De'Longhi - EGM 15 December 2020
De' Longhi does not respect the "one share "one vote" principle: the 2017 AGM authorized the Company to issue Special Voting Shares, giving an additional voting right per ordinary share that have been registered in a "Loyalty Register" for 24 consecutive months.
The EGM (item 1) is called to approve the distribution of a dividend of €0.54 per share. A similar proposal was rejected by the 2020 AGM due to the opposition of the De' Longhi family, controlling shareholder with 69% of votes, which considered it more appropriate to postpone any decisions on dividends in light of the uncertainties generated by COVID-19 pandemic. We commend the controlling shareholder's decision to support De' Longhi Group's financial stability in the difficult situation generated by the pandemic.
The Group responded very well to the economic crisis, increasing revenues (+13.0%) and net income (+44.8%) in the first 9 months of 2020. Taking into account the positive performance of the Group in spite of the macroeconomic crisis, and also considering its financial strength, we recommend shareholders to vote FOR the proposed dividend distribution.
De Longhi is a holding company. Through its subsidiaries, Co. operates three divisions: Household, Professional and Corporate. The Household division operates in the domestic appliances market with products for air cooling and treatment, heating, food preparation and cooking, domestic cleaning and ironing. The Professional division operates in the market for large thermo-cooling systems, hydronic terminals, heat pumps and wall-mounted air-conditioning units. The Corporate division which mainly provides corporate services to the group with the functions of setting strategy, of control, co-ordination and management of centralized activities and resources.
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