Voilà. Il est 10:00 A.M. Voilà, nous sommes toujours très ponctuels. Mesdames, messieurs, chers actionnaires, chers amis. Très heureux de vous accueillir à nouveau au Palais des Congrès pour cette assemblée générale. D'abord, je vous remercie de votre présence. Je remercie également les membres de votre conseil d'administration tous présents au complet. Je rappelle, comme je le fais chaque année, que cette assemblée générale est publique et permet de l'enregistrer. Que cette assemblée se veut conviviale, chaleureuse. Se rendre aux voix. Voilà, je vous précise que la liste des actionnaires présents ou représentés sera arrêtée à 11:30 A.M., de manière à pouvoir établir les conditions de vote.
Alors que nous avons l'habitude, nous allons vous montrer un court film pour permettre à chacun d'entre vous de s'installer confortablement pour suivre notre assemblée générale. Je vous ai choisi, avec Nicolas, cette année, la carte de visite L'Oréal, qui présente de manière très synthétique et en même temps très informative les grands chiffres clés de votre compagnie, aussi financiers, mais aussi en termes d'engagement social, environnemental et sociétal. Merci beaucoup. Je vais maintenant procéder à l'ouverture officielle de l'assemblée.
Who hold both in their own capacity as well as proxies the greatest number of votes and accepted this task. Société Générale is represented to act as scrutineer by Mr. Jean Victor Meyers and Nestlé represented to exercise the function of scrutineer by Madame Béatrice Guillaume-Grabisch. The chairman and the scrutineers form the bureau of the meeting who appoint a secretary. On my left, Madame Catherine Bellon, Secretary to the Board of Directors. Mr. Nicolas Hieronimus on my right and Nicolas Hieronimus, you know, CEO of L'Oréal. Mr. Christophe Babut, who is CFO also present. At my side, our statutory auditors are present in the room. Madame Céline Eydieu-Boutte representing EY and Mr. David Dupont-Noël representing Deloitte. Eric Mellet, core officer is also in attendance. No shareholder has asked for a draft resolution or agenda item to be tabled.
I'll therefore ask Madame Catherine Bellon to give us a provisional quorum situation as well as some additional information on our meeting.
Mr. President.
Chairman, shareholders were convened to this meeting in compliance with legal formalities before the beginning, registration of completed. The attendance sheet noted the representation of 402,270,000 shares. That is 82.64% of the share capital. 876 shareholders are present, 43 are represented. 8,207 have given their proxy to the chair, and 11,267 have voted by correspondence. The meeting, therefore, has a quorum to rule both in the ordinary and extraordinary meeting. All documents were made available to shareholders in the required time. The company responded to the request for documents supplied to it. Documents for this meeting are to be found here on the desk.
Since these documents were made available to shareholders, I propose that we do not read through them in detail. The meeting is normally established and may take valid decisions. Thank you. Let me say a few words about how our meeting will proceed. No surprise, as it does every year, as with every year, we were attentive to the marketplace expectations to determine the issues that we could address during this meeting. We sent out 2,000 of your questionnaire in order to collect your views. There are a great many answers received. We thank you. We decided to focus this year specifically on the financial solidity of your group and its strategy, notably in terms of sustainable development. Mr. Babut will begin by presenting the economic and financial activity of the group in 22. Mr.
Nicolas Hieronimus will discuss the business in 2022 for L'Oréal and set out strategy and outlook for the future. Madame Alexandra Palt, who you met a few years ago, head of social and environmental responsibility, will present the group CSR policy, as well as the main initiatives underway with the focus on L'Oréal's climate strategy. I'll share with you my thoughts on the year and the governance developments of your company, and of course, report to you on the work of the board of directors conducted during the course of 22. Madame Sophie Bellon, head of the HR and compensation committee will provide a presentation on compensation of executive officers, part of the resolutions. Madame Catherine Bellon will present the various draft resolutions. The auditors will deliver their report.
We'll answer your questions during the course of a general discussion, and lastly, we'll proceed to vote on the draft resolution. Let's begin now and ask Christophe Babule to present the key points of the 2022 financials. Ladies and gentlemen, the presentation of L'Oréal's results will comprise information pertaining to the business, the financial cash flow, balance sheet, dividend, as well as our changing environmental and social performance in 2022. Your group, once again, recorded an excellent performance in spite of the unprecedented number of challenges that we had to face. If there are any three key figures, it'd be double-digit growth, like for like, +10.9%, operating margin 19.5%, up 40 basis points, and the increase of 27.6% of net earnings per share coming in at EUR 11.26.
Consolidated sales has topped the EUR 38 billion mark, up sharply 18.5%. The exchange rates were very positive to the tune of 7.2% because the persistent weakness of the euro throughout the year. Structural variation positive to the tune of 0.4% with the acquisition of American brands, Youth to the People and SkinBetter Science. Like for like growth comes in at +10.9%. If we exclude 2021 exceptional, in many respects, L'Oréal in 2022 delivered its best growth like for like for over 20 years. On a reported basis, it's the best for almost 30 years. Let's look at sales by division. Professional products ends the year well with a growth of 10.1%. L'Oréal Luxe up 10.2% at a sustained pace in spite of the turbulence of the Chinese market.
L'Oréal, Dermatological Beauty from Active Cosmetics delivered remarkable growth, almost doubled in size in 2019. What's also remarkable is the acceleration +8.3% of the consumer products division, its best growth for 20 years. The split of our business by geographic zones, well-balanced. Three zones are topping EUR 10 billion in sales. Europe and North America each representing about 30% of the total. In North America over 26%. The emerging markets combining Latin America and SAPMENA SSA, Southeast Asia, Middle East, and Africa, henceforth represent 14% of total sales becoming a fully-fledged growth driver. Business was very dynamic across zones. In Europe, we recorded double-digit growth for the second consecutive year. Fine performance in large countries where we got a high market share. North America growth also remained very strong, 10.4%. Northern Asia growth came in at 6.6%.
Business slowed in the second half because of challenging market conditions in China with the upsurge of Covid. In a market that was down, L'Oréal sales in continental China grew 5.5% thanks to an increase of 10% of online sales. In emerging markets, growth at 22% of the growth in SAPMENA SSA was driven by India, Malaysia, Singapore, Gulf country, Vietnam, whereas growth 18.6% in Latam was well distributed across countries led by Mexico. The key word for the year 2022 is balance. Balance in the growth contribution by division and geography, and also balance in the growth components. One-third from volumes, one-third from price increases, and one-third from mix improvement, largely driven by innovation. As you can see on this slide, 2022 was a great vintage in terms of earnings.
Sales up 18.5%, operating profit up 21% at close to EUR 7.9 billion. We managed to partially offset the rising costs of raw materials, continued our efforts to improve the efficiency of our organizations and above all, continue to invest in growth drivers to ensure further growth in all markets. Operating margin comes in a new record 19.5% up 40 basis points versus 2021. Net income, excluding non-recurring items, grew more than 22.6% at EUR 6 billion. Net profit after non-controlling interests grew 24.1% coming in at EUR 5.7 billion. On this chart, a few items of comparison versus 2019 pre-pandemic. Some key figures to show how we remarkably weathered the last 3 years. Sales grew 28% to reach more than EUR 38 billion.
Growth like for like comes in at 23% over 3 years, that's over 7% a year. Operating profit grew 34% from EUR 5.5 billion-EUR 7.5 billion. Operating margin improved 90 basis points to reach a record level at 19.5%. All this when we considerably invested in supporting our brands to ensure our growth and prepare the future related to sales. Our advertising and promotional costs grew 70 basis points. In absolute terms, they grew by a third to over EUR 11 billion. At EUR 11.26, net earning per share is sharply up by 27.6%. This increase is driven by increased net profit, 22.6%, and the cancellation by your group of 4% of its treasury shares following the buyback from Nestlé in December 2021. Cash flow from operations exceeds EUR 7 billion.
Working capital requirement grew EUR 1 billion. Your group has set up precautionary inventories of raw materials and supplies at much higher prices than previous years and finished product stocks to offset disruptions in the supply chain. CapEx total EUR 1.3 billion at 3.5% of sales. Operating net cash flow amounted to close on EUR 5 billion. At the end of December, net debt totaled EUR 3 billion and EUR 1.4 billion if we exclude the rental lease debt. The debt ratio is at a low level, 11%, and the financial leverage at 0.3%. Your group has fine leeway to ensure its expansion. Short-term ratings are the best that can be obtained.
Furthermore, issuance credit ratings long-term that your group received both in March 2022 from S&P and Moody's through its first bond issue of excellent quality. The balance sheet remains extremely robust. Shareholders' equity EUR 27.2 billion represent 58% of the total balance sheet. This constant quest for strength is permanent. Your group continued its efforts in many areas as part of internal control and risk management. In 2022 we cite the following initiatives: tracking policies implemented for data confidentiality, a review of insurance and fraud risk following digital risks and challenges, and preparing the fourth edition of the ethical code of practice published on the first of March this year. This work was presented to the audit committee and for the ethical charter to the board of directors.
The superb performance delivered by your company in 2022 as well as the strength of its balance sheet led the board to propose to the shareholders meeting a dividend of EUR 6 per share, up 25% versus 2021. As you can see on the left-hand side of the chart, between the end of 2019 pre-pandemic and the 20th of April yesterday, the L'Oréal share price has grown 62%, a performance outstripping that of CAC 40 that grew 26% over the same period. On the right, total shareholder return that includes the valuation of the share price and income in the form of dividend you'll see measured at the end of December 2022. This profitability stands at 9.6% per year over 3 years and 14% per year over five and 10 years.
Profitability 1.5 to 2 times that of the index over medium and long term. A few words about the business in Q1. We just reported our results in a buoyant consumer segment, a bit disrupted at the beginning of the year by China. Your group got off to a good start to the year. Sales totaling EUR 10.38 billion, +14.6%. On a reported basis, 13% LFL by division. Professional Products continues to grow +7.6%. 14% increase Consumer Products division displays excellent performance. L'Oréal Luxe delivers growth 6.5% similar to Q4. L'Oréal Dermatological Beauty is a frontrunner, +30.6%. By geography, business is accelerating versus last year. Northern Asia business +1.9%.
Chinese consumption heavily disrupted in December and January through the health situation, gradually recovered as of February. Western markets, on the other hand, are extremely dynamic with a growth of 26% in the SAPMEN SSA and 22.3% in LATAM. Emerging markets are fully playing their role of growth driver. A few words to close and tell you about our engagement on social, civic, and environmental responsibilities. Regarding L'Oréal for the Future, 2022 was a further year of progress. You can see on screen some of our achievements in terms of combating change, sustainable water management, respect for biodiversity, preserving natural resources. On the climate, the group has pledged to reach carbon neutrality for all its facilities by 2025. The end of 2022, 110 sites, 22 plants have reached carbon neutrality.
That's 65% of all our sites. Lastly, your company was once again rewarded for its societal environmental performance and recognized as one of the best companies in the world by NGOs, rating agencies or international all leaders in their respective fields. Thank you for your attention.
Thank you very much, Christophe. I would now like to invite, Mr. Nicolas Hieronimus, CEO of L'Oréal, who will present your company's activity in 2022, its strategy and its outlook. Ladies and gentlemen, dear shareholders, I am very pleased to address you on the occasion of our annual general meeting
A highlight in the life of our company and an opportunity to share with you L'Oréal strategy and our latest developments. I am pleased to share with you the pride of our 87,000 employees over L'Oréal's performance in a world marked by multiple crises. Despite the headwinds, L'Oréal is on track when it comes to growth, gains in market share, improved profits and dividends, but also social, societal, and environmental performance. After this detailed presentation by Christophe, I will focus my speech on the performance achieved in 2022, then explain why I'm confident for 2023 and the decade to come. Before that, dear shareholders, on behalf of the entire executive committee, I would like to express my gratitude to you.
Indeed, in an increasingly competitive market, our ability to achieve this remarkable performance stems from the talent and unwavering commitment of our teams around the world and the loyal support of our shareholders. You enable us to endow L'Oréal with a long-term vision for the future, to make the investments, the strategic choices, and the human choices that are crucial to our development. Many thanks also to the members of our board, as well as our chairman, Jean-Paul Agon. It is thanks to you that L'Oréal is performing so well. First of all, the year 2022. We have performed not only economically and financially, but also environmentally and socially. This twofold performance is a cornerstone of our corporate project, of the ambition we have set ourselves. 2022 was a year of remarkable performance.
We achieved revenues of EUR 38.3 billion and achieved another year of double-digit growth, close to 11%. That is EUR 3.5 billion in pure organic growth. In reported terms, we reached an outstanding 18.5%. In 2022, we managed to increase our growth rate compared to 2019, the year before COVID, quarter-on-quarter. Once again, we have significantly outperformed the beauty market, growing 1.8 times faster than the market, and consolidated our position as the world's leading beauty company. For the second year in a row, we hit the Grand Slam by outperforming in all geographies, divisions, and categories. Once again, the perfect balance. As we like to say in-house, our engine is firing on absolutely all cylinders.
In terms of zones, the first piece of good news is that Europe, despite the conflict in Ukraine, was the leading contributor to growth this year, up 11.6% like for like, giving us a market share of 20% in the continent's main countries. 2022 confirmed the turnaround in North America, which for the first time exceeded EUR 10 billion in annual revenues with like for like growth of 10.4%. North Asia grew by 6.6% LFL. In China, in particular, despite an extremely difficult health situation, we achieved growth 11 points higher than the market.
We owe this remarkable performance to the amazing resilience of our teams in China and to their talent and the agility of our operations, who managed to maintain near 100% product availability, as well as the strong confidence of Chinese consumers in our brands. Emerging markets are indeed the growth driver we expected with 20.5% growth, which is a 24% contribution to growth as much as North America. In those markets, the rapid growth of the young, connected middle classes and of e-commerce constitute a major opportunity for our company. In terms of distribution channels, 2022 saw the return of brick-and-mortar trade, up 11.7%, with a parallel increase in e-commerce, where we continue to grow faster than the market at +8.9%.
In total, online sales now account for more than 28% of total group sales. Concerning our divisions, they all emerged stronger from 2022 in a dynamic beauty market that continues to premiumize. L'Oréal Luxe is our largest division in terms of revenue and the leading contributor to the group's growth. It continues to outperform the luxury market, both in terms of sales and profitability, and benefits fully from its portfolio of amazing brands. The brand performance of YSL and Helena Rubinstein, and the strong debut of Prada are noteworthy. In 2022, the division accelerated in skincare and strengthened its leadership in fragrances. It also greatly strengthened its leadership in China. The Consumer Products division, our largest division in terms of volume and the number of consumers, reiterated its comeback in 2022, particularly in the U.S., driven by market premiumization and its innovations.
The division's makeup brands, NYX, Maybelline, and 3CE, our Korean brand, had an exceptional year. The strong performance of L'Oréal Paris and Garnier enabled the division to achieve its best growth in 20 years. Professional products, our original division, has completely reinvented its business model. It is now entirely omni-channel, serving both hairdressers and consumers alike and capitalizing on the global appetite for premium professional hair care products such as Kérastase or L'Oréal Professionnel. Lastly, our active cosmetics division, now called L'Oréal Dermatological Beauty, has doubled in size in 3 years and grew twice as fast as the dermacosmetic market in 2022. All brands are growing. The future is looking very promising, driven by two major beauty trends: skin health and aesthetics.
Examples of those trends include successes like CeraVe and La Roche-Posay on the one hand, and on the other, SkinCeuticals and SkinBetter Science, the division's latest acquisitions. A few words about our performance by category. Skincare, our largest category, now representing over 40% of sales, remains our strongest category contributor to growth. In the skincare category, your group grew by +10% in a market with single-digit growth. Makeup is back on the up, driven by the return to social life, innovation, and your group's creative touch, as demonstrated by NYX Professional Makeup, one of the main contributors to our overall outperformance at +9%. Two categories are accelerating in this post-COVID world: fragrance and hair care. In perfume, L'Oréal is soaring at +23% in a market that is growing at double-digit rates.
Beyond the return to social life, the craze for perfume from the United States to China reflects a desire for affordable luxury and well-being routines. People everywhere want to feel good and smell good. This trend is expected to continue over the long term. As for hair care, where we grew by +12%, well above the market, this category is becoming more sophisticated, just like skincare. Having beautiful hair is a sign of good health and youth. Our market share gains in all regions, divisions, and categories, our Grand Slam, if you will, is driven by the product innovations L'Oréal has brought to market and the extraordinary ability of our local teams to orchestrate their success. Roll video. I think this video clearly shows what drives performance, excellence, and innovation.
In particular, as Christophe showed a few minutes ago, this performance means an operating income that accounts for 19.5% of our sales, up 40 basis points from 2021 and 90 basis points from 2019. Such an increase allows us, as you know, to bring our dividend to EUR 6, a surge of 25%. This tremendous success can only be fully satisfactory if it is in line with our twofold economic and social ambitions. Which brings me back to the notion of balance. Environmental and social performance is the result of longstanding commitment initiated by Jean-Paul Agon, in which we have continued and intensified, and this makes us extremely proud.
Our efforts have been recognized year after year. In 2022, for the seventh year in a row, L'Oréal was awarded a triple A rating from the CDP, or Carbon Disclosure Project, and we were once again named as one of the most ethical companies in the world. In a few minutes, Alexandra Palt will tell you about our environmental commitment, successes, and future trajectory. I'll just mention a few social commitments, in particular our L'Oréal for Youth program, which was launched in 2021 and has now reached its cruising speed. We are now creating 25,000 job opportunities per year for people under 30 years old. Our brands are also fully committed to working with grassroots organizations around the world on major causes such as mental health, violence against women, or biodiversity restoration.
As an example, I would like to share with you the campaign, a very moving campaign, of our brand La Roche-Posay, which dedicates 1% of its revenues to research against cancer and the effects of cancer on the skin.
80% of cancer patients suffer from skin side effects. What if your caring touch could make a difference? Suitable for patients undergoing cancer treatments. The healing power of touch. La Roche-Posay, a proud sponsor of the American Cancer Society.
I am extremely proud of every initiative we have already deployed, even if we must and will do more given the magnitude of the challenges at hand. We will continue to share value because responsible and sustainable growth means shared growth. This belief was passed on to us by our founders. It's a belief that I and everyone at L'Oréal shares. I would like to discuss 2023 and the reasons for our optimism both this year and over the longer term. First, there are external factors. On a macroeconomic level, even if exchange rates are expected to be less favorable in 2023 and many uncertainties remain, economic prospects look bright. We will seize every opportunity. The first signs of a decline in inflation on some commodity prices are being felt. Business is holding up, particularly in Europe and the U.S.
China is no longer on lockdown and has clear ambitions for economic growth and strong consumption trends domestically. We strongly believe in the recovery of the Chinese beauty market, we are ready for it. During my last visit to China in March, I inaugurated a major industrial project, a state-of-the-art distribution plant for our luxury division in Nantong. In addition to this encouraging macroeconomic outlook, our market, there's something special about the beauty market, which is why investing in it was the right move. Beauty is an essential need, the quest for beauty is a never-ending quest. The beauty market has a long history of uninterrupted growth. Even in times of recession, consumer demand for beauty products never dips. The market has always withstood economic uncertainty in the past 23 years, including in 2022, with a robust growth of +6%.
We believe the market will continue to grow at this rate of 4% or 5% on average in the coming years, probably a little bit more this year, driven by both the growth of the global middle class and an appetite for higher quality and more innovative products. In the current inflationary context, we have seen a moderate decline in volumes. Although there may be caveats for certain categories or geographic areas, our latest consumer panels show that valuation more than compensates any volume decline, as revealed by our latest Q1 2023 figures, which we proudly released the day before yesterday. The ingredients of L'Oréal's future success are mostly driven by its internal structure. First and foremost, the strength of our model, which has come out stronger from the crisis of the past few years.
Since 2019, we have achieved average growth of more than 5 points above the market, which has enabled us to considerably widen the gap with the competition. This model, which you know, dear shareholders, is built on 6 pillars. First of all, we made a strategic choice to be a pure beauty player. We believe in beauty, all beauty, nothing but beauty. Second, research and innovation under the leadership of Barbara Lavernos, Deputy CEO in charge of Research, Innovation, and Technology. The figures show how much we believe in research. With a EUR 1 billion budget a year, that's 3% of our revenue, and our 4,000 researchers strive every day to ensure L'Oréal's unique capacity for innovation. In 2022, we filed 561 patents, which makes us 1 of the most innovative companies in Europe.
Third, our unique portfolio of 36 complementary and desirable brands that cater to all generations and all types of beauty. Of course, we are strengthening and enriching this portfolio through targeted acquisitions, as you have recently seen. Out of our 36 current brands, 11 are now billionaire brands in EUR, including L'Oréal Paris, the world's leading beauty brand, and Lancôme, the world's leading luxury brand. On the way in, you must have seen our latest additions, Youth to the People, SBS, and Takami, 3 skincare brands that dovetail beautifully. Today, I am delighted to report the recent agreement reached with the Natura group for the acquisition of Aesop. This will strengthen our luxury division once the regulatory authorities have given their approval. Aesop is driven by many of today's consumer trends on the luxury market, such as naturality, wellness expectations, and customized service.
L'Oréal will help to maximize a strong growth potential, particularly in China and in travel retail. Fourth pillar, our undisputed digital leadership, which gives us quite the competitive edge. Digital continues to reinvent our business models and our activation methods by giving us the opportunity to leverage our touch points and our interactions with consumers around the world. Today, many of our brands are successfully exploring the potential of the metaverse, in particular, to give avatars a new look. Fifth, this is a major hallmark of your company, our industrial fabric with 38 factories and 152 distribution centers around the world, which are home to nearly 25% of our teams or 20,000 employees. This unique coverage offers us phenomenal agility and a local presence with our subcontracting partners.
On your behalf, I would like to pay a heartfelt tribute to them today because these teams have been so instrumental, both during the 3-year pandemic and through all the post-COVID headwinds that have marked our supply chain. Lastly, the 5th pillar of our model and a key success factor, our values, which have remained unchanged for the past 114 years, continuity and sharing. L'Oréal's values are reflected in our strong entrepreneurial spirit that percolates through the groups. 87 employees who have shown unfailing commitment. Without them, we could never be so successful. Our team engagement rate is close to 80%, and this is a source of pride. We also prioritize the well-being of our employees and continue to transform our working methods to maintain our appeal. L'Oréal continues to attract a variety of talents of the highest caliber.
In 2022 alone, we received some 1.3 million applications. These are generations that are more than ever in search of meaning, who strongly support environmental and societal causes, and are sensitive to our commitments and our corporate purpose for which we launched a new campaign in 2022 with the L'Oréal Group signature. If our surprising combination of ingenuity and capacity for innovation sets us apart, it's because we are what I call a Unicornus Rex, a truly unique creature that combines the strength of a heavyweight with solid fundamentals, the Tyrannosaurus rex, with the agility of the new economy, the speed and unparalleled innovation capabilities of a unicorn. This makes L'Oréal a unique company, particularly well-suited to the new era that is unfolding. A new era that heralds a more fragmented and globalized world with less regulation.
We are entering a world fraught with multiple crises that are not sequential, but rather concurrent. In this world, we have many aces up our sleeve, and I will reference two of them. Our multipolar model with a central strategy, but decentralized operations and strong entrepreneurial spirit provides great organizational flexibility, so we can adapt to opportunities and potential upheavals that may occur. Our ability to anticipate technological challenges is our second asset that will enable us to widen the gap even further. As presented last year, we are exploring the power of nature and green science. In 2022, 82% of our ingredients were readily biodegradable. 61% of our ingredients were bio-based, and more than 80% of the new rare, or rather raw materials in our catalog are from renewable sources. This new world is also powered by data and artificial intelligence.
We expand our digital leadership to harness the possibilities of beauty tech and explore new horizons such as the metaverse, not forgetting artificial intelligence. We already have over 800 data analysis experts. Our research and innovation is fueled every day by the power of artificial intelligence and data. In addition to using our own consumer data on a large scale, we are forging innovative partnerships with tech experts such as Verily. Our lead in beauty tech will also be key in the future. We have more than 2,000 dedicated experts. We took a head start as early as 2018 with the acquisition of ModiFace, and since then, our virtual trial services for makeup, for example, have significantly contributed to the group's e-commerce acceleration. We intend to make services an essential and differentiating agreement of our brands for more sustainable and inclusive value propositions.
Inclusiveness is core to L'Oréal's DNA, as you know, and beauty tech will enhance that greatly. This will also help us create a range of augmented beauty solutions, such as HAPTA, the makeup applicator specially developed for people with reduced hand and arm mobility, which was presented this year at the CES trade show in Las Vegas. As you can see, L'Oréal is undergoing an exciting transformation powered by artificial intelligence, which forever enhances our capacity for innovation. In this more fragmented, more diverse world where individuality and personalization are key values, we will move from the universal to the specific, from providing beauty for all to beauty for everyone. Ladies and gentlemen, your group is poised to succeed in the next decade. We continue to master the game. You heard it, the need for beauty is infinite. The possibilities are endless.
There are green lights beckoning us forward. The playing field is limitless, our room for growth is all the greater since even as a world leader, our market share is only 14%. We will seize every opportunity, catch every incipient trend. True to our world, we will provide the best of beauty to our customers, beauty for everyone, everywhere. Beauty that is ever more inclusive, respectful of the planet's limits, a beauty of commitment and contribution, a beauty that drives the world forward. Thank you for your support.
Thank you, Nicolas, and, well done for a fine year 2022 and such exciting prospects as we go into 2023 and the out years. Let's now welcome Madame Alexandra Palt. You know Alexandra, who had occasion to present before you. She's head of societal and environmental responsibility of the group. She also heads up the Fondation L'Oréal, have launched in 2013 the program Sharing Beauty With All to significantly improve our environment, social responsibility. She built the program L'Oréal for the Future to transform by 2030 our business to include it in the limits of the planet whilst including the ecosystem to contribute to addressing the challenges of our planet. She joins us today to talk about the environmental and s-strategy of your group, including climate strategy and the main initiatives initiated. Alexandra.
Good morning to you all. On 2 occasions these past few years in 2016 and 2020, I had occasion to present to you our sustainable development policy as well as societal and social responsibility. This allows me to confirm to you today that sustainable development is an historic engagement of the group. We made very soon choices ahead of our time. Every time those choices were right helped us to prepare ourselves for a future that science tells us will be made of major upheavals. We began back in 1979 by pledging to work on reconstructed skin to avoid tests on animals. Already back in 1995, we set up a lab for environmental research. In 2002 and under the visionary leadership of Barbara Lavernos, we initiated our first audits in the social sphere that places amongst the companies that-
Control particularly well their value chain. 2009, we set our first environmental targets to reduce the footprint of our nash industrial activity. 2013, we launched our first full development to sustainable development program, Sharing Beauty With All, ahead of its time. I recall many stakeholders, other companies asked why we were making this effort when it wasn't requested. We answered that we believe that it would prepare us better for the future. Indeed, this allowed us to better prepare for the uncertain future that we're confronting today in 2020. This led us to renew our vision that tirelessly we had to be ahead of our time and anticipated the sustainable development challenges that we see today. We wanted to be even more committed, even more determined.
That's the purpose of our second generation of sustainable development, commitments under the umbrella of our program, L'Oréal for the Future. These two programs were and remain ambitious and visionary. Sharing Beauty With All was visionary because we already addressed all our activities from research to operations, marketing, consumer education, social challenges. We showed that this was possible. Between 2013 and 2020, we managed to eco design 85% of our products. We reduced by 78% our CO₂ emissions of our industrial activities. We helped over 90,000 people to find a job at the end of 2020. With the acceleration of challenges, we changed our mindset. We didn't just simply look at what we could do to reduce our environmental footprint.
We said, "What is science telling us?" Today, science is offering the limits within which we must operate and must not be exceeded to guarantee a secure space so that the human species can survive. We set out our goals with the scientists, basing ourselves on the theory of the limits of the planet shown on three. Any limit exceeded puts at risk the ability of humankind to survive. We've decided that our activities would be within these limits. This has led us to structure a program, L'Oréal For The Future, based on three pillars. The first aimed at transforming our activity. A second aimed at associating our ecosystem to our transformation. When we seem small, looking at the scale and complexity of the challenges, we have a role to play together by cooperating to find solution.
Lastly, third pillar, to contribute to addressing the most urgent environmental and social challenges. The world today is undergoing rapid upheaval. Climate challenges, loss of biodiversity, water scarcity, social injustice, raising new constraints for the company will limit us, quite rightly, from accessing resources that we thought were infinite. We must change our way of working. Our responsibility invites us to reinvent an economic model. Today, I'd like to talk to you about three major global challenges that are also challenges for L'Oréal: climate, biodiversity, and water. As climate, you see climate change accelerating far too fast. We see the devastating human environmental economic effects. We pledge to reduce our emissions by 25% in absolute terms, by 2030. How are we going to achieve that? We're going to work hard. Here are a few of our drivers of our transformation to achieve that.
In 2025, all our sites will be carbon neutral. In 2022, we're already at 65. We're on the track for 100%. We're gonna reduce our emissions by 50% by finished products. Since we're growing, we have to reduce our emissions more by finished product to arrive at an absolute value of -25. We've already achieved -10%. How to do that? Change of packaging to recycling, reformulating ingredients in our formula. Also, reduction of our transport footprint. We've set as a target to reduce by 50% by 2030 this footprint. It's difficult because unfortunately this year we're at +6.7. We know that we still have a lot of work to do on this front, and our teams are active.
Furthermore, we're going to readjust by the end of the year our decarbonization pathways under the new SBTi Net-Zero. This methodology is recognized globally to define the alignment trajectories on a 1.5 degree scenario. Let me remind you that on all our objectives, the group has never used carbon offset. Second major challenge for the world, very linked to the climate, is biodiversity preservation. Biodiversity and climate are very closely linked because the living species of course depend on climate conditions for its life cycle. We're transforming nature into farmland, towns and lived-in zones, not in protected areas, so that ecosystems can play their vital role of carbon capture and keeping living ecosystems. We've taken strong commitments of biodiversity, an issue of concern for consumers, public authorities and societies at large.
By 2030, 100% of our ingredients and formula and packaging materials are bio-sourced, traceable and from sustainable sources. We're at 92% today. That's encouraging. We've already forepledged that the footprint of ecosystem for our ingredients be maintained at a level identical to that of 2019. We need to go further. You know that we have to regenerate nature. It's a vital necessity to fight climate change. Degraded ecosystems must be restored. It's the purpose of the setting up of our fund for the regeneration of nature endowed with EUR 50 million funding the restoration of forests and oceans. Another very important global challenge, water. You know that by 2030 there'll be many areas of water scarcity. Each of us is concerned, as well as our plants and our ability to get our activity accepted by local population.
When water becomes scarce or is scarce, as is the case in certain areas, the local people will no longer be able to have access to it for their essential needs. They won't understand that businesses are drawing that water for their own needs. We've pledged that by 2030, 100% of water used in our industrial processes be recycled and reutilized, and we're at 13% and our roadmap's being rolled out. When we talk about water, of course, there's a question of the quantity of water used, but also that of its quality. Reason why we've decided to ensure that all our formula guarantee that they don't have a harmful effect on the diversity of aquatic resources, as you can see on screen. How are we going to accomplish all this? Well, first of all, by cooperating with our ecosystem.
It's a second strategic pillar, and it's our absolute conviction. In order to form part of a 1.5 degree scenario, as climate science recommends for 2050, we've decided to go all out to reduce emissions under our control, our plants, for example, and we'll get there. There's also major work to be undertaken with our suppliers, our distributors, with our value chain, because the majority of the carbon footprint is in Scope 3. Cooperating with them is necessary to achieve our goals. We're looking at the carbon footprint of our suppliers, developing reduction strategies. They know that it's a precondition for working with us. Of course, we're working on innovation to invent the low carbon solutions of tomorrow. Shown on screen in innovation, the cardboard tube that we've developed with our supplier, Albéa, that reduces by 75% the share of plastic compared to a conventional tube.
Furthermore, we must cooperate with our distributors to democratize and make normal the use of refills to reach our targets. Our consumers, we must encourage them to consume responsibly. It's our duty and our contribution to a more sustainable society. We must indicate the environmental impact of our products. The beauty industry has come together to forge a consortium, EcoBeautyScore, aimed at developing and adopting a common evaluation and display method of the environmental impacts of cosmetics. In closing, I'd like to say that of course, we won't be able to operate in societies weakened by climate and environmental change if we're not also capable of committing for greater social justice, greater equity through the rollout of a decent wage. It's this wage that guarantees a decent livelihood for oneself and one's family.
Of course, this is the case for our people throughout the world. We must go further. That's why we've asked our suppliers to work with us to reach this objective also in 2030. We're working with our suppliers to allow an ever-growing number of people who are vulnerable to find a job. In 2022 over 17,000 additional beneficiaries were able to find a job. Our conviction is that it's our duty to use our success to contribute to society. Our fund for women has supported over 1,230,000 women in a vulnerable situation worldwide last year. I'd like to say that our transformation is profound and that we're probably better placed than others because we made that choice early on, a choice of values consistent with L'Oréal's DNA.
It's also a choice of reason, too, because we must be ready in a world of upheaval, ready to meet the legislative and regulatory challenges, more and more constraining, particularly in Europe. To meet the demands of consumers and civil society that feel even more concerned by these social issues. Prepare because we've been working at it for a long time. We want to demonstrate once again that financial and non-financial performance can go hand in hand, and that we're creating value for all. Thank you. Well, as you can see, Alexandra's determination to change things is really contagious. I'm sure you sense that. You see the mindset that drives us at L'Oréal. A constant quest for improvement. Our company has always delivered, and we continue to work to provide solutions because this decade will be key.
Climate change threatens the health of the planet and the well-being of humankind. We'll be able to deliver on this major challenge of our time. Ladies and gentlemen, shareholders, as you've seen, L'Oréal is going from strength to strength with a very growing ambition to act for dual success. Societal and economic success has been our objective for decades and be at the heart of our model. L'Oréal has a duty to be both efficient and exemplary. Our ultimate goal is to create value that benefits all. I believe I can safely say that we're delivering that. We're creating value for you, the shareholders. Nicolas demonstrated L'Oréal delivered in 2022 a further year of remarkable business growth, market share and earnings. The resilience in our performance, your company once again, the full demonstration of its robust, virtuous and model that creates value.
I'd like to hail the decisive role of Nicolas Hieronimus, his inspiring leadership, his tireless energy, and his ability to fully move with the times are key in an interest as ours. With the executive committee, he's been able to respond rapidly to the multi crises of an environment that is being upended and capture the opportunities of a constantly changing market. The quality of our earnings, as you've heard, allows us to propose a dividend of 25% of EUR 6. As you know, also EUR 6.6 for those who've been holding our registered shares for more than 2 years.
Year after year, we're stepping up our payout policy with a dividend that has increased fivefold over 17 years, the increased dividend to EUR 6.60 allows us to increase the loyalty of our registered shareholders and rewards that loyalty. Over and above value creation that is financial, I know that you attach a growing importance to our relationship. We strive to meet your expectations. We take part in numerous events throughout the year to reach out to you. These key opportunities so as to forge with you a relationship built on trust and confidence. I'd like to thank members of the advisory committee here present. You play a key role to pass on the expectations of all our shareholders and to help us strengthen our relationship.
In this regard, I welcome the fact that our annual report, our website and shareholder relations were recognized for their quality and information. I'm unable to cite all the awards received. There are a great many, as you can see on the screen. I'm sure you'll join me in hailing the wonderful work of our teams. They reach out to you and share ever-growing content to give you a full vision of the life of your company. Dear shareholders, it's no accident if you're growing in number. Particularly pleased to welcome the over 30,000 new individual French shareholders who joined us in 2022. Not today, it'd be rather physically difficult in this, but it's the first year that we see such a significant increase in the number of individual shareholders.
That testifies to your trust in the L'Oréal adventure, its strategy and future potential. As chairman, I see every day what a loyal and quality shareholder brings to L'Oréal. We create value thanks to our 87,400 people. Their sense of solidarity, creativity, and quest to go the extra mile were instrumental in carrying L'Oréal to new heights. They have my admiration. On the board's behalf as well as my own and yours, I'd like to thank them and congratulate all. They are the secret of the success of our group. Involving them in the performance of L'Oréal was obvious. We launched in 2022 a third share ownership program for our employees. In 62 countries, over a third of our employees worldwide and two-thirds in France are now shareholders of the group.
It's a strong proof of commitment to L'Oréal, additional way of aligning their interest to yours. Their profound aspiration, notably those of the younger generation, is to work with a company that shares their value. Thirdly, the creator value, I profoundly believe that the value on which the L'Oréal culture rests guarantee our sustainability, entrepreneurship, courage, respect, transparency, ethics and responsibility with all, whatever the issue, the corporate culture that unites the people of L'Oréal is our distinctive specificity that no other company will ever be able to copy. This culture is regularly hailed and recognized, notably in terms of ethics and inclusion. These values are all the more important in an uncertain world, giving meaning to our individual actions. More and more, we must roll them out and embody them. Value creation extends naturally to our stakeholders.
We're creating value for our ecosystem for a very long time. I'd like to focus on the way in which L'Oréal involves France in its success, because as you know, it's a few streets from here that the L'Oréal adventure began 116 years ago. Still in France many things are happening. L'Oréal has of course become a global company, rich in diversity, but its heart beats and will always beat in France. We employ over 15,000 people in France. We've established long links with many partners, 900 suppliers based in France. Our industrial roots in France, powerful even if we only achieve 7% of our sales in France. Our French plants deliver 26% of global production.
Its flagships at the cutting edge of technology and responsibility, where we've invested over EUR 500 million over the past five years, contribute to the dynamism of our communities, contributing to the reputation of French excellence internationally and the country's trade balance. Your company is one of the main French export companies to the tune of EUR 5 billion. We've made France a land of excellence and technological innovation. Eight R&D center, 2,700 researchers, 70% of our R&D CapEx is here. Also an environmental land of commitment, since 97% of the energy consumed in France is renewable. Lastly, everywhere we operate, we create value for our environment and society. As Alexandra said, we were a pioneer in the transformation of our business model.
Sustainable development has for a long time been a pillar of our governance, of our corporate strategy and obligation to deliver for each employee. The greater the transformation, the most lasting it is. We're listened by our ecosystem. A legitimate in our role to drive forward French and international industry. Our responsibility has a positive large scale impact that also applies on the social and societal front. In addition to many initiatives, the L'Oréal Foundation that I have the honor of chairing, has rallied further for and with women for a more inclusive and sustainable future. Amongst the three causes, I'd like to highlight the 25 years next June of the program for women in science. Over 4,100 scientists in over 110 countries have already been humanly and financially supported thanks to this fine program.
This fight for equality goes well beyond the gender issue. We believe that science must be inclusive so that progress can be universal. I have every confidence in the future of your group. L'Oréal, as Nicolas said, is fully prepared to invent the best of beauty because your company, and it's important to understand this, rests on an ideal and permanent balance. Balance between performance and responsibility, between continuity and reinvention, between short-term adaptation and long-term vision, being true to its legacy and focusing on the avant-garde. To conclude, what better symbol of this balance than the historic head office of L'Oréal, 14 Rue Royale, where Mr. Eugène Schueller had set up his office and his first École technique des arts de la coiffure. This iconic place has been totally transformed with the support of the family of Archinda.
Its futurist architectural design reaffirms its historical values as well as an invitation to boldness, constant reinvention to adapt to the revolutions of the world. I'm very pleased to share with you as an avant-première, Le Visionnaire, l'espace François Dalle. It's a name steeped in history because François Dalle was an extraordinary person and one of the great leaders of our house, but more than just a tribute, it's a way of instilling his pioneering mindset to current and future generations for what they continue to seize what is starting. Another of his thoughts summarized the DNA and the soul of your company. There's no progress without the quest for exploits. Strong with your support, L'Oréal is driven by great energy to continue the exploits and its fine adventure. Thank you.
Merci beaucoup. Je vais à présent vous dire quelques mots.
Thank you.
-de la gouvernance-
I'd like to just say a few words about the governance of your company.
du conseil, la conviction profonde
I'm deeply convinced, as are your Board members, that exacting, rigorous and sustainable governance is a source of value for your company. We work tirelessly so that in agreement with the best practices, governance is a fundamental asset for L'Oréal. It gives us the necessary stability and long-term solidity. Your company has very committed Board with involved Board members who speak their views freely in the constant interest of the company and stakeholders. Your Board that I have the honor of chairing is very active and I'd like to briefly summarize its activity in 2022. The Board fully assumed its role in setting out the group's strategy and examine its long-term development opportunities. Thanks to constructive direct dialogue with management, regular meetings with the key executives, Board members were fully informed of all the group's activities, its performance versus its peers, and its challenges for the future.
As with every year, a strategic board meeting was organized in June to conduct an in-depth review of 3 main issues: research and innovation with a focus on beauty tech, the rise of new independent brands known as the indie brands, and risk mapping to strengthen and prioritize their management and prevention. The board focus more specifically on cybersecurity so they ensure the group has put in place the appropriate responses and action plans. The board continued to follow with close attention the digital transformation of L'Oréal. It's absolutely key in a context of vast upheavals in modes of communication and consumption. The board was also attentive to the rollout of the ambitious program L'Oréal for the Future. By 2030, We're convinced that sustainable economic growth your company will start taking into account global and social challenges.
It addresses long-term compensation policies for the group's executives. This year, the group wanted to benefit for special CSR training on the question of accelerating climate issues provided by internal external experts. Board members were also sensitized to the environmental impact of digital tech, future developments on sustainability reporting also presented. As with every year, the board reviewed L'Oréal's human resources policy, that of diversity rolled out at every level of the company, notably governing bodies, as well as the implementation of its ethics policy. Lastly, it conducted an annual review of its functioning. The new governance is working in an optimal way and stressed the complementarity of the chairman and CEO. I welcome these conclusions that confirm the relevance of our mode of governance to continue the ambitious and smooth development of L'Oréal.
We're able to identify areas of improvements and to address the priority issues for 2023. The board bases these decisions on the recommendations of the four study committees that met on 19 occasions 2020. Like I said, it was the Strategy and Sustainable Development Committee, which is at the heart of the strategic development of L'Oréal. Each of these meetings, we looked at the brand potential of the group and studied the most recent launches, looked at all acquisition plans, reviewed at every meeting initiatives regarding sustainable development as part of the L'Oréal for the Future program, as well as projects links to sustainable finance. Next, the Audit Committee reviewed the financial statements of L'Oréal, reviewed internal control in place, and analyzed the developments of the risk map and the vigilant plan.
The committee also follows the drawing up of financial, non-financial information, agreed on an additional annual meeting to address growing importance of sustainability issues. Human Resources and Compensation Committee submitted proposals regarding compensation of executive officers, reviewed the performance of the CEO, reviewed the compensation policy for all employees of the group, proposed the setting up of a performance share plan and the third review of shareholder employee plan that was very successful. Nominations Governance Committee reviewed the renewal of two board members, representing employees, offering them a personalized training plan. The Leadership Committee conducted the annual assessment program for the board. It also considered the composition of the board projection short- and medium-term.
On recommendation of Nominations and Governance Committee, the boards decided to propose today the renewal of 2 terms of 2 board members, that of Sophie Bellon. You know Sophie Bellon, who's Chair and Chief Executive of Sodexo. For several years now, she's been presenting to you the items of compensation of executive officers as Chair of the Human Resources and Compensation Committee. Her second renewal of term of office. Madame Bellon's been a board member since 2015. Independent board member very much involved in the work of the committees. Madame Bellon brings to the board multidisciplinary knowledge of the company. Her international insights, her mastery of governance issues, and commitments in terms of social and societal responsibility.
The board also wished to propose the renewal of the term of office to Madame Fabienne Dulac, who's a member of the executive committee of Orange, just been appointed head of transformation of the group. She's been a board member of L'Oréal since 2019. She's a member of the audit committee, the HR and compensation committee. She's been exercising her term with great commitment. She brings to the board her insights in the digital tech sector, consumers, client relations, expertise in HR, and that of steering an organization undergoing rapid transformation. I'm sure you'll renew your confidence in her. Lastly, changes in the composition of the committees after this meeting. Mr. Patrice Caine will assume the chair of the Nominations and Governance Committee, replacing Sophie Bellon, who remains a member of the committee. Two board members representing employees will each join the committee.
Monsieur Thierry Hamel will join the HR and Compensation Committee. Mr. Benny de Vlieger will join the Audit Committee. Subject to the renewal of terms, put to the vote of this meeting, the board will remain comprised of 16 board members, 50% women, 50% men, and 50% independent, so very balanced composition. At my side, the CEO, Nicolas Hieronimus. Member of the board. Participation enriches the work, the discussions, and decisions of the council. Of the board, 5 board members from large shareholders, particularly attentive to the long-term interests of the company. 7 independent board members with high-level experience as heads of large international companies, and 2 board members representing employees with extensive knowledge of the company.
As you know, the board members of your company offer a complementarity of experience, great richness of insights, and a cultural diversity fully reflects the diversity policy defined by the board. I now will hand over to Madame Sophie Bellon, who'll summarize the resolutions pertaining to the compensation of executive officers. Thank you.
Mesdames et messieurs, chers actionnaires. Ladies and gentlemen, dear shareholders, as in previous years, the shareholders' meeting is called upon to approve, on the one hand, the compensation elements paid or allocated to the corporate officers in 2022 in accordance with the compensation policy that you have approved. On the other, the compensation policy for 2023 from which compensation may be paid or granted to corporate officers. In my capacity as chairwoman of the Human Resources and Compensation Committee, I will present the resolutions relating to the compensation of corporate officers. Firstly, for the year 2022, you are invited to vote on the compensation paid to Jean-Paul Agon in his capacity as chairman of the board. Mr. Agon's compensation consisted exclusively of a fixed annual amount of EUR 1.6 million to the exclusion of any other form of compensation.
With regard to the compensation paid or granted in 2022 to Nicolas Hieronimus in his capacity as CEO, his compensation included a fixed annual compensation of EUR 2 million and a variable annual compensation target of EUR 2 million, which may reach a maximum limit of EUR 2.4 million, which is 120% of the fixed salary in the event of outperformance in relation to the objectives set. The targets and weightings are displayed on the screen. The board of directors evaluated Mr. Hieronimus' performance at 113% of the target objective, i.e., 113.7% for the financial criteria and 111.9% for the non-financial and qualitative criteria. Subject to a favorable vote on this resolution, Mr. Hieronimus will be paid an amount of EUR 2.26 million.
The total fixed and variable compensation of Mr. Hieronimus thus amounts to EUR 4.26 million. The Board has also decided to grant 20,000 performance shares to the CEO for 2022, i.e., 2.86% of the total number of shares granted under the 2022 plan. Concerning the compensation policies for executive directors, the compensation policy for the Chairman of the Board of Directors applicable to Mr. Agon for 2023 is unchanged from the previous year. The Chairman of the Board of Directors receives a fixed remuneration of EUR 1.6 million to the exclusion of any other element, no variable remuneration, no performance shares, no remuneration for his position as director. This compensation was determined by the Board on the basis of Mr. Agon's experience and the specific responsibilities and tasks entrusted to him by the Board in his capacity as chairman.
The board has also ensured that this compensation was competitive with a benchmark panel. You are asked to approve the compensation policy for the CEO applicable to Nicolas Hieronimus for the year 2023. The board of directors has also renewed the compensation policy applicable to the CEO. This remains unchanged. You can see the main principles on the screen. This policy is balanced between short-term and long-term compensation. It consists of a fixed salary, an annual variable salary, and the allocation of performance shares. 75% of this compensation is subject to performance criteria. The fixed compensation of Mr. Hieronimus remains fixed at EUR 2 million. The target annual variable compensation remains set at 100% of the fixed compensation and may reach up to 120% in case of outperformance against the set objectives.
The board has chosen to maintain the same performance criteria and the same balance between financial and non-financial criteria. They are displayed on the screen. These criteria are directly linked to L'Oréal strategy and integrate the sustainable development by 2030 program called L'Oréal For The Future. Finally, the board may decide to grant performance shares to the CEO. This grant will range between 50% and 60% of the total annual compensation. Performance conditions would apply to 100% of the shares allocated. I'd like to remind you that two non-financial performance criteria have been introduced as of 2022, in addition to the financial performance criteria which are renewed. The fulfillment of commitments related to the L'Oréal For The Future program and the achievement of a parity target in strategic positions. The provisions applicable in the event of Mr.
Hieronimus' departure, which fall under the procedure for related party agreements, were approved by the general meeting of shareholders in April 2021. The board of directors meeting on February 9th, 2023 confirmed their relevance and their terms. Lastly, regarding the compensation policy for directors, the maximum annual remuneration package is EUR 1.6 million, which has been unchanged since 2018. The board proposes to the meeting to increase this envelope to EUR 1.7 million in order to better compensate participation in committees whose work is increasingly significant. Accordingly, the remuneration of directors would change as follows: Participation in the audit committee would increase from EUR 25,000 to EUR 30,000. Participation in the strategy and sustainable development committee from EUR 15,000 to EUR 16,000.
The appointments in governance committee and the human resources and compensation committee from 11,500 to EUR 16,000. I would like to thank the members of the Human Resources and Compensation Committee for their active participation and their commitment. Many thanks for your attention. Thank you very much, Sophie Bellon. I would like to ask Catherine Bellon to present the resolutions that will be submitted to your vote. Concerning the ordinary AGM, the first of 3 resolutions concern the financial statements and the proposed dividend. Those elements were presented to you by Christophe Babule at the beginning of the meeting. Resolutions four and five concern the renewal of the terms of office of Sophie Bellon and Fabienne Dulac as directors. These reappointments were presented to you by the chairman as part of his presentation on the governance of the company.
Resolution six concerns the revision of the maximum annual amount allocated to the directors, which was raised from EUR 1.6 million-EUR 1.7 million in order to better compensate them for their term of office. Resolution 7 to 12 concern the compensation of corporate officers. Sophie Bellon, Chairwoman of the HR and Compensation Committee, reported to you in detail a few moments ago. Resolution 13 concerns the new authorization to be granted to the company to continue, if necessary, its policy of buying back its own shares outside the periods of public offerings. The authorization will cover a maximum of 10% of the share capital, and the purchase price may not exceed EUR 600 per share.
In the 14th to 16th resolutions of the extraordinary meeting, the shareholders are asked to delegate to the Board of Directors the authority to decide, for a period of 26 months, a capital increase by issuing ordinary shares with shareholders' preemptive rights maintained or by incorporation of premiums, reserves or profits, or to remunerate contributions in kind of equity securities or securities giving access to the capital of third-party companies granted to the company. In resolutions 17 and 18, the shareholders are asked to delegate to the Board of Directors the authority to decide on a capital increase of up to 1% of the share capital reserved for employees who are members of a company savings plan for a period of 26 months and employees of foreign subsidiaries for a period of 18 months.
The aggregate amount of all capital increases that may be carried out may not exceed a maximum of 40% of the existing share capital. In resolutions 19 and 20, the shareholders are asked to approve two proposed partial contributions of assets between L'Oréal and two of its over 99% owned subsidiaries, namely L'Oréal France and L'Oréal International Distribution. The main purpose of this project is to align the organization of French activities with the model of the group's other countries. By spinning off operational activities currently carried out within L'Oréal, it will allow the company to focus more on its primary missions as a holding company and as a strategic coordinator. The subsidiaries L'Oréal France and L'Oréal International Distribution will have greater autonomy with this new organization. Much, Mr. Chair, for the draft resolutions. Thank you very much, Catherine.
After the presentation of the financial statements and the resolutions, I propose that we now hear Mr. David Dupont-Noël of Deloitte & Associés, who will speak on behalf of the joint auditors. Mr. Dupont-Noël, you have the floor. Thank you, Chair. Ladies and gentlemen, good morning. On behalf of the joint auditors, Ernst & Young Audit and Deloitte & Associés, I am pleased to report on the performance of our engagement in 2022. We have issued various reports to enable you to exercise your judgment when voting on the resolutions. Our reports for the ordinary general meeting concern the financial statements and related party agreements, and those for the extraordinary general meeting are required by law in connection with proposed capital increases reserved for employees. I will present their main points and conclusions rather than a detailed account.
First, for the ordinary shareholders meeting, we issued reports on the audit of the parent company financial statements and the Group consolidated financial statements as of December 31, 2022. The reports are found on pages 340-343 and 313-316, respectively, of the universal registration document provided to you, as well as on pages 40-49 of your notice of meeting. These financial statements were approved by your Board of Directors on February 9, 2023. The purpose of our work is to provide you with reasonable assurance that the financial statements submitted to you are free of material misstatement, and the accounting methods used are appropriate and any risks are sufficiently hedged, and that the laws and regulations in force are complied with.
To this end, we have performed our coordinated audit procedures for our subsidiaries located in more than 30 different countries. This work on the financial statements and on internal control processes covered both everyday operations and special events in fiscal 2022, such as changes in the scope of consolidation or other specific transactions. We also verified the management report presented by your Board of Directors and, in particular, the accuracy of the accounting and financial information contained therein, the information and compensation and benefits paid to executive officers, which you just heard about, and the information on corporate governance. We regularly shared our work and our detailed conclusions with your Group's Audit Committee and Board of Directors. In conclusion, having had the necessary means to complete our engagement, we issued an unqualified opinion on the parent company's financial statements and on the Group consolidated financial statements.
We also highlighted key audit matters in our reports on the accounts. These matters require special attention because of their nature, relative weight in the financial statements, or the significant level of judgment needed to assess the assumptions and estimates used. The key audit matters relate to the measurement of investments in the parent company financial statements and intangible assets, including goodwill in the consolidated financial statements, the recognition of sales, including the estimation of all items to be deducted from sales, and the evaluation provisions for liabilities and charges and contingent liabilities, particularly with regard to taxation. Our reports contain a detailed description of these key matters and the corresponding procedures implemented.
Still in connection with the ordinary shareholders meeting, we have issued another report on related party agreements that is presented on pages 115 and 116 of the URD and on pages 50 and 51 of the notice of meeting. This report describes the agreements that your company has entered into with one of its executive officers to enable you to assess the interest involved in respect to their conclusion without expressing an opinion on their usefulness or appropriateness. As we were not informed of any new agreement authorized in the past year, our report recaps the former agreement with continuing effect relating to the employment contract of your CEO that was previously approved by the shareholders meeting last year. We have issued the 2 reports with regard to the resolutions affecting the share capital of your company and submitted to the extraordinary general meeting.
They can be found on pages 385 and 386 of the URD, as well as on pages 52 and 53 of the convening brochure. Our two reports concern the proposed delegation of authority to your Board of Directors to decide an issue of shares of marketable securities reserved for employees and members of a company savings plan, Resolution 17, or for employees of foreign subsidiaries, Resolution 18, up to a maximum limit of 1% of the share capital for periods of 26 and 18 months, respectively. We had no comments to make on any of these reports, it being specified that the underlying transactions were performed under the conditions provided for by French law, and you were provided with all of the information needed to decide whether or not to cancel your preemptive subscription rights. Ladies and gentlemen.
Chairman, thank you for your attention.
Merci beaucoup, Monsieur Dupont-Noël. Bien, je vous propose maintenant d'ouvrir la discussion. Avant de commencer nos échanges...
Before the Q&A, we've received some written questions as per from the Forum for Responsible Investment. Most Madame Hutongli, Pierre Legros, the board that met on the twentieth of April responded decided to publish the responses on the website before the AGM so as to have as much time as possible to interact with you. Certain written questions would take up the full time allowed for discussion if we were to answer them. Let me remind you that questions can be asked in three ways, questions from the hall, via the hostesses. I'd ask you to introduce yourself and just ask one or two brief questions to allow as many people as possible to speak.
Questions that will be collected on these cards that I have before me, and then questions put on the website platform opened since the 18th of April. We don't have too many questions. We'll provide succinct answers so as to respond to as many questions as possible, priority given to those asked by shareholders. Let's begin with questions sent prior to the meeting 'cause they represented questions that many of you are asking. Five questions that we'll try and answer briefly and succinctly. First question that ties in with what was said earlier, what are the major risks in terms of cybersecurity? A very important matter, of course. Nicolas. Yeah, I'll answer that question. Hello once again. On the risks, we see three major risks.
The leak of sensitive information, personal data. Second, of course, major disruption of some of our sites, activities, industrial activity, in particular, ransomware that might be requested or the risk of default or compromise of a major partner. Of course, we're constantly seeking to guard against these risks. 4% of our ID spend, we have a head of team, 80 people who prevent, raise awareness among L'Oréal people. We have mandatory cybersecurity training for 46,000 people who are exposed on their PC to malicious risks. Obviously, the people in the stores, marketing teams, everyone's trained. Also, regularly, phishing campaigns where we set traps for our teams to see whether they fall into them. It's a way of raising their awareness.
Every year we hold a cyber week to train people with certification programs, so that's upstream training. Our teams are organized to detect and to respond in the event of an attack. In 2022, we had 7,200 security alerts on things that weren't quite normal. That was managed by our response teams. All attacks were contained without a major impact. That's a very real threat that rallies all the IT staff at L'Oréal. Thank you. It's a crucially important topic. Second recurring topic, this one's for Nicolas. Does L'Oréal count on Africa as a growth driver? Yes, we're counting on Africa. Counting on Africa today, Africa is very small for L'Oréal. 1% of our sales growing strongly, 24% growth, we're present. We got 4 subs in Africa, Egypt, Morocco, Kenya, South Africa.
I think what's something that's very important, a major change is that we have in 21 decided on to set up a zone devoted to Sub-Saharan Africa based in Joburg, dedicated team accelerating sharply, 24% growth rate. We're gaining market share, making strong inroads in Sub-Saharan Africa. Remains small. It'll take time. I have to say that today our growth driver is the most manifest short-term, Southeast Asia, India, set to become the world's most populous country, an additional 200 people in the middle class gaining affluence, encouraging them to seek high-quality beauty products. Indonesia in the same category, but we have other more promising challenges. Short-term, we have to use all our means. We have to be everywhere throughout the planet. That's what we strive to do.
Of course, high expectations of beauty in Africa, we'll have everything to meet those. 3rd question, that's another recurring question. It's cropped up in the written question. What is L'Oréal share buyback policy in terms of dividend distribution? I can tell you what we answered our written question. Our share buyback policy, as you've seen, is primarily aimed at offsetting via the resulting dilution of the issuance of new shares. As part of the implementation of employee share ownership programs or performance share, thereby preserve the circulating number of shares at a quite constant level, save strategic transactions. The share buybacks we do every year or 2 years aim solely at ensuring that for shareholders for you that there'll be no dilution of the share price value. It's a good measure of simple hygiene of our accounts.
However, in terms of dividend, you've seen that the dividend has grown strongly these past few years. L'Oréal's policy is to regularly increase the dividend per share. On page 23 of the universal registration document, you have the amount of dividends paid, which has grown fivefold in 17 years, doubled over the past 4 or 5 years. That, we also have the policy of rewarding the loyalty of our dividends with an increased dividend by 10% for those registered shareholders who've held their shareholders more than 2 years. I urge all shareholders present to follow this practice that's very positive. Share buybacks at L'Oréal has no other aim than to maintain the number of permanent shares over time. Next question. What are the investments and group prospects in the metaverse?
Well, the leading metaverse specialist is Nicolas. Over to you, Nicolas. Well, I don't know if I'm the metaverse specialist. I mean, there are as many as universes or video universes in which the young and not so young spend a lot of their time, so we've decided to explore the metaverse. We're investing in officers. We've got Camille, who heads up a 30-person team, guides our teams, brands in exploring this new playing field that we're exploring prudently with brands such as Saint Laurent, Mugler, Onyx, with tokens, all the activations to engage consumers on these sites. We signed a partnership with Meta and Station F to develop creative ideas 'cause the metaverse today isn't really a business, but it's great opportunity for creativity, great opportunity to meet with consumers.
For those of you who don't know, the video game is EUR 170 billion bigger than the cinema industry. It's a meeting place where creativity is leveraged. We test and learn, proceeding cautiously. We plan to continue to sell physical products to physical consumers. That's what contributes L'Oréal's success. Maybe we could have a Metaverse presentation one day on the AGM. It'll be fully in the Metaverse in the not too distant future. We're nevertheless happy to meet one another physically. Another question, of course, topical. What the policy for employing seniors and retirement? What's clear, and in fact, this table, we value the experience. 18% of L'Oréal have over 10 years. We have more than 4 years. I'm a senior according to the legal definition, so everything's fine.
We really enhance that. To give you the figures in France, well, in France, the over 50s, 30% of our employee, the over 55s, even 20%, but over and above the numbers in investors, 'cause investment, we believe in this investment. With Jean-Claude Legrand, the head of HR, we've launched L'Oréal for All Generations, bringing us to support and train employees throughout their career. This rapidly changing world, we must new technologies to upskill and 20%-85% of our people over 50 underwent training, so we're supporting them in addition to employing them in their development. Proud of that. As to the pensions reform, I'll pass on that. Seems wise. Let's move to questions from the hall, starting with questions from the shareholders' advisory committee, individual shareholders. I believe they're over there. Over to you.
Thank you, Chair. Good morning. My name's Alain Perrollaz. I'm member of the Individual Shareholders Committee, and I have 4 questions for you. 2 more than the quota said, but since you're speaking on behalf of an extensive group, we'll authorize you to ask those questions. First question, what is the salary policy linked with inflation? Maybe take them 1 by 1. It's probably easier. Salary policy, Nicolas? Inflation related was clear. L'Oréal, we talk about, of course, sharing growth, sharing value. L'Oréal is a company whose values are those protecting and supporting its employees throughout the world against the current inflationary backdrop. We take number of steps and measures. Firstly, to anticipate by 6 months the annual negotiations 2022. We brought them forward to September.
We decided to supplement the individual collective gestures by purchasing power premium bonuses, EUR 1,000 early 2023. Overall increase in remuneration, profit sharing bonus, 6.3% on average versus inflation of 5.3%. We see we've increased our people over and above inflation and add a couple of minimum wage after one year is EUR 2,000 gross. Of course, profit sharing bonus. In 2022, we paid out EUR 237 million profit sharing. That's EUR 9,700 per employee between two and six months pay, depending on the top up and the individual wage. It's a very protective scheme in France and abroad, depending on local regulations.
We've taken steps to protect our people who enjoy the worldwide profit-sharing scheme, allowing them to reap the benefits of L'Oréal's growth throughout the world. That's the answer to that first question. Second question. What's the turnover of L'Oréal employees? What are the recruitment difficulties that you're facing? We've heard about the big quit, the big silent resignation, not really affecting us that much. L'Oréal's turnover in 2022 was at 12.4% down versus 2021 or 14%. It's a global number, highly competitive. As you heard in my presentation, we received 1.3 million applications, 7% up. L'Oréal remains hugely attractive. We were recognized this year as the fifth best place to work globally for business students by the Universum Prize, we're the leading French European company in that setting.
Very attractive company and high engagement level by our people. 80%, that's above the standards. It's the strength of L'Oréal. If people ask me, what's the secret of L'Oréal's success? It's teams, and it's very strong corporate culture with values, solidarity, engagement, passion. We supplement that, of course, through long-term retention schemes, free share awards. Every employee contributes, must be supported. That's what we do.
If I was to pinpoint one area with recruitment difficulties, because everyone is looking for the same profiles, is in the technology sector, which is wrapping up. Every company across the world is looking for the same profiles. We manage, particularly since major technology companies are making a lot of their people redundant. Obviously, we have a lot of applicants from that technology world. Any other questions? There's a third question regarding corruption. How does L'Oréal work in countries where corruption is rampant? Good question. Nicolas? The answer is simple. We have a zero tolerance policy regarding corruption, even if this means losing business. There are rules we comply with. We have a policy as part of our charter of ethics. Every worker gets a copy.
Of course, it's not enough to just give a copy of the ethics charter, so we provide training on fighting corruption, particularly in countries that are sensitive, to put it mildly. 85% achievement rate, completion rate when it comes to those training programs. Of course, we do risk mapping. We pay close attention to those countries that are where corruption may be a problem. We assess our partners and all of the measures that are being taken. We are working hard to prevent all corruption risks, and this culminates in our the recognition of L'Oréal by a number of classifications. Ethisphere, for example, for the third year in a row, we have been recognized. We are in the top 1% of the best-rated companies by EcoVadis.
Our policies mean that we avoid problems, and we are recognized for the hard work we're doing. In addition, we don't operate in a world where corruption is a big, big problem. Unfortunately, corruption is more severe, more frequent in other areas of the economy. It is true that 15 years ago already, we implemented an ethics charter, and our chief e-ethics officer is sitting right here in the second row. We are extremely stringent. You know, as always, corruption may not be a big problem for L'Oréal, but that doesn't mean we don't want to set an example on that front, and hence our many awards and recognitions. Question number four. What is L'Oréal's situation in Russia and in Ukraine? L'Oréal's situation in those two countries is in line with what I indicated last year.
We unequivocally condemn Russia's aggression of Ukrainian territory. Our priority over the past year has been to provide unwavering support to our Ukrainian workers and their families. We provide support, psychological support, financial assistance. We provide accommodation to over 500 workers from our Ukrainian subsidiary in neighboring countries. We provide temporary job opportunities for our Ukrainian friends in other countries. The head of our Ukrainian affairs is based out of Paris. In parallel, we have set up a solidarity plan for the Ukrainian population in collaboration with many local NGOs as well as UN agencies. For example, with UNHCR we provided assistance to 1.74 million people, including raw materials, commodities, basic necessities. We're also supporting 380,000 Ukrainians that have fled to neighboring countries.
That has been our absolute priority. With regard to Russia, as we said before, not only do we comply with sanctions, but we went over and beyond those EU or US sanctions. We temporarily closed all our wholly owned stores in those countries. We've supported our INP policy, and also we stopped marketing most of our brands. We stopped 24 brands. That's about 30% of our portfolio. We limit our marketing efforts to essential products, and we continue to support and pay the salaries of our own Russian employees, because we owe protection to all of our employees across the world. That is the situation in Russia and Ukraine right now. Needless to say, we all hope the conflict will end very soon. Any other questions from the advisory committee? No? Okay. Very well. I suggest we take some questions from the room.
Let's look at a few more cards. There's a traditional question. It's important, though. Is L'Oréal contemplating distributing bonus shares like Air Liquide, another CAC 40 company that I know very well? I'm no longer director there, by the way. I fully remember Air Liquide's policy in that regard. The answer is no. As we explained many times, distribution of bonus shares actually dilutes the share capital. If you create 10% bonus shares, by definition, then it's 10% more shares in the capital, which reduces the share value by 10%, mathematically. On the contrary, we want to be accretive, not dilutive. I wanna say that a couple of minutes ago, the share price reached a record level. 434? Actually 65. 65. Wow. Thank you all. I don't know.
Did you place orders from this room? Did you buy shares and therefore driving the share price up? Congratulations, in any case. We prefer that our share price go up rather than distributing bonus shares, which will mechanically have a dilutive impact. Second question, which kind of ties in with question number 1. L'Oréal's share price closed at EUR 428, now EUR 433. Don't you think the share price is an obstacle to young investors? Well, no, I don't think so. I think a lot of people can dig up and find 434 shares to buy, or rather EUR 434 to buy L'Oréal share.
I know it's a luxury, stock, but, it's better to buy 1 share at that price, and it's going to go up rather than buy several cheaper shares that are going to go down or will stagnate. Right? Do the math. It makes sense. Of course, you know, to each his own. There was another question, another relevant question. This is interesting because all of those questions seem to dovetail together. 4 or 5 years ago, a resolution was removed regarding the nominal division, and we were warned that this may actually, hurt a number of investors. I said that I would think about it, but it's taken a while. Well, it's taken a while because we don't feel like doing it, for the same reason, pretty much.
The way that things have shifted over four or five years shows that premium stocks, high-quality shares are extremely attractive. Look at the French stock exchange. There's no cause-and-effect relationship, but very often it is the most expensive stocks that have increased the most, which means that at this juncture, we do not feel like doing it. There was another question. On the shareholders club. Unless I'm mistaken, there's no shareholders club. Are you contemplating creating one? This question crops up quite often. At this stage, no. We feel that we're very busy already. We engage in a lot of activities, and whoever asked that question Please reach out to Pascale Guérin.
He's in charge of investor relations, and he will show you all of the important activities that we are involved in in terms of our relations with shareholders, trade fairs, the advisory committee of shareholders. Yeah. Feel free to join that committee, that advisory committee of shareholders. I think we're doing a lot already for everyone, and I think it's important to behave democratically. We wanna work as much as we can for everyone, instead of focusing on a handful of shareholders. Let's focus on everyone, and allow everyone to benefit. There was a question... Oh, this one goes to Nicolas. What is your take on L'Oréal's situation in an increasingly complex world? Good question. I wonder about that every single morning while I shave. Well, what is your take on that?
It is true that the world is much more complex, much more fragmented, fraught with uncertainty, growing uncertainty. I think I said that in my presentation. I believe that L'Oréal's model is probably one of the most suitable for that world because we have an excellent balance between solidity, robustness, and agility. We have a multipolar model. What does that mean? We have a strategy. We have a centralized strategy but a decentralized implementation. We have country managers that are extremely independent. Industrially, they have their own factories. Very often, they have their own labs. They're able to adjust to local changes. It's unique. This means that we are able to seize opportunities wherever they arise and fast-track our efforts if a market is more buoyant or slow it down if things shift. You heard the financial presentation by Christophe.
We have an excellent balance in terms of performance, in terms of our geographic footprint between all four geographic regions throughout the world. There's an even contribution from all to our general growth. We have our robustness, our financial robustness. We have a long-term vision, we are agile. We also have an entrepreneurial spirit that governs our teams, which means that we respond to anything that happens. Yes, it's acrobatic work, it's fascinating. When we're able to deliver the results that we presented today, we show that L'Oréal is a company that is particularly suited to this world. Thank you, Nicolas. There was another question that I think is very interesting. Is it really possible today to continue to reconcile strong growth and reduce environmental footprint while remaining within the confines of our planet's limits? Interesting question.
That's exactly what our strategy is. We want to decorrelate growth and our environmental footprint. You're absolutely right. It's difficult. It's complicated. We're all hands on deck. Everybody needs to pitch in. You heard Alexandra Palt's presentation. This requires that we transform the business model at every level, in-house in particular. We have shown that we are able to decorrelate our CO2 emissions from our growth. If we compare ourselves with 2005, our CO2 emissions at group level have dropped by 91% during the period while our volumes increased by 45%. 60 of our factories are carbon neutral. They use zero emissions energy. Of course, we cannot limit ourselves to our own ecosystem. We also need to involve our entire value chain, particularly inbound.
The good news is that all of our contractors have to operate their own transformation, embrace sustainable development, and achieve carbon neutrality. Also the downstream, the outbound segment, we cater to our consumers and launch products with a lower carbon footprint. 95% of our products launched in 2022 had an improved carbon footprint. We also try to improve the consumer patterns of our clients. We encourage refills for fragrances, turn off the shower, don't run the water while you're lathering, conserve water, use a rinse-free product. It's possible, but of course, it takes a lot of work from everyone, and that's what we're doing at L'Oréal. It's a very good question. That's exactly our target. We want to maintain our growth. I'm sure you want that for us.
You want a company that will continue to grow and whose share price will continue to increase while at the same time reduce its environmental footprint by reducing its carbon emissions. Mr. de Soulanges. I recognize you, Mr. de Soulanges. There's another question just near to you.
Hello, Chair. My name is Mr. de Soulanges, representing the APAPI. Two observations and three questions very quickly. Observation number one, putting beauty in our wallets by buying L'Oréal shares, excellent initiatives. If we do a bit of research, and we'd like to... We happy anniversary weekend at Madame Barbara Lavernos. Oh, you do know a great many things. Well, Barbara, well done. Didn't know that our shareholders Knew you-- what your date of birth was. Coming now to my three ques-- what are the results of your recent acquisitions? Are you going to favor internal or external growth? Nicolas will answer that.
I'll start with the last point on internal and external growth. It's always interesting to recall that amongst the 36 international brands, only three were created by L'Oréal: L'Oréal Professionnel, and Kérastase. All the others were acquisitions over the year with the same strategy, generally to buy a brand as it's starting out and enjoying its initial success, and then to roll it out globally. That's what we did with Takami, with People Skin, Better Science, that you can bring it to this level of a billionaire brands. In EUR, we have 11 today, and one of the next will without doubt. One of the most recent was CeraVe, and since you asked the question how acquisitions are faring, I'll take that one. It's true that it's the best, but it's quite impressive because we've increased its sales 10-fold over five years.
It's topped the EUR 1 billion mark. You see the earnings of L'Oréal Dermatological Beauty presented for Q1 2023, that this great performance is going from strength to strength. Our acquisition's growing, we generate the growth. We want them all to grow, and that what contributes to L'Oréal. Beauty is very diverse, to have a wide portfolio is our ability to serve each and every one of you. Second question. L'Oréal and its strategy, the skincare trends and their impact.
Well, you're very-
Skip-care, sorry. Skip-care is a trend that involves simplifying your skincare routine and jettisoning products. To use few products, basically. It's true, there are always trends worldwide. It's great in beauty. That's why that we must on the lookout for trends. There are new trends emerging everywhere. It's like the nude makeup or lot of products or very colored makeups. Skip-care. Skip-care is really just a very minor trend. If we take the skincare market, we're seeing an increase in the number of products used. Routines that are becoming more and more sophisticated because we live in a world where UVs are increasingly present. In fact, many consumers, including the Western world, add to their usual skin range, daily UV protection creams, that I invite you all to do.
There's an increase, and that's apparent in market growth. It's all growing, strong, single digit. No worries about skip-care. We're new. We've got teams on the lookout for that, to respond. Final question. You've given us some information, how do you plan to distribute the value added over the long term? Well, value added is crucially important for us, and its distribution is important information in terms of the group strategy. In fact, what we call the added value or value added is the marge equal to sales, minor contribution of goods and services supplied to third parties. The question, how is this value added distributed? Generally, we distinguish 4 categories of beneficiaries.
Firstly, the employees through all measures in favor of employees, be it salaries, bonuses, free shares, everything that goes to employees. Secondly, importantly is the state and states and taxes that go to states throughout the world. Thirdly, of course, crucially important, the shareholders. Return to shareholders. Fourthly, what goes back to the company to its shareholders' equity and to drive its growth. It's an important question. Thank you for asking it. Not everyone has this, but for 2022, we calculated that employees received about 36% of the group's value added. That's the first item. The second item, what comes back to L'Oréal in terms of equity to fund its expansion, its development. That's very significant. About 23%, the state also represents a significant portion, taxes, et cetera. It's about 22%.
Shareholders between 19% and 20%. You see, Nicolas spoke a lot about balance in terms of all L'Oréal's activities. The same goes in the distribution of the value added across those 4 items. There's no major reason for that split to change going forward. It's a balanced split, and I think it's quite fair. I'll move over to this side of the hall for the next question, please. It's not customary during the Q&A session at any GM to speak to refer to the memory of a small shareholder who always had 3 questions to ask the small shareholder, Roger Tran, is no longer... Oh, I'm really sorry, I didn't know that. He passed away 2 months ago after a devastating stroke, and he died 40 hours later.
If I evoke his memory today before you, he cherished particularly L'Oréal. He used to recount to me with pride the numerous written or oral exchanges that he had with successive chairmen, from François Dalle to Jean-Paul Agon, including Lindsay Owen-Jones. He even planned to move closer to the company and to apply to the advisory committee of L'Oréal shareholders. His speech disability prevented him from applying. Roger would exchange letters with most of the CAC 40 chairman during the health crisis, where he criticized AGM that were being held remotely, and that he referred to as phantom AGMs every time he received a written answer, but serious and amused from the chairman that he'd question.
What we miss in Roger is his sometimes caustic humor, his elocution, his sound knowledge of companies in the luxury sector, including L'Oréal, and his lively presence at the AGMs. His 3 small questions were already always keenly awaited. Roger Tran, you miss us. We miss you, rather. Thank you. Please convey our deepest condolences to his family, where I used to call him Mr. Tran, but maybe I was mistaken or right. I've always known him at the AGMs. I've been at these AGMs for 15 years. He always had subtle, intelligent, humorous questions. He who asked you, really put you on the spot on Thomas Pesquet and the telescope. He really did prepare his questions.
That one caught us unawares, caught us off guard. Perhaps you could send us his family's contact details so that we can send them a note. A question from over there at the back of the hall. I think we're going to have to stop. Chairman. Yes, I'm an individual shareholder. I was impressed by the series of presentations. Well done. Could you next year give more information about everything you're doing in terms of the environment and biodiversity? The other point, very often in this, we speak of the 2030 timeframe. Don't you think that for L'Oréal, given everything we're seeing, that we need to accelerate and it's becoming a foremost urgent priority? Thank you. On the substance, you're absolutely right. We need to go faster and do concrete things.
Speaking on behalf of Alexandra here, in fact we have set in hand with Alexandra 15 years ago our sustainable development initiatives at the CAC 40. We're one of the first companies to implement this very ambitious plan with commitments. I can assure you may have sensed this in the way she spoke. She's extremely hands-on, factual approach. No waffle, really is action-focused, and she leads the way to concrete, tangible action and the results that we're presenting for what we did in 2022 are very tangible evidence of action. Each and every year now we'll be led to presenting to you everything we're doing in terms of sustainability, climate strategy. You've seen today the climate strategy was presented to you extensively, that's as it should be.
Not doing it because it's an expectation, but it forms part of our conviction. We'll try and be as practical and concrete as possible. I can assure you that we sense the urgency and one of the companies that's moving the fastest. You're right to recall that. One last question right at the back, if there's one
Oui, mais on peut pas tout prendre. Désolé.
Sorry.
Oui. Bonjour, Monsieur le Président-
Yes
... Monsieur le Directeur. Voilà, je suis actionnaire-
Chairman. Hello. I'm a shareholder aged 84.
J'ai 300 actions.
I hold 300 shares, currently.
j'ai un problème parce que, depuis plusieurs années maintenant-.
I have a problem because for many years now we're trying to get reimbursed for the some of your shares and BNP Paribas Pantin, well, we had 3 meetings with them, and each and every time they didn't want to receive us. In fact, when someone came down to see us, 5 minutes later, the person left us alone in the lobby at Pantin. Could you offer us a solution? I went to Clichy, to your head office, to your... I wasn't able to enter because you need to have a convening notice. Well, no, you don't need an invitation because the banks and others, well, people who die, well, I think the shares just remain in their pocket. Well, there are people, others who are facing the same problem.
The company really needs to sort that out. It's not normal. Thank you.
Sorry about that mishap, kind sir. I'll tell you what, we're giving you a personalized interview with Ms. Pascale Guérin in the next few 15 minutes. She's in charge of investor relations, she will take special care of you, I'm sure she will sort you out, won't you, Pascale? Wonderful. Thank you so much. It is now 12:25. I'm sorry. There's no way we can answer every single question. I think it's time to vote on the resolutions. Ms. Catherine Béland is going to give us the final quorum as practical explanations on how to vote. Mr. Chairman, I give you the final quorum. The final attendance sheet shows 442 million approximately shares. That's 82.67% of all the shares comprising the company's capital and having voting rights.
1,511 shareholders are present at the meeting. 227 shareholders are represented. I'd like to remind you the figures. 8,207 shareholders gave their proxies to the president and about 11,000 shareholders voted by mail. As a reminder, ordinary resolutions are approved by a simple majority, and extraordinary resolutions are approved by a two-thirds majority. To vote, simply use the three keys on the voting device. Press green for yes, press yellow to abstain, and press red for no. For the record, abstention is not considered as a vote cast. We will announce the opening of the vote. The number will appear on the screen. We will indicate that the vote is closed. The final numerical results will be displayed at the end of the vote on each resolution.
At the end of the meeting, the complete results will be displayed on the screens. They will also be available on the loreal-finance.com website as of this afternoon. Resolution 1, approval of the financial statements for the year ended December 31st, 2022. Please vote. Times up. Resolution carried. By 99.94% of the vote. Resolution 2, approval of the consolidated financial statements for the year 2022. Please vote. Times up. Let's divvy up the workload. Resolution carried by 99.98% of the votes. Resolution 3, appropriation of profit for the year 2022 and determination of the dividend. Please vote. Times up. Resolution 3 carried by 99.97% of the vote. Resolution 4, renewal of the term of office of Sophie Bellon. Please vote. Times up. Resolution 4 carried by 93.52% of the votes. Congratulations.
Resolution 5, renewal of the term of office of Fabienne Dulac. Please vote.
Le scrutin est clos.
Time's up. La cinquième résolution est adoptée- Resolution 5 carried by 87.87% of the votes. Congratulations.
Cinquième résolution.
Resolution six: determination of the maximum total annual amount allocated to the directors as remuneration for their mandate.
Le vote est ouvert.
Please vote.
Le vote est clos.
Time's up. La sixième résolution est adoptée- Resolution six carried by 99.65% of the votes.
Septième résolution.
Resolution seven: approval of the information relating to the compensation of each corporate officer required by article L. 22-10-9 of the French Commercial Code. Please vote.
Le scrutin est clos.
Time's up. Resolution carried by 84.96% of the votes.
Huitième résolution-
Resolution eight: approval of the fixed and variable components of the total compensation and benefits of any kind paid in fiscal 2022 or granted in respect of that year to Jean-Paul Agon in his capacity as chairman of the board of directors. Please vote.
Le scrutin est clos.
Time's up. Resolution eight carried by 94.13% of the vote.
Neuvième résolution.
Resolution nine: approval of the fixed and variable components of the total compensation and benefits of any kind paid in fiscal 2022 or granted in respect of that year to Nicolas Hieronimus in his capacity as CEO. Please vote.
Le scrutin est clos.
Time's up. Resolution 9 approved by 97.21% of the votes.
Dixième résolution-
Resolution 10: approval of the directors' compensation policy. Please vote.
Le scrutin est clos.
Time's up. Resolution 10 carried, 99.67% of the votes.
11th résolution-
Resolution 11: approval of the compensation policy for the Chairman of the Board of Directors. Please vote.
Le vote est clos.
Time's up. Resolution 11 carried by 96.15% of the votes.
Douzième résolution : approbation de la politique.
Resolution-
Du Directeur Général.
12: approval of the compensation policy for the CEO. Please vote.
Le scrutin est clos.
Time's up. La douzième résolution est adoptée- Resolution 12 carried by 93.18% of the votes.
Treizième résolution-
Resolution 13: authorization for the company to buy back its own shares. Please vote.
Le scrutin est clos.
Time's up. La treizième résolution est adoptée Resolution 13 carried by 99.17% of the votes.
Partie extraordinaire. Quatorzième résolution-
Resolution 14: delegation of authority granted to the Board of Directors to increase the share capital by issuing ordinary shares with retention of shareholders of preemptive subscription rights. Please vote.
Le scrutin est clos.
Time's up. Resolution 14 carried by 96.49% of the votes.
Quinzième résolution.
Resolution 15: delegation of authority granted to the Board of Directors to increase their share capital by incorporation of premiums, reserves, profits or other. Please vote.
Le scrutin est clos.
Time's up. La quinzième résolution est adoptée- Resolution 15 carried by 99.96% of the votes.
Seizième résolution.
Resolution 16: delegation of authority granted to the Board of Directors to increase the share capital to remunerate contributions in kind, the value of securities or securities giving access to the capital of third parties granted to the company. Please vote.
Le vote est clos.
Time's up. Resolution 16 carried 99.54% of the votes. Resolution 17, delegation of authority granted to the board of directors to allow the completion of a capital increase reserved for employees with cancellation of the shareholders of preferential subscription rights. Please vote. Time's up. Resolution 17 carried by 98.96% of the votes. Resolution 18, delegation of authority granted to the board of directors to allow the completion of a capital increase reserved for categories of beneficiaries consisting of employees of foreign subsidiaries with that preferential subscription rights as part of an employee shareholding operation. Please vote. Time's up. Resolution 18 carried 98.96% of the votes.
Resolution 19, approval of the proposed partial contribution of assets subject to the regime for spin-offs by the company to its subsidiary, L'Oréal France, of the complete and autonomous French market business and Domaines d'Excellence activities, as well as all the shares comprising the capital of Luxury of Retail. Please vote. Time's up. Resolution 19 carried 99.99% of the votes. Resolution 20, approval of the proposed partial contribution of assets subject to the regime for spin-offs by the company to subsidiary L'Oréal International Distribution of the complete and autonomous business L'Oréal International Distribution. Please vote. Resolution 20 carried also by 99.99% of the votes. Lastly, resolution 21, powers for formalities. Please vote. Resolution 21 adapted by 99.99% of the votes. Thank you. The resolutions submitted to your vote have all been adapted. Many thanks.
I would also like to thank you once again for your presence and your loyalty. I hope that the information provided today is helpful in understanding the tremendous prospects that are opening up for your company in the years to come. I look forward to seeing you again right here next year for your next AGM on Tuesday, April 23rd, 2024 at 10:00 A.M. Thank you.