Good morning and welcome to the Oil-Dri Corporation of America's 2019 Annual Meeting of Stockholders. My name is Leslie Garber and I'm the Manager of Investor Relations at Oil-Dri. During the meeting, today, we will be covering the election of Directors and two other stockholder voting items. Next will be the presentations and financial review followed by time for Q&A. We ask that you hold your questions until the Q&A portion of the meeting. At that time we will be taking questions from the live audience, phone lines and from our webcast. Now it is my pleasure to introduce our General Counsel and Secretary, Laura Scheland.

Good morning ladies and gentlemen. It is 9:30 a.m. on December 11, 2019 and I now -- okay correction 9:26 a.m. on December 11, 2019. And I now call to order the 2019 annual meeting of stockholders of Oil-Dri Corporation of America. While, I conduct the meaning Tony Parker the Assistant Secretary of Oil-Dri will record the meeting -- the minutes for this meaning. As you entered the meeting room, you should have received an agenda and the rules of conduct that will govern the meeting. We ask that you adhere to these rules. Stockholders who previously voted by proxy using the internet, telephone or mail need not cash ballots today unless they wish to change their vote on their proxies. We will provide ballots to those who desire them at the appropriate time. Oil-Dri has appointed Gerry Lane of CT Hagberg LLC to serve as the inspector of elections for this meeting. He is present and has taken the oath of office. Commencing on October 30, 2019 a notice regarding the availability of proxy materials or a copy of the proxy materials was mailed to all Oil-Dri stockholders of record as of the close of business on October 14, 2019, which is the record date fixed by Oil-Dri’s Board of Directors for the termination of stockholders entitled to notice of and to vote at this meeting. I have an affidavit of mailing signed by Broadridge Financial Solutions Inc. confirming the foregoing and such affidavit is available for examination by any stockholder present here today. As described in the proxy statement, the purpose of this meeting is to elect nine directors, ratify the appointment of Grant Thornton LLP as Oil-Dri’s independent auditor for the fiscal year ending July 31, 2020. Approve an amendment the Oil-Dri Corporation of America 2006 long-term…

My name is Dave Weiske, I am a stockholder of record. I hereby move that each of Daniel S. Jaffee, Ellen-Blair Chube, Paul M. Hindsley, Joseph C. Miller, Michael A. Nemeroff, George C. Roeth, Allan H. Selig, Paul E. Suckow, Lawrence E. Washow as be elected to directors to serve the 2020 Annual Meeting of Stockholders or until their respective successors are elected and qualified.

My name is Bruce Sone and I am a stockholder of record and I second the motion.

Are there any questions or comments on this motion? I hereby call the question and declare the polls open to vote on the motion. We will provide ballots to any stockholders who have not previously given their proxy or who desire to change their vote. Please raise your hand if you would like a ballot. Is there any stockholder of record who wishes to vote in person? I now declare the polls closed on this motion. As described in the proxy statement, the second item of business is the ratification of the appointment of Grant Thornton LLP as Oil-Dri’s independent auditors for the fiscal year ending July 31, 2020. Grant Thornton has just completed its six year as Oil-Dri’s independent auditor. The audit committee of the board of directors of Oil-Dri has appointed Grant Thornton to again serve in the role for fiscal year 2020 and has directed that the appointment be submitted for ratification by the stockholders at this meeting. A motion to ratify Grant Thornton of Oil-Dri’s independent auditor for the fiscal year ending July 31, 2020 is now in order.

My name is Michelle [ph] and I'm a stockholder of record. I hereby move that the appointment of Grant Thornton LLP as Oil-Dri’s independent auditor for the fiscal year ending July 31, 2020 be ratified.

My name is Bruce Patsey. And I am a Stockholder of record by second the motion.

Are there any questions or comments on this motion? I hereby call the question and declare the polls open to vote on the motion. I now declare the polls closed on this motion. As describing in the company's proxy statement, the third order of business is the approval of an amendment to the Oil-Dri Corporation of America 2006 long-term incentive plan to increase the number of shares of stock authorized for issuance there under. A copy of the proposed amendment was included as Appendix A to the company's proxy statement. A motion to approve the amendment is now in order.

My name is Steven Klein and I'm a stockholder of record. I hereby move that the amendment to Oil-Dri Corporation of America 2006 long-term incentive plan be approved.

My name is Leslie Stephen Shaw [ph] and I'm a stockholder of record. I second the motion.

Are there any questions or comments on this motion? If not, I hereby call the question and declare the polls open to vote on the motion. I now declare the polls closed on this motion. I will now report the results of the voting at this meeting. As described in the proxy statement, a director may only be elected by a plurality of votes cast. The nine nominees who received the largest number of votes will be elected. Mr. Lane has informed me that the nine candidates nominated by Oil-Dri received the largest number of votes. I therefore find that each of Oil-Dri's nominees for director has been elected as a Director of Oil-Dri, to serve until the 2020 annual meeting of stockholders or until his or her respective successor is elected and qualified. Congratulations to each of you. As described in the proxy statement, an affirmative majority of the votes represented at this meeting is necessary for ratification of the appointment of Grant Thornton as Oil-Dri's independent auditor for the fiscal year ending July 31, 2020. Mr. Lane has informed me that such ratification received more than a majority of the votes represented at this meeting. I therefore fine that the appointment of Grant Thornton as Oil-Dri's independent auditor for the fiscal year ending July 31, 2020, has been ratified. Note that representatives of Grant Thornton are here with us today and will be available after the meeting to answer any appropriate questions. As described in the proxy statement an affirmative majority of the votes represented at this meeting is necessary for approval of an amendment to the Oil-Dri Corporation of America 2006 long-term incentive plan. Mr. Lane has informed me that such proposal received more than a majority of the votes represented at this meeting. I therefore find that the third amendment to the Oil-Dri Corporation of America 2006 long-term incentive plan, a copy of which was included as Appendix A to the company's proxy statement is approved. You have now heard the results of the voting and this completes the business to be conducted at this meeting. Since there are no other matters to come before this meeting, a motion to adjourn is now in order.

My name is Curtis Wellborn and I'm a stockholder of record. I hereby move that this meeting be adjourned.

My name is Tony Mitchell [ph] and I am a stockholder of record. I second the motion.

All in favor the motion of adjournment please signify by saying I. Those opposed please signify by saying no. The motion has been carried. It is now 9:36 a.m. on December 11, 2019, and I hereby declare the meeting adjourn. Thank you all for attending. I'm now happy to introduce Dan Jaffee, our President and Chief Executive Officer. Please note that the business presentation and any other commentary by any Oil-Dri's employees today may contain forward-looking statements of expected future performance. Any such for looking statements are subject to certain risk uncertainties and assumptions that could cause actual results to differ materially. We highlight a number of important risk factors that may affect our performance and our SEC filings, including our annual report for the fiscal year ended July 31, 2019. We urge you to review and consider those factors carefully in evaluating the company's comments and evaluating any investment in Oil-Dri stock. Thank you.

Thank you, Laura. Good morning. I would like to start fiscal 2019 was quite a year. I mean, those of you who followed the company, I'm getting signaled by Leslie. Thank you. All I have to send it forward. There we go. I figured it out. She didn't even have to train me. Those of you followed the company during the year know we had quite a rollercoaster ride in fiscal 2019. We literally started the year August 1st, launching our new ERP system and while we picked the right package and we did a lot of things right as those of you who've been through this yourselves know it never goes as planned. And while they call it a go live, we pretty much went dead. And the whole company had to join in and make things right or not impact our customers. And they did a phenomenal job. And so you've seen on our name tags, we call each other teammates, these are Oil-Dri teammates. Because that's truly what we are, we say at Oil-Dri, winning at Oil-Dri is a team game. So I'd like to start by first recognizing the board because they had a huge hand in this. And I'll ask -- I'll read out the names as from the stand and then please hold your applause till the end. Knowing that Joe Miller and Bud Selig are not here, Ellen-Blair Chube. Thank you, Ellen. Paul M. Hindsley, Michael A. Nemeroff, George Roeth, Paul Suckow, and Larry Washow. Did I forget anyone? No, I did not. So please, a round of applause for the board. Because I had the chance to interact with some investors who are here today and universally, everybody was very impressed with the talent in the Oil-Dri team. And the board deserves…

Is my mic on? Here we go. So hello, everyone. Good morning, as it was introduced earlier, I'm Molly VandenHeuvel, the Chief Operating Officer now. And I want to talk to you this morning about our implementation of our sales and operations, planning as is mentioned earlier. So I'll reference it as S&OP, sales and operations planning. So who may have heard of this term before in the industry, this is sometimes thought of just a simple supply and demand, what we're doing with this is actually broader than that. We're actually implementing a process in the industry known for as integrated business planning. And so it really is, as it says here it's a way we are going to integrate of business decisions from end-to-end. So what is it? It's a monthly cycle process, right? It's -- it really puts a lot of rigor forward-looking and allows for one set of numbers, one set of assumptions for all of our business decisions. And it will be the foundation for us for future growth. It's really going to put some more process in place more understanding, more consistency across the board. So, as I said, it's a monthly process, it's forward-looking and it starts with each week has a different focus in a different area that we'll talk about and we review on each month. So, in the first week of the month, is our [indiscernible] review, sorry. I think is my mic coming in and out here. As our portfolio management review, so this is the way that we look at all of our new items to make sure that we have portfolio for future growth in new items. We're making sure that we're on track, on time, within budget and we're finding ways to make sure we continue…

So good morning, everyone. I am Jessica Moskowitz, the VP and General Manager of our Consumer Products Division. And first of all, I want to thank Dan for entrusting me with your baby. I definitely feel like it is my baby now. And I'm excited about all the fun things we have and wouldn't be here without such a strong team. We've been posting strong momentum and strong results and it's all due to the great team that we have and everything I present today is really. So thank you to the team. So today I'm going to talk to you a little bit about our branded portfolio. Our branded litters and accessories continue to be a strong strategic push for us as we're looking to grow the business longer term. And, part of this push is really continuing to evolve our brand and understanding what are the consumer needs and how can we better meet them over time? And a big initiative this past year has been a rebranding effort of our Cat's Pride brand, which culminated in the packaging and rebranding launch on shelf this past May. This project you'll see, our new look up here. And the impetus for this was really thinking about consumers. Consumers are increasingly challenged to make more decisions, lots and lots of decisions in a lot less time. And as we think about their interaction with our brand, we literally have seconds to connect with consumers and influence our decisions. And so, as we look at our packaging, we have to make tough decision, tradeoffs about how we're going to talk to them. And be really laser focused about the communication that we have on pack and in our messaging in general. And so, as we were thinking about our packaging redesign,…

Yeah. Okay. Today I'm going to spend a few minutes talking about how Oil-Dri is creating value from our unique mineral and the new era of antibiotic free livestock production. Typically when I meet with large producers of poultry, or pork, but look at my business card and say what in the world there is a mining company involved with the livestock industry? What type of technology or science could you bring to our type of business? And the answer to that is this. We have expertise in what you call mineral absorptive technology. That's the ability to take our type of unique minerals and with our scientists. Find ways to modify it. So these minerals add function and remove contaminants from a range of different fluids. Doesn't matter if that fluid is vegetable oil, jet fuel, pickle brine, or increasingly, the fluid that you're finding in intestinal tract of an animal. All of these fluids have contaminants that different companies want to have removed. Our expertise for nearly 80 years has been finding ways to get our materials to remove these contaminants. And that's the role that Oil-Dri has been focusing on. With our investments in R&D in the last several years, we're combining our legacy expertise, material sciences, or adding and augmenting to it expertise in life science. We merge these two things together, and it has a lot of powerful leverage across several of our businesses. Cat litter, odor control, what causes the odor? Bacteria. Eggs orb used to be used the whole [indiscernible] the whole synthetic pesticides. But increasingly those companies are investing in natural microorganisms to give the same pest control that chemicals used to do. No one really wants to use chemicals anymore. So if you have to be able to hold a microorganism,…

Good morning. Like Jessica, I am very excited to be here this morning. It's actually my first chance to come and talk to you guys at an Annual Meeting. So, pretty excited about that. In fact yesterday was my one year anniversary at Oil-Dri. And that went wickedly quickly honestly. And as I think back on that year, that year was really one that was both challenging and rewarding. And Dan talked at the outset about some of the challenges I think he called it the rollercoaster ride of a new ERP it was probably -- there's probably other words that could describe it too. So you think about a company that goes live on an ERP. And it's one challenge to go from an ERP to a new ERP. But what Oil-Dri did was go from a system of -- a basis of homegrown systems to an ERP. So this is the real first ERP experience for this team. And they really, really worked hard to make it work. So when I got here, it was challenging but I was very, very impressed by the team. And we stand here a year later. And I said, it's rewarding to see how far we've gotten, we've truly moved from survive to thrive. And we're positioned now where our ERP works for us and it serves our customers. I think, Dan, the end of the story you told about the customer scorecard is today we're back up to number one, right? So that story has a good ending. So we're well-positioned to serve our customers and now we're positioned to leverage this technology. So think about the story Molly told about the S&OP and integrated business systems. We're positioned to start driving process and really undermining -- using data to help…

Well good, you got a good cross section of our business and got to see why I'm so excited about the future because it's in such great hands with our team. I'd love to open up to Q&A and will circulate a mic just so that the people on the line can hear you. And are we going to be getting questions from.

We're going to start with three questions from the live audience. Then we're going to turn it over to the phone lines and have them ask three questions then we'll turn it over to the webcast. And we can cycle back if there are additional.

Yes I'm Terry [ph] I'm a shareholder. I've been a shareholder for a couple of years. Not making money yet, but I kind of impressed from what I'm seeing right a friend here introduced me to the company and I've [Indiscernible]. I came in -- I really came here to understand the company. And I think you filled most of the blanks in during the presentation, but I got one, your material, is that something that’s readily available? Or can you just go out anywhere and dig it up? I mean how common is the clays and things you're using in terms of availability in the world? Is it something you got to hunt for? You just have to find a spot and use it? And what does it mean in California you hit something for a [Indiscernible] Yeah, what does it mean? How common is this the material, patent in California, you're talking about your reserve, what that means? But how common is this material? And how would I recognize it if I am driving around?

So great question. Thank you. The question for those of you who couldn't hear was how common is the material? The material is very pervasive across the United States. But then the question is, how economically viable is it to that mine it? And it's very difficult, very, very difficult. So we have over 40 years of proven reserves in every product line we have. And there have been no new clay plants built in the United States in the last 25, probably 35 years. They've been multiple closure of acquisitions and reductions because the environmental compliance now around building a clay plant is very difficult. So once you're grandfathered in and you have that infrastructure, you can do it. But I don't see any new entrants coming on anytime soon.

So if I sneak one more in here?

Well, let's move it around and then we'll come back around. Thank you.

Hi, Dan. My name is Dan Joseph, a longtime shareholder at Oil-Dri. I have two questions. One now and one after the call and questions. First, I want to thank you for combining names and every one of your cat litter products is now called Cat Pride. Used to never remember the name fresh and light and I was always calling it light and fluffy. The question for now is in that video by -- produced by Earth, you show the mining facility, Cat Pride mining facility. One, where is it? My cats Lilly seen and want to know and go there? And second is that calcium bentonite or sodium bentonite? And the other question I'll ask later.

Okay. So that plant that you saw in the drone footage is in Ripley, Mississippi. All of our minerals are generally calcium bentonite. They have other mixes in them untapped. It's called diatomite and it's a blend and none of our minerals are sodium bentonite. So the sodium bentonite swell, ours do not swell. And that's sort of the fundamental difference. So we mine and market calcium bentonite either.

Thank you, Ethan Star, individual shareholder. And I'd like to just say, it's a pleasure to be affiliated with a company with so many fine people that I met today. And my question is, what will it take to significantly increase B2B sales? Is it a matter of new products, greater distribution or what else?

I'm certainly willing to answer this question. Then you guys can embellish it if you want. I think really ought is, is patients. I think we had a great idea. We had a lot of great science, but we didn't necessarily have the great commercial team put in place to get it out the way it needed to be. We made a fundamental change one a year ago, Fleming Miles [ph] please stand so they can see. Fleming is the President of Amlin International [ph] and he comes to us with a strong background in animal health and most particularly in commercialization and actually taking great ideas and great science and getting them out into the marketplace. It's one thing to have a great product you got to need and demand. And we are hitting the market at the exact perfect time. I mean getting really antibiotics. Antibiotics was a great solution for what they were trying to accomplish, but it is being eliminated from a governmental regulation standpoint. And so now they have to find a new mousetrap. And we believe we have the best non-antibiotic mousetrap, but we certainly have a great one. And so there's at least a $3 billion opportunity out there for us to go after and any sliver of that is going to be a big deal. Now our go-to-market strategy for now is going to be trying to gain a greater share and a smaller geography than a tiny share and the whole world because it's hard to defend multi price, we all know that. So, we're very focused, we're very happy, we have the footprint in China, we're going to make that work for us and we've got some other acquisitions. You saw Mexico, we're very focused, Latin America, we're very focused, Indonesia. So just patients, just hang in there. When you are this long, this would not be a good time to bail out. Anything you guys want to add?

Okay, now we're going to open up the phone lines and take our first question.

[Operator Instructions] Our first quarter comes from the line of [indiscernible]. Please go ahead.

[indiscernible]

Can you repeat the question? Ii didn't come out very clearly.

[indiscernible]

I will jump in real quick and then Mike you can embellish on me. I mean, look Bob what it takes is these guys are very slow to change one way or the other. So, when they've adopted you they're very slow to move out because they've done their homework, but they're not so quick to change what they're doing either. There's billions of birds or their careers are staked on fractions of penny in the cost of what they are doing. And so really it's not going to be a linear thing. It's going to be pretty much a stair step thing. It's going to be as they're doing tests once they adopt and they decide to roll it out, you go from zero to a big number quickly. But some of them will roll us out. We've talked about it. And if they have multiple facilities maybe one at a time just to get comfortable with it. But in reality what it takes as tests, we're in test in a lot of places, we're not going to disclose what those are. And then as those start happening and succeeding then you'll see big growth. But it's the company are small, so as small as we are, if we were GE than it would look more linear, but we are so small that as any of these opportunities hit, you're going to notice it and it's going to be material, but to call it sustained and whatever I forgot the word you put on it. It's going to be more leaps forward as it happens.

[indiscernible]

Yes. So as we put on more accounts we will grow.

We're ready for the next question on the telephone lines.

[Operator Instructions]

No questions. Yes, we'll come back.

Okay, good. I know Dan we’re open to Dan, there he is you have one more question.

But there is a… is there one on the phone line.

No questions.

No questions. We need to -- why don't you ask your second question.

Yes. I get my question preempted here. You're walking all over my second question and I really without getting an answer. Animal health, it looks like there a whole big huge feel covers a lot of territory. You're basically a clay company and I am impressed a clay company, that's basically a mining companies that’s gotten off and doing things like animal health. But beyond just laying the stuff on the floor and keeping bacteria you’re your presentation was inside of a chicken. I don't see clay? What’s the mechanism somebody along the way mentioned edible oil. So I didn't hear that in the presentation on medical. Just what are we doing, is that more clay or is that a whole new field that are going into to actually get stuff…

Yes, no it's play and it's put in the animal feed itself. And look, the fact that we're all here tells you that the clay is doing something. When the Caveman came out of cave with diarrhea, he didn't run over to the Walgreens and picked up antibiotics. But I'm serious, so look at all the other plan it's in the Galaxy. They don't sustain life because whatever's on it the mix of the oxygen and the plan wherever there is not -- it doesn't have the ability to sustain life Earth does. So the fact that this product works doesn't surprise me at all, it would stun me if it didn't because we wouldn't be here if it didn't work.

So you're really making something like [Indiscernible] visible.

Well, not really, but we're just doing it analogy. [Multiple Speaker]

Now you're getting it inside of the animal is by coming up with some sort of a thing they eat…

In the food.

In the food.

It’s blended into their food.

So that’s kind of well away from clay, it could be any number of things that are in there, but there could be, okay.

We've done the science our clay is fundamental to the success of what goes on and we got.

I am impress with the technology and direction that's all going to have a lot of potential and keep going.

Okay, so Dan wanted to question.

Hello, again Dan, this is Dan Joseph, once again. Concerning marketing I saw that clip of the Ellen DeGeneres Show. But many people who have cats are at work like all your staff and don’t watch day time TV. However, they do probably listen to music on the radio getting ready for work in particular classical music. And best classical radio station is right here in Chicago WFMT and many, many, many of their listeners own cats. So I were to add Oil-Dri is a local Chicago company I would suggest you give a try on the early morning program to see what kind of response at one time I own the bike store and we promoted delivery of bicycles on Christmas Eve. And it was very, very successful this is 30 years ago. And it might be successful also in promoting cat litter, but you must also indicate on the advertisement where one could buy it. I know opposite Joel is one place, but are known for the other places. The other thing is you indicated you are commute around Southshore and Northern Illinois Commuter Transportation District. And I don't know if they have inside letter of to commuters and maybe I'd like to read about the president and CEO of the company that uses to train free advertising.

Thank you trust me. Our team does a great job of trying to figure out where to get our message and how to get it to them. If you do want to hear us on the radio the last Saturday now of every month we're on the 10:30 old time radio show and we've been sponsoring that and we give away a year supply of cat litter. And we get a great reaction because WGN at night reaches 42 different states. So it's -- so we're on the radio. But thank you. I think I am going to call to an end I really appreciate to everyone.

We have one question from the web, which we’ll take. It is from John Bair from Ascend Wealth Advisors. He says great quarter, great outlook congrats to all. I wonder if you have had any thoughts or discussions to have John Holden do a follow-up segment focused on Oil-Dri’s significant efforts in the animal health market. And do the chickens really prefer the strawberry flavored powder as shown in the slides just kidding, he says.

John, thank you and yes that's a great question. And if they are interested we would certainly want to participate. So we'll keep that under advisement.

Well thank you. I mean we had a great year, a great quarter. We got a lot of momentum going. I always like to tell the investors look you have to make your own decision. You get to buy, sell or hold. And all we can do is try and be transparent with where we're going. Myself personally I've increased my holdings again this year. I think I've done it every year for the last 25 years. So I’m putting my money where my mouth is and you guys just have to decide how you want to go. So thank you for your interest and we will talk to you again on our Investor Teleconference in about three months.