Thank you. Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. Okay. I'm Peter Bush's chairman of Ian's Group Limited, and on behalf of the board, I'd like to welcome all shareholders and gifts to our 2020 annual general meeting. It's now 10 AM, and there being a quorum present by the clear that 2020 Annual General Meeting of the Ingham's group limits is open.
Before I move on, I would like to extend my sincere sympathies to the Ingham family following the passing of Bob, England, in September. While I did not know Bob personally, we are proud to continue to support the family's legacy and build on this great company was conceived in 1918 and continues to go from strength to strength. Today's virtual meeting reflects our, our response to government restrictions on public gatherings and our ongoing commitment to keep our stakeholders safe throughout the COVID pandemic. So while we're not able to be together, for the meeting today. We hope this AGM, to make this AGM as interactive as possible for shareholders You will be able to listen in real time.
Some big questions online in writing and shareholders, proxy holders and shareholder company representatives may vote online. Please note that eligible voters can submit questions at any time beginning now and we will do our best to answer them during the meeting. I'm joined in the room today by Non Executive Director and Chair of the Finance And Audit Committee, Mike Aileen, Non Executive Director and Chair of the Risk And Sustainability Committee Jackie McCarthy, Non Executive Director and Chair of People And Immunorations, Helen Nash, our Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, Jim Layton, our Chief Financial Officer, Terry Malouf, and company secretary David Matthews. Due to COVID restrictions, non executive directors, Rob Gordon, Windnevato Nichols and Andrew Reeves are joining us online. Also joining me in the room and representing our external orders, of course, is KPMG partner, Julie Clears.
Today's meeting, will include my address, the Managing Director and Chief Executive Officers, Dress, and the formal of items of business and resolutions set out in the notice of meeting, A guide to the online virtual meeting was lodged with the ASX and was also made made available on the Investor Center on our website. In brief, today's virtual meeting enable shareholders to listen to the AGM proceedings online and view the supporting presentation. The slide on the left hand side of the screen will show a picture of the speaker, and you can follow the presentation slides on the right. At the bottom of the shareholder screens, there are 3 interactive boxes that allow shareholders to get a voting card. Ask questions or download relevant ATM documents.
Only those who have logged on to the meeting as shareholders will have the ability to vote and ask questions. All items of business will be voted on by Paul, which is now opened. You may go at any time during the meeting and voting will be, closed will close 5 minutes after the normal items of business. A time at the top of the on online meeting platform will count down to the close of voting. Final voting results will be released to the market as soon as they are available after voting was closed.
If you have a question, click on the ask a question box and follow the prompts. There is a character limit of 500 characters, ensure you have enough time to type and submit your questions. During the items of business, relevant questions we read out to the meeting by our company secretary, David Matthews, and we will make every attempt to unanswered questions will be posted on the Investor Center of Ying's website after the meeting. I'd like to thank shareholders took the opportunity to ask questions in advance of today's AGM. These questions have been reviewed and we were responded to either during the course of the presentations, or when we address the relevant items of business.
Any questions received from shareholders prior to the AGM were online today, may also be aggregated where there are similar questions. I, along with some of my board and management colleagues, met with Alan Golden and Elizabeth Fish from the Australian Shareholders Association a couple of weeks back answering a large number of questions. We also receive questions that raise similar relevant matters. And so far, if possible, have incorporated these into speeches today to avoid repetition. If shareholders experience technical difficulties, using the online platform please call 1-800-99-0363.
That's 180-0990 363. Should we experience technical difficulties in forecasting the AGM to shareholders, we will pause in the meeting and aim to recommend I'm sorry and recommence at the earliest opportunity. If these difficulties persist, we'll adjourn the meeting till 3 PM today. And lots of the German details with the ASX and published them on our website, Investor Center. Shareholders proxy holders and guests who have registered join join the meeting today will be notified of the adjournments by text message.
Link Market Services is the returning officer for this meeting. I'll now move to my address. Today, I'll cover some of the challenges of the unprecedented operating environment over the last 12 months and what the boarder management have done to ensure business continuity. Jim will provide you with more detail of some of the actions taken over that time and provide us with a trading update. Financial year 2020 will no doubt go down to most of the as the most remarkable year on record.
Paradoxically, many of the events of FY 'twenty have faded into the distance and almost been forgotten in the face of COVID. So I do want to take a moment to reflect and remind us all of the months leading up to the pandemic. For 3 years, the company was dermied effects of the drought and for bringing this manifest in record high fee prices. To give you to give that some perspective, feed input costs to the business in the previous 6 years, have risen not by 1,000,000, but by tens of 1,000,000 of dollars. We dealt with this through a combination of costs and efficiency initiatives, astute forward fee purchasing price adjustments, and good management, Most of us had direct or indirect experience with the bush fires over the November, the January period.
And inghams escape a close call or close call at our Tamao and Bargo sites. Thanks to our people. And in particular, the New South Wales rural fire service. Additionally, during this time and over many weeks, our operations team persistently found creative solutions to get products to customers and routes were blocked by fires. Despite the drought and fires, financial performance was ahead of target when COVID hit.
At the time, the board were confident we would hit and likely exceed our EBITDA targets. Today, we have all adjusted our lives to deal with this pandemic, and it's easy to overlook how as an essential service the English business had to assess and accommodate, an enormous route of challenges and changes to keep our people safe. Our operations compliance and our products moving to customers and consumers. This included close collaboration with governments, unions, customers, and other stakeholders to ensure continuity of supply. Success of which is a testimony to Jim, his management team, and have some 8 sales and employees across Australia in New Zealand who worked tirelessly and continue to do so today.
We forget that New Zealand pretty much closed down business for 4 weeks, restaurants and fast food on both sides of the Tasman shutdown and consumer switch from buying barbecue chicken directly produced trade tanks. Which all put enormous burden on your people, production facilities, and costs. It's also clear that the managed strategic capital project in our plants over the previous 18 months began to be improved through efficiency, effectiveness and flexibility, and most importantly, cost improvements. The business was guided through the year by an experienced leadership team and adherence to the blueprint of our 5 year plan. In spite of this, the disruption for COVID produced financial results that fell slightly short of our targets including additional poultry inventory positions, provisions of some $9,000,000.
I can remind you that we delivered a statutory net profit after tax of 40,100,000 78,800,000 On an underlying basis, the underlying results exclude the $23,700,000 impact of the adoption of the new AAASV 16 lease accounting standard and other nonrecurring items. This result combined with strong cash generation enabled us to provide shareholders with a fully franked dividend of $0.14 per share for the full year. This reflects the payout ratio of 66 percent of underlying net profit after tax pre, double ASB, 16. We were pleased to be able to reward shareholders with a dividend when many companies chose to sustain it in the face of COVID challenges. The management and the board recognized the critical nature of dividends to shareholders.
And we are pleased to announce today following the adoption of AAH B16 we have changed the dividend policy. Sorry, we have changed. We have changed the dividend payout ratio from 60% to 70% of underlying impact before the impact of AA SP 16 to 60% to 80% of underlying NPAD, inclusive of the AAAS 16, cube flexibility, to continue to provide among other things being equal, cash dividends, similar to historic payouts. This revised dividend policy will be the 1st plank in our capital management strategy platform we plan to detail by the half year. Shareholders will note the board exercise its discretion to approve a reduced STI capped at 45% of the off target dollar amount The board believe this decision reflects a fair and balanced assessment of the management team's performance given the business was on track to meet or exceed the 190,000,000 EBITDA target established pre COVID.
The initiatives taken by the management team to protect our people transform operational performance in commercial environment turned upside down, along with, focus on improving customers, engaging scores, ensure the business would continue to operate and get back on track. The board knows the voting received from shareholders prior to today's meeting in relation to Resolution 5 on the remuneration report. And the Resolution 6 regarding the CEO's FY 'twenty tip. In the course of preparation for the AGM, there has been considerable discussion regarding these resolutions And today's voting outcomes reflect that the feedback from shareholders that the board's decision on executive remuneration in FY 'twenty were not in line with shareholder expectations. The board takes this feedback from shareholders extremely seriously, and provide an undertaking to maintain an open dialogue on remuneration with shareholders as we move forward from today's AGM.
We welcome your appointments to the board and senior management team over the past year. I'd like to welcome Mike Eileen to the board who is standing for election today, my compliments our board skills with his experience as a Chief Executive Officer and Chief Financial Officer, in major ASX listed companies, including Bramble's Coca Cola and Coca Cola Remitil, Mikey's chairman of our finance and orders committee. Ricky Lay retired from our board on the 30th June this year. I thank Ricky for his contribution as the director of the Ingham's group from 2013 as a representative as TPG. Chief Financial Officer, Gary Mallett, joined the team in October 2019, he brings more than 30 years of experience in a range of senior financial roles with companies, including Bramble's, Oregon Energy, and Senex Energy.
Mike and Gary's experienced enlisted companies, whilst as our bench strength on prudent financial management, to the benefit of position and performance. This review concluded we had an appropriately diverse and skilled group of directors able to add value to our business. This review also considered board development and succession, which continues to be work in progress. Our biggest shareholder, Australian Super, expressed an interest in having better knowledge and understanding of the detail of our director's backgrounds particularly their experience as it applies to the England's board, we will, as a result, be updating our website with more detailed backgrounds on directors and senior management in the coming weeks. We have detailed our commitment to safety, animal welfare and operating sustainability in both our business sustainability report and our corporate governance statement in our annual report.
While I do not intend covering these today, I commend them to you to better know and understand our policies and commitments. While we've all been challenged by COVID-nine seen, England has said, well, as a company through the crisis, and our products continue to be reviewed by customers as the healthier and more economic. Protein choice. We will continue to focus on keeping our people safe, maintaining pressure on continuous improvement and have a bias for action. This, along with the board's confidence in our leadership team and business model to deliver against our 5 year plan, I am certain will deliver results in the more consistent, predictable, and reliable returns for shareholders.
Other encouraging signs worth mentioning, that Australia's status is a leading agricultural sector and having a reputation providing safe and clean produce all as well for our export. Total retail chicken volume is growing above the historical 3 year run rate. Australia is one of the world's top 5 countries for per capita poultry consumption, and New Zealand is not far behind. The England's brand has the highest brand awareness of any poultry brand in Australia at 83% and chicken continues to be the most affordable protein, averaging a quarter of the price of beef and halft price of pork. And finally, speculation is that the wheat crop will be the best in 25 years and the seed prices will reduce as a result in time.
Furthermore, in the prime minister's recent address to the National Press Club in October, it proposed to allocate $1,500,000,000 towards manufacturing industry across 6 primary sectors, one of which is food and beverage. Affected as one of the company's fastest growing and largest employers. While it remains unclear precisely how earnings will benefit from these investments, we are already in conversations with the government. I'd now like to hand over to our Managing Director of Chief Executive Officer, Jim Layton, Tim will take you through further operational highlights and more of the details that underpin our continued improving performance. Thanks, Jim.
Thank you, Peter.
I want to start by saying how proud I am of Ingham's team in all they've achieved. Secondly, the Chairman's address, our 5 year plan and our people have helped us navigate through a challenging year and have enabled us to continue to nourish our communities as an essential service provider. We presented our 5 year plan to investors in October 2019, Our plan was anchored by our in our products, our people, our partners, planets, as well as our profits. This integrated approach was designed to deliver our objective and that is to deliver more consistent, predictable, reliable returns to our stakeholders. It was incredibly fortunate to have the solid 5 year plan in place for what has been a year like no others.
Throughout our 1st year of implementing the plan, it has enabled us to deliver profitable results in reaping dynamic adaptable during a volatile trading environment. It's proven its value. Our plan has 3 strategic pillars geared for growth. We are optimizing the core of our operations through continuous improvement. This has included the commissioning of new leg auto deboning equipment at Tahoea in New Zealand, as well as Bolivar in South Australia.
Taking Bolivar's new lake auto deboning equipment, as an example, This capital investment was projected to deliver a payback within 13 months. Pleasingly, we delivered a payback on this investment in just 8 months in our production
throughput on this line has doubled.
We have also brought online 2 new spin chillers at Summerville in Victoria, which have unlocked an additional 40% capacity. This new equipment increases chilling capacity to maintain a lower temperature, therefore allowing us to run the line more efficiently. We will also start installing a new spin chiller in Osborn Park. These two projects are examples of how we are investing in the right technology to add value to our business. We are also investing in our people, and processes to create efficiency OETE across the business has delivered a 10% efficiency gain and saved 1,000,000 of dollars across our primary processing plants.
The implementation of an integrated business planning process and new project management office is now in place in delivering short as well as long term benefits. Through integrated business planning, we've extended our planning horizon to a 52 week plan And within the next two months, we will be extending out further to a 72 week horizon to enable us to better forecast performance, mitigate risks, and execute our strategy. This enhanced capability is critical in effectively planning and managing our entire business to achieve or exceed financial targets We are transforming for tomorrow by embracing new ways of thinking and thus working. In an Australian first, we are constructing 2 new HATCH Care hatcheries, that are global best practices when it comes to animal welfare by providing greater nutrition to our day old chicks This will translate into a lower fee conversion ratio and overall lower cost of production. We're also excited to continue to bring new products to the market under our strategic pillar to create the new.
This includes launching some new brands, including the free Ranger and plant based brands, including the plant collective and lessee. Our strategy is consumer centric, with our ambition to be and shopper analytics to drive our actions. This is a win for our customers and we will provide products that will help grow the category, and optimize our collective profitability. The 2020 financial results have delivered a practical demonstration of the value of our 5 year plan, its impact on increasing resilience of the business and our ability to deliver profitable growth to our shareholders. It has long been our focus to ensure the health safety and well-being of our people.
This deeply embedded safety culture has enabled us to stay safe and continuing delivering products to our communities during COVID. Importantly, through COVID, our people trusted us to keep them safe and they showed up with both passion and pride. And this is in stark contrast to offshore poultry and meat companies that had to shut down because their people didn't feel safe at work. Since the pandemic emerged in February March, we have taken many steps to keep our people and community safe. Just to give you some perspective on this and the enormity of the tasks we successfully undertook throughout the pandemic, responding quickly to 50% surge in demand in retail chicken sales by shifting the product mix from our operations to match the fast changing needs of customers from deli and tray pack products.
We recorded more than 4000 truck movements a week across Australia as we transported grain, beef, eggs, chicken, chicken meat and products for both domestic and international customers. We kept our 100 sites operational during the financial year with 0. Let me repeat that with 0 interruption of overall supply. And kept our 8000 people safe and employed, while also supporting our staff during school lockdowns with flexible shifts and working from home arrangements. And we installed 400 protection dividers across our operations to support physical distancing within our plants.
In addition, when the second wave hit Victoria, we worked closely with the government to support our status as an essential service, while educating and influencing more appropriate restrictive measures. We also worked hard to keep up with the customer demand collaborating with government imposed reductions workforce in Victoria by streamlining our product line. The scale of response required has been enormous but made possible by the amazing effort of every one of our employees working together to keep our people safe and our operations running. With COVID remaining, a threat will continue to meet the highest safety standards. Unfortunately, our people and our operations, although resilient, have not been immune to COVID.
In many, we had two people in New Zealand test positive for COVID, Unfortunately, the swift reporting and contract tracing meant that we didn't have to close the facility, and we proactively closed our Victorian Thomas further processing plant, Thomas Townfurther processing plant in July for 2 weeks when 5 of our employees tested positive for COVID. Despite the challenges of COVID, we reduced our lost time injury frequency rate by 45% down to 3.8% in total recordable injury frequency rate, down 63% to 8.1%. Sadly, however, One of our team members obtained a serious incident in our top line facility in February. We are supporting him and his family with the ongoing recovery rehabilitation. This injury serves as a stock reminder of the importance of staying safe.
The priority on our people's safety and well-being historically reflected the recent completion of an organizational culture, where we established a baseline to move us to get closer to our desired state. Food and beverage retail sector has had a very challenging year, which included unprecedented and unpredictable demand. During the panic buying period at the beginning of COVID. I would like to commend our people who received several notes of thanks from our many customers during this time for outstanding support and service and meeting this demand. It pleasing to see that chicken continues to be a protein of choice for families across both Australia and New Zealand.
It's predicted there will be a 4% boost of another 1,000,000 people around the Christmas table this year due to travel restrictions. The retail sector therefore likely will benefit and that's great news for aims and our ambitious growth plans in our new products. We're also working closely with our quick serve restaurant customers to develop new in store products to maximize sales. This includes, but certainly isn't limited to, a new chicken menu at McDonald's that launched in October, which is highly successful. We'll continue to build on the foundations of our great partnerships with our customers by driving quality, innovation, a robust supply chain, and most importantly trust.
Having completed the 1st quarter of trading for FY21, we have today provided earlier a business update to the ASX. In our first quarter, we achieved an increase in core poultry volumes sold up 6.2% on the prior comparative period in FY 2020. This result resulted of 7.5% on the last quarter of the platform. This reflects strength demand for our customers. The trade is now on track or near pretty fluid levels.
We've also reduced inventory levels by $16,000,000 in the first 17 weeks of FY 2021, we will continue with initiatives to further reduce inventory resulted from COVID by the end of the current financial year. Supported by our Christmas demand. As well as early as week production projected this harvest to be at or close to historical highs. Rabobank's recent 2021 moves across production outlook decided wheat production of 91 percent year on year with an estimated 28,800,000 tons. With the significant crop, we expect beef pricing to reduce.
However, there is likely to be a lag before it translates into lower costs due to our feed purchasing strategy and the time between harvest and delivery of our finished products. We do expect the improvements in the cost of grain to have a favorable impact on our financial results fully by Q4 of this financial year and importantly flow into the next financial year. Pleasingly, a recent report on La Nina and agricultural stock winners and losers report is also favorable with the report citing that expects inghams to be positively impacted. While we cannot perfectly predict the year ahead, due to the uncertainty of COVID, we have proven the resilience of our plan, our business model and people as we work hard to deliver more consistent predictable and reliable returns to our shareholders. Before I turn it back to our Chairman, I would like to close by recapping on the seeds that we have planted for long term growth.
1, we have built a solid foundation for profitable growth and have demonstrated our resilience. 2, we know where we are. We know how to get there. And 3, We have the right people in place and the right resources to do so. 4, we are beginning to see the benefits of improvement of the initiatives we have in place now that we've implemented those and they're showing up in our results.
On that note, I would like to thank the Ingham's team for their ongoing commitment to providing quality products that our customers and value creation for our shareholders. It is my great pleasure, privilege and pride to continue to build upon the legacy of the Ingram's name, heritage, and brand. I would also like to thank our Board of Directors and our shareholders for your continued support of Ingram's Thank you. And I will now hand it back over to the Chairman.
Good. Thank you, Jim. I'll now address the formal items of the business for meeting. The notice of meaning dated 6th October 2020 was lodged with the ASX and is also available on the EM's website in the Investors section. I proposed the notice of meaning be taken as read.
Each resolution set out in the notice notice of meaning, is to be considered as an ordinary revolution to be approved by a full majority of votes cast by shareholders entitled to vote. We will display the votes by both shareholders and proxies received prior to this meeting on the slide following the discussion. Of each item of business. The Inghans Group Limited Directors And Executives identified as key management personnel will not be voting their own shares or underwritten proxy votes in relation to item 5, the remuneration report. For all other business, where undirected proxies have been given to the chairman or any of my fellow directors, we will be voting in favor of these items.
Jim Layton will not be voting on item 67 regarding the FY20 transformational incentive plan and the FY21 long term incentive plan. Total results will be released to the AFX on the company announcements platform and Ingham's group limited website as soon as they're available. The first item of business is to receive and consider the English Group Limited Financial Report in the reports of the directors and auditors for the year ended 27 June 2020. This item of business is for discussion only, and the Corporation Act directs there there is no vote required. As I said at the outset, joining us today is our audited for the 2020 financial year.
Or partner, Julie Cleary from KPMG. Julie is available to respond to questions relevant to the conduct of the audit and the preparation and content of the independent orders report and the independence declaration. David Matthews our company secretary will read out any questions to the meeting. David, are there any questions regarding the financial reports?
Ah, yes, chairman. We have a question from Ron Schrimgar and Mark Schrimgar submitted prior to the AGM. They ask, how are you keeping people safe through COVID and has COVID affected sales? And have you had to reduce staff at production units due to COVID. We had a similar question from Timothy Clifton.
Thank you, David. Both buying Kin I think presentations, which has covered our responses for COVID in considerable detail. In FY 2020, we did not reduce staff in our production unit In FY21, we have been required to reduce staffing levels in Victoria due to the Stage 4 lockdown, impact of our people has actually been mitigated due to some absenteeism, allowing us to supplement this with our casual employees, This is minimal overall impact on total work available for our people. David, any more questions?
Yes, Chairman. There was a second part to Timothy Clifton's question, which was submitted prior to the AGM. He asked what indications are there that the 2 hatch care hatcheries will provide hatch chicks with immediate access to food and more supplies. And will this new technology reduce operational costs in the hatcheries?
You heard, I think some of this from Jim in his presentation But the new hatchback technology, was purchased overseas where the technology has been operating successfully. The cost savings are expected to result from improved, feed conversion ratio as a result of greater nutrition nutrition providers of the chicks from day 1. David, another question?
Yes, Jaeme. And we had a question from a company shareholder called super, superannuation fund proprietary limited. And that was again submitted prior to the AGM. They asked, can you please advise the shareholders what plans are in place to increase shareholder value and reduce company debt levels.
Thank you, David. Look, our 5 year plan positions us for the long term growth and creating shareholder value. By focusing on our strategic pillars of optimizing the core, transforming for tomorrow and creating new. This was talked about in detail in today's presentation. The second part of the question, with long term growth, we expect to increase earnings, which can be applied to the payment of dividends to shareholders, reinvestments, create our future and also, to reduce debt.
Thanks, David. Any more questions?
Yes, chairman. Another question from the same shareholder, superannuation fund, proprietor Limited, again, submitted prior to the AGM. They ask, what is the Ian's board doing to reduce debt and do forecast earnings support fiscal ability to cover liabilities? As the rise in total liabilities is a concern. Our chairman, this question was addressed to the auditor.
Well, thank you, David. This question is not in relation to the orders, and the procedures performed by KCMG. So I'll put this question to the chair of our finance and water committee, Michael Lynn. But before I do, I know that the question regarding debt reduction has already previously been answered, Mike.
Thank you very much, Peter. That's correct. The FY 'twenty balance sheet certainly does reflect increased liabilities. Due to the transition to the new accounting standard AASB16. What's important to remember though is that the lease liabilities are non cash, and they do not affect our external debt, availability to service that debt.
And it's important to note that the leases we have across our operational sites were, in fact, in place before the adoption of AASB 16. And those facilities are essential to our network and are integrated to supply chain. Thank you, Chairman. Back to you.
Good. Thank you, Mike, David.
Yes, Chairman, there's a further question also again from superannuation fund proprietary lending. And they asked, does the board see the fall in the share price as a concern? And reflection of management, notwithstanding COVID 19, and how is increasing balance sheet debt being arrested.
Thanks, David. Look, the share price is a matter for the market. And we believe that today's presentation will give shareholders confidence in the business. On the second part of the question, as I said earlier, we long term growth will come increased earnings, which can be applied to the payment of dividends to shareholders. Reinvested shareholders and reinvested to create future value and also reduce debt.
David, any more questions?
Yes, Shannon. The next question from Luke and Susan Gleeson, and they ask, how is the company addressing climate change?
Thanks, David. I'll refer this question to our Chair of the Risk And Sustainability Committee,
Sustainability section details our commitment and plans for climate change, adaptation, and resilience. An example would be to achieve sustainable water management we proactively manage water catchment usage and the treatment of wastewater. And all sites have a bespoke environmental management plan which measures greenhouse gas emissions, water usage, and landfill waste. As the chairman noted in his address, we commend shareholders to better understand our sustainability policies and commitments as outlined in our annual report. Back to you, Chairman.
That's very good. Thank you, Jackie David.
It's chairman. There was a a long comment from a shareholder, essentially, expressing concern about the quality of our product in one of our retail stores. And asking why Williams is doing so badly when chickens in the meat of choice for most families with pork and beef, etcetera, are so expensive in comparison.
With regard to the quality of products in our stores, we have passed, the detailed feedback from this shareholder onto our quality team to be impressed. With regards to our performance, as outlined in my speech in gyms, But the company has performed very well through COVID-nineteen, and delivered over the year, and we will continue to deliver, David.
Chairman, we've had a question come through online during the meeting from Elizabeth Fish at the Australian Shareholders Association. And Elizabeth asked, what is the current situation regarding the cost of feed? We noted impacted profitability in FY 'twenty.
Thank you, Elizabeth and the Australian shareholder association. Look, I think Jim answered the 3 question in quite good detail during his speech. And you know, I think the essential, outcome is that there is great speculation that the wood crop is the best in 25 years, but there will be a lag effect and likely an unlikely to hit our P and L to at least the fourth quarter. David, are there any further questions?
Yes, Chairman. We have a further question from a shareholder, do shares held in escrow pay dividends and have voting rights. And again, that's from Elizabeth Fish from the Australian Shareholders Association.
I think we might have to take that note, that question on notice. And, we will come back
So I can answer that question. There are some, shares held in escrow. And those shares do pay dividends, but they don't currently have voting rights. So they are shares that are issued and, and on the register and so dividends are paid to.
I will done, David. Thank you. Any more questions?
No, no further questions, Tim. There are
no further questions, on this island of business. Tahoe will move to the next item. The next item of business is the election of directors There are 3 resolutions proposed for the election of Michael Lane, the re election of Jackie McCarthy and Helen Nash. The board has considered and re and support the re election of Mike, Jackie, and Helen. I'll first address the election of Mike, Elaine as a director Mike was appointed as a non executive director on, 16, April, 2020.
Under the company's constitution, he will retire at the conclusion of the meeting and be eligible is nominated for reelection are directed during the meeting. The appropriate background checks were completed before Mike was appointed to the board, and the board considers him to be independent. Mike serves as chair of the company's finance and audit committee and is a member of the people and remuneration committee. Heights' appointment to the board within recognition of the need for public company boards to have a suitably qualified audit committee chair with appropriate accounting or related financial management, credentials, and expertise. Before I ask Mike to say a few words, Shareholders have raised questions on the workloads of Mike and Jackie, are both whom currently hold a total of 4 NED roles, including Ian's.
I can assure how shareholders that Mike and Jackie, have attended diligently to all their duties. Are available for meetings, even a short notice, and rarely support management as and when required, Both our experienced and capable directors with vast experience in their respective fields, and have proved to be genuine assets to the board and company. I'd now like to invite Mike to say a few words on his experience and expertise in support of his election.
Thank you, Peter, and good morning fellow shareholders. I'm very pleased to present myself today for election to the Ingham Sport. I've already found my experience the company, albeit short, to be very rewarding and very much looking forward to contributing to the continued growth and development of Inghams as the leading poultry company in Australia and New Zealand. My background, as some of you may know, is originally in finance, and I've had extensive experience in that field. Both in executive life, and now as a non executive director.
I am, as Peter's indicated chair of the company's finance and audit committee, and believe I can continue to significantly contribute in that role if I am elected today. I've also had extensive experience as a senior executive of the major Australian listed company Framitals and Coca Cola Amatil. Periods as chief executive officer and chief financial officer. My membership of other boards provides me with additional perspectives that I believe assist my insights in my role on your board. I believe that I have the energy, have the passion, and the time and most importantly, the commitment to devote to our company to help make it a continued success.
I present myself today for election, and it would indeed be an honor to have your support for my role as a director. Ingens has a wonderful future, and I would welcome the opportunity to be part of that future. Thank you very much.
Thank you, Mike. And I can I can say, that, around the board, table here today, people are nodding? He's made a great contribution. Since joining the board. Thank you, Mike.
Are there any questions, David, on this item of business? No, Jim. No questions. Good. Thank you, David.
Through this item of business and now display on the screen. And I think congratulations is, in order Mike. Thank you. Thank you. Vanessa, it's a reelection of Jackie McCarthy as a director.
Jackie was appointed, as a non executive director on the 19th September. 2017 and elected by shareholders on the 31st October, on the 1st October 2017. Under the company constitution, Jackie will retire at the conclusion of the meaning and being eligible is nominated for early re election as a director today. Jackie is chair of the company's risk and sustainability committee and the member of the People And Renuneration Committee. I would now like to invite Jackie to say a few words on our experience and expertise in support of the re election.
Thank you, Chairman. It has been a privilege to serve on the board of 2017 and now to be considered for reelection. I have more than 2 decades of experience in agri supply chains, food manufacturing and technology systems, logistics, product innovation, global and regional supply chains, crisis and risk management. And although I never in the past have felt the need to even mention it, pandemic and infectious disease controls for both humans and animals as well as zoonotic diseases. Has also been in to nearly every major food processor and logistics service provider, both in Australia and in the Asia Pacific, Middle East Africa region.
I have a deep belief that Australia supplied some of the best food products in the world. The board has since I joined it overseen a new CEO and senior leadership group transition, new strategic capital projects, a drought, a pandemic, supply and demand disruptions born through bushfires and COVID, So I feel I bring a very relevant skill set to continue my contribution both at the board and now with Chair of Risk sustainability. Thank you. And I hope to have your support for re election.
Thank you. Thank you, Jackie. Very impressive and relevant resume. David, are there any questions on this item of business?
Yes, Chairman. There's a question asked by Edmund Karru And his question is, Ms. McCarthy is not just a director of AMG, but also of a competitor for share of now, Tassil's group. Salmon chicken compete in retail as well as food service. Is it really appropriate to have a director who also advises at board level, a competitor?
Isn't this a corporate governance question? What steps does Miss McCarthy take to ensure that information she receives regarding the company's detailed strategy isn't even if just casually communicated somehow to a direct competitor of him.
Thank you, David. The board said it, Jackie's appointment in the context of her other board duties, and we regard her as independent And it's understood that there is a vast difference between agriculture and aquaculture. In the event, the business of the board or the company was regarded as being in conflict. Jackie is excluded from those conversations. And any board papers are redacted Thank you, David.
Thank you, Chairman. There's no further questions on that item.
The total valid proxies now for this item of business, our Jacky's reelection are now on display on the slide. I think congratulations. Very morning, Jackie. Thank you. The next is the reelection of Helen Nash, Helen was appointed as a non executive director on 16, May 2017 and elected by shareholders in October 31, 2017.
Under the company's constitution, Kellogg will retire at the conclusion of the meeting and being eligible is nominated for reelection as a director of the meeting. Helami's chair of the company's people remuneration Committee and a member of the nominations Committee. I'd now like to invite Helen to say a few words on her experience and expertise in support of the re election. Thanks, Tom.
Thank you, Chairman, and good morning, ladies and gentlemen. In offering myself a reelection to the board of England, I'd like to share with you an overview of the experience and skills that I bring to the board and where I believe I make a contribution. I have been a full time non executive director of various Air Six Air Six Region Companies in the last 7 years. Alongside my role at Ian's, I'm currently a non executive director at Met Cash and also Southern Cross Media. On all three boards, I chair the people and culture committees, at Inghens, I'm also a member of the nomination committee.
My associate career spent more than 20 years across the FMCG Media And Retail Industry. I have held C Suite Marketing, Commercial Operational And General Management roles. I seek to add value by bringing the consumer's voice to board discussions. For Inghams, this is critical as one of our 5 year strategic objectives is for Inghams become a consumer centric company. Having led and delivered many strategic plans in my executive career and well placed keep management focused on the key strategic imperatives that will deliver greatest value to shareholders.
I am also committed to strengthening the effectiveness of your company by a greater diversity and through the development of a high performance culture that has been proven to deliver results. I am optimistic about Ian's next phase of growth. I believe our 5 year plan for a combination top line growth initiatives, driven by innovation, new products and building activity alongside further improvements in operations will deliver long term value. Ingham's plays an essential role in nourishing this country and seeking another term I aim partner with the rest of the board and management team in further strengthening AIM's market position for the benefit of all shareholders. Thank you very much.
Thank you, Helen. You know, the total valid proxies for these items of the business are now displayed on the presentation slide. Very good. Thank you, Helen, and congratulations. They're in order.
The next side of the business is to adopt the remuneration report for the year ended 27 June 2020. The remuneration report is contained on pages 42 to 58 of the 2020 annual report. Having addressed the shareholder feedback regarding this resolution in my address today, I'll now move to address questions or comments from shareholders about Union's remuneration policies. David, who do we have any questions?
Yes, chairman. We've got, one question from, Elizabeth Fish. And she she asks, of the Australian Shareholder Association, and she asks, one would expect that circumstances may change over the course of the year. How is that justification for backdating a potential bonus more than 1 third of the way through the term?
Thank you, David. I will pass that question to the chair of our remuneration and people committee, Helen Nash. Thanks,
Thank you, Chairman, and thank you, Elizabeth, for your question. As Peter has already mentioned, we met with yourself and Alan Golding a few weeks ago. And I will repeat the answer that we gave to your question then. This year, a new long term incentive plan, the Transformation Incentive Plan was introduced replacing the previous existing long term incentive plan These changes were made to align with our 2020 to 2025 strategy, focusing on delivering an engaging and motivating reward for critical senior talents. The importance of this change was also reinforced through the COVID-nineteen pandemic, and the clear need for the achievement of a range of strategic projects in the near and medium terms to ensure the sustainable performance of the business long term.
Back to you, Chairman.
Oh, good. Thank you, Helen. David, more questions?
Yes, Chairman. We have some questions submitted, prior to the AGM. I think we have a comment from a shareholder who said, directors should not receive any reward over and above employees as they are paid to improve the company. And also indicated that the shareholder also indicated that the CEO's remuneration should be tied to the share price to reward performance.
Well, thanks, David. Look, directors apart from the Managing Director and CEO, only recruit or receive fixed remuneration as set out in the annual report. The remuneration for the framework for the Managing Director and CEO is linked to shareholders' interests as outlined in the remuneration report. Question, David?
Chairman, there's another comment from a shareholder who's indicated staff want to remain employed, their incentive is to work hard. Failing that, they'll lose their jobs, and the same should apply throughout the company. Any performance right should be spread equally.
Yeah. Thanks, for the shareholders today's comments looked over being noted David's 4 questions?
There's no further questions. I don't know if this is Jimmy.
Okay. Thank you, David. The total valid proxies for this side of the business are now displayed on the presentation slide. And I will now move to item 6, the approved, item 6 request shareholders to approve the grant. Performance rights, Jim Layton, as his transformational incentive plan to FY 2020.
With regards to this item of business, of last year's ATMs. Thank you, David. Look, we apologize for technical difficulties. We understand that, the screen that shareholders may have been looking at did not provide the numbers. So what I'd like to do is go back to the first item of business, the re election, the re election of Mike Eileen, and, asked David to provide the meeting with the voting details for this item and the subsequent items up to and including Item 5, the remuneration report.
Thank you, David.
Certainly. Thank you, Chairman. I'll refer to item 2 and the proxy results for item 2, the election of Mark Eileen. There were 280, approximately 283,000,000 votes received 98.68 percent of those votes, were in favor, and 1.12% against For item 3, the reelection of Jackie McCarthy, there were approximately 286,000,000 votes received. 99.7% of those boats were in favor and 0.1% were against.
In relation to item 4, the reelection of Helen Nash, there were 2,000,000 votes received, 99.61% were abated, in favor and 0.19% were against. In relation to item 5, the remuneration report, there were approximately a 139,000,000 votes received, 48.65 percent of those votes were in favor, and 51.15% were against. And then, Chen, I I believe that you were referring to item 6, when the, technical difficulties occurred, would you like me to read those, proxies out for item 6 or once you've come to that point?
Look, I'll I will given the technical difficulties, I will go back and start again, for the benefit of the meeting at the beginning of item 6. And David will see whether or not the technical difficulties have really been resolved. I may have to ask you to, read those out when the time comes. So item 6, request shareholder approval for the grant of performance rights to Jim Layton at his transformational incentive plan for 2020. With regard to this item of business, that last year's AGM shareholders approved the graft of performance flights to the Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer That's his 2020 award under the company's long term incentive plan.
However, following shareholder approval mark market conditions changed prior to the ground, being awarded. And the board determined that it was no longer appropriate proceed with the grant under relative. The board has now determined that the proposed transformational incentive plan will be an appropriate incentive to reinforce and drive performance against critical near medium and longer term strategic The FY 20 ELTIP has not been awarded to the MD and CEO as it is proposed that the award is replaced once proposed FY20 transformational incentive plan. Having a great shareholder feedback regarding this resolution in my address today, I'll now move to address questions and comments from shareholders about this item of business. David, are there any questions?
No, there's no questions on this item, Tim.
Thank you, David. The total valid proxies to decide the business are now on the screen.
The chairman, in case they don't come up, I'll read them out while we're waiting.
Haven't come up.
No, they haven't come up on the screen, chairman. There are approximately 100 and 40,000,000 votes received for this, for this item. And there were 48.7% in favor and 51.09% against.
Thank you, David. Look, the size of the Novo on items 5 and 6 means that these resolutions are not passed and that there is a first strike on the remuneration report. I haven't already acknowledged in my presentation how serious with the board, takes this message from shareholders. And as indicated, we will pursue, of course, to consult with shareholders as we consider our further remuneration policy. The finalizing business today requires shareholder approval to grant performance rights and its depicted officer as part of his long term incentive plan for FY 2021.
This award for the big part of his at risk remuneration. Under the long term incentive plan or relative, the managed director and chief executive offer is eligible for an award, it will do 200 percent of these total peaks remuneration. For the 21, for FY 2021 or 901 1882 performance rights. As detailed in the explanatory notes to this item, In the notice of meeting, the board has evolved and simplified the FY21 LTIP to include 2 financial measures, a relative total shareholder return and a return on invested capital. The board considers these measures to be stretching but achievable and strongly aligned management performance with shareholder expectation over the next 3 year period.
Total shareholder return will be compared to the ASX 200, but excluding companies classified as financial, mining, and resources. While we're not in the A600, the biomarker capitalization is viewed as an appropriate performance indicator and we embrace the challenge to outperform the A600, starting from a lower base. The underlying return on invested capital tree AA is 16 will be calculated as the equivalent of net operating profit after tax divided by the average invested capital. The ROIC, the ROIC for each of the 3 years of the performance period will be averaged to provide an overall outcome. ROWIC has been selected for a number of reasons, including increasing prevalence as a returns measure for such plans amongst the ASX-two hundred companies.
In addition, its effectiveness in reflecting the impact of management decisions on the returns generated by measuring management efficiency and allocating capital under its control to deliver profitable investments. As ROIC performance conditions are considered commercially sensitive, the company will not be disclosing performance targets but we will disclose the relevant targets, retrospectively, winning a new remuneration report in the year of vesting David, are there any questions on this item in business?
No, chairman. There's no current questions on this item in business.
Okay. David. It should be noted that Jim Lake will not cast any votes for undirected proxies inside of this resolution. So it would amount the total number of proxies for the item should show on the screen that David rightfully has asked you to read.
Yes, Chairman, item 7, the approval of, Granite Performance Rights, the MD and CEO. There were approximately 235,000,000 votes cast, and for that resolution, 81.88 percent were cast for the resolution and 17.9% against the resolution.
Okay. Thanks, David. Now the formal items of business have been conducted. As I said earlier, voting will close in 5 minutes. A timer at the top of the Supreme will count down to the close of voting.
If you haven't already, please cast your votes now. As I said earlier, poll results will be released to the market by the ASX company announcements platform and available on Ian's group Limited website as soon as possible, which is expected to be this afternoon. We now come to the part of meeting with shareholders have the opportunity to ask questions, regarding the company's operations and questions of management, David, are there any questions in general business?
No, there's no further questions at all, Kenneth.
Good. Thank you, David. If there are no further questions for general business, I'll move to close the meeting. I'd like to thank shareholders and guests for joining us today. And apologize for our, small technical issues.
I will have it now to clear the annual general meeting of the Union's group close. And once again, thank you, and have a good day.