Hello, welcome to the annual meeting of shareholders of Village Farms International Inc. Please note that today's meeting is being recorded. If you participate in today's meeting and disclose personal information, you'll be deemed to consent to the recording, transfer, and use of same. If you disclose personal information of another person in today's meeting, you'll be deemed to represent and warrant to Computershare and the corporation that you first obtained all required consents for the disclosure, recording, transfer, and use of such personal information from all appropriate persons before your disclosure. It is now my pleasure to turn today's meeting over to Mr. John R. McLernon, Chairman of the Board of Directors. The floor is yours.
I'd like to welcome you to our virtual annual meeting of shareholders of Village Farms International Inc. My name is John McLernon, and I'm Chairman of the Board of Directors of the company, and I'll chair the meeting. On behalf of the board, our officers, and employees, I'd like to thank you for attending our annual meeting of shareholders. We are pleased to again conduct our annual meeting virtually via the web portal. We view this meeting format as a means of providing an efficient meeting process. The meeting will now come to order. Stephen Ruffini, the Chief Financial Officer of the company, will act as secretary of the meeting, and Computershare will act as scrutineer. The Board of Directors fixed the close of business on April 28th, 2026, as the record date for determining the shareholders entitled to vote at the meeting. Notice of the meeting.
The related proxy statement and our most recent 10-K were mailed to shareholders on or before May 11th, 2026, as confirmed by Computershare and Broadridge. The shareholder list shows that as of the record date, there were 114,288,686 common shares outstanding and entitled to vote. I directed a copy of the meeting materials, together with the applicable confirmations of mailing, be kept with the records of this meeting. I wish to express thanks to those shareholders that submitted their proxies in advance. The company has received the preliminary scrutineer's report, which indicates that proxies representing a total of 49.91% of our outstanding common shares have been properly deposited prior to the meeting, and I declare that a quorum is present. I'll now proceed with the business of the meeting. The next item is the presentation of the consolidated financial statements of Village Farms Inc.
and its subsidiaries as of December 31st, 2025, and the independent auditor's report thereon. I ask Steve Ruffini, the Chief Financial Officer, to table the consolidated financial statements of the company and its subsidiaries as of December 31st, 2025. I've been advised by Stephen Ruffini that for efficiency purposes, he's prepared to second each of the upcoming motions in respect to the items of business outlined in the company's proxy statement dated April 29th, 2026. I will take such motions as seconded with no further action needed. After presenting all items of business, I'll then ask registered shareholders or their duly appointed proxy holders to cast their votes. We'll now proceed with the election of the directors of the company. Seven directors of the company are to be elected to hold office until the next annual meeting of shareholders or until his or her successor is elected or appointed.
Information regarding the nominees proposed by the management is set out in the company's proxy statement April 29th, 2026. The board has adopted the majority voting policy that will apply if any of the directors receive a number of for votes that is less than the majority of the votes cast. I have the pleasure of nominating the following persons for election as directors of the company to hold office until the next annual meeting of the shareholders or until their successors are elected or appointed: Michael A. DeGiglio, John P. Henry, John R. McLernon, Christopher C. Woodward, Kathleen M. Mahoney, David Holewinski, and Carolyn Hauger. The company's bylaws require that nominations of directors by shareholders be received by the Board of Directors of the company in the prescribed manner in advance of this meeting in order to be valid.
As no nominations were received, I declare that the nominations for directors are closed. I move that each of the above-mentioned persons for the election of directors of the company be elected to hold office until the next annual meeting of shareholders or until their successors are elected or appointed. The next item of business is the approval of the compensation of the company's named executive officers on an advisory, non-binding basis. I move that the company's named executive officers' compensation be approved on an advisory, non-binding basis. The next item of business is the reappointment of the auditors of the company to hold office until the next annual meeting of shareholders or until successors is named.
I'll take a moment to ask any registered holders or duly appointed proxy holders who have not yet voted or who may wish to change their vote with respect to those motions to do so now by clicking on the Vote Here button on the web portal. Following the instructions, you must hit Submit for your vote to be counted. We will leave the polls open for one minute for registered holders and proxy holders who have properly logged in with the control numbers and wish to vote. That everyone has had an opportunity to vote on each of the matters, I now declare the polls for the 2026 Village Farms International Inc. Annual Shareholder Meeting closed.
I've been advised by the scrutineer that the preliminary voting report shows that each of the director nominees for the election to the board have been duly elected, and that all other applicable motions have been approved. We will report the final detailed voting results on a Form 8-K in a SEDAR+ filing today's meeting. As there is no further business to be brought forward, it is my responsibility to terminate the meeting. However, I have a couple of thoughts to cover. After some 25 years, I will submit my resignation as chairman as of a board meeting following this shareholders meeting, and I intend to continue as a director of the company.
It's definitely an honor for me to have worked with this company, and I really appreciate the relationship I've had with Mike DeGiglio, who's a unique individual who respects his people and his clients and all around. That's my comments, and I've had great years as the chairman. Thank you very much, everyone, for joining us. We thank you for your interest, and you may now disconnect. Thank you.