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UCB's General Meeting of Shareholders 2021

· For financial year 2020: Gross dividend of € 1.27 per share (+ 2 %), payable 4 May 2021 · All agenda items put to vote approved · The message of Jean-Christophe Tellier, CEO of UCB is available on UCB’s global corporate website

Brussels (Belgium), 29 April 2021 – 18:00 (CEST) – regulated information - Today, UCB held its Annual General Meeting of Shareholders (AGM). In view of the measures adopted by public authorities to fight against the Covid-19 pandemic and in accordance with article 7:137 of the Belgian code of companies and associations, this meeting was organised virtually.  At the AGM 148 614 833 shares (78,73% of shares entitled to vote) were present or represented. The message of Mr. Jean-Christophe Tellier, Chief Executive Officer of UCB, published at the occasion of this general meeting, is available on the UCB website.

During his speech, Mr. Tellier commented: “Thanks to our resilient teams, 2020 was another excellent year for UCB. We delivered strong results, proving once again that we can be confident that our current growth strategy supports our ability to care, grow and deliver”. 

Jean-Christophe Tellier also highlighted in his message the company’s performance to date in 2021: “We see the continuation of the good performance in 2020 – in-line with our expectations and in-line with our guidance for 2021.” On the topic of the pandemic, Mr. Tellier added: “We will continue to closely follow the evolving COVID-19 pandemic and its implications diligently to assess potential near- and mid-term challenges. As of today, we confirm all timelines for UCB’s clinical development programs as communicated during our FY 2020 report end of February. UCB will continue to monitor the impact of COVID-19 on all ongoing clinical trials and will implement changes as necessary. 

Looking at UCB’s FcRn antibody rozanolixizumab, Jean-Christophe Tellier pointed out: “we are going to investigate an additional patient population of people living with Autoimmune encephalitis (AIE) – a rare and serious medical condition, in which the immune system attacks the brain - leading to epileptic seizures, movement disorders as well as onset of cognitive decline in some patients. There is no therapy approved for AIE. UCB’s clinical development program with rozanolixizumab in AIE will start with a phase 2 study in this patient population during the third quarter this year. First results are expected in Q4 2023.”

The AGM approved for the fiscal year 2020 the payment of a gross dividend of € 1.27 per share (net dividend of € 0.889 per share) compared to € 1.24 per share for 2019 (net € 0.868). The ex-dividend date is 30 April 2021, the dividend (coupon no. 24) will be payable as of 4 May 2021.

During the AGM, several changes to the Board composition were approved. The AGM appointed Mr. Stefan Oschmann as Independent Director. He will become Chair of the Board in replacement of Mrs. Evelyn du Monceau who has reached the statutory age limit after serving on the Board for more than 35 years. Mrs. Fiona du Monceau was also appointed as Director. She will become Vice Chair of the Board in replacement of Mr. Pierre Gurdjian who will stay on the Board as Independent Director for the remainder of his mandate. Fiona du Monceau is a representative of the Reference Shareholder and does not qualify as independent Director in accordance with the criteria of the 2020 Code.

Upon reaching the end of his mandate, Mr. Roch Doliveux did not wish to apply for a new term for personal reasons and as such has left the Board and UCB. Mr. Jonathan Peacock was appointed as Independent Director and will become the Chair of the Audit Committee in replacement of Mr. Albrecht De Graeve. Mr. De Graeve’s mandate was renewed for a term of 4 years and he will continue to qualify as Independent Director until the General Meeting of 2022. 

The mandate of Mrs. Viviane Monges as independent member of the Board was renewed for a term of 4 years. She will continue to be a member of the Audit Committee. Professor Susan Gasser was appointed as a new member of UCB’s Board of Directors. Professor Gasser replaces Professor Alice Dautry who has reached the statutory age limit and will continue to be a member of the Scientific Committee of the Board. Her co-optation in the Board for the period starting on January 1, 2021 was also confirmed.  

Commenting on the Board changes, Jean-Christophe Tellier gave special thanks personally and on behalf of UCB to those leaving after many years of great service to the company: “I’d like to show my appreciation and gratitude to our Chair of the Board, Evelyn du Monceau who retired at the end of the meeting. Her expertise and guidance have been invaluable. Evelyn has always demonstrated an unwavering commitment to advancing better care and treatment solutions for patients with unmet needs. Jean-Christophe also wished to thank past UCB CEO and Board member Roch Doliveux who is also leaving the Board: “Roch steered UCB for many years and was instrumental into helping the company transform into a successful biopharma player. We worked together for many years and I’ve always welcomed his guidance and support.” 

For the curriculum vitae of the Board members, please visit the UCB website: https://www.ucb.com/investors/UCB-governance

All other agenda items put to vote at the AGM were approved by the shareholders. More information including details of the votes will be available soon on UCB's website.

The Integrated Annual Report 2020 of UCB can be downloaded on UCB's website at https://www.ucb.com/investors/Download-center or is available on the online portal at https://reports.ucb.com/annual-report-2020/home.
 
The financial results for the first half year 2021 will be published on 29 July 2021. 

Next year's General Meeting will be held on 28 April 2022.

For further information

Investor Relations
Antje Witte          
Investor Relations, UCB
T +32.2.559.94.14 antje.witte@ucb.com

Corporate Communications
Laurent Schots 
Media Relations, UCB  
T+32.2.559.92.64  Laurent.schots@ucb.com 
  
About UCB
UCB, Brussels, Belgium (www.ucb.com) is a global biopharmaceutical company focused on the discovery and development of innovative medicines and solutions to transform the lives of people living with severe diseases of the immune system or of the central nervous system. With approximately 8 400 people in nearly 40 countries, the company generated revenue of € 5.3 billion in 2020. UCB is listed on Euronext Brussels (symbol: UCB). Follow us on Twitter: @UCB_news

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This press release may contain forward-looking statements including, without limitation, statements containing the words “believes”, “anticipates”, “expects”, “intends”, “plans”, “seeks”, “estimates”, “may”, “will”, “continue” and similar expressions. These forward-looking statements are based on current plans, estimates and beliefs of management. All statements, other than statements of historical facts, are statements that could be deemed forward-looking statements, including estimates of revenues, operating margins, capital expenditures, cash, other financial information, expected legal, arbitration, political, regulatory or clinical results or practices and other such estimates and results. By their nature, such forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance and are subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties and assumptions which might cause the actual results, financial condition, performance or achievements of UCB, or industry results, to differ materially from those that may be expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements contained in this press release. Important factors that could result in such differences include: the global spread and impact of COVID-19, changes in general economic, business and competitive conditions, the inability to obtain necessary regulatory approvals or to obtain them on acceptable terms or within expected timing, costs associated with research and development, changes in the prospects for products in the pipeline or under development by UCB, effects of future judicial decisions or governmental investigations, safety, quality, data integrity or manufacturing issues; potential or actual data security and data privacy breaches, or disruptions of our information technology systems, product liability claims, challenges to patent protection for products or product candidates, competition from other products including biosimilars, changes in laws or regulations, exchange rate fluctuations, changes or uncertainties in tax laws or the administration of such laws, and hiring and retention of its employees. There is no guarantee that new product candidates will be discovered or identified in the pipeline, will progress to product approval or that new indications for existing products will be developed and approved. Movement from concept to commercial product is uncertain; preclinical results do not guarantee safety and efficacy of product candidates in humans. So far, the complexity of the human body cannot be reproduced in computer models, cell culture systems or animal models. The length of the timing to complete clinical trials and to get regulatory approval for product marketing has varied in the past and UCB expects similar unpredictability going forward. Products or potential products which are the subject of partnerships, joint ventures or licensing collaborations may be subject to differences disputes between the partners or may prove to be not as safe, effective or commercially successful as UCB may have believed at the start of such partnership. UCB’ efforts to acquire other products or companies and to integrate the operations of such acquired companies may not be as successful as UCB may have believed at the moment of acquisition. Also, UCB or others could discover safety, side effects or manufacturing problems with its products and/or devices after they are marketed. The discovery of significant problems with a product similar to one of UCB’s products that implicate an entire class of products may have a material adverse effect on sales of the entire class of affected products. Moreover, sales may be impacted by international and domestic trends toward managed care and health care cost containment, including pricing pressure, political and public scrutiny, customer and prescriber patterns or practices, and the reimbursement policies imposed by third-party payers as well as legislation affecting biopharmaceutical pricing and reimbursement activities and outcomes. Finally, a breakdown, cyberattack or information security breach could compromise the confidentiality, integrity and availability of UCB’s data and systems. 
Given these uncertainties, you should not place undue reliance on any of such forward-looking statements. There can be no guarantee that the investigational or approved products potentially described in this press release will be submitted or approved for sale or for any additional indications or labelling in any market, or at any particular time, nor can there be any guarantee that such products will be or will continue to be commercially successful in the future.
UCB is providing this information, including forward-looking statements, only as of the date of this press release and it does not reflect any potential impact from the evolving COVID-19 pandemic, unless indicated otherwise. UCB is following the worldwide developments diligently to assess the financial significance of this pandemic to UCB. UCB expressly disclaims any duty to update any information contained in this press release, either to confirm the actual results or to report or reflect any change in its forward-looking statements with regard thereto or any change in events, conditions or circumstances on which any such statement is based, unless such statement is required pursuant to a

 

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