Ladies and gentlemen, dear shareholders and shareholder representatives. On behalf of the supervisory board and the management board, I would like to welcome you and open the annual general meeting of Scout24 SE. My name is Hans-Holger Albrecht. I'm the Chairman of the Supervisory Board of Scout24 SE, and thus in accordance with the company's Articles of Association, the Chairman of today's annual general meeting of Scout24 SE. Dear shareholders and shareholder representatives, we are coming together again this year in the form of the virtual annual general meeting. This is now the third time we're holding the event in this format. Due to the extensive planning and preparations required for our annual general meeting, we decided already in February whether the annual general meeting should be held in person or virtually.
At that time, it was not possible to predict with sufficient reliability that the pandemic situation would ease significantly. In order to protect the health of shareholders, employees, and service providers, and for reasons of planning and legal certainty, the executive board, with the consent of the supervisory board, decided in accordance with the COVID-19 Act to hold this year's annual general meeting virtually as well. This also ensures, by the way, that all shareholders can exercise their rights under the same conditions. Ultimately, it should be noted that the virtual format has also already proven itself for the efficient conduct of the annual general meeting and fits very well with your Scout24 SE as a digital company. Thank you for following the video and audio broadcast of the annual general meeting.
This virtual annual general meeting will be broadcast in full for all shareholders and shareholder representatives via our online service. My speech and that of the executive board will also be broadcast on the internet for all interested parties via our company's investor relations page. I would therefore also like to welcome our guests and all those who are following my remarks, as well as the subsequent remarks by our Chairman of the Executive Board, Tobias Hartmann, and our Chief Financial Officer, Dr. Dirk Schmelzer, via the internet. Please understand that the further course of the annual general meeting, i.e., in particular the answering of questions, will not be broadcast on the internet generally.
Shareholders and shareholder representatives who are following the annual general meeting on the internet, I would like to draw your attention to the fact that you must log in to the online service in order to be able to follow the meeting in full, in particular, the answering of questions. Before I say a few words about the development of Scout24 SE since the last annual general meeting and explain the report of the supervisory board, let me first make the necessary formal statements for today's annual general meeting. As last year, I would like to welcome Professor Dr. Hartmut Wicke, Notary Public. Professor Dr. Wicke is sitting here on my right from your point of view. Professor Dr. Wicke will record the minutes of today's annual general meeting. Welcome, Professor Dr. Wicke. All members of the board of directors are present.
From your point of view, the Chairman of the Executive Board, Mr. Tobias Hartmann, is sitting directly to my left. Further from your point of view to the left, the Chief Financial Officer, Dr. Dirk Schmelzer, to the left of Mr. Hartmann, as I said. In the meeting room in front of me, there are the other members of the executive board, Dr. Thomas Schroeter, Chief Product Officer, and Mr. Ralf Weitz, Chief Commercial Officer. At the beginning of this annual general meeting, I would also like to briefly introduce the other members of the supervisory board. Next to me, there is Dr. Elke Frank, Mr. Christoph Brand, the Deputy Chairman of the Supervisory Board, Mr. Frank Lutz, Mr. André Schwämmlein, and Mr. Peter Schwarzenbauer.
According to the German Act on measures to combat the COVID-19 pandemic, it is possible that the members of the supervisory board do not participate in the virtual annual general meeting directly on-site, but just like you, dear shareholders and shareholder representatives, connect via video and audio transmission. As in the previous year, we have made use of this option. The members of the supervisory board are therefore also following the annual general meeting via video and audio transmission. This does not apply to the Deputy Chairman, Mr. Frank Lutz, and our supervisory board colleague, Dr. Elke Frank, who are both here with us on-site. In accordance with our articles of association, the supervisory board has appointed Mr. Frank Lutz, the Deputy Chairman of the Supervisory Board, as Deputy Chairman of the meeting. Mr.
Lutz will take over the chairmanship of the meeting in case I am prevented, even if only temporarily, and is sitting here in front of me in the meeting room. I would like to take this opportunity already to thank my colleagues on the supervisory board for their commitment to our company in the past year. Also present on-site are two proxies of the company. One of the two proxies will represent a designated proxy who is unable to attend. Today's annual general meeting was convened in due form and time by announcement in the Federal Gazette, dated 18th May 2022. The invitation was sent to the media for EU-wide distribution on the same day. The confirmation of the Federal Gazette on the publication, as well as the confirmation of the forwarding of the media for the EU-wide distribution of the convocation, is with the Notary, Professor Dr. Wicke.
Pursuant to Section 125 of the German Stock Corporation Act, the invitation with the agenda and the proposed resolutions of the management was sent to all shareholders registered in the share register of Scout24 SE as of the record date, as well as to the shareholders, intermediaries, and shareholder associations named in Section 125 of the German Stock Corporation Act. Reference was made to the possibility of exercising the voting right in the general meeting by proxy. The documents relating to the items on the agenda as specified in the notice of the meeting were published with the notice of the meeting. These documents were available on the company's website from the time the meeting was convened and will also be available during the annual general meeting.
There you will also find the adjusted proposal for resolution on agenda item two announced in the agenda. The company did not receive any requests for the addition to the agenda to be published or countermotions or election proposals to be made available. Ladies and gentlemen, you will find all important information and instructions for the further procedure, including the possibilities of voting and objecting to resolutions in the convening notice on the company's website and in the online service. I hereby refer to the information provided there. If you have already submitted your votes in advance of the virtual annual general meeting yourself or via a proxy by way of postal vote by conventional means or via the online service, or have granted the proxy's power of attorney and instructions, you don't need to do anything further.
You, the shareholders and shareholder representatives, can cast, change, or revoke your yes or no votes or abstentions by postal vote electronically via the password-protected online service using the online dialog contained there even now during the virtual annual general meeting, but only until immediately before the voting begins here in the hall by the proxies. To do this, you must make the desired selection in the online service using the online dialog. Please proceed accordingly if you wish to grant, change, or revoke a power of attorney and instructions to the proxies of the company during the annual general meeting. I will point out these possibilities again shortly before voting begins. Nevertheless, I ask you to make use of these possibilities in good time, if necessary, as there may be delays in the live stream despite all precautions.
Furthermore, you can declare an objection to resolutions of the annual general meeting for the record via the online service until the end of the annual general meeting if you exercise or have exercised your voting right yourself or through a proxy. I would also like to point out that you should also make use of this option in good time, if necessary, as mentioned, there may be delays in the live stream. I would like to point out that recordings of the broadcast of today's annual general meeting are not permitted. Ladies and gentlemen, we come to the list of participants. The list of participants will include the proxies of the company who are present here and the shareholders who have themselves represented by the proxies disclosing their names. Ladies and gentlemen, as usual, I will announce the presence before the voting begins.
Please note, however, that the presence in a virtual AGM has only a limited information content because legally, only the proxies of the company, and thus the votes represented by them are present, but not the votes received by postal vote by conventional means or via the online service. I will therefore also state the number of postal votes received up to that point when I announce the meeting in person in order to give you a more complete picture of shareholder participation. As the proxies appointed by the company are present on-site, there is also a formal attendance area at this annual general meeting. This is this room, i.e., the Europasaal room of the conference center in the Haus der Bayerischen Wirtschaft here in Munich. Ladies and gentlemen, I would now like to give you an overview of the rest of today's virtual annual general meeting.
I will first explain the report of the supervisory board to you. In doing so, I will also deal in particular with our proposed resolutions on the remuneration report and on the change in the remuneration of the members of the supervisory board. Afterwards, our Chairman of the Board, Tobias Hartmann, and our Chief Financial Officer, Dr. Dirk Schmelzer, will report on the past financial year and give you an outlook on the current financial year. A general debate in the conventional sense will not be able to take place in the virtual format this year either. However, you as shareholders and shareholder representatives have been able to submit questions in advance of the virtual general meeting. You made moderate use of this again this year. Thank you very much for this. I see this as a positive expression of the very good corporate communication.
We will answer the submitted questions thematically following the speech of the executive board. We will then proceed to the vote. Ladies and gentlemen, I now come to the report of the supervisory board. Last year was a very successful year for Scout24, in which we saw how our growth strategy works. In an intense competitive environment, Scout24 managed to grow substantially, and this course is a doubly sustainable course. On the one hand, this course is sustainable because we see continuous growth in the current financial year and the coming years, the first quarter and the further outlook. The executive board, accompanied by the supervisory board, set the necessary course several years ago to be so successfully positioned today. Looking back, we can see that the strategy has worked well and many measures have been very successful.
The sale of AutoScout24, FinanceScout24 and FINANZCHECK was the right step to focus entirely on the real estate business. The broadening of the revenue structure with additional products and services, as well as the prudent expansion with the acquisitions of recent years, are the fruits of said strategy. At the same time, they are the basis of future growth. The strong positioning is not a matter of course in the changed and difficult times in which we have found ourselves since the start of the war in the Ukraine, with all its terrible consequences. So far, we don't see much impact on Scout24's business activities. However, we, the supervisory board, as well as the management board and many employees of Scout24, are deeply affected by the shaking of the world caused by this war.
In this respect, I'm grateful to see that Scout24 has also contributed and is contributing with various measures to do its part. The company and its employees have done various things to help the people affected, and especially the refugees from there. I was particularly pleased with how quickly an initiative was taken up to arrange private accommodation for refugees via the Scout24 marketplace. Secondly, this course is sustainable because Scout24 attaches particular importance to sustainable management. In this context, the company continuously strives for the better in the areas of good and sustainable corporate governance, taking into account environmental, social, and corporate governance issues, commonly referred to by the abbreviation ESG. Here, the executive board will report to you in more detail. The company faces up to its responsibilities in all areas.
The following, for example, should be highlighted: the goal of climate neutrality through consistent reduction of the already low emissions, the many initiatives in the social sector, for example, for homeless or also the refugees, as just mentioned, strengthening diversity in all areas and at all levels of the company and the commitment of suppliers to the code of conduct. These issues are also very close to my personal heart, and I'm pleased, and also the whole supervisory board, to see that we're on the right track here. In addition, Scout24 is very well positioned with the management board team around Tobias Hartmann after the contract extensions of the last year. Continuity in the management is a cornerstone for the sustainable success of Scout24.
In this respect, I think that with regard to your company or our company, Scout24, we can continue to look to the future with confidence in many respects, despite the external shocks despite the circumstances that we're facing. As usual, I will begin with the focal points of the supervisory board's work. Afterwards, I will explain to you in due brevity the remuneration report and the change in remuneration of the supervisory board on which a resolution is to be passed today. In the context of the presentation of the supervisory board's work, I will present to you both the work of the supervisory board, Scout24 Aktiengesellschaft, until the change of legal form to the European company, the Societas Europaea, takes effect, and the work of the supervisory board of the Societas Europaea as of the change of the legal form.
The composition of the supervisory board and the executive board has not been changed in 2021. The change of legal form to Societas Europaea has not changed the composition either. The members of the supervisory board of Scout24 Aktiengesellschaft have also been appointed as members of Scout24 Societas Europaea. The same applies to the members of the executive board and management of Scout24 Aktiengesellschaft, who have been appointed as members of the management board of Scout24 Societas Europaea. In the 2021 financial year, the supervisory board continued to perform its duties and obligations in accordance with the law, the articles of association, and the rules of procedure for the supervisory board without restriction. In the business year 2021, a total of 11 meetings of the supervisory board took place, four ordinary regular meetings and seven extraordinary meetings.
The supervisory board has formed three committees: an executive committee, which also fulfills the function of the nomination committee, an audit committee, and a remuneration committee. The executive committee and the audit committee each met six times in the 2021 fiscal year, the remuneration committee twice. Only on one occasion, one member was prevented from attending one of the meetings of the supervisory board. Apart from that, all members attended all meetings of the supervisory board and its committees, and this corresponds to a very high participation rate of slightly more than 99%. In view particularly of the extraordinary meetings, the number of extraordinary meetings, some of which were convened at very short notice, this is a really very good attendance rate for which I would like to thank the team and my colleagues in the supervisory board at this point.
In addition to the general mandatory tasks of monitoring and advising the management, the main focus of the meeting this year was once again the dialogue with the executive board on the further development of the strategic orientation after the concentration on the real estate sector and the consultation on company acquisitions. Other key topics were the competitive environment, the change of the legal form to Societas Europaea, the personnel and junior staff strategy, the extension of executive board contracts based on the new remuneration system, the selection process for the proposal of a new auditor, the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, and the further return of capital to the shareholders. In detail. Over the last few years, Scout24 has consistently focused on the real estate sector and has set out for new growth there. Many companies have now set out to successfully digitize the real estate market.
Few succeed equally well in being sustainably successful and profitable in these investments. Many are still at the beginning with their ideas, however, and the potential for further growth is big. Scout24's goal is to create added value for the parties involved in a real estate transaction and thus achieve further growth. To this end, the company is examining and pursuing various projects and measures to achieve this in the intense competitive environment between established and new competitors. In doing so, the company's resources are to be allocated optimally and new markets and customers are to be developed. To this end, we were in regular exchange with the executive board in the meetings, especially in a two-day strategy off-site and beyond the meetings. Also, the change of legal form to Societas Europaea also accompanied us through the year 2021 and various meetings.
This started with the structural decision at the beginning of the year and continued through the detailing for the submission to the annual general meeting. Finally, the constituent dates followed after strong shareholder approval and registration and becoming effective in the last quarter. It was pleasing that we were able to extend the contracts for the entire executive board team based on the remuneration system approved by the last annual general meeting. The remuneration committee, under the leadership of my supervisory board colleague, Dr. Elke Frank, prepared the negotiations and brought them to a good conclusion. Dear executive board members, let me say it again at this point, thank you very much for your achievements so far. We look forward to further cooperation into what lies ahead of us. A defining issue for the audit committee this year was the selection process for the auditor.
This year, for the last time, we will be able to propose KPMG as the auditing company to the annual general meeting. Therefore, a selection process had to be carried out in good time and in accordance with the legal requirements. The audit committee conducted the procedure under the leadership of my supervisory board colleague and deputy, Frank Lutz, and submitted a reasoned recommendation and an alternative to the supervisory board for its decision. We are convinced that we have made a good choice with PwC as the auditing company, which will also convince next year's annual general meeting. In 2021, we continued to deal with the COVID-19 pandemic, unfortunately, and its impact on the markets, the business, the employees, and the community.
The executive board regularly informed us about the challenges and effects on Scout24 and the respective measures taken by the company, and we were in close contact with each other on that. The last major topic I would now like to highlight is the continuation of the capital return or repatriation to you, my dear shareholders, through further share buybacks. We have been in intensive exchange with the executive board on this matter. The goal is to achieve a good balance in capital allocation for the company and the shareholders. Surplus funds are to be distributed to the shareholders in an efficient manner. This has started with the implementation of the measures planned in previous years in the first half of the year. In particular, I'm looking at the public buyback offer in the first half of 2021.
This has been concluded with the announcement and the start of another new buyback program and the declaration of a leverage strategy at the end of the year and at the Capital Markets Day in December 2021. Regular dialogue between the executive board and the supervisory board is crucial for the efficiency of the work and the success of a company. The executive board informed the supervisory board continuously, promptly, and comprehensively in the form of a detailed written and oral report or reports on all issues of strategy, planning, business development, the risk situation and risk management, and compliance. The executive board thus fulfilled its reporting obligations to the supervisory board in full. The supervisory board and its committees were involved in all important business transactions and decisions of fundamental importance for the company.
Outside of the meetings, the members of the supervisory board, in particular myself as Chairman of the Supervisory Board, as well as the Chairman of the Committees, are in regular exchange with each other as well as with the executive board on all issues of importance to the company. Furthermore, the executive board informed me without delay about important events that were essential for the assessment of the situation and development as well as for the management of the company. The other members of the supervisory board were informed in next meetings at the latest. Furthermore, the supervisory board also dealt with the general business development of Scout24 Group in 2021. In the supervisory board, the individual segments of the Scout24 Group were discussed.
The financial outlook for the financial year 2022 was discussed, and the development of the individual business segments was discussed as well. Together with the management board, the supervisory board discussed the financial situation of Scout24 AG, respectively SE, and the Group in detail and on a regular basis. In addition, the supervisory board adopted a resolution on the budget for the 2022 financial year. No conflicts of interest arose in the supervisory board in the 2021 financial year. The supervisory board issued the current annual declaration of compliance with the German Corporate Governance Code together with the executive board in December 2021.
More details on the company's corporate governance and the implementation of the recommendations and suggestions of the German Corporate Governance Code can be found in our corporate governance report, which is published on the company's website and in the annual report for the 2021 financial year on pages 17 through 30. For further explanation on the activities of the supervisory board, I would like to refer to the pages seven through 16 of the annual report for the 2021 financial year. A major focus of the supervisory board's work each year is the monitoring in the context of the financial statements. With that, I can, as usual, move on to the agenda for today's annual general meeting.
The annual financial statement, the consolidated financial statement, and the combined management report of the company and the Group for the 2021 financial year have been given an unqualified audit opinion by the auditor. The remuneration report, which you are approving for the first time today and which I will discuss in more detail in a moment, has been formally and also materially audited by the auditor KPMG in accordance with the legal requirements. We have published the audit report of the formal audit together with the invitation documents. Furthermore, the auditor has determined that the executive board has set up an appropriate information and monitoring system, which in its design and handling is suitable for the early detection of developments that could jeopardize the continued existence of the company.
The executive board has also set up an internal control system and risk management system that is appropriate and effective with regard to the scope of business activities and the risk situation of the company. The auditor's reports were available to the supervisory board during the deliberations on the annual financial statement, the consolidated financial statements, and the combined management report. The supervisory board approved the results of the audit of the annual financial statement and the combined management and group management report of Scout24 SE by KPMG on the basis of its own audits. In the opinion of the supervisory board, no objections were to be raised against the annual financial statement and management report after the final results of its audits.
The supervisory board therefore approved the annual financial statement, and they are thus adopted or it is thus adopted in accordance with Section 172 of the German Stock Corporation Act. The supervisory board also approved the results of the auditor's audit of the consolidated financial statement and the group management report on the basis of its own audits. In the opinion of the supervisory board, there were no objections to the consolidated financial statement and the group management report. Accordingly, it also approved the consolidated financial statements. The supervisory board also commissioned KPMG to conduct a voluntary external review of the content of the separate non-financial group report. After its independent review of the separate non-financial group report, which was carried out in consideration of KPMG's findings, the supervisory board had no objections here either.
Further details on the audit of the annual and consolidated financial statements and the combined management report can be found in the written report of the supervisory board, which is printed in the annual report on pages seven through 16. The documents relating to agenda item one have been accessible on the company's website since the convening and also today during the annual general meeting. Let us now turn to the remuneration report, which is to be approved for the first time this year. The report has been restructured for 2021 in accordance with legal requirements and offers further increased transparency for the remuneration and all remuneration components for the executive board and supervisory board.
As I have explained, in addition to the conscientious preparation from within the company and the review and resolutions by the executive board and the supervisory board, we have also had the auditor's review in both formally with regard to the completeness and materially with regard to accuracy. It is now up to you, my dear shareholders, for approval, by resolution of the annual general meeting. The report presents to you the structure of the current executive board remuneration system and the previous remuneration system and the remuneration granted and owed under them in 2021. The presentation of both systems has been made because to a considerable extent, contractual arrangements under the company's old remuneration system were still put in place in 2021. Let me highlight three elements here.
Firstly, you can see transparently in the remuneration report the target remuneration of each individual member of the executive board and the composition between the fixed and variable parts. The remuneration report does create transparency for you, dear shareholders, as to how the system of executive board remuneration with the corresponding bandwidth has turned into contractual arrangements. You will also see to what considerable extent the remuneration is variable and long-term. Secondly, you see transparently in the remuneration report the ambitious financial targets for the growth of the company in 2021 in the short-term variable remuneration, the so-called STI. This shows you very clearly that the remuneration is directly performance related. You also see the sustainability targets for 2021 in quantified form. In addition, the targets for the current year, 2022, are presented transparently, and you can see the continuity in ambitious growth and sustainable management there.
Thirdly, you can see transparently that we had to make changes in the area of long-term variable LTIP remuneration granted in 2018. The assumptions in 2018 were based on Scout24's business activities in the real estate sector and in AutoScout with its international business. Adjustments were required here to avoid misincentivization and to reflect the changed circumstances. You will also see that we decided to take into account certain effects from COVID-19 pandemic in accordance with the provisions of LTIP, again, to avoid misincentivization and to ensure appropriate incentivization against the backdrop of the sustainable success of the company. For all further details, I refer to the comprehensive remuneration report. Let us now move from the remuneration report, which also presents the remuneration of the supervisory board to the proposal and to adjust the remuneration of the supervisory board.
We looked at the remuneration of the supervisory board on a regular basis and compared it with other companies. The most recent change in supervisory board remuneration was in 2018. In doing so, we identified companies with the help of independent remuneration consultants with whom we compare ourselves structurally and in competition for qualified candidates in order to obtain a good informative value. We discussed the result intensively in the supervisory board and have come to the conclusion that we would like to propose an increase of certain remuneration elements to this annual general meeting. In doing so, in the supervisory board, we have been guided by three thoughts that I will quickly present. Firstly, the company should have a sufficiently attractive remuneration structure for the supervisory board so that qualified candidates can also be recruited for your Scout24 in the future, dear shareholders.
In doing so, we must secondly meet the generally increased demands on supervisory board activities and the increased scope, as you have seen from the number of supervisory board meetings. Thirdly, and finally, the remuneration of the supervisory board should also be performance related and depend on the tasks in the board. Therefore, we propose to differentiate more strongly according to the roles in the board and in the committees. The exact structure and differentiation are announced in the invitation. This concludes the report of the supervisory board and the further explanations of the proposed resolutions from my side. At this point, I will announce the proposed resolutions for today's agenda items once again individually before we close the opportunity to cast postal votes or issue proxies and instructions via the online service and proceed then to the vote. In addition, our Chairman of the Executive Board, Mr.
Tobias Hartmann, and then our Chief Financial Officer, Dr. Dirk Schmelzer, will now give you the report of the executive board, in particular also on agenda item one, and provide explanations on other agenda items. Ladies and gentlemen, thank you very much for your attention up to this point. Dear Tobias, dear Dirk, with this, I would like to hand over the floor to you.
Thank you very much, Hans-Holger. Dear shareholders, ladies and gentlemen. On behalf of the executive board, I would also like to welcome you to our annual general meeting. This is the third time already we are meeting in the virtual format. Regardless of the current discussion about the pros and cons of digital AGMs, I can say that this format suits us very well as a company that is driving digitalization forward. What exactly is our digital business model? With ImmoScout24, we brought newspaper advertising to the internet and revolutionized the search for real estate. Digital real estate ads are still part of our core business, but we can do much more than help advertise and search for properties. We want to reach the real estate market as a whole and thus make real estate transactions more digital and efficient.
To this end, we already have a number of digital products and services in place. I will go into more detail in the course of my presentation. Let me state at this point that we are the leading digital real estate company in Germany. We see ourselves as the leading digital real estate company in Germany. That is a great responsibility because the issue of housing concerns us all. Besides the terrible events in Ukraine, it dominates the daily headlines in the German media. There we read statements like, "Housing is no longer affordable. Hardly anyone can afford homeownership anymore. Will the government be able to create more housing?" Unfortunately, we cannot build the flats and apartments we need, but we can place them with the right people more quickly and easily. We can provide more transparency, orientation in the tense real estate market.
This is how we want to modernize the German real estate market through digital products and services. We are the digital real estate specialist and offer all our users real added value, whether they are real estate agents, sellers, landlords or searchers. With this business model and our promising products tailored to the current market environment, we achieved an excellent annual result in 2021. Compared to the previous year, we achieved a revenue growth of 10% to EUR 389 million with the Scout24 Group. We thus even slightly exceeded our forecast of around 9% growth communicated to the capital market. Group EBITDA from ordinary activities amounted to EUR 222.8 million, an increase of 5% on the previous year's figure.
Adjusted for non-operating effects and minor effects still resulting from the AutoScout24 transaction, earnings per share in 2021 amounted to EUR 1.52, 23% more than in the previous year. This is a very pleasing development for you, dear shareholders, because after all, our dividend payment is based on this adjusted earnings per share. Let me emphasize here, this success is based on targeted, consistent strategic groundwork. Preparatory work with which we have aligned our real estate business to sustainable growth in the double-digit percentage range. Above all, a preparatory work in which we could count on the full commitment of all our employees. I would therefore like to take this opportunity to thank each and every one of them. Thank you for your motivation, your energy, your creativity, your team spirit.
You have brought our business a good deal forward and made it even more resilient. At the same time, you have made it fit for the next growth period. You can also see from the following figures that we have further expanded our influence in the market. With more than 20,700 commercial clients, we already have the largest broker network in Germany. Compared to the previous year, we were even able to increase this number by 3.5%. We were able to increase the proportion of our private customers who use our Plus products to search more efficiently by a strong 76%. By the end of 2021, we had over 200,000 Plus product subscribers. More and more people are using, by the way, the ImmoScout24 app, which compensates for a declining trend in desktop use.
In the financial year 2021, an average of 20.1 million people used our platform every month. The number of sessions increased slightly by 0.4% to 101.8 million monthly visits. This is a clear sign of the very high demand for real estate in Germany. Here again for you, an overview where we are in our development. Since our founding year in 1998, we have contributed greatly to the digitalization of the real estate industry as pioneers. From the classic newspaper ad that we brought online to constantly improving online marketing to the digital real estate ecosystem that we have become. Within this ecosystem, we are creating added value for all stakeholders involved, making real estate transactions easier and more efficient.
We have achieved this through clear strategic goals and by consistently expanding our product portfolio and by adapting it to the current market conditions. Thus, even in times of crisis, for example, during the financial crisis of 2007 to 2009, and most recently, despite the COVID-19 pandemic of 2020, 2021, we have always been able to increase our sales. Today, we have a strong market position with excellent brand awareness. 98% of people over 18 years know ImmoScout24. Two out of three people looking for a new home come to us. They visit our site. How do we now use this strong foundation to move into the next phase of development? That is a phase in which we want to achieve double-digit turnover growth again. We will use the strong ImmoScout24 brand to make property transaction even easier. The digital advertising business remains our core business.
At the same time, we continue to invest in products that go beyond pure advertising and search. Products with which we make real estate transactions more digital and efficient, whether buying or selling, renting or letting, managing or financing. In other words, products for every phase of the life cycle of a property, be it residential or commercial. For this, we need a new way of thinking, an evolved business logic. We have presented this here as a circle, object, customer, transaction. Let's start with the real estate property, which we are focusing on more and more. In the past, the marketing features of the offered properties were defined solely by our customers and published as an advertisement on ImmoScout24. In the future, we will enrich a property advertisement with our own data about the property. This will make the ad more valuable.
This only works if we get to know our customers even better. We will establish closer contact with our commercial and private clients, and we will turn them into returning users, whether they want to rent, let, manage, buy, finance or sell. That then justifies our greater participation in the real estate transaction itself. The time is ready for this new business logic because digitalization is advancing more strongly, not least, thanks to COVID-19. Real estate buyers are getting younger and also see real estate as a capital investment in the long term. More and more sellers can imagine selling a property online. Brokers are using more and more digital tools, but this also increases the pressure on smaller brokerage offices to consolidate. Our research shows that brokers who market and transact online outperform their traditional counterparts.
With the membership products offered, which were presented, our clients can achieve much more than just digitally marketing an existing mandate. They also help to market the mandate more efficiently, to market themselves better, and to get new mandates. In short, through our product offering, we contribute to making the real estate market more digital and efficient. At the same time, this leads to a significant increase in our addressable market. In our old business logic, we addressed a market with volume of around EUR 1 billion. This is roughly the amount that all real estate agents in Germany spend on marketing their inventory. That is their marketing budget.
With our new business logic, with which we participate more strongly in the real estate transaction to make the market more digital and efficient, the entire broker commission pool and also the commission pool for the brokerage of construction financing is considered as an addressable market. This accounts for a volume of about EUR 1 billion if we consider residential and commercial real estate together. That is only the market we address with our business, with commercial clients, i.e., brokers and financing partners. In addition, there is our business with private clients, i.e., property seekers and landlords. I think that with this strategic classification, I've been able to give you an idea of our business model in the current market environment, but also of the great growth potential that still lies ahead of us.
At our Capital Markets Day in December 2021, we determined double-digit sales growth rates as our target for the next few years. We start with the growth rate of 10% in the financial year 2021, and in the first quarter of 2021, we achieved a growth. We continued with a growth of 15%. At this point, I would like to thank you for your attention, and I now gladly hand over to my colleague, Dirk Schmelzer, who will take you deeper through the financial highlights of 2021.
Thank you, Tobias. Dear shareholders, welcome. As Tobias Hartmann already mentioned, with a 10% increase in revenues to EUR 389 million, we even slightly exceeded our revenue forecast for the Scout24 Group in the past financial year.
Group EBITDA from ordinary activities amounted to EUR 222.8 million, an increase of 5% over the previous year's figure. The corresponding margin of 57.3% was exactly within the forecast range of 57%-58%. Our residential estate segment, which achieved a 13.8% increase in turnover to EUR 288.4 million. This was the main contributor to this pleasing development. The average monthly turnover with residential real estate partners, which reflects the traditional core business with brokers, it rose by 5.8%, while the number of residential real estate clients increased by 4.1% to 17,922.
However, particular growth drivers of the segments were, first, the business with sales leads for our broker clients, which Tobias already mentioned, increased by around 87%. Secondly, the strong demand for our Plus products by property seekers, which led to a corresponding increase in turnover of 33%. The residential real estate EBITDA margin from ordinary activities was in the financial year 2021 was 59.5% and consequently 3.7 percentage points below the previous year. This development is, on the one hand, due to higher operating costs. On the other hand, it reflects the changed revenue mix associated with our growth strategy, which I would like to discuss in more detail later. Revenue in the business real estate segment remained almost stable in a year-on-year comparison.
They amounted to EUR 68.9 million in the financial year 2021. The still declining commercial real estate business, due to COVID-19 effects, was almost compensated for by a growing project developer business. The EBITDA margin from ordinary activities of the business real estate segment increased by 0.8 percentage points year-on-year to 72%. In the media and other segment, we were able to score, especially with our successful Austrian business. Our segment sales increased by 1.1% year-on-year to EUR 31.3 million. At the same time, the EBITDA margin from ordinary activities of the media and other segment fell by 4.8 percentage points to 33.9%. Tobias Hartmann has already told you about our increased focus on our two main customer groups.
These are, on the one hand, commercial clients such as estate agents and property managers, and on the other hand, private clients such as landlords and property seekers. We have also adapted our segment structure and our internal management's reporting to this from 2022. In this chart, we have translated last year's results pro forma into the new segment structure. The two largest segments are thus no longer residential real estate and business real estate, but professional and private. The media and other segment remains as before. In the course of resegmentation, we have also allocated the holding revenues and corresponding costs to the segments. This means that the sum of the segment revenues results in the group revenues and the sum of segment EBITDA results in the group EBITDA from ordinary activities.
Thus, if we had already introduced a new segment structure in the past business year, the professional segment revenues would have grown by 10.3% and the private segment revenues would have grown by 12.2%. I mentioned earlier that our growth strategy goes hand in hand with a more broadly diversified turnover structure. Most of the turnover we still generate in our traditional core business is included in the orange part of the diagram. This illustrates that recurring business with brokers on the basis of framework agreements. Here, the focus is on property marketing. That is property listings. Although turnover continues to rise, the share of turnover is likely declining. This is mainly due to the fact that the turnover shares shown here in green and yellow are growing so strongly.
The yellow area shows our successful business with digital mandate brokerage, the seller leads. The green area also shows a strong increase in turnover. This includes the subscription pro-products for private customers such as MieterPlus and KäuferPlus, as well as new Vermietet.de, which has been new since May 2021. The revenue shown here in black come from individual ads by private and commercial advertisers. This share has declined in recent years due to the partly free offers. Free offer is increasingly being replaced by Plus product and lead sales. Because Scout24 is much more than just an advertising portal these days. As Tobias showed at the beginning, we are building a comprehensive ecosystem for real estate.
This means that in addition to ads for marketing real estate, we are increasingly offering products that make real estate transactions, such as buying, selling, renting, leasing or managing real estate more digital and efficient. That leads to the changed revenue mix shown here. This is accompanied by changes in cost structures, which initially caused earnings to grow more slowly than revenues. As previously shown, group turnover grew by 10% in the financial year, while EBITDA from ordinary activities increased by 5%. We see these temporarily higher costs as investment. Future investments in a business that relies on greater digitalization in the real estate sector, and that becomes more resilient and sustainable through more diversification. Let me talk about the most important cost items and investment separately. Own work capitalized increased by 21.1% to EUR 26.6 million in 2021.
This is mainly related to the development and integration project at Vermietet.de, which we capitalized in addition to other product innovations. This led to a capitalization rate ratio of 6.8% in relation to turnover. By the end of 2022, we are aiming for a capitalization rate of around 6% again. Our HR costs increased by 15.7% to EUR 82.6 million, which is mainly due to the integration of the employees of Vermietet.de and Immoverkauf24, as well as an increased number of employees at ImmoScout24. The total number of our employees at the end of the year 2021 was 852, of which 41% were women and 59% men. We were able to increase the proportion of women in management position from 34% to 37%.
The higher marketing expenses primarily reflect our increased online marketing activities, through which we generate valuable owner contacts for our growing seller leads business. Our marketing expenses increased by 16.8% year-on-year to EUR 36.3 million. This includes expenses for TV and online advertising. The increase in purchasing costs by 63.6% to EUR 26.6 million has to do, on the one hand, with the increased integration of SCHUFA information in connection with the successful growth of Plus products. It also reflects the increased acquisition of leads from cooperation partners. Adding own work capitalized to revenue and deducting operating costs results in EBITDA from ordinary activities of EUR 202.8 million for the financial year 2021.
On this page, you can see the items below the EBITDA from ordinary activities and thus the reconciliation to the net result. Firstly, the 57.1% increase in non-operating costs to EUR 22 million in 2021 is striking. Non-operating costs include, in particular, costs in the context of merger and acquisition activities, including post-merger integration, as well as personal costs from share-based payments and costs related to changes in the organizational structure. The strong year-on-year increase is primarily due to higher merger and acquisition costs. Reported EBITDA consequently increased by only 1.3% to EUR 200.8 million in the year 2021. Secondly, depreciation and amortization increased by 22.5% to EUR 63.1 million, of which EUR 33.3 million are attributable to purchase price allocation.
The largest part of this, namely EUR 30.3 million, is attributable to the last depreciation installment for the ImmoScout customer base, which is now fully depreciated. The increase in depreciation, compared to the previous year, is mainly due to the following. First, higher depreciation on rights of use from rental agreements due to the move to the new Berlin office at the end of the year 2020. Second, higher depreciation on own work capitalized. Third, an impairment of EUR 5.6 million on the FlowFact brand. With a relatively stable financial result and higher income taxes, net profit declined by 11.6% in the year 2021.
However, based on a significantly lower average number of shares of 88.1 million compared to 102.2 million in the previous year, earnings per share increased by 3% to EUR 1.03. Adjusted for the just mentioned non-operating effects, the amortization of goodwill and the FlowFact impairment, as well as smaller AutoScout24 related effects in the financial results, the adjusted EPS in 2021 amounted to EUR 1.52, and thus 22.6% more than in the previous year. This is consequently a very pleasing development for our shareholders, especially as your dividend is derived from this adjusted EPS figure. When looking at the dividend amount, we have to consider besides the reduced number of shares as a result of share buybacks, another aspect.
This concerns the sale of AutoScout24, which was completed on 1st of April 2020. In 2020, in the year 2020, the adjusted net result was therefore still based on three months of AutoScout24. On the previous slide, to compare apples with apples, we only looked at the continuing business. The figure for the adjusted net result for 2020 is therefore higher in the table on this page, which is purely about the dividend. What you can also see in this chart, in this table, is that the share buybacks between the end of the financial year or the adoption of the annual financial statement and the general annual meeting can still change dividend per share. In the previous year, this was even significant, as we had carried out a public buyback offer of EUR 794 million in the meantime.
This year, the volume of share buybacks was lower, so that the proposed distribution amount results in only a dividend per share increased by 1%, that is from EUR 0.84 to EUR 0.85 per share. Since we need an even cent amount for the dividend per share, we are placing an amount of about EUR 740,000 in the other revenue reserves. I have just mentioned the share buybacks. Including the public buyback offer of EUR 794 million, we have carried out share buybacks of more than EUR 1 billion in the year, in the financial year 2021. In this financial year, we have already purchased own shares with an equivalent value of approximately EUR 260.36 million.
In total, we have returned EUR 1.8 billion, or 63% of the AutoScout24 purchase price, to our shareholders via buybacks since the sale of AutoScout24. Including the debt repayment in connection with the purchase price payment, the repayment rate is as high as 87%. After completion of our current buyback program of up to 350 million shares, we will have almost reached 100%. We started this program, we launched this program in March 2022, and it should be completed by the 7th of April 2023 at the latest. Let me remind you once again. The net sales price for AutoScout24 was EUR 2.8 billion, and the share buybacks served and serve to distribute capital to our shareholders.
In this context, I would like to briefly report to you on how we have made use of the authorization to acquire our own shares granted at the last AGM. Within the framework of this authorization, from the 12th of November 2021 to the 15th of February 2022, we repurchased 3,456,442 shares, which corresponded to around 4.1% of the share capital at the time, with an equivalent value of EUR 196 million , EUR 249,575 . At the end of February, we already canceled 3.4 million repurchased shares, thereby reducing the share capital accordingly.
In the new program, since the 8th of March, we have so far repurchased another 1,949,825 shares. Corresponding to about 2.43% of the current share capital with an equivalent value of EUR 106,626,701. The repurchase was carried out on the stock exchange and for legally permissible purposes. Details can be found on the company's website. In relation to the current share capital of 80.2 million shares, we have therefore bought back 6.7% since last year's annual general meeting. The existing authorization to buy back shares has therefore already been used to a large extent.
In order to be able to fully utilize the buyback volume of the current program, we are also proposing to you today that you vote on the new authorization to acquire own shares. In addition, we confirm our share buyback strategy communicated at the Capital Markets Day in December 2021, which pursues a leverage target that is a ratio of net debt to EBITDA from ordinary activities of the last 12 months of approximately zero. Due to Scout24 cash flow strong business model, this strategy is expected to lead to further share buybacks of an average of EUR 150 million over the next years. This is, of course, subject to possible merger and acquisition activities. Finally, I would like to briefly discuss the financial development of Scout24 in the first quarter of this year.
We started the new financial year strongly, both at group level and at the level of the new segments. Our consolidated revenues rose by 15.1% to EUR 107.9 million in the first quarter of 2022. This is the strongest increase for Scout24 real estate business since the year 2015 and is significantly above the forecast for the year 2022 as a whole. The strategy of rolling out transaction-based products at high speed, which was explained by Tobias Hartmann at the Capital Markets Day in December, is meeting with strong demand and relevance among our commercial and private customers. The turnover of the professional segment grew by 11.8% to EUR 71.4 million. On the one hand, this development was driven by the with a 5.6% increase in turnover.
In addition, there was a strong development of the seller's leads business, which achieved a growth in turnover of 51%. As explained earlier, Scout24 supports core customers in generating new business and participates in the proceeds from the sales transactions. The private segment turnover increased by 27% to EUR 28.2 million. The strongest growth driver here was a very high demand for our Plus products, with an increase in turnover of 76.6%. The Vermietet.de business acquired in May 2021 contributed only a very small part to the segment turnover. The media and other turnover increased by 7.5% to EUR 8.3 million, with a strong Austrian business. In the first quarter of this year, we continued our investment in the future. We had also announced this at our Capital Markets Day.
These investments took place in particular in the growth fields of mandate acquisition and Vermietet.de. They are primarily reflected in higher online marketing expenses for the generation of seller leads, as well as higher marketing and personnel expenses for the rapid expansion of the offer for private landlords. Taking this cost base into account, EBITDA from ordinary activities increased by 6.5% to EUR 51.6 million in the first quarter of 2022. At 54.4%, the EBITDA margin from ordinary activities was 4.4 percentage points below the previous year's margin. Despite the war in Ukraine and deteriorating macroeconomic development, we expect group revenue growth for the full year to be at the upper end of the forecast range of 11%-12% due to the first strong quarter.
We also expect the earnings target EBITDA from ordinary activities to grow at the upper end of our focused range of 6%-8%. We are also making great progress in the area of sustainability. Dr. Albrecht already referred to this in his introduction. This is also reflected in a significantly improved sustainability rating. We are very proud that we are now ranked first by Sustainalytics in our peer group, internet services, software and services. You can see on this slide how we will continue this success in the future. We continue our efforts to avoid and reduce CO₂ emissions. For example, we have switched completely to green electricity. We have moved our data centers to the cloud. We have introduced a more sustainable travel policy, and we have increased the proportion of electric cars in our fleet. We measure this progress annually with our corporate carbon footprint.
Of course, for us, sustainability does not only include the environmental aspect. Tobias Hartmann has already mentioned it. For over 20 years, we have been an agile, dynamic, and multicultural company in which our employees make the difference. They play the most important role. We promote entrepreneurial thinking and innovation, face up to changes in everyday working life. We offer tailor-made training and further education performance, and we do live diversity and equal opportunities. Our goal is to further increase the share of women and non-binary persons in management positions in the coming years. With these measures, we want to attract the best talents to Scout24. We have launched great social initiatives, such as helping homeless people find housing. With special search filters, our customers can directly access affordable flats or apartments or find wheelchair-accessible places more easily.
Our employees can also get involved in select social projects several times a year during their working hours. We see our responsibility also in the area of governments, in other words, good corporate governance. This includes, among other things, the transparent disclosure of our sustainability program and the extension of our corporate values set out in the code of conduct to our supply chain. Certain sustainability aspects are anchored in our new financing as well as in the remuneration of the executive board. In this way, we are achieving an even stronger integration of sustainability into our operational business development. As Hans-Holger Albrecht mentioned at the beginning, we're driving a doubly sustainable course. Turnover and earnings are also growing due to our ESG focus.
We are showing that sustainability is part of our DNA and that we want to reach an ambitious next level in this matter as well. With this very pleasant news in difficult macroeconomic and sociopolitical times, I would like to end my presentation. I would like to thank you for your attention and return the floor to the chairperson.
Tobias, Dirk, thank you very much for your detailed and very informative reports. Ladies and gentlemen, I would like to point out to those viewers who are following our virtual annual general meeting openly on the internet and not via the online service for our shareholders that the public part of the live transmission ends at this point, as previously announced. I would like to thank you for your interest and bid you farewell. From now on, the shareholders of the company and their proxies who have connected via the online service can follow the further course of the annual general meeting. Ladies and gentlemen, we now come to the answers to your questions. In the virtual format, we do not enter into a direct dialogue with you.
However, you've had the opportunity to submit your questions in advance or in the run-up to the annual general meeting via the company's online service. We have prepared the answers to your questions very conscientiously and are convinced that we will succeed in fulfilling your requests for information to your satisfaction also this year. As part of the answers to your questions, we will deal with all the items on the agenda together. We will answer the questions thematically. First, I will answer the questions addressed to the supervisory board. Then the executive board will answer the general questions addressed to the company. Ms. Alena Flemmer will read out the questions. Ms. Flemmer works in the investor relations department of Scout24. Welcome, Ms. Flemmer. However, before we start answering, I would like to give you an update on the presence or the votes cast.
As far as the proxies are concerned who are present here, of the registered capital amounting to EUR 80.2 million, subdivided into as many no-par shares. In the annual general meeting, currently 55,101,531 no-par shares with as many votes are present. That amounts to 68.71% of registered share capital. In addition to that, we got postal votes for 253,503 no-par shares. All together, thus we have votes from 55,355,034 shares that does justice to 69.02% of the registered share capital. We have dealt with that. Dear Ms. Alena Flemmer, please let us start with the questions concerning the supervisory board.
Thank you very much, Dr. Albrecht. As we did last year, we would like to present the answers to the questions in an interactive form. I will take on the role of reading out the shareholders' questions. The questions are answered by the Chairman of the Supervisory Board, Dr. Albrecht, by the Chairman of the Executive Board, Mr. Hartmann, and by the Chief Financial Officer, Dr. Schmelzer. A total of 85 questions were submitted by three parties. All of them agreed to or requested their names to be mentioned. Seven questions come from the Deutsche Schutzvereinigung für Wertpapierbesitz DSW, represented by lawyer Nikolaus L ü tje. Another five questions come from the Schutzgemeinschaft der Kapitalanleger, represented by lawyer Alice Wotsch. 73 questions were submitted by Matthias Gaebler from Stuttgart. As announced, I will now first ask the questions addressed to our Chairman of the Supervisory Board. Dr. Albrecht, Mr.
Lütje from DSW asks, "You spoke on the board about the competitive environment and its changes and future trends and developments. What do you expect here, and how are you prepared for it?"
We continuously monitor, especially in the ordinary meetings of the supervisory board, the developments of certain marketplace metrics, such as listings, i.e., object ads, and traffic, i.e., page views and visitors. We also compare these with our direct competitors. In the past business year, we again showed that we are in first place in many areas, significantly ahead of our competitors. Due to our high levels of innovation in the product area, our investment, and our high brand awareness, we believe we are very well-positioned to continue to occupy this position in the future. At the same time, we have had a special focus on the needs of our customers.
The company looks closely at which customer group needs which product and how we can better support our customers ahead of the competition. A major trend in recent years has been an excess demand in the real estate market in many regions, i.e., a shortage of supply. In this respect, we also noticed that the acquisition of sales leads is becoming a higher priority for all market participants. These so-called sales leads are the top topic in the broker sector for generating new business.
Okay, we've got another question coming from DSW. Mr. Lütje asks further, "You have dealt with succession planning for the members of the board. What does that mean?"
Thank you very much, Mr. Lütje. The supervisory board regularly deals with the succession planning for the members of the executive board.
Particularly in the area of the management levels below the executive board, the supervisory board determines which suitable internal candidates will be available in the future when a succession decision is due. In this respect, it is possible to identify and develop appropriate candidates at any early stage, in order to fill board positions from among our own staff. In parallel, it is determined in good time before the expiry of an executive board service contract, whether an extension or a new appointment is pending. The routine integration of the success planning into the work of the supervisory board allows us to adequately prepare for the appropriate succession decisions.
All the following questions to the supervisory board come from Mr. Gaebler. "What does the supervisory board want to do significantly better in 2022 than in 2021?"
Thank you very much, Mr. Gaebler.
As we have presented to you, we look back on a very successful year, 2021. We are continuously working together with the board of directors to further develop the company. However, we cannot conclude that there are certain elements that we could do significantly better, in 2022 than we did in 2021.
"Do all directors and supervisory board members attend the virtual AGMs in full, or is this at their own discretion?" Next question.
As I have explained to you, all four members of the executive board are attending the annual general meetings in full on-site. The Chairman of the Supervisory Board, that would be me, Dr. Albrecht, my Deputy, Mr. Lutz, as well as Dr. Frank, are also present on-site. The other members of the supervisory board, as I mentioned at the beginning, follow the annual general meeting virtually.
Next question: "Did the board of directors and the supervisory board actually read through the questions and answers completely at least once before the general meeting after it was noticed at several virtual general meetings that the board member reading out the questions and answers had not done so before?"
Yes, we have.
"Who specifically sets the individual targets for board remuneration, and within what framework does this take place?"
The supervisory board of Scout24 SE has established the principles for the remuneration system of the management board members. Within this framework, the supervisory board also defines the individual targets for each financial year as well as for the multi-year variable remuneration. Internally, these topics are prepared by the remuneration committee of the supervisory board and presented to the full supervisory board with the recommendations for resolutions. The decision is then made by the full supervisory board.
Who specifically checks the set goals in the first place? Who specifically determines the achievement of the individual goals? Which external persons are involved, and what costs does this incur?"
Thank you very much for this good question too. The specific targets are reviewed and determined by the supervisory board. Preparation is carried out by the employees of Scout24 SE from the responsible corporate functions, especially from the compensation and benefits department and the corporate office. In principle, the respective target values are audited by the company's auditors as the components of the financial and, if applicable, non-financial reporting. Additional costs for this purpose do not regularly arise.
Another question about the remuneration report. "Who computes the exact remuneration amounts to the individual board members in the first place? Who checks the calculated amounts accordingly?
Is this done in-house or with the help of external specialists?"
The exact remuneration amounts are determined by the responsible corporate functions and are also reviewed there. In addition, a review is carried out by the supervisory board as part of the determination of target achievement. In addition, we've explained to you that the remuneration report was not only formally, but also materially audited by the auditor.
How can it be that shareholders have lost almost 30% of the share price since the last AGM, yet board remuneration has increased?
As we have presented to you, the company is developing very positively. We have seen double-digit growth in the past financial year. The executive board remuneration is also appropriately aligned with the shareholder interest through the significant reference to share price performance in the long-term variable remuneration.
Short-term effects in the share price are not directly reflected in the executive board remuneration. Should a corresponding development of the share price continue, this would also be reflected more strongly in the executive board remuneration.
What role does the share price play in variable board remuneration, and why is there no greater weighing there?
The multi-year variable remuneration is fully based on the share price through the structure of share units, which are used to calculate the respective payout. Under the current remuneration system, the long-term variable remuneration accounts for at least 45% and at most 55% of the respective target total remuneration of an executive board member. We are therefore of the opinion that sufficient weighing is already given here.
Further details can be found in the remuneration system and the remuneration report, to which I would like to refer at this point, and I've already done so before.
Why should the proposed increase in supervisory board remuneration already apply from 1st of July , 2022, i.e., in the middle of the financial year and not only from the 2023 financial year?
The proposed resolution provides that the decision of the general meeting has immediate effect, provided that the timely entry in the commercial register takes place. The remuneration shall therefore be changed immediately after the decision. As a rule, the decisions of the general meeting shall take effect and be implemented immediately and without a delay which is not necessary. In this specific case that you've been asking about, a deferral to a later date did not appear necessary or appropriate.
We have deliberately not proposed a retroactive effect for the entire 2021 financial year.
Thank you very much, Dr. Albrecht. This answers all questions addressed to the supervisory board, and we have now answered 11 out of 85 questions altogether. We have sorted the following questions by topic. We would like to start with the section employees. All 14 questions from this section will be answered by Tobias Hartmann. I start with a question from DSW, followed by two from SdK. The other questions are from Mr. Gaebler. In the last business year. First question: In the last business year, you dealt with the human resources strategy and the development of young people. What was that specifically about?
Thank you very much for these questions, first of all. Our human resources strategy is based on three strategic levers. First, strategic human resources planning aligned with the corporate strategy.
Second, inclusive leadership, understanding, and behavior. Third, further development of the employer brand and social media activities aligned with it. In the last business year, we concentrated on the development of young talent for team leaders as far as development of young staff is concerned. In addition, we conduct regular talent screening with a focus on the skills we need for the future success of our company.
It is crucial for the further growth of Scout24 SE that it continues to acquire sufficient qualified employees in the future, despite the shortage of skilled workers. Is Scout24 SE affected by the shortage of skilled workers? If so, what measures are being taken to counteract this?
The shortage of skilled workers is a labor market development for which we are preparing ourselves in the best possible way. We cannot identify a lack of availability of a sufficient number of managers and employees on the labor market. This is not valid for us. Competition for the best employees is intense, of course. We are responding to this with various measures. We have, for instance, increased our recruiting team, i.e., those who focus on hiring. At the same time, we are increasingly actively working the talent market.
We do this by actively approaching candidates through professional networks, actively using our social media channels to strengthen our employer brand and visibility, and participating in relevant job fairs, events, and of course, tech networks. In addition, we have made our internal recruiting processes more efficient in order to make fast but good staffing decisions in a very competitive market.
Does Scout24 SE also have employees in Ukraine? If so, how do you support them? Does Scout24 SE have special offers for the recruitment of Ukrainian professionals?
No, Scout24 SE has no employees in Ukraine. We have staff members from Ukraine who have been affected by the war through family and friends. We support them, of course, in the best possible way. We would like to recruit more Ukrainian professionals for Scout24. To do this, we are working with two voluntary organizations, UAtalents and Job Aid Ukraine.
Our jobs are advertised via both portals. In addition, we receive candidates from UAtalents for selected profiles whom we contact on our own initiative.
Next question regarding employees. What was the employee fluctuation in the group in the reporting year and the previous year in Germany and the two largest geographical markets?
It's a very good question. The overall turnover rate, fluctuation rate in Germany was 19% in the reporting year 2021. ImmoScout24 accounted for 16%, and Scout24 SE for 25%. In the previous year, 2020, the fluctuation rate was 18%, with ImmoScout24 at 17% and Scout24 SE at 19%. Please note, 97% of our turnover is generated in Germany. Therefore, the geographically largest markets are here in Germany, and the presentation of the employee fluctuation in other countries is not relevant for the group.
How has the fluctuation in Germany developed after A, voluntary, B, age-related fluctuation, i.e. retirement, and C, dismissals on the part of the company in the years 2020 and 2021?
In 2020, we had 57 voluntary departures, 1% age-related departures, and 42% employee-initiated departures. The latter figure, the employer-initiated departures, should be seen in the context of the AutoScout24 carve-out. In 2021, 80% were voluntarily leaving, 1% age-related, and 90% employer-initiated.
How many employees over the age of A, 50, and B, 55 are employed by the company and the group respectively?
A, Scout24 SE has 11 employees over 50 years of age. The Scout24 Group has 62 employees. B, Scout24 SE employs two employees over 55 years of age. The Scout24 Group employs 22 employees.
What is the average length of service, A, in Germany and B, across the group?
A, the average duration, the average length of service in Germany is 4.3 years, and B, group-wide, 4.2 years.
How many employees in Germany, other than the executive board, have an annual gross income of A, more than EUR 120,000, B, more than EUR 250,000, and C, more than EUR 500,000? And how has this figure developed compared to the previous year in each case?
A, regarding A. In the reporting year 2021, 47 employees had a gross annual target income of more than EUR 120,000. In the previous year, 2020, there were 46. B and C are included here.
Regarding B, in the reporting year 2021, four employees had an annual target income of more than EUR 250,000 . In the previous year, 2020, there was one employee. Regarding C, there are no employees with a gross annual target income of more than EUR 500,000 in the reporting year 2021 and in the previous year, 2020.
Next question. Are there domestic group employees, excluding trainees and interns, who are employed on a full-time basis below or up to the minimum wage of EUR 12 per hour, which is still intended for 2022?
No. There are no such employees.
What is the gross hourly wage of lowest paid full-time domestic employee, and how many of them are there?
Scout24 does not employ hourly paid staff. Our remuneration model consists of 12 fixed monthly salaries and bonus or commission fees, commission for sales staff.
How many domestic full-time employees with a gross monthly wage of less than EUR 3,000 are there?
41 full-time employees receive a gross monthly salary of less than EUR 3,000.
How many employees in Germany and in the group, other than the executive board, have an annual gross income of A, income A of less than the basic remuneration of the supervisory board member, and B, more than the chairman of the supervisory board?
A, 388 employees in the Scout24 Group, excluding the management board in Germany, have a gross annual target income that is lower than the basic remuneration of a supervisory board member. B, 30 employees have a gross annual target income that is greater than the basic remuneration of the chairman of the supervisory board.
How many fathers took parental leave A, at the company, and B, at all domestic subsidiaries in the reporting year? For how long on average? How old was the oldest employee who took parental leave? What proportion of fathers taking parental leave were managers?
A, in Scout24 SE, six fathers took parental leave in the reporting year 2021, with a total period of 7.5 months on average. The oldest father was 40 years old. The proportion of managers was 17%. B, in the domestic subsidiaries, 37 fathers took parental leave with a total period of 3.8 months on average. The oldest father was 45 years old. The proportion of managers was 32%.
In contrast, what is the number of A, job tickets?
Job tickets handed out to the employees. BahnCards 100.
Electric bicycles issued to employees in Germany the reporting year. In 2021, 21 BahnCards 100 were obtained in Germany. No electric bicycles were arranged. There were approximately 75 job tickets. A special program on the three mobility pillars was newly adopted in the year 2022 and is already being consistently implemented.
Okay, thank you, Tobias. We have now completed the topic of staff members and answered a total of 25 out of 85 questions. Next, we take a look at the topics of market strategy and products. These questions, again, go to our CEO, Tobias Hartmann. First of all, three questions from Mr. Gaebler. Outside the COVID-19 Corona complex and the impact of Ukraine war, what will be the main challenges for the group in 2022?
In the current year, we are focusing on meeting the targets for our five growth drivers presented at the Capital Markets Day in December. At the same time, we are investing in these areas. These growth drivers are, once again, upgrade of membership contracts with commercial customers, more seller leads, expanded construction financing business, increase in Plus product subscriptions, and an increase of the Vermietet.de units.
The next question is coming from DSW. What do we think about ideas like linking rent to income that are being voiced right now? And more generally, how dependent or independent are you of regulatory changes?
We do welcome that there is an open debate on affordable housing going on in Germany. However, income linkage does not create new housing to relieve the market. Necessary checks on proof of income would present both administrations and citizens with new hurdles.
At the same time, landlords would lose economic efficiency. The federal government has promised ambitious new build targets, which could be a cornerstone of market relief. Therefore, it is important to concentrate fully on the creation of new housing. Currently, we do not foresee any regulatory changes that could have a direct impact on our business. Our core business is healthy, our products are versatile and efficient, and the market is highly stable, even in times of crisis. However, we consider it our social responsibility to stimulate the political debate with solid data and insights so that our customers and users are supported and protected.
Okay, we continue with a couple of questions from Mr. Gaebler. What was our greatest sense of achievement in the year under review?
In the reporting year, 2021, we were able to achieve a 10% growth in turnover in the group.
What was the biggest construction site in the reporting year?
In the reporting year, 2021, we have aligned the company strategically, operationally, and organizationally to the transaction focus. ImmoScout24, therefore, no longer stands only for advertising and searching, doing research, but for many other digital services along the real estate transaction. We also explained this in detail at the Capital Markets Day in December, including the future investments that go hand in hand with this business expansion.
Next, a question that has already been posed to the supervisory board. This is now addressed to the executive board. What does the board want to significantly do better in 2022 than in 2021?
As we have presented to you, we look back on a very successful year, 2021. We are continuously working to further develop the company and its products.
However, we cannot conclude that there are certain elements that we could do significantly better in 2022 than in 2021.
We received a question from Mr. Lütje from DSW about the acquisition of Vermietet.de. You bought Vermietet.de. What is it exactly? What's new about it? When does it make money? When did the purchase price pay off? When will it pay off? Or are there no direct effects to be expected?
Thank you for that question. Again, Vermietet.de is a digital platform for private landlords to manage their property portfolio. It simplifies and automates property management, rent and service charge accounting, and the administration of tenancies. It can also be used to rent out vacant flats. Vermietet.de is the largest platform of its kind in Germany, with currently about 750,000 residential units in its portfolio and a rapidly growing number of users every month.
Vermietet.de is a so-called freemium product. This means that paying customers have extended functions. In the free version, it is possible to manage the properties. In the paid version, service charge statements can be created, and there are advantages in the tenant search. With the purchase of Vermietet.de, ImmoScout24 wants to establish another long-term business model with private property owners in addition to the market of advertising products and to build a long-term customer relationship. We expect the platform to pay for itself in the next few years and then to have paid for itself a short time later.
A further question from DSW. Your goal is to further develop the marketplace into a digital ecosystem. Where are you on this path, and where do you want this path to go? What will be the next steps?
Since our founding, we have contributed greatly to the digitalization of the real estate industry as pioneers. We were pioneering. This ranges from the classical newspaper ad that we brought online to constantly improving online marketing to the digital real estate ecosystem that we have become. In the meantime, within this ecosystem, we create added value for all stakeholders involved, making real estate transactions easier and more efficient. We have achieved this through clear strategic goals and by consistently expanding our product portfolio and adapting it to the current market conditions. Today, we have a strong market position with excellent brand perception. 98% of people over 18 years know ImmoScout24. Two out of three people looking for a new home come to us. They visit our site. They come back to us.
We will use the strong ImmoScout24 brand to make the real estate transaction even more efficient and digital, whether buying or selling, renting or letting, managing or financing. In this way, we will continue to invest in products that go beyond pure advertising and research. The stronger involvement in the real estate transaction enables us to continue to grow sustainably.
The next question is a similar question that is coming from the SdK. The goal of Scout24 SE is to offer your customers a digital ecosystem for real estate transactions in Germany and Austria. If I have understood you correctly, you want to digitize the entire transaction steps up to the conclusion of the real estate purchase contract. How do you intend to comply with legal requirements such as the notarization of real estate purchase contract?
Yes, it is true.
We have set ourselves the goal of making real estate transactions, such as buying and selling, renting and letting, or the management of real estate, more digital and thus more efficient. We were able to quickly implement some topics, such as the digital tenancy agreement or the digital mandate brokerage. For other topics, such as the notarial certification, it'll probably take some time before corresponding legal possibilities can be or will be created. This will probably hardly be possible without an initiative by the legislator. We are observing the developments in this area very closely, and are in the best position to offer solutions here as soon as there are legally sound structures.
The following questions are coming again from Mr. Gaebler. If shareholders are only allowed to submit questions in German, why does the board use unnecessary anglicisms such as moving to the next level?
What are these words supposed to tell us, and what is the German name for all this?
I translated it like this elsewhere in my letter to the executive board on the annual report. We are taking Scout24 to a new level of development. This means that we are increasingly developing from a pure advertising platform to a transaction platform. In this way, we are opening up new market potential that will sustainably drive our future growth.
Which markets or lines have not yet been developed and are to be developed in the next few years?
We are focusing on our current core markets of Germany and Austria, where we can also continue our growth strategy in the long term. As part of ongoing business development processes and opportunistic merger and acquisition valuations, we may consider entering other European countries in the future.
With regard to the product portfolio, we are focusing on the increased digitalization of real estate transactions.
Who are the main competitors for the three most important Scout24 portals?
In Germany, the main competitors of Scout24 portals include the Immowelt Group, eBay Kleinanzeigen, the platform WG-Gesucht.de, and the Hypoport Group with its marketplace, such as Dr. Klein. In Austria, the next largest competitor of the ImmoScout24 portal is the platform willhaben.at.
In how many countries does the company operate in total?
The companies of the Scout24 Group are based in Germany, Austria, and Switzerland. We sell our products with a focus on Germany and Austria. Customers based abroad can also conclude contracts with us, it is true. However, the product always concerns the countries listed.
Why are the prices, for example, on ImmoScout24 so secretive that you only find out at the end of the booking? Why is there no price table at a glance? Wouldn't that be more serious, more down to earth?
For our consumer products, such as MieterPlus and KäuferPlus, there is a pricing table on our website, just such a table. Simple property advertisements are free of charge for private advertisers. Pricing in various products and customer relationships is also the result of contract negotiations and a corresponding confidential handling with the respective customer.
This structure is not unserious. A price table would not be more serious.
In the meantime, haven't you already overdone the prices, turned the screw too much, so that potential customers are already turning away?
No. We see significant product improvements for the clients and a 3.5% increase in broker clients over the past year. Our pricing is reasonable and in line with the value we create for our clients.
Could you imagine introducing a money-back guarantee if you can't find a suitable tenant and are just inundated with masses of junk requests?
We don't see a need for that. In particular, a refund is not possible for a free product. Private advertisers pay nothing at all for a simple ad on ImmoScout24.
In addition, we offer to adjust the selection criteria in our products or to only admit Plus subscribers with applicant portfolios, so our customers have this in their own hands.
Why do shareholders not receive preferential conditions or even free listings?
In the context of equal treatment of shareholders, this does not seem appropriate to us. Thus, a not insignificant part of the shareholders would not benefit from such advantageous conditions. The other way around, however, the company would lose sales if larger customers also held shares. This, in turn, would be to the detriment of the other shareholders. For private customers, we offer free advertisements anyway.
How many advertisements in ImmoScout24 ran for more than three months in 2021?
Of all advertisements active in 2021, according to what we know, 16.9% were active for longer than three months within the calendar year.
How many property offers are more than 40% of the average price shown?
Within Germany, 12.7% of the offers of residential properties had a price that was more than 40% above the local average offer price.
What do you do against completely excessive rental and also purchase offers? Doesn't this lead to a decline in interest in the platform?
ImmoScout24 is a digital marketplace. We do not regulate the market. In order to ease the price pressure, basically, more housing supply would have to be created in Germany. We constantly check our mechanisms to filter out dubious and fraudulent offers before they are published.
What do you do against dubious real estate agents, e.g., in Switzerland and Austria, who evaluate old advertisements and harass former advertisers by inadmissible cold calls?
We take corresponding reports from users received by our service staff very seriously. If it concerns one of our customers, we will check contractual rights and obligations and, if need be, take action. In general, however, we are not responsible for the unlawful actions of third parties.
What were the, A, three most expensive and, B, most unusual listings on ImmoScout24 in the year under review, and what were they in each case?
As far as we know, the three most expensive and thus also most unusual residential property listings on ImmoScout24 in the year under review were a villa in Bad Tölz with 3,650 sq m for EUR 42.5 million, a single-family home in Nordf riesland with 740 sq m for EUR 30.2 million, and a villa in Munich with 1,228 sq m for EUR 30 million.
Thank you very much, Tobias. With this, we have now answered 46 questions and thus answered more than 50% of all questions. The next questions go to Dirk Schmelzer. First of all, five questions from Mr. Gaebler on the shareholder structure and the share.
First question: How big is the proportion of foreign shareholders in the current share register, and by which major countries is this broken down?
11% of our shareholders are from Germany. This does not include our own shares. The rest, that is 89%, is accounted for by foreign shareholders. In detail, 42% Great Britain and Ireland, 31% North America, 30% rest of Europe, and 3% other countries. Some foreign shareholders are entered in the share register with their German subsidiaries. The figures that I just mentioned refer to the 31st of December in 2021. The shareholder structure can also be found in the annual report on page 34.
How many shareholders are currently on the company's share register?
As of the 28th of June 2022, there are 4,343 investors listed.
How do you explain the negative share price development? What is going wrong in the company?
The negative price trend is unpleasant for us and our shareholders. However, it is largely due to macro, macroeconomic and geopolitical factors. Our share price also moved downward indiscriminately with global technology shares. However, compared to our direct peer group, i.e., global peer companies that operate a similar business model to ours, our share has performed significantly better since the beginning of the year. In our opinion, this has to do with the fact that we are also particularly progressive in an international comparison with regard to the further development of a transaction-based company.
One question of SdK refers to agenda item seven. Scout24 SE intends to grant itself a further authorization in item seven to acquire and use treasury shares and to exclude subscriptions and tender rights.
Why do you also want to grant yourself the right to use derivative instruments for the repurchase of own shares? Are there already concrete plans for this? If so, what are they? In addition, you want to be granted a right to sell repurchase shares for non-cash considerations, excluding shareholder subscription rights. Are there already concrete plans for this, and if so, what are they? Why are the repurchased shares not simply canceled?
As I have reported, we have so far carried out repurchases under the authorization to acquire own shares granted at the last annual general meeting, in each case via the stock exchange and for legally permissible purposes. We would also like to be granted the appropriation options for future buybacks within the scope of the law. There are no specific plans to use derivatives for that.
So far, we have also regularly withdrawn the repurchased shares or canceled them. A small portion of the treasury shares will be used for an employee share program in 2022.
The next two questions once again come from Mr. Gaebler. What is the so-called net asset value per share?
Based on the equity reported in the consolidated financial statement as of 31st December 2021 and the number of shares in circulation as of 31st September 2021, the so-called net asset value is EUR 21.52 per share. However, we would like to point out the limited informative value of this key figure, since as a digital company, our business model does not consist of holding real estate.
How much is each share currently, A, backed by equity, and B, encumbered with liabilities?
What is the resulting interim balance, and what is the final balance taking into account the current share price?
Based on the consolidated balance sheet as of 31st December 2021, each share in circulation at the time was backed by EUR 21.52 in equity. Based on the share price as of 30th December 2021, this corresponds to a ratio of 35%. Furthermore, based on the consolidated balance sheet as at 31st December 2021, each share in circulation at this time is encumbered with EUR 7.86 in liabilities. Based on the share price as at 30th December 2021, this corresponds to a ratio of 13%.
Now there are more questions for Dirk Schmelzer on financial topics. Ms.
Wotsch from SdK asks, "Scout24 in 2021 generated by far the largest group revenue of EUR 288.4 million in the residential real estate segment, i.e., in the private residential market. In view of the sharp rise in inflation, the central banks are increasing interest rates and a further significant rise in interest rates can be expected in the future. What consequences do you expect the rise in interest rates to have on business in the residential real estate segment and the business real estate segment? Will real estate purchases sales decline in view of high interest rates? What market development do you expect? Can the forecast for 2022 be maintained against this background?"
Okay.
An increase in interest rates basically makes leveraged property purchase more expensive for consumers, especially if property prices do not decline at the same time. For years, we have seen a considerable excess demand in the German real estate market. That is why we continue to see property prices at a high level. However, the rising interest rates mean that the standing times on Scout24 are getting longer. This means that it now takes longer for a transaction to be completed. Our forecasts for 2022 take into account current market developments.
Mr. Gaebler still wants to know about interest. What was the amount in euros of negative interest paid in the reporting year, A, domestically, and B, throughout Europe?
Okay. At group level, we paid a total of EUR 272,576.22 in custody fees in 2021.
I'll start from scratch. Of this 272,000 , 112,0 50 was paid in Germany and EUR 552 and EUR 72 was paid in the rest of Europe in custody fees.
Following questions also come from Mr. Gaebler. What consequences have you drawn from the Federal Ministry of Finance letter dated 8th July 2021 in connection with the letter dated 29th March 2022? Okay, here we continue. Which members of the supervisory board have so far settled their remuneration with value-added tax? Have you been able to deduct the input tax in each case so far? Will you also be able to deduct input tax in future? What is your further procedure in this regard?
In accordance with the letter dated 8th July 2022 from the Federal Ministry of Finance, all members of the supervisory board have issued their respective invoices for the year 2021 without showing VAT. Accordingly, the company has not claimed any input tax.
What is your biggest loss in the reporting year? How high was it, and was it fully recovered by the insurance, or how high was the deductible?
We did not have any claims in the reporting year. Accordingly, no claims were reported to the insurance companies and settled.
How many enterprises does the list of shareholdings contain, and how many of them are engaged in operational activities? How many of the companies are loss-making? How many of the companies are located in so-called tax havens? Wouldn't it make sense to streamline the corporate structure at this point?
The list of shareholdings of Scout24 SE pursuant to Section 313, Nos. one to four, HGB includes 14 companies in the reporting period. The companies are located exclusively in Germany, Austria, and Switzerland, not in tax havens. Of these, 10 companies are operationally active. As presented in the annual financial statement of Scout24 SE, four of these companies show a negative annual result. We do not consider a further streamlining of the structure to be sensible.
How many tips were there in your whistleblower system in the reporting year? Is the whistleblower system set up internally or externally? What significant consequences were drawn from the tips?
In the reporting year, there were no reports about the whistleblower system. In this respect, no consequences can be drawn from this.
However, the group-wide compliance management system is subject to a continuous improvement process that includes regular reviews of the compliance system, including established processes, procedures, and documentation, and the group's business practices. Where necessary, appropriate improvements are made as a result. The whistleblower system is accessible both internally and externally. It consists of the external ombudsman, also accessible externally, the compliance hotline and the whistleblower platform, both accessible externally, and the compliance department as a whistleblowing unit, which is respectively internal.
The DSW asked, "In your risk report, you describe economic risks, labor market risks, and supplier risks as moderate. Many companies see the most serious risks in these areas. Why not you?"
Yeah, we are observing not insignificant effects on economic developments and consumer prices from current political circumstances.
However, we believe that our business model is generally well-positioned to withstand higher inflation and higher interest rates. This means that the economic risks are moderate for us. We are currently unable to identify a lack of availability of a sufficient number of managers and employees on the labor market across the board. The labor market is tight in certain areas. However, we can generally fill the positions in our group relatively well and are an extremely attractive employer. Looking ahead, we also expect that the trend will not worsen. With regard to the suppliers, our business model is characterized by a relatively resource-poor and short supply chain. As a digital company, we are far less affected by this than, for example, a traditional manufacturing industry.
In summary, our risk assessment therefore concludes that economic risks from the labor market and supplier risks only have a moderate influence on our business model.
Mr. Gaebler also asked a number of questions about the remuneration report towards the board. Dirk: If at 19 pages, around 10% of the 208-page annual report is devoted solely to board remuneration, is this actually still proportionate? Isn't the operative business actually much more important than the remuneration of executive board and supervisory board?
Of course, we focus on the operational business. We fulfill legal requirements with this report. An accurate remuneration presentation is an important issue for many investors. We cannot detect any disproportionality because of that.
Do you think that any shareholder reads a 19-page remuneration report alone and understands its contents?
We prepared a remuneration report in the interest of our shareholders and does comply with common legal requirements. Within the framework of the complex subject matter, we have chosen understandable formulations and presentations. We assume that interested shareholders will view the report with a view to the information that is relevant to them. If you have any questions regarding the content of this report, please do not hesitate to contact our investor relations team. You can find the contact details on our website.
How much time and expense was incurred by the auditor alone for the audit of the remuneration report?
The audit of the remuneration report accounts for approximately 5% of the auditor's total work, both in terms of time and cost. The audit comprised both a formal and a substantive audit of the remuneration report.
Can the members of the executive board and supervisory board even recalculate the remuneration to which they are entitled?
Yes, we have a transparent and easily comprehensible remuneration system and a corresponding contractual implementation for the executive board members. The members of the executive board and supervisory board can calculate the remuneration to which they are entitled themselves.
Thank you very much, Dirk. We now have a few questions about the proceedings of the annual general meeting. They all come from Mr. Gaebler. How many questions have been received by the company for the virtual annual general meeting from how many shareholders?
Ms. Flemmer already mentioned this at the beginning. A total of 85 questions were asked by three shareholders. This is the 64th question that we are answering.
How long is it expected to take to answer the shareholder questions submitted to the annual general meeting based on last year's experience?
We expect that it'll take about an hour to answer the questions submitted.
Why was there no voluntary opportunity to ask questions during the virtual annual general meeting, as was the case with Beiersdorf AG or even Deutsche Bank? What additional costs would this have entailed?
Well, we had good experience with the structure of answering the questions last year. The general dialogue with the investors and the numbers of questions from previous years did not give rise to any particular interest in expanding the questionnaire with further questions. In this respect, we have not decided also in view of the handling of other companies or an extension with the possibility of inquiries. With our service provider's technical solution, we offer an effective way to ask questions. We answer every single questions. We have therefore not considered the additional functionality you're asking for to be necessary. We do not have the additional costs because we have decided against such a structure.
Do you perhaps have the wrong service provider here?
In short, no. With ADEUS, we have one of the leading annual AGM service providers at our side.
The technical solution we offer is based on the standard of one of the major German service providers for the organization of annual general meetings.
Why, for example, did you not provide for the activation of the question function for questions at the AGM in the shareholders portal for approximately 15 minutes in order to save alleged additional costs? Do not answer this question with the excuse that there was no legal basis for this. It's the other way around. There is no law that would prevent you from doing so. What would you have to fear, since even the Deutsche Bank, which is more than worthy of criticism, was prepared to allow queries at the general meeting and this decision was not a mistake from today's point of view?
As I have explained to you, we are of the opinion that we can answer the question sufficiently in the given way and have therefore not considered this possibility either.
Why is the pre-population function only offered for yes and not for no when voting in the shareholders portal, as many other companies do, in order to remain neutral, even on the premise that most shareholders will probably vote yes?
The system used is a common solution for general meetings, for annual general meetings. We have found this to be good in terms of user-friendliness in the interest of shareholders.
Why do you invite to a virtual general meeting again after Deutsche Telekom? A much larger company had already invited to presence general meeting on 7th of April 2022. Did you even consider presence general meeting?
Yes.
The company has decided to hold another virtual annual general meeting this year. The reason for this was the corona-related uncertainty regarding the feasibility of a presence AGM at the time of the decision. The chair of the meeting had informed you of the reasons at the beginning of the meeting.
Do you think that Deutsche Telekom did not comply with the protection of the parties involved, as is often used as a typical excuse? Please do not answer with the long lead times Telekom had these just as much.
We do not know the decision-making processes at Deutsche Telekom. We have complied with applicable legal provisions.
Why do you think a few hundred shareholders cannot meet for the company's annual general meeting in person, while at the same time hundred times more people are allowed to be close together and also not really outside in the football stadium?
The virtual general meeting opens up the same participation rights to every shareholders in a legally secure manner, irrespective of the pandemic events, and offers a reliable, legally secure model for the implementation.
Why is it that when using the shareholder portal, one is first forced to go to the page, receive invitation to the annual general meeting by e-mail, and is only shown the function continue without email registration in the bottom right-hand corner in order to actually get to the desired main page? What is the point of such bad sleight of hand to virtually trick the shareholders into agreeing to the emails being sent, even though this is not legally required at all? How many shareholders fell for this trick at this year's AGM and actually registered for it?
The system used is a common solution for annual general meetings.
Furthermore, we found it to be good in terms of user-friendliness. We cannot see any trickery or improper handling in it.
How many participants were dialed in at the beginning of the virtual general meeting, at the end of the board speech, and after the end of the voting? How many people were present at last year's virtual general meeting and the last general meeting in person?
It is in the nature of things that the third question can only be answered when the voting results are announced. Since there is no classical debate at the virtual general meeting, this question can also be answered at the end without any problems. Yeah. At the beginning of the annual general meeting, 42 participants were logged into the live stream. At the end of the board speech, 47 participants.
In comparison, approximately 75 participants were logged in to the live stream in 2021. The last presence annual general meeting took place in 2019. On this day, we welcomed 77 participants in Munich.
What conclusions did you draw from last year's annual general meeting?
Last year, we saw an efficient meeting with high decision majorities, and we also see a positive perception of the shareholders in this. In this respect, we have continued last year's format substantially in the same way this year.
To what extent have the executive board and the supervisory board already dealt with the draft for the future virtual general meeting?
We are monitoring the current debate on the draft law very closely in order to be able to make a decision based on it in due course.
As things stand at present, will you make use of this option?
Will you return to a purely classical general meeting to a so-called hybrid general meeting or to a purely virtual one?
As just explained, we are watching the current debate on the draft law very closely. However, we will not make a decision until later.
How high are the costs for the day of the virtual annual general meeting and the preliminary costs such as sending invitations, printing, et cetera, expected to be? And how are these broken down by the largest item?
The costs for this year's annual general meeting amount to a total of approximately EUR 200,000. The largest cost blocks are legal advice and notary fees, expenses for our AGM service provider, and event costs.
What time did you receive the last questions for the annual general meeting?
We received the last question from you at 9:55 P.M. on 28th of June 2022, Mr. Gaebler. The last questions came from you.
Thank you very much, Dirk. We have now answered 79 questions. Let's now turn to our final set of six questions on sustainability. How high was the directly attributable electricity consumption in gigawatt-hours or terawatt-hours and thereby on average the cost per kilowatt-hours, A, of the company and B, of the German subsidiaries in the past business year?
The total consumption of electricity from own procurement within the organization in 2020 was 1,122,608.9 kWh. The figure refers to the company's ImmobilienScout GmbH, Scout24 SE, and FlowFact GmbH.
In addition, electricity consumption was incurred for the data center in Munich used until the end of 2020. The average price per kWh was EUR 0.24.
By how much have your electricity costs increased from the 1st of January 2022? Or to what extent and for how long have you hedged energy prices? What additional financial burden will this result in for you for A and B in the current business year? If electricity consumption remains the same, how will you compensate for this?
Assuming that energy consumption remains constant, we assume a cost increase of about 25% in 2022 compared to 2021. As different contracts with different terms currently exist in different companies, we answer your questions with the above estimate due to the complex data situation.
The majority of our contracts are concluded until the 31st of December 2022.
What is the energy intensity in kilowatt-hours per euro of turnover in directly or estimated attributable electricity consumption? What is the target value? Within what future periods do you plan on real savings effects, or is it to be feared that savings in energy consumption will be neutralized by rising prices?
We currently measure the energy intensity in kilowatt-hours per number of employees. In 2020, an average of 751 employees in German locations of Scout24 SE, ImmobilienScout GmbH, and FlowFact GmbH were employed, resulting in an energy intensity of 5,389 kWh per employee. The value has thus fallen by 90% compared to the previous year. Our current strategic goals relate in particular to the avoidance and reduction of CO₂ emissions.
For example, through increased energy efficiency and the use of renewable energies, our goal is to achieve real savings.
By when will you achieve climate neutrality, A, in Germany and B, throughout the group? What are the main costs associated with this?
In the year 2020, the climate strategy was defined with the goal of becoming CO₂ neutral by the end of 2025. This referred to the sites Berlin, Munich, and Cologne. Since the start of the climate strategy, we have already been able to reduce CO₂ emissions for these three locations by around 60%. By the beginning of 2023, Scout24 will include two more locations, Hamburg and Vienna, in the climate balance and define an adjusted climate strategy target based on the updated data situation. Corresponding costs can only be derived subsequently.
The definition will take into account new scientific findings such as the net zero approach.
How large is the fleet of company cars in Germany alone? How many vehicles are there? A, with a list price of more than EUR 100,000? B, with a power output of more than 190 kW? That is more than 300 BHP . How high is the proportion of purely EV vehicles without hybrids?
Scout24 SE currently operates a fleet of 63 vehicles. Four vehicles, whose contracts will soon expire, are operated with diesel engines. Their kilowatt values are well below 190. 59 vehicles are operated purely electrically with outputs between $340,000 and $360,000 . No vehicle has a gross list price above EUR 100,000.
The last question: How is the company actually doing in terms of sustainability?
Scout24 SE has established sustainability governance in the company, which ensures that the sustainability strategy is operationalized and the regulatory reporting and disclosure obligations are fulfilled. This is evidenced, among other things, by Sustainalytics ESG rating, which places Scout24 SE in the low-risk range with a score of 14.1 and thus robust against ESG risk. We believe that we are on a very good path in terms of sustainability.
Thank you very much to all three for answering the questions, and I'm passing the floor back to the chair.
Thank you. Thank you, Alena. Thanks for those precise questions, for asking those questions so precisely in this hour. This brings us to the end of answering your questions.
I would like to thank the shareholders and shareholder representatives for their questions, and I would like to thank the board of directors for their careful and comprehensive answers, and I would like to thank you for your attention. I have answered questions concerning our supervisory board. As Chairman, I assume that the board of directors will adopt what I have said. Is that the case? Okay. They are all nodding. The gentlemen are all nodding, and I see uniform agreement on this. I would now like to inform you that we will shortly close the possibility to cast postal votes and to issue proxies and instructions via the online service.
If you still wish to use the online service to cast, change, or revoke postal votes or to issue, change, or revoke proxies and instruction to the proxies of the company, you will only have the last opportunity to do so via the company's online service on the internet until immediately before voting begins here on-site by the proxies of the company. I repeat once again, the possibility to cast postal votes and to issue proxies and instructions via the online service will be closed soon. Ladies and gentlemen, we now come to the resolutions. I now call for a vote on the proposed resolutions on agenda items three to eight, as announced in the convening notice, as well as the adjusted proposed resolution on agenda item two. You have already been informed of this adjustment in principle in the invitation.
According to our bylaws, it is my responsibility as Chairman of the meeting to determine the method of voting. I will have a vote on all of the administration-proposed resolutions, put the vote using the addition methods. The yes and no votes will be counted separately, and the number of votes cast will be determined by addition. Abstentions will not be counted and therefore have no influence on the result of the vote. As shareholders are represented at the meeting exclusively by the proxies nominated by the company, the voting is carried out exclusively by means of signing the voting instructions previously deposited in the IT systems by the proxies nominated by the company. For each proposed resolution to be voted on, the voting instruction list indicates the number of shares for which the proxies have been instructed to vote in favor or against.
By signing the proxy card, the proxy appointed by the company declares that he or she will vote in accordance with the voting instruction. The authorization is made by signing the voting instruction form. The postal votes received by the company are deposited electronically and are taken into account by the computer system when counting the vote. This means that the yes and no votes received by postal vote are added to the yes and no votes of the proxies. The Notary Public, Professor Dr. Wicke, has satisfied himself of the regularity of the IT, the computer system recording the votes cast, and will supervise the counting of votes. Resolutions on agenda items two to six shall be passed by a simple majority of the valid votes cast.
The resolution on agenda item seven, that is the authorization to acquire and use treasury shares and to exclude the subscription and tender rights, requires a majority of at least 3/4 of the valid votes cast. The resolution on agenda item eight, that is on the amendment of Article 18 of the Articles of Association and the remuneration of the members of the supervisory board, requires a simple majority of the valid votes cast, provided that at least half of the share capital is represented when the resolution is adopted. If less than half of the share capital is represented at the resolution, the resolution on agenda item eight requires a majority of 2/3 of the valid votes cast. According to our Articles of Association, each no-par share grants one vote.
According to the German Stock Corporation Act, executive board and supervisory board members may not vote for themselves or for another person in the resolution or their own discharge, and nor may they be represented. The executive board and supervisory board members were informed about this exclusion of voting rights in the discharge votes concerning them. It is technically ensured that the announced exclusions of voting rights are observed. The full text of the administration's proposed resolution on agenda items two to eight, published in the Federal Gazette, can be found in the convening notice, including the announcement of an adjustment to the proposed resolution on agenda item two. The proposed resolutions on agenda items three to eight will be put to the vote as they were announced in the Federal Gazette on the 18th of May, 2022, with the convening of today's annual general meeting.
I will deal with the adjustment to agenda item two in a moment. I will now call up the items on the agenda and the proposed resolutions made by the administration. Agenda item one: presentation of annual accounts, etc. For this item one, no vote is required on agenda item one, the presentation of the accounts. Agenda item two: resolution on the appropriation of the net retained profits of Scout24 SE for the financial year 2021. Item two refers to the proposal of the management proposal for the appropriation of the balance sheet profit. As already announced in the convening notice published in the Federal Gazette, the executive board and the supervisory board submitted a correspondingly adjusted proposal for resolution on the appropriation of profits due to the ongoing share buyback and the reduced number of shares entitled to the dividends in the meantime.
Accordingly, the executive board and the supervisory board propose to resolve as follows: the retained earnings in the financial year 2021 and reported in the financial statement as at 31st December 2022. Those earnings of EUR 1,602,742,602.64 shall be appropriated as follows: distribution of a dividend with a total amount of EUR 66,309,980.35. This corresponds to a dividend of EUR 0.85 per no-par-value share entitled to dividend for the past financial year 2021. Transfer to other revenue reserves, EUR 741,632.25.
Profit carried forward, EUR 1,535,609,817.04. Since we need an even cent amount for the dividend per share, the arithmetically non-distributable balance of EUR 741,632.25 is to be transferred to retained earnings.
Adding this balance to the adjusted distribution amount of EUR 66,391,180.55. This gives the original proposed distribution amount of EUR 67,132,812.60. The adjusted resolution proposal can also be found on the website of Scout24 SE. Currently, the company holds 2,092,729 treasury shares, making 78,107,271 shares of the company entitled to dividends. Agenda item three resolution on the discharge of the members of the executive board for the financial year 2021.
Under item three of the agenda, the executive board and the supervisory board propose that the actions of the members of the executive board in office in the 2021 financial year be approved for this period. This applies to the respective mandate as a member of the executive b oard of the SE, as well as a member of the executive board of the AG. Agenda item four, resolution on the discharge of the members of the supervisory board for the financial year 2021. Under item four of the agenda, the executive board and the supervisory board propose that the actions of the members of the supervisory board holding office in the 2021 financial year be approved for this period. Again, this applies both to the respective mandate as a member of the supervisory board of the SE and a member of the supervisory board of the AG.
Agenda item five: resolution on the appointment of the auditors. The supervisory board proposes under agenda item five, based on the recommendation of the audit committee to appoint KPMG AG as auditors of the annual financial statements and the consolidated financial statements for the financial year 2022, as well as for a possible audit review of the condensed financial statements and the interim management report in the financial years 2022 and 2023, as well as for a possible audit review of interim financial information in the financial years 2022 and 2023 in each case until the next annual general meeting. Agenda item six: resolution on the approval of the remuneration report.
Under agenda item six, the executive board and the supervisory board propose to approve the report prepared for the first time for the 2021 financial year on the remuneration granted and owed to each individual current or former member of the executive board and the supervisory board in the last financial year. This remuneration report and the auditor's report are reproduced in the convening notice following the agenda under Annex 1. I have already explained the main topics of the remuneration report to you during the meeting. Agenda item seven: resolution on the authorization to acquire and use own shares and to exclude subscription and tender rights. Under agenda item seven, the executive board and supervisory board propose to prematurely renew the authorization to acquire and use treasury shares resolved by the annual general meeting on 8th July 2021, as it has already been partially utilized.
Our Chief Financial Officer, Dr. Schmelzer, has already explained the details of this to you. In addition, a written report by the executive board on the exclusion of subscription rights in the use of treasury shares is reproduced in the convening notice following the agenda under Annex 2. Agenda item eight: resolution on the amendment of Section 13 of the Articles of Association and the remuneration of the members of the supervisory board. Under Agenda item eight, the executive board and the supervisory board propose to adjust the remuneration of the supervisory board members, which was last amended in 2018, and to amend Section 13 of the Articles of Association, or Article 13 of the Articles of Association and the remuneration system underlying the supervisory board remuneration of this purpose. I've already explained the background and structure of the proposed amendment to you.
The amended Article 13 of the Articles of Association and the system for the remuneration of the supervisory board members, on which the provision of the Articles of Association are based, are reproduced in Annex 3 of the convening notice following the agenda. That was the last item on the agenda for this year. This concludes the brief presentation of the agenda with the associated proposed resolutions of the administration or the management. We can now proceed to the vote. Ladies and gentlemen, it is now 12:36 P.M. on my watch. I am setting the closing time for the opportunity to cast postal votes and to issue proxies and instructions via the online service for 12:46 P.M. Only until then you will have the last opportunity to participate in the voting.
I repeat once again, after 12:46 P.M., the possibility to cast postal votes and to issue proxies and instructions in the online service will be closed. I therefore ask you now for the last time if you have not already done so, and if you wish to do so, to cast your postal votes in the online service or to issue your power of attorney and instructions to the proxies appointed by the company. In addition, you may now also change or revoke your postal votes for the last time, or change or revoke your proxy and instructions to the proxies appointed by the company. If you still want to cast, change, or revoke your yes or no votes or abstentions in the postal vote now, you must make the desired selection in the online service using the online dialogue.
Please proceed accordingly if you still wish to grant, change or revoke power of attorney and instructions to the proxies of the company. The possibility to cast, change or revoke votes by postal vote and to grant, change or revoke proxies and instructions to the proxies of the company will, as already mentioned, be closed at 12:46 P.M. I will read out the presence at the time of the end of the opportunity to vote before the results. I therefore note that all shareholders and shareholder representatives have been informed several times now that the closing of the possibility to cast postal votes and to issue proxies and instructions via the online service is imminent, and that at 12:46 P.M. the possibility to cast, change or revoke postal votes or to issue, change or revoke proxies and instructions to the proxies of the company via the online service will end.
I ask the Notary Public, Professor Dr. Wicke, to make a note. Ladies and gentlemen, it is now 12:47 P.M. on my watch. At 12:46 P.M., as announced, for the shareholders and their proxies, the possibility ended in the online service to cast votes by postal vote or to change or revoke them, or to give instructions, and authority to the proxies of the company. The technical department considered that. I now ask the Notary Public, Professor Dr. Wicke, to note this. I hereby open the voting and ask the proxies of the company to sign the voting instructions. Very good. I see that the proxies of the company have approved the voting instructions and therefore I close the voting. I ask that the votes now be counted and the results of the voting be determined.
The counting will be supervised by Notary Public Professor Dr. Wicke. The determination of the voting results will take a few minutes. Until then, we will take a short break. After the results of the voting have been determined, I will close the annual general meeting.
Ladies and gentlemen, I have now the voting results for agenda items two to eight. I also have the presence of the numbers of votes cast at the time of the end of the opportunity to vote. I have from the capital amounting to EUR 80,200,000 separated in respectively the shares 55,101,531 shares represented with as many votes. This corresponds to 68.7% of the registered capital. We have received postal votes for 253,599 shares. Altogether, we have votes from 55,355,130 shares. This corresponds to 69.02% of the registered capital. I will now determine the voting results for each resolution.
The results will be available on the company's website following today's annual general meeting. The result for item two of the agenda, I announce that, considering 55,305,141 shares, valid votes have been cast. This corresponds to 68.9% of the capital. 55,181,425 votes. This corresponds to 97.97% and 1,200,716 votes. These are 2.1%. The resolution for item two of the agenda for the business year 2021, the appropriation of profits announced in the Federal Gazette on 20th of May.
This item has been adopted consequently for the year 2021 and this profit amounting to EUR 1,602,772,624, an amount of EUR 66,391,180.35. This will be used for the shares. An amount of EUR 741,632.25 will be used, and the remaining amount amounting to EUR 1,535,609,817.04 will be used accordingly. Regarding item three of the agenda, discharge of the member of the management board.
Votes have been cast for 5,521,659.9. This corresponds to 68.85% of the capital. 55,212,378 yes votes. This corresponds to 99.9% and 4,221 no votes. This corresponds to 0.01%. Regarding item three of the agenda, discharge of the members of the management board for the business year for the financial year 2021. This has been adopted as announced in the Federal Gazette of 28th of May. This has been adopted with the necessary majority. Vote on item three of the agenda. 55,223,047 votes have been cast.
This corresponds to 68.86% of the capital. 49,294,152 yes votes. This corresponds to 87.62% and 5,928,895 votes. This corresponds to more than 10%. Regarding item four of the agenda, discharge of the members of the supervisory board. This proposal has been passed as announced in the Federal Gazette on the 18th of May. The proposal passes with the necessary majority. Result regarding item five of the agenda, appointment of the auditor. 55,259,909 shares have been represented. This corresponds to 68.9% of the capital.
98.5% yes votes and 1.5% no votes regarding item five of the agenda. Appointment of the auditor for the business year 2022 and for necessary checks and intermediate report for the business years 2022 and 2023 and additional interim financial information for the business year 2022 and 2023. This proposal for the supervisory board, as announced in Federal Gazette on the 20th of May, this has been passed with the necessary majority. Regarding item six of the agenda, I notice and announce that 52,103,400 shares. For this amount of shares, valid votes have been cast. This corresponds to 64.97% of the shares.
We have received 77.88% of yes votes and 11,527,000 no votes. This corresponds to 22.12%. The AGM regarding item six, approval of the remuneration report, as announced in the... This proposal has been passed with the necessary majority. Result regarding item seven of the agenda. I notice and announce that votes for 55,102,732 valid votes have been cast. This corresponds to 68.71% of the registered capital. 49,981,867 yes votes. This corresponds to 90.71% of yes votes and 5,120,865 no votes. This corresponds to 0.29%. Regarding item seven of the agenda: authorization to purchase and use treasury shares. This proposal of the supervisory board and the executive board, as announced in the Federal Gazette on the 28th of May, this proposal has been adopted with the necessary majority. Now I'm getting to the last item of the agenda. Item eight of the agenda. I do announce that the vote resulted in the following: 55,299,852 shares. This corresponds to 68.95% of the registered capital. 549,346,000 yes votes and 0.66% no votes. Regarding item eight of the agenda: amendment of Article 13 of the Articles of Association and compensation of the members of the supervisory board.
This proposal of the supervisory board and executive board, as announced in the Federal Gazette on the 20th of May, passes with the necessary majority. Ladies and gentlemen, that concludes the agenda, and we come to the end of this annual general meeting in virtual form. I would like to take this opportunity to once again thank all the employees for their commitment to our group, to our society. I would also like to express my special thanks to those who have been involved in the preparation and implementation of this virtual annual general meeting and who have contributed to its proper execution. I would like to thank you, ladies and gentlemen, for the interest and the trust you have shown in our company, and I do hope to welcome you again next year at the annual general meeting.
I wish you all the best, and please take care and stay healthy so that we see each other again next year. This concludes the annual general meeting of Scout24 SE. Goodbye.