Board of directors
Members of the board of directors are elected each year by the Annual General Meeting for the period until the next AGM is held. There are no rules concerning the length of time a person may remain on the board of directors. Betsson’s board of directors consisted before 30 June 2011 of six and thereafter of seven members elected by the AGM and no deputies. The CEO does not sit on the board of directors. The Annual General Meeting 12 May 2011 resolved to re-elect members of the board John Wattin, Per Hamberg, Kicki Wallje-Lund, Patrick Svensk, Carl Lewenhaupt and Lars Linder-Aronson and to elect Pontus Lindwall. John Wattin was also re-elected as chairman of the board until June 30 when Pontus Lindwall took over as chairman .
The CEO, is responsible for presenting reports at board meetings. The CFO, participates at meetings both as presenter of reports and as secretary. Other officials of the company attend meetings of the board of directors as secretaries and in order to submit reports on various issues.
(The ownership of shares relates to year end 2011)
| Name |
Born |
Nationality |
Elected |
Independent |
Number of shares(owned by family/company) |
| John Wattin |
1947 |
Swedish |
1989 |
Yes |
115 000 B aktier |
| Per Hamberg |
1943 |
Swedish |
1974 |
No |
1 818 359 B-shares and 1 699 500 A-shares |
| Patrick Svensk |
1966 |
Swedish |
2005 |
Yes |
3 000 B-shares |
| Kicki Wallje-Lund |
1953 |
Swedish |
2006 |
Yes |
450 B-shares |
| Carl Lewenhaupt |
1958 |
Swedish |
2008 |
Yes |
1 440 B-shares |
| Lars Linder Aronson |
1953 |
Swedish |
2008 |
Yes |
102 600 B-shares |
| Pontus Lindwall |
1965 |
Swedish |
2011 |
No |
581 594 B-shares and 10 000 A-shares |
According to the Stockholm Stock Exchange’s definition, six members of the board elected by the Annual General Meeting are independent of the company (86 per cent) and six members of the board of directors elected by the AGM are independent of the company’s major shareholders (86 per cent), all of whom comply with the Stock Exchange’s experience requirement. Board member Per Hamberg has 9.0 per cent of the capital and 21.4 per cent of the votes and is therefore not considered independent of the company’s major shareholders.Pontus Lindwall has been CEO in the company until 30 June 2011 and is therefore to be seen as dependent, in the next comming five years, in relation to management and the company. With this composition, Betsson’s board of directors meets the stock market’s requirements for listed companies and the Swedish Code of Corporate Governance, where the majority of members elected at the AGM are required to be independent of the company and the company’s management and at least two should be independent of the company’s major shareholders. All members of the board of directors and all members of the group’s executive management group have taken the Nasdaq OMX Nordic Exchange’s training course in share exchange regulations.
Board meetings
In 2010, the Board held sixteen (twelve) minuted meetings, of which one (one) was statutory and six (three) were telephone meetings and three (three) were correspondence meetings. The Board has shown a seven (ten) percent absence rate during the year’s Board meetings. All the meetings dealt with the CEO’s review of developments within operations and current issues concerning important events, major contracts, potential acquisitions and legal trends in the gaming market. The Board has paid particular attention to strategic, financial matters and issues concerning internal controls and larger investments. Members’ attendance is shown below, (figure in brackets refers to preceding year).
| John Wattin |
chairman |
100 % |
(92 %) |
| Per Hamberg |
member |
100 % |
(92 %) |
| Kicki Wallje-Lund |
member |
94 % |
(83 %) |
| Patrick Svensk |
member |
88 % |
(92 %) |
| Carl Lewenhaupt |
member |
81 % |
(83 %) |
| Lars Linder- Aronson |
member |
94 % |
(100%) |
The average attendance rate for board and committee meetings was around 93 (90) per cent.
Information to the board of directors
The work of the board of directors follows a plan intended to ensure that it receives all necessary information. The company’s auditors report any observations from the scrutiny of the closing financial statements and assessment of the company’s internal procedures and checks to the board of directors. Each month the board receives a detailed report in which management describes developments. The board also receives a daily report which shows the results from the previous day’s gaming operations.