Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. I'm Graham Hodges, the Chair of Regis. On behalf of the board, it's a pleasure to welcome you to the Regis Healthcare 2023 Annual General Meeting. I'd like to start by acknowledging the traditional owners of the land upon which we meet today, the Wurundjeri people, and pay my respects to elders, past and present. A warm welcome to all of those who are with me at Regis head office in Melbourne, and please note the location of your nearest exit in the unlikely event we need to evacuate the building, and please now turn your phones to silent. I would also like to extend a warm welcome to those using the online platform. Should we experience any technical issues during the course of the meeting, you'll be notified of steps to be undertaken by the moderator.
I've been informed that a quorum is present, and as it is now a little after 10 A.M., I am delighted to open the meeting. A notice of meeting has been distributed and will be taken as read. Details about how shareholders can participate using the online platform have been sent out in the notice of meeting. Shareholders and proxy holders attending the meeting using the online platform will be able to cast their votes using the electronic voting button once online registration is validated. If you encounter any issues casting your vote using the online platform, please refer to the online platform guide, which also includes a help number. Shareholders and proxy holders physically attending can cast their votes using the voting card received during registration. I appreciate that some shareholders may have to leave before the end of the meeting.
I, therefore, now formally open the poll on the resolutions and encourage shareholders who have joined online to ask their written questions now. There will be an opportunity to ask questions online, from the room, or on the phone during the meeting. Voting today will be conducted by way of a poll. All polls will remain open until the conclusion of today's meeting. We will address the questions at the relevant time in the meeting. Questions may be moderated, and multiple questions on a topic will be combined. I would now like to introduce our board of directors. Joining me in the room today are Dr. Linda Mellors, our Managing Director and CEO, Sally Freeman, Ian Roberts, Bryan Dorman, and Professor Christine Bennett. I would also like to welcome the members of our executive team, who are in attendance.
For those joining us in the meeting today, please feel free to introduce yourselves to any of your directors or the executive team during the refreshments after the meeting. Finally, the company's auditor, Ernst & Young, is represented today by Mr. Brad Pollock, who is available to answer questions in relation to the conduct of the audit, the preparation and content of the audit report, and the accounting policies adopted by the company, and the independence of the auditor. I would now like to outline the agenda, the meeting agenda. I will present my chairman's address, which will be followed by a presentation from Linda Mellors, your CEO. We will then move to the formal business as set out in the notice of meeting.
After the formal business is finished, the meeting will be closed, and those attending the AGM in person are invited to join the board and management team for refreshments. I will now turn to my Chair's address. I'd like to start by thanking our Regis frontline staff, support staff, and executives for their dedicated care and support for our residents, clients, and their families over the past year. Regis is one of Australia's largest and most geographically diverse providers of aged care with more than 9,000 dedicated people delivering care and services to more than 7,000 older Australians each day through residential aged care homes, home care service hubs, and retirement villages. In FY 2023, your company has seen evidence of improved prospects for the sector after five years of difficult trading conditions.
The difficulties arose from a conscious tightening by government of sector funding, a once-in-a-generation pandemic, significant workforce challenges, and widespread sector financial operating losses. Along with addressing these challenges, Regis used this difficult period to prepare the business for a more positive post-reform environment and to keep Regis at the forefront of the sector. From a care and quality perspective, Regis invested in senior clinical and quality experts and improved clinical management software. These have lifted clinical care capability and reliability across the business. The company has rapidly improved our data analytics and is using data for continuous improvement. Your board supported a continuous improvement mindset and recognizes it is fundamental to sustaining our leading position in the sector. To strengthen our workforce management, the company has invested in talent acquisition, work health and safety, and in learning and development.
Employee engagement has improved, and our incidents, lost time injuries, and Work Cover claims have all reduced significantly. From a business perspective, the company has focused on delivery of care and services as a pathway to improved occupancy, cash flow, and returns. At the same time, we've pulled back on major capital expenditure in the development of new residential homes until the policy and funding reform program provided more certainty of adequate returns. We have divested some passive assets, invested in land acquisitions, and substantially paid down debt. We have targeted our investments on new systems to improve capability and efficiency across clinical and personal care, finance, risk, and our people. The company has upgraded to enterprise-grade, high-speed Wi-Fi to the bedside of every resident across the country, giving residents access to the digital world and our workforce real-time access to contemporary and integrated systems of information.
The outcome of our business discipline and strategic investment is that Regis is in its best operational and financial shape in many years, with the highest ever number of residents living in a Regis residential aged care home, improved business sustainability, and reduced risk. Regarding the aged care sector more generally, the last 12 months has seen positive developments emerging from the government's reform agenda. A key foundation has been a shared recognition of the correlation between adequate funding, contemporary regulatory settings, and a supported workforce, driving better care and service outcomes for consumers. There is still more work to be done, to stabilize and support the sector into the future, but meaningful progress is being made.
While Linda will speak in more detail, I would like to highlight the improved wages for aged care workers, better funding for care, the creation of an independent pricing authority, and the deregulation of bed licenses as key achievements. There remain important areas to address, including workforce availability and bolstering the financial viability of an essential sector to the Australian economy. Your board was pleased to see the establishment of a time-limited Aged Care Taskforce examining sector financial stability, sustainability, and looks forward to the task force's recommendations, due later this year, regarding the short and longer-term funding and financing for the sector. Change is urgently required to support the viability of sector and attract private investment, and to build and maintain residential aged care homes needed for the aging population.
The growing number of older Australians means that additional aged care places will be required, notwithstanding the shift in consumer preference to home care. At current costs of development, some AUD 40- AUD 50 billion of capital will be required to build and replace more than 100,000 beds in the next decade. Moving to Regis's 2023 results: Revenue from services was AUD 780.6 million, up 7.6% on the prior year. Underlying EBITDA was AUD 83.3 million, up 6.7%, and net profit after tax, before amortization of operational places, or NPATA, was AUD 28.5 million, a significant turnaround on the prior year. The improved underlying results were driven by an increase in occupied beds and additional government funding through AN-ACC and resident income.
Average occupancy for FY 2023 improved to 91.5%, up from 89.8% in the prior corresponding period, with an all-time high of 6,521 occupied beds, or 93.7%, achieved on June 30, 2023. Regis increased CapEx by 10% in FY 2023 as your company resumed development spending, including construction of a Camberwell home in Victoria and the purchase of a new development site in Carlingford, in New South Wales. Importantly, net debt reduced by 94% to AUD 6 million as at the end of June, driven by strong operating cash flow generation and releasing capital from non-income producing assets. Since FY 2018, the company has repaid AUD 400 million in outstanding debt.
With our balance sheet in its strongest position in many years, the company is planning to take advantage of the current opportunities for sector consolidation by pursuing strategic acquisitions in higher returning core business activities. Our confidence in the cash-generating ability of Regis and the future of the sector led to the board approving a FY 2023 final dividend of AUD 0.0748, taking the full year dividend to AUD 0.0948 per ordinary share, representing a 100% payout of NPAT-A. FY 2023 saw a further improvement in our clinical performance. There was a 20% reduction in reportable serious incidents, a 26% reduction in falls with harm, and improved wound management performance, with significant reduction in serious wounds.
We expect to see these trends continue, reflecting ongoing training of staff and investments in upgraded clinical and medication management, and clinical experts. As part of its election commitments, the government legislated that from July 1, 2023, every home was required to have a registered nurse on duty 24/7. Regis already had this in place. Additionally, the government mandated an average 200 care minutes per resident per day from October 1, 2023. Average care minutes across our portfolio increased from 165.3 minutes in quarter one to 178.8 minutes in quarter four. Regis applied a targeted approach to increasing care minutes ahead of the mandate in an environment of sector-wide shortages of care workers and registered nurses, and a higher than usual reliance on agency workers and overtime.
In closing, your board is seeing evidence of improved prospects for the aged care sector, with further key developments expected to support these trends in the year ahead. Regis is well positioned heading into FY 2024, with its significantly strengthened balance sheet, a portfolio of quality homes, a very capable executive management team, and trained workforce. Our core operational capabilities and systems have been upgraded, and we continue to put care and safety of residents, clients, and their families at the forefront of everything we do. The recent investments have improved the sustainability of earnings and reduced risk. Our solid financial position and confidence in our operational capacity supports Regis's active pursuit of acquisitions in the year ahead to broaden our residential aged care footprint.
I want to thank my board colleagues for their hard work and their contribution through the year, and our executive team and Regis' staff for their dedication and care for customers, families, and each other. Finally, I want to thank you, our shareholders, for your continued support. I'll now hand over to Linda to address the meeting.
Thanks very much, Graham, and a very warm welcome to everybody this morning. I, too, would like to start by acknowledging the traditional owners of the lands on which we're meeting today, the Wurundjeri people of the Kulin Nation, and pay my respects to the Elders, past, present, and emerging. And of course, I extend that respect to any Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander peoples meeting, joining us today. It's terrific to welcome you to our new offices in Camberwell. And we're pleased to be able to offer our shareholders both in-person and online opportunities to join us at this year's AGM. Today, I will provide you with my reflections on the aged care sector reform progress, followed by an update on Regis' key strategic priorities and achievements, some comments on our first quarter performance, our CapEx growth program, and outlook.
I mentioned in our annual report that I had anticipated that the sector was close to bottoming out when I joined Regis in late 2019. However, the Royal Commission was extended, the COVID-19 pandemic arrived on our shores in 2020, and the uncertainty in government policy, funding, and regulatory settings continued. Graham has articulated the difficulties of the past five years and noted the board's improving sentiment, given the current environment and planned reforms. From my perspective, the 2023 calendar year to date has offered a more stable operating environment, notwithstanding the complex reform program, with COVID-19 responses built into our business as usual processes. I would like to spend time with you this morning speaking about sector reforms, as well as our own company improvements across FY 2023, in line with our strategic plan.
The aged care sector is in need of reform across workforce, funding, governance, quality and safety, regulation, and system design. The company was pleased to see the government publish a reform roadmap in January 2023. This has provided much-needed transparency around the sequencing and timing of key reforms. There have been critical reforms implemented in FY 2023, including some that address known and long-standing inhibitors to sector improvement and viability. Regis welcomed the establishment of the Independent Health and Aged Care Pricing Authority as the body that will recommend to government each year a unit price for activity-based funding. Under the AN-ACC model, this unit price is multiplied by a classification weight to fund the assessed care needs of each resident.
In its first recommendation on price going into the FY 2024 year, the pricing authority's recommended unit price included catch-up indexation, forward-looking indexation, and funding of the Fair Work determined increases to award wages under the Work Value Case. This is a great improvement on the previous five years, where indexation was grossly underfunded between 0% and 1.6% in any given year. I've spoken previously about the undervaluing of the aged care workforce and the consequences for workers and providers. The company was very pleased to see the Fair Work interim determination regarding wage increases and the government's commitment to fund those increases. Regis has passed on all of the additional funding to members of our workforce who were included in the Fair Work decision.
We look forward now to the next decisions on work value in aged care, which we expect will finalize the work value of those workers included in the interim decision, as well as address the work value of worker types not assessed to date. A properly paid and valued workforce is critical to attracting and retaining a skilled workforce and competing with other sectors. From October 2022, government funded the uplifting care minutes that became mandated on 1 October 2023. This provided the sector with time to increase the workforce in a very tight labor market. It also provided some relief to operators' finances due to the temporary timing difference. Star Ratings were introduced in FY 23, with the intention of providing consumers more transparent information about the performance of different providers.
Surprisingly and unfortunately, performance against the yet-to-be-introduced Care Minutes mandate was included, which provided a distorted view of performance for some providers with different workforce models, such as Regis. I'll come to this again shortly. Finally, government announced a time-limited Aged Care Taskforce, chaired by the Minister for Aged Care, to make recommendations on the funding arrangements required for a viable sector. It is the hope of all stakeholders that this process will deliver robust and practical recommendations that support the provision of high-quality aged care services well into the future. Separately, the sector came together to form the Aged and Community Care Providers Association, or ACCPA, which was operational from the first of July 2022. ACCPA brought together providers from a range of now disbanded peak and advocacy bodies and has already been key to constructive discussions on sector reform.
I'm a director of ACCPA, filling one of two positions reserved for large multi-state providers. Turning now to our key accomplishments across the 2023 financial year, and just a reminder that the company's strategic priorities are built on three fundamental principles: being a culture of care, having positive people and practice, and enhancing our future. Over the last year, significant work has been done on stabilizing and enhancing the business, harnessing efficiencies, and investing in technology to improve the operating and financial performance of the business. Some key accomplishments during the 2023 financial year include uplifting our clinical systems, which included implementation of a new electronic medication management system and upgrading of our clinical management system.
Finalizing our workforce model to make sure that we have the right people providing the right care at the right time, in a way that also meets the Care Minutes mandate. Expanding our talent acquisition capability, particularly in relation to attracting registered nurses and carers. Commencing construction of the Greenfield Residential Aged Care Development in Camberwell, Victoria. Acquiring vacant land in Carlingford, New South Wales, for development of a new residential aged care home. Receiving net proceeds of AUD 60 million through the rationalization of non-income producing assets, including the sale of the Hollywood Retirement Village and vacant land in Western Australia. A safer work environment for our teams, with reductions across incidents, lost time injuries, and Work Cover claims. Using the Safe Work Australia method, Regis's lost time injury frequency rate of six is industry-leading against a sector average of 24.
The strategic technology investments are readily scalable and will support our growth targets. As Graham mentioned, our relentless focus on care and experience resulted in improvements across a range of key clinical indicators, and it's this better care and experience that has provided the platform to improve our occupancy and our financial outcomes. Financial results for the year improved, with revenue from services up 7.6% to AUD 780.6 million, and underlying EBITDA up 6.6% to AUD 83.3 million. The company reported a net loss after tax due to amortization of bed licenses. Importantly, net debt reduced by 94.2% to AUD 6 million, driven by strong operating cash flow, positive RAD inflows, and releasing of capital from the sale of land and property.
Regis now has a stronger balance sheet and debt capacity to support the pursuit of material strategic acquisitions. I'd now like to turn to the first quarter of the current year and provide some updates on key metrics. Firstly, average occupancy improved from 92.5% in the fourth quarter of FY 2023, to 93.5% in the first quarter of FY 2024. Spot occupancy on the 20th of October 2023 was 93.8%. While the occupancy percentage is always of interest, the more important metric is the number of residents in our care, which is at all-time highs for Regis. Average occupancy continues to be well above the sector average, and our own low point during COVID-19 of 87%.
Higher occupancy reflects a number of management initiatives, including care and experience improvements, workforce capability uplifts, and improved sales and marketing efforts. Aged care government revenue per occupied bed day, which mainly comprises AN-ACC funding, has steadily improved since the introduction of the new funding model on the first of October 2022, increasing from AUD 227.70 in the second quarter of FY 2023, to AUD 279.60 in the first quarter of FY 2024. This improvement reflects the Independent Health and Aged Care Pricing Authority's work to recommend a higher unit price, as well as the reassessment of resident care needs.
The average care minutes per resident per day increased to an average of 187 minutes in quarter 1, FY 2024, up from 179 minutes in quarter 4 of FY 2023. By way of update, post the first of October commencement date for the care minutes mandate, the company has largely completed our organizational redesign and recruitment of additional workers, and now exceeds 200 minutes of direct care time on average. This is a significant achievement in a constrained labor market. The company continues to reduce agency and overtime usage, but needs to balance this with the care minutes mandate. I'll now provide some updates on our strategic priorities for the current year. Starting with the Regis culture of care and delivering safe, effective, and integrated care for our residents and clients.
We continue to strengthen our clinical governance program and our market-leading additional services offering, together with participating in a number of research projects with leading universities and partners, where we're piloting innovative new technologies. These important structures and platforms underpin the high-quality care and service experience for our residents and clients. In terms of our people, we are rolling out a new people management system to improve the employee experience, increase efficiencies, and ensure accuracy and reporting compliance. We are concluding our body of work around potential historical underpayments and remain on track for remediation to commence in this half. Regis has introduced a refined workforce model centered around continuity of carer and known relationships, which we expect to further improve care outcomes, resident satisfaction, and employee engagement, whilst also reducing overtime and agency costs. The new model also supports our footprint.
We intend to keep a disciplined approach and are seeking high-quality portfolios that will be earnings accretive. As we are approaching the end of the current strategic plan period, the company will also be preparing our next three-year plan over the course of this financial year. Moving now to our growth program in the context of a shortfall of quality beds. In coming years, Australia will move to an undersupply of both quality and total residential aged care beds due to the inability and/or unwillingness of the sector to invest when most providers have been loss-making and returns on investment uncertain. This lack of growth activity comes at a time when we expect large numbers of baby boomers to reach an age of increased usage of aged care services. The undersupply of beds will put upwards pressure on occupancy and create additional demand for quality new beds.
Regis wants to continue to build contemporary, fit-for-purpose, and desirable aged care homes for olders, for older Australians with high care and service standards. In FY 2023, the company decided to recommence our building program with a greenfield development in Camberwell, Victoria. The Camberwell development will see a high-quality residential aged care home constructed with 112 beds across a four-level residence. This is an investment of around AUD 40 million, excluding land, with 110 rooms being single with en suite and 1 double room with en suite. The development is progressing as planned and remains on track to open to new residents in the second half of FY 2025.
In terms of our other pipeline development projects, we continue to advance our plans and are ready to accelerate our program of works as building costs stabilize and pending the final recommendations of the Aged Care Taskforce, due at the end of this calendar year. In January 2023, the company acquired a parcel of land in Carlingford, New South Wales. This site has been earmarked for a 110-bed residential aged care home with development approval in place. We have two further development projects in Toowong, Queensland, and Belrose, New South Wales. So moving now to outlook. Regis has commenced the 2024 financial year with key performance metrics trending favorably, including occupancy and aged care government revenue.
The board and executive team remain focused on continuously improving the quality of care and services to our residents and clients, attracting and retaining the right people, investing in more efficient systems and processes, upgrading the quality of our existing homes, and investing in growth. Regis' strong balance sheet, combined with low net debt, additional non-income producing assets to divest, and a substantial debt facility, supports growth through both greenfield development and active pursuit of material strategic acquisitions.
... I'd like to sincerely thank the leadership team and all of our employees for their continued hard work, commitment, and care that they provide to our residents and clients day in and day out. I'll now hand back to Graham to complete the formal part of the meeting.
Thank you, Linda. I will now outline the question and voting procedures for today's meeting. As this is a shareholders' meeting, only shareholders, their attorneys, proxies, and authorized company representatives are permitted to vote and speak at the meeting. The process today will be that I will introduce each of the five items separately, consider questions, and then, if applicable, invite voting on the item. We will address online questions first, then move to questions from the floor, followed by any telephone questions. The item in relation to the adoption of the financial statements and report will be your opportunity to ask questions relating to the management and operations of the company generally. If your question relates to a particular item of business for those present with us in person, please ask your question when it come to that item of business.
Please ensure your questions are relevant to shareholders as a whole. I encourage shareholders attending online who have questions to send their questions through as soon as possible. Please click on the Ask Question button, type your question, and click Submit. Shareholders and proxy holders wishing to ask questions via phone were required to register for their unique PIN provided by Link Market Services. If any shareholders, proxies, or the representatives who have dialed in wish to ask a question, we ask that they then select star one on their phone keypad. They will receive instructions on how to ask a question during the meeting from the phone moderator. If you are also watching the annual general meeting online, please mute your device.
To give all shareholders a reasonable opportunity to be heard, please ask no more than two questions at a time, and please limit each question to no longer than two minutes. The online questions will be moderated by our Company Secretary, Malcolm Ross. I will now explain the voting procedure. All votes to be conducted at the meeting will be by way of a poll, which means that each shareholder has one vote for each share held. Resolutions two, three, four, and five, set out in the notice of meeting, are to be considered as ordinary resolutions, and as such, must be approved by a simple majority of votes cast by shareholders entitled to vote and voting on the resolution. As I get to each resolution, we will display the eligible proxy votes, the number of holders who voted, and the percentage of issued capital which was voted.
I confirm that I intend to vote any proxies left to my discretion as the chairman in favor of each resolution. The final results of the poll will be announced to the ASX after the meeting. An officer from the company's share registrar, Link Market Services, will act as returning officer in relation to the poll. Now to the formal business of the meeting. Item 1, the financial statements and report. Ladies and gentlemen, the first item of business is to receive and consider the financial statements and report of the company and its controlled entities, and the reports of the directors and the auditor for the year ended 30 June 2023.
While there is no requirement for a vote on this item of business, this is an opportunity for shareholders to ask questions relating to the company's financial results and the management and operation of the company. Any questions in relation to remuneration items three, four, and five will be considered when we come to those items. As I previously mentioned, Mr. Brad Pollock is representing the company's auditors, Ernst & Young, and is available to answer questions. Malcolm, are there any questions online regarding the financial reports and management and operations of the company? There are no questions online and no questions on the phone. Okay, so, are there any questions from the floor on this item of business? There is a question. Would you? If you could just wait for the microphone so that the people online can hear that? Yeah.
Please state your name as well as we go. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. My name is Mike Robey. I'm a representative of the Australian Shareholders Association, which is a not-for-profit, and we basically stand up for shareholders if at the meeting, so that's our role. We also noticed your strong balance sheet and the spring cleaning of it, which looked like it was in preparation for looking at going into the market to purchase some other opportunities. So my question really is, in the event that you decide to issue new stock, we would much prefer that you... The retail component of which is basically doing a process which is called proportional renounceable offer. So what that does effectively is not dilute the shareholders that can't participate because they get an offer which they can then sell on the market.
Now, typically, your banks will be telling you, "You've got to do this tomorrow, and therefore, let's not bother with this process because it takes a bit longer." But can I ask that you give due consideration to making what's called a pro rata, which is the proportional rights release so the shareholders don't get diluted if they choose not to participate. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Robey. I think I can best answer that question by saying, yes, we note your request. Our company has substantial banking lines available to it. And there's no suggestion that we would be doing that at this stage. So, but I note your request, and the board would consider that. Thank you. Are there any other questions from the floor? No. Okay. So thank you. We shall now move to the next item of business. The second item is the re-election of director. I've been nominated by the board to stand for re-election at this annual general meeting. I invite the Chair of the Audit, Risk, and Compliance Committee, Sally Freeman, to chair this item of business. Thank you. Thank you, Sally.
Thank you, Graham. Graham Hodges' term comes to an end at today's meeting, and being eligible, Graham is standing for re-election at this AGM. Graham's background, experience, and experience is detailed in the notice of meeting, and the board unanimously supports the re-election of Graham Hodges as Director of the company. I now invite Graham to provide a brief address to the meeting in regards to his re-election.
Thanks, Sally. I offer myself for re-election as a director of Regis Healthcare for the next three years, and I'd like to thank my board colleagues for their support of my re-election. I've been on the board since 2017, and chairman since July 1, 2018. I believe I can contribute, continue to contribute to the success of Regis over the period ahead. As I mentioned in my address at this AGM, I expect this to be an important period for the sector and for Regis, as we recover from the challenges in recent years, and look to build a stronger, larger position in the aged care sector. I look forward to supporting the interests of shareholders and residents.
I have both the time and the capability to contribute to Regis' success, and I look forward to shareholder support. Thank you.
Thank you. Thank you, Graham. Malcolm, are there any questions online regarding the re-election of Graham Hodges as director?
There are no questions online and no questions on the phone.
Excellent. Is there any questions from the floor on this item of business?
No.
If there are no further questions regarding this resolution, we will proceed to the vote. The proxy position for this resolution will now be shown. If you've not yet voted, please now select either for, against, or abstain for Resolution Two, and we'll pause for voting. I will now hand back to Graham as Chairman. Yeah.
Thank you, Sally. We now move to Item 3, the non-executive director's fee pool. Ladies and gentlemen, Resolution 3 seeks the approval, in accordance with the Constitution and ASX Listing Rule 10.17, to increase the fee pool by AUD 200,000 from AUD 1.2 million to a maximum of AUD 1.4 million per annum. As noted in the notice of meeting, the key purpose of the increase is threefold. Firstly, the board must appoint an additional independent non-executive director to establish the majority of independent directors, as required under the Aged Care Act. Second, a Property Committee has been established by the board to ensure appropriate attention is given to property matters.
And third, the board needs the flexibility of headroom in the fee cap to accommodate overlap in NED appointments as part of succession planning strategies for non-executive directors. The proposed fee increase in the fee pool will ensure, will ensure there's sufficient headroom in place to support these needs. Malcolm, are there any questions online? There are no questions online and no questions on the phone. Okay. Are there any questions on the floor for this item? There aren't. So, in that case, we will proceed to the vote. The proxy positions for this resolution will now be shown. Thank you. Please register your votes now if you haven't already.
Okay, so we move to the next item of business on the agenda, which is Item 4, the adoption of the Remuneration Report for the financial year ending 30 June 2023. This report was included in the director's report on pages 84 to 96 of the company's annual report. This report sets out the company's remuneration arrangements for the CEO, CFO, and non-executive directors of the company. The vote on this resolution is advisory only and does not bind the company or directors. The resolution does, however, serve as an indication of shareholders' views regarding the company's remuneration practices, and the result will be taken into consideration by the board. Malcolm, are there any questions online? There are no questions online and no questions on the phone. Okay. So, have we got some questions from the floor? Yep, we've got a question here.
Thank you. Look, Mike Robey again, from the ASA. I think this is the first time we've ever seen a Star Rating in a long-term incentive, with the exception of a certain casino where the rating wasn't good. But, could you give us some indication about how that's audited? I mean, is this self-marking your homework, or do people come in and sort of rate you on the four categories that you did, and sort of how rigorous it is? First question. And the second one is, the structure of the LTI was interesting. Typically, we kind of look for shareholder returns as one of the measures, but you've got a, effectively, a customer satisfaction, which I think is a good lead indicator for shareholder satisfaction, so that's quite smart.
The only problem I think we might see, and we'll certainly vote for it, is that there's no gateway. So I would have thought that if your Star Rating was rubbish, that you would then say, "Well, that's it for the whole LTI," 'cause you've actually got to hit the hurdle of acceptable Star Rating before we'll actually pay out the rest. So that's the only... It's a comment, it's not a criticism so much, but, because it's a new structure for us. So they're my two questions.
Yeah.
Would you consider that in the future?
Perhaps I can just add a few comments on that. So the Star Ratings have been introduced by the government to assess, at the home level, the performance at every home. So what you do is, you get a rating on each of your homes. So with our 63 homes, we get the rating on each of those homes, and what we do is that we take that rating. So that rating is independently assessed and published. So it's not us marking our own homework, it's fully independently assessed, and it's publicly available information and published on the government's websites. So what we do is we obviously combine that into a Regis rating. And then, as part of the LTI, which we'll come to that resolution, but I'm happy to talk to it now.
What we look at is the absolute level of our star ratings, and we look to see an improvement in our star ratings. The reason why we've chosen this as one of the factors that we look at for the LTI is the four components of the star ratings reflect both the quality of care, the compliance of the home, the feedback from the residents, and the staffing that's available in the home. It's sort of giving you a broad measure of the factors which would drive the reputation of Regis and the reputation of that home, and we believe that's very consistent with the long-term performance of the business. As I said, independently assessed.
So we look at both the absolute improvement in the Star Ratings, but we also have part of the LTI looking at the relative improvement. So we then benchmark ourselves against other, like operators, of sizable operators, and you have to reach a certain threshold on those Star Ratings, performance, to qualify for the LTI. If you don't reach that certain threshold, then you get nothing on that, LTI.
On the LTI?
No, on those separate components. And then the other half of the components is an EPS growth. And the reason we chose EPS growth is that significant amounts of the sector's revenues are driven out of government. And governments can willingly change policies which can affect the performance of the sector, as you will have seen in the last, you know, sort of five years. So what we've decided was that in looking to reward management for their good efforts, we've used a measure of earnings per share growth, which is what is more in line with management's capability to deliver. So we've got those components in the LTI.
In the short-term incentive, we also have a care and compliance gateway, which, if you get one sanction on one of your homes, you lose 50% of your eligible short-term incentive, your cash incentive. And if you have two sanctions across the portfolio of 63 homes, you lose 100% of your STI cash incentive. So we do have those knockout or strikeout clauses within the REM structure as well. So if there are no other questions here, I would now like to move to the vote on this issue. So you either select vote for, against, or abstain. And I can now move on to agenda item five on the agenda.
This next item of business on the agenda is the approval for the grant of performance rights to Dr. Linda Mellors under the company's long-term incentive plan, and on the terms described in the notice of meeting. The ASX listing rules require shareholder approval to be obtained for the acquisition of securities by a director under an employee incentive scheme. The board believes that this remuneration framework will appropriately reward the MD CEO and align her interests with those of our residents, clients, and shareholders. In particular, the LTI plan includes performance hurdles comprising earnings per share component and the Star Ratings component, and is subject to clawback or adjustment in the event of material misstatement or dishonesty. The Star Ratings are independently assessed and publicly available, and measure Regis's performance against the four key categories, comprising quality measures, compliance, resident experience, and staffing.
These measures underpin the long-term sustainability and reputation of the company. The LTI hurdles will need to be met by FY 2026 for vesting of the performance rights to occur. Subject to shareholder approval, Dr. Mellors will be granted 333,838 LTI performance rights. The non-executive directors unanimously support the LTI grant of performance rights to Dr. Mellors. I will now take any questions you may have in relation to the LTI grants for Dr. Mellors. Malcolm, are there any? There are no questions online or on the phone. Okay. Are there any questions from the floor on that? Okay, so thank you. As there are no further questions, we now please move to the vote to either select for, against, or abstain on the resolution.
Voting will close shortly, five minutes after the conclusion of the meeting. If you have not done so already, please ensure that you cast your votes on all resolutions now. Ladies and gentlemen, that concludes the formal business of the meeting. The results of the final polls will be announced on the company's website and ASX announcement platform later today. On behalf of the board, I would like to thank you for your support and participation today. I now declare the meeting closed, subject to the finalization of the polls, and I invite those who are with us in the venue to join us for refreshments. Thank you.