Good morning, everyone, and thanks for coming along today. My name is Steve Padgett, and I'm the chairman of Alliance Aviation Services. I'll be chairing today's meeting. On behalf of my fellow directors, welcome to our thirteenth annual general meeting of Alliance Aviation Services Limited. Before we proceed with the meeting, I have a couple of quick housekeeping points. I would appreciate it if all mobile phones could be turned to silent mode. Recording devices and cameras must not be used during the meeting. In the event of an emergency, please follow the emergency exit signs and instructions from the venue staff. All physical attendees should register your attendance at today's meeting. If you do not have a yellow, blue, or white admission card, please register at the registration desk.
All shareholders will then have the opportunity to comment on and ask questions in relation to the resolutions. I will hold comments and questions until the item of business has been introduced, and will then invite questions. Today, I am joined by my fellow directors: our independent non-executive directors, David Crombie, Peter Housden, James Jackson, Mark Stanton, and Alliance's Managing Director, Scott McMillan. Also here today, we have Alliance's group company secretaries, Andrew Evans and Nikki Clark, who is up the back, together with senior management, as well as Alliance's auditor, Tim Allman from PwC. Tim is up the front. It is now past 11 A.M., the appointed time for the holding of the meeting. I'm advised that the necessary quorum is present. The notice of the meeting was duly given, and the meeting has been properly convened. I therefore declare the annual general meeting open.
The agenda for today's meeting is as follows: firstly, I'll present an address. Following that, Scott, our Managing Director, will present his review of Alliance's current activities. After Scott, Stuart Tully, Tully on my left, our CEO, will speak, and we'll then proceed with the formal business of the meeting, which includes the consideration of reports and resolutions put to this meeting. Sorry, I've just missed a page there. This is my little chat to you, by the way. The two thousand and twenty-four financial year stands out as Alliance's most successful operational and financial year to date. It marked the first full year benefiting from the fleet expansion program initiated in June 2020.
The record performance was achieved while the company continued to invest in additional aircraft and supporting infrastructure, ensuring capacity to meet current and future demand. The 2024 annual report highlighted a number of milestones, including a record 104,544 total flight hours, a record 73,116 lease hours, record revenue and income of AUD 646.8 million, and a record statutory profit before tax of AUD 86.3 million. There's a record of 72 aircraft in service and a record staff of 1,413 employees. 65% of the group's flying activity under long-term contracts.
These achievements reflect the dedication of all Alliance employees, some of whom are here with us today, and who should take pride in their accomplishments during fiscal year twenty-four. As previously advised, the company has focused on succession planning across various areas of the business, including the composition of our board of directors. I want to take a moment to acknowledge two of my fellow directors who have elected to retire at the annual general meeting after providing us with sterling service. David Crombie AM, who's up second from the left there, chair of the Nomination and Rem committee, and Mr Peter Housden, chair of the Audit Committee, have both made invaluable contributions to our Alliance since its listing in December 2011 .
On behalf of our employees, shareholders, and other stakeholders, I extend my sincere thanks to you both, if I may, for your strategic guidance and support to the company. Both the company and I have greatly benefited from your expertise and your counsel. To fill the vacancies, the company is today seeking shareholder approval for the election of two new non-executive directors, Mr. James Jackson and Mark Stanton on my right. Both James and Mark are highly experienced company directors with extensive backgrounds in ASX listed and private companies, and they will bring diverse skill sets that will further strengthen our board. In October 2023, Alliance and Qantas mutually agreed to terminate the proposed scheme of arrangement following opposition from the ACCC.
While this was not the outcome we anticipated, Alliance has continued to grow and expand, with Qantas remaining a minority shareholder and, you know, particularly a key customer, still growing. We'd like to thank all our shareholders for their continued support. Alliance continues its fleet expansion with additional aircraft still, delivery still pending. The financing facilities required to complete the remaining sixteen purchases are now in place. Due to these capital commitments, Alliance did not declare a dividend for the 2024 financial year. The board believes it is prudent to retain capital within the business to support these transactions. Nevertheless, we will continue to assess the company's capital position and balance the interest of shareholders with the company's debt profile. The 2024 financial year has been the most successful in Alliance's history.
Alliance flew over a hundred flight hours, a hundred thousand flight hours, that would be a poor performance, supported by a team of over 1,400 staff. EBITDA, profit, and cash flow all reached record levels. With additional aircraft scheduled to join the fleet through June 2026, we anticipate further growth in both operational and financial metrics. Before I hand over to our Managing Director, Mr. Scott McMillan, to discuss the company's strategy and performance in greater detail, I want to once again acknowledge the tremendous efforts of every Alliance employee. The record results are a testament to your hard work and commitment. To the management team, thank you for ensuring the safe, reliable, and on-time operations that define our business. To my fellow directors, both retiring and up for election today, I deeply appreciate your contribution to the company.
I would also like to take this opportunity to comment on the two major projects that have been completed over the last 12 months. These two are really important, and Stuart's going to outline these in a lot more detail shortly. These being the construction of the large base maintenance facilities at Rockhampton, and secondly, by securing the Airbus hangar complex on Brisbane Airport and adjacent to our existing facilities. Stuart Tully, as I said, next to me here, our new CEO, will speak about this in detail. Now, this will be the last AGM I will be attending as Chair, as I intend to retire from the Board in 2025. Since 2002, when we first launched Alliance with two leased Fokker 100s and 72 part-time employees, it's been a privilege to serve as your Chairman.
I'm proud to have had the opportunity to work alongside Scott and the entire Alliance team as the company has grown and flourished. Thank you all for allowing me to be part of what is now a very large and successful business, and for your ongoing support. I'd like to hand over to Scott, our Managing Director. Scott.
Just have to wipe a few tears away there. It was a jokester. Thank you, Steve, Mr. Chairman, and good morning to everyone here and for those that are online, as well. Thank you for joining us. It is again my privilege to address you today and provide an update on the financial performance on the business and provide an update on our business strategy. As Steve noted, FY24 was a highly successful year for Alliance. It has really been the culmination of everything the company has been working on for the last four years. The operational and financial achievements of FY24 prove that the strategic decisions taken four years ago were the right ones. The contract business remains strong and continues to be the foundation on which the business grows.
The significant increase in wet lease activity in such a short timeframe supports the investment decisions made in respect to the additional fleet, acquisitions. This continues to be the case today as we increase the fleet size. And just to, in terms of a sort of financial overview, Alliance reported a record profit before tax of AUD 86.3 million. This was an increase of 65% up on the previous financial year and was a result of the increase in flight hours and aircraft utilization. In addition to the peak level of the elevated recruitment and training activity needed to fulfill the increase in capacity, required from 2021 onwards, that has now diminished in FY24, and we are now moving to a business-as-usual pattern of recruitment and training.
Net cash inflows from operations, excluding aircraft acquired for spare parts, increased by 167% to AUD 109.3 million. This increase in cash flow is further evidence that Alliance has, and will continue to benefit from, the significantly increased aircraft utilization. Capital expenditure increased in the year to AUD 226.9 million. Debt increased during the year by AUD 101.8 million, which included funding for the aircraft acquisition program, with fourteen E190 aircraft settled in FY24. As noted in the FY24 results presentation that we released in August, subsequent to year-end, Alliance entered into financing arrangements with the ANZ Bank, Pricoa Private Capital, that provide facility limits sufficient for payments on the remaining E190 aircraft from the AerCap transaction.
Contract renewals in FY24 were significant, with Alliance retaining all material contracts, including BHP Iron Ore, BHP Olympic Dam, and BHP Nickel West, for periods between five and seven years. Four other FIFO contracts were renewed during the year. Alliance has never been in a better position with its contract book. Again, Alliance's ability to operate safe, on-time, and reliable air services has been a factor in all of these renewals. Growth strategy. The company's stated strategy is to deliver profitable growth. This will be achieved by continuing to be the pre-eminent provider of quality aviation capacity to the mining and resources sector, and the wet lease capacity to other carriers. The outcomes of FY24 support this strategy. The company continues to focus on our three core KPIs, being safety, on-time performance, and profitability.
By focusing on these three KPIs, we will again strive to deliver outstanding financial and operational results. We will continue to focus on aircraft and crew utilization, the company's cost base, and those other parts of our business that we can influence. For those areas we can't directly influence, we will work with stakeholders to ensure that services provided are the most efficient and cost-effective as possible. The acquisition program, as announced in June 2020, continues with sixteen aircraft remaining to be delivered between now and June 2026. And as I said earlier, those are fully funded. By the end of this expansion program, the company will have increased the fleet by a factor of three.
As I speak with you today, Alliance is operating at full capacity, and it is the focus of the business to complete entry into service requirements on already purchased aircraft in as short a time as possible to meet that demand. The expansion program is fully funded, as I said, through debt and operating cash flow. Additional aircraft in the fleet will allow Alliance to commit to capacity requests, provide for redundancy in the network, and to increase the activity and ad hoc charter services. Stuart will talk to you shortly about our infrastructure strategy. Leadership appointments. I would like to congratulate Stuart Tully on his appointment in the role of Chief Executive Officer and Andrew Evans to the role of Chief Financial Officer.
Stuart has been with the company since 2015 in various senior roles, and Andrew has been with us for over 12 months and brings significant financial experience and commercial acumen to the leadership team. Just a brief comment on ESG. A significant part of our environmental focus is on reducing fuel consumption and overall energy consumption. The company has strengthened its monitoring of engine operational performance to ensure that the most efficient fuel consumption across all FIFO and wet lease operations. The company is also incredibly proud of the engineering apprenticeship program that we run in conjunction with Aviation Australia. Currently, that program has 40 participants in Years 11 and Years 12, who are all attending school in Central Queensland. The first graduates from that program will commence full-time employment with Alliance in November, and that's 20 apprentices.
It's the largest percentage apprenticeship program in the country. Alliance remains a supporter of the Breast Cancer Network of Australia, Foodbank Queensland, and Variety SA. Many other community organizations around Australia rely on us to assist them with fundraising and where we can, with transport. In closing, I'd like to join with Steve in sincerely thanking David and Peter for their outstanding service as directors of Alliance from 2011. We have certainly come a long way since that time, and the contribution you have made to the group can be seen in the results reported for FY 2024. Alliance has been built on ensuring that professional relationships endure and that all stakeholders know they are a vital part of the success of the company.
With that said, and on behalf of the directors and shareholders, I would like to thank our professional advisors who assisted during this year, PwC, present here today, Norton White, King & Wood Mallesons, Herbert Smith Freehills, and Catapult Partners, and to our financiers, ANZ, Pricoa, and NAIF. Alliance is again fortunate to also have three accomplished organizations conduct and publish research on the company, namely Ord Minnett and Morgans, both of whom are present today, and Wilsons. We again thank you for your efforts, and understanding of our unique business. As we all know, it's been a very tumultuous year for a number of airlines in Australia, and we know firsthand that some of these challenges have impacted the common suppliers to Alliance.
We want to acknowledge this fact and let you know that we are here to support you. We value our long-term and mutually beneficial relationships, and we will work with you to ensure positive outcomes for all. FY 2024 was a year where every stakeholder had a hand in these impressive results. The directors are of the opinion that operating conditions are such that the outlook is positive for a result to be in line with the 2025 financial year consensus of AUD 92.9 million profit before tax and AUD 202.1 million EBITDA. I will now hand over to Stuart Tully to introduce himself as CEO, and he'll provide an overview of the operations for FY 2024 and the outlook for FY 2025. Thank you.
Thank you, Scott, and good morning, all. It's my pleasure to address you today at my first AGM as CEO of Alliance. I'll provide an overview of a number of operational outcomes for FY twenty-four, along with our outlook for FY twenty-five. For those shareholders I have not yet had the pleasure of meeting, I thought I should provide you a very short summary of my experience and expertise. My experience in aviation dates back over thirty-four years, having started my career with Ansett Airlines. This then expanded into leadership roles across the aviation circles within Australia, along with management consulting appointments across the globe. I joined Alliance in 2015 as General Manager of Operations, and in 2021, I was promoted to Chief Operating Officer prior to my appointment this year on the 1st of March as CEO.
I look forward to continuing to serve you as Alliance's CEO, and I'll now move to provide an overview of FY 2024. As has already been noted today, FY 2024 was the most successful in Alliance's history and an outstanding achievement for all stakeholders. I mention stakeholders, as without the collaboration of our over 1,400 staff, our customers and suppliers, we would not be able to achieve the record operational and financial results. Operating over 104,000 flight hours with an increase in fleet of 72 and increased aircraft utilization, FY 2024 is an achievement that all stakeholders should be really proud of. The majority of our 39% increase in flight hours was a result of increased demand for wet lease services.
Contract charter also grew by 5% from increases to schedules from existing customers and the addition of one new resource sector customer here in Queensland. The significant increase in activity has been a result of the fleet and growth strategy that Alliance started in mid-2020. Today, that strategy has resulted in Alliance contracting to acquire 67 Embraer E190s, of which 51 have been settled, and an increase of staff to 1,400. With this significant increase in flight hours, we did experience some challenges with on-time performance. However, our operational teams are fully committed to ensuring our industry-leading on-time performance is maintained. On safety, Alliance continues to be certified as a holder of IATA's IOSA risk program and continues to attain the highest level of BARS certification, which is required by our resource sector companies.
As our chairman, Steve noted, Alliance has two major infrastructure projects underway to support our aircraft maintenance activities. These are the construction of the really impressive base maintenance facility in Rockhampton, and the recent securing of the Airbus hangar complex at Brisbane Airport to support an expanded line maintenance operation well into the future. I'm pleased to advise that our Rockhampton maintenance facility is open for business. This year, we have been busy setting up the maintenance facility with aircraft tooling, equipment, and procedures, while also establishing an engineering workforce in readiness for our first base maintenance check, which will commence next month. As part of our readiness, the Rockhampton team have also been busy parting out two E190 aircraft acquired from AerCap. This has provided hands-on training for everyone, including our apprentices.
The parting out of these E190s is already supporting our operational fleet as intended and is a key element to ensuring our base maintenance activities are efficient and on time. As Scott mentioned earlier, Alliance has been working closely with Aviation Australia, establishing an apprenticeship program which is well underway. I recently had the privilege to meet the students and apprentices in Rockhampton that have started with this program, and the opportunities that this provides to youth in regional Queensland is nothing short of fantastic. The establishment of our Rockhampton maintenance facility is a critical step of achieving our long-term goal of onshoring all of Alliance's base maintenance activities. In Brisbane, we recently entered into agreement to acquire the Airbus hangars, which are adjacent to our existing facilities here at Brisbane Airport.
The acquisition will future-proof Alliance's line maintenance operations, with the new hangar space being large enough to accept Embraer E190 aircraft, which will complement our existing E190 Hangar 2 facility. In addition to this, there is significant additional space for engineering workshops and spare parts storage, which will result in a more efficient operation. The facility will also enable crew and engineering training facilities and equipment to be brought back in-house, along with additional office facilities for head office. Just moving on, a topic I thought I would touch on is industrial relations. We are working closely with our various workforces to achieve a mutually beneficial outcomes in enterprise agreement negotiations. However, the current industrial climate remains complex and unpredictable. Moving on to the FY25 outlook. FY25, flight hours are forecast to increase as a result of additional wet lease, FIFO, and ad hoc charter activity.
Two additional aircraft will also be deployed to dry lease operations in FY25. To satisfy the fleet, the increased flight hours and dry lease commitments, we will continue to add aircraft into the operating fleet to take advantage of the opportunities available to Alliance. Specifically on FIFO, as advised to the market in July, BHP Nickel West announced its operations at Mount Keith and Leinster would move to care and maintenance by December 2024. We now have line of sight on what the BHP Nickel West schedule changes are likely to be, and we are confident that any subsequent available capacity will be taken up by existing and new customers. On Aviation Services, which is our parts and aircraft trading arm, this is forecast to provide a greater source of revenue and margin than in previous years.
In closing, to the board of directors, I thank you for the opportunity to be appointed to CEO of Alliance. To Peter Housden and David Crombie, I thank you for your guidance and support and wish you all the best in your retirement after the board. To the management team and staff, I thank you for your support in continuing to manage the large growth in activity and all that that comes, all that comes with it. A special mention to Mark Devine, our CFO and company secretary for the past seven years, who has joined us here today. Mark, from the whole team, thank you for your support, and we wish you all the best in your new ventures. Where's Mark? Up the end. Of course, we welcome Andrew Evans, who commenced as CFO and company secretary on the first of September.
With further growth ahead of us, the entire team will continue to focus on our three core principles of safety, on-time performance, and profitable growth. Thank you.
Thanks, Stuart. Now to the consideration of reports and questions. The first item of business deals with the financial statements and reports. These have been forwarded to shareholders who have requested them, as well as disclosed on the ASX announcements platform and Alliance's website. These financial statements and reports are for the financial year ended the thirtieth of June 2024 and contain the financial report, directors' report, and the independent auditor's report of Alliance Aviation Services Limited. This is not a resolution. As I advised, representatives from the company's auditors are in attendance to answer any questions shareholders may wish to direct to them in relation to the conduct of the audit or in relation to the preparation of the financial statements. I will take the reports as received and read.
I now invite shareholders to ask any questions they may have on the company's financial statements and reports. Shareholders may also ask questions of the auditor. Tim is over there to do that if necessary, where relevant to the conduct of the audit and preparation and content of the auditor's report. Firstly, any questions from any holders in attendance at the AGM here with us? Sir.
It was late last night, I realized this meeting was on. Started looking through the report and scribbled some rough notes down. I'll be very brief, and I think you answered some indeed. Just in maintenance, we've been doing a lot of maintenance overseas. Is the idea now to shift all that maintenance here to Australia?
Do you want to take that, Scott?
Morning, Brian. Yes, that's, that's the goal, mate, is to have by the end of next calendar year, so end of 2026. Sorry, end of 2025, to have two lines of maintenance running at Rockhampton, and a third line where we're just gonna be doing lay-ups and modifications. Currently, our base maintenance is carried out in Norwich, in the United Kingdom, Bratislava in Slovakia, Singapore, even North Queensland in Cairns, and in Costa Rica. So you can imagine the savings that will flow through to the business by doing all of that in Rockhampton, and one hour's flight away.
Second note I put down there, recruiting staff. I'd imagine when airlines like Rex and Bonza go under, it makes us easier to recruit staff or not? We-
I might let Stuart answer that one.
Yeah. Look, we've recruited an enormous amount of staff in the last two years. I think we've gone from around 500 staff to 1,400 today. The market has certainly freed up in the last six months. We've seen more availability in the market. Those from Rex and Bonza, we've had applications from them. We're more than happy to talk to them.
So someone else's misfortune is good for us?
Sometimes, yes. Yeah.
Sorry, look, I won't bore you too long. Something I noticed there: have we got any competitors at all? Well, we've got the open slather on the FIFO.
If you ask the ACCC, Brian, the answer is no. In reality, we do. We still-
There are other companies in the game.
Yeah, yeah, our main competitors are Qantas, with their operation in Western Australia called Network Aviation; Virgin, with their operation in VARA; Airnorth, who are not only a competitor, but also a customer. We do lease them four aircraft, soon to be five. And there's other smaller operators around the country. We don't ever think that we've got a monopoly, and nor would we ever have a monopoly. But, in terms of market presence, we are a significant market presence, and that's something we're very proud of because we've never been scared of geography. We've got the best network in the country. We've got the best infrastructure in the country.
And that really helps us back at contract renewal time, that we're well spread around the country.
So we've got to keep on our toes?
We do, absolutely, yes.
I think, Brian, just on that, too, we've got three general managers spread around the country. So we have a general manager in Perth who looks after Western Australia. We have one in Townsville, and we have one in Adelaide. So they're all here today, and all doing a fabulous job. Particularly, as you know, it gets a bit personal in Western Australia. They're considered a bit different to us. We consider them a bit different to them. So we've got a local, almost a local over there, who's done a fabulous job in protecting our business. And most of our contracts now have been extended out to the five years or thereabout.
We're not being complacent with that because there are all the new contracts coming up, but we're very happy that we've got that representation around the country to protect our interests.
I've got another couple, but I don't want to dominate. Does someone else want to ask questions and come back to me here?
Okay.
It's always interesting to hear, so you can always chat with any of us afterwards, too, Brian, if you'd like to. Barry.
Craig.
Thanks. Good result, but as a shareholder, I admit to being slightly touchy. July 2020, the share price was AUD 3, earnings per share, AUD 0.18. 2024, share price, AUD 3. Profit after tax, AUD 59 million. Earnings per share, AUD 0.37.
The question is?
What are you gonna do about improving the share price?
Improving the share price?
Yeah. Is there a reason for where it is?
As you know, the market is a pure beast, Craig. Last Thursday night, myself and one of my colleagues here had dinner with various representatives of the market in Sydney, and I asked them. I said, "Yeah, our share price is not where we want it to be, and it's not the share price is not right, and it's not appropriate for the level of what we're doing and what we're producing." And not one of those guys could actually give me an answer as to why it is what it is. Now, that's not the sort of answer you want to hear from me, but I am a shareholder.
I have four million shares, so the share price affects me very significantly, so I have a vested interest in pushing that up. And it was interesting, Craig, last week, our shares went down as low as AUD 2.65, and then on Friday night finished at AUD 3.10. I think they're back to AUD 2.90. So a lot of that trading is on very light volumes.
Yeah.
It's interesting to note that the vast majority of our institutional shareholders are very sticky.
Yeah.
And there is an issue with liquidity in the share stock.
That?
The share price.
Having come from a similar environment and having done reasonably well, I think your market communication and your communication with your funds is probably not as good as it could be. The general take around the market is your level of debt is a bit of a handbrake. If you were listening to the guys out there, you'd probably hear that.
Okay.
And probably that should be your number one focus. I take my hat off to what you've achieved in the business. But, you know, shareholders are there hopefully to see an improvement.
Yeah.
And?
Look, I don't disagree with anything you've said, Craig.
Yeah.
It's a familiar discussion, but at the end of the day, we need fleet to expand our business.
Yeah.
And we had two options: we go to the market for it.
Yeah
And dilute everyone.
Yeah
Or we borrow the money.
Yeah.
Now, we are very comfortable with the level of debt. Our net debt at the moment is AUD 302.5 million, and we've got facilities going up to AUD 487 million. We're not gonna use all of that.
Yeah.
When we went to our financiers earlier in the year, we just wanted to go to the well once.
Yeah.
We've got those facilities in place. It's our goal not to use those. And frankly, our job, I think in the management team at Alliance, is to be somewhat boring-
Yeah
Over the next sort of eighteen months, focusing very much on the balance sheet, driving that debt down. Our banking covenants, we are so far under, we've got plenty of room to maneuver, and we are in the process of, and we've flagged it to the market already. We've got LOIs in place-.
Yeah
To sell off some of the aircraft we don't need, that we're committed to, and obviously that will keep our debt down, but in terms of the communications with our shareholders, and the particularly the institutional holders, when we do our half and full year roadshows, we go around and see all of them, so in that two and a half days, we brief the three analysts that cover the business. We go, physically see, around 90% of our shareholders-
Yeah
We physically see. So, and you know, we're in regular contact with all the major holders. I think we're very, very accessible. The reality is, we are a wholesaler. We don't have a big retail brand. We don't need it. We don't want it. So we don't have a sales department or a marketing department. We have an investor relations manager based in Sydney who's in contact with our shareholders, you know, pretty regularly. I'll take on board, and I'm happy to talk to you about it afterwards-
Yeah
Mate. Always, always, always happy to take on board-
'Cause, uh
Criticism, yeah.
I mean, that was the key to our success, to be quite honest, managing that market.
Yep.
And from an outsider looking in, I'd say that's probably the one area that you guys feel. The rest, I give you top marks for.
Thanks, mate.
The other thing I was gonna ask, Qantas, do you talk to them as a 20% shareholder? Do you know what their intent is?
I can't speak for Qantas. We speak to Qantas from two directions.
Yeah.
Pretty much I deal with Qantas as a shareholder, and Stuart deals with Qantas as a customer. So we've sort of split that, and we don't... You know, they've got no influence in the board. They've given their proxy today to Steve to vote. And it's very much hands-off. It's a very passive investment-
Yeah
By Qantas.
Is?
But as we say, and some will argue that may be a brake on the share price as well.
I'm sure it is.
But at the end of the day, we can't control that.
Yeah.
We didn't control their entry into the business, and we.
Yeah
Can't control their exit.
Yeah.
But as we say, at the end of the day, Craig, they're, you know, they might have a few issues from time to time, but who wouldn't want a company of that standing as your best customer.
Mm
Biggest customer.
Oh, yeah. And with Qatar coming into the mix, does that mean you can look at the Qantas becoming more involved?
Oh, I think they're... Well, they're restricted to 19.9%, so.
Yeah, no, I.
So.
At this stage.
Again, you'd have to ask them, mate. Look, that's gonna change the landscape a bit.
Yeah.
I don't think it's a bad thing for the industry.
Oh, no, not at all.
You know, we want good, strong competitors and so on, so.
That's why I thought it might be a door for Qantas to have another crack.
Well, you never know. Yeah. You never say never on that situation.
Okay.
But I can tell you, Mark and I, Mark Devine, who's our retired CFO up the back, the hell that we went through for that eighteen months, I'm not sure I'm up to it, mate.
Yeah.
It was awful.
So-
Yeah
So you're saying you were looking at selling. So you're gonna. I mean, some of these questions.
Are worth getting answers to.
Yeah.
'Cause if it's, so the aircraft you're looking at selling, are they the ones that are on dry lease?
No.
No.
No, no, we're looking at selling some that we haven't even yet bought.
Yeah, yeah.
Yeah.
So the dry lease ones, why, why are you-
We're not stealing them.
Yeah.
We're not doing a Rex.
No, no.
Allegedly.
Allegedly.
So, the dry lease, is that a new avenue you're going down, or is that-
Oh, no, we've had. It's no secret where they are. We've had three on dry lease to Airnorth-
Yeah
Up in Darwin now for two years. And we've got another, I think it's one to go?
Two to go.
Yeah, two.
We earn the same EBITDA. We try and earn around AUD 2-AUD 2.5 million EBITDA per aircraft per annum, and we get that out of dry leasing. At the end of the day, you know, we make as much money out of dry leasing an aircraft out as we do operating it.
Right. Craig, maybe you and Scott could get together a little later.
Yeah.
Yep, absolutely.
Great. Thanks for that, Craig. That's true. Question at the back?
Just one from me, Steve.
Yeah.
If you don't mind, I'll have the microphone. The debt being as high as it is obviously.
Mic.
Make the mic.
Oh, no, sorry. The debt being as, or the deficit being as high as it is, obviously that is a result of, I guess, more value that you're acquiring over the year. Maybe is it worth explaining how that then benefits down the line in, you know, other CapEx expenditure in the future?
Do you want to hear that? Yeah. Thanks, Mark. Mate. Well, I think it's.
That's why he's an ex-employee.
Yeah. I think it comes back.
Good answer
To that statement I just made earlier, that our goal is to produce AUD 2.5 million of EBITDA out of each aircraft per annum. And given what we pay for it, I think one thing that we have been very good at over the years is buying aircraft at the right time. And for us, a lot of the profit's in the buying. And really, if you look at the basic numbers, we pay off an aircraft in four years. That's how the EBITDA works. So to grow that EBITDA, we have to grow our fleet. We had two places to get the money from, was either you, as shareholders, or the banks. And when we went to the banks earlier this year, they were more than happy.
In fact, one of them was prepared to loan us a lot more than we asked for, which is highly unusual, as you know, with banks. So the two are inextricably linked. As we know, our leverage ratio will peak in December of this year and then start to drift off. Our net debt will peak in, around.
End of September 2024.
In the end of next year, and start to diminish as the cash flows come through. And so if you're thinking about it, an aircraft fleet of sort of 80-odd aircraft producing 2.5 million of EBITDA per annum, you can see that the cash flow that comes out of the business pays off that debt very, very quickly. And, you know, we did agonize over whether we do an equity raise or borrow the money, and the decision was made, and it was, I think, absolutely the right decision to go for debt, because we only needed the money for a very short period of time.
Thanks. Thanks, Mark. Are there any... I'm sorry, Brian?
I just had one very quick observation. I was just looking at what risks might befall us, and I was thinking of a situation where you've got a Labor government at the mercy of the Greens, pressure being put on the Labor government, which they may agree to, to close down mining. And of course, mining is our business, isn't it? The fly-in fly-out. So in the years ahead, we could face a situation of mines being closed and our services not being needed. That's just a thought. So I'd urge everyone not to vote Green and not to.
Can we pass that resolution?
This is not a paid political announcement.
Thanks, Brian.
But just bear that in mind when you vote.
Thanks, Brian. I think I can pass that on.
Yeah
To either Scott or Stuart.
Sorry
I think the important thing is that Alliance has turned from a pure FIFO business into a varied business. So we're now dealing with Qantas, leasing airplanes to Qantas, to Virgin, to other airlines around the country, and effectively, around the world. We're selling spare parts, we're selling engines, we're selling airplanes. So that FIFO business is now about 30% now, Scott?
40, yeah.
40?
60/40, yeah.
60/40. So we did that to balance the business a little bit.
More orange in the fire.
Exactly.
Yeah. I think the other thing, too, Brian, if you visualize our full-year results presentation, we put a pie chart in there with the minerals that all of our customers mine. And it's a little bit like looking at the periodic table. We cover almost every mineral that's mined in the country. So if coal's down a bit or iron ore is down a bit, it gets manganese is up, and uranium hopefully comes up big time. Copper is the new... You know, all BHP talk about now is copper. Guess who flies to their biggest copper mine? That's us, on a long-term arrangement.
So we spread our risk around by making sure that we deal with the mining companies that have the big balance sheets and a varied production of various minerals. So that's how we do. I agree with you, a Labor government propped up by the Greens will be an absolute disaster. Off the record.
Okay, thanks again, Brian. Vicky, Nikki, anyone online?
Nothing.
Okay, thank you. We now come to the formal business of the day. We have some resolutions to consider, to be determined by poll, which I will now declare open. The board of directors have, as previously mentioned, undertaken a renewal program of the board, and James Jackson was appointed to the board on 10th of July this year. James is the gentleman on the, oh, where is he? On this end.
He's here.
Sorry, right at the far end.
Other end.
We're now seeking shareholder approval to elect James to the board of Alliance Aviation Services Limited, in accordance with ASX Listing Rules and the company's constitutional requirements. The directors, with James abstaining, unanimously recommend that shareholders vote in favor of this resolution. Are there any questions from the floor?
Sorry, Chair, are we going to get a little presentation from the directors?
From?
From the incoming directors, are we gonna get a little,
Presentation
Profile?
We had planned to, but if you've got any questions, I'm sure they'd be pleased to answer them.
Yeah.
Right, we'll just.
Yeah
Introduce them before our directors introduce themselves.
Yeah. Okay. Well, would you like to introduce?
Do you wanna go first, James?
No, no.
Okay, James is here.
James Jackson. I've been a public company director for over twenty years, listed public company director in a number of large agribusinesses and smaller financial business. I have been in the role of non-executive director, deputy chairman, and chairman. I feel as though I've got a reasonable track record in creating value for shareholders. A couple of the enterprises in which I've been involved in have done either significant recapitalizations or reorganizations and/or have eventually been taken over at significant premiums as well, which has been to the benefit of shareholders. I've got experience in public company, obviously governance. I've a background in finance. Spent ten years as an investment banker in London and New York. And, what else do you wanna know? I like surfing in my spare time.
Live in New South Wales. Yeah, 62 years of age.
You just bought AUD 10,000 worth of shares.
I just bought 3,450 shares, yes.
Jeez. Brian, you should come up here, mate. Okay, thanks. Thanks, James. Mark?
Yes, thanks, thanks for the question. I'm Mark Stanton. I'm a chartered accountant. I've been the CFO and Company Secretary of an ASX 200 company. I've also been CEO of some large organizations. So I bring quite a vast experience to the role. I originally came in contact with Alliance Airlines twenty years ago as a banker, and we went cold calling out to Pandanus Avenue one day, my colleague and I from National Australia Bank, and came away with a new client. I remember vividly being so impressed with the business model that we analyzed before we extended those funds back twenty years ago.
Made a mental note to myself that the day this business floated, I'd be the first one lining up for shares, which I'd like to think that I was, and been accumulating shares ever since. Very big fan of the business. Stayed in touch and yeah, when the vacancy came along, very happy to put my name forward and appreciate being accepted by the board.
Thanks, Mark. I think I should just add that the company used an external firm for the selection of additional board members or replacement board members. Scott and I were not involved or any of the senior management team in that process. We got recommendations from that company, and the two gentlemen that just spoke, Mark and James, were the two gentlemen selected by them and recommended to us. And that was the process. It wasn't done any other way except through that system. So just as a matter of info. So moving on, was there any other questions? Thank you for that one. It was a, That's good.
Sorry. Yeah, thanks. That's great. I suppose I was just interested, when you compare to your governance document, talking about, you know, the nomination and remuneration committee has a responsibility to work through succession and that. So I suppose I was just interested to see how the two appointments fitted in with your nomination committee guidelines in terms of the work they would have been doing in terms of the governance succession process.
Well, David? David, you?
Yes, it was a detailed process. We worked with an employment group. The starting point was looking at the skills of the board, contained in the individuals who are on the board. We looked at a gap analysis. With two people leaving the board, what were the gaps that were created? What were the skills we were looking for? And so we just went out and searched on that basis, and the two candidates that were selected and recommended to the board, I think fulfilled the needs of this board very adequately.
Thanks, David was chairman of our REM committee. Any other questions there? Okay, and Nikki, anything?
No questions online.
I'll now take questions from the holders, which we've done. As there are no other further, or no further questions, details of the votes for this item are now on the screen, which I can't see, but I'm sure you can, all can. I now move the motion to consider, and if in favor, to pass the resolutions as detailed in the notice of the meeting as an ordinary resolution. Please cast your votes by selecting either the for, against, or abstain boxes next to Resolution Two on your respective voting cards. As previously mentioned, as part of the board renewal program, Mark Stanton was appointed to the board on tenth of July this year.
Mark, who just spoke to us, are now, is now seeking we are now seeking shareholder approval to elect Mark to the board of Alliance, Alliance Aviation Services, in accordance with the ASX listing rules and company constitutional requirements. The directors, with Mark abstaining, unanimously recommend that shareholders vote in favor of this resolution. Are there any questions from the floor? Nikki?
No questions online.
I will now. We're okay from online. As there are no further questions, details of the votes for this item are now on the screen. I now move the motion to consider, and if in favor, to pass the resolutions as detailed in the notice of meeting as ordinary resolutions. Please cast your votes by selecting either for, against, or abstain boxes next to Resolution Three on your respective voting cards. Thank you. I now turn to the vote on the company's remuneration report. The remuneration report detailed in the company's approach is contained within the fiscal year 2024 annual report, which is available on the ASX announcements platform and the Alliance Airlines website. Noting my earlier comments, I will take the remuneration report as read.
Further details about the resolution are also contained in the explanatory memorandum that accompanied the notice of the meeting. This vote is advisory only and is not binding on the directors of the company. Noting that each of the directors has a personal interest in their own remuneration from the company, the board unanimously recommends that the shareholders vote in favor of adopting the Rem report. Are there any other questions from the floor? I'll now take questions from holders participating in the AGM online.
No questions.
As there are no further questions, details of the votes for this item are now on the screen. I now move the motion to consider, and if in favor, to pass the resolution as detailed in the notice of the meeting as an ordinary resolution. Please cast your votes by selecting either the for, against, or abstain boxes next to Resolution Four on the respective voting cards. Thank you for that. I now turn to Resolution Five, the vote on the issue of the securities under the long-term incentive plan to Scott McMillan, the group's Managing Director.
This resolution seeks shareholder approval for the grant of fifty-seven thousand one hundred and thirty-eight performance rights to the managing director, and the issues of shares on the vesting of performance rights pursuant to the company's performance incentive plan, and on the terms set out in the explanatory memorandum that was attached to the notice of the meeting. The voting exclusion in respect to this resolution are noted, page five of the notice of the meeting. Are there any questions from the floor? Thank you. Any questions, Nikki?
No, thank you.
I will now take, As there are no further questions, sorry, details of the votes for this item are now on the screen. I now move the motion to consider, and if in favor, to pass the resolution as detailed in the notice of the meeting as an ordinary resolution. Please cast your votes by selecting either for, against, or abstain boxes to the Resolution Five on the respective voting cards. Thank you. Resolution Six seeks shareholder approval for the reinsertion of the proportional takeover approval provision in accordance with the company's constitution. Further information on this resolution is set forth on pages 10 and 11 of the notice of the meeting, explanatory memorandum to shareholders. There are no voting exclusions for this resolution. Are there any questions from the floor? Nikki?
No questions online.
I will now take with no further questions, details of the votes for this item are now on the screen. I will now move the motion to consider, and if in favor, to pass the resolution as detailed in the notice of the meeting as an ordinary resolution. Please cast your votes by selecting either the for, against, or abstain boxes next to Resolution Six on your respective voting cards. Thank you. This concludes the more formal part of the meeting. Are there any other questions of the board and the management team present today? We'd be pleased to Sure, Brian? Good.
But thank you for your questions.
I'll take my moment in the sun.
Well, we always enjoy you being with us. So we've now reached the end of the AGM. If you've not already done so, shareholders participating via the virtual meeting website should now submit their votes, as the poll will close in five minutes. Shareholders who are in attendance, please mark your votes for each of the resolution of the yellow voting card. A representative Link Market Services will be collecting your yellow voting card at the conclusion of the meeting. Results of this AGM will be announced to the ASX promptly. I now declare the meeting closed. For those online, thank you for your participation, and once again, thank you all for being here today. It's. We appreciate it, and enjoy the rest of your day. Thank you.
Just while we've got your attention-