Nutrien Ltd. (NTR) Earnings Call Transcript & Summary

Good afternoon. My name is Jeff Holzman, Nutrien's Vice President of Investor Relations. Before the start of today's meeting, we would like to outline the agenda and various procedures and guidelines. In terms of agenda, our Chair, Russ Girling, will call the meeting to order and address various preliminary matters. This will be followed by a brief address from Ken Seitz, our President and CEO. The items of business to be voted on will then be moved, to be followed by a formal discussion and a brief general shareholder question-and-answer session. Registered shareholders and proxy holders of record are now able to submit comments or questions by the messaging platform on your screen, and the electronic ballot for voting is also now available on your screen. You are encouraged to submit any comments or questions and complete your ballot in advance of the Q&A session. Voting will then close and the Chair will report the voting results. During the formal discussion and Q&A portion of the meeting, comments or questions will be read aloud before being addressed. And the name of the submitting shareholder or proxy holder may be disclosed. Comments or questions that are redundant or that have been -- or have inappropriate language or are otherwise unduly disruptive to the orderly conduct of the meeting will not be addressed, and questions that are not part of the formal discussion of the meeting's items of business may not be addressed. If during the course of the meeting, we encounter any technical difficulties with the webcast, please remain logged on, and we will resume as soon as possible. Finally, I would like to remind everyone that today's meeting may include forward-looking statements. These statements are given as of today's date and involve risks and uncertainties discussed in our filings with securities regulators. A number of factors and assumptions were applied in the formulation of such statements, and actual results could differ materially. For additional information with respect to forward-looking statements, factors and assumptions, we direct you to Nutrien's public filings. I will now turn things over to Russ.

Good afternoon, everyone, and welcome to this Annual Meeting of Nutrien. My name is Russ Girling, and I am Chair of the Board of Directors. Thank you, Jeff, for outlining today's agendas, procedures and guidelines. The meeting will now come to order. As Chair of the Board, I will act as Chair of the meeting. In the event that I am disconnected from the meeting as a result of a technical issue, Mr. Seitz will assume the role of Chair of the meeting. Bob Kirkpatrick, the Corporation's Corporate Secretary, will act as Secretary of the meeting. With the concurrence of the meeting, I appoint Jennifer Oliver of Computershare Investor Services to act as scrutineer. I've been informed by the scrutineer that we have shareholders present or represented by proxy who hold a sufficient number of shares to constitute a quorum. I, therefore, declare that a quorum is at this meeting. The scrutineer's report will be kept by the Secretary with the records of the meeting. This year, Nutrien used notice and access to deliver its annual financial statements and meeting materials. And as a result, the notice of meeting and the management proxy circular are accessible on Nutrien's website and under Nutrien's profile on SEDAR and EDGAR. I've received the affidavits of publication of the record date for this meeting and of the distribution of the notice and access notice and the proxy form. I direct that a copy of the notice, together with proof of service, be kept by the Secretary with the records of the meeting. I now declare the meeting regularly called and properly constituted for the transaction of business. And with that, Ken Seitz, our President and Chief Executive Officer, will now provide a few comments.

Thank you, Russ, and good afternoon, everyone. 2022 was an unprecedented year for the agriculture industry in many fronts. Supply chain issues, extreme weather events and geopolitical conflicts, most notably, the war between Russia and Ukraine contributed to significant supply disruptions. This resulted in a shift in buying patterns and an elevated level of market volatility throughout the year. Our world-class production, distribution and retail network delivered record earnings and cash flow in this environment as we took decisive actions that supported our results and position the company for long-term growth and sustainability. Nutrien ag solutions had an exceptional year in 2022. We strategically procured crop input products in anticipation of supply challenges and increased our proprietary product sales, resulting in higher margins across all major product lines. We utilized our strong cash flow to grow our retail network, completing 21 acquisitions in our core geographies. We made significant progress on our sustainable agriculture programs in support of the 2030 commitments and are feeding the future plan. We tripled the acres enrolled in our carbon pilot program compared to 2021 and are seeing excellent engagement from growers and strategic partners across the agriculture value chain. We are nearing the completion of verification work to create our first Scope 1 offsets and Scope 3 insights in North America, which will be an important milestone to enhance the value creation opportunity for Nutrien and our grower customers. In potash, we utilize the flexibility of our 6-mine network to quickly respond to changes in customer demand during a period of unprecedented market volatility. Despite short-term fluctuations, we believe long-term potash fundamentals support the need for our incremental low-cost production capability and will pace the timing of capital expenditures, along with expected demand. We made a significant progress on our next-generation potash initiatives that enhance the safety, reliability and efficiency of our potash mines. We achieved over 8,000 employee hours of tele-remote and autonomous mining in 2022, removing more employees from the active mining phase. Our nitrogen and phosphate businesses benefited from higher global benchmark prices, a diverse product mix, and the advantaged cost position of our North American nitrogen plants. We completed emissions abatement projects at 3 nitrogen sites in 2022 and progressed high-return brownfield expansions. We are currently a world leader with approximately 1 million tonnes of low-carbon ammonia capability in North America and are evaluating a new 1.2 million tonne clean ammonia plant. The plant would leverage existing infrastructure and access to Tidewater at our Geismar, Louisiana facility and anticipate making a final investment decision in the second half of this year. Nutrien generated over $8 billion in cash from operating activities in 2022 and utilized this strong cash flow to advance our capital allocation priorities. We invested nearly $3 billion to sustain and grow our business while returning $5.6 billion in capital to shareholders through share repurchases and dividends. As we look ahead, the fundamentals for our business remain strong. Each year, approximately 70 million people are added to the global population, increasing the demand for food, fiber and fuel. The global grains stocks-to-use ratio is projected at a 25-year low, and we believe it will take multiple cropping cycles to replenish inventories. Agricultural commodity prices are trading well above 10-year average levels, providing growers with incentive to increase plant acreage and invest in their crops. Following a period heightened volatility, we believe fertilizer markets are entering a period of more relative stability with prices near historical mid-cycle values. In this environment, Nutrien has a unique capability to increase fertilizer sales volumes while leveraging our leading global retail network to deliver the products, services and solutions that growers need. And in doing so, we expect to deliver strong returns for our shareholders. I invite you all to listen to our Q1 2023 earnings call -- conference call tomorrow morning where we will discuss our results and outlook for the remainder of the year. Finally, I would like to thank our employees, all 25,000 of them across the world from Sao Paulo to Saskatoon, your exceptional work, tireless efforts and dedication to safety enable us to build on the strengths of this integrated platform and ensure our company continues to sustainably feed the future. I will now turn things back over to Russ.

Thank you, Ken. The next matter on the agenda is the presentation of the comparative consolidated financial statements for the year ended December 31, 2022, and the report of the auditors. In accordance with the Canadian Business Corporations Act, the statements are presented to the meeting, but no further action is required with respect to them. It is now in order to move today's formal business items. I will move each item, and I have been advised by Mr. Seitz and Mr. Kirkpatrick, both holders in attendance today, that they would be prepared to second each of the motions I so move. Accordingly, unless there are any objections, I will take such motions as seconded with no further action needed. Voting on the applicable items of business to come before today's meeting is being conducted by a single electronic ballot that is now available, and voting will close approximately 30 seconds following the conclusion of the formal discussion and Q&A session. Once voting closes, the scrutineer will tabulate the results of the vote for each matter. All items of business identified in the notice of meeting will be -- will now be moved, first with the election of the directors. The management proxy circular sets forth the background of each of the nominees and the qualifications considered in making the director nominations. This year, the 12 candidates listed in the management proxy circular will be nominated for election today. The proposed nominees are: Christopher Burley, Maura Clark, Michael Hennigan, Miranda Hubbs, Raj Kushwaha, Alice Laberge, Consuelo Madere, Keith Martell, Aaron Regent, Ken Seitz, Nelson Silva and me, Russ Girling. Thank you to all the nominees for agreeing to stand for election. I move to formally nominate as a director each of the proposed nominees. As there are no nominations in accordance with the advanced notice requirements of the company's general bylaw, I declare the nominations closed. I also move to elect each of the 12 named individuals as directors of the corporation. As advised earlier, I take such motions as seconded. Formal discussion, if any, will take place once all items of business identified in the notice of meeting have been moved. The next matter on the agenda is the appointment of auditors. I move that a resolution be approved reappointing KPMG LLP Chartered Accountants as auditors of the corporation to hold office until the close of the next annual meeting or until a successor is appointed and take such motion as seconded. The next item of business before the meeting today is the consideration and approval of the nonbinding advisory resolution accepting the corporation's approach to executive compensation disclosed in the management proxy circular. I move that such a resolution be approved and take such motion as seconded. These motions are now open for formal discussion, and the general shareholder questions will now be answered. So Jeff, please read any comments or questions that arise in this period.

There are no comments or questions to be addressed. I will now turn things back to Russ.

Discussion of the items of business and our general Q&A are closed. Accordingly, there are now 30 seconds remaining to complete your ballot, after which, your ballot will be automatically submitted. As a reminder, you can vote for or against the election of each of the 12 director nominees, for or withhold in respect of the appointment of KPMG and for or against the nonbinding advisory resolution regarding Nutrien's approach to executive compensation. Music will now play in the background during this final voting period. [Voting]

Based on the proxy tabulation results provided by the scrutineer regarding the matters to be voted on, with respect to the resolutions regarding the election of each of the individuals nominated as directors, I declare that each of the 12 nominees is elected as a director of the corporation. With respect to the resolution reappointing KPMG LLP as auditors of the corporation, I declare this motion carried -- this resolution carried. With respect to the nonbinding advisory resolution accepting the corporation's approach to executive compensation, I declare this resolution carried as well. There being no further business, I move that the meeting now be terminated and take such motion as seconded. I declare the motion carried and the meeting is now terminated. Thank you all for taking the time today to join our meeting and your continued support of our company.