Annual General Meeting of Swedish Match AB (publ)
The shareholders of Swedish Match AB are hereby notified of the Annual General Meeting of Shareholders to be held on Thursday 20th April 2006 at 4:30 p.m. at Stockholm International Trade Fairs in Älvsjö (“Stockholmsmässan”).
The Board of Directors proposes a dividend of 2.10 SEK per share. The Board also proposes that the current mandate to repurchase up to 10 percent of all shares in the Company be prolonged. In addition the Board will also propose cancellation of up to 24,000,000 previously repurchased shares, with a simultaneous capitalization issue in an amount corresponding to the number of cancelled shares or 28,800,000 SEK. Furthermore, the Board will propose that the Parent Company’s legal reserves, which amount to 80 MSEK, be reduced through transfer to non-restricted reserves and to be used for repurchase of shares.
The Election Committee of Swedish Match AB proposes the election of Andrew Cripps and Conny Karlsson to the Board of Directors. Furthermore, the Election Committee proposes re-election of Bernt Magnusson (Chairman), Sven Hindrikes, Tuve Johannesson, Arne Jurbrant, Karsten Slotte, Kersti Strandqvist and Meg Tivéus. Jan Blomberg has declined to be re-elected.
The Election Committee is appointed by the Annual General Meeting and consists of Joachim Spetz, Chairman, (Handelsbanken Fonder), Marianne Nilsson (Robur Funds), Pernilla Klein (Third AP-fund) and Bernt Magnusson as ordinary members. Carl Rosén (Second AP-Fund) has served as deputy member of the Committee. William N. Booth (Wellington Management Company) and Mads Eg Gensmann and Edoardo Mercadante (Parvus Asset Management) have been co-opted to the Committee during the course of the year.
The complete notice of the Annual General Meeting can be found on the corporate web site: www.swedishmatch.com, and is also enclosed.
Swedish Match is a unique company with its range of market-leading brands in the product areas of snuff and chewing tobacco, cigars and pipe tobacco – tobacco’s niche products – as well as matches and lighters. The Group’s global operations generated sales of 13,311MSEK for the twelve month period ending December 31, 2005. Swedish Match shares are listed on Stockholmsbörsen (SWMA).
Swedish Match AB (publ), SE-118 85 Stockholm
Visiting address: Rosenlundsgatan 36, Telephone: + 46 8 658 02 00
Corporate Identity Number: 556015-0756
www.swedishmatch.com
For further information, please contact:
Emmett Harrison, Vice President, Investor Relations (IR)
Office +46 8 658 01 73, Mobile +46 70 938 01 73
