Okay, I think we're all ready to go. It's just after 2:00 P.M., so good afternoon, everyone. My name's Tim Poole. I'm Aurizon's Chairman and also Chairman of today's meeting. On behalf of the Aurizon Board, I'd like to welcome you to our 2025 Annual General Meeting. It gives me great pleasure to introduce Wade Campbell, an Aurizon employee, who will provide the acknowledgement of country. Wade.
[Foreign language]. Hello. I'd like to begin with acknowledging the traditional custodians of the land on which we gather today. On behalf of Aurizon, I pay deep respect to the elders, past and present. I commit to learning and truth-telling as part of our shared journey forward. I'd also like to take this opportunity to acknowledge our non-Indigenous friends and family who have joined us here today and acknowledge your unwavering commitment for caring for country. We must always remember that under the ballast, the sleepers, the rail systems was and always will be traditional Aboriginal land. Now, when we're talking about caring for country, Aunty Manya Andrews explains it perfectly. Country gives us a strong sense of connection and belonging because as we walk, we're following in the footsteps of our ancestors that created country.
What a lot of people don't realize about country is country isn't just the land, seas, or skies, but country is family. People don't really understand that country is like a family. You feel sorry for country. You miss country. You long for country. I'd like to do a quick activity with everyone now, both virtually and everyone present here today. If you could all sit there with your eyes closed and just hear what I'm about to say, I'm going to try to get everyone to connect to country in some way. I want you to think about the place that you call home, the place that formed your identity, the place you think of when you need strength, the place you go back to. What did it feel like to walk through the doors?
What did it feel like looking at it from the outside as you entered into that place? What did you hear? All the comforting sounds, the number of ways that your memory comes from your hearing. Think about the smells that you smell, maybe the family dinner cooking when you gather together at home, the smell of a flower, plant, or tree that wafts through the window. Think about how this is your memory of home. Think about the emotion of what home means to you, the importance of that emotion. What's one word you will describe what home means to you? Those that just did this small activity, you just connected to country in some way. I don't need to hear everyone's word, but I've done this activity a few times now, and my one word is peace. Our country is extremely multicultural.
We have different nations, different languages, different stories, different connections to our home. Australia is just not land, it's home to us all. It's important to acknowledge our connection to home because our stories are connected somewhere out there. Someone taught us how to climb that tree. Someone taught us how to hunt. A sibling taught another sibling how to swim in that creek that's on country. We all have stories that connect, each one of us in one way or another. Connection to country is something we can all do. You don't have to be an Indigenous person to connect to country, as we've just done. You know that place that is special to you. You know that place that you call your own. Nula Nagala. Goodbye. I'm Wade Campbell. Thank you very much.
Many thanks, Wade. As I've said before, these acknowledgements of country are a fabulous feature of our AGM, and thank you for making the time to be with us today. It's greatly appreciated. Brilliant job and well done. We're now going to have a representative from Karstens conduct a short briefing to explain the emergency and safety procedures for this venue.
Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. It's an honor again to host you here at Karstens. A bit of housekeeping first. On this side is the gentlemen's toilets, on the far side is the ladies' toilet, and you can cut through the lift well to make it a bit shorter. Tea and coffee stations are located outside this room and in the far room. When we have break, feel free to go through to both coffee stations, and anyone having trouble with those pesky computers, Karstens staff will be there to help you. In the case of an emergency, we'll be exiting through the stairwell that's directly outside the room here. It is 24 flights down. Anyone who feels like they cannot do the flights, come and see a staff member and we'll assist you to get out.
Now, we're going to be meeting in Post Office Square, so just follow instructions of the Karstens staff. Thank you.
Thank you. Okay, so the notice of meeting for today's AGM has been provided to all shareholders and published on the company's website. It sets out the items of business and resolutions that will be put to the meeting today. The agenda for today's meeting is on the screen now. Addresses will be given by myself, the Managing Director and CEO, Andrew Harding, and the Director standing for reelection. We will then move to the business of the meeting, where we will take questions before voting on each of the resolutions. I'd now like to introduce you to your Board of Directors. Joining me at the front of the room today, Andrew Harding, our Managing Director and CEO, Marcelo Bastos, Tim Longstaff, Sarah Ryan, Lyell Strambi, Samantha Tough, our Company Secretary, David Wenck, and our Head of Investor Relations and Moderator of the questions today, James Coe.
Members of the company's executive committee are also in attendance, and I encourage you to catch up with as many of them as possible over a refreshment after the meeting today. Matthew Donaldson and Alison White of Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu, the company's external auditor, are also in attendance today and will be available to answer any questions regarding the audit of the company's financial report. I will now turn to my meeting address, and I'd like to comment on three matters in particular this afternoon. The first relates to the recent and upcoming changes to the Aurizon Board. In our notice of meeting for the AGM last year, we advised that if I was reelected, I did not intend to serve a full three-year term and was likely to retire at the end of 2025.
The Board is currently considering internal and external candidates to succeed me, and we are making good progress. We expect to be in a position to make an announcement in coming months. At the end of August this year, we farewelled our long-serving colleague, Russell Caplan. Russell was appointed to the Aurizon Board in the lead-up to our IPO way back in 2010 and served on many of our Board subcommittees with particular distinction as the Chair of our People and Remuneration Committee for six years. Russell made a significant contribution to Aurizon, and his combination of intelligence, experience, wisdom, and humility will be greatly missed. We are well progressed in identifying additional non-executive directors to join the Aurizon Board who will add additional diversity, skills, and experience. The second matter I'd like to comment on relates to the company's performance during the 2025 financial year.
Financially, our underlying EBITDA result of AUD 1.576 billion was 7% below our original expectations. This was largely due to a timing issue with AUD 50 million of Aurizon Networks revenue being deferred for two years and a disappointing AUD 56 million increase in our provision for bad debts relating to three contracts in our Bulk business. In many important areas, we made valuable progress during the 2025 financial year. In line with our disciplined capital allocation framework, we're able to maintain our strong investment-grade credit ratings and deliver capital back to shareholders while at the same time focusing on earnings growth. We signed a non-binding term sheet with our Network customers, which forms the basis of drafting new UT6, a new long-term regulatory arrangement for our monopoly Central Queensland Coal Network asset to apply from 1st July, 2027.
We extended for 10 years in each case our important relationships with Karara Mining and Minara in our Bulk business in Western Australia, and most significantly, we executed contracts to provide an integrated rail, road, and port solution for BHP Copper in South Australia. The ease with which I've summarized each of these developments does not do justice to the incredible hard work and dedication of our teams over many years in some cases to deliver these very positive outcomes. Our team also executed a very difficult restructure during the 2025 financial year, and more than 200 employees left Aurizon. In many cases, we lost long-serving people who had provided great service to our company. On behalf of Aurizon, I would like to thank all former team members and wish them well for the future.
The more than AUD 50 million of savings we have generated from this restructure is absolutely critical for us to remain competitive in several parts of our business, although it does not make the process any less painful for everyone involved. The final matter I'd like to comment on is in relation to our outlook and positioning. Based on the 2026 financial year consensus forecasts, approximately 55% of Aurizon's earnings come from our Network business. Our Central Queensland Coal Network is a regulated utility and one of Australia's most important infrastructure assets, with approximately 2,700 kilometers of rail infrastructure. Finalizing the UT6 regulatory arrangements with our customers and obtaining approval from the Queensland Competition Authority during this financial year will only enhance the long-term earning certainty and value of this business. A further approximately 30% of Aurizon's earnings come from our coal rail transport business.
Aurizon has the largest coal haulage fleet in Australia and is the number one operator by volume. Notwithstanding, competition for new coal rail haulage contracts continues to be high. Our coal haulage business is strong, predictable, generates good returns on invested capital, and has opportunities for growth. The remaining approximately 15% of earnings come from our Bulk and Containerised Freight operations. In Bulk, we have operations in all mainland Australian states and the Northern Territory, and we are the number one hauler of commodities such as grain, copper, and iron ore outside of the Pilbara. During the last three years, our Bulk team has established the highly valuable Adelaide to Darwin supply chain, which includes the nationally important Tarcoola to Darwin rail line consisting of about 2,500 km of track infrastructure. The period of significant investment of growth capital into Bulk and Containerised Freight has been completed.
We fully appreciate at this stage the returns on this invested capital are not yet sufficient, and we are focused and determined to increase the returns on the deployed capital. For Bulk, this means delivering on the outcomes of recent operational reviews and prosecuting growth, like the successful contracting of BHP Copper in South Australia, only made possible through the operational presence we have in the region through the One Rail acquisition. For Containerised Freight, with the National Interstate schedule now in full operation, the focus is on utilizing the capacity for the best yielding outcome to move through break-even and then to achieve our earnings expectations. Our team has a range of operational service, costs, and strategic opportunities to pursue to further improve our financial performance. The Aurizon Board remains committed to our strategy and to each of our business units.
We are excited about the future and the opportunities that are presenting. Equally, we remain concerned by the market valuation of Aurizon. A good use of our capital at the current valuation is to buy back our own shares, and last year we completed a AUD 300 million buyback. This financial year, we have commenced a further buyback of AUD 150 million, and we will continue to look for opportunities to buy back further shares at attractive prices. Our focus and base case continues to be the improvement of each business unit, with a particular emphasis on operational and financial improvement in Bulk and Containerised Freight. However, as previously advised, we also continue to examine other structural and portfolio opportunities, and if a compelling opportunity arises, it will be presented to shareholders for consideration at the appropriate time.
In closing, on behalf of the Board, I'd like to thank our shareholders for your continued support. It was a challenging environment in parts of our business in the last financial year, but we made solid progress against our strategy with a number of the key initiatives I've outlined earlier. It gives me now great pleasure to hand over to Andrew to discuss some of the work in a little bit more detail. Andrew.
Thank you, Tim, and good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. Today, I will share more detail on our operations and business performance, together with some of the key initiatives our teams have been working on this year. We're proud to deliver efficient and sustainable freight solutions that connect regional Australia with the world. Safety remains a core value, and we've worked hard to embed practices and behaviors that support our employees Knowing Safe and Choosing Safe. While we experienced a slight deterioration this year across our two primary safety metrics of Total Recordable Injury Frequency Rate and the Actual and Potential Serious Injury Frequency Rate, the long-term trend for both metrics remains positive. We're committed to preventing any injuries with particular focus on incidents that have the potential for serious injury or a fatality and protecting our employees, our customers, and the communities in which we operate.
Tragically, in December last year, one of our locomotive drivers, Troy Ernst, was killed in a road accident in the Hunter Valley in New South Wales. The Aurizon vehicle he was driving was struck by a truck. Troy's loss continues to be felt deeply by his colleagues and friends across our company. In addition to operational safety initiatives, last year, Aurizon also commenced a major education and awareness campaign to support improved level crossing safety. "Respect the Sign, Lives Are on the Line" is a national campaign focused on education and awareness and features across radio, television, social media, and billboards. It is part of our ongoing commitment to support education and awareness on this important safety issue.
This year, we've built on the existing campaign with a new series of videos featuring our drivers once again sharing their personal experiences of level crossing incidents and urging the community to take greater care around level crossings. Can we play the video?
A semi-trailer with a low loader excavator on the back of it, and he's occupying the road crossing. He can't swerve. We can't take evasive action. The only thing we've got is that emergency brake. Myself and Jeff left the cab and went into the vestibule to find safety, squatted down. I was looking through the window, through the windscreen of the train as well, and I said to him, "Ready, one, two, three, brace." We braced, and there was no impact. It was just very quiet. We looked at each other and thought, "Are we dead?" When I got into the front of the cab, a track protection officer came up beside the train and knocked on the side of the locomotive. I looked out, and he said we made inches, he only missed by inches.
Respect the sign. L ives are on the line.
I want to thank the many members of our team who have shared their videos and played a role in taking these important safety messages out to schools and the broader community. This year, in a challenging environment, we continued to make strong progress delivering on our strategy. As Tim highlighted, this included a landmark contract with BHP Copper in South Australia, advanced regulatory certainty for the Network business, an acceleration of our cost-out program, and maintenance of stable earnings across the business. Overall, we delivered a 3% increase in revenue in FY 2025, supporting a total dividend of AUD 0.157 per share and an on-market buyback of AUD 300 million. At an enterprise level, we actioned AUD 60 million of annualized savings in our non-operational cost base, and this is expected to flow through in full this financial year.
I've also reduced my executive team and merged the Bulk and Containerised Freight businesses under a single executive. These are measured strategic decisions that reflect our commitment to operational discipline and long-term efficiency. I'll now provide a little more detail on the performance for each of our four key business areas. Our Coal business transports coal from mines in the Newlands Corridor, Goonyella, Blackwater, Moura, and West Moreton systems in Queensland, and the Hunter Valley and Illawarra coal systems in New South Wales to domestic customers and coal export terminals. Our volumes hauled in this part of our business increased by 2% in FY 2025 to 192.2 million tonnes, and total coal revenue also rose by 2%. EBITDA was flat at AUD 527 million due to higher operating costs.
We remain confident in the continued stability of our Coal business as it is linked to the ongoing strong demand for high-quality Australian coal across global markets, including India and Asia. It accounts for around 1/3 of our Group earnings and is backed by quality, stable, long-duration contracts. Our Network business is nearly 2,700 km of track infrastructure in Central Queensland, connecting customers from more than 40 mines to five export terminals. The Network supports the delivery of around 90% of Australian steelmaking coal exports and remains a key enabler for our nation's resource industry. In FY 2025, total tonnes carried over the Central Queensland Coal Network were down 1% to 208 million tonnes, but EBITDA was up 3% to AUD 956 million, driven by higher regulatory revenue. I want to focus in more detail on two key initiatives in Network we've been working on.
The first relates to one Tim mentioned earlier, the progress we've made with customers on a new access undertaking for the Central Queensland Coal Network. The undertaking sets out the commercial and operational parameters for customers such as miners and other rail operators to access the network. In July this year, Aurizon and the customer group agreed to a non-binding term sheet as the basis for drafting a new access undertaking to apply from July 2027. While there is further work to be done, it is a strong endorsement of the positive working relationships we have with our customers, and we're working towards a submission to the Queensland Competition Authority in the 2025 December quarter. The second initiative in Network I wanted to provide an update on relates to our review of Network ownership.
While you may have seen some media on this earlier in the year, it is important to note that this is not new and the Aurizon Board regularly undertakes a detailed assessment of the portfolio and capital structure of the company. The outcome of the review was last published externally in 2019 and found that the benefits of integration of above and below rail outweighed the benefits of separation at that time. When we review, we look at factors such as synergies and dissynergies, growth options, valuation, capital structure, and the views of our stakeholders. This time, we have a particular focus on valuation. We have a view on the value of the Network business, but it makes sense to test that in the market, and we have appointed an investment bank to assist with the process.
It is important that any decision-making process is supported by information that is accurate, relevant, and current. However, no decisions have been made. We are simply in the process of collecting information. We expect to provide an update at half-year results in February. The Central Queensland Coal Network is a high-quality, long-life regulated asset. Its operational stability, safety, and reliability are central to its value, and protecting these fundamentals is a non-negotiable part of the review. The review will ensure any chosen pathway genuinely strengthens our business and delivers long-term value for shareholders. We're continuing to make solid progress with the containerised... There's a slide change. We are continuing to make solid progress with the containerised freight business we established in 2023.
This part of our business provides rail line haul services for customers in Australia's growing interstate freight market, transporting vital supplies such as retail and supermarket goods, vehicles, machinery, and equipment to communities across the country. In addition to our foundation customer of TGE, we have momentum heading into this financial year with a four-fold increase in our customers' volumes in the three months leading up to the end of FY 2025. While not yet at break-even, we're encouraged by the increase in both volumes and contract utilisation, and are confident in the growth of this part of the business aligned to national economic growth and consumer demand. We're also continuing to make solid progress on our innovative land bridging initiative, a reminder that this involves using our unique and expansive operational footprint to rail freight across the country from our port services business in Darwin.
It offers a new, exciting, integrated supply chain solution for global shippers that improves the speed and predictability of their container deliveries. It integrates sea, rail, storage, and landside distribution for a unique Australia-wide freight solution. In February, we announced we had joined with global shipping company A&L to deliver regular land bridging services for their container freight from the Asia Pacific through the Port of Darwin. We're also working with auto logistics company NYK to support the import and distribution of motor vehicles into Australia. Our Bulk Haulage business is based on the growth in global demand for Australian commodities such as base metals, grain, and magnetite. We transport these future-facing commodities across Australia, building on our investment in five strategically located port terminals and 2,500 kilometers of track infrastructure on the Tarcoola-to-Darwin rail line.
It was a challenging year in Bulk, with volumes down 17% to 55.3 million tonnes and EBITDA down 26% due to factors including the end of a rail maintenance contract we held, lower South Australian grain volumes, and an increase in doubtful debt provisions for a handful of customers. Pleasingly, however, we renewed and secured a number of new long-term contracts. This includes the 10-year contract extensions with our Western Australian customers, Minara and Karara Mining. For our customer Minara , we rail nickel and cobalt and offer a fully integrated pit-to-port supply chain, managing the flow of critical mine supply imports and the export of finished product to Fremantle Port. Karara Mining, which is located southeast of Geraldton, is the largest mining operation in the Midwest and produces high-grade magnetite for export to steelmakers. We're proud of our ongoing relationship with both of these valued customers.
While still a relatively small contributor to our Group earnings, the Bulk portfolio is where some of our strongest growth prospects lie, and this is evidenced by one of our new contracts I would like to talk to in a little more detail. This year, our Bulk business signed an exciting new logistics partnership with BHP Copper in South Australia. This will be one of Australia's largest ever road-to-rail conversions for a major minerals project, and the picture behind me shows the first train in operation earlier this month. This partnership demonstrates the advantage of rail, lowering our nation's emissions, reducing congestion, improving safety, and building resilience in regional supply chains. Under the arrangements, the transport of copper concentrate and cathode from BHP's Olympic Dam, Carrapateena, and Prominent Hill mines, as well as inbound freight, is shifting to rail between Pimba and Port Adelaide.
Aurizon is responsible for services across the supply chain, including rail haulage, road transport, terminal management, port management, and stevedoring. In securing these contracts, Aurizon has leveraged our extensive South Australian footprint, including recently acquired port terminal assets at Port Adelaide and the Gillman containerised freight terminal. A new freight terminal at Pimba, South Australia, will support the logistics solution. The network effect of being able to provide these types of different assets together unlocks value for our customers. The shift to our solution will effectively replace an estimated 13 million km of truck movements annually on South Australian roads. More rail transport means fewer trucks on public roads, delivering improved safety and reduced road congestion, as well as a significantly smaller carbon footprint. The solution is scalable, with the ability to support additional train services as BHP continues to expand its South Australian copper operations.
These contracts represent a major milestone in the delivery of our Bulk strategy. It validates our company's decision to invest ahead of earnings through targeted investment and infrastructure development, particularly in South Australia and the Northern Territory. It is also a clear demonstration of the growth opportunities available for our Bulk business moving into new geographies and expanding markets for future-facing commodities such as copper, where the global demand is expected to increase significantly. In looking forward, I reaffirm the guidance for this financial year we provided in August, with group EBITDA expected to be in the range of AUD 1.68 billion-AU D 1.75 billion. For the first time, we've also introduced full-year dividend guidance. Although ultimately determined by the Aurizon Board, we expect total dividends to be between AUD 0.19 and AUD 0.20 per share. Finally, I extend my thanks to our hard-working teams across our national footprint.
I'm excited by the work we have done and what lies ahead. With complete confidence, we will continue making good progress against our clear growth strategy. We remain focused on discipline, execution, and sustainable growth, with a visible pipeline of contracted revenue that strengthens Australia's supply chains and supports a decarbonising global economy. Thank you, and I'll now pass back to Tim.
Many thanks, Andrew. We now come to the formal business of the meeting, and today we have two directors standing for reelection: Dr. Sarah Ryan and Lyell Strambi. I'm delighted to hand over to Sarah and then Lyell, who will say a few words each about their own reelection. Sarah.
Good afternoon.
Thanks, Tim, and good afternoon, everyone. I was delighted when I was invited to join the Board of Aurizon back in 2019, as I believed I could make a real contribution to this company as a Non-Executive Director. My executive background is in the energy industry, oil and gas, with more than 30 years' experience worldwide, mostly around operations, engineering, and contracting, as well as technology development and innovation. I also spent 10 years in investment management, focusing on the global energy and natural resources industries. I'm currently a Non-Executive Director on the board of Transurban, Viva Energy, and Calix, and I'm a former director of Woodside Energy, OZ Minerals, and Aker Solutions from Norway. I'm an elected Fellow of the Australian Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering, where I chair the Energy Forum, and I hold a PhD in petroleum geology and geophysics.
My non-executive experience covers oil and gas, liquid fuels, pipeline construction, mining, defense, and decarbonization of heavy industry. Many of the issues I've had to deal with over that time in both my executive and non-executive roles are very relevant to Aurizon's business today and in the future. For example, high-risk rural and remote operations, emphasis on safety, the opportunities and challenges of new technology, especially as applied to infrastructure and heavy industry, and the nature of the business as a key contractor to mining and other natural resources companies. I confirm that I continue to have the time to devote to this role. I believe my background and experience leave me well placed to continue to contribute to the company's future, and I'd be delighted to be reelected as a director by shareholders today. Thank you.
Thanks, Tim.
Good afternoon all. My name's Lyell Strambi, and like Sarah, I've been on the board since 2019. I'm seeking reelection confident in the company's fundamentals, its excellent team, its promising outlook, and the contribution I can make to the business. Now, we all know Aurizon is an impressive and really important organization, and I'm very much proud to be part of that team. Of course, our company does face some challenges. You will have heard that in the presentations already today, as our operating environment changes over time. Today, while coal remains a really important contributor to both our performance and to the nation as a whole, we do know that over time, global use of coal will decline.
We remain very focused on our coal businesses as a core part of our success, and as Tim talked about the numbers today, you can see just how important they are to us. We must position for a future where coal is no longer a fundamental part of our business. That's not a small task or ask of our management team. As a director, balancing these priorities is both challenging and at the same time, incredibly energizing. For those of you who don't know me, my background was largely crafted in the aviation sector. Not unlike rail transportation, aviation is complex. It's ferociously competitive. It's very capital intensive, and it demands a high degree of customer focus. I've been really fortunate to work in big organizations whose activities span well beyond just the operation of passenger aircraft.
Beyond having those responsibilities for passenger and freight transportation in aviation, both the safe operation and efficient and profitable operation of those companies, I've been really fortunate to have also led major engineering organizations and large complex infrastructure development businesses. That's to name a few. While there are certainly some differences between those and Aurizon's business, many of those experiences do have a direct relevance to Aurizon. I believe my background has enabled me to offer valuable insights to support our leadership team, and when necessary, constructively challenge to help our team move forward. I'd certainly be delighted to have your endorsement to continue to do so. Thank you.
Many thanks to both Sarah and Lyell. I'll now run through some housekeeping in relation to voting and questions at today's meeting. Attendees here in person have a colored admission card informing you about your individual right to vote and ask questions today. For those with white cards, your voting paper and instructions are on the reverse side of that card. Voting cards will be collected at the end of the meeting by the returning officer and his colleagues. All eligible shareholders have had the opportunity to vote in advance of the meeting. Subject to the voting exclusions detailed in the notice of meeting for items two and four, and shareholders having marked the appropriate box, any open proxies will be voted in favor of each resolution.
For those who need to leave early, you can cast your vote online at any time while voting remains open, or you can complete your voting card and hand it to a Computershare representative as you leave the room. For those online, there is a polling icon where you can cast your vote, and you can change your vote at any time until voting closes. Voting will be conducted by way of a poll. Louis Brimelow of Computershare is appointed as the returning officer today. Voting is now open until the close of the meeting. Shareholders or proxies attending in person who wish to ask a question should raise your hand with your white or blue shareholder admission card, and a microphone will be brought to you. Please state your name and any organization that you represent, and then please ask your question.
Online attendees can submit questions at any time by selecting the Q&A icon on your device or to ask a question verbally by following the instructions below the webcast window. Questions that have been received from shareholders in advance of the meeting will also be addressed. Today we intend to take questions on all items of business up front, and after all questions have been taken, we will show the proxy voting for each item and then ask you to record your votes. Can I ask whether there are any questions firstly from the room here today? Yes, sir.
Thank you. George Bonder, I'm a director of Faircase, a shareholder. A couple of comments. I believe that the size of the company doesn't require this many directors. We have much bigger companies that have fewer directors. You get a number of directors, and sometimes it's just difficult to get things done because of the number of directors, and I think that that's something that you need to look at. The other thing that you mentioned before about the cost saving with staff of AUD 500 million, I think you mentioned, but profits down. Each year we get this, "Hey, we're great. This is the future we're looking at. We got the same story this year as we got last year," and it's certainly not the case. I wonder what the future plans are. I've got some thoughts if you would like to discuss them with me at a later stage.
Also, the performance rights to the Managing Director. I don't think that that's a very tax-efficient way because if he gets the rights, they're either at a cost which is deemed as unframed income or if they're at no cost, the capital gains that he gets on them. I don't believe it's a very tax-efficient way, and it also takes some of the dividends away from the shareholders. I think that there are better considerations and better ways for you to work that. If you'd like to talk to me about my ideas of future growth, happy to do that. Government wants to get rid of coal, and coal is a very big part of your income and what you're doing. I think that there are avenues that should be looked at and can get some Commonwealth and state help to implement them. Thank you.
Thank you, sir. I'd love to catch up with you over a coffee afterwards to have a chat about some of your personal views about our opportunities and prospects in front of us. In relation to some of the comments or questions or points you've made, firstly, in relation to the size of the board, that's something we look at on a regular basis. Not all of us up here are directors, as I said, David and James are integral parts of our management team. When we benchmark our board size for the size of the company and the complexity of the company that we are, we actually think we're on the slightly lower side. You would generally expect a company of our size to have another one or two non-executive directors. We think we're slightly below, and the benchmarking we've done would support that.
It is something we look at on a regular basis, and we are acutely aware of the cost and make sure that the cost-benefit stacks up. In relation to coal, we concur with your view. Coal is an incredibly important part of our business today and will be for decades to come, as both Andrew and Lyell mentioned in their addresses. As I said in my address, circa 85% of our revenue is inextricably linked to the coal industry. The very important point I want you to remember is that all of that coal basically goes into export markets into Asia. Notwithstanding what is going on in Australia at the moment, where we're rapidly exiting coal, particularly around electricity generation, it's quite a different scenario than what's going on in Asia.
In Asia, both for electricity generation and in terms of steelmaking, coal is still a very, very significant part of what's going on in Asia, and that's the most important market for Aurizon and our customers. As we look at the world, we are looking at opportunities to do different things, but coal will remain a very, very strong feature of this business for decades to come. I look forward to a cup of tea afterwards and a chat about some of the other thoughts you've got. Yes, there's a lady here with a question.
Thank you. Good afternoon. My name is Meredith Clark, and I'm the company monitor for Aurizon for the Australian Shareholders Association, which is the not-for-profit investor support group. Today, we hold proxies for 87 shareholders and ASA members and for over 690,000 company shares. To begin with, I would like to express the ASA's appreciation to Aurizon for holding a hybrid meeting. Not all companies do this, and we believe that it allows for the maximum participation of shareholders. On behalf of the ASA, thank you. Now, going to some other points, your remuneration report. In particular, we'd like to congratulate you for the clarity of this. It is relatively simple and easy to understand. In addition, we'd like to take the opportunity to acknowledge that despite being eligible to receive his short-term incentive payments, Andrew Harding, the MD and CEO, has elected not to do so.
This is his own choice, and I think it is a highly commendable action on his part. I would actually like to ask some questions of the directors. Is that okay?
Yeah, of course.
Okay. Dr. Sarah Ryan, we have a couple of questions for you. Firstly, what do you see your key activities in your role as a Director of the business beyond attending board meetings and reading board papers? Secondly, I know that you alluded to the fact that you have a number of directorships and that you also have responsibilities with other organizations. In light of these responsibilities, how do you propose to allocate the time you have and to ensure that you have sufficient time for your directorship role at Aurizon? Sorry, would you like to ask?
Yeah, why don't we get Dr. Sarah Ryan to respond to that first? Thanks, Sarah.
Thanks for the questions. On your second point first, as I said in my small speech, I confirm that I have the time to do this. I have ample time, so that has not been an issue in the past and it won't be an issue in the future. The other things I talked about, you know, they're all voluntary, so they fit in around the board commitments, which always have absolutely top priority. As to your first question, I'm sorry I don't quite understand. I mean, we're all non-executive directors. We come to the boardroom with all of our backgrounds, experiences. We work constructively and collegiately and collaboratively together to work with the management and talk about the strategy and the business and the risks and the challenges and everything like that.
I like to think I bring all my background that I've just described to you today, everything from operations, safety, finance, different industries. I guess from that point of view, I'm the same as every other director. Tim, if you want to say something?
The point I was going to make, Meredith, is I think the best test of whether a director's got time and the curiosity to be an effective director is how they relate to the business and how they actually go out and visit the business. I've been incredibly impressed with all of our directors, but Dr. Sarah Ryan in particular will often during a quieter time like January call up one of our group executives and say, "Are you going to South Australia? Are you going to Western Australia? And can I tag along?" She's had a number of visits on her own to the site to get deeper into our organization. With Sarah's skills, particularly around contracting, around dealing with our customers, some of the complex capital on various parts of our business, that's all in Sarah's wheelhouse.
She's shown an absolute preparedness to get out to site and do that. I always find that's a really good test of someone who's got, firstly, the curiosity, but also the time, which is the essence of your questions.
Thank you very much. Mr. Strambi, a similar question. Would you please share a couple of examples of what you've done in the past three years that have furthered the interests of shareholders? It's similar to what Tim has said about Sarah. Thank you.
Yeah, good question. Thank you. Look, I think like Sarah too, you try to bring your experiences to bear on a regular basis, and it isn't all in the boardroom. We often make ourselves available for direct conversations with management team members, although we're very respectful of the difference between the directors and the management team, and you have to do that carefully. I think all of the directors do give a lot of time on their particular topics of expertise, so that comes to bear. You talk about sort of direct opportunities to help the leadership team. The ones that sort of come to mind for me are we are entering some very challenging spaces because we're moving out of a regulated, very regular, great-performing organization in coal, both above and below rail, really good, solid, and quite predictable businesses to a large extent.
We're moving into very highly competitive marketplaces, and it's not easy. It's not remotely easy to penetrate those businesses. As we said before, we know coal's not forever, so we have to be doing something to take this business forward. It's those sort of areas where my background and experience really does come to bear. Our leadership team is extremely good, and I'm very complimentary of them. At the board, we have some pretty open conversations about what you can expect when you enter these marketplaces, and just to make sure the team is fully going into these endeavors eyes wide open and as best informed as we can be. That's on all of us to bring those experiences to bear.
Maybe if I can just add, it's in our annual report. I don't think Lyell mentioned it as part of his address today, but when I spoke earlier, 55% roughly of our earnings comes from our Network business. It's probably 55%- 60% of the value of our company. We're required under regulatory rules to hold a separate Aurizon Network board, and Lyell chairs that board on your behalf and does an incredibly good job at that. Both Andrew and I talked about the UT6 regulatory reset that's coming up, which is a very, very significant moment for us. It's been the culmination of a lot of hard work from our Network team, and Lyell's guidance in that space has been outstanding. I just wanted to add that as a framing for why he's a very important and valued member of our board.
Thank you.
Did you have any other questions, Meredith, that you wanted to cover?
No, that's all. Thank you very much. You've already answered some of the others in your presentations. Thank you.
Okay. Thank you. Can I ask whether there's any other questions from the floor before we check online? Yes, sir.
Tim, Clyde Ashton. I note that you made a comment earlier in the meeting that you're standing down at the end of this calendar year. Is there a replacement being selected?
That's something we're working on very actively. As I said in my address, we've been working on that for a little while. We're looking at both internal and external candidates, and as I said in my address, we hope to say something in the coming months about that. We are well down that process. No announcements yet, but we're working on it. Please.
Can you see any impacts on the business from the Mount Isa future closure?
Yeah, that's a good question because that's something that we have been concerned about, and we've been trying to play a role in supporting the region. It's an important corridor for us, and we have some customers that we've been doing some work for for a very long time in that space. Andrew, Samantha actually, and I visited there in the last 18 months and spent some time working our way from Mound Isle back towards the coast. It's an area that we value highly. We do a lot of work. Our team does a lot of work trying to support the region. I won't get into the detail, but our team has been very active in making that supply chain, particularly from a rail perspective, more competitive in recent times, and that's been led by Andrew particularly.
Yes, the short answer is we have been concerned about the future of the region, but the recent announcements by government look to put the region on a more even keel, at least for the next three years or so. It's something we watch closely, but probably the risk around that has been pushed out a little further. Andrew, is there anything you want to add to that?
Look, I'd just add as well, as a bigger issue as Mount Isa is in that part of Queensland, there is more to that part of Queensland. The Northwest Province has quite a lot of minerals of strategic importance, things like copper, in much smaller quantities, of course, than a fabulous deposit like Mount Isa, but in a sense, yet to be mined. There's still prospective opportunities there that will at some stage find their way into the supply chain, and they'll need transportation. From how relevant is that to Aurizon, they'll need transportation somewhere at some point in time. There is more to the argument than just that. At the same time, I'm not understating the importance and the value of Mount Isa to Queensland.
Yes, sir. There's a microphone on the way. That's just helpful for the people listening online.
Some of the pundits and also the media are saying that the share value is undervalued and should be worth in excess of AUD 4. In light of what Lyell has also mentioned, that coal is a dying commodity as well as potential closures of mines, could you speak more to that point, please?
Yeah, so there's two parts to that question. Firstly, in relation to the valuation, I made specific mention in my speech that we are all concerned about the market valuation of Aurizon. I also said in my speech that we are acutely aware that a lot of the capital that we've deployed to the Bulk and Containerised Freight business units over the last few years, which is still a smaller part of our business today, but we hope to be a bigger part of our business in the future, is not yet hitting the required returns that we expect from those businesses. That's what's got our focus. We expect in 2026 and 2027 and beyond to show you and to show the broader market that the return expectations are, or the returns are increasing out of those businesses, and we think that'll have a direct impact on the share price.
We think that the share price has been adversely affected by those smaller parts to our business, and we are confident that in 2026, we will be able to demonstrate performance and start to bridge that valuation gap. As I also said in my presentation, one of the things we're doing about that is we're buying back our own shares. We see a very attractive use of our capital at the moment to buy back shares at the current share price, and we'll continue to prosecute that for the foreseeable future. In relation to your question around coal, we don't think, I made some comments earlier about our position on coal. All of the coal that we haul on behalf of our customers, whether it's thermal coal or metallurgical coal, is going to export markets.
There's a tiny sliver that is for domestic use, but 99% of it is going into Asia. When you think about coal and coal use and the world's use of coal, don't think about it from an Australian context because you get a very colored view of the world. Think about it from an Asian perspective and what's going on in India, what's going on in Vietnam, Korea, Japan, etc. They're our key markets. As I said before, there are still new generators, thermal coal-fired generators being built in Asia. There are new blast furnaces being built in Asia that will require Australian coal. We see a very long-term future for Australian coal going to export markets. The final point that you alluded to was in relation to mine closures.
Look, there'll always be issues around new mines getting up and some closing and so on, but that's more an economic question around their position on the cost curve, the quality of the coal, how much reserve life they've got, and so on. As an industry focused on the Asian market, we are very, very confident about the coal industry in Australia and its export into Asia for decades to come. Any other questions in the room? All right, we might pause there. James, any questions online?
We do, Tim. We have a number of questions that have been sent online today and also in advance of today's meeting. In fact, I had a similar question from three shareholders, Ms. Preston, Ms. Elwood, and also Mr. Hiscox. What are the opportunities Aurizon is pursuing outside of coal in terms of commodities or locations?
Yeah, as Andrew and I both tried to talk about in our presentation, clearly, as I've just said, coal's a very important part of our business going forward, but we've also devoted a lot of energy, a lot of effort, and a lot of capital in more recent years to our Bulk and Containerised opportunities. We now operate in all mainland states of Australia, including the Northern Territory, so we are a cross-Australian business. That's one part of that question. The second part is we will continue to look for commodities to be part of our portfolio mix that we can see value in in terms of us operating a service.
Whether it's grain or iron ore or copper or many of the other commodities we haul or indeed boxes of goods that come through our containerised freight business, we will be very focused on the best opportunities to fill up our trains that provide the greatest financial return. That's the lens that we look at all of these opportunities through. What's the customer want? Where can we apply our effort in terms of people and resources and capital to get the best return on our capital? That's what we will continue to do. Next question, James.
Thanks, Tim. The next question is from Mr. Davies. Will additional funds be allocated to repair and replace locomotives? They're the backbone of the company and essential to achieving on-time delivery and target zero harm.
Yes, and the short answer is absolutely. We have a rolling program of firstly replacing locomotives as they get to the end of their life, and we also have a very, very active program across each of our business units in the above-rail part of our business to maintain and overhaul our locomotive fleet. That is a regular part of our business. If you look at a lot of our sustaining CapEx in our reporting, most of that capital from a sustaining point of view going to our above-rail operations is actually to not only locomotive overhaul and replacement, but also wagon overhaul and replacement.
Thanks, Tim. The next question comes from Mr. Finlayson. I'd like to understand what specifically drove the increase in doubtful debts in FY 2025 and what is being done to prevent a recurrence in FY 2026. Is future revenue at risk?
Yeah, that's a good question, and I alluded to it in my address. 2025 was a disappointing year for Aurizon from a bad debt perspective, and it's interesting because historically, Aurizon hasn't been a bad debt company. If you look back over the last decade, we haven't had significant bad debts in our operation. Each of the three problematic debtors that we had during the 2025 financial year were specific cases. In one case, it was in relation to a contract that we inherited, and unfortunately, it was quite restrictive in the way we had to keep operating before we were able to stop operating and endeavor to recover our debt.
In relation to the other cases, they were start-up mines, essentially. In one case where we thought there was actually quite significant headroom, they were quite unusual cases. They were quite different. In terms of what we're doing differently, where we've got similar counterparties going forward, we have changed and altered some of our processes. We will look to take some capital from some customers up front before we start. We have adjusted our terms in relation to other customers. We have taken action to do things differently to mitigate the risk of that going forward. You know, no one can predict the future through a crystal ball. As I said at the start, we haven't been a high bad debt company, and you know, we won't be immune to bad debts in the future. I'd be highly surprised if what we saw in 2025 is repeated in the future.
James.
Thanks, Tim. The next few questions come from shareholder Miss Lee. In FY2025, there was a deferral to FY 2027 of around AUD 50 million of Network earnings. Can you advise why this is?
Yeah. In the Network business, as I've said a number of times, it's a regulated utility. It's regulated by the QCA, and our income is set, or our revenue is set, through a whole series of regulatory mechanisms. What that essentially means is the revenue that we earn is set at the start of a period, and provided our customers can afford to pay the charges, that revenue will turn up. It's a very strong revenue business. When you bring that back to the accounting, the way the accountants need to account for that income, each year the QCA sets a volume target. We take the revenue that's set through the regulatory process, we divide it by the QCA's volume number, and we come up with a per-ton rate. That per-ton rate is then used to charge our customers.
The only thing we know for sure at the start of the financial year is that QCA number for the volume will be wrong, unless they're incredibly precise and a high degree of luck. That number is always going to be wrong. There's a mechanism in the arrangements there. If the volume is lower, which is what happened in FY 2025, we don't lose the income. It's just deferred for two years. There's no loss of value to Aurizon. It's just a little frustrating for us because we have to stand up and say to shareholders, some of that income that we know we're going to get has been shifted from 2025 to 2027 under a regulatory model because the volume that the QCA set in terms of expected tons across the Network was a little high compared to what actually happened during the financial year.
It's a little frustrating for us because there's no loss of value. There's no loss of NPV value to the company. That's the way the regulatory model works. The one thing we are doing, I should make two comments. One is the accountants are thinking about changing those rules because it does introduce a level of volatility to our accounts that we think is unfair. The accounts, there are discussion papers in the market that you can look at, and there is a chance that these rules will change from an accounting perspective. In advance of that, we said in August when we released our financial results that we are actually going to change the way we account for that Network revenue.
When we report our underlying earnings to you going forward, we're actually going to normalize and take that noise out through volume changes out of our accounts and show you a more sensible and realistic report of what the Network's earnings are for a given year. Thanks, James.
Thanks, Tim. The next question is also from Miss Lee. There's also a similar question from Miss Wood online. Are there opportunities to expand the electric locomotive fleet? Relating to fleet also, what's the latest on the battery-electric locomotives that Aurizon is developing?
Yeah. We have a fleet of electric locomotives that are deployed in Queensland, and we will only expand that fleet if it's attached to new growth opportunities. Where new growth opportunities come through, we will look to deploy new fleet. At the moment, we're satisfied with the level of electric locomotives we have in our Queensland fleet. In terms of the trials, we've actually got two trials coming up. One is in relation to a battery-electric locomotive trial that we've talked about in this forum before. Think of it as a Tesla for trains. We're putting batteries into a locomotive, and we hope to have that trial being conducted later this financial year, so during the 2026 financial year. That locomotive will have a certain level of range, so be able to travel a certain level of distance.
To extend that range, because we haul commodities over some very, very long lengths of track, we're also looking at doing a trial where we have what's called a battery-electric tender, which is basically a wagon full of batteries attached to the locomotive with batteries, which will hopefully extend the range of the train and allow us to operate over much longer distances through the battery-powered trains. That one, I think, Andrew, was planned for the 2027 financial year.
Yes, it is.
Yeah. Hopefully, when we talk to you at this forum next year, we might be able to show you some vision of that battery-electric locomotive trial happening. I should say, from my own personal perspective, I think Aurizon's going to be very well placed to have the equivalent of a Tesla for trains up and running, and the technology will be available. I think our trial will go very well. I think the thing that is going to be a challenge for us at some point is making sure there's electricity transmission infrastructure throughout Australia where we operate to enable us to take full advantage of that. That's another question for another day. James, back to you.
Thanks, Tim. The next one is perhaps a comment, but you may like to comment also, Tim. Female representation on the board is 25%. Best practice is to have at least 40% female, but other forms of diversity should not be overlooked, as ideally the board should reflect the community.
Yeah. No, I think we 100% agree with that. As I said on my address, as we go through our board refresh, starting with the Chair and then moving through and making other additions to the board, we will look at adding other diversity skills, experience, and so on. In the diversity bucket, gender is absolutely front of mind. It's not the only thing that's front of mind, but it's one thing that's front of mind. We have, generally speaking, had the right level of gender diversity on our board, and we aim to get back to that. Thanks, James.
The next question follows on from that, from Mr. Saxsoner. The two directors proposed at today's AGM do not have any rail transport industry experience. What is Aurizon doing to find suitable directors for the board?
Yeah. That's an interesting question because I think we're just looking at two directors who are standing for reelection today. I don't think anyone would agree you want seven non-executive directors to all have rail experience. I think on a properly constituted board, you want to have some rail experience, and you want to have a range of different skills. I think through both Sarah and Lyell's address, you've seen incredible skills in a whole range of areas that are incredibly important to us. In terms of rail experience on our board, I've been involved in rail infrastructure and rail transport businesses for over 20 years. Andrew has operated railways before he joined Aurizon. Marcelo has operated railways before he joined the Aurizon board.
We have good rail experience around our table, and that's something that we will continue to look for going forward, not just in rail, but also as we embark deeper into the bulk supply chain and containerised freight supply chain. We've talked today about being involved in ports, involved in other parts of the supply chain. We're looking at a whole range of things that we'd like to add to the board to supplement what we've already got.
The next question comes from Mr. and Mrs. Westwood, and also a similar question on the line from Miss Elwood. Why is the Aurizon share price so low, and what are the priorities for the year ahead to address this?
I think I've probably answered that to some extent. We think that, and we've acknowledged today, that the returns on some parts of our business aren't yet generating the required returns on the capital that we've invested. We think if we can demonstrate those returns through strong operational performance, the gap between our view on value and where the market sits will reduce. That's our focus. As I also said as part of my address, our absolute number one focus is on operational performance and delivery. We fully expect that when we're talking to shareholders in February as part of our half-year reporting, and when Andrew and the team returns in August as part of our full-year reporting, we're very confident we'll be able to deliver very, very strong signs that our delivery is exactly where we want and demonstrate the value of our businesses.
Thanks, Tim. I also have a number of questions online from Mr. Stephen Main. Well done to Aurizon for disclosing the proxies early to the ASX along with the formal addresses. There was surprisingly strong support of more than 99% in favor of both remuneration items. However, there was a 9.6% vote against Lyell's election and a 6.5% against Sarah's. Although this is relatively small, did any proxy advisor recommend against either candidate? Has anything been communicated to the company by a fund about the reasons behind this voting?
Yeah. In relation to the proxy advisors, we met with each of the proxy advisors that were available, and we also received the five main reports from the five key Australian proxy advisor firms. Each of them recommended in favor of all of the resolutions in front of today's meeting, including the two director reelections. In relation to the feedback from funds, I've conducted a whole series of meetings with funds over the last four to six weeks, including meeting many of the proxy firms. We haven't had any feedback from those meetings in relation to the directors that are standing for election today. I would say that based on our performance and our share price performance, I wouldn't have thought that the proxy outcomes are unusual. Thanks, James.
The next question, also from Mr. Main. Could the CEO and Chair both please comment on how many full-time equivalent staff Aurizon have and whether or not this number is likely to fall over the coming 12 months given the impact of AI? Which parts of the business or operations are most prospective for AI productivity gains, and are we embracing these opportunities?
Yeah. In relation to AI, that is an area of opportunity for us, and it has been an area that we have seen some benefit already. The type of business that we are, it's more going to be, I mean, there's some things we can do in a support center sense to utilize AI, and we already do that to some extent. It's probably more some of the industrial applications that will probably have the greatest benefit to Aurizon. That's probably more nascent compared to some of the white-collar opportunities that exist today. Andrew, do you want to make any further comments on that?
Yeah. I mean, I think there was a specific question about the number of FTEs, which is 6,000. It's fallen slightly below 6,000 in the last couple of months. From an AI application point of view, the most significant work we've done is with our maintenance optimization software that we not only use internally, but it's actually something that we provide as a service to quite a few mining companies, and it allows them to optimize their maintenance activities. That's been a business activity that we've been undertaking for quite a few years now. As far as general application of AI, I think the thing to remember to reinforce Tim's statement is that most of the people that work for us are train drivers and actual maintainers in the business, making up the vast number of that 6,000 FTEs.
You will see over time, I couldn't even begin to answer the question on a month-by-month prediction, but you will see over time some changes as a result pretty much that will shadow changes in businesses across industry as AI becomes more relevant.
Thanks, Andrew.
Next question also from Mr. Main. At last year's AGM, Tim, you spoke of the Network business being worth far more than the AUD 5 billion book value. Given where the share price is today, would Aurizon explore selling a minority stake in the Network business, perhaps to a specialist infrastructure investor as a way of raising cash and potentially lifting the share price? This would also mitigate against any future risk regarding coal demand.
Yeah. As Andrew said as part of his address, we have been going through a process of examining our Network business. This is not, and as Andrew said, this is not an unusual thing for us. Each year in the 10 years I've been on the board, we've looked at the Network business and whether or not it sits neatly in the same portfolio as our above-rail coal business because remembering one's a regulated utility and one's an above-rail competitive rail haulage business. Quite different businesses in the one portfolio. There are some fantastic synergies between the two, and that's one of the issues that we stare at and think about very deeply. I just want to reiterate what Andrew said in his presentation. This is something we do on a very regular basis.
The only difference this year is we have been, as Andrew said, looking a little more deeply and collecting a little bit more information externally. The option that Stephen has suggested is one of many case studies or many options that we're looking at and will continue to look at. As I said in my presentation, if something compelling comes out of that, we will present that to shareholders. That work is work in progress and ongoing at the moment.
Final question I have from Mr. Main. Thanks, Tim Poole, for his excellent leadership of Aurizon over the past years. Best practice Chair succession sees multiple strong internal candidates competing for the role without the need for an external search. If you do end up going outside for the Chair, please make sure the candidate has a few months on the Board with Tim prior to taking over. If I had a vote, I would vote Lyell to be the next Chair, but other quality directors should not be afraid to pitch there and contest. Finally, and I'm sure this is tongue in cheek, which headhunting firm is conducting the external search just in case some of us would like to apply for that?
Stephen actually has my mobile number. Stephen, if you're actually listening, I'm happy for you to text me, and I'll let you know. Are there any other questions online?
That is the final question online, and I'm not aware of any telephone questions. Back to you.
Okay. Thanks, James. I might just check in with the room. There's been a lot of questions being consumed online. Has that prompted any other questions from anyone in the audience today? No? Okay. Thank you. Given that we have gone through each of the questions today, I'm going to put each of the resolutions to the meeting. Each item being voted on is to be passed as an ordinary resolution. Please record your vote on each item as it is shown or at any time until the polling closes. The first item relates to the financial statements, directors' report, and independent auditor's report for the financial year ended 30 June, 2025. As there is no vote on this item and all questions have now been answered, I declare the reports have been received and considered, and we will now move to the next item of business.
The second item is in relation to the adoption of the remuneration report. This is a non-binding resolution. Details of the proxies received are shown on the screen. The board recommends that shareholders vote in favor of this item. As a voting exclusion applies to this item, any votes cast by those who are excluded from voting will be disregarded. The next item is the reelection of Sarah Ryan. Once again, details of the proxies received are now on the screen. The Board, with Sarah abstaining, recommends that shareholders vote in favor of this resolution. The next item is the reelection of Lyell Strambi. Details of the proxies again are now up on the screens. The Board, with Lyell abstaining, recommends that shareholders vote in favor of this resolution. The last item is the grant of performance rights to the Managing Director and CEO.
Details of the terms of the grant are included in our notice of meeting. Again, the proxy votes received are shown on the screen. The Board, with Andrew abstaining, recommends that shareholders vote in favor of this resolution as well. A voting exclusion applies to this item. Any votes cast by those who are excluded from voting will be disregarded. This completes the consideration of all items of business for this meeting. As the poll will be closing shortly, can I please ask everyone to finalize their votes either online or by completing and signing your voting card? Once the poll is closed, votes will no longer be able to be submitted. For those in the room, please put your completed voting card into a ballot box held by Computershare attendants as you leave the room.
If you require assistance, please raise your hand and a representative from Computershare will be delighted to assist you. I'm just going to pause ever so briefly to make sure everyone can complete their voting. Thank you. I'll now declare the poll closed. For those who are still holding their cards, please pass them through the Computershare people. As is normal with our practice, the results of voting will be notified to the ASX and placed on the company's website as soon as they become available. As there is no further business today, I declare the meeting closed. Can I thank you again for your attendance, your interest in our company, and your terrific questions both in the meeting and also online? For those in the room, please join us outside for some afternoon tea. Thank you, ladies and gentlemen.