GEA Group Aktiengesellschaft (G1A) Earnings Call Transcript & Summary

Ladies and gentlemen, as Chairman of the Supervisory Board, I hereby open this year Annual General Meeting of GEA Group Aktiengesellschaft and, in accordance with the Articles of Association, assume the chairmanship of the meeting. On behalf of the Supervisory Board and the Executive Board, I would like to extend a warm welcome to you, our shareholders and shareholder representatives. For the purpose of better readability and speakability, gender-specific language has been avoided as far as possible. For the purpose of equal treatment, personal designation and terms are to be regarded as gender neutral. This year's meeting will again be held as a virtual Annual General Meeting on the basis of the COVID-19 pandemic mitigation law without the physical presence of shareholders or their proxies, with the exception of the company's proxies. The Executive Board and the Supervisory Board have decided this against the background of the continuing risks due to the COVID-19 pandemic in order to adequately protect you and all those involved on and behind the stage. I would like to take this opportunity to point out to our shareholders outside Germany that the entire Annual General Meeting will be simultaneously translated into English. Again, dear non-German-speaking shareholders, the entire AGM will be simultaneously translated into English. I would like to welcome Dr. [indiscernible], who, as notary public, will certify the resolutions of this Annual General Meeting as required the German Stock Corporation Act. I would also like to welcome the members of the Executive Board present here today as well as Mr. Kampmeyer and Dr. Riedl, who will later introduce themselves to you personally as candidates for election to the Supervisory Board. For reasons of risk minimization with regard to the COVID-19 pandemic, the other members of the Supervisory Board are not physically present at today's meeting. Ladies and gentlemen, the year 2021 continued to be dominated by the COVID-19 pandemic. The extraordinary commitment of all employees made a decisive contribution to stable earnings. This year, we would therefore like to once again thank the entire Executive Board, the employee representatives and, in particular, all GEA Group employees. Before we move on to the agenda, I would first like to explain the rules and regulations of today's Annual General Meeting. The entire meeting will be broadcast live for shareholders and the public on the company's website via the InvestorPortal. Shareholders who have registered in good time and their proxies have the opportunity to cast their votes by postal vote, to issue powers of attorney and instructions to the proxies and to object to resolutions for the record. You can access the InvestorPortal using the data sent to you in the registration confirmation. Mr. [indiscernible] will satisfy himself in advance that the technology is in order and functioning properly. Should problems, nevertheless, arise during transmission, we will, of course, endeavor to remedy them immediately. If necessary, please check whether your Internet connection is stable and your Internet browser is up to date. If you have any questions about using the Investor portal, please contact our service provider, Computershare. You will find the contact details on the portal home page under the menu item contact. For reasons of precautionary health care, we have decided, as already mentioned, to relieve the other members of the Supervisory Board from their duty to attend in person. However, my Supervisory Board colleagues are following the meeting on their screens. The Executive Board is fully present. The convening of this Annual General Meeting with the complete agenda and the management's proposed resolutions on the announced agenda items was published by the Executive Board in due form and time in the Federal German Gazette on March 15, 2022. The convocation was also disseminated throughout Europe. In addition to the announcement in the Federal German Gazette, the convening of the Annual General Meeting was communicated to the group of persons specified therein in due form and time in accordance with Section 125 of the German Stock Corporation Act. The notice convening the Annual General Meeting, documents relating to the annual financial statements of GEA Group Aktiengesellschaft for fiscal year 2021 and all the other mandatory documents relating to this Annual General Meeting have been available on the company's website since notice of the AGM was given. Within the statutory period, the company received no motions for additions to the agenda nor countermotions to the agenda items requiring population and no proposals for the election of Supervisory Board members or appointment of auditors. Ladies and gentlemen, we are once again maintaining an electronic list of participants for today's Annual General Meeting. This is currently being compiled and will be made available to you in the InvestorPortal in the menu section under Documents before voting begins. The list of attendees at today's virtual Annual General Meeting only includes those shareholders who are represented by the company's proxies. In contrast, shareholders who cast postal votes are not included in the list of attendees. Please note that only the list visible on the InvestorPortal is valid. Information made available to you on other websites or by means other than this portal will not be taken into account. Any kind of taking pictures or other copying of the list of participants or misuse of the data contained therein is prohibited. In accordance with article 19, paragraph 2, sentence 2 of our Articles of Association, I determine the manner and form of voting as follows: Voting during this year's meeting will take place exclusively and by no other means than via the InvestorPortal. Voting rights received in advance of the Annual General Meeting by postal vote or by proxy will be taken into account. You can access the InvestorPortal using the data sent to you. There, you can cast your vote by electronic absentee ballot, issue powers of attorney and instructions to the proxies or object to resolutions being recorded. Proxies and instructions to proxies as well as postal votes can still be issued, revoked or changed via the InvestorPortal after the start of voting. In order to do so, please follow the relevant instructions in the InvestorPortal. The proxies appointed by the company are Dr. Ralph Pennekamp and Mr. Bastian Laue. They exercised their voting rights exclusively on the basis of the instructions issued by you. Both gentlemen are present here today. Please note that the authorization of proxies of the company and the casting of postal votes is only possible until the start of voting on the published proposed resolutions. I will inform you of this again in good time. We will vote on all agenda items in a single ballot. In the vote, we would use the accumulation method, which I will explain to you before voting. Ladies and gentlemen, contrary to the practice at an Annual General Meeting where the shareholders attend in person, we will not be holding a general debate this year either. Shareholders have the opportunity to submit questions to the company via the InvestorPortal until midnight last Tuesday, April 26, 2022. Extensive use was made of this right. We will, of course, respond appropriately to the questions raised and to meet your need for information. In addition, it was possible to submit written comments or video messages via the InvestorPortal until midnight on Tuesday. No written comments have been received we have published the video message received on the company's website in accordance with the requirements specified in the notice of the AGM. The video message will be played after the explanation of the agenda. And thus, together with the subsequent answering of the questions submitted, will take the place of the otherwise customary general debate. Requests to speak via the InvestorPortal are not possible during today's meeting nor are procedural motions and points of order. Ladies and gentlemen, before we move on to topics on the agenda of the Annual General Meeting, I would like to take the opportunity of adding a few words about the war in Ukraine in my capacity as Supervisory Board Chairman of the company. In the light of the situation in Ukraine, I would like to emphasize that the Supervisory Board, together with the Executive Board, stand side by side with all those who are calling for an immediate end to the war. We hope to see peace in Ukraine in the very near future. We keep following the developments with great concern, and we'll do everything in our power to protect and support our GEA employees. Ladies and gentlemen, I would now like to turn to my comments on the previous fiscal year. In 2021 and also in recent months, the Supervisory Board and its committees have delved into numerous topics, including corporate strategy and the variable remuneration of the Executive Board aligned with it. I will get back to this point in just a minute. In 2021, the Supervisory Board held 7 meetings. The Presiding Committee met 5 times, while the Audit Committee and the Nomination Committee each convened on 4 occasions, with the Innovation Committee gathering for 2 meetings. In particular, the discussions focused on the reports delivered by the Executive Board on the company's day-to-day business, including its financial performance, the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and most recently, the war in Ukraine. Moreover, the Board discussed midterm planning and approved the budget for the following year. Further focal points embraced the action taken in the fields of innovation, digitalization as well as sustainability with the emphasis on ESG, meaning environmental, social governance. In addition, there were the initiatives taken within the remit of the Chief Operating Officer, specifically in relation to procurement and global production and a small number of divestments affecting entities that no longer form part of the group's key business. Apart from that, the Supervisory Board addressed topics like management development and succession planning, which included the presentation of individual divisions by senior division managers. And it also regularly dealt with matters of compliance and information strategy. Regarding the new Mission 26 strategy, which will be shortly addressed by Mr. Klebert, I should like to affirm in advance that the Supervisory Board fully supports this strategy and the declared objective of accelerating sustainable and profitable growth over the next 5 years. The strategy relies on 7 key levers: Sustainability; innovation and digitalization; new food; 3 excellent initiatives in the fields of sales, service and operations; as well as targeted acquisitions. We share the view that these are the right parameters to better support our customers and attain the envisaged targets, notably organic growth of 4% to 6% per year as well as an EBITDA level of more than 15%. The strategy was first revealed to the Supervisory Board during our annual strategy meeting in August of last year and followed by a joint discussion. During this discourse, the Supervisory Board emphasized the importance of factoring in sufficient financial resources for the purpose of facilitating the envisaged above-average future growth. Apart from that, the Executive Board left the meeting with a set of detailed questions that were answered on the occasion of the September meeting. During that gathering, we once again focused on the new strategy and also gave suggestions for the upcoming Capital Markets Day, at which the Executive Board publicly presented the Mission 26 strategy. Ever since, Executive Board reporting on the implementation of the strategy has been at the forefront of our deliberations. Key aspects of this new Mission 26 strategy are also reflected in the new Executive Board remuneration system that went into effect as of 2022, following its adoption by a huge majority of 90% of the votes at last year's Annual General Meeting. Let me briefly elaborate on this system. The performance-related components of the Executive Board remuneration system comprise the annual bonus as a short-term incentive as well as a full year variable remuneration component, the so-called performance share plan, which represents the long-term incentive. They do not only reward the accomplishment of purely financial targets, but also the attainment of strategic objectives, specifically ESG goals. 60% of the long-term incentive is based on relative total shareholder return, while 40% are made up by 2 strategic objectives. First, total shareholder return refers to share price performance plus notional reinvestment of gross dividends over the performance period. For the purpose of computing the respective level of target achievement, the total shareholder reform performance of GEA's stock is compared with the total shareholder return performance of the companies included in the DAX 50 ESG Index, of which GEA is a founding member due to its excellent sustainability ratings. Second, as a rule, the strategic objectives are derived from the company's strategic orientation and sustainability management. For the purpose of the long-term incentive tranche covering the period between 2022 and 2025, the Supervisory Board has defined 2 goals that form part of Mission 26. They embrace the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions, on the one hand, while focusing on organic sales growth on the other. Within the framework of its climate strategy, GEA has committed to reducing its own greenhouse gas emissions along the entire value chain to net 0 by 2040. In addition, GEA has also set interim targets for all categories of emissions in line with the Science Based Targets initiative. These interim targets, which are to be accomplished by the end of 2030, represents the baseline for assessing target achievement under the long-term incentive. Based on the envisaged 60% continuous reduction of carbon emissions in Scope 1 and 2 by 2030, a consistent, absolute annual carbon reduction level for the 4-year period of the long-term incentive covering the years 2022 through 2025 was ascertained. It was used as a yardstick for gauging the performance of the Executive Board. Scope 1 and 2 essentially refer to emissions released as part of our own operations. The second strategic objective under the 2022 to 2025 tranche of the long-term incentive includes an average annual organic sales growth of between 4% to 6%. Within the framework of the Mission 26 strategy, this will give rise to revenue in the amount of approximately EUR 6 billion by 2026. At the end of the day, you, dear shareholders, are also going to benefit from this planned development and the resulting enhancement in value. This goes to show the 2 ambitious targets, which will have a lasting effect on both GEA's future and the environment, form part of the Executive Board's long-term incentive set by the Supervisory Board. The same applies to the target definition of the annual bonus, the short-term incentive. The latter includes the key financial EBITDA before restructuring measures as well as ROCE, return on capital employed. Target achievement is influenced by the modifier targets, the result of which may eventually give the overall score an upward or downward tweak. When specifying the modifier targets for 2022, the Supervisory Board made sure that they were aligned with the strategic focus of the company. Two targets with a view to enhancing operational excellence were set: On the one hand, successfully implementing the new factory concept in Koszalin in Poland; on the other hand, continuing the global SAP project aimed at harmonizing the ERP systems according to plan. In addition, the Board defined to modify our targets relating to the customer and employee survey. Serving as a yardstick, they will be used for assessing the chosen strategic path from a customer and employee perspective. Apart from that, the Supervisory Board and the Executive Board have agreed that the latter will regularly provide us with updates on the progress of Mission 26 and the status of the set milestones. The key performance indicators are shown separately for each year until 2026. This way, we can jointly ensure that we will meet the ambitious targets we are striving to achieve with our strategy, enabling GEA to pull its weight and make an overall contribution to a more sustainable world. Let me end on a personal note. As you will know from last week's press release, I have decided to resign from the Supervisory Board and step down as Chairman of the Supervisory Board for personal reasons. I made this decision 2 weeks ago after careful consideration. In accordance with the Articles of Association, my resignation will take effect following the notice period of 1 month, which means on midnight of May 15, 2022. I'm pleased that I still have the opportunity to chair this Annual General Meeting and personally say goodbye to you, dear shareholders. At the same time, I'm convinced that Professor Dieter Kempf, the long-serving CEO of DATEV and former President of the Federation of German Industries, is an excellent candidate for succession, who brings a wealth of business and Board experience to the company. Last week, the Supervisory Board unanimously resolved to endorse Professor Kempf's appointment by the Düsseldorf local court, also electing him Chairman of the Supervisory Board, subject to his appointment by the court. We expect him to be appointed in the first half of May. Due to the recent nature of my decision to resign from the Board, there was not enough time to put this personal matter on the agenda of today's AGM. Irrespective of these formalities, we consider it appropriate that Professor Kempf is given the opportunity to briefly introduce himself to the Annual General Meeting in a video message. Following his court appointment, he will be up for election at next year's Annual General Meeting.

Ladies and gentlemen, dear shareholders, I would like to take the opportunity to introduce myself to use as a candidate to the Supervisory Board and the designated Chairman of the Supervisory Board of GEA AG. My name is Hans Dieter Kempf. I was born in Munich back in 1953 and currently live in Nuremberg. I am married for a second time. I've got a grown-up daughter. I studied in Munich at the Ludwig Maximilian University. I took up business administration and graduated in 1978 with an MBA. Immediately afterwards, I joined the Arthur Young GmbH, audit firm, Wirtschaftsprüfungsgesellschaft,where I stayed until 1991. And between 1989 through '91, I was a partner. And during these 3 years in my stint there, I passed my professional exams as a certified tax consultant and auditor in 1991. Then I moved from Ernst & Young GmbH to DATEV eG in Nuremberg and was a member of the Executive Board responsible for software development. And 1 year later, in 1992, I assumed an additional remit with responsibility for the production portfolio. Well, for a software company, you need to add a few bits and pieces of explanation. This covers the data center and the lower-tier organizational units of printing, picking and shipping. And at the same time, I became Deputy Chairman of the Executive Board. In 1996, I became CEO. And I, well, retired in 2016 after nearly 25 years in the company and nearly 20 years as a CEO at same time the DATEV marked its 50th anniversary. Between 2012 and 2016, I was the President of the Bitkom member association and thus, one of the Vice Presidents of the BDI, the Federation of German Industries. And between 2017 and December 2020, I was then finally President of the BDI, the Federation of German Industries. In 2005, I was appointed honorary professor at the Friedrich-Alexander University in Nuremberg in the field of business administration, where I taught and delivered my lectures until 2020. While I held office at the BDI, well, I also came across GEA as one of the global players in the field of mechanical and plant engineering. And I do believe that, well, GEA may be quite rightly called a company holding a strong positioning in the international market with good growth opportunities in attractive and a promising market. And -- well, and this -- the development of the group, I would like to actively shape as a member of the Supervisory Board and its Chairman together with the Supervisory Board colleagues and together with the Executive Board. And I would like to contribute my knowledge and experience from the industry and from a fulfilling career, professional career. I already have gained experience on various Supervisory Boards out there with a life insurance company, the Gerling Group, Deutsche Messe AG, the German Trade Fair Corporation, as a Supervisory Board member of the GfK, a market research company based in Nuremberg. And currently, I only have one mandate with the Amfileon AG, a small fintech start-up located in Munich. And I am fully aware of the fact that the task of a Chairman of GEA AG will be highly demanding -- and responsible. And I thank the Supervisory Board and Executive Board for the trust they placed in me in advance. And this is something that is reflected in the request for a court appointment and then also because I was elected Chairman of the Supervisory Board as a precautionary measure last week. But -- and I'm also happy and glad, ladies and gentlemen, that I can introduce myself then at the next, well, AGM 2023 and stand as a candidate there. Thank you very much for your attention.

At this juncture, I would like to thank you, dear shareholders, for the trust you have placed in me. I'm glad that after an outstanding fiscal year 2021, I can leave the company in an excellent state when handing over the reins to my successor. And I would like to point out that the text version of the speech has already been posted on the company's website since April 22, 2022. Ladies and gentlemen, before we move on to the agenda, please allow me to say a few words about Dr. Zhang, who left the Supervisory Board at the turn of the year at her own request and about the members of the Supervisory Board who will be leaving at the end of today's Annual General Meeting, Professor Dr. Röhner and Mr. Colin Hall. Mrs. Molly Zhang, a member of the Supervisory Board since 2026 (sic) [ 2016 ], resigned her seat for personal reasons. As Chair of the Innovation Committee, formerly the Technology Committee, she contributed valuable experience through her technical background and provided good impetus. Professor Cara Röhner, who has been a member of the Supervisory Board since last year as a representative of the IG Metall, recently completed her postdoctoral studies and accepted a position at RheinMain University of Applied Sciences in Wiesbaden in the Social Sciences Department. As you will be leaving IG Metall as a result of this career change, she has resigned from the Supervisory Board with effect from the end of today's Annual General Meeting. The Düsseldorf local court has already received an application to appoint Mrs. Nancy Böhning as successor to Professor Dr. Röhner, which is expected to be decided on in a timely manner. Colin Hall is retiring from the Supervisory Board after almost 4 years due to a change of remit within our shareholder, Groupe Bruxelles Lambert. However, we are pleased that Dr. Jens Riedl, a highly qualified representative, will -- of Groupe Bruxelles Lambert, will continue to represent the latter and be available for a Supervisory Board mandate at GEA. Dear colleagues, I'm sure I speak on behalf of all concerned, when I thank you, dear Mrs. Zhang, Mrs. Röhner and dear Mr. Hall, most sincerely for your valuable support in the Supervisory Board's work over the past few years. Ladies and gentlemen, I now call agenda items 1 to 7. With the exception of agenda item 1, on which no resolution will be adopted, the other agenda items will be called later for joint resolution. I now come to item 1 on the agenda, presentation of the adopted annual financial statements of GEA Group Aktiengesellschaft and the approved consolidated financial statements as of December 31, 2021, the combined group management report of GEA Group Aktiengesellschaft for fiscal year 2021, including the report of the Supervisory Board for fiscal year 2021. Ladies and gentlemen, the aforementioned documents also include the explanatory report of the Management Board on the disclosures pursuant to section 289a and section 315a of the German Commercial Code, the HGB, and the corporate governance statement with the corporate governance report. The annual financial statements and the consolidated financial statements as of December 31, 2021, and the group management report, combined with the management report of GEA Group Aktiengesellschaft, were audited by KPMG Wirtschaftsprüfungsgesellschaft Berlin, the auditors appointed at the last Annual General Meeting. The Supervisory Board examined in detail the annual financial statements, the consolidated financial statements, the group management report, combined with the management report and the proposal for the appropriation of net retained profits. The audit report was discussed in detail with the auditors at the Supervisory Board meeting for balance sheet approval held on the 2nd of March 2022. Neither the audit by the auditors nor the review by the Audit Committee or the Supervisory Board gave rise to any objections. The auditors issued the required audit opinions in accordance with section 322 of the German Commercial Code, HGB, without qualification. The Supervisory Board approved the annual financial statements and consolidated financial statements presented by the Executive Board at its meeting on the 2nd of March 2022. The annual financial statements are thus adopted in accordance with section 172 of the German Stock Corporation Act. The written report of the Supervisory Board on its activities in the past fiscal year can be found in the annual report starting on Page 15. Last year, supervisory activities focused, in particular, on corporate and growth strategy, financial reporting and financial performance, employee satisfaction, compliance, the COVID-19 pandemic and its impact on GEA, markets, customers and customer satisfaction as well as competition. Ladies and gentlemen, I would now like to give the floor to the Executive Board for its comments on the 2021 financial statements and the development of business. Mr. Klebert will explain the key figures for the 2021 financial year and then focus on the near future. Mr. Klebert, please.

Dear shareholders, dear viewers, a warm welcome from Düsseldorf to GEA's virtual Annual General Meeting. Thank you for joining us today. Before speaking about the 2021 fiscal year, I would like to address a challenging topic, a topic that is on everybody's mind and deeply worrying to all of us. The news and images from Ukraine are harrowing. And unfortunately, an end to this war is not yet in sight. Our hearts go out to all those affected by this war, in particular, to our 50 Ukrainian team members and their families. Their safety is our #1 priority. We have done a great deal to protect them as best we can and to guarantee their well-being. For instance, we have accelerated the payment of salaries and bonuses to ensure that our colleagues may rely on sufficient funds in the near future. And we have assisted in the evacuation of their families. A crisis management team is closely monitoring the situation and will take further action if needed. Recently, we conducted a global fundraising campaign at GEA. Each euro donated by our employees was matched by the company. Ultimately, these contributions added up to EUR 250,000, a 1/4 of EUR 1 million. And this amount was transferred to the German Red Cross for the purpose of providing humanitarian aid in Ukraine. Apart from that, there are many additional relief efforts undertaken by GEA. For example, we are lending a hand to farmers in Ukraine by making in-kind donations. We hope, in this way, we can do our part to ease some of the suffering. And of course, we join the international community in our hope for lasting peace in the region. Since the start of the war, we have taken a very close look at our Russian operations. We manufacture and service machines for the local production of key staple foods, dairy product as well as pharmaceutical applications. Our business activities help ensure that the basic human needs of the local population are met. We have suspended plans for future investments in Russia. But I'm convinced that completely halting our business in Russia would be felt primarily by our 450 employees, families and the Russian civilian population. And well, for this reason and for the time being, we will continue to operate our local production sites, which contribute to meeting basic human needs. Clearly, we will act in compliance with all laws, regulations and sanctions in place. And of course, we will continue to actively follow the political and economic situation. Ladies and gentlemen, even if it's -- well, I found it difficult to do so, I will now turn to the reason for today's event, to look back on the year 2021 and how GEA was doing over these months. 2021 was yet another difficult year, fraught with various challenges. With 2020 behind us, we had all hoped for a return to more stability in our professional and family lives, some kind of new normal. This was what we were hoping for. Instead, the mutated strain of the virus continued to require our full attention. The economic ramifications of the pandemic, in particular, presented us with numerous obstacles. Raw materials and other input materials were running short. Supply chains came under pressure, and prices went up. So we put another year behind us that once again required tremendous flexibility, patience and commitment on our part. We, at GEA, we visibly mastered these challenges. We were alert, responded quickly and cooperated in an excellent way. Across the globe, GEA teams have given their best in a difficult environment. We worked closely with our customers, and we have made our organization more powerful and efficient. We continued our successful journey, and our results speak for themselves. Once again, all our key financial performance indicators improved in 2021. Order intake, revenue and profitability have gone up further. In short, despite some headwinds, we have continued to witness a positive upward trend and demonstrated that our measures are right and are gaining traction. We are also encouraged by our outstanding sustainability performance. Starting from a very strong position, we have managed to further enhance our key sustainability ratings, and this fills us with pride. And I will now take a closer look at what we have accomplished. In the second year of the pandemic, we continued to go out of our way to offer our customers top-notch solutions and service in all areas. This included all areas, the maintenance of existing plants, the on-time delivery of new machinery and components and also the realization of large-scale projects. Everyone has done their best to meet our commitments. Allow me to give you 2 examples. First is an ambitious project commissioned by our customer, innocent. On their behalf, we built the world's first carbon-neutral juice production facility in Rotterdam. Its design sets new standards in terms of sustainability. While keeping water consumption and energy demand to a minimum, GEA's technology also significantly reduces waste streams and product losses. To achieve this, we fully leveraged every technical solution available. And the second example showcases Europe's most modern dairy plant in the North Rhine-Westphalian town of Mechernich, which was built for our customer, Hochwald. This facility will process around 800 million liters of milk per year. This is equivalent to a volume of roughly 86 milk collection trucks per day thanks to our know-how, we were able to come up with a particularly efficient and sustainable plant design. The dairy is a lighthouse project focusing on resource-efficient production, and it shows what we at GEA are capable of. To a large extent, both projects were planned and implemented during the pandemic. Against all odds, we completed the project on time and delivered a high level of quality. Our secret to success lies in teamwork. All GEA teams involved have shown an enormous amount of customer focus and motivation, and their cooperation was excellent across all divisions and national borders. In this context, I would like to say a huge thank you to our great employees worldwide. We are helping our customers steadily enhance their production. And moreover, we are also gradually optimizing our own operations step by step. In May 2021, we set the course in Koszalin, Poland with a ceremonial ground breaking for our first carbon-neutral factory of the future. This facility will raise the bar and set new standards where efficiency and sustainability are concerned. We will open it in June. I will now show you progress of the construction work in a short time-lapse clip. As you can see, we have come a long way since the ground breaking. The new plant is a milestone in our global production strategy. It will be a center of competence for pump production and the machining of components. From here, the finished pumps will be shipped to customers all over the world. Our pumps are designed for use in many sectors, including the pharmaceutical and chemical industries as well as in the production of food, beverages and household and personal care products. The new plant in Koszalin is exemplary, in particular, when it comes to climate protection. It will produce the bulk of its own energy. For this purpose, photovoltage panels will be installed. In addition, electricity and heat will be generated via combined heat and power unit run on the basis of biomethane. And this setup will be supplemented by heat pumps as well as a smart, digitally connected energy and building management. Our factory of the future takes a huge step towards versatile, carbon-neutral and competitive production. It makes our business more resilient. And financially, we have also fared very well over the past year, far better than initially expected. Organic order intake grew by 14%. It clearly passed the EUR 5 billion mark. At EUR 2.8 billion, our order backlog even hit a new record high. Organic year-on-year revenue went up by 4.3% to EUR 4.7 billion. Thus, we came in shy of the 5% to 7% range we had forecast. This was mainly due to material shortages, however, which caused the delays in order processing, especially in December. Nonetheless, EBITDA before restructuring measures significantly improved, reaching EUR 625 million. Thus, it was at the upper end of our EUR 600 million to EUR 630 million target range. This marks an impressive achievement given the fact that we had even raised the target range relative to our original guidance during the year. And the corresponding EBITDA margin climbed to 13.3%, its highest level since 2016. Our net working capital performance was also excellent. Compared with the prior year, it decreased by EUR 127 million to EUR 240 million. Accounting for 5.1% of sales, it reached a record low. And this was no coincidence. Our processes are gaining traction following extensive optimization. This enables us to manage our capital much more effectively. This also entailed a corresponding increase in ROCE, the return on capital employed. Due to the improvements in terms of EBIT and capital employed, our ROCE experienced a significant rise, climbing by 10.8 percentage points to 27.8%. As a result, we greatly exceeded our target range of 23% to 26%. These financial results speak for themselves. 2021 was a stellar year for GEA. Our profitable growth has gained pace. Once again, GEA has delivered on its promises and exceeded expectations. These results also reflect, well, the fact that we consistently pruned our portfolio since '19 -- since 2019. We parted with entities that were no longer a strategic fit or failed to reach the required target margin. This included, well, Royal De Boer and Japy, 2 suppliers of barn equipment and milk cooling technology. In addition, we also divested GEA de Klokslag, manufacturer of large-scale plants for hard and semihard cheese. In 2021, we sold the compressor manufacturer, Bock. Moreover, we divested the refrigeration contracting business in Spain, Italy and France. These portfolio-pruning activities have now been completed. At the end of February 2022, we announced the closing of the last transaction. Thus, we sold a total of 7 entities, accounting for approximately EUR 300 million in sales. Our optimized portfolio makes us more competitive. However, there is another topic which is of paramount importance to our future as a company, sustainability. At GEA, we take our responsibility for sustainability very seriously, clearly leading the way in our industry. The success of our current endeavors is reflected in the multitude of top-notch ratings we received in 2021. For instance, we were assigned Prime Status by ISS. MSCI ranked us AA in its ESG rating, and CDP also gave us top scores. We are included in the, well, CDP A list for climate change and water security. This makes us one of the most sustainable companies in Germany. EcoVadis rewarded us with Gold for our sustainability management. Globally, this put us in the top 2% of all companies in the mechanical engineering sector in 2021. And well, the Gold status was reinformed (sic) [ reconfirmed ] only recently, by the way. We are excited about these accomplishments but will not rest on our laurels. No. Instead, we have set ourselves new ambitious targets. This includes our climate strategy. We aim to cut our greenhouse gas emissions to net zero by 2040. As we work towards this goal, we are targeting a 60% reduction in emissions from our own operations, the so-called Scopes 1 and 2 by, well, 2030, while also aiming to cut indirect Scope 3 emissions by 18%. These interim targets were reviewed and validated by the globally recognized Science Based Targets initiative. Our core business operations are already carbon neutral, given we offset any emissions we are not yet able to avoid. This tiered approach clearly makes us a pioneer in our industry. Yet sustainability goes beyond environmental and climate protection. A comprehensive approach, like the one taken by GEA, embraces social and governance aspects. For this reason, we put forward 15 overarching and detailed ESG goals in 2021. To underscore the importance of our sustainability targets, they were also tied to Executive Board remuneration. We live up to our responsibility. That's why we also joined the UN Global Compact. Apart from that, we have aligned our activities with the Sustainable Development Goals of the United Nations. This has made us an industry leader where sustainability is concerned. This is also very important to our employees. They frequently tell me how proud they are to work for GEA, a company that is acting on its ambition of engineering for a better world. All in all, we have done an excellent job in 2021 for the benefit of our customers, our company and for a better world. And this is thanks to our dedicated teams. They are the key to our success because they are doing their best day in, day out. Many thanks, dear colleagues, for -- all over the world for your outstanding commitment and dedication. Thank you for your motivation and loyalty with our company. We're an impressive team capable of successfully handling difficult situations, quite obviously. Let's continue on that route. Let's -- together, we've got what it takes to keep going and yet again, ensure the coming years are great years for GEA. GEA's success is also reflected in its share price. In 2021, GEA's share significantly outperformed all relevant share indexes, climbing 64%. This represents a 5-year high. Overall return, that is the share price increase plus dividend payout, amounted to 68.2%. This is the highest return our share has generated over the past 10 years. In short, we have successfully managed to regain the trust placed in GEA by the capital market. This is further complemented by a host of positive feedback from analysts and investors. Dear shareholders, we attach importance to an attractive dividend policy. And this is why we intend to raise our dividend by EUR 0.05 on the previous year. We propose a dividend of EUR 0.90 per share for fiscal year 2021. 2021 also saw the launch of a share buyback program in the amount of EUR 300 million. This reflects our confidence in GEA's huge potential. Apart from that, we would like to have another attractive currency besides cash for potential acquisitions. I would now like to turn to our outlook for fiscal year 2022. The current year is not going to be easy. Our world is faced with considerable political, economic and social challenges. They also have an impact on the environment in which GEA is running its business. In this context, the ramifications of the war in Ukraine will be of particular importance. At present, we are not yet able to fully assess its economic impact on GEA. But we believe that the risk from our direct engagement in Russia and Ukraine is manageable. From the current perspective, it does not affect our guidance range. And here are some facts. In 2021, Russia accounted for roughly 3% of our order intake. We run 3 production sites in the country. With no production in Ukraine, the latter made up less than 1% of our order intake. As mentioned above, we are currently continuing our business in Russia in the food and pharma sectors, which is permissible under the law. At the same time, we are keeping a close eye on developments and will swiftly adjust our policy if necessary. Assessing the volatile economic environment, however, is more difficult. Apart from the war in Ukraine, the risk factors mainly include supply constraints and inflation. On the other hand, rising energy prices might also result in a higher demand for energy-saving products by our customers. In this respect, we are well positioned. All things considered, we have cause for optimism where GEA is concerned. 2022 got off to a good start, and we still expect organic sales revenues to grow by more than 5% for the entire year. And this leads to a forecast putting EBITDA before restructuring measures at EUR 630 million to EUR 690 million, with ROCE expected to be somewhere in the range of 24% to 30%. I'm convinced that GEA stands a good chance of expecting another success all year, despite the adversities. In this context, I also trust and rely on our fabulous teams. Showing courage and self-confidence together, we will meet all challenges head-on. We have set ourselves ambitious targets for the coming months. Our will be on several areas of operational and strategic importance. Operationally, we must, on the one hand, increase the availability of selected materials and components required for our production. On the other hand, we will need to tackle the general rise in costs. In this situation, our good relationship with many suppliers is key, in particular, when it comes to relations with our strategic suppliers. In addition, we are also building up alternative suppliers where necessary. And in part, we also utilize alternative components in our products. This way, we are making good progress in terms of improved materials availability and additional savings. On top of that, we enforce strict cost control. Despite the difficult market situation, our procurement team managed to realize gross savings of more than EUR 40 million in the previous year. This amount significantly exceeded our own projections. And moreover, we are making our organization even more effective with targeted efficiency measures, where we cannot cushion off of that rising cost means of savings and efficiency measures, we will make the necessary price adjustments on customer side. In strategic terms, we will keep pushing ahead with the rollout of a global SAP-based, an ERP system, which will bring together data from all entities. At the same time, we're harmonizing our global business processes. In addition, we are channeling all our energies into implementing our Mission 26 corporate strategy, which we presented at the Capital Markets Day London in 2021. My following remarks will address this topic in more detail. Mission 26 represents our strategy of profitable growth that sets the framework for our future activities. It is the compass keeping us on the road to success. In short, it will steer us towards a profitable future. Let us first look at our corporate purpose, engineering for a better world. This short phrase provides an excellent summary of what GEA is all about and what keeps us motivated. GEA is synonymous with top-notch quality engineering. It stands for technical excellence and for our ambition to help create a better world by providing superior products and solutions. This is complemented by our new vision, we safeguard future generations by providing sustainable solutions for the nutrition and the pharmaceutical industries. This hits the nail on the head. We want our products to make a positive difference. We support our customers and their efforts to become more sustainable also for the sake of future generations. Let us now turn to the financial targets of our Mission 26. First, we expect organic sales to grow by 4% to 6% per year by 2026. This will generate revenue of approximately EUR 6 billion. For comparison, in 2021, we were at EUR 4.7 billion. Second, our EBITDA margin before restructuring measures is to exceed a level of 15%. In fiscal year 2021, it was still at 13.3%, whereas in 2019, it was actually below 10%. And third, we also aim to significantly improve our ROCE to more than 30%. 2021 saw a level of 27.8%, while adding up to merely 10.6% in 2019. These are ambitious targets, no doubt about it, but given GEA's progress, we are confident that we will be able to accomplish them. We are well on our way. How do we want to attain these financial targets? Our plan is based on 7 key levers. On the one hand, they embrace the aspects of sustainability, innovation and digitalization as well as new food that is tomorrow's Nutrition. These areas open up huge opportunities making our customers even more successful. Ultimately, it's a win-win situation for both sides. On the other hand, we are focusing on excellence initiatives in the fields of sales, service and operations, they will systematically improve our performance. In addition, we are exploring targeted acquisitions for the purpose of strengthening our portfolio. But of course, our intention is not simply to prepare the ground and set the right priorities. What really counts is practical implementation. And that is why we have launched numerous projects and initiatives. I will give you 3 examples here. Let's first look at the topic of sustainability. Sustainable business is crucial to the future of our plant. At the same time, we have identified great opportunities for GEA in this area. For this reason, we have put sustainability at the very heart of our Mission 26. Above all, we are working hard to come up with even more resource-efficient customer solutions. Our business units have clear targets for the next years. They specify what volume of additional sales they will have to generate with new innovative products that are more sustainable. One of these solutions is AddCool. AddCool makes our spray dryers more climate friendly. Spray dryers are often used to transform milk into milk powder and energy-intensive process indeed. And our AddCool solution incorporates a heat pump specifically designed for operation in spray dryers, and this allows operators and our customers to lower their carbon footprint and consumptions by up to 50%. No changes part of our customers are required as existing production lines may be easily retrofitted. We are showcasing this solution by the way at the Anuga FoodTec trade fair in Cologne right now. And next, I would like to shed some light on digitalization. We pooled our digital experience in 2021. The new organization is called GEA Digital. By recruiting Tom Oelsner as a Chief Digital Officer, we added a renowned expert to our team. GEA Digital comprises a hub located at our Düsseldorf headquarters as well as five digital units that are embedded in our divisions. Well, on the GEA-wide scale, the hub provides digital platforms, which are used by all our divisions. Based on this framework, the digital units work-out solutions precisely tailored to their markets. In this way, we create synergies while remaining permanently focused on our customers. The new organizations starts off with great expectations. Our new digital strategy relies on innovation that is closely aligned with our core business. We want to enable our customers to use their GEA machines and systems in an even more productive and sustainable way. We are well confident that this will create numerous opportunities for growth. Among others, GEA-wide standards include the Internet of things and data science. With GEA Cloud, we will create an infrastructure that safely and efficiently connects all our plants and machinery while providing transparency to the customer. In turn, this will allow us to develop new digital products and services. These platforms will accelerate our digital innovation efforts. All digital units will develop their first market-ready product before the end of 2022. This will include service level agreements and new business models designed to generate recurring sales. This digital innovation drive is accompanied by an overarching digital transformation program for GEA itself. Employees with a high level of digital skills as well as automated processes, providing superior data quality are at the heart of all our efforts. This will safeguard GEA's future competitiveness. And finally, I would like to take a look at New Food. This topic is high fascinating and offers numerous opportunities for us. New Food is primarily about plant-based but also cell and insect-based proteins. This growing market is highly promising, particularly with respect to meat and dairy alternatives. In parallel, the demand for new machines that are designed to produce these foods is rising quickly. GEA enjoys an excellent reputation in this field. We have always been a reliable partner for customers who are carrying out research on New Food, whether they are start-ups or established into companies. As the only full-line supplier, we provide all the necessary production technologies relevant in this field, which means we offer the entire value chain from a single source. Well, as of this year, we have a new solution that will allow us to serve these customers even better. And here, I'm referring to our new Mobile Test Center. It paves away from -- for products from the lab to industrial manufacturing. This is highly important because at the end of the day, not all ideas developed in a lab environment work out on an industrial scale, the commercial production of food must be well prepared. The more we find and sophisticated, the recipes processes and procedures, the higher rate of success. And previously, this development work was only possible in expensive demonstration plants. And this is where GEA's Mobile Test Center comes in by lowering the threshold for validating production processes. In this way, it reduces development risk. This is because the installation is more flexible, more affordable, and can also be rented from us. It embraces the key technologies in a modular form and allows for, well, flexible configurations like bioreactors, equipment for mixing, separating, homogenization and filtering task. Our new Mobile Test Center is another first, which we are presenting currently at the Anuga FoodTec trade fair in Cologne. This event ends tomorrow, so well, if you want to pay the visit, it's interesting. And if you want to see some person, want to get an impression just pay us a visit. We are looking forward to seeing you. These three highlights, ladies and gentlemen, are representative of a multitude of activities we have launched as part of the Mission 26 strategy. We are vigorously pursuing all projects, and you can expect to see more results soon. Well, in conclusion, this illustration provides an overview of all core elements instrumental to our Mission 26. It begins with our corporate purpose and vision in the middle, you see our financial targets below, there are the 7 levers designed to accelerate and to drive our future growth. And one thing I'm certain, thanks to Mission 26, we will continue to grow profitably. With you, as our shareholders, this means we remain an attractive investment. And dear shareholders, at this juncture, I would also like to thank the members of the Supervisory Board of GEA very much for their great commitment and dedication. My special thanks go to Klaus Helmrich, who will step down from the Supervisory Board for his personal reasons as of May 15 this year. Dear Mr. Helmrich, thank you very much for your commitment and hard work at GEA over the previous years when you held chairmanship Supervisory Board. We regret your departure, yet respect your decision and wish you all the best for the future. At the same time, I would like to take the opportunity to acknowledge Professor Dieter Kempf, our designated Chairman of the Supervisory Board and to extend a warm welcome to him. Many of you may already know him as a former President of the Federation of German Industries, the BDI. Based on his vast industrial experience, tremendous technical experience also with -- in the field of digitalization and his multiple connections and links with the industry, he brings the ideal profile to the job. We are delighted and he has accepted this role and look forward to a constructive and trusting cooperation. Well, ladies and gentlemen, let me conclude by summarizing why GEA is such a fascinating company. In recent years, we have accomplished a lot. We have to become the turnaround story of the MDAX. And it's great have you on board accompanying us on a journey that is based on a sound footing. We are technology leader, holding strong positions in key industries with products that enjoy an outstanding reputation and with a strategy that will accelerate our profitable growth and result in even greater excellence. What specifically sets us apart is our strong commitment to sustainability. It originates from our responsibility for ourselves and future generations. On top of that, it is extremely relevant in terms of growth. Dear shareholders, I'm pleased that we have managed to put GEA back on the road to success. In 2021, we have revealed our potential by showing our mettle. Strength and self-confidence are also reflected in our new brand appearance. As you may have noticed, in early March, we adopted a fresh modern corporate design. It understood what GEA stands for, excellent engineering. For a world that thanks to sustainable solutions is turning into a better world every single day. Our purpose is, therefore, at the center of the refreshed brand appearance. Before I conclude my presentation, I would like to show you our new image film. Using visible means, it clearly demonstrates what GEA stands for what motivates us day in, day out. [Break] Dear shareholders, thank you very much for placing your trust in us and accompany us on this exciting path. Thank you.

Thank you very much, Mr. Klebert for your comments. I would like to point out that the text version of the speech has already been posted on the company's website since April 22, 2022. Ladies and gentlemen, before we move on to the other items on the agenda, I would first like to announce current attendance. Out of the company's registered nominal capital of the company in the amount of EUR 520,375,765.57 divided into 180,492,172 no-par value shares, 116,433,818 shares with the same number of votes are represented at the Virtual Annual General meeting, which corresponds to an attendance of 64.5% of the nominal capital. In addition, postal votes were received for 26,778,641 no-par-value shares. Consequently, the votes represented today at the AGM plus the postal votes received amount to EUR 143,212,459 no-par value shares, which corresponds to 79.35% of the nominal capital. Ladies and gentlemen, before we start playing the DSW video message and before we answer the questions you've submitted, I would like to explain the items on the agenda to you in the required gravity. This will make it easier for you to understand the video message and the questions asked. Mr. Klebert has already reported to you in detail on the presentation of the annual financial statements and the development of business. The Annual General Meeting is not required to pass a resolution on this matter. Agenda item 2 concerns the appropriation of net returned profits. The Executive Board and the Supervisory Board proposed a dividend of EUR 0.90 per dividend-bearing share. Agenda item 3 concerns the resolution on the approval of the remuneration report. Agenda items 4 and 5 relate to the ratification of the acts of the members of the Executive Board and the Supervisory Board for fiscal year 2021. Subsequently, the appointment of the auditor is to be carried out under Agenda Item 6. Based on the recommendation of the Audit Committee, the Supervisory Board proposes that KPMG AG Wirtschaftsprüfungsgesellschaft Berlin be reappointed as auditors of the company and the group fiscal year 2022. Under Agenda Item 7, the election of Mr. Jörg Kampmeyer and Dr. Jens Riedl to the Supervisory Board is to be carried out. Following the resignation of Dr. Zhang, who resigned her seat with effect from the end of December 31, 2021, Mr. Kampmeyer was appointed by resolution of the Düsseldorf local court as a member of the Supervisory Board of the shareholder bench with effect from the 1st of January 2022. In addition, Mr. Jörg has resigned as a member of the Supervisory Board with effect from the end of this Annual General Meeting. And is, therefore, stepping down Dr. Jens Riedl is to be elected to the Supervisory as his successor as a shareholder representative. May I now ask the candidates to introduce themselves. We will start with Mr. Kampmeyer, he will be followed by Dr. Riedl. Both gentlemen are present in person. Mr. Kampmeyer, please.

Ladies and gentlemen, dear shareholders, I'm very pleased to have been given the opportunity to present myself in person to you as a candidate for becoming a member of visor Board of GEA Group Aktiengesellschaft. You have already been able to look at my personal data. So in my presentation, I would just like to talk about the most important aspect of my life and the experience that I will bring into my work in the Supervisory Board at GEA. I'm 53 years old. And for 24 years, I have been happily married with 2 sons, teenage sons. My professional training took place at the Aachen Technical University, where until 1995, I studied Mechanical Engineering and graduated as an engineer. After that, I did second studies, which I finished in 1997 graduating as an economic engineer. Simultaneously, I worked 2 years in technical research in the area of simultaneous engineering and CadCam integration. And this research work was concluded -- was ended with the conclusion and the graduation of my second study. And in 1978 -- 1997, '98, I started my actual professional career, I did that in the area of consulting, became management consultant with Roland Berger. And after that moved on to the Boston Consulting Group. This consultancy activity lasted for 5 years. I looked very much at growth projects and turnaround topics was very much involved with that, in particular, in plant engineering and large-scale business. In 2002, I was able to move into industry, and I did so at the Hilti Aktiengesellschaft in Liechtenstein. I worked there in the first 3.5 years in the company as a corporate developer, after that, became Head of Marketing in 2006. I became Managing Director in Germany where I assumed operational responsibility. And after 2010, I have been sharing the business in Central Europe. In 2011, I was convened into the Executive Board of Hilti Aktiengesellschaft as Chief Financial Officer. And in this capacity, I was also responsible for corporate development, personnel and IT. During that time, I started early on to look at the possibilities of digitalization of the core business. And in this connection, as of 2017, I assumed additional responsibility for the entire digitalization of the company. In 2017, I also assumed responsibility as CEO for Hilti Europe. In 2019, the Knauf company allowed me to work as a personally liable shareholder. They are headquarters in Iphofen [indiscernible] and I moved there at the change -- turn of the year 2019/'20. I am working there as a co-CEO and shareholder -- personally liable shareholder. The Knauf Group is the world's biggest manufacturer of construction materials in the area of lightweight construction, and we have a turnover of EUR 14 billion and 14,000 staff all over the world. What is the experience I would like to use during my work here with GEA. First of all, I think being a graduated engineer and former strategic consultant, I am in a position to live up to the demanding strategic questions and to accompany them I have a broad functional background and 12 years of experience as a member of the Board, CEO in renowned growth at oriented companies. I'm experienced with regard to cooperation with the Supervisory, I was also the representative of the Audit Committee and the Supervisory Board. The Hilti Corp is a benchmark company internationally renowned for its work in the area of corporate governance, culture development, application-based innovation. The Knauf Group is different, highly entrepreneurial, flexible, pragmatic, decentralized and engaging in fast growth. And I think this background, this experience will enable me to make a contribution to GEA. The first 4 months in GEA Supervisory Board have confirmed this, I really enjoyed being able to make a contribution there. And I would be very happy. Dear shareholders, if you had the same attitude, confirming this by voting for me and giving me the opportunity thereby to be able to make a participation to GEA Supervisory Group. Thank you very much for your attention.

Well, thank you very much indeed for this personal presentation. I'm sure that Mr. Kampmeyer we have been able to recruit a very experienced manager with exceptionally broad experience in the areas of industry and finance whose background complements the profile of skills and expertise of the Supervisory Board of GEA very well. I will now hand over to Dr. Riedl.

Ladies and gentlemen, my name is Jens Riedl. I'm also pleased to be able to present myself. I'm a partner at GBL responsible for GBL's business Germany, Austria and Switzerland. In this capacity, I am a member of the Canyon Supervisory Board, the German bicycle manufacturer based in Koblenz and will be in the Supervisory Board of Sanoptis, biggest German chain of opticians and clinics, which we acquired last week. Before GBL, I worked with Permira a couple of years where I had chaired 1 out of 5 sectors, namely industry and business services. I was also in the Supervisory Board of some participating companies and before associated company and I also worked with BCG as a senior partner, where I chaired private equity practice for 10 years as a senior partner focusing on topics such as industrial goods and services including plant engineering and machine building. My training, well, I'm a trained economic scientists. I started in St. Gallen in London. And after that moved on to the European Business School to relate the citation on corporate finance. I was born in Cologne but grew up a long time in Europe, outside of Germany, and I would be particularly happy to be able to be elected to the member of the Supervisory Board on GEA. My intention is to support and accompany GEA during its future successful growth and future development. So I would like to thank you for your attention. And I do hope that I have -- that I will be able to meet the one or other of you in person. Thank you very much indeed.

Thank you very much, Dr. Riedl. We are pleased that with Dr. Riedl, a candidate is available for election who due to his responsibility for managing the investments of the DACH region at our shareholder group Russels Lambert, brings with him a profound knowledge of the market and able to give significant momentum to GEA. Ladies and gentlemen, as already announced, it will not be possible to hold a general debate at this year's virtual Annual General Meeting. However, we have given you, dear shareholders and shareholder representatives, the opportunity to submit written comments or video messages via the company's website up to one day before the Annual General Meeting. You also had the right to address questions to the company via the Investor portal within the same period. As already mentioned, written comments were not received. There is one video message, which we already published on the company's website in advance of the meeting. It is still accessible there. In the framework of the Annual General Meeting, we would first like to play the video message before. Afterwards, turning to answering the questions. I would now like to ask the technical department to play the video message.

Ladies and gentlemen, my name is Marc Tüngler, I'm the Managing Director of the DSW from Düsseldorf. And like in the previous years, we are also, of course, represented at GEA's AGM. With this video statement and with questions which we handed in beforehand. And with these questions and all the answers that we will receive, we do hope that you, dear shareholders, will be able to understand even better where GEA is standing at present and where it is heading. The 2021 business year was very successful, given the not easy environment. The Executive Board and the company and the staff and the Supervisory Board have delivered. And this is a very important signal indeed. And in addition, they have added the Mission 26, so as to give us a guideline and idea of where GEA is heading. And when you look at that, you can be very satisfied indeed GEA is going to grow at the top line, but also at the bottom line. And this will immediately translate into the dividend, which we will benefit from. The dividend for last year, well, we see received EUR 0.05 than last year, EUR 0.90. GEA has always constantly paying a steady dividend. There was continuity, which is a value in itself. So there is a stable, good rising dividend with GEA, and this is something that we receive positively. Now the environment is difficult. All of us know that due to the Ukraine war, there are distorted supply chains. We will have to fight for our margins but we trust the executive and gear staff that they will be able to do so. And the forecast is also very good, indicating that GEA is on the right track. Having said so, I wish the Supervisory Board, the Executive Board and in particular, all the staff of GEA, all the best health piece and you, dear shareholders, I wish the same, and I would like to thank you for your attention. Thank you very much indeed.

I would like to express sincere gratitude for the transmission of the video message and the interest that has been shown to our company. We would now like to come to the answer to the questions you submitted in advance of the Annual General Meeting. First of all, I would like to emphasize that this year, we are once again committed to answering your questions in the same quality as we always done in other words, years in the context of a face-to-face meeting. Like last year, the questions will be read out by our Head of Group Communications and Brand Ms. Jill Meiburg. This will be followed by the answers from the Executive Board members and myself. In this way, we want to make the dialogue a little more lively for you. As Chairman of the Supervisory Board, I will first answer the questions that concern the Supervisory Board. The Executive Board will then answer the question addressed to it in detail.

Thank you very much, Mr. Helmrich. I'm going to read the questions out in the sequence of arrival in the investor portal. The first question is addressed to you, Mr. Helmrich and was posed by Michel Wolf. Well, four banks have then -- announced that we wanted to have return shares four banks, and we only got one of these recordings back. Something went wrong because for 1/5 of our shares, will this happen before. What could we improve? Well, has your IR manager thought about this?

Well, this happens in coordination with our service provider and the banks, helping us and supporting us in well, ATM endeavors, should you have problems, you can turn to our service provider. [indiscernible] or directly to us. We will help you any time to get the necessary documents for vote. Thank you very much for this information. We will then will then take the process again with the bank and our main service provider.

And the next question be answered by Mr. Klebert. Well, in the last AGM, you expressed your regret that you were unable to hold an AGM in person. Please tell us whether this was just a fast or whether well going forward, and if legally permitted again, the minority shareholders will continue to be valued and then in-person AGM will be held or whether you as AG, will soon be deciding everything and only hold virtual AGMs, that's showing that you do not think much of the minority shareholders and that your -- should, therefore, be avoided by the shareholders. We are calling for a clear answer, and no talking around the issue as is the case with many other AGMs.

So we very much appreciate a direct exchange with our shareholders that, well, an in person and good general meeting is actually offering. This is particularly important because it provides an important forum for small shareholders who generally have no opportunity for a dialogue with the company's management outside the AGM. The restrictions we had to make in the previous 2 and this AGM still have -- are due to the pandemic and the special conditions it created. However, the experience we and other companies have gained from being forced on virtual AGMs from one day to another and also provides us with important impetus for the development of AGM that leads us to more contemporary and open forum. And we will keep a close eye on current dynamic developments in this area, especially with regard to the future legal framework for shareholders' meetings. Well, I cannot promise and will not promise you today that in the coming years, we will return to an exclusive in-person AGM meeting. But on the other hand side, you may rest assured that we will once again enable you, our shareholders, to directly participate in the AGM and exercise. Of course, you're right to a much greater extent than in past years.

The next question is addressed to Mr. Ketter. Please explain your future dividend policy. Please also tell us your planning in terms of sales, EBITDA and EBIT until 2025?

Thank you. In GEA, once a shareholder is there to participate in our strong and sustainable business model by paying an attractive dividend, the regular payout ratio is to amount to around 50% of consolidated earnings before restructuring expenses. In addition, the aim is for the dividend to be EUR 0.05 above the prior year figure each year. As [indiscernible] have communicated within this framework, we would like to an increase -- continuous increase in the dividend. Within the framework of Mission 26, it was communicated that we aim to increase sales to around EUR 6 billion by 2026 and to achieve an EBITDA margin before restructuring measures above 15%. At the same time, the IT is also expected to increase significantly.

The next question was asked by [indiscernible] from the Association of Institutional Private investors, EV [indiscernible], our VIP and it will be answered by Mr. Klebert. Question, how well has decarbonization or your so-called carbon footprint faired over the course of the past year? And how will it develop in the near future? To what extent are these effects initiated by capital investments? And well, approximately which ratio are the non-revenue-generating and lead to current expenses? To what extent have the climate effect been achieved through compensation, reforestation or similar measures or the acquisition of allowances? Then question #2, do you have the indirect effect in mind, for example, from corresponding behavior of the pension capital? And well, what is the policy here regardless of whether it is via membership rights and direct investments of the pension fund or via special funds or only via so-called ETF or insurance products, for instance, direct insurance? Is this reported to you? And can you report on this and identify changes?

Well, in 2021, greenhouse gas emissions amounted to 50,803 metric tonnes, reduction of net 24.8% of versus 2019. GEA is well on its way to achieving its target of producing greenhouse gas emissions in its own operations by 60% by 2030. Now by 2040, we will reduce our greenhouse gas emissions to net zero. In this way GEA is making an effective contribution to achieving the 1.5 degree target set out in the Paris climate agreement. We have identified a total of 7 fields of action in which we will invest. Well, 1 field of action, to explain 1 of them is we are relying on a greenhouse neutral building stock in the long term through modernization by 2040. We have already set the first milestone for this in May '20, when we had the go-ahead was given to the construction of our climate neutral production plant in North Western Poland, GEA will invest EUR 30 million in expanding the site and the plant will be a pioneer in particular, in terms of climate protection I showed you before. And this is subject to the final approval by local authorities in the coming months. It will then generate its own energy through photovoltaics and the electricity from the photovoltaic system will be stored in batteries also for the charging stations, therefore, the vehicles of our electric fleet. Power and heat, well of heating and cooling will also be generated in a cogeneration plant on the basis of green gas and biomethane. In addition, there are heat pumps and well then at the heart of the entire system, we've got the digitally connected energy in building management system, which will intelligently and smartly control the entire factory and thus contribute to continuous energy savings. In completion, as I said before, the completion of this new building is scheduled for the middle of the year, and I also elaborated on that during my speech. GEA-wide investments in climate protection accounted for a share of 6.8% roughly in 2021. Thanks to offsetting measures, GEA is already a carbon-neutral company in terms of our balance sheet today since we have been investing in so-called gold standard climate protection projects since 2021. These are projects that demonstrably lead to a reduction in greenhouse gases and are, at the same time, good for the local environment and social concerns of the population. At the same time, GEA invests in the purchase of renewable energies since 2021. For instance, GEA has been purchasing a green electricity in Germany, Italy, Belgium and Austria, exclusively Green Power. Finally, sustainability aspects are also taken into account in our financial investment. For instance, in Germany, we have worked with an asset trust that takes sustainability criteria into account in every investment decision that is made. If deficits or sustainable risks that are too large to identify the corresponding share of bond is avoided.

The next question is addressed to Mr. Klebert presented by VIP, [indiscernible] engine #1 appears to be the only quasi professional proxy, albeit still locally with ETF investments, in particular, in mind. If this business model works well Black Rocks past seems to look like a kindergarten? How do you estimate that in the end, then not only ISS and Glass Lewis, but also engine #1 will have to be involved in management decisions? Similar to what happens with the German Works Council regardless of multi-level insider conflicts and Chinese wars or scale-related monopoly structures? And well, after all, Engine has already voted on 374 proposals in the start-up year.

Yes, international proxy advisers, ISS and Glass Lewis who you are referring to, they exert an influence mainly on the voting behavior of many institutional investors at Annual General Meetings primarily through the voting guidelines they publish and update on a regular level. Well, as a result, ISS and Glass Lewis voting guidelines and the principle, they express to have the common important guide for the implementation and the execution of good and timely corporate governance processes in companies. However, this does not mean the involvement of proxy advisers in management decisions. Engine #1 is a very young U.S. hedge fund and activist investor that has caused a lot of stir in particular, with it successfully proxy campaign is initiated immediately after its founding against 1 of the largest U.S. corporations who cannot be compared with ISS, Glass Lewis or other proxy advisers.

And a question also by Mr. Burman from VIP address Mr. Klebert once again. Well, the sustained and ongoing pandemic situation is changing the world of work. How do you organized training for entry-level workers. How do you organize critical pathways for multiple staffing and resulting idled at time. If there's no incident or infection, has it been possible to reduce and half the office space held in reserve? What are the effects of a lack of travel on, for instance, compliance or the growing complexity of IT and networks on day and program security? Question B, do you have equal opportunities all categories, women, men, diverse or women only as we acquired by the Federal Equality Act of April 24, 2015?

Well, in the pandemic, we've got a change of the working world, pandemic is still ongoing and during the pandemic, we succeeded after only a short time in offering virtual onboarding sessions at all sites in Germany and abroad for our new colleagues. In the commercial areas specifically in the training of our junior staff, we were able to ensure smooth onboarding process in all areas by introducing comprehensive protective measures at an early stage. Incidentally, the same protective measures and framework conditions apply to training. As to all other workplaces we have, which have enabled us to ensure proper operations. So then question, how do you organize critical parts due to multiple staffing, whatever. In generally, corona-related absences and the workforce were treated the same as other absences due to illness. And due to the comprehensive protective measures and the generally extremely careful behavior on the part of our employees extensive periods of absence were largely avoided, critical bottlenecks were countered by overtime or hiring of temporary staff depending on the specific individual case we're talking about, then reducing office space as a result of the experience gained with flexible working time concept, we have already begun to take a fresh look at new work concepts in the future. To the extent to which this will affect the reduction in office space is currently still open. Then the next question, lack of travel or fewer traveling and impact on IT networks and data security. In principle, our internal securities process guidelines and processes in the areas of compliance as well as data and IT security are set up in such a way that adequate implementation is insured at all times regardless of the travel activities of individual employees. And then the question regarding the equal opportunities officer. Well, there we can say that the Federal Quality Act does not apply to companies in the private sector and therefore, also to GEA. It's not applicable in its code of conduct, GEA Group has committed itself amongst other things, to not tolerating any discrimination based on gender. Violations of the code of conduct can be reported by both employees and by external parties via a whistle blower too, we have, if necessary, anonymously. In addition, GEA has introduced the diversity and inclusion policy to ensure GEA-wide standard in dealing with diversity and inclusion. This provides the managers and the employees with a guideline for successfully navigating the complex issues of diversity and inclusion within the corporate context.

Then, thank you very much. The next question also addressed to Mr. Klebert, again, it's Mr. [indiscernible] VIP. Originally, in early AGM day was considered shareholder friendly and not just by dividend payers. And now January remains AGM free. Is this due to cool weather in January, a proxy agency, policy change or legislative activities between the years?

Our Annual General Meeting date is due till in the fiscal. Here, it's based on fiscal year and this corresponds to the calendar year. And as a result, the financial calendar and the statutory notice periods for the Annual General Meeting are set.

And next question addressed to Mr. Ketter by [indiscernible] VIP. We own investments in the current war zone. This is Russia and Ukraine and also day-to-day operations as well as responsibilities for employees. What volume of the financial statements to the effective assets account for? Are there any current value adjustments or value adjustment requirements for these investments or assets are part? And if so, to what extent are our part secured question by insurance and guarantees, how large are they affected sales? How could you help assist our employees on site?

So question number one, these are the assets concerned in December 2021. GEA Russia owned assets in the amount of approximately EUR 96 million. And the Ukrainian nonconsolidated companies held assets to the tune of approximately EUR 14 million. And now current impairments or impairment requirements, well GEA continuously reviews whether are any indications that assets may be impaired both at a divisional level and at the level of individual companies, reporting units. Both internal and external resources of information are used for this particular purpose. Currently, we do not see any need for impairments. Then our parts over to what extent are these assets covered by insurance policies or guarantees, the company insurance services continue to exist. However, damages due to war or war like events are generally excluded from the insurance coverage. Furthermore, financial service providers must also comply with the sanction rules that may prohibit insurance companies from paying out benefits. Then what proportion of sales are affected, it is difficult to estimate this at the moment because the developments are ongoing and changing in 2021. GEA's share of sales in Russia amounted to 3.5%, in Ukraine only 0.2% of the sales. And we're helping our employees on site. We have implemented a large number of measures since February 24, 2022. Employees will immediately pay their salaries for the next 2 months and started evacuation. Well, here, we've got an overview of the measures which have been taken, GEA has a total of 49 employees in Ukraine. In the meantime, GEA has evacuated all employees and their family members as far as they were allowed to leave the company and wanted to do so. That is a total of 31 persons. All evacuees are being assisted in finding accommodation and jobs in their countries of destination. In addition, #2, well, to employees in Ukraine we also supported all other GEA employees with family members in Ukraine, who requested assistance from GEA and if they wish to, we organized evacuation on request. And then third, all GEA employees on business trips in Ukraine, Belarus and Russia were repatriated. Then for the remained GEA employees in Ukraine, satellite phones were made available. Then GEA provided free disinfectants to farmers in Ukraine for their milking parlors to keep the farms running. Then last but not least, GEA employees worldwide have contributed approximately EUR 125,000 as part of a fundraising campaign organized by GEA. GEA matched this amount, so that a total of approximately EUR 250,000 was donated for Ukraine.

Then the next question addressed to Mr. Klebert by Mr. [ Burman from VIP ]. Would it be an option for the Executive Board to become role models and drive Volkswagen Golf or Ford for 12 months instead of S class with the amount saved being made available to victims of war.

In this sense, the Executive Board of GEA's already setting an example. I've been driving a 0-emission mid-range electric car for a month. At GEA, we also show a lot of commitment to supporting people in Ukraine in addition to that. And this goes far beyond this particular amount. And recently, GEA employees from 42 countries, I mentioned it before, collected EUR 125,000 in a fundraising campaign, and GEA doubled and match this amount so that we were able to donate EUR 250,000 to the German Red Cross for humanitarian purposes in Ukraine. And we are also supporting Ukraine in many places with donations in kind, Ukrainian farms with hygiene products, just as described by my colleagues. For daily cleaning of dairy farms, these products are needed. And in Poland, GEA supports a local organization that takes care of Ukrainian refugees. GEA Netherlands cooperates with a partner to donate can food to Ukraine, and GEA also finances the packaging material as well as the transport of in-kind donations to various aid organizations collected by employees at the Berlin site.

The next question by Mr. [ Bulman, VIP ] is addressed to Mr. Klebert. Where and how is the logical demarcation between the segments, flow tech and liquid tech? Are there different contact partners or other technologies?

Well, the Separation & Flow Technologies segment, SFT for short, focuses on the components business. These components are used in various production processes. In technological terms, the main components are separators, decanters, homogenizers, valves and pumps. And Liquid & Powder Technologies, or LPT for short, offers process solutions for the production of beverages, food and basic materials. Within these process solutions, we also have components and technologies from SFT and other divisions. And the SFT and LPT segments are each controlled and managed by an independent management team.

The next question is addressed to Mr. Klebert, then again Mr. [ Bulman, VIP ]. Well, the new era has more limited sales regions towards the East, fragile sales areas in Asia, in particular, the further you go north. So orders remain to be sought in the Americas and Africa. Ultimately, the orientation of the globe from the silk road via hunger regions in Africa, must and will come to the fore. Either grain and beverages come to us or the population there right on the score, the local population will start to move. Are such scenarios an opportunity or more of a risk to GEA? Is this a different or, well, a lower cost level of technology than offered by GEA and will in the future as they will -- where further sales made up of -- will change fundamentally?

Thanks to our regions and countries organization, GEA is already well positioned in all important areas and in sales markets. We have a great deal of local market knowledge, which is also conducive to the development of locally adopted product. This organization also enables GEA to respond quickly to and appropriately to potential shifts and changes in demand in the regions. As to Service revenue, we expect annual organic growth of 5% to 6% on -- till 2026. And in this period, we expect the Service share of total revenue to increase to around about 36%.

Then the next question by [ Michel Il Woaf ] addressed to Mr. Klebert. GEA has companies in Russia. Well, what was the business like in 2021? What was changed after the outbreak of the war? Are you still producing and selling products? Will you then resume activities and operations after the war?

GEA has got 2 companies and 3 production sites in Russia for the local market. In 2021, Russia accounted for roughly 3% of GEA's total order intake. And the order intake showed a significant growth compared to 2020. In fiscal year 2021, the share of Russia in GEA's total revenue was 3.5%, roughly. GEA manufacturers and maintains machinery for the local production of essential staple foods, dairy products and pharmaceutical applications, and is also maintaining them. In this way, GEA helps to ensure the supply of the local population, providing vital food and medicines to them. GEA has suspended plans for future investments in Russia. We have limited our activities to business areas that contribute to satisfying basic human needs, and that is food, beverages and pharmaceutical products. GEA clearly complies with all the laws, regulations and sanctions.

Then next question also by Mr. [ Woaf ], addressed to Mr. Kleber. GEA has companies in Ukraine. How is business faring there in 2021? What has changed after the war broke out? Are there still -- are you still producing or selling? Has there been a damage and losses initial estimate? And will these companies resume operations after the warrants? What are the investment sums necessary for doing so, just a first estimate?

GEA has got 3 companies in Ukraine, no production. And in fiscal year 2021, Ukraine accounted for less than 1% of GEA's total order intake, and the share of sales was only at 0.2% back in 2021. So on the 24th of February, first of all, all business activities were stopped in Ukraine. The country sales organization is currently working again. The sites are closed and all employees work from home. And as I said before, we do not have any production sites in Ukraine. 31 GEA employees and family member, relatives were evacuated from Ukraine after the beginning of the war. Partly, they're working from abroad. Until February 2022, the Ukrainian companies have shown significant growth in order intake in sales compared to 2021. Our 3 companies show significant growth, well, in orders and sales in Q1 2022 compared to Q1 2021. All our sites are intact and are being maintained. However, due to security reasons, they remain closed. Our country organization is working from far away in the home office until we can reopen the sites. No investments are necessary for doing so. Then the next question is addressed to Mr. Ketter from [ Michel Woaf ]. The business in Chile must have incurred losses. Can you describe the situation there and give the reasons for the losses? How high were they in the last financial statement? What are the measures to make operations profitable again?

Well, business in Chile, well, reported a positive result for 2021. And well, we also see a positive earnings trend versus the previous year. So we have not suffered any losses with our company in Chile.

Next question to Mr. Ketter by Dieter Tassler from SDK, the protective community of capital investors, SDK. The size of the technology divisions by sales is as follows: Liquid & Powder, Separation & Flow, Food & Health care, Farm, Heating & Refrigeration. Do you see the same order in the volume size of the divisions in the medium term? Then second question, in terms of EBIT, the order of the technology divisions is different: Separation & Flow, Liquid & Powder, Food & Health care, Farm, Heating & Refrigeration. And there Separation & Flow comes before Liquid & Powder. What are the main reasons for the difference in ranking for, well, in terms of sales and EBIT?

Well, first of all, well, the same sequence, in terms of the divisions, the answer is relatively simple and easy. We would like to keep the sequence of terms -- in terms of volumes and size of divisions the same. The main difference results from the different product portfolio and the mix between new machines and Service Business. Well, [ PET ] operates strongly in the area of turnkey plants and large-scale plants, where also due to the competitive situation, lower margins can be achieved. SFT is very strongly active in the components business, where higher margins are generated.

Then the next question also by Mr. Ketter from Mr. Tassler, SDK. Well, rest assured that we welcome the increase in dividend. GEA's payout ratio is also something to be proud of. What is GEA's long-term payout ratio target?

Well, the target is mainly that we want our shareholders to participate in this positive development by offering an increase in dividend, and this shouldn't be major jumps, but small and incremental increases. And with increasing results, we try to increase the dividend by EUR 0.15 every [ day ], so the payout ratio is not a primary thing, but should be around 50%.

So Mr. Klebert, the next question is addressed to you by Mr. Tassler, SDK. So with virtual AGMs, well, this leads to considerable restrictions of shareholders' rights. One of the main objectives of an AGM is to form the opinion of the shareholders, in particular with regard to the voting on the agenda. And the form of the AGM chosen by the AG also reduces the speakers at the AGM to mere individuals asking questions. A speech generally requires a counter speech, which does not take place here. Any necessary questioning, for instance, of the immediately preceding speech by [indiscernible] is prevented. And have all -- this prevents shareholders from exchanging ideas amongst each other and the discussions of the shareholders with the members of the corporate bodies. This is and remains unsatisfactory for the shareholders and needs to be remedied in the future. Even though the AG provides the option of submitting a text or video contribution, the aforementioned, well, a communication with the eye -- with eye-to-eye contact doesn't exist. Technically speaking, there are far more possibilities for practicing this dialogue at an additional virtual AGM, if necessary. What does GEA aim to achieve regarding future AGMs?

Well, we very much appreciate the direct exchange with our shareholders and there's no doubt about it. And of course, when you've got an in-person meeting, it's always better if possible. And the restrictions we've all been witnessing over the past 2 years are due to the pandemic. It's not the objective of GEA to do so and now we simply have to monitor the development. It's highly dynamic. I mentioned it before. We will check -- we'll see how we further develop and what the format could look like in the future so that the rights of the shareholders are fully protected and can be exercised.

Then the next question to Mr. Ketter by Mr. Tassler, SDK. What is the outlook of 2022 with regard to order intake, sales and annual results?

Well, the guidance for the fiscal year 2022 is the following: sales organic growth of more than 5%; and then EBITDA before restructuring measures at constant exchange rates, EUR 630 million to EUR 690 million; then ROCE at constant exchange rates, 24.0% up to 30.0%. And as to order intake, we do not give a guidance.

Next question from Mr. Tassler from SDK goes to Mr. Ketter. What constitutes a large order from GEA's point of view? What is the share of large orders in sales in 2021?

Well, from GEA's point of view, large orders correspond to a volume of more than EUR 50 million. Measured against the total sales volume for 2021, the share of large orders was approximately 6%.

The next question from Mr. Tassler from SDK to Mr. Ketter, what is the sales share of the following countries, Russia and Ukraine?

In 2021, Russia had a sales share of 3.5%, Ukraine of just 0.2%.

Next question also from Mr. Tassler, to Mr. Klebert. Do we have our own production distribution facilities in the countries Russia and Ukraine?

I can only repeat it, GEA has 2 companies in Russia with 3 production sites and 3 sales companies in Ukraine, but no production sites in Ukraine.

Another question from Mr. Tassler, to Mr. Ketter. What are the business relations for the sales and purchasing volumes with China?

In 2021, an external sales volume of EUR 505 million was generated in China. The purchasing volume during that year was between EUR 140 million and EUR 150 million.

Next question by Mr. Tassler from SDK to Mr. Klebert. What is Mission 26 about with regard to the following stated targets 4% -- 4% to 6% per annum revenue growth, plus 15% EBITDA margin, plus 30% ROCE, which is return on capital employed?

Well, the KPIs mentioned are correct. Mission 26 is based on the 7 published pillars: sustainability, innovation and digitization, new food, 3 excellent initiatives in sales, service and operations, as well as acquisitions and M&A. But these financial targets can also be achieved without acquisitions. Behind each of these 7 pillars there are extensive programs that are reviewed quarterly against clearly defined KPIs.

Again, Mr. Tassler from SDK. The question goes to Mr. Klebert with regard to Mission 26. What will be the primary source of increases in the following areas, new lines of business, increase in facilities, new customers, new countries, et cetera?

Well, on the one hand, we are investing significantly more in research and development and have established a clearly defined innovation strategy. In addition, we see great potential in the area of digital solutions, with the help of which GEA generates a recurring revenue stream. The second major lever is new food. We are currently the only technology provider that can offer all solutions from a single source, which is a clear advantage for our customers. We expect consumption of new food products to triple by 2030. We will strongly accelerate the growth of our new machine business by improving our route to market. And for service sales, we expect annual organic sales growth of 5% to 6% until the year 2026. This includes converting as many service contracts as possible from occasion-based to recurring contracts. So recurring revenue will be increased as well.

Another question from Mr. Tassler from SDK to Mr. Klebert. What does GEA mean by more efficient plant concepts with volume increases, energy savings, modernizations, et cetera?

Well, by volume increase and efficiency, we mean more output through higher efficiency through modernization, more uptime, service time and expansions. Energy saving for us means a holistic plant layout with seamless integration of equipment and processes from different areas for the lowest energy consumption and the reduction of CO2 emissions. Internally, we call that SEnS. We devised the product offering that to the customer that bears the name of SEnS.

The next question from Mr. Tassler, SDK goes to Mr. Klebert. What are the primary business areas in Mission 26?

Well, Mission 26 is a growth strategy for this year and the next years -- the next few years that encompasses all GEA business areas, with a focus on the food and pharmaceutical industries.

Mr. Ketter, a question from Mr. Tassler from SDK. One of the main drivers of growth are R&D activities, research and development. How are R&D activities allotted with regard to general development and customer or order-related development? Can you give us a percentage?

Our R&D activities are basically aimed at aligning components, products, processes and projects towards the needs of our customers. To a small extent, we also carry out R&D activities on behalf of our customers, for example, use of our test centers. It is not possible to give you percentages for general and customer order related development due to the fluid boundaries, for example, in project cost calculation.

The next question to Mr. Klebert by Mr. Tassler from SDK. How does GEA deal with the topic of digitization?

Digitalization is deeply rooted in the company's Mission 26 growth strategy. This forces -- the forces for digital product innovations are bundled under GEA Digital. We formed GEA Digital in February with 200 employees and expect accelerated growth from software products and new business models as early as this fiscal year.

Another question from Mr. Tassler from SDK to Mr. Ketter. The proportion of shareholders from Germany at GEA is conspicuously low. Does the 8.1% regional distribution on Page 22 of the annual report refer exclusively to institutional shareholders?

I can confirm that the 8.1% that you refer to refers exclusively to institutional investors.

Next question also from Mr. Tassler to Mr. Ketter, the shareholder structure. According to the 2021 regular analysis is as follows: 97.1% identified shareholders, so delta 2.9%; 8.5%, Kuwait Investment Office, not free float; 6.6% to 6% Oliver Capital; Groupe Bruxelles Lambert, not free float, 15.1% major shareholders, 78.1% institutional shareholders, 5.9% free float shareholders, 84.0% free float, 15.1% major shareholders, 99.9 is the subtotal and the difference is 0.9%. That means that the free float of noninstitutional shareholders is less than 70%. Is this correct?

According to our shareholder analysis conducted in the second half of 2021, major shareholders held slightly more than 15% of the share -- shares. According to the definition of Deutsche Börse AG, these are not included in the calculation of the free float. According to Deutsche Börse AG, the free float was around 84% as of December 31, 2021. According to our analysis, institutional shareholders held 78.1% of the shares, and 3.9% were held by so-called retail investors. For 2% to 3% of the shares, the investors could not be identified in this analysis. It means that at least 3.9% of our shares were in free float held by noninstitutional shareholders at the time of the analysis.

Next question by Mr. Tassler to Mr. Ketter, what is GEA doing to strengthen shareholder culture in Germany?

GEA contributes to strengthening the shareholder culture in Germany through several measures. At the Executive Board level, for example, we participate in events organized by both the German association for the protection of securities owners, Deutsche Schutzvereinigung für Wertpapierbesitz, and the German association for the protection of investors, the Schutzgemeinschaft der Kapitalanleger. Our Executive Board and our Investor Relations teams are in regular contact with investors from Germany, either by telephone, video conference or face-to-face meetings. We act strictly in accordance with the principle of equal treatment when communicating with the capital market. Regardless of whether they are small shareholders or institutional investors, everyone enjoys the same rights. We take the necessary time to answer the questions of each investor group. We are convinced that this is the only way to build trust with all investor groups.

Next question to Mr. Klebert by Marc Tüngler from the DSW, Deutsche Schutzvereinigung für Wertpapierbesitz. How does GEA perform in an inflationary environment? Do you have any past experience in this regard? And what are the 3 biggest challenges you are facing?

The economic environment is characterized by high inflation rates and rising energy, raw material, material and personnel costs. The inflation rate in Germany is at a level last seen in the early 1980s. We, therefore, have only limited experience of such inflation rates from individual countries, mostly from developing countries, where the environment is only partly comparable with today. However, GEA is performing well even in this environment. For their part, our customers are exposed to rising prices for energy and raw materials, for example. As a result, we are currently experiencing brisk demand from our customers for solutions to cushion the price increases for raw materials through efficiency enhancement. Due to our diversified customer structure as well as our solid end markets, we are confident that we will be able to pass on rising costs to our customers in the form of price increases. GEA's main challenges are price increases in purchasing, availability of goods and the effects of the conflict in Eastern Europe on energy prices, for example. On the whole, however, we believe that we are well positioned to meet these challenges.

Next question by Mr. Tüngler from DSW to Mr. Ketter. How will cash flow and working capital develop in these uncertain times? Can you already see that your customers' payment behavior has changed? How do you manage purchasing in the current inflationary situation?

Well, the development of cash flow and working capital is essentially shaped by 2 important factors. On the one hand, the development of order intake plays an important role. On the other hand, the development of sales of our order backlog. Order intake is important in that its development includes advanced payments from our customers, which have a positive impact on cash flow and working capital. As our project business also includes major individual projects. the development of order intake may be subject to fluctuations, which in turn also impacts cash flow and working capital to a lesser extent. In the case of sales, material bottlenecks can temporarily lead to negative effects on cash flow due to weaker sales performance. In the case of working capital, there may also be a temporary increase in inventories. This increase may be due to the fact that we want to keep a little more inventory at the current time as a precaution as well as to the possibility that machines are temporarily in stock in a semi-finished state and can therefore only be shipped at a later date. At the end of 2021, our net working capital as a percentage of sales was 5.1%, far below our target corridor of 8% to 10%. In this target corridor, we have already factored in the aforementioned risks. So the question, can you already see that your customers' payment behavior has changed? Well, at present, we have not noticed any change in the payment behavior of our customers. The next question was, how do you manage your purchasing in the current inflationary situation? Since the beginning of 2021, we have been observing price increases for raw materials and services, some of them significant. This affects many products related to stainless steel, certain chemicals and semiconductors, but also logistics services. To better respond to changes in the procurement markets, we formed a team of experts before the current price increases begin. This team continuously monitors developments on our procurement market. In real time, this information is passed on to the decision makers in sales, the divisions and production. This enables us to respond promptly to developments and take appropriate countermeasures based on this information.

The next question by Mr. Tüngler to Mr. Klebert. To what extent will our margins suffer or have to suffer in the next few years as a result of the increased costs?

Well, the current economic environment is characterized by comparatively high inflation rates and rising energy, raw material, material and personnel costs. GEA is countering these challenges in particular by adjusting the prices of its own product, project and service portfolio. On this basis, GEA is adhering to the Mission 26 margin targets it has set.

Next question by Mr. Tüngler from DSW to Mr. Klebert. To what extent will you be able to pass on additional costs to our customers via product prices? How sensitive are our customers in this regard? Or can you see from the structure of our client yield that the issue of passing on costs will not be a major challenge?

For that part, our customers in the food industry, in particular, are exposed to sometimes very significant price increases for intermediate products for food production. Furthermore, food production processes are usually energy-intensive, as cooling or heating technologies are almost always included in the process. In addition, our customers also aim to significantly reduce their own greenhouse gas emissions. Our machines and systems are the solution for our customers to increase their own process efficiency, and at the same time, enable them to achieve their own climate targets. Against the background of solid demand development, diversified customer structure and our robust end markets, we are able to pass on the additional costs on the procurement side to our customers.

Next question to Mr. Klebert posed by Mr. Tüngler, to what extent do the war in Ukraine and the resulting sanctions have a direct or indirect impact on GEA's operating business?

Currently, we have resumed our service and sales activities in Ukraine. In Russia, we have been operating with considerable restrictions since March. Nevertheless, we believe that the risk arising from the decline in business in Russia and Ukraine is manageable. And from today's perspectives, and I've mentioned that in my speech, it has no impact on our forecast range for the current fiscal year for GEA Group.

Next question from Mr. Tüngler to Mr. Klebert. How do you assess the ordering behavior of your customers with regard to major projects and in general? Do you already recognize changes due to the tense situation? Have customers meanwhile made up for orders postponed due to the corona pandemic?

Our machinery and equipment provide a solution for our customers to increase their own process efficiency and compensate for cost increases. Therefore, the current environment offers some customers an incentive to make investments right now. We do not currently see any change in the ordering behavior for our customers. As a result of the corona pandemic, there have indeed been some postponements of orders. This was particularly noticeable in the project business. As these are complex projects, personal appointments with customers are essential. As a result, planning and contracting has been postponed until the second half of 2021.

Next question by Mr. Tüngler to Mr. Klebert. An important part of the strategy and also in terms of economic success is the new food area. What potential do you see for this new business area? And how conservative or optimistic is your forecast in this respect? What can we expect?

Well, we expect the global population to increase by more than 10% between 2018 and 2030. However, the growth of the middle classes in the global population is also crucial. After all, it is the middle classes that demand high-quality protein, something which we include under new food. The current trends of increased awareness of health, the environment and animal welfare reinforce the great market potential that we see. The consumption of new food will triple by 2030. And for GEA, we expect to reach an annual order intake of over EUR 400 million in this application by 2026.

Another question from Mr. Tüngler to Mr. Ketter. In the past, the Supervisory Board was particularly concerned with the profitability of the new machine business. How has the situation changed here? And can you report any improvements?

Yes, we've made significant progress. We increased the margin in both the service and new machine business in fiscal 2021 compared to 2022 -- compared to 2020. The margin of the new machine business has increased more strongly than that of the service business.

Let me ask the last question of this AGM. The question was posed by Marc Tüngler, DSW and is addressed to Mr. Ketter. What challenges do you face as a result of the EU taxonomy? To what extent are our sales already taxonomy compliant today? And how do you assess the calculated ratio? Do you expect your cost of capital to increase?

The EU taxonomy is only partially applicable to GEA's economic activities as the manufacturing of technologies, plants and machinery for the production of beverages, food and pharmaceutical products is currently not listed in the economic activities of the taxonomy regulation. GEA generates more than 80% of its revenues from the beverage, food and pharmaceutical industries, and precisely not from the generation of renewable energy or creation of materials for the energy transition. Nevertheless, GEA's technologies and machines enable customers in the food and pharmaceutical industries, in particular, to achieve that climate targets as well as to comply with increasingly stringent regulations regarding greenhouse gas emissions, water consumption and waste disposal. For example, GEA reports taxonomy compliance sales of more than 6% in 2021. Reporting on taxonomy compliance is not mandatory for GEA until the 2022 reporting year. In principle, it should be noted that the taxonomy aims to discriminate against companies that fail to make sustainability efforts with a consequence of supposedly higher capital costs. Conversely, it is to be expected that the sustainable companies that are reporting in a transparent manner will be rewarded by the market with lower capital costs. GEA has already reported transparently on the key figures for taxonomy capability as of fiscal year 2021. We are currently working on equally transparent reporting on taxonomy compliance. According to our own assessment, GEA is thus on a par with its competitors in terms of both quality and quantity. There is, therefore, currently no reason to assume that the taxonomy will result in an increase in GEA's cost of capital.

Thank you very much, Mr. Ketter. That was the last question. I will now pass the floor back to Mr. Helmrich.

Thank you very much, ladies and gentlemen. All questions submitted have thus been answered in full. And at the same time, Item 1 on the agenda is thus dealt with, stating that the Annual General Meeting has taken note of the adopted annual financial statements, the approved consolidated financial statements as of December 31, 2021, and the group management report combined with the management report of GEA Group Aktiengesellschaft. Ladies and gentlemen, we now come to the vote on the proposed resolutions on today's agenda. As already explained, no resolution is passed on agenda item 1. All resolutions on our agenda today are adopted by a simple majority of the votes cast. Votes can be cast on the investor portal by postal vote or by issuing instructions to the company's proxies. You will receive access to the portal with your data from the registration confirmation. Voting is carried out according to the accumulation procedure already mentioned, that is only the yes votes and the no votes are counted. Shareholder [ orders ] and shareholder representatives who wish to vote in favor of a proposed resolution, that is, yes, must click yes for the respective agenda item. Shareholders and shareholder representatives who wish to vote against a proposed resolution, that is, no, must then click no. Shareholders who wish to abstain from voting need not do anything. We will now proceed to the vote on agenda items 2 to 7. The text of the proposed resolutions was published at the Federal German Gazette on March 15, 2022. I will, therefore, confine myself to presenting the individual points to you in summary. The proposed resolutions will be put to the vote in exactly the same way they were published in the Federal Gazette. We will start with agenda item 2, appropriation of net retained profits. The Executive Board and the Supervisory Board proposed that the net return profits of GEA Group Aktiengesellschaft for fiscal year 2021 amounting to EUR 161,230,027.20 million will be appropriated as follows: EUR 159,590,074.50 are to be used to pay a dividend of EUR 0.90 per no-par-value share carrying dividend rights, and EUR 1,432,952.60 are to be used as profit carried forward. The number of treasury shares held by the company that are not entitled to dividends is, well, unchanged from the information provided in the notice convening the Annual General Meeting. We come to Item 3 of the agenda, resolution on the approval of the remuneration report. The Executive Board and the Supervisory Board propose that the remuneration report for the financial year 2021, prepared and audited in accordance with Section 162 of the German Stock Corporation Act, be approved. The remuneration report is printed in Section 2 of the invitation and on page -- starting on Page 2 of the annual report starting on Page 249 and is also available on the company's website, together with the auditor's report. The next item is Item 4 on the agenda, ratification of the acts of the members of the Executive Board for fiscal year 2021. The Executive Board and the Supervisory Board propose that the acts of the members of the Executive Board holding office in the fiscal year 2021 be ratified for this period. Then let's turn to Item 5 on the agenda, ratification of the acts of the members of the Supervisory Board for fiscal year 2021. The Executive Board and the Supervisory Board propose that the acts of the members of the Supervisory Board holding office in the fiscal year 2021 be ratified for this period. And with regard to agenda items 4 and 5, I would also like to draw your attention to the existing suspension of voting rights. Pursuant to Section 136 of the German Stock Corporation Act, the members of the Executive Board and Supervisory Board may not exercise their voting rights in respect to the resolution on their discharge either from their own shares or from shares held by third parties, nor may third exercise voting rights from shares belonging to members of the Executive Board or Supervisory Board. The members of the Executive Board and the Supervisory Board have been made aware of this exclusion and suspension of voting rights and asked to take precautions in this particular respect. And let's turn to Item 6 on the agenda, appointment of the auditor for fiscal year 2022. To this end, the Supervisory Board, based on the recommendation of the Audit Committee, proposes that KPMG AG Wirtschaftsprüfungsgesellschaft Berlin be appointed as auditors of the company and the group for fiscal year 2022. Now I will continue with agenda Item 7, elections to the Supervisory Board. Based on the recommendation of the Nomination Committee, the Supervisory Board proposes that Jörg Kampmeyer and Dr. Jens Riedl, who introduced themselves to you today, be elected as member of the Supervisory Board. The election is to take place for the period up to the Annual General Meeting, which resolves on the ratification of the acts of the Supervisory Board for fiscal year 2024. The elections will be carried out by separate votes for the candidates. Ladies and gentlemen, if you have not already cast your votes, I will now call for vote on agenda item 2 through 7 to be cast. Voting is carried out according to the -- in accordance with the accumulation method. Already mentioned that is only yes or no votes are counted. If you wish to vote yes or no for one of the agenda items 2 to 7, please click on the yes or no box next to the agenda item in the investor portal for each agenda item. If you wish to abstain from voting on individual agenda items, you do not need to do anything. Please, well, give your instructions to the proxies now or cast your postal votes now. You have 5 minutes to do so until 12:40. I will interrupt the Annual General Meeting for this particular period. [Voting] Ladies and gentlemen, it's 12:40, time to hand in the postal votes and the instructions to the proxies, this time has expired. We will continue the Annual General Meeting. Now I know that all shareholders had the opportunity to exercise their voting rights, I thus close the opportunity to vote on agenda items 2 to 7. Voting on agenda items 2 to 7 has ended. And I would like to ask that the investor portal now be closed for voting and that the notary record this. Until the result of the vote is available, I will interrupt the AGM for approximately 15 to 20 minutes. [Presentation]

Ladies and gentlemen, I now have the attendance and the results on the vote on agenda items 2 to 7. I will therefore continue the Annual General Meeting, announce the attendance and now establish the voting results with regard to the proposed resolutions on agenda items 2 to 7 as follows. In addition, you can see the details of the voting results on the superimposed presentation. We will also publish the details on the website, too. And well, from the registered nominal capital of the company in the amount of EUR 520,375, 765.57 divided into 180,492,172 no par value shares, 116,435,429 shares with the same number of votes are represented at the Virtual Annual General Meeting by proxy or as instructed. This corresponds to an attendance of 64.51% of the nominal capital. In addition, postal votes were received for 26,786,837 no par value shares. Consequently, the votes represented today at the AGM plus the postal votes received amount to 143,222,266 no par value shares. This corresponds to 79.35% of the nominal capital. And now let's, well, turn to the voting result of -- on appropriation of net earnings. I note that valid votes were cast for 143,221,146 no par value shares. This corresponds to 79.35% of the registered nominal capital. Votes in favor, 142,452,736. Now this is 99.46%. And with no, against, 768,410 votes. This corresponds to 0.54%. I have established and announced that the Annual General Meeting has adopted the resolution proposed by the Executive Board and the Supervisory Board on agenda item 2, as published in the Federal Gazette on March 15, 2022, with the required majority. I now come to the voting result on agenda item 3, resolution on the approval of the remuneration report. I note that valid votes were cast for 143,290,636 no par value shares. This corresponds to 79.35% of the registered nominal capital. Votes in favor, 132,099,191 votes. This corresponds to 92.24%. And voted against, 11,120,454 votes. This corresponds to 7.76%. I hereby establish and announced that the Annual General Meeting has adopted the resolution proposed by the Executive Board and the Supervisory Board on agenda item 3 as published in the Federal Gazette on the 15th of March 2022 with the required majority. And I now come to the voting result on agenda item 4, ratification of the acts of the Executive Board for fiscal year 2021. I note that valid votes were cast for 142,568,609 no par value shares. This corresponds to 78.99% of the registered nominal capital. Votes in favor, 142,555,627 votes. This corresponds to 99.99%. Votes against, 12,982 votes. This corresponds to 0.01%. I hereby establish and announce that the Annual General Meeting has adopted the resolution proposed by the Executive Board and the Supervisory Board on agenda item 4 as published in the Federal Gazette on March 15, 2022 with the required majority. On this occasion, I would like to thank the Executive Board once again for the work it has done in the previous fiscal year. I now come to the voting results on agenda item 5, ratification of the acts of the members of the Supervisory Board for fiscal year 2021. I note that valid votes were cast for 142,673,368 no par value shares. This corresponds to 79.05% of the registered nominal capital. Votes in favor, 142,659,689 votes. This corresponds to 99.99%. Votes against, 13,679 votes. This corresponds to 0.01%. I hereby establish and announce that the Annual General Meeting has adopted the resolution proposed by the Executive Board and the Supervisory Board on agenda item 5, as published in the Federal Gazette on March 15, 2022, with the required majority. Now I come to the voting results on agenda item 6, appointment of the auditor for fiscal year 2022. I note that valid votes were cast for 143,219,990 no par value shares. This corresponds to 79.35% of the registered nominal capital. Votes in favor, 135,196,113 votes. This corresponds to 94.40%. Votes against, 8,023,877 votes, which corresponds to 5.6%. I hereby establish and announced that the Annual General Meeting has adopted the resolution proposed by the Executive Board and the Supervisory Board on agenda item 6, as published in the Federal Gazette on March 15, 2022, with the required majority. I now come to the voting result on agenda item 7.1, elections to the Supervisory Board, in this case, Mr. Jörg Kampmeyer. I note that valid votes were cast for 143,220,251 no par value shares. This corresponds to 79.35% of the registered nominal capital. Votes in favor, 143,037,533 votes corresponding to 99.87%. Votes against, 182,718 votes corresponding to 0.13%. I hereby establish and announce that the Annual General Meeting has adopted the resolution proposed by the Executive Board and the Supervisory Board on agenda item 7.1 as published in the Federal Gazette on March 15, 2022 with the required majority. I now come to the voting result on agenda item 7.2. That is elections to the Supervisory Board, Dr. Jens Riedl. I note that valid votes were cast for 143,220,236 no par value shares. This corresponds to 79.35% of the registered nominal capital. Votes in favor, 143,037,918 votes. That corresponds to 99.87%. Votes against, 182,318 votes corresponding to 0.13%. I hereby establish and announce that the Annual General Meeting has adopted the resolution proposed by the Executive Board and the Supervisory Board on agenda item 7.2 as published on the Federal Gazette on March 15, 2022 with the required majority. Well, as announced at the beginning, ladies and gentlemen, the shareholders have exercised their voting rights. Well, when they have done so, they have the opportunity to raise an objection for the record. They now have another 3 minutes time for doing so. That is until 1:17 PM. They can do so electronically via the investor portal. The general meeting is suspended for the following 3 minutes once again. [Break]

Ladies and gentlemen, it is 1:17 PM. The time for raising objections to the minutes has expired, and the Annual General Meeting is hereby continued. Well, that concludes our agenda. And before I close the Annual General Meeting, I would like to thank everyone involved, both in front of the scenes and behind the scenes, well, on stage behind the scenes, for their support in holding this Annual General Meeting. Ladies and gentlemen, this concludes this year's Annual General Meeting of GEA Group Aktiengesellschaft. I wish you and the company all the best for the future and only the best. Thank you. [Statements in English on this transcript were spoken by an interpreter present on the live call.]