Ladies and gentlemen, shareholders, good afternoon. We have called you here today for this general shareholders meeting to discuss the different topics. I have next to me Mr. Claude Imauven. I also have Madame Claire Pédini, who is head of human resources, Guillaume Texier, and Monsieur Antoine Vignial, general secretary. Before beginning this general assembly, you will be told about some of the safety instructions here in the Palais des Congrès. Thank you very much, everybody. Good afternoon to all. As you know, safety and security is crucial here in the Palais des Congrès. Before beginning this shareholders meeting, I would like to give you some of the instructions should there be an emergency in this room. You will, of course, hear an alarm, and in that case, please move to your closest exits, fire exits.
You have the red arrows on the map that I have just put up behind me. I would then ask you to go to your meeting points that are on either side of this room and then follow the instructions of the staff. Thank you very much. Let me now elect the bureau and also give you the agenda. I will be presiding over this assembly. The two tellers accept to work this afternoon. It is the Fonds d'Épargne du Groupe and Evander. Mr. Jacques Pest, who has been elected by the Fonds d'Épargne du Groupe, and Mrs. Caroline Bertin Delacour , to please take their places on the bureau. They will be tellers this afternoon. With the agreement of the tellers, I will be appointing Mr. Antoine Vignial as secretary of this shareholders meeting. I will now give him the floor.
The agenda on which your assembly has been organized will, first of all, take part in two parts. There will be the ordinary shareholders meeting, the approval of the accounts. We will then be looking at the agreements. We will be looking at Monsieur Pierre-André de Chalendar and taking a look as well as the cooptation of a new member. We will be looking then at the CNP ex post for Pierre-André de Chalendar for 2017. We will be also voting on the CEO, the CNP ex ante, renewing the engagements taken on behalf of Pierre-André de Chalendar, renewal of the term of office of the auditors, share buyback program. Then we come to the extraordinary part of the shareholders meeting: increase of capital for the employees abroad, modification of the bylaws pertaining to the number of employee directives.
Now that we have read the agenda, we say that we do have a quorum for this shareholders meeting. We need a quorum of 20% of the shareholders having voting rights as necessary for the first 12 ordinary resolutions. However, we need a quorum of 25% required for three resolutions that must be voted on in an extraordinary shareholders meeting. At the moment, we appear to have votes by correspondence, and they seem to show that more than 25% of shareholders with voting rights have already presented themselves, which means that we do have a quorum in the file that we have just next door to me. We have all of the necessary documents for this general shareholders meeting, particularly those pertaining to the notification of the assembly, the statutory auditor's report, the texts of the resolutions, and a list of all of the shareholders.
All of the documents, all of those that are stipulated by law that need to be available, are here available today. The assembly, therefore, may deliberate. Just for your information, this is how we are going to proceed this afternoon. Mr. Imauven, the Executive Director, will talk to you about 2017 in pictures. Madame Claire Pédini, Human Resources, will talk about the digital transformation of the Saint-Gobain teams. Guillaume Texier, Financial Director, will speak to the financial results. I will talk about the group's strategy and forward-looking perspectives. We will also hear from our Lead Independent Director, Mr. Sénard, Monsieur Jean-Paul Thill on behalf of the College of Statutory Auditors. The resolutions will be presented by Mr. Antoine Vignial, who is in charge of the social division of the company.
We will vote on the resolutions using the electronic device, and the shareholders meeting will then close. After, there will be a cocktail. I'd now give the floor to Mr. Claude Imauven, who will talk to you about the main events that have taken place in our group in 2017.
Ladies and gentlemen, shareholders, good afternoon. In 2017, more than ever, we invented materials that change one's life. We developed innovative services for our clients, and we invested for the group's future in all continents, as well as contributing to major architectural infrastructures. The first of our achievements are the results we have had in health and safety at the workplace. Safety is at the heart of the Saint-Gobain culture. It is an ongoing concern for all of our teams, and it is something that all of our meetings broach.
In 10 years, the frequency of occupational incidents giving rise to downtime has been decreased by four, and those of accidents without downtime have been decreased by six. We are very proud of our progress because this is the direct consequence of the work that our colleagues have done, our employees. Our objective is very clear. We would like to have zero occupational accidents, and for health, we would like to have zero occupational illnesses. We are doing everything we can to try to achieve that in 2018. In 2017, we also continued to innovate. As you know, the science of materials is at the very heart of our group's know-how. Inventing the materials of the future is thus a very clear priority for our research teams.
Just to give you one example, on our industrial markets, we've got our new refractory XiLEC that offers unique performances, that facilitates the manufacturing of Flat Glass, and it improves the quality while at the same time respecting the environment. In the construction market, the new Flat Glass ECLAZ gives good thermal comfort and a unique visual with a 10% gain in light. It is a true eco-innovation. It allows a decrease of 20% of the consumption of energy in the buildings in which it is installed. In 2017, we also sold our new glass wall. Thanks to its 100% bio-sourced binder, it gives a far better quality of the air inside buildings and means that we can decrease to the extent of 40% CO2 emissions linked to heating. It is also very easy to fit, and the fitters see that on a daily basis.
I'll finish this very quick panorama by talking about our new Flat Glass OVERLENGTH. OVERLENGTH can be 18 meters high. One of the beautiful things about buildings is that they must offer well-being for those who live in them, who work in them. This Flat Glass OVERLENGTH allows a lot more light through and gives you the impression of one single space. It is an architectural new tendency, and it gives you the impression that your buildings are more open, almost airy. With these few examples, you can see that Saint-Gobain every year is coming up with new material that is more innovative and that changes our lives. This is what we wanted to get across to the public. Take a look at some of the advertising videos that we have shot.
[Foreign language].
In life, there are those who like to express themselves and those who prefer to keep it inside. There are those who like heat and those who like the cool. When some are fast asleep, others are wide awake. Some need to relax, whereas others must be concentrated. When some are taking their first breath, others are already breathing happiness. It is by inventing materials that change our lives that Saint-Gobain helps us to live together.
Our innovative capacity does not just limit itself to our materials. To transform the lives of our clients, be they industrialists, building construction experts, or individuals, we have also invented new digital services in building distribution. We are the number one partner for our professional clients in their daily activities. In France, for example, we have launched a network that we have called Génération Artisans, Generation of Craftsmen.
Thanks to this network, we are giving added services to our clients by giving them privileged access to innovative services that we are developing online. For example, management online of all of their quotes and invoices. This is something that is offered by the French startup company Tolteck, in which we have a majority stakeholding. We are also developing new services for our clients so that we can accompany them in the design and the achievement of their projects. We have also launched our in-house startup Kandu. Thanks to a tool and new methods that have been patented by Saint-Gobain Research, we can measure the acoustic, thermal, light, and air qualities of any internal space. If you like, you could go and live that in our brand village.
This diagnostic tool enables us to find better solutions to improve the comfort of our living spaces and to measure the results. Our ambition is to walk hand in hand with our final client, to be involved in their renovation projects. We, therefore, have new digital services for them. Last year, I talked about Homly You. This year, I'd like to talk about Sweeten, which is a New York startup in which we also have a stakeholding. It facilitates the relations between individual owners and building professionals so that their renovation works finally can be up to their expectations. We have also taken another step in launching our website, saint-gobain.fr. You saw that at the end of the advertisement. This new website should help the French to want to renovate, to want to change the interior design of their houses.
We help them find inspiration, and we help them find the most innovative technical choices. On saint-gobain.fr, people can find the technical advice, and they can virtually project themselves into a renovated interior. They can better understand the impact of materials and Saint-Gobain solutions and the impact it will have on their daily comfort, or they can get in touch with qualified professionals. We also are working so that all of our clients can benefit from digital technology. That is why in 2017, we launched an app for you, the shareholders, so that you can follow the financial developments in the group. Quite apart from innovation and digitalization, the group is also international. In 2007, we continued to develop internationally through investments and acquisitions so that we now occupy strong footholds in the most dynamic countries in the world.
This year, we have chosen to interview some of our employees in three regions where we are: India, Eastern Europe, and the United States. Let's begin with India. This is a true growth engine and has been for many years with the group, and it is very promising for the future years. Anand, hello. Could you please tell our shareholders exactly what our strategy is in India?
Good afternoon, everyone. Our India story began in 1996. We invested in developing markets and channels, in building world-class plants, in brand and in image, and most important, in people. Over 21 years, we've grown at a compounded rate of more than 16% per annum in EUR terms. In 2017, our sales exceeded EUR 800 million. More important, our profitability is better than our peers and our competitors. Today, we're not only leaders in all our major businesses, but we have an enviable reputation. In India, the Saint-Gobain brand is widely recognized and respected. India promises to be one of the fastest-growing large markets in the world. For the next couple of decades, India's GDP growth is expected to be more than 7% per annum, driven by favorable demographics and rapid urbanization. On our part, we will continue to invest and to grow.
In 2017, we've invested in four major projects: a new gypsum plasterboard plant, our fourth; a quarter for solar control; our fifth float line; and our third laminated windshield plant. We believe that our journey in India has just begun. A very bright future lies ahead.
Thank you very much, Anand. Let's move now to Eastern Europe. We have been investing there for years, and our solutions for improving comfort and protecting the environment are today benchmarks. We are going to be talking with our representative of the region. Hello, Xavier. Welcome to our shareholders meeting. Could you tell us about our investments in 2017 and the outlook in your region?
Yes. Hello, Claude. Hello, everybody. In Eastern Europe, we have an extremely promising environment for our products in construction and particularly insulation. First of all, the construction market is doing very well here. Renovation had been lagging behind for a long time, but it's no longer the case. Quite apart from this favorable trend, our insulation solutions are more and more visible. Firstly, under the pressure of the European Union, national regulations on insulation are becoming stricter.
This request for comfort and housing is also increasing with the rapid development rapidly in Central Europe, and the Saint-Gobain solutions are the reference answers. What have you done to accompany this in 2017, and what will it be like in the future? In Poland, our biggest market is one that we finished in 2017. We've invested in mineral wool in Silesia, in Gliwice. This means that we have a far bigger capacity and a wider range. We also acquired, at the end of the year, the Isoroc Polska SA in the northeastern part of the country, which doubles our rock wool capacity and means that we now have high-density products that are much on demand. Our efforts have continued in 2018. We are going to be launching a second production line on the Isoroc Polska SA site, and we're going to be increasing our capacities in Ploiești in Romania.
We have been able to seize growth opportunities and will continue to do so.
Thank you, Xavier. Let's move now to the United States, a country where Saint-Gobain has been present for more than 50 years with CertainTeed, our American brand for construction products. Saint-Gobain in the States has also a very strong presence in high-performance materials. We invest to develop these extremely promising activities. They are unique ones in markets where growth is particularly buoyant. This is what we're going to see with Tom Kinisky, our representative for North America. Tom, [Foreign language] .
Hello.
Tom, please.
Good evening, everyone. For North America, I want to tell you about our double-digit growth in the healthcare market and, secondly, our strategy to acquire and grow specialized companies with value-added positions in products and applications adjacent to our base businesses. Healthcare is a market where we are growing because biopharmaceutical companies manufacturing products like vaccines are changing to disposable plastic process equipment to reduce the risk of contamination and their cost of capital. In our high-performance materials sector, where innovation is everywhere, we've built a system of disposable bags, tubes, connectors, and filters to meet their challenging requirements for purity, stability, and quality. This comes through specialized small acquisitions, material science expertise, co-development with market leaders, and robust quality systems. For the specialty acquisitions, recently, we've acquired eight small companies, each focused on an adjacency in markets like construction, aerospace, industrial, and, of course, healthcare.
Comparing the sales from the time of acquisition to today, these companies have grown 170%, and their operating margins have increased 11 margin points to 30%. Naturally, we want to do more, but the right ones, with good people, can be well-integrated, not overvalued, and where we can leverage the strength of our commercial and technology infrastructure. Small acquisitions like these are a nice way to grow our base businesses.
Thank you very much, Tom.
As you can see with these examples, we have invested in the markets that are the most promising in 2017, and we fully intend to do so in the future. Just to finalize this quick snapshot of what we did in 2017, I would like to show you some pictures of some of the major projects in which we contributed. We're extremely proud, for example, for having participated in the construction of the biggest European law court, the Court of First Instance of Paris, the TGI. Thanks to our different glass solutions, we were able to meet the aesthetic requirements and the environmental requirements in this impressive building. In Chicago, we have equipped the Shakespeare Theatre with SageGlass, which is our electrochrome glass that is tinted so that we can obtain a better level of natural light and improve the comfort and the well-being of the visitors.
We have also found solutions in Canada, where our ceilings are improving the acoustics in the new Calgary Airport, and they are one of the prime aesthetic elements of the building. You've also seen that our materials offer well-being, top performance. They protect the environment. They can also become works of art. For example, in the Louvre in Abu Dhabi, where our cooperation between our art glass plant in Saint-Just and an artist in the Emirates is at the very heart of the museum. This shows it's a prime illustration of the group's know-how in its historic activity that is Flat Glass, but it also reflects the richness of this unique material. New materials, new services, new industrial sites, major projects. I believe that this year, once again, we can be proud of the achievements we have accomplished in our group.
Thank you very much for your attention, and I'd now give the floor to Claire Pédini, who is the Assistant General Manager in charge of Human Resources.
Thank you, Claude.
Shareholders, ladies and gentlemen, good afternoon. I would like to speak to you about the impact of the digital transformation on our employees at Saint-Gobain. It is a transformation that is changing our businesses, our skills, and our organizations in depth. This is a digital transformation coming from a world in which we are all connected. I am sure you are all familiar with this, the fact that you can reach out to everyone all of the time on all topics. Not only are people connected, we also have objects. More than 50 billion objects are connected throughout the world today. These can encompass cars, your house, your refrigerator, your watch, cameras, as well as clothing or plants. A world in which the end consumer has become what they never should have stopped being, the very heart of this value chain.
Thanks to these ongoing connections, our consumers are better informed and have more and more influence. We can see that the multitude of these different individuals can create value in the economy. We are in a world in which managing knowledge and therefore skills is completely being turned around. Now, of course, it is important to know how to do something, but increasingly, we need to be capable of understanding and finding out how to do this, to be able to multitask, to be agile, because we can see that the huge amount of data is available almost instantaneously. The digital transformation involves growing automation thanks to upcoming artificial intelligence, which will be combining the calculation power of computers, big data, as well as what is known as deep learning.
Now, of course, your group has been able to take this evolution on board by offering, for example, more and more services and solutions from a platform with a new website, the launch of Homly You, which is a platform bringing together individuals as well as craftsmen, and a new site called Kandu to help improve the quality of life at work. Claude Imauven has already described some of these initiatives. Providing the services on a platform and, of course, being able to work even more closely with our customers, doing so through the creation of multiple applications, optimizing our websites, having a greater presence on social networks, as well as enhancing the visibility of our brand and bolstering our employer brand through the ad campaigns that you've already seen.
We would also like to take on board these changes by expanding the various products we can offer to our customers, also to provide services, systems, training, and developing digital templates. You can see that these changes, of course, are having a tremendous impact on the employees in the group. In order to be able to plan ahead and to guide our employees during these changes at Saint-Gobain, we have been able to create new jobs. Imagine being in a world of big data, of designers, of home sociologists, data scientists, experts in connectivity, specialists in digital templates, or also new jobs that are on the rise, such as customer experience managers, also finding talent managers on social networks, replacing the old HR teams.
We can see new IT specialists in the industrial arena replacing the engineers we had in the past, or project managers via chatbot who are able to automate our customer relations and help to funnel them through our e-commerce platforms. Those are the new jobs at Saint-Gobain. Coming up with new jobs, but also creating new skills in the area of big data and data analysis, in the optimization of search engines, as well as advertising on these same search engines so that we can perfectly meet the needs of our clients. Also in industry with skills in robotics, increasingly in cobotics, so that we can ensure that we have a very harmonious collaboration between people and machines in our plants, as well as our logistics platforms, as well as our skills in the area of sensors of virtual reality.
This year, we will be hiring 30,000 people in the group throughout the world, including 6,300 in France. You can see that a growing part of these hires will be linked to these skill changes that I've just described. We can see new professions coming to the fore. We are learning new skills. In parallel, in this world that is changing so swiftly, we constantly need to work on updating and developing our existing skills. This means that we need to make available to our employees the resources so that they can learn what they need, when they need it, wherever they are, and in the format that is best for them. It can be micro-learning or video, serious games, or 3D immersion.
Also, online courses, MOOCs, for example, or reverse mentoring, where the juniors help to train seniors with these new using these new tools and new working methods. Perhaps what is most important is how we can try and spread knowledge amongst our colleagues, because you never learn better than from those who already know and share that information. In sum, we need to create, and at Saint-Gobain, we are creating an organization in which we are learning. Now, all of these changes, of course, are leading us to imagine new careers for our employees. They have to and actually want to be able to change jobs more often, have job paths that are perhaps not as linear. We are coming up with new career paths for them.
We need to help enhance their mobility, perhaps accepting employees leaving the company, coming back, accepting the fact that the borders between internal and external skills are going to become harder to define. That means that companies, of course, must be open to the exterior and be able to take advantage of the very richness that we have in our networks and the large variety of partners we have, which was the reason why we started our open program a few years ago, in order to manage our human resources. We continue updating it, and we're now at the fourth version, which we call 4.0, of course. New careers, new ways of working.
We also are moving towards an organization with a flatter hierarchy that is focused on clients or organized around a project, not as vertical as it had been in the past, with managers becoming what I would call facilitators. In an organization that is ever-changing and that is more agile, and that is devised in order to meet needs, an organization in which we constantly have interactions where assessments are frequent and shared, a bit like we have on social networks where you assess, where you rate things quite regularly. Next year, we will be launching an internal application, Evolve, which will enable employees to be able to assess and discuss their respective contributions not only with their managers, but also with their colleagues. We have new ways of working, but also new spaces for working.
The fact we're more cross-cutting means that we'll be creating more open offices and sharing them. It is not a question of trying to gain space, as had been the case a few years ago. Rather, we're doing so in order to foster discussion and collaboration. Also providing the possibility of working remotely from home or in offices outside of one's work premises so that we can optimize our working hours to bring down the commuting time and the cost of commuting and therefore carbon footprint and thus to be able to enhance our productivity. We can see this is a win-win organization for employees and for your group. Now, three weeks ago, Saint-Gobain signed an agreement on the quality of life at work.
This involves the relevant management of digital tools, doing so in a way that respects the privacy of employees, and this is an agreement that was signed by all of the group's trade unions. We can see digital technology has enabled us to increase the value added that we have in a variety of areas, such as finance, HR, as well as R&D and sales. Saint-Gobain already is starting to automate its management processes, such as for payroll, for paying invoices, identifying potential hires, and doing so thanks to software that can replicate human activity and be able to cover certain steps of a management process. This is a tremendous advantage. Employees, therefore, can focus more on the high added value assignments that they have. You can see digital technology is helping bring to the fore new jobs, new skills.
It's eliminating certain tasks, and therefore will need to be retraining certain employees. I know that this can be a source of apprehension for some of our colleagues. I know that we've all read different articles or studies on this topic here and there. I'd like to stress the fact that this is also a source of opportunity and for tremendous development of our employees, what we need to plan ahead for, and that we need to try and enhance as best we can. Last, and I'll conclude with this, I would say first and foremost that the digital transformation of our teams is a cultural one. That is why we have adopted and launched what I presented last year, Attitude Saint-Gobain, Saint-Gobain Attitudes. These are genuinely digital attitudes.
They were devised and chosen in a very method enabling participation of employees with thousands of employees, in fact. We used a robot that was specialized in processing qualitative data. You can see we have these attitudes. It means being closer to our clients. That is a key focus of digital technologies, being able to be entrepreneurial, innovate, to be agile, something made possible by digital technology, and develop an open culture, have greater engagement, which is at the heart of the digital transformation of Saint-Gobain. We are doing so to better serve our clients. Thank you very much. I'd like to turn the floor to Guillaume Texier, who will be presenting the results for our group.
Ladies and gentlemen, good afternoon. 2017 was an excellent year in many regards, and you can see on these graphs showing this over a five-year period.
First of all, we can see very strong growth at over 4.7% like-for-like, which was the highest recorded over the past five years, enabling us to quite clearly go over EUR 40 billion in sales. Next, we can see that we have an increase of 9.6% in our operating income, enabling us to go over the EUR 3 billion threshold. We can also see that we have net recurring income that is up thanks to the savings we have on tax as well as financial fees. In terms of profitability, we can see continued increase in our operating margin, as well as the return on capital employed, a particularly important ratio that is showing the economic value created by the company.
This performance is a record performance and one that we obtained, even though we have suffered, as you were able to see from a cyber attack in the middle of the year, which had a negative impact on our earnings by 2.5% and by the growth of our sales by over a half point. Here we have the details in terms of business sectors. On the left, you can see a negative exchange rate effect, which occurred following the appreciation of the euro versus other currencies, including the dollar. The scope we can see, however, is positive, reflecting our enhanced activity in the area of acquisitions. I will come back to this. As regards internal growth, the 4.7% I already mentioned is fairly balanced in terms of prices and volume, which is something that is new after so many years in which inflation had been so low.
You can also see the same momentum on the right-hand side in terms of prices, looking quarter on quarter at the contribution prices have made to growth in blue. Something very welcome in the growth, and it was something important for us to be able to protect our profitability in a context in which we've seen inflation of energy and raw materials ramping up. On the same graph, you can also see the very important impact of that cyber attack in Q2. These effects continued over Q3, though they were less visible. Perhaps just to come back to this cyber attack, we've learned a lot from what happened, and we have a very determined action plan for the future. It's not a 100% guarantee, as this is a threat that affects all economic sectors and all businesses.
However, our level of protection is one of the best in class. Now, when we look at this very high growth that we have been able to post, it's due to our performance as well as our markets, which are all moving in the right direction. We could perhaps say, at last, after a few years in which our stars had not been aligned. France, which had a disappointing performance for a very long time, which had a spectacular rebound last year, which was driven by an increase in new construction and progress in renovation. Other countries in Western Europe were also moving upward, even though the U.K., for us, has been a source of concern post-Brexit. North America is benefiting from an economy that is running at full speed in terms of industry as well as construction.
We also have the emerging countries that are posting strong growth in all areas, including in Brazil, which is showing signs of coming out of the crisis, even though, of course, the political situation remains unstable. This very good performance can be seen in the figures. I would sum up with 3%, 6%, 9%, over 3% growth in Western European countries, including France, 6% in North America, and 9% in Asia and emerging countries. With the growth comes profitability, as you can see in France, in America, and emerging countries, exception in terms of enhanced profitability being other Western European countries which had been affected by the cyber attack. Just a few comments by business sector now, starting with innovative materials. We had a very positive year in terms of Flat Glass as well as high-performance materials. Growth was solid at 5.3%.
In addition, we had an acceleration in the second half, during which we were posting 6.5% profitability up by more than 100 basis points, bringing it to record levels, record since 2008 in Flat Glass. We've also continued to see an increase in prices in all of our markets and benefited from the very good momentum in the automotive industry, in particular for security glass. Looking at high-performance materials, we had an excellent year as well, in particular in emerging countries and the U.S. during the second half of the year. For construction products, we can also see that there was very good growth with an acceleration between the first and second half with progress in all geographic areas, over EUR 1.1 billion. This is a business sector that had its highest business performance in 10 years.
Having said that, we can see that the operating margin was down slightly due to the cyber attack that penalized us, as well as inflation for raw materials and energy. Our price increases did not fully offset this off over the year, which led us to stress prices again at the beginning of this year, and that worked quite successfully. Building distribution, 3.6% growth posted, although the cyber attack had affected this business sector more so than the others because the European countries were the most affected. Beyond this one-off effect, it was a very good year. I would point in particular to France, where in new building as well as renovation, or the Nordic countries that were extremely solid, whereas in the U.K., Brazil, and Germany, they were not as dynamic.
Looking at distribution business sector, as you saw in Claude Imauven's presentation, we've continued to invest in digital technology as well as logistics. The growth environment that we had in 2017 did not lead to any loss in our focus on discipline. As you can see on this slide, we had been able to exceed our cost savings target to EUR 90 million. Our target had been EUR 270 million. And we also have many projects linked to the future industry. Working capital requirements under control at 28 days. We can see that cash flow from operations is under control at 10%, and our balance sheet is quite solid, which is promising for the future. The future is actively being prepared, in particular through R&D. You can see the key figures summed up here. We also have prepared this for a very active acquisition policy, up by 77% versus the previous year.
We have purchased nearly 30 companies, very reasonable multiples, in line with what we had announced on our investor day last year. We also invested directly through more than EUR 1.5 billion in CapEx, with a focus outside of Western Europe and particularly focusing on productivity and the digital transformation. Very quickly, as the shareholders' meeting is occurring late in the year, let's look at Q1. It's difficult to read them. We've had weather effects, which of course is something running too customarily for construction during this season. Difficult winter in France, Germany, Scandinavia, and the U.K., just to point to the countries that were affected the most. We also had a negative impact of business costs, about 2% growth.
In addition, we also had a variety of exceptional events that occurred during Q2, such as flooding of our Egyptian plant and the truck driver strike in Brazil, which of course were negative for us. The result is that the overall trends are favorable, but they are being camouflaged behind these external effects, which in Q1 led to lower growth versus last year, which is what you can see in these graphs, in particular if we look at building distribution due to winter or when we look by geographic zone. We can see the beginning of the year was a bit difficult, and I hope that we'll be able to make up for this during the rest of the year because, again, we have very positive underlying trends.
Now, to continue with 2018, and here I'm pulling away a bit from just a strict commentary on 2017, it would be difficult not to comment to the transaction that we announced recently for Sika. Pierre-André de Chalendar will comment the strategic reasons for this transaction, but I wanted to point out how positive this is in financial terms. We're buying Sika shares at less than CHF 4,500 per share, although the market price is CHF 8,000, and we're sending a bit over 40,000 shares at a price of over CHF 11,000 per share. A very good transaction for us.
Now, there is perhaps a negative point that we can point to here, which is the fact that we had an excellent year in terms of the economy, but we don't always see this in terms of the share price, at least when we compare it to the CAC 40. Looking at the past five years on my graph, you can see the blue line, which represents the SG. You can see that it is higher than the gray line representing the CAC, in particular three of the last shareholders' meetings, but it's not the case this year. This is due to the fact that markets are a bit more difficult during periods of uncertainty. They tend to penalize certain shares that are perceived as being cyclical, as is the case for us as we're exposed to construction. It is because of winter, which did have a negative impact.
Despite this mixed performance, you can see on the right-hand side of the graph that if we look at the total return of dividends, that it remains quite favorable regardless of the period. Now, looking at the proposed dividend, it will be an increase this year for the second consecutive year, so a rise from EUR 1.26 per share to EUR 1.30, which is a return of 2.8% and distribution of net recurring income of 44%. Payout ratio based on recurring net income of 44%. After your approval, the dividend will be paid out next Wednesday. Now, just to round out this presentation on the group results, here we can take a broader look. You can find in our annual report showing the distribution of the EUR 13 billion in added value generated last year.
As you can see, two-thirds were paid to the employees of the group who are producing this value, 2% and 4% respectively were earmarked for debt and tax, 6% returned to you in the form of dividends, and the last 22% were earmarked for preparing the future of our group. We can see a balanced distribution of value between the various stakeholders and one that will be sustainable in the future. I finished with this quick financial snapshot. In sum, a very good year in 2017, during which we were able to implement the financial targets we spoke about last year in a favorable economic environment. Thank you.
Merci, Guillaume. Thank you, Guillaume. Before taking the floor, I propose that we take a look at a video that was created for our 10-year anniversary of the foundation.
More than 140 projects were supported during this period, supported by retirees of the group or employees. Here is the video.
[Foreign language] .
Here is Marie-Charlotte. She works in Brazil for PAM, a subsidiary of Saint-Gobain. She's in charge of management control. What she likes is calling her parents if she can tell them about the weather. She looks out the window. She goes to the market and she tries fruit she never saw back home in Strasbourg. Marie-Charlotte also likes to work out. Afterward, she has a fresh bandage for her hands if necessary. What she doesn't like is hearing her colleagues talk about what's happening in Brazil and thinking that we can't do anything. What we like about Marie-Charlotte is that she's taking part in a project that has helped to renovate a daycare center in a favela in Rio.
It's not enough for her just to talk about problems. She does her best to contribute as best she can. Christophe lives near Paris in Antony. He is at the head of a plant pay store. He loves Monday mornings because when he watches the customers, he can guess what jobs they have. He's a plumber. Sometimes he's wrong, and he says people are always surprising. He likes to go out to the construction sites, and you can see dreams taking shape there. However, what he doesn't like is when it's his son making a racket, and he thinks, you know, there are some kids who don't even have bedrooms. What we like about Christophe is that he's taking part in a project that has helped to remodel houses in the city of Fresnes.
What we also like about Christophe is that he can build walls that protect rather than ones that separate us from others. What we like about Christophe is that for him, it's important for all of us to get along as best we can. Naomi lives in Glasgow in Scotland, where sometimes it's better to have a very good umbrella. She's 24 years old, and she's already had a very full life with some storms, even some thunderstorms. Today she feels that she is safe and sound because she goes to the Wolfson Center. It has been supported by Saint-Gobain. It's here where she can be trained and get off to a fresh start. She likes the classes there because it doesn't feel like she's in class. Naomi loves the friends that she meets there. She can spend hours walking around Glasgow with them, just chatting.
She also likes talking to Stuart, who is the Saint-Gobain contact person. The only thing she doesn't like is when the hard hats are too big. What we like about Naomi is the fact that she really is doing her best. We think that she'll be able to find her place in society in Glasgow or somewhere else, and very soon she'll be able to smile, and the whole world will see it. It's important in life to be able to reach out, to do more together, and that's why we say thank you, because the Saint-Gobain Foundation, it's her, it's them, it's you.
[Foreign language] , Ladies and Gentlemen, shareholders, 2017 was a splendid year for our group. It was a year of growth. The markets were dynamic, and we were able to seize opportunities in France, in Europe, and in the rest of the world.
On the slide, you have the main figures that Guillaume Texier presented to you. These very good results mean that today we can offer a vote on an increased dividend by EUR 1.30 per share, and this is thanks to the unceasing commitment of all of our employees. They have given of their time, of their energy to implement with determination all of the action plans that we had. I would like to thank them on your behalf. These results are also the result of all of the action plans that have been implemented with great determination based on five pillars. The first pillar of our success is a very solid investment policy to better pave the way for the future, as Claude Imauven mentioned earlier.
We are targeting markets and countries that are the most promising, particularly the emerging countries, and this is a policy that has allowed us this year to enhance our presence strategically in countries such as India, Mexico, or Southeast Asia. The second pillar of our success is the acceleration of our external growth. Last year, I gave you the objective of increasing some EUR 500 million per year, and we managed to do that in 2017. We underwent 28 acquisitions in 2017 to the amount of EUR 640 million. Our policies that gave pride of place to acquiring small and medium-sized companies were focused on three areas. First of all, consolidating our positions so that we could come up with synergies, for example, acquiring Glava in insulation in Norway.
Also strengthening the group in emerging countries such as Argentina so that we can add to our mortar portfolio, which we have done with the acquisition of Megaflex SA. Lastly, with other technologies in niche markets. This is what we have done by acquiring the TekBond Company in Brazil in 2017. With that acquisition, we have penetrated the market of adhesives. The third pillar of our success is innovation. In 2017, we've continued to be innovative, and you all know to what extent innovation is part of the DNA of our group. I'm very proud that for the seventh consecutive year, Saint-Gobain is one of the 100 companies that has been deemed the most innovative in the world. Innovating is more and more a question of focusing our efforts on what our clients want.
In 2017, we developed new products and a whole range of new services that have profoundly transformed our clients' experiences, and we're continuing to offer them this year. If I stress this transformation thanks to client experience via innovation, it's because it is not something that is a given for an industrial group. When I took office 10 years ago, I made sure that we got as close as possible to our clients, and it became a priority for us. That was an intuition that I felt at the time, and now that we have digital, it is even easier to actually foster it. This closeness to our clients is the fourth pillar of our success. We have come through some important steps. We have been able to promote digital so that we can better understand our clients and give them solutions rather than just products.
We must be considering the final user when they want to renovate or when they want to change a workspace as a true bringer of business to us. This is what allows us to do our advertising campaigns and to launch our website, saint-gobain.fr. The fifth pillar of our success is our constant effort to improve our productivity and the quality of our operations. In 2017, I launched an action plan that enabled us to make EUR 290 million in savings in 2017. We have also invested in what we call Industry 4.0. That is a whole system of advanced infrastructures of smart analysis tools that optimize logistics and production, optimizes robotization in our plants, or optimizes augmented reality so that we can improve training and the management of our teams. We've done this in distribution as well.
We helped by our industrial expertise and helped by our automization, and all of this enhances the productivity of our processes. Targeted investment, external growth, innovation, customer-focused productivity, these are the things that we have resolutely promoted in 2017. This strategy has made Saint-Gobain a group that is ever stronger, ever better armed when tackling international competition. Today, we are far better positioned vis-à-vis our clients. We're going to continue along these lines in 2018, putting just as much vigor into this policy. Our markets, in particular the markets in construction, are facing a rosy future. This year, we think that there is going to be an increase in our operating income on a like-for-like basis and on a comparable exchange rate. We think that we're going to be able to maintain a very high cash flow. This year is one that we can look to with confidence.
We have seen that we think that our operating income in the second quarter is going to be higher than in the first quarter of 2018. The group's strength, the group's soundness, does not just stem from our good financial results or the quality of our industrial assets. They are also linked to our capacity to be able to take on board all of our stakeholders, that is, our employees, our wage earners. We are lucky enough to represent a community of entrepreneurs who work together on a basis of solidarity, all pulling together for the success of the group. Our group's employees believe in our future, and that is why they are the number one shareholder. This year, more than 60% of the employees in France have bought shares in our savings plan. This is reflected in the composition of our board.
We have two employee directors and one representing the salaried employees. This commitment for our group is, of course, shared by all of our shareholders. Every day, we are trying to meet your expectations by maximizing your return on investment while at the same time preparing the future of Saint-Gobain. Our stakeholders are also our suppliers, and we pay particular attention to the quality of our purchasing. It is our clients; they are our clients, and we always are striving to serve them better. Lastly, let's not forget our ecosystem. We are integrated in the territories where we operate, and we participate actively in local life. You saw that lovely video with the different activities done by our foundation, Saint-Gobain Initiative, that is 10 years old today.
We are very proud of the remodeling projects and the insertion products that our employees are involved in in the countries where they work. Taking into account our ecosystem also presupposes respecting certain objectives with regard to savings in water, CO2, optimizing waste, and preserving biodiversity. You all know to what extent I am fully committed to these issues, and I know that these issues are also dear to the heart of all of our employees. This presupposes as well that we have to be very careful, very attentive as to the risks that surround us, be it cybercrime or breaches of compliance. This also means that we have to do our business in a fully accountable way, compliant with our principles of behavior and action without any tolerance for slip-ups, be it competition or corruption or confidentiality of private data. We are a solid group.
We are a growing group. We are moving together to the advantage of all of our stakeholders, and we're fully aware of our social responsibilities. That is who we are in Saint-Gobain, and that is what has enabled us to be forward-looking, forward-looking at the long term, and to do so with great trust. I would now like to talk to you about the vision that I see for the future. You have seen that the promise that we give to our clients is to offer them materials that will change your life. In order to do this, we are designing, producing, and distributing materials and solutions that have been created for the well-being of all and the future of all. These are materials that reinvent our habitat and improve the quality of our day-to-day life.
This message is one that we have always put across for years, and I'm convinced that it still is relevant today. In fact, our short-term results have proved that. Particularly, it is something that is still very much in line with future trends. People are still wanting well-being. Our clients understand when we talk about well-being. The automobile manufacturers are always talking about cars that are more agreeable to drive, that are more comfortable to sit in, that are connected thanks to our smart windscreens, for example. Now, in our main market, which is construction, comfort is absolutely critical, be it thermal comfort or acoustic or even the aesthetics of buildings.
I do believe that there is still a lot that we can do so that all of these parameters be completely measured and factored in, because in so doing, we will know that there are still opportunities to be seized. For example, what about the fact that the population is growing ever older? There are a lot of countries that need new specific answers because populations are growing older. It's also the case when you look at galloping urbanization in the emerging countries, and to think that between now and 2035, there will be more than 1.8 billion people in the middle classes who will be aspiring to a better quality of life and thus better comfort. That's what we do internationally.
This search for well-being goes hand in hand with an ever-increasing awareness of sustainable development, of accountable development that will preserve the future for generations to come. Saint-Gobain must participate in protecting the future for all. Between now and 2030, the consumption of energy in the world could have increased by 40%, and 70% of those will be gas houses. As you know, the towns will be responsible for 70% of those hothouse gas emissions. As you know, 30% of those emissions in Europe are actually caused by buildings. Our materials and our solutions have an essential role to play in order to reach the objectives of decreased emissions that many countries have established. Every day, we will do our best to come up with solutions that are sustainable and that will help us to better consume, to better live, and to better move about.
The third major trend is productivity and striving for performance. This is something that becomes more and more critical, and it will be more and more critical in the years to come. I don't know whether you know, but productivity is relatively low in construction. It's actually dipping in countries such as France and has been for the last 20 years. It is a real topical subject today. The good news is that Saint-Gobain does have solutions to counter that. For example, our ready-to-use mortar or our pre-fab material, or for example, our plaster boards, innovative services that we are also offering our clients so that they can improve their productivity day to day. We are offering them well-being, respect of the environment, good performance.
This is a vision that I believe we should be sticking to for the coming years, all the more so because this is a vision that stems from the coexistence in our group of activities that are both industrial and also services. With the digital world, the frontier between what is material and what is services is fading day by day. Our clients simply want products and services that do not just want products and services; they want solutions that are complete, that will answer all of their needs. This is new, and this is a new opportunity for the group because the synergies that exist between our activities do allow us to make a real difference.
We can offer our clients not just materials and not just products, but materials and products that can change their lives because we know how to combine them both and to frame them alongside innovative services. Let's take a look at our group has the wherewithal in order to ensure that this vision becomes reality. It doesn't necessarily mean that we're going to continue to reinvent ourselves in coming years with two priorities that we are not, sorry, going to reinvent ourselves in coming years. Of course, we are. We're going to flag two priorities: being agile and being open-minded. Why these two priorities? Because if you're thinking the future of Saint-Gobain, then you have to properly understand our world. It is a world that is made of profound changes, and these changes are ever-increasing.
Our world today is one that is largely unstable, particularly on the international arena. I'm talking about geopolitical tension as well, but not only. Think about climate problems. Look at what's happening in China. The Chinese have fully embraced the problem of world economy and climate change. They are doing the best they can to try to counter those problems. There are all sorts of opportunities for Saint-Gobain to seize there. There is another major change that is having an impact on us, and that is the digital revolution. This digital revolution is striding forward. It is completely overhauling the way in which we consume, the way in which we communicate, our organizations, and the way in which we work. The new generations who are joining our group have experience, have different skills, and they have acquired them differently. They are far more open to the world.
They are bolder. They are ready to move more quickly, and we must be capable of attracting them and making the most of their talents. Our clients are changing as well. They are more involved. They are more connected, and thus they are more demanding. They want immediate responses. They want irreproachable quality, more transparency on our supplies and on our new services. They are always—and this is not something that is new for Saint-Gobain—but this transformation means that we have to factor in social accountability, corporate social responsibility, and this must be understood by all of our stakeholders. Our world is also being marked today by competition, which is rife competition with traditional players, but also new ones who are emerging on the market very quickly. They have a disruptive influence, and they are growing exponentially.
Our activities, for example, in distribution—look at new players such as Amazon, just to mention one of the most well-known—and our activities aren't the ones that are the most hard hit because the majority of our products actually aren't distributed by those channels. Our territorial networking with one sales point, 9 kilometers from wherever you are in France, means that we can deliver extremely quickly. That being said, it would be a mistake not to be aware of these new forms of competition because they are the ones that are reinventing the world of distribution, and we have to always be one step ahead of them. I think that in this world, Saint-Gobain has certain advantages that we should be flagging. We know how to invest, to innovate, to experiment, to have the necessary hindsight when it comes to major choices.
Let's not just rest on our laurels because we might lose those advantages. Those advantages should make us even more open to the world and should be enhancing our agility. I think that those words, open-mindedness and agility, are the two that we should be striving to achieve in the coming years. In order to do this, we must be capable of seizing opportunities that arise and doing it extremely quickly. We have shown that we're capable of doing that with the conflict resolution in the problem of Burckhardt in Sika. Our pragmatism meant that we were able to achieve three things. First of all, a substantial financial gain of more than EUR 600 million for Saint-Gobain's accounts. Our patience and the solidity of the contract that was signed in 2014 meant that we were able to benefit from the enhanced value of Sika.
We have a tripartite agreement that eliminates any legal risks. Lastly, we have a strategic advantage as well. We are becoming the primary shareholder of that very good company. This pragmatism, this capacity to seize opportunities, is one that I would like to continue to roll out in the coming years in our day-to-day activities. In this ever-changing world, innovation will become even more essential than it is today. Saint-Gobain is recognized as being an innovative company, but we have to take it one step further so that this innovation becomes more agile, more open. We must intensify exchanges between our researchers and our marketing teams, between our researchers and our clients, between our teams and the entrepreneurs, the startups, the students, the scientists the world over. This capacity to be innovative, to be open, to be customer-oriented, customer-focused should help us, should further our operations.
You have seen that this is true because we're investing in industrial activities and in distribution methods that are more flexible, far more reactive. Automatic warehouses in distribution mean that we can drastically decrease lead times. Our flexible plants are allowing us to manufacture products rapidly in series and almost at a price that is the same as mass production. That is going to be extremely appreciated by our clients. Becoming more agile and more open also means that we have to earmark more resources in a more dynamic way. We have to accelerate our strategies as well. Because opportunities have to be seized immediately, because we have to move with great agility in new localities, we have to seize any opportunity to growth. We have seen this in the health sector, as you heard previously.
We can also do this because there are promising markets the world over. The acceleration today of energy renovation in France, which has truly begun to be rolled out, is an opportunity for us. It means that we can continue to invest in France. We have new glass wool. We have a new glass wool blowing plant in Chermiers that has cost us an investment of more than EUR 30 million. We're also going to accelerate the rotation of our activities portfolio within each of our large business sectors: distribution, building distribution, products for construction, and innovative materials. We also have to be more agile and more open because we must transform. We must change the way in which we work. We must also attract new talent. That is critical.
Pédi ni showed you how we are attempting to achieve that by using our open program and attitude Saint-Gobain. Reacting as an entrepreneur or being innovative, getting closer to our clients, this is something that I am going to lay down in stone in our DNA. All of these characteristics will foster our capacity to evolve, to progress, thanks to seizing opportunities. We will be able to do that with the trust that the group places in our teams, our teams that are bold, and our teams that are always working on a basis of solidarity. Ladies and gentlemen, shareholders, it is this very positive buoyancy that I wish to share with you today. We have very buoyant strategies. We have engaged employees. We have intangible values, fundamentals. All of these are robust, and we are capable of reinventing ourselves, and we will do so to continue our growth.
Thank you once again for your faithfulness and for your trust in our strategy. I would also like to thank the board, the board that is of very high quality, that is extremely demanding, and they are essential to our collective success. Please know that you may always count on my unceasing commitment at the service of your group. Thank you very much. [Foreign language] . I'd now give the floor to Madame Anne-Marie Idrac, who is the Chairwoman of the Compensation and Nominations Committee.
Thank you very much, sir. Ladies and gentlemen, shareholders, as Chair of the Nomination and Compensation Committee, it is now up to me to give you, first of all, the composition of this committee and then to tell you about the different elements of compensation of Pierre-André de Chalendar.
The board, as you can see here, is made up of 14 board members, 73% of independent directors, 42% women, one lead independent director, Monsieur Sénard, who will be taking the floor later, two employee directors, and one director representing the employee shareholders. The Saint-Gobain company, of course, is in compliance with the AFEP MEDEF Corporate Governance Code. As far as the directors' skills and experience is concerned, 27% of them are of foreign nationalities, excluding employee directors, and a majority of the directors have a very strong international exposure. We have all of the different skills that they englobe are on the slide before you. For future nominations, we intend to maintain the distribution and digital skills.
We would like to further the diversity policy of the board to increase international exposure and to maintain the ratio of executive directors in office within other large groups. We will see in just a minute when we talk about the co-optation of Mrs. Dominique Leroy on November 23 of last year as an independent director. You can see that that co-optation fully satisfies these objectives. You have here the different board of directors committees. You have the Audit and Risk Committee presided over by Philippe Marin. You have the Strategy and CSR Committee presided over by Jean-Dominique Sénard and my own committee, Nomination and Remuneration Committee. You can see that all of us are independent directors. There are also two proposals that we are going to table before you concerning the composition of the board of directors.
First of all is the proposed renewal of the director's term of office of Mr. Pierre-André de Chalendar. You know that he is Chief Executive Officer, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer since 2010, and the board fully intends renewing his mandate as Chief Executive Officer, but only, of course, if the General Assembly actually approves this resolution. The second proposal concerns changes or ratifying the co-optation of Mrs. Dominique Leroy. I have already mentioned that. Dominique Leroy is a Chief Executive Officer of Proximus. She is also a member of the supervisory board of ArcelorMittal. We co-opted her in November following the resignation for personal reasons of Olivia Q.
Dominique Leroy is a Belgian citizen, and she will bring—in fact, she is already bringing to the board of directors of Saint-Gobain her experience as a non-French executive officer and her operational knowledge of the distribution sector and of digital transformation matters. This brings me now to the part of my presentation that concerns the compensation policy of the Chairman and the Chief Executive Officer. The compensation policy is decided upon by the board at the proposal of the Nomination and Remuneration Committee. It reflects the group's strategy, and it aims at aligning the compensation of the Chairman and the Chief Executive Officer with the group's performance and the long-term interests of its shareholders. The board of directors ensures that the remuneration complies with the recommendations of AFEP- MEDEF and meets the transparency and performance measurement requirements.
We also ensure the compensation of the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer evolves, taking into account the group's performance and market practices. We take into consideration benchmarks of CAC 40 companies that are comparable to Saint-Gobain. We also, since 2013, have introduced certain corporate social responsibility commitments into our operations, and these criteria have, since 2017, been part of long-term compensation. That is it for the different policies. [Foreign language] . Now, here we have figures for 2017, so exposed as is stipulated in the applicable regulations. Here you have all of the figures. We can see fixed compensation reflecting the experience and responsibilities of the Chairman and CEO. I'll go into a bit more detail here on the following lines, looking at annual variable compensation as well as the various long-term benefits and incentives.
Now, for 2017, looking at variable compensation, bear in mind that the ceiling is 170% of fixed compensation. We have worked with quantifiable objectives as well as more qualitative objectives. The quantifiable objectives account for two-thirds, and here in the table, you can see the various indicators we have opted for that all account for one quarter. We have calculated that the results result in an achievement rate of 79%. As regards to the qualitative objectives that we have on the right-hand side of the presentation, they are fully in line, of course, with the dynamic open strategy explained to us earlier by our Chairman. Continuation of the group's digital transformation, implementation of the CSR policy, continuation of the group's development strategy.
For these themes, we have considered and proposed to the board that the achievement rate was 80%, which gives us an overall achievement rate for the 2017 variable compensation of 80%. Moving on to the third component, looking at the long-term compensation. You can see the performance conditions in the table. We can see the ROCE, Group Operating Income, Group Recurring Net Income per share, or FCF. Now, if we look at the total amount in 2017, we can see that the results have enabled long-term incentives to be achieved, 79% of the maximum gross amount. Looking at all of the shareholders, we can see that the ceiling is 10% of the overall amount of the performance. Here you have the figures on the long-term compensation of the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer. Looking at financial and extra-financial information over the long term.
For 2017, I have finished. Now let's look at 2018. We're looking at the ex-ante séan pay. As regards to the working methods, they'll be the same. It is the Board of Directors at the proposal of the Nomination and Remuneration Committee setting out the conditions. Now, as regards fixed compensation, the proposal being made to you is that at the time of Pierre-André de Chalendar's term of office, that it be increased from EUR 1.1 million to EUR 1.2 million for the entire term. I would like to point out that this increase is lower than that of the group employees in France since 2010 because for Pierre-André de Chalendar, there was no increase over the previous period, and that it is the median of industrial CAC 40 companies that are comparable to Saint-Gobain in terms of size, sales workforce, or international footprint.
As regards to long-term compensation, the cap set for these instruments, so the performance shares or stock options, will be set at 85% and no longer 100% of the maximum gross compensation for 2018. We have introduced a mandatory privatization should the board of directors decide to exempt the director from the service condition in the event of his departure as director. Another part of the compensation is quite quick here. You can see that we do not have any of the components outside of those that I've already mentioned for the compensation of the Chief Executive Officer. Last, looking at undertakings to be approved by you, Mr. Pierre-André de Chalendar waived his employment contract in 2010.
If taking this into account and looking at compensation for loss of office, capped at two years of gross annual total compensation due in the event of a forced departure and subject to performance conditions, so calculated over the last three full fiscal years. Here you have all of the details on the screen and non-compete indemnity equal to one year's total gross compensation. The board, however, may waive the application of this provision, and the sum of the non-compete indemnity and the compensation for loss of office may not exceed twice the total gross annual compensation, the first cap I indicated, which is valid including with this non-compete provision. Supplemental pension plan. Pierre-André de Chalendar is part of the plan applicable to all employees who joined Compagnie de Saint-Gobain prior to January 1, 1994.
The amount, assuming retirement with the maximum number of years of service 35 years, would be approximately 30% of his most recent fixed compensation. Therefore, it is significantly lower than the ceiling suggested by the AFEP-MEDEF code, which is set at 45% of the sum of the fixed and variable compensation. Eligibility condition, so retired 60 or over on a full pension under the compulsory government-sponsored scheme, service condition, performance condition, which is the same as for the compensation for loss of office and renewal of the benefits under the group health and personal risk insurance contracts applicable to employees of Compagnie de Saint-Gobain. These are the resolutions that will be proposed to your vote in just a moment. Thank you.
Thank you, Anne-Marie. I would like to turn the floor over to Jean-Dominique Sénard, our lead independent director.
Ladies and gentlemen, shareholders, good afternoon.
It is an honor for me to be presenting the key work carried out by your board of directors, in particular the work that involved my personal contribution as Lead Independent Director. You know that this was a function created in 2017, and that one of the key issues behind the inception of this position was to ensure the proper running of the governance bodies in this group. That is why I, of course, will be speaking about the key activities of the board, but I will also describe what we call the annual assessment of the board, and I will also be bringing up some of our other activities.
Above and beyond the activities that are linked to the legal remit of the board, for example, validating the consolidated financial statements and group financial statements for the parent company, also our examination of the resolutions subject to your vote, as well as the key agreements. We have three key areas that we look at. We look at strategy. We look at CSR, meaning corporate social responsibility, as well as risk management. Now, as regards the group's strategy, you can see that during each board meeting, we review aspects of the strategy. Of course, we have an annual seminar, which is in-depth, but with the assistance of management, helps us to be able to have a more in-depth understanding of topics that are complex and important for the future of the group.
Thus, we're able to better understand the activities as well as delegations and, in particular, what specific role they play in terms of strategy. We also review any planned acquisitions or key strategic projects. Of course, this year, the issue involving Sika was a key one for our board. We work on topics involving our competition. It's very important for the board to understand changes at our foot so that we can afterward define our strategy. We also work on the strategic plan itself. It is presented to us each year. We assess its relevance, and if necessary, we also have an impact on it. You will not be surprised to know that we are working more carefully, more in-depth on the digital transformation, and this is via our follow-up on the implementation of the roadmap that was mentioned earlier.
Substantial work on strategy, but it is not the only area we focus on. We also work on risk management. You most likely know that we set out a very precise, detailed mapping of our risks. We look at the entire group. The Audit and Risk Committee looks at this in detail, then it is presented to the board. This is a topic that has gained importance over the past few years. The teams in the group work extremely hard on it, very high level of detail, which is satisfactory. Now, when we look at risks, we also look at cybersecurity. Last year's current events demonstrated how important it was for us to focus on this issue. You know that the group has very clear, precise provisions in this area. Now, you know, of course, that cannot ward off all attacks.
However, you can be reassured that the group is doing its utmost to try and ensure that we can mitigate the effects of any potential attack. We, of course, address the issue of any litigation, in particular when this litigation can have a considerable impact, and we look in depth at the issue of compliance. Compliance, national, international regulation, as you know, are essential topics for Saint-Gobain, in particular looking at the compliance program and the impact of what is known as the SAPIN II law. I have already mentioned that the second pillar of the board's work involves corporate social responsibility, in particular climate change. There is a very strong focus of the board on climate change. This is due to the very nature of Saint-Gobain. We work during our annual strategic seminar. We review initiatives in terms of reducing CO2 emissions and reducing energy consumption.
We also have an ad hoc seminar that lasts half a day and is devoted to the issue of climate change. We work with international experts so that we can become more proficient in this area. You all are familiar with Saint-Gobain's objective. We are playing a key role in the fight against climate change, and we're recognized by French bodies as well as internationally as being a key player in this area through all of the actions that the group has undertaken in order to resolve the issue of climate change, particularly through sustainable housing. We, of course, focus on bringing down CO2 emissions with a very demanding 2025 objective. We strive to have an impact on global legislation regarding the price of carbon.
You know that internally at Saint-Gobain, we have a price of carbon enabling us to make strategic decisions that are significant in terms of the future, so we're able to plan ahead for what would be an ideal context for the future. Of course, we work quite hard in order to promote the contribution of Saint-Gobain solutions. CSR policies also involve human resources. You heard about this earlier. We also have safety and health issues. We heard what an important target this is for the group. Of course, we have the issue of the environment itself. Now, you know that non-financial results are increasingly important today, and the board regularly tracks this information in a dashboard looking at very precise, measurable performance criteria. Saint-Gobain is perceived by the world as being a key player in terms of corporate social responsibility.
For the second year running, the group was number two in the world in one of the key international indices for sustainable development, the Sustainability Index, and we are all extremely proud of this performance. Now, above and beyond our activities, there are other actions that we have undertaken. I brought up the board assessment. It is conducted between September and November 2017. It is led by your humble servant. It is the first year that this has taken place this way as this function of lead independent director was created last year. We look at the board, how it is run. We look at the composition of the board as well as assessing individual contributions. You can see that we go into a great deal of detail.
If I were to share some of the key conclusions with you, the good news is that the board has been deemed to be operating very well. We have a unanimous positive opinion regarding its operations. The composition of the board, as it stands, is satisfactory. It brings together varied and complementary expertise. However, during this assessment, we also spoke about the fact that perhaps we would need an international director to join us, perhaps a younger profile, or in any case, somebody with experience in digital or distribution matters. You know that the board goes beyond mere words, and we have reached out to Dominique Leroy, which has been an ideal solution to this topic that was brought up during this assessment. We cover a variety of topics, but we also will have proposed focusing on strategy to a greater extent with continuing our in-depth analysis.
I wanted to report back to you and to let you know that the work has been carried out under excellent conditions within the board. There was a very specific theme we focused on during our assessment, and that was that of the combination separation of the positions of Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer. As you know, we have confirmed our decision to combine both of those positions. There are very objective reasons for this. First of all, this is a solution that we all felt was perfectly adapted to Saint-Gobain, in particular in light of the very substantial experience of the Chairman, but above all, due to his very transparent approach vis-à-vis the board. We all have been able to benefit from this transparency. It makes operation of the board much smoother.
Perhaps to dispel any fears that have been expressed about the fact that there might be an excessive concentration of power for this single person, I would like to share with you the fact that there's no reason to be afraid. Within the governance boards, we have a variety of counterweights, in particular to the very high ratio of independent directors, including the committee chairman. We also have a lead independent director. I can't guarantee that it's an absolute counterweight, but he is part of the list that I could explain to you as what we call executive sessions. These are sessions that I have the honor of chairing or co-chairing with the chairperson of the compensation committee. They enable us to address these issues very freely, independently. There were two sessions that were held, one in November 2017.
We focused on the idea of whether or not we should maintain a joint role of Chairman of the Board and CEO. There was another one held in February during which we focused on the issue of the Chief Executive Officer's compensation. This was done with a co-chairmanship of the Chairperson who just described the various compensation components. This is how this board is run. You can see that we also are working with the main shareholders' representatives. Employee shareholders, the P&G Corporate Mutual Fund, Vendée. You have the full guarantee that the messages of the employees reach us on the board and are addressed. I can assure you that the employee directors I had the pleasure of working with over the past few months have very clearly conveyed the messages coming from the employees. Of course, we listen to them most attentively.
Of course, the group is working on the issues requiring prior approval for any significant transactions. You can therefore see that the combination of the positions of Chairman of the Board and CEO is quite consistent and, of course, is tightly linked to the specific expertise of our Chairman and CEO. We had some other activities. I'll go through these quite quickly. We worked on identifying any conflicts of interest, but there aren't any. If they need to be managed, we will, of course, do so. We are looking at the independent status of the directors and potential independent directors. We do this, of course, working jointly with the compensation and nomination committees. We can see the joint work has been quite fruitful in this area. We're also working on the succession plan, something that we're not expecting, but that needs to be planned ahead for.
We are working not only with the Chairman himself, but also with the Chairwoman of the Nomination and Compensation Committee. We, of course, share the results with the board. I already mentioned the executive sessions. To conclude, I would like to touch upon some of the meetings that have taken place at the behest of the Chairman with a variety of shareholders regarding Saint-Gobain's principles of governance. These are extremely helpful sessions that enable us to set up dialogue that is different from the more financial discussions we tend to have with these shareholders. Ladies and gentlemen, I was delighted to be able to explain the usefulness of my function, in my opinion, and that it fits in fully with the very smooth running of the board, a very harmonious one. We are all working quite hard for the future of the group. Thank you.
Merci, Jean-Dominique.
Thank you very much, Jean-Dominique. Now I'll be turning the floor over to Jean Paul Thill, who will be presenting on behalf of the statutory auditors the results of the report.
Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. Shareholders, good afternoon. I have the pleasure on behalf of the statutory auditors, KPMG auditors, and PricewaterhouseCoopers Audit to report back on the various engagements entrusted to us in compliance with the law and to present for the financial year concluded December 31st, 2017, the reports addressed to you. These reports are available to you, have been made available by the company with all of the information and documents pertaining to the present shareholders' meeting. There are five reports with the approval of the chairman. I propose that we not read these reports in detail, and I will merely sum up the key highlights.
You will see in the registration document that was given to you on page 271A and 275 as regards the consolidated financial statement on page 304, 305 as regards the annual financial statements. As a reminder, the purpose was to obtain reasonable assurance as regards the true and fair view of the group and parent companies reflected in the financial statements and information contained. There have not been any material misstatements. In order to do this, we carried out an appropriate audit in all of the significant entities within the scope of Saint-Gobain Group and France and in the world, a scope that also comprises some 1,000 companies spread out over 67 countries. Our approach was adapted to the businesses in the group and its international organization by delegation and covers the day-to-day activities as well as any one-off activities during that financial year.
We regularly report on our activities to the Audit and Risk Committee as well as the Board of Directors of your group. In conclusion of this work, we certify that the annual financial statements of companies Saint-Gobain have been audited. We would like to draw your attention in this report to a change in the accounting methods resulting in the first-time application of ANC regulation on forward financial instruments and hedging operations described in the appendix, note one. In accordance with the new regulation, for the first time this year, we are giving more details on the key points in the audit as well as our specific procedures. The key audit matters are the ones that we felt were the most sensitive in light of the assumptions made by management informing our opinions.
The key audit matters brought up in our report for the consolidated financial statements involve the four following areas. First of all, measurement of provisions for liabilities and litigation. Second, measurement of goodwill, intangible assets, and property, plant, and equipment. Third, acquisition of controlling interest in SECA. Last, measurement of supplier discounts in the building distribution sector. The key procedures we implemented have been presented on the screen in front of you. Now, as regards the annual financial statements, in our report, we only mentioned one point in terms of the measurement of financial investments. Our work primarily entailed looking at the procedures implemented for impairment testing as well as the key assumptions that are used for these tests.
That was our report on the financial statements for Saint-Gobain for the financial year ended December 31, 2017, that you will be approving under the first and second resolutions. Now we'll sum up the next reports that have been set out as well as the verifications provided for by the law. Notre rapport spécial. Our special report on related party agreements is to be found on pages 175 to 180 of the registration document. In there, we give you the characteristics and the modalities of the work that we have done. We have been informed of three agreements that have been authorized over the last financial year that are being put before you as a resolution for you to vote upon during this annual general meeting. It will be the 8th, the 9th, and the 10th resolution.
Now, these agreements and undertakings are given to Pierre-André de Chalendar concerning the compensation and benefits potentially due in certain cases. It is compensation fees that are due or could be due should he cease his activities under the application of the article of the commercial code and also the health coverage and pension schemes throughout his term of office. There are also four agreements and undertakings that are to be approved that have already been approved by the shareholders' meeting. In 2017, two of them were implemented and two remain in force but were not implemented. We have also issued a report by one of the statutory auditors who was appointed as an independent third party on the consolidated human resources, environmental, and social information presented in the management report. We confirm that this report did not lead to any comments on our behalf.
Your board of directors in the extraordinary general assembly also is asking you to delegate authority to it to carry out our equity or equity-linked securities issues reserved for certain categories of beneficiaries. We have done the necessary procedure as auditors, making certain that the modalities are in compliance with law. We do not have any matter to report on the information given in that report of the board of directors regarding the proposed transaction. In accordance with the French commercial code, we will establish an additional report where appropriate in case of use of this authorization by the board of directors. That, ladies and gentlemen, is the statement by the statutory auditors. Thank you.
I would now give the floor to Mr. Antoine Vignial, who is in charge of talking to you about the resolutions that are to be tabled before you for your approval.
Thank you very much, sir. Ladies and gentlemen, shareholders, it is up to me now to give you a very quick overview of the resolutions that will be tabled before you. It should not take too long because others before me have already talked about most of these subjects. We have 15 resolutions. To begin, we have 12 ordinary resolutions. Resolutions one to three are resolutions concerning the approval of the company's accounts. The third is to determine the amount of the dividend from EUR 1.26 to EUR 1.30 per share this year, as Mr. Guillaume Texier, the CFO, explained earlier. The fourth and the fifth resolutions will have to do with the re-electi on of Mr. Pierre-André de Chalendar as director and the ratification of the co-optation of Ms. Dominique Leroy as director.
All of the explanations underlying these resolutions have already been given to you by Madame Pédini and Mr. Sénard. The sixth and the seventh resolution have to do with say on pay. Madame Anne-Marie Idrac has already talked about this in the presentation. However, this is a very important resolution because by voting, you will be able to express your opinion on the compensation components of Mr. Pierre-André de Chalendar. It's all the more important because you know that as from this year, vote on ex post compensation, that is in 2017, is a binding vote, which means that the paying or not of the variable share of his compensation in 2017 is subject to approval by this assembly. The eighth, ninth, and 10th resolutions have to do with the related party agreements and undertakings to the benefit of Mr. Pierre-André de Chalendar.
It refers to the compensation that would be due should he cease his activities and also the maintaining of the pension schemes and his health coverage. I would just remind you that Pierre-André de Chalendar actually renounced in 2010 when he was voted in. He actually renounced a certain amount of benefits for 2010. The next resolution, the 11th resolution, has to do with the reappointment of KPMG, the audit firm, as a primary statutory auditor. 12th resolution, the share buyback program, exactly the same as the one in previous years. This would allow Saint-Gobain to acquire its own shares, which is then most of them are then written off during the year. If we move now to the extraordinary shareholders' meeting, there it is a question of amending the 18th resolution that was approved by the shareholders' meeting in 2017.
I would just like to draw your attention to the fact that this resolution is not actually going to increase the amount of allocated shares because the shares that would be subscribed would be based on the PG resolution. The 14th resolution has to do with amendments to the bylaws relative to the number of directors representing employees. That's very important to us, as Mr. Sénard told you earlier. The proposed drafting in here would allow for two directors representing employees irrespective of the size of the board of directors. Your board should, after this shareholders' meeting, only have one salaried director because the size of the board has actually dropped down under 12.
Now, this proposal has been put through because your board thought during its self-assessment program that the salaried employee who joined the board in 2014 had been very well integrated and also thought that the director representing the shareholder employees was also a very important person to have in the board. This modification means that we would be one step ahead of the new regulations, the PAC law that you've probably heard talk about, which stipulates that above eight board members, you have to have two employee directors. I think that the last resolution, power to carry out formalities, does not need any further explanation. I now declare the floor open to debate. We'll start with written questions. The first question from Ify Trust. The board will be answering these questions on the Saint-Gobain internet site. I'm not actually going to read this question.
It was these written questions that came in. I'll just give you a very quick summing up. It was a question that had to do with climate change. Now, what Ify Trust is asking us, they have said that Saint-Gobain has actually joined a new initiative called Science Based Target, decreasing hothouse gases in line with the Paris Climate Convention. There were two questions here. When is Saint-Gobain going to tell the shareholders exactly what its objectives are? Secondly, could you tell us what is going to be done within the board to make sure that this objective is met? Now, first, an introductory comment. You know to what extent Saint-Gobain plays a very important role. We are a very important issuer of CO2. Yet, Saint-Gobain's products are actually preventing emissions of CO2.
We have proven that after three months using Saint-Gobain glass, there are less CO2 emissions that are being emitted. As you can see, it's not very easy, even if the figures that I'm giving you for Saint-Gobain are figures that have been signed off on by outside bodies. This Science Best Target has come up with all sorts of methods in all different sectors. In construction, there is no methodology. That is why we have only just adhered to this initiative. It took us time because in the past, there wasn't any methodology. We have 24 months now to actually define one. We're going to do it. We're going to be extremely proactive, particularly in a group that was set up during the COP21, precisely to define exactly how we can identify the impact of different players.
I'm not going to answer the second question because actually, your lead independent director described in great detail the role of the board on all of these subjects. I would also remind you that, as the Chair of the Compensation Committee said, as from this year, all of the long-term compensation, mine and that of more than 1,000 employees in the group, includes a criterion that has to do with a reduction of the group's CO2 emissions. You can find all the rest of that on our site. We also have a series of written questions asked by Mr. Gilbert Leclerc that have not actually been sent in in the correct form. We will be answering them as well. I won't read them all. There is one that seems to me to be of great interest because it has to do with cyber security.
Following on from the cyber attack that we fell prey to in 2017, you heard explanations of that from Jean-Dominique Sénard. The written question that I have here, even if it has not been sent to us in the correct form, is one that I will not answer now because I would like to give more time to your oral questions. Are there any questions? Are there any questions?
Good afternoon, sir. Douce Langes for the Association for Heritage and Individual Shareholders. Thank you twofold for two of your slides. One of them had to do with how you dealt with value-added. And the second on your main stakeholders.
In talking about the stakeholders, can you confirm that in that transparency that we saw, in that slide that we saw, you have also included the media and that you are perhaps going to be setting up a you could perhaps set up a stakeholder committee whose job it would be to answer twice a year to the board? My second question has to do with governance. You have changed your governance structure. I congratulate you on that. You now have a lead independent director. That's very good. You were victim of a cyber attack. Perhaps you did not really take very seriously the difference that exists between skills or rather experience as opposed to expertise. The cost of the cyber attack, which might I add was not covered by the insurance companies, is one that hit us hard.
Nothing had been done by the audit committee that could have forewarned us of that. The audit committee, you have four very experienced auditors, average age over 60. Nothing was done with the governance council. Nothing was done with your human resource director. They did not do anything to actually prevent that cyber attack from taking place. Would it not be possible to put a little artificial intelligent robot in your board? If you do not want him as a director, then get him in as a teller. Perhaps he would have instantaneously brought to light the fact that you were vulnerable to this cyber attack. You, as CEO, I had not understood in the Sika business that Saint-Gobain was actually a company doing financial transactions. I understand that this was a strategic operation. I can understand strategy. I do not understand finance.
If I want finance, I would prefer to turn to Wendel. This brings me back to my same comment. I think that you should stick to what your strategic mandate has been.
Now, a stakeholder committee, we are thinking about having a stakeholder committee. Up until today, we did not think that it was the best way to move forward given the type of activity that the group does. We are extremely localized in our activities. The stakeholder application, particularly in the field of environment or civic society, is very different from one country to another. Doing this on a group level does not seem to us to be the best way to reflect what the group does. However, that being said, we will continue to think about it. We are trying to reflect on these issues and questions that you put before us.
We, at central level, simply hear reports of things that should really be dealt with on a local level. The sarcasm that you showed on a robot, I would simply give you the same answer I gave you last year. I think that would be nonsensical. I do not think that the robot would have helped us at all when it came to our cyber attack. Let's get back just very briefly to that cyber attack. The Audit Committee and Jean-Dominique Sénard talked about what they did earlier. Just a few months before the cyber attack, they had listened to the head of the IT department in the group. They had examined all of the work that had been done. We had concluded, probably wrongly so, that we were very well prepared. We were well forearmed.
In the risk map, the risk was actually higher than what actually occurred. You can't say that the audit committee hadn't done its job. The only thing is that the attack wasn't specifically targeting Saint-Gobain. Everybody knows now that it was an attack from state to state. It just so happened that Saint-Gobain was implanted there. Of all of the groups that were attacked, Saint-Gobain was the one that got back onto its feet the quickest. There was a whole series of international groups that were hit. Yes, we were victims of the cyber attack. We reacted extremely well. I have to admit that we were not immune to it. We are still not immune to it today. I think that this is something that all companies the world over are vulnerable to, not just companies, but states and countries.
I think that states and countries, it's even more of a danger for them than it is for us. I think that our group was normally forearmed for that type of attack. We have set up an extremely detailed attack. We will never be immune to a cyber attack. I prefer to be frank with you. Perhaps if we had another one, it wouldn't be quite so serious as the one we had. We're continuing to work on this in all aspects of what we do in the group. I think that no matter what we did last year, we could not have avoided that attack. Now, getting back to this question on Sika, it wasn't our initial project to make it into a financial transaction. However, I think that this solution was one with all sorts of advantages.
It was a tripartite agreement between the three parties. It means that, yes, it is a very good financial transaction. That was not our primary objective. In the situation that we were in, and given the risks that we were running, I think that it is a very good ending for the group. I think those were your three questions. Question number four?
Hello, Sir Roger Trent. I have three questions. One of my questions is threefold. I am very pleased to see that you are doing new activities. I want to talk about the healthcare sector and then a little bit about energy. I would like to talk to you about wind energy, wind power, you are manufacturing powder and certain ceramic bricks. I would like to know exactly what they are. The high-rise fire in London and in Britain, was Saint-Gobain responsible for that?
Are you liable for that?
Now, you have talked about two things that are of great importance for the group: health and energy. Perhaps I will give you some information as to what we're doing in those sectors. In the healthcare sector, we are developing things in our performance division. Particularly, we're developing performance plastics. We have a certain number of plants that are manufacturing products and systems that are used in the performance plastics sector. For example, the future development of genic therapy treatment. You need certain packaging for that. That packaging has to be done in clean rooms. In the healthcare sector as well, we also have some of the components of our crystal division that are used in equipment used to treat certain cancers. You might remember that our North American representative talked about this. It is a tiny niche sector.
It is a growing one. We are using all of our know-how in the plastics field. For energy, I will not come back over what our CEO said. Our construction division is, of course, doing the best it can to save on energy. You have talked about certain ceramics. You have talked about certain composites that are used to lighten vehicles or that are used in materials in the aeronautical sector. This is state-of-the-art resistant material because of its lightness and the fact that they are heat resistant and wear and tear resistant. In our documentary, if you have watched it, you have seen that we are participating in the Mars shuttle as well in the transport sector. You know what we are doing for automobile and glass.
You might not know that we are also one of the suppliers in the aeronautical sector for military planes and long-haul carriers and also in some of the satellites as well. For the Grenfell Towers, it was a terrible tragedy. Yes, there were Silatex products that were used in renovating that tower. They were used as part of the façade that was made up of insulation and cladding that had been supplied by another company. However, when Silatex sells these products, they sell information on the products and the properties of those products. Silatex does not actually design the actual façade system. It does not supply it. It does not install it. It is the builder, it is the contractor, or the cladding contractor who will finally take the decision to use one material rather than another. Now, you know that the inquiry is still pending.
It is up to the police and to that inquiry to decide exactly who will be liable for what. We can but wait for the results of that inquiry. Nobody? Three.
Michael Nozier, individual shareholder. Good afternoon, sir. You talked to us earlier very quickly about some of the 2018 forecasts. You talked about the fact that you've had a somewhat problematic beginning of the year because of all of the climate problems that we have encountered. Is that a bad sign in the medium and the long term?
The weather changes from one year to the next. The first quarter is normally a quarter that is not quite as important as others. You saw that in the first quarter of 2018, the figures show that the quarter has been very problematic. There have been a certain number of outside reasons for that.
There have been catastrophes in Brazil and in Egypt. This is in the second quarter. Yes, there have been problematic elements. However, it means that the net sales of the second quarter will be better than those of Q1. For the operating income, I'm hoping that that's going to increase on a comparable basis. I'm expecting a better Q2 than Q1 2018. However, the overall trend is good for us. It is true. It's just that the beginning of the year was a little awkward. Microphone two, please. Another question.
Louis Motta, are you going to be becoming, are you going to be putting one or two people on the board of Sika?
Given the tripartite agreement that we have for the moment, we have not asked to be included in the board at the moment.
We might just see whether we want to do that in the future. I repeat that for the moment, we do not know how long we are actually going to keep the stakeholding for. We have committed ourselves to not selling before December, to not increasing over the next six years. We will just have to wait and see. I think that stakeholding could allow good cooperation for us. It is, for the moment, just a very good all-around financial transaction. Another question.
Good afternoon, sir. Saskia Henninger , lawyer in social rights but also Chairman of the French Association of Women Lawyers. We are part of the European project EDGE, European Women's Shareholders' Gender Equality. This is something that exists in 11 countries under the aegis of the European Commission. It exists.
It is there to inform managers and shareholders as to the issues arising out of gender equality. I have two questions. The first can be slightly amusing, and yet it is deadly serious. Are you intending over the next years to actually reverse percentages? That is, to reach 40% of male representation in your board. By law today, boards have to have 40% of women directors. You have 42%. You have done that. Do you ever think that one day you'll be reversing these percentages, having more women than men? I also see that because of the resigning of office and the nomination of Madame Dominique Leroy that you are confirming today, had there been more women in your board, then you would not have had this obligation of having to find another woman so that you still had a 40% representation.
Are you intending increasing the number of women in your board? Do you need any lists of potential board members? That is my first question. Next, I'm sure that you're aware that the numbers disclosed by the French government echo some of the leading ideas in the French government. One out of every five women state that they have been victim of sexual harassment at the workplace. I'm sorry, it's a government figure. I'm curious whether or not you've set up and identified effective procedure in order to prevent this type of behavior, first of all. Second, do you have any precise figures regarding any incidents reported and how human resources at your company follows up on this?
Thank you, madam. Regarding the first question, no, we don't have any particular target to reach 60%.
I will turn your question to the Nomination Committee, to Ms. Idrac.
I don't believe that we necessarily have the target of reaching 60% women on the board. I think our goal today is to have a wider diversity and skills to find the best people. Not necessarily to go to 60%. I'm not sure that's a goal in and of itself. Of course, we can go above 40% if you will. 40% is a floor and not a ceiling. Regarding your second question, perhaps Claire, regarding the provisions that have been set up. That's a very good question, first of all. Now, as regards harassment and the various provisions that have been made, we have a general provision aimed at protecting employees, enabling them to be able to report any situations involving harassment. It's also addressed to women.
It is not specifically directed at women. I would say our diversity policy as a whole, our policy for employee protection and well-being, is aimed at all employees. Now, it turns out women are more particularly victims of harassment and discrimination. It is a reported fact in companies. We've had very few reports of this type of behavior over the past few years. There are provisions in place enabling an anonymous report of such an incident, including if that's involving a supervisor. The systems are in place so that we can avoid, we hope, employees not using it, that they use it if they need it. That has not been the case the past few years. We do have a policy promoting diversity, equal opportunity, equal promotions.
We are quite careful about setting up policies in terms of compensation that are homogenous and that place emphasis on skills first and foremost. This is important for HR and the general management of the company.
Number four. Thank you. I'm a shareholder. I apologize for my attire. I didn't think I would take the floor. I have a question about what will be brought up at the next Saint-Gobain shareholders' meetings. I think that we have heard a lot about the internal running of Saint-Gobain. I know that we have a say on pay now. Earlier, you spoke about cyber attacks and the financial spheres. We can look at the Sika share price change. I seem to recall it was worth EUR 48 when you announced the transaction. It dropped to EUR 42. Then went up above EUR 40. Yesterday, it stood at EUR 44.
Meanwhile, I learned today that the Sika share price has more than doubled. I think that Saint-Gobain's position as regards these markets is not lower in terms of quality, in terms of the future versus Sika. We can see that during the shareholders' meetings, it'd be interesting to hear more about these people, the people who have a face, who have names, about what has happened, maybe unbeknownst to us. I'd like to come back to the issue of the cyber attack. Apparently, there were states involved. I'm not sure which ones. I'd like to ask that question. Next, regarding what happens outside the company, there's a very important number that I learned today. The shareholders' meeting has been a particularly interesting one. It will continue to be. That is a loss in productivity of 9% in France in the area of construction.
I think IT, robotics, automation, all of this has been brought up in a first question. It's highly interesting. I don't believe that that will ever be one of the core businesses at Saint-Gobain. However, the quality of the materials you develop, the excellence of the distribution network, these are all important topics. I don't particularly want the Saint-Gobain share price to double. As Sika says, I'm a long-term shareholder. I bought those shares at the time of the IPO at an extremely low price. I think that it's quite interesting to hear about the revolution that's occurring in terms of masonry. I don't know much about it. I'm sure that you do. What's happening also within Saint-Gobain. I think there are a lot of very honest, sincere people at Saint-Gobain.
I think it'd be interesting to hear about other things in the future above and beyond yourself because I'm sure that you will continue for several years. We also need to talk about the future, to talk about it in concrete terms.
Thank you, sir. I'm not sure if I understood if it was a question or a suggestion. As regards the suggestion, we'll think about that part and come back to that next year. There was a specific part of your question involving our plant. The cyber attack came from Ukraine. I'm taking that as a suggestion. I get the impression that in our presentation, we spoke about what was happening outside of the group and about trends in construction. We had several slides addressing the topics you mentioned. I guess we'll try and do a better job next year.
I have taken note of your suggestions.
Three. Good evening, madam. I am a shareholder at Saint-Gobain. I have been a shareholder since I was first able to buy shares. At Saint-Gobain, we had been very accustomed at each shareholders' meeting to hear about the shareholders. We were used to hearing about issues related to asbestos. You did not speak about it last year. You have not spoken about it this year. I decided to take the floor and ask that question. Thank you.
We have not spoken about it because we do not really have anything new. Having said that, all of the information on this topic includes the registration document. Whether involving the complaints we are handling in the U.S. or other topics in other countries such as France or Brazil, there is no significant change versus what has already occurred over the past few years.
Just for time reasons, we didn't address it. They're all in the registration document.
Four. Thank you, sir. Yves Toureillet, an individual shareholder, a certain number of shares. I'd like to ask a question regarding China. I heard the allusion that you made to the future and the Chinese issue. In particular, how very sensitive this country is as regards climate change. I've also noted that there are two French companies that are well-known, Forestier-Mersen to name them, that if you will, in 2017, had very high share prices thanks to the fact that they had very large orders in China. This offsetting the environmental problems that are genuine, that are due to the pressure coming from the population. I was curious whether or not Saint-Gobain is also looking at markets in China. If you believe that perhaps the question is not yet mature enough to tackle.
Up until now, as far as I know, the most sensitive issue in China has been air pollution in terms of climate. There's not been as much attention paid to the overall issue of climate change. Though, of course, often there can be a gap between what people preach and what they actually end up doing. You're right. You spoke about air pollution and climate change. I don't know whether or not the Chinese are overly concerned with climate change. But I do know that this perhaps is the country taking the most action. Why? Is it due to public health issues or climate change? I don't know. However, we do know that they are undertaking substantial measures to considerably reduce their greenhouse gas emissions. That is what's occurring in China. I don't know the reason behind that. Now, afterward, what does this mean for Saint-Gobain?
There are many conditions becoming more stringent in China for operations. I think it is positive that foreign companies are facing this because, in some cases, this can reestablish perhaps more balanced conditions for competition. Let me explain that. As you know, we have different businesses at Saint-Gobain generating greenhouse gases because we consume a great deal of energy. And historically, for legal reasons, we have perhaps been more environmentally friendly than some of the local companies. Today, what has changed? This could have an impact on competition. That leads us to take another look at some business sectors in China where we have not been competitive previously.
Also, I think that the Chinese companies that will have more stringent rules will result in costs increasing in China versus the rest of the world, which can also change some of the competition conditions between China and the rest of the world. Those are the trends that I can sense. It's interesting. I've been observing this for some time, but particularly over the past year. It's something that we'll be keeping an eye on.
Three. Good afternoon. We've spoken a great deal about 3D printing in construction. I was curious what Saint-Gobain's policy is in this area, both in your plants as well as in the manufacture of the materials for these types of printers.
It's a very interesting topic, an exciting one. It's one that interests us for several reasons.
Perhaps it's not so much the 3D printing for direct construction that we're most interested in, although we are keeping an eye on this through activities that are similar to pre-manufacturing, in particular in the Nordic countries. It's more so in the high-performance materials area that we are tracking this topic. In almost all of the regions, we have high-performance plants where we have fablabs. These are units in which we have joint development. We do have 3D printers. So we are users, and as you've stressed, we can also be providers of certain products. Let's talk first and foremost about how we use these. You know that there are several 3D printing technologies. You spoke about a technology that involves printing down layers, a single layer. We also have multi-layer processes enabling us to have composite materials that are very interesting.
Don't forget that 3D printing in the area of plastics enables us to be able to come up with prototypes that we can show our clients. They can carry out tests before we move on to subsequent phases. It is something that we're interested in, that we're investing in, in all of our research centers. We're not yet sure which technology will come out ahead, whether it's in terms of building buildings or if it's high-precision parts. Thinking about techniques that enable us to be able to totally change what we do in terms of welding and foundry. We can see these are areas that we have a great deal of research on. We're tracking them quite carefully. Thank you.
Question four. Good evening, sir. I'm an individual shareholder. I have a question. Most recently, I went to La Défense business district, the headquarters of Saint-Gobain.
I have a question involving the financial setup and the future costs for Saint-Gobain.
It's simple. We will not be an owner of that building. We will be leasing it. We'll have more employees than we had in the current building that we sold some years back. So we'll have more people. The total cost will be equivalent or perhaps slightly lower than the current cost. All right. If there are no other questions, I would propose that we move on to the voting on the resolutions after we look at the definitive quorum. It's confirmation. Yes, I can give you the definitive number for the shares represented or present here. We have a total number of shares corresponding to 58.89% of the shares with voting rights.
Now, let's turn to the method for voting.
You'll be watching a video that will be explaining how to use the devices during the voting procedure.
[Foreign language] .
Ladies and gentlemen, the voting device given to you is strictly personal. The number of votes corresponding to the shares you have has been loaded and is displayed on the screen. You only need to use the green, yellow, or red buttons. The green button corresponds to a vote for. Yellow is an abstention, and red means you're voting against a resolution. After reading each resolution, you will immediately be voted on. We will say, "Voting is open." On the screen, you'll see a rectangle, a bar showing you that the countdown has started and how much time you have.
Once that time is up, they will say, "Voting is closed." It will no longer be possible to vote. The votes will be displayed on this slide a few moments after that voting is closed. One last detail. Please turn off your mobile phones during voting. Make sure that you turn the devices out after you leave the room. You have understood that we will be voting resolution by resolution after reading a summary that will also show up on the screen. Ordinary resolutions.
Resolution one, approval of the company's non-consolidated financial statements for the financial year 2017. Voting is open.
[Foreign language] .
Voting is closed. The resolution has been adopted at 99.65%. Second resolution, approval of the consolidated financial statements for the financial year 2017. Voting is open.
[Foreign language] .
Voting is closed. The resolution has been approved at 99.63%.
Resolution three, appropriation of income and determination of dividend, EUR 1.30 per share. Voting is open. Voting is closed. The resolution has been adopted at 99.77%. Resolution for re-election of Mr. Pierre-André de Chalendar, as director. Voting is open.
[Foreign language] .
Voting is closed. The resolution has been adopted at 82.41%. Thank you very much. Fifth resolution, ratification of the co-option of Ms. Dominique Leroy, as director. Voting is open. Le vote est clos. Voting is closed. The resolution has been adopted at 94.13%. Congratulations to Ms. Dominique Leroy for this co-option. Sixth resolution, approval of the components of compensation paid or granted to Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Mr. Pierre-André de Chalendar, in respect of 2017. Voting is open. Voting is closed. The resolution has been adopted at 94.07%. Seventh resolution, approval of the compensation policy of the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer for 2018. Voting is open. Voting is closed.
The resolution has been adopted at 87.16%. Eighth resolution, approval of the commitments to pay compensation for loss of office and other benefits to Mr. Pierre-André de Chalendar, in the event that his term of office as Chairman and Chief Executive Officer is terminated under certain circumstances. Voting is open. Voting is closed. Sorry. Resolution is adopted at 93.18%. Ninth resolution, approval of the post-employment benefit obligations towards Mr. Pierre-André de Chalendar. Voting is open. Voting is closed. Resolution has been adopted at 94.03%. Tenth resolution, approval of the decision by Mr. Pierre-André de Chalendar, to have him be covered by the death, disability, and health insurance plans for employees of Compagnie de Saint-Gobain, in his capacity as an executive director without unemployment contract. The voting is open. Voting is closed. The resolution has been adopted at 99.85%.
Eleventh resolution, reappointment of KPMG Audit Firm as primary statutory auditor. Voting is open. Le voting is closed. The resolution has been adopted at 97.58%. 12th resolution, authorization given to the board of directors to trade in the company's shares. Voting is open. Le voting is closed. The resolution has been adopted at 98.93%. 13th resolution, we are in the extraordinary meeting. Delegation of authority granted to the board of directors to carry out equity or equity-linked securities issues without preferential subscription rights reserved for certain categories of beneficiaries up to a maximum nominal amount of EUR 880,000, excluding any applicable adjustment. Voting is open.
Le voting is closed.
Voting is closed. [Foreign language] at 97.46%. Fourteenth resolution, amendment to the bylaws relative to the number of directors representing employees at the company's board of directors. Voting is open. Le voting is closed. Voting is closed.
The resolution has been adopted at 90.52%. Now, following the vote on this resolution, I'd like to indicate that in light of our bylaws, it is the Group Works Council in France designating the two employee directors. The Group Works Council, at its most recent meeting, pending the voting of the resolution, which is why I'm stating this now, to carry out a change in the employee directors. I would like to, on behalf of the board, on your behalf, as we heard earlier from Mr. Sénard, how much we appreciate their work, to warmly thank Pascal and Madame Lestran, who were very active members, important members of the board of directors over the past four years. I'd like to welcome at the next board of directors meeting that will be convened Ms. Lydie Cortes and Mr. Philippe Thibaudet, who will be replacing them.
I'd like to take advantage of this opportunity to let them know that the shareholders asked a question about the presence of women at the board of directors. At its next meeting, we'll have one additional female member. Thanks to the arrival of Ms. Cortes. Thank you very much. [Foreign language] . 15th resolution, powers to carry out formalities. Voting is open. Voting is closed. Voting is closed. The agenda, or rather, the resolution has been adopted at 99.82%. Sorry, I was a bit early. We therefore have covered all of the items on the agenda. I hereby declare that we are concluding our meeting at 6:00 P.M. Our next meeting will be held on Thursday, June 6, 2019. Please use the website to enable us to carry out all of the necessary consultation of documents, proxy instructions, etc.
By using electronic versions, we can reduce our use of paper being sent out to the shareholders and protect the environment. I'd like to invite you all to a cocktail in the reception area. As you leave the room, please turn in your devices as well as your headsets. Thank you.