Cibus, Inc. (CBUS) Earnings Call Transcript & Summary

Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the Calyxt, Inc. 2020 Annual Meeting of Stockholders. I will now turn the meeting over to the Chief Executive Officer, Jim Blome. Jim, the floor is yours.

Thank you. And welcome, everyone, and thank you all for joining our 2020 Annual Meeting of Stockholders. We are pleased to hold our annual stockholders' meeting virtually as we aim to increase access and participation and prioritize the health of meeting participants in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. [Operator Instructions] This meeting is recorded and a webcast replay will be available on the same meeting website following today's meeting. At this time, I would like to introduce the members of our Board of Directors who are participating in the meeting today. They are: Mr. Chris Neugent; Ms. Kimberly Nelson; and Mr. Philippe Dumont. We also have with us, Bill Koschak, our Chief Financial Officer; Debra Frimerman, our General Counsel and Corporate Secretary, who will act as our secretary for the meeting. And [indiscernible] and David Maddox of Ernst & Young, our independent registered accounting firm for the year ended December 31, 2020, who will be available to respond to appropriate questions. We have appointed Christopher J. Woods of American Election Services to act as the inspector of elections today. He has executed an oath of office to carry out his duties with impartiality and to the best of his ability, and he will examine and tabulate the proxies and votes cast at this meeting. Our Board of Directors has fixed March 24, 2020, as the record date for determining the stockholders entitled to vote at this meeting. I have an affidavit of distribution from Broadridge Financial Solutions, confirming that proxy materials related to this meeting were mailed to stockholders of record determined as of the close of business on the record date starting on April 9, 2020. A complete list of stockholders entitled to vote at this meeting will be available online for the duration of this meeting and can be found in the footer section of the virtual meeting website. Mr. Woods reports that the holders of a majority of the shares of Calyxt common stock outstanding as of the record date are present at this meeting, either virtually or by proxy, which constitutes a quorum. Therefore, today's meeting has been duly convened, and the business of the meeting may proceed. It's 10:03 a.m., and the polls are now open. If any stockholders have not yet voted or wish to change their vote, please click on the voting button in the web portal and follow the instructions. If you have already sent in a proxy or voted via telephone or internet and do not wish to change your vote, no further action is required. There are 2 proposals to be considered and voted upon by our stockholders. Each of these proposals is more fully described in our proxy statement filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on April 9, 2020. The first proposal is to elect 7 Directors to serve until the next Annual Meeting of Stockholders and until his or her successor has been elected and qualified or until his or her earlier death, resignation or removal. The nominees are: Dr. André Choulika; Mr. Philippe Dumont; Mr. Jonathan B. Fassberg; Ms. Anna Ewa Kozicz-Stankiewicz; Ms. Kimberly Nelson; Mr. Christopher Neugent, Dr. Yves J. Ribeill. No other Director nominees have been properly submitted pursuant to our bylaws or the rules of the Securities and Exchange Commission, so no other nominations are being considered. The second proposal is to ratify the appointment by our Audit Committee of Ernst & Young LLP as our independent registered public accounting firm for the year ending December 31, 2020. No other proposals have been properly submitted pursuant to our bylaws or the rules of the Securities and Exchange Commission, so no other proposals are being considered. The polls are still open. Voting today is by proxy and online ballot. As previously mentioned, if you have already submitted a proxy or voted via the telephone or internet and do not wish to change your vote, no further action is needed at this time. If you have not yet voted or wish to change your vote, you may do so now by clicking on the voting button in the web portal and following the instructions. If you have not yet submitted a proxy or electronic ballot, you must submit your electronic ballot now for your vote to be counted by the inspector of elections. We will pause briefly to allow for any last votes to be cast. [Voting]

It is now 10:06 a.m. and since everyone has had the opportunity to vote, I now declare the polls closed. No additional ballots, proxies or votes and no changes or revocations will be accepted. The inspector of election has provided the preliminary voting results, which shows the following: Regarding Proposal #1, the election of directors, each of the nominees has received a plurality of the votes of the shares present virtually or represented by proxy. Regarding Proposal #2, the ratification of auditors. This proposal has received the affirmative vote of the majority of the votes cast affirmatively or negatively at the annual meeting. Based on these preliminary voting results, the Calyxt stockholders have elected the 7 nominees as directors to serve until the next Annual Meeting of Stockholders and until his or her successor has been elected and qualified or until his or her earlier death, resignation or removal. And the Calyxt stockholders have ratified the appointment of Ernst & Young LLP as our independent registered public accounting firm for the year ending December 31, 2020. The final voting results will be set forth in a report of the inspector of elections and will be included in the minutes of this meeting. We will also report the final voting results on a Form 8-K, which we will file with the Securities and Exchange Commission within 4 business days of today's date. This concludes our planned agenda today, and there is no other formal business before us. I now declare the formal business portion of the meeting adjourned. We will now open the webcast for general Q&A for a brief time. Please enter your question now or indicate it if you haven't done so already. Seeing no further questions or comments. This concludes our question-and-answer session. Thank you for joining us today.