ST. LOUIS, Jan. 26, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Speaking to
shareholders at Spire's annual meeting today, Spire Chairman of the
Board Ed Glotzbach highlighted that the company is achieving
transformative success with a well-articulated growth strategy and
a focus on enriching lives and adding value for shareholders and
communities.
During the meeting, Glotzbach emphasized how Spire's success is
reflected in a number of key metrics. Spire grew net economic
earnings per diluted share, representing growth of 7.2 percent
compared to 2015 earnings (after normalizing prior year results for
the unusually cold weather). This growth keeps Spire poised to
achieve the long-term earnings per share growth target of 4 to 6
percent.
"We officially became Spire in April. In changing our name, we
further unified our businesses together as one company. The name
'Spire' represents our ongoing efforts to bring people and energy
together in ways that enrich lives and add value for our
shareholders and communities," Glotzbach said. "To make this vision
real, we've increased our scale and expanded our geographic
footprint. And, as a result of our success in acquiring and growing
gas utilities over the last four years, we've quadrupled our
enterprise value, giving us the resources we need to expand in the
future."
During the meeting, shareholders elected three members of the
board of directors each to serve for a three-year term:
- Edward L. Glotzbach, retired
vice chairman, mergers and acquisitions, Information Services
Group
- Rob L. Jones, retired co-head,
Bank of America Merrill Lynch Commodities, Inc.
- John P. Stupp, Jr., president,
Stupp Bros., Inc.
Shareholders also provided advisory approval of compensation of
executives named in the proxy statement, advisory approval of one
year as the interval at which Spire will seek shareholder advisory
approval of compensation of named executive officers, and ratified
the appointment of Deloitte & Touche LLP as the independent
registered public accountant for the company for the 2017 fiscal
year.
Following the shareholders' meeting, the board of directors
declared a quarterly common stock dividend of 52.5 cents per share. The dividend is payable on
April 4, 2017 to shareholders of
record on March 10, 2017. Spire has
continuously paid a cash dividend since 1946, with 2017 marking the
company's 14th consecutive year of increasing its dividend on an
annualized basis.
A video archive of the annual shareholder meeting is available
on the company website.
About Spire
At Spire Inc. (NYSE: SR) we believe energy exists to help make
people's lives better. It's a simple idea, but one that's at the
heart of our company. Every day we serve 1.7 million customers
making us the fifth largest publicly traded natural gas company in
the country. We help families and business owners fuel their daily
lives through our gas utilities – Alagasco, Laclede Gas, Missouri
Gas Energy, Mobile Gas and Willmut Gas. Our non-utility businesses,
Spire Marketing Inc. and Spire Natural Gas Fueling Solutions,
provide energy solutions to other natural gas users. We are
committed to transforming our business and pursuing growth by 1)
growing our gas utility business through prudent infrastructure
upgrades and organic growth initiatives; 2) acquiring and
integrating gas utilities; 3) modernizing our gas supply assets;
and 4) investing in innovation. Learn more at SpireEnergy.com.
Investor Contact:
Scott W. Dudley Jr.
314-342-0878
Scott.Dudley@SpireEnergy.com
Media Contact:
Jessica B. Willingham
314-342-3300
Jessica.Willingham@SpireEnergy.com
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SOURCE Spire Inc.