OMV AG Annual Shareholders Meeting

May 22, 2018 PM UTC 查看原文

OMV.VA - OMV AG
OMV AG Annual Shareholders Meeting
May 22, 2018 / 12:00PM GMT

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Corporate Participants
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* Peter H. LÃ¶scher
OMV Aktiengesellschaft - Chairman of Supervisory Board
* Rainer Seele
OMV Aktiengesellschaft - Chairman of Executive Board & CEO
* Reinhard Florey
OMV Aktiengesellschaft - CFO & Member of Executive Board

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Presentation
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Peter H. LÃ¶scher, OMV Aktiengesellschaft - Chairman of Supervisory Board [1]
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Ladies and gentlemen, dear shareholders, I would like to welcome you most cordially on the occasion of the ordinary Annual General Meeting of OMV. And I am very happy to welcome you in such large numbers. I would also welcome those who follow this Annual General Meeting via the Internet. In my function as the Chairman of the Supervisory Board, I take on the chair of this meeting and officially open today's ordinary Annual General Shareholders Meeting of OMV AG. Private photo, video or voice recordings of this annual general meeting are not allowed.

Only authorized people by OMV may take pictures in the room. As in the past, the Annual General Meeting will be webcast until the end of the presentations of Mr. Seele and Mr. Florey under Item 1 of the agenda. A recording of the webcast will be accessible via the OMV website after the Annual General Meeting. For reasons of taking the minutes by the notary public, today's AGM will be recorded on tape.

I have the pleasure of informing you that the following members of the Supervisory Board are present today: Deputy Chairman, Ms. Tumpel-Gugerell; Mr. Wolfgang Berndt; Mr. Helmut Draxler; Mr. Marc Hall; Mr. Ahmed Matar Al Mazrouei; Mr. Rose, Mr. Werner; the representative -- the workers representatives are represented by Ms. Angela Schorna; Ms. Christine Asperger Mr. Herbert Lindner; Mr. Gerhard Singer; and Mr. Alfred Redlich. The members of the Executive Board, CEO, Dr. Rainer Seele; Deputy CEO, Johann Pleininger; Mr. Reinhard Florey; and Mr. Manfred Leitner are taking part in today's AGM.

I would furthermore like to welcome Mr. Alexander Wlasto and Ms. Katharina Schrenk as representatives of the external auditor as well as ladies and gentlemen, who'll take part at the general meeting as guests as well I would also like to welcome Mr. Meyer, as the Notary Public of this AGM. I ask Mr. Meyer to take the minutes on the AGM to certify the resolutions and also to monitor the votes.

For reasons of flow of language, I will only use male forms. And if I use male forms, they shall be construed as referring to the male and the female form equally. In conclusion, I would also like to ask you to switch off your cell phones or to put them in silent mode.

Allow me to continue to the legal statements. I state that the convocation of today's Annual General Meeting was published in the official gazette of the Wiener Zeitung on the 13th of April 2018 and was done in accordance with the deadlines and in accordance with the legal regulations and the electronic dissemination was also done via euro ad-hoc on the 13th of April 2018. This means that today's AGM has a quorum in relation to the published items on the agenda. The requested documents have been uploaded to the website of the company on the 26th of April 2018. Motions of eligible shareholders to supplement the agenda or alternative resolutions in relation to the items on the agenda have not been sent to the company. The agenda is also contained in your documents. I assume that you know the agenda and I do not read the agenda to you. Furthermore, I state and I'm able to announce that 251,561,183 no par value shares were registered within the legal deadline for participation to this meeting (technical difficulty) presence of today's AGM will be announced before the first vote.

At this time, I will sign the list of participants and put it up for inspection. As far as the rules of procedure of today's AGM are concerned, I refer you to the written documents will -- contained in the AGM documents. This also contains administrative information as far as the formal rules of procedure of today's AGM are concerned. If you request to speak, please use the necessary forms. If you need further forms, please contact the assistance in the room and please also state whether you want to ask the question personally or do you want to -- the question to be read. Let us continue with Item #1 on the agenda that is as follows: submission of the adopted financial statements 2017, including the directors' reports, the consolidated corporate governance report, the consolidated payments to governments reports, the consolidated nonfinancial reports, the group financial statements 2017, including the group directors' report, the proposal of the appropriation of the balance sheet profit as well as the Supervisory Board report for the financial year 2017.

The Supervisory Board reviewed and approved the annual statements as well as the directors' report 2017. This means that the annual financial statements 27 (sic) [2017] are adopted according to Section 96 Paragraph 4 Stock Corporation Act, the Supervisory Board also reviewed and approved the consolidated corporate governance report, the consolidated payments to government report, the consolidated nonfinancial report 27 (sic) 2017 as well as the sustainability report. The Supervisory Board also reviewed the group financial statements and the group directors' reports. And the reviews have not given reason for any complaints or objection. The Supervisory Board also resolved the report of the Supervisory Board, which is also printed in the notes of the OMV Group. The supplement report of the Supervisory Board relating to the consolidated nonfinancial report is also attached.

In 2017, the Supervisory Board held 7 meetings. The 4 committees of the supervisory board met 22 times. The year 2017 was an extraordinary successful year for OMV, which was also characterized by a large number of strategic milestones. This is also reflected in the priorities of the Supervisory Board last year. The Supervisory Board intensively discussed measures to restructure the OMV portfolio on the basis of the previously approved strategy. What is worth mentioning, the acquisitions of a share in the gas field Yuzhno Russkoye in Western Siberia, the sale of Petrol Ofisi or the signing of the long-term financing contracts for Nord Stream 2. In particular, we concentrated on the long-term strategic direction of the company. After intensive discussions, the strategy was approved in December 2017 and communicated to the capital markets by the Executive Board of OMV.

Another priority was nominating members of the Executive Board and long-term successor planning. In May 2017, we decided to extend the mandate of Mr. Seele and Mr. Pleininger and thus, we confirmed the previous work of OMV and the setup of the Executive Board. Mr. Pleininger was nominated its Deputy CEO on the 1st of July. In this meeting today, the supervisory board extended the mandate of Mr. Florey until the 30th of June 2021 that is to stay for another 2 years. The presidential nomination committee also dealt with the long-term successor planning in the Executive Board and the Supervisory Board.

In conclusion, I would like to report the completion of the self-evaluation of the supervisory board, which was started last year. The self-evaluation was accompanied by an external consultant and aimed at optimization of the efficiency and effectivity of the Supervisory Board activities. In March 27, the results were intensively discussed as well as in bilateral talks between the Chairman of the Supervisory Board and the individual members of the Supervisory Board. The Supervisory Board knows about international best practice, confirms the importance of best practice and also confirms the responsibility vis-Ã -vis shareholders. We continue with the reports of Mr. Seele and Mr. Florey. Mr. Seele, please.

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Rainer Seele, OMV Aktiengesellschaft - Chairman of Executive Board & CEO [2]
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I prefer to measure success in terms of figures and numbers. And the numbers of OMV describe a success story. In 2015, our target had been to make OMV successful and sustainable and make it grow. At first, we wanted to make the company fit. We wanted to lower costs, restructure the organization, make the company more efficient and more profitable. What was decisive was to reorganize OMV's portfolio and to reduce the dependency on the price of oil. Success can be measured in terms of numbers. The share price of OMV is currently around EUR 55, shareholder return of 61% in 2017 is among the highest in our industry. The clean CCS EBIT has been -- well, has reached 5-year high since 2013. It has increased by 63% over 2016. The return on average capital employed goes from 7% to 14%. For all shareholders, for all of you, this record year really pays off. Your dividend at EUR 1.50 is the highest in the history of OMV. That is just the beginning of the success story.

With the strategy in 2016, we oriented OMV towards growth and profitability. The implementation of the strategy had already been successfully completed at the end of 2017. It is for that reason that -- with the strategy of 2025, we have entered a new era. OMV will continue to grow profitably. Our keyword for the future success is diversification. Diversification of the portfolio and diversification of our sales markets. OMV's focus will become more global, we'll be more broad-based. We are looking for compliments to Europe. We're going to expand in the Middle East, and we're going to continue to build up the core region of Australasia. We're going to make the OMV portfolio more stable. We will reduce risky positions. We're going to exit Turkey, gradually. And we're going to reduce our commitment in Pakistan. We're going to enter regions that offer lower costs. It is in this way that we continue to reduce our dependency on the price of oil.

Today, OMV can operate cash positively if the oil price is above $25. Production costs us on average a bit more than USD 7 per barrel. Diversification also means diversification of the use of capital. Often OMV is said to have a very strong commitment in Russia. But it's a fact that only 10% of our capital is bound in Russia. The remainder is distributed over Europe and the Middle East. Diversification means, if you translate it, reduction of dependencies that also applies to our sales markets. Europe is and remains our most important sales market. But, of course, the world is bigger than Europe and it is for that reason that OMV needs to position itself more globally, with a clear focus on the Middle East and Australasia, where we are going to develop a new fifth core region. The stability of our portfolio is a good -- inestimable value. In a critical political environment with distortions of global trade, where free trade is often made more difficult through threatening sanctions, where there are customs and tariffs instead of the reduction of tariff obstacles, where international agreements such as the nuclear deal with Iran or the Paris climate accord is often sacrificed to a narrow-minded national fÃ¼hrer. And thus, ladies and gentlemen, dear shareholders, welcome to our Annual General Meeting 2018.

Let me provide you with a short overview of OMV's activities in the first few months of 2018. We are speeding up, and we can maintain the speed. In February, we presented an excellent annual result for 2017. And only a few days later, we started selling our upstream assets in Pakistan, streamlining of our portfolio. In March, the entire upstream business was acquired from Shell in New Zealand. We're going to develop the core region Australasia.

From Norway, we had a very positive success in our exploration activities. Three weeks ago, we acquired an investment, and we acquired a share in 2 very important offshore oil fields in Abu Dhabi. That was an important goal, mainly to grow in one of the strongest growth regions of planet Earth. Good corporate strategies are always based on key performance indicators, which constitute the basis of a successful business. This brings me to the result of the business year 2017. In just 3 years, OMV has become a highly competitive and profitable company. Focus had been on efficiency, costs and generating cash. We have improved our cash flow management, and we have clearly increased the operative cash flow as well as the free cash flow after dividend. There is one figure, in particular that is very important to media shareholders. At the end of 2017, OMV had a free cash flow breakeven of $25. So as soon as the oil price is above $25, we are working free cash flow positive. In 2015, this breakeven price was still at $70. The operative result of a clean CCS EBIT in 2017 is at $3 billion, so twice as high as in the previous year. The Upstream result contributed EUR 1.23 billion, Downstream contributed EUR 1.77 billion. Net profit before special effects was EUR 1.62 billion, a plus of 63% over 2016. The return on average capital employed was substantial increased from 7% to 14%. My colleague, Reinhard Florey will share with you some further details on these figures.

The year 2017 without any doubt has been a record-breaking year for OMV. And this is something we'd like to pass on to you. So for the business year 2017, we have proposed a dividend to the AGM to the amount of EUR 1.5 per share. That is, of course, the result of the success of our company, but it is also, an expression of our appreciation for your trust and confidence in your OMV. It is for this trust that I would like to thank you very much also on behalf of my colleagues and the Executive Board. I would like to assure you that even in future, OMV is striving to keep on increasing the dividend in line with the financial performance or to at least keep it at the level of the previous year.

Ladies and gentlemen, in 2017, we concluded the transformation phase of OMV. The company today is really healthy. At the beginning of the year, we presented OMV's strategy until 2025. We have opened a new strategic chapter. We're going to continue to have profitable growth in terms of value and size on the basis of a successful integrated business model. This is the overarching message of this strategy. The economic and political environment, the forecast of International Energy Agency are only pointing up until 2030. The global energy demand is going to increase by 16%. This is owing to population growth, first and foremost. More than half of that growth will go to oil and gas. Especially, the Asian Pacific region and the Middle East and Africa will ensure that there will be a rising demand for oil, gas and petrochemicals products. The refining margins this year will probably fall below the level of 2017. The petrochemicals margins will be at a comparative level. The average gas prices at the European spot markets are expected to remain at a similar level as in 2017.

Geopolitical risks are making the future more uncertain. The ongoing open conflict in the Arabic world, but also, the sanctions against Russia are making our work by no means any easier. The political scenarios and the market forecasts are confirming us to base our growth Strategy 2025 on the proven integrated business model of OMV. We have a strong Upstream and a strong Downstream business. So we are standing on 2 healthy legs. Thus, we can compensate for any fluctuations or ups and downs of markets, enter new attractive markets and regions. That's what integration is all about. Let us now take a look at this area, where our raw materials come from oil and natural gas, namely Upstream.

With the production of 348,000 barrels per day in 2017, we have reached the highest production volume in the history of OMV and it continues to grow. In the first quarter of this year, we already stood at more than 400,000 barrels per day. And that even though the production costs have continued to go down to just a little over USD 7. Our acquisition of a 24.99% share of the natural gas field, Yuzhno Russkoye in Western Siberia has already made a significant contribution and the journey continues because we will continue to expand our Upstream portfolio. It will continue to grow in terms of value and in terms of size. It will grow dramatically.

In 2018, in spite of plant maintenance shutdowns in Norway and Russia, we expect another record production of more than 420,000 barrels per day. In 2025, we want to be at 600,000 barrels per day. The average production costs are supposed to remain below $8 per barrel. And this is not wishful thinking because the corresponding projects are already underway. We want to produce at low cost and at growing volumes, but that's just one side. The other side is to think beyond what's happening today, and we're doing that. We have managed to increase the reserve replacement rate to more than 100%, but we want more. Our express target is to sustainably double our proven reserves to more than 2 billion barrels.

Safety and security take top precedents and are top priority in our company in day-to-day work as well as when it comes to investment decisions. In order to reduce geopolitical risks, we want to geographically diversify our portfolio. Two months ago, when we presented our strategy, the Middle East and Australasia were named as the regions where we want to grow in future. Short time later, we already were successful in implementing this strategy in both regions by acquiring the entire upstream business of Shell in New Zealand. The development of Australasia is promoted decisively in our fifth core region.

We have -- actually, immediately, we have a majority in the exploration block of the Great South Basin and that's also have a majority in the producing fields of Pohokura and Maari. We expect the deal to be completed before year-end, and we want to be the lead operator in both joint ventures. The average output of the 2 fields in the first 2 months of the year 2018 was at about 31,000 barrels per day. As of the 1st of January 2018, this acquisition will clearly increase our total production after the transaction will have been completed. After recent technical problem, the full production capacity of the Pohokura field will probably reached again in the third quarter of 2018.

Now you may have heard about the plans of the New Zealand government. The government wants to ban the search for new oil and gas fields. At this point, I would like to point to the fact that these plans do not refer to existing, but only to future licenses and permits. And for that reason, our assets are not affected because those approvals and permits that we will need in future, well, we already have them today. The next big step in implementing our Strategy 2025 then was Abu Dhabi. In Abu Dhabi, we have 20% share in the 2 fields, SARB and Lulu that we acquired for $1.5 billion. That was just recently a few weeks ago.

The signing ceremony was in the 29th of April in Abu Dhabi. The development of the 2 fields is almost completed and it will significantly contribute to our daily production and will increase our reserves by about 450 million barrels. The Middle East is one of the leading hydrocarbon regions and this transaction is also confirmation and a further deepening of our long-standing successful cooperation with ADNOC, the national oil company of Abu Dhabi.

The second strong leg that we are standing on in our integrated business model is the Downstream business. In Europe, we want to expand our position. In the oil business, by 2025, we will invest EUR 1 billion in the refineries Schwechat, Burghausen and Petrobras. The objective is to produce even more high-quality petrochemicals products and aircraft fuels, jet fuels. In addition, by 2025, more than half of the refinery products will be sold through our own sales channels. That will strengthen our sales position and will increase our profitability. Our colleagues in the refineries are doing a good job. That is demonstrated by the capacity utilization of the refineries. In 2018, in spite of a 6-week planned turnaround in the Petrobras refinery, the capacity utilization that is will be above 90%. That's an excellent value.

OMV today has one of the most efficient downstream oil businesses of Europe. We want to use this expertise in order to export our integrated refinery and petrochemicals business model into international growth markets, especially, Asia and the Middle East are becoming increasingly attractive markets due to the rising demand. This opens up potentials, high production rates and good margins. This is why in 2017, we have already signed a memorandum of understanding with our partner, ADNOC in Abu Dhabi. In total, we want to double our refining capacities in the long term. Ladies and gentlemen, in 2030, Europe will have to export more than 80% of the gas it needs, that is to say, the demand will grow also in absolute numbers. This is why as OMV, we want to continue to expand our position in the gas market from Northwest all the way to Southeastern Europe. By 2025, our gas sales will be increased to more than 20 billion cubic meters. Our market share in Germany is to be increased to 10% in the long term. Currently, we stand at 2.5% market share in Germany, but we are making good progress in pursuing this goal of reaching 10% market share.

Our equity gas in Norway and in Romania will be fed into the European network. The gas business entails not only gas production but also the pipeline infrastructure. It is a decisive factor for a secure supply. In order to be able to guarantee this also in future, we insist that the Nord Stream 2 pipeline be built. Together with the Central European gas hub in Baumgarten and the pipeline network of Gas Connect Austria, this pipeline does make an important contribution to secure European energy supply. From today's perspective, there is no more meaningful or better alternative.

OMV is betting on proven partnerships and is trying to foster these partnerships. In the beginning of June, together with Gazprom, we're going to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the gas supply contract. So we're looking back to 50 years in the course of which gas was reliably shipped to Austria and from here to the rest of Europe. But on the occasion of this anniversary, we're not only going to look at the past but first and foremost, we're going to look into the future.

Ladies and gentlemen, OMV's core competence has been for more than 60 years on the exploration, production, processing and marketing of oil products and natural gas. It is our task to cover people's energy demand. We have a maximum responsibility towards our customers, employees, owners and our environment. Currently, we are operating on the basis of OMV's Strategy 2025, and we are elaborating our new sustainability strategy. It provides for an increasing orientation of our portfolio in the direction of natural gas and a further reduction of our operative CO2 emissions. In this connection, I would like to reemphasize that we, from OMV, fully support the Austrian federal government with its climate strategy, including the project to no longer install any oil-heating systems in new buildings as of 2020.

So when we're talking about heating at OMV, we are thinking in terms of natural gas. So I would like to point to the enormous potential that natural gas can have in climate policy that is worth its name. In road transport alone, CO2 emissions could be reduced by 20%, if natural gas were to be used instead of traditional fuels. And if every coal-fueled power plant were to be replaced by a gas-fueled power plant in Europe, the CO2 output in this area would go down by 34%. Natural gas is a problem solver, ladies and gentlemen, already today not just tomorrow or the day after.

Another topic of sustainability and innovation that we are attributing a lot of importance to -- in the Schwechat refinery is the subject of reoil. We're talking about the conversion of used plastics into synthetic crude oil. And this synthetic oil can then be processed to produce fuels and other basic materials for the plastics industry. So we have invested a lot into research in this field and it is quite promising, so much on our objectives in the various business units.

It is with the implementation of the presented strategy that OMV's results will be increased from EUR 3 billion to EUR 5 billion. Upstream and Downstream are to contribute equally to this result through organic growth as well as through acquisitions. On the whole, for the time period from 2018 until 2025, we are planning to make annual investments to the amount of EUR 2 billion to EUR 2.5 billion and an acquisition budget of -- a total of EUR 10 billion. And let me say one thing quite clearly. OMV can manage that. Our operating cash flow, our strong balance sheet and a healthy cost structure make it possible to implement this strategy.

We are not going to leave any stone unturned, and we will continue to increase OMV's productivity and efficiency. Through permanent and consistent cost management, we can reach success. We have a savings target of another EUR 100 million by 2020, and we will be even fitter for future growth. The return on capital of at least 12% and a debt ratio with maximum of 30% are cornerstones. Thus even in case of economic crisis, we remain stable, robust and able to act.

The successes of the past few years do not come out of the blue. They are the result of the achievements and the performance of more than 20,000 individuals. Day after day, they work in offices, in research labs, in filling stations, in refineries, in pipelines, oil and gas fields. And they give it their best in order to make sure that they can supply our society with energy and vital products, often under very difficult boundary conditions. It is their competencies and their technical know-how that contributes to our high reputation among our partners. It is at this point that I would like to express our gratitude on behalf of the Executive Board and I believe also on your behalf, ladies and gentlemen, gratitude and recognition to our employees.

Our employees will continue to be an essential success factor when it comes to implementing our future plans. This is why we will continue to invest in their training, their education, their further development and also their technical skills and their leadership skills. Dear shareholders, OMV Strategy 2025 pursues very ambitious targets, but I am convinced that we are going to reach this target because OMV is extremely healthy in business terms, it is leading in terms of technology and it has highly committed employees. My picture of the future is quite clear. Global energy demand will continue to grow and our OMV will also continue to grow in terms of value and in terms of size. Thank you for your attention and thank you for your trust.

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Peter H. LÃ¶scher, OMV Aktiengesellschaft - Chairman of Supervisory Board [3]
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Thank you very much, Mr. Seele, for your report. I'll pass the floor to Mr. Florey, please.

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Reinhard Florey, OMV Aktiengesellschaft - CFO & Member of Executive Board [4]
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Ladies and gentlemen, dear shareholders, I am very happy to present the most important financial KPIs of the OMV Group for the business year 2017 as well as reporting the results of the first quarter of 2018. Both the group financial statements prepared under IFRS as well as the financial statements of OMV and the local GAAP received an unqualified auditors' opinion for 2017. On behalf of the OMV Group, I would like to thank Ernst & Young WirtschaftsprÃ¼fungsgesellschaft for their good cooperation.

Ladies and gentlemen, one of the core tasks of successful corporate management is to create performance culture, make sure and safeguard strict cost discipline and allow profitable growth to offer you, ladies and gentlemen, dear shareholders, an attractive return. I am happy and proud that we all managed to do that in the team of OMV and that I can present very successful figures today. In the past years, due to the challenging business environment, we massively reduced costs. As compared to 2017, we reduced capital expenditures by more than EUR 1 billion to EUR 1.7 billion. We successfully implemented our ambitious cost-saving program and saved EUR 330 million as compared to 2015. This is more than 1/3 more than originally planned. At the same time, we increased free cash flow after dividends in the same period by more than EUR 1.5 billion to over EUR 1 billion, and we also reduced net debt to EUR 2 billion. The free cash flow breakeven oil price, that is to say the minimum oil price above which we work economically, could be reduced significantly to $25, one of the lowest values in our industry. The OMV Group is based upon a very solid foundation, at least, financially.

As I already said, one of our priorities is to offer you an attractive return. The equity markets were influenced by geopolitical events in 2017 -- in 2016, I'm sorry. In 2017, the price development was driven by a market environment and corporate performance. Successful implementation of the strategy and the operating dynamism resulted in an excellent price development of OMV. As OMV shareholders, you also benefit from the price of the OMV share. The price of the share at the beginning of the year was EUR 34 and showed a steep upward trend in the course of the year. On 22nd of December, it reached the peak of EUR 54 and closed at EUR 52.83 at the end of the year. This corresponds to an increase of 57%. Including reinvestment of dividends, the total shareholder return for OMV shareholders was 61%. OMV excelled its peers, the Austrian ATX as well as international industrial indices. Over the last 3 years, the OMV share achieved a total shareholder return of 39% and excelled peer indices.

Ladies and gentlemen, I am very happy that all important financial KPIs could be increased markedly. The free cash flow after dividends was over EUR 1 billion, which is an increase of almost EUR 400 million on a year-on-year comparison. The clean CCS EBIT could be increased to almost EUR 3 billion. This corresponds to a growth of over 90% as compared to 2016. In Upstream, an improved market environment, higher sales volumes at lower production costs resulted in a very positive result of more than EUR 1.2 billion. For the production of 348,000 barrels per day, we achieved the highest value in the history of OMV, volume that we planned to increase to 500,000, later 600,000 barrels per day.

The clean CCS operating result in Downstream rose to a record value of almost EUR 1.8 billion. This results from increased refinery in petrochemical markets as well as good results in the retail business and in the gas division. After deducting the financial result, taxes and minorities, the clean CCS EBIT attributable to shareholders is EUR 1.6 billion, markedly more than last year. As clean CCS EBIT per share is EUR 4.97, this also means a market increase of EUR 1.92 as compared to the previous year.

Two of our most important KPIs to measure the financial -- the value increase of our company is the CCS return on average capital employed, the clean ROACE, and the CCS economic value added before special effects, that is to say, the clean CCS EVA. The return of average capital employed shows the substantial increase in the value of our company in the course of the year 2017. As Mr. Seele already mentioned, the clean ROACE could be doubled from 7% to 14% in 2017. The clean CCS EVA is more than EUR 1 billion. This means an increase in value of the company of more that EUR 1 billion above average capital costs of the market.

Our message to you, dear shareholders, is that your investment pays off. Not only the clean results, but also the reported results could be substantially increased. An improved operating performance can be shown by the reported operating results of more than EUR 1.7 billion. The operating result Upstream reversed significantly from minus EUR 1 billion in 2016 to a positive EUR 1.2 billion in 2017. The result of 2017 was burdened by extraordinary depreciations.

2017 benefited from a transformation of our portfolio and also from the excellent operating performance. Downstream, we had negative one-off effects in connection with the sale of Petrol Ofisi, and we had a lower operating result than last year, an operating result of EUR 584 million. When we sold Petrol Ofisi, foreign exchange losses caused by the negative development of the Turkish lira were booked in the income statement, but the balance sheet was not negatively influenced by that. The positive development and global positive development is also shown in the net income attributable to shareholders. In 2016, we had a negative EUR 403 million and this could be turned into positive EUR 435 million in 2017. This includes the financial result of minus EUR 246 million and the taxable result of minus EUR 634 million. This increase in performance is also reflected in the earnings per share, which rose from minus EUR 1.24 in 2016 to plus EUR 1.33 in 2017.

Ladies and gentlemen, we have a clear focus on cash flow and cost management and this substantially strengthened our balance sheet. In the past 2 years, we reduced net debt by 50%. It was only EUR 2 billion at the end of 2017. This corresponds to a gearing ratio of 14%, which is markedly below our long-term target of 30%. At the same time, we increased our cash position to EUR 4 billion, which gives us a necessary room to maneuver to implement our profitable growth strategy. In addition, we have EUR 3.5 billion in undrawn revolving credit lines. This means that we have sufficient cash planned growth of the next years.

The successful transformation of OMV into an efficient, highly profitable company is also honored by the financial markets. This is reflected by the impressive price increase of the OMV share of almost 60% and I do hope that you benefited from that. We also want to have you take part in the positive development of OMV. As my colleague, Dr. Seele already said, we propose a dividend of EUR 1.50 per share. This is the highest dividend paid ever. This corresponds to an increase of 25% in a year-on-year comparison and an increase of 50% as compared to 2015.

Dear shareholders, we will continue to -- have you participate in our success. We have a clear shareholder-friendly dividend policy. We strive at increasing the dividend each year or at least keep it at the level of the previous year. Ladies and gentlemen, allow me to give you -- to give the report according to Section 65, subparagraph 3 of the stock capital act. Our treasury shares amounts to 542,151 of 327,272,727 no par value shares. The amount of the stock capital of attributable to treasury shares is EUR 542,151. So the share in our stock capital of our treasury shares is 0.1657%. The average purchase price of the bought back shares was EUR 10.98. As already said in the previous reports after 2007, we had no further repayments -- repurchases of own shares.

In 2017 and since 31st of December 2017, no treasury shares were sold or purchased. In 2017, 52,139 and in 2018, 230,079 no par value shares were used for long-term incentive plans and for the share part of the annual bonus plans. Since the last report in the Annual General Meeting 2017 until today's Annual General Meeting, 230,424 no par value shares were spent for such reasons. Until the AGM of the 18th of March 2016, the utilization of treasury shares was on the basis of the authorization of the Executive Board decided on the 17th of May 2011 after that the authorization of the AGM, 18th of May 2016. The executive board was authorized upon approval of the supervisory board to use treasury shares and this included already-held treasury shares at the 18th of May 27 (sic) [2017] to use them until the 17th of May 2021 to transfer them to employees -- managing employees and/or members of the Executive Board, the Management board or an affiliated company for the purposes of employee long-term incentive plans and the share part of the annual bonus plans or other participation plans.

Ladies and gentlemen, we started well off into the year 2018. A clean CCS EBIT of EUR 818 million even excels the good first quarter of the past year, in spite of negative foreign exchange values of EUR 100 million in the first quarter of this year. The good quarterly results also reflects the strengths of our integrated business model. Low refinery margins and the lower resulting Downstream could be more than balanced out by good Upstream results and higher sales volumes were responsible for the good results Upstream. The CCS income -- clean CCS income due to a higher tax ratio went down to EUR 377 million. Organic cash flow after dividends without taking into account acquisitions and sales could be increased to EUR 645 million, an increase of almost EUR 150 million compared to last year. Free cash flow after dividends, including M&A, was EUR 538 million in the first quarter.

(technical difficulty)

Over the past years, we continuously reduced our costs. As already stated, we completed our cost savings program at the end of last year, and we saved more costs than planned, namely in the amount of EUR 330 million.

Ladies and gentlemen, in spite of our increased strength in earnings and in spite of increased oil prices, we will continue to adapt our cost structure. In March, we presented our new efficiency program. Until 2020, we plan to save another EUR 100 million as compared to 2017. We will try to improve our operating excellence to avoid redundancies and complexities.

Ladies and gentlemen, in conclusion, I would like to focus on our financial priorities and long-term goals. Our long-term goal is to generate positive free cash flow, our dividends of the gearing ratio of less than 30% and ROACE of 12% and to achieve a clean CCS net income attributable to shareholders. We will focus on a strong balance sheet and continuous increase in value. We want to manage that by focusing on operating efficiency, effectiveness in our capital investments and balanced financing structure and a sustainable portfolio management. This is accompanied by rigorous financial risks and compliance management. This ladies and gentlemen, safeguards attractive returns and also allows profitable growth and will also help us to maintain our strong investment-grade credit rating. Ladies and gentlemen, I would like to inform you about the very pleasing development of the last days. Moody's upgraded the credit rating of OMV to A3 stable. OMV now has an A rating with both rating agencies, Fitch and Moody's. Ladies and gentlemen, as you see, OMV hasn't only developed favorably in financial terms in 2017, but also prepared the ground for excellent results in the coming year. By continuing the path that we already took, we will make sure that we can offer attractive returns and increases in value for you, distinguished shareholders. Thank you very much.

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Peter H. LÃ¶scher, OMV Aktiengesellschaft - Chairman of Supervisory Board [5]
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I would like to thank the 2 gentlemen for their reports, and I would like to thank the entire board for their constructive cooperation based on trust. I would also like to thank the members of the Executive Board and all employees of OMV for their commitment. I would like to ask Mr. Seele and workers representatives to pass on this expression of gratitude to all employees. I would now like to thanks those who have followed us via the Internet for their interest and would like to say goodbye to them. This takes us to Item 2 in the agenda, the resolution on the appropriation of the balance sheet profit reported in the financial statements 2017 (technical difficulty)

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