Sehr geehrte Aktionärinnen und Aktionäre, meine Damen und Herren, hiermit eröffne ich die 24th Hauptversammlung der thyssenkrupp AG. Mein Name ist Siegfried Russwurm. Ich bin Aufsichtsratsvorsitzender der thyssenkrupp AG und in dieser Funktion der heutige Versammlungsleiter. Im Namen des Aufsichtsrats und des Vorstands der thyssenkrupp AG begrüße ich Sie zur heutigen Hauptversammlung und heiße Sie herzlich willkommen. Meine Damen und Herren, im vergangenen Jahr hat der deutsche Gesetzgeber das virtuelle Hauptversammlungsformat als vollwertige Alternative zur Präsenzhauptversammlung dauerhaft im Aktiengesetz verankert. Das neue virtuelle Format wahrt dabei umfassend Ihre Rechte als Aktionäre, indem es sich weitgehend an das bekannte Präsenzformat anlehnt. So wird beispielsweise durch die Zulassung von Redebeiträgen und Fragen in der Versammlung wieder die Möglichkeit eines direkten Dialogs zwischen Verwaltung und Aktionären geschaffen. Für die heutige Hauptversammlung hat der Vorstand mit Zustimmung des Aufsichtsrats das neue virtuelle Format auf Basis der entsprechenden gesetzlichen Übergangsregelungen gewählt.
Die Entscheidung über das Format der heutigen Versammlung und damit für eine virtuelle Hauptversammlung ist uns dabei nicht leicht gefallen. Zum Zeitpunkt der Entscheidung war der rechtliche Umgang damit infolge eines unklaren Verlaufs der Corona-Pandemie noch von Unsicherheiten geprägt. Wie viele andere Unternehmen haben wir uns daher für die sichere Option entschieden. Auch leistet thyssenkrupp mit der heutigen virtuellen Hauptversammlung einen bewussten Beitrag zur Energieeinsparung. Auch wenn die Hauptversammlung dieses Jahr somit erneut virtuell abgehalten wird, weicht das diesjährige neue Format deutlich von der bisher bekannten virtuellen Hauptversammlung der vergangenen Jahre nach dem COVID-19-Maßnahmengesetz ab. Für die heutige Hauptversammlung vorgesehen, dass Aktionäre und deren Bevollmächtigte sich über das Investorportal während der Hauptversammlung zu Wort melden können. Nach erfolgter Wortmeldung können Sie im weiteren Verlauf der Versammlung live per Videoübertragung in der Hauptversammlung reden, sowie Anträge, Wahlvorschläge und Fragen stellen.
Um uns auch weiterhin die Möglichkeit zur Durchführung virtueller Hauptversammlungen offenzuhalten, schlagen Vorstand und Aufsichtsrat unter Top 8 der heutigen Tagesordnung vor, eine auf 2 Jahre befristete Ermächtigung zur Durchführung virtueller Hauptversammlungen in die Satzung aufzunehmen. Hierzu bitten wir Sie um Ihre Zustimmung. So können wir auch in Zukunft eine sichere und rechtzeitige Durchführung der Hauptversammlung unabhängig von äußeren Einflüssen sicherstellen. Ich möchte in diesem Zusammenhang ausdrücklich betonen, dass eine solche Satzungsänderung die Durchführung einer Präsenzhauptversammlung freilich nicht ausschließt. Vielmehr wird der Vorstand seine Entscheidung über das passende Format künftiger Hauptversammlungen stets nach sachlichen Kriterien treffen, beispielsweise nach der jeweiligen Tagesordnung, äußeren Umständen und Erfahrungswerten vorausgegangener Versammlungen. Sofern sich der Vorstand für das virtuelle Format entscheidet, kommt auch dann der Wahrung der Aktionärsrechte eine zentrale Rolle zu. Hiervon haben sich Vorstand und Aufsichtsrat auch für die heutige Hauptversammlung leiten lassen.
Als Versammlungsleiter habe ich daher entsprechend Paragraf 131 Absatz 1 f Aktiengesetz festgelegt, dass auch das Auskunftsrecht der Aktionäre sowie das Nachfragerecht nach Paragraf 131 Absatz 1 d Aktiengesetz und das Fragerecht nach Paragraf 131 Absatz 1 e Aktiengesetz ausschließlich im Wege der Videokommunikation und damit als Teil eines Redebeitrags ausgeübt werden dürfen. Das erleichtert anderen Aktionären, zusammenhängend alle Redebeiträge, Fragen und deren Beantwortung durch die Videoübertragung der Versammlung zu verfolgen. Der Vorstand und ich werden dann die von Ihnen gestellten Fragen beantworten. Sollten sich aus der Beantwortung einer Frage noch Nachfragen ergeben, können diese wiederum von jedem Aktionär über eine Wortmeldung gestellt werden. Zur Unterstützung Ihrer Vorbereitung auf die heutige Versammlung hat die Gesellschaft bereits am vergangenen Montag das Manuskript der heutigen Rede von Frau Merz und von meiner eigenen Rede auf der Internetseite der Gesellschaft veröffentlicht, sodass Sie auch gezielte Fragen zu unseren Ausführungen stellen können.
Ich freue mich darauf, einige von Ihnen gleich virtuell in der Hauptversammlung zu begrüßen. Heute im thyssenkrupp-Quartier anwesend sind alle Vorstandsmitglieder sowie mit Ausnahme von Frau Friederike Helfer alle Aufsichtsratsmitglieder, die ich hiermit herzlich begrüße. Frau Helfer lässt sich entschuldigen, dass sie aus gesundheitlichen Gründen heute nicht hier vor Ort in Essen teilnehmen kann. Ich wünsche ihr an dieser Stelle eine gute Genesung. Auf dem Podium sitzen neben meiner Person noch die Mitglieder des Vorstands und der Notar. Die übrigen Mitglieder des Aufsichtsrats sitzen im Versammlungssaal rechts neben dem Podium. Zu den Anwesenden sind noch die beiden Stimmrechtsvertreter der Gesellschaft sowie einige Mitarbeiter von Partnern der thyssenkrupp AG, die die ordnungsgemäße Durchführung der Hauptversammlung sicherstellen und technisch betreuen. Wie in den Vorjahren wird Herr Notar Dr. Irreger die Niederschrift der heutigen Hauptversammlung erstellen.
Meine Damen und Herren, kommen wir zunächst zu einigen notwendigen Regularien und Hinweisen zum Ablauf der virtuellen Hauptversammlung. Die gesamte Hauptversammlung wird für ordnungsgemäß angemeldete Aktionäre und ihre Bevollmächtigten live in Bild und Ton im internetgestützten Investorportal der thyssenkrupp AG übertragen, das über die Internetseite der Gesellschaft zugänglich ist. Außerdem habe ich als Versammlungsleiter gemäß Paragraph 18, Absatz 3 unserer Satzung angeordnet, die heutige Hauptversammlung auch für die interessierte Öffentlichkeit vollständig in Bild und Ton im Internet zu übertragen. Sie kann daher von jedermann uneingeschränkt verfolgt werden. Die Hauptversammlung wird zudem simultan in die englische Sprache übersetzt. Die entsprechende Spracheinstellung kann auf der Internetseite ausgewählt werden. Mitteilung der Live-Übertragung der Hauptversammlung sind nicht gestattet. Die Eröffnung der Hauptversammlung, die Rede der Vorstandsvorsitzenden und der Bericht des Aufsichtsratsvorsitzenden werden aufgezeichnet und stehen später als Aufzeichnung auf der Internetseite der Gesellschaft zur Verfügung.
Die Einberufung der heutigen Hauptversammlung mit der Tagesordnung und den Vorschlägen der Verwaltung zur Beschlussfassung sowie den Zusatzinformationen für Aktionäre ist form- und fristgerecht im Bundesanzeiger vom 22nd December 2022 bekannt gemacht und zudem europaweit verbreitet worden. Durch ein Versehen des Bundesanzeigers wurde eine redaktionelle Änderung zur Erläuterung der dargestellten Lebensläufe der zur Wahl in den Aufsichtsrat vorgeschlagenen Kandidaten nicht richtig übernommen. Es erfolgte am 23rd December 2022 noch eine Korrekturmeldung allein für diese zusätzlichen Informationen. Die Einberufung selbst, wie auch die inhaltlichen Informationen der dargestellten Lebensläufe waren von dieser rein redaktionellen Aktualisierung nicht betroffen. Gleichzeitig mit der Verbreitung der Einberufung am 22nd December 2022 wurden diese und die weiteren vorzulegenden Unterlagen im Internet unter https://www.thyssenkrupp.com/de/investoren/hauptversammlung zugänglich gemacht, wo sie auch heute während der Hauptversammlung abrufbar sind. Sie liegen auch hier im Versammlungsraum vor.
Ferner hat die Gesellschaft die Mitteilungen gemäß Paragraph 125 Aktiengesetz, dem im Gesetz genannten Empfängerkreis, also vor allem den Depotbanken und Aktionärsvereinigungen, fristgemäß übermittelt. Ich möchte darauf hinweisen, dass das Stimmrecht durch den Aktionär selbst oder einen von ihm bevollmächtigten Dritten für die heutige virtuelle Hauptversammlung auf zweierlei Weise ausgeübt werden kann: durch elektronische Briefwahl und durch Bevollmächtigung und Weisungsverteilung an die von der Gesellschaft benannten Stimmrechtsvertreter. Dabei war die Abstimmung per elektronischer Briefwahl und die Bevollmächtigung der Stimmrechtsvertreter beziehungsweise eines Dritten auch bereits im Vorfeld der Versammlung über das internetgestützte Investorportal möglich. Bis zur Schließung der Abstimmung kann die Bevollmächtigung und Stimmrechtsausübung auch noch während der heutigen Hauptversammlung über das Investorportal erfolgen oder eine bereits erfolgte Stimmrechtsausübung abgeändert werden. Das Stimmrecht nur. I would like to inform you that these proxies can only vote because of the authorization they have.
There will be no additional motions during this AGM. For any motion you can represented by a proxy. The shareholders who have carried out their right of vote can change their vote at any moment during this AGM. Any objection will be sent directly to the notary. Before we close the AGM, I will indicate this information again to you. I ask you that you will not wait until the end to introduce your objection because it takes also some time. The notary will supervise the voting and also the technical installation. Also the functioning of the system to introduce any objections. In advance of this AGM, the shareholders had the option until the 28th of January to introduce their motions and their opinions.
We had three opinions from the shareholders and until the 29th of January we had them published on our Internet site. Any indication about the agenda of this AGM we have got also.
Any indications on our portal available on our site. Ladies and gentlemen, before I will inform you about the work we have carried out in the Supervisory Board, I would like to begin by taking a brief look back at the past year. It was the third consecutive year of uncertainty about how the coronavirus pandemic would pan out. In addition, thyssenkrupp was also hit by the war in Ukraine and all its repercussions for economic life. This war at the heart of Europe is causing untold suffering for million people in Ukraine. It is also having a negative impact on public, private, and economic life throughout Europe. Energy and raw materials markets have been significantly disrupted, while there is also a temporary question mark over supply security worldwide, but also in Germany.
The executive board reacted resolutely to this situation, establishing a task force for the group, and has reported regularly to the Supervisory Board on the operational effects of the war in Ukraine on the company's businesses. However, this also impacts the company's strategic further development. The spin-off of the steel business had to be shelved for the time. The difficult situation on the capital markets was the main reason why the planned potential IPO of thyssenkrupp nucera was postponed. Nevertheless, the executive board continued thyssenkrupp's transformation towards a group of companies. A key element of that is to focus on the operating performance of individual businesses and their respective development potential that is flanked by a strategic portfolio management. That includes the previously mentioned potential IPO of thyssenkrupp nucera as part of the strategic alignment of the Multi Tracks segment.
We are also still working to develop strategic options for spinning off the Steel Europe and Marine Systems businesses. More progress has also been made in changing our work organization through the implementation of further unavoidable restructuring measures and by strengthening the performance culture. We on the Supervisory Board have closely followed the successive reorganization and implementation of these transformation process. We receive regular reports on the progress made at meetings of the Supervisory Board, and we discuss the current status with the Executive Boards on the basis of these reports. There's also progress in the company's green transformation. thyssenkrupp nucera, with its solution for hydrogen, producing green electricity, has established itself as a global leader, as has the new Uhde as a supplier of complete plants for hydrogen, ammonia, and green chemicals.
Large orders from global investors are the proof, and the challenges of successful and profitable handling of these orders round out our efforts to improve operational performance. Decarbonization of our own operations is a focal task for all our businesses. For the steel sector, in particular, moving away from the blast furnace route, which has been optimized literally for centuries. This is a Herculean task. All competitors in Germany concur that no steel company will be able to achieve that without government support. A key and very focused step on the way to decarbonize the company will be the investment in the building, in building the first direct reduction plant in the steel business for a carbon-free steel production. This decision that is not easy to justify commercially despite considerable government funding. These developments also lead last year to a further change in how thyssenkrupp is perceived.
The company has become greener and, with its technologies, is increasingly seen worldwide as a vital factor in accomplishing the green transformation.
Ladies and gentlemen, let me sum this up. thyssenkrupp is on the right path. The process of transformation into a group of companies continues, and there is no alternative to that. The restructuring was slowed down by the impacts of the war in Ukraine. This is regrettable, but a consequence that is beyond our control and results from the geopolitical upheavals we are all currently witnessing. However, I know that even in a phase when the capital markets are wary about structural changes, management is committed to pushing ahead with the company's transformation.
Ladies and gentlemen, now, dear Mrs. Merz, I ask you for your report.
Good morning, dear shareholders, ladies and gentlemen. I would like to welcome you very warmly from our thyssenkrupp quarter in Essen to this year's annual general meeting, also on behalf of my Executive Board colleagues, Klaus Keysberg and Oliver Burkhard. Ladies and gentlemen, an exceptional year lies behind us too, for the world as a whole and also for thyssenkrupp's businesses. Our key questions today is whether and how we have made progress with our transformation despite everything. The answer is yes, we have. Quickly enough? No. Could we have been quicker? Not significantly. Are we self-satisfied? No. Why is that? The pandemic has lost some of its fear factor. Flexible working from home is part of the new normal. However, other impacts are still with us.
The restrictions on travel to China, for example, make cooperation more difficult. Disruptions to supply chains remain a big burden. The war in Europe, however, the biggest war movement is the horrific war in Ukraine. This war and the ensuing energy crisis have dramatically highlighted how fragile our global security architecture is, and how greatly we in Germany are dependent on energy imports. Geopolitical tensions are on the rise, especially with the countries ruled by autocrats. All that has repercussions. Inflation and recession. Inflation has soared to unimagined heights in many countries. Recession fears are the consequences. Central banks have raised interest significantly. The prospects for 2023 were very bleak up to a few weeks ago. No one can at present reliably estimate how big a strain that will put on private households, society, and also companies.
The capital markets are reacted to this multiple crisis with extreme nervousness and caution. Uncertainties are rescinding only slowly, if at all. In light of these developments, we are now faced with very mixed views about the state of the global economy.
Well, the upshot is that planning for lengthy uncertainties and building resilience will remain crucial while the world searches for signs of new equilibrium. The environment for our businesses could therefore hardly have been or be more challenging. Nevertheless, in this exceptional year, we have once again succeeded in making gradual advances in the transformation we've initiated. Let me therefore start by taking stock of the situation. Where does the group stand three years after the transformation was launched? After that, I would like to look ahead. How does the change process continue in a difficult environment that will also be characterized by fiercer and fiercer competition? Third, I wish to discuss how thyssenkrupp's businesses can make the most of the opportunities the green transformation harbors. I can already say to you now that we're very proud to be playing a major role in this disruptive development.
Let's start by looking back. Three years ago, we set about transforming thyssenkrupp fundamentally from an integrated industrial corporation into a group of largely independent, efficient tech enterprises. At the start of this transformation, we said that the process would take at least three years. During these three years, the difficult environment has exacted a pretty heavy toll on us, and that did slow us down, but it did not stop us. We can already say now that the path that we have embarked upon is the right one. Overall, the group achieved adjusted EBIT of over EUR 2 billion in the past fiscal year, excluding the elevator business market. This was the highest operating profit since 2008. Yes, and we certainly benefited from the tailwind at Material Services and Steel Europe.
We're proposing to pay a dividend again for the first time in 4 years. Let us briefly call our starting position. 3 years ago, the company was in an exceedingly difficult situation. It had a weak balance sheet. We were heavily indebted. The business' operating performance was unsatisfactory. We regained our ability to act by selling the elevator business. We tackled our weaknesses step by step. We initiated and implemented overdue restructuring measures. We reduced debt, cleaned up the balance sheet, and thus significantly strengthened it overall. The progress can be seen in the figures. Instead of high debt, we now have a net financial assets in the EUR billions. Our equity ratio at the end of September was almost 40%. That is comfortable.
Apart from working to improve our operating performance, we have also invested strongly in the business' future, in research and development, in green technologies, and above all, in more efficient plant and growth. Despite everything, in spite of everything, we've invested in excess of our write-downs over the last three years, even in difficult times when the coronavirus and disrupted supply chains put a heavy strain on our liquidity. As you can see, we're setting store by the outstanding capabilities of our businesses. The very fact that we have worked intensively on the foundations of the realignment has had another positive effect. We have gained a much clearer view of the portfolio. How do the businesses stand? How can we develop them in the group? Also, where is thyssenkrupp not, or perhaps not alone, the best owner?
As a consequence, we have continued to work on reorganizing our structure in line with the management model of a decentralized group of companies. We overhauled our portfolio, particularly in the Multi Tracks segment. As agreed with the co-determination partners, we closed our loss-making heavy plate business in steel. We found new best owners for the stainless business infrastructure, mining, and carbon companies. thyssenkrupp nucera, our water electrolysis business, is ready for the capital market and further growth. In plant engineering, we're developing Uhde in particular, in the direction of green technologies. Ammonia, for example, will be one of the key technologies for storing and transporting green hydrogen, and we are focusing Uhde on such technologies. The bottom line is this: specialization and focus have also unleashed entrepreneurial forces at Uhde, as an example.
Driven by market trends and also thanks to the great commitment of our employees there, Uhde is excellently positioned in the green chemical sector, a business with great future potential. I'll come back to this later. As you can see, creation of the Multi Tracks segment is a success story in itself. We have created significant value for you there due to the above-mentioned disposals, but also through promising opportunity-oriented development paths. The financial outlook in the whole segment is now far better than it was a year ago. However, the same goes for all segments of the group as for Multi Tracks. We work with each business to help it advance on its individual path. The strategies of the businesses are the strategy of the group. That's what we mean by transforming into a group of companies.
We can say that thyssenkrupp is enhancing performance, and thyssenkrupp is skilled at portfolio management, and that is our way forward, a path that will secure the future of the business and create value for you, our owners. We've also made progress in the restructuring process in the third pillar, our organization. We've further adapted the management model vis-à-vis the business units with our decentralized setup and placed businesses at the center of the group. We have made increasing their value the main task of the management teams in the segments. At the same time, we have streamlined our governance structures, and we can see the success of that streamlining in the shape of greater decisiveness, resolve, and speed on the market. That benefiting the businesses now in this challenging environment. The next steps here are to further adapt the group's overarching organizational structures to the management model.
The group's reorganization also includes the ongoing restructuring program, under which we intend to reduce the workforce by almost 13,000. More than 10,000 of these jobs have already been cut in a socially responsible way and in agreement with the co-determination partners. We're also hiring new employees in many future-oriented fields. Ideally, with inappropriate training. With appropriate training, they can even be transferred internally to new jobs elsewhere within the group, and the shortage of skilled workers calls for creative and, above all, flexible solutions here. One thing is certain: the businesses can only unfold their full potential if they have the right people on board to do that. In this respect, we're really well positioned at present with our qualified workforce and a great deal of expertise in our businesses. However, it is becoming increasingly difficult to attract and retain the right employees.
The labor market has long since shifted from being an employer's market and is now an employee's market, so times are changing here too. A strong employer brand, a good collective bargaining environment, and modern and flexible working time models, inspiring leadership, and also systematically strengthening employees' loyalty are more important than ever. Last but not least, the Generation Z is currently shaking up the economy, both in terms of their expectations and requirements, as well as customers, and in terms of their expectations of a different world of work. Answers are needed, and we're working on them from a good starting position.
Ladies and gentlemen, an honest overall picture also includes the fact that we have not yet accomplished everything we set out to do in the start of the change process in some areas owing to the above described environment. This applies, for example, to the independent positioning of the steel business and making it fit for the market. The plan for a standalone solution remains unchanged. The uncertain market environment and still unclear framework conditions for the green transformation are delaying viable decisions here. I will return to the subject in my outlook. With regard to thyssenkrupp nucera, we're also dependent on external factors, and IPO is still our preferred option. A decision on a potential transaction depends first and foremost on the situation on the stock markets. First candidates for flotations are already warming up for an IPO this year.
We will examine the situation very closely before making a decision. We feel no time pressure, and the business is developing well. Marine Systems is another business for which we are seeking a standalone solution. This progress we've made in enhancing operating performance and the changed security policy situation mean that Marine Systems is in a strong position. This allows us to address the issue carefully and conscientiously. Overall, you can see that we're in a fighting mode and are weighing up issues from the tactical strategic standpoint. We're acting to ensure a stable increase in value and our further development. We will not be forced into opting for second-best options. We are preparing ourselves and retaining our ability to act for the moment when opportunities arise and the capital markets permit portfolio measures.
With regard to our financial targets, we must admit that last year we didn't achieve everything we set out to do. Even with the significant improvement in operating and performance, free cash flow before M&A in the past fiscal year was far better than in the previous year, but still negative. We're doing everything in our power to achieve this goal in the current fiscal year, even though the environment still isn't easy. We'll stick systematically to the transformation path we have embarked upon. Our restructuring into a group company is an ongoing process. There is no alternative, as is evidenced in particular now in these times of crisis. In an environment that's undergoing considerable change, our businesses must retain their ability to act at all times. The best way to ensure that is if they can operate more independently and flexibly.
Ladies and gentlemen, despite these unresolved issues, we as the executive board team look to our transformation with great confidence. In three years, we have changed the group more than at any time since the merger of thyssenkrupp over 20 years ago. Our more than 96,000 strong workforce worldwide has reason to be proud of what we have achieved together. That is down to our joint efforts, and I would like to thank our employees sincerely for that, also on behalf of my two colleagues. Yes, we have demanded a great deal of our people in recent years, but these efforts mean we've also pulled through the crisis in a stable manner. We've built up our resilience and strength. We've become greener. We've strengthened our substance. Above all, decentralization has put the businesses in a much better position today to operate suitably and purposefully in an uncertain environment.
That is important because our businesses are highly specialized. Each segment faces different technological challenges. Each business must find its own individual answers to them. A decentralized management model is the foundation for that. That enables us to adapt much better to the diverse opportunities for our businesses' technologies, especially with a view to the green transformation. Not only that, both skills, dealing with challenges and seizing opportunities, will be vital moving ahead. The years ahead will bring all of us further major upheavals, great challenges, but also, of course, great opportunities. We currently see the most serious changes in the geopolitical environment. The war in Ukraine has called into question an international order that has been stable for decades, and the manifold issues in the relationship with China are also exerting pressure on global trade.
High energy prices are putting a burden on households and on companies. It is questionable whether energy-intensive industries, which are often at the beginning of a long value chain, can even produce competitively here in Germany anymore. There is a lot of talk these days about the danger of creeping deindustrialization. At the same time, companies all over the world face huge transformation tasks. The topic of digitization is omnipresent in industry. AI is entering the factory. Companies also need to finance in demographic change. The personnel situation is already worsening in many regions of the world, including right here in Germany. The greatest challenge for businesses and society, however, is to combat climate change and accomplish the green transformation which it demands. The energy crisis has once again significantly increased the pressures on us to take action.
The international community has decided to undertake all it can do to limit global warming, and we at thyssenkrupp also back the climate targets and will do our utmost to accelerate our own green transformation. The European Green Deal and US President Biden's $430 billion climate package, the Inflation Reduction Act, demonstrate the determination with which governments around the world are tackling this transformation. In Europe, work is currently underway on an industrial plan to further promote climate-friendly technologies here as well. That's good, because tomorrow's markets are being carved up now. The issues of energy security and decarbonization are changing the investment narrative in relation to the energy transition. The common task of policymakers, business, and society must therefore be to ensure that the green transformation succeeds without deindustrialization. That is particularly the case for Germany with its strong industrial base.
We must find ways to maintain Germany as an industrial location in order to secure future prosperity, social security, and social cohesion in our country. The German government also shares the view that the green transformation of industry can only succeed if policies and companies work together. Robert Habeck, the Federal Minister for Economic Affairs, has declared 2023 to be the year of industrial policy. Lawmakers want to support companies that take the lead in climate protection, and that's an important step in the right direction. After all, the transformation of industry to achieve climate neutrality will demand a great deal from us. It will be accompanied by serious challenges in production processes, supply chains, and trade routes.
It entails formidable investments and additional costs over many years, which will need a clear political framework, and in some areas will be able to be shouldered only with government funding.
That applies in particular to energy-intensive industries. The sharp fluctuation in energy prices, which have been rising sharply in the meantime, are calling existing value change into question. According to a survey conducted by the Federation of German Industries, in the fall, one in four companies is considering relocating parts of its production abroad to region with structurally lower energy prices. However, neither can we afford to subsidize energy prices permanently. In this context, therefore, there will also have to be a frank and honest discussion about which parts and elements of value change are indispensable for, or at least conductive to preserving industry and its innovativeness in Germany. We definitely won't be able to replace imports of fossil fuel with sun and wind from Germany alone. We will therefore remain dependent on energy imports in the future from regions that have better location condition, local condition.
We need to be courageous here and explore new avenues, for example, with energy partnerships that could possibly also be expanded into genuine deeper value-adding partnerships. The maxim in this situation is there are no taboos, and we need to be innovative, confident, and open. Long-term supply contracts for green hydrogen, for example, give producers of renewable energy and investors into such energy grids planning security. Partners in renewable importing countries like Germany can provide certainty that the enormous investments will pay off. Access to technologies that enable the climate-neutral transformation of the economy is a real asset here. In the United Arab Emirates, just over two weeks ago, on the Abu Dhabi Sustainability Week, we signed a memorandum of understanding on the construction of ammonia crackers, the basis for an efficient supply of green hydrogen.
We at thyssenkrupp can confidently say we are delighted that so much is happening in the green transformation, and above all, that we can be part of it. We in Germany will benefit from energy partnerships with other regions in the world. Last but not least, we can secure Germany's energy imports with renewable energies at low prices and diversify resourcing. Above all, however, such partnerships will enable us to accelerate the green transformation in Germany and obtain green hydrogen on the scale we need. At the same time, however, we must also create the conditions here in Germany for hydrogen to get it where it is needed. That's why we have joined forces with companies from various sectors in the Ruhr region to jointly formulate the framework conditions for a successful transformation. After all, it's pointless for everyone to go it alone. The transformation must be tackled systematically.
We are part of an industrial ecosystem that is working together to transform the region from the supply of hydrogen to the infrastructure to the customer. After all, large and stable customers are crucial for long-term investment decisions. Take, for example, the direct reduction plant with a melting unit we are tackling in Duisburg. It will be the biggest plant of its kind in Germany, with a capacity of 2.5 million tons of directly reduced iron. From the current perspective, supplying this plant with renewable energy and green hydrogen is a real challenge. Nevertheless, we are already getting this investment off the ground. The federal state of North Rhine Westphalia and the central government are on board.
We expect the EU Commission in Brussels to give the go-ahead for funding the first half of the year. With the plant and the innovative melting unit, we are breaking new technology ground and ensure that metallurgical know-how and processes expertise for a climate neutral steel production are retained and enhanced in Germany. Our big differentiator and advantage here is that the certifications of our steel grades are retained, and that's a genuine benefit for our customers too. This plant is also new territory for us from the commercial standpoint. After all, we are working with assumptions about energy and gas prices and the future costs of hydrogen, and of course cannot know at present whether the markets will actually move in that way. You have to be aware of that and bear that in mind. That is part of the truth.
Nevertheless, we are convinced that it's the right decision to build this plant now. We want to embark on direct reduction, and we want to do that now. Steel is the starting point, whether in the automotive industry, in mechanical and plant engineering, or in the construction sector. Steel is the number one industrial material. The German economy, with its many medium-sized companies, thrives on its strong industrial value change like no other. The rural region is in a new industrial ecosystem, and the steel processing here is at the center of a new unique network with countless customers, suppliers and partners. This ecosystem can be preserved only if decarbonization succeeds without deindustrialization, with green steel and green primary materials for our customers and our businesses. As the country's biggest steel producer, thyssenkrupp Steel bears a particular responsibility.
thyssenkrupp Steel is one of the world's technology leaders and boasts great strength, especially in close cooperation with our customers. We supply around 2,500 different steel grades in a reliable, consistent top quality with properties tailored precisely to our customers' application areas. That is why we have made pinpointed investments to strengthen processing with our Steel Strategy 2030. In Dortmund, for example, we have built a new EUR 250 million hot top coating line. Thanks to corrosion protection, we can produce particularly high grades for car bodies and household appliance here. In Bochum, we are investing EUR 250 million in new double reversing mill and an annealing and isolating line. They will allow us to produce even thinner and stronger steel in the future.
In Duisburg, we recently put a new walking beam furnace into operation. We use it to produce premium surfaces for the automotive industry. The turnaround in electrical steel and gasification makes us a major player in the energy transition. You can see steel is high tech and steel has a future. Green steel will be expensive, at least at the beginning. That is why it is so important that we create the framework conditions for the green transformation now. We need to have Border Adjustment Mechanism at the European level and need to be cushioned against higher operation costs through government support. thyssenkrupp Steel will be able to further accelerate the green transformation and secure the supply of high-tech steel production in Germany. Ladies and gentlemen, we are convinced that our steel businesses are viable in the future.
We thus remain confident that making the steel businesses fit for the capital market is the right approach. It is our conviction that a standalone solution offers better development prospects for the business. How the general condition in the dynamic environment, energy and raw material prices and the economical developer will now be crucial in that. We will then be able to make sound decisions on concrete form of spin-off. Dear shareholders, the green transformation, along with the further changes due to the multiple changes facing the economy, will lead to major upheavals in all areas of industry. All our businesses will be affected. All in all, we are talking about the largest renewal program facing companies in all sectors since the Industrial Revolution.
Despite, or maybe because of that, the fundamental renewal of our economy also opens up enormous opportunities for us as an industrial nation and industrialized nation if we tackle it correctly and systematically. Opportunities for the future areas of businesses, opportunities for sustainable commercial success, and opportunities to strengthen our competitive position. We want to seize these opportunities with our businesses. Since the beginning of the transformation, we have systematically focused all units on future areas that deliver sustainable development. In this respect, too, we are making good progress with the transformation. One example, a study by the European Patent Office on the volume of patent application in the field of hydrogen technologies, has just confirmed that the thyssenkrupp group is one of the top patent applicants in the Ruhr innovation cluster, with patents from thyssenkrupp nucera, from Uhde, and from Steel.
It's news like this that has led to significant change in how the thyssenkrupp is perceived in recent months. thyssenkrupp is now an acknowledged play, global player in many topics relating to the green transformation. Our position in the world markets has changed significantly. We are extremely proud of that. We feel that in many talks with customers from all industry, employees, and also on the capital market, interest in thyssenkrupp's businesses has increased sharply. To refer again to the example of the green transformation, thyssenkrupp is active in all areas of the hydrogen value chain. We call it our hydrogen triangle. On the demand side, green steel production will use large amounts of hydrogen, and this make a significant contribution to reduce climate-damaging emissions. That will enable crucial economies of scale for hydrogen suppliers and networks.
On the supply side, our electrolysis business at thyssenkrupp nucera makes us one of the few suppliers of technology to produce green hydrogen on industrial scale. Last but not least, the infrastructure, where our plant engineers at Uhde are experts in the construction of ammonia plants, who boast the technologies for storing and transporting green technology, green hydrogen. The products from our bearing businesses help to turn wind into the renewable energy for that. The opportunities for thyssenkrupp businesses are far from exhausted. From digitalization in materials trading to e-mobility and autonomous driving for the automotive supply businesses to the expansion of civil technologies and the changing security environment at Marine Systems. Almost all businesses are already positioned to benefit from the major future trends of our time.
I therefore say with confidence, with their technologies, thyssenkrupp's businesses harbor a plethora of opportunities, and we are preparing in all segments to leverage these growth opportunities. In the current environment, however, that entails ambiguity. On the one hand, we want to invest heavily in the future and develop the businesses as best possible. At the same time, we must do all in our power to achieve the stated goal of balance free cash flow before M&A at the group level. We have therefore agreed a three-point plan on how to ensure we achieve the cash flow target even in an uncertain and weaker economic environment. First, measures to safeguard earnings. Second, improvements in capital productivity. Third, temporarily reducing capital expenditure in light of the current situation. That means our planned capital spending in the current fiscal year will once again exceed our write-downs.
The funds will be released restrictively and gradually, depending on how the macroeconomic situation develops and the progresses the businesses make in safeguarding earnings and enhancing capital productivity. We are following a decentralized management approach here. The businesses need to earn the investments themselves. Cross-subsidizations is to be a thing of the past. As a logical consequence, we are also examining the possibility of gradually decentralizing our corporate financing on this path. The group is thus assuming the role of an active owner. The approach is founded on a simple logic. What is good for the businesses is good for the success of the group. Our job is to empower the management and teams in the businesses to get the full potential out of their respective areas. It is our task to actively support the businesses in implementing their plans for the future.
As owner of the businesses, we bear a special responsibility towards society because we can make an important contribution to overcoming the major challenges of our time with our technologies of the future. Towards customers and suppliers, because as a reliable partner, we are deeply interwoven in industrial value change, and many future projects can only be accomplished together in close partnerships and economic ecosystems. Towards employees, because only innovative, profitable businesses that can grow offer sustainable and secure jobs, not just in the rural region, but worldwide. Last but not least, towards you, our shareholders. After all, you rightly expect us to deliver sustainable commercial success and a decent return on your capital. We also want to live up to that responsibility. After four dividend-free years in succession, we believe there is leeway to pay a dividend.
The Executive Board and Supervisory Board therefore propose a payout of EUR 0.15 per share for the past fiscal year. We think that is a reasonable proposal. On the one hand, it reflects the significantly stronger balance sheet, the group's improved operation performance, the fact that our net financial assets are clearly positive and our confidence in our businesses, even though we are still in the midst of a transformation process. At the same time, however, the proposed amount also makes allowance for the uncertain and challenging environment in the current fiscal year. Ladies and gentlemen, allow me to conclude by briefly recapitulating the three most important points. First, the environment remains challenging and in flux. We are living in a time of great upheavals. Climate neutral transformation and of the economy is a big task for all of us.
The changes also open up great opportunities for us if we tackle them correctly and systematically. We are proud that thyssenkrupp businesses are perceived as trailblazers in the green transformation. Second, we can help shape the transformation. Thanks to our decentralized setup, we and our businesses are better and better able to cope with changes in the environment. In particular, we, together with our businesses, can adapt to diverse opportunities that arise for our technologies. Third, we will continue on the path of transformation we have embarked upon. Restructuring thyssenkrupp into a group of largely independent, efficient tech enterprises is vital so that the businesses can develop as best possible moving ahead. For the benefit of society, customers and suppliers, employees and shareholders. In view of the recessionary trends in our environment, we must assume that competition will continue to increase in intensity.
That makes it all the more important to defend and expand our own lead by delivering innovations and new technologies. That is why, despite all our restraints, we invest in excess of our write-downs and in particular in technologies of the future. That is why operating for performance and productivity remain on our top priorities. At the same time, we are working with the management teams of the businesses on their plans to enable their best possible further development. Each business will be ready to go in order to seize opportunities as soon as the capital markets gain momentum, and thus allow us to pick up speed too. These opportunities may also include partnership. The same maxim applies in case of doubt. The best possible further development of the businesses is more important to us than the ownership structure.
We will therefore continue to tackle the portfolio issue with our full commitment. Yet the right timing for implementation is crucial. Last but not least, we will also continue to develop the organization and further adapt our structure to the group's decentralized setup. That will then also include an enhanced financing concept for the group. Dear shareholders, ladies and gentlemen, the thyssenkrupp group will continue to undergo major changes in the fourth year of its transformation. We will continue to reorganize the group and further strengthen the businesses. The transformation is now entering its decisive structural phase. We, as the executive board team, together with the management teams of the segments, will do our utmost to enable the businesses and the employees of the group to develop in the best possible way, and thus to pursue development paths that maximize value for you, our owners.
We thank you very much for your support along the way.
Thank you very much. Mrs. Merz, ladies and gentlemen, I will now give you the report of the Supervisory Board. I will start by providing an overview of the work of the Supervisory Board over the past fiscal year and the issues that were our primary focus. This will be followed by several remarks on the committees and HR matters. Details can be found in the written report of the Supervisory Board on pages 10-18 of the annual board report. Well, the Supervisory Board and Executive Board continued their close cooperation and extensive exchange of information in the past fiscal year. The Supervisory Board met a total of 6 times. In addition, 5 resolutions were passed by circulation after they had been discussed in detail in preceding in-person meetings, but for which final parameters and negotiation results still had to be supplied.
All members, with a very small number of exceptions for compelling reasons, were present at the meetings of the supervisory board and the numerous meetings of the committees. The detailed statistics can be found on page 13 of the annual report, as well as on thyssenkrupp's website. The executive board reported to the supervisory board in detail, and the two exchanged information, opinions, and ideas in the well-established trusting manner. A discussion among the members without the presence of the executive board, termed an executive session, was part of each supervisory board meeting. The supervisory board was able to conduct its monitoring and control function adequately on the basis of this procedure. Corporate investment planning was an important topic for the supervisory board. The previously mentioned portfolio measures and disposals in the Multi Tracks segments were also discussed in detail by the supervisory board.
Together with the executive board, we explored various options for a potential spin-off of today's thyssenkrupp Steel business. The supervisory board also looked closely at the growth opportunities for thyssenkrupp's businesses, primarily the hydrogen business. In the fiscal year 2021, 2022, the supervisory board again dealt with and took into account the recommendations of the German Corporate Governance Code. The current unqualified declaration of conformity released on October 1, 2022 can be viewed on thyssenkrupp's website. Further information on corporate governance can be found in the corporate governance statement in the annual report. The executive committee of the supervisory board met 16 times during the past fiscal year. The meetings were attended at times by members of the executive board and also by external advisors in relation to individual items.
In addition to preparing the meetings of the supervisory board, it focused constantly on changes in the group's assets and financial and earnings positions, issues in connection with thyssenkrupp's transformation and appropriate responses to the effects of the coronavirus pandemic and the war in Ukraine. The supervisory board's HR committee prepared the HR issues relating to the active members of the executive board for the supervisory board in 8 meetings in fiscal year 2021, 2022, and implemented the compensation system that you approved in 2021 general meeting in the 2021 AGM. In preparing the results and compensation report, we took on board your comments regarding the first version from the past year and further improved its readability and comprehensibility. Short-term targets for the respective fiscal year are documented as with our long-term targets under the long-term incentive plan with its four-year timeframe.
The same applies to achievement of the respective targets. No discretionary payments were made to the members of the executive board beyond the compensation under the short and long-term target agreements. Similarly, no new provisions have been made for pension obligations to current executive board members, as the executive board contracts concluded since 2019 no longer include any pension entitlements extending beyond the term of the contract. In addition, the personnel committee discussed the executive board's potential analysis for the first two management levels and discussed succession planning for the executive board positions. Ladies and gentlemen, let me now deal in detail with the work of the audit committee. There were five meetings of the audit committee in fiscal year 2021, 2022. At the beginning of each of the meetings, the audit committee explicitly decided that the participation of members of the executive board was sensible and necessary.
Alongside executive board members, the meetings were also attended by representatives of the auditors PwC, which was elected by the 2022 annual general meeting and subsequently appointed by the audit committee. The auditors declared to the audit committee that no circumstances exist that could lead to the assumption of prejudice on their part. The audit committee obtained the required auditor statements of independence, reviewed their qualification, and concluded a fee agreement with the auditors. A group-wide survey of auditing quality was carried out. The results of this, as well as the additional services provided by PricewaterhouseCoopers besides the audit of the financial statements were discussed in the Audit Committee. Bernhard Günther, Chair of the Audit Committee until February 3 2022, and Verena Volpert, Chair of the Audit Committee since February 3 2022, engaged in a regular exchange of information and views with the auditors between meetings.
The heads of relevant group functions were also available to provide reports and take questions on individual agenda items in the committee meetings. Well, the work of the committee in the past fiscal year focused on the audit of the 2021/2022 parent company and consolidated financial statements, taken into account the auditors' reports, and on the preparation of Supervisory Board resolutions on these issues. The audit also covered the combined management report, including the fully integrated non-financial statement. In addition, the interim financial reports, half year and quarter reports were also discussed in detail and adopted by the committee, taking into account the auditors' review report. With regard to PricewaterhouseCoopers, the list of non-audit services by the statutory auditors that require approval was established, and the budget for the performance of non-audit services for fiscal year 2021/2022 was discussed and set by the committee.
Under EU Regulation 537 from 2014, thyssenkrupp has a statutory obligation to regularly rotate the external auditors of the parent company and consolidated financial statements. Having examined the results of the tender for the audit, the Audit Committee proposed KPMG AG as first choice, or alternatively, Deloitte GmbH Wirtschaftsprüfungsgesellschaft as the new auditors at its meeting in November 2021. The Supervisory Board accepted this recommendation and submitted a motion to the 2022 Annual General Meeting that KPMG be appointed to perform any required auditors' review of interim financial reports for the fiscal year 2022/2023 issued before the 2023 AGM. The 20 22 AGM endorsed this motion. The Supervisory Board will propose under agenda item 5 of today's AGM that KPMG be elected to audit the financial statements for the entire fiscal year of 2022/2023.
In several meetings, the Audit Committee monitored the accounting process and discussed the effectiveness of the risk management system and the internal auditing system. It also dealt in detail with the main legal disputes and compliance of the company, and discussed at length the development of strategic compliance measures at thyssenkrupp. At its meeting on May 10, 2022, the Audit Committee defined the following mandate as the focus of the audit: accompanying audit of project activities for initial implementation of the EU Taxonomy Regulation as of the reporting date September 30, 2022. The auditors reported on the results of their audit to the Audit Committee at its meeting on November 14, 2022.
The recommended actions proposed at that meeting are to be promptly implemented in fiscal year 2022/2023, following evaluation by the Executive Board and the specialist departments. In addition, in the presence of the head of corporate internal auditing, the committee discussed the internal audit results, the audit processes, and the audit planning of the internal auditing team for fiscal year 2021/2022. Further points of focus were the non-financial statement, which is fully integrated into the management report, the equity capital and rating situation, the EMIR compliance audit for fiscal year 2022, pursuant to Section 32 of the German Securities Trading Act, the current performance of all segments, and implementation of the reporting requirements of the EU Taxonomy Regulation.
At its three meetings in the past fiscal year, the Strategy, Finance and Investment Committee discussed in detail with the Executive Board the latter's proposal for the company's strategic further development, the company's medium and long-term financing, and the general investment planning for the coming years, and on the basis, drew up recommended resolutions for the Supervisory Board. The Nomination Committee prepared the proposal submitted to you today under agenda item seven for the election of the seven new shareholder representatives to be appointed to the Supervisory Board. It is the Nomination Committee's conviction that election of the candidates proposed by it will ensure an adequate profile of required skills and expertise, both in terms of knowledge and experience of thyssenkrupp AG's various businesses, and in terms of the necessary technical expertise in topics such as accountingAuditing and financial statements, personnel management and sustainability.
For more information on the activities of the supervisory board and its committees, please refer to the detailed presentation in the report of the supervisory board in its annual report. I'd like to explicitly mention here 1 finding of the deliberations in several committees and in the full supervisory board meeting. Since an unappropriated profit is reported in the parent company financial statements of thyssenkrupp AG, the executive board and supervisory board propose to today's AGM under agenda item 2 that a dividend of EUR 0.15 per no-par share be paid for fiscal year 2021, 2022. Ladies and gentlemen, we shall conclude with the HR changes in the supervisory board since the AGM a year ago. Of the employees representative side, Barbara Kremser-Brotl left the supervisory board at the end of February 28, 2022. Friedrich Weber at the end of June 30, 2022.
Isolde Würtz at the end of December 31, 2022. The members of the supervisory board expressed their sincere thanks to the departing members for their long-standing and constructive working relationship. A court order appointed Christian Julius effective March 2, 2022, Thorsten Koch effective August 26, 2022, and Katrin Krawinckel effective January 1, 2023, as members of the supervisory board for the remaining term of office of the employee representatives on the supervisory board, i.e., until the end of the AGM in early 2024. I'm able to welcome all three of them here today in the meeting hall at the thyssenkrupp Quartier. When today's AGM meeting ends, Peter Remsler will retire from the supervisory board of thyssenkrupp after 14 years. Mr. Remsler, thank you very much for your many, many years of trusted collaboration on the supervisory board and on the SFI committee.
I wish you all the very best for the future. Ulrich Reitz was appointed by court order as Mr. Remmler's successor, effective the end of this AGM. I would like to also welcome him here today in the meeting hall. On the shareholder representative sides, Friederike Helfer is not standing for reelection today and will consequently leave the Supervisory Board at the end of this Annual General Meeting. I would also like to thank you sincerely, Ms. Helfer. She cannot be here today, therefore, virtually, we wish you all the very, very best for your constructive collaboration. We're grateful in your work at the Supervisory Board and the committees. In the terms of the office of Birgit A. Behrendt, Wolfgang Colberg, Angelika Gifford, Bernhard Günther, Ingo Luge, and myself will also end at the close of this AGM. These six are now standing for reelection today.
Patrick Berard is proposed for election as the successor of Friederike Helfer. The resumes of the candidates proposed for election today under agenda item seven, resolution of new elections for the Supervisory Board, can be found in the invitation to today's annual general meeting. I wish to add that I have been asked to stand again as Chairman of the Supervisory Board if I am reelected by the AGM, and I will accede to that request. Ladies and gentlemen, I would like now to conclude the report of the Supervisory Board, and thank you very much for your attention. Beyond that, I would like to thank you, dear shareholders of thyssenkrupp AG, for your continued commitment to your company and your support for it on the long and rocky road of our comprehensive transformation. This is a marathon, not a sprint.
Those were the words with which I concluded my speech a year ago. Today, I have to admit that even that description was perhaps overly optimistic. It feels more like an obstacle course over the marathon distance. That is all the more reason for us to regard your loyalty to the company as an obligation to continue on the path we have embarked on together with the Executive Board and all employees. Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, I shall now move to the items on the agenda. I will therefore call up all items. The items include eight items on the agenda. 1, presentation of the adopted annual financial statements and the approval of the financial report.
The group's comprehensive report, the report of the Supervisory Board and the additional report of the Executive Board in accordance with 281 A of the Trade Act. On the Agenda 2, we have the use of the unappropriated net income. Agenda 3, ratification of the acts of the members of the Executive Board and formal approval thereof. Item 4, ratification and formal approval of the acts of the Supervisory Board. Agenda 5, election of the auditors. Item number
This is also includes the audition of the interim reports and Agenda 6: approval of the compensation report. Agenda item 7: new elections to the Supervisory Board and Agenda item 8: amendments to the articles of associations for meetings in the virtual way. The full wording of the agenda and additional information for shareholders for this AGM can be found in your invitation. The annual report and the group report, plus the discriminatory report in accordance with 15 A of the Trade Act, plus further information have been available since the invitation on our website and are now available as well. Ladies and gentlemen, I now have the list of the participants. All people who are joining us electronically, proxies and shareholders themselves, as well as those that have gone by postal vote.
What we have here now, we have these numbers that you see on the screen. That means 51.1% of equity. Meaning 622,531,741 shares. That is 5.41% of the capital. 351,824,493 shares are thus represented. Meaning that we have 56.52% of our equity represented. At the moment, 270 shareholders and their proxies are joining us electronically. If you look at documents in the investor portal, you will see the list of those that are present. Dear shareholders, now we will talk about the items. We have got a general debate. As far as you want to talk and to speak, please. You can announce that through the investor portal.
You can propose election motions and ask questions. In the interest of all shareholders to make it possible that this AGM will be followed appropriately, that we only accept those who have asked for time. You can ask to speak through the investor portal once up until it is closed. After that, you can only ask for motions. In total, we have eight items. So far we have several, also several people who want to speak. During the AGM, generally, a lot of shareholders ask for some time to speak. We ask you not to extend your speech too long. In order that everybody can participate here and that the results of the votes can be published continuously. I ask all speakers to limit your time up to 10 minutes.
The company and the group has sent you all the information beforehand to give you comprehensive preparation. The report of the fiscal year 2021/2022 is part of it. You can ask for this report through the internet site. Last Monday, all protocols, all speaks and myself and from Mrs. Merz were published on the internet site. I think that most of you will limit to certain questions. All which is essential for you should be included in your first speaks. To give you your control over your time, we have installed a clock, and it will be shown on the live stream. Once this clock counts down, it will be it will be shown in red. I ask you to close your speak as soon as possible after your clock is red.
I reserve the right during this AGM to limit this time of speak. After the Q&A session, we will continue with the votes and also to the resolutions. I would like to indicate that you can ask for your right to vote through the investor portal, and also you can change your vote once until the voting is closed. I will announce the closing of the voting, but I ask you to be precise with that and not wait until the last moment.
We will try to include all questions and to answer all these questions as soon as possible during this AGM. That's why myself and also the Supervisory Board will answer as soon as possible all questions. If the question is not answered in a satisfactory way, of course, you can ask again. I ask you to do that as soon as possible in order to be, to close this meeting as soon as possible. The first statements of opinion were from Oliver Speich, Tilman Massa, from the critical Aktionären. I will ask all the speakers, all the statements to do them as quick as possible. I will ask each speaker to. I will mention each speaker individually. We will start.
First of all, I will pass the floor to Marc Tüngler. After Mr. Speich, and after that, Mr. Massa. Mr. Tüngler, please.
Ladies and gentlemen, thanks a lot to give me the floor. I hope you can hear me and see me. You know that I like, that I would like to sit there with you to discuss with you directly with all the colleagues of the BDI. That's why I will start with the sentence you mentioned. It is not easy for you to change the format into a virtual format. Ladies and gentlemen, ladies and gentlemen in the hall, we from the umbrella organization were always in favor of a format in presence. You would ask the shareholders, we have a clear answer.
We have 5,000 shareholders in Europe and from institution. Most of them ask for a presence format. Just to give you an information, to give you an orientation about the wishes of the shareholders. You mentioned that it wasn't easy for you. It is for us very difficult to participate virtually. The AGM was carried out like that. You maybe were a special case. We will see how the other companies in the following year will continue with that. Your reasoning was the following for the future AGMs. You write this down. I would like to know how you mean that. First of all, you will limit this format of two years to consider the interests of the shareholders.
First of all, I want to congratulate you to this formulation, linked to the fact that it wasn't easy for you to choose this virtual format. What does that mean in concrete? You will not use it in future. Which is the scale you will use for the right of speech? What does this mean, this sentence? Your indication that it wasn't easy for you to decide like that. Me, as a representative of the shareholder, it is discussed. The shareholders would like to be in place and to discuss with you face to face. That's why we ask you, what is the scale? What is your idea for future AGMs? What's the benchmark? I'm the first speaker. I will try to stick to the time. You will talk about dividends. Mrs.
Merz, Ms. Merz, thanks a lot for your presentation. I know that you are only giving us the interests that are guarantees. Why are you giving us a dividend? What does that mean for the dividends for the future? Is it just a one-time occasion or you don't want to risk any legal issues? We are very happy from our side to hear that you have huge challenges in front. Of course, it's great to have dividends, but we would like to know how we can understand that. You talk about resilience. I would like to know how resilient is your company and how you are dealing with inflation. We have still this inflation. We have the number of the ZB. Can you give these additional costs to your clients, or is it difficult for you?
How the level of value will be and how will affect this inflation? Also, how to restructure the group. You represented it very well in your report. Thanks a lot for that. Mrs. Merz, and dear colleagues from the supervisory board, how do you situate yourself? We know clearly that the path is difficult, that it is more a path, not only marathon, it was also an obstacle path. I would like to know on the scale from 1 to 10, how you position yourself and which successes you had in the last year. How long will be the path? Have we already overcome the major difficulties or not? Talking about steel, how do you estimate your situation? Do you think that the options are better or worse?
I know it is very intense, what decisions you have to make. Do you think that you have got more options, that the range of options are broader? How is the role of the politics? Do they support you? We are also talking about the federal government and of the government of this land, Nucera. I would like to know something more. The IPO is not the only solution, maybe I understand it wrong. Why didn't you try the IPO? This would have been a window. Maybe you can tell me how and how long Nucera will work without any additional financial push. You mentioned that slightly in your speech, maybe you can get into deep.
I don't want to pressure on that and push you, but maybe you can give us some ideas on when you will start with the IPO or any other solution you have got in mind. Maybe this phase is not that bad. Maybe it isn't. Of course, it could be better, but IPOs are prepared, and maybe you can let us know what is the status quo. Back to the agenda. We were talking about the AGM, of the virtual AGM. I know shareholders like the hybrid format. I know that a lot of proxies are here as well, and hybrid is always complicated because we have got people presence and online. I would like to know if you take the shareholders seriously. It is very important that you listen to us. Again, to the election, Mr. Keysberg. Dr.
Kolberg, we are very worried. Maybe Mr. Russwurm and Mr. Kolberg can give us some ideas. We know that he's always presented at all meetings, but we have got some issues with the overboarding. Maybe you can let us know about something. I think you will tell me that he was always there, but we are always discussing his position. So maybe you can give us some idea about that. Maybe there is a solution in favor of thyssenkrupp. That would be great if you could communicate it today. Ladies and gentlemen, thanks a lot for your attention. Mr. Russwurm, thanks a lot for giving me the floor. Ladies and gentlemen, I'm very happy, and I'm glad to see us next year again in one hall, face to face, discussing thyssenkrupp. In my point of view, has taken a good path.
There's a lot of things to do, that's why I'm asking you, thanks a lot for your attention. I'm very happy to see you next year face to face.
Thanks a lot, Mr. Tüngler. Next speaker will be Mr. Speich, and then Tilman Massa, and then we will start with the first answers. Mr. Speich, please.
Ladies and gentlemen, I'm Ingo Speich. I'm representing Deka Investment, a fund company and affiliate of Deka Bank. I would describe the situation of thyssenkrupp. The patient has left the ICU, this is because the market has stabilized 2021. The future of the patient is not sure. We don't know the therapy, we don't know if he's self-healing. thyssenkrupp is a doubt. This means the strategy of thyssenkrupp is unclear and the restructuring is very slowly.
The first side, it looks very good, but in comparison to competitors, thyssenkrupp is weak. In a lot of branches, the company is not growing at top. We could not win any benefits from the steel market. Steel is just only shadow of itself. Only we find the best remarks in historical books. Industrial components from Schaeffler and SKF are better. Hydrogen is a very long-term solution, even if this strategic important resource for the environment is the sustainable future. The cash flow of all the group was important 2021, even though if the free cash flow was negative. The count time to safeguard thyssenkrupp is running, but not that quick. The pressure to have success is less, even though because the cash flow is free. We notice that the group and the restructuring is slow.
We haven't seen enough the last year. A strategic developer has another image. The
Consequence of that, of this situation, is that we don't trust that much in as the shareholders. thyssenkrupp is losing time, also losing confidence of the shareholders. We have seen, Mrs. Merz, that you can act correctly. The steel construction in Italian has shown that you are capable of acting. It is not enough. We want to see more courage in your activities because it is the future of the company, Mrs. Merz. Even if the restructuring is less and not as quick enough, we would like you to improve in the future. Which are your major obstacles? How do you work against it to have potential of growth? Steel is still important. We have less investment and a toxic mixture that's still affecting us.
Steel is just the red lantern, for that, in the European market, it is the last one acting. If you look at the EBITDA per ton, last year, EUR 132, it was below the European sector average. Please do your job. Make sure we become more competitive. We can't just move on like that. Even in such a good year like 2022, thyssenkrupp is not able to move forward. That's not enough. We have to get on the fast track so that we are not the losing option. I know that you have certain limitations. You need the green light from Berlin. If not, you cannot move forward. The climate crisis has to be accepted.
We have to make sure that we keep all of that in mind in order to be able to survive. We need to move towards hydrogen as well as to make steel greener. Mrs. Merz, you do sometimes take unpopular decisions, which is good. We hope that you will continue doing that. Have courage. Move forward. Thank you. Management, I can tell you, make sure you think about health and safety. That's top priority always. We notice there are more accidents in the steel industry. Last year, we even had two fatalities. Please look at your health and safety plans and make sure you adapt them. Now let's move to another field, Nucera, the hydrogen field. I wish you were more decisive here. The IPO is still not there yet. Plus, competitors are faster than us.
Now that the interests are going up, it is even more difficult to show hydrogen as a clean source of energy is there. thyssenkrupp, with its technology, could have a great influence on the climate worldwide. This is your chance. Don't pass it up. This is great for the climate protection objectives. We have to make sure that the path is open so that we can make use of this fantastic possibility. The projects like in Texas show that there is potential, and it is also the future way. What are the future possibilities for hydrogen? This would be our direct access to electricity, but what is going to be the price of it? We want you to sell off all the things that have to do with armament. We don't want to be in the weapon industry.
Even if you sold only part of your weapon industry, that would be the right step. What is stopping you? Are there no people who are interested, or is it that you have older commitments, for example, in marine services? Ladies and gentlemen, let's move to the agenda. In agenda item two, the use of the results, we will vote against it. This is taking away money from the substance. Substance is something that thyssenkrupp has been living on, so no dividend could be paid. We are in favor of item three, that we formally approve the actions of the supervisory board, but we want them to move forward to clean up the portfolio.
If not 2024, I wonder how good the management team is. Supervisory board has been doing a good job for the past 3 years. thyssenkrupp is in the middle of a transformation. The supervisory board must have the chance to be able to bundle expertise. For more than 3 years, I would be against it. Professor Rossworm, we would like you to look at how many offices you have. Dr. Keysberg too, you also have a number of other commitments. This is why 7.4 is not good. In item 7, we agree. The other members of the new supervisory board is something that we all agree with. To have further virtual AGMs, well, why not? I think 2 years is a bit too much. I think it should be once a year.
Our favorite would be, like Ms. Hatuna said it, having a hybrid AGM. You can either be there in person or you join in by computer. We're not just any old group. We are the shareholders. We are the owners of the company. That is something that should be reflected. Especially thyssenkrupp is very strong in the region. That's why the virtual meeting is almost being in an ivory tower. You are moving away from the life of your owners. We at Deka Investment wish you all the very best. Much success in the implementation of your plan. We want thyssenkrupp to have a positive development and not run into the danger of being again in the ICU. Please, we need a positive cash flow and a good investment policy for the future.
That is not only in the spirit of the thyssenkrupp group, but also in the spirit of the thousands of people who give their very best every single day. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speich, for your contribution. It's now going to be Mr. Tilman Massa, and then we move over to the first round of answers to your questions. Mr. Massa.
Ladies and gentlemen, dear gentlemen, ladies from the supervisory board, Tilman Massa. I'm in the Federation of Critical Shareholders. We want more commitment in the field of human rights and climate protection. Especially there, we see that thyssenkrupp still needs to do a lot more. You haven't really caught up in the past year. Therefore, we are against the formal approval of the action of the supervisory board. We have a counter motion here.
However, I must tell the executive board that you have in fact answered to all of our proposals in writing. That's good. However, you, your answer did not convince us. I'd like to respond to some of the statements you made, but please don't repeat them just like that. Coming back to the virtual format, yes, it's good that this is something that is publicly broadcast, which makes it more transparent than many other companies. That's well done. Well done, you. However, the new legal framework is something that you're not using up completely for the use of the AGM. Questions can be handed in beforehand, and unfortunately, that was not possible this time. The discussion now is being reduced to just very important things.
Not everybody has the time to formulate those questions that may have an impact on the voting afterwards. In item 8, we are asked to keep the Supervisory Board in for 2 years. No. The way the AGM is elementary for the safeguarding of the rights of the shareholders. I don't want the Supervisory Board to decide on that by themselves and not for 2 years. Like Mr. Tüngler said, we would like to have a hybrid format which have advantages of in-person meeting together with the virtual advantages. Did you check into that? Did you look into that? What are the findings? Is it something that we could possibly do in the future? What are your reasons? Dividend. In our counter motion, we said that we are against the payment of EUR 0.15 dividend.
thyssenkrupp needs the money for their own investments to make sure that they can reach their environmental goals. You just heard we're not the only ones. There are increased prices and the doing of management that gave us a little bit of a profit last year. You know, prices have gone up, so this little profit will not last for very long. Mrs. Merz, you talked about the problems in the environment of growth. Therefore, we must invest, and steel industry has to be fit for the future, no matter if it's part of the group or not. Also the current investments, Mrs. Merz, will decide how the capital markets will look at your doing. Is it a future model, or is it something that can be disregarded from now on?
Part of the steel production, I mean, even if you are trying to be green, Duisburg is responsible for 2% of all of the emissions of all of Germany. You mentioned it earlier. You do get funds from the state, from the land of North Rhine-Westphalia, but also from the state at the federal level. That doesn't go together. On the one hand, you want to have funding from the state. At the same time, you pay out dividends. You said that the change will not be possible without the support of the state. You made so many mistakes in the past, and that is the reason why thyssenkrupp is not able to pay for this investment itself. When you're paying out dividends, it means that you are really relying on the support of the funding.
It cannot be that you get money from the state and pay out to individual shareholders. If you say that it's a Herculean task, I want you to in fact be acting accordingly and invest any money that was gained. We need an ambitious plan with a constant reduction of CO2 emissions. Can you tell us in what steps and in what interim objectives you want to get out of the coal industry? The falling steel prices may make production less profitable. What have you done to reduce CO2 reduction? We need the figures for the Scope 3 in the value chain. When will you actually include Scope 3 in your balance sheet? You only want to reduce 16% up until 2030. How are you going to get to zero after 2030?
With what measures? Talking about human rights. Yes. We like it that you had a statement regarding your commitment to human rights, that's not enough. You have to be looking at your supply chains, especially for raw materials. It is not only external service providers and audits that we want to have mentioned. That's not enough. Look at your iron ore and coal suppliers. Will you tell us publicly if you find out that there's things that are not proper? From what companies did you get your coal and your iron ore? You receive iron ore and coal from Russia. I guess now you don't get any coal anymore from Russia, do you still get iron ore from Russia? If so, how can you possibly justify that?
Do you ask them, the suppliers, to also get out of the coal industry? If not, why not? What are the reasons? The Supply Chain Law, again, I refer to Mr. Russwurm. The BDI tried to weaken the Supply Chain Act. I will ask you again, take the position of thyssenkrupp and make sure that these companies that have a direct commercial relation with thyssenkrupp will be looked at, not like in the car industry. Please take the responsibility also for other sectors like the car industry or the financial sector, because they too have the same amount of responsibility and have influence. Finally, talking about weapons export. We have a change, and it looks like you want to get new contracts, but you also have countries like Egypt or India.
Boats, submarines for Egypt and frigates for Egypt or India, they do not help stability in the region, on the contrary. You take into account that this may something be used for a warlike situation. In what products, in what financial scope have you been doing that? Apparently, you are not trying to sell marine services. Is that true, or how long is TKMS going to remain in the group? Do you think there will be an increase in weapons expertise or not? We think don't only look at what the government is telling you to do, but also you yourself should be controlling your exports. Can you then emit a guideline of the countries that are not involved in any warlike situations? Egypt is something you cannot possibly justify. Thank you very much for your attention.
Vielen Dank.
Okay, we just decided that Mr. Philip Lothhölzer for the Federation of Critical Shareholders will also be asking his question. We move on to answering those questions.
Ja, vielen Dank. Guten Tag.
Yeah, thank you very much. Hello. I'm member of the board of Dulican in Europe EV. It's a company that helps Eastern European migrants in the area of Duisburg, and I'm very happy that I'm able to take the floor here within this context. We're talking about something that has a major societal role, and you and your company are not looking after it, at least whatever communication to this means. As the community of Eastern European migrants, we think you take on responsibility for the exploitation of the people from thyssenkrupp are exposed to something that was already proven in the reports. This is something that is the case of the 26 Turkish Bulgarian citizen, Süleyman. His body was found on the 17th of October, his body was found in Duisburg, Burghausen.
He was working for a sub-contractor to do cleaning services, and then after that, supposedly, he was not seen again, and only after three weeks they found him in my pool. We never know what really happened there. In any case, it asks questions as to so health and safety and safety precautions at thyssenkrupp and the standards at the subcontractors. For this situation, members of our NGO asked to find out more. We talked to Eleman GmbH and the Oberhausen Personnel Service, where Süleyman was employed, and our research has been published in an article called Why did Refat Süleyman have to die?
You can read up what we wrote that, having subcontracts to do cleaning at thyssenkrupp, there are thousands of people doing the cleaning job, and that means that there it goes into the thousands. It means they work under exploitation situations, no work standards, and all instructions are given in German, and the people will not be able to understand it if it's not done in their language. They don't speak any German. Of course, you have the organized lack of responsibility that we need to see, which unfortunately we have noticed a lot. Talking about the first part of exploitation.
Those who are employed through thyssenkrupp receive the double than you are directly contracted. They are often on part-time. That means they receive money from the government for a living. Still they're working often as a full-time job, and then they have got an account of hours, and they don't get pay off even if they exceed these hours. In addition, there are reductions for work clothes and reduction for additional payment when of sickness. This money is not paid directly to the workers. To avoid that these workers will not be permanent staff, they always send these employees from one company to the other just after six months. In addition to these poor introductions and these poor safety standards, in these subcontracts, nobody is having a closer look.
That means that a lot of workers are doing their jobs without any additional safety protection. As they didn't receive any additional restrictions, well, they are working in a risky condition. That's why we had got a lot of issues concerning health and also, once in a while, there are slippings and other risky situation that are not communicated to thyssenkrupp. This situation is important to know. You shareholders and the supervisory board should know about that. In the first reaction after publishing the situation from our side, you mentioned that health has major priority in the working space, and for subcontractors, we expect the same standards as for our direct employees. That's why we ask you as management to avoid any risks in place.
This reaction you gave us raises up more question because you still have a lot of incidents. For instance, the death of several train conductors, train drivers, or the heavily injured electrical worker who was in the ICU, and as far as we know, he already died. The verification of and the checking of the installation where he was working is not convincing us. This situation has to change. These reaction are only a minimum we expect from you, but you have to deal intensely with the subcontractors. The case of Süleyman shows that the supervisory board and the company cannot hide. They have to improve the conditions of work. With our observations and our requirements, we are not alone. We have got the support of more than 2,000 people.
They sent us a petition, and they want to have further information about the case of Süleyman. We have got the following question. We want to know directly from thyssenkrupp, until the day of today, they haven't answered our question. Which consequences will be taken from this accidents, especially considering the language barrier we have from foreign workers? We require introduction and information in their native language. What support do you give the families of dead and injured workers? Third, inside of your company, will you follow up these incidents? Will you have a check-up? Will you check up the condition? How do these personal service and still work for TKSE, considering those injuries that are reported?
The system of that you have to check up subcontractors if they follow all the requirements, is this system still following the minimum standards, knowing that there are certain risky situations and that they don't follow the safety rules? Even though we know that part of the Supervisory Board is in favor of huge changes. Which measures will you take in place to avoid this exploitation and this unsure situation for workers? How do you want to reduce the risks of incidents? How do you want to guarantee the correct payment of the salary? I ask you to take these questions seriously and to be transparent. This is in the interest of the shareholders, but also in the interest of those who are working in your company. Thank you very much.
Thanks, Mr. Lothhölzer .
As mentioned, now we will start with the first round of answers. After that, Piemonte will be the first speaker we will ask to join us. I will start with the question of Mr. Tüngler, considering the format of AGMs. Mr. Tüngler, the supervisory board and the executive board want to give just this format for the next two years and not the 5 years that we have the option by law. We will check if this amendment of the article will be in favor for us and if the virtual AGM makes sense or not. This amendment doesn't mean that in the next years, automatically the AGMs will be taking place virtually. We will decide about the format individually. For instance, considering the items. Also, we will have a look at the practice in the market. The hybrid AGMs, well, we will...
we don't want to be the first ones. When we realize the AGM, we are focusing mainly on the rights of the shareholders, especially on the point of questions and answers. This is a good scale to compare us with other companies. We have high requirements about questions and answers. If there is a decision made about including any question, still, having a look at the AGM of today, we see that the supervisory board is considering live the opinion of the shareholders, and we have got a dialogue directly with the shareholders. Mr. Tüngler, considering the workload of Mr. Keysberg, I would like to know, let you know that Mr. Keysberg has shown how much time he needs for every other position he has outside of thyssenkrupp.
After talking to him, I can let you know that the position at thyssenkrupp, he's following 100%. You can see that, 100% participation at the supervisory board in the last 2 or 3 years, also in the years before. I would like to let you know, Mr. Keysberg was not only present, he was already also prepared and intensively he discussed with us. With us, with that, I would like to pass the floor to Ms. Merz. Mr. Tüngler, you ask a question about resilience. How much resilience has our company? How we deal with inflation, the additional cost of raw material, of energy, and how can we pass this price to the clients? How is the marge and the...
Under the inflation
Success.
Our answer, the current economic situation.
Our answer is that the, we are of course affected by the situation of the market. We have got high costs considering the raw materials as a result of the war, and of course, we pass the price partly to the client. It is individual, an individual price and part of the dialogue with our clients. For us, of course, it is important to know. It is important to reduce costs, to increase productivity and to cope with this additional charge. About the expectation in the future, I would like to indicate you to our forecast we have. You asked me why we pay a dividend. What does this mean for the dividends of the future? Is this just a one-time occasion, or did we want to avoid a legal battle? Mr.
Tüngler , our decision was made consciously. We decided that to give a signal. We want to show that we push the transformation, that we are more resilient and in considering the capacity of future of our business, we are totally convinced that our businesses will cope with all the challenges we have. As mentioned already during the speech of Mrs. Merz, the participation of the shareholders should be continuously. For that, we want of course give a correspondent dividend. Our goal is to have to give a continuous dividend, a dividend that is also interesting for you. Considering the future and improvement our situation, of course, we aspire, if economically possible, to share a sustainable dividend.
Please.
Please, I would like to let you know for the future of the AGMs, I want to answer explicitly the question of Mr. Massa. We have checked a hybrid AGM. We have checked all type of formats. As far as the shareholders are accepting the amendment indicated in item number eight. Of course, we will consider for the future any criteria and the new law that now applies, we will have a closer look to the market and to the best practice in the market. Of course, this also affects the hybrid format. We don't want to be, at this point, the first one. We want to, well, wait for the experience of other companies. Going back to Mr. Tüngler's question about the restructure of the company, where we are situated on the scale and if we have already improved.
If we have improved already. I mentioned that for, in my speak, the closing of Rothe Erde and the reposition of Uhde and the spin-off of nucera. As mentioned before, we are not happy with the speed of the transformation. Of course, we have pushed this situation, there was not possible that we to advance. As far as we can do it, of course, we want to push this transformation. Far today, we cannot give some expectations or give some ideas how we will continue with transformation in the future. You ask for the steel branch, what are our options and how is the role of the politics? For instance, the politics of our federal government and of the land.
My first estimation is the following: we are totally convinced that individual and an own positioning of the steel with access to capital market and a clear profile of a global player. The capacity of being individual steel is right now not ideal, but we are doing as much as possible to push that topic forward. We are talking to politicians, especially about the framework of the green transformation. That means on local and federal level. I will continue with the questions of Mr. Speich. Mr. Speich asked about steel and climate change. How important in this relation, federal support is important considering hydrogen and the steel branch. In my speech, I mentioned that the green transformation can be possible only if we work together, and it must be systematically.
The transformation under those framework right now cannot be done through the own cash flow. This is not only valid for the steel branch, also for all energy-intensive industry and branches. That's why we are talking intensely with the government to receive the support we need for this task. I still have some more questions here, so I will continue. Mr. Tüngler, back to you with your question considering the current planning for the IPO of nucera. If we thought to start an IPO with Porsche? Yes, of course, we considered this. We thought about that, about thyssenkrupp nucera, and had a closer look of the capital market. That's why we decided to wait, and this is still valid today. We are looking forward.
We think that there will come a more dynamic situation in the future, we are pretty sure that there will be an IPO of thyssenkrupp nucera. Please understand that I cannot give any further details about that, because the details of offer will be published with a correspondent IPO information. A question of Mr. Speich about the pressure of re-instruction due to the cashflow. This pressure, of course, is less, we have to move forward quicker, our main obstacles are the following. In order to give thyssenkrupp a potential to grow. Again, here, I think the challenges right now in this environment has been described. In this environment, with the correspondent framework, we are working on the best solution to improve our businesses.
Most of them are really good position for the future situation. That's why we are talking about these potentials with limited budgets but high investment requirements. We started, Mr. Speich, to merge this idea. That's why we are transparent. That's why we are open to partnerships. That's why we are open to flexible partnerships and ownership structures. That serves to the following, to have a green transformation and also to cope with all the future topic. This all serves to gives you as shareholders a value, and to maintain as many jobs and workplace as possible. Another question from Mr. Speich. We are talking right now about weapons. We are right now not selling this part of the branch. Well, also, these are maybe if it's, for instance, because we have no sales approved or if there are any additional obstacles.
As mentioned before in the speak, Marine Systems should be do a spin-off. We are right now living a good situation. That's why we are really have a strong position and can push forward this project.
We do not want the second-best solution. At Marine Services, of course, we are in dialogue with the federal government to see how we can coordinate future activities. Very good. Very well. Thank you. Shall we move on to the next round of questions? No, there is one more, one more answer.
Sorry.
I have a bit of an accumulation of paperwork here. Mr. Massa asked a question as to the spin-off of TKMS, that apparently we do not want to sell Marine Services so quickly, and how long it will remain in the group. Like I said, we think that an individual positioning, or a spin-off could be a positive solution.
We are in fact preparing it in parallel. We are in dialogue with our clients, but to see when exactly we have the right grounds prepared for such a spin-off, I cannot tell you. Especially when exactly is something I cannot share at this point of time. Sure, we're working on the operative performance. At any rate, the environment has changed so that the spin-off can be done in a very relaxed fashion out of a position of strength. Like I said, we are pushing it forward. Then, Mr. Meister, you also asked a question if we can tell you it with what aims and what interim objectives we want to move out of the use of coal.
With steel, we said up until 2030, we want to reduce 30% of the direct CO2 emissions, and at 2050 be completely climate neutral. That is done by, of course, going away from the blast furnaces using coal. With the first plant, we're now want to take out the first blast furnace, and the remainder, of course, is governed by factors that are a bit unclear at the moment. We are talking to the lawmakers and we try to obtain clarity and see what are the future developments. At any rate, we of course are committed to our climate objectives. Yeah. Thank you very much for that. All questions will be answered. Some need a bit of time of preparation. That's why we move on to the next round of questions. Again, no question remains unanswered. Mr.
Piemonte, and then we have Mr. Reuter. Mr. Piemonte, it's your turn.
Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen from the board, thank you for giving me the floor. I'm Tommy Piemonte for the Bank of Church and Caritas. We are a Catholic institution in Paderborn, and with Finanzethica and Investment Solution, we are all members of the coalition Shareholders for Change, and we are in a dialogue with thyssenkrupp. Shareholders for Change is made up of 15 institutional investors from seven countries. Together, we have EUR 33 billion in assets. Therefore we also attend this AGM at thyssenkrupp to have an open dialogue with your company, which is positive, and we thank you for that.
At the end of the day, we must say that at thyssenkrupp we cannot see much of a progress when it comes to human rights standards and the risks for thyssenkrupp in that. Our questions all refer to thyssenkrupp MS. First question. Not only because of the EU framework for individual weapons systems, but also because of the risk of reputational loss, we think it's in the interest of the investors and potential investors in thyssenkrupp itself to have a transparent position as regards these autonomous weapons systems. thyssenkrupp in research and in production should not be involved in the making of autonomous weaponry. Any kind of naval vehicles that thyssenkrupp is planning on developing should not be given those weapons systems. Are you doing research on that, yes or no?
B, at the moment, the planned autonomous submarines, can they get that kind of weaponry? C, up to when will you have a proper regulation that is publicly accessible for the prohibition of this kind of weaponry? The current practice of thyssenkrupp that you only go by the standards of the German authorities is not enough when you want to regard human rights. It is your responsibility as a company if with your products, you may somehow contribute to the violation of human rights. Therefore, the United Nations expect you to inspect your own systems. When it comes to countries like Turkey or Egypt, where you sell weapons to, these are countries where human rights are being violated left, right and center.
Apparently you should not only listen to what the German government says, but use your own criteria. thyssenkrupp's weapon export, not only for ethical reasons is wrong, but also for economic reasons is not the good choice. Apart from the reputational damage, it looks like when you do not take that into consideration, you have explicit financial risk because of new legislation. Perhaps you may have future restrictions and may not even get paid. The question is, up to when will you go ahead and have your own audit according to the United Nations Human Rights Watch standards? Last question, Block. The war in Ukraine shows us how real an atomic war may be. From the perspective of the financial market, just that scenario of threat may have an impact on the national markets.
From what we can see from the engagement dialogue, thyssenkrupp does not even have a guideline as to the research and development of independent weapon system carrier weapons, because this is already regulated by German law, apparently. However, it's hard for us to see to what extent the German regulation would suffice. The ArianeGroup that received the order for nuclear warheads, and they have various production sites in Germany, and that is a key technology for nuclear weapons made in Germany. You know, of course, that without a specific carrier system, that cannot be put into a submarine. Many controls are necessary to make sure that nuclear weapons cannot be used.
The Dreadnought-class or the Columbia-class from the U.S. and Britain are able to do that, but the older submarines, Dakar-class and Dolphin class, are built in such a way that they can be equipped with warheads, nuclear warheads. The submarines exported to Israel have already been designed for being equipped with nuclear weapons. Therefore, the Israeli Popeye Turbo rockets with the 456 mm torpedo rockets can be possible. The Israel submarines now have a new type of exhaust system. That is so powerful that the Popeye Turbo rocket can be catapulted with a nuclear warhead. Therefore, we have the following question: Has thyssenkrupp sent submarines without having carried out these tests? Of course, without any weaponry.
B, we believe that a submarine, like a plane, is a system where you can actually avoid the use of nuclear weapons. Companies like thyssenkrupp should make sure to take the proper care that their products cannot be used for weapons of mass destruction. What other measures that you have adopted? Last question. Until when will you have an open guideline about these components of nuclear carrier systems at thyssenkrupp? All together, we say that the board and also supervisory board have not taken proper care to look at the risks or the possible human rights violations. Thank you very much for your time, and I'm looking forward to the answer to this question. Thank you very much.
Thank you very much, Mr. Piemonte. Now it's Mr. Reuter, and then Mr. Wulf. Mr. Reuter. Mr. Reuter, apparently you just walked away. You're coming back? Mr. Reuter, can you now talk, please? Can you please make sure that the gentleman can actually listen to what I'm saying? Apparently, that's not the case. He cannot hear me. "I hear you," he says. We hear you, now we can't see you. We have separate channels for audio and video. Okay. We'll take the other one and have Mr. Reuter afterwards.
Ja.
Herr Ruf, dann darf ich Sie bitten.
Mr. Ruf?
mit der Technik dann die Zuspielung von Herrn Rüter. Herr Ruf, bitte.
Ja, guten Tag.
Ja, hello.
Ich spreche hier mit der Stimmkarte meiner Frau, da meine beiden Stimmkarten heute Morgen zuerst funktioniert haben und hinterher nicht mehr funktioniert haben.
I talk on behalf of my wife because my voting cards didn't work. I also made a statement and I don't have the text now, so I cannot really read it to you, but it's basically the same as what Mr. Tüngler has already pointed out. I am in favor of a meeting in person. Therefore I am against agenda item number eight. Why is it that you don't have dedicated name shares, especially when it comes to registrations? What is this EMIR audit? You mentioned it, E-M-I-R. I never knew what E-M-I-R stands for, and you never explained it. Can you please tell me what this is? Third question, and that's not actually a question, it's a comment. thyssenkrupp has three members of the board. How many supervisory board members do you have?
Isn't there a problem when you have the balance of power in question? 3 against 20. I think 9 supervisory board members should be enough. That's it. Thank you.
Vielen Dank, Herr Ruf, für Ihren Beitrag.
Thank you, Mr. Ruf.
Jetzt geht meine Frage an die Regie: Haben wir Herrn Rüter.
Do we have Mr. Rüter now?
in der Zuschaltung? Herr Rüter
Mr. Rüter, can you hear us?
Ja, ich höre Sie sehr gut.
I can hear you very well, Mr. Rüter. I hope you can also see and hear me now?
Bestens. Ja, prima. Ich möchte auch noch mal zurückkommen auf das Thema Hauptversammlung.
Yeah. I'd like to come back to the type of the AGM in the past 2 years. We had to accept this virtual meeting. This is really horrible for the German shareholders democracy because our rights are completely curtailed. Now the BDI and the German Shareholders Institute tried to enforce it, but the Ministry of Justice was against it. We are able to participate here also by taking the floor.
Was wir heute haben an Format, ist immer noch keine echte Versammlung, keine Hauptversammlung.
This what we're having here now is not a real meeting. It's just a couple of videos that people have made, and then you have pre-prepared answers to pre-prepared questions. I can only encourage you. This is in the interest of all shareholders and that you will move towards a hybrid AGM so that the shareholders can decide if they want to participate in person or not. Especially the AGM is not just any old meeting, but it is the greatest and most important organ of a shareholders company. Therefore, there must be the possibility of finding out how this meeting is carried out, because we are the ones who have to decide on how your job was done and what items on the agenda should be dealt with.
These points are important for us, the shareholders, but what we don't have is a real feedback. Because what you are contributing for the future of thyssenkrupp on behalf of the board or also the administration and supervisory board do not get any feedback. The feedback you do not really get. You only get the vote on the agenda. When we have a real meeting with real people in a real room, then you can get a reaction. On that, you can base your strategy for the future. I think that is important for the company and for the shareholders who are happy in a real meeting and then are able to form an opinion on what is happening. Mrs.
Merz, as to your input, you told us that for the future, you want to act as an active owner of the assets of the individual companies. My question here is: This is going to be some kind of a holding, how thyssenkrupp deals with these companies? Are there concrete points that you can see now as how you want to continue with the steel industry? We know that the steel business is Future-oriented business gives us the possibility of checking opportunities to see if you want to continue in this field or want to sell it. Because the distance to Salzgitter is immense. Salzgitter has developed much better than thyssenkrupp. Therefore, you can tell us why that is.
What is Salzgitter doing right, and what is their big edge and advantage, and how are you planning on being able to catch up with Salzgitter? You don't really give us any real numbers for the thyssenkrupp AG for 2023. Basically, all you're saying is that you want to make sure that the results are secured, and that you want to invest, and you want to keep the business. What, in concrete terms, are you planning on doing in 2023? What are the measures you want to adopt concretely to make sure you are able to carry that out? Please give us the figures that you are planning on for 2023, so that we, next year, are able to measure you on that and to see if you have completed them or not.
I'm not happy. It's not concrete enough. You can really talk now concretely about this talks, because we don't have any numbers. You can tell us that. For us, as the shareholders, it is important to have a feeling about that, a feeling what you aspire. What will be the results in comparison to 2022? Will we have dividends next year? What are you aspiring? What are your ideas? What are your plan? Another topic I would like to mention, it has been open in the last year, maybe you want to mention something. We are considering the sale of elevators. We have got EUR 15 billion as a result. How do you use this amount? Where did the money go? Which obligations have you covered? Which liability have you covered? Which pensions have been paid with that?
What did you finance with this money? We still see that you have got cash flow of, say, EUR 6.7 billion. The question is, how do you use this liquidity in the next year, and what are you doing concretely? Do you want invest? Or do you want a repayment of liabilities? These are things or topics that are important for us as a shareholder to guarantee the future and the capacity of future of the thyssenkrupp AG. These are topics I would like to mention here. Thanks a lot for your attentions. I'm very much looking forward to receive the answers.
Thanks a lot for these questions. The next, Mr. Oßmann. I ask to pass the floor to Mr. Oßmann. Dear Mr. Oßmann, please.
Thanks a lot to pass me the floor. I'm Hans Ossmann. I'm from the presidency of the company of the association of residential property. Thanks a lot to the employees of thyssenkrupp for the work done. Mrs. Merz, thanks a lot for giving me the possibility to include motions. Have you ever received motions? Mrs. Merz, you know that AGM is a dialogue to between the shareholders with the members of the supervisory board. All my presentation is a question. I want individual answers for every question. With the guideline for shareholders too, we have the right to receive the reports of payments and also that the auditors must confirm the correctness of the reports. As far as I understand, that the auditors haven't accept all reports.
I often ask for that. Mrs. Merz, could you please ask, explain me what has changed at thyssenkrupp with ATU? Mrs. Merz, you have got additional position. Can you please mention them? Are you not working enough at thyssenkrupp? How are you also a candidate of the supervisory board of Siemens? You receive a better payment, or have you got extra bonus for the female balance? Have you checked that all the doctorates have not copied the doctorates? I have seen a lot of problems with that, and that even a lot of people have given back the doctorate, for instance, Dr. Giffey. This has been a title also, Martin Huber, who was General Secretary of the CSU. It is really embarrassing. Also some of the PhDs, Mr. Guttenberg, has to give back his title.
Your candidates of PhD have copied also their promotion, or have you checked that? I would like to have a statement about that. thyssenkrupp has been in former time a very successful company for weapons, but right now, in the time of Ukraine War, we can really use that advantage. Why have you sold this part? Because annually it gave a lot of dividends, and you kept all the crap parts, crappy parts. We had EUR 45 2005 per share. Now we are EUR 80. thyssenkrupp has lost a lot. A lot of shareholders have lost a lot of money with the share of thyssenkrupp. Elevators and has been sold the last 15 years. The shares go down. We as the shareholders don't want to support the situation.
Those people who are taking decisions are since 10 years on board, but don't make important decisions to improve the situation of thyssenkrupp and the share of thyssenkrupp. We need someone who's doing things, not someone who has just the title and gets a lot of payment. The maximum payment is EUR 9 million plus any additional payments. For instance, virtual payments through shares and pensions, additional pensions for even for the kids. Could you please give us a statement in correspondence to this information? In any club, for instance, for a football club. All this position would have been changed. EUR 0.15 dividend, this is ridiculous. We need someone who is making things, someone who's pushing the company forward. That is why I gave you my options for voting. I also included my motion.
Thyssen needs an open dialogue, high transparency, and precise informations. I need a statement about that. Our candidate, Mrs. Dr. Grimberg, is an experts in the context of political and economical aspects. That's why she's really an remarkable professor at universities, especially when it comes to interdisciplinary topics. She knows thyssenkrupp from the beginning now to the foundation. We know that she knows thyssenkrupp better than anybody of you. We know as a candidate she has some opinions that are very different. You prefer people who are just nodding, and I cannot serve you with that. I'm very sorry for that, Mr. Rossworm. A lot of shareholder also in my environment have the opinion that the report is just a fairy tale. Mrs. Merz, could you just calculate your payment, or do you need an assessment for that?
I think you have got too much payment, and often you have got an assessor to have audit about your payments and to get these payments reported. These costs are all on shoulders of the shareholders. What do you have to tell us about that? I had several motions in place. Because any motions, you can report them in additional. I ask number 1 about the remuneration, and we ask that the members of the supervisor report get a reduction of remuneration until they show certain successes. In the time of Corona, the remuneration were lack of respect and inappropriate, especially if you increase your payment. EUR 9 million of a limit of remuneration with no additional service, that is far too much. This is more than 450. That's really very much more than any normal worker.
That is per hour, and a payment per hour that is more than reliable. They have more money than our counselor and than our president. With that, I ask for a motion number two, considering point three and four, to give no additional expense to the Supervisory Board and ask for it individual voting. Mrs. Merz, what is an exclusive voice president at Brose Automotive? Could you explain that? Could you use that at thyssenkrupp? Just a small point.
Yeah.
Yes. Please be briefly. No, it's not a lot. Why have you constructed this steel plant in Brazil? Who is responsible for that? Who is reliable for that? Who has paid for that? We had EUR 12 billion loss. How much dividends would have that been for the shareholders? Mrs. Merz, could you explain this restructure? What was the advantage? What advantage has that brought to the shareholders? How do you explain the exclusive restaurant that you have? What would we eat, the shareholders? I ask you for an intensive share statement. Why didn't you accept during this AGM, a combined questioned remarks? It is very obvious that on your list.
That on your list for vote, you have got a lot of candidates with PhDs. Is that just for the image? Does this mean more remuneration, or is there any substance? In the last 10 years, your candidates only have brought us a downfall of thyssenkrupp. We don't need a thyssenkrupp and improve our image. We need a supervisory board and a executive board that is capable to push thyssenkrupp forward. I thank you for your attention. I would like to say goodbye to the Martina Merz. Thanks a lot for accepting my questions.
Thanks, Mr. Oßmann, for this. Speak Hendrik Schmidt for the DWS Investment GmbH. After that, Mr. Voss, Mr. Landrock, and then some answers.
Thanks a lot. Dear supervisory boards and dear executive boards, dear shareholder, I'm Hendrik Schmidt. I'm representing the DWS Investment GmbH.
It's one of the biggest fund society, and we represent the shareholders of our society. The first time at thyssenkrupp, we are living a virtual AGM that is including the shareholders in the debate. As a long-term investor, we like the dialogue between ownership and administration to have a good element for corporate governance. That's why we are looking closely how this format is different from the other meetings before. thyssenkrupp 2021 has done some strategic change, even if the environment has changed severely, especially the war from in the Ukraine. In comparison to the last year, fight, focus, improve, scale was on the top. Now we are looking on performance, portfolio, and people. What does that mean?
Considering the performance, the energy price and raw price and the tense value chain and inflation haven't been that strong as the shares seems to be. The shareholders are living it. thyssenkrupp is, has not finished with the transformation. The last year, we had EUR 9 for share price. In the meantime, we had a historical downfall of EUR 4. The current share price is EUR 12, but still it's a reduction or from 80% in total. Does the capital market not understand the steps taken? Which framework do you see to improve the shares? Right now, since four years, we have got a dividend, but even though it has been very low, EUR 0.15. That considering a result per share from EUR 1.80. What can we see, expect as shareholders for the next years?
I will start with the second P, portfolio. The transformation has been taking place in 3 years, and I welcome that thyssenkrupp is looking closely on the potential of development of each branch. On long term, we have seen that assumption can change. Having a look at materials service business, you are talking about increasing price and less sales that have improved even the results. What are the developments you expect for the next 24 months? You describe also positive special effects when selling equities in Düsseldorf. Which special effects have you considered, and which properties have you sold? Are you talking about sale and respect businesses? Industrial components, the numbers are increasing, but this branch has been charging early energy. When do you expect sustainable development, and what margin do you expect for the next 2 years?
Considering automotive, you want to invest, you want to have a result of EUR 5, more than EUR 5 billion. Even though, the result will be only a reduction of EBIT by 68%. This reduction has the following reasons: the problems of delivery in China. Since the summer last year, you are thinking about a joint venture together with the NSK Steering. Please can make a statement about the situation right now, how a joint venture is still the preferred option?
The other possibility would be to have a new view on that. If you don't want to go ahead, tell us why. Steel. Oh, yeah. Steel, of course, they had an increased spot market prices for the increase in what you make per ton. Then again, you in fact delivered less steel. The steel cycles in the past has always been up and down. It is, of course, certain decisions in Germany and at the EU level that, of course, are supposed to support thyssenkrupp. When are you expecting a final decision? Then can we assume that the spin-off of steel will be put into practice? What other conditions are important for you? What is the future for the steel business in general? With the war in Ukraine, also green systems has become taken on a new importance.
The structural increase in the defense budget should give us a tailwind. What is the perspective for thyssenkrupp in general? Wouldn't it be good to have a spin-off so that they're always spending alone, so they can generate more wealth? What are the other possibilities to either ask the German government to join in to make sure that they keep the forefront of technology or to sell it off? For Multi Tracks, we wonder how the hydrogen business under Nucera is going to move forward. It would be good if the IPO could be carried out soon, and then you continue with that. What is your take on that? What are the conditions under which you carry out the IPO? Should thyssenkrupp remain owner, majority owner? Basically, what is your vision for thyssenkrupp going forward?
Another point, of course, are the liabilities for pension payments. Here we have the mixed picture, and at the same time, we have a liquidity of EUR 7 billion. Wouldn't it be now the right moment or the right moment in time to fill up this deficit now that you have liquidity so that we get out of that? Now corporate governance. thyssenkrupp in the past has gone through a number of deficits which they took care of, and the new supervisory board have done a good job in that. Now 7 of them are leaving. Now you're asking for the same kind of people again. Is it possible that external candidates can also join in? Have they been tested? Shouldn't it be that the board should have a staggered board so that you keep getting new people?
Why is it that at the very same time, they are voted in and for a period of 3 years? Mrs Ursula Gather has her last day today, she will be sent in again for 5 years. 5 years, that's a lot more than the ones that were elected here for 3 years. We think that that is not correct. Maybe Professor Gather, on behalf of the thyssenkrupp foundation, we should not also have a reduced period of time. Today, we will be in favor of all of the candidates except for Dr. Klaus Keysberg, like others have pointed out. Like we said in the past, Dr. Klaus Keysberg's mandates are very comprehensive, and we think there is some sort of overboarding. Please make sure that you check what Dr. Klaus Keysberg is actually doing and what kind of responsibility that would carry.
For Dr. Luger, we notice that he has a number of other jobs. He's the Gradient Holding, also PreussenElektra, E.ON Energie, and Avacon, and also thyssenkrupp. Basically, just these numbers represent an overboarding. Back in 2020, we notice now that PreussenElektra, E.ON Energie Germany, Avacon are fully consolidated companies. We can take them as one company if you want to. Please do explain how these mandates go together and what is their scope. Our support means that Dr. Luger, you, for your mandate at thyssenkrupp, will have enough time. Overboarding comes in again also for Merz. For Merz, you've been now heading the board made up of only three members, and you just received an extension until 2028. We assume that you want to keep working in this field.
In 2020, basically then, we were very critical that you already had other jobs, and we wondered if you had enough time for thyssenkrupp. We were quite surprised that in September of 2022, you also became a member of the supervisory board of Siemens, another company that is going through an intense process of change that goes over here. Please tell us how you can jive those two positions. Now you want to have Volvo as well. Do we have to think back about times of the past that we thought were already gone, or is this the beginning of a new innovation alliance? We see that in item 8, you want us to approve the possibility to have AGMs virtually. Today, we already had a number of slight technical difficulties.
We hope that that is going to be a thing of the past soon. We are happy that you do not take the overall framework that is given by law, but only want to have 2 years. We are in agreement. We will watch very carefully how other share companies deal with these regulations and the rights of shareholders. We want to see to what extent the members of the boards of thyssenkrupp in the following year, in 2024, will then have a meeting either in person or hybrid or as a remote show. We will see how that works out. Now, talking about people, I'd like to thank the people at thyssenkrupp for their job and their commitment now and for the future. Thank you very much. Thank you very much, ladies and gentlemen, for your attention.
As we say at thyssenkrupp, Glück auf. All the best to you.
Thank you very much, Mr Schmidt. Now we have Daniela Voss, and then Mr. Landrock, and then we have the next round of answers. Mr Voss.
Ladies and gentlemen, I hope you can see me. Yes, seems to be okay. Good. I'm so glad that I'm here today. I'm a bit late. I'm sorry. I listened in for some time. Ladies and gentlemen, members of the boards, I can say for the SdK, for whom I speak
Hauptversammlung ist doch immer wieder was Spannendes.
An AGM is something very important.
Wir sind da immer wieder gefragt, wird wohl detailreich, kenntnisreich. Man sieht, der Geschäftsbericht, der wird nicht nur unter den Tisch gelegt, der wird in der Regel erwachsen, wird auch gelesen und sogar gekleckert.
You see that the report is not only put into a shelf, but people actually do read it.
Ich glaube, man kann da auch sagen: Heute erkennen wir wichtig an, was das auch ist.
We see how important such a meeting is.
Ich glaube, das demonstriert, Unternehmenslenker sich zur Verantwortung stellen würden. Das sind ja alles Fragen, die uns seit Jahren begleiten.
It wouldn't be good, you know, if people actually did answer all of the questions, which is the case.
Ich kann zwar mir vorstellen, dass das auch im Interesse des Staats ist, dass wir alle in Deutschland wohnen, alles schon selbst erlebt haben.
I would assume that most of the questions that were asked have been asked by yourselves anyhow, and it's good that they can be posed in public.
Insgesamt ist es ja auch besser, dass das alle wissen, dass die Fragen auch tatsächlich gestellt werden können. Arbeiten wir gemeinsam mit der Industrie an einem wirklich zukünftig tragfähigen, detailreichen Format.
Therefore, we work with the industry for a good digital format.
Daran sind wir auch sehr interessiert, aber wir können dem heutigen Vorschlag, wie gesagt, vorweg leider nicht zustimmen.
We're interested in that, unfortunately cannot agree to today's proposal because there's still lots of work to be done.
Wir brauchen uns von künftigen digitalen, virtuellen, wie immer gearteten Hauptversammlungen, dass nicht nur die Unternehmen, sondern auch die Aktionäre die Möglichkeit haben, kurzfristig ihre Digitalisierung zu sichern.
We think that these meetings should give the possibility not only the companies, but also the shareholders to make sure that they can share the information.
Wenn es heute zwar möglich ist, auf der Blockchain langfristig, nachhaltig und endgültig zu sichern, was geschehen ist, dann sollte es auch möglich sein, beispielsweise digital vorab eingereichte Fragen nachvollziehbar, auch schriftlich und sicherbar zu beantworten.
It should be possible to be answering these questions that have been submitted in a digital format.
Vielleicht, dass Vorstände da zum Schwitzen gebracht werden und sich festbeißen müssen wollen.
I know that boards don't like that so much, but I think, we all want to keep our words.
Ich glaube, wir sind alle mit einem Rückgrat ausgestattet, auch zu ihrem Wort dann zu stehen. Das ist ein Mut. Wir arbeiten gemeinsam daran, dass das gelingt und wir detailreich Hauptversammlungen durchführen können.
Be courageous. We're working on it, making sure that everything is fine.
Wenn wir die vielen Fragen, die schon gestellt wurden, dann würde ich jetzt an der Stelle zurücknehmen und nur ein paar Themen ansprechen, die eher so das Big Picture betreffen. Erster Punkt: Thema grüner Stahl. Ich glaube, alle hier im Raum und die große Mehrheit in Deutschland ist sich darüber im Klaren, dass Stahl aus ökologischem Gesichtspunkt nicht mehr so produziert werden kann und darf, wie das vielleicht noch vor 50 Jahren der Fall war.
Many questions have been asked. At this point, I want to move on to something else, more in the direction of the big picture. Green steel. I think all of us here
Wir wollen dorthin, man muss sich auch der Tatsache stellen, dass wir in keiner Verwelt sind. Das ist einer der Gründe, warum wir diesen Kontinent gibt, die das ganz anders sehen, die anders produzieren und damit auch anders am Markt agieren.
The majority of the people in Germany know that steel ecologically cannot be produced anymore as it was the case maybe 50 years ago. We want to get to a point where we say, well, we're not the only ones in this world. There are other continents that have a different viewpoint on that. They manufacture steel in a different fashion and therefore can enter the market under different conditions. The question that I would like to ask you is: Do you think it's probable or do you think for sure that in the next 10-15 years, it will be possible to manufacture green steel in Germany under competitive prices?
Wir müssen uns auch dieser Tatsache stellen und ich freue mich über die Art und Weise, wie Sie das auch vielleicht sogar überzeugt. In den nächsten 15 Jahren wird es möglich, grünen Stahl in Deutschland zu wettbewerbsfähigen Preisen zu produzieren und zu verkaufen anzubieten, und zwar im Wettbewerb, Preiswettbewerb mit anderen Produzenten, die andere, niedrigere ökologische Ansprüche vertreten.
Especially because the competition has a different view on ecology.
Diese Frage muss einfach grundsätzlich mal gestellt werden. Wenn wir nicht eindeutig und näher beantworten können, müssen wir uns.
If you cannot really answer that question, we have to understand.
können, wenn wir nicht unseren ökologischen Standard und unsere eigenen Anspruch einhalten können, müssen wir daraus Konsequenzen ziehen und Preisausweise sogar zurückziehen.
if we cannot stick to our ecological standard, then, we may have to retract our commitment there.
Die zweite Frage dreht sich auch um den dezentralen Managementansatz, den ich für sehr nachvollziehbar halte, weil er dann näher an den Unternehmen ist. Jede Medaille hat zwei Seiten. Ich würde das gerne einmal fragen, ganz konkret am Beispiel des Unternehmens beim Wasserkraftdreiecks aus nachholender Angebotinfrastrukturseite.
A decentralized management approach I think is good, but for each medal, there are two sides. I'd like to ask you in very concrete terms in the case of the hydrogen production. From the infrastructure point of view, when you say investments are made in a decentralized fashion inside the individual companies, how about R&D?
Wenn Sie Stahl oder in der Rede vorgetragen haben, Investitionen innerhalb der einzelnen Companies werden entschieden dezentral, dann fragt sich auch, wenn Forschung und Entwicklung in der Industrie dezentral ist, dann wäre es doch bitter sinnvoll und naheliegend, dass die 3 Bereiche dieses Dreiecks, die künftig bei einem Markt unterschiedliche Märkte bearbeiten wollen, sich kurzschließen zu einem Forschungsnetzwerk im Austausch stehen. Ich meine, das ist nicht zu viel. Stellen Sie das sicher in einer Group of Companies mit im Kern auch zu wenig in einer Art Schiene.
Would make sense if those sides of a triangle that want to work on the same market segment should do the research in a coordinated fashion. How can that be done in a group of companies if there is no proper coordination? Final point, your policy on dividends.
Das war der nächste Punkt, den ich auch schon zu Ende Thema Dividendenpolitik. Ja, als Mehrheitsvereinigung begrüßen wir das und sind sehr froh darüber, dass wir wieder eine Dividende bieten.
Sure. As shareholders, of course, we're happy that we're getting a dividend, of course, we all know that this is just more or less a wooden spoon because we think that the money could be invested in a better way.
Sind uns, glaube ich, alle im Raum wohl einig. Das ist jetzt ein Trostpflaster, das vielleicht dann doch mehr schadet als nützt. So wirklich glücklich ist damit keiner. Vielleicht das Geld ja woanders besser aufgehoben. Genau das war die Frage, die ich stellen will: Mir fehlt in Ihrer Rede die Überlegung bei der Begründung zum Dividendenvorschlag: Wie ist denn mit einer Alternativverzinsung aus? Aktionäre müssen doch die Wahl haben: Ist das Geld in dem Unternehmen in ihrem ganzen Cashbestand gut angelegt? Schaffen Sie es, eine gigantische Menge an adäquate Verzinsung zu erwirtschaften? Schaffen Sie es nicht? Ist das Geld tatsächlich bei den Aktionären besser aufgehoben. Sollten wir es vielleicht auch das.
We think that an alternative form of paying interest may be different. Is it good to have that gigantic amount of cash in the company? Wouldn't it be better to get adequate interest? If you can't do that, well, then you should give the money to the shareholders.
Die Frage, die wir beleuchtet, aber nicht thematisiert, den halte ich auch für ganz zentral und das ist eben auch eine zentrale Frage: Warum gehen Sie darauf nicht ein?
I think another central point is this: Why don't you do that?
Gehen Sie davon aus, dass es ein Unternehmen innerhalb der nächsten 5 Jahre schafft, eine Kapitalverzinsung zu erwirtschaften, die auf dem aktuellen Kapitalzinsniveau liegt.
Do you assume that in the next five years it will be possible to have an interest rate?
Die Anleihe ist endfällig 2026 mit 4.15%, wo Milan liegt. Vielen Dank.
where that will be made possible. Thank you very much, and I wish you all a great day.
Vielen Dank, Herr Voss, für Ihren Beitrag.
Yeah. Thank you very much, Mr. Voss, for your contribution.
Der nächste auf der Liste ist Herr Rufus Landrock.
Now we have Mr. Landrock.
Herr Landrock, ich hoffe, Sie sind uns zugeschaltet.
Mr. Landrock, are you...
Darf Sie um Ihren Beitrag bitten.
there? Yes
Sehr geehrte Damen und Herren.
Ladies and gentlemen, I have one very brief question?
Ich habe nur eine ganz kurze Frage.
This is about arms sales.
Und zwar geht es um die Frage der Rüstung. Gibt es Pläne beziehungsweise Überlegungen hinsichtlich einer Zusammenlegung von TK Marine einerseits und der Rüstungssparte von Rheinmetall? Das ist schon meine Frage. Danke schön.
Vielen Dank, Herr Landtag, für die sehr konkrete Frage, die wir sicher gut beantworten können. Ich würde jetzt wieder einsteigen in die nächste Antwortrunde und darf als Vorsitzender mir selbst das Privileg geben, die erste Antwort zu geben, nämlich auf die Frage von Herrn Roth nach der Anzahl der Aufsichtsräte. Der Aufsichtsrat der thyssenkrupp AG hat nach den gesetzlichen Vorgaben, die auch reflektiert sind im Paragraph 9 der Satzung der thyssenkrupp AG, tatsächlich 20 Mitglieder, von denen 10 von den Aktionären und 10 von den Arbeitnehmern bestellt werden. Das ist aber keine Bedrohung. Einmal, weil der vielseitig zusammengesetzte Aufsichtsrat zum einen eine Grundvoraussetzung zur Überwachung, aber auch zur Beratung des Vorstands ist. Und zum zweiten darf ich Sie beruhigen: Es geht dabei nicht um 3 Vorstände gegen 20 Aufsichtsräte, sondern um 20 Aufsichtsratsmitglieder zusammen mit dem Vorstand zum Wohle des Unternehmens, dessen Entscheidungen zu decken.
Viel zu dieser Frage und dann darf ich weitergeben an Herr Merz und Sie, und dann haben wir am Ende Frau Merz. Danke schön, Herr Russo.
Ich komme zurück auf eine Frage von Herrn Massa, der gefragt hatte, im Rahmen von Scope 3, würden wir bis 2016, da würden wir nur 16% der Emissionen bis 2030 reduzieren. Wie wir danach die Reduktion auf netto null erreichen können. Mit welchen Maßnahmen? Antwort: Nach der Veröffentlichung unserer Scope 3 Emissionen. Unsere Scope 3 Emissionen sind schon seit mehreren Jahren komplett in dem CDP reporting enthalten und daher auch öffentlich verfügbar. Vom Wirtschaftsprüfer geprüften Teile der Scope 3 Emissionen aus brennstoff- und energiebedingten Emissionen stehen dabei heute auf unserer website. Zu Ihrer Frage nach den Maßnahmen zur Reduktion der Scope 3 Emissionen: Wir fokussieren bei den Reduktionsmaßnahmen zu Scope 3 aktuell und nach 2030 auf die Lieferkette und im Wesentlichen auf die Kategorie Purchased Goods. Danke schön. Ich gebe weiter an Klaus Keysberg.
Much for that.
Ja, vielen Dank. Ich habe hier eine Frage von Herrn Wolf: Warum gibt es bei TK keine Namensaktien?
Thank you very much for Mr. Wolf. Why don't we have nominal shares so that in our basic, capital we checked if we'd have nominal shares or non-nominal shares? Looking at the current guideline on stock operations, we have the non-nominal shares, which is the most common one in Germany because, in the security handling it is the easiest and also the cheapest. It does mean that possibly in the future we will move on to nominal shares. At the moment we do not see any reason to do so. That was the answer to my question. Mr. Burkhard, would you like to try? Yeah, sure. I'll give it a shot.
Ich komme zu einer Frage von Herrn Tilman Massa.
Mr. Tilman Massa.
Er äußerte, dass wir anscheinend hoffen auf neue Aufträge für Rüstungsexporte und nannte Länder, die nicht beitragen zur Sicherheit und Stabilität sollen. Die Frage war dann: In welchen Ländern hat oder plant TK im Moment Verträge der Lieferungsverträge zu welchen Produkten und in welchem Umfang?
We follow the framework of the federal government. That is what is the basis for any of our decision making and is also the basis for our economic dealings. When it comes to export in the field of marine equipment, then there you have of course a clear-cut design. We do get involvement also at an earlier stage. Then there's the Federal Security Council that looks at it and carrying out and implementing those orders will only be done once we have a positive finding by the Securities Board. At 30 September it was EUR 13.6 billion. Germany, Israel, Norway, Turkey, one country in North Africa, one in Southeast Asia and Brazil. Please stay with us and bear with us that we don't give you information on individual projects. Further questions?
Do you think that now with the change times, we will have an increase of exports?
You are referring to the speech of the chancellor. Afterwards, we had got a increase of demand of marine products and together with the government and the export politics, well, we don't have a volume of the growth right now, but still we have a framework of the special assets for the government, for the defense of Germany. We expect.
Partly sales on marine.
One question and comments. Generally speaking, also Mr. Speich asks about work safety. It's very important, the values that we are living, and they are not under negotiation, and they have got the highest priority. Even though any interests could interfere. If the circumstance is when that said, it would be nice to speak about this topic considering work safety. Mr. Philipp Lothhölzer asked about the death of Mr. Süleyman in our plant in Duisburg. I want to mention chronologically how this happens, and any question that could come up, I would like to answer, because it is very important to communicate on this topic. Of course, we are affected on this death. We can also mention this today. That is not something that is usual at, in our company, and this is really saddens us.
Our goal is that anybody who's working for thyssenkrupp, in whatever contract, Whoever is working for us should go safely home. Independently if it's part-time, full-time, through a third or subcontractor company. We have got an intense report about every topic which is considering health and safety. In this tragic case, it is uncertain right now how this incident happened. We have still some investigations that are running right now, so we are very interested in knowing how it happened, and we are supporting as far as we can. We understand that the person died on Friday. He worked until 9:00 in the morning, and he was missing afterwards. Even though we looked several days after. The 17th of October, his body was found dead in a pool. We couldn't.
In a mud pool, we couldn't find any connection to an incident. We have got a high-level safety standards in this area. We did a safety test in this area and couldn't find the cause of this incident. Of course, the concept of safety, including all processes and all documents, will be revised. For instance, the risk management, the concept of access. We will do that in according to the legislation and of course, together with the authorities. The result of this investigation will be used to optimize safety issues. Considering this death, this tragic death of Mr. Süleyman, you asked about consequences at thyssenkrupp, especially considering the barriers, the language barrier that is often there for foreign workers. The instruction should be handed out in the mother tongue. Which support, you...
Will thyssenkrupp still give to family of injured or death workers? First part of your question, we will give a good instruction. That is pretty clear. Is important to carry out and perform the work. That's why the employee is obliged, considering the risk analysis, and to give these instructions in a known language. thyssenkrupp cannot carry out these instructions, but offers as a help, because, of course, subcontractors do not always instruct properly. We offer documents in 14 languages to substitute any problems of, and any risks that could appear in a working areas.
Considering the second part, in the steel area, we have got own social service with psychologists and assessors where family and friends can get in touch, not only in tragic situation, also in other situation. Of course, as mentioned, we have got systematically in place a care for family and friends. How do you deal with subcontractors? Which consequences do you? What other consequences will have the activities for those infractions of the subcontract companies? That was your questions. All incidents will be analyzed together with experts and all involved parties. All contractual relations will be verified by an internal department. As far as we see any incidents or infractions, we also exclude subcontractor companies who do not have any access to our areas and cannot work for TKS.
This happened in the past, for instance, when there was an infractions considering work safety. The established system that verifies these subcontracts in order to check if they fulfill all the legal requirements and all the aspects of work safety. Safety is the highest priority. This is nothing we negotiate. This is valid for our employees and our partners. That's why a department is checking in the post-management all the companies in order to make them fulfill the work safety requirements. We ask all the subcontractors to sign a contract, and in case of an infraction, they will be excluded of our list. Considering of work safety, we are now passing to Marine. You asked about our expectations. You're not only following the exports of the government.
You need a known guideline that clears out that you are not passing weapons to countries that are not in war. For instance, Egypt can not justify this business. This, we already have experience. Internal guidelines wouldn't give us an added value, because once we receive an export authority, we depend on the government, and so we can only stop this exportation when we get this confirmation from the government. What are you doing concrete to avoid exploitation of workers in case of insecure environment? How do you guarantee the full payment of this worker? How do you guarantee that those workers do not have to pay for their clothes and additional costs? In cooperation to partners and subcontractors and services, we are following the legal rules. We have got procedures how to manage these subcontractors.
It's not only valid for steel, it's all for all branches. We have standards about work time, about payments, about social services and the fulfillment of the code of conduct. We expect partner companies and subcontract to have a safety management and to fulfill the framework to avoid any incidents. In our space, the companies are obliged to fulfill legal requirements in considering work and safety. Mr. Piemonte asked the automotive sector, are you doing also investigations concerning autonomous weapon system and the underwater, this submarine. Are you also developing there some weapon systems? Do you have in mind to have a production of autonomous weapon? Autonomous submarine, we have several products in our portfolio. They can carry out the work autonomously when comes to mines, to sea mines.
Those equipments are passive systems, and they can destroy the sea mines. We have no special guideline considering this question. Last question, Mr. Piemonte asked about submarines that were tested, with weapons, equipped with weapons. Considering the test shooting when delivering the submarines, these testing are not part of our procedure when we deliver the products.
Thank you.
Thanks a lot, Mr. Burkhard. Mr. Keysberg.
Gerne. Ich komme zurück auf eine Frage von Herr Ruf.
Going back to 1 question, Mr. from Mr. Ruf. What is the email checking.
In unserer Geschäftsbericht Seite 115 haben wir das kurz erläutert und es bezieht die EMIR-Prüfung bezieht sich auf die sogenannte European Market Infrastructure Regulation, das heißt eine Verordnung des Europäischen Parlaments und des Rates. Diese Verordnung soll der außerbörsliche Handel mit Derivaten transparenter und sicherer gemacht werden und die Einhaltung jährlich durch die Wirtschaftsprüfer kontrolliert werden.
Trade Act. The EMIR checking is the E-Structure Regulation. It's been guideline of the European Parliament and the Council. We are talking about derivatives that the trade is more transparent and it must be audited every year.
Jetzt mache ich wieder eine aus meiner Schrade weg.
I will continue.
Herr Oßmann hat sich gefragt.
Mr. Oßmann asked about package, the payments or, and of pensions also for family.
dass Sie haben ein umfangreiches Paket zur Vergütung und Versorgung von Organmitgliedern inklusive der Familienmitglieder. Da gehen schon erhebliche Summen. Können Sie hierzu ein Statement abgeben? Herr Oßmann, das kann ich gerne tun. Grundsätzlich gilt zu den Einzelheiten der Vorstandsvergütung verweise ich auf den Vergütungsbericht, dessen Form übrigens weitgehend gesetzlich vorgegeben ist. Wie ich eingangs im Bericht zur Tätigkeit des Aufsichtsrats schon gesagt habe, es sind in den seit 2019 neu abgeschlossenen Vorstandsverträgen keine neuen Zusagen zur überalterten Versorgung mehr vorgesehen. Seitdem erhalten neu bestellte Vorstandsmitglieder keine Altersversorgung mehr zugesagt, sondern stattdessen einen festen jährlichen Geldbetrag zur eigenen Vorsorge, das sogenannte Versorgungsentgelt, so findet es sich auch im Vergütungsbericht. Wir halten das für angemessen.
First of all, individually, the remuneration, I would like to refer to the report that is established beforehand. As I mentioned about the report of the supervisory report, we have new contracts since 2019, and we have no additional remuneration in place. They don't receive any pension expenses. They receive just fixed payment, as you can see on the report, and we think that it is adequate to the situation. Mrs. Merz?
Danke schön.
Thanks a lot.
Ich beantworte die Frage von Herr Massa zum Thema Lieferkettensorgfaltspflichtengesetz.
Now I would like to answer the question of Mr. Massa about the supply chain. BE wanted to weaken this act also on EU level. Can thyssenkrupp take more the perspective of thyssenkrupp and also take some more responsibilities from automotive sector and financial sector? thyssenkrupp, of course, has been prepared to follow this act, because since years we are in favor and we are committed to fulfill human rights. We have got a declaration since year, a code, a code of conduct, and also a international framework agreement that shows our opinion about the commitment of human rights. Of course, in the last year, regularly, we were informed about thyssenkrupp is carrying out the requirements of this act. Thanks a lot. Klaus, the floor is yours.
Ja, danke schön. Noch eine Frage von Herrn Oßmann.
Just one more question of Mr. Oßmann. We need an open dialogue and thyssenkrupp precise information. He asked us for some statements.
thyssenkrupp legt über das gesamte Geschäft Jahr einen intensiven Dialog mit Investoren und Analysten durch den Vorstand, den Aufsichtsrat voranzutreiben und das Investor Relations Team begleitet werden. Es geht um insgesamt 17 Konferenzen, auch field trips included. Zusätzlich führen wir mit der Qualität die Investor Analysten zur Qualität der von uns bereitgestellten Informationen und die service levels gegenüber dem Kapitalmarkt. Das ist besonders positiv. Zu guter Letzt bewerten dies auch 3/4 unserer Analysten mit einer klaren Kauf- oder Mindesthalten. Entscheidend ist natürlich unsere Aktie. Übrigens ist unser Kursziel natürlich deutlich positiver als wo wir gerade notieren.
thyssenkrupp, since a long time, has an intense dialogue between all parties.
geht es um insgesamt 17 Konferenzen, auch Field Trips included.
We have 17 conference, also field trips included, and at the same time we have got more meetings than legal requirements. The feedback about the quality of the information we deliver and the service standards of the, in the capital market is positive. 75% of our analysis are positive about our development in this sense.
Könnte noch ein, drei Handuchten weiterkommen.
3 answers from my side.
Frage von Herrn Piemonte.
Tommy Piemonte asked about the submarines. It is a weapon systems because a rocket can be included. That why the thyssenkrupp should assume responsibilities, and they should make sure that their products are not used for as a weapon. Which measures did you take in place? The application of certain systems can technically not be avoided. The only path that we can take is that our submarines will be exported only with in according to the decision of the government. Those systems are in hand of these clients, and due to the declaration of the final use, it is the responsibility of the client. Considering of the development in investigation of weapon systems related to automatic nuclear weapon, I can tell you that thyssenkrupp is not involved in that.
Please, nuclear weapon or in submarine is not part of our portfolio. We have got very strict export control from the government, we are under this control. You ask about the restaurant and the food for the supervisory board. Mr. Oßmann, at thyssenkrupp, we don't have a separate canteen. Q1 in the 12th stage, we had that in former time. Since years, this canteen is closed. We have got a casino for guests which is open for everybody and is used from everybody. Every employee and every member of the supervisory board can use the canteen. I think today we will have fish. Thanks a lot. Even though Mr. Oßmann asked Mrs. Merz what is happening through ARUG II at TK, because this is a topic, Mrs.
Merz, I can indicate you that with A2, we have got several complex topics.
The supervisory board, in conjunction with the supervisory board, has adapted to the new compensation system. This new remuneration system was adopted at the AGM at 96.07% approval rate. This also modified the requirements to the report on remuneration. We have already done that voluntarily previous to setting in the official regulation. This was adopted at the AGM with a majority of 96.87% of the shareholders' capital, meaning that on top of that, we also included other rules and regulations so that today we can give you a further report on remuneration. It will not be simpler because these are the new rules for ARUG II. There was another question from Mr. Reuter. You seem to have assumed that we see ourselves as owners of these companies.
The question was, is this supposed to be some kind of holding? We have done certain adaptations of our structure. Of course, it's also the permanent task of management to be looking at that, and we will take a look at the following steps to be taken. Naturally, we see what possibilities there are. The word holding, of course, has a different type of interpretation, but we are constantly analyzing the situation. I have another question from Mr. Reuter. They're both sort of related. First question was, how was the sale of the TK holding and what kind of provisions, pension provisions were financed with that? Well, the liquidity input we used to clear up our balance sheet, that's well known.
More than EUR 6.5 billion in debt were serviced and erased, and we financed our ongoing business, plus the growth, and plus smaller acquisitions were carried out. Because of the geopolitical uncertainty at the moment, no further decision has been made in the future. Not only no decisions and also no financing of it. The higher liquidity of EUR 7.6 billion, how is that supposed to be used? What are you planning on using it for? Are you planning on servicing debt, or do you want to carry out acquisitions? Liquidity is good. It helps us that our everyday business is well secured. At the same time, it helps us to service the debts, which of course is happening. Of course, it's also used for the enlargement of the company, meaning investments in profitable companies.
Another question from Mr. Piemonte: When is it that you go beyond the rules and regulation by the German Government to take into consideration the human rights situation and to ensure that human rights are respected. Well, if you think that the Federal Government is not enough, well, we feel sorry about that. We believe that it's a very good standard. We are citizens of this country. If the Government approves something or disapproves something, we go by that. If it is a European stipulation, that would be nicer too. We would like that. For the time being, this is business of the German Government. We follow their instructions. I have a few answers, beginning with a question from Mr. Rüter. Are there any concrete proposals that you can see now as to how to deal with steel ongoing?
Well, like I said in my speech, we think that in the long run, Steel has to be independent, we want to implement that. For that, the capital market ability has to be proven. At the moment, that is not an ideal situation. We're doing everything we can to make sure that Steel can be spun off. How exactly this can be done, we don't know yet, and I can't tell you at this point of time. Mr. Oßmann had another question. Mrs. Merz, you have a number of further little jobs. Could you please tell us, don't you have enough to do at thyssenkrupp? Why is it that you are also a candidate for the supervising board at Siemens? Do you get a special bonus being a woman? My answer to that is this.
In December 2022, I left the board for Efes Holland, and it is known that I'm a candidate for Siemens. As far as the shareholders may follow that, then this will be an exchange for my mandate for Efes Holland for the one, the parent company of Siemens. This is something that will avoid an overboarding for the future. I will only have two further external mandates at Volvo. I've been on the board since 2015, and I assume that my job there will not have a further strain on my time management. I have no problem at all carrying out my job at thyssenkrupp. The mandates are in keeping with the German Corporate Governance Code.
Oßmann asked a question, "Why is it that you sold off the best you had, which is the elevator?" Well, to sell the elevator business was something that we didn't do with a light heart, but we were able to obtain a very good price just before Corona. That was a decision that wasn't an easy one to adopt, but it was necessary to bolster our balance sheet. Like I said in my speech, this sell-off was the transformation, was the precondition for the transformation of the company, so we had enough room for our transformation. The last 2 questions. Oh, only 1, sorry. Mr. Oßmann again. He asked if we could explain the transformation of the company. What did it give you? To what extent have you been able to complete it? Did it bring about anything other than losses?
Well, for the transformation of the company, the restructuring of the company, we have a line unified focus and transform it to explain our path of restructuring. With performance people, we have a new grid to show that we are advancing this. Content are performance, anything related to short-term performance like free cash flow to zero, and also structural means and medium-term and long-term performance. The second building block portfolio, Multi-Tracks. The portfolio steps within Multi-Tracks, and also the ideas of how to continue and further business. In the development of further business, can this help to bring it forward? As to people, of course, everything that has to do with HR in all of the organizational forms are important to us.
New works and also projects in order to make us more attractive as an employer to recruit skilled labor. I already mentioned that in my speech in detail. We have advanced. We have progressed, but we're not happy with that yet. We want more. We think that we are more resilient now, and we are better now at taking up opportunities. Thank you very much. Mr. Kaspers? Did he get one too? Yes, I did get one. Mr. Schmidt, the dividends, what can we expect for the years to come? I just said, well, coming back to our aim is to come back to have permanent payments of dividends so that you can participate in the success of the company.
That, of course, depends on factors such as the surplus that we're able to attain and the outlook for the new business year. Also progress, meaning to what extent the new strategy has been implemented. We definitely want, if that is possible, to have a sustainable dividend. Therefore, like we said earlier, this is our aim to continue paying out dividends. Thank you. I will continue with another question from Mr. Oßmann. He asked me what an executive vice president is for large components. I can only tell you this from 2002 until 2005. As you can see in my biography, about 20 years ago, I was an executive vice president for large components, and that is an automotive supplier, which gives the connection to thyssenkrupp.
It is a sub-supplier from Coburg. It's a family-owned business. The business there has 70 locations in 25 countries. What? Electronic components for doors and chassis. This is an upper management position to be in charge of large components. I will be coming in here for another question from Mr. Oßmann. Why can you not have a combined questioning period, halfway virtual, halfway direct? Well, we use all kinds of formats that are possible in our group, also in a combined meeting. We decided for the virtual format. The advantages of a virtual format is that it's easier to exercise the rights of the shareholders who cannot travel in person. We save money and time for the shareholders and for the company. At the moment when we made the decision... Please, please.
When we have a meeting, we need to rent a major venue, and that is something that is done at least a few months ahead of time. Back in the fall, it wasn't sure to what extent the pandemic would develop. Therefore, we decided to go for the safe option also for the benefit of the health of all people involved. I have a question. Sorry that I should have answered myself. I thought I had answered, but I take it one more time. Mr. Schmidt asked me, "Why is it that after our transformation curve, in terms of scale, we now have the focus on performance and people?" Like I said, we already answered that question. I'm sorry, I should have mentioned both of you asking that same question. Yeah, I have a question from Mr. Schmidt.
Does the capital market not understand your kind of progress, or is there a lack of communication? Like I said earlier, over the year, of course, we have always a good communication with investors and the community, 70 conferences of all kinds. We have a good feedback with our investors and analysts. The comments of the capital market show that the progress is being recognized and that we are on the right way. We believe it is our strong balance sheet, the development of the portfolio, Multi Tracks, and of course, also the operational performance, for example, with a surplus of more than EUR 1 billion. We feel. This is a figure that we consider to be the most important one, is still unfortunately negative.
We will have a free cash flow before we do an M&A. Therefore, we will see the reflection of that in the development of the share price. The analysts always say that this is a buy or hold back decision right now. It is up to EUR 16 for the share. That is what we're aiming for. Okay, let me have one of those. Mr. Oßmann asked, on your list of candidates, many of them have a doctoral degree. Is that a substance of it or is it just to improve the image of it? Well, the list of proposals that we have for candidates is not based on academic titles. It is expertise and level of competency. Today, these few.
Feed in well into the expectations that we have in terms of expertise. We don't care if they have a doctoral degree or not. We want them to be experts in what they're doing, and that is the basis for our selection of candidates.
Thank you very much.
Thank you very much.
With a question from Herrn Schmidt.
Mr. Schmidt
Thank you.
Thanks a lot.
I have a question considering the electrolyzers you produce. I bought KUK shares at when I heard that Uhde is selling part of company to Canada, so there could be more business of course. Yesterday I read that the company Cepsa, which is a big player of supplier, energy supplier in Spain, is constructing hydrogen plant in Albacete and Huelva, and the company, Omer in India, is delivering the parts. I guess they also receive substantial help to construct the plant. Electrolyzers is a commodity, I guess, that can be constructed also in India. What do you expect for Uhde? Can they really perform correspondingly on the world market?
Thanks, Mr. Zöllner, for your question. All person or everybody who is asking a question will get an answer. Of course, we have to prepare answers because these type of questions, as you noticed, are very complex. We will
Start with answering the questions of the last round. Yes, I will continue. Mr. Schmidt, the fourth part of your question about automotive technologies. Since summer last year, we are discussing about this thought, if we would realize a joint venture with NSK and if no, if the answer is no, why do you not consider that? A partnership with NSK offers of us a good opportunity to improve our business unit steering and make it a go-global player. The goal behind, as mentioned, is to offer a wide range in the steering branch and of course with a bigger market, a better portfolio with clients and products. All activities in NSK do not give us a strategic advantage if we follow a merge. If we understand also the opinion of NSK in Japan correctly.
Considering the steel business, the question of Mr. Schmidt, we have still some open questions, some open decisions from the EU. What is this? Considering the support of the green steel, which conditions are necessary to take a decision? As I mentioned in my speech, the challenges and the opportunities of the green transformation, especially for the steel, are challenging, and this transformation is only possible with a clear framework of prices. Of course, we have got a strong dialogue with politicians, and the more we the clearer the picture is, the more that we can take it, invest and take a decision about investment. I have a question about Mr. Schmidt, it's about the performance of the shares. In the share price, we have a better numbers. We have re-reduct debts that we had.
We introduced measures considering restructure and modernize, we improved our results. The company, the group is more stable, we are still in the transformation, as mentioned before. We of course, we want to increase the efficiency and we still see opportunities there. It is this decisive that we have got a cash flow before M&A, we are convinced that this will also be reflected by the share price. As I mentioned twice before, that our goal is to have a higher share price than we have right now, of course.
I have some questions.
Please continue. You need a lot of detailed answers. Another question of Mr. Schmidt, material service. You were talking about less re-reduction of sales volumes. Which development do you expect in the next 24 month, and on what you base your assumptions? Of course, material, the material depends on the difference of prices and services only depending on. Services depends on these prices. The sales volume will be stable considering once we have got a stabilization of the prices. For the next month, we expect an increase of the sales volumes. In total, we don't see some limitations of raw materials, also significantly downfalls. We foresee, we forecast a stable development. A question of Mr. Schmidt: You describe a part of special effects when you sell equities.
We sold Königsberger Straße. The property was not necessary for our business, and it was used only for thyssenkrupp Schulte and thyssenkrupp Plastics. This unit will be moving to other sites. Another question from Mr. Schmidt: You have positive special effects when you sold the equity in Düsseldorf. Which equity was affected, which property? Düsseldorf had special effect EUR 133 million. It was a site of thyssenkrupp Schulte Plastics and Material Trading. This Königsberger Straße 60 and 80 was sold. Please, Mr. Oßmann want to ask a question. Just to show that we have got an interactive meeting here. Mr. Oßmann, please. Can you ask your question right now? He can ask his question. Half a minute. You don't want to listen to my... We have got now an image from Mr. Oßmann.
You just want to ask a question? Please. I hope you can see me. You can see me? Yes, we can see you and hear you. Mr. Rosmuth, can you hear me? Thanks a lot for providing me this opportunity to ask again. I have still some question that I would like to know. All this time. maybe 75% of this time. I only needed this time to get an access to your to your this meeting. I'm not an IT specialist, but I am capable to manage with them. Maybe you should think about that. You should just get the organization well done. You still have several problems there. I don't want to offend you. I would like to thank the Mr. Blanker and Mr. Bär I've talked to. I think you have severe problems.
I have participated very often in meetings, in virtual meeting. You have got severe problems here. All the other speakers seem to agree as well. A shareholder is not resilient. You should think about the task of a shareholder. You have got back office up to 100 people that give you support. We as the shareholders. We should cover all these technical problems that you are producing. That you are responsible for choosing those experts who find solutions for you. If I need most of the time to get access to this meeting, then only to get access, that is really not okay. A shareholder should ask, should have time to, have his background in place. Of course, he should be capable to talk. It's quite a lot you ask from us. You should support the shareholders.
I asked a question. Why do you not offer a combinated meeting? You can offer a virtual meeting 1 year and the next year a meeting in presence. Putting in place a lot of excuses why you have got this virtual meeting. In my opinion, you don't want to face the shareholder, and you're avoiding to have a face-to-face with the shareholder. That's my point of view. I'm not against virtual meetings generally. I found ways to deal with that and to be capable to talk at this type of meetings. Maybe or for example, in advance, we could put questions in place. Maybe even 2 days before the AGM, you can prepare yourself. We receive proper answers. Now in between a half an hour, you have to answer these questions.
You are there in front, in the pan front. In the back office, your people have to prepare the answers, and we are paying them. We are paying you big money for that. Mr. President, you have got the task to be a supervisor. You are receiving a very good payment for that. I think you have to organize well, better your company. If not, we don't need you. We don't need 20 people in the supervisory board. We have to pay them, but for what? I ask you to do something for that. What have you done so far? What have you achieved? We have got a share price of 7 EUR and something, and a couple of weeks ago it was at 3 EUR. I want an answer from you, Said.
That's something we pay. We don't need 20 doctors or PhDs, doctorates. We need people who have an idea that are capable to work properly. You from your side, if the evaluation of thyssenkrupp, you want to achieve EUR 16. I'm buying for EUR 1 million thyssenkrupp, and then you guarantee me that you will have EUR 16 in 1 year. If not, you are lying. Please don't tell me those lies. Please be more concrete. Listening to you, the share price is now triple A. No, that's not true. Right now it's all crap. Imagine how many people have lost with thyssenkrupp. You are filling your own pockets. I see you. You are smiling maybe a little bit, but your pockets are full of money. I ask you to do something of that.
You are just only PhD and doing nothing. You sold elevators. We have earned some money with that. I've heard beforehand that you have got EUR 7 billion in from weapon, and you sold elevator. Elevator, which gave us money. All the crap of Thyssen, you keep it. I would like to have some answers from you, Said, and not just only to jibber-jabber. I want some answer, explanation, and now I would want to see. I'm here asking freely, and I'm really annoyed. I'm sorry for that, because I couldn't listen fully the general assembly because I'm all the time phoning, checking up my technical issues. With the Deutsche Bank, we had no problem. We had a technical check beforehand and everything worked fine. Now here, nothing is working fine. Shall I come around and reorganize your business?
I hope to receive a good answer and not only jibber jabber. That's all from my side. This is how we do that in Bavaria. Thanks a lot. Bye-bye, and thanks a lot for this option to talk. Mr. Oss, thanks a lot for your committed answer. Me, as from the Franconian area, I understand that. I understand that how are the Bavarians when they are committed. There are several answers still opened. Maybe you do not agree with the answer, but I guess most of the questions are answered. When there are new questions, of course, we will answer them. Now we are continuing with the answer round. We'll start with Mrs. Merz. Thanks a lot.
The first one is on the question, to what extent do you have any political influence to get a higher CO₂ emission rate? If you're talking about the end of last year, the compromise that was agreed on for emission trading, that we do have an incredible increase for CO₂ costs, especially since in 2034 the free allocation will expire. Necessary investment in CO₂-free steel generation is being used. With these investment incentives, our company has, of course, been using our influence through the federations.
I have a question for Mr. Rüter. Salzgitter did develop much better than thyssenkrupp. What do they do better than what we do, and how do you want to catch up? Well, first of all, the reasons for the performance of Salzgitter are not available to us. We don't have any information on that. We cannot make any comments on that. You must say that is a comparison that's been made between the same customers and same customer structure. Of course, one thing is for sure, we want to improve our performance. We have already mentioned that. Within the strategy 2030, we have certain measures as to portfolio performance. And until 2029 we have already generated EUR 430 million. We will
Continue on the basis of that. I shall continue then with a question that comes from Mr. Schmidt, and there is a follow-up related to it. It's about his questions on the steel business. There are certain decisions as to subsidies for the climate neutral steel production. The question is: When do you expect to have a final decision on that? Our answer is: Well, a final decision on subsidies by the EU Commission and then the final decision as to who gets what, that is something that is expected for the first semester of 2023. Sorry, I didn't mean 2030. I meant 2023. Another question from Mr. Schmidt as to the steel business: What future do you see in the steel business in general?
Like I said in my speech, steel is at the very, very beginning of many supply chains. If we're talking cars, machinery, or construction, steel is the industrial material number one. The German economy, with many, many medium-sized companies, needs very, very good industrial supply chains. The Ruhr area is a fantastic ecosystem. Steel is of course at the center of this network with many, many suppliers and clients. We can only keep up this network if we have it without carbon. We need that for our customers and for our business. Like I need that steel is high tech and steel does have a future. Two more questions from Mr. Schmidt regarding Marine Services. Wouldn't that be a great spin-off for a standalone so that you can actually generate further values?
Like I said in my speech, yes, for Marine Systems, we are planning on that. We are working on an improvement of our business. It's early days to make a decision on that. With Marine Systems, you also asked what possibilities you have to get the federal government on board to make sure we continue with technology leadership. Well, of course, we coordinate that with the government because the federal army is an important client, of course, for Marine Systems, and of course also when we're talking about permits for any kind of transaction. This too would be important for the future. Technology leadership means that you have sustainable businesses and that you only do with R&D, and for that, again, R&D, and for that, you need good order books. Maybe I will finish these two, also from Mr. Schmidt. Nucera.
How does the board see these options? Well, our plans are to get Nucera straight to the stock exchange. Of course, Ukraine, plus the possibility of further inflation makes it hard right now. Any decision on a possible transaction is of course dependent on the situation in the capital markets, the potential for hydrogen technology. Well, Nucera has that potential, and the perspective of thyssenkrupp nucera, of course, is limited by political decisions in the individual regions. That shows you the dynamic increase in our order books, EUR 1.5 billion for orders. Plus now we're moving faster from fossil energy carriers to hydrogen. Electrolysis plants are in demand. Electrolysis is in demand, and Nucera is a technology leader, and therefore we will benefit from the situation. The question was: What are the preconditions for an IPO?
Well, like I said, the situation is the situation in the capital markets has to be better. Mr. Keysberg? Mr. Rüter has a question here. We don't have any concrete numbers for 2023. You just say that you want to secure results and you want to invest at large. What exactly is planned for 2023? What are the measures? Please give us these key figures. Is it possible to have a dividend next year and so on? Well, first of all, within the framework of the business report, we have first of all the forecast for 2023, and we now adopt these figures for 2023. We also publish the expectation for the individual segments that can be read up on.
Ich wiederhole sie auch noch mal gerne: Für die Gruppe erwarten wir ein rückläufiges bereinigtes EBIT auf einen Wert im mittleren, so dreistelligen Millionen-EUR-Bereich sowie aber mindestens positiven operativen Überschuss sowie Free Cashflow vor M&A.
For the group, we think there will be an EBIT, we will have a high three-digit EUR million figure.
Um diese Ziele zu erreichen, werden wir weiter die Performance der Geschäfte stärken. Dafür arbeiten alle Segmente kontinuierlich an der Verbesserung der Kostenstruktur und an der Weitergabe von nicht vermeidbaren Kostensteigerungen. Wir planen zudem Investitionen für gezielte profitable Wachstumsinitiativen in unseren Geschäften. Die Freigabe dieser Investitionen erfolgt wie bereits erwähnt restriktiv und jeweils in Abhängigkeit der Entwicklung der Geschäftsumgebung. Zudem erwarten wir im aktuellen Jahr eine Verbesserung der Nettoliquidität. Über eine Dividende wird nach Ablauf des Geschäftsjahres auf Basis der realisierten Ergebnisse entschieden. Grundsätzlich ist eine kontinuierliche Dividendenpolitik vorhin auch schon aus dem zentralen.
Dividends will be decided on at the end of the financial year on the basis of the performance. Of course, we want to have a longstanding dividend policy. Well, thank you. I'll take on.
Nämlich Fragen von Herrn Schmidt.
Mr. Schmidt has another question.
Einmal zur Corporate Governance.
Corporate governance.
Mit Ablauf der heutigen Hauptversammlung enden die Mandate von 7 der 8 vom Aufsichtsrat benannten Mitgliedern des Aufsichtsrats. Es werden nun Aktionäre fragen: Herrn Dr. Pawlik-Braha, sehen wir da vielleicht auch zumindest 2 von diesen vorgeschlagen? Hat der Aufsichtsrat in seiner Vorbereitung auch die Wahl weiterer externer Kandidaten für den Prozess inspiriert?
The mandates of 7 of the members will expire. Apart from Mr. Pawlik, we have basically the same people again until 2026. Do we have the chance of... Have you looked at the option of other candidates? I can tell you these candidates here have been on the board for the maximum for 4 years. Klaus Keysberg, 2018 is actually the one who has the longest term here. Because it takes a while to get used to this job, we always prefer, of course, people to stay on for at least 3 years, and if possible, a bit more. We're happy that all 6 are open for a re-election.
Das sind alle 6 zur Wiederwahl bereit. Gemeinsam mit Herrn Braas sind die Aufsichtsratsmitglieder aus unserem sorgfältig erarbeiteten Kompetenzprofil sehr gut abgedeckt.
Another question was, Didn't you want to have a staggered board, to make sure that a continuous planning is possible? I can only tell you, yes, we see those advantages.
Durch flexiblere Amtszeiten die Zusammensetzung des Aufsichtsrats flexibler an ein sich veränderndes Umfeld anpassen zu können und den Balance zwischen-
we think that makes things more flexible to have the balance between maintaining what we have and expand on new ways. we got the backing from the AGM, where they said that re-election from now on would be allowed. within the group of shareholders and interim shareholders and all the others, for all of these elections, we had back then the nomination committee, six members who were willing to take on this new three-year mandate. Mr. Schmidt is asking in the same context, if in the nomination of Professor Dr. Gather on behalf of the foundation, did you also prefer a limited period? Well, according to the articles, they may send and two people into the board, and they can also decide on the term.
She was sent in 2018, and which of course works also with our plan of having a staggered board. I may also tell you at this point of time, it is a good decision by the foundation to... And we were unanimously in favor of having Dr. Gather in the Supervisory Board. And just to make sure that everything is fine, you, Mr. Schmidt, also asked, can you tell us what other mandates Dr. Keysberg is exercising and how much time he needs for that? Currently, Dr. Keysberg has a number of other commitments, and you can read them in the business report. Well, if you look at only the titles, you cannot really know how many hours these people actually work there.
That's why the president or the chair of the supervisory board will do that as a proxy. I tell you this, I am convinced that he is able to exercise his job at thyssenkrupp and comply with what we expect from him. In the three years that he's with us, has never missed a meeting and is not just sitting there, but he has always been very alert in all of these meetings and participating to the fullest. Now, another question on corporate governance. Why is it that all candidates are now proposed for three years? Like I said, the term of three years makes it possible for investors and shareholders to think about who is going to take on the job in the future with a longer lead time. That's nothing new.
Back in 2020 it was proposed and also when Ms. Frobert came in in 2021, and it was approved each time. The question was as to the mandates of Mr. Luge, Avacon Electra, and PreussenElektra. You're absolutely right. Like you said, apart from E.ON Energy, Avacon and PreussenElektra, they all belong to the same group. These all belong to one parent company, and therefore you can see them as one. They are not separate mandates, as you may think when you read the biography. He has been working in this field for many, many years, and apart from that, he does not have any obligations. I can assure you as chair of the Supervisory Board, he always performs well on the board. Another question from Mr.
Under which conditions the Board and the Supervisory Board would like to do a virtual or meeting or a meeting in person? What are the advantages? I can only tell you the legal situation tells us that as long as you support us, a virtual meeting can be seen as the same in its impact as a meeting in person. The advantage of a virtual meeting, of course, is it makes it easier for those who cannot travel. Of course, we save money, energy, time, and costs. The advantages of the classic format are, of course, that you have the personal exchange. Of course, you have, you know, more experience in that other format. Well, we are going to decide on that each time using the corresponding criteria.
Important is to look at the agenda, the circumstances, and of course also the experience from former meetings, not only from thyssenkrupp but from the overall market. We are the icebreakers here. We want to see our companies making, and also we want to see how others see that. Mr. Russwurm, thank you very much. I have a question for Mr. Schmidt dealing with governance. You're dealing with my different jobs. Please, how can you jive these two jobs here, job here and the one at Siemens? Like I said, you know, with Siemens, no change because I used to work for them and now I work there in another function, but it's exactly the same. My commitment is unbroken to this for thyssenkrupp.
The next question was that my CEO as thyssenkrupp have to be seen as a different job as the one I have at Siemens. There is no direct connections. They're two different companies, two different roles in governance. Of course, external mandates always give you very, very fruitful perspective. There is no direct linkage here. Mr. Schmidt asked if my mandate at the Volvo Group in Sweden, if I want to discard that. I'm very happy that the Volvo shareholders have in fact proposed me for re-election. This mandate and my work at thyssenkrupp are not in direct contradiction. There is no problem at all. I put my energy into the well-being of thyssenkrupp. Thank you. Yeah. I could also answer another question from Mr. Schmidt.
When will you have a sustainable improvement for Industrial Components? Well, there were two exogenous factors. It was the problem of semiconductors and then global supply chains, of course, probably then led us to a decline in the use of these components. Well, looking forward, we expect a great demand for truck components and also for wind energy components, for aeolic energy. The external studies show that there will be a higher demand which will probably increase in the next couple of years. Apart from that, our focus is based on performance markers in our processes and the factors of cost increase. Therefore, we think there will be an increase in the prices for these components, but because of the volatile situation, we cannot really tell you when we get which findings.
Mit welchen operativen Margen rechnen Sie in den kommenden zwei Jahren im Hinblick darauf, dass die Komponentenpreise nicht steigen?
Which margin do you estimate will you have in this next two years in components? It's a question from Mr. Schmidt. Industrial component had 4.8% EBIT margin and we are expecting an increase of 10%. This was confirmed at the update in November 2022. Ich habe noch einen kleinen Stapel. I have got here some questions. First question: Mr. Landrock. Dr. Landrock asked about the plans of a collaboration or a merge of thyssenkrupp Marine Systems and Rheinmetall. Grundsätzlich gibt es immer Szenarien und Überlegungen zur Konsolidierung der europäischen Verteidigungsindustrie, und die, wie gesagt, die Daten gibt es immer wieder. Zurzeit sind wir nicht in aktivem Gespräch mit Rheinmetall über eine Zusammenlegung. Eine Frage von thyssenkrupp nucera von Herrn Schmidt. Warum thyssenkrupp Mehrheitseigentümer von nucera bleiben möchte.
thyssenkrupp hat ja gesagt, sie ist grundsätzlich langfristig als Aktionärin von thyssenkrupp nucera engagiert zu bleiben und diese Mehrheitsbeteiligung zu halten. Für thyssenkrupp nucera gilt dabei, was für alle anderen Segmente der Gruppe auch gilt: Die Arbeit mit dem Geschäft an seinem individuellen Weg der Weiterentwicklung und die Strategie der Geschäfte und die Strategie der Gruppe meinen wir auch bitte mit einbezogen zur Unternehmensgruppe. Jetzt noch eine Frage von Herrn Schmidt zum Thema Stahl. Die Frage ist: Ob wir, also können wir damit rechnen, ob der bereits letztes Jahr geplante Spin-off der Stahlsparte kurzfristig umgesetzt wird? Das ist jetzt mehrfach angeklungen. Deshalb kurze Antwort: Zurzeit stehen die Arbeiten an der grünen Transformation und dem Herstellen der verbesserten Kapitalmarktfähigkeit des Geschäftsgebiets Stahl im Vordergrund.
Bereits eine andere, ja andere erläutert, dass es derzeit zu früh war, um über die punktuelle Umsetzungsform einer Verselbstständigung zu diskutieren. Dann, Frage vom Herrn Schmidt: Was ist das Zielbild für thyssenkrupp going forward? Unser Ziel ist klar, auch unverändert. Wir wollen, dass thyssenkrupp als eine Gruppe leistungsfähig und nachhaltig und habe Geschäfte und die Strategien der Geschäfte sind damit auch die Strategie der Gruppe. Ich hatte in der Rede unter der Überschrift „Rolle des aktiven Eigentümers" hingewiesen.
Herr Kaspar. Ja, genau. Ich hätte noch eine Frage von Herrn Schmidt.
Another question from Mr. Schmidt.
Die da lautet: Zum Thema Pensionsansprüche: Wäre der jetzige Zeitpunkt angemessen, um das bestehende Defizit, also der Pensionsverpflichtung mit der verfügbaren Liquidität zu füllen und dieses Thema damit endgültig zu erledigen? Angesichts der andauernden Unsicherheiten im geopolitischen und wirtschaftlichen Umfeld halten wir es gegenwärtig noch für sinnvoll, die unverbindliche Liquidität im Unternehmen zu belassen und nicht für die weitere Finanzierung der Pensionsverpflichtigkeiten zu verwenden.
To fill up the pension entitlements concerning the uncertainty right now in the environmental environment. We think it makes sense to maintain liquidity in the company and not to finance pension entitlements.
Ich hätte noch eine Frage, und zwar eine von Herrn Voss.
Another question from Mr. Voss.
Geht da auch um die Dividendenpolitik.
It is about the politics of dividends.
Um es mal zusammenzufassen: Wir freuen uns, dass die Dividende ausgeschüttet wird, aber es ist nicht ein Trostpflaster.
To resume: We are very happy about dividends. It is just only hodoolspoon.
Richtig glücklich ist damit keiner. Die Frage ist jetzt in der Relativierung dazu: Wie die Alternativverzinsung aussieht, wurde nicht weiter ausgeführt. Warum gehen Sie nicht darauf ein? Gehen Sie davon aus, dass es thyssenkrupp innerhalb der nächsten fünf Jahre schafft, eine Kapitalverzinsung zu erwirtschaften, mit dem aktuellen Kapitalmarktzinsniveau von 4.15% nominal erfüllt?
Please. The idea is that in the next 5 years, thyssenkrupp want to achieve 4.5% nominal interest.
Ich meine, wir haben es schon ausgeführt. Eines unserer zentralen Anliegen hier ist es, dass die Aktionäre angemessen am wirtschaftlichen Erfolg von thyssenkrupp partizipieren und eine attraktive Verzinsung auf ihr eingesetztes Kapital erhalten in Form einer guten Kursentwicklung sowie einer angemessenen Dividende. Die Dividendenrendite von thyssenkrupp betrug für das abgelaufene Geschäftsjahr 3.4%, wohlgemerkt zu einem Schlusskurs von EUR 4.39 zu 30.29. Die weitere Entwicklung der Dividendenzahlung hängt, wie schon zuvor erwähnt, von einer Reihe von Faktoren ab, wie beispielsweise die Entwicklung des Jahresüberschusses, Free Cashflow in Abhängigkeit vom Geschäftsjahr und die entsprechende Markterwartung für das neue Jahr. Unsere Geschäfte sollen dabei Wachstumschancen effizient nutzen und ihre Profitabilität in dem Maße steigern, dass sie mindestens Wettbewerbsniveau und über die Kapitalkosten liegen.
Zudem arbeiten wir hart daran, die Ertragskraft aus weiteren Effizienzsteigerungen und aus unseren Wachstumschancen zu verbessern und streben mittelfristig, was auch bekannt ist, eine EBIT-Marge von 4%-6% an. Gleichzeitig partizipieren wir momentan zunehmend an einem höheren Zinsniveau in Form von Zinserträgen auf unsere Liquidmittel. Hier spielt aber natürlich auch die weitere Zinsentwicklung eine wesentliche Rolle. Ich hätte noch eine Frage, und zwar von Herrn Massa. Das sind mehrere Fragen in einem Komplex. Die erste Frage ist: Werden Sie öffentlich mitteilen, wenn Sie Missstände entdecken und wie reagieren Sie darauf? TK hat mit allen Lieferanten einen Supplier Code of Conduct vereinbart. Zudem werden regelmäßig Lieferantenaudits durch unabhängige Zertifizierungsgesellschaften durchgeführt.
All companies working for us, is there, are there any grievances? We will take measures in place, and we will agree these measures with the supplier. From which companies, countries do you receive iron ore? 11 million tons iron ore were obtained from South Africa, Brazil. If you still have iron ore from Russia? We have got some obligations to of iron ore, but we have reduced them from Russia significantly in the last year. Also, if you have got coal suppliers, and if so? If not, what is the reason? To we need coal from, with USA, Canada, Australia. This coal quality is still good, and we need this quality until we have transformed 100%.
Danke schön. Mache ich weiter.
Thanks a lot. I will continue with a question from Mr. Voss about the question if we think that it is probable that in between the next 15 years, green steel will be competitive and will have a good price, will be produced in Germany and in competition with other suppliers. Our answer is yes. That is our idea. That's why we are planning in Duisburg a green transformation and will invest in that. We want to improve the renewable energy and import of energy. We expect a competitive cost structure. Our innovative structure and our know-how while producing steel will increase the productivity of our green products. We are also convinced that being close to our clients at the downstream plants are decisive for the success of steel production in Europe. As mentioned before, we need free and fair competition in Europe.
That means also a fair trade treatment, CO₂ of CO₂, when it comes to imports and production lines in Europe. An additional question from Mr. Voos about the decentralized management focus. That means that we are a group of companies. Isn't there a risk to avoid common potential and infrastructure demand is really an important structure. How do you assure not to lose opportunities? The collaboration within the group, of course, is promoted from our side also as a group of companies, always if it is success for the business, but it is not ordered and not with fixed structure. We can gather two focuses. The big advantage of the group with its specific character of functions and on the other side being very agile.
In this sense, of course, we have a participation here at the headquarter. We exchange ideas and coordination, especially when it comes to hydrogen. Of course, we are evaluating the potentials on R&D. Because it helps also that the main area in Dortmund are in Dortmund or close to Dortmund, but also Carbon2Chem, we have got the combination of electrolyzed technology and steel in Duisburg. That means on our side we do not have only one technology. We bring the people together. This is all about from my side. Yesterday, Mr. Zöllner asked about the water electrolyzer, and he read about Cepsa, where two plants ordered by the electrolyzer in India. He is worried which chances will we have here in Uhde to be competitive worldwide.
First of all, to clarify that our business unit, Uhde, delivers ammonia as a central technology for transport green hydrogen. You are referring to Nucera, I guess, because they are producing electrolyzer. It is important to know that the market for water electrolyzing will be billions, a volume of billions. Of course, right now we are creating capacities, and thyssenkrupp already has experience, a good base and a good position in the market and in technology that we want to improve. That's all about that question.
hab ich noch eine Antwort.
Für Herrn Oßmann. Sie haben uns eindrücklich geschildert, dass Sie technische Probleme beim Zugang hatten, mit denen Sie kämpfen müssen und haben dann gefragt: "Wieso macht man es nicht ein Jahr virtuell und ein Jahr in Präsenz im Wechsel?" Sie haben die Frage gestellt: "Oder wollen Sie vielleicht gar keinen Austausch mit uns?" Die letzte Frage ist am leichtesten zu beantworten: Nein, wir wollen auch wirklich den Austausch mit unseren Aktionärinnen und Aktionären. Wenn es heute technische Probleme beim Zugang gab, dann darf ich mich bei all den helfenden Händen in der Technik bedanken, die das dann doch möglich gemacht haben. Zum Zweiten darf ich Ihnen versichern, Herr Oßmann, dass wir natürlich nach dieser Versammlung Manöverkritik üben werden und versuchen, daraus zu lernen, damit es beim nächsten Mal besser wird.
Um sicherzustellen, dass Sie auf Ihre Frage auch eine Antwort bekommen, will ich nicht nur auf bereits geleistete Antworten verweisen, sondern nochmals explizit betonen, dass die Vorteile des virtuellen Formats für uns zum Beispiel sind: eine erleichterte Ausübung der Aktionärsrechte für die Aktionärinnen und Aktionäre, die nicht anreisen können, und natürlich auch die Energie-, Zeit- und Kosteneinsparung für die Aktionäre und für die Gesellschaft. Damit liefern wir auch über dieses Format einen Beitrag zur Nachhaltigkeit. Demgegenüber stehen die Vorteile des klassischen statischen Präsenzformats, zum Beispiel der persönliche Austausch zwischen Aktionären, Vorstand und Aufsichtsrat, sowie unsere längere Erfahrung mit diesem Format.
Die Entscheidung über das Versammlungsformat werden wir, wenn Sie uns das paar Satzungsänderungen erlauben, wie schon erwähnt, in der Tat für jede Hauptversammlung neu nach sachlichen Kriterien treffen, also nach Kriterien wie zum Beispiel der Tagesordnung, äußeren Umständen und den Erfahrungen aus vorangegangenen Versammlungen, sowohl von thyssenkrupp als auch von anderen Unternehmen. Damit kann es passieren, dass wir in diesen jährlichen Wechsel kommen. Es muss aber nicht. Noch mal: Allein die Tagesordnung hat schon einen wesentlichen Anhalt dafür gegeben. Damit hoffe ich, die Frage von Herrn Oßmann auch in der Nachfrage beantwortet zu haben. Liegen, meine Damen und Herren, keine weiteren Wortmeldungen vor? Wir sind auch als Vorstand und Aufsichtsrat überzeugt, dass wir zu den Fragen im Einzelnen Stellung genommen haben. Ich gehe daher davon aus, dass alle Redebeiträge gehalten und alle gestellten Fragen beantwortet wurden.
Sicherheitshalber darf ich nun um Mithilfe der Kollegen in der Technik bitten, ob im System noch kürzlich eingereichte neue Wortmeldungen vorliegen. Das wird von der Technik geprüft. Danke schön. Sie merken schon, das hat hier ein bisschen was von Talkshow-Atmosphäre. Die Stimme aus dem Off kann ich nicht, bei der ich mich noch mal bedanken möchte. Wir haben keine weiteren Wortmeldungen vorliegen. Ich danke allen Rednern für ihre Beiträge. Danke dem Vorstand für die Beantwortung der Fragen. Danke natürlich auch, Herr Oßmann hat es ja angedeutet, dem Backoffice für die Unterstützung und schließe hiermit die Diskussion. Ja. Meine Damen und Herren, wir kommen nun zur Beschlussfassung über die Tagesordnungspunkte. Als Versammlungsleiter obliegt es mir nach Paragraf 18, Absatz 2 unserer Satzung, Art und Reihenfolge der Abstimmungen festzulegen. Aus Gründen der Verfahrensökonomie halte ich es für sinnvoll, über die Entlastung-
The procedure will be supported like that. I think it makes sense. Sorry.
Entschuldigung, jetzt kommt ein Input.
Some input.
Aus dem Off. Es gibt noch 2 Antworten.
Still 2 answers. Pending 2. Pending answer.
Da sehen Sie, wie gut es ist, dass es dieses Backoffice gibt. Das nämlich abgleicht, ob wir unsere Fragen, die wir bekommen haben, auch alle beantwortet haben. Noch mal nachgezählt.
Questions that we received are answered correctly.
Wieder. Wir werden hier keine Fehler machen.
Of course we don't want to commit a mistake.
Ich schaue auch auf unsere Legal Experts. Da wird ganz sicher kein Fehler passieren.
We are relying on our legal experts.
Jawohl, geschwinden Schrittes kommt noch der Input für die Beantwortung weiterer Fragen. Nicht hinfallen. Arbeitssicherheit, Vorsicht. Da liegen Kabel.
Please be careful.
Ganz in Ruhe. jetzt sind wir mal gespannt, wer darf?
We are looking forward.
Einmal darf Martina Merz.
Who has the honor to speak?
Darf ich, Martina Merz?
One answer for me and one for Ms. Merz. Please, Ms. Merz start.
Ich habe noch eine Frage vom Herrn Oßmann zu beantworten.
Just one answer for Mr. Oßmann.
Ob wir die vielen Doktorkandidaten auch schon mal richtig auf ihre Dissertationen hin geprüft hätten? Er erinnert, sie erinnert uns dabei an die vielen Doktortitelträger, die ihre Dissertation gefälscht hätten, also betrogen haben und ihren Doktortitel zurückgeben mussten. Er fragt uns, ob das bei unseren Kandidaten prinzipiell auch passieren kann, dass sie ihren Doktortitel nach Einstellung zurückgeben müssen und ob wir die Dissertationen unserer Kandidaten auf Herz und Nieren prüfen? Bitte gehen Sie ausführlich drauf ein. Natürlich machen wir im Rahmen des Recruiting-Prozesses, überprüfen wir systematisch immer alle von den Bewerbern eingereichten Informationen und im Speziellen die auch für die Position relevanten akademischen Qualifikationen und Abschlüsse. Würde hier ein Zweifel bestehen, würden wir diesem nachgehen. Das ist aber bisher in keinem Fall eingetreten.
Thanks a lot for that.
Ich habe auch noch einen Hinweis bekommen.
I have an indication as well.
Herr Oßmann hat zwar Martina Merz gefragt, ob sie ihre Vergütung noch selbst berechnen kann oder ob sie einen Vergütungsberater dazu braucht. Braucht sie nicht, weil das rechnen wir schon. Das kann der Personalausschuss ziemlich gut. Wir brauchen für die Berechnung auch keinen Vergütungsberater. Es kommt doch wesentlich darauf an, dass alle Vorstandsmitglieder wissen, auf welche Ziele wir sie gemeinsam eingeschworen haben. Dazu ist wirklich der Vergütungsbericht in seinen Inhalten aushaltbefähig. Sie können dort die Ziele lesen, zum Beispiel auch, dass der gesamte Rückfluss an die Shareholder, also der sogenannte Total Shareholder Return, ganz zentral ist für die variable Vergütung unserer Vorstandsmitglieder. Ich hatte in den vergangenen Jahren keine Minute den Eindruck, dass unsere Vorstandsmitglieder nicht wüssten, wofür sie arbeiten, auch wenn sie dafür nicht immer ihren Vergütungsbericht brauchen, weil die wissen sehr wohl, wo das weißschürzen Geld ankommt. Ich nur auf der Excel sheet dahinter.
Ich kann beruhigen: Ja, das Vergütungssystem ist komplex. Es ist eine Formel von A bis 2. Wir können damit umgehen und wir können es hoffentlich jetzt auch in einem Vergütungsbericht für alle nachvollziehbar darstellen. Damit, jetzt traue ich mich noch mal, ist nicht jemand, damit sind alle Fragen beantwortet. Es kommen noch Antworten. Sie sehen uns in der Hand unserer helfenden Hände und das ist auch gut so. Danke schön.
Okay, thank you very much for that. I go back to the voting procedure. As you said, there has been a motion for individual formal approval of the work of the members of the Boards. We don't even ask if we want to have individual voting, but I hereby decide and I'm allowed to do so that we vote on the approval of the work individually. That way we avoid having people asking about that individually. We just do it like that now. It may take a bit longer, but we'll do that. As the chair of this meeting, I hereby order that we have an individual vote on the work of each individual member of the Board.
Sowieso als Einzelwahlen durchgeführt.
The elections anyhow are done individually. Ladies and gentlemen, once I have explained how we do the voting procedure, in a minute, we will close the portal for voting. After that you will not be able to exercise your right of vote anymore. Those of you who still wish to vote or to modify the vote that they have cast, they have to do that now. Now at this very moment, the same goes for proxy votes. The findings is done by the method of addition. We count the yeas and the nays, and abstentions are also counted, but have no impact on the overall finding. The proxy votes will then be freed and afterwards, under the supervision of a notary public, will be counted.
On agenda item 1, there is no voting for the motions of 2-7. It's only the simple majority. For number 8, we need a qualified majority of at least three quarters of the stock capital because this is a change of articles. I should like to tell you how many people are here. 323 million shares. That's 51.88% of the stock capital. For 33.9 million, we have postal votes, which is 5.4% of the share capital. In total, we have 356 million shares present with their vote. It's a share capital of 57.84%. Here we go. I can also tell you that We had 3,417 computers logged in.
We don't know how many people are behind each screen or in front of each screen, but there were 3,400 computers logged into the meeting. Thank you very much for your interest and that you joined us. Ladies and gentlemen, this is now the moment when we move on the motions in point 8. Before and during this AGM, other suggestions could be put on the ballot. The counter motions that were tabled have been shown on the internet webpage, and we responded to each motion and always proposed to reject them and the counter motions and our statements on that are also published. The Supervisory Board yesterday looked at this recommendation and followed the recommendation to reject them, but rather be in favor of the ones for the administration. The counter motions were at that time made and people could vote on them.
Now I hereby declare that we now vote first on the proposals for board and supervisory board. Once they have been accepted, all other proposals will be automatically dismissed. This was published in the Gazette in December 2022. Again, I will not read out the entire wording. Ladies and gentlemen, I will now interrupt this meeting for 5 minutes, and then afterwards we move on to pronouncing the vote. You have now 5 more minutes to exercise your right of voting or to instruct your proxy voters. After that, you may not any longer exercise your right to vote or to advise your proxies. At this point of time, it is 3:08 P.M. German time, and I will interrupt this meeting until 3:13 P.M. 5 minutes. Thank you.
Ladies and gentlemen, sorry, 15:14. We actually had another minute on top. It was 6 minutes now for the final exercise of voting rights. Like I said earlier, there is no chance now to provide further proxies and instructions to your proxies. Please cut off time is now. As to the investor portal, you still can object to the document by the Notary Public. The proxies will now exercise the vote according to the instructions they have received. Voting has now been closed. We will now count the votes and have, in spite of having the use of IT, this may take a few minutes. I ask you for some patience. The moment I have the results, I shall tell you. I will now interrupt the meeting until I have the result. This will be 15 to 20 minutes.
You can make sure, well, up until 15:30, you will not miss out on anything. Please tune in again at 3:30. Before that, nothing will happen. 15-minute break. Thank you.
Meine Damen und Herren, da mir nun die Ergebnisse der Abstimmungen zu den Tagesordnungspunkten zwei bis acht vorliegen, setzen wir die Hauptversammlung mit der Bekanntgabe der Abstimmungsergebnisse zu den Tagesordnungspunkten zwei bis acht und dem Beschluss fest. Die Ergebnisse der Abstimmungen zu den Tagesordnungspunkten werden auch parallel im Livestream eingeblendet. Im Anschluss werden sie im Anhang an die Hauptversammlung auf der Internetseite der Gesellschaft öffentlich zugänglich sein. Ich weise darauf hin, dass die Hauptversammlung kurz nach Feststellung der Beschlüsse geschlossen wird. Sie haben quindi auch die Möglichkeit, über das InvestPortal Widerspruch gegen die Beschlüsse der Hauptversammlung einzulegen. Ich werde nun die Abstimmungsergebnisse in der Reihenfolge der Tagesordnungspunkte verlesen und die gefassten Beschlüsse dabei zugleich feststellen. Wir beginnen mit dem Tagesordnungspunkt zwei: Verwendung des Bilanzgewinns. Bei der Abstimmung zu Tagesordnungspunkt zwei sind 456,999,233 gültige Stimmen abgegeben worden. Das entspricht 57.35% des eingetragenen Grundkapitals.
Die vom Vorstand und Aufsichtsrat vorgeschlagene Verwendung des Bilanzgewinns für das Geschäftsjahr 2021, 2022 wurde mit 344,495,874 Ja-Stimmen gegen 12,502,365 Nein-Stimmen und somit mit 96.02% der abgegebenen Stimmen, also der erforderlichen Mehrheit von der Hauptversammlung angenommen. Zu dem Ergebnis teile ich Ihnen mit, dass die Dividende von EUR 15.50 am 8. Februar 2023 zahlbar ist. Wir kommen dann zu Tagesordnungspunkt 3: Beschlussfassung über die Entlastung der Mitglieder des Vorstands. Dieser beinhaltet 3 separate Beschlusspunkte für die Entlastung der im Geschäftsjahr 2023, 2022 amtierenden Mitglieder des Vorstands. Bei der Abstimmung über die Entlastung von Frau Martina Merz sind 347,277,798 gültige Stimmen abgegeben worden. Das entspricht 55.78% des eingetragenen Grundkapitals.
Martina Merz ist mit 343,879,882 Ja-Stimmen und 3,396,915 Nein-Stimmen und somit mit 99.02% der abgegebenen Stimmen für die Entlastung für das Geschäftsjahr 2021, 2022 zahlbar. Bei der Abstimmung über die Entlastung von Oliver Burkhard sind 347,148,243 gültige Stimmen abgegeben worden. Das entspricht 55.76% des eingetragenen Grundkapitals. Oliver Burkhard ist mit 343,152,369 Ja-Stimmen gegen 3,399,915 Nein-Stimmen und somit mit 99.02% der abgegebenen Stimmen Entlastung für das Geschäftsjahr 2021, 2022 zahlbar. Bei der Abstimmung über die Entlastung von Herrn Dr. Keysb erg sind 347,940,874 gültige Stimmen abgegeben worden. Das entspricht 55.76% des eingetragenen Grundkapitals. Herr Dr.
Kai Berg ist mit 343,748,953 Ja-Stimmen gegen 3,309,919 Nein-Stimmen und somit mit 99.02% der abgegebenen Stimmen Entlastung für das Geschäftsjahr 2021, 2022 zahlbar. Actions. Thank you very much for the trust that you have extended to the members of the executive board. I would like to thank you for the work that you have given, and I'd like you to pass this on to all of the people who have helped in obtaining this high level of trust. Now the motion asks for the formal approval of the members of the supervisory board. Again, this is for all the members of the supervisory board. In the voting as to my person... Here we have a vote of 57.29% of the registered capital.
I therefore received 96.44% of the yeas, and my actions have been formally approved. As to Jürgen Kerner, 356,491,398 valid votes, which is 57.26% of the share capital. He received 343,790,108 yeas. This means that his actions have been formally approved with a percentage of 96.44%. As to Birgit Behrendt, again, we had a share capital of 349,071,102, which corresponds to 56.07% of the registered capital.
She received 343,796,586 yeas, and therefore received 98.49% of approval of her activities in the past year. For Mr. Buchner, again, we had an amount of 356,489,579, corresponding to 57.26% of the registered capital. He received 343,796,544 yeas, and 12,693,035 nays, meaning a formal approval of his actions at 96.44%. As to Dr. Keysberg, we had 356,488,000 share capital present, corresponding to 57.26% of the registered capital.
He received 343,790,164 yeas, and 12,697,836 nays, meaning approval of 96.44% of his activity in 2022, 2023. As to Professor Dr. Ursula Gather. Madam Professor Gather has 349,061,424 votes, which corresponds to 56.07% of the share capital. She received 343,765,809 yeas, and 5,295,615 nays, meaning 98.48% formal approval of her activities in 2022, 2023.
As to Madam Angelika Gifford, again, the shares were 349,068,509, corresponding to 56.07% of the share capital. She received 243 million 781 thousand 541 million. That's with the yeas. Nays, 5,286,968, meaning that she has a formal approval of her activity at a rate of 98.49%. Bei der Abstimmung über die Entlastung von Herrn Dr. Bernhard Günther sind für 356,491,536 gültige Stimmen abgegeben worden. Das entspricht 57.26% des eingetragenen Grundkapitals. Herr Dr. Günther erhielt 334,799,398 Ja-Stimmen und gegen 12,692,138 Nein-Stimmen und somit mit 96.44% der abgegebenen Stimmen Entlastung für das Geschäftsjahr 2021 2022 erteilt worden.
When it comes to Mr. Haas, we had 356,488,288 valid votes. This corresponds to 57.26% of the share capital. Mr. Haas received 343,796,619 votes in favor, 12,691,669 in his contrary. It was 96.44% approval of his action. When it comes to Mrs. Helfer, we had 349,067,632 votes in total. That means a shared capital of 56.07%. 343,705,306 votes in favor, 5,282,326 in nays, and 98.48% a formal approval of her actions.
When it comes to Jacqueline, we had 349,069,650 votes, which correspond to 56.07% of shared capital. Yea are 343,787,205 yeas and 5,282,404 nays, which means 98.49% formal approval of her actions. When it comes to Mrs. Jansen, we have shared capital 349,068,792, which is 56.07% of the shared capital. 343,792,795 in favor, 5,275,907 in nays, 98.48% formal approval of her actions. When it comes to Mr.
Christian Julius, we had a total registered capital of EUR 346,407,896. This corresponds to a shared capital of 57.26%. 343,796,763 yeas and 12,691,133 nays. 96.44% formal approval of his actions for 2022, 2021, 2022. When it comes to Mr. Thorsten Koch, we have a shared capital of EUR 346,487,296, which represented the registered capital of 57.26%.
Yay is 3 million 343 million 794,788 yeas and nays 12 million 602,508, which is a formal approval of his action to 96.44% for the year 2021, 2022. When it comes to the vote for Mr. Ingo Luge, we have shared capital of 356 million 487,009, which is a registered capital of 57.26%. Yeas are 343 million 791,959 and 12 million 695,050 nays, which means formal approval of his actions to 96.44%. Bei der Abstimmung über die Entlastung von Herrn Çiğdem Naşikol sind für 356,488,495 Aktien gültige Stimmen abgegeben worden. Das entspricht 57.26% des eingetragenen Grundkapitals.
Herr Nasikkol sind mit 342,788,905 Ja-Stimmen und gegen 12,699,590 Nein-Stimmen und somit mit 96.44% der abgegebenen Stimmen Entlastung für das Geschäftsjahr 2021 2022 erteilt worden. Bei der Abstimmung über die Entlastung von Herrn Peter Remmler sind für 356,482,755 Aktien gültige Stimmen abgegeben worden. Das entspricht 57.26% des eingetragenen Grundkapitals. Herr Remmler ist mit 343,790,384 Ja-Stimmen und gegen 12,673,371 Nein-Stimmen und somit mit 96.44% der abgegebenen Stimmen Entlastung für das Geschäftsjahr 2021 2022 erteilt worden. Bei der Abstimmung über die Entlastung von Herrn Dirk Sievers sind für 356,488,236 Aktien gültige Stimmen abgegeben worden. Das entspricht 57.26% des eingetragenen Grundkapitals.
Herr Sievers ist mit 343,794,373 Ja-Stimmen und gegen 12,684,363 Nein-Stimmen und somit mit 96.44% der abgegebenen Stimmen Entlastung für das Geschäftsjahr 2021/2022 erteilt worden. Bei der Abstimmung über die Entlastung von Frau Dr. Verena Volpert sind für 349,062,539 Aktien gültige Stimmen abgegeben worden. Das entspricht 56.07% des eingetragenen Grundkapitals. Frau Dr. Volpert ist mit 343,788,410 Ja-Stimmen und gegen 5,277,329 Nein-Stimmen und somit mit 98.48% der abgegebenen Stimmen Entlastung für das Geschäftsjahr 2021/2022 erteilt worden. Bei der Abstimmung über die Entlastung von Frau Isolde Würz sind für 349,063,174 Aktien gültige Stimmen abgegeben worden. Das entspricht 56.07% des eingetragenen Grundkapitals.
Frau Würz ist mit 343,788,856 Ja-Stimmen und gegen 5,274,308 Nein-Stimmen und somit mit 98.49% der abgegebenen Stimmen Entlastung für das Geschäftsjahr 2021 2022 erteilt worden. Bei der Abstimmung über die Entlastung von Frau Barbara Kremser-Grotel sind für 349,067,132 Aktien gültige Stimmen abgegeben worden. Das entspricht 56.07% des eingetragenen Grundkapitals. Frau Kremser-Grotel ist mit 343,788,390 Ja-Stimmen und gegen 5,281,039 Nein-Stimmen und somit mit 98.49% der abgegebenen Stimmen Entlastung für das Geschäftsjahr 2021 2022 erteilt worden. Bei der Abstimmung über die Entlastung von Herrn Friedrich Weber sind für 356,487,362 Aktien gültige Stimmen abgegeben worden. Das entspricht 57.26% des eingetragenen Grundkapitals.
Herr Weber ist mit 343,788,145 Ja-Stimmen und gegen 12,699,370 Nein-Stimmen und somit mit 96.44% der abgegebenen Stimmen Entlastung für das Geschäftsjahr 2021/2022 erteilt worden. Für das Vertrauen, das Sie uns hiermit ausgesprochen haben, darf ich Ihnen auch im Namen meiner Kolleginnen und Kollegen herzlich danken. Ich möchte die Gelegenheit nutzen, mich selbst auch bei meinen Kolleginnen und Kollegen für die geleistete Arbeit zu bedanken. Ich komme nun zu Tagesordnungspunkt 5: Wahl Abschlussprüfer. Bei der Abstimmung zu Tagesordnungspunkt 5 sind für 356,809,076 Aktien gültige Stimmen abgegeben worden. Das entspricht 57.32% des eingetragenen Grundkapitals. Die vom Aufsichtsrat vorgeschlagene Wahl des Abschlussprüfers und des Prüfers für die Prüfung und Durchsicht von Zwischenfinanzberichten wurde mit 347,440,821 Ja-Stimmen gegen 9,368,255 Nein-Stimmen und somit mit 97.37% der abgegebenen Stimmen angenommen.
Kommen wir nun zu Tagesordnungspunkt sechs: Geltung der Güterliste. It is about the approval of the remuneration report. We have got 356,764,406 votes, which is a representation of 57.31%. Yes, we have got. In favor we have got 375,877,015 votes in favor and against 895,391, which is a clear approval. We come to item number seven, re-election of the supervisory report. When it comes to the vote of my person or myself, we had 355,095,607 votes, which is 57.04% of the registered capital.
In favor we have 336,200,691 in favor and against 18,894,916. That means an acceptance of 95.68%. When it comes to Mrs. Behrendt, we had 349,386,444, which is 56.12 of the registered capital. Votes in favor are 346,688,387 in favor and against 2,698,057. That means an approval of 99.23%. When it comes to Dr. Patrick Berard, we had total votes of 356,809,236, which is 57.32 of the registered capital.
In favor we had EUR 347,327,907 votes, whereas we had vote against EUR 9,403,399, which is 97.34% approval. Percentage approval. When it comes to Mr. Keysberg, we had valid votes EUR 356,404,931, which is 57.26% registered capital. Yay, EUR 335,561,086, which is 94.15% in favor. We had May EUR 20,843,745. When it comes to the re-election of Mrs. Gifford, we had total votes of EUR 349,384,258, which is 56.12% of the registered capital. The proposal to vote in favor to Mrs.
Gifford was accepted by 346,679,373 votes in favor. Votes against, 2,704,885, which is 99.233% of approval. It comes to the re-election of Mr. Dr. Bernhard Günther, we had votes in favor. We had the total vote 356,850,681, which is 57.32% of the registered capital. The proposal of the Supervisory Board in favor of Mr. Günther was accepted by 346,070,046. Votes against, 10,745,535, which is an approval of 96.99%. It comes to the re-election of Dr.
Luge, we had 356,810,298 votes totally, which is 57.32% of the registered capital. This propos al in favor to the election of Mr. Luge was accepted by 345,180,798. 7,006 votes in favor, which is 96.74%. Damit wurden alle vom Aufsichtsrat vorgeschlagenen Kandidaten gewählt. Alle gewählten Kandidatinnen und Kandidaten haben bereits vorab erklärt, dass sie im Falle der Wahl das Amt annehmen. Ich danke Ihnen herzlich für das Vertrauen, das Sie uns mit der Wahl entgegengebracht haben und freue mich auf eine engagierte und konstruktive Zusammenarbeit mit den erstmals neu und den wiedergewählten Kandidatinnen und Kandidaten zum Wohl des Unternehmens. Da Aktionäre bereits ab dem 20.
January 2023 for the candidate proposals of shareholder Hans Oßmann could cast their vote, I would also like to inform you, in the interest of the greatest possible transparency, that these proposals become obsolete with the election of the candidates proposed by the Supervisory Board. The candidates proposed by Herrn Oßmann did not each achieve the required majority. Hanna Schirrmacher received 0.36% of the valid votes cast, and Frau Dr. Barbara Grimberg received 0.36% of the valid votes cast. I now come to agenda item 8: Amendment to the Articles of Association. In the vote on agenda item 8, valid votes were cast for 355,064,835 shares. This corresponds to 57.04% of the paid-in share capital.
Der in der Einberufung bekannt gemachte Vorschlag des Vorstands und des Aufsichtsrats zur Beschlussfassung über Satzungsänderungen zur künftigen Ermöglichung virtueller Hauptversammlungen wurde mit 328,872,005 Ja-Stimmen gegen 26,192,831 Nein-Stimmen und somit mit 92.62% der abgegebenen Stimmen und zugleich des bei der Beschlussfassung vertretenen Grundkapitals angenommen. Die gestellten Gegenanträge haben sich damit ebenso wie die von Herrn Hans Oßmann eingereichten Wahlvorschläge erledigt. Meine sehr verehrten Damen und Herren, wir sind nun am Ende unserer heutigen Tagesordnung. Bevor ich die Hauptversammlung schließe, danke ich allen Teilnehmerinnen und Teilnehmern für Ihr Erscheinen und für das in der Aussprache gezeigte Interesse an unserem Unternehmen. Ferner gilt mein Dank dem Vorstand und allen Mitarbeitenden, die an der Vorbereitung und Durchführung dieser Hauptversammlung mitgewirkt haben. Die nächste ordentliche Hauptversammlung der thyssenkrupp AG wird am 2. Februar 2024 stattfinden.
Ich erkläre hiermit die heutige 24. ordentliche Hauptversammlung der thyssenkrupp AG für geschlossen. Vielen Dank.
Thanks a lot.