AutoZone, Inc. (AZO) Earnings Call Transcript & Summary

Good morning, everyone, and welcome to AutoZone's 2020 Annual Meeting of Stockholders. Today's meeting is being broadcast live and is being recorded. I'll turn today's call over to Bill Rhodes, Chairman, President and CEO of AutoZone. The floor is yours, Mr. Rhodes.

Good morning. Thank you for joining us today for AutoZone's 2020 Annual Stockholders' Meeting. It is a pleasure to welcome everyone. I am Bill Rhodes, Chairman, President and CEO of Customer Satisfaction, and I'll be presiding at this meeting. Of course, it would not be an official AutoZone meeting if we didn't start our meeting with the pledge. Brian Campbell, will you please lead us on the pledge?

Put customers first. We know our parts and products. Our stores look great. We've got the best merchandise at the right price.

Awesome. Thank you, Brian. And Priya, how about sharing an Extra Miler Story with us?

Sure. I have one from Middletown, Delaware. I just wanted to say this is the best AutoZone in the state of Delaware I have visited. Rich took care of me, and he also told me about break-free and informed me of the warranty. I had no idea about either of these add-ons, so I appreciated him explaining it. Very friendly and knowledgeable. All the staff in the store are superb. Everyone is amazing. Thank you, AutoZone, for such great service, prices and warranties. You have great policies at the win-win for the customer.

Awesome. Thank you, Priya, for that great story. In light of health and safety concerns regarding the COVID-19 pandemic, our meeting today is being conducted virtually. [Operator Instructions] Please also refer to the rules of conduct available on the meeting page. We intend to answer any questions that are properly submitted in accordance with the rules of conduct at the end of the meeting. Now I'll ask Kristen Wright, our Senior Vice President, General Counsel and Secretary, to report on the giving of notice of this meeting to our stockholders and the presence of a quorum.

Ms. Cassandra Shedd from Computershare, our transfer agent, is present serving as our independent inspector of election. I'm presenting to the meeting a complete list of the holders of record of the company's common stock on October 19, 2020, which holders are entitled to vote at this meeting. The list is available for inspection throughout the meeting by clicking on the appropriately named link on the meeting page. I have received an affidavit from Computershare stating that notice of the meeting was duly given to stockholders of record as of the close of business on October 19, 2020, and the affidavit of mailing shall be incorporated into the minutes of this meeting. A tabulation of the proxies received from stockholders indicates that more than a majority of the outstanding shares entitled to vote at this meeting are represented at this meeting, and a quorum is present.

Thanks, Kristen. I hereby call this meeting to order. As a reminder, it is not necessary for stockholders to vote at this meeting if they have already voted. If you've not yet noted or would like to change your vote, please vote now by clicking on the Vote Your Shares link on the annual meeting site. Before we proceed to the first order of business, I'd like to recognize our senior management team, the AutoZone Executive Committee, all of whom are present virtually with us today. Thank you all for your great leadership, particularly during this year of unprecedented challenges. Also with us today virtually are my fellow directors, who I will be introducing shortly, and [ Jeff Smith ] from Ernst & Young LLP, our independent auditors. The AutoZone Board, leadership and Mr. [ Smith ] from Ernst & Young are available to answer any questions. Now let's proceed to our first order of business, which is the election of directors to serve until the next Annual Meeting of Stockholders in 2021. The following directors have been nominated for reelection to the Board, all of whom are current directors and are present virtually at this meeting: Doug Brooks, Mike Calbert, Linda Goodspeed, Butch Graves, Enderson Guimaraes, Bryan Jordan, Gale King, George Mrkonic, Jill Soltau and myself, Bill Rhodes. The second order of business is the ratification of the appointment of Ernst & Young LLP as the independent registered public accounting firm of the company for the 2021 fiscal year. The third order of business is a nonbinding advisory vote to approve the compensation of our named executive officers. The fourth and final order of business is approval of the AutoZone, Inc. 2020 Omnibus Incentive Award Plan. The Board of Directors unanimously recommends that stockholders vote for each of the director nominees and for each of the other 3 proposals. Since there are no other matters to properly come before the meeting, we will now proceed with the vote. For those stockholders voting at the meeting, please complete your vote as the polls will be closing momentarily. [Voting]

While we pause to allow completion and tabulation of the votes, we'd like to open things up for any appropriate questions. As a reminder, only questions that are germane to the meeting will be addressed. Kristen, do we have any questions? Kristen, do we have any questions?

No, we've not received any question.

Now that everyone has had an opportunity to vote, I now declare that the polls for the 2020 Annual Stockholders' Meeting are closed. Kristen, has the inspector of elections presented the results?

Yes, the inspector of elections has presented her preliminary report. There are present at this meeting in person or by proxy 20,047,352 shares of the company's common stock, representing 86.5% of the approximate 23.175 million shares deemed to be outstanding as of October 19, 2020. Based upon this report, all 10 directors have been elected. The appointment of Ernst & Young LLP for fiscal year 2021 has been ratified. The nonbinding advisory vote to approve the compensation of our named executive officers has been approved. And the AutoZone, Inc. 2020 Omnibus Incentive Award Plan has been approved. We will publicly disclose the final vote results on a current report on Form 8-K as required by the applicable rules.

Since there is no further business, the official portion of the meeting is hereby adjourned. I'd like to thank our stockholders for your continued confidence in our mission, and I'd like to thank all AutoZoners across the globe for their commitment to providing WOW! Customer Service and living the pledge. Now let's proceed to deliver a great 2021. We wish everyone a happy holiday season, and we ask you to please be safe. Give me an A. Give me a Z.

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