Johnson Outdoors Inc. (JOUT) Earnings Call Transcript & Summary

Good morning. I'm here today with David Johnson, our CFO; and Khalaf Khalaf, our General Counsel and Corporate Secretary. On behalf of the Board of Directors and management of the company, welcome to our annual meeting of shareholders, which we are doing virtually as a result of the ongoing health and safety concerns stemming from COVID-19 pandemic. We hope you all are well and staying safe. The meeting is now called to order. Annual reports and proxy statements were issued to shareholders in January. You can also access copies here today using the link provided on the virtual platform you are attending this meeting through. Before we get started with the official business, I would like to introduce our Board of Directors and some guests, all of whom are also participating virtually. First, our outside directors who bring a wealth of experience in providing valuable insights: Mr. Tom Pyle, Chairman of the Pyle Group, who is the Vice Chairman of the Board, Lead Outside Director and Chairman of the company's Compensation Committee; Mr. Terry London, Former non-executive Chairman of the Board of Pier 1 Imports, who chairs our Audit Committee; Mr. John Fahey, Regent of the Smithsonian Institution and Retired Chairman of the National Geographic Society, who chairs our Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee; Ms. Kathy Button Bell, Senior Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer of Emerson Electric; Mr. Ed Lang, Senior Vice President and CFO of the New Orleans Saints and the New Orleans Pelicans; Mr. Casey Sheahan, CEO of Simms Fishing Products and Former President and CEO of Patagonia; Mr. Edward Stephens, Founder and CEO of Preciate, Inc. and Founder and Former CEO of Shopatron; Mr. William Perez, Founder of FamGen and the past President and CEO of the Wrigley Company, Nike and S.C. Johnson companies. Also joining us today are Eric Hagemeier from Reinhart Law Firm, our outside legal counsel; and Howe Siegel and James Kemmerling with the Accounting firm of RSM, which supervise the examination of the company's financial statements. Now let's take care of the meeting's official business. There are 3 items to be voted on, which are the election of directors, ratification of the company's independent auditors and a nonbinding advisory vote on executive compensation. The company has appointed Mr. Khalaf, Corporate Secretary, to serve as inspector of the election for the annual meeting. He will tabulate the votes cast and certify the results. Khalaf?

Thank you, Helen. After initial inspection, I can report that a majority of shares entitled to vote are represented either in-person or by proxy at today's annual meeting. A quorum is present, the polls are open and voting can proceed. An affidavit attesting that notice of this meeting was mailed on or about January 8, 2021, to all shareholders of record as of December 18, 2020, will be filed with the minutes of this meeting. A list of the common stockholders of record as of the close of business on the record date is available for inspection for any appropriate business purpose. Information on matters to be voted upon was included in the company's proxy statement for this annual meeting. If you have any questions relating to the matters to be voted upon, please go ahead and submit them using the text box on the platform you are using to attend this meeting. We will pause now to see if any questions are submitted. If you have previously voted by mail, phone or Internet, your shares will be voted in accordance with your instructions. If you are a shareholder as of the record date for the meeting and wish to vote or change your vote, you may do so now using the voting button on the platform used to access this meeting and follow the instructions provided. I will pause now to allow you to vote or change your vote, if you wish to do so. [Voting]

The polls for balloting are now officially closed. So I will report the preliminary tabulation of the votes cast. On the proposal to elect 9 directors until the next annual meeting, each nominee has received a plurality of the votes cast in favor of their election and all have been elected as a director of the company. Ratification of the appointment of independent auditors required that the numbers of votes cast for exceeds the number of votes cast against. Shareholders voted to ratify the appointment of RSM. Shareholders also cast a nonbinding advisory vote on executive compensation, a majority of shareholders voted to approve the company's executive compensation as described in the company's proxy statement for this annual meeting. This concludes the official business of the meeting. Now it's my pleasure to turn things back over to our Chairman and CEO, Helen Johnson-Leipold.

If any of our shareholders have questions about matters unrelated to the business of this official meeting, we invite you to contact Dave Johnson. On behalf of all of us, at Johnson Outdoors, I want to thank our shareholders for their support and their confidence. This meeting is now adjourned, and you may disconnect.