Energizer Holdings, Inc. (ENR) Earnings Call Transcript & Summary

Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for standing by, and welcome to the Energizer Holdings Annual Meeting Conference Call. [Operator Instructions] I would now like to hand the conference over to your speaker today, Mr. Mark LaVigne. Sir, please go ahead.

Thank you. Good morning, and welcome to the 2021 Annual Shareholders Meeting of Energizer Holdings. I'm Mark LaVigne, Chief Executive Officer of Energizer, and it is my pleasure to call the meeting to order. We are very excited to be hosting our first virtual meeting, which allows us to be more inclusive and reach a greater number of our shareholders. We have shareholders attending via the web portal. We will conduct the business portion of the meeting first and answer questions that shareholders may have submitted through the portal at the end of the meeting. Though we may not be able to answer every question, we will attempt to address any unanswered questions via e-mail shortly after the meeting. Present at the meeting are the members of our Board of Directors and members of our leadership team, including Hannah Kim, Chief Legal Officer and Corporate Secretary, who will act as Secretary of the meeting. We also have with us Matt Doyle, assurance partner with PricewaterhouseCoopers, our independent auditor. At this time, I would like to recognize Alan Hoskins, who retired as CEO on January 1 after over 40 years with the company. We thank him for his many years of dedicated service and contributions, most importantly, for leading the company through an extraordinary transformation into a stand-alone public company and a global consumer products leader with a strong foundation for long-term success. Alan will continue to serve as a Director through September 2021. I would also like to recognize John Klein, who retired to the Board on November 23. We thank him for his many years of service and substantial contributions to the Board, the company and our shareholders. Now I would like to ask Hannah to present the agenda and procedures for our meeting and to conduct the formal business.

Thank you, Mark. As of the record date, there were 68,536,381 shares of common stock outstanding. Each share is entitled to 1 vote. This meeting is being held pursuant to notice which was provided on December 21 to shareholders of record as of December 4. Proof of such notice will be filed with the minutes of the meeting. [ Kevin Regent ] and [ Jessica Mendez ] are serving as inspectors of election at this meeting. Both Kevin and Jessica have taken the oath of inspector of election. After the formal [ has been ] adjourned, we will provide time for general questions. Only validated shareholders may ask questions in the designated field on the web portal. [Operator Instructions] Please note that this meeting is being recorded. However, no one attending the meeting is permitted to use any audio recording device. The Board of Directors has solicited proxies from our shareholders. Proxies representing more than 92% of the company's outstanding stock that are eligible to vote have been received. Thus, we have a quorum present, and the meeting is duly constituted and will proceed. The items of business as set forth in the proxy statement are: First, the election of 11 directors to serve a 1-year term expiring at the 2022 Annual Shareholders Meeting or until their successors are elected and qualified; second, the ratification of the appointment of PricewaterhouseCoopers as the company's independent registered public accounting firm for fiscal 2021; and third, an advisory nonbinding vote on executive compensation. The Board of Directors has nominated Carlos Abrams-Rivera, Bill Armstrong, Cynthia Brinkley, Rebecca Frankiewicz, Alan Hoskins, Kevin Hunt, James Johnson, Mark LaVigne, Pat Moore, Nneka Rimmer and Rob Vitale to serve as directors for a 1-year term ending on the date of the 2022 Annual Shareholders Meeting. The Board of Directors has also recommended that the appointment of PricewaterhouseCoopers as the company's independent registered public accounting firm for fiscal 2021 be ratified, and also recommended that the advisory nonbinding vote on executive compensation be approved. No other formal business or director nominations were submitted in accordance with the company's bylaws to come before this meeting that would require a shareholder vote. Therefore, I hereby declare nominations the proposal closed, and we will now proceed to vote. If you're a registered shareholder or beneficial shareholder holding a legal proxy from your bank or broker and you want to vote your shares now or change your vote, you may do so by clicking on the Voting button on the web portal and following the instructions there. Completing a ballot online will revoke any earlier proxy you delivered. Shareholders who sent in proxies or voted via telephone or internet and do not want to change your vote do not need to take any further action. At this point, we will pause to give shareholders an opportunity to vote. [Voting]

Now that everyone has had the opportunity to vote, I now declare the polls for the 2021 Energizer Holdings, Inc. Annual Shareholders Meeting closed. The preliminary results of the vote will be announced shortly.