Good morning, shareholders. My name is Mark Joiner. I'm Chairman of the Board and of the meeting today. It's my great pleasure to welcome you to our second AGM where we engage with you after our first full year of trading as a publicly listed company. The land on which we are today has rich history and is a place of culture, kinship, and knowledge. I respectfully acknowledge and honor the traditional custodians of this land, wherever you are. I pay my respects to elders past and present, and recognize the continued and enduring connection all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples have to this land and to country in general. We are hosting today's annual general meeting from Collins Square in the Docklands region of Melbourne, where the Yarra River and the Maribyrnong River meet the sea.
For thousands of years, these waterways have sustained life and hold a spiritual and cultural significance to Aboriginal peoples. I've been advised by the Company Secretary that we have a quorum, and therefore, I declare the meeting open. I now formally open the poll on all resolutions. It's my pleasure to introduce you to the members of the PEXA Group Board. First, on my right, Mr. Glenn King, who is our Group Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer. Next to him, Dr. Kirstin Ferguson, who's an Independent Non-Executive Director. Ms. Helen Silver AO, who's an Independent Non-Executive Director, and Ms. Melanie Willis, also an Independent Non-Executive Director. We have Mr. Vivek Bhatia, a Non-Executive Director and Link Group nominee. Next to him, Mr. John Hawkins, a Non-Executive Director and also a Link Group nominee. Finally, Mr. Paul Rickard, a Non-Executive Director and CBA nominee.
Also in attendance are Mr. Andrew Metcalfe, our Company Secretary, and Ms. Naomi Dawson, who is also a Company Secretary, Mr. Richard Moore, who's our Chief Financial Officer, and Mr. Chris Reid, who's an Audit Partner representing the company's auditor, Ernst & Young. Chris Reid is available to answer questions in relation to the conduct of the audit, the preparation and content of the independent external Auditor's Report, the accounting policies adopted by the company in relation to the preparation of the financial statements, and the independence of the audit in relation to the conduct of the audit. Representatives from PEXA's share registry, Link Market Services, are also in attendance. The Notice of Meeting, dated 17th of October, 2022, has been made available to all shareholders on the company's website and on the ASX announcements platform.
In accordance with the company's constitution and the Corporations Act, I propose the notice of meeting and explanatory memorandum be taken as read. For each item of business, I will first ask whether there are any questions from shareholders physically present in the room. Please approach the microphone to the left of the room to ask your questions. I will then ask our Moderator, Ron Bechtloff, to read out any written questions received via the online platform, followed by any questions received by the telephone operator. We will endeavor to answer as many questions as we can. I encourage shareholders who are joining the meeting virtually to submit written questions online by clicking the Ask a Question button located at the top of your screen.
You will need to select whether your question relates to general business or a specific resolution, and then type your question in the space provided. If you would like to ask a question via the telephone, you must quote the unique PIN provided by Link Market Services on request. The telephone operator will introduce you at the relevant time. I ask that you mute your computer while you ask your question. Voting on all resolutions is by way of a poll. For those attending the meeting in person, you can cast your vote by completing the yellow voting card received from the registration desk. If you have any questions, please see a Link Market Services team member at the registration desk outside this room. For shareholders joining virtually, to cast your vote, click Get a Voting Card, which will appear at the top of your screen.
You will need to enter your SRN or HIN or proxy number and postcode and click Submit Details and Vote. Please complete the online voting card for each item of business and click Submit Vote. As Chair, I will vote undirected proxies in favor of all resolutions. During the meeting, we will display the number of votes already received for each resolution. The final results of voting by way of poll will be released to the ASX as soon as they're available and will be displayed on the company's Investor Center website. Turning now to my perspective on the year under review. Overall, I would characterize it as one of steady progress on all three of our strategic objectives, together with the delivery of our financial forecasts, as set out in our 2021 prospectus.
The PEXA Exchange has continued its progressive penetration of the Australian market, gaining share of transactions in key states, including bringing on stream the ACT, where 59% market share of transactions was achieved by financial year-end. We continue to work with regulators around the arrangements for interoperability, where we have made material, financial, and know-how investments in developing the necessary capabilities. System reliability and customer satisfaction metrics remain very strong indeed. With respect to the data and the wider digitization of the Australian property value chain, we've made a number of small investments, which together with our own information resources, position us to play a significant role in this rapidly developing sector through our PEXA Insights business. Finally, with respect to our expansion into international markets, with the initial focus being upon the U.K., we have made pleasing progress.
Just recently, we launched our first product in the U.K., offering remortgage transaction processing and purchased a conveyance processing business specializing in the remortgage segment of the market. Our focus now is on increasing the number and size of banking institutions signing on to use the system while we consider how best to extend into the larger purchase and sale part of the market. We are now also looking more closely at other international markets, where our second-generation technology platform might be deployed. As to governance, there have been important developments too. First, we have welcomed Helen Silver to the board. Helen will introduce herself a little later, but we are delighted she has agreed to serve as a Non-Executive Director, bringing as she does, deep experience and connections in areas that are important to us.
Secondly, we've begun the process of properly constituting a U.K. board, something that regulators in that country will likely soon require, initially by appointing John Hooper as an Independent Chair. John is connected and respected in U.K. banking circles and will be a valuable asset for us in reaching our potential in that market. We've also brought in a number of new senior leaders to the Australian management team, and we are excited by the bench strength we now have in place in this market. There was a good deal of uncertainty this year around whether the Link stake in PEXA might change hands. While that was never really a matter for us to be concerned with, it now appears likely that Link could make an in-specie distribution of most or all of its PEXA investment to Link shareholders.
If that is successfully completed, most likely in the first half of 2023, it should bring greater liquidity to the PEXA shares to the benefit of all shareholders, and we certainly welcome the development. I would like to take this opportunity to express again my gratitude to the PEXA staff and members, both of whom have shown great enthusiasm and commitment this year and made important contributions. Staff engagement is very high, and it's perhaps notable that WorkPlus rated PEXA one of the top three places to work in Australia. Finally, my thanks to you, our shareholders, for your interest in and support for PEXA. I look forward to further opportunities to update you on our progress. I'll now pass to our Group Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, Glenn King, to present PEXA's FY 2022 results, operational progress, and current trading performance. Glenn?
Well, thank you, Mark, and thank you again to all shareholders who have joined us today. Now people often think of PEXA as just a technology platform. In reality, we're much more. PEXA supports most people through the most significant purchase they will make in their life, buying a home or property. It is PEXA's role to make that experience as efficient, safe, secure, and reliable as possible, increasing certainty to industry participants, home buyers, and sellers alike. Now FY 2022 was a positive year for the PEXA Group, operationally and financially. As we came out of our prospectus forecast period, we not only grew as compared to FY 2021, we also exceeded our FY 2022 prospectus forecasts. Now, some key highlights included, group revenue was up 27% year-over-year to $ 280 million.
The PEXA Exchange EBITDA was up 38% to $ 153 million, with our EBITDA margin up 5 percentage points to 55%. Our free cash flow before CapEx, financing and tax was up 7% to $ 121 million. NPATA was up 123% to $ 77 million. Gearing, as measured by net debt to PEXA Exchange EBITDA, was down 35% to 1.47x. Our commitment to PEXA's core values, our people, our customers, and our role in the community is what underpinned the company's performance in FY 2022. I can say I'm absolutely honored to be leading such a wonderful and committed PEXA team.
Our team of around 500 people are highly engaged, and along with a robust property market, underpinned the record PEXA Exchange volumes, which was up 22% year-on-year to just over 4 million property transactions in FY 2022. To put this in context, PEXA Exchange volumes, transaction volumes have grown from approximately 10,000 transactions per month in December 2015 to more than 360,000 transactions per month in June 2022. In addition to growing the PEXA Exchange in Australia, we've made meaningful progress across our international and Insights businesses, providing multiple attractive growth paths for our business going forward. All of this translated into another strong operational financial performance in FY 2022, with positive key metrics demonstrating the growth in our portfolio of products and services.
Our strategy is anchored by four strategic pillars, enhancing the core exchange service in Australia, expanding in new Torrens title jurisdictions like the U.K., extending to provide innovative data insights, building deeper customer relations across a broader group of stakeholders, and evolving our business platform and brand. These strategic pillars are all in support of fulfilling our purpose, connecting people to place, and are delivered in accordance with our values, innovate for good, better together, and make it happen, and make it count. Now I'll touch on all four strategic areas now as I update you on the progress made across our group. The core of our business is the PEXA Exchange, a leading and highly trusted technology platform.
The Exchange has processed more than 12 million property transactions since its inception, equating to more than $ 2.4 trillion in property value, of which more than $ 900 billion was settled in FY 2022 on the platform. The momentum for digital transactions continues to accelerate in Australia. In FY 2022, we grew due to both market and market share growth. A good example is PEXA's successful launch in the ACT, reaching 59% transfer market segment penetration as at 30th of June 2022. An incredible result within 12 months of entry, despite not having mandatory e-conveyancing like other jurisdictions in Australia. We also continue to constructively contribute to regulatory reform, including engaging positively with ARNECC regarding the four key issues PEXA raised in relation to interoperability, and participating in the AusPayNet Payments Code to improve Australia's payment system.
Building on our experience and learnings in Australia, PEXA International seeks to replicate the success of the PEXA Exchange to develop digital property settlement solutions in new offshore markets, with a priority market being the U.K., as it provides a total addressable market opportunity of approximately AUD 700 million. Our initial focus in the U.K. has been on the remortgage process in England and Wales, and we've been making good progress. In April 2022, we announced the successful deployment of a brand-new payment scheme, PEXA Pay, the seventh net settlement payment scheme with the Bank of England. This platform and payment scheme was successfully tested with seven financial institutions, and the Bank of England has agreed to another cohort of lenders testing in the fourth quarter of this calendar year.
The first lenders have been signed onto the PEXA platform. Go live of the platform with the first lender occurred in September 2022, with subsequent waves of lenders expected to join over 2023. The acquisition of the U.K.-based remortgage processing firm, Optima Legal, will also help build our market presence and rate of adoption. We continue to explore and identify potential opportunities in the U.K. to deliver on our strategic intent for that market. While our expansion in the U.K. has gone to plan, it's not without its risks. We're being very measured in how we approach our launch to ensure that all stakeholders can benefit from PEXA as we support the digitalization of the U.K. property market as we have done in Australia.
Now turning back to Australia, our $10 trillion housing market is continuing to be rapidly transformed by digital technology innovations like the PEXA Exchange. The creation of significant volumes of property data is generating appropriate opportunities for new solutions that enhance decision-making in the market being reshaped by economic, environmental, and social factors. PEXA Insights delivers a generation of data solutions that empower businesses, governments, and consumers to appropriately make informed property-related decisions, including demand for land, use of land, transaction efficiency, and housing affordability. We now have a team of over 60 data specialists focused on building a property data bureau and developing solutions that appropriately leverage our access to near real-time, accurate, and comprehensive national property data. We've contributed to policy and data of reform, including various submissions, and have implemented an ethics advisory committee.
In addition, this year we implemented partnerships with universities, including Deakin and the Melbourne Business School, and released our first products aimed at helping financial institutions improve efficiency with our quarterly property and mortgage insight reports, providing a first taste of the power of data. With new product concepts under development and others in beta, we are charting a path towards several new product launches in FY 2023. To build our capabilities in data solutions and insights, we also completed several strategic investments in FY 2022, and two shortly after financial year-end. For example, we acquired the leading Australian-grown demographic base company, Dot.ID. Now, this land information business is a trusted provider of demographic and economic data, and forecasts at the micro geographic level to more than 300 local councils across Australia and New Zealand.
We also acquired a 70% interest in Slate Analytics, a progressive property analytics and technology solution co-developed by the University of New South Wales Sydney and FrontierSI. Across FY 2022, PEXA Insights also acquired a 38% stake in data property tech, Landchecker, and a 25% stake in artificial intelligence software leader, Elula. All four investments were cash investments. Now, our fourth growth path is PX Ventures, which builds on PEXA's digital and industry experience, innovative and entrepreneurial culture, and established relationships to develop new businesses, opportunities with partners, for consumers, businesses, and governments across the property ecosystem that could significantly transform the property journey. PX Ventures, through its launchpad, has received more than 100 ideas from several up-and-coming Australian businesses interested in scaling and commercializing their offering.
In the year, several ventures were launched or progressed with external partners, including partnerships with Business Advantage, Honey Insurance, and Smaver. Now, given the critical role played by PEXA in the economy, it's important for the group to continue building and maintaining a culture of trust and community. Now, we're privileged to have a highly engaged PEXA Rian workforce, as can be seen in our eighty percent team engagement score for the period. And we were proud to be named one of the best places to work in Australia, placing top three in the twenty-twenty one Best Place to Work awards. Now, this translates to the positive ex-experience our customers, partners, government, and industry as a whole receive when dealing with our business.
In FY 2022, we set a new watermark for brand trust, with the PEXA Group achieving an 8.9 out of 10 rating, and from members, a member satisfaction score of 97%. PEXA is also a proud member of the global ESG Benchmark for Real Assets, having achieved a five-star GRESB rating in FY2022. Our people are also engaged in the community through our shared value partnership with Homes for Homes, a not-for-profit which is focused on creating sustainable and affordable housing for our community's most vulnerable. In addition, we've been working with Indigenous consultants to establish an Indigenous engagement strategy, creating employment, procurement, and community opportunities for the First Nations peoples. Now, I can also say, while the property market is currently slowing, it is still supported by strong economic fundamentals, including high household savings rates, low levels of unemployment, and increasing inward migration.
Refinancing volumes also remain elevated. Reflecting this, the PEXA Exchange volumes have held up well, with 962,000 transactions undertaken over the first quarter of FY 2023, down just 7% from the first quarter of FY 2022, and up just 5% from the last quarter of FY 2022. This was in line with our forecast for the quarter of above 900,000 transactions when we released our FY 2022 results in August. Now, while some capital market participants try, and it is not possible to infer PEXA's overall performance from historic transfer volume data published by just New South Wales and Queensland. New South Wales transfer volumes were, as an example, down 20% in the first quarter, or circa 20%. Overall, the PEXA volumes were only down 7%. Why is this the case?
Because all states perform differently, and what we see in transfer trends is also not what we're seeing with refinances and other transactions. PEXA transfer volumes were down 13% compared to the same quarter last year, whereas both refinancing and other volumes were actually ahead of last year. This resulted in a 7% drop across all products. What I can say based on what we can see ahead in our view of the expected property market activity, we expect the first half of FY 2023 volumes for PEXA of circa 1.9 million transactions on the exchange platform, close to the volume achieved in the second half of FY 2022. Given this, we have today reaffirmed our FY 2023 outlook previously provided.
Specifically, the exchange EBITDA margins are expected to stay in the 50%-55% range. We continue to plan to invest approximately 20% of our revenue in exchange technology. We will also invest approximately AUD 45 million in international expansion and approximately $15 million in PEXA Insights. Now, that's before any M&A activities. In the U.K., we aim to grow the number of lenders transacting on our technology platform by the end of FY 2023. In closing my presentation today, I'd like to leave you with some key observations. We continue to build and leverage our skills, capital, and capabilities within the group. We are delivering on a clear strategy of enhancing our exchange, extending our services, and expanding internationally. We evolve our business, and we're working to manage and mitigate ongoing risks.
Both operationally and financially, we have delivered good outcomes across the Group in FY 2022 and continue to invest in our businesses, including opportunities for future growth and value. That concludes my presentation to you today. I wanna say again, a big thank you, and I'll be very happy to answer any questions you have. I'll now hand back to Mark. Thank you.
Thank you, Glenn. We'll now take any questions in relation to the Chair or the CEO presentations. Are there any questions from shareholders in the room? We have one over there, if we have a microphone.
Michael Barrett's my name. I'm a small shareholder. I've been very interested in your business model for a while. I'm looking to expand the shareholding if today and what comes up looks interesting. What I find a little bit uneasy about is the current market. Sort of the gatekeeper is what you call a suburban lawyer. Okay? I've been through this a couple of times, all right, and it's actually a horror stretch, to be quite frank with you. Because you're actually shifting economic power from a lot of work under their control, which is highly labor intensive, across to something that is more efficient, faster, cheaper, and probably more reliable as well. I didn't hear any mention of that from Glenn.
To me, that seems to be a bit of a restriction.
Yeah
... in the movement or the growth of the, what you'd call a traditional business. Now, in addition to that, you're talking about expanding overseas and essentially it's U.K.- based, where they drive on the same side of the road and they speak the same language, right? But once you expand that outside, uh, the English-speaking world that has a British, uh, legal system, then, um, things get a little lot more complicated. And I'm just wondering how you're gonna face those two challenges, um, to grow the business.
Yes.
Thank you.
Well, thank you for your question, and thank you for your support and your intention to buy lots more PEXA shares. We certainly appreciate that. I think the game is really played out in Australia and in most of the states that are online, the penetration of the PEXA platform is, you know, in some cases up to sort of 98%, 99% of transactions. To some extent that reflects the fact that the Australian innovation was led by financial institutions and state governments. It was a coalition of the willing that really got us installed in that market. You've already seen that when we turn on new substates like the ACT, and we're now talking to Tasmania, penetration actually happens quite quickly.
I don't think we have that issue in Australia, but the way you describe it's certainly relevant in the U.K., where it isn't a coalition of financial institutions and government. It's more us making the running, and we do have to be cognizant of the economic and the traditional positions of various players in the industry. That is why it takes some time to penetrate these foreign markets, and each one will have unique characteristics. While we have an international technology platform that we think can be widely deployed, each market will have a unique set of challenges, and we need to be prepared to flex and find ways through, which is why you see an incremental approach in the U.K. Early signs are positive, you know, but we're not declaring victory.
You know, we still have a hill to climb in the U.K., and we're now starting to turn our attention to other left-hand side of the road markets, and we'll go from there. Glenn, is there anything you want to add to that?
Hopefully you can hear me all right. Firstly, I just wanna say thank you for the questions. I'm really pleased. As what Mark said, I'm really pleased you're a shareholder as well. We're very grateful. Just to add on, the latter part first is on the international. The U.K., we are making good progress, and we are exploring some other markets. We do wanna be just conscious of, let's say, non-English speaking markets, what are some of the nuances there, which is also in addition, you know, some of the legal dimensions as well. We wanna do it in a measured way that makes sense in terms of execution, but also makes sense to owners and shareholders just generally. On the former element, which you're quite right in terms of lawyers and conveyancing just generally.
We've approximately got 10,000 lawyers and conveyancing firms as members or customers of ours, and many of them are also shareholders of ours. We see them as critical partners of our ecosystem. We're not talking about connecting people to place. It's about how we connect everyone together for the common and the broader good. Whilst we've made good progress with the exchange, and that has created a lot of efficiencies and effectiveness, as you correctly said, and we can see that across numerous dimensions. There is still opportunity for us to do even more with financial institutions, governments, but also the lawyers and conveyancers just generally. A couple of examples of that that we're currently working on at the moment. One is around the data. When I was talking about the insights and the data.
We know a lot of that data and insights can not only lead to better efficiencies, but better customer outcomes. We're already seeing that in some of the things we've done in the last 12 months. The other item, and this is where we're talking about PX Ventures, we can also see there's opportunities to remove the friction points between lawyers, conveyancers, through to using the exchange and others by further digitalization that adds value to lawyers and conveyancers, but also leads to a better customer experience overall. We're already testing some of those at the moment. An example of that is Business Advantage that I just explained earlier. Early days, but I expect in the next 12 months, we'll be able to talk about more examples, how we're making it more efficient and effective overall.
Critical for us in any company, we need to treat our customers well, and the lawyers and conveyancers are a key customer group, and the end customer is a key customer group as well. I take that very seriously.
Are there any further questions in the room? Okay, thank you. Moderator, have we received any written questions?
Thank you, Chair. We have one question regarding general business. It's from Brett Morris from the Australian Shareholders' Association. It's a comment followed by a question. As a PEXA user, I wonder why users can't nominate dormant titles into electronic form rather than having titles sit in the safe. His question is as follows. Have you finished developing the PEXA software? Has PEXA considered what further products it could provide to the legal profession, such as discovery of documents between parties?
Do you want to take that, Glenn?
Yes, for sure. Again, I just wanna say a big thank you for that question, Brett. It's interesting you mentioned. I'll try to be brief and short on it. There's still numerous opportunities for the Exchange just generally in digitalization of transaction types and products such as dormant titles, if we use that as an example. If I just build out a little bit further. In Western Australia, currently about 80% of transactions are done through an electronic conveyancing aspect on the PEXA Exchange. The reason why that's the case is there's still a number of transactions that have not yet been digitalized. Similar, if I take New South Wales as an example.
One of the challenges in New South Wales in terms of streamlining the process is water titles, which has not yet been digitalized, which is outside of the land registry process per se, but it's still part of the broader customer experience. Dormant titles is another potential opportunity as well. I'll use those three as examples because it's also not too dissimilar to the previous question. What we're doing as an organization is prioritizing which ones can we digitalize, what the timeframe for implementing that digitalization, and what is the maximum and the faster benefit for all the different stakeholders. You can't do it all within one period.
That is a reason why we're investing approximately 20% of our revenue into the Exchange technology, because technology in the platform is never finished, and we will keep upgrading the platform with more products and services in FY 2023.
Thank you, Glenn. Can I ask the telephone operator, have we received any questions by phone?
There are no questions.
I couldn't hear that response.
There are no questions.
No questions. Can we do something about the volume there? Okay. As there are no further questions, we will move to the formal items of business. The first item of business is to receive and consider the Financial Report of the company and its controlled entities for the financial year ended 30th of June 2022, and the related Directors' Report and Auditors' Report. Please note that there is no requirement for shareholders to approve these reports. We will now turn to questions on Item 1. Are there any questions from the shareholders in the room in relation to the Financial Report? Okay, thank you. Moderator, have we received any written questions in relation to the Financial Report?
There are no questions received online in relation to that.
Okay, and Telephone Operator, have we received any questions via telephone?
There are no questions at this time.
Okay. We'll now move to the resolutions. Resolution 1 is an ordinary resolution to approve the re-election of Helen Silver AO as a Director of the Company. I now invite Helen to address the meeting.
Thank you, Chair, and good morning. My name is Helen Silver. I'm a Non-Executive Director who brings a depth of relevant experience to the PEXA Board. I have had a long career spanning financial services in NAB and East Allianz Australia and government, federal and state. I spent the last eight years until March 2022 at Allianz Australia, managing insurance businesses and significant investments in corporate governance and conduct. My last role at Allianz was as Deputy Managing Director. My work was in the Victorian Public Premiers and Treasury Department, as well as in the Productivity Commission. My last appointment in government, of course, ending in 2013, was as Secretary of the Victorian Department of Premier and Cabinet.
My expertise is in managing large and complex organizations undergoing change, regulatory, corporate governance and government requirements and environments, and the delivery of commercial business outcomes in the financial sector. As well as sitting on the PEXA board, I am a group representative on the newly formed PEXA UK board. I also sit on the Arts Centre Trust of Victoria, the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra board, the Australian Children's T.V. Foundation, and have just been recently appointed to the Crown Melbourne board. I'm extremely excited about the future of PEXA, both in Australia and overseas. With your support, I look forward to continuing to help drive PEXA's future business strategy and achieve strong commercial outcomes. Chair, thank you.
Thank you, Helen. We'll now turn to questions on resolution one. Are there any questions from shareholders in the room in relation to this resolution? Okay. Moderator, have we received any written questions?
Thank you, Chair. There are no questions received in relation to Resolution 1.
Thank you. Telephone operator, have we received any questions via telephone?
There are no questions at this time.
The votes received are shown on your screen. As Chair, I'll be voting undirected proxies in favor of the resolution. All directors, with Helen Silver abstaining, recommend that shareholders vote in favor of the resolution. I now put the motion to shareholders and request that you vote using your online voting platform or by completing your yellow voting card. Resolution 2 is an ordinary resolution to approve the re-election of John Hawkins as a director of the company, and I'll now invite John to address the meeting.
Thank you, Chair, and good morning, everyone. I have been honored to serve as a Non-Executive Director and Link Group Nominee Director of the PEXA Board since October 2018. In seeking your support today, let me briefly outline my experience and credentials, which are set out in more detail in the Notice of Meeting and Annual Report. I have over 30 years risk, commercial, mergers and acquisition, accounting and finance experience from a variety of roles in Australia and the United Kingdom. I was the Chief Financial Officer of Link Group for 18 years until my executive retirement in 2019. Prior to listing, I served as the Chair of the PEXA Group Audit and Risk Committee and a member of the PEXA Group Remuneration, Nomination and People Committee.
Subsequent to PEXA's listing in July 2021 , I have been a member of the PEXA Group Risk Management Audit Committee and more recently became the chair of the recently formed PEXA Group Investment Committee. Aside from PEXA, I serve as an independent non-executive director of Specialised Container Holdings Proprietary Limited, a privately owned group. I was CFO of Link Group when it initially invested in PEXA and have therefore seen the PEXA Group's tremendous growth from the early stage rollout of the exchange platform in Australia through to today's broader focus on enhancing the exchange and developing international insights and ventures. As a Non-executive director and Link Group nominee and with the support of my fellow directors, I will continue to encourage, challenge, and support the PEXA leadership team in- to fulfill their strategic plans in the best interest of shareholders.
I'd be pleased and privileged to receive your support today for my election as Non-Executive Director of PEXA. Thank you, Chair.
Thank you, John. We'll now turn to questions on Resolution 2. Are there any questions from shareholders in the room in relation to this resolution? Okay. Moderator, have we received any written questions?
There are no questions received in relation to Resolution 2.
Thank you. Telephone operator, have received any questions by phone?
There are no questions at this time.
Okay. The votes received are shown on your screen. As Chair, I'll be voting undirected proxies in favor of the resolution. The directors, with John Hawkins abstaining, recommend that shareholders vote in favor of the resolution. I now put the motion to shareholders and request that you vote using your online voting platform or by completing your yellow voting card. Resolution 3 is an ordinary resolution to approve the re-election of Dr. Kirstin Ferguson as a director of the company. I'll now invite Kirstin to address the meeting.
Good morning. My name is Dr. Kirstin Ferguson, and I'm honored to be a Non-Executive Director of PEXA. Briefly, I'm a professional company director, and I've sat on ASX-listed boards for more than a decade. I've also got experience sitting on private company and government boards. My expertise lies in the areas of corporate governance, leadership, and culture, and I have a PhD in the field. I'm the Chair of the PEXA Group Remuneration, Nomination, and People Committee, and I look forward to continuing in that role should I be elected for another term. I also bring to PEXA executive experience, including as a CEO of an international consulting firm in the areas of risk, health and safety, digital and social media, and compliance. As well as sitting on the board of PEXA, I sit on the board of the private technology company, Invato.
Outside of my board commitments, I'm an adjunct professor at the QUT Business School, an author, and columnist. I'm very excited for the future of PEXA, and I believe that we have a highly talented management team to take us forward, as well as a committed and skilled board. With your support, I look forward to continuing to help drive the growth and success of PEXA, and to deliver on our strategy, and provide you with a strong long-term return on your investment. I'm pleased to offer myself to you today for election as an Independent Non-Executive Director of PEXA. Thank you, Chair.
Thank you, Kirstin. We'll now turn to questions on Resolution 3. Are there any questions from shareholders in the room in relation to this resolution? Okay. Moderator, have we received any written questions?
No questions have been received in relation to Resolution 3.
Telephone Operator, have we received any questions by phone?
There are no questions at this time.
Okay. The votes received are shown on your screen. As Chair, I'll be voting undirected proxies in favor of the resolution. The Directors, with Dr. Kirstin Ferguson abstaining, recommend that shareholders vote in favor of the resolution. I now put the motion to the shareholders and request that you vote using the online voting platform or by completing your yellow voting card. Resolution 4 is to consider the remuneration report for the financial year ended 30th of June 2022, and if thought fit, pass a non-binding resolution to approve the remuneration report as an ordinary resolution in accordance with Section 250R of the Corporations Act 2001. We'll now turn to questions on Resolution 4. Are there any questions from the shareholders in the room in relation to this resolution? Our Moderator, have we received any written questions in relation to this resolution?
Thank you, Chair. There are no questions received in relation to Resolution 4.
Thank you. Telephone operator, have we received any questions by phone?
There are no questions at this time.
Thank you. The votes received are shown on your screen. As Chair, I'll be voting undirected proxies in favor of the resolution. Noting that each director has a personal interest in their own remuneration from the company, the Board unanimously recommends that shareholders vote in favor of adopting the remuneration report. I now put that motion to the shareholders and request that you vote using your online voting platform or by completing your yellow voting card. Resolution 5 is an ordinary resolution to approve the grant of performance rights to Glenn King. We'll now turn to questions on Resolution 5. Are there any questions from shareholders in the room in relation to this resolution? Moderator, have we received any written questions?
No questions have been received online in relation to Resolution 5.
Thank you. Telephone Operator, have we received questions via telephone?
There are no questions at this time.
Okay. Thank you. The votes received are shown on your screen. As chair, I will be voting undirected proxies in favor of the resolution. All directors recommend that shareholders vote in favor of the resolution. I now put the motion to shareholders and request that you vote using the online voting platform or by completing your yellow voting card. Resolution 6 is a special resolution to approve amendments to the company's constitution as set out in the notice of meeting. We will now turn to questions on Resolution 6. Are there any questions from shareholders in the room in relation to Resolution 6? Moderator, have we received any written questions?
Thank you, Chair. We have one question received in relation to Resolution 6. It's from Brett Morris from the Australian Shareholders' Association.
The ASA would like to ensure that all shareholders are able to attend a physical AGM. The proposed changes to the Constitution propose that physical AGMs would not always be required of PEXA. On that basis, the ASA will be voting against the resolution. Please explain why the change is necessary.
The change is primarily to give the organization flexibility to hold a virtual meeting in extraordinary circumstances. Where, for example, were to experience another pandemic, in that situation, we could continue to have an AGM but conduct it virtually. I would like to reassure the ASA that it is not our intention to hold solely online AGMs, except in extraordinary circumstances. I think we will persist with this blended format for the foreseeable future.
Thank you, Chair. There are no further questions in relation to Resolution 6.
Thank you. Telephone operator, have we received any questions by phone?
There are no questions at this time.
Thank you very much. The votes received are shown on your screen. As Chair, I will be voting undirected proxies in favor of the resolution. All directors recommend that shareholders vote in favor of the resolution. I'll now put the motion to shareholders and request that you vote using the online voting platform or by completing your yellow voting card. That concludes the formal part of the meeting. I declare that the poll will be closed in five minutes to allow time for those in the room and online to vote. The final results will be released to the ASX as soon as they are available and will be displayed on the PEXA Investor Centre website. I'd like to thank you for your attendance today and your ongoing support of PEXA Group Limited, and I now declare the meeting closed. Thank you.