01 Accounting principles

These separate financial statements were prepared in accordance with the principles of the applicable Swiss Accounting Law (Title 32 of the Swiss Code of Obligations).

Receivables and loans

Receivables and loans are stated at nominal amounts less any necessary write-downs.

Non-current financial assets and investments in subsidiaries

Investments in subsidiaries are recognized at historical cost less necessary impairment; they are individually tested annually for impairment.

03 Non-current financial assets – loans

Loans to subsidiaries were as follows:

04 Listing and shareholders

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 on page 17 of the annual report.

Listed and non-listed Group companies

Comet Holding AG has no publicly traded subsidiaries. The companies consolidated in the Comet Group are presented in note 2, “Investments in subsidiaries”.

Registered shareholders

At December 31, 2020, Comet Holding AG had 3,853 voting shareholders of record (i.e., voting shareholders registered in the share register; prior year: 3,932). Of the total issued registered stock, 100% (prior year: 100%) represented free float. Comet Holding AG held no treasury stock at December 31, 2020 (prior year: nil). The structure of share ownership size classes among the shareholders of record at December 31, 2020 was as follows:

This analysis includes only the stock of shareholders who were registered in the share register. At December 31, 2020 the shares of unregistered owners amounted to 36% of the total (prior year: 31%).

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 ⅓%, 50% and 66 ⅔% 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, 2020 the Company, according to disclosure notifications, had the following significant shareholders (defined for this purpose as shareholders with voting rights of 3% or more 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 3% or more of its shares. To the best of the Company’s knowledge, there were no voting pool agreements.

Reportable changes during fiscal year 2020

In the fiscal year, 14 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.

05 Equity capital structure

Capital stock

The capital stock at January 1, 2020 was CHF 7,764,208, divided into 7,764,208 registered shares with a par value of CHF 1.00 per share.

In fiscal year 2020 the capital stock was increased by 3,679 shares from the portion of authorized capital designated for equity-based compensation. Including the increase of 3,679 shares from this portion of authorized capital, Comet Holding AG at December 31, 2020 thus had a new total of CHF 7,767,887 of capital stock, divided into 7,767,887 registered shares with a par value of CHF 1.00 per share. The capital stock is fully paid in.

At its meeting on June 26, 2020 the Board of Directors established that the capital increase from authorized capital for equity-based compensation was properly performed. The information in the commercial register, and the Bylaws of Comet Holding AG, were updated to reflect the change in capital stock.

At the balance sheet date, Comet Holding AG held no treasury stock (prior year: nil).

Authorized capital for equity compensation

Under section 3b of its Bylaws, a portion of the Company’s unissued authorized capital is designated for use only as equity-based compensation (in German this portion is known as “bedingtes Aktienkapital”). In such a capital increase, stock is issued to Executive Committee members and/or Board members of Comet Holding AG. With respect to this portion of authorized capital, the other shareholders’ pre-emptive rights are excluded. The issuance of stock or stock subscription rights is based on a compensation plan (in the form of a written regulation) adopted by the Board of Directors.

In May 2020, in accordance with the compensation plan, the members of the Board of Directors were granted a total of 1,751 shares of stock in payment of CHF 176,028 of fixed retainers due for fiscal year 2019. In addition, as part of their compensation for 2020, the members of the Board of Directors were granted a total of 873 shares in payment of CHF 87,763 of fixed retainers due for the period from January 1, 2020 to the 2020 Annual Shareholder Meeting. The fully paid shares were applied to the retainers due at a price of CHF 100.53 per share.

Members of the Executive Committee were granted a total of 1,055 shares in payment of CHF 106,059 of profit-sharing compensation due for fiscal year 2020. The fully paid shares were applied to the compensation due at a price of CHF 100.53 per share.

As a result of these grants of a total of 3,679 shares made in 2020, the Company’s unissued authorized capital for equity-based compensation showed the following movement:

At the end of the year, the remaining unissued authorized capital for equity-based compensation was CHF 195,233, or 2.5% of the existing capital stock.

Authorized capital for other capital increases

At December 31, 2020, in addition to shares outstanding and unissued authorized capital for equity-based compensation, the Company had unissued authorized capital for purposes set out in section 3a of the Bylaws (in German: “genehmigtes Aktienkapital”). The Board of Directors is authorized to increase the capital stock, at any time until April 23, 2022, by a maximum of CHF 0.8 million by issuing up to 800,000 fully payable registered shares with a par value of CHF 1.00 per share, which represents 10.3% of the existing capital stock. Increases by way of firm commitment underwriting and increases by part of the total authorized amount are permitted. The amount of the respective issue, the date when entitlement to dividend commences, the terms of any exercise of pre-emptive rights and the nature of the contributions are determined by the Board of Directors.

The Board of Directors is authorized to exclude shareholders’ subscription rights and assign these rights to third parties if the shares in question are to be used for the acquisition of companies via equity swaps or to finance the cash purchase of companies or parts of companies, or to finance new investment projects of Comet Holding AG, or for providing an ownership interest to an industrial partner (either in order to cement a strategic alliance or in the event of a takeover offer for the Company). Stock for which pre-emptive rights are granted but not exercised must be sold by the Company at market prices.

Each 10,000 registered shares of Comet Holding AG, of a par value of CHF 1.00 per share, represented 0.1287% of all voting power (prior year: 0.1288%). The members of the Board of Directors and Executive Committee held an aggregate total of 0.5% of voting rights (prior year: 1.1%). No material changes in ownership interests arose after the balance sheet date of December 31, 2020.

07 Options, conversion rights and treasury stock

Comet Holding AG has not issued any conversion rights or stock options.

In fiscal year 2020 and the prior year, Comet Holding AG held no treasury stock.

08 Bond

On April 20, 2016, Comet Holding AG issued a bond in the amount of CHF 60 million (denomination: CHF 5,000). The term of the bond is five years and it matures on April 20, 2021. The fixed coupon over the term is 1.875%, payable annually on April 20.

The listing is on the SIX Swiss Exchange (Swiss security number 32 061 943, ISIN number CH0320619437, ticker symbol COT16).

As the bond matures in April 2021, it was reclassified from non-current to current debt in the first half of 2020. Comet Holding AG has also secured the follow-up financing for the bond. The Group’s funding security is thus ensured.

09 Guarantees and pledged assets

The Group is taxed as a single entity for purposes of value-added taxation, and Comet Holding AG therefore has joint and several liability for the value-added tax obligations of its Swiss subsidiary.

10 Number of full-time equivalents

The number of employees of Comet Holding AG in 2020 and 2019 in terms of the annual average number of full-time equivalents was less than 10.

11 Events after the balance sheet date

There have been no events after the balance sheet date with a material effect on the amounts in the financial statements.

12 Release of the separate financial statements for publication

The Board of Directors released these annual financial statements on March 12, 2021 for publication and will present them to shareholders for approval at the Annual Shareholder Meeting on April 22, 2021.