Ladies and gentlemen, as Chairman of the Supervisory Board, I hereby open this year's annual general meeting of GEA Group Aktiengesellschaft and assume the chairmanship in accordance with the articles of association. On behalf of the Supervisory Board and the Executive Board, I would like to extend a warm welcome to you, our shareholders and shareholder representatives. For the purpose of better readability and speakability, we would like to refrain as far as possible from using gender-specific language in this AGM. However, personal designations and terms are naturally to be regarded as gender-neutral in the interests of equal treatment.
This year, the meeting will be held as a virtual annual general meeting on the basis of Section 17, Subsection 5 of the articles of association, in conjunction with Section 118A of the German Stock Corporation Act, that is, without the physical presence of shareholders or their proxies, with the exception of the company's proxies who will be on site. After careful consideration of the advantages and disadvantages, and based on the positive experience with holding virtual annual general meetings in recent years, the Executive Board, in consultation with the Supervisory Board, once again opted for the virtual annual general meeting format. In making this decision, we were also guided by the fact that GEA wants to play a leading role in the area of digitalization and sustainability.
In particular, we also took into account the benefits for many shareholders, as this eliminates the time and costs associated with traveling to an in-person annual general meeting. Finally, we are all making a contribution to climate protection in this way, which, as you all know, is a high priority for GEA Group. I would like to take this opportunity to inform our foreign shareholders that the entire AGM will be simultaneously translated into English. However, speeches at the annual general meeting will only be permitted in German.
Speaking shareholders, the entire annual general meeting will be translated simultaneously into English. However, speeches at the general meeting are only permitted in German. Begrüßen möchte ich auch Herrn Dr. Hauschild.
I would like to welcome Dr. Hauschild, who, as a notary, will notarize the resolutions of this annual general meeting as required by the German Stock Corporation Act. I would also like to welcome the members of the Management Board who are here today: the Chairman of the Management Board, Mr. Stefan Klebert, and Mr. Bernd Brinker and Mr. Johannes Giloth, as well as the members of the Supervisory Board. Ladies and gentlemen, with 2024, we look back on another year in which GEA performed convincingly and well, despite a challenging geopolitical and macroeconomic environment. It is particularly noteworthy that the financial targets of the Mission 2026 strategy were already achieved in 2024, that is, a full two years earlier than originally planned.
GEA's financial strength and profitability reflect the successful work of the entire GEA workforce, as well as the determination of the Executive Board and all employees to continue the successful transformation of recent years in a consistent and focused manner. This is reflected in particular in the new Mission 2030 strategy announced last October. Another highlight of the 2024 financial year was the overwhelming approval at the last annual general meeting as part of the "Say on Climate" vote organized by GEA. You, dear shareholders, voted almost unanimously in favor of our Climate Plan 2040. On behalf of the entire Supervisory Board, I would like to thank the Executive Board and all employees for what has been achieved, especially the successes achieved in 2024. GEA is on the right track.
Before we move on to the agenda, I would now like to explain the rules and regulations of today's annual general meeting, as previously announced. The meeting will be broadcast live in full for shareholders and the public on the company's website. Via the investor portal, shareholders who have registered in good time and their proxies also have the opportunity to follow the meeting, to cast their votes by postal vote, to issue power of attorney and instructions to the company's proxies, to speak at the meeting and record objections to resolutions or questions as unanswered. With regard to the exercise of the right to information, I hereby stipulate that, as already announced in the notice to the annual general meeting, this can only be exercised by means of video communication. I will come back to this later.
You can access the investor portal using the data sent to you in the registration confirmation. Dr. Hauschild convinced himself in advance of the correctness and functionality of the technology. Should problems nevertheless arise during transmission, we will, of course, endeavor to rectify them immediately. If necessary, please check whether your internet connection is stable and your internet browser is up to date. If you have any questions about using the investor portal, please contact our service provider, ComputerShare. You can find the contact details on the homepage of the portal under the menu item "Contact." With the exception of my deputy chairing the meeting, Professor Dr. Köhler, all other members of the Supervisory Board will participate in the annual general meeting by means of video and audio transmission with my consent in accordance with Article 16(4) sentence 2 of the articles of association.
The entire Executive Board is present on site. The convening of this annual general meeting with a complete agenda and the management's proposed resolutions on the announced agenda items was published by the Executive Board in the Federal Gazette in due form and time on March 14, 2025. The convocation was also distributed throughout Europe. In addition to the announcement in the Federal German Gazette, the convening of the annual general meeting was communicated to the group of persons named therein in due form and time in accordance with Section 125 of the German Stock Corporation Act. The notice to the annual general meeting, the annual financial statements of GEA Group Aktiengesellschaft for fiscal year 2024, and all other mandatory documents for this annual general meeting have been available on the company's website since it was convened.
The company did not receive any motions to add items to the agenda or any counter-motions to the agenda items requiring publication or proposals for the election of Supervisory Board members or auditors within the statutory period. Ladies and gentlemen, we are again keeping an electronic list of participants for today's annual general meeting. This will be made available to you in the investor portal in the "List of Participants" section. The list of participants at today's virtual annual general meeting initially includes those shareholders who are represented by the company's proxies. In addition, all shareholders or their representatives who are connected electronically during the annual general meeting are also shown in the list of participants. On the other hand, shareholders who have voted by postal vote but are not connected electronically during the AGM are not listed in the list of participants.
However, I will indicate the number of postal votes cast when announcing attendance. Please note that only the list visible in the investor portal is valid. Information provided on other websites or by means other than this portal will not be taken into account. Any kind of photographing or other duplication of the list of participants, as well as the misuse of the data contained therein, is prohibited. In accordance with Section 19, Subsection 2, sentence 2 of our articles of association, I determine the type and form of voting as follows. This year, voting will take place exclusively via the investor portal during the annual general meeting. Votes received in advance of the annual general meeting by postal vote or by proxy and instructions to the company's proxies will be taken into account. You can access the investor portal using the data sent to you.
You can also cast, revoke, or change postal votes, as well as authorizations and instructions to the proxies there during the annual meeting up to the times announced by me during the voting process. I will inform you of this in good time. You can also use the investor portal to raise objections to resolutions for the minutes and make other declarations. To do so, please follow the corresponding instructions in the investor portal. The proxies appointed by the company are Dr. Matthias Decker and Mrs. Johanna Bergmann. They exercise the voting rights exclusively on the basis of the instructions issued by you. Both proxies are present here today. We will vote on all items on the agenda in a single ballot. We will use the accumulation procedure for the vote, which I will explain to you before the votings.
When announcing the voting results, we will display the voting results in their detailed version. However, I intend to limit myself to stating that the required majority was achieved unless this should be objected to. Ladies and gentlemen, as last year, we will once again be holding a general debate in virtual form. The general debate will cover all items on the agenda and will be held after Mr. Klebert's speech, which you will hear after my remarks and the explanations on the agenda following the speech. In the run-up to the meeting, we received one written statement from shareholders, which we have made available on the website, on the company's website. I would like to refer you to this. Requests to speak, as well as procedural motions and points of order, can be made during today's meeting via the investor portal.
I would ask all shareholders and shareholder representatives who wish to speak to register as early as possible via the investor portal. Please ensure that you enter your contact details correctly. This is a necessary means for us to contact you if necessary and explain the further processes to you. After registering to speak, you will receive a request to join a virtual waiting room. You can continue to follow the annual general meeting there. I will then connect you to the general debate via video communication in due course. Please understand that this process will take some time depending on the number of requests to speak, among other things. As already explained in the notice to the annual general meeting, we will carry out a technical review of the functionality of the video communication.
This is the only way we can ensure that the annual general meeting runs smoothly in the interests of all shareholders. At this point, I would also like to draw your attention to the instructions and recommendations for video communication, which you can find on our homepage to assist you. If you wish to submit motions on the procedure and thus motions on points of order, please also indicate these in the investor portal. Please make a note of one or more keywords relating to your motion in order to describe the subject of your motion in more detail. This will enable me to check and decide how to proceed with the application, in particular whether the applicant should be given priority to speak so that he or she can present and justify his or her application. Again, please make sure that you enter your data correctly.
This is the only way we will be able to contact you if necessary and the only way we can ensure that you can be connected to the annual general meeting via video communication. Ladies and gentlemen, before we move on to the agenda, I would first like to announce the current attendance. From the company's registered share capital in the amount of EUR 575,765,765.57, I repeat, the figure EUR 575,765,765.57 divided into 172,331,766 NOPA value shares. 170,916,694 NOPA value shares with the same number of votes are represented at the annual general meeting by the company-appointed proxies. This corresponds to 74.23% of the registered share capital that is in attendance. In addition, the company has received postal votes for 341,792 NOPA value shares, which is equivalent to 0.2% of the registered share capital. Thus, those in attendance plus the postal votes received together account for 128,258,486 NOPA value shares.
This corresponds to 74.43% of the registered share capital. The list of participants is available on the investor portal under the menu item "Attendance List." Ladies and gentlemen, I now call up agenda items 1 to 10. With the exception of agenda item 1, on which no resolution will be passed, the other agenda items are called up later for a joint vote. Item 1 on the agenda: Presentation of the adopted annual financial statements of GEA Group Aktiengesellschaft and the approved consolidated financial statements as of December 31, 2024, the combined management report of GEA Group Aktiengesellschaft and the group for the fiscal year 2024, including the report of the Supervisory Board for the fiscal year 2024.
Ladies and gentlemen, the aforementioned documents also include the explanatory report of the management of the Executive Board on the disclosures pursuant to sections 289A and 315A of the German Commercial Code, the corporate governance declaration with corporate governance reporting, and the group sustainability report, the annual financial statements and consolidated financial statements as of December 31st, 2024, and the combined management report of GEA Group Aktiengesellschaft, including the fully integrated sustainability report, have been audited by PricewaterhouseCoopers GmbH Wirtschaftsprüfungsgesellschaft Frankfurt am Main as the auditor elected at the last annual general meeting.
The sustainability report was prepared on a consolidated basis and fulfills all requirements for the sustainability declaration for the GEA Group in accordance with the European Sustainability Reporting Standards, as well as the requirements for the non-financial reporting obligations pursuant to sections 315B to 315C HGB for the non-financial group declaration and the requirements of Article 8 of Regulation 2020/852, the so-called EU Taxonomy Regulation. The auditor has audited the content of this sustainability report with regard to the required disclosures to obtain limited assurance. As part of this assurance engagement, the energy data, scope 1 and scope 2 emissions, and the total of scope 3 emissions were subjected to a reasonable assurance engagement.
The Supervisory Board examined in detail the annual financial statements, the consolidated financial statements, the group management report combined with the management report, including the sustainability report and the proposal for the appropriation of net retained profits. Together with the auditor, the audit report was discussed in detail at the Supervisory Board meeting on March 6, 2025. Neither the audit by the auditor nor the audit by the Audit and Cybersecurity Committee or the Supervisory Board gave rise to any objections. The auditor issued the required audit opinion in accordance with section 322 of the German Commercial Code on the audit of the consolidated financial statements and the group management report without qualification. In addition, they also issued an unqualified audit opinion on the audit of the group sustainability report to obtain limited or reasonable assurance.
The Supervisory Board approved the annual financial statements and the consolidated financial statements presented by the Executive Board at its meeting on March 6, 2025. The annual financial statements are thus adopted in accordance with section 172 of the German Stock Corporation Act. The written report of the Supervisory Board on its activities in the past financial year can be found in the annual report from page 258 onwards. Supervisory Board activities in the past year focused in particular on the corporate and growth strategy, especially the implementation of the existing Mission 2026 strategy and advice on the new Mission 2030 strategy. Other focus topics included financial reporting and financial development, including the effects of inflation, compliance, geopolitical risks and their impact on GEA, markets, customers and customer satisfaction, competition, as well as sustainability.
GEA's Climate Plan 2040 documents the great strategic importance of sustainability and climate protection for the group. The Supervisory Board was informed about the new regulatory requirements of the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive and the associated requirements for the review of sustainability reporting. In addition, the Presiding and Sustainability Committee focused on the topics of sustainability, the potential applications of artificial intelligence, succession planning for the Executive Board and the Supervisory Board, the definition of the Executive Board's targets for 2025, and the efficiency review of the Supervisory Board. GEA will remain highly committed to sustainability in the future. We will provide regular updates on the progress made in implementing the Climate Plan 2040 and present it to the annual general meeting every three years.
Ladies and gentlemen, I would now like to give the floor to the Executive Board for its comments on the 2024 annual financial statements and business performance. Mr. Klebert will explain the key figures for the 2024 financial year and then look ahead to the near future. Mr. Klebert, the floor is yours.
Thank you, Professor Kempf. Thank you, Professor Kempf, dear shareholders, members of the Supervisory Board, ladies and gentlemen. Welcome to our annual general meeting. It gives me great pleasure to report to you today on our successful fiscal year 2024. After that, we will also take a look ahead at our strategic agenda for the upcoming years. Let's begin with a review of last year. 2024 was another strong year for GEA. This is not a given. We continued to face a difficult economic environment with crises, conflicts, and high levels of uncertainty in many markets.
We stayed on course and showed our strength. We increased both order intake and revenue and significantly improved our profitability. One milestone really stands out for me. We achieved the financial targets of our Mission 26 strategy already in 2024. That is a full two years ahead of schedule. This outstanding achievement deserves special recognition, and that is why we paid a one-time special bonus to all members of the workforce worldwide. The bonus amount for employees in Germany and many other countries was EUR 1,526. This aligns with the target of reaching an EBITDA margin of 15% in 2026. We also broke new ground with our Climate Transition Plan 2040. Thank you for your overwhelming approval of this plan. Right here at our last annual general meeting one year ago, an impressive 98.4% voted in favor.
That was a historical occasion, the first ever say-on-claimant vote in the DAX index family. Finally, 2024 saw us develop a new product design that we are now launching step by step. The new design highlights better than ever the innovativeness and high quality of our products. Our, well, most recent annual report and my presentation today provide you with a first impression. Let's now take a closer look at the figures for 2024. Order intake rose by 1.5% to around EUR 5.6 billion. Adjusted for currency translation and portfolio effects, in other words, on an organic basis, growth was even as high as 4.6%. Revenue went up by 0.9% to around EUR 5.4 billion, with organic growth reaching 3.7%. We did particularly well in terms of profitability, increasing EBITDA before restructuring expenses by no less than 8.1% to EUR 837 million.
The EBITDA margin improved by a full percentage point to 15.4%. Our business evolved so well that we were able to raise our guidance for the EBITDA margin not once, but twice during the course of the year. Plus, we achieved the upgraded target. Similar return on capital employed, ROSI, further improved to 33.8%. That means we are using our capital even more efficiently and creating sustainable value. This positive development is reflected also in our share price performance. In 2024, total shareholder return, that is, the performance including dividends, was over 30%. With that, we significantly outperformed the relevant benchmark indices. This is a clear signal that the capital market appreciates our strategic direction and operational strength. The strong performance of our share is gratifying in itself. That is not all.
The Executive Board and the Supervisory Board are today proposing a further increase in the dividend for fiscal year 2024 by EUR 0.15- EUR 1.15 per share. This increase is in line with our updated dividend policy as presented at our most recent capital markets day last year. It stipulates paying out approximately 50% of the net profit. We are gradually moving to this new policy. With our dividend proposal today for 2024, we already achieve a 43% payout rate. This month, as planned, we also completed our latest share buyback program. Since the program began in November 2023, we have bought back a total of around 9.5 million shares, each representing approximately EUR 3.02 of our share capital. This equates to 5.53% of our share capital, including acquisition costs. The total amount paid was around EUR 400 million.
Our average purchase price came to just under EUR 42 per share. As announced, all repurchased shares will be canceled. Together with the previous program, we have thus repurchased shares for a total of EUR 700 million, all of which will be canceled. This will also increase the value of the remaining shares for you, our shareholders. A key factor in our success is sustainability. There are several reasons for this. Our customers increasingly expect sustainable solutions. Investors continue to pay attention to sustainability, and the most talented people want to work for companies that take responsibility. We made significant progress in this regard also in 2024. To cite a few highlights, we further reduced our greenhouse gas emissions. Emissions from our own activities, that is, scopes one and two, are already down 58% compared to the 2019 base year.
At the same time, we achieved a 33% reduction in our product-related scope 3 emissions. This means we are making very good progress towards our 2040 net zero target. Various ratings and rankings also confirm that we are on track. The renowned Time magazine ranks GEA amongst the 500 most sustainable companies in the world. We are in 33rd place globally and in Germany ranked an impressive number three. We feature again in the Dow Jones Best in Class World and Best in Class Europe indices, and we are once again in the CDP Climate A list. We are particularly proud of our Platinum rating from IQOVERTIS. This means we are in the top 1% of all rated companies. Outside, recognition is great for us, but what we do for our customers is even more important. Our Adbeter family is constantly growing.
We use the Adbeter label to identify products and solutions that are significantly more resource-efficient than their predecessors. The process is validated independently by the TÜV Rheinland inspection and certification company. At the end of 2024, we already had a portfolio of 29 Adbeter solutions. This number has now gone up to 38. We also launched Adbeter Consulting. This allows us to provide holistic support to our customers who want to make their production processes more sustainable. Ladies and gentlemen, sustainability and commercial success are not contradictions for GEA. They go hand in hand. To us, this marks a strategic opportunity that we are systematically leveraging with our capabilities. Our greatest strength at GEA is our people. Their expertise and commitment are our most valuable assets. I'm all the more delighted that we were able to once more demonstrate our credentials as an attractive employer in 2024.
For instance, we were recognized as a top employer 2024, Germany, and as a top employer Europe, 2024. Even more important than these awards is the direct feedback we receive from our employees. 79% took a part in our global employee survey in 2024. This high response rate is a clear sign that our teams at GEA want to play an active role in shaping their work environment. The findings also speak for themselves. 79% of participating coworkers would recommend GEA as a good place to work, 1% point more than in the last survey. Another gratifying outcome is that sustainability is still the dimension with the highest satisfaction level. It even shows a substantial improvement again, and this positive trend is continuing this year.
The latest survey, which has just been completed, had an even higher response rate of 80%, and the recommendation rate is now as high as 82%. This is an outstanding figure that few companies can match. Underpinning all of these achievements in 2024 are our outstanding GEA teams around the globe. It's they who, day in, day out, drive GEA forward with their commitment, their expertise, and their energy. They make all the difference. My heartfelt thanks go out to each and every employee. That brings me to the end of our review, and let's now turn to the outlook for the current fiscal year. We are expecting organic sales growth of between 1% and 4%. With regard to the EBITDA margin before restructuring expenses, we are aiming for a further improvement to between 15.6% and 16%. We expect ROSI to be between 30% and 35%.
These are our financial targets for 2025. Our focus extends well beyond this year. Having achieved the financial targets of our Mission 206 strategy ahead of schedule, we are now ready to embark on the next phase of our journey. Today, I'm pleased to give you an in-depth look at our strategic roadmap for the rest of the decade. Mission 30. Mission 30 is our response to a world in transition. We presented it at our Capital Markets Day in October 2024. It is our plan for further sustainable, profitable growth. Our guiding compass for this continues to be our purpose: engineering for a better world. This is the basis on which Mission 30 defines the way forward with three strategic dimensions. They're called growth, value, and impact. Growth represents our specific focus on profitable growth. We are building on our strength and extending our leading market positions.
With value, we are working to systematically enhance shareholder value. This means operational excellence, efficient structures, and an agile organization. Impact relates to the positive, lasting impact we aim to have on our customers, our employees, the environment, and society. We want to contribute to a better future. The financial targets we have set for 2030 are ambitious. With them, we have raised the bar even further. First, we aim to significantly accelerate our organic sales growth, targeting an average of more than 5% per year. Second, we have set ourselves a target range of 17%-19% for the EBITDA margin. This represents a significant increase in our profitability. Our restructuring phase will be completed at the end of 2026. From 2027 onward, we will no longer adjust the EBITDA margin for restructuring expenses as we have in the past.
Third, we have set ourselves a ROSI target of more than 45%. This is not the only figure that puts us in the top group in our industry. These are ambitious goals, without question, but we are confident that we will achieve them. How come? Because we have shown in recent years that we can deliver even under difficult conditions, and because we've got the right people on board, motivate employees with excellent expertise and tremendous dedication. Achieving ambitious financial targets like ours requires consistent focus. The crucial question is: how do we deliver organic sales growth of more than 5% per year? The answer lies in our first strategic dimension, growth. This dimension shows where growth will come from. Specifically, we are focusing on six growth drivers, which you can see here at a glance: sustainability, innovation, service, digitalization, future-oriented technologies, and new food.
These are the levers we will use to accelerate our growth. Let's look at them one by one. Let's start with sustainability. The crises around us make many people wonder: is there still room for sustainability? Our answer is loud and clear: yes, all the more so. Today, sustainability is a business imperative. Our customers have to make their processes more efficient, save energy, and reduce emissions, whether for cost reasons, regulatory requirements, or because their markets demand it. This is precisely where our strength lies. We have the necessary know-how and the right technologies. It's a competitive advantage we consistently harness. Our goal is to increase the percentage of our sales accounted for by sustainable products and solutions to more than 60% by 2030. This underscores how seriously we take environmental and climate protection and the vast potential we see in sustainability. Our second lever is innovation.
Innovative thinking and action are deeply ingrained in our DNA. Yet, technological excellence is not an end in itself, but paves the way for profitable growth and satisfied customers. It is the key to staying at the top. That is why we want to be even faster and better in this regard. We want to be even quicker at bringing new solutions to market. Our clear-cut target here is for products that are less than five years old to account for 30% of our sales by 2030. That represents almost double the current figure. It calls for a laser focus coupled with close collaboration with customers, suppliers, and partners. At our more than 40 test centers around the world, we work in partnership with our customers to develop the solutions of tomorrow. Innovative products are one side of the coin.
The other is providing our customers with the best possible support over the entire life cycle of our products. That is why we are systematically expanding our service business. It is profitable, resilient, and enhances long-term customer loyalty. We are evolving from a pure-play machinery supplier to a strategic partner. With our new performance partnership approach, we help our customers measurably improve availability, productivity, and sustainability. This builds trust and secures recurring income streams. Our target here is clear. We want to increase service revenue from EUR 2.1 billion to around EUR 2.9 billion by 2030. That corresponds to 40% of total revenue. Our success in recent years gives me great confidence that we will achieve this goal. Digitalization plays a key role when it comes to future growth. The question is no longer whether we can harness the potential of big data and artificial intelligence, but how quickly.
This is why we are driving forward smart connected solutions for our machinery on a massive scale. Today, we already have an installed base of over 8,000 machines connected via the GEA cloud. By 2030, there will be 35,000. That equates to 80% of all machines that are installed at our customers and enabled for digital applications. This connectivity is the key to everything else, from conventional remote service to AI-based solutions that enable our customers to increase uptime, enhance productivity, and conserve resources. We also use data from the GEA cloud to maintain digital twins of our customer systems throughout their life cycle. This ensures that we can fully support the requirements of the circular economy. Future-oriented technologies are another way we aim to accelerate our organic revenue growth. Our focus is on fields where we can score best with our expertise and portfolio.
We are aiming for above-average growth rates here, that is, growth rates well above our targets of over 5%. A good example is wastewater treatment. Growing cities around the world need more efficient solutions. Here, we combine our high-performance Decanter centrifuges with digital solutions and AI for significant efficiency gains in dewatering sewage flood. Another example: we are strengthening our position in continuous tablet production for the pharmaceutical industry. Our systems give producers clear added value thanks to shorter development times and lower operating costs. We see enormous potential also in the growth market of new food. By 2030, we are aiming for an order intake of more than EUR 400 million in this field. New food is about a fundamental change in nutrition, driven by the desire for greater sustainability and the need to feed a growing world population. We are actively making this change happen.
GEA is uniquely positioned here. With our technology and process expertise, we cover the entire alternative protein value chain. Whether it is from plant-based, cell-cultivated, or microbially fermented products, we support startups and established players all the way from initial idea to a marketable solution. GEA's specialized test centers, such as our new center in Janesville in the United States, which opens this summer, play a key role in this regard. In short, with new food, we are shaping tomorrow's nutrition today. Ladies and gentlemen, we are focusing our efforts on these six areas to achieve our Mission 30 growth targets. Growth is not enough. It has to be profitable growth with compelling returns. This is the only way for us to generate long-term value. Precisely that is the aim of the second dimension of our Mission 30: value.
This is where we bring together our initiatives to strengthen GEA operationally to make the company even more competitive. How can we boost our profitability on a lasting basis? By systematically optimizing our costs and making our processes fundamentally more efficient. We focus on two strategic programs. One is to reduce our cost of goods sold, the costs directly associated with our products. The other is to reduce our general and administrative expenses, the costs of our supporting functions. Let's start with the cost of goods sold. There is huge potential here. Our target is to make a net contribution to EBITDA of EUR 120 million by 2030. To this end, we are focusing on three areas. First, we are improving productivity in production through greater standardization and automation and by further optimizing our global manufacturing network.
Second, we are focusing on greater modularization in engineering, a design-to-cost mindset, and strategically bundling procurement volumes. Third, we are making our supply chains more robust and efficient by means of digital processes, improved planning, and optimized inventory management. This program improves not only our margin but also our capacity to deliver and our competitive position. The second main lever for increasing value is our general and administrative expenses. We aim to reduce complexity and make our supporting functions leaner and more effective. This is because administrative efficiency creates the latitude for more growth, innovation, and agility. Our target is to reduce these expenses from 11.8% of revenue in 2024 to less than 10% by 2030. That means potential savings of around EUR 100 million from 2030 onwards. Our focus is on three initiatives. First, our TRANSFORM360 program, with which we are harmonizing our global ERP systems and business processes.
This paves the way for greater efficiency. Second, streamlining our structures and workflows. We are optimizing workflows, shortening decision-making processes, and cutting bureaucracy. Third, increasing the use of automation and digitalization, for example, by using robotic process automation to carry out routine tasks. This is how we create high-performance functions that provide the best possible support for our operations, making GEA even more agile. Ladies and gentlemen, profitable growth and operational excellence are the cornerstones of our success. Our aspirations go beyond that. For us, long-term success also means taking responsibility. That is why impact, positive impact, is the third strategic dimension of our Mission 30. This is all about making a real difference for our employees, our sites, and for society as a whole. Thereby, we also ensure our own future. We pursue this aspiration in three main action areas: resilient communities, thriving employees, and responsible innovation.
These three areas are closely linked. They represent our aim of combining social responsibility with business success. Let's begin with the first action area: resilient communities. As a global company, we are part of many local communities. We take the responsibility that goes with this seriously. That's why we set up the GEA Foundation at the beginning of 2025. It brings together our community engagement activities and focuses on four thematic areas: strengthening education and training in science, fighting child poverty, improving access to basic infrastructure, and administering disaster relief. We've also made a voluntary financial commitment for our company to donate 1% of our net profit to charitable causes each year. This shows our clear and lasting commitment to our social responsibility. For maximum impact, the GEA Foundation works in close collaboration with experienced organizations.
With UNICEF Germany, for example, we support multi-year educational programs focused on the STEM subjects: science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. These enable children and young people in Peru and India to develop key future skills. With Viva ConAgua, we are improving the water supply at schools in Tanzania. We also work closely with the German University Foundation and the SOS Children's Village in Düsseldorf. In addition, we support Bild hilft e.V. and Herz für Kinder, a heart for children. By collaborating with these reputable organizations, we ensure that our funds go where they will have a long-term positive effect. The second action area is just as important: thriving employees. They are the key to our success. That's why we create a work environment that encourages growth, recognizes achievement, and fosters potential. We commit targeted investment to upskill our managerial employees, provide first-class learning programs, and promote a culture of respect.
After all, we can only achieve our shared goals with motivated teams who give their best. Finally, our third action area is responsible innovation. This brings us full circle back to our purpose, namely engineering for a better world. Our innovative efforts are not directed solely at commercial success. We want to craft solutions that make the world a better place by conserving resources, reducing emissions, or improving the safety of foods and medicines. I've already touched upon much of this. It's precisely why we systematically align our product development with circular economy principles. From 2030 onwards, all newly launched products are to be circular-ready. In this way, our innovations create real added value for society, for our customers, and for our own future viability. Ladies and gentlemen, let me conclude by summing up the core elements of our strategy.
With our Mission 30, we have a clear roadmap to 2030. It is ambitious but realistic. We are selectively targeting six growth drivers and thus paving the way for sustainable, profitable growth. We are creating long-term value for our customers with high-performance solutions and for you, our shareholders, with increased profitability and attractive returns. Focal areas such as sustainability, digitalization, artificial intelligence, and innovation are firmly embedded in our strategy. They secure our position. I'm confident that we will achieve our goals because we focus on attractive markets and because we have a clear track record. We have proven that we can deliver even far earlier than planned. Most importantly, I know I can rely on the capabilities and innovative spirit of our employees across the globe. This gives me the assurance that we will continue to meet our challenges and make the most of our opportunities.
On behalf of the Executive Board, I would like to express our sincere gratitude for your trust in GEA and for your support. Let's work together to shape the future of GEA. Thank you.
Thank you very much, Mr. Klebert, for your comments. I would like to point out that the text of the speech has already been published on the company's website prior to this AGM. Ladies and gentlemen, before we enter into the general debate, I would like to briefly explain the other items on the agenda. Agenda item two concerns the appropriation of net retained profits. The Executive Board and Supervisory Board propose the distribution of a dividend of EUR 1.15 per share entitled to a dividend. Agenda item three concerns the resolution on the approval of the remuneration report.
Agenda items four and five relate to the ratification of the acts of the members of the Executive Board and the Supervisory Board for the 2024 fiscal year. Subsequently, under agenda item six, the appointment of the auditor and the auditor of the sustainability report for the 2025 fiscal year is to be carried out. Under agenda item six, one, the Supervisory Board, acting on the recommendation of the Audit and Cybersecurity Committee, proposes that PricewaterhouseCoopers GmbH, Wirtschaftsprüfungsgesellschaft Frankfurt am Main, be reappointed as auditor of the company and the group for fiscal year 2025 and as auditor for a review of the condensed financial statements and the interim management report of the half-year financial report in the 2025 fiscal year.
Under agenda item six, two, the Supervisory Board, acting on the recommendation of the Audit and Cybersecurity Committee, proposes to appoint PricewaterhouseCoopers GmbH, Wirtschaftsprüfungsgesellschaft Frankfurt am Main, as auditor of the sustainability report of the company and the group for the 2025 fiscal year. The appointment as auditor of the sustainability report is to take effect from the entry into force of the German Transposition Act for the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive, and in the event that the German legislature should prescribe an explicit appointment of this auditor by the annual general meeting. Agenda item seven concerns the resolution on the approval of the remuneration system for the Executive Board.
Section 120A, paragraph one of the Stock Corporation Act stipulates that the annual general meeting of listed companies must pass a resolution put forward by the Supervisory Board at least every four years to approve the remuneration system for the members of the Executive Board. The last time the company's annual general meeting passed such a resolution was back in 2021. Thus, a new resolution is required at today's annual general meeting. The review of the system has not revealed any need for structural changes, and the system complies with international corporate governance requirements. Therefore, the Supervisory Board, based on the recommendation of the Executive and Sustainability Committee, to approve the system for the remuneration of the Executive Board members of GEA Group, adopted by the Supervisory Report and available on the company's website.
Under agenda item eight, the election of three new shareholder representatives to the Supervisory Board is to be carried out as the terms of office of Professor Dr. Jürgen Fleischer, Professor Dr. Annette Köhler, and Mrs. Holly Ley on the Supervisory Board will end at the conclusion of the annual general meeting on April 30, 2025. All three shareholder representatives, whom you can also see here once again, are standing for re-election today for a four-year term. As you already know the candidates from their previous work on the Supervisory Board, we have taken the liberty of not reintroducing them. Further information can be found in the resumes printed in the notice of the annual general meeting. Agenda item nine concerns the acquisition of treasury shares by the company.
The authorization granted in the 2023 annual general meeting has been used in the course of the share buyback program carried out in the years 2023- 2025 and has been partially used by this program. Upon completion of the share buyback with a total volume of EUR 400 million, the repurchased shares account for a total of 5.53% of the company's share capital. For this reason, the existing authorization is to be revoked and replaced by a new authorization that will be effective until April 29th, 2030. This is intended to give the company the opportunity to acquire treasury stock of up to 10% of its share capital. Finally, under agenda item ten, a resolution on the amendment to the Articles of Association regarding the authorization to convene virtual annual general meetings is to be passed.
Due to the generally positive experience with holding virtual annual general meetings in recent years, GEA's Executive Board and Supervisory Board would also like to have the option of holding virtual annual general meetings in the future. According to the legal concept, in-person annual general meetings and virtual annual general meetings are formats that are absolutely equivalent. In particular, shareholders' rights are fully safeguarded through direct interaction between shareholders and the management during the meeting via video communication and electronic communication channels. Holding a virtual annual general meeting also offers advantages from the shareholders' perspective, as the costs and time associated with traveling to a physical annual general meeting are eliminated. Each year, the Executive Board will carefully consider which format appears appropriate for holding the annual general meeting under the given circumstances, that is, taking into account both the interest of the company and the interest of the shareholders.
As well, in the past, a requirement to submit questions in advance and the associated restriction on the opportunity to ask questions will be waived if a virtual annual general meeting is held. Against this backdrop, it will be proposed to today's annual general meeting that the Articles of Association grant the Executive Board a two-year authorization to convene virtual annual general meetings until the end of August 31, 2027. The Executive Board and the Supervisory Board are thus deliberately staying under the maximum possible term of five years in order to be able to react flexibly to future developments. Ladies and gentlemen, even if you only wish to speak on individual agenda items, I would like to ask you to do so during the discussion that is about to begin. Please register your requests to speak on the investor portal.
As mentioned before, you will then receive a request to join a virtual waiting room and will be guided through the technical procedure by our staff. In this virtual waiting room, the functionality of the video communication will first be checked. If the functional check is successful, I will call you in due course and enable you to speak at the annual general meeting. We will then, as usual, collect your questions and deal with them in books. Speaking time is not limited from the outset. However, I would like to ask all speakers to present their remarks as concisely as possible and on all items on the agenda in one contribution. Each speaker's speaking time will be displayed on the investor portal for orientation purposes. I reserve the right to limit speaking and questioning time to a reasonable amount if deemed necessary.
Please also only speak on items on the agenda. I will now call the speakers, and when a speaker is called, I will announce the next speakers. For the time being, I have got two requests for the floor, and we start with Mr. Tüngler, and then Mr. Selbach will come in, and then we will have the first round of answers. Mr. Tüngler, you have the floor.
Hello, ladies and gentlemen. I hope that you can hear me. I hear myself twice, but I get it done. Ladies and gentlemen, I would also like to speak. My name is Mark Tüngler. I am Managing Director of the DSW, and I would like to ask a few questions. First of all, I would like to congratulate you on the excellent year.
The shareholders are highly satisfied and proud that the many employees in the GEA Group and the GEA Executive Board have done such a great job. It's something very special, so our big thank you goes out to you. We would nearly have made it and would have been part of the DAX, and I would like to ask you to comment on that a little bit. What is your take on the situation, and what about the likelihood of us becoming a member of the DAX that would be the crown in the jewel? The GEA fits into the DAX, and if a mechanical engineering company would be included, it would be a great thing, and it would do the DAX very well. What does the situation look like? We have got a restructuring need that needs to be defined.
Thirty-two cents of the EPS are here involved. There are two to three, well, points actually. What is the benefit of restructuring in terms of earnings? Plus, we see the minus, but there should also be an impact on the other hand side. This is why I would like to have you elaborate on that. What are the positive aspects? To what extent are the absurd tariffs imposed by the Trump administration affecting GEA Group? Do you have any competitors in the U.S., and will your customers continue to purchase GEA machinery? Maybe, do we need to relocate production or more production to the States? In brief, how do you deal with the tariffs in the U.S.? Business has clearly gone up, service business, and we can see this and is to grow in the future.
Where do you see the natural boundary to absolute growth when it comes to service? There, because in the machine, new business is also to be boosted. What is the order pattern and the investment pattern, the appetite for investment of your customer? What about your order books, are your customers reticent or not? We cannot see it in the order book, but you know more about it. Then cash flow, you have done your homework very well. Thank you very much for that. You really deliver it. Based in digitalization and the need to develop new machines, do you see a short-term dent? Is that something in your way, or what can we expect in the future regarding cash flow and conversion rates? Your mission 2030, you envisage yet another increase in your target margin.
That is really where I take my hat off and give us something. What about your peer group here when you compare yourself? For us, the shareholders, it would be nice if you compared yourself and your performance with the peer group. In terms of sustainability, you really pushed forward this topic as a mechanical engineering company, and the shareholders supported these endeavors with the say on climate road. In what respect is it an additional margin driver? What is your take on sustainability? Your customers' view on sustainability in these uncertain times we are faced with? New food is also a topic you addressed one more time. You deferred your ambitions a little bit, but what can we expect in the future? Maybe two or three sentences on that. Also, scope three emissions. It's nice that you include them, your objectives.
How can you measure them? That's highly interesting. You others talk about it, and you simply do it. I'm sorry that I can no longer hear the speaker. We hope that we get the connection as quickly as possible. The interpreter cannot hear the speaker anymore. I'm awfully sorry. Meine Ritze durch die Themen, aber Sie haben ja auch gezogen an der Zeit und in Ihrem Vortrag, deswegen möchte ich da Sie nicht weiter aufhalten, weil ich glaube, die Zeit, die Sie für das operative Geschäft verwenden, ist sehr gut aufgewendet. Und deswegen freue ich mich jetzt auf die Antworten auf meine Fragen. Sie sind auf einem guten Weg. Wir sind sehr glücklich mit dem, was Sie tun, und sehr zufrieden. Und deswegen wünschen wir Ihnen weiterhin viel Erfolg. Fortune natürlich auch immer an der richtigen Stelle, aber ich glaube, wir Aktionäre von GEA sind glückliche Aktionäre.
Freuen uns auf das, was kommt. Ja, und vielleicht klappt es ja dann doch mit dem DAX, aber eins möchte ich dazu auch sagen: Wenn es dann nicht wird. With the DAX, let me repeat. If it doesn't work out, we wish you all the best in your endeavors. Mr. Tüngler, thank you very much for your questions, and thank you very much for the good wishes you've conveyed. Now I would like to ask Mr. Selbach to make his contribution.
Thank you very much. Professor Kempf, I can also hear myself, but I'm going to manage somehow. The members of the Executive Board, members of the Supervisory Board, ladies and gentlemen, the shareholders. My name is Christopher Selbach. I represent the SDK. I do personally not own any shares of the company.
I would like to use the opportunity to, well, congratulate the Executive Board, the Supervisory Board, and the workforce, well, on another highly successful year. The development performance in 2024 is extraordinarily good, so I'm going to be brief because indeed there is only little, well, accords to come in. The development of the share price and the proposed increase in the dividend is highly positive from the shareholder point. Shareholder return is impressive and, well, has outperformed as well many members of the peer group and all the other DAX indices where the share is represented. This only works based on strong financial KPIs that underline that when the path embarked upon in 2019 and 2021, in particular, is the right one, the envisaged KPIs of the mission 2024 could be achieved ahead of schedule, apart from financial targets.
There were also sustainability targets, however. My question is, have these targets been achieved? What is the current status quo? Maybe some were there, some targets that were taken over and continued in 2030 under Mission 2030 because things have changed. Free cash flow is very important for the financial firms. Free cash flow of more than EUR 500 million was generated, and this permitted to distribute and pay out a high dividend without external funding. The free liquidity after payment of the provisional loan note in February, so there's no free cash flow going out. What are you planning to do with the available liquidity? It's not very efficient when you've got too much. One consideration is, share buyback, something we will decide upon today.
I permit myself to ask what is going to happen with the shares to be acquired, and you may use them for various purposes mentioned. I would like to mention one possibility for the purpose of acquisitions, maybe to have, well, strategic acquisitions, in particular when the balance sheet allows is something I agree with in principle. I would like to refer to the balance sheets and, well, how acquisitions and mergers come about. Goodwill is about EUR 1.5 billion, and, well, the trend is increasing. EUR 1.5 billion, that is 25% of the balance sheet total and nearly 20% of the equity. There is a, and we are talking about EUR 385 million, and that has got a potential of reducing goodwill. Is goodwill impairment an acute thing? Decreasing interest rates are not important, but what about headroom?
The degree of headroom the units carrying goodwill actually have. And if there was no impairment that would affect liquidity, would the dividend payout remain stable? The dividend policy, 50%, if that had an effect, would have to be left. What is important for the development of the share price is the future. We should look ahead into the future. In mission 30, as we saw in mission 2024, this includes ambitious targets, and the fact that the company is able to achieve them ahead of schedule is something that was proven to us. Now these targets are to be continued under mission 30. We've got impact, growth, value, and there will be a focus on digitalization, innovation, and sustainability. In this way, things are going to be better.
Sales in the next five years are to grow by more than 5% on average for the fiscal year 2025. However, you only envisaged a 1-4% organic growth. When you want to have an average of 5%, we expect an offsetting effect next year. Why do you expect lower growth in 2025? How do you form your opinion that growth in 2026 will rise all the more? How reliable is a forecast in these times, in particular turbulent times we are in now? FT is a segment that is low this year, and what you expect is a downward trend in sales. Will 6-12% growth increase again as of 2026? Are there maybe plant-based alternatives in the future? In mission 26, new food was expected to have swift change.
We have, however, only, well, EUR 36 million, and the target of mission 26 was now taken over under mission 30. Can you achieve the targets now once there's, well, a particular section of the market continues to lag behind? I indicated before the uncertainty we've got here. We have got geopolitical conflicts, sustained military disputes, and this gives rise to uncertainty in the markets and a weakening of global growth. In the new report published in March 2025, some of these developments have not been taken into consideration. There we had a 3.3% global growth that was expected, and now this forecast was reduced to 2.8%. The question is whether the risk estimate you have shown in the annual report and the statement on future development is still valid. Also, with regard to the U.S. that engages in protectionist tariff policies, they are the driving force.
What are your expectations regarding your business in the US where you have a 10% part of your business? This takes me to one of the end points of my presentation. There is one tiny point of criticism I would like to voice outside the figures. I regret that I cannot meet the other shareholders in person today, and the Executive Board, the Supervisory Board is not here, and other people feel the same. Forty-one people attended last year, and this is a very low number compared to the average of about 500 shareholders that participated in the in-person meetings. There is a risk of restricting shareholder rights, transparency, interaction, and emotions are lost by the wayside. I would deeply deplore it if hybrid meetings became the rule.
This technology is working clearly, so that I have not seen any impairments to the rights of the shareholders. Ladies and gentlemen, I would like to thank you very much for your attention, and I wish you all the best for the year 2025.
Mr. Selbach, thank you very much indeed. I have a third request to speak, Michael Ruoff. The floor is yours. No, not yet ready. Let's wait. He has to subject himself to the technical test. Yes. Mr. Ruoff, in case you can hear me, we have to wait a little bit for your technical review to happen. I suggest we start answering the first questions asked by Mr. Tüngler and Mr. Selbach. Mr. Klebert, would you like to start off? Yes, the first question from Mr. Tüngler.
First of all, let me thank the two of you, the two gentlemen, for the words of praise. We are very happy about that. The first question concerned the DAX 40, the possibility to enter the DAX 40, and we would be very happy to, at one point, be able to rank among the DAX. We are currently ranking 35th, sometimes 36th or 37th in the DAX. This is a position we have had in a stable manner for the last few months. It is not up to us, but it is due to the mechanics of the stock exchange. An existing DAX member needs to go down in order to be removed from the DAX. It is not due to us.
We are stable within this ranking, and the worst one has to get even worse in order to drop out in order to enable us to join the DAX. We would be happy if that happened at some point in time. We do not think it is a must, but of course, it would be nice and good for the company. The next question by Mr. Tüngler concerned growth with service and whether we see a natural limit here. In the framework of the mission 30, we communicated that we want to grow service sales by an average of more than 6% per year until 2030 to boost the share of total sales to 40%. We think this is a healthy figure. If we stop the new plant business and the new machinery business, this would be easy to achieve, but that is not our objective.
We want to grow in service, but we think that 40% is a very healthy target for a mechanical engineering company of our size. In case the company grows continuously, service will also continue to grow above average. There was a question concerning tariffs, a question by Mr. Tüngler in how far GEA is affected by these tariffs. It has to be said that there is a lot of volatility in this topic. We see changes on a daily basis to the amount of whether there will be tariffs and to which amount. Of course, we are prepared. We have analyzed the situation, and in the end, we are not really endangered. We are allowed to say so because we only import to the United States to a limited degree.
Due to our competitive position, we can be quite relaxed when it comes to the question of tariffs and do not have to fear a major influence on GEA. I just have to read the next question. Apart from the service business, you also reckon with a significant increase in new machines. What is your take on your customers' order pattern and appetite for investment? Do you see any restraint here due to the somewhat subdued state of the economy last year, or does this not apply to the sectors you supply? In terms of order backlog, we witnessed slight growth in four divisions back in 2024. Only the farm technologies division experienced a minor decline. As far as the trend in order intake in 2024 is concerned, we mainly saw growth in our dairy processing, food, and pharma customer industries.
We also anticipate a slight upturn in order backlog for the 2025 financial year. Also, in terms of what we see with project activities, it looks really good. In between, I'd like to ask my colleague Bernd Brinker to answer the questions that are directed to him. Yes, of course. Ladies and gentlemen, the first question by Mr. Tüngler that I would like to answer is concerning restructuring need. You asked for the need for restructuring. We have used 32% with EPS, and the question was what margin and thus growth in earnings has resulted from this restructuring, and are you able to quantify this improvement? That was your question. Mr. Tüngler, restructuring is expensive, mainly concerned or related to the optimization of the production landscape and group structure, as well as portfolio pruning.
Expenses that are directly related to restructuring measures, such as severance payments, are recognized as restructuring expenses and therefore generally also qualify as restructuring expenses. In addition, the restructuring measures defined by the Executive Board also include impairment assets and other expenses that are directly caused by the restructuring measures. The content, scope, and definition of these restructuring measures are outlined by the Executive Board and then presented to the Chairman. Exact quantification is not possible due to the complexity of the measures. There is another question that you asked Mr. Tüngler that I would like to refer to. The question refers to the cash flow. You said that we have done our homework very well in recent years.
Do you see any short to medium-term adverse impact on free cash flow due to the upcoming digitalization and the need to develop new machines, or can we relax and get used to high cash conversion rates? That was your question. Thank you very much indeed for your positive words on our cash flow development. We are very happy about our cash flow development, and according to our Mission 30 target, we want to achieve a cash conversion rate of over 60%. This is to be achieved by improving profitability, the net working capital, and lower but focused capital expenditure. The timing of individual investment activities, including in the area of digitalization, will have a negative impact on the cash conversion rate in specific areas. On our journey to achieving the Mission 30 target, we expect to keep generating stable and high cash conversion rates.
Now I received the signal from the technical department that Mr. Ruoff is in the waiting room. I hope you can hear me, and I would like to ask you to answer your question. Thank you very much indeed, Mr. Chairman. Good morning, ladies and gentlemen, co-shareholders, Supervisory Board, and Executive Board members. It's a pity that we do not have an in-person meeting today. An in-person AGM is something that I consider to be superior to a virtual AGM. Other DAX companies, for example, Henkel Kommanditgesellschaft in Düsseldorf, based in Düsseldorf, are back to normality and have an in-person AGM. This request of most private shareholders to have an in-person meeting was unfortunately rejected in an arrogant manner by many Executive Boards.
These managers do not want to have direct contact with the shareholders, with their shareholders, although we are the economic and legal owners of the companies. In neighboring countries, nearly all AGMs are held in person and very often in a hybrid way. That means you can choose whether you attend in person or virtually. This is something that GEA AG should also do in the future. You should be able to do so. The annual financial statements are okay. I have no questions on that. The questions have already been asked by my colleagues, the other shareholders, or their representatives. I have no questions because I did not receive a readable copy of the annual financial statement or the annual report in order to prepare the virtual AGM.
To read that on the screen of a computer is horrible for our people with poor eyesight, and we have difficulties dealing with these technologies. Here, corporate social responsibility of the Executive Board has failed, Mr. Chairman. Can we improve that in the future? The old shareholders want to remain integrated. Now, today, I have some general questions regarding CSR, corporate social responsibility, and reporting, namely the sustainability report. How does the management deal with the NGOs, non-governmental organizations? Are these relations necessary, and if so, why? Why do not we see so many NGOs interacting with you? How many contacts did members of the first two managerial levels have with these NGOs in the 2024 business years with NGOs and with economic and lobby associations? Please also give the name of these associations or organizations.
Second, what are the costs accrued as a result, and what are the expenses paid for individual NGOs? I also want to hear about those issuing labels and others. I'm also interested in contact of Supervisory Board and Executive Board with members of the federal German government, the regional government, of the German parliaments and regional parliaments. How often did you have conversations with them in 2024, and with whom? Does GEA have their own lobbying offices with the EU, with the federal German government, or in the United States? Unless you are able to answer these questions in detail today, you can also mail that to me because I want to ask this question with many companies and do a study on that. The next question concerns taxes paid by GEA. Corporate taxes, all types of taxes, were paid in 2024.
Firstly, in Germany, to the federal government and to the regions and the municipalities, which were the three municipalities that received most money. Second, entire taxes, please list them according to the five biggest recipients. That was it, Mr. Chairman. Thank you very much as a shareholder to all those working in GEA. Thank you very much for their work in the 2024 fiscal year that allowed you to pay pensioners a dividend that allows us to easier live with the rising cost due to inflation. Thank you very much. Thank you very much, Mr. Ruoff, for your contribution, and we will then return to answering the questions asked up to now. Mr. Klebert.
Thank you very much, Professor Kempf. I will continue with Mr. Tüngler's questions. While in your mission 30, you visited yet another increase in your target margin.
Please tell us how ambitious these figures are in comparison to your peer group. It is difficult for us as shareholders to form the right peer groups. There is this GEA because, we do not, there is only one GEA. We do not have exactly the same companies. There are those working in the same sector, Corners, JBT, Marel, Alfa Laval, or Middleby. They could be named, and they are engaged in similar business with similar business models. Let me say that since 2019, we have seen a continuous improvement in our EBITDA margin before restructuring expenses from 9.8%- 15.4%. The guidance this year is 15.6%-16% to 19%. This means that we are above the average of our peers. Mission 30 even gives us a higher level with a target range of 17%-19%.
When we achieve them by 2030, we will clearly be one of the front runners. The next question, Mr. Tüngler referred to new food, our opinion on that and whether we expect that there will be significant sales in the future. What are the reservations you encounter? Why do you assume that this topic will be a source of great satisfaction and joy to us? We say that new food, alternative proteins will win in the long run because a growing global population needs to be fed. Against the backdrop of all the topics out there, things move towards sustainability, and there alternative proteins will be a must. The question is how long this will take to reach the price points necessary for scaling up the process. It is also a matter of consumer acceptance. This is a generation-related matter.
People grow up differently and, well, eat different food. We are one of the few suppliers, maybe the only one that can cover up to 90% of the machines and the systems required along the entire process chain. This puts us in a good position. All the companies spearheading the development believe in meat. The company we are working for in the United States, where we set up the first real factory for cell-based meat, this positions us very well also amongst other leading companies. We are actually the supplier of choice. When we start there, we will be good, well positioned, certainly. Another question by Mr. Tüngler is sustainability as a mechanical engineering company. Say on climate, we have good approval. To what extent is it an additional margin driver in particular times when Trump has a completely different view of sustainability?
How do you see, well, the advantages, disadvantages in these times? I mentioned it before. Sustainability continues to be an elementary part of our strategy, a significant one. We are not going to change that for several reasons because we believe that we bear responsibility for this world, for this planet. We also believe that it's a meaningful, a good business model when we focus on making our products more efficient and more economical. 40% of our sales revenue is generated based on sustainable products today. By 2030, we would like to increase this level to 60% for one good reason. Even when customers have climate targets, sustainability, and carbon savings, when they are not focusing on that, they have to pay the bill at the end of the month. Energy, water, they need to pay for.
When we can offer products that allow for significant savings, all customers will pay close attention and follow suit. Irrespective of any political thinking, our focus will remain on developing more sustainable products, including the circular economy in all our development processes. Let me add one thing. All the talks I held with American companies over the last few months, there we see a willingness and a readiness to consistently continue endeavors in the field of sustainability. For instance, with diversity, there might be differences, but when we talk about sustainability, people want to continue because it's about saving energy. Another question by Mr. Tüngler. You also include scope 3 emissions in your targets. How do you actually record them? We calculate scope 3 emissions based on the rules of the globally recognized greenhouse gas protocol.
This data point is audited by our auditor with reasonable assurance as part of our sustainability reporting. Product-related emissions along the entire value chain are covered. Due to this fact, assumptions may be required for some aspects. We are actively working wherever possible to use primary data. As I said before, regarding the calculations, there are assumptions we have to make. We promote transparency, for instance, by engaging in digitalization initiatives or collaborating within the value chain, to give you one example. Another question by Mr. Tüngler is virtual annual general meetings. I think several speakers mentioned that. Let me respond also with regard to time efficiency and so on. Under which conditions and circumstances can you imagine inviting shareholders to an in-person meeting again, or will you stick with virtual AGMs?
We, as Executive Board and a Supervisory Board, ask ourselves each and every year whether to hold a virtual or an in-person AGM. There is a plethora of criteria and strategic aspects that play a role. Our considerations are based on the fact whether one of the two formats might be excluded for reasons, pandemic-related restrictions, or safety considerations might play a role. A virtual meeting, on the other hand, needs mature and reliable infrastructure and a secure legal bedrock. When you want to have an in-person meeting, what is also required is that it could be more adequate to do so when we talk about fundamental strategic decisions. At the same time, the Executive Board and the Supervisory Board would need to have the impression that an in-person meeting meets the wide interest of our shareholders.
For instance, climate transition plan 2040 comes in, and the targets we set right there. Now I come to one of Mr. Selbach's questions. The financial targets of mission 26 have been achieved four years earlier than expected. You also have sustainability targets that were formulated in mission 26. To what extent have they been achieved, or have they not been taken over because requirements to sustainability increase? As part of mission 26, we have set ourselves a total of 15 sustainability targets. We report in detail on the progress made in achieving these targets in our sustainability report. I can say that all the long-term targets are well on track. During my presentation, I elaborated on that, in particular the climate targets and the progress we have made in this particular field.
All other sustainability long-term and medium-term targets are integrated in our Mission 2030. In addition, we set ourselves additional sustainability targets that are also part of the Capital Markets Day information we published last year. I would like to hand over to my colleague who will answer the open question. Mr. Selbach, you asked about the free cash flow of EUR 500 million, which is a very positive thing in Europe. You asked what are your plans for excess liquidity for the future. I agree with you what you said on free cash flow. We are also highly satisfied with what we achieved for fiscal year 2024. Looking ahead, at the Capital Markets Day in October 2024, we presented a list of priorities in terms of capital allocation. Ranking first are investments in property, plant, and equipment.
They will be around 2.5%-3% of sales in the coming years. Second, we want our shareholders to participate in GEA's success with an attractive dividend, as you can see from our proposal today. Therefore, we plan to gradually raise the payout ratio to around 50% of our net income. Ranking, then third are the use of means for acquisitions to complement our organic growth targets. Should over a longer period of time we continue to have higher levels of cash, we can also imagine to consider another share buyback program. Next, Mr. Selbach, you asked about the shares and the share buyback program. What is going to happen with them? They will be retired without reducing the share capital. For the successfully completed share buyback program of EUR 400 million, this will then be implemented at all notice.
We think that it will be completed during the month of June. Mr. Selbach, you asked about impairments of goodwill. When we have acquisitions, we said it would only impact earnings. Would dividends stay stable, or would payouts be negatively, well, affected? In the theoretical case of an impairment of goodwill, the capability of paying out dividends would not be impaired because there would not be a liquidity effect. A goodwill impairment would only be reflected in, well, company figures. The balance sheet profit of the AG, GEA Group AG, would show this when we look at it. It would be a strategic decision whether payout would remain stable. That decision would have to be made on a case-by-case basis. You asked about the subdued growth with regard to farm technologies, where we talk about a 6-12% decline.
This is what we had in the annual report. Do we see a structural downward trend? How do you want to achieve your targets if the market does not evolve the way you expect? We currently do not see this decline as a long-term decline, but we assume also with regard to farm technologies that we return to positive growth. The year 2025 will be characterized by a difficult macroeconomic environment, which is partly due to the currently unclear situation regarding macroeconomic aspects and the U.S. tariffs. In your next question, you said in the balance sheet, we have a goodwill of nearly EUR 1.5 billion. This accounts for roughly 25% of the balance sheet total and makes up around 62% of GEA's equity. A potential goodwill impairment would have a potential to considerably decrease profits. Is this actually acute?
What about the degree of headroom and do the units carrying goodwill actually have? We currently do not have any signs of goodwill impairment. This applies to each individual goodwill carrying cash generation unit, which at GEA represents one of our five divisions respectively. All of them were found to clearly possess sufficient headroom during our annual impairment test. When we conducted a sensitivity analysis, we also considered potential changes in key parameters and have not found any impairment, possible impairment. This also applies to the interest rate mentioned in your question. I think I hand over to Mr. Klebert now. I'll continue with Mr. Selbach's questions. There was a question on which measures for reducing political turbulences are you planning and how successful may be this implementation of these actions. Of course, we constantly monitor the tariff situation.
We have set up a task force dealing with that that can also convene ad hoc if necessary. That informs the Executive Board, as yesterday informs the Executive Board about the current state of play. Before, we said that the situation needs to be closely followed and monitored, but this is the answer I can give you for the time being. Mr. Selbach's question, okay, do you, what do you expect impact of political uncertainties? I think I have answered that question by and large. We have got a relatively limited risk we are exposed to here. We assume that even if the tariffs will be slapped on us as threatened, we will not suffer material damage and losses here at GEA.
Ladies and gentlemen, I propose that we take a tiny little break because we would need a little bit more time in particular for the purpose of answering Mr. Rohr's questions. I will interrupt the annual general meeting for 30 minutes. Mike said it's 11:47, so let's please continue at 12:17 and reconvene here in the virtual space. There will be an interruption of the meeting until 12:17. Meine sehr geehrten Damen und Herren, ich hatte die Hauptversammlung... Ladies and gentlemen... I had interrupted the annual general meeting until 12:17. Now it's 12:17, and we will continue with these still unanswered questions from the first round of questions. I'm looking at the Executive Board members, Mr. Klebert. Thank you very much. I continue with Mr. Silbers' questions for the 2025 business year. We plan a 1-4% organic growth.
With mission 30, we talk about this growth. The question is, of course, whether we will have higher growth rates during the next few years. I can only say that we are sticking to the targets we have set for mission 30, and we are convinced that we will achieve them. We are very optimistic that during the next five years, we will be able to achieve the CAGR of 5%. The second question by Mr. Klebert, which was still open, was the topic that the situation in the world economy, whether the expectations contained in the annual report regarding the future are still realistic. Presently, we do not assume that there will be a global recession.
Should nevertheless a global recession occur, it is worth mentioning that we produce about 80% of food and beverages, and that's why we are working in very resilient markets, because people can refrain from buying new cars or new clothes or going on vacation, but people cannot do without food or drink and without pharmaceutical products. That is why we are convinced that we are very robust and that this will not have a major influence on our planning. I will then give the floor to my colleague, Mr. Brinker. Thank you very much. I will now refer to questions by Mr. Ruoff regarding the 2024 fiscal year. You asked for a subdivision of taxes for the five biggest recipient states. In 2024, we had taxes to the tune of EUR 125 million.
The main ones were paid by Italy, EUR 24 million, China, EUR 16 million, the Netherlands, EUR 13 million, Germany, EUR 9 million, and the United States with EUR 7 million profit tax. Second question, Mr. Ruoff, how much corporate tax, trade tax, was paid, and property tax was paid in Germany to the federal German government, the regions, and the communities, which three municipalities got the highest payment in Germany in 2024? EUR 9 million trade tax was paid, including the solidarity surcharge. Property tax was paid in a large number of municipalities. The highest amount was paid to the municipality of Oelde, of Böhnen, and of Düsseldorf. I then give the floor back to you. Thank you very much. I continue with the questions asked by Mr. Ruoff. How does management deal with NGOs? Are these relations necessary and why? How many NGOs are you connected with?
GEA basically is open towards NGOs. For example, we have a long-term partnership with UNICEF, as I mentioned in my speech. We have a constructive dialogue with NGOs and consider it to be important because we are always interested in understanding the point of view of our stakeholders. The next question by Mr. Ruoff was, what are the costs accrued and what are the individual payments to the most important NGOs, including those who give you labels, quality labels? Mr. Ruoff, this is contained in the 2024 annual report on page 202, and I would like to refer you to page 202 of the annual report, which you can find on our website. Another question, how much contact did the first and second managerial level of GEA have with NGOs and be with the economic and lobbying associations?
GEA gives transparency in this respect and which charitable organizations we donate to, and this information can be found on page 202 of our annual report. However, we do not count individual interactions with these groups. Next question of Mr. Ruoff, contacts between the Supervisory and Executive Board with the federal German government, the regional governments. How often did we have conversations with them in the 2024 business year and with whom? The last compliance request did not show any findings of GEA bodies with these federal and regional political associations. The final question, does GEA have lobbying offices with the German, the U.S., or the EU? We do not have our lobbying, any lobbying offices. Sometimes we resort to external advisors.
For the sake of completeness on this topic, let me mention that the Supervisory Board member, Chairman Professor Kemp, has been Vice President of the Federal Association of German Industry, and in this capacity, he was again and again in contact with these persons. Thank you very much to the gentlemen of the Executive Board for answering these questions. Ladies and gentlemen, presently, I have not received any further requests. I therefore ask whether any other shareholders or shareholder representatives would like to take the floor. I would like to ask the ladies and gentlemen who have taken the floor in the course of the discussion whether, in their opinion, any questions have remained unanswered. I will give you two more minutes. That means from now until 12:26. Ja, meine sehr geehrten Damen und Herren, die Regie gibt mir gerade den Hinweis.
Ladies and gentlemen, I just heard that my microphone had not been switched on. Let me repeat, I have received no further requests to speak. That is why I would like to ask whether further shareholders or shareholder representatives would like to take the floor. Those ladies and gentlemen who have taken the floor up to now, let me ask you whether any questions remained unanswered. I will give you two more minutes until 12:27 P.M. to request to speak in the investor portal. I will interrupt the annual general meeting until 12:27 P.M. Sehr geehrte Damen und Herren, die vorher zur Sitzungsunterbrechung angekündigte Zeit wäre jetzt eigentlich vorbei. Sie merken an dem von mir verwendeten Konjunktiv. Es ist folgende Situation eingetreten. Because we have the following situation.
I heard from the technical department that for quite some time a shareholder has been trying to access the meeting via the investor's portal. Despite intensive technical support, he has not succeeded in doing so. In order to give this shareholder the opportunity to access our meeting, I will adjourn this meeting for another five minutes. During these five minutes, we will try to give this shareholder access to the AGM. In case we haven't succeeded in doing so during the next five minutes, I will include the list of speakers. I will adjourn the meeting for another five minutes until 12:35 P.M., and then I will get in touch with you. Thank you for your understanding. Ja, ich melde mich zurück, meine sehr geehrten Damen und Herren, Sie haben es an der Uhrzeit gemerkt. Ladies and gentlemen, I am back. You have seen we're looking at the time.
It's 12:40. We have adjourned the meeting for a longer time. The reason being, and yeah, I ask for your understanding, that we have tried everything to connect the shareholder who wanted to get into the meeting. We tried to support him in technical terms. Unfortunately, all our efforts to give him technical support have not been successful. That is why I hereby close the list of speakers. It's 12:40, and I would like to ask the notary to note this time as the closing time of the general debate. Simultaneously, this concludes item one of the agenda, namely, item one of the agenda that's dealt with, with the statement that the annual general meeting has taken note of the adopted annual financial statements and the approved consolidated financial statements as of December 31, 2024, and the combined management report of GEA Group Aktiengesellschaft und der Gruppe.
Ladies and gentlemen, we now come to the votes on the proposed resolutions on our agenda. As already explained, no resolution will be passed on agenda item one. With the exception of the resolution on agenda item nine, all resolutions on today's agenda are passed with a simple majority of the votes cast or the share capital represented when the resolution is passed. Only the resolution on the acquisition and the use of treasury shares under agenda item nine requires a majority of three quarters of the share capital represented at the time of the resolution, in addition to the simple majority of votes cast due to the authorization to exclude shareholder subscription or tender rights. Votes can be cast, if this has not already been done, in the investor portal by postal vote or by issuing instructions to the company's proxies.
I will announce the exact times until which votes can still be cast, changed, or revoked shortly. Voting is based on the aforementioned accumulation procedure, which means that only the yes votes and the no votes are counted. Shareholders and shareholder representatives who wish to vote in favor of a proposed resolution that is with yes must click on yes either under the menu item company proxies or under the menu item postal vote for the respective agenda item. Shareholders and shareholder representatives who wish to vote against a proposed resolution that is vote no must click no under the relevant menu item for the relevant agenda item. Shareholders who wish to abstain from voting can click on abstain under the relevant menu item for the respective agenda item or do not need to do anything. We now come to the vote on agenda items 2-10.
The wording of the proposed resolutions was published in the Federal Gazette on March 1414th, 2025. I will therefore confine myself to presenting you with a summary of the individual points. With the exception of agenda item two, the proposed resolutions will be put to the vote exactly as they were published in the Federal Gazette. We start with agenda item two. Appropriation of retained profits. The proposal for the appropriation of profits announced in the notice to the annual general meeting regarding the total dividend payout with a dividend of EUR 1.15 per no par value share entitled to dividends was submitted at the time, taking into account the shares held by the company on December 31st, 2024.
The number of treasury shares held by the company has changed compared to the information provided in the notice convening the annual general meeting due to the continuation of the share buyback program, which has now ended as follows. The company currently holds 9,529,412 treasury shares. These treasury shares do not entitle the company to any rights and are therefore not entitled to dividends. Against this background, the proposal for the appropriation of profits, as already announced in the convening notice and published on the company's website on April 16th, 2025, was adjusted accordingly.
The Executive Board and the Supervisory Board now propose that the net retained profits of GEA Group Aktiengesellschaft for the 2024 fiscal year in the amount of EUR 190,883,447.23 be appropriated as follows: EUR 187,221,913.60 are to be used to distribute a dividend of EUR 1.15 per dividend-bearing share and EUR 3,661,533.63 be carried forward as profit. We come to item three on the agenda: approval of the remuneration report.
The Executive Board and the Supervisory Board propose that the remuneration report for the 2024 fiscal year prepared and audited in accordance with section 162 of the German Stock Corporation Act be approved. The remuneration report is printed on page 284 of the annual report and is also available together with the auditor's report on the company's website. The next item is item four on the agenda: ratification of the acts of the members of the Executive Board for the 2024 fiscal year. The Executive Board and the Supervisory Board propose that the acts of the members of the Executive Board in office in the 2024 fiscal year be approved for this period. Item five: ratification of the acts of the members of the Supervisory Board for the 2024 fiscal year.
The Executive Board and the Supervisory Board propose that the acts of the members of the Supervisory Board in office in the 2024 fiscal year be ratified for this period. Now, regarding items four and five on the agenda, let me now draw your attention to the existing suspension of voting rights. In accordance with section 136 of the German Stock Corporation Act, the members of the Executive Board and the Supervisory Board may not exercise their voting rights from their own shares or those of third parties when passing resolutions on their discharge. Nor can third parties exercise voting rights from shares that belong to members of the Executive Board or the Supervisory Board. The members of the Executive Board and Supervisory Board have been informed of this exclusion of voting rights and have been asked to take precautions in this respect.
Now, item six on the agenda: appointment of the auditor and the auditor of the sustainability reporting for the 2025 fiscal year. Under agenda item six point one, the Supervisory Board proposes that PricewaterhouseCoopers GmbH Wirtschaftsprüfungsgesellschaft be appointed as auditor of the company and the group and as auditor for a review of the 2025 half-year financial report. Agenda item six point two concerns the appointment of PricewaterhouseCoopers as auditor of the sustainability reporting for the 2025 financial year. We come to item seven on the agenda: approval of the remuneration system for the Executive Board. The Supervisory Board proposes that the remuneration system for members of the Executive Board of GEA Group Aktiengesellschaft adopted by the Supervisory Board and published on the company's website be approved by way of a consultative resolution. I continue with item eight on the agenda: election of Supervisory Board members.
Based on the recommendation of the nomination committee, the Supervisory Board proposes Professor Dr. Jürgen Fleischer, Professor Dr. Annette Köhler and Holly Ley be elected as members of the Supervisory Board. The election is to take place for the period until the annual general meeting that resolves on the discharge for the 2028 financial year. The elections are carried out by way of individual voting. We come to item nine on the agenda: authorization to acquire and use treasury stock and to exclude tender and subscription rights as well as the revocation of the existing authorization. The Executive Board and Supervisory Board propose that the company be authorized to acquire and use treasury shares.
With regard to the exact wording concerning the revocation of the previous authorization and the granting of the two new authorizations, I would like to refer you once again to the notice of the annual general meeting. Finally, agenda item ten: amendment to the articles of association. The Executive Board and Supervisory Board propose that the authorization of the Executive Board to hold virtual annual general meetings in section seventeen, subsection five of the articles of association be extended by two years. The exact wording of the management's proposed resolution can be found in the notice convening this annual general meeting. Ladies and gentlemen, if you have not already cast your votes, I would now like to invite you to vote on agenda items 2-10 . This is still possible via the investor portal by postal vote or by authorizing and issuing instructions to the company's proxies.
Please note that different closing times apply for authorizing and issuing instructions to the company's proxies on the one hand and for voting by postal vote on the other. You now have approximately five minutes to issue instructions to the company's proxies, let's say, until 1:00 P.M. The investor portal will then be closed and the proxies will release the votes they represent. You now have about ten minutes to cast your postal votes, that means until 1:10 P.M. to cast your postal votes. The investor portal will then also be closed in this respect. I will suspend the annual general meeting for this period, that means until 1:10 P.M. Meine sehr geehrten Damen und Herren, es ist jetzt 13:10 Uhr. Ladies and gentlemen, it's now 1:10 P.M. The time for submitting instructions to the proxies, as well as for submitting postal votes, has expired.
The voting options via the investor portal have already been closed in this respect. We will now continue the annual general meeting. First of all, I note that all shareholders have the opportunity to exercise their voting rights. I would like to ask the notary public to take this down for the record. I will suspend the annual general meeting once again for approximately 20 minutes until the result of the vote is known. If you intend to lodge an objection to individual resolutions on the agenda, I would like to point out that you already have the opportunity to do so via the investor portal. Accordingly, I will now interrupt the annual general meeting to determine the voting results, and we break until 1:30 P.M. Meine sehr geehrten Damen und Herren, es ist jetzt 13:30 Uhr. Gentlemen, it's 1:30 P.M.
I now have the attendance of the vote and the results of the votes on agenda items 2- 10. I will therefore continue the annual general meeting, announce the updated attendance, and establish the voting results regarding the proposed resolutions on agenda items 2- 10 as follows. You can also see the details of the voting results on the presentation shown on screen. We will also publish the details on our website. I would like to point out that the annual general meeting will be closed shortly after the resolutions have been adopted. This also marks the end of the opportunity to lodge an objection to resolutions of the annual general meeting via the investor portal.
From the company's registered capital in the amount of EUR 520,375,765.57, divided into 172,331,076 no-par value shares, 127,917,630 no-par value shares with the same number of votes are represented at the annual general meeting by the company-appointed proxies. This corresponds to 74.23% of the registered share capital that is in attendance. In addition, the company has received postal votes for 349,210 no-par value shares, equivalent to 0.20% of the registered share capital. Those in attendance, plus the postal votes, received together account for 128,266,840 no-par value shares. This corresponds to 74.43% of the registered share capital. For each resolution, I note and announce as follows: The resolutions proposed by the Executive Board and Supervisory Board, or the Supervisory Board, as published in the Federal Gazette on March 14, 2025, were put to a vote on agenda items 3 10.
Under item 10, under item 2, the proposed resolution published in the Federal Gazette on the 14th of March 2025 was put to the vote in an amended form due to the ongoing share buyback program, as published on the company's website on April 16, 2025. Under agenda item 2, appropriation of net retained profits. The annual general meeting adopted the proposal of the Executive Board and the Supervisory Board with the required majority. With regard to agenda item 3, approval of the remuneration report. The annual general meeting adopted the proposal of the Executive Board and the Supervisory Board with the required majority. With regard to agenda item 4, ratification of the acts of the members of the Executive Board for fiscal year 2024, the annual general meeting adopted the proposal of the Executive Board and the Supervisory Board with the required majority.
I would like to take this opportunity to thank the Executive Board once again for their work in the past fiscal year. With regard to agenda item 5, ratification of the acts of the members of the Supervisory Board for fiscal year 2024, the annual general meeting adopted the proposal of the Executive Board and the Supervisory Board with the required majority. With regard to agenda item 6.1, auditor of the annual and consolidated financial statements and auditor for a review of the half-yearly financial report, the annual general meeting adopted the proposal of the Supervisory Board with the required majority. With regard to agenda item 6.2, auditor of the sustainability report, the annual general meeting adopted the proposal of the Supervisory Board with the required majority.
With regard to agenda item 7, remuneration system for the Executive Board, the annual general meeting adopted the proposal of the Supervisory Board with the required majority. With regard to agenda item 8.1, election of Supervisory Board members, Professor Dr. Jürgen Fleischer, the annual general meeting adopted the proposal of the Supervisory Board with the required majority. With regard to agenda item 8.2, elections to the Supervisory Board, Professor Dr. Annette Köhler, the annual general meeting adopted the proposal of the Supervisory Board with the required majority. With regard to agenda item 8.3, elections to the Supervisory Board, Herr Holly Ley, the annual general meeting adopted the proposal of the Supervisory Board with the required majority. Thank you very much, ladies and gentlemen, for the trust you have placed in these newly elected members. Professor Dr. Fleischer, Professor Dr. Köhler, and Mrs.
Ley have announced prior to the annual general meeting that they will accept the mandate if elected, and I would like to congratulate them on their re-election. With regard to the agenda item 9, authorization to acquire and use treasury stock, exclusion of subscription rights, and the right to tender, as well as revocation of the existing authorization, the annual general meeting adopted the proposal of the Executive Board and the Supervisory Board with the required majority. With regard to agenda item 10, amendment to the articles of association regarding the authorization to convene virtual annual general meetings, the annual general meeting adopted the proposal of the Executive Board and the Supervisory Board with the required majority. That concludes our agenda, ladies and gentlemen.
Before I close the annual general meeting, I would like to thank everyone involved on stage and behind the scenes for their support in organizing this annual general meeting. Ladies and gentlemen, this concludes this year's annual general meeting of GEA Group Aktiengesellschaft. Bye-bye.