day. Welcome to the Greif, Inc. 2026 Annual Shareholders Meeting. At this time, I would like to turn the conference over to Bruce Edwards, Chairman of the Board of Directors at Greif. Please go ahead, sir.
Thank you. I should like to call to order the annual meeting of the stockholders of Greif, Inc. This is Bruce Edwards, Chairman of the Board. It is my pleasure to welcome everyone, and on behalf of the Greif Board of Directors and our approximately 12,000 colleagues in over 35 countries, we thank you for joining us today. We are conducting our annual meeting this year virtually by the Internet. On January 28th, 2026, Greif hosted an earnings conference call for its first quarter, ending December 31, 2025, with our CEO, Ole Rosgaard, and our CFO, Larry Hilsheimer. They provided a presentation on our first quarter results, which were released on January 27th, 2026. The earnings conference call presentation and webcast, including the question and answer period, can be accessed on the Greif website under Investors, Events, and Presentations.
The transcript of the earnings conference call was filed with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission on Form 8-K on February 2, 2026, and is available for reviewing on the Greif website under Investors, SEC Filings. SEC regulations prohibit us from providing an update or commenting on the results of the current fiscal quarter, which will end March 31st, 2026. Therefore, the company will not be providing a financial presentation or answering questions about Greif's current financial results today. Now, I would like to introduce you to the other members of the board of directors, all of whom are in attendance on this call. You should all be familiar with Mark Emkes, Jillian Evanko, John McNamara, Frank Miller, Karen Morrison, Bob Patterson, Andy Rose, Kim Scott, excuse me, and Ole Rosgaard.
Also with me today is Dennis Hoffman, Greif's Senior Vice President, General Counsel, and Secretary. I appoint Dennis to act as Secretary of the meeting. In addition, today, we are, we are joined by representatives of Deloitte & Touche LLP, our independent auditors. They are available to answer and respond, pardon me, to any appropriate questions. If you have an appropriate question for the auditors and have joined the meeting using the control number assigned to you as a stockholder, please type your question into the Ask a Question box on the bottom left side of the webpage and click Submit. I will now ask Dennis to read the notice of the meeting and present evidence that the notice was duly mailed to all stockholders entitled to vote.
The Secretary will also present a certified list of Class B stockholders entitled to vote at said meeting, which list will remain open for inspection by stockholders during the course of the meeting. Dennis?
Thank you, Bruce, good morning, everyone. I present and order filed with the minutes of this meeting, the certificate showing that notice of this meeting was mailed to each stockholder entitled to vote at least 10 days prior to the meeting. I will now read the notice of the meeting, which was sent to the stockholders entitled to vote. Dear stockholders, it is our pleasure to invite you to join our board of directors at the 2026 Annual Meeting of Stockholders of Greif, Inc. This year's annual meeting will be held solely as a virtual meeting. You will be able to attend the virtual annual meeting and vote your shares via a live webcast by visiting www.virtualshareholdermeeting.com/GEF2026. The date and time of the meeting is Monday, February 23rd, 2026, at 8:00 A.M. Eastern Time. The place is webcast at www.virtualshareholdermeeting.com/GEF2026.
The items of business for the meeting are to elect 10 directors to serve for a one-year term, to ratify the appointment of Deloitte & Touche LLP as Greif, Inc.'s independent auditor for fiscal year 2026, to approve, on an advisory basis, the compensation of Greif, Inc.'s named executive officers, to transact such other business as may properly come before the meeting or any adjournments. Only stockholders of record of the Class B common stock at the close of business on December 29th, 2025, will be entitled to vote at the annual meeting. We hope that the Class B stockholders will promptly vote over the Internet, by phone, or by mailing their proxy cards in the enclosed envelope. Stockholders are always welcome to vote during the virtual meeting.
On behalf of the Board of Directors, management, and employees of Greif, thank you for your continued support. I now present a certified list of the stockholders entitled to vote at the meeting. If you have joined this meeting using your control number, you can access this list through the link on the bottom of the webpage entitled Registered Shareholder List. I present an order filed with the records of this meeting, a certificate which shows that a duly certified list of the stockholders entitled to vote at this meeting was open to inspection at this office for at least 10 days preceding this meeting.
Thank you, Dennis. I appoint Monique Thomas and Tracy Grier to be proxy tellers for this meeting and order all proxies surrendered to them later to be filed with the Secretary of the meeting. I now direct the proxy teller to submit their report to the Secretary of the meeting.
Bruce, I have received the report of the proxy tellers, which states that a majority of Class B shares are represented at this meeting. This constitutes a quorum.
I will appoint Monique Thomas and Tracy Grier to act as inspectors of election to receive proxies, count votes, and report votes taken at the meeting. I request that they now subscribe to the Oath of Inspectors. The first order of business is the election of 10 directors to serve for the ensuing year and until their successors shall be elected and shall qualify. The board of directors has recommended the following individuals to serve as directors for the ensuing year and until their successors shall be elected and shall qualify: Bruce Edwards, Mark Emkes, Jillian Evanko, John McNamara, Frank Miller, Karen Morrison, Robert Patterson, Andy Rose, Kim Scott, Ole Rosgaard. 10 directors are to be elected. There being no further nominations presented to the Secretary of Greif in accordance with our bylaws, I declare the nominations closed and order those voting to cast their ballots.
Under the governing rules of this company, there is no cumulative voting for directors. Votes may be cast for 10 directors only. The next order of business is to vote on the other proposals on the ballot. Proposal two is to ratify the appointment of Deloitte & Touche LLP, as Greif's independent auditor for fiscal year 2026, and proposal three is the approval on an advisory basis of the compensation of the company's named executive officers. Only holders of Class B common stock may vote on these proposals. I now declare the polls closed, and no further ballots will be accepted.
Bruce, I have received the inspector's report, which shows that the following people were elected by a majority of the Class B shares entitled to vote: Bruce Edwards, Mark Emkes, Jillian Evanko, John McNamara, Frank Miller, Karen Morrison, Robert Patterson, Andy Rose, Kim Scott, and Ole Rosgaard. The inspector's report also shows that proposals two and three have been approved by a majority of the shares entitled to vote.
Thank you, Dennis. Based on the inspector's report, I declare the election of the 10 named individuals as directors of the company to serve for the coming year and until their successors are elected and qualified. I also declare proposals two and three approved as presented.
In addition, as and for a report of the officers of the company, I present a copy of the annual statement of the company for the fiscal year ended September 30, 2025, as audited by the company's certified public accountants. This report has been made available to all stockholders of record.
There being no further business to be brought before this meeting, the meeting is now adjourned. Thank you all for your support. Please stay safe, and we hope to see you at the next annual meeting, if not before then.
The meeting has now concluded. Thank you for joining, and have a pleasant day.