Cameco Corporation (CCO) Earnings Call Transcript & Summary

Thank you for standing by. Welcome to the Cameco Corporation Annual Meeting. It's now my pleasure to turn the meeting over to Sean Quinn, Senior Vice President, Chief Legal Officer and Corporate Secretary. Mr. Quinn, the floor is yours.

Thank you, operator, and welcome to everyone attending today. We are pleased that you have joined us for our virtual shareholders meeting that we are conducting from Cameco's head office in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. I acknowledge that we are on Treaty 6 territory and the homeland of Métis. Before the start of today's meeting, I will briefly outline the agenda and various procedures and guidelines to be followed. In terms of the agenda, following his remarks, our Chair, Ian Bruce, we'll call the meeting to order and address various preliminary matters. All the items of business to be voted on will be moved. We will then take questions from registered shareholders and duly appointed proxy holders on the items of business. Questions can be submitted by using the messaging platform available on your screen. Normally, shareholders and proxy holders who wish to vote at the meeting would attend the meeting and cast the ballot in person. This year, in order to vote at the meeting, registered shareholders should have logged into the webcast by entering their 13-digit control number from their proxy form and the password, cameco2021, all in lower case with no spaces. Proxy holders, including beneficial owners who appointed themselves as proxy holders should also have logged into the webcast by entering the 13-digit control numbers they received after appointing themselves as a proxy holder and registering with AST Trust Company and the password, cameco2021, again all lower case with no spaces. If you have logged on properly, the electronic ballot will be displayed. You are encouraged to complete your voting as soon as practical since voting will close 30 seconds after the conclusion of the question-and-answer session. If you have logged on as a guest, you will not be able to vote at the meeting unless you exit the meeting and log back in using your 13-digit control number and the password. Once the formal items of business are moved, we will take any questions received through the messaging platform. The legal name of the submitting shareholder or proxy holder will be read aloud before the question is addressed. Questions that are redundant or that have inappropriate language or are otherwise unduly disruptive to the orderly conduct of the meeting will not be addressed. General shareholder questions that do not relate to -- directly to the meeting's items of business will not be addressed during the meeting, but will be followed up on after the meeting. Our meeting today does not include a senior executive presentation. Cameco will, however, host its first quarter conference call with the company's senior executives tomorrow morning, Friday, May 7, 2021, at 6:00 a.m. Central Standard Time. Cameco will discuss trends in the market and execution of its strategy on that call and we'll also be taking questions from shareholders and others at that time. If during the meeting, we encounter any technical difficulties with the webcast, please remain logged on and we will resume as soon as possible. Please note that this webcast may include forward-looking information that is based on a number of assumptions, and actual results could differ materially. Please refer to our annual information form and MD&A for more information about the factors that could cause different results and the assumptions we have made. I now turn the meeting over to the Chair of our Board, Ian Bruce.

Thank you, Sean, for outlining today's agenda, procedures and guidelines and good morning to all. And I'd like to add my welcome to everyone attending. I hope you and your families are safe and healthy. My fellow directors and I would like to thank all shareholders who voted by proxy and those who are like me, joining the meeting virtually. We appreciate your help in protecting the health and safety of our workers, their families and by extension, their communities. I also acknowledge everyone who has continued to work on the front lines to save lives, to keep us safe and ensure we have services essential for our daily lives. I can tell you it has been 13 months that we are never going to forget, a time of some tremendous lows in our world, but also plenty of moments to be proud of as we have done our best to navigate these unprecedented times. Cameco has implemented strong COVID-19 screening and safety measures that will be kept in place for the foreseeable future. We also continue to work closely with public health officials, particularly in the remote Northern Saskatchewan region where we operate fly in, fly out facilities. But we are also looking ahead to better days beyond the pandemic and are proud of the work being done to prepare Cameco for the future. Over the last year, we have been safely and diligently focusing our efforts on a digital transition with innovations and culture change that we expect will transform how we work, making us better, safer and more efficient. This is an exciting time for the nuclear industry because around the globe, we are seeing an increased focus on electrification and there has also been a renewed focus and attention on nuclear energy and the important role it must play in meeting the world's demands for both electrification and decarbonization. Cameco is in a great position to benefit from this renewed focus on nuclear power and the nuclear industry. We have great people, great assets, a great strategy and a strong balance sheet, all of the ingredients necessary for a bright future, energizing a clean air world. ESG has always been a part of the fabric of Cameco, and the Board and management are committed to ensuring strong governance and oversight of ESG matters. Having a safe, healthy and rewarding workplace, a clean environment [indiscernible] are measures of success that are key to how Cameco operates. ESG is integrated into Cameco's strategy and its executive compensation measures. Cameco has committed to inclusion and diversity, both in the workplace and at the management and Board levels. We are particularly proud of the work Cameco has done to build among -- to build strong and enduring relationships with its employees and indigenous communities in Northern Saskatchewan where we operate. Cameco is also committed to making a difference in the communities where our employees live and where we operate. Early in the pandemic, we set up a COVID-19 relief fund that provided $1.25 million to over 100 local pandemic-related projects. We also provided essential supplies to support our communities impacted by the virus. In 2020, we held our annual -- second annual step-up for mental health initiative as a virtual event and raised more than $380,000 for mental health projects in Saskatchewan. The Board and I continue to have a high level of confidence in Tim Gitzel, Cameco's President and CEO; his senior management group and Cameco's entire employee team. We have worked closely with Cameco's senior management team as they navigated through Cameco's response to the COVID-19 pandemic and executed on the plans and decisions needed to ensure the safety of our people and operations. I extend the Board's thanks to management for their dedication and leadership during this COVID-19 situation and for continuing to be proactive in protecting our employees. I would also like to thank my fellow board members for their dedication over the last year as the company navigated the COVID-19 pandemic. Today, we are saying goodbye to a veteran Board member with the retirement of Anne McLellan. Anne has diligently served on Cameco's board since 2006. She will be missed for her wealth of knowledge, work ethic, experience and collegial nature and particularly for the corporate governance leadership she has brought to our Board. Anne's guidance and all her contributions have been truly appreciated. We wish Anne well and thank her for her outstanding contribution to Cameco. We will now turn to the formal part of the meeting. I am attending the meeting virtually, and I'm joined by Tim Gitzel, Cameco's President and CEO; and Sean Quinn, Cameco's Senior Vice President, Chief Legal Officer and Corporate Secretary. The meeting will now come to order. As Chair of the Board, I will act as Chair of the meeting. In the event I am disconnected from the meeting because of a technical issue, Tim Gitzel will assume the role of Chair of the meeting. Sean Quinn will act as secretary of the meeting. Nazim Nathoo and Kristine Calesso of AST Trust Company Canada have been appointed as scrutineers for this meeting. The secretary has advised that we have a quorum for the meeting. The secretary has an affidavit attesting to the mailing of the notice of meeting. I now declare this meeting to be regularly convened and properly constituted for the transaction of business. The first item of business on the agenda is to receive the corporation's 2020 consolidated financial statements and the auditor's report thereon. The financial statements and the auditor's report have been distributed by mail to requesting shareholders and are also available on Cameco's website. To make the best use of our time, I've asked the corporate secretary to move the matters which are called for in the notice of meeting. Voting on the applicable items of business to come before today's meeting is being conducted by a single electronic ballot. Voting has been open since the start of the meeting and will remain open for approximately 30 seconds following the conclusion of the question-and-answer session on the items of business. Once voting closes, the scrutineers will tabulate results of the vote for each matter. All items of business in the management proxy circular will now be moved. Our first item of business is the election of directors. Sean, could you please propose the nominees for election?

Certainly. I move that the proposed nominees as listed in the management proxy circular accompanying the notice of meeting be nominated as directors of the corporation to hold office until the next Annual Meeting of Shareholders or until their successors are elected or appointed, subject to the provisions of the Canada Business Corporations Act. The nominees are Leontine Atkins, Ian Bruce, Daniel Camus, Donald Deranger, Catherine Gignac, Tim Gitzel, Jim Gowans, Kathryn Jackson and Don Kayne.

The next item of business on the agenda is the appointment of the auditors.

I move that KPMG LLP be appointed as auditors of the corporation until the next Annual Meeting of Shareholders or until a successor is appointed.

The next item of business is the consideration and approval of the nonbinding advisory resolution accepting the corporation's approach to executive compensation.

I move on an advisory basis and not to diminish the role and responsibilities of the Board of Directors for executive compensation, that the shareholders accept the approach to executive compensation disclosed in Cameco's management proxy circular delivered in advance of the 2021 Annual Meeting of Shareholders.

We will now take questions from registered shareholders and duly appointed proxy holders pertaining to the business of the meeting. Sean, would you please read any comments or questions to be addressed.

There are no comments or questions to be addressed. Discussion of the items of business is now closed. So starting now, you have an additional 30 seconds to complete your ballot, after which your ballot will be automatically submitted. As a reminder, you can vote for or withhold in respect of each director nominee and the appointment of KPMG and for or against the nonbinding advisory resolution regarding executive compensation. [Voting]

The polls are now closed.

As there were no director nominations in accordance with the advanced notice requirements of Cameco's bylaws, the directors are elected by acclamation. Due to the number of proxy votes, I can advise that the motion for the appointment of auditors and the resolution on an advisory basis that the shareholders accept the corporation's approach to executive compensation have passed. Sean, could you please advise on the vote results?

Thank you, Ian. The preliminary vote report shows support for the advisory vote on executive compensation of at least 96% and support for the appointment of auditors of at least 96%.

Thank you, Sean. As there's no further business for the meeting, I declare that the meeting is terminated. I would like to thank all of you for attending. I would also like to take this opportunity to thank all of Cameco's shareholders for your support. Your ability to engage with our Board and management team is important to us. Before we sign off, I've asked Sean to review some of the ways you can get in touch with us.

Thank you, Ian. Cameco's website, cameco.com, is an important source of information. You can access our quarterly disclosures and join quarterly investor webcasts and conference calls by navigating through the Invest section of our website. We also maintain an archive of all past investor disclosures. You can also e-mail questions to the Corporate Secretary or our Investor Relations department directly at any time. Contact information is available on our website. You are also welcome to mail a confidential letter to the Chair of the Board or the Chair of any Board committee. Further details on this are on Cameco's website and are also included in our proxy circular. This now concludes our virtual event. Thank you for your continued support of Cameco.