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DEPENDABLE DIVIDEND POLICY
In contrast tomany of the
Company’s direct competitors, which have not distributed
dividends to their shareholders in the past, SAP has longmaintained
a policy of dependable dividend payments. The Executive
Board and the Supervisory Board will recommend to the
Annual General Shareholders’ Meeting that a dividend of €0.80
be paid per share. If shareholders approve this recommendation,
total distributed dividends for fiscal year 2003 would be
approximately €249 million.
U.S. STAKE GROWS AGAIN
The total number of SAP shares
outstanding at the end of 2003 was 315.4 million. Three
founders of the Company, their families, trusts, and holding
companies hold approximately 38% of the equity. The balance,
approximately 62% of the subscribed capital, is in free float. At
the end of 2003, German institutions (mutual funds, insurance
companies, and financial asset managers) held 14.1% of the free
float, approximately 2 percentage points less than in the previous
year. On the other hand, there was increased interest in SAP
among U.S. institutions. The number of U.S. institutional shareholders
grew, and their total stake in SAP increased by more than
8 percentage points to 34.0%. This encouraging news reflects the Company’s increased investor relations efforts in the United
States. Institutional holdings of SAP stock in mainland Europe
excluding Germany declined by approximately 1 percentage
point to 19.1% of the subscribed capital. UK and Ireland based
institutions held approximately 8.8% of the SAP shares.
ENGAGEMENT WITH THE FINANCIAL MARKETS
Financial
statistics and company earnings are not the only factors that
guide investment recommendations and portfolio selection.
Often, investors’ own impressions of the quality of a company’s
management and strategy also play an important part. SAP
elucidated its strategy to financial analysts, portfolio managers,
and private investors the world over in more than 400 one-on-one
discussions, group sessions, and road shows. These continuing
efforts have borne fruit: More than 80 banks and financial
service providers, about one-third of them in the United States,
now regularly publish commentary, valuations, and recommendations
concerning SAP stock.
Two stories dominated the dialogue with
investors in 2003: the new SAP NetWeaver technology platform
and the Company’s stronger focus on industry solutions. As in
previous years, the Company held several workshops for
investors, at which it explained its product strategy and invited
customers to report how they find SAP solutions in practice.
More than 100 financial analysts and portfolio managers
attended the SAP Investor Day at the SAPPHIRE ‘03 customer
conference in Orlando, Florida. The same number came to the
London SAP Investor Day in October 2003. |
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