Annual Report 2016

Financial statements, discharge, dividend

The financial statements were prepared by the Management Board and the auditor, PwC Accountants N.V., subsequently issued an unqualified auditor’s report on these financial statements. That report is included in the independent auditor’s report in the section Additional details. The Supervisory Board discussed the financial statements in detail in the presence of the Management Board and PwC Accountants.

Following the publication of the trading update on the third quarter results in October 2016, the company decided to distribute an interim dividend of € 0.34 per share (2015: € 0.39). In accordance with the Management Board’s proposal, we propose distributing a final dividend of € 0.40 per share. This means that 85% of the profit for 2016 will be distributed in the form of shareholder dividends. This is in line with the dividend policy, which was approved in the Annual General Meeting on 27 April 2005.

The Supervisory Board has approved the 2016 financial statements and proposes to adopt these at the Annual General Meeting to be held on 18 May 2017, and to discharge the members of the Management Board in respect of their management and the members of the Supervisory Board in respect of their supervision with regard to the financial year 2016.