Medtronic moves its 2023 annual meeting up for first time since HQ move

Medtronic is holding its 2023 annual meeting of shareholders on Thursday, Oct. 19, 2023.

The world’s largest medical device company moved the date up from December for the first time since Medtronic relocated its Fridley, Minnesota headquarters to Ireland in 2015.

The company’s last annual meeting in Minnesota was in August 2014 at its Mounds View campus. Ever since then, Medtronic has held its annual meeting sometime during the first two weeks of December in Dublin, Ireland.

The earlier annual meeting date means any shareholders that want to nominate directors or submit any other proposal will need to do so in writing between July 21 and Aug. 30, Medtronic told investors in a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

Those proposals will not be included in the proxy materials prepared for the annual meeting; the deadline for inclusion in proxy materials was May 10. Medtronic moved that deadline up from June 29 when it disclosed the earlier annual meeting date.

Medtronic has not given a reason for the earlier annual meeting and does not appear to have named the location’s city or country. Medtronic held its 2022 annual meeting at Dublin’s Shelbourne Hotel.

Medtronic’s fiscal year ended on April 28, 2023. The company released its 2023 annual report in June, but as of this publication had not yet filed proxy materials with the SEC

Those proxy materials include voting items such as board of director elections, executive compensation, proposals from shareholders, and the Medtronic board’s recommendations on those votes.

Medtronic’s fiscal 2023 revenue dipped 1% year-over-year to $31.2 billion, while annual profits (net income) decreased 25% to approximately $3.8 billion.

After consolidating two of its operating units and cutting expenses with an undisclosed number of voluntary early retirements and layoffs in the first few months of this year, the company forecasted fiscal 2024 sales of around $32 billion in May.