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A shareholders meeting is Stora Enso's highest decision-making body. The Annual General Meeting (AGM) is held annually in order to present detailed information about the company's performance and to deal with matters such as adopting the previous year’s income statement and balance sheet, setting of dividend and its payment, and appointing members of the Board of Directors and the Auditor.
Stora Enso Oyj’s Annual General Meeting (AGM) was held on 19 March 2021 at the Company's Head Office in Helsinki, Finland. In order to prevent the spread of the Covid-19 pandemic, a shareholder or his/her proxy representative could not be present at the venue of the meeting. A total of 2 041 shareholders representing approximately 514 million shares and 196 million votes were represented at the meeting. The AGM supported all the proposals made by the Shareholders’ Nomination Board and the Board of Directors to the AGM by at least 91.47 percent of the votes cast. The AGM adopted the annual accounts and granted the Company’s Board of Directors and Chief Executive Officer discharge from liability for the financial period 1 January 2020 – 31 December 2020. The AGM also resolved to the Company’s Remuneration Report in an advisory vote.
The AGM approved the proposal by the Board of Directors that the Company shall distribute a dividend of EUR 0.30 per share for the year 2020.
The dividend shall be paid to shareholders who on the record date of the dividend payment, Tuesday 23 March 2021, are recorded in the shareholders’ register maintained by Euroclear Finland Oy or in the separate register of shareholders maintained by Euroclear Sweden AB for Euroclear Sweden registered shares. Dividends payable for Euroclear Sweden registered shares will be forwarded by Euroclear Sweden AB and paid in Swedish crown. Dividends payable to ADR holders will be forwarded by Citibank N.A. and paid in US dollars. The dividend shall be paid on or about Tuesday 30 March 2021.
The AGM approved the proposal by the Shareholders' Nomination Board, in accordance with which the current members of the Board of Directors – Håkan Buskhe, Elisabeth Fleuriot, Hock Goh, Mikko Helander, Christiane Kuehne, Antti Mäkinen and Richard Nilsson – were re-elected members of the Board of Directors until the end of the following AGM, and Helena Hedblom and Hans Sohlström were elected new members of the Board of Directors for the same term of office. In accordance with the proposal by the Shareholders' Nomination Board, the AGM elected Antti Mäkinen as Chair of the Board of Directors and Håkan Buskhe as Vice Chair of the Board of Directors.
Read more: Stora Enso’s Annual General Meeting and decisions by the Board of Directors, available in the document library below.
Changes in the Finnish law based withholding taxation of dividends paid to holders of nominee registered shares have entered into force and are applicable as of 1 January 2021.
In practice, this means that as a starting point, withholding tax of 35% will be withheld on Finnish source dividend payments in most cases. In certain situations where inter alia a custodian is registered with the Finnish Tax Administration, the withholding percentage may also be lower.
It is possible to apply from the Finnish Tax Administration for a reclaim of any tax withheld in excess of the applicable withholding tax rate (e.g. applicable tax treaty rate) after the year of the dividend payment.
This can be done by submitting a refund application to the Finnish Tax Administration, either on paper (form for corporate entities here, and for individuals here), or electronically.
You may also be able to receive a refund already during the year of dividend payment via your registered custodian. Please contact your custodian for further information.
Additional information on withholding tax reclaims can be obtained from the Tax Administration either:
Please note that Stora Enso does not process withholding tax reclaims.
Dividends paid to Finnish tax resident holders of nominee registered shares may as of 2020 have been subject to withholding of 50% tax prepayment (ennakonpidätys). Any excess tax prepayment will be credited in the normal tax assessment process where the shareholder reports their dividend income to the Finnish Tax Administration.
