In the period under review, we paid a dividend of €2.10 per share in respect of fiscal 2004/2005. For fiscal 2005/2006 the Board of Directors and the Supervisory Board are proposing to the Annual General Meeting of Shareholders a dividend of €2.80 per share. This represents a dividend increase of 33.3%.

In the period under review, the Company made use of its authority to purchase its own shares in order to fulfill its obligations arising from the 2004 share-based payment program subsequent to the expiry of the vesting period. To the extent that there was no cash settlement (192,000 share options), the settlement of share options was executed through the allocation of shares purchased on the market (7,250 share options) in June 2006. The total number of shares issued remained unchanged.