Okay. Good morning everyone. My name's Adrian Fitzpatrick and I have the privilege of being the Chair of your company and will be the Chair of today's meeting. It's my pleasure to welcome you to the 2025 Annual General Meeting of Aussie Broadband. It's now 10:00 A.M. and as we have a quorum, I declare this meeting open. Before proceedings begin, I would like to start by acknowledging the traditional owners of the country on the many lands we are meeting from today throughout Australia and recognize their continuing connection to lands, water and communities. We pay our respects to the traditional custodians and elders of this nation, both past and present, and the continuation of the cultural, spiritual and educational practices of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.
I'd like to recognize in particular the land that I am standing on today, the traditional land of the Wurundjeri people of the Kulin nation. Today's meeting will be held as a hybrid AGM and has been convened in accordance with the Corporations Act and the company's constitution. Shareholders have the choice of participating in today's meeting in person or online via the Computershare meeting platform. The agenda today is on the screen with addresses from myself and our Group Chief Executive Officer followed by the items of business being consideration of the financial statements and the items requiring shareholders' votes. It is my duty as Chair to ensure the shareholders in attendance as a group have a reasonable opportunity to discuss the management of the company and the items of business before the meeting.
There will be plenty of opportunity for questions during and towards the end of the meeting. Voting today will be conducted by way of a poll on all items of business. Only shareholders, validly appointed proxies and corporate representatives are entitled to vote at today's meeting. Holders attending in person today need to obtain their yellow voting card or blue non-voting card when they registered. Please see the registration desk just outside if you have not received your yellow or blue card. Those shareholders attending online, please refer to the instructions contained in the virtual online meeting guide and on the screen if you are eligible to vote. Once voting opens, press the vote icon and all resolutions will be activated with voting options. To cast your vote, simply select one of the options.
There is no need to hit a submit or enter button as the vote is automatically recorded. You will receive a vote confirmation notification on your screen. You can change your vote up until the time I declare voting closed. I now declare voting open on all items of business. Only shareholders, validly appointed proxies, and corporate representatives are entitled to ask questions at today's meeting. If you are participating virtually and did not submit a question before the AGM, you will be able to submit questions at any time during the meeting by registering as a shareholder or proxy holder and selecting the Q and A icon. To ask a verbal question, follow the instructions below the Broadcast window. I will request questions from the phone attendees first, followed by the online questions, and then invite questions from the floor.
If you would like to ask a question in the room, please approach the microphone at the appropriate time and display your yellow or blue attendance card. When I call for questions, state your name and the organization you represent and please keep questions courteous and concise. Questions may be merged if we receive multiple questions on the same topic. Please note that there will be time for shareholders to ask general questions after we have dealt with the formal business of today's meeting. I would now like to introduce my fellow directors: Sue Close, Director and Chair of the People and Community Committee; Patrick Green, Non-Executive Director; Sarah Adam-Gedge, Non-Executive Director and Chair of the Audit, Risk and Compliance Committee; Phillip Britt, Non-Executive Director; Graham Barclay, Non-Executive Director; and Michael Omeros, Executive Director.
Our Company Secretary Cheryl Chai is also present, as well as the company's auditor, KPMG, represented by Simon DeBoer and Simon beside him. The auditor will be available to answer questions on the conduct of the audit and the audit report for the year ended 30 June 2025. I would also like to welcome Michael Hutchison from our share registry, Computershare, who will be the returning officer for the poll to be taken on the resolutions at today's meeting. Before I start with the formal part of this year's meeting, I would like to take a moment to reflect on the past 12 months for Aussie Broadband. FY25 was another year of growth and innovation for Aussie.
The company delivered 104,000 new connections, improved technology, new digital tools, and provided exceptional service to our ever-growing customer base ranging from Australian households and small businesses to large enterprises, governments, and other telco providers. We continue to grow our market share across multiple segments and invested in our infrastructure, network, and future capacity. We are very proud of where Aussie is today and are excited for the growth that lies ahead. The company's FY25 financial results were strong with 18.7% growth in revenue with underlying EBITDA of $138.2 million, a result at the top end of our guidance which was upgraded during the year. The company paid fully franked interim and final dividends together with a fully franked special dividend, all totaling $0.064 per share for the FY25 year. A share buyback program was activated with 9 million shares purchased at an average price of $3.97 per share.
This program is available until the 27th of November this year. The company remains committed to growth and retains financial flexibility for growth through strategic accretive acquisitions. The company enjoyed success across all segments with continued strong growth in residential, while our Business, Enterprise, and Government team continued to win new customers with further success expected in the current year. Driven by a strong pipeline of opportunities, we're continuing to leverage our existing Aussie Fibre infrastructure network and have made early progress in growing its utilization. The Wholesale segment maintains key competitive advantages through its two tier one voice networks and our innovative proprietary platforms. In August 2025, we announced a major six-year wholesale services agreement with More Telecom. This agreement will see Aussie Broadband host an estimated 290,000 More and Tangerine connections on its network by the end of this financial year.
The agreement will deliver a material uplift to our earnings from the beginning of the FY27 year, and being selected as a wholesale partner by More Telecom further validates Aussie's position as a strong, innovative, and capable player in the wholesale market. Importantly, the migration of the More and Tangerine customer base onto the Aussie Broadband network is powered by Nitrogen, our new proprietary wholesale platform which was first used to migrate Symbio's NBN services to Aussie earlier this year. The Nitrogen platform is a game changer for our wholesale segment and our clients, and we look forward to onboarding more partners in the future with the simplicity and power of the platform's new tool set. The NBN market context has evolved within the residential segment since I spoke to you 12 months ago.
We have continued to see challenger brands take market share from incumbents, and that trend is continuing after the launch of NBN's new Accelerate Great plans. The NBN speed bestowal and new speed plans have been live since the middle of September, and our team have been working for over 12 months to ensure our customers saw no disruption when the speed upgrades launched. The technical magnitude of such a change cannot be understated, and I want to thank all who work tirelessly to ensure a smooth transition for our customers. Aussie was well positioned to be a leader in the new high speed world, and we are already seeing great uptake of the new plans from our existing customer base. The company continues to mature and grow as a responsible corporate as indicated by the upcoming launch of Aussie's inaugural Sustainability Report, which enhances our previous climate-related disclosures.
The work will also support our B Corporation recertification, which will take place later in the year. In March 2025, the Aussie Broadband leadership transitioned from Founder and Managing Director Phillip Britt to Brian Maher, who took on the role of Group Chief Executive Officer. Leading up to this transition, Brian led a detailed strategic planning exercise, which resulted in a sharpened focus on our core business and the launch of our Look to 28 strategy and three-year ambitions, all unveiled at the April 2025 investor day. Also announced was the restructuring of the business into three segments, which are now in place and effective from July 1, 2025. The Board is very pleased to have retained Phillip's deep industry knowledge in a meaningful manner through his roles as a Non-Executive Director and a Special Advisor to the management team when required.
I'm delighted to welcome two new members to the Board, with Graham Barclay and Sarah Adam-Gedge joining as Non-Executive Directors. Both Graham and Sarah were appointed after a comprehensive recruitment process established and completed by the Nominations Committee, supported by an executive search firm. Graham's extensive background in telecommunications, together with his strong financial and commercial acumen and experience in complex digital transformations, have already seen Graham as a valuable addition to the Board. Sarah complements the Board's skills with her global perspective, experience in developing complex technology solutions, and a particularly strong expertise across financial cyber risk and compliance. I would like to thank Vicky Papakristos for her contribution to the Board. Vicky retired as a Non-Executive Director in April this year, having played an important role on the Board, especially in chairing the Audit, Risk and Compliance Committee for five years, including through the IPO process.
I'd also like to acknowledge Patrick Green, who retires as a Non-Executive Director at the conclusion of today's meeting. As a Co-Founder of Westvic Broadband, which formed Aussie Broadband through the merger of Wideband Networks in 2008, Pat, along with Phil and those other brave founders, have been instrumental in the company growing to what it is today, a $1.7 billion market cap company. I would like to wish Pat health and happiness with family and retirement, and we acknowledge and are grateful for his ongoing support as a fellow shareholder. Finally, all of these great outcomes could not have been achieved without the collective dedication and commitment of the 1,500 plus staff that make up Aussie Broadband today.
Your drive and determination is what has helped make Aussie the success that it is today, and that culture of team commitment will continue to serve us well as we strive to be the telco people love well into the future. On behalf of myself and the Board, I would like to thank you, our shareholders, for your continued support. I will now hand over to Brian Maher, who will take you through our performance for FY25 and the outlook for the year ahead. Thank you.
Good morning everyone. I'm Brian Maher and I'm pleased to be standing in front of you at my first Annual General Meeting as the Group Chief Executive Officer of Aussie Broadband. Our success in FY25 was testament to the hard work and diligent approach of our team to drive positive outcomes for our shareholders, customers, and communities. In addition to delivering another set of strong financials, we continue to build on our legacy of high-quality products and customer service excellence, which has been validated by Aussie Broadband recently being named Australia's most trusted telco for the fifth year running and ranked 36th most trusted across all sectors. Also, our team worked tirelessly throughout the year to prepare for NBN's Accelerate grades upgrades, which has already seen great uptake by our customers, but more on that later.
As already mentioned by Adrian, in August we were delighted to announce the six-year Wholesale Services Agreement with More Telecom, which will see 290,000 More and Tangerine connections hosted on the Aussie network powered by our new Nitrogen wholesale platform. Earlier this year we unveiled our Look to 28 strategy and our ambition to be the telco people love, and we've already made great strides towards some of these longer-term ambitions. It is my pleasure today to take you through an overview of our FY25 results and to provide an outlook into the year ahead. Moving to page 9, Aussie Broadband delivered robust financial results in FY25 with revenue up 18.7% to $1.2 billion, driven by continued market share gains in residential and solid growth in enterprise and government following several major customer wins.
Underlying EBITDA, which came at the top end of our upgraded guidance, reached $138.2 million, up 14.7% on the prior year, and this included $11 million in operating cost savings delivered through cost management and productivity initiatives. In its full year of ABB ownership, Symbio contributed significantly to the group's result, adding $39.4 million to EBITDA and achieving 35% growth on a pro forma basis. This result included $6 million in realized synergies that exceeded expectations. Symbio is a cornerstone of our future growth in the wholesale segment. Operating cash flow before interest and tax was $117.3 million, down 8.5% on prior year but more comparable when adjusting for working capital, timing differences, and payments related to the employee share trust. Our cash conversion for the full year improved to 84.9% from 74.9% in the first half.
It is also worth noting that the company is now in a tax paying position with $34.8 million of tax paid in FY25. Overall, our current performance and future outlook for underlying cash flow and cash conversion remains strong. Underlying NPAT A rose 6.5% to $55.8 million. EPS, which is calculated here on underlying NPAT A, was down by $0.003 to $0.19, noting that the weighted average number of shares was influenced by several changes over the course of the two years. Our goal is to deliver at least 20% annual growth in EPS going forward based on underlying NPAT A. Looking now at page 10 to see how we've diversified our revenue streams over the years on this page. The charts on the left showcase our consistent growth across revenue and the underlying EBITDA over the past five years.
The charts on the right show our revenue and gross profit by segment and product since FY21. Aussie Broadband has achieved compound growth in its revenue of 36% with revenue for FY25 almost $1.2 billion, while underlying EBITDA has a CAGR of 64% over the same period. FY23 saw a step change in both gross margins and EBITDA margins as the completion of our Fibre Core Fibre network replaced the majority of our leased backhaul links. The EBITDA margin of 11.6% in FY25 was a slight decline on the prior year due to the impact of the net investment in budding. If you exclude that, the EBITDA margin continues its improvement trajectory. FY25 also saw a focus on productivity improvements following the loss of a significant wholesale contract. Material improvements in our staffing ratios were created in FY25 and we believe we can do better yet.
In the revenue and gross profit segment charts, you can see that Residential remains the engine room of Aussie Broadband with 57% of total revenue and nearly 50% of gross profit. Our ambition is to continue to grow our market share in Residential while growing at least equally fast in other areas to maintain our revenue diversification. With Symbio fully consolidated, the weighting of the higher margin products of Symbio and netcip means VoiceNow represents 29% of gross profit for the group. Looking at our operational metrics on page 11 in terms of our relative market positioning as an NBN reseller, our share of the fixed broadband NBN market continued to grow, up 1.1 percentage points to 8.4%. At the time of our IPO this was 4%. Today we estimate it to be 8.6%.
In FY25 our total net on net broadband connections across the group grew to 788,000, up 104,000 from the prior year, representing 15% growth inclusive of the migration of approximately 17,000 Symbio connections. With the announcement of our wholesale services agreement with More and Tangerine, our total broadband connection numbers are expected to exceed 1 million subscribers. Following the migration, we also saw some strong momentum in mobile in FY25 with services growing across the group to 216,000, up by 35,000 or 19%. Our own Aussie Fibre network grew to almost 2,000 kilometers with 896 connected buildings and opening up more than 2,600 near net buildings in our immediate footprint. With this network we're able to bypass the NBN and directly service businesses at significantly higher margins. Our connections per building for Aussie Fibre is at 1.2 connections.
Growing that ratio represents a significant opportunity for us and we're already seeing modest improvements towards our goal of 2 to 3 connections per building. By FY28 we have around 8.2 million numbers hosted across our Symbio and NetSIP Tier 1 voice platforms with a total of 8.7 billion core minutes across our domestic networks. On page 12 we'll look to the road ahead. We outlined our Look to 28 strategy at our investor day in April. With a renewed focus on growth and customer service, we outlined some key organic ambitions for FY28 revenue beyond $1.6 billion, an 11%+ share of the NBN market. Our residential segment accounted for no more than 60% of revenue and more. When we set these ambitions out, they were all organic in nature and this still holds true.
However, we will refresh these ambitions at our half year results in February to ensure that they reflect our recent success with winning the wholesale services agreement with More Telecom. As part of the three year strategy, we also reorganized our business into three functional segments. We'll look at that more closely on page 13. Prior to this year, Aussie Broadband has grown with a functional structural model. From July this year our structure has changed to create a model based on customer types. The business is now being Residential, Business and Enterprise/Government, and Wholesale, with each segment led by Group Executives Jonathan Prosser, Aaron O’Keefe and Michael Omeros respectively. The segments are then supported by the other functional heads for FY26. Our residential team will continue to benefit from our position as the leaders in high speed plans.
NBN's accelerate speed upgrades are live, and we've already seen an increase in sales and plan upgrades since the change. We're continuing to work on converting users from legacy copper technologies to full fibre connections, and we're actively consulting with regulators and NBN on the migration process for the millions of Australian households that can't yet take advantage of the speed upgrades. We combine the Business and Enterprise/Government segments together under a single Group Executive to enable a greater focus on removing customer friction points between sales, provisioning, and ongoing service operations. It also enables us to offer an enhanced level of service to both cohorts of customers and a broader service offering as our customers grow with us, with a simpler product offering and better outcomes for delivery, support, and the customer experience.
We're looking forward to growing average revenue per customer and an acceleration in customer acquisition in FY26. The combined segment will continue leveraging our strong brand proposition to land major clients and contracts. The Wholesale segment, which is being led by Michael Omeros, is already benefiting from some strong tailwinds including the More Telecom and Tangerine Telecom arrangement. That agreement is a significant win for us, and we'll just talk a bit more about that on page 14. As we announced, we've signed an exclusive six-year agreement to provide wholesale services to More Telecom and Tangerine Telecom. Separately to this agreement, we also agreed to sell the Buddy Telco brand and assets and customer base to Tangerine. The unsold Buddy customer accounts will stay on the Aussie Broadband network as part of the deal.
More and Tangerine will continue to manage the retail customer relationship and experience, and Aussie will provide layer 3 connectivity to NBN. We are expecting around 290,000 connections on our network by the end of the migration, which will lift our total connections above 1 million. The agreement is estimated to contribute $12 million in annualized EBITDA from FY27 before amortization of contract incentives and based on only the migrated volumes. There is no expected material financial impact from the agreement in FY26. Powering this deal is the creation of our new Nitrogen wholesale network platform. More and Tangerine users will be migrated onto the Aussie Broadband network over the second half of FY26. As part of the agreement and upon signing of the contract, Aussie Broadband issued approximately 5.9 million shares to More. These shares are subject to escrow arrangements.
Before we get into the items of business, I want to take you through our trading update and guidance for FY26. Looking at our performance year to date, we're encouraged by our start with net growth of approximately 22,600 connections at October 11 and this includes 3,600 growth since the end of Q1. The period up to the speed upgrades were relatively soft for ABB as other RSPs pre-launched the 500 products and the price change impacts following the July increases. However, since September 14 there's been a marked step change in activity with net growth accelerating significantly and our share of NBN orders for both residential and small business at their highest point in the last 12 months. We've also seen growth in our share of Fibre Connect orders in recent times.
Included in these orders were almost 34,000 service modifications of which 87% were speed upgrades and approximately 290,000 ABB customers received automatic speed upgrades on September 14. We remain positive about our growth prospects within ENG with strong delivery and sales pipeline set to drive further growth in FY26 and beyond. We've already signed new blue chip customers this year including Accor Hotels which we announced with our results and I can also announce today that we've signed our largest ever enterprise contract to service Bakers Delight across its domestic and international network for the next five years. In wholesale we're very excited about our new partnership with More and Tangerine and believe we are well positioned for further growth within the segment across both Voice and data.
FY26 is set to be another year of growth for Aussie Broadband and we anticipate growth of between 14% and 21% in underlying EBITDA to a range of $156 million to $167 million. Our CapEx guidance is moderated from last year's high back to $55 million to $60 million. Finally, just want to leave you with four key takeaways from the year. FY25 was a strong year for Aussie with solid financial results and growth in our core business. We introduced a new leadership team after the retirement of our two co-founders and the business developed its new three-year strategy and realigned to three operational segments which will facilitate delivery of that strategy. We anticipate continued strong growth into FY2026 with over 14% growth in EBITDA.
We will continue to perform well in a high-speed residential world, leverage our developing reputation in the business, enterprise and government space, and in wholesale. We'll launch our new platform for Median Australia and work towards a successful migration of More and Tangerine customers onto our network. Finally, we will continue to maintain a strong capital management framework that has allowed us to invest in our growth and deliver returns to shareholders. We will continue to optimize our capital allocation for return on investment. I would like to finish with a note of thanks to my executive team for all their hard work and support, and the entire staff at Aussie Broadband who delight our customers every day and who are fundamental to driving Aussie to become the telco people love. Finally, thank you to you, our shareholders, for your ongoing support.
I'll now hand over to the Chair who will go through the items of business.
Thank you Brian. I'll now turn to the business of today's meeting. Notice of this meeting and explanatory information has been sent to all shareholders and I propose to take notice of meeting as being read. I can confirm that I propose to vote those proxies left to my discretion as the Chair in favor of all resolutions. Proxy votes received prior to the meeting will be shown on the screen for each item of business to be voted on today. Please note the voting exclusions apply to the Company's KMP and their closely related parties for items 2, 4a, 4b, 4, 4c, and 5 as outlined in the notice of meeting. The first item of ordinary business is the consideration of the Financial Report, Director's Report, and Auditor's Report for the year ended 30 June 2025.
These were circulated as part of the Annual Report which members received via printed hard copy if they so elected or were able to access on our website. There is no requirement for shareholders to vote on these reports. However, you have the opportunity to now ask questions about the financial statement and the reports for the year ended 30 June 2025. Please state your name or organization you represent before doing so. As a reminder, I will request questions from the phone attendees first, followed by online questions, and then questions from the floor phone operator. Are there any questions on the financial statements?
There are no questions via the phone lines.
Thank you. Are there any online questions on the financial statements?
There is an online question. It's from John Whittington, who is a volunteer from the Australian Shareholders Association and an Aussie Broadband customer. I'll read out the question. Today, I hold proxies from ASA members and non-members for over 260,000 ABB shares. Our thanks go to you, the Board, and all Aussie Broadband employees for producing another strong result. The exit of Phil from day-to-day operations has been a significant change to the business, given he was such a visible figurehead for both staff and customers. Losing such a figurehead makes the company more anonymous and more corporate. What have been the main challenges in this transition?
Thanks, Cheryl, and thanks, John, for the question. I'm not sure it relates directly to the financial statements, but I'm happy to provide an answer. At this stage, I think the transition has gone extremely well, and I put that down to good people dealing with each other. Phil and I have had discussions over a period of time. There was a plan established and it worked through very well. Phil, part of that included a sabbatical that gave the opportunity for Brian and other ELT members to really step forward during that absence. There's nothing that really comes to mind that I can see that really caused any angst along the way. Phil, I don't know whether you would like to speak to that briefly at this stage, but I think it's gone extremely well.
No, look, I think the transition's gone incredibly smooth, and as Adrian said, the wheels were put in motion a long time ago. I had a real clear direction of how I wanted the company to proceed in that, and I've been very happy with how that's gone. Brian and the team have done an excellent job. I think the results and the deals that you're seeing on the table there, all of those came about after I moved on at the end of February. I think that's a really good start, and I'm quite sure there'll be plenty more to go. I'm very comfortable with the transition, and I think the team's done an excellent job and will continue to do an excellent job as we go.
Thanks, Phil. Finally, I'd say that Phil's clearly not an autocratic founder, as some founders might be prone to be. Ever since listing, Phil was very keen to build and put a leadership team in place so that any transition from a founder, which inevitably happens, happens as seamlessly as possible. I believe that's what we've been able to achieve. Thanks, Cheryl.
There is one further question from John Whittington in relation to resolution 1. One of the banes of the retail shareholders is being diluted without compensation in capital raisings. Will you commit to retail shareholders that if Aussie Broadband is to raise capital in the rest of your tenure, the preferred method of capital raising will be a renounceable entitlement offer such as PAITREO. Such offers are the only offers that treat retail shareholders fairly and equally.
Continue to consider that request. I think it's not an unreasonable one and we'll consider that at the time, if and when a placement is required during my tenure. Thanks, Cheryl. Are there any questions from the floor? If there are no further questions or comments on the financial statements and reports, I will declare them as considered and received. We'll now move to items of business on which shareholders are being asked to vote. This item is a non-binding ordinary resolution and relates to the adoption of the remuneration report for the year end of 30 June 2025 as set out in the notice of meeting and displayed on the screen, which is as follows: that the remuneration report for the year end of 30 June 2025 be adopted. The results of proxies received prior to the meeting are displayed on the screen.
Phone operator, are there any questions on this item?
There are no questions via the phone lines.
I love that voice coming through the Chair. Are there any online questions, Cheryl?
Yes, there's a question from John Whittington from the ASA. The report is generally clear and understandable, and we particularly commend your new Table 4, but it has three major omissions. One, it does not disclose sufficient information about LTIs, which is essential information for a remuneration report. Two, the report does not clearly state the value of STI and LTI awards as a percentage of total fixed remuneration, and three, 50% of the STI should be in deferred equity. Will you commit to addressing these issues?
Thanks, Cheryl, and thanks, John. Remuneration is an ongoing journey, and there's been a number of changes made over time, including disclosure. We will continue to improve disclosure and deal with the issues that John's raised. The question around deferred STI, again, as part of the journey, the goal has been to, five years ago, we were dealing with a private company that received discretionary bonuses, to move into a public environment, and the introduction of STI and LTI is a journey. We're five years in, and the goal has been to move remuneration towards the median. We're just about there. Having achieved that position, the issue regarding STI and deferral of STI, either in cash or equity, will certainly be a consideration in the coming 12 months. I think that deals with John's three points. Thanks, Cheryl. Are there any questions from the floor?
If not, I now formally put the resolution to the meeting. Item 3A relates to the re-election of Michael Omeros as a Director, as set out in the notice of meeting and displayed on the screen, as that Michael Omeros, being eligible, be re-elected as a Director. The results of proxies received prior to the meeting are displayed on the screen. I invite Michael Omeros to address the meeting in relation to his re-election. Michael?
Thanks Adrian. Good morning fellow shareholders. I'd like to offer myself for re-election to the Aussie Broadband board and in relation to that I'd like to just tell you a little bit about myself. Firstly, I've actually been a company director for over 20 years and 10 of those years have been as a public company director actually starting initially when we took over the wide IPO in late 2015. My academic background includes a Bachelor of Electrical Engineering and a Bachelor of Information Technology. In terms of the skills I specifically bring to the board, it's telco and technology experience, M&A experience, strategy, sales, and building strong customer relationships specifically in the wholesale and enterprise areas. With your support I'd look forward to continuing as a Director of Aussie and seeing our company continue to achieve its future growth and success. Thank you.
Thank you. PHONE operator, are there any questions on this item?
There are no questions via the phone line.
Thank you. Are there any online questions, Cheryl?
There is a question from John Whittington from the ASA. The ASA expects boards to be at least 40% female and at least 40% male. Two females in a board of six doesn't meet this level. What are you doing to address this issue?
Again, this is a journey. We're 1/3, 1/3 of the way there and we'll continue to push on. When you're talking with a small board, one position makes a big difference to the % and as I say we'll just work with that going forward. Very happy to be at a third and happy to look to increase that as and when we can. Thank you. Are there any questions from the floor? I now formally put this Resolution Item 3B relates to the election of Phillip Britt as a Director as set out in the notice of meeting and displayed on the screen and which is as follows: that Phillip Britt, being eligible, be elected as a Director. The results of the proxies received prior to the meeting are displayed on the screen. I now invite Phil to address the meeting in relation to his election.
Thanks very much, Adrian. I'd like to thank you for the opportunity to continue on the board. Been involved with the company for 22 years now, having been one of the co-founders. I bring a deep technical expertise to the board as well as background in M and A and now obviously having built the business to date. I look forward to your support and thank you.
Thank you, Phil. Phone Operator, are there any questions in relation to this item?
There are no questions via the phone lines.
Thank you. Are there any online questions, Cheryl?
There are no online questions.
Thank you. Are there any questions from the floor? If not, I now formally put this resolution to the meeting and move to item 3C. Item 3C relates to the election of Graham Barclay as a Director as set out in the notice of meeting and displayed on the screen, and which is that Graham Barclay, being eligible, be elected as a Director. The results of the proxies received prior to the meeting are displayed on the screen. I now invite Graham to address the meeting in relation to his election.
Good morning everyone. Thank you for the opportunity to address the meeting and explain a little bit the experience that I can bring to the Aussie Broadband Board if I am elected as a Director. I've worked as CEO or Chair and CFO for a very short period of the last 25 years in the telecommunications infrastructure sector, including broadcast and mobile towers, managed services, wholesale fiber and subsea cables, data centres and fibre to the premise as well as consumer ISP businesses. I have some relevant industry expertise as Aussie Broadband seeks organic and inorganic growth. Over that period I've led numerous M&A transactions along with sourcing the requisite capital to be able to close these deals. Many of these were in the public market.
A good example is the experience I had as Chairman of UNITI Group Limited which went through an IPO under my chairship and as an ASX listed company between 2019 and 2022. Undertook 10 acquisitions in that period and we sold the company for $3.8 billion in a successful exit for investors. I'm currently Chair of industrial technology company Codan Limited ASX Ticker CDA and we have undertaken seven acquisitions over the last four years transforming the business into a defense electronics and leading global detector business and grown the market capitalization of this company organically and by acquisition to $5.8 billion so far. I'm also a Chartered Accountant with a finance background. Therefore I have a decent commercial understanding and a keen focus on commercial metrics, operational performance and risk adjusted returns on capital invested.
My contribution to your board is a combination of industry and public market experience coupled with the M&A capital markets and commercial skills that I have. I'm here to contribute value for investors, working closely and collegiately with my board colleagues and with Brian and the management team. Thank you for your support.
Thank you, Graham. Phone Operator, are there any questions in relation to this item?
There are no questions via the phone lines.
Cheryl, any online questions?
There are no online questions.
Are there any questions from the floor? If not, I now formally put this resolution to the meeting and move to item 3D. Item 3D relates to the election of Sarah Adam-Gedge as a Director as set out in the notice of meeting and displayed on the screen, and which is that Sarah Adam-Gedge, being eligible, be elected as a Director. The results of the proxies received prior to the meeting are displayed on the screen. I now invite Sarah to address the meeting in relation to her election.
Thank you, Adrian, and good morning everyone. I appreciate also the opportunity to address the meeting and to outline my background and experience. I'm delighted to have the opportunity to join the Aussie Broadband Board, bringing over 30 years' experience in digital and technology operational leadership as CEO and Managing Director for organizations locally and globally, as well as diverse governance experience to the table from a digital and technology perspective. The last 20 years of my prior executive career was in large-scale roles in global IT companies such as IBM and Publicis Sapient. This involved helping companies improve their customer service to businesses and their customers and improving operational performance through the use of technology. This is relevant to Aussie Broadband as it continues scaling its operations and managing increasingly complex digital infrastructure.
I'm a Chartered Accountant Fellow and have a keen interest in currently studying cybersecurity, governance, and risk, which together with my early career at PwC and Arthur Andersen brings strong commercial finance and risk expertise. I have significant audit and risk committee experience, which will be beneficial as incoming Chair of this committee at Aussie Broadband. I'm a full-time professional Non-Executive Director and I currently serve on three ASX-listed boards, which are Kodan Limited, Emeco Holdings Limited, and Bravura Solutions Limited. Prior to joining the Aussie Broadband Board, I retired as Deputy Chair of the global defense contractor Austal Ltd. After eight years on that board and as recently announced, in the months ahead I'll transition from the board of Emeco, which is a Perth-based mining services company, to join the Board of GrainCorp. I have extensive experience in international markets, both in my executive and in my board career.
This global perspective, together with my digital and cyber expertise, strong commercial finance and customer relationship management skills, and my diverse board portfolio experience, I hope will be areas that I can contribute to Aussie Broadband, and I look forward to contributing to the future success of the telco that people love. Working alongside my board colleagues and with Brian and the management team, and thank shareholders for their support.
Thank you very much, Sarah. Are there any questions in relation to this item?
There are no questions via the phone lines.
Cheryl, any online questions?
There are no online questions.
Are there any questions from the floor? If not, I now formally put this resolution to the meeting and move to item 4A. Item 4A relates to the acquisition of securities under the Long Term Incentive Plan as set out on the notice of meeting and displayed on the screen, which is as that approval be given for all purposes for the grant of 13,794 $0 exercise price options to Phillip Britt under the FY25 LTI plan. The results of the proxies received prior to the meeting are displayed on the screen. Phone operator, are there any questions in relation to this item?
There are no questions via the phone lines.
Thank you, Cheryl. Are there any online questions in relation to this item?
There is a question from John Whittington from the Australian Shareholders Association. You are now assessing one third of the LTI against relative TSR of the ASX Small Ordinaries Index. What has been Aussie Broadband's performance against this comparator group in the past? If it is an index that Aussie Broadband has typically outperformed, then it is not an appropriate benchmark.
Okay. This question is not directly related to the resolution, but it will come into play for the coming year. I will ask Sue Close, Chair of our People and Community Committee, to address John's specific question in relation to future treatment of LTI.
Thanks, Adrian.
We did look at a number of.
Different alternate indices that we could have used for the RTSR, and we found the correlation with the Small Ordinaries too.
Be the closest, which is why we chose it.
Looking at the last three years, we.
Did see the Aussie Broadband share return outperformed the index for FY2023 and 2024 and was just below for 2025, and we feel it is a valid comparison.
Thanks, Sue. That's something obviously the committee will continue to monitor on an annual basis. Are there any questions from the floor in relation to this item? If not, I now formally put this resolution to the meeting and move to item 4B. Item 4B relates to the acquisition of securities under the Long Term Incentive Plan as set out in Notice of Meeting and displayed on the screen, which is as follows, that approval will be given for all purposes for the grant of 51,892 Zepos to Michael Omeros under the FY25 LTI plan. The results of the proxies received prior to the meeting are displayed on the screen. Phone operator, are there any questions in relation to this item?
There are no questions via the phone lines.
Thank you. Are there any questions online, Cheryl?
There are no online questions.
Thank you. Are there any questions from the floor? If not, I now formally put this resolution to the meeting and move to item 4C. Item 4C relates to the acquisition of securities under the Long Term Incentive Plan as set out in the notice of meeting and displayed on the screen, and which is as follows: that approval be given for all purposes for the grant of 67,700 Zepos to Michael Omeros under the FY26 LTI plan. The results of the proxies received prior to the meeting are displayed on the screen. Phone operator, are there any questions in relation to item 4C?
There are no questions via the phone lines.
Thank you, Cheryl. Any online questions?
There are no online questions.
Are there any questions from the floor? If not, I now formally put this resolution to the meeting and move to item five. Item five relates to the approval of an increase in the Non-Executive Director fee pool as set out in the notice of meeting and displayed on the screen, which is as follows: that the maximum aggregate annual remuneration that may be paid by the company to all Non-Executive Directors be increased by $350,000 from $850,000 per annum to $1.2 million per annum. The results of the proxies received prior to the meeting are displayed on the screen. Prior to asking for questions, I'd just like to add some more context in relation to this resolution.
In December 2024, the board commissioned an external consultant to undertake a review, a benchmark review of ASX 150 to 300 companies, which Aussie Broadband at that time was around 230, with a view to understanding where our director fees sat and keeping in mind that at that time we were just going into market to recruit a new director, which turned out to be Graham, and then a subsequent director in relation to Sarah. That review showed that we were well under market. We were at about the 40% percentile as a consequence, and that information was based on FY24 published data. As a result of that review, we adjusted directors' fees effective from January 1, 2025, and adjusted that benchmark information because it related to FY24 by a CPI type element to bring it into line with FY25.
That's a little bit of background as to what was done in relation to addressing our fees, and directors' fees for gain has been a little bit of a journey. There had been a similar adjustment two, maybe three years earlier, and we believe that we're now in line with the benchmark. The other thing that happened during the year, Phil obviously came onto the board and became then a part of the NED pool. Prior to that, Phil was paid as an executive, as Managing Director. The reality is that if our esteemed colleague Patrick Green wasn't stepping down this year, we would have been over that pool, hence the need to increase the pool and provide some capacity for the next few years.
Having said that, we will review fees again January 1, 2026, and would anticipate something in the order of a CPI type adjustment may be appropriate that we'll consider at that time. Having said all that, I'll now ask the phone operator if there's any questions in relation to this item.
There are no questions via the phone lines.
Thank you, Cheryl. Are there any online questions in relation to this item?
There was an online question from John Whittington, however, your comments have addressed it.
Thanks, Cheryl. Thanks very much. Are there any questions from the floor, please? Sure, it's a bit of a walk.
Peter Colliero. I've been an Aussie Broadband shareholder for four and a half years or thereabouts, so I've been to a few ATMs. Look, just some clarification about the increase in this pool. As this company grows, it might also require some additional skills or additional members of the Board. Maybe not immediately, but in the future. Does this give scope for us to increase the numbers of the Board if we need to do it?
Yes, good question. Thank you very much. It does. As we sit today with Pat's retirement, I think the number. Sue, I think we're around about the 800 mark. We've got $350,000 to $400,000 in capacity going forward. We've obviously had some change in the Board over the last 12 months. You've heard from our new appointees, they're great new candidates for the Board. We see the next short term being a settling period. That's not to say that in the medium term we might look to add to the Board, but certainly in the short term we've got plenty of capacity. Does that answer your question? Thank you. Thanks for the question. Any other questions from the floor? If not, I now formally put this resolution to the meeting and move to item six.
Item six relates to the ratification of prior share issues as set out in the notice of meeting and displayed on the screen, which is as follows: that the issue of 5,876,944 fully paid ordinary shares, pursuant to the agreement with More Telecom Proprietary Limited, is approved for the purposes of ASX Listing Rule 7.4 and for all other purposes. The results of the proxies received prior to the meeting are displayed on the screen. Phone operator, are there any questions in relation to this item?
There are no questions via the phone lines.
Thank you very much. Cheryl, any online questions?
There are no online questions.
Thank you. Any questions from the floor? If not, I now formally put this resolution to the meeting before I open up to final questions or reminders to shareholders and proxy holders in the room to complete the voting instructions on your yellow voting card. Shareholders and proxy holders attending online, please ensure your votes are entered via the Computershare platform. I now open the floor for general questions. Phone operator, any general questions?
There are no questions via the phone lines.
Cheryl, any questions online?
None relevant to the business of the meeting.
Thank you. Are there any questions from the floor? Thank you. Sorry.
Yes.
Didn't bring that gavel down quickly enough.
Medical error again, about Buddy Telco. Now, have we formally parted ways with Buddy Telco? Have we already sold or is it still in process?
It may be best that you answer that one.
The agreement is executed for the sale, but there are conditions precedent that we have to go through to get that to complete the deal. They center around having the platform ready that we're working on with More Telecom. Until that's ready, we can't really migrate onto their system. The anticipation is that the migration and the deal will complete in the first quarter of next calendar year, so by March. Now, the sell price.
Was $8 million, is that right?
Depends on how many connections there are at the time. That was indicative on 18, 30 connections.
Okay. Now, the whole exercise cost us what?
$12 million or probably about $13 million by the end. Yeah.
Okay, 13. It roughly cost us about $5 million overall. Okay, that was my clarification.
There are other benefits it's brought along the way, but yes, that's the raw cash. Yeah.
Thanks, Brian. Are there any other questions? Okay, that includes the question section of the meeting. I would like to advise that voting on all resolutions will close shortly. For those attending in person, please complete your yellow voting card and lodge it with the Computershare staff member Michael, who's now circling the room. I'll just wait for a minute or two for that to take place. All done, Michael. Thanks very much, everybody. I now declare the poll closed with the results to be announced on the ASX later today. That concludes the formal business to be considered at this meeting. Thank you so very much for your attendance. Most welcome to join the Board and management present for our what's become famous KPMG provided morning tea. Please, please stay on and look forward to catching up, having a chat over a cuppa. Thank you very much.