The ordinary Annual General Meeting of Barry Callebaut AG, the world’s leading manufacturer of cocoa and chocolate products, was held on Thursday, December 8, 2011, in Zurich-Oerlikon under the chairmanship of Andreas Jacobs, Chairman of the Board. All motions proposed by the Board were adopted. 1,314 shareholders attended the meeting, representing 4,147,603 shares or 80.22% of the share capital.

The shareholders confirmed the re-election of Andreas Jacobs, Andreas Schmid, James L. Donald, Markus Fiechter, Stefan Pfander and Jakob Baer for another term of office of one year. In addition, the shareholders elected Mr. Ajai Puri, currently a member of the Supervisory Board of Nutreco N.V., a leading global animal nutrition and aquaculture company, and serving as a Non-Executive Director on the Board of Britannia Industries Limited, India’s largest independent food group (see separate CV). Rolando Benedick and Urs Widmer are both stepping down from the Board after serving for 10 and 7 years, respectively. The Board of Directors chaired by Andreas Jacobs expressed its gratitude to both Mr. Benedick and Mr. Widmer for their valuable contributions to the company’s development.

Furthermore, the shareholders approved the proposed dividend payment of CHF 15.50 per share out of free reserves originating from reserves from capital contributions. The dividend will be paid on March 1, 2012 without any withholding tax deduction.

KPMG AG, Zurich, was re-elected as auditors of the company for fiscal year 2011/12.

Fiscal year 2010/11 closed on August 31, 2011. 

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Barry Callebaut:
With annual sales of about CHF 4.6 billion (EUR 3.6 billion/USD 5.0 billion) for fiscal year 2010/11, Zurich-based Barry Callebaut is the world’s leading manufacturer of high-quality cocoa and chocolate – from the cocoa bean to the finished chocolate product. Barry Callebaut is present in 27 countries, operates around 40 production facilities and employs a diverse and dedicated workforce of about 6,000 people. Barry Callebaut serves the entire food industry focusing on industrial food manufacturers, artisans and professional users of chocolate (such as chocolatiers, pastry chefs or bakers), the latter with its two global brands Callebaut® and Cacao Barry®. Barry Callebaut is the global leader in cocoa and chocolate innovations and provides a comprehensive range of services in the fields of product development, processing, training and marketing. Cost leadership is another important reason why global as well as local food manufacturers work together with Barry Callebaut. Through its broad range of sustainability initiatives and research activities, the company works with farmers, farmer organizations and other partners to help ensure future supplies of cocoa and improve farmer livelihoods.