Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. My name is Helen Nash, the Chair of Inghams Group Limited. On behalf of the board, management team, and all our staff, I'd like to welcome all shareholders and guests to the 2022 annual general meeting. It is now 10:00 A.M., and there being a quorum present, I declare the 2022 annual general meeting of Inghams Group Limited open. If you haven't already done so, please could you put your phones on silent. On behalf of Inghams, I'd like to acknowledge the Gadigal people of the Eora nation, on whose land we meet today. I pay my respects to their elders past, present, and emerging, and to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples here today. The agenda for today's meeting will be as follows. I will give my Chair's address.
Your Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director, Andrew Reeves, will then give his address. I will then move to the formal items of business and resolutions as set out in our notice of meeting. Once concluded, we will open the meeting to general business and questions. We are pleased to be able to hold this meeting as a hybrid meeting, with shareholders and their proxies present here at the physical venue and also joining us remotely. To provide shareholders with flexibility and to ensure that all shareholders and their proxies enjoy a similar opportunity to participate today, whether they are here at this venue or participating remotely, the meeting is also being hosted using the Computershare platform. Those attendees joining us virtually can hear a live webcast of the meeting.
In addition, shareholders and proxies attending virtually will also have the ability to ask questions and submit their votes via the Computershare platform. A guide to the online meeting has been made available on the Investor Center on our website. If you experience any issues with the system during the meeting, please call the number at the top of the screen. Voting today will be conducted by way of a poll on all items of business. To ensure you have enough time to vote, I will shortly open the voting for the resolution items two through six. For our shareholders attending virtually, if you are eligible to vote and once voting opens, select the vote icon and all resolutions will be activated with voting options. To cast your vote, simply select one of the options and your vote will be automatically recorded.
You will receive a vote confirmation notification on your screen. You have the ability to amend your vote up until the time I declare voting closed. For those attending the meeting in person, if you are eligible to vote, you would've received a blue voting card at registration. If you believe you are entitled to vote and you've not received the correct voting card, please see the Computershare staff at the registration table. To cast your vote, simply complete and sign the back of your card. A Computershare representative will collect your voting card at the end of the meeting. I now declare voting open on the resolutions in items two to six. For our online shareholders, the voting options will soon be activated. Please submit your votes at any time.
I will give you time and a warning at the end of all items of business before I move to close the voting. The final results will be released to the market and Inghams website later today. If we experience technical difficulties in broadcasting the AGM to shareholders, we will pause the meeting and aim to recommence at the earliest opportunity. If these difficulties persist, I will assess the circumstances and then communicate further with you. If we take steps to adjourn the meeting, we will make an announcement to the ASX with all relevant details. Computershare is the returning officer for this meeting. Virtual attendees can submit questions at any time. To do so, please select the Q&A icon at the top of the Computershare platform. Select the topic your question relates to from the dropdown list, and then type your question into the text box.
Once finished, please press the Send button. Please note that while you can submit questions from now on, I will address them at the time when the relevant item of business is discussed. Please also note that your questions may be moderated, or if we receive multiple questions on the same topic, similar questions may be amalgamated. For those shareholders who wish to ask a verbal question via the telephone line, please follow the instructions below the broadcast. For our shareholders attending in person, those in possession of either a blue voting card or yellow non-voting card are welcome to ask questions, while those with a white visitor card are kindly requested to only observe during the meeting. If you believe you've not received the right card, then please go to the registration desk, where a Computershare representative will assist you.
I would like to thank shareholders who took the opportunity to submit questions in advance of today's AGM. These questions have been reviewed and will be responded to at the appropriate point during the course of the meeting. We will make every attempt to answer all questions today. If time constraints prevent us from doing this, responses to unanswered questions will be posted in the Investor Center of the Inghams website after the meeting. I would like to say it's a privilege to step into the role of Chair of Inghams. My transition has been made easier by the prudent governance and collegiate approach established by Peter Bush. I look forward to working with my Board colleagues, the management team, and our external stakeholders for the benefit of our company as we move through the next stages of growth and performance.
I would also like to introduce you to the other Board members here with us today. Starting from my immediate left, we have Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director, Andrew Reeves. Non-executive director and Chair of the Risk and Sustainability Committee, Jackie McArthur. Non-executive director and Chair of the Finance and Audit Committee, Michael Ihlein. Non-executive director, Tim Longstaff, who is standing for election at today's meeting. Non-executive director, Rob Gordon, who is standing for re-election today. Non-executive director, Linda Bardo Nicholls AO. We have our Company Secretary, David Matthews, and at the end of the table, we also have non-executive director and Chair of the People and Remuneration Committee, Robyn Stubbs, who is standing for re-election today. We also have our executive leadership team with us seated in the first row. Joining us also today representing our external auditor is KPMG partner Julie Cleary.
When we move to the formal business of the meeting, Julie will be available to respond to questions relevant to the conduct of the audit and the preparation and content of the independent auditor's report. Turning now to my presentation, which was released to the ASX earlier this morning. I would like to commence my presentation today by taking the opportunity on behalf of the Board and the management team to extend my most sincere thanks and appreciation to the recently retired long-serving Chairman, Peter Bush, in recognition of the immense contribution he has made to the Inghams business during his time as Chairman. Peter, who I'm very happy to say is here with us today, has enjoyed a long and successful career across a variety of sectors, notably in the fast-moving consumer goods industry in both executive and Board roles.
He has applied the great depth of knowledge and experience gained over many years to great effect at Inghams. Peter has been instrumental in Ingham's transition from private family-owned business to becoming an established listed company and building a Board and helping guide the establishment of a strong leadership team that we have in the business today. As the Chairman of the business throughout its life to date as a listed company, Peter was a calm, experienced and steadying hand, particularly during the tumultuous times that we have been through at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. Peter leaves the business in a sound position with solid foundations and underlying fundamentals. Peter, we thank you and wish you all the best for the next chapter and whatever it holds for you.
You know what? I'm just looking for that person.
This time last year, we spoke of the COVID-related challenges that we faced in Australia and New Zealand. Unfortunately, the last 12 months has continued to challenge us all. Ingham's FY 2022 financial results were delivered against the backdrop of a volatile operating environment driven by the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, labor challenges and floods in New South Wales and Queensland that placed further pressure on the operating environment. It also included the outbreak of war in Ukraine, which has had a significant impact on global fuel and feed prices. While the first half of FY 2022 was a challenging period for the business as a result of prolonged lockdowns and COVID-related operational disruptions, our headline results were broadly in line or ahead of the same period in FY 2021.
However, as the first half came to a close, the impacts of the rapid spread of the Omicron COVID-19 variant began to be felt, resulting in a significant increase in employee absenteeism in the second half, which negatively impacted our processing capabilities during this period. We also had to contend with an unprecedented level of supply chain disruption caused by COVID-19, which resulted in delays in key packaging and ingredients, transport issues arising from both truck and driver shortages, fuel levy increases due to global price growth and carbon dioxide supply constraints in both Australia and New Zealand which impacted our processing capabilities.
Reflecting these challenging business conditions, principally those experienced during the second half of the year, our FY 2022 results included core poultry volume growth of 4.2%, driving revenue of AUD 2.7 billion, an increase of 1.7%, a decline in earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization of 16.6% to AUD 370.4 million, a reduction in net profit after tax of 57.9% to AUD 35.1 million, a decline in earnings per share of 57.9% to AUD 0.0945 per share and fully franked dividends declared or paid totaling AUD 0.07 per share. The small final dividend that was declared reflected the significantly reduced profitability in the second half. We would expect dividends to improve as the recovery in operations and earnings that we are currently experiencing continues. Despite the market conditions that we've experienced and the interruptions we continue to manage through, Inghams' underlying business remains solid, supported by three key factors.
First, the poultry sector remains a growing sector and enjoys significant affordability advantage over red meat alternatives. This is a factor that we believe will provide important support to the sector and the Inghams business underpinning future demand. Secondly, the health and versatility benefits of poultry are well established, which aligns very well with the established trends and consumer preferences for healthier lifestyle options. Third, chicken has significant sustainability benefits, which I will comment on in a little bit more detail shortly. Against this backdrop, Inghams' core business is well-positioned for future growth with its geographically diverse network and integrated operating model. Thank you. While we have faced many challenges during the past year, our leadership team has demonstrated an enduring commitment to leading with care. We focused on keeping our people safe and being agile in our operations to continue to deliver quality products to our customers.
We want our people to go home safely to their families every day. Our Safety for Life program provides an important foundation, improving our safety performance, and achieving a vision of zero harm for our people. I am very pleased to report that our company-wide safety performance improved for the third consecutive year in FY 2022. When compared to our FY 2021 results, our lost time injury frequency rate measured per million hours worked declined 3% to 2.8, with the total recordable injury frequency rate declining 16% to 5.1. Importantly, these results were achieved during one of the most challenging operating environments many of us can remember, and are a credit to the relentless work on a focus on safe work practices by our entire team.
I would like to take this opportunity to recognize the hard work of our entire workforce and thank them for their resilience and unwavering commitment to our customers despite the many challenges the business faced during the year. As you will have read, there have been a number of changes at the board level this year. From time to time, the membership of the board is refreshed, ensuring that its members possess an appropriate range of skills, knowledge, and experience across the various areas relevant to Inghams' core capabilities and strategic objectives to deal with the current and emerging business issues. The board currently comprises eight independent non-executive directors and one executive director, being the CEO and Managing Director, Andrew Reeves. The performance and effectiveness of the board, its committees, and individual directors is regularly reviewed to ensure the board as a whole is working effectively and meeting its responsibilities.
During the reporting period, as announced to the ASX, Robyn Stubbs and Tim Longstaff were appointed as non-executive directors. Robyn was appointed to both the People and Remuneration Committee, which she now chairs, and to the Risk and Sustainability Committee. Tim was appointed to both the Risk and Sustainability Committee and to the Finance and Audit Committee. At this year's AGM, pursuant to the ASX Listing Rules and the company's constitution, Robyn and Tim both retire, and being eligible, have nominated for election as directors. You will hear from both Robyn and Tim when we move to the formal business of the meeting. This year, we also have Rob Gordon seeking re-election to the board. Rob was last elected to the board by shareholders in October 2019, and you will also hear from Rob a little later.
Turning now to a review of remuneration, starting with remuneration outcomes for FY 2022 and our plans for FY 2023. Based on the reduced performance of the company in FY 2022, short-term incentives were not awarded. While the company's performance in the key non-financial factors of core poultry sales volume growth, people safety, and food safety was strong, with scores that were at or above the maximum level set, the short-term incentive balanced scorecard outcome for FY 2022 was not achieved due to the financial hurdles not being met. As a result, and in line with our remuneration framework and policies, the final FY 2022 short-term incentive outcomes for executive KMP was zero. To quantify this outcome, it reflects a forfeited incentive value equivalent to approximately AUD 1.4 million at target and approximately AUD 2.1 million at maximum for the CEO and CFO combined.
Similar to the short-term plan, the long-term incentive plan covering FY 2020 to FY 2022 did not vest. Of the earnings per share hurdle, 0% vested. For the total shareholder return element, as Inghams was positioned at the 20th percentile against its comparator group, none of the relative TSR measure vested. The lapsed face value of the long-term incentive for the CFO was approximately half a million dollars, while the CEO did not participate in this plan tranche. In FY 2022, we undertook a thorough benchmarking process to assess KMP remuneration. The board determined no increases to total fixed remuneration for the CEO and MD and the CEO of New Zealand. The total fixed remuneration for the CFO was increased by 6.6% to create a better alignment with the benchmarking data for the role.
Our overall approach when undertaking such reviews is to ensure that we set remuneration at an appropriate level that reflects the skills, knowledge, and experience of the individual, that the company can compete effectively in the market for talented and experienced executives, and that remuneration outcomes are based on comparable market rates. Overall, we believe that we've achieved the right balance between these various elements. In the 2020 financial year, Inghams adopted the lease accounting standard AASB 16 in the reporting of its statutory financial results. Since that time, the company's financial results have been provided in both a pre and post AASB 16 formats to satisfy the various requests we've received at the time from investors and sell-side analysts. Consistent with previous years, both the FY 2022 short-term incentive plan and the FY 2022 to 2024 long-term incentive plan included financial measures based on a pre AASB 16 financial outcome.
You will recall that the board had previously committed to changing the return on invested capital for future incentive plans to a measure calculated by reference to post AASB 16 financial performance. Due to the complexity of selecting the most appropriate financial measures, it has taken us a little longer to implement this change. With the board reviewing a thorough analysis of the proposed changes to ensure that any changes to performance measures are aligned with company and shareholder value creation. In FY 2023, the short-term incentive financial measure and performance gate will move from EBITDA pre AASB 16 to EBIT post AASB 16. While the core volume sales growth measure remains unchanged for FY 2023, it will be removed in FY 2024. You will have noticed there is no resolution being tabled this year at the AGM for the approval of a long-term incentive scheme for the CEO.
A key performance element of the long-term plan is the return on invested capital measure, and this measure is significantly impacted by the application of AASB 16. Following a review by the board of the proposed LTI plan and budgeted post AASB 16 return on invested capital target, the board determined that it did not provide management with the appropriate incentives for making optimal long-term decisions in the best interest of the business and all shareholders. Accordingly, the board resolved to undertake a detailed review of an alternative LTI incentive structure with the aim of formulating a plan that aligns with shareholders' interests and provides management with the appropriate incentives for long-term decision-making. This work is currently underway, and the board will seek shareholder approval for both the FY 2023 to 2025 and FY 2024 to 2026 long-term incentive schemes for the CEO and managing director at the next AGM.
The board is committed to retaining our executive leadership talent. Today, the market for executive talent is highly competitive, and our high-performing people are being approached by other organizations with increasing frequency. Recognizing the importance of retaining the CEO and CFO in delivering improved returns to shareholders as the business cycles out of these challenging times, at this year's meeting, we are seeking approval for a one-off grant of performance rights. Vesting of the award will be subject to performance conditions measured against absolute total shareholder return over three years and held for one further year, and will be subject to additional individual performance clawbacks. The minimum absolute total shareholder return performance hurdle has been set at 10% per annum.
At this level, 30% of the award would vest, a straight-line vesting between 30% and 100% of the award applies up to the stretch performance of 20% per annum or greater. The board remains committed to ensuring the remuneration strategy reflects good governance, consultation with key stakeholders, and is transparent in its design to support the business strategy and drive sustainable outperformance for shareholders over the short, medium, and long term. For those who wish to read more, you will find the remuneration report starting on page 83 of the 2022 annual report. Our purpose and values are aligned with our objective to deliver consistent and reliable returns to our stakeholders. We believe this is only possible in a future where sustainability and climate change risks have been identified and mitigated. An important factor underpinning our approach and the future of the industry is the sustainability aspect of chicken.
With a carbon footprint that is estimated to be around five times smaller than red meat, chicken is the green animal protein, this will continue to be an important additional underpinning for the sector as we move forward. We are well-positioned to leverage this benefit and to make a positive difference by addressing sustainability challenges and opportunities through our focus on embedding sustainability best practice into everything that we do. With sustainability positioned as a core element of our strategy, we are embedding sustainable decision-making across our business with three key areas of focus. People and consumers. Our team of approximately 8,000 people are at the forefront of our purpose and are the most important asset in driving sustainability at Inghams.
We are committed to providing a safe and empowering workplace for our teams, as well as ensuring compliance across the supply chain, continuing to provide sustainable and nutritious products to our consumers, and supporting the communities where we work. Animals. We are committed to being leaders in animal welfare by protecting and improving the health, welfare, and comfort of our birds through monitoring, accountability, and innovative solutions and technology. Planet. Protecting and preserving the land on which we operate is core to delivering sustainable and quality products. We are committed to adapting and responding to the impacts of climate change by minimizing any negative environmental impacts through sustainable procurement, water stewardship, innovative waste solutions, and sustainable agriculture. We have made strong progress over the last year across a range of sustainability initiatives, which Andrew will detail during his presentation.
In line with our commitment to transparently report on our progress, our sustainability report has been updated and expanded, outlining our progress towards our 2030 planet targets and focusing on those key areas where we are making a positive difference. This year's report also continues our transparent reporting in alignment with the Task Force for Climate-related Financial Disclosures. Last year, we made a commitment to deliver on phase 2 of Ingham's TCFD roadmap. I am pleased to report that this year we have followed through with that commitment, undertaking a series of workshops to identify the key physical risks, transition risks, and opportunities facing us now and into the future. This information has guided this year's disclosure and the work we are doing to further develop our TCFD reporting going forward.
We recognize that sustainability and business performance are linked, and that to continue being leaders in sustainable poultry, we must challenge ourselves to make change, invest in the work required, and collaborate with our partners and customers to make a difference. Over the next 12 months, more detail will be shared about Inghams' sustainability strategy and the journey to achieve our goals. While the challenges of the global landscape and ongoing pandemic continue into FY 2023, I remain optimistic and confident in the prospects for the company and our future. The poultry sector remains an attractive and growing one, underpinned by a number of significant advantages, including a large price advantage and well-established health benefits over red meat and a meaningful sustainability advantage with a carbon footprint that is five times smaller than red meat.
We have a highly experienced team of leaders and a capable and committed passionate team of 8,000 people striving to deliver our customers with the highest quality products and services. Our journey will continue to focus on creating a safe, inclusive, and engaging environment for our people, taking care of our animals, protecting our planet, creating innovative and exciting products, and building strong relationships with our customers, all of which are essential as we look to build stronger and more stable returns for our shareholders. I will now hand you over to your Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director, Andrew Reeves, to take you through further operational highlights and more of the details that underpin our business and our performance. Thank you, Andrew.
Thanks, Helen, and good morning, everyone. It's my pleasure to be presenting at today's annual general meeting and would like to add my welcome to all of you who are joining us today. As many of you know, Inghams is the largest integrated protein producer across Australia and New Zealand, providing chicken, turkey, and plant-based protein products to major retail, quick service restaurants, food service distributors, and wholesalers. Our diverse network provides us with a number of important advantages, including no poultry products can be imported into Australia, with the exceptions of certain fully cooked items from New Zealand, ensuring local supply through a network of regional operating facilities, fully servicing our national and local customer requirements, mitigating agricultural risk and managing feed volatility, and managing biosecurity and operational risks. It also gives us the optionality, sorry, and flexibility for future growth.
Inghams' operations are vertically integrated and hard to replicate. Aside from the obvious barriers to entry this creates, there are other important benefits that we derive from this model. By controlling all elements of the production process, we're able to realize efficiencies across all aspects of our supply chain, which you can see being realized throughout the years through our continuous improvement strategies and processes. Following on from this, we're able to ensure that we achieve the appropriate production balance across our operations, which combined with operational excellence, are keys to growing margin over time. I'd like now to make a few comments regarding our financial performance in FY 2022. As Helen has already noted, our financial performance in FY 2022 reflected what was a very challenging period for our business, which was characterized by the impact of a number of significant events outside our control.
The broad operational disruption we experienced during the year as a result of COVID-19 pandemic, compounded by the spread of the Omicron variant and the strict isolation rules put in place by government, resulted in a sharp increase in employee absenteeism in the second half or the first half of this calendar year. The material impact of labor shortages on our processing capabilities during Q3, combined with the effect of softer demand across other channels in the first half, saw a progressive industry-wide volume shift to the wholesale channel during the year, which depressed wholesale prices for much of this period. To put the issues of labor shortages in perspective, at points in time, our processing plants experienced absenteeism rates as high as 50%, which had wide-ranging effects on our ability to produce our full range of products.
One example of this would be our packaging processes, where the shortage of labor meant we could not place products into tray packs that you find in your local supermarket, which meant we had to stop making certain products until we had sufficient people return to complete these important steps in the process. Importantly, however, as these pressures abated in the final quarter, we saw the wholesale channel pricing recover. I'm very pleased to say that we've seen a sustained strong recovery in pricing as processing activities have normalized. I am confident, given the reduction in the COVID infection levels and the change in government isolation rules, the risk of such high absenteeism is now behind us. The cost environment is a challenging one for all businesses. Our costs remain elevated, mainly driven by feed and transport.
Our operational efficiency programs have helped offset some of these inflationary impacts. However, they alone are not sufficient to fully offset the cost pressures experienced by the business. That said, the overall program continues to deliver strong results and is expected to be an important ongoing contributor to our future financial results. We achieved good price increases across all channels and customers during the period. With the increases we have achieved in New Zealand contributing to FY 2022, while Australian price increases will make a meaningful contribution in FY 2023. In terms of our pricing, our average selling price or ASP has recovered strongly since its low point in mid-January, increasing 6.6% to the end of June as a result of improvements in channel mix and significant price recovery in wholesale and price increases achieved with customers.
Broadly, we have been seeking to achieve price increases that offset our cost inflation environment. Discussions remain ongoing with all customers should we need to seek further increases. Over the last year, I've talked at length in different forums about the importance Inghams places on sustainability and our long track record of embedding sustainability practices into our business. This sustained effort and focus has resulted in us becoming recognized industry leaders in water stewardship, sustainable agriculture, and sustainable food production. Importantly, we continue to make great progress on advancing our sustainability agenda, as evidenced by our performance across a wide range of indicators covering our three principal areas of focus.
In the area of our people, we are committed to a vision of zero harm for our people by supporting their health, safety, and well-being. I am pleased to report a firm improvement in our safety performance, underpinned by our Safety for Life program, which is aimed at reducing injuries identified in high-risk activities. We aim to provide a safe, inclusive, and supportive workplace. It is a priority for FY 2022 and FY 2023 to establish foundations that will accelerate these goals. The key element within that is our commitment to improving gender equality. Currently, women comprise 28% of our senior leadership team, up from 20% last year. We are working towards achieving a minimum 40% of women in senior leadership roles by 2025. We are recognized as a leader in animal welfare throughout our innovative and transparent animal welfare practices and accountable leadership.
Our animal welfare policy, objectives, and measures are based on the traditional five freedoms. They also go further than that, promoting positive experiences and quality of life. We published our inaugural animal welfare report in the financial year of 2021. We continue to build on these outlined commitments to animal welfare. We have also invested to improve animal welfare, implementing the HatchCare system at two hatcheries, which ensures our newly hatched chicks get light, food, and water from the moment they hatch. On the environment side, we have established commitment to reducing greenhouse gas emissions generated by our operations and supply chain and respond to the impacts of climate change. I am very pleased to report that we have achieved further improvements across our key indicators in FY 2022. You can read more about our ESG achievements in our annual report for 2022.
Moving now to an update on our strategy. Since I became CEO last year, we have been reviewing and updating Inghams' strategy, culminating in a strategy day with our board and leadership team in mid-October. The poultry sector has a number of important structural underpinnings, which both we and our major customers see as providing the opportunity for growth, both in the size and the value of the category relative to other proteins. The long-standing affordability of poultry is an important factor that will underpin future demand growth for the sector. Chicken consumption has been steadily growing for the better part of the last 60 years. With significant pricing that continues to be observed versus other land-based proteins, we believe the poultry sector is well-placed to deliver future growth.
Additionally, the health and versatility benefits of poultry are well-established, which aligns very well with the ongoing trends and consumer preferences for healthier lifestyle options. The opportunity exists for us to partner with key customers and create shared value beyond the traditional transactional relationship model. We see significant opportunities for innovation across the product range and customer experience of poultry. Inghams is uniquely placed to have the kind of closer and more integrated relationship with our key customers. We believe this is going to be necessary to create these outcomes. We are clearer on our strengths that will help create value within these partnerships, such as insight and innovation, our network and production capabilities that support our customers' growth. A commitment to sustainability and the concept of Raised Right, which is only growing in importance to our consumers' food choices.
Underlying this, we will also continue to consider opportunities to improve the structure and efficiency of the network through various means, including continuous improvement, automation, and plant specialization. Finally, we will continue to develop and transform the culture of our business and reinforce the capabilities required to create value through a continuous focus on leadership and people development. We believe this will create a platform for sustainable long-term growth through co-creating product and ranges for and with customers that are worth more and grow the profit pool, increase the distinctiveness of these products, and making ourselves an indispensable partner, supporting the growth of our customers, who are the leading players in their markets to support above-market volume and value growth for Inghams, create the organization and workforce that can deliver this value better than any other, and ultimately improving the returns on capital required to continue to grow our business.
I am pleased to say that the business recovery that commenced during the final quarter of FY 2022 has been ongoing. While we continue to manage some variability in our operational tempo due to ongoing supply chain disruptions and labor availability issues, our operations remain on path to full recovery, returning to normal operating levels and product range availability. Our sales volumes in the first quarter are slightly lower than prior corresponding period, reflecting a slight softening in demand and some variability in customer service levels, which we continue to expect to return to normal in due course. As we outlined at the FY 2022 results, we have achieved good price increases across our entire customer base, the benefits of which are now being seen. The significant recovery in wholesale price that was underway in the last quarter of the last financial year has been maintained.
We have observed something of a stabilization in feed costs since our results in mid-August, with small declines in both wheat and soy meal pricing. Despite this, feed prices remain elevated due to tight global supply as a result of the continuing uncertainty surrounding production in the Ukraine and related trade flows, poor growing conditions in North and South America, and elevated transport costs. While the stabilization is a welcome relief, we do not expect any benefit from reduced pricing to be felt until later in FY 2023 and into FY 2024. We remain in active discussions to secure further price increases to offset ongoing feed cost and other inflationary pressures should this be necessary. While we continue to experience operational disruptions in some shape or form, farming and plant operations remain on path to recovery, supporting in turn an ongoing improvement in customer service levels.
Supply chain disruptions remain a feature of our operating environment, with New Zealand experiencing more pronounced effects, including ongoing labor shortages and a countrywide shortage of CO2, carbon dioxide, which is mainly used in our further processing facilities. We have now completed the conversion of our Auckland processing facility from CO2 to nitrogen-based cooling to mitigate this operational challenge. I am pleased to report that we have opened a new distribution center located in Truganina, west of the Melbourne CBD, and are working through the commissioning process for this facility. We are also making good progress on a new rearing farm in northern New South Wales. Thanks to the hard work of the project team, the project is on time, on budget, and expected to commence operations in the middle of this month. More broadly, as I mentioned earlier, we are busy working through a strategy, network, and capital plan update.
In closing, and on behalf of our management team, I would like to thank you for your continued support and for joining us today. I'll now hand back to Helen to conduct the formal items of business. Thanks, Helen.
Thank you, Andrew. I will now move to the formal items of business. The notice of meeting was lodged with the ASX on the 7th of October, 2022, and is also available on the Inghams website in the Investor Centre. I propose the notice of meeting be taken as read. Each resolution set out in the notice of meeting is to be considered as an ordinary resolution and to be approved by a simple majority of votes cast by shareholders entitled to vote. For all items of business and in accordance with any voting exclusions that apply to each resolution, undirected proxies that have been given to the chair or my fellow directors will be voted in favor of those items. The results of today's meeting will be released to the ASX and published on the Inghams Group Limited website later today.
The first item of business is to receive and consider the financial report of the company and its controlled entities and the reports of the directors and auditor for the year ended 25th of June 2022. The annual financial report, directors report, and auditors report are contained in the company's 2022 annual report, which was released to the market on the 7th of October and can be found on the Inghams Group website. As I noted earlier, KPMG partner Julie Cleary is with us today and available to respond to questions relevant to the conduct of the audit and the preparation and the content of the independent auditors report and the independence declaration. This item of business is for discussion only. The Corporations Act directs that there is no vote required. I will now take questions on this item of business, starting with any questions in the room.
Yes, sir. Yeah, thank you.
I'm Graham Cureton, I'm a proxy holder for my self-managed super fund. About a couple of years ago, I raised the issue of the labor line within trade credits. I'm led to believe, basically, this is an inventory procurement mode. Question mark. Is it actually procurement?
Thank you, Graham, for your question. We do actually have Gary Mallett, our Group CFO. Gary, I think you handled this question last year. I'll ask you to respond to Graham.
It wasn't a year last year.
Three years ago.
Okay, three years ago.
We're all online.
Yes. Okay. Is it included?
Yes.
Okay. That's the question, and that's the liability side of it. How is the other side spread?
Any inquiry.
As approved.
[audio distortion].
The cannabis inventory.
Inventory.
As a current asset.
Okay, thanks for that. That's it. I still can't seem how it can't be included in the outcome details. It's an interest-bearing loan.
It is interest-bearing.
Yes
procurement.
It's not involved in.
It's short-term.
Okay, right. My other question basically is, the leases. Can you give any comments on how rising interest rates may or may not affect the leasing liabilities of the company?
Gary, I think that's another question right up your street. Thank goodness you're here.
With the leases there, they will not adjust with the changing interest rates. They're on long-term lease arrangements, and they've got yearly escalations, either for fixed amounts or related to CPI, and generally they're lower rates.
That's with a modification clause in the report.
That's on the payment side.
Yes.
Obviously the liability is done as a present value, that does have some impact on the liability side. On the cash side, it's a rate that was negotiated at the inception of the lease.
Is the weighted average life of the lease about five years?
We show that in our full-year results. There's two elements. There's the grower contracts.
Yes.
They're generally shorter. They're about four years. Then the property leases, which is the other element. I think it was 12 years, but I'd need to just double-check what we said at the full year.
Yeah. Does your public pays tax each quarter?
Yes.
I just noticed.
Keep going.
I just noticed the franking credits balance is at about AUD 16.6 million, and what we've paid is about AUD 16.3 million. If the company's returning to normal, and if I took a guess at a particular level of dividends, it would not be fully franked.
Gary, would you like to make a comment?
It totally depends on how much tax is paid.
Yeah
is the answer to that question. Yes, we do pay it quarterly.
Cool. Thank you.
Thank you. Thank you, Graham. Do we have any other questions in relation to the audit or the accounts in the room? Brett, do we have any questions online or on the phone?
Chair, we've got one question online from Mr. and Mrs. Crowley. "As the company claims to be the largest poultry producer, why hasn't it passed on some of the increased costs? The rival companies must also be under cost pressure and would be unlikely to try and undercut pricing. If the answer is that the company has locked in prices with no escape clauses, who was responsible, and what steps are being taken?
I'm happy to. Yeah. Thank you, Mr. and Mrs. Crowley, for your question. As you will have heard from Andrew's presentation earlier, we have had good success in passing along price increases to all customers. These increases have taken effect progressively over the past year, with increases in New Zealand reflected in our FY 2022 results, while Australian price increases will have a more meaningful impact in FY 2023, as Andrew said. Importantly, we maintain an open dialogue with all of our customers and will seek further increases as required. Brett, do we have any more questions?
Chair, there are no further questions online.
Thank you. Are there any questions on the telephone line?
There are no questions on the telephone lines.
Okay. Thank you, Brett. As there are no further questions, I will now move to the resolutions. Item two, the first resolution today is for the election of Robyn Stubbs as Non-Executive Director of the company. Robyn was appointed a Non-Executive Director of the company on the 20th of January 2022. Pursuant to the ASX Listing Rules and the company's constitution, Robyn will retire at the conclusion of the meeting and, being eligible, is nominated for election as a director at the meeting. Robyn is currently chair of the People and Remuneration Committee and a member of the Risk and Sustainability Committee of the company. Robyn is a board director and executive coach working across the commercial and government sectors and draws on a successful career with more than 25 years as a senior executive in large, complex organizations.
With her experience on board committees at the Aventus Group, Brickworks Limited, and InvoCare, she brings strong board-level perspective on culture and people, as well as remuneration. She also brings great knowledge in customer behavior, marketing, and digitization. The board believes Robyn provides a valuable contribution to the board with her expertise and experience across other major listed companies across diverse sectors and accordingly, unanimously supports Robyn's election. I would now like to invite Robyn to say a few words in support of her election. Robyn.
Thank you, Chair, and good morning, everyone. It's a great pleasure to be here with you today and to be considered for election to the Inghams board. Since my appointment to the board in January, I've been both a member and more recently, Chair of the People and Remuneration-
Invite Robyn to say a few words in support of her election-
Committee and a member of the Risk and Sustainability Committee. A little bit about my professional background, building on Helen's comments. During the course of my executive career, which spans 25 years, I held senior roles with multinational and ASX-listed organizations, and these involved financial accountability in business units for household names, companies like Stockland, Lendlease, Fairfax, Network 10, and Unilever. A significant part of my time as an executive was spent in customer-facing roles, including market research, brand strategy, product development, sales, leasing, and communications. As a senior executive, I successfully built and led geographically dispersed teams, including through periods of significant volatility and change, perhaps most notably throughout the GFC in 2008. These periods taught me a great deal and required significant flexibility, responsiveness, and rethinking of both business models and structures.
Following my transition to board director role seven years ago with a successful IPO of Aventus Property, I gained significant ASX-listed experience through independent non-executive director roles at Brickworks, Aventus, and InvoCare Limited. I have previously chaired people, remuneration, and culture committees on other boards, including Aventus and for InvoCare. During that time, I led substantial remuneration structure reviews. I currently serve on two other ASX-listed companies, ASX 200-listed companies, HomeCo Daily Needs REIT and Brickworks. I believe I bring deep skills and highly relevant experience to Inghams across a number of important disciplines, including product development and marketing, digitalization, people, and remuneration. My experience reflects my deep interest in leadership development, working with Stephenson Mansell Group as a qualified executive coach and mentor to a diverse range of senior clients across telco, retail, financial services, property, legal, and government sectors.
Thank you so much for your time and for considering my re-election for the board.
Thank you, Robyn. I'll now take questions on this item, starting with questions in the room. Yes, Graham.
I'd like to make a comment, if I may, on the structure of the board. Simple fact of why I do this, I think there's too many people. No dispute that the qualifications of the people are there. They are superb. Simple fact, if you take a random look through the market of company capitalized at AUD 1 billion, random check, CSR capitalized at AUD 2.5 billion, five plus one. GUD, five plus one. Costco, five plus one. Bega at six plus one. This company's got too many independent directors. I mean, got a fabulous investor management team who drive the business. Having been on boards myself in my career, it's quite simple. With AUD 1 billion, too many. I reckon next board meeting, you should have a bigger round table and say, "Let's cut this back to a normal number." No dispute with the qualifications of the people.
Thank you.
Thank you, Graham. Your comment is noted. I think as I said in my address, we review the construct and the skills and the makeup of the board regularly. This board is actually one director less than it was a year ago. Your comment is noted, and we review it on a going basis. Are there any more questions in the room? Brett, do we have any online questions?
Chair, we have one question online from Mr. Robert Crone. Directed to Robyn, "Have you or do you intend to have a role in Inghams executive coaching?
Thank you, Mr. Crone. No, I don't have a role in Inghams executive coaching and at this point have no intention of doing so.
Thank you, Robyn. Brett, do we have any further questions online or on the phone?
Chair, no further questions online or on the phone.
Okay. Moving to the proxy results. The proxy results are now shown on the screen. I will pause briefly while you cast your vote. Moving to item 3. Item 3 is the election of Tim Longstaff as a Non-Executive Director of the company. Tim was appointed as a Non-Executive Director of the company on the 20th of January, 2022. Pursuant to the ASX Listing Rules and the company's constitution, Tim will retire at the conclusion of the meeting and being eligible, is nominated for election as a Director at the meeting. Tim is a member of the Finance and Audit Committee and the Risk and Sustainability Committee of the company. Tim had a 25-year career in investment banking, with many years in managing director and senior executive roles at top-tier global investment banking firms.
More recently, Tim served as a senior advisor to the Federal Minister for Finance and leader of the government in the Senate and the Federal Minister for Trade, Tourism and Investment. He is also a Non-Executive Director of Snowy Hydro Limited, Perenti Global Limited, and The George Institute for Global Health, and a member of the Takeovers Panel. The Board believes that Tim provides a valuable contribution to the Board with expertise in financial management and analysis, sources, structure, and allocation of capital, and strategy development and execution. In addition, he brings experience across a range of other organizations operating in different sectors of the Board. The Board unanimously supports Tim's election. I'd now like to invite Tim to say a few words in support of his election. Tim.
Thank you, Helen, and good morning, ladies and gentlemen. It is an honor to have served as a director of Inghams since January of this year. I thought I might share with you some of my initial impressions, which are all positive. Inghams does have, as has been covered, the leading market share. It leverages its diversified, vertically integrated operating model. It does have top-tier customers across a range of market segments. We care deeply for our people. We lead in animal welfare. We have got a skilled, dedicated, and effective management team led by Andrew and an experienced and collegiate board led by Helen. Inghams really does reflect its purpose of deliciously good food in the best way.
As a fellow shareholder, I am conscious that external shocks meant that the 2022 financial year was tough for Inghams, and the cost environment remains challenging in FY 2023, as covered in the chair and CEO's address. In this context, can I emphasize three things that will be my focus? First, it is restoring Inghams' financial performance and creating enduring shareholder value that reflects Inghams' strong market position. Secondly, it is to do this sustainably, measured and assessed across a broad range of measures. Lastly, it is to work collaboratively with the board, management, and indeed broader Inghams colleagues, reflecting Inghams' values of care, courage, curiosity, and commitment. I am now pleased to put myself forward to you as fellow owners of Inghams for re-election as a director. Helen covered my background well, and it is on the screen. I thought I would touch, though, on three primary skills therefore that I bring to the Inghams board.
The first is the finance skill suite, including accounts and capital structure that were developed during my time as a qualified chartered accountant with PricewaterhouseCoopers and in banking. The second is about strategy, refined during 25 years in investment banking, including M&A and investment generally across the business. Last, it is around stakeholder management and corporate affairs skills, fine-tuned in my time in government. As Helen said, I am now a professional non-executive director sitting on three boards outside Inghams and also on the Takeovers Panel. Your support is appreciated, and thank you very much.
Thank you, Tim. I will now take questions on this item, starting with questions in the room. It appears we have no questions in the room. Brett, do we have questions online or on the phone?
Chair, there are no questions online or on the phone for this item.
Thank you, Brett. Moving to the proxy results. I will pause briefly while you cast your vote. Moving to item four. Item four is the re-election of Rob Gordon as a non-executive director of the company. Rob was appointed as a non-executive director of the company on the 11th of April 2019 and was last elected by shareholders on the 17th of October 2019. Pursuant to the ASX Listing Rules and the company's constitution, Rob will retire at the conclusion of the meeting and, being eligible, is seeking re-election as a non-executive director at the meeting. Rob is a member of the Finance and Audit Committee and Risk and Sustainability Committee of the company. Rob has nearly 40 years' experience in the fast-moving consumer goods and agribusiness sectors.
This includes over 20 years in chief executive officer and managing director roles for companies including Dairy Farmers Limited, Goodman Fielder Limited, and Viterra. He is currently the chief executive officer of Limited and a Rabobank Agribusiness advisory board member. The board believes that he continues to provide valuable contribution to the board with his expertise and extensive experience across a range of other major agribusiness, food, and FMCG organizations, and unanimously supports his election. I'd now like to invite Rob to say a few words in support of his re-election. Rob.
Thank you very much, Helen, and good morning to everybody in attendance today. It's been a privilege to have served a first term on the Inghams board as a non-executive director, and today I seek your support for a second term. Whilst the chair has mentioned a number of the roles that I've held over a 40-year career, I thought it may be helpful to just draw some parallels to the issues that are very relevant to a poultry business like Inghams. During my time with Dairy Farmers and Goodman Fielder, I was involved personally in negotiating large private label supply contracts for white milk and packaged bread. I have been involved in building innovative brand portfolios, which add real value when looking after the Uncle Tobys brand, MeadowLea, Dairy Farmers, Streets Ice Cream, and Sunrise consumer brands.
In my time with Viterra, I was responsible for a large grain trading operation that traded the very grains that are key components to the inputs of Inghams. Indeed, I have been also responsible for feed businesses, stock feed businesses, in both Australia and New Zealand on two separate occasions. With that experience, on top of the last couple of years being responsible and leading the ESG framework for the SunRice Group, and early in my career, modeling supply chain networks for Unilever in response to the European Common Market being instigated, I think you'll see that a number of the challenges currently facing Inghams are certainly relevant to the experience that I bring to the table.
When first nominated three years ago, there was a question raised at this meeting about my capacity to both serve as a CEO of an ASX-listed company as well as be a non-executive director of another ASX-listed company. Whilst the last three years has certainly shown that at times there's a lot of reading to be done on certain weekends, how do I manage that capacity? I think it helps, first of all, that there are tremendous similarities between my executive role and non-executive roles. The issues that are faced, both of the businesses, are very common, and often insights from one business help the other, and therefore there's a complementary nature to the issues that are discussed around the board table. I have tremendous support from a very collegiate Inghams board and a very capable board and management team.
I have, on the personal side, grown-up children and a very long-suffering and tolerant wife, and they all expect me to disappear for weekends at a time to read copious quantities of board papers for both organizations. For that, I'm very, very grateful. It allows me to certainly dedicate myself to both organizations. I think there is also, I'm in my 11th year as the chief executive of Ricegrowers, and therefore, the learning curve, I think, is reasonably well behind me, and it allows me to dedicate the time necessary to contribute to the Inghams board. As has been mentioned a number of times today, I think the competence and skill base of the Inghams executive team is first rate.
The collegial nature of the relationship between the board and management, and particularly the facilitation of that by a very experienced and competent CEO in Andrew, I think has really led to quite an exciting time ahead for Inghams, despite the current business circumstances that provide the headwinds that have been described this morning. I'm enormously excited by the prospect of gaining your support for a second term and helping the management and the business to realize the full potential of this great Australian business. I'd very much appreciate your support in achieving that. Thank you.
Thank you, Rob. I will now take questions on this item, starting with questions in the room. Yes, sir. Graham.
I think aside from, like I said a couple of weeks ago, I still stand by that particular opinion. Thank you.
Thank you, Graham. I do think Rob preemptively answered your question. I can just add, Rob is an incredibly diligent director. He is thorough in his pre-reading. He thinks deeply about the meetings. He is always available. Of course, there's occasionally going to be a clash. He always reaches out to members of the committee or the board ahead of the meeting, asks questions, and provides his input. Yeah.
He recommends some good golf courses.
Thank you. Brett, do we have any questions online or on the phone?
Chair, we have one question online from Mr. Robert Crone. Please outline the contribution you made to solving Inghams' feed cost problems.
Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Crone. Obviously, the executive team are responsible for solving the problems of feed. What I can do is offer advice, insight, and also from my experience in the ag sector, provide relevant contemporary insights to the direction of feed, what's likely to be happening. At the end of the day, the decisions are made by the management team with the advice and counsel of the board, and hopefully I've been able to provide that input.
Thank you, Rob. Brett, are there any further questions?
Chair, there are no further questions online or on the phone.
Thank you, Brett. Moving to the proxy results. I will now pause briefly whilst you cast your vote. Moving to item number 5. Item 5 deals with the adoption of the remuneration report for the year ended the 25th of June 2022. The remuneration report is contained on pages 83 to 106 of the annual report and sets out the remuneration policies of the company and reports on the remuneration arrangements in place for the company's KMP during the 2022 financial year. Earlier this year, Peter Bush and I met with a number of stakeholders to discuss the company's current remuneration plans and update ourselves on the key issues for investors.
We remain committed to ensuring the remuneration strategy reflects good governance, consultation with key stakeholders, and is transparent in its design to support the business strategy and drive sustainable outperformance for shareholders over the short, medium, and long term. While the vote on the remuneration report is a non-binding one, it is a valuable source of feedback, the board will take the following discussions on the outcome of the vote into account in setting remuneration policy for future years. I will now take questions on this item, starting with questions in the room. Are there any questions on this item? No questions in the room. Brett, are there any questions online or via the phone?
Chair, we have no questions online or via the phone for this item.
Thank you, Brett. I will now move to the proxy results. The proxy results are now shown on the screen. I will pause briefly whilst you cast your vote. Moving to item number six. This is a resolution for a one-off grant of performance rights to the CEO and Managing Director. Through this resolution, the company is seeking shareholder approval for a one-off grant of performance rights to the CEO and Managing Director, Andrew Reeves, for the financial year ended the 25th of June 2022. The board is aware of the competitive external labor market and the increasing frequency with which high-performing people are being approached by other organizations. The board is committed to retaining our executive leadership talent and recognize the importance of retaining the CEO and Managing Director to delivering improved returns to shareholders as the business cycles out of these challenging times.
It is for these reasons that we seek a one-off grant of performance rights. The performance period for the proposed award is three years, commencing on the 19th of August 2022. The performance rights will vest at the end of the relevant performance period, subject to the satisfaction of an absolute total shareholder return condition, which is outlined in the notice of meeting. Performance will not be retested if the performance conditions are not satisfied at the end of the relevant performance period. Any performance rights that remain unvested at the end of the relevant performance period will lapse immediately. The board, with Andrew abstaining, recommends that shareholders vote in favor of the grant of one-off performance rights to Andrew. I will now take questions on this item, starting with questions in the room. Are there any questions on this item? Brett, it appears there is no questions in the room.
Are there questions online or on the phone?
Chair, we have received a couple of questions online for this item. The first question has been amalgamated from those received by Mr. and Mrs. Crowley and Mr. and Mrs. McCarthy, and is as follows: "Why should the company even consider a remuneration payment to Mr. Reeves? Since his appointment to the board in 2019 and subsequent appointment to the MD CEO position, the company share price has fallen each year to its present low. Someone wants to reward him. There are many talented operators in the country. Further, why are you paying performance rights to the CEO when dividends are at their lowest?
Thank you to those shareholders for their questions. In terms of the performance of the business in FY 2022, it has indeed been a very challenging year, and we acknowledge the impact external factors have had on Inghams as we've managed through the impacts of the pandemic and other relatively more recent external events. As you will have read in our remuneration report, neither the short-term or the long-term incentive plans paid out in FY 2022, reflecting the lower corporate performance and thus ensuring strong alignment between Andrew's compensation and the performance of the business. The reason for presenting a one-off structure to shareholders for consideration today is in recognition of the very competitive labor market we're faced with and the board's desire to retain Andrew at Inghams, and its confidence in his skill and ability to execute on our strategy to deliver improved performance for the benefit of all shareholders.
Brett, are there any more questions online or on the phone?
Chair, the next question online is from Devender Chhabra. "Hi. If the share price is down significantly, why should performance bonus be given to executives?
Thank you for your question. I think that question is relatively similar to the question that we've just answered. It does reflect the fact that we're in a very challenging cycle at the moment. Executives have, in line with shareholders, forfeited a large amount of variable rem, and the reason for putting this scheme in place is to retain this key talent as we cycle out of this cycle and see our operations and earnings improve. Brett, are there any further questions?
Chair, there are no further questions for this item online or on the phone.
Okay. Thank you. I will now move to the proxy results. The proxy results are now shown on the screen. I will pause briefly while you cast your vote. That concludes the resolutions. As a reminder, voting will close once the general business part of the meeting has concluded. If you've not yet completed your voting, I encourage you to do so now. I will now move to general business. Shareholders are now invited to ask general questions regarding the company. I will now take general questions, starting with questions in the room. Are there any questions?
Just a quick question. In terms of price increases, how difficult is it to get through Woolworths, Coles and the winter side of the business?
Thank you, Graham. A very important question. I might ask Andrew to make a comment on that, if I may.
The fact is, with each of those customers, we've achieved price increases this year. It's never easy. You always need to justify your position. You take your evidence in there. The environment at the moment is that those customers, well, not just us, but are experiencing a lot of demands from their suppliers for increased prices. You may have noticed the Woolworths recent announcement this week that they have something like a 7% inflation outlet. If you take the last 10 or 15 years, Woolworths has had nothing like that in their business. There's clearly a recognition that we're all dealing with a very demanding cost environment, and that cost has got to be passed through. It's not easy, but we're managing to get it through at the moment.
Thank you, Andrew. Brett, are there any questions online or on the phone?
Chair, we have a number of questions for general business. The first question is from Mr. and Mrs. Crowley. "Not many companies prosper in the longer term where the managing director is also the CEO. The workload on an MD CEO is too demanding unless the appointee has total control of the so-called independent board members who are mainly puppets nominated by the MD. Is it not the time to separate the two functions?
Okay. Thank you, Mr. and Mrs. Crowley, for the question. I will answer this question, but then I'll also build on it, just to make sure that I cover off what I think you might also be asking. It's very common practice, particularly in public companies, for the CEO to be a board member and thus to hold the managing director title. It is our view that we have a strongly majority independent board that exercises a very high degree of oversight over the strategy and activities of the business. As you see from today's formal business, we've also refreshed that board with two new, highly experienced independent non-executive directors. What is less common, and against the good governance corporate principles, is to have a chair and a CEO fulfilled by the same person.
That is something that is against the corporate governance guidelines and is something that this board would not support. I just wanted to cover that off because that also may have been an angle attached to that question. Brett, are there any more questions online or on the phone?
Chair, our next question is from Mr. Philip Dunlop. "When will the organization achieve equality by gender, ethnicity, including indigenous and disability in CEO and chairperson, board management, and staff? How will you keep stakeholders advised of your plans, including recruitment, training, and progress toward achieving the goals?
Thank you, Mr. Philip Dunlop, for your question. Like many organizations, Inghams has made good progress but has more work to do on diversity and inclusion. We have been focused on getting our foundations right, leadership and governance, and also engaging and trialing different approaches in either specific locations or across the whole organization. Some of our standout achievements include, during FY 2022, 55% of all people manager promotions were women. We have increased our female senior leaders from 20 to 28% over the last 18 months, and we have made an overt commitment that by 2025, 40% of our senior leaders will be women. We're developing a Reconciliation Action Plan, known as a RAP, for approval within this financial year. Our remuneration benchmarking process ensures zero gender pay discrimination, helping us to close the gap year on year and maintain our zero gender discrimination.
We've undertaken many multicultural celebrations and events to develop stronger awareness, inclusion, and engagement amongst our people. Moving forward, our key areas of focus are indigenous representation and disability. We will set our RAP plan on our disability targets in this financial year and report our progress from 2024 onwards as part of our broader sustainability report. I just wanted to underline that the Inghams board and executive team are deeply committed to driving continuous improvement in diversity, equality, and inclusion. Thank you for your question. Brett, do we have any more questions online or on the phone?
Chair, our final question online is from Devender Chhabra. "What is the cybersecurity precautions being undertaken by Inghams?
A very pertinent and topical question, I think something that is occupying the minds of every board. I might ask Andrew to make a couple of comments on how we're addressing that.
Thanks, Helen. We undertook, earlier this year, a major independent review of our cybersecurity risk and profile. As a result of that, we recommended to the board a program of improving our cybersecurity. We've recently put in place new structures where we brought in a number of new roles into the business with cybersecurity experts, which we didn't have in the business before. We're also undergoing a major business transformation project, which, with the upgrading of those systems, will also enhance our cybersecurity protection. It's an ongoing issue. It's on our risk register. It's reviewed constantly by the executive team, and obviously with our board, and we recognize it's a very high priority risk for us to be on top of.
Thank you, Andrew. Brett, do we have any final questions online or on the phone?
Chair, we have one final question from Mr. Robert Crone. "What's your timeframe to complete new joint partnering arrangements with major customers, and what new products will emanate?
Thank you, Mr. Crone. I might ask our chief executive to make a comment on that.
I wouldn't today be talking about new products or things that we might be bringing to market in specific detail because I don't particularly want to give that away to our competitive environment. However, that's an ongoing issue. We're constantly introducing new products and new formats to the market. In the last financial year, we had a very successful introduction of a new upgraded frozen range of packs, which have been incredibly successful in the marketplace. That's an ongoing issue for the business. We review our trading terms, our supply agreements on an ongoing basis with all of our customers. They don't all come due at the same time. Some customers, we have an informal relationship with, it's quite a mixed bag. There's nothing imminent right now in terms of those relationships.
Those partnerships are in place, those agreements are in place, we're working through them as a business as usual.
Thank you, Andrew. Brett, are there any further questions online or on the phone?
Chair, there are no further questions online or on the phone.
Thank you, Brett. As there are no further questions, voting is now closed, and I declare this annual general meeting of Inghams Group Limited closed. On behalf of the board, thank you for joining us today.