AGM 2025

May 8, 2025

Esteemed shareholders. A warm welcome, all of you, to the 2025 annual general meeting of shareholders. I hereby declare the meeting opened. As our first item, we will elect a chair for today's meeting. I'd like to inform you in this context that Petra Hedengran will act as the meeting secretary. She's chief legal counsel of the company, and she will keep the minutes at today's meeting. Next to me, as you can see, we also have the President and CEO of the company, Christian Cederholm. The Nominating Committee has nominated Solicitor at Law Eva Hag, who's also up here by my side, to chair today's meeting. Can the meeting approve this proposal? Thank you. Thank you very much. Thank you for the confidence that you have shown me. Before we proceed with the other agenda items, I have a few practical points for information. The board has resolved to make the Annual General Meeting more accessible so that shareholders and others can follow the meeting online without the possibility of voting or asking questions, however, through the company's website. There are also some individuals present in attendance today who are not shareholders, but they are not permitted to speak. We will only be making a video recording of the speaking point up here and the podium. You've received voting devices when you arrived here. There are a number of resolutions that require a qualified majority. I'd like to give the floor to the Chairman of the Board, Jacob Wallenberg. Esteemed shareholders, once again, a warm welcome to Investor Annual General Meeting 2025. Let me just begin by saying that both Christian and myself very much appreciate the dialogue we just had a few moments ago, and we very much appreciate the great involvement and interest that you've shown in the company. It's a way for us to show us a little bit more about what we do in our everyday roles at Investor. It's a special day for senior management and for the board of directors, of course. To me, this is the single most important day in the calendar for you, for all of us as shareholders. Many of you who don't own perhaps very many shares still have the possibility to listen to what senior management has to say, in particular the CEO, and you get a chance to meet and discuss with the board of directors. I very much appreciate the Swedish tradition with a close contact between senior management and board of directors and shareholders. 2024 was a strong year for Investor. We saw excellent contributions from our portfolio companies. Investor has continued to deliver a higher return than the market. We've talked about this already today. There are challenges in a world which is becoming ever more complex. I wrote in our annual report that these are new times. It is a serious situation. The world looks very different today than it did only a year ago. There's more polarization, more protectionism, not less. It is quite obvious to me that we in Europe, we need to be prepared to manage by ourselves. Perhaps this could be an opportunity for Europe and not just a threat that we need to be more forward-leaning to some extent. To be able to cope in this new world order, it is crucial that we are able to strengthen Sweden and that the different countries in Europe all become stronger through more innovation, more competitiveness, and at the end of the day, more growth. How can we achieve this? First and foremost, we mustn't lose our self-confidence. We have so much to be proud of, and sometimes I get the feeling that we forget that we Europeans, we're capable of innovation. We have excellent universities, excellent companies, and a very large market, hundreds of millions of people. At the same time, it is perfectly clear that we need to strengthen this single market of ours. We need to develop the European capital markets for savings and deposits. Many of us are doing this here today together with more than 650,000 other shareholders of Investor. We invest our money in shares. If you do this can create an opportunity for new companies to have access to capital. They can grow. They can create more jobs and opportunities. As we discussed earlier today, I think we need to invest in infrastructure, both physical and digital infrastructure. We need to ensure that we have fossil-free energy provision. We need to invest in research and technology, not least in AI. This was also discussed earlier. Over the past year, we've also seen that climate change just as much as work on diversity and inclusion have been questions. I'd like to be very clear once again, Investor remains in compliance with, and we adhere to the Paris Agreement, and we have all our climate targets remaining in place. We believe it's very important for the long-term competitiveness, as Christian mentioned, to stay focused, and we continue to work on diversity and inclusion with as our basic principles the idea of meritocracy. These are not just urgent issues to deal with. I think it also gives us a competitive edge, and we continue the work we do to future-proof the company, as I mentioned earlier. Sustainability plays a vital role here. Digitalization and AI is another area where we've really put our emphasis over the past year because we are convinced that it is crucial to keep up with the development. To stay ahead of competitors, it requires curiosity and the ability to see and capture the opportunities, it requires a great deal of hard work. Finally, as I've mentioned several times before, our people are our single most important asset today and in the future. This is why I'm so pleased to see how well Investor has developed now during the leadership of our new CEO, Christian, and I very much appreciate the cooperation we've had over the past year. As your Chairman of the Board, I am, of course, also very pleased today to have the possibility to hopefully vote in a new representative of a new generation of the Wallenberg family to the Board of Directors. A warm welcome to all of you once again to this year's AGM. Welcome, and thank you. Thank you very much. Item 2 on the agenda is the drawing up and approval of the voting list. Participation at the meeting can be done in different ways. In addition to shareholders who are present here today, some shareholders have submitted postal votes, and we have a list of attendance and a compiled list of the postal votes here. We see here that the postal votes account for approximately 78% of the shares and 92% of the votes in the list of attendance. For shareholders who have submitted postal votes and who have also registered to attend today, in the meeting venue, your postal vote remains valid for as long as the shareholder does not take part in a vote or informs me in any other way that they'd like to revoke their postal vote. The postal votes have also been registered in the voting device system. The voting register which is proposed to be approved is the list which has been drawn up by Euroclear Sweden AB, based on the Swedish shareholders register, the number of shareholders registered, and postal votes received. This list has been distributed at the meeting today, and each pre-registered shareholder who have arrived here today and were in attendance would have been registered, and those shareholders who have submitted postal votes have also been registered as in attendance. Shareholders who have been registered to attend today's meeting but who did not arrive here today to be ticked off have and who have not submitted any postal voting have been deleted from the list. We now propose that the thus adjusted list can be adopted and serve as voting list. We see that approximately 60% of all the shares and approximately 79% of all the votes in the company that are represented at the meeting today. I ask therefore if the meeting can resolve to approve this as our voting list for the meeting. Thank you. That's carried. Now item 3, approval of the agenda. The agenda was included in the convening notice. It was distributed here today. Can we approve the agenda? Thank you. That's carried. Moving on to item 4, election of 1 or 2 persons to attest to the accuracy of the minutes. Javiera Ragnartz, SEB Asset Management, and Marianne Nilsson, Swedbank Robur Funds, have been contacted by the secretary, and they've informed the company that they're prepared to take this task upon themselves. Can we ask them to stand up for a moment? Thank you. To see that you are indeed present. Thank you. Can we elect those two to attest to the accuracy of the minutes? Thank you. That's carried. That brings us to item 5, which is determination of whether the meeting has been duly convened. I can I find that the notice has been issued in accordance with the articles of association and the Swedish Companies Act. Has the meeting been duly convened? Is the meeting in agreement? Yes. That's carried. That brings us to item six, which is the presentation of the parent companies and the group's annual report and auditor's report. The annual report and the auditor's report have been printed and sent to the shareholders who so wished, and it has also been available at the company, at the company's website, and here at the registration desk. The documents must therefore be considered duly presented. We will, under this item here, a presentation by the auditor and then a presentation from the CEO. After these presentations, we will give you an opportunity as shareholders to ask questions or provide comments. First, I will cede the floor to our auditor, Jonas Ståhlberg from Deloitte, please. Thank you, Madam Chair. My name is Jonas Ståhlberg, and I represent Deloitte and as the lead auditor for the audit of Investor. Initially, I would like to say that we have presented an unqualified auditor's report for the financial year 2024, and you can find it on pages 161-163 in the annual report. I will present the conclusions in this auditor's report shortly, but first I would like to provide some brief comments and reflections from our audit. The audit of Investor is headed by myself and a central team here in Stockholm, but we also have local teams in place for all the subsidiaries owned by Investor. We instruct these subsidiary auditors on how to conduct the audit, what the risk focus should be, and they formally report the result of their review to us and the central team. In the beginning of the financial year, we presented an audit plan that we reviewed together with company management as well as the Audit and Risk Committee, and throughout the year, we have continuously reported the result of our review to these two bodies. On six occasions, we have submitted both written and oral reports to the Audit and Risk Committee. In connection with the annual accounts, I met the entire board where we reviewed the result of our audit, and in connection with that meeting, we had a discussion with the board without the company management being present. This is an important aspect, all in accordance with the Swedish Corporate Governance Code. The audit of the Investor Group comprises a large number of areas, of course, and some areas we focus on in more detail, and those are the ones that we describe in our auditor's report. There are three areas. There are internal control over financial reporting. There's evaluation of listed and unlisted holdings and valuation of goodwill. When it comes to the first area, we have reviewed how management, governs and instruct the subsidiaries in the Investor Group, ensuring that they comply with the principles that Investor has established for their accounting, but also that there are well, working procedures in these companies for quality assurance, and our assessment is that Investor has very well-functioning procedures within this area. The second area are the processes for valuation of both listed and unlisted holdings, and here as well, it is our view that the company has good procedures in place and they are applied consistently across several companies and over different years. Briefly in the third area, that is how Investor assesses the value of the goodwill that is accounted for in the balance sheet, a review comprises, among other things, an evaluation of the methods applied by the management but also the assumptions made by the company. Here we have been able to conclude that the values can be defended and they are justified. We have also reviewed the company's compliance of guidelines for remuneration to senior executives, where we have submitted a special opinion which has been included in the documentation before this AGM, and there are no discrepancies to report here. Finally, all in all, we find that Investor's financial information is of high quality. It provides a fair picture of the operation and has been produced in accordance with the applicable rules. From our auditor's report, it is clear that we recommend that the AGM will adopt the income statement of the balance sheet for both the parent company and for the group, and that they appropriate the profit in the parent company in accordance with the proposal in the administrative report, and also discharge the directors of the board and the CEO of liability for the financial year. Thank you. Thank you for that. That brings us to item seven, and I cede the floor to the CEO, Christian Söderholm. Please. Yes. Thank you, Madam Chair. Dear shareholders, participants at the AGM, and guests, a year can go by quite quickly. It was a very interesting year as the CEO for Investor with a very steep learning curve. It was even more interesting than I could have imagined, and I've had the privilege of working with amazing individuals, so thank you to all of you. It's been a good year for Investor, and I have become more and more aware of the strength and the potential available in this company. Just like Jacob said in his presentation, we can conclude that there is no lack of challenges in the world around us. We are all painfully aware of the fact that there is a war raging in several regions. Globalization has been replaced with polarization, and we have massive climate changes. The free trade that we have gotten used to that has contributed enormously to improving wealth for many decades is now being challenged in a way not previously seen. In our role as engaged owners in times like these, we work closely with the companies to understand and provide support. Investor has built leading companies for over 100 years through bull markets and bear markets, through various technological changes, and through different global geopolitical situations. If it's one thing we've learned over the years, it is that flexibility is crucial for getting through tough times. Success is entirely dependent on the ability to deflect difficulties, of course, and at the same time harness opportunities. Our decentralized model with decisions being taken as close to the company's customers as possible has been part of our success from the very beginning. Our purpose to create value for people and for society as a whole by building strong and sustainable companies, this permeates everything that we do, and it helps us stay on course when the wind speeds pick up out there. We have a portfolio of very strong companies with exposure towards attractive growth markets. By developing world-leading solutions for their customers, they create value for their customers, for society as a whole, and at the end of the day, for you, the shareholders in Investor. We often say that the way our companies go, that's the way the Investor goes. Investor is, as you know, divided into three business areas. We have about 70% of our value in what we call listed companies. A little over 20% comprises wholly owned companies in Patricia Industries, and just shy of 10% investments in EQT. 2024 was yet another strong year for Investor. At the end of the year, our net asset worth was SEK 970 billion. The growth that same net asset value amounted to 20%, and the total yield for the Investor B shares was 27%. That can be compared to SIXRX index, which rose by 9%. We have a very clear and distinct strategy. Our overarching goal is to generate an attractive total yield for you, our shareholders, and we will achieve that by working in accordance with our strategic priorities. There are three of them. One, increase the net asset worth. Two, pay a steadily increasing dividend. Three, reach our sustainability targets. Increasing our net asset worth is our single most important value driver over time. Over the last 5 years, that has increased by 17% per year on average. Behind these nice figures, of course, it's our companies in the portfolio that has carried a lot of this burden. It will always be so. The profitable growth of our companies is the most important driver of our value over time, and I would like to express my gratitude to all the hard work that is taking place out there every day. Our second strategic priority is to pay a steadily growing increasing dividend. Over the past 10 years, the dividend has increased by 9% per year on average, assuming that the AGM will vote in favor of the board's proposal of SEK 5.24 for this year. Last but not least, we will reach our sustainability targets. Not least given what's being discussed in the world around us, I would like to take this opportunity to establish that sustainability will continue to be strategically important to Investor. To us it is crystal clear that sustainability is a foundation for long-term competitiveness. If we take the green transition as an example, it is both about doing something good for the climate but also about doing good business. In 2024, we took several steps in the right direction, we are not yet there. We have three focus areas that we continuously follow up. Climate and resource efficiency, I mentioned that. There are huge improvements being made within our companies. For example, the emissions from the company's own operations, called Scope 1 and 2, have decreased by 70% compared to the baseline year, 2016. Diversity and inclusion is another prioritized area. We are convinced, you see, that different perspectives and an inclusive culture will lead to better decisions and better results over time. It's only by providing equal opportunities for all can we implement true meritocracy. The share of women on the boards have continued to increase and is now 39%, which is fairly close to our target of 40%. Business ethics and governance is crucial for us as engaged owners, of course. We have zero tolerance to all forms of corruption, unethical behavior, and all our companies currently conduct regular anti-corruption training. Everything we do aims to achieve our overarching target, to generate an attractive total yield to you as shareholders. We usually evaluate the result across several timelines, with more focus on the longer time periods. We can see here that the blue columns, representing the total yield on average for Investor's B share is higher than the gray columns representing the total yield of SIXRX, our comparison index. We managed to deliver in excess of our yield requirement, that's the dotted orange line here, and we've done better than the stock exchange, and that is, of course, nice. I cannot promise you that we will succeed, but I will promise you that we'll do everything in our power to ensure that this trend continues. That's a few words about our strategic priorities and our total yield, meaning what do we want to achieve with our business? Let me now shift to how we will continue to deliver. We have a strong starting point and a clear strategy going forward, the question is: How do we manage this in the best possible way? We focus on 3 crucial areas: performance, portfolio, and people, what we refer to as our 3 Ps. Performance is about ensuring that we and our companies perform well, both here and now in the present and in the longer term. Portfolio is about having the right exposures to industries that grow, People is of course having the right talent and resourceful individuals around us, and give them responsibility and a mandate to act. We begin with performance. Performing in the here and now and at the same time investing in the future is of course crucial, One thing does not exclude the other. On the contrary, they go hand in hand. With profitable growth here and now, we have opportunities and the means we need to invest more to future-proof our operations. The capability of our companies to generate profitable growth is the main driver of net asset value over time. To effectively and efficiently deliver customer benefits creates profits for the companies that can be reinvested to future-proof the operations. Any company that's focused on enhancing customer benefit, that has a corporate culture and incentives to promote continuous improvements here and in the future for investments and for future-proofing, and a company which is clear in giving the mandates to skilled individuals and teams to take action, those are the companies who will be winners in the future. The Investor companies are often market leaders, very much thanks to products or services they've developed themselves, but work has to continue consistently to defend this position. All companies have, of course, different pre-conditions. There are a few themes which are common denominators to most of the companies in our portfolio. Here are three such themes. Product development innovation, first of all. A healthy obsession by constantly wanting to improve your product offerings is something we believe is very healthy indeed. In this context, we need to also be open to collaborations and acquisitions as a complement to more homegrown organic innovation and development. Secondly, successful companies will understand that the green transition offers great business opportunities. One clear example, of course, are products which contribute to allowing customers to reduce their energy consumption, products which thereby can be sold at a higher price. Three, those who manage to leverage AI and other digital development will see great and even growing benefits. In the portfolio and within Investor, there's enormous potential when it comes to using AI, both to improve the customer offerings and improve efficiency. I'd like to give you a few brief examples. We've talked about this before. We see opportunities across the entire value chain from R&D, where AstraZeneca use AI tools to simulate molecules, see how they interact with each other and within the body, and in manufacturing, where ABB can offer natural language programming of robots so that the instructions to the robots are more intuitive and are, opens up for many more people to manage them. In aftermarkets and after-service offerings, where many companies today will use AI to improve prediction of the needs for service and maintenance before anything breaks, and there are many companies who also use chatbots in their customer service. If we look at the area performance continued, we also need to be able to manage situations where things don't go quite as we had hoped and operations don't develop in line with their full potential. We have an obligation to take action. We will be attentive and alert to deviations. We will put them on the table, together with the boards and senior managements, we will put together a plan to take action. Sometimes you succeed the first time around, other times it will take more work. Focus area number 2, our portfolio. Here the point is that we and our companies will strive towards being exposed to healthy sectors of industry that will grow over time. In addition to everything that's happening organically company by company, Investor has the opportunity to choose where we wish to invest, of course, and to make adaptations to the portfolio to pull out of certain areas. Being able to invest requires financial strength and flexibility, needless to say. We invested a great deal during 2024. SEK 15 billion was the growth number, with good activity in all three business areas. Our focus remains to invest and develop the companies, and develop the companies we already own, and this can be done in several ways. We invest in wholly owned companies to finance organic investments and additional acquisitions, and also buying more listed companies, like we increased our holding in Ericsson, for example, or being included in new share issues. Our main priority is to always invest in our existing companies, but we're also actively on the lookout for opportunities to add new companies to our portfolio. A perfectly reasonable question is: What do we look for in an investment? Well, we want to identify companies with a leading market position in healthy industries with good growth, companies with a strong corporate culture, with a strong financial profile, and good opportunities to beat the competitors also moving forward. One example of an investment within Patricia Industries is Advanced Instruments acquisition of Nova Biomedical, which was announced in March. The purchase price amounts to $2.2 billion. That's one of the largest investments that we've ever made. Nova Biomedical is a company since it was set up in 1976, has developed products that have become leaders in their categories in healthcare and production of biological, pharmaceutical drugs. The income is diversified both in terms of products, segments, and geographies, and with good profitability. Merging Advanced Instruments and Nova Biomedical improves the product offering, strengthens the R&D capability, and broadens the geographical presence. This, in turn, lays the foundation for a robust platform for accelerated innovation and profitable growth. Once again, to invest more in our existing companies to further drive profitable growth is an excellent way of putting our capital to work. It's not just about investing in the portfolio after all. Sometimes we also need to make adjustments. We need to fine-tune or even pull out of some operations that do not have a strategic fit. A few weeks ago, for example, we announced that we are in favor of ABB's plan for a spin-off of robotics into a new listed company. We believe that this will strengthen the focus and ensure that part of the operation is a better situation to and a better way of reaching its full potential. We, as in Investor, look forward to being engaged owners also in the new company. In order to support our companies and make the most of the opportunities, we need financial flexibility. We have a strong balance sheet in Investor. Our leverage is approximately 1% in the lower span of our target range of 0%-10%. Just as important as the equity assets ratio, we also need liquidity and cash flow. Here we can see that through hard work, we have a very robust system that we've constructed where all 3 business areas contribute to the cash flow in black numbers over time, making a positive contribution. The third P are people. At the end of the day, it's about having strong individuals and strong teams. That is what truly makes the difference. It's about ensuring that you have the right leadership, that you expand Investor's network, and that you never compromise on your values or your integrity. We work with a decentralized model that requires us to have the right board of directors and the right CEO in every company at any given time. If we look at the boards of our companies, we have approximately 200 directorships that need to be occupied by the right individuals. Only during this AGM season, to the listed company, we have 18 additional new directors who will strengthen the competence profile of the various boardrooms. We work to grow our network consistently. It's ongoing work continuously, where the development program paid in Patricia Industries is one such important initiative to further build and grow competence and skills from the inside. The right skills, right competence, and business acumen are very important in this context. However, at the end of the day, it's just as much about ensuring that we have healthy values. We will fight very hard to win, but we will not cheat. We will do things the right way, even if that doesn't always mean that we take the quickest road, and we will always set a good example. Now I've presented the three Ps that we focus on to reach our strategic goals. Our very clear focus and the driver to build successful companies together with our financial strength is the reason why we're in a good position to continue to create value and generate a total return which is attractive for all of you esteemed shareholders. Thank you very much for the trust you've shown in us, and thank you for your attention. Thank you so much for that, Christian. Before we open up for questions, we have been sent a question from a shareholder. If I can ask the secretary to read the question, please. Yes, the question goes as follows: In light of the expanding defense investments in the European Union, aside from Saab, are there any plans on extending your exposure within defense to other listed companies in our portfolio? Thank you, Christian. I'll cede the floor to you. Thank you for that question. We have a model of being engaged owners, so we do not invest in competing industries or companies. That means that our exposure to the defense industry will primarily comprise our holdings in Saab in the future as well. There are, of course, exposure to defense industry and the armament indirectly in several other portfolio companies such as Ericsson. Any plans of expanding that exposure, that is, of course, a matter for each individual company. Thank you for that I will now open it for questions and comments from the shareholders, and we have roving microphones around the room. Please, if you would like to say something as a shareholder, raise your hand. You will be given a microphone. Please, if you could introduce yourself when you receive the microphone, and if you represent someone or an organization, if you could specify that. I think we have a question here. Number 3. Thank you. My name is Leo Hilleholm. I just represent myself. Fortunately, we seem to have increased the number of shareholders since the annual report was published. In that one it says we're 633,000. The chairman said that we're a little over 650,000, and that is very pleasing, and we welcome everyone who joins us. I'm a little bit concerned because I only see a small number of empty seats in this room. How are we going to house any additional shareholders next year? Where are we gonna be? Have you thought about that? That's a first world problem. Yes, that is something that we think about all the time. 1, how can we get more shareholders? 2, where are we gonna be? I promise to get back to you on that once I have a better answer to that question. Meanwhile, of course, we welcome more shareholders. Thank you very much. Any further questions? We have another question at speaking point 3. Go ahead. Thank you. You mentioned. Can I just please ask you to introduce yourself? Yes. Irma Källström is my name. I would like to ask again, if I may, about the transition you talk so much about. I am just going to very briefly read from a report on the Nordic banks and their financing of fossil fuels via SEB, with your great holding in that bank is one of the major financiers of Aker BP, the Norwegian company. Suze, its plans, it will emit at least 254.5 million tons of CO2 equivalents, more than 5 times that of Norway's annual domestic emissions. This is a breach of the global carbon budget since all of Aker BP's expansions has been planned after IEA concluded that there is no room nor need for any additional oil and gas expansion in a 1.5 degree world. How does this tally with your statement that you are in favor of and promote transition? Thank you very much. Thank you for this question. First of all, we obviously cannot comment on individual clients in the bank. As we mentioned during the shareholder dialogue, the bank has, and just like most of our companies, a climate strategy and climate targets to comply with, and they are also operating in line with the Paris Agreement. When it comes to the transition, I think we all would like things to speed up. A transition, just like anything else, requires capital, however. In order for a bank to just seize a relationship with a client is not necessarily the best possible way to remain in dialogue and enhance the demands. Thank you very much. I think we have another question over there. Hello. I think you can hear me, Yes. My name is Hans Mattson. I have a simple question. How much patience will you have with underperforming companies? Thinking about Electrolux and thinking about Husqvarna. I believe the question was brought up concerning Electrolux at the previous annual shareholders meeting. I do understand that you are working hard to improve the situation, how long will your patience last until there will be an exit? Thank you. Thank you for the question. Let me first say that we are not happy either with how things are going there. The general answer is that, unfortunately, in a portfolio with 25 companies, we will always have a few that are not really firing on all cylinders. That does not mean that we mustn't take responsibility here. As a long-term owner, it is our responsibility that when we see a problem or something that is about to become a problem, is one, that we talk about what we're seeing here, all the cards on the table, and try to find a way forward together with management on board. Like I said, in my presentation, sometimes you can succeed immediately, sometimes it will take longer. If I bring up the two companies you specifically mentioned without delving into too much detail, I can say that the problems are very much homemade ones. There are things that we could have done better previously, but they are currently now in a very tough market with very low demand for many of their product categories. We are firmly determined to turn this around. Thank you for that. Number five there. No, Christa Dupuy. Christa Dupuy again. We talked about the defense industry, and it's doing well, et cetera. That's nice to note, the driver here must be the threat situation that we're hearing so much about. What's your evaluation of the current situation in terms of the threats that are truly driving this development right now from the bottom up? Thank you. Well, when it comes to threat of conflict and military engagement, this is obviously a political issue. That's not something that we neither will nor should comment. We will leave that to the world of politics. When it comes to a company such as Saab, of course, and the holding we have there ensures that we do monitor the situation closely. There are connections and contacts with the armed forces, with the decision-makers in politics. It can lead to more or less development in the sector. The most important factor is that we ensure that there is a possibility for each individual country to defend itself with a unanimous decision in the Swedish Parliament. Decisions have been made to that effect. Sweden obviously needs to ensure that it has the arms that it needs, that they purchase and acquire what is needed for this purpose. Obviously, it's the politicians who are mainly monitoring the threat situation. [Foreign language] I don't see any further requests for the floor, or maybe over here at point 2. My name is Eric Erickson, and I just represent myself. I just have a piece of advice to the board. I'm a large owner of Tre, and their arena will, I think, for the foreseeable future be sufficient for these annual general meetings. Yeah, I thought about that as well before. The problem is how you can create a sense of intimacy and proximity, you know, when you go from a capacity of just shy of 1,000 people to I don't know how many people can they fit into the Tre arena. Loads of people. I think the solution to Jacob's problem here is that we have to get far more shareholders instead. Of course, they're welcome. Thank you. Another question at number 4. Bo Olsson. Bo Olsson again. I represent myself. We have attended many such AGMs here, not just in this company or not just here, in other places as well, in other venues. The question always comes up about the fees for the board of directors to be approved by the meeting, and there are never any objections. We will be resolving on the proposed fees for the board again. Should we approve them? What do you think? That's perhaps a question more for the Nominating Committee. Yes, possibly. We can deal with that question in connection with the presentation by the Nominating Committee. Point 6. Yes. My name is Olga Nordqvist, I also represent this coalition of young people engaged in the climate, the environment, and a safe future. Again, I would just like to bring up the fact that you say that SEB has policies in line with the Paris Agreement, and that is not true. We have just heard that the International Energy Agency say that we cannot look for new oil, coal, and gas and expand operations if we're going to be able to stay below 1.5 degrees. That is what SEB is doing. They're lending money to operations that do so. Thus, they don't have any limitation regarding their lending practices must be in line with the Paris Agreement. This is not a question. I just want that to be said here at the AGM because we are hearing the opposite of that from the stage. Thank you. The stage will continue to say what the stage said previously. We support SEB when they maintain a customer relationship. We do not think it's the right way to terminate that immediately. SEB do so in order for these companies to be able to transition. When individual companies don't do precisely what the International Energy Agency says, that has to be a discussion between them. From our perspective, it's also about laws and regulations and that these companies, of course, abide by laws and regulations, which of course an SEB bank like SEB will do. This is just as a comment to your comment. Thank you. Anyone else? Nope. We move on. It's time to deal with a number of resolutions. We're at item 8, which is the adoption of the income statement and the balance sheet for the parent company, as well as the consolidated income statement and consolidated balance sheet for the group. We've heard that the auditor is in favor of adopting the documents. Is the meeting prepared to resolve to adopt the documents that I just mentioned? Thank you. That's carried. Item 9, this is the board of directors' remuneration report. The report is part of the material distributed here today. It's also been available on the company's website and has been sent out to the shareholders who've requested to receive it. Is there anyone who has a question or a comment on the remuneration report? Can the meeting approve the report? Carried. Item 10, discharge from liability for the Board of Directors and the Managing Director for the administration of the company in 2024. We've heard that the auditor is in favor of granting discharge, and we note that the Board of Directors and the CEO will not take part in this resolution and vote in it. Is the meeting in favor of granting discharge from liability? That's carried. Thank you. Item 11, the disposition of the earnings. The proposal and statement by the Board can be found on page 160 in the annual report. The Board proposes a dividend of SEK 5.20 per share across two installments, and that the remainder be transferred into retained earnings. If this is adopted, the first installment, SEK 3.75 per share, will be paid on mid record date 9th of May. On the second installment, SEK 145 per share, record date November 10th. The auditor is in favor, and I ask if the meeting can approve this proposal from the board. That's carried. Thank you. That brings us to a number of items on the agenda where the Nominating Committee has submitted proposals. Before we move to resolve those items, I'll cede the floor to the Chair of the Nominating Committee, Leif Johansson, to present the proposals by the Nominating Committee. Thank you, Madam Chair. Dear attendees and shareholders, the Nominating Committee for the AGM 2025 comprised Jacob Wallenberg, the Chairman of Investor, Anders Oscarsson from AMF, Magnus Carlsson from the SEB Foundation, Wilhelm Mohn from Norges Bank, and myself, Leif Johansson, appointed by the Wallenberg Foundations. The proposals by the Nominating Committee and their reasoning behind it, which is a slightly longer version than what I'm going to say here, can be found in the material distributed here today. It is the impression and opinion of the nominating committee that board work and Investor is working well. I can also we also find that there's a high level of attendance during board meetings. We have been informed that director of the board, Gunnar Brock, has declined re-election. In order to assess the demands on the board as a consequence of the company's challenges and future direction, the nominating committee has discussed the size of the board and its composition. The nominating committee proposes Fred Wallenberg as a new director of the board. The committee finds that Fred Wallenberg is an appropriate candidate for the board of Investor's, aside from the fact that Fred Wallenberg's background, education, and experience from various industries and countries are well suited for sitting on Investor's board. Fred Wallenberg is also representing the next generation of the Wallenberg family, and his involvement in the board will contribute to establishing the long-term engagement as owners that the family have exercised for generations. Fred Wallenberg is currently the CEO for the business development and mergers and acquisition at the Pernilla Group. He's also a director in Navigator AB. You are present here in the room. If you could stand up, please. This is what he looks like. The nominating committee's proposal thus involves a re-election of the directors that you can see on the screen, as well as election of Fred Wallenberg. The nominating committee thus propose that the number of directors shall continue to be 13. The nominating committee have assessed that the proposed size works well and ensures that all the different backgrounds and areas of expertise that Investor's operations require will be represented on the board. The size of the board should also be seen in light of the need for continuity but also succession planning. Furthermore, we propose that Jacob Wallenberg is re-elected as chair of the board. That brings us to the remuneration of the directors. The nominating committee proposes a remuneration to the board in accordance with the table you see on your screen. Our point of departure has been that the remuneration level should be competitive in order to be able to attract and retain people with the best possible talent and experience, even in an international perspective. In our assessment, we have looked at comparisons and analyses of remuneration levels in various countries. There is more information about that in the distributed material. We've also discussed the increasing demands and the increased responsibility and the extensive amount of time that job as a director of the board will entail. Since Investor, with its very extensive international operations, will need to be able to attract directors that are very experienced and so the Nominating Committee has decided that a structural increase of the baseline remuneration for a director is justified as the international competitiveness is important. This year, we have focused on the baseline remuneration to a director. We propose increasing it by just shy of 15%. We furthermore propose that the remuneration for the chair and deputy chair will increase by around 5% and that the remuneration for work in one of the committees will be increased by around 3%. By reason of what we have proposed about increased remuneration to the board, the Nominating Committee recommends the board to increase the requirement for a director's expected holdings of shares in Investor from a holding corresponding to one year of remuneration before taxes to a holding corresponding to one and a half year of remuneration before tax. In order to facilitate the accumulation of such a holding, we propose that the director shall continue to have an opportunity to receive 50% of their remuneration in synthetic shares. That is also described in more detail in the distributed material. That means I'm done with the remuneration. We move on to auditors. The Nominating Committee proposes in accordance with the recommendations by the Audit and Risk Committee that Deloitte will continue to be auditors for yet another year. We also propose that the remuneration for the audit shall be paid out in accordance with approved invoices. Finally, I would like to thank the other members of the Nominating Committee for excellent collaboration. Thank you very much. Thank you so much for that. Do you have a question for the Nominating Committee? No. We thank you for that. We move on to resolve these items. We start with item 12 A, the number of directors, and we've heard the Nominating Committee's proposal. Can we decide in accordance with the proposal? I find that carried. We move on to 12 B, the number of auditors, and we've heard the proposal by the Nominating Committee. Can we decide in accordance with the proposal? Okay, I find that carried. We have come to item 13, remuneration to the board and the auditors. First, we decide in accordance with item 13 A, remuneration to the board. You've heard the proposal from the Nominating Committee. Do you want to decide in accordance with the proposal? That carried. 13 B, that is audit remuneration. Auditors remuneration, you've heard the Nominating Committee's proposal. Can we decide in accordance with the proposal? I find that's carried. That brings us to item 14, which is election of directors to the board. The AGM have decided that they should comprise 13 directors. We've heard the proposal from the Nominating Committee and a description of the assignments for these directors and other companies can be found in the material distributed here today. This description has also been available on the company's website and has been sent out to the shareholders who requested it. Are there any questions? We will move on to an election, and we'll elect one candidate at a time, and the order is apparent from the Nominating Committee's proposal. I will ask for each of the candidates. Does the AGM want to elect Katarina Berg? Does the AGM want to elect Christian Cederholm? Will the AGM elect Magdalena Gerger? Will the AGM elect Tom Johnstone? Will the AGM elect Isabelle Kocher? Will the AGM elect Sven Nyman? Will the AGM elect Mats Rahmström? Will the AGM elect Grace Reksten Skaugen? Will the AGM elect Hans Stråberg? Will the AGM elect Jacob Wallenberg? Will the AGM elect Marcus Wallenberg? Will the AGM elect Sara Öhrvall? Will the AGM elect Fred Wallenberg? I find that the AGM has decided in accordance with the Nominating Committee's proposal. We before we move on in the agenda, I'll cede the floor to the chair of the board, Jacob Wallenberg, please. I'd like to take this opportunity to extend my gratitude to Gunnar Brock. This is precisely how Gunnar appreciates that we focus on him as an individual. Gunnar, I would like to extend my and the board's gratitude to you for an amazing solid work that you have done in the board and in our Audit and Risk Committee for many, many years. You became a member of Investor's board in 2009. That was the same year you left Atlas Copco after 7 years as the President and CEO there. That was your last operative assignment in a remarkable career where you have been CEO of Thule, Tetra Pak, Alfa Laval. In addition to being on our board, you are also active in the board of Patricia Industries, where you will continue to work, and we're very happy and grateful for that. It's worth mentioning that over the years, you've had a number of other fairly prominent positions. Yeah, with your Investor hat, you have been chair of Mölnlycke, and you and I together were on the ABB board for a number of years. You've also been the chair of Stora Enso, have been on the boards of Lego, Total, and Syngenta. I have to say you've had, in my view, an astonishing career. In my eyes and in the eyes of many others, you are one of our absolutely greatest Swedish industrialists of our time. The fact that you have been willing to share of your experience, of your knowledge, of your wisdom is evidently something that has been an amazing benefit for Investor. I know, Gunnar, as I started by saying, this is not one of your favorite exercises, having attention drawn to you. I think it is so important that we, not only on behalf of the company but also on behalf of the shareholders, that we have an opportunity to extend our gratitude for everything that you've meant to us. You're not gonna get away from this that easily. I would like to have something in my hand that is not here. Here, a symbolic. Yes. Thank you. That was very kind words. Gunnar. Gunnar, a symbolic gift from all of us on this occasion at the annual shareholders meetings. Again, my thanks. Thank you very much. Item 15 is the election of the chair of the board of directors. We've heard from the nomination committee. They've proposed that Jacob Wallenberg be reelected as chair of meetings. Meeting resolve in accordance? Thank you. That's carried. Item 16, election of auditors. We've heard the nomination committee's proposal to reelect Deloitte. Meeting in favor? Carried. 17 A and B next. This is the board's proposal for long-term variable remuneration. We have 2 sub-items. The proposals are contained in the material distributed here today. They've been available on the company's website and sent out to the shareholders who have asked to receive it. Are there any questions on 17 A or B? We can resolve under 17 A. Does the meeting resolve in accordance with the proposal on long-term variable remuneration for employees in Investor excluding Patricia Industries? Carried. 17 B, does the meeting resolve in accordance with the proposal on a long-term variable remuneration for employees within Patricia Industries? Carried. 18. 18 A and 18 B, the board's two proposals on purchase and transfer of own shares. The proposals in their entirety have been included in the material distributed today, can be seen and found on the company's website. It's been sent out to shareholders who have requested to receive them. Are there any questions or comments on 18 A or B? Let's resolve under 18 A then. For a vote in favor, shareholders representing at least 2/3 of both votes cast and shares represented at the meeting need to vote in favor in order for this to be adopted. We will use voting devices therefore. I'd like to ask all of you to get your voting devices out. If you're in favor of the board's proposal, you press 1 for yes. If you're against, you press 2 for no. You may also choose to press 3 if you'd like to abstain from voting under these items. The vote is open. Please vote now. The vote is about to close in a few moments. The vote is closed. We will have a look at the outcome on the screen. The meeting has resolved to adopt the board's proposal under this item. Moving on to the resolution under 18B, for valid adoption of this proposal, we need the support of nine-tenth of the votes and shares. We will use the voting devices again. If you're in favor of the board's proposal, you press 1 for yes. If you're against, you press 2 for no, and you may also press 3 if you'd like to abstain from voting. The vote is open. Please vote now. The vote will close in a few moments. The vote is closed. We will have a look at the result, and I find that the meeting has resolved in accordance with the board's proposal. That brings us to the final item on the agenda. Before we conclude this AGM, I'll cede the floor to the chairman of the board. Yes, dear shareholders, I would just like to take this opportunity to extend my personal and the board's thank you to all of you for being part of this journey. With that, we can close the file on 2024, and we can all of us conclude that 2024 was a good year for us shareholders. It is evidently plenty of challenges for the future. We will see how the world will develop. We have also seen excellent leadership from our CEO and what he refers to at what is being done in Investor on a daily basis, which of course is everything that our portfolio companies do day to day. Thank you for coming here. It's been a very productive dialogue. Last but not least, thank you for all the work that you, Christian Cederholm, all the amazing employees do on behalf of Investor. Thank you. Thank you. That means that we have covered all the item, and I conclude Investor's annual shareholder meeting.