Annual Report Also Accompanies This Letter
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ANNUAL MEETING ABOUT DOLLAR GENERAL Dollar General Corporation’s annual meeting of shareholders is scheduled for 9 a.m. Central Time on Dollar General Corporation has been delivering NET SALES (IN BILLIONS) Wednesday, May 27, 2020, at: value to shoppers for more than 80 years. Dollar $27.8 Goodlettsville City Hall Auditorium $25.6 General helps shoppers Save time. Save money. $23.5 105 South Main Street, Goodlettsville, TN 37072 ® $22.0 Every day! by o ering products that are frequently $20.4 used and replenished, such as food, snacks, health Shareholders of record as of March 19, 2020 are and beauty aids, cleaning supplies, basic apparel, entitled to vote at the meeting. housewares and seasonal items at everyday low prices in convenient neighborhood locations. NYSE: DG 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 Dollar General operated 16,278 stores in 44 states The common stock of Dollar General Corporation is as of January 31, 2020. In addition to high-quality traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the private brands, Dollar General sells products ENDING STORE COUNT trading symbol “DG.” The number of shareholders of from America’s most-trusted manufacturers such 16,278 record as of March 19, 2020 was 2,617. 15,370 Visit www.dollargeneral.com as Clorox, Energizer, Procter & Gamble, Hanes, 14,534 to learn more about Dollar General Coca-Cola, Mars, Unilever, Nestle, Kimberly-Clark, 13,320 STOCK PERFORMANCE GRAPH 12,483 and shop online. Kellogg’s, General Mills, and PepsiCo. The graph below compares Dollar General Corporation’s cumulative total shareholder return on common stock STORES with the cumulative total returns of the S&P 500 index STORES IN 44 STATES DISTRIBUTION CENTER and the S&P Retailing index. The graph tracks the AS OF 1/31/2020 16,278 FRESH DISTRIBUTION FACILITY performance of a $100 investment in our common 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 stock and in each index (with the reinvestment of all dividends) from January 30, 2015 to January 31, 2020. 40 57 SAME STORE 41 37 SALES GROWTH COMPARISON OF CUMULATIVE 57 161 3.9% 190 3.2% TOTAL RETURN 55 494 50 2.8% 2.7% 0.9% 569 19 $250 778 64 257 127 146 22 856 47 $200 574 563 249 139 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 226 11 51 544 435 246 561 $150 863 812 CASH FROM OPERATIONS 460 (IN MILLIONS) 120 449 563 99 $2,238 $100 $2,144 $1,802 789 536 912 $1,605 1/30/15 1/29/16 2/3/17 2/2/18 2/1/19 1/31/20 1,542 573 $1,392 Dollar General Corporation S&P 500 Index S&P Retailing Index 1/30/15 1/29/16 2/3/17 2/2/18 2/1/19 1/31/20 894 Dollar General $100 $113.28 $111.77 $154.02 $180.21 $242.48 S&P 500 Index $100 $99.33 $119.24 $150.73 $147.24 $179.17 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 S&P Retailing Index $100 $118.07 $140.38 $203.32 $216.05 $253.36 CAUTIONARY DISCLOSURE REGARDING FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS & WEBSITE DISCLAIMER: All forward-looking information in this report should be read with, and is qualifi ed in its entirety by, the Cautionary Disclosure Regarding Forward-Looking Statements and the Risk Factors Fiscal 2016 includes 53 weeks, while all other The stock price performance included in this graph is not disclosures set forth in the Introduction and in Item 1A, respectively, of the Form 10-K included elsewhere in this report. The information contained on years presented contain 52 weeks. Sales in the 2016 or connected to our Internet website is not incorporated by reference into this report and should not be considered part of this or any other report 53rd week were approximately $399 million. necessarily indicative of future stock price performance. that we fi le with or furnish to the SEC, unless we specifi cally provide otherwise. TO OUR FELLOW SHAREHOLDERS, CUSTOMERS & EMPLOYEES: At Dollar General, our value and convenience proposition, 2019 was a pivotal year for these long-term strategic coupled with our unique and growing real estate footprint, initiatives, and we believe they will continue to strengthen has allowed us to serve customers for more than 80 years. In our position as we look to drive sales and improve operating 2019, we made significant progress advancing key strategic margin over the long term. initiatives to provide a better life for our customers and employees, and strong returns for our shareholders. In addition to our strategic initiatives, we remain focused on our four key operating priorities: As a mature retailer in growth mode, we achieved several notable milestones in our 80th year of business. We completed 2,099 1. Driving profitable sales growth: We are continuing to real estate projects, including the opening of our 16,000th store, pursue balanced and profitable sales growth through while also delivering our 30th consecutive year of same-store many sales-driving and gross margin-enhancing sales growth. We continue to focus on execution and innovation initiatives. In 2020, these planned eorts will include to capture additional market share, while further solidifying our further cooler door expansion, private brand enhancements, position as a leader in the small-box discount retail channel. global sourcing penetration and diversification, and distribution and transportation eciencies. Highlights of 2019 Compared to 2018: 2. Capturing growth opportunities: Our proven high-return, • Net sales increased 8.3% to $27.8 billion and same- low-risk real estate growth model, coupled with ongoing store sales increased 3.9%. format innovation, continues to drive growth that is unmatched in our channel. We have successfully executed • Operating profit increased 8.8% to $2.3 billion. thousands of real estate projects in recent years, and in 2020, we plan to open 1,000 new stores, remodel 1,500 • Net income grew to $1.7 billion, and diluted earnings mature stores and relocate 80 stores as we seek to continue per share increased 11.2% to $6.64. serving both new and existing customers across the country. • Cash flows from operations were $2.2 billion. 3. Leveraging and reinforcing our position as a low cost operator: Our Save to Serve discipline continues • We returned $1.5 billion to our shareholders through to deliver savings across the organization. We are share repurchases and dividends. continually pursuing opportunities to drive greater efficiencies and reduce costs, while keeping the • We opened 975 new stores, remodeled 1,024 stores and customer at the center of everything we do. relocated 100 stores. 4. Investing in our people as a competitive advantage: We are pleased with our strong results this year, in addition The investments we have made in our people delivered to the important steps taken in advancing our long- benefits again in 2019 as we saw our lowest store term strategic initiatives. In 2019, we expanded our Non- manager turnover on record. We continue to provide Consumables initiative to approximately 2,400 stores, as we world-class training opportunities for our people, and look to improve both sales and margin while enhancing the we believe the opportunity to start and develop a career treasure-hunt experience for our customers. with a growing retailer is a competitive advantage. DG Fresh, which is our strategic multi-phased shift to self- Our mission of Serving Others is foundational to everything distribution of frozen and refrigerated goods, is primarily aimed at we do at Dollar General. In 2019, Dollar General and its reducing overall product costs, while driving on-shelf availability Foundations awarded more than $17 million to charitable and providing for greater product assortment over time. We efforts that extend hope and opportunity to individuals and began serving more than 6,000 stores in 2019 from four new DG nonprofit organizations in the communities we call home. Fresh facilities, and we are very pleased with the early results. I want to thank our team of approximately 143,000 employees Our Digital initiative continues to focus on deploying and who work hard every day to deliver value and convenience leveraging technology to further enhance our customers’ in- for our customers. I am excited about the opportunities we store experience. The DG app now offers customers a wide are pursuing, and I believe we are well-positioned to continue variety of options to augment their shopping experience, delivering value to our customers, employees and shareholders. and we will continue to seek ways to leverage technology to offer even greater convenience to our customers, while driving customer traffic to our stores. RESPECTFULLY, Fast Track is focused on increasing labor productivity in our stores, enhancing customer convenience, and further improving on-shelf availability. We completed our rolltainer optimization efforts and launched the pilot of self-checkout in 2019. We are excited about the early results, and believe TODD J. VASOS we can drive even greater convenience for our customers CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER and efficiency in our stores in 2020. APRIL 2, 2020 PROXY STATEMENT & MEETING NOTICE br DEAR FELLOW SHAREHOLDER, The 2020 Annual Meeting of Shareholders of Dollar General Corporation will be held on Wednesday, May 27, 2020, at 9:00 a.m., Central Time, at Goodlettsville City Hall Auditorium, 105 South Main Street, Goodlettsville, Tennessee.* All shareholders of record at the close of business on March 19, 2020 are invited to attend the annual meeting. For security reasons, however, to gain admission to the meeting you must present certain identification and documentation described in the Proxy Statement. At this year’s meeting, you will have an opportunity to vote on the matters described in our accompanying Notice of Annual Meeting of Shareholders and Proxy Statement.