Scout24 AG: Annual General Meeting concludes dividend increase and welcomes new Supervisory Board members

Scout24 AG: Annual General Meeting concludes dividend increase and welcomes new Supervisory Board members

• Dividend increase from EUR 0.30 for financial year 2016 to EUR 0.56 for 2017
• Dr Hans Holger Albrecht appointed as new Supervisory Board Chairman
• All resolutions adopted by a majority vote

Munich, 21 June 2018 - The Annual General Meeting of Scout24 AG ("Scout24", "the Company" or together with its subsidiaries "the Group") took place in Munich today. At the Meeting, shareholders representing more than 66% of Scout24 AG's total share capital of 107,600,000 shares, were present. Key resolutions included the more than 80% increase of the dividend from EUR 0.30 to EUR 0.56 per share and the authorization of the Executive Board to issue bonds with warrants and convertible bonds, profit participation rights, and/or participating bonds. The reduction of the Supervisory Board structure down to six members and the of election of two candidates was also approved by the Shareholders. Following the Annual General Meeting, the Scout24 AG Supervisory Board appointed Dr Hans Holger Albrecht as its new Chairman.

The address by CEO Greg Ellis focused on the strategy of becoming a digital market network, operational highlights from financial year 2017 and product innovations that will help consumers and customers in their journey of finding a home or a car in the digital world.

In particular, shareholders adopted the following resolutions:

• Appropriation of unappropriated net income (Bilanzgewinn) of Scout 24 AG for the financial year 2017 (99.99% approval quota)
• Formal approval of the acts (Entlastung) of the members of the Executive Board for the financial year 2017 (100.00% approval quota)
• Formal approval of the acts of the members of the Supervisory Board for the financial year 2017 (96.60% approval quota)
• Election of the auditor for the financial statements and the consolidated financial statements of the group for the financial year 2018 (96.86% approval quota)
• Election of members of the Supervisory Board (99.99% and 96.00% approval quota)
• Amendments of Section 9 (Composition, term of office, resignation) of the Articles of Association (99.99% approval quota)
• Amendment of Section 12 (Remuneration of the Supervisory Board) of the Articles of Association (99.94% approval quota)
• Amendment of Section 2 (Purpose of the Company) of the Articles of Association (99.99% approval quota)
• Authorization of the Executive Board to issue bonds with warrants and convertible bonds, profit participation rights, and/or participating bonds and to exclude subscription rights; creation of a contingent capital 2018 and corresponding amendment of the Articles of Association (98,68% approval quota)

"Our ongoing strong profitability allows us to pursue both our growth course and an appropriate participation of our shareholders in the success of our company. Financial year 2017 was marked by record earnings and profit. Thus, we were also able to increase our dividend significantly, resulting in a distribution ratio of almost 55% of 2017 net profit. This is a clear message to our investors and another impressive statement of our financial strength," said Christian Gisy, CFO of Scout24 AG.
 

Changes to the Supervisory Board

The shareholders adopted the resolution of reducing the structure of the Supervisory Board from nine to six members. Mr Stefan Goetz, former Chairman of the Supervisory Board, Mr Patrick Healy and Mr Blake Kleinman, members of the Supervisory Board, have resigned from office effective upon closing of the Annual General Meeting 2018. The vacant seats on the Supervisory Board are filled by two new members, Ms Ciara Smyth and Dr Hans-Holger Albrecht.

Ciara Smyth is an accomplished HR leader with over twenty years of experience gained across a variety of high growth digital organizations. She also has a deep understanding of the marketplace model and the dynamics of operating in a mobile-first world.

Dr Hans-Holger Albrecht, CEO and Member of the Board of Deezer S.A., Paris and London, is an international experienced manager in the field of media, digital, telecommunication and direct customer business across several continents. He is currently leading one of the largest music streaming companies in the world, offering music and other audio products in 180 countries to 15 million customers. He has over 20 years of international experience in running media, digital and telecom enterprises as CEO of listed companies with a focus on growth, innovation and long-term value creation. It was agreed among the other Supervisory Board members, that after his election by the Annual General Meeting Dr Albrecht should be appointed as Chairman of the Supervisory Board, taking over from Stefan Goetz of Hellmann & Friedman.

"I am very pleased to welcome a seasoned executive like Dr Hans-Holger Albrecht as the new Chairman of our Supervisory Board and am looking forward to the future collaboration. He is a renowned expert in the digital and media ecosystem and we will certainly benefit from his extensive international expertise. At the same time, I would like to thank our former Chairman Stefan Goetz for his dedication to Scout24 in the past years and also our other Hellman & Friedman members on the Board, Patrick Healy, our former deputy Chairman, and Blake Kleinman, former member of the Audit Committee, and wish him all the best for their future endeavours," said Greg Ellis.

All resolutions of the Annual General Meeting were adopted by a great majority. The detailed voting results and the presentation on Agenda Item 1 are available for download on the Company's website at scout24.com/general-meeting.

About Scout24

With our leading digital marketplaces ImmobilienScout24 and AutoScout24 in Germany and across Europe we are inspiring people to make their best decisions on finding a home and a car. Additional services, such as credit information, the brokerage of relocation services or construction and car financing, are bundled in the Scout24 Consumer Services business division. More than 1,200 employees are working on the success of our products and services, putting the consumers' needs first in order to create a connected network for living and mobility. Scout24 is listed on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange (ISIN: DE000A12DM80, G24). For further information, please visit www.scout24.com, our Corporate Blog and Tech Blog, or follow us on Twitter and LinkedIn.

Investor Relations

Britta Schmidt
Vice President Investor Relations & Controlling
Fon: +49 89 44456 3278
Email: [email protected]

Media Relations

Jan Flaskamp
Vice President Communications & Marketing
Fon: +49 30 24301 0721
Email: [email protected]

Disclaimer:

All information contained in this document has been carefully prepared. However, no reliance may be placed for any purposes whatsoever on the information contained in this document or on its completeness. No representation or warranty, express or implied, is given by or on behalf of the Company or any of its directors, officers or employees or any other person as to the accuracy or completeness of the information or opinions contained in this document and no liability whatsoever is accepted by the Company or any of its directors, officers or employees nor any other person for any loss howsoever arising, directly or indirectly, from any use of such information or opinions or otherwise arising in connection therewith.

The information contained in this release is subject to amendment, revision and updating. Certain statements, beliefs and opinions in this document are forward-looking, which reflect the Company's or, as appropriate, senior management's current expectations and projections about future events. By their nature, forward-looking statements involve a number of risks, uncertainties and assumptions that could cause actual results or events to differ materially from those expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements. These risks, uncertainties and assumptions could adversely affect the outcome and financial effects of the plans and events described herein. Statements contained in this document regarding past trends or activities should not be taken as a representation that such trends or activities will continue in the future. The Company does not undertake any obligation to update or revise any information contained in this press release (including forward-looking statements), whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise. You should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date of this document.

Scout24 also uses alternative performance measures, not defined by IFRS, to describe the Scout24 Group's results of operations. These should not be viewed in isolation but treated as supplementary information. The special items used to calculate some alternative performance measures arise from the integration of acquired businesses, restructuring measures, impairments, gains or losses resulting from divestitures and sales of shareholdings, and other material expenses and income that generally do not arise in conjunction with Scout24's ordinary business activities. Alternative performance measures used by Scout24 are defined in the "Glossary" section of Scout24's Annual Report 2017 which is available at www.scout24.com/financial-reports.

Due to rounding, numbers presented throughout this statement may not add up precisely to the totals indicated, and percentages may not precisely reflect the absolute figures for the same reason.