Scout24 SE: Annual General Meeting approves significantly higher dividend and elects two more women to the Supervisory Board

Scout24 SE: Annual General Meeting approves significantly higher dividend and elects two more women to the Supervisory Board

• Dividend of EUR 1.00 per share 18 % above prior-year figure
• Two members retire, two female successors elected to the Supervisory Board – proportion of women on the Supervisory Board rises to 50 %
• Renewal of authorisation for further share buybacks

Munich / Berlin, 22 June 2023

The Annual General Meeting of Scout24 SE took place today for the first time in three years as an in-person event in Munich. A total of 81.47 % of the voting share capital of Scout24 SE was represented. The most important items on the agenda included the 18 % increase in the dividend to EUR 1.00 per share, the renewed authorisation for further share buybacks, and the election of two new Supervisory Board members.

With Maya Miteva and Sohaila Ouffata, two qualified new members were elected to the Scout24 Supervisory Board. The appointment of the two candidates brings the proportion of women on the Supervisory Board to 50 %. The two former members, Christoph Brand and Peter Schwarzenbauer, resigned from their offices as members of the Supervisory Board with effect from the Annual General Meeting being held on 22 June 2023. Both new Supervisory Board members bring highly relevant educational and professional backgrounds that make the Supervisory Board an even more diverse body with a broad range of competencies. As a real estate expert, Maya Miteva brings many years of experience in the real estate industry as well as proven expertise in M&A and corporate finance. Sohaila Ouffata has many years of experience in venture capital investments as well as innovative business models and digital products. This new setup will also benefit Scout24's development as the company enters a new market phase.

The Annual General Meeting also ratified the actions of the members of the Executive Board and the Supervisory Board for the fiscal year 2022. The shareholders approved these agenda items and all other proposed resolutions requiring approval by a large majority. Only the compensation report presented was not approved by a majority.

In his speech, CEO Tobias Hartmann underlined the advantages of the three-sided marketplace and the extensive product portfolio for all market participants in a strongly changed market environment. "Our three-sided marketplace successfully brings together owners, seekers and professional customers in a trusted environment. This strategic diversification has once again proven to be very resilient in a changing real estate market over the past year. We are and will remain the first touchpoint for our customers and users. We will continue to drive the digitalization and simplification of real estate transactions to enable more efficient and sustainable transactions for all market participants."

In his speech, Dr Dirk Schmelzer, Chief Financial Officer of Scout24 SE, explained the Group's once again very successful financial and economic development. He showed how the high-performance product portfolio continues to drive growth in all three business segments. In addition, the investments of the past three years are increasingly leading to growing profitability – in the form of rising EBITDA margins. "The combination of a sustained good business development and the repurchase of our own shares has also enabled us to significantly increase earnings and the dividend per share and create attractive returns for our shareholders."

Dr. Hans-Holger Albrecht, Chairman of the Supervisory Board, summed up with a view to future prospects: "Scout24 has succeeded in achieving record growth in a changed market environment and in continuing to lay the foundation for future growth. Sustainable growth is made possible by sustainable business practices. Scout24 has also made great progress in its ESG activities. The long-term increase in diversity is a key element of our strategy in this regard, as today's Supervisory Board elections also underscore. I would like to take this opportunity to again express my sincere thanks to my former Supervisory Board colleagues, Mr. Christoph Brand and Mr. Peter Schwarzenbauer, for their commitment to Scout24 over the past years."

The subject of the resolution were the following agenda items*:

TOP 2: Resolution on the distributable profit – distribution of dividend

TOP 3: Approval of the acts of the members of the Management Board

TOP 4: Approval of the acts of the members of the Supervisory Board

TOP 5: Election of the new auditor (PWC)

TOP 6: Approval of the remuneration report

TOP 7a: Elections to the Supervisory Board, Maya Miteva 

TOP 7b: Elections to the Supervisory Board, Sohaila Ouffata

TOP 8: Authorisation to purchase treasury shares

TOP 9: Authorisation to issue bonds with warrants and convertible bonds

TOP 10: Amendment of the Articles of Association in respect of virtual general meetings

TOP 11: Amendment of the provision in Article 4 of the Articles of Association on entries in the stock register to reflect new statutory provisions

*This is an abbreviated presentation of the proposed resolutions.

The detailed voting results and supplementary material on the Annual General Meeting are available on the website of Scout24 SE at https://www.scout24.com/en/investor-relations/annual-general-meeting.

About Scout24 

Scout24 is one of the leading digital companies in Germany. With the digital marketplace ImmoScout24, for residential and commercial real estate, we successfully bring together owners, realtors, tenants, and buyers – and we have been doing so for about 25 years. With over 19 million users per month on its online marketplace or in its app, ImmoScout24 is the market leader for digital real estate marketing and search. To digitise the process of real estate transactions, ImmoScout24 is continually developing new products and building up an ecosystem for renting, buying, and commercial real estate in Germany and Austria. Scout24 is a listed stock corporation (ISIN: DE000A12DM80, Ticker: G24) and member of the MDAX as well as the DAX 50 ESG. Further information is available on LinkedIn. Since 2012, ImmoScout24 has also been active in the Austrian real estate market, reaching over 3 million users monthly. 

Contact for Investor Relations 

Filip Lindvall
Director Group Strategy & Investor Relations 
Tel: +49 30 24301 1917 
E-mail: ir@scout24.com  
 

Contact for Media 

Axel Schmidt
Teamlead Corporate Communications 
Tel.: +49 30 24301 1446 
E-mail: mediarelations@scout24.com  

Disclaimer 

All information contained in this release has been carefully prepared. However, no liability of any kind is assumed for the information contained herein and/or its completeness. No representation or warranty, express or implied, is given by or on behalf of the Company or any of its directors, officers or employees or any other person as to the accuracy or completeness of the information or opinions contained in this document and no liability whatsoever is accepted by the Company or any of its directors, officers or employees nor any other person for any loss howsoever arising, directly or indirectly, from any use of such information or opinions or otherwise arising in connection therewith. The information contained in this release is subject to amendment, revision and updating. Certain statements, beliefs and opinions in this document are forward-looking, which reflect the Company’s or, as appropriate, senior management’s current expectations and projections about future events. By their nature, forward-looking statements involve a number of risks, uncertainties, assumptions and other factors that could cause actual results, including but not limited to the Company's financial position or profitability, to differ materially, also adversely, from those expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements. Statements contained in this document regarding past trends or activities should not be taken as a representation that such trends or activities will continue in the future. The Company does not undertake any obligation to update or revise any information contained in this document (including forward-looking statements), whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise. You should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date of this press release. Scout24 also uses alternative performance measures, not defined by IFRS, to describe the Scout24 Group’s results of operations. These should not be viewed in isolation but treated as supplementary information. Alternative performance measures used by Scout24 are defined in the corresponding place in the financial reports. The special items used to calculate some alternative performance measures arise from the integration of acquired businesses, reorganisation measures, impairment losses, gains or losses on sale resulting from divestitures and the sale of shareholdings, and other expenses and income that generally do not arise in conjunction with Scout24’s ordinary business activities. Due to rounding, numbers presented throughout this release may not add up precisely to the totals indicated, and percentages may not precisely reflect the absolute figures for the same reason.