Major items approved by today’s Annual General Meeting include:
At the Annual General Meeting of Swedish Match on 2 May, it was resolved in accordance with the proposal of the Board of Directors to pay a dividend of 5.50 SEK per share. The record date for entitlement to receive a cash dividend is 5 May, 2011. The dividend is expected to be paid through Euroclear Sweden AB, on 10 May, 2011.
Andrew Cripps, Karen Guerra, Conny Karlsson, and Meg Tivéus were re-elected to the Board of Directors and Robert F. Sharpe and Joakim Westh were elected new members of the Board. Conny Karlsson was re-elected Chairman of the Board of Directors and Andrew Cripps was re-elected Deputy Chairman of the Board.
Furthermore, the shareholders approved the Board of Directors’ proposal that it be authorized to decide on the acquisition, on one or more occasions prior to the next Annual General Meeting, of a maximum of as many shares as may be acquired without the Company’s holding at any time exceeding 10 percent of all shares in the Company. The shares shall be acquired on NASDAQ OMX Stockholm at a price within the price interval registered at any given time, i.e. the interval between the highest bid price and the lowest selling price. The purpose of the repurchase is primarily to enable the Company’s capital structure to be adjusted and to cover the allocation of options as part of the Company’s option program. Swedish Match owns 21,591,926 treasury shares as per 2 May, 2011.
In addition, the shareholders approved a reduction in the Company’s share capital of 30,351,852 SEK through cancellation of 18,000,000 previously repurchased shares held in treasury, with a simultaneous bonus issue without issuing new shares, of the corresponding amount to restore the share capital. The shareholders also approved the proposal that the reduction will be allocated to a fund for use in repurchasing the Company’s own shares.
In addition, the shareholders approved all other proposals made by the Board of Directors and the Nominating Committee as outlined in the published notice of the Annual General Meeting for Swedish Match AB.
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For further information, please contact:
Lars Dahlgren, President and Chief Executive Officer
Office +46 8 658 0441, Mobile +46 70 958 0441
Joakim Tilly, Chief Financial Officer
Office +46 8 658 0213, Mobile +46 76 860 9597
Emmett Harrison, Senior Vice President Corporate Communications and Sustainability
Office +46 8 658 0173, Mobile +46 70 938 0173
Richard Flaherty, President US Division, US Investor Relations contact
Office +1 804 787 5130, Mobile +1 804 400 1774
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Swedish Match develops, manufactures and sells market-leading brands in product areas Snus and snuff, Other tobacco products (US mass market cigars and chewing tobacco) and Lights. The Group sells products across the globe, with production units in seven countries. The Group’s global operations generated comparable sales of 11,222 MSEK for the twelve month period ending December 31, 2010. Comparable sales exclude businesses transferred to STG. The Swedish Match share is listed on the NASDAQ OMX Stockholm (SWMA).
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Swedish Match AB (publ), Box 7179, SE-103 88 Stockholm
Visiting address: Västra Trädgårdsgatan 15, Telephone: +46 8 658 02 00
Corporate Identity Number: 556015-0756
www.swedishmatch.com
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