Afternoon, everyone. Thank you for coming. And my name is Sue Rathai. I'm the nonexec chair of the Cabot Board of Directors, and I'm pleased to welcome you to the twenty nineteen Annual Meeting of Cabot Corporation Stockholders and hereby call the meeting to order. So before we begin the business part, I'd like to begin by introducing the other members of the board and ask each of you to stand up when I call your name, please.
Cynthia Arnold, sitting by herself, Juan Enrique, Sean Cohain, William Bill Kirby, John McGillicuddy, Michael Morrow, John O'Brien, also known as Jack, Patrick Prevost, Matthias Wolfberg Gerber, Frank Andy Wilson, and last but not least, Mark Wright. So thank you all for, serving on the Cabot board. And today, I'd like to take just a minute to recognize John McGillicuddy, who will be retiring from the Cabot board following today's meeting. During John's tenure on the Board, he's been Chair of our Audit Committee, a member of the Governance and Nominating, SH and E Committee, and the Executive Committee. We've all benefited from John's perspective and experience and the leadership in his corporate governance and public companies matters, as well as leadership he brought from his years as a director of many other public companies.
This of course is in addition to his substantial expertise in accounting and finance matters, financial reporting, which he gained over his impressive career as an audit partner, SEC reviewing partner, and management positions at KPMG. John, we'll miss your insights, your leadership, your collegiality, and friendship, and we wish you all the best in the future, and thank you for your service to the company. Also present today, we have representatives of Deloitte and Touche, the company's independent auditors for fiscal twenty eighteen, and they are available to answer any questions for of the 2018 fiscal year. So now I'll turn to the official business of the meeting. Jane Bell, the Secretary of the Corporation, is keeping the minutes of today's meeting, and Jane informs me that the notice of the meeting was duly and properly mailed.
A quorum is present. So we'll now open the polls to conduct the business of the meeting. Three items of business before us this afternoon. The first is the election of directors. Secondly, advisory approval of the compensation of Cabot's named executive officers as disclosed in the proxy statement, known as the say on pay vote, and the ratification of the appointment of Deloitte and Tuch as Cabot's independent registered public accounting firm for fiscal twenty nineteen.
As indicated in the proxy statement, four directors are nominated for three year terms to expire in 2022. They are Mike Morrow, Sue Rattay, myself, Frank Wilson, and Matthias Wolfkruber. Is there a motion to elect the individuals nominated? Is there a second? Is there any discussion?
Anyone want to make any comments? There being no discussion, then we'll proceed with the second item of business, which is the nonbinding vote to approve the compensation of Cabot's named executive officers. Is there a motion to approve the compensation of Cabot's named executive officers? A second? Any discussion on this matter?
There being no discussion, we'll proceed with the final item, which is the ratification of the appointment of Deloitte and Tuch as Cabot's independent registered public accounting firm for the fiscal year of 2019. Can I have a motion for this? So moved. A second? Any discussion on the matter?
Okay, as there's no further business to properly come before this meeting, we'll proceed with the voting on the items of the business. Any stockholder wishing to submit a proxy or vote in person is asked to raise their hand now, and an usher will collect your proxy card and give ballots to the shareholders voting in person. Has everyone who's voted wishes to vote done so? Then I declare the polls closed and ask the inspectors to count and certify the votes. While they're doing so, I'll turn the floor over to Sean Cohain, Cabot CEO and President to comment on the company's performance of 2018.
Thank you.
Thank you, Sue, and good afternoon, everyone. On behalf of the Board of Directors, the Executive Committee of Cabot Corporation and our worldwide team of employees, I'd like to welcome you to the twenty nineteen Shareholders Meeting. Before I begin my remarks, I will remind you that today's presentation will include forward looking statements. These statements are subject to risks and uncertainties and Cabot's actual results could differ from these contained in the forward looking statements. A list of factors that could affect Cabot's actual results can be found on our 2018 Form 10 ks filing and our 10 Q filing for the 2019.
Copies of these filings are available on the company's website. Today, I want to take the opportunity to share an update on our company strategy and the notable progress we achieved in 2018. I will begin my remarks with highlights from the year, followed by an update on how we are advancing our sustainability commitments. I will then comment on the financial and performance outcomes in the year and our progress in driving our Advancing the Core strategy. And lastly, I will share a perspective on the future and the exciting opportunities that are in front of us.
The right place to start is with our vision for Cabot Corporation because everything flows from there. Our vision is to be the most innovative, respected and responsible leader in our markets, delivering performance that makes a difference. When we developed this vision, each word was very carefully chosen. Now there are several components to this vision. First, being most innovative, respected, and responsible.
Innovation is the key to differentiation and driving long term superior returns. We will continue to build on the respect we've earned from our customers and partners to create a shared dynamic for growth. And as we have seen, environmental pressures will continue to ratchet at an increasing pace globally and as a leader in our industries, we will be responsible in everything we do from product stewardship to safety and environmental performance to ensure our sustained leadership. We believe this is a differentiator for Cabot and very difficult to copy. Next, we intend to be a leader in our markets.
Leadership matters to partner with the winning customers, to have access to the best growth projects and attract the best talent. And we are a leader in our markets and we intend to extend that position. And finally, delivering performance that makes a difference. This aspiration drives us to innovate in everything we do from our chosen application spaces and our core process technology to our daily business practices. Fiscal twenty eighteen was an exceptional year for Cabot Corporation.
I'm proud to report to our shareholders that we enhanced our focus on sustainability, delivered on our financial goals and capital allocation commitments and continued to invest for advantaged growth to position the company for the long term. Our success is due to the remarkable efforts put forth by the entire Cabot team who worked tirelessly to execute our Advancing the Core strategy. Let's now take a deeper look at the state of the company and our accomplishments in 2018. To begin, I want to highlight our safety, health and environmental performance and how we have further strengthened our commitment to sustainability. The safety of our people and the sustainable development, production and use of our products are central to our corporate vision.
Our 2018 total recordable injury rate of zero point four one continues to position Cabot near the top of the broad industrial and chemical industry league tables and is well ahead of the American Chemistry Council member average of zero point seven five. We are proud of our long standing position as a leader in safety, but know that we can do more and will not be satisfied until we reach our goal of zero injuries. What began with an intense focus on personal safety and environmental compliance has evolved into a broader commitment to sustainability. We serve a diverse set of stakeholders from customers and shareholders to our employees and the communities in which we operate. Integrating the expectations of our stakeholders into a unified vision of sustainability is the only source of lasting value creation.
This past year, we focused on further integrating sustainability into our product innovation, operations and business strategy. I'm immensely proud of the progress that we achieved and the external recognition that we received as a result of our efforts. In 2018, we were recognized as one of the 100 Best Corporate Citizens by Corporate Responsibility Magazine. We also became the first chemical company in China to be Responsible Care 14,001 certified by auditors from the International Registrar, BSI. For the third consecutive year, we achieved a gold rating from EcoVadis for our performance and sustainability and were ranked in the top decile of companies by EcoVadis in the chemical manufacturing industry.
Finally, we continue to build diversity into our practices at the board and executive leadership levels and throughout our daily work here at Cabot. We have long believed that sustainability plays a central role in our long term growth and is a differentiator for Cabot. Our customers, investors, employees and communities in which we operate expect us to act responsibly and make decisions that enhance the long term value of the company. The aim of our Advancing the Core strategy is to extend our leadership in Performance Materials by building on three core pillars: first, investing for growth in our core businesses second, driving application innovation with our customers and finally, generating strong cash flows through efficiency and optimization. Let me recap the long term goals and capital allocation framework that underpins our strategy.
We committed to grow our volumes in line or better than underlying market fundamentals, which will be leveraged through strong commercial practices, new products and operating discipline into 7% to 10% adjusted EPS growth over time. Based on our strong cash generating power, we outlined a balanced capital allocation framework whereby we'll return about 50% of our discretionary free cash flow to shareholders and invest the balance for growth in our core businesses. The resulting outcome will be sustained and attractive total shareholder return. Since we launched our vision and strategy in 2016, we have met or exceeded the financial targets that we set forth. In fiscal twenty eighteen, we continued to deliver on our financial commitments and capital allocation strategy, generating a record adjusted earnings per share of $4.3 representing a 14% increase compared to fiscal twenty seventeen.
We produced $298,000,000 of operating cash flow, which clearly showcases the cash generating power of the portfolio. As committed, we returned over 50% of discretionary free cash flow to shareholders through a combination of dividends and share repurchases while continuing to make advantaged investments to drive long term growth. We remain focused on delivering sustained and attractive total shareholder return and I am confident in our ability to achieve strong financial performance in the years to come. One of the objectives of our strategy is to deliver sustained earnings growth. Doing what we say we will do is an important principle that this management team is absolutely committed to and is fundamental to earning the right to grow.
We are building credibility by delivering on our commitments over the long term. From fiscal twenty fifteen through 2018, adjusted earnings per share has grown at a 17% compound annual growth rate. Since 2015, we have been returning approximately half of our discretionary free cash flow to our shareholders through dividends and share repurchases and we remain committed to this long term framework. Since 2015, we have increased the dividend each year and in aggregate by 43%. From 2015 through 2018, we've repurchased over $300,000,000 in shares, which when combined with dividends resulted in an average total payout ratio of discretionary free cash flow of 62% or in excess of $600,000,000 cumulatively.
A key pillar of our strategy is investing for growth in our core businesses. In 2018, we continued to make advantaged growth investments to increase our network capacity, optimize our assets and to meet the growing needs of our customers around the globe. Specifically, we announced investments for additional capacity in our global Carbon Black network through capital efficient debottlenecks and the expansion at our facility in Chilligan, Indonesia. To strengthen our existing businesses, we also pursued bolt on M and A opportunities. And to that end, we completed the acquisition of TechBlend, a leading North American producer of black masterbatches, which expands the global capabilities of our specialty compounds business.
We also acquired a new carbon black plant in Pizhou, China, which we intend to convert and upgrade to support long term growth in our specialty carbons product line. We are also very advanced in the construction phase of our previously announced new fumed silica plants in Wuhai, China and Carrollton, Kentucky in The United States. These projects will come online later in fiscal twenty nineteen and fiscal 'twenty respectively and will allow us to meet the growing demand for our high performance fumed silica while strengthening our relationships with key leaders in the silicones industry, Dow Chemical and HYC. As a company, we must continually ensure that our portfolio of businesses fits our strategy and that we are making the right choices of where to invest. To that end, we recently announced the sale of our specialty fluids business to SinoMine, a strategic mining and minerals player for a transaction value of $135,000,000 This divestiture allows us to maximize the value of the business for our shareholders and focus our resources on advantaged growth projects in our core businesses.
I want to take this opportunity to thank the hardworking and entrepreneurial employees in our Specialty Fluids business for their commitment to Cabot and for building this valuable business over the years. Driving application innovation with our customers is the second pillar of our strategy. Our portfolio is comprised of leading upstream positions in core performance additives and unique and deliberate downstream formulation positions such as elastomer composites in reinforcement materials and in performance chemicals across three important spaces of specialty compounds, inkjet and energy materials. We view this linkage between upstream and downstream as a differentiator, as we can manipulate all formulation handles to create value and control performance. When we think about growth through innovation, we have a philosophy of building from a position of strength.
In making choices for innovation investment, we are looking to applications where we have a right to win based on deep understanding and linkage between upstream particle and downstream formulation. This approach is best exemplified through our success in energy materials. There is no doubt that energy storage will become a large market from the materials industry and Cabot is well positioned to capitalize on this trend given the importance of conductive carbon additives in battery formulations. We are the technology leader today for advanced lead acid batteries and our Litex conductive additives are being adopted by major OEMs in next generation lithium ion batteries. Our application know how and suite of technologies for battery materials drove revenue growth of over 70% in our energy materials product line in 2018 and will enable significant growth in this application over the next five to ten years.
This is just one example of the exciting innovation opportunities where we believe Cabot has a strong right to win. In conclusion, I'm very pleased with our strong 2018 performance. We not only delivered on our financial objectives, but did so while facing turbulence in the global economy towards the end of the year. We also successfully balanced short term delivery with strategic investments to drive long term sustained performance. Getting this balance right is the constant work of the management team and I'm fortunate to have a team of outstanding and inspiring members.
As we look ahead to this year and beyond, I'm confident that our industry leading positions and investments in our core businesses have us well positioned to capitalize on advantaged growth. We have a clear strategy and we'll remain disciplined in our execution. The future is very bright for Cabot Corporation. Thank you for joining us today, and I will now read the results of the voting. The inspectors report that Michael M.
Morrow, Sue H. Ruttey, Frank A. Wilson and Matthias L. Wolfgruber have been elected directors of the corporation for terms expiring in 2022. The inspectors further report that the proposal to approve in a nonbinding advisory vote, the compensation paid to our named executive officers has been approved.
And finally, the inspector's report that the appointment of Deloitte and Touche as Cabot's independent auditors for fiscal year twenty nineteen has been ratified. With the results of the voting now complete, I declare Cabot Corporation's twenty nineteen Annual Meeting of Stockholders adjourned. Thank you very much for attending and I
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