Ladies and gentlemen, as Chairman of the Supervisory Board of the freenet AG, I will chair the meeting and open the 2025 Annual General Meeting of freenet AG. Ladies and gentlemen, this is a very special AGM. On behalf of the Supervisory Board and the Management Board, I would like to warmly welcome the shareholders, shareholder representatives, and guests present. Welcome you all here at this present AGM. I note that all members of the Management Board are present in full. I would therefore like to warmly welcome the Chief Executive Officer, Christoph Vilanek, and the members of the Management Board: Ingo Arnold, Stefan Esch, Antonius Fromme, Nicole Engenhardt-Gille, and Rickmann von Platen.
The members of the Supervisory Board are here today in full as well, and I would therefore like to welcome my colleagues who are behind me from left to right: my colleagues Knut Mackeprang , Claudia Anderleit , Theo-Benneke Bretsch , Frank Suwald , Tobias Marx. I haven't heard that. No, we don't stand up. Petra Winter, Professor Dr. Kerstin Lopatta, Thomas Karlovits , Sabine Christiansen, Robert Weidinger, and Miriam Wohlfarth . A warm welcome. Thank you for being here with us today. I would also like to welcome our notary, Dr. Ralf Kaczynski. He's two seats on the right for you. Also Professor Dr. Jochen Vetter, a lawyer. The chair is broken, that's why he's sitting a little bit lower, so he's not hiding. It's the chair that is broken. I'm very happy that you are here with us and that you are supporting us today.
Dear shareholders, all of us on the podium are very pleased to welcome you here again in person this year, and that in place here at the Congress Center Hamburg, we are welcoming you. It is really a big honor for us. Ladies and gentlemen, let me begin by briefly going over a few organizational points regarding today's Annual General Meeting that you are already familiar with from previous years, and you already know that. For the sake of good order, I would first like to point out that audio and video recordings by participants in the meeting are not permitted. I would like to also ask you to ensure that your mobile phones are either switched off or set to silent mode, where I think that if you're allowed to make a phone call, then it should be this Annual General Meeting.
I then confirm that the AGM was convened in due form and time on April 1st, 2025, in the German Federal Gazette, the Bundesanzeiger. A printout from the German Federal Gazette is available to the notary and is available for you to inspect at the registration desk. In addition, the Annual General Meeting was convened in due form and time in accordance with Section 125 of the German Stock Corporation Act and notified to the persons specified therein. The company has not received any motions to amend the agenda, counter-motions to be made available, and/or election proposals from shareholders. My introductory remarks and the speeches by the Chief Executive Officer and the Chief Financial Officer can also be followed live on the internet by other interested parties and will be available as a recording on our website after the AGM.
If you want to take a look at what has been said today in the first part, you can do that at home as well. The drafts of today's speeches by Christoph Vilanek and Ingo Arnold have already been published on May 7, 2025, on the website for this Annual General Meeting. This is a service that we offer so you can take a look at the speeches beforehand. The list of participants is currently being compiled. I will announce attendance as soon as the compiling process is complete, and the list of participants can be viewed in electronic form on a screen at the speaker registration desk. Changes to the attendance list will be updated on an ongoing basis, and the speaker registration desk is located from your point of view, your viewpoint on the left-hand side of this room.
Thank you to the colleagues who are working there. The admission tickets sent to you electronically or by post were checked at the entrance, and you were given back the lower section of your admission ticket, the so-called AGM card. You will need this later for the votings. This year again, we have sent electronic admission tickets on request. If you have such an electronic admission ticket on your smartphone, where else? You can use it later for your voting. If you presented several admission tickets, you will have been given several of these AGM cards. You will then need each of your AGM cards for voting, but I will detail this later on.
If you have not yet exchanged all your admission tickets for AGM cards, please do so immediately at one of the attendance registration desks so that you are included in the list of participants with all the shares you hold or represent. This is the only way to ensure that all your votes are counted in the voting. Holders of electronic admission tickets who have several electronic admission tickets must register with all electronic admission tickets so that all shares held or represented by them are included in the attendance register and all votes are counted in the voting. Ladies and gentlemen, the attendance area for today's AGM includes this meeting room where you are currently, the foyer on this level with sound system, and the restrooms accessible from there. Please note that the restrooms are not equipped with audio transmission.
Shareholders who are in the attendance area are participating in the AGM. However, requests to speak and votes may only be cast here in the meeting room. In order to keep the list of participants up to date, I would ask shareholders who leave the AGM to sign out at the attendance deregistration desk. The list of participants will then be updated. If you only wish to leave the AGM temporarily, please inform our staff at the attendance deregistration desk when presenting your AGM card. Your leaving the attendance area and your re-entry would then be recorded electronically. Ladies and gentlemen, if you wish to leave the AGM permanently, it would be sad, but sometimes that's the case. Before the end, you have the option of granting another person power of attorney to represent you.
To this end, we offer you the option of instructing the proxy holders appointed by the company to exercise your voting rights. Please tick the appropriate boxes on your AGM card in accordance with your instructions, then hand in your AGM card to our staff at the exit desk. For holders of electronic admission tickets, electronic terminals are available at the exit desk for issuing instructions. You may also authorize maybe your neighbor in this room, a third party, to exercise your voting rights. To do so, please contact the staff at the attendance deregistration desk or at the speaker registration desk. They will provide you with the appropriate form for granting power of attorney. Please note that if you have several AGM cards, you must issue powers of attorney or instructions for each AGM card.
All shareholders and shareholder representatives who wish to speak are requested to register at the speaker registration desk as early as possible. As already mentioned, the registration desk is located on the left-hand side of the hall as you look at it. Please note that the discussion will take the form of a general debate and that you should therefore comment directly on all items on the agenda in your speech and ask any questions you may have. The general debate will be followed by the votings. I will then explain the voting procedure to you. In the interests of all those present, I would like to ask all speakers to keep their comments as concise as possible and to focus on specific questions. This has always worked very nicely and smoothly with us, and I hope it will be the same way today.
I reserve the right to limit the speaking time during the meeting if this is necessary to ensure that the agenda is completed within a reasonable and acceptable timeframe. I hope this will not be necessary, but I reserve this right. When making your contribution, please use only the lectern at your right so that the audience can hear you clearly throughout the entire auditorium and attendance area. Ladies and gentlemen, I apologize for the lengthy explanations. They were rather short. It is necessary to carefully observe the points prescribed by the German Stock Corporation Act or the Articles of Association in order to ensure that such a general meeting is conducted properly and safely. That concludes the organizational information. Ladies and gentlemen, the list of participants is not yet available. We just stamp over that, and I will do that later.
Dear shareholders, we will now move on to the agenda. I call agenda item one, which is presentation of the approved annual financial statements and the approved consolidated financial statements, as well as the management reports of the company and the group, the Executive Board's proposal for the appropriation of net profit, the Supervisory Board's report, and the Executive Board's explanatory report on the disclosures pursuant to sections 289A and 315A of the German Commercial Code in each case for the past financial year. The Supervisory Board had appointed KPMG AG as auditor to audit the consolidated financial statements with the group management report and the annual financial statements with the management report, each as of 31st of December 2024, as well as the risk early warning system. All items, of course, were given an unqualified audit opinion
The non-financial statement in accordance with the CSR Directive Implementation Act was subject to a voluntary business audit with limited assurance. A corresponding note was issued by the independent auditor. On February 19, 2025, the audit committee discussed the audit reports in detail with the auditors. The auditors also attended the Supervisory Board's balance sheet meeting on March 20, 2025. They reported on their audit findings. The Supervisory Board thoroughly reviewed the consolidated financial statements with the group management report, the annual financial statements with the management report, and the non-financial statements, and raised no objections. The annual financial statements and consolidated financial statements with the management report and group management report were also approved by the Supervisory Board as recommended by the audit committee. The 2024 annual financial statements of freenet AG are thus adopted.
The management board has proposed paying a dividend of EUR 1.97, and this merits an applause. Thank you very much. EUR 1.97 and carrying forward the remaining net profit to new account. The Supervisory Board has endorsed this proposal with great pleasure. I will repeat this proposed resolution later. I would now like to ask the management board. Now we are coming already to the report by the management board to report on the 2024 financial year and the current situation of the company. I believe it will be our CEO, Mr. Vilanek, who will start.
Good morning, ladies and gentlemen, dear shareholders. On behalf of the management board and all employees of freenet AG, out of whom not all can be present, I would like to welcome you to today's annual general meeting. This is my 17th annual general meeting in the capacity of CEO of freenet AG.
Today is the day on which I can, or from my point of view, have to inform you that this will also be my last annual general meeting of freenet AG, at least in this capacity. Like you, I'm also a shareholder of freenet AG, and I may participate in future meetings as an interested listener, just like you. Regardless of this, I would like to thank you for being here today and for demonstrating your trust and interest in freenet. Thank you very much from me and also from all employees of the freenet group. Ladies and gentlemen, it seems appropriate that in my speech today, I not only discuss the past financial year, but also take a look back. This for several reasons. Firstly, I owe you, our shareholders, a review of my work from my personal perspective.
After all, you've placed your trust in me over the past 16 years to lead your company, and I really liked to fill this role. Secondly, freenet celebrated its first major anniversary last year, 25 years of successful growth and prosperity. This in what have been at times very challenging times. I remember, for example, the global financial crisis in our first decade and, of course, the difficult years of the COVID pandemic that we've all weathered together. I think we all deserve this little tribute on our milestone birthday, and I will do so at the end of my presentation. Before doing so, let me take a look back at the past financial year, 2024, with you. It was an important year in many respects.
As always, my colleague, Ingo Arnold, will then skillfully guide you through the figures and present the details of the balance sheet and income statement. I will therefore limit myself to a few selected figures. Let us start with a look at the past financial year, ladies and gentlemen. This chart shows two figures. The first figure at EBITDA, the operating income before financial results, taxes, and depreciation, which freenet generated last year. This amounted to around EUR 521 million. Each of our 3,167 employees contributed approximately EUR 165,000 to this figure. This is shown by the second figure. It means for the second time in our corporate history that the result is over EUR 0.5 billion for the second time. This amount is slightly above our forecast. The capital market has rewarded us with share price gains.
Our analysts have maintained their positive rating for freenet shares and have raised some of their price targets. There is another figure that I believe is almost more important for you, our shareholders. It amounts to around EUR 292 million, that's the free cash flow. That means what remains in our coffers after all payments have been made. We intend to pay out 80% of this money to you as a dividend this year in accordance with our dividend policy. This amounts to a total of around EUR 234 million or EUR 1.97 per share, which will be paid to you as a dividend, rewarding your trust in freenet AG. I would like to make this figure a little more tangible. Our customers make phone calls. They surf the internet or watch television 365 days a year.
They use freenet services regardless of the season, the weather, or circumstances because communication, interpersonal exchange, access to apps, navigation, and information searches never take a break. Your company, dear shareholders, freenet AG, generated free cash flow of just under EUR 800,000 every day in 2024. If we look again at the value per employee, we see that each individual generated almost EUR 100,000 in free cash flow last year. They did so through their personal commitment and expertise, which I've always found exemplary in freenet. I believe this achievement deserves your applause, ladies and gentlemen. Many freenet colleagues are here today or connected via the internet, and I'm sure that they're delighted to receive your recognition. 2024 was a record year in many respects. Specifically, revenue increased to just under EUR 2.5 billion. Earnings per share rose by EUR 1.10 to EUR 2.50.
The number of customers grew in both product segment and mobile communication by approximately 173,000 to around 7.7 million. In the TV and media segment by around 484,000 to more than 2.4 million. This means that at the end of 2024, the company served a total of over 10.1 million paying customers, the vast majority of them on long-term subscriptions, which contributes significantly to the stability and predictability of our business. This success is made possible by a large team of well-trained, competent, and highly motivated employees. As management, we do our best to make the entire team at freenet AG even better, to motivate them to continuously learn and innovate, to be more courageous and willing to embrace change. I would like to demonstrate to you, ladies and gentlemen, that these are not just empty words by providing you with concrete figures.
Last year, we increased the average remuneration per full-time employee by almost 9%, and our freenet minimum wage of EUR 14.40 per hour is significantly above the current statutory requirement of EUR 12.82. In addition, every employee also receives a variable salary component, the amount of which depends, among other things, on the company's annual performance. We make no distinction between the targets against which the Management Board is measured and those that are relevant for the profit sharing of our colleagues across Germany. Money by no means is everything. We also invest heavily in the training and development of our employees and thus in the future and innovative strength of freenet AG. In 2024, an average of 15 hours of training per employee were completed.
Last but not least, our corporate culture also contributes greatly to the acceptance and performance of our employees, giving them considerable freedom to make decisions and take action. Direct exchange and intensive communication are just as much a matter of course at freenet as the informal calling each other by our first names and celebrating successes together at summer and Christmas parties. Regular town hall meetings and institutionalized employee appraisals and surveys are held, which I discuss later. Nevertheless, ladies and gentlemen, not everything is plain vanilla at freenet. We, too, have had our disappointments from time to time. In 2024, for example, we unfortunately had to inform around 500 colleagues that Gravis, our subsidiary with around 40 stores, was no longer economically viable. We did not take the decision to wind up the company lightly.
We accepted losses for over two years and tried a whole range of measures to bring the company back into profit on a sustainable basis. Unfortunately, we did not succeed, and even a sale or cooperation with other companies would not have brought the desired success. For that reason, we really had to pull the plug also, and above all, in your interests. As a healthy company, we've paid all employees severance payments based on social criteria and taken into account their chances on the labor market. It is also something a company must be able to afford. We are very pleased that, to our knowledge, most of the former Gravis employees have now found new attractive jobs. Nonetheless, let us return to our core business, ladies and gentlemen. Mobile communication is a solid and resilient foundation of our work.
As already mentioned, we have all become accustomed to constant connectivity. Our analyses show that the average subscriber consumes around 10 GB of data per month. We also offer our customers a whole range of value-added services. freenet Travel, which offers low-cost roaming rates worldwide for all countries outside the EU, various protections for the smartphone, a data cloud from freenet.de, and also genuine unlimited flat rates for insatiable use. Above all, a wide range of tailor-made tariffs for the individual needs of each user or their family. Others, incidentally, with or without a smartphone and on all three established mobile networks in Germany. This brings me to an important point: our relationship with the network operators, namely Deutsche Telekom, Vodafone, and Telefónica. As loyal shareholders, you know that these partnerships have been put to the test.
This time and again throughout our history, when LTE was introduced, for example, the network operators were very hesitant to grant us access. Unfortunately, the same was true when 5G was introduced. Thanks to our size and our market power that comes with it, we've always fought hard to secure these network services. Our goal has always been to establish longer-term agreements with all three network operators. We want predictability, calculability, and to be able to focus on our daily business instead of spending our energy on constant negotiations and haggling with all the network operators. We've achieved this goal in 2024. Beyond these important contractual framework conditions, we also made significant structural, technical, and functional advances in the mobile communication segment in the past financial year. There are also some important milestones.
The consolidation of all customer offerings in our own channels, whether in-store or online, has now been implemented in terms of content, processes, and technology. In customer inventory management, we calculate renewal offers individually for each customer, striking a good balance between customer focus and profitability. Artificial intelligence, which is now ubiquitous all over the place, at least in terms of the topic, has long been a reality at freenet. We use it in many areas, such as advertising, customer communications, and above all, customer service. Part of our hotline are so-called bots, not humans, but intelligent voice robots. Of course, we inform our customers of this when they contact us. The vast majority accept and appreciate it. These robots are always very polite, and they are well-informed. They are never tired. They are never moody or distracted. Another omnipresent topic for companies is process optimization. That sounds very conceptual, very theoretical.
At freenet, it is actually a standard practice. We have created a system for the continuous improvement of processes that is targeted and precisely tailored to customer needs. Allow me to illustrate this with a concrete example, dear shareholders. More than 80% of new customers want to keep their existing telephone number when they switch over to us. This is a complex process for all telecommunications companies at any rate, but particularly challenging for us. After all, we offer three different networks with a wide range of brands and each with very different processes. During an audit, our specialists discovered that we use 14 different processes for number porting, which unfortunately leads to considerable confusion and often to dissatisfaction among customers. What should we do in this case, ladies and gentlemen?
Our team simply picked up the phone themselves, noted down customer questions and problems, and then gradually changed, standardized, modernized, and updated the processes. Of course, this is not something that can be done in four weeks. It requires coordination between many different competent departments. In the end, we achieved standardization that reduced the number of monthly complaints and inquiries that we received before by around 20,000. That is 20,000 fewer calls per month, which means around 240,000 fewer customers per year who are or were dissatisfied or whose first experience with freenet was not a positive one. This has changed, ladies and gentlemen. That is a perfect example of continuous improvement. Ladies and gentlemen, this is transformation. This leads to improved company results and ultimately to the high dividend that we are able to propose to you today. The attitude behind this example is very important to me.
We do not start with the idea of making more money or saving money. We start with the idea of making customers happier or, to put it colloquially, not annoying them. A second example of our daily work is the following. Perhaps you have seen our perimeter advertising in nine Bundesliga stadiums. Perhaps you have also noticed that we use the European Handball Championship for advertising purposes. Perhaps you have noticed that as well as we are present at the DFB Cup with our logo and slogan. These activities are successful. We measure this, and we use the budget systematically and with the necessary care. However, these activities have one thing in common. The corresponding TV broadcasts are mainly watched by middle-aged and older people. We are therefore unlikely to reach younger potential customers.
That is precisely why we placed brand advertising in the Icon League for the first time in 2024. The Icon League is a small field football tournament lasting several months, initiated by Toni Kroos, former national player and ex-star of Real Madrid and Bayern Munich. The Icon League cannot be seen on television, but young people today follow their idols on social media via their smartphones. That is exactly where they have now gotten to new freenet. On this chart, you can see the impact of this advertising measure. It compares the brand perception of those who saw our advertising at the Icon League with that of younger generations who did not see it. These young people are our customers of tomorrow. They are the customers who will generate service revenue and dividends for you, our shareholders, in a few years' time.
This approach is proof that we are not only optimizing profits in the short term, but also making the company sustainably successful with a long-term perspective. This may be just one small example of freenet's forward-looking management and intelligent strategy. We also have some more major achievements to report, ladies and gentlemen. Let me now move on to the developments in the TV and media segment. When we entered this market in 2016, we focused on two pillars. First of all, our strong core business with DVB-T, our freenet TV product in classic linear television, which remains profitable to this day. At the same time, we began to build up our waipu.tv in the IPTV sector. It was always clear that it would be a prototype and that we would lose customers over the years.
It was equally clear to us that waipu.tv would not only have to compensate for these losses in the long term, but even more than compensate for them. It is indeed doing so. This dual-pronged strategy has been very successful so far. What you, dear shareholders, can see in this picture is that the number of freenet.tv customers is declining, while the number of waipu.tv customers is rising steadily. In the past financial year 2024, we lost around 100,000 customers at freenet.tv . One of the main reasons is that people are moving house and finding that their new homes have access to cable, satellite, or IPTV. We know from service that our customers really appreciate freenet.tv , but when easy access to other, or in the case of IPTV, more innovative technologies is available, they switch for the sake of simplicity.
In comparison, waipu.tv's customer base grew by a record-breaking number of almost 600,000 customers in the past financial year. With a slightly higher average revenue per customer, it is easy to calculate that our overall revenue in this segment is growing. We are also investing heavily in the performance of waipu.tv. Here are a few examples. We currently provide our customers with over 200 channels in HD quality, more than any other provider, and with a total of 300 channels. We set the absolute benchmark in the German IPTV market. Our new TV Boxer with remote control has been rated very good or even excellent by all media outlets. waipu.tv users can watch the entire Bundesliga Football League. We know from feedback that our customers watch even more television than the national average. We achieved this by offering special channels, a great media library, and unique recording options.
We are pursuing a clear growth and portfolio strategy in the TV segment. At the end of 2024, we informed the financial market of our ambitions for the 2028 financial year. The starting point for these ambitions is the 2023 financial year. You can see exactly what this means in figures. We expect the EBITDA of our subsidiary Media Broadcast, the operator of freenet.tv, to decline by around EUR 20 million by the end of 2028. At the same time, we expect EBITDA of Exaring AG, our subsidiary behind waipu.tv, to increase by over EUR 100 million. Accordingly, the TV and media segments will be an increasingly important pillar of freenet at the end of 2028, accounting for just under a third of EBITDA, or at least EUR 190 million.
To be honest, I must add at this point that we have unfortunately not achieved our target of 2 million waipu.tv subscribers by the end of 2024. One reason for this is that cable providers currently still allow for more than 4 million households to receive a TV signal without having to pay for it. This is understandable from the customer's point of view. This is where regulation and politics are failing, as neither Vodafone nor Tele Columbus are required to disconnect their customers promptly. If no new contract has been concluded, they are by creating a level playing field for all providers. So much for the future. Let us now take a brief look back at 25 successful years at freenet, ladies and gentlemen. The fact that freenet is in such an excellent position today and is well set up for the future was by no means a surefire success.
Those shareholders among you who have been with us from the beginning may remember the startup period and the first turbulent decade of freenet. I would just like to outline the key milestones here. Founded in 1999 as an online provider service and a subsidiary of Mobilcom, for example, by Eckhard Spör, that CEO for the first 10 years, freenet had already overtaken the Internet Goliath, AOL, two years later. freenet was thus already the second largest provider behind Deutsche Telekom. It had also made small acquisitions and taken over Mobilcom's fixed-line telephony business. In 2007, the subsidiary effectively did a reverse takeover and took over Mobilcom. The parent company, Mobilcom, was struggling because its partner, France Telecom, was unable to meet its billion-euro financial obligations from the acquisition of UMTS licensing. A year later, freenet itself became the object of desire until Drillisch wanted to buy us.
As a defensive measure, freenet instead took over the larger mobile phone provider, Debitel, which in turn had acquired its competitor, Talkline, a year earlier. This acquisition made freenet several billion EUR more expensive and too expensive for Mr. Domonoth to take over this company. In 2009, I took over as CEO of the then heavily indebted freenet, whose new core business was now mobile communications, consisting of three heterogeneous providers that had previously been engaged in fierce, not to say bitter, competition with each other, and whose employees at a dozen locations were anything but enthusiastic about the new situation. Forming a powerful unit out of this, developing a common corporate strategy, creating a real team with a new sense of unity. From today's perspective, it almost feels like founding freenet all over again. How did we manage to do that?
It took a great deal of empathy and communication to get a feel for the identity and moods, as well as the expectations and fears. You can't achieve this kind of cohesion between completely heterogeneous units with a top-down approach. The opposite is required here: a bottom-up approach. This direct, honest dialogue with one another, the high level of transparency and freedom to shape the company, the principle of always having an open door and an open ear, all of this is still an essential part of freenet's success story and unique corporate culture. We should all be proud of that, dear colleagues, in all modesty. We all know that satisfaction in general is not our core virtue in Germany. In this country, we tend to see the glass as half empty rather than half full, unfortunately.
This makes us appreciate the broad support our company enjoys internally all the more. Twice a year, we ask our employees about their satisfaction with their company, among other things. The results we achieve are more than impressive. The comparative figures show that we regularly earn very good marks. 75% of those surveyed would recommend freenet as an employer, which is a really good result compared to other companies in the same industry and across industries. More than 80% speak very positively about their boss, both of which point to a positive atmosphere, a healthy corporate culture, and excellent teamwork. However, as a shareholder, other figures are more important to you when it comes to the success of freenet's second refounding, as I called it.
If you are one of those who became a shareholder of freenet AG when I took office or shortly thereafter, and if you are still with us, you can look forward to a total shareholder return of around 1,000% by the end of March 2025. Or in absolute terms, you would have bought shares for EUR 5.17, and taking into account the dividends paid out since then, you would now have EUR 56.87 in your hands or in your account or securities account. In addition, our company is now also in a very good financial position. Ingo Arnold will go into detail later. Through skillful portfolio management, we have succeeded in massively reducing freenet's liabilities to this end.
We sold some parts of the business that were not essential to our core business, in some cases at lucrative prices, and earned hundreds of millions of EUR from an interim stake in Swiss mobile communications provider Sunrise. Our figures and growth prospects are more than impressive, dear shareholders. However, we have also ambitions in the ESG area, which stands for environmental and social aspects, as well as criteria for good corporate governance. Even back in 2023, we developed a sustainability strategy that established an ecologically responsible, socially equitable, and economically profitable strategy and conduct as an integral part of our corporation. Last year, we also signed the diversity charter, thereby supporting the recognition, appreciation, and inclusion of diversity in the workplace.
Our sustainability report for 2024 addresses issues that are important to us, such as climate protection, the circular economy in relation to our end devices, information about our own workforce, our supply chain, and governance issues, such as data and information security and anti-corruption. I would like to pick up on just a few key points that I consider particularly important or interesting. Last year, we adopted an e-car policy to establish a binding framework for the electrification of our vehicle fleet by 2030. We have developed a transition plan for climate protection that shows how we intend to achieve the 1.5-degree target of the Paris Climate Agreement by 2030 with regard to our directly controllable greenhouse gas emissions. Based on the base year 2022, the plan envisages a reduction in our CO2 emissions of more than 60% by 2030.
This is ambitious but achievable through the aforementioned electrification of our vehicle fleet and the further expansion of renewable energy sources within the company. For this reason, we also invested in a photovoltaic system on the roof of our headquarters in Büdelsdorf last year, which will supply our headquarters with electricity. In addition, we offer our customers a purchase service for old electronic devices when they buy new ones. Our take-back rate was just under 4% last year and is set to increase in the coming years. In this way, we intend to return valuable and scarce raw materials back into the cycle. We are proud of our learning culture within the company. With 189 trainees and dual students last year, we play an important role in training young people. Our female employees have access to special development opportunities, exchange formats, and their own network.
By the end of 2026, they should make up 25% of division management positions and 30% of department management positions. In the past financial year, our female employees accounted for 17% and 29% of the two management levels mentioned above. You will understand, ladies and gentlemen, that after 16 very fulfilling and successful years, it is with a heavy heart that I'm leaving the company. Working for freenet and seeing the company grow and flourish have always been a matter close to my heart, and I've given it all my energy, expertise, and experience. There is also a silver lining. I'm handing over to my successor a company that is excellently positioned for the coming years, with all the opportunities and challenges that this brings. As the saying goes, you should leave when the party is at its best.
However, I'm absolutely certain that there will be much to celebrate at freenet in the future and that the party will continue. Finally, I would like to express my sincere thanks. First of all, to all my colleagues for the excellent work that we have done together over the past 16 years. There have been very few days when I have not looked forward to developing ideas, solving problems, and building something new together with you, then to our customers and business partners for their continued trust in our products and services. A big thank you also goes to you, dear shareholders, for your trust in the management team of freenet AG. Last but not least, I would like to thank all participants of today's annual general meeting for their valued attention. With that, a small look back. I have asked for a photo to be shown.
You may see some, well, residual similarity with that photo. My hair was black and, well, I've got gray hair now, so it's 50% of face, and this is why I'm wearing a long haircut. Now I would like to hand the floor to Ingo Arnold.
Thank you very much, Christoph. Dear shareholders, I would also like to welcome you to today's annual general meeting. Before I go into the financial developments of the financial year, I would first like to briefly comment on the documents relating to items 8 and 9 on today's agenda and refer to the explanatory report pursuant to section 289(a)(1) and section 315(a)(1) of the German Commercial Code. Under item 8, we would like to renew and consolidate the existing authorized capital. Item 9 also concerns the renewal of an expired authorization to issue bonds backed by contingent capital.
There are no specific plans for the use of the capital or the authorization under item 8 or 9. We merely wish to extend the existing authorizations that are due to expire by five years in order to be able to act if necessary. Let me now, after this formal part, supplement Christoph's remarks by presenting the key developments of the 2024 financial year from a financial perspective. As already mentioned, we not only fully achieved the targets set at the beginning of 2024 for the key financial indicators, but also met the guidance we had raised during the year for consolidated revenue, EBITDA, and free cash flow. Against this backdrop, we are once again able to propose a very attractive dividend for the past financial year. I would like to explain how this success is reflected in concrete figures below.
Overall, consolidated revenue rose moderately by 3.9% year on year to EUR 2.48 billion in the 2024 financial year. The increase in revenue in the mobile communications segment of 0.8% to EUR 2.06 billion is mainly attributable to higher service revenue from mobile communications customers compared with the previous year. In the TV and media segment, revenues rose by an impressive 50.8% year on year to EUR 399.9 million, which is mainly attributable to strong net new customer growth at waipu.tv and thus accounts for the majority of the growth in consolidated revenues. In addition, the sale of IP addresses no longer required in the other or holding segment had a positive impact on revenue, EBITDA, and free cash flow in the amount of EUR 18.4 million. Overall, we were thus able to achieve the forecast of moderate growth in consolidated revenue that we had raised during the year.
At EUR 521.5 million, the EBITDA for the past financial year was significantly above the previous year's level of EUR 503.9 million. We thus also achieved the target range of EUR 515 million-EUR 530 million, which was raised again in December 2024. This result, dear shareholders, is also fully in line with our expectations for the past year. Although we informed you here a year ago that we had made a conscious decision to forgo earnings growth in 2024 in favor of accelerated customer growth in the IPTV business, last year, we made extensive investments in increasing brand awareness for waipu.tv in order to position the product as well as possible for the abolition of the ancillary cost privilege. As a result, EBITDA in the TV and media segment declined by 6.6% to EUR 102.9 million over the course of the year due to temporary additional marketing measures.
In our core mobile business communications business, however, EBITDA rose by 1.7% to EUR 427.3 million. This was mainly due to an increase in gross profit, partly as a result of favorable agreements with network operators. The success of our operating business is also reflected in our free cash flow. In the past financial year, we generated free cash flow of EUR 292.3 million, thus meeting our guidance, which we had raised to a range of EUR 285 million- EUR 300 million. Compared with the EUR 276.6 million achieved in the previous year, this represents an increase in free cash flow of EUR 15.7 million. When comparing the consolidated net income from continuing operations, additional write-downs of the Mobilcom Debitel brand in connection with the realignment of the brand strategy in the same period of the previous year with a total effect of EUR 84.2 million must be taken into account.
Excluding this effect, consolidated net income from continuing operations rose from EUR 251.8 million in the previous year to EUR 296.4 million in the 2024 financial year. All expenses and income attributable to the discontinued Gravis business were reported separately in the consolidated net income from discontinued operations in accordance with IFRS 5 and amounted to - EUR 50.8 million in the 2024 financial year. I would now like to comment on the key balance sheet figures. Total assets as of 31 December 2024 amounted to EUR 3.34 billion, a slight decrease of EUR 82.3 million compared to the previous year's reporting date. On the asset side, lease assets decreased by EUR 70.1 million, mainly due to scheduled depreciation and amortization, as well as impairment losses in connection with the discontinued Gravis business.
In addition, intangible assets decreased by EUR 31.5 million, which is mainly due to the scheduled amortization of the exclusive distribution right with Media-Saturn Deutschland GmbH . The decline in inventories by EUR 17.2 million is mainly related to the closure of Gravis. On the liability side, equity increased by EUR 41.2 million to EUR 1.48 billion, with a dividend distribution of EUR 210.4 million. The increase in this is primarily attributable to consolidated net income of EUR 245.6 million. The equity ratio increased from 42.1% to 44.4% as of the end of December 2024. This means that we remain well above the lower limit of 25% that we have set for ourselves. Financial liabilities remain the largest item on the liability side alongside equity and decreased by EUR 12.3 million to EUR 418.5 million due to the net repayment of various bonded loan tranches.
The debt ratio, defined as the ratio of net financial debt to EBITDA generated in the last 12 months at the end of the 2024 financial year, was 0.9x EBITDA, representing a further reduction compared with the previous year. It therefore remains well below the maximum limit of 3x EBITDA that we had defined for ourselves. Ladies and gentlemen, following the significant debt reduction already achieved in the previous year, our company, thanks to the good operating result for the 2024 financial year and its healthy capital structure, is in a more than healthy financial position. Let me now take a look at the past stock market year 2024. Worldwide, it was marked by prevailing geopolitical and economic tensions.
Despite this challenging environment, the freenet share achieved a total shareholder return, which is the sum of the change in share price and dividend distribution of +16%. Our company thus once again significantly outperformed its benchmark indices, the MDAX and TecDAX, which stood at -6% and +2% at the end of the year. I believe you share my opinion that our share performance is impressive. I believe that this reflects as well a high level of reliability and the resulting confidence of the capital market in our ability to achieve our future goals. We also intend to remain reliable in our dividend payments and continue the dividend continuity of recent years. We therefore promise you a payout ratio of 80% of free cash flow.
This is also the basis for today's proposal of the AGM to approve a dividend of EUR 1.97 per share for the past 2024 financial year, where thus once again proposing a dividend yield of 7.2% that is very attractive by market standards based on the closing price of the freenet share on 31 December 2024. In this context, let me briefly address the issue of tax exemption of the freenet dividend, as we received a number of questions on this topic in the run-up to the AGM. After last year's dividend payment was made entirely from the tax contribution account, it was therefore not subject to capital gains tax or the solidarity surcharge. This year's dividend, unfortunately, will be paid with a partial tax deduction. The majority, which is around 60% of the dividend, will remain exempt from tax deduction this year.
From 2024 onwards, the dividend will be paid out with full deduction of capital gains tax and solidarity surcharge. This is a circumstance that we unfortunately cannot avoid. Please allow me now, as I did last year, to say a few words on the subject of sustainability. Christoph has already summarized our key milestones and sustainability efforts. I would like to focus more on the regulatory requirements for reporting. Last year, I reported here that the reporting requirements for sustainability reports would change fundamentally for European capital market-oriented companies and that for the first time, all companies would have to report according to a uniform reporting standard, which is the European Sustainability Reporting Standard. In terms of the transparency and comparability of sustainability reports, this will have a similarly far-reaching impact as the introduction of IFRS as a mandatory standard for consolidated financial reporting a year ago.
The EU is playing a pioneering role here, although the added value of standardized sustainability reporting for the European capital market and for companies will certainly only become apparent over time. At the moment, all companies, and we as well, are primarily groaning under the regulatory burden imposed on them in recent years, for example, with the EU taxonomy, the Supply Chain Act, and the CSRD. In order to comply with the requirements, they must be first understood and the relevant skills developed and integrated into internal processes. This takes time and cannot usually be achieved overnight. We as well have been working since the very first quarter of 2023 on preparations for an ESRS-compliant sustainability report for the 2024 financial year. At the time, we assumed that the implementation of the EU Directive into German law was merely a formality.
However, due to the collapse of the coalition government in Germany in November 2024, the directive has not yet been transposed into national law, which has caused considerable uncertainty for us and for all other companies and auditing firms alike. When it became clear that the directive would not be implemented, we were already so far advanced with the implementation of the ESRS and the conversion of our internal reporting processes that it would have been impossible to go back to the old world. Fortunately, it was possible to use the ESRS as a reporting standard under the old and now still valid regulatory regime, which is why we decided to prepare the 2024 non-financial group statement in accordance with the ESRS and have it audited by KPMG AG.
We also expect that this new CSRD will be transposed into national law in the 2025 financial year, which means we will be well prepared for the next reporting season. You are probably wondering what the costs of such a project are. In addition to building up internal resources, we are talking about two additional employees in reporting and controlling. We have consulted an external consulting firm, primarily for advice on conducting the double materiality analysis and on fulfilling individual reporting requirements and interpreting the standard. We took a coaching approach in order to benefit as much as possible from the knowledge built up internally in the follow-up phase. The consulting costs amounted to less than EUR 150,000 over the nearly two years, and for this money, we temporarily purchased expertise that we needed for the introduction of the standards, but not for future annual regulatory reporting.
Our new report comprises more than 75 pages, which is twice as long as in 2023. Initial evaluations show that we are all well within the norm. MDAX reports average around 120 pages, and reports from companies in the communications industry average around 100 pages, with approximately 70% reporting between 51 pages and 100 pages. As I said, we are therefore completely on target, but nevertheless, this involves a very high level of bureaucracy. It is still unclear to me what benefits this wealth of information will have for freenet, the capital market, and for you, our shareholders, and whether it will really lead to an increase in investment in sustainable assets. I believe that the example of the initial implementation of the ESRS shows that companies in general should be involved more closely and at an earlier stage in regulatory processes. This increases acceptance and leads to better results.
With this in mind, I welcome the initiative at national and European levels to critically review the requirements for the preparation of sustainability reports and to significantly streamline them. Any unnecessary bureaucracy must be prevented in order to strengthen Germany as a business location and keep it attractive for entrepreneurs and investors. After this perhaps somewhat lengthy digression, let me return to the financial perspective and present the forecast for the 2025 financial year. Our stated goal remains to continue to consolidate and develop freenet's market position as a digital lifestyle provider. In addition to pursuing innovative approaches and loyalty-enhancing measures in the mobile communications sector, this primarily involves focusing on the growth of waipu.tv and the TV and media segment. In the current year, we will press ahead with the further development of our products, services, and partnerships.
Quality and service should serve to further expand our valuable customers in the future. We expect an overall increase in customer numbers in the TV. We therefore expect moderate growth in postpaid customers again. We expect also an overall increase in customer numbers in the TV and media segment based on a noticeable increase in waipu.tv subscription customers and a noticeable decrease in freenet TV subscription customers. On this basis, we're aiming for moderate growth in consolidated revenues for the 2025 financial year, which, assuming marketing activities at waipu.tv to stabilize, should lead to adjusted EBITDA in the range of EUR 520 million-EUR 540 million compared with the previous year. This forecast does not include the already known effect from the last tranche of the IP address sale in the amount of around EUR 14 million.
However, the expected free cash flow includes this one-off effect in order to provide you, our shareholders, with a complete basis for calculating future dividends. For the 2025 financial year, we expect free cash flow in the range of EUR 300 million-EUR 320 million. As a result, you, our shareholders, should be able to expect a continued high and attractive dividend. The targets for 2025 are fully in line with our growth ambition for freenet 2025 that we communicated at the capital markets day in November 2021. At that time, we presented you, our shareholders, with a forecast of average annual EBITDA growth of more than 4% starting in 2020 and a free cash flow of over EUR 260 million by the end of 2025. That is why we are therefore continuing to focus on the right areas in both our mobile communications and IPTV businesses.
In the mobile communications business, we are constantly adapting to changing customer needs in order to consolidate our market position. In the IPTV business, we are focusing on growth. Last November, we presented our financial ambitions beyond 2025 and what you can expect in the future under the heading freenet 2028. Christoph already reported in his speech on part of this ambition and the growth expectations for IPTV. Let me now put this into the bigger picture. Our crucial message remains the same. freenet is committed to its successful digital lifestyle strategy. Taking into account the expected market developments in the mobile communications and TV and media segments, EBITDA is expected to increase to at least EUR 600 million by 2028 with an average annual growth rate of around 4%, although the trend is expected to be less steady this time.
This corresponds to a growth of at least EUR 100 million or around 20% over the entire period. The TV and media segment is expected to make a significant contribution of at least EUR 80 million, including a EUR 20 million lower EBITDA contribution from Media Broadcast due to the decline in the terrestrial TV business. In the IPTV segment, we expect an EBITDA growth of EUR 100 million. In the mobile communications segment, an additional EBITDA contribution of EUR 20 million is expected by the end of 2028 based on an unchanged business policy. This includes an expected average annual increase in general and personnel expenses of around 3%, which could be partially offset by a continuation of digitalization and standardization efforts. The cost increases should be more than offset by a EUR 40 million increase in gross profit in the mobile communications segment.
The increase in gross profit is based on the assumption of continued moderate customer growth, as well as the ongoing optimization of the successful omnichannel sales approach and long-term relationships with the three German mobile network operators that are relevant today. The mobile communications segment will therefore continue to form the basis for high stability and resilience in freenet AG's business results in the future. Based on the EBITDA forecast, free cash flow is expected to rise to at least EUR 330 million in the same period. This also corresponds to a growth of around 20% and a continued high cash conversion rate of more than 50%. This takes into account the gradual increase in current tax payments due to the almost complete utilization of tax loss carried forwards by the end of 2028.
We will continue to maintain our dividend policy of 80% of free cash flow in the future. You, the shareholders of freenet AG, should therefore continue to receive an attractive dividend. I now hand back to the Chairman of the Supervisory Board, Mr. Marc Tüngler.
Very impressive indeed. Thank you very much, Christoph and Ingo. Thank you very much. This is very important. Christoph, you can already guess that we will come back to you. At this point, I would first of all like to make you aware that you are part of a healthy company that is set for growth also in the future. I think we are sitting here and I think we are receiving an applause. The Management Board and the Supervisory Board contributed to that, but it was really our staff and they deserve a round of applause.
Thank you again. If you remember what Christoph said relating to the results and the cash flow per staff member, I think this was a very good sign of what is going on here. Of course, the Supervisory Board is also impressed with the Management Board. Now, a last point before I move on to the Supervisory Board report. Take a look at the 2028 ambitions. As you can see where the company is moving. Ingo Arnold and Mr. Vilanek mentioned this and where there is a will, there will be a possibility that we have a compass and where everybody here has a compass. It's important for you to understand this. This leads me to the Supervisory Board report. I do not want to bore you with too many details. It's been published already.
I'd like to focus on three topics and otherwise you can find our Supervisory Board report in the annual report. One of the key topics of the past year was the first audit by KPMG AG. This really meant a lot because before that we had long years of cooperation with PwC. Such a change of auditor involved increased effort and it's a task of particular importance for the Supervisory Board, which we've pursued with great care. I would like to take this opportunity to express my sincere thanks to the members of the audit committee chaired by Robert Weidinger for their valuable work in monitoring and coordinating with KPMG. On behalf of all my colleagues in the plenary, I would like to emphasize that we found the support provided during the audit to be extremely professional and reliable.
The audit committee worked with dedication and diligence to ensure the transition was smooth and transparent. Particularly noteworthy is their close cooperation with a new audit firm, which was characterized by a willingness to engage in dialogue and critical questioning. Through the audit committee, the Supervisory Board closely monitored the quality and independence of the audit, thus creating a solid foundation for future cooperation with KPMG AG, a contribution that strengthens our stakeholders' confidence in our financial reporting and corporate governance. Another focus of the past year was preparing for the upcoming change at the top of the Management Board and considering the future composition of the Management Board after Christoph Vilanek informed us that he would not be available for a future extension of his contract.
The personnel committee took on this task with great commitment, defining the selection criteria for the CEO search with external support and numerous meetings and telephone calls, carefully reviewing many candidates and conducting interviews. As we have announced, because we announced this already, we found Robin Harries as our new CEO. He is traveling in New York, so he is sending his regards. He is participating. A big round of applause for Robin Harries because he is participating online. Robin, great to have you here, although you are not present, but this was your applause and we are really glad that we have found you. The Management and the Supervisory Board, we are all convinced that in Robin Harries, we found the best possible candidate for our and your company here.
I am glad to announce that Robin Harries will be available before the 1st of August, but he is going to succeed Christoph Vilanek probably at the beginning of June already. This brings me to the third point I would like to address today. This is Christoph Vilanek's 17th annual general meeting here alongside me and my predecessors. I have been here for 13 years only. At the same time, it is his last annual general meeting as our CEO. Christoph has guided freenet with vision and great commitment since 2009. He has been guiding this company with strong influence and he has developed freenet AG into its current role as one of the leading providers with strong pillars in mobile communication, digital lifestyle, and TV and media.
Christoph, you took the helm of this company on the 1st of May 2009 and it was a public holiday. You were smart. You did not have to work on your first day of employment. The closing price of the freenet share on the day before he took office was EUR 4.85. During his tenure, there was not a single day on which the share price fell below this level. Congratulations on that. We are all on the lucky side. That is a great achievement. The EUR 10 threshold was exceeded for the first time in September 2009. The share price doubled in his first year of tenure. We saw EUR 20 for the first time in November 2013. You were all aware of the current stock market prices.
During the same period, total cumulative dividend was EUR 21.63 per year was distributed. Today he is leaving with a record dividend. Thank you very much for that, Christoph. You can see from this alone that freenet AG has developed very strongly economically under Christoph Vilanek's leadership. I think I speak on your behalf when I thank Christoph for his achievement and services to our freenet. A warm thank you, a warm round of applause for Christoph. This was too early. [Foreign language] I was going to make a few remarks, really a few personal remarks. I think the moment is perfect for that. In those 25 years, I have had this job. There are many people who are different from Christoph.
Christoph was really a great strike of luck for freenet because there are certain points that a CEO should do. Courage, for example, entrepreneurial courage. He is an entrepreneur, not just an employed CEO. You need a vision. Where do you want the company to go? If you have a share in a company, the CEO should have a vision of where the company should be in 10 years- 15 years. Really passion, the passion that you have and that you can also pass on to the people in the company. That is really important. The power, of course, and the stamina. A CEO should really have a vision and ideas and the energy to really point the way also when the times are more difficult. All that is combined in Christoph Vilanek.
The charts were a bit early, but nonetheless, I would like to ask for a big round of applause because this is not your last day in the company, but I think we should take this opportunity to say thank you. [Foreign language] Okay, how should we move on to the agenda? This is a very emotional moment, of course. Thank you so much, Christoph. So, [Foreign language] Let's talk about the present. The current presence is 49,101,909 non-par shares are present. That corresponds to 41.3% of the share capital. In addition to that, postal votes have reached us amounting to 1,795,332 non-par shares. In total, there are 50,897,241 non-par shares. That corresponds to 42.81% of the share capital.
At this point, I would like to conclude the report for the Supervisory Board and continue with the agenda for the annual general meeting. Ladies and gentlemen, if you are watching live, Robin, also many greetings to you. We look forward to working with you. The live broadcast of our annual general meeting on the internet is now coming to an end. I wish you a great day and thank you very much for joining us. I would like to take this opportunity to thank the other viewers who have been following the live stream on our website and express my gratitude for your interest in our company.