Dear Shareholders:
This year marks a milestone moment as we celebrate Astec’s 50th anniversary. During this transformative era for the company, I am reminded of our founder Dr. Don Brock’s philosophy on business success, “Build the best product, give outstanding service and always keep your word.” The commitment to our customers, innovation and quality are as relevant now as when the company first started. It has helped us navigate the challenges of today and will carry us into tomorrow. Although the company continues to evolve, the commitment lives on in our OneASTEC business model.
Like many companies in 2021, we continued to keep our pulse on the COVID-19 pandemic ensuring we had the right policies to promote a safe and healthy work environment. In addition, our industry experienced unforeseen obstacles including supply chain issues, inflation, and labor shortages. Our team faced these issues head on while staying focused on delivering for the customer. We were proactive in our response by leveraging our Rock to Road™ value chain, improving our operations and developing programs to attract and retain talent. We will remain disciplined as we navigate future headwinds.
As we hopefully look at the pandemic in the rear-view mirror, we cordially invite you to join us for the 2022 Annual Meeting of shareholders of Astec Industries, Inc. (“Astec” or the “Company”) to be held on Thursday, April 28, 2022 at 10:00 a.m. EDT virtually over the Internet at www.virtualshareholdermeeting.com/ASTE2022. We decided to hold the 2022 Annual Meeting as a virtual meeting because we believe that it will offer expanded access to shareholders who may otherwise not attend in person.
A New Look for a New Mindset
In June 2021, we launched the ASTEC rebrand, complete with a new logo and color scheme for our marketing assets and equipment. The rebrand was a physical presentation of our OneASTEC journey, announcing to everyone we are thinking and acting differently as a global company versus a set of individual subsidiary businesses. The shift is taking hold as we witness teams sharing resources, knowledge, capacities, and capabilities to better serve our customers and create value for all stakeholders. Coming together as one company with a common purpose – Built to Connect – makes us stronger, more efficient and positioned for growth.
Opportunities Ahead
There are many reasons to be excited. Customer confidence is high as we carry forward a record backlog. In the U.S., the passing of the bi-partisan infrastructure bill promises to provide sustained support to the industry. As we move into 2022, we will continue to drive initiatives that strengthen the value we deliver to customers. We do this by optimizing capacity through operational excellence, capital investment, driving technology and fostering growth by investing in our parts business and products that serve our global market. We will also utilize our strong balance sheet to invest in our people, company and focused acquisitions that enhance the value we relentlessly deliver to customers and shareholders. Lastly, our efforts into the Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) program will continue to center on value added initiatives (including strategic partnerships with industry participants in lines of business complementary to our business) for our shareholders, customers, employees, and the communities in which we serve and do business.
Business of Annual Meeting
At the 2022 Annual Meeting, we will be asking you to elect a new director nominee and re-elect the three director nominees named in the attached proxy statement to our Board. As discussed throughout the proxy statement, our Board remains committed to strong governance practices and our Core Values of (i) Safety, (ii) Devotion, (iii) Integrity, (iv) Respect, and (v) Innovation. Under the guidance of our Board, we remain committed to investing in our employees, dealing fairly and ethically with our suppliers and partners, supporting communities in which we work while embracing sustainable practices across our businesses, and in doing so, generating long-term financial return to our shareholders. You will find detailed information beginning on page
19 about the qualifications of our director nominees and why we believe they are the right people to represent your interests.
In addition to the election of directors, we are also seeking your approval of a “say-on-pay” advisory vote and to ratify the appointment of the Company’s independent registered public accounting firm for the calendar year ending December 31, 2022.