Reynolds American Holds Shareholders' Meeting

Source from:  Tobacco Reporter 05/11/2010

At their annual meeting on Friday, shareholders of Reynolds American Inc (RAI) defeated four shareholder proposals, re-elected four directors and ratified the appointment of KPMG LLP as independent auditors for RAI's 2010 fiscal year. The four defeated shareholder proposals concerned: * Elimination of the Classified Board; in respect of which 73,872,038 shares voted for the proposal, 142,209,755 shares voted against, 291,508 abstained, and 16,731,559 were subject to a broker non-vote. * Retention of Equity Compensation; in respect of which 22,674,609 shares voted for the proposal, 193,277,818 shares voted against, 420,874 abstained, and 16,731,559 were subject to a broker non-vote. * Communicating Truth; in respect of which 3,207,144 shares voted for the proposal, 199,495,631 shares voted against, 13,670,526 abstained, and 16,731,559 were subject to a broker non-vote. * Human Rights Protocols for the Company and its Suppliers; in respect of which 21,153,658 shares voted for the proposal, 181,108,613 shares voted against, 14,111,030 abstained, and 16,731,559 were subject to a broker non-vote. The re-elected Class III directors (with terms that expire in 2013) were: Susan M. Ivey, Martin D. Feinstein, Lionel L. Nowell, III, and Neil R. Withington. At a meeting following the annual shareholders' meeting, the RAI board of directors declared a quarterly cash dividend on the company's common stock of $0.90 per share ($3.60 per share annualized). The dividend will be payable on July 1 to shareholders of record on June 10. RAI said that this was the 24th consecutive quarterly cash dividend that it had declared since it became a public company on July 30, 2004. Enditem