Well, good morning, ladies and gentlemen, and my name is Neil Chatfield. As Chairman of Aristocrat Leisure Limited, it's my pleasure to welcome you here today to our 2026 Annual General Meeting. Certainly welcome, welcome everyone to come along, and I guess we've got a new venue this year because we're under construction out at the Macquarie Park facility, and but hopefully we'll be back, back in home, maybe next year. So, I'd like to start the meeting by acknowledging the traditional owners of the land in which we meet today, the Gadigal people, and pay my respects to elders past and present.
I'd now like to ask that mobile phones be switched to silent mode, please, and note that the taking of photos, videos, or using any recording device is not permitted. For those of us in the room, in case of an emergency, please follow the instructions of the Four Seasons Hotel staff. I now note that it's shortly after 11 A.M., and this is a properly constituted meeting, and I'm informed that a quorum is present, and I declare the meeting open. First of all, allow me to introduce our board of directors and the company secretary who are here with us today. Firstly, starting from my left, Trevor Croker, our Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director. Kathleen Conlon, Chairman of our People and Culture Committee, and you'll hear from Kathleen a little later.
Philippe Etienne, next along, and Philippe's standing for re-election today, and you'll hear from him later as well. Next to Philippe is Bill Lance. Bill is our lead U.S. director elect, and he'll also be standing for re-election, and we welcome him today. Next to Bill is Arlene Tansey. Arlene's the Chairman of our Audit Committee. Next to Arlene is Natasha Chand. She's newly appointed Chairman elect of our Regulatory and Compliance Committee. Next to Natasha is Sylvia Summers Couder, and finally, but not by no means last, Emma Leske, our Company Secretary on the end there.
Unfortunately, Pat Ramsey is unable to join us today as he's traveling from overseas due to other commitments, and we note that Pat. We'll have a couple of comments about Pat later, but we note that he's retiring as of today. We also welcome Mark Dow and his colleagues from PricewaterhouseCoopers, the company's auditors. A notice of meeting has been distributed to shareholders, setting out the business and resolutions to be considered today, and I propose to take that notice as read. Before we move to the formal business, I'll run through a few procedural matters. There are two ways to ask a question today. If you're here in person, you can ask a question from the floor. If you'd like to do that at the relevant item of business, please approach the microphone.
Show your blue or green card, and open by stating your name and the organization or shareholder that you're representing. If you have mobility restrictions, please raise your hand and the roving mic will be brought to you. For those attending online, you can ask a written question by selecting the messaging icon or ask a verbal question by clicking the Request to Speak button. I do ask that you please submit one online question at a time. We may aggregate questions if we receive multiple questions on the same topic, and if questions are particularly lengthy, we may need to summarize them in the interest of time. Questions should be directed to me as chairman of the meeting.
In order to allow as many shareholders as possible the opportunity to participate today, I'll accept up to two questions or comments from each shareholder before moving to the question from the next shareholder. For each item of business, we will start with questions from the room, then we'll go to online questions, including audio, before moving to the next item, moving to the vote on the next item. Thank you to those shareholders who submitted questions ahead of today's meeting. It's very rewarding to see the interest in the company, and I think you'll agree with me when we go through those questions that there's some very well-crafted and very appropriate questions. So thank you for that.
Voting on all resolutions will be conducted via a poll, and Steve Hodkin from Boardroom is the Returning Officer responsible for overseeing the voting process at this meeting. If you're here in person, please mark your blue voting card to cast your vote for each resolution. If you require any assistance entering your vote, representatives at Boardroom are here to assist. Completed voting cards will be placed in the ballot boxes at the door where you entered. And to vote online, select the Voting tab through the online platform. If you have any issues at all using the online platform, please check the hybrid AGM user guide, available on our AGM website, or call the helpline number shown on the online platform.
I now declare the poll open, and you can submit your votes at any time before I close the poll, and note that the poll will close five minutes after the conclusion of the meeting. We will display proxies received in advance of the meeting after discussion on each item. I confirm that it is my intention as chairman to vote all undirected proxies in favor of all resolutions. Before I move to the resolutions to be considered today, together with Trevor, I would like to provide some commentary on the strategy, operations, and financial results of the company. Fellow shareholders, 2025 was a strong period for Aristocrat, as the business aligned our enterprise portfolio with our updated strategy while maintaining a proven approach that has delivered high-quality operational performance and superior profit growth over an extended period.
During the year, your company delivered a strong financial result while investing to support consistent future performance into the future. This outcome reflects rigorous execution of our growth strategy, focused on creating enduring value for our shareholders and other stakeholders. The foundation of Aristocrat's long-term growth strategy is disciplined investment and innovation. We continue to support high levels of design and development investment to deliver world-class gaming content at scale.
This includes continued investment in exceptional creative talent, truly one of Aristocrat's most compelling competitive advantages, and enabling technologies that improve the efficiency and reach of our content deployment. The company's strategy is further strengthened by distribution of content across core markets and attractive adjacencies, supported by a clear ambition to gain share in every market in which we compete.
The combination of our interactive business, a full solution online real money gaming provider across iLottery content and platforms, together with our established gaming and social casino businesses, creates a diversified and complementary portfolio that enables Aristocrat to distribute its leading gaming content through a global footprint. Finally, the execution of this strategy is underpinned by a set of differentiating enablers.
These include long-term customer relationships, superior commercialization capabilities, and a compliance culture grounded in a strong commitment to a sustainable and responsible industry. In addition, the company increasingly sees its AI-based technology development and data analytics as a clear opportunity and will continue to invest in technology aligned to this. With close to 70% of our revenues generated in regulated sectors, these elements position Aristocrat to deliver consistent performance while maintaining the standards expected of a global market leader.
Protecting the value of our investment and innovation is equally critical to our ongoing success. We were pleased to announce the recent settlement of Aristocrat's litigation against Light & Wonder in Australia and the U.S., which we brought following Light & Wonder's launch of its Dragon Train game. Aristocrat takes a proactive approach to defending its intellectual property, and we are fully committed to protecting the great work of our dedicated, creative, and technical teams. We will not hesitate to robustly defend and enforce our rights to ensure fair competition within this industry. This month, our ongoing efforts to invest and protect our innovations were recognized following a landmark court decision. The decision confirmed the patent eligibility of various Aristocrat Hold-and-Spin patents in Australia and is a strong endorsement of our broader patent strategy.
While our priorities and focus areas continue to evolve, Aristocrat's fundamental approach to generating growth remains consistent and has delivered exceptional and sustained results over time. During the five-year period since the 2020 financial year, revenues and segment profits have grown at a compound annual growth rate of 9% and 19%, respectively. This strong financial performance has allowed us to fully fund our organic and inorganic growth priorities, while also returning over AUD 4.3 billion to shareholders through dividends and on-market share buybacks during this time.
In summary, our strategy has been effective and sustainable, with Aristocrat's strong financial fundamentals supporting our continued investment in proven growth drivers. Sustainability remains a key priority of our business. Aligned with our core values of good business, good citizen, further progress has been achieved across all four pillars of our sustainability program, including Empowering Safer Play, or ESP, good governance, operational sustainability and climate, and people and community. I'd like to briefly provide some highlights, and I certainly encourage shareholders to review further details of our annual disclosures around sustainability.
Over the course of the financial year, we made significant progress against our six medium-term strategic ESP goals, which were initiated in 2024. We've also undertaken preparation for mandatory climate reporting, achieved progress towards our approved science-based targets, and integrated NeoGames into our sustainability program, with a focus on safer play standards and processes. We've continued to prioritize our people-first mindset, indexing well above our technology benchmark in industry surveys.
ESP remains our most important sustainability matter, directly supporting our ability to deliver financial results over the long term to benefit our people, customers, and you, our shareholders. We strive to take an ESP leadership role in the industry and uphold high standards of responsible business practices. We've continued to invest in ESP, collaborating with our customers, regulators, industry partners, and others who share our vision of a vibrant and sustainable gaming and hospitality industry.
Additionally, we've made strides in the provision of advanced tools towards enhanced marketing campaigns and dynamic player messaging across both our regulated and unregulated markets. We continue to strengthen links with gaming research and treatment services, including ones focused on the important and evolving topic of AI in the gaming sector. Your board remains highly engaged throughout the and throughout the year, meeting frequently and holding immersion sessions in our key global locations, covering diverse and evolving topics such as AI, ESP, and other emerging opportunities and competitive threats.
This allowed us to receive direct feedback from a range of stakeholders that included our key customers, and effectively oversee the business strategy, culture, and governance. After nearly ten years on our board, Pat Ramsey has decided to retire. Pat has been a vital and engaged member of the board over that time, bringing deep gaming industry experience. On behalf of shareholders and the whole Aristocrat team, we sincerely thank Pat for his service and significant contribution. We do have a structured succession and renewal process. Recruitment is well advanced, and we expect to announce a new director in due course.
As previously flagged, we will prioritize a U.S.-based director recruitment, consistent with the geographic profile of our operations and strategic priorities. Our process is designed to ensure the board has the right representation of skills and experience to guide the business and management, particularly at this critical juncture, where the pace of change and challenge from within and outside our industry continues to accelerate. Management succession also remains a priority, and we continue to ensure our internal talent is exposed to a breadth of development opportunities and experiences. Now moving to Aristocrat's capital management strategy, which is overseen by the board and remains a focus on optimizing shareholder returns.
Aristocrat's strong performance enabled us to authorize a final unfranked dividend of AUD 0.49 per share in respect of the period to 30 September 2025, and AUD 0.93 per share for the full year, an increase of 19% over the prior period. In addition, last year, we announced a new AUD 750 million on-market share buyback program. Having near completion, the board recently authorized an additional up to AUD 750 million, bringing the total program to AUD 1.5 billion through to March 2027. I'll note that since commencing on-market share buybacks in 2022, Aristocrat has bought back close to AUD 2.7 billion of shares.
We believe that Aristocrat's strong balance sheet and liquidity position, combined with our expectation for continued strong operating cash flow generation, will enable the company to continue to fund its organic and inorganic growth priorities, and also return cash to shareholders in the future.
Sorry about that.
That's all right.
Sorry.
In summary, Aristocrat delivered another strong group performance over the 2025 financial year, with revenue and profit growth reflecting market share gains and sustained investment in top-performing product portfolio. The company has exciting growth prospects ahead and is well-positioned to maintain and grow its industry-leading position and produce superior industry returns. I'd like to thank my board colleagues and the company executives for their contributions throughout the year.
Once again, I'd like to express admiration and gratitude on behalf of the board to all of our employees. And finally, thank you to you, our shareholders, for your ongoing support and confidence in Aristocrat. It's now my pleasure to pass to Trevor Croker, CEO and Managing Director of Aristocrat, to update you. Thanks, Trevor.
Thank you, Neil, and welcome everyone in attendance and those listening in today. Neil laid out our growth strategy. Our financial results were once again a reflection of our successful strategy in action, and I'm pleased to share some more detail today. My comments will reflect normalized growth, excluding Plarium, which was sold during the year. For FY 2025, Aristocrat generated revenue of AUD 6.3 billion, an increase of 11% over the prior year, driven by organic growth and market share gains, and the inclusion of NeoGames for the full period. Our EBITDA margin expanded from 40.1% to 41.7%, reflecting favorable mix and improved operating leverage. Net profit before amortization of AUD 1.6 billion increased 12%, while EPSA increased 15%, benefiting from the strong earnings outcome, as well as our on-market share buyback program.
These strong financial results were achieved while making important investments in technology and capabilities to drive our success into the future. We also made appropriate organizational changes, restructuring our group functions, including the product and technology groups, to increase coordination and alignment across the businesses. This will allow us to utilize our content, scale, and capabilities across Aristocrat, increasing speed to market.
We're already seeing early benefits from these actions and expect to improve efficiency as we further integrate AI tools and scale. The group finished the year with minimal financial leverage and a strong balance sheet, providing potential to take advantage of value-enhancing initiatives. Our balance sheet capacity is competitive advantage and a differentiator in our industry.
Aligned with our overall growth strategy, the sale of Plarium and more recently, Big Fish Games' social casual assets, were important milestones as we focus on opportunities to leverage our strength in creating slot content. Product Madness is now a focused social casino business, and all three segments are fully aligned with our strategic priorities and clear content strategy. Turning now to our FY 2025 divisional performance.
Aristocrat Gaming revenue grew 9% and increased in profit, and profits increased by 7%, led by strong performance in global outright sales, supported by the depth and strength of portfolio, driving market share gains in our major markets. In North America, we added approximately 4,100 units to our install base, which now exceeds 75,000 units, continuing to gain share in our gaming operations business.
While outright sales benefit from market share gains and strong growth in adjacencies. Game launches, such as Phoenix Link and Spooniki Link, as well as the rollout of the Baron Portrait Cabinet, drove performance. Our our Rest of World gaming segment benefit from a strong rebound in Australia. Product Madness delivered strong performance in a transformational year, with refreshed leadership and more effective integration into the enterprise. Recurring social revenue, casino revenues grew 5%, compared to a market decline of 9%, and was driven by investment in new content, effective player engagement, Live Ops, and features. Segment profit grew an impressive 12% as margins expanded due to the continued focus on efficiency and increased direct-to-consumer, or D2C, revenues.
Interactive benefited from the inclusion of NeoGames for the full year, as well as organic growth in iLottery and continued scaling in content, where we made necessary investments aimed at accelerating performance into the future. In platforms, we continued to expand in the U.S. and the Australian markets. Total revenue and profits, including our share of the NeoPollard, Pollard Interactive iLottery joint venture, increased 71% and 87%, respectively. While significant work lies ahead to realize Interactive's full potential, we're making important and encouraging progress. While 2025 marked another strong year for the group, we're even more excited about what's to come. We see tremendous opportunities across all businesses that support our growth strategy. Starting with gaming, GGR trends remain consistent with recent years, and we continue to see meaningful opportunities to grow market share across our established markets and extend our global leadership position.
We've entered FY 2026 with strong momentum, with FY 2025 market shares in North America having increased by 80 basis points to 43% in gaming operations, and by 120 basis points to 31% in outright sales, reaching all-time high levels. This momentum is being driven by our industry-leading game performance and sustained investment in both content and hardware. With design and development investment levels above those of our peers, we are confident in our ability to maintain a strong multi-year product pipeline. This pipeline continues to deliver leading results, with performance indexing at 1.4x the floor in North America, and Aristocrat holding nine of the top 10 premium list index titles in December 2025, based on Eilers latest game performance report. Following a successful 2025 release schedule, we look ahead with confidence to another compelling year of innovation.
Upcoming titles that we expect to drive momentum in the second half of the year include Monopoly Big Board Bucks and recently launched Lightning Ten-Year Storm. Both titles are strong and have growing order pipelines. Similarly, Buffalo Mega Stampede has been a leading performer across our gaming operations with strong customer demand. Our customers continue to recognize our innovation and success, with Aristocrat named the leading land-based supplier in North America for the seventh consecutive year to 2024 at the EKG Awards. In the latest Eilers & Krejcí survey, customers ranked eight Aristocrat titles in the top 10 most anticipated premium lease games for 2026. Strategic adjacencies within North America represent another long-term opportunity and growth driver. Adjacencies are established gaming markets where we have historically not competed.
2025 continued to demonstrate our ability to execute in these markets and acquire market position, with adjacencies achieving 29% growth and accounting for 26% of our outright sales units. Our recent entry into the Georgia COAM market was particularly strong driver of those results. We continue to see opportunity to increase our share in existing adjacencies and leverage our content to compete effectively in new adjacencies.
In Australia, we expect firm customer demand, recovering replacement rates, and our investment in new content to support the Baron cabinet will continue to drive market share gains in FY 2026. We also see continued organic growth potential in gaming markets such as Asia, where demographic and income trends support long-term growth. In Europe, where we are in under-penetrated and new market openings, such as the UAE, due to launch in 2027.
While social casino is a relatively more mature segment, we continue to see growth opportunities at Product Madness from ongoing share gains and increased migration to D2C delivery. Over the past 2 years, we've increased D2C penetration to 16% of revenues, and this is running above 20% in the early months of FY 2026, with further upside potential. We also launched our NFL-themed social casino mobile game worldwide in August.
The largest single opportunity in front of us remains our expansion into online RMG, where we look to scale and take share in this high-growth segment. In iLottery, we expect market growth to be supported by further legislation, continued retail to digital conversion, and the growing popularity of the product. We expect our approximate 70% share of the U.S. iLottery market to be further supported by expansion of our features and content.
Interactive was recently awarded the contract for the Massachusetts iLottery from July 2026. The Massachusetts State Lottery is the leading per capita performing retail lottery in the U.S. and the third worldwide. The Michigan iLottery, where we currently share the economics in a joint venture, was also awarded to the Interactive business on an exclusive basis from July 2026. Both represent strong growth opportunities. Additionally, a number of other U.S. states are considering iLotteries, with Colorado recently launching an RFP. We are well positioned to compete for opportunities as they emerge. In our content segment, we have a multi-year pipeline of product launches planned for North America and Europe, with the much-anticipated launch of Lightning Link for Aristocrat Interactive planned for later this year. We expect to gain share as we roll out our leading land-based content.
In 2025, we operated in only three of the seven legal U.S. iGaming markets. We are now operating in five of the largest states and will enter the remaining two in 2026 to build out our operator reach. We are diligently and slowly growing our content revenue base and expect it to be a significant contributor to the Company's growth and our 2029 interactive target. Turning to platforms, we continue to make solid progress with this business. We see ongoing opportunities to gain share in our land-based casino systems, while also benefiting from new customer wins through our digital player account management platform, which supports both iGaming and online sports betting. We were pleased to have signed several new contracts over the course of FY 2025 and have a solid pipeline for FY 2026.
We also recently launched our Class II mobile solution in Oklahoma. This offering strengthens our partnership with tribal customers and further deepens these important relationships. As online and land-based casinos continue to converge and operators increasingly focus on a single, unified view of the player, our technology platforms and scale remain powerful competitive advantages. Our investment in AI across the group is focused on harnessing opportunities that benefit our content creation and prototyping, thereby improving our speed to market. AI improves our quality control and testing time, accelerating productivity around the delivery of content into and across market segments. Further AI technology investment in advanced data analytics and broader operational efficiencies are expected to improve performance, delivery, and quality.
We're excited about the number of small acquisitions that will add capability to align to our technology platform and build our AI knowledge, and we'll be investing further in new opportunities arising from these deals. In October, we acquired Awager, a leading provider in the fast-emerging and regulated live slot streaming segment, and more recently, Gaming Analytics, which provides AI-powered tools to land-based operators for real-time player analytics, slot optimization, and marketing automation, strengthening connections between operators and their players. We look forward to sharing more details on these opportunities over time. At the same time, we've continued to review our portfolio of returns and industry dynamics to optimize our positioning. We are planning to exit the white label business in Interactive, which largely operates in the U.K. and Europe, with an expected completion within this financial year.
This business contributed $36 million of revenues in the Interactive result in FY 2025, but generated negligible profit and does not meet our internal return hurdles. Now moving to some of the executive changes. We've made a number of recent leadership changes that we believe will accelerate performance and expand our capabilities. Dylan Slaney joined Aristocrat as Chief Executive Officer in Interactive in November.
Dylan is a highly experienced iGaming executive, bringing strong industry expertise, energy, and leadership capability. We are confident he is the right leader to scale the business and unlock this significant market opportunity. Barry French also joined the group in an expanded role as Chief Corporate Affairs and Marketing Officer, bringing with him significant leadership experience in areas across multiple sectors and jurisdictions.
Bob Suh has been appointed as Chief Technology Officer, an experienced executive bringing deep expertise in AI, emerging technologies, and enterprise-scale innovation. And finally, Daphne Guisard joined Aristocrat in the newly created role of Chief Commercial Officer, EMEA. Daphne brings more than 20 years of senior leadership experience across commercial growth operations and digital transformation, and will be responsible for driving execution of Aristocrat's EMEA expansion strategy.
These appointments add the new capabilities, deep industry experience, and significant depth to our Aristocrat senior leadership team, and highlight our continued ability to attract outstanding people. I'd now like to make some comments on our 2026 outlook. Financial performance year to date is positive and consistent with our plans. In gaming, GGR growth to date has been resilient, with some softness in destination markets more than offset by steady trends in regional markets.
Operators remain positive, maintain a positive outlook, and capital budgets appear supportive. We remain confident in our gaming operations content pipeline and are targeting net additions of 4-5,000 units in FY 2026, weighted to the second half. We expect Fee Per Day to increase over the year, with sequentially stable trends in the first half of FY 2026 compared to the second half of FY 2025. The strong momentum in Product Madness has continued into the current year, with positive growth in a market where other competitors appear to be struggling. Ongoing D2C migration continues to support margin expansion and expected to be partially offset by increased UA spend. Big Fish assets were sold in early FY 2026 and generated $100 million of revenues in FY 2025.
In Interactive, iLottery continues to deliver solid organic growth, driven by digital migration and improved performance in current markets. In Content, further launches of leading land-based content and expansions into Delaware and Connecticut have supported incremental share gains with West Virginia and Rhode Island to launch later this year. And there's much more and there's much anticipation with the online market for the release of Lightning Link, expected around July 2026.
While our content revenue growth is tracking below aspirations, we continue to focus on the many opportunities ahead of us and invest in the right technology to deliver our FY 2029 $1 billion revenue target. We look forward to sharing more on Interactive at an investor presentation in the second half of FY 2026. As noted previously, Aristocrat recently made several small acquisitions to support our technology platform strategy across our regulated gaming businesses.
We expect these businesses to meaningfully contribute to Interactive revenues over the medium term. The investment of around $20 million ahead of this is expected to impact the Interactive segment profit in FY 2026, and around $12 million of D&D investment is planned. Following the recent legal settlement with Light & Wonder, we expect to recognize AUD 45 million legal cost recovery in corporate costs relating to legal costs incurred to date, including around $16 million of legal costs expected to be incurred in the current year. The remainder of the $127.5 million settlement is expected to be booked as a significant item. Overall, we anticipate another positive year in 2026. Consistent with recent years, we expect performance to be weighted to the second half, given the timing of product launches in both Gaming and Interactive.
In terms of outlook, we reiterate our overarching group NPAT growth and divisional outlook statements and FY 2026 modeling provided at the time of our 2025 results presentation in November last year. In closing, 2025 was another successful year for Aristocrat, underpinned by the discipline and consistent execution of our growth strategy. Looking ahead, we remain sharply focused on what we can control, executing with precision, strengthen the resilience of our business, and enhancing our competitiveness regardless of external conditions. I'd like to sincerely thank our talented and dedicated employees for their energy, commitment, and hard work throughout the year.
We also thank my fellow directors for their guidance and support, and extend my appreciation to our customers, our players, and of course, our shareholders, for your continued trust in Aristocrat. We undertook significant foundational work in FY 2025 to position the business for sustainable long-term success. We are fully focused on delivering the high-quality performance you rightly expect from us, and we are confident we are capable of delivering. Thank you for your continued support. I'll now hand back to Neil to take your questions.
Thanks, Trevor, and I hope we've conveyed to you that the while the 2 025 year was a strong one. We believe that this business has never been positioned better to produce outstanding results into the future. And thank you, thank you for your contribution, Trevor. I'll now turn to the formal business of today's meeting. The first item of business is to receive and consider the financial report, directors' report, and auditors' report for the financial year ended 30 September 2025. There's no vote on this item. But at this stage, I would be pleased to take any comments or questions in relation to those statements and reports, as well as any questions in relation to Trevor or my addresses, or any aspects of the company's management, for that matter.
You can also ask questions of our auditors relating to the conduct of the audit and the auditors' report. Any questions in relation to the re-election of directors, the remuneration, related resolutions, and proportional takeover approval provisions will be considered when we come to the relevant resolution. Before I open the floor to questions and discussion, I'd like to address one common question that has been submitted by shareholders in advance of today's meeting. Leske, can you please read the question?
Chairman, three shareholders have asked questions regarding our recent share price underperformance. They have commented that this is despite earnings growth, capital returns, and expansion into online real money gaming. They ask what management is doing to address market perception, and whether staff are incentivized and striving to win.
Thanks, Leske. Certainly, appreciate the, the comments, and I know that, you know, we're also very unhappy with the recent underperformance of the share price. We share your frustration, both personally and across the, across the whole, organization. The share price will fluctuate, based on a range of factors, and perceptions, many of which are outside the board's control, and many of which are short term. We would note that a key driver more recently has been stock and sector rotation away from software and gaming stocks that are perceived to have business models that may be challenged by AI. While our share price appears to have been impacted somewhat by that, we have the opposite view and see AI as a great enabler for our business.
What we can control is our own actions, and while we continue to focus on creating shareholder value through growing our business and cash flows in a responsible way, and continuing to take market share. Over the past year, we delivered strong double-digit growth in revenue, profit, NPAT, and EPSA, and returned AUD 1.4 billion to shareholders through dividends and share buybacks.
We believe if we continue to do the right things, focus on growing the business and creating shareholder value, that the share price will respond in time and reflect that performance. The entire team at Aristocrat is focused on winning, and is appropriately incentivized. For many employees, this includes equity-based incentives, which align directly with the interest of our shareholders. To give our room. Sorry, Trevor, do you wanna just talk about the management's perspective of the share price a nd our positioning? Thank you.
Yeah, thanks, Chair. I think, going back to the same points that the chairman raised, we have strong market positions in our core markets being gaming, social casino, iLottery platforms, and we continue to see market share gains in that. The objective of management continues to be each day, is to take market share in every market in which we compete, and we've already highlighted a couple of geographical opportunities for the business, not just in adjacencies, but geographical opportunities to continue to grow. So management is incentivized and focused on leveraging the D&D investments that are made, and leveraging that across both channels and geographies on a global basis, where we focus on taking share, each day.
Thanks, Trevor. As mentioned at the outset, we've received a number of questions, but to give shareholders in the room today the opportunity to ask some questions, I'll now open the floor on this first item of business, and then I'll return back to those submitted questions at the end of this item. So we've got Stephen, you can go first. How are you?
Thanks, Chair. Good morning. Stephen Mayne, a small shareholder. First question is, are we still supplying a motor vehicle to our 102-year-old founder, Len Ainsworth, even though he no longer drives? We used to supply?
I don't know whether. Yeah, I don't know whether he drives or not, but, no, we don't supply that vehicle any longer.
All right, so 'cause he. So when did that stop?
Oh, recently.
Right. Okay. All right. I just, is it fair in your estimation that the family still owns in the order of 10%-15% of the company?
I don't.
They're our biggest shareholder.
Yeah, I don't.
The family are our biggest shareholder.
I don't think it's a question of fairness, it's a question of, they're the facts.
Yeah, so that's true. Yeah, and do you know roughly what it is? Because it's not disclosed. So is it, in your estimate, 15%?
Oh, it's in that order, yeah.
About 15%? Yeah, okay. 'Cause I do think it's probably we've reached a point now where it probably should be disclosed, because Len's obviously 102. He's the only billionaire who's got to 100, and under his agreement with his sons, his seven sons, if they ever sell, they have to give him 80% of the proceeds, and he actually sued one of them to get that. So when he does pass, there will be 15% of the stock that will be free to be sold, and there could be an avalanche of AUD 3 billion-AUD 4 billion of the stock hitting the market. So I do think we've reached the time now where you should actually disclose, in the substantial shareholders, the aggregated holding, because there is that binding agreement across all of them.
I don't see how seven sons can't be associated. So will you give serious consideration, going forward, to actually disclosing the founding family as our largest shareholder with 15%? 'Cause if you read the top 20 shareholders, they're not there and you've just said it, they own around 15%, and this could all be sold quite rapidly when our founder passes.
Sure. Sure. Yeah, look, all I can say is that, you know, we control what we can control. The responsibility for a substantial shareholder notice is with the shareholder. And we're not, you know, we're not aware of. I'm certainly not aware of the detail that you have in those agreements. So, you know, let's focus on what we can control.
Just one second question before I'll let someone else have a go.
Second question? This is the third.
Oh, well.
Okay. Okay.
So previously, at AGMs, you've been cagey about our Australian market share. I think it was probably three years ago where you said it was around 50%. I think it might have been a couple of years ago where the CEO said it was, it had historically been above 50%, but then had fallen down a bit. The CEO mentioned the 75,000 U.S. install base. What is the equivalent number in Australia?
Are we back above 50%, and is it gonna move with the settlement with Light & Wonder? So they have to re-withdraw Dragon machines that, where they use our stolen IP. So what's the size of their withdrawal in the Australian market? And when that is all done and the dust settles, where do you think our Australian market share is gonna settle? Is it bigger than it's ever been, or, you know, where's it at broadly?
Trevor, you want to, y ou know, before you answer, though, that we-- and I think we've said before, that we're around 50%. We, you know, we don't, the regulators have the precise numbers. We don't, we don't, aren't privy to every, every venue's numbers. But, you know, as we said before, we, Australia is a really important market for us, and, it's not just our home market, but it's a market that, where innovation is typically has come from. And, we will continue to not just produce the best content that we can.
We had some customer visits over the last couple of days, which were really, really positive about the way that we were going about, you know, delivering new product and assisting our customers to grow as well. But, Trevor, do you want to just talk about, you know, Dragon Train and that kind of element?
Yeah. Thank you, and thanks for the question, Stephen. As Chairman outlined, we've been sitting in just over 50% of the Australian market in the last year. We continue to focus on taking market share through product innovation and hardware innovation, which we introduced to the market last year. As I mentioned in my opening comments, we see that momentum following through into 2026 as well. Our portfolio of games that are being made by studios, not just in Australia, but studios from our global portfolio that are making games for this market and continuing to bring innovation, both in game and hardware, to this market.
In context to the Dragon Train question, the Dragon Train question is that the Light & Wonder must use best efforts to address the install base, and that is really a question about what the size of the install base is, is really a question for them. We continue to see the opportunity to take share, and that we have been able to do that over the last 12 months. We do feel that we'll be able to take share again in this 2026 and continue to take share into the future. So that will drive churn of the market, and that will be our ability to improve our install base as a consequence of that.
I'm not really going to get into what Light & Wonder are doing or whatever, but we have a compelling portfolio of hardware and games that are being placed in venues across New South Wales. Well, sorry, across Australia, and we continue to be confident about doing that in 2026 and 2027.
Thanks, Trevor. Sir?
[Terry Lewis], shareholder.
Hi, [Terry].
I'm going to make one statement. It's not a question, and then followed by two question, okay?
Yes.
So not three. Firstly, I'd like to congratulate the board on a very nice big growth, profit for this year. What we are, what we have achieved is exceptional inroad into the profit of the company, probably, you know, for a long time. Now, I'm not gonna ask the board to elaborate the driver behind it. Trevor covered already covered most of those things very nicely in his speech, as well as he even tell us that he's gonna be able to continue the growth and not just one-off. So I'm not gonna be ask that question anymore, so I'll just skip that to save a lot of time. Now, the two question I'd like to ask is, the one is on capital management.
You have touched on it, that we are pull back in the current year, AUD 854 million of share into 2025. 2027, there's AUD 750 million allocated. You've done about 500 some million. So almost finished. And, as the price is very good now, it's under AUD 50, you can get it. So what is the board's decision? That's question one. Regarding capital management, are we gonna, got some spare money to buy some more? Because this is very, very good, especially when the price is down. The share price, I'm not talking about is down, it's good for us at the moment because.
Yes.
We are buying back about AUD 60 or AUD 70. Now, it's under AUD 50. If you got spare money and got no use for it at the moment, I think you should put it to good use, at the moment. Yeah, thank you.
You're welcome.
Yeah, and the third question is, what I was. Oh, I forgot. What I was - I read it on the board, just come in, so I didn't have.
Sorry.
Oh, yeah, you just announced acquisition. Awager, Awager acquisition. I read that back in October, as you say, there's nowhere mentioned how much we're paying for that. It just say, "Undisclosed amount." Now, I know that you got a regulatory hurdle, you got to go through, got to get approval and all this. You might still under negotiation with the, O.G., was it, the fund manager? Now, is this, this company, is it profitable?
Because it sound like O.G. is a cash, is a fund manager. They've taken over, it looks like a start-up and from Israel. So are we buying a profitable company? And, and can you disclose, how much are we paying for it? Not say exact amount, you might have some also still negotiating or whatever. But approximately, how much are we paying for this? Also, what are the benefit of this new company, Awager, bring to Aristocrat, and in what time frame? T hat we expect it to realize the benefit? That is, that's my third question for today.
Thank you. And, yeah, I really appreciate your questions, and, as I'd say, right on the money. The capital management, go to that one first. We've been, s we said, we've done a large number of buybacks or a large quantum over the last three or so years. It's now firmly part of our capital management strategy. You appreciate, though, that there's times that we can't go into the market, times such as i n the lead up to this meeting, to the lead up to our results.
Understood.
But we will, we absolutely agree that the buybacks in this environment are highly accretive. And you will see us, you know, acting accordingly. In terms of Awager, it's quite an immaterial amount, otherwise we would have disclosed it. But Trevor, I think the more important question is, what does Awager do for us going into the future?
Yeah, exactly. What, what benefit us? In what time frame? What is?
Thank you.
Thank you, and thank you for your question. So Awager is a video streaming platform for regulated gaming. So it operates in regulated gaming environments and streams.
In the United States?
It can be global. It's not allowed in Australia, but in the U.S. and Europe, it is a legal market, and it effectively is the streaming of slot content in an online environment. So a physical gaming machine streaming that content direct to a player. It's only at a very early stage. You're right, it is a start-up stage, and what we found in that is it's got very good technology, it's got a unique position in the iGaming marketplace, has strong customer relationships that already exist, with the opportunity to expand those customer relationships. I look at it as a context of how do we grow Aristocrat value, is we take our content and we put it into a new distribution channel. This is another way of doing that.
It's taking our world-leading content and putting it into a distribution channel, which allows to be monetized in the regulated world. So it's a midterm growth. We are really at the early stages. At this point, we're investing to scale that business, and we see that over time, it will be an important part of our overall iGaming solution, and it'll be an important part for both our retail casino operators that have both a retail and an online presence. So we think strategically, it's a very good fit because it leverages the strengths of our company, which is providing access to our content to customers and players.
Are they profitable or.
They're not profitable at the moment. We're investing but they will be profitable.
Yes.
We do believe that they will get, that they are getting there very quickly.
They operate in Israel. Does that concern you or the, you've got, you know, there's a war over there, and I don't think that gambling, they get, they might get involved? They're gambling-
They, they.
Right, mate.
They, they don't operate in Israel because you're right, it's illegal. There is a small group of management that are based in Israel, but the majority of the resource and the development is done outside of Israel.
In Europe as well.
Yes.
In Europe as well.
We, we.
But I then still don't know how much we're gonna pay for it. That's another question. A start-up and not profitable, and, you know, and we're buying something that is, that is a start-up, basically. It's not, you know g onna tell you how. What's the time frame you think we're gonna be profitable then?
At this stage, I'm saying midterm, so in a couple of years' time, we are at the point now.
Yeah, yeah, that's fine.
Where we're really at the starting stage of that, and it will complement our overall iGaming strategy, which we're talking about into the 2029 period.
But some of those start 18 year, and then the company just fold.
My board doesn't have that appetite. Nor do the shareholders.
Okay, thanks.
We've got to get approval.
Thanks, Trevor. Thank you. Sir?
Good morning, shareholders and the board. Just echoing what the previous shareholder said, congratulations. AUD 1.3 billion, 2025, AUD 1.2 billion, 2024. Fantastic company. I've got other shareholdings, and they don't make that much, so good company that you guys are leading. Just got a couple of questions on how we can actually maintain that growth. So first question is on wellbeing, regulations, and being responsible customers, such as what are we doing to support vulnerable customers?
Yeah, well, as we said through the discussions and through the speeches, our objective is to be the leader in this market in this sector on responsible gameplay. Responsible gameplay, the expression now is Empowering Safer Play, that we've adopted. And I hope you've got the message that, you know, we're doing everything we possibly can, working with customers, regulators, and in tangible ways, and Trevor will give you some insights there.
We think that making the distinction between customers and consumers, it's, w e don't face the consumer directly, of course, but we're working with our customer base to ensure that they can meet their obligations as well as a step up for, y ou know, we want a responsible industry that can continue to thrive and meet the community expectations. Trevor, do you want to just talk about maybe FlexiPlay and.
Yeah. Yeah. No, thank you. There's a couple of, couple of initiatives that are continuing. First of all, there's the industry initiative. So if you look at our North American business with context, with the ESP communication being Know Your Max, that's actually got a social media. It's also got an outdoor media, and it's a communication platform that is running across the U.S., and that's been running for a number of years and is recognized as one of the best communication platforms for knowing your max and providing context for players in that area. In Australia, it's really been around hardware solutions. So we've had a product called FlexiPlay, which is an optional bank and time meter that are offered on the machines.
That has gradually grown from about 1,100 installed units about two or three years ago, to over 11,000 installed units just in New South Wales, where it provides the player the optionality as to how do they want to monitor and manage their gaming experience. Also, the work that we started with the digital wallet trial in New South Wales a couple of years ago with Wests Leagues about building out a digital wallet, we continued to refine that, and that's now in for resubmission with the New South Wales Government around how we can add to that. And again, it has built-in, tools for the users around managing spend and time as part of that.
But what I would say as a whole context is we see ESP, empowering safer play, as an industry-wide objective that we need to work with all of our different stakeholders, whether it's in the online environment with age gating in Social Casino, whether it's in the iGaming space or around managing alerts and updates, or in the gaming space. We do invest in research and supporting research with both industry research and our own research to increase our knowledge and enhance our understanding of what's involved, including education sessions with the board and with the management team on an ongoing basis to remain contemporary with what the academic and practical world is saying about problem gambling and responsible gaming at this point in time.
Yeah, I think too, just to add, I think there's, you know, we gave some disclosures out in December, I think, around our sustainability, and ESP is a core part of that. I really encourage you to take a look at it.
Thank you. And, my last question is around the innovation in AI threats. So I think, Mr. Trevor Croker talked about using AI as to improve our OpEx, which is great. But I just want to talk about or ask about, can the board share what are we doing in terms of defending our position from threats of other AI, other companies using AI to secure our market share? Thank you.
Okay, thank you. I'll go to Trevor in a second, but I think we did make the point that we see AI as being a real competitive opportunity for us, and we've got the best talent in the industry, and we think using AI to support that talent is going to take us to another level. So, you know, I think it's really about how do we embrace AI and ensure that, you know, we've got an ability to do it in a really responsible way? And, you know, that's an ongoing kind of challenge for, I think, for every company, actually. Trevor, do you?
Yeah. Thank you. We have an established AI governance program across the group, and we continue to look at how AI can both enhance our current operations as an organization, but also how do we look to advance that as well. So we have a number of suites or vertical ways to actually do that. Your point around the content is an important one. We operate in a regulated world where proprietary systems and platforms are an important part of being licensed and operate, and so we think about how can we use that for testing quality and increasing our speed to market in that context.
In the iGaming or the social casino world, it's around generating art and assets, and how can you do that using, again, in, within the guidelines and the responsible guidelines in which we operate? And then, we're also using it in our safety environment to enhance our our employee safety by using AI to predictively analyze activity to provide potential solutions for us to improve our safety management for our employees as well. So there's that, and then there are the obvious areas around machine learning, where we look to augment work, where we can make our we can help our team to be more efficient by augmenting, if you like, repetitive tasks and providing capacity to focus on more strategic, or, or decision, more strategic decisions for the organization as a whole.
Thanks for your question. Steven?
Chair, are you intending to re-nominate for the board when your current term expires next year?
I'll just check and see if that's on the agenda today, Stephen. No, it's not. That will be a matter for discussion during the next period of time.
I'd welcome it.
Okay.
So I'd prefer you say, "Yes, I am." You can't say that?
Not at this stage.
No.All right.
I don't think it's appropriate, right? We don't, you know, we can't be asking people, you know, what are they going to do in a year's time, three years' time. I really enjoy this company, and I think this company's got outstanding prospects. The people around the organization are second to none, and you know, it's a really exciting time for the company, and I'd like to continue to be part of it.
Do you believe the next chair is currently on the board?
I think that's not a decision that we've made or we can make in the short term. We have, if you look across the board, we've got some really, really capable people. So, if I walk out and get run over by a bus, I'm sure the company will be in good hands. Thank you.
Now, I was a little surprised at last year's AGM when you said that we review our ASX listing every year, and we'd only just decided in November 2024 not to change it, but you look at changing it every year. In light of the fact with the James Hardie controversy, where they announced they were moving their listing to the U.S. without shareholder approval and there was a massive backlash, and in light of the fact that Light & Wonder have actually canned their U.S. listing and become primary listed here. Can you make an undertaking to us that as long as you're the Chair of this company, we will remain with a primary listing on the ASX?
Yeah, look, you correctly said we look at it every year, and we looked at it, I think, last November.
Why look at it? Like, what's wrong with the ASX? Why?
No, no, I think it's just responsible for a company to look at, you know, what are the opportunities, where do you get the best deal for shareholders? And, you know, we've concluded, as we've concluded a number of years, that Australia is the best place for us. And there's no significant advantage in redomiciling the company. We, you know, the shares can get traded in on the US pe- with different instruments, so we don't think it's an impediment at this point. And I personally don't see that changing, really, but-
Okay, good. And just last general question: so in terms of our commitment on the responsible gambling front, we've seen the Tasmanians roll over and give up their plans, Mr. Abetz, to have mandatory cashless carded play. The Victorians announced something, then the pro-reform minister got rolled. There's now someone who's very friendly to the industry. It's going slow. In New South Wales, it was voluntary, 14 people took it up, and it seems to be going nowhere. So I had a chat to Tim Costello recently, and he was saying the industry is winning, and there's no material progress anywhere on getting rid of cash and, you know, this sort of thing. So Trevor mentioned the 1000-11,000 install base. Do we have a single AUD 1 maximum bet machine installed anywhere in Australia?
Are we serious about a jurisdiction in Australia actually having cashless? Because the perception out there is that we are fighting that. For all we say, we're fighting that, and as long as we've got the former CEO of Clubs NSW as our head of government and industry relations, there's not a lot of credibility in saying that. So what have you actually got out there? What have you actually done to get cashless carded play operating sensibly and sustainably anywhere? Or is it the honest truth that you've been successful, along with the rest of the industry, in foiling it in every jurisdiction yet again for another twelve months?
Yeah. Again, thanks for the question, Stephen. We, just to put it in context, in the last three or four years, I can't remember the exact number, but we have invested significantly in cashless. And we've created. We've done a whole range of different trials. Trevor, do you want to talk about the max bets and that sort of thing?
Yes, thank you. So first of all, you know, from a cashless perspective, we did do the first trial in Wests Leagues, which was an industry-first trial. From that, research is being developed and outcomes, and we've now resubmitted an update of that technology, enhancing and taking on board feedback, both from the research, but also from government and the customers, and the players around how we could use technology to enable responsible gaming, and also to provide a cashless solution. So from our perspective, we continue to invest around providing these solutions and options, and it is now sitting for consideration with the government from that perspective. So I think that we continue to invest, and we continue to do this. As far as one dollar max bets go, I mean, that's a debate that's been going on.
There's been research written that AUD 1 max bet doesn't change the agenda in this point of view. We continue to comply with all of the state-based regulations. We continue to provide solutions, and as I mentioned, we've put 11,000 machines out there just in New South Wales that provide optionality for players to manage their gaming experience as an individual solution for those players. We'll continue to do these initiatives. We'll continue to use the research that we have, that we get from those products to improve and enhance them, and say, as part of the solution, which is with government, industry, and manufacturers that need to pull together to do this.
Thanks, Trevor. Any other questions from the floor? Okay, thank you. So if there's no further questions, we'll go to the online questions.
Chairman, we don't have any audio questions, but we have an online question from Mr. Mark Steven Pierce. His question is: I understand that servicing gaming equipment in New South Wales clubs and pubs is not a profitable proposal due to the low daily fee standard accepted by the industry in New South Wales, and most EGM manufacturers do not engage in the servicing side of the business. In light of the drop in share value over the past 12 months, would it not be a consideration to put out of club service?
Thanks for the question, Mr. Pierce. I'll sort of defer to you here, Trevor. I think, you know, we absolutely wanna support our customers in every way, but we ensure that there's a return in it for us as well.
Yeah. No, thank you, Mr. Pierce, for the question. I can assure shareholders that it is profitable. It is not a heavily profitable part of the business because it is a labor-based business, but we see it as an important service that we offer to our customers, and it's also an important service in making sure that our machines are operating effectively. So we do believe that there is value in it. We know that our industry expects to be supported, and there are costs, there are hidden costs of not providing service in that you have to invite third parties and other contractors to install machines and games, and we see it as being a part of our service, and we are profitable when it comes to service. It is a important part of the solution for our customers.
Okay. If.
Chairman, there are no further questions for this item of business online.
Okay, thanks, Ellie. We have a series of questions that have been submitted prior to the meeting. Ellie, so let's go through and read each of those. Thank you.
Thank you, Chairman. We have received a question from Mr. Bailey Brown, who asks: With the rise in online influencers, particularly in the USA, playing many of Aristocrat's machines, such as Yo Yeti and Buffalo, is there any intention to bring these to the Australian market, where arguably we would have a large, if not larger, player base within Australian influencers similarly playing these games and showcasing them to their audience? Noting none of these influencers are paid by Aristocrat, would it not be wise to expand these games to Australia to further have free advertisement from those who record them playing the machines?
Thanks. Thanks, Ellie. Our leading brands and mechanics across and content across different markets and channels are quite often we do localize them, recognizing the dynamics of each market and the regulations. And Thunder Empire, which has been a really successful game, is a good example and been a successful game in Australia.
And in certain cases, it's just not possible to launch high-performing games from the U.S. into Australia due to regulatory constraints. And if we were required to make certain modifications, it may compromise the way that the game's played. So, we've got numerous local brands, and we continue to lead within ship share, so we don't think the absence of some of those brands is necessarily a concern. Thank you.
Chairman, we have received a question from Mr. Alexander Buckingham, who asks: A company engages in significant M&A and has the capacity to do more large deals. Has the board considered ROIC as a metric to include in the LTI remuneration outcomes? The risk of destroying value is significant when engaging in M&A.
Yeah, I think a good question. The board is mindful of the risk associated with M&A and the importance of a disciplined capital allocation process. And we're very disciplined as it comes to M&A and delivering value-accretive results. We do actually use the metrics, some of the metrics that are out there, particularly ROIC, but our primary kind of measurement when we look at shareholder at M&A is internal rate of return, and you know, we are very rigorous in the way we look across acquisitions. In terms of vesting conditions for LTI awards and alignment with performance and reward programs.
We, you know, we take into account the strategy and look at the including M&A, and if you think about M&A, and how it feeds into those metrics feed into the outcomes of M&A, then, you know, we think the TSR and the EPS model that we currently have in place, and which Kathleen will talk a little bit more about later, really very closely aligned to the sorts of incentives that we're looking for, and ensure that we continue to have that discipline around M&A. We clearly, and as Kathleen will talk about, we do regularly review remuneration structures to ensure that they remained highly aligned to shareholder interests. Next question, Mary?
Chairman, we've received four questions from Mr. Shafe. His first question relates to capital allocation and buyback velocity. He asks: With the share price recently testing long-term support levels, 50-month EMA, and the company holding a lazy balance sheet of 0.2x net debt, EBITDA, has the board considered accelerating the AUD 1.5 billion buyback to take advantage of the current valuation gap, rather than maintaining a purely optimistic pace?
Yeah, thanks again for the question. I think we did answer that earlier. But let me just reinforce that, share buybacks are a really important part of our capital allocation model, and we will be as aggressive as we can be, particularly where, you know, we know that it's a value-accretive task. Next question, Mary?
Yep. The next question is, it relates to M&A readiness. Mr. Shafe asks: Given our substantial AUD 2 billion+ liquidity and an upgraded BBB credit rating, what specific interactive or digital platform capabilities are currently missing that would justify a transformational AUD 2.5 billion-AUD 3.5 billion acquisition to reach our target leverage of 1x-2x ?
Yeah. Well, thanks again for the question. We constantly monitor a pipeline of M&A opportunities across our portfolio, and but our current focus remains on ensuring that we generate value and continue to grow the business through integrating NeoGames and accelerating the performance in Aristocrat Interactive. Any acquisitions are likely to be technology-focused or to add products that expand the portfolio to better serve our customers. We noted earlier that we've completed several bolt-on acquisitions to support our technology platform strategy, focused on building an operator-centric suite of data-driven products and services that enable integration of the land-based and online gaming ecosystems into a seamless experience, improving operator efficiency and player satisfaction. We will also look at acquisitions to expand within geographies or different markets.
Thank you, Chairman. Mr. Shafe's third question relates to currency and hedging strategy. He asks: Approximately 80% of our revenue is now U.S. dollar derived. In light of the recent Australian dollar strength in early 2026, could the board provide more detail on our natural hedging strategy? Specifically, how much of our D&D cost base is now offshore in U.S. dollars to offset the reporting impact of a stronger Australian dollar?
Again, thanks for the question, and very appropriate. We are a global organization, of course, with operations and assets in multiple international markets that support the business. And, you know, clearly, we don't disclose the geographic composition of our cost base, but yeah, it's very clear to see that the U.S. is the significant revenue base, as you mentioned, but also, it houses a lot of our costs, particularly in relation to content. And we have, obviously, our Las Vegas-based U.S. headquarters and the integration center in Tulsa throughout the U.S. Much of our EGM componentry is priced in U.S. dollars as well, so there is a very natural hedge which we take advantage of.
Mr. Chairman, Mr. Shafe's final question relates to content moat. He asks: Our North American gaming operations yield remains around 15% higher than our nearest competitor, Light & Wonder. As we pivot to interactive, how is the company ensuring that our top-tier IP, for example, Dragon Link, maintains this house average premium when transitioned from physical cabinets to digital mobile platforms?
Yeah, and another great question. We believe that the digital versions of our leading land-based content will achieve a premium relative to peers, driven by strong product brand recognition as well as superior features and mechanics. Our commercial teams remain very focused on optimizing revenues through pricing, as well as through volume, and collaborating with customers on marketing initiatives to drive performance and share, and market share.
Our game performance is indexing at 1.4x floor average in North America in December, and that was based on the Eilers' latest game performance report. And our next competitor is indexing just above 1. So our premium content is indexing at something like 2.8x . Trevor, did you wanna add anything? It's, you know, it's an interesting time for us as we start to grow our online business.
Yeah, thank you, Chair. Thanks for the question. It's an important context of creating premium content and creating premium value for our operators and for our players. So we invest behind premium hardware and premium games, and that includes both the proprietary games, but also licensed games as well. So we talked earlier about Monopoly Big Board Bucks as an example of that.
We continue to focus on how can we provide the right game in the right market, and then focusing on that commercialization, as the chairman said, that we are focused on ensuring that the value of the content is reflected in the partnerships that we have with the operators, and also that we continue to refresh that content on a regular basis to continue to gain market share and to also enter into other segments or other adjacencies as well. So it is a focus of the company to have a premium product and a premium product range and be able to offer that, and the reason that we can do that is you have premium performance and continue to focus on making the best content for the markets in which we participate.
Thanks, Trevor. Leske, any further questions? Yeah.
Chairman, we have received four questions from Mr. Gregory Winter from the Perlin Superannuation Fund. Mr. Winter's first question relates to our share price underperformance. He asks: A major concern to the mums and dads corporate stakeholders is the plummeting share price. Today, the shares are down over 30% from almost AUD 80 to around AUD 52. Your forecast drop from the last meeting was expectations from approximately 12% down to around 8%. The concern most to the smaller stakeholders is that there are bigger players privy to information that, to me, seems like a large sell-off.
In this year's report, it was interesting to read, "Aristocrat continue to update and adapt, will maintain our focus on delivering high-quality growth," and many other comments to appease stakeholders with confidence, and that warm and fuzzy feeling to maintain that Aristocrat has not made an announcement to the ASX, or at least commenting on this significant freefall in the share price. A statement put forward to the ASX might have given the players some sort of confidence in the Aristocrat share price. Your reply on this situation with zero response to the ASX from Aristocrat CEO and directors, and I think of it is of utmost importance that your reply is honest and transparent without the smoke and mirrors.
Thanks, Mr. Winter, and welcome. Welcome in person as well, but thank you very much for the questions. I think, you know, we've talked about our frustration on share price, and some of the reasons for that. So I won't sort of go over the same ground, but in relation to the balance of your question, management does actively engage with analysts and investors at appropriate points throughout the year to provide insight into the company and the environment in which we operate. We also host events on topical areas such as sustainability, as we mentioned before, to bring the market along the journey with us.
During these sessions, we do not provide market-sensitive information to individual shareholders that has not already been shared, and most of those, if we do a presentation, for instance, the sustainability disclosures, obviously they're released to the ASX. You know, I think your point about, you know, talking on share price, today is an opportunity to sort of reflect on the numerous factors that affect share price, and, we mentioned one in terms of the rotation to out of technology based stocks. This is a kind of a market rather than a company condition. So, you know, I think, you know, we'll just continue to be as transparent as we possibly can. Leske?
Mr. Winter's second question relates to Trevor Croker's shareholding. He notes that the CEO sold between 11th of July 2025 and 15th of July 2025 about AUD 5.3 million in shares. In this instance, it's none of our business, as it's only a small part of his portfolio, but it sent shock waves into the market and saw Aristocrat take another hit on the stock with uncertainty about his position and continuance as CEO. Some stakeholders became jittery, so I'm more intent on what the market did for a response, if you have one.
Yeah, look, as you correctly say, Trevor's sale, which I think he's done over the last couple of years, and part of that is the U.S. tax regime that he's in. Only a very small percentage of his shares have been sold, and I know, you know, personally, his level of commitment could not be disputed in the company. And of course, we do disclose those sales. I'm not really aware that those particular sales made, you know, got too many people. We didn't. I don't think we heard many issues from shareholders at all.
But, you know, take your point, and we need to manage any of that in the future. Leske?
Chairman, Mr. Winter's next question relates to the settlement of the Light & Wonder litigation. He asks: "It was most pleasing to see the litigation with Aristocrat and Light & Wonder settled for $127.5 million. My question is, did this include Aristocrat's legal costs, or is this a separate payment that I would think Light & Wonder would have to bear? If Light & Wonder paid this, the last two annual reports did not state or show any amounts for this litigation. Was this monies held as escrow, contingency reserves, or another name disguised in the last two reports? Now that the litigation is over, are you able to declare what the amount is, or at some stage it will have to surface? Does Dragon Train, including Dragon's Fire, Dragon Train machines, have to be refaced and reprogrammed in some way?
But Light & Wonder's statement was that they would do their best efforts in making these changes. A little bit like, how long is a piece of string? I visited the South Coast as well as in my area, and to like, and to date, I'm sorry, I have not observed any equipment being changed. Can Aristocrat put more pressure on this matter, as it seems Light & Wonder are going to take their time? Your response on this one, I think, is important. At last year's AGM, I asked about the large reduction in ANZ sales. 11,195 down to 7,357 units, as Light & Wonder's offering crazy incentives to get their foot in the door.
This year we see 9,725 units sold, which is up approximately 2,400 units. On my travels, I can see that was more aggressive in this part of the market, even though we stand at 5% of Aristocrat market of all the market. The intriguing part I would like to ask is, the past three years of sales have remained at around the same sales value. I would like to know, how did you get this without letting the cat out of the bag? There was obvious incentives, which I have heard of some.
Yeah, thanks. Thanks again, Mr. Winter. I'll, If I just, I might pass to you for the, the Dragon Train, Trevor. But, in terms of the litigation, I think we disclosed fully today the, that the $127.5 million settlement, is, is, an all-up, all-up settlement. And legal costs, we have, we have disclosed today that, of something like AUD 45 million of legal costs sit, Australian dollar-based legal costs sit in that. So the legal costs associated with the Dragon Train case, as well as, other litigations are are recorded in, in corporate costs.
And we, we will disclose the amount related to Dragon Train litigation in our full year results reporting. Trevor, you wanted to talk about the market share. I think we've talked a little bit about the market share, but perhaps just reinforcing where we are.
Yeah, just a little bit of context around that question. The settlement involved both Dragon Train and Jewel of the Dragon as two games. So I think there was a question around Dragon Fire. That was not included in the settlement. It was only Dragon Train and Dragon Jewel of the Dragon, which were using Aristocrat maths to make those games. As I mentioned earlier, we have a confidential process in place which allows us to identify that if there are other games or other products that are impacted, that we have a confidential process to identify that and to work, not work, but to agree with Light & Wonder.
As far as the refacing of other games, the games are continuing to perform in the market, but we are performing better than those games now, and we're continuing to take share. So the context around the step-up in performance comes from a couple of things. It was the launch of the new Baron Cabinet and a suite of very successful games. Thunder Empire was one of them, Heaven and Earth was another, and there's been another suite of games coming through.
And as I said in my opening comments, I'm very confident about 2026 market share continuing to, for us to continue to take market share off the back of a pipeline of games that are coming into the Australian market, that are being released as we speak, and we continue to see the ability to churn the market. As far as ASP goes, you'll notice that the ASP is roughly laid about flat during that period of time. So average selling price, that goes down to, as we've discussed earlier, about the high-performing, performing content and investment in hardware to support that as well.
Thanks, Trevor. Leske?
Mr. Winter's next question relates to the share buyback. He asks: "What activates Aristocrat or triggers the timing of buyback? And do you have activation points, or is this cash flow related?
Again, I think we, we have covered a bit of this, but, you know, clearly, we have a, a strong balance sheet, and we generate, you know, significant operating cash flows, and which support our, overall capital allocation strategies. We continue to seek to return cash to shareholders through the, through the buyback. And you, you'll note that we did recently announce an uplift of AUD 750 million, an extension of the existing buyback. Timing, of course, as we mentioned previously, includes, you know, a whole range of factors, including blackout periods and periods where, you know, we've got to be mindful of the volume and, that's being traded. It's not tied at all to, to, specific cash flow generation. Thank you. Ellie?
Chairman, we've received an online question from Mr. Winter: "Light & Wonder have dropped around 20%, and Aristocrat has dropped over 40%. Any comments on this?
Yeah, look, it's not for us to really comment on Light & Wonder's trading. But from our point of view, we did talk about before that some of those factors that do play into our share price, which, you know, put in the context the. We're all used to, as a shareholder, I'm used to, and you're used to, this company continuing to perform strongly. We'll focus on what we can control, and that's producing the best results that we can. And we know that, you know, you'll always get short-term fluctuations in share price. We don't see anything structural that's in the market at the present time, which is concerning us.
You know, we'll just focus on what we can control. Thank you.
Chairman, we have received an audio question from Mr. Winter. Mr. Winter, please go ahead.
Mr. Chairman, how are you?
Hello.
Look, the one question I'd like to ask is that you mentioned ESP today many times or a few times. It is, what about the ESG? With we have Mr. Fink from BlackRock, we've got State Street, Vanguard, and AustralianSuper all owning about 7% of ALL. And the concern I've got is that, you know, he's creating a lot of issues with being against, you know, gaming, social gaming, environmental, you know, tobacco industry-related businesses.
And I'm wondering whether or not that's created an issue with the price drop, the significant price drop. And I'd probably ask, you know, if you're working to try and make as much money for the shareholders as what you guys are doing, unfortunately, at the end of the year, you've, you've got to sign a box which is reflective on ESG. So you made a heap of money, but you've got, you know, to tick the box off at the end of the financial year. You know, does that mean the guy that made all the money is gonna get sacked because he doesn't conform?
Thanks, thanks for the question. I think I got most of it.
Right.
You're right on ESG. It's a focus. We've done a focus of, you know, particularly some shareholders. We've done a lot of work on what's material in terms of our ESG and our footprint. And ESP, the Empowering Safer Play, is by far the most material issue for this organization in terms of, you know, the viability of not just the company, but the industry. And I hope you've got a sense that, you know, we're very committed to being the industry leader in ESP. We do get feedback from institutional shareholders who are very focused on ESG. And we did our disclosures in November, and the feedback was very positive.
There is a range of different sort of metrics that are used by some of those shareholders, and we score. Notwithstanding that on a social basis, we get scored down, but we score at the top of our sector. So, we think we're doing, and we will continue to do as much as we possibly can to, you know, to make sure the image of our company and the industry is a strong and responsible one. You know, we don't. We have a.
And I think Kathleen will talk about this a little bit in her comments on remuneration, but our executives are absolutely focused on ESP, and you know, we know that we are certainly investing heavily in this area. So thank you.
Chairman, there are no further questions for this item of business.
Well, well, thanks, thanks for the applause, but I, I have to say to you, you know, many AGMs, you don't get a lot of interest in the, or you get some people interested, but they, you don't get a lot of questions. And I, I think the caliber of questions that we've seen today are, you know, are very, very good. So, you know, we welcome people being really interested in the company. We're excited about being here and about what the company's future is, and, you know, we aim to get you just as excited. So, if there's no further questions then, Leske, we'll move to the next item of business. And the next two items of business relate to director reelections.
Resolution one is the reelection of Philippe Etienne as a director. Philippe was nominated to the board of Aristocrat in October 2019, and was appointed a director in November 2019. Biographical details for Philippe, including relevant qualifications, skills, and experience, and other directorships, are set out in the notice. Before I take questions in relation to this, I'd like to invite Philippe to say a few words in support of his reelection. Thanks, Philippe.
Thank you, Chair, and good afternoon, everybody. Having now served my second term on your board, it's my absolute privilege to offer myself to you for re-election. You'll have seen from my biography that I've had a rich industrial company career, living and working in Australia, the U.S., and in Europe, in the commercial explosives space, and leading a global disruptor in banknote technology. These were highly complex operating environments, where uncompromising adherence to both legal and social expectations were essential requirements. In non-exec life, I've the honor to serve for more than 10 years now, on a number of listed and unlisted boards, both as non-executive director and as chair.
I believe the combination of these experiences have enabled me to contribute to the effective oversight of your company, complementing the hugely impressive skills and talents of my fellow directors. Aristocrat is simply a fabulous company that combines great technical sophistication with extraordinary heart. And frankly, it's an easy company to be excited about. I continue to have passion and energy for your company, and I would be delighted to continue making my contribution, should you support my re-election today. Thanks, Chair.
Thanks, thanks very much, Philippe. Philippe's reelection has the unanimous support of his fellow directors. So, are there any questions on this resolution, firstly from the room? Steven.
Thanks, Chair. I think one of the amazing things about the raiding campaign that our former CEO, Jamie Odell, ran on us since 2019, was that he hit every part of us. So he got our former CFO. He was a former CEO, he got our former CFO, he got our Americas boss, he got our Americas CFO, he got our head of game design. I'm amazed that none of these people were sacked as part of the settlement, but that's another matter.
But he also got one of our non-executive directors. Our lead U.S. director, Stephen Morrow, did eight years on our board, and then two years later, joined the opposition. So I've actually got a serious question, one that applies to Pat Ramsey, whose last day is today and one goes to all directors generally, but I think probably those up for election can answer this.
Is Philippe prepared to make an undertaking that when he retires from the board, that he'll never join a competitor board? And with Pat Ramsey, how comprehensive is our retention and destruction of documents? So do we send our executives to a retiring director's home and ensure that everything is being deleted? And have we stepped up that process since Stephen Morrow took eight years of experience on our board and then ran across and joined the opposition, which was stealing our stuff?
Thanks for the, thanks for the question. We, you know, directors are under an enduring confidentiality arrangement. So you know, if, if we ever became aware of them breaching that, that confidentiality, then we would take the appropriate action. As to, you know, what directors do after, after life in a particular board, I think that's open, open to them.
But in light of our experience, can we actually do something contractual above and beyond the general enduring confidentiality? Like, we've, we've had a bad experience at a range of levels, but the fact that it happened at an independent director level as well, what is stopping Philippe legally joining the board of Light & Wonder, or Pat Ramsey joining the board of Light & Wonder in six months? Is there literally no constraint from tomorrow on him? Can he join the board of Light & Wonder tomorrow, and we can't stop him?
Well, I think that's right. I think we don't have, unlike executives, where we have periods of restraint. We don't have that, and it's very uncommon for boards to have that. And I'm not actually aware of any. But as I say, we've got confidentiality arrangements that you know are very tight. You know, you paint it as a major concern that we've lost one director.
When I look across our board today and say, "You know, we've got the best board that I've been involved with, certainly in my time at this company." So, you know, just like executives move on, and serve their period and move on, you can't forget things when you're working, right? You'll know that. So, you know, let's focus on what we can control and ensure that-
Just finally, could you just describe the document retention, destruction process that you will run with Mr. Ramsey from tomorrow. He's off the board. Like, how, given our experience two years ago, what exactly are you gonna do? How comprehensive will it be to ensure he hasn't got a copy of math or a copy of the settlement just sitting on his private Gmail account or whatever it is?
Well, it, it's interesting because, apart from, apart from dinosaurs like me, there's very few people that that have hard copies of anything. We use a electronic portal, and that electronic portal would be obviously turned off as of today. So, you, you know, I think that's the sort of safeguard that's that's appropriate. Okay. Any further questions in relation to this this resolution? So do we go to online questions, Leske?
Chairman, to confirm, we have no further questions for this item of business.
Okay, thank you. So proxies received in relation to this resolution are shown on the screens. Thank you. Resolution 2 is the re-election of Mr. Bill Lance as a director. Bill was nominated to the board of Aristocrat in October 2022, and was appointed as a director in January 2023. Biographical details for Bill, including relevant qualifications, skills, and experience, and other directorships, are set out in the notice of meeting. Before I take questions, I'd like to invite Bill to say a few words in support of his re-election. Thanks, Bill.
Thank you, Chairman Chatfield, and thank you, shareholders. I'm a fifth-generation Oklahoman and a proud citizen of the Chickasaw Nation, a federally recognized sovereign nation with approximately 83,000 citizens in Oklahoma. It's been a privilege to serve on this board over the past three years, and I appreciate the opportunity to stand for re-election today. In the coming term, I'm honored to serve as U.S. lead director, and I'm committed to supporting strong governance, effective board engagement, and clear alignment between the board, management, and shareholders.
Previously, I served for 13 years as the longest-serving Secretary of Commerce for the Chickasaw Nation, overseeing all commercial enterprises of the nation, approximately 7,000 employees across more than 60 gaming, hospitality, retail, media, manufacturing, and tourism-related businesses. I was also responsible for governmental and regulatory affairs on behalf of our sovereign nation, and continue to serve on a number of boards, including Sovereign Native HoldCo, Chickasaw Nation Industries, and BancFirst, a NASDAQ-listed community bank.
Throughout my career, my focus has been on building resilient, well-governed organizations that deliver sustainable long-term value. I have seen firsthand the critical role gaming plays in strengthening communities and supporting economic self-determination. I remain strongly committed to sustainability, responsible gameplay, and disciplined risk management. I believe Aristocrat's well-positioned for continued long-term success, and I am committed to contributing to that outcome. Thank you for your support today.
Thank you, Bill. Bill's re-election has the unanimous support of his fellow directors. So are there any questions on this resolution from the room firstly? Steven.
Yeah, look, just a process question. We've had these arguments before. It would be better if the proxies were disclosed with the formal addresses, or if you put them up before the discussion. Because like we had last year, you said there wasn't any protests on remuneration, and then after the debate, you told us we saw 21% or 23% against the CEO's LTI grant. So I presume there's no issues with Bill. Can you just confirm that orally, that there's no protest votes on the proxies with Bill? No-
No.
Proxy advisors raised any concerns?
No.
All right. And could you just explain, why do we need a U.S. lead director? So obviously, one of our previous U.S. lead directors went off and joined the board of, Light & Wonder. The other one's retiring today, and now, and now, Bill's stepping up. What is the role? So is it a regulatory-facing role? 'Cause we don't have a deputy chair and I personally would prefer that we had a deputy chair, but it seems like the next ranking in the hierarchy is the U.S. lead director. So what is the role, and why do we really need another U.S. director? You've said today that, in the notice of meeting, that as a matter of urgency, we're seeking another U.S. director. So that's gonna be, what? Three?
Four.
Four. So just explain that balance, that you, why you feel we need four, and then why you feel we need a leader amongst the four.
Yeah. Yeah, thank you, and, good question, actually, because we, we have, you know, clearly a large portion of our, of our operations is in the U.S., and, we're represented across, the wider geography of the U.S. And having, four directors there actually shows the right level of representation, give us, gives us the right access, gives us the right, understanding of what's going on in the market. In terms of the lead director, it plays a really important role. We have a, you know, obviously, different time zones, make, makes, makes, you know, running a 24/7 business, you know, quite difficult.
And having someone that Trevor can go to as the go-to person for, you know, any major decisions in a really short term makes a lot of sense to me, and I think it makes a lot of sense to, y ou know, and many companies do it, so thank you. Any other questions from the floor first on this resolution? No? Thank you. Any questions online, Ellie?
There are no further questions.
Thank you.
On this matter, Chair.
Okay. So proxies received in relation to this resolution are shown on the screen. The next, thank you. The next three resolutions relate to people, culture, and remuneration. Before we turn to these items in detail, I'd like to invite Kathleen to say a few words as Chairman of our People and Culture Committee.
Thank you, Chairman. I'm pleased to provide an overview of Aristocrat's remuneration outcomes in FY 2025. So as we discussed earlier, FY 2025 was a strong year for Aristocrat, and the remuneration outcomes reflect that performance. The STI outcomes for the executives ranged between 91% and 97%, against a maximum STI opportunity of 200% of target. LTI vested 100%, reflecting strong shareholder returns, EPS delivery, and executive individual performance. Some brief context on the global market positioning and its impact on our remuneration frameworks. So Aristocrat operates on a genuinely global scale. We're one of the small group of ASX-listed companies that generates the majority of its revenue offshore. At the end of FY 2025, we had a team of about 7,400 people across 25 locations, with only 13% of them based in Australia.
The majority of our executive leadership and half of the non-executive directors, as we've discussed, are U.S.-based, with a growing presence in EMEA, including three executives based in London. Our increasing global footprint requires our remuneration structures to evolve and reflect both global and local market pay practices, particularly in the technology sector. In the U.S., there's a greater emphasis on equity-based remuneration, often at higher multiples of base salary and upside for outperformance.
These are commonly unhurdled, time-based incentives with progressive vesting. The board continues to review Aristocrat's incentive structures to ensure that they are globally competitive, and our review of the executive REM framework in FY 2025 also took into account feedback from key stakeholders, including our shareholders. As a result, the board adopted changes to the executive REM framework, effective from the FY 2026 performance period.
So at a high level, for the long-term incentive plan, the financial measures will now comprise 80%, split equally between total shareholder return and EPS, and we've removed the 40% individual performance condition. We've added a new sustainability condition, which applies to the remaining 20% of the LTI award. This hurdle requires achievement against a sustainability scorecard over the entire course of the three-year performance period.
The scorecard will incorporate quantitative and qualitative metrics aligned to supporting our key sustainability priorities: governance and ethics, and empowering safer play. Benchmarking confirms that in the US, our current equity levels remain substantially below market. Over time, our aim is to align total remuneration for the executives on average around the 50th percentile, with the LTI being at the lower end of US benchmarks.
Looking back over recent years, our remuneration and employment strategies have supported us, but the changing global remuneration landscape continues to evolve, and we need to adapt our frameworks. We're confident that the changes in FY 2026 strike the right balance in supporting performance and retention, while enabling us to continue to attract and retain key talent to deliver our longer-term strategy. I'll now hand back to the Chairman, who will outline the shareholder resolutions and recommend them to you for approval. Thank you.
Thank you, Kathleen, and thank you, thank you for, for what was been a really heavy lift on, on the review of the remuneration processes. So, approval for-- next resolution is for the approval of, the grant of performance share rights to the CEO and managing director. This, under the long-term. So Resolution three, let's start again. Resolution three is the grant, is the approval for the grant of performance rights to Trevor, under the long-term incentive plan.
The notice of meeting sets out the detail, the manner in which the long-term incentive plan operates, and the basis for the participation by Trevor. The share perf- the, the performance share rights will only vest if vesting conditions are satisfied at the end of the performance period, and the board sets rigorous targets to ensure shareholder value has been achieved. The directors, with Trevor abstaining, recommend voting in favor of Resolution 3. Are there any questions, firstly from the room on this resolution? Steven?
Just firstly, can we just go back to last year when there was the 20% protest vote on this resolution? What was the issue last year? So which proxy advisor recommended against, and what was their reasoning, and have we responded to their concerns with any changes this year?
Well, I think you've seen the changes, and I think that was one of the areas of concern last year. You know, I'm sure you'll see the proxies very soon, and you know, we're pleased with the support for our program.
I'd just also like to comment that, it's good that Kathleen's still here. Like you, Chair, Kathleen is a gun director. She's been here since 2014. When last elected, she made noises about possibly not doing a full term. I'd just like to say that I'm glad you're still here, and I'd encourage you to see out the term. If the numbers are good today, that would be another feather in your cap. And as I said earlier, Chair, I think you should stay as well. So we do have some serious tenure succession management issues coming up, and I'm just. You're being cagey. But we can only judge from what we see. It's good to see you here.
Thank you.
Let's see how you've scored.
Yeah, look, thanks. You know, all jokes aside, I think, you know, Kathleen is an outstanding director and, you know, we're really pleased to have her on the board. Are there any other questions from the room on this resolution? Okay. Ally, anything from online or?
There are no further questions online, Chair.
Proxies received in relation to this resolution are shown on the screen. Resolution 4 is the adoption of the remuneration report. The annual report for the financial year ending 30th September 2025 contains a remuneration report, which sets out the remuneration arrangements in place for non-executive directors and executive key management personnel. The vote on this resolution is advisory only. However, the board always takes the outcome of the vote in this matter into consideration when we review remuneration practices and policies. The directors recommend voting in favor of Resolution 4. Are there any questions on this resolution?
So I think the area where Trevor has probably not done as well as he could have is retention of key talent, because obviously, something happened with Jamie Odell. He must have had some sort of falling out, or his consultancy finished, or something happened, and he went off, and he's just been raiding us ever since. And we've lost a lot of talent, and ultimately, it's the CEO's job with the Remuneration Committee to keep the talent. So have we adequately recognized that in the incentives going forward about talent management and talent retention?
And the other question, and this is a standard written question I've asked probably 50x online, I've never done it in person, but I think if I remember it, it goes like this, is: It's very complicated for shareholders to get a handle of the history of LTI vesting and the history of share trading. But CEOs are across the detail and can describe it in 60 seconds without notes.
So could Trevor, please, just give us a brief summary of average percentage vesting over the journey and total share sales that he's done over the journey, rather than Mr. Trevor reference to a couple of recent sales? Yes, the taxes are high, but what's been your overall. You've got a massively large shareholding, which is great. You've, you've, you've put your skin in the game. What has been your lived experience on LTI vesting? It's average 60%, what is it? Overall, what's the totality of your share sales over that duration in the context of what we've approved, we're approving today?
Neil, Kath is the first one.
Yeah, Kathleen?
Yeah. I think talent is really important, and I think going back to Jamie Odell is a bit dated, but one of the issues about being market leader is you are always the place where people come for talent. And so we take that very seriously. We've managed our remuneration, and we're continuing to respond. But what we really feel is really important is that we actually need to be creating the talent, because we cannot expect competitors not to come for the market leader. And so you will see over the last number of years, that whenever somebody has left the business, we have actually had an internal successor and a strong internal successor. And you will also note over the last year, we've actually added significantly to our bench strength.
But even over the last three to four years, what I think this company has done better than most is we don't have to go just to the industry. We're actually going external to the industry, finding new sources of talent, new skills, and new ways of doing things. And that is actually. Whereas everybody else is taking people who have come from us.
And so I think that's a portion of our competitive advantage, that we do actually bring in different talent from different sources, and therefore, I think that's made us a much stronger company. So as market leader, you can never expect to not be-- have people poaching from you. It's the greatest compliment you can have. We have had adjusted the remuneration. We do have pressure on the LTIs as a portion, and we're responding to that, but we're doing that in a measured way.
Trevor, I'm not sure you've got on hand your, your total life experience with Aristocrat, but.
No, I'll.
But I think you did answer, maybe last year or the year before, you answered in detail, so maybe just talk about last year's.
Yeah. So, I did sell some shares. As, as referenced earlier, I sold 78,274 shares in July this year, for about $5.278 million consideration. The previous year, as I updated at the AGM last year, I also have a third party that sells shares on when they vest because of my U.S. tax scenario, and they sold on the day that they vest. I currently hold 723,685 shares in the company.
I started with about 389,000 shares before I was appointed CEO, and my vesting history is: in 2021, it was 68%; in 2022, it was 64%; in 2023, it was 95%; in 2024, it was only 90%; and in 2025, it was 100%, was my vesting over the last five years. I think that was just under 60 seconds.
You see, you see, Trevor's a great man of detail, right? Thanks. Thanks, Trevor. Any other questions from the room in relation to this topic? Resolution? Leske.
Chairman, there's no further questions on this item of business.
Okay, thank you. So proxies received in relation to this resolution are shown on the screen. Thank you. Resolution 5 is the approval of an increase to the non-executive directors' fee pool. The company is seeking shareholder approval to increase the aggregate amount of fees available to be paid to non-executive directors by AUD 750,000 to AUD 4.75 million. This is a maximum limit and does not indicate that fees will be, necessarily be increased to that amount. The current maximum amount was approved by shareholders in at the 2022 Annual General Meeting. The increase is being proposed to ensure that the company maintains the ability to remunerate competitively, attract and retain directors with the desired experience, including in the U.S.
Manage currency fluctuations, reflecting increasing time and regulatory demand required of non-executive directors, and allow for some future growth in fees, as well as providing much-needed flexibility for board composition, succession planning, and global diversity as Aristocrat's business continues to expand. Further details are set out in the notice of meeting. Noting that directors' interest in this resolution, the directors recommend voting in favor of Resolution five. Are there any questions from the room on this resolution? No? Thank you. Ellie, anything from online?
No.
Thank you. So proxies received in relation to this resolution are shown on the screen. Okay. The next resolution is the Resolution 6 is the resolution relating to the renewal of the proportional takeover approval provisions in Clause 26 of the company's constitution. Under the Corporations Act, these provisions cease to apply three years after they were last adopted or renewed, unless they are renewed prior to that date. Accordingly, the company is seeking approval to renew the proportional takeover approval provisions. The proposed provisions are identical to those which were previously approved at the AGM in 2023. The directors recommend voting in favor of this resolution. Are there any questions on this resolution from the room? No, thank you. Any questions online, Ellie?
Chairman, there's no questions on this matter.
Okay. Thank you. So proxies received in relation to this resolution are shown on the screen. Thank you. So ladies and gentlemen, that concludes the business of today's meeting. But before I formally close the meeting, I'd like to take the opportunity to thank the Aristocrat team, who have worked really well to relocate our AGM from Macquarie Park, I'm talking about Emma and Ellie in particular. And we really appreciate your efforts because it's not an easy task to get all this equipment and have online and audio and all sorts of interactions. So very much appreciated. Thank you. So if you've not already done so, can you please submit your vote?
And if you're uncertain about any of the voting procedures, please raise your hand, and Boardroom will be happy to assist you. If you're online, we'd like to request that any assistance that you need is from contacting Boardroom using the number shown. I'll now formally close the meeting, and subject to the finalization of that poll, which will close after five minutes. The results of the poll will be announced via the ASX and on the company's website later today. And on behalf of the board, we'd like to thank you for your attendance and your encouraging and ongoing support of the company.
Now, I'd like to invite those in the room to refreshments, which are on the corridor and just outside in the foyer there. Thank you very much.