The General Meeting adopted all of the resolutions proposed by the Board of Directors, notably:
- the payment of a dividend of €0.90 per share in respect of 2021, entirely in cash, with an ex-dividend date of June 7, 2022 and a payment date of June 9, 2022;
- the renewal of the terms of office of Bertrand Dumazy, Maëlle Gavet and Jean-Romain Lhomme as directors;
- the appointment of Bernardo Sanchez Incera as a director.
The Board of Directors now has 12 members, including two employee-representative directors. It includes five women appointed by the General Meeting (representing 50% of its shareholder-appointed members) and the proportion of independent directors is 80% (8/10) based on the calculation method in the AFEP-MEDEF Code, which excludes employee-representative directors. Directors whose names are followed by an asterisk (*) are independent directors:
- Sylvia Coutinho*
- Dominique D’Hinnin*, Lead Independent Director and Vice-Chairman of the Board of Directors
- Bertrand Dumazy, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer
- Angeles Garcia-Poveda*
- Maëlle Gavet*
- Graziella Gavezotti, employee-representative director
- Françoise Gri
- Jean-Bernard Hamel, employee-representative director
- Jean-Romain Lhomme*
- Monica Mondardini*
- Bernardo Sanchez Incera*
- Philippe Vallée*
The Board of Directors decided:
- to renew Bertrand Dumazy’s appointment as Chairman of the Board of Directors and Chief Executive Officer of Edenred; and
- to appoint Dominique D’Hinnin, an independent director since 2017, to the role of Lead Independent Director and Vice-Chairman of the Board of Directors. He replaces Françoise Gri, who will no longer be considered independent as of June 2022.
The Board of Directors also decided that the Board Committees will now be made up as follows:
- Audit and Risks Committee: Bernardo Sanchez Incera (Chairman), Dominique D’Hinnin, Graziella Gavezotti and Monica Mondardini;
- Compensation, Appointments and CSR Committee: Dominique D’Hinnin (Chairman), Sylvia Coutinho and Angeles Garcia Poveda;
- Commitments Committee: Jean-Romain Lhomme (Chairman), Maëlle Gavet, Françoise Gri, Jean-Bernard Hamel and Philippe Vallée.
A radical transformation over the past six years
The General Meeting gave the Group’s management the opportunity to review the transformation achieved by Edenred since 2016. By investing increasingly heavily in technology assets, not only has Edenred disrupted its own business model, but it has also established itself as the innovation leader in the markets it serves.
Over the past few years, through both organic growth and acquisitions, Edenred has considerably enhanced its business portfolio, notably with numerous Employee Benefits solutions other than meal vouchers (Beyond Food) and the development of Fleet & Mobility Solutions other than fuel cards (Beyond Fuel). These solutions meet the needs of companies and employees, and are increasingly easy to adopt and use, enabling the Group to accelerate its growth in still largely underpenetrated markets.
Leveraging its unique, global and flexible digital platform, Edenred today connects over 50 million users and 2 million partner merchants via 900,000 corporate clients as part of a virtuous circle, offering them a seamless, omnichannel experience in its three business lines.
An outstanding global performance in 2021
Julien Tanguy, Executive Vice President, Finance, reviewed the financial performance achieved by the Group in 2021, which is the product of the transformation carried out since 2016. Record growth drove revenue, EBITDA and net profit to historic highs, firmly establishing the Group on a trajectory of sustainable and profitable growth. This trend was borne out again in the first quarter, with sustained revenue growth attesting to the relevance of Edenred’s digital innovation strategy and its commercial success.
Jacques Adoue, Executive Vice President, Human Resources and Corporate Social Responsibility, and Emmanuelle Chatelain, Vice President, Communications, also spoke about Edenred’s non-financial performance in 2021 and the Group’s commitment to sustainable development. This commitment is notably based on the Group’s CSR policy, named “Ideal”, and on the ten related targets in the areas of People, Planet and Progress. Significant headway was made on these targets in 2021, with three now included in the long-term compensation plan for managers. One year after unveiling the Group’s purpose, “Enrich Connections. For Good.” Edenred also presented concrete examples of how its solutions contribute to a better world. This is the case, for example, with the Agri solutions in Cameroon and Hot Meals in Romania, which encourage more responsible, inclusive and community-minded behavior.
On the strength of these results, Edenred plans to capitalize on the relevance of its innovative solutions to continue penetrating its markets in 2022. By virtuously supporting changing behaviors, Edenred is perfectly positioned to seize opportunities arising from structural trends, such as remote working as a permanent feature in the workplace, the growing popularity of green commuting, the increasing consumption of eco-friendly products and the transition of fleets to electric or plug-in hybrid vehicles.
A replay of the General Meeting, as well as the detailed results of the votes, can be accessed on Edenred’s website (www.edenred.com, Investors/Shareholders section, then General Meeting). A summary will be available online shortly.