At its annual meeting of shareholders today, Jeff Jacobson, CEO of Xerox Corporation (NYSE: XRX), discussed the company’s financial performance in 2016, and outlined the company’s strategy to enhance value for Xerox shareholders.
In his address to shareholders, Jacobson commented, “Our foundation is strong, our product portfolio is as deep as it has ever been, and our customers are responding to our renewed focus on the document technology market.” He added, “This is a new Xerox and we are bringing innovative solutions to the market that will strengthen our business and enable attractive returns to our shareholders.”
As previously announced, Chairman of the Board Ursula M. Burns retired from the Xerox Board of Directors, effective today, and Robert Keegan has been named non-executive chairman. Keegan has been a director since 2010 and formerly served as chief executive officer and president of The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company.
“Throughout Ursula’s career, she has demonstrated a passion and love for the company. We admire her personal and professional commitment to our success,” said Jacobson. “I look forward to working more closely with Bob as he steps into the chairman role. His experiences leading businesses through turnarounds continues to be a great benefit to the Xerox team.”
Also at the annual meeting, shareholders elected by a majority vote all members of the Xerox board of directors: Gregory Q. Brown, Jonathan Christodoro, Joseph J. Echevarria, William Curt Hunter, Jeffrey Jacobson, Robert J. Keegan, Cheryl Gordon Krongard, Charles Prince, Ann N. Reese, Stephen H. Rusckowski and Sara Martinez Tucker.
In a separate vote, shareholders ratified the selection of PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP as the company’s independent, registered public accounting firm for 2017.
Dividend Declaration
Today, the company announced that its board of directors declared a quarterly cash dividend of 6.25 cents per share on Xerox common stock. The dividend is payable on July 31, 2017 to shareholders of record on June 30, 2017. The dividend will be adjusted on a proportional basis to reflect the one-for-four reverse stock split approved by Xerox shareholders at today's annual shareholders meeting if, as anticipated, the reverse stock split becomes effective prior to the dividend payment date.
The board also declared a quarterly cash dividend of $20 per share on Xerox Series B Convertible Perpetual Preferred Stock. The dividend is payable on July 1, 2017 to shareholders of record on June 15, 2017.
About Xerox
Xerox Corporation is an $11 billion technology leader that innovates the way the world communicates, connects and works. Our expertise is more important than ever as customers of all sizes look to improve productivity, maximize profitability and increase satisfaction. We do this for small and mid-size businesses, large enterprises, governments, graphic communications providers, and for our partners who serve them.
We understand what’s at the heart of work – and all of the forms it can take. We embrace the increasingly complex world of paper and digital. Office and mobile. Personal and social. Every day across the globe – in more than 160 countries – our technology, software and people successfully navigate those intersections. We automate, personalize, package, analyze and secure information to keep our customers moving at an accelerated pace.
Forward-Looking Statements
This Report contains “forward-looking statements” as defined in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. The words “anticipate”, “believe”, “estimate”, “expect”, “intend”, “will”, “should” and similar expressions, as they relate to us, are intended to identify forward-looking statements. These statements reflect management’s current beliefs, assumptions and expectations and are subject to a number of factors that may cause actual results to differ materially. Such factors include but are not limited to: our ability to address our business challenges in order to reverse revenue declines, reduce costs and increase productivity so that we can invest in and grow our business; changes in economic conditions, political conditions, trade protection measures, licensing requirements and tax laws in the United States and in the foreign countries in which we do business; changes in foreign currency exchange rates; our ability to successfully develop new products, technologies and service offerings and to protect our intellectual property rights; the risk that multi-year contracts with governmental entities could be terminated prior to the end of the contract term and that civil or criminal penalties and administrative sanctions could be imposed on us if we fail to comply with the terms of such contracts and applicable law; the risk that partners, subcontractors and software vendors will not perform in a timely, quality manner; actions of competitors and our ability to promptly and effectively react to changing technologies and customer expectations; our ability to obtain adequate pricing for our products and services and to maintain and improve cost efficiency of operations, including savings from restructuring actions; the risk that individually identifiable information of customers, clients and employees could be inadvertently disclosed or disclosed as a result of a breach of our security systems; reliance on third parties, including subcontractors, for manufacturing of products and provision of services; our ability to manage changes in the printing environment and markets and expand equipment placements; interest rates, cost of borrowing and access to credit markets; funding requirements associated with our employee pension and retiree health benefit plans; the risk that our operations and products may not comply with applicable worldwide regulatory requirements, particularly environmental regulations and directives and anti-corruption laws; the outcome of litigation and regulatory proceedings to which we may be a party; the risk that we do not realize all of the expected strategic and financial benefits from the separation and spin-off of our Business Process Outsourcing business; and other factors that are set forth in the “Risk Factors” section, the “Legal Proceedings” section, the “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations” section and other sections of our 2016 Annual Report on Form 10-K, as well as in our Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q and Current Reports on Form 8-K filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”). Xerox assumes no obligation to update any forward-looking statements as a result of new information or future events or developments, except as required by law.
Fuji Xerox Co., Ltd. (“Fuji Xerox”) is a joint venture between Xerox Corporation and Fujifilm Holdings Corporation (“Fujifilm”) in which Xerox holds a 25% equity interest and Fujifilm holds the remaining equity interest. On April 20, 2017, Fujifilm publicly announced it formed an independent investigation committee to conduct a review of the appropriateness of the accounting practices at Fuji Xerox’s New Zealand subsidiary related to the recovery of receivables associated with certain sales leasing transactions that occurred in, or prior to, Fuji Xerox’s fiscal year ending March 31, 2016. In first quarter 2017, we recognized a charge of approximately $30 million, which represents our share of the current Fujifilm total adjustments from this review, as publicly disclosed by Fujifilm. Fujifilm has publicly stated that it expects the investigation will be completed in May 2017, and that it intends to disclose the results shortly thereafter. Given our status as a minority investor, we have limited contractual and other rights to information and rely on Fuji Xerox and Fujifilm to provide information to us and are not involved in the investigation, including its scope and timing of completion. Although we have no reason not to rely on Fujifilm’s current adjustment and we are not aware of any additional amounts related to this matter that would have a material effect on our financial statements including the related Xerox disclosures, this investigation is ongoing and our future results may include additional adjustments that are materially different from the amount of the charge that we have already recognized in connection with this matter and the period(s) to which the charge relates, and we can provide no assurances relative to the outcome of any governmental investigations or any consequences thereof. In addition, the summarized financial data we have reported for Fuji Xerox may change based on the results of the investigation.
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