Northrop Election Plan OKd

Shareholders of Northrop Grumman Corp., the world’s largest builder of warships, approved a company proposal Tuesday to elect directors annually to improve the board’s accountability.

During a meeting at the company’s space technology business in Redondo Beach, investors also passed a nonbinding shareholder proposal calling for the termination of supermajority voting requirements on some governance issues.

Annual director elections won support from holders representing 318 million shares, or about 89% of shares outstanding, the company said. Northrop’s directors are now divided into three classes and elected to staggered three-year terms. Because of Tuesday’s vote, they will be elected to one-year terms after the three-year terms of each class expire.

The shareholder proposal, which won approval with about 62% of shares outstanding, called for a simple majority vote on each issue that can be subject to shareholder vote. Northrop’s current rules require approval of holders representing 66.67% of outstanding shares.

Century City-based Northrop shares rose 47 cents to $54.33 on the New York Stock Exchange.