Good morning, ladies and gentlemen, shareholders. Apologies first of all, we're just a few minutes late this morning. That was due to a technical issue with the counting of the votes. I'm delighted to be with you here for this AGM that I will be chairing as chairman of the Supervisory Board. Given the exceptional circumstances in which we are in due to COVID-19 and compliant with the regulatory constraints that have banned in-person meetings to protect everyone, this AGM will exceptionally be, as allowed for by law, held behind closed doors. Given the current environment, with the company holding the AGM behind closed doors, the shareholders have been invited to vote remotely and to ask any questions they may have in writing before the AGM.
The shareholders were also informed of this new organization by all of the statutory legal notices for this annual general meeting, especially the notice of meeting, which was published on the 9th of April 2021, and the convening notice published on the 7th of May 2021. Given this particular environment, it was important for me to have a dialogue with shareholders during the Annual General Meeting and to keep this as a moment where we can share and discuss things through live Q&A. You will be able to ask your questions live throughout the Q&A session. All you need to do is press the Q&A button. It's a button with "Ask a question" written on it. You'll be able to find that button on the web platform we're using for the general meeting.
If you have any question, please fill in your name, surname, and also state that you are a shareholder. According to law, we have Mrs. Sophie Dulac and Henri-Calixte Suaudeau , who are scrutineers, selected among the 10 largest shareholders of the group. However, we do have an issue. Mrs. Sophie Dulac would have been scrutineer; however, yesterday she informed me of a last-minute issue, which means she cannot be with us here today. Given the situation and given that we were not able to replace her at such short notice, the bureau of this general meeting, which will only be, as is allowed for by law, made up of one scrutineer, Mr. Suaudeau , that I would like to thank. Mrs. Céline Fronval, general counsel for the group, is appointed secretary for the general meeting.
I can therefore announce that this meeting is open, and I'd like to give the floor to Céline Fronval, secretary.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. I would like to remind you that this Annual General Meeting is being held exceptionally behind closed doors. Therefore, votes were cast beforehand. Voting was closed yesterday, the 25th of May 2021, at 3:00 P.M. The attendance record shows that the shareholders participating in the vote hold 159,452,106 shares out of the 246,680,582 shares of share capital with voting rights and account for 181,743,720 votes. Therefore, we have a quorum: one-fifth of shares with voting rights for the ordinary general assembly, 49,336,170 shares, and a quarter of shares with voting rights for the extraordinary general meeting, 61,670,146 shares. We can therefore validly deliberate as a combined annual general meeting.
All of the documents required by applicable law, especially Articles L. 225-115 and R. 225-83 and following of the French Commercial Code, have been made available to the shareholders in compliance with applicable law and are on the desk of the bureau for the general meeting. Our agenda for this AGM is the following: for the ordinary general meeting, approval of the financial statements for FY 2020, approval of the consolidated financial statements for FY 2020, appropriation of net revenue for financial year 2020 and dividend, option for payment of dividend in cash or in shares, special report by statutory auditors on the regulated agreements in Article L. 225-86 of the French Commercial Code, renewal of the term as a member of the Supervisory Board of Mr. Maurice Lévy, renewal of the term as member of the Supervisory Board of Mr.
Simon Badinter, renewal of the term as member of the Supervisory Board of Mr. Jean Charest, approval of the compensation policy for the chairman of the Supervisory Board for financial year 2021, approval of the compensation policy for the members of the Supervisory Board for fiscal year 2021, approval of the compensation policy for the chairman of the Management Board for financial year 2021, approval of the compensation policy for Mr. Michel-Alain Proch, member of the Management Board for financial year 2021, approval of the compensation policy for the other members of the Management Board for financial year 2021, approval of the report on compensation for the financial year 2020, approval of the compensation paid or owed to Mr. Maurice Lévy, chairman of the Supervisory Board for financial year 2020, approval of compensation paid or awarded to Mr.
Arthur Sadoun for financial year 2020, Chairman of the Management Board, approval of compensation paid or awarded for financial year 2020 to Mr. Jean-Michel Etienne, member of the Management Board, Mrs. Anne-Gabrielle Heilbronner, member of the Management Board, and Mr. Steve King, member of the Management Board. Authorization to the Management Board to trade in its own shares. For the extraordinary general meeting, authorization of authority to the Management Board to reduce share capital by cancellation of self-held shares, authorization to the Management Board to make free allotments of shares already in use or to be issued for employees or corporate officers that are eligible for the program for companies within the group with implied waiver of preferential rights.
Delegation of authority for the Management Board to decide on the emission of shares or securities with waiver of preferential subscription right for members of a company sharing plan and for some categories of beneficiaries. Delegation of authority to the Supervisory Board to harmonise the articles of association for the company in compliance with regulations and laws, and for the ordinary AGM, powers for legal formalities. Mr. Chairman, this brings me to the end of what I had to say.
Thank you very much. We can now move on to the traditional presentation of the financial results, but before we do that, before we hear Mr. Arthur Sadoun's presentation, I have a few words for you myself. I'm here with the Vice Chair of the Supervisory Board, Élisabeth Badinter, and with Mr. Arthur Sadoun, Chairman of the Management Board. We're also here with the scrutineers, Mr. Henri-Calixte Suaudeau .
We, the other members, will be speaking through pre-recorded videos, with the exception of Mrs. Badinter, Chairwoman of the Nominations Committee, who will be presenting live. This has been a particularly difficult year given the worldwide pandemic. And as you can see at this AGM, we are not out of the woods yet, despite the remarkable progress that has been made in medical research that has enabled the world to get access to vaccines. We hope that things will continue to improve over the coming months so that we can get back to business as usual next year. And I will be coming back to this in my speech as Chairman of the Board. As you will see in the presentation by Mr. Arthur Sadoun, your company has behaved efficiently and in a controlled way throughout the public health crisis.
Our employees around the world have made exceptional efforts, as was required by the situation. They gave a lot of time, a lot of effort through difficult times. On behalf of the board and on behalf of you, shareholders, I would like to express our sincerest thanks to them. Our clients have been faced with difficult times as well. They had to go back to the drawing board on their plans, and we are happy to have been able to support them throughout this and would like to thank them for their trust in us. Without further ado, I would like to give the floor to the Chairman of the Management Board, Mr. Arthur Sadoun. Arthur, the floor is yours.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Dear shareholders, good morning.
As we usually do at these general meetings, we are not going to read all of the documents that have been made available to the shareholders and that since the 5th of May 2021. But rather, we will look at the balance sheet for 2020 and the outlook for 2021. We'll be going into more detail on the highlights of the past year, our financial results, our CSR commitments, and we'll also be talking about the outlook for the coming months with a first quarter of 2021, which is looking very good. But before we dive into that, I would like to spare a thought for our staff who have been directly affected by COVID-19 and also their families and loved ones, especially our Indian teams who are experiencing an extremely difficult time. They know they can count on us. Let us now get to the highlights for Publicis.
As you know, 2020 has been a particularly difficult year. We had a worldwide public health crisis of a never-before-seen scale, also social upheaval in a number of countries, and a brutal and deep-reaching economic shock. We have all been affected no matter where we live in the world. At Publicis, our business was impacted heavily as early as March 2020. Our activity stalled despite a solid start to the year, but we didn't wait to react. From the beginning of the crisis, we reworked our budgets, we remobilized our teams to face the consequences of the pandemic in a demanding way, and we implemented strong measures to, first of all, protect our staff and help them overcome this difficult time for them and also their families.
Also, to help our clients adapt to the unknown and ever-changing environment and to protect our financial position so that we could face the economic consequences of the crisis. Given this, our transformation was an essential asset to overcome the crisis. Our model enabled us to outperform the market, and the market showed a strong drop in marketing spending. There were three key components that made the difference and that helped us mitigate the drop in revenue while also maintaining strong financial ratios. First of all, our long-term investment in technology and data, particularly through Publicis Sapient and Epsilon. Next, our country model, which gave us the flexibility to work closely with our clients. And finally, our platform, Marcel, which enabled all of our staff to stay in contact and to continue sharing and also enabled the group to quickly reallocate resources when needed. Let's start with organic growth.
The pandemic strongly affected advertisers with an average drop of 8%. Given this, we also suffered, but less than our competitors, with a growth at minus 6.3% in 2020. It's interesting to note that the gap trended positively for Publicis in Q4. If we go further into the detail in the United States, where we achieved 60% of our revenue, our performance is very strong, buoyed by our model that allowed us to capture the growth in spending to digital channels, e-commerce, and direct-to-consumer. We have the best performance in the market at minus 2% with a positive Q4 at plus 0.5%. Rest of the world, the consequences of the crisis impacted us more. There was an immediate correlation between lockdown and our revenue trend. However, we saw an improvement in France and China in Q4. Second highlight, we recorded once again the best financial ratios in the industry.
Operating margin 16%, EUR 1.3 billion in free cash flow. This financial strength allows us to continue to deleverage, offer a dividend of EUR 2 per share. Lastly, in this very unusual context where competitions were organized on a virtual basis and pitches, we gained market share demonstrating the relevance of our model. We were able to consolidate our relations with existing clients, L'Oréal, Visa, GSK, Mondelēz, one new client such as Française des Jeux, TikTok, and Sephora. Now, before going into the financial results, we'll just have a brief advertising break. We'd like to show you three films, firstly because we're very creative, it's at the heart of our business, but also because it's the demonstration of the commitment of our teams in such a challenging time. So that our clients can see three films were shot in the midst of the pandemic in France.
This is for all the lonely people thinking that life has passed them by. Don't give up until you drink from the silver cup. Ride that highway to the sky. This is for all the lonely people thinking that life has passed them by. Don't give up until you drink from the silver cup. Ride that highway to the sky. Chez BNP Paribas, nous savons qu'on est plus fort quand on est bien accompagné. Et nous serons toujours à vos côtés. You'll never know until you try. Rising up back on the street. Did my time, took my chances. Went the distance, now I'm back on my feet. Just a man and his will to survive. So many times it happens too fast. You trade your passion for glory. Don't lose your grip on the dreams of the past. You must fight just to keep them alive.
It's me, I am the tiger, it's the thrill of the fight. Rising up to challenge the right and the right. And the last known survivor stops his prey in the night. And he's watching us all in the eye of the tiger. J'ai pris des sens. Je raconte. Comment? C'est lui qui a besoin d'être chargé. People buy views, I know it's old news, but I don't buy views for everybody. People buy views, I know it's old news, but I got bad views for everybody. People buy views, but I don't buy views. Don't count on my views and watch your back. And watch your back, a breaking neck, a pop again, a viral lacking paint. You black your name and black the least. I'm keeping overpass, the others keep their numbers faking. Cut the rates, so every day I'm low until I blow.
Freaking hell, I call me Dexter Snow. Money let the puppets run the show. Underrated, calling me the Gno. I'm the lab, I'll be, we have to go. See you later, underrated, kill is me, LMAO. Every gator beating gun, I'll be on the spitty button. Tiny trolley with my sleigh, came here, you gotta chime in. They don't know, they don't know what I keep in store. When I be counting big cash, they be on the score. They don't know, they don't know what I keep in store. Five fools, five dudes, that's what I know. I don't pop with that. I don't pop with. Les plus innovants avec la 5G? C'est ce que nous en ferons. Orange. Passons maintenant.
Moving now to our financial results in 2020.
Our net revenue came in at EUR 9 billion 712 million in 2020, a drop of -0.9%, benefiting from the acquisition of Epsilon, -6.3% in organic. Operating margin of the group came in at EUR 1.6 billion, 6% of net income, once again best margin in industry. Our free cash flow before change in working capital remained at a very high level, at close on EUR 1.2 billion. That allowed us to record a net debt of EUR 833 million at the end of the year. Let's go into the details of the figure, starting with operating margin that demonstrated its strong resilience in 2020, with a limited drop at 90 basis points versus 2019. This performance was sustained by our cost savings plan, close on EUR 500 million. Its rapid rollout was facilitated by our country model, still as part of rigorous management.
It's important to note that this margin level was reached without any French state aid. Furthermore, thanks to the collective performance of our teams, our results allowed us both to reimburse the voluntary pay cuts of over 6,000 employees and to increase the variable pay package. Second key point of our results, the ability of the group to generate sustainable free cash flow in 2020, once again Publicis generated close to 1.2 billion EUR of free cash flow before change in WCR. Thanks to CapEx containment and very close tracking of our cash position, we were able to record a decrease in debt at the end of the year, of close on 1.9 billion EUR. The net debt position remains very robust at the end of the year.
It stands at EUR 833 million on average during the year, increased by EUR 3.3 billion because we had the Epsilon debt on 12 months instead of 6 months in 2019. Our deleveraging position, with our strong performance, led Moody's to upgrade its outlook on the group in April this year, going from negative to stable. These very strong results allow us to propose a dividend of EUR 2 per share, having reduced by half the initially proposed dividend last year. We're very pleased to return to a payout ratio of 46.8%, which is slightly higher than the pre-crisis level. As with previous years, you can opt for the dividend payment in cash or shares. I'll end this financial section with an update on your share price. Since the low point reached by the financial markets in March 2020, we recorded a strong increase of over 150%.
This represents an outperformance versus the French market, but also versus our peers. I'd like to take this opportunity, ladies and gentlemen, shareholders, thank you for your support and your trust in this very difficult time. I'll now set out the initiatives that we've continued to implement in spite of the crisis in favor of social and environmental responsibility of the group. There were significant steps forward in many areas. Firstly, in terms of diversity and inclusion, in May 2020, we launched an ambitious action plan focusing on seven actions. As you know, the group has embarked on gender equality. In 2020, we went even further in our gender equality targets. We plan to go from 40 to 45% of women among key managers by 2025. That's an increase of one percentage point per year. Secondly, we've made progress on our commitments in terms of responsible marketing.
A few examples: we launched ALICE, a proprietary tool to measure the environmental impacts of the advertising campaigns. 2020 reduced 20% the impact of ad campaigns on the environment. In spite of the crisis, we delivered 420 pro bono campaigns. Third major breakthrough, our environmental goals were validated by the SBTi. We're targeting 100% of energy sourced directly from renewables and carbon neutrality by 2030, for all scopes. Obviously what's constant in this multi-crisis year was supporting our talents to confront the pandemic and prepare the next steps. Over and above schemes to look after physical and mental health. We've continued to invest in talent training. Over 1.6 million hours covered 75% of employees. Marcel was a key enabler in this period. Thanks to its various commitments, Publicis benefits today from a good rating by all the non-financial agencies.
The group is included in several non-financial indices, including the CAC 40 ESG, recently launched by Euronext. Let's now move to our Q1 2021 results, and we'll end with the outlook for the rest of the year. Against a backdrop that remains as uncertain, we saw a return to growth in Q1, organic growth of 2.6%. Publicis recorded performance above expectations, thanks essentially to the US and Asia, where the group outperformed the market last year. The sequential improvement continued in Q1. It's the case in the US with growth of +5.1%, but also in the rest of the world, that's pretty much flat. This quarter, I'd like to underscore a few key points. In a promising economic context, the strong growth booked in the US is driven by double-digit growth of Publicis Sapient, as well as a new increase for Epsilon and digital media.
The recovery is also visible in Asia Pacific. We need to note that Europe remains affected by the various lockdowns but records a sequential improvement. Q1 2021 marks the beginning of a year that is going to be intense in terms of competition. To date, we've recorded several significant budget wins: Unilever, Samsung, Infiniti, or more recently, Stellantis. For the rest of the year, we set ourselves three priorities: our people, our clients, and our product. First of all, our people, for whom we're organizing a return to the office in the best conditions, our priority remains their health and safety. Next, second priority, our clients, more than ever, they need the right partner to support them in their transformation. They must reinvent their model, which will lead to new budget pitches. They remain flexible in terms of cost. That's why we must remain agile to remain our competitiveness.
Lastly, they need tangible and immediate results, and we'll continue to support them with offers in that direction, such as The Pact in the US. Third and final priority is our product. In a context where large-scale personalization is more important than ever, our investments allow to propose a complete and differentiating offer in three growth areas: on advanced Connected TV, thanks to our digital media activities, PMX, on commerce, thanks to the expertise of Sapient and Razorfish, and on ID resolution, thanks to Epsilon, particularly in a world in which platforms are gaining in importance. Allow me once again to deliver a brief conclusion. As you've seen, we resisted well in 2020, thanks to our transformation, our model, but also our governance. We're addressing 2021 with an even stronger confidence in our model, as demonstrated by our Q1 performance.
But we're clear-sighted regarding the challenges to come, be it for our clients, the economy, and of course, for ourselves. We remain prudent on our forecast for the rest of the year because the crisis and its economic and social consequences are far from being behind us. In this context that remains uncertain, we'll continue to manage our cost base rigorously, which allows us to confirm our targets for operating margin and free cash flow for the year, whilst investing in future growth of the group. In closing, I'd like to thank our clients for their trust and all our employees for their very hard work during such a difficult time, professionally but also personally. My thanks to the Supervisory Board for its support, and more specifically to Maurice Lévy, its Chair.
His daily presence, his experience, and his advice were key to weathering the crisis, and I have no doubt, will emerge even stronger. With that, Mr. Chairman, back to you.
Thank you, Chair of the Management Board. Thanks, Arthur. And I find it a very great initiative to have shown us these fine films that show the creative renewal of Publicis in France and on clients who are really flagships of the French economy. So, bravo, and well done for the figures that are quite remarkable in the present circumstances. Ladies and gentlemen, it now falls to me to read to you the report of the Supervisory Board.
With your permission, since the report is in the convening documents, I'll just mention some extracts and let me remind you that all the information contained in the report on corporate governance under the authority of the Supervisory Board are to be found in the Universal Registration Document filed with the AMF on the 9th of April, available on the website. In a few moments, the chairs of the four Board committees will present the report on their activities. And as regards the composition of the Supervisory Board, as at December 31st, 2020, numbered 14 members, two members representing employees and 50% women, 66% independent members, and 66% of Board members are foreign nationals. As you can see, a diversified, balanced, and very independent board. Enrico Letta was called to political responsibilities in his country, Italy, and therefore resigned from his seat on the board.
The board expressed its warmest appreciation to him for his key contribution to the work of the board and its committees during his tenure following the resignation of Mr. Enrico Letta. And as of the date of this AGM, the board numbers 13 members. So, no dinner for the board because it's not recommended to be 13 for dinner. Fortunately, when we dine, other members of the management board join us, so there's no risk of ill luck there. 55% of women, 64% are independent members, and also the same number, 64% members of foreign nationality. According to French regulation, the board now has two members representing employees. Madame Patricia Velay-Borrini was appointed by the group as the second member representing employees as of October 16, 2021, and joined Pierre Pénicaud, who was already a board member.
As to the renewals, shareholders are informed that the terms of members of the board, my own, that of Simon Badinter and Jean Charest, will end after this AGM. And there will be a proposal made by following the deliberation by the board and proposed by the nominations committee to renew the terms of office of these members for four years. As regards 2020, the work of the board was very sustained. The supervisory board met eight times with an attendance rate of board members of 94%. The board, on the proposal of the compensation committee, has taken its decision for 2020. You'll get the detailed report, and compensations for 2019 will not change and haven't changed for many years. The supervisory board is also going to make proposals to the assembly.
It was often informed of propositions, and I want to highlight that the relationship between the board, the Supervisory Board, and the Management Board, ever since the creation of both of these bodies, has been harmonious and absolutely transparent. The board has had many sessions concerning the presentation of geographical areas, our key departments in the group, and finally, the board is very committed to support the Management Board to face COVID-19. The Supervisory Board wants to highlight the remarkable work and the excellent results of the Management Board and the executive committee within this extremely difficult context under Arthur Sadoun's leadership. Concerning accounts, consolidated accounts and group accounts, the Management Board has communicated every part of the report, and the board has no observations to do concerning these documents. The Supervisory Board has accepted propositions of the Management Board concerning a dividend of EUR 2 per share.
Previously, the decision was EUR 2.30, but it was divided to EUR 1.15 because of the pandemic. EUR 2 is now perfectly in line with what we've decided to do up to this point. After receiving useful information, the board has wanted to highlight that it has no observations concerning accounts. Concerning the members of the management board and the end of the mandate of Jean-Michel Etienne, which the supervisory board would like to salute, we have decided to nominate as a member of the management board Mr. Michel-Alain Proch, who was recruited as the group's financial director and who joined us on the 15th of January 2021. Concerning 2020, many things have happened.
And to face the challenge of the COVID crisis, the Management Board has taken all necessary steps to guarantee safety and health for our collaborators, to protect the group's revenue and client portfolio while managing costs very rigorously. Thanks to its management and the way it reacted to the crisis, and by encouraging innovation, the Management Board has allowed Publicis to limit the effects of the crisis to preserve its staff and its clients, which is how we've managed to go through 2020 while not suffering as much as our competitors. The Management Board has taken the right decisions, allowing Publicis to deliver a better level of performance than that of its competitors. Furthermore, the Management Board. I'm sorry, I'm continuing my presentation because, as you can see, we are making a lot of efforts for the environment because we're printing our speeches on both sides of the paper.
So we're making sure that we are paying attention to the environment very closely. Yes, and at the same time, we're improving our margin. Yes, well, that's why we're improving our margin, because we're using both sides of a sheet of paper. Exactly. So the board wants to thank the members of the Management Board who have agreed to lower their compensation. And I want to highlight that many of our staff in the group have voluntarily decided to lower their compensation. Some were convinced by the Management Board, and the quality of the results has allowed us to compensate them for their efforts. However, the Management Board didn't want to be compensated for their efforts. So it's a real effort on their part, a serious effort, which was made by members of the executive committee and members of the Management Board, and especially Arthur Sadoun.
And now, if you will, we will shortly move on to the reports of the committees. These reports will be presented by prerecorded videos. Some of these reports may be a bit long. That will especially be the case for André Kudelski's report, the President of the Compensation Committee, because he has to go in detail of all of the compensation conditions. And so I will ask you to be patient. And without further ado, I give the floor to André Kudelski.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. And now I will present the work of the Compensation Committee. The committee's composition hasn't changed in 2020. It was composed by Ms. Antonella Mei-Pochtler, and Cherie Nursalim, and Thomas H. Glocer, and Maurice Lévy, under my chairmanship. As an expert, they've benefited from the support of many other people.
We had seven meetings in 2020, and the attendance rate was 89%, which is an increase compared to last year. In 2020, the committee has scrutinized the compensation of the President of the Supervisory Board and members of the Supervisory Board, the compensation of the Chairman of the Management Board and of the members of the Management Board, compensation for the members of the Management Committee and the main country leaders, the conditions for the compensation plan for 2020 and the LTIP 2021, the policy for variable shares for group transformation, and equity ratios and new dispositions for Say on Pay.
An important part of our work in 2020 was the decision we took to integrate the crisis, the healthcare crisis, within the 2020 compensation package for all members of the Management Board, in agreement with the compensation package voted last year. This is in the 2020 report and the Chairman's report.
This morning, I will go over the main aspects of 2020 and the start of 2021 to highlight the resolutions which we put forth before you. First of all, you will have to vote on the compensation of Maurice Lévy in his role as Chairman of the Supervisory Board since the 1st of June 2020, which is an ex post vote of the 15th resolution. The board wants to see Maurice Lévy as a president of the board with a non-operational role, but he has been a great support to the management committee. This crisis, this year of crisis, has highlighted the relevance of this choice because the duo, Arthur Sadoun and Maurice Lévy, have functioned remarkably well, and the governance of our company has allowed Publicis to overcome this crisis and deliver a better performance than its direct competitors.
Maurice Lévy, in 2020, has done considerable work to help the management team led by Arthur Sadoun and help the group, its teams, and its clients to face one of the greatest crises the world has known in a very long time. As it was announced last spring, Maurice Lévy has given up on 30% of his compensation as approved by shareholders last year. The compensation that he was awarded is in conformity with the decisions of the shareholder meeting of May 2020. The committee has saluted the efforts and believes that his compensation is adequate given his work, his efforts, and the major crisis which we had to face and which Publicis had to face in the best interest of the shareholder. The committee recommends that he be compensated in accordance with those decisions.
Within the frame of his work on the Supervisory Board, Maurice Lévy has proposed that the Supervisory Board will be compensated for EUR 1.3 million, and this will be decided for 2021 and 2022. The committee agrees with that decision and recommends a favorable vote from the shareholders for Maurice Lévy's proposition for 2021. This is an ex ante vote, ninth resolution. Considering the compensation of Arthur Sadoun as Chairman of the Management Board, this is an ex post vote, sixteenth resolution. In 2020, it was a strict application of the compensation voted by the shareholders, EUR 1 million reduced to EUR 850,000 following the decision by Arthur to give up on 30% of his compensation for six months. Then there's the variable share, and the board has really appreciated the way in which the crisis was managed.
No attribution or acquisition of shares was done in 2020 for the benefit of the Chairman or members of the Management Board. Those were discussed for the future for each member of the Management Board by the Supervisory Board. Considering the healthcare crisis linked to COVID-19 and its impacts, it was decided in March 2020 to not implement this replacement plan for the Management Board. The committee has very carefully looked into the goals that Arthur Sadoun has managed to meet concerning himself and other members of the Management Board and their management of the crisis. The decisions that the board took have been scrutinized closely, and our recommendations are the following considering the total compensation for Arthur Sadoun: the objective of Organic Growth compared to the budget adopted in May for 25% of the variable share has been met.
For operational margin, the goal has been met as well, and we have the best margin in the sector. The goal linked to net earnings per share has been met as well. The individual goals, which concerned the development of data and Epsilon cloud, the execution of the development plan, digital business transformation, and 8% share, and two corporate social responsibility goals for 9% were met. There was also a proper implementation of objectives by the Supervisory Board. The committee wants to highlight that for Arthur Sadoun and other members of the Management Board, Anne-Gabrielle Heilbronner, and Jean-Michel Etienne, and Steve King, the exceptional results they've managed to accomplish are particularly remarkable. Not only have they met their goals, but extra goals concerning crisis management, which have been integrated to the compensation policy voted in 2020. All these goals have been met.
Finally, the chairmen of the board, like Anne-Gabrielle Heilbronner and Steve King, have all agreed to reduce their compensation for 2020 with your approval, whereas the efforts made by 6,000 leaders in the group for 2020 have been reimbursed. Maurice Lévy, Arthur Sadoun, Anne-Gabrielle Heilbronner, and Steve King decided to not be reimbursed for their efforts concerning their compensation, and we want to salute them for their excellence and their exemplary behavior in that regard. And so we believe that the variable compensation for Arthur Sadoun for 2020 should be EUR 2 million, 100% of the goals. Concerning members of the Management Board, their compensation for 2020, it's the ex post vote, seventeenth and nineteenth resolution. They have the same components: a fixed compensation and a variable compensation. And this is in application of the very strict and rigorous policy voted last year. So here are our recommendations.
The variable share is determined with very demanding criteria depending on the scope of the responsibility of each and every member. For Jean-Michel Etienne, the criteria are operational margin and organic growth of the group for 30% of his share, cash flow management, staff expenditures, and the execution of the savings plan for 60%, and two CSR objectives for up to 10% of his fixed variation. This variable share can be up to 100% to his fixed. For Anne-Gabrielle Heilbronner, the criteria are operational margin and organic growth, and for 70% remaining, it's a battery of indexes linked to her responsibilities, including corporate social responsibility, and the variable can reach up to 100% of fixed remuneration.
For Steve King, we are looking at operating margin and organic growth of the group up to 20%, and for up to 30%, the financial performance of Publicis Media and PMX, and the implementation of clear and robust management, and the implementation of the global services for a total of 45%. Finally, two corporate social responsibility criteria for 5%, and his variable share can reach up to 160% of his fixed compensation. Applying these criteria, the variable component for Jean-Michel Etienne, Mrs. Heilbronner, and Steve King as members of the Management Board comes to EUR 777,000, 92.5% of the target, EUR 600,000, 100% of target, and GBP 1.44 million, about EUR 1.6 million, 100% of the target, respectively.
As we stated earlier, and this applies for all members of the Management Board, the committee noted that the targets for crisis management were integrated into the criteria that were voted for last year and were widely achieved, and would like to thank members of the Management Board for that. The committee would like to remind you that no shares were awarded for members of the Management Board in 2020. The replacement of Sprint to the Future was approved at the end of 2019, and the replacement was not implemented in 2020 because of the public health crisis. No action plan came to term at the end of 2020 for any members of the Management Board. In 2020, the compensation policy was therefore fully applied as voted for the members of the Management Board.
You will also be called on to approve the compensation policy for the Management Board, ex ante, in the 11th-13th resolutions for 2021. As we did for the Chairman of the Management Board, the committee has also expressed recommendations for compensation for members of the Management Board for 2021. We formed opinions for Mr. Michel-Alain Proch, new member of the Management Board for your company from the 15th of January 2021. These conditions are similar to the other members of the Management Board and are put to your vote today. Mr. Michel-Alain Proch has decided to waive the particular components of his end-of-term compensation as described in the Universal Registration Document for 2020.
The committee verified that the compensation policy for the members of the Management Board allowed for harmonization of compensation of the Management Board with compensation of the shareholders by making sure that the variable components of compensation were directly tied to group performance and their individual targets, and that the performance of the compensation plans in shares were demanding and clearly defined. The committee wishes to underline that no amendments to the policy were made. The fixed components for Arthur Sadoun and Steve King have remained unchanged since 2017. The fixed component for Anne-Gabrielle Heilbronner has remained unchanged since 2016. Furthermore, there were no changes in the target set for the variable component in 2020.
Things were simply adjusted based on the changes in the responsibilities and priorities for the group and for each member in 2021 to make sure that the structure of compensation is in line with the interests of the group. Regarding the long-term variable component for performance shares, the committee wishes to clarify and simplify the mechanisms. We recommend aligning all other corporate officers of the group with a single share compensation program, allowing for single-aligned targets for all corporate officers, annual compensation for the chairmen and members of the Management Board in line with the practices in the industry, and aligning the value of the shares with a percentage of the base salary. That percentage being set in line again with the percentages used for other corporate officers within the group: 200% for members of the Management Board and 300% for the chairmen of the Management Board.
A performance share program was approved in 2021 for 260 top members of management for the chairpeople and the members of the Management Board as well. This includes transparent performance criteria, which are related to organic growth for 45% for attributed shares and Publicis' margin versus its competitors for that same 45%, and then CSR for the final remaining 10% of the awarded shares. With the arrival of a new member of the Management Board, the Compensation Committee has renewed the severance package for members of the Management Board so as to bring them into line with the AFEP-MEDEF Code and the current governance standards. Therefore, severance pay is only allowed in the case of involuntary redundancy, and the vested but not yet awarded shares for corporate officers is assessed pro rata temporis based on the vesting date and the departure date. Thank you for your attention.
Thank you to the chairman of the compensation committee. As you saw, ladies and gentlemen, shareholders, this is a very precise work that is done in a very exacting and demanding way by all of the members of the committee to make sure the compensation for all members of the group is in line with the interests of the shareholders. If I may, I would now like to give the floor to Mr. Jean Charest, who will also be appearing via video to present the activities of the audit committee that he chairs.
Shareholders, your audit committee met five times in 2020 with an attendance rate of 100%. The committee is currently composed of three independent members: Mrs. Suzi LeVine, Mr. André Kudelski, and myself, who chairs the committee. During 2020, there were no changes to the composition of the committee. Up until her passing in August 2020, Mrs.
Claudine Bienaimé assisted us as an external expert consultant. She had a remarkable career alongside Publicis. She was very well known by our in-house teams, and we truly benefited from her expertise and her work alongside the Audit Committee. The members of the Audit Committee, all of the members of the Supervisory Board and the Management Board, paid homage to her. Audit Committee meetings last generally between three to four hours, and they are split evenly between examining the financial statements, monitoring ongoing litigation, and then audit and internal control. The committee regularly reviews sensitive accounting matters, taxation, depreciation, and the like, and also pensions. Litigation for the group increased in number, and we're continuing to improve our management of it, and it's a topic that's brought up at every meeting. The committee also works on the investigation or request for information that can be sent to the group.
The committee guarantees the independence of the statutory auditors and supports them in their work. The statutory auditors presented their methodology and also the main technical components of their audit and explained their work to the committee. The committee reviewed and approved payment for the extra missions assigned to the statutory auditors based on their fees for 2020. We assessed the regulatory conventions and agreements for 2020, and the committee provided an update on the study carried out on the 11th of September 2020 on the convention signed by Publicis Groupe on transactions related to components related to Article 225 of the French Commercial Code. The committee also has overview of the internal control. The internal audit and control teams continued to work despite the COVID-19 crisis, and they showed in this that they were truly able to adapt.
They reviewed methodology and work organization so as to be able to undertake all of the audit and internal control missions that were assigned to them remotely at the same level of quality, and they achieved their stated goals by the end of the year. The committee monitors any recommendation stated by the internal audit teams, and we have seen a significant drop in issues. The committee was informed of any fraud or attempted fraud that the group is aware of. A summary of internal controls as part of the Sapin II law on transparency is done. The fight against corruption and modernization of economic activities was also provided. No issues were detected. However, potential risk areas were identified and measures implemented to remedy them. The committee reviewed and approved the internal audit reports for 2020.
Furthermore, in January 2020, we certified the IFACI, which is the French Agency for internal audit and control. That mandate was first given in 2017 and was reconfirmed for the coming three years, and this goes to show how high quality the work of the internal audit committee teams' work is and continues to show our commitment and the high quality of the work of our teams. The committee also monitors the internal control indicators for the group. As a reminder, we have an internal control system which we have maintained since we were traded on the American stock market. This is the Sarbanes-Oxley Act and is applied across most of the companies in the group with a self-assessment monthly system with teams dedicated to testing the efficiency of these controls. An overall assessment of internal control is presented twice per year to the committee.
In 2020, we have seen overall satisfactory stability for internal control with no major risk areas identified. The committee reported to the Supervisory Board on its missions, the results of the certification of the financial statements, and the way in which that mission contributed to the integrity of the financial information and its role in the process. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I'd like to thank you for all of the efforts made, and without further ado, again, a second video from Mrs. Marie-Josée Kravis, Chairwoman of the Risk and Strategy Committee, who will provide a report on the committee that she chairs.
The Risk and Strategy Committee is composed of Mrs. Élisabeth Badinter, Suzan LeVine, Mr. Glocer, Lévy, Pénicaud, and is under my chairmanship. We met twice in 2020 with an attendance rate of 100%.
Committees' meetings generally last a relatively long time, which lets us get into the detail of what we're examining, and our works are described in the Universal Registration Document. Within our remit, we analyze the risks to which the group is exposed, the way in which we can mitigate that risk, group strategy for CSR, and also the options we have to implement that strategy, and then the large strategic and development opportunities afforded to the group. In 2020, the committee was updated on the situation related to COVID-19, on the measures implemented by Publicis Groupe to guarantee the safety and continued good health of our staff, supporting talent, and protecting the company as we work remotely against cyberattacks. The economic risks related to COVID were also discussed. Twice per year, the committee looks at the risk heatmap for the group and the measures implemented to manage these risks.
Risks are rising, and the group has implemented the necessary measures to control these risks. Our work on talent has also increased. The committee particularly looked at the protection of third-party data and how to protect privacy. These risks are ever-present alongside geopolitical and economic risks. In compliance with changes to law, the committee looked at the risk heatmap for corruption as well. Given its business, Publicis is not a company that has high exposure to these risks but continues to look very closely at its own commitments and duties. Publicis has always been very demanding in this field and has deployed a comprehensive program to fight against corruption. The committee also looked at corporate CSR, especially related to a question asked during a previous general meeting.
We looked closely at stakeholders, and we informally consulted clients, staff, and shareholders related to things such as diversity, data, and the way the group supports its clients in CSR and transformation and also climate change. We looked at diversity and climate change particularly. Measures to increase inclusiveness, especially in the U.S., were discussed. The committee was informed on Publicis Groupe's action plan to contribute to fighting against climate change and approved that plan. And finally, the committee was informed of changes related to third-party cookies, which will be removed in a way that will impact advertising and the way in which Publicis is preparing for a post-cookie world, especially thanks to Epsilon. Thank you.
Thank you, Mrs. Marie-Josée Kravis. Without further ado, once again, I'd like to give the floor to Mrs. Élisabeth Badinter, Vice Chairwoman of the group and Chairwoman of the Compensation Committee.
The Nomination Committee, excuse me. Thank you. As Chairwoman of the Nomination Committee, I would like to summarize our work in 2020. The committee is made up of five members: Marie-Josée Kravis, Jean Charest, Mr. Maurice Lévy, and André Kudelski, and myself. The committee has three independent members. The Nomination Committee met twice in 2020, and the attendance rate of its members was 100%. Our main assignments are the following: suggesting to the Supervisory Board candidates for corporate officer positions within the group, examining the nominations of the Management Committee and the Executive Committees of the larger countries, establishing succession plans for corporate officers, and succession plans for key directors in the group, and finally, looking at gender parity in the management entities within the group and recommending renewal for terms to the general meeting.
The committee believes that the current composition of the board, based on skills, based on experience, and based on the complementarity of its members, is favorable to balanced and dynamic governance and therefore contributes to the long-term success of the company. The committee also underlined the importance of renewing the term for Mr. Maurice Lévy, who, as Chairman of the board, has played and continues to play a key role in corporate governance and in supporting the Management Board and its Chairperson. I would add that Maurice Lévy has unique experience of Publicis in a way that fully promotes positive change, and even rarer than that, he is able to predict changes in the businesses within Publicis, changes to advertising as well, i.e., he has a vision. I think that experience plus understanding of the future means that we could not not renew his term to the Supervisory Board.
Furthermore, the Nominations Committee has thought on diversity and continues to seek out talent from the diverse group that we have. In accordance with the new recommendations of the AFEP-MEDEF Code, the committee also examined the gender diversity policy within the management entities within the group as recommended by the Management Board as part of our current gender diversity policy in the group. The components and targets are laid out in the Universal Registration Document under part 313.
[Foreign language] Thank you for the very kind words you spoke about me and will now move to the auditors, Madame from Ernst & Young, Mazars and Ernst & Young ( EY), who will read their report. [Foreign language] Président.
Thank you, Chairman, ladies and gentlemen, shareholders on behalf of the auditors, EY and Mazars.
Here's a summary of our work conducted in 2020 as contained in the various reports that we draw up. We issued seven reports: two on the 2020 statutory and annual accounts, one on related party agreements, and four on financial authorizations. The first are in the Universal Registration Documents. The other reports are available on the website. I will deliver their conclusions. For the ordinary meeting report on the consolidated and annual accounts resolutions one and two, we provided an unqualified opinion on the financial statements for 2020 drawn up under IFRS as adopted in the EU and according to French accounting rules.
For consolidated financial statements, the key audit matters cover the following points: revenue recognitions owing to the variety of contracts enforced in the various businesses in terms of contractual obligations and arrangements for transferring control of services on goodwill and intangibles whose recoverable value requires several estimates and assessments by management, taking into account the competitive financial and economic environment of countries in which your group operates, the effects of the COVID crisis and ability to generate cash flow. Lastly, provisions for risk and dispute and tax receivables owing to the uncertainty of the estimates of risk to be covered. In terms of the statutory accounts, like last year, we've identified one key matter concerning the corresponding valuations of goodwill and receivables. We conducted the specific verifications as per law. We have no comments to make regarding the information contained in the management report and on corporate governance.
Turning now to the report on related party agreements, resolution number five. We have not been informed of any related party agreement concluded during the period to be put to your approval, and we've not been notified of any related party agreement approved by your AGM that continued to be applied during the past year. Under the extraordinary AGM, we've issued four reports concerning transactions on the capital: one on capital reduction, resolution number one. This resolution provides to delegate to the board, for 26 months, powers to cancel within 10% of the share capital shares bought under a purchase authorization of its own shares, grant of free shares to be issued.
Resolution 21, this resolution plans to authorize the Management Board for 36 months to allocate free existing shares or to be issued, and the total number of shares to be issued cannot exceed 3% of the company's share capital the date of the decision, issuance of ordinary and of securities reserved to members of a corporate savings plan. Resolution 23, the nominal amount of the capital increase can't exceed EUR 2.8 million . This cap applies both to capital increases that might be undertaken under this resolution and under resolution 24, and will apply to the total ceiling of EUR 30 million applying to the 21st resolution adopted on the 27th of May last year, issuing of ordinary shares and/or securities without preferential subscription rights benefiting certain categories of beneficiaries. 24th resolution, the nominal amount of the capital increase cannot exceed EUR 2.8 million.
This applies jointly to capital increases that might be undertaken under this resolution and resolution 23, and will apply to the total ceiling of EUR 28 million under resolution 30 adopted of the 27th of May last year. We have no observations on the information provided in the Management Board report or the arrangements for these various transactions. We will draw up additional reports if need be if these delegations given to your board are used in order to express an opinion on the final conditions of these transactions. Thank you.
Thank you for that, Madame Auditors, and thanks to the group of auditors for the work certifying the accounts. We're now going to move to the end of the session of the AGM that offers you the possibility of expressing your views.
So, ladies and gentlemen, I'd first of all like to say that we received a few written questions to which we responded in accordance with provisions in force, and the answers to written questions will be made public on the Publicis website under the AGM tab. As I indicated at the outset, I wanted to maintain this opportunity to interact with you so you can ask your questions using the button "Ask a Question" on the streaming platform, having indicated your name, first name, and indicating your status as a shareholder. We have a first question. The group, does the group plan to set itself a purpose? If so, do you plan to include the purpose in the articles of association of the company?
Answer is simple. We have the French PACTE law that does indeed offer the possibility to adopt a raison d'être or a purpose.
We've analyzed things in the past, and I'm pleased to inform you that during the session that will be held this afternoon of the board of directors, the Nominations Committee will propose to the board the creation of a committee devoted to ESG matters, environmental, social, and governance. It's within that setting that the question of a raison d'être or corporate purpose will be reviewed. The committee will analyze it, will submit its recommendations to the board, which will decide if there is a need to propose that you adopt it and include it in the articles of association. So we will meet again to discuss that with you at next year's AGM.
Next, the other question, what are the current trends and expectations for 2021? That's a question directly for the Management Board Chair, Mr. Arthur Sadoun.
Thank you, Chair Maurice.
First of all, we discussed this briefly. We saw in the results that we presented a few weeks ago, we had a Q1 that was better than expected with growth of +2.8%, which is obviously encouraging. When we look at Q2, we realize that for the industry as a whole, we expect to have very positive growth because the comparable bases are very low, so it's very favorable. We should have very strong growth rates, so we'll see that for all players. As to Publicis, as we indicated during our results in Q1, we have a target that's pretty clear. We want to successfully recover between 60% and 80% of what we lost last year, including Q2. That's growth between 8% and 10%. When we look at current trends that are looking good, we expect to be towards the top end of the range.
For the rest of the year, it's too soon. It's really too early because on certain issues, certain countries such as India, we lack visibility, and obviously, we need to remain cautious because the economic impact of the crisis is still to come in large part. And so we'll update our forecast during our results when we present them in July, as we indicated at the Q1 presentation. We maintain the fact that we're capable of a margin up 50 basis points, and we maintain our guidance on free cash flow at EUR 1.2 billion .
Next question is, how was the Drugstore impacted by the crisis, and were you confident as to resumption activity? Well, that's a question for management, but I mean, Drugstore really is a baby. Actually, we disagree. It's really the Q&A about the Drugstore, but I'll let you answer about the Drugstore.
That's a question for management. Absolutely, says Maurice.
Good try, says Etienne.
So actually, there are two activities that were widely impacted and strongly so by the crisis. On one hand, the Drugstore, and secondly, media transport. In both cases, what happened is that activity was almost halted for a large part of the year. As concerns the Drugstore during the shutdown, there were a few offers made, but we're bound to recognize that these were offers that were almost improvised for what we call click and collect takeaway sales, but certain areas were maintained open, such as the paper shop, the grocery store, and the pharmacy. Recovery took place moderately, only on the terrace outside, but so that we don't get used to the recovery too soon. It started raining such that the results were not sharply and brutally up.
Is that acceptable to you, Maurice? says Arthur, and Élisabeth too?
Absolutely, that's perfect. An important point is that the chief executive of the Drugstore, Mr. Jacques Terzian, is retiring and will be replacing him. I'd like to thank him for all his efforts during this difficult period because the Drugstore has suffered a great many injuries, be it during the victory of the World Cup or during the yellow vest demonstrations, and we have hired Mr. Frank Gentile, who'll be replacing him, and we express our full appreciation to Mr. Jacques Terzian for all his work, his unstinting efforts with a great deal of courage and a strong presence, so there'll be a gradual recovery in activity. We hope to please Mr. Sadoun regarding the new menu that will be. I hope that suits you. It wasn't too long. Right. I can't wait to see the new menu.
I love the old menu card, says Madame Badinter. So we're in full agreement. And since we're the custodians of its history, I think we've really stepped up to the plate there. Final question, I think that which seems to be directly for Mr. Sadoun. How did you manage the crisis for your employees with a move to working from home and pressure of family life? I don't know if they're referring to your family life or that of your employees. I don't think the question concerns your family life, but that of the employees. Yes, I think I got the point, says Arthur. We'll see what the shareholders decide in a few moments when they've gotten the resolution. No, says Arthur. Thanks for asking that question because it's really what has brought us all together in the Management Board and Supervisory Board.
What has obsessed us for over a year is the health and to ensure that both the mental and physical health of our people is preserved as best because for some, it was extremely difficult just reflecting on how we managed it because it's a fair question. Firstly, thanks to resources, thanks to our shared services. We managed to send everyone home in less than five days worldwide. We went from 200-300 offices to 80,000 home offices. It was a huge difference, including for both private and professionally. We immediately put in place support telemedicine activities to support people. We went so far as to pay the airfares of people who want to go home. You want to be with your family? Go home. You live in the U.S., you're Australian, no problem.
So, we really placed the physical and mental health above all else with over-communication, a little film clip every Sunday. We organized seminars. We were extremely present. Marcel played a key role there. Second thing, I don't know with the raison d'être, the purpose, but I think the strength of Publicis has always been to act rather than to speak, and a priority was to preserve the maximum number of jobs, and we managed, thanks to our Marcel platform, thanks to the incredible efforts undertaken by many of us to set up tech systems to allocate resources differently, to seek out in agencies people who were underused because the clients had cut their fees and getting them to work in agencies where there was growth, such as healthcare, for example, we were able to save hundreds of jobs and to very soon find a balance serving our people.
Third issue, that's only just beginning what we call the future of work. How will people work in a hybrid model going forward? Quite honestly, it's going to be more difficult to get them to come back than it was to get them to go home. People have become used some, like others hate, but everyone wants to be taken for what he or she is, their family context. So we have a lot of work ahead of us. We have a well-oiled plan that what will count will be its execution. Final point, I think it's the last question. What I said in my introduction is that for many of us in certain countries, the health crisis is far from over. And we see, for example, the US vaccination rate that allows people to go back to the office.
We're very concerned by events in India with Maurice on specific cases. We're spending a huge amount of time. We have people who are very sick. We have people who have died, and we must bear in mind that this health crisis isn't over for us in many places. It will certainly have an economic impact, but the most important aspect is human impact and how we can look after our people.
Thank you, Arthur.
I'd like to testify to the fact that Arthur Sadoun, as well as the full management team, the Management Board, the Executive Committee, really showed incredible devotion to ensure that our employees could work in the best possible conditions and that the spirit of the company was preserved. In fact, Arthur referred to the corporate values. You heard mention of Marcel.
Marcel is a platform as a tribute to the founder of Publicis, who instilled in us the values that today remain the pillars of our group. And if there are no further questions, we will now present the resolutions. Over to the meeting secretary.
I indicated earlier that we were slightly behind because there was a recounting by our provider, CACEIS, who's the guarantor of the execution of the votes. The platform was implemented. Perhaps two words about that before going to the vote. Yes, there was a small technical issue, and so we met the quorum. The votes were counted properly, and so I will be able to give you the results of these votes.
The entire text for the resolutions were published according to the rules, and they're on the notice of meeting published in BALO on the 9th of April 2021, and the convocation notice published on the BALO on the 7th of May 2021. First resolution, approval of corporate accounts adopted 99.99%. Second resolution, approval of consolidated accounts for 2020, approved 99.99% approval rate. Third resolution, attribution of results and dividend amount, approved 98.56%. Fourth resolution, option for the payment of dividend in cash or shares, passed 99.55%. Fifth resolution, special report of the auditors for conventional agreements, it's passed 99.99%. Sixth resolution, renewal of the term of Maurice Lévy as member of the Supervisory Board, it's passed 94.48%. Seventh resolution, renewal of the term of Simon Badinter to the Supervisory Board, passed 96.73%. Eighth resolution, renewal of the term of member of the Supervisory Board for Mr. Jean Charest, passed 97.6%.
Ninth resolution, approval of the compensation policy for the Chairman of the Supervisory Board for 2021. Resolution is passed 87.04%. Tenth resolution, approval of the compensation policy for the members of the Supervisory Board for 2021. This resolution is passed 99.95% in favor. Eleventh resolution, approval of the compensation policy for the Chairman of the Management Board, passed 90%. Twelfth resolution, approval of the compensation policy for Mr. Michel-Alain Proch, member of the Management Board for 2021, passed 91.48%. Fourteenth resolution, approval of the policy for compensation for other members of the Management Board for 2021, passed 91.39%. Fourteenth resolution, approval of the report on compensation for 2020. The resolution is passed 97.32% in favor. Fifteenth resolution, approval of elements of the compensation paid to Mr. Lévy for 2020 as Chairman of the board, approved 86%. Sixteenth resolution, compensation to Arthur Sadoun in 2020, approval 88%.
Seventeenth resolution, approval of the compensation paid for 2020 to Mr. Jean-Michel Etienne, member of the Management Board, passed 96.31%. Eighteenth resolution, approval of the compensation for 2020 to Ms. Anne-Gabrielle Heilbronner, member of the Management Board. The resolution is passed 96.52%. Nineteenth resolution, approval of compensation for 2020 for Mr. Steve King, member of the Management Board, passed 94.44%. Twentieth resolution, authorization to give to the board to allow the company to intervene on its own shares, approval rate 99.58%. Twenty-first resolution, allowing the board of directors to reduce capitalization by canceling some or all of the shares held by the company, agreed 99.92%. Twenty-second resolution, authorization for the Management Board to attribute shares to employees or corporate officers. And this resolution has been passed 87.4%. Twenty-third resolution, delegation of purview to allow the Management Board to create shares, and it's approved 96.8%.
Twenty-fourth resolution, giving the Management Board the authority to decide to create new shares for certain categories of beneficiaries, approval 98%. Finally, giving the Supervisory Board the powers to align the statutes of the company with legislative dispositions, approved 60%, and twenty-sixth resolution, powers and formalities, approved 99%, so this concludes this shareholder meeting. I'd like to make two small comments. First of all, I would like to apologize for this meeting, which was remote. We like it when you can express yourselves and we can have a direct dialogue with our shareholders. The second thing I want to say is that I want to thank you for your vote of confidence. I am very glad for your decision, and of course, as always, I will do my utmost in service of this company with passion and loyalty. Thank you very much.
This concludes our agenda, and this concludes our meeting.