Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. My name is Gerd Krick. As the Chairman of the Supervisory Board, I am opening this year's AGM 2021 of Fresenius SE & Co. KGaA, limited by shares, and according to the articles of association, I take over the chairmanship. This AGM is taking place in the Fresenius headquarters in Bad Homburg, Else-Kröner-Straße number one. On behalf of the Supervisory Board and the Management Board, I would like to warmly welcome you, our shareholders, as well as the shareholders' representatives and the representatives of the media. Just like last year, our AGM is taking place in a virtual form via the internet. That is, no personal presence and attendance of our shareholders. This is due, again, to the special circumstances of the COVID-19 pandemic. In the best interest and for the protection of our health and against the background of the regulations for the pandemic, the Management Board of the personally liable partner, the Fresenius Management SE and the Supervisory Board of Fresenius SE & Co. KGaA, limited by shares, decided to hold this year's AGM again as a virtual meeting. Unfortunately, this virtual AGM only offers a restricted opportunity to talk to you, to have a dialogue with you, dear shareholders. In order to have a more lively dialogue, this year we opened up the opportunity to upload video messages in our shareholders portal on the internet. You can offer a contribution to the discussion in a video or audio form, and we are going to discuss it in our Q&A general debate later on. Ladies and gentlemen, I think it really is a pity that we are having this virtual event only and not a real event after many years as the Chairman of the Supervisory Board. It's almost 45 years to the day intensive work for our company, Fresenius. It would have been nice to say goodbye personally to you. Unfortunately, this time this only happens via the screen, via the internet. In 1975, I started working for Fresenius. At the time, a small SME company with a sales level of EUR 60 million, DEM 120 million, or German mark at the time. At the beginning, I was Head of R&D, manufacturing, and project business. Today, as you all know, Fresenius is a company that is known around the world as a health company. This incredible and great development was only possible due to the great employees who are at the beginning of this work chain, the decision-making processes in the company, and my companions over those years, over those 45 years who worked with me for Fresenius. I would like to say thank you to Hans Kröner. He gave me the entrepreneurial leeway and freedom. I would also like to thank Dr. Alfred Stiefenhofer and Dr. Karl Schneider, as well as the foundation Else Kröner-Fresenius-Stiftung. All of you helped me, supported me, supported my decisions that sometimes entailed a high entrepreneurial risk. The formative entrepreneurial decisions in my long time at Fresenius were, first of all, building up the dialysis department and acquiring the service business of National Medical Care in the U.S. Afterwards, we have founded Fresenius Medical Care as a stock listed company in close cooperation with Dr. Ben Lipps. Secondly, the safeguarding of the survival of this business with infusion solutions that was restricted to Germany only. We bought Pharmacia & Upjohn back in 1998 and the foundation of this strong growth driving Fresenius Kabi, now one of the growth drivers in our company. Number three, we started working in the hospital activities in the year 2001 with the acquisition of the Helios Hospitals by Dr. Ulf-Mark Schneider. Number four, the acquisition of Vamed in Austria, our project business for health institutions worldwide. These four company areas are the basis of the development of Fresenius as a worldwide active and successful health company. With the end of today's AGM, I am handing over the responsibility for the future development to my designated successor in office, Mr. Wolfgang Kirsch. Wolfgang Kirsch is a very experienced personality. He has a high know-how in the field of finance. Finance expert, really. If he is elected, the chairmanship of the supervisory board will be in the best hands, and there will be a seamless takeover because we have been cooperating closely since the beginning of the year 2020 in a cooperation based on trust. He, Mr. Kirsch, and his colleagues in the Supervisory Board and the Management Board, headed by Mr. Stephan Sturm, I wish you all the best, a lot of success for your future and for the future of our company. I have no doubt that Fresenius as a company, in the service of health, in the service of human beings worldwide, will remain successful in the future. I, myself, will always be emotionally close to this company and its employees. Dear ladies and gentlemen. After these very personal remarks, I would now like to continue with the formal aspects of our virtual AGM. First of all, I would like to state and declare the invitation of today's AGM was published in the Federal Gazette in due form and time on 7th of April 2021. All required documents and information have been accessible on the website of Fresenius SE & Co. KGaA, and they are still available today, during and after this virtual AGM, open for inspection. One copy of all documents are available for inspection in the hands of the notary public, Dr. Kersten von Schenck, who keeps the records of this AGM as he has already done in the past years. Dr. Kersten von Schenck is here in this room, keeps his required distance, of course, and I would like to warmly welcome Dr. Kersten von Schenck. For Dr. Kersten von Schenck, this is the last AGM for Fresenius. He will resign from office as a public notary after reaching the age limit for his profession, a notary public. I would like to thank you for the many years where you worked for Fresenius AGM as a notary public with great prudence and expertise, and you also notarized our AGM and kept the minutes. From the Supervisory Board of Fresenius SE & Co. KGaA, Limited by Shares, we have Frau Grit Genster and Herr Michael Diekmann, and the two Vice-Chairmen. I would like to warmly welcome both of you. As you know, Mr. Wolfgang Kirsch will stand for election under item number eight as the shareholder representative for the Supervisory Board of Fresenius SE & Co. KGaA. As already mentioned, if elected, he shall also be proposed as Chairman of the Supervisory Board. Furthermore, we have planned that he shall also be the Chairman of the Supervisory Board of Fresenius Management SE. He has been a Member of the Supervisory Board for about one year. Mr. Kirsch is personally present here in the meeting room. A very warm welcome and cordial welcome to you, Mr. Kirsch. Mr. Kirsch will present himself personally during this AGM, and he will also explain and present the proposed new remuneration systems for the Management Board and the Supervisory Board. From the Management Board of Fresenius Management SE, we have three representatives here on stage. The CEO, Mr. Stephan Sturm, Board Member responsible for finances, Mrs. Rachel Empey and Dr. Sebastian Biedenkopf. Dr. Biedenkopf is responsible for the departments legal, compliance, insurances, and human resources. He has been a Member of the Board since the 1st of December of last year. It is, thus, the first AGM from Fresenius as a Member of the Board. I would also like to warmly welcome all the members of the board very cordially. At this moment, I would like to inform you about a further change in the Management Board that has occurred since the last AGM. With effect from April 12th of this year, Mr. Michael Sen was appointed as a Board Member of Fresenius Management SE. His responsibility is the Department of Fresenius Kabi. We are very happy that Mr. Michael Sen is a very qualified manager in the area of health and public health, a highly qualified manager who is now working for Fresenius. He is succeeding Mats Henriksson, who resigned from office on 16th of March 2021. I would like to thank Mr. Mats Henriksson on behalf of the Supervisory Board for his entrepreneurial contributions in the past years. We would like to wish him all the best for his future. The members of the Management Board of Fresenius Management SE and the Supervisory Board of Fresenius SE & Co. KGaA are tuned into this AGM via audio and video, so they logged in. This is also due to the special circumstances of the COVID-19 pandemic and serves the purpose to reduce the number of direct contacts in this meeting room. I would also like to warmly welcome Dr. Bernd Roese from PricewaterhouseCoopers GmbH Wirtschaftsprüfungsgesellschaft auditing company, who acted as the auditors for the business year 2020 as our company auditors. In their function, Dr. Bernd Roese is also taking part at this AGM. Mr. Roese is in one of our adjacent rooms here in this building. Ladies and gentlemen, for this virtual AGM, we are also having a list of attendance according to the German law. All the present proxies for the company, Dr. Thomas Richter and Mr. Sebastian Schlagwein, are mentioned with the shares they are representing as proxies. In this context, I would like to mention that the equity capital of the company has changed slightly since the invitation to this AGM. The equity is now EUR 557,665,509. List of attendance is as follows right now. Following list of attendance for this virtual AGM. These are the latest figures. Of the equity capital amounting to EUR 557,556,509 split into 557,556,509 ordinary shares, 404,997,845 shares with the exact number of votes are represented. This represents 72.64% of the share capital. We have received proxy votes in writing for 571,130 ordinary shares. They were received by mail as a postal vote. 405,568,975 ordinary shares are present as voting shares. 72.74% of our share capital is represented for the vote. The list of attendance is open for inspection in the meeting room and is continuously updated if required. Shareholders who registered in due time and form were able to hand in questions before and prior to this virtual meeting up to the 19th of May 2021. Questions could be handed in via the shareholder portal via the Internet. These questions will be answered today after Mr. Sturm's presentation and after my presentation on the activities of the Supervisory Board in the past business year. We will answer these questions as exhaustively as you would do this in a classical AGM with everybody present. Repetitive questions will be answered in summary whenever this makes sense. We'll pool the answers for questions that are repeating themselves. On top of that, shareholders who were registered in due time and form could exercise their voting rights electronically or via a proxy vote or a postal vote before the AGM by giving instructions to the proxy voting staff of the AGM or via a postal or electronic vote. Both options are still open for vote via proxy or via electronic vote, and this opportunity is open during the Q&A session before we start the official vote. You may still vote electronically or via proxy vote as long as the AGM is going on before we call for the vote. Before we will close the vote or granting the proxies, I will tell you when this option ends. If you have the opportunity, please vote as early on as possible, otherwise it can lead to delays of the transfer of your vote. I would like to state and declare that we have a notifiable counter motion. You can find it including our personal statement on the website on the Internet of our company. You can read the counter motion and our statement. So much for the formalities. Dear ladies and gentlemen, we would like to start dealing with our agenda today, and we would like to start with item number one on our agenda. Item number one deals with the presentation of the annual financial statements and the consolidated financial statements of the group by the Supervisory Board and the management report for Fresenius SE & Co. KGaA and the group and the report of the Supervisory Board of Fresenius SE & Co. KGaA, Limited by Shares, for the fiscal year 2020. It also comprises the resolution on the approval of the annual financial statements of Fresenius SE & Co. KGaA for the fiscal year 2020. As I have already mentioned, the aforementioned documents are available since the invitation of the AGM via the website of this company. Of course, you can read and download the document during and after this virtual AGM. You can read and download during and after the AGM. You can also find the explanatory report of the personally liable partner according to Section 289a, paragraph one, and Section 358, paragraph one of the German Commercial Code, Handelsgesetzbuch. I assume that all documents are known and available. As I have said, Notary Public Dr. Kersten von Schenck has received one copy of each document. Now I kindly ask Mr. Sturm to explain all the resolutions for item number one and also discuss the prospects for the current financial year. Mr. Sturm, the floor is yours. Thank you very much, Dr. Krick. Dear shareholders, ladies and gentlemen. Before I begin with my statements concerning this item on our agenda, you, Dr. Krick, have already said this at the beginning of this meeting: We are experiencing our last Fresenius annual general meeting under your leadership. Once this meeting comes to an end, your term of office will end, and I believe I am not emphasizing this enough if I say that this also is the end of an era at Fresenius. A special moment like this is something that I do not alone wish to comment on. The virtual format does not allow any personal words of greeting. Nevertheless, we have two video contributions that I would like to show you. The first contribution comes from Klaus Nieding, who is the vice president of the Deutsche Schutzvereinigung für Wertpapierbesitz, DSW. Dear Dr. Krick, this is the last AGM from Fresenius headed by your chairmanship. It is a special honor that the company has asked me on behalf of all the shareholders to send you a greeting. We both met on the occasion of the prior meeting for Fresenius AGM in 1995. At the time in the Oberursel headquarters. I was a young guy, 30 years old, and I talked to you, the experienced manager, and I was very impressed by the clarity and precision of your statements. Something that engineers and lawyers just like. In the following 26 years, Fresenius just knew one direction: upwards. I was convinced of the manager and the personality Gerd Krick. I recommended the Fresenius shares to all my friends and be assured I still kept my friends. The friendships are continued. Over all these years, we have now this relation with place of confidence and trust. I'm proud of it. I would like to thank you. In the year 2019, it was just very logical to recommend you for the award for good management for Deutsche Schutzvereinigung für Wertpapierbesitz, and I was very happy that DSW followed my suggestion. This award is more than reserved because you are head of not only one DAX 30 index company, but two, so you really deserve these awards. On behalf of Deutsche Schutzvereinigung für Wertpapierbesitz, DSW, I would like to say thank you for your great work, for your lifetime achievement. Now I would like to wish you all the best, a lot of health. We can all need good health. Please enjoy your great wine and enjoy nature. To have a good basis for a good glass of wine, I'm sending you this present. My wife and I have produced this sausage specialty from our own butchery. Mr. Krick, your laser-sharp analysis is something we are missing already. I hope that you will give statements in the future. Warm greetings, Klaus Nieding. Thank you very much for this video. The second video comes from Dieter Tassler. Mr. Tassler is the spokesman of SdK, the Schutzgemeinschaft der Kapitalanleger e.V. Mr. Tassler. Hello, good morning. My name is Dieter Tassler. I am speaking on behalf of SdK, Schutzgemeinschaft der Kapitalanleger. We, as SdK, normally ask questions concerning the financial statements in order to get answers that serve as an information basis for the vote on the agenda. Today, I have a special point. Dr. Krick is not standing for re-election for the supervisory board. Our Chairman of the Supervisory Board is resigning from office after many successful years in our company. Dr. Krick, we have met many years ago, first via the subsidiary Fresenius Medical Care. Many years ago, I was able to vote for you as the Chairman of the Supervisory Board, as the representative of SdK. If you think, whom am I going to vote for? You have this great experience. It's such a plethora of experiences. I cannot mention all your merits. Let me mention some milestones. Back in 1975, you entered the company. It had 1,000 employees. Management director, R&D, founding the site in Schweinfurt, changing of the legal form to an AG Member of the Board, later Chairman of the Board of FMC and FSE, foundation of Kabi, starting to work with hospital chains, Chairman of the Supervisory Board of FMC and FSE. These are just some of the many highlights. You've been a member of this company for 46 years. For more than 21 years, you have been the CEO. Fresenius did not only grow with you, but because of you, by operational growth and acquisitions. Over the last 18 years, you have been the Chairman of the Supervisory Board, and I know that this means a lot of hard and dedicated work. You have seen people come and go. You paved the way. You asked the CEOs about the background of their decisions, and your goal was always to do the best for this company. Talking to you, one always has the impression that you have always enjoyed your work. I have always been impressed by your knowledge, your know-how, your calm and quiet when it came to taking the right decisions here in the AGMs. You were a competent, matter-of-fact chairman of the AGM, who really was a very good chairman for this AGM. In my role as a critical shareholder, I sometimes ask critical questions for employees, for shareholders, and for the patients. You were always an open ear and listened to patients and shareholders. It was very important for you to safeguard patients' health with affordable health services. Over all those many years, you have been very successful. This is a company with EUR 36 million sales and 311,000 employees. That's your legacy. I would like to thank you on a very personal note for your commitment, for your work, for our company. It's a sad day. Normally, I would shake your hand to say goodbye. Because of this virtual form of the meeting, we cannot do this today, unfortunately, but I wish you all the best. Enjoy the time you're taking off from work, and I hope that you have a lot of hobbies to enjoy. Stay healthy and fit, dear Dr. Krick. Thank you very much, Mr. Tassler. I would also like to thank you, Mr. Nieding, for your two video contributions. Mr. Michael Diekmann, who was also the Deputy Chairman of our Supervisory Board, would also like to address a few words. Okay? Yeah. Ladies and gentlemen, dear Dr. Krick. As one of your two vice-chairmen, I would also like to say thank you on behalf of the Supervisory Board and say this with a lot of respect. Your legacy is incredible and extraordinary. You have formed Fresenius like no other person. Fresenius really has to say thank you. Not many entrepreneurs start as an SME, now it's a global company. You did so successfully. Apart from visions and strategy, you need determination, discipline, passion, and the courage to take great decisions and to consistently implement it. That shows that you are a great entrepreneur that also led to a lot of awards and recognition. The media calls you a pioneer, a solitary icon, or one of the most successful leaders of the German economic history. The human being, Gerd Krick, has always been a person who is down to earth and true to himself. Dr. Krick, you don't have to reorganize your life. You have always been true to yourself. Today is your last day as Chairman of the Supervisory Board of Fresenius SE. One has to say, 82 years of age, and you don't look your age, I have to say. That is quite extraordinary. That's really the way you are. That's your extraordinary commitment, your extraordinary CV for Fresenius. We are very happy to see that you will stay close to us with your competence and your know-how and expertise. Today, on behalf of the supervisory board and on behalf of customers and shareholders, I would like to sincerely say thank you and wish you all the very best for your future and good health. Everything else you will organize with your dear wife. We would also say thank you to dear Mrs. Krick that you shared your husband with us for such a long time. It is a great honor and pleasure for me to work with you. Thank you so much and all the very best to you, dear Dr. Krick. Thank you, Dr. Diekmann. Of course, there's not much more that I could add, Dr. Krick, to what has been already said. I can only agree with what has been stated, and once again, formally ascertain the long-term success of Fresenius is very closely related to your achievements, Dr. Krick. You were a full-blooded entrepreneur. You were courageous. You were willing to make decisions. You were foresighted. You were an outstanding engineer with visions. What you are not, Dr. Krick, and what you never were, I believe, is a very comfortable boss. That's something we cannot say. That's okay. We have run into some frictions. I can remember many very intensive discussions that we have had in the past, but due to this friction, we generated a lot of energy, and that brought us forward. Thank you. Personally, but also on behalf of Fresenius, I would like to say this, that Dr. Krick, that you've turned a medium-sized enterprise into a global healthcare company is due to your efforts for the most part. I wish you all the best. Thank you very much for all of these words of the various speakers that have been said about me. I can only say thank you. After all these words, there's not much more I can say. I would like to thank you for the good assessment of my work, and of course, the good assessment about me personally. A very cordial thanks to everyone. In particular, to all those who have accompanied me on my journey of 45 years with Fresenius. Now we're going to come back to our annual general meeting of today. Ladies and gentlemen, we now wish to continue with dealing with the agenda. We are still in item one of the agenda with the presentation of the approved annual financial statements. For this, we still need the report of the Management Board. Mr. Sturm, I would like to ask you to now give us your explanations as Chairman of the Board for fiscal year 2020 and also say a few words about the outlook for the ongoing fiscal year. The floor is yours. Thank you. Dear shareholders. Again, I would also like to extend a very cordial welcome to this annual general meeting of Fresenius. Again, we have to hold it online instead of on location in Frankfurt. Again, we cannot be together with you in the same room. This is something we have gotten used to. Well, almost. This is our new corona routine. Nevertheless, it still feels a bit strange, at least for me. The photograph on the slide shows our AGM from two years ago. That's not all that long ago, and nevertheless, it almost seems like another world. Even today, we are continuing to perceive that these are extraordinary times. That applies to the whole world, but it also applies to us as a company. We are looking back on a very special year, a year unlike any that we've ever experienced before, a year with great challenges, both medical and economic. Challenges that for the most part are still with us. How did we deal with these challenges? How are we going to cope with these challenges in the future? What have we achieved, and what are we going to do in order to remain successful in the future? This is what I would like to tell you about. What is most important to me at this point is our contribution to the fight against the coronavirus. It was very clear very early on, we are needed, and more urgently than ever. Healthcare systems have to work, especially in a crisis like this. We are doing our part. We are committed, active, focused worldwide. We are doing everything to ensure that people are receiving the best care possible. This is our responsibility, and this is what we stand for, and this is Fresenius. The coronavirus is challenging us everywhere in our hospitals. Just last year, we treated more than 42,000 coronavirus patients. In dialysis, we are making sure that patients suffering from kidney disease continue to receive their life-giving dialysis with our products, be they solutions for use in acute dialysis or anesthetics for use during artificial respiration. The coronavirus has dramatically increased demand for our products. We have done everything possible to maintain their production and distribution. Where necessary and possible, we even increased our production rapidly and flexibly, and of course, without raising our prices. This was and is possible for one reason only, the unparalleled commitment on the part of our employees. You've already heard, we now have more than 310,000 employees worldwide. Day after day, they accomplish tremendous things, especially now in the middle of a global pandemic. They are there for their patients. Again, today, it will not be possible to have you join me in applauding their achievements due to our virtual meeting, but I'm confident that I'm speaking on behalf of all of you when I say our heartfelt thanks to our employees. You save lives. You are Fresenius. Of course, there was more to 2020 than the coronavirus. Independent of the pandemic, we achieved important successes. We set our course for the future. We established the basis for continued growth. Here are just a few examples. Acquiring the Eugin Group. At the end of last year, we signed the contracts. In the meantime, this acquisition has been successfully concluded. What does it do? It helps people who are unable to have a child in the normal way. Eugin is one of the leading international providers in this area with a network of 31 clinics, and there are another 34 locations on top of that. Eugin is represented in nine countries on three continents. Their most important markets are the United States, Spain, Brazil, Italy, Sweden. Eugin is a perfect fit with Fresenius Helios. It is a highly profitable company. It is well-positioned in a number of attractive markets, and we share the same commitment and promise: patient well-being and cutting-edge medicine. With this takeover, we are creating a sound basis for continued growth, organically and through additional acquisitions. Already, about 70,000 babies are born annually in our hospitals, almost 200 every day. With Eugin, we will be even stronger in the future. Together, we will be able to help many more people realize their great wish, namely the wish for a child of their own. I believe this is a wonderful motivator for everyone. How do things look in our hospital business? Here, too, we continued to expand in 2020. In Germany, we acquired four hospitals from the Malteser humanitarian aid group in Bonn, Duisburg, and Krefeld. Together, they have about 1,300 beds. One of our strategies at Helios is to build centers, bundling specialist expertise and knowledge for a region at one location and thus increasing medical quality. These four hospitals are a great fit into this concept. We also expanded our network in Colombia with the Clínica de la Mujer in Bogotá, a maternal hospital. Prior to that, we were only present in Medellín and Cali, and now we are also present in the capital of Colombia. Another important growth area, home dialysis. Here, Fresenius Medical Care has made a great deal of progress. The NxStage portfolio has now also been successfully integrated in Europe, and this means that our European patients also have a greater selection of treatment modalities so that they best fit into our patients' lives. If it's suitable, then their blood is cleaned at home. In the U.S., 14% of our dialysis treatments are already performed this way. Home dialysis is not for everyone, but it can offer many advantages. It can mean flexibility, more frequent gentle treatments together with improved safety, and this is certainly a factor during a pandemic. Therefore, this has further boosted the already growing demand for home dialysis. Another important step taken last year was that Fresenius Kabi applied for approval for a second biosimilar, both in the U.S. and in Europe. A biosimilar for pegfilgrastim, a medication used to treat cancer. We expect approval to be granted later this year. We have additional biosimilars in our pipeline. As you know, biosimilars represent a fairly new business area for us, but it is one in which we have high hopes. To date, we have been very satisfied with the development. The year 2023 will be an important year. This is when we expect to launch our product, IDACIO, in the U.S. This is our biosimilar for adalimumab. It reduces inflammation, for example, with rheumatic disorders. This will further significantly increase our revenue for biosimilars. Our expectations then amount in the high triple-digit millions of euros. We've also made further progress in the area of sustainability. Although it is true that the pandemic has stolen the limelight for now, and it is the most urgent problem, nevertheless, sustainability is the great issue of our times. Short-term impact is no longer the only thing that counts. The same holds for quick successes. What is becoming more and more important is, how do our decisions and measures stand up in the long run? What is their impact on people, on the economy, on the planet? Thinking and acting like this is deeply ingrained in Fresenius, it has been that way throughout the past 100 years of Fresenius. It will continue to be that way in the future. Sustainability applies at all levels. We offer medicine that is of high quality and yet affordable. Right now, you can see how important both of these aspects are. We are a reliable partner in the healthcare system worldwide. We're also a good employer for more than 310,000 employees. We have a long-term oriented growth strategy and of course, we want to handle this planet's resources as carefully as we can. As I already made clear at last year's annual general meeting, presumably, we did not talk enough about our contributions to sustainability in the past. We took them for granted, perhaps. Perhaps our various actions may not have been coordinated as well as they could have been. We are in the process of changing that now. As previously announced, we have set up a sustainability body at the corporate level in 2020. This body reports directly to me, and the task is to further develop sustainable practices throughout the company. We want to further solidify our non-financial targets. We are going to constantly weigh ecological and social concerns in our business strategies. We want to adapt the remuneration system for the Management Board. In the future, non-financial aspects are to be made part of this, and you will have the opportunity to vote on that today. You can see, we have successfully continued to develop in many areas during 2020. We have laid the basis for continued profitable growth, sustainable growth, and we have played our important role in a global health crisis. Let there be no doubt about this. The coronavirus was and is a heavy burden. Despite our best efforts, we have to realize that the pandemic has caused us economic losses, substantial losses. This may come as a surprise for many at first. I mean, a company like ours? Shouldn't we be doing particularly well in a time like this in a global health crisis? No, this is not the case. The pandemic has disrupted many economic activities, and this has also negatively affected us. Particularly, Fresenius is much more than just intensive care medicine. We experienced and are experiencing substantial burdens due to the coronavirus, and this applies to all of our business units, all four. For example, the so-called elective operations, i.e., operations that are not acute, that can be delayed, at least for a while. These account for the bulk of operations in the hospitals, and they have been declining substantially almost everywhere in the world. Of course, this has had an impact on Fresenius Helios. It also means less demand for many products made by Fresenius Kabi because these products are used precisely in such operations, from intravenous solutions to anesthetics. Fresenius Vamed has also been hit hard by the pandemic. Fewer elective operations mean less demand for rehabilitation. Our thermal spas have had to stay closed for extended periods, and ongoing restrictions on travel have also cut significantly into our project business. On top of that, many hospital projects in developing countries have been interrupted, delayed, or even canceled. Last but not least, there is dialysis. Kidney patients, in particular, are at risk from the coronavirus. Very sadly, this has been confirmed. Since last fall, substantially more dialysis patients have died than normally. Above all, this is a great human tragedy. One that has affected me deeply. However, it has also impacted us economically, because these treatments were planned, and now they are missing. This means lower revenues, but our costs still continue to rise. If you look at everything and take it all together, I believe that in 2020, we have performed well as a business. We were able to increase our revenues once again, despite the pandemic, despite the impediments I have described. Our revenues totaled EUR 36.3 billion. At constant currency, this is an increase of 5%. However, our earnings, that is our net income, has declined for the first time in many years. Nevertheless, it still totaled EUR 1.8 billion. Nonetheless, in currency-adjusted terms, it represents a decrease of 3%. This much is clear. Given the circumstances, it was a successful business year. However, it was not a year of dynamic growth, not what you have come to expect from us and not what we would have liked, and not what we would have expected before the coronavirus hit. Nevertheless, we have shown that our business model is stable. It is resilient, precisely because our suite of products and services is so wide. If the estimated COVID-19 effects were to be excluded, we would have met our original targets in full, and we would also have significantly increased our earnings. That is why I also have some good news about the dividend. Good news for you. Why? Again this year, we would like to further increase the dividend despite the ongoing burdens, despite the small decrease in earnings, because we are looking at our continuing and sustainable growth drivers, and they remain intact. The coronavirus has slowed our growth. That is true. Our core business, it is proving to be very healthy. It is growing continuously. This is a solid operational development, and we want you, dear shareholders, to participate fairly in this success. Our proposal to you is a dividend of EUR 0.88. This is EUR 0.04 more than last year. That means 5% more, and it would be the 28th consecutive increase. Should you approve this proposal in a good conscience? After all, we did receive payments from the government last year. Nevertheless, the answer is yes, definitely. If we had had any reservations about this, our dividend proposal would have been different. First and foremost, these government payments were compensation because we kept our hospitals free for COVID-19 patients by order of the authorities. Therefore, we have had to waive many other treatments at the cost to our revenues and earnings. Of course, we are paying tax on this compensation. If we were to deduct them, we would still have made a decent profit, which is several times the amount that we propose to pay out in dividends because it is a fact. Most of our earnings flow into ever better medicine, into our sustainable healthy growth, and to put it short, into our future. Dear shareholders, let us now take a look into this future, the future of Fresenius. What are our expectations? Let us start with the short-term outlook. Our forecast for the ongoing fiscal year. Here, too, we have to acknowledge the coronavirus still has the world firmly in its grip. Here in Germany, the third wave is slowly receding, and this also appears to be happening in many other countries, but the situation remains dramatic in India and also in Latin America. At the same time, there is grounds for hope. The vaccines appear to work well, and they are protecting more and more people every day. What does this mean for our company? As of today, I am assuming that we will have to deal with corona-related burdens for quite some time yet. Probably until at least the middle of this year, that is, the second half of this year, will the situation be better. We expect significant relief step by step. The speed of vaccinations in our most important markets will be crucial here. In specific numbers, we are projecting sales growth in a low to mid-single-digit percentage range. Net income will increase broadly at the same level as 2020, at least. Both measures are in constant currency. You can see. Even in the short term, we want to continue to grow. We want to remain very profitable despite the ongoing burdens. Currently, all the indications are that we will be able to reach these targets. We started the new year off well. In the first quarter, we increased sales by 3%. Our net income showed a decrease of 2%. These figures, too, are in constant currency. Please keep in mind that this comparison with the first quarter of 2020, which means that it was far less impacted by COVID-19. Nevertheless, we were able to increase our sales and our earnings were only marginally lower. This makes us very optimistic for the full year. What does it look like beyond 2021? What about our medium-term guidance? After all, we have set very ambitious targets there. You will recall that we forecast average annual growth of 4%-7% in sales through 2023, and the net income is expected to rise from 5%-9%. We are sticking to these targets, even though they were defined in early 2019, long before the coronavirus emerged. At that time, no one foresaw a pandemic like this. The situation has changed drastically. As I said earlier, our core growth drivers are largely intact. For this reason, we are convinced that we can still continue to meet our midterm targets. Last year, we grew more slowly than we expected in 2019 due to the pandemic. That will also be true this year. This means that in the next two years, we will have to significantly accelerate our growth. To ensure this, we have embarked upon a series of strategic initiatives, an entire package of measures that we are taking to increase our efficiency and profitability. All business segments are included. This program will run over several years, and the interim goal is set for 2023, but the measures will continue to have an impact well beyond that time. It's a little too early today for specific details. The targets have been defined, but not the precise route. Essentially, we will have to examine our existing structures and business models. Is there a good reason for everything that we are doing and the way we're doing it? Are we duplicating or even triplicating anything? Where are synergies feasible and can be leveraged? Here are a few examples. Our purchasing processes can still be optimized, and we can also bundle certain service functions even more. In our hospitals, as already mentioned, we are building stronger regional networks. Our hospitals and clinics will specialize even more. In some areas, we are also going to adjust our capacities. We're going to adjust our capacities to the changes in demand. In our German hospitals, for example, where some medical positions will be eliminated. The reason for this is that people's needs are changing. There is an ongoing trend towards more outpatient procedures, and this has to be taken into account. While ensuring that we are not making any reductions to the type and quality of care that we are providing. We are proceeding very carefully in a targeted way, site by site. In some hospitals, this will mean eight or nine fewer medical positions. In other hospitals, two or three. In some hospitals, there will be no reductions in the medical staff or one or more positions may even be added. Specifically, this means that we plan to reduce our overall medical service staff by about 3%. We are expanding our outpatient and digital offerings to provide seamless care across sectors. That is good for patients and it is good for our healthcare system. Of course, it will also help to secure our success as a company and thus to sustain tens of thousands of jobs at Helios. These are only a few of the approaches that we are taking. As I've already said, this is still the beginning. We are still reviewing things and planning. I hope this gives you an idea of where we are headed. Of course, we also want to reduce costs as part of this. As of 2023, we expect sustainable savings. These will involve at least EUR 100 million annually after tax and minority interest. I do not want to rule out that this will mean that we might divest ourselves of some areas of our portfolio or of some size. That is neither certain, nor is it the focus of these efforts. We're not talking about streamlining our company or cutting back just for the sake of making the company leaner. It is about making our company more efficient and stronger. Our first goal will be to free up the means to do better and more important things that will help us to expand our business and to grow further. For example, in our new areas of growth. I've already mentioned three of them: biosimilars, home dialysis, and fertility medicine. We are also going to significantly expand our digital offerings. A coronavirus, in particular, has provided a huge boost in this field. Consider telemedicine. This is an area to which the pandemic has opened many people's eyes. Generally speaking, much of what is now being done for inpatients will be done on an outpatient basis in the future, and a lot of what is now being done for outpatients will be able to be done at home in the future. Networking will play an ever increasingly important role, as will artificial intelligence. We see clear confirmation of our approach. We are working at full speed to expand our offerings. What about our group structure? Is that also up for review? The fact here is we are almost always looking at our structure. This is a perfectly normal process and there aren't any taboos. There is nothing that cannot be questioned. If we conclude that structural changes are necessary and this can help us to achieve our goals faster, then we will look at our options very carefully. As things stand now, I think our existing structure is the right one. It has served us very well over the years, and it continues to offer us considerable advantages. With this structure, we are well positioned for the tasks that lie ahead. Dear shareholders, I am coming to the end of my speech. I hope that you've now obtained a very good view of where we stand and where we're going. To recap, we have had a challenging year behind us, and the challenges persist. We at Fresenius have played a role and made our contribution. Even in a pandemic, we have ensured the care of our patients. Beyond the pandemic, we have also reached milestones. Although the virus and the pandemic has burdened our business, we have still performed well for the year. We reached our targets, we are proposing our 28th consecutive dividend increase. We have launched a number of initiatives to become even more efficient and more profitable, we have set down a plan for accelerated growth through 2023, we are here with confirming our ambitious medium-term targets. I am very confident that our strategy will work. Our future continues to look good. We will continue to be needed. We will be able to provide ever more people with ever better medicine. In the coming years, we are again going to grow dynamically, in doing so, we will make Fresenius even more valuable. I'm also confident that we will soon turn the corner on the pandemic. Fresenius will continue to play a role here. Just recently, we entered into an agreement with CureVac. We are planning the supply of salt solutions for infusions for more than 100 million doses of vaccines in the next two years. Nevertheless, the situation is very serious. We have to remain vigilant. The virus has shown us how adaptable it is. Mutations pose a great risk. There is light at the end of the tunnel. We have a chance to get the virus under control and to bring an end to the suffering and death, gradually to return to normality step by step. That will bring a tremendous relief to many people because then it will make it possible for us to meet in person again, as you saw in our photo from 2019. I'm really looking forward to that. Now, however, I'm looking forward to taking your questions. Thank you very much. Thank you, Mr. Sturm, for your very detailed and exhaustive statement and for your very positive outlook for the future developments. I wish you also on behalf of the Supervisory Board all the best, a lot of success to you and your colleagues in the Management Board and Supervisory Board, and we hope all the best for the long-term entrepreneurial development of Fresenius. Ladies and gentlemen, I think I also speak on your behalf if I would like to say thank you to the Management Board of Fresenius Management SE and all employees who are working for Fresenius worldwide for their challenging and successful work in this very challenging time of a global pandemic. Thank you so much. We would also like to thank all employees who worked closely with human beings like the nursing staff who helped people in a risky working environment closely with people as a nursing staff in this COVID-19 pandemic and those people who were affected by COVID-19 pandemic. Ladies and gentlemen, we would like to say goodbye to all our participants who listened in and who did not log in to the password-protected area of this AGM. For all those who have not logged in in the password-protected area, we would like to say goodbye. The broadcast will end now.