Atmos Energy Corporation (ATO) Earnings Call Transcript & Summary

Good morning. Welcome to the Atmos Energy Corporation 2021 Annual Meeting of Stockholders. I would now like to turn the conference over to Kim Cocklin.

Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. I'm Kim Cocklin, Chairman of the Board of Atmos Energy Corporation, and want to welcome you to the Atmos Energy Corporation 2021 Annual Meeting of Shareholders. I would now call the meeting to order. It's first my pleasure to introduce to you the Atmos Energy Board of Directors. You're able to find more information about the credentials of each in your proxy statement. They are Kevin Akers from Dallas, Texas; Bob Best from Dallas, Texas; Kelly Compton from Dallas, Texas; Sean Donohue, Dallas, Texas; Rafael Garza, Fort Worth, Texas; Rick Gordon, Houston, Texas; Bob Grable, Fort Worth, Texas; Nancy Quinn, Key Biscayne, Florida; Dick Sampson, Wellington, Florida; Steve Springer, Fort Myers Beach, Florida; Diana Walters, Magnolia, Texas; Richard Ware, Amarillo, Texas; Frank Yoho, Charlotte, North Carolina; and on Honorary Director, Charles Vaughan from Dallas, Texas. I would also like to welcome at this time, our independent auditor, [ Kyle Baylets ] from Ernst & Young; and [ Bob Johnson ] from Broadridge Financial Solutions, who will serve as the Inspector of election for our meeting today. We invited shareholder questions to be submitted prior to the meeting and received none. So we will now turn to the business matters of this annual meeting. If you do have questions following the meeting, please e-mail them to boardofdirectors@atmosenergy.com. This annual meeting is held pursuant to the notice distributed beginning on December 18, 2020, to each shareholder of record at the close of business on December 11, 2020. An affidavit of distribution has been provided by Broadridge Financial Solutions, evidencing the fact that notice of the meeting has occurred. The list of shareholders entitled to vote has been available for review for more than 10 days before this meeting as required by law. All documents concerning the notice will be filed with the other records of the meeting. The total shares present in person or by proxy at the beginning of this meeting were more than 72 million shares of the company's common stock. This represents over 50% of the shares of the company's outstanding common stock at the close of business on December 11, 2020. I hereby declare that a quorum is present and that this meeting has been convened to properly transact the business before. We have several proposals at our meeting today to act upon. The first is for the shareholders to elect 14 directors to serve 1-year terms, which will expire in February 2022. All the nominees were recommended by the Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee and the Board of Directors, and each of them have consented to be a nominee, as well as to serve as a director if elected. Because no other nominations were received in accordance with their bylaws, the nominations are now closed. The nominees include Kevin Akers, Robert Best, Kim Cocklin, Kelly Compton, Sean Donohue, Rafael Garza, Richard Gordon, Robert Grable, Nancy Quinn, Richard Sampson, Steven Springer, Diana Walters, Richard Ware II, Frank Yoho. There's more information about the affiliations and career of each nominee in your proxy statement. The second proposal is to amend the 1998 long-term incentive plan to extend its term for 10 years. The third proposal is to ratify the appointment by the audit committee of Ernst & Young LLP to serve as the company's independent registered public accounting firm for our 2021 fiscal year. The last is to act upon a proposal for a nonbinding advisory vote by the shareholders to approve the compensation of the named executive officers of the company for our 2020 fiscal year. This proposal was referred to as say on pay. No other proposals were received by the Corporate Secretary in accordance with the bylaws. Therefore, with no other business before the meeting, we will move on to the voting. The polls are now open. Any shareholder who has not yet voted or who wishes to change their vote may do so by clicking on the voting button on the web portal and follow the instructions there. Shareholders who have sent in their proxies or voted via telephone or Internet and do not desire to change their vote do not need to take any further action. I will pause now to allow any changes to be made. [Voting]

Now that everyone has had the opportunity to vote, I now declare the polls closed. We're now ready to report the results of our shareholder voting. Mr. Johnson has provided me with the preliminary unofficial tabulation of the voting results. His firm, Broadridge Financial Solutions, will certify the final results later this week. Those final results will be presented in a report that we will file with the Securities and Exchange Commission in a few days. First, I'm very pleased to announce that the unofficial count shows that all nominees for election to the Board were elected. Each received a for vote of more than 88% of the votes voted in person or by proxy. I declare that they all have been duly elected to the Board of Directors of Atmos Energy Corporation. Those elected are Kevin Akers, Robert Best, Kim Cocklin, Kelly Compton, Sean Donohue, Rafael Garza, Richard Gordon; Robert Grable, Nancy Quinn, Richard Sampson, Stephen Springer, Diana Walters, Richard Ware II and Frank Yoho. The second proposal to amend the 1998 long-term incentive plan to extend its term was approved by more than 94% of the shareholders who voted in person or by proxy. The third proposal to ratify the appointment of our independent registered public accounting firm was approved by more than 92% of the shareholders who voted in person or by proxy. The fourth proposal for a nonbinding advisory vote to approve the fiscal 2020 compensation of our named executive officers, known as say on pay, was approved by more than 93% of our shareholders. That concludes the business before our meeting. I want to thank you for your interest and support for Atmos Energy. We will stand adjourned.

The conference has now concluded. Thank you for attending today's presentation. You may now disconnect.