Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. Please make your way into the auditorium. Welcome to the 31st Annual General Meeting of AMCIL Limited. My name is Rupert Myer, and I am the Chairman of your company. The Company Secretary has confirmed that a quorum is present, and I will now open the meeting. I would like to begin by acknowledging the traditional owners on whose land we meet, and pay respects to elders, past and present. I will now introduce those on the stage with me. We have our Managing Director, Alison Gibson; my fellow non-executive directors, Roger Brown, Paula Dwyer, Mike Hirst, and Jon Webster. We also have our Company Secretary, Matthew Rowe, on my right, your left; our Chief Financial Officer, Andrew Porter, on my left; and our Head of Business Development and Investor Relations, Claire Aitchison, also on my right.
A couple of new faces on the lectern this afternoon, Ali and Claire, and we are delighted to have you joining us at this AMCIL meeting for the first time in your present roles. In due course, we will be hearing from the Portfolio Manager, Winston Chong, and Investment Analyst, Jaye Guy. We are also joined by other members of the investment team in the front row of the audience, to my left, your right, and the entire investment team will be available for questions, comments, and discussion after the meeting. I will also take this opportunity to introduce Kate Logan. Kate is our partner of the company's auditors, PricewaterhouseCoopers, who is also available to answer questions today on the audit, and the preparation and content of the auditor's report at the end of the presentation. Today's meeting is being held as a hybrid meeting and will be recorded.
Today's presentation has been released already to the ASX and made available on the company's website. I remind shareholders using the online platform, so for those of you in the room, please listen if you would like to, but you can tune out for a moment, that whilst questions can be submitted at any time, I will not address them until the relevant time in the meeting. To ask a question, click on the Ask a Question button at the top or bottom of your screen. If you have not entered your shareholder number or proxy number, you will be required to provide these details before you can proceed. Once your shareholder or proxy number has been verified, you can choose to ask your question in writing or verbally. If you require further guidance, please click on the Virtual Meeting Online Guide link on your screen.
Please also note, your questions may be moderated if we receive multiple questions on one topic amalgamated together. I declare the voting open on all items of business. I will give you a warning before I move to close voting. To cast your vote, click on the Get a Voting Card button on your screen. Where prompted, please provide your shareholder or proxy number and follow the prompts. Once verified, a voting card will be issued, and you will be able to lodge your votes. Click Submit Vote at the bottom of the voting card to lodge your votes. If you have multiple holdings, I regret to inform you that you will need to obtain a voting card for each holding. Shareholders, authorized representatives, and appointed proxies in attendance here in Melbourne would have been issued a yellow card to vote on each resolution.
If you are eligible to vote and you have not received a yellow card or have any questions on voting, please see a representative of the share registry, MUFG Corporate Markets, in the foyer. For those in the room, on the reverse of your yellow admission card is your voting paper and instructions. Much easier if you're in the room, but we welcome everyone online as well. Before we move to the business of the meeting, I'd like to provide some introductory comments. Mark Freeman retired as chief executive officer and managing director at the end of the 2026 financial year. As this is the first AGM of the company since Mark's retirement from that role, and further to the remarks made at the time, the board would like to acknowledge and thank Mark for his leadership and for the many roles he performed in the business since its inception.
We wish Mark all the very best for his future endeavors. Alison Gibson was appointed Chief Executive Officer and managing director of the company with effect from July 2026. Prior to taking on the role of CEO, Alison, as an experienced investment professional, established and managed the Australian equities team at HESTA. Alison is well-known to the company, having previously worked with the AMCIL group of LICs for 10 years until 2021. Alison has been using her first few months to connect with shareholders, their advisors, and the team. The board and I are excited to work with Alison to deliver improved performance outcomes for all shareholders. I know that she's looking forward to speaking today, and to meeting shareholders at the conclusion of today's annual general meeting. In August, the company announced that Roger Brown would be retiring as a director at the conclusion of this AGM.
Since joining the board in February 2014, Roger has made a terrific contribution to the company, and his perspectives on Australian and international business have enriched board discussions. I'd like to thank Roger for his contributions to the company over the last 12. 5 years, and we wish you, Roger, well with your future endeavors.
Thanks, Rupert. Is that good?
Yep.
Thanks, Rupert. The future en deavor is heading towards retirement. I am getting a bit old. I was mentioning to someone before that this is the first job I have left in 51 years. It is pretty impressive. I have still got the other one that started 51 years ago, or similar thing. It has been good, great to be on the board, it has been great to be involved. My time has come, so I am moving on. I am sure we will find better people or younger people to replace me, for sure. All the best. Thank you.
Thank you very much, Roger, and thank you for all your support.
No worries.
With Roger's retirement, the board will now comprise four non-executive directors. Given the size of AMCIL, we view this number of directors to be sufficient to satisfy the oversight requirements while remaining cognizant of costs. It is relevant too, that the investment team has access to non-executive directors across the four LICs for general market input. However, appointing a future director will remain under consideration. Later in the meeting, both Paula Dwyer and Jon Webster will offer themselves for re-election as directors for a further term, and I look forward to inviting them to make some remarks when that item comes. In addition to the changes in the board and executive team, Winston Chong was appointed as portfolio manager for the AMCIL portfolio in July, following Mark Freeman's retirement. Winston has been with the team for two years as an assistant portfolio manager for the AFIC portfolio.
We have full confidence in the direction in which Winston is taking the portfolio to deliver on the investment objectives of the company. Financial year 2026 was a difficult and challenging one for the AMCIL portfolio. The portfolio return for the year was - 10%, including the benefit of franking, compared with the return of 7.2%, including franking, for the S&P/ASX 200 Accumulation Index. AMCIL's underweight exposure to the materials energy sector and overweight exposure to the information technology and healthcare sectors weighed heavily on the relative performance of the portfolio this year. Since taking over as portfolio manager, Winston has reviewed the portfolio and processes. He is actively streamlining the portfolio, reducing the number of stocks in the portfolio to ensure the portfolio reflects our highest conviction views, and strengthening the overall risk framework.
Winston will provide further details on his observations and changes being made to the positioning of the portfolio later in the meeting. We acknowledge the portfolio performance has been well below expectations. However, we believe with a more concentrated portfolio and a sharper approach to risk, we are well-positioned to navigate what lies ahead. Our confidence in the underlying quality of our holdings remains high, and we look forward to the year ahead. Moving on to the business of the meeting, I will take the notice of meeting as read. With regards to the minutes of the 30th Annual General Meeting, they have been signed as a correct record and are available to shareholders for inspection today. The first agenda item is the consideration of the financial statements and reports for the year ended 30 June 2026.
We will do this via presentation, after which I will ask shareholders to comment or to raise any questions, either about the presentation or of the auditors if they have any questions about the audit. I will now hand over to Alison, Andrew, and the investment team to go through the presentation. Would you join me in welcoming them?
Thank you, Rupert, and good afternoon, everyone. It is a real privilege to be here serving you, our shareholders, as CEO and Managing Director of AMCIL. Thank you to those in the room for coming today, and I think the weather is still holding out, so that is pleasing. Thank you to those joining online. I will now turn to our presentation and the usual disclaimer, which really just says that we are here to talk about the company and not to give individual financial advice. Turning to our agenda, I will say a few words to begin with and then pass to Andrew Porter, our CFO, to talk about the financial results. Winston Chong, our portfolio manager, will give an update on the portfolio, and then he and Jaye Guy will provide an update on the market and the outlook.
As Rupert mentioned, I am returning to the group, having previously worked in the business for 10 years until 2021. In the last five years, I worked to establish and run the internal Australian equities portfolio at HESTA. I have been in the business now a few months, and in that time, I have had a number of questions that have been asked, and I wanted to spend a little time talking to two key questions, being why did I rejoin the group and what am I looking to improve? Firstly, why did I rejoin the business? Firstly, it is about purpose. AMCIL was set up to work solely for its shareholders. The aim was to give them an actively managed high-conviction portfolio of quality companies that is differentiated from the market with no external fees. I think that point is really important to make.
Most fund managers exist to make money for themselves. We work directly for shareholders, and that purpose is really important to me personally. Secondly, it is about the people. Some of you may have heard this story earlier, but early on in my career as an infrastructure analyst at JBWere, I was asked to come up and present to Bruce Teele and the board of AMCIL to talk about my views on the infrastructure sector. I nervously went up to talk to the board, and went through my investment thesis, and talked about the prospect for earnings and dividends for companies like Transurban and a lot of other infrastructure companies at the time. When I finished, Bruce Teele said to me, "That is very good, Alison. Thank you for that information, but tell me about the people.
Who is on the board, and who is in the management, and what is their track record in looking after shareholders?" That insight has stayed with me my entire investing journey. I think the team today still does the same thing in terms of looking at the board and the management team, and making an assessment about whether they are good allocators of capital. That is really important for when we are making assessments of businesses that we invest in. But equally important, I think it is about the people that you work with every day. Are these people of high integrity? Do they have a shared sense of purpose that brings them to work each day?
That is one of the key reasons that I have rejoined the group, because we have a highly experienced board of directors who work in your interests, and a team that is dedicated and committed to serving you, our shareholders. AMCIL has solid foundations. As a listed investment company with a fixed capital structure, it can look past short-term volatility and take a long-term view. I believe in active management, not just buying the index. I also believe in the power of compounding, that owning quality businesses over the long term is how real wealth is built, whatever stage of life our shareholders are at.
Finally, in terms of the ability to make a difference, I do think that AMCIL does have very strong foundations. We have the ability to make a difference to shareholders, whatever stage of life they are at. I am really excited to have rejoined the business. Turning to what I am looking to improve. First and foremost, performance. You heard this year's performance has been particularly disappointing. We do absolutely acknowledge that. AMCIL has delivered outperformance over the long term, as this chart shows. In recent years, it has been more challenging. The market structure has changed. Passive and systematic investing has grown, which has meant sharp share price moves on short-term news, and big swings between sectors. This has created challenges for active managers across the industry, and AMCIL is not alone.
I see that volatility, though, as an opportunity for an investor like AMCIL that can truly take a long-term view and step into that volatility and buy quality companies at discounted prices. It is important to say at this juncture that our investment philosophy won't change. We do believe in investing in quality companies that have strong returns on capital, good management, and sound balance sheets, and that has served shareholders well over the long term. Where I do see room for improvement is in sharpening our investment process, enhancing our risk management, and being more deliberate about where we take positions away from the index. We have a highly capable team, and my priority as CEO is to ensure that the environment they have supports them and enables them to be wholly focused on investing for you, our shareholders.
Winston Chong will talk a little later about the portfolio and the changes he has made to drive improved performance for shareholders since taking over in July. The second area that I believe needs to improve is in how we communicate AMCIL's value. AMCIL currently trades at a discount to its net tangible assets, or NTA. That means investors can buy a high-conviction portfolio of high-quality companies for about AUD 0.85 in the dollar. Our experience across market cycles, our team, and our LIC structure, which enables us to take a long-term view, are real advantages. We need to explain them more clearly to current and future shareholders. Looking ahead, we start from a position of strength, built on patient long-term investing and trust from our shareholders. My focus is setting up AMCIL for the next generation of Australian investors.
Active management does face real challenges today, but I am confident AMCIL is well-placed. It offers a focused, high-conviction portfolio of high-quality companies. AMCIL has a distinct role in the four LICs in our group. It is the most agile and has a mandate to back its conviction in companies and sectors through the cycle. That gives shareholders a different risk and return profile to the rest of the market. It also draws on the insights of our broader investment team and the director network across all of our four companies. The company's permanent capital structure enables us to take a long-term view in an environment where many can't. I look forward with a great deal of confidence and optimism about what comes next.
With that, I want to say thank you for trusting us to manage your company. I look forward to your questions later on and hopefully a cup of tea. I will hand over now to Andrew Porter, our CFO, to talk through the financial results.
Thank you, Alison. I should note that when Alison said she was looking forward with great optimism to what is coming next, she was not meaning me. Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. I will briefly run through the figures here on the screen. Much of this we went through during the results briefing for those of you who did attend online. I will be around, of course, after the AGM if anybody has any further questions or wants clarification on anything. As you can see, profit for the year was slightly up. Dividends received were actually down, mainly from reduced holdings in Wesfarmers and the banks. The interest that we received was up. We had a larger contribution from options written. Expenses were roughly 10% or AUD 200,000 down on the prior year. Despite that, the MER, management expense ratio, ticked up to 0.57% from 0.56%.
This is calculated as the ratio of the expense over the average portfolio value for the year. So although expenses were down, the MER was slightly up because of the fall in the portfolio value, which Alison has touched on. Despite this slight increase, the MER is in line with or even below years when the MER has been much higher. For instance, in 2023 it was 0.66% and 2019, 0.72%. So we think that the costs are still within the bounds where board and management would like them to be. As for dividends, the realized gains were AUD 6.1 million in 2026, down from AUD 13.7 million in 2025. So this reduced the amount of special dividend that could be paid, down from AUD 0.03 for 2025 to AUD 0.005 this year. So down on 2025, but actually the same as 2024. We were active in buying back shares, as you can see.
The current discount meant that for existing shareholders, buying back the shares is an attractive investment proposition. Some shareholders appreciate having the DRP, so we do keep it on. We did neutralize that issue of shares buying back on market. The on-market buyback is still ongoing. That was it. As I said, I will be here after the presentation. Meanwhile, I will pass over to Winston. Thank you.
Thank you, Andrew, and it's a privilege to be here with you today, serving you, our shareholders. For those I haven't met, my name is Winston Chong, and in July, I was delighted to be appointed as portfolio manager of your company. I joined the group two years ago as deputy portfolio manager of AFIC, after nearly 15 years in markets working across equities research, funds management, and family offices. I'm energized by the opportunity ahead to deliver strong long-term returns for AMCIL shareholders by investing with conviction in quality businesses where we see value, engaging closely with the companies we invest in, and with our team working every day in your interests as fellow shareholders. In coming in as a new portfolio manager, I'm excited by the genuine advantages the company has to generate long-term value. Using those advantages well will be critical in AMCIL delivering differentiated long-term returns.
Those advantages really sit around three factors, being one, our resourcing, two, our structure, and three, our size. First, our resourcing allows AMCIL to leverage the research effort of the broader team and invest significantly behind our highest conviction ideas. Second, our structure enables us to take advantage of market volatility rather than to be a victim of it. And third, our size, which permits us to be more active around sharp, short-term share price movements that are becoming more prevalent in the market today. Underpinning all of this is conviction and discipline, both in terms of how we invest and how we manage risk. Over the next few slides, I'll bring these advantages to life with some examples. Conviction sits at the heart of AMCIL's strategy.
Our conviction is based on the fundamentals of our investment thesis: the people, the business, and the valuation. Where all three are attractive, we have a high-conviction idea. Our conviction is built from our research efforts, company visits, industry work, travel, channel checks, financial analysis, modeling, and valuation. When we find those ideas, we want meaningful capital behind them so that our research translates into differentiated returns. Over the past six months, we've reviewed the thesis and our conviction on every single stock in the portfolio. The result is fewer stocks and, on average, larger active overweights, being the difference between a stock's weight in the portfolio and its weight in the index. This does two things for your portfolio. Firstly, it ensures there are no stale positions. Everything we own has a live thesis, which guards against thesis drift. Secondly, it enforces discipline.
If we have conviction, it must carry meaningful weight. Our positions are continually reviewed as conviction shifts. We'll add where our conviction is increasing and trim or exit where our conviction is reducing or deteriorating. The result is a focused, dynamic portfolio of quality companies that always reflect our best ideas and support our investment objectives. AMCIL's structure allows us to be disciplined in only acting when we have conviction. We're never forced to sell quality assets to fund redemptions or to buy at the wrong time to deploy inflows. So when markets are volatile, we can look through the noise and behave as genuine long-term owners. We can add when others are fearful, hold through uncertainty, and stay focused on the fundamentals. As these charts highlight here, our buying in Technology One and AUB Group earlier this year are good examples of this.
Both sold off heavily when fears about disruption from artificial intelligence were at their peak. Technology One is a high-quality compounder as a provider of software to local governments and educational institutions, with a strong competitive position and a good track record of execution in Australia and the U.K. It also has a very defensible AI strategy. When the stock fell, we retested the thesis and concluded that its customer base, its data, and pace of innovation stood it up very well against coming disruption. That gave us the conviction to add meaningfully at a point of maximum fear in January and February. Insurance broker AUB Group was a new position for AMCIL earlier this year. Similarly, AI concerns and a softening commercial premium rate cycle were weighing on the share price and gave us the opportunity to add a quality business to the portfolio at an attractive price.
While cyclical headwinds and AI's impact on AUB's role as an intermediary were real, our work showed that the industry's highly regulated, high stakes nature and AUB's own investments meant disruption was far from certain, despite the market pricing it as such. This gave us the conviction to add it to the portfolio in late February and early March when AUB was trading on a trough earnings multiple while offering a healthy yield to partially compensate us to wait out the cycle. Our size advantage lets us move quickly on short, sharp dislocations that are becoming more frequent in the market. As many of you will be aware, oil has been volatile this year since the war broke out, as the dark blue lines in these charts show. This presented opportunities to add to two of our portfolio stocks at times where oil price was dominating sentiment around them.
Auckland Airport understandably sold off when the war broke out as oil prices climbed and the market became concerned about airlines cutting routes. As a long-duration asset, however, Auckland Airport's valuation is much more closely tied to its capacity for long-term growth and its optionality around its undeveloped land bank. As such, we were able to use this opportunity to add to our position in this very high quality asset at attractive valuations. Similarly, in July, as a resolution was looking more likely and the oil price started retreating, shares in Woodside understandably fell due to its exposure to the oil price. However, our research showed that even at lower oil prices, Woodside was set to generate meaningful cash flow growth and maintain a strong balance sheet as its projects started to come online over the medium term.
At the levels we bought at, the dividend yield was very attractive, which in our view also compensated for some of the short-term oil price risk. In both cases, the share prices didn't stay down for long, but it shows how AMCIL can move nimbly to increase its exposure to quality companies in the portfolio using these short-term share price dislocations. Slide 20 here outlines a summary of the changes to the portfolio over the last six months as we've retested conviction on every stock in the portfolio, and these transactions are the outflowing of that. I don't propose to go through each logo in a great amount of detail, but the key message I wanted to leave with you is that it's been a busy period of transactions, with the portfolio now shaped into fewer stocks at higher weights.
Overlaying this going forward is an enhanced focus on risk management. We believe this sets up AMCIL to deliver on its investment objectives over the medium to long term. With that, I'll pass to Jaye to talk to a market update and thoughts on outlook.
Thank you, Winston. By way of introduction, my name's Jaye. I'm an analyst in the investment team, and I work closely with Winston on the AMCIL portfolio. Just moving on to the next slide. Our focus is on the long-term prospects of the businesses that we invest in and that we also consider to add to the portfolio. Reporting season in August is always useful as a health check for the businesses that we're looking at. During the recent reporting season, there was four key themes that stood out to us, as we've outlined on this slide. The first one was relief rallies. There was several holdings in the AMCIL portfolio that had been under fairly significant pressure, including CSL and Cochlear. They performed quite well after their results.
Expectations were quite low leading into the results, and the outlooks were a bit better than the market was expecting. Pleasingly, we got some of that performance back. Long may that continue. Ramsay Health Care also performed particularly well during reporting season. The second one is consumer softness. I'm sure as everyone in the room is well aware, the pressures are rising on consumers. Inflation's increasing, petrol prices are moving higher, and central banks are responding by increasing interest rates. We saw the results from the consumer staple businesses, the supermarkets, Woolworths, which we hold in AMCIL. They both had really good results. They were gaining share in the market, and we were really pleased by that. The discretionary retailers had it a bit tougher, though.
We have less exposure than the market to the discretionary retailers in our portfolio, and the headwinds they're facing seem to be continuing. As Winston mentioned, I think some of the advantages that AMCIL has is when we see industries like that under pressure, there's a number of quality companies within those industries. While the timing might not be right now, it becomes interesting for us when we see these industries where the market might be overly pessimistic or negative. From an AMCIL perspective, we can take advantage of that with our long-term view and our willingness to wear some of the volatility. As always, though, we'll focus on the quality end of the industry. Also I'll note that the banks had a bit of a tougher time. There has been some proposed tax changes and higher interest rates, which saw mortgage applications lower.
Our portfolio is underweight the banks. We do have a modest position in Commonwealth Bank, and we do have a larger position in Macquarie. They do have a retail operation, but that's just a portion of the broader business. The third theme was takeover activity. This isn't strictly a reporting season theme, but there was just a heightened level during the period. There was a number of takeover offers from offshore companies or private capital, like private equity. Some of the names were, some of these are household names, some of them are not, but we saw Steadfast, Cleanaway, Reliance, Perpetual, Equity Trustees, and most recently, Northern Star Resources. While these companies weren't held in AMCIL, I think what was interesting to us is these were companies where the market wasn't willing to attribute value, but someone else was.
To the point about patient capital, we have that in the back of our mind. We don't deliberately target takeover companies, but that's in the back of our mind when we look at valuations. Finally, dividends. Pleasingly, the dividends that we received from our portfolio companies were better than expected. Notable ones were Woolworths, Telstra, Transurban, and BHP. We just think that this reflects our focus on strong balance sheets and resilient earnings. It obviously supports the dividend income that we pay on to you. Just on the next slide, appreciate there's a lot of kind of squiggly lines here, but I think the key thing to focus on is the chart on the left.
We use this as a proxy for valuation in the market, and it effectively shows what is the market willing to pay for a dollar of earnings or forward earnings for the market. The chart on the right is what's the expected forward dividend yield. Based on these charts here, we can see that the market looks modestly expensive, and that's against a backdrop of rising interest rates as well. This is the whole Australian market. Within industries, we do see a wide dispersion of valuations, and in our mind, that represents opportunity. I think one of the biggest themes that we're kind of focusing on now and the market's focusing on is inflation, and I guess how interest rates and central banks respond.
While we don't try to seek to predict what the next move in interest rates is, I think, again, the important message is it will potentially create volatility and opportunity for the portfolio. Now I'll pass back to Winston to talk through a summary on the AMCIL portfolio.
Thanks, Jaye. Just to close with a summary of the portfolio. As at 31st of August 2026, we had 39 stocks in the portfolio with a total portfolio value of AUD 342 million and a net tangible asset backing of AUD 1.09. As you can see in our top 20 holdings, we have a mix of companies across different industries, all of which represent the team's highest conviction ideas. We think we have a good mix of quality companies that positions AMCIL well to deliver on its investment objectives over the medium and long term in a variety of conditions. Thank you for your time and attention today, and with that, I'll hand back to our chair.
Well, thank you, Alison and Andrew and Winston and Jaye for the presentation that's been made at the meeting. Alison, I picked up the comment about Bruce Teele, and I know a couple of shareholders often ask me at these meetings about how Bruce is doing. I actually called on Bruce 10 days or so ago. We spent about 90 minutes with him. His interest in AMCIL is undiminished. His interest in the market is undiminished, and we had a really terrific conversation with him. If he's online, I wish him well. We'll now deal with any questions on the financial statements and reports for the year ended the 30th of June 2026. I'd like to invite questions from shareholders.
For those in the room, we have microphones available, and if shareholders could please state their name when addressing the meeting and ask all questions through the chair, that would be appreciated. We also have questions online. Claire, do we have any questions pre-advised? I think there were a couple pre-advised. Why don't we deal with those first.
Yeah.
If we may?
Yeah, Chairman, we've got two pre-submitted questions. The first of which is the shareholder asking if we would move to paying quarterly dividends.
Thank you. I'm aware that earlier in the day, there were some comments made on the subject of quarterly dividends at the AFIC meeting. It's only comparatively recently that AFIC introduced. Excuse me. AMCIL introduced an interim dividend. I think it's probably a little way off before we consider quarterly dividends. The dividends themselves are AUD 0.025 , plus a special if it's paid, plus the interim of one. It'd be, I think it's probably a bit early to be considering quarterly dividends within AMCIL.
Thank you. We have an online question, which is very similar to one of our pre-submitted questions about considering a merger with any of the AFIC family, and specifically, Djerriwarrh, which owns 4% of the company. Would we consider or have we considered a merger with Djerriwarrh to unlock some intrinsic value?
Well, thank you for that question. The four individual companies do exist with a very different mandate for each. They have different boards, and they do act independently of each other. AFIC, I suppose, is a broad-based investment company with a diversified portfolio. Djerriwarrh, as investors would know, is a high-franked dividend investment company, which is quite well-suited to some of the superannuation funds. Mirrabooka is a company that focuses on the smaller end of the market, small, mid-cap exposures. AMCIL is a high-conviction, and more concentrated fund, as you've just heard from the presentation. So there is a different reason for each of those companies for being. I would make the comment that we've obviously observed the Soul Patts group. We've observed the merger that's occurred between DUI and AUI during the course of the year.
We're not completely ignoring the fact that these sorts of corporate activities are happening in the market. But for now, there's nothing further that I wish to add.
Chairman, in a year where portfolio returns were poor and NTA fell significantly, to what extent are the distributions being funded by liquidating the underlying capital base rather than organic portfolio earnings? How can we expect the NTA to grow when capital appreciation is being paid out to fund dividends? Why is management refusing to deploy capital far more aggressively with the significant discount?
Look, I might ask Andrew to make a couple of comments on those three questions in a moment. But I would make the comment that the board considers all of these matters during the course of its deliberations. In particular, the quantum of a dividend, the amount of use of retained earnings, the use of the franking account, as well as capital gains, and careful consideration is given to quantum relating to all of those matters. But Andrew, perhaps you'd make a comment or two on those questions.
Sure. Thank you, Chairman. I would say that AMCIL has always paid out a portion of its dividends from capital gains, and those capital gains arise through the normal course of business, through investment decisions that the team are making, that Winston and Jaye have been through. We don't sell stocks in order to be able to pay a dividend. We sell stocks because we don't believe they fit the investment thesis anymore. But those decisions do have consequences. With regards to the buyback, there is always a tension between shrinking your way to greatness and taking advantage of the fact that there is a substantial discount on offer. At the moment, the discount is such that Winston and the team think it is a good use of shareholders' money to buy back the shares.
I would say in terms of why not do it even more, we are somewhat constrained by the liquidity in the AMCIL share price, even if we did wish to do that. But at the moment, the discount is such that we are proceeding in an orderly fashion, particularly to neutralize, as I said in my remarks, the DRP and the DSSP.
Thanks, Andrew.
Chairman, a shareholder currently has 0.5% of the company and would like to know why should I be voting for directors who are over the age of 50? I feel the AMCIL board is too old, and although experienced, they steered the company into the position it is in today. What are we doing about bringing younger, new life into the company?
Thank you. Being one of those that is over 50, I make a comment. I am reminded with that question of Ronald Reagan's response when he was asked about his age, and he said he didn't wish to make age and experience an issue in the election campaign. There is something relevant about having a diversity of skills and experience, having lived through cycles, and bringing the combination of all of those factors into deliberations around the boardroom. What we are pleased that we have is a young investment team who are able to challenge and work together very collaboratively with us. And the combination of age and experience, I think then becomes a very relevant and more potent combination than just to have some younger folk in the room with us.
Okay. We just have another question on the buyback. Why does AMCIL not buy back more shares at the vast discount? A free 20% discount doesn't come around very often. If you'd like to make any further comments on that.
Look, we've had a number of discussions about a buyback, and there is a consequence of a buyback over time, reducing the size of the company, which I don't think is in shareholders' interests for issues of liquidity and long-term performance. However, in the short term, clearly it does make sense to cover the DRP if we're able to acquire shares at a lower price to the price at which they were issued through the DRP. That just makes good sense. But expanding it beyond that, we frankly would prefer to see liquidity coming from other sources than simply the company's own resources.
Chairman, nothing has happened strategically within the AFIC stable since the 2000 AMCIL IPO. Meanwhile, Argo created an infrastructure fund, Soul Patts took over Milton, AUI and DUI merged, and Geoff Wilson's stable took over 14 smaller cap LICs. Could the new CEO, Alison Gibson, comment as to whether she has any sort of strategic mandate at the AFIC stable, or is it just business as usual with some tweaks to personnel and investment processes being the biggest change she'll be allowed to bring to the group, even at AMCIL, the most agile of the four LICs?
Before perhaps asking Alison to make a couple of remarks, I think we dealt with parts of that question in the earlier question around the four independent companies and the observation that we're making of others within the sector. But Alison, would you like to make some specific remarks in response to the question?
Thank you, Rupert. As the CEO, you would imagine that I work closely with the board on strategy, and we're having an upcoming strategy discussion as we do regularly in the coming months, and you'd expect us to talk about all things strategy at that. But first and foremost, as I discussed today, we need to focus on what we're doing right now, which is improving performance. That is absolutely mine and the team's focus over the next little while, and also communicating our value more clearly to current and future shareholders. So that's the key areas of focus at the moment. I'm extremely confident that we can deliver on those two objectives, and so when we do, we will be in a really strong position to consider other things strategically at that point.
But first and foremost, we are focusing on improving performance and communicating our value more broadly.
Thank you.
Chairman, Alison Gibson.
I wonder, should we give someone in the room a go?
Oh, sure.
There is a question here with a microphone. It is coming to you.
Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. My name is Steve Van Emmerik. I am the company monitor for the AFIC group of companies for the Australian Shareholders' Association. Well, thanks firstly for those that have given their proxy votes to the ASA, much appreciated. On a positive note, it is good to see most board members with substantial shareholdings and increasing shareholdings, so that is great. Maybe the current depressed price might be a good time for others that do not have a lot of shares to buy a few. I have got three questions. First question, the last few years, profits per share have been around AUD 0.02, AUD 0.025, AUD 0.03, and dividends around AUD 0.04 - AUD 0.06 per share. How sustainable are the franked dividends? If you keep going at these earnings rates, when are you going to have to cut dividends?
Well, firstly, thank you for coming to the meeting, Steve. I appreciate that. And I should say it is terrific having people in the room with us. I think Andrew may have commented already—
Yeah.
—on that question.
I would note that the ordinary dividend, as Rupert has said, is AUD 0.035. And currently, in terms of franked dividend reserves, we have got reserves of AUD 0.04 after we paid last year's final. So, as ever, it is something we continue to watch.
Thank you. Yes.
Yep. Next question. Obviously, yeah, disappointing performance last year, and it's a high conviction portfolio, so I guess you're not going to track the index. Some years good, some years not so good. I'm a professional investor, have been for a couple of decades. I know it's nice to think about the good times and look at the things that have worked out well. You've spoken in general terms about, I guess, lessons you've learnt, things you're doing a bit differently. What about specifics? What mistakes have you made in terms of stock selection or timing? Because I guess that's where I've found most of the learnings come from.
Well, look, perhaps before asking Alison or Winston to make a comment on that, I certainly share the view, in a high-conviction portfolio, there are going to be periods of time where the performance of the company is out of alignment with the market. We select the S&P/ASX 200 Accumulation Index as a relevant index against which to measure our performance. Clearly, we're underweight in a lot of positions and overweight in others. We don't attempt to sort of match that index. That is what will happen over time, and there'll be periods where the alignment doesn't follow very closely. Perhaps, Alison, would you like to say something?
Yeah. Firstly, I will hand to Winston because he will have the details. I would say, in my three months back with the business, there's been a lot of reflections that the team has done and I think that's really important to do at a point when you've had a poorer period of performance, that you do have a look and learn from what's happened. I've certainly seen the team really diving into that and understanding what's happened. Maybe to Winston for some specific examples.
Yeah, sure. I think if we reflect on performance for the FY 2026 year and the kind of underlying drivers of the disappointing performance, there's probably two to three key points, and a lot of these are kind of the flip sides addressed in some of the strategy I outlined going forward. The first is around the positioning of the portfolio between different sectors. As many of you will be aware, materials had a very strong year last year, up 50%-60%, and the portfolio didn't have much exposure there. We had some, but not nearly enough. On the flip side, we had heavy exposure to areas like technology and healthcare, which had very disappointing years last year. Issue number one was around the degree of positioning in different sectors. Number two, there were a number of disappointing stock-specific calls in the portfolio.
These are stocks like CSL, ARB, and others, where from a bottom-up perspective, some of the changes to those businesses as they were, either the macro outlook was deteriorating, or management changes within the business, or acquisitions being made. The dynamism in our conviction didn't change appropriately, and that's what I was talking about, where we've now gone through the portfolio with a fine-tooth comb, tested every thesis, tested our conviction in each position to ensure that where we sit today, the portfolio does reflect those changes as they occur, and we'll continue to do that going forward. So they're probably the two main areas that we're focused on. And of course, we've got the benefit of having an experienced director network and also the broader team to have a more robust discussion around those ideas, which is one of the changes I think Alison has brought forward.
Thanks, Winston. And I think you have a third question?
Yeah. Well, I think I might just follow up on that one. Just, I guess in terms of the sector part of it, is that a permanent thing that you don't tend to invest in the resources area as much, or is that something that's changed? Australia, resources are a big part of the market. I know a lot of it is dependent on commodity prices that are outside the company's control, so maybe quality not as good, but yeah, maybe just interested in that.
Yeah, that's a great question. Alison, do you want to make any remarks before I go, or yeah?
No.
What I would say about the resources sector is, it is one of the industries globally that Australia is competitive in, so it is not something that we would rule out. What we are looking for, though, in resources is the same as what we would look across any of our industrials, financials, which is that we are looking for quality companies at attractive valuations with strong management teams, good balance sheets, and resilient earnings. It probably means in that space, in the material space, a lot of the small and mid-cap miners, which have been particularly strong over the last year, do not really fit the wheelhouse of what we are looking for. But there are assets that we are looking at quite closely at the moment, where the valuations have started to become a lot more attractive, and they do have high-quality, world-class assets run by a really disciplined management team.
It is certainly a space we do consider. So no, it is not a permanent feature that we would be under-invested in that sector.
Thanks, Winston. Third question?
No.
No?
I will give someone else a go.
All right. Great. Thank you. Are there any other questions in the room before we There is a question here. Oh, here comes a mic.
Oh, thank you.
Good.
I guess I should explain that I have been a shareholder for a very long time, and I have far more shares than I wish I had.
Would you mind sharing your name so everyone—
I'm sorry. Yes, my name is [George McGregor]. The shareholder is a Chilcott Nominee for Parks Limited, wholly owned by my wife and myself.
Thank you, George.
We invested originally on the strength of high conviction, quote, for the late 1990s, when JBWere got excited by internet and things like that.
Yeah.
Then tipped more money in when Bruce Teele rescued it. Having said that, I will make two points. I should make it perfectly clear that although they may be critical, they are critical of the board, they are certainly not critical of the new face that I hope will persuade the board to either change their policy or to the board to change itself. I've just been taking the figures out, and you will remember, everybody will remember, June 2017, when the tax changed, and certain concessions were made, and valuations were changed as a result of that for tax purposes. I find that my shares that I owned then are now worth 6% less. That's since 2017 to 2026.
So, in other words, I would say to Ms. Gibson that the high conviction that's always been talked about has been fairly permanently convinced about the wrong things. The share price back then was AUD 0.94, and today it's now a whisker under AUD 0.90. It's all high conviction. We hear that. Would somebody like to define what high conviction means? Because some people might say that the board has shown high conviction in backing losers.
Well, look, thank you for the question, and thank you for your attendance at other AGMs in recent years as well. I think we've been fairly straightforward with the nature of the performance in the last period, which is extremely disappointing. The share price is not the sum total of the performance, of course. Andrew, you may have some numbers that you could share, but there was a slide up earlier in the period that referred to the five years of earnings to August, across three different sequences of five years—
Of course.
—which demonstrated outperformance against the ASX. As you have realized in the earlier questions, we've been distributing a lot of shares back to shareholders. So, if all of the shareholders had participated in the DRP for each of the dividends that had been paid, then the performance in their personal accounts would be very different depending on individual circumstances. So I can't comment on the particular circumstances that you've described. I would comment on the fact, though, that there are different ways of looking at total return. Andrew, anything that you're able to add to that?
No, I think you've covered it. I would say if we look back since inception, George, as you obviously have, overall the performance, including dividends, and if we were to include franking, has ranked slightly above the ASX 200. I know we don't look at the ASX 200, but the simple fact of the matter is, in a high-conviction portfolio, it will be more variable. Now, unfortunately, as at the end of June, we were at the bottom end of that cycle. I believe as a shareholder that we are on the way up.
But I also don't want to short the intent of the question, which is, clearly we have a job to do ahead of us to achieve that form of performance that's going to please our shareholders in a way that we haven't been able to please them in the last period. Was there another part of the question?
I beg your pardon?
Was there a second part of the question?
No.
No? Okay.
I can stay for the moment.
Thank you.
You will have to wait for the second ballot.
Thank you. Is there another question in the room? Oh, yes, there's one up the back.
My question is directed more to Winston. I don't envy your job at all. I'm a trustee of a super fund. I've only got a very small set of shares. I guess where I'm coming from is to me, looking at long term and being nimble are a bit mutually exclusive, particularly with the geopolitical stage at the moment. My concern from where I sit is the bond market, and what the U.S. bond market's doing at the moment, because that's affecting the cost of money. It flows through to companies in Australia like CSL, and also the building industry with private equity, and the collateral damage that brings with companies like Reece. How do you factor that into when you're choosing companies and when you should get out or stay in?
Yep. It's a great question. I think when we say we are long term, the way we think about it, particularly for AMCIL as a more concentrated high-conviction fund, is we're interested in the long-term returns that an investment can produce for us. It doesn't actually mean we're a long-term holder of a business necessarily. If a business is trading expensive, and on a long-term basis, the return doesn't look like it's going to stack up for us, then as a high-conviction fund, we may rotate that capital into a more attractive opportunity. To your point around bond yields, that does factor into our thinking where a company like Reece that is exposed to the building materials cycle and has some headwinds coming, and we look at where the valuation is trading, which is a pretty healthy valuation. That informs the position size.
We actually have been reducing our exposure to that company. It's a good call-out. When I refer to dynamic changes in conviction, it's being aware of both some of the long-term structural things that are changing in a business, as well as some of the short-term headwinds that can eat into our return if we're not aware of them. That's really where the team's research effort sits, looking at some of these trends, particularly in cyclical businesses like the construction industry.
Thanks, Winston. We might go back online. Are there any other questions online, please?
There is, Chairman. Alison Gibson has spent most of her career on the investment side of the funds management business rather than the management side. How is she dividing her time between CEO duties and all the important investment part of the operation? Also, has she hired any former colleagues from HESTA since commencing into the role at AFIC, and what has she found the most challenging aspect of stepping into a public company CEO role?
Alison.
Thank you for the question. Look, as an investment company, I do spend quite a reasonable amount of time looking at investments, which is my passion, and so I am excited to be able to continue to do that. But we have a highly capable investment team, as I mentioned, and they are primarily responsible for running the portfolio. I do spend time with them each week. We have a research meeting and a portfolio meeting that I attend and stay up to date with what is happening in the portfolio to ask questions, and I enjoy that aspect of the role. I think the CEO role is a different role, and I have different requirements, and I spend a lot of other time looking at other elements of the business, talking to shareholders, which I really enjoy, and also spending a lot of time with Claire.
Claire and I have spent time out seeing advisors and making sure we are getting our message out there. As I said, that is really important, and I plan to spend a lot more time doing that, communicating with shareholders and prospective shareholders too, and the general running of the business. So that is a different thing that I have not done before, and I am really enjoying the challenge. I think, in terms of the most challenging aspect, it is time. There is a lot to do and not a lot of time. So I am probably getting less sleep than I have done in the past, but that is okay. But I have really enjoyed it. In terms of hiring former colleagues from HESTA, not in the investment team, but just recently, Sonam Sidani joined us as our executive assistant to myself and Andrew Porter.
She previously worked at HESTA, so that was in a different role. But we're pleased to have her as part of the business.
Thanks, Alison. I realize I hadn't asked the shareholder's names online. Who did that question come from, please?
Stephen.
Stephen.
Stephen Mayne.
Thank you, Stephen. Any other online questions?
We do. We have another one from Stephen. It must be difficult having four public company boards to answer to and four different chairs. If we have one CEO, why don't we have the same person as Chair of all four LICs, which is how Geoff Wilson rolls, chairing eight listed LICs. Leaving aside the Chair's earlier comments, could new CEO Alison Gibson comment on whether she believes there would be time and cost efficiencies for reducing the AFIC stable from four LICs to two or three through mergers, and also what percentage of her time is spent on AMCIL matters?
Look, I'm not going to ask Alison to answer that question. I think we've dealt with that matter adequately. Alison's spoken to some of those themes. I think we've dealt with that cluster of questions. Next question.
We have another one on a merger, but a slightly different take on it. If the best thing for shareholders was to merge AMCIL, would you do it, or does it need to be your idea?
Again, I think we've dealt with the various versions with which that question has been put. Clearly, boards will assess situations and opportunities as they arise.
How many of—
We might go back to. There's a question in the room. Please. The mic is on the way, and would you say your name please, sir?
Thank you. My name is [Gregory Tomlinson], and I am a shareholder in AMCIL, and have been since it was a media communication company. Then I have been in the recapitalization, so I have followed it since we had 10 companies in, that was the total. Now, I have a couple of things that I would like to say as a result of the meeting today. One is that I have had the good fortune to speak to Alison, and I am very impressed with her. Most of the questions would not have arisen, the ones that are online, if the performance had not been so terribly bad over the last 12 months, until June 30. I know all the directors have got a couple of million shares each, or nearly that. You have got skin in the game, and you must be aware of the problems that we have had.
There is a new management team, a new investment team, and I look forward to that. We have not actually put the blame too much on Mr. Freeman. We have wished him good luck in his retirement, and I have done the same thing. But I cannot understand how we had so many positions in so many companies where I did not think there was any value whatsoever. And I have stood up at these meetings for a couple of years now, and those that have been here before will know what I have said. And what I have said has come home to roost. So, one or two things that were good that I found from this discussion over here, from these other gentlemen, that two of the companies that I particularly dislike, you have exited, and that is good. Now, they are not in the top 20.
If you want better communication, when you do your monthly update, instead of just giving the top 20, if you have exited a couple that are outside that top 20, I think that is a good idea. Today, I have learned that we have exited Objective, and I jotted down the other one. I am just not on the right page, and I cannot remember. Also, from Jaye, he said, "Oh, we have now taken a position in CBA." That is not something that perhaps it is in the presentation. I have not seen the presentation. I am very pleased you have got a position in CBA. One of the things I was going to say about, if someone is going to benefit from AI, I would not be surprised that one of the biggest beneficiaries will be CBA. CBA was one of the biggest beneficiaries of the internet. CBA will be right there.
I seem to remember Brett saying—
Is it leading to a question, Mr. Tomlinson?
Yes, that I have got complete confidence. I am hoping to have confidence. The question is that I am hoping for the best for the future, and I want to pat the incoming CEO on the back from the conversations. I also want to wish Mr. Brown good luck. In a couple of words he said to me over there, the whole atmosphere has changed. The way it is being run now is much better. Thank you, Mr. Brown, for those comments. Thank you [Ms. Alison]. Thank you for giving me a chance to speak.
Thank you very much, Mr. Tomlinson. I appreciate that, and I have made a note about those monthly reports that come out, and just to—
We will take it on board.
—see how much more expansive we can make them and more meaningful for shareholders. So, thank you for your comments. Are there any other questions in the room? If not, are there any more questions online?
Not at this time.
Well, look, if there are no questions in the room and none online, we should now move to the formal resolutions of the meeting. Your directors' recommendations are set out in the notice of meeting, and I can confirm that where undirected proxies have been given to me as Chairman, I will vote them in line with the board's recommendations on each agenda item. Voting today will be conducted by way of a poll, on all items of business. Representatives of MUFG Corporate Markets will oversee the conduct of the poll. Firstly, if there is any person present in the room who believes they are entitled to vote but is not yet registered to vote, would you please seek assistance from our share registry, who will make themselves available? I will now go through the procedures for filling in the voting papers.
In respect of any open votes a proxyholder may be entitled to cast, you need to mark a box beside each resolution to indicate how you wish to cast your open votes. Shareholders also need to mark a box beside each resolution to indicate how you wish to cast your votes. When you have finished filling in your voting paper, please lodge it in the ballot boxes, which will be available at the end of the meeting. The second agenda item is the resolution to adopt the remuneration report. This is required by the Corporations Act to be considered by shareholders annually and is an advisory resolution only. The remuneration report can be found in the company's 2026 annual report. As administration, management, and investment services are provided by Australian Investment Company Services Limited, AICS, and the details of this relationship can be found in the annual report.
The remuneration report is only concerned with non-executive directors' fees. I will now show the proxies received in respect of this resolution, which are now shown on the screen. There were no questions asked prior to the meeting concerning this resolution. If you have any questions on this item, please submit them now via the online platform or raise your hand if you are in the room. Claire, perhaps I will go to you first. Are there any questions via the online platform?
Yes, we have one question, Chairman. How many of the—
The name of the shareholder, please?
My apologies. Stephen Mayne.
Thank you.
How many of our shareholders lodged proxy votes before the September 29 proxy voting deadline, and how many of these were undirected proxies given to the chair? If the turnout was less than 10% of the register, will the new CEO undertake to include AGM participation as part of a mandate to improve communications and engagement at the group? Also, will you disclose the headcount data, like with the scheme of arrangement vote, in today's poll results, as this is always interesting at LICs?
Thank you. Thank you for that question, Mr. Mayne. Matthew, did you have any comments you could make on that?
Certainly. I can give you the figures if you'd like.
Sure.
We had 96 votes via proxy, of which 10 provide an open vote to yourself as chair, and I think this reflects that, over the years as the company secretary, we've seen lower and lower attendance at AGMs, both in person and also voting. So I think that's a general trend across the whole sector—
Thank you.
—not just to our company.
Thank you. Mr. Mayne, the other comments are noted, and we can discuss those at a forthcoming board meeting. Are there any other questions in the room or any others online?
No more online.
All right. Once upon a time, I would be asking you to raise your hands, but that isn't part of the script anymore, so follow all of those instructions that I mentioned earlier. The third item of business is the resolution to reelect Paula Dwyer as a director of your company. Paula was elected as a director by shareholders at the 2023 Annual General Meeting. She is standing for reelection by shareholders today. In accordance with Rule 46 of the company's constitution, she retires from the board of directors and, being eligible, offers herself for reelection. Paula, would you care to say a few words?
Thank you. Thank you, Chairman, and good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. Firstly, may I apologize for my voice. I am laboring with a cold, so please forgive me. As Rupert said, I was appointed as a director of AMCIL in 2023, and I am seeking reelection for a second term today. As has been discussed at this meeting, AMCIL has had a challenging year in relation to its ASX 200 performance benchmark. There have been lots of positive changes, though, and I believe we are well-positioned for the future. The team has examined the reasons for our underperformance and has reviewed our strategy and refined the portfolio to ensure we are optimized against our objectives. I believe our strategy of actively managing a high-conviction portfolio of quality ASX and New Zealand-listed companies remains relevant, and we are well-positioned for the investment cycle over the coming years.
My qualifications and background are summarized in today's notice of meeting. My skills are focused in the areas of leadership, strategy, governance, and risk management, and I have deep experience across a range of sectors, including financial services, telecommunications and technology, fast-moving consumer goods, and healthcare. I presently serve as a non-executive director of TPG Telecom and as chairman of Allianz Australia in Australia. I believe my skills and experience gained over my 40-year career, and I am over 50, enable me to actively contribute and bring relevant insights to the AMCIL Board team. With your support today, I hope to play a part in the ongoing success of AMCIL. Thank you.
Thank you very much, Paula, for those remarks. I will now show the proxies received in respect of this resolution, which are now shown on the screen. There were no questions asked prior to the meeting concerning this resolution. Are there any questions online?
No questions online.
Are there any questions in the room? Thank you. Would you mark your papers, please? The fourth item of business is the resolution to reelect Jon Webster AM. Jon was reelected as a director by shareholders at the 2023 AGM. He is standing for reelection by shareholders today. In accordance with Rule 46 of the company's constitution, he retires from the board of directors and, being eligible, offers himself for reelection. Jon, would you care to say a few words?
Thank you, Rupert, and good afternoon, everyone. My background is in corporate law and governance. I was a partner in a corporate law firm for over 30 years, and more recently, I have been an independent member of the Audit and Risk Committee of the Australian Securities and Investments Commission. Today, I am a director of a small private resources company and a trustee of the R.E. Ross Trust. As you have heard throughout this meeting, our performance has been well below expectations. A number of changes have been made. You have heard from the investment team about the more concentrated portfolio and the other adjustments which they have made. I am very confident that those adjustments will result in a much better performance with AMCIL in the future. It has been an absolute pleasure to serve as a director on this board, and I seek your support for my reelection. Thank you.
Thank you, Jon. Thank you very much, Jon, for those remarks. I will now show the proxies. They are on the board behind you for this resolution. There were no questions asked prior to the meeting concerning the resolution. Are there any questions online?
No.
Are there any questions in the room? If there are no questions in the room, then I ask you to note on your ballot papers. Ladies and gentlemen, that concludes our discussion on the items of business, and in a couple of minutes, I will close the meeting. For those participating online, please ensure that you have cast your vote on all resolutions and clicked on Submit Votes at the bottom of your voting card. You will have five minutes from the close of the meeting to finalize and submit your voting card. For those in the room, may I now ask that you complete your voting card. Staff from the share registry will collect your voting card at the end of the meeting. I would like to thank shareholders for your continued support.
It's clearly been a difficult time for the company, and we're very excited about the changes that have been made, and we're hopeful about what the next 12 months will bring. We're also grateful for the interest that you've all shown by being here, your interest in the affairs of the company, and we encourage you to contact the company between meetings if there are perspectives that you'd like to share or points of view that you'd like to give to us. Shareholders, a reminder that the team will be holding a webinar following the release of the half-year results in January, and also holding shareholder meetings around the country during March of 2027. The results of the votes at today's meeting will be released to the ASX later today.
I now declare the meeting closed, and I think I'm encouraging you and welcoming you to have something that looks a little bit like afternoon tea, and that will be an opportunity for conversations to continue. Thank you very much.