Danone: Update on 2021 Annual General Meeting

Press Release – Paris, March 17, 2021

             

Update on 2021 Annual General Meeting

Danone Combined Shareholders’ Meeting will be held on Thursday April 29, 2021 at 2:30 pm (Paris time), at the headquarters – 17 boulevard Haussmann, 75009 Paris. In the context of the continued restrictions related to the Covid-19 pandemic, this Shareholders’ Meeting will be exceptionally held behind closed doors.

Indeed, administrative measures, limiting or prohibiting travel or collective gathering for health reasons prevent the physical gathering of Danone shareholders to the Shareholders’ Meeting,  particularly in view of the closure of conference and meeting rooms, the obligation to respect physical distance measures and the number of people usually present at previous Shareholders’ Meetings.

Shareholders may follow the Shareholders’ Meeting, which will be webcast live and recorded for later viewing, in French and English, on Danone's website. Shareholders are encouraged to vote or give a proxy by electronic means, ahead of the Shareholders’ Meeting. The modalities and voting procedures of this Meeting will be detailed in the notice of meeting, which will be published beginning of April on (page “Shareholders’ Meeting”).

To be in a position to take into account the future needs of the company, the Board has decided to pause and reconsider any immediate members refreshment; therefore, the proposed nominations of Ariane Gorin and Susan Roberts as Directors won’t be presented to the shareholders’ meeting. This decision takes place as part of the Board’s broader thinking about its structure, size, blend of capabilities, perspectives and experiences.

As a consequence, only the following renewal and appointments of Directors will be proposed at the 2021 shareholders’ meeting: renewal of the terms of office of Guido Barilla, Cécile Cabanis, Michel Landel, and Serpil Timuray, and ratification of the co-opting of Gilles Schnepp as Director decided by the Board in December 2020.

Draft resolutions proposed to the Shareholders’ Meeting will be published on (page “Shareholders’ Meeting”) in the coming days.

Finally, the upcoming Capital Market Event, initially planned for March 25, is cancelled.

About Danone ()

Danone is a leading multi-local food and beverage company building on health-focused and fast-growing categories in 3 businesses: Essential Dairy & Plant-Based products, Waters and Specialized Nutrition. With its ‘One Planet. One Health’ frame of action, which considers the health of people and the planet as intimately interconnected, Danone aims to inspire healthier and more sustainable eating and drinking practices. To accelerate this food revolution and create superior, sustainable, profitable value for all its stakeholders, Danone has defined nine 2030 Goals, and paved the way as the first listed company to adopt the “Entreprise à Mission” status in France. With a purpose to bring health through food to as many people as possible, and corresponding social, societal and environmental objectives set out in its articles of association, Danone commits to operating in an efficient, responsible and inclusive manner, in line with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of the United Nations. By 2025, Danone aims to become one of the first multinational companies to obtain B Corp™ certification. With more than 100,000 employees, and products sold in over 120 markets, Danone generated €23.6 billion in sales in 2020. Danone’s portfolio includes leading international brands (Actimel, Activia, Alpro, Aptamil, Danette, Danio, Danonino, evian, Nutricia, Nutrilon, Volvic, among others) as well as strong local and regional brands (including AQUA, Blédina, Bonafont, Cow & Gate, Horizon Organic, Mizone, Oikos, Prostokvashino, Silk, Vega). Listed on Euronext Paris and present on the OTCQX market via an ADR (American Depositary Receipt) program, Danone is a component stock of leading sustainability indexes including the ones managed by Vigeo Eiris and Sustainalytics, as well as the Ethibel Sustainability Index, the MSCI ESG Indexes, the FTSE4Good Index Series, Bloomberg Gender Equality Index, and the Access to Nutrition Index.

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