J.B. Hunt Transport Services Inc. shareholders voted down what one executive called the first shareholder-submitted proposal in company history during Thursday's annual meeting.
The proposal, submitted by a Maryland-based activist investor firm, asked the company to adopt companywide goals related to the reduction of greenhouse-gas emissions and report its plan this year. Board members unanimously opposed the proposal from Calvert Investments, and it was defeated by 87 percent of the votes cast.
David Mee, executive vice president of finance and the company's chief financial officer, said 97 percent of shares were accounted for in the voting. The company, in urging a vote against the rare shareholder-submitted proposal, said it duplicated existing company efforts. The proposal, which Mee called "our very first shareholder proposal," was included after the company petitioned the Securities and Exchange Commission to exclude it from a vote.
Outside of the vote and executives engaging in a few lighthearted moments -- Mee momentarily forgot to introduce president and CEO John Roberts along with board members -- the meeting was business as usual for J.B. Hunt. The company prides itself on brief annual meetings and wrapped things up in under 20 minutes. And once again the company saw its financial position improve because of a mix of transportation and brokerage services.
J.B. Hunt reported $6.2 billion in revenue for 2014 and $374.7 million in income. Shelley Simpson, the company's chief marketing officer, executive vice president, and president of integrated capacity solutions and the trucking division, told a gathering at a supply-chain conference at the University of Arkansas on Wednesday that the company is looking for $10 billion in revenue by 2020.
Roberts told shareholders Thursday: "We see that continuation of mix and blend really complementing both our investors and our customers, which is going to contribute to our growth long-term. ... We're following our mission statement and becoming part of their enterprise. That's very important and we think will create a lot of resiliency."
Roberts highlighted a number of company achievements in 2014 including the start of an employee-research group called GROW -- Growth and Retention of Outstanding Women. Simpson had a hand in the group's creation.
Simpson also has had a hand in the rebound of J.B. Hunt's trucking division. It grew operating income by 560 percent last year, Roberts said, pointing to a focus on "basic cost management, strategic direction and really anything in between."
Also highlighted was the company's mission to hire 10,000 veterans by 2020 and the opening of a new data center in Boulder, Colo. Roberts told shareholders that the facility was built after the board expressed concerns about protecting data collected by the company.
"We did hear our board concerns about risk management in our data center," Roberts said. "We were successful in opening a redundant IT facility in Boulder, Colo. We've been trying to get out to see it, but we haven't gotten out there yet. We do know it's working. We're really pleased with that as an element of our success among many points in 2014."
Board members announced Thursday the payout of a 21-cent quarterly dividend per share for shareholders. J.B. Hunt has seen its earnings per share increase the past five years.
"It was a very outstanding year," the board's chairman, Kirk Thompson, said in closing the meeting.
Business on 04/24/2015