Good afternoon. My name is Drew, I will be your conference operator today. At this time, I would like to welcome everyone to the 2026 annual general meeting of shareholders of Viking Holdings Ltd. This meeting will include a question-and-answer session. Questions may be submitted in the designated field on the meeting portal. The rules of conduct, which are available on the meeting portal, provide further details about how to submit questions. I wo uld now like to turn the meeting over to Tor Hagen, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer. Sir, you may begin.
Good afternoon, everyone. I'm Tor Hagen, Chairman and CEO of Viking Holdings. On behalf of the company and the entire board of directors, I want to welcome you to the 2026 annual general meeting of shareholders and thank you for joining us today. I'm joined at today's meeting by our board of directors, together with Leah Talactac, President and Chief Financial Officer, and other members of management. At this time, I would like to officially call the meeting to order and declare the polls open. Due to the virtual aspect of this meeting, instead of a show of hands, voting on the various resolutions will be conducted by way of poll. Broadridge Financial Solutions, the appointed inspector of election, will conduct the poll.
Please note that you don't need to vote again during the meeting if you already sent in your proxy or voted via telephone or the internet, unless you wish to change your prior votes. In my capacity as Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, I am the holder of proxies which have been submitted for use at this meeting, along with Leah Talactac, President and Chief Financial Officer. At the appropriate time, I will record the vote of shareholders who have completed the proxy forms in accordance with the directions contained in them. Following the meeti ng, the results of the vote will be filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and posted on the company's website. After
I've read the proposals, validated shareholders will have an opportunity to ask questions relating to the business of the meeting, which may be typed into the designated field of the meeting portal. In answering your questions, I may refer to my colleagues. Please note we will attempt to answer as many questions as time allows, but only questions that are germane to the meeting and not repetitive of other submitted questions will be addressed. If your question is not addressed during today's meeting, please email your questions to investorrelations@viking.com. The polls will close shortly after the conclusions of the question-and-answer portion of the meeting. Let's turn to the business of the meeting. Leah will act as secretary. Anne Brunner, an agent of Broadridge Financial Solutions, will act as inspector of elections.
Anne has taken the customary oath of office, which will be filed with the company's records. I'll now turn to Leah.
Thank you, Tor. Good afternoon, everyone. Only shareholders of record at the close of business on March 16, 2026 are entitled to vote at this meeting. As of the record date, 318.3 million ordinary shares and 127.8 million special shares were outstanding. Holders of our ordinary shares are entitled to one vote for each share held of record as of the record date on all matters submitted to a vote of shareholders. Holders of our special shares are entitled to 10 votes for each share held of record as of the record date on all matters submitted to a vote of the shareholders. Holders of our ordinary shares and special shares will vote together as a single class on all matters presented to our shareholders for their vote or approval, except as otherwise required by applicable law.
Under the company's bylaws at any general meeting, the quorum required for the transaction of business is two or more shareholders present in person or by proxy who hold or represent between them a majority of the total voting rights of all issued and outstanding shares. I hereby certify that notice of the annual general meeting has been duly given in accordance with the company's bylaws, and the inspector of elections has reported that the holders of a majority of the shares entitled to vote are present at this meeting, either in person or by proxy, satisfying Bermuda law requirements. In his role as chairman, Tor shall act as chairperson of this meeting in accordance with the company's bylaws.
I note that in accordance with Bermuda law, the financial statements and the independent auditor's report therein for the year ended December 31, 2025 have been laid before this meeting. These materials are available on the meeting portal as well as on the company's investor relations website. Additional copies are available upon request as outlined in the notice of shareholders convening this meeting. I'll turn it back to Tor.
Thanks, Leah. With that, I declare this meeting to be duly convened for the purpose of transacting such business as may properly come before it. The next order of business is to describe the proposals to be voted upon at today's meeting. I note that no proposal or agenda item has been properly presented by any shareholder for consideration at today's meeting, other than the proposals including in the notice to shareholders convening this meeting. The first proposal is to elect the following eight persons to serve as directors of the board of directors of the company to hold office until the next annual general meeting of the company or until their respective successors have been elected or appointed, or their office is otherwise vacated.
Number one, Torstein Hagen. Number two, Richard Fear. Number three, Morten Garman. Number four, Paul Hackwell. Number five, Karine Hagen. Number six, Tore Myrhaug. Number seven, Pat Naccarato, and number eight, Jack Weingart. The second proposal is to appoint myself, Torstein Hagen, as chairman of the company. The third proposal is to appoint Ernst & Young AS, an independent registered public accounting firm, as the company's auditor until the conclusion of the next annual general meeting of the company, and to authorize the audit committee of the board to fix their remuneration. The board recommends you vote for the director nominees in proposal 1 and for proposal 2 and 3. I now formally move the resolutions to elect each of the director nominees in proposal 1 and to approve each of proposals 2 and 3.
At this time, if there is anyone who has yet to vote or would like to change their vote, you may do so by clicking on the voting button on the meeting portal and following the instructions there. If you already sent in proxy or voted via telephone or internet and do not want to change your vote, you do not need to take any further action at this time. While voting is in process, we will take this time to answer any questions that have been submitted by our shareholders. Please know that only questions that are germane to the meeting will be addressed.
Thank you, Tor. We will now pause for one minute for voting and any questions to be submitted by shareholders. There are no questions at this time. I will turn it back to Tor.
Thank you, Leah. Having provided sufficient time for voting, I hereby declare the polls closed. Thank you to all shareholders that have voted. This concludes the voting portion of the meeting. I will turn to the Inspector of Elections to provide the results of the voting.
Thank you, Tor. As Inspector of Elections, I have reviewed the votes received by Broadridge in person or by proxy. Based on the votes cast at today's meeting, the preliminary voting results are as follows: Each of the nominees for director have been elected. The resolution to appoint Torstein Hagen as Chairman has been approved, and the resolution to appoint Ernst & Young AS as the company's auditor until the conclusion of the next annual general meeting of the company and to authorize the Audit Committee to fix their remuneration has been approved.
Well, thank you, Inspector of Elections. That concludes the 2026 annual meeting of shareholders of Viking Holdings Ltd. Thank you for attending.
Ladies and gentlemen, this concludes the 2026 annual general meeting of shareholders of Viking Holdings Ltd. You may now disconnect.