The ABC arbitrage Annual General Meeting was held on May 27, 2016. During the meeting, which was chaired by Dominique Ceolin, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, the shareholders adopted all the ordinary and extraordinary resolutions put to the vote.
The meeting provided an opportunity to present to shareholders the drivers of 2015 net income. The Group confirmed the correlation of its business lines to general market volatility. The first five months of 2016 illustrated this, with business volumes that were significantly higher than in the first half of 2015.
In addition, the Group reaffirmed its commitment to investing in research and development, in particular by hiring more staff and developing its IT systems.
After approving the financial statements, shareholders voted to pay a final dividend of €0.20 per share. Taking into account the 0.20€ per share interim distribution in December 2015, the total distribution for FY 2015 amounts to €0.40 per share. At the Board of Directors meeting held immediately after the Annual General Meeting, it was decided to set the reinvestment price at €5.70 for shares issued to shareholders who choose to reinvest all or part of their dividends.
The dividend timeline is as follows:
● Ex-dividend date: July 1, 2016,
● Deadline for exercising the dividend reinvestment option: close of business on July 12, 2016,
● Payment of cash dividends and delivery of stock dividends: July 20, 2016.
Shareholders re-elected Didier Ribadeau Dumas and Aubépar Industries SE as directors, for a period of four years. They also elected Muriel Vidémont Delaborde as an independent director, for an equivalent term of four years. Ms. Vidémont Delaborde is currently Vice-President, Controlling & Financial Steering at Allianz France. The Board of Directors of ABC arbitrage is now comprised of seven directors (of whom five are independent), as well as one nonvoting director and one Board secretary.