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Roche
raises dividend by 25 percent |
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Basel,
27 February 2006
Annual General Meeting approves Annual Report and
financial statements for 2005 and elects Beatrice
Weder di Mauro to Board of Directors
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Roche Headquarter in Basel
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Roche’s Annual
General Meeting (AGM), which was held today in Basel, approved
all of the Board of Directors’ proposals. The 632 shareholders
in attendance, representing 144,869,427, or 90.54%, of a total
of 160,000,000 bearer shares, approved the 2005 Annual Report
and financial statements. They also authorised a 25% increase
in the gross dividend to 2.50 Swiss francs per share and non-voting
equity security, the nineteenth dividend increase in as many years.
The Swiss professor of economics Beatrice Weder di Mauro, who
works in Germany, was elected to the Board of Directors. The AGM
re-elected DeAnne Julius, Peter Brabeck-Letmathe and Horst Teltschik
to the Board.
In his address to shareholders, Chairman and CEO Franz B. Humer
summed up the year as follows: ‘2005 was an excellent year for
Roche. The Pharmaceuticals Division achieved its best result ever
and Diagnostics showed a solid performance, leading to record
sales and operating profit on a Group level. With the introduction
of many novel diagnostics and life-saving drugs, and a great effort
to increase the availability of Tamiflu, we again created sustainable
value.’
Apart from the 2005 results, Roche’s AGM focused on the efforts
under way to prepare for a potential avian influenza pandemic
and Roche’s role in those efforts, including the successful push
to increase production of the anti-influenza drug Tamiflu. Jan
van Koeveringe, Head of Pharma Global Technical Operations, stressed
that ‘the threat of a human influenza pandemic poses a very special
challenge for Roche, because our drug Tamiflu is one important
element of pandemic preparedness. All the discussion about avian
influenza and Tamiflu serves as a reminder of how closely interconnected
healthcare innovation and corporate social responsibility are.
We have taken targeted action to fulfil that responsibility. Even
before governments began stockpiling Tamiflu, we initiated a massive
increase in production capacity for the drug at our own risk.
By the end of 2006 Roche will be capable of producing over 300
million packs of Tamiflu a year — which is roughly comparable
to total production capacity in the influenza vaccine sector and
more than we currently have orders for. In addition, we have significantly
reduced the price on deliveries for government pandemic use and
have granted sub-licenses to companies in China and India.’
Following the AGM, the Roche Board of Directors reconstituted
itself. André Hoffmann was named to succeed departing director
Rolf Hänggi as one of the Board’s Vice-Chairmen. There were also
changes in the Board committees. The former Finance & Investment
and Audit & Corporate Governance Committees were reconstituted
and renamed the Audit Committee and Sustainability & Corporate
Governance Committee. Both new committees are composed entirely
of independent, non-executive directors, as is the Board’s Remuneration
Committee. Andreas Oeri was chosen to chair the Sustainability
& Corporate Governance Committee, and the Audit Committee
will be chaired by DeAnne Julius.
About Roche
Headquartered in Basel, Switzerland, Roche is one of the world’s
leading research-focused healthcare groups in the fields of pharmaceuticals
and diagnostics. As a supplier of innovative products and services
for the early detection, prevention, diagnosis and treatment of
diseases, the Group contributes on a broad range of fronts to
improving people’s health and quality of life. Roche is a world
leader in diagnostics, the leading supplier of drugs for cancer
and transplantation and a market leader in virology. In 2005 sales
by the Pharmaceuticals Division totalled 27.3 billion Swiss francs,
while the Diagnostics Division posted sales of 8.2 billion Swiss
francs. Roche employs roughly 70,000 people in 150 countries and
has R&D agreements and strategic alliances with numerous partners,
including majority ownership interests in Genentech and Chugai.
Additional information about the Roche Group is available on the
Internet at http://www.roche.com/.
All trademarks used or mentioned
in this release are protected by law.
Additional information
- Annual
Report 2005
- Roche
Board of Directors
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