Dividends and Other Distributions
Our Board of Directors has declared a series of interim distributions on account of the Company’s freely distributable reserves for such amounts as was required to pay up the aggregate nominal value of all such shares that were issued to holders of vested RSUs, all in accordance with our Equity Incentive Plan. In accordance with Dutch law, our Board of Directors prepared and filed an interim simplified balance sheet demonstrating that there were sufficient freely distributable reserves for such interim distributions. Such interim simplified balance sheet was filed with the Dutch trade register. The aggregate amount of these interim distributions amounted to approximately €3,000 ($3,500) in 2022.
Other than these interim distributions, we have not paid or declared any cash dividends on our ordinary shares, and we do not anticipate paying any cash dividends in the foreseeable future. All of our outstanding shares have the same dividend rights. We intend to retain all available funds and any future earnings to fund the development and expansion of our business.
Even if future operations lead to significant levels of distributable profits, we currently intend that any earnings will be re¬invested in our business and that cash dividends will not be paid until we have an established revenue stream to support continuing cash dividends. In addition, payment of any future dividends to shareholders would be subject to shareholder approval at a General Meeting, upon proposal of our Board of Directors, which proposal would be subject to the approval of the majority of the non-executive directors after taking into account various factors including our business prospects, cash requirements, financial performance and new product development.
Under Dutch law, a Dutch European public company with limited liability (Societas Europaea or SE) may only pay dividends if the shareholders’ equity (eigen vermogen) exceeds the sum of the paid-up and called-up share capital plus the reserves required to be maintained by Dutch law or our Articles of Association. Subject to such restrictions, any future determination to pay dividends would be at the discretion of the shareholders at our General Meeting.
Our Articles of Association, as available on our website, contain the provision on the distribution of profits in article 20 (Profits, distributions and losses).