Hello, and welcome to the annual meeting of shareholders of the Clorox Company. Please note that today's meeting is being recorded. During the meeting, we'll have a question-and-answer session. You can submit questions or comments at any time by clicking on the message icon. It is now my pleasure to turn today's meeting over to Benno Dorer . Mr. Dorer, the floor is yours.
Good morning. I'm Benno Dorer , Chair of the Board of The Clorox Company. On behalf of the Board of Directors, I'd like to welcome everyone and thank you for joining us for our first virtual annual meeting of shareholders. The health and safety of our employees and shareholders are paramount, and this was the best format to ensure everyone's safety and well-being. A copy of the agenda and a list of the rules of conduct for the annual meeting are available online on the meeting website. We ask that you cooperate in following these guidelines. As you heard from the operator, we will have a live Q&A session during this meeting. Shareholders of record and proxy holders who provide their valid control number will be able to ask questions during the meeting by typing and submitting the question using the message icon at the top of your screen.
If we are unable to respond to all properly submitted questions due to time constraints, we will be posting responses to all submitted questions on our investor relations website after the meeting. Before getting into the formal business portion of the meeting, I'd like to introduce our independent directors who are on the line today. I'll introduce them individually. Amy Banse was elected to the board in September 2016. She is Senior Advisor to the Executive Committee of Comcast Corporation. Dr. Richard Carmona was elected to the board in February 2007. Dr. Carmona is Chief of Health Innovations for Canyon Ranch and served as the 17th Surgeon General of the United States. Spencer Fleischer was elected to the board in July 2015. He's Managing Partner of FFL Partners LP.
Esther Lee was elected to the board in August 2013 and is Executive Vice President, Global Chief Marketing Officer of MedLife Incorporated. David Mackay was elected to the board in August 2016. He's the former President and Chief Executive Officer of Kellogg Company. Paul Parker has been nominated for election to the board today. He is the Senior Vice President, Strategy and Corporate Development for Thermo Fisher Scientific Incorporated. Linda Rendle was elected to the board in September 2020. She is Chief Executive Officer of the Clorox Company. Matt Shadock was elected to the board in August 2018. He's Non-Executive Chairman of Beam Suntory Incorporated. Kathee Tesija was elected to the board in May 2020. She's a Senior Advisor and Consultant at Simpactful LLC. Pamela Thomas -Graham was elected to the board in September 2005 and appointed Lead Independent Director in August 2016.
She previously served as Chair New Markets of Credit Suisse Group AG. Russell Wiener was elected to the board in February 2017. He's Chief Operating Officer and President of Domino's US for Domino's Pizza Incorporated. And last but not least, Christopher Williams was elected to the board in July 2015. He's Chairman of Seaber, Williams, and Shank LLC. Joining me and presenting today are Linda Rendle, our Chief Executive Officer, and Kevin Jacobsen, our Chief Financial Officer. We also have Sarah Duxbury Chin, our Associate Director, Corporate Communications. Sarah will assist us with the Q&A portion of our meeting. Additionally, I'd like to mention that Javier Garcia and Todd Silva of Ernst & Young LLP, the company's independent registered accounting firm, are on the line today.
Before we get started, I'd like to remind you that the Board of Directors fixed the close of business on September 25th, 2020, as the record date for the determination of shareholders entitled to vote at this meeting. Notice of the meeting was sent to each shareholder of record, and a quorum is present online or by proxy. René Del Real, on behalf of ComputerShare, the company's transfer agent, has been appointed Inspector of Election for this meeting. He's on the line today and will supervise the voting. I now declare the polls are open. The polls will close after all proposals have been presented. To expedite the flow of business, we intend to adhere to the following format.
Each of the items of business to be acted upon by shareholders will be proposed in the order set forth in the proxy statement, but the vote on each item will be deferred until all of the items of business have been presented. The first matter of business to be considered at this meeting is the election of directors. The following individuals have been nominated to the Board of Directors upon the recommendation of the Nominating Governance and Corporate Responsibility Committee to serve as directors until the next annual meeting of shareholders or until their earlier resignation or removal. Amy Banse, Dr. Richard Carmona, Benno Dorer , Spencer Fleischer, Esther Lee, David Mackay, Paul Parker, Linda Rendle, Matt Shadock, Kathee Tesija , Pamela Thomas-Graham , Russell Wiener, and Christopher Williams. The Board of Directors recommends that shareholders vote for the election of each of the director nominees.
The second item of business is approval on an advisory basis of the compensation of the company's named executive officers, as set forth in our proxy statement. The Board of Directors recommends that shareholders vote for the advisory vote on executive compensation. The third item of business is ratification of the selection of Ernst & Young LLP as the company's independent auditors for the fiscal year ending June 30th, 2021. The Board of Directors recommends that shareholders vote for the ratification of the selection of Ernst & Young as the company's independent auditors. The fourth item of business is approval of the amended and restated certificate of incorporation to eliminate the supermajority voting provision. The Board of Directors recommends that shareholders vote for the approval of the amended and restated certificate of incorporation to eliminate the supermajority voting provision.
If you have returned your proxy card, voted by telephone, or voted via the internet, it is not necessary for you to vote here today unless you wish to change your vote. If you'd like to vote your shares now, please follow the directions on the screen in the Cast Your Vote link in the meeting center selection of the screen. If you have already voted, there's no need to take any action now unless you want to change your vote. I'll now declare the polls closed. Now I will announce the results of the voting. I'm advised by the Inspector of Election that the election of directors, each of the 13 people nominated, has received more for votes than against and has been elected to a one-year term expiring at the annual meeting in 2021 and until their successors are elected.
The approval on an advisory basis of the compensation of the company's named executive officers has been approved with at least 91% votes cast in favor. The ratification of the selection of Ernst & Young has been adopted with at least 98% votes cast in favor. The approval of the amended and restated certificate of incorporation to eliminate the supermajority voting provision was not approved. Votes in favor of this proposal represented 98% of the shares represented in voting. Unlike all our other proposals, which require a majority of the votes cast for them in order to pass, under our current certificate of incorporation, this proposal requires 80% of the total outstanding shares voting in favor of it in order to pass. The votes in favor of this proposal represented 70% of the total outstanding shares. That concludes the formal business of our meeting. So the meeting is now adjourned.
Now that the annual meeting is adjourned, we will share a presentation on our strategy and values in an unprecedented time. I would like to turn it over to Linda Rendle, our Chief Executive Officer.
Thank you, Benno, and hello, everyone. Thank you so much for joining us today. I hope you and your loved ones are well. Before I get started, I'd like to ask that you please read the cautionary statement about forward-looking statements that's currently displayed on your screen. Thank you so much for that. It's great to be joining you for my first stockholder meeting as CEO, especially at such an important time for Clorox. I feel privileged to lead Clorox through this next phase of growth. We're coming off a tremendous fiscal year 2020 and first quarter of fiscal year 2021 that shows what Clorox does best. We serve people who count on our brands to meet their everyday needs. That leads me to my key messages for today. First, we will continue our singular commitment to serve our consumers and communities.
We have unprecedented opportunities, and the Clorox team is all in. We continue our top priority to maximize supply of our products for people, healthcare facilities, businesses, and communities. Second, Clorox will play 100% offense to make the most of our momentum. We have a strong portfolio of leading brands people love, and more people than ever before are trying and coming back to our products. We will capitalize on that to accelerate long-term profitable growth. And third, IGNITE is the right strategy, especially for this unprecedented time. The defining opportunity for Clorox is simple: to serve even more people around the world. IGNITE helps us make the most of who we are and where we have strategic advantage. It has successfully guided our response to COVID-19 and is helping us deliver long-term shareholder value while having a positive impact on society.
Everything we've done since the pandemic reinforces our purpose, which is to champion people to be well and thrive every single day. It's about innovating where we have strategic advantage and growing the right way, guided by our values and with ESG, that's Environmental, Social, and Governance, embedded into our business. This is how we help our people, our communities, and our planet thrive now and in the future. Clorox has responded to the pandemic by doing what we do best: focusing on our people and those who count on our brands. Early in the pandemic, we made decisions to prioritize supply to healthcare workers. We also understand that people need to feel safe, and their home is now the center of their world. That's why our number one priority has been and continues to be maximizing supply while keeping our people and communities safe.
We are shipping about one million canisters of disinfecting wipes a day, and we continue to invest to increase capacity. We are running our plants 24 hours a day, seven days a week to deliver more disinfecting products, and we are continuing to focus on the products that can be made faster. It's not just our Clorox disinfecting products, but other parts of our portfolio that are making a meaningful difference in people's daily lives, and we're working to maximize supply of those products as well. That's why we come to work every day, and it fuels our passion. It's why consumers love us and trust us enough to bring us into their homes. We are a health and wellness company at heart.
It is in our DNA, and you can see it across our entire portfolio, from our cleaning and disinfecting brands that support public health to the Brita brand, which gives people clean, better-tasting water; to Hidden Valley, which makes each bite a little more joyful; to Renew Life, Rainbow Light, and NeoCell brands that support our bodies and minds; and Burt's Bees, which naturally cares for people's skin while caring for nature. The fact is, every brand in our portfolio is about making a difference for people and our communities. And that's why our IGNITE strategy puts people at the center of everything we do. This slide here is to re-ground everyone in what IGNITE is all about. It's been a powerful enabler of the great results we've delivered this past year.
I'm thankful and proud of how our Clorox teammates are living by our values and taking to heart our role in supporting consumers and communities. Since the pandemic began, we've seen significant sales increases across our portfolio, with double-digit growth in 8 of 10 businesses in our first quarter of fiscal year 2021. Household penetration is growing in many parts of our portfolio. In Q1, we've doubled the percentage of our portfolio with stable or growing household penetration year over year. In this uncertain environment, people are turning to brands they trust, and we're proud to have trusted brands in our categories. And while early, we're encouraged by the strong repeat rates we're seeing across our portfolio among core and new consumers.
We intend to capitalize on this momentum, the unprecedented growth of the past year, and the strength of our trusted global portfolio to continue to deliver strong shareholder returns. Our brands have been serving people's needs during this pandemic, and we believe that will continue once the pandemic is over as people continue the new behaviors they've developed over the past 10 months, including prioritizing health and wellness, they're drinking more water and taking vitamins and supplements, their focus on safety and hygiene, more people are cleaning and disinfecting more often than they were a year ago, people are staying home more, they're cooking, they're spending time outdoors with family around the grill, they're adopting pets, and they're more digitally connected than ever before, with 90% of people saying they've shopped online since the pandemic.
These consumer behaviors are all good signs for our categories, and we believe they will stick since people have been building these habits for three times longer than it normally takes for routines to form. The way we capitalize on this momentum is by playing 100% offense. Specifically, there are three ways we do that. We invest behind our global portfolio, including through advertising and market-leading innovation. We expand production capacity in the near and long term, and we partner with retailers to enhance shopping experiences and grow our category. With the strength of our global portfolio, the sustained consumer behaviors we're seeing, and our significant investments to drive growth, Clorox is in a great position to keep winning with consumers. I'll close things out by reinforcing my key messages. During this time of global uncertainty, we know more than ever who we are. Our purpose is clear.
We're a health and wellness company at heart, and we champion people to be well and thrive every single day. We will maintain our singular focus on serving our consumers and communities. We will play 100% offense to accelerate long-term profitable growth, and we will continue to be guided by our values and IGNITE strategy, including our commitments to ESG to drive our strategic advantage. And now I'm going to turn it over to Kevin Jacobsen for a financial update.
Thank you, Linda. And thank you, everyone, for joining us. I hope you and your families are well. My key messages for you today are: Clorox has a strong track record of delivering value for shareholders. Our IGNITE strategy positions us well in this current environment, and we remain confident in our ability to drive long-term shareholder value. So let me start with our track record. We're proud that we've been delivering value to shareholders for decades. Our total shareholder returns, based on stock appreciation, dividends, and share repurchases, are consistently in the top third of our peer group over a 20-year period. And over the past 20 years, we've outpaced the S&P 500 by more than 300%. Turning to our IGNITE financial goals, in the US, we are targeting annual sales growth of 2% to 4%.
For our international division, we currently target 1 to 4% sales growth, as ongoing currency headwinds will be offset by growth on select portions of our portfolio. And strong top-line growth, coupled with raising our cost-savings target, positions us to deliver 25 to 50 bips of EBIT margin expansion. We're pleased that we've far exceeded these annual goals in fiscal year 2020. In fiscal year 2020, we reported 8% sales growth for the company and 110 basis points of EBIT margin expansion. That accelerated growth continued in Q1 of the current fiscal year, when we reported 27% sales growth for the company and 400 basis points of gross margin expansion. We now expect sales this fiscal year to grow between 5% and 9%, driven in large part by our first quarter results, as well as our expectation of stronger sales results over the balance of the fiscal year.
And as a result, we raised our fiscal year-diluted EPS expectations to be between 5% to 8%, or $7.70 to $7.95. Fueled by the momentum Linda talked about, the consumer behavior changes related to our total portfolio, that we expect to last well beyond the pandemic, as well as our plans to invest strongly in our business, we continue to believe we'll be able to accelerate long-term profitable growth for our shareholders. And this, in turn, allows us to continue to deliver strong cash flow for our shareholders. Additionally, Clorox has a long history of strong cash generation, which gives us financial flexibility to invest in growth and reward our shareholders. And we have a disciplined approach to how we deploy cash. First, we will continue to treat reinvestments in our business as a priority. We know this is how you help ensure healthy brands over the long term.
That's why we're increasing advertising investment this year to build loyalty with many new consumers entering our categories for the first time and to support our robust innovation plans in the back half of the fiscal year, in addition to continuing to deliver superior consumer value, which is more critical than ever. Of course, we're making near and long-term capital investments to expand production capacity, and we're also investing in strategic growth initiatives to support long-term value creation. Finally, as we've consistently done with the excess cash, we will continue to return that cash back to you, our shareholders. Returning excess cash to shareholders starts with our dividend. Thanks to our long history of delivering strong cash flow, we reported free cash flow of nearly $1.3 billion in fiscal year 2020. We have also been able to reward our shareholders by consistently raising the dividend.
We're also proud of the fact that our dividend grew at a 10% compound annual growth rate over the last three years. This ongoing commitment to raising the dividend, in addition to our $2 billion open market share repurchase program, has allowed us to return over $4.1 billion to shareholders since the start of fiscal year 2016. And turning to economic profit, when you focus on the things you can control and you remain disciplined in managing the balance sheet, you can deliver very nice returns on invested capital. Here, you see that Clorox outperforms most of our peers in this regard. This is something we strive to maintain. So in closing, we believe the long-term investment case in Clorox remains solid. We're investing behind leading brands to grow categories and market share.
This means we're increasing the expected value from innovation, and we're investing to keep our categories healthy through a focus on superior consumer value and other brand-building investments, including digital e-commerce. Our ability to continue these investments is fueled by strong cost savings and admin productivity. We're pursuing margin and creative innovation, and we're proud of our long track record of delivering more than 100 million in cost savings on an annual basis, including 138 million in fiscal year 20 20. And we're reimagining how we work, particularly leveraging technology to enhance our processes and make us an even more agile enterprise. And lastly, we will continue to generate strong cash flow. This gives us the financial capacity to invest for the long term and supports our dividend and stock repurchase programs.
Clorox has a strong foundation and even more opportunity to drive current momentum, which we plan to do through aggressive investments in our IGNITE strategy in support of creating long-term shareholder value. And with that, I turn it over to Benno.
Thank you, Kevin. And with that, let's open it up for questions. We will be answering questions that were submitted prior to the meeting and also during the meeting. If you have a question or comment, you may submit it by clicking on the message icon at the top of your screen. If you have submitted a question prior to the meeting, it is not necessary for you to resubmit here today unless you have an additional question. We will be addressing questions that are consistent with the rules of conduct for this meeting. A copy of the rules can be found in the Meeting Center section of your screen on the meeting website. We will be reading the questions verbatim, only correcting for grammar or typos, and we will group any questions that are substantially similar and answer them together to avoid repetition.
We will also be posting all Q&A on our investor relations website after the meeting. Sarah, do we have any questions?
Benno, no, we do not have any questions. We have one comment here from a shareholder. Congratulations on continuing growth. Dividends paid in 52 weeks high. Thank you.
Thank you, Sarah. And given that there are no questions, that concludes the 2020 Clorox Annual Meeting of Shareholders. On behalf of everyone at Clorox, thank you. Thank you for participating in today's meeting and for continuing to put your trust in our company. We appreciate you.
This concludes the meeting. You may now disconnect.