Kick off, bounce off. Good morning, everyone. My name is Ian Williams, and I am the Chair of Lindsay Australia Limited. Welcome to all of those who have joined us in person and online for the 2026 Annual General Meeting of the shareholders of Lindsay Australia Limited. Firstly, in the spirit of reconciliation, Lindsay Australia recognizes the traditional custodians of the country throughout Australia and their connections to the land, sea, and community. We pay our respect to their elders past and present, and extend that respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples today. The board has determined to conduct today's meeting both in person and virtually for the ease of participation by all shareholders. Today's meeting has been convened in accordance with the company's constitution and the Corporations Act. A quorum for this meeting is two shareholders present.
As we have a quorum present, I declare the meeting open. On behalf of the board, acknowledging the ongoing success and growth of the Lindsay business, I would like to thank all Lindsay staff for their dedication and commitment to the company. Your efforts are fundamental to the continued success of the Lindsay business. Following the completion of the acquisition of SRT Logistics in July 2025, the combined businesses experienced significant upside from integration. During 2026, the Workday payroll platform was successfully implemented across the business, while investment in the national network continued with the completion of the Adelaide facility upgrade and the opening of the new facility. Together, these and other initiatives enhanced operational capability, expanded Lindsay's presence in key markets, and positions Lindsay for future growth opportunities. Clay McDonald will elaborate on these matters later in the meeting.
As I will be retiring at the conclusion of this AGM, I would like to introduce the new appointed Chair, Mr. Rodney Boys. Mr. Boys was appointed as a Director in April 2025 and is currently Chair of the Audit and Risk Committee. Rodney is an experienced senior executive and company Director with more than 30 years experience across a range of industries, including transport, logistics, and retail. He brings extensive board and leadership experience and is well-positioned to lead the company through its next phase of growth and development. We are also joined today by the other members of the board, Directors Stephen Cantwell, Robert Green, a nd Robert Miller.
Miller.
Sorry. Wrong board meeting. Also present today are Clay McDonald, CEO, Justin Green, Chief Financial Officer , Rod Jones, General Counsel and Company Secretary, Ruth Gatten, Head of Corporate Services, Nick Snell, Head of Technology and Transformation. I would like to acknowledge Craig Baker and Katie McMahon, apologies today, and a number of the members, BJ and CD today, of the Lindsay management team. We also have present Jason Evans, representing the company's auditors, Pitcher Partners. It has been a great honor to chair Lindsay Australia over the past five years and be part of the team building the foundations of an enduring and successful business. The company has modernized its corporate governance, created a safety culture, developed a comprehensive risk management system, and implemented short and long-term employee incentives, whilst delivering total shareholder returns of over 140%.
The company is in good hands with a high-quality management team, supported by an engaged and aligned staff and experienced board of directors. Finally, I would like to acknowledge the recent passing of Rich Vance, the long-term director and my predecessor as chair. For shareholders, appointed proxies, and corporate representatives attending the meeting in person, at the conclusion of each resolution, there will be a short pause to allow for any questions. Please raise your hand, and I request that anyone wishing to speak, please identify yourself to the meeting. For shareholders, appointed proxies, and corporate representatives attending the meeting virtually, questions may be submitted online. To submit a written question, tap on the Q&A icon and select the topic your question relates to. Once you have finished typing, press send to submit your question.
Written questions submitted may be dealt with at the appropriate time during the meeting or may be moderated or amalgamated if we receive similar questions. To ask a question verbally, you will need to pause the online broadcast and follow the instructions below the broadcast window. If you have any questions using the system, please return to the virtual platform and submit a written question. There are no apologies received. Pursuant to Rule 16.13 of the Constitution, the resolutions considered today will be determined by poll. Votes cast at the meeting will be added to the proxy votes to determine the outcome of the resolution, and the final results submitted to the ASX. Any person who has already lodged a proxy vote is not permitted to vote again.
I can confirm that 275 valid proxies for 90,143,531 shares, which represents approximately 24.55% of the total shares on issue, have been received. Voting on resolutions. If you are eligible to vote on a resolution at this meeting, you may do so anytime via the online platform. Select the vote icon, and the voting options will appear on your screen. Select your vote choice, and a tick will appear to confirm receipt of your vote. You may amend your vote until voting closes at the conclusion of the final item of business, and I declare the polls closed. I now declare voting open on all items of business. Before we move to the formal resolutions, I'd like to take this opportunity to introduce Clay McDonald to provide a business update.
Thank you, Ian, and good morning, everyone, and welcome to those joining us here in [Banyo], Brisbane, and those online. FY 2026 was a milestone year for Lindsay Australia. For the first time in the company's history, group revenue exceeded AUD 1 billion, and we delivered record earnings in what was difficult and uncertain trading conditions. The result reflects several years of strategic execution and investment in fleet, facilities, and targeted acquisitions, resulting in a more comprehensive and scaled national network. Company posted revenue of AUD 1 billion and AUD 72 million, up 26.2% from last year, supported by the first full year of SRT Logistics and organic growth across both transport and rural. Underlying EBIT rose 37.7% to AUD 60.4 million, with reported profit after tax of AUD 22.9 million, up 31.5%. Underlying earnings per share increased 10% to AUD 0.076.
The company's performance enabled the board to declare a final fully franked dividend of AUD 0.017 per share, bringing the combined dividend for the year to AUD 0.038 Per share, fully franked in line with FY 2025. Our balance sheet remains in good shape. Net leverage finished the year at 1.92x , within our target range of 1x-2x , and down from 2.23x at the half. The transport division grew revenue by 32.9% to AUD 763 million, with underlying EBIT up 25.9% to AUD 77.4 million on the 12 months of SRT Logistics. Tasmania now represents 19% of transport revenue, improving the geographic balance and reducing our seasonality. The SRT integration has been executed to plan, and we delivered our EPS accretion, deployment of AUD 5 million of capital, sorry, redeployment of AUD 5 million capital, and realized AUD 1.5 million of cost synergies.
Just as importantly, SRT has given us a more balanced earnings profile across the year and has opened up the door to new markets, geographies, and opportunities. Margins remain under pressure from competitive pricing, lower order size, and flat volumes. Access to fuel has not been an issue at this stage, as Lindsay has a strong supplier relationship and our own on-site bulk storage capable of holding 1.2 million liters. The elevated direct fuel prices are managed through the application of our fuel levy recovery mechanism. Our transformation program continues to help offset higher costs and margin pressures. Key to this has been the transition to high-productivity vehicles. High-productivity vehicles can be defined by their ability to transport more freight than a standard B-double using the same prime mover and number of drivers.
A standard B-double carries 34 pallets, with HPV combinations carrying between 44 and 46 pallets, more than a 30% uplift. The larger combinations have equipment, staff, and productivity advantages in the corridors where we operate. We added 25 additional HPV combinations during the year, with the larger combinations now representing 19% of road kilometers traveled. In the west, the Perth facility upgrade is complete, unlocking east-west capacity and supporting volumes from our expansion into Southwest WA. We also expanded our Adelaide site, with both sites now capable of receiving and dispatching HPVs. This is particularly beneficial in times to support rail outages and interruptions that occur on the east-west corridor. Group capital investment for the year was AUD 40.5 million, at the lower end of our revised AUD 40 million-AUD 45 million range.
This was weighed towards larger HPV combinations and was achieved through equipment redeployment, synergies, and improved fleet utilization. Now on to rural. The rural division had another strong year. Revenue was up 15.3% to AUD 190.8 million on a broad-based growth across cartons, fertilizer, and nutrients. Underlying EBIT rose 22.8% to AUD 12.2 million, with margins improving from 6% to 6.4%, reflecting the strong volumes from a biennial citrus and avocado season, the benefits of cost control, and procurement scale across the group. Our expansion to Southwest WA extends the integrated rural packaging and transport offer into a fast-growing horticultural region and connects rural transport network in the west. W.B. Hunter delivered revenue of AUD 118.9 million, up 7.9%, with underlying EBIT of AUD 3.2 million, up 11.3%. Pet and produce, fertilizer, and carton sales all contribute positively, while hardware and trade remain very competitive.
In Q1 this financial year, the business successfully introduced a new enterprise resource planning system, covering end-to-end processes from point of sale to debtors, all the way through to inventory management. The system will assist Hunter by providing an improved customer experience, sales transparency, and inventory management controls. On safety, our key lag injury metric improved significantly over the year, with our Lost Time Injury Frequency Rate improving or falling by 34% to 10.9. This improvement reflects the commitment of our people and leaders across the network. I thank them for it. We know there is more to do, and we will continue to focus on safety capability across the group. Turning to strategy. Over the past three years, our strategy has focused on grow the network, transformation, and performance and sustainability.
Going forward, our strategy remains directionally the same, and with the major network build now largely complete, our focus is shifting from building the network to extracting value from it. There are three ways we will create value. The first is to extract improved returns across road, rail, and TransBass in the primary freight markets and lanes where we already operate. This opportunity focuses on utilization, capacity management, and service delivery. Much of that target growth will be incremental volume over capacity we have already paid for. The second growth opportunity is entry into the secondary freight market. This is a large market where Lindsay doesn't traditionally compete. By entering into this market, we further diversify our revenue base and lower the seasonality of our business.
In August this year, we announced our successful entry into the market with a five-year contract with Primary Connect to service 40 Woolworths stores from Mackay to Cairns. The rollout has commenced with Mackay, Bowen, and Townsville deliveries successfully underway. Cairns commences in February 2027, with the final volumes from BIG W expected in July 2027. Our third opportunity to generate additional value is to deepen and expand the integrated model. In the rural and W.B. Hunter, we will continue to grow packaging and rural services in the regions where we already operate and continue the Hunter turnaround with minimal capital outlay required. On capital management. FY 2026 completes a significant period of investment. Over the last five years, we have invested more than AUD 250 million in fleet and property, including over AUD 90 million in long-life rail assets.
The major property program and the rail investment cycle are now complete for the medium term. For FY 2027, we expect capital investment of approximately AUD 57 million. This number may flex depending on the conversion of growth opportunities that require equipment investment. The current forecast of AUD 57 million includes the AUD 20 million of contracted Primary Connect growth capital and is weighted to the first half, with the balance being replacement capital. As a result, leverage may temporarily sit above the top of our range during the first half. However, we are targeting net leverage below two times by the 30th of June 2027. Growth capital will only be directed to opportunities that meet our minimum return hurdles. Now turning to FY 2027. FY 2027 will be another busy year for Lindsay's.
We're focused on the successful start of the secondary freight market and continuing to look for benefits from the combined SRT and Lindsay business. In Lindsay Transport, despite our market being low discretionary, consecutive interest rate increases and cost of living pressures are weighing on consumer confidence, which is impacting freight volumes. Our customers are reporting greater price sensitivity and moderating consumer spending, leading to lower volumes versus last year. The lower volumes include the reduced citrus and avocado yields in the first half of this year compared to last year, which does impact both transport and rural. On the positive side, the organic growth pipeline remains very active as manufacturers and growers look for opportunities to streamline and consolidate their supply chain into the most efficient and effective solution for their products and their customers.
Lindsay's investment in fleet, infrastructure, and people, and having the benefit of a connected national network at scale positions us well as volumes tighten. Looking more closely at rural, weather conditions and the availability of water in the irrigated regions we service present favorable growing conditions. However, input costs remain elevated. We expect volumes outside the citrus and avocado categories to be broadly in line with last year. In conclusion, we've built a strong and more diverse business that is well-placed to respond to the current economic challenges Australia is facing. FY 2026 completed a major period of investment, and our focus moves to extracting value by improving returns. Our entry into the secondary freight market is a great example of the opportunities that are being created by providing customer value through our network, capability, and systems.
I'd like to thank our people, our customers, and growers, and the board for their support over the year. Finally, I'd like to recognize and thank Ian Williams as Chair during my time as CEO. Ian has provided great support and guidance to me and the executive team, and we wish him all the best in the future. Thank you.
Okay. In terms of the business of the AGM, the notice of meeting and explanatory memorandum together with the proxy were lodged with the ASX on the 6th of October. Physical documents were dispatched to shareholders on the 6th of October as well, and I propose to take them as read. The Director's Report, the annual financial report, and the report of the auditor for the year ended 30 June 2026 were lodged with the Australian Securities Exchange on 24 August 2026 and also dispatched to shareholders by 6 October 2026. The first item of business is to receive and consider the financial statements and the reports of the directors and the auditors for the year ended 30 June 2026. Firstly, are there any questions from the floor? Are there any questions submitted online?
There are three questions online. Ian, if you want to deal with any of them now or aggregate. The initial question is a climate reporting question. How are we placed with climate reporting requirements which are being phased in with larger companies? Are we taking a pro-disclosure approach to it, or is the board and the lawyers lending towards not revealing too much about our operations? Well, it is an audit matter, it is not about the lawyers, but I am going to defend the lawyers straight up.
Shakespeare said, "First, murder the lawyers." No, look, we have taken a pretty proactive approach. It is evolving. Everyone is sort of getting This is the first year of kind of sustainability reporting. But we feel like it is better to be very clear on what we have achieved and what we would like to be achieving, and that is reflected in the sustainability report. We are also sitting behind it, have quite a detailed risk management framework to deal with sustainability. It is a long-haul trucking business, so, at the core of it, there is diesel. But notwithstanding that, there is, as Clay talked about, the efficiencies of doing that, and other opportunities. And sustainability is quite a broad concept. It is not just about carbon emissions. And just as risk is embodied in everything the company does, sustainability is now moving that the same way.
Thanks, Ian. The next question was submitted by Mr. Main. "As we get larger, are more proxy advisors covering us? It would have been better to disclose the proxies earlier to the ASX along with the formal addresses. Will we do that next year, and have there been any material protest votes against any of the resolutions today, including the Remuneration Report item?" Well, the proxies were submitted with the address prior to the meeting, and we did that last year and we did that this year, so that is disclosed. As far as material protest votes, we are not aware of any.
I personally have not been approached by any proxy advisors, and as far as I am aware, there has not been any approach.
The next question, Ian, there is a few sort of questions rolled into one. "At last year's AGM, Chair Ian Williams claimed that the share register had turned over 50% since the new CEO was appointed two years earlier. How do you know that? Has the high turnover of shareholders continued in the past 12 months? When we release our results twice a year, how many analysts engage with the company, and how many major shareholders do we have direct contact with about the figures?" Perhaps, the first part about the register turnover.
Yeah. I mean, if you think when Clay was appointed CEO, I think he started on the 1st of July 2023. At that point, Soul Pattinson had about 24% of the register, Lev Mizikovsky had about 17% of the register. Both of them have And the Lindsay family, both the former CEO and managing director, Kim Lindsay, but the wider family had about 11%. They have all exited the register, and we have had a sort of a mixture of small cap institution investors, high net worth individuals. So, it is a numerical, that is just a factual thing.
Ian, the second part of that, how many analysts engage with the company and how many major shareholders do we have direct contact with about these figures?
Between the board and the management team, we interact with the top 10 shareholders on a pretty regular basis. We speak to them about what they are looking at. It helps drive our strategy, what metrics should we be using to show the strategy is being implemented. It is great to talk about the strategy, but then ultimately, you need to deliver financial results. We are pretty active on that.
That's it. We're going to go back to the agenda.
Yeah, that sounds good.
Is there any other questions from the floor?
Last chance from the floor. Resolution one. The resolution reads, "Mr. Robert Lewis Green, who retires by rotation in accordance with Rule 19.3 of the company's constitution and being eligible, offers himself for re-election, be re-elected as a director of the company." Are there any questions from the floor? There appears to be none. Are there any questions submitted online? Resolution two, adoption of the Remuneration Report. The resolution reads, "Section of the report of the directors in the 2026 annual report dealing with the remuneration of the company's directors and senior executives be adopted." Are there any questions from the floor? There appears to be none. Are there any questions submitted online? Ladies and gentlemen, as that was the final resolution, if you have not done so, please complete your voting now. A member of Computershare will come around and collect your voting cards. Looks like everyone's good.
All right, got thumbs up at the back. Thank you very much. Ladies and gentlemen, as there are no further formal items of business, the voting is now closed on all resolutions. Prior to closing, I would like to hand over to Rodney Boys for some closing remarks.
First of all, it is an absolute honor for me to take on, after this meeting is formally closed, the role of Chair of this great organization, Lindsay Australia. I am looking forward to working very closely with the shareholders, my fellow board colleagues, Clay and the management team, and all the really hardworking Lindsay employees, as well as the external stakeholders. It is an exciting time ahead. I want to thank Ian for his leadership and guidance over the time that I have been on the board, but also echo Clay's comments around his leadership, Clay and the management team, and how far the organization has come under Ian's stewardship. You have left an enduring legacy, Ian. You should be very proud. The organization is in much better shape than when you found it. You have modernized the systems, particularly around governance and risk management.
You have built out the portfolio, geographic expansion, so improved the resilience of the organization and provided significant growth opportunities. So, well done to you, and thank you for everything, and we wish you all the very best in the future. So, thank you.
Cheers. Thank you. Very kind words. I did not have any background in the transport industry, and I am not sure after five years and two months, I am much further along. But to sort of have an opportunity to work with a bunch of people who are really high integrity, low ego, and it is one thing about the Lindsay people throughout the organization, their North Star is always clear. In particular, Clay, over the last three years, I have certainly enjoyed. It is the first chance to meet her, chairing an ASX-listed company. But I would really like to single out Justin Green and Craig Baker.
They are just like the glue that keeps the whole place together. I would like to kind of acknowledge both of them. Like a good sportsman, you are better to retire a season or two early rather than a season or two late. It was not like my rugby career.
They forcibly retired me about three years too early. But anyway, I now declare the 2026 Annual General Meeting closed.