Welcome to the ordinary annual general meeting of Beiersdorf AG. Next to me on the stage are the executive board, with the chairman of the executive board, Mr. Vincent Warnery. Next to him, Mr. Yul, Ms. Grita Loebsack . Next to one another, Mr. Rasquinet, Mr. Parkan, Mr. Mirt, and Mr. Ingelfinger. Along with that, our notary, Dr. Bayer. Unfortunately, Ms. Hermann is in quarantine, but she is cut in. We wish her all the best. All the best to you, Ms. Hermann. The members of the supervisory board are also cut in, the names of whom you see behind me. After careful consideration for everyone's safety, the executive board and supervisory board have decided to once again hold the annual general meeting in virtual form. We think this is a good idea in the times given.
We are here in the auditorium of the Beiersdorf Skin Research Center in Hamburg Eimsbüttel, 50 meters next to the construction site of the new main building on this side on the Beiersdorf campus on Troplowitzstraße, which will soon be renamed into Beiersdorf-Straße. As in the previous two annual general meetings and more than ever, we are doing all we can to ensure that you can exercise your rights in the best possible way within the scope of what is permitted by law and what is technically feasible.
The shareholders' statutory rights have been extended to include the opportunity to ask questions during the annual general meeting that relate to the agenda, which means that all registered shareholders could submit questions before the annual general meeting, and they can also do so during the annual general meeting via the AGM system, regardless of whether they asked questions earlier on. The AGM system will be open for this, beginning with Mr. Warnery's report. It is expected to close shortly before the executive board has answered the questions submitted in advance. We will also endeavor to answer all questions submitted during the annual general meeting. In the interest of an efficient meeting, I reserve the right to reasonably restrict the amount of time for answering questions, to limit the number of questions to be answered, or to combine questions.
Comments and video statements which otherwise would have been placed on the website have not been received prior to the annual general meeting. The speech manuscript from Mr. Vincent Warnery was available on the website beginning April 8, 2022, and a recording of the speech is also available after the annual general meeting. The entire annual general meeting can be followed by the public on the Internet via live stream. The annual general meeting was convened in the Bundesanzeiger, the Federal Gazette, on March 1, 2022. Proposed resolutions and necessary documents have since been available on the company's website. The disclosure duties under Section 125 of the German Stock Corporation Act have duly been observed. I note for the record that the annual general meeting was convened in accordance with the statutory requirements and the requirements of the company's articles.
No supplementary motions have been received. Two countermotions were immediately published on the company's website. Mr. Mueller requests that approval of the actions of the members of the Executive Board and Supervisory Board be denied. I will come back to this later on. After the reports of the Executive Board and the Supervisory Board, we will answer the questions you submitted in advance of the annual general meeting. After Mr. Warnery's report, you will be able to submit additional questions via the AGM system. This option is expected to end when the questions you asked previously have been answered. After answering the questions submitted in advance of the annual general meeting, we will vote on the items, but you're not allowed to make any video and audio recordings of the annual general meeting.
You could cast your vote by absentee voting or digitally using the annual general system, or to grant a proxy and issue instructions to the voting representative appointed by the company. You have this digital option until the end of today's voting. If necessary, you can still change or revoke your absentee votings or proxy with instructions until the end of the respective voting. Please cast your respective voting and castings as early as possible via the AGM system. You can amend that or revoke that later on. We will work by addition procedure, which means we add and count all yes and no votes. You will also have to cast an active vote if you wish to vote in favor. Shareholders who have exercised their right to vote can also use the AGM system to object to a resolution of the annual meeting.
The voting procedure and count of the votes will be supervised by the notary, who has previously inspected the technical arrangements for this. We now open the agenda. The opportunity to submit questions to the AGM using the AGM system is now open to you. Agenda item, presentation of the adopted annual financial statements of Beiersdorf Aktiengesellschaft and the approved consolidated financial statements together with the combined management report of Beiersdorf Aktiengesellschaft and the group for the fiscal year 2021, the report of the supervisory board and the explanatory report by the executive board on the information provided in accordance with sections 289a, 315a of the German Stock Corporation Act.
Commercial Code. Mr. Warnery will now give an overview of the company's development in 2021, and report on the corporate strategy, combined with an outlook for the very challenging year 2022.
Dear shareholders, and good morning, ladies and gentlemen. Also from my side, and on behalf of the board, I would like to welcome you to our AGM 2022. Before starting with my presentation, I would like to say a few words about the situation, the shocking situation in Ukraine. Every day, we get to see horrible images and reports from this arena of war, about people who have to flee their home country, which is very hard to bear. Of course, in these dramatic times, we help as much as we can, because this is part of our company culture.
Among other things, at the beginning of March, we set up an ad hoc aid program to the tune of EUR 2 million. Recipients of this donation were the German Red Cross and CARE Germany. On top of that, we also donated hundreds of thousands of products to aid organizations in Germany. Of course, we do everything in our power in order to support our employees and their families in Ukraine. We are in close contact with them and help wherever it's possible, because they are threatened. Their life is threatened. On top of that, of course, we also have many members of Beiersdorf who show direct commitment, especially in Poland and Germany. They accept people into their homes, they support them and show their solidarity. This is very touching to me.
At the same time, I am very proud that Beiersdorf has these kinds of employees, who in difficult times, stand together closely. We would like to thank all of you most cordially for this. At the beginning of March, we significantly reduced our commitment in Russia and ended all marketing activities. For the time being, Russian consumers will only be able to buy basic, skincare and personal care products like shower gel, deo, deodorant or shampoo. We will closely monitor the situation in the future as well. Ladies and gentlemen, let us now take a look back at the year that has passed. Now, this segue is, of course, not easy for me to make, but still, I would like to take a look back on the past year and, try and make a forecast with a view to the current fiscal year.
In summary, we can say that 2021 was a very successful year for Beiersdorf. We were able to increase the profitability of the group and, achieve important milestones of our strategy, C.A.R.E.+. Now an overview of the highlights. Our turnover at the group level in 2021 organically grew by 9.7%. In spite of the COVID-19 pandemic, this means that we are 3.2% above the level of 2019, that is, before the crisis. What is also very positive, is that we managed to gain more market shares at the global scale. The operative result, without special effects, increased to EUR 993 million. At the EBIT return on sales, without special effects, was at 13%. Our gross margins are more or less stable.
That is a huge success because raw materials and logistics costs were significantly increased in 2021. In the company area Consumer, our turnover organically grew by 8.8%. The e-commerce business represents a significant contribution in this respect. It grew by 32%, and now accounts for more than 10% of the overall turnover. This growth is especially important and also very pleasing to us in the area of face care. Here, over the past two years, we grew 10 times as quickly and is paying off. You can see that now in a brief video. Ladies and gentlemen, as you can see in the implementation of our strategy C.A.R.E.+, we managed to achieve important milestones, and in the following, I would like to introduce the most important ones to you. Let's start with our strategic focal point, Win with Skin Care.
It is our approach to really offer important innovations with a real added value into the markets across all regions and brands. Let's take a first look at our brand icon. NIVEA today is one of the brands that is growing fastest in the mass market for face care. The revenue with NIVEA in 2021 grew by 5.5%. New products significantly contributed to this growth. This is especially true for our innovation NIVEA LUMINOUS630 . It contains the in-house development, the highly effective skincare active ingredient LUMINOUS630, which reduces pigmentation and old age discolorations. Last year, we rolled out this care series and complemented it with other categories. It's become one of the global success stories in the recent time.
The past business year was also very successful for our luxury skin care brand, La Prairie. After a difficult year 2020, the turnover last year grew by more than 20%, and there are many reasons for this outstanding success. First of all, we consistently pursued our luxury strategy and did away with pricing promotions in China. We focused on a distribution through boutiques, and that is why the turnover at the Chinese mainland grew disproportionately. Another reason is that the travel retail business last year showed signs of recuperation. In China, the turnover in our travel retail business grew by 73% compared to 2019, and it doubled compared to 2020. This growth was or rather is to be found especially in the Chinese province Hainan.
For our dermo-cosmetic brands, Eucerin and Aquaphor, it was also a very good business year. The turnover in the area of the Derma organically grew by 19.5%. This is due especially to the core markets, Germany and the United States, as well as the new markets in Latin America and China. The area Derma, by the way, is also the area that has the largest share and the largest growth in the field of e-commerce. The turnover with our brands Hansaplast and Elastoplast also grew by 13.7%, which is strong growth. Two effects contributed to this. On the one hand, the successful new issue of our plaster strips at the beginning of this year, and on the other hand, there is the recuperation effect in the category sports.
In summary, we can say that we managed to secure outstanding market positions for our company, and we are in a very good position for the future. Ladies and gentlemen, we want to tap into further growth potentials. Here, we are focusing on markets and business areas where we are not yet present or where we want to further expand our presence, so-called white spots. For that, we expanded our research and development network in 2021. In New Jersey, U.S., we set up a state-of-the-art innovation center. It is our first global center of competency for sun care and sunscreen products outside of Hamburg. The United States are the largest market in the world for sunscreen products, and that is why we are convinced that this new innovation center will significantly contribute to the growth of our business in this region.
Now, the potentials of the market in the United States become apparent if you look at the outstanding results in Coppertone, the brand that we acquired two years ago. In 2021, we managed to finalize the integration of the brand and to introduce new products into the market, and the result is a strong double-digit organic turnover growth. Coppertone, for the first time since 2012, could actually gain market shares again. Now, this year, we want to build upon this success. We have reoriented the portfolio. We've got innovative products in the categories family and sport that we developed. We have revamped the packages, and we also expanded our digital consumer communication. On top of that, we also want to use our R&D skills for other brands as well. One example for this is Eucerin Sun that we have now introduced in the U.S. market.
Here we benefit from the knowhow of our Coppertone business. An important part of our global R&D network is our innovation center in Shanghai that was opened in 2020. In China, we see the largest growth potential in face care because China is the largest face care market in the world. In the premium segment with La Prairie and in the Derma area with Eucerin, we are already represented, and that rather successfully. We're currently working on getting our patented skincare active ingredient against hyperpigmentation registered in China as well, because right now our Eucerin and NIVEA products with the active ingredient Luminous 630 can only be ordered through a specific e-commerce channel. We are receiving feedback that is so positive from our consumers that we want to expand our distribution.
As soon as we got the registration, we thus expect dynamic growth. The digitization in our company and in our business plays an important role when it comes to opening up new growth potentials. Our e-commerce business is growing from year to year. With our digital strategy, we're pursuing the objective to have an increasingly targeted communication with our consumers, and that means we want to be where our consumers are in the digital world. That is why we are making major investments in digital media, and we try to personalize our approach through the use of so-called precision marketing tools. That allows us to fulfill individual wishes and desires of our consumers and at the same time increasing the effectiveness of our marketing activities. An example here is the specific dynamic messaging that we developed in 2021 for NIVEA Sun.
Based on weather data and the personal use behavior, we inform our consumers not just about the right sunscreen product, but we also combine this information with the right product offer. With more than 200 dynamic precision marketing ads over the last summer, for example, we managed to reach out to 16 million consumers in Great Britain and in Germany. In the United States, we're making increasing use of the social media for our communication, and we managed to also make some very good experiences in our cooperation with influencers, for example, on TikTok. In the future, social platforms will be the subject of our monitoring activities, and we will go on investing in them. Now, growth and innovation are not possible without investments. That is why it is important to work in a highly efficient manner.
One of the most important pillars of our strategy C.A.R.E.+ is, thus, the growth through increased productivity. A very good example for this is our new production plant in Leipzig. We're investing EUR 220 million in order to set up a sustainable, highly efficient infrastructure in Leipzig that is also viable in the future. There, every year, up to 450 million SKUs are supposed to be manufactured, especially deodorants, hairsprays, and shaving foams. What is important to us is that the capacities can be expanded flexibly if the market and the business developments change. In September 2021, we laid the foundation stone for this new plant, and production is supposed to be taken up towards the end of this year. Right next to this new plant, we want to set up state-of-the-art logistics center.
For this, we're investing another EUR 170 million. With this, we're creating the preconditions for the best possible service for our trade partners and the pharmacy wholesale. On top of that, we're investing at the global level into the expansion of our production plants, especially in, for example, in Poland and in Mexico. New production lines and modern technology are the very foundation for our future growth. Ladies and gentlemen, we Care Beyond Skin. This conviction was very much in the focus of our activities in this past business year as well. Care Beyond Skin is supposed to express what Beiersdorf actually stands for. Our care and our concern goes beyond our core skill set that is skin care. We want to make a real contribution for people, for society, and for our planet.
In 2021, we were still experiencing the pandemic, which characterized everything. In this context, we also significantly expanded our offers in the area of healthcare management. Part of this was also the setting up of a corona vaccination center. This was an offer that was gladly used by many employees, their family members, and people from the neighborhood, but also by schools. On top of that, we carried on with our Corona aid program that we started in 2020. The objective is to support people in regions and countries that were especially hard hit by the pandemic and its effects. Apart from ad hoc aid, we also are committed to our partnerships with NGOs that support people locally as part of our 10 projects in Africa and Latin America. Last year, we also managed to make major progress in the area of sustainability.
Our sustainability report has just been published and offers comprehensive information on this topic, which is why I will only mention a few highlights here. We were able to reduce our CO₂ emissions by 12.7% in absolute terms and compared to 2018 in spite of our growth. That is why we can say that we are on the right track to achieve our ambitious climate goals until 2025. All of our NIVEA products have been produced without microplastics since the end of 2021, which is another major success. Last year, we also introduced our first climate neutralized NIVEA products into the market. On top of that, we are one of the first companies in our industry to use recycled aluminum for our aerosol products as well, which also is an important contribution to lowering our CO₂ footprint.
Our plant in Berlin has been producing at an almost climate neutral level since January 2022 and is also the first plant that we're operating using biogas. Until 2030, we want to operate all of our plants in a climate neutral fashion. In 2020, we started to also supply palm oil-based derivatives from sustainable sources to 100%. We've got more information about our sustainability efforts in this clip.
See, we all know that. We all see that. We just have to watch TV, to walk in the street to understand that it's an urgency, and that the beautiful agreement of Paris, you know, at the COP, is something we have to deliver, absolutely. The purpose of Biotherm is about Care Beyond Skin. This is the fact that, yes, we are a skincare company and everything we are doing is around skin, but we go beyond skin. In R&D, we are constantly working on integrating sustainability in all our newly developed products. It also applies when we are looking into transforming and evolving our existing products.
We want to reduce this carbon footprint by transforming everything, transforming our way of producing, transforming our packaging with more recycled content, transforming our formulations with more sustainable ingredients, and transforming the entire supply chain to have a minimum carbon footprint at the end of this process. This is the job of a company like ours to invest in the future, to put the right ambition and the right commitment into making of the planet a better place.
Ladies and gentlemen, it was not just a successful year for our consumer business. Tesa also showed a positive development and was at levels that are higher than before the crisis. This growth was driven especially by the consumer electronics business in Asia and the global recuperation of the automotive industries. The segment tesa Industry achieved an additional growth of 16.6%. Now, this part is strongly geared towards project business with key account customers. In order to remain competitive in this area, we will try to remain as innovative as before. When it comes to the gluing of smartphone covers, we are actually in a top position, and that is a position that we want to defend over next year as well.
The business area of trade markets of tesa had an overall growth of 9.1% at the end of the year, and the business area of general industrial markets also showed a positive development over the course of the year. The area of consumer and craftsman and its e-commerce business also made a positive contribution. After two years of growth, consecutive years of growth in the consumer business, we want to strengthen our portfolio and the business with our consumers. For the business with our end customers, we set up a new management unit, and Andreas Maack has become a new member of the Executive Board here at tesa. We want to also expand our online presence on the platforms of third-party providers as well as in our own D2C shop, which picked up operation last year in Germany.
Ladies and gentlemen, I would now like to take a brief look at the ongoing business year. We've got many plans, but I would like to limit my explanations to two very important strategic plans. First of all, let's talk about our new brand, Chantecaille. You might have read in the media that at the beginning of this year, we acquired the company Chantecaille Beauté. Chantecaille was founded in 1997, has its headquarters in New York, and is represented all over the world and with a very strong presence in North America and Asia. This company offers more than 100 innovative skincare, cosmetics, and perfumed products that are based on plant ingredients. This company is placing great importance on sustainability and philanthropy. For us, the acquisition of Chantecaille is another important milestone when it comes to implementing our strategy, C.A.R.E.+.
Because Chantecaille is complementing our selective skincare offer in an ideal fashion. With Chantecaille, we want to go on growing, especially in the markets in North America, Asia, and here in particular in China and South Korea, because La Prairie is positioned as a luxury brand, but Chantecaille offers products to consumers in the prestige cosmetics area. That means that Chantecaille is directed to a broader-based consumer group. Chantecaille will be a complementary selective brand in our consumer area. On top of that, we want to establish NIVEA or rather lead NIVEA as one of the globally leading skincare brands into an even more successful future. NIVEA is going to be more global, more digital, and even more sustainable.
In order to achieve this objective, we will pursue the same approach that we've used for Eucerin, Hansaplast, and La Prairie successfully in the past. Over these past years, we managed to implement a new operating model that helps to strengthen the global presence of these brands, and that means that the development and the marketing of successful product innovations like Thiamidol could make major progress. On top of that, our brands have been better positioned, both online and offline, and the result is a double-digit growth, significantly increased the turnover by an organic 10.3%. That means that we were above the most recent expectations of the capital market, as you could also read in the report issued last week. In the company area Consumer, the turnover in the first quarter increased organically by 11.6%.
The tesa area could achieve a turnover growth of an organic 5.1%. Because of the volatile market environment, the turnover forecast for Consumer against the backdrop of the overall year 2022 remains unchanged. Beiersdorf would expect a turnover growth in the middle single-digit area for Consumer. Right now, there are uncertainties because of the war in Ukraine, the lockdowns in China, and the inflationary pressure on raw materials and logistics costs, but we've already started to take measures in order to buffer this cost pressure. Ladies and gentlemen, these are undoubtedly moving times, but we are in a very good position. In all the product categories and all the markets, we have numerous opportunities for growth. Our strategy, C.A.R.E.+, helped us to set the right tracks, and our investments are now paying off.
Our financial stability offers us enough leeway for flexibility. An engine of this success is to be found in our excellent and highly motivated team. The commitment of every single one of our employees is exceptional and deserves our utmost respect, which is why I would like to expressly thank our more than 20,000 employees. Of course, I would also like to thank you, shareholders, for your support, for your trust, and for your loyalty. Stay safe and healthy.
Thank you, Mr. Warnery. Let us now proceed to the report of the supervisory board, which is set out on pages 32-34 of the annual report. In 2021, the supervisory board performed its duty in accordance with the law, the articles of association, the corporate governance code, and its bylaws. The full supervisory board met 10 times, the presiding committee 5 times, the audit committee 8 times, the finance committee 4 times, and the personnel committee 3 times. There were no meetings of the nominating committee and mediation committee in 2021 again. The committees prepared the resolutions for the meetings of the supervisory board and made decisions in individual cases on its behalf. The chairs of the committees reported regularly and in detail to the supervisory board on the work performed in the committees.
The regular items of the agenda for the meetings of the supervisory board included the company's strategic orientation, its business performance, interim financial statements, compliance, executive board matters, and important individual business transactions. Proposals for supervisory board resolutions were carefully examined and discussed. As a rule, all the members of the executive board attended the meetings of the supervisory board. However, a part of each meeting was held only with the members of the supervisory board. At the beginning of the year, the supervisory board primarily dealt with the 2020 annual financial statements. Towards the middle of the year, primarily dealt with the composition of the executive board and the company's strategic orientation, and at the end of the year with the planning for 2022. An important topic throughout the fiscal year was the global COVID-19 pandemic and its effects on the company, its employees, and its clients.
Now, the war in Ukraine has become a major focus, especially because of our employees and customers and their families in Ukraine, Russia, and neighboring countries. Mr. Vincent Warnery reported on this. The Supervisory Board has had several detailed discussions regarding the humanitarian and business measures of Beiersdorf from a fundamental perspective in the Supervisory Board and with the executive and employees and others. The Supervisory Board, and I believe the shareholders, fully support those measures. Beiersdorf has incisive experience for more than 100 years and regarding wars which had direct repercussions until at least the mid-1990s and indirect effects lasting until today. Caring for skin and for people, that is what Beiersdorf has always stood for together with its companies and families.
In Ukraine and elsewhere for almost 150 years, even before Care Beyond Skin, and now more than ever, care for skin and beyond. Let us proceed to the remuneration report by the Executive Board and the Supervisory Board, which can be found in the annex 2 agenda item 6 and in the 2021 annual report. The annual general meeting is required to vote annually on the remuneration report. The 2021 annual general meeting approved the remuneration system for the Executive Board and the Supervisory Board. The remuneration report explains the structure and amount of remuneration paid to members of the Executive Board and Supervisory Board of the AG in the fiscal year in accordance with SRD II. It also provides further information, in particular, on the remuneration granted and owed in 2021 and the remuneration earned by the Executive Board for 2021.
For comparison, you have tables which follow the old version of the German Corporate Governance Code. The auditor has examined in detail whether information given was provided in accordance with Article 162, paragraph 1 and 2 of the German Stock Corporation Act, and confirmed this without qualification. The auditor's report is attached to the remuneration report in the agenda for the AGM. Now, on the changes in the composition of the executive board and the supervisory board. Mr. Vincent Warnery, to our delight, took over as chairman of the executive board from Mr. Stefan De Loecker as of May 1, 2021. Mr. de Loecker left the executive board by amicable agreement effective June 30, 2021. Beiersdorf thanks both gentlemen for an outstanding quick transition in the chairmanship without any frictions. Beiersdorf thanks Mr.
De Loecker, for his outstanding contribution to the strategic move towards a more sustainable and digital skincare around the world, a result of greater development and diversity of people at Beiersdorf. Beiersdorf is indebted to Mr. De Loecker for the development of the emerging markets business area and team. This has given Beiersdorf two geographically strong legs to stand on today. Thank you, Mr. De Loecker, for establishing this foundation. Thank you, Mr. Mirt, for the steady and strong expansion. Mr. De Loecker and Mr. Warnery developed the C.A.R.E.+ strategy together with the Executive Board and the Supervisory Board. Vincent Warnery exemplified the strategy years earlier amid difficult beginnings in his highly successful Executive Board division beyond that team of Hansaplast, La Prairie, and he continues to exemplify C.A.R.E.+ today as Chairman of the Executive Board. Continuation requires consistency and change.
Thus, together with many colleagues, Mr. Vincent Warnery set Derma on its current path to success. Beiersdorf owes the preservation of Eucerin's Derma roots to Karin Hannich, who joined Beiersdorf from the outside. In this way, one builds on the work of another together with others by changing it to reflect the times at hand. Now, Ms. Grita Loebsack returned to Germany from abroad, and in January 2022, she assumed the global responsibility for our iconic brand and its continuing growth into the future. Ms. Loebsack was born in Berlin.
She grew up very internationally, mostly abroad, with a bachelor's degree from the London School of Economics and an MBA of INSEAD. Her broad and deep management experience is rooted in her core expertise in skincare, combined with global brand management. She began at Unilever in 2012 and started in L'Oréal in 1996 and was most recently a market leader at Essity. Ms. Loebsack .
Herzlichen Dank, Herr Pöllath. Guten Tag, sehr geehrte Aktionärinnen und sehr geehrte Aktionäre, meine Damen und Herren der Beiersdorf-Familie. Wie Herr Pöllath Ihnen gerade verriet, ist es für mich eine doppelte Rückkehr: Rückkehr nach Deutschland und in die Hautpflege zurück, in der ich fast zwanzig Jahre in anderen europäischen Unternehmen verbracht habe. Ich bin stolz, heute eine der schönsten Marken führen zu dürfen. Eine Marke, die ikonisch ist, und sehe auch meine Verantwortung sehr bewusst. Diese Marke auch für die nächsten Generationen weiterhin attraktiv zu machen. Wir haben noch großes Potenzial. Mir ist die Wichtigkeit dieser Aufgabe sehr bewusst. Ich danke dem Aufsichtsrat für ihr Vertrauen und meinen Kollegen und Kolleginnen aus dem Vorstand und der ganzen Beiersdorf-Familie. Vielen Dank. Frau Loebsack, Sie haben trotz Ihrer Jugend jahrzehntelang bewiesen, dass Sie- [Foreign language]
Ms. Loebsack, in spite of your youth, you have proven that you can do skin care. Now, the lifelong work of modern Beiersdorf legends such as Mr. Wöbcke, Mr. Wörfer, Mr. Kunisch, and others is now in your hands. Continue to build on it, also in a digital manner now. All the best to you and your team, so that you can do this and change things and move ahead. Best wishes to your family in Hamburg and Paris.
Thank you so much. As of July 1, 2021, Mr. Patrick Rasquinet took over Pharmacy and Selective. That's Derma, Plaster, and La Prairie, and newly acquired by and with him, Chantecaille. Beiersdorf owes a great deal to Mr. Rasquinet, first for many years with NIVEA, especially in Korea, Brazil, Russia, and then for a decade at the helm of La Prairie, and this is at the head of skincare expertise and growth of business earnings, especially in China and overseas. Mr. Rasquinet perfectly represents the Beiersdorf personnel behind the C.A.R.E.+ strategy, demonstrating diversity, deep internal roots, and a real life out there in the world. Mr. Rasquinet?
Thank you very much, Mr. Pöllath, for your kind words of introduction. Dear shareholders, I am very pleased to participate in this AGM of Beiersdorf, which is a first for me. Mr. Pöllath just mentioned that I've been a true member of the Beiersdorf family for 30 years, holding different positions all across the globe. I worked for our wonderful brands, and that fills me with pride. It is also an exceptional honor for me to be part of this team.
In my last position, I was responsible for the La Prairie business as a CEO for more than 11 years. Now, a few words about my personal life. I'm married, and I am the father of two grown-up children. My wife and I are both very happy to be able to live and have our new home in the city of Hamburg. I would like to thank all of you for your attention. Herr Rasquinet, danke schön.
Thank you very much, Mr. Rasquinet. Now, you, to the good fortune of Beiersdorf, you have proven that blue blood can help other brands thrive from their own roots, as is the case in La Prairie, Swiss American roots there, and different roots at others, German, Swiss, for example, in Eucerin. As a Belgian Beiersdorfer, I know that you exemplify this respect for powerful diversity also in your new area of responsibility. Thank you for your continuing effort to tackle new challenges. All the best to you, your family, and your team. Now, Mr. Oswald Barckhahn started at Beiersdorf on October 15, 2021, initially taking over North American business from Mr. Wallner. On January 1, 2022, he assumed the executive board responsibility for Europe from Mr. Ingelfinger. Mr. Barckhahn also is returning to Germany from abroad.
Born in Santiago de Chile, he studied business administration in Regensburg and Zurich. Beginning in 1994, he led key marketing in Europe and Latin America at Procter & Gamble. Beginning in 2003, he was at PepsiCo in Mexico for Latin America and Germany, Switzerland, Austria, in Poland for Central Europe, and in the United States. Starting in 2016, he held the position of a President Europe, Head of Global Sales and Global e-commerce with Jacobs Douwe Egberts in Amsterdam. Mr. Barckhahn, please.
Thank you very much, Mr. Pöllath. Dear shareholders, it is a true pleasure for me to be here as the third of the new colleagues here on the executive board. I am particularly pleased to be part of the Beiersdorf family, and I have to admit that it's a comeback for me, because 1991, I used to work here as an intern in the tesa business unit. It really is a very, very pleasing experience to be again become part of the Beiersdorf family. There is so much that I value about this company, the people that I met, the incredible brand portfolio, as well as the culture and the values that we represent as a company.
Of course, it's going to be a true pleasure for me to also work together with my colleagues on the board and to help guide this company into the future, which is going to motivate me a lot. I've been working in the consumer goods business for 28 years, and as you mentioned, I've worked with Procter & Gamble, PepsiCo, and Unilever, and both in Europe and North America and in Latin America. I am married. I don't have children, but 2 very charming cats, and I also love spending time with my friends and family, and I am a sports enthusiast. I'm looking forward to the cooperation with you over the next years, and thank you for your attention.
Thank you very much, Mr. Barckhahn. You're taking over our core business in Europe with the best prerequisites to expand our market leadership. The task in North America, which continues to be the most important consumer market of all. Thank you and all the best to you, your wife, and your family. All the best to your teams and in North America. Your predecessor as the head of Europe, Mr. Thomas Ingelfinger, will retire on the 30th of June, 2022 after decades of service in Beiersdorf. He lived his entire professional life, 36 years, for the success of Beiersdorf, especially of that of NIVEA, from marketing to sales.
As a young Beiersdorfer, he took over the British business when Mr. Wöbcke acquired it for Beiersdorf from Smith & Nephew, along with the NIVEA rights for the Commonwealth, one of the last major re-acquisitions of NIVEA after the expropriations of the last century. Mr. Ingelfinger represented NIVEA in Italy, Germany, in culture and in business. When he took over the Europe portfolio, he knew people and business from his own leadership work in every management unit in Birmingham, Paris, Rome, everywhere, of course, including Hamburg. Fortunately for Beiersdorf, we're not losing him to retirement completely, as he will continue to support Beiersdorf and tesa in important growth initiatives. Thank you, Mr. Ingelfinger. All the best to you, your wife, and your father and family on your future journey together. All the best to you, and thank you. Finally, this is the last annual general assembly for Mr. Liu.
He will continue to be with us until the end of the year. He will have been with us for a good decade. He is great as a person to trust with, and he has seen all the changes until to today's strategy and the composition of the Executive Board with a continuous and very independent attention towards bamboo and stainless steel. He has always been in very high esteem. Mr. Liu, your track record was unimaginable when you came in 1992, when you arrived here in Germany, not speaking German and being penniless. The 15 years in China were concluded by you. This is one part of the merits that you provided to Beiersdorf and for the new start for our future in China and everywhere. Thank you very much, Mr. Liu.
To you and your teams in Germany and China and globally, please express our regards to your wonderful family, to your parents in Shanghai. May you and all people in Shanghai have a safe time and get through this pandemic safely. There have been no changes to the composition of the supervisory board since the last annual general meeting. On behalf of everyone, the supervisory board would like to thank all employees and business partners. You coped well with the repercussions of the global crisis in the year 2020 and 2021 and laid the foundations for success amid the challenges facing us in 2022. In this difficult environment, we can see just how right and important the C.A.R.E.+ strategy is in helping the company to use resources responsibly in digital reality and in the responsible way of dealing with our resources to the benefit of all.
The supervisory board would like to thank all investors and consumers for their trust, support, and constructive criticism. Together, we make Beiersdorf even better and more successful. Much for the reports. Let us now look at the attendance. Of the 252 million company shares issued in total, 190,547,962 shares that corresponds to 57.61% of the share capital. In addition, 644,439 are represented in absentee votes corresponding to 0.26%. 75.86% of the share capital are represented at the annual general meeting.
Please bear in mind that the equity shares held by the company, the treasury shares, approximately 9.99% of the share capital have no participation and voting rights, and are therefore not represented at this AGM. I will announce the current status again at the time of voting. Ladies and gentlemen, let's now turn to the discussion of all items on today's agenda. First of all, we will answer the direct questions that have been posed to us before the AGM, and then I will answer on behalf of the supervisory board. You have the opportunity to ask additional questions, which will probably be given after the first set of questions has been answered. Five shareholders and representatives posed questions. Mr. Vincent Warnery will try to answer these questions in German. We know he can do this.
We trust that you will understand if he answers individual questions in English, which is the corporate language. Also, Mr. Mirt and Mr. Rasquinet will also answer in English. Simultaneous interpreters will translate the answers for you. Ms. Hermann will answer the questions by video because she's in quarantine, and we recorded this in advance due to the fact that she's in quarantine. Ms. Kruele. is at the speaking lectern here and will read out the questions you have submitted before the annual general meeting, each in blocks and arranged by topics.
Thank you very much, Mr. Pöllath. As you mentioned, I will begin with those questions that were posed to the executive board and start with Ukraine. Markus Neumann from SdK would like to know, in the opinion of the executive board as things stand today, which impact the current conflict in Ukraine is likely to have on the revenue on the one hand, and on procurement prices and production on the other. A similar question is asked by Dr. Steffen Kraus from the DSW. Will the war in Ukraine affect Beiersdorf's business? If so, how? Do you purchase raw materials from Ukraine or Russia? Will you have to adjust your business forecasts? Let me say that our thoughts are with the people in the crisis, and our highest priority is the safety and well-being of our employees in the region.
The direct financial impact we expect to only be minor. Russia and Ukraine taken together have a share of sales of less than 3% in consumer and less than 1% for tesa. The direct EBIT impact is considered to be not significant to our overall results, and on top of that, we don't have our own production facilities in those countries. Still, we expect an unfavorable effect on input costs, which will be triggered by this war. That is, energy costs, crude oil and other commodity prices will go up because of the tightening of supply, stockpiling or speculations. We are working to offset the rising input costs. A further escalation of the situation will also lead to stronger negative effects on our business.
The war between Russia and Ukraine will have an influence on our business and impact our business. As we already mentioned, the sales in these two countries made up less than 3% of consumer sales and less than 1% of tesa sales. The EBIT impact at group level is to be considered not significant. Indirect cost pressure from a further increase of input costs will be the main challenge for us. Our sourcing of raw materials from Ukraine and Russia is very limited, and we have no own factories in these countries, no production facilities. At this point in time, we don't see a reason to change our guidance due to the war.
Thank you very much. The next questions focus more on the business in Russia, and the question going to be answered by Mr. Warnery and Mr. Mirt. Dr. Kraus from the German Association for Private Investors would like to know, will the Russian business be terminated? What special write-downs may result? Matthias Gäbler would like to know, how high was the share of sales and earnings from Russia in the reporting year? Another question by Matthias Gäbler is, why do you not completely stop production and sales in Russia out of solidarity? As Beiersdorf products are not essential for survival, such as, for example, pharmaceuticals. Another question by Mr. Gäbler on the Russian business is, what role does the Russian market play in your medium and long-term planning?
Question on the Russian business. We have actually discontinued the business with the premium goods, and are only selling today in Russia only basic products for everyday needs. We have stopped all investment in marketing and promotions, and since the beginning of the war, we also have stopped the business for La Prairie and for tesa. We have also significantly reduced the NIVEA and Eucerin portfolio by around 70%, and at the present we see no reason for special write-downs in connection with this issue. In terms of the size of the business, the Russian business accounts for around 2% of our group sales and less than 0.4% of our EBIT. Thank you.
Our business activities in Russia were significantly reduced. Russia does not have any kind of significant influence on our profitability, and we are staying in Russia for three main reasons. First of all, we care for our employees, our local em ployees. Secondly, we want to also support essential consumer needs, and we want to serve people of all ages and nationalities with key products in skin and personal care. Here we are talking about basic supplies for the average Russian household. Thirdly, we want to minimize the risk to lose our brand rights, which is something that Beiersdorf has had to experience over a long and painful history. We will go on monitoring the situation very closely and evaluate all options on an ongoing basis. Beiersdorf is focusing on the employees in the region, and their safety is of the highest priority.
Russia remains the biggest country in Europe with a population of 150 million consumers, which have a long history and a clear preference for international brands. Currently, it is impossible to predict if and how Russia will recover after its invasion of the Ukraine, but nevertheless, the Russian market showed a strong resilience also in former times of crisis and to rebound. These economic aspects are also very important and are being taken into account, but the most important priority of ours is and remains the well-being of the people. Thank you very much. The next segment of questions is about market shares and competitors. Here, Markus Neumann from SdK would like to know, essential concern of Beiersdorf is to gain market shares, for all consumer brands on all continents, among others.
Unfortunately, the annual report lacks quantitative data on the level of market shares and their development in the year under review. How did the market shares of Eucerin, Aquaphor, Atrix, NIVEA, Coppertone, Labello, Hansaplast, Elastoplast, CURITAS, 8x4, Hidrofugal, Maestro, Florena, and La Prairie brands actually develop compared with the previous year? What specific market shares were achieved in which regional submarkets at the end of the reporting year? Please do not limit your answer to qualitative statements, but provide us with the corresponding values for the individual relevant submarkets.
Another question in this complex of questions is: How did the Beiersdorf group's direct competitors, for example, Avon, Colgate, Johnson & Johnson, L'Oréal, Henkel, Procter & Gamble, Unilever, perform in the two business segments in the year under review? To what extent, if any, does the executive board believe that their business development differs from that of the Beiersdorf group, and why? Mr. Vincent Warnery is going to answer these questions.
For competitive reasons, we cannot provide details on all the brands mentioned, but let's look at the most important development of our brands. First, NIVEA, especially the market share in the categories face, care, sun, men, and deo. Here we managed to gain market shares. Markets with strong market share gains were emerging markets like Brazil, South Africa, Mexico, Indonesia, and China, Chile. In Europe, we could gain market shares in half of the countries. Secondly, Derma. Market shares gained in almost all categories. Face, especially anti-age and even skin, body, sun, and restoring. Markets with strong market share gains were North America, Europe, that is Germany, Austria, Belgium, and Mexico.
In emerging markets, the market share performance was negative in Malaysia, South Africa, and Chile. Thirdly, Hansaplast. Strong market shares gains in 2021, further strengthening the top position. Markets with strong market share gains were Germany, U.K., France, and Southern Europe. Please understand that we are not commenting on competitors' performances and their activities. But generally, you will also find differences in results caused by different portfolio mixes from a regional, but also from a product portfolio perspective. Let me clearly say that we're very happy with our results in the year 2021 tesa was able to achieve a significant year 2021, and our consumer business in that area, we also continued to grow strongly. At the same time, we were able to keep our investments into the C.A.R.E.+ strategy on a very high level.
We are pleased to see that we achieved strong progress in our main strategy pillars. We were able to grow significantly in the face care business as well as in our online sales. Moreover, we have, thanks to a successful acquisition of Chantecaille, closed a major white spot. Now let's stay with questions from Markus Neumann from the SdK. Now, this is about the O.W.N. or growth markets. Mr. Markus Neumann would like to know in which regional markets the direct-to-consumer O.W.N. was newly introduced, and then, what is the status of product supply to customers, and how many customers were acquired in the year under review? And what is the customer feedback to date on this form of personalized skincare?
Another question by Mr. Hermann. In which white spots, that is, emerging markets, new business areas, were newly developed by the group in both business segments during the reporting year. O.W.N. was launched in four countries, Germany, Netherlands, Denmark, Sweden. The overall volume so far has been low. Until today, we are still below our expectations. The launch of a personalized skincare products is rather complex, especially the combination with an unknown new brand brings more disadvantages than expected. Despite the lower volumes, the consumers we could reach gave us the feedback that they seem to like our new products and the formulations. With the turnaround of Coppertone in the United States, we successfully managed to close a white spot. Based on this success, we also pushed ahead with the next white spot development, which is the expansion of the Eucerin range to include some products in the USA.
Another white spot is the Chinese market. With specialized innovation teams for the Chinese market in our innovation center in Shanghai, we are positioning ourselves for the strategically important premium skincare sector in China. We're already very successful there with La Prairie. The Eucerin online-only launch in 2019 continues to show strong progress, and in the final step, we also want to establish NIVEA in the premium face care segment as well. In the Derma business, apart from China, Brazil is an important white spot. Here, we achieved strong sales growth and also gained significant market shares. Last but not least, we were able to close a large white spot through our Chantecaille acquisition.
Between the Eucerin and La Prairie price ranges, we previously had no products in our portfolio, but now we can close this gap and are pleased that Chantecaille also covers the white spots USA, China, and online. The next question by Markus Neumann now looks at research and development. In the research and development section of the annual report, you report on the streamlining of the global patent portfolio, which at the end of the year under review had 1,760 active patents instead of 2,663. What are the details of this streamlining? This question will also be answered by Mr. Vincent Warnery.
Now, last year, we conducted a comprehensive strategic analysis of our patent portfolio and focused our patents to primarily protect our innovations in key regions like Europe, the United States, and China. Non-use patents were discontinued. As an example, patents on shavers were either discontinued or transferred to cooperation partners.
OSCAR&PAUL. The next set of questions relates to OSCAR&PAUL . Markus Neumann wants to know, relating to the OSCAR&PAUL Venture Capital Fund, what amounts of the original EUR 50 million have been invested in which companies to date? How have the investments made developed up to the date of today's annual general meeting? Dr. Strauss wants to know, how did the OSCAR&PAUL Venture Capital Fund develop in 2021? Which activities were developed? What investments were made? Astrid Hermann will answer this question.
The OSCAR&PAUL Venture Capital Fund currently holds direct stakes in five start-ups, S-Biomedic, Salvalco, Routinely, LYCL, and dermanostic. In addition, we are invested in three venture capital funds. Overall, the investments have developed well. Our venture capital investment always are accompanied with close strategic cooperation, which is a significant value driver. For example, in 2021, as part of Beiersdorf's sustainability strategy, the NIVEA EcoRefill was launched based on a technology from our venture capital investments by OSCAR&PAUL . In the area of digitization, we cooperated successfully between UserIn and dermanostic, which is a digital dermatology practice. The second question also related to the OSCAR&PAUL Venture Capital Fund. I had already explained that it has developed well and has really helped us to gain an early access to new technologies and business models in important areas of innovation, such as sustainability or digital health. Thank you.
The next set of questions relates to tesa, and Markus Neumann would like to know, relating to tesa Direct Industries, what share of sales in millions of euros did the group generate in the respective sub-areas, consumer electronics, automotive and electrical systems, printing and paper, building industry, pharmaceuticals in the year? What were the reasons for the sale of tesa scribos to the Gie secke+Devrient group? The next question is on tesa. We are happy to mention the business units in direct industries. Consumer electronics is the biggest area. Then we have automotive, and then in descending order, print and paper, electrical systems, building industry, and pharma. The question about Scribos. Tesa scribos went on the market twenty years ago with an innovative anti-counterfeiting adhesive films, and it has now become a market-leading digital platform for brand protection.
We do not view the business model of scribos as part of the future tesa strategy. In order to enable the successful start-up and its employees to take the next development step, tesa SE has sold scribos to the Giesecke+Devrient Group with effect on 1 September 2021. Giesecke+Devrient Group is one of the world's leading companies in the area of banknotes and documents. The solutions of scribos ideally complement theirs, of course, as a leading provider of security solutions. The next question relates to financial positions. According to the annual report, special items are non-recurring, non-operating business transactions. Does this mean that these effects may not occur in two consecutive financial years? If not, what is the non-recurring nature?
Do restructuring expenses, the supply chain, EUR 37 million, which occur regularly in those companies, still belong to the category of special or one-time items? Or are they not rather expenses from normal business operations? Why are expenses from the Care Beyond Skin program, like donations amounting to EUR 6 million, special expenses in this sense? Another question of Mr. Neumann on that. In the reporting year, the financial result was significantly more negative than in the previous year at -EUR 26 million as a result of impairment losses on financial assets. What were the reasons for the losses? The question on securities amounting to EUR 4.553 billion. What is the group's investment strategy for securities?
At the end of the fiscal year, what proportion of the securities portfolio was invested in government sovereign bonds, corporate bonds, commercial papers, bond funds, equity funds, and direct equity investments? Were there any interest-bearing securities in the securities portfolio at the end of the fiscal year that did not have an investment-grade rating? And if so, to what extent, and why was this the case? What income was generated from the securities assets in the reporting year after deduction of expenses amounting to what level? What was the net investment income from securities investments in the reporting year, including hidden reserves in the securities portfolio? How does the Executive Board assess the investment performance achieved? Now, when it comes to special effects, the uniqueness does not relate to the calendar year.
For the COVID program, which amounts to 3-4 years, and otherwise, when we have donations, normally they are part of EBIT. Same thing for the restructurings in supply chain. Adjustments that are very big and one-time are in special items. Smaller and recurring adjustments are registered in the amended EBIT. When it comes to the impairment of financial assets, yes, there were impairments on financial assets from write-down related to more yield-oriented portfolio elements and from foreign currency effects. The underlying financial investments were largely liquidated in the course of 2021. Further questions on securities. Our securities portfolio contains 99% corporate bonds and 1% sovereign bonds. All securities are investment grade. Shares or equities are not part of this low-risk and very liquid portfolio.
The main objective of a securities investment is to be able to provide short-term cash for operational investments and acquisitions. In 2021, interest income from securities was generated amounting to EUR 19 million.
On top of that, we had a net income amounting to EUR 1.6 million from small disposals before maturities. These amounts were offset by the reported impairment losses on financial investments. The net result from 2021 from financial investments stays behind our expectations. We are confident that in the year 2021, we will again be able to generate adequate income from securities investments in line with the development of the financial markets. The next aspect is energy. What was the electricity consumption in gigawatt- or terawatt-hours and on average, the cost per kilowatt hour of the company and of the German subsidiaries in the past fiscal year? By how much have your electricity costs increased from January 1, 2022? Or to what extent and for how long have you hedged energy prices?
What additional financial burden will this result in for you, for the company, and for the German subsidiaries in the current fiscal year if electricity consumption remains unchanged? How will you compensate for this? A similar question: To what extent was it possible to generate the energy required by the group itself in the reporting year? To what extent and at what cost was energy purchased from third parties? Which energy sources purchased from third parties accounted for which expenses, and how did these develop compared to the previous year, and why? Another question: How many square meters of roof space does the company have in Germany alone that would be suitable for the installation of a photovoltaic system? What are your plans for the current fiscal year? What is your most important goal in terms of sustainability? Ms. Tilch will answer these questions.
First of all, the question by Mr. Gäbler. In 2021, the Beiersdorf AG had a total electricity demand of 12.5 GWh, while our German production sites, which are our own affiliates, had an electricity demand of 31.5 GWh. On average, the electricity costs of the German affiliates of the consumer segment, including taxes and levies, amounted to approximately EUR 0.17 per kWh. For Beiersdorf AG and the German affiliates of the consumer segment, we already covered the electricity requirements for 2022 in full in autumn 2021. Prices have increased by approximately EUR 0.03, or 3 cents per kWh. If energy consumption remained the same, this would result in an additional cost of approximately EUR 1.3 million.
Tesa SE and its German locations consumed 90.3, meaning, 61.4 GWh, of which 20 GWh were bought externally. The average price per kWh, including levies and taxes in the business year, tesa SE was at EUR 0.0175 , and this will increase by EUR 0.003 in the future. This would result in additional burden of approximately EUR 130,000. Tesa bought the price before the increase, and this was done by mid-2021. Looking forward, both divisions will compensate by energy efficiency measures, on the one hand, and via general savings on the other hand. Combined, we want to achieve energy saving and buy it in a more coordinated manner. On the question of Mr.
In 2021 we were able to generate 1.5% of the required energy ourselves. This corresponds to 4.1 GWh. Of this, about two-thirds was produced by photovoltaic energy. In 2022, 133 GWh were bought from a local supplier at the price of EUR 10.9 million. Electricity was the largest expense in the field of energy, followed by gas. In 2021, approximately EUR 4 million was spent on gas to the tune of almost four million euros. In 2020, this was only EUR 3 million. It was about 52 GWh for other sources of energy.
In order to achieve our targets of 100% renewable energy use, we purchased I-RECs, International Renewable Energy Certificates, for our electricity consumption for all offices with more than 50 employees and for all production facilities that cannot receive green energy directly. Tesa in 2021 had a total energy consumption of 344 GWh. 21 GWh accounted for electricity via combined heat and power. Apart from that 0.5 kWh for solar energy. For the volcanic gas added to 302 kWh. 14 from them came from biogas. The last question by Mr. Gäbler regarding the roof space and the use of photovoltaic.
Mr. Pöllath mentioned at the beginning that we are currently building our new corporate headquarters here in the neighborhood. As soon as this becomes operational, most of the existing buildings at our current headquarters will be dismantled. As a part of this construction measure, we are also planning the maximum possible expansion of photovoltaics. This means, in detail, we already operate a photovoltaic system with 10 kWp in our own kindergarten. In 2022, we plan to put a photovoltaic system of 38 kWp into operation on the existing and future buildings on Wiesingerweg, here in Eimsbüttel.
Up until the year 2024, we will commission two more systems on the new buildings on Troplowitzstraße, with a total of 343 kilowatt peak. In 2024, we will thus have reached maximum utilization and will be operating systems with a total of 391 kilowatt peak at Beiersdorf AG alone. In addition, a study is currently underway at the headquarters of our affiliate, tesa SE, to make corresponding plans. In addition, we are currently building a new plant at our affiliate, Beiersdorf Manufacturing Leipzig, which will also be equipped with photovoltaics.
The next questions relate to the virtual AGM. Astrid Hermann will answer these questions. Here, Dr. Steffen Kraus of DSW wants to know, how does Beiersdorf AG plan to conduct the annual general meeting in the future? As an in-person meeting or as a virtual meeting? Please give reasons for this. A similar question is asked by Matthias Gäbler. He would like to know, why did you again invite shareholders to a virtual shareholders meeting after Deutsche Telekom, much larger company, had already invited shareholders to an in-person-based shareholders meeting? Did you even consider holding a shareholders meeting in person?
Another question of Mr. Gäbler on this topic. To what extent have the executive board and supervisory board already dealt with the draft bill on the future virtual annual general meeting? As things stand at present, would you make any use of it? Doesn't it make more sense to revert to the presence-based annual general meeting in 2023, supplemented by virtual elements already made possible by today's Stock Corporation Act? That is, virtual participation with all the associated shareholders' rights, in addition to presence-based participation.
Well, the first question on holding the AGM. On the basis of the current legal regulation, a general meeting of shareholders in next year is planned to be in person. If the legislator creates a basis for virtual general meetings in the future, we will examine very carefully, taking into account all the relevant interests, and then make a decision. Safeguarding shareholders' rights is very important to us. In the virtual AGMs 2021 and 2022, we have, on a voluntary basis, provided extensive rights to our shareholders, including the right to ask unlimited questions even during the AGM. Here we are far beyond the benchmark of other large listed companies. When it comes to the question on today's AGM, we have examined the idea of having an in-person-based AGM this year in detail.
At the time of planning and convening the AGM, it was not foreseeable, given the ongoing pandemic situation, whether an AGM could be held in person. To hold a general meeting in person today would only be possible imposing considerable restrictions and would entail risks that cannot be deemed insignificant. This is why the executive board, in agreement with the supervisory board, has decided to hold a virtual general meeting in the interest for the safety of all. Incidentally, this corresponds to the practice of almost all large listed companies in Germany.
The last question on the virtual AGM. We are following the legislative activities with a great interest. The virtual general meeting format has proven its worth during the COVID pandemic, and has made it possible to pass the necessary general meeting resolutions in the interest of the shareholders and the company, despite the restrictions resulting from the pandemic.
In principle, we consider the introduction of virtual general meetings to be sensible on the basis of the experience gained in recent years, as long as it ensures the comprehensive exercise of shareholders' rights and if at the same time such a virtual AGM is practicable for the companies. As explained and demonstrated again today, we take the protection of shareholders' rights very seriously, and we will consider and decide, after weighing all interests, whether we will make use of such a provision in the future.
Thank you. The next questions are on the DAX at negative interest rates. Steffen Kraus wants to know, do you think that Beiersdorf will soon leave the DAX? And you have liquid funds of a considerable amount. How are they invested? What gains have you had from it? Have you had to pay negative interest rates? If so, how much? Were there losses from capital investments? If so, how much? And a question of Matthias Gäbler. What was the amount in euros of negative interest paid in the year under review in Germany and throughout Europe?
Now, on the DAX membership, as you know, this has already happened, but we would obviously be very happy about returning in the future. Your questions on the securities portfolio. Our securities portfolio contains 99% corporate bonds and 1% sovereign bonds. The average yield of capital investments in 2021 is slightly above 0.45%. External custody costs for the investments are slightly below EUR 300 thousand per year. We have no negative interest on financial investments made. Custody fees are largely avoided by negotiated allowances and active balance management, but have been incurred to a manageable level in 2021 globally, below EUR 400 thousand. As already explained, we had an impairment on financial assets from a write-down related to more yield-oriented portfolio elements.
This impact is reflected in other financial results. The question on negative interests. As I have just set out, we have not paid negative interest on financial investments made. For the custody fees, we could largely cover this through negotiated allowances and active balance management. Still, we have had to incur a manageable extent in Germany with German banks. It was below EUR 250,000 in 2021, and in the rest of Europe, below EUR 75,000.
The next question of Matthias Gäbler is referred to Chantecaille. He wants to know, what is the current status of the acquisition of the skincare business, Chantecaille? And will Chantecaille operate independently, or will the company be integrated into Beiersdorf? Mr. Rasquinet is going to answer this question.
On Chantecaille. The work on the final financial closing accounts as per January 31, 2022 has progressed extremely well. We also making very good progress in the post-merger integration work streams, and we are very confident that we will have achieved significant progress towards the Beiersdorf standards by the end of this year. So far we have not encountered any major surprises beyond what we have learned during the due diligence process. Based on what we understand today about the business and the market outlook, we believe and we are very confident to deliver 2022 results in line with the business plan that was done during the acquisition. The second question about the operating model of Chantecaille.
Chantecaille will operate in a global standalone business model under the Beiersdorf umbrella, so the selective and pharmacy division of Beiersdorf, mirroring, in fact, the successful model of La Prairie. Having said that, of course, we have the clear intention to generate synergies, especially in the back office, together with the La Prairie business where it makes sense.
We continue with questions on Chantecaille, answered by Astrid Hermann. Steffen Kraus of DSW comments that he is very pleased to hear that there has been another acquisition, and he would like to know or asks, "Please outline the key data of the acquisition and explain the calculations for the purchase price determination. Did you acquire 100% of the shares? Are there any earn outs?" Matthias Gäbler, adding to this, wants to know, "Have the conditions of execution fully materialized in the first quarter of 2022 foreseen for this purpose? What are Chantecaille's after-tax results for the last two years? And, how would you see corresponding goodwill in the acquisition?
The question on the acquisition. Thank you very much. We're also very excited about the latest acquisition. This transaction serves important white spots in the prestige skincare segment and in the regions North America and Asia. We have acquired 100% of Chantecaille at an enterprise value of $590 million, plus an earn-out component of up to $100 million, depending on the performance of the business in the coming years. For the execution conditions, all conditions were met. The transaction could be completed on schedule as of the first of February 2022. On the after-tax results, we can let you know that the net income percentage of Chantecaille in 2020 and 2021 were well above the Beiersdorf group average. On the goodwill. The values for the allocation of the purchase price are preliminary. The purchase price was EUR 529 million.
The net assets were between EUR 45 million and EUR 72 million, so that the intangible assets, including the goodwill, were EUR 457 million-EUR 484 million. The purchase price allocation will be finalized in the 2022 financial year.
The next question of Dr. Steffen Kraus is about digitization. He would like to know what specific measures have you implemented in 2021 with regard to the topic of digitization? What plans are there for the future? This question will be answered by Mr. Vincent Warnery.
Let me first say something about the consumer-oriented digitization. There are three key pillars. The one is personalization. We are using digitization in order to personalize skincare. In 2021, we started our strategic partnership with Salesforce.com to generate a more personal consumer experience. For example, by individualized ads, personalized website content, or real-time responsiveness via chatbots. We rolled out the Skin Guide app in more than 15 countries, and since its start, we've achieved more than 1.4 million face scans. The next focal area is precision marketing.
In 2021, we conducted a holistic precision marketing program in the region emerging markets in order to steer our strongly growing digital media investments with more efficiency and more effectiveness. In 2022, we are expecting, or rather extending this to a global approach. E-commerce is the third pillar. We had a good e-commerce development on top of COVID, that accelerated the year 2020. In Beiersdorf, we had EUR 357 million. Or rather, EUR 654 million, that is a plus of 32% versus the previous year. With a view to the maturity assessment and, based on the results of our global e-commerce maturity assessment, we currently update our e-com roadmaps. The digitization of the company.
The digitization of the company processes follow three main objectives, the upskilling of our employees, then the setting up of one holistic data platform and strategy, and the automation of processes. Some examples of our current running initiatives within the company digitization program are the following. We have the project for converting our ERP systems, and with that, we are modernizing our technological bases as a precondition for the future improvement of efficiencies, our performance, and the speed. The global adoption is planned for January 2024. Thank you very much.
The next questions relate to legal disputes, however, and the new building of the headquarters. Steffen Kraus wants to know whether acquisitions Beiersdorf may have copied a concept of a smaller competitor, that of ours. This relates in particular to the use of the claim refill, reuse, reduce. Are there any legal disputes in this regard? What is the state of affairs? Another question by Steffen Kraus, have there been any cyberattacks on Beiersdorf in 2021? If so, how many? What damage was caused? Another question is, what is the status of the Schlecker antitrust proceedings? Another question, what is the status of the new corporate headquarters building? Astrid Hermann will answer these questions.
On reproaches or attacks from competitors, we would like to clearly distance ourselves from any accusation of plagiarism against our NIVEA EcoRefill Hand Soap. As an innovative skincare company, we closely monitor the market development. We observe trends and react independently to developments in the market. Our claim refill, reuse, reduce builds on the concept widely used by various companies and platforms of the three Rs, refill, reuse, reduce. This is a very common industry standard approach to express sustainability in a condensed form. There are no legal disputes in this regard. Cyberattacks. Our own cybersecurity team constantly observes and monitors the relevant systems and fends off attacks. We see a number of attempts every day for which our systems nevertheless were prepared and protected against. In 2021, there was no relevant attack that caused any damage.
The security situation is regularly assessed, and necessary measures are implemented. On the antitrust proceedings, the action of Schlecker's insolvency administrator was dismissed by judgments in the first and second instance. The appeal against the second instance ruling of the Frankfurt Higher Regional Court was allowed by the Federal Court of Justice upon the plaintiff's appeal against denial of leave to appeal. The date of the hearing was set by the Federal Court of Justice for the fifth of July, 2022. Beiersdorf denies Schlecker's claims and defends itself fully against it. On the status of the headquarters, the corporate headquarters will be largely completed by the end of 2022 in terms of the construction. The commissioning of the building will start as well as user installations and furnishing, so that around the middle of 2023, we will be able to move in.
The next question is by Steffen Kehl. It looks at natural cosmetics. The market for natural cosmetics is growing. Why doesn't Beiersdorf produce its own product line for natural cosmetics, hand, face, hand care?
We're very much interested in natural cosmetics. With the NIVEA MagicBAR facial cleansing range launched in 2021, and the Labello Naturally Vegan lip care, we now have certified natural cosmetics in our range. Both product lines meet all strict criteria of the ECOCERT COSMOS Natural Environmental Certificate. The strictest requirement concerns the exclusive use of ingredients of natural origin throughout the entire supply chain. In addition, a large part of our portfolio is free of animal raw materials and contains ingredients of natural origins. Examples include Q10 and many other natural oils and vitamin E, argan, organic hemp seed oil, organic chamomile, soy and pomegranate. Sustainability is also a focus for us.
We strive to use as many renewable, sustainably sourced ingredients in our products as possible, so we focus more on effective sustainability than on naturalness per se. Our approach in our current portfolio is to balance natural and synthetic materials to create the most effective, safe and sustainable products possible. We are currently looking at how we can further leverage these growth opportunities and increase demand, and provide more targeted product ranges.
The next two questions are from Matthias Gäbler about the AGM. He wants to know how what amount do the cost of the virtual AGM amount and how are they broken up by largest items? How many questions have been received by the company regarding the virtual annual general meeting from how many shareholders? On the cost of the AGM the total cost of the 2022 AGM will be of approximately EUR 500,000. The biggest drivers in descending order are technology, the invitation and costs related to the dividend distribution, the premises and the stage. On the question relating to the questions received we have received 87 questions before the AGM of five shareholders or representatives of shareholders associations.
The next question has to do with the workforce, and Mr. Gäbler would like to know what was the employee attrition rate in the group in the reporting year, and the previous year in Germany, and in the two largest geographical markets. Followed by the question, how did the attrition in Germany develop, broken down by voluntary, age-related attrition, entry into retirement and redundancies on the part of the company in 2020 and 2021.
A third question with Mr. Gäbler, how many employees are over the age of 50 and 55, and are employed by the company and the group respectively? What is the average length of company service? Another question, how many fathers took parental leave at the company and at all domestic subsidiaries in the reporting year? For how long on average, and how old was the oldest employee who took parental leave? What proportion of fathers taking parental leave were managers?
Well, Beiersdorf AG 2021, 4.2%. In the previous year, 3.6%. USA in the reporting year 2021, 13.4%. In the previous year, 17%. China in the reporting year, 2021, structurally clarified, 21%, and in the previous year, 18.6%. A further breakdown for your other questions in three categories. Employees who leave the company for voluntary reason, 21 versus 92, and the previous year, 20 versus 72. 31 employees for redundancies. The previous year, 27. Redundancy on the part of the company 16 in 21, and the previous year, 23 employees. Now the question on the different age classes, 50 years of age and 55 years of age.
In the Beiersdorf AG, a total of 290 employees are over the age of 50, with an average length of time with the company of 19.2 years. Also in the Beiersdorf AG, people who are older than 55 are 449 employees, with an average length of time with the company of 28 years. In the group overall, we have 1,260 employees above the age of 50, and 1,547 above the age of 55. Our global database does not go back far enough to validly determine the length of time with the company at a global level. In order to answer your question about the fathers taking parental leave. For the year 2021 in the Beiersdorf AG, 38 men with an average duration of 1.5 months.
The oldest one of them was 49 years of age, and among them, six managers. For the domestic affiliated companies excluding Beiersdorf AG, it's another 43 men taking parental leave, with an average duration of 1.4 months. The oldest employee was 45 years, and the number of managers was two.
We still have another question about the workforce. How many employees in Germany other than the board of management have an annual gross income of: A, more than EUR 120,000, more than EUR 250,000, more than EUR 500,000? How has this figure developed compared with the previous year? Please indicate in the answer if the numbers stated are: A, does not include the persons from B and C.
If you consider the question to be a range, EUR 120,000 and EUR 250,000 respectively. Are there any domestic group employees excluding trainees and interns who are employed on a full-time basis below up to a minimum wage of EUR 12 per hour still intended for 2022? What is the gross hourly wage of the lowest paid domestic full-time employee, and how many of them are there? How many domestic full-time employees with a gross monthly wage of less than EUR 3,000 are there? Another question by Mr. Gäbler. For activities in the Beiersdorf group, a collective agreement have an average more than 85,000 and have less than the minimum of the supervisory board. This was the question by Mr. Gäbler, and it would also be answered by Mr. Liu.
First of all, the clusters by wage brackets. Those are completely separate figures, and there are no overlaps. Let's talk about those who earn up to EUR 120,000 in the year 2022. That was 268 persons. In the year 2021, 294. Employees with an income higher than EUR 250,000 for the year 2022, that was 41 employees. In the last year, those were 50. Employees with an income higher than EUR 500,000 for the year 2022, that was 1 person. For the year 2021, those were 2 persons. The topic of minimum wage is not a topic for Beiersdorf at all.
Among the about 5,600 full-time employees of all our domestic affiliated companies, almost 70% have a gross wage, a monthly wage, of less than EUR 3,000. This corresponds to 1.3% of the overall workforce in Germany. Looking at the domestic affiliated companies, we have 3,500 employees with an annual salary of up to EUR 85,000. Beyond that, almost 2,000 have an income which is higher than the EUR 85,000 threshold.
Now, this is about the current business year. What does the board plan to make better in 2022? The next question is, outside of Corona and the effects of the Ukraine war, what will be the main challenges for the company in 2022? Mr. Vincent Warnery will answer the questions.
I believe that in 2021, we have built a very strong executive committee with the right mindset and a total alignment in terms of priorities. The nomination of Patrick Rasquinet, Oswald Barckhahn, and Grita Loebsack has very well complemented this team, which will drive Beiersdorf to new heights in 2022. Our priority is clear. Deliver our C.A.R.E.+ strategy, implement it, and make Beiersdorf again the leading skincare company. Now concerning the second question, Corona and the war in Ukraine. Corona and the Ukraine war will clearly stay challenges for our company as well as for the overall market. In this difficult environment, our challenge is to be able to gain momentum on NIVEA despite necessary price increases and supply issues. We are confident we will achieve this objective.
The next two questions of Matthias Gäbler are related to different topics. Astrid Hermann is going to answer. He would like to know: What was your biggest loss during the year, and was it fully covered by insurance? Another question is: How much of each share is currently backed by equity and be encumbered by liabilities? Another question of Mr. Gäbler: Which three products were the most successful products? A, in terms of volume, B, in terms of sales, C, in terms of contribution margin, D, Germany, E, Europe, and F, worldwide in the fiscal year 2021? What were the changes compared with the previous year? Another question by Mr. Gäbler: How many tips were there in your whistleblower system in the reporting year?
Hints given via the whistleblower platform. Is the whistleblower system set up internally or externally? What significant consequences were drawn from those tips? The question on losses. Well, the most important largely completed loss event in 2021 was a property loss in South Africa in connection with rioting in July 2021. This mainly affected the Value Logistics warehouse in Cato Ridge. In the first step, most of the damage was reimbursed by the local insurer. The payment amounted to EUR 1.1 million. We are confident that the remaining balance amounting to EUR 300,000 will also be paid. On equity. As of December 31, 2021, the equity ratio was 61%. In proportion, each share is backed by 61% equity and encumbered with 39% of liabilities. On the products.
In Germany, in terms of volume, sales, and contribution margin, the following products are among the top products: NIVEA Soft 200 milliliters, NIVEA Rich Nourishing Body Milk 400 ml, and NIVEA Fresh Pure Deodorant Spray for women, 150 milliliters. In Europe, it's the following products: NIVEA Soft 200 milliliters, NIVEA MEN After Shave Balm 100 milliliters, and NIVEA MEN Black & White for men, 50 milliliters. Globally, NIVEA Soft 200 ml, NIVEA MEN Black & White for men 50 milliliters, and NIVEA Creme 150 milliliters. On the whistleblower system. In the year under review, we received a double-digit number of reports via our whistleblowing system. The whistleblower system is open to all employees and since 2019, also to people outside the company.
Insofar as there were, breaches in individual cases, clear consequences were taken, and necessary changes were made relating to our internal preventive and control system, and communication measures were also carried out. The reported cases, all in all, did not provide any indications of systematic violations of the rules.
The next questions relate to products, and you would like to know what percentages the raw material costs and logistics costs have increased in the reporting year. To what extent were you able to pass on the increased raw material and logistics cost to prices in the top-selling product areas? And another question, what is the value ratio between content and packaging material using the example of a NIVEA can?
On costs, the material costs increased globally by 3.3% in the fiscal year 2021. Logistics costs increased globally by 6% in the year 2021. The other questions on cost. First of all, I would like to emphasize that pricing in retail is always at the discretion of the retailer. Furthermore, please understand that we are unable to publicly disclose confidential contractual matters relating to our business partner. Still, I can say that we were able to increase our prices as regards to the retailers in 2021. This was driven by emerging markets at Derma and Consumer. On the value ratio between content and packaging material varies depending on the size and category. On average, the ratio is 50/50.
Next question is by Andreas Gäbler, and he wants to know what alternative packaging options would there be for a NIVEA can and what cost effect would this entail? Why is it not yet possible to dispense with the aluminum foil in the can as product protection?
Our NIVEA Creme comes in packaging made of different materials. In addition to the iconic aluminum can, there are also plastic tubes and jars, as well as glass jars. Our NIVEA Creme aluminum cans are manufactured at the Hamburg factory using electricity from renewable resources and have very good recyclability. In addition to cost, the application and the preference of our consumers also play a role in the choice of material. For example, plastic tubes are resealable and robust for the use on the go, whereas jars are more widely used in the home.
The sealing film ensures that the product reaches the consumer hygienically, and that the best before date is reached, that no water exists, and that we can guarantee a three-year best before date. This is good for nature because it saves on waste. I would like to add something in this very nice but also very serious question to say my farewell to the shareholders. I had the opportunity to answer your questions in 8 AGMs in a row, and it has been quite a raft of questions. I thank you very much for bearing with me, for the support. You will always be able to place your trust in the people of Beiersdorf. Thank you.
T hank you very much, Mr. Liu. Let's move on to the next and final two questions. This is about the largest challenges for the next year, 2022. What was the biggest issue in 2022? What was your biggest success? These will be answered by Mr. Vincent Warnery.
Well, of course, Corona. The succession of Corona waves at different times and different places associated to the very different way of managing the crisis chosen by the various governments across the world, has made the management of our brands rather complicated. We were, however, able to achieve new record sales. As you have yourself asked the question about the lack of stability of the Executive Board, one of my biggest points of pride is that the board team that we have, together with the Chairman and the Supervisory Board, built over those last months. I clearly believe that we now have the team that Beiersdorf needs to achieve its ambitions.
Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, those were the questions to the Executive Board. Now I close the opportunity to pose additional questions and now answer the questions to the Supervisory Board.
Thank you very much, Mr. Pöllath. Next, I will start with Dr. Steffen Kraus. This is about the dividend. If business continues to develop positively, will an increase in the dividend from EUR 0.70 be considered? When was the dividend policy last discussed in the corporate bodies and with what result? Followed by a question by Markus Brandl. Why is the dividend so extremely low?
Well, it would be too easy if I said, "Well, of course a change can be considered," but it is the shareholders who decide on the dividend, and the Executive Board discusses this every year, and we discuss this very much in detail. We look at options, alternatives, and the proposal that we give and have given for a long time seems appropriate and to be in the interest of growth and security of the company, and also in the long term, in the shareholders' interests. Therefore, we hope that you can agree with this.
The next questions will be about EY, and Steffen Kraus wants to know: How does the supervisory board justify the renewed nomination of Ernst & Young as auditors against the background of the Wirecard scandal? Why are you sticking to EY? Have you obtained alternative offers from other auditors? When is the regular change of auditor due? The DSW, the German Association of Private Investors, rejects the choice of EY auditor. A question by Matthias Gaebler, also on the same topic.
Why does the Supervisory Board propose EY as auditor, although the auditor should know that many shareholders of the company were also injured Wirecard shareholders at the same time? Was there any serious discussion at all within the Supervisory Board about the auditor proposal? Why did the Supervisory Board lack the appropriate sensitivity for shareholder sensitivities when proposing the auditor to be selected? Another question: How long has Ernst & Young been acting as the company's auditor? When does the Supervisory Board intend to make the next change? When is your invitation to tender expected to be issued for this purpose? The question is, why do you stick to EY?
That sounds a bit too stable. Every year we think about this, and every year we come to a conclusion. The supervisory board of Beiersdorf decides on a proposal and then decides on the auditors and gives a resolution on this and decides on everything else that we have to deal with duly and in the interest of the company and its shareholders as shareholders of this company. In order to do justice of this, in the plenary session and in the committees, we always review the security and the safety of their results, and we also look at the development of other potential candidates. Ramifications from that might be possible, but we couldn't see the potential in them, and that is not expected. We are following up on this topic as seriously as was done in the past and will continue to do so in the future.
Of course, we are also talking to other auditors, and other auditors give us our non-audit services, and we are in a constant professional contact with them. A well-prepared change is envisaged for the year 2024. Ernst & Young has been our auditor since 2006. Before that, it was BDO since its foundation of 70 years. Both auditors audited us reliably, and we reviewed their work again very critically. There is now a change looming in 2024, and the call for tender will be prepared in 2022 and will take place in the year 2023.
The next question, it is about the remuneration of the Supervisory Board. A remuneration report, significant financial compensations for the duration of the covenant not to compete are paid to former Executive Board members. Who specifically sets the individual targets for the Executive Board compensation? Within that framework, does this take place? Who specifically reviews the specified targets in the first place? Who specifically determines whether the individual targets have been achieved? Another question, who calculates the exact compensation amounts paid to individual Executive Board members in the first place?
Who verifies the calculated amounts accordingly? Is this done in-house or with the help of external specialists? Can the members of the Executive Board and Supervisory Board recalculate the compensation to which they are entitled to themselves? Has the return back to the DAX been taken into account as a possible goal in the very Executive Board? If no, why not?
Well, normally, we go without the financial compensation for the duration of the CNC. In 2021, we had one case where we have to pay for this compensation. This is 50% of the salary and the annual bonus. The legal limit would have been much higher. Well, other income would come would be credited to these allowances. I don't think I remember we ever had this case. Now, individual targets. Well, who determines them? It is only the supervisory board on the recommendation of the executive committee, and it agrees on the targets and how these targets can be reached.
All this is discussed at length, and I can assure you this is a lot of work, and it is a lot of very detailed work of the Chairman and the CEO. We are not using external help apart from the correctness of the remuneration system that was agreed on in the previous year, and that we review on an ongoing basis. The question on who calculates the exact compensation amounts. Well, these are calculated amounts. The remuneration is based on performance parameters internally, and it's calculated with a range of 20% of discretion of the Supervisory Board, which the Board uses very carefully, as you can often tell by the very strange figures that are really paid out.
Well, can we calculate this and review this? Yes, of course. Believe me, the individual members of the boards do their calculating, their math very thoroughly. This is a very appropriate topic to measure performance and to discuss improvement potential. In the end, we always reach this an identical result. Now, the return on the DAX, well, this is not part of the compensation of the Executive Board. Being part of the DAX or not is often the result of spin-offs or the free float of other companies. Our company and the executive board cannot take this into account, and therefore it is not a topic to be included in the compensation.
Thank you very much. We stick to the topic of remuneration, but this is now about Stefan De Loecker's remuneration here. Matthias Gäbler has a few questions. Why is Stefan De Loecker going to receive more than EUR 5 million, which is more than 3% of the dividend sum of all shareholders? And another question, why in spite of the severance, the high severance pay, and has he also received a year cost lump sum? On what legal basis, and what payments will Mr. De Loecker receive after him leaving the company? And Mr. Gäbler would also like to know, based on your knowledge, what does Mr. De Loecker do right now?
Mr. De Loecker receives EUR 5 million. Yes, there is a discretionary rounding included in this, but a very small one. This is exactly the calculated amount of the annual bonus of Mr. De Loecker for the activities, the service performed, not for the time after him being exempted from his functions, but for the performances he has served. This was agreed with before he became a CEO, and when he took over the chairmanship, it was also agreed with him, as was mathematically calculated correctly and paid out. Also, the EUR 150,000 cost allowance, cost lump sum that you're talking about, it's a lump sum. This is based on the agreements with him to compensate for inconveniences and burdens that he incurred. For instance.
His family, the family of Mr. De Loecker, according to his contractual obligations, has transferred their home base from Dubai to Hamburg. What is the payment he will receive as a maximum? Well, he receives the salary and the annual bonus. Not the long-term bonus, but his salary and his bonus until the term, the end of his contract. He does not receive a severance pay. In my term, this has never been the case. We fulfill our contractual obligations. After the end of the contract, he will have the usual waiting allowance. It's another one of the cases which I have mentioned earlier. What is he doing right now? I actually follow this because we are having to do with each other otherwise.
He is not newly employed during his time of exemption, which legally would be impossible. The next questions of Matthias Gäbler refer to the remuneration of the supervisory board. He asks, "On what grounds do you consider it justified that the supervisory board compensation has risen by around 40% in the past four years, while the employee income has only had an increase of around 10%?" Another question: "Why, when the basic compensation of each supervisory board member is a proud EUR 85,000, is an attendance fee of EUR 1,000 also paid, which amounts to just 1.17% of the basic compensation? Could this simply be dispensed with?" Another question: "What consequences have you drawn from the Federal Ministry of Finance letter dated eighth of July, 2021?
Which Supervisory Board members have accounted for their compensation with sales tax to date? Have you been able to deduct input tax in each case to date? Will you also be able to deduct input tax in the future? What is your further procedure in this regard? Another question on this: "If almost 10% of the annual report is devoted solely to the executive compensation, is this actually still appropriate? Isn't the operating business actually much more important than the compensation of the Management Board and Supervisory Board?" The Supervisory Board remuneration, it has increased in what is shown in this business report. We need to take into account or show the remuneration paid out, although it has already been shown in the previous report.
It was the last tranche of the variable supervisory board remuneration from the fiscal year 2018. The remaining 20% increase results on a mathematical basis from the resolutions that we had to take on the supervisory board remuneration. To a very large extent, it's the increase of the remuneration for the audit report and the financial audit committee and the financial committee. Here the part is that there have been more meetings. I have already mentioned the number of meetings, and this also has an increasing effect. All in all, it seems to me that the supervisory board remuneration is appropriate. It's not substantial or too high. Then the attendance fee, could you do without the attendance fee? Yes, you could dispense with it, but this has been agreed.
You could agree on something else. You have to take into account, when we switched the variable supervisory board remuneration to a fixed one, it was calculated in such a way that the actual fixed remuneration was slightly decreased, and the difference was compensated for with the attendance fee, so that all in all, the total of the fixed remuneration and the attendance fee was, guided by the supervisory board remuneration during the previous times. There has not been any other increase. VAT, well, the supervisory board activities 2021 is subject to value added tax, and gives the company the right to deduct input tax in 2021. Here the, according to the BMF letter that you quote, we have determined this different. If we are subject to VAT, we also have the right to deduct input tax.
10% of the annual report is devoted solely to executive compensation. Well, the executive compensation is supposed to correspond to the success of the company and measures the performance of the Executive Board in the operational business. At least that's the intention. It seems appropriate whether 10% of the annual report is an accurate number. The volume of the report has increased. This corresponds to the law and the code, and it also corresponds to the concern for transparency that the company has with regard to the shareholders. It's our concern, it's also the shareholders' concern. Yes, the transparency, believe me, as Chairman, this is not always pleasant. This also holds a disadvantage when we compete for people.
This is what needs to be borne, and it certainly is not an inappropriate burden. Fluctuation on the Executive Board, this is a very important topic. The Supervisory Board as well would like to see more continuity, and we're not very good at this. On the other hand, staff decisions are always a weighing of performance and effect, and on the other hand, wish for continuity. This goes for the company and for managers at the same time. We need to come to an agreement. The fluctuation in the specific case was due to a change of a CEO and due to the contractual term of two positions on the Executive Board. The addition of Ms. Hermann is very welcome, in particular, to improve the transparency for the Executive Board. Thank you that you've already answered this question.
I just want to like read out the question that this belongs to. Well, the first question came from Dr. Steffen Kraus, and he wanted to know, over the last years, we've seen a lot of fluctuation on the Executive Board. Will there be continuity now, especially in the finance department? Mr. Gäbler also dealt with this topic, and he said, shortly after last year's AGM, there's been the resignation of the three members, including the Chairman of the Executive Board, Stefan De Loecker. Was the Supervisory Board already aware of this at the time of last year's annual general meeting? If not, at what specific point in time? What are the specific reasons for the resignations in each case?
If it was the different strategic ideas which are always used as an excuse, please give a concrete example of these different ideas. In each case, did the desire to leave from the Executive Board member concerned or from the Supervisory Board? Another question by Mr. Gäbler, in view of the extreme fluctuation on the Executive Board last year, shouldn't the Supervisory Board ask itself critically whether it acted in the interest of the companies or whether it acted incorrectly in selecting the Executive Board?
Please accept my apologies for the reply to your question that I gave you a bit too early. Please, accept my apology. I hope you understand. Now, why after the last AGM did we have three members of the board leave the board? Well, two out of these members actually had contracts that were coming to an end, towards the end of the year for one of them. The most important change probably was the change of the CEO, which actually happened on the very day when it was announced. That was the 27th of April. During the week before that, this change was prepared. It went very well without any friction, which it does not go without saying because time was short. Everyone showed their goodwill, and the changes on the board were all in agreement.
There were no different ideas about the strategies. The C.A.R.E.+ strategy is a strategy that both the predecessor, that is Mr. De Loecker and Mr. Warnery, and all the remaining members of the supervisory board, we all participated in drawing up that strategy and will continue the strategy. It is a very important aspect for us to really carry this strategy on into the future and implement it. The CEO, Mr. Warnery, has a particular experience in the field of skin care, and he also, before he changed into the CEO position, had the necessary experience in that field. We are very pleased to have been able to secure this strategy and not only that, but give it an additional impetus. Then you also asked the question about our self-critical assessment. Well, that is a good question, and I mean it.
Of course, we do ask ourselves this rather self-critical question in this concrete case, but also with a view to other staff or staffing decisions. You know, whether there should be a continuation or whether we should terminate a certain contractual contract. We always ask ourselves whether we've acted correctly in the interest of the company or not, and what we can do better. That is especially true for changes at the CEO level, and especially when the change of staff is such a quick one, even if it went without any major problems here. It still is a reason for us to ask ourselves rather critically about possible continuity, but also about the possible necessity of exchanging certain people in certain positions. Okay, let's stay with the questions about the board. Mr.
Gäbler wanted to know whether why there is no continuity on the Executive Board as there is on the Supervisory Board to which Mr. Pöllath will have belonged for a full 20 years in May. What succession planning is in place for Mr. Pöllath? Another question by Mr. Gäbler, how did you decide on the new members of the Executive Board? In each case, were personnel consultants involved? And if so, who specifically and what cost did they incur? Another question by Mr. Gäbler, why were there no employees internally suitable for the board function, and what signal does this send within the workforce? Now, you've asked the question about the Supervisory Board and the chair of the Supervisory Board.
I, well, could have just saved my breath and really explained right now because this is really pointing the finger at a very important point indeed, because there is also continuity that can go on for too long, which is also a question that we have to self-critically ask ourselves, also as the Supervisory Board. We have to ask ourselves when a certain amount of time is just too long. Now, I've been elected until the AGM 2024, and before that, we will have internal and external preparations for the succession planning. That is before the election for the Supervisory Board during the AGM 2024. For that, we also have an independent nomination committee as part of our Supervisory Board, and they will take care of that task.
Now, how did we decide on who to accept as a new board member with the different search services? Well, out of the new board members, two actually were internal candidates, so we did not use any personal agencies or anything like that. Of course, we also tried to take a look around in order to get the necessary benchmarking there. Mr. Warnery and Mr. Rasquinet, they came, you know, from inside the company. Others were from outside. For those, you know, of course, you know there are differences, but they are not major differences. That means that we of course in those cases need someone to advise us. We use the services of Russell Reynolds heads International, Hoffman and Heidrick & Struggles.
For that, we spent a whole sum total of EUR 806,460. Why did we not find any suitable applicants internally inside of our company? Well, we did find these candidates. What kind of signal did we send out? Well, I think that this is the signal that at Beiersdorf and with a Beiersdorf career, you can actually be very successful and that this career and your experiences are rather promising elements for your future career. The external hirings send out the signal to all of us, of course, to the employees, but to all of us as well, that in these successions it is all about, you know, being able to keep up with the competition. You know, we try to use all the different possibilities internally, externally.
You know, career implications and the competition signals are equally important. The next question is about the current business year. Mr. Gäbler wants to know what the supervisory board wants to make better in 2022 than in 2021. Well, I can't really speak on behalf of the whole of the supervisory board, and I will ask them after this here meeting. Of course, that is a question that we keep asking ourselves year in, year out. Afterwards, of course, we can also discuss this question at the supervisory board level. I can speak on, you know, on my own behalf. You know, from the last efficiency review of the supervisory board, there arose the need to also have a better personal or rather HR work for C.A.R.E.+ also at the supervisory board level.
I share this idea and this endeavor as you do based on how you formulate your questions. Well, capital allocation is something that we don't do at the Supervisory Board level, but that we also support and that we want to, of course, not only monitor closely, but also, as I said, support and champion. For this, the subject of the digitization of the company plays a very important role. It might even be the biggest item for which we need some additional effort here. It is good that the Supervisory Board subscribes to this in such a way. Of course, this is still something that we need to do better also at the Supervisory Board level.
Thank you, Mr. Pöllath. The next question relate once again to the AGM. Go to the executive board once more. Matthias Gäbler wants to know how the executive board and the supervisory board address the security of the AGM software used, and what conclusions have you drawn for yourself from the investigation of Professor Dr. Andreas Meier after the software received a poor rating? Astrid Hermann will answer the question.
Now, the question relating to the AGM software. We are aware of the paper of the BSI for information security. Immediately after the publication of the study by Professor Meier in 2020, our AGM service providers thoroughly checked all security relevant components and when necessary, replaced them with additional newer security methods of a higher standard. Ongoing adjustments and software updates in this area ensure the highest possible security when using the AGM portal. Our specialist departments work closely with the AGM service provider in this area and check the proper and legally compliant process in advance of use.
The next question of Matthias Gäbler relates to the participation during the AGM, and he wants to know if all members of the Executive and Supervisory Board participate in the AGM throughout its course, or is it a voluntary thing?
Yes, I will answer to that. All Executive Board members have participated in presence here in the auditorium. As Professor Pöllath has mentioned in the beginning, Ms. Hermann unfortunately cannot be here due to quarantine reasons. As all members of the Supervisory Board as well, she is logged in here. She follows today's AGM and can get in touch with the chairman of the assembly at any moment in time. Then I come to the last question handed in before the AGM. He wants to know how many participants were dialed in at the beginning of the virtual shareholders meeting at the end of the executive board speech, and how many people were present at last year's virtual shareholders meeting at the last non-virtual annual shareholders meeting.
Initially, we had 298 users watching the stream at the beginning of the AGM. At the end of the CEO speech, we had 566 users watching the live stream. In comparison, during the last virtual AGM, we had 236 users at the beginning of the AGM in our stream, and 344 at the end of the board presentation. During the last in-person AGM, we had more than 1,400 shareholders who were physically present. Thank you very much. With that, we have come to the end of the questions that were asked ahead of time. Right. Now, one question that Mr. Vanari answered on behalf of the board also referred to the supervisory board, and that was the question about whether they are participating. Yes, of course, they are.
Of course they cannot. They are not free to choose whether they should be physically present or not. That is also legally binding because, I mean, you know, we have had a supervisory board meeting, for example, starting at 9:00 A.M. with more than 30 members, and after this AGM, we will also then restart that meeting. I think this was all the questions that were submitted before the annual general meeting. With that, I would, as announced, close the opportunity to ask or hand in any further questions during the AGM. I've got one question here. Do you have any other questions there? Well, then you can feel free to start, Mr. Warnery. Well, there is a question by Mr. Buchelim.
He says, "First of all, I would like to thank you for still receiving us or still having the possibility of getting a printed business report. This, unfortunately, is not really something that you can expect. My question is whether you have a long-term strategic planning advice, and if yes, what the time horizon is for your planning, and what kind of long-term strategic objectives you have quantified?" Now, we've got long-term strategic plans for 2020 or up until 2025 and beyond that. These plans are based on our C.A.R.E.+ strategy, and they also comprise financial and organizational company objectives.
C.A.R.E.+ means strengthening our brands by enriching their very purpose, increasing the speed of digital transformation, and to win with skincare, and to also tap into white space potentials and to increase our growth by increasing productivity based on our strong foundation of culture, core values, skills, and Care Beyond Skin. There is another question here that I also received from Mr. Buchelim: Does Beiersdorf compare itself with competitors using peer groups? If so, which competitors are they broken down by segment? Well, of course, we internally also compare ourselves to competitors in order to be able to assess our performance in a market-based comparison. Please understand that we can't give you any names. With a view to the competitors in the consumer area, we of course count the known companies in the field of home and personal care.
Then there is another question: When will shareholders be supplied with Beiersdorf products again? After all, it would also be possible with a voucher that can be redeemed locally in stores. My answer is that Beiersdorf shares are bearer shares, and that means that Beiersdorf AG does not know about the addresses of the shareholders. When returning to physical and on-site events, we would surely also again be able and willing to hand our shareholders product novelties, innovative products, and samples. Now, there is another question of someone who did not want to be named, and he's asking me about the remark I made during the introduction that the virtual AGM appears to be so rather contemporary and whether this means that even after the pandemic, we do we think about returning to an on-site AGM.
Well, I believe that a digital kind of meeting actually is a very much a contemporary solution here at Beiersdorf and all over the world. According to the legal situation today, it is quite clear that during the AGM 2023, you can expect to be able to be physically present on-site. If on top of that we have, or should it be possible to have a hybrid or an online AGM as well, we will definitely look at the pros and cons, and then I will only propose a virtual, that is an online AGM, if the shareholders' rights are comprehensively protected. That, of course, is something, you know, that we have to weigh in the very concrete situation, and that's only next year.
With that, we've answered all the questions, if I understand this correctly, including four questions of shareholders that were asked during the AGM. Now, ladies and gentlemen, there are no further questions, and I would now note for the record that all questions submitted to the company in due time ahead of the annual general meeting have been answered, and we have also answered the questions you submitted during the annual general meeting using the AGM system. I would like to ask the notary to record that in the minutes.
[Foreign language] Viel zu den Fragen und zum Austausch.
Much on the questions and the exchange of the company and its shareholders. Thank you very much that you all did this so thoroughly, and that you did not make use of any, restriction rights. We did well in being very disciplined. We now proceed to the ballots, and I hope that, we can do this quicker than in the first part, where we should really take a very thorough approach. Let us proceed on the votes on the items of the agenda 2 to 6. The resolutions of the agenda items 2 to 6 are called collectively, but handled separately for each agenda item. I state that the vote will be determined according to the addition method.
If you have not already made use of the option of casting your absentee votes or granting a proxy and issuing instructions to the voting representative appointed by the company, your yes votes and no votes will now be recorded using the AGM system. You must also actively cast your vote if you wish to vote in favor of a resolution, so yes. In favor and against resolution must be cast. Abstention must also be entered in the form. The votes cast by the shareholder representatives appointed by the company in accordance with the instructions issued, as well as the absentee votes you have submitted, have already been counted in the IT system and will also be included in the tally upon being released. You can amend your votes until the end by using the AGM system until the start of the voting.
These are the advantages of such a digital format. I will now briefly summarize the resolutions proposed by the management on items two to six, and you have them available. After this summary, I would like you to cast your vote. Item two: resolution on the utilization of the net retained profits. From the net retained profit of EUR 176.4 million, a dividend of EUR 0.70 per share bearing dividend rights will be distributed. The remaining, around EUR 17,626,211 will be transferred to other retained earnings. The own shares held by the company do not bear dividend rights. Item three of the agenda: approval to be given to the actions of the members of the Executive Board.
The counter motion from shareholder Wilm Diedrich Mueller requests that approval of the actions of the members of the Executive Board for the fiscal year 2020 be denied. If you wish to endorse the resolution proposed by the executive board, please vote yes. You can endorse the counter motion by voting no on agenda item 3. We'll first hold a vote on the resolution proposed by the management. If it receives the necessary simple majority of the votes cast, the counter motion will be superfluous, and a separate vote on it will not be held. Item 4: approval is to be given to the actions of the members of the supervisory board for the fiscal year 2021. There is also a counter motion from the shareholder, Madam Mueller, requesting that approval of the actions of the members of the supervisory board for the fiscal year 2021 be denied.
The same shall apply. If you wish to endorse the resolution proposed by the Executive Board and Supervisory Board, please vote yes. You can endorse the counter motion from Mr. Mueller by voting no. We will once again first vote on the resolution proposed by the management so that a vote on the counter motion might not be necessary. Members of the Executive Board and the Supervisory Board may not exercise their voting right to approve their own actions in accordance with, insofar as they represent their own or third-party shares. The same applies to shareholders' representatives to the extent that they represent votes from members of the executive and supervisory boards. The members of the Executive Board and Supervisory Board have been advised of this voting exclusion and have made the necessary provisions before the Annual General Meeting.
Item 5 on the agenda, the proposal of the Supervisory Board and its committee, Ernst & Young, is proposed by the Supervisory Board and its Audit Committee as auditor for the 2022 annual financial statements and consolidated financial statements and for any auditor's review of the half-year financial report for the fiscal year 2022. The required statement of independence has been received from EY. Item 6 on the agenda: resolution on the approval of the remuneration report of the fiscal year 2021, which has been prepared and audited in accordance with paragraph 162 of the German Stock Corporation Act. It has been attached in the annex. I have already explained this agenda item to you, and please refer to the invitation for the wording of this proposed resolution.
In conclusion, I now call for a vote on agenda items 2-6, as announced in the Federal Gazette published first of March, 2022. If you wish to cast yes, no, or abstain, please cast your votes using the AGM system by absentee vote or granting a proxy and issuing instructions to the voting representative appointed by the company. You either vote yes, no, or abstention. Please do this actively. There is also the possibility to amend an already cast vote or a proxy given, and also to revoke a vote is possible. If you have more than one access card, you must repeat the procedure for each individual card. Please cast your vote now.
The voting system will now be open for you for the next 2 minutes and at the end of these 2 minutes, I will close the voting procedure. One minute left. I will conclude the ballot in 1 minute. Thank you very much for casting your vote. This was the last minute. Now it has expired. As announced, voting is now closed. Thank you for voting. The results will now be calculated and announced in a few minutes. During this time, we will have a short intermission.
Right. Thanks for your patience. I will now announce the results of the vote on agenda items two through six. They will also be displayed for you and will be available on our website after the AGM. First, the current attendance. Of the mentioned 252 million company shares issued in total, 191,248,734 shares are in attendance. That corresponds to 75.89% of the share capital. In addition, absentee votes have been submitted of 808,756 shares corresponding to 0.32% of the share capital. In total, 76.21% of the share capital is represented at the AGM and have participated in voting. Mr. Gäbler had asked how many participants were dialed in after the end of the voting.
This was 432 people, 423 who have followed the meeting in the live stream. Now, the result of the votes for item two, utilization of the net retained profit. Valid votes cast 192,053,876, corresponding to 76.21% of the share capital. Yes votes 186,133,954. Nay, 5,919,922. Abstentions, 3,614 votes. I now declare and announce that the resolution proposal by the management has been adopted with a majority of 96.92%. Agenda item three, resolution on the official approval of the actions of the members of the executive board. Valid votes cast 190,429,120. This corresponds to 75.57%. Yay votes 189,615,338 votes. Nay, 813,782 votes. Abstentions, 1,628,370 votes. The exclusion from the right to vote was observed. I now declare and announce that the resolution proposal by the management has been adopted with a majority of 99.57%.
A vote on the counter motion from the shareholder, Mr. Müller, on agenda item three is therefore superfluous. Agenda item four, resolution on the official approval of the actions of the members of the Supervisory Board. Valid votes cast 189,902,921. This corresponds to 75.36% of the share capital. Yes votes 178,918,957 votes. Nay votes, 10,983,964 votes. Abstentions, 2,154,569 votes. The exclusion from the right to vote was observed. I now declare and announce that the resolution proposal by management has been adopted with a majority of 94.22%.
A vote on the counter motion from the shareholder, Nen Di Qi, and Muller, is therefore superfluous. The Executive Board and the Supervisory Board sincerely thank you for the confidence placed in them. Confirmed by the approval of the actions of the members of the boards. Agenda item 5, elections of the auditors for the fiscal year 2022, and the auditors half year financial statements for fiscal year 2022. Valid votes cast 191,743,813. This corresponds to 76.09% of the share capital. Yea votes 187,827,623 votes. Nay votes 3,916,190 votes. Abstentions 313,677 votes.
I now declare and announce that the resolution proposal by the supervisory board has been adopted with a majority of 97.96%. Last but not least, item six, resolution on the approval of the remuneration report for fiscal year 2021. Valid votes cast are 187,265,634. This corresponds to 74.31% of the share capital. Yea votes 136,626,986 votes. Nay: 50,638,648 votes. Abstentions: 4,791,856 votes. I now declare and announce that the resolution proposal by management has been adopted with a majority of 72.96%.
Thank you very much for this information. We will take with us into the new fiscal year. Ladies and gentlemen, this means that all management proposals, as announced in the Bundesanzeiger Federal Gazette of March 1, 2022, have been adopted. The agenda has thus been completed. Thanks to all of you for participating, for your critical questions and contributions, and for your interest in Beiersdorf during this AGM and beyond it. I also thank you for your understanding, given the special conditions under which this AGM took place. We have endeavored to enable you to exercise your rights as far as possible and in excess of what is required by law, in particular by providing the possibility of submitting questions during the AGM. Thank you for making use of it.
Thanks to everyone who was involved in the preparation, organization, and implementation of this once again unique AGM. The AGM in 2023 will once again be held around this time of the year in April. The precise date has not yet been set, but we will publish it in good time. Thank you for today. All the best to you. See you next time. Stay healthy. Make a progress. All the best for Beiersdorf and all of you. Thank you and goodbye. The annual general meeting is thereby concluded.