Helvetia Annual General Meeting confirms all proposals of the Board of Directors

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Media release
St.Gallen, 25 April 2025
 

The shareholders of Helvetia Holding Ltd approved all proposals put forward by the Board of Directors at the company’s Annual General Meeting. The Chair and other members of the Board of Directors standing for election were re-elected. Dr Andreas von Planta stepped down from the Board on age grounds.

The Chair of the Board of Directors, Dr Thomas Schmuckli, welcomed 2,410 shareholders with voting rights (representing 65.73% of share capital) to Helvetia Holding Ltd’s 29^th ordinary Annual General Meeting held at the Olma Messen St.Gallen venue. Fabian Rupprecht, Group CEO of Helvetia, presented the 2024 financial results. Helvetia successfully continued on its selective growth path with a focus on profitable and capital-efficient business fields and increased its business volume by 3.1% to CHF 11,552.7 million on a currency-adjusted basis (2023: CHF11,311.3 million). The Helvetia Group generated underlying earnings of CHF 528.5 million, which represents an increase of 41.9% compared to the previous year (2023: CHF 372.5 million).

"Thanks to its focus on profitable and capital-efficient business fields, Helvetia was able to perform well in the 2024 financial year. A notable highlight is the strong growth recorded in the attractive non-life business. With our new strategy, we will build on our strong foundation and continue to focus on technical profitability and operating efficiency", explained Fabian Rupprecht at the Annual General Meeting.

Focus on new strategy
Helvetia unveiled its new strategy in December 2024 as part of its Capital Markets Day. Dr Thomas Schmuckli, Chairman of the Board of Directors, presented the content of the new strategy to shareholders, including the planned merger with Baloise, which both companies announced on Tuesday and which will be voted on at an extraordinary shareholders' meeting on 23 May 2025: "The strategies of the two companies complement each other very well. Both focus on customers and place a strong focus on operational efficiency and technical excellence. Together, Helvetia and Baloise will become a leading European insurance company with strong Swiss roots." 

Dividend increase of 40 centimes
Based on Helvetia’s profitable growth and resilient result in the 2024 financial year, as well as the Group’s continued strong capitalisation, the Board of Directors proposed to the Annual General Meeting that the dividend be increased by 40 centimes to CHF 6.70 per share. The shareholders approved this proposal. Helvetia is therefore continuing its attractive dividend policy of recent years. 

Dr Thomas Schmuckli confirmed as Chair of Board of Directors 
The Annual General Meeting confirmed Dr Thomas Schmuckli as Chair of the Board of Directors. All other members of the Board of Directors standing for election were also re-elected. Dr. Andreas von Planta did not put himself forward for re-election as he will soon reach the age limit stipulated in the Organization Rules.

Compensation approved
The shareholders also approved the total amounts of fixed compensation for the members of the Board of Directors and the fixed and variable compensation for the Executive Management. In addition, Walter Wagner, a lawyer and notary from St. Gallen, was elected as independent proxy. KPMG AG, Zurich, was once again confirmed as auditor.

About the Helvetia Group
Helvetia Insurance Group, with its headquarters in St. Gallen, has grown since 1858 to become a successful international insurance group with strong Swiss roots, over 14,000 employees (FTE) and more than 6.7 million customers. It has always been there for its customers when it matters.
In the Swiss, Spain and GIAM (German, Italian and Austrian Markets) segments, Helvetia positions itself as a Local Customer Champion and supports its customers throughout their lives as their preferred provider. It also focuses on the rapidly growing segment of customers over 50. In all of its segments, and in the Specialty Markets segment in particular, Helvetia strives to generate growth as a global specialist in the international specialty lines business and in reinsurance. Thanks to its lean and flexible structures, Helvetia is able to focus on profitability in a cyclical business. At the same time, Helvetia uses its expertise in its European retail markets to offer specialty solutions to SME cus-tomers.
With a business volume of CHF 11.6 billion, Helvetia generated underlying earnings of CHF 528.5 million and an IFRS period result of CHF 502.4 million in the 2024 financial year. The shares of Helvetia Holding AG are traded on SIX Swiss Exchange.

Cautionary note
This document was prepared by Helvetia Group and may not be copied, altered, offered, sold or otherwise distributed to any other person by any recipient without the consent of Helvetia Group. The German version of this document is decisive and binding. Versions of the document in other languages are made available purely for information purposes. Although all reasonable effort has been made to ensure that the facts stated herein are correct and the opinions contained herein are fair and reasonable, where any information and statistics are quoted from any external source such information or statistics should not be interpreted as having been adopted or endorsed as accurate by Helvetia Group. Neither Helvetia Group nor any of its directors, officers, employees and advisors nor any other person shall have any liability whatsoever for loss howsoever arising, directly or indirectly, from any use of this information. The facts and information contained in this document are as up to date as is reasonably possible but may be subject to revision in the future. Neither Helvetia Group nor any of its directors, officers, employees or advisors nor any other person makes any representation or warranty, express or implied, as to the accuracy or completeness of the information contained in this document.
This document may contain projections or other forward-looking statements related to Helvetia Group which by their very nature involve inherent risks and uncertainties, both general and specific, and there is a risk that predictions, forecasts, projections and other outcomes described or implied in forward-looking statements will not be achieved. We caution you that a number of important factors could cause results to differ materially from the plans, objectives, expectations, estimates and intentions expressed in such forward-looking statements. These factors include: (1) changes in general economic conditions, in particular in the markets in which we operate; (2) the performance of financial markets; (3) changes in interest rates; (4) changes in currency exchange rates; (5) changes in laws and regulations, including accounting policies or practices; (6) risks associated with implementing our business strategies; (7) the frequency, magnitude and general development of insured events; (8) mortality and morbidity rates; (9) policy renewal and lapse rates as well as (10), the realisation of economies of scale as well as synergies. We caution you that the foregoing list of important factors is not exhaustive; when evaluating forward-looking statements, you should carefully consider the foregoing factors and other uncertainties. All forward-looking statements are based on information available to Helvetia Group on the date of its publication and Helvetia Group assumes no obligation to update such statements unless otherwise required by applicable law.
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