Good morning, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to the annual general meeting of Event Hospitality & Entertainment Limited. I would like to now hand you over to your chairman, Alan Rydge.
Thank you indeed, Andrew. Friends, I'd like to welcome you to the annual general meeting of shareholders of Event Hospitality & Entertainment. This year is being held online on our online meeting platform. Friends, I've been informed that there is a quorum present, and I accordingly declare the meeting open.
The company has received 270 proxies representing 139,320,216 shares. I would like to introduce you now to those joining us this morning. Jane Hastings, our CEO, Peter Coates, our Lead Independent Director, Valerie Davies, David Grant, Patria Mann, and Richard Newton. We also have present, of course, David Stone, our Company Secretary. They're also available with us, a number of our senior executives. Cameron Slapp from KPMG, the group's auditor, is also with us today.
If any technical issues do arise, and it becomes necessary to provide procedural information in respect to this meeting, updates will be provided on our website and also to the ASX. We will begin the business of the meeting with an address from myself and our CEO, Jane Hastings. We will go through the formal proceedings, which this year comprises of 7 resolutions. The resolutions will all be decided via poll. Voting on the resolutions is now open, and the online meeting platform and voting icon will appear on your navigation bar. Once you click on this, the resolutions will appear on your screen. You can vote at any time during the proceedings until I declare the voting closed. You can also change your vote at any time throughout the proceedings.
I will give you a clear prompt later in the meeting to warn as the close of voting. We will also answer questions and take comments from shareholders later in the meeting after all the items of business have been presented to you. This includes any questions directed to the auditor.
We encourage you to start submitting questions and comments now, and we'll address them later in the proceedings. If you have any difficulties in asking a question, please refer to the user guide, which can be accessed throughout the platform.
To ensure that shareholders as a whole have a reasonable opportunity to be heard at today's meeting, I will, as a guide, ask you to limit your questions or comments to two. Questions and comments should relate to the items of business under consideration at this meeting.
The first item of business deals with the financial statements of the group, the director's report, and the external auditor's report for the year end of June 30, 2021. The finance statements and director's report were approved at a meeting of the board of the company in August this year and are contained within the annual report.
I have pleasure in presenting these statements and reports to the meeting, in doing so, would like to make a few comments on the group's activities. Friends, due to the current COVID-19 restrictions, this meeting is being held online.
I look forward to returning to an in-person meeting, hopefully next year, when we can all be together again. Reflecting briefly on the results of the previous financial year, the 2021 annual report, which includes the financial statements for the year, was released to shareholders in September.
The group's total net loss after tax was AUD 48 million, whilst the normalized result after tax was a loss of AUD 54.1 million. Australia and New Zealand have experienced harsher lockdowns in recent months relative to the prior year, it has been pleasing to see encouraging signs across all our businesses.
They have been able to trade well. We have invested in best practice COVID-safe environments, and there is much pent-up demand for our businesses, as evidenced by the results in the second half of the 2021 financial year.
Jane will comment on the results for the past quarter, which has been amongst the toughest in the pandemic period to date, I and the Board remain enormously confident in the future, underpinned by the group's 3 strategies of growing revenue above market, maximizing assets, and business transformation.
Your board and management team has transformed the culture, capability, and operating models of the company. We are a new company, and we are excited about the benefits that can be realized from these transformation initiatives well into the future. In December 2020, the group announced that the sale of the German cinema exhibition business to Vue International was being prohibited by the German Federal Cartel Office as a result of Vue's failure to satisfy the FCO's condition for the sale transaction.
The group continues to consider all of its legal options in relation to Vue's breach of the sale and purchase agreement. Jane will comment on the trading performance of the German business later in the meeting. The board continues to review and assess and monitor appropriate capital management initiatives and strategies.
This program is managed within the context of, and in the short term, ensuring adequate liquidity is available to meet the challenges presented by COVID-19, and in the medium to long term, maintaining a strong balance sheet that will support the development of key assets and maximize sustainable and long-term total return to shareholders.
As foreshadowed last year, to assist liquidity, the group did not pay an interim or final dividend for the year, and will not pay an interim dividend for the half year ending December 2021.
Future dividend payments will be subject to board consideration and approval, having regard to all relevant circumstances, including lender gearing requirements and also the group's trading performance. The group's total cash balance at the 30th of June 2021 was AUD 121 million, with total debt outstanding of AUD 476 million.
This provides considerable headroom in terms of available liquidity within the group's core debt facility of AUD 650 million. This facility will be maturing in July 2023. Friends, EVT has always prided itself on the strength of its balance sheet, which is underpinned by property holdings, and a strong balance sheet has assisted in assuring the renewal and increase in our debt facilities.
The board periodically reviews and assesses also the appropriateness of the group and its structure, and in that context, a high-level review is currently in progress. The board is pleased with management's consolidated focus on core property assets, defined as operating assets in key locations, including CBD locations, and other assets that offer potential either for conversion to operating assets or to create significant value through major redevelopment.
The board is further encouraged by the results achieved to date from the group's non-core property disposal strategy announced in February, and Jane will provide a further update on progress with this strategy in her address.
The group has continued to make significant progress with the approvals process for major redevelopments of the properties located at 525 George Street and 458 George Street in Sydney.
With commencement of the 525 George Street development expected in the 2024 financial year, and commencement of the 458 George Street development expected in the 2026 financial year. The group is of course considering appropriate funding options and structures for these major property developments, including the involvement of a development partner for the 458 project.
It has been pleasing in recent months to witness the strong recovery in the company's share price and hear positive feedback from the investment community recognizing the merits of management and the group's strategies. The group has been guided by the fourth edition of the ASX Corporate Governance Council Principles and Recommendations during the year, and the corporate governance statement has been published on the group's website.
This statement sets out the corporate governance practices and procedures, and should assist shareholders in understanding and appreciating the importance placed by the board upon good corporate governance. The board also focuses on maintaining an appropriate approach to remuneration, and details of this approach are dealt with in the annual report.
In particular, the group's policies are designed to, as far as possible, ensure that remuneration packaging is reflective of an employee's duties and responsibilities, and to enable the group to attract, motivate, and retain high caliber executives.
In considering appropriate remuneration for senior executives, in 2020, the board resolved to implement a recognition and retention award to recognize the additional efforts required from the CEO and her executive team during the recovery period, and the importance of retaining executives during this critical period. The recognition and retention award for the CEO was approved by shareholders at last year's annual general meeting.
In this context, and taking into account the remuneration foregone by the CEO, and considering that the group's 2017/2018 long-term incentive plans did not vest, and that the 2019 plan is unlikely to vest, the board considers it appropriate that the Recognition and Retention Incentive Award approved at last year's AGM be extended, and has resolved to seek a shareholder approval for this additional award.
This matter will be considered by shareholders later in the meeting. The application of the award is recommended at half the level approved last year. Friends, your board and management continue to focus on optimizing the group's position so that we can effectively navigate through this difficult period. In the short term, the relaxation of government restrictions provides reason for optimism that the worst is now behind us.
In the longer term, the group is well-positioned to be able to take advantage of appropriate opportunities as and when they arise. I and the board acknowledge the outstanding efforts of the CEO, especially in the leadership shown in responding to the impact of COVID-19 on all our operating businesses.
I'm confident that the actions of Jane and her team will provide a strong platform for the future. To the rest of the executive team and all group employees, I extend our thanks for their collective and personal efforts.
We are proud to have such a depth of experience and recognize the contribution that you have made and will continue to be invaluable as we embrace the opportunities that will arise in the future as we transition out of the difficult COVID period.
Friends, as I stated last year, difficult decisions have been made, and many of our valued employees have left us. To they and their families, I express my appreciation for their past support.
In doing so, we also acknowledge the difficulties many have faced due to stay-at-home orders, and I thank you all for your perseverance in these times. I'd also like to take the chance to thank my co-directors for their efforts during the year, and in particular, to thank our 7,000 shareholders for your ongoing support of the group. Thank you very much. I'll now ask Jane to present her address. Thank you.
Thank you, Alan. Good morning, everyone. Whilst we continue to face challenges from the global COVID-19 pandemic, I could not be prouder of how well our teams continue to respond to these challenges. Turning now to the results for the year ending 30th of June 2021, we saw a significant turnaround in the second half of the year when restrictions eased, and there were signs of return to pre-COVID-19 level demand.
Group revenue, excluding the benefit of government subsidies, was AUD 540.7 million, down AUD 449.3 million , or 45.4% on the prior year. Group revenue in the second half was up 30.9% on the first half, and for divisions that were open, all exceeded revenue on the comparable half-year period. The second half performance of each of our divisions that were open clearly demonstrated that when government restrictions are lifted, demand returns quickly.
In entertainment, with 80% of cinemas in the U.S. open by the end of the year, with cinemas reopening globally, studios began to release blockbuster films. We evidenced the immediate demand from customers returning to cinemas. As an example, Easter 2021 outperformed the pre-COVID-19 Easter weekend. By the fourth quarter, U.S. hotel occupancy had reached 60%.
Despite various interstate and international travel restrictions, the group's hotels in Australia and New Zealand experienced quarter-on-quarter improvement in trading, reaching 63.1% occupancy in the fourth quarter, with QT reaching 69.6%.
At Thredbo, government restrictions delayed the start of the winter season and capped the available audience to around 50%. The changes we've made to the business model offset the impact and delivered an EBITDA margin improvement from 36.6% - 37.9%.
In line with the growing demand relating to health and wellbeing experiences, we had a record result in summer, which contributed to Thredbo achieving a strong result for the full year. In total, we achieved AUD 264 million of active cost management strategies, excluding government subsidies, since COVID-19 began to 30th of June 2021.
Active cost management initiatives mitigated around 35% of the revenue decline, thanks to the outstanding effort by the team. The group's unallocated corporate costs were down 12.6% on prior year. This included the voluntary salary reductions from myself and the executive team and reduced board fees.
In addition, no bonus payments were made in the financial year and no long-term incentives vested. The unallocated cost savings were partially offset by a material increase in insurance premiums of AUD 2 million, and overall, the group's insurance costs escalated to AUD 11.2 million due to extremely challenging insurance market conditions.
Overall, the strong return of demand for our businesses, combined with our active cost management and government support where available, underpinned all divisions achieving positive EBITDA for the second half.
We saw a significant turnaround from the first half group EBITDA loss of AUD 31.1 million to a full-year group EBITDA of AUD 27.2 million and a positive operating cash flow in the second half of AUD 49 million to keep net debt to pre-COVID-19 levels. There was a 15.7% improvement in total reported net loss year-on-year from AUD 57 million - AUD 48 million.
The overall independent value of the group's property portfolio increased to AUD 2.1 billion at 30th of June 2021, based on updated independent valuation reports. Excluding Rydges Melbourne, Rydges North Sydney, and Rydges Queenstown, the portfolio valuations increased 8.4%.
In relation to these three properties, Rydges Melbourne has been identified as a priority asset with a major upgrade program in planning. Rydges North Sydney has been identified as a non-core property and is expected to be sold in this financial year. The Rydges Queenstown accommodation wings were closed in February 2019, and work is underway to determine options for seismic strengthening.
We are on track to achieve the goal of realizing AUD 250 million of proceeds from non-core property asset sales within two years. As a reminder, a non-core property is any property not related to our operating businesses and with no potential to be developed into an operating business or a property located in city fringe or regional locations, particularly if significant capital investment is required to stay in business. Following the full year update, we have made further progress on achieving our goal.
We are pleased to announce that we've sold Rydges Bankstown for AUD 28 million, 7.7% above the recent valuation on 30 June 2021, and we will retain a Rydges management agreement to continue to operate this property.
We are well advanced with the sales process for the commercial civic building in Canberra, with the expressions of interest campaign closing on 28th October. In addition, expressions of interest closed for Rydges North Sydney on 14 October, and we are in the process of evaluating the interest in the property. Subject to achieving our price expectations, we expect to divest both of these properties in this financial year. We'll provide a further update on progress at the half year results in February.
In terms of the balance sheet, the net debt position improved to AUD 355.5 million at 30th of June from AUD 452 million at the half year and AUD 420 million at June prior year. At 30 June, we had AUD 173.6 million of headroom in our core debt facility, which matures in July 2023.
We are in a good position to navigate the current COVID-19 headwinds. Despite these headwinds, we are very pleased with the progress on our future growth strategies. We achieved a record period of hotel network expansion.
Our strategy to expand hotels from the comfort and boutique segments to a broader budget through luxury segments via existing and new brands is proving successful. We have also refreshed the Rydges brand, positioned as refreshingly local and leveraging our competitive advantages.
QT Auckland opened in FY 2021, a stunning property already being recognized for awards in design and food and beverage. This is the first QT management agreement in the group. With a further two agreements signed for QT Newcastle opening later in 2022 and QT Parramatta opening 2024, the QT group has grown to 12 hotels. Rydges continued to expand to 44 hotels.
Three new agreements were signed in the year for Rydges Gold Coast Airport, Rydges Formosa Golf Resort in New Zealand, and Rydges Port Adelaide. I am also pleased to announce that we have entered into an agreement to increase our interest in Rydges Latimer Christchurch from 16% to 100% over a period of approximately two years.
The recently upgraded 175-room hotel opened in 2013 and has extensive conference food and beverage facilities, including the Bloody Mary's restaurant, representing an excellent addition to our portfolio of owned hotels.
We are planning on divesting Rydges Rotorua next year, allowing us to recycle capital into this key city location. As mentioned, we are also pleased that the Atura brand has grown under management agreements with The Thorndon Hotel in Wellington converting to Atura during the year and a management agreement signed for a new hotel to open in 2023 in Oran Park, Western Sydney.
The Independent Collection by EVT, launched in February, is a future growth brand. We recognized a gap in the market and matched this with our ambition to expand and better leverage our capabilities. We transferred six hotels into the portfolio during the year, added a further three new hotels by June 2021, and an additional four hotels have been signed to join in this financial year. The portfolio will be a minimum of 13 hotels with nearly 2,000 rooms by 30th of June 2022.
We are investing our key hotel assets, including those mentioned earlier, and QT Gold Coast. As part of our goal to maximize our assets, we are focused on identifying underutilized space and converting this into revenue generating space. In completing the pool area, we have created an outdoor event space and bar.
We are also enhancing our conference facilities. In addition, we have developed a new accommodation concept leveraging vacant rooftop space, inspired by the growing trends for unique brand experiences, and we're targeting completion by mid-2022. Another key asset is Rydges Melbourne.
We are planning a major upgrade that will transform the hotel into our new Rydges flagship brand standard. Rydges Melbourne is located on Exhibition Street in the heart of Melbourne's theater district, with 293 rooms and 70 suites.
At this property, we have identified an opportunity for some new rooms, enhancing some suites to capture long stay business as an option, and we'll be expanding our conference area by over 1,000 sq m to better maximize this asset. We are going to close the hotel soon to undertake these works, and at this stage, we anticipate full completion early in the 2023 calendar year.
We completed the acquisition of 100% of JUCY Snooze earlier this year, and the new JUCY Snooze Auckland property will be our flagship Snooze location. Whilst Snooze is traditionally aimed at the backpack market, with international borders closed, we've also unlocked new markets including families, sporting groups, and co-living.
The Auckland property will include 37 double rooms with ensuites, 70 rooms with shared bathroom facilities, 190 pods, a communal kitchen, breakout spaces, and our Miss Lucy's food and beverage concept.
We are adopting sustainable, environmentally friendly design and a lower cost build model using modular designed pods. We continue to right-size the cinema portfolio with fewer and best locations and a targeted investment in proven cinema of the future concepts. New upgrades have delivered double-digit growth in key performance metrics.
We opened a new 6-screen cinema, Event Cinemas Oran Park, Western Sydney in April, which includes 2 three-seat concept V-Max screens, 4 auditoriums with the choice of full recliners or wide-cushion standard seats, and our enhanced marketplace food and beverage concept.
At the times when the cinema has been able to open and trade, it has performed strongly with average admission price 28% higher than the circuit average and merchandising spend per head for the site up 33% on the circuit average, excluding Gold Class. During the year, we also refurbished a 5-screen Toowoomba Grand Central.
In line with our strategy of targeted investments and premium concepts, a new 3-seat VMAX auditorium was added. We are well underway with our future of cinema upgrade projects at Chermside in Brisbane and our number 1 location in Innaloo in Perth. Both of these projects are expected to be completed by the end of this financial year.
We've continued to divest or close underperforming cinemas in the portfolio, including the Townsville City, Adelaide City, and Arndale Cinemas in the year end of 30th of June 2021. We've transformed the Thredbo business model and continue to enhance the on-mountain experience. Merritts Gondola was completed ahead of the 2020 winter season, whilst planning is underway for a major upgrade of Merritts Mountain House, a new year-round food and beverage events and conferencing venue.
A new mountain biking skills park was added during the year, taking total mountain biking trails to 8, and we have a new trail, Sidewinder, which will be open for summer. This will be Thredbo's easiest beginner trail. A further 4 more mountain biking trails in the Cruiser area are planned for the next 2 years, and we are planning an alpine coaster to add a further year-round attraction.
We've also started preparation work for the replacement of the 2-seater Snowgums chairlift with a new 6-seater chairlift. We've continued to make good progress on the major property developments planned for 458-472 George Street and 525 George Street in Sydney. In relation to the 525 George Street development, the stage 1 DA approval has driven an AUD 37 million increase in the valuation for this property when compared with the previous valuation.
The development includes unlocking 810 sq m of retail space, a cinema with 5 screens, a hotel with 335 rooms, conference space integrated into the cinema area, and a city-facing bar and restaurant. Above the hotel component will be 109 residential apartments, which will be sold off the plan to assist in funding the project.
We are targeting a commencement for this development in FY 2023/2024, subject to market conditions. Turning to our 458-472 George Street development, we have DA approval for the podium component, which will include retail space on George Street, an extension of the QT Sydney Hotel with 72 additional rooms, conference center, and a QT rooftop bar. A second DA will be lodged next month for a commercial office tower above the podium with 33 levels and approximately 34,000 sq m of commercial office space.
Subject to market conditions, construction is targeted to commence in the 2026 financial year. As we have previously stated, we anticipated that a partner will be identified to assist in funding in developing the commercial office tower component.
Our three key strategic priorities remain very clear, and that is growing revenue above market, maximizing assets, and business transformation. Growing revenue above market, we are agile and able to adapt to COVID-19 operating restrictions.
We've enhanced our sales models to outperform the market with a strong focus on looking at every product, every price, every experience to identify opportunities to innovate, recognizing trends, improve yield, and unlock future growth. Maximizing our assets, we look for opportunities to better leverage our assets daily.
The strategic divestment of non-core assets with the increased value of the core assets is key, and we've been very targeted with upgrades based on where we can get the best return. Business transformation, we continue to evaluate the way we do business daily. The changes to our operating models this year have been material, growing our customer sentiment at a lower cost to serve.
We are using data insights better than ever before, growing our share, improving our procurement, and increasing customer spend. We are enhancing our IT infrastructure for the future, including customer technology, to further improve the experience.
Our focus on Elevate, our people and culture program, is a key differentiator to ensure we engage our teams effectively. We continue to evolve our corporate social responsibility actions, and we'll be talking more about our social impact and environment later this year.
We are emerging from COVID-19 as a new business with a stronger foundation for the future. Whilst the medium to long-term outlook is positive, in the short term, we rely on clarity for reopening by each government. As has been experienced over the past 18 months, our ability to open and trade is directed by government.
In quarter 1, whilst we face substantially tougher trading restrictions versus prior year, we are pleased with the actions we have taken to deliver the best outcomes. Most of our businesses in Australia and New Zealand have been closed by government mandate with no ability to generate revenue and without the support of JobKeeper in Australia. However, where we have been able to open and trade, we have seen positive results, giving us confidence on the rebound that awaits our businesses.
We've also continued to be highly focused on active cost management and are very proud of our efforts to mitigate the strongest headwinds the company has ever encountered. As an overview, in Thredbo, the available audience was substantially reduced to 25% due to COVID border restrictions limiting access to Thredbo.
The resort was mandated to close from mid-August to the end of the winter season, losing the best part of our winter season. Despite this, due to our response strategies, Thredbo made a positive contribution with the unaudited EBITDA for quarter 1 of AUD 4.2 million, down AUD 20.3 million on the prior year.
Hotels were materially impacted by government mandates and border lockdowns. We were closed for all of quarter 1 in New South Wales and for the majority of quarter 1 in Victoria and ACT. State border closures also materially reduced demands in other markets.
New Zealand also followed with a full lockdown from 18th of August, with Auckland remaining in lockdown. To create a picture, across our owned hotels group, 50.5% of owned room inventory, which generates over 80% of hotel earnings, were on lockdown in the quarter, versus 28% in the first quarter last year, representing around 40% of our earnings.
However, owned hotel brands that were able to open held or grew occupancy and achieved rate growth on prior year. Pleasingly, they also outperformed their respective markets. Cinemas in greater Sydney were closed for the quarter. They experienced a 12-day lockdown in July before re-entering a full lockdown from 5 August for the remainder of quarter one.
Despite government mandated restrictions, in states where cinemas could trade, including Western Australia, Queensland and South Australia, growth was achieved across all key metrics on prior year, including admissions, average admission price, spend per head, and underlying margin.
New Zealand cinemas operated with restrictions in July and early August before entering a full lockdown from 18 August, closing our cinemas. This was a frustrating quarter 1 for our cinema division in Australia and New Zealand as we watched the rest of the world reopen and great films being released, generating some box office records, including "Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings," which achieved the largest Labor Day opening weekend and has now earned over $400 million worldwide. "Venom 2" generating over $90 million for the opening weekend, the 2nd best October weekend of all time.
Locally, in the markets where we could open, Shang-Chi has outperformed other Marvel titles, with the only exception being Captain Marvel, even with trading restrictions. It is very clear that when there is a good film, there is good demand by customers to go to the cinemas. Pleasingly, Germany was open from 1 July, but operating under the various restrictions of the 16 German states.
Whilst restrictions vary, in general, customers are required to present evidence of being fully vaccinated, recovered from COVID-19, or have a recent negative test. July 2021 achieved the best admissions total since July 2018. No Time to Die has performed very well since opening earlier this month, generating more than 1.6 million admissions in its first week, which puts it in the top five opening weeks of the last four years. The Entertainment Germany division generated a positive EBITDA in quarter one.
We appreciate the level of German government support initiatives, including the bridging aid programs in relation to the closure period from November 2020 to June 2021, and the culture fund to support the reopening period. We expect to receive approximately €30 million relating to government support for the period from January to June 2021 over the coming months.
Overall, the group's unaudited normalized EBITDA for the first quarter was a loss of AUD 15.5 million. Whilst prior year is not a useful comparison, given the materially different trading constraints, quarter one EBITDA was down AUD 8.6 million on prior year.
However, after adjusting for government support in quarter one prior year, which was not available this year, the underlying EBITDA for quarter one was pleasingly up AUD 2.7 million. Some governments have reopening plans which enable us to be positive about the second half of the year.
Realistically, we expect speed bumps along the way as governments may pivot plans, but we are more agile than ever before. We have a strong balance sheet, and we are ready to navigate the way forward. We've seen immediate green shoots in New South Wales since we reopened from 11 October.
Cinemas have seen admissions, average admission price, and spend per head up on the comparable prior year. Tickets for "Bond: No Time to Die" are now on sale, with pre-sales tracking very well.
Hotel demand is promising, with food and beverage booking inquiry levels and bookings for late November and December tracking ahead of last year. Accommodation bookings for weekends are trending upwards, and we are expecting a busy summer holiday period. Thredbo's summer season pass sales sold out in nine days.
Forward bookings for accommodation as well as date-based pass products are currently sitting in front of the same time last year. We are ready. I would now like to take the opportunity to thank our capable and experienced team who continue to dedicate themselves through the most challenging period in the company's history.
We have made very tough decisions this year, none of which have been made lightly. We have had to turn everything upside down to land the right side up. Without the energy, commitment, and skill each of you bring to ensure the best possible outcome for shareholders, we would not be standing here in the strong position we are in. There has been no luck on our side. We are in this position today due to strategy, innovation, and action. 100% your effort.
I would also like to recognize and thank your families, partners, and friends for their understanding of the extended time you have committed to EVT. I am very proud of how we continue to rally together to face unprecedented challenges and explore new possibilities.
We are emerging as a new business with a very strong platform for the future. I would also like to thank all of you for your support and interest in participating online in this morning's meeting. Thank you.
Thank you, Jane. I'm sure a very exciting presentation of a very difficult period. To all our shareholders, I think you should see from Jane's comments the enormous amount of work that has gone into getting the company through this incredibly difficult period. Look, there is no vote on this item of business.
As I mentioned earlier, I'll call for discussion and questions later in the meeting. Just a few procedural matters. I'm going to proceed with the resolutions to be considered, and I appoint Maria Joubert of Computershare as the Returning Officer.
As I mentioned at the start of the meeting, voting on the resolutions is currently open, and you can vote at any time until I declare the voting closed. Results will be released to the ASX and posted on our website after the conclusion of the meeting.
Please note that only shareholders, proxy holders, or authorized shareholder representatives may vote. Any directed proxies given to you by a shareholder will be automatically cast as directed when the poll is closed. Any undirected proxies given to the Chairman will be voted in favor of the relevant resolutions.
The voting item will appear on the navigation bar. Once you click on this, the resolutions will appear on your screen, along with the For, Against, and Abstain voting options. Simply select one of these options to cast your vote.
When voting is closed, your final voting selection will then be recorded. If you have any difficulties, please refer to the user guide, which can be accessed through this platform. We'll now move to the resolutions to be considered. The first item is the Remuneration Report, which is set out on pages 24 -34 of the annual report.
This report explains the structure of and the rationale behind the group's remuneration practices and the link between the remuneration of senior executives and the group's performance.
It also sets out remuneration details for each director of the company and for each member of the group's senior executive team during the year. It makes clear that the basis for remunerating non-executive directors is distinct from the basis for remunerating executives, including the managing director.
Accordingly, I now move that the members adopt the Remuneration Report for the year ended 30th of June 2021. Thank you. The next item of business concerns my own re-election, and I would now like to hand the meeting over to our Lead Independent Director, Mr. Peter Coates. Peter will chair the meeting for this item. Thank you, Peter.
Thank you, Alan. As Alan said, the third item of business concerns the re-election of Mr Alan Ibrahim Rydge, who retires by rotation in accordance with the constitution. Mr Rydge's background and qualifications have been outlined within the explanatory notes to the notice of meeting and on page 2 of the annual report.
I move the following resolution: That Mr Alan Rydge, being a director who retires by rotation in accordance with Rule 8.1D of the constitution and being eligible, is re-elected a director of the company. Thank you. I will now hand the meeting back to Alan, who will resume the chair for the remainder of the meeting.
Thank you for that, Peter. The next item of business concerns the re-election of our lead independent director, Mr Peter Coates, who retires by rotation in accordance with the constitution. Mr Coates' background and qualifications have been outlined within the explanatory notes to the notice of meeting and on page 2 of the annual report.
Accordingly, I now move that Mr Peter Roland Coates, being a director who retires by rotation in accordance with Rule 8.1D of the constitution and being eligible, is re-elected a director of the company.
Moving to the next item of business, concerns the award of performance rights to our chief executive officer. Shareholders approved the establishment of the Executive Performance Right Plan at the 2013 annual general meeting.
This plan is designed to provide an incentive for executives to achieve above-average performance over the medium to long term in the group's businesses, which would be reflected in higher group earnings and growth rates.
The plan enables the company to grant rights to executives and senior members of the group, each right representing a right to receive 1 fully paid ordinary share in the company. The rights vest and ordinary shares are allocated to the participant on the satisfaction of certain performance criteria, which have yet to be determined by the Board. The Board considers the incentive to management under the plan to be an important tool in attracting, motivating, and retaining talented employees and executives.
I now move that the shareholders approve for all purposes, including ASX Listing Rule 10.14, the award of up to 200,000 performance rights to the Chief Executive Officer, Ms Jane Megan Hastings, on the terms set out in the explanatory notes to the notice of this meeting. So moved.
The next item of business concerns the retention and incentive award to our Chief Executive Officer. Full details of this are included in the explanatory notes to the notice of the meeting and mentioned in my address.
I now move that shareholders approve for all purposes, including ASX Listing Rule 10.14, the recognition and retention incentive award to the Chief Executive Officer, Ms. Jane Megan Hastings, on the terms set out in the explanatory note to the notice of this meeting. So done.
Friends, that is the last item of business in the notice of meeting, and accordingly, I'd now like to invite questions relative to any of the items of business under consideration at this meeting, including questions relating to the financial statements, the directors' report, and the auditor's report.
You may also ask questions to the auditor about the conduct of the audit and the preparation and content of the auditor's report, the accounting policies adopted by the company in relation to the preparation of the statements, and also the independence of our internal auditor. Are there any questions?
Chairman, at this point there's no questions. I'm mindful there could be a short delay on the broadcast, and we should allow some time.
Okay. Friends, that,
Chairman, we still have not received any questions from shareholders.
Friends, as we've not received any questions, it is now 10:44 A.M., voting will close in 10 minutes. The formal results of the meeting will be announced to the ASX and on our website later today.
During this time, over the next 10 minutes, we will now present a video showcasing recent cinema and hotel upgrades, new hotels joining the group, Thredbo developments, and also our property portfolio. I declare the meeting closed subject to the finalization of the polls on each of the items of business, I'd like at this stage to thank you very much for your attendance. Thank you indeed.