Remuneration guidelines
This is a translation of the Swedish original. In case of differences between the English translation and the Swedish original, the Swedish text shall prevail.
Sandvik AB’s guidelines for the remuneration of senior executives
adopted by the Annual General Meeting of Sandvik AB on April 29, 2024, in accordance with the proposal by the Board of Directors
Scope of the guidelines
These guidelines encompass the President and other members of the Group Executive Management. The guidelines do not apply to any remuneration decided on or approved by the General Meeting.
The guidelines’ promotion of the Company’s business strategy, long-term interests and sustainability
A prerequisite for the successful implementation of the Company’s business strategy and safeguarding of its long-term interests, including its sustainability, is that the Company is able to recruit and retain qualified personnel. To this end, it is necessary that the Company offers competitive remuneration. These guidelines enable the Company to offer senior executives a competitive total remuneration. For more information regarding the Company’s business and sustainability strategy, please see the Company’s website home.sandvik.
Types of remuneration
The total remuneration package should be based on market terms, be competitive and reflect the individual’s performance and responsibilities as well as the Group’s earnings trend. The remuneration may consist of fixed salary, variable remuneration, pension benefits and other benefits.
Fixed salary
The purpose of the fixed salary is to attract and retain senior executives with the right competence for the respective positions. The salary level should be determined by comparing the salary to similarly complex positions within a defined peer group.
Variable remuneration
Variable share related remuneration
The Company may offer long-term share related or share price related remuneration. Such programs are adopted by the General Meeting and are therefore not covered by these guidelines. There are currently ongoing long-term share related incentive programs for senior executives and key employees in the Group. For more information on these programs, see the Company’s website home.sandvik.
Variable cash remuneration
The Company may offer short or long-term variable cash remuneration. The fulfillment of objectives for awarding such remuneration shall be measured over a period of one to three years. Such remuneration may amount to not more than 75 percent of the fixed annual salary per year.
Variable cash remuneration shall be conditional upon the fulfilment of defined and measurable criteria. These criteria shall aim at promoting the Company’s business strategy and performance as well as its long-term interests, including its sustainability. At the beginning of each year the Board of Directors and the Remuneration Committee shall establish the criteria, including key performance indicators (KPIs) and the target ranges, deemed relevant for the upcoming measurement period. The criteria may be financial, with at least three KPIs, and non-financial, and shall always be related to business performance. At least 80 percent of the variable cash remuneration shall be linked to the financial criteria. The President and Group Function heads shall be measured on Group level KPIs and the Business Area Presidents shall be measured on both Group level and Business Area level KPIs. The established KPIs shall be presented on the Company’s website home.sandvik. The extent to which the criteria for awarding variable cash remuneration have been fulfilled shall be determined when the measurement period has ended and will be published in the Report on Evaluation of Remuneration the following year. For financial criteria, the evaluation shall be based on the latest financial information made public by the Company.
Special arrangements
In specific cases, the Company may offer one-off remuneration provided that such remuneration is only made on an individual basis, for the purpose of recruiting or retaining senior executives, does not exceed an amount corresponding to 100 percent of the individual’s fixed annual salary and maximum variable cash remuneration and is not paid more than once per year and individual.
Right to withhold or reclaim remuneration
Terms and conditions for variable remuneration shall be designed so that the Board of Directors (i) has the right to limit or refrain from payment of variable remuneration if exceptional economic circumstances prevail and such a measure is considered reasonable, and (ii) has the right to withhold or reclaim variable remuneration paid to an executive based on results that afterwards were found to have been misstated because of wrongdoing or malpractice (so called malus and clawback).
Pension benefits
For the President, the pension benefit shall be defined contribution and the pension premiums shall amount to not more than 37.5 percent of the fixed annual salary. For the other senior executives, pension benefits shall be defined contribution and amount to not more than 35 percent of the fixed annual salary.
Other benefits
Other benefits may include, for example, life insurance, medical insurance and company car benefit. Such benefits may amount to not more than 5 percent of the fixed annual salary. For senior executives in need of double accommodation, paid accommodation etc may be added in line with Sandvik’s regulations and such benefits may amount to not more than 20 percent of the fixed annual salary.
Termination of employment
Severance pay may be paid when employment is terminated by Sandvik. The President and the other senior executives may have a period of notice of not more than 12 months, in combination with severance pay corresponding to 6–12 months fixed salary. When employment is terminated by the senior executive, the notice period may not exceed six months and no severance pay shall be paid.
In case a senior executive is not entitled to severance pay, but is covered by a non-compete undertaking, the senior executive may instead be compensated for such a non-compete undertaking. Any remuneration paid as compensation for a non-compete undertaking shall not exceed 60 percent of the fixed salary at the time of notice of termination of the employment and shall not be paid for a longer period than 18 months. Fixed salary during the notice period together with any compensation for the non-compete undertaking shall not exceed an amount equivalent to the senior executive’s fixed salary for 24 months.
Consideration of remuneration to the Company’s employees
When preparing the proposal for these guidelines, the employment conditions applied within the Company as a whole have been used as a benchmark, following the principle that the remuneration packages of all Sandvik employees should be based on the complexity of the position, performance and market practice. In general, the same combination of remuneration components such as fixed salary, variable remuneration, pension and other benefits are offered within Sandvik.
The decision-making process to determine, review and implement the guidelines
The Board of Directors has established a Remuneration Committee. The Committee’s tasks include preparing the Board of Directors’ decision to propose guidelines for senior executive remuneration. The Board of Directors shall prepare a proposal for guidelines at least every fourth year and submit it to the General Meeting. The guidelines shall be in force until new guidelines are adopted by the General Meeting. The Remuneration Committee shall also monitor and evaluate programs for variable remuneration for the executive management, the application of the guidelines for senior executive remuneration as well as the current remuneration structures and compensation levels in the Company. The members of the Remuneration Committee are independent of the Company and its executive management. The President and the other senior executives do not participate in the Board of Directors’ processing of and resolutions regarding remuneration related matters to the extent that they are affected by such matters.
Decisions on remuneration to the President are taken by the Board of Directors, based on proposals from the Remuneration Committee, and decisions on remuneration to the other senior executives are taken by the Remuneration Committee.
Adjustments to local rules
Remuneration under employments subject to other rules than Swedish may be duly adjusted to comply with mandatory rules or established local practice, taking into account, to the extent possible, the overall purpose of these guidelines.
Derogation from the guidelines
The Board of Directors may temporarily resolve to derogate from the guidelines, in whole or in part, if in a specific case there is special cause for the derogation and a derogation is necessary to serve the Company’s long-term interests, including its sustainability, or to ensure the Company’s financial viability. As set out above, the Remuneration Committee’s tasks include preparing the Board of Directors’ resolutions in remuneration related matters. This includes any resolutions to derogate from the guidelines.
Sandvik AB guidelines for the remuneration of senior executives