ALSO shareholders receive increased dividend for sixth consecutive year

Emmen, Switzerland, March 21, 2017

At the Annual General Meeting of ALSO Holding AG (SIX: ALSN), held in Lucerne, Switzerland on March 21, 2017, the shareholders approved the Annual Report 2016 and formally granted the Board of Directors and Group Management discharge for their activities. The shareholders also approved the compensation report for fiscal year 2016 in a non-binding advisory vote. With "Spreading Knowledge", ALSO published the world's first annual report enhanced with Virtual Reality (VR) and Augmented Reality (AR) elements. 

The shareholders approved the profit distribution proposal to receive CHF 2.25 per registered share from the capital contribution reserves (previous year CHF 1.90). The retained profit of CHF 227.0 million is being carried forward to the new account. The distribution from capital contribution reserves will be paid out from March 27, 2017 and is not subject to Swiss withholding tax or income tax for individuals resident in Switzerland who hold their shares as private assets.

The shareholders also approved for fiscal year 2017 the maximum amount of compensation for members of the Board of Directors, as well as the maximum amount of fixed and variable compensation for members of Group Management. 

Moreover, the assembled shareholders also approved the Board of Directors' proposal to extend the authorization to increase the share capital by a new period of two years. The remainder of Article 2a concerning authorized capital in the Articles of Incorporation remains unchanged. 

The General Meeting reelected the former members of the Board of Directors, Peter Athanas, Walter P.J. Droege, Karl Hofstetter, Rudolf Marty, Frank Tanski, Ernest-W. Droege and Gustavo Möller-Hergt. The shareholders approved the reelection of Gustavo Möller-Hergt as Chairman of the Board of Directors. Peter Athanas, Walter P.J. Droege, and Frank Tanski were again elected members of the Compensation Committee, and Dr. iur. Adrian von Segesser, Attorney at Law and Notary Public, Lucerne, Switzerland, was appointed Independent Proxy. The term of office for all individuals runs until closure of the next annual general meeting.

The shareholders also elected PricewaterhouseCoopers AG, Lucerne, Switzerland, as statutory auditor of the company for fiscal year 2017.

Direct link: http://www.also.com/goto/20170321en 

Contact person:
Brunswick Group GmbH
Dr. Marc Langendorf
Tel.: +49 89 80 99 025 17
Email: [email protected] 

ALSO Holding AG (Emmen/Switzerland) brings providers and buyers of the ICT industry together. The company offers services at all levels of the ICT value chain from a single source. In the European B2B marketplace, ALSO bundles logistics services, financial services, supply services, solution services, digital services, and IT services together into individual service packages. ALSO's portfolio contains more than 188 000 articles from some 500 vendors. The Group has around 3 520 employees throughout Europe (annual average 2016). In fiscal year 2016 (closing on December 31), the company generated net sales of 8.0 billion euros. The majority shareholder of ALSO Holding AG is the Droege Group, Düsseldorf, Germany. Further information is available at http://www.also.com

Droege Group 
(Major shareholder)
Droege Group (founded in 1988) is an independent advisory and investment company entirely family-owned. The company acts as a specialist for tailor-made transformation programs aiming to enhance corporate value. Droege Group combines its corporate family-run structure and capital strength into a family-equity business model. The group carries out direct investments with own equity in corporate subsidiaries and medium-sized companies in "special situations". With the guiding principle "Implementation - following all the rules of art," the group is a pioneer of implementation-oriented corporate development. Droege Group proves its implementation excellence daily within its own portfolio. The entrepreneurial platforms of the Droege Group are aligned to current megatrends (knowledge, connectivity, prevention, demography, shopping 4.0, future work). Enthusiasm for quality, innovation and speed determines the company's development. As a result the Droege Group has successfully positioned itself within the market, both nationally and internationally and operates in 30 countries. More information: https://www.droege-group.com 

Disclaimer
This press release contains forward-looking statements which are based on current assumptions and forecasts of the ALSO management. Known and unknown risks, uncertainties, and other factors could lead to material differences between the forward-looking statements made here and the actual development, in particular the results, financial situation, and performance of our Group. The Group accepts no responsibility for updating these forward-looking statements or adapting them to future events or developments.