Mercedes 2015 Annual Report Download - page 47

A | TO OUR SHAREHOLDERS | REPORT OF THE SUPERVISORY BOARD 53
Personnel changes in the Board of Management
In the Supervisory Board meeting on February 13, 2015,
the appointment of Hubertus Troska as a member of the
Board of Management of Daimler AG with responsibility
for Greater China was extended for another five years as
of January 1, 2016.
The appointment of Dr. Christine Hohmann-Dennhardt as a
member of the Board of Management ended on December 31,
2015. Dr. Hohmann-Dennhardt became a member of the
board of management of Volkswagen AG as of January 1, 2016.
In its meeting on December 9, 2015, the Supervisory Board
appointed Renata Jungo Brüngger as a member of the Board
of Management of Daimler AG with responsibility for Integrity
and Legal Affairs for a period of three years as of January 1, 2016.
In the Supervisory Board meeting on February 16, 2016,
Dr. Dieter Zetsche was reappointed as the Chairman of the
Board of Management and Head of Mercedes-Benz Cars
for a further three years as of January 1, 2017. In addition, the
Supervisory Board decided in this meeting to assign Board of
Management responsibility for Group Research & Mercedes-Benz
Cars Development to Ola Källenius as of January 1, 2017.
He will thus succeed to Professor Dr. Thomas Weber, who will
step down from his position as a member of the Board of
Management of Daimler AG after 14 years when his contract
expires on December 31, 2016.
Audit of the 2015 company and consolidated financial
statements
The financial statements of Daimler AG and the combined
management report for the Company and the Group for 2015
were duly audited by KPMG AG, Wirtschaftsprüfungsgesellschaft,
Berlin, and were given an unqualified audit opinion. The same
applies to the consolidated financial statements for 2015 prepared
according to IFRS.
In a meeting in early February 2016 attended by the external
auditors, the Supervisory Board discussed the preliminary
key figures of the annual company and consolidated financial
statements for 2015 and the dividend proposal to be made
at the 2016 Annual Shareholders’ Meeting. The preliminary key
figures for the year 2015 were announced at the Annual
Press Conference on February 4, 2016.
In the meeting on February 16, 2016, the Supervisory Board dealt
with the annual company financial statements, the annual
consolidated financial statements and the combined management
report for Daimler AG and the Daimler Group, each of which
had been issued with an unqualified audit opinion by the exter-
nal auditors, as well as with the reports of the Audit Committee
and the Supervisory Board, the corporate governance report,
the remuneration report and the proposal on the appropriation
of profit. In preparation, the members of the Supervisory
Board had been provided with comprehensive documentation
including the Annual Report with the consolidated financial
statements according to IFRS, the combined management report
for Daimler AG and the Daimler Group, the corporate gover-
nance report and the remuneration report, the annual company
financial statements of Daimler AG, the proposal of the Board
of Management on the appropriation of profit, the audit reports
of KPMG on the annual company financial statements of
Daimler AG and the consolidated financial statements, each
including the combined management report, as well as
drafts of the reports of the Supervisory Board and of the
Audit Committee.
The Audit Committee and the Supervisory Board dealt with those
documents in detail and discussed them intensively in the
presence of the responsible external auditors, who reported
on the results of their audit and were available to answer
supplementary questions and to provide additional information.
Following the final results of the review by the Audit Committee
and its own review, the Supervisory Board declared its agreement
with the results of the audit by the external auditors; it deter-
mined that no objections were to be raised and approved the
financial statements and the combined management report
as presented by the Board of Management. The company financial
statements of Daimler AG for the year 2015 were thereby
adopted. On this basis, the Supervisory Board consented to
the proposal made by the Board of Management on the appro-
priation of distributable profit. Furthermore, it approved the
report of the Supervisory Board, the corporate governance
report and the remuneration report, as well as its own proposed
decisions on the items of the agenda for the 2016 Annual
Shareholders’ Meeting.
Appreciation.
The Supervisory Board warmly thanks all of the employees and
the management of the Daimler Group for their committed
contributions to the successful year 2015. Special thanks are
due to Jörg Hofmann, who closely accompanied the Group
since 2008 with strong commitment and stepped down from
the Supervisory Board as of October 31, 2015. The Supervisory
Board also thanks Dr. Christine Hohmann-Dennhardt for the
very good work she did for Daimler AG.
Stuttgart, February 2016
The Supervisory Board
Dr. Manfred Bischoff
Chairman