Ladies and gentlemen, good afternoon. On behalf of the Board of Directors, it's my pleasure to welcome you all to the 2023 Annual Security Holders Meeting of Charter Hall Long WALE REIT. My name is Peeyush Gupta, and I'm the chair of Charter Hall Long WALE REIT Board of Directors. It's now midday, and as the necessary quorum is present, I declare this meeting properly constituted and open. I'd like to commence today's presentation with Acknowledgement of Country. Charter Hall acknowledges the traditional custodians of the lands on which we work and gather. We pay our respects to the elders, past and present, and recognize their continued care and contribution to Country. This afternoon, I'll provide a brief overview of the REIT strategy and some commentary on our performance and growth over FY 2023.
The Charter Hall Long WALE REIT fund manager, Avi Anger, will then provide more detailed update on the operational and financial performance for FY 2023. We will then move to the formal business of the meeting and the resolution for your consideration. There is one resolution for consideration today, and that involves the re-election of Mr. Glenn Fraser. I will ask Glenn to say a few words at that time, providing some personal background and reasons why he believes he should be re-elected. First, I'd like to introduce my fellow board members. Firstly, Glenn Fraser, who is a non-executive director and the chair of our Audit, Risk, and Compliance Committee. Simon Mokoroa, one of our independent non-executive directors. Carmel Hourigan, an executive director in Charter Hall Group's CEO office.
David Harrison, Charter Hall's Group Managing Director and Group CEO, who can't be here in person today, but who is with us online. I'd also like to welcome key members of our management team, being Avi Anger, Fund Manager for the Long WALE REIT. Daryl Chua, who's the Deputy Fund Manager for our Long WALE REIT. Scott Martin, who's the head of our Long WALE REIT finance, and then Mark Bryant, our Company Secretary. Ryan McMahon, who's our auditor from PricewaterhouseCoopers, will also be available to answer any questions about their audit of the financial statements from security holders. So it's my pleasure to address this meeting today, and let me start by acknowledging that it's been a very challenging year for the Australian Real Estate Investment Trust market, including for CLW.
I'd like to spend some time discussing CLW's attributes and performance before I hand over to Avi Anger. Now, CLW is one of the top 10 Australian Real Estate Investment Trusts, or AREITs, as they're called, listed on the ASX, and it is Australia's largest diversified Long WALE REIT, investing in properties primarily leased to major corporates and government tenants on long-term leases. This year has presented significant economic challenges with rapidly rising inflation, which resulted in a historic interest rate rising cycle by the RBA, unprecedented in its scope and speed. CLW's portfolio continues to be diversified by tenant, industry, geography, and property type, which contributes to the stability of cash flow. CLW's properties were leased to 84 tenants across Australia and New Zealand, and diversified across retail, office, industrial, social infrastructure, and agri logistics sectors.
It's a well-diversified portfolio across those sectors. At year-end, the REIT held 549 properties, valued at AUD 6.8 billion, with an average WALE of 11.2 years. 52% of the income of the REIT comes from Triple Net Lease properties, which is an important feature of our portfolio, given that under a Triple Net Lease structure, the tenant is responsible for all outgoings, maintenance, and capital expenditure. In addition, some 79% of our portfolio is located in markets on the eastern seaboard of Australia. The quality of our tenants means that we've had no major defaults, and net property income from tenants has risen over the year by 4.4%. 51% of the CLW's leases are CPI linked and so have benefited from the current high inflation rate at rent review time.
Now, notwithstanding all of that, the performance of the REIT sector in aggregate has been very disappointing this past year, with many AREITs trading at substantial discounts to their underlying NTAs or net tangible assets. CLW has not been immune from these trends. We are currently trading at over 40% discount to the appraised value of our portfolio. At our current trading price, some AUD 3.16 at the moment, CLW currently offers an attractive 8.2% yield, forward-looking yield for this year. I think it's important to acknowledge that interest costs or rising interest costs have had a negative impact on the operating earnings and distributions per security, that CLW has been able to deliver both for FY 2023 and our forecast earnings for FY 2024.
The unprecedented rate rising cycle we have just witnessed this past year has seen interest rate costs more than offset the earnings growth that CLW's underlying portfolio has delivered. This is disappointing, given that the underlying portfolio itself continues to generate strong net property income growth. In FY 2023, CLW's portfolio delivered 4.4% like-for-like income growth. When combined with the acquisitions that we did, net property income increased by some 10.6%. CLW's underlying portfolio continues to generate strong rental growth, in FY 2023, attributable to the quality of its properties and our tenant customers, as well as our long WALE. We have a high-quality income stream generated from blue chip tenants, like, with 99% of the tenants of the REIT consisting of government, ASX-listed multinationals or national businesses. Our largest tenants are government, Telstra, BP, and the Endeavour Group.
All the leases in our portfolio have annual rent increases, providing strong year-on-year income growth. These leases consist of a mix of fixed escalators or CPI-linked annual increases, roughly 50/50. CPI 52, fixed escalator is 48. Our income growth benefits from increases in inflation, with 51% of rent increases across our portfolio linked to CPI. And this is particularly attractive in the current inflation environment, with a weighted average increase in income across the CPI leased portion of our portfolio of 7.1% in FY 2023. The average fixed increase across our portfolio was a 3.1%, and so the combined was the 4.4% that I referred to earlier.
Now, as a board and as a management team, we continue to focus on what is within our control in order to navigate the current challenging economic environment and rising interest rates. I've noted that the underlying portfolio has, and will continue to deliver, consistent rental income earnings growth, and it is unfortunate that rising interest costs have more than offset this growth this past year, and which has meant that it hasn't translated into operating earnings per security growth. From a balance sheet perspective, we've taken additional interest rate hedging, and our interest rate exposure is 80% hedged for FY 2024 and currently 64% hedged for FY 2025. These hedges remove much of the risk associated with any further increases in interest rates.
As we look further forward, we will continue to selectively put in place further hedging for FY 2026 and beyond, while also being mindful of preserving some exposure should any rate cuts occur in future years. In response to the market concerns about CLW levels of gearing, we have also noted that we intend to sell some of the assets to lower gearing. I'd like to spend a little bit of time on our ESG governance and performance. So we also remain focused on implementing sustainability initiatives across our portfolio, and as we consider ESG as a driver of long-term value for investors and tenant customers. As a business, we've taken accelerated climate action. Charter Hall recently announced that it was targeting Net Zero Carbon by 2025, having accelerated our Scope One and Scope Two energy targets by five years.
Additionally, CLW has been focused on clean energy, with 2 MW of solar installed across the portfolio, an increase of 400 kW since FY 2022. Further, the office properties in the portfolio have 100% grid supplied electricity sourced from renewable sources. CLW's predominantly modern office portfolio features high environmental credentials, including 5.3-star NABERS energy and 5.2-star NABERS water ratings. CLW remains committed to aligning with best practice frameworks to support transparency and disclosure. The fund achieved a score of 79 in 2022 GRESB assessment, an increase of 7 points compared to the prior period, evidencing our commitment to continuous improvement. Good governance is an important element of ESG, and it's something that your board of directors is focused on.
Our role as directors is to ensure management adhere to the strategy of the REIT and to manage all aspects of the REIT's operations professionally. I'd like to assure our security holders that your directors are ever mindful of their responsibilities to act in the interests of all security holders, and we endeavor to ensure that CLW continues to provide investors with stable and secure income, and the potential for both income and capital growth over time, through an exposure to a portfolio of high quality properties and high quality tenants with long underlying lease structures. The board remains committed to aligning with best practice frameworks to support transparency and disclosure. Now, it is not possible to predict when sentiment towards the sector might change and attract renewed investor support. Most likely, the trigger will be when the market believes that central banks' interest rate rises are over.
Share prices in the sector might rally as investors realize that REITs can be bought cheaply relative to their fundamental value. In the meantime, the current yield on offer of around 8.2% provides some cushion and relief from the disappointing share price performance over the past year. Finally, I would like to thank you for your ongoing support and interest in CLW. I will now hand over to Avi Anger, fund manager for the Charter Hall Long WALE REIT, to review the year's financial and operating performance and to discuss the outlook for FY 2024. Thank you. Avi?
Thank you, Peeyush. I'm pleased to report that we delivered operating earnings per security of AUD 0.28, in line with FY 2023 operating earnings guidance. This was driven by net property income increasing by 10.6% compared to the prior reporting period, and was driven by a combination of like-for-like growth of 4.4% from the stabilized portfolio and net acquisition activity. Finance costs also increased period-on-period, driven by a 0.8% increase in the REIT's weighted average cost of debt from 2.3% in FY 2022 to 3.1% in FY 2023. This was a significant headwind for operating EPS and resulted in negative year-on-year growth in operating earnings per security. Our NTA at 30 June was AUD 5.63 per security.
The portfolio delivered a weighted average rent review of 5.1%, benefiting from the 51% of income of the REIT being CPI linked, with the weighted average increase from our CPI linked leases of 7.1% in FY 2023. As Peeyush noted, CLW has a long WALE of 11.2 years, providing security and continuity of income to our investors, with a portfolio occupancy of 99.9% at year-end. We completed AUD 223 million of transaction activity during the year, with AUD 114 million in strategic divestments, which were recycled into AUD 109 million of portfolio-enhancing investments. We remain focused on prudent capital management, with 80% of drawn debt being hedged, providing protection against the risk of rising interest rates.
Moody's has reaffirmed its Baa1 investment-grade credit rating for the REIT, and at year-end, our weighted average debt maturity is 4.5 years, with staggered maturities to a diversified lender pool. CLW continues to actively manage its balance sheet in order to remain defensive in a high interest rate environment. Balance sheet gearing of 32.9% is within our target range of 25%-35%, and our look-through at year-end was 40.1%. On the 15th of June 2023, we released updated property valuations, which resulted in a AUD 417.7 or 5.8% net decrease from private values. The valuation impact represented a 9.6% decline in NTA per security, from AUD 6.23 in June to AUD 5.63 at the end of December.
Sorry, versus AUD 5.63, yeah, at the end of December. While any increase in valuations is disappointing, our portfolio curation strategy is designed to ensure resilience throughout the property cycle, and it is clear that the sector is navigating its way through a challenging period. At year-end, the REIT consisted of 549 properties, valued at approximately AUD 6.8 billion, with 100% of the portfolio independently valued at June. The average cap rate of the portfolio is 4.77%, and the portfolio is virtually fully occupied, with an occupancy of 99.9%, with a long-dated average lease term of 11.2 years. The properties in the portfolio feature a blend of annual lease review structures, both fixed and CPI linked.
Our average fixed reviews are 3.1%, while our CPI linked leases delivered strong growth of 7.1% in FY 2023. This resulted in a weighted average rent review for the year of 5.1%. During the year, we undertook portfolio curation, divesting some short WALE properties at book value and investing in new, high-quality long WALE investments. The divestments consisted of two short WALE industrial facilities at prevailing book values. The Woolworths Distribution Center at Hoppers Crossing was sold for AUD 74 million, reflecting a 4.5% cap rate. The property had a three year lease term remaining at the time of settlement. The Toll Altona property was sold for AUD 38.3 million, reflecting a 4.75% cap rate. The property had a two year and nine monthslease term remaining at the time of settlement.
These sales provided support for our book values, and the sale proceeds were recycled into new portfolio, enhancing long WALE investments. These investments were a 25% interest in the Geosciences Australia headquarters in Canberra for AUD 91 million. The property is a life sciences complex comprising office, specialized laboratory, storage, and warehousing. The property was acquired in October 2022 and featured a nine year and six months WALE at acquisition, with 3% annual reviews and a yield at acquisition of 7.4%. We also further extended our relationship with Endeavour Group, acquiring 4 Endeavour leased pubs: the Emu Hotel in South Australia and the Horse and Jockey, Marine Hotel, and Rainbow Beach Hotel, all in Queensland. The pubs are leased to Endeavour Group with new 15-year triple net leases with uncapped CPI increases.
The total combined acquisition price of those pubs was AUD 17.9 million for CLW's 49.9% interest, reflecting a blended 5% cap rate. The Geosciences and Endeavour pub acquisitions demonstrate our focus on transactions offering attractive long-term, risk-adjusted returns, but also mindful of downside protection, investing in properties that are strategically important to our tenants with strong credit, favoring government and large companies, and properties with high underlying land value....Our portfolio of long WALE properties is leased to high quality tenants, including government, Endeavour, Telstra, BP, Inghams, and Coles. The acquisitions completed during the year further increase our exposure to high quality tenants in government and best-in-class Endeavour Group. CLW's portfolio has a long date of lease expiry profile and reflects a low risk position relative to our peers in the sector.
Our portfolio WALE, quality of tenants, and proportion of triple net leases provides better downside protection and more resilient income streams for our investors. Within our overall portfolio, approximately 99% of tenants are ASX-listed, government or multinational or national corporations, with the vast majority of those tenants operating in non-discretionary industries. During the year, we increased our exposure to government tenants. We also increased our exposure to the pub and bottle shop sector with best-in-class Endeavour Group. In the telecommunications sector, we've partnered with another best-in-class operator, Telstra Corporation, which includes our portfolio of 37 telephone exchange properties, also on long triple net leases. We also have a high proportion of tenants operating in the non-discretionary grocery and food sectors, such as Woolworths, Coles, Inghams, Arnott's, and Metcash.
Our BP Australia and New Zealand portfolios of 292 properties on long triple net leases provides us with exposure to the resilient fuel and convenience retail sector. The REIT's portfolio has a long date of lease expiry profile, which reflects a low risk position relative to our peers in the sector. Our portfolio WALE is a long date at 11.2 years. We have minimal expiries in the next two years, and we're in discussions with a number of tenants with expiries in FY 2026 and beyond regarding lease renewals and extensions. We continue to work to push out our expiry profile through acquisition and negotiating lease extensions with our tenant customers. Our portfolio WALE, quality of tenants and proportion of triple net leases provides better downside protection and more resilient income streams for our investors.
I'd now like to reaffirm our FY 2024 earnings guidance. Based on information currently available, including current interest rate and inflation expectations, and barring any unforeseen events, CLW provides FY 2024 operating EPS guidance of AUD 0.26 and DPS guidance of AUD 0.26. Based on yesterday's closing price of CLW, this represents an 8.2% distribution yield. In closing, I would like to thank the directors of CLW for their ongoing guidance and support in the running of CLW and you, our security holders, for your trust and support. We remain focused on delivering a long WALE, resilient portfolio, leased to high quality tenants, and providing investors with both income and capital growth over the long term. I'd now like to hand over to Peeyush, our Chair, to conduct the formal business. Do you want to go to questions then?
Thanks, Avi. Before we turn to the formal resolution of the meeting, I think we'll take questions at this juncture. If you hold a yellow or blue card, you may ask questions, and if you hold a red card, you're very welcome as a guest, but you're not entitled to ask questions. In the process of asking a question, perhaps if you would just introduce yourself and let us know where you're from, and then we'll now stop and take questions.
Thank you. Sir?
Robert Tagliaferro. Unfortunately, I'm one of the security holders who came across from ALE, and I thought at the time, , Charter Hall, top property manager, all good. But since then, , I took the shares at AUD 5.18, and the current price, the last time I looked, was AUD 3.16, and it looks like it's heading below AUD 3. So that's a fall from ALE times of 38.6%, which is very disappointing. The distributions with CLW, they started off at AUD 0.0760 per quarter, down to 7 cents per quarter. Now that's now at AUD 0.065 a quarter. The...
I've just noticed in the annual report that the Charter Hall fee has gone up by AUD 40 million from 2022 to 2023, from AUD 52 million to AUD 92 million. That's up 70, 40, 40 million, as I said, or 77%. And also, the directors' fees have gone up from AUD 5.5 thousand to AUD 5 thousand. So it seems to me that the only people who are missing out here are the security holders. And, , I just think it's very disappointing and, , terrible mistake I made was taking the scrip option, , when the ALE got taken over.
Thank you, Mr. Tagliaferro. Well, I'm not sure if there's a question in there. I think we share the sense of disappointment that you feel, but, you're well-versed in equity markets. , we are not immune. The entire sector at the moment, Australia, AREITs often trade like bond proxies, and they are vulnerable to rising interest rates, which is the current cycle that we're in. The things that we can control are the portfolio quality, the management of our tenants, the structure of our leases, the capital structure of the balance sheet, and the hedging. I think we have done a few of those things exceptionally, one, well, and in a few of the things, with the benefit of hindsight, we might have done better. So for example-...
We didn't anticipate, and I think we were in good company here, in that most of the market didn't anticipate, the rapidity and the scope of interest rate rises. So we went into this phase somewhat under-hedged, even though the property portfolio, the underlying property portfolio, has performed well. 99.9% still tenanted, 4.4% year-on-year, like-for-like income growth. The sad fact of the matter is that rising interest rate costs have overwhelmed that, and so that explains the decrease that you've seen in DPU for this year. Who knows what your former listed vehicle's trading price might have been, but may I suggest that it, too, would not have been immune from the current cycle. As to fees. Fees, we do. The board does carefully review, particularly the independent directors. We benchmark them periodically to market.
I'd note that for an externally managed vehicle, CLW's base fee is among the lowest in the market, and the minor fee increases that you referred to, such as director fees and so on, from time to time, and we don't do this often. We do review directors' fees as well. It may be... I forget the last time when we reviewed fees, but I'm sure that's the underlying reason why they might have gone up slightly. So I'm not sure if I addressed your concern. I share your concern.
Well, as a gesture, it would have been nice if the director fees had stayed constant. , as I said, distributions being cut. I mean, I know it doesn't affect the bottom line, but,
Yeah.
As I said, security holders are coming out worse out of all this.
Yes. Okay, thank you. Note your suggestion. In the back. Thank you, sir.
Good morning. Darius Percik, small shareholder, security holder. I just have a question. What was the average interest rate we are paying at the moment of the loans that we have?
Okay, and so weighted average cost of debt, to Avi?
3.9% is our weighted average cost of debt at the moment, because we've got hedges in place over 80% of our debt.
The main issue at the moment is like with hedging, or how do you see that?
Um-
We went a little bit about what we wanted to be around.
No, we probably were under-hedged going into this interest rate cycle. We, with the benefit of hindsight, we could have been more hedged. So currently, for FY 2024, our hedge profile sits at about 80 odd %. We have a program of asset sales underway to reduce gearing. We know we can look forward to continuing rental increases from the structure of the leases. So the combination of the asset sales that we've got underway, as well as the known rental increases that should come through by calendar year end, we have an active watching brief over the residual portion that is not currently hedged, which is about 20%.
We think as a combination of both the asset sales we hope to achieve and the rising rentals, that the risk to any further interest rate rises this year of the unhedged portion to be low. But we will continue to monitor that, and it may be that we increase hedging further. But for FY 2024, we sort of are comfortable with our current position, and clearly, for longer dated periods, we need to continue to actively monitor our hedge position.
With cost of debt, you mentioned 3.9% average.
Currently, yes.
Congratulations on that, because I think more than that. For an average, it's very much higher interest rate on the market itself. Do you see that actually going up again in the near future?
Thank you. Well, the answer to that is, that's the current average weighted cost of our debt. The average tenor of our debt is about four years and four months. And whether our costs will go up or not is a function of, firstly, what will happen to interest rates, and secondly, how we manage the treasury function, and how we do our hedging, or not. The market, particularly given recent geopolitical events, I'm thinking of the Middle East here, and the consequent impact on oil prices, which feeds into then underlying manufactured good prices, transport costs and the like. So it's inflationary in nature, in other words.
, we note our new RBA governor's recent and first speech, in which there was continuing caution from the RBA about their need to be vigilant about inflation and the distinct possibility that they may feel the need to raise interest rates further. So it's still a moving feast, and as our current hedges roll off and we swap over to current variable rates, our interest rate costs will rise, and so we will need to manage that through a combination of asset sales and reducing gearing, as well as continuing an active hedge program. Other questions? Sir.
My apologies for being late.
Yeah. Welcome.
So you may have covered this before, but analysts are suggesting that, due to the higher interest rates, that some of the funds will have to divest buildings to cover that. I'm just wondering what your view is on that, and whether it might be something that you'd consider?
... To me, it seems like it would be a very detrimental to you in that it would shrink the fund and also bring a lot of property onto the market.
Yes, it's a good question. The short answer is that we are contemplating and are currently have an active program of selling or attempting to sell some assets. We're not doing that with a fire sale mentality. , pleasingly, a couple of the assets that we have up for sale, the offers that we have on them are, , close to our book value, and that's an encouraging sign. With any transaction, it's not a done deal till it's a done deal. All we can say at this stage is we have an active asset sales program. We hope to be able to announce to the market some sales by year end, which will help establish the market clearing price, the current price relative to our carrying value.
But we are not a forced seller, and we are not in the mindset of a distressed seller at the moment. We've had a careful look at and stress testing of our covenants, our banking covenants. We have reasonable headroom, both at the asset level and at the income level. But it is prudent in this current environment for us to seek to reduce gearing somewhat, and so we are attempting to do that.
Okay, thank you.
Other questions? Madam.
Thank you. And so, interesting to learn everything when I first AGM year or two. I may have some basic questions because I'm sorry, apologizing if I ask-
No, not at all.
-questions. I jumped in recently and thought, yeah, so CLW is fine, but actually, examples, I think you've already lost 10% as we chatted. My question is, Mr. Chairman, do you see any flow, anytime soon, for the whole kind of cycle? That's number one. Number two, I don't know what's percentage for us for office buildings, because I think the office building is the most distressed sector. Other sectors seem to doing well. Silly questions.
No, not at all. They're good questions. So on your two questions... Thank you for your questions. So on the issue of floor, I presume you mean, do we think there is some sort of the one thing, unfortunately, that your board can't control is the listed stock price. That's in the hands of investors. However, the current yield on offer at the current share price of above 8%, hopefully provides some, if not floor, then at least some buffer, because this is an attractive yield. , in term deposits from the major banks, you can probably get 4.5, maybe 5% out to 10 years, , a year or two.
8.2, which is 320 basis points above that, is an attractive premium for the risk that comes from being in property and in a listed stock. So hopefully that is one buffer. I think to the extent that we are able to conclude and announce some sales, and hopefully if they are close to the carrying value and the discount, and if that discount is far less than the 40+% discount in our share price, that might give investors some confidence that the underlying portfolio is cheap, cut on what it offers. So I don't have a crystal ball. I can't give you a floor, but those are the factors that I'd point to that hopefully might give you some comfort.
In the meantime, I hope you're a long-term investor, and if so, then your choice is either to sell or to enjoy an 8.2%, , distribution for some period of time. The office percentage of Yes, please. Thanks.
The percentage of office in our portfolio is about 18% of the overall. And if we sell one or two office buildings, then that'll reduce further. Also, , it's important to note, I think, the type of assets we own in office. We have a spread across a number of assets, so , different, fairly small dollar value assets. Predominantly government leases. Government is 60% of our tenants in office. The balance of our office tenants is Telstra, Westpac, and a defense contractor called Thales. They're our main office tenants. All on fairly long leases in buildings that suit their requirements. So we think in terms of office walls, acknowledge your concern around office and commentary in the market around that.
I think we're relatively well-positioned in the type of properties we own and the proportion of the overall portfolio as well.
Other questions? Do we have any... Sir.
Just regarding the share price. I know it's a bit out of your control, but the distributions are obviously a nice safety net, but it's obviously the share price affects the, , feeling good about holding the stock. what I mean? So I wouldn't discount the weak share price. It would be nice to have a strong share price than a weak one.
... We couldn't agree with you more, Mr. Tagliaferro. And it's hard to know quite what the catalyst will be for a turnaround. And as I said in my speech, the most important catalyst is markets believing that the interest rate hiking cycle from central banks around the world, including the RBA, is over. Until that stage, many investors, both institutional and retail, are sitting on the sidelines waiting to see. I think once the market starts to believe that maybe the interest rate cycle is, hiking cycle is over, even if they then believe that it'll be higher rates for longer, there will be people who then want to buy assets that are perceived to be at good value.
At a 40-odd-plus% discount, even if you think the underlying NTA is not the NTA, that it's some lower number, 40-odd% is, that, that's a heck of a discount for the quality of portfolio, tenant register, and long leases that we have. So hopefully, there'll be some bargain hunters that come out and, , the marginal investor sets the price of the stock. And if we can attract back some marginal investors, let's see.
It'd be very demoralizing if it falls below AUD 3.
As I say, I can't agree with you more. But we, I mean, I should really also observe that all of the directors are investors in the stock as well, so we feel the pain, , alongside you, as it should be.
Makes you wonder, , something's wrong.
Yes, I think, I think if we- if our stock price was the only one that was performing the way it was relative to the sector, then something might be wrong with us. There is something wrong with the sector, and that is it is a interest rate-sensitive sector, and the entire sector is going through a poor period. We will just have to tough it out. The good news is the Long WALE, the security of the underlying income stream, et cetera. In uncertain times, it doesn't, it doesn't hurt to have some stocks in your portfolio where you-- which will continue to deliver reliable income.
Now, we haven't yet seen either household or mortgage defaults significantly creeping up in this country, and more particularly, we haven't seen business defaults. But there's a scenario out there where both of those things could occur.
So, , if you are reliant on income from your investment portfolio, there may well be other sectors which aren't as resilient in respect to their income stream that they pay you, not the share price. I can't speak to the share price because it'll be what it'll be. But we can try, hopefully, try and provide you with some comfort, if not certainty, that the quality of the register, the portfolios, and the tenants is such that the underlying income stream is highly resilient and for a long period of time. Avi, do we have any questions online? Sorry, one more. We'll come back to you, Lauren.
Mine is also basic. You mentioned 40% discount.
Yes.
The other thing is, when you use the word income stream, does that refer to dividends or what does it refer to?
Okay.
There are a lot of acronyms that are used, and really, to start with, maybe we need full works, please.
Okay.
And, I appreciate the honesty, and slow, or speed of delivery that enables us to follow what you're saying. But I think when people are reading, they also need to maintain that, slow, speed of delivery or slower delivery so that we can follow. When there are people to be introduced, well, they please stand up because they need indicated. If they're important enough to name, then they are important enough to be acknowledged by the floor. This is all clear, but this is my first time to Charter Hall. I've been to a number of AGMs over the years, and everyone's a little different, but some things I think need to be taken into account by all companies. The delivery is so that we can ultimately be able to follow the whole presentation.
And so sentences that are followed at the end makes it very difficult. And I would just like that to be considered, because we give up our time, you give up your time. So the whole presentation is important. Thank you.
Thank you. Let me start with the last of your points, and I think let me reintroduce our colleagues that you were not able to see, because I think that is a very fair request. So, Philip, why don't you? Philip Cheetham heads up our investor relations function for Charter Hall Long WALE REIT. Daryl Chua is our Deputy Fund Manager. Scott Martin is our Chief Financial Officer and Director of Finance, and Mark Bryant is our General Counsel and Company Secretary. Ryan McMahon, in front of you, is our auditor from PricewaterhouseCoopers. I think your comment on, acronyms and so on is a very valid one. This industry is littered, and I am sure we are guilty of occasionally falling into that trap. So thank you for the reminder.
So your two questions were, when we refer to the discount, what do we mean? So the answer is, all REITs, and in our financial statements, we have to record what we believe is the value of the property that we hold. So you need a process, a mechanism for valuing properties. The particular process that we use is we use external, independent, third-party valuers. So our entire portfolio gets valued at least once a year, sometimes more frequently, but at least once a year by independent third parties, so-called valuers. So when we talk about the NTA or net tangible assets per security, it is the AUD 6.3 billion that I referred to in on my speech.
That AUD 6.3 billion is the sum of all of the property valuations, as assessed by the valuers, divided by the number of shares on issue, which gives us the number of AUD 5.63. The current share market price, trading price today, last I looked an hour ago, was about AUD 3.16. So AUD 3.16 is a 44% discount to the, to the carrying value, the AUD 5.63 per share. Each share has underlying properties that independent valuers say ought to be worth AUD 5.63.
Are you at the three?
The listed share price is AUD 3 something.
Yeah.
The underlying properties, as appraised by independent valuers, is AUD 563.
That's the discount part.
And that's the discount part that I'm referring to. So if we sell some properties, it will be interesting for the market and for us to see at what price we can sell those properties. If we sell the properties at, let's say, a 7% discount to our carrying value, the AUD 5.63 value, well, that's far better than the listed price is saying, "Well, hang on, we think they're only worth 44% below the carrying." So that's the new information that should be available in the months ahead. You also had a question, I think, on when we talk about income, what are we talking about? Yes. So effectively, we are just a landlord of 549 properties. Each of those properties has rental income.
From the net, or sorry, gross rental income that we receive from all of those properties, there's a bunch of fees. There's fees paid to Charter Hall management as the manager, there's fees paid to auditors, there's directors' fees, there's property maintenance fees, and so on. So then there is the net income, which we often express as, income per share or per security. And the current guidance for this year is that we think that the net income that we will distribute, pay out as dividends, is AUD 0.26 per security. That's how the link between the rental income in aggregate flows through net of fees to the, to the stock.
Thank you very much. I understand that because I was guessing, and that's made it really clear. And I thank you for your honesty and for the accessible statement a lot. They're really great. Thank you.
Thank you. Do we have any questions online?
No.
No. Okay. Are there any more questions that any of you would like to ask? Okay. Thank you. In which case, we will now proceed to the formal business of the meeting. And so to begin, I table the notice of meeting, dated 25th of September, 2023, which contains the resolution that's up for consideration today. Copies of the notice of meeting and annual report would have been made available to you by post, email, or available to view on our webpage. Copies are also available from our registration desk. I will take the notice of meeting as read. The only item for consideration today is the re-election of Mr. Glenn Fraser as a director. And that resolution will be decided by poll.
But before I open the poll, I would like to ask Glenn to say a few words detailing his background and experience for the benefit of security holders. As explained in the notice of meeting, only the shareholder of Charter Hall WALE Limited, being the Charter Hall Group itself, may appoint a director. Accordingly, I ask you to note that today's resolution is advisory only and non-binding. Notwithstanding this, directors will, of course, give due consideration to the results of your resolutions. So with that, I'll invite Glenn now to address you.
Thank you, Pierce. I've been a professional non-executive director for the last 18 years and a member of the CLW board since its inception in 2016. My executive career started some 45 years ago at Arthur Young as an auditor, and I've worked with a range of small and large companies in both the public and private sectors. My first exposure to commercial property came in 1983, when I was the treasurer of Southern Pacific Hotel Corporation, which at the time owned 40 hotels in Australasia. My core skill is finance. In the mid-1980s, 1990s, I was the principal of a small financial advisory firm that specialized in private sector infrastructure and helped to raise over AUD 3 billion in a 10-year period on a number of major projects in Australia.
That included the landmark Sydney Harbour Tunnel project, where we raised AUD 740 million, 33-year finance, without the New South Wales government putting in AUD 1. After selling that business to an English investment bank, I joined a long-term client of mine called Transfield Holdings, and I subsequently became the Chief Financial Officer of Transfield Holdings and spent 19 years on their advisory board. At that time, Transfield Holdings was the largest privately-owned construction, maintenance, and infrastructure company in Australia. Had annual turnover exceeding AUD 1.5 billion per annum and 8,000 staff. In my role at Transfield, I spent a number of years on the Walsh Bay property redevelopment project management committee.
That project was an AUD 800 million residential commercial property here in Sydney Harbour, in joint venture with Mirvac, where I had the privilege to sit across the table from Bob Hamilton for several years. I was also instrumental in Transfield Holdings' acquisition of a small company in 2003 called Charter Hall. At that time, Charter Hall had 12 staff. Transfield bought 50% of the company, and I joined the board of directors. And at my very first meeting, the board approved the appointment of one David Harrison. So my connection with the group goes back a long way. I stayed on the board of Charter Hall when it listed in, on the stock exchange in 2005 until 2012, which at which time I was the chairman of the audit committee of Charter Hall.
Essentially, I believe that I've got a useful experience in property, commerce, and finance to help add value to Charter Hall. I've been privileged and honored to be a director of Charter Hall, and I thank all the shareholders who supported my re-election today, and I'm looking forward to helping steer Charter Hall through CLW, through quite a difficult period, and to see the true value of this company reflected in the future. Thank you.
Thank you, Glenn. I now declare the poll open and ask all security holders to cast their votes for or against the resolution by marking the box on their voting card for the resolution. I intend to vote any proxies in favor of the chair for the resolution. This resolution is an ordinary resolution, and it is displayed on the screen: that Mr. Glenn Fraser be re-elected as a director of Charter Hall WALE Limited. So I'll give you some time. If you haven't already marked your cards, can I ask you please to do so now? Let me also now share with you the proxies that we have received or votes already cast from shareholders not present today. The results of the proxies received are now displayed on the screen.
Can I ask the Link representatives please, to collect the forms for collation? Someone will come through. Okay, fine. Thank you. While those forms are being collected, I'll come to you in a second, sir. Thank you. While the final results of the resolution won't be known until after the conclusion of the meeting, it is clear from the proxy votes that Mr. Glenn Fraser will be re-elected. So congratulations, Glenn, and we will make the results, final results of the poll will be made available to the ASX and put up on our website later today. I think we have a couple more questions, one online and one from the floor, so happy to take those as well.
Certain state of percent. They say just state the number as well.
Let us take that on notice, and we'll give it consideration. Thank you.
Slightly ahead of it.
Yes. So when we publish the final, we will publish that on the ASX. When we finalize the poll, we'll give you the numbers for.
... Okay. There was just one question that came through from Link. Thanks, Peter. So from shareholder Frank Thomas Rowland. The-
Can't hear you.
Sorry. The question is addressed to you, Peter, as chairman. I hold 30,000 CLW with an average price of AUD 5.07. Their current value per share is AUD 3.40. So obviously, this is lodged for some time ago. How do you see their future value?
I think I understand the sentiment and emotions behind the question, which is to say, no one likes losing money. I guess you don't really lose money till you sell. So the relevant question would be, well, is CLW a stock worth hanging on to or not? Now, we can't give you investment advice, and certainly I'm not pretending to give you investment advice. I think it will depend upon each investor's personal risk tolerance, profile, needs for income versus capital growth, those sorts of questions. We've covered a lot of what I think I would say in response to a question about future value, which is this: our property portfolio remains one of the best diversified, the highest quality in terms of its tenancy register, the longest WALE, WALE being the tenor of leases.
And so really, what you're taking a bet on is, will your rental income in future continue to come through? Will the Australian government, will Telstra, will Coles, will BP, will Inghams, this caliber of tenant, will they continue to pay their rental income, or might they go bankrupt and/or, and repudiate their leases? Now, from that perspective, I think, , we've got a good tenant registry. It is very strong. It is largely, well, government and, and/or highly rated businesses in non-discretionary sectors of the economy. Hopefully, they will be less impacted should we go through a recession. So I think that speaks to the quality of the portfolio, the nature of the underlying leases. Roughly 50% fixed escalators of around 3.1%, and the others are CPI linked. So you've got a hedge.
If inflation is high, the portion of leases that is CPI linked will benefit from that because your rental income will go up by inflation. If inflation falls, you've got the benefit on the other side of known fixed increases in rental income. So rental income will continue to increase over time. The big unknown is interest rates, and I think we would all hope that interest rates have peaked or are, or are close to their peak. And if they are at close to their peak, just as the share price of CLW has sharply declined since June, it could also sharply recover. But that's not a forecast, it's not a prediction.
It's merely that on a scenario basis, the 44% discount to NTA seems overdone. So I hope that answers the question for our shareholder online, and thank you for that question.
Okay, as there is no other business to be considered, I now declare the formal business of the meeting closed. Thank you for your attendance today and for your ongoing support of CLW. I believe there are refreshments outside, and all of the management team would be very happy to speak to you and take any further questions. Thank you.