Good morning. Good morning, esteemed shareholders. Dear guests, on behalf of the Board of Directors and the Executive Committee, I warmly welcome you to the annual general meeting at the OYM Hall here in Zug. I am delighted to welcome so many of you today. Thank you for coming. I would like to extend a warm welcome first to Mr. André Wicki, Mayor of the city of Zug, and Thomas Aeschi, National Council. I'm also pleased to see that the members of the Board of Directors and the Executive Committee are present. In addition, I would like to welcome Martin Ebner and our former Chairman of the Board of Directors, Beat Hess. I would also like to welcome Mrs. Sabine Burkhalter, who has once again been mandated by many shareholders to act as the Independent Proxy this year.
I also welcome Mrs. or Mr. Jacques Pierre and Mr. Daniel Zaugg from Ernst & Young AG as representatives of our auditors. I will introduce my colleagues who are on the podium with me today. They will support me in reporting on the past year. They will also help me in answering your questions and in conducting the Annual General Meeting in proper fashion. I will start on the right side with our CFO, Steffen Kindler. Next to me on the right is our CEO, Miljan Gutovic. We have Lukas Studer, our Group General Counsel and Secretary of the Board of Directors, as well as Claudia Sender Ramirez, Chair of the Nomination, Compensation & Governance Committee of the Board of Directors. Before we report in detail on the course of business, ladies and gentlemen, allow me to make some technical and organizational remarks.
If you prefer to follow the annual general meeting in English, please select channel two on your headphones. For German, please select channel one. In order to ensure an efficient process, we have, as usual, set up a speaker registration desk for all shareholders who wish to take the floor. The speaker registration desk is located to the left of the stage. Please register there and briefly state the agenda item you wish to speak about. We will then call on you during the corresponding agenda item and ask you to put your questions or give your comment. Finally, one last remark: Health and safety are our top priority, and this also applies to today's annual general meeting. Please look around and take note of the nearest emergency exit. The emergency exits are marked with a green sign.
In the unlikely event that we have to evacuate the building, we ask you to follow the instructions of the staff. Now I wish you a successful annual general meeting. Now, I'm pleased to give you an overview over the 2025 year for Holcim. Distinguished shareholders, dear guests, 2025 was a year of transformation for Holcim as we started to put our NextGen Growth strategy in full execution, delivering on our vision to be the leading partner for sustainable construction. On behalf of the board of directors, I can share with you that we were all extremely committed and active in shaping our new strategy together, of course, with Miljan and his team. We were highly energized by this process, and the entire board is excited about the growth and value that our strategy is already generating thanks to its full speed execution.
As a result, Holcim is stronger than ever today. NextGen Growth 2030 aims to unlock significant growth and value creation for people, customers, and shareholders, and indeed is already doing so as we generated strong, profitable growth for the full year 2025. To achieve such excellent results, you need a pool of talented people working with a deep sense of purpose to deliver across all market conditions and economic cycles. We have more than 45,000 dedicated employees, and they're all guided by experienced leaders. Here, our culture of empowered, decentralized leadership really comes into its own. I feel honored to be part of a winning team in my first year as chairman of Holcim.
I would like to take the opportunity today to express my gratitude to all employees for their dedication in delivering these fabulous results. I extend my thanks in particular to our CEO, Miljan, and his wonderful leadership team. They are doing a splendid job, and so are our 428 empowered P&L leaders worldwide. They can all adapt swiftly to market opportunities and changing dynamics. Such dynamic and indeed visionary leadership is the driving force behind Holcim's year of transformation and the successful launch of our NextGen Growth 2030 strategy. In 2025, Holcim once again confirmed its status as a benchmark for key topics such as sustainability and innovation, as well as for financial performance and value creation. Congratulations to all my Holcim colleagues for delivering a great year. Thank you. One thing that amazes me particularly about Holcim is this.
We may have a 114-year history, but we are always looking to the future. This is demonstrated by the NextGen Growth 2030 strategy, which anticipates and addresses the powerful megatrends shaping the future of construction to further unlock shareholder value. One such megatrend is population growth and urbanization. With growing construction spend in cities and rising demand for housing and infrastructure, the world builds the equivalent of Madrid every week. Partnering with our customers, we make sure that cities can be built sustainably, whether it is for a new build project or energy efficient repair and refurbishment. Another megatrend we're seeing is the rising demand for modular construction with off-site production enhancing on-site productivity. At the same time, Holcim continues to embrace digitalization and artificial intelligence, AI, both to drive innovation as well as to improve operational efficiency and enhance the customer experience.
Likewise, Holcim has maintained its focus on building a nature positive future with our broad range of solutions that bring nature into cities, thus improving biodiversity as well as the well-being of everyone. As the leading partner for sustainable construction, Holcim is best placed to capture the tailwinds from these global megatrends. We offer our customers a broad range of sustainable building solutions at scale to build next-gen cities. If you look around this arena, you will see images of many building icons. These are special projects that display just those qualities and have been implemented with the latest state-of-the-art materials, both here in Switzerland and beyond. Let me say a few words here about Switzerland, where Holcim has its headquarters and where we have such a rich heritage. Switzerland is a pioneering market for us in terms of sustainable building innovation.
Switzerland is a place where we develop and scale breakthrough innovations with our partners before exporting them across the world. What sets Switzerland apart is its political stability, its reliability, its exceptional public transport links, as well as the high level of technical education. We are grateful for these benefits which have helped us grow and innovate over the past 114 years to become the leading partner for sustainable construction. It was here in Switzerland that Holcim developed the world's first circular cement, Susteno, which contains 20% recycled construction and demolition materials, as well as many other breakthrough components ranging from 3D printing and lower clinker cement through to the Rippmann flooring system. Switzerland has also had the vision to advance landmark construction projects with Holcim, which will serve generations to come. You can see some examples on this slide.
The new transport route through the Alps with the second Gotthard Road Tunnel, the Roche Towers, and the extension of the Kunsthaus Zurich. All these projects materialized with Holcim's innovative and sustainable building solutions. These icons of construction you see here and around the arena are just a few of many. Everyone at Holcim is proud of the key role we are playing in building the infrastructure, industry, and buildings of the future. A future, I should add, that is happening right now already. Ladies and gentlemen, distinguished shareholders, let me briefly comment on the principles of our strong corporate governance. A year ago, in May 2025, I took up my position as Chairman of the Board of Directors of Holcim.
With six years' prior experience on the Holcim Board of Directors and nine years as CEO of Danfoss, I'm channeling that commitment and know-how to give my best in my role as Chairman. In many years as CEO already, I have always been hands-on, spending time in the field, and the same is the case at Holcim. The same applies to the Board of Directors. I have now moved to Switzerland, so I live here to be closer to the Holcim team and our headquarters, and I regularly spend time actively visiting Holcim's operations from Morocco to the United Arab Emirates and Mexico, where the Holcim Spirit is a common thread. One of my responsibilities, of course, is to ensure that our board is made up of the most talented, diverse, and experienced people possible.
In 2025, we added depth, welcoming Adolfo Orive and Sven Schneider, both highly accomplished business leaders. We are delighted to have them as part of the Holcim team. Allow me, ladies and gentlemen, to make a comment regarding today's elections. As I just pointed out, a strong board of directors is Holcim's top priority. I am therefore pleased that all members of the board of directors are standing for re-election at this AGM. Subject to their election, Holcim's board of directors will continue to consist of 10 members, all of whom are independent. In addition to ensuring sound and strong corporate governance, we, as the board of directors, are also responsible for creating value for you, our esteemed shareholders. Over the past years, this is exactly what we have done. We have consistently delivered shareholder value through growth-focused capital allocation and attractive cash returns.
2025 was no exception. Thanks to Holcim's strong, profitable growth, the board of directors is pleased to propose today an adjusted dividend of CHF 1.70 per share. The dividend is paid out of foreign capital contribution reserves, which means it is fully exempt from Swiss withholding tax. I would like to invite you to read for detailed information on our strategy, financial and sustainability performance, governance, compensation, and more, as well as Holcim's 2025 highlights. To conclude, I would like to thank you all, dear shareholders, for your trust in us, as well as your ongoing commitment to Holcim.
Your investment creates the foundation for us to continue to deliver NextGen Growth 2030 and to drive further value creation in 2026 and beyond. Our CEO, Miljan Gutovic, and our CFO, Steffen Kindler, will now provide you with a detailed overview of the results for the 2025 fiscal year. I wish you all a great annual general meeting and now pass the floor to our CEO, Miljan. Thank you.
Thank you, Kim. Good morning, everyone. It gives me a great pleasure to address you, the shareholders, as we reflect on a successful 2025. With our NextGen Growth strategy in full execution, we are deeply grateful for your commitment to Holcim's growth and your faith in our strategy and management. As Kim mentioned, the absolute highlight of 2025 was the launch of our NextGen Growth strategy to be the leading partner for sustainable construction. Thereafter, we built momentum throughout the year, executing our strategy to achieve strong, profitable growth. I will give you a brief overview of our 2025 results now, and you will hear more details from Steffen later on. In 2025, we delivered strong, profitable growth and achieved all our targets. As you can see on this slide, we accelerated our recurring EBIT growth in 2025.
At 10.3% in local currency, we exceeded the top end of our guidance. Our industry leading margin increased by a further 80 basis points to 18.3%. Margin expansion was driven by our high value strategy, which includes scaling up our sustainable offering, continuously exercising strong cost discipline, and enhancing operational efficiency. We generated CHF 2.2 billion in free cash flow with a record cash conversion rate of 54%. Due to our excellent results and their confidence in the outlook, our board of directors has proposed a dividend of CHF 1.7, which is not subject to Swiss withholding tax, representing a payout ratio of 53%. As you can see, Holcim's NextGen Growth 2030 strategy is in full execution.
Since the launch in March 25, everyone at Holcim is committed to deliver a superior performance and value creation for our people, customers and of course, our shareholders. We are focusing our efforts on the four strategic drivers of NextGen Growth 2030, which I will cover briefly now. First, we are investing in the most attractive markets through organic investments and value accretive M&A. In 2025, we made 21 acquisitions and continued to generate profitable growth, benefiting from the strong fundamentals. Second, sustainability drove profitable growth in 25 as we scaled our sustainable offering powered by our premium brands from ECOPact to ECOPlanet. We accelerated initiatives for decarbonization as well as circular construction using our ECOCycle technology while building a nature positive future and reducing freshwater withdrawals.
Third, we are expanding high value building solutions from foundation and flooring to walling and roofing systems, offering integrated end-to-end solutions across the built environment. Fourth, we achieved our success in 25 thanks to our deeply embedded performance culture and value creation with our engaged employees focusing on the impeccable execution of our strategy. Of course, health and safety is our absolute top priority. In 2025, we made significant progress focusing our efforts on achieving zero harm. With our NextGen Growth strategy, we are delivering superior performance and margin expansion by enhancing our lead positions, scaling our sustainable offering, powered by premium brands. Decarbonization and circular construction are driving profitable growth. We are accelerating our initiatives in these areas. As you saw in 25, we have an impeccable track record of value accretive M&A with a focus on the most attractive markets.
All of this is driven by our deeply embedded performance culture. Let's look at this area in more details. Customer demand for our premium brands, ECOPact and ECOPlanet, continues to grow, and they are being used at scale to build city shaping projects across the whole world. For example, CityWave in Italy is being built with ECOPact made from ECOPlanet that is even more sustainable due to its use of calcined clay in place of energy intensive clinker. The Mohammed VI Tower in Morocco is built with ECOPlant, ECOPlanet, and our energy-efficient insulation foam Airium. We are also seeing a strong growth for ECOCycle, our circular technology, which we are using to recycle construction demolition materials for use in products ranging from cement and concrete to aggregates with no compromise on quality and performance.
One landmark recent project built with ECOPact and ECOCycle is Réséda, a 220-unit social housing project near Paris, France. As the world's first 100% recycled concrete building, all its components, cement, aggregates, even production water, were recycled. Overall, using ECOPact with ECOCycle on this project saved more than 6,000 tons of primary materials. This project demonstrates what we can achieve by working with forward-looking cities to evolve building standards and norms. Circular construction is a driver of profitable growth, and we are advancing it to build cities from cities and drive profitable growth. In 2025, we made three acquisitions and invested organically to grow our circular construction hubs to a total of 109 as we continue to establish them in all the major metropolitan areas where we operate.
Over the same period, we grew our net sales from circular construction to close to CHF 500 million, well on our way to our CHF 800 million target for 2030. Organic investments make up an important part of our broad focused capital allocation, in 2025, our CapEx amounted to around CHF 400 million. Here you can see some recent examples that give you some ideas of our priorities. State-of-the-art cement plants, alternative fuels, grinding investments, calcine d clay production, expanding in building solutions in Australia. In Obourg, Belgium, we are in full execution of the first phase of our GO4ZERO carbon capture project, which involves the installation of the next generation kiln to make this the most efficient state-of-the-art plant in the industry. We will continue to accelerate our long-term CCUS investments.
All of these growth investments have very attractive returns and paybacks. Next up is value accretive M&A. We closed 21 value accretive transactions in 2025, of which 18 were acquisitions and three divestments. We made nine acquisitions to strengthen building materials and nine to expand high-value building solutions. In building solutions, we are growing our addressable market both organically and via M&A. In October, we signed an agreement to acquire Xella, a European leader in sustainable and innovative walling systems. Xella is a home to premium sustainable brands, including Ytong, Silka, Hebel, and Multipor, and is a pioneer in digitally supported construction processes. This strategic acquisition, which we expect to close in H2 this year, is a milestone in our vision to be the leading partner for sustainable construction, accelerating Holcim's high-value building solutions in line with our NextGen Growth strategy.
Xella will give us a growth platform in a highly attractive walling market worth more than EUR 12 billion with cross-selling and system selling opportunities. I look forward to welcoming Xella's over 4,000 employees to the Holcim family. In March, we completed the acquisition of majority stake in Cementos Pacasmayo, a leading Peruvian producer of building materials and building solutions, and warmly welcomed another 2,000 employees. This synergetic acquisition will expand Holcim's presence in Peru and accelerate our growth in Latin America in line with our NextGen Growth strategy. Artificial intelligence is transforming the industry. Holcim is accelerating and scaling up initiatives to unlock incremental value and growth, improving performance, and driving customer services. We are unlocking its benefits focusing on 4 core areas: production, logistics, commercial, and administration.
Holcim will deliver benefits from AI of around CHF 200 million by 2028, reflecting both cost savings and cost avoidance. To achieve this, we will make growth investments of around CHF 20 million per year. We are deploying 38 large-scale AI initiatives across our business, from our Holcim M -Predict intelligence for optimizing production processes and equipment performance to our Holcim Foresight tool that optimizes our transport fleet and network utilization. Another example include HOLCIM+, our AI-powered platform that offers customers a 24/7 service with real-time tracking and demand forecasting. Our internal Career Hub tool matches Holcim's people with business opportunities to create value and to nurture talent. Finally, a note or two on our deeply embedded performance culture. You can see some really impressive statistics on this slide. Ultimately though, our results don't come down to statistics.
They come down to the people who work for Holcim. We want Holcim to be the best workplace where talent is nurtured, employees are engaged, and innovation is encouraged. Our commitment to this vision is reflected in Holcim's recognition as a global top employer by Top Employers Institute in 2025 and again in 2026. Through Holcim University, our in-house business school, we provided almost 3,000 of our people with best-in-class training in 2025. With our focus on accountability and empowerment through the Holcim Spirit, our more than 45,000 employees are delivering value in all economic cycles and market conditions. As we continue to go full speed on NextGen Growth, there are many external factors influencing our markets that we cannot control, such as the evolving geopolitical landscape. What we can do is to control the controllables and eliminate complacency wherever we find it.
We did this successfully in 2025, achieving best-in-class performance and industry-leading margin of 18.3%, and we have consistently done so through the period that includes COVID, energy crisis, challenging market condition, and carbon price volatility. We are confident that we can keep the same momentum on our NextGen Growth execution and performance in 2026. This is why our outlook remains positive, underpinned by the global mega trends that are central to our high growth strategy. What is our outlook? Net sales and recurring EBIT growth fully in line with our NextGen Growth targets. 3%-5% organic net sales growth, 8%-10% organic recurring EBIT growth, further increase of our recurring EBIT margin, free cash flow before leases of around CHF 2 billion, and more than 20% growth in recycled construction and demolition materials.
Dear shareholders, as Kim mentioned, 2025 was a transformative year, and as a result, Holcim is stronger than ever. We are grateful for your commitment and energized by our partnership as we continue our shared growth journey together. Now I will hand over to Steffen, who will cover Holcim's excellent performance in 2025 in greater depth. Thank you.
Thank you, Miljan. Good morning, ladies and gentlemen, from my side. I would also like to extend a warm welcome to everyone who is attending at our AGM today, both online and those in person here in Zug. As Miljan said, Holcim achieved excellent performance in the 2025 fiscal year. Our results mean that we are well positioned for future success. Today, I'm delighted to share with you how we are creating shareholder value at Holcim consistently and reliably. Since Miljan has just covered many of these highlights, I will pick up on just a few. Let's start with the over proportional growth of our recurring EBIT, earnings before interest and tax, which was up 10.3% for the year.
This exceeded our 6%-10% long-term guidance and led to a margin increase of 80 basis points to an industry-leading margin, as we call it, of 18.3%. Let me remind you, this is the ratio between the EBIT and the sales. Such progress is a confirmation of the quality of our commercial execution, operational excellence, and strict cost discipline. These qualities are also reflected in the free cash flow of CHF 2.2 billion and the EPS growth of 5%. EPS is earnings per share. Let's now look at our profitability in more detail. This chart shows that we have consistently expanded our recurring EBIT or earnings before interest and tax, which is now well above CHF 2.8 billion, along with our industry-leading recurring EBIT margin.
As I just explained, our margin expansion is driven by our high-value strategy as we scale up our sustainable offering while keeping a strong focus on cost discipline as well as operational excellence. Other factors for this profitable growth include decarbonization and circular construction, underpinned above all by our strong culture of performance and value creation. Our disciplined financial management extends beyond the operational performance, which is measured by the recurring EBIT, and it applies to the entire profit and loss statement, including items like financing cost and non-operational expenditure. This ultimately leads the growth of our earnings per share or EPS, which is up 5% in Swiss francs from 2024. You can see that by all bottom line measures, we are generating superior profitable growth.
Next, you can see the development of our free cash flow in 2025, which is well aligned with our long-term target of around CHF 2 billion. In the last four years, Holcim reliably delivered superior free cash flow with a cash conversion rate consistently above 50%. Cash conversion means to turn balance sheet profits into cash. It's the ratio of free cash flow to EBITDA. This is driven by a strong EBITDA, the profit before interest, taxes, depreciation, amortization, our focus on working capital, financing costs, and other cash-relevant items. Last but not least, we have a disciplined approach to capital expenditure. We prioritize those projects with high returns and ensure budget discipline. Let me now talk about the balance sheet. Our net debt leverage ratio closed out 2025 at a comfortable 0.9 x.
This will provide Holcim with sufficient financial flexibility to execute the acquisitions that we have announced. It will also give us the ability to navigate all economic cycles while continuing to invest in profitable growth through CapEx and M&A and offer attractive shareholder returns. While debt leverage might increase in 2026 due to the acquisitions, we remain committed to a healthy balance sheet and a net debt leverage of below 1.5x over the long term with an investment-grade credit rating. Holcim is investing for growth together with our disciplined approach to CapEx while delivering steadily increasing profits which result in increasing ROIC, return on invested capital. Our return on invested capital continues to tick up year on year, reaching 11.2% in 2025.
The board of directors has approved a dividend per share of CHF 1.70, will be paid out capital return of CHF 10.7 billion, which represents 50% of our capital allocation and are not subject to Swiss withholding tax. This represents a payout ratio of 30% at a post-tax dividend yield of 2.4% after tax, which places us in the upper third of the SMI companies. Our culture of performance and value creation is also reflected in our share price. Holcim was the best performer in the SMI 2025. The next slide outlines our growth-focused capital allocation in 2030. We would like to thank you for your sustained confidence in Holcim, and we look forward to extending these successes in the future. Thank you.
Thank you, Miljan and Steffen. Dear shareholders, on behalf of my 45,000 colleagues, I'd like to extend my thanks to for your trust in Holcim. You have a great share in the successful development of Holcim over the past years. Your trust, your support, and your commitment are the fundament on which we want to continue building. Ladies and gentlemen, you now have the opportunity to ask questions. We're happy to answer all of them. Some persons have already stepped up to the speaker's desk. I will call upon the speakers to step up. Please introduce yourselves with your name and your place of residence. Please be brief. If we have too many speakers or if speakers speak for too long, I would have to limit the speaking time. We will call upon speakers on the respective agenda items.
I'd like to draw your attention to the fact that this assembly is being recorded on video and it's being broadcast in a web stream. With this, let's get started with the questions, please. Our first question comes from Mr. Kaufmann from Ethos. Can I ask Mr. Kaufmann to step up to the speaker's desk, please?
Dear Mr. Chairman, member of the board, dear fellow shareholders, I'm speaking today on behalf of the Ethos Foundation, representing more than 250 Swiss pension funds. Let me start by congratulating the management team and thank the 45,000 employees for the very good result achieved in 2025. I would also like to thank the board and especially the sustainability team for the very good dialogue we have year after years. I would like to address three topics this morning: the climate vote, our concerns about the pace of cement decarbonization, and executive remuneration. Let me start with the climate vote. We regret the board decision to discontinue the separate vote on the climate report.
Given the critical importance of climate change for Holcim's business and for the long-term value of our investment, we believe that distinct vote on climate strategy and sustainability reporting allow us to send differentiated signal on topic that, of course, are connected but require different response. We have noted the board commitment to hold a climate vote periodically or in the event of material change in strategy. We ask the board to give this commitment greater clarity by pledging to hold such a vote at least every three years to ensure sufficient board accountability on this material topic. Dear shareholders, let me now turn to what I believe is the most strategically important question for the long-term value of this company, the pace of cement reformulation.
Ethos acknowledges the progress Holcim has made in reducing its greenhouse gas emission, we recognize that the 2030 target appear both credible and primarily driven by product reformulation. We have serious doubts about how the 2050 targets will be met. 44% of the plan Scope 1 and 2 reduction by 2050 rely on carbon capture usage and storage. These technologies have not yet demonstrated their viability at industrial scale, and betting nearly half of our long-term climate strategy on them is a risk that ultimately fall on us, the shareholders. We believe the answers lies in a far more ambitious reduction on the clinker content in cement, and the technology to do so already exist. Holcim's own annual report state an intention to reduce the clinker factor from 70% today to 65% by 2030.
That is just 5 percentage point over five years. Independent analysis show that the pathway consistent with 1.5 degree would require reaching about 50% clinker ratio by 2035. Dear shareholders, the long-term interest of the room is with a quicker shift. A faster transition protect asset values, reduce regulatory risk, and position Holcim ahead of competition. This brings me to the definition of low carbon cement. Holcim qualifies ECOPlanet as a cement reducing emission by at least 30% compared to CEM I, so the most carbon-intensive cement on the market. This is a low bar. At the time when Holcim has aligned its non-financial reporting with the EU taxonomy, we ask why not also align the ECOPlanet definition with the carbon intensity threshold set by the same taxonomy?
This led me to a broader structural concern, one that goes to the heart of whether Holcim's public commitment are matched by its actions behind closed door. Holcim is an active member of CEMBUREAU and the GCCA, the two main European cement industry association. This association exerts a decisive influence on the development of standards, which governs what cement can legally be sold in Europe. Dear shareholders, independent analyses have shown that this association are slowing the transition towards performance-based standards. Standards that would open the European market to clinker-free cement, such as alkali activated cements. These alternatives already exist, are commercially available in Australia and U.S., and emit 75%-90% less CO2 than the Portland cement that Holcim is selling. Europe will not have a harmonized standard for them before 2030 at the earliest, due partially to the pressure of the association.
We asked the board directly, are the position Holcim defends within CEMBUREAU and GCCA consistent with its public climate commitment? If performance-based standard were adopted, enabling clinker-free cement to compete freely in Europe, at which pace Holcim clinker plants could become stranded assets? Dear shareholders, this is a material financial risk, and we are entitled to know how it is being managed. Let me close with executive compensation. Last year, Ethos raised serious concern about the excessive leverage embedded in Holcim's performance option plan. Our analysis show that former CEO, Mr. Jenisch, was able to realize close to CHF 40 million through the exercise of option received in 2020. A leverage effect of more than 30x the grant value. Those figures have since been confirmed in the 2025 annual report of not Holcim, but Amrize.
Amrize has disclosed full disclosure of realized remuneration upon option exercise. That information remains entirely absent from Holcim's own remuneration report. That is not acceptable. The option granting in 2025 carries the same structural risk. Under reasonable market scenarios, the leverage effect could again generate realized remuneration that bears no meaningful relationship with long-term value creation. Our position is clear. The performance option plan must be discontinued. It does not reflect the long-term vision this industry demands. Dear shareholders, in a sector where the industrial transformation unfold over decades, remuneration structure should reward patient sustainable value creation, not short-term share price movement. We therefore ask the remuneration committee directly, is the board prepared to commit to discontinuing the performance option plan for 2026 and to presenting full realized remuneration, including the value at exercise of vested option in next year's remuneration report?
The three topics I have raised this morning, climate ambition, lobbying strategy, and remuneration design, are connected by a single thread, the long-term interest of the company, the stakeholders, and us, the shareholders. Thank you for your attention.
Thank you very much. We were in contact prior to this AGM, Mr. Kaufmann, as you remember. You asked a long list of questions that were highly detailed, and I'll take them on one by one. Let's begin with the climate vote, your first comment. In our climate report, in our non-financial reports, we're integrated and united to our sustainability reports. This is voluntary and in agreement with EU guidelines. There's transparency and there's consistency in our sustainability report. In our business report 2025, we had a more detailed reporting even. Shareholders are further in a position to vote on the sustainability report. They will be able to approve of it, and I can add that there will also be further regular votes on climate issues. I hope I have made clear that this is so.
On your second question about our sustainability offer. What I can tell you is this. Our offer in matters of sustainability is by far the broadest, widest in the industry. Together with ECOPact and ECOPlanet, we are further expanding this offer. Sustainability is a driver of profitable growth. It is core of our strategy at Holcim, and we're fully committed. Obviously this is tailored to local markets, and we have a CO2 reduction of at least 30% with these brands. They can do more, far more. We're declaring our CO2 footprint in our reporting. We're reporting in line with EU taxonomy and abiding by their criteria. I would therefore say that sustainability is at the very heart of our strategy, and we're fully committed to achieving our goals there. On your third question.
Obviously, you've asked a question at a very high detailed level, and I would say we should keep the dialogue open, obviously, where we can address all these details. These details are a bit difficult to address in, at this AGM. Holcim is committed, actively committed, to develop political framework conditions to achieve the 1.5 target of Paris. We're fully committed to drive this goal. As you say, Holcim is a founding member of GCCA, and it is also a member in other associations, also CEMBUREAU. Both associations have a timeline to achieving net zero by 2050 in accordance with the Paris Agreement. Holcim are actively verifying the alignment of the positions in these associations that have an impact on the company.
You can rely on the fact that we're actively cooperating there. We are of the opinion that we are on a good path there. Your fourth point on structural performance options. What can I say? We have a very strong performance culture at Holcim. Over the past years, we have generated value added for all our stakeholders with focus on total shareholder return. The structure of performance options are geared to NextGen Growth strategy and targeted to reaching long-term shareholder value goals. The leverage is an necessary feature. It's not a deficiency because it helps achieving long-term shareholder values. On all compensation matters, we follow strictest guidelines that are also confirmed by our auditors. I would conclude by saying that our compensation approach is fully in line with our NextGen Growth 2030.
It attempts to achieve maximum long-term shareholder value as we have done in the past. With that, thank you very much. Again, we are always open for a continuation of our dialogue on these important issues. Next question will be asked by Mr. Van Pernis from Actares. Can I ask Mr. Pernis to step up to the speaker's desk, please?
Mr. President, ladies and gentlemen, my name is Frank Van Pernis from Bassersdorf in Switzerland. I take the floor on behalf of Actares, Swiss Association for Shareholders favoring stronger corporate responsibility. Our shareholders association is pleased to note the good results of Holcim's business year 2025. Despite a decline in profits, the share price rose significantly in the second half of 2025. It fell back somewhat at the beginning of 2026, but appeared to have recovered in recent weeks. I would like to speak about the legal situation. During recent years, Holcim has shifted away from low-margin cement production into building materials with better margins. The sale of cement plants, mainly in Asia, the spinoff of Amrize in the USA, and the acquisition of new companies helped to improve the margins, except for the sale of the Nigerian business.
This leads me to my first question. Has Holcim been able to get rid of all the skeletons in the closet acquired through its merger with Lafarge? Are there still any risks of getting involved in legal complaints, for instance, like the Syrian problems of Lafarge? The products of Holcim. Holcim is proud of those buildings constructed with its new products. My question is, what is the life expectancy of these products, and how does it influence the building industry? It would of course be a waste if these buildings had to be replaced at too short time intervals considering the amount of gray energy invested in them. As for social responsibility, it doesn't extend only to Holcim shareholders, its employees, and its customers, but also to many other stakeholders.
Actares approves the projects initiated to accelerate the process of CO2 use and storage that underline Holcim's efforts on behalf of the environment for the air, for the earth, for water, for local communities. The Earth, firstly. Due to biotope destruction, sand and gravel extraction, it becomes necessary to re-nature the sites as soon as they are abandoned. I just would like to mention the Haller Park in Mombasa in Kenya and the re-naturing accomplished around the village of Hüntwangen in Switzerland as projects that show the way. Question: Does Holcim have more projects like these in store in other parts of the world? As for the air, Actares strongly encourages Holcim to control and reduce air pollution caused by dust and CO2, and to switch to alternative fuels like waste products.
Last but not least, local communities. These have to include lorry traffic, improvement of road safety, noise reduction, but also engagement on behalf of local communities affected by Holcim activities. We have still the problem of the compensations. It is a sociological problem that remains to be solved. The high compensations paid out to members of the board and directors. You have surely heard of the Gini coefficient. If you compare the average salary of a manager to that of the CEO, it might take a manager his whole working life to earn as much as the CEO earns in one year. Not to speak, of course, of workmen, drivers, and for small shareholders, this is difficult to understand. Therefore, my question.
The compensation committee is competent to avoid excessive salaries and bonuses. Wouldn't be a good policy for Holcim's reputation in the sense of worldwide corporate responsibility to act as a pioneer and moderate its compensation and bonus budget to a fairer level? Thank you for your attention.
Yeah. Yeah. Thank you very much for your comments and for your questions, Mr. Van Pernis. First of all, I'd like to thank you for the praise, the appreciation for the team of Holcim, which indeed has performed excellently in 2026. I'm happy for your appreciation of this. Thank you. On your first question, as to Lafarge. I'd like to state that this case refers to the behavior of Lafarge ten years ago, prior to the merger with Holcim. At the time of the merger, such behavior had been kept silent by Lafarge, purposely so. To address your question, Holcim really has a very strong corporate culture, and it acts according to highest moral standards without any compromise. Lafarge will further have to address this.
Holcim will be acting responsibly and the ongoing procedures will go on and we will accompany them. On quality. You asked as to the quality for sustainable products. You asked about life expectancy. What will it look like in the future? Well, let me say the following on quality. We do not make any compromise with regard to the quality of our products. We keep up the quality throughout the entire range of our products. All our products have exactly the same resilience, solidity as all other products. There is no compromise here whatsoever. That is one of the reasons why we have seen such a strong growing demand by our customers for these products. We can fully trust in the life of these products and therefore in the future of these products.
We take our responsibility very seriously and we, the results we achieve are, indeed benchmarked. Alternative fuel has been, have been used to 39%. We have reduced water consumption, by 25%, and this is also industry-leading. And this is also true with regard to communities. We annually invest massively in our neighborhoods, CHF 18.4 million in 2025 for education, first of all, then also accommodation and health. These are investments that are not just a transformation. We deliver also in terms of figures. At Mr. Van Pernis, we're fully committed. On compensation then, I repeat what I said before when I replied the question raised first. Still, we're happy to take your contact details to continue this discussion separately. I think you will understand why I do not repeat my answer from before.
Thank you very much. With that, we move to the next question.
The next speaker is from Mr. Maillard Ardenti from HEKS. Could I ask you to come to the stage?
Chairman, Mr. Fausing, members of the Board of Directors, distinguished shareholders. My name is Yvan Maillard Ardenti from Freiburg in Switzerland. I work at HEKS, which is the charity of an evangelical churches in Switzerland. On the 17th of December, 2025, the Cantonal Court of Zug passed a historic ruling. It admitted the climate complaint of the people from the Pari, the Indonesian island Pari against Holcim. The claim is admitted on all accounts. Just to remind you, the claimants ask for compensation from Holcim for climate damage based on Holcim's contribution to global climate change. Number 2, a reduction of Holcim's CO2 emissions compatible with the objective to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees. Number 3, financial contribution to flood protection measures on the Indonesian island of Pari.
The Cantonal Court of Zug confirmed with its ruling that climate change isn't exempt from legislation. These people have the right to claim their right at a court. The ruling of the Cantonal Court of Zug rejects Holcim's position that climate protection claims need to be dealt with on a political level only and cannot be dealt with on a jurisdictional level. That's a quote from the law. They are a complement to the political discussions. They do not replace this political discussion. This is a wake-up call, ladies and gentlemen. Around the world, courts are increasingly willing to investigate the responsibility of international companies. Holcim is one of the biggest CO2 emitters worldwide. Therefore, for all shareholders, this is not just a legal issue, but also a moral and strategic challenge.
Holcim advertises its net zero objective for 2050, but doesn't really have a path to reduce CO2 emission that is really in line with this 1.5 degree objective. Holcim refuses to comment on the impact of CO2 emissions in the past. Since 1950, Holcim has emitted 7.5 billion tons of CO2 into the atmosphere, which is twice as much as Switzerland and since the industrialization began. These massive CO2 emissions by Holcim contributed to the damages claimed by the four Indonesian claimants. My question to you, Mr. Chairman, are as follows: What is Holcim's BOD's position on the ruling of the court, Cantonal Court of Zug, to admit the claim? Well, you will probably say you cannot comment on a pending case. I'm asking you a second question.
Do you recognize that Holcim as a global cement manufacturer bears responsibility for the global climate crisis and damage to our climate, and therefore ought to contribute to compensating for these climate damages. Thank you very much for your answers.
Thank you very much, Mr. Yvan Maillard Ardenti. First of all, let me tell you that climate change is a global challenge. It's a superior challenge, and I think our position is also clear. It is the legislator's mandate to regulate things such as CO2 emissions, and it is not the mandate, as we see it, you just gave the answer yourself, it's not the mandate of an individual court. We live in a democracy. We need to clarify this issue as part of this democratic process. This is the position that we stand by.
Unfortunately, this now is a pending case, which is why we cannot give you any detailed information. I would still like to comment on it briefly, if I may. Holcim attributes top priority to sustainability in its business. If you want to have an external view on our sustainability activities, you will see that we have a global leader position confirmed by independent sustainability ratings. CDP, for example, and other rating institutions. I can assure you that sustainability is at the core of our strategy. It was yesterday, it is today, and it will be tomorrow. I cannot comment on the specific case. I'm really sorry to say that we now have a pending case here, I refuse to comment. Thank you very much. The next question comes from Mrs. Kalman from Chinox AG.
Mrs. Kalman, can I ask you to take the floor, please?
Chairman. Distinguished shareholders. My name is Petra Kalman from Budapest, Hungary. I am a shareholder of the Swiss Chinox AG, which in itself is a shareholder of Holcim, and I also represent Hejócsaba, the Hungarian cement factory. For many, many years, we have been speaking at every annual general meeting and have reported about the outrageous behavior of Holcim at the Hungarian cement factories, about the disappropriation of shares of the Hungarian stakeholders, about the exclusion of Hungarian stakeholders from their possession in the factory, about preventing legally imposed re-imposition of the original state. About the decade-long operation of the factory, owned by a third party without paying any royalties.
We've reported about realizing profits in the CHF millions, about the exploitation and gutting of the factory, about preventing an extension of the factory, about preventing the new operations in the factory, about evasion to pay damages, about preventing to pay damages for three decades. Ladies and gentlemen, we have presented, disclosed these facts, and the history is well known. Two years ago at the annual general meeting, we very explicitly mentioned the wrongdoing and explained that Holcim has misused or abused its leading position to set up a network of corruption, which extends to all areas of power and has as its objective to undermine the operation of an independent Hungarian cement factory. This is a process which is going on for 32 years. Outrageous behavior going on for 32 years.
Holcim felt it was necessary to file a criminal lawsuit against our company, Chinox, and against me personally. At the last annual general meeting one year ago, I reminded everyone of my previous speak and informed the annual general meeting about all the details. The result was the same. Holcim felt unhappy about the corruption case and again filed a lawsuit. At the Cantonal Court, a criminal lawsuit. These proceedings have been going on for two years. However, corruption, as we know, is not something done by individual perpetrators. The landslide opposition victory in Hungary will perhaps speed up the process that Holcim's partners will actually mention its corrupt collaborators and uncover the wrongdoing, and finally bring this case to a conclusion. Thank you very much for your attention.
Thank you, Mrs. Kalman. For more than 20 years, you used the AGM to make wrong claims in front of the shareholders. In the last two years, you went as far as to criticize us for corruption, as you just did again. On behalf of Holcim, I can tell you clearly we do not accept these claims. They are wrong, and they damage Holcim's good reputation. It's just not okay for you to say such things, and we will continue to fight against such claims. You can be sure about that. Thank you. Thank you. We'll move on to the next question, which comes from Mr. Malun. I hope I pronounced the name correctly. Can I ask Mr. Malun to take the floor, please?
Ladies and gentlemen, my name is Thomas Malun from Männedorf, and I speak as a private shareholder. I have no written speech prepared.
Now we heard speeches about big issues. Compared to that, I just have some minor points. First of all, for the last couple of years, what they have achieved in every sense. My next point is a comment, not a question. The voting material that was sent to us. My feeling is this: there is a lot about the statutory proceedings of the annual general meeting, but something is missing. Actual figures for shareholders to prepare about the business operations as just presented by the CFO, but also specific figures on compensation, which is a separate item. The previous speakers have picked up on compensation time and time again. I have to say, on Swiss average for an industrial company's compensation is very high at Holcim.
Other Swiss companies with international operations manage to actually put the figures into the voting documents and comment on them, which helps everyone, the shareholders present at the meeting, to prepare properly for the votings. It shouldn't be the shareholders' duty to go and look for this information. You have an annual report which is 250 pages strong, and on pages 174 or 148, we have all the compensation. Wouldn't it be possible just to present this as a slide? You know in advance this is going to be a controversial point, so why don't you communicate these figures openly and actively?
Thank you very much, Mr. Malun. We take note of your comments. Thank you also for the words of appreciation you said at the very beginning.
If it's okay with you, let me propose the following. Just give us your contact details at the registration desk, and one of our team members will contact you so that we can make sure we take note of all of your points. Thank you very much. Are there any further contributions? I think there is somebody approaching the lectern. Mr. Enderli, I think this is a well-known face.
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Chairman.
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Ladies and Gentlemen, Shareholders. Max Enderli, Hagenwil.
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I was really annoyed.
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To hear what the representative from HEKS had said, that funds were misappropriated.
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Do you really believe in what you're saying? Do you believe in what you're saying to make claims against companies? HEKS is a charity of Protestant churches. Whether Protestant or Catholic, you also get money from companies and you accept monies. You are heretical, this is what I don't like.
HEKS
HEKS, the charity of Protestant churches or Catholic churches, I don't mind, you have plenty of work to do to look into your own books, to try and find skeletons in your own closet. What did we do well over the past few years, and what mistakes did we make? I don't need to mention what news reports put forward on the churches, be it Protestant churches or Catholic churches. Now you take the money you get from companies to misappropriate these funds to the benefit of your belief or your faith. As you just heard, Holcim does a great deal, and Holcim doesn't take any prisoners. It makes no compromises, as the chairman just said, when dealing with sustainability and environmentally friendly products. No, what does HEKS do?
It takes the money it gets from donations and misappropriates them and also takes the money from others and isn't respectful enough with regard to the funds from companies, and then attacks those companies it takes money from. With time, I'm convinced that the Catholic churches and Protestant churches will no longer get any money from company. In certain cantons, this is already the case, and I hope that such people will rethink what their actual job is and stop doing things that are inappropriate. Thank you very much.
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Any other speakers? This is not the case. No further requests to take the floor. With this, we move on to the individual businesses. In accordance with our articles of association, I will chair the meeting. I've appointed Mr. Lukas Studer as secretary. I will now formally make all necessary statements. Today's AGM was convened in accordance with the law and the articles of association, observing the statutory 20-day notice period. The invitation was published on April 13th, 2026 in the Swiss Official Gazette of Commerce, and it was also available on our website. Shareholders registered as entitled to vote in the Holcim AG share registered were personally invited. The agenda contains all items required in the ordinary course of business. No requests to add items to the agenda within the meaning of Article 11, Paragraph 3 of the Articles of Association were submitted.
On behalf of the independent proxy, I hereby inform you that in accordance with Article 689c of the Swiss Code of Obligations, she provide the Board of Directors with a general overview of the instructions received on May 9, 2026. Electronic voting is also planned for this year. Upon entry, you received a voting device. Before we now move to the individual agenda items, I would briefly like to explain to you how to use the voting device. Press the green button on top to vote yes. Press the red button at the bottom to vote no. Press the yellow button in the middle to abstain. When we move to electronic votes, all three buttons will light up a few seconds before the vote begins. This should be the case with your device right now.
If this is not the case, please press the top button for two seconds. If the buttons still do not light up after two seconds, please stand up and raise your hand. Our staff will be happy to assist you also if any problems were to arise during the meeting. As soon as the countdown begins on the screen, please cast your vote. The results will be displayed on the screen once they've been tallied. The counting committee has recorded attendance and I ask that the results be displayed. We have decided on vote counters also. You see their names projected. If they would be acting in their function if any issues were to rise with the electronic voting, and they also assist you should you have any problem with your voting device.
I'd like to point out that all resolutions of today's AGM must be passed by a majority of the votes represented. Let's now begin with the individual businesses. First on the agenda is the management report, the consolidated financial statements, and the annual financial statements for 2025 of Holcim AG. The integrated annual report 2025 was sent to you upon your request. It's also been available on our website since February 27. Miljan Gutovic and Steffen Kindler today provided additional comments on business performance and outlined the outlook. Our auditors, Ernst & Young AG, have audited the consolidated financial statements. The report on the statements can be found starting on page 82 of the financial reports. The report on the annual financial statement starting page 97 of the financial reports.
Representative of our auditors informed us prior to the start of this meeting that they have no further comments to make. The board of directors therefore proposes that the management report, the consolidated financial statement, and the annual financial statements of Holcim AG 2025 be approved. Any comments on this? This is not the case. We therefore will move to the vote. Time is running now. Thank you. Vote is closed. Time is up. We are waiting for the result. I take note of the fact that you approved of the management report, consolidated financial statements, and the annual financial statements for 2025 of Holcim AG. Thank you so much. Dear shareholders, we will shortly proceed to the consultative vote on the compensation report. Let me first explain our compensation strategy and the compensation programs for the board of directors and the executive board of Holcim.
To strengthen the independence of the members of the board of directors in fulfilling their supervisory duties vis-à-vis management, they receive only fixed compensation. They're not entitled to performance-based compensation. If they're covered by the pension plan, they must bear the full costs themselves. The board's compensation consists of an annual board fee as chairman or as member, as well as fees for membership on the board's committees. 50% of the annual fixed compensation is paid in cash and 50% in shares. The shares are subject to a five-year lock-up period. In addition, committee fees and an expense allowance are paid in cash. The compensation model for the executive board consists of three main elements: fixed compensation, an annual bonus, and a long-term incentive. The fixed compensation consists of the salary for the position as well as fringe benefits such as participation in pension plans.
The annual bonus rewards the annual financial results of the group and the regions. Both absolute results and the company's performance relative to the market are taken into account. Furthermore, the annual bonus includes targets in the areas of health, safety, and the environment at the group and regional levels to account for the important aspect of a safe workplace for our employees. The annual bonus is subject to a cap and is paid out half in cash and half in shares. The shares are subject to a three-year vesting period. The long-term incentive plan rewards the company's long-term performance and strengthens the alignment with shareholder interests. It consists of shares and options. The shares are subject to a three-year performance period, and the options to a five-year performance period.
The final number of shares and options depends on the company's performance during the performance period, and is also subject to a cap. Variable compensation is subject to forfeiture and callback provisions. Under certain conditions, variable compensation may be forfeited or even reclaimed. Furthermore, members of the Executive Board are expected to build up and hold a minimum stake in Holcim shares over time in alignment with shareholder interests. The Board of Directors is convinced that the compensation model is balanced and well aligned with the interests of our shareholders. The compensation report describes the compensation systems and related programs for the Board of Directors and for the Executive Board. The report also provides information on the compensation awarded to the Executive Board and the Board of Directors for fiscal 2025.
Remuneration to the Board of Directors for the period from AGM 2025 to the AGM 2026 amounted to CHF 4.2 million, which was within the approved maximum of total CHF 4.5 million. Remuneration to the Executive Board for the business year 2025 amounting to CHF 21.6 million is within the approved maximum total amount of CHF 32 million. Details can be found in the compensation report 2025. Ladies and gentlemen, I'd like to ask you to raise any questions or comments regarding the remuneration system for the Executive Board and the Board of Directors. Any questions or comments? If there are no questions or comments, we will proceed with a vote. Under agenda item 1.2, the Board proposes that the 2025 compensation report be approved in a consultative vote. We will vote now.
Time's running. Time is up. Vote's closed. We'll wait for the result. I take note of the fact that you have approved the Holcim AG compensation report for fiscal 2025 in a consultative vote. Thank you. Under agenda item 13, we will vote on our sustainability report. In the sustainability report, we have now combined the report on non-financial matters and the climate report, on which you voted separately last year. Unlike last year, you will be voting on the sustainability report in a binding manner. The report discloses our strategy, our goals, and our implementation regarding sustainability. It provides you with a sound basis for assessing whether we're managing environmental, social, and governance risks responsibly. Selected information has been audited by Ernst & Young. The corresponding audit report can be found on pages 134-136 of the sustainability report. Any comments on this?
That does not appear to be the case. We therefore proceed to the vote. Please vote now. Time is up. The vote's closed. Let's wait for the result. I take note of the fact that shareholders have approved of the sustainability report for fiscal 2025 of Holcim AG. We now proceed with the next agenda item, discharge the members of the board of directors and the executive board. The board proposes that the members of the board of directors and the executive board be granted discharge for their activities in fiscal 2025. I expressly point out that persons who participated in the management of the company do not have voting rights for the resolution on the discharge of the board of directors and the executive board. Number of shares represented has already been reduced accordingly in the system. Any requests to speak on this?
This seems not to be the case. Please vote now. Time's running. Time's up. Vote's closed. Let's wait for the result. I take note of the fact that you have granted discharge to members of the Board and the Executive Board for their activities in fiscal 2025. Thank you. Let's now turn to the appropriation of profits. Board of Directors proposes a distribution from capital contribution reserves this year. This requires two steps. As a first step, the Board proposes to carry forward the retained earnings of CHF 13 billion 571 million to the new fiscal year. Any comments on agenda item 3.1? This seems not to be the case. Please vote now. Vote's closed. Let's wait for the results. I take note of the fact that you have followed the proposal of the Board regarding the appropriation of retained earnings.
We move on to step two. This year, the Board of Directors proposes to distribute a cash dividend of CHF 1.70 per registered share to shareholders from the capital contribution reserves. The total amount of the distribution, not to exceed CHF 964 million, is based on the total number of outstanding shares. The shares held by the company and its subsidiaries, no distribution will be made on the shares held by the company's subsidiaries. The amount of the payout is reduced accordingly. Any comments on this? This is not the case. We move on to the vote. Time's running. I close the vote. Let's wait for the result. I note that you have approved the Board of Directors' proposal to distribute a cash dividend of CHF 1.70 per registered share, up to a maximum of CHF 964 million.
Cash dividend is expected to be paid on May 21st, 2026. We move on to re-elections. This is the re-election of the members of the Board of Directors, the re-election of the Chairman of the Board, re-election of the members of the Nomination, Compensation & Governance Committee, and the re-election of the auditors and the independent proxy. I ask you to raise any comments regarding all the elections listed under agenda item 4. Any requests to speak at this time? I take note of the fact that there are no requests to speak. Let us therefore begin with the re-elections of the members of the Board of Directors, as the term of office for all members end with today's AGM. 1st re-election concerns me. For this reason, I ask Claudia Sender Ramirez to take over. Claudia, please.
Kim Fausing has been a member of the Board of Directors since 2020, and has been elected the Chairman of the Board of Directors at last year's Annual General Meeting. The Board of Directors proposes Kim Fausing to be reelected as a board member and as Chairman of the Board of Directors for a further term of office of one year, expiring upon completion of the Annual General Meeting 2027. We start the vote. I close the vote. I confirm that you have approved the reelection of Kim Fausing as a member of the Board of Directors and his reelection as Chairman. Congratulations, Kim, and back at you.
Thank you very much, Claudia. Thank you. Thank you very much for your trust. We will now proceed with the remaining elections. The Board of Directors proposes that all other members of the Board of Directors standing for reelection be reelected for the next term of office until the conclusion of the next AGM 2027. You were able to view the details of all candidates on the Holcim website. Therefore, I will not be introducing the candidates during these election proceedings. We will conduct the elections individually, one after another in a single round. Again, pay attention to the countdown during the election of each candidates as projected on the screen. I will announce the overall election results at the end of this voting process. I now open the reelection of the remaining candidates.
First, we will consider the reelection of Professor Dr. Philippe Block as member of the Board of Directors. Time is running now. Reelection of Leanne Geale. Time's running now. The reelection of Catrin Hinkel. The reelection of Naina Lal Kidwai. Time's running now. The reelection of Dr. Ilias Läber. Please, now. Is the reelection of Michael H. McGarry. Time's running now. Reelection of Adolfo Orive. Reelection of Claudia Sender Ramirez. Please, now. The reelection of Dr. Sven Schneider. Please, now. I hereby close the election round, and let's wait for the results. Dear shareholders, I hereby declare that you have approved the reelection of all members of the Board of Directors standing for reelection. On behalf of the Board of Directors, I thank you for the trust you have placed in its members. Thank you.
All the reelected members of the Board of Directors have informed me prior to the election that they will accept their reelection.
This brings us to the re-election of the members of the Nomination, Compensation, and Governance Committee, whose terms of office expire at today's annual general meeting. The board of directors proposes that all members of the Nomination, Compensation, and Governance Committee who are standing for re-election be re-elected for a further term of one year until the close of the annual general meeting in 2027. Here too, we will conduct the elections individually, but in a single round. Please also note the countdown during the election of the respective candidate. The countdown will be projected on the screen. I will again announce the overall election results here at the end of the voting round. I now open the election. First, we come to the re-election of Leanne Geale as a member of the Nomination, Compensation, and Governance Committee. Countdown is on.
Next is the re-election of Dr. Ilias Läber. Countdown starts now. Next is the re-election of Michael H. McGarry. Countdown starts now. Next is the re-election of Claudia Sender Ramirez. Countdown starts now. I close the ballot, and we wait for the results. I note that you have approved the re-election of all members of the Nomination, Compensation & Governance Committee. Thank you very much. This brings us to the re-election of the auditors. The board of directors once again proposes Ernst & Young AG as the auditors for the 2026 fiscal year. Ernst & Young AG has confirmed in writing that it accepts the mandate for the financial year 2026. We now proceed to the vote. Countdown starts now. I close the ballot. We wait for the result. I note that you have appointed Ernst & Young AG as the auditors for the 2026 financial year.
The independent proxy has to be elected as well. The Board of Directors proposes Dr. Sabine Burkhalter of Voser Rechtsanwälte in Baden for the next term of office as well. Please cast your vote now. I hereby close the ballot, and we wait for the result. I note that the shareholders have approved the re-election of Mrs. Burkhalter. Mrs. Burkhalter informed me prior to the vote that she would accept her re-election. This brings us to item 5 on our agenda, which is the binding votes on the maximum aggregate amounts of the remuneration of the Board of Directors and the Executive Committee. I shall first provide an overview of the proposed maximum aggregate amount for the Board of Directors for the period from the 2026 Annual General Meeting to the 2027 Annual General Meeting as set out in agenda item 5.1.
The Board proposes that a maximum aggregate amount of CHF 4.5 million be approved for 10 members of the Board of Directors for the period from the 2026 AGM to the 2027 AGM. This amount remains unchanged from the previous year's amount of CHF 4.5 million. Does anybody wish to speak on this agenda item? If not, I would like to proceed to the vote. Please cast your vote now. The countdown is running now. I close the vote, and we now wait for the result. I note that you have approved the Board of Directors' proposal regarding the remuneration of the Board of Directors for the next term of office.
Dear shareholders, we now turn to agenda item 5.2, which is the binding vote on the maximum aggregate amount of remuneration for the Executive Committee for the year 2027. In connection with the spin-off of the North American business last year, a comprehensive review of our remuneration system was carried out. The Board of Directors has concluded that the remuneration system is appropriate and should be kept. It is designed such that it supports the company's strategy by attracting, motivating, and retaining talented executives, whilst simultaneously aligning their interests with those of the shareholders. The Board of Directors therefore proposes that a maximum aggregate amount of CHF 35 million be approved for the remuneration of 13 members of the Executive Committee for the 2027 financial year.
This amount represents an increase of 9% compared to the approved amount of the previous year of CHF 32 million. This is due to the expansion of the Executive Committee from 9 to 13 members. As you can see from the slide, the total remuneration actually awarded to members of the Executive Committee in previous years remained within the respective approved maximum aggregate amount. Does anybody have any questions on this matter? If not, we will proceed to the vote on this agenda item. Please cast your vote now. Countdown is running now. I close the vote, and we now wait for the result. I note that you have approved the Board of Directors' proposal regarding the remuneration of the Executive Committee for the 2027 financial year. Right. We have now dealt with all the items on the agenda for this year's AGM.
I would like to take this opportunity, on behalf of the entire board of directors, to extend my warmest thanks to all shareholders and to everyone who has contributed to this annual general meeting. The next annual general meeting of Holcim will take place on the 20th of May 2027. We now cordially invite you to lunch. You can look forward to meatballs and mashed potatoes. Our buffets are located at the back of the hall and on the first floor in the gallery. I wish you a lovely day, ladies and gentlemen. Enjoy the meal, [Non-Englsh content ], and I look forward to seeing you here again on the 20th of May, 2027. [Non-Englsh content ]