L'Oréal: News release: "Decisions of the L’Oréal Board of Directors of 12 May 2020"

Decisions of the L’Oréal Board of Directors of 12 May 2020

• The Annual General Meeting will take place on 30 June 2020 behind closed doors
• L’Oréal renounces an increase of the dividend
• The Chairman & CEO’s remuneration will be reduced by 30% for the whole of 2020
• L’Oréal announces the launch of the social and environmental solidarity programme: "L’Oréal for the future"

The Board of Directors of L’Oréal gathered for a meeting on 12 May 2020.

The Board determined the agenda for the Annual General Meeting of Shareholders on 30 June 2020. Exceptionally, in the context of the Covid-19 pandemic and in accordance with Order no. 2020-321 of 25 March 2020, the Board of Directors has decided that this Annual General Meeting will be held behind closed doors.

The Board will notably submit the following resolutions for approval at the Annual General Meeting:

•        Dividend

In the exceptional context of the Covid-19 crisis, the Board of Directors has decided to renounce the planned increase in the dividend of 10.4%, and consequently to propose to the Annual General Meeting a dividend of €3.85, identical to the amount paid in 2019. The dividend will be paid on Tuesday 7 July 2020, with an ex–dividend date of Friday 3 July at 00h00 (CEST). 

The Board has also decided to renounce to any share buyback operations for the whole of 2020, which amounted to 750 million euros in 2019.  

•        Remuneration of the Executive Officer

In view of the exceptional circumstances, and in a spirit of solidarity, Mr Agon informed the Board that he would renounce with immediate effect all remuneration for 2020 relating to the financial targets of his annual variable remuneration, which represents a reduction of 30% of the maximum amount of his annual fixed and variable remuneration for 2020, and all attribution of performance shares, if a plan were to be decided in 2020. The Board accepted.

Launch of the "L’Oréal for the future” programme

Furthermore, in the exceptional context of the Covid-19 pandemic and its consequences, L’Oréal has decided to create a new social and environmental solidarity programme under the name of "L’Oréal for the future”.

Fully aware of the challenges that lie ahead and of the need for active involvement to make tomorrow’s world more inclusive and sustainable, and in line with its sustainability programme, LOréal has decided via this new programme:

• to create a philanthropic endowment fund of 50 million euros to support non-profit organisations that help women all over the world who are in highly vulnerable situations, victims of the social and economic crisis;
• to reaffirm its commitment to the environment and to sustainable development by creating an impact investing fund of 100 million euros for the regeneration of damaged natural ecosystems and for combating climate change.

Jean-Paul Agon, Chairman and CEO of L’Oréal, said: "Over the coming months, our societies will face social crises giving rise to situations of great human suffering, particularly for the most vulnerable. At the same time, we are fully aware that environmental challenges are increasingly pressing. It is essential not to step back from the sustainable transformation that the world needs. We therefore wish to reaffirm our commitment to the environment and to the preservation of biodiversity, and to help mitigate the social crisis for women. These two causes reflect the values and the historic commitment of L’Oréal.”

L’Oréal and the Covid-19 pandemic

Strongly mobilised since the start of the crisis, L’Oréal has implemented a major solidarity programme. It is fulfilling its responsibility to take action on behalf of its stakeholders, with the first priority being Group employees, whose jobs and salaries have been guaranteed. L’Oréal is also actively supporting healthcare, its customers and suppliers in more than 40 countries, by providing close to 14 million units of hand sanitiser and more than 4.3 million units of products, mainly hand cream and shampoo, produced by 70% of its factories worldwide. Numerous healthcare initiatives have thus been put in place in the countries where L’Oréal operates, as well as money donations up to close to 3 million euros. L’Oréal employees have also taken part by giving more than 1,200 hours of their time to L’Oréal citizenship programmes. The Group is also providing support to its partners: it has frozen payments receivable for more than 100,000 clients and shortened the leadtime for payments for close to 9,000 suppliers. As for non-profit organisations, the L’Oréal Foundation has made 1 million euros available to support people in need.

Information about the holding of the Annual General Meeting
The Annual General Meeting will be held on 30 June 2020 behind closed doors, without the physical presence of the shareholders and other persons entitled to attend, at the headquarters of L’Oréal, 41 rue Martre, Clichy at 10 a.m. The Meeting will be broadcasted on the website www.loreal-finance.com
In accordance with Decree no. 2020-418 of 10 April 2020, the Board of Directors has designated the companies Téthys and Nestlé as scrutineers.
The notice to attend the meeting, containing all the information relating to participation in the Annual General Meeting, will be published in the Bulletin des annonces légales et obligatoires (BALO) on 25 May 2020 and will be available online at www.loreal-finance.com, in the "Regulated Information / Annual General Meeting Documents” section. Participation terms and conditions and all information relating to the Annual General Meeting will be available for consultation in this section of the website.

"This news release does not constitute an offer to sell, or a solicitation of an offer to buy L’Oréal shares. If you wish to obtain more comprehensive information about L’Oréal, please refer to the public documents registered in France with the Autorité des Marchés Financiers, also available in English on our Internet site www.loreal-finance.com.
This news release may contain some forward-looking statements. Although the Company considers that these statements are based on reasonable hypotheses at the date of publication of this release, they are by their nature subject to risks and uncertainties which could cause actual results to differ materially from those indicated or projected in these statements.”
This is a free translation into English of the news release issued in the French language and is provided solely for the convenience of English-speaking readers. In case of discrepancy, the French version prevails.

Contacts at L'Oréal

Individual shareholders and market authorities
Mr Jean Régis CAROF
Tel: +33 1 47 56 83 02
jean-regis.carof@loreal.com 

Financial analysts and Institutional investors
Ms Françoise LAUVIN
Tel: +33 1 47 56 86 82
francoise.lauvin@loreal.com

Journalists 
Ms Domitille FAFIN
Tel: +33 1 47 56 76 71

domitille.fafin@loreal.com

Switchboard: +33 1 47 56 70 00

For more information, please contact your bank, broker or financial institution (I.S.I.N. code: FR0000120321), and consult your usual newspapers, the Internet site for shareholders and investors, www.loreal-finance.com or the L’Oréal Finance app, alternatively, call +33 1 40 14 80 50.

www.loreal-finance.com - Follow us on Twitter @loreal

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• LOREAL_News_release_12_May_2020_EN