Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. My name is Dieter Schenk. As Chairman of the Supervisory Board, I herewith open the ordinary annual general meeting 2022 of Fresenius Medical Care AG & Co. KGaA, a partnership limited by shares. In accordance with our articles, I am assuming the chairmanship of this meeting. I would like to welcome you, our shareholders, our proxies, the representatives of the press and the media, as well as all other watchers who are following this annual general meeting, both visually and via sound. Very cordially on behalf of the Supervisory Board of the Fresenius Medical Care AG & Co. KGaA, as well as on behalf of the Board of Management of the general partner, namely Fresenius Medical Care Management AG. I would have liked to have been able to welcome you personally to our annual general meeting once again this year.
However, once again this year, the special circumstances do not allow this. Due to the health risks associated with COVID, we are still encouraged to restrict physical contacts for the most part and to maintain distance from one another. As you were able to see from the invitation to the annual general meeting, the management board of the general partner, with the consent of the supervisory board, therefore decided to hold this year's ordinary meeting as a virtual meeting without the physical presence of our shareholders and their proxies. Like most other publicly listed companies, we are once again taking advantage of the legal possibility provided by the legislature in reaction to the COVID-19 pandemic.
By conducting this meeting as a virtual annual general meeting, we ensure that you, our shareholders, will be able to adopt the upcoming important resolutions while taking into consideration protection against infections and also be able to receive your dividend as soon as possible. We are fully aware of the fact that the conduct of a virtual annual general meeting is necessarily associated with certain restrictions on the part of the shareholders. In particular, the shareholders and the company's management cannot enter into a dialogue as part of the general debate. So that you can nevertheless adequately exercise your rights as shareholders, the company has given you the opportunity, to the extent this was legally possible and technically feasible, to provide you with a number of possibilities to exercise your right to vote and to address questions to the management board.
In order to rule out physical contacts to the extent possible, we have also limited the number of participants here on our premises in Bad Homburg to a few persons once again. From the management board of the general partner, we have Mr. Rice Powell and Miss Helen Giza present, physically present. The supervisory board, not only I am present, but also Dr. Dorothea Wenzel is present. The remaining members of the management board and supervisory board have electronically dialed in to this annual general meeting to reduce the risk of infection, and if necessary, can enter into contact with me at any time. I would like to welcome all of the members of the management board and the supervisory board very cordially. I would also like to welcome our notary, Dr.
Carsten Angersbach, who is physically present and who has been given the task of recording the minutes of our annual general meeting. Also present, but for you currently not visible, are proxies of the company, our auditors, as well as a few employees who will ensure that this virtual annual general meeting can be properly conducted. Ladies and gentlemen, allow me to make a few organizational remarks at the beginning of my speech. First of all, I would like to ascertain that today's annual general meeting was convened on the thirtieth of March 2022 in due form and on time, and was announced in the German Federal Gazette. Also on the 30th of March, all of the prescribed documents and information were made accessible on the company's website and can be inspected there throughout the whole duration of this virtual general meeting.
They were also laid out on the premises of our company for inspection since this meeting was convened. We also have a list of participants for our virtual meeting. This list contains the proxies of the company together with the shares that they represent, and shareholders as well as their proxies who have exercised their voting rights per postal vote are not reported in our list of participants of this virtual meeting. From this list of participants, we have the following numbers present for this virtual meeting. Of the share capital of the company entered in the amount of EUR 293,004,339, divided into 293,004,339 shares. 236,216,185 shares with just as many votes are currently represented at the annual general meeting.
This corresponds to 80.62% of the registered share capital of the company. In addition to that, we also have postal votes for 401,201 shares. Together, this makes 236,617,386 shares with just as many votes that are represented, which corresponds to 80.76% of the registered share capital. The list of participants is laid out here in the meeting room and will be updated on a regular basis. The company has received one counter motion during the period provided for this. This counter motion made by the Association of Ethical Shareholders Germany concerns the approval of the actions of the supervisory board under item four of today's agenda.
The company has, of course, made this counter motion available on its website, and has also published a comment on the part of the company's management. I will come back to this when we come to the vote. If you wish to support this counter motion, then when we get to item number four, you will have to vote with no or issue the corresponding instruction. If, on the other hand, you are in favor of the proposal made by the company's management, please vote with yes under item number four or and issue the corresponding instruction. Nominations have not been sent to the company within the period provided therefor. Properly registered shareholders were able to submit questions prior to our virtual annual general meeting via our shareholders portal on the website.
These questions will be addressed following the speech by Mr. Rice Powell and the report of the Supervisory Board. We will answer all of the questions that we have received in due time and just as comprehensively and as detailed as you are accustomed to our doing so at previous annual general meetings. In addition to this, properly registered shareholders may exercise their right to vote prior to the annual general meeting, either by way of postal vote or by means of issuing instructions and empowering the company's proxies, Tanya Bombala and Dr. Ulrich Martin Wolf. You may also exercise your right to vote, both per postal vote during the meeting, as well as by issuing powers of attorney and instructions to the company's proxies via our shareholders portal.
This will be possible until directly prior to the beginning of when we start to hold the vote. I will properly point out this once again at that point in time as to when you will have the last possibility to issue a vote or to issue instructions. In your own interest, I ask you to ensure that you vote as early as possible. For further details concerning the issuance of a power of attorney and instructions, as well as how to exercise your voting right, I ask you to observe the further details based on your admission ticket, which was sent to you after you registered for the annual general meeting. You will also find comments on the shareholders portal.
The legal framework for holding a virtual meeting do not provide for an exchange of speeches by the shareholders with the management and with other shareholders. In order to give you the opportunity to make your statements dear shareholders, during such a virtual meeting, we have allowed you the possibility to submit a number of video messages, if you wish, prior to the annual general meeting. Thus, we have been able to try to lift some of the restrictions that necessarily coincide with the holding of a virtual meeting in your interest. The properly submitted video messages are visible for all registered shareholders and proxies in the shareholders portal.
I would also like to point out once again that we are providing simultaneous translation of the whole annual general meeting from German into English, and in the event that we have an English speaker from English into German. You may change languages on the shareholders portal. Those were my organizational remarks. Ladies and gentlemen, we are now going to begin dealing with the items of our agenda. The agenda has been accessible to you via the company's website since the time that the annual general meeting was convened. You have received the information about this from your depositary banks as well. I herewith assume that all of you are familiar with the agenda. We're beginning with item number one of our agenda.
The annual financial statements and consolidated financial statements approved by the supervisory board of the management board reports by Fresenius Medical Care AG & Co. KGaA and the group, the explanatory report by the general partner concerning the information pursuant to Sections 289a and 315a of the German Commercial Code, and the report by the supervisory board, as well as the resolution concerning the use of the distributable profit, have been laid out in the premises of the company for your inspection since this meeting was convened. Moreover, this was accessible to you via the company's website, and on request, the aforementioned documents were sent to you. I herewith assume that all of the aforementioned documents are familiar to you. First of all, I would like to ask Mr.
Powell to explain the documents regarding item number one and to also make a statement concerning the outlook for the ongoing fiscal year.
Dear shareholders, welcome to the 2022 annual general meeting of Fresenius Medical Care. This year's meeting is taking place virtually again. The current situation, unfortunately, does not yet allow for in-person activity. It would have been great to see you all in person, but we must give people's health and safety our absolute priority. At least I was able to travel from the United States to Germany and welcome you today from our headquarters in Bad Homburg. When people ask me how the situation at Fresenius Medical Care is at the moment, I have three simple answers. It is challenging, inspiring, and exciting. Let us begin with the challenges. At the end of February, we received the first distress calls from our teams in Ukraine. The Russian army was moving rapidly. Millions had to flee for their lives. Others joined the resistance and enlisted in the army.
People were concerned about keeping their loved ones safe. Our teams were also worried about their patients. Across Ukraine, more than 10,000 people live with kidney failure. About 1/3 of them depend on our supplies and equipment for their survival. Even our main supply warehouse was subjected to heavy shelling. Outside our clinics, there was devastation. A curfew kept people inside after dark. The sad news from Ukraine came hot on the heels of another challenge for our company. More than 22,000 of our patients have died since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, almost half of them in the past year. In our financial reporting, this is shown as excess mortality, a technical term that says nothing about the human tragedy behind it.
As we all know, there is a personal story behind every one of these people with family, friends, and others who will miss them. They will be missed by many of us as well. The nurses in our clinics who treat our patients several times each week, they take care of them, they talk with them, and they get to know their patients over time. We form bonds with the people we care for, and we remember them when they are gone. Yes, 2021 was a difficult year. 2021 was difficult from a financial standpoint as well. 123,000 employees took care of around 345,000 patients, roughly the same number as the year before. While these figures may suggest stability, in reality, things were very different. As I mentioned before, we lost many patients to COVID.
This implies that many of the patients we treated were new ones. Since our facilities are designed to cater for an increase in patient numbers, in economic terms, our capacities were vastly underutilized. Additionally, many healthcare employees were under considerable stress during the pandemic. This led to resignations across the industry, resulting in staff shortages and higher labor cost as those that were left had to work overtime, treating patients, hiring, and training new staff. Let's add to that the increasing inflationary cost of the supplies that we must use. I will cut to the bottom line. Despite the headwinds, we delivered our forecast for 2021, coming in at the lower end of the range. At constant currency, revenue grew by 2% and our net income declined by 23%. The first quarter of this year was difficult as well.
In January, we again saw very high excess mortality among our patients. Our costs increased even more than we thought they could. The payments we expected from the US government's Provider Relief Fund in the first quarter of 2022 have yet to be received. After the many challenges of the past months, we are more determined than ever to get back on a track for growth. In 2022, we expect our revenue and net income to grow at low to mid single-digit percentage rate. To maintain continuity and deliver shareholder returns, we are proposing a dividend of EUR 1.35 per share. Our 25th consecutive dividend increase. Despite the unprecedented effects of COVID-19, we believe that the fundamental drivers of our business and growth remain unchanged. We obviously had to overcome some challenges.
After all, we operate in a global environment that has become increasingly volatile and complex. It never ceases to amaze me that with every challenge we face, a new unsung hero appears and rises to the occasion. This leads me to the second word I use to describe the situation at Fresenius Medical Care, inspiring. It is inspiring in so very many ways. Our patients resolve to live good and satisfying lives continues to inspire me. I have cheered on a dialysis patient who ran a 30km race in a time that most people with two functioning kidneys would find hard to beat. I have seen couples fall in love, and our clinics become a stop on their honeymoon. I met a woman on dialysis who went on to give birth and raise several children, which is akin to a medical miracle. I'm inspired by our clinical staff.
Being diagnosed with kidney disease is a life-changing event, and patients who receive this news depend on others to support them. Often, it is our nurses who guide them through this difficult time and give them empathy, patience, and encouragement when they need it. They are more than healthcare experts. Our nurses are listeners, friends, and sometimes family. During the first waves of COVID-19, our nursing staff became superheroes. Some stayed at our clinics for weeks on end because they did not want to risk getting infected on their daily commutes to and from our clinics. They felt they needed to be there for their patients. Others volunteered their support in global COVID-19 hotspots, or they tirelessly advocated for patient vaccinations. Something equally inspiring is still happening today in the Ukraine.
In spite of all the devastation, our teams have never lost sight of their mission to take care of our patients. When the bombs fail, they move machines and treatments to the clinic basements for safety. When curfews meant people could not go outside, our staff on the last shift stayed the night with patients, sleeping in the corridors of our clinics. When people from other harder-hit regions arrived and they needed treatment, they did what they could do to accommodate them. Unfortunately, we had to evacuate patients from two of our dialysis clinics that have been severely affected by the war. In our remaining dialysis clinic, our local team was toiling 24/7, with nonstop shifts, taking care not just of our own, but other patients and their families who have also been displaced by this war.
Just a few days ago, the team on the ground could reopen the second clinic again, and we're able to better support the local public hospitals. In our clinics in neighboring countries, we are constantly taking in new patients as more people continue to arrive. To ensure that we can continue to supply hospitals and other dialysis facilities with our products, we have relocated our warehouse to a safer location. In the last couple of weeks, we have provided dialysis products, food, medicines, and other humanitarian goods to hospitals and dialysis centers in Ukraine. This was in response to requests from nephrologists on the ground, as well as from the local hospitals and the Ukrainian Minister of Health.
To try and help as many facilities as possible, we have coordinated supplies with other companies, leveraging our strong supply chain to make sure that the goods arrive where they are most needed in Ukraine. We are giving our Ukrainian colleagues all the support that we can. Our employees around the world have contributed generously to the Fresenius Medical Care CARES Fund that provides emergency capital for food, shelter, and medicines. There are no words to describe the bravery and humanity our colleagues have shown during these dark days for Europe. As much as I'm inspired by our employees and patients, I am also excited about the future for Fresenius Medical Care. The key drivers for our success remain stable. People across the world are living longer.
As the population continues to age, we estimate that more than 6 million people will require dialysis by 2030, a 460% increase compared to the year 2000. Our Strategy 2025 puts the company in a position to leverage the opportunities these developments bring and guarantee sustainable, profitable growth in the future. In addition, our transformation program, FME25, is set to achieve its first sustained savings this year. After a one-time investment of EUR 450 million-EUR 500 million, most cost saving measures will be implemented by 2024, reducing our annual cost base by EUR 500 million by the end of 2025. We expect to complete the rollout of our new global operating model around 2023.
This will streamline and globalize the company thanks to a significantly simplified structure with two segments based on our key value drivers, Care Delivery, which incorporates our services business, and Care Enablement with our medical technology business. All these measures will improve our profitability, make us more efficient and agile, and take our value creation to the next level. The new operating model is also reflected in the responsibilities of our Management Board. In addition to her role as Chief Financial Officer, Helen Giza is leading this effort as the Chief Transformation Officer. William Valle is head of the Care Delivery segment, while Dr. Katarzyna Mazur-Hofsäß has responsibility for the Care Enablement segment. Franklin Maddux continues to be in charge of the Global Medical Office. Looking further into the future, there are even more exciting times ahead.
We are on track with executing our Strategy 2025 and our expansion along the Renal Care Continuum. One of our Value-Based Care programs in the United States are at the forefront of our efforts in this area. They allow us to keep cost affordable for payers in private and public settings while improving our patients' quality of life with ever better products and services. Thanks to these programs, we will be able to reduce hospital admissions and readmissions, slow the progression of kidney disease, increase transplant referrals and rates, accelerate the transition to home dialysis, and improve clinical outcomes. By the end of 2022, 80,000 patients will benefit from Value-Based Care, four times more than in the previous year. This includes 24,000 patients with end-stage kidney disease and 28,000 with chronic kidney disease.
The three-way merger between Fresenius Health Partners, InterWell Health, and Cricket Health, with us as the majority shareholder, will allow us to move even further into the pre-dialysis market. Our total addressable market in the United States will more than triple as a result. Operating under the InterWell Health brand, the new entity will take over the care of more than 270,000 people with kidney disease in the United States. I see Value-Based Care as an important step towards our future success. It provides the economic foundation for medical and technological progress, moving from a vision, an idea, to reality. We have made over 2,000 improvements to our expanding product portfolio in 2021.
Now, specialists from various disciplines are putting their heads together at the innovation lab in our new technology center in Schweinfurt, Germany, so we can create the next generation of products, translating into an even higher quality of life for our patients. We know that many people suffering from end-stage kidney disease dream of regaining their freedom and their flexibility. They can use our home dialysis products to follow their dialysis schedule within their own home. We are making much faster progress in this area than we initially thought. In the United States, we recently passed the 15% mark and are now heading for the aspirational target of performing 25% of all treatments in the United States in patients' homes by 2025. Offering personalized treatment is not just about individual schedules.
We are feeding information from more than 2 million patients, over 500 million hemodialysis treatments, and almost 2 billion laboratory tests into our new treasure trove, the largest repository of genetic and clinical data on advanced kidney disease in the world. This ever-growing resource will transform kidney care as we know it. Researchers will be able to decode the warning signs and causes of kidney disease, enabling us to intervene earlier and find new pharmaceuticals faster. Caregivers can use the information about patients' heart rhythms or fluid volumes to unlock the benefits of a patient's personalized medicine. As we continue to have a positive impact, we are working on reducing our environmental footprint. We intend to reduce our CO2 emissions by 50% by 2030 and become climate neutral by 2040.
Lowering emission levels is part of Fresenius Medical Care's sustainability agenda and is closely linked to the company's strategy for profitable and sustainable growth in the long term. In the coming years, we will continuously examine additional ways to take action. Operating globally implies global responsibility, and to this end, we will continue to expand our sustainability measures. Dear shareholders, when I became CEO in 2012, I set three goals for our company. One, to put patients at the center of our strategy and our decision-making. Two, remain the market leader in dialysis. Three, to exploit growth potential beyond dialysis treatments themselves. When I retire by the end of the year, I will be proud to say this inspiring and exciting company is on the right track. Now, not everything has gone as planned over these years, yet we have succeeded in so many, many things.
All these achievements are not due to the efforts of one individual. They're due to outstanding teamwork. I have met so many impressive people and experienced so many great things. I do consider it a privilege to have been able to help shape the path of Fresenius Medical Care almost since its foundation, including more than 10 years as CEO and chairman of the management board. I would like to thank all my colleagues for their commitment, their tireless efforts, and always putting patients first. We need change. Today, Fresenius Medical Care is not the same company it was 10 years ago, and it will be a different company in the next 10 years. This is good news because it means we are not standing still, we are progressing. There are many good reasons why I am confident about the changes to come.
Thanks to our transformation program, FME25, we have put the company on a strong new foundation. Our Strategy 2025 sets us on a clear path to achieve continued success for the company. Yes, there still is a lot to do. Change never ends. The time has come for me to hand over the company to the next generation. I'm leaving an impressive company with a strong mission and purpose, and I am leaving it in good hands. At the end of the fiscal year, I will be passing on the baton to Dr. Carla Kriwet, who will succeed me as CEO. I am absolutely convinced that with her international experience in the medical industry, Carla Kriwet is uniquely qualified for the transformation that the company is undergoing. I wish Carla Kriwet and her team all the best.
I am confident that Carla will successfully lead our company into the future. Before I wrap up, I would like to thank the supervisory board and you, our shareholders, for your trust and your support in these past years. I would like to ask you to please give Carla and her management team the same trust and constructive support in the years to come. I look forward to watching Fresenius Medical Care create an even better future for our patients, because this is what our exciting and inspiring company is all about. Thank you.
I thank Mr. Rice Powell for his informative and comprehensive statements. Ladies and gentlemen, I'm surely also acting on your behalf when I now wish to thank the managing board of Fresenius Medical Care Management AG, and all of our employees who work for Fresenius Medical Care around the world for their very dedicated work. This thanks also explicitly includes the special services provided by them in the difficult period of this pandemic. Ladies and gentlemen, dear shareholders, as Mr. Rice Powell has also just presented in his speech, he will be passing the baton of leadership of our company on to his successor, Dr. Carla Kriwet, at the end of the year. Until the end of this ongoing year, Mr.
Rice Powell will continue to devote his whole efforts and all of his ability for the success of Fresenius Medical Care, as he has done for so many years. However, this is his last annual general meeting in his function as CEO. Therefore, I not only want to use this opportunity to thank him personally, but also on behalf of the supervisory board, and I assume on your behalf as well, to thank him very cordially for the outstanding work done in this past fiscal year. Due to this special day, however, more than merely saying thank you for another fiscal year is necessary. Dear Rice, once the fiscal year 2022 comes to an end, and an unusual and successful era will come to an end. You have worked for Fresenius Medical Care for 25 years, 10 of those as CEO.
Under your leadership, Fresenius Medical Care was able to significantly expand its global market leadership and to develop new strategic lines of businesses early and successfully. You have definitely pushed the further development of this company from a company that offers dialysis products and services to become a supplier of value-based care. In order to continue to improve the quality of life of our patients and to give them a larger choice in terms of therapy possibilities, you have expanded the offerings of Fresenius Medical Care in home dialysis in recent years. You have also accompanied this company during stormy periods of time. The COVID-19 pandemic has brought new, very new challenges to the company. With FME25, you have launched a transformation which will lead Fresenius Medical Care into a successful future.
The era of Rice Powell is indivisibly associated with the vision of creating a life worth living for futures worldwide and every day. For you, the patient was always the center of your attention in all of your decisions. This is something that you've put into practice each and every day, and thus you have definitely shaped the company in a very unique way. Your indefatigable dedication, your commitment, and your know-how is the basis for ensuring that Fresenius Medical Care is now treating approximately 345,000 dialysis patients in 50 countries around the whole world and providing them with life-saving dialysis treatments. Even more patients need the dialysis products provided by Fresenius Medical Care. Therefore, I do not consider it to be exaggerated when I say that Mr.
Powell has rendered outstanding services with his efforts for our company and for you shareholders, but he has also contributed to allowing patients suffering from kidney failure to have a better life. Rice, thank you. At the same time, I am pleased to welcome Dr. Carla Kriwet here today. As of January 1, 2023, she will be assuming the role of CEO of Fresenius Medical Care. Dr. Kriwet was last the CEO and President of BSH Hausgeräte GmbH, an appliance company. A company with EUR 65 million in sales and a network of 40 plants. From 2013 to 2020, she worked for the healthcare company called Royal Philips N.V. based in Andover in the States. As of 2017, she was a member of the management board there.
There, she was responsible, among other things, for the lines of businesses called Connected Care and Health Informatics, as well as Patient Care and Monitoring Solutions. Prior to that, she was a member of the board for sales and marketing at Drägerwerk in Lübeck, a provider of medical devices, and she was in the management of the children's relief organization called Save the Children in Berlin. In the years 2003 to 2010, she held many leadership positions in the area of healthcare at Linde AG. Her last role was as head of Linde Healthcare in Europe. Prior to that, she worked for Boston Consulting Group for six years, where, among other things, she also managed consulting projects in the healthcare industry. I am convinced that Fresenius Medical Care will continue to successfully develop under her committed leadership. Dr.
Kriwet has come here today in order to briefly introduce herself to you, our shareholders.
Dear Mr. Powell, thank you for your very kind words. Dear Dr. Schenk, thank you for your introduction. Dear shareholders, my name is Carla Kriwet. I am very pleased to have been given such an early opportunity to introduce myself to you. As Dr. Schenk has already stated, in the past years, I was the CEO and president of BSH Hausgeräte GmbH, an appliance company. In the consumer goods industry, the consumer is always the center of all of our innovations and process optimizations, which is an important experience also in view of the increasing focus on patients in the healthcare industry. Already, at a very early stage in my professional development, I found my way into the healthcare industry, and I have always been closely allied with this sector.
It is very satisfying to know that each and every working day, you can contribute to helping people to make their lives worth living and more pleasurable. In the 17 years prior to my activities at BSH, I worked in a number of international publicly listed companies in the area of healthcare or medical technology. My passion for volunteer work was something I discovered at a very early stage, in particular, due to my dedication and work in an SOS Children's Village in Burundi in Africa, and by doing project work for Save the Children, an international children's rights organization, which I'm still able to accompany with a position on supervisory board. I'm married and have three children. During my period at Philips, my family and I spent 5 years in Massachusetts, USA.
During this time, I came to know the American healthcare system with all of its opportunities, but also all of its regulatory challenges very well. I'm looking forward to assuming the role of CEO of Fresenius Medical Care as of January of next year. Fresenius Medical Care's strong focus on the needs of its patients has really impressed me. The collaboration of decades of tech, technology leadership and extraordinary service orientation have made this company very unique. I see this together with the close relationships with nephrologists and other stakeholders as a fantastic basis for further profitable growth. Fresenius Medical Care also suits me well because it is a global company. I have worked in many countries, for example, not only in Germany and United States, but also in the UK, Japan, India, and Burundi, where I've lived and worked.
I'm also very much looking forward to contributing my intercultural experiences to my new role. It is a great honor for me to be able to follow the footsteps of Mr. Rice Powell. Under his management, the company has expanded its leadership position over many, many years in a very successful way, which I owe him special thanks. I am convinced that there is still an awful lot of potential in Fresenius Medical Care in order to continue to improve the lives of our patients, to orient the company more sustainably in the future, and to continue to increase the shareholder value for you, our shareholders. Together with my colleagues in the Management Board as well as all employees at Fresenius, I would like to lead Fresenius Medical Care to a more successful future. I thank the supervisory board and all of you for your trust. Thank you very much.
Thank you very much, Dr. Kriwet. I am very pleased that we have been able to win to gain you for this very important role, and we wish you every success and that you will be very successful in the future. I would now like to say goodbye to those persons who are not viewing our general meeting via our shareholders portal. As we had announced in our invitation, as of this point in time, only those people will be able to continue to follow the general meeting who have registered in our shareholders portal. I would like to thank the other viewers for their interest in our company and wish them all the best. Goodbye.