Anyone may address questions from our shareholders during the course of the meeting. I would like to begin by acknowledging the Gadigal people of the Eora Nation, the traditional custodians of the land on which we meet today, and pay my respects to their elders past and present, as well as to the emerging leaders. I extend that respect to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people here today. It is now just past 2:00 P.M. in Sydney, and I feel like reading the weather report now. There being a quorum present, I declare the meeting open for business. I confirm that the meeting has been properly constituted. In opening the 2024 AGM, I would like to introduce the board and management team of GYG Limited, who are present today: Founder and Co-Chief Executive and Executive Director, Steven Marks.
Thank you, Chair.
Co-Chief Executive Officer and Executive Director, Hilton Brett. And as well as the following non-executive directors in the room today: Marina Go, Tom Cowan, Jacqueline Coombs, and online, we have Bruce Buchanan and Ian Rowden, both based in the U.S. On the table today, I would also like to welcome Erik du Plessis, our GYG's Chief Financial Officer, Claudine Tarabay, GYG's company secretary and director of finance. It is great also to have a number of our membership of our management team here with us today, so welcome. And finally, I'd like to welcome and introduce Damien Cork, the company's auditor from Deloitte. The company considers it appropriate to hold the AGM as a hybrid meeting in a manner that is consistent with the requirements of the Corporations Act 2001 and the company's constitution. The virtual component of this meeting is being held by Automic's online meeting platform.
This platform enables shareholders and proxy holders to participate in this live webcast of the meeting as well as ask questions and submit their votes. Questions can be submitted at any time to ask a question. Press on the Q&A icon. This will open up a new screen. At the bottom of that screen, there is a section for you to type in your question. Please start your question by typing in your shareholder SRN or HIN. This will allow the moderator to identify you as a shareholder. If you would like to ask a question verbally, type in your SRN or HIN, and then type in, "I'd like to speak." Once you have finalized typing, please hit Enter on your keyboard to send. Please note that while you can submit questions from now on, I will not address them until the relevant time in the meeting.
Kindly include the agenda item number to which your question relates. Please also note that your questions may be moderated, or if we receive multiple questions on one topic combined, we will attempt to address as many of your questions as possible. All questions should be addressed to me as the Chair. I will either answer the question personally or refer it to someone who is better placed to respond. We'll do our best to answer all relevant questions raised. I ask that you keep your questions short and to the point so that as many shareholders as possible have a chance to ask questions. When we reach the formal business of the meeting, voting on all resolutions will be conducted by a poll. Shareholders attending virtually and wishing to vote on resolutions being put to the meeting can do so through the Automic Investor portal.
If you're not already logged into the Investor portal, instructions on how to do so can be found in the notice of the meeting. A summary of these instructions can also be seen on our screen. If you have any problems registering your shareholding with Automic, please call the support number shown on the screen. To allow shareholders time to log in, I now declare the poll open. Online voting is now open and will remain open until I declare at the end of the formal business, close at the end of the formal business. Your votes must be submitted prior to the portal being closed for them to count. The agenda for today's meeting will be as follows. I will provide the chairman's address, followed by the address by the GYG's Co-CEO, Steven Marks, after which we will proceed to the formal matters to be considered at today's AGM.
Finally, there'll be opportunity for questions and discussion. I'll now move on to the chairman's address. Now onto the official chairman's address. This year has been transforming for GYG, and I'm proud of the incredible progress that we have all made together. GYG's financial performance for F24 reflects both the strength of our operations and the resonance GYG's offer to our guests. The company recorded a statutory loss after tax of AUD 13.7 million ahead of the forecast we outlined in the prospectus. On a pro forma basis, we achieved a net profit after tax of AUD 5.7 million, representing a 94% increase over the previous year. These results highlight our strong trading performance, operational discipline, and adjusting for costs related to our initial public offering and system investments. 2024 will be remembered as a landmark year for GYG.
In June, we successfully listed on the ASX, commencing a new chapter in our journey. We also reached major operational milestones such as the opening of our 200th restaurant in Cairns. Additionally, we set several new records, including the opening day of sales of AUD 46,236 at our Cannon Hill restaurant, which saw more than 7,500 burritos and bowls sold in just one day. We have long taken pride in the fact that GYG has been managed with the rigor and standards of a listed company. The process of preparing this company for its IPO has demonstrated the benefits of this commitment. As a review, we completed of our corporate governance systems and processes highlighted the strong foundation that has been established well before commencing the IPO process.
We remain focused on building a solid platform to support the group's robust and substantial growth, including strengthening committees to guide GYG into the future. This year, we welcome Hilton Brett as our Co-CEO to GYG. Hilton's expertise in team building and his experience in managing listed companies has already proven to be invaluable. We also appointed Erik du Plessis as Chief Financial Officer, and his background in retail finance and operational strategy has already made an immediate impact on the company. On the board, we bid farewell to two individuals who played a crucial role in shaping GYG's success: Robert Hazan, one of GYG's co-founders alongside Steven Marks, and Stephen Jermyn, who had been with us since 2009. Their contributions have been foundational in helping to create the detail-oriented and food-obsessed company that we see today.
I want to extend my deepest thanks to both Robert and Steven for their service. Today, Bruce Buchanan will also be stepping down from his position on the board to focus on Rokt, and we are incredibly grateful for his contribution to the company over the past eight years. This year, also online, we also welcome Ian Rowden. As an independent non-executive director in April, and our board committees have been strengthened with new appointments, including Jackie Coombs as chair of the nomination committee and remuneration, and Marina Go as chair of the audit and risk committee. As indicated in our prospectus, the board has determined that no dividend will be declared for the 2024 financial year. Our focus remains on driving long-term shareholder value by reinvesting in the growth and the development of the company.
In closing, I truly want to give a heartfelt gratitude to our leadership team, our incredible employees, our franchisees for their hard work and dedication. I also want to thank you, our shareholders, for your unwavering support and belief in our mission. Together, we are building a company that is not only focused on growth, but also creating lasting value for all stakeholders. It is now my pleasure to hand over to our Co-CEO and founder, Steven Marks.
Thank you, Chair. This year has been an exciting chapter in our journey to reinvent fast food and change the way the masses eat. I'm thrilled to share our progress with you today on behalf of myself and Hilton Brett, my co-CEO. First and foremost, we want to express our deepest gratitude to the entire GYG team, some of you are here today, from our franchisees, restaurant crew, to all essential employees. Your dedication and passion have been instrumental in driving our success this year. Thank you for your unwavering commitment to our mission. In FY24, GYG achieved remarkable growth, with network sales reaching AUD 959.7 million, representing a 26% increase on the prior year and surpassing the forecast outlined in our prospectus. We opened 26 new restaurants globally, expanding our network to 220 restaurants.
We achieved Pro Forma EBITDA of AUD 44.8 million, 4% ahead of prospectus forecast and up 53% on the previous year. Additionally, Pro Forma profit before tax increased to AUD 16.3 million, 13% ahead of prospectus, and a strong 114% year-on-year growth. In the Australia segment, we saw a strong comparable restaurant sales growth of 8.1%, driven by restaurant capacity expansion, strong daypart growth, particularly in breakfast, which experienced 18% comp sales growth, marketing, menu innovation, and continued improvement of the digital guest experience. We expanded our footprint with the opening of 25 new restaurants here in Australia. In October, we also released our first quarter results to the market. Comparable sales growth in the Australia segment was above expectations at 8.7%, driven by strong delivery performance, successful execution of the "Clean is the New Healthy" campaign, and guest demand for value menu items such as the $12 Chicken Mini Meal.
The US segment performed in line with expectations during the quarter, with the prior corresponding period benefiting from initial higher sales associated with new restaurant openings. We ended the quarter with 70 corporate restaurants and 129 franchise restaurants operating in Australia. Our commitment to food has been key to driving growth in the business. In 2024, we relaunched "Clean is the New Healthy" campaign, highlighting the nutritional value and quality of our food. Our Cali Burrito campaign was another success, with over 2.1 million burritos sold during the period. We also introduced new items such as our crispy, delicious Chicken Tenders, which generated over $1 million in weekly sales, and the Nacho Sundae, which doubled our soft serve sales. Value remains an important aspect of our offering, and our $10 Menu, $12 Chicken Mini Meal, and $3 Tacos have been well received by our guests.
On the digital front, we launched GYG Delivery, allowing our guests to place orders directly via the GYG app, further enhancing the guest experience and strengthening our digital capabilities. We also made significant investments in streamlining our operations. This year, we rolled out new human resources, payroll, and time management platforms to simplify people administration across both franchise and corporate locations. We also upgraded our core systems, including enhancing our point-of-sale technology and improving our information security through multi-factor authentication. In the US, we relaunched our award-winning mobile application, which has led to increased guest engagement and higher digital transaction volumes. Our investment in technology continues to enable us to deliver a seamless and efficient experience for both our guests and employees. Sustainability remains a central focus for GYG. We are committed to reducing our environmental footprint and creating positive social impact through our food and restaurants.
This year, we continue to transition our most-used food packaging to fiber-based material made from renewable sources like sugarcane. We have also taken proactive steps to eliminate harmful PFAS chemical additives from our packaging. Beyond environmental initiatives, we continue to give back to our communities. Our annual Mission Possible fundraising event, which took place in October this year, raised over AUD 1.3 million to support our community partners, the Mission Mexico Foundation, and the Hunger Project, funding food and educational programs based in Mexico. Finally, both Hilton and I would like to thank you, our shareholders, for your continued support and belief in GYG's vision. As we look ahead to FY25, we remain focused on our mission to become the best and biggest restaurant company in the world while delivering shared value for all stakeholders.
Together, we have built a strong foundation, and with your support, we are confident that GYG will continue to grow and thrive. Thank you all. Back to you, Chair.
Thank you, Steven. We now move to the formal business as set out in the notice of the meeting. The notice of the meeting was distributed to all registered members on or about the 11th of October. That's to be taken as read. Voting on all resolutions will be conducted by poll. For the purposes of the poll, I appoint Amy Wong of Automic, the company share registry, who has examined and prepared summaries of the proxy forms received to act as the returning officer and to conduct the poll. Thank you, Amy. Shareholders in attendance virtually that have not submitted a vote by proxy and wish to vote on the resolutions being put to the meeting today can do so by registering your shareholding with Automic.
Instructions on how to register your holding were provided in the notice of the meeting and can also be seen on the screen now. Please note that the online voting is now open and will remain open until the poll is declared closed. Your votes must be submitted prior to the poll being closed for them to count. The persons entitled to vote on this poll are all shareholders, representatives, and attorneys of shareholders and proxy holders who hold yellow voting cards. If you're attending in more than one of those capacities, you will have been issued with as many voting cards as you have separate capacities. If anyone believes they're entitled to vote on this poll in any capacity and does not have a yellow voting card in respect thereof, please raise your hand now, and a member of our share registry team will assist you.
At the appropriate time, I'll ask that you mark your vote for the resolution on the yellow voting card. If you are a shareholder and wish to cast all your votes for a resolution, please mark in either the for, against, or abstain box next to that resolution. If you're a proxy holder, a summary of the votes to which you are entitled has been attached to your voting card. If the summary of votes included discretionary votes, these are yours to cast at your discretion. If you wish to cast the discretionary votes, please place a mark in the corresponding for, against, or abstain boxes. If your summary of votes does not have any discretionary votes, you do not need to enter. You do not need to mark your voting card and will simply need to hand it to the returning officer at the end of the resolutions.
After all resolutions have been read and voted upon, please place it in one of the ballot boxes that will be circulating this room. Are there any questions on the voting process? Proxies have been inspected, and all those validly lodged have been accepted. Proxies have been received representing 77,640,107 shares, or 76.52% of the issued capital of the company. All undirected proxies or open votes that have nominated the chair of the meeting as their proxy will be cast in favor of each resolution in the notice of meeting. We will now proceed to the resolutions set out in the notice of the meeting. The first item of business is to receive the company's annual financial report for the year ending 30th of June 2024. The financial report and the report of the directors and the auditors are now laid before the meeting.
There will be no vote on this item, and it is a discussion item only. The company's auditor for the 2024 financial year, Damien Cork of Deloitte, is present to take questions relevant to the conduct of the audit and preparation and content of the independent auditor's report. Are there any questions or comments on the financial report or the report to the directors and auditors?
Chair, there is a question online. The question is from shareholder Stephen Mayne, and the question is on the report. That's for the next resolution.
Thank you for the pre-notice. Would there be any further questions on any other questions that I haven't asked? Thank you. Thank you very much. Are there any other questions on the management of the company? Q&A online reporting. Thank you. Are there any questions relevant to the conduct of the audit and the preparation and content of the auditor's report to be put to the auditor? We'll now proceed to the resolutions set out in the notice of the annual general meeting. Resolution One is as follows: to consider and, if thought fit, to pass with or without amendment. Resolution One: adoption of the remuneration report as an ordinary resolution. If you have any questions relating to the remuneration report, please raise your hand or, attending virtually, submit your questions via the Q&A. Is there anybody in the room with us? Thank you. Anybody online?
Chair, take two.
Thank you.
Question from shareholder Stephen Mayne in relation to the remuneration report. Thank you for disclosing the proxy position to the ASX at 1:54 P.M. today, 26 minutes before your debut AGM commenced. Well done for also offering a hybrid AGM to maximize shareholder participation. In terms of this remuneration report item, which of the five proxy advisors in the Australian market, ACSI, Ownership Matters, Glass Lewis, ISS, and ASA, issued a report ahead of our meeting, and did any of them recommend a vote against the remuneration report or any other resolutions? How did you find the proxy advisor engagement process, and did they have any remuneration suggestions that you will take up?
Thank you very much, Claudine. So the REM committee, can I hand that over to you, Jackie?
So I'll start.
She's a Chair of our REM Committee.
I'll start then, Erik, or pick up for me. So yes, we found the engagement really positive. And I guess for us, this is our first public AGM, really gave us some indicators of what our investors would like to see from us. In terms of the voting, ISS raised a red flag against the remuneration report and wanted us to consider our positioning on the remuneration report.
Just to expand a little bit on that, there are three proxy advisors for those reports, being ISS, ACSI, and Ownership Matters. And as Jackie mentioned, ISS voted or recommended a vote against. They were also the only proxy advisors that we were unable to engage with despite us attempting to do so.
Thank you. And the last response came from Erik du Plessis via our CFO. Thank you, Erik. Are there any other online questions on this report and this motion?
No, Chair.
Thank you. Okay, so proxies received in relation to this resolution are now on screen. I now put forward this motion. For those attending in person, please mark your voting instructions for this resolution on your yellow voting card. For those attending virtually, please now vote via the online portal, although you are reminded not to click on next until selecting your vote on all resolutions. So I'll just wait on that. Okay. So thank you. That's that resolution completed. As the next resolution relates to myself, I hand the chair over to Marina Go, our Non-executive Director.
Thank you, Chair. Resolution Two is as follows: to consider and, if thought fit, to pass with or without amendment Resolution Two, re-election of Gaetano Russo as an ordinary resolution. If you have a question in relation to this resolution, please raise your hand if attending in person, or submit your question via the Q&A if attending online. No questions?
No raised. No questions.
Thank you. The proxies received in relation to this resolution are on the screen. I now put forward the motion. For those attending in person today, please mark your voting instruction for this resolution on your yellow voting card. For those attending virtually, please submit your vote via the online portal. I now hand the chair back to Guy Russo.
Who is also Gaetano. Yes. Resolution Three is as follows, and that is to consider and, if thought fit, to pass with or without amendment Resolution Three, the re-election of Jackie Coombs as an ordinary resolution. If you have any questions in relation to this resolution, please raise your hand if attending in person, or submit your questions via the Q&A if attending online. Do we have any questions in the room or online?
No questions online, Chair.
Okay. Thank you. And the proxies in relation to this resolution on screen, I now put forward the motion for those attending in person today to please mark your voting instruction for this resolution on yellow voting card. For those attending virtually, please submit your vote via the online portal. Okay. And next resolution is as follows: to consider and, if thought fit, to pass with or without amendment Resolution Four, re-election of Marina Go as an ordinary resolution. If you have any questions in relation to this resolution, please raise your hand if attending in person, or submit your question via the Q&A if attending online. Thank you, Claudine.
No, that's correct.
The proxies received in relation to this resolution are now on screen. I now put forward the motion for those attending in person to please mark your voting instructions for this resolution on your yellow voting card. For those attending virtually, please submit your vote via the online portal. Resolution Five is as follows: to consider and, if thought fit, to pass or with or without amendment Resolution Five, the re-election of Tom Cowan as an ordinary resolution. If you have a question in relation to this resolution, please raise your hand if attending in person, or submit your question via the Q&A if attending online.
There are no questions online, Chair.
Thank you, Claudine, and none in the room. The proxies received in relation to this resolution are on screen. I now put forward the motion for those attending in person today to please mark your voting instruction for this resolution on your yellow voting card. For those attending virtually, please submit your vote via the online portal. Resolution Six is as follows: to consider and, if thought fit, to pass with or without amendment Resolution Six, re-election of Hilton Brett as an ordinary resolution. If you have questions in relation to this resolution, please raise your hand if attending in person, or submit your question via the Q&A if attending online.
There are no questions online, Chair.
Thanks, Claudine, and none in the room. The proxies received in relation to this resolution are on screen. I now put forward the motion. For those attending in person today, please mark your voting instructions for this resolution on your yellow voting card. For those attending virtually, please submit your vote via the online portal. That concludes the resolutions to be voted on today. As noted, we are conducting a poll on all resolutions, and I note that the poll is already open. All shareholders voting online, please ensure they have submitted their votes. I'll allow another minute before the poll is closed. If you have any questions in relation to the submission of online votes, please send them through the Q&A function now. For those attending in person, I now invite the staff of Automic to collect the voting cards.
All persons in the room voted and submitted their cards. Thank you. There being no further questions, I declare the poll now closed. Staff of Automic will now process the poll, and the results will be announced to the ASX once they are available. Other business, if there's any other business that can lawfully be brought forward, I would now like to ask, oh, let's do that one. Second part of that question was, does anyone else have any questions?
Chair, there is a question. My apologies, Claudine.
Yeah, go ahead. Let's do the gentleman in the room.
I'll take this question. I'll share my turn. I have a question to Steven. What do you think is the best country for you to do business?
Best country?
Best country, like Australia and.
Number one, it's definitely Australia.
All right. That's in terms of, there was some criticism about Australia, basically, that it's quite hard to do business here compared to, I don't know, Japan or other countries. How do you feel about that?
Well, I think, obviously, the results for Australian business have been very strong. We've been doing it for 20 years, and I think the hardest part is building brand. We've got, obviously, amazing people in our restaurants, but most importantly, the food that we serve. And I think when you look at the culture of GYG and, obviously, Australia, we always say there's a small population, but I think we've created something that's really resonated with the population of Australia and our guests, and we continue to get stronger year by year. So Australia is our home. It's the base of our business. Obviously, we have amazing franchise partners in Singapore and Japan, and we look forward to, in time, building out a solid footprint in the United States as well.
Thank you.
Thank you. Do we have any online, Claudine?
We do, Chair. This is from shareholder Stephen Mayne. It's a general business question. In terms of the Australian operation, how many enterprise agreements with unions does our company have across the business? And are we worried about these ongoing proposed changes to industrial relations law by the federal government, such as the right to disconnect and same job, same pay rules? JB Hi-Fi and Domino's both said at recent AGMs that they pay award wages, have no enterprise agreements, and virtually non-existent union membership amongst its workforce. What is GYG's situation here? Chair.
I'll hand that over to you, Erik, our CFO.
Thank you, Chair. So thank you for the question. So GYG's industrial relations framework can basically be. There's some differences between our corporate restaurants and then our franchisees who are responsible for their own employment arrangements with regards to their crews. In GYG's corporate operations, our crews operate under the Fast Food Industry Award. So they're all awards-based, and union membership is very, very low. We are not concerned because it's part of our culture. We are not concerned regarding the right to disconnect, but we have put in place additional measures in the business to make sure we're treating our people correct and give them the chance to have a break from their work and from the office or from restaurants. So in that regard, we are well placed in terms of our employment practices.
Overall, from an industrial relations perspective, it's something we're monitoring closely, but we are very happy with the engagement of our crew in both our corporate restaurants and the engagement that our crew has with our franchisees. It's a key part of how we operate and how we choose our franchisees, and they share our values of looking after our people and our crew. Our franchisees, just to round out the question, a very small number of our franchisees have a very small number of enterprise agreements that are currently in place. But again, the vast majority of our franchisee crews also operate under the Fast Food Industry Award.
If you have an additional question, shareholder Stephen Mayne. Well done for breaking the IPO drought and delivering such spectacular returns so far for shareholders. Could the Chair and CEO please comment on the aspects of being listed that they have most enjoyed, and are there any aspects they find annoying?
What was the last question?
Any aspects they find annoying in being listed?
I think at GYG, what got us to this point is what's going to get us, obviously, to a place for us in the future. It's just remaining focused on making sure we deliver on our strategy. So nothing's really changed on an operating sort of basis as a private company to a public company. I mean, one of the highlights is that people that get to experience GYG on a day-to-day basis have the opportunity to own GYG. And that's something I think, on behalf of everybody at GYG, is extremely exciting. But on a day-to-day business, it's always business as usual at GYG. Guy Russo, our Chair, has been with us for over 15 years. And one thing that we love about this business is it's a relentless pursuit for excellence. And you can build an amazing brand, and it's for two reasons, right?
It's our food, and it's our people, and it's both things we'll never, ever compromise on, and we're looking forward to a long future as a public business.
Thank you, Steven. There are no further questions online, Chair.
Thank you. But I would like to respond to Steven's question to me. The exciting part and the annoying part.
Just to clarify.
Yeah, sure.
Thank you.
Going public now.
Yeah.
I wanted to first congratulate you on another milestone. I think Steven's already said that as well, so I think I should be able to say it. For our first AGM and another amazing milestone, and looking at the people that are in the room here to celebrate that, it's clear that a lot of people have had your back from the moment they met you. The most exciting piece for me, without a doubt, is what this gentleman and his co-founder brought the brand, started the brand in Australia to be the success it is today as we measure it without any backing.
Every other QSR, quick service restaurant business that's come to Australia came to Australia with the backing of a multi-billion dollar, typically American company that had the rulebook already written, the support of cash already in the back pocket, the ingredients, and the secret sauce already done. And in the McDonald's case, while it came here in 1971, it was founded way before even Ray Kroc got involved in 1955 by the brothers, some 15 years later. So McDonald's had about 30 years' worth of upstart and cash before they came here. You did it with nothing, had a blank sheet of paper with no manual, no recipe, and you surrounded yourself with amazing people, some that we've said goodbye to today, and newbies at a time that is just as excited as I was from day one. So I take my hat off to you.
This is an incredible Australian growth story. The thing that annoys me is my age, and I say that I joined a company that had four restaurants in 1971 at McDonald's and watched it grow to 1,000 restaurants over that period of time and saw the hard first 10 years and then the success for the next 40. I met a guy called Steve Ells when he had 16 restaurants in Chipotle when he was bought out by McDonald's and hadn't figured out the model and watched that grow to an $80 billion company. I have to say the only annoying thing is my 65-year age and joining this guy too late in life because I believe the journey ahead of us will be long, but will be an amazing, strong growth story that has a lot of patience around it.
No urgency to get there first, but just to get there, as in, yeah, saying Italian, piano piano, slowly, slowly. But he's got the recipe for watching it even at an older age. And thank you, Steven, for that final question. And I think that concludes the formal part of the business today unless there are any questions from the floor. I'd like to thank all of the shareholders for their attendance. I want to thank all the executive staff that are attending. I want to thank the staff that are online that are listening and our shareholders and stakeholders that are online that are listening, that have supported this great business and believed in Steven and Robert from day one. I wish you all a very great day. And as advised earlier, the results will be announced to the ASX once they're about. Have a great afternoon, everyone.
Thank you.