Ladies and gentlemen, let us now start with our agenda. In addition to the appropriation of profits, the discharge of the Board of Management and the Supervisory Board, various capital resolutions, and the elections to the Supervisory Board, the agenda also includes the election of the auditor and the auditor of the Sustainability Report, as well as the approval of the remuneration system for the Board of Management and the remuneration report. In addition, today we want to extend the authorization to hold the AGM in a virtual form by two years.
As you know, we have not yet made use of this authorization. Next year's annual General Meeting is also already planned as a physical event. Nevertheless, we believe it makes sense.
Nevertheless, we believe it makes sense to have the option of holding the annual General Meeting virtually in special situations.
This is such a case and that's important, the Board of Management would involve the members of the Supervisory Board in its decision, and this is of course something that goes without saying.
Nun bitte ich, Herr Meyer, we will now start with your report.
Sehr geehrte Aktionärinnen und Aktionäre, liebe Gäste, a warm welcome from me to the World Conference Center, in sunny Bonn.
I would also like to welcome all viewers who are tuning in online. Nice to have you with us. In the video you just saw, you got an impression of all the things DHL Group does today. I will, of course, go into this in more detail in a moment, as well as, of course, what we expect for the future. Before that, I would like to take you back a few decades to the year 1995, and for a particular reason. You may remember that the Windows 95 operating system for PCs came onto the market that year. Amazon sold its first books online. The Internet and online retail were still in their infancy.
Yes, there was also a virtual pet from Japan, Tamagotchi, which conquered the world back then and proved a sensation.
When I compare this to what our children are using today, it looks quite modest. All of that was 30 years ago. Why does that still matter today? 1995 was also a special year for our company. We are celebrating an anniversary. Deutsche Post was privatized at that time, and three sister companies were created in the process: Deutsche Telekom, which is still our neighbor in Bonn today; Postbank, which today is part of Deutsche Bank; and Deutsche Post. The Postal Service became a public limited company, Deutsche Post AG. Five years later, our company was listed on the stock exchange for the first time.
This marked the beginning of a new era and a real turning point. A governmental agency became a private company. What did that look like here in the 1990s? Let me give you a few impressions.
As you can see, at that time, we still did a lot of things laboriously by hand. Here you can see our employees from back then sorting letters. You will not find such long rows of lockers in our mail centers today. Processes are now largely automated. This is what the counters actually looked like in the postal outlets back then. The official term of what you are seeing here was Post Office Counter System. This is a picture from Hamburg. Sometimes we tend to look back at it and say everything used to be better in the past. I' d say that the atmosphere is a bit more welcoming today.
And customers nowadays also have much more freedom when deciding when to visit a post office. Back then, most post offices were only open for around five hours a day, and lunch breaks tended to be much longer.
DHL Express also looked very different in the 1990s. Before Deutsche Post bought the company, it was still called DHL Worldwide Express. Its logo was glaring over a white background, and revenue was only about one-eighth of what it is today with DHL Express. A lot has happened over the past 30 years. Back then, mail accounted for around 80% of our revenue, and we operated practically only in Germany. Today, DHL Group generates around three-quarters of its revenue outside Germany. Today, we deliver and store practically everything that can be delivered and stored, from electronics and medicines to machines and spare parts.
We have a footprint in over 220 countries and territories. This makes DHL the most global company in logistics and probably the most global company in any industry, for that matter.
This global footprint is a major competitive advantage for us, especially in times when the trade environment is changing rapidly. When our customers need to remain particularly flexible with their supply chains. More about that later. What you're seeing here on stage is that we rely much more on technology today than we did 30 years ago, such as in our warehouses, for example. In recent years, we've invested primarily in new aircraft, vehicles, and buildings, and now also increasingly in robots like these, which are controlled by artificial intelligence. They're not particularly talkative, but they're very precise, efficient, and almost tireless.
They relieve our employees enormously in many tasks. The big one in the middle, with the arm, is called Stretch. It was supplied by Boston Dynamics. It's become slightly heavier, but still fairly easy to handle.
It helps us to discharge parcels and boxes. You can see in the video how this works in the warehouse. Stretch can securely grip parcels weighing up to 23 kg, lift them, and place them elsewhere. It can handle over 700 parcels per hour. The other two robots to the left and right are Carter from Robust AI. You can also see it in the video. And Origin. These robots drive autonomously through the warehouses and transport every conceivable item from A to B. This allows us to process significantly more goods in the same amount of time. It is especially important that the robots are very popular among our employees.
That is because our teams have to push fewer trolleys through the aisles thanks to the robots. These robots reduce the burden on our workforce.
They reduce errors, and they make us faster and more productive. Robots are becoming increasingly important in our industry. But not everyone, not all companies have experience with handling them, and not everybody can afford them. That is another reason why more and more customers will outsource logistics to experts like us in the future. As I mentioned, it is artificial intelligence that controls our robots. AI, as we call it, has many other advantages for us. AI helps us coordinate transportation, for example. It independently coordinates dates for larger deliveries between customers and drivers.
It works like a natural conversation via a voice assistant or by email, as chosen by the AI system. We are improving our customer service with AI. With AI, we can also better predict demand patterns. This enables us to avoid overstocks or bottlenecks in warehouses.
Artificial intelligence and robots are therefore making us more productive and efficient. However, when we look at our results, then it becomes clear that there are other factors that are also important. For instance, the impact of the global economy. In 2024, the economy did not really bounce back. We therefore started the year with little momentum, but picked up speed in the second half of the year. We were able to close 2024 with a good performance overall. It is pleasing to note that revenue grew again by 3% compared to the previous year. EBIT was down slightly against the 2023 figure, but came in well above the pre-pandemic level of 2019.
Why are we comparing 2024 with the period before the pandemic? Well, because the pandemic was, of course, an extraordinary time. People ordered far more online than usual.
We transported huge quantities of vaccine doses and masks. That is not comparable with today's world. Mostly, the business with vaccines and masks has become obsolete. Our free cash flow, excluding acquisitions, amounted to EUR 3 billion last year, which was also slightly below the 2023 figure, but well above the pre-pandemic level. Overall, therefore, DHL Group has demonstrated its efficiency even in a weak economic environment. How did we do that? I would like to take this opportunity to particularly thank our approximately 600,000 staff around the world. Their motivation, passion, and commitment are impressive, especially in times of crisis.
It's great to see what this team can do. Our employees are the driving force behind the success of this company. I'm proud of their performance. There were more factors that determined our success in 2024. For instance, we demonstrated high service quality once again.
This enabled us to adjust our prices in line with the market, at least outside of the regulated business of P&P Germany. We consistently kept an eye on our costs. We flexibly adapted capacities in our global network. This made it possible for us to remain efficient. We continue to benefit greatly from e-commerce, which remains an important growth trend for our company. However, we are not satisfied with our share price. Let's take a look at the longer-term trends since the end of 2019. DHL is shown in yellow. The performance of the German DAX stock index is depicted in dark gray. The lighter gray stands for the global transport industry.
The graphic shows that DHL Group outperformed the global transportation industry during this period. Nonetheless, the valuation of our share is not satisfactory. There are several reasons for this.
I already mentioned the first one. The economy has weakened in many markets. New US trade barriers are having a significant impact on global trade and the capital markets. The geopolitical tensions and wars, such as those in Ukraine and the Middle East, are creating uncertainty. Consumers are postponing purchases, and companies are reluctant to invest, and investors are withholding capital. Investors are currently taking an especially critical view of Europe.
The economy was particularly weak here due, in part, to excessive bureaucracy. Europe, and Germany in particular, has placed numerous burdens on entrepreneurs over the course of decades: duties, rules, requirements. Individually, each burden may still be manageable, but there are too many by now. DHL Group still generates a large proportion of its revenue in Europe. This is why investors sometimes view us with skepticism.
It remains to be seen whether things may change with the new German government. The third factor is the pressure that Post and Parcel Germany is currently facing. Letter volumes continue to decline. At the same time, we had high inflation in Germany, and wages have risen significantly over the past few years as well. At the same time, we were not allowed to increase our prices in the mail business to sufficiently compensate for the higher costs. Regulation prevented us from it. Parcel business is growing, and it is profitable. However, it has not yet been able to compensate for the decline in mail and the cost pressure in the division completely.
Dear shareholders, the economy gave us little tailwind in 2024. Nonetheless, we are paying a consistent dividend. That's because your return is important to us.
We are again proposing a dividend of EUR 1.85 per share. This means that we would distribute 64% of the net profit to you. Given our financial strength, we can afford this. So e ven in times like these, DHL Group remains an attractive investment. Additionally, we have extended the current share buyback program until the end of 2026 and increased it by a further EUR 2 billion to as much as EUR 6 billion in total. You, as shareholders, will also benefit from this. Ladies and gentlemen, let's look ahead to the next few years. How has DHL Group set the course for this?
Our central compass is the Strategy 2030, which we presented in September in line with our usual five-year cycle. What does the strategy stand for in a nutshell? We will adapt to changes in our environment.
We are even more determined to exploit growth opportunities. And at the same time, we will retain what works well. Our foundation, for example, has proven its worth. That is why it will remain in place. You can see it to the left of the diamond on the graphic. With Strategy 2030, we are reaffirming our corporate purpose, which is connecting people, improving lives. We are also retaining our values, respect, and results, which guide us every day. An our customer promise remains valid as well. DHL remains the number one quality provider in logistics. We deliver what we promise. With Strategy 2030, however, we are also making it quite clear that we are ready for more. The world around us is changing, and this offers us various opportunities. We are focusing primarily on fast-growing sectors and regions. Let me pick out one exciting example.
We are talking here about an industry in which research is currently making fascinating progress: life sciences and healthcare. In other words, pharmaceutical and medical products. These products are becoming increasingly complex and increasingly tailored to specific diseases or patient groups, and sometimes even to individual patients. Our company can benefit greatly from this because these new products have to be transported day after day, after all. That is very demanding. For example, many medicines require constant below-zero temperatures. They often have to get directly from the place of manufacture to the place of use very quickly.
This may be a hospital or a patient's home. There will be more and more small and very sensitive parcel-sized deliveries and t his requires special logistics. That is a good fit for us as DHL.
The pharmaceutical and medical sectors already contribute around EUR 5 billion a year to our revenue. At attractive margins, mind you. We want to double the share of revenue by 2030. We are investing a further EUR 2 billion in this area. And we've introduced a new brand, DHL Health Logistics. Wie Logistik im Pharma- und Medizinbereich funktioniert, lässt sich gut am Beispiel Florstadt zeigen. The Florstadt site near Frankfurt is a good example of how logistics works in the pharmaceutical and medical sectors. That is where we operate the DHL Health Logistics Campus, a state-of-the-art center specifically for pharmaceutical logistics.
It is one of our largest sub-center s worldwide. Over 600 specially trained employees work here. They ensure that important medicines and medical devices are packaged and stored correctly, and that they arrive reliably wherever they are needed worldwide. What exactly does the work look like here?
Let's go live to the Florstadt site and ask. Joining us is Campus Manager Ron Sperschneider. Good morning, Mr. Sperschneider. How are things?
Hello, Mr. Meyer, and hello to Bonn. Everything's just fine here.
Mr. Sperschneider, tell me, what's happening in the background there? I can see that some items are marked as hazardous goods, and I can see that there are some colleagues in a yellow outfit, but that's not exactly the kind of outfit we see in our day-to-day business, right?
Yeah, the color is a good fit, but the colleagues here are taking a sample of some raw material. That's in a clean room where there's no dust, no dirt at all. Yes, the colleagues are wearing a very special outfit for protection, of course, because they're handling hazardous goods, but also to protect the goods themselves, to keep them clean.
And then the product is sent to our customers. A final check is performed to make sure that the product comes in precisely the quality that is required. And the moment it's been approved, we then send it to production. And then at the end of the day, we end up having, you know, either a medical drug or maybe a medical device, such as an insulin syringe.
Okay. What kind of logistics do we have in Florstadt?And w hat does our customer relationship look like?
Well, right here at our site, we have 100,000 sq m, and we have a lot of temperature-controlled items. There 's a high level of humidity.
All sites are organized such that we can save several tons of hazardous goods because at the end of the day, we are handling a lot of hazardous goods here.
And for that, we need the right technological equipment. We are using specialized IT software so that we always know what sort of products we have in store. And of course, quality always comes first. That is pivotal that everybody knows what they need to do specifically and what the product is supposed to do at the end of the day, which is saving lives. This is our day-to-day business. As far as our customers go, you know, we've been working with some of our customers for 20 years, and we want to continue these customer relationships and w e have a wide range of different things here. There are, you know, products that you can afterwards buy in the pharmacy: transfusion devices, contact lenses.
We also perform clinical studies, helping industry to develop new medical drugs and to get better by the day.
Thank you very much, Mr. Sperschneider. We're saying hello from Bonn to beautiful Florstadt in Hesse. Goodbye. Thank you. Goodbye. Ladies and gentlemen, logistics for life sciences and healthcare has enormous potential. There are even more examples of how we want to accelerate our growth with Strategy 2030. One of these is the new energy sector. This includes products for wind and solar energy, as well as electric vehicles, batteries, battery storage systems, and devices for grid expansion, which received a lot of media attention recently. This area will also grow strongly in the coming years.
Here, too, we can score points with our board portfolio. We're also positioning ourselves in this area with a new brand, which is called DHL New Energy Logistics, which means that we are pooling our skills in this field, and we are continuing to invest here, also in our partnership with customers.
We also want to increase our footprint in fast-growing countries and regions, many of which benefit, for example, from companies that want to become less dependent on individual locations. They want to diversify their supply chains, especially in times of geopolitical tensions. Companies often diversify their risks in turbulent times. They distribute their warehouses and production more widely around the world. In addition to China, for example, they establish locations in Southeast Asia, India, Eastern Europe, Mexico, or Turkey. DHL Group is in the best position to exploit opportunities here because we are the most global logistics provider.
Because we cover the entire spectrum of logistics with our divisions, and because we often already have a significant market share in fast-growing regions, we will continue to expand that until 2030.
Ladies and gentlemen, we want to invest heavily, so we also have to keep an eye on our costs and make DHL lean and efficient. We' ve therefore launched the Fit for Growth program as a further part of Strategy 2030. In this way, we aim to reduce our costs by more than EUR 1 billion by the end of 2026. All divisions, and needless to say, also headquarters, are contributing to this. For example, we are making our networks and processes and our flight operations more efficient and on the last mile. This is explicitly not about the usual seasonal flexibility, which is a matter of course for us. Instead, it is about measures that structurally and sustainably reduce our costs.
For example, we are working with new partners in our flight network and our air network and saving money as a result.
We are also becoming more digital in many areas and are relying even more on artificial intelligence. What remains important in all of this is that we continue to deliver the best quality for our customers, and we will not make any compromises here. As I mentioned, what worked well in previous years is being maintained with Strategy 2030. That is why you will continue to find our existing three bottom lines in Strategy 2030, which are employer, provider, and investment of choice.
However, we have further developed this foundation, and there is now a fourth bottom line, which is called green logistics of choice, because climate change remains the biggest global problem that humanity must tackle, regardless of what may be happening politically in some of the world's capitals. We support our customers in reducing their carbon footprint in their supply chains.
With our Go Green Plus offer, we provide them with low-emission transportation for an additional charge, of course, including by plane or ship. We then use sustainable fuels on request. Demand for that kind of offer is increasing, so we are responding to a customer need here. And l ow-emission logistics is increasingly becoming a competitive advantage, and that is why we are consistently pursuing this goal. This brings us to the forecast, the guidance for 2025.
We expect the global situation to remain turbulent in the current year, including wars and geopolitical tensions. Yet we have proven that we are also successful in difficult environments. We expect EBIT of at least EUR 6 billion in 2025, in other words, slightly higher than last year. And we expect free cash flow, excluding acquisitions, of around EUR 3 billion, which is comparable to last year.
Our outlook does not take into account any potential impact, either positive or negative, on our business if key players continue to drastically change their trade policies. What does that mean? Positive implications are not discussed quite as often as negative repercussions. In fact, new tariffs would not only have disadvantages for our business. It is true that new tariffs tend to reduce transport volumes, and that could have a significant impact on trade lanes with the US in particular. At the same time, however, tariffs often create new supply chains. Let's take a manufacturer of household appliances as an example, based in China.
Because the tariffs are high, this producer will no longer supply the US market from China, but rather from the Middle East. In return, its customers in the Middle East will receive the appliances from China.
This results in more transportation, and the manufacturer has to organize various delivery routes in order to minimize or even bypass tariffs. Whenever things are getting complex, as in this example, DHL Group can make particularly good use of its flexibility. We also handle customs clearance for many customers worldwide. This is good business for us. If there are more tariffs, demand will also increase here. There are many factors that play a role. It remains to be seen how things will unfold from here. In any case, we remain convinced of our growth opportunities. In the medium term, we want to achieve EBIT of over EUR 7 billion again.
We announced the results for the first quarter of 2025 the day before yesterday. Our EBIT and revenue grew slightly compared to the same period last year.
We have thus continued the positive momentum of the previous quarters. Allow me to add a few more thoughts on global trade here. All the more, as many people are worried about this issue at the moment because of possible new tariffs and unpredictable trade policies. I think in the current situation, it is worth taking a look at history, which has shown that trade promotes prosperity. It slows down inflation, it makes goods more widely available, and above all, it makes technological progress accessible and improves the quality of life.
Trade not only helped Germany achieve a rapid recovery after World War II, it has also lifted over a billion people in China and Southeast Asia out of poverty. And it is clear that not all countries in the world can develop and produce the latest medical equipment themselves.
Not every country will produce every drug product itself. Trade is needed so that people around the world can share in these achievements. That is why trade, quite simply, finds a way, even past barriers. It goes without saying that the United States is an important market, but the majority of world trade takes place without the US. Around three quarters of global trade now involves neither US imports nor US exports. If the US closes itself off even more, other countries will benefit. Other trade lanes will then become more important. Trade lanes where DHL generally has a significantly greater market share than for trade to and from the United States.
Whatever may be happening, as DHL Group, we remain close to our customers in every situation. We can support them with unrivaled expertise and with specialists in 220 countries and territories.
No one else in the industry is as global and flexible as we are. DHL tells us the world is changing very quickly at the moment, and not just for the better. We are making the best of the situation for DHL Group. We can be satisfied with our business, but not with the valuation of our share, even though we've made gains vis-à-vis our competitors since the beginning of the year. This motivates us to continue delivering good results, even. We can handle crises, as we demonstrated in previous years. In fact, we always emerge stronger from crises, particularly compared to the competition. With Strategy 2030, we have exactly the right answers for these challenging times as well.
I'm extremely grateful to my colleagues for their tremendous commitment over the past few months.
I know that day-to-day business is hard, and we need to keep a close eye on costs while at the same time pushing ahead with our strategic initiatives. Dear shareholders, you own a company with great potential. We are ready for more. We're on the right track, and we are looking forward to what lies ahead. Thank you for the trust you have placed in us. Thank you for listening.
Ja, sehr herzlichen Dank, Herr Meyer. Thank you very much, Mr. Meyer, for this overview for the group. This was a very committed statement, and we see a silver lining on the horizon. Ladies and gentlemen, I had already announced that Mrs. Kreis is going to inform us briefly about the current share buyback program. At the beginning of this year, the Management Board decided to extend the program once again until the end of next year.
As Mr. Meyer already mentioned, to increase the volume by another EUR 2 billion to a total of EUR 6 billion, together with a dividend of EUR 1.85, which we are proposing to you today, you, dear shareholders, will therefore receive an attractive return again this year. Mrs. Kreis, may I ask you for your comments on the share buybacks and on the use of treasuries?
Thank you very much. Dear shareholders, as Mr. von Bomhard has already mentioned, we decided at the beginning of the year to extend the current share buyback program until the end of next year and to increase it by a further EUR 2 billion to a total of EUR 6 billion. We are thus following our financial strategy, which was updated against the backdrop of Strategy 2030 that sets clear priorities for the use of available liquidity.
After financing business operations, organic investments, and dividend payments, we are also considering share buybacks and inorganic growth. The continued increased and accelerated share buyback program, together with a stable dividend, underlines our commitment to shareholder return. Since the last annual general meeting and on the basis of the authorization granted by the AGM on 4 May 2023, we acquired 26,736,557 shares at the current market price between 9 May and 29 November 2024, 15,784,696 between 3 December and 16 April , 7,154,515 shares, and between 18 March 2025 to 9 April 2025, 3,797,346 shares. This was the seventh tranche.
The purchase was carried out at an average share price of around EUR 37.36. The acquired shares correspond to around 2.2% of the share capital. Even after the expansion of the share buyback program, the previously intended use remains unchanged.
The shares would primarily be used to fulfill obligations arising from our share-based payment programs or from any future employee participation programs and to service conversion rights from our convertible bond issued in 2017. Of course, repurchased shares can also be canceled. As we announced at the last AGM, we made use of this authorization in May last year and decided to cancel around 39 million shares, treasury shares, sorry, on the basis of the existing authorization. Share capital was therefore reduced to EUR 1.2 billion, which means that each of our shares continues to represent EUR 1 of the share capital.
As a result of the cancellation, we have, outside of the current share buyback program, sorry, also on the basis of the authorization, a further 1,201,373 shares were acquired and transferred to the executives participating in the share matching scheme at a price of EUR 39.80.
The purchases were made between 7 March 2025 and 2 April 2025 at the current market price. These shares acquired for the executive remuneration program correspond to around 0.1% of the share capital. The total number of shares acquired since the last AGM corresponds to around 2.3% of the share capital. We currently hold 52,324,742 treasury shares. With these remarks, I would like to give back to Mr. von Bomhard and thank you for your attention.
Ja, liebe Frau Kreis, und ich danke. Thank you very much, Mrs. Kreis. Thank you very much for those many figures, and everybody wrote them down, as I could notice. Well, I would like to underline treasury shares are not entitled to dividends, as the number of treasury shares has changed since the Management Board and Supervisory Board passed the resolution on the proposal of the appropriation of profits.
This had to be updated. The adjusted proposal, however, which is being put to the vote today, provides for a stable dividend of EUR 1.85 per share. The profit carried forward has, of course, been increased in line with the change in the number of treasury shares. The adjusted proposal for the appropriation of profits can also be found digitally at the information stand in the lobby and on our website. Ja, und damit komme ich zum Bericht. I will turn to the report of the Supervisory Board. I will focus on the main topics. A detailed report can be found in the comprehensive annual report on pages 10. [Exec] of the annual report.
Ladies and gentlemen, at this AGM, we can once again look back on a challenging and eventful year. The recently adopted Strategy 2030 mentioned by Mr. Meyer and the adjustment of the group structure, which you will decide on at the upcoming AGM, will definitely benefit the company and further improve the group's earnings situation. Der klare strategische Fokus. The clear strategic focus and the great commitment of the Management Board and of all company employees will keep your company on a very promising path, even if the current global economic developments present us all with major challenges.
I would like to thank the employees and the members of the Management Board for their enormous personal commitment on behalf of the entire Supervisory Board. Die Zusammenarbeit mit den Mitgliedern des Vorstands. Our cooperation with the members of the Management Board in the past financial year was again characterized by a high level of trust. The Management Board did involve us in all issues and decisions of importance to the company at an early stage.
It goes without saying that we discussed Strategy 2030 with the Management Board several times over the course of last year and put forward our suggestions before jointly adopting it in September. The members of the Supervisory Board took part in almost all plenary and committee meetings. A detailed list of attendance can be found on page 10 of the annual report. The Supervisory Board also met regularly in the absence of members of the Management Board, for example, on Management Board matters, to assess the effectiveness and efficiency of its work, that is, our work, in plenary sessions and in the committees.
We also discussed individual issues relating to our duties with the auditor in the absence of the Management Board. In October of last year, and this was not the very first time, I talked to a number of investors and proxies on topics under the Supervisory Board's area of responsibility. That was succession planning and the competency profile for the Management Board, and most recently, the new remuneration system for the Management Board, which you are deciding on today. The composition of the Supervisory Board was another important topic of this exchange, particularly with respect to the qualifications and independence of its members.
It was also welcomed, as I mentioned, that today's meeting is once again being held as a physical meeting. Wir haben uns in all our Supervisory Board meetings, we dealt with the reports from the members of the Management Board on the situation of individual divisions, the company, and the group as a whole.
The chairmen of the Supervisory Board committees reported on their meetings in plenary meetings. We discussed significant business measures and transactions in detail in advance and, depending on the situation, also approved them. Some relevant developments in the area of digitalization and issues related to the use of AI remain topics that we are following particularly closely. In this context, of course, the risks to which we are exposed in cybersecurity play a major role. We continue to be well positioned in this important area of responsibility, cybersecurity, which is also relevant to the Management Board's remuneration.
This assessment is in line with the assessment of our cybersecurity by the rating agency BitSight, which at the end of the year was 750 out of 820 achievable points and therefore at the upper end of our peer group. We are proposing various resolutions on capital measures under agenda items 7 to 10 to you today. In addition to the renewal of the authorized capital and the condition of contingent capital, the authorization to repurchase treasury shares is also to be renewed. Ms. Kreis already reported on this.
The new contingent capital is intended to enable a remuneration program for the group's managers to be put into practice, the main objectives and parameters of which will be based on the new remuneration system for the Management Board from next year. This will ensure that members of the Management Board and the group's managers have a remuneration system whose incentive structure and assessment criteria are comparable throughout the company.
The revised remuneration system for the Management Board, which will be presented to you for approval under agenda item 11, includes various simplifications, as well as the introduction of share purchase and holding obligations for the Management Board and the inclusion of ESG targets in the long-term remuneration component. Overall, the revised remuneration system provides for the right incentives for the successful implementation of the corporate strategy and thus for sustainable corporate development. It is geared towards long-term value creation for shareholders.
The discussions I mentioned before with fund representatives and proxies also cover these subjects, and many proposals that you find in the new system are based on these talks. You know that good corporate governance is of central importance to us.
In the reporting year, your company once again fully complied with all suggestions and recommendations of the German corporate governance code and intends to continue to do so. We are pleased that we were also ranked in the top quarter of the 40 DAX companies by the German Association for Financial Analysis and Asset Management in their independent assessment. Ladies and gentlemen, there were no changes in the composition of the Management Board last year, and this brings me directly to the Supervisory Board.
The terms of office of Ms. Döring, Mr. Rosen, who spoke to us very briefly, and of myself will end as planned at the end of today's AGM. We are proposing Ms. Döring and Mr. Rosen for re-election today. With their expertise and entrepreneurial experience, they have both played a key role in supporting the Supervisory Board in recent years, both in committee work and in plenary sessions. We would be delighted to have them on the Supervisory Board again in the coming years. After many years on the Supervisory Board, I myself am no longer available for re-election.
Following this AGM, the Supervisory Board intends to elect Dr. Katrin Suder as its Chairwoman, a choice that I personally strongly support. Of course, I would like to take this opportunity to thank you, ladies and gentlemen, dear shareholders, for the trust you have placed in me over the past few years. It has been a great pleasure and a great honor to accompany your company together with the Management Board and my colleagues on the Supervisory Board through repeatedly challenging times.
I'm very confident that the company will continue to flourish in the coming years. In addition to the re-election of Mrs. Döring and Mr. Rosen, we are also proposing the election of Professor Dr. Pölzl as the new member of the Supervisory Board. Mr. Pölzl has experience from other Supervisory Boards and committees, but in particular, he was the former CEO of Austrian Post for many years, and thus he has particularly valuable knowledge to provide expert support to the Management Board and as a member of your company's Supervisory Board and to advise on strategic decisions. Professor Pölzl, please introduce yourself, and afterwards I'll take over again.
Ladies and gentlemen, dear shareholders, it is a great pleasure to me to introduce myself and to be the candidate as the new Supervisory Board member. Over the last 15 years, I was the CEO of Austrian Post. We restructured and reformed Austrian Post during my mandate. Initially, we were very dependent on the mail business, but we turned it into a company that is also generating by now 60% of its revenue in parcel business, also internationally. The mail business was also revised, reformed, and developed further, and it is still a very important entrepreneurial pillar of the company. We turned a former state agency into a modern employer. The Austrian company is a company that is held at a 43% level by shareholders, private shareholders, and investors. As a matter of fact, we have been able to offer a stable return, a stable dividend, and a good share price to our investors.
Since 2019, we have had a very intensive cooperation. We took over the parcel business in Austria, but we are also working hard in Southern Europe and Southeastern Europe.
My successor is a colleague who worked in the company for many years, and she's also doing a very good job. On myself, before 15 years for Austrian Post, I worked in the telecommunications sector. I was a Management Board member of Deutsche Telekom. I was responsible for T-Mobile. Before that, I managed T-Mobile Austria. Before that, I was the manager of an engineering company in Austria, first as the technical director and then the CEO, but I started with McKinsey & Company in Germany, Austria, Italy, Slovenia. You see that I've covered several jobs. I studied at the mining university, sorry, and you see that this was a varied portfolio.
I've been married for many years. I have three adult children, and I love sailing. I think now you know all the essential points.
I'm looking forward to my mandate on the Supervisory Board, and I do hope that I will win your confidence and actually become a member of the Supervisory Board. Thank you very much for your attention.
Ja, vielen Dank, Herr Pölzl. Thank you very much, Mr. Pölzl. You see a very diverse CV. Why I was so enthusiastic that he is becoming a member of the Supervisory Board. Unfortunately, I won't see him as a member. Saying that, ladies and gentlemen, the CVs of the candidates for the Supervisory Board are available for you at the information counter in the foyer and at the speaker's registration desk. They're also available on our website. With the report of the Supervisory Board, this report, the public part of the live broadcast ends.
I would like to use this opportunity to say goodbye to all of those who are unable to follow the rest of the meeting. I would like to thank you for your interest in our company. Our shareholders and their representatives have the opportunity to follow the rest of the meeting via our shareholders' portal.