During their ordinary Annual General Meeting held in Zurich on 24 June 2016, the shareholders of Art & Fragrance SA agreed to the proposal of the Board of Directors to rename Art & Fragrance SA, the holding company, as Lalique Group SA; the renaming will be initiated immediately after the General Assembly. The Lalique brand contributed 67% of the Group’s total revenue in 2015. Renaming the company will focus attention on the main brand in its portfolio and make better use of the awareness of the Lalique brand in the international market. From 1 July 2016, the new stock symbol of the company will be LLQ (previously ARTN) and the renamed Group will still be listed on the BX Berne eXchange.
The beauty segments (perfume and cosmetics) will continue as before under a new sub-holding company, to be called Art & Fragrance SA. The change of name will not affect the strategy and orientation of the company’s business activities, which will continue unaltered. The company recently moved its registered offices from Zollikon to Zurich. This move was also confirmed by the General Meeting.
The shareholders approved the annual report, the annual financial statements and the consolidated accounts for 2015 and granted discharge to the members of the Board of Directors and Executive Board. The company ended the 2015 financial year with a consolidated net profit of EUR 8.5 million (2014: EUR 5.3 million).
The dividend of CHF 0.50 per share requested by the Board of Directors was also confirmed by the General Meeting. The dividend will be paid out to shareholders on 29 June 2016 (ex-date: 27 June 2016). Furthermore, the proposals of the Board of Directors regarding the remuneration of the members of the Board of Directors and Executive Board were approved.
The members of the Board of Directors Silvio Denz (Chairman), Roland Weber, Marc Roesti, Roger von der Weid and Claudio Denz had their positions confirmed for a further year. Silvio Denz and Roger von der Weid were re-elected as members of the Remuneration Committee.
For the period leading up to the next ordinary General Meeting, Buis Bürgi AG, Zurich, was re-elected as an independent voting proxy, while Ernst & Young AG, Zurich, were re-elected as auditors.