Group structure and ­ownership

Structure of the operating activities of the Comet Group

The Group’s commercial activities are divided into four divisions: Plasma Control Technologies (PCT), X-Ray Systems (IXS), Industrial X-Ray Modules (IXM) and ebeam Technologies (EBT). Financial reporting is segmented along these divisional lines. The financial data for the individual divisions is found in the divisional reporting within the notes to the consolidated annual financial statements, beginning on page 52 of this annual report.

Listed Group company: Comet Holding AG

Comet Holding AG (the “Company”) is the Group’s only company listed on a stock exchange. The Company’s registered office is in Flamatt, Switzerland. The registered shares of Comet Holding AG have been listed in the main market segment of the SIX Swiss Exchange in Zurich since December 17, 2002.

Assorted data on the stock of Comet Holding AG is provided inside the cover flap at the front of the annual report.

Non-listed Group companies

Comet Holding AG has no publicly traded subsidiaries.

Basis of consolidation

The following companies’ results were consolidated in the accounts of the Comet Group at December 31, 2018:

Registered shareholders

At December 31, 2018, Comet Holding AG had 5,121 voting shareholders of record (i.e., voting shareholders registered in the share register; prior year: 3,303).  Of the total issued registered stock, 100% (prior year: 100%) represented free float. Comet Holding AG held no treasury stock at December 31, 2018 (prior year: none).

The structure of share ownership size classes among the shareholders of record at December 31, 2018 was as follows:

This analysis includes only the stock of shareholders who were registered in the share register. At December 31, 2018 the shares of unregistered owners amounted to 27% of the total (prior year: 40%).

Significant shareholders

Ownership interests in companies domiciled in Switzerland whose shares are listed at least partly in Switzerland must be notified both to the issuer company and to the SIX Swiss Exchange when the holder’s voting rights reach, increase above or fall below certain thresholds. These notification thresholds are 3%, 5%, 10%, 15%, 20%, 25%, 33 1⁄3%, 50% and 66 2⁄3% of voting rights. The relevant details are set out in the Swiss Stock Exchange Act (BEHG) and in the Ordinance of the Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority on Stock Exchanges and Securities Trading (the FINMA Stock Exchange Ordinance).

At December 31, 2018 the Company, according to disclosure notifications, had the following significant shareholders (defined for this purpose as holding voting rights in excess of 3% of the Comet capital stock recorded in the Swiss commercial register of companies):

The Company has not been notified of nor is aware of any other shareholders that held more than 3% of its shares. To the best of the Company’s knowledge, there were no voting pool agreements.

With an effective date of January 9, 2019, VERAISON has announced an increase in its voting rights to a share of 10.04%.

Reportable changes during the fiscal year

In the fiscal year under review, 15 reportable announcements were published. For a complete list of all announcements under section 20 BEHG, refer to the publication platform of the disclosure section of the SIX Swiss Exchange: www.six-exchange-regulation.com/en/home/publications/significant-shareholders.html

Cross-shareholdings

There were no cross-shareholdings with other publicly traded companies.