Ladies and gentlemen, let me welcome you to this annual general meeting of Qiagen. My name is Stephen Rusckowski. I serve as the Chairman of the Supervisory Board. I'm joined today by my colleagues from the Supervisory Board, Bert van Meurs, Eva van Pelt, Eva Pisa, Mark Stevenson, and Elizabeth Tallett. We're also joined by two Managing Board members, Thierry Bernard and Roland Sackers. We're also joined today by Kasper Nattegaal, to my right. He's a partner for De Brauw Blackstone Westbroek, and Mr. Note Barnes from our auditors, E&Y. Before we begin the agenda, let me take a moment to go through a few procedural details. First, this meeting is being webcast live on the internet, and the audience is in listen-only mode.
Second, in accordance with past practice, all shareholders present or represented at the beginning of this meeting will be deemed to be here for the entire meeting. The official language shall be English. Mr. Nattegaal has been formally appointed as the secretary. If we have any questions in Dutch, he will translate them along with our answers. The record date for shareholders entitled to vote by proxy was May 27th, 2026. On that date, the total number of shares with voting rights accounted to 206,250,011. Mr. Nattegaal, would you please hand me the attendance list and let me count the votes present and represented at this meeting? Thank you. According to the attendance list, I can inform you that the holders of 165,431,591 common shares in the capital of Qiagen are present or represented at this meeting and may cast the same number of votes.
This represents more than 50% of the issued share capital. With that, let us move on to agenda item two. This involves the Managing Board report for 2025. I'd like to first invite Thierry to discuss our progress in 2025, and then we'll have Roland give us a financial update. Thierry.
Thank you, Steve, and welcome everybody. Thanks for being with us today. First of all, I'd like to begin by thanking our Board for their constant support through the challenges during those years. When I say Board, I thank not only our long-timers, maybe I can say old-timers, long-timers, but also our newcomers to this Board. Second, obviously, you will hear today the evolution of Metin Colpan as Honorary Chairman of Qiagen, and I would like to take advantage of this short introduction to pay a tribute to Metin Colpan as co-founder of Qiagen. His contribution and his guidance to our, especially research and development over the last years, has been nothing short of remarkable.
Last and not least, obviously, I'd like to pay tribute to our close to 6,000 Qiageners all over the world for the work they have been developing over the last years, especially in 2025, which, as you will see, has been another solid year of execution for our company. Obviously, I would like also to thank you, all of you, our shareholders, for your attention to our development and your support. I'm not going to go to the details of all the slides because most of you, I assume, are quite familiar with our company. As a reminder, as you see here, QIAGEN has been developing for the last 40 years added value molecular biology solution for research, for academia, for clinical, for pharma companies. It's a worldwide company of a bit more than $2 billion.
As you all know, it's listed in Germany, listed in the U.S. as well, a member of the DAX index in Germany. I would like to highlight on this slide that it's a remarkably balanced company. What I mean by this, first of all, it's a typical what we call razor blade business model, where 90% of our revenues are quite recurring. We are talking about consumables, kits, tests for biology, and 10% made of instruments and services. Second, you see also a remarkable balance between what we are selling to what we call life science customers, basically research and academia, or also clinical customers, clinical hub, lab, hospitals, pharmaceutical companies. It's 50/50 of our business. Last but not least, I will insist also on the remarkable balance from a geography standpoint. We are not depending on one single geography.
It's a worldwide company, obviously, with the tremendous importance of our sales in North America, but also Europe and some emerging countries. There is something unique about this mid-cap. It's that I can guarantee you, and it's not the first time and the first year that I'm saying that no researcher, no PhD in the world doesn't know QIAGEN. For one reason, is that 40 years ago, this company literally revolutionized and standardized what we call the first step of any molecular biology run, which is the sample preparation. This massive leadership in sample prep gives us a unique position. Instead of going through that slide, let me give you three examples of how relevant this company is.
You probably remember from last year that pictures that was all over the world of policemen at the entrance of the Louvre Museum in France because of the robbery that happened there. At the feet of those policemen, you had two boxes. It was QIAGEN. It was QIAGEN product. You might have seen, for those of you being on Netflix, one of the recent blockbuster in Netflix called "The Platform." Guess what? In "The Platform," once at the point there is a nurse in the hospital suspected of an infection, potentially from a patient of tuberculosis. What the doctor said, "You need to use QuantiFERON," a product by QIAGEN. Last but not least, there was a documentary on Ed Sheeran, the singer in Europe. Guess what? They did a DNA analysis of one of his hair. Who did they use? QIAGEN as well.
That's the relevance of the company. Let's go very quickly into the successes of 2025, and I'm going to go quite fast. Roland will go into some more details on the financials. 2025 has been another year of solid execution for this company. You remember from previous presentation that we focus into what we call five pillars of growth, and you can see here in that slide that in 2025, we once again executed perfectly on our guidance. Execution on sales, 8% growth of those five categories of product. It's above market growth. Perfectly online with what we said to the market. It's also an achievement, execution on research and development. Not only did we deliver on sales, but all of our research and development product.
You remember that Qiagen allocates roughly 9% of our sales to research and development are perfectly online or on target, or did hit the market. We started to launch new instrument in sample tech. We have a new chemistry, for example, for latent tuberculosis. We started to launch new assays on digital PCR, new assays also on syndromic testing. Execution on sales, execution on development. This obviously is planned to continue in 2026, where we want to continue to invest into those five priorities. As a couple of examples, this company is currently launching three new instruments on the market on sample preparation. This is unprecedented. Launching new partnership in full automation for tuberculosis, new assays for gene expression in digital PCRs, new assays on syndromic testing, and for example, this NVIDIA agreement for our bioinformatic activities.
I know I go fast, but I will be open to questions on if you have any at the end of this presentation. Execution on sales, execution on research and development, execution also on capital allocation. You probably remember that for the first time last year, we introduced dividends for our shareholders. We also executed again on return to shareholders via share buyback, the last one being in Q1 of 2026 for $500 million. We also executed on smart bolt-on M&A. Acquisition of companies that are very synergistic with our current product portfolio. I would highlight two examples for 2025, the acquisition of Parse Biosciences, a company in the U.S. specializing in single cell, a natural extension of our activities in sample prep. The company's Franklin, adding new capabilities for our bioinformatics, a company headquartered in Tel Aviv, in Israel.
I'm sure you follow our company, you saw that Q1 of 2026 was a bit of a more difficult quarter. For the first time in 27 quarter, we missed guidance, but we missed guidance on the top line, on sales only. We maintain and we achieve guidance on profitability. What I would highlight, it's a mixed bag of result because of one element. We were taken, to a certain extent, by surprise by the complete slowdown of immigration testing for tuberculosis, especially in the U.S., and that impacted our numbers. The rest of the portfolio delivered quite well, on target compared to our guidance, but this bad result on QuantiFERON pushed the company to update its guidance for the year. Not only on sales, lowering it to between 1%-2% of sales, and adjusting also our target for EPS at $2.43.
This is mostly driven by a difficult environment on our market. Capital money, research money is not flowing as fast as we expected. This is mostly the case in the U.S., and as we said, some hiccups like lack of migrant testing for tuberculosis. At the same time, for the last five years, this company has been forcefully focusing not only on growth but on profitable growth. You remember that we presented last year the multi-pluriannual program that we call QIAGEN Efficiency, where we committed to the market to deliver since 2024 more than 250 basis points of additional operational efficiency. We are doing that with different actions. We completely changed the organization. We tried to delayer QIAGEN, process optimization with our upgrade of a new ERP system with SAP S/4.
We have streamlined our portfolio when we consider that some activities were not profitable enough, and we did not hesitate to divest from them, and we constantly try to optimize our network of sites all over the world. Last but not least, obviously, and this is not something new for our company, we are investing for more than 10 years now in AI capabilities, not only to streamline operational efficiency, but also to help for product development. All this in a context where we continue to heavily invest into ESG activities, either through people, look at the numbers around, for example, diversity. Environmental responsibility, our net zero commitment to the market that we took three years ago. Also from a regulatory and governance standpoint. As a nutshell, in closing, 2025 was another very solid year of execution for QIAGEN.
It's fair to say that we have the board, we have the QIAGENers, the people, we have the solutions and product, and I think we have the shareholders to continue to be successful. Thank you very much. I'm passing to Roland now for more details on the P&L. Thank you.
Thank you, Thierry. Before I invite Roland to come up to the podium, I'd like to say that what we would like to do after we have the presentation of Roland is at that time, we'll take all your questions for all the agenda items that are meeting. We find this approach best serves you in providing an opportunity to discuss a wide range of topics. I will briefly introduce the agenda items which we're required to do, and we'll take a vote to each of them. With that, Roland, it's yours.
Thank you, Steve. Thank you to everyone joining us here in person. It is good to see you again. Before I begin, I want to take a moment to recognize Dr. Metin Colpan. As a co-founder, our first CEO, and a member of Supervisory Board for more than two decades, Metin shaped QIAGEN from the very beginning. Let me express my personal appreciation for this extraordinary contribution over more than four decades, and thank you for your dedication, your leadership, and your commitment to QIAGEN. Before I start, let me point out our disclaimer. Today, we will be making forward-looking statements and providing you with responses to questions that involve our intentions, beliefs, and views about the future. You can find further information on our website at www.qiagen.com. Let me now review our results for 2025, a year in which we delivered on our commitments.
We reached the high end of our sales outlook and exceeded the adjusted earnings outlook. Sales grew 5% at constant exchange rates, or CER, this was a solid performance in challenging market conditions, while sales on a reported basis rose 6%. We again delivered improved profitability as the adjusted operating income margin rose to 29.5% of sales from 28.7% in 2024, an increase of about 0.8 percentage points. We exceeded our target for adjusted earnings per share while also increasing our target twice during 2025. Operating cash flow remained at the high end of $654 million, even after absorbing cash payments for efficiency initiatives and higher CapEx investments into our IT infrastructure. We continued to deploy capital in a disciplined manner. At this AGM, we are proposing a 40% increase in our annual dividend to $0.35 per share.
We are also seeking shareholder approval for additional share repurchase authorizations. This will provide additional flexibility to return capital to shareholders while continuing to invest organically and consider value at creating M&A opportunities as we have done recently with the acquisitions of Parse and Verogen. To summarize, 2025 was a solid year that again reinforced the value of our portfolio, the strength of our execution, and the power of our financial position to enhance growth and value creation. Moving to the next slide. I would like to review the key financial figures under U.S. GAAP accounting standards. Our sales were $2.09 billion for 2025, rising 6% on a reported basis compared to 2024 in a demanding economic environment. Currency movements had a positive effect of one percentage points of net sales, while sales up 5% at constant exchange rates compared to our target for 4%-5% CER growth.
For the full year, the adjusted operating income margin was 29.5%, an increase of 0.8 percentage points from 28.7% in 2024. R&D expenses were 9% of sales and in line with our target. Sales and marketing expenses declined to 21.9% of sales from 22.8% in 2024 as we maintained a high level of customer engagement with increasing use of digital channels. General administrative expenses rose slightly to 6% of sales in 2025 amid a period of higher IT infrastructure investments. Adjusted earnings per share for 2025 under U.S. GAAP accounting standards was $2.38, an increase of 9% over 2024, and these results were also above our target. Moving to the next slide, let me review our sales among the four product groups. Let's start with Sample Technologies, the heart of QIAGEN and contributing about one third of sales.
This rose 2% at constant exchange rates despite cautious customer spending, especially in the U.S. Diagnostic Solutions is our second product group, these sales were up 6% CR. QuantiFERON rose 10% CR, supported by ongoing conversion gains in the latent TB testing market that is still only about 40% penetrated. For QIAstat-Dx, our system for syndromic testing, sales rose 24% CR as we benefited from the full core menu in the United States and a growing installed base that exceeded 5,200 instruments at the end of 2025. Moving to the PCR Nucleic Acid Amplification product group. These sales were up 1% CR compared to 2024, led by double-digit consumable sales growth in our QIAcuity digital PCR systems. We surpassed more than 3,200 cumulative placements of QIAcuity since launch.
At the same time, we saw lower sales of other PCR consumables, which includes the OEM business, due in part to timing of customer contracts and funding constraints. Sales in the Genomics NGS product group were up 2% at constant exchange rates from 2024. The QIAGEN Digital Insights Bioinformatics business delivered solid growth in 2025, supported by demand across both discovery and clinical customers. Moving on to our margin development in 2025. We saw a good increase of 0.8 percentage points in the adjusted operating income margin to 29.5% of sales in 2025. Underlying profitability improved significantly since this improvement more than offset about 1.2 percentage points of combined headwinds from tariffs and adverse currency movements. A key contribution factor has been our QIAfficiency program.
To give you a few examples, we benefited from portfolio optimization measures, particularly the phase out of NeuMoDx that was completed in mid 2025, as well as a continued focus on cost discipline around QIAGEN. These initiatives are enabling us to deliver higher profitability while continuing to invest in innovation and enhance future growth opportunities. On this slide, I would like to show you a reconciliation of the reported U.S. GAAP results with the adjusted results. These adjustments are in line with those of our peer companies and provide transparency for investors comparing QIAGEN with other companies. As you can see, the largest adjustment was related to business integration, acquisition, and restructuring-related items. The adjustment to operating income was $150 million, and this reflects the charges related to the acquisition of Genoox in May 2025 and Parse in December 2025. It also included costs related to the efficiency measures.
At the same time, about $63 million of these charges involved non-cash items. As a Dutch company, we are required to report results under IFRS or International Financial Reporting Standards. On this slide, you can see a difference in net income of about $12.1 million between U.S. GAAP and IFRS results. The most significant factor relates to the IFRS accounting for the fair value of the convertible notes. Under IFRS, the conversion features of these instruments are treated as liabilities. Under U.S. GAAP, these are considered in equity. Accordingly, the revaluation of the convertible notes has an impact on the income statements under IFRS. Another difference relates to restructuring costs. Under IFRS, certain personal-related accruals are recorded later than under U.S. GAAP. In 2025, this resulted in higher costs of $4 million under IFRS. Furthermore, development expenses are handled differently.
Under IFRS, certain internal development costs are capitalized, amortized over multiple year periods through cost of sales. Under U.S. GAAP, they are expensed immediately. Most institutional investors use U.S. GAAP results when comparing QIAGEN with our peers. This is why U.S. GAAP remains the primary basis for presenting our results to the financial community. Turning to the next slide. We are using our cash flow and financial strengths to support the business expansion through organic and inorganic opportunities, while also increasing returns to shareholders. In terms of cash flow for 2025, operating cash flow was $654 million and absorbed about $54 million of cash payments for the efficiency initiatives. At the end of 2025, our leverage ratios was 0.7 net times net debt to adjusted EBITDA, compared to 0.3 times at the end of 2024.
This reflects the impact of deploying cash for the dividend, the synthetic share repurchase, and targeted acquisitions. We returned approximately $300 million to shareholders through a synthetic share purchase program in early 2025, and also the introduction of a dividend payment in 2025. On this slide, you see our financing structure as of December 31st, 2025. In terms of our balance sheet, total consolidated net debt stood at $556 million at the end of 2025, compared to $239 million at the end of 2024. During 2025, we successfully refinancing approximately $500 million of maturing debt through the issuance of a $750 million convertible note. This transaction extended our debt maturity profile, strengthened our financial flexibility, and positions us well to support future growth initiatives and capital allocation priorities. Our employees remain at the center of QIAGEN's success.
On this slide, you see a profile of employees by regions and function. We continue to attract and retain talented employees by providing interesting and rewarding opportunities, along with a pay-for-performance culture. At the end of 2025, the total numbers of employees declined to below 5,700 compared to nearly 5,800 employees at the end of 2024. This reduction reflects a decision to discontinue NeuMoDx and DynaLuX products, as well as the impact of targeted efficiency measures. All workforce reductions are handled in a socially responsible manner and in line with local laws. While the overall headcount declined, we continued to recruit in strategic growth areas, particular to support new product development and commercialization. On the next slide, I would like to update you on our investor relation activities in 2025. We currently have 22 analysts covering QIAGEN, and this includes the leading banks of the world.
Our teams continued our deep dive series of online broadcasts focusing on QuantiFERON and Sample Technologies in 2025. They provide a novel way for us to engage with the financial community and explain the pillars of our portfolio. In fact, this innovative series was recently recognized in the annual IR Magazine Awards, shortlisted among the top five nominations, including for the best innovation in shareholder communication. You can watch this broadcast live on our website. Turning now to the share price performance. While market sentiments towards the life science and diagnostic sectors remained challenging during 2025, QIAGEN shares demonstrated relative resilience compared to many of our peers. For 2025, our shares in New York declined 2% in U.S. dollar terms. This compares favorably with the broader diagnostic peer group that declined 22%, and our diversified peer group, which was down 4%.
In Euro terms, our share price in Frankfurt was down 12% compared to the end of 2024, primarily reflecting currency movements of the euro strengthening against the US dollar. Turning to my last slide, I would like to quickly summarize the key messages. First, QIAGEN delivered another year of growth led by our growth pillars, despite a challenging market backdrop. Our teams exceeded the outlook we had set for adjusted earnings, while net sales came in at the high end of our outlook. Second, we expanded profitability through efficiency gains and focused execution despite currency and tariff headwinds. Third, we generated substantial free cash flow, providing flexibility for investments and shareholder returns. Finally, our capital allocation strategy continues to prioritize the highest value opportunities, combining investments in growth with increasing returns to shareholders.
As we look ahead, we remain focused on helping customers achieve better outcomes, improving patient care, and creating sustainable value for shareholders. With leadership positions in attractive growth markets, a differentiated portfolio, and a great workforce, we are strengthening the foundations for future growth. The combination of our differentiated portfolio, strong profitability trends, healthy cash generation, and focused capital allocation positions QIAGEN to create sustainable long-term value for all stakeholders. Thank you very much. With that, back to Steve.
Thank you, Roland. We now have an opportunity for your questions on all of the agenda items. Please
Yes. Good morning to all. My name is Andreas Massek from the SdK Schutzgemeinschaft der Kapitalanleger, which is a German shareholder association with roundabout 8,000 members. Let me come to the agenda and putting some questions. First question, why was the meeting scheduled for very early 9:00 A.M. this morning? You can imagine that this time is very inconvenient for those shareholders from abroad who want to attend in person. It seems more to be a meeting for the board members than for us shareholders. I estimate that the remuneration report is part of the financial report and has been fully audited by the auditor in connection with the annual financial statements. Is that correct? While the amount of the proposed dividend does not follow the SdK's policy of distributing 40%-60% of net income to shareholders, it must be seen in the context of other shareholder return-generating measures.
Share buybacks are also to be carried out with the synthetic version resulting in monetary payments. What criteria were used to calculate the dividend? Concerning the proposal to repay to the shareholders an amount which at maximum will be $200 million in the aggregate, what criteria were used to come to the $200 million? Also, interesting would be what and when. Which amount and when will you pay it for this year? Point of item of authorization of the Managing Board until December 2027 to acquire shares in the company's own share capital. What will be the plan for this in detail? By the way, the SdK prefers the payment of a dividend as a direct shareholder remuneration versus a share buyback.
Please note that for reasons of principle, the SdK rejects the mandate of Ernst & Young until a complete clarification of the events at that time and the resulting consequences for EY have been carried out in the Wirecard case. You may know that this has been a big scandal in the German capital market some years ago. Regarding item 16, QIAGEN has been planning continuous share buybacks so far and in the future, so that the usefulness of capital increases is not apparent. What is the background of this proposal? We heard some rumors about the acquisition of QIAGEN by, for example, Thermo Fisher, Danaher, or Agilent. Are there any actual considerations or negotiations running concerning any acquisition of QIAGEN at the moment? Would like to ask how many shareholders are at the moment online present, watching or hearing the meeting, if you know that.
I don't know. Yes, these were my points. I thank you for your kind attention.
Thank you. Okay. Thank you. Let's see. We have a number of questions. Let's make sure we can walk through all these. The first question is pretty straightforward, and that is, why did we schedule the meeting at 9:00 A.M.? It's my understanding, Thierry and Roland, that it's been our practice of running the meeting at 9:00 A.M. That's good feedback. We appreciate that, but it has been our practice of starting at 9:00 A.M. for a number of years, I believe. Right?
We can revisit for next year.
We could revisit that, appreciate that. Second is a Roland question about the remuneration report.
We have EY in the room, so I talk under your supervision. The remuneration report was fully audited by EY as is normal practice. Claude, I guess you agree. I said EY is in the room, so I clearly talk about under your supervision, but I think I see you nodding. The report was fully audited by EY as well. I think that's a clear yes. In terms of dividend, while we clearly acknowledge the policy of the SdK, I do think it's fair to say as well and to remind that Qiagen is clearly seen from many investors, and probably also the majority of investors, as growth companies. Nevertheless, we also started with paying out a dividend last year.
This year, we announced a substantial increase into our dividend, as I just said before, to about 40% increase. We will see how that moves forward. Clearly there is, I would say, a tendency to see that Qiagen is reviewing the allocation of capital every year, and this year, I would say another positive sign into your direction. We are increasing the dividend. It gets out, of course, quickly paid out as well. I would say we are moving into the direction. Nevertheless, we have to clearly understand that we still see ourselves also as a growth company, and there typically 60% is not what you would see as dividend payment. In terms of similar direction on what you asked general, what we're doing on capital allocation, I would say
Our general capital allocation policy, while it's evolving, hasn't changed. That means we are clearly still very strong about this. At the end of the day, three different measures. First and foremost, we do believe organic growth is the most important growth driver for our company, so we're going to continue to invest into R&D and clearly also in other opportunities within the company. If there's any board on inorganic opportunities, we're happy to review that as well, if it increases the value for all our stakeholders, particularly the shareholders. Last, but for sure not least, we have a commitment to capital allocation. You know that since 2012, we're doing share buybacks. We started with $100 million incrementals. As the cash flow of the company has evolved very strongly over the last years, we stepped it up.
We also used the very Dutch style of synthetic share buybacks, which, as you pointed out correctly, clearly has also a dividend policy part of in it as well, because the capital goes straight to the investors. I do think that is something what we shouldn't neglect and therefore, we do believe that that capital policy covers actually the profile of QIAGEN best. What we are going to do this year, again, I can't speak on behalf of the board, but I do think it's clearly something what we regularly discuss with the board. We are waiting for the results of today's AGM. Assuming for a sec that you approve what we recommended to our shareholders, meaning that we have flexibility in share buybacks, but also increase the dividends.
I think there is clearly a discussion to happen with the board when that is, again, dividend will be paid off, of course, as always, more or less, briefly after the AGM. The share buyback is an ongoing discussion where we include a lot of different things from share price performance, all the way down to what we see on the M&A market is going to happen. Why do we have an authorization to acquire our shares again? It's more or less what I answered here as well. I think that is into that. We hear your comment on EY. Have in mind, first of all, that we are a Dutch company, and that's one thing.
The second thing I think is fair to say, while the AGM is not fully over, I would expect that EY gets revoted as last year with more than 99% of all votes cast. Next question is on any negotiation regarding acquisitions of QIAGEN. I'm not sure, Steve, if you want to take that question.
Well, it's our longstanding policy we don't comment on any rumors or speculation about the company, and we continue to evaluate strategic options in the best interest of all our shareholders.
Good. You had one questions; how many shareholders are online? I think we can't see that number right now, but I do think what I can tell you, we do expect that more than 80% of votes are cast today on that AGM, and that is probably on the highest what you can see in Germany, but I think also in the European environment. I do think the participation of our shareholders is very strong in our AGM.
Thank you, Roland. I think we handled that. If there are no further questions, let me conclude this portion of the meeting. Now, let us now continue with agenda item three. This is a non-voting item. It concerns the Supervisory Board report on the annual accounts for 2025. You can find this information in our annual report, which is available on our website. Next, we move to agenda item four. This item involves a non-voting item and a review of the main items of our corporate governance structure in compliance with the Dutch Corporate Governance Code. As a Dutch-listed company, QIAGEN is subject to the Dutch Corporate Governance Code. QIAGEN complies with virtually all of the best practice provisions of the code. There are some minor deviations due mainly to legal requirements in our jurisdictions as well as by industry standards.
These are outlined in the Corporate Governance section of the annual report. Moving to agenda item five for adoption of QIAGEN's annual accounts for 2025. This is a voting item. Mr. Van Es from EY, if here, does anybody have any questions for our auditors? Thank you. We now vote on this item. Is there anybody against the proposal? Is there anybody who would like to abstain from voting? I hereby record this proposal has been adopted. Let us move to agenda item six. This involves an advisory vote for the remuneration report, which is based on implementation of policies previously approved by our shareholders. Is there anybody against this proposal? Is there anybody who would like to abstain from voting? I hereby record this proposal has been adopted. We now proceed to agenda item seven. This is a non-voting item on our dividend policy.
As you know, QIAGEN introduced an annual dividend at the annual general meeting in June of 2025. There is no change to our dividend policy. Moving to agenda item eight, we will vote on the adoption of the proposal for a dividend of $ 0.35 per share to be paid out as outlined in the proxy. Is there anybody against the proposal? Is there anybody who would like to abstain from voting? I hereby record that this proposal has been adopted. Let us now move to agenda item 9. This voting item allows the proposal to discharge the members of the managing board from liability for performance of their duties during 2025. Is there anybody against this proposal? Is there anybody who would like to abstain from voting? I hereby record this proposal has been adopted.
We'd like to move to agenda item 10. This is the voting item involving a proposal to discharge the members of the supervisory board from liability for the performance of their duties during 2025. Is there anybody against this proposal? Is there anybody who would like to abstain from voting? I hereby record this proposal has been adopted. Let us move on to agenda item 11. This voting item involves a set of proposals to adopt two new members and reappoint six members of the supervisory board for a new one-year term until the day of the next annual general meeting in 2027. A joint meeting of the supervisory board and the managing board has unanimously adopted a resolution to have a binding nomination for the following people: Toralf Haag, Robert McMahon, Bert van Meurs, Eva van Pelt, Eva Pisa, Mark Stevenson, Elizabeth Tallett, and myself, Stephen Rusckowski.
These nominations are made in the context of significant renewal of the supervisory board over the past five years. Following this meeting, seven of the eight supervisory board members will have joined since 2021. The level of renew reflects a deliberate effort to refresh and strengthen the supervisory board to complement its already strong profile. This group combines fresh perspectives, deep expertise, and proven relevant leadership experience among recently appointed supervisory board members with the continuity and institutional knowledge of longer-tenure members to support Qiagen's future development. In January 2026, Ross Levine stepped down after taking on a new role at Memorial Sloan Kettering as the Chief Scientific Officer. Let me take this opportunity to thank Ross for his many contributions to Qiagen and also express our appreciation that he continues to lead the Scientific Advisory Board. Following this departure in January, Mark Stevenson joined us in that same month.
Mark, with over 30 years of experience in life sciences technology companies, in particular Thermo Fisher, Mark brings operational leadership and global life sciences experience at scale. We also welcome Robert McMahon as a new nominee. He will join the supervisory board after his appointment at this meeting. Bob brings deep expertise from his roles at a number of top healthcare companies, including J&J, Hologic, Agilent, and now West Pharma. Mark and Bob, thank you again for joining Qiagen. I'd also like to recognize a person of exceptional importance to Qiagen, Dr. Metin Colpan. Metin will conclude his service on the supervisory board and has decided not to stand for re-election. As a co-founder of Qiagen and our first Chief Executive Officer, Metin was instrumental in building this company from the ground up.
He helped define QIAGEN's scientific foundation and brought the entrepreneurial drive, scientific vision, and leadership that shaped our early development and long-term direction. Since 2004, Metin has continued to contribute to QIAGEN as a member of the Supervisory Board. On the behalf of my colleagues, I would like to express our deep appreciation for his extraordinary contributions to QIAGEN over many years. Naming Metin honorary chairman of the Supervisory Board is a fitting recognition for his lasting impact. As this agenda item also relates to my own reappointment, I'll ask my colleague, Eva Pisa, to take care of that specific proposal. Now let us move on to voting. First of all, with respect to Toralf Haag, is there anybody against this proposal? Is there anybody who would like to abstain from voting? I hereby record this proposal has been adopted.
With respect to Robert McMahon, is there anyone against this proposal? Is there anyone who would like to abstain from voting? I hereby record this proposal has been adopted. With respect to Bert van Meurs, is there anybody against this proposal? Is there anybody who would like to abstain from voting? I hereby record this proposal has been adopted. With respect to Eva van Pelt, is there anyone against this proposal? Is there anybody who would like to abstain from voting? I hereby record that this proposal has been adopted. With respect to Eva Pisa, is there anybody against this proposal? Is there anybody who would like to abstain from voting? I hereby record this proposal has been adopted. With respect to Mark Stevenson, is there anyone against this proposal? Is there anyone who would like to abstain from voting? I hereby record that this proposal has been adopted.
With respect to Elizabeth Tallett, is there anyone against this proposal? If there is anyone who would like to abstain from voting, I hereby record that this proposal has been adopted. I'd like to congratulate my colleagues on their appointments or reappointments. Now I'd like to ask Eva Pisa to take care of the voting on my own reappointment. Eva?
Thank you, Steve. With respect to the proposed reappointment of Stephen Rusckowski, is there anybody against the proposal? Is there anybody who would like to abstain from voting? I hereby record that this proposal has been adopted. Before I hand over, I would like to congratulate Steve on his reappointment as Supervisory Board member.
Thank you, Eva. On behalf of the entire Supervisory Board, I'd like to thank you and our shareholders for your trust and confidence in me in leading the board. Now let's move on to agenda item number 12. This voting item involves the reappointment of our two managing directors. The reappointment would be for a period of the day following the meeting until including the day of the annual general meeting in 2027, noting that Thierry will step down after the appointment of a new CEO. We now move to the voting with respect to Thierry Bernard. Is there anyone against this proposal? Is there anybody who would like to abstain from voting? I hereby record that the proposal has been adopted. With respect to Roland Sackers, is there anyone against this proposal? Is there anybody who would like to abstain from voting?
I hereby record that the proposal has been adopted. I'd like to congratulate both of you on your reappointment as members of the Managing Board. Moving on to the next agenda item number 13. This is the voting item on the updated remuneration policy for the Managing Board. A copy of the policy is available on our website. Is there anybody against this proposal? Is there anybody who would like to abstain from voting? I hereby record that this proposal has been adopted. Let us move on to agenda item 14. This voting item involves the reappointment of EY Accountants BV as our auditors for 2026. Is there anybody against this proposal? Is there anybody who would like to abstain from voting? I hereby record that the proposal has been adopted. Agenda item number 15 involves the proposal to appoint EY Accountants BV as our assurance provider for 2026.
This proposal is due to a new European directive that requires an auditor to review our sustainability reporting. Is there anybody against this proposal? Is there anybody who would like to abstain from voting? I hereby record that the proposal has been adopted. Agenda item 16 consists of two points concerning the proposal to renew the current designations of the Supervisory Board to issue shares and to restrict or exclude preemptive rights. The first item is agenda item 16A. This voting item involves the authorization of the Supervisory Board until December 24, 2027 to issue ordinary shares and finance preference shares and grant rights to subscribe for such shares. Is there anybody against this proposal? Is there anyone who would like to abstain from voting? I hereby record that the proposal has been adopted. The second is agenda item 16B.
This voting item involves the authorization of the Supervisory Board until December 24, 2027, to restrict and exclude the preemptive rights to issue ordinary shares or grant subscription rights. Is there anyone against this proposal? Is there anybody who would like to abstain from voting? I hereby record that the proposal has been adopted. Let us now move on to agenda item 17. This voting item concerns a vote on the proposal to renew the Managing Board's current authorization to acquire QIAGEN shares. Is there anyone against this proposal? Is there anyone who would like to abstain from voting? I hereby record the proposal and has been adopted. Now we move to agenda item 18. This voting item involves proposals to authorize the implementation of a synthetic share repurchase through the same procedure used in recent years. Is there anyone against this proposal?
Is there anyone who would like to abstain from voting? I hereby record the proposal, and it has been adopted. We are at the final item, which is agenda item 19. This voting item provides us with the ability to cancel whole and/or fractional shares. Is there anybody against this proposal? Is there anybody who would like to abstain from voting? I hereby record that the proposal has been adopted. We have completed all of the agenda items. Before I close this meeting, on behalf of the entire Supervisory Board, I'd like to thank all of our employees worldwide for the contributions to the success of Qiagen. My colleagues and I have great confidence in our future growth prospects and the impact Qiagen can have on achieving our vision of making improvements in life possible. Let me thank each of you for your attendance at this meeting.
We truly appreciate your support in Qiagen and look forward to our ongoing engagement. Thank you, and see you next year.