Leggett shareholders gather for annual meeting

Shareholders elected the slate of 12 directors proposed by the board, approved the selection of PriceWaterHouseCoopers as the company’s independent accountant and rejected a nonbinding shareholder resolution seeking to add sexual orientation to Leggett’s nondiscrimination policy.

The company also announced a second-quarter dividend of 18 cents per share, a 5.9 percent increase over the first quarter’s dividend of 17 cents. The increase marked 36 years of annual dividend increases. The dividend will be paid July 13 to shareholders of record on June 15.

Walden Asset Management, of Boston, offered the shareholder resolution for the second year. Meredith Benton, a Walden research associate, presented the proposal and said there is “no indication that this discrimination exists at Leggett & Platt.”

Leggett’s Board of Directors unanimously opposed the proposal. John Hale, senior vice president – human resources, told shareholders that Leggett has never received a charge or lawsuit because of its sexual orientation policy. Hale said he never heard of anyone leaving the company or deciding not to work for Leggett because of the policy.

Preliminary results showed that 91 percent of Leggett’s shares were voted in person or by proxy and approximately 26 percent backed the proposal. The issue failed by a similar margin in 2006.

“I think, from our perspective, it was a mandate from shareholders,” said John Moore, the vice president for corporate governance.

After the conclusion of formal business, executives displayed new products from each of Leggett’s segments, including a folding box spring that will soon hit the market. The executives also told shareholders about the numerous ways Leggett is using its own products across its business to better serve its customers. An example is the company using its own wire in store fixtures containing its own bedding products.

“The key is not diversification – it’s cross utilization,” shareholder and retired Leggett employee Wayne Wickstrom, of Hilton Head, S.C., said after the meeting.

The lone question during a question-and-answer session with shareholders was about the percentage of Leggett products assembled outside the United States. Karl Glassman, executive vice president and chief operating officer, said 21 percent of Leggett’s products are made outside the country, with 10 percent manufactured in Asia.

Glassman said the company is working to keep manufacturing jobs in the United States. “But,” he said, “in many cases our customers are moving and we are moving with them.”

The meeting was the first event conducted in the company’s new conference center, recently built by Crossland Construction Co., of Columbus, Kan.

Leggett, with revenues of $5.5 billion and profits of $300 million, ranked No. 419 on this year’s Fortune magazine list of America’s 500 largest corporations. The company has more than 33,000 employees worldwide.

Leggett shares (NYSE: LEG) closed today at $23.75, compared to a 52-week range of $21.93 to $26.90.

Jeff Wells is editor of Joplin Tri-State Business, Springfield Business Journal’s sister publication. See JTB’s May 21 issue for more on the annual meeting and Leggett’s new conference facility.[[In-content Ad]]