Virgin Atlantic returns to Cape Town with daily services

May 23, 2022. WEST SUSSEX.

A firm favourite with customers, the service will operate on a Boeing 787-9 with fares starting from £711 economy return.

Virgin Atlantic returns to Cape Town with daily services

• Virgin Atlantic’s much anticipated service to Cape Town launches on 5th November 2022

• The daily service operates on a Boeing 787-9 aircraft

• Prices start from £711 per person

Virgin Atlantic is delighted to return to Cape Town from 5th November 2022 with a new daily service. A firm favourite with customers, the service will operate on a Boeing 787-9 with fares starting from £711 economy return. The aircraft boasts three classes, Upper Class, Premium and Economy offering different experiences for customers as well as the airline’s world-famous social space. The new winter service runs until 24th March 2023 and will complement the existing year-round daily service to Johannesburg. With demand for travel ever-increasing, sunseekers can take full advantage of the beautiful destination with easier access than ever before. Known not only for its natural beauty, but rich culture and heritage too, there is something for everyone to enjoy at this much-loved destination. Home to Robben Island, customers can visit the prison where Nelson Mandela was held, which is now a living museum. Some may wish to challenge their adventurous side by riding the cable cars to Table Mountain’s flat top for sweeping views of the city. Those looking for something more laid-back are at the gateway to the Cape Winelands, the country’s top region for wine tasting tours. Juha Jarvinen, Chief Commercial Officer at Virgin Atlantic commented: “We’re incredibly excited to return to the fabulous city of Cape Town with daily services from November. “Although a little later than we we’d have liked due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the move reflects the fact that travel is recovering and global demand for holidays to sunny, premium destinations is returning at pace. “We’re expecting a high proportion of leisure travellers on this route who will rightly be taking advantage of the winter sun, exploring the world-renowned wine regions and soaking up the rich culture this incredible country has to offer.”

Route facts Aircraft type Boeing 787-9 with 31 Upper Class, 35 Premium and 192 Economy Delight Classic and Light seats.

Route frequency Daily. Flight timings and flight number LHR – CPT – VS478 16:20 / 06:00 + 1 CPT – LHR – VS479 07:50 / 17:45 Date of restart 5th November 2022. Fares Flights on sale now - return Economy fares start from £711 per person,

Premium from £1318 per person and Upper Class from £3454 per person.

For further information please contact press.office@fly.virgin.com2

About Virgin Atlantic Virgin Atlantic was founded by entrepreneur Sir Richard Branson in 1984, with innovation and amazing customer service at its core. In 2021, Virgin Atlantic was voted Britain’s only Global Five Star Airline by APEX for the fifth year running in the Official Airline Ratings.

Headquartered in London, it employs 6,500 people worldwide, flying customers to 27 destinations across four continents. Alongside shareholder and Joint Venture partner Delta Air Lines, Virgin Atlantic operates a leading transatlantic network, with onward connections to over 200 cities around the world. On 3 February 2020, Air France-KLM, Delta Air Lines and Virgin Atlantic launched an expanded Joint Venture, offering a comprehensive route network, convenient flight schedules, competitive fares and reciprocal frequent flyer benefits, including the ability to earn and redeem miles across all carriers. 

       Sustainability remains central to Virgin Atlantic, having taken an industry leadership position through its long-standing support for SAF commercialisation and fleet transformation programme. Since September 2019, the airline has welcomed eight new Airbus A350-1000 with a further A350-100 and three A339s entering the fleet in 2021. By the end of 2022 the average fleet age will be just over six years, driving a fuel efficiency (CO2 /RTK) improvement of 30% compared to 2007. For more information visit www.virginatlantic.com or via Facebook, Twitter and Instagram @virginatlantic.

Vonovia SE Shareholders approve €1.66 dividend at Annual General Meeting

April 29, 2022. BOCHUM

Vonovia holds AGM online, Renewed offer of a scrip dividend, Jürgen Fenk and Matthias Hünlein elected to the Supervisory Board.

"To master the challenges that lie ahead, we need plenty of strength and courage in finding the right solutions. Vonovia is making its contribution and accepting responsibility."Jürgen Fitschen

At today’s Annual General Meeting, the shareholders of Vonovia SE (“Vonovia”) approved all the proposed resolutions submitted by the Supervisory Board and the Management Board with the required majority. They also discharged both bodies for the 2021 financial year with a large majority (Supervisory Board: 98.03% of votes, Management Board: 99.87%).

The dividend proposed by the Supervisory Board and the Management Board was accepted at the AGM by a large majority. Vonovia will be paying out a €1.66 dividend for the 2021 financial year, a dividend that is effectively €0.08 higher than last year due to the larger number of shares resulting from the capital increase. As before, shareholders can opt for receiving a scrip dividend instead of a classic cash dividend.

Macroeconomics and transition to sustainable energies

“After two years of pandemic, we were hoping our lives would gradually return to normal. However, at the end of February, we were suddenly struck by the horrors of war in Ukraine. Millions of people are fleeing to save their lives. The whole of Europe is helping and moving closer together than anyone thought possible,” said Jürgen Fitschen, Chairman of the Supervisory Board. “To master the challenges that lie ahead, we need plenty of strength and courage in finding the right solutions. Vonovia is making its contribution and accepting responsibility, as we provide homes that are both affordable and age-appropriate, while also creating additional housing that is so urgently needed.”

Rolf Buch, Vonovia’s Chief Executive Officer, also expressed his sadness about the war: “We are profoundly concerned about people in Ukraine and the children, women and men who have had to give up their homes. We are doing our best to support them in finding new and safe homes with us.”

Buch continued to say: “During times of change, it’s important to be flexible, and our business model puts us in a good position to respond to changing circumstances. Our financing structure enables us to operate as a business, and we’ve got a unique online management platform.”

In the current financial year, Vonovia will continue to make progress on social and ecological issues. The company will be offering solutions to the three megatrends of urbanisation, climate protection and demographic change, with the focus on neighbourhoods and their comprehensive development.

“When there’s a housing shortage, we create housing. We are also advancing the transition to sustainable energies in our neighbourhoods. The carbon regulations have been translated into our climate roadmap, and we are continually testing hydrogen and heat pumps in our operations. Furthermore, we’ve been modernising flats to make them barrier-free for the elderly,” said Buch.

Changes on the Supervisory Board and contract renewals on the Management Board

Following the proposal of the Supervisory Board, Vonovia SE’s shareholders elected Jürgen Fenk and Matthias Hünlein as new members. This change on the Supervisory Board represents another component of the Business Combination Agreement that was concluded between Vonovia and Deutsche Wohnen when they merged in May 2021. As announced, the Supervisory Board members Burkhard Ulrich Drescher and Prof. Klaus Rauscher both resigned from their mandates.

In the first quarter of 2022, CEO Rolf Buch’s contract was renewed early until 2028. Likewise, the contract of Arnd Fittkau, CRO for the operational business at Vonovia, was extended up to and including May 2027.

"Our business model puts us in a good position to respond to changing circumstances." Rolf Buch

Online AGM to ensure protection from Covid

In view of the COVID-19 pandemic Vonovia held its AGM online, the third time in a row. Jürgen Fitschen and Rolf Buch spoke to the shareholders from the studio at the company’s headquarters in Bochum. All other Supervisory Board members joined online for part of the time. Key stakeholders expressed their views in video messages. The entire AGM was translated by sign language interpreters.

As previously, the shareholders followed the Annual General Meeting in a live stream. Shareholders were welcome to submit their questions before the meeting, by 27 April – for the first time also in the form of pre-recorded video messages. They were able to exercise their voting rights both in advance and during the AGM, either voting by letter or authorizing the company’s proxies. This corresponded to 72.48% of the share capital.

The Supervisory Board of Vonovia SE has the following members: Jürgen Fitschen (Chairman), Prof. Dr. Edgar Ernst (Deputy Chairman), Vitus Eckert, Jürgen Fenk, Dr. Florian Funck, Dr. Ute Geipel-Faber, Matthias Hünlein, Daniel Just, Hildegard Müller, Dr. Ariane Reinhart, Clara-Christina Streit and Christian Ulbrich.

The Management Board of Vonovia SE has the following members: Rolf Buch (CEO), Arnd Fittkau (CRO), Philip Grosse (CFO), Mag. Daniel Riedl (Development and Austria) and Helene von Roeder (CTO).

The detailed voting results of the Annual General Meeting will be published at https://investors.vonovia.de/agm.

PROPOSED PUBLIC ISSUE OF DOMESTIC CORPORATE BONDS BYCOUNTRY GARDEN REAL ESTATE GROUP CO., LTD

May 18, 2022. GUANGDONG PROVINCE.

Voluntary announcement proposed public issue of domestic corporate bonds by Country Garden Real Estate Group Co., Ltd., A wholly-owned subsidiary of the company.

This is a voluntary announcement made by Country Garden Holdings Company Limited (the ‘‘Company’’).

The board of directors (the ‘‘Board’’) of the Company announces that, on 10 February 2021, Country Garden Real Estate Group Co., Ltd. (碧桂園地產集團有限公司) (the ‘‘Issuer’’), a company established in the People’s Republic of China (the ‘‘PRC’’) and a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Company, has obtained the approval of China Securities Regulatory Commission (中國證券監督管理委員會) (the ‘‘CSRC’’) to register for the proposed public issue of domestic corporate bonds of face value of not exceeding RMB13.9 billion (the ‘‘Corporate Bonds’’) to professional institutional investors in tranches.

The size of this tranche of bond issue will be not more than RMB500 million and the bond maturity will be 3 years, with an option for the Issuer to adjust the coupon rate and a sell-back option for investors at the end of the first year and the second year respectively. The Corporate Bonds so issued is proposed to be listed on the Shenzhen Stock Exchange (深圳證券交易所). The Issuer and the lead underwriter will conduct a book-building exercise with professional institutional investors on 20 May 2022.

In accordance with the relevant rules and regulations in the PRC, relevant documents in relation to the Issuer and this tranche of the Corporate Bonds are available on the website of the Shenzhen Stock Exchange (深圳證券交易所) (www.szse.cn) and cninfo (巨 潮資訊網) (http://www.cninfo.com.cn). Shareholders and investors of the Company are reminded that such documents were prepared in accordance with the relevant requirements in the PRC and are limited solely to the Issuer, and the information contained therein does not provide a full picture of the operation or status of the Company and its subsidiaries.

The Issuer may issue further tranche(s) of the Corporate Bonds within 24 months from the date of registration of the proposed issue of the Corporate Bonds with the CSRC. Information on any such issue will be disclosed in the interim and/or annual report(s) of the Company.

By Order of the Board

Country Garden Holdings Company Limited

MO Bin

President and Executive Director

Foshan, Guangdong Province, the PRC, 18 May 2022

As of the date of this announcement, the executive directors of the Company are Mr. YEUNG Kwok Keung (Chairman), Ms. YANG Huiyan (Co-Chairman), Mr. MO Bin (President), Ms. YANG Ziying, Mr. YANG Zhicheng, Mr. SONG Jun and Mr. SU Baiyuan. The non-executive director of the Company is Mr. CHEN Chong. The independent non-executive directors of the Company are Mr. LAI Ming, Joseph, Mr. SHEK Lai Him, Abraham, Mr. TONG Wui Tung, Mr. HUANG Hongyan and Mr. TO Yau Kwok.

Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing Limited and The Stock Exchange of Hong Kong Limited take no responsibility for the contents of this announcement, make no representation as to its accuracy or completeness and expressly disclaim any liability whatsoever for any loss howsoever arising from or in reliance upon the whole or any part of the contents of this announcement.