VTG Aktiengesellschaft : VTG Annual General Meeting approves dividend payment of EUR 0.35

VTG Annual General Meeting approves dividend payment of EUR 0.35

• Supervisory Board re-elected by large majority

• 62.4 percent of share capital present

Hamburg, June 8, 2012.  The Annual General Meeting of VTG Aktiengesellschaft (WKN: VTG999) today ratified the Supervisory Board and re-elected its members for another five years. Furthermore, the dividend of EUR 0.35 proposed by the Executive Board and Supervisory Board was approved.

VTG remains committed to its policy of recent years of making dividend payments so that shareholders can share in the company's success. This year, the company will again be paying a dividend, this time its highest ever. Shareholders approved the proposal of the Executive Board of EUR 0.35 per share. This represents a rise of six percent, with a total payout of EUR 7.5 million.

The Chairman of the Supervisory Board Dr. Wilhelm Scheider, Vice Chairman Dr. Klaus-Jürgen Juhnke and the other board members Dr. Bernd Malmström, Dr. Jost A. Massenberg, Dr. Christian Olearius and Gunnar Uldall were re-elected to the Supervisory Board of VTG Aktiengesellschaft for a further term of office. Each had a clear majority of more than 97percent. The members of the Supervisory Board have thus remained the same since April 1, 2009.

CEO Dr. Heiko Fischer gave a detailed picture of the last year and the annual financial statements: "With a lot of effort and commitment, we continued on our path of growth in 2011, balancing responsibility and consistency equally with business success. Targeted investments, a forward-looking policy of innovation, the securing of considerable additional financing and systematic cost management ultimately led to achieving revenue and profit at the end of the financial year within the upper half of the range forecast."

The Executive Board discussed and explained the results of the first quarter with shareholder representatives. The VTG Group pushed revenue up by a total of 2.9 percent. Profit for the Group was lower than in the same period of the previous year due to integration costs and higher interest charges from the refinancing of the Group in 2011. However, the new financing structure grants VTG great flexibility within its strategy for growth along with additional liquidity.  

Fischer set out the following expectations for 2012: "Given the economic conditions and the most recent economic forecasts, we expect a positive trend in business in the financial year 2012 - although with lower levels of growth than in 2011."

About VTG:

VTG Aktiengesellschaft is one of Europe's leading railcar leasing and rail logistics companies. The company has the largest private railcar fleet in Europe. Globally, the fleet consists of some 53,800 railcars, with a focus on tank cars and state-of-the-art high capacity freight cars and flat cars. In addition to the hiring of wagons, the Group offers comprehensive multi-modal logistics services, mainly around rail transport, and global tank container transports.

With the combination of its three interlinked divisions Railcar, Rail Logistics and Tank Container Logistics, VTG offers its customers a high-performance platform for international transport of their freight. The Group has many years of experience and specific expertise, in particular in the transport of liquid and sensitive goods. Its customers include numerous well-known companies from almost every industrial sector, for example the chemical, petroleum, automotive, paper and agricultural industries.

In the financial year 2011, VTG generated revenue of EUR 750.0 million and operating profit (EBITDA) of EUR 168.7 million. Via its subsidiaries and affiliates the company, which has its head office in Hamburg, is mainly present in Europe, Asia, Russia and North America. As at 31 December 2011, VTG had 1,170 employees worldwide in consolidated companies. Since June 2007, VTG AG has been listed on the official Prime Standard market of the Frankfurt Stock Exchange and also on the SDAX (WKN: VTG999).

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Felix Zander
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