Annual General Meeting Approves Dividend Increase

  •  Executive Board actions approved by a significant majority

Darmstadt, Germany, April 17, 2015 – At the Annual General Meeting of Merck held in Frankfurt am Main today, shareholders approved a dividend increase of 5 cents or 5.3% to € 1.00 per share. The dividend payment takes into account the 1:2 share split in 2014, corresponding to a payout ratio of around 22% based on earnings per share pre one-time items.

The Annual General Meeting approved the actions of the members of the Executive Board and of the Supervisory Board for fiscal 2014 by a significant majority and approved all of the resolutions. More than 1,000 shareholders took part in the Annual General Meeting. When the resolutions were voted on, 83,128,668 shares were represented, corresponding to 64.32% of the approximately 129.2 million shares issued. 

 

All Merck news releases are distributed by e-mail at the same time they become available on the Merck website. Please go to www.merckgroup.com/subscribe to register online, change your selection or discontinue this service. Merck is a leading company for innovative, top-quality high-tech products in healthcare, life science and performance materials. The company has six businesses – Merck Serono, Consumer Health, Allergopharma, Biosimilars, Merck Millipore and Performance Materials – and generated sales of € 11.3 billion in 2014. Around 39,000 employees work for Merck in 66 countries to improve the quality of life for patients, to further the success of customers, and to help meet global challenges. Merck is the world's oldest pharmaceutical and chemical company – since 1668, the company has stood for innovation, business success and responsible entrepreneurship. Holding an approximately 70% interest, the founding family remains the majority owner of the company to this day. Merck, Darmstadt, Germany holds the global rights to the Merck name and brand. The only exceptions are Canada and the United States, where the company operates as EMD Serono, EMD Millipore and EMD Performance Materials.