We hereby inform you that we have not been advised of any agreement authorized and entered into during the year to be submitted to the approval of the Annual General Meeting pursuant to Article L.225-38 of the French Commercial Code.
Pursuant to Article R.225-30 of the French Commercial Code, we have been informed that the following agreement, previously approved by Annual General Meetings of prior years, has remained in force during the year.
On February 11, 2021, your Board of Directors authorized an agreement to suspend the employment contract between your company and Nicolas Hieronimus, former Deputy Chief Executive Officer and employee of your company, who became the Company’s Chief Executive Officer as of May 1, 2021, following the decision of the Board of Directors’ meeting held at the close of the Annual General Meeting of April 20, 2021.
This agreement was entered into following the Board of Directors’ meeting and became effective as of May 1,2021.
• Suspension of Nicolas Hieronimus’ employment contract during the term of his corporate office
In the event of termination of his suspended employment contract during the term of office, and depending on the reasons for such termination, Nicolas Hieronimus will only receive the severance pay (save for gross misconduct or gross negligence)or retirement indemnities in the event of voluntary retirement or retirement at the Company’s request, payable under the employment contract that has been suspended. These indemnities, which are attached solely to termination of the employment contract and in strict application of the French collective bargaining agreement for the chemicals industry (Convention collective nationale des industries chimiques) and the company-level agreements applicable to all L’Oréal managers, are automatically due pursuant to the public policy rules of French labor law. They are not subject to any condition other than those provided for by the collective bargaining agreement or the above-mentioned company-level agreements. The same applies to the non-compete clause and the related financial consideration.
Nicolas Hieronimus will continue to benefit, under his employment contract suspended for the term of his corporate office, from the “Garantie de Ressources des Retraités Anciens Cadres Dirigeants” (Retirement Income Guarantee for former senior managers)scheme, closed to new entrants as from December 31, 2015. Indemnities are calculated according to the number of years of professional activity within the company as of December 31, 2019, up to a maximum of 25 years. In general, subsequent to December 31, 2019, no new entitlement is granted under this scheme pursuant to Order 2019-697 of July 3, 2019 on supplementary pension schemes, which provides for the closure of all defined-benefit schemes governed by Article L.137-11 of the French Social Security Code (Code la sécurité sociale). The main features of this scheme are described in Note 4.3.2.5 to the 2021 L’Oréal Universal Registration Document. In this specific case, Nicolas Hieronimus reached the limit of 25 years’ professional activity in the Group provided under the scheme in 2012 and therefore has not benefited from any new entitlement to supplementary annuities since such date.
Under his employment contract and in accordance with the French collective bargaining agreement for the chemicals industry,in the event of termination of the employment contract, the compensation under the non-compete clause would be payable monthly over two years based on two-thirds of the monthly fixed remuneration provided for in the suspended employment contract, unless Nicolas Hieronimus was released from the application of this clause. This clause is not applicable in the event of voluntary retirement or retirement at the Company’s request and no non-compete compensation would be paid in this situation.
Under no circumstances shall the remuneration received for the corporate office be taken into consideration in calculating benefits likely to be payable under the above-mentioned employment contract.
Paris-La Défense, February 17, 2023
The Statutory Auditors
Deloitte & Associés
David DUPONT-NOEl
ERNST & YOUNG Audit
Céline EYDIEU-BOUTTE