Good morning and welcome to the 35th annual general meeting of Ridley Corporation Limited. My name is Mick McMahon. I'm pleased to address the meeting as your Chair. I declare the meeting open and confirm we have a quorum. I'm delighted to be able to extend a warm welcome to our shareholders today, and thank you for joining us either in person here in Melbourne or via our webcast. For those of you here in the room, in the event of an emergency, please follow the emergency exit signs and the instructions from the new staff. In addition to being webcast, this meeting is being recorded for the purposes of taking minutes. For those in the room, we ask that you ensure any devices are on silent or switched off. I'd like to take the opportunity to introduce our Board to you. Our Managing Director, Quinton Hildebrand.
Independent non-executive directors, Patria Mann, Robert van Barneveld, David Lord, who is retiring at the conclusion of today's AGM. Rhys Jones, who is presenting for re-election at this meeting. Julie Raffe, who's presenting for election at the meeting and who joins us virtually. Non-executive director, Ejnar Knudsen, who joins us virtually as well. I also welcome Richard Betts, our CFO, Company Secretary, Kirsty Clarke, as well as KPMG partner, Julie Carey, representing our external auditors. The minutes of the last AGM, held on 24th of November, 2021 have been signed by myself as chair of that meeting. Our Company Secretary, Kirsty, has a copy of the minutes available for inspection by any member. Copies of the notice of meeting have been made available to all members and can be found on the investor section of the company site.
Covering off on some procedural matters, we'll begin the meeting with a short presentation and then go to the formal proceeding. This year will comprise of six items to be decided by poll in accordance with Ridley's Constitution. Results of the poll will be released shortly after the meeting on the ASX announcements platform and on the Ridley website. For virtual meeting participants, voting on the resolutions is now open. You can change your vote at any time until I declare the voting closed. You can also change your vote at any time throughout the proceedings. We'll give you a clear prompt later in the meeting to warn of the close in voting. For those attending virtually, if you are eligible to vote, once voting opens, press the Vote icon. Your resolutions will be activated with voting options.
To cast your vote, simply select one of the options for each resolution. There's no need to hit a Submit or Enter button as the vote is automatically recorded. You will receive a vote confirmation notification on your screen. You can change your vote up until the time I declare voting closed. Please note that only shareholders, proxy holders or authorized shareholder representatives may vote. Any directed proxies given to you by a shareholder will automatically be cast as directed when the poll is closed. For those joining us in person, you have been issued with voting cards on registration. When the poll is closed, our share registrar, Computershare, will collect your voting cards. After introducing each item, I'll take questions from those in the room, then from those participating online.
For those in the room, please first raise your red or yellow shareholder admission card so I can see you. Please state your name before asking a question. Online attendees can submit questions at any time. To ask a question, select the Q&A icon and the topic your question relates to, type your question into the text box. Once you have finished typing, please hit the Send button. Please note that while you can submit questions from now on, I will not address them until the relevant time in the meeting. The questions may be moderated or if we receive multiple questions on one topic amalgamated together. We will address any questions received prior to this meeting at the relevant item of business and general questions prior to the close of the meeting. Online attendees can ask a verbal question by following the instructions written below your broadcast.
If you have any difficulties voting or submitting questions, please refer to the user guide located on the right-hand side of the webcast screen or refer to instructions within our notice of meeting. If we experience technical difficulties during the meeting, we will assess next steps and will update you via a posted message on the webcast. In the unlikely event of a complete failure of technology, share registrar, Computershare, will contact shareholders via email if you have provided one to advise of any adjournment. We may also provide an update on the ASX.
For the formalities of the meeting, each resolution and the valid proxy details in respect of that resolution will appear on the screen. As Chairman, I intend to vote any proxies in my favor in support of all motions put, including any undirected proxies in relation to items two, five, and six, which relate to remuneration issues. I'll now hand over to our Chief Executive and Managing Director, Quinton Hildebrand, provide a brief business update. Quinton.
Thank you, Mick. Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. We appreciate your attendance at the AGM today. Thank you. As Mick's indicated, I'll provide a brief summary on our performance for FY 2022, outline the high-level strategy, and restate the outlook statement that was provided to the market on the 14th of November. FY 2022 was a successful year for the business. Despite the challenges of COVID-19 and the fallout from the war in Ukraine, we delivered on the needs of our customers, handled greater volumes through our operations, and maintained our focus on safety. Both reporting segments grew in FY 2022, delivering a group EBITDA from ongoing operations, AUD 80.1 million, up 16% on the prior year. FY 2022 was the final year of the 2022 growth plan.
In this three-year period, the business delivered an EBITDA CAGR of 18.6%, implemented a disciplined capital allocation framework, invested growth CapEx in both reporting segments to older underperforming assets, and realized a total shareholder return of 79%. At the start of FY 2022, the Ridley board announced a capital allocation framework to ensure future capital discipline and maximize shareholder returns. This framework prioritizes maintenance, ESG, and working capital requirements to sustain the future earnings of the company, support a conservatively geared balance sheet. Thereafter, surplus cash flows are available to pay dividends and fund organic and inorganic growth opportunities. Ridley's balance sheet strengthened in FY 2022, with a reduction in net debt of $60.2 million, achieved with the sale of the Westbury Extrusion plant and surplus land assets, as well as the operational earnings.
On the back of the strengthened balance sheet, reflecting confidence in the sustained performance of Ridley, the board approved an additional $15 million in CapEx, Project Boost, increased the dividend payout ratio guideline to between 50%-70%, determining dividends for FY 2022 at the upper end of this range, and announced the intention to undertake an on-market share buyback of up to $ 20 million through to the 30th of June, 2023. To date, no shares have been acquired under the buyback, and the board will maintain a disciplined approach in the execution of the buyback, taking account of prevailing economic conditions, Ridley's valuation multiple relative to its peers, and returns from competing uses of capital. In May, Ridley announced its sustainability pathway, which is designed to embed animal nutrition as a key contributor to more sustainable and profitable farming.
We're working with our customers and suppliers to deliver real value in sustainable ways with a focus on smarter ingredients, optimized production, effective solutions, and meaningful partnerships. We believe that Ridley is well-placed to execute on these initiatives, this will further strengthen our competitive advantage with our customers. At the end of May, the board approved the FY 2023 to FY 2025 growth plan. This plan supports the ongoing earnings momentum of the business, embeds the sustainability pathway within our work streams, operates within the capital allocation framework. The aim of delivering a total shareholder return over 15% per annum. In summary, both reporting segments have plans to grow. Bulk stockfeed strategy aims to leverage the benefits of scale, extend our role in the supply chain, enhance our market leadership position.
Package and ingredient strategy is to invest in processing capability to produce value-added product for our customers. I'm pleased to report that just four months into this three-year plan, we're making good progress. Looking forward, future demand for Ridley's products is positive, with Australian farm gate output forecast to continue increasing. As the market leader in the animal nutrition sector, Ridley enjoys scale benefits and has the capacity to employ specialists and adopt technology, which should allow us to continue differentiating our offering and margins. As expectations rise in regard to sustainability, Ridley is well-positioned to partner with our customers to deliver profitable solutions through our sustainability pathway, provide sector leadership. While there will always be challenges, the combination of Ridley's geographical spread, multi-species offering, customer mix, disciplined risk management should provide earnings resilience.
With a well-defined growth plan, strong balance sheet, and disciplined approach to capital allocation, Ridley has a platform to execute on growth opportunities that create shareholder value. In repeating the statement provided to the market on the 14th of November-Forward outlook is unchanged, with first half EBITDA earnings expected to improve on previous corresponding period. This is expected to be achieved through a mix of positive contributions from the growth plan initiatives across the business and through the packaged and ingredient segment, benefiting from ongoing favorable tallow and meal pricing, which is expected to offset the impact of wet conditions and challenging transition to the new crop in the bulk stock feed segment. In addition, the strong balance sheet supports the ongoing investment in the business whilst leaving options to execute disciplined capital management and pursue growth opportunities.
In closing, I'd like to thank the Chair and the Board for their direction, guidance, challenge, and encouragement over the past year. I'd also like to acknowledge the work of the leadership team and all employees at Ridley, who continue to go above and beyond and have delivered these successful outcomes for the business. Finally, to our shareholders, thank you for your ongoing support as we continue on our journey to take Ridley to its full potential. Thank you.
Thanks very much, Quinton. The first item of business is the consideration of the company's financial reports for the year ended 30 June 2022, which are available on the company's website. There is no requirement for shareholders to vote on, approve, or adopt these reports. However, shareholders may ask questions concerning the financial statements of the company. The company's auditors are present to answer any questions relating to the conduct of the audit. I invite shareholders to ask any questions regarding this item of business. Thank you, yes.
Peter Aird from the Australian Shareholders' Association. Today we're representing 38 shareholders, and we have 1.4 million proxies. I note that you're reporting safety data for the operation of your in your annual report, and for safety performance is one of the personal KPIs for executives. I couldn't find any historic performance data or targets for the coming year. Would you start reporting historic data and targets in future annual reports, please?
Thank you. Thanks for the question. Safety is obviously a critical area of focus for the business. We can say in respect of history and trend that the safety performance has shown an improving trend over time, and that's clearly what we want to see. We can have a look at the historical disclosure. There's no reason we wouldn't disclose that. In terms of KPI, safety is always a difficult one because obviously the clear objective would be to have no safety incidents. That's, you know, that's where we start from. Of course, you know, we have to continue to improve our systems and processes to be able to deliver on that. Disclosing safety targets is a little bit harder. Really prefer to have 0 safety incidents out there.
Have a look at the disclosure of historical track record. Any other questions in the room?
Yeah.
Go again if you like. Peter Aird again.
I couldn't find a sustainability report on your website, and I know that there are some statements under your social responsibility. Would you commit to publishing a comprehensive sustainability report annually, which includes details of your carbon pollution reduction plans?
Yes. Thanks for the question. We have been putting a lot of effort into the development of a sustainability strategy, I'll ask Quinton to comment on that. What we didn't want to do was go early with a lot of commitments without having done the groundwork, if you like, in order to be able to deliver and make progress against them. Quinton, do you wanna just say where we are?
Thank you for the question, Peter. You will find some pages on sustainability and our position and the sustainability pathway that was approved in May. That is in our annual report. That is being further developed, as Mick has indicated, as we get baselines and build up our initiatives in this area. The subject about producing a separate sustainability report, I, you know, I think we'll continue to develop it and provide information and metrics to shareholders. Whether that's included within the annual report or a separate sustainability report, I think is still a matter for consideration.
Thank you.
Thank you. Any other questions in the room? Go online. Kirsty, questions online?
We do have a question, Mick. We've got a question from Mr. Stephen Mayne. Did any of the five main proxy advisors recommend a vote against any of today's resolutions? Which of the proxy advisors are covering us? Have there been any material protest votes? Will you disclose proxy votes before the debate on each resolution so shareholders can ask questions about the reasons if there have been any protest votes? Also, why not disclose the proxies to the ASX with the formal address like others are doing now?
Okay, a multi-part question. I'll try to take them in steps and pick apart each of them.
The first one was.
Yeah.
Did any of the five main proxy advisors recommend a vote against?
We're aware of two proxy advisors who recommended a vote against one of the resolutions, which is in respect of the reelection of Rhys Jones to the board. The concern raised was in respect of over-boarding, as they call it, or does Rhys have sufficient time in his other executive and board with. That's two of the proxy advisors. We're only aware of two of those who cover us, and that's the only recommendation against. You will see shortly the voting results. You can judge for yourself whether that's had a material effect on the voting. We'll comment now. We're comfortable, very more than comfortable with Rhys's contribution to the board.
It's up to him to manage his time, and we see great value added by Rhys in terms of his commercial experience, organizational experience and giving us a perspective from New Zealand as well. We're very comfortable, but we note and acknowledge the recommendation from the proxy advisors. That was two covering, I think was the second one, is there a pro to his vote? That's in the eye of the beholder. You'll see the results shortly. Do we disclose the votes? We disclose the votes, and they'll be on the screen shortly and on the webcast. We must disclose the votes.
Yeah.
To the-
We do during the meeting, obviously we disclose the votes. Historically, we haven't disclosed them. We've loaded the managing director's address, and that's not inconsistent with market practice.
Yes. If market practice evolves in that respect, then it's a good practice to do that. I don't see any reason why. I think that covers that question, does it?
That's it.
Okay. No other questions in respect?
No other questions, thanks.
Thank you. If there are no more questions, I'll proceed with the resolutions to be considered. I ask members to consider and adopt the remuneration report. It's set out on pages 27 to 37 of the 2022 year annual report. The Corporations Act requires the remuneration report to be put to the vote. Please note that the vote on this item is advisory only and does not bind the directors or the company. The REM report sets out the policy for the remuneration of the directors, the CEO and other designated senior executives, and details how their remuneration is structured. It also contains the remuneration details for the directors and senior executives for the year ended June 30, 2022.
Noting that each director has a personal interest in their own remuneration from the company, as set out in the REM report, the directors recommend that shareholders vote in favor of adopting the remuneration report. No vote's made or cast on this resolution by key management personnel. Details of these remuneration are included in the report and their closely related parties. Chair, I will be voting as proxy only where I am entitled to do so. The resolution and the summary of the proxies are displayed on the screen. Are there any shareholders in the room who would like to ask a question or make a comment about the remuneration report? Peter.
Peter Aird from the Australian Shareholders' Association. Whilst your REM report appears to be comprehensive, it's not particularly readable or transparent from our perspective. It's a bit heavy in terms of words and lacking in tabulation of data. For example, the KMPs fixed income was only in the table at the back. Many companies are now including that as part of their structure of their income. It's quite clear. You don't have to start trying to work out what that is and therefore what the multiples for STI and LTI are, et cetera.
I didn't find any mention of a holding for part of, is the STI paid as 100% or do you hold a proportion of that before you pay it for a period of time?
On the first point, thank you for the feedback, and obviously it's a bit of an evolving process, what's disclosed, how it's disclosed, what best practice is. Perhaps the best say on that one is we would take that on board and take the feedback. Julie coming in as the new chair of the REM committee can look at that with some fresh eyes. In terms of the STI and how that works, Dave, would you comment on that? I think the specific question was, you know, or cash or what is escrowed holding shares.
Thanks, Mick, and thanks, Peter, for the question. The STI award, just for noting, there was a 92% of the available incentive was awarded to AMP for the year, and that amounted to $1 .34 million of a $ 1.35 million available. None of that is retained. Once the awards have been calculated at the end of the financial year, the payments are made as part of the payroll. I think September. September? Was that, Richard?
Yeah, that's correct.
Is that correct? In September payroll. It's none of it retained. The LTI is the incentive program that is based on equity.
Thank you. Thank you. Are there questions in the room? We go online. Online in respect of the remuneration report.
No, we have no online questions.
Leave alone because we got another question.
Thank you. We'll move on to item three, the re-election of Rhys Jones as a director. Rhys retires by rotation in accordance with the Constitution, and being eligible, has offered himself for re-election. Rhys was first appointed to the company's board on August 27, 2020. 30+ year career working in this Australasian building, manufacturing, and packaging industries. Rhys is currently the managing director and CEO of Vulcan Steel Limited, an ASX, NZX-listed steel distributor with over 72 business units across Australasia. He's also a director of Metro Performance Glass Limited. Prior to joining Vulcan Steel Limited in 2006, Rhys held senior roles, in particular with Carter Holt Harvey and Fletcher Challenge, including as chief operating officer of the pulp, paper, and packaging businesses of Carter Holt Harvey. The resolution and the summary of the proxies are displayed on the screen.
Are there any questions on this item from shareholders in the room? Are there any questions online in respect of this item?
No questions online.
Okay.
Thank you. We'll now move to item four, the re-election, the election rather, of Julie Raffe as a director. Julie was appointed by the board on September 1st, 2022 and presents herself for election. Julie has 40 years of professional experience and is currently a non-executive director of Latitude Group Holdings Limited, non-executive member of the Advisory Committee and Chair of the Audit and Risk Committee for Ironman 4x4 Property Ltd. President of the National Board for Financial Executives Institute of Australia and Chair of its Victorian chapter, and Deputy Chair and Treasurer of Entertainment Assist, a not-for-profit industry forums. Julie is a former Finance Director and Company Secretary for Village Roadshow Limited, previously an ASX 200 listed company with operations in Australia, Asia, USA, and Europe.
The resolution and a summary of the proxies are displayed on the screen. Are there any questions on this item from shareholders in the room? Kirsty, questions online.
We do have an online question from Mr. Stephen Mayne. Would new director Julie Raffe and the chair comment on the recruitment process that led to her appointment to the board? Was a headhunter involved? Did the full board interview Julie, and did they interview any other candidates? Did Julie know of any of our directors before engaging with the recruitment process?
I think I can answer that. Julie can correct me if I'm wrong. Firstly, the process for appointing a new director. Julie was introduced to us from a third-party professional company as one of four, a shortlist of four candidates to take up a directorship. That was reduced to two. Myself and others interviewed two, and then Julie, as part of the process, interviewed or met with all of the other directors on the board. That's the process that we followed. It played out over three or four months. And I should say we're delighted to get someone with Julie's experience on the board.
It's rare to get a mix of functional, professional, and line management experience. We expect Julie will make a strong contribution to Ridley.
Questions online, Mick.
Thank you, Kirsty. We now move to item five. The maximum aggregate amount of remuneration available to be paid to all non-executive directors for any year. Sorry, I should go back. We were asked, did Julie know any directors prior to her appointment? I missed that part of the question. Not to my knowledge. I don't believe Julie was known to any of the existing directors. Thank you. Back to item five. The maximum aggregate amount of remuneration available to be paid to all non-executive directors for any year is $ 700,000. The current maximum aggregate amount was approved at the 2003 AGM, and non-executive director fees have not increased since this time. It's proposed that the non-executive directors pool be increased from AUD 150,000 to AUD 850,000.
Proposed increase will provide necessary flexibility and headroom to operate the board with varying numbers of non-executive directors. This will enable board succession plans, including transition and potential overlap of incoming and outcoming directors. In addition, the proposed increase will enable the board to effectively meet the oversight and governance requirements of the company, attract and retain high quality non-executive directors. Ridley undertook a benchmarking exercise against ASX listed companies within its sector, taking into account the relative size of Ridley and other companies. Based on the outcome of the benchmarking exercise, the company believes a proposed increase to the aggregate pool is reasonable in the circumstances. The resolution and a summary of the proxies are displayed on the screen. Are there any questions from shareholders in the room? Peter.
It's a little bit related. I would note that our own research would indicate that your directors are overpaid at the moment. We just wondered whether the company has a policy for a minimum shareholding for directors and KMPs. Noting that in your annual report, you already show that directors do hold significant shareholdings in the company.
Yeah. Thanks for the question. We don't have an explicit policy other than a strong encouragement for directors to hold or build equity in the company. As you've noted, across the board, there's significant equity held personally by the directors of the company. As part of this change and an increase to the headroom, we will look at potential policy in that respect, and we can update shareholders at the next meeting. Thank you. Are there questions in the room? Questions online?
No questions online.
Thank you. We'll move to the next item. Item six. The Ridley Corporation Limited Long-Term Incentive Plan is part of the company's remuneration policy of providing long-term rewards linked to shareholder returns. ASX Listing Rule 10.14 requires shareholder approval for the issue of new securities to a director under an employee incentive scheme. Mr. Quinton Hildebrand is a director for the company. Subject to the receipt of shareholder approval under this resolution, the board has resolved to offer the managing director 716,905 performance rights. These rights will convert into fully paid ordinary Ridley shares, subject to the achievement of all relevant performance criteria over a three-year period from July 1, 2022 to June 3, 2024.
The detailed summary of the terms and conditions of the proposed offer is provided in the notice of meeting. The resolution and a summary of the proxies are displayed on screen. Are there any questions in respect of this item from shareholders in the room? Questions online, Kirsty?
We do have one question online from Mr. Stephen Mayne. "Could the CEO summarize his past LTI grants as to whether they have vested or lapsed? Also, has he ever sold any ordinary shares in the company or any on market without relying on an incentive scheme to build his equity position in the company? Please don't say, "Look it up in the annual report and through the ASX announcements." It's complicated, and the CEO could factually summarize the situation in 30 seconds.
Can you put the clock on him? Quinton, are you happy to navigate that?
Yep. I think in 30 seconds, the 2019 LTI grants vested July 1st this year. The majority of those vested and the balance lapsed. The 2020 LTI rights are still to be tested next year. The 2021 and 2022 are in the same situation. The numbers are contained in the REM report. I don't have those memorized. As far as owning shares outside of the LTI grants, I have family members, and it's disclosed in the annual report, who hold shares in Ridley. I've got an interest in those. Those were acquired back in 2020. In 2020, the STI program, notwithstanding that the scheme is 100% cash.
Given the debt level of the company back in FY 2020, the board resolved to issue that STI in the form of shares, and I continue to hold those. At this point in time, I have not sold any shares in Ridley. I might add, though, that that may not always be the case because one still triggers tax obligations as you go, so that may have to happen over time. At this point I haven't.
Thank you. Any other questions?
There are no more questions online.
Thank you. I would like to advise that the voting on all resolutions will close in approximately one minute. Please fill in and sign your voting cards and submit votes online to ensure your vote is counted. Computershare representatives will start collecting voting cards physically in the room from you after the voting has closed. The voting results for all of today's resolutions will be released to the ASX and also made available on the Ridley website after the conclusion. I now declare the physical and online voting closed. Please provide your signed voting cards to Computershare representatives in the room. Before we close the formal meeting, I want to thank David Lord on his retirement as a director today, after six years, including a stint as interim CEO and the chair of the REM committee.
On behalf of the company, its staff, shareholders and your fellow directors, we want to thank you for your contribution, David, and good luck for the future. The business of the meeting is now completed, and I declare it closed. However, we would now like to provide an opportunity for you to ask any general questions you may have.
Last time I was here, there was a gentleman in charge who was from South Africa. Is this the same man?
That's me.
Awesome.
Have I lost my accent?
No. I asked what, about my, a relation of mine who has a firm in sugar harvesting firm in Johannesburg. That's what I said.
The, in case, for people online, the question was about, a little bit of history and where it comes from. I'm not sure whether you want to comment on that.
Is David Lord a relation of Jeff?
Which Jeff Lord are you talking about?
Maybe you can ask him that after over a cup of tea.
Over a cup of tea, we'll talk about it.
Yeah. Oh I'm reading Silver City at the moment by an author. The story of Broken Hill and Mr. Lord is the first man in that district to erect a fence.
That sounds like David.
Is that some form of yours?
I look forward to getting that detail over a cup of tea.
All right.
Are there other questions, general questions in the room before we go online? Okay. Kirsty, general questions online.
We do have a number of general questions online. We also had a question that we received prior to the AGM from Mr. James Seto in relation to NovaqPro, which I believe we need to address.
Right.
A question from Mr. James Seto. What is the capacity of the Chanthaburi plant to manufacture the NovaqPro product? Can you describe the drying process, the biomass or solar and non-solar means? I'd just like to respond that, Ridley owns approximately 50 hectares in the Chanthaburi, district, Thailand, and we're currently using 14 out of the 50 farms in the production of NovaqPro. The Chanthaburi site has progressed beyond just drying Novacq through solar means, and the biomass drying method today also includes dewatering and a heat-based drying and sterilization process. A follow-up question is the Propel product manufactured at the Chanthaburi site? I might just give some context. We produce Novacq in Chanthaburi in Thailand.
We import the ingredient into our Narangba plant in Southeast Queensland, where we make fish feed at that plant. The NovaqPro is included into the diet to produce Propel, which is the product that we're selling to domestic prawn customers. We're looking to develop as an export opportunity as well. I hope that answers that second question. A third follow-up question. Has the NovaqPro product been tried on other crustacean species? Well, I'd answer that in saying that we've done extensive and published trials on the two major crustacean target species. That's the black tiger prawn, monodon species, as well as the whiteleg shrimp, which is the vannamei species. We've also conducted some preliminary trials on other crustacean species, including lobster, red claw, crayfish, and ornamental shrimp.
All of those have shown some improvement in the performance due to NovaqPro. That's the answers to Mr. Seto's question. Thank you.
Thanks, Quintin. Kirsty, what's the next question?
We have a question from Mr. Edmund Carew. Is there a recession in 2023 that sees lower demand for meat domestically and internationally? Is there a risk of producers gradually destocking and hence Ridley seeing lower demand for its product?
I think Quinton is probably the best place to answer that. We would see longer-term strength in agriculture and volumes in agriculture. There may be ups and downs, but of course, Ridley is well-placed with a broad spectrum of proteins and value sources, regardless of what happens.
I would confirm that. Hard to crystal ball what will happen in 2023, you know, by all accounts and commentary, it will be a challenging economic climate for Australia. Ridley is in a fortunate position being producing or supplying customers who produce consumer staples. With food being an essential requirement, we're well-placed, I think, to weather an economic downturn. Historically, through previous downturns, Ridley hasn't sustained material drop-offs in demand for our products. I would say that our diversified portfolio and the business in which we're in, would expect to be fairly resilient going forward.
Thanks, Quinton.
We have a another question from Mr. Edmund Carew. "Is Ridley seeing any potentially accretive, feasible and attractively priced potential acquisitions, either domestically or overseas?
Thanks. I mean, I think we would start by saying that while we're always on the lookout for opportunities that would add value for shareholders, recent history valuations have been very high. Our focus has been on getting the company into a strong financial position, both through the execution of the strategy, the delivering of earnings growth and the strengthening of the balance sheet. We've done all those things. To the extent to which there are opportunities out there, or valuations come back into a range that the board might see as creating value for shareholders, then we're well placed to address that. We have no specific plans in that regard. you know, I think we're in a strong position should valuations change in the marketplace.
To link that to our share buyback, you know, at the moment a good use of capital is potentially buying back Ridley shares, as well as supporting the executive team in the capital program and further investment in the business. The capital framework that we've put in place in the last 12 or 18 months I think serves us well and should ensure that we stay in a strong position to pursue opportunities as and when they arise.
We have a question from Mr. Jason Witherspoon. "Is dividend reinvestment likely to return?
No, it's probably not likely to return in the near term. You never say ever, but there are no plans to reintroduce dividend reinvestment plan at the moment, partly for the reasons that we've stated. We're sitting on a strong balance sheet with strong cash generation.
A question from Mr. Edmund Carew. "Are Ridley staff unionized? Is the Managing Director, Mr. Hildebrand, concerned about the federal government's IR bill that legitimizes multi-employer bargaining?
The first thing we would say is that, we, you know, we're not wanting to engage in political debate, only to engage constructively with our employees and work to the rules that are in place. Quinton, you know, how do you see that?
We have a mix of enterprise agreements across our business in different locations in which we operate. Those have operate very effectively. There's good relations with our employees. You know, in recent times, we've managed to resolve everything amicably, which is, which is a good outcome. I think we watch with interest to see what happens in the legislative environment. It's there is representation for business to try and ensure that a balance is achieved and we'll wait and see the outcomes of it.
Thanks, Quinton. Kirsty, next question.
We have a question from Stephen Mayne. "The annual report notes that Andrew Forrest's Tattarang Group has emerged as one of our largest shareholders with a 6% stake. Mr. Forrest has engaged in takeover discussions with other listed companies. What engagement have we had with Tattarang, and why are we on Mr. Forrest's radar?
Thank you. Well, we, of course, we welcome all investment in the company, and our engagement with Tattarang, as with other larger shareholders, has been constructive and ongoing at various points in terms of engagement around results and the like. No different to that we would undertake with other shareholders. In respect of, why they would invest in Ridley, I hope that's obvious and down to the performance of the executive team and the whole Ridley team over the last few years. For the reasons Quinton's outlined today, that we operate in an attractive sector, that we've demonstrated an ability to grow earnings and strengthen the balance sheet, that we're well placed for whatever comes over the next few years.
I think Tattarang, as well as other investors, see that opportunity. Thank you.
We have one final question from Stephen Mayne. "Thank you to Mr. Lord for his many years of service. It's always helpful for investors to have access to some exit perspectives from retiring independent directors. In his final contribution as a Ridley director, could Mr. Lord please comment on what he regards as the best decisions Ridley made during his time on the board, and does he have any regrets?
Good day. Well, thanks, Stephen, for his question. For me, a highlight of my time with Ridley and my time as Chair of the Nominations Committee has been the robust selection and recruitment program that we have in place. At times when we have required, we've been required to recruit senior managers and directors for the board, the system has served us well. Of course, we're very aware of the correlation between high-quality people in the business and high-quality performance by the business. I think that's certainly been a highlight in my mind. Regrets? I think perhaps my only regret is that I was unsuccessful in convincing the previous chair to invite me to join the Ridley Board sooner than he did.
Just the one regret.
Thank you, David. There are no further questions in the room or online. Thank you. With that, thank you for your participation, and I will now close the meeting with your authority today. Thank you very much.