will be comprehensive enough. However, if you have any questions, do not hesitate to ask them at the end of the presentations. Let's start off with the highlights of 2021. That feels a long time ago because that was before the invasion of Ukraine. We were extremely active in 2021, and you can see the good performance of portfolio companies with organic growth of 10.2%. New managers have joined this company, Maarten Heijbroek, for example, new CEO of Stahl, and Hinda Gharbi, who joined Bureau Veritas in June 2022. She is a COO and member of the executive board.
We were very active also on the very structure of the portfolio that we are currently transforming with the team under our 2021-2024 strategy. We've made two large investments, Tarkett in France. We hadn't invested in France in a long time, and ACAMS in the United States. We've also performed a significant disposal, that of Cromology, that we sold at a very good price. The long-awaited IPO of IHS took place in mid-October. We didn't sell any shares at that instance. A few figures. By the end of March 2022, we deployed EUR 640 million in capital. We were also very active in the area of ESG. That is completely integrated in our strategy and in our day-to-day activities. We'll hear from that later with Christine.
For 2021, the NAV increased by 20%, including the dividend that was paid out, and it could have been +27% with the IHS IPO aftermarket. In spite of that, at the end of December, our NAV was close to historical highs. Around EUR 188. This will allow us to continue to deploy our roadmap and our companies to deploy their own, and will allow us to make acquisitions if necessary. We are suggesting a EUR 3 dividend. Up compared to the previous year. We can look forward with ambition, and we can also be very confident that we can survive and thrive, in fact, in the very volatile current environment. Now, let's take stock of the last few years.
As you know, we have refocused our portfolio by disposing of small assets, and we've changed some management teams. All of this was done while also de-leveraging Wendel and its portfolio companies. We've closed down five offices for Wendel out of eight, and we're going to close down our headquarters. It is too big and not fit for purpose anymore. If you compare our portfolio now and in 2018, there are huge changes. Only four out of 13 assets are still in the portfolio, and out of the four that remains, IHS was a private company, and it has now become a listed company. We have an African company that has now become a much more global outfit. We've added three new companies to our portfolio.
Two are American, ACAMS and CPI, and they are going to lend a new growth profile to our portfolio. Overall, we've invested more than $1 billion in equity in the US, and the Wendel Lab has grown but remained very disciplined. It is now made up of professionals from the different industry sectors, and they have the right tools to reach our 5%-10% NAV objective with conditions that look favorable if we remain focused. In the meantime, we've returned more than EUR 800 million to shareholders, dividends and share buybacks. Overall, we've redeployed EUR 1.5 billion worth of capital. 2021 was the first year for our new roadmap, and we are very proud of what we've achieved.
Even in a context with a lot of uncertainty, with Ukraine inflation, COVID in China, Wendel has gone forward with a lot of confidence. Wendel is a solid, reliable player that paid out a good dividend even when other companies decided otherwise. Let's move on to the NAV that reached EUR 188.1 on December 31, 2021, so close to historical highs. That's. It's up 18% compared to the end of 2020. That growth is driven by the good performance of Bureau Veritas, contributing to EUR 24 per share, as well as non-listed assets who've contributed at a similar level.
The disposal of Cromology was also very positive, and the other non-listed shares contributed to the growth of the NAV to the tune of EUR 15.2, namely thanks to CPI. There was an important driver. A lot of people wondered why we bought up this company. We can now say with great confidence that we're glad that we have done. IHS performed quite disappointingly, and it drove down our NAV by more than EUR 12 between end of 2020 and the end of 2021. Overall, when you take into account the dividend paid out in 2021, our NAV increased by more than 20% in 2021. Later on in the presentation, David will remind you the NAV on March 31, 2022, that was impacted by the drop on the markets at that date.
Let's move on to the portfolio companies and their performance in 2021. I'll be quick for Bureau Veritas. It's our largest asset and also the longest standing one in our portfolio. They will have their general assembly on June 24th and will give out more detail on their business, then. The turnover increased by 8.3%. Organic growth up 9.4%, so, higher than its peers. All the divisions at Bureau Veritas have posted organic growth. The group resisted a cyberattack and adapted very quickly to new possibilities afforded by digital. Bureau Veritas has got a very solid balance sheet that allows it to be flexible financially, and it has de-leveraged to the tune of 1.1 x the EBITDA. It's a historical low since the IPO in 2007.
Regarding its business, the Green Line offering, so the sustainability package, makes up more than 50% of its sales. We believe that there are strong opportunities for growth in ESG for Bureau Veritas. For Q1, Bureau Veritas confirmed the outlook for 2022 by taking into account the lifting of COVID-related restrictions. Bureau Veritas also forecasts an improvement in its adjusted operational margin and will continue to generate cash flow with a cash conversion rate that will exceed 90%. Didier Michaud-Daniel has been renewed in his position as General Director. In fact, one of the best things I've done was to trust Didier Michaud-Daniel over the years and to give him the full rein of the company.
We also have a succession plan that has led to the recruitment of Hinda Gharbi as COO. She'll be deputy then, Deputy General Director, on first of January 2023, and at the end of the general assembly in June 2023, she will be General Director. Over to you, David, to talk about non-listed companies and also to talk about our roadmap execution. I will take your questions later, should you have any. Over to you, David.
Thank you very much, André. Ladies and gentlemen, good afternoon. A few comments on our non-listed assets and their performance in 2021. Now, the figures are clear for all to see. All the companies in our group have shown good performance and have recovered well across 2021. Let's start off with Constantia Flexibles with a new management team.
Constantia is back to organic growth with the Propak buyout announcement. Transportation, raw material is increasing, but margins remain stable at 12.5%. In 2021, the cash generation profile was improved and is now above its traditional average of 45%. The integration of Propak was a success, and every month, we can see that this newly acquired company is performing well. We are ahead of the 2025 vision strategy with a return to organic growth and an improvement in operational efficiency. Regarding CPI, 2021 was a record year for the company for the first time. Indeed, its turnover exceeded $100 million, thanks to an overall growth of +63.6%, all of that organic.
The EBITDA increased twofold and then some compared to last year, and the margin stands at a record 49.4%. CPI benefited from the lifting of restrictions and the adapting of its virtual training courses or online training courses. IHS was floated on the stock exchange in October 2021. It is no longer consolidated by Wendel, but nonetheless, I will give you the performances for last year because they were consolidated up until October 2021. The EBITDA stood at EUR 926 million with a margin at 58.6%. Stahl now the turnover has picked up there also, with organic growth at 25.4% and an activity level higher than pre-pandemic level in 2019. The EBITDA grew significantly, and its margin remained solid at 21.6%.
If Stahl was able to protect its margin, it's thanks to the management team and its resilient business model. Variable costs were under pressure, especially with the increase in the prices of raw materials. Measures were taken, and the company is keeping a close eye on the cost of inputs and will take the necessary measures to protect its profitability. Now, for Tarkett the turnover was 2.8%, so +6% compared to the previous year. The EBITDA margin stands at 8.2% compared to 10.6% in 2020. Volumes and prices have increased in all segments across 2021, but the inflation effect on raw materials, energy, and transport sped up in the second semester, and that led to an increase in supply costs for 2021.
Tarkett has reduced its cost structure, and its financial leverage is 2.1x the level of the company and 3.6x the level of Tarkett participation. As a reminder, Wendel owns 23.4% of Tarkett, and that makes up less than 2% of the NAV of Wendel at December 31, 2021. A few words about the financial structure of your group. As you can see, balance sheets are robust, as is your company. Cash flow generation of our portfolio companies and the recovery in
Operations led to global improvement of debt ratios. They reached historic lows for some of them in terms of absolute value and relative value. Compared to the financial leverages in the private equity industry, well, the levels are very low. Wendel and its companies are well-positioned to face economic turmoil and to seize opportunities. All of our companies, apart from two of them, which were recently acquired in the US, have a twofold leverage of the EBITDA, if not onefold. As we can see values for Bureau Veritas are lower levels compared to the IPO. For our two American companies, CPI and IHS, those are recent acquisitions, and those are cash flow generating companies. Now, a few words about the exposure of the portfolio to Russia and Ukraine. We focus particularly.
We monitor the situation in Ukraine, of course, and the economic exposure, the direct exposure of Wendel to Russia and Ukraine is limited to about 1% in value, so it is minor for your group. The situation for your group is the same as for other companies. The significant impact of the conflict is. It could lead to an increase in cost structures, the raw material prices, supply chain disruptions and others if there is not a rapid response. Up until now, I will be talking about the figures for the start of the year a little later, your companies proved they could adapt rapidly and maintained their prices. I want to give the floor to Jérôme Michiels for his presentation of the Wendel Lab and consolidated accounts 2021.
Ladies and gentlemen, good afternoon.
Over the past few months, we gave a broader scope to our initiative in the tech sector. As you probably know, we want to expose the NAV to high growth companies and sectors and bring this to a level of 5%-10% of the NAV by 2024. We noticed the market adjustment on tech values over the past month, which is why we remain cautious. Exposure. The exposure of Wendel is based on investment funds, major investment funds, and through investments that are direct investments in tech companies that record high growth.
The ramping up of the strategy and the deployment of equity that's associated is at the heart of our focus. We are very selective when it comes to the opportunities we want to seize, particularly given the current context with a correction of tech company valuations. We are focused on operational qualities of the targeted companies and their level of financing. This will be critical to face the crisis that is upcoming. There are opportunities of course, and we want to maintain a measured investment pace. We offer structured op transactions, but our action is based on our purpose to be committed alongside our entrepreneurial teams. We want to diversify the Wendel portfolio through exposure to high growth companies and focusing on disruptive business models.
We want to develop the expertise of Wendel teams and the teams of its portfolio companies when it comes to innovation technology to have a positive impact and to improve the value creation pattern of your group. By the end of 2021, we had invested EUR 115 million in funds, and in 2022, we continue our development by strengthening the teams at Wendel Lab. Moving to the 2021 results. The financial performance of your company was robust in 2021, with sales that amounted to EUR 7.5 billion. Those are consolidated figures, so up 9.8% overall and up 10.2% organically. 2020 was a difficult year, because of the consequences of the pandemic and levels of operations and sales of our.
All of the group's companies recorded a recovery in 2021, and they exceeded 2019 levels organically. This good performance is reflected in the operating income of our company, EUR 654 million, so double the figures of last year. Bureau Veritas accounted for this growth, major contribution, but all portfolio companies accounted for this increase as well. As it was the case the previous years, operational costs, financial costs were under control with a slight decrease due to the reduction in debt cost for Wendel. Now, let's turn to the net income. In 2021, it was impacted by a non-recurring element that has to do with the accounting treatment of the deconsolidation of IHS after the IPO. After the company was listed in New York, Wendel no longer had a notable influence on the company.
Pursuant to IFRS standards, this led to the deconsolidation of IHS in financial results at Wendel. It was considered as an outflow up until the IPO, and this led to an added value of EUR 913 million. The amount is difference between the IPO valuation and the net accounting value in consolidated financial statements of Wendel, although Wendel did not sell any IHS or dispose of any IHS shares. Given the decrease in share price after the IPO, well, there was a decrease in the value of EUR 357 million in private equity. Another element I'd like to provide a comment on has to do with the decrease in depreciation and impacts of the impact of goodwill allocation.
There were high levels in 2020, but in 2021, there was a less significant impact. Therefore, the net income was EUR 1,236 million and EUR 1,047 million for the group compared to a EUR 264 million loss in 2020. Given our strategic roadmap and the solid financial structure, we suggest we pay a EUR 3 dividend for 2021. This amounts to a 3.4% increase compared to last year. As you know, our determination to pay a regular dividend and an increasing dividend each year is part of our strategy regarding the return to our shareholders. I should remind you that we purchased EUR 42.4 million worth of shares in 2021.
I thank you, and I give the floor to David Darmon for a few words about our 2022 activity and the recent performance of our portfolio.
Thank you, Jérôme Michiels. A few words about the start of the year 2022. We published the Q1 results very recently. Consolidated sales were up 14.9% overall and up 9.9% organically. The net asset value on March 31, 2022, was EUR 165.8 per share, so a 1% decrease over 12 months and 11.9% since the start of the year. The reason being the impact of the war in Ukraine on financial markets. The start of 2022 was a very active period in terms of portfolio rotation and capital deployment.
As you know, the disposal of Cromology occurred, and it led to proceeds of EUR 900 million. We also closed the acquisition of EcoVadis and invested EUR 300 million, and we also invested capital in the Wendel Lab and invested EUR 30 million. A total of EUR 145 million now. We also bought back our shares at EUR 15 million worth of shares. Our return to shareholders policy is solid, a EUR 3 dividend, upon which you will be voting, and 377,000 shares were canceled on the 27th of April, so a pro forma positive impact of EUR 0.70 per share on the NAV on the 31st of March. Now, let's take a look at our portfolio company performances. The figures you see are very telling.
Our companies recorded a very good start of the year. The companies showed they could adapt to changing environments. This growth in sales was recorded in a difficult context with shortages in raw materials. Sales at Bureau Veritas were up 11.7% compared to Q1 in 2021. Operations were able to make the most of a recovery after the cyberattack during Q4 of 2021. Three operations recorded a strong organic growth. Industry with 11.9% growth. Agro-food and raw materials, 9.7% growth. Building and infrastructure, 7.1%. The rest of the portfolio recorded a single-digit growth. Marine and offshore recording a 6.5% increase. Goods up 4.6%, and certification up 4%.
For Constantia Flexibles, sales during Q1 were up 26.6% compared to Q1 in 2021, which is remarkable for an industrial company. It was able to implement cost compensation structures to compensate the inflation. The Q1 of 2022 led to return to organic growth. Now moving on to Stahl. Sales were up 7% compared to Q1 in 2021. Operations exceeded expectations at group level with investments in several sectors. In all segments, there were increases in prices as early as the start of the year, and they were quite significant. The order book increased during Q1, and it is reaching a historic high, and it gives prospects as to Q2. Crisis Prevention Institute continued with growth of its sales growth 30%.
Growth in volumes with new certified instructors and by extending its offer to new programs. Despite a difficult start of the year due to the Omicron wave in America. A few words about ACAMS. It is the first time we report on the company after its acquisition at the start of the year. It is a training company, a leader in that field in training and certifications in tackling money laundering and financial crime. I will be presenting the company later, but its performance was excellent during Q1. Over 30% organic growth. Certification and training activities accounted for a growth too. The increase was also thanks to in-person meetings that could be held. A few words about Tarkett and IHS. They are not consolidated in your group.
Their sales are not included in the EUR 2.7 billion. I will still provide a few words about their performance. A solid performance. Tarkett +22.5% in sales. The increase in sale price was combined to an increase in volume, 12.9% increase for prices and 6% for volumes. The company was faced with inflationary pressures and increases in prices to absorb the impact of inflation. About IHS Towers, a very solid Q1 with sales increase by 23% and high levels of EBITDA cash flow generation that exceeded expectations, and it could up its guidance for the end of 2022. Recently, IHS closed the acquisition of 5,700 towers in South Africa and diversified its operations outside Nigeria.
Generally speaking, the companies manage their prices reasonably, and they focus on conserving profitability and by using their ability to increase prices. A few words about the NAV. It decreased by 11.9%, and this reflects changes on share markets. The decrease is because of the decrease of shares, listed assets. When it comes to non-listed assets, the decrease had an impact of 5.2 EUR in total on the NAV. By the thirty-first of March, none of the companies had revised their budgets for 2022. Before I talk about ACAMS, just a short presentation video.
I am very happy to present you in more detail this great company whose acquisition we finalized last March tenth. ACAMS is the largest organization in the world dedicated to training in the field of fighting financial crime. We acquired this company from Adtalem Global Education, which is a company listed in the United States and which had acquired this group a few years ago. This investment fits perfectly with our 2021-2024 roadmap. We have invested around $338 million in shareholder funds and we hold around 98% of the capital today alongside the management team and a minority shareholder. ACAMS has developed a very large global network with more than 90,000 members in around 175 jurisdictions.
It is a very efficient organization that ultimately enables effective fighting against criminal activities such as the financing of terrorism or human trafficking, but also against other violations of fundamental rights, such as the environment or biodiversity. ACAMS is thus in total accordance with the ESG values of the Wendel group. In the same spirit as CPI, ACAMS is a company that delivers organic growth of around double digits. It has a strong brand, an excellent customer retention rate, and a strong generation of cash flow with good long-term development prospects. A word about our balance sheet. Earlier, André said that our group is in very good health. You can see it here. A very solid balance sheet. Our firepower is in line with the objectives of our roadmap.
We have EUR 1.7 billion in liquidity, including EUR 1 billion in treasury, complemented by an undrawn credit facility of EUR 750 million.
There was the acquisition of ACAMS, and new capitals were invested in Wendel Lab. However, we are in a difficult context. There are uncertainties as to prices, availability of raw materials, inflationary pressures, lockdowns that are being put in place in certain countries. Your companies showed they were able to adapt and remain profitable. We have a strong balance sheet, low levels of debt, so we are very confident about the future. There's also a solid basis for the implementation of our roadmap, and I will come to this later. The current context with high volatility and uncertainties can help us seize new opportunities. Just a few words about the roadmap. The roadmap was presented to you about a year ago, so we wanted to tell you the progress that we made.
We wanted to offer a more diversified portfolio and therefore more appealing. We will be constituting a seven to 10 company portfolio with equity investment amount of EUR 150 million-EUR 500 million. We already have seven, but some of them. There will be changes. 2021 was the first year of the implementation of our strategic roadmap, and we have the means and the will to deploy capital to acquire companies that match our research criteria, and that is what we did. In April 2021, we announced the investment in Tarkett alongside the Deconinck family, which will be a majority stake. We have also invested in Wendel Lab EUR 49 million and an extra EUR 21 million with it for Q1 of 2022.
Finally, at the start of 2022, we added ACAMS to our portfolio, the Association of Certified Anti-Money Laundering Specialists. We're determined to redeploy capital by targeting companies that have a high growth potential pursuant to our roadmap. Now, what should we take away from the first year of the implementation of our roadmap? While the performances of the companies in our portfolio are good, managing teams have our trust and support. We work together with them. We mentioned our operating partners. We interact with them quite frequently to support them. Your portfolio is being diversified progressively with high growth companies in the services sector and with a strong ESG impact. I thank you for your attention, and I give the floor to Nicolas. Thank you, David.
I hope you didn't drown in all those figures, and I hope you got the key message. We want to be very clear. A solid performance for 2021, and this applies to all of our portfolio companies. A very good start of the year 2022. In spite of recent events you are aware of, Omicron, China, inflation, and the war at our doors, which is very worrying, of course. Christine, head of sustainable development and communication, will now provide an update on our ESG roadmap.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Ladies, gentlemen, dear shareholders, a few words about the main or the highlights in the field of ESG in 2021. This ESG performance continuously improved. Slight problem with slides. It improved, as you can see, with the ratings we were awarded.
All of our ratings have improved. For the second year, we are in the World and Europe Dow Jones Sustainability Indices, and Wendel is the only French company in that index. Bureau Veritas is the best in its sector. It is now part of the CAC 40 ESG, and we're very proud of that. Proud that Bureau Veritas reached such a high level of performance. Those ratings are very important as they help our shareholders and investors understand our activities in the field of environmental and ESG in general. They're a good pointer to compare our companies to others. We also organize road shows on those matters with the interested investors in the field of ESG. We are doing such events, or organizing such events more and more frequently.
We work on all aspects of ESG, the E, the S, the G through our priorities. Priority health and gender equality, tackling climate change, and eco design. Naturally, like many other companies, we focus on tackling climate change. In 2021, we ramped up our activities, and I will be mentioning a few initiatives. When it comes to our investment strategy, our exclusion lines includes investment in coal, but we also decided not to invest in some of the sectors on that exclusion list. We decided not to do so as the list was too short. When investing, we analyze the impact on the environment. As we had committed to in 2021, we conducted a climate risk analysis in our controlled companies using the TCFD method reference in that field.
In 2022, all of our companies will have to present an action plan for the climate based on the findings of this analysis. All of this leads to ramping up of our activities and complying with the Paris Agreement. 70% of our controlled investments have committed to defining an emission reduction target. The climate change performance is now a condition in our compensation policies. In 2021, for example, compensation of controlled companies were conditioned on the environmental performance, and we will be proceeding in the same way in 2022. A climate action plan will be required. We also apply this climate condition to Wendel management teams and for some stock option plan.
I think it's something that's very important. We need to do it. We have a trusted third party to make sure that we stick to these performance criteria. We do it for everyone, including, of course, the Wendel executive board. At Wendel, we traditionally have always had an appetite for innovation, and we ask that our companies also innovate in the areas of ESG. That's part of the ESG strategy set out by Wendel. We want to know which impact our products and services have, and it needs to be a positive impact. As you can see on this slide here, we have this figure of 54%. 54% of Wendel's consolidated sales are generated from products and services with social and environmental added value. You've got the Green Line that André mentioned earlier.
The service sales offered by Bureau Veritas in line with sustainable development. 52% of Bureau Veritas' sales come from this Green Line. You've got the Stahl water-based solutions that reach 57%. You can see the detail of the calculations in the document. All these controlled companies were given awards for the sustainability of their products and services. Another example on Bureau Veritas, the EcoVadis Platinum medal, the gold medal for Constantia, and Constantia is also doing a huge amount of work under the Carbon Disclosure Project for its climate strategy. By way of conclusion, I'd like to say that we've made even more progress on these ESG matters. It's all brand new to us, so we all need to continue doing more.
In 2022, we're going to continue to focus on ESG matters to continuously improve what we do. Ladies and gentlemen, dear shareholders, thank you very much.
Well, thank you, Christine. The floor is now to Jacqueline, who chairs the Governance and Sustainability Committee of Wendel. To talk you through the governance and compensation features of Wendel, we'll have William Torchiana, who will be giving a presentation. He's come all the way from New York. We are very happy to have him here in spite of COVID-19. I believe that you tested negative for the first time this morning, so thank you very much for being here. Welcome. Jacqueline, over to you.
Thank you, Nicolas. Dear shareholders, I'm very happy to be able to make this presentation in the room with people in the audience to talk to you about the governance and the compensation policy of Wendel. Let's start off with the lineup of the supervisory board. You have the names and the pictures of all 12 members. The term of Franca Bertagnin Benetton, independent member of the board, is reaching its end. You can vote for a four year renewal. Guylaine Saucier, whose term is also ending at the end of today's general assembly, as Nicolas mentioned earlier, has decided not to apply for a renewal of her term. We suggest appointing William D. Torchiana for 4 years as a member of the board, and I'm happy to hand him the floor so he could introduce himself.
Merci, Jacqueline.
Thank you, Jacqueline. Ladies and gentlemen, good afternoon. Thank you once again, Nicolas. My name is William Torchiana. I'm 63 years of age, and I'm American. Like Nicolas has just said, I've just come back from New York. I'm a lawyer at Sullivan & Cromwell, and I've been working there for the last 36 years, both in New York but also in the offices in Paris that I managed for pretty much 15 years. Throughout my career, I worked a lot on governance and on compliance and also M&A and complex operations and cross-border operations between the U.S. and Europe. I should like to put at the disposal of Wendel and its supervisory board my knowledge of business and markets in the U.S., my knowledge also in terms of governance and compliance.
Pending your vote, and with my apologies for my French, I am very happy to join the board as an independent member to help the group along in its development going forward. Thank you very much in advance. Jacqueline, over to you.
Thank you very much, William. If William Torchiana is appointed, the board at the end of the assembly will still be made up of 12 members and the lineup will be as follows: 40% of independent members, 40% of women, 50% if you include the members representing employees, and a good level of diversity with 5 nationalities that are accounted for. Wendel, in fact, received an award for diversity in its executive bodies, and it was awarded by L'Agefi in 2021.
Regarding the makeup of the committees of the board, Gervais Pellissier will be taking over from Guylaine Saucier as Chair of the Audit, Risk and Compliance Committee. He will also join the Governance and Sustainability Committee. William Torchiana should join both committees of the board. I'm now going to outline the main topics discussed by the committees throughout the year that are, of course, priority areas for Wendel. The Governance and Sustainability Committee has mainly focused on developing talents and on drawing up succession plans, as well as the compensation policy, the ESG strategy for Wendel and portfolio companies, and also worked on assessing the work undertaken by the board and its committees.
The Audit, Risk and Compliance Committee has focused on NAV, accounts, non-financial information, but also worked on risk management, especially pertaining to cybersecurity and internal control and new criteria for transparency and ESG indicators. Let's move on now to the executive board. As Nicolas mentioned earlier, André François-Poncet has decided to not see out his second mandate, and a selection process has been launched by the board. André has kindly accepted to remain Chair of the Executive Board until someone is appointed alongside David Darmon, who remains General Director. The transition will be smooth. I now suggest that we take a look at compensation 2021 for the executive board and the resolutions that flow from that. You can find all the detail in the main registration document.
Let's start off with short-term compensation for 2021. The variable and fixed amounts are up on the screen, as well as the other advantages that they have enjoyed. All of these elements are in keeping with the compensation policy that was approved by this general assembly last year. Variable compensation was determined by financial and non-financial elements. The board, on the basis of metrics, decided that these objectives were met at 100%. For financial objectives, the board has noted the very good performance of Bureau Veritas in 2021, and its resilience to the pandemic. Solid performance also in terms of organic growth and profitability for Stahl, Constantia Flexibles, CPI, and IHS. Now, regarding the non-financial aspects, you have the objectives that are on the screen that were also achieved.
Given these good results, as outlined by David Darmon, the solid position of the group justifies the compensation level, especially when you look at the markets. 100% of the variable share will be given out to the board members pending your vote. We have also improved the transparency of information in the main meeting document to allow a better understanding of the link between performance on one side and compensation on the other. Long-term compensation now for 2021. That is also in keeping with the principles that you approved last year, be it for the volume of stock options or performance shares, as well as for the conditions. Let's take a look now at the compensation policy for the executive board for 2022 and its resolutions.
Under the renewal of the Executive Board for 2021, you approved a new compensation policy. The policy for 2022 falls under the same structure, which is balanced between annual compensation and long-term compensation. It is also very demanding since 70% of compensation is tied to performance objectives. You will also probably have noticed that 17.5% of maximum compensation is tied to ESG criteria, both on the short term and long term. Board members do not enjoy some elements of compensation that are offered in some companies, like complementary or additional pension rights. Here you have the elements of the 2022 compensation that remain unchanged compared to last year. For example, the fixed compensation remains the same.
In other words, EUR 1.15 million for the Chair of the Board, unchanged since 2018, and EUR 770 thousand for the members of the Board. The variable compensation makes up a 115% maximum of fixed compensation. That remains unchanged. For the variable compensation in 2022, the objectives that are displayed are the same as last year, pending a few adjustments. For instance, for financial objectives, the performance of four other companies in the portfolio need to take into account the evolution of the scope. For non-financial objectives, there is a weighting that has been added to the execution of the 2021-2024 strategic plan. It was 75% instead of 40% last year.
A new criterion, human resources, has been added to the mix to highlight the importance of succession plans and developing new talents. Moving on to stock options and performance shares that should be given out for 2022. The four year presence condition remains unchanged. The performance conditions are assessed over a four year cycle. For stock options, what we suggest this year is a new performance condition linked to the S of ESG that relies on ESG training courses. Indeed, ESG, as you've heard, is an area where things are evolving rapidly and that is ubiquitous in our strategy and in our business. So it's important that people at Wendel understand and are able to preempt ESG trends. For performance shares now, the conditions remain unchanged.
They are based on TSR evolution with an absolute and relative performance compared to the CAC Mid 60, on dividend and on dividend evolution. Finally, the executive board allocation remains unchanged. Let's wrap up now with the Supervisory Board compensation policy and its resolutions. 2021 compensation for Nicolas Ver Hulst is in keeping with the policy approved last year. The compensation policy for the Supervisory Board for 2022 that is displayed on the screen is the same as previous year. The overall budget is the same, and the variable amount is given out based on the presence of members at the meetings. Thank you very much for your attention.
Thank you very much, Jacqueline, for this comprehensive presentation. Over to Caroline, our General Counsel, to walk us through the resolutions.
You have to vote on 30 resolutions, 16 under the ordinary meeting, and the rest under the extraordinary meeting. I suggest that we bundle them up under four themes. Governance, authorization, changes, and 2021. The first two resolutions are there to approve the financial statements that display a net income of EUR 669.2 million, and the consolidated accounts with a net income group share EUR 1,047 million, as Jérôme mentioned earlier. Third resolution, this one is on the share and on the dividends at EUR 3 per share. That was explained earlier, and that will be paid out on June 22. Fourth and fifth resolutions on the agreements with certain corporate officers. You've got the details up here on the screen.
The chartered accountants will talk about this later on. The fifth resolution is an agreement with Wendel-Participations on the use of the Wendel name for Wendel Cares Endowment Fund. As Jacqueline mentioned earlier, the sixth resolution is the renewal of Franca Bertagnin Benetton's term as independent member of the Supervisory Board. Seventh resolution, appointment of William D. Torchiana as independent member for a four-year term. Regarding compensation now. Resolutions eight, nine, and ten cover the 2022 compensation policy for members of the executive board and members of the supervisory board. Eleventh to fourteenth resolutions, they are about 2021 compensation policies and reports paid out to André François-Poncet, David Darmon, and Nicolas ver Hulst. All of these aspects were outlined by the chair of the Governance and Sustainability Committee.
Now we're going to move on to the 15th and 16th resolution, so the share buyback resolution. We suggest that you allow the board to buy up to 10% of the share capital. 16th resolution, share capital reduction up to 10% of the share capital on 24 months. All share capital reduction needs to be approved by the Supervisory Board. Moving on to capital share capital increases. 17 - 24, it's about renewing the mandates for this year, which will allow the company to be flexible and nimble when and if necessary to increase share capital. If the board agrees, it runs for 26 months, and these capital increases are the same as previous years.
With a limit of 40% of capital, with no preferential subscription rights, but with a 10% limit on capital, so in line with best practices. You've got all the common terms that are up on the screen and that cover those resolutions 18 - 23. These capital increases can be increased by incorporation of reserves, profits, premiums, or other items. 25th resolution is about the cap, global cap of 100% of share capital coming to issuance based on resolution 17 - 24. Now, moving on to resolution 26, capital increases reserved for members of the group savings plan. That remains the same. Resolutions 27 and 28, stock options and performance shares, grants to corporate officers and employees.
The aim is to boost the group savings plans in the long term, and to have a maximum discount of 30% on the share price in keeping with the law. Resolutions 27 and 28, stock options and performance shares grants to corporate officers and employees. In the limit of 1% of share capital, that's the overall cap. We're nearly done. 29th resolution, it's an amendment to Article 14 to allow supervisory board members to make decisions by the written procedure as the law now entitles them to do so. 30th resolution, powers for legal formalities. That's it for me, and I'm now going to hand back to the chair.
Thank you very much, Caroline. I'm now going to hand over to Mr. Belhiba, who's recorded his speech to read out the statement from the statutory auditors.
Thank you very much, Chair. Hello, ladies and gentlemen. On behalf of the statutory auditors, I should like to make a quick presentation on our findings on the 2021 financial year, as well as a report on related party agreements. Then I talk quickly about the extraordinary general assembly. As usual, I'm going to sum up the highlights of our reports. Our reports can be found for consolidated accounts in page 453 and 456, as well as pages 444 - 430 of the main document. To comply and to reflect the accounts of the company, we look at the companies of Wendel in France and also abroad.
We look at the business, we look at the activities, and we assess risk. We look at current operations and some standout operations like disposals or acquisitions. We've worked with the Audit Committee of Wendel on the 2021 accounts. We've also presented our findings to the Audit Committee and the Supervisory Board on the 16th and 17th of March 2022. In our report on annual consolidated accounts, we would like to draw your attention to the key aspects of our audits. We believe that there are very few risks under 2021. For the consolidated accounts, we looked at four main issues, the accounting aspects of acquisitions and disposals, the goodwill assessment, the share of the accounting share in IHS and the management teams for investments at group level.
For annual accounts, the audit mainly focused on assessing the shares and debts and for these specific items. In the report, we set out the reasons why we focused on these risks, the nature of the risks, and our recommendations. To conclude, we have unreservedly said that for financial accounts, consolidated accounts, annual accounts, everything is in keeping with rules and regulation. The accounts were concluded in the pandemic period, so it made our auditing work sometimes a little bit complicated. You can find all of the findings in the main document, pages 484 - 489. You can see the regulated conventions that we focused on. We were given the following conventions with the prior approval of the Supervisory Board with Mr.
André François-Poncet and Mr. David Darmon, Sophie Tomasi Parise and Harper Mates, member of the board. We have two conventions on the Luxembourg and co-investment in Tarkett. With Harper Mates, one convention on joint ventures for CPI. With the members of the supervisory board, we looked at a convention on guarantee letters. With the executive board, we looked at the same method of guarantees. We've also looked into the following conventions that were authorized by the supervisory board. Conventions on the use of the Wendel brand with Mr. André François-Poncet, David Darmon, Ms. Sophie Tomasi Parise, and Harper Mates. We focused on a convention on joint ventures for 2021-2025.
In the report, there's also the convention already approved by your general assembly in previous years that were executed for 2021. Convention for Wendel-Participations for service suppliers to fight against corruption. With Mr. André François-Poncet, David Darmon, Sophie Tomasi Parise, and Harper Mates, a convention on co-investments for 2013, 2017, 2018, and with Mr. Darmon, a convention on work contracts. Conventions approved during the year 2021 and already approved by the general assembly last year with Wendel-Participations, three conventions on the use of the brand Wendel on the administrative support and renting of office premises. With Mr. François-Poncet, David Darmon, Sophie Tomasi Parise, and Harper Mates, a convention on the principles for co-investments for 2021, 2025.
Under the extraordinary aspect of the general assembly, there are four reports that you can vote on. These reports are in pages 490 - 495 of the main document. It's all the operations that fall under resolutions 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 26, and 27. They cover capital reduction, the access to capital, also the savings plan for employees, the authorization to hand out free shares. The description of the main features of operations are also highlighted in our reports, and we don't have any observations to make. Dear shareholders, dear Chair, thank you very much for your attention.
Thank you very much, Mansour, and thank you to Jacques Pierres, your colleague who's with us. We are now going to move on to the Q&A.
We haven't received any questions in writing prior to the general assembly.
We did not receive questions in writing before our shareholders meeting, but we have a question in writing by a member of our audience this afternoon. Question from Gérard Tolita. What about the future of the Tarkett shares? What was the case before the war in Ukraine? What management errors led to this company being in the current situation and the deterioration of its reputation? When will there be a recovery of Tarkett, and what measures will be taken by Wendel? Another question about Tarkett: What are the ESG criteria for Tarkett?
Apologies, I could not hear clearly enough.
What will the Tarkett participation become?
It is written that the participation was illiquid. I am quoting the person who wrote the question.
I should tell you that Tarkett is in a much better situation than what you depicted, is a leader in the field of sports and has a solid performance in flooring in Europe. I don't think it is in an unhealthy situation. Regarding the deterioration of its reputation, that is not something we observed, so I will not reply to that.
When it comes to the recovery of Tarkett, what are the measures?
I should remind you that we are a minority stakeholder, and so as a listed company, the comments I can provide are limited. You should talk to financial communication at Tarkett. There are measures put in place within this company in several fields. First, to pass through the increase in raw material prices.
Other measures in North America, for example, part of our investment had to do with recovery measures in North America. Finally, the ESG criteria at Tarkett. I refer you to the presentation. What are the products made of, their composition, and I think they're quite ahead of the curve in that field. That is an important investment for us, but 1.5%. David has nothing to add to this.
Good morning, Mr. Chair. Roger Kran. I have three questions. I wanted to come back to governance. The chair of the board will be leaving, but I should remind you that the previous chairs, Sodexo Company lost its
Chair since in September 2021, and share prices decreased. You said Wendel lost 6% of its share value. Well, shareholders don't like when there's an empty seat. What are you planning on doing? Will you hire a headhunter for recruitment?
I'm sorry. I didn't hear the question clearly.
Shareholders don't like empty seats because, for at Sodexo, the share prices also decreased when the chair left. Now the president of the French Republic is in Ukraine. I wanted to know if Tarkett I was wondering what recovery measures were being put in place given the dreadful consequences of the war, and maybe a few words about inflation. Oil barrels will be at EUR 120 between EUR 120 and EUR 140.
I'm sorry, I did not understand your last question about oil barrels.
We know that Tarkett has needs when it comes to oil. Well, if the barrel is EUR 120, I'm wondering if they have a plan in place because $140, sorry, not euros, that would be a significant price.
To sum up your questions, first about the departure of Mr. François-Poncet. You noticed that there was a decrease in the share price, and you're asking if we will hire a headhunter. The reply is yes, of course. Recently, André expressed his will to leave and to put an end to his mandate on the supervisory board. We hired a headhunter, and I've worked tirelessly to find a successor.
There is still work to be done. It is a lengthy procedure, and we have to choose the right successor. Of course, there are interviews, assessments to be made. Once we choose a person, then there are negotiations as to working contract, and there's often a garden leave of six months when mobility is more difficult. Those things take time, but the supervisory board and the committee are working tirelessly in this regard. We are also working alongside André and David as the successor will have to work with David. Second question, with regards to Tarkett's infrastructure in Ukraine, if I understood this correctly, I will give the floor to the executive board. Now, will Tarkett leave Ukraine? Finally, your last question pertains to the increase in oil barrel prices, $140.
What is the impact on Tarkett, and what is the plan in place to overcome the challenge? Yes. Currently, inflation is ubiquitous. In France, there's this 5.7% prediction, maybe over 8% in the US. Your question relates to measures implemented by Tarkett. I realize I have to leave. It seems as though my hearing is deteriorating. No. When it comes to Tarkett being in Ukraine, it is a limited presence. There's this wood factory for Sweden. It is working in the southern part of Ukraine. In the northwest of Ukraine, near the border with Poland. Of course, not in the vicinity of Mariupol. Things are working well. The factory is, of course, quite small, but the presence in Russia was more significant.
Tarkett is local. It has market shares that are quite extensive, but we're monitoring the situation very closely. When it comes to oil barrel price, well, Tarkett does not purchase oil. It purchases a derivative. The price of the derivative is what matters. Secondly, the ability to pass through the increase in costs is important. There must be no delay in passing through price increases. Sometimes there were delays in some companies. I think our companies are a lot more used to those inflationary pressures. Generations were never faced with those type of pressures. We need to be more strict when negotiating prices, when there are price increases. It has an impact, but things are still going quite well this year, but we cannot provide further comments at this stage.
I would simply add, I mentioned end-of-year results for Tarkett, mentioning, the figures regarding margin. Two percentage points lost due to the increase in raw materials, which you just mentioned.
Two questions, an anonymous question first: Is it timely for Tarkett to no longer be listed?
Now, I'm not sure I fully understand the question, but that is not an option at this stage. Tarkett will remain listed.
Another question: Why is Wendel not offering a dividend in new shares?
A lot of our shareholders like cash. I like cash myself, so there's often this discussion about dividends. Dividends in new shares, is this not diluting cash? We only offer cash. I would simply add that our shareholders are loyal.
Coming back to your question, about 23,000 individual shareholders who remain loyal to our group, very little rotation. Coming back to the issue of dividends. In our minds, dividends are essential in our relationship with shareholders. During the COVID-19 pandemic, there was a lot of pressure on groups not to pay dividends, which is why we had postponed our general shareholders meeting to observe what was done by other companies, so that to avoid a situation in which we'd be the only ones paying dividends. We had lengthy discussions, and we decided to eventually pay our dividends. This is not necessarily the case for listed holdings in other groups. I'm talking about cash dividends. That was at the heart of our discussions.
André is right.
Ministry of Finance, Bercy, had conditioned support to companies that were not paying dividends. We had to conduct assessments, but Bureau Veritas have not paid a dividend to us, I should remind you. Which is why we like to have a robust financial structure to absorb such events.
I see a gentleman in the back of the room.
Good afternoon. I'm an old shareholder at the Wendel. I knew quite a number of Wendel leaders in the past, a brother of Leclerc, who was on the board of directors. A few years ago, COVID came about. I suffered losses of memory because of COVID. Now, what turned out of the Baron and that will be an easy reply.
A much younger woman opposed the Baron, and I would have liked to know if by any chance she is here, and what became of her. Is she still a shareholder? She was part of the family. Is she a member of the group?
On this point, Ernest-Antoine Seillière, that is the person you are referring to, left the supervisory board chairmanship in 2013, which is why François de Wendel became his successor. That relates to the first part of your question. He is no longer working for Wendel group. Secondly, you mentioned a woman who opposed the Baron. I think as a father, I think we have children who disagree.
I think you're talking about Sophie Boegner, who is a cousin, and we have no comments to provide as part of our general shareholders meeting, with regards to what happens at Wendel Participation.
Would she be there? Is she in good health?
Yes, she is. As far as I know, she is in good health. I don't meet with her regularly, but that is what I think. Nevertheless, despite everything that was criticized, the criticism towards the Baron, I will provide no further comment as to that. All I know is that there were disputes with several people for several reasons, but at least, in my opinion, the Baron respected his shareholders. We felt very welcome.
Of course, you can always improve things, but there's companies that do things in such a worse way that it is worth pointing out how we were warmly welcomed. Now, as I said, COVID-19 pandemic came about, so there was a big gap in history. What I noticed today is that we could have organized something very simple. If the ladies at the entrance of the room had handed out ice creams. Well, that would have been quite enjoyable. That's a detail, but in such times, it would have helped. We were asked to sign a sheet, and we're given a present, an empty bottle, a very small bottle. If there had been frozen lemonade inside, so a very cool beverage, so to say, it would have been quite enjoyable.
We could have enjoyed having that during the meeting. About the cocktail, there is no cocktail. There will be no cocktail. You can't use the COVID-19 pandemic as an excuse anymore. The facilities are large enough for us to organize a cocktail without being in a confined environment. We had cocktails in the past in a lot more confined environment, so you can't use the pandemic as an excuse. I think it is rather unacceptable.
It is a pleasure to meet again. Well, I think that we should have a drink when we meet.
Oh, I see that is more a comment than a question. We've taken good note of this. Now, of course, I'm not a member of any board. I'm not a manager or anything, so it's difficult to ask questions.
Votes are done, so I try to listen and monitor things, but this all seems like a load of nice speeches, I should say. Well, everything you said, well, made me quite thirsty. Well, if we could perhaps find water for the gentleman, that would be much appreciated. Next question. Coming back to the question that was put to you in writing.
I don't have the hindsight, but I'm a shareholder. I live in Lorraine, so I know of the company's history. Regarding Tarkett, I have customer relationship experience I could share. What I hope and I trust the strategic choices by Wendel, and we all remember a few of them. Well, what I hope is that you have the same intuition when it comes to.
The same flair when it comes to Tarkett.
Thank you very much for your words. That is, of course, a core issue. We talked about the competition around Tarkett. We had bet on that competition on exiting the COVID-19 pandemic, on raw material prices. Of course, in our portfolio, it is the company for which the economic situation was the most challenging. In the context we know, things turned out to be quite well, but we're monitoring the situation quite closely, particularly in Russia, where there's an increased volatility now, and it has become a sensitive issue. This also explains why we stuck to the levels we had. Well, the family Wendel can have a majority purchase, as we have a majority stake, so we have options.
Dear chairs, I work for the AAII, the Association for Individual Investors and Heritage. So just a precision. You're not going deaf. I think it has to do with the sound system in this room. It is quite poor, I have to say, or inadequate. I hope you'll be able to hear my questions. First on the NAV, the net asset value, it is very high, but the discount is also very high. What are the measures implemented to reduce it? And the departure of the chair of the supervisory board is, or the executive board is going in the other direction. Second, you mentioned figures about Wendel Lab in 2013 and investments in order to improve a better knowledge in disruptive economic models and innovations.
What is the fallback, and are there any significant synergies in place for your stakes, for your investments? Third question. Pedagogy is key, given the situation, and you invested in a fund through Wendel Lab. Is one of the fund working in the Metaverse sector? Will you appoint a chief Metaverse officer like at Publicis? And fourth question, you issued bonds amounting to EUR 300 million, January 2034 with a 1.375% coupon, and is that in order to finance new acquisitions? In what sector, if that were to be the case? And where are you ramping up your efforts in that field? Thank you in advance for your replies.
First, about the NAV, what are we doing to reduce devaluation?
Second, about Wendel Lab investing in disruptive technologies, what is the return on investment, and what are the synergies with the portfolio? About Web3, is Wendel Lab investing in funds that invested in turn in the Metaverse? Fourth question about the very good bond issuance, EUR 325 million, which occurred when it had to be done. The rate was a very low 1.375%, so level below the borrowing rates by the Fed. What? How will the bond issuance be used? I'll try to reply alongside David. I'll take the easy question, and I'll leave others to David. Of course, I started working in...
A few years ago, when I started working at Wendel a long time ago, I never thought I'd become chairman of the board. I explained what I knew about drops in value, so that is what we are talking about. Several reasons behind the drop in value. Well, first, that is because investors don't need Wendel to invest in what is part of our portfolio, Duratas, IHS and Tarkett amount to about 60% of our assets. Why would they need a Wendel? There's a drop in value. Other explanation, a rather low liquidity regarding the share. For a fund manager, it's a strong commitment because this lack of liquidity, so it is a deterring factor.
Now, there are other theories, the updating of management costs, and based on our experience, there are drops in value in other companies, not just ours. There were expansions too. Now, it is not a situation we approve of, and there are several tools that can be used. Share buybacks, for example. We could sell all of our assets and buy our shares to avoid the drop in value, but there'd be no Wendel left. Other option, a better communication. I fear we might not be able to follow that approach as we communicate already quite well to the extent that some stakeholders decide not to provide certain elements of information. Given the context, our reply as Executive Board was to say, "We need to be more appealing." That is the number one option.
Our portfolio needs to be more appealing to investors. We turned to high growth companies. A higher growth, that takes time. Growth was made very difficult over the past few months, we need to have a progressive, gradual approach. Of course, we like to solve problems fast, it makes things difficult for us. I think, another good option was not to buy assets backed by debt. We have billions of debt, and we'd be in a very difficult situation if we had done so. The drop in value, well, our response is not to liquidate Wendel, to continue diversifying our assets. We're not sure what will be done when it comes to disposals. It can lead to drops in value.
We have a gradual approach, and I can't tell you when the drop in value will slow down precisely. We are in the midst of a turmoil, and our stable levels of debt, our stable financial performances are real assets.
For Wendel Lab, please. Yes, I'm gonna take the other questions, but quickly on the portfolio evolution. Yes, there's more growth, and there's also more diversity. When we sold Cromology for EUR 900 million, we invested in Tarkett and other companies at more or less the same levels. So we have a greater diversification and a lower level of risk, and this greater diversification will allow us further down the road to reduce the discount. Now, do we see any interesting synergies between the lab and the portfolio? What we're trying to do is the following. For instance, we have a team. We have companies from the Wendel Lab that were introduced to Bureau Veritas for joint partnerships. Bureau Veritas, in its Green Line offer, can assess the whole supply chain and of a company.
Bureau Veritas can certify, but they can't do any blockchain assessment. A company from our portfolio came into play, and right now, both of these companies have a joint commercial offer. Other example, Stahl, for the moment, is working on leather goods, and they were introduced by ourselves to a innovative fund where companies work on innovative products with organic materials that they can then partner with Stahl. Now, the lab has been up and running for six to seven years, but we've sped things up over the last year. With our operating partners and the people in the funds that we work with, we are able to achieve commercial projects. I can't tell you how much they are worth, but they are definitely projects.
For the Metaverse, Jérôme, do you wanna take this one?
Yes. Just to answer your question, very few of our portfolio companies or Wendel Lab companies that are exposed to the Metaverse or Web 3.0. As you probably know, it's an emerging area, so there is some interest. But on your question on performance of investments since 2013, as David mentioned, the Wendel Lab really sped things up a year ago, and the EUR 115 million invested by the end of 2021 were invested for the major part over the last 12 months. All these investments haven't been made yet, but out of EUR 115 million, it's EUR 80 million up until the end of 2021, and performance overall was positive.
You need to bear in mind that valuations are reviewed with a little bit of a lag, so the elements that I'm sharing today might not be relevant in months to come. What has been invested has generated returns in keeping with our expectations and with the good performances of this investment category. A quick word on bond issuance. What you reminded us is absolutely true. We're very happy with the bond issuance that was scheduled with a low cost and a long maturity. Currently, we could not make such an issuance, so there was a market opportunity. It's 65% of our market peers. Since rates have increased 100-200 basis points, if we want to do the same right now, it would cost twice as much for the company.
The money is fungible, so I can't tell you this euro is going to go there, but the idea was to refund bonds. We've extended the maturity of the bonds so that we can have ammunition to invest in new sectors. Which sectors, I hear you ask? Well, sectors that have a positive spillover effect on ESG, that is not too capital hungry. As a result, we're looking at services like B2B, health, education, and animal health as well. Topics that we spend a lot of time on at the moment because they've got good ESG and good growth profiles. This bond issuance also allowed us to reimburse bonds that were going to terminate in 2024. Debt markets are under a huge amount of pressure at the moment.
Borrowers cannot borrow as much debt as they would like. The spreads, the margins that lenders are asking for are increasing. Thirdly, the covenants on loans are much stricter, much more stringent. Debt that has arrived at maturity might be difficult to refinance, which might be complicated for some people. I should like to congratulate the board for the solidity of Wendel today.
Any other question?
Mr. Gendaire, individual shareholder. I'm gonna stand up for this one. Can you give us a quick comment on how the market reacted to today's announcement? The share price dropped, as you mentioned earlier. I understand that the committee is going to look at profiles to find a new chair.
Why can't we find people inside Wendel? Why do we have to go outside of Wendel to find new people? Tell us a bit more about how this piece of news was interpreted by the market, because it's a huge drop.
No comment on the way in which the market reacted. I've said everything that I needed to say, myself and Henri earlier. It's never good, of course, to see the share price of Wendel go down. Secondly, I should like to say that the market obviously trusts Henri. That being said, we're going to do our utmost to recruit someone that will be at the same caliber as Henri, and I'm sure that the share price will pick up then.
We could have found someone from Wendel and promote people from Wendel. What I must say is that people in the teams are really making huge progress, both in the investment teams, 'cause we've got two teams, one in New York, one in Paris, but also a lot of people in corporate functions with Jérôme Michiels, who's the financial director who did the presentation earlier. Christine as well, who did the ESG presentation. We've got a lot of good people in corporate functions. At Wendel, the teams are full of people who are highly skilled. Well, look, markets have dropped 2.4% anyway. There are probably not a lot of buyers after the recent period of time. 50,000 securities have been bought today.
I don't think that the share price has dropped in light of very recent news. Of course, Wendel is not worth less today than it was worth yesterday because of a small piece of news. There's no bad news effect or something that is down to a non-disclosed piece of news.
Okay, I think that's it for the questions. With that, thank you very much for your questions. We're now going to move on to the vote on the resolutions. Back to you, Caroline.
Thank you very much. The final quorum is the following. 72.17%, so we can vote on both ordinary and extraordinary matters.
Before we vote, double voting rights is granted to the shareholders that held their shares for more than two years. The beneficiaries can exercise their voting rights for both the extraordinary and ordinary aspect of the meetings that are being adopted. The ordinary resolutions need to have a simple majority, and for extraordinary resolutions, a two-thirds majority is required. We're going to have an electronic voting system in the tablets. You have all the necessary information that's been recorded in there, especially the number of votes that you have, and a quick film will tell you more about how to use the tablet.
Elle est strictement personnelle et sert uniquement lors de cette assemblée.
You've been given a tablet that is personal and will help you vote in today's assembly. The window will open up automatically when voting starts even if your tablet is on standby. To vote, it's extremely simple. All you need to do is to press on the button of your choice. For is green, abstention orange and against in red. Press OK to validate your choice before the closing of the vote. Once you've validated your vote, you cannot go back and change it. Thank you very much for handing back your tablet at the end of today's proceedings. OK, the result of the vote will be displayed on the screen and you'll have the results on our website. We're now going to move on to the vote resolution by resolution. Resolution number one: approval of the parent company financial statements.
The vote is open.
Le vote est clos.
Voting is closed. The resolution is approved. Second resolution: approval of the consolidated financial statements for 2021.
Le vote est clos.
The resolution is approved. Resolution number three. Net income allocation, dividend approval and dividend payment.
Le vote est clos.
Resolution approved. Approval of regulated related party agreements entered into with certain corporate officers.
Le vote est clos.
The resolution is approved. Resolution number 5: approval of a regulated related party agreement entered into with Wendel-Participations SE.
Le vote est clos.
Resolution is approved. Resolutions now on the lineup of the Supervisory Board. Resolution number 6: renewal of Franca Bertagnin Benetton on the Supervisory Board for 4 years.
Le vote est clos.
The resolution is approved. Resolution number seven, appointment of William Torchiana at the Supervisory Board.
Le vote est clos.
The resolution is approved. Now moving on to compensation of corporate officers. Resolution number 8: approval of the 2022 compensation policy for the chairman of the executive board.
Le vote est clos.
Resolution approved. Approval of the 2022 compensation policy for the member of the executive board.
Le vote est ouvert, pardon. Le vote est clos.
The resolution is approved. Resolution number 10: Approval of the 2022 compensation policy for the members of the Supervisory Board. Resolution approved. Moving on with the compensation previously paid or awarded for 2021. Resolution number 11: Approval of the information relating to the compensation previously paid or awarded to the executive and Supervisory Board. Resolution approved. Resolution 12: Approval of the 2021 compensation for André François-Poncet. Resolution approved. Resolution number 13: Approval of the compensation for David Darmon. Resolution approved. Resolution 14: Approval of the 2021 compensation to Nicolas ver Hulst. Resolution approved. Now, we're going to move on to financial authorization. Resolution 15: Authorization to purchase company shares. Resolution is approved. Resolution 16: authorization to reduce the share capital by cancellation of shares. Resolution approved. Now, resolutions on capital increase. Resolution 17: Increase the share capital with preferential subscription rights maintained.
The resolution is approved. Resolution 18: Capital increase with cancellation by way of public offering. Resolution approved. Resolution 19: Capital increase by way of an offer. Resolution approved. Resolution 20: To set the issue price of the shares or securities giving access to capital issued with cancellation or preferential rights. Resolution approved. Resolution 21, increase the number of shares to be issued in the event of over-subscription. Resolution approved. Resolution 22, increase the share capital with remuneration for contributions in kind. Resolution approved. Resolution number 23, increase of the share capital in the context of a public exchange offer. Resolution is approved. Resolution number 24, increase of the share capital by profits, premiums or other items. The vote is closed and the resolution is approved. Now moving on to resolution 25 and the overall ceiling for capital increases. Overall ceiling for capital increases.
Resolution approved. Moving on to resolution 26, increase the share capital in favor of members and of the group saving plan. Resolution approved. Resolution 27, group stock, subscription to the company's executive corporate officers and employees. Resolution approved. Resolution number 28, bonus shares to the company's executive corporate officers and employees. The resolution is approved. Resolution 29, amendment of article 14 of the bylaws, deliberations of the supervisory board. Resolution approved. Resolution number 30, powers for legal formalities. Resolution approved. The voting process is now over. Back to the chair.
Thank you very much, Caroline. Congratulations to William for his appointment. Welcome to the board. There are a lot of meetings ahead for the board, and since you're part of the two committees, audit and governance, a lot of meetings there as well. So you'll have your work cut out.
Congratulations to you, William. There are no more items on the agenda, so today's session is over. It's 5:00 P.M., and this marks the end of our general assembly. Thank you very much for taking part. We'll be improving the sound conditions next year and we'll offer lemonade. Thank you very much. Take care.
Goodbye.