Mannheim, 12 July 2022 – At today's virtual annual general meeting of CropEnergies AG, Mannheim, the shareholders approved by a large majority the proposal of the supervisory board and executive board to increase the dividend to EUR 0.45 (previous year: EUR 0.35) per dividend-bearing share after the record financial year 2021/22. This results in a total distribution of EUR 39.2 million.
All other items on the agenda, including the new election of the six-member Supervisory Board, were also approved with a majority of over 90 percent. Prof. Dr. Markwart Kunz, Franz-Josef Möllenberg and Norbert Schindler had no longer stood for a position on the Supervisory Board and therefore left the Supervisory Board. New members of the Supervisory Board are Helmut Friedl, chairman of the board of the Verband bayerischer Zuckerrübenanbauer e. V., Dr Stefan Streng, managing director of Saatzucht Streng-Engelen GmbH & Co. KG and Chairman of the Board of the Association of South German Sugar Beet Growers, and Dr Susanna Zapreva, Chairwoman of the Board of enercity AG. Dr Hans-Jörg Gebhard, Dr Thomas Kirchberg and Thomas Kölbl were re-elected. The new chairman of the supervisory board is Dr Thomas Kirchberg, member of the Executive Board of Südzucker AG.
Due to the pandemic, the annual general meeting was again held in virtual form. In total, approximately 150 shareholders and guests watched the broadcast from the Rosengarten in Mannheim. In total, 83 percent of the share capital was represented.
In the run-up to the event, more than 30 questions had been submitted, to which the Executive Board members and the Chairman of the Supervisory Board responded in full, grouped by topic. In addition to the past business year, the shareholders were particularly interested in the effects of the Ukraine war, the implementation of the corporate strategy and the development in the current financial year.
In addition to presenting the results of the previous year and the 1st quarter 2022/23, CEO Dr. Stephan Meeder took an in-depth look at the strategic development and future plans of the CropEnergies Group and presented various projects that are already being implemented, such as the planned construction of a plant for the production of renewable ethyl acetate and the investment in LXP, a technology provider for the processing of lignocellulosic residual and waste materials. Meeder further reported that other projects in the field of ethanol downstream chemistry and green energy were at an advanced stage.