William Demant Holding A/S
Annual general meeting

DGAP-News: William Demant Holding A/S

2015-04-09 / 17:02

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Company announcement no 2015-05                               9 April 2015

Annual general meeting





Today, William Demant Holding A/S held its annual general meeting at the
Company's premises, Kongebakken 9, 2765 Smørum, Denmark. All proposals put
forward by the Board were approved by the ge­neral meeting, implying among
others the following decisions: 



  -- The Company's Annual Report 2014 was approved, and the year's profit, DKK
     1,095 million, will be transferred to the Company's reserves.
  -- Mr Lars Nørby Johansen, Mr Peter Foss, Mr Niels B. Christiansen and Ms
     Benedikte Leroy were re-elected members of the Board of Directors.
  -- The Company's auditors, Deloitte Statsautoriseret Revisionspartnerselskab,
     were re-elected.
  -- The Board was authorised to reduce the Company's share capital by nominally
     DKK 2,236,403, corresponding to the Company's holding of treasury shares at
     26 February 2015. The Company's holding of treasury shares was acquired as
     part of the Company's share buy-back programme in 2013, 2014 and 2015. As a
     result of the capital reduction, article 4.1 of the articles of association
     will be amended no later than four weeks after expiry of the time limit for
     the filing of claims by creditors.
  -- Until the next ordinary general meeting, the Board was authorised to let
     the Company buy back shares with a nominal value of up to 10% of the share
     capital.



At the general meeting, the Chairman of the Board, Mr Lars Nørby Johansen, gave
an account of the Group's development in 2014. He said among other things: 



'2014 was an eventful and challenging year for the hearing aid industry and for
the William Demant Group. At the beginning of the year, we were particularly
challenged in the US where we lost market shares in a turbulent market. But
with a solid performance delivered by our hearing aid business in the second
half-year and continued growth in our Group's other business activities, we
succeeded in recapturing the lost market shares. We ended the year on a high
note, so when we look back on 2014 as a whole, I think that the Group did
rather well.' 



'The Group's revenue rose by 6% in local currencies in 2014, and the underlying
earnings per share were up by 11%. To this should be added that for the first
time in the history of our Group, we delivered a free cash flow of more than 1
billion Danish kroner, corresponding to a rise of 28%. This cash flow was for
the most part channelled back to you shareholders as part of the considerable
share buy-back programme.' 



After the general meeting, the Board of Directors elected Mr Lars Nørby
Johansen Chairman and 
Mr Peter Foss Deputy Chairman of the Board.





Further information:                                                       
Other contacts: 

Niels Jacobsen, President & CEO                                  Stefan
Ingildsen, SVP Finance 

Phone +45 3917 7300                                                    Søren B.
Andersson, VP IR 

www.demant.com                                                           Rasmus
Sørensen, IR Officer
News Source: NASDAQ OMX



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2015-04-09 Dissemination of a Corporate News, transmitted by DGAP - a
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Language:    English                     
Company:     William Demant Holding A/S  
 
 
             Denmark                     
ISIN:        DK0010268440                
 
 
End of News    DGAP News-Service  
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