Hello and welcome to the annual meeting of stockholders of Bio-Rad Laboratories, Inc. Please note that today's meeting is being recorded. It is now my pleasure to turn today's meeting over to Norman Schwartz. Mr. Schwartz, the floor is yours.
Okay, thank you and good afternoon. I'm Norman Schwartz. I'm pleased to welcome you all to our virtual 2021 annual meeting of stockholders. We are holding the annual meeting of stockholders again this year as a virtual-only meeting due to the continued COVID-19 pandemic, the resulting government decrees around in-person gatherings, and of course in the best interests of public health. This is our 54th annual meeting as a public company, having gone public in 1966, and our second consecutive virtual annual meeting following last year. I guess I'm hopeful that we'll be in a position to return to our traditional in-person format next year. Today I'll preside as chairman of the meeting, and Tim Ernst, secretary of the company, will act as secretary of the meeting. Joining us by phone are members of the board of directors, including Melinda Litherland, Jeff Edwards, Arnie Pinkston, Greg Hinckley, and Alice Schwartz.
Each of the members brings a good background and wealth of experience and have collectively been very helpful as we continue to build the company. I would also like to recognize a few key members of the executive management team that are also here with me today, including Ron Hutton, our Treasurer, Tim Ernst, General Counsel, Ilan Daskal, Chief Financial Officer, Andy Last, Chief Operating Officer, and Catherine Elder, Associate General Counsel. So before moving on to the formal business of today's meeting, please note that as described in the company's proxy statement, the holders of proxies solicited by the board of directors for this meeting are Tim Ernst and Catherine Elder. We will now conduct the formal business portion of the meeting.
I will remind you that if you want to ask a question, please submit it on the virtual annual meeting website by clicking on the red dot messages icon at the top of the web page. We will answer questions about the proposals to be voted on today after the two proposals have been presented. We will then answer other more general questions once the formal portion of the meeting has concluded. So the polls for voting on all the matters are open. All Bio-Rad stockholders entitled to vote at this meeting have the ability to do so online.
If you are a stockholder entitled to vote and have not yet voted, or if you want to change your previously cast vote, please do so on the virtual annual meeting website by clicking on the link with the heading "Cast Your Vote." Please remember that if you have already voted by proxy or via telephone or the internet prior to this meeting, it is not necessary to vote again. After the voting has been completed on all matters on the agenda, we will close the polls, and the inspector of elections will provide a preliminary report, so first, I confirm that we have an affidavit signed by Computershare stating that the company's annual report, notice of the meeting, and proxy statement were first mailed on March 31st, 2021.
And second, that Ronald Hutton has been appointed as inspector of elections for all matters requiring a stockholder vote at this meeting. Ron has a list of all stockholders who are entitled to vote at this meeting. Ron, can you fill us in?
The list shows that 24,772,306 shares of Class A common stock and 5,072,150 shares of Class B common stock were outstanding as of March 1st, 2021, which is the record date for this meeting. With over 94% of the combined A and B shares submitted, we have determined that there are sufficient shares to represent a quorum to conduct business to be brought before the meeting.
Thank you, Ron. As stated in the notice of the meeting, there are two proposals to be voted on today. First, the election of directors. Melinda Litherland and Arnold Pinkston, each of whom has been nominated to serve as a director elected by the holders of the Class A shares, voting as a single class, and Jeffrey Edwards, Gregory Hinckley, Alice Schwartz, and Norman Schwartz, each of whom has been nominated to serve as a director elected by the holders of the Class B shares, voting as a single class, and second is ratification of the appointment of KPMG as the company's independent auditors for the fiscal year ended December 31st, 2021. Steve Morgan and Shefali Patel of KPMG have joined us today by telephone and are available to answer appropriate questions directed to them by stockholders.
Lastly, we will transact such other business as may properly come before the annual meeting or any postponements or adjournments thereof. Details on the proposals were provided in the company's proxy statement. So maybe I'll just pause here for a moment to see if there are any questions from stockholders regarding any of these proposals. So seeing no questions, and I see no additional votes coming in on the web portal, so I will declare the polls now closed. So at this point, Ron, would you report on the initial results of the vote?
These results are preliminary, and the final results of the balloting will appear in the company's quarterly report on Form 10-Q within four business days of this meeting. With respect to proposal number one, the election of directors, Melinda Litherland and Arnold Pinkston, each of whom has been nominated to serve as a director elected by the holders of the Class A shares, voting as a single class, has each received the affirmative vote of over 83% of the votes cast, and Jeffrey Edwards, Gregory Hinckley, Alice N. Schwartz, and Norman Schwartz, each of whom has been nominated to serve as a director elected by the holders of the Class B shares, voting as a single class, has each received the affirmative vote of over 99% of the votes cast.
Proposal number two, relating to the ratification of the appointment of KPMG as independent auditors, has received over 99% of the voting power of the holders of the Class A and Class B shares present or represented at this meeting and entitled to vote on the proposal.
On behalf of the board, I thank you for your continued vote of confidence. That actually concludes the formal business for the meeting, and so I think I will declare the formal part now adjourned. This might be a good opportunity to take a few minutes to close out 2020 and say a little about our focus for 2021. Again, remember that questions can be submitted on the web portal by clicking the red dot messages icon. Last year at this time, when the pandemic was just unfolding, I think we had a little idea of what to expect or what the duration might be. We did have a strong sense that a number of our products would be important in the fight against COVID-19, and I would say indeed they have been.
Our biggest contribution this past year has been the supply of PCR instruments and associated reagents to allow labs to test for the virus on a much increased scale. Just as an aside, I would say it has been gratifying to see how quick our industry responded to this crisis and has managed to meet the incredible demand for systems and tests brought on by COVID-19. I think equally important is to recognize Bio-Rad's response this last year and the outstanding lengths employees have gone to meet the demands of customers in this very dynamic environment. I would say it's not been easy. In the early days, a number of our critical suppliers were categorized as non-essential, non-essential businesses, and were obligated or forced to shut down just as we started to see increased demand for some of these critical products.
This was certainly an early challenge our supply chain team worked hard to solve. So while all of this was going on, our paramount concern was the safety of our employees, which resulted in modified working conditions for most of our people. Some transitioned to work remotely, and others, like manufacturing and distribution, adapted to the stringent guidelines required to keep everyone safe. I'm pleased to say that these measures have been effective, and we've experienced very few workplace suspected transmissions. So as the year progressed, we did experience a decline in sales as both research labs were closed and the demand for routine diagnostic testing waned. Lucky for us, I think our COVID-related products helped us overcome this potential shortfall, and we ended the year with reported sales of a little over $2.5 billion, representing a 10% growth year- over- year.
I think more importantly, underlying all of this, we also managed to continue to make progress on improving our operating profit margins, and we introduced a number of products during the year, both COVID and non-COVID related. For 2021, as we look forward, I think we are expecting a gradual return to normal as the world works its way out of the pandemic, although I would expect that we will see some residual effects even in 2022. As for Bio-Rad, we expect to continue on this well-established path of developing and introducing innovative products and working to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of the organization. With that, we will answer any questions that may have come in, and I see no questions have come in, so I guess this ends the meeting for this year.
I want to, in closing, just say thank you for your continued interest in Bio-Rad and hope to see you all in person next year. Thank you.
This concludes the meeting. You may now disconnect.