Deutsche Börse AG (DB1) Earnings Call Transcript & Summary

Shareholders, distinguished guests from the media, banks and general public, ladies and gentlemen, as Chairman of the Supervisory Board, I would now like to open this year's Annual General Meeting of Deutsche Börse Aktiengesellschaft. I will preside over the meeting in accordance with the company's Articles of Association. Let me begin by warmly welcoming you all on behalf of the Supervisory Board and the Executive Board. Today marks the first time that Deutsche Börse has ever held a completely virtual annual general meeting. Unfortunately, we made this decision not because Germany has finally achieved the digitization breakthrough, no, the real reason is much more dramatic. You know it. As a society, business location, and as a company, we are being put to what's probably the most severe test we have faced in the history of post-war Germany. Fortunately, technology has enabled us to hold today's meeting at the scheduled time and without any threat to anyone's health in spite of the crisis we face. I very much regret that I'm unable to welcome all of you today face-to-face in the Jahrhunderthalle. Nonetheless, we can use this format today for the purpose of addressing the resolutions on our agenda and of laying the foundation for the scheduled payment of a dividend to you, our shareholders. German lawmakers have made it all possible by passing a state of emergency law to address the current situation. We welcome their fast and flexible reaction to the crisis. This shows that a parliamentary democracy is capable of reacting quickly to events when necessary. Ladies and gentlemen, the crisis has shown us again just how important this strong future-focused financial infrastructure is for Germany as a place to do business. In times like these, open but regulated markets are more important than ever. Our economy -- our business sector needs market prices that act as points of reference, and it must be able to finance -- to obtain financing through the capital, regardless of the size of the company involved. Deutsche Börse is there to help both global players like Siemens when it spins off a group company following a restructuring and start-ups that are carrying out IPs. Nearly 200 new companies use the platform of the Deutsche Börse Venture Network to meet with more than 400 investors for the purpose of turning good ideas into successful companies and employers with profitable business models. For these purposes, we need efficient and liquidity -- liquid securities trading as well as futures trading. Such activities are supported by reliable market information and a dependable post-trading infrastructure, and each is based on high-performance technology. Deutsche Börse provides all of these things from a single source. As a result, it plays a major role at the heartbeat of economic growth, a major role in society. Let me now point out the priorities that we, the Supervisory Board of Deutsche Börse AG, set last year. First, we supported and monitored the activities of the Executive Board during the continued implementation of the current growth strategy, Roadmap 2020. Second, we laid the foundation for the future composition of the Executive Board and appointed candidates for succession in the Supervisory Board and also its chairmanship position. Third, we subjected the remuneration system of the Executive Board to another new review and amended it to reflect the new version of the German Corporate Governance Code where necessary. Ladies and gentlemen, the corona crisis is overshadowing all other issues we face. But in times of crisis, we need institutions that provide stability and predictability. As a stock exchange, we believe that we have a special responsibility to assume. One year ago, I announced my plans to resign from my position as Chairman of the Supervisory Board of Deutsche Börse AG and to leave the company's Supervisory Board. During this last year of my term in office, my most important tasks have been to carry out a methodical search from my successor and to lay the groundwork for a smooth transition in the Executive Board of Deutsche Börse AG as scheduled. I'm really pleased to inform you that with my colleagues on the Supervisory Board, I have succeeded in placing the supervision and management of this company on a stable foundation for the future. I will say a few more words on this, but let me now make a few remarks and some statements on this unusual virtual AGM. I can state for the record that the Annual General Meeting has been duly convened in terms of former notice by publication in the Bundesanzeiger, the German Federal Gazette dated 14th of April 2020. Today's virtual AGM is attended by the entire Executive Board. And when it comes to the Supervisory Board, I'm physically present and so is Mr. Jetter who has been elected Deputy Chair by the Supervisory Board, Deputy Chair for the meeting. Against our normal given practice at annual general meetings, the entire Supervisory Board cannot be present in the meeting hall. We apologize and trust you understand that current circumstances of the COVID-19 pandemic do not allow this to happen at the moment. Those members of the Supervisory Board that can't be here in person are taking part online. And if necessary, we can also contact them whenever necessary. You will be able to exercise voting rights at this virtual annual general meeting, either through post or ballot or by authorizing and instructing company proxies. Please use our online service, if you'd like to change your vote or voting instruction on agenda items before the voting process is complete, whenever you think this is necessary. Please use the buttons that are available in the online service area. Access through the online service will be by entering your shareholder number and the personal identification number you were sent. Let me now make a few housekeeping announcements for this virtual annual general meeting. Following my statements on the report of the Supervisory Board and the report by Dr. Weimer, first of all, Mr. Rüdiger will introduce himself as a candidate for election to the Supervisory Board before we will start answering the questions you have sent in. After the Q&A, the voting process will be started. The voting process will be rather short. And please note that after I declare the voting process complete, you will not be able to change your vote or your voting instructions anymore. The notary, Dr. Martin Schmidt will issue the notarial record of today's annual General Meeting. A company proxy is present in this hall. Although shareholders are not attending the annual general meeting physically, but we are still required to establish an attendance register. The attendance register will only show the company proxy and the share she represents. So let me now announce the attendance as follows. Of the share capital in the amount of EUR 190 million divided into 190,000 no-par value shares are represented 143,538,677 no-par value shares, representing an equal number of votes. This is 75.75 -- 75.55%, rather, of the registered share capital of the company. The attendance register is available at this assembly hall. In addition, 727,980,000 no-par value shares were sent in. The postal ballots and the shares represented together account for 75.96 -- let me repeat that, 75.93% of the share capital registered. Just before 10:00, 106 shareholders were registered in our online service. Now as I said, the attendance register is in the assembly hall. And whenever attendance changes, we will update the attendance register, of course. The online service area on the website of the company also allows us -- allows you, rather, the option of viewing attendance information. The annual general meeting will be recorded, both audio and video. It will be streamed live on the public Internet until the beginning of the Q&A, open to any interested party. When it comes to our shareholders, the entire annual general meeting will be streamed live through online services on our website. The invitation that we published and sent out includes comprehensive information on shareholder rights in connection with the virtual annual general meeting, in particular, when it comes to casting your vote. Additional information and explanation was also published on the company's website where it's available throughout the annual general meeting, so that is why I will not repeat all the details here. Ladies and gentlemen, I now turn to the agenda for today's meeting. As per the notice published in the German Federal Gazette, item 1 deals with the adopted annual financial statements, the approved consolidated financial statements, the combined management report of Deutsche Börse AG and the group as at December 31, 2019, and the explanatory report on disclosures pursuant to Sections 289a(1) and 315a(1) of the German commercial code, HGB, for short. It also deals with the report of the Supervisory Board and the proposal for the appropriation of the unappropriated surplus. The aforementioned documents have been publicly available on the company's website since this AGM was called. They will also be available there during today's AGM. Ladies and gentlemen, I'd now like to inform you about the activities of the Supervisory Board during the past financial year and briefly expand on the report of the Supervisory Board. For the full report, I would refer you to the annual report of Deutsche Börse Group 2019 Annual Report, obviously, which you will find on the company's website. My remarks will be based on this report, and I shall confine myself to the salient aspects of the Supervisory Board's activities. In the year under review, the Supervisory Board of Deutsche Börse held in-depth discussions on the position and prospects of the company. We regularly advised the Executive Board on the management of the company and monitored its work. We were involved in all key decisions. At our meetings, the Executive Board provided us with detailed and timely information in accordance with legal requirements. The Chairman of the Executive Board continually informed me, the Chairman of the Supervisory Board, about the company's performance, major transactions, upcoming decisions and the company's long-term prospects and then discussed them with me. In 2019, we had a total of 8 plenary meetings, including 2 extraordinary meetings. In addition, we held 5 workshops on such topics as technology, strategy, sustainable finance, sustainability as well as law and compliance. During the reporting year, the Supervisory Board had 7 standing committees plus a Chairman Selection Committee for a limited period of time. As Chairman of the Supervisory Board, I also chaired the Nomination Committee, the Strategy Committee, the Chairman's Committee and the Mediation Committee. The average attendance rate of all Supervisory Board members at the plenary meetings and the Board's committees was 98% during the period under review. Once again, a very gratifying figure. Let me now inform you in greater detail about the key aspects of our work on the Supervisory Board. During the reporting year, we scrutinized a large number of plans related to the implementation of the Roadmap 2020 growth strategy. The focus was on the expansion of our business through acquisitions and partnerships, such as the purchase of Axioma, a leading provider of portfolio and risk management solutions and of the fund distribution platform of UBS AG for the purpose of expanding our Investment Fund Services division. We also focused on future-proofing our information technology systems and on the opportunities for using new technologies to drive our business activities. In this context, we provide comprehensive support for the necessary realignment of business activities and the group's organizational structure. In my capacity as Chairman of the Supervisory Board, I met with institutional investors in autumn for a discussion of current governance issues. The focus of these talks was on the Supervisory and Executive Board's, in particular, the contract extension and management succession decisions that were pending at the time as well as on the planned review of the Executive Board remuneration system and Supervisory Board compensation. I reported to the Supervisory Board about this dialogue at its December plenary meeting. Furthermore, the Supervisory Board reviewed the personnel strategy developed by the Executive Board for the coming years. It also resolved to amend the Executive Board remuneration system, among other things, in response to new standards in the German Corporate Governance Code and new legal requirements and to submit this system for shareholder approval in the year 2020, that is today. The Supervisory Board has also decided to put a partial amendment of supervisory board compensation before the meeting. This request is being made in light of the growing importance of the Supervisory Board's monitoring and advisory responsibilities as well as the increasing complexity of the group's business activities. It is based on a diligent market comparison and would, in fact, be the first increase in a period of 8 years. In the reporting year, the Supervisory Board also thoroughly and regularly dealt with an investigation conducted by the public prosecutors' office in Cologne into the conception and execution of securities transactions by market participants around the dividend date, so-called cum/ex transactions. In the public prosecutors' opinion, these transactions were used to make bogus tax reclaims. This investigation also involves current and former employees of Deutsche Börse Group companies. Another core topic of our Supervisory Board work in 2019 was the selection of a new independent auditor for Deutsche Börse AG as of the 2021 financial year. We were actively involved in the selection process throughout the entire year and selected with due care the future auditor to be proposed to the Annual General Meeting in 2021, that's next year. We also examined the appropriateness, effectiveness and efficiency of the internal control systems. Another key area of the Supervisory Board's work during the reporting year involved the preparation of important personnel decisions, both for the Supervisory Board and the Executive Board. As part of a structured selection process in the so-called Chairman Selection Committee led by Barbara Lambert, we nominated Martin Jetter as future Chairman of the Supervisory Board. We also took steps to initiate the long-term extension of Dr. Theodor Weimer's contract as Chairman of the Executive Board of Deutsche Börse AG. I'm very pleased that 2.5 years ago, we were able to find a leader like Dr. Weimer who is more than capable of taking this company into a successful future. In fact, the successes achieved during the past 2 years proved positive of Dr. Weimer's capabilities, and the Supervisory Board has approved an early extension of Dr. Theodor Weimer's office as Chairman of Deutsche Börse AG's Executive Board until December 31, 2024. The necessary resolutions were adopted at the beginning of 2020. Dr. Weimer, may you continue your series of successes as the CEO of Deutsche Börse for a long time to come. Especially at uncertain times like this, we need people like you in leadership positions, executives with drive, experience, a sense of proportion and a clear mind. The Supervisory Board also dealt with finding a successor to Hauke Stars who will be unavailable for a third term on the Executive Board of Deutsche Börse AG once her contract expires at the end of November. I very much regret Ms. Stars' decision. Ms. Stars has been a member of the Deutsche Börse Executive Board since 2012. Since June 2016, she has overseen the Cash Market, Pre-IPO & Growth Financing division, and in addition, she took on the role of the company's Director of Labor Relations in June 2018. In Ms. Stars, we're losing a dedicated and upright executive who impressed all of us with her expertise and communication skills. Ms. Stars, I would like to thank you for many years of mutual trust and very successful cooperation and wish you all the best for the future. In March 2020, the Supervisory Board appointed Ms. Heike Eckert as an ordinary member of the Executive Board of Deutsche Börse AG with effect from July 1, 2020. Ms. Eckert will oversee the yet to be created Human Resources and Compliance Division, and thus, succeed Ms. Stars as Deutsche Börse's Director of Labor Relations. Currently, Heike Eckert is the Deputy CEO of Eurex Clearing AG. She's been with Deutsche Börse since 1995. I'm very pleased that in Ms. Eckert, we've been able to gain a highly respected executive from among Deutsche Börse's own ranks for this key position on the Executive Board. The Cash Market business, which is currently overseen by Hauke Stars will become part of the Trading & Clearing Division, led by Dr. Thomas Book, with effect from July 1, 2020. This will put the cash and derivatives markets plus clearing all under one roof. And ladies and gentlemen, with such a great team on the Executive Board, Deutsche Börse is in the best possible position to attack in the future. In December 2019, the Supervisory Board nominated Martin Jetter as the candidate for the office of Chairman of the company's Supervisory Board once I retire. In doing so, we followed a recommendation by the Chairman Selection Committee that was set up specifically for this purpose. The plan is to elect Mr. Jetter as Chairman of Deutsche Börse's Supervisory Board right after today's AGM. With Mr. Jetter, I'm succeeded by an internationally experienced personality with a deep understanding of technology and market infrastructure. Thanks to the many leadership positions he held at IBM, both in Germany and abroad, Mr. Jetter is well acquainted with the technology industry. He's well connected both around the world and here in Frankfurt. And he's been a member of Deutsche Börse's Supervisory Board since 2018. I'm certain that our company will benefit from his experience and expertise during this time of technological transformation. Ladies and gentlemen, when today's AGM has come to an end, I'm going to retire from the Supervisory Board that I joined in 2009 and chaired since 2012. I'm very pleased that we've paved the way for the future of this company, both in terms of personnel and strategy. And following the election of Mr. Jetter as Chairman of the Supervisory Board, Deutsche Börse will continue to strive for excellence as a technology-driven company and the provider of financial infrastructure. In the history of Deutsche Börse, both of these functions have always been closely intertwined and it's good to see that here, too, the new appointment delivers forward-looking continuity. I'm looking back on 11 eventful years on the Supervisory Board of Deutsche Börse AG. During this time, Deutsche Börse successfully tackled the 2008 financial crisis. Not only has the company progressed in technological terms by gaining traction in cloud solutions and blockchain applications, it also performed very well in financial terms by creating value for its shareholders. In fact, since I became Chairman of the Supervisory Board in May 2012, the market capitalization of this company has more than tripled from EUR 7.3 billion at the time in May 2012. As a result, Deutsche Börse continues to be one of the world's 5 largest stock exchange organizations. Now there's one thing that I've always attached great importance to over the past 15 years and that's something, ladies and gentlemen, I'd like to mention at this opportunity, and that's sustainability. During my term in office, Deutsche Börse began to advocate this issue long before it was on everybody's lips. Today, Deutsche Börse is at the forefront of efforts to implement sustainability strategies in the finance sector. Now it's true that the current crisis is making great demands on us. But make no mistake, the issue of sustainability is not going to go away. On the contrary, it will become more and more important year after year. And let me put it to you even more bluntly: if we ignore the issue of sustainability now, we're bound for the next global crisis In spite of all the suffering the corona crisis has caused and has clearly demonstrated one thing: policymakers and society are capable of working side-by-side and of taking forceful action. And this gives us hope and courage. Let's show that same courage when it comes to promoting sustainable business practices. Ladies and gentlemen, I'm proud to be handing over to my successor a company that is not only dependable and high performing, but also flourishing and globally relevant. With its exceptional performance and continuing growth, Deutsche Börse is in the best possible position for coping with the tasks ahead. Having said that, our competitors, too, have shown a similarly strong development over the last 8 years. This means that we must continue to seize every opportunity we have to generate profitable growth. And I want to ask you, the shareholders of Deutsche Börse AG, to lend your continued support to this company at uncertain times like this. And this includes, in particular, support for the company's growth plans. Let me now continue with the agenda, and let me now turn to the new appointment to the Supervisory Board. As I said, I will resign at the end of this Annual General meeting, resign as a Supervisory Board member. That is why under Item 5 of the agenda today, the Supervisory Board of Deutsche Börse AG proposes to appoint Michael Rüdiger as a shareholder representative for the supervisory body of the company, following a recommendation by its Nomination Committee. The scheduled term of office of Michael Rüdiger would be until the end of the term of the current Supervisory Board, for 1 year, until 2021. Mr. Rüdiger has longstanding experience, both in national -- in the national and international financial industry. He has acquired comprehensive expertise in capital market questions and regulatory requirements through various leading positions in the financial industry, among other things. His latest position was CEO of DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale. In addition, between 2017 and 2020, he was a member of the exchange councils of the Frankfurt Exchange and of Eurex Germany, and he has been Chairman of the Frankfurt Exchange, Frankfurter Wertpapierbörse since mid-2017. And following the speech by Dr. Weimer, Mr. Rüdiger is going to introduce himself. Let me now conclude with some remarks on the audit of our annual financial statements and consolidated financial statements. KPMG has audited the annual financial statements of Deutsche Börse AG, its consolidated financial statements and the combined management report for the fiscal year ending on 31st of December 2019, including the accounting and issued an unqualified audit opinion. KPMG also reviewed the condensed interim financial statements and the interim management report as part of the half year financial report 2019. The Audit Committee discussed the documents relating to the financial statements and reports by KPMG in great detail with the auditor and reviewed them carefully itself. The committee is convinced that the reports comply with statutory requirements. The committee reported the review to the Supervisory Board and recommended that the Supervisory Board approve the annual financial statement and consolidated statements. Following our own review of the annual financial statements, the consolidated financial statements and combined management report, including the nonfinancial declaration for 2019 in the plenary meeting, we had no objections. We thus approve the audit results presented by the auditor. The annual financial statements and the consolidated group statements were approved in the meeting dated 6th of March 2020, in line with the recommendation by the Audit Committee. Thus, the annual financial statements of Deutsche Börse AG were adopted. As for the remainder, let me refer you to the written report of the Supervisory Board, which is part of the Annual Report of 2019, which is where you will also find the report on corporate governance at Deutsche Börse AG, including the corporate governance statement, but also the declaration of compliance with the recommendations of the German Corporate Governance Code and a detailed report on Executive Board and Supervisory Board remuneration. And ladies and gentlemen, let me now hand over to our CEO, Dr. Theodor Weimer. [Presentation]

Dear shareholders, dear online audience, let me welcome you cordially to the AGM of Deutsche Börse in difficult corona times to a purely virtual AGM of Deutsche Börse. May the virtual AGM remain an exception. But unusual times require unusual means, something we have discussed. Our result has been clear cut: better a virtual AGM than one delayed for an indefinite period. Also to enable you to receive your dividend as planned, which is better as well. Let's make the best out of the situation. Rest assured that we would also have preferred the AGM to be carried out in the usual way. We prefer to be in face-to-face dialogue with you. We appreciate the concerns of our shareholders. For a long time, we European's knew only of white swans. Then we discovered a black type of swan. What had been thought to be impossible turned out to be a fact. The black swan has since become a powerful image, image that reminds us that not everything can be planned. Sometimes, fate intervenes mercilessly even if there are ex-post explanations for everything, explanations that seem to be obvious, but which leave the new facts unchanged. The corona pandemic is such a fact. We have to live with it and its consequences. The black swan is not the pandemic as such. We have known for a long time that some diseases are very dangerous indeed. It is the momentum with which corona has hit us, has permeated all aspects of our life. Nearly no one would have expected this. This puts us all to the test. But I'm sure we will pass this test. In these times of crisis, we are seeing many examples of enormous commitment, of responsibility, often on the edge of what is possible, in hospitals, in basic services. The crisis teaches is what really matters: health and mental stability are part of this in the very first place. But also that the economy is still working. The economy is the engine behind our welfare. One cannot just cut it off for a long time or bring it to a sputtering start. In the longer term, this is not good for the engine. Our economy is based on exchange of goods, of services, of information. Our well-being requires the pulse of daily work. And for that, we need open markets, markets which are continuously open for trading, markets such as those organized and operated by Deutsche Börse on a daily basis. What matters to me today is one message: Deutsche Börse can be relied upon. Our numbers provide ample evidence for this. We're looking back at a good year 2019, and we're looking back at an exceptionally good first quarter of this year seen from a purely financial point of view. But I'm warning against exaggerated expectations. Do not just extrapolate from this exceptionally good first quarter. In times such as these, looking back is less important than looking forward. Nevertheless, please listen to our views about last year when we were not yet afflicted by corona, something that now nearly feels as if it comes from a pleasant past. We are keeping our promises, see 2019 when other topics dominated the headlines, most of all, the climate issue, the saber rattling between Iran and the United States. Today, we know that times were different then. Surely, things did not come to us readily: a year of ultra-low interest rates, a year of ultra-low market volatility. In such years, traders are calmer than usual. But despite all this, we achieved our aims in 2019 as well. Our promise is 5% growth in revenues secularly. This refers to growth, which is here to stay, growth which we create on our own, with our innovative power, with our products, with growing market shares. Growth that does not hinge upon market volatility. This is exactly what we delivered in 2019 once more. And another percentage point of inorganic growth on top, growth based on acquisitions. We increased our net revenues to a total of EUR 2.9 billion. Our promise for 2019 was 10% growth in earnings. We kept this as well, precisely, with an adjusted net profit of EUR 1.1 billion. Our costs are under control as well. We promised to save EUR 100 million over 3 years as foreseen by our strategy. We are very much on schedule and even ahead of it. Where did our secular growth come from? First, from trading, from Eurex, our derivatives exchange. This is where our customers hedge against market volatility. From the energy exchange, EEX, this is where our customers trade power and gas. And from 360T, our platform for FX trading. What is it that makes trading on our platforms unique? Our customers find a better alternative to off-exchange markets there. This is because our markets are transparent. The off-exchange ones are not. The second source of secular growth is clearing. There, market participants protect themselves against the risks from trading. Especially important in this context is euro interest rate clearing, risk management for interest rate products traded off-exchange. Here, Eurex Clearing has once more increased its market share to around 17% currently. The strong increase in long-term products is especially encouraging. It is becoming clear: in the time of Brexit, market participants also want to have a second foothold in the European Union in addition to London. And third, there is the business, which follows trading. For this, Clearstream is responsible with us. There, demand for investment fund services is growing particularly fast secularly. In other words, growth that is likely to remain. However, we rely not only on established growth drivers. This is just the first pillar of our strategy. Pillar number two is acquisitions and partnerships, and pillar number three is the technologies of the future. Let me briefly present to you our successful projects. Data give guidance to markets. Deutsche Börse has always been a data provider. Think of DAX, our guide to the German stock market. Think of STOXX, our guide to investments in Europe and for many markets worldwide. We have now expanded this growth business by taking over the U.S. company, Axioma, a provider of portfolio and risk management solutions. We were able to achieve this first strategic alliance with General Atlantic. From this, Qontigo has emerged, a company to which we have brought our STOXX and DAX business along with Axioma. Via Qontigo, we can offer more products targeted to passive investors, to professionals following the markets, a large -- a growing market worldwide. We are also building partnerships with the best of their sectors elsewhere. One of them is UBS, a Swiss bank, which is strong worldwide. Clearstream has acquired the majority in Fondcenter AG of UBS. This is a platform for distributing funds to professional clients. Through our acquisition, we are gaining an even stronger foothold in a growth market. In a few years, we will be given the option of taking over Fondcenter AG as a whole. This is a right for which we have secured an option by contract. MSCI also belongs to the best of the world, a leading provider of indices, compass needles for exchanges. Eurex strengthened its cooperation with MSCI last year. By doing so, we can further diversify our offer. And we're also watching out beyond the capital markets to providers of cloud services. The cloud for the IT business, this is as important as being connected to the electricity grid. Via the cloud, we are able to download computer services just like electricity from a socket, and they only pay for as much as we actually use. In such cases, it is good not to depend on only one provider. After Microsoft, we've now also won Google and SAP as cooperation partners. We can rightly claim to be a pioneer in the financial industry regarding cloud solutions. Others are watching us and try to copy us. Finally, the blockchain, a system of databases seamlessly locking into each other very reliably and very fast, ideally suited for securities lending. The company, HQLAX, has developed a new offer for this, specialized on high-quality assets. We hold a stake in this company and have won important banks as partners and customers. By doing so, we are promoting a new technology in the capital market. In order to make such success story as possible, we are investing into our most important resource: our staff members. This is the core of our employee strategy. We have made decisive progress here in 2019 with new approaches to recruiting, strongly digital with new career paths, with new learning offers for further digital development and many interlocking measures in order to make our company even more attractive and better. Last year, we recruited more than 1,100 new employees worldwide. Here, again, the signs are for growth. We are supportive and demanding because we need people who think without waiting for orders from above, who take initiatives on their own, develop ideas, remain agile. Dear colleagues, the success of this company is, above all, due to you. I'm proud of you. A big thank you also in the name of the entire Executive Committee for the year 2019 for what you have achieved. I will later come back to what you are currently achieving. Our gratitude is also due to you, dear shareholders, for having had confidence in us in 2019 as well, for remaining loyal to us and accompanying us on our way to growth. I would be pleased if this remained unchanged in the future as well. We will do everything to meet your requirements. As always, we will have you participate in our earnings this year as well. Our offer to you, a dividend of EUR 2.90 per share, 7% more than in 2019. In addition, our share price developed very well. We have weighed the pros and cons of the decision to pay a dividend very carefully. We have not taken this decision lightly. Many other publicly listed companies cannot pay any dividend at all due to the special situation caused by corona. We have deliberately taken a different decision. We believe you have a right to a healthy dividend because of the good results we achieved in the past business year, because we can be looking forward to the year 2020 with confidence despite corona. Why are we undaunted for this year despite corona and all the unknowns yet to come? First of all, the first quarter must not make us over enthusiastic. It is an exception, which provides us, however, with a good basis for 2020. Nothing more. It was our task to keep markets running, strongly volatile markets marked by uncertainty. And this is what we did. Rarely have our services been in such high demand. As a consequence, our net revenue increased by 27% during the first quarter and our adjusted net profit by 33%. Can we just extrapolate from these figures? Certainly not, but the numbers provide us with a good buffer. They should help us weather the crisis properly and thereby create some stability for the economy as a whole as well even if the low interest rates worldwide are painful. We will not be infected by doomsayers. Our time is too valuable for indulging in swansongs. Our job is to make the best out of each situation. This is what we mean by agility. Let us look ahead. We will stick to our objectives despite the crisis. Some are talking about the worst crisis since 1929. As before, we will pursue the following objectives for 2020: at least 5% secular net revenue growth, adjusted net profit of around EUR 1.2 billion adjusted for one-off effects. We think we can achieve this despite ultra-low interest rates, despite a presumably very difficult second and also third quarter with recessions everywhere. However, it is still too early for forecasts regarding the coming years. We are in close contact with our customers on this. We are watching markets closely. This is our business. The Roadmap 2020 will be followed by Compass 2023, our strategy until 2023. What I can already reveal is our compass points to further growth. The growth drivers remain intact. We remain highly profitable. We will be presenting our strategy on our Investors Day, which we have postponed to Q4 when the fog of the crisis will have cleared up and we have a clearer view again. For today, just this much, acquisitions will be playing a major role there. Ladies and gentlemen, dear shareholders, this is a special day. Joachim Faber will be handing over to his successor today. He will be handing over a well-governed company. For this, he deserves our gratitude. During his term in office, Deutsche Börse has strongly expanded its market position and strengthened its position as a leading infrastructure provider for the financial markets for Europe and worldwide. Mr. Faber, I personally wish you all the very best. And in the name of the Executive Committee as well and of all of our staff members, thank you for your commitment. Thank you also for keeping a steady hand in difficult times. Thank you also for your confidence in myself, and thank you for the kind words you found for me before this meeting and before I took the floor. At the same time, I'm glad that the Supervisory Board has nominated Martin Jetter as his successor. His election is due to take place after this AGM. We will all profit from his technological know-how and from his global network. These are things we have already experienced through the past 2 years. One topic has been important for Mr. Faber from his various start, and that is sustainability. We must not be losing sight of it despite the virus crisis or perhaps even just because of it because neither the virus nor the climate knows national boundaries, they call for action to be taken by the global community. Do you remember the pictures of the burning rainforests, of bushfires in Australia, dry soil in Germany? These are all warning signals. We need to take them seriously. The climate crisis is not a black swan. It is ongoing already. We need to act, take a stance. Deutsche Börse is a pioneer here. First, with new indices, giving guidance to investors, helping them with sustainable investments; second, by being a co-founder of a network of the German financial industry on sustainability, by being a point of contact for politics in Germany, in Europe; third, by supporting holistic reporting, reporting that goes beyond sheer financial numbers and takes account of acting sustainably. Ladies and gentlemen, of course, since March, there has been above all one topic that dominates all others here at Deutsche Börse as anywhere else: the exchange at the time of corona. Well before COVID-19, we gave ourselves a purpose. We determined what the core of our company is. This is, "we create trust in the markets of today and tomorrow." During the past weeks, it has become clear just how important the sentence was for us and became a true motto because it also means we are keeping markets open, providing access to financial products even when markets are in turmoil. Some in Europe have been calling for exchange closures and short-selling bans, i.e., on orders that bet on falling prices. Closing exchanges mean switching off the light at markets. Without exchanges, the economy is in the dark. Exchanges watch out that trading is fair. All participants get the same information. All have access to the same orders. They need this access especially in times of crisis in order to finance themselves in order to orient themselves, in order to hedge themselves. Some believe without exchanging -- without exchanges, trading would come to a halt. They are wrong, trading then migrates into backrooms, into gray and black markets. What is happening there, nobody can control anymore. Some say closed markets would calm the nerves. But let me ask you, do you throw away the thermometer when you have a temperature? Exchanges take the temperature. They are not responsible for the temperature. Closed markets need to open sooner or later, and then everything is worse because the traders need to catch up with what they have missed or because they have migrated to other markets in the meantime. Investors are entitled to reliability, to keeping markets and exchanges open. Xetra is our electronic stock market. On the 12th of March, we registered the highest daily turnover ever seen, EUR 18.5 billion, far more than 3x the daily average of 2019. The number of orders even increased more than fourfold to 3.5 million. At Eurex, we also saw peak volumes on our electronic derivatives market where participants hedge against market risk and on Eurex Clearing as well and in post-trade, without which trading is not possible, Deutsche Börse was and is called upon in every way, all around. We have thus once more demonstrated our systems are scalable, that is they are able to process much higher workloads than under normal circumstances without significant extra cost, and this is the very strength of our business model. Of course, there are limits as well. Without undertaking special efforts, all this would not have worked out. For weeks, part of our staff have been challenged to the highest degree. In April, 95% of our staff worked from home without recognizable decreases in productivity. It paid off that we already had introduced the technology necessary for this before the crisis. Of course, our work is not a matter of life or death. The commitment of doctors and nurses in the past few months is unparalleled and deserves our greatest respect and recognition. But we, as an exchange, also do our share by contributing to the functioning of markets, to economic stability. We have been preparing for the crisis from early on. The markets also acted as early warning systems. We took them seriously and split our teams. Some continued to operate our systems in the computer centers and in our head office. Others worked from home long before the home office became standard to prevent the virus from paralyzing a critical working unit. Critical refers above all to those who maintain our system operations. But our market supervision is also critical. Market supervision is the control tower for trading. From there, we are on top of things even when schedules are tight. And we have been successful. We have kept things going. I would like to thank everyone very cordially indeed who was involved in this with all my heart. Dear employees, you can be relied upon. This is reassuring, and it also makes me a little proud. However, first of all, the crisis teaches us humidity. It shows us our limits. And it teaches us respect. As a sign of respect, we have this year made a donation to health projects. Our offices worldwide have come up with proposals on this. As a first step, we are donating EUR 750,000. Dear shareholders, we are all longing for a return to normal. Let us not deceive ourselves. The black swan will not simply vanish. It has shown us our global dependencies and our vulnerability dramatically. But we are capable of learning and persistent. We are not afraid of black swans, but we take them seriously and have great respect. We remain alert, we remain calm and we are looking ahead into a hopefully good future. I am confident. Thank you very much for your attention.

Mr. Weimer, thank you very much for your report. I can tell you now that the final script of the speech of Mr. Weimer will be available on the website of the company after today's Annual General meeting. In the run up to the meeting, we helped you prepare for the meeting by sending you -- or making available the draft speeches by Mr. Weimer and my own explanations on the report of the Supervisory Board. Let me now turn to the introduction of Mr. Rüdiger. Item 5 of the agenda proposes that Mr. Rüdiger should be elected as a Supervisory Board member. Of course, Mr. Rüdiger would have loved to introduce himself to you in person, to you, our shareholders. Given the circumstances, we will now have to do that by video.

Shareholders, ladies and gentlemen, I'd like to introduce -- my name is Michael Rüdiger. I'd like to introduce myself as candidate for the Supervisory Board election using this format given the circumstances. Let me start my introduction by describing my professional career. I started my training as a banking apprentice, graduating as a banker, followed by business studies at Giessen University. My focus during university were the financial sector, money, debt finance, currency and corporate planning. My thesis was about securities, trading and exchanges prerequisites for a successful start of [ Deutsche Börse ] was the title. So it was geared towards that focus already. After a trainee program at Hoffmann-La Roche in Basel, I started my first management position at Crédit Suisse. And at the beginning, I was responsible for internal audit and risk management in Frankfurt and Zurich, but also internationally. In 1997, I became a member of the Executive Board of UBS in Germany where I became COO with responsibility for IT and securities settlement. I then was Managing Director at Allianz Asset Management GmbH where I was also the COO. I then returned to the Crédit Suisse Group, became CEO of CS (Deutschland) AG. And in 2008, I became CEO of Crédit Suisse in Central Europe. In November 2012, I was appointed CEO of DekaBank Deutsche Girocentrale, and it was in that capacity that I led the Deka Group for 7 years until the end of last year. The core business areas of Deka are capital markets business, and it's the trading arm of the Sparkassen, the savings banks in Germany. Deka provides access to international capital markets for these savings banks and its customers and institutional investors. Throughout my career, but in particular, as the CEO of Deka, I've been advocating a capital market culture. It's both with this motivation, but also to look after the interest of market participants that I had the honor of being a member of several bodies until last year. I was a member and the Chair of the Exchange Council of the Frankfurt Exchange, a member of the Exchange Council of Eurex, a member of the group of experts on exchanges of the Ministry of Finance in Germany, a member of the Board of the Center for Financial Studies and an executive board member of the Deutsches Aktieninstitut. After more than 25 years in senior management positions of the financial industry, I took a decision earlier this year to become an independent management consultant. Part of the rationale was to become active in supervisory boards and for endowments or foundations. I'm particularly interested in becoming a Supervisory Board member, because I held such positions in the group companies of Credit Suisse and Deka for many years. And since 2013, have also been, and still am, a Supervisory Board member at Evonik Industries, where I also chair the Finance and Investment Committee. Shareholders, ladies and gentlemen, capital market business, the related market infrastructure and the exchange sector, I have taken an active working interest in since my training days and my time at university. I'd be very happy to begin the opportunity to contribute to the Supervisory Board of Deutsche Börse and support the company's success. Thank you very much for your attention.

Thank you, Mr. Rüdiger. A very warm thank you for your introduction. Ladies and gentlemen, this completes the public web streaming of the Annual General Meeting on the public Internet. Let me bid those of you farewell that have been watching us and are not shareholders. Thank you very much for taking such an interest in our company. The web streaming for our shareholders will continue.