Meine sehr geehrte Damen und Herre[U], ladies and gentlemen, esteemed shareholders. As Chairman of the Supervisory Board, I hereby call to order the 2023 Shareholders Meeting of Siemens Aktiengesellschaft, and assume the chairmanship of the meeting in accordance with the articles of association. On behalf of the Supervisory Board and the Managing Board, I also personally welcome you, dear shareholders, and your proxies. Of course, all the journalists who have joined us, and anyone else who is joining our Shareholders Meeting today online. Ladies and gentlemen, I welcome you today to another virtual Annual Shareholders Meeting. It is different from our Annual Shareholders Meetings, which you may remember during the time of the pandemic. In today's Annual Shareholders Meeting, we converted the most important advantages of an in-person Annual Shareholders Meeting into a virtual format. Over the last few years, digitalization has improved practically all Siemens products and enabled new solutions. We are harnessing the benefits of digitalization even today in order to promote the dialogue with our shareholders, which we consider to be ever so important, and to answer you in a novel and improved manner. Now, using a digital format, more people are in a position to attend this meeting without a lot of effort and take part actively. At the same time, of course, we are protecting the personal health of all those attending. Like in an in-person shareholders meeting, the correctly registered shareholders and their proxies have all the rights to speak and to ask questions and to submit motions as per usual. These rights can be exercised only via video communication through the internet service. Shareholders who are physically here cannot participate unless they have registered correctly or have designated a proxy. This decision has been made with the support of the Executive Board by the Supervisory Board. The entire Shareholders Meeting will be broadcast via our internet service. Online access can be accessed through the shareholder's number and their individual registration key. Shareholders with a self-assessed passwords can use that password to register. The proxies, please use the registration and login data sent to you. My introductory remarks, as well as Mr. Busch's, will be broadcast online. They are, of course, recorded and will be made available later on the company's website. We published the key points of Mr. Busch's and my speeches on the internet several days before the Annual Shareholders Meeting in order to enable better preparation for the Shareholders Meeting itself. From now on, shareholders and their proxies can request to speak by pressing the button "Request to speak" in the internet service. Moreover, to announce a motion or to ask a question, according to Section 131, Paragraph four of the German Stock Corporation Act, you will find online the button "Motion." Please, in the corresponding input field on the internet service, please enter a telephone number so that you can be contacted should there be any technical issues. In addition to this, please include some keywords on the topics you would like to talk about, giving me the possibility to decide when to give you the floor. Having access to the internet service, you can test yourself whether your camera and your microphone work together with your internet browser. Please use this possibility. During the general debate, I will call speakers in groups and blocks, asking them to enter our so-called virtual waiting room. There you will be connected with a member of staff who will check together with you the functionality of your video communication system. After this functional test, and after I call you to the floor, you will be joined to the live stream with audio and video and can address the shareholders meeting, ask your questions, or put forward a motion. A live connection requires functional video communication between shareholders and company. Without it, we regret to inform that we must reject a contribution or disconnect you early if the connection fails during a contribution. On recommendations for an optimal functionality of a video communication have already been made available on the internet page related to the shareholders meeting. There you will also find the telephone number of a hotline, which you can contact if there are any technical issues. In the run-up to the Shareholders Meeting, shareholders had the opportunity to send in email messages related to the items of the agenda. All statements which have to be made available online have been published in the internet service for the correctly registered shareholders and their proxies. You can also look through them today. Please note that any questions, motions, election proposals, and objections against resolutions included in a statement will not be considered. Thank you very much for joining us at today's virtual Shareholders Meeting. I'm looking forward to an exchange of opinions via live video link and to a lively general debate, like in an in-person Shareholders Meeting. Before we jump into the agenda, let me point out the following formalities. The notice of the shareholders meeting has been published in the Federal Gazette on December 12, 2022, in due time and form. Since that day, and also today, the notice of the shareholders meeting and additional documents that needed to be submitted were accessible on the website of the company. Additionally, of course, they are also available right here in the meeting room. Our notary public, Jens Kirchner, will notarize this shareholders meeting, and I welcome him most cordially. He's right here on stage, seated at an angle behind me. I would also like to welcome everyone else here in the room, but especially, of course, our CEO, Roland Busch, our CFO, Ralf Thomas, the remaining members of the executive board, Judith Wiese, Cedrik Neike, and Matthias Rebellius. I would also like to welcome our Supervisory Board members and the additional Deputy Chairman, Werner Brandt, whom I'm asked, whom I've asked to stand in according to Section 21, paragraph one of our articles of association, should I become prevented of chairing this meeting, even if it's just for a short period of time. Additionally, we have Ms. Luderer and Mr. Wiedersich as company-appointed proxies. Except for Ms. von Siemens, who is excused today, the remaining members of the Supervisory Board are also attending, but in another balloting area of our on-site AGM area. The meeting is broadcast to every part of the balloting area in a two-way video as well as audio broadcasting. Together with our service providers commissioned, we have carefully examined the necessary technical arrangement for the live broadcast of today's shareholders meeting, the internet service, and the video link connecting shareholders and proxies. The notary public had these arrangements explained to him in detail and was able to inspect the technology himself. Against the backdrop of this comprehensive preparation, we are still convinced that we can hold a virtual annual shareholders meeting in a trouble-free way. If the broadcast is interrupted despite these efforts, we ask you to be patient for just a few minutes. If it is not possible to reestablish the connection, we will provide additional information via our internet service or on our website, www.siemens.com/hauptversammlung. There, you will also find the telephone number of a hotline which you can contact as well. You will also be able to, once again, find my speech and Mr. Busch's speech broadcast live. There will be no stenographic minutes of any part of the annual shareholders meeting, only questions asked by shareholders and proxies are written down to prepare the answers. Video and audio recordings of the broadcast of the annual shareholders meetings are not permitted. The attendance list will be continuously updated until the end of the shareholders meeting. You will be able to look at it in just a short while via the online service and will also be made available right here in the meeting room. I will announce attendance later. Today, votes can be cast only via written vote or by authorizing the company-appointed proxies. Later, of course, I will explain the voting process in more detail. Correctly registered and electronically connected shareholders and their proxies can, from the beginning until the conclusion of the shareholders meeting, use the internet service to lodge objections against resolutions of the shareholders meeting and can, in accordance with Section 131, paragraph 5 of the German Stock Corporation Act, demand any questions which have not or not sufficiently been answered to be included in the minutes recorded by the notary public. To do so, please press the corresponding button marked accordingly in the internet service, and the request will be directly sent to an email inbox which the notary public manages personally. If you wish to lodge an objection or make such a request, please do not wait until the very last minute, bearing in mind possible delays during the internet broadcast. Ladies and gentlemen, I now move on to item one of the agenda, the presentation of the annual financial statements of Siemens AG and the financial statements of the Siemens Group, together with the combined management report of Siemens AG and the Siemens Group as of September 30th, 2022, as well as the report of the Supervisory Board for fiscal 2021 and 2022. The annual financial statements of Siemens AG and the consolidated financial statements of the Siemens Group, together with the combined management report for Siemens AG and the Siemens Group for fiscal year 2022, were audited by Ernst & Young GmbH, who issued an unqualified audit opinion for each of them. The Executive Board and the auditor explained the audit documents in detail, both to the Audit Committee as well as the Supervisory Board. The Supervisory Board then approved the financial statements after review. The financial statements of Siemens AG have thus been adopted. I would like to address the significant developments that characterized the previous year, globally and at Siemens. In my statement, I will focus on major lines of development, you will, of course, find additional information about the work of the Supervisory Board in the report of the Supervisory Board. The report should have been made available, or has been made available, I should say, since the notice of the annual shareholders meeting, you can access it also today on the website. Ladies and gentlemen, without question, 2022 was a major turning point. The events and developments of the past few months will continue to shape our lives far into the future. The geopolitical situation, of course, comes to mind first. Even at the beginning of 2022, scarcely anyone believed that a major war on European soil was still a possibility, and yet the war came. Russia's invasion of Ukraine has caused untold human suffering. Many countries and companies, including Siemens, have condemned Russia's aggression in the strongest terms possible. This common response was enormously important. We in Europe should never allow one nation to call into question the sovereignty of another. The world doesn't need wars, it needs cooperation. Next to geopolitics, climate change is the greatest challenge of our time. In the spring of 2022, I traveled to Greenland, where I spent my childhood. During my visit, temperatures were sometimes as high as 15 to 20 degrees above normal for that time of year. However, the weather in Greenland, of course, is only one of many, many warning signs that climate change is accelerating worldwide. To avert a climate catastrophe, we have to act even faster and even more decisively. We've got to reinvent the global economy's value chains from the ground up. Whether the turning point of 2022 will go down in history as a positive or negative development depends on all of us. It depends on our ideas and our actions, on our sticking together as a society, and on our cooperation with partners around the globe. The future still is in our hands, and I think in this regard, technology is the great hope of our age. Every day brings more proof of the enormous potential that lies in innovation. One example, in September, NASA succeeded in altering the path of an asteroid millions of kilometers above the Earth's surface. Now, for me, this accomplishment is a radiant symbol. We can achieve major changes through technology, even changes that appear nigh impossible. Technology is also the key to our challenges on Earth. Today, it is in our power to reinvent and sustainably shape entire value chains. The good news is, already today, sustainable solutions are often more economical than conventional ones. I am convinced that these solutions are the greatest business opportunity of our times. Technologies unleash their positive power only when people lead them in the right direction, when they work together to reach their common goals more quickly. This, ladies and gentlemen, is great leadership and the great leadership task of our times. I am convinced that Siemens can and will make major contributions to accomplishing this task. With its portfolio, the company is excellently positioned to do so, and it has outstanding people driving developments in the right direction. In the fall of 2020, we completed Siemens' division into three separate companies. Our goal was to lay the basis for more innovation, more growth, and an even greater contribution to mastering the challenges of our times, particularly in the fight against climate change. The basic principle behind this reinvention continues to apply. In a time of rapid transformation, the decisive advantage is not size, but speed. In fiscal 2022, the advantages we gained by our reinvention became particularly clear. Siemens accelerated growth in its industry, infrastructure, transport, and healthcare businesses. We gained market share in key markets and drove groundbreaking innovations. People say that the difference between good and only mediocre companies is clearest when the market environment is difficult, and Siemens's results in the fiscal year just ended up speaking for themselves. They are outstanding despite the difficult environment, and they testify to a very robust company that provides answers to the challenges of our times. Our business's development underscores these points yet again. From 2009 to 2019, Siemens grew an average of 2% a year. Since 2021 however, Siemens AG has targeted an annual revenue growth of 5%-7% per annum. This promise is something that we didn't only achieve in the last two fiscal years, but exceeded it again and again. Even with Q1 of this current fiscal year, we're off to a really strong start, and Siemens has become a growth company. Over and above the financial figures, only our contribution to sustainability has been impressive. The products and solutions that Siemens sold in fiscal 2022 alone will avoid around 150 million tons of greenhouse gas emissions over their entire service life, or about as much CO₂ as 4 million conventional automobiles produce in their lifetime. The new image of Siemens that the supervisory board and the executive board are pursuing persistently and in close cooperation is gaining ever more prevalence. The image of a globally successful technology company focused on the backbone of national economies, industry, infrastructure, transport, mobility, and healthcare. A company with strong businesses and business models in the areas of digitalization and sustainability. On behalf of the supervisory board, I would like to sincerely congratulate all the employees of our company on this very strong performance. I would also like to thank the employee representatives of Siemens AG and all groups, sorry, in all companies of the group for this constructive cooperation. Now, after several annual shareholders' meetings under COVID restrictions, the entire executive board team can also be present here again in person, and I would like to take this opportunity to extend my personal thanks to all the members of the Siemens executive board. Many thanks to Roland Busch for your decisive leadership in transforming Siemens into a rapidly growing technology company. Many thanks to Judith Wiese for your strong leadership in the areas of HR and sustainability. Thank you very much also to Ralf Thomas for your excellent and highly reliable leadership in all matters financial, and for the significant progress of the portfolio companies. Many thanks to Cedrik Neike for your leadership in the persuasive further development of Digital Industries. Many thanks also to Matthias Rebellius for your leadership and for the very gratifying successes at Smart Infrastructure. That being said, I'd like to thank the entire executive board, in particular, for the excellent teamwork. They truly do lead by example and are thus a role model for our colleagues throughout the company. Dear shareholders, against the backdrop of the major changes of our time, the supervisory board defined the strategic focuses of its work in fiscal 2022: technology, sustainability, and personnel planning for the executive and supervisory board. First, regarding the focus on technology. With innovative technologies oriented toward digitalization and sustainability, Siemens has laid the basis and the foundation early on for today's business successes. With additional investments in people and in research and development, we're creating the prerequisites that will enable Siemens to continue these successes and further shape developments even in the future. The executive board and the supervisory board consult intensively and continuously regarding the company's innovation and growth strategy. In this connection, the launch of Siemens Xcelerator was a particular focus. Siemens Xcelerator is an open digital platform that enables our customers to easily combine hardware and software from both Siemens and other suppliers. Customers can greatly accelerate their own transformation toward digitalization and sustainability. Our work regarding sustainability and our focus on sustainability was closely linked, of course, to our discussion of technology. Efficient solutions to reduce CO₂ emissions and conserve resources are vital for modern economies. These technologies are of course, a major opportunity for growth and the further development of Siemens' business models. Now looking to the future, sustainability will move even closer to the center of all Siemens businesses. The supervisory board paid particular attention to this topic in fiscal 2022. Our work will continue to focus on it in the future. The supervisory board intensively supported the further development of DEGREE, Siemens' sustainability framework. In December, it's been announced that Siemens would once again accelerate its plans to achieve climate neutrality. For us, responsible action, integrity, and striving to do the right thing always remain key aspects of sustainability. Also regarding the third focus, personnel and staff planning for the executive and the supervisory board, our aim was to ensure Siemens' long-term success. Now, particularly in moments of success, it's vital to set the right course for the future. In December of 2021 already, the supervisory board extended Ralf Thomas' appointment as CFO. I did inform you of this decision at last year's AGM. In November 2022, the Supervisory Board now has taken another important step to ensure continuity. We extended Judith Wiese's appointment as Executive Board Member and Chief People and Sustainability Officer. In the past few years, Ms. Wiese has done an outstanding job. She's played a decisive role in ensuring that Siemens is an attractive employer, and that it offers an environment in which employees can unleash their full potential. She's also helped make sustainability a key pillar of our strategy. I'd like to once again take this opportunity to sincerely thank you, dear Judith Wiese, once again for your work, and I wish you continued success in the future. Now, for the Supervisory Board as a governing body, we are also setting an important course for the future with today's upcoming elections. At the end of today's shareholders' meeting, Ms. Nemat Shafik, Mr. Michael Diekmann, and Mr. Norbert Reithofer's tenures will expire. I would like to thank all three of them very cordially for their committed and successful cooperation over the past few years. With their expertise and their deep insights, they have greatly enriched the Supervisory Board's work and the discussion. Even more importantly, they contributed to the long-term reinvention that is making Siemens so successful today. Ms. Shafik, Mr. Diekmann, Mr. Reithofer, on behalf of the Supervisory Board, the company, and myself, I would like to thank you three very much for all of your contributions to Siemens' success. Ms. Natalie von Siemens, Mr. Werner Brandt, Mr. Benoît Potier, and Mr. Matthias Zachert are standing for re-election today. We are very pleased that they have agreed to run yet again and continue to make their outstanding know-how available to the company. With this step, they're making an important contribution to the continuity of the supervisory board's important work. Three new candidates have also been nominated for the election to the supervisory board. Ms. Regina Dugan is a highly experienced expert in the areas of technology, sustainability, and the further development of companies and business models. Over the course of her career, she's held key positions at leading digital companies such as Alphabet. Today, she's president of Wellcome Leap. She's also the CEO. Wellcome Leap is a company working on achieving breakthroughs in healthcare. Ms. Keryn James has more than 30 years of international experience in consulting, in environmental and sustainability-related topics. Among other things, she was Group CEO of the ERM Group, a leading company in environment, social, and governance consulting. We're very pleased that she's agreed to make her wide-ranging experience and international management experience available to Siemens and the supervisory board. Ms. Martina Merz, of course, is CEO of the thyssenkrupp AG. She was previously chair of the thyssenkrupp Supervisory Board. Over the course of her career at renowned industrial companies, Ms. Merz has acquired profound expertise in the sectors relevant to Siemens and in the areas of technology, sustainability, and the transformation of companies. She's an outstanding leader and will greatly enrich the work of the supervisory board. The three new candidates will now briefly introduce themselves in a video message. Hello and Guten Tag. My name is Regina Dugan. I'm an engineer. I am currently the President and CEO of Wellcome Leap, an organization dedicated to increasing the number and speed of breakthroughs in human health. I have had the great privilege of building and leading world-class global teams to tackle big challenges and create new capabilities across diverse sectors, from hypersonic vehicles for national security to high-tech consumer products in Silicon Valley. Because of my work, I am often asked to make predictions about the future. Embedded in this question is the sense that the future is some inevitability, and we are but passive observers watching it unfold. I do not believe this. I believe we are active engineers and architects of the future, that the future will be what we choose to build, and we choose to build what we believe in that order. I believe we can build a future that includes flourishing businesses and more equitable, sustainable world. In so doing, we serve all stakeholders, shareholders, employees, current and future generations. Siemens is known for such bold vision and leadership. It is full of people with the talent and the fortitude to make it so. I look forward to the honor of joining you. Thank you, and "vielen Dank". Hello. My name is Keryn James, and I'm currently a non-executive director on a number of private and not-for-profit boards. My expertise is in sustainability, global operations, and transformation. I would be delighted to join the Siemens Supervisory Board because I believe that the scale, the talent, and the innovation capability of the Siemens company will be instrumental in delivering a more sustainable economy, but also creating significant value. Dear shareholders, dear shareholder representatives.[Crosstalk] Dear shareholders, dear shareholder representatives. First of all. First of all. I would like to say thank you for the opportunity to introduce myself to you digitally as a candidate for the Supervisory Board of Siemens. For the opportunity to introduce myself to you digitally as a candidate for the Supervisory Board here at Siemens AG. My name is Martina Merz. My name is Martina Merz.[Garbled] I'm 59 years old.[Garbled] I'm 59 years old.[Garbled] I'm a qualified mechanical engineer.[Garbled] I studied mechanical engineering.[Garbled] For almost 40 years.[Garbled] for almost 40 years-[Garbled] I have held various management and leadership roles in industry.[Garbled] I have been working in different management and leadership positions.[Garbled] Both in Germany and internationally.[Garbled][Garbled] In industrial companies, both domestic as well as abroad.[Garbled] Since 2019...[Garbled] Of course, since 2019.[Garbled] I have been the CEO of thyssenkrupp[Garbled] I have been CEO of the thyssenkrupp AG.[Garbled] My clear goal is to use my experience.[Garbled] It is my clear goal with my experience.[Garbled] expertise to contribute to the digital sustainable transformation of industry.[Garbled] With my expertise to contribute to the digital sustainable transformation of the industry.[Garbled] Into the best possible evolution of Siemens as a leading global technology company.[Garbled] As well as the best possible further development of Siemens as a global leader in technology.[Garbled] I believe very strongly[Garbled] I am convinced.[Garbled] In the huge potential of that transformation.[Garbled] Of the large potential of this particular transformation.[Garbled] I am grateful for the trust that Siemens Supervisory Board has placed in me.[Garbled] I am thankful for the trust as the faith that the Supervisory Board of Siemens AG has bestowed upon me.[Garbled] I would also like to ask you to place your trust in me.[Garbled] I would hope that you do the same today.[Garbled] Thank you very much. Thank you very much. Dear shareholders, we are very pleased to have gained these three outstanding individuals for Siemens. Their candidacy underscores the importance of technology and sustainability for the future of the Supervisory Board and of Siemens. Their election will make the Supervisory Board more diverse and more global than ever before. Further information about all candidates is available in the notice of the annual shareholders meeting and on the websites, on the meetings website. We'd be very pleased if you, the shareholders of Siemens, would support our nominations with your votes today. There's also a change among the employee representatives of the Supervisory Board. With his term ending, Mr. Gunnar Zukunft will leave the Supervisory Board as a schedule in the c-rotation at the conclusion of today's annual shareholders meeting. Thank you very much, Mr. Zukunft, for your very relevant and constructive contributions to the Supervisory Board and your collaboration in promoting the interest of Siemens. As Mr. Zukunft's successor, Mr. Christian Pfeiffer has been elected to the Supervisory Board. Welcome to you, Mr. Pfeiffer. We are very much looking forward to cooperating with you. At this point, I'd like to thank all my colleagues on the Supervisory Board yet again, the shareholder representatives, as well as the employee representatives. It is our collaboration over the past few years that has been ambitious, truth-based, and successful. It was, and is, my honor to serve this company and to support its further development together with you. Dear shareholders, I am very happy about your participation in today's ASM. Today, 175 years since the founding, your Siemens AG is in a very good condition. In the previous fiscal year, the company performed brilliantly, achieving its highest growth in 20 years, and it can view the challenges of the futures as opportunities. The reinvention of Siemens from a position of strength is now paying off over the long term. We can be proud of what we've achieved together, and we can be pleased with the opportunities that lie before us. In this anniversary year, this, I believe, is truly a special reason for celebration. I'm convinced that the world needs companies like Siemens, and today, more than ever before. Companies that despite the tense geopolitical situation, build bridges. Companies that view sustainability as the goal and centerpiece of their activities, and companies that place technology and innovation at the service of society and make them the engines of progress. I'd like to thank you, the shareholders of Siemens, for your trust in fiscal 2022, and in the years before as well. I wish all of us a very successful virtual shareholders meeting, and would now like to turn the meeting over to the President and CEO of Siemens AG. Roland, over to you. Thank you, Jim. Welcome to all of you to the Siemens Annual Shareholders Meeting. We've achieved a great deal in the past fiscal year, but let's pause for a moment. In particular, Syria and parts of the Turkey have been shaken up by an earthquake, and we are thinking of their family members and those affected. Together with Siemens Healthineers, we've made available a large sum of money. It is our Siemens Caring Hands association is just getting an idea of the things we can do in addition to what is being done right now. This is not the only crisis. You will probably remember last year's annual shareholders meeting. Exactly two weeks later, on the 24th of February, war broke out in the middle of Europe. Inna Martyniuk is the Chief Financial Officer of Siemens in Ukraine. She too had not imagined a Russian invasion. When it happened, she was on vacation in Colombia. Inna wanted to return to her family, but flights to Ukraine were no longer available. Instead, she came to Germany. From here, she led our crisis team, organized relief transports, helped people seek refuge, and rebuilt power and water supplies. Today, she commutes between Wiesbaden and Kyiv. "We have to help. It's about people after all," she says. There is Serhii Dvornik. He heads our Industrial Automation business in Ukraine. His wife and daughter are currently in Poland. The parents, the sister, they are holding out in the badly destroyed city of Mariupol. Serhii says, "I don't have time for fear right now. Our customers need us." For example, in Kharkiv in eastern Ukraine, already twice the gas power plant there was under fire. In both cases, Serhii's team was able to deliver spare parts very quickly to get the controls on site working again, so that the people in Kharkiv have electricity and heat again. Thank you, Inna. Thank you, Serhii. I also wish to thank you and all colleagues. You have shown courage, strength, and you've done something special in Ukraine and all over the world. You've donated, you offered rooms and apartments. In Warsaw, you converted a Siemens building into a refugee shelter. This war affects us all. The world feels less safe. Energy became very expensive. Inflation has risen rapidly. Many supply chains were already fragile before. They've become even more vulnerable. On top of that, we had long COVID lockdowns in China. Massive challenges for us, for our customers, for our competitors, for all of us. Siemens today is stronger than a year ago, despite war, despite crisis, Siemens delivered. Our team has shown strength, courage, perseverance, humanity, and Siemens has grown faster than our competitors, faster than the market, faster than we ourselves had expected. 17% more orders, EUR 89 billion, 8% more sales, EUR 72 billion, free cash flow, more than EUR 8 billion, a record figure as in the previous year. Our industrial business is strong as well. The result, more than EUR 10 billion, earnings margin 15.1%. Our company has never been so profitable. Our growth is accelerating too. In May 2021, we set ourselves a target of growing by 5%-7% in the medium term. You know, the year really started strongly, and we therefore raised our guidance. We now expect 7%-10% sales increase for 2023. Our forecast for our earnings per share have also been adjusted accordingly. Siemens is growing. Siemens is growing profitably. Siemens increases its resilience. Siemens is one of the best technology investments you can make right now because we have the right strategy, the right technologies, and the right team. Crises show how strong a company is. Let's take a look at the individual businesses. All key figures, even the ones mentioned so far, are, of course, on a comparable basis. Digital Industries, a 13% increase in sales, Industrial Automation +23%. The profit margin was 19.9%. The development of our software business has been very successful. We are moving a large part of this business to a new model, namely software as a service, so regular payments rather than a one-time license fee. This is particularly attractive for medium-sized and smaller customers, and this change is going better than planned. 5,500 customers have opted for the new model to date. Smart Infrastructure, sales increased by 10%. The margin increased by 12.8%. Remarkable here is the growth in two businesses, +19% in low voltage and +11% in medium voltage. Outstanding. The factory in Grand Prairie, Texas. There we manufacture switchboards, among other things, for data centers and for the charging infrastructure of electric cars. Others did not keep up with production. Our team was able to increase production by 47%. Mobility, sales increased by 3%, despite the fact that we withdrew completely from the Russian business in May 2022 after 170 years. Russia was particularly important for Mobility. However, large orders came in from other parts of the world, in the United States and in Europe. We will supply for our customers, Amtrak and Akiem alone, a total of 115 trains. In Egypt, we are rebuilding the entire rail network and connecting 60 cities, a project that will transform Egypt. Finally, a major order from Deutsche Bahn, which has ordered 43 more ICE 3neo trains. They are now a total of 73. Siemens Healthineers, sales increased by 6%. The profit margin is 15.5%. A strong innovation. The first photon-counting computed tomograph. Customers are now using it successfully. It delivers better images for more accurate diagnoses with 40% less radiation dose. In addition, Varian is performing extremely well. The new radiotherapy business is steadily gaining market share. Our digital business is also growing faster than expected, i.e., software and digital services from Siemens AG, an increase of around 15%, significantly above our growth target of 10%. Siemens has grown strongly. Siemens has grown profitably, and Siemens has grown sustainably. Earnings per share before effects from purchase price allocation were EUR 5.47. This value includes depreciation and accounting adjustment. As you know, we hold shares in Siemens Energy, and their market value has fallen. Without this depreciation, the value would be EUR 8.84, and thus above that of the previous year, and this is how it should continue into the future. Our order books are full. We have an order backlog of EUR 102 billion. That, too, a record figure. The course is set for further strong growth. This is also shown that by the ratio of incoming orders to sales, the so-called book-to-bill ratio. Values above 1 suggest revenue growth. We are far above that. Our figure is 1.24. Of course, orders turn into real sales, and therefore you have to deliver. Technology helps us to process open orders and do it quickly. One example. We have three plants where we manufacture products like SIMATIC in Amberg and Fürth in Germany and in Chengdu in China. They are fully digitized and networked. For instance, if we have a shortage of components in China, then we were able to quickly relocate the orders, quickly ramp up production in Germany, and vice versa. This is another reason why we have gained market share. That should be worthwhile for you, the shareholders. We had promised you a progressive dividend policy. Last year, the dividend was EUR 4 per share. This year, we are proposing a dividend of EUR 4.25. My colleagues, of course, also share in this success. We've paid out above-average bonuses to both executives and employees covered by collective bargaining agreements. Pandemic, war, inflation, the exit from the Russian business, we coped with all of it, and we delivered a record fiscal year. Siemens grows faster than the market, faster than most of our competitors, faster than we ourselves had expected. For their great personal commitment, I would like to thank all my colleagues worldwide, more than 300,000 people working at Siemens. Thank you. The right strategy, the right technologies, the right team. I would like to take a closer look at these three success factors with you. Let's start with the strategy. By the way, it fits into one sentence. We connect the real world with the digital world. That is our strategy. Sounds good at first, doesn't it? What does that actually mean, we connect the real world with the digital world? Take our Mobility business, for example. Our customers buy locomotives and trains from us. Products you can touch. Real world. Once the train is on the track, it should run as much as possible and as rarely as possible to the workshop. An optimization task. The digital world helps us with this. Sensors collect data, software processes them. Artificial intelligence helps to recognize patterns. Our industry knowledge helps us make the right recommendations. On trains, for example, we can predict when a door will break and maintain it predictively. Siemens can do that. When I say Siemens, I mean people like Michael Taylor. Five years ago, he started at Siemens Mobility. Today, he's one of our data gurus, one of more than 1,400 data analytics and artificial intelligence experts. He connects the real with the digital world. How does he do that exactly? Well, he's going to tell us in a moment. I'm going to conduct this interview in English, you will get a simultaneous interpretation into German. Hi, Michael. Can you hear me? Yes. Hi, Roland. Thanks for having me. Michael, what was your first task at Siemens? My job was to optimize the maintenance schedule of trains, especially of their wheels. Now you make me curious. Before you explain more, tell me, what was your life before Siemens, before you joined us? My life before Siemens was all about numbers and statistics. I was born in Sierra Leone, and I studied mathematics there. It was easy to find a job with my degree. I worked in media and advertising, in finance, and for an online retailer. I felt something was missing. I wanted to make sure my work has impact and really helps people. That's why I joined Siemens. After you joined us, you had a few surprises. The first one was your office was in a factory? That's right. In Allach, near Munich, where we build locomotives. I thought, "Why do I have to work in a factory? I can work with data anywhere. I just need a computer." It took me a while to really appreciate the value of being close to the real things. this brings me back to your first task. You optimized the maintenance schedule for trains, right? It was about the wheels in particular. It's tricky. How often should we really check the wheels? If we check twice a day, the train would hardly ever carry passengers. If we check every 10 years, the risk will be too high. The question always is how often is safe and efficient. This sounds like this optimization task I was talking about. Sounds complicated. How did you solve it? I wanted to rely on my math. I started juggling hundreds of variables. In theory, it is perfectly doable. I said to myself, "But I didn't make enough progress." After a few days, I had enough. I grabbed a yellow helmet and safety boots, I went down to the factory for the first time. I will never forget the smell, you know, machine oil and sizzling of the welding machines, flying sparks. Another world for me, that's where I found the solution. What was it? One of the maintenance workers showed me around. I ran my fingers around several metal wheels, and I could feel the difference in wear and tear. I'd assume initially the wheel wear off in a linear way, a tiny bit, the same amount day after day. In the factory, I learned from the real world, sometimes things go well for a long time. Suddenly there is a significant wear and tear. I changed my model because of this insight. I made a big step forward. Great. Michael, thanks for sharing this. I know you moved. Now you're working on a very innovative project for our customer in Singapore. Good luck, and thank you for your great work. Thank you, Roland. Michael develops solutions which are used everywhere in the world. This is how Mobility optimizes its service for rail operators around the world, regardless of whether they use trains from Siemens or from competitors. Maintenance costs can be reduced by up to 15%. With artificial intelligence, we can even guarantee the trains are available up to 100%, i.e., that they do not fail unexpectedly. Our customers get more out of our trains. As a result, passengers can rely on their train. A great example of what happens when we connect the real world with the digital world. We can do this because we understand our customers' world. Customers trust us, also because we've been working with them for decades in some cases, because we know their products and manufacturing processes, fully understand their business models. The data in the digital world provides a new perspective, but only if you know the context. We understand the context. We have the necessary industry knowledge. Others only have the algorithm. We connect the real world with the digital world in all our stores. We have the technologies for this. We are also strengthening and acquiring companies with outstanding solutions. Brightly, for example. Their cloud-based software enables buildings to be maintained proactively and operated more energy efficiently. To do this, the company uses data from water pipes, fuse boxes, or heating systems to predict when something needs to be serviced. This is how outages can be prevented. This is a market that is growing very quickly and one in which Siemens is now a leading supplier. We also completed the acquisition of Sqills. The company helps train and bus operators to improve their capacity utilization. Passenger booking is straightforward via a single digital booking system. Ouigo España is a Sqills customer and operates high-speed trains between Madrid and Barcelona. Thanks to Sqills, the utilization of their trains reaches 95%. Strategy also means saying no to technologies, to businesses, to investments that no longer fit us properly. We want our businesses to have the owner best suited to them, one with which they can best grow profitably. That is why we have also divested businesses ourselves. We sold our road technology business to the Italian company Atlantia, the mail and parcel business of Siemens Logistics to Körber Group. Our stake in Valeo Siemens eAutomotive was acquired by our partner. We are just merging several business units into one strong engine and large propulsion company. Focus. Focus. Focus on what counts in the long run. Just a few months ago, we celebrated the 175th company anniversary. At Siemens, it's not just about the next quarter, it's about stable long-term growth. This is also appreciated by many of our owners. That's why a great many of you have been with us for years. I would like to thank you very much for this great support. Our strategy is designed for the long term. We are getting our orientation from the big trends, the mega trends, because only through sustainable growth can we collectively improve the quality of life and the daily lives of billions of people worldwide. What will humanity need in the coming decades? Which technology paths promise solutions? What products and services do we want to offer in the future? Let's take a closer look at the five most important mega trends. Climate change. Globalization, which is just becoming glocalization. I say more about that in a minute. Of course, we've to talk about urbanization. Demographic change. We are living longer. Societies are aging. Finally, a mega trend that helps us with all these challenges: digitalization. We've been focusing our portfolio on these mega trends for years. Each of the mega trends brings its own unique challenges to our customers. We help them to master them. The bigger the challenge, the bigger the market, also for Siemens. First, climate change. The good news, many companies and countries in the world have a CO₂ target, net zero. The bad news, we are all behind. A huge challenge and a huge opportunity for Siemens. Sustainability is a growth market. We help customers achieve more with less resources in manufacturing, in buildings, in energy systems, in transportation, in hospitals. A few examples. We are making power grids smarter so that they can accommodate more renewable energies. Data centers and buildings can be operated more efficiently with Siemens solutions. Our new air insulated circuit breakers operate without the extremely climate-damaging gas SF₆. Our variable drive systems save electricity in production at conveyor belts, in machines, up to 60%. With digital twins, we plan products and plants that run optimally right from the start. This saves energy and resources. Our trains transport people and goods in an environmentally friendly way. By the way, soon also with hydrogen drives. For example, on Berlin's Heidekrautbahn, the operator has ordered our hydrogen trains. They will replace diesel trains and avoid around 3,000 tons of CO₂ per year. We calculated how many emissions our customers will not emit because they bought products and solutions from Siemens in fiscal 2022. Around 150 million tons of climate-damaging emissions. That's almost the entire emissions of the Netherlands. By the way, counting CO₂ emissions is not that easy. If you look very closely, you'll see in many industries, 90% of the CO₂ emissions are attributable to upstream products, and that's where the big leverage is. We've therefore developed a solution that makes CO₂ emissions and supply chains transparent. It's called SiGREEN. With it, companies gain an overview of the carbon footprint of an entire supply chain from the raw material or sheet metal for a component, to the chip, to the transport of the finished product. SiGREEN guarantees the confidentiality of all information, thanks to blockchain technology. This helps us and our customers. Everyone in the chain can choose suppliers that emit less CO₂, or motivate suppliers to save CO₂. Here, too, we combine the real world with the digital world for more sustainability. Of course, we don't just rely on others contributing with our products and solutions. We are also becoming more sustainable. We have reduced our CO₂ emissions by 46% compared to 2019. In 2030, Siemens will have reached net zero. We will have done so almost entirely through our own efforts, including improvements in our factories, our offices, and our fleet. To this end, we are investing an additional EUR 650 million. These successes are part of DEGREE. This is our 360-degree approach to the environment, to social issues, and to good corporate governance. I'll say more about that later. The second megatrend, globalization, or rather by now, glocalization. Many countries want to produce more themselves again locally to become more resilient, even in situations of crisis. In countries with high wages, that means factories have to run highly automated, and they have to be digitalized end-to-end to do so. We have a lot of experience with this. This is because Siemens has always invested and produced in Germany and other high-wage countries as well. We want to be where our customers are, namely everywhere in the world. The third megatrend, urbanization. More and more people are moving to cities, megacities like Delhi in India or Lagos in Nigeria. How can infrastructure development keep pace with demand? What investments will make it more livable and sustainable? Here too, we use digital twins that help us with planning, and twins that grow alongside and analyze in real-time how people use their city, what's happening on the streets, in the buildings or in the power grid. We ourselves are currently using this technology in the construction of a new Siemensstadt in Berlin. The fourth megatrend, demographic change. We live longer. We have fewer children. Our societies are aging. More people in need of care, more patients. Siemens Healthineers helps doctors treat more people without costs going through the roof. Artificial intelligence, for example, is already assisting with diagnoses and relieving specialists. Demographic change also means few workers. How can we still maintain our standard of living? Thanks to automation and digitalization, even fewer people of working age can produce enough so that there is enough for everyone. This also means tailwind for Siemens in all our businesses. All these examples show digitalization is the key. It helps us to deal with these megatrends, to overcome the challenges, and to seize the opportunities. Artificial intelligence that relieves medical specialists. SiGREEN, identifying and avoiding CO₂ in the supply chain. Production everywhere, even in high-wage countries. Digital twins that help cities grow in a sustainable way. The challenges are real, so are the solutions. The solutions get better when you connect the real world with the digital world, and Siemens can do that like no other company, and we help our partners and customers to do the same. That's why we launched Siemens Xcelerator, an open digital business platform. There, you get what you need if you want to connect the real world with the digital world: software, services, digitally connected hardware. In other words, devices that process and exchange data with each other from Siemens, but also from other suppliers. It's a marketplace. You'll find the big companies you'd expect, Accenture, Amazon Web Services, Microsoft, and SAP, for example, and there are smaller companies with clever ideas and solutions. Siemens Xcelerator is an ecosystem. The more that is added, the better it becomes. Important is these offers must fit together. Over time, we will make our entire digital portfolio modular, cloud-enabled, interoperable. Well, you know, sometimes people ask me, "Roland, cloud software digitalization, is Siemens now becoming a software company?" I think you all know what my answer is. Siemens connects the real world with the digital world. We are a technology company. We remain strong in hardware. We are expanding our software portfolio. We are offering more and more digital services. We make hardware smarter with software, more efficient, more valuable. That's exactly what we did with an automotive manufacturer, a big customer of ours. That's what I'm talking about with my colleague, Efrosini Tsouchnida. She leads our Industrial Controls Business. Hello, Efrosini. Hello, Roland. I hope you can hear me. Yes, I can hear you. Hello, Roland. Now, what do you think? What do our customers in the automotive industry need? Well, you see, at present, the demand for electric cars is extremely high. Because of the delivery and supply chain, and because of the shortage of skilled workers, our customers really face challenges. Each and every second in production, it counts. We, in Siemens, have been delivering automation technology to these places. This control unit, for instance, this is the SIMATIC S7-1517, and it is being used in all the production lines of our customer. With their controls, we earn a lot of our revenue today, but also in the future. Now our customer is going to top that. They want to have more output without investing in more resources. You tried out something new with one customer. What was the problem? Well, just to watch out. Now I'm going to use technical language. What we say is we delay times. What does it mean? We look at the shop floor at the production line where, say, the body shells are being built. This means the underfloor plus the side and quarter panels have to be welded together, and then you move them to the next station, and then the doors will be bolted in place. This means many, many robots have to work together perfectly in tune. The problem is that after a few months, the process is no longer running smoothly, and we lose a few seconds here or there per station across the entire production line. This is what it looks like. This means here we have the time delay. This is what I mean. Now please tell us, how can you know, improve matters, remedy things? It wasn't that easy, Roland, actually. You see, our customer only knew the entire process takes too long, but the customer didn't know where the problem was. They wanted to know where is the problem, and they wanted to know fast. Our solution was edge. Edge? This means the edge of something. What does it mean? Well, edge means that we have more intelligence brought closer to the machine. Computing power, data analysis is being done there, all this at the production line on the shop floor. Only if necessary, we're going to connect with the cloud. Edge, which means on the edge or at the edge of the cloud. The result is that we save a lot of time. Data or our customer rather, does not need or needs not send these data to the cloud. This, of course, is a security and safety aspect. The data, the sensitive data remain on the shop floor in the assembly hall. You see, I brought along one of these small edge components, and you can see it really fits into this little container. The edge component, what is it? It's a small high-performance computer. This high-performance computer is connected with the production line, and it's connected with 20 of our control units. This little high-performance computer, including the edge component, will take the data, records the data, and analyzes these data. This means the customer can really understand perfectly well what happens on the production line. This means you create transparency, you switch on the line and the shop floor, and, you know. The customer can use the data and will understand production better. Yes. We enable the customers to, you know, do or improve matters wherever problems are. In the past we had robot, where they were subject to wear and tear, they were imprecise after some time. This, of course, led to these time delays. You know, we made all this possible, and this means that on our production line, two seconds are being saved. Two seconds being saved for one throughput means one electric car, which can leave the assembly line more per day. Now our customer, 20 production lines, This means if this one factory can produce 20 more cars per day, Of course they haven't got one factory only, they've got factories all over the world. You can imagine that this is really an enormous potential for this customer. We made this possible simply by connecting and combining the real with the digital worlds. Yes. Thank you very much. Thank you, Roland. I would like to thank you twice because, you know, we really contribute to profit generation and that you do not take a rest. You know, to reach the top is difficult, but to remain there, to stay there, this is also very difficult. All this is being continued with new visions, new things, and one of those is the industrial metaverse. You know, we think of computer games when hearing metaverse. At Siemens, we are working on the industrial metaverse, a virtual world that is always online. People will be able to work together there in real time. We will dive into the digital world and develop solutions with partners around the world, solutions from the digital world for the real world. Our digital twins are very important for the industrial metaverse. They depict the real world, every detail, temperature, gravity, velocities, material properties, and dozens of other variables, for example, in a factory. In a simulation, we detect errors earlier and can correct them. We can also try out something without stopping production in real life. Now, to do this, we need sensors, edge technology, you remember, cloud technology, for example. You will find all this in the Siemens Xcelerator. We and many partners are already working with it today. We planned one of our latest factories completely digitally and only built it in the second step in the real world. It now produces 20% more. We've teamed up with NVIDIA to make working with digital twins even easier and more intuitive through photorealistic simulations. The first project is a pilot together with BMW, a new factory for electric vehicles in Debrecen, Hungary. The industrial metaverse is not just about production, of course. It will open up new opportunities for infrastructure, transportation systems, and healthcare. As you can see, our strategy only works with the right technologies. We invest in innovation long-term and sustainable. In fiscal 2022 alone, EUR 5.6 billion, we intend to continue on this level. Of course, we don't just send our inventors to the lab for a year, shut the door, and hope they come up with something. No, we are listening carefully to our customers. We work with technology partners and startups. We work in ecosystems because we need new ideas to open up new markets at the beginning of the growth curve. Siemens needs both large mature businesses that generate profits, cash flow, and smaller businesses that are growing strongly, tomorrow's yield drivers. Here are three exciting examples with growth rates around 30%, markets in which we invest. By the way, all three cases are about sustainability. First, electromobility. This market will grow by an average of around 30% over the next five years. Siemens has a lot to offer, chargers and the appropriate infrastructure for the power grids because they have to become smarter. Let me give you an example. We have developed a charging station for the electric Ford F-150 Lightning together with our customer, Ford. This station allows the truck to provide power to a residence during power outages. Another example from America, Siemens Financial Services is investing in Electrify America with Volkswagen. The company plans to more than double the number of its fast-charging stations by 2026 to 10,000. Another market at the beginning of the growth curve with annual growth of 25%, indoor farming. Food production in closed indoor spaces, and I don't mean greenhouses. Companies like 80 Acres Farms stack small beds on top of each other. There they grow, for example, salads, herbs, tomatoes. The plants are practically being spoiled. They are growing under ideal conditions, light and nutrients. 30x more food can be produced per square meter compared to traditional farming. The plants need 97% less water. Of course, 80 Acres Farms doesn't need to use pesticides at all. The startup wants to feed millions of people in a few years and to grow faster itself. 80 Acres Farms invest in automation from the start. Siemens supplies power supply, energy and building management, Industrial Automation, and yes, edge technology. The market potential for automation and digitalization alone is around EUR 3 billion for indoor farming. Another market at the beginning of a growth curve, battery production. Demand will grow by 30% annually until 2030. It's going to be a EUR 400 billion market. The boom in electric vehicles is now a boom for battery manufacturers. Siemens has long been a partner for many. Northvolt, for example. The company is currently building a new gigafactory for lithium-ion batteries in Sweden. Siemens supports the planning of this factory and during the construction of the production facilities in automation, in cloud technologies. Three markets at the beginning of a growth curve. Three markets where our technologies are needed. Three markets in which we are investing. There are more of them. Additionally, there are more mature large markets, such as the semiconductor manufacturing markets. Many countries are currently looking to expand their own production. In the short term, we expect around 70 new semiconductor factories to be built globally. The market that we can serve with our range of products and services, and it comprises already around EUR 12 billion. Siemens has the right technologies for growth markets, the right strategy, the right team. More than 300,000 people from almost every country in the world. A year ago, at the annual shareholders meeting, I declared our ambition to grow steadily, not only as a company, but also as people in everything we do. At Siemens, we call this our growth mindset. Have you also seen this growth today? Did you feel it? Think of Michael Taylor. He had to open a new door for himself. He has stepped out of a world of numbers into a world of welding machines and the smell of oil. Think of Efrosini Tsouchnida. Her business traditionally sells small boxes that control factories. With the help of edge devices, she's now bringing artificial intelligence onto the factory floor. Both connect the real world with the digital world. As you can see, a lot is changing at Siemens right now. We try more. We listen more. Together with our customers, we find out what they need. We give each other more room for experimentation. We allow each other to take on more responsibility. We increase the number of hits. We are growing as a company and as people. At Siemens, a person can grow, learn, contribute regardless of origin, skin color, gender, or other characteristics that make each of us so unique. Siemens has become a diverse company. That makes us stronger, and this is also part of our DEGREE framework. For example, we are further increasing the proportion of women in top management positions. We've almost reached our target of 30% by 2025. We've reached it almost. We were just talking about learning at Siemens. We learn more today than we used to. The number of learning hours has increased sharply by 32% between 2019 and 2022. A quarter of these relate to digital transformation. The training courses cover topics like cybersecurity, artificial intelligence, data analytics, cloud technologies, safety and security in the factory and in the office, or mandatory for everyone, compliance. It's about how colleagues can better recognize and build on their strengths, how they can better contribute to the team. Oh, by the way, my favorite training was business models and ecosystems, meaning successfully building and expanding businesses together and in exchange with many partners. Now, what do my colleagues say about Siemens? Is it good to work here? Is the mood in the team good? Does the salary fit? Is it fun? We regularly ask them, "Would you recommend working for us to a friend?" The responses are used to calculate the employee Net Promoter Score. Three years ago, we were at 10. Well, that's pretty good. At a value of over 30 is considered outstanding, and we are now at 39. We also notice how popular Siemens is when it comes to applications. In 2022, we had more applicants than never before, 3.2 million in our job portal, an increase of 30%, and that in times when skilled workers are scarce. Automation, software, artificial intelligence. Yes, we can. Yes, we do. Siemens, that's people. 175 years ago, we started in a Berlin backyard. Today, we are a global technology company. The basic recipe hasn't changed much over a long time. We help our customers to be successful. We research, we invent, we develop new technologies, and we bring them successfully to the market. Innovations that benefit people, innovations that protect the environment of billions of people. For more than 175 years, we've been constantly reinventing ourselves with each generation. That is the constant in our history. Ladies and gentlemen, my colleagues, my executive board team and I, we are right in the thick of it. Like generations before us, we are reinventing the company together. We try things out. We learn. We grow with new technologies and new ways of working together. What we can already say today, Siemens connects the real world with the digital world like no other company. Siemens helps customers around the world to become more sustainable. Siemens, to me, that's our 300,000 colleagues who help our customers improve the everyday lives of billions of people. I would also like to, on behalf of the entire executive board, I would like to thank everybody working here at Siemens for your excellent work and your great commitment. What does that mean for you? You, our owners, our shareholders. Siemens is growing. Siemens is growing profitably. Siemens increases its resilience. In short, Siemens is one of the best technology investments because we have the right strategy, the right technologies, and the right team. Thank you very Thank you, Roland. I'd also like to thank the two dedicated employees who very happy to hear from them. In addition to the remarks made by Mr. Busch and myself, I would like to refer expressly to the Supervisory Board report, the declaration on corporate governance with the reporting on corporate governance, the compensation report, and to the annual financial statements and the consolidated financial statements with the combined management report, which also includes the explanatory report on the disclosures pursuant to Section 289a and 315a of the German Commercial Code. There you will find detailed commentary on many of the issues we have addressed in the relevant sections. All documents have been available on our website since the annual shareholders meeting was convened and are still available today. With respect to the development of the capital stock and the use of treasury shares, Mr. Thomas will make some submissions later on. The notice convening the annual shareholders meeting contains the resolutions proposed by the management on all items on the agenda. As announced in relation to the annual shareholders meeting, the managing board and supervisory board are only submitting an adjusted proposal for the appropriation of net income for agenda item two. This is available today on the company's website, together with the invitation to the annual shareholders meeting. The reason for the adjustment was that the number of treasury shares has changed since the convening notice was published. I would also like to briefly comment on the approval of the compensation report proposed under agenda item six. The compensation report prepared in accordance with Section 162 of the German Stock Corporation Act, was audited by our auditors, Ernst & Young GmbH. We conducted both the legally prescribed audits to determine whether the legally required disclosures had been made and a voluntary review of the content going above and beyond this. The auditor's report with the unqualified audit opinion is attached to the compensation report. It has been available since the convening of the annual shareholders meeting, and it is also available today on our website at www.siemens.com/agm. The Managing Board and the Supervisory Board propose that the compensation report presented be approved. Finally, I would like to explain the proposals for amendments to the articles of association in items 8 and 9. The authorization proposed under agenda item eight is intended to give the Managing Board the flexibility to decide whether the Annual Shareholders Meeting is to be held in person or as a virtual meeting. The maximum possible term of five years for such an authorization under the Articles of Association, as provided for in the act, is not to be utilized. Instead, only a period of two years is initially envisaged. A concrete decision on the format of future Annual Shareholders Meetings has thus not yet been made. Rather, the Managing Board shall decide separately in each case, taking into account the circumstances of the case in question, and in doing so, taking into account the interests of the company and its shareholders. Particular attention will be paid to safeguarding shareholders' rights, aspects of health protection for those involved, effort and costs, and sustainability considerations. Under agenda item nine, it's proposed to define in the articles of association certain constellations of cases in which members of the supervisory board may also participate in a shareholders meeting by means of video and audio transmission instead of physical participation on site. Ladies and gentlemen, we are now ending the freely accessible broadcast of the annual shareholders meeting. I bid farewell to all of you who will not be able to follow the annual shareholders meeting and thank you for your interest. Dear shareholders, from now on, the rest of the annual shareholders meeting will only be broadcas.