GfK: a European joint stock company
Change to Societas Europaea underpins international perspective
Nuremberg, February 3, 2009 – GfK AG’s change to a European joint stock company is complete. As of now, with entry in the commercial register, the company will be operating as GfK SE, a change which signals an acknowledgement of GfK’s global perspective. An SE is a supranational legal entity formed under European law, which corresponds to the GfK Group’s understanding of itself and further underpins its international perspectives and structure. Indeed, around 81% of GfK’s staff complement of 10,000 work abroad, and more than three quarters of the sales revenue is generated outside Germany. The corporate culture of the GfK Group is characteristically international. The change was also welcomed by the shareholders, and at the AGM in May 2008, the resolution to move from an AG to an SE proposed by the Management and Supervisory Boards was passed by a 99.9% majority of the votes.
The change also affects the Employee Council members of the SE Supervisory Board, whereby employee representatives will now come not only from Germany, but from other EU member states and states which are members of the European Economic Area. This is one of the constituent elements of the Agreement concluded between the Group management and an international board of employee representatives.
Around 25 delegates from the individual countries will soon be meeting in spring this year in order to form the SE Employee Council and to elect the three employee representatives to the nine-strong Supervisory Board. Until then, Britain’s Shani Orchard (GfK Retail and Technology UK), Stephan Lindeman (Intomart GfK) from the Netherlands and Germany’s Dieter Wilbois (GfK AG) will represent the interests of GfK SE staff on the Supervisory Board. The German Employee Council will continue to exist, and this applies equally to all the other Employee Councils within the GfK Group.
The GfK Group
The GfK Group is the No. 4 market research organization worldwide. Its activities cover the three business sectors of Custom Research, Retail and Media. The Group has 115 companies operating in more than 100 countries. Of a total of approximately 10,000 employees (as at September 30, 2008), more than 80% are based outside Germany. For further information, visit our website: www.gfk.com
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