Shareholders, distinguished guests from the media, banks, and the public, ladies and gentlemen. As chairman of the supervisory board of Deutsche Börse, I declare this year's ordinary annual general meeting of Deutsche Börse AG open, and pursuant to the company's articles of incorporation, I'll be presiding over this meeting. On behalf of the supervisory board and the executive board, I'd like to welcome all of you very warmly. Let me start by taking a look back. Your company, Deutsche Börse, had an eventful and difficult year last year, 2017. It saw the cancellation of the planned merger with London Stock Exchange Group, the launch of a probe into our then CEO, Carsten Kengeter, and his resignation in October. Finally, the beginning of a new era under the auspices of Theodor Weimer, his swift appointment as CEO, and the immediate tackling of the most important issues.
In the same year, our share price rose by 27%, from EUR 76 to EUR 96, which meant for our shareholders an overall yield of 30%. Certainly, a year with ups and downs. In all of this, the Deutsche Börse supervisory board focused in particular on three priorities. Firstly, we supported and supervised the executive board in the important decisions it took in connection with the planned merger with London Stock Exchange Group. This activity also included the public prosecutor's probe into the then CEO, Carsten Kengeter. Secondly, we supervised the further development of the growth strategy pursued by Deutsche Börse Group and saw to its implementation. At the same time, we made sure that the executive board continued to manage the company's day-to-day business. Thirdly, following the resignation of Carsten Kengeter, we appointed Dr. Theodor Weimer as the new CEO, thus ensuring a swift and convincing succession process.
Ladies and gentlemen, given the challenges we faced as a stock exchange organization last year, we often found it difficult to remain optimistic, but we stayed on track. Because we have a sound and successful business model driven by strong growth, because we achieved good results, and in particular, because we seized the opportunities to prepare the way for the company's future. Over the next few hours, we are going to discuss this eventful year, 2017. Now, of course, we're aware that opinion is divided on many issues. Of course, I do realize personally that some of the decisions made by the supervisory board, or me as its chairman, met with sharp criticism. In my speech, I will therefore address the salient issues, in particular detail, and explain the underlying reasons for our decisions. First, however, a few remarks regarding the proceedings of this meeting.
I state for the record that this AGM has been duly convened by notice in the Federal Gazette, dated March 28th and 29th, 2018, and that all members of the executive board and the supervisory board are in attendance. The minutes of this meeting will be kept by Notary Dr. Martin Schmidt, who is sitting next to us on this platform. Back there, a second notary, Mr. Bergfeld, is sitting at the speaker's point. If necessary, the minutes can also be kept by him. The record of attendance is now in preparation, and as soon as it's completed, and prior to the first ballot at the latest, I'll inform you about the number of shares in attendance at today's AGM. If you received more than one admission ticket, please make sure you exchanged all of them for voting cards so that you can cast all your votes during the ballot.
We're making audio and video recordings of the entire AGM. In addition, the AGM is also webcast publicly on the internet until the beginning of the general debate. For our shareholders, the AGM will be webcast in its entirety. Third parties are not allowed to take pictures or to make video or audio recordings unless they are authorized representatives of the press. Stenographers are going to take down any questions raised during the general debate to ensure we provide accurate answers. Following Weimer's report and after the candidates for member of the supervisory board have briefly introduced themselves, we'll have a general debate on all items before the meeting. To facilitate the smooth and efficient running of our AGM, I will ask those taking the floor to summarize their remarks on the agenda in a single contribution.
Should you wish to take the floor, can I ask you to produce your voting card block at the speaker's point? I'll call you when it is your turn to speak and give you the floor. As usual, I would greatly appreciate it if those taking the floor would focus on the items before the meeting. For further organizational information, I would refer you to the leaflet you were given at the registration counter and to the information in your voting card block. Ladies and gentlemen, with that, let's proceed to the business to be transacted. As announced in the Federal Gazette, the first item of business is the presentation of the approved annual and consolidated annual financial statements and the combined management report of Deutsche Börse AG and the group as at December 31st, 2017.
This agenda item deals with the report of the supervisory board and the proposal for the use of the unappropriated surplus. The aforementioned documents have been publicly available on the company's website since this AGM was called. They're also available at today's AGM. With your permission, I will take them as read. Ladies and gentlemen, I'd now like to give you some information on the supervisory board activities in the past financial year. At the same time, I'd like to take this opportunity to briefly explain the supervisory board's report. For the full report, I would refer you to Deutsche Börse Group's 2017 financial report. My remarks will be based on this report, and I shall confine myself to the salient aspects of the supervisory board's activities. In the year on review, the supervisory board held in-depth discussions on the position and prospects of the company.
We regularly advised the executive board on the management of the company and monitored its work. At our meetings, the executive board provided us with comprehensive and timely information on the course of business, the position of the company and the group, including the risk situation and risk management, as well as on the company's strategy and planning. We were involved in all key matters. Any resolutions were adopted following thorough examination as appropriate. The 2017 financial year saw a particularly high number of meetings. Specifically, we had 15 plenary meetings, six of which were ordinary and nine were extraordinary meetings. The extraordinary meetings were mainly held in connection with the planned merger with London Stock Exchange Group and the public prosecutor's probe into then CEO Carsten Kengeter.
The Plenary and committee meetings were held at short intervals, which ensured an active exchange of information between the Supervisory Board and the Executive Board during the entire year. In addition, we held one strategy workshop and two technology workshops, at which the Executive Board gave us detailed status reports on the implementation of the company's growth strategy. Furthermore, we looked into important industry trends, political developments, the Group's competitive position, as well as organic and inorganic growth opportunities. At our technology workshops, we took an in-depth look at artificial intelligence. In addition, we discussed the topic of artificial intelligence, including possible applications and their impact on Deutsche Börse Group's business. In the year on review, a total of six committees supported the Supervisory Board in its deliberations and decisions. The number of Supervisory Board committees was reduced by one with effect from January 3rd, 2018.
Due to regulatory requirements, the Nomination and Personnel Committees were combined to form a single committee. The report of the Supervisory Board also contains information on the number of meetings attended by its members. In fact, the average attendance rate was a gratifying 97%. The Chairman of Deutsche Börse's Executive Board holding office in the period under review, Carsten Kengeter, continually informed me of any current developments in the company's business, significant transactions, upcoming decisions, as well as the long-term outlook and thoughts on potential developments. Shareholders, ladies and gentlemen, I'd now like to report on the Supervisory Board's key area of focus. As mentioned before, in the period under review, the Supervisory Board had in-depth discussions on Deutsche Börse Group's strategic alignment going forward. Special emphasis was placed on the merger with London Stock Exchange Group.
At the end of the day, despite strong support from the shareholders of both Deutsche Börse and London Stock Exchange, it turned out that this merger could not be carried through. At last year's AGM, I had already informed you that Brexit had caused considerable uncertainty for our partner in the merger. Despite extensive discussions in the referendum committee, which had been set up specifically in case Brexit happened, our merger partner was ultimately not prepared to accept the idea of having dual headquarters for the merged company, the structure we had clearly preferred. Furthermore, the European Commission, which had to approve the merger from an antitrust perspective, had launched an extended probe into the project. As part of this probe, the Commission had expressed concerns, and to allay them, London Stock Exchange announced that it was prepared to sell its subsidiary, LCH.Clearnet, to Euronext.
As the probe continued, the European Commission raised new concerns. It doubted whether LCH.Clearnet would be viable in the long term once it was sold, referring in particular to access to the bonds and repo trading feeds provided to LCH.Clearnet by Italian trading platform, MTS. The European Commission therefore required that Deutsche Börse and London Stock Exchange commit to the divestment of London Stock Exchange's majority stake in MTS as a further remedy. In other words, by taking this step, merger clearance could've been secured. Came the decisive day, February 26th, 2017. On that day, the London Stock Exchange decided not to satisfy the Commission's demand that its majority stake in MTS should be divested. Without this commitment, it was also impossible for Deutsche Börse to comply with the European Commission's remedy request.
On 29th March last year, the European Commission informed us that it would not approve the planned merger. A sine qua non for submitting an exchange offer to the shareholders of Deutsche Börse AG had thus been rendered impossible. As a result, the merger could no longer be implemented.
Ladies and gentlemen, another great deal of attention was focused on the investigation initiated by the Frankfurt Public Prosecutor's Office against the then CEO, Carsten Kengeter, in February 2017 because of an alleged violation of the insider trading prohibition in December 2015, as well as because of an alleged failure to publish an ad hoc notification in January 2016. We have closely supported and supervised the management board in connection with these proceedings. We mandated an independent law firm as consultants to the supervisory board.
This independent law firm, as well as the legal consultants and counsel of the company, as well as two additionally mandated, renowned university professors and experts in capital market law, arrived at the result that with all of the activities in connection with preparing negotiations about a potential merger with London Stock Exchange in December 2015 and in January 2016, there were no indications for any violations of duty committed by any of the members of the executive board of Deutsche Börse AG. This applies both in connection with the alleged violation of the insider trading prohibition by Carsten Kengeter in December 2015, as well as in connection with the alleged failure to publish an ad hoc notification by Deutsche Börse in January 2016.
When the management board reported to us during an extraordinary meeting of the supervisory board on the 13th September 2017, that in connection with these investigations, they intended to accept a penalty notice suggested by the prosecutor's office. This approval given by us was one of the most difficult decisions that this supervisory board ever had to make. That is, as far as I can think back. There were long discussions and careful weighing of the advantages and disadvantages to the benefit of the company, we nevertheless decided to approve this.
What was decisive for our approval was the view that both the enormous burden to the Executive Board and the company on the whole through these investigations, and also in terms of time consumptions, as well as the continuation, or rather, as well as the costs caused by the continuation of the investigation and the proceedings, would have to be given more weight versus the financial burden that this penalty constituted and the potential reputational damage ensued by it. The termination of the proceedings did not come about eventually because the Frankfurt District Court did not approve. Shortly afterwards, Carsten Kengeter then informed us during an extraordinary meeting on 26th of October that as of 31st December 2017, he was going to resign as the CEO of Deutsche Börse.
With this decision, he wanted to allow the company to refocus its entire energy comprehensively on their customers, business, and growth, and to be no longer burdened by the ongoing investigation. We accepted his resignation unanimously and with great regret, and without exception, thanked Carsten Kengeter for realigning the company since 2015 and for leading it through the transformation. It is my personal wish to also thank Carsten Kengeter again here and today. One of his great achievements is that he showed to this company and made it realize that change is something positive, that we need to shape our future ourselves, and that it's worth every effort in order to hold one's ground in an ever faster and fiercer competition.
Since we are a stock exchange and live off publishing stock prices, you will bear with me if I add at this point that the share price since the day of the announcement of Carsten Kengeter taking office increased by 83%, which is considerably more than the DAX, which increased by 44% over the same period. After Carsten Kengeter resigned from his office as CEO, the Supervisory Board immediately started searching for a successor. Following a selection process in November 2017, we appointed Dr. Theodor Weimer with effect as of 1st January 2018 as the CEO for a duration of three years. I'm very happy to be able to say that with this, we have attracted a very competent and experienced manager with strong leadership skills, who has long years of capital market experience.
Theodor Weimer is an internationally renowned and well-known expert of the financial industry who very well understands our customers' business. He has both an international orientation, as well as very strong roots in its home market and enjoys very good relations with our regulators. He therefore meets all of the requirements in order to successfully continue the growth path embarked upon by Deutsche Börse Group. He has already proven this, hopefully quite clearly to all of you as well during the first months of his office. This was not the only personnel decision that had to be taken, though. The mandates or terms of office of Andreas Preuss and Jeffrey Tessler were prolonged for one year for reasons of continuity by the Supervisory Board.
Given that they were about to retire from the Board, and also in order to, as quickly as possible, complete the new Management Team around the new CEO, 3 more personnel decisions were taken in April of this year, which are still subject to supervisory non-objection. Dr. Thomas Book, as of 1st July 2018, will become a member of the Executive Board in charge of the trading business, with the exception of the cash equities market and the clearing business. At the moment, he is the CEO of Eurex Frankfurt AG and also CEO of Eurex Zürich AG. Regarding the post-trading business of Clearstream and the data and index business, also with effect as of 1st July 2018, Dr. Stephan Leithner will be appointed member of the Executive Board. At the moment, he is partner with EQT Partners GmbH.
The new Chief Information Officer and Chief Operating Officer will be Dr. Christoph Böhm. He will be appointed with effect as of 1st November 2018. At the moment, he is with SAP SE where he holds the function of Senior Vice President, Global Cloud Services. This, ladies and gentlemen, we have managed to attract and gain 3 highly recognized and successful leadership personalities. Their expertise and know-how, they will be able to make an important contribution to the success of the company. Gregor Pottmeyer and Hauke Stars will continue to contribute to the company's success. During the year under review, Gregor Pottmeyer had been reappointed as CFO for another 5 years, and Hauke Stars will continue to be responsible for the cash equities business.
In connection with the parity codetermination that Deutsche Börse AG will be subject to in the future, she's also planned to become the Labor Director. We are very certain that with this Management Team and the ensuing reallocation of responsibilities within the Management Board, Theodor Weimer will be able to continue Deutsche Börse AG's growth path, and will do so. I would like to explicitly thank, on this occasion, the 2 long-term serving members of the Executive Board, Andreas Preuss and Jeffrey Tessler. Deutsche Börse AG owes a lot to both of them, and I'm very happy to say that both of them have declared themselves willing to continue to support the company on a consultant basis. Let me now turn to the proposed changes to the articles of association and the amendments, or rather elections, to the Supervisory Board to take place today.
After the status proceedings were finalized in December 2017, the Supervisory Board of Deutsche Börse Aktiengesellschaft, with effect as of the end of today's general meeting, has to be composed in keeping with the rules of the German Codetermination Act. That is attributable to the fact that the number of employees of Deutsche Börse AG, in the meantime in Germany, has exceeded the threshold of 2,000 employees. For that reason, under item 5 on today's agenda, the articles of association of Deutsche Börse AG is to be adapted. Those changes refer to the organization of meetings and resolutions and decisions to be taken by the Supervisory Board. As regards the mediation committee that is to be founded and from now on, we need to clarify that the additional remuneration of members of a Supervisory Board Committee will only be paid if that committee met at least once a year.
Moreover, the number of supervisory board mandates is to be increased from currently 12 to 16 members in the future. Apart from the parity composition, this also is in keeping with increased requirements for supervisory board members in connection with the growth of the company and the group. Moreover, it reflects the diversity and the internationalization of our activities as supervisory board. Under item six of today's agenda, we therefore propose eight candidates to be elected as shareholder representatives to the supervisory board. Five of those eight proposed candidates belong to the group of the currently acting members of the supervisory board. Craig Heimark will be resigning from the board, as well as Dr. Erhard Schipporeit, after both of them belonged to the supervisory board for 12 years. Moreover, we had to take into account that Dr. Monica Mächler decided to not run for another term of office.
The five candidates from the group of currently active supervisory board members are, and this is in alphabetical order, Professor Dr. Dr. Ann-Kristin Achleitner, Mr. Richard Berliand, Karl-Heinz Flöther, Ms. Amy Yip, as well as myself. Three of the eight candidates proposed are newly proposed candidates, and they are, also in alphabetical order, Mr. Martin Jetter, Ms. Barbara Lambert, and Professor Dr. Dr. Joachim Nagel. Martin Jetter, during his professional career in Germany and abroad, held a number of leading positions with IBM and is currently Senior Vice President Global Technology Services, as well as a member of the management board of IBM Corporation at top management level, where he is responsible for worldwide infrastructure services across the group. He has very well-proven technology skills and competencies.
Barbara Lambert worked, amongst others, with WestLB, with Arthur Andersen, Ernst & Young, as well as Pictet, where she gained international professional experience as well as profound skills in accounting and internal control processes. In addition to being head of audit activities in the financial sector from Ernst & Young AG, she, amongst others, was the internal auditor of a large Swiss bank. Up until 31st March 2018, she's been a member of the management committee as well as group chief risk officer with Pictet in Geneva. Since April 2018, she's been a member of the administrative board of that company. Ms. Lambert fulfills all of the requirements of a financial expert. Furthermore, the supervisory board proposes Professor Joachim Nagel as a candidate, who has comprehensive capital market and regulatory expertise and know-how in the financial services industry.
From 1999 until 2016, Professor Nagel worked for Deutsche Bundesbank, the German Central Bank, holding a number of leading positions. For the last six years, he was a member of the management board at the German Central Bank, amongst others responsible for the markets business division. Currently, he's a member of the management board of KfW Banking Group. All candidates will be elected for a term of office of three years. An exception to this will only be the election of Professor Achleitner. For personal reasons, she will only be available for the first year of the new term of office. I would also like to inform you that. In case I am reelected to the Supervisory Board, I will also again run for chairmanship of the board.
However, this would be under my reservation of preparing a transition period for the chairmanship of the Supervisory Board in the course of this new term. The exact point in time for this is, however, as yet undetermined. The election proposals take into account the targets decided by the Supervisory Board for its composition following the German Corporate Governance Code, as well as the skills and competencies profile. When the proposed candidates are elected, this will fulfill the legally required minimum shares for women and men in the board from the shareholder side. None of the candidates proposed will reach the regular age limit of 70 years during that term of office. With the exception of Richard Berliand, all of the proposed candidates will also remain below the regular limit regarding the total time served as a Supervisory Board member of 12 years.
Mr. Berliand has been a member of the board since 2005. In order to allow for an appropriate balance between the personnel renewal of the Supervisory Board on the one hand, as well as securing the necessary continuity of its work on the other hand, and in order to also maintain know-how and experience in this body, Mr. Berliand is proposed as a candidate for election to the Supervisory Board again. The proposal to prolong Mr. Berliand's term of office beyond the regular time limit is particularly due to his long-term and very comprehensive and deep experience with stock-listed companies and their processes, as well as his far-reaching and comprehensive know-how of the financial markets infrastructure industry.
Before we later enter into the general debate, I will give the three new candidates, that's Mr. Jetter, Ms. Lambert, and Professor Nagel, the opportunity to briefly present themselves and introduce themselves to you. On this occasion, I would like to thank the Supervisory Board members leaving the body, Craig Heimark, Dr. Erhard Schipporeit, and Dr. Monika Mächler from the shareholder side. Moreover, Mr. Witt from the labor bench, who will be retiring from the Supervisory Board for age reasons. At 22 years of belonging to the Supervisory Board, he certainly sets a new record amongst DAX companies. Over the past years, that haven't always been easy, they all contributed to Deutsche Börse AG's success. Moreover, they've invested an enormous amount of time and showed high personal commitment and thorough technical knowledge in contributing to discussions in the Supervisory Board.
For that, thank you very much indeed. Finally, let me say a few words regarding the annual audit and the group audit. KPMG audited the annual financial statement, the consolidated financial statement, as well as the combined management report for Deutsche Börse Aktiengesellschaft, as well as for the group for the financial year 2017, also including accounting, and has issued an unqualified opinion. This is also true for the non-financial declaration contained for the first time in the combined management report for the 2017 financial year. The condensed financial statement and the interim management report as part of the half-year financial report for the first half year 2017, were also reviewed by KPMG. After our own review of the annual financial statement, the consolidated financial statement, and the combined management report, including the non-financial declaration, we agreed to the result of the audit by the external auditors.
Following the final result of our own internal review, no objections are to be made. We thus approved the annual financial statement, the consolidated statement prepared by the Executive Board during our meeting of 9th March 2018, during which also the external auditors attended, and thus followed the recommendation of the Audit Committee. With that, the annual financial statement of Deutsche Börse Aktiengesellschaft is approved. The proposal by the Executive Board for the preparation of the unappropriated surplus was discussed in depth with the Management Board. Aspects under discussion were liquidity of the company, its financial planning, as well as shareholder interests. After its own discussion following this discussion and its own review, the Audit Committee decided to propose to approve the Executive Board's proposal, and also the Supervisory Board, after its own review, decided to follow the proposal of management regarding the appropriation.
Details of the auditor's activities and the activities of the Supervisory Board for the past financial year, you will find in the financial report 2017. If you wish, you can there also read the corporate governance report of Deutsche Börse AG, which also contains the Group Corporate Governance Declaration. Also, you will find the compliance statement regarding the recommendations of the German Corporate Governance Code, as well as third, a detailed report about the remuneration of members of the Executive Board and the Supervisory Board. Ladies and gentlemen, in conclusion, I would now like to thank our staff and our employees. We truly have asked a lot of them in 2017. At the same time, we were always able to fully rely on all of our employees as well as on our executives and members of Management.
For this, at this point, I'd like to say thank you very much indeed. At this point, I would like to hand over to the CEO, Dr. Theodor Weimer.
Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, dear shareholders, let me also wish you a very warm welcome to the Jahrhunderthalle. It is my absolute pleasure to stand in front of you today for the first time as CEO of Deutsche Börse AG to report on the company's performance over the last year. Of course, to provide you with an outlook as well. I'd also like to extend a warm welcome to all those who are participating via the internet, and of course, to the members of the media. As you know, I only took up my role at the beginning of this year. Over the past months, I've given close attention, ladies and gentlemen, to Deutsche Börse's position and strategy. Let me begin by saying Deutsche Börse is a strong and resilient company. We are the leading provider of infrastructure for the capital market in all of Europe.
With a market capitalization of more than EUR 20 billion, we are even among the four most valuable companies in this industry worldwide. It is true that the gap separating us from the three largest stock exchanges globally is large. Deutsche Börse, ladies and gentlemen, is pursuing the right strategy. In our technology-driven business, size, and as we say, scalability matter. What does scalability mean? It means, putting it simply, that we can increase our earnings without increasing costs by the same rate. For example, our Xetra T7 trading system can easily handle more than double the volume without the costs increasing significantly. Ladies and gentlemen, dear shareholders, this is both a blessing and a curse. Why is that? If we don't succeed, our major competitors will increase their lead on us, as they also know what scalability means.
That is why we must grow, and this is the good piece of news, ladies and gentlemen, we can grow. Over the past few years, Deutsche Börse has performed very well, demonstrated by our share price, which has more than doubled over the last five years, and with that, so has our market capitalization, that is, the value of our company. Also, the share price performance has been very positive since the beginning of the year, ladies and gentlemen. Overall, this is a truly favorable starting point. However, right from the beginning, I was also interested in knowing what was not working so well, what we should do better, even better, and also what we should not pursue. Hence, what we will not pursue. The entire senior management team has put a lot of work into answering these questions over the last months. We've dealt with this in depth.
Ladies and gentlemen, we know what we aim to do and not to do. Our internal discussions have shown that we should make some adjustments to the strategy, which basically is very good. Above all, we must implement it better, more quickly, more efficiently, and in a more focused manner. We already published the main cornerstones of our strategy, which we've called Roadmap 2020, even in German, in an ad hoc announcement at the end of April. Our Roadmap 2020 is our navigation system, guiding us from our starting point to our destination. We'll come back to that later in more detail. First, I'd like to report on our positive performance in 2017, for which my predecessor, Carsten Kengeter, is responsible. He and our colleagues on the Executive Board achieved this result in quite a challenging environment.
As all are aware, firstly, there were significant distractions due to the failed attempted merger with the London Stock Exchange. Secondly, in 2017, there were also few fluctuations in the markets in our business, which has affected our growth. This year, in 2018, the trend fortunately has taken a turn. We have been experiencing significantly higher volatility, and we're now benefiting from an improved market environment. This is evident in the very positive results we have achieved in the first quarter 2018. I will share these results in the second part of my presentation. The third part is dedicated to our future and the outlook for the coming years. This is where I will present the core pillars of our Roadmap 2020, our navigation system. Ladies and gentlemen, in essence, this is a program to drive more growth.
I cannot repeat it often enough, because growth is a critical element of our business. Let me take this opportunity to thank you, dear shareholders, for your loyalty, for standing by us, for believing in our company and our future. I would like to thank you for what hopefully is the absence of excessive criticism today. In light of our company's very favorable situation, as well as performance overall. I look forward to the discussion with you afterwards. There is a lot to do. Let us look ahead together and drive Deutsche Börse forward. I would like to express my very personal thanks to the employees of Deutsche Börse. They did not let the commotion surrounding this company at times last year distract them. It is as simple as that.
During a difficult year, in which Deutsche Börse was also rightly under public scrutiny, they performed exceptionally well. They simply did their job even in heavy seas, and they did it well, including delivering major projects diligently. Let me recall, for instance, the transition to T2S, the new European system for the settlement of securities. Let me recall the introduction of T7 as the new system for our cash market. Or for that matter, the establishment of a partnership with major banks worldwide for euro clearing, that we would like to attract. Ladies and gentlemen, dear shareholders, our employees are a key element of our positive performance in 2017. Thank you, dear employees. Ladies and gentlemen, the stock exchange business thrives on the ups and downs of markets. That is, as we say, from volatility. That is the cyclical contribution to our revenue stream.
We are also able to accelerate our growth through additional efforts on our own, including the development, for example, of new innovative products. We refer to this type of growth as secular. Growth that we can influence ourselves. In 2017, the secular component of our net revenue increased by a total of 5%. We faced cyclical headwinds, that is to say, the up and down in the markets, which led our net profit and total revenue to fall somewhat short of our high expectations overall. A key factor in this was lower volatility in the capital markets with price fluctuation at, ladies and gentlemen, an all-time low. In addition, as you all know, interest rates, in particular in Europe, were and still are very low. In order to compensate for lower revenues, we successfully implemented countermeasures through our cost base.
Ladies and gentlemen, we had our costs under control last year. Our bottom line shows net profit increasing at a higher rate than our revenue. On the whole, that is, we have good reason to be pleased with the business performance over the last year. That is a success, and we would like you, dear shareholders, to also share appropriately in the success this year. We have, once again, slightly increased our dividend. Long-term secular growth is a key focus for us and of great significance. As already mentioned, it is growth that we can influence ourselves, irrespective of the development of capital markets altogether and interest rates. "In which business areas have we achieved secular growth?" I hear you choir. Allow me to give you a few examples here. Market participants trade derivatives in our subsidiary, Eurex.
These are financial products whose value is reliant upon the prices of other products. They enable our customers to hedge against unforeseen developments of these prices. We're expanding this market with increasingly more innovative products, such as interest rate derivatives on French, Italian, and Spanish government bonds, as well as dividend derivatives. Through these new products, we are increasing our own secular growth. We're also seeing long-term growth from commodities, that is, in trading in non-financial goods. On the Eurex subsidiary, EEX, the European Energy Exchange, our customers primarily trade contracts in power and gas. Through international acquisitions, the EEX has grown globally. With the acquisition of Nodal, we also now have a presence in the key U.S. market. The Deutsche Börse subsidiary, 360T, has also benefited from structural market shifts. This is where our customers trading currencies. Previously, this trading was primarily done over the phone.
There is now a trend towards electronic trading, which 360T played a key role in initiating. They continue to shape this trend today by expanding their network across a wide range of regions and market segments. This is potentially an enormous market where we anticipate long-term growth. Let me now turn to the post-trading business, the settlement and custody of securities handled by our subsidiary, Clearstream. Clearstream is the most important participant in the new settlement system operated by the European Central Bank, called T2S. Through T2S, we are able to offer our customers new post-trading services from which we expect to see high growth momentum. We have a sound foundation for this, as Clearstream is a leading global supplier of cross-border securities settlement and custody services. Clearstream's customers also include investment funds. With our investment fund services business area, we offer these customers services that simplify their business.
We are the global market leader in this area. A great deal of the investment funds business still requires automation, and this is why we also see a great deal of growth potential over the long term here. Finally, data. Data, ladies and gentlemen, is the raw material for the stock exchange. That is what determines buying and selling. Indicators provide information on whether markets are going up or down for that matter. Examples of these are the DAX and STOXX indices. There are an increasing number of financial products, such as exchange traded funds, that are tied to such indices. For this reason, this is another business area where we see secular growth. Dear shareholders, Deutsche Börse, if I may say so, is a very special company.
There are few, truly very few companies only, which have such a strong potential for growth across all, and I emphasize all, of their business areas. We can be proud of this. To you, dear shareholders, I offer my congratulations. You have a share in a growth company that is quite profitable to boot. Let me now turn to an overview of our financial key figures in 2017. First, at group level of Deutsche Börse. Our net revenue rose 3% in total to around EUR 2.5 billion. Our good secular growth of 5%, which I've already referred to, was somewhat reduced by a negative cyclical effect, while our costs fell slightly by 1% to EUR 1.0 billion. For that reason, our earnings before interests, taxes, and depreciation, so-called EBITDA, as we say, rose more than our net revenue, with an increase of 6% to approximately EUR 1.4 billion.
Net income also grew by 6% to around EUR 860 million. This figure is adjusted for exceptional items. On an unadjusted basis, our net profit growth was considerably higher, at 21%. One of the reasons for this growth is the successful sale of our stake in a U.S. trading platform. Let's now turn to the development of our business areas. As already discussed, our derivatives subsidiary, Eurex, achieved secular growth in selected products. However, overall, it suffered due to lower market volatility. Net revenue of the segment fell by 3% to around EUR 1 billion. Net profit was hit even harder, with a decrease, unfortunately, of 6% to EUR 560 million. In contrast, Xetra, our cash market, benefited from the bullish sentiment in the equities market. The migration of Xetra to the new trading system, T7, also made it fit for the future.
Net revenue rose 7% to around EUR 180 million. Net profit increased by as much as almost a quarter to more than EUR 90 million. Clearstream, our post-trading business, also had a good year, with net revenue growth of 11% to EUR 890 million. It posted even higher growth in net profit of 19%, ladies and gentlemen, dear shareholders, to nearly EUR 520 million. Finally, we come to our market data and services segment. Here, net revenue remains stable at around EUR 400 million. Nevertheless, net profit rose 7% to approximately EUR 260 million. As I've outlined, on balance, from a financial point of view, 2017 was a successful year for Deutsche Börse. Although, ladies and gentlemen, we do not want to hide the fact that our reputation has suffered last year.
We want you to share in our financial success by way of an attractive payout ratio and dividend. At the same time, however, we have an obligation, and I have an obligation, to maintain our investment capacity in a dynamic industry such as ours. Or at least to maintain it. We must find a good balance between dividend payout and scope for investment. Because, ladies and gentlemen, we are a growth company. We must grow, and let me repeat this once more, we can grow. This is also in your long-term interests, ladies and gentlemen. Only in this way are we able to achieve our goal of future earnings growth, by investing. That is the very purpose. We propose a dividend increase of 4% for fiscal 2017 to EUR 2.45 per share.
With this, our dividend payout ratio remains stable, amounting to 53% of net income, compared with 54% last year, the year before. This puts us in the top third of companies in our industry. In addition, at the end of 2017, we launched a share buyback program with a purchase volume of EUR 200 million. It's already been implemented. We have already announced another share buyback of the same amount, which is to be completed by the end of 2018. The aim of these share buybacks is to ensure a well-balanced use of our cash resources. Besides the share buybacks, these funds are primarily earmarked for external value accretive growth. Before I address our strategic growth pillars, let me ask the question: where do we stand in terms of growth for this year, in 2018? The answer is clear-cut. We have had a strong start to the year.
Our net revenue has risen sharply by 11% compared with the first quarter 2017. In terms of secular growth, this was 7%. This is a great success. There are many reasons for this secular growth. This includes new Eurex products, euro clearing, that we are really fighting for hard, transactions on our EEX, the power and gas exchange, the stocks index business, and investment fund services, where we are offering these services for our customers. What is impressive, ladies and gentlemen, is that we are actually experiencing growth across all our business areas. Incidentally, the general market environment has also turned in our favor. The contribution of cyclical growth, that is to say, generated by the capital market and financial markets, this contribution of cyclical growth was 4% in the first quarter. Ladies and gentlemen, whether this cyclical tailwind we saw in the first quarter will continue remains to be seen.
During the past few weeks, market fluctuations have been decreasing again. With my arrival in office, we drew the following conclusions from this analysis. We aim at achieving at least 5% secular growth per year, i.e. growth that is independent from market fluctuations. Further revenues from market fluctuations will be added on top. They may very well be substantial. They are outside the control or influence of management. This means that all told, our annual growth may very well amount to much more than 5% over the next three years. Our adjusted costs in the first quarter increased by 4%, while our adjusted net profit had strong double-digit growth of 17%. This demonstrates the high level of scalability of our business model in Deutsche Börse. We succeed in having our costs increase at a slower rate than our earnings.
That is a result, ladies and gentlemen, we can be proud of and which gives us confidence for 2018. Let us never forget, there is only just one quarter behind us and a few months. With that, let us now move from a look in the past, to a look into the future. Where do we envisage future growth? As the new CEO of Deutsche Börse, one of the first things on my agenda was to critically review the current strategy. Over the last months, and believe me, the team, including the other members of the executive board, all of us, including the heads of the business areas at Deutsche Börse, have done just that in depth. In order to obtain a broader picture, we also solicited the opinion of major investors in a survey. I would like to highlight two findings from our survey in particular, ladies and gentlemen.
First, three-quarters of all investors consider our current strategy to be credible. Three-quarters of them. A view, which, ladies and gentlemen, I share, having taken a good look at things. There is no reason to reinvent the wheel just because I am the new CEO now. New priorities need to be set in certain areas. Deutsche Börse is a growth company, and that should be the core of our strategy. The very core. Our institutional investors attest to that, and that is the second finding of our survey. Two-thirds of respondents believe in the growth potential of our shares. A truly nice result. This means our shareholders, that is you, want to see us deliver growth. At the end of April, following consultations with the supervisory board, the executive board resolved a new roadmap, Roadmap 2020. This strategy has three growth pillars, three thrusts.
Growth pillar number one, organic growth. We will continue to invest organically and thus expand our existing business. We see opportunities in all business areas to do this. From market data and services, through trading, and onto our services for investment funds. By doing so, we aim to take advantage of attractive growth opportunities, but also be within sight of our competitors ahead of us. Various secular developments support us with this, such as regulation and the trend away from OTC business to exchange trading. Added to this are extraordinary events such as Brexit, ladies and gentlemen, which for us, as bitter as it is from a political point of view, also offers business opportunities.
In this regard, it is up to us, totally dispassionately, in the interest of our customers, to provide a well-organized transition to a new European market order and to systematically take advantage of all market opportunities that present themselves. This is where we will be persistent, dear shareholders. One thing in particular must be highlighted. Going forward, our growth initiatives must be carried out more swiftly, more efficiently, and in a more targeted manner. We need better implementation discipline, as I tend to say. After all, we must grow. We can grow. Ladies and gentlemen, we will grow. Growth pillar number two, inorganic growth, which is growth through acquisitions. This also continues to be part of our strategy, in particular, where it complements our business well. We will apply a rigorously focused and value-driven approach with five priority areas.
Fixed income securities, energy products, currencies, services for investment funds, and fifthly, data and indices. A first example of this is our successful acquisition of the Swisscanto Funds Centre from Zürcher Kantonalbank, which we announced in April this year. This acquisition allows us to further expand our market leadership that we have anyway in Clearstream's fund business. Let me confirm once more, here and now, transformational transactions, as a consequence of which we do not hold the majority or our domicile is no longer in Hesse, are not an option for us. Growth pillar number three, technology. Ladies and gentlemen, you have known this for a long time. You've been shareholders for a long time. You know we are a technology company. We are among the inventors of electronic trading, one of the cornerstones of our success today. We intend to build on this.
We seek to hold the lead in technology in the global stock exchange industry. To this end, we will increase our investments in innovative technologies over the next few years. This is where the action is on the technological front, ladies and gentlemen, this is where we will be playing a leading role. We have four priority areas. 1, blockchain, a revolutionary new technology. 2, big data analysis. Data, the new data treasures that we need to tap overall. 3, the consistent use of the so-called cloud computing that everybody's talking about. 4, the systematic adoption of robotics and artificial intelligence. These are all topics, ladies and gentlemen, we are working on intensely now and will keep us busy over the next years. On the one hand, they open up new business opportunities.
One on the other, they enable us to make our organization more efficient, more productive, with fewer mistakes, and also will make our organization sustainable. We intend to finance the necessary investments in growth and technology with our own funds. In order to achieve this, we will reduce our structural costs or fixed costs by EUR 100 million by the end of 2020. For this, we expect one-time costs of EUR 200 million, which will mainly be incurred during this current year. As you can see, we are saving to be able to invest. Part of these savings measures, ladies and gentlemen, will be a reduction of staff. We will not stop short of cuts at the management level, however. At that level, we plan to reduce staff numbers by up to 50 to make the organization more efficient and agile.
At this point, however, it is important for me to emphasize once again that the Deutsche Börse's strategy is entirely based on growth. If we achieve our growth targets as planned, we will create a triple-digit number of new jobs over the next few years despite the planned job cuts, because we will need employees sometimes with a different job profile or skill set. We need employees who are proficient in the new technologies. We know we've always been a technological forerunner, and that is what we intend to remain, and we need to have young people, employees, who know their way around the new technology. This is our ambition. Our new growth target is at least 5% increase in net revenue per year until 2020 from secular growth opportunities, and 10%-15% growth of net profit every year to 2020.
This underlines further the scalability of our business model. Our costs are to increase at a slower rate than net revenue, which will also lead to disproportionate earnings growth in the future as well. In order to implement this plan, we have also completed our management team with new appointments. As Dr. Joachim Faber, Chairman of the Supervisory Board, already mentioned, my colleagues, Andreas Preuss and Jeffrey Tessler, are stepping down from the board to retire. Both gentlemen, ladies and gentlemen, have made an outstanding contribution to Deutsche Börse and the financial center of Europe. I'm reluctant to see you go. Andreas, Jeff, on behalf of the total Executive Board, I would like to thank you for what you have contributed, but also I would like to thank you personally.
During a difficult stage of induction during the first few months, you have supported me fully with all you could do. I trust that you will also support the new members of the Executive Board with such professionalism as they assume their positions. I also wish you both a fulfilling time after Deutsche Börse and look forward to getting a tip here or there from you as to how to do things better. All the best from me and all of us. I am pleased at the same time that the Supervisory Board has appointed such distinguished individuals to the Executive Board. I'm proud that with our new members of the Executive Board, we have brought together both internal and external expertise. This will allow us to implement our Roadmap on schedule and reliably.
I look forward to the constructive and dynamic collaboration with a focus on the future with each of you to the best benefit of our shareholders and customers. Let me take this opportunity to highlight the fact that Deutsche Börse has excellent employees with in-depth expertise below the executive board level who have many years of experience. It is fun working with these executives and staff members. During my first months as CEO, I have had a very positive experience with the quality and motivation of our employees at all locations. Ladies and gentlemen, our employees are proud to be working for Deutsche Börse and with Deutsche Börse, and they want to contribute. Above all, our nine segments, which we have reported by since the 1st of January, are managed by high-powered people.
Dear new executive board members, you will see it is a pleasure to work with this team of the top senior guys. Ladies and gentlemen, in many respects, 2017 was not an easy year for Deutsche Börse. Our reputation, unfortunately, sustained a blow. We can't simply shrug that off. The changes need to be visible from the outside as well, and it was not least for this reason that the Supervisory Board appointed me. Please, as shareholders, never forget that we have a strong business model. Overall, we finished 2017 on a positive note, despite all vicissitudes. The strategy process of the last few years has been helpful for the entire team to see whether we are on the right track. Following our extensive discussions, we are all convinced our growth strategy is the right one. My focus and all our focus is on disciplined execution now.
We are well aware of our role as an organizer of regulated markets and provider of key infrastructure for the capital market. Ladies and gentlemen, we bear great responsibility for you, dear shareholders, as well as for Germany's financial hub. That is why we need a strong Deutsche Börse. Let us work on this together. Let's roll up our sleeves and go for it each day. Growth, I know this, as everybody here knows, growth doesn't rain from the skies like manna. Growth requires effort is fun as well. Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for your attention. I look forward to your questions. Thank you very much.
Mr. Weimer, thank you very much for your report. At this point, as announced previously, I would like to ask the newly proposed candidates to the Supervisory Board. Mr. Jetter, may I ask you to start?
Shareholders, ladies and gentlemen, my name is Martin Jetter. As a candidate for member of the Supervisory Board, I'm pleased to have this opportunity to introduce myself personally and to briefly outline my professional career. After graduating in engineering from the University of Stuttgart, I took up a job at IBM in Stuttgart in January 1986. After working at various locations in Germany, I moved to the U.S. for the first time in 1999. As a management assistant, I had the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to work very closely with then IBM Chairman, CEO, and President, Lou Gerstner, at IBM's headquarters. Accompanying the transformation IBM underwent at the time was an interesting and fascinating experience. After several jobs around the world, I was put in charge of our newly established European consultancy arm in 2002. In 2006, I was appointed as General Manager for IBM Germany.
During this time, I worked with numerous companies from. Furthermore, I sat on several important bodies, including Bitkom, Germany's IT association. After spending six years in Germany, I was once more called to May 2011 and put in charge of IBM's group-wide strategy planning. During this time, I spent a lot of time studying artificial intelligence and Asian markets in particular. Next, I had the privilege to actually implement this strategy. In April 2012, I was appointed as General Manager of IBM Japan and lived in Tokyo for three years. This period has certainly left its mark on me, and I'm grateful to have had this experience. Under my leadership, Japan became one of IBM's most successful regions. In early 2015, I returned to New York and was appointed as IBM's Senior Vice President for Technology Services, including cloud platforms.
This area generates more than $34 billion in sales and is thus IBM's strongest business worldwide. Long-term success requires a continuous focus on transformation and employee development, plus close ties with customers and regulators. Furthermore, I chair several IBM supervisory boards in Germany and Japan. Over the past 20 years, the various positions I held gave me an opportunity to work with almost all major national and international financial services providers in the area of information technology. I'm married. My wife and I live outside of New York. With that, distinguished shareholders I would be pleased to contribute my knowledge and expertise to Deutsche Börse's Supervisory Board going forward, and thus to make a positive contribution to the company's future development. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Jetter. Ms. Lambert, can I ask you to briefly introduce yourself?
Shareholders, ladies and gentlemen. My name is Barbara Lambert, I was born and raised in Germany. After graduating from higher secondary school with a German Abitur followed by an apprenticeship with a bank in Düsseldorf, I moved to Geneva in Switzerland for personal reasons, where I graduated with a university degree in business studies. As an external auditor, certified bank auditor, and with years of serving as a member of various expert commissions, I've accumulated more than 20 years of auditing and consulting experience working for Arthur Andersen and Ernst & Young, including in the M&A segment. I was head of financial sector audit with Ernst & Young Switzerland, a member of the Administrative Board and of the Partner Nomination Committee, as well as the partner responsible for Swiss international and stock-listed mandates for special audits and for quality controls and checks.
For the last 10 years of my professional career, I've worked with the Pictet Group, a Geneva-based private bank and asset manager with an international footprint. I started as head of group internal audit, and in my last position, I was a member of the board of management in the group chief risk officer function, responsible for risks, compliance, and information security. After more than 30 years of audit and operative work, I've now decided to start a new career section as a freelance member of administrative or supervisory boards respectively, and to focus on some few but highly relevant mandates. As of April 1st, 2018, I have been a member of Pictet Bank's Administrative Board and also serve in the Audit and Risk Committee.
I would be most pleased to be able to bring in my experience in the regulatory environment and ensuring a proactive, pragmatic, and efficient control system as a member of Deutsche Börse's Supervisory Board and as the chairperson of the Audit Committee. To thus promote a solid basis for growth and innovation. Thank you.
Thank you, Ms. Lambert. Professor Nagel, you have the floor, sir.
Shareholders, ladies and gentlemen. I'm pleased to have this opportunity to introduce myself to you. I was born in Karlsruhe. Perhaps you can hear it. This is where I went to university. I studied economics. I began my academic career in my hometown. In 1999, I joined the Bundesbank. First of all, I was active in markets. In 2008, we were hit by the financial crisis, and as a central banker, as you can imagine, this is the point when you know really or learn a lot about the structure of the financial markets. In 2010, I joined the board of Bundesbank. I was responsible for markets, IT, and controlling. Mr. Faber also said it earlier on.
For a certain period of time, I was also responsible for banking supervision within the executive board of Deutsche Bundesbank. My focus was always on Germany and Frankfurt as financial centers. Me and my family, I'm married with two kids, I live in the Frankfurt region. To me, Deutsche Börse is a great company. I think I know quite a lot about it. If you look at financial markets, you know just how important Deutsche Börse's role is for Germany and Frankfurt as financial centers. Therefore, I'm really pleased to have this opportunity to perhaps become a member of Deutsche Börse's Supervisory Board. You may wonder what I'm doing at this point since 2016. Late 2016, after I left Bundesbank. I thought, "It's time to do something else." As a central banker, I experienced quite a lot of things after the financial crisis.
I was looking for new challenges. I found them at the KfW Group. I was a general manager starting in November 2016, and about half a year ago, I joined KfW's executive board. I'm responsible for the entire international business, EUR 26 billion in new business outside Germany. KfW, the third largest bank of Germany, owned by the Bund and the federal states. Technology and digital change, I think these are challenges going forward, and I hope I can be a critical member of the Supervisory Board and to help Deutsche Börse pave the way towards the future. A future that we would like to shape together. I would really be delighted if you were to elect me as a member of Deutsche Börse's Supervisory Board. Thank you.