Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, April 30, 1995 TAG: 9504290023
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: F-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: SHANNON D. HARRINGTON STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
For Norfolk Southern Corp., which on May 11 will hold its annual meeting in Roanoke for the first time since 1989, about 80 percent of company's shares are represented at its annual meetings, said company spokesman Bob Auman.
"Attendance depends on location," Auman said. If Norfolk Southern holds its annual meeting in Roanoke, for example, there will be substantial attendance, he said.
Auman said about 890 shareholders and employees attended the meeting in 1989 at the Hotel Roanoke. However, as few as 125 people have shown up when the meeting was held in venues such as Atlanta. Meetings in Norfolk and Williamsburg have attracted 185 to 265 shareholders, despite the fact that Norfolk Southern now has its headquarters in Norfolk.
In Western Virginia, 2,916 residents own more than 1.5 million shares of certificate-held Norfolk Southern stock, Auman said. There were 132.5 million common shares outstanding as of March 31, the company reported last week.
Roanoke Gas Co. experienced a sharp increase in shareholder attendance at its annual meeting this year, said the vice president of rates and finance, John Williamson. About 160 people attended the Jan. 23 meeting held at company headquarters on Kimball Avenue, compared with prior years when only 15 to 20 company employees, members of its board of directors and auditors showed up.
One reason for the attendance boost, Williams said, was the development of a "customer stock purchase plan" which almost doubled the company's shareholder account.
"We went from 900 to 1,700-plus shareholders," Williamson said. At the end of its fiscal year last Sept. 30, the company reported that 1,625 stock owners held 1.4 million shares.
Along with the stock purchase plan, Williamson said a meeting's agenda also can add interest to the event.
"Our effort was to make it interesting enough for them to take the time to show up," he said. Roanoke Gas officials delivered the news that warmer-than-usual winter weather was reducing demand for natural gas and company revenues and dodged shareholder questions about rumors that the company may be a partner for a potential merger with another utility.
Besides average protocol and agenda items - speeches from the chairman and president, videotapes of company achievements and future plans and voting on company issues - Williamson said other events like facility tours and time for socializing are important to shareholder's meetings. Roanoke Gas accommodated the latter with a breakfast buffet.
"Our key was giving them a feeling of management and showing that we wanted them to come," he said.
Roanoke Gas spent $1,638 on January's meeting, about 80 percent of it for a caterer, Williamson said. Norfolk Southern declined to say how much it spends on its annual meetings.
Reopening of the Hotel Roanoke and Conference Center, this year's meeting site, is expected to draw an above-average attendance for Norfolk Southern, Auman said.
The Norfolk Southern meeting will be consistent with previous years with an agenda similar to that of the Roanoke Gas meeting. Other events for Norfolk Southern will include the election of the company's board of directors and a reception following the meeting.
Although Auman says the company doesn't offer formal dinners and shareholder gifts at the annual meetings like some companies, what attracts shareholders to the meetings is strong ties to the company.
"The corporate ties of Norfolk Southern run very deep here. The is the only city which has more than 10 percent of the company's total employment. No other metro area comes close," Auman said.
by CNB