CEO Remarks at the 2018 Annual Shareholders Meeting

June 13, 2018

The 2018 Annual Shareholders Meeting featured Cat® machines, Cat and Perkins engines on display and tours of our facility in Seguin, Texas. The meeting was hosted by our Industrial Power Systems Division on June 13 in San Antonio. Shareholders voted on multiple proposals and heard CEO Jim Umpleby talk about Caterpillar’s “Strength, Execution and Discipline.”

Below are highlights from the speech regarding key topics. To read Jim’s full remarks, click here. 

Excellent Results

Many of our key markets improved last year and we began implementing our new strategy.

The Caterpillar team capitalized on the opportunities and that contributed to excellent financial results in 2017:

• Sales and revenues increased about 18 percent to $45.5 billion
• Profit increased to $1.26 per share compared with a loss of $0.11 per share in 2016
• Adjusted profit per share more than doubled to $6.88

We can again thank our global team for outstanding results in first-quarter 2018:

• Achieved record first-quarter profit, based on a combination of strength in many of our end markets and our team’s focus on our new strategy.  

Second to None in Serving Our Customers

When we combine the strength of our people with the strength of our partners, especially the 171 independent Cat^® dealers around the world, we are second to none in serving our customers.

Texas Operations

More than 4,000 Caterpillar employees at 20 Caterpillar locations across the state. South-Central Texas facilities in Seguin, San Antonio and Schertz occupy more than 2.5 million square feet and employ more than 2,500 men and women. These facilities manufacture, market and sell industrial engines and electric power generator sets.

Seguin facility builds Cat and Perkins brand engines and generator sets up to 500 kilowatts.

We’ve shipped 366,000 Cat and Perkins engines since production started at Seguin in 2010.

More than 70 percent of the engines built in Seguin are exported annually.     

Perkins products are manufactured on four continents, Perkins distributors in 180 countries.

Perkins leading engineering technology with the Perkins® SmartCap, Bluetooth engine telematics device which gives customers access to engine data via a smartphone-based app.

Cat and Perkins engines provide reliable power for machines that build highways, dams and bridges, for tractors that plow farmers’ fields, and for equipment that mines or extracts the natural resources needed for energy as well as dozens of other industrial uses.

Support Communities in Texas and Across the Globe

South-Central Texas employees, along with the Caterpillar Foundation match, have donated more than $400,000 to the United Way of San Antonio and Guadalupe County since 2013. Statewide, Texas contributions for 2017 are well over $1 million.

In 2017, Caterpillar Foundation invested more than $33 million to help alleviate global poverty, and for relief and recovery efforts after natural disasters around the world.

Hurricane Harvey Response

Caterpillar deployed 8,000 portable generators. Caterpillar Foundation donated $300,000 for American Red Cross disaster relief efforts.

Caterpillar and our dealers – Holt Cat, Louisiana Cat, Mustang Cat and Warren Cat – helped communities, first responders and law enforcement in rescue, recovery and rebuild efforts.

Caterpillar Foundation donated additional $490,000 to the Victoria County United Way and $490,000 to the United Way of Greater Houston for long-term hurricane recovery efforts.

Our Values in Action

Supporting communities is one of many ways we live our Code of Conduct, which we call Our Values in Action. These Values underlie everything we do.

Sustainability stands alongside our Values of Integrity, Excellence, Teamwork and Commitment. For decades (we’ve been) striving for sustainability in what we make and how we make it.

The Next Generation 20-ton excavators we introduced in 2017 are good examples: increase operating efficiency, reduce fuel and maintenance costs compared to previous models.

We continue to develop products with lower emissions, investing to improve engine efficiency and expand the use of alternative fuels while decreasing owning and operating costs.

We have the world’s largest single autonomous fleet. With Cat Command for Hauling, that fleet moved 700 million tonnes and traveled 13 million miles in 2017.

Enterprise Strategy and Purpose:  Build a Better World

The primary goal of our strategy, shared at Investor Day last September, is to profitably grow our company and deliver long-term value for our shareholders.

We also introduced a purpose statement, “Our solutions help our customers build a better world;” our customers use our products to improve living standards, help people have access to clean water, electricity, roads, bridges, transportation, hospitals, schools and so much more.

The foundation of our strategy and all we do is our Code of Conduct, Our Values in Action.

Equally fundamental is our Operating & Execution Model (O&E Model), powerful methodology that provides a detailed understanding of our financial performance by product, region and application. With the O&E Model, we evaluate market economics and assess our capabilities to win. Then we invest in areas with the best opportunities for future profitable growth.

Strategy: Three Key Focus Areas

Our strategy is based on three key areas of focus:

• Further development of services, including digital technologies and the aftermarket.  In 2017, we grew our connected asset population by 24 percent, and we have the world’s largest connected industrial fleet.
• Expand product offerings to meet our customers’ diverse needs and help reach new customers. Next Generation excavators are one example.
• Commitment to deliver operational excellence – continue to improve safety, deliver high-quality products, further implement Lean manufacturing principles (and) a more competitive and flexible cost structure.

Focus for 2018

Continue to implement our strategy:

• Investments to expand product offerings and services
• Additional steps to become a more agile company
• Use O&E Model to bias resources toward future profitable growth
• Continue to deliver high-quality products and services our customers need to build a better world
• Continue to invest in our people – the backbone of our success and our greatest asset
• Continue to invest in communities where we live and work

With our solid strategy and execution, there are tremendous opportunities in the years ahead.