The Annual General Meeting of RUAG Holding AG took place Thursday, in Emmen. Federal Councillor Guy Parmelin, Head of the Department of Defence, Civil Protection and Sport (DDPS), was in attendance as a representative of the owner of the company.
The 2017 Annual Report was approved and the members of the Board of Directors and the Group Executive Board were discharged for the financial year 2017. RUAG is paying its owner, the Swiss Confederation, a dividend of CHF 40 million. Dr. Remo Lütolf (photo) has been elected as the new Chairman of the Board of Directors of RUAG Holding AG.
Dr. Remo Lütolf has been elected as the new Chairman of the Board of Directors. The 62-year-old has been Vice Chairman of the RUAG Board of Directors and a member of the “Strategy Committee” since 2014. Due to his appointment as Chairman, Dr. Lütolf will step down from his position as Chairman of the Executive Board of ABB Schweiz AG in mid-2018. Remo Lütolf studied electrical engineering at the ETH Zurich, graduating as a Dr. sc. techn. ETH. He expressed his thanks for the trust placed in him and is looking forward to his new role.
The departing Chairman of the Board of Directors Hans-Peter Schwald gave RUAG, the Group Executive Board and the employees an excellent testimonial and wished the company and his successor all the best. Mr. Schwald has been a member of the Board of Directors since 2002 and Chairman of the Board of Directors since 2014. He announced in November 2017 that he would no longer be standing for re-election.
With net sales of CHF 1955 million (prior year: CHF 1858 million), RUAG managed to once again achieve a new record, surpassing the previous year’s figure by 5.2%. However, the record result from the previous year was unable to be upheld. Earnings before interest and taxes (EBIT) fell to CHF 119 million (prior year: CHF 151 million) and net profit dropped to CHF 89 million (CHF 116 million). The order backlog as at the end of 2017 remains at a high level, totalling CHF 1607 million (prior year: CHF 1556 million). A dividend of CHF 40 million (prior year: CHF 47 million) will be paid to the Swiss Confederation.
Following Egon W. Behle’s decision to step down at the Annual General Meeting 2017, Ms Marie-Pierre de Bailliencourt will replace him on the Board of Directors of RUAG Holding AG. Marie-Pierre de Bailliencourt, age 48, is a French citizen with a degree in political science and international affairs as well as a doctorate in geopolitics from the Sorbonne. She has worked in the Aerospace industry for many years and holds an important management position as Deputy General Manager of the French Naval Group S.A (and was a member of the Executive Board of Constructions Navales DCNS up until June 2017). She also has extensive experience in the successful development of software solutions and with major projects.
The other four members of the Board of Directors, Paul Häring, Markus Hutter, Prof. Dr. Sibylle Minder Hochreutener and Jürg Oleas, have been re-elected for a term of office of one year. KPMG AG, Zürich, was reappointed as statutory auditor for a further period of one year
