Since the Board of Directors’ proposal for allocation of disposable profit, included in the Annual Report 2016, the number of registered shares eligible for dividend, at the dividend payment date of 27 April 2017, decreased due to the share buy-back programme of 5 077 780 shares and transfer of 44 378 shares for employee participation purposes from not eligible to eligible for dividend. This resulted in a lower dividend of CHF 24 million, compared to the Board of Directors’ proposal, and higher voluntary profit reserves by the same amount.

The Board of Directors’ proposal to the Annual General Meeting of 20 April 2018 is based on the number of shares eligible for dividend as of 31 December 2017. The actual dividend payment will depend on the number of shares eligible for dividend as of 23 April 2018.