Good morning, and welcome to our 2023 Annual Meeting of Shareholders. I'm Mark Smucker, Chair of the Board and Chief Executive Officer of The J.M. Smucker Company. I'd like to start this 2023 Annual Meeting of Shareholders by thanking you, our shareholders, for continued commitment and investment in The J.M. Smucker Company. Before we get underway, I want to let you know that today's session is being recorded and a replay can be accessed via our corporate website. Today's event may contain forward-looking statements that reflect our expectations about the future performance of our business, and actual results may differ due to risks and uncertainties. We continue to be encouraged by the momentum for our business and brands, and we remain confident in our strategy and ability to deliver sustainable and consistent long-term growth for our shareholders.
Fiscal 2023 was a strong year for our company amid a dynamic macro environment. Our performance reflected progress against our strategy, improved execution capabilities, the resilience of our categories, and consumers' sustained demand for our portfolio of leading brands. We successfully navigated industry-wide challenges, including inflation, labor shortages, supply chain disruptions, and increased competitive activity. Our dedicated employees continued to manage through these circumstances with agility and relentless focus on delivering results. Looking ahead, we are poised for continued success, grounded in our ability to deliver on our proven strategy, the enduring demand for our portfolio of brands, and our talented employees who continue to execute with excellence. Underlying this, as always, are our values, and this past year, we were excited to introduce an evolved set of Basic Beliefs.
These Basic Beliefs bring clarity and action to our employees, we may continue to build and nurture a thriving culture. We're confident in our strategy and continue to demonstrate strong financial results. We have become a stronger company, a more agile organization, and an even better leader in the communities where we live and work. Together, we will continue to deliver on our commitment to achieve long-term growth while making a meaningful, positive impact in the world and on the lives of those who count on us. Our ability to deliver on our ambitions as a company depends on the many dedicated people at Smucker who share in our passion. With this in mind, I'd like to welcome the company's board of directors, executive officers, and our auditors from Ernst & Young, who are with us this morning.
I would like to take a moment to recognize Paul Dolan and Sandra Pianalto, who are retiring from our board. Paul has served as a director for 17 years. The expertise and perspective he brought to the board from his long career with the Cleveland Guardians has been invaluable. We will miss his contributions as a key member of the Compensation and People Committee and his thoughtful counsel on some of the most important decisions we've made during the last 2 decades. Similarly, it has been a pleasure to have Sandy serving as a director for the last nine years. Sandy's extensive experience with the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland allowed her to provide valuable insights and perspectives in overseeing our finances as a member of our Audit Committee. Paul and Sandy, thank you both for your many contributions, distinguished leadership, and unwavering commitment to the board and company.
We wish you the best and know your contributions will continue to have a lasting influence on the future of our company. I would also like to take a moment to recognize my uncle, Richard Smucker, who is retiring from our board and transitioning to a new non-director, Chairman Emeritus role as of today, August 16, 2023. In this role, Richard will continue to be invited to attend board meetings but will not participate in voting. We want to express our sincere appreciation for Richard's dedicated service and leadership on the board and as chief executive officer. His countless contributions have played a critical role in the company we have become and provided a tremendous foundation for continued growth. I'd like to welcome our new director nominees with us today, Mercedes Abramo and Tarang Amin.
Mercedes is the Deputy Chief Commercial Officer of Cartier International, and Tarang is the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of e.l.f. Beauty. Both Mercedes and Tarang have extensive experience, and we look forward to the valuable insights they will bring to our board. As noted in the agenda for the meeting, we will first address our official business of reviewing and voting on the proposals in the proxy materials and then respond to any shareholder questions. Our executive officers, the chairs of our board committees, and our independent auditors will be available during the question and answer session to respond to appropriate questions. Now, I ask our Chief Legal Officer and Secretary, Jeannette Knudsen, to establish that the meeting has been duly called to order and that a quorum is present for the annual meeting.
Thank you, Mark. The board fixed June 20, 2023, as the record date for determining the shareholders entitled to vote at this meeting. An affidavit is with the Inspector of Election attesting to the fact that the notice of the annual meeting, the proxy statement, and the 2023 annual report were mailed to shareholders of record beginning on June 30, 2023. Carl T. Hagberg & Associates has been appointed to act as Inspector of Election at this meeting. Todd Schaefer, a representative from the firm, is participating and has submitted a report to me confirming that there are more than the required majority of total shares outstanding present by proxy. Since a quorum is present, this meeting may proceed to transact business.
The 2023 annual meeting is now called to order. The complete minutes of last year's annual meeting of shareholders, as well as a copy of the company's most recent annual report on Form 10-K, that includes the financial statements and Ernst & Young's audit reports for the fiscal year ending April 30, 2023, have been posted to the meeting site for inspection. Our Audit Committee has reviewed the audit reports and approved the financial statements in the annual report. The business of this meeting is limited to the four management proposals included in the proxy statement. I will now ask Jeannette to review the management proposals along with the voting results for each proposal.
The polls for shareholder voting are open. Any shareholder who did not submit a proxy or submitted a proxy and wishes to revoke it and vote in person may do so by clicking on the voting button on the web portal and following the instructions there. 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. Any votes submitted today will not be included in the results that will be reported today, but will be tabulated and included with the final results. The first proposal concerns the election of 10 directors set forth in the proxy statement to serve for a term of one year, which will expire at the 2024 Annual Meeting.
Each of the director nominees has received a majority of the votes cast in favor of their election to the board. The nominees are hereby elected for a one-year term and further until their successors are otherwise appointed or elected. The second proposal is ratification of the appointment of Ernst & Young as the company's independent registered public accounting firm for the fiscal year ending April 30th, 2024. An affirmative vote of the holders of a majority of the votes cast on this proposal, or 96%, was received to pass the proposal. Accordingly, the proposal is approved. The third proposal is the advisory vote on the company's executive compensation. An affirmative vote of the holders of a majority of the votes cast on this proposal, or 95%, was received to pass the proposal. Accordingly, the proposal is approved.
The fourth proposal is the advisory vote on the frequency of holding future advisory votes on executive compensation. The options for the frequency of holding future votes are every one, two, or three years or abstaining from the vote. An affirmative vote of the holders of a majority of the votes cast on this proposal, or 96%, was received for holding future advisory votes on executive compensation every year. This concludes the voting results. The company will publicly announce the final voting results on or before August 22, 2023, through the filing of a Form 8-K with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
Thank you, Jeannette. I declare the polls closed. The proxies will be counted by and held in the possession of the Inspector of Election. As there is no further formal business to come before the annual meeting, I declare this 2023 Annual Meeting of Shareholders adjourned and all matters before it closed. In closing, our company is uniquely positioned for continued growth in attractive categories. With a portfolio of leading brands in the coffee, consumer foods, dog snacks, and cat food categories, we will continue to build on the momentum of our business and remain confident in our long-term strategy. All of which is powered by our unique culture and dedicated employees, who I would like to thank for their outstanding contributions. To all our shareholders, we thank you for your support and trust in The J.M. Smucker Company. We are now happy to take your questions.
Joining me for this Q&A session are members of the company Executive Leadership Team, our board committee Chairs, Dawn Willoughby, Chair of the Nominating, Governance, and Corporate Responsibility Committee, Susan Chapman-Hughes, Chair of the Compensation and People Committee, and Jodi Taylor, Chair of the Audit Committee. If you are a validated shareholder and have a question, please enter it on the web portal. Out of consideration for others, please limit yourself to one question. Please note, this meeting is being recorded. We will attempt to answer as many questions as time allows, but only questions that are relevant to the meeting will be addressed. Any appropriate questions that we do not have time for will be addressed on our company website. Now, we'll take the first question.
Our first question is, looking back at the last several years, have the export capabilities of the company improved? If so, how?
Good afternoon. This is John Brase, the Chief Operating Officer of the company. Just for perspective, our export business is about 1% of our top line, so really not material to the company's financial performance. Having said that, we really believe we have the right structure in place to support the role of export, and have not made any material changes to this capability, as the role of export hasn't changed recently in our portfolio.
Our next question is: the food industry stocks have been trending down. When do you see this trend ending? Does the current environment create an opportunity for acquisitions?
Hi, this is Mark Smucker, the CEO. First of all, I would say that we have been very pleased with the momentum that we have generated over the past several years by focusing relentlessly on our strategy to further refine our portfolio, transform our portfolio to include those businesses and brands that we are confident that we can grow. Our results reflect this. In focusing on those factors which we can control, we will continue to invest in our brands and ultimately continue the growth of your company and increasing our shareholder value. We have confidence in our growth trajectory, our continued momentum, as well as our ability to continue to increase shareholder value. As for M&A, we're always interested in acquisitions. We're always looking across the marketplace to consider what opportunities there might be.
To the extent that, you know, we have something to report, we will share that with our shareholders, through the appropriate channels. Thank you for the question.
Our next question: why did the executives get bonuses and other compensation besides their salaries when the business wrote off over $1 billion on divestitures?
Good afternoon, this is Jill Penrose, Chief People and Company Services Officer. Thank you, Mr. Friedman, for the question. Annual executive bonuses are based on multiple performance metrics. Executive bonuses were paid for strong fiscal year performance relative to sales and operating income. The return on invested capital metric within the annual plan reflects the impact of divestitures, and this portion of the annual incentive was not achieved, and no executive bonuses were paid for ROIC.
Our next question: would you comment on the early results from the rollout of your new product, Dunkin' Cold Brew Liquid Coffee Concentrate?
Yeah, this is John Brase again. Oh, go ahead, Mark. Go ahead.
Sorry, John. I was just gonna... This is Mark Smucker again. We will be able to share more about our existing initiatives at our next earnings call, which is on August 29th.
At this time, there are no more questions in the queue, so I'll turn the call back over to Mark Smucker for a few closing comments.
We appreciate all of our shareholders, and thank you for those of you who participated and those who might be listening to this after the fact, the recorded. We appreciate your support. We are committed to continuing to grow our, our and your company over time, as I mentioned in our previous answer, and look forward to continuing the momentum. Thank you very much for your attention today.
This now concludes the meeting. Thank you for joining, and have a pleasant day.