Can I formally welcome you to the combined annual general meeting of the shareholders of Growthpoint Properties Australia Limited, and the meeting of the unit holders of Growthpoint Properties Australia Trust, which is being held as a hybrid meeting in person and online. I'm your chair, Geoff Tomlinson. We have a quorum present for these meetings, and I'm pleased to declare the meeting's officially open. On behalf of Growthpoint, I'd like to acknowledge the traditional custodians of country throughout Australia and their connections to land, sea, and community. We pay our respects to their elders past, present, and emerging, and extend that respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders peoples today. Ladies and gentlemen, the board and I enjoy having the opportunity to meet with security holders in person at our annual general meeting.
We are pleased to be able to return to meeting in person this year while providing the opportunity to participate in the meeting online via the Computershare platform. Turning to the agenda for today, I'll start the meeting by walking you through a few procedural guidelines for voting and question submission for those in person and online. By joining our hybrid meeting today, security holders and proxies will have the opportunity to ask questions and submit votes. We'll answer questions on the group's recent performance at the end of the managing director's presentation, and questions related to specific items of business with each formal item of business being addressed. Online attendees can submit questions at any time. Please note that while the online platform is open for questions from now on, I will not address them until the relevant time in the meeting.
To ask a question through the meeting platform, select the Q&A icon and select the topic your question relates to. Type your question in the text box, and when you have finished, press Send. Questions submitted on the online platform may be moderated to avoid repetition of similar questions or summarized in the interest of time. For those security holders online who wish to ask a verbal question, please follow the instructions on the online platform. For those attending in person today, to ask a question, please raise your security card, which will either be red or yellow. Questions from the floor will be addressed first, and we'll then move to the online platform questions. Eligible security holders, their attorneys, proxies, and representatives can vote on all resolutions. Voting will be conducted by way of a poll on all items of business. Excuse me.
To cast your vote, simply select one of the options. There's no need to hit Submit as the vote is automatically recorded. You are able to change your vote up until the time I declare the meeting closed. For security holders, proxies and corporate representatives attending in person, I'll ask you to vote once we've gone through all the items of business today by completing your voting card that was provided when you registered. I now declare voting open on all items of business. I will give you a warning before I move to close voting at the end of the meeting. A recording of the meeting and our presentation will be available on our website shortly after the meeting. The notice of meeting was made available to all security holders, and I propose to take as read.
I'll now introduce my fellow directors who are attending the meeting in person. Starting from my far right, Grant Jackson. Next to Grant is Deborah Page, then Estienne de Klerk, Norbert Sasse, and François Marais, and Josephine Sukkar at the far end of this table. Our Managing Director, Timothy Collyer, next to Josephine. Also in attendance, Jacqueline Jovanovski on my left. Our Chief Financial Officer, Dion Andrews. Dion's at the front here. Michael Green, the Chief Investment Officer, and Sam Sproats, our Executive Director of Funds Management. It's great to have Sam here. Sam actually heads our new funds management business, Fortius. It's great to have you here and participating in the meeting. Representatives of our auditors, Ernst & Young, are also joining us today.
Lead Audit Partner David Shewring is online due to his requirement to attend at another AGM. His colleagues, Brett Kallio and Olga van Ravesteyn, are with us in the room. They are available to answer questions in connection with the Ernst & Young audit when the financial reports are tabled later in the meeting. At the close of today's meeting, François Marais will retire from our board. Francois was a long-serving chairman of our majority shareholder, Growthpoint Properties Limited, South Africa's largest primary listed REIT. He joined the board of Growthpoint Properties in 2009. He is an experienced director with a sound knowledge of the property market in Australia. I can assure you, a very inquiring mind. He's one of those directors who doesn't speak a lot, but when he does, it warrants attention.
I should say, on behalf of the board, I'd like to thank François for his contribution and commitment to the board, and wish him all the best for the future. It is intended that a Growthpoint Properties Limited nominated non-executive director will be appointed to the board by the directors in due course to replace François. He or she will stand for election at next year's annual general meeting. As recently announced, I'll retire as a director and chair of the board with effect from the first of March 2023. Andrew Fay, AC will join the board as an independent non-executive director on the first of December, and will become chair on my retirement. Andy, you might like to introduce yourself.
Great to have you here today. I'm really looking forward to the role. We'll be certainly making sure that the past is replicated, but hopefully progress coming forward with the new funds management platform. Welcome, everyone.
Thanks, Andy. Andy, we all welcome you very warmly to our board, and I look forward to you taking over as chairman. I should say it's been a privilege to chair the board, and I would really like to thank my fellow directors for the support I've had over the last eight or nine years. I am confident that Growthpoint continues to be well-positioned to provide security holders with sustainable income returns and capital appreciation over the long term, and that Andrew is extremely well qualified to chair the group going forward. Board renewal and succession will continue to be a focus of the board and ensure that the board meets its 30% gender diversity target in FY 2023, and has a majority of independent non-executive directors.
I'll now hand over to our managing director, who will provide an update on the business.
Thank you, Geoff, and good morning to everyone here in the room and online. Today, I'll provide an overview of our business and a snapshot of the financial year 2022 financial results, including our key operational highlights and an outlook for the year ahead. I'll start with a brief overview of the group as it stands today. Growthpoint is a leading integrated property REIT and member of the S&P/ASX 200. We have AUD 7.2 billion of total assets under management. We directly own and manage a portfolio of high-quality modern office and industrial properties valued at AUD 5.3 billion as at 30th of June 2022. We also manage a further AUD 1.9 billion of funds under management on behalf of third-party investors through our recently acquired funds management business.
Around a third of our directly owned portfolio are industrial, which are primarily used for logistics and warehousing. The other two-thirds of our portfolio are offices, which are located on the fringe of CBD and/or in well-located metropolitan locations. The office portfolio is focused on modern A-grade assets with high green credentials and are predominantly leased to government-listed or large organizations, some of whom are highlighted on this slide. We are the largest ASX-listed landlord focused on city fringe and metro office markets. Our funds management business, Fortius, as Geoff has mentioned, manages funds that invest in office, retail, and mixed-use properties and debt investments across value add and opportunistic strategies. In financial year 2022, we were pleased to deliver another successful year for the group.
Delivering strong financial performance and funds from operation growth for security holders in a changing external environment, which has created a challenging period ahead for the sector. Our FFO for the financial year 2022 was AUD 0.277 per security, consistent with guidance, which was raised twice during the year, and 7.8% above the prior year. We were pleased to raise the distribution payment to AUD 0.208 per security, an increase of 4% on the prior year. Acquisitions of well-leased office buildings and a very strong leasing performance saw the group's weighted average lease expiry rise to 6.3 years as at 30th of June, and this has been maintained as at 30th of September.
Leasing success and cap rate compression resulted in an increase in the value of the group's portfolio by 7.9% or AUD 356 million on a like-for-like basis as at thirtieth of June. This was the primary driver of strong NTA growth, which is AUD 4.56 per security at the thirtieth of June. Growthpoint is committed to operating in a sustainable way, and we continue to make progress towards achieving our net zero target by 2025. This includes improving energy and resource efficiency across the property portfolio, further property solar installation, and developing an energy procurement strategy to secure our medium-term energy needs. External benchmark surveys continue to rate Growthpoint very highly, including NABERS, GRESB, and CDP.
We are also very pleased to see positive results on employee engagement and alignment in our externally conducted survey, which shows the group continuing to form well against our peer benchmark group in financial year 2022. The recent introduction of our new sustainability framework and targets further evolves our program. These will drive performance improvements and direct our work in new focus areas so that the business continues to be managed in a way that adds value to the group and its stakeholders. The performance over financial year 2022 reflects the successful execution of our strategy and underlying strength of our business. We are focused on our goal to provide security holders with sustainable income returns and capital appreciation over the longer term.
We have provided total security holder returns of 11.9% per annum and a return on equity of 16.7% over 10 years to 30th of June. Attractive returns. We have a long track record of delivering value on our investment in high quality assets. Over the year, we made strategic accretive acquisitions, investing over AUD 320 million in three high quality office assets, predominantly leased to government tenants. Our further investment in additional Dexus Industria REIT securities maintained our holding at circa 15% and increased our exposure to industrial assets. The group's leasing performance was strong in the year, with over 234,000 square meters leased, resulting in continued high occupancy of 97% and a high tenant retention rate of 86%. Occupancy remains high at 96% as at 30th of September.
Maintaining our strong relationships with tenants is a key focus for the group. We were pleased to see positive improvement in tenant engagement over the year, with Growthpoint ranking as an industry leader on landlord satisfaction in a survey conducted by property specialist Brickfields. We also executed on the group's growth opportunities in the year, including our successful entry into funds management. This slide outlines the strategic property acquisitions made by the group since 30th June 2021. We have invested AUD 426.6 million in A-grade modern highly green credentialed office assets, further focusing our directly owned office portfolio on the resilient and well-performing CBD fringe and metropolitan markets.
These acquisitions have a blended weighted average lease expiry of 8.1 years and an average income yield of 5.1%, and we believe these acquisitions will have a positive impact on the group's financial performance for years to come. Growthpoint has also recently completed the 100% acquisition of Fortius Funds Management, a key growth opportunity for the business. For over 30 years, Fortius has had a track record of delivering strong returns to its investors, and we are pleased to have Ray Sproats, Sam Sproats, and the Fortius team join us to grow the platform within the Growthpoint group. Our strategic goal is to grow the funds management platform over time, so it represents 10%-20% of group EBIT over the medium term.
We're most excited about this opportunity for Fortius investors and for the group security holders, with the aim of delivering incremental growth to earnings and income stream diversifications. As we look ahead, the group and its portfolio are performing well against the backdrop of challenging economic conditions. Trading conditions are expected to be affected by higher inflation, debt costs and a slowing economy going forward. The Reserve Bank of Australia, consistent with other central banks, sees inflation as too high and is expected by the market to raise the cash rate further above the current rate of 2.85%. Meanwhile, economic growth in the U.S., Europe and China is weak. However, our portfolio metrics are strong, and we have delivered on key strategic goals to grow the business, including entry into funds management.
Our exposure to favored industrial and metropolitan office markets and secure income from large corporates and government tenants provides a resilient foundation for the group as we move forward. We anticipate opportunities will arise in the funds management space. We have provided FFO guidance of between AUD 0.25-AUD 0.26 per security for the financial year 2023. Distribution guidance of AUD 0.214 per security reflects an increase of 2.9% on financial year 2022, while maintaining our FFO payout ratio in the target range of 70%-85% at the midpoint of guidance. Before I finish, I'd like to echo Geoff's comments regarding Francois Marais. Francois has been an outstanding director of Growthpoint since its inception in 2009. His intellect and knowledge of law, governance, and public markets has been a great asset to the board.
The executive management team and I wish Francois all the very best for the future. I would also like to take this opportunity to acknowledge Geoff's contribution as Chairman at his last AGM, which he's smiling about before. Geoff has provided outstanding leadership to GOZ for over eight years within the board and externally. His vast experience in finance and as a director of public and private companies has been invaluable. For me personally, Geoff has been a fantastic mentor and a wonderful source of support and definitely a lot of wise counsel. On behalf of the board and the executive management team, I'd like to thank Geoff today for his commitment to Growthpoint, and we look forward to celebrating his retirement and his achievements with him in March 2023. I'll now hand over to you, Geoff.
Thanks. Thank you, Tim. On behalf of the board, I'd also like to thank Growthpoint's management team and employees for the contribution to Growthpoint over the last year. There's quite a few employees here. There's obviously our executive, and it hasn't been an easy year. It's been a very fulsome year. A year of change, a year of growth, and just sort of minding ourselves in a regulatory point of view. I thank you very much. The board appreciates your efforts, and it's good to see so many of you here today. Before we move to the formal items of business, I'd like to address any questions in relation to Tim's presentation or other business of the group. As mentioned earlier, we'll address questions on items of business as we move through the meeting.
What I'd like to do, if you've got any questions at all other than questions related to the resolutions, I'd appreciate you asking me now or making your comments now, 'cause once I get into the resolutions, it is my intention only to take questions or comments in relation to each resolution as I move through them. I'm also aware that we've got people online. Basically, people online will have a right to ask questions as well. I'm trying to streamline it as much as possible. I'm not being dictatorial, but I would really like any questions or comments in relation to what Tim has had to say, the performance of the business or anything else right now.
Once we've finished that, I'll move on to what I call the resolutions and ask for your questions and comments on each resolution. Are there any general questions? Yes. Yes, Chris.
I think this is an appropriate question at this point in time, Mr. Chairman. Firstly, I'd like to introduce myself. My name is Chris Lobb. I'm here this morning as a volunteer of the Australian Shareholders' Association. Today, I hold proxies for 24 members for approximately 300,000 shares in Growthpoint Properties Australia. My question is, can you provide an update on the progress of the integration of the recently acquired Fortius Funds Management business, and perhaps expand on some of the benefits this business will bring to Growthpoint shareholders?
Yeah, Tim, I think it's probably best. It's a sort of a management type question. Chris, I think Tim will be able to provide the most fulsome answers. I'll hand over to Tim.
Thank you, Chris. Yes. As part of the negotiation in purchasing it, we spend a lot of time with the business, and they obviously spent a lot of time with us. It was very well planned. As part of the purchase agreement, there is business plan. There is also an integration plan where it's spread through the whole business. We have technology, we have employment, we have, you know, financing divisions. We have an integration plan that details what things we will do over the next 12 months. That's very well progressed and, you know, we think it's going smoothly.
I think one of the obvious things you could tell when two groups come together that it's going successful is the integration of the teams together. It's proceeding very strongly. There hasn't been any issues with that. I suppose the acquisition from our point of view, there was obviously good reasons on both sides to do the transaction. I think principally, we wanted as a group to enter funds management. We could do it two ways. We could do it organically and start that business up from scratch, or we could acquire a platform or an existing business. To get the scale and set it off, you know, more quickly, we searched the market and agreed to buy Fortius. Now, the benefits for us is an existing team.
They have a 30-year track record. They have an investor base of high net worth investors and institutional investors. They have a very good reputation and like Growthpoint as well, that bringing those two forces together can be quite a powerful thing in the market. I think from Fortius' side and our side, we see that we'll be able to use a larger balance sheet to back the business in growth. That may be, for example, co-investing in funds that are established with other investors. You might set up a fund, we might have a stake in that, and that gives comfort to those investors to know Growthpoint's money is in the fund. We can also assist in underwriting acquisitions that form funds.
Really the financial strength of Growthpoint relative to a family business is seen as a strength. It achieved our strategic objectives. We're very excited about the prospect of building the business. The business can benefit from our financial strength. You know, we look forward to growing that business over the next 12, 24 months in particular.
Thanks, Tim. Any further questions from the floor? Just general questions. One thing I should mention is, that in fact, people have the opportunity of submitting questions before the start of this meeting, and I can advise that we have not received any questions before the meeting. Any further general questions or comments? Okay. If there's no further questions from the floor, our company secretary will now read out questions received from our online platform.
Chair, there are no questions received through the platform.
Okay. Thank you, Jackie. I'll now move on. I'm gonna move now to the official items of business for the combined meetings.
Apologies, Chair. It may be that one has come through. We've received a question from the online platform. The question is: With the current difficulty in attracting staff back to the office following the effects of COVID, what effects do you see this having on future office space leasing income?
Tim, do you wanna answer that, or do you want Michael to answer that?
Yes, I'll answer that." Well, we still have COVID now with us, of course, so there is COVID about. I think it's fair to say that the occupancy levels throughout Australia have really followed the severity of COVID within each state. Melbourne, for example, has been very slow, slower with the return to work than Sydney. Queensland and Perth have had high occupancy. I think the economy has grown strongly since COVID. It's a larger economy now, and economic growth and jobs and business employment has been quite strong. We have seen the office market hold up pretty well despite having more flexible arrangements within corporates.
I think the issue for the office market will always be one of supply. I think we'll see slowly over a period of time, a physical occupancy, I'm not talking about leasing occupancy, physical occupancy improve over the next 6 and 12 months. From a demand for rental accommodation point of view, we have found, since the COVID period, most of our major tenants have renewed for the same level of space as they required, as previous. They've renewed their leases or extended their leases with the same amount of space. Some tenants have adopted a more flexible approach and dropping space. Those tenants also have to reconfigure their space and have to modernize their space to attract people back into work.
What we're seeing there is the design of the premises has more meeting rooms, more private space for Zoom calls, Teams calls. In fact, the ratio of employees to square meters is actually moving upwards. Previously there was a push for corporates and governments to move down towards one person per 10 square meters. It's now moving back out the other way. I think there are you know, wins and losses in the debate about return to work and you know, future office accommodation. I don't think it's I think it's overstated and certainly not as bad as what it is in the U.S. I would add that our portfolio, our office portfolio in particular, is very well-leased.
We have a long-term leasing commitment there, and we have a very high occupancy within our portfolio, so it's less of a concern for our Growthpoint portfolio.
Thanks, Tim. Jackie, is there any verbal questions from the online platform?
There are no verbal questions at this point in time.
Thank you. I'll now move to the official items of business of the combined meetings. The first official item of business is to receive and consider the financial reports and the reports of the directors and auditors in respect to Growthpoint Properties Australia for the financial year ending 30 June 2022. A combined annual report for the company and the trust was mailed to those security holders who elected to receive it. It is also available on the websites of the ASX and the group. As mentioned earlier, in addition to the board and management, representatives of the company's current auditor, Ernst & Young, have joined us today and can answer any questions that security holders may have in relation to the audit, the auditor's report, the accounting policies adopted, and the independence of the auditor.
Security holders were invited to submit any questions in advance of the meeting regarding the audit and accounts, and I can confirm none were received. I'll now invite questions from security holders on the consideration of the financial reports. Please raise your card if you'd like to ask the questions from the floor. As there's no questions from the floor, our company secretary will now read out any questions received via our online platform.
Chair, there are no questions at this point in time.
Thanks, Jackie. Ladies and gentlemen, there are eight remaining items of business on today's agenda set out in the notice of meeting which require a vote. The proposed resolutions comprising agenda items 2, 3, 6 and 7 in the notice of meeting relate to the company only. The proposed resolutions comprising agenda items 4 and 5 relate to both the company and the trust, and items 8 and 9 relate to the trust only. The proposed resolutions related to agenda items 2 to 6 and 9 are ordinary resolutions which require a majority of votes cast in favor to be carried. The proposed resolution seven and eight are special resolutions and require more than 75% of the total votes cast in favor to be carried. As mentioned earlier, all resolutions will be determined by poll.
Votes may be cast online through the Computershare meeting platform at any time and until I close voting at the end of the meeting. Following questions and comments on each item, details of the proxies received for the item will be shown. I'll take questions first and comments, then actually show you the proxies we receive. I am holding open proxies in my capacity as chair, and it is my intention to vote all available proxies in favor of each resolution. The next item of business are security holders to adopt the company's remuneration report. This is a non-binding advisory vote of security holders. Although this resolution is not binding, the board will give due regard to the outcome of the vote when considering future remuneration. The proposed resolution is on your screen.
The directors recommend that security holders vote in favor of the resolution. As set out in the notice of meeting, a voting exclusion applies to this item of business. I won't read out the resolution. It's on the screen. I now invite questions or comments from security holder on this resolution. Are there any questions or comments? Yes, Chris.
Thanks again, Mr. Chairman. In relation to the year just completed, June 2022, in relation to the STI plan, short-term incentive plan, there was a negative component under that plan of 33%. We note from your report you have now made a change for the forthcoming year, for financial year 2023, to reduce that from 33.3% down to 20%. It's the ASA policy. We'd prefer to see it at a higher level, up to, say, 50%. Could you just outline any reasons for that change? Thank you.
Can I start by making an opening comment? As a non-executive director, of all the functions and activities we perform, I think setting remuneration is the most difficult thing you do. It might sound crazy, but it is difficult. I'm looking at the chairman of the remuneration committee as I talk. 'Cause in actual fact, when you actually come to a decision, you can't say categorically, "This is the right decision." All you can say is basically, you're in the right ballpark. So please, you know, just accept that comment as it is. In terms of the STI, you know, if you look on, I think it's on page 38 or 39 of the annual report, there's a breakdown of the managing director's remuneration from fixed to the variable remuneration.
In the year in question, which is the year ending June 2022, basically 25% of his remuneration was variable. It was basically at risk. That's a combination of the STI and LTI. Of course, once these, the performance rights actually vest, there's a taxation to be paid pretty quickly to the taxation man. I'm aware of what I call cash flow issues from the executives' point of view. My feeling about it is the LTI scheme is an attractive scheme. It's got a performance period rated over three years and it's at risk. My feeling is that with the LTI and a slightly reduced STI component in performance rights, I still think our executives have got a significant stake in the business.
Whether we're talking about 20% or 33.3%, I don't see it as a great deal of difference. As I said, they are paying a lot of checks up front. You know, I'm not saying it's not a good deal. It is a good deal, particularly if the share price rises. That's about the best answer I can give you. It's not as saying I'm totally right, but my feeling is it's fair. In actual fact, our executives have already got a fair stake in the business, and I'm actually aware of their cash flow position as well. Any further questions? In terms of online questions, Jackie?
Chair, there are no questions.
Oh, can I say details of proxies received in relation to. They're already on the screen, I gather, so I can't see out the back of my head, unfortunately. Can I now move to the next item of business? Relates to the re-election of Josephine Sukkar. Details of Josephine's qualification experience are set out in the notice of meeting. I'll now ask Josephine to address the security holders.
Well, good morning, all. I'm very pleased to be able to meet together today and have the opportunity to address security holders. I have been a member of Growthpoint's board since 2017, and it's been a privilege to serve as a non-executive director. I was, and I continue to be, attracted to Growthpoint as it has continued its impressive growth trajectory, and commitment to operating in a sustainable way. I personally bring over 30 years of property experience as a co-founder and principal of Buildcorp, which services a wide variety of clients with projects spanning many disciplines of commercial construction. This provides me with detailed knowledge of the property sector in Australia. In addition, I have significant experience as a non-executive director for both profit and not-for-profit boards. Most pertinent to this group are my positions as a non-executive director with Washington H.
Soul Pattinson and Company Limited, the Property Council of Australia, and the Green Building Council of Australia. Of course, you'd understand my personal delight at as we're working here towards a net zero 2025, which would be amazing. I can also confirm that I have sufficient time to work as an independent director. This year, I believe the group has done a great job in delivering a strong financial performance for security holders in FY 2022, and successfully executing on its strategy over what has been, at times, a challenging period with the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic early in the year and a challenging macroeconomic environment towards the latter part of the year.
I've also been pleased to be involved in the board's process of renewal and succession over the year, including the appointment of Andrew Fay as a director and chair-elect, and will remain involved in the planned renewal and succession into FY 2023. I am very proud to be a director of Growthpoint and am delighted to offer myself for re-election today.
Thanks, Josephine. The proposed resolution is on your screen. The directors, in the absence of Josephine, unanimously recommend her re-election. Are there any questions? If there's no questions from the floor, can I ask Jackie about the online situation?
There are no questions, Chair.
Okay. I ask for the proxies to be put up, and you can see that she just scraped in. Congratulations, Josephine. I'll now move on to item 4, which relates to the managing director's remuneration for FY 2023. Item 4 relates to the grant of 256,271 performance rights to the managing director as the maximum, I stress the maximum opportunity of his FY 2023 long-term incentive opportunity. These performance rights will vest after a 3-year period subject to the achievement of performance conditions outlined in the notice of meeting. I'd like to stress, actually, I don't think the performance conditions are easy to achieve. I think they are challenging for Tim. The proposed resolution is on your screen.
The directors, in the absence of the managing director, recommend the security holders vote in favor of the resolution. As I said, I won't read out the resolutions, but I now invite comments from the security holders on the floor. If there's no comments, Jackie, can you tell me about the online situation?
Chair, there are no questions.
Thank you. The proxies in favor of the resolution looks like quite convincing, so the resolution is passed. I now move on to item five, which relates the grant of 75,000 performance rights to the managing director as the maximum deferred component of his FY 2023 short-term incentive opportunity. I remind you, basically, this is 20% of his total opportunity in the short term in the deferred component of the short-term plan. While we are seeking approval of the maximum deferred equity component of the managing director's short-term incentive opportunity, the process to approve the managing director's award for FY 2023 will be no different than any other year.
His actual short-term incentive award will reflect achievement against pre-agreed KPI criteria and measures which will be assessed by the Remuneration Committee and approved by the board and disclosed in the 2023 remuneration report, with performance rights lapsing to the extent that the performance conditions are not met. The proposed resolution is on the screen in front of you. The directors, in the absence of the managing director, recommend that security holders vote in favor of the resolution. I'll now invite questions or comments from the floor. If there's no questions or comments, Jackie, the online position?
Chair, there are no questions.
Okay. The details of the proxies I think are on the screen. I now move to item 6, which is the remuneration of non-executive directors. Item 6 relates to approval of a AUD 300,000 increase to the maximum fee pool, which may be paid to non-executive directors fees to AUD 1.5 million per annum, effective from July 1, 2022. As set out in the notice of meeting, the fee pool has not been increased since the 2017 AGM. Approval has been sought to increase the fee pool to provide that the company has the ability to remunerate non-executive directors competitively and commensurate with the market rates in future years. The proposed resolution is on the screen in front of you.
As set out in the notice of meeting, a voting exclusion applies to this item of business. Given the interest of the directors in this item, the board makes no recommendation in relation to the proposed resolution. I'll now invite questions or comments in respect to this resolution from the floor. Yes, Chris.
Hopefully you won't rule this out of line, Mr. Chairman, but I just thought this might be an appropriate time for the Australian Shareholders' Association to record our appreciation to those directors who are attending their last AGM today, and in particular to you, Geoff, as chairman. You have held this position since 2014 and overseen a prolonged period of growth in keeping with the name of Growthpoint. Your availability and willingness to engage in matters relating to Growthpoint is sincerely appreciated. Wish you well in future endeavors when you step down as chairman this March next year. Thank you.
Thank you for your kind comments. This is an aside. We've got a longstanding relationship with the Australian Shareholders' Association, and I'm very happy to engage with the Association and other investors because we do pride ourselves on the amount of effort we put into the annual report in terms of disclosure. We try to improve it every year. We try to make it clear, we try to make it simple so people can understand it. I've spoken to Chris in the past about that. I know the ASA really appreciates the fact that we go to a really big effort to make it understandable, simple, use of graphs, use of things like that. Chris, we appreciate the relationship we have with you, and we are very appreciative of the nice comments you've made. Thank you very much indeed.
Can I, now move the online situation?
Chair, there are no questions.
Thank you. The next two items of business, items seven and eight, relate to amendments to the company's constitution and the trust's constitution, which generally reflect current market practice and terminology. Growthpoint has undertaken a review of the constitutions of the company and the trust, and security holders are being asked to approve various amendments in each. These reflect developments at law, corporate governance and general corporate and commercial practice for ASX-listed companies. They will facilitate Growthpoint remaining up to date with market practice and provide flexibility for the group to efficiently and effectively manage its governance arrangements. A summary of the material amendments are set out in the notice of meeting. These resolutions each require a special resolution. The proposed resolutions are on your screen. The directors recommend that security holders vote in favor of each of these resolutions.
I'll now invite questions or comments from the floor.
I think this is my swan song as far as questions go, Mr. Chairman. Just a point of clarification in relation to the amendments and whether this applies to the company or the trust. It's in relation to the ability to hold virtual meetings only. We're not clear from the changes whether that is in fact the case. I'm just wondering if you could clarify the board's intentions in relation. As far as the ASA goes, we very much are against just online meetings. We think today is a perfect example where it's an opportunity for shareholders to actually come together and meet the board and ask questions. We just wanted a point of clarification in relation to that point.
I'll answer your question, and have to keep an eye on the incoming chairman as well. My personal view, and I think it's shared by my colleagues, is that we would like to give security holders the maximum opportunity of participating in our annual general meeting. I think if you're a security holder, you deserve the right to come and hear what the company's doing and ask questions of the board of directors. In my opinion, the physical meeting is really a great opportunity for security holders to come in and not only ask questions, but talk to us after the meeting and things like that. I think it actually improves our understanding of what security holders are thinking as well.
I think the online platform, you know, if you happen to be, I know there's a gentleman from WA over here, but basically if you happen to be in WA, you don't happen to be here. It's a bit hard to attend in person. I think the online platform, which is a bit clunky, but it does work. I think it maximizes the opportunity, and I don't think people have really got an excuse not to attend, if we've got those two platforms, come here in person or go online. As a personal thought, I'm very much in favor of it, and I better be careful. The incoming chairman's given me the thumbs up, which says that he's in favor of it as well. I can't see it changing.
Our attitude is to give every shareholder the best chance to participate, and we'll continue to do that. Any other questions? The proxies, I think, are now about to come up on the screen. I now move to item 9. Item 9 proposes the broadening of the trust mandate, which will facilitate the intended growth of Growthpoint's funds management business while noting that the trust investments are still intended to remain predominantly in industrial, office, and retail property assets. As set out in the notice of meeting, Growthpoint intends to grow its funds management business, targeting 10%-20% of group EBIT over the medium term, and seeks to deliver incremental growth to earnings and income stream diversification for security holders.
The opportunity to grow funds under management may involve such initiatives as establishing new fund products and strategies, including investing in new asset classes or sectors, and utilizing the balance sheet capacity of the trust to support the growth of Growthpoint's funds management business. The proposed resolution is on the screen in front of you. As set out in the notice of meeting, a voting exclusion applies to this item of business. The board unanimously recommends security holders vote in favor of the proposed resolutions. I now invite questions from the floor. Jackie, the online situation.
Chair, I confirm that we've received no questions in relation to this item or any of the other items of business discussed.
Thank you. Now, details of the proxies I think are going to be displayed now so you can see good result. Ladies and gentlemen, this brings us to the end of the formal business of the meeting. In a couple of minutes, I'll close the voting system. Ask that those of you who have not completed your voting on all resolutions to do so now. I'll pause for a moment to allow you to finalize your votes. For those in the room, please provide your voting cards to the Computershare team who will be collecting them soon. I'll just pause for a moment while people complete their forms. If we've all finished, thank you for everyone. Voting is now closed, and the results of the votes for each poll will be released to the ASX later today.
Thank you for your attendance and participation at this meeting. I declare the meeting formally closed. Thank you.