Good morning, welcome to Elanco Animal Health Incorporated's 2026 annual meeting of shareholders. All participants will be in a listen-only mode. Please note this event is being recorded. I would now like to turn the meeting over to Lawrence Kurzius, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Elanco Animal Health Incorporated.
Good morning, and welcome to the 2026 annual shareholders meeting of Elanco Animal Health Incorporated. My name is Lawrence Kurzius, and I'm the Chairman of the Board of Directors. It is my pleasure to welcome you to today's virtual meeting. We have shareholders attending via the web portal and the dial-in number provided. It is now shortly after 8:00 A.M. Eastern Time on May 21st, 2026, and this meeting is officially called to order. With us today are members of Elanco's Board of Directors and Executive Committee, as well as the company's auditors, Ernst & Young. It is an exciting time at Elanco as we delivered a historic 2025 and, more recently, a strong start to 2026. I will now turn the meeting over to Shiv O'Neill, General Counsel and Corporate Secretary, who will be handling the formal portion of today's meeting.
Thank you, Lawrence. Good morning and welcome to Elanco's annual meeting of shareholders. The company has appointed Broadridge Financial Solutions to act as Inspector of Election. Peder Hagberg from Broadridge is with us today and has taken the oath of Inspector of Election. Please note this meeting is being recorded, and the recording will be available after the meeting. However, no one attending via the webcast or telephone is permitted to use any audio recording device. The Board of Directors fixed March 26th, 2026, as the record date for determining shareholders entitled to vote at this meeting. An affidavit has been delivered attesting to the fact that on April 8th, 2026, notice of the meeting, access to the proxy statement, and the 2025 annual report were given to all shareholders as of the record date and will be incorporated into the minutes of this meeting.
The shareholder list shows that as of the record date, there were 499,379,499 shares of common stock outstanding and entitled to vote at this meeting. We are informed by the Inspector of Election that a majority of the voting power of those shares constituting a quorum for purposes of transacting business are represented in person or by proxy at this meeting. Now, I will present the matters to be voted upon. Proposal one is the election of directors. The board-nominated Class I directors, Kapila Anand and Paul Herendeen, and Class II directors, Michael Harrington, Lawrence Kurzius, and Kirk McDonald, each for election as a director to hold office for a one-year term. Proposal two is the ratification of the appointment of Ernst & Young LLP as the company's independent registered public accounting firm for 2026.
Proposal three is the advisory vote on the compensation of the company's named executive officers as described in the proxy statement. Proposal three is a non-binding vote. The Compensation and Human Capital Committee and the board will take the results of the vote into account when making future compensation decisions. Any shareholder who hasn't yet voted or wishes to change a vote may do so by clicking on the voting button on the web portal and following the instructions. Shareholders who have sent in proxies or voted via telephone or internet and do not want to change their vote do not need to take any further action. While the voting is being completed, I will turn the meeting over to our President and Chief Executive Officer, Jeff Simmons.
Good morning, and thank you for being here today. 2025 was an important year for Elanco. Our focus was simple: to deliver, and we did exactly that. We achieved continued growth and exceeded our full-year expectations across revenue, adjusted EBITDA, and adjusted EPS. As announced in our May 6 earnings release, our outperformance continued in the first quarter of 2026, giving us confidence to raise our 2026 guidance on all key financial metrics. Our consistent focus on growth, innovation, and cash has delivered real value, with broad-based growth across business driven by both price and, most importantly, volume. 2025 marked a pivotal moment in our company's trajectory, with innovation delivering well beyond expectations. Credelio Quattro achieved blockbuster status, AdTab emerged as a leader in Europe's OTC market, and Experior drove strong growth.
More recently, as of the first quarter of 2026, Zenrelia reached blockbuster status on a trailing four-quarter basis, and we expanded our innovation platform with the addition of AHV International to Elanco, further strengthening our ability to deliver differentiated solutions for customers around the world. In addition to Elanco's strong performance in 2025, the overall animal health industry performed well, growing 7%, with 5% growth in pet health and 10% growth in farm animal. This broad growth is supported by two major trends: the rise of the modern pet owner and growing global demand for high-quality protein. These trends play directly to Elanco's strengths. With a shift in pet owner expectations, convenience and choice are driving consumer trends with approximately 2/3 of shoppers making purchases through omni-channel touchpoints spanning both online and in-store. Our strategy supports this shift.
In 2025, our pet health business delivered 7% organic constant currency growth driven by products like Credelio Quattro, Zenrelia, and AdTab. We saw that growth continue into the first quarter of this year. On the farm side, protein demand continues to grow, and producers are looking for ways to improve productivity while operating more sustainably. Our farm animal business delivered 8% organic constant currency growth globally in 2025, with strong performance in U.S. cattle and poultry and momentum from products like Experior. As we shared at our December 2025 Investor Day, Elanco is well on its way to becoming a sustainable, durable growth company.
As of May 6, our complete basket of innovation is on track to generate $1.2 billion in revenue, and our next wave is targeting five to six new blockbusters by 2031, all while we're staying disciplined, aiming to improve margins, generate strong cash flow, and continue deleveraging with Elanco Ascend. Simply put, our strategy is working, our pipeline is strong, and our team is executing. We're building a stronger, more focused Elanco, and we're excited about where we're headed. Thank you to our customers for the trust you place in us every day to help care for animals and support the people who depend on them. Thank you to our shareholders for your continued support. I now declare the polls for the Elanco's 2026 Annual Meeting of Shareholders closed. I will turn the meeting back to Shiv O'Neill to report the preliminary results of the voting.
We have been informed by the Inspector of Election that the preliminary vote report shows that all nominees and proposals received sufficient votes for approval. We will be reporting the final vote results with a Form 8-K that will be filed within four business days. Lawrence?
Thank you, Shiv. I'd like to take a moment to thank our Elanco shareholders for their investment in Elanco and for joining us for Elanco Animal Health's 2026 Annual Meeting of Shareholders. We are committed to delivering long-term, meaningful value creation for shareholders. The board and I are confident in Elanco's strategy and the team's ability to execute against it. Finally, thank you to the global Elanco team for your dedication to making life better for animals each and every day. There being no further business, the 2026 Annual Meeting of Shareholders of Elanco Animal Health Incorporated is now adjourned.