Anika Therapeutics, Inc. (ANIK) Earnings Call Transcript & Summary

Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for standing by and welcome to the Anika Therapeutics 2020 Annual Meeting of Stockholders. I would now like to hand the conference over to one of your speakers today, Ms. Cheryl Blanchard, President and CEO. Ma'am, please go ahead.

Thank you, Michelle, and good morning, everyone. I'm Cheryl Blanchard, President and Chief Executive Officer of Anika Therapeutics. Before we move on to the business of this meeting, I would like to thank each of you for joining us virtually today. It is my privilege to welcome you to the Anika Therapeutics 2020 Annual Meeting of Stockholders. We're excited to be hosting our first virtual meeting, which allows us to be more inclusive and reach a greater number of stockholders. We have stockholders participating via the web portal and the 1 (800) number that we have provided and have provided the broader public with listen-only access. Today, I will preside as Chair of this meeting; and David Colleran, our Executive Vice President, General Counsel and Secretary, will act as secretary of the meeting. As is our custom, we will conduct the formal business of the meeting first. After that, Sylvia and I will be happy to address appropriate business-related questions you may have. If you have already prepared a question, please feel free to submit it to us during the meeting via the chat function, which is now live. Though we may not be able to answer every question, we will do our best to provide a response to as many as possible. It is now shortly after 11:30 a.m. Eastern Standard time on June 16, and this meeting is officially called to order. I would like to begin by introducing Anika's Board of Directors and some of the executives who have been critical to Anika this past year. From our Board of Directors, I'm pleased to introduce our Chairman, Joe Bower; Ray Land, Glenn Larsen, Jeff Thompson and Susan Vogt. Next, I would like to introduce the following executive officers and members of our management team: Sylvia Cheung, our Chief Financial Officer and Treasurer; Jim Loerop, our Executive Vice President of Business Development and Strategic Planning; David Colleran, our Executive Vice President, General Counsel and Corporate Secretary; and Tom Finnerty, our Executive President -- Vice President of Human Resources. Also attending virtually are representatives of our independent auditor, Deloitte & Touche LLP, I would like to introduce Gerry Powderly and Rachel Harley. Next, I'd like to introduce our external legal counsel, Mark Johnson & Eric Bruynell (sic) [ Erin Bruynell ] of K&L Gates. Lastly, I would like to introduce [ Joseph Maclelland ] of Broadridge Financial Solutions. As providing officer, I have appointed [ Mr. Maclelland ] to serve as inspector of elections of this virtual meeting. [ Mr. Maclelland ] is with us today and took the oath of inspector of election earlier today. There are several formalities to handle before we move on to the business of this meeting. After the formal meeting has been adjourned, we will provide time for general business-related questions. Only validated stockholders may ask questions in the designated field on the web portal. Out of consideration for others, please limit yourself to one question. Please note that this meeting is being recorded. However, no one attending being the webcast or telephone is permitted to use any audio recording device. We will now review the background and formalities relating to the matters to be voted upon at this meeting. On April 29, 2020, we filed a proxy statement and related materials with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission in connection with today's annual meeting. On April 29, we also began mailing notices regarding the availability of those proxy materials to our stockholders of record as of April 20, 2020, who are the stockholders entitled to vote at this meeting. We have received an affidavit from Broadridge certifying that beginning on April 29, the records relating to the annual meeting were processed, distributed, mailed and deposited with the U.S. Postal office and sent to all stockholders of record as of 5 p.m. Eastern Time on April 20. This affidavit, along with the complete alphabetical listing of stockholders entitled to vote at this meeting, is available for inspection by any stockholder and will be filed with the records of this meeting. The proxy materials identified 4 proposals to be considered at this meeting: one, the election of one Class III director; two, the amendment of the 2017 Omnibus Incentive Plan; three, the ratification of our independent auditor for 2020; and four, advisory approval of 2019 executive compensation. If you have already delivered a proxy to Anika, your stock will be voted as you have specified in your proxy. Any stockholder present at the meeting may also vote by ballot. If you are a stockholder and have not already delivered a proxy or would like to change any of the votes reflected on your proxy, please click the Voting button on the web portal and follow the instructions there. The polls are now open for all matters on which the stockholders will vote at this meeting. The polls will remain open until all of the matters to be voted on have been presented and I have announced the polls have been closed. The inspector of elections has tallied the proxies received. That count shows that a majority of the votes attributable to outstanding shares of common stock entitled to vote at the annual meeting is present in person or by proxy. This constitutes a quorum for the transaction of business at the annual meeting. The inspector of elections will report later in the meeting about the voting power present at this meeting in person or by proxy. Since the quorum is present, we may proceed to present and vote on the matters described in the proxy statement. The first proposal is the election of directors. Anika has 3 classes of directors. Each class serves for a 3-year term with 1 class of directors being elected by our stockholders at each annual meeting. This year, a Class III director is nominated for election. The Class III director must be elected by a majority of the shares of common stock that are voting in the election of directors. Meaning that, to be elected, the shares voted for a nominee must exceed the number withheld from that nominee. The nominee for the election at this meeting is Susan Vogt. The second matter to be voted on is the amendment of Anika's 2017 Omnibus Incentive Plan to increase the pool availability for grant by 800,000 shares. Approval of this amendment requires the affirmative vote of the holders of a majority and voting power of the shares of common stock that are voting on the matter. The third matter to be voted on is the ratification of the Audit Committee's appointment of Deloitte & Touche LLP as Anika's independent auditor for 2020. This ratification requires the affirmative vote of the holders of a majority in voting power of the shares of common stock that are voting on that matter. The fourth and final matter to be voted on is the approval as an advisory vote of the 2019 executive compensation as disclosed in the proxy statement. Approval of this proposal requires the affirmative vote of the holders of a majority in voting power of the shares of stock of Anika that are voting on the matter. This concludes the business items on the agenda for this annual meeting. It is now past 11:30 a.m. Eastern Time on June 16, 2020, and the polls are now open. Any stockholder who hasn't yet voted or wishes to change their vote may do so by clicking on the voting button on the web portal and following the instructions there. Stockholders who have sent in proxies or voted via telephone or Internet and do not want to change their vote do not need to take any further action. [Voting]

Now that everyone has had the opportunity to vote, I declare the polls for the 2020 Anika Therapeutics Annual Stockholder Meeting closed at 11:38 a.m. Eastern Time on June 16, 2020. David, do we have preliminary voting results?

We do. We have been informed by the inspector of elections that the preliminary vote report shows that nominee for election to the Board has been duly elected. The amendment of the 2017 Omnibus Incentive Plan has been approved. The appointment of Deloitte & Touche LLP has been ratified, and the 2019 executive compensation has been approved by an advisory vote.

Thank you, David. The secretary will incorporate the formal report of the inspector of elections, including the results of the votes in the record of this meeting. Thank you for taking time to attend our 2020 annual meeting. There being no further business to come before the meeting, I hereby adjourn the meeting. Before I turn to the Q&A session, I would like to thank the entire Anika team for their hard work, passion and dedication as we collectively work to navigate the COVID-19 pandemic. We are optimistic about the future, and we look forward to further building upon our success in the quarters and years ahead. I will now take any business-related questions that have been entered today on the web portal. Please note, we will attempt to answer as many questions as time allows. Chip?

Cheryl, we are showing no web questions at this time.

Great. Thank you, Chip. This concludes Anika Therapeutics' 2020 Annual Meeting of Stockholders. Thanks again to all of our shareholders for your participation and support. You may now disconnect.

Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for participating in today's conference. This does conclude the program, and you may all disconnect, everyone.