Dear shareholders and shareholder representatives, dear media representatives, followers. I should like to open this year's Annual General Meeting of Henkel AG & Co. KGaA, and would like to welcome you on behalf of the Supervisory Board, the Shareholder Committee, and the Management Board. Last year, I said goodbye to you and I expressed my hope that we would be able to see each other in person in 2021. Unfortunately, against the backdrop of the development of the coronavirus pandemic and the associated restrictions, it is not possible this year either. The Management Board, in cooperation with the Supervisory Board and Shareholder Committee, decided to also conduct this year's Annual General Meeting of Henkel AG & Co. KGaA as a virtual AGM without personal attendance by shareholders or their representatives, with the exception of proxyholders appointed by the company. We invited you by adhering to the usual Notice of Convocation of 30 days, including ample period for registration. The Notice of Convocation was published in the Federal Gazette on the 4th of March 2021. The Notice of Convocation was also distributed in the same way via the media and also published on the company's website. The required disclosures, in particular, those to the financial institutes and shareholder associations to be forwarded to our shareholders, has been done in due time. I, therefore, would like to state that the convocation of the Annual General Meeting has been done in line with the law and the articles of association in due form and time. Ladies and gentlemen, as I mentioned, this AGM is conducted as a virtual AGM, which means without physical attendance by shareholders or their representatives. For our registered shareholders and their representatives, the AGM can actually be followed in terms of audio and video transmission on the web or the Henkel investor portal. In case you are following the AGM on the public web page, but if you want to follow until the end of the meeting, you have to log into our investor portal. The transmission or the live broadcast, the live feed to the public will actually terminate after the speech of the CEO. You will find the link to log into the investor portal on our website under the tab Investor Relations and the tab AGM 2021. You will find the required access data on your access card. As mentioned in the Notice of Convocation, votes can only be cast by postal vote or by issuing proxies and instructions to the proxyholders appointed by the company. You may use the Henkel investor portal to cast votes or give instructions or change or revoke them, until I will officially announce that the voting process will be closed. Today, we have Mrs. Helten-Kindlein as the Deputy Chairwoman of the Supervisory Board present for the Supervisory Board, and Professor Kaschke, who is the Chairman of the Audit Committee and also the Deputy Chair of the AGM as elected by the Shareholders' Committee. From the Management Board, we have Mr. Knobel as the CEO and Mr. Swoboda as the CFO physically present here. All the other members of the Supervisory Board, the Management Board, and the Shareholders' Committee are logged on to the meeting and are able to follow audio and video transmission. Our notary, Dr. Hauschild, is also present in person. He will actually take the minutes of this AGM. To him available is a copy of the Notice of Convocation as published in the Federal Gazette and the proposed resolution. The proxyholders appointed by the companies are also attending in person. Ladies and gentlemen, we are certainly aware of the fact that this format of the virtual AGM is also associated with restrictions. In order to facilitate the proceedings of this virtual meeting for you, we have also provided the following options for you that go beyond the legal requirements. The manuscript of Mr. Knobel's speech in his capacity as CEO was published on our website on the 8th of April. Shareholders or their representatives or proxyholders who have actually submitted questions to the Henkel investor portal until the 14th of April will have the possibility to ask follow-up questions during this virtual meeting. Shareholders who had registered properly were able to also submit general input or comments until the 12th of April, as well as video messages through the Henkel investor portal. Mrs. Benner-Heinacher from the Deutsche Schutzvereinigung für Wertpapierbesitz submitted a video message and it is available on the portal, and we will also broadcast it in the course of the Q&A session for the shareholders and their representatives. Prior to this AGM, six shareholders or shareholder representatives submitted 51 questions. We will address these questions and any follow-up questions following Mr. Knobel's speech, as well as my contribution on the activity of the Supervisory Board and the special items on this year's agenda. Following the Q&A session, I will start the voting process and you will have a few minutes to provide postal votes or to issue change or revoke any proxies or instructions to the proxy holders appointed by the company. I will actually announce when we will close the portal for casting the votes in due time. We will then cast the votes by the proxy holders appointed by the company. The postal votes submitted will be added to the votes cast by the proxy holders appointed by the company. After determining the results of the vote, I will announce it in public. As in previous years, we will have a live broadcast of this year's AGM until the end of Mr. Knobel's speech. This is for the general public. Shareholders who have registered, and all their representatives who have registered are able to follow the entire AGM through the portal. Accredited media representatives are also able to follow proceedings. Any motions or counter motions and alternative candidates which require disclosure have not been submitted. Any objections may be raised through the portal and will be recorded by our notary. The notary has actually made sure that the system itself is proper functioning and reliable. At this point, I should like to ask you for your understanding for these restrictions which are associated with the virtual format of the AGM. Ladies and gentlemen, regarding the composition of our executive bodies, there have been a few changes since the last AGM or there are some upcoming changes. Mr. Martin Schwärzler, who had been in charge of the business unit Beauty Care since November 2017, will no longer be available for a new term of office after 28 years working for Henkel, and he will resign from the Management Board. We are very pleased to announce that Wolfgang König will become a new member of the Management Board as of 1st of June and be responsible for the Beauty Care Business Unit. Mr. König will introduce himself in a short video message. Let me summarize the most important highlights of his CV. Mr. König has more than 25 years of international management experience in some leading consumer goods companies in saturated as well as emerging markets. He has valuable experience in marketing, sales and innovations. Mr. König started his career in 1996 at Beiersdorf and in 2005 he actually changed to Colgate-Palmolive to become marketing director for the region of Austria, Germany and Switzerland. He was working for Kellogg Company in 2012, where he was a category president in North America, where he was in charge of a business volume for all categories which exceeded $6 billion, and he had a central function for research and development and marketing. We're very pleased to be able to welcome Mr. König on the Management Board and wish him the best of success. Mr. König. [Non-English content] Beauty Care [Non-English content] Persil, Loctite [Non-English content] Schwarzkopf. [Non-English content] Dr. Bagel-Trah [Non-English content] Knobel, [Non-English content] [Non-English content] Marketing [Non-English content] Beiersdorf in [Non-English content] U.S.A. [Non-English content] Colgate-Palmolive [Non-English content] General Manager Marketing [Non-English content] Innovation [Non-English content] Colgate-Palmolive [Non-English content] Kellogg Company, [Non-English content] Middle East [Non-English content] Category President in [Non-English content] [Non-English content] U.S.A. [Non-English content] Düsseldorf [Non-English content] Henkel [Non-English content] Beauty Care Team. [Non-English content] Much on Mr. König. Ladies and gentlemen, at this point, I should like to thank Mr. Schwärzler on behalf of the Supervisory Board and the S hareholder committee for his many years of successful activity at Henkel and in the field of consumer business in our business unit of Laundry & Home Care and Beauty Care. Mr. Schwärzler started his career at Henkel in 1992 and first had some management positions in the Laundry & Home Care business unit. He was actually in charge of body, skin, and mouth care in the Beauty Care business division from 2008 to 2014. He was also in charge of the cosmetic retail business in Western Europe and international sales of Beauty Care. In 2015, he became responsible for the consumer goods business of Henkel in North America. It was under his leadership that important brands such as Persil or Schwarzkopf were introduced to the North American market. After acquiring The Sun Products Corporation in 2016, he became in charge of the integration process and managed the business for Laundry & Home Care and Beauty Care at our new location at the U.S. East Coast. In November 2017, he was appointed as a member to the Management Board of Henkel and became responsible for the Beauty Care business unit. Our hair salon business has been extended and enlarged successfully since. He was also in charge of the branded goods business through innovations and acquisitions, and he achieved progress in the retail business thanks to very strong innovations, targeted acquisitions, and a clear focus on e-commerce and digital business model. We wish Mr. Schwärzler the best of success for his future. Much on the changes on the Management Board. Ladies and gentlemen, there has also been a change in the Supervisory Board. Sadly, our colleague Peter Emmerich passed away in December last year. He will be replaced by Michael Baumscheiper to represent the employees. There will also be an upcoming change on the Shareholder Committee. Professor Ulrich Lehner, who has been a member of the Shareholder Committee since 2008, will resign from the Shareholder Committee upon closing of this AGM. According to item seven of the agenda, Mr. James Rowan is proposed as new member in the Shareholder Committee. I am very pleased that Mr. Rowan brings his expertise in the field of digital transformation and new business model, and therefore is an excellent candidate to the Shareholder Committee. As he cannot attend in person, he will also send you his video message. I would like to briefly introduce him. Mr. Rowan was born in Scotland in 1965. He's a Master of Business Administration with a focus on supply chain and logistics. From 2007 to 2012, he was Chief Operation Officer at BlackBerry and then changed to work for the Dyson Group, where he managed the company as CEO between 2017 and 2020 from Asia. With his entrepreneurial spirit, his international experience in the field of technical innovations, business- to- business, business- to- customer, and new digital business models, Mr. Rowan's expertise is particularly valuable for Henkel in strategic terms and is an excellent supplement to the competence profile of the Shareholders' Committee. Mr. Rowan has the floor. Good morning. I'm delighted to join you today, albeit via video conference. As a manufacturing engineer, I've had multiple opportunities to use Henkel products across the years in various geographies, various industries, and various applications. I've always been impressed by the quality and reliability of the products and the value that they bring to the manufacturing process. Perhaps more importantly, to the final product itself. Most of my career has been spent in technology, more specifically, the technology that enables consumer products. Many of those consumer products that we use every day and take for granted. I've been incredibly fortunate to have worked with some of the world's most innovative companies and some of the world's most inspiring and visionary leaders, founders. From my early days at Digital Equipment Corporation, one of the pioneers of the computer industry, to Flextronics, an early adopter of contract manufacturing, of course, to BlackBerry, who many credit with the invention of the smartphone industry itself. Of course, more recently with Dyson, where we brought together iconic design and leading technology to build differentiated products. I spent eight years at Dyson, five as the Chief Operating Officer and three as the Chief Executive Officer. During that time, I was involved in all aspects of product development, manufacturing, and the marketing of the products themselves. I traveled extensively, but especially in Asia. At Dyson, we focused on bringing differentiated technology to products that would work across multiple geographies, bringing a global team together of over 4,000 engineers and scientists. In parallel, we completely reinvented the entire commercial engine of the company. We were early adopters in using data and data analytics to better understand our markets and our customer needs. We pivoted very quickly to the new digital economy, learning how to work effectively with the large high- street retailers, as well as the large online e-tailers such as JD.com, Tmall, and of course, Amazon. This allowed us to grow the business very quickly, especially in Asia, China, Korea, India, and the Middle East. I'm hopeful that I can bring some of these learnings and experience to the role at Henkel, specifically around the aspects of technology, digital commerce, innovation, and how to grow businesses quickly in Asia. I hope that this role will allow me to contribute and learn in equal measures. Today, we are forced to meet by video conference, but I have great faith in science and technology, and it gives me the confidence that with increased vaccines, better contact tracing, and rapid test capability, we will be able to put this awful pandemic behind us and once more focus on the future. I look forward to the day where we can meet in person. Thank you very much. Much on Mr. Rowan's introduction. You may take further details from his CV, which was attached to the Notice of Convocation to the AGM. Ladies and gentlemen, Professor Lehner has been a member of Henkel's Management Board between 1995 to 2008 and was CEO as from 2000. He became a member of the Shareholder Committee in 2008. We have expressed our gratitude to Mr. Lehner for his many years of successful commitment to Henkel and his important contributions to discussion on the Shareholder Committee at the last meeting of the Shareholder Committee, and I would like to reiterate these words of gratitude. For all of us on the Shareholder Committee as well as for the members of the Management Board, Mr. Lehner was an extremely valuable advisor with his experience and knowledge that went beyond Henkel. He actually showed great commitment in terms of time and content, and he was always available and was an important pillar of support for me. Mr. Lehner, thank you so much. Much on the changes in our executive bodies. Before we get down to the agenda, I should like to make some organizational announcements. We have summarized some organizational information in a virtual leaflet. It has been available since publication of the Notice of Convocation. Please take note of this leaflet and I would like to repeat the most important points. Upon registration, you received a code with your access card, which makes it possible to follow the AGM on the Henkel investor portal. In case you own ordinary shares, you can exercise your voting rights on the portal, either by casting postal votes or by issuing, changing, or revoking your votes and instructions to the proxy holders appointed by the company. This will be possible until we officially close the vote. I will repeat this later. In case you have several access cards for your ordinary shares, you would have to cast your votes for each access card because this is the only way to cast all your votes fully. Please bear in mind that this may require some time. If you haven't done it already, please cast your votes as early as possible. We will also draw up an attendance register or directory for this virtual meeting. Before we continue, I should like to announce that the following number of shareholders are logged in. I have a first directory. The shareholders and their representatives have 218,006,993 ordinary shares and 4,373,248 individual shares which are present at this AGM, which accounts for 50.78% of the capital stock. We also have postal votes for 13,991 shares. This accounts for 50.78% of the capital stock. 339 followers are actually viewing this virtual AGM. This attendance directory may actually change in case of any proxies issued or instructions issued or changed or revoked in the course of these meetings, and I will always announce the respective presence or attendance. We will make the directory of attendance available on the Henkel investor portal, and it is not permitted to take photographs of that, to disseminate or archive this directory of attendance, or abuse it in any form. Much on the formalities, and we will now deal with the agenda. The agenda contains 11 items. The proposed resolutions have been published in the notice of convocation. The full wording of the agenda has actually been published in the Federal Gazette and has been published on our homepage, and I take it that you are familiar with the agenda. Regarding agenda items one and two, I may first of all announce that the following documents have been available since the Notice of Convocation on our website. The Annual Financial Statements and the Consolidated Financial Statements, the Combined Management Report of the individual company, the group, the Report on Corporate Governance and the Remuneration Report, as well as the disclosures in line with Section 289a, Subsection 1 and Section 315, Subsection 1 of the HGB. The proposed appropriation of the annual profit, as well as the Report of the Supervisory Board for fiscal 2020. Other documents relevant for this AGM have been and are still available on the web. Our Sustainability Report is also available on our website. It also contains a separate non-financial statement. As you see from our agenda, we have the usual items on the agenda, as well as the election to the Shareholders' Committee. There are some other special items. The resolution on the approval of the remuneration system for the Management Board, the proposed resolution to adapt the remuneration for the Supervisory Board and Shareholders' Committee, and the associated changes of the articles of association, and the proposed resolution on amendments to Articles 15, 23, and 31 of the articles of association. I will come back to these agenda items later. Ladies and gentlemen, Mr. Knobel will now present his report on fiscal 2020 and also comment on other matters that are relevant for the company. The manuscript of his speech has been available on our website since 8th of April, and his speech will still be available after this year's AGM. Mr. Knobel, you have the floor. Shareholders, friends of the Henkel Company, I would also like to welcome you to our Annual General Meeting on behalf of the Management Board and our employees around the world. We would have loved to welcome you personally in Düsseldorf today, but unfortunately, that's not possible. The current COVID-19 situation doesn't allow for this, so once again, we're holding our Annual General Meeting online. We published my statement a week ago so that you could submit your questions about it in advance. We have received 51 questions. We'll be happy to comment on them later. Today, I'd like to address three topics. First, the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on our company. Secondly, our performance and developments during fiscal 2020. We looked at our results and the implementation of our strategy. Thirdly, I'm going to speak about how we intend to further pursue our agenda for purposeful growth. Let us start with the COVID-19 pandemic. This was the dominant theme of 2020 for all of us, and it still is today. Last year, more than 75 million people were infected with the virus. Over 1.5 million died from it. Many people lost their jobs, others their businesses. We will only see the full extent of this crisis later. Much has changed fundamentally because of COVID-19 in our daily lives and our work. The impact of the pandemic varied from industry to industry. Some were badly hit, for example, the automotive industry. Others saw an increase in demand, for example, online services or hygiene products. Overall, we've been able to successfully steer Henkel through this global crisis thanks to our crisis management, our balanced portfolio, and our financial strength. Above all, thanks to our outstanding employees. We've protected our people, kept up our production, supplied customers and households with a robust crisis management. Right from the outset, as early as last spring, we ruled out pandemic-related layoffs and short-time working or a furlough scheme when it was still not clear which impact the crisis would have. We continued to hire in 2020 and filled vacancies. We continued apprentice trainings as in the previous year, and we're doing the same this year, because especially for young people, this crisis means a major cut, a hiatus. We must stand by them because they are our future. We have guaranteed our employees a large part of the variable compensation as a token of trust and recognition and for their dedication in these times of crisis. We've also assumed responsibility towards society with financial support, for example, to the World Health Organization to fight the pandemic. We've donated more than 6 million products to those in need around the world. We manufactured disinfectants and sanitizers in our production sites, more than 120,000 L, as a donation to hospitals and health authorities. Additionally, the volunteering activities by many of our employees in their own social environments. Unfortunately, despite all the measures taken, more than 2,000 Henkel colleagues worldwide became infected in 2020. Fortunately, the large majority recovered from the infection. Nevertheless, some of our colleagues died in connection with a COVID-19 infection. Our thoughts are with their families and loved ones. To them, we send our deepest sympathy and our heartfelt condolences. We're now in a third wave. We continue to do everything we can to protect our employees as best we can. Whenever possible, our people work from home. In Germany, currently over 90%. Strict rules remain in place at all our sites for the protection of our colleagues. We've sent rapid test kits to all our employees, and our company's medical staff is ready to vaccinate our people as soon as this will be possible. The fight against the virus will continue to keep us busy this year. I'm particularly proud of how our colleagues have mastered the situation over the past year and are still mastering it today around the globe with entrepreneurial spirit, with courage, creativity, and on the basis of our shared values. Shaped by a strong, vital corporate culture, that's what makes Henkel so special. I'd like to show you in a short video how we dealt with this big challenge as a strong team worldwide. [Non-English content] [Non-English content] [Non-English content] Ladies and gentlemen. I'm sure you'll agree with me this was a great achievement by our employees in extraordinary times. I'd like to thank them on behalf of the entire Management Board, and I'm sure that in doing so, I also speak on behalf of you, our shareholders. I've been with Henkel for over 25 years, and I've always been proud to be part of this company. However, the performance and the cohesion of all Henkel's people have strengthened me in this once again. Which brings me to the review of fiscal 2020. We published our results back at the beginning of March. In a challenging year and despite the sharp decline of the global economy, we delivered an overall robust performance across all business units. We achieved sales of EUR 19.3 billion. In organic terms, that's a slight decrease by 0.7% compared to previous year. That's before currency effects and acquisitions and divestments. Our operating profit amounted to EUR 2.6 billion. The adjusted EBIT margin was at 13.4%. This might be a significant decrease compared to 2019, but it means we're still highly profitable. Free cash flow amounted to EUR 2.3 billion, just below the record figure of the previous year. In June, we paid out the full dividend for 2019, around EUR 800 million. Overall, we invested EUR 200 million more in brands, innovations, and digitalization than in the previous year. We further strengthened our businesses through acquisitions for which we invested around EUR 500 m illion. We significantly reduced our net debt by more than half, and we kept our costs under control continually. As you see, Henkel is and remains financially strong, even in times of crisis. Overall, this is a very robust development, and that in a particularly difficult year. The coronavirus spread to Asia in the first quarter of 2020, mainly affected our Adhesive Technologies business unit. There were far-reaching restrictions in many countries in the second quarter in Asia, Europe, and North America. This led to a decline in demand, particularly in certain industrial segments, such as the automotive sector, which affected Adhesive Technologies. In addition, hair salons had to close. This had a negative impact on our Beauty Care hair salon business. On the other hand, our Laundry & Home Care business unit recorded very strong growth, mainly due to the increase in demand for household and cleaning products. Our businesses recovered in Q3 with positive organic sales growth in all three business units, partially due to catch-up effects from the second quarter, but mainly due to the strength of our businesses and thanks to our successful innovations. This positive trend continued in Q4, despite a second wave of COVID-19 infections and the associated lockdowns in many countries and markets. How did sales develop in the different business units? I'll start with Adhesive Technologies, our largest business unit. Its portfolio is far more than adhesives. It's also about innovative sealants and coatings. Our top brands are Loctite, Bonderite, and Technomelt. We are the worldwide market leader. We have a global footprint with all our technologies, extensive competencies, and experience. Billions of people use our products every day, often without even knowing. Our technologies protect processes from overheating in cell phones or laptops or in new 5G networks and transmitters. They also serve to bond advanced materials, thus making automobiles lighter, for example. Our innovations are used in batteries to increase their performance levels, making an important contribution to e-mobility. They also make food packaging safer, and they're used in medical products. In short, with our innovations, we help our customers improve their products and make them more sustainable. For many of our customers, 2020 wasn't an easy year. Business was down in many industry segments. Sales of Adhesive Technologies for 2020 were below the previous year's level by 4.2%, organically speaking, primarily due to weak demand in Q2. In Q3 and Q4, all business areas and regions returned to positive organic growth again. The performance of the individual business areas varied considerably over the full year. In automotive and metals, we closed 2020 below the previous year's level with a decline in the low double-digit percentage range. However, we were back to very strong growth in the fourth quarter, and the Packaging and consumer goods business area, we achieved positive sales growth in the full year. Here, we were impacted by the pandemic, particularly in the second quarter. We returned to positive growth in the third and fourth quarter, enabling us to offset our losses. The electronics and industrials business area remained below the prior year level in 2020, mainly due to weaker demand in our industrials business. By contrast, the electronics business recorded significant sales growth. Sales in Craftsmen, Construction, and Professional remained below the level of the previous year, despite a strong recovery in the second half of the year. Overall, Adhesive Technologies delivered a robust performance in an exceptionally difficult year. That takes me to our Beauty Care business unit, our business with hair and body care. Our biggest brands are Schwarzkopf, Syoss, and Dial. On average, we sell 25 hair colorants every second. At Beauty Care, we have two major business areas, retail business with branded consumer products and the business with our hair salon customers. At our Beauty Care business unit too, sales were somewhat lower year-on-year with an organic decrease of 2.8%. This is primarily due to the hair salon business. Many hairdressers had to close their salons due to the pandemic. After a difficult start, business recovered in the third quarter. Infection rates rose again during Q4, and many salons had to close again. As a result, the hair salon business weakened again in Q4. Sales for the full year decreased significantly by more than 10%. The branded consumer goods business of Beauty Care recorded good sales growth for the year. In the first half of the year, sales remained stable overall. In the second half of the year, we achieved very strong sales growth. Various products were less in demand during the pandemic, particularly styling products, deodorants, and skincare. On the other hand, the demand for hair colorations increased, and in body care, we achieved significant growth. This was also induced by the increase in demand for hygiene products. The growth drivers for Beauty Care were online business and direct-to-consumer sales. Here, growth accelerated in the course of the year, not least because of acquisitions in this area. For example, the acquisition of a majority stake in Invincible Brands in mid-2020 with brands such as HelloBody, Banana Beauty, and Mermaid+Me. We were able to significantly increase digital sales by more than 70%. At this point, I would like to join in Simone Bagel-Trah's thanks to my longtime colleague, Jens-Martin Schwärzler. He's led Henkel Beauty Care since 2017 and steered it through a difficult year, 2020, with great commitment and passion. For that, Jens, I'd like to thank you very much. I wish you all the best for the future. In June, we're going to welcome Wolfgang König as a new Management Board member for Beauty Care. I'm looking forward to working with him in future. Let's move on to the third business unit, Laundry & Home Care, with many well-known, innovative, and successful brands, from Persil to Pril to Somat. We're also present around the world with this business. On average, we sell laundry detergents for 40 billion wash loads each year. In 2020, we achieved strong organic sales growth in this business unit, amounting to 5.6% in total. This was the strongest increase since 2013. The growth was on one hand thanks to high demand for hygiene products and on the other to many successful innovations and new products. In the home care business, we achieved double-digit sales growth. This was the main driver of the business unit's very strong sales performance. Our global top brands, Pril, Bref, and Somat, each recorded double-digit growth. With Love Nature, a new brand was successfully launched. It appeals above all to consumers for whom sustainability is of utmost importance. We achieved good sales growth in the laundry care business, mainly thanks to the very strong performance by our heavy-duty detergents. In addition, there was significant growth of our mega brand, Persil. Here, we have successfully launched further variants of the innovative 4in1 DISCS. In Laundry & Home Care, we also expanded sales via e-commerce activities. Online trading has increased in the course of the pandemic. Digital sales rose by around 50%. Let us take a brief look at Henkel's regional development. Sales in the emerging markets rose by 3%, with sales amounting to approximately EUR 7.6 billion, which is tantamount to approximately 40% of group sales. In the mature markets, sales were at around EUR 11.5 billion. That was a decrease by 3.2% compared to the previous year. Which takes me to our earnings performance. First of all, let me say we remained profitable in 2020 despite the burden of the pandemic and despite increased investments in brands and digitalization. At group level, adjusted operating profit was at EUR 2.6 billion, which is around 20% less year -on- year. On the one hand, due to higher investments, particularly in our consumer goods businesses, but on the other because of the sharp decline in demand. Adjusted return on sales reached 13.4%. Adjusted earnings per preferred share amount to EUR 4.26. That's a decrease by 17.9% at constant exchange rates. Again, in 2020, we had our costs well under control, enabling us to mitigate the impact of the crisis on our earnings. Despite the pandemic, we achieved significant improvements in net working capital in 2020. Free cash flow reached EUR 2.3 billion. That's very close to the record level of the previous year. We were also able to substantially reduce our net debt by more than half. At the end of year, it was around EUR 890 million compared to around EUR 2.0 billion at the end of year of 2019. As these figures show, Henkel is in very good financial shape. Especially during the crisis, this strength has once again paid off. Thanks to our good financial position, we were able to implement our investments as planned and navigate our company safely through these difficult times. Ladies and gentlemen, you're obviously also interested in the development of the share price. The performance of our stock reflects the impact of the COVID-19 crisis on the stock markets. At year-end 2020, Henkel preferred shares closed at EUR 92.30. This is a slight increase by 0.1% over the previous year. Taking into account the reinvestment of the dividend, total return was 2.3%. By comparison, the performance for the DAX was at 3.5%. While this doesn't yet meet our own standards, neither our expectations or yours, we are well aware of this. Dividend payout is also very important to you. Over the past 35 years since we went public, we've always paid out a dividend above or at the previous year's level. We want to stick to this in spite of exceptional developments in the past year. Therefore, we are proposing to you today a stable dividend payout of EUR 1.85 per preferred share and EUR 1.83 per ordinary share. This proposal of a stable dividend is possible thanks to our strong financial position. With it, we're taking into account the exceptional situation in fiscal 2020. The proposed payout ratio would be 43.7%. This is slightly above our target range of 30%-40%. Going forward, we intend to adhere to our existing dividend policy. We will continue to target a range of 30%-40% of adjusted net income after non-controlling interests. Much for our finance. I will now talk about the second major topic of the fiscal year, the implementation of our growth agenda. We presented this agenda about a year ago. 2020 has shown us the fragility of the world we live in. We've seen how the world has been seeking new ideas, new initiatives, and a deeper sense of direction. Our strategic agenda sets the right priorities for this. Of this, I am convinced. We're aiming at purposeful growth. For us, this means creating superior value for customers and consumers to grow faster than our markets. Reinforcing our leadership in sustainability and making a contribution to society and the environment. Strengthening the sense of belonging and cohesion of our employees, and opening up new opportunities to them for their personal development and shaping their work. Today, about one year after the launch, I'm sure we're well on track. We have a clear roadmap, and we're pursuing the right priorities for the success of Henkel in this decade. This was particularly evident in the past year. We have achieved a lot despite the crisis. We have further developed our business and brands portfolio by divesting selected businesses and through targeted acquisitions. We further improved our competitiveness through accelerated innovation processes, our focus on sustainability, and progress in digital transformation. We've adapted our business processes and made our operating models future-ready, we started to strengthen our culture, our Henkel spirit. This is particularly important to me. I'd like to explain to you in more detail what we have achieved. First, in shaping our portfolio. We have identified brands and categories with whose developments we were not satisfied, especially in our consumer goods businesses. Together, they account for an annual sales volume of more than EUR 1 billion. Half of these operations have been marked for divestment or discontinuation by the end of this year. The other half will be expected to return to better results. We've defined clear measures to achieve this. In 2020, we've already completed first divestments with a volume of more than EUR 100 million in total. The brands and businesses that are expected to perform better have started to make progress. More than half have already shown an improvement in their sales performance. Targeted acquisitions are a key component of our strategy. In 2020, we strengthened our portfolio with two major acquisitions, one in Beauty Care and one in Adhesive Technologies for around a total of EUR 500 million. With that, let me now talk about a key element of our agenda, strengthening our competitive edge. For this, innovations are crucial in all three business units. Let us first take a look at the consumer goods businesses. This was also a focus of our additional investments in 2020. In Beauty Care, we relaunched a number of important brands and products such as Gliss Kur, Syoss, and Nature Box. This contributed to the growth achieved within our hair care retail business. We want to develop and launch new products more quickly. To this end, we've established a so-called incubator team at Beauty Care, which is developing new business models and new brands. For instance, M:ID, a personalized care product for men. M:ID was launched onto the market within only just six months and is primarily marketed through digital channels. Innovations have also been crucial to our success in Laundry & Home Care. For example, our new Persil 4 in 1 DISCS. They make laundry washing easier by making product dosing effortless with outstanding washing performance, even at low temperatures. Thus, they also help to save energy. Persil Discs are already available in 24 countries. We provide a targeted support for their marketing by investing more in marketing and advertising. With success. We've been able to gain significant market share in the detergent caps segment. We've also established our own incubator team at Laundry & Home Care to develop new ideas and concepts. For instance, Love Nature, a new laundry and home care brand. Certified with the eco label of the EU, completely vegan with bottles made of 100% recycled plastic. Love Nature is now available at all major retailers in Germany. There has also been a general increase in agility at Laundry & Home Care. We have been able to noticeably reduce the average time from idea to market launch. This gives us a clear edge over our competitors. Innovations are also the focus of the Adhesive Technologies business unit. This year, we will open our new innovation center here in Düsseldorf. We've been investing around EUR 130 million and around 500 colleagues will be conducting their research there and develop new solutions for the needs of our customers across a wide range of different applications. Here we're also scaling artificial intelligence, for example, with digital platform, which is called Albert. This will connect the knowledge and expertise of our researchers around the world. Albert will provide them with access to all our research findings and results, enabling them better integration, accelerating the development of individual products for our customers. With our innovations, we again made better and more sustainable products possible in 2020 in many areas of everyday life. For example, camera modules and sensors for smartphones, or solutions for the protection of wireless headphones, tablets, and laptops. We've also developed numerous innovations aligned to e-mobility, for example, for the electrification of the drivetrain. We're strengthening our innovation power in all three business units with new processes, modern technology, and above all, thanks to our creative employees with many new ideas and the will to make the world a little better for our customers each and every day. The following video will give you an overview of our innovations in the past year. Another important success factor in our growth agenda is sustainability. Our commitment in this area is integral to our corporate culture and has been for many decades, a strong foundation for our growth agenda. We're setting new accents, breaking new ground. We want to differentiate ourselves from our competitors and make sustainability a real success driver. To this end, we're pursuing ambitious targets. We defined a long-term sustainability strategy back in 2010 with a simple, basic idea. We want to deliver more value for our customers and consumers, for society, and for our employees and shareholders, and use one-third less resources in the process. With this in mind, we have set clear targets through to 2030. 2020 was an important milestone on this journey. We were able to significantly reduce our carbon footprint in all three dimensions: carbon emissions, waste, and water. Our target was 30% relative to the base year 2010, and we've achieved almost 40%, and we're all very proud of it. We made good progress in all areas in 2020. For example, avoiding plastic waste, boosting recycling, and enabling a circular economy. For example, we've significantly increased the proportion of recycled plastic in our packaging by 50% compared to the previous year. By 2025, 100% of all our consumer goods packaging should be recyclable. We also want to reduce the use of plastics from fossil sources by at least half. We're also using more and more so-called social plastic in our packaging. We have been a partner of Plastic Bank for several years. Its goal is to combat plastic waste in the oceans, while at the same time creating opportunities for people living in poverty by opening plastic collection centers where locals can deposit plastic waste they have collected and exchange it for money or social benefits. We started first with a project in Haiti. Now we're expanding our collaboration to Egypt. We use social plastic as a packaging material, for example, for all the bottles of our brand, Nature Box. We are the first to do this in the beauty market. In June, we placed a bond to reduce plastic waste as the first company worldwide with a volume of around EUR 100 million. Here we're combining attractive financing instruments with specific progress, tangible progress in sustainability. We're also using less plastic. For example, the packaging of our new Persil Eco Power Bars is made of recycled and recyclable cardboard. This allows for 95% less plastic compared to conventional packaging. Love Nature is the first laundry and home care brand to offer a refill service across all major German retailers participating. Sustainability is also an important driver of innovation in the Adhesive Technologies business unit across the entire spectrum of the business. We are systematically evaluating our portfolio at Adhesive Technologies to this end. How can we make a clear contribution to greater sustainability with our products? In what areas can we help our customers to become more sustainable in their operations? These are questions that drive us forward. For example, we can cut the consumption of plastic film with our adhesives for the packaging industry by up to 90%. We also develop innovative and sustainable solutions for the sports and fashion industry, for example, for shoes. Our latest solutions make it possible to significantly reduce energy consumption during adhesive bonding by up to 30%. Thus, we're helping to avoid carbon emissions and to protect the climate. That brings us to a particularly important issue, climate change management. Here too, we took deliberate steps last year to become even better. For example, we concluded a Virtual Power Purchase Agreement for wind energy in the United States. Agreed capacity is equivalent to 100% of the annual electricity demand of Henkel's operations in the United States. We want to do more. We have to do more. This is our responsibility for tomorrow, for future generations, and this is why we are working at full speed to achieve our ambitious sustainability targets for the coming years. We want to become a climate -positive company by 2040. As a first step by 2025, our aim is to reduce the carbon footprint of our production operations by a total of 65%. We want to save 1 billion metric tons of carbon, working together with customers, consumers, and suppliers. As you can see, we act sustainably in all areas. If you would like to find out more about this, I recommend our Sustainability Report. We published our first Sustainability Report back in 1992 as one of the first companies in Germany, and this year we published our 30th annual edition, full of data, facts, and specific examples. You will find it on our website. As part of our growth agenda, we also are driving forward digital transformation with success. We want to deepen and expand direct interaction with our consumers via digital channels. Digital sales have grown significantly. We increased our digital sales share to around 15% of total group sales. Growth rates were particularly high in our consumer goods businesses, with an increase of more than 60% overall. New business models and brands contributed to this. For example, eSalon, within the Beauty Care business unit. It allows people to create personalized hair colorations with a personalized consultation service included, aligned to the individual's own choice of hair color, and all that done online with the coloration delivered directly to the consumer store. In Laundry & Home Care, we further developed the Ask Team Clean service. This is our online platform dealing with all aspects of washing and cleaning. Service provides consumers with many pieces of advice, plus the opportunity to get to know products and test them. This is an example of how we communicate directly with end consumers online, how we introduce them to our brands, and how we nurture their loyalty. Adhesive Technologies has already exceeded EUR 2 billion in annual digital sales. Business unit thus makes the strongest contribution to digital revenues in the group. With our own digital platform having been successfully expanded to this end, it is now used by industrial customers in more than 60 countries. To drive our digital transformation forward, we created a new unit in mid last year. Henkel dx combines our IT and digital experts in one global organization. In 2020, we also opened our first innovation hub, located in Berlin. There, we are working on new platforms to further expand our digital businesses. We made significant progress with our digital transformation last year, paving the way to the future. There are still major challenges ahead. We are aware of this and we're working on them. Innovation, Sustainability and Digitization. These are the three areas on which we are focusing to extend our competitive edge as part of our growth agenda. In 2020, we also made our operating models future-ready, making them even more efficient, faster and more agile. In the Adhesive Technologies business unit, we are now successfully working in a new structure. It comprises four business areas with a total of 11 strategic units. This improved structure enables us to serve markets and customers even more effectively. We also made some important changes in our consumer businesses in order to align our innovations and decision-making processes more closely to the needs of our customers and to be able to act faster and more flexibly. We also organized our global purchasing organization with improved alignment to our business areas and procurement markets. We continue to work on improving all our operating models and on adapting our structures. This is vital in a globally competitive environment. We’ve set ourselves an ambitious set of goals to achieve, to actively adapt our portfolio and to extend our competitive edge through innovation, sustainability, and digitization, and to optimize our operating models. To be successful, we need motivated and committed employees and, above all, the right culture. This is why corporate culture is the foundation of our growth agenda, with shared values and a clear framework for collaborating as a team. A shared understanding of leadership is at the heart of cultural change. We've, therefore, clearly defined what we mean by good leadership. These principles are integrated into our HR processes and systems. We also wanted to know how we can become even better. Therefore, we conducted a global organizational health survey among more than 10,000 employees. We achieved good results, but we can still get better, and that is what we are working on now with clear, simple, and tangible changes, systematic feedback, and with tangible support. For instance, in the form of targeted coaching for managers. Much for the implementation of our growth agenda in the past fiscal year. This leads me to our outlook for 2021. We expect industrial demand to recover in some areas significantly. This also applies to the consumer segments which are relevant to our company, in particular, the hair salon business. At the same time, we believe consumer demand will return to normal levels in those categories which saw higher demand due to the pandemic in 2020. We also assume that there will be no widespread shutdowns or production closures in our core regions. There are still many uncertainties. How will infection rates develop? What impact will this have on restrictions in everyday life and on demand in specific markets? Despite these uncertainties, we're aiming to return to sales and earnings growth in 2021, and we've already had a good start to the year. Based on preliminary figures, we expect organic sales growth of around 7% in the first quarter, significantly above market expectations, and we already reported on this at the end of March, and we will be publishing further details at the beginning of May. So much for the figures. What are our strategic priorities for this year? Let's first of all, look at the business units. We'll ramp up growth in the Adhesive Technologies business unit with our leading portfolio, our global presence, and our innovative applications. Within the Beauty Care business unit, we want to see our hair salon business return to growth after the crisis and to continue the positive developments in our retail business from 2020. In Home Care, our full attention is on North America. We changed a lot in this region, and with this new basis, we want to strengthen our business once again. It's our priority for this year. We want to continue the good development in the other regions. In implementing our growth agenda, we intend to focus on two major areas. First, we want to create competitive advantages by further strengthening innovation, sustainability, and digitalization. Secondly, we want to continue to further develop our corporate culture, encouraging more collaboration, and empowering our employees. At the beginning, I spoke about how we at Henkel have grown closer together during the crisis, and I described to you what we've already done in the past year to strengthen our corporate culture. Overall, we feel a stronger connection and cohesion among the entire employees of our company. More transparency, more trust, more individual responsibility, and entrepreneurial spirit. That's what we want to build on. Aside from having the right team and the right strategy, it's above all the right culture that is crucial to successfully managing crises like the current pandemic and to being successful in the long term. We want to give our employees more freedom and scope for new ideas to learn and to develop. We want to change the way we lead. This is also the benchmark against which each and every one of us should be measured, and we want to do whatever we can to ensure that our employees are always at one with Henkel, heart and soul as a team, as Henkelaner. We're well-positioned with our agenda for purposeful growth. We'll make this decade one of success for Henkel. That is what we stand for. That is what I stand for. I'd like to conclude by once again saying thank you to all my colleagues on the Management Board for your team spirit and your outstanding commitment to our company. My gratitude also goes to our core bodies, the Supervisory Board, the valuable support, and the constructive discussions about the future of our company. Of course, my thanks go to you, our shareholders, for your continued support, even in these difficult times. I thank all of you for your trust in our company and in the people that made up Henkel, who are doing their best for our customers, for their colleagues, for you, our shareholders, for society, day after day, year after year. Thank you very much for your attention. Stay healthy. Thank you, Mr. Knobel. Ladies and gentlemen, like in previous years, we will conclude the transmission of the AGM for the general public. Shareholders who have registered properly will be able to follow the AGM on our Henkel investor portal. Likewise, accredited media representatives who received the corresponding link. I would like to say goodbye to all other followers who have joined us up to this point, and I would like to thank you for your interest. [Non-English content]