National Vision Holdings, Inc. (EYE) Earnings Call Transcript & Summary

Hello. And welcome to the Annual Meeting of Stockholders of National Vision Holdings, Inc. Please note that today's meeting is being recorded. [Operator Instructions] It is now my pleasure to turn today's meeting over to Nate Taylor, Chairman of the Board of National Vision. Mr. Taylor, the floor is yours.

Thank you very much, and good afternoon, everyone. I want to welcome all of you to the 2020 Annual Meeting of Stockholders of National Vision Holdings, Inc., and call this meeting to order. I am Nate Taylor, Chairman of the Board of Directors of National Vision Holdings, Inc., and in accordance with our bylaws, I will act as Chairperson of the meeting. I'd also like to welcome you on behalf of our Board of Directors: Reade Fahs, Chief Executive Officer of National Vision Holdings, Inc. and a Director; Heather Cianfrocco, CEO UnitedHealthcare Community & State; Virginia Hepner, former President and CEO of the Woodruff Arts Center; Randy Peeler, Managing Director of Berkshire Partners; Tom Taylor, CEO of Floor & Decor Holdings, Inc.; and David Tehle, former EVP and CFO at Dollar General Corporation. We appreciate your attendance, your interest, and most importantly, your support of National Vision. In addition, I welcome Phil Walsh and Will Herman from Deloitte & Touche LLP, our external auditing firm. They will be available during the question-and-answer session to answer any appropriate questions. I'd like to acknowledge other members of the executive management team as well, including Patrick Moore, our CFO; Jared Brandman, our General Counsel; and Bill Clark, our Chief People Officer. Jared will act as Secretary of the meeting. Finally, I'd like to confirm that a representative from Computershare will act as our inspector of election. We are pleased to hold our annual stockholders' meeting virtually in order to safeguard the health of our stockholders, employees, directors and officers during the coronavirus pandemic. On the meeting website, we have posted the meeting agenda and the rules of conduct for today's meeting. So that we have an orderly meeting, we ask everyone to abide by these rules. Stockholders and legal proxyholders may submit questions at any time during this meeting in the space provided on the virtual meeting website. We will have a question-and-answer time after all the voting proposals have been presented. I will now turn it over to Reade Fahs, Chief Executive Officer of National Vision, to address the meeting.

Thank you, Nate. In thinking about the past few months, I want to express my gratitude to our optometrists, associates and the entire National Vision team. I could not be more proud and appreciative of their perseverance and dedication to our customers and patients during this turbulent time, both as we navigate the challenges of the pandemic-induced temporary store closures and now as the country grapples with heightened consciousness of long-seated racial injustices and inequities. I want to thank the entire Board for their support and guidance. And of course, we also thank you, our stockholders, for your continued support of National Vision and our mission to help people by making quality eye care and eyewear more affordable and accessible. Throughout it all, our interactions with our patients and customers have reminded us of the important role we play within the communities we serve as both a healthcare provider and an employer. Nate, let me turn it back over to you.

Thank you, Reade. We will now conduct the formal business of the annual meeting, and I'd like to invite Jared to run through the business items.

Thanks, Nate. We've received confirmation that proper advance notice of this meeting was given to our stockholders and the affidavit of mailing will be incorporated into the minutes of this meeting. All stockholders of record at the close of business on April 15, 2020, are entitled to vote at the annual meeting, and a list of stockholders of record is available on the meeting website. Our first item of business is to confirm that based on the report from our inspector of election, we have a quorum for the purpose of transacting business, and this meeting is duly convened. The list of stockholders as of the record date is open for inspection by any stockholder on the virtual meeting website. The polls are now open. If you previously voted by proxy, you do not need to vote today unless you wish to change your vote. All registered stockholders entitled to vote at this meeting have the ability to do so online on the meeting website. Please follow the links if you wish to vote or change your vote. We'll now turn to the presentation of the voting proposals. Additional information about these proposals is included in the proxy statement, which is available on the website. There are 3 matters to be brought before the meeting today, and I'll take us through them in the order they appear in the agenda. The first proposal is the election of 3 Class III directors to serve until the annual meeting of stockholders in 2023 or until his or her successor has been duly elected and qualified. The nominees receiving the highest number of votes of shares will be elected as directors. The Board of Directors recommends the election of the director nominees included in the proxy statement. Because we have an advanced notice provision in our bylaws, all further nominations are closed. The next proposal is the ratification of Deloitte & Touche as the company's independent registered public accounting firm for the fiscal 2020 year. The Board of Directors recommends that stockholders vote in favor of this proposal. The third proposal is the nonbinding advisory vote on executive compensation. The Board of Directors recommends that stockholders vote in favor of this proposal. This vote is only advisory, but the Board will consider the results as they review our executive compensation program. Nate, that completes the presentation of the proposals.

Thank you, Jared. Can you now please present the preliminary voting results, and then we'll move on to the question-and-answer session.

Great. Thank you, Nate. We have been informed by the inspector of election that preliminary voting results are as followed: the nominees for election to the Board of Directors have been duly elected; the ratification of Deloitte & Touche as the independent registered public accounting firm for fiscal 2020 has been approved; and the advisory vote regarding the company's executive compensation has been approved.

Thank you, Jared. Before we close the polls, I will ask Reade to conduct a Q&A session. As stated in the rules, if you wish to ask a question, please follow the prompts on the website to submit your question.

Thank you very much, Nate. Jared, please read any submitted questions.

Thank you, Reade. I'll pause for a second in case anyone submitting a question. As of now, there are no questions. Let's pause just for a few seconds in case any are coming in. Well, Nate and Reade, thank you. There are no questions at this time. So let me turn the meeting back over to Nate.

All right. Thank you, Jared. The inspector of elections will review any outstanding electronic ballot submitted during the meeting and tabulate the final results, which will be reported by the company on a Form 8-K filed with the SEC. The polls are now closed, and the meeting is adjourned. Thank you for attending today's meeting and for your support of our company.

This concludes the meeting, you may now disconnect.