Honored shareholders, yet again, welcome. Welcome to the Investor Annual General Meeting 2023. I say yet again because many of you who are here in person, you participated in the investor dialogue that was conducted before the AGM. Welcome to everyone who has come here since then, and welcome also to everyone who is participating digitally. I think this is great. It's amazing that so many individuals choose to participate digitally if you cannot participate in person. We have discussed a number of issues. I can only say that this short introduction I wrote before the investor dialogue, so this might be somewhat of repeating what I've already said. Anyway, a few general reflections on the outlook and the financial situation in the world.
It's obvious that we live today in a very fragmented world, a world that is consisting of, well, the United States, Europe, China, different countries where we historically worked together. Today that is not as obvious that we continue to do so. We also have a world that is characterized by a horrific war in Ukraine, and a world that is now increasingly being described by protectionism, where countries think more about themselves and not really about being part of something bigger. For us doing business, this is something very significant. Geopolitical and geofinancial risks are risks that are today being discussed during board meetings in a manner that was not the case historically, and that says something about the world. Rapid technological shifts continue as well, challenging our companies and our societies and all of us.
Here we have questions like digitalization, what will happen? Artificial intelligence, AI, how will it impact various companies, our lives as individuals? What will the future hold? Of course, we can never forget that innovation, research, development is something that is key in developing societies and also in developing individual companies. Of course, we also have to remind ourselves that we cannot lose focus. We have to stop climate change, and all of us, all of us have to become involved in the energy transition and everything having to do with that. The European Union and the single market is also something that is fundamental for our companies and the development of our companies. I'm of the opinion that the EU and the single market is something that we should be very grateful for. It's helped developments in our country.
It helps us to be a part of the European Union. It's very important that we're there at the table in Brussels, that we participate in making decisions about the future development of the European Union, because this is about creating preconditions for us as country and also for our individual companies, so that they can continue to develop. Companies, after all, are offering job opportunities, are helping with the tax base that then can give us the welfare system that we have in this country. With the thriving companies, we do better in developing those issues. To conclude, 2022 was, relatively speaking, looking at the market, a good year for Investor AB.
I'm happy that our portfolio companies have continued to deliver nice developments, and that they have shown resilience against what we have seen the last few years with COVID, with supply chains, inflation, higher interest rates, et cetera. We have gotten through a few very challenging years. When it comes to 2023 and the next few years, I do believe that they will also be characterized by uncertainties, because much of what lies ahead is still something where there's a lot of uncertainties, where we do not have answers. The companies will have to manage this. We have done okay this far. With that being said, and I want to say welcome to all of you. The Investor Annual General Meeting 2023 is hereby open.
The first point on our agenda is election of the chair of the meeting. Here I also want to tell you that the secretary for this meeting is Petra Hedengren, and the best legal counsel in Sweden, just received that award, and she will take minutes at today's meeting. Here we also have, of course, our CEO, President Johan Forssell. The nominations committee has proposed lawyer Eva Hägg to chair the meeting, and I ask the meeting if the meeting can vote in favor of that proposal. Thank you. I say thank you for the confidence shown in me. Before we continue with the proper agenda items, I have a few formal issues to address.
The board has decided to make the Annual General Meeting more available in the shareholders and others can listen through webcast on the company's website. However, you cannot vote or ask questions. We also have some other individuals here in the room, but shareholders, and well, there will be a video recording made, but only of the podium and the rostrum. We will be using voting devices where we have qualified majority decisions that have to be made. Item two is drawing up an approval of the voting list. We have participants here in the premises today. We also have shareholders who have submitted postal votes.
We have a list of those who have notified their attendance and have voted via postal vote. We see that we have around 85% of shares and 95% of the votes in that list of notifications. We see from the postal votes and the voting instructions that we have majorities for simple majority decisions and qualified majority decisions here during the AGM. We will go through the various agenda items. Nevertheless, to shareholders who have submitted postal votes and have also come here today, well, for those shareholders, the postal vote is still applicable if that shareholder does not participate in the vote here today. Those postal votes have also been entered into the system that we have for voting. The voting list that is to be approved here has been established by Euroclear Sweden AB.
It's based on the share register leading up to the AGM, notified shareholders and the postal votes that have been received. The list has been distributed here today, those who have come here today have been ticked off. Same thing goes for those who have submitted postal votes. Those shareholders who have registered for being here today but have not appeared or have not submitted postal votes, they have been deleted from that list. It's proposed that that list with adjustments will be established to be the voting list for this meeting. That list tells us that we have about 58% of the total number of shares in the company represented and some 78% of the votes represented in the company here today. I ask the meeting if the meeting can approve this list as being the voting list.
That has been approved. That brings us to item three, which is the approval of the agenda. It has been included in the convening notice. It's been distributed here today. Can we approve the agenda? Carried. Item four, election of one or two persons to attest to the accuracy of the minutes. Javier Ragnitz of SEB Investment Management and Marianne Nilsson, Swedbank Robur Funds, has been asked by the secretary, and they have volunteered to accept this assignment. I've seen that both of them are here. Perhaps I can ask you to please stand up for a moment so that we can all confirm your presence. Thank you. Okay, does the meeting elect these two to verify the accuracy of the minutes? Thank you. Item five, determination of whether the meeting has been duly convened.
The convening notice for the meeting has been available on the company's website and was made public through press release on the 24 March 2023. The notice was also published in the official Gazette, Post- och Inrikes Tidningar. Information on that publication was published in Dagens Nyheter and Svenska Dagbladet newspapers on the 28th of March. Is the meeting of the opinion that it has been duly convened? Carried. That brings us to item six, which is the presentation of the parent company's annual report and the auditor's report, as well as the consolidated financial statements and the auditor's report for the Investor group. These documents have been printed out and sent to shareholders who requested to receive them. They've been available at the company, on the company website, and here at registration today. The documents are therefore considered to have been duly presented.
During this item, we will listen first to the address by the auditor, followed by the President and CEO's address. After these two addresses, there will be a possibility for shareholders to ask questions. First, I'm going to give the floor to chartered public accountant Jonas Ståhlberg. You have the floor.
Thank you. Good afternoon, everyone. My name is Jonas Ståhlberg, as you heard. I represent Deloitte, and I am responsible for the audit of Investor. Let me mention that we've submitted a so-called unqualified auditor's report for the financial year 2022. You can find it on the pages 148 to 150 in the annual report. I'm going to return to the conclusions of our audit. First, I wanted to tell you a little bit more about the audit work that we have put in during the year that has concluded. The audit of Investor is led by a central team here in Stockholm. We also have local teams for each of the subsidiaries owned by Investor, and here we give instructions to those auditors on the focus of the audit from a group perspective.
We are regularly in touch with and are in close contact, in fact, with these various auditing teams. They formally present the result of their reviews to us. The audit is based on a plan which we presented and discussed with both senior management and in particular with the Audit and Risk Committee in April 2022, and was then adopted and has been the basis for the audit work that we have done over the year. The outcome of our review and our audit has been reported continuously to senior management and to the Audit and Risk Committee. On six occasions, we've submitted written and oral reports to the Audit and Risk Committee. In connection with the full year accounts, I also met with the entire board of directors to present the work in auditing the company.
In that connection, I also had a discussion with the board of directors without the presence of senior management, all in line with the provisions of the Swedish Code of Corporate Governance. Auditing Investor involves covering a large number of areas. Some of the most important ones are outlined in the auditor's report. They cover governance over financial reporting internally, valuation of listed and unlisted investments, and valuation of goodwill. When it comes to the first key audit matter, we've reviewed how Investor governs and gives instruction to subsidiaries to ensure that they comply with all the principles adopted by Investor on financial reporting, that there are relevant IT controls for the financial reporting, and that there are well-functioning procedures for quality strengthening and quality assurance. Our assessment is that there are well-functioning procedures within Investor in this area.
The second important key area are processes for the valuation of companies' other investments in addition to subsidiaries, both unlisted investments, where we review methods applied and assumptions and estimates made, but it also covers listed investments. It is our assessment here as well that the company has good procedures in place, and that they are applied consistently over time. The third key audit matter outlined specifically is linked to valuation of other assets, where Investor will assess the value of goodwill reported in the balance sheet. Here as well, our audit has concluded that based on an evaluation of methods and assumptions, the values can be justified. During the year, you will see that the goodwill valuation went up, partly due to acquisitions made in subsidiary companies, but also driven by a currency effect.
In addition to those three key audit matter areas described in detail in the audit report, over the year, we've also had discussions with senior management and with the Audit and Risk Committee and the board of directors as a whole on the new European reporting requirements concerning sustainability information. This is what is usually referred to under the EU's Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive, CSRD. These new provisions will be noticeable in the company annual report for 2024 for the first time. I want to mention already at this stage that this is going to make the annual report a lot more comprehensive and extensive compared to today. We've also reviewed if the company has complied with guidelines for remuneration to senior executives. We've submitted a special statement, we've noted no deviations from those guidelines.
All in all, we assess that Investor's financial information is of high quality, gives a fair and true picture of the operations, and is established in accordance with the existing rules. We recommend to the general shareholder meeting of shareholders to adopt the income statement and balance sheet of the parent company and the group to appropriate the profit in accordance with the proposal and to grant discharge from liability for the members of the Board of Directors and the Managing Directors. Thank you.
Thank you very much. That takes us to item seven, where I am going to hand over to the CEO President, Johan Forssell. Please.
Thank you, Madam Chair, honored shareholders, guests. I as well want to say welcome to this year's annual general meeting. It's particularly gratifying to see that so many of you have come here in person today. I will soon tell you about Investor, the developments in 2022, and what lies ahead. Before doing that, I would like to say a few words on the world around us. Last year we saw a very complex world filled with complexities and challenges, inflation that started go up and many central banks had to act with significant interest rate hikes. Disruptions in supply chains continued and the geopolitical situation deteriorated. I'm thinking primarily about the Russian invasion of Ukraine and the enormous suffering that caused, but also the increasing tension between the U.S. and China.
Add to this climate changes that continue to go in a negative direction. As we've said before during the investor dialogue, there is no lack of challenges, but at the same time, there are many positive aspects to keep in mind. The last few months we have seen fewer disruptions in supply chains, and our companies have by and large reported strong results for Q1 2023. I can only say that there are many things to keep an eye on, and that where the world is headed and where the world economy is headed, well, no one knows. In a rapidly changing world, it's more important than ever to stay flexible, and I'm talking about in both directions.
Flexible so that you can quickly adapt costs if demand is weaker than expected, but also that you can gun the engines and make use of opportunities if it turns out that demand is strong. Our companies have been working hard with ensuring flexibility, and they're well prepared to manage both the challenges and opportunities that lie ahead. Regardless what happens in the world around us, we, Investor, we have a clear purpose with what we do. We create value for people and society by building strong and sustainable businesses. Allow me to now talk a bit more in-depth about Investor. End of Q1 2023, our total assets amounted to SEK 731 billion, and you can see on the slide that listed companies make up 69% of those assets, whereas Patricia Industries, where we have our wholly owned subsidiaries, they have 21%, and EQT 9%.
Our focus and strategy remains firm. Our overarching target is to generate an attractive total return for you, our beloved shareholders. To get there, we're focusing on three strategic priorities: to grow net asset value, to pay a steadily rising dividend, and last but not least, to deliver on our ESG targets. 2022 was, and Jacob has already mentioned this, a difficult year for the Stockholm Stock Exchange. It dropped with 23%, and of course we were impacted by that development, but our net asset value resisted and was down only 10%. If we look at the 1st quarter this year, it's gratifying to see that the net asset value is up again with 7%.
Looking at the last five years, the increase on average has been 16% annually, which should be compared to 12% for the stock exchange and our return requirement of 8% to 9%. Our second strategic priority is to pay a steadily rising dividend. The last 10 years, we have successively increased our dividend every year with exception of that year when the pandemic started. This year the board proposes a dividend of SEK 4.40, which would mean an increase with 10% compared to last year, fully in line with the average annual increase that we've had over the last 10 years. Our third strategic priority is to deliver on our ESG targets. We have three focus areas to ensure the long-term competitiveness for Investor and our companies. Here we have business ethics and governance, diversity and inclusion, and climate and resource efficiency.
For these areas, we have specific objectives that we have follow-up on continuously. I would like to start with a few examples. Through business ethics and governance, we have zero tolerance against corruption and unethical behaviors. 96% of our companies carry out regular anti-corruption trainings. Diversity and inclusion is another prioritized area because different perspectives will lead to better decision-making. That means that it's decisive for our companies and their long-term development. In our portfolio, we have a share of women that is still too low in board of directors and management groups. It has improved. A lot remains to be done. This is still an area that we're working actively with. Climate and resource efficiency is an area that provides significant business opportunities. Here a lot is happening. For example, Investor's own emissions have decreased significantly since 2016.
What is even more important is that our companies are making great progress within this very important area. If you allow me, I'll give a few examples. All our companies have targets today in line with the Paris Agreement, we have a 57% of our companies. I think that we have mentioned that before. 57% reduction in carbon dioxide emissions, all our companies compared to 2016. That is what is being referred to as the Scope 1 and 2, the activities of the companies themselves. Today, 63% of our companies also have targets for Scope 3, there we're talking about the entire value chain. I hope that this is clear already that we focus on our three strategic priorities to grow net asset value, to pay a steadily increasing dividend and to deliver on our ESG targets.
What it all boils down to is that we have an ambition that this is to generate a total return that is attractive, and what has developments looked like? The pink line shows total return for the Stockholm Stock Exchange. It's up about 13% on average over the last 20 years, which means that if you invested 100 SEK 20 years ago at the Stockholm Stock Exchange, then today you would have a capital of around 1,100 SEK. Investor's total return during the same 20-year period has been just under 19% per year, which means that 100 SEK would have grown to something that is three times better than index, around 3,100 SEK.
History does not provide a guarantee for the future, but I can promise you that we will be working hard to continue to deliver good returns also in the future. That was a bit about our operational priorities. In other words, what we want to do with our activities. Now, I would like to talk about the operational aspect, how to accomplish these. We have four such operational priorities: to be an engaged owner, to ensure an attractive portfolio, to operate efficiently, and finally, to maintain good financial flexibility. Let me start with the role as an engaged owner in our companies.
We feel that it's important to have a clear distribution of responsibilities between us owners, the board of directors and the management team. We're working actively in the boards of our companies. We always do what we feel is best for the specific company because the situations differ. For example, between SEB and Mölnlycke. That is very different from Husqvarna. It is about what is best for each specific company. We work with value creation plans. That is the foundation for what we do. We have one value creation plan for each company. Typically, if we look at the focus areas in most of our companies, then it's innovation and new technology, sustainability, acquisitions and the company structure, flexibility and efficiencies. Finally, succession and talent management.
That we can attract and keep the right individuals is decisive for us to be successful as long-term owners, and the objective is to future-proof our businesses. In other words, we want to make sure that they're spearheading developments, that they take market share, and that they outperform competitors. However, and we've talked about that during the investor dialogue, there are a couple of areas that are absolutely key for all our companies, and that is climate change and new technologies. Here, development happens very, very rapidly.
Let me give you some examples of involved active ownership in 2022 and in the first part of this year. ABB has carried out an extensive transfer of its portfolio. The company divested businesses which are not part of core business, core operations, and in 2022, they also divested Accelleron and listed it on the stock exchange, which led to a further focus within ABB. At the same time, considerable amounts of money have been invested to strengthen the company's position in important areas, electrification and automation. Atlas Copco are successful in using its very strong technology, both in software and hardware, to actively move their positions forward in sustainable growth areas, such as, for example, the manufacture of semiconductors, solar panels, wind power, battery manufacture, EVs, and several other growth areas.
Mölnlycke invested half a billion kroner in a new facility, a factory in Malaysia, in the business area gloves. Protective gloves used at surgeries and hospitals, among other things. This is to meet an increase in demand, but also to reduce the climate footprint, as gloves represent the largest share of CO2 emissions by Mölnlycke. It is a challenge to identify green electricity in many parts of the world, not least in Malaysia. In the new installation, solar panels have been assembled on the roof, and they've introduced digital solutions to optimize energy consumption. This is a good example to show that sustainability, growth, and value creation go hand in hand. Our subsidiary Piab, a leader in automation, recently carried out two acquisitions, one in France and one in Germany.
The French company, Coval, has a strong position in important customer segments such as food, vehicles, and packaging. The German company, IB, strengthens Piab's position in the important growth and market additive manufacturing. We invested almost a quarter of a billion SEK in support of the acquisition of these two companies, and Piab is a good example of how we work to further develop companies. During our ownership in Piab since 2018, the company has more than doubled net sales. As you can see, 2018, it was SEK 1.2 billion-SEK 1.3 billion. With these recent acquisitions, it's coming close to SEK 3 billion on an annual basis. It's been managed through organic growth and complementary acquisitions, expanding into new customer segments and growing in important geographical markets such as China. In fact, China's share of total turnover has doubled since we acquired the company.
Piab is a good example of how we work to develop our companies within Patricia. The graph shows earnings development in Patricia, and as you can see, we've had a strong development over many years. During the past 12 months, we've gone to a net sales of SEK 57 billion and profit SEK 13 billion. We also saw strong opening to 2023, and during the Q1, sales in our subsidiary companies was up by 22%. 11% of that was organic growth, so price and volume, and the earnings growth amounted to as much as 35% compared to previous year. Let me now move over to EQT, our third business area, where we have a number of initiatives to reach and achieve continued growth. There's raising of capital in two major funds, EQT X and Infra VI.
In 2022, the acquisition of Baring Private Equity Asia was concluded, and this is going to make for a much stronger position for EQT in the important Asian market. As you can see from this illustration, EQT's managed capital, the assets under management, AUM, have seen very strong growth over the past few years. Let me now say a few words about our second operating priority, ensuring an attractive portfolio. To succeed in this area, our main priority consists of giving support to our businesses in their work in positioning themselves to benefit from long-term trends in the market. I have a few examples that I'd like to mention. The trend towards increased automation benefiting companies such as ABB, Atlas Copco, and Piab. Electrification of society, opening up great opportunities for companies such as Epiroc, which is a world leader in drill rigs and other equipment in mining.
Demographical trends and increased well-being in growth markets, opening up great opportunities for our medtech and pharmaceutical companies. When it comes to climate change, Husqvarna is a good example, shifting from petrol-fueled to battery-driven products. Finally, as I've already mentioned, we see rapid technological development and digitalization, and these two make for opportunities and challenges. All of our companies need to be in the forefront and invest considerable amounts to be technology leaders. To ensure long-term attractive portfolio investments in Investor, we also now and again need to invest in new companies. When we identify new companies, we have a number of criteria that we would like them to comply with.
We look for companies with strong market positions, good growth and profitability, good cash flow generation, companies with sustainable and agile business models, and finally, perhaps most importantly, businesses with a strong corporate culture. In summary, we prefer to pay a little bit more for a well-positioned, well-managed company since we know that that is going to pay off in the long term. Our third operative priority is to operate efficiently in Investor. We're permanently working to improve the efficiency of our processes. It's about implementing new technology, using resources in a wise manner. At the same time, we also, of course, just like our companies that we own, we need to invest in the organization in order to drive our strategy, be a good owner, and also make the most of opportunities out there. It is always about striking the right balance.
All in all, we have a competitive cost level with total costs amounting to just under 0.1% of our adjusted net asset value. Our fourth and final operative priority is to maintain a strong financial position. It's important to be able to support our companies and at the same time have the financial wherewithal to use opportunities when they arise. We have a low leverage level today of only 1%, which is in the lower part of our target range between 0% and 10%. At the same time, we have a very strong cash position of over SEK 30 billion. Over many years now, we've also worked proactively with our balance sheet, and we've used the low interest rate situation that has lasted a number of years.
We've borrowed SEK 23 billion to a maturity of 14 years with an average fixed interest rate of 1.5%. As you can see, we have nothing that matures right now, not until 2029, in fact, and we see a great value in having such a strong financial position in today's volatile market. Our strong cash flow generation is yet another sign of our strength, and it enables us to give a steadily growing dividend, as well as investing in our companies and in new companies. Since 2015, we've generated a cash flow to the tune of SEK 145 billion with significant contributions from all our three business areas. This cash flow we've used to pay dividend to our shareholders, about half. As you can see, we've acquired a number of new companies in Patricia Industries.
We've funded additional acquisitions within Patricia, and we've purchased more in a number of our listed companies. During this period, we've been able to reduce our netness, thanks to the very healthy cash flow position. Let me round off and conclude. We have a well-tried and tested owner model, a clear strategic focus. We have a portfolio of leading companies with good potential for profitable growth, thanks to considerable exposure to attractive growth trends. Our strong financial position gives us the possibility to support our companies, paying good dividend, while at the same time we can act on opportunities when they arise. The world is uncertain, and I am humble in terms of our ability to predict how the business cycle will develop in the future globally. It is my assessment, nevertheless, that we are in a good place.
We're strong, well prepared to deal with both challenges and make the most of opportunities. Now I'd like to take the opportunity to express our debt of gratitude to you, our esteemed shareholders, for the confidence you've placed in us. I can assure that we will do our level best to continue to deserve your trust and to generate an attractive total return in the future as well. Thank you.
Thank you. We open up for comments and questions from the shareholders. We have people with the roving microphones, and we also have a microphone up here. Please start by telling us who you are. Please go ahead. Questions, comments. We continue with microphone number two.
Well, thank you. I would like to start by asking Jacob Wallenberg a question that might be somewhat mean. Fredrik Lundberg did not want to answer this question at the Industrivärden AGM. If you are arguing in favor of maintaining the classification of shares with the differentiation in votes, why not say that we should do away with political voting rights, and we should just go back to what was before then?
That was what was said once upon a time, where one equated a society with a company where you should have a say on the political arena relative to the financial standing that you had. Fredrik Lundberg, he did not want to answer that question. I do expect that Jacob Wallenberg, you're more talented, so you will be able to come up with an intelligent answer to that question. I have a second question as well. How come that you do not want to look into the possibility to have some type of representation for smaller shareholders in the Nomination Committee where the board of directors could be as an observer or with voting rights, without a right to vote?
The employees, after all, are represented in the board of directors, so it would be reasonable and only fair if smaller shareholders could have that same type of position. Most likely, that would also strengthen that feeling of having a shared goal. I also have a third question. Shouldn't you look into the possibility to introduce some type of performance-based board fees? I know that there are many, many issues where the board of directors really cannot influence what happens. Vladimir Putin, for example, I do not think he would listen to what the board of directors of Investor would have to say. I do think that it should be possible to come up with a formula where you can balance these different factors, where the board has a say.
The CEO, to what extent can the CEO influence world economics or Putin? I don't think that should be impossible. I would also like to see a comparison between Industrivärden and Investor, because here we have the two big listed investment companies, and I would like to see a comparison when it comes to their respective developments. What do you do when it comes to gender and ethnicity and the problem we have there in Swedish trade and industry? Finally, the sanctions that we now see in the world, primarily Russia, the Russian Federation, and Iran, but to what extent does this impact Investor and the subsidiaries?
If the Putin regime eventually now falls, I assume that will happen, he is not going to live forever, Putin, will you then be able to retake those positions that you have lost?
Thank you. Well, class A and B shares, and if we shouldn't go back to an historical model, also with differentiations in political say, well, history be it what it may, but I've already said this, Torvald, that shareholders, they have decided on this. All of you shareholders, you own Investor, and you, all of you, and those who represent our representatives, we have decided to have this differentiation between classes of shares and voting rights, and this is the freedom we have to enter into agreements. You're shaking your head no, but that is the case. At least those who are learned in law that I've spoken with, they think so.
Shareholders voted in favor of that differentiation. You can do away with that differentiation through another vote if you want to. That is the answer that you'll get from me. It is a contractual agreement with shareholders in companies like Investor. If I'm to continue with the Nomination Committee and whether one should have small shareholders represented on the Nomination Committee and on the Board of Directors, here as well, it's for the shareholders together to decide who should represent you, represent us. Here we have agreements about the Board of Directors, that we have a Nomination Committee. The Chair of the Nomination Committee will tell us more about what has been done within Investor. There you can present proposals, and you can also vote during an AGM.
Maybe it's not self-evident that you have small shareholders being elected into boards. The Nomination Committee, well, most companies have made such a decision that it's the four largest shareholders, and again, it's looking at majorities. That is what has been decided on when deciding on procedures for nominations. I think it's both logical and practical because you cannot have too many people in the room discussing this. Performance-based remuneration for the members of the Board of Directors. Well, in Investor, for example, the directors has a principle where the value equating one year of the remuneration, well, should be invested, which means that you become a part owner, which means that you're financially, to a certain extent, dependent on the developments of the company. There is a performance requirement, so to say.
Hopefully that will mean that the value will increase. We have that principle for directors as well. The comparison, I'll hand over to Johan.
Just a short comment. Both in Atlas Copco, we, where I sit on the board, we have synthetic shares combined with cash payment, and also in Wärtsilä, where we have shares. I think this is a good approach to building a long-term incentive, so I have experience of that. When it comes to the development at Investor, I hope we've been able to show that we, touch wood, have seen excellent development in our dividend, both in relation to our total return or dividend requirements and compared to stock exchange. I regularly give presentations comparing our performance to that of our peers, I can mention here that all in all, we've performed really well compared to the ones we're comparing ourselves to. I don't think I should sit here and comment on Industrivärden specifically. Thank you.
Gender and ethnicity, as Johan mentioned, this is very much a matter of priority for us. You've asked that question several times before. You know I am very keen to work on those areas, and we do. In our listed holdings, if you look at the overall picture, we are basically at 40% in this case of women. It could be the other way around, of course, as well. In Patricia, we've seen a significant increase over the past number of years, and the aim is to reach 40% throughout. To us, this is an important area, and I'd like to underline that it's not just an important area at the level of board directorship.
I would put it to you that this is even more important still at operational level in the company to get more women included and in line positions, in leading positions, because that is the group from which you recruit future board members, I would claim. This is an urgent matter, and we do focus on it. Sanctions. Russia. Suffice it to say that a number of our companies have been affected. When you consider the sanctions, the EU, for example, has very clear rules on how different companies and different sectors need to comply with sanctions, and we complied with all of those. Ericsson, for example, was criticized because they hadn't pulled out immediately. They had been requested to remain to ensure that their systems were still working.
That's not an unessential part in communications from the west into Russia to ensure that their equivalent to WhatsApp and Facebook work in Russia. That's how you spread information which is not controlled by government inspectors. There was a request to not pull out immediately. That's just one example of why it was in our interest, in fact. I think that was it.
Okay, thank you very much. We have a question from over there, microphone number eight.
Marcus Ingelstam, representing the Folksam Group. Thank you. As you say, this is something that we feel is very important. Sustainability is very important from a moral perspective, it's also important, we feel, from a business perspective. We have decided to not, or let me put it this way, we have a number of targets, net asset values, steadily rising dividend that we're to deliver on the ESG targets. Here we have targets, and the ESG component covers this. We try to include everything, but if we try to list all these sub-components, it will be too complicated. We feel that this is the best way to catch those targets that we feel are the most important. From an operational perspective, I do not think that anyone is feeling that we do not have incentive enough to work with sustainability. It's the opposite.
I think we all are convinced that if we're not successful with sustainability, climate transition, technology transition, then we will not have a long-term return because, well, this is something that's quite simply in our interest for many different reasons.
Thank you. Station two.
Thank you, Anders Wallén. 20 years ago, there was a resounding no to the euro by the Swedish population in spite of the fact that political parties, trade unions, various representatives were in favor. Now, it's coming up again, there's at least one party who've addressed this again. I'm not going to go into pros and cons. I was very divided in my views myself, but did the Investor board of directors discuss this at all? What's your stance, if so?
Thank you. The honest answer is no, we haven't. I do note in any case that I understand why this question comes up. The Swedish krona is becoming ever more marginalized in a turbulent environment where major currencies, the dollar, the euro, the renminbi, are becoming more and more dominant. As soon as we're in a turbulent world, people and institutions tend to stick to the large currencies, the ones perceived with the lowest risk. There we come into the category of those of higher risk, and so the Swedish krona is often divested. That's well worth reflecting on in a longer perspective. I do note as well that Swedish companies who are mainly operating in Sweden will find it easier to sell when the krona is worth less compared to other currencies. It's cheaper to sell abroad.
This is a little bit when we saw recurring devaluations in Sweden back in the days. There's no incentive for the company to work to improve the efficiency of their manufacturing processes. This is very, very urgent to maintain that focus so that you can keep up your long-term competitiveness. That's lost when the currency is inexpensive. That's something which it's also well worth our while to reflect upon. As you mentioned, there are pros and cons, and I'm sure we will be revisiting this discussion again because I think we will be living with these conditions for a good while in the future.
Thank you very much. Is there anyone else who would like to ask a question? Number five, go ahead, please.
Duran Hassem, I have a question about goodwill that you have in your balance sheet. You're talking about SEK 727 billion, SEK 730 billion there. To what extent do we have goodwill there? The auditor talked about this, he goes through this every year, what do you think about holdings? Do you need an adjustment in the future that perhaps does not have the valuation that you've had previously?
Goodwill amounts to SEK 63 billion, I can say, according to annual report. If I'm to explain goodwill and how it usually arises, think about the strategy we have when we acquire companies within Patricia Industries, where we have our wholly owned companies. We're looking for companies that have a good growth potential, good growth, profitable companies with good capital efficiencies.
The last part is very important because we do not just want them to be highly profitable, we also want to see good cash flows because that is important component of the development we've had. That means that when we buy these companies, they have very little equity in their books compared to the price that we're paying for that excellent asset, which means that we often have significant goodwill when buying that type of companies. If we were to buy companies with a lot of equity and lower margins, then the goodwill as a portion of this would be much lower. That is a strategy we do not believe in. Total amount of assets when we have an acquisition, it's goodwill, and it's also assets that are being written down successfully, and we do that together with the auditors.
Thank you. Other questions? That does not appear to be the case. Which means that we continue with agenda item eight, where we have adoption of the income statement and balance sheet for the parent company and the consolidated income statement and balance sheet. The auditor recommends approval and asks the meeting if the meeting wants to do so. That is carried. Then item nine, a presentation of the board of directors remuneration report. The report has been distributed here today and has also been available at the company website and has been sent to those shareholders who have requested so. Are there questions or comments concerning this report? Can the meeting approve this report? It has been approved.
Then agenda item 10, where we have discharge from liability for the board of directors and the president of the auditor who recommends this charge. Should be noted that the directors and the CEO will not participate in this resolution. I ask the meeting if the meeting wants to grant this charge. That is carried. Item 11, which is the disposition of earnings. We've seen the proposal and the statement by the board to be found on page 147. The proposal from the board is to pay a dividend of SEK 4.40 per share divided into two payments. That the rest be carried forward.
For the first payment, according to this proposal, SEK 3.30 will be paid out per share with the record date to be set at the 5 May. On the second installment, SEK 1.10, record date 6th of November, 2023. We've heard that the auditor is in favor. Is the meeting prepared to adopt this proposal? Thank you. That's carried. Now, we have a number of items on the agenda where the Nomination Committee have submitted proposal. Before we proceed with the resolutions, I'm going to give the floor to Leif Johansson, Chairman of the Nomination Committee, for a presentation of the proposals from the committee. You have the floor.
Esteemed participants, shareholders. The nomination committee consists of the chairman of the board of Investor, Jacob Wallenberg, Anders Oscarson, AMF Tjänstepension and AMF Fonder, Magnus Carlsson, SEB Stiftelsen, Carina Silberg, Alecta, and myself, Leif Johansson. I represented the Wallenberg Foundations. The proposals from the nomination committee and the presentation of the work of the committee with a reasoned re-statement is part of the material distributed here today. In order to assess the requirements which will be placed on the board as a result of the company's challenges and future focus, the nomination committee has discussed the composition and the number of directors on the board. We've availed ourselves of an evaluation of the board and its work, showing that the work on the board is functioning well.
We've also met some of the board directors and availed ourselves of the presentations and comments by the Chairman of the Board and the CEO on the company's operations, targets, and strategies. The committee also notes that the directors have a high level of attendance at meetings and that they have the requisite time to complete this assignment in a satisfactory, good manner. The committee has paid attention to the need to have a well-functioning composition of the board in relation to diversity when it comes to different types of skills, competence, and perspectives, including, amongst other things, gender, nationality, and sector-specific experience. The nomination committee proposes an unchanged number of directors on the board, 11. The nomination committee proposes re-election of all the current directors on the board. You see them all here.
We also, in addition, proposes re-election of Jacob Wallenberg as chairman of the board. That brings me to board fees. The proposal from the nomination committee is making the following proposals you can see on the screen. Similarly to last year, we're also proposing that the board will adopt a policy under which the shareholding of a board member after five years should correspond to at least one annual fee before tax. In order to facilitate such a shareholding, we propose that a board director should continue to be able to receive 50% of the board fees in the form of synthetic shares. Auditors.
As can be seen from the material distributed here today, Investor has carried out a tendering procedure before the election of an auditor, and the Nomination Committee is proposing, in accordance with the recommendation from the Audit and Risk Committee, to elect Deloitte as the company auditor for an additional one-year period. Auditors' fees. Furthermore, we propose that fees to the auditors be paid according to approved invoice. By way of conclusion, I would like to thank all the other members of the Nomination Committee for excellent cooperation. Thank you very much.
Thank you. There's a question over here. Microphone number two.
Thank you. That presentation was not entirely clear, on one point, namely whether board fees will remain unchanged or are being increased. If in fact the nomination committee is proposing an increase of board fees, I propose that they rather remain unchanged, and I will, needless to say, lose such a vote. If so, I would like to express my reservation against this decision.
You dealt with everything in the one go. Yes, it is an increase. The total is 3.4% in the proposal from the nomination committee.
I propose unchanged fees, and I have a reservation against the expected outcome of that vote.
We will deal with that when we get to that item, says the Chair. Thank you very much to the Committee. We proceed with the resolution under 12A, the decision on the number of members. We've heard the proposal from the Nomination Committee. Are there any questions or comments under this sub-item? Does the meeting resolve in accordance with the Committee's proposal? That's carried. 12B, the number of auditors. We've heard the Nomination Committee's proposal. Does the meeting resolve in accordance with that proposal? That's carried. We continue with the agenda item 13, where we have compensation paid to Board of Directors and auditors. We'll start with 13A, where we have a decision for Board of Directors. We have two proposals. We have the proposal from the Nomination Committee and also the proposal from Torvald Tibelt that compensation remain unchanged. We'll vote on these two.
Does the meeting want to vote in favor of the Nomination Committee proposal or Torvald Tibelt? I find that the meeting has voted in favor of the Nomination Committee proposal. We continue with 13B, where we have a compensation for auditors. We have heard from the Nomination Committee. Does the meeting want it to resolve accordingly? That is carried. We are at agenda item 14, election of members of the Board of Directors. We have heard a proposal from the Nomination Committee. An account of assignments that these proposed directors have in other companies has been distributed here today, and this information has also been available at the company website and been sent to the shareholders who requested to have them sent from the company.
We're going to vote on the various nominees in the same order we have them in the Nomination Committee's proposal. I'm going to ask you about all these proposals. Does the meeting want to elect Gunnar Brock? Does the meeting want to elect Johan Forssell, Magdalena Gerger? Does the meeting want to elect Tom Johnstone, Isabelle Kocher? Does the meeting want to elect Sven Nyman? Does the meeting want to elect Grace Reksten Skaugen? Does the meeting want to elect Hans Stråberg? Does the meeting want to elect Jacob Wallenberg? Does the meeting want to elect Marcus Wallenberg? Does the meeting want to elect Sara Öhrvall? I find that the meeting has resolved in accordance to the proposal we have from the Nomination Committee. That takes us to agenda item 15, election of the chair.
The proposal from the Nomination Committee is that Jacob Wallenberg is reelected. Can the meeting resolve accordingly? That is carried. That takes us to item 16, election of auditors. We've heard a proposal from the Nomination Committee. Does the meeting want to resolve accordingly? That is carried. Item 17, the Board's proposal for a program for long-term variable remuneration with two items, 17A and B. The proposal is included in the material distributed here today and has also been kept available on the company's website and sent to all shareholders who have requested to receive it from the company. Are there any comments or questions? We'll proceed with 17A first. Does the meeting resolve in accordance with the proposal on the extent of and the main principles for the program for long-term variable remuneration for employees in Investor, excluding Patricia Industries? Carried. Moving on to 17B.
Does the meeting resolve in accordance with the proposal on the extent and the main principles for the program for long-term variable remuneration for employees within Patricia Industries? Carried. That takes us to 18A and B. We have the proposal from the board of directors for acquisition transfer of owner shares. The information has been distributed here today, has been available at the company website, and has been sent out to shareholders who so requested. Are there comments or questions? If not, we'll resolve. We'll start with 18A. Here we need at least two thirds of votes cast and shares represented at the company in favor of the proposal, which means that we'll be using the voting devices. I would like to ask you to find your voting device, and if you're in favor of the board's proposal, you press one for yes.
If you're against, you press two for no, you can press three as well if you want to abstain. I ask if everyone has understood the voting instructions. If so, the vote is open. I think everything is working now. We're about to close the vote in a few seconds. The vote is closed, we will see the outcome. You see that on the screen, I find that the meeting has voted in favor of the board's proposal. We continue with 18 B, here we need at least 9/10 of the votes cast and shares represented at the meeting, we will be using the voting devices again. If you're in favor of the board's proposal, you press one, yes. If you're against, two, no.
You can also abstain by pressing three. The vote is open. We will close the vote in a few seconds. The vote is closed, and we're about to see the result on the screen. I find that the meeting has voted in favor of the board's proposal. That brings us to the final item on today's agenda. Before we close, I'd like to give the floor to the Chairman of the Board, Jacob Wallenberg, please.
Esteemed shareholders. As of now, the meeting can be closed, we can officially conclude and close the books on 2022. We've heard from our President and CEO that relatively speaking, it was a good year for us shareholders. Clearly, there's a great deal of activity in the businesses within Investor, which enables all of this to develop the way it has. According to tradition, I would like to take the opportunity to thank all of you who are here today in presence or taking part digitally, remotely, for your involvement in our company, for your interest. I'd like to also take this opportunity to thank you, Johan, and all of your colleagues and employees at Investor for the extraordinary work you do on behalf of us shareholders. Thank you, and thank you to you all.
I hereby declare the Investor annual general meeting of shareholders closed.