Hello and welcome to the annual and special meeting of shareholders of Celestica Inc. Please note that today's meeting is being recorded. If you participate in today's meeting and disclose personal information, you will be deemed to consent to the recording. Transfer and use of the same. If you disclose personal information of another person in today's meeting, you will be deemed to represent and warrant to Computershare and the corporation that you first obtain all required consents for the disclosure, recording, and transfer and use of such personal information from all appropriate persons before you disclose. During the meeting, we'll have a question-and-answer session. You can submit questions or comments at any time by clicking on the Q&A tab. It is now my pleasure to turn today's meeting over to Michael Wilson, Chair of the Board. The floor is yours.
Thank you. And good morning, ladies and gentlemen. I'm Michael Wilson, Chair of the Board of Celestica. I'll act as Chair of this annual special meeting of shareholders. I'm joined by Rob Mionis, President and Chief Executive Officer, Mandeep Chawla, Chief Financial Officer, Doug Parker, Chief Legal Officer and Corporate Secretary, and Pam White, Senior Director of Communications. All of the director nominees have joined the meeting as well. Before we proceed with the business of the meeting, I'd like to welcome everyone joining us today. 2023 was an exceptional year for Celestica, in which we achieved very strong results as a result of solid strategy, accomplishing our strategic goals, and maintaining focus on operating excellence. Looking ahead, we're confident in our ability to provide long-term, profitable growth to our shareholders.
At this time, I'd also like to thank Dan DiMaggio and Tawfiq Popatia for their service on the board, and we wish them the best in the future. This year, the meeting is being held as a hybrid meeting. Holding a hybrid meeting means there are some differences from the way our meeting was previously conducted. However, our goal is to replicate as best we can the experience shareholders attending virtually would have if we were all meeting in person. As in the past years, we expect that the vast majority of all votes will have been cast in advance of the meeting by proxy. That said, registered shareholders and duly appointed proxy holders will be allowed to vote in person or online at the meeting in accordance with the instructions to be provided.
Given the hybrid format of the meeting and in order for us to expediently undertake a discussion on any matter proposed for a vote, while we'll pause at certain points during the meeting to provide an opportunity to vote or ask questions, we'd encourage registered shareholders or duly appointed proxy holders participating online who have specific questions on a formal item of business to submit such questions now by clicking on the messaging icon and then clearly identifying the applicable item of formal business as well as your name and contact information. Such questions will be addressed prior to voting on the applicable motions. Following the meeting, Mr. Mionis will be providing a brief update on the affairs of the company, and he and Mr. Chawla will be available to respond to questions.
If you have a question on the business of the company but that does not specifically relate to formal item of business to be voted upon at the meeting, please wait until the general Q&A session following the conclusion of the meeting. Or if you are participating online, you may submit the question along with your contact information at any time, and it will be considered for the Q&A session. If we're unable to address your question during the Q&A session, Ms. White or a member of her team will follow up with you after the meeting. While the practice of generally adopting adopted at shareholder meetings is for formal motion to be for a motion to be made by a person and seconded by another, such a process is not necessary in all cases.
In the context of this hybrid meeting, we'll forego having seconders for the formal business specified in the notice of this meeting. At this meeting and during management's presentation, we'll make statements containing forward-looking information and refer to certain non-IFRS financial measures. I bring to your attention the cautionary note regarding such forward-looking statements and non-IFRS financial measures, which for those here attending in person has been printed and made available to you, and for those participating online is available by clicking on the highlighted documents drop-down icon at the top right of your screen on our website. I now call the meeting to order. With the consent of the meeting, Doug Parker will act as Secretary of this meeting, and Josette Kofyberg of Computershare Investor Services, Inc., will act as scrutineer for this meeting. The Secretary will now report on certain procedural matters.
Mr. Chair, I can report that the notice of this meeting, together with the form of proxy, the related management information circular, and the consolidated financial statements of the company for the financial year ended December 31st, 2023, as well as the auditor's report thereon, have been mailed or delivered to the requisite recipients in compliance with applicable requirements. The scrutineer has provided a preliminary report on attendance, and I confirm that the requisite quorum of shareholders is present in person or represented by proxy at this meeting. Accordingly, the meeting is properly constituted for the conduct of business.
Thank you, Doug. The voting at today's meeting will be conducted by ballot. If you've already submitted a proxy, it is not necessary to also vote again since your vote will be recorded in accordance with your proxy instructions. If you're a registered holder or a proxy holder attending here in person and you have not already voted, or if you are a registered holder and would like to change your vote and you've not already received a ballot, please put up your hand when requested to do so, and the scrutineers will provide you with a ballot. The ballot should be completed by marking an X in the appropriate spaces and must be clearly signed. If you're a registered shareholder, please print your name on the ballot. When you've completed and signed the ballot, please so indicate to the scrutineers who will come and collect it.
If you are a registered holder or duly appointed proxy holder participating online and you've not already voted by proxy or you'd like to change your vote, you can vote when prompted. For those participating virtually, the online polls will be open for all items of business to be voted on at the same time. This will allow you to vote on each item immediately, or if you prefer, you may wait until the conclusion of the discussion on all items prior to casting your vote. Once the online polls have been opened, the items of business to be voted on and your available voting options will be visible on the voting panel accessible at the top of your screen. To submit a vote, please click on one of the voting choices displayed on your screen.
Once the discussion is concluded on all items of business, I'll declare the voting closed on all matters of business. The summary votes will be announced prior to the close of the meeting. I now declare the online polls open on all items of business. The first item on the agenda is the election of directors. I now ask the Secretary to propose the nominees.
I hereby nominate each of the following nine persons to serve as a director of the company until the close of the next annual meeting of the company shareholders or until the director's successor is duly appointed, subject to the provisions of the company's bylaws: Kulvinder Ahuja; Robert Cascella; Deepak Chopra; Françoise Colpron; Jill Kale; Laurette Koellner; Rob Mionis; Luis Müller; and Michael Wilson. These nominees have accepted their nomination.
Are there any further nominations or discussions of the nominees from those here in attendance in person? Thank you. Let us now pause to account for any delay in the broadcasting of this online meeting to allow for questions and any further nominations to be submitted by shareholders participating virtually.
Mr. Chair, I confirm that we have not received any questions from shareholders participating online specifically on this item or any additional nominations.
Thank you. Whether you're participating online or in person, please follow the same voting instructions I provided at the start of the meeting. The next item of business is the appointment of auditors of the company. I have a motion.
I move that KPMG LLP be appointed the auditor of the company until the close of the next annual meeting of the company shareholders or until its successor is duly appointed.
Thank you. Is there any discussion of the matter from those attending in person? Thank you. Let us also pause to account for any delay in broadcasting of the online meeting to allow for questions to be submitted by shareholders participating virtually.
Mr. Chair, I confirm we have not received any questions from shareholders participating online specifically on this item.
Thank you again. Whether you're participating online or in person, please follow the same voting instructions I provided at the start of the meeting. The next item of business is the authorization of the Board of Directors to fix the auditor's remuneration. May I have a motion?
I move that the Board of Directors be authorized to fix the remuneration to be paid to the company's auditor.
Thank you. Is there any discussion of the matter from those in attendance in person? Thank you. Let us now also pause to allow for questions to be submitted by shareholders participating virtually.
Mr. Chair, I confirm that we have not received any questions from shareholders participating online specifically on this item.
Whether you're participating online or in person, please follow the same voting instructions I provided at the start of the meeting. The next item of business is the advisory resolution on the company's approach to executive compensation, or as it's commonly referred to as say-on-pay vote. Shareholders are being asked to approve a resolution on an advisory basis and not to diminish the role and responsibilities of the Board of Directors to accept the approach to executive compensation disclosed in the company's management information circular delivered in advance of this meeting.
I hereby move that the say-on-pay resolution appearing on page 38 of the company's management information circular be approved.
Thank you. Is there any discussion of the matter from those in attendance in person? Thank you. Let us now also pause to allow for questions to be submitted by shareholders participating online.
Mr. Chair, I confirm that we have not received any questions from shareholders participating online on this specific item.
Whether you're participating online or in person, please follow the same voting instructions I provided at the start of the meeting. The next item of business is the amendment of the articles of the company by special resolution to remove provisions concerning multiple voting shares and to redesignate the subordinate voting shares as common shares, as discussed in the company's management information circular delivered in advance of this meeting.
I hereby move that the special resolution amending the company's articles appearing on page 39 of the company's management information circular be approved.
Thank you. Is there any discussion of the matter from those in attendance in person? Thank you. Let us now also pause to allow for questions to be submitted by shareholders participating virtually.
Mr. Chair, I confirm that we have not received any questions from shareholders participating online specifically on this item.
Whether you're participating online or in person, please follow the same voting instructions I provided at the start of the meeting. The next item of business is the amendment of the bylaws of the company by ordinary resolution to remove the Canadian residency requirements for directors, as disclosed in the company's management information circular delivered in advance of this meeting.
I hereby move that the ordinary resolution amending the company's bylaws appearing on page 40 of the company's management information circular be approved.
Thank you. Is there any discussion of the matter from those in attendance in person? Thank you again. Let us now pause to allow for questions to be submitted by shareholders participating virtually.
Mr. Chair, I confirm we have not received any questions from shareholders participating online specifically on this item.
Once again, whether you're participating online or in person, please follow the same voting instructions I provided at the start of the meeting. We'll now proceed to the next item of business, being the presentation of the company's consolidated financial statements and the auditor's report thereon. These were included in the annual report that was mailed to each shareholder who elected to receive the report. Copies of the financial statements are also available on our website and under our profile on SEDAR+ and EDGAR. We'll now proceed with the process of completing the online voting on all items of business of the meeting. Pam, just to double-check, given the delay in broadcasting of the online meeting, have any further questions come in from shareholders participating online specifically on any of the motions?
Mr. Chair, I confirm that we have not received any questions from shareholders participating online specifically on the motions.
Thank you, Pam. For those of you participating through the virtual meeting platform who have not voted on all items of business, please do so now. We'll now pause to allow you time to vote. That concludes the voting at today's meeting. I'd ask the scrutineer compile the preliminary report regarding the results of voting on all business matters. May I have the scrutineer's preliminary report on the votes concluded by ballot at this meeting?
Mr. Chair, the scrutineer has now reported to me that, based solely on proxies submitted prior to the commencement of this meeting, all matters put to a ballot at this meeting have been passed with the requisite shareholder support.
Thank you, Doug. I declare that the individuals nominated are elected as directors. The scrutineer's report also shows that, based solely on proxies submitted prior to commencement of this meeting, each elected director received votes in excess of the threshold established under Celestica's majority voting policy, as described in the management information circular. I also hereby declare that KPMG LLP has been appointed the auditor of the company, and that the directors are authorized to fix the auditor's remuneration. I also hereby declare the advisory resolution concerning the company's approach to executive compensation to have passed. Finally, I declare that the amendments to the articles and bylaws of the company have each been approved by the requisite majorities.
The number of votes cast in favor of, withheld from voting, or voted against each item of business at this meeting will be reported as part of the report of voting results to be filed following this meeting. As there's no other business that may properly come before the meeting, I declare the meeting terminated and thank you. Now that the formal part of the meeting has been concluded, I'd like to invite Mr. Mionis to provide some remarks, after which he and Mr. Chawla will be available to take questions.
Thank you, Mike. Good morning, everyone. Thank you for joining us today at our 2024 annual general meeting. I appreciate the opportunity to speak with our shareholders and employees today. Let me start off by saying that I am very proud of what we've achieved together this past year. 2023 was, without a doubt, one of the best years in our company's history. We had solid revenue growth, and our adjusted margins were the highest they have been in our 25+ years as a public company. The faith that you, our shareholders, have shown in the company was rewarded as our share price increased significantly during the year, up 160% in 2023. In Advanced Technology Solutions, or ATS, and Connectivity and Cloud Solutions, or CCS, we achieved strong revenue growth and solid margin.
This demonstrates the resilience and strength of our strategy and the solid execution by our global teams. Through our strategic portfolio of businesses, we have exposure to high-value, high-growth markets where we believe we have a competitive advantage. We continue to see attractive opportunities ahead and are making the necessary investments to ensure we are strategically positioned to capitalize on them. In our ATS segment, we continue to pursue growth opportunities with customers across all our markets, including aerospace and defense, capital equipment, health tech, and industrial. Within our CCS segment, we support both hyperscalers and OEM customers, and we continue to deliver innovative solutions that support growth in artificial intelligence, machine learning, and cloud computing. Additionally, through our Hardware Platform Solutions business, we deliver cutting-edge compute, storage, and networking solutions.
We have become a leader in 400G switches, and our business continues to grow as we support customer demand in 800G switches. To support our anticipated growth, we have expanded our manufacturing and engineering network capacity in 2023 and continue to do so in 2024. These investments strategically position us to meet the evolving needs of our valued customers and to capitalize on emerging opportunities in key markets. Now I'd like to turn to the progress we have made in driving our environmental, social, and governance, or ESG, strategy. Our ESG practices are vitally important to Celestica and our stakeholders. We remain steadfast in our commitment to create positive change and to integrate ESG practices into every aspect of our business, including our products and services, our people, the planet, and our communities. We continue to embrace sustainable practices and bring cutting-edge smart energy products to market.
Together with our partners and customers, we drive innovation and pave the way for a more sustainable and energy-efficient future. On the environmental front, we continue to make progress in our climate change initiatives by reducing our Scope 1 and 2 greenhouse gas emissions and providing our waste diversion rate and introducing renewable energy projects. Celestica continues to be recognized for the important work we do in this area. In 2023, we once again received EcoVadis Platinum Rating Assessment, where we were named one of the Best 50 Corporate Citizens in Canada. Now moving on to our people. Our employees are the heartbeat of our company, collectively driving our performance and fueling our growth. Their commitment, expertise, and passion are unparalleled and serve as the cornerstone of our success. We firmly believe our people are the competitive advantage that sets us apart.
This dedication to excellence has not gone unnoticed. We are proud to be recognized for our collaborative and inclusive culture. We were named one of Canada's Most Admired Corporate Cultures in 2023 and one of Canada's Top Employers for Young People in 2024. I would like to end by thanking our dedicated employees, whose hard work and ingenuity are the driving force behind our success, and our board for their guidance, and my fellow shareholders for your continued support. With a strong foundation, an outstanding team, and a bold strategy, I am confident that we are well-positioned for continued growth and success. Thank you. We'd be happy to take any questions.
There are no questions.
Thank you all for joining today.
This concludes the meeting. You may now disconnect.