Ladies and gentlemen, good morning. My name is Donald McGauchie. As Chairman of the company, it gives me great pleasure to welcome you to AACo's 2023 Annual General Meeting. As it's now past 10:00 A.M., and I've been advised that a quorum is present, I declare this annual general meeting of shareholders open. I begin by acknowledging the traditional custodians of the land on which we meet today, the Turrbal and Jagera peoples, and pay my respects to their elders, and I pay my respects to any other First Nations people who've joined us today. Some housekeeping matters: if you can please ensure that your mobile phones are turned off. I'd also like to point out the emergency exits, which are at the back of the room. I wish, first of all, to address yesterday's media reporting of charges being brought against Mr.
Joe Lewis in the United States. Mr. Lewis, through Tavistock Investments, is the most significant shareholder in AACo. The AACo Board became aware yesterday, about this time yesterday, through public reports, that the New York Southern District Attorney has alleged that Mr. Lewis shared non-public information of certain companies, including AACo. The Board has sought legal advice on the matters relating to AACo. As the proceedings are against Mr. Lewis, AACo has no further information and is not able to comment further at this time. AACo will keep the market updated in accordance with its continuous disclosure obligations to our shareholders. The Board is focused on AACo's business and is committed to ensuring that the progress made by the business in 2023 is continued into 2024. We're looking forward to discussing our FY 2024 plans with you today.
I'd now like to move on with the meeting. The Notice of Meeting, which was sent to shareholders on the 21st of June, will be taken as read. The AGM is also webcast live to allow shareholders and interested parties to observe the meeting online. The link to the live webcast can be found on the Notice of Meeting. Let me now introduce the Board members, some of whom are here today in person and some of whom are joining us via telephone from our office in the United States. First of all, Mr. Stuart Black, who's here with us today, Dr. Shehan Dissanayake, who's in the United States, Mr. Anthony Abraham, who's with us today, Mr. Neil Reisman, who's in the United States, Ms. Jessica Rudd, who's with us today, Mr. Marc Blazer, who's in the United States.
Sarah Gentry, who's our newest member of the Board, who's also in the United States. Please note that Dr. Shehan Dissanayake, Ms. Rudd, and Ms. Gentry are each standing for re-election, details of which are included in the notice of meeting. I would also like to introduce David Harris, our Chief Executive Officer, Mr. Bruce Bennett, our Company Secretary and General Counsel, and Mr. Glen Steedman, our Chief Financial Officer, who joined us earlier this year. We also have with us today, Scott Guse, representing AACo's auditors, KPMG. Mr. Guse is available to answer questions relevant to the conduct of the audit, the preparation and content of the Independent Experts External Audit Report, and representatives of Link Market Services Limited, our share register.
Before moving to the formal part of the meeting, I will address some procedural matters and will then proceed with the business of the day, as set out in the notice of meeting. The financial statements and reports will be discussed first. We'll then deal with each of the remaining items set out on the Notice of Meeting, being Remuneration Report, Election of Directors. There will be an opportunity for comment and question in respect of each of these items, and I'd remind you that you will need the appropriate voting card to be able to speak or vote. I'll first now turn to my address as chairman. Once again, let me welcome you to Australian Agricultural Company's 2023 Annual Meeting. On behalf of my fellow directors, I want to thank you all for joining us today in person and online.
We meet today in the 199th year of the Australian Agricultural Company. I want to take a moment to acknowledge this remarkable achievement. It's arguable whether it is the oldest company in Australia, if not just one of two or three at that age group, so it doesn't really matter. It's a remarkable achievement. When we look back at the history of AACo, I believe we will see the 2023 financial year as a significant turning point in our history. In particular, the team have demonstrated that we are on the right track in two fundamental areas. Premium beef brands are the driver of our strategy and our future. We are moving in the right direction to meet the global challenges of sustainability. The next time we meet for our AGM, we will be celebrating our 200th year.
I believe that our progress in FY 2023 is confirmation that we are positioning AACo for the next 200 years. The year just gone has been defined by significant global operating challenges. Our ongoing commodity market shifts are continuing to reshape the beef supply and demand chain. Global inflationary pressures have impacted almost every sector around the world, and ongoing geopolitical challenges continue to impact the food and agricultural sectors. Despite these challenges, your AACo team have delivered increased revenue compared to the previous year. This has been driven by successfully increasing prices for our beef in all major markets, increased sales volumes overall, and stable production costs, a remarkable achievement given the broad inflationary environment that we are currently operating in. These outcomes are the product of continued progress against our strategic pillars. We've achieved five consecutive years of positive operating cash flow.
The team have demonstrated operational resilience in the face of ongoing challenges, and we have continued to invest significantly in our brands, our assets and our people. Most importantly, these outcomes have confirmed that premium branded beef is the future of this company. Westholme and Darling Downs continue to drive forward major markets. Our marketing and sales team continue to burn shoe leather and push new sales. Every time they do, they focus on building relationships with chefs, with restaurants, and with distributors. Seeing major food influencers connecting with our brands and with our story, and importantly, they are making deep connections with the ones who influence the influencers. When we invite people to an event, as we've done regularly now in California, or we have a campaign, we are seeing these people come back.
We are beginning to see people actually reaching out to us and wanting to be involved with the product that we're producing into the market. This work is based around building a connected brand, marketing and sales infrastructure, and let me emphasize that sales infrastructure, which is so important. The team operating within this model are performing well. Through their work, we have strengthened this part of our global supply chain, and today, this infrastructure is a hugely valuable asset to this business and will grow significantly over the next few years. The purpose of all this work is ultimately to connect with consumers. We want more and more consumers to connect and feel part of our story, because the story is as important as the product itself. Importantly, our results in the last year suggest we are beginning to generate demand momentum in the market.
In other words, people coming to us, which is unusual in agriculture. There is still an enormous amount of hard work to do. As a board, we believe that the demand growth we are seeing validates the significant investments we have made on your behalf. We have moved into the current financial year and beyond. We have to go further. We have to replicate the recent progress we have seen in North America and South Korea. We have to replicate this business model in new markets. We have to continue to invest to drive continued results in those markets, old and new. This commitment is the core of our commercial strategy going forward, and based on our progress to date, this investment will form the bedrock of the future of the company for the next 200 years.
As I mentioned, we are fast approaching the end of our first two centuries, and we now look forward with optimism to the next two. You've heard me say this before, but we are absolutely focused on those next two centuries. Transitioning to a company of brands, stories, and deep consumer connection is fundamental to this work, and so too, of our sustainability strategy. For 200 years, AACo has been focused on sustainability, and if we hadn't been, we wouldn't be here today. It's whether we use that word or not, is what we've been doing. Sustainable soil use, sustainable feed and biodiversity, sustainable waterways, sustainable animal breeding, animal care, and animal transport. Our commitment on all these fronts has always been in our DNA. More recently, we have grappled with a new challenge: the sustainability of our climate.
I don't think any of our founders 200 years ago could have imagined that AACo would have a role to play in our weather, but we do, and I'm proud to say that AACo's commitment is at the global forefront. Importantly, we are only at the beginning of truly understanding the scale and the complexity of this work that we will have to undertake and are undertaking. We have developed our sustainability strategy, but this is a living document, and we will continue to refine our approach based on where we can have maximum positive impact. To help, we have brought together a wonderful group of experts to help the company. This includes both our leaders within AACo and the partnerships that we have developed and are developing outside the business. In practical terms, we are pushing in two directions simultaneously.
We are continuing to invest in practical ways where we know that we can have an impact, and importantly, we are continuing to learn and explore how the wider sustainability mission all fits together. Any farmer can tell you that weather is an important beast and an unpredictable one. Under the leadership of our CEO, Dave Harris, and Naomi Wilson, our Head of Environment and Sustainability, we are pushing ourselves every day. I was delighted to see the recent results of the Asparagopsis trial. We conducted this work in partnership with our industry partners. Others can and will speak about this in more detail, but we have demonstrated this pathway aligns with our standards of beef quality, which was very important to us. We're investing in working with the right people to move forward. We're also continuing to invest in our solar bores program.
We are continuing to invest in landscape carbon management. We are continuing to invest in sophisticated biodiversity management, and we continue to drive the highest standards of animal welfare. Fortunately, this commitment is demanded by our consumers and our partners. We know it is essential for the planet. We know it is a non-negotiable issue for our customers. We know this work will generate and is central to our next 200 years. An important consequence of this work is continued growth in the value of our underlying assets. This includes our remarkable properties and land assets. It also includes the herd our team have built over the last 200 years, and overall net assets have increased in value to AUD 1.6 billion.
This has contributed to a 14% growth in our net tangible asset value to AUD 2.59 per share. At the last AGM, I committed to using our progress to invest back into the business. We have since expanded the Goonoo property, which is our feedlot operation, or one of them. It will increase production capacity and boost our supply into the global markets. We've also made good progress in our Gulf cropping projects. Based on our progress to date, AACo commits to continued investment in those assets, our brands, our sales, and our sustainability work, and in particular, that global supply chain and marketing chain that we're building. AACo has demonstrated great resilience over the years, and particularly in the Gulf, since the Gulf floods in 2019.
We continue to prepare for ongoing volatility in the year ahead. Global inflationary pressures continue to drive input costs upward. Geopolitical risks continue to impact global supply chains. Higher meat supply is impacting market prices, impacting both cattle and meat sales. This particularly underscores the importance of our branded strategy and our ability to keep driving the price. We have great confidence in our team to continue to meet these challenges. It won't be easy, I can tell you from what we're seeing. Maintaining stable production costs in 2023 was a remarkable achievement. Achieving price improvements across the markets is just as significant. We're confident in the team's ability to continue this work. Importantly, the quality of the recent wet season bodes well for our land assets and our cattle as they move through the supply chain.
I very much want to thank our CEO and Executive Team on behalf of the Board. Your unified focus and pursuit of our strategy is achieving this important progress. We were delighted to appoint, permanently appoint Dave Harris as Managing Director and CEO in the year just gone, and to appoint Glen Steedman as our Chief Financial Officer. Your strength and clarity of leadership puts AACo in a very strong position. I also want to acknowledge and commend my fellow directors. It's been a pleasure to welcome Sarah Gentry to the Board in 2023. Sarah has replaced Tom Keene. I'd certainly like to recognize his significant contribution to the company over the years that he was on the Board.
As a board, we look forward to continued progress against our company strategy, we remain committed to positioning your AACo in its next 200 years. Thank you to all of our shareholders for your ongoing support. Many of you have been on a long journey with AACo. We have embarked on an ambitious journey to reposition this important company for the future. Our progress should give you comfort that this is the right path for the company to be taking. With that, I'll now hand over to our Managing Director, Dave Harris, for his address. Thank you.
Thank you, Donald. It's an honor to be joining you here today as the Managing Director and CEO of AACo. Welcome to all of you here today in Brisbane and following online, a big thank you to the team for organizing today's Annual General Meeting. Financial year 2023 has been a year of progress for your company. It's been a year of ongoing learning and development, of opportunity and growth, I'm pleased with what we have achieved. From our teams on station to the corporate teams who enable the business to perform at its best, our commercial teams, who market and secure opportunities at restaurants all around the world, we are all proud to work for AACo and to build on the positive legacy of those who came before us.
Our results in FY 2023 are testament to this, and operating result and one of the strongest full-year outcomes in recent memory. Among the key highlights for the period, we were able to achieve a 35% increase in our operating profit and a 14% improvement in total revenue. Our brands helped generate price increases in all our major markets with an overall 18% increase in meat sales. We also recorded an almost AUD 300 million increase in the value of our pastoral property and improvements, and we achieved a stable cost of production in what was a very high inflationary environment. Our statutory profit was down against the prior year, though this was primarily due to those unrealized herd valuations at current market rates.
The mark-to-market fair value reduction of AUD 112 million that we reported is a result of those lower cattle prices at the end of the period. Our supply chain and strategy, which focuses on selling branded beef in the global markets, is largely designed to decouple our operating position from the fluctuations of the cattle market. As we explained in our full-year results presentation, operating profit and operating cash flow are the metrics within our control and give the most accurate representation of the company's performance each year. Operating cash flow for the period was a positive at AUD 16 million. This was a result, constrained a little by the costs of increased production, noting AACo's herd grew to 433,000 cattle. There was also almost a 20% increase in live weight kilos produced for the period.
We are consciously investing in our herd every day to ensure that we can continue to deliver growth and positive outcomes. We have used lessons learned over the recent years as opportunities to optimize our herd. It is now around the same size as it was in 2019, but the growth has come with a focus on strategy and the markets around the world. AACo is one of the few companies that manages its cattle along the entire length of the supply chain, from breeding and genetics all the way through to the restaurant. That's one of the things that makes us unique, but it highlights why we need to plan over many years with the varying seasons, with unpredictable weather, changing market conditions, and different economic circumstances.
However, when considering the challenges of recent years, I feel that we are proving our ability to adapt and take advantage of these opportunities. It also demonstrates why it's wise to use the successful years like this as a springboard for greater success, to consider each year of progress as an opportunity to reposition ourselves for further growth and build resilience, and to invest in the areas of the business that will add value now and create growth over the longer term. That is our plan. The FY 2023 results were delivered under the five pillars of the company strategy: delivering full potential from our brands, developing our natural resources and assets, creating a simpler and more efficient business, executing on our sustainability framework, and finally, making AACo a great place to work.
While we naturally focus much of our attention on our brands and in market, this is where the majority of our revenue is derived. AACo will always be successful when we focus on all of these pillars. The strategy and everything we do about maximizing the potential, is about maximizing the potential of our three principal core activities. Firstly, the marketing and distribution of high-quality branded beef into global markets. Secondly, the breeding, growing, feedlotting, and trading of our animals. Lastly, the ownership and operation and development of the amazing pastoral properties that we are fortunate to have stewardship over today. To achieve the first area of activity, we are investing in our global markets with greater presence, support, and a more focused approach. We're building closer relationships to key partners who have helped us achieve the higher prices.
The awareness and appreciation for brands such as Westholme and Darling Downs has further grown over the period, and the success we are experiencing in the key global markets is helping to facilitate selective expansion into new affluent regions. Our genetics program is an excellent example of significant achievement in the second area. In the Westholme herd, AACo already has exceptional genetics that we've nurtured for almost two decades. Taking a science-based approach has helped us build on that foundation. With a focus over many years on improving index, feed conversion, marble score, and our poll program, we are now consistently producing the highest quality Wagyu beef and improved animal welfare outcomes. The Goonoo expansion announced with the full year results highlights progress in the third area, developing our properties.
It is the most significant financial investment in recent years for the business and is an example of the type of future focus that I referred to earlier. Once operational, it will boost supply into our global markets, helping us to plan and meet the growing demand for high-quality Wagyu beef that we're experiencing around the world. It will further improve product quality and efficiency of our value chain, and it will also help us mitigate against seasonal variability and droughts by giving us greater capacity to feed more animals in dry times. Our dry land cropping trials in the Gulf advance and are further evidence we are seeing promising initial results with several thousand hectares developed so far. Sustainability reaches across all our primary activities as we invest for the future. In his speech earlier, the chairman shared AACo's commitment in this important area.
It is a commitment that we make to the future and to the next 200 years of your company, and it is living up today to the current commitments as the custodians of this great company, building on the legacy of those who came before us. We are continuing to pursue the commitments made alongside our sustainability framework. The results of our Asparagopsis trial that were recently released and demonstrate the potential to reduce the methane emissions. We are using technology to improve pasture management for our cattle, and we are investing in our landscape carbon project, which will enable us to efficiently measure, manage, and forecast soil carbon sequestration at scale. We're also investigating the potential to boost biodiversity and natural capital across our properties, which may open new revenue streams in emerging markets for the business....
The 191,000 ACCUs earned in FY 2023 show the potential of these markets for companies like AA Co. It's a rapidly evolving area with significant potential as they become more established. Further opportunities could be found over the coming years in landscape carbon, methane abatement, biodiversity, and more. We are staying across the developments and engaging with government, industry, and private sector to ensure that we are in the best possible position as those markets evolve. Improvements in safety and engagement across FY 2023 show progress amongst our people and within our operations.
With a reduction in lost time injury frequency rates, as well as injury severity, we are helping our employees plan their futures with more opportunities across the supply chain to study and grow their skills, as well as improving pathways for First Nations peoples by playing a key role in indigenous employment programs through industry organizations like the NTCA. As you can see, we are delivering in each pillar of the strategy and continuing to build on the strong foundations to improve your company. These pillars will continue to guide us in FY 2024, while we also consider adjustments that will help us create more success. We, of course, are mindful, though, of the challenges that exist in our operating environment today, many of which are being faced by businesses everywhere. Inflationary pressures continue in markets all around the world.
Supply chain disruptions that were yet to settle post-COVID have been further disrupted by geopolitical tensions, which are also creating volatility for us in the global economy. When combined with rising interest rates, they are continuing to cause higher operational costs. Cattle prices are down approximately 40% from their highs of last year, and the forecasts for the Eastern Young Cattle Indicator indicate that these will not recover in the near to medium term. As I shared earlier, selling high-quality branded beef into global markets largely decouples our performance from price fluctuations in the Australian live cattle market. However, live cattle sales, which made up approximately 20% of our revenue in FY 2023, may still impact us in the future. There are also other factors outside of our control that will continue to put price pressures for us in global markets.
The U.S. herd liquidation has continued longer than we anticipated and now has their herd at the lowest levels in 52 years. This destocking process has increased supply into all markets across North America. There has also been an oversupply of local cattle into Korea, which is putting downward pressure on prices in that region. We do, however, remain optimistic that AA Co is well-placed to take advantage of these conditions when they turn around. We're monitoring opportunities that might arise from the free trade agreements, including the U.K. FTA and the EU agreement that is currently being negotiated. We will also consider the opportunities in other markets as the year progresses, in line with our global branded beef program. The exceptional wet season we experienced will help us with productivity. It's been more than a decade since some of our properties have seen rain like this.
For example, the Burnett Downs, Anthony Lagoon, and Eva Downs lake systems are now at 100% capacity. We are optimistic about how it could benefit our cattle and improve fertility and extra kilograms produced as they move through our supply chain. At AA Co, we are evolving together to benefit future generations. That's our purpose. That's why we exist. It's what drives me and the Executive Team as we lead the company. We take great pride in the people we develop, the culture we create, the land we nurture, the animals we care for, and the exceptional Wagyu beef that we produce. It provides direction as we strive to deliver on our vision: to be trusted globally as the producers of the finest quality Australian beef.
The results of this period demonstrate progress towards these aims, and I'm proud of our people who delivered them across the value chain. I also know there are opportunities to unlock more potential in our extraordinary people, in our animals, in our land, and in our product. As we continue into FY 2024 and our 200th year of operation, we will continue to expand our global footprint. We will move into new markets. We will grow as a team. We will look to diversify our revenue streams and become more efficient. We will use this year of progress as an opportunity to reposition ourselves for further growth. I'd like to express my thanks again to the entire company and our employees around the world, the Executive Team, and the Board for their dedication in FY 2023, and to thank you all as shareholders for your continued support of our company.
Thank you.
Well, thanks, Dave. I'll now outline the procedural matters for the rest of the meeting. There'll be an opportunity for comments and questions in respect of each item of business. After receiving the microphone, you are requested to please identify yourself, show your voting, your right to vote card, and confine your questions or comments to one minute. In fairness to all shareholders, I shall be reasonable and flexible in approach, but will request speakers to wind up their remarks if they become overextended. Please note that not all questions are guaranteed to be answered during the meeting. We'll do our best to address as many as reasonably possible. If a question asked during the meeting has already been answered in the materials released to the ASX, we will not answer the question during the meeting, but we'll instead refer the shareholder to the relevant ASX announcements.
Thank you to those shareholders who took the time to pre-submit questions via our share registry provider's link. Where we have received similar questions on the same issue, we'll consolidate those questions into one which we will answer during the item of business. After each item of business, we will start by firstly addressing any pre-submitted questions and then move on to addressing questions from shareholders in Brisbane. I'd like now to briefly summarize the voting procedures which will apply to this meeting. Each resolution will be conducted by a poll. As shareholders are aware, no formal vote is required on item one of the agenda. A poll will be conducted on the remaining items 2 through to 5. On entering the meeting, shareholders, representatives, attorneys of shareholders, as well as proxy holders, would have received a yellow voting card.
Relevant voting instructions and all resolutions are printed on the voting cards. I encourage shareholders and their representatives to complete their voting cards after each item has been discussed. However, voting cards will only be collected at the conclusion of the meeting for all items of business. To vote, simply place a mark in one of the four Against or Abstain boxes for each resolution. If you mark the Abstain box, your votes will not be counted for that resolution. If you wish to cast some of your votes for the motion and some against, simply mark the actual number of votes or percentage For or Against. Your vote will be invalid if the total shareholding shown in the For, Against, or Abstain boxes for the motion is more than your total shareholding on the register. If relevant, please indicate whether you are voting as an attorney or representative.
At the time of voting, if you're uncertain about any of the voting procedures or require any assistance, please raise your hand and a representative from Link Market Services will be happy to help you. At the conclusion of the meeting, please ensure that you have marked your votes for the respective resolutions then given your completed voting card to a representative of Link. I do appreciate that some shareholders may have to leave before the end of the meeting. I therefore formally open the poll for voting on each relevant item of business now. With the poll on these items now open, if you need to leave early, it is possible to lodge your vote by providing your completed voting cards to Link Market Services. That doesn't mean that you have to vote now.
You can wait for the discussion on each item and then vote. Following discussion of all items, shareholders will be given a reasonable time to complete their voting cards and then give their voting cards to Link Market Services. After this time, I will announce that the polls have closed. I will now outline the procedures for proxy votes. Shareholders have the option of appointing a proxy prior to the meeting. If you have already sent in your proxy forms, you do not need to vote again. Proxy holders, by law, if you exercise your right to vote as a proxy, you must vote in accordance with any instructions given to you by the relevant shareholder.
Subject to the restrictions set out in the voting exclusion statements in the Notice of Meeting, any undirected vote, undirected proxies on a given item may be voted by the proxy holder as they choose, with some votes for the motion and some against, and some abstentions if you so desire. Any proxies that are not voted at the meeting will automatically default to me as Chair of the meeting. In respect of any directed proxies that default to me as Chair, I am required to vote those proxies as directed by the shareholder. Subject to any applicable voting restrictions in respect of any open proxies that have been received by me as Chair of the meeting or any of the directors, those proxies will be voted in favor of each resolution. Your votes will be counted by our personnel from share registry Link.
After the meeting closes, the results of each poll will be announced via the ASX as soon as possible after this meeting and will also be displayed on our website. We will now move to the formal part of the business for this meeting. Item 1 is the Financial Statements and Reports. We need to consider those statements and reports. I now table the Directors' Statutory Report and the Financial Report for the financial year 31 March 2023, and the Independent Audit Report on the Financial Report, being item 1 on your Notice of Meeting. These documents have been made available to shareholders. The Financial Statements and Reports are placed on the agenda for comment or question only. There is no voting on these items of business.
Please note that Scott Guse from KPMG, who oversaw the conduct of the audit, is present. Each shareholder may direct questions to Mr. Guse, which are relevant to the conduct of the audit, the preparation and content of the Independent Audit Report, and accounting policies adopted by AACo in relation to the preparation of the financial statements and the independence of the auditors in relation to the conduct of the audit. I'll start by addressing some of the pre-submitted questions which have not already been covered in the comments so far. In the interest of brevity, where we have received several questions from shareholders that are similar, we'll choose to answer the one question which best represents the majority of those questions. Question one is: we have received several pre-submitted questions regarding dividends.
As addressed earlier, we are investing heavily back in the business to position our company for future growth and the massive transition that we've made in the company. An example of this is the Goonoo expansion, to which we are increasing production capacity. Other examples are our sustainability initiatives, including investing in developing technologies. Our purpose is to evolve together to benefit the future generations, and we intend to use our resources towards those efforts and growing the value of the assets in the company. Some of the other things we've invested in is doing a much better job of managing the Burnett Lakes. We see us running maybe 20,000 backgrounders on those lakes this year because of the work that's been done up there.
Of course, as I mentioned, we have invested very heavily in our chain for marketing and distribution, particularly in the U.S., which is really bearing fruit. Those things have consumed a lot of the capital. We're not throwing off a lot of cash, but we are investing heavily without getting ourselves into further debt. Question two. This question has been submitted by Eric Ping Wing Lu, who asks: "Given the significant gap between the AUD 2.59 net tangible assets per share and the share price, I wonder if the Board could share the thinking and strategy to address the gap between the NTA and the share price?" I thank you for that question, Eric.
For context, the NTA includes AUD 550 million of increases in pastoral property and improvements over the past two years, extending the NTA and the share price gap. The Board and Executive Team are focused on the areas within our control, including generating value for shareholders, delivering the best operating profit, and executing on the strategy. Continuing to pursue opportunities under our strategic pillars is the best way to ensure that we unlock value for all of our shareholders. Question three. This was submitted by Paul Cecil Pearson, who asks: "When will AACo provide marketing and financial updates to shareholders?" Thank you, Paul, for that question. We continue to provide information to the market via our social media platforms, AACo website and brand websites.
We invite you to engage with us and welcome participation in half year and end year results, as well as requests outside of the normal financial cycle. Quite clearly, under our continuous disclosure obligations, we are regularly updating the market. I now invite shareholders and proxy holders to ask any questions regarding the financial statements in my report and Dave's report. Are there any questions?
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Before I ask the question, thank you for your address to the meeting.
Would you just mind identifying yourself, please?
Right. Ken Ryan is my name, an old shareholder. Been coming to these meetings now for, I think, 20 years or more.
Yes, we definitely recognize you, Ken, and we appreciate your regular attendance.
Okay. I'm getting a bit old, so, I hope I can be still around for the special meeting next year. I might even drag out a suit if I can find one.
Well, if you turn up, we'll give you a tie.
Now, I like the positive way that the company is going. Well, I won't talk about the dividend. It'd be always nice to get one, but I can live without it. If you're making good progress, and I think you are, and your reasoning seems to be good, I'll go along with that. My only question is about this Livingstone Beef facility in the Northern Territory. I did read the Annual Report when I got it in the mail. I couldn't find much about it, except that there's a note on page 103, under impairment, that the facility is still not operating, but there's been no impairment to the value of it or whatever. I'm wondering, what are the real reasons behind that facility not being utilized in some way?
I don't want you to be like the Reserve Bank governor, but can you foresee a timetable when it might reopen?
Well, I certainly wouldn't like to suffer the fate of my former colleague on the Reserve Bank, so I'll be careful. What we've done there is we call it mothballing. We're holding it in a position. It's a very advanced form of mothballing because it is in a position where we could resume using it quite quickly, and we're certainly very conscious of keeping the facility in good condition because things like that can deteriorate, particularly in the tropics. We have spent money doing that, and we've also spent some money on some upgrades that we could see would be of benefit. We really do hold that facility as an important facility.
The fact that it's written down in the books means that it doesn't need to be written down any further. That doesn't impair us, our accounts in any way as we see it at the moment. Look, the biggest issue, I think, and certainly we've gone through this. It's a bit of a combination of two things. It's supply of cattle. Part of that, both in terms of our ability to buy cattle into that facility and our ability to export from it, is the cost of freight out of Darwin.
As the freight out of Darwin is quite high compared to other ports, the people who buy cattle in our catchment can come in from the, from the east or come up from the south and draw cattle away, and then we've had some pretty tough seasons in the territory as well. We just don't have the numbers up there to make it work. That could change, but the biggest issue will be, I think, the freight issue. Really, I think there's an opportunity here for us to be talking to the federal government about development in the north, because there are other industries up there, and we just don't want the Northern Territory to be a government operation. We want it to have a private sector, and freight is a real issue.
Now, we all understand the reasons for it, the way that the container traffic moves in, in cycles around the country, and we're not on that list because of volume. It has nothing to do with the ownership of the port, let me say that now in case somebody thinks that's a problem. It's one of those issues. It is a much bigger issue than we'd realized when we built the thing. We're certainly looking at all opportunities to have that open again. You know, I am confident that one day the circumstances will be there. Northern Australia can be a difficult place to operate.
A lot of very good ideas and great visions don't get to where we'd like them to, because of timing, and timing is the great question here. We will remain ready and look at every opportunity to get that back into action if we can, because it is a great asset. There's no question about that.
Can I just make one little comment? Thank you for that. That was very good. On the ABC, Landline program, I think it might be about six weeks ago now, I happened to be watching it, and it showed a, an abattoir in northern New South Wales at Casino. They seem to be doing amazing things there with, artificial intelligence and-
Mm-hmm.
And the way the meat is branded and so on. They seem to think that the only way for an abattoir to survive these days is to be right up the top with artificial intelligence and marketing strategy and all the rest of it. Would Livingstone sort of meet that standard, do you think?
Well, it certainly doesn't at the moment, part of the reason there is because of the range of cattle. Like, if you really look at where automation and robotics have performed best in the meat trade, it's in lambs. You get the big new plants with large volumes of lambs that are like peas in a pod. The industry brings them through. You can actually set these things up to work pretty well. It's probably a little less true, still true to some extent, where the facilities are processing cattle of a particular type. To use the technologies of... Is that we were using the cattle, old cows, bulls, you know, cattle that 'cause all the good young cattle are going out to live export.
Introducing artificial intelligence and automation into that plant, as we see it at the moment, is very difficult, expensive, and wouldn't achieve very much because the cattle vary so much between each animal. Again, you know, I think we're all seeing remarkable achievements in these things. I know in one of my other businesses in wool testing, we're moving more and more to being able to put robotics into the chains. The modern robots now that are available don't have to be sit in a great cage and kept away from people. You can actually put them in chains beside people working beside them. There are ways of introducing some of these things into systems more slowly, without having to produce a very big investment off the bat that you don't know is going to work properly.
I'm confident over time, again, all sorts of circumstances will come for that facility, but I just can't tell you when.
Okay, thank you.
Next question? Okay, if there are no further questions, let's move to the Remuneration Report. The second item of business is a non-binding resolution on the adoption of the Rem Report. Please note that the vote on this resolution is advisory only and does not bind the directors or the company. However, the Board and the company will very much take into account any feedback that we receive in developing our future remuneration framework. Voting exclusions apply to this resolution as set out in the Notice of Meeting. I now invite shareholders and proxy holders to ask any questions regarding the Remuneration Report. Are there any questions? Okay, if there are no questions, the proxies received on this resolution, I think, are now being shown on the board behind me. You're invited to submit your votes when you feel ready.
We'll now move to the second item, or the next item of business, which is item 3, the election of Dr. Shehan Dissanayake as a director. The resolution to be considered under this item is an ordinary resolution, with the exception of Dr. Dissanayake, who is abstaining from this resolution. The election of Dr. Dissanayake has been unanimously supported by the AACo Board, and I commend this motion to you. I now invite shareholders and proxy holders to ask any questions regarding the re-election of Shehan. If there are no questions, the proxies are on the board, and again, I invite you to submit your votes. I now move to item 4, the election of Director Ms. Jessica Rudd. The fourth item of business is the re-election of Jessica as a director.
The resolution to be considered under this item is an ordinary resolution, with the exception of Ms. Rudd, who is abstaining from this resolution. The election of Ms. Rudd has the unanimous support of the AACo Board. I commend this motion to you. I now invite shareholders and proxy holders to ask any questions regarding the re-election of Jessica. Are there any questions or comments? The proxies, I think, are about to be shown. They are. Thank you. We'll move to the next item 5, which is the election of Director, Ms. Sarah Gentry. The fifth item of business is the re-election of Sarah Gentry as a director. The resolution to be considered under this item is an ordinary resolution. With the exception of Ms. Gentry, who is abstaining from the resolution, the election of Ms.
Gentry has the unanimous support of the AACo Board. I commend this motion to you. I now invite shareholders and proxy holders to ask any questions regarding the re-election of Sarah Gentry. Are there any questions or comments? I believe the proxies are about to be shown on the board. They are. Thank you. I now invite you to submit your votes on all those resolutions. We have now dealt with all the items of business in the notice of meeting. I now ask you to ensure that your voting cards have been completed for each resolution put to you today. Representatives from our share market registry, Link Market Services, will collect your completed voting card shortly. If you are uncertain about any of the voting procedures or require any assistance, please raise your hand and have a representative from Link will be happy to help you.
With each item of business at this meeting having been dealt with, I now formally ask Link Market Services, the Returning Officer, to count the votes following the closure of this meeting. I propose now to bring these proceedings to an end. The results of this meeting will be released through the ASX as soon as possible and will be displayed on our website. On behalf of the Board of Management, thank you, everyone, for attending the AGM today and all of those who engaged with us by submitting questions in advance and during the meeting. We hope you and your families stay safe and well, and travel safely home. That concludes the business of the meeting. Ladies and gentlemen, I now declare the AACo 2023 AGM closed, and we will have a few minutes, obviously, for Link to collect those voting cards.
We do invite you to come and enjoy a little bit of the Wagyu beef at the back. Thank you.