Ladies and gentlemen. [Foreign language] I welcome you to the 29th Annual General Meeting of Novartis AG, and I'm delighted to be able to greet a large number of shareholders here at St. Jakobsh alle in Basel. I also welcome the members of the board present: Giovanni Caforio, the candidate for the Chair of the Board of Directors; Elizabeth McNally, the candidate for the Board of Directors; and the members of the Executive Committee present here today. We also have the representatives of our auditors, KPMG AG, notary Andrea Schmutz, and the independent proxy, Peter Andreas Zahn. I appoint Charlotte Palmer, Secretary of the Board of Directors, as Keeper of the Minutes. I appoint the following persons as tellers: Martin Kesselring, UBS, Olga Nietes, Citibank, and Alexandra Skriber of Zürcher Kantonalbank. Today's Annual General Meeting was called after publication of the complete agenda. This was done by publication on the 6th of February 2025 in the Swiss Trade Gazette, number 25. Unless otherwise provided by the law or the articles of incorporation, the Annual General Meeting will be decided with the absolute majority of share votes represented here. Mrs. Palmer will later announce the number of shareholders present, as well as the number of shares represented by them. The decisions will be taken by electronic means, and before the first vote, we will play a video explaining how to use the voting device. Shareholders wishing to take the floor, please proceed to the speaker's registration desk with your access ticket to register, unless you've already done so. Speaking time is limited to five minutes each, and I would like to inform you that the Annual General Meeting is being recorded both on audio and video. The meeting is also being broadcast over the internet. I hereby note that the notices of today's Annual General Meeting were published in due time and due form. As a result, the meeting may take decisions on all of the items on the agenda. On behalf of Mr. Zahn, the independent proxy, I would also like to announce that he transmitted the instructions for voting he has received to the Board of Directors in aggregated form last Wednesday. Now, let us start with item one: the votes on the financial and non-financial reporting for the 2024 financial year. The agenda item is split into two votes. Item 1.1 concerns the vote on the financial reporting, and item 1.2 concerns the advisory vote on non-financial reporting, which was introduced last year. Any request to speak will address both votes in conjunction. Under item 1.1, the Board of Directors proposes the approval of the operating and financial review of Novartis AG, the financial statements of Novartis AG, and the group consolidated financial statements for the 2024 financial year. Under item 1.1, the Board of Directors proposes the approval of the non-financial report for the 2024 financial year through an advisory vote. The vote concerns the section specified on page 63 of the Novartis and Society Integrated Report. As auditor, KPMG AG has audited the consolidated accounts of Novartis Group and the financial statements of Novartis AG and has made no comments on the auditor's reports and recommends that you approve them. Furthermore, KPMG AG has audited the key figures on pages 60 to 62 of the Novartis and Society Integrated Report and have nothing to add to their report. The annual report, the auditor's report, and the Novartis and Society Integrated Report, containing the non-financial report, have been available on the Novartis website since their date of publication. Myself and our CEO, Mr. Narasimhan, would now like to give some additional explanations on the past business year and our company. Ladies and gentlemen, dear shareholders, allow me to look a little further back when I place last year's business performance in context. I'd like to look at it in the context of the period since 2013 when I became Chairman of the Board. The technological and societal development that we've seen in the past 10 years has really shaped the strategic and operational direction of Novartis and will continue to do so in the future, giving us new opportunities to grow and to remain one of the world's most innovative pharmaceutical companies. Last year was the first time that we published results as a pure-play pharmaceutical company, and those results are very good. Our net sales at constant currencies rose by 12% to $50.3 billion, primarily thanks to the healthy development of the medicines in our cardiovascular and oncology portfolios. Our core net income improved at constant currencies by 21% to $15.8 billion, largely thanks to further efficiency gains. We also achieved strong growth with our blockbusters and Entresto and Cosentyx, but also with therapies like our MS drug Kesimpta, our oncology drugs Pluvicto and Kisqali, and our cholesterol drug Leqvio. Our pipeline, which Mr. Narasimhan is going to talk about in further detail in a moment, also developed very strongly. Altogether, since we began our transformation, our portfolio has changed substantially, not also because of the great technological development that we've seen gathering pace over the past few years. When I became Chairman back in August 2013, Novartis was a broadly diversified life sciences company. In addition to pharmaceuticals, we were also involved in other sectors, including generics, ophthalmology, vaccines, and animal health, business areas which we have in the meantime either floated on the stock market or sold off, and which I've talked about, of course, at many previous AGMs. That diversified structure was partly the result of the historic development of Novartis and its predecessor companies, Ciba-Geigy and Sandoz, which were involved in various different areas of the chemical industry. On the other hand, it was also the result of the economic environment of the period, which promoted the development of conglomerates. That strategic direction was one, though, that we ultimately decided to rethink, particularly because of the huge progress made in technology over those years, opening up whole new growth areas for us. We do believe that this strategy was the right one. It delivered many stakeholders, not just our shareholders, solid, lasting growth, and made us able to rise to the challenges which the pharmaceutical industry was facing. The development of our free cash flow has been positive, and in spite of the spin-offs of Alcon and Sandoz, it has more than tripled in the past 20 years, reaching a record of over $16 billion in 2024. One major new development that's given the pharmaceutical industry a new string to its bow recently was cell therapy. In 2017, we were able to launch Kymriah, the first CAR-T cell therapy, followed by Zolgesma and Luxturna, as well as the first gene therapist. Gene therapy is a really important area for us for the future, although it's still associated with significant challenges. The same goes for our nuclear medicine and RNA activities, which we've been developing in the past few years. In nuclear medicine, for example, we are today able to target tumors much more precisely with radioactive isotopes, which act across only a very small area of tissue to kill the cancer cells specifically. We are seeing very nice results with drugs such as Pluvicto for prostate cancer. Our RNA therapies are also improving patients' lives. Patients with high LDL cholesterol levels, for example, can be treated very successfully with our siRNA-based therapy, Leqvio, which means they have to go to the doctor less often and take less medicine overall, which improves their quality of life. In addition to the technological innovations which enhance our classic platforms with small molecules and biologics, we have also intensively been investing in the use of artificial intelligence over the past few years. Now, we're very much at the beginning of this rapidly developing area of technology, but we're already able to use machine learning to model new molecules, recognize complex biological structures, and carry out toxicological trials in silico, meaning that we can identify potential breakthrough therapies much earlier and drastically cut development times. These kinds of developments require us to operate in a much more interdisciplinary manner than we have in the past, and we've recently been bringing our research, development, and commercial activities much more closely together. Cooperation is going to become ever more important in the future, I believe, even if this notion runs counter to the prevailing zeitgeist, which is increasingly focused on unbridled individualism and which is leading to a divide in our society, I feel. Although individual performance is going to remain important, it's going to be ever more important to be a team player and to be able to cooperate. This is going to be key to the success of our industry in the future, and will have to be taken very close account of. Allow me briefly to say something about societal developments as well, because these, of course, have a constant influence on our company and require us to react. We have been intensifying our efforts in the field of environmental protection, improving access to medicines, and actually, we are right at the top of our industry in that regard. We've been stepping up our research in the field of neglected diseases such as malaria. We were able to make additional progress with the development of new malaria therapies last year. We're also working hard on neglected tropical diseases, and I believe that we have the best research pipeline among the major pharmaceutical players in this field. We are also in constant dialogue with our shareholders and other stakeholder groups across society. One very nice example of this is the new Novartis Pavilion here on the campus in Basel, where we invite the public to come in and find out more about what we do and also hold debates about the major issues concerning our industry. Ladies and gentlemen, 2024 was a successful year, not least of all because we continued our development on a healthy basis for the future. I'm delighted then at today's annual general meeting to be able to propose a dividend increase of 6.1%. Since the foundation of Novartis, the dividend has continually grown from CHF 0.50 up to CHF 3.50, which represents an annual growth rate of 7.2%. This healthy performance is thanks in great part to our employees, who I would like to thank most warmly here at this opportunity. Now, given the conflict in the Ukraine and in the Middle East and the new dynamism in the U.S.A., the world is in a rather volatile state, and certainly economic perspectives in Europe don't look that bright. However, I do believe that the innovation capacity of the pharmaceutical industry remains high, and that's going to be good for Switzerland. We have very strong framework conditions for business here. If we wish to remain at the top of our game and be able to compete internationally, we need to ensure that Switzerland remains attractive to top talent, and this must not be neglected. Dear shareholders, allow me to come now to say a few words about the Board of Directors. Over the past few years, we have constantly been working to improve our governance and the strength of our board, so as to ensure that we have top experts in all the necessary fields. Now, with the appointment of Dr. Elizabeth McNally and my designated successor, Dr. Giovanni Caforio, this is something where we've been really successful, I believe. Dr. Caforio, who until recently was CEO and Chairman of Bristol Myers Squibb, as well as Dr. McNally, a leading researcher in the fields of cardiology and genetic medicine, both have extensive know-how and industry experience, and this is what Novartis needs in order to remain a leader in the future. The two candidates will tell you a little more about themselves in a moment. I would also like to take this opportunity to thank my colleagues, Bill Winters and Charles Sawyers, who are stepping down from the board at the same time as I am. Over the past 12 years, Bill and Charles have done a huge amount of work for the business and scientific success of Novartis. Thanks to their experience and their willingness to examine our company from every angle, they have made a huge contribution to strengthening our company, making it a leader in its industry. Charles and Bill, thank you very much for everything that you've done. Ladies and gentlemen, allow me to wrap up my comments now and take the opportunity to thank you for all the trust you've placed in me and in the company over the past 12 years. It's always been a great pleasure for me to be Chairman of the Board here at Novartis and to prepare the company for the future. You know, 40 years ago, when I began my career at Sandoz, I never could have imagined that I'd be standing here before you today and looking back on what I think has been a very successful development of the company, all in all. The fact that we've managed this is certainly partly due to fortunate circumstances, and also thanks to the fact that Sandoz and later Novartis were always committed to innovation. That's always been a real central driver for me and will remain so in the future. For a successful company, it's very important that even in difficult times, you look to the future with courage and with the willingness to take risks. This was a basic attitude that I learned from many role models during my career and which I've tried to pass on to others. I do hope I've managed to do that. Thank you for all the confidence that you've placed in me, and I will hand you back to Mr. Narasimhan. Thank you. [audio distortion] In 2018, we introduced the annual general meeting. In 2018, when I became CEO, Novartis accelerated its we introduced the annual general meeting. In 2018, when I became CEO, Novartis accelerated its transformation from a diversified healthcare conglomerate to a pure-play pharmaceuticals company. At the time, our company was still operating in areas like eye care and generics. Now, after seven years and billions of dollars in transactions, we've streamlined our operations, narrowed our focus to innovative medicines, and invested in new technologies that push the boundaries of what science can deliver for humanity. In the process, we've unlocked significant value for our shareholders. As of this week, Novartis had a higher market cap as a standalone innovative medicines company than we did as a conglomerate seven years ago. We have helped create three new companies in the process that are global leaders in their sectors: Alcon, Sandoz, and Haleon. The value creation we have unlocked shows our focused strategy is working. In fact, we've seen a total shareholder return of 106% compared to where we were in 2018. Today, I want to share some about how Novartis delivered in 2024 and how that success positions us well for the future. Let's start by reviewing the financials in the context of the past few years. We delivered strong sales growth of an average of 7% in the last five years, with core operating income growing 15%. We have expanded our core margin by 11 percentage points to 38.7%, demonstrating how we have emphasized both innovation and efficiency at every level of our company. As Mr. Reinhardt mentioned earlier today, in 2024, we generated $16 billion in free cash flow, more than Novartis did in our years as a conglomerate, allowing us to deliver strong shareholder returns to further strengthen our pipeline through M&A and to invest in our business so that we can continue to innovate and discover more breakthroughs. Now, let's take a closer look at this past year. First, we saw major progress in our pipeline. The readouts we had in 2023 made it possible for us to achieve 29 submissions last year. This includes important therapies in our oncology portfolio like Scemblix and Pluvicto, which we're pushing to make available to more and more patients. We expanded access to more of our medicines and obtained 20 approvals in 2024 in our priority markets. Some of the biggest were Kisqali and Scemblix, two medicines that speak to the strength of our R&D engine. These are both medicines originally researched and developed within Novartis Labs. They build on our company's legacy of innovation in areas of breast cancer and chronic myelogenous leukemia. In the US, Kisqali expanded approval as a treatment for early-stage breast cancer, helping to drive our growth and allowing more patients to access care. In 2024, we delivered 12% sales growth and 22% core operating income growth, one of our highest growth rates ever. Most importantly, in 2024, we reached 296 million patients with our medicines, demonstrating our commitment to expand access to innovative therapies. Now, from a geographic standpoint, our performance was driven by strong growth across our priority geographies. As you can see, we saw 18% growth in the United States, 21% in China, nine percent in Germany, and seven percent in Japan. We are well positioned in each of these geographies to succeed in the future. That global growth helped us continue to invest in our pipeline as part of our bolt-on acquisition strategy. Over the last 18 months, we've signed more strategic deals than any biopharma company. We aspire to continue to balance internally generated and externally sourced novel therapies. Our strong balance sheet gives us the flexibility to make deals that complement our internal pipeline and build out important technology platforms like radioligand therapy. We've also made important partnerships in the field of artificial intelligence, including with the Nobel Prize-winning team at Isomorphic Labs. Finally, in 2024, we continued to build trust with society. We hit a major milestone this past year when we ranked number one in the Access to Medicines Index for the first time. We also remained a leader across several ESG categories, including major reductions in our environmental footprint. I'm extremely proud we're a leader in this area because it speaks to who we are as a company. We are committed to environmental stewardship and ensuring breakthrough medicines reach people who need them, regardless of where they live. Given these results, our big focus in 2025 is maintaining this momentum so we can continue to deliver for patients and our shareholders. We do that by staying focused on our strategy. One of the things we've seen entering this new era for our company is the power of consistency. We have four core therapeutic areas: cardiovascular, renal, metabolic, immunology, neuroscience, and oncology. As Dr. Reinhardt mentioned, we have five key technology platforms: chemistry and biotherapeutics, xRNA, radioligand, and cell and gene therapies. We have an exciting future ahead of us. Our goal is to maintain an average sales growth of five percent annually through the end of the decade, driven by our growth brands and our ongoing launches in areas like breast cancer, prostate cancer, and CML. We expect to be at 40% core margin by 2027, which will put us in the median of our peers that will allow us to keep investing in the business, maintain cross-discipline, and consistently return value to shareholders. We have 15 major submissions enabling readouts over the next two years, which will set us up to grow into the 2030s and beyond. Finally, and importantly, we have more than 30 potential high-value medicines that are now coming forward in the pipeline across each of our four therapeutic areas. When we step back and look at it all together, we're proud of the progress we've made as a company and of our outstanding financial and operational performance. We've narrowed our focus, invested in innovation, unlocked new efficiencies, and continued to expand our impact. Before I close, I want to take a moment to offer a note of gratitude to our outgoing board members, Dr. Charles Sawyers and Bill Winters, as well as our outgoing Board Chair, Dr. Jörg Reinhardt. Dr. Reinhardt is stepping down today after decades of service to Novartis. He leaves behind a profound legacy of leadership and has been integral to so much of the success of our company. Thanks in part to the support of so many people here, I'm confident in our future outlook and in achieving our vision to be the most valued and trusted medicines company in the world. Please direct your attention to the screen as we take a moment to honor Dr. Reinhardt's legacy. The future begins with a thought. It is created where knowledge meets clear decisions. Innovation and public health constantly work of development. He joined Sandoz in 1982 in the technical development laboratory. The future is already on the horizon. Personal computers are conquering the world. First slide based with science and health. Managing optical engineer Gibson was opening up new possibilities for the pharmaceutical industry. His career took him from research and development to strategic roles and increasing levels of responsibility. At the newly formed Novartis, he was involved early on in projects such as gene therapy and xenotransplantation and headed the vaccines and diagnostics business. Together with his team, he made important contributions to the development of BMA and was responsible for further breakthroughs. Not everything was successful, but there was a growing recognition that breadwins require cooperation, power, and trust. As Chair of the Board, Barrett has initiated a realignment of Novartis into a focused pharmaceutical company. Critical innovation was encouraged. Gene therapy, nuclear medicine, and RNA technology became key pillars. Collaboration and open exchange with society became increasingly important. The commitment to patients is also strengthened. These are the pillars on which Novartis will continue to thrive. The future is created with every thought that becomes reality. This courage and this progress will be remembered. Shoutout to the audience. [audio distortion], ladies and gentlemen. I am so delighted to welcome you today and to join you in looking back on Dr. Jörg Reinhardt's distinguished career and achievements. His stepping down as Novartis Chairman of the Board of Directors marks the end of an era, at the same time we're opening up a new chapter under the leadership of his designated successor, Dr. Giovanni Caforio, to whom I would like to extend a warm welcome here on behalf of the Board of Directors. Jörg Reinhardt's contribution to the success of Novartis has been second to none. The video gave us an insight into his career at Sandoz and since the merger at Novartis. For more than 40 years, he was committed to his company, its associates, patients, and, of course, its shareholders. In each of his roles, he made a positive impact on the company, and in the last 12 years, he did serve as Chairman of the Board of Directors. I had the privilege to work with you for five years, experiencing firsthand how his personality shaped the work of the Board of Directors. His transparent communication style and his openness had a strong effect on the way we all worked. In the past, the Board of Directors were very hierarchical and formal. Jörg Reinhardt introduced a new tone, which was based on cooperativeness, collaboration, and mutual respect. This vastly improved the working environment. What's even more important though is that this change sparked constructive and critical debate. Always with a view to achieving the best possible result for the company and its stakeholders. Standard examples have been stated, but possibly the best one is the Sandoz spinoff. As you know, Jörg Reinhardt first joined Sandoz right after graduating in 1982. He spent many years developing a deep connection with the company, and this would make you believe that spinning off the company would have been difficult for him. No matter what his feelings were in the candid and fact-based discussions about Sandoz in the board of directors, these feelings were not relevant. He put the emphasis on the long-term interests of all players and led us to the conclusion that the spinoff was the right step to take. This decision has proven to be correct because the transaction was a major success, benefiting patients and shareholders. Sandoz is thriving, and Novartis is now a company fully focused on innovative medication. This change will be the long-term benefit of the company and will be part of Jörg Reinhardt's legacy as one of his most important strategic achievements. His interest in new technologies and his courage to use them was also key for the company's success. Under his leadership, Novartis's technological capabilities have grown like never before. Small molecules, biologics, cell and gene therapy, radioligand therapy, and artificial intelligence, Novartis is leading in all of these areas. This puts it in an ideal position to play a part in the pharmaceutical industry of the future. Additional achievements, which also merit being mentioned, are the pavilion and opening the Basel campus app. Jörg Reinhardt always knew that explaining our industry and its place in society to the public is a challenge. The message is clear. Novartis has nothing to hide and wants to develop in conjunction with society, showing the company's role as openly as possible. Ladies and gentlemen, with Jörg Reinhardt, an outstanding personality is leaving the Swiss and international economic stage. His open leadership style is the foundation on which we will build the future of Novartis. This is an achievement for which he deserves our respect and our gratitude. Dear Jörg, on behalf of the Board of Directors, our associates, and our shareholders, I thank you for your immense professional and personal commitment during your long and distinguished career and wish you all the best for the future. Thank you. Yeah. Thank you. Thank you very much, Simon, for those kind words. Allow me to say it was always a great pleasure to work with you as well as the other colleagues on the board. We've all got along very well, and I'd like to thank you all for everything you've done and for making my life as relatively easy as you did. Thank you very much. We've now been able to establish attendance figures. Ms. Palmer, please. Ladies and gentlemen, I can tell you the attendance figures at today's AGM on the 7th of March 2025. Present here today are 1,693 shareholders, all their representatives, as well as the independent proxy. Together, they represent 1,270,380,025 votes, equating to 75% of the total shares. The votes are held by the independent proxy, 1,165,170,389 votes, and the shareholders present in the room, as well as their representatives, have 92,209,636 votes. Thank you. Thank you very much, Ms. Palmer. I would like to open the floor for discussion then on agenda item one. We have five requests for the floor, and the first person requesting the floor is Mr. Vincent Kaufmann from the Ethos Foundation. Chairman, members of the board, ladies and gentlemen, shareholders. Ethos represents many long-standing shareholders of Novartis, particularly pension funds, and I'm speaking on behalf of them today. Chairman, first of all, I would like to begin by thanking you for the open and constructive dialogue that we have with you over the past 12 years. We've had many meetings with you about governance, about remuneration, sustainability, and so on. I'm also grateful to you for your commitment to Novartis. When you became Chairman of the Board in 2013, Novartis was facing major challenges. Only a few weeks previously, the Swiss population had approved the popular initiative against excessive executive pay, which was partly due to the excessive pay received by your predecessor. Now, that caused a lot of damage to Novartis' reputation in the public eye, as well as in business circles, and I think you'll probably agree that it took a lot of time and a lot of effort to win back everybody's confidence. You also had to deal with various issues associated with business ethics, with the cases in South Korea, in Greece, and so on. Excessive pay was certainly at the root of many of those issues. Under your leadership, Novartis has changed its corporate culture and brought things back onto an even keel. I think it's a pity then that you now seem to be striking off in the wrong direction in a few areas because we're seeing the CEO having earned over CHF 19 million last year. This is totally disproportionate, of course, and bears no resemblance to society in general. We know that the results of last year were very good, but nevertheless, for the shareholders, it is not acceptable that one single individual should be earning 330 times the Swiss median salary. Therefore, we will be recommending that people do not approve the remuneration report. Such pay carries a significant reputational risk for Novartis, particularly at a time when healthcare costs are rising. We mustn't repeat the errors of the past. We need to keep pay within sensible levels and ensure that management can always act in the best interests of the company and not in their own financial interests. Mr. Reinhardt, I'd like to thank you once again for all of the fruitful discussions that we've had over the past few years and for your contribution to the success of Novartis. We wish you all the best. We, long-standing investors, remain committed to Novartis. We're looking forward to fruitful discussions with Dr. Caforio, your successor, and we will be able to sort out things from the remuneration side. Thank you very much. [Foreign language] Kaufmann. Thank you, Mr. Kaufmann. [Foreign language] Thank you, first of all, for your friendly words of praise. I'm very pleased to hear what you've had to say, both personally and on behalf of the company. Now, as you said, we've been in discussions about all sorts of things for many years now, things that we're concerned about and you're concerned about too. I do believe that, at least on principle, we do have the same opinion. We want to be sensible, we want to be reasonable, and we can debate precisely what that means, but I do think that fundamentally we agree on principle. We have to work and behave in a sensible manner and that, of course, the management team has to work for the good of the company and not simply for the good of their own bank balances. Now, where our opinions perhaps diverge a little is the question of how much money that could reasonably be. We've been talking about this for some time, and you'll know that we for years have been concerned as a global company to ensure that we are moving more or less in line with what the rest of the world is doing. You know, with our remuneration, particularly that of the CEO, we are actually right in the middle on the average when you look at things from a global point of view. Perhaps in the upper third for Europe, but certainly not above average when you look at the US. Now, we have to be able to compete, of course, with other companies which are active in Europe and in the rest of the world. We have to ensure that we can attract leaders with an international reputation who are able to do what's needed at an international level. We have to pay them accordingly. Now, I expect the issue of compensation is going to come up again in today's meeting again later on. What I can say is that there are a number of pages in the annual report which explain how we arrive at such levels of compensation. If you read that information, then I think you will see that we have quite a complex process that we use each year to assess the performance of our leadership and measure them against the international competition. Of course, they have good years and less good years. You know, last year I pointed out that 2022 was a poorer year and the CEO's remuneration compensation was only half what it had been the previous year. Last year was a very good year, which is why the CEO has the level of remuneration that he has this time. It's important that people understand that we have this system, we have rules which we apply when working out the compensation, and it depends very heavily on the performance of the company. We don't just pull a figure out of the air. When we have a year when business goes well, when we're able to do good things for our shareholders, we're also able to compensate our leaders accordingly. We will continue to operate on this basis in the future and to defend our method. I think that was all I had to say on that matter for now. Now we would hear from Mr. Rolf Kurath from Actaris. [Foreign language] Chairman, ladies and gentlemen, I'm Rolf Kurath, and I'm the president of Actaris. We believe in a sustainable way of doing business, and we represent private individuals from all over Switzerland. Last year, Novartis did very well. The results are good. We see that you've made excellent progress in your environmental policies. Congratulations for that. There are three areas where we still see that you need to take more action. We need to be more focused on Europe, aware of the risks related to Russia, and you need to improve your non-financial reporting. I'm sorry to point out the bad points. I read an interview with you in the NZZ yesterday, actually, Dr. Reinhardt, where you made a few comments. In terms of remuneration, we have this very large package, which may or may not be acceptable. Let me tell you why I feel that there are elements that are not acceptable. There is no proportionality between the remuneration, the compensation of the CEO, and indeed that of the executive team, and the value of a company. are no studies that have been done on that at a global level to establish such a relationship. Secondly, a CEO is only worth as much as his workforce. Having these extremely high bonuses is uncountered to the principle of fairness, of fair payment, and peace and harmony within the company, frankly. Thirdly, excessive compensation stands in the way of a healthy relationship between you and the local population and the electorate in the company. Of course, we have the third round of bilaterals. You know, without that, Novartis would have had no access to the European labor market. We do expect in the future to see a better European social partnership coming into the compensation levels of your leaders and less of a focus on what's going on in the U.S.A. I wanted to also talk about geopolitical risks. Russia is actually a small market for us, accounting for only one point two percent of our sales. Now, you have about 1,000 members of staff, employees in Russia. You, of course, have rather difficult conditions working in Russia. The Putin regime is hostile to foreign companies. Foreign companies find it difficult to recruit staff. Their staff are being taken away in order to be sent to the army. It is a difficult situation. Here is our question. How do you ensure in your operations in Russia that human rights standards and the rule of law are properly respected? Now, finally, as I said before, we are happy to see what you are doing for sustainability, but we do see serious defects in your non-financial reports. I mean, your report is good. I like it. The Swiss Federal Council, in its report of June last year, stated that there should be a binding vote on companies' non-financial reports. I see that you are only having a consultative or an advisory vote again this time, and this is not enough. We don't understand why you are refusing to abide by the rules. Actually, you know, this rather stands out as an issue with the compliance that you've otherwise improved so much under Dr. Reinhardt. We do believe that you should have a binding vote on the non-financial reports. We also would recommend that people vote no on the compensation votes. Thank you very much. Thank you very much, Mr. Kurath. You've raised three points, first of which is compensation. I don't think I need to say any more about that on top of what I already said. You've mentioned Europe. Our focus on Europe. We're certainly very focused on Europe. You know, we certainly are aware that compensation levels are higher in the U.S. than they are in Europe. We do try to orient ourselves on the European context. We're in the upper third in terms of compensation when you measure us against Europe. But please believe us, we are very much remaining focused on the European side of things. You also mentioned Russia. You're right that it's difficult to do business in Russia. You know, there are differences between pharmaceutical companies and other industries. Russia, of course, is aware of the contribution made to quality of life and well-being for Russian people within their country. We are therefore largely allowed to get on with our work. You can rest assured that we are monitoring what's going on in the country very carefully. We're looking at the demands placed upon us there. We will certainly take action if we get the feeling that things are moving in the wrong direction. That's not the case at the moment. You're right when you say we've got about 1,000 staff in Russia. We provide medicines to the Russian market, important basic life-preserving medicines. We will continue to do that. We will also consider to continue to make sure that all of the rules are met for our employees there and that they can continue to operate safely. The other thing you mentioned was our sustainability report. We discussed this last year as well, of course. You say that the Swiss government has decided that there must be a binding vote on such a report. That's not actually quite correct. Lawyers were debating that last year. They're still debating it now. It should be a binding vote, but it doesn't have to be. It's not compulsory. We believe that we have enough rules that we have to abide by. If there is a little bit of flexibility in the system, then we would like to be able to utilize that. What we said last year stands for now, really. If you think the report is good, well, then that's fine. If you think it's not acceptable and it has room for improvement, well, then that's also up to you. If the substance is all right, then I don't think it matters so much whether the vote is binding or advisory. We will do what we say we'll do in the report. This is a very important issue for us, and it will continue to be so regardless of which way the vote goes. Thank you very much, Mr. Kurath. We would now hear from Mr. Müller. [Foreign language] Müller's my name, and I'm a former employee. Dr. Reinhardt, Chairman of the Board of Directors, esteemed members of the Executive Committee, and also dear shareholders. I'd like to take the opportunity to thank the Chair of the Board of Directors, the Executive Committee, and the entire associates for the excellent result of the year. Some years ago, I've taken the floor before, but without success. I asked for an increase of the pension payments in vain. I hope it'll be different today. Let me kindly ask the members of the Executive Committee to have a look at my proposal. In Switzerland, there are large companies which did decide against increasing pension pays, but they received an additional payment at 13th month for three years, for the years 2019, 2020, 2021, and then again for the years 2022 to 2024. My daughter, for example, received in 2021 and also in 2025 a 13th pension payment. For For a company such as Novartis, that should be a possibility. It's no longer possible for retirees to pay the living for their families. My contribution to health insurance was CHF 7,386 in 2020, and in 2023, CHF 16,182. It's more than doubled. My pay in 2008 was CHF 2,758, and starting from the 1st of April 2006, CHF 2,915. In 19 years, there was no increase at all. My entire income is just this one pension payment, CHF 34,980. CHF 30,240 is my contribution to the health insurance, CHF 65,200 and some per year. If you compare my annual income with what the CEO earns, to be honest, I'd have to risk 291 years to work to get the same income. I worked 27 years for Novartis. I did everything for it. I worked so hard. That is similar to many other retirees. That is why it would be really great if the Executive Committee could decide to pay an adequate increase to the pensioners, to their former workers. Thank you. Mr. Müller. [Foreign language] Thank you for your contribution and also for your suggestion. I understand what you're saying. That discussion about increases of pensions is nothing new. We've had it several times in the past. The company usually answers that one primarily attempts to ensure pension payments in the long run. In an environment where investments are not always as stable as we'd like them to be, one doesn't really want to run the risk not to be able to afford paying pensions at all any longer. We don't really want to excessively increase payments. However, I do agree with you. One should have a look once again. I cannot tell you more than that today at this moment. We'll have a look. Okay. Fine. The next speaker will be Mr. Gaudenzio Rovida. Okay, over to you. Good morning, and thank you for giving me the floor. I make a first introduction to my first question. Novartis 2024 annual report mentions on page 28 that Novartis is continuing to integrate AAA manufacturing site into its existing manufacturing and supply structure for radioligand therapies. This sentence already appears identically in the Novartis 2023 annual report, also on page 28. I understand that this process started in 2022 because the Novartis 2022 annual report stated on page 30 that in 2022, Novartis began to integrate Advanced Accelerator Applications, a Novartis company that focuses on radioligand therapies, into our existing manufacturing and supply structure. I have the following question for you. What is the strategy followed by Novartis with this integration process? Does it mean that AAA manufacturing assets are being purchased by Novartis? Does this integration process also include the other division of AAA apart from manufacturing? What will be left with the AAA group after the integration process? What will you do with the remains of the AAA group? Now, I make the second introduction to the second question. The radioligand therapy offers extraordinary prospects for the future. Mr. Narasimhan, acknowledged in his CEO letter in the preamble of Novartis 2024 annual report that the radioligand therapy is a platform we believe has the potential to transform cancer care. You also state that Novartis is investing in radioligand manufacturing to broaden its global availability. Novartis first entered in the radioligand business through the acquisition of Advanced Accelerator Applications, announced at the end of 2017 and completed in January 2018. In the press release dated October 30, 2017, announced the acquisition, Novartis stated that the integration of AAA will introduce a new technological platform into the Novartis group, providing an innovative approach to cancer treatment with potential application across numerous oncology research programs. Only 10 months later, the acquisition of Endocyte took place, marking the second step in the RLT sector. It is undeniable and easily demonstrable that AAA has played a vital role in the development, production, and commercialization of Pluvicto. Pluvicto represents the first outcome of utilizing the technological platform and human capital acquired with AAA. Since the Novartis group does not own 100% of AAA share capital, any transaction executed between entities of the Novartis group and entities of the AAA subgroup qualifies as a related party transaction. These are my questions. Could you explain in detail which procedures, including the release of third-party opinions, have been followed to ensure that such transactions have been or will be executed at arm's length terms without prejudice to the interests of minority shareholders? More importantly, how is the transfer of the know-how of AAA S.A., a French company, and how is the transfer of a radioligand therapy platform of AAA S.A. managed within the Novartis group? The values at stake are extremely significant, especially considering the projection that many analysts have attributed to the RLT sector within the group. I have a third introduction to the last question. Finally, the Novartis 2024 annual report, section Significant Acquisition of Business in 2024, pointed out that Novartis acquired Mariana Oncology, a U.S.-based preclinical stage biotechnology company focused on developing novel radioligand therapy with a portfolio of RLT programs across a range of solid tumor indications. My question is, do you intend to use AAA unique know-how in radioligand therapies to help develop these programs and then to manufacture and distribute the resulting treatment, the eventually resulting treatment, as was done with Pluvicto following the acquisition of Endocyte? Thank you. Mr. Rovida, thank you very much for your contribution. You filled the five minutes of speaking time. Absolutely. I guess you will understand that it's not the time and the moment to give you detailed answers to all of your questions. I mean, maybe for explanation to our audience, the other shareholders, [Foreign language] AAA [Foreign language] This was about AAA. It was a company that was bought some years ago, and we're just still being integrated into the Novartis group. There were some open questions that you could deduce from what Mr. Rovida asked. Short general answer, and then follow up with more detail in maybe in writing. Vas, do you want to say a few words? Thank you, Mr. Rovida. We continue to appreciate your interest, and we do everything we can to respect your minority shareholding. I think, as you know, since 2018 and the acquisition of Advanced Accelerator Applications, Novartis has made significant investments on our own to build our radioligand therapy platform, including building manufacturing sites, investing research and development efforts, and making multiple technology acquisitions, including Endocyte, which enabled us to launch Pluvicto, as well as others, as you mentioned. Of course, AAA gave us an important initial start in this space, but I think we've done significant efforts to continue to build out this platform fully in the company. Of course, we plan to continue to bring many more medicines and radioligand therapies forward, and we look forward to continuing to engage with you as we do that, given your minority shareholding. Thank you. Thank you, Vas. [Foreign language] Now on to the next speaker, Mr. Kuno Buff. [Foreign language] Good morning. My name is Kuno Buff. I come from the Appenzell Mountains. [Foreign language] I have three small questions. [Foreign language] Firstly, what's the dividend like compared with the competitors who are subject to the same capital requirements? Second, [Foreign language] the CEO gets CHF 15 million, even though he's not actually directly involved in operations, and he probably doesn't know even what to spend all that money on. Couldn't we find anyone who is just as qualified in Switzerland? That's the problem. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Buff. Rest assured that each year we consider the dividend payments carefully. We feel that this is quite a nice amount. As you've seen, each year since the foundation of Novartis, the dividends have gone up every year. This year, even more than average. As far as payout is concerned, we are comparable to other large companies. We also assume that we or expect that we will continue to be able to increase the dividends in years to come. I think the stability of dividends in case is maybe an important element for you, even though it could be maybe five or ten rapid more. We feel that we are doing well here, and we're going to continue that strategy. I don't know what Mr. Narasimhan does with all that money, but I'm sure that he does have use for it. I think there's nothing else to say about the topic. Swiss people? I have to admit that when we look for outstanding people to join the board or the management, we don't look at nationality or gender, because what we want is, and this is important for all of those positions, is their right qualifications. Of course, we try and get people who understand the culture, who understand the context, who understand the social fabric of the company. The primary aim is to find someone who's competent. Nationality is not really a conclusive trait in that. That's the way that we'll continue in the future. Now on to Mr. Kopp. Mr. Reinhardt, ladies and gentlemen. It's a shame that you're leaving already. You have not understood everything that happens in Switzerland yet, because otherwise you wouldn't have canceled the Bircher Muesli here, because this is very important for Swiss people to get the Muesli for their breakfast. You saved in the wrong place here. You're also saving in the wrong place if you don't send us a calendar anymore. I wrote a letter on the topic, and I never even got a response. You are saving so that you can give your CEO CHF 19 million, and the shareholders would like to get a little something. I recognize that you have increased the dividend, but as the previous speaker said, it could be more. Another important point. Novartis doesn't do enough for the share price. The share price is too low compared with the substance of the company that you just, as you just explained it. You don't do enough PR for your work. You don't show people how good you are enough, because you are good. It would be important to communicate that. I have to say, CHF 19 million is too much. We can't say that often enough. You should make sure the CHF 70 million at the time was immense, and then you became realistic. Now you're still too much, CHF 19 million. It just is improper. Thank you, Mr. Kopp. Rest assured that the catering of shareholders is often discussed. I had to look at Mrs. Palmer. What was the menu at the buffet? She told me that there was Bircher Muesli available. You just did not find it. If there was not any, then the supplier cheated us because it is on the list. No matter. I am aware that Bircher Muesli is very, very important to Swiss people, do believe me. I do not think we need to talk about the pay again. The dividend, I think, has also been mentioned. The share price and PR. Share prices are a difficult topic. I agree with you that the share price is too low still. There are so many elements that play into the development of the share price. Let me tell you, even after 40 years in the business, I have not fully understood what really makes a difference. There are many things that have an effect on the share price in a way that we think is wrong or in a way that we do not even understand ourselves. Over time, it is performance-oriented, but not every movement in the stock prices can be a reflection of a company's performance. There are many other aspects: the American market, the volatility that is also being transferred over from America. We do not really have an influence on that. Thank you very much, Mr. Kopp. I also want to talk about the pensions. You should not talk about maybe the 13th pension. You should really get going and do it. I'm sorry, I can't guarantee that at this moment, but we'll look into it. I think this is the end of our speakers list. If there are no more requests for the floor, and that doesn't seem to be the case, we are now going to show you a video to explain the use of the televoter. The televoter has a touchscreen, and a few seconds before each vote, the item on the agenda is shown on the screen. You have three buttons to choose from: green for yes, red for no, and yellow for abstention. As soon as you've made your choice, your televoter will vibrate. If you have made a mistake and pressed the wrong button, you can correct your vote by pressing the right button again. You have to do all of that within the voting time. If during the annual general meeting you have more questions about the televoter, please contact our help desk. Right, thank you very much. Let's now proceed to the vote. The Board of Directors proposes the approval of the operative and financial review of Novartis AG and the financial statements of Novartis AG, as well as the group consolidated financial statements for the business year 2024, and thereby recommends that you vote yes. Please cast your vote now. We're just waiting for the results. Here come the results. Thank you, Mr. Kesselring. Ladies and gentlemen, you have approved the proposal of the Board of Directors with 99.4% of the votes cast. Thank you very much. Thank you then. I note that you've approved the proposal of the Board of Directors. Let's move on then to the vote on agenda item 1.2. The board of directors proposes that shareholders endorse the non-financial report for the financial year 2024. Recommends therefore, once again, that you vote yes. Please cast your vote now. I'm just waiting for the results. It seems that the system is running a little more slowly than it sometimes does. Here we are. just waiting for the results. It seems that the system is running a little more slowly than it sometimes does. Here we are. just waiting for the results. It seems that the system is running a little more slowly than it sometimes does. Here we are. You have approved the motion of the board with 96.4% of the votes represented here today. Thank you very much. I note that you've approved the proposal of the board. Let us move on then to agenda item 2, which concerns discharge from liability of the members of the board of directors and the executive committee. The board of directors proposes discharge from liability for each of its members and each member of the executive committee for the business year 2024. I would like to open the floor for discussion, but it doesn't appear that we have anybody who's requested to take the floor on this matter, which would mean that we could proceed directly to the vote. Now, current and former members of the Board of Directors or the Executive Committee involved in the management of the company in any way in 2024 do not have voting rights on this item. The Board of Directors proposes that you approve this proposal and therefore recommends that you vote yes. Please cast your vote now. We have the results. Mr. Kesselring, have the results. Mr. Kesselring, you have approved the motion of the board with 98% of the votes. 98.0%. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Kesselring. Thank you. I note you've approved the proposal of the board. Let's move on to agenda item 3, appropriation of available earnings in Novartis AG as per balance sheet and declaration of dividend for 2024. Our annual report gives a detailed view of last year's business and has already been explained under item 1 on today's agenda. The appropriation of available earnings proposed by the board of directors is explained in the notice to the annual general meeting and on page A10 of the annual report. The board proposes a dividend increase of CHF 0.20- CHF 3.50 per share. If this proposal is approved, the dividends will be paid out as from March 13th 2025. Now, we've already had a few people speak on this item. I don't see anybody else wishing to take the floor, which means we can proceed again directly to the vote. The board of directors proposes that you approve this proposal and therefore recommends that you vote yes. Please cast your votes now. We have the results available. Mr. Kesselring, you have approved the proposal of the board with 99.7% of the votes represented here today. Thank you very much. A very healthy majority for that proposal. Thank you for that. Let's move on to agenda item 4, reduction of share capital. Agenda item 4 proposes the cancellation of the shares repurchased in 2024 as part of the repurchasing program approved by the annual general meetings of the 4th of March 2022 and the 7th of March 2023, and the corresponding reduction of the share capital. I confirm that creditors have been informed by publication in the Swiss Commercial Gazette dated 31st January 2025 and were notified that they can register their claims and demand security if they so desire. Now, according to the audit certificate provided today by KPMG AG, the claims of creditors remain covered even after the proposed reduction in share capital. The Board of Directors proposes to reduce the share capital by CHF 37,979,228.70 from CHF 1,073,065,943.53- CHF 1,035,086,714.83. That be done through cancellation of 77,508,630 own shares repurchased in 2024, whereby the reduction amount should be set off against the entire voluntary earnings reserves, the entire other legal capital reserves, and the rest against the earnings carried forward. I don't see anybody wishing to take the floor on this item, so I don't need to open the floor for discussion. We can proceed directly to the vote. The Board of Directors proposes that you approve this proposal and therefore recommends that you vote yes. Please cast your vote now. The results are in. Mr. Kesselring, please. Thank you. You have approved the proposal of the board with 99.5% of the votes represented. Thank you. I note you've approved the proposal of the Board of Directors, and we can move on to agenda item 5, which concerns further share repurchases. You just approved the cancellation of the own shares purchased in 2024. As you know, Novartis uses its capital in a targeted manner in order to ensure internal growth, to be able to pay out an attractive dividend, to be able to make acquisitions, and also to be able to repurchase shares. Share repurchases allow the Board of Directors to return the company's funds to the shareholders. As explained under item 4, the annual general meetings of 2022 and 2023 authorized the Board of Directors to use its discretion to repurchase shares to a maximum total value of CHF 20 billion. Up until 31st of December 2024, under this authorization, shares with a total value of CHF 16.5 billion had been repurchased, leaving CHF 3.5 billion over. The Board of Directors now proposes that, in addition to the remaining CHF 3.5 billion, the Board of Directors be authorized to repurchase shares as deemed appropriate up to CHF 10 billion during the period running from the 2025 annual general meeting to the annual general meeting 2028. This authorization is intended to allow for the full execution of the already announced share buyback of up to $15 billion and to allow potential additional share buybacks. The shares repurchased under this authorization are intended to be canceled, and the shareholders will have the opportunity to decide on the required share capital reductions at future annual general meetings, which is the second step in this two-stage process. I open the floor for discussion on this item if anybody wishes to make comments. We don't have anybody who has registered to take the floor, which means that we can proceed directly to the vote. The Board of Directors proposes that you approve this proposal and therefore recommends that you vote yes. Please cast your vote now. The results are in. Mr. Kesselring, please. Thank you. You have approved the proposal of the board with 97.4% of the votes. Thank you very much. I note that you've approved the proposal of the board. We can now proceed to agenda item 6, which is an advisory vote on electronic participation at general meetings without a physical venue. As explained in the notice to today's annual general meeting in quite some detail, the Board of Directors agreed ahead of the AGM 2023 that the statutory authorization to hold general meetings in virtual format be put to the shareholders once again for their approval. The Board of Directors does not currently have any plans to hold virtual annual general meetings, but does consider it prudent to confirm the statutory authorization so that all options under the new rules remain open for us. Now, nobody has registered to take the floor to comment on this item, and I think we can therefore proceed directly to the vote, whereby we propose that you confirm in an advisory vote the statutory authorization comprised in Article 12A, paragraph two of the articles of incorporation to be able to hold virtual general meetings. We recommend that you approve this proposal and that you vote yes. Please cast your vote now. The results are in. Mr. Kesselring, please. You have approved the proposal of the board with 83.9% of the votes. Thank you very much. I note that you've approved the proposal of the board of directors, and we can proceed to agenda item 7, votes on compensation for the members of the board of directors and the executive committee. The board of directors proposes to bindingly approve the maximum amount of compensation for the members of the board of directors for the period running from this AGM up until the next AGM and to approve the maximum amount of compensation for the members of the executive committee for the business year 2026. There will be a further advisory vote on the 2024 compensation report. KPMG AG has audited the compensation report of Novartis AG and has nothing to add to its report. Further information and explanations on our compensation system can be found in the brochure entitled Compensation, which is available on our website and which is also referenced in the notice to today's annual general meeting. We do not have any further requests to take the floor on this agenda item. This topic has already been discussed today, and so we can proceed to the vote. The board of directors proposes that shareholders endorse the total maximum amount of compensation for the members of the board of directors covering the period from the annual general meeting 2025 to the annual general meeting 2026, the sum being CHF 8,200,000 and recommends that you vote yes. Please cast your vote now. The results are in. Mr. Kesselring, please. You have approved the motion of the board with 92% of the votes. Thank you very much. I note that you've approved the proposal of the board of directors. We can then proceed to the vote on the compensation of the members of the executive committee. The board of directors proposes that shareholders endorse the total maximum amount of compensation for members of the executive committee to be paid, promised, or granted during or in respect of 2026, that sum being CHF 95 million. I recommend that you vote yes. Please cast your vote now. The results are available. Mr. Kesselring, please. You have approved the proposal of the board with 90.2% of the votes. Thank you. I note that you have approved the proposal of the board of directors, and we can proceed to the vote on the compensation report 2024. The board of directors proposes that shareholders endorse in an advisory, in other words, non-binding vote, the compensation report 2024 and recommend that you vote yes. The results are available. Mr. Kesselring, please. You have approved this motion with 87.2% of the votes. Thank you very much. I note that you have approved the proposal of the board. We can move on to agenda item 8, which concerns the election of a new member and chairperson of the board of directors, the re-election of 10 members of the board of directors, and the election of a new member of the board of directors. The board of directors proposes the election of Giovanni Caforio as member and chairperson of the board of directors. The board also proposes the re-election of the current members of the board of directors with the exception of Charles Sawyers, William Winters, and myself, and also proposes the election of Elizabeth McNally as a new member of the board of directors, each for a period of office running until the end of the next annual general meeting. Let us first proceed with the election of Giovanni Caforio as member and chairperson of the board of directors. I would like to briefly introduce Dr. Giovanni Caforio to you before he speaks to you himself. In Dr. Caforio, we've been able to win an extremely experienced leader for the position of Chairperson of the Board of Directors. After studying medicine in Rome, Dr. Caforio worked in the pharmaceutical industry for more than 30 years and was most recently the CEO and Chairman of the Board of Directors of Bristol Myers Squibb in the United States. In addition to his in-depth knowledge of the healthcare sector in general, he's proven exceptional leadership skills with the transformation of Bristol Myers Squibb into a focused pharmaceutical company. Now, I am convinced that Dr. Caforio, together with the Board of Directors and the Executive Committee, will be able to lead Novartis into a bright future in which the company will remain one of the most innovative pharmaceutical companies in the world. He is independent from Novartis according to the independence criteria set forth by the Board of Directors. Before we proceed to the election, I'd like to give the floor briefly to Mr. Caforio. Thank you, Jörg. [Foreign language] Ladies and gentlemen, shareholders. I am delighted to have the opportunity to address you today and to briefly introduce myself. The prospect of leading Novartis into the future as Chair of the Board of Directors is a great honor, and I appreciate the responsibility that comes with it. Novartis is one of the most innovative pharmaceutical companies in the world. During the last 12 years, under the leadership of Dr. Reinhardt, Novartis successfully transformed into a company that specializes exclusively in the development of highly innovative therapies. I have known Novartis and its predecessor companies, Sandoz and Ciba-Geigy, since my medical studies in Rome and through my experience in the pharmaceutical industry across multiple European countries and the United States, and I've followed the company's impressive progress over the years. As CEO and Chairman of Bristol Myers Squibb, where I worked for more than 20 years, I also learned to appreciate the company from a competitor's perspective. I look forward to working with our CEO, Vasant Narasimhan, the management team, and the Board of Directors to continue to advance the company's mission. I'm also looking forward to deepening my relationship with Basel and Switzerland. I greatly appreciated the importance of the Basel headquarters, its innovation power, and its extraordinary contributions to the Swiss economy. I see it as a part of the Board's mission to continue to nurture this essential legacy. Together with my colleagues on the board, we are committed to further strengthening Novartis, continuing to drive medical innovation and creating value for our stakeholders and shareholders. Thank you for your attention, and I will now hand it back to Dr. Reinhardt. [Foreign language] Giovanni. [Foreign language]. We don't have any speakers on our list. We will proceed directly to vote. The board of directors proposes the elections of Giovanni Caforio as a member and also as chair of the board of directors, and therefore recommends you to vote yes. Please cast your votes now. The agreement is available. Mr. Kesselring, the proposal of the board of directors was approved with 98.2% of the votes cast. Let me say that Mr. Caforio was elected both as a member and as Chairman of the Board of Directors. Congratulations, Giovanni, on your election. All the best. Now, re-elections to the Board of Directors, items 8.2- 8.11, and no speakers requested the floor, which takes us directly to the re-elections, which we'll do in one go again on several pages on your monitor screens. Therefore, the voting time will be 45 seconds. The Board of Directors proposes that you approve the re-election for all 10 candidates and therefore recommends that you vote yes for each of them. Voting time starts now. The voting is closed. We are waiting for the result. Results now available. Mr. Kesselring, please. Ladies and gentlemen, you have elected Ms. [audio distortion] with 35.9%, 84% Bücher, Bula 98.3%, Doherty 96.7%, 98%, Hochstrasser 98.4%, von Halten 97.2%, Mr. Moroney 98.4%, Anne de Paul-Kunzel 98.7%, and Ms. Yani 98.6% of the share votes represented today. Mr. Kesselring, thank you. The proposals of the board of directors were accepted. Congratulations. [Foreign language] This takes us to the election of Elizabeth McNally to the board of directors. I'm delighted to propose Ms. Elizabeth McNally as a genetic scientist and cardiologist of high international repute. Dr. McNally will strengthen the board of directors' scientific competence and reinforce the connection with other leading scientists in the United States and the world, which is very important for our company. Ms. McNally is independent from Novartis according to the independence criteria set forth by the board of directors. Before we proceed to the vote, I'd like to hand over to Mrs. McNally for a brief introduction. Dear shareholders, ladies and gentlemen, it is a great pleasure to be with you here today and to have this opportunity to introduce myself ahead of my election to the board of directors. I feel honored to join the supervisory board of such a highly innovative company. As a physician and scientist with a strong focus on genetics and cardiology and neuromuscular disorders, I'm particularly pleased that Novartis has been among the rare companies in the industry to have persistently attempted to develop new treatments for heart disease as well as difficult-to-treat neurological disorders. Especially with its foray into precision medicine for patients with cardiovascular disease, one of my key specialty areas, Novartis is leading and well-positioned to make a difference in so many lives. I work as a professor of medicine and human genetics at the Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine in Chicago, and I direct the Center for Genetic Medicine. As a physician who takes care of patients, I am fully aware of the challenges related to translating this essential research from a scientific and from a fiscal perspective. I am impressed by the talent and the ingenuity of the company's researchers and clinical scientists, and I'm looking forward to the opportunity to be part of this endeavor to support Novartis in its scientific and clinical development. Thank you for your attention. [Foreign language], Beth. Thank you, Beth. [Foreign language] I could open the discussion, but it doesn't look like that's necessary. Nobody wishes to speak, and we'll proceed with the vote. The board of directors proposes the election of Mrs. McNally to the board of directors and therefore recommends that you vote yes. Please cast your votes now. The results are in. Mr. Kesselring, I declare that you have elected Mrs. McNally with 99.3% of votes represented here. I declare that you have elected Mrs. McNally to the board of directors. Congratulations and all the best. Good. [Foreign language] This takes us to item 9, another election, the re-election and election to the compensation committee. The board of directors proposes the re-election of Patrice Bula, Bridget Heller, and Simon Moroney, and the election of John D. Young as members of the compensation committee, each until the end of the next annual general meeting. If Simon Moroney is elected as a member of the compensation committee, the board of directors intends to appoint him once again chairman of the compensation committee. Once again, there's nobody wishing to speak on this item, so we can proceed with the vote. Once again, we'll do one vote with several pages on your screens, and we will have a voting window of 15 seconds. The board of directors recommends that you vote yes. Voting time starts now. We're waiting for the results. Okay, they're in. Mr. Kesselring. You have voted Mr. Bula with 96.4%, Mrs. Heller with 96.3%, Mr. Moroney with 95.0%, and Mr. Young with 98.8% of the votes represented here. Thank you. You have approved the proposals of the board, and I would like to congratulate all of those elected. That takes us to item 10, the re-election of the auditors. The board of directors proposes the re-election of KPMG AG as auditor for the financial year starting on the 1st of January 2025. There are no requests to speak, and we will proceed with the vote. The Board of Directors proposes that you approve this proposal and recommends that you vote yes. The results are in. Mr. Kesselring, please. You have approved the proposal of the Board of Directors with 99.1% of the votes represented. Thank you. I note that you have re-elected KPMG AG, and this takes us to item 11, the re-election of the independent proxy. The Board of Directors proposes the re-election of Attorney Peter Andreas Zahn from Basel as independent proxy until the end of the next annual general meeting. Once again, nobody wishes to speak, and we will proceed with the vote. The Board proposes that you approve this proposal and recommends that you vote yes. Please cast your votes now. The results are in. Mr. Kesselring, you have approved the proposal of the Board of Directors with 99.4% of votes represented. Thank you. I declare that Peter Andreas Zahn has been re-elected. Now that we have come to the end of the annual general meeting, I would once again like to thank you for the trust that you have put in myself and the Board of Directors all these years. I'm certainly leaving Novartis with a certain degree of nostalgia now after 40 years. I also look back on my career in one of the world's most innovative companies filled with gratitude. In the future, just like you, I will be following Novartis as a shareholder, and I have every confidence that the company will continue to show a positive development as it moves into the future under Giovanni Caforio's leadership. Now, all that's left for me to say is that we have now dealt with all items on the agenda and that we have reached the end of this year's annual general meeting. The next annual general meeting is scheduled for the 6th of February 2026. I hereby declare today's meeting closed. Thank you very much.