STOCKHOLM, Sweden, April 24, 2002 (PRIMEZONE) -- Press release from Karlshamns AB
REPORT FROM THE ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING
During the Annual General Meeting of Karlshamns AB (publ), held this afternoon, the following decisions were made:
Board of Directors
The present Directors Hakan Hellmo, Clas Eriksson, Jerker Hartwall, Gosta Wiking, Mikael Ekdahl and Melker Schorling were all re-elected to the Board, the former Board member Lars Lindegren having reclined re- election in advance. The AGM also confirmed that Directors' fees for the year 2002 shall remain on the level of SEK 900,000, to be distributed by the Board between the Directors elected by the AGM but not employed by the company.
Dividend
The AGM approved the proposal submitted by the Board of Directors, thereby confirming the dividend of SEK 3.50 per share. Record day will be Friday 29 April 2002. Dividend settlements will be handled by VPC (the Swedish Securities Register Centre), and the estimated settlement day will be Friday 3 May 2002.
Convertible debt instruments to be issued to all employees The Annual General Meeting voted in accordance with the proposal submitted by the Board of Directors, thereby confirming the issue of convertible debt instruments to Karlshamns staff. Those invited to subscribe are all permanent employees of the Karlshamns Group in Sweden, the United Kingdom and the Netherlands. According to the decision, Karlshamns staff may now subscribe for convertible loan notes to be issued by the company. The loan will amount to a total maximum of SEK 150 million, running from 3 July 2002 to 20 June 2007. The loan may be converted to shares in the period from 10 May 2005 to 10 May 2007. The loan will carry an annual interest corresponding to STIBOR (Stockholm Interbank Offered Rate) less 0.5 percentages. One block of debt instruments corresponds to a maximum value of SEK 5,000, and each employee will be guaranteed an allocation of 13 blocks. The President, certain senior executives and other key employees will have the right to subscribe for a larger number of blocks. The conversion rate will be fixed at 126 per cent of the average price paid for the Karlshamns share according to the Stockholm Stock Exchange register on each trading day in the period 6 May 2002 to 21 May 2002, calculated according to a specific formula. The dilution effect at full subscription, with the already outstanding option rights (issued in 1999) taken into account, will be a maximum 5.0 per cent of the total number of shares and votes.
For further information kindly contact Stefan Sjolin, CFO, tel +46 454 - 826 01.
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