AGM 2021

Jun 2, 2021

Ladies and gentlemen, as the chairman of the supervisory board, I hereby open this year's AGM of Evonik Industries AG, and in compliance with Section 19 of the company statutes, I shall preside over the meeting. On behalf of the members of the supervisory board and the management board, I welcome our shareholders and shareholders' representatives, and the ladies and gentlemen from the media, as well as our guests. Dear shareholders, dear shareholder representatives, unfortunately, this year again, we cannot have an in-person meeting here in Essen, and you cannot attend in person. Due to the special circumstances, the supervisory board and the management board jointly decided that this year's AGM was to be held according to the provisions of the new act on mitigating the consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic, and thus have this meeting as a virtual meeting once again. We do ask for your understanding that we have taken this measure in order to ensure the health and safety of all of you and all people involved in the AGM. Thank you very much for following the video and audio transmission of the meeting. I would like to extend my welcome to Notary Public Dr. Begemann as well. He will be keeping the minutes of today's AGM. Dr. Begemann is sitting in the row behind me on the right-hand side from your perspective. The members of the Management Board are all present. The act on mitigating the consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic also provides that Supervisory Board members also can participate in the meeting in the same way as you, dear shareholders, that is, via remote connection. They can connect to the virtual meeting by video and audio. We make use of this option in order to avoid any risks for the participants. The remaining supervisory board members are therefore attending via video and audio connection. The proxy holders of the company are also attending here in person. Ladies and gentlemen, let me start with the formalities. It has been confirmed to me that the AGM has been duly convened, and all AGM-relevant publication and information duties have been complied with. Evidence of the publication of the AGM in the Federal Gazette of 15th April 2021 is available with the Notary Public, Dr. Begemann, and will also be attached to the minutes of the AGM. No amendments to the agenda or any counter-motions to the agenda items or the voting proposals that would have to be announced have been submitted. This virtual AGM will be transmitted live to all our shareholders and shareholder representatives via our online service. The first part of the AGM, until the end of Mr. Kullmann's report on the annual financial statement and the management report, will also be broadcast live via the internet and can be retrieved from there later on, too. Incidentally, the management will not make any video or sound recording of this AGM. I would therefore ask you to refrain from any such recording of the AGM as well. I also ask for your understanding that the remaining part of the AGM, that is especially the question and answer part, will not be broadcast via the internet. I would like to point out to the shareholders and shareholder representatives who would like to follow the AGM via the internet to log in to our online service if they want to follow the entire AGM and especially the Q&A part. Ladies and gentlemen, all important pieces of information concerning the further course of the meeting and the voting procedure, as well as the provisions to be followed in the event of objections to resolutions scheduled at this virtual AGM are included in the invitation on the company's website and the online service. If you've already submitted your votes prior to this virtual AGM yourself or via a proxy by way of postal vote, the usual procedure or via the online service, or if you've given instructions or proxy to the company's proxy holders or to an intermediary or shareholders association, you do not need to do anything else. You can still submit, change, or revoke your yes or no vote, or your abstentions by electronic mail through the password-protected online service function during the virtual AGM. However, you can only do so until the explicit closure of the voting procedure, which I, as the chairman of the meeting, will announce. For this purpose, you have to register this vote on these votes in the online service form, and then submit these votes or the revoking of the votes to us electronically. Should you wish to exercise voting rights for several shareholder numbers, please make sure that you register in the online service for all shareholder numbers, and that you have to exercise the voting rights respectively. Do follow the same procedure if during the AGM you wish to give, change or revoke proxy or instructions to the company's proxy holders or to an intermediary or a shareholders association. The company's proxy holders will only exercise your voting right if you have given specific instructions to this effect. In this context, you can only give instructions concerning proposed management resolutions, which have been announced by the company prior to the AGM. The proxy holders will also not accept any instructions concerning other shareholders rights, such as the right to raise questions or submit motions. In due time, prior to the closure of the voting procedure, I will once again point out the possibility to exercise one's voting rights. However, I kindly ask you to make use of the options mentioned before in a timely manner, as the live stream might cause time delays despite all the precautionary measures we have partaken. Also, until the end of the AGM, you may use the online service to have any objections to AGM resolutions included in the minutes of the meeting if you are exercising or have exercised your voting right. Let me point out that this option should be used in a timely manner, as well, as the live stream transmission might cause, as mentioned, some time delays. We will now start the discussion of the items on the agenda. Let me call item one on the agenda, presentation of documents to the AGM, according to Section 176, subsection one, sentence one of the Stock Corporation Act. These are the following documents: the established financial statement of Evonik Industries AG as of 31st of December 2020, the approved group financial statement as of 31st December 2020, the combined management and group management report for Evonik Group and Evonik Industries AG, including the explanatory report by the management on information according to Sections 2898, subsection one, and 315-A, subsection one of the commercial code. The report of the supervisory board of Evonik Industries AG, as well as the proposal of the management board of Evonik Industries AG concerning the appropriation of profits. You can find the group financial statement together with the unqualified auditor's certificate in the financial report 2020 from page 105 onwards, the combined management report from page 12 onwards, and the supervisory board report from page 74 onward. All the aforementioned documents have been available on the Evonik Industries AG website since the AGM had been convened, and are also available for inspection in the company's premises. The supervisory board has examined the financial statement and the combined management report of Evonik Industries AG and the group, as well as the consolidated financial statement, and its meeting on March 3, 2021 has approved those reports, which means that the financial statements have thus been established. In the same meeting, the supervisory board also examined the proposal of the management with regard to the appropriation of profits and has agreed to approve this proposal. In this meeting, the supervisory board also dealt with the management report concerning the relations with affiliated companies in fiscal 2020, which have been audited by the auditors and has been given unqualified auditor's certificate. The supervisory board has not raised any objections to the report or the result of the auditors. As already mentioned, the report of the supervisory board is included in the financial report from page 74 onwards. Since all the details of the activity of the board are explained in this report, I would like to limit myself to the following statements. In the past business year, too, the supervisory board has carried out all duties according to law and statutes with great diligence. Especially, it monitored diligently the management and advised and supported the management in the governance and management and strategic further development of the company. The management has steadily informed us about all essential matters concerning the group. As the Chairman of the Supervisory Board, I was regularly informed by the Management Board in between meetings, and I was in continuous dialogue with the Chairman of the Management Board. An essential part of the activity of the Supervisory Board takes place in the committees of the Supervisory Board. In these committees, intensive topic-related discussions are being held with the Management Board. Questions of technical matters are decided, and decisions of the Supervisory Board are being prepared here. The chairpeople of the committees present regular reports on their work to the Supervisory Board, which means that there is a close cooperation and an adequate flow of information at any point in time. Together with the Management Board, the Supervisory Board set up the Declaration on Corporate Management, which also include statements on corporate governance. This Declaration is included in the Financial Report on page 82 onwards. This is where the corporate governance of Evonik Industries AG, which the Management Board and Supervisory Board pay attention to, is explained in detail. Special focal points of the activity of the Supervisory Board and its committees in the past business year, aside from the impact of COVID-19 pandemic on Evonik and the measures to be taken, were the course of business, as well as the situation and the development of the company, including corporate planning. In particular, the Supervisory Board dealt with the acquisition of the Porocel group in the U.S., as well as with the reestablishment of ROHACELL production and the transition of the audit by PwC to KPMG for the business year 2021. In the past business year, there was one personnel change on the employees' representation side and the Supervisory Board, Mrs. Edeltraud Glänzer, with expiry of the ordinary AGM on August 31, 2020, resigned from their office in the Supervisory Board. As a successor to Mrs. Glänzer, the Essen District Court, appointed by resolution according to Section 104, Stock Corporation Act, Mrs. Birgit Biermann as Member of the Supervisory Board with effect of September 1, 2020. Due to the resignation of Mrs. Glänzer, the Supervisory Board appointed Mrs. Karin Erhard with effect of September 1, 2020 for the remaining term of office of the Supervisory Board as the Deputy Chairwoman. In this business year, too, on the employee representation side and the Supervisory Board, there are personnel changes. Mrs. Anke Strüber-Hummelt resigned from their office with effect of March 31, 2021, and thus resigned from the Supervisory Board. As a successor, the Essen District Court appointed, according to Section 104, Stock Corporation Act, Mr. Gerhard Ribbeheger with effect of April 1, 2021 as new member of the Supervisory Board. Dear Mrs. Strüber-Hummelt, after more than 40 years in the group, you had a good reason to resign from your term of office in the Supervisory Board this spring. You start your retirement, which you well deserved. In the first part of your professional career, you worked in the chemicals business, first of all, in the Marl Chemical Park. You did your training as chemical assistant before you entered the group of process engineering and had further training as a chemical engineer. More than 25% of your professional career is what you spent as a representative in the Works Council, and you engaged yourself for the employees. The more than 100 years of codetermination in Evonik shows that it is worth fighting for compromises, even though the road towards that can be thorny. You successfully committed yourself to further develop and use the potential of women within Evonik, and also as the first woman in the leadership of the Works Council in Marl and Deputy Chairwoman of the Central Works Council. You assumed responsibilities in the group. The change of generation in the Central Works Council is something you brought about. You stand for a critical and constructive dialogue between the social partners and the future-oriented way in which the codetermination bodies of the group have supported the sustainable development of Evonik is something you supported. Codetermination is very important in Evonik. This does not always go without saying. It is not easy all the time, but it's worth the while for all parties involved. The Corona pandemic has shown that a fair compensation of interest within the meaning of social partnership has stood the test. Dear Mrs. Strüber-Hummelt, you're going to start a new career in inverted commas. I wish you all the best, a lot of success, health, and a lot of time for those things you could not cope with or do in the past few years. Ladies and gentlemen, also in view of the conditions of a virtual AGM, we decided in the past year that we would continue the procedure to present new members of the Supervisory Board, such as Mrs. Biermann. This is a procedure we want to stick to, and this is why prior to the AGM, we registered video messages by Mr. Ribbeheger, which will be shown now. Chairman, Mr. Tönjes, dear shareholders, ladies and gentlemen. Thank you very much for the opportunity to introduce myself today as employee representative on the supervisory board of Evonik Industries. I would have liked to do this in person, which is unfortunately not possible due to the pandemic. I am Gerhard Rieberheger, and I am 56 years old. Since 1986, I've been working at Evonik or its predecessor companies. Following my training as a machine fitter at the former company Hüls AG at Marl, I worked as a skilled worker in the power plant division of the company between 1990 and 1997. In this period of time, I completed my continued training as a power plant foreman and as a metal industry foreman. In the following three years, I worked as a power plant foreman and master locksmith. In the following 15 years, that is from 2000 onwards, I worked in the energy management division of the Marl Chemical Park. I started my work on the works council in 2006, first as a substitute member, then in 2010 as an ordinary member of the works council of the Gemeinschaftsbetrieb Marl. Ever since 2015, I have been released from work. In March 2018, I was elected deputy works council chairman of the Gemeinschaftsbetrieb Marl. Since 2018, I have also been an ordinary member of the general works council. In April of this year, I took over the chair of the works council as successor to Anke Strüber-Hummelt, I also am succeeding her in the finance and investment committee of the supervisory board of Evonik Industries. Recently, I also became deputy chairman of the general works council. I am happy to contribute my long-standing professional experience in the co-determination bodies in order to continue developing Evonik forward. There will definitely be many constructive talks and discussions. It is important to me in this context to always ensure a good working atmosphere and a trusting cooperation, because both elements account for a good partnership between the two sides of industry, and this is what we live and practice every day at Evonik. Both elements help us find solutions that combine the perspectives and interests of all the parties involved. I am happy, therefore, about this opportunity, and I look forward to the future cooperation. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Gerhard Ribbeheger. I'm sure that we will have a very good cooperation. Also, on the shareholder side and the supervisory board, there are personnel changes in this business year, as you could already read in the invitation to today's AGM. It is that on the part of the shareholders in the supervisory board, the gentlemen Peter Spuhler and Dr. Siegfried Luther have resigned from their office with effect of the end of today's AGM. Dear Spuhler, after three years in the supervisory board of Evonik, you resigned from your office in the supervisory board with the end of today's AGM. That is, today you will participate in the AGM for the last time as a member of the supervisory board, an AGM which already takes place as a virtual meeting for the second time. I would like to thank you. I would like to thank you for the work you have done, for the expertise and the expert knowledge you have brought into the work of the supervisory board. You have an international network. You are interconnected. You supported Evonik as a global player, and your strategic thinking helped us open up new perspectives. Evonik is on a good track. Important decisions were always decisions where you were involved, as, for example, in the position of PeroxyChem or the decision with regard to the new leadership structure. You want to get ready for your task as president of the administrative board and global CEO of Stadler Rail AG, and of course, we do understand that this is your ambition. Although we will miss you in the supervisory board. You turned a small company into a big global player. More than 12,000 employee years, which the company counts now, have prepared the way in order to ensure future mobility. The trains produced by Stadler are also used in the Ruhr area in Bochum and Gelsenkirchen. The transport wagons are used beyond Switzerland and in other countries in Europe. Dear Mr. Spuhler, thank you very much for the good and trust-based cooperation. Stay vigorous, and we wish you all the best for your future. Dear Dr. Luther, we have to bid farewell from you as well. You have resigned from your office of the supervisory board of Evonik with the end of today's AG as well. Since the foundation of Evonik in September 2007, you have been a member of the supervisory board, and since then, you have been a member of the audit committee, which you chaired for more than 13 years. Right from the beginning, you supported and accompanied Evonik, and your great competence and your friendliness helped to put a stamp on Evonik. Your professional career is characterized by a passion for numbers, although you studied legal sciences. You started with Bayer in the tax department, then moved over to financial in Beiersdorf Group, for example, before in 1990 you became the CFO and later on the DWT CEO in Gütersloh. After your resignation, you contributed your expert knowledge to other committees, and not only with Evonik, you chaired the audit committee. It was one of your preferences. For your special expert knowledge and year-long experience in accounting, internal controlling, good corporate governance, et cetera, you made sure that the audit committee was always professionally chaired. One particular passion of yours is the corporate governance code, part of which was the prescribed efficiency audit of the supervisory board, the results of which led to continuous further development of the committee's works and the competency profile of the supervisory board. Dear Dr. Luther, thank you very much again for your longstanding commitment within the supervisory board and the audit committee, and thank you very much for the trust-based cooperation. All the best for you and your future. The supervisory board proposes to today's AGM as follows, A, Mr. Werner Fuhrmann to be appointed as replacement for Dr. Siegfried Luther, who will resign today for the remainder of the term of office until the end of the AGM that will decide on the ratification of acts for fiscal 2022. To be appointed as a representative of shareholders in the supervisory board and, B, Mr. Cedrik Neike as a successor to Peter Spuhler for the remainder of the office, that is until the end of the AGM that will decide on the ratification of acts for fiscal 2022 to be appointed as a representative of the shareholders on the supervisory board. We have also prepared video messages by Mr. Fuhrmann and Mr. Cedrik Neike we will now present, and we'll start with Mr. Fuhrmann. Chairman, dear shareholders, ladies and gentlemen. I'm very happy that I've been nominated by the supervisory board as new representative of the shareholders for election at today's general meeting. I would like to briefly introduce myself to you. I'm Werner Fuhrmann. After my studies of economics, I first worked in various functions of Evonik AG at Wuppertal, which is quite close, and also in the U.S. Afterwards, I continued my career at AkzoNobel, a Dutch specialty chemicals as well as paint and coatings group. Up until two years ago, I worked for AkzoNobel in the Netherlands. In my last position there, I was responsible within the executive committee for chemicals. In the chemicals industry, I'm quite well-connected because I was active for many years on the executive board of the European Industry Association, CEFIC, and the American Industry Association, which is the ACC. Moreover, I was chairman of the Association of the Dutch Chemicals Industry for quite a few years. I would be very happy if I could contribute my experience for the continued success of Evonik. Evonik is a large and highly specialized chemicals company. In the last few years, Evonik has gone through a remarkable period of transformation and is very well-positioned now. Sustainable and profitable growth are two of the challenges with which the company is now faced. For this, Evonik has a clear and compelling strategy in which financial and non-financial targets are already clearly defined. Quite a lot looks familiar to me at Evonik because there are many similarities with my previous fields of activity, and I hope that I can contribute my experience beneficially at Evonik. I would like to thank you very much and hope to see you again soon. Dear Tönjes, dear shareholders, ladies and gentlemen. I am very happy about the nomination by the Supervisory Board for election at today's general meeting. Most of you will not know me, therefore, I'd like to briefly introduce myself. My name is Cedrik Neike. I'm 48 years old and have four children. I was born in Berlin and I am half French. Following training at Siemens and my studies at London, I started my professional career in 1997 at Siemens. About 20 years ago, I moved to Cisco, a U.S. company in the IT industry. In my time at Cisco, I worked a few years in the United States and got to know Silicon Valley and was responsible for research, development, service, and marketing. Four years ago, I joined Siemens and was appointed to the Executive Board, first for energy management in Asia and later on for infrastructure. Last year, I became CEO of the business unit Digital Industries. Moreover, I'm responsible for IT, cybersecurity, and our IoT branch. All these are units that are very well connected to the transformation and digitalization, and this is very close to my heart. I'm sure that I'll be able to supplement the competence profile of the supervisory board with my experience, because Siemens and Evonik are leading industry companies looking back on a tradition-steeped history. The predecessor of Evonik and one of the predecessors were both founded in 1847. That's a nice coincidence. I'm looking forward to being able to support Evonik in its development. Digitalization has to do with sustainability. The industry can become even more climate friendly in its production. With the help of infinite data, we can conserve finite resources, and for this digital technologies are a suitable tool. I'm very looking forward to trusting cooperation with you and would like to thank you very much for your kind attention. Yes. If you want to learn more about Werner Fuhrmann and Cedrik Neike, please check the CVs that are included in the invitation on pages 20 to 23. The invitation is available under www.evonik.de/hauptversammlung on Evonik Industries AG website. The gentlemen Werner Fuhrmann and Cedrik Neike are best suited to become members in our board. Ladies and gentlemen, the minimum participation requirement obliges Evonik Industries AG by virtue of law to ensure that its supervisory board is composed of a minimum of 30% men and 30% women. Given the present composition and also in view of the imminent changes within the supervisory board due to the resignation of Siegfried Luther and Peter Spuhler with effect of today, Evonik Industries AG is in compliance with this legal requirement. Further information on the minimum participation requirement is contained in the declaration of corporate governance on page 89 of the financial report. Ladies and gentlemen, before I ask the CEO, Mr. Christian Kullmann, to report on the financial statements and the status of the company and present the management report, I would like to use the opportunity on behalf of the whole Supervisory Board to tell you, dear shareholders, that the Supervisory Board this morning in its virtual meeting decided to appoint Mr. Christian Kullmann, whose mandate would expire from May 24, 2022 until May 23, 2027 as CEO of Evonik again. Thus, the work and the performance of Mr. Kullmann was honored and appreciated and his person as well. Christian Kullmann, as the CEO, does an excellent job internally and externally. He is the President of VCI and represents the interest of the chemical industry, is always committed and clear and determined, and as a human being, he is characterized by utmost integrity. The supervisory board as a whole is looking forward to the continuation of the cooperation. Let us now pass to the management report. You have the floor, Mr. Kullmann. Good morning, ladies and gentlemen, dear shareholders, dear guests. Today, I welcome you most warmly, also on behalf of my colleagues on the board to this year's annual general meeting, which is once again being held in a purely digital format. Regrettably, the coronavirus pandemic is still with us and continues to dominate our daily lives. We are now all too familiar with the related restrictions. Health always has top priority for us, especially the health of our employees and naturally the health of our shareholders. That is why I'm speaking to you today by video only, though that does not make it any less personal. Your rights and the dialogue with you are very important to us, even in this special format. We will do our best to answer your questions, albeit virtually. It is said that true character is revealed in a crisis. Our employees have shown real character over the past year. They have demonstrated impressively what we at Evonik stand for: reliability, trust, quality, and progress. We have stood up to this global crisis. We have rolled up our sleeves and steered our course despite the uncertainty and instability of the global economic environment. What is more, Evonik has continued to develop in these difficult times. I and all of us are very grateful to our employees for that. I'm also grateful that I will stay at the helm of Evonik as chairman of the executive board for another five years, surrounded and assisted by my valued crew. I will have the privilege of continuing to steer our successful course. Allow me to use the next few minutes to give you a quick review of 2020 and show you why this success is not due to coincidence. First and foremost, it is attributable to our carefully thought-out and systematically implemented strategy. 2020 was dominated by a pandemic that brought both personal tragedies and the most severe economic crisis since the Second World War. I am pleased to report, rightly, that so far Evonik has been able to respond well to the pandemic, to the coronavirus. Protecting our employees has been and remains our top priority at all times. We were able to ensure this and provide a reliable and functioning digital infrastructure at short notice, thanks to our pandemic plans and extensive precautionary measures. Allow me to give you some figures. At times, we had 16,000 employees working from home. So far, we have distributed more than 190 masks to members of our workforce, sent 220,000 rapid tests to people, and started to vaccinate staff at our Hanau site. Our aim is to vaccinate all our employees and their families as quickly as possible. At present, we are waiting for sufficient amounts of vaccine and the necessary permits. Logistics and supply chains were most important in the crisis, and here we were also able to respond in a robust manner. Thanks to our global network of reliable partners, we coped well with the challenges and were able to maintain production and deliveries throughout the world. Ladies and gentlemen, we are aware of our special social responsibility, especially during periods of crisis. We rapidly increased production capacities for disinfectants to meet rising demand, and we supported and supplied institutions in communities close to our sites, and supplied them with these materials. Together with our customers, we donated our high-performance polymer PA12 for the manufacture of protective medical equipment. Recently we reported that we are driving forward production of vaccines against COVID-19 by setting up the production and supply of special lipids exceptionally fast. What would normally take at least a year, or rather much longer, has been achieved in less than six months. We received the first request from vaccine producer BioNTech in Mainz in November 2020. To transport its novel mRNA vaccine safely to cells in the human body. The long-chained molecules are encapsulated in a lipid particle. As well as protecting the sensitive mRNA, this custom-tailored shell helps transport it to the cells. BioNTech awarded us a contract to produce these essential lipids. In response, production at our sites in Hanau and Dossenheim was ramped up in record time, with the support in the form of precursors and knowledge coming from the entire Evonik Group, from Marl to Mapleton. This is our modest contribution, effective contribution, to combating this pandemic. Ladies and gentlemen. Our financial performance and the ongoing strategic development of the group also go to show that Evonik proved resilient in the crisis. Above all, they are ample proof that we once again walked the talk and delivered what we promised, despite the extreme situation. We were one of the few companies that had the courage to issue earnings guidance in May 2020, shortly after the outbreak of the crisis. We achieved that forecast almost exactly to the euro during the year. In fact, our free cash flow was even exceeded. Adjusted earnings before financial result, taxes, depreciation, and amortization came in at EUR 1.9 billion. Exactly in the middle of the range we forecast in May 2020. Sales were EUR 12.2 billion, around 7% lower than in the previous year. That was a respectable result in the context of the most serious economic crisis since the Second World War. Our free cash flow was really good. At EUR 780 million, it was well above the prior year level. Our adjusted net income was therefore EUR 640 million, giving adjusted earnings per share of EUR 1.37. Achieving our goals was only possible thanks to improved quality and the resulting increase in the robustness of our portfolio, which we have steadily restructured in recent years. Our three growth divisions, which are at the heart of our portfolio, generated 95% of earnings from our operating business in 2020. I presented our new divisional structure to you last year already. Despite the difficult situation, it was launched on schedule during the year. The former operating chemicals segments have been transferred to four divisions, which are more balanced in terms of size and type of business. They can be managed better thanks to clear strategic roles, shared end markets, and a clear allocation to technology platforms. The Specialty Additives, Nutrition & Care, and Smart Materials divisions are clearly aligned to growth. Performance Materials is particularly lean and efficient. We are reaping the benefits of this accomplishment, and this is reflected also in our financial figures. As already mentioned, our adjusted EBITDA was EUR 1.9 billion. That was a decline of 11% at group level. Earnings from our three growth divisions, Specialty Additives, Nutrition & Care, and Smart Materials, were only 3% lower. The growth and resilience of these three new divisions are actually driven by two factors, by two key elements. First, the high proportion of environment-friendly and sustainable solutions. Second, our innovative capability, and thus our innovative new products and innovative solutions. These two elements make us stand out clearly in the market and in what we offer to our customers. Allow me to present some examples from our three growth divisions. Specialty Additives brings together our broad spectrum of specialty additives. Sometimes it's difficult to speak and I have a dry throat when I talk about our impressive divisions. Specialty Additives brings together our broad spectrum of specialty additives which enhance the quality of our customers' products, save energy, and quite simply, in many respects, make them better. An impressive example is the self-adhesive labels without a backing material that we developed at Evonik. Normally, self-adhesive labels generate a great deal of waste because they require a release liner until they are actually applied. Evonik's technology prevents such waste being generated in the first place because our silicones eliminate the need for an additional liner. As well as reducing the total weight by 40% and cutting down the related material costs, that saves resources as well. The Nutrition & Care division is focused on people's wellbeing. In other words, their health and quality of life. Earlier on, I already mentioned that we had set up production of lipids for BioNTech in record time. That is probably the best example of innovation and speed. Another project focused on sustainable innovation that is very close to our heart actually, is the development of biosurfactants that are 100% biodegradable. The first industrial scale production facility for these products, scheduled for 2023, will be a real milestone. We have already received initial recognition for this. Our partner, Unilever, has opted for the collaboration with Evonik as a key element in its Clean Future initiative to drive forward the decarbonization of its products. The Smart Materials division pools our business with innovative materials that enable resource saving solutions and replace conventional materials. We are the global leader in PA12 powders for 3D printing. Just recently, we launched a new generation of powders for 3D printing. About 80% of the product can be recycled in the printing process, making a strong contribution to tomorrow's circular economy. Another perfect and nice example, maybe really perfect example of innovation driven by sustainability is a new anode material for lithium-ion batteries. We recently launched this product under the trade name Siridion Black. It improves the performance of batteries by increasing their energy density and improving their fast charging capability and energy efficiency. As you can no doubt imagine, I could easily talk for far longer about Evonik's impressive projects. I also want to look at the progress with our strategy, without which the successes I've just highlighted would not have been possible. These innovations would've been inconceivable without this progress of our strategy. Ladies and gentlemen, although we are still a long way from our goal, we have made considerable progress in implementing our strategy in recent years. We continued this progress in 2020, despite all the hindrances that surrounded us during this period of time. Four years ago, that was back in 2017, we embarked on a transformation process at Evonik. If you think of this process as a 100 meter sprint, we are currently about halfway. We have achieved a number of successes over the past four years, and we intend to do a lot in the future, and this involves great potential. Let us first look at corporate culture. We've established a strong culture that rewards above average performance, supports diversity, encourages innovation, and focuses on sustainability. We've also taken the next steps in a systematic integration of sustainability into our business strategy. I'm convinced that in the long term, only those companies that operate responsibly and create value for society will be successful. We are committed to this principle, and we are convinced of the correctness of this principle. We are guided by this principle. Against this backdrop, ladies and gentlemen, we have been able to achieve a major milestone. Over the past few years, we have conducted the first sustainability analysis of all our businesses. To put it in a nutshell, every product line has been examined to establish what value it creates for society and the environment, and its footprint, in other words, the emissions released during production. In 2020, we completed this evaluation of our entire chemicals portfolio. A particularly positive finding of this analysis is that around 35% of our products already offer higher sustainability benefit than comparable competing products. Given this quality and given this superiority, these products show highly attractive growth rates. We call this group of products Next Generation Solutions. Our ambitious goal is to steadily increase the proportion of this product category in the coming years, naturally with the help of our research and development. From our corporate purpose, leading beyond chemistry to improve life today and tomorrow, we derive the aspiration of being a global leader with our innovations on a global basis. With that in mind, we have restructured our organization and pooled our capabilities to bring our scientific expertise even closer to our markets and customers, and to speed up the development of new solutions and applications. We aim to generate additional sales of EUR 1 billion by 2025 with innovations from our six innovation growth fields. Here, we virtually started from scratch, from zero virtually in 2015, and had already generated additional sales of EUR 350 million by the end of 2020. Turning to portfolio management. In the past four years, we have divested cyclical businesses with sales of EUR 2 billion. In the same period, we've strengthened our portfolio by adding higher value and less cyclical specialty businesses of similar size. All the disposals, all the divestments, were made at attractive prices in favorable phases of the economic cycle. Rest assured that we will be continuing this policy. Since the fall of 2020, we have therefore been preparing to carve out the baby care business to pave the way for a realignment of these operations with a partner or new owner. The acquisitions have strengthened the growth and the resilience of our business, reduced our overall capital intensity, and have so far leveraged cumulative annual synergies of EUR 70 million. In 2020, we continued to make rapid progress with the integration of our most recent investments. That included both the successful closing of the acquisition of the U.S. company PeroxyChem and the acquisition of catalyst specialist Porocel, which we successfully completed at the end of the year. At present, we are also driving growth through our largest investment in Germany. More than EUR 400 million have been invested in the PA12 complex at our largest site, Marl Chemical Park in North Rhine-Westphalia. This complex will come on stream in 2021. The investment is a perfect fit, actually, with our strategy of systematically focusing on specialty chemicals, because polyamide 12 is a high performance polymer that is used in many demanding applications. For example, it is used as a substitute for steel in automotive engineering and lightweight structures, and for special solutions for medical technology and 3D printing. It is an important and essential part of our Smart Materials growth engine. We are also focusing on growth and efficiency when it comes to the business with amino acids. That means that in the future, Evonik will be concentrating its methionine production at three state-of-the-art sites in Asia, Europe, and in the U.S. At the end of March 2021, we closed our oldest and smallest production facility in Germany. That will generate economies of scale, cost savings, and will therefore also strengthen our global cost leadership. While we are on the subject of costs, in the past, cost discipline, well, was not one of our strengths. That is another thing that has changed, as 2020 proves. Cost discipline is firmly established and is now a firm part of our corporate DNA. Is part of the self-perception of this group. We successfully completed our SG&A program last year. You will definitely remember that in 2018, we announced planned savings of EUR 200 million. Here again, we've kept our promise. If you look at our income statement today, you will see that we actually achieved more, that we actually exceeded our target with savings of EUR 230 million. We keep a close eye on cost trends in both our operating business and our administrative operations. We refer to this as APEX and OPEX. APEX means that we will be pursuing the continuous improvement of our administrative structures, even after the completion of our SG&A program. If you will, we could say that this is the final touch in our profitable future growth, alongside our growth divisions, which are driven by innovation and sustainability. Dear shareholders, of course, we want to make sure that you, our shareholders, also benefit from Evonik's successful performance. Based on our stable results in 2020, the Executive and Supervisory Board are therefore proposing a stable and attractive dividend of EUR 1.15 per share. We focus on dividend continuity at a high level, even, or rather precisely in challenging times when earnings are declining. That is one of our highest priorities. Based on the closing share price at year-end 2020, that represents and is equivalent to a dividend yield of 4.3%. Ladies and gentlemen, dear shareholders, this is further evidence, once again, that Evonik shares are very attractive. Let us now take a look at the current fiscal year, namely 2021. The pandemic will continue to influence the economy this year. We will therefore still have to live with a certain amount of uncertainty. However, our robust performance over the past year and our confidence in our strengths mean that we can look ahead with great confidence. Since the end of last year, we have noticed a clear recovery, and we also made a strong start to the year. The global economy should grow by at least 4% this year. We expect Evonik to grow slightly faster. Based on our first quarter results on May the 6th, we announced that we are not simply confirming our guidance, we are now more optimistic. We now expect adjusted EBITDA to be between EUR 2.1 billion and EUR 2.3 billion for the year as a whole. The signs are clearly pointing to growth. In 2021 already, we aim to exceed the pre-pandemic performance reported in 2019. In the first quarter, sales grew 4% year-on-year to EUR 3.36 billion. Adjusted EBITDA, compared with the year before, was 15% higher at EUR 588 million. That was actually 9% more than in the first quarter of 2019. Our growth strategy is therefore successful. Again, our three growth divisions, Specialty Additives, Nutrition & Care, and Smart Materials remain our drivers and are making an above-average contribution to this good performance. The free cash flow tripled to almost EUR 312 million in the first quarter, boosted by our improved business situation, the strict management of net working capital, and lower taxes. This good start to the year makes us optimistic about this year, about 2021 and the future. Ladies and gentlemen, if we look at the stock market in 2020, we see that it was largely influenced by the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. Evonik shares started the year at around EUR 27 and reached their highest point very early on at EUR 27.33 on January 2nd. The market went through many volatile phases during the year, mainly due to the global economic crisis and the virus-related information around the coronavirus. Our shares ended 2020 at EUR 26.38, which is a slight loss of around 2% over the year as a whole. Since the start of 2021, our share price performance has been far more pleasing. Fueled by more positive market sentiment and our more optimistic outlook, Evonik shares topped the EUR 30 mark with a year-to-date high of EUR 30.70 on April 6th, 2021. In mid-May, on May 25th, the share price was EUR 29.27, which is equivalent to a rise of 9% since the beginning of the year. Evonik therefore outperformed the MDAX, which rose by 6%. To enable our employees to participate in the increase in Evonik's value, a further tranche of our Employee Share Program was launched in the spring for employees in Germany, the United States, Belgium, and Singapore. Worldwide, around 11,000 employees acquired shares in Evonik, which is equivalent to a take-up rate of nearly 41%. For this year's share program for employees, we purchased a total of 503,491 shares at an average price of €29.75 and a theoretical share of the capital stock of €1 per share. That was about 0.1% of our capital stock of €466 million. For this, we used the authorization to purchase treasury stock granted at the Annual Shareholders' Meeting in 2020. All the shares have now been transferred to the eligible employees, and the surplus that was left has actually been sold on the market in the meantime. Ladies and gentlemen, as you have seen and heard, we have made very good progress in implementing our strategic agenda for the future. As I have explained to you, there are further fascinating and interesting challenges ahead. Evonik's clear objective for the coming years is to continue its transformation into a specialty chemicals company with 100% growth businesses. That's not going to happen overnight, of course, but the direction is clearly defined. We will be continuing to actively manage our portfolio to make it more robust and increase the return on capital and cash generation. Our innovation and sustainability targets play a very important role in this transformation, along with further focused investment in growth acquisitions, as well as the restructuring and divestment and disposal of further businesses. Thanks to my reappointment, I'm looking forward to continuing to shape and lead this strategic development with my colleagues on the Executive Board, our executives, and our entire workforce. I would like to take this opportunity to thank the Supervisory Board, you, our shareholders, and of course, all Evonik employees, and also our partners in industry and among the employees, for your continued trust and support. I hope that you, our esteemed shareholders, will continue to place your confidence in Evonik in the future, and would like to thank you all on behalf of myself and my colleagues on the Executive Board for your interest and kind attention. Thank you. Please stay safe and take care. Dear Christian Kullmann, thank you very much for your report. I would like to congratulate you and the whole Executive Board to this impressive performance. Impressive also in 2020, again, especially in view of the extreme challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic. Let me point out that you can download Mr. Kullmann's report on the internet. Ladies and gentlemen, I would not only thank the Executive Board, but all employees of the company. Thank you very much for the work you performed in the past business year and all the achievements. I think I am allowed to do so on behalf of all the shareholders as well. Please, dear members of the Executive Board, transmit the words of thanks to all employees of the company. Ladies and gentlemen, the audience that attend our virtual meeting via the internet should be aware of the fact that at this point, the public part of the live transmission comes to an end. Thank you very much for your interest, and with that, I bid you farewell. The further course of the AGM can now be attended by the shareholders of the company and the shareholders' representatives, all those who've connected via the online service.