Morning. My name is Larry Rosen, and I am the Chair of the Supervisory Board of QIAGEN N.V. I'd like to welcome all of you to the annual general meeting of shareholders of QIAGEN. I'm pleased that we can meet in person after we had to organize the last two meetings only virtually due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Here on the podium, we have two other members of the Supervisory Board: Ms. Elizabeth Tallett, the Chair of the Compensation Committee, and Dr. Toralf Haag, the Chair of the Audit Committee. Another member of our Supervisory Board, Professor Elaine Mardis, is joining us in the audience, while Professor Ross Levine and Mr. Thomas Ebeling are joining the meeting online. I'm also very happy to welcome in the audience Dr. Eva Pisa, who is a candidate for election as a new member of our Supervisory Board.
We also have here on the podium our two managing board members. Next to me, Mr. Thierry Bernard, our CEO, and Mr. Roland Sackers, our CFO. I would also like to introduce Mr. Casper Nagtegaal, partner with De Brauw Blackstone Westbroek. And lastly, joining us from our auditors, KPMG, are Mr. John Verhoeven and Mr. Kornel Lorentzen. Also, I would like to note the attendance of Professor Dr. Dr. Detlev Riesner in the audience. Thank you, Detlev. Professor Riesner was one of the founders of QIAGEN and served for many years as Chair of the Supervisory Board. It's a great pleasure to see you here today and have your continued support for QIAGEN. Thank you again for your tremendous contributions to our success. So let me go now to a few formalities.
First, I'd like to inform you that a live webcast in listen and view-only mode of this annual general meeting of shareholders is being made available via the internet. For the record, I hereby state that the meeting has been convened with due observance of all legal and statutory provisions. I'd like to now inform you about the method of determining the voting results. Listed companies are obligated to publish voting results on their website within 15 days of the annual general meeting. Experience shows that the number of shareholders present or represented at the meeting might fluctuate, such as due to shareholders leaving the meeting before it has ended, and this could affect the final voting results.
As it is not practical to process all potential fluctuations during the meeting, we hereby inform you that for the purpose of determining the final voting results, all shareholders present or represented at the beginning of this annual general meeting shall be deemed to be present or represented during the entire meeting. The official language of this meeting shall be English, and Mr. Nagtegaal will act as Secretary. I'd like to formally appoint him as such in accordance with Article 32, paragraph 1 of the Articles of Association. If we have questions in Dutch, these will be translated by Mr. Nagtegaal along with the answers. On May 26, 2022, which is the record date for the determination of shareholders entitled to vote by proxy, the total issued share capital amounted to EUR 2,308,293.09, and consisted of 230,829,308.67 shares at EUR 0.01 each.
Each share entitles the holder to cast one vote except for the 3,372,240.11 shares held in treasury by QIAGEN and the 46.56 fractional shares that are excluded from voting. As a result, at the record date, the total number of shares with voting rights amounted to 227,457,022. Mr. Nagtegaal, would you please hand me the attendance list and count the votes present and represented at this meeting? According to the attendance list, I can inform you that the holders of 170,445,773 common shares in the capital of the company are present or represented at this meeting who, in total, may cast 170,445,779 votes. This represents more than 50% of the issued share capital. We will utilize the following method for voting. For each proposal on the agenda, I will propose that shareholders who are present here in the room at the meeting vote by acclamation.
If there are no objections against voting by acclamation, I will state that the proposal has been adopted by acclamation. I would like to request that any shareholders and proxy holders who are here present at the meeting and are against a specific proposal or who wish to abstain from voting raise their hands. Please mention your name or the shareholder on behalf of whom you are voting, your voting intention, and the number of shares voted for your intention. The votes of shareholders who are against the proposal or abstain from voting shall be explicitly mentioned in the minutes of the meeting. I would now like to continue with Item 2 on the agenda. Item 2 is the Managing Board report for the year ended December 31, 2021, calendar year 2021. The second item on the agenda is the report of the Managing Board for 2021.
The report is included in our annual report, which has been made available on our website at www.qiagen.com. Certain highlights of the report will now be presented by our Managing Board. Thierry Bernard will give a presentation on the progress of QIAGEN in 2021, and Roland Sackers will give a presentation on the financial performance. I would now like to hand the word over to Thierry.
Thank you, Larry, and good morning, everybody. On behalf of the Managing Board, I'd like to thank you for your attendance and obviously interest in our company. I'd like also to thank the board for their trust and collaboration, and obviously, Dr. Riesner, I would like to thank you for your presence. I mean, we all know that without you, none of this and what we are presenting today would have been possible. So thanks a lot again. Very quickly, I'm not going to go line by line through all the slides, but just to highlight the progress of QIAGEN in 2021 and through this pandemic.
As a reminder, I guess, and I know that most of you obviously are very knowledgeable about our company, but it's fair to remind everybody that for more than 30 years now, QIAGEN has been developing innovative molecular solutions both for life sciences and clinical diagnostics. As of today or as of last year, we celebrated the fact that we belong to the club of companies of above $2 billion revenues, $2.2 billion in 2021 revenues. What I would like to insist, and that would be a common motto for me during this presentation, is that we are a very balanced company. What I mean by this is that, first of all, obviously, balanced in our activities.
50% of our activities in life sciences sales and activities toward research, academia, labs all over the world, and 50% in clinical where we are selling final solutions or end solutions to clinical laboratories, private or in hospitals. Balanced, obviously, geographies, as you see our presence between North America, Europe, and the rest of the world, and obviously with growing presence in the emerging countries as well. Balanced as far as our customers are concerned. I mean, more than 500,000 customers all over the world, between long-tail customers, especially in life sciences, and clinical customers once again. Last but not least, but it's a very important point, especially for our P&L, we belong to this typical razor-blade business model where 12% roughly of our sales are coming from instrument sales, capital sales, or placements, and the bulk of our revenues, 88%, comes from consumables and related revenues, essentially service.
Obviously, and it's especially true for any company in healthcare, we are a global company, but we want also a global company with relevance anytime necessary with local presence. You see here our global presence between direct activities, either just commercial or commercial plus manufacturing and development, as well also of a significant number of commercial partners helping to promote the QIAGEN solutions all over the world. I'd like to insist because, again, once again, you are quite knowledgeable about our companies of some recent development over the last two years, essentially, because we couldn't be meeting on a presential way. The acquisition of the company NeuMoDx in the U.S. brought a new site to our QIAGEN network. It's the site of Ann Arbor in the U.S. A bit before, we acquired also a company called STAT-Dx, and it gave us a site in Spain, Barcelona.
If you follow very well our activities, you see that a couple of weeks ago, we announced the closing of an acquisition in Poland where we are already present with a significant shared service center in Gdańsk, and it's the acquisition of an enzyme company called BLIRT. So clearly global, balanced, as I said before, geographically, and anytime necessary, we do not hesitate also to be local. It's clear that in healthcare, the main market in the world is still the American market, so we have to be present in the U.S. commercially, but also with manufacturing and development activities. This is our main site in Germantown.
For example, we all know that in China, if we want to be competitive, we will have more and more to localize our presence, and this is why in China we have a manufacturing and development site in Shenzhen, just as an example. Two years ago, when I had the honor to be asked to become the CEO of this company, and especially after the failed attempt by Thermo Fisher to acquire QIAGEN, I came to the board together with Roland and the executive committee and proposed a strategy that was based on two main evolutions. First, changing, yes, the what and the how of how this company operates. The what is the fact that we all believe that we have to focus. QIAGEN is a mid-cap company, and I don't say that in a pejorative way.
We are not a very big company, but we are not a small company. We are typically a mid-cap. We are agile enough, but at the same time, one of the main challenges of a mid-cap company is critical mass, and that means that in everything we do, in everywhere we invest, we need to make sure that we invest to take between the number one and the number three position in the market, and this is the start of what we call the five pillars of growth strategy.
You see here, when I said balance at the beginning, that even on the five pillars of growth, we are extremely balanced because the five pillars of growth are made of two leading positions on the market where we are clearly already number one, Sample Tech, the DNA of the company, and Immune Response with QuantiFERON, especially on latent TB testing, and three high-growth profiles products: syndromic testing with QIAstat-Dx, core lab infectious diseases, PCR testing with NeuMoDx, and the most recent launch of QIAGEN, which is digital PCR, a fast-growing market. Now, five pillars of growth doesn't mean that we have a two-tier QIAGEN company where you have the good Qiageners working for the five pillars of growth and the less good Qiageners working for the rest of the portfolio. What we call the core portfolio of QIAGEN is equally important.
And some of those portfolios, if you look, for example, our next-generation sequencing universal chemistry, all our bioinformatics solutions, or our oncology companion diagnostic have strong growth, double-digit growth profile as well. But insisting on a focused five pillars of growth means that if we are not able to be successful in those five pillars of growth, then it will be difficult for the company to continue to invest in other fields. Here, very quickly, we try to summarize, and I'm not going to go through all the slides, what we want to do strategically. First of all, we consider the total addressable market for our solution is more than $11 billion. Just the five pillars of growth in this total addressable market is already $6 billion.
The fact that we decided to really focus, the fact that we have an obsession also to deliver quarter after quarter the result that we commit every year to the market is a significant change in this company as well. We have also, obviously, different aspirations as regarding how we want to impact the market. We continue with our objective, obviously, of making improvements of life possible. We have a clear commitment to systematically grow above market growth, and we are always, obviously, very aware of our corporate social responsibilities. We will come back to that. Development around environment, social, and governance objectives are key to us. Objectives towards more diversity, both gender, geography, and others is also key to us. If you look at what happened in 2021, I think that we are glad to say that we ticked the boxes of what we announced to the market.
First of all, as you have seen, remarkable growth in a year that was marked by both still the pandemic of COVID-19 and the resurgence of non-COVID testing as well. 19% growth, but more especially and more importantly for us, 20% growth on the non-COVID portfolio. Why do we make that difference between COVID and non-COVID? Because for more than a year now, QIAGEN has said that we have the objective of being COVID-relevant, but there is no way we will be COVID-dependent, and this is extremely important. In an environment where COVID is extremely volatile, it was extremely crucial for our company a year ago in July of last year to completely decouple our P&L from the COVID volatility.
Therefore, as I will show in a couple of minutes, we probably have built one of the most comprehensive portfolios of solutions relevant for COVID, but our definitive focus is the growth of our non-COVID portfolio. As early as July of last year, we told the market we would grow our non-COVID portfolio by more than 20% in 2021. We achieved that. At the same time, we said we would grow our non-COVID portfolio by 10% in 2022, and we are on our way to achieve that.
Not only did we tick the box of the top-line objective, but also of the EPS objective, which is fundamental, but we also ticked the box, and I won't go into all the details on the development improvement that we also committed to the market, improved menu for our different instruments, launch of, for example, wastewater for COVID on our digital PCR. You see that on the right side of this slide. Together with our investor relations department, John and Phoebe, together with Roland, we also wanted to have a different communication to the market. A communication which is marked by, first of all, realistic ambition. We are still ambitious anytime we set an objective of growth, but we want this objective to be realistic, and second, transparency. We are dealing with multiple products.
Following the performance of QIAGEN between PCR, digital PCR, NGS, life science, clinical is not always easy. We completely changed the way we report results to the market to make it easier for our investors to follow our performance. And as I said before, obviously, the increased focus around environment, social, and governance objectives. I'll come back to that in a moment. I said that we wanted to be COVID-relevant, never COVID-dependent. I really believe that this company has probably built the most extensive portfolio of solutions relevant against COVID. First of all, it is fair to say that this COVID-19 crisis has highlighted one, the crucial relevance of diagnostics, both for life science or clinical, in the healthcare value chain, but second, even more importantly for our company, has highlighted the superiority of molecular solutions in the diagnostics value chain.
And when you look at the different solutions from RNA extraction to health laboratories building their own tests to screening via PCR or other methodologies and going now to surveillance of the virus, we have a complete set of activities relevant from every government in the world. Short focus on the five pillars and commitment we took to the market. You can see that those products in revenues are already extremely relevant for the company between sample technologies at $750 million to the latest launch digital PCR at $45 million last year. You see here our objective. But more important than this, it's to show the market that we have in hand with what we had now in our portfolio products with a clear double-digit growth profile. Sample tech a bit less. We know that the market is a bit more mature.
So here, it's a mid-single-digit growth profile that we have in mind. But definitely, for QuantiFERON, QIAstat-Dx, NeuMoDx, or Digital PCR, we are clearly committing to double-digit growth profiles. A few words about what happened in the first month of 2022. You have seen the results of Q1. Once again, a quarter that is highlighting solid results. A quarter that has been marked during January by a resurgence of COVID, COVID-relevant, and the second half of the quarter, much less COVID, not COVID-dependent. Our sales performance in Q1 was at 15% growth, but more importantly, again, with us, 14% growth of the non-COVID portfolio. EPS objective beaten again and led QIAGEN to increase the guidance for the year, as you have probably seen.
We enjoyed a record number of placements of instruments, and this is fundamental because the more instruments you place, obviously, the more reagent consumables you will have in the coming month. Extremely strong balance sheet that is now, even more than before, allowing QIAGEN to speak and to think very aggressively about capital allocation, especially M&A. You have seen the first example with this Polish acquisition. And as I said before, you have seen our numbers and objective for the year 2022 upgraded recently at the end of Q1. Here, in more details, you see really not only the fact that we have been able to quickly come up over the last two years with solutions for COVID that have been extremely commercially successful, but the fact that clearly in our objective, the non-COVID portfolio is clearly crucial. I'm not going to go through all the details of this slide.
If you want to have more questions according to different product lines, I'll be obviously open to answer. ESG, environment, social, and governance. This is becoming obviously a growing and it's justified concern for our shareholders and for the investment community, but it's also a very good concern for our QIAGENers. We are not embracing ESG because it became fashionable. We embrace ESG objective in all its dimensions because we clearly believe in it. For QIAGEN, it is translated into mainly four dimensions. First, everything we can do to reduce, decrease our impact on the environment. We have clear objectives on which every one of the 6,000 QIAGENers in the world are incentivized every year to reduce, for example, our plastic footprint. You have seen in communication that we have recently launched a new packaging at QIAGEN, much more environment-friendly. It translates also in fostering diversity.
We are probably one of the few, if not the only company in the world. When once again the 6,000 QIAGENers every year in our team goals are incentivized on increasing the weight of women in our top management. And we still have progresses to do here. But look here at the result, 34% of women already in leadership. When we started that objective, we were close to 30%. It's a continuous improvement, and we want to insist that. But I insist, diversity at QIAGEN doesn't mean only gender diversity. It's geographic diversity. It's background diversity. Improving access to healthcare is key also for us. What we mean by this clearly is the notion that we leave no one behind. Emerging countries are not less important than the U.S. or Germany or the French market, for example. And you see here some example.
100 million women screened thanks to QIAGEN for HPV. More than 100 million tests of TB testing in more than 130 countries, and the only company in Q4 of last year to launch a dedicated solution for TB for high-burden low-resources countries. This is critical for us. We have started also the creation of a public health department. Emerging countries are a key priority. Last but not least, obviously, continuing to invest on sustainability. ESG now is driven by a clear VP-level accountable person at QIAGEN, and we continue, obviously, to make sure that we are also having our QIAGENers working in a safe working environment, and once again, for example, incident rate at QIAGEN is a metric on which the 6,000 QIAGENers all over the world are incentivized. We continue and we will continue to publish ambitious goals for ESG, both on the environment, social, and governance dimension.
To summarize, we believe clearly that the five pillars of growth strategy together with what we call changing the how of QIAGEN, decentralizing the decision-making of our company, empowering our QIAGENers to become accountable doers is working and translated into solid performance over the last two years. More than 10 quarters of exceeding the commitment we took to the street, both from a top-line and an EPS standpoint. Focusing the P&L and our objective on the non-COVID portfolio while remaining COVID-obviously relevant. We are working in a very volatile environment. Volatility of COVID, as we have said, volatility of the economic situation, tremendous impact of inflation, uncertainties from a geopolitical standpoint. There is no way we should load QIAGEN with fixed costs that we would not be able to stand in a post-COVID environment. So very cautious management of our P&L is the way to go.
Complete dedication and obsession with quarterly executions of what we are telling the street. Humility from a managerial also behavior. As I said before, I believe that we are more and more a very balanced, compelling, compelling investment case because risks and opportunities are extremely well balanced. Once again, from a product standpoint, from a geographic standpoint, and many other dimensions. The strength of our balance sheets, once again, is now allowing us to look at the coming month with greater ambition from a merger and acquisition standpoint, and we are working on that. We are talking bolt-on acquisitions or potentially bigger ones as long as it's not going to spread the company too thin, but continue the strategy of focus and obsession with delivering on what we have said we would deliver. Thank you.
Thank you, Thierry, for that excellent presentation. And I'd now like to hand the word over to Roland for the financial presentation.
Thank you, Larry. And thank you to all of you who have come here today with us to be with us in person. After two years of virtual meetings, it is a welcome change to go back to the traditional way of holding this kind of meetings. But also, thank you to all of you who are joining us online for this important meeting. Before I start, I would like to again point out our disclaimer to you. We will be making statements and providing responses to your questions that will involve our intentions, beliefs, and views about the future. And these constitute forward-looking statements. Today, we will be providing you with data under both U.S. GAAP and IFRS accounting standards and also providing you with adjusted results.
The intention of sharing these adjusted results with you is to provide additional insights into our performance and as a way to make more direct comparison with our peer companies. You can find further information on our website, www.qiagen.com. I would like to review the key messages from our results for the full year 2021, a year of significant change and developments for all of us. First, we exceeded the outlook for sales growth and adjusted earnings per share thanks to outstanding growth in our non-COVID product business and also supported by COVID-19 product sales that were better than expected due to the search and testing related to the Omicron variant. Sales for 2021 totaled $2.25 billion and rose 19% at constant exchange rates, our CER over 2020. This was above our outlook for an increase of 15% CER.
Adjusted earnings per share were $2.63 CER and rose 22% over 2020. This was also well above the outlook that we had set beginning of the year. The strong sales growth more than supported significant investments into our portfolio, led by a high level of R&D investments, especially into our five pillars of growth. As for cash flow, we saw a 40% increase in operating cash flow to $639 million compared to $458 million in 2020. This supported a very solid increase in free cash flow, which rose 38% to $449 million while supporting investments into our business to expand particular production capacity. As a second key message, and building on what Thierry said about our five pillars of growth, we saw a strong sales performance in 2020 in the following areas.
Sales of our Sample Technologies products were up 4% at constant exchange rates to $851 million. QIAGEN teams responded to volatile trends in pandemic testing while also delivering growth in kits use for DNA and other non-COVID applications. Our portfolio of QIAcuity Digital PCR instruments continued to build momentum. We reached about 730 cumulative placements at the end of 2021 and are now fast approaching more than 1,000. Sales of the QIAstat-Dx systems for syndromic testing rose 38% to $75 million as we also reached a new milestone of 2,900 cumulative placements, up from 2,000 at the end of 2020. For the NeuMoDx integrated solutions for clinical PCR testing, sales reached $105 million, also driven by utilization in the U.S. and Europe as the number of cumulative placements topped 220.
As a last point, and as one of the key highlights, sales of the QuantiFERON-TB test were $281 million and rose an outstanding 48% CER from 2020. We saw very strong trends in 2021 as QuantiFERON returned to growth amid a surge in testing and conversion from the traditional skin test. I would like to now provide a more comprehensive overview of key financial parameters under U.S. GAAP, plus additional metrics that together provide a good basis for comparison against peer companies. As I mentioned earlier, net sales rose 20% to $2.25 billion and were up 19% at constant exchange rates due to above one percentage points of currency headwinds against the U.S. dollars, our reporting currency. Moving down the income statement, the decline in the adjusted cost margin in 2021 to 67.9% of sales from 69.6% in 2020 involved several factors.
This includes a change in product mix as well as investments that are being made to build up consumables production capacity, meaning we can improve economics of scale in the future as volumes grow. Adjusted operating income for 2021 rose 20% to $755 million from $627 million in 2020. And the adjusted operating income margins remained steady at 33.5% of sales in both years. We continue to make significant R&D investments into menu expansion and new applications, especially for the five pillars of growth. These investments rose to 8.4% of sales in 2021 from 8% in 2020. At the same time, we were able to gain leverage in other operating expenses. Sales and marketing expenses declined to 20.3% of sales in 2021 from 22.1% in 2020, especially as COVID-19 drove a significant shift to digital channels for customer engagement and marketing activities.
As a last point, general administrative expenses fell to 5.7% of sales in 2021 from 6% in 2020. For 2021, net income under U.S. GAAP was $530 million US dollars, up 43% from $359 million in 2020. Adjusted EPS for 2021 was again well above our outlook and came in at $2.63 CER. Results on an actual basis were $2.65 and reflected $0.02 of currency benefits. The tax rate and also the adjusted tax rate for both 2021 and the previous years were steady at 18%. Turning to the next slide, we are using our healthy cash flow trends and improving leverage to support growth while increasing returns to shareholders. In terms of cash flow trends for 2021, we saw dynamic results in both operating cash flow and free cash flow thanks to the strong business expansion.
For 2021, operating cash flow rose 40% to $639 million, and this included a settlement payment of $53 million to resolve litigations related to an acquisition. We also had significant higher tax payments in 2021, which rose more than 50% to $102 million over the payments in 2020. In terms of our balance sheet, our net debt position decreased to $876 million at the end of 2021 compared to net debt of $1.2 billion at the end of 2020. This was due to a strong cash flow and higher levels of cash and short-term investments held at the end of 2021. The combination of reduced net debt and higher EBITDA results led to the leverage ratio falling to 0.9 times net debt to EBITDA at the end of 2021 compared to 1.5 times at the end of 2020. This factor supported our disciplined capital allocation strategy.
We completed a $100 million share repurchase program in 2021 and are reviewing options to further programs, as you see in the agenda for this meeting. Additionally, we want to continue pursuing bolt-on acquisitions, as you saw with our recent acquisition of an enzyme producer in Poland. Moving to the next slide, in terms of sales among the four product groups, let's start with sample technologies. These sales were up 4% CER for the full year and reflected the volatility in COVID-19 demand trends. Sample technologies represent about 40% of total QIAGEN sales, and the vast majority of these sales are in life science. We are very pleased with the double-digit CER growth in the non-COVID product groups for 2021, especially in DNA sample prep, which is benefiting from the strong research funding environment. Sales in diagnostic solutions were up 37% CER for the full year over 2020.
The key driver was again QuantiFERON, and this was even without testing levels returning to the pre-COVID demand trends. QIAstat-Dx and NeuMoDx provided important incremental growth contributions, while revenues in our precision medicine business benefited from the restart of pharma projects. In the PCR nucleic acid amplification product group, full year sales rose 18% CER in 2021 and were supported by the QIAcuity digital PCR system as well as third-party consumables used by other companies for their OEM products. This performance was even more encouraging given the fact that the growth was driven by double-digit CER gains in the non-COVID portfolio that more than absorbed a significant decline in COVID product group sales. Genomic NGS sales were up 47% CER in 2021 over 2020 and represented about 10% of total QIAGEN sales. This performance came in against weaker sales in 2020 due to the pandemic.
These trends clearly reversed during 2021 as many labs resumed a higher level of operations after shutdowns were lifted. Sales for universal consumables used in next-generation sequencing, as well as bioinformatics revenues from QIAGEN Digital Insights, both advanced at double-digit CER growth rates. On this slide, we have included an overview on the COVID-19 impact to our performance for 2021 and as we have been doing this since the start of the pandemic. This provides clarity and understanding of our performance as we look to manage growth in our business expansion after the COVID tailwinds upside. Our non-COVID product group sales were $1.55 billion in 2021 and surged 22% at constant exchange rates from 2020, showing the strong business expansion that represented one of the fastest growth rates overall in our industry. This also represented more than two-thirds of total sales for the year.
COVID-19 product groups were $740 million and rose 13% CER from 2019. I would like to now give you an update on sales results by product type, the two customer classes, and our three geographic regions. In terms of the two product groups for the full year, consumable sales were up 21% CER to about $2 billion of sales based on solid growth trends throughout the year. Instrument sales rose 2% CER to about $265 million and represented about 12% of sales. These sales faced very challenging comparison to the COVID-driven growth in 2020. Among the customer classes, molecular diagnostics and life science both delivered double-digit CER gains in 2021 as QIAGEN remained broadly balanced in serving these two categories. The performance across the regions in 2021 also highlighted the balance of our geographic presence and reach into key markets.
Just to highlight some of the key full year figures for 2021, the Americas delivered 22% CER growth and benefited from 25% growth in the U.S., led by QuantiFERON TB and the life science business. In the Europe, Middle East, and Africa region, sales grew 17% CER and led by Austria, the United Kingdom, Italy, Turkey, and Switzerland. The Asia-Pacific Japan region also enjoyed double-digit CER growth rate in 2021, with sales up 17% CER over 2020 and supported by more than 20% CER growth rate in non-COVID product groups. China rose above 20% CER, while Japan, Austria, and South Korea had also solid results. On this slide, I would like to show you a reconciliation of the reported U.S GAAP results with the adjusted results. The adjustments are in line with those of our peer groups.
We provide this detailed level of information in all quarterly and annual results presentations so that shareholders have full transparency. This is particularly important for our institutional shareholders and analysts covering QIAGEN and the industry sector. As you can see, the largest category in adjustments was related to purchase intangibles amortization. This was $85.7 million in terms of pre-tax income. Results for 2021 included the acquisition of NeuMoDx, which was completed in late 2020. This compares to $102 million in 2019, and this is also lower than the level of $96 million in 2018. Also of note is that we excluded the net pre-tax income gain of $36.8 million from the sales of share in the company Invitae. QIAGEN received the shares as part of Invitae's acquisition of ArcherDX, a company in which we held a minority stake. This represented a 12% benefit in terms of EPS.
As a Dutch company, we are also required to report results under IFRS or International Financial Reporting Standards. On this slide, you can see an overview of the differences between the net income in 2021 of $512 million under U.S. GAAP and the net income of $537 million under IFRS. This difference amounts to about $25 million. The most significant difference relates to the fair value IFRS accounting of the convertible notes and warrants, and this resulted in an increase in net income under IFRS. Another difference is how certain development expenses are handled. Under IFRS, certain internal development costs are capitalized and amortized over a multi-year period through cost of sales. Under U.S. GAAP, they are expensed immediately. This difference resulted in an increase to net income of about $6 million under IFRS in 2021.
I would like to again note that institutional investors look at the U.S. GAAP results since this is the most common and appropriate benchmark against companies in our sector. So, as I mentioned earlier, the biggest differences under IFRS came from non-operating income factors, and these were also non-cash items. On this slide, you see our financing structure as of December 31, 2021. We have consistently maintained a policy to secure a healthy balance sheet and have a disciplined capital deployment policy. This is focused on supporting business expansion as well as increasing returns through share repurchase programs. In 2021, we completed a $100 million share repurchase program, during which 1.9 million shares were bought back on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange. In 2021, there were no major debt maturities that we needed to refinance.
Thanks to our very good cash generation, we held cash and short-term investments of around $1 billion at the end of 2021. Our investment decisions are driven by relying on issuers of the highest credit quality, and a good portion is invested in US Treasury bills. When looking at the total debt outstanding at the end of 2021, more than 80% has interest payments at rates of 1% or lower. Given our portfolio of cash investments that are typically done at variable rates, we can benefit in the short term from the rising rate environment. However, it goes without saying that the rising interest rates due to the high inflation rates is concerning for macro trends. Here you can see a profile of the employees at Qiagen by region and by function.
Even in light of the talk about the great resignation wave, we have been able to attract and retain talented employees with interesting career opportunities. In fact, our turnover rates for all employees are the same as before the pandemic, and the rate for management has actually declined in recent years. At the end of 2021, the number of employees rose 7% to more than 6,000 worldwide compared to about 5,600 at the end of 2020. You see a significant increase of 16% in production to over 1,800 worldwide, and this comes after a 35% increase in 2020 as we added staff to support the production initiatives. We also added employees across all of the other functions, in particular in R&D, with a 10% increase as we approached 1,000 employees in this area.
The additional employees in sales and marketing have primarily focused on our five pillars of growth and increasing the presence of QIAGEN to our customers. We also continue to see benefits of skills in our administration function, especially through our important centers in Wrocław and Manila. On the next slide, I would like to update you on our investor relation activities in 2021. As you know, the highlight of the year was QIAGEN joining the DAX Index, Germany's leading blue-chip index. Our inclusion in the DAX is a recognition of the progress QIAGEN has made to deliver long-term growth and create value for shareholders and other stakeholders. Even more important has been the contribution of QIAGEN's solutions to increasing our knowledge about the biology of life and improving outcomes for patients.
This goes to the heart of what every employee does every day in making a significant impact to the daily life around the world. As for IR activities, all of our meetings were conducted virtually from the start of the year throughout November 2021. This is when we decided to attend the first in-person broker conference for our industry, and that took place in London. So this was the start of the new normal until the fresh waves of lockdown began for a few weeks later. It has been a turbulent year for these decisions on virtual versus in-person meetings, but we are now clearly experiencing a clear shift back to in-person meetings as we see today, as we will also going and hopefully see that going forward. During 2021, we collectively attended over 25 institutional investor conferences and held more than 150 additional individual investor meetings.
In terms of coverage by analysts, we now have 17 analysts covering QIAGEN. We continue to have a high-quality coverage, but we are seeing also a decline, like other companies, in the number of analysts due to a number of banks eliminating equity research coverage. Here you can see the share price development for QIAGEN on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange from the start of 2021 throughout June 17, 2022, and that QIAGEN has outperformed the TecDAX. Likewise, on this slide, you see the development of the QIAGEN share price in the same period on the New York Stock Exchange. This performance has also outperformed the benchmark, in this case, an index of biotech companies. Turning to my last slide, I would like to quickly summarize the key messages. First, 2021 was an outstanding year for QIAGEN in many ways.
Our teams exceeded the outlook we had set for net sales and for adjusted earnings growth, and we had a record year of cash flow. Second, the strong profitability trends throughout 2021 reflect the strengths of our business. We are moving ahead in 2022 as a stronger, more focused company determined to develop leadership positions in our focus areas. Third, QIAGEN has a very healthy balance sheet, and we are using the strong cash flow trends to reinvest in the business while also investing in increasing returns. The investments made during 2021 to increase production capabilities and capacity are designated to enhance our growth prospects beyond the pandemic and establish a foundation for future growth. And lastly, we want to reaffirm today our commitment to following our disciplined capital allocation strategy. This has worked well for us since 2012.
We will continue to focus on targeted M&A opportunities along with using ways to increase returns to shareholders, and let me end here by thanking our employees for their tremendous engagement. They are now the reason for our outstanding performance in 2021 and the basis for our continued success in 2022. Thank you.
Thank you, Roland. At this time, I would like to provide shareholders the opportunity to discuss and ask questions regarding this report. Are there any questions? Working, do you hear me?
Yes. Yes, it's working well.
Good morning to everybody. My name is Jörg Sievers, and I am an individual shareholder. I think it's nice to start with a question today, but to start with a compliment and with a big thank you from shareholders' point of view to each of the more than 6,000 people, what you did in the last two or three years.
So I think everybody will agree on that from that point of view. It was an outstanding performance with a 22% increase in sales and a 23% earnings per share. So thank you very much for doing this. That was number one. But we should go back to the business, and of course, there are some other questions as well, which is a general question which in these days, everybody is even discussing. How is the dependence from the company, from the supplier and supply chain? More specifically, even more in the details, are there components, instruments, chemicals, or raw materials which we are just getting from one single source, which would be very dangerous? So my question is, did the management analyze this kind of situation? Are we able to give an answer to that over here? Emergency plans? That's my first question.
I can take that one. Thank you so much for your comments, sir, on behalf of the 6,000 QIAGENers. Supply chain, there is, I think, no company in the world at the moment which is completely 100% immune to the tensions on supply chain. However, there is a strong focus, not starting in 2022, for the last two years of our company on supply chain. Why? Because biology has been given the need for so many tests under tensions for the last two years. It started with raw materials. Just to give you an example, a company like QIAGEN on a normal time is ordering kilos of a component called guanidine, for example. Starting with COVID, we had to supply tons or to order tons.
Plastics, you know that plastic components obviously are present in our products and was a significant constraint around the second half of 2020 towards, let's say, the first half of 2021. What does it mean? For the last two years, under the leadership of our purchasing team headed by Serge Van Vooren, we have a systematic policy of one, making sure that we are never depending on one single supplier. It's not always easy on some raw materials, but we find solutions, and we have found solutions. Second, tremendously decreased the dependency on suppliers coming from Southeast Asia, once again, either by moving to other geographies or having other locations to supply. Third, we have tremendous attention with our management and therefore customers because we want to have a very proactive communication to our customers on the situation.
Every week, there is a detailed communication coming from the purchasing team on instrumentation, chemicals, plastic, consumables that goes to our people so that they can systematically inform their customers so that we never take our customers by surprise. Fourth, we invest in more and more agile digital solutions so that our customers, and it's already possible for some products, can trace their order and therefore be systematically informed if they are going to be receiving those orders in full and in time. However, as I was saying at the introduction, there are still some tensions. Tensions are notable in, for example, electronic lead boards that are components for instrumentation, for example. Tensions on some parts for some instrumentations. So I would qualify it, and Roland, feel free to chime in. It's under control with significant attention because we can have no complacency.
We believe that in some situations, we need to pre-purchase for at least more than a year to be able to secure our position. And when I say more than a year, we are closer to 15 months, and this is what we are doing. So obviously, that has a consequence also on our P&L, but this is necessary to secure the company and the customers.
Yeah, I don't think there's much to add. I think you covered it quite nicely. Probably the one incremental information would be that, of course, COVID clearly also trained us very well to work in volatile markets. And therefore, as Thierry said, we started quite early to increase inventories because, as you know, a lot of our products, in particular raw materials, don't have shelf life topics.
And so the flexibility in addressing the COVID needs helped us actually also quite significantly on the non-COVID side to addressing this shortage situation we're clearly seeing in the markets.
Thank you. Any other questions? Please go ahead. Yes.
It's a totally different area, which is human resources, because I saw in the report regarding employee satisfaction and retention, I saw the increase for the average annual turnover rate is increased from 8% to 11%, which is different from the 7% which was mentioned in the report. So from my point of view, it's going up. Do we have an idea what's the reason? Do we make assessments of the people who are going to leave and give us a notice? And what are the results from that and what we are doing to change it?
Because to get people, good people from outside, I think you know better than me what it means. So let's keep as far as possible. But there was an increase of the rate. What's the reason for that?
So that's a key question, and obviously, I would invite everybody to look at the long term here. Like many other companies, we have been in a situation at the beginning of the pandemic, and at least for two years, where, I mean, attrition rate or departures were very low because nobody was moving, and like many other companies, starting especially summer of last year, we saw some movement because suddenly the economy was opening up again. So I don't think that it's specific to QIAGEN, and I don't think that it's specific to issues at QIAGEN. I think it's the market trend.
At a point, there has been basically an opening for new opportunities. People were less afraid to move, and therefore we saw that, but nonetheless, again, no complacency. We need to have systematically an objective of going lower than 10%. I think that's a good objective. Let's not forget that we have also different components in our activities. When you have more than 600 people in a shared service center like in Poland, by definition, those activities have higher turnover because you have young employees, extremely dynamic, extremely hungry for promotion, and they tend to leave after a while. And you have a more stable market. We conduct systematically interviews at the exit of employees. The main feedback that we have, and I don't think it's surprising, it's not related to compensations or we have to acknowledge that it has been related mainly to workload.
It's not surprising, again, over the last two years, and thanks to the comments also that you mentioned in your first question, we have put our people, every QIAGENers, under significant pressures. You see people working three shifts a day, seven days a week, from management to employees because we had to answer to an exceptional situation. Exiting, hoping that we exit the pandemic, we are also facing tremendous new situations, such as, for example, the inflation we have been talking about, the uncertainties of the economic and geopolitical environment. So that doesn't mean that suddenly, because we are exiting the pandemic, we can say, "Guys, we are going to recruit and we are going to spend like crazy." Again, we want to protect our P&Ls because we don't know what's going to happen in the coming six months.
We are carefully analyzing what we could call new trends in the labor work. Flexibility is a discussion at QIAGEN, for example. Not everybody is willing to come back to the office five days a week. We have taken measures in that regard. So overall, I think it has been a hiccup. We need to have an objective of systematically being less than 10%, and we need to continue to make sure that we also adjust to new trends on the labor market to make sure that we remain competitive.
Thank you. Any other questions on this topic? Yes, please. She's going to bring you a microphone.
My name is—can you hear me? Yes. My name is Carola Rinker. I'm representing Verifica from Germany, and I have several questions. First of all, what impact has the entry of QIAGEN into the DAX for the company?
So I'll take that one. So as a first benefit, the entry of QIAGEN into the DAX has generated greater interest overall in the financial community. For example, we have more demand from ETF funds tied to the blue chip index. So index funds are buying shares of QIAGEN because we're now included in the index. We've also seen more interest in QIAGEN in terms of ESG topics. Additionally, we've seen more just general public interest in QIAGEN. It's just more attention to DAX companies. It's common that DAX companies receive a lot of attention from the media, and that helps to create greater visibility for the company. Above all, it's also a recognition for the employees, especially in Germany, to work for a company to be included in such a prestigious index. This has helped us in terms of employer branding as well as recruiting and retention.
You already talked about the differences between IFRS and U.S. GAAP concerning the R&D researchers. Are there other points which are quite relevant for the report?
Yeah. As we noted in the presentation, in general, of course, we try to harmonize the application of IFRS and U.S. GAAP accounting standards as much as possible. At the end, if you look at the net income situation, the difference is around about $25 million. Actually, the most significant difference relates to the value accounting for the convertible notes and the warrants, and the result is actually an increase in net income under IFRS. Clearly, as you just said, a certain difference is also on the development cost side, but it is not as significant. Under U.S. GAAP, you know the expenses are always getting expensed immediately, and IFRS certain expenses are getting capitalized.
I do think the most important message clearly is that the biggest differences we really have actually at QIAGEN under IFRS or between IFRS and U.S. GAAP are all non-operating factors and non-cash items.
What's the reason why you don't publish the report also in German?
Thanks for that question. Our shareholder base, our analysis of the shareholder base currently shows that about 90% of the shareholders are located outside of Germany. We review this topic on a periodic basis as to whether QIAGEN should create materials in other languages, including German. Based on the current demand levels, we see this as quite costly, and we'll continue to provide the annual reports in English, both the IFRS reports and the U.S. GAAP reports. At the same time, we'll continue to provide German translations of our quarterly reports and our press releases.
At the same time, the English versions are published, and we'll continue to review this topic in the future, and I have another question concerning your cash flow statement. You're using the indirect method to calculate the operating cash flow, and I would like to know what's the reason for this, so you're using the indirect method to calculate the operating cash flow, and I would like to know what's the reason for this.
Yeah. In general, under U.S. GAAP, the cash flow statement can be prepared under either the direct or the indirect method. The indirect method of cash flow, which we apply, uses net income as a starting basis. It is then adjusted for the changes in assets and liabilities and then to arrive at the end of the day at cash flow from the operating activities. In contrast, of course, if you use a direct cash flow method, changes in cash receipts and cash payments are reported in cash flows from operating activities.
The reason why we are using the indirect method is that it's still the standard in our industry, and we're actually also using it at QIAGEN since 1996. It makes it easier for comparison.
My last question concerning Thierry Bernard and what are you learning from the discounted takeover?
We have spent quite some time in the supervisory board reflecting on this topic, and of course, also the supervisory board together with the management board. Among the learnings is that QIAGEN continues to be a great company and one that has emerged even stronger after such a process. This is above all due to our employees and strong management team, and we applaud their impact and engagement. We continue to believe in the strong value creation opportunities for QIAGEN. Any other questions on the management report?
If there are no further questions, I conclude this item of the meeting. Item three is the supervisory board report on the company's annual accounts for the calendar year 2021. Item three concerns the supervisory board report on the company's annual accounts. Management has prepared those accounts for 2021 with due observance of legal and statutory provisions. The supervisory board has approved the annual accounts and has proposed these accounts to be presented to the shareholders for adoption. During the year, the supervisory board itself and through its various committees supervised the management board's policies and business conduct. The supervisory board also monitored the company's activities, including its strategic, economic, and market developments, risk management, ESG policies, research and development investments, acquisitions, and alliances, and human resource management. The managing board regularly informed the supervisory board on the company's activities.
Furthermore, the Supervisory Board always places the highest priority on corporate governance principles stated by the Dutch Corporate Governance Code and the New York Stock Exchange Corporate Governance Rules and other applicable laws. QIAGEN's compliance with the Corporate Governance Code is described in detail in our Corporate Governance Report, which is disclosed in our annual accounts and is also available on the QIAGEN website. I would now like to provide shareholders the opportunities to ask questions regarding this report. Are there any questions? Since they're up, do we have a question?
The annual accounts report? No. Next, is it next point?
Item three. Item three is the supervisory board report. Since there are no further questions regarding this agenda item, I'd like to conclude this item of the meeting. Item four is the adoption of the annual accounts for the calendar year 2021, including the allocation of profits.
The annual accounts have been available for inspection at our website and our offices in Venlo as from the convocation of this annual general meeting. At this time, I'd like to provide shareholders the opportunity to ask questions related to the annual accounts, including the allocation of profits. Our auditor is also available to answer questions should that be relevant. Are there any questions?
Okay. It's a question more to the auditor's report because I know it's somebody from KPMG here because the topic is Critical Audit Matters, which I saw in the report, and especially assessment of unrecognized tax benefits in the range of $100 million, I remember. And you said, "Okay, we identified the assessment as a critical audit matter, and we are going to involve specialists to understand what happens and what is the solution for that point of view." So my point before I go into vote, what about this item? Where is the status today because the report was on March 14, and you said there's a critical matter? What's today's status and how we can vote on that?
So I think if I could interpret your question, you're asking why is it a critical audit matter and why?
They said we involved tax and transfer pricing professional with specialized skills and knowledge to assist us. So my point is,
why do we need specialists?
Where we are after March, when it happened that today, before we go into vote.
Okay. Roland, do you want to say a word on that, and we'll ask KPMG if it's something additional?
So I think actually the topic is not necessarily born in 2021. It's something that actually comes out of the prior year. So let me answer in a few seconds because it's clearly something that is, again, it's not a critical topic in general. It's rather a normal procedure, but I'll give you a more precise answer in a second. Okay. So I think the number you're referring to is more or less our overall tax reserves we built over many years, actually. So what you're referring to is actually the accumulated amount and the amount. And of course, it is something that gets reviewed in detail by the auditors every year. And therefore, of course, given the overall size as a reserve, it is a question they're looking at it.
So you can look at it from different perspectives as the shareholders. But at the end of the day, it is rather a tax reserve we built over time.
Because they say critical audit matter. That was a statement. So it's not my words.
Because it's critical, I think the definition critical is because it involves, of course, per definition, management judgment. And therefore, it is deemed to be a critical matter because at the end of the day, it relies on particular management judgment.
Yeah. I think the other significance of critical audit matter is that in the last two years, the rules changed, especially under U.S. GAAP, but also IFRS, so that the auditor opinion was more helpful than to investors.
They gave an unqualified audit opinion, but also talked about what they focused on in the audit so that investors could appreciate what were the things that the auditor really was spending time on and examining very closely. And for 2021, the tax item was one of the items that they spent the most time on and looked at the most closely. And it was part of the unqualified audit opinion. Thank you. Any other questions on this topic? Then, since there are no further questions relating to the annual accounts, I'd like now to proceed with the adoption of the accounts. And before moving to the voting, I'd like to note that the adoption of the accounts for 2021 implies approval of the allocation by the supervisory board of profits to retained earnings.
As a result, no dividend will be paid to shareholders out of the results from calendar year 2021. Over to the actual voting on the proposal to adopt the annual accounts. Voting will take place in accordance with the voting procedure I explained at the beginning of the meeting. And I would therefore like to ask, is there anyone who would like to vote against this proposal? And next, is there anybody who would like to abstain from voting? Then I hereby record that the proposal to adopt the annual accounts for the year 2021 has been adopted by acclamation. Item five is the advisory vote on the remuneration report for 2021. Item five is an agenda item pursuant to the Dutch implementation of the Shareholder Rights Directive II.
On behalf of the compensation committee, I'd like to provide a short explanation on the implementation in 2021 of the remuneration policies for the managing board and the supervisory board. I note here that this was the first year of applying the updated remuneration policies that were approved by a vast majority of shareholders at our annual general meeting last year in 2021. Information on the specific remuneration elements are included in the report for 2021. This is available on QIAGEN's website in the investor relations section and on a summary page with various annual financial reports. During 2021, the compensation committee, in consultation with an independent consulting firm, conducted a benchmark study on the implementation of the updated remuneration policy for the managing board and overall remuneration levels offered by QIAGEN. The levels are benchmarked against a select group of companies in markets in which QIAGEN operates and competes.
The goal is to ensure total compensation at or below median market levels. The levels were set with consideration of many factors. These include the benchmarked results, the person's individual experience, as well as the complexity of the position, the scope of the position, and areas of responsibility. The total target remuneration package of the managing board consists of a combination of base salary, short-term variable cash compensation, and long-term stock-based incentives. Variable compensation consists of an annual cash bonus and stock-based compensation. This serves as a retention mechanism, aligns the interests of our leaders with those of shareholders and other stakeholders, and supports our goal to create long-term value. To ensure a link to performance, a significant portion of remuneration granted to the members of the management board is variable and contingent upon the performance of both the individual and the company.
The performance goals were set at ambitious levels to motivate and drive performance with a focus on achieving both long-term strategic initiatives as well as short-term objectives based on annual plans. Thank you. Are there any questions in relation to the remuneration report 2021? If there are no questions, I would like to formally put this agenda item to an advisory vote. Is there any advisory voting against the remuneration report 2021? Is there anybody who would like to abstain from voting? I hereby record that the advisory vote on the remuneration report 2021 has been approved by acclamation. I would therefore like to conclude this item of the meeting. Item six is a non-voting item on our reserves and dividend policy. The policy of QIAGEN has always been to retain the profits by way of reserves.
QIAGEN believes that this policy benefits our shareholders by increasing shareholder value and is aligned with shareholders' taxation preferences. As a result, QIAGEN will not pay a dividend to shareholders out of the profits from 2021. The profits will be retained in reserves to support the business expansion. At this time, I would like to give shareholders the opportunity to ask questions. Are there any questions on this item?
Okay. I think that I know the discussion of this subject, but coming to the DAX, I think there's a new situation, and we should, from that point of view, see that. I know the dividend payments of the 40 biggest German companies, and QIAGEN have a unique and single situation, no paying dividend. Everybody who is able to have a profit in the year from the 40 biggest German companies are paying dividends.
So from that point of view, that the change may be the attitude and at least the discussion on this subject because I think from at least the individual shareholder, it could be very interesting to get some of the dividends. And maybe in the future, there should be a compromise to take EPS and pay not the normal 60% and 50%, but to pay at least 20% or 30% to the shareholder in dividends and get the rest into the company. So I think being a member of the DAX could be a means to rethinking on that subject. What's your attitude on that?
Yeah. I think this is an item that we constantly look at, have discussions about every year, and how do we allocate the available resources and capital that we have available.
At the end, QIAGEN is still a high-growth company, as Thierry talked about. We're in the high single-digit to low double-digit growth range, and we see a lot of opportunities for investment, both organic investments in our existing business, but also inorganic investments in terms of acquisition opportunities. And I think that the Supervisory Board and management thinks that that will continue to be the case for some time. And therefore, we think the best decision for the company and for long-term value creation is to reinvest funds in the business in both organic and inorganic growth. That's the best opportunity to get the best returns. That being said, we will constantly look at this question and decide in the future whether it becomes appropriate to begin a dividend policy.
At this point in time, we still don't believe that's the case because of the great opportunities we have for investing in the business.
I think what you mentioned is true for at least 10, 50, or 20 companies which are in the DAX, so they're in the same position. I think it's more a conflict between the institutional shareholders and the individual ones because a fund manager who is going, "We would like to buy for 30 and sell for 60 and take it for his portfolio." But the individual shareholder, maybe some people retired and want to get some additional capital, and they want to have a dividend on a quarterly or a year basis. So it's a question of what we prefer or the company should prefer. But in the end, you said it's a question to discuss it in the future again. So that's fine. Let's see it. Thank you.
Just probably to add one more topic to that. It's also quite clear that we are, as a Dutch N.V. company, clearly also have limitations around withholding taxes, particularly borne in the Netherlands. And that's exactly as you said. That clearly makes also for a significant part of our shareholders, a dividend payment somewhat unattractive because they have to pay incremental taxes on that. And so again, as you said, we have constant discussion with our shareholders. There might be a possibility that the tax environment at one point in time changes. So it's clearly an actual topic for us.
Okay. And as already said, we're going to continue to look at this topic consistently in the future on a regular basis. Are there any other questions on that topic? If that's not the case, I'd like to conclude this item of the meeting.
Item seven is the discharge from liability of the managing directors for their performance of their duties during calendar year 2021. This is described in the 2021 annual report and the 2021 annual accounts, or as otherwise disclosed to the annual general meeting of shareholders. Before I put this matter up for voting, I would like to give shareholders the opportunity to discuss and ask questions. Are there any questions on this topic? That seems not to be the case. Since there are no questions, I would like to formally put this proposal to a vote. Is there anyone who would like to vote against the proposal? Is there anyone that would like to abstain from voting? I hereby record that the proposal has been adopted by acclamation.
Item eight is the discharge from liability of the supervisory directors for the performance of their duties during calendar year 2021, as described in the 2021 annual report and the 2021 annual accounts, or as otherwise disclosed to the annual general meeting of shareholders. Before I put this matter up for voting, I'd like to give shareholders the opportunity to discuss and ask questions. Are there any questions on this item? Since there are no questions, I would like to formally put this proposal then to a vote. Is there anybody who would like to vote against the proposal? Is there anyone who would like to abstain from voting? I hereby record that the proposal has been adopted by acclamation.
Item nine is the appointment and reappointment of the supervisory directors of the company for a term running up to and including the date of the next annual general meeting in 2023. Items 9A through 9H on the agenda concern proposals to reappoint seven supervisory directors currently serving on the supervisory board and to appoint one new member for a period beginning on the date following the date of this annual general meeting until and including the date of the annual general meeting in 2023. The articles of association provide that the joint meeting of the managing board and supervisory board has a right to make a binding nomination for the appointment of a member of the supervisory board. The joint meeting unanimously adopted a resolution to make a binding nomination for the reappointment to the supervisory board of the following seven colleagues: Dr. Metin Colpan, Mr. Thomas Ebeling, Dr.
Toralf Haag, Prof. Dr. Ross L. Levine, Prof. Dr. Elaine Mardis, Elizabeth E. Tallett, and myself, Lawrence A. Rosen. The joint meeting also unanimously adopted a resolution to make a binding nomination for the appointment of Dr. Eva Pisa as new Supervisory Board member. Dr. Pisa brings proven leadership insights and extensive industry experience to QIAGEN that will deeply enrich the capabilities in our Board in terms of science and business acumen. She most recently served at Roche Diagnostics International from 2007 to 2020, where she held various leadership positions of increasing responsibility. During her tenure, the flagship Cobas 6800 and 8800 systems were developed and launched. Dr. Pisa was also responsible for clinical chemistry, endocrinology, and the custom biotech business at Roche as well. Before joining Roche, Dr. Pisa was the CEO of Sangtec Molecular Diagnostics AB, a Swedish molecular diagnostic startup.
Dr. Pisa holds a PhD from the Karolinska Institute in Sweden and an MBA from Heriot-Watt University in Scotland. Eva, you already stood up before so everyone can see what you look like, so we won't ask you to stand again. But thank you for joining the board, and we very much look forward to working with you. More information on these nominations and on each of the nominees is included in the explanatory notes to the agenda of this meeting. As agenda item 9G relates to my own reappointment, I will ask Elizabeth Tallett to deal with this proposal after I have addressed all the other proposals covered by this agenda item 9, including item 9H, which is the proposal to reappoint Ms. Tallett.
According to the company's articles of association, the proposals will be adopted unless they are overruled by at least two-thirds of the votes cast on this item being against the proposal, provided that such votes also represent more than 50% of the issued share capital as at the record date of this annual general meeting. Are there any questions regarding the proposed appointments of the supervisory directors? Since there are no questions, I would like to propose the following resolutions in respect of the appointments of the following persons as supervisory directors. First of all, with respect to Dr. Metin Colpan, is there anyone who would like to vote against this proposal? Is there anyone who would like to abstain from voting? I hereby record that this proposal has been adopted by acclamation. With respect to Mr. Thomas Ebeling, is there anyone against the proposal?
Is there anyone who would like to abstain from voting? I hereby record that this proposal has been adopted by acclamation. With respect to Dr. Toralf Haag, is there anyone who would like to vote against the proposal? And is there anyone who would like to abstain from voting? I hereby record that this proposal has been adopted by acclamation. With respect to Professor Dr. Ross Levine, is there anyone who would like to vote against the proposal? Is there anyone who would like to abstain from voting? I hereby record that this proposal has been adopted by acclamation. With respect to Professor Dr. Elaine Mardis, is there anyone who would like to vote against the proposal? Is there anyone who would like to abstain? I hereby record that this proposal has been adopted by acclamation. With respect to Dr. Eva Pisa, is there anyone against the proposal?
Is there anyone who would like to abstain from voting? I hereby record that this proposal has been adopted by acclamation. With respect to Ms. Elizabeth Tallett, which proposal is, as mentioned, covered by agenda item 9H, is there anyone who would like to vote against the proposal? Is there anyone who would like to abstain from voting? I hereby record that this proposal has been adopted by acclamation. As mentioned earlier, I will now ask Elizabeth Tallett to deal with the item concerning my own reappointment, item 9G.
Ladies and gentlemen, would anyone like to ask questions regarding the proposed reappointment of Mr. Lawrence A. Rosen as supervisory director? Since there are no questions, I hereby put the proposal to reappoint Mr. Lawrence A. Rosen as a supervisory director to a vote. Is there anyone against the proposal? Is there anyone who would like to abstain from voting? I hereby record that this proposal has been adopted by acclamation. Before I ask Larry to take over again, I would like to congratulate him on his reappointment as supervisory director.
Thank you, Liz. On behalf of the entire supervisory board, I would like to thank you, the shareholders, for the trust that you put in all of us and the confidence you provided us with with your voting. I congratulate my colleagues on their reappointment and welcome Dr. Pisa as the new supervisory director. I would now like to move on to the next agenda item. Item 10 is the reappointment of the managing directors of the company for a term running up to and including the date of the annual general meeting in 2023. Items 10A and 10B concern the reappointment of our two managing directors, Mr. Thierry Bernard and Mr.
Roland Sackers, for a period beginning on the date following the date of this annual general meeting until and including the date of the annual general meeting in 2023. In accordance with the company's articles of association, the joint meeting unanimously adopted a resolution to make a binding nomination for their reappointment. According to the articles of association, these proposals will be adopted unless they are overruled by at least two-thirds of the votes cast on this item being cast against the proposal, provided that these votes also represent more than 50% of the issued share capital as at the record date of this annual general meeting. Shareholders will vote for each nominee for appointment to our managing board on an individual basis. Ladies and gentlemen, would any of you like to ask questions regarding either of the nominees?
Since there are no questions, I propose the following resolutions in respect to the appointment of the following people as managing directors. With respect to Mr. Thierry Bernard, is there anyone who would like to vote against the proposal? Is there anyone who would like to abstain from voting? I hereby record that the proposal has been adopted by acclamation. With respect to Mr. Roland Sackers, is there anyone against the proposal? Is there anyone who would like to abstain from voting? I hereby record that the proposal has been adopted by acclamation. I congratulate both of you on your reappointment as members of the management board. Item 11 is the reappointment of the KPMG Accountants N.V. as auditors of the company for the year ending December 31st, 2022.
The next item is the reappointment of KPMG to audit the financial statements of the company for the year ending December 31st, 2022. The auditors examine the annual accounts of the company and are for the purpose thereof designated by the general meeting of shareholders in accordance with section 2.393 of the Dutch Civil Code. The audit committee conducted an independent assessment of the performance of the company's external auditor, KPMG Accountants N.V. over the past year. Given the quality, scope, and planning of the audit and the independence of reporting, it was proposed to the general meeting of shareholders to again appoint KPMG Accountants N.V. So on this item, would anyone like to ask questions?
The question is, when they started to make this job, number one and number two is by law in the Netherlands, how often could be reelected? What's it? Yeah. Is there a limitation in the years which is in?
I think Roland will address the answer to that question.
Yes, as Larry said, KPMG is clearly a stronger reliable auditor to QIAGEN, and I think it's now proposed today to be reelected for the eighth year of the audit services by Dutch law. It means that KPMG can audit results for the fiscal year, including 2024, which also means then that we have to rotate auditors in 2025 after a 10-year period. Are there any further questions on this proposal? Since there are no further questions, I'd like to put this proposal to a vote. Is there anyone who would like to vote against the proposal? Is there anyone who would like to abstain from voting? I hereby record that the proposal has been adopted by acclamation.
The next two points on the agenda concern the proposals to renew current designations of the Supervisory Board as the corporate body authorized to issue shares and exclude preemptive rights. The limits are the same as in the authorizations approved by shareholders at the annual general meeting in 2021. 12A is the authorization of the Supervisory Board until December 23rd, 2023, to issue a number of ordinary shares and financing preference shares and grant rights to subscribe for such shares, the aggregate par value of which shall be equal to the aggregate par value of 50% of shares issued and outstanding in the capital of the company as at December 31st, 2021, as included in the annual accounts for the calendar year 2021.
12B is the authorization of the supervisory board until December 23rd, 2023, to restrict or exclude the preemptive rights with respect to issuing ordinary shares or granting subscription rights. The aggregate par value of such shares or subscription rights shall be up to a maximum of 10% of the aggregate par value of all shares issued and outstanding in the capital of the company as of December 31st, 2021. These items are separate voting items, but will be dealt with in a combined manner for efficiency reasons. You can find further details on the scope of the authorizations in the explanatory notes to these agenda items in the proxy statement. These authorizations cover a period of 18 months from the date of this annual general meeting until December 23rd, 2023.
According to the company's articles of association, the proposal set forth under item 12A may be adopted by an affirmative vote of a simple majority of the votes cast. As more than 50% of the company's issued share capital is represented, the proposal set forth under items 12B shall also be validly adopted by a simple majority of votes cast. Ladies and gentlemen, would anyone like to ask questions regarding these items? If there are no questions, I would like to put proposals 12A and 12B to a vote. Is there anyone against the proposal 12A? Okay. We have one shareholder against that proposal. Is there anyone who would like to abstain from voting on proposal 12A? I hereby record that the proposal 12A has been adopted by acclamation. Is there anyone against the proposal 12B, and is there anyone who would like to abstain from voting on proposal 12B?
I hereby record that the proposal 12B has been adopted by acclamation. Item 13 is the authorization of the managing board until December 23rd, 2023, to acquire shares in the company's own share capital. This item involves a vote on the proposal to renew the managing board's current authorization to acquire shares in the capital of the company. At this annual general meeting, shareholders are being asked to authorize the managing board to, subject to approval of the supervisory board, acquire shares in the company's own share capital within the limits as reflected in the explanatory notes to this agenda item as included in the proxy statement. This authorization shall be valid for a period of 18 months from the date of this annual general meeting until December 23rd, 2023. Repurchased shares may be held in treasury to satisfy obligations under our employee share-based remuneration plans.
Ladies and gentlemen, would anyone like to ask questions regarding this item? Since there are no questions, I would like to put this proposal to a vote. Is there anyone who would like to vote against the proposal? Thank you. Is there anyone who would like to abstain from voting? I hereby record that the proposal has been adopted by acclamation. Item 14 is the discretionary rights for the Managing Board to implement a capital repayment by means of a synthetic share repurchase. I would like to continue this item and hand over to Roland Sackers to explain item 14 of the agenda.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. This item of the agenda grants discretionary rights to the Managing Board, subject to the approval of the Supervisory Board, to implement a capital repayment of up to $300 million to our shareholders by means of a so-called synthetic share repurchase.
This synthetic share repurchase involves three related consecutive amendments to the articles of association, which will, together with an authorization to have these three amendments executed, be put to a vote as one single voting item today. Detailed information on the synthetic share repurchase is included in the explanatory notes to the agenda for this meeting. QIAGEN, along with many other large publicly traded companies in the Netherlands, have used synthetic share repurchases as a way to increase returns to all shareholders. This approach is faster and more efficient than through traditional open market share repurchase programs, which are often limited by tax restrictions. Our strategic preference remains to reinvest capital in acquisitions. However, should the opportunity arise, and if it would be in the best interest of our shareholders and other stakeholders, we would consider implementing this repurchase authorization.
As you know, we implemented a similar synthetic share repurchase a couple of years ago after we announced plans to return about $250 million in August 2016. That process was not completed until January 2017. Among the various steps, it also required an extraordinary general meeting of shareholders, at which our shareholders gave overwhelming approval for the proposal. With the authorization in advance, we can shorten this period and also eliminate the cost and processes for an extraordinary general meeting. Each amendment forms a separate item on the agenda, but all items will be put to a vote as one single voting item. The reason is that all proposed amendments to the articles of association are necessary to complete the synthetic share repurchase. So they are deemed to be indivisible and inseparable, and this is why they have been put on the agenda as one voting item.
I would like to now hand back to the chairman.
Thank you, Roland. Before voting, I would like to give you the opportunity to ask questions. Are there any questions in relation to this proposal? Any questions? No? If there are no questions, I'd like to formally put this proposal to a vote. Is there anyone who would like to vote against the proposal? Is there anybody who would like to abstain from voting? I hereby record that agenda item 14 has been adopted by acclamation. Item 15 is the cancellation of fractional QIAGEN shares held by the company. This next and last voting item of this meeting involves a vote on the proposal to cancel fractional shares held in treasury. This item relates to the synthetic share repurchase implemented in 2016 and 2017, and the one proposed under agenda item 14, the last agenda item.
As Roland just explained, the synthetic share repurchase procedure includes a share consolidation in accordance with a certain consolidation ratio. As a result of this share consolidation, shareholders holding a number of shares that cannot be divided by the denominator of the consolidation ratio receive fractional shares. After our first synthetic share repurchase, QIAGEN repurchased the number of fractional shares. These 46.56 fractional shares are currently held in treasury. Further, as also explained in the proxy materials, QIAGEN may undertake certain steps to make whole the fractional shares held by shareholders. Our data shows that we have 80 shareholders with fractional shares, and it would require 31 and 12/27ths of a share to make them whole. These shares would come from treasury and at no cost to shareholders and no proceeds to QIAGEN. Taking care of these fractional shares would greatly reduce the administrative burden on QIAGEN.
As more than 50% of the company's issued share capital is represented at this meeting, this proposal shall be validly adopted by a simple majority of votes cast. Are there any questions in regard to this proposal? If there are no questions, I would like to formally put the proposal to a vote. Is there anyone who would like to vote against the proposal? Is there anybody who would like to abstain from voting? I hereby record that agenda item 15 has been adopted by acclamation. We have now voted on all the proposals on the agenda. At this time, I would like to provide you with the opportunity to ask any other questions that you may have. Yes.
Just to say one remark as a former co-founder of this company, I would like to mention that I'm very happy and very proud that you made it this year to the DAX, and I think it's the first German university spinoff who made it to the DAX, and I congratulate the employees, the management, and the board to this outstanding achievement.
Thank you so much for those very kind comments and compliments. We too are very proud in the Supervisory Board and the Managing Board to have had the success and grown to the size necessary to become a member of the DAX. So thank you so much for that comment. Would anyone else like to ask a question? I believe then that all your questions have been answered.
Before I close the meeting, on behalf of the supervisory board, I would like to give a big thanks to the managing board, the executive committee, and to all of our employees worldwide for their contributions to the success of QIAGEN. We, as the board, have great confidence in the future of our business and our business prospects. I'd like to thank all of you for your attendance and contributions. After two years of virtual meetings, it was indeed a great pleasure again to have this meeting in person. The annual general meeting is for QIAGEN, like any publicly listed company, an important opportunity to meet with our shareholders, and we certainly appreciate your ongoing support. Have a very safe trip home, and we look forward to seeing you in a year at the latest at our next meeting.