Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. I'm Rob Sindel, Chair of Aurora Limited, and will chair the meeting today. On behalf of the Board of Directors, I'm pleased to welcome you to the 8th Annual General Meeting of the company. The meeting is being held by webcast in the interest of the health and safety of shareholders, employees and other attendees. This year, shareholders may choose to listen to the AGM by phone as well as ask questions.
The notice of meeting and virtual meeting online guide provide detailed information about how to participate via the online platform and via telephone. I will take questions from shareholders and proxies on the phone and through our online facility, both before the formal part of the meeting and once again after the resolutions have been put to shareholders. We will endeavor to read out all online questions relevant to the meeting and summarize duplicated questions. I'll respond or where relevant, ask one of my fellow directors to respond. Questions received from shareholders and proxies prior to this meeting are addressed in today's presentation.
Shareholders or proxies who raise questions during the meeting, which are not relevant to today's meeting, will be contacted following the meeting with an individual response. If you haven't submitted your online questions yet, I urge you to please do so now. It is recommended that you use one of the web browsers noted on Page 1 of the AGM online guide to participate in this meeting. The slides presented are also available on the ASX and on the company's website. Online participation constitutes shareholders being present at the AGM for all purposes.
As we have a quorum, I now declare the AGM open. A notice of meeting has been distributed to shareholders, and I will take the notices read. All Aurora Directors and Aurora's auditor have joined the webcast and can respond verbally to questions posed during the meeting. Due to current travel restrictions, directors, senior management and Aurora's auditor are joining this webcast from different locations. I'm joined in person in Sydney by Sam Lewis, Chair of our Audit, Risk and Compliance Committee and also Jeremy Sutcliffe.
Both Sam and Jeremy are up for reelection today. Joining us from our head office in Melbourne are Brian Lowe, our Chief Executive Officer Sean Hughes, our Chief Financial Officer Ann Stebbings, Group General Counsel and Company Secretary Matt Wilson, Chief Strategy Officer and Peter Coppenides from also from Aurora, who will act as a moderator for the purposes of this meeting. Tom Gorman is Chair of our Human Resources Committee and joining us from the United States and Abby Cleland, Chair of the Safety, Sustainability and Environment Committee are online, as are our company's auditor, Anton Linschhausen, joining us from PwC. I appreciate that some shareholders may have to leave before the end of the meeting. I therefore formally open the poll on resolutions and encourage shareholders to submit their written questions now.
All polls will remain open until the conclusion of today's meeting. Before addressing the formal items of business, I'll recap on the company's major activities during the 2021 financial year, including progress on our strategic objectives and our new sustainability goals. Aurora has a long history in manufacturing, distribution and visual design. The company is an innovative market leader in its field, and this year has continued to adapt and respond well despite COVID-nineteen challenges. All Aurora businesses have continued to operate as essential services, ensuring customer requirements have been met.
I also want to acknowledge the resilience and the high health and safety standards that the Aurora teams have demonstrated throughout this clearly difficult period. Brian will shortly provide additional comments on safety as well as business and operational performance and our strategic road map for our Australian beverage and North American distribution businesses. Turning briefly to the financial results for the year ending 30 June 2021. The group reported strong improvement in FY 'twenty one earnings with both our Australasian and North American businesses delivering improved financial results. Group EBIT increased by 11.6% and by 17.3% on a constant currency basis.
This was driven by an earnings growth in Australasia of 2.5 percent and a significant 43% increase in North America. Underlying NPAT was up 23.7 percent to 156,700,000 dollars and earnings per share increased 29 percent to $0.169 per share, a great result for shareholders. These strong earnings delivered a 45% increase in operating cash flow to $246,000,000 The Board declared a final ordinary dividend of $0.075 per share unfranked. This brought the total dividend for FY 'twenty one to $0.14 per share, a 16.7% increase on last year. During the year, we also returned $256,000,000 to shareholders through our on market buyback program.
We bought back 89,300,000 shares, which equates to 9.3% of the company. Today, we are also announcing a new capital management initiative, a $150,000,000 on market buyback. This follows on from the successful capital management activities undertaken in the last two years. Namely, in FY 'twenty, Aurora returned $600,000,000 by a $450,000,000 special dividend and $150,000,000 capital return. In FY 'twenty one, we completed the on market buyback of 89,000,000 shares I referred to a moment ago.
Following the $1,700,000,000 fiber sale in FY 'twenty, post the completion of this $150,000,000 buyback announced today, this will take total capital returns to approximately $1,000,000,000 also a positive return for shareholders. Aurora is committed to being a leading sustainable packaging company. Our strategy remains unchanged, guided by our actions and achievements during the year. This included delivering organic growth while optimizing our existing business performance, expanding into new innovative products and growing our footprint through strategic acquisitions. Shortly, Brian will discuss our progress against those core strategies and some important changes to our shareholder value blueprint.
Building on our strong track record in sustainable packaging, Aurora has made significant progress on the targets we set ourselves. During the year, we also set out a bold plan to improve the company's sustainability to meet the expectations of customers, investors and the communities in which we operate. In summary, the pillars of Aurora's sustainability framework have been redefined to include the circular economy, climate change and our impact on the community. These aspirational goals represent our promise to the future. We also announced our commitment to achieve net 0 Scope 1 and 2 greenhouse gas emissions by 2,050, importantly, with an interim goal of a 40% reduction in emissions by 2,035 using financial year 'nineteen as our baseline.
As an energy intensive manufacturer, this is not an easy challenge to meet. However, Aurora will continue to build on our strong history of delivering in this critical area. We don't yet have all the technical answers, but we're working with our global partners to develop a pathway post-two thousand and thirty five. Importantly, your board is committed to the investment required to meet this challenge. The 3rd pillar of our Refresh framework is our commitment to the community, both in terms of the focus on our team members as well as meeting changing community expectations.
Diversity forms a critical part of this pillar, and we have a strong track record in this area. Our progress is noted in the annual report. Brian will discuss new global diversity, equity and inclusion goals, which are being announced today. And finally, we released our modern slavery statement and supplier assurance framework, which demonstrates our commitment to human rights across the supply chain. On governance, as with sustainability, good corporate governance is integral to the culture and business practices at Aurora.
It adds to performance, creates value and supports an appropriate risk and return framework. Aurora's corporate governance practices are summarized in our corporate governance statement, which you can find in the annual report or on our website. As we build on our strong foundations, Aurora will continue to protect and empower our people, be partners to our customers and drive innovation and our new sustainability goals to differentiate us from our competitors. Aurora is in a strong financial position, and the positive momentum in the results in FY 'twenty one are expected to continue into this year. And finally, I'd like to thank the Aurora leadership team and all our global team members for their dedication and very hard work during the year.
I'll now hand over to Brian for his comments.
Thank you, Rob, and thank you all for your continued support of Aurora. We are incredibly proud of what we've achieved this last financial year. We continue to maintain a clear commitment to the health, safety and well-being of our people. In FY 2021, our safety performance improved across a number of areas, including recordable cases, but our lost time injury frequency rate unfortunately increased slightly. And although this increase was primarily from low severity injuries, it does highlight the need for ongoing safety improvement initiatives.
On a positive note, there were no serious injuries or fatalities in FY 2021 and an improvement in the number of potentials in this area. The improved performance was driven by several initiatives, including new behavioral based safety programs and key initiatives from our safety improvement program, which will continue into FY 'twenty two. Our FY 2021 result demonstrates continued momentum and clearly shows that our strategy and strategic priorities are working. In Australasia, higher earnings were driven by volume growth in cans and closures with overall beverage margins reflecting increased levels of at home consumption at 3 75 ml cans across FY 2021. Growth in beer and other non alcoholic beverages partly offset reduced wine glass volumes resulting from the China tariffs on wine exports.
EBIT grew 2.5%, reflecting the continued strength and resilience of the Australasian business. In North America, the businesses have continued the positive momentum that started in late 2020, delivering improvements in operating and financial performance. Although the COVID impact in North America was materially greater than that felt in Australasia, both OPS and OV returned to revenue growth in FY 2021. Through increased sales force effectiveness, improved focus on customer account profitability and maintaining cost control disciplines, we delivered an increase in EBIT in both OPS and OV. As the Chair noted earlier, our strategic pillars have guided our actions and the delivery of our achievements in FY 2021.
And I'd like to draw your attention to some important changes. Firstly, in relation to capital investments, in addition to investing to enhance our capacity and product capabilities across our portfolio, we have added sustainability as an important driver for future investment. For acquisitions, in addition to our focus to expand our beverage footprint and aluminum glass product capability in Australasia, we have added an element that looks to expand product and service capabilities in North America. With the business platforms in North America now stabilized and scalable, expansion including through M and A will come into greater focus throughout FY 2022 beyond. And finally, for capital management, we have added balanced to reflect our balanced and disciplined approach to capital allocation.
As the Chair noted earlier, we are announcing a new capital management initiative, a $150,000,000 on market buyback. As set out in our shareholder value blueprint, we apply returns focused, risk weighted approach to investment and capital management decisions. This means taking a balanced approach to allocating capital towards growth investment opportunities, both organically and inorganically. At our FY 2021 results, we flagged approximately $100,000,000 of growth capital expenditure in FY 2022, relating to the installation of a new can line at an existing site of approximately $80,000,000 and construction of an advanced class beneficiation plant at Golar at an estimated cost of approximately $25,000,000 At this time, with low leverage of 1.5 times and continued reliable cash flow generation and in the absence of immediate inorganic opportunities in the ANZ region, a return of excess capital in the form of an on market buyback is considered appropriate. And importantly, given our strong balance sheet and low leverage and the strong cash generation capability of businesses, the $150,000,000 buyback still allows for modest M and A.
Throughout FY 2021, we have made good progress against our core strategies for each of the businesses and have momentum carrying into FY22. In FY 2021, we increased can capacity with the completion of our Slimline expansion at Reaspie in New South Wales. In North America, new leadership in both OPS and OV have delivered strong results in FY 2021. Both businesses are well positioned for future growth. Looking more closely at our priorities for FY 2022.
In Australasia, reflecting the strong outlook for cans volume growth and with binding heads of agreements on long term customer extensions, we will invest approximately $110,000,000 in new can line and increased can ends capacity on the Eastern seaboard, providing an incremental 10% uplift in cans capacity and which is expected to be online for the second half of FY twenty twenty three. In Glass, we have made good progress to consolidate alternate growth pathways. Over FY twenty twenty two, the sales opportunities that we have secured will replace approximately 90% of the China export volumes. For OPS, we have an ongoing focus on business model enhancements, including a refreshed e commerce platform. We remain on track to achieve EBIT margins greater than 5% in the next 2 to 3 years and we'll start to explore inorganic opportunity to expand our product and service offerings in the second half of FY twenty twenty two.
For OV, we are capitalizing on the solid foundations established in FY 2021 and are on track to complete the end to end review of the strategic direction by the end of calendar 2021. I'll now set out the beverage and OPS strategic objective roadmaps. The Australasian beverage business has a range of strategic initiatives across Aurora's strategic pillars. Firstly, on the optimize and grow, the focus on the business optimization and continuous improvement is part of the DNA of our beverage business. And our robust systems and the disciplined execution in our day to day operation forms a strong platform as we look to further scale the business.
Secondly, as it relates to enhance and expand, we constantly assess opportunities to further leverage the strength and resilience of our beverage business, such as the additional capacity expansion for cans. We are continuing to invest in our digital journey with a new e commerce and web presence. From an inorganic perspective, we continue to assess opportunities to expand into logical adjacencies in the Australasian market that will align with our strategies and our capabilities. And lastly, we will assess opportunities to enter new over the longer term that can provide a natural and logical extension to our current capabilities. In North America, the OPS business has been on a careful and calculated journey to reestablish stability in operations and ensure that we have a strong scalable platform on which to sustainably grow.
The results announced for FY 2021 speak to the positive progress that we have made. Firstly, from an Optimize and Grow perspective, strong progress has been made against all key strategic and operating initiatives. In particular, OPS has made significant progress in utilizing business intelligence tools to drive greater sales force effectiveness and proactively manage poor performing accounts. These disciplines will position us strongly for future growth as we further scale the business. 2nd, we separated Aurora's strategic pillar of enhance and expand into 2 distinct phases in the OPS strategic roadmap.
The immediate priority for OPS will be on continuing to enhance the business model with a number of critical initiatives, such as the vital digital transformation journey with new e commerce capability being launched later this calendar year. The introduction of lean operating principles to drive greater efficiencies and the build out of service capabilities into our core markets. Lastly, as we move forward and embed further enhancements into the OPS business model, these strategies may be accelerated by M and A where it makes strategic and financial sense. As the Chair discussed earlier, in August, we announced a new chapter in Aurora's sustainability journey, building on the great foundations that we already have in place. We will address the issue of climate change by our commitment of achieving net 0 greenhouse gas emissions by 2,050 for Scope 1 and Scope 2 emissions, and an interim goal of 40% reduction in these emissions by 2,035 from our FY 2019 levels.
We have a well defined plan to achieve our 2,035 goal. The pathway between 2,035 and 2,050 will rely on advances in technology. We are a proven leader in circular economy initiatives that maximize the recycled content of our manufactured products to ensure that these products can be recycled many times to minimize waste. We have a target in our glass business of achieving 60% recycled content by 2025. Our recently announced $25,000,000 advanced color beneficiation plant at our South Australian glass facility will not increase the amount of recycled content in glass bottles that we manufacture, but reduce CO2 emissions, energy use and divert waste from landfill.
More goals will be developed in FY 2022 to advance our efforts across the businesses. For our communities, we continue our committed focus on our team members and the broader community in which we operate. Our commitment to a diverse, inclusive and equitable work environment comes to life in many ways and helps drive better decision making, innovation and growth. Diversity has long been a focus at Aurora and we've made great strides in recent years. And we continue to focus on diversity through initiatives, including our Willow program, Aurora Proud, which celebrates and raising awareness of the LGBTI community and educating our people on DE and I.
Because this is an enduring focus, we are pleased to share new global DE and I goals, which build on our recent achievements. We have a clear roadmap of initiatives that will enable us to reach these goals. Importantly, while these goals provide a global direction for Aurora, our business groups have tailored the diversity, equity, inclusion strategies and goals taking into account local culture factors and laws. This approach brings more meaning and impact to our diverse geographies as well as the different businesses across Aurora. Along with the Board and the executive leadership team, I'm extremely proud of the dedication of our people in developing our promise to the future.
Finally, and before I hand back to the Chair for the procedural part of the meeting, I would like to reiterate the outlook for FY 2022 provided at our recent financial results announcement on the 19th August still stands. I would like to take this opportunity to provide some additional information about the first half and second half outlook for the Australasian Beverage business. Whilst the first half of FY twenty twenty two EBIT is expected to decline as the impacts of the China wine tariffs are cycled, the beverage business will return to EBIT growth from the second half of FY 'twenty two and is expected to be broadly in line with FY 'twenty one for the full year. So thank you to you all and back to you, Rob. Thank you, Brian.
So I'll shortly take questions from shareholders and proxies on the item of business through our online facility and on the telephone. However, I'll first outline in more detail the voting procedures at today's meeting. The resolutions at today's meeting will be decided by poll. Julie Stokes of Link Market Services, Aurora's share registrar, will act as returning officer in relation to the poll. The AGM Virtual Meeting online guide provides the detailed steps on how to vote and ask questions online and on the telephone.
If you need any assistance during the meeting, please refer to the online guide or contact link using the phone number provided at the top of the online screen. If you're entitled to vote, you can obtain a voting card by clicking on the get a vote card box. Once you have finished voting on the resolutions, click the Submit Vote button. Voting will close at the conclusion of the meeting. You may edit your vote at any time before the conclusion of the meeting by clicking Edit Card.
The results of the poll can be obtained later today by visiting the company's website or through the ASX platform. The Board recommends that shareholders vote in favor of all resolutions. As Chair of the meeting, I intend to vote all undirected proxies given to me in favor of each of the resolutions. I will now proceed with the formal business of the meeting as set out in the notice. Before I do, I will now respond to any phone or online questions.
So phone moderator, are there any phone questions relating to the items of business? At this time, there are no questions from the phone audience. Thank you. Moderator, are there any online questions relating to the items of business?
Good morning, Chair. There are some questions from the Australian Shareholders Association from Brett Morris. He has 2 questions on the accounts. The first question, in the annual report, it says that you expect Aurora Packaging Solutions EBIT margins to double in North America over the next two to 3 years. This is a bullish statement and I'm wondering how this will be achieved.
Okay. That's Brett. Sorry, go on. I'll write
the second question as well and I'll pause. What is your view about the future of wine bottle exports to China?
Okay. Thanks, Brett. And as always, we appreciate the ASA for their questions and support of Aurora. The comment on margins in OPS, I think I'm not sure you used the term double, but what we basically said was that the margins would improve from I think they were 3.6% in financial year 2020. This year, they were 4.4% and we're targeting a 5% EBIT margin.
And that's basically the work that Brian and the management team has been doing over the last 2 years. The margins had reduced in our U. S. Business and the significant transformation, the implementation of a new computer system, our ERP system has given us lots of visibility over our margins. And as Brian talked to you in his speech, we certainly analysis of customers and those customers unprofitable customers.
So that gives us great comfort in the statement about achieving a 5% margin. The other data point for that is that online distribution sorry, deliveries to home have increased substantially as they have around the world. That's caused a shortage of cardboard boxes and also played into the hands of distribution companies like Aurora. So we're very confident in the margin expansion opportunity that we've set out. And that's core to any distribution business to watch that margin very closely.
Your second point about wine tariffs to wine exports to China, I mean, that's really out of our hands. What's in our hands is to say, well, what can we produce if there's less demand for wine bottles in export markets? We've seen growth in markets like Vietnam, in Singapore, outside China, which is very pleasing and to the UK. But what we've also had to do and why Brian made the comments about returning to growth in the second half is look for alternative glass markets and the team have very successfully both attracted, found and secured additional volumes, which will run through the Golar plant. It's a high fixed cost manufacturing plant.
So once we secure those volumes replacing basically export wine bottles to China, we're confident we can return to growth in the second half. Thanks, Brett. And then moderator, any other questions?
The ASA has a question on the re election of Samantha Lewis, also from Brett. The question is, the ASA would like to know if Sam Lewis intends to take on additional Board roles? And secondly, how does she find the time in the day to undertake all her current directorship roles to the best of her ability?
Thanks, Brett. I've got Sam with me here. So if she wants to make any comments, personal comments, then I'm very happy to do that. But I'll speak on her behalf in the first instance. Sam is an exceptionally good director.
And from the Aurora Board's point of view, we're very lucky to have her on the team. She's an exceptional Chair of the Audit Committee as well. From Sam's point of view, we see her responsibilities as pretty normal with somebody of her capability. She's always been available, always interacts well with the management team and the board. So from our perspective, we've never seen an instance where Sam's significant responsibilities have affected her performance at Aurora.
She also has no other full time work. So any comments you want to make on that Sam?
No. Thanks Rob and thanks Brett for the question. I mean it is an important question in terms of making sure that directors have the ability to give the time and commitment necessary to undertake their duties. I take my role seriously and I have structured my Board portfolio in a way that means that I can give the attention each of the companies that I serve on the Board of the attention that they deserve. I'll also add, I used to be a partner at a professional services firm.
So I'm not shy of working the hours that are required at the time that those hours are required to be put in and that was certainly a hallmark of professional services. So thanks for the question.
Thanks, Brett. Moderator, are there any further online questions before I move into the items of business?
Yes, there are, Chair. We have a question from Lindsay Colin Campbell. The question is, has the Board a strategy for reducing debt in view of potential increases in interest rates, particularly noting the high goodwill of the company. Is the Board willing to reduce the value of goodwill?
Thanks, Lizzie. Appreciate the question. As I alluded to in my speech, we sold our fiber business for $1,700,000,000 in financial year 2020, and we've returned about $1,000,000,000 assuming we complete the capital return that we announced today sorry, the buyback we announced today of $150,000,000 we will have returned about $1,000,000,000 to shareholders. So the question is where is the other $700,000,000 The majority of it went into reducing our debt. So and of course, reinvestment in the organization is a couple of 100,000,000 that Brian talked to.
So we're very comfortable with our current debt profile. We're down around $450,000,000 from well over $1,000,000,000 and that suits us. It's probably in any in some respects, probably a bit low. We're leveraged at 1.5x. So very happy with the pay down of that debt.
The second question around the goodwill. So the Board has an obligation through the order committee to look at the carrying value of each of the businesses. The majority of the goodwill that Aurora is carrying is in our U. S. Businesses and you can see that we had a 43% improvement in performance year on year.
So that gives us great comfort that the goodwill and the entire value of the business in both OPS and IV is well substantiated. So we're very comfortable. But as I say, we look at it every 6 months to ensure that's still the case. Thanks, moderator. Any other questions?
No further questions at this time.
Okay. Thank you. I'll move on to the formal items at the meeting. The first item of ordinary business is the tabling of the financial statements for the year ending 30th June 2021 and the reports by directors and the auditor of the company, which have already been made available to shareholders. The reports will be tabled, but not the subject of a resolution today.
Questions relating to the financial statements and reports together with other shareholder questions in relation to the management of the company, of course, may be asked in reference to this item. We'll now move to the second item of business, the reelection of Jeremy Sutcliffe and Sam Lewis as Directors of the company. As stated in the notice of meeting, Jeremy Sutcliffe retired by rotation and being eligible has nominated himself for reelection. The details of Jeremy's qualifications and experience are set out in the notice of meeting, And I'd like to invite Jeremy to briefly speak to his reelection.
Well, thank you, Rob, and good morning to shareholders. It occurred to me in the taxi on the way in this morning that after nearly 20 years as a public company director, this is the first time I've stood for reelection as the oldest member of the board, a fairly sobering thought. And it's going to be the last time I do so because if reelected, I'll be standing down at some time during my upcoming term. And obviously, boarding it all is very important. I support that, and it's vital for every company.
I've been a director at Aurora since its inception or coming into being. I've also been associated with the Aurora business since 2009 as the Director of Amcor. So until my retirement, rest assured, I'll be supporting and critiquing management as they continue to work to deliver their strategic and sustainability goals. Thank you very much. Rob?
Thanks, Jeremy. Jeremy has the support of all of his colleagues and I will now disclose the way in which proxy votes have been directed to reelect Mr. Sutcliffe. I'll put the motion that Jeremy Sutcliffe be reelected as a Director. Would you please complete your online voting card in relation to Item 2A?
Thank you. As stated in the notice of meeting, Sam Lewis retired by rotation and being eligible has nominated herself for reelection. The details of Sam's qualifications and experience are set out in the notice of meeting and I would like to invite Sam to briefly speak to her reelection.
Thanks, Rob, and good morning again shareholders. I've been on the Aurora Board now for over 7 years and with your ongoing support, I look forward to continuing to work with my fellow directors and the management team to best position Aurora to deliver on its strategy. I'm currently a full time non executive director on a number of listed company boards and these roles coupled with my 14 years as a partner at Deloitte where I was auditor and advisor to a number of listed companies in the FMCG, retail and manufacturing sectors mean that I bring strong financial, risk, governance and M and A experience to your company's Board and in particular to my role as Chair of the Audit, Risk and Compliance Committee. I really enjoy working with the team here at Aurora and we have great businesses and a sustainable future. And I'm hopeful of your continued support.
Thanks, Rob.
Thank you, Sam. I'll now disclose the way in which proxy votes have been directed to reelect Sam Lewis. I put the motion that Sam Lewis be reelected as a Director of the company. Would you please complete your online voting card relating to items 2B? Thank you, shareholders.
Moving to item 3 of the notice of meeting, the incentive grants to Mr. Brian Lowe. The Board proposes grants to Mr. Lowe under the terms of the company's short term and long term incentive plans as summarized in the notice of meeting. As required by the ASX listing rules, shareholder approval is sought in order to grant the proposed securities to Mr.
Loh. Mr. Loh has not participated in Board discussions or resolutions concerning the grants. Each of these grants will be considered separately. Turning first to the short term incentive grant to Mr.
Lowe. Shareholders are asked to approve a grant of deferred performance rights to Mr. Lowe as set out in the notice. The grant is designed to reward the achievement of specific objectives for the 2022 financial year. Any short term incentive grants made to Mr.
Lowe is also subject to Aurora's safety performance measured against key safety metrics. Importantly, the Board has overall discretion in granting the proposed short term incentive grants to Mr. Lowe. I will now disclose the way in which proxy votes have been directed on this item. I put the motion under Item 3A that Brian Loebe granted to 4 deferred performance rights under the short term incentive plan.
Again, would you please complete your online voting card in relation to Item 3A? Turning now to the long term incentive grant to Mr. Lowe. Shareholders are asked to approve the grants performance rights as set out in the notice of meeting. I will now disclose the way in which proxy votes have been directed on this item.
I put the motion under Item 3B that Brian Labbe grant deferred performance rights under the long term incentive plan. Would you please complete your online voting card in relation to Item 3B? The 4th item in the notice of meeting is the remuneration report. In accordance with the Corporations Act, the directors have prepared a remuneration report to the 30th June 2021, which included the annual which is included in the annual report that has been made available to shareholders. Aurora's executives are awarded for annual performance against business plans as well as long term returns to shareholders.
The short term incentive or STI assessment includes financial and non financial metrics at a group and an individual performance level. The STI outcome for this year reflects the strong alignment between Aurora's financial performance, executive remuneration outcomes and the challenging nature of Aurora's business objectives during the year. STI payments for the executive KNP were paid out at 100% of their STI opportunity in FY 2021. The LTI grant awarded in the year ended 30th June 2018 did not vest as the performance hurdles were not met. This of course aligns with shareholder returns.
To align with market increases and to reflect the overall performance of the company, the Board also determined to increase executive KNP remuneration by a fixed 2.5% following no remuneration increases the KNP or the executive for the 2021 financial year. The current non executive direct to aggregate fee limit approved by shareholders at the 2015 AGM is not proposed to be increased. In accordance with the Corporations Act, the vote on the remuneration report is non binding. I will now disclose the way in which proxy votes have been directed on this item. Thank you, shareholders.
I'll put the motion that remuneration report for the period ended 30th June 2021 be adopted by passing an ordinary advisory resolution as set out in the notice of meeting. Would you please complete your online voting card in relation to item 4? Thank you. I'll now take any further questions relating to all items of business. Phone moderator, are there any further phone questions relating to the items of business?
Chair, there are no further questions from the telephone audience. Thank you. Moderator, are there any further online questions relating to the items of business?
No further questions, Chair.
Thank you. As there are no further questions, I declare that the poll for order items will close shortly. The results of the poll will be released to the ASX and will be available on Aurora's website later today. Once again, thank you ladies and gentlemen for your participation at today's meeting and your support of the company. I can assure you that your directors and the entire Aurora team will continue to work hard to deliver long term value for shareholders in these complex and ever changing times.
I now declare the meeting closed. Thank you.