Dividends and Dividend Policy. All of the shares of the Company entitle the holder thereof to an equal right to participate in dividends (if any) in respect of the financial year ending 31 December 2023 and future years. All of the shares participate equally in the Company's profits (if any). Pursuant to the Belgian Companies and Associations Code, the shareholders can in principle decide on the distribution of profits with a simple majority vote at the occasion of the annual general shareholders' meeting, based on the most recent statutory audited financial statements, prepared in accordance with Belgian GAAP and based on a (non-binding) proposal of the Company's Board of Directors. In accordance with Belgian law, the right to collect dividends declared on shares expires five years after the date the board of directors has declared the dividend payable, whereupon the Company is no longer under an obligation to pay such dividends. The Belgian Companies and Associations Code and the Company's articles of association also authorise the board of directors to declare interim dividends without shareholder approval. The right to pay such interim dividends is, however, subject to certain legal restrictions. The Company has never declared or paid any cash dividends on its shares. The Company does not anticipate paying cash dividends on its equity securities in the foreseeable future and intends to retain all available funds and any future earnings for use in the operation and expansion of its business. The Company's ability to distribute dividends is subject to availability of sufficient distributable profits as defined under Belgian law on the basis of the Company's stand-alone statutory accounts prepared in accordance with Belgian GAAP. In particular, dividends can only be distributed if following the declaration and issuance of the dividends the amount of the Company's net assets on the date of the closing of the last financial year as follows from the statutory non- consolidated financial statements (i.e. summarised, the amount of the assets as shown in the balance sheet, decreased with provisions and liabilities, all in accordance with Belgian accounting rules), decreased with, except in exceptional cases, to be disclosed and justified in the notes to the annual accounts, the non-amortised costs of incorporation and extension and the non-amortised costs for research and development, does not fall below the amount of the paid-up capital (or, if higher, the issued capital), increased with th...
