Worldline: Annual General Shareholders’ Meeting of May 20, 2021 confirmed behind closed doors - Launch of the new five-year CSR roadmap with Trust 2025 program - Update on Group Governance for 2021
2020 Universal Registration Document filed with the French Financial Market Authority
Annual General Shareholders’ Meeting of May 20th, 2021 confirmed behind closed doors
Launch of the new five-year CSR roadmap
with Trust 2025 program
Update on Group Governance for 2021
Bezons, April 14, 2021 – Worldline [Euronext: WLN], a Global leader in the payments industry, today announced that its 2020 Universal Registration Document was filed with the French Financial Market Authority (AMF) on April 13, 2021. The Registration Document includes in particular the 2020 financial report, the new five-year CSR roadmap with Trust 2025 program and the board of director’s report on corporate governance.
Annual General Shareholders’ meeting of May 20th, 2021 confirmed behind closed doors
Worldline Annual Shareholders’ Meeting will be held on Thursday, May 20, 2021 at 2.30 p.m. Although Worldline values this moment which is an opportunity for Worldline to share and engage in constructive dialogue with its shareholders, this year as in 2020, considering the ongoing and exceptional context related to the the coronavirus pandemic (Covid-19) and the maintenance of the state of health emergency, the Annual General Meeting will be exceptionally held behind closed doors (à huis clos), without shareholders being physically present, in accordance with the applicable regulations, in particular the order n°2020-321 dated March 25, 2020 and the decree n°2020-418 dated April 10, 2020 the provisions of which have been extended by the order n° 2021-255 dated March 9, 2021.
In these conditions the shareholders may only exercise their voting rights remotely, prior to the General Shareholders’ Meeting, either online using the VOTACCESS secure platform or with the paper voting form.
The Annual General meeting will be broadcasted on Worldline website allowing the shareholders to attend remotely. In compliance with the Financial Market Authority recommendations, practical measures will be taken in order to favour shareholders’ active participation with the possibility to ask written questions in advance of the General Meeting or during the meeting on a dedicated live platform.
All the practical terms for participating in this Shareholders’ Meeting, along with the agenda and the resolutions are available on the notice of meeting to be published in the Bulletin des Annonces Légales Obligatoires of 14 April 2021 n° 45 ().
TRUST 2025: the new Worldline five-year CSR roadmap
Since its IPO in 2014, Worldline has committed to a voluntary Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) approach. The resulting strategy, fully embedded in the Group’s corporate strategy, has been structured around 5 main challenges, as identified through a materiality assessment, in the areas of business, people, value chain & ethics and the environment. The associated KPIs and reporting to monitor performance are also compliant with the most stringent recommendations of the highest leading extra-financial standards (GRI comprehensive option, UN Global Compact signatory member).
In order to bring more credibility, transparency and accuracy to its approach, Worldline has decided to launch in 2015 its TRUST 2020 Programme, reflecting its long-term commitment and ambition toward sustainable development.
TRUST 2020 has been a key enabler for mobilizing the whole organization around the 13 objectives to be achieved by 2020. As a result, eleven objectives have been achieved or overachieved, one has been partially achieved and the last one has not been achieved. The progress made through the TRUST 2020 Programme has also been awarded by the leading non-financial rating agencies.
Building on this strong momentum and the lessons learnt, strengthened in 2020 by the adoption of the Company sense of purpose, Worldline has been designing its TRUST 2025 Program that aims at opening a new chapter for the Company CSR journey.
TRUST 2025 represents the transformation vehicle to give concrete expression to the Company’s sense of purpose. This new commitment is a continuation of TRUST 2020, anticipating new market trends, risks and opportunities and regulatory changes for the coming years and is based on the following challenges:
- Guarantee delivery excellence and utmost quality of services
- Enhance customer experience through positive impact solutions
- Foster people development, well-being and engagement
- Rise up Sustainable procurement practices within our value chain
- Endorse ethics and confidence in all our activities
- Contribute to carbon neutrality
- Offer eco-designed payment terminals aligned with circular economy
- Help our local communities
With this new ambition, Worldline intends to go further in its commitment to excellence in CSR by applying the best practices and the highest market standards, by mobilizing its whole organization in the right direction, by positively influencing its ecosystem for a more sustainable world.
Update on Group Governance for 2021
Following the successful closing of the Ingenico acquisition, the Board of Directors welcomed new members coming from Ingenico Board according to the combination agreement entered into on February 2, 2020 between Worldline and Ingenico.
The Board of Directors is now composed at 65% by independent members, including a Lead Director, Mr Georges Pauget. It benefits from the strong and wide range of complementary skills and experiences of its members.
On April 7, 2021, with regard to the latest information provided by Mr. Bernard Bourigeaud that the personal constraints which have temporarily prevented him from assuming the duties of non-executive Chairman of the Board of Directors at closing will be resolved shortly, the Board of Directors decided notably, upon proposal of the Nomination Committee, to confirm its intent, in line with the spirit that as animated the completion of the initial agreements at the announcement of the acquisition of Ingenico, to appoint Mr. Bernard Bourigeaud as non-executive Chairman at the end of the third quarter of 2021, date on which Mr. Bernard Bourigeaud confirmed that he will be able to fully assume this function.
Until then, Mr. Gilles Grapinet continues to assume the chairmanship of the Board of Directors in addition to his duties of Chief Executive Officer in order to ensure stable and efficient governance in the context of Ingenico integration.
Forthcoming events
- April 21, 2021 Q1 2021 revenue
- May 20, 2021 Annual General Shareholders’ Meeting
- July 27, 2021 H1 2021 results
- October 19, 2021 Q3 2021 revenue
Contacts
Investor Relations
Laurent Marie
90
Benoit d’Amécourt
47
Communication
Sandrine van der Ghinst
+32 499 585 380
Hélène Carlander
04
About Worldline
Worldline [Euronext: WLN] is the European leader in the payments and transactional services industry and #4 player worldwide. With its global reach and its commitment to innovation, Worldline is the technology partner of choice for merchants, banks and third-party acquirers as well as public transport operators, government agencies and industrial companies in all sectors. Powered by over 20,000 employees in more than 50 countries, Worldline provides its clients with sustainable, trusted and secure solutions across the payment value chain, fostering their business growth wherever they are. Services offered by Worldline in the areas of Merchant Services; Terminals, Solutions & Services; Financial Services and Mobility & e-Transactional Services include domestic and cross-border commercial acquiring, both in-store and online, highly-secure payment transaction processing, a broad portfolio of payment terminals as well as e-ticketing and digital services in the industrial environment. In 2020 Worldline generated a proforma revenue of 4.8 billion euros.
Worldline’s corporate sense of purpose (“raison d’être”) is to design and operate leading digital payment and transactional solutions that enable sustainable economic growth and reinforce trust and security in our societies. We make them environmentally friendly, widely accessible and support social transformation.
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