H. Lundbeck A/S (HLUNB) Earnings Call Transcript & Summary

Welcome. It's wonderful to see you and let's get started. I'd like to start by saying that we are offering our shareholders to follow these proceedings via webcast in Danish and English. There is simultaneous interpretation into English. So shareholders all over the world can follow proceedings. And when our CEO, Charl van Zyl speaks, he sits over here, you can see him. There'll be simultaneous interpretation into Danish when he speaks. Let me start by introducing you to the Board of Directors in '23. Those are later by the AGM, apart from me, are Lene Skole-Sørensen, who is the Vice Chair; Santiago Arroyo, Jeffrey Berkowitz, Lars Erik Holmqvist, Dorothea Wenzel, Jakob Riis and Jeremy Max Levin. We have 4 members elected by the employees, Dorte Clausen, Lasse Skibsbye, Camilla Gram Andersson and Hossein Armandi also as members of the Board. Let me say a few words about the work on the Board. We have excellent cooperation. We have good cooperation with our executive management about the strategic aspects, strategic business development and so on, but also about commercial topics and sort of practical things that turn up when you operate a company of this size. As you know, we got our new President and CEO, Charl van Zyl, he started on the 1st of September last year. Charles has great experience from the pharmaceutical industry, combined with strong patient focus, extensive market understanding and also good commercial execution. He knows a lot about that. And so we think he has been an excellent choice for Lundbeck. The Board is convinced that his leadership will play a decisive role in taking the company forward and creating value for shareholders. In February, Lundbeck announced changes to its executive management. These changes have been initiated to ensure our long-term value creation. Let me briefly introduce the top management, the way it will look from April. So we have Charl van Zyl, the President and CEO; Lars Bang, who is EVP, responsible for Production and Supply; Thomas Gibbs, EVP, he is in charge of our business in the U.S.; Joerg Hornstein, EVP. He is in charge of Finance; Johan Luthman, EVP, responsible for Research and Development. Dianne Hol. She will be the EVP, responsible for People and Organization. And she will be responsible for our staff strategy helped to develop the organization. She has an impressive international background in HR management. So Diane has a lot of experience and expertise. She joins Lundbeck from AstraZeneca, where she was VP for Global HR in different global business areas. Before that, she was globally in charge of HR and Roche Diabetes Care. Michala Fischer-Hansen will be the EVP, responsible for the Commercial Business in Europe and the International Markets. This is a new role helping to strengthen our commercial execution focused on the markets outside the U.S. Michala is an experienced manager. She has a lot of international expertise, particularly in the biopharmaceutical sector. She's been on the management of Falck since 2019 after almost 20 years at Novo Nordisk, where she had a commercial career. And we've started searching for the right candidate for a new role as EVP in charge of the overall strategy, including the commercial strategy. So this new position has the purpose of strengthening the company's strategic functions and its commercial strategy, it's marketing. So as to strengthen Lundbeck's ability to utilize present and future opportunities. On behalf of the Board, I'd like to thank both the executive management and all employees at Lundbeck for their commitment and initiatives and the excellent result in '23. Lundbeck has had another year with record revenue, and we have also shown growth in operating income, the EBITDA and as a Board, we are very pleased with that. Now according to our Articles of Association, the Board appointed the Chairman at AGM. Again, this year, we have appointed Jørgen Kjergaard Madsen from Kromann Reumert, he is a lawyer. He will take us through the AGM. So over to you, Jørgen, you have the floor.

Thank you very much. Thank you for appointing me Chairman of the AGM. I hope we will have a good and constructive AGM this morning. Before taking you through the formal requirements, I have a few practical remarks. As the Chairman of the Board mentioned, the AGM is webcast and there is simultaneous interpretation so that everyone can take a headset if you want to listen to the interpretation here in the room. If some of you have not received a headset, please raise a hand, and we will take care of that. It seems that everyone is set and ready. I also need to inform you that if you wish to speak during the AGM, you should approach the rostrum and introduce yourself here at the rostrum after having shown your access card so that everyone here in the roon as well as via the webcast can know who is speaking. If any of you leave the room before the end of the AGM, please deregister at the registration desk outside so that we know how many people are present at all times. The press are able to freely access the AGM, and they can record sound for the use of their work, but you cannot record any video or take any photos. With those practical remarks, let's get down to business. My first task as Chairman of the AGM is to conclude whether the AGM has been lawfully convened and is quorate. It should take place in the right place in the Copenhagen region according to the Articles of Association, and that is indeed the case. It should be in the right time before the end of April, and that is also the case. And we need the right notice in 3 to 5 weeks. And the notice was sent out on the 23rd of February. It was published on the company website via NASDAQ Copenhagen. And for those shareholders who asked to receive the notice, personally, they have been sent the notice. And the documentation required by law and by the articles have also been available at the website for the right amount of time ahead of the AGM. And the agenda is in accordance with the Articles of Association. There are no items today that require a particular share of the shareholders or the share capital and all of the items on the agenda today can be adopted as they stand on the agenda today. And on that background, I can conclude that the AGM has been lawfully convened and is competent to transact the business on the agenda. Are there any objections. That is not the case, and that will appear in the minutes. I can also tell you that about 77% of the company's share capital is represented and 84% of the votes. That means that all of the formal requirements are adhered to. So let me take you through the agenda for today quite briefly. First of all, and as usual, item 1 and 2, is the report of the Board of Directors and the company's activities during the past year, and the presentation of the audited annual report for 2023 for adoption. Item 3 is the appropriation of profit or loss as recorded in the adopted annual report. Item 4, is the presentation of the remuneration report for 2023 for an advisory vote. Item 5 is the election of members to the Board of Directors. Item 6 is the approval of remuneration for the Board of Directors for the current financial year. Item 7 is the election of accountants. Item 8 is any proposals by shareholders or the Board of Directors. And here, I suggest that we get back to the concrete proposals once we reach that item on the agenda. And as usual, we have the last item, any other business. And for the sake of good order, I can inform you that on the basis of proxies and postal votes, we have a clear majority to adopt all of the proposals, except for the proposal under 8.3, which is a proposal from a shareholder. Here on the other hand, we have so many votes against the proposal that it cannot be adopted. That means that we do not need to have votes as such for the individual proposals. And that means that except for 8.3 that we will get back to later on, I would like to suggest that we can simply conclude that the votes represented today are votes in favor of the proposals, if I do not hear anything else. And I would like the shareholders present who should wish to vote against or abstain from voting except for 8.3, again, which we'll get back to. I would ask those of you who wish to do so, to present yourselves at the registration desk outside with your access card after the AGM and then your vote can be registered there. That would allow us to go through the AGM without any interruptions, and that means we can record the exact votes cast. That is the procedure we have been following in previous years, and I suggest we do the same this year. With that, I give the floor to the Chairman of the Board, Lars Rasmussen, to give his report on the activities of the last year and to present the annual report and after that, to the CEO, Charl van Zyl.

I've been really looking forward to giving you the report from the Board and to take you through the annual report for '23. A lot of people around the world live with brain diseases. And Lundbeck is driven by a desire to help these people. We make our medication available through health systems in more than 100 countries. Over 8 million patients across the world are helped by our medication on a daily basis. Wherever we operate, we want to create long-term value and make a positive contribution to people and society. It's now 2 years ago that Russia started it's war against Ukraine. Unfortunately, we can see the war is still going on. Obviously, we continue supporting the Ukrainian people, and we support the activities of the Ukrainian Red Cross in mental health with a grant of DKK 5 million over the next 2 years. So the Ukrainian Red Cross will be able to extend its services and offer assistance to more children and adults affected by the war. So we expect to help 12,000 children and adults. We continue to donate Lundbeck's medication to hospitals in Ukraine. The demand -- the next donation is ready to be shipped off at the end of March. As mentioned, we endeavor to deliver medication. They can change the life of people who live with brain diseases that are rare and difficult to treat. To create long-term value for patients and the company, Lundbeck with the new CEO taking the lead, has made a review of the strategy at the end of '23. The challenge in the Sjogren for Lundbeck is to some of the patents for core products will expire within a few years. We have many clinical programs in our internal pipeline, but most programs are still in Phase I or II. So it will take time before these programs can become new approved drugs. So it's important now to think of how to address the expiry of patents. Charl van Zyl will give us more specific examples of the future strategic steps to be taken, but I would stress that the committed -- the Board is very committed to the strategic direction for Lundbeck. Overall, Lundbeck will continue to build on its core business in psychiatry. This is where we have our expertise. This is -- we want to strengthen our position in the neuro area. We have chronic headache, special neurological ailments, that we deal with, all under the guidance of specialists. We work with rare neurological diseases such as multiple system atrophy and narcolepsy. We can see in our own development and the acquisition of external means, we can see that we can make progress there. '23 was an eventful year as we had FDA approvals, positive study results and new launches. This positive development has been honored by the share market. We've seen an increase of around 26% of the value of our share from the 1st of January last year. Lundbeck has had a good '23. The reported revenue was DKK 20 billion, an increase of 8% compared with '22. This is measured in constant exchange rates. We've seen strong growth from our strategic products. There are 69, just under 70% of our total revenue. The revenue from strategic products has gone up by 16% compared with '22 and all regions have contributed double-digit growth rates for these strategic products. The adjusted operating result before interest tax, depreciation and impairment, EBITDA also shows solid growth at 7%. In research and development, we have achieved two important approvals from FDA, Rexulti AADAD and Abilify Asimtufii. Furthermore, Lundbeck has seen strong progress in the early part of the pipeline in areas where there's not enough treatment today. So Lundbeck received promising results from Phase II at the HOPE study with anti-PACAP for prevention of migraine, most recently Phase II data from what's called the AMULET study with -- for the treatment of other diseases. Now move it to the financial numbers, I have already mentioned some of them, but here is an overall view where you can see the reported development of Danish krone once again, we can see that Lundbeck achieved excellent growth in revenue, 8% in constant exchange rates. This was driven by our strategic products, as mentioned, there was a growth, as mentioned, of 16%. Furthermore, Lundbeck achieved a considerable increase in EBITDA, 7% in constant exchange rates. This growth was driven by the increased revenue and reduction of research and development costs because we completed a number of clinical studies. In 23, however, we have increased investments in sales and marketing, primarily for Rexulti and Vyepti. All in all, we are very pleased with the results achieved, the financial results achieved in '23. The net result went up by 20% to DKK 2.3 billion. The adjusted net result went up by 13% to DKK 4.2 billion. Both illustrate very well the strong development the company is undergoing. On the basis of this strong development, the Board proposes an increase of 21% in dividend payment compared with 22%. So it is proposed that for '23, a dividend of 30% of the net profit will be paid out. It's DKK 0.7 per share, a total dividend of DKK 697 million. So the total dividend per share goes up from DKK 0.58 in '22 to DKK 0.7 in '23. For '24, we expect solid growth in revenue and earnings. We expect Lundbeck to increase its revenue by 7% to 10% in constant exchange rates, driven by constant growth in the strategic portfolio. We expect the adjusted EBITDA to grow by 10% to 16% again in constant exchange rates. R&D costs are expected to grow compared with '23 since we are going to launch a number of new projects. In addition to the financial aspects, Lundbeck also focuses on running our business sustainably. I'd like to stress the following. We maintain our focus on business ethics, across functions at the end of '23, 99.9% of our employees have completed the annual training in this field. Our focus on the climate continues. We've reduced Scope 1 and scope 2 CO2 emissions by 34% since '19, our CO2 footprint from procurement called Scope 3 is today 8% higher than in '19, but this is because our business has grown much more than this percentage. So obviously, it is a problem to continue cutting down when you have a business that's growing. We've made over 50 climate agreements with suppliers in '23, and we are comfortable. This number will certainly improve in the coming years. We achieved 59% reuse of chemical substances used in production by cleaning and recirculating these substances. In '23, we've extended our working environment statistics to cover all employees globally. We focus only on production places so far. We're able to report a very low number of incidents, both overall and in relation to the total number of working hours. Last but not least, it's important to mention that Lundbeck focuses on building up a versatile and inclusive workplace. 36% of Lundbeck's leading employees globally are women. That is 2% up from last year. So let me summarize. Our business is strong and it is growing. We have a very promising pipeline, and we have the capital to invest in acquisitions to supplement our pipeline. Let me give the floor now to Charl who will talk in more detail about the company's strategy and the results in '23. Over to you, Charl.

Yes. Good morning, everyone, and thank you for joining today. Of course, also for those online. It's my pleasure to be with you, and I have been with Lundbeck for 6 months, as Lars had indicated. And I feel, of course, very privileged to be able to be here with you and lead such an amazing company with a fantastic reputation in the space of neuroscience. And I will build on a few comments from Lars as well in terms of our performance and go a little bit deeper into some of our strategic assets. In my first 6 months, we went through a strategic review, and I would like to maybe give you a few points of direction of how we see the future strategy and what we're trying to solve for Lundbeck in the long term. And in a sense, we are very focused on the area of neuroscience of course, and being a focused innovator means three things for us in a sense. The first is that we are dedicated to the space of neuroscience, and we are very dedicated also to the areas where we will play in a sense, and we have defined four biologies with a very clear focus of our research organization to play in the space where we understand the biology and where we understand the areas of the discovery platforms. The second important reason for being a focused innovator is because we are here to solve the areas of unmet need for patients. So our focus is very much on delivering what is added value beyond what is standard of care today for patients, and that remains a key focus point for the company. And the reason why we exist and why we continue to build this focus on bringing solutions for patients in areas where there's high unmet need. And of course, the third reason for being a focused innovator is that we are making clear choices in how we put our resources to use for the long-term sustainable growth of the company. So this is really what a focus innovator is all about and really what we are positioning ourselves in terms of our ambition for the long term. The foundation of all of that is built on a deep understanding of patients, and that is really the first part that we continue to understand what is the problem or the challenge we want to solve with patients. We have a second important pillar, which is the people of Lundbeck and how we ensure that we have the best skills and capabilities to solve that innovation for the long term. And of course, our understanding, of course, our role in society and how we can contribute in terms of value also to society in everything that we do as a company. So I want to again take this moment to recognize the people of Lundbeck. Great companies are built on the foundation of great people. And the results that you have seen from 2023 is built on great collaboration of these teams, great ideas, strong innovation focus. And I again want to thank the people of Lundbeck for the results we've achieved and of course, continue to see this as the foundation of success also for us as a company going forward. So a little bit more specificity on some of the areas of where I'm really pleased with our performance. Clearly, on a geographic basis, we operate across the globe in the U.S. and also our international markets with a strong foundation in Europe as well as international footprint. And across all those geographies, we've seen consistent strong growth across all these areas with -- as was mentioned, specifically our strategic assets, which you see listed on the right-hand side of the slide, those have grown at 16% last year on a constant basis and it's really there that we see the essence of the growth, strong value propositions for Rexulti. We have Brintellix/Trintellix that is growing at 5%. Abilify is a strong foundation for us, of course, growing at 10% and also Vyepti that is growing significantly faster at 74%. And this is 70% of the company's assets in a sense in this space, which is why we also feel very confident in the growth path ahead because of the foundations we've laid with these four assets that are key to our growth going forward. I will make a few remarks on each of these, just to give you a sense of why we have the confidence around the growth of the company and how we see this evolve going forward. 2023 was really a pivotal year for Vyepti this is the asset that we have in the space of prevention of chronic migraine. And here, we see clearly an inflection in 2023 with very strong growth across the geographies with specific mention here to the U.S., where we have seen a real inflection point. And the asset is really positioned as best-in-class for the treatment or prevention of chronic migraine. And so our confidence here is built on this strong performance in '23, and we see this as an area of further investment for the company in the space of severe migraine to build a strong future of growth there for us. The rest of the world, we are launching and rolling out the Vyepti launches, and we will see more growth, of course, coming also from our international markets as we go forward. 2023 was also a very strong year for Rexulti, which is one of our key assets in partnership with Otsuka. We have an indication in major depressive disorder, but also have been gained the additional indication in 2023 for agitation associated with dementia and Alzheimer's disease, and this has been a major growth area for us in 2023 with an investment in the U.S. to launch this additional indication. And so there, we can see also the results of really double-digit growth in Rexulti. And we continue to see this asset as another important investment area for the company to fuel the midterm growth for Lundbeck. I'm also really pleased to see the results of Brintellix. This is an asset that has been almost 8 years in the market, and we continue to see a really strong demand, underlying growth also very much from Europe with 16%. And so this remains an area for us to continue to see that growth as we enter into a phase of loss of exclusivity in the next 2 to 3 years, it remains an important growth driver for us in the midterm. And the final of the four key strategic assets is Abilify Maintena, but also the additional asset we have here, which is a two monthly interval injection long-acting. And here, again, seeing very strong underlying growth, well-established asset and with a very clear value proposition now also with a 2 monthly injection allows us to see that expand going forward. So these are the four key assets for us that we believe really will continue to drive the growth of the company in the midterm and build a strong foundation for that long-term growth as well. 2023 was also an excellent year for the pipeline. And you would have seen, I speak under the correction here also of Jørgen, but the foundation has been laid with our R&D organization well before I arrived. So I'm walking in the footsteps of others here, but I am very pleased to see the strong foundation of research and development that we have in the company with the four biologies that we have listed there are our areas of expertise and focus where we have really played a clear focus in a sense on where we understand the biology, where we understand pathobiology and therefore, can clearly also create a greater success in outcomes of these areas of discovery for us going forward. I will only call out a few key points here. What was really pleasing for us to see was the advancement of our anti-PACAP molecule in the severe migraine space. So this has given us really confidence on building further investing into the next stages of development of this asset and gives us even further confidence that we are building a long-term franchise in the space of severe migraine. We've also seen, of course, results for Rexulti in PTSD, which with two pivotal trials there that allow us a certain confidence now to advance further discussions with health authorities on the future of that indication. We have recently released results also on our alpha-syn molecule, the AMULET study that gave us a clear trend analysis that feel -- makes us confident that we can discuss further with health authorities, how we advance further development of this asset in an area, which is called multiple system atrophy, which is a severe unmet need, and there is currently no treatment in this space. So a very novel treatment and a great opportunity for the company to advance there. And the fourth one I would mention is certainly neuroinflammation with the advancement of the CD40 ligand asset here. This is a broad space where multiple indications are possible. And we feel we have a very strong asset here that we will advance further in different indications, potentially also with future partnerships if needed. So this, again, for us gives us a clear confidence around the long-term perspective of Lundbeck, the foundation we have in terms of research and development that allows us to really position ourselves for the long-term growth of the company in the next decade. So as a final few concluding slides. I just want to paint a few pictures of really where are we focusing as a company and as a management team to advance Lundbeck for the long term. Clearly, as I mentioned these, the four key strategic assets deliver for us, very strong, stable midterm growth, and we will continue to invest in those, in very clear geographic areas to make sure that we grow very strongly in these four assets. If they grow for us very well, it feels, of course, the engine for further investment in R&D, and we are also very specific in our business development efforts to look both at our organic, of course, innovation, but also the external opportunities that could further fuel that midterm growth. As a key priority, of course, we are an innovative-driven company. And so our focus on making sure the engine of our research and discovery is very focused, clear on where we play and also continue to think about external opportunities to fuel that engine to create a clear long-term innovation engine for the company. And the final and an important one, of course, we are very clear also on our financial direction we set, the clear pathway we want to plot going forward with our commitment to our investors also with a clear adjusted EBITDA of 30% to 32% by 2026. And this is very much still our clear goal going forward with our revised strategy. If we project as a final slide, just the horizon of where we see we can take Lundbeck and what is the ambition we want to set. There is a clear focus in the next 2, 3 years, 2024 to '26, where we need to grow our strategic assets. We are being very disciplined around our capital allocation to ensure that we can fund growth but also innovation that is coming from the pipeline and that we have a very systematic approach to how we will look at business development, to bring additional innovation for the long-term growth of the company. As things evolve, we are very confident as we enter into this mid-stage '27 to '29, that we can be of certain scale in areas like severe migraine with Vyepti, of course, but also anti-PACAP has a very strong franchise in the space of migraine and also the pipeline that is emerging in the rare neurological area can give us further scale there. We see partnerships, of course, as important today but also in the future. And we will continue to think about partnerships as a way to reach areas where we cannot do it ourselves. And that we continue to build an organization in a company that is very much focused on being efficient, effective and data-driven in the way we operate on a platform in terms of operating principles and being very clear on where we invest and how we invest our resources. The long-term ambition beyond the end of the decade is really that we see the pipeline that we have today emerge as we see that these -- many of these assets will be able to launch by the end of the decade. So we see strong growth from this pipeline. Ongoing business development is a key component of the future, and we will continue to do that well. And that we will also, through this process, continue to build an industry-leading neuroscience research platform that is also investing in artificial intelligence and other means to accelerate some of that discovery and allowing us to discover novel medicines, but do it even faster and bring them to the market even in a more expedited way. So this is really the ambition we set for both short, medium and long term. And I'm really confident with what we have in our hands that we can achieve this ambition very effectively. So thank you again for the opportunity to present this to you. And I'll hand it back to Jørgen. Thank you.

Thank you very much. So these was items 1 and 2 on the agenda, the report of the Board and the company's activities and the year under review presentation of the annual report for approval and then supplemented with visions and thoughts about the company's future. Let me mention that as you're sure, we have an unqualified report from the auditors. You can see it on Page 106 in the annual report. Does anyone wish to speak in connection with these items on the agenda. If that -- well two people ask for the floor. First, we have shareholder Kjeld Beyer.

Yes, Kjeld Beyer. So www.kjeldbeyer.dk, that's me. All companies of climate goals is really getting too much. I think this whole discussion about climate warming, you forget to include the sun as the most important factor is only CO2 that has to do with the 4% of the heating that we get. So we focus a lot on that. And all of our society has to be reorganized because of CO2. This has been invented by Al Gore. He didn't know what to do when he was finished being the Vice President for Bill Clinton, and the whole world is now on this bandwagon. In particular, scientists should say there are other factors that have to do with global warming, yes there is a global warming because there's a bit of meddling with these numbers about the ice melting and all that. This has become a whole industry for people making a living off the CO2 thing. So I just want to take this opportunity here to give you this point because all companies kind of give up, they have to comply with the CO2 thing. Maybe as a responsible company, you should say, well, stop. That is not really the reason why our climate might be changing. I don't think it's that bad, that the climate has changed, it's a bit warmer, yes, but that's natural. The natural reaction to our rotation around -- in relation to the sun and the precision of the planets. But you can see things are going up and down. So we are really too much into CO2 at the moment. We should make a stop to that. I just wanted to say that to the Board. As a scientific company, couldn't you say, well, there are other things than CO2 that are the -- that are the cause of this climate thing. Thank you.

Thank you, Kjeld Beyer. I believe there was one more shareholder who wanted to have the floor. You have the floor.

I'm Peter [ Nagel ]. I've been a shareholder for more than 10 years. And when I check out Morningstar and see how Lundbeck has been doing over the last 10 years, it's not overwhelmingly good. I mean it's at the low end of the performance sort of range. So I'd like to ask a specific question to the Board. What have you learned over the last 10 years when you have really not succeeded in creating much of a dividend. There have been problem. There have been products that you thought were ready for the market, but still they were not accepted in the U.S. What have you learned? And how can you use that in the future development of the company? I fully respect that the area in which you work, mental diseases is a difficult area. I've listened to people at the open university just making -- giving a diagnosis can be difficult. And we can't give a precise diagnosis. It can be difficult to choose the right medication. So many of the patients who are getting your medication, a last proportion do not benefit from it. It's not working for them. So that's my second question. How do you address that in the future development? My last question, I must congratulate you with the good result that you have this year. This is promising. But it was also said that a number of patents are about to expire. So in the long run, there will be risks, won't there. Risks that you cannot ensure a good dividend in the company. If the products you have in the portfolio do not make it to market and so cannot be sold. So I'd like to ask you about risks and likelihood, can you reach the visions you have presented. Do you have products that can replace the products you have in your portfolio right now? And finally, I'd like to be persuaded that this is a share we should buy more of or is it a share we should sell? Because if patents expire within the next 3 or 4 years, maybe it's time to sell the share. This is what I wanted to say. Other than that, I want to congratulate you with the good result achieved in '23.

Thank you to Peter [ Nagel ]. There were a number of questions here. I give the floor to the Chairman of the Board, Lars Rasmussen, who will comment.

Thank you for these questions and comments. I'll take the first question first. And I will leave question two to Charl. Perhaps that's not a very nice standard of me. Not very nicely done of me because you talked about the last 10 years, and he's only been here since September, right? So anyway. But maybe I should say a few words about it before Charl talks. But you were also talking about the future. Climate goals, well, it could be a long discussion, candid. I mean what is the background for all this climate discussion that the world is having what we do as a company. We must relate to the fact that there is legislation coming. This is not for us to choose what we want to do. We are climate aware. We have been there for many years. But as a company, yes, we do have an influence on society. We want that to be as low as possible, obviously. We do believe that also makes good business sense, because this is a resource, the consumption of resources leads to CO2 emissions. So it makes sense to keep that as low as possible. But anyway, we are certainly not the most polluting industry that you can find. But anyway, there is legislation coming. CSRD legislation is coming, this new director. This is hardcore law. We must implement that law that direct, but it's still undergoing approval in Denmark. So you can say that we are paving the road as we move forward here. This year, when that's over, we must present climate accounts really, this is not telling a tale as it's been before. Now these are things that need to be sort of put down in numbers and the accountants, the auditors must sign to those numbers as for the financial numbers. For us as a Board, when there is not much legislation coming, and we need to implement a set of rules that is really extensive. We must live up to the law, that's for sure, but we must also do it in such a way that we help make the world a better place. This is the whole background. This is the reason why the European Union has introduced this new package, as an attempt to make the world a better place in terms of climate. So this is what we have to go by. And we're assessing guidelines for our company on that basis. But obviously, yes, we must comply with applicable legislation at all times. And there's a lot of new legislation coming. I agree with you. You should never do it, but you should also be careful not to live up to the law in a way such that you can take a box right and -- but then do nothing really much, nothing much. We -- now, we try and strike the right balance here. But it's not without cost, I must tell you. This is something that we need to spend resources on, but it's also a lift of competencies for the company. In a modern society, we live primarily from knowledge workers, and these are people who want us to behave properly on all parameters. And it's quite clear that if we address this agenda wrongly, it will be difficult for us to attract and retain employees. So we need to strike the right balance. We practice on that every day. And it's important that we do that in such a way that when the year is over, we've made the world a slightly better place. Right, the Lundbeck share, I must say, as a Board, we are aware that the share price has not moved as much as we would have liked to see. It's true what you said. This is a difficult area that we are in. It takes a lot of shots against the goal to score. You need to open more projects to get a product all the way through. I could say. So when we looked at that, can we get better at doing things? Well, we -- for that reason, we have reviewed the way that we carry out R&D that has taken us the last 5 or 6 years to introduce the changes that we have. And the first results that are coming and they're good, but this part needs to be stronger because otherwise, you could say, should we spend so much on R&D or should we acquire companies and do partnerships. We believe we need to do both. We need our own development, and we need partnerships. But more specifically, why do we believe that there's a good pipeline that we have. Well, this is what Charl has talked about. Maybe it would be good if you could say a few more words about that, Charl. It is one of the most important questions. So over to you, Charl.

Thank you for that question. And I will not comment so much on the past, but really more on the future and how we see the strategy that will solve that value question that you have in your mind. I think the first thing to say is that in the space of where we operate in neuroscience, it is one of the top three areas in terms of unmet need and also areas of attractiveness in our biopharma industry. You have oncology, immunology and neuroscience are typically the top three areas where we see the attractiveness also for many companies to play in this space. So we are in a very good and a very attractive area of future growth also in the space of neuroscience. Being a company that has a long history, legacy and of course, also the strong know-how of the past. What I think has changed a lot and what I have seen is the better understanding of the science and the biology so that we are able to be more calculated in the risk we take because we understand the science. We understand the pathways and therefore, allowing us to be more targeted in our efforts and therefore, also by making sure we address that risk early on, we can achieve greater success as we advance the assets in a later stage. So from that perspective, we feel very confident with also our understanding and where we play in the four biologies that we have a better chance of success also in the pipeline going forward. We know that innovation takes long in our industry. Biopharma, it's 9 to 10 years. So that's why the pipeline investment now will, in a sense, to deliver the growth in the next decade. To the second question around loss of exclusivity, of course, we are very aware of that as a company. And there are two elements to this. The first being, we will see some loss of exclusivity of Brintellix during the window of '27 to '28 those 2 years. And then we have a loss of exclusivity of Rexulti at the end of the decade at the end of 2029. What we see today and with our strategy and with our confidence around the growth of the existing assets or products that we have today, we believe with the growth and the investment we're making that we can grow through the loss of exclusivity in the midterm and focus our efforts in the company on the long-term loss of exclusivity. And that's really where we're investing then more in the pipeline, but also in other business development opportunities to allow us to create the engine for the growth that we see that is needed for the long term in the next decade. So from that perspective, loss of exclusivity is key for us. But with the growth we have, growing more of what we have investing in a very clear way in the key countries will allow us to grow through the first LOE and focus our efforts on the long term. Okay. Thank you.

Are there any other comments under this item? Kjeld Beyer wants to come back.

Yes, I attend a number of AGMs, and all companies are dealing with CO2 and climate change. But I take it you also have to make sort of climate accounts and that costs money, doesn't it? And the auditors have to audit it. And everybody in this industry, they are jubilant, they can make better salaries and they can travel all over the world in their private planes for congresses and conventions and what have you. Is there anything that gives out more CO2 than planes? They all come in their private planes, and they have to take their limo to the meeting, right? I mean, come on, isn't that just a trick -- we can't live without CO2, can we? Plants, if they don't get CO2, they don't grow, do they? And plants convert CO2 to oxygen. But we are fighting that, it's only like 4% of the influence on the climate that comes from CO2. All other things are sort of in play here. And that's not being considered. I think you should spend money on doing your financial statements and these accounts. And this is tyranny. The thing is that the people who manage all of this, they want control of the world. This is a completely different discussion. The World Economic Forum, they're behind this thing, aren't they? This thing about CO2 and climate because that's the way that they can create some sort of power over all of us. We really need somebody to wake up here. What are you doing?

Thank you very much. This is Lundbeck's AGM. So the topics that deal with Lundbeck are what we have to deal with, right? So I think the point with CO2 has been duly noted.

Yes. I'm Lars Heck, private investor. First, I'd like to thank the Board and management for an excellent result. However, as the former speaker talked about, it has not been impressive, the dividend we've seen -- shareholders. So I have a couple of questions to Board of Management. My first question is, it's great you can pay out 30% of the year's profit and dividend, why not increase that? Why not pay 50% or 60%? You have lots of money in the kitty for acquisitions, we can see that. You have up to DKK 30 billion, I believe, for strategic acquisitions. So you have more than enough. I mean, you're not making that many strategic acquisitions, are you? That's why I think that I would like to see a higher dividend percentage. That was my first question. My second question, fair enough, if you have to go out and buy something, acquire something, I can deal with the dividend being lower. But then I think like other companies what they're doing, they're buying back own shares. Why are you not doing that? Why don't we start share buyback programs here? We can see that the price of the company if you compare with peers in the world, it's extremely low. Lundbeck is a very cheap company if you compare with its peers. So why don't we start a share buyback program to the benefit of our shareholders, investors and for the company. Those were my two questions. Thank you.

Thank you. There was a question concerning the dividend policy of the company and a possible share buyback program. Over to the Chair of the Board, Lars Rasmussen.

It's a good question where the dividend percentage should be. We've decided 30%. And we do that because we know or we wish, we want. We can't know whether we can make acquisitions, but we want to have the possibility of making acquisitions because there is uncertainty in the pipeline, as we've tried to explain when we come to Phases II and III. This is when you can actually see whether what you have in the pipeline can generate the clinical results that will give you an approved drug. So there's a great likelihood that we need to acquire. And it really would be nice to have DKK 30 billion in the kitty. We don't have that, but we can borrow. And we want to be in a situation where we have the best possible balance. This is not a market where it's free to borrow money. We want to be able to borrow on favorable terms. We can do that when we have as little debt as we have. On the other hand, we don't want too much money on our balance sheet so as to become a bank. We don't want to be that. So we've felt that taking 30% as the dividend percentage. That is the right point for us. We don't want to have a lot of money on our balance sheet. If that were to happen, it will be a different situation, but that's not where we are. But we have a good loan capacity because we have very little debt as it is. So that's why the 30%. Anyway, it's also in line with the dividend policy that we talked about. We have said that we will pay back profit in the form of dividend. I understand your comment concerning share buyback is an ongoing discussion. Should we do that? I mean should we buy back shares? Should we pay our dividend or should we do a combination? As the company grows and reaches a different financial sort of level, we will be able to reconsider until the market -- the capital structure we want to have in the company. The way it is now, we've chosen to payout profit as a dividend, but that's not cast in concrete. But we will tell you well in advance if we want to change that, but we think it's important that there is certainty about dividend. Some people want it as a share buyback. Some people want it as dividend. It also depends on what country you live in. What's most favorable for all the investors. To some people, it might be better to get it as a share buyback. That's fully understandable. But we -- in this connection, we're not going that way at this point with our capital structure. Thank you.

Thank you very much. Are there any other questions? Go ahead.

Shareholder, Peter [ Nagel ]. I take the floor again because I didn't really hear an answer to my question. What did you learn from the years where the result wasn't very good. I mean the CEO can't answer, of course, he just arrived, but I'm sure some people on the Board of Directors have been reflecting on why it didn't go very well and what you learned from that development.

That's a very broad question, but I give the floor to Lars Rasmussen.

Well, let me apologize if I didn't answer more specifically. I accounted for the changes that we have made to the way we do research and development and the way we structure our company and the way we cooperate internally. And that was my way of saying that we learned that we didn't get the results we wanted. We didn't get the return on investment that we wanted from our R&D. And that is why we have made these changes. We've also learned that we need to be even sharper in our focus on alliances, partnerships and acquisitions. And that is why we have been investing more in our business development organization, which is the part of the organization looking into possible acquisitions and the part of the organization, which reaches out into the market and follows developments in the market for potential opportunities. It is not just Lundbeck who wants to do any acquisitions in the pharma industry, many pharmaceutical companies are looking into loss of exclusivity, which is the expiration of the patents. And that means that the entire market for acquisition, this has become much more professional during the course of the past 10 or 15 years. So everyone has had to adjust upwards. And that goes for the way we do R&D, but also the way in which we follow up on this development in the Board of Directors, the way we organize ourselves and the management of this field and in what we call the business development organization. I hope that was a clearer answer to your question.

Thank you for that clarification. Are there anyone else? Kjeld Beyer, briefly I hope.

Perhaps I wasn't clear enough. I would like to know what it costs for Lundbeck to do these climate accounts?

That was a very specific question, but I'm not sure that there's a specific answer. Lars Rasmussen?

Well, to be polemic, you could ask what does it cost to adhere to legislation? More generally because that costs a lot of money, but it would cost even more not to adhere to legislation. Breaking the law would be more expensive. And doing our climate account is not a choice. It's part of the legislation. It is a requirement. And we've had to hire new people to take care of this. Of course, we need to pay our auditors to audit the accounts and this is EU legislation that comes into force this year, and that means that this year's accounts for companies of a certain size all over the EU, well, they must also contain an audited climate account. And of course, it costs some money. I do not have the exact amount. But of course, we have recruited new employees to take care of that task.

Thank you. any other interventions. That does not seem to be the case. I can then conclude that the AGM has taken note of the report and that the AGM has adopted the annual report for 2023. That leads me to item 3 on our agenda today. And as we have already covered, the proposal here is to pay out a dividend of about 30% of the net results, and that means DKK 0.7 per share or a total of DKK 697 million. Any questions or comments on this item? That is not the case, and that means the proposal is adopted. That leads me to item 4, which is the presentation of the remuneration report for 2023. And here, I refer you to the complete proposals and the convening notice. Are there any comments or questions? That is not the case. That means that this proposal has been adopted. That leads me to item 5, which is the election of members for the Board of Directors. And again, I give the floor to Chairman of the Board, Lars Rasmussen.

At last year's AGM, 8 members were elected for the Board. And here on the screen, you can see which committees they are part of. One of the Board members, Jeremy Levin does not stand for reelection, and we propose that the remaining 7 members be reelected and continue in the Board in 2024. Apart from me, these are Lene Skole-Sørensen, Santiago Arroyo, Jeffrey Berkowitz, Lars Erik Holmqvist, Jakob Riis, Dorothea Wenzel. And with that, I give the floor back to Jørgen Madsen.

Thank you very much. These are the 7 candidates that are up for reelection. Any questions or comments under this item, any alternative candidates? That is not the case, and that means that these 7 candidates have been reelected. Congratulations. That leads me to item 6, which is the approval of the remuneration for the Board of Directors for the past year. And here, again, I refer you to the convening notice and the complete proposals. There are no objections here, and that means that the proposal has been adopted and that leads me to item 7, the election of auditor. Here, we proposed -- the company proposes reelection of PricewaterhouseCoopers. This is in accordance with the recommendation from the Audit Committee and the committee has not been subject to any agreement with third parties, which limits the general meeting's choice of audit firms. And you can also see in the convening notice that this proposal also covers PwC to audit the sustainability account, which is a requirement by law this year. Any other proposal for auditor? That is not the case. That means that PwC has been reelected. Congratulations. So item 8 on the agenda, proposals from the board or shareholders. 8.1 is the usual authorization to require up to 10% of treasury shares. Any comments? Not the case, duly adopted. We have 8.2 and 8.2.1, this is an update of the indemnification scheme for our Board and management. 8.2.1 is a proposal to -- I mean, the Article of Association to reflect the adoption of the updated indemnification scheme. These two things are connected. So I would suggest we treat those to under one. So 8.2 and 8.2.1, I refer you also to the complete proposals that exists, any comments? Not the case. So 8.2 and 8.2.1 have been duly adopted. 8.2.2 is the proposal to adopt the amended remuneration policy, here too, I refer you to the complete proposals that give a more detailed description. Are there any comments? Not the case. So duly adopted. That brings us then to the one proposal from a shareholder, which is 8.3. Shareholder Kjeld Beyer proposes that shareholders attending the general meeting should not be treated less favorably than the staff employed at the headquarters regarding a meal after the general meeting. I don't know if Kjeld Beyer wants to comment on this proposal? Yes, you have the floor.

Yes. This proposal has to do with respect for shareholders, I believe. We spend half a day or a day to attend the AGM here at Lundbeck. I can tell you that in DSV before the general meeting, they serve a nice meal to shareholders that turn up and spend a lot of time attending the AGM. DSV didn't have that many foreign shareholders. I believe that is the foreign shareholders, they don't care, of course, that we are here spending time at the AGM supporting the Board and coming with contributions. But I would like to see a vote by a show of hands, how many of the shareholders are in room I think it will be a nice idea, a good idea to get into the canteen afterwards after the AGM? Last year, I went in there with my sister because we haven't received anything and we were kicked out weren't we? I mean, come on, we are owners of the company, aren't we? We were just kicked out, they had no respect for us. We should just get a meal voucher and be able to go into your wonderful canteen, which is just next door here, right? It's so easy for you to do that. But it's a matter of respect. There seems to be a lack of respect. At least the Board should make sure that shareholders are respected. Perhaps foreign shareholders do not think we should get anything. But I think it's a problem that foreign investors own so much of Danish companies that Danes own less than 50% of Danish companies. So we are subjected to foreign owners, not Danish owners. And that is a huge problem, I think. Right. I think that was it. But I would like to see a show of hand, how many in the room would think it would be a good idea to be able to go into the canteen after the AGM. Thank you for your attention.

Thank you very much. I will decide if there's going to be a vote, but thank you for your -- I don't think it's a lack of respect, this is more a practical thing. There is the fact that the company's employees are actually pay for their lunch. It's not a free lunch. It doesn't exist, does it? But anyway, I have seen that there's not going to be a majority, far from being majority in favor of this proposal. But I think it might be a nice idea if there are shareholders in the room that support the proposal. Yes, we can have a show of hands in the room. So I would suggest that shareholders that support this proposal, please show of hands. Let me see how many people are enrolled? It's I think 1 or 2 shareholders, I would say, so if that has not already been expressed through proxies or postal votes. The couple of shareholders that -- they should go and register here at the registration desk and have it noted that they vote in favor of this proposal. Then we avoid having a formal vote, and we avoid a 10-, 15-minute delay this late at the AGM. We have now seen how people in the room have -- what they have said about this proposal. So this is going to be my proposal that those in favor of the proposal, go and register your vote at the desk, the Computershare desk outside. So there's no majority in favor of that proposal. So it falls. That brings us to the penultimate item on the agenda, 8.4. This is the usual authorization to the Chair of the meeting to notify the changes that recurred -- that require registration with the Danish Business Authority. Any comments? No. Duly adopted. That brings us to Item 9. This is any other business. Does anyone wish to speak under any other business? That is not the case. We've exhausted the agenda then, and I can discontinue and give the floor back to Lars Rasmussen to finalize the AGM.

Then I would like to thank you for attending this year's AGM. I'm already looking forward to next year's AGM, which is going to take place on the 26th of March next year. I would like to welcome you back next year. Thank you very much.