automotive industry
VW management informs shareholder – new supervisor from Qatar
Herbert Diess, CEO of Volkswagen, at a digital works meeting in February. Photo: Kevin Nobs/VW Works Council/dpa
© dpa-infocom GmbH
The shareholders of VW meet for the general meeting, again purely digitally. Due to various crises and conflicts, things are not looking too rosy for the auto industry. Critical questions are safe.
The board of directors and the supervisory board of the VW Group want to provide the shareholders with more detailed information about the situation at Germany’s largest company today.
The topics of the online general meeting, for which the shareholders again had to submit their questions beforehand, are likely to be the further course and management’s expectations in view of the various crises that are keeping the economy and politics in Europe under pressure.
The war in Ukraine and the associated risk of even higher energy prices, greater destruction and cut supply chains are also a concern for Volkswagen. In addition, the economy and world trade are burdened by new corona lockdowns in the main market of China. The course of the year is difficult to calculate, basic materials such as semiconductors and raw materials could remain scarce or become scarcer.
Diess: “Restructuring is progressing vigorously”
So far, the group has withstood the downside risks, not least thanks to its good business with luxury cars and further cost cuts. In the first quarter, he earned around 6.7 billion euros – almost twice as much as at the beginning of 2021. CEO Herbert Diess announced in a previously published excerpt of his speech: “Under difficult circumstances in 2022, the restructuring is progressing vigorously.”
However, some shareholders also have critical questions for the management. A large investor wants to talk about the recent row between Diess and the works council last year. In addition, reference is made to possible conflicts of interest after an IPO by Porsche AG. The targeted Formula 1 entry, the strategy in China and the situation in the software division Cariad are also to be discussed.
Among other things, the owners must agree to the report on the payment of the board members and supervisors in a new system. In 2021, a changed model for top salaries was decided. It stipulates, for example, that part of the bonuses depend on the achievement of environmental goals, social standards and the quality of corporate management.
Exchange in Qatar
At the digital owners’ meeting, there will also be a change in the composition of the Supervisory Board. The Gulf Emirate of Qatar – the third largest shareholder in the VW Group – has proposed replacing one of its two representatives. Up for election is the head of the Qatar sovereign wealth fund (QIA), Mansur bin Ibrahim Al-Mahmud, whose company manages several multi-billion dollar holdings.
Hussain Ali Al-Abdulla resigned his membership in the Wolfsburg supervisory body after a good twelve years, Volkswagen gave personal reasons for the Minister of State from Doha. The employee side has already filled three new supervisory board mandates.