2 Capital structure

In 1997, the Company's shareholders approved the creation of conditional share capital of CHF 130,000 (consisting of 1,300,000 registered shares with a nominal value of CHF 0.10 each) for the purpose of employee participation (Article 3a of the Articles of Incorporation). Several employee share option plans and share plans were granted based on this conditional share capital. Details of these plans are disclosed in the consolidated financial statements in note 9 “Employee benefits”. Between February 2011 and June 2015, the employee participation plans were funded with treasury shares. As of December 31, 2024, 127,329 shares with a total nominal value of CHF 12,733 were left under article 3a of the Articles of incorporation,  whereas a maximum number of 69,221 employee share options and 83,882 employee shares were outstanding. Effective as from January 1, 2025, the Group will fund its employee participation plans again with treasury shares.

The Articles of Incorporation provide for an additional conditional share capital (article 3b of the Articles of Incorporation); the Company’s share capital may be increased by a maximum of CHF 180,000 through the issue of a maximum of 1,800,000 registered shares to be paid in full with a nominal value of CHF 0.10 each. This increase shall be achieved through the exercise of conversion or option rights granted in connection with bonds or similar instruments issued by the Company or Group companies or through the exercise of option rights granted to shareholders. Shareholders’ pre-emptive rights are excluded. The acquisition of registered shares through the exercise of conversion or option rights and any further transfer of registered shares is subject to the restrictions specified in Article 5 of the Articles of Incorporation. In the case of convertible bonds or warrant-linked bonds, the preferred pre-emptive rights of the shareholders may be restricted or excluded by resolution of the Board of Directors 1) in order to finance or refinance the acquisition of companies, parts of companies or equity investments, or 2) to issue warrant-linked or convertible bonds on international capital markets. If preferred pre-emptive rights are excluded, then 1) the bonds must be placed at market conditions; 2) the exercise period for warrants must be limited to five years and the exercise period for conversion rights must be limited to ten years from the date the bond was issued; and 3) the conversion or exercise price for the new shares must be set at least in line with the market conditions prevailing on the bond issue date. The Articles of Incorporation are available for consultation at:

corporate policies

Registration of voting rights in the Company’s share register is conditional on shareholders declaring that they have acquired the shares in their own name and for their own account. If this is the case, then there are no registration or voting right restrictions under the Articles of Incorporation. The Company’s Board of Directors may register nominees for not more than 2% of the share capital as shareholders with voting rights in the share register. Nominees are shareholders who do not explicitly declare in the registration application that they hold the shares for their own account and with whom the Company has entered into a corresponding agreement. In addition, for shares in excess of 2% of the share capital, the Board of Directors may register nominees with voting rights in the share register if such nominees disclose the names, addresses, nationalities and shareholdings of those persons for whose account they hold 2% or more of the share capital. Legal entities and companies that are linked to one another in terms of capital and voting power through uniform management or otherwise, as well as individuals, legal entities or companies coordinating their actions to circumvent the registration limitations, are considered to be one person. The Board of Directors is entitled to grant exceptions to the registration limitations in special cases. No such exceptions were granted in the year under review. The procedures and conditions for cancelling these limitations on transferability are described in section 6.