What is a General Meeting?

The General Meeting is a privileged moment for shareholders. 
Actions taken at General Meetings include approving:

• The annual and consolidated accounts of the past fiscal year, 

• The revenue allotment,

• Changes of the by-laws,

• Renewal of nomination of members of the Supervisory Board or Statutory auditors.           

There are various types of meetings according to the type of decisions to be taken: Annual General Meetings, Ordinary General Meetings that are not annual and Extraordinary General Meetings.

 
Combined Meetings are those that make both ordinary and extraordinary decisions.

For example, the Ordinary General Meeting (OGM) approves the annual and consolidated accounts and renews the mandates of the members of the Supervisory Board.
Resolutions are adopted by a majority of votes from the shareholders.
 
Although at an Extraordinary General Meeting (EGM), where decisions that entail a change in the by-laws are taken, resolutions are only adopted by a majority of two thirds of the votes of the shareholders present or represented.

How will I be informed about a General Meeting?

The Annual General Ordinary Meeting is held in the six-month period following the closing of the fiscal year. The fiscal year begins on October 1, each year and ends on September 30, the next year.

To know the date of the general meeting, visit the Financial Calendar.

The information regarding a general meeting is given as follows:

• Scenario One: Preliminary notice followed by notice of meeting (two phases)         

Phase 1: Preliminary notice of meeting simply informs the shareholders that the meeting is foreseen. The notice is published at least 35 days prior to the date of the meeting in the Bulletin des Annonces Légales Obligatoires (BALO), a Mandatory Legal Announcements Bulletin, and includes, in particular, the agenda of the meeting and the text of the draft resolutions. The agenda and the text of the draft resolutions are not yet final at this stage.

 
Phase 2: Notice of meeting specifies, among other things, the agenda, the nature of the meeting, and the day, time and location of the meeting. All meetings are convened in the same way. The meeting is announced through the publication of a notice in a Journal d'Annonces Légales (JAL) and in the BALO and for registered shareholders by letter (see the section "Receive the documentation"). The notice or the letter is published and/or sent, according to the case, at least 15 days prior to the meeting.

• Or Scenario Two: Preliminary notice constituting notice of meeting (simplified procedure)       

The Company may also decide to publish a preliminary notice constituting notice of meeting in BALO at least 35 days prior to the meeting. It contains the same elements of information mentioned above. The registered shareholders are informed in the same manner by letter. The call to convene a meeting is also published in a JAL at least 15 days prior to the meeting.       

 
The preliminary notice of meeting and notice of meeting are available on the following website: www.journal-officiel.gouv.fr

How can I receive the documentation of the meeting?

- You hold your shares on a registered form (your shares are registered in BNP Paribas Securities Services, the Company's registrar):   
  
If you are a registered shareholder for at least one month when the notice of meeting is published, you receive a letter convening the meeting, accompanied by the documents foreseen by the laws and the existing regulations. This concerns, in particular, the following documents: 

• Unique vote form on which you can choose between voting by proxy, voting by mail or attending the meeting, 

• Reports of the Gérant (general and/or special), 

• Reports of the Supervisory Board (general and/or special), 

• Reports of the Statutory Auditors (general and/or special), 

• Draft Resolutions, 

• Five-Year Financial Review, 

• Financial Statements (annual and consolidated), 

• Document and information request form.           

Notice: if you are a pure or administered registered shareholder, you are requested to inform BNP Paribas Securities Services (the Company's registrar) or the financial institution concerned, according to the case, of any change of address.   
 
- You hold your shares on a bearer form (through any other financial intermediary):       

If you are a bearer shareholder, as soon as the notice of meeting is published, the same documents are available and can be sent upon your request or the request of your financial intermediary (that manages your share account), if you can prove your identity and your position as a shareholder ("participation certificate" delivered by your intermediary).
Notice: the ''General Meeting'' resolution booklet is available on line: see in the Documentation section.

- The Shareholders Club is pleased to inform its members about the General Meeting and provides useful details on the conditions to participate the meetings. Please feel free to contact the Shareholders Club for any additional information.

How can I attend the General Meeting?

- If you hold your shares on a bearer form:                          

We invite you to contact your financial intermediary or the manager of your share account that will draw up a certificate proving your identity and your position as a shareholder (the "participation certificate") and then send it to BNP Paribas Securities Services - Service Assemblée.

- If you hold your shares on a registered form (through BNP Paribas Securities Services):                         

BNP Paribas Securities Services - Service Assemblée will send you directly your convocation to the General Meeting with the unique form on which you can choose between voting by proxy, voting by mail or requesting an admission card. You only have to complete the form by selecting the "admission card request"  box and send it back to BNP Paribas Securities Services - Service Assemblée. Then, the admission card will be sent to your home address.             

- If your admission card does not reach you on time to attend the meeting, you may still attend:                          

• If you are a pure registered shareholder, with proof of your identity 

• If you are a bearer shareholder, with the "participation certificate", drawn-up by your financial intermediary, and with proof of your identity, as long as your request for an admission card was sent to BNP Paribas Securities Services - Service Assemblée.

How can I vote at a General Meeting?

- If you attend the General Meeting
All shareholders have the right to vote. At the end of the question and answer session, shareholders are invited to vote on the resolutions submitted to their approval, with a separate vote for each of them. 
 
- If you cannot attend the General Meeting

You can still vote according to the legal conditions and the regulations in force at the time. These are currently voting:

• By correspondence,

• By proxy:                          

  > by sending the proxy to the Chairman of the General Meeting, 

  > by sending a proxy to the Company without indicating any mandate,

  > by giving proxy either to your spouse, or another shareholder and 

     member of this meeting, exclusively.       

                    

 If you are a bearer shareholder:

• The unique vote form on which you can choose between voting by proxy or voting by mail is available upon request to BNP Paribas Securities Services - Service Assemblée either directly, or through your financial intermediary. Your request must be received by BNP Paribas Securities Services - Service Assemblée at least six (6) days prior to the date of the meeting.   

• Then, you must return to the Company or BNP Paribas Securities Services - Service Assemblée within the same allotted time than above (at least three (3) days prior to the date of the meeting) your proxy or the postal voting form, duly completed with your "participation certificate" delivered by the financial intermediary that manages your share account.                    

If you are a registered shareholder:

• You receive the unique vote form on which you can choose between voting by proxy or voting by mail directly from BNP Paribas Securities Services - Service Assemblée.   

• Then, you must return the proxy or the postal voting form duly completed to BNP Paribas Securities Services - Service Assemblée or to the Company within the allotted time (BNP Paribas Securities Services must receive it at least three (3) days prior to the date of the meeting).