Good morning and welcome to today's Annual General Meeting. I'd like to begin by acknowledging the Wiradjuri people, traditional custodians of the land on which we meet today and pay my respects to elders past and present. I extend that respect to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders people here today as well. It's 10AM. I have been advised by the company secretary that we have a quorum and declare the meeting open.
Please note the important notice and disclaimers on the screen. This can also be found within the presentation lodged on the ASX and the Sunrise Investor website. Today marks the seventy fifth Annual General Meeting of Rice Growers Limited. Seventy five years is a significant milestone for our great company and coincides with one hundred years of commercial rice growing in the Riverina. For those of you that haven't met me, my name is Laurie Arthur, your Chairman.
It's wonderful to be here today with our growers and shareholders and I extend a warm welcome to those of you joining us via the live webcast. Said at the head of the table with me today are Paul Serra, our Group Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director Dimitri Cortellis, our Group Chief Financial Officer and Kate Cooper, our Company Secretary. Our other directors are also here and I ask them to stand as I mentioned their names. We have Deputy Chair, John Bradford, who at the conclusion of today's formalities will become Chairman. I note John will address you at the end of our B class meeting.
We also have Louisa Catanzaro, who is standing for reelection today. Doctor Andrew Crane, Melissa DeBortley, Ian Glassen, Ian Mason, Good morning, Eora. And Julian Zanata. Good morning. As you will be aware, my retirement has created a vacancy for our grower director for a grower director on our board.
And I very warmly welcome Rachel Kelly, who will be joining us, joining the board as, elected by you, our A Class shareholders. Thank you. This appointment takes effective tomorrow. Rachel, yes, so you've stood for us. We'd really appreciate that.
I note the president of the RGA, Peter Herman is with us today. And I particularly welcome all our growers and shareholders. In terms of today's agenda, Kate will go through procedural matters next before I give my Chairman's address. Paul will then deliver his group CEO presentation with our group CFO, Dmitry, also presenting segment analysis. After that, we will conduct the formal business of the AGM.
We will consider the annual financial report, directors report and independent auditors report for the year ended 04/30/2025. During that item, shareholders as a whole will be given a reasonable opportunity to ask questions or make comments about the management of the company. We will then proceed to considering the resolution set out in the notice of meeting. The B class meeting will follow either at 11:30 or immediately after the AGM, whichever time is later. Once the results for today's meetings are known, they will be announced on the ASX and the Sunrise Investor website.
I confirm that I am holding undirected proxies in my capacity as Chairman of the meeting and I will vote those proxies in favor of each resolution. I will vote all directed proxies in accordance with the directions provided by the shareholder. I'd now like to hand over to the company's secretary, Kate Cooper, who will explain how to vote and ask questions during today's AGM. Kate? Thank
you, Chairman. Voting today will be by way of poll and the resolutions in the notice of annual general meeting are only able to be voted on by A Class shareholders. Resolution one is an advisory resolution only and will not bind to the directors or the company. Resolutions two and three are by ordinary resolution, which require a 50 majority of votes cast to pass. In accordance with the constitution, if you are the registered holder of a shareholding of a First A Class share or multiple first A Class shares, you are entitled to one vote in respect of that shareholding.
And if you are the registered holder of a second A Class share, you are entitled to one additional vote. We will share with you the proxy and direct voting results of each resolution before you vote. Please note, voting will close once MUFG Corporate Markets, which is formerly Link Market Services, has collected the voting cards at the end of today's AGM. As communicated in the notice of meeting, online proxy and other forms of voting ahead of the meeting closed at 10:00 on Tuesday. A Class shareholders present at the meeting here today, however, are able to cast their votes using the voting card they received during registration this morning.
Before we go any further, I just need to check that everyone present at today's Annual General Meeting is holding either a voting card or admission card. Great. A class shareholders and their proxies, attorneys and representatives will use the yellow voting cards for each resolution. A class shareholders who are not voting at the general meeting, for example, if you have joint holdings, should be holding a blue nonvoting admission card for this meeting. B class shareholders who are not also A class shareholders are not able to vote at today's AGM and should be holding blue nonvoting cards.
And visitors have been issued with red admission cards and are not able to ask any questions today. So does anyone not have a card? Okay. Thank you. A representative of MUFG will conduct the poll today as returning officer. At the end of today's meeting, the MUFG team will collect your voting card.
If you have to leave after the poll is opened but before the end of the meeting, please leave your voting card in the poll box on the registration table. And I should note that if you have previously voted by proxy, your votes cast here today will override your previous proxy direction. As the Chairman noted, there will be time for questions from shareholders. However, as with all shareholder meetings, I ask you to confine your questions or comments to the matters under consideration today. I note we have not received any questions in advance for this meeting.
If you have any general questions or comments about the management of the company or any questions or comments relating to the annual financial report or independent auditor's report or director's report, please ask your questions or make your comments during our discussion of those reports. If you have any questions or comments relating to the remuneration report, the proposed increase to the non executive director fee pool or the reelection of Louisa Catanzaro, please ask those questions or make those comments during discussion of the relevant resolution. In order to provide shareholders as a whole a reasonable opportunity to speak today, I ask that you initially limit the number of your questions or comments to two. If time permits, we may allow time to ask further questions or make further comments once other shareholders have had an opportunity to speak. For those shareholders who would like to ask a question or make a comment at the right time, just a reminder to hold up your yellow or blue card and wait for a microphone.
And if you could please also state your name for the room. Thank you. And I will now hand back to our Chairman.
Thank you, Kate. Welcome again. It's great to be here with you in Griffith. It's the heart of the rice growing area. Also want to welcome those A and B class shareholders and other valued shareholders who are viewing today's annual meeting via the webcast.
Many of us were together recently in Witten and Leeton for the Australian Rice Conference and Rice Industry Gala Awards dinner. We heard from growers and experts on global trade, water reform, innovation and succession. And we celebrated one hundred years of rice growing in Australia and seventy five years of sunrise. I'd like to thank the organizing committee including Rice Growers Association of Australia, Agri Futures Australia for putting on such an important event. The Riverina rice industry is a national treasure and one worth preserving.
We've built something here that no other country can match. Some of the best growers in the world producing rice that's recognized and sorting after markets right across the globe. It's a reputation earned over decades of hard work and innovation and something we should be proud of and determined to keep building on. As we reflect on the last seventy five years of our business, it's a story of steady progress. From our beginnings at the Witten Hall in 1950 and I'd like to point out we actually have George Rathburn here today.
And George was at that meeting seventy five years ago as a young man and then served on the RMV. So it's great to see you here today, George. Well done. Sunrise has grown from a local cooperative to a listed global food business, now supplying over 50 markets and operating across 60 sites in 10 countries. That growth has been built on resilience, adaptability and the passion of our people and growers.
Qualities that remain as important today as they were seventy five years ago. Along the way, we've reached major milestones that have helped shape who we are today. Changing from a cooperative to a corporation listed on the NSX in 2,007, which gave our grower shareholders greater flexibility and access to capital and our listing on the ASX in 2019 which broadened our investor base and set up for the next phase of our growth. At 2030 growth strategy, now in its first year of execution, puts Rice at the center of our ambition and aligns our purpose, vision and values around that goal. Turning now to group performance.
Financial year '25 was another year of solid results for the Sunrise Group. Revenue was 1,850,000,000.00, EBITDA $147,700,000 And I'm just worried, did I say yes, now I've got that right. And NPAT $70,700,000 Revenue was slightly down on the last year, but profitability improved reflecting a favorable shift mix shift towards higher value branded products, manufacturing efficiencies and overall cost discipline. Paul will take you through more of the detail shortly. Liquidity in B class shares has improved materially over the past year with daily volumes of shares traded more than quadrupling.
I want to acknowledge the clear disappointment across the industry with the crop 24 medium grain patty price of $4.00 $6 per tonne. We all recognize the hard work and investment that goes into producing a crop like this. And while branded performance in key markets remain strong, we face challenging global market conditions including falling tender prices and the lowest whole grain mill out rates that we've seen in more than five years. And that puts pressure on returns. I want to touch on the season and CY '25 crop.
Over the coming year, we'll be marketing crop year '25 and we've exceptional on farm yields across valleys and varieties. I believe a 32 hectare crop from one of our growers of Matilda that averaged 17.3 tons per hectare. And that's got to be a world record for medium grain, a commercial crop. Over 400,000 tonnes of Matilda was produced at an average of 12.5 tonnes per hectare. These yields are world class and I don't believe any other rice producing country can replicate them.
With growers of this caliber and access to leading technology, we should expect a very strong future. However, we are operating in a challenging policy environment and water reform continues to remain front and center of this debate. The continual uncertainty of water reform is a plague on the irrigation communities. Large scale rapid buybacks destabilize water markets drive prices up and erode confidence impacting everything from planning decisions to long term investment. This threatens the sustainability of our industries industries like ours.
We have consistently urged governments to return to the original intent of the 2007 Water Act. A balanced and forward looking water policy for the Murray Darling Basin that supports both environmental outcomes and long term viability of our irrigation industries and regional communities. We call on policymakers to engage meaningfully with growers and industry to implement pragmatic outcomes that protect food security and regional livelihoods. Alongside partners like the RGA and the United Workers Union, Sunrise will continue to advocate strongly as we did through the polls meeting recently in Canberra with ministers Watt, Ayers and Collins. And quite honestly, because the Riverina deserves nothing less.
The vesting of rice since 1928 has enabled the New South Wales rice industry to achieve a critical mass, thrive and achieve best possible prices for New South Wales rice. Over the recent years, the burden of additional regulation and regional carve outs became problematic. On July 1 this year, we ended a new era with the end of vesting. We now have more flexibility to align volumes with demand and reward consistency and quality, all aimed at improving farm gate returns over time. In financial year '25, we launched a new value proposition for our Riverina growers and engaged close to 300 growers and their families at the C26 launch dinners.
We're planning C26 settings and the newly constituted board will be meeting to finalize the offer for c28 c26, sorry, which will be communicated early next week. The fundamentals of our business remain strong and we're committed to making sure our growers and B class investors understand what these changes mean as they're introduced. The Board is very pleased with the progress Paul and the team are making under the 2030 growth strategy which is setting us up to grow, adapt and create value well into the future. Paul will take you through more detail on that shortly. This is my last AGM as your chairman after eighteen years on the board and ten ten of them in this role.
It's been an honor to serve. When I sought reelection in 02/2023, I made it clear that my prior priority was to oversee a smooth transition to new leadership. I'm very confident this has been achieved. I'll be leaving the company in very capable hands. John Bradford will take over as chair at the conclusion of the meeting, today's b class meeting.
John has been my deputy, since 2022. He chairs our True Kye board in Papua New Guinea and he's and he has a very deep connection with growers. He understands the business, the industry, and its people, and he will lead with integrity and vision. John, please stand up and accept the meeting's congratulations on your appointment. Paul Serra has now been with us as CEO for two years and has shown capable and decisive leadership, building on the work of his predecessor, Rob Gordon, and Rob's up the back there, who is joining us today.
And these CEOs have delivered strong results while positioning Sunrise for growth. The board has full confidence in John and Paul and in the team. I want to thank my fellow directors past and present, the Rice Growers Association, the Rice Marketing Board and our many industry partners. I want to congratulate our newly elected grower director, Rachel Kelly. I've been very impressed with her capability and I'm confident that she will bring valuable insights and energy to the board.
To Drew and Jeremy, thank you for putting yourselves forward. It's never easy and I encourage you both to keep actively engaging with our business. To our growers, shareholders and employees, you are the heart of Sunrise. Everything we do starts with you and I look forward to seeing you, what you can achieve over the years to come. And to my wife Deb and our family, Deb and I share our forty fifth wedding anniversary tomorrow.
So I'm very pleased about that. Thank you. Thank you for your support through the many years of meetings, calls and travel. Much appreciated. This is a great company that I'm very proud of and we've weathered challenges, embraced change and delivered for our shareholders.
I believe Sunrise has a very bright future. One that will last beyond the next seventy five years if we keep the same focus and commitment. As for me, I'll continue to supply Paddy exclusively to Sunrise and remain an engaged shareholder. I look forward to seeing what John and Paul and the team can achieve in the next years ahead. Thank you for the trust you've placed in me and for the opportunity to serve.
I now invite Paul Theriagh to the Group CEO for his address. Thank you, Paul.
Thank you, Larry, and good morning to everyone here and online. It is a real privilege to be standing in front of you here in Griffith in the Riverina, where our story began seventy five years ago and to be surrounded by the likes of George and others who made Sunrise Group what it is today. Our growers, our employees and importantly, our shareholders are at the heart of this. It has now been two years since my appointment as CEO and Managing Director of the group, and I'm pleased to report during this time that we've made good progress and have demonstrated our ability to adapt and deliver meaningful results. We have defined a clear path forward with our 2030 growth strategy.
We've navigated significant industry changes, including the ending of rice festing on the July 1 this year. We've strengthened our global business platform through strategic acquisitions. We've reorganized our internal organization to be able to achieve our 2030 growth strategy. And most importantly, we've continued to deliver robust performance and delivered outstanding total shareholder return for our B class shareholders. In financial year 2025, we effectively managed a complex operating environment while growing the value of our established brands and pursuing our strategic growth initiatives.
This led to a solid set of financial results supported by improving profitability across the business, highlighting the quality of the group's earnings despite the pressure on our top line. Importantly, the group's successes are now being recognized by the market with positive movement in our B Class share price over the past year. Today, I'll take you through these results and our strategic progress as we continue to build on our strong foundations. As we come together today, we're not just reviewing another year of performance from the Sunrise Group, we really are celebrating our seventy fifth anniversary, which is a very significant milestone for our business. And what an extraordinary journey it has been.
From the entrepreneurial spirit of a group of Riverina rice growers that pulled their money together in the 1950s to form a single meal to what we are today, which is a truly global food company. Our journey spans seventy five years of innovation, resilience and growth and we're only getting started. As the Chair said, these traits will set us up for the next seventy five years of growth. Today, the Sunrise Group has evolved into a global food business with deep Australian heritage. We operate across 10 markets with a presence 10 countries with a presence in over 50 global markets.
We manage a portfolio of over 1,500 products and 45 brands with approximately 2,400 employees. Around 60% of our revenue is now generated outside of Australia. And importantly, 70% of our sales are coming from higher value added branded products, which I'll talk more about shortly. This evolution of business has been fundamental to the resilience of our growth, allowing us to capitalize on opportunities across different markets, while managing maintaining and managing regional challenges. This has led to a stronger business that is delivering longer term value for both sets of shareholders.
I'll now provide a high level financial overview before our Chief Financial Officer, Dmitry Cortellis shares in more detail on each of the segments and group performance. So turning to our financial year 2025 performance, I'm pleased to report that we have continued to deliver across the key metrics, while embedding our 2030 growth strategy. We are indeed shaping our future with Rice at our heart, building on the legacy of the last seventy five years. As you can see on the screen, in 2025, we delivered improved profitability with net profit after tax of $70,700,000 and EBITDA of $147,700,000 This was up 43% respectively on the prior financial years. We delivered group revenue of $1,850,000,000 which was slightly down on last year and we continue to maintain a very disciplined approach to capital management across the group and declared a fully franked dividend of $0.50 per share, bringing the total dividend for financial year 2025 to $0.65 per B class share, and this was an increase on last year's $0.60 per B Class share.
We delivered our growers a naturally determined paddy price of $4.00 $6 per tonne for medium grain rice, which was, as the chair said, down on prior year in 2024 of $430 per tonne. As the chair said, this year's paddy price was challenging and we recognize is not where we would like it to be. This was largely driven by the lowest whole grain millets that we've had in the last five years impacting the crop year 2024. It was also impacted by the rebound of rice in the Californian growing regions, which put further pressure on our tender markets and the returns that we achieved through those markets. Overall, our solid performance was driven by the efforts of our teams and underpinned by the discipline and agility in navigating a dynamic global environment.
The ongoing execution of Sunrise Group's 2030 growth strategy and our branded and supply chain integrations all contributed. The group's performance was driven by several key factors. Revenue was supported by the strengths of our brands with approximately 70 of group sales coming from branded products now. Volume growth in The Middle East boosted by new product launches and a successful Ramadan campaign with strong performance across our Toscano brand and expansion into the pet food channel supported by our acquisition of the SavorLife brand. We had expansion of our customer base and distribution in rice flour and rice cakes, and we had increased exports of rice in The U.
S. Due to the renewed availability of the Northern Hemisphere rice supply. Profitability and improved quality of earnings were enhanced through a favorable shift to higher value added branded products. Cost savings through the value chain, which included procurement and logistics and distribution and operational and manufacturing efficiencies, particularly in our rice foods and copper rice businesses. Product innovation and agile pricing strategies helped to absorb some of the inflationary pressures that we saw across the group.
We navigated several headwinds in 2025 as well. These included sales price deflation together with the need for additional discounting in a number of our markets and product categories. We had increased competition across The Pacific and in The U. S. And the global rice price fluctuation resulting from the Indian government's export ban on Nombas Mahdi rice, particularly during the 2025 financial year.
The depreciation of the Papua New Guinea Kiena against the U. S. Dollar denominated rice imports in Papua New Guinea and the depreciation of the AUD versus the USD and the euro also impacted the profitability of our imported products across those groups. The cost of living pressure causing a contraction of the foodservice sector and impacting consumer spending in microwave rice, pickled vegetables, premium biscuits and the equine feed business in particular here in Australia. We had a contraction of the dairy feed market in Australia and New Zealand.
And as we touched on, we had the lowest whole grain mill outs for the last five years in the CY244 crop, which in turn was the largest impact on the reduced patty price that we saw this year. I'd now like to invite the Sunrise Group CFO, Dmitry Kotales to discuss the financial year 2025 results and business segments in more detail. Thank you.
Thank you, Paul. Good morning, everyone. Across our business segments, we saw mixed but generally positive results. The Australian rice pool business delivered revenue of 3 and $70,200,000 which was down 4% on the prior period. Ample Riverina rice supply and strong sale volumes supported the pool although paddy returns were pressured by the lowest average whole grain mill out rates in more than five years as well as weaker global tender prices.
International rice, we generated revenue of 8 and $60,400,000 and that was 4% down on the prior period. Increased competition in The Pacific and The U. S. Markets alongside falling tender prices also weighed on the top line and that was despite some strong growth in The Middle East. And while profitability was challenged by higher rice sourcing costs and foreign exchange pressures, this was maintained through some agile pricing actions.
Moving on to our Rice Food segment, we delivered particularly strong performance with revenues up 10% to 132,500,000 and EBITDA following suit with 33% up. Volume growth was driven by new opportunities in our rice flour and our rice cakes positions and product innovation right across this portfolio and this was despite pressures from lower priced offerings particularly in the microwave rice segments. Margins were further benefited from operational and manufacturing efficiencies. Our Rubiana Foods business saw revenues grow 4% to $230,800,000 primarily driven by our Toscano and Heart and Soul brand momentum, as well as the acquisition of Simply Delish despite a softening food services sector and increased competition in some of the categories. While still constrained by foreign exchange pressures on imported products and integration challenges, EBITDA increased 11% to CAD7.9 million through operational changes in our distribution network as well as some cost savings.
Despite the contraction in the equine and the dairy feed sectors across ANZ, Coprace maintained revenues at $150,600,000 and this was through the pet food channel in particular supported by the acquisition of Save A Life. A product mix shift towards higher value branded products, together with cost savings and manufacturing efficiencies, further drove a solid uplift in profitability with EBITDA up 40%. Our corporate segment EBITDA declined to CAD40.5 million due to lower asset financing charges as well as the non repeat of FY24 asset sales in the prior year And this is partly offset by the absence of one off costs incurred in FY24. Net profit before tax however, slightly improved on the back of lower impairment charges in FY25. Now before Paul covers our 2030 growth strategy, I'd like to reflect on our longer term track record.
As we look at the performance over the past ten years, we have delivered a total shareholder return or TSR of 350% to the 04/30/2025, significantly outperforming the ASX three hundred accumulation index of 110%. We've returned million in total dividends to B class shareholders while investing NZD397 million in capital expenditure and acquisitions. Based on more recent share price appreciation, the ten year TSR to last week was 590% against 156% on the ASX three hundred Index. This performance gives us confidence in our ability to continue creating value and delivering consistent returns as we progress through changing market dynamics. With our improved trading liquidity, we entered the Agri Index last year November.
And I also note that the S and P index inclusion update is expected to be communicated tomorrow, and we are hopeful that Sunrise will be included in the ASX 300. Let me now provide some additional detail on our balance sheet as well as our cash flow performance. The group's leverage ratio improved to 1.5 times from 1.6 times in the prior year, while our ROCE or return on capital employed increased to 13.6% up from 12.7%. This reflects the strong EBITDA generated in FY 2025 coupled with our largely stable net debt. Net debt and gearing remained stable at NZ218.2 million and twenty six percent respectively as at thirty April twenty twenty five and this was compared to $223,800,000 and 27% at thirty April twenty twenty four.
This reflects our continued financial discipline in managing net working capital, which remained largely consistent at 452,400,000 as at thirty April twenty five, and this was despite a 24% increase in the size of the Australian rice crop. This was due to the lower than average whole grain mill out rates, which we've spoken about a few times now of the CY24 crop, which led to faster inventory consumption and reduced the stock holdings in other key markets. We continue to exercise discipline in our capital management to maintain balance sheet flexibility and strength, and the group has no core debt, only seasonal debt with our strategic acquisitions of Save A Life and Simply Delish funded through our existing cash reserves. During the year, we invested $42,800,000 in capital expenditure and this included approximately $15,000,000 to upgrade our Leyton plant facility in the Riverina. Following the release of our FY twenty twenty five results, Sunrise has successfully executed a partially underwriting of the dividend reinvestment plan where we raised $10,000,000 in new equity and this was placed with seven institutional investors, five of whom are new to our share register.
This initiative was designed to preserve cash and improve our liquidity. The DRP attracted participation from twelve oh nine investors and has since delivered some strong returns to those participants. The success of the underwriting of the DRP not only strengthened Sunrise's capital position, but also introduced high quality institutional investors to our share register. I'll now hand back to Paul to provide an update on our growth strategy as well as the outlook for FY 2026.
Thank you, Dimitri. As we've mentioned, financial year 2025 marked the first year of the implementation of our 2030 growth strategy. And I'm pleased to report good progress against our key strategic priorities. During the year, we pursued strategic and organic growth initiatives. We reshaped our vision, our purpose, our values and our organizational structure to align with the ambition of becoming everyone's favorite rice food company.
We've made progress across all six key areas of strategic priorities, which you can see on the screen. Let me highlight four of these in more details. Product innovation is always core and central to any consumer food business. And in financial year 2025, the Sunrise Group launched more than 40 new product lines across key categories, including core rice, microwave rice, snacks, bakeries and ready meals, including our Yum! Noodle Cups, Riverina One Pan Risottos and the Hinoti Ready to Heat range in The U.
S. The innovation this innovation is strengthening the core of our position and is increasingly adding to our highly differentiated value added food products, which we sell around the world. This will help deliver long term value for shareholders, customers and consumers. This year, we took important steps towards embedding sustainability at the heart of our business as well with the creation of our sustainability strategy. This strategy focuses on four key pillars, thriving people, thriving planets, thriving, communities and inspiring products.
We achieved several important sustainability milestones this year, which included the validation of our science based targets by the science based target initiatives, making us one of only a few companies in Australia with a forestry land agricultural emissions targets. We released our net zero roadmap focusing on the next five years to support Sunrise to meet both our near term 2033 emission reduction targets and our longer term 2050 net zero ambitions. Moving on, we engaged Monash University to also undertake benchmarking reviews of the group's 2024 Modern Slavery statement and received an A rating for the first time placing the group statement on par with those of the top performing half of the ASX 100 and higher than our sector averages. The rating reflects the results of the group's ongoing commitment to continuous improvement in its approach to modern slavery risk mitigation and our ability to report on such progress. And we made important progress against our AP Co targets with 95% of our Australian packaging now recyclable, reusable or compostable.
As we've spoken around already today, a key component of our 2030 and growth strategy relates specifically to Australian rice operations and the significant transition that's occurring in our industry at the moment. We've spoken about many of these factors across the Riverina in the last few months, but at the heart of our Australian rice strategy are three key metrics that can help to significantly drive farm grade value creation over time. These are 10 megaliters of water per hectare, 15 tons of yield per hectare and $500 per patty price. This will enable us to better use our water, our precious water in this region, have better yields to improve economies for all growers and a better price for Australian rice. A key focus in financial year 2025 was preparing for the end of rice festing, which occurred on the 06/30/2025.
We launched our new value propositions to Riverina growers transitioning from being the buyer of last resort to importantly becoming over time the buyer of choice for Riverina rice growers. As the Chairman said, we continue to advocate for more balanced water policy, as evidenced by our ongoing engagement with the industry partners and government stakeholders. Turning to our people. In order for us to achieve our 2030 growth strategy, it was absolutely imperative that we reorganize the business behind this with the with the business appropriately having the right people, the right talent, and the right structures and systems to achieve a bold and ambitious strategy. In financial year 2025, we implemented a new market based divisional structure and leadership alignment to take greater advantage of our scale, Here Home and ANZ, while deepening our expertise and presence in key international markets.
These geographic based commercial divisions will support us to grow our presence across these key markets by leveraging the expertise of local teams who are close to the market, who understand the culture and can execute quickly to drive results on the ground in these markets. And we balance that against the need for us to behave globally and leverage scale where appropriately. Consistent with the outlook set out in our financial year twenty twenty five annual report, the Sunrise Group expects to build on the solid results achieved in financial year twenty twenty five to continue to grow the business at both the top and the bottom line in financial year 2026. There are a number of positive factors expected to support our performance moving forward. These include a strong innovation pipeline, the strengthening of our brands with additional investment aimed at driving the awareness of and expanding market share for our product ranges, including such product ranges as Toscano and SaverLife.
There are opportunities for market growth, particularly in Australia, The U. S. And The Middle East, where we look to meet consumer preferences and expand our offerings across the group. An ongoing focus on implementing operational improvements across the group and the normalization of global rice prices, which should benefit some of the group's more price sensitive markets. A solid Australian rice crop, which is driving a full milling program in FY 2026 and in turn is expected to support strong brand and asset finance charges as well as optimizing product mix for our products around the group.
In addition, we continue to invest in strategic capital expenditure as we commence the multimillion dollar upgrade of our rice foods manufacturing facilities to drive capacity expansion, product improvements and innovation into the future. We also continue to work on reinforcing the strength of our business model and further diversifying our international sourcing locations. However, some of the challenges experienced in FY 2025 remain current and may prevail for the rest of the year with the potential of moderating the group's growth. Some of these include intense competition from lower priced offerings across several key markets, placing pressure on revenue and margins. The weaker Australian dollar versus the Papua New Guinea and Kiena and other inflationary pressures on costs include the possible upfront costs as part of the 2030 growth strategy execution.
Additionally, and while the situation has been improving, recent legislative changes regarding the application of GST and Papua New Guinea have caused significant trading disruption in the local rice market in the early part of this year, leading to a slower than expected start in financial year 2025 for that market. The ongoing conflict in The Middle East and the impact that The U. S. Policies may have on global trade flows across the economies also contribute to uncertainty, having the potential to cause significant supply chain disruption and increase the cost of doing business in some of our markets in FY 2026. Notwithstanding and taking into consideration both these positive factors and some of the more challenging factors, we remain confident in our ability to deliver growth in FY 2026.
Stronger than anticipated on farm yields for the CY 2025 crop have resulted in approximately 511,000 tonnes of Paddy rice, which will support a full million program and strong branded sales in Australia for the rice pool premium markets in financial year 2026. A reduction in energy usage for the drying of the crop, improvements in the cost of shipping and slight improvements already observed and anticipated to continue in the global tender market pricing and an already well hedged position against the U. S. Dollar are also expected to benefit the CY25 patty returns. However, as we've previously communicated, these positive factors in underlying growth are being offset by the lowest historical mill out rates that we've had in the past five years, which is putting significant pressure on the expected returns for the CY25 patty crop.
As a result, the CY25 patty price range remains unchanged at $380 to $450 per tonne for medium grain. We will continue to provide updates on the range as the year progresses. Importantly, as we near the start of the CY 26 Riverina rice crop planting window over the coming weeks over the coming six to eight weeks, we continue to monitor closely water allocations, the prospects of water inflows and the consequential impacts this may have on water pricing and planting decisions. The newly constituted Board will be meeting to finalize the offer for CY '26, which will be communicated early next week. Before I close, I wanted to take this opportunity to personally acknowledge our Chairman, Laurie Arthur.
As you know, Laurie will retire at the conclusion of today's B Class meeting after serving on the Board for an extraordinary eighteen years, including a decade as Chairman. His leadership has been instrumental in shaping the Sunrise Group into the global business that it is today. Under Laurie's stewardship, Sunrise has undergone significant transformation and growth. He oversaw our successful listing onto the ASX in 2019 and he has guided the business through industry reform, global market volatility and some of the worst droughts on record here in the Riverina District. Laurie's deep understanding of the rice industry, his unwavering commitment to growers and his ability to balance commercial discipline with community values has left a lasting legacy, not only within Sunrise, but across the broader Australian rice industry.
I also want to thank Laurie personally for helping me transition to my role as CEO. It certainly made my life a lot easier to begin with having Laurie here. And I also want to take this moment to congratulate John Bradford, who will assume the position of Chair at the conclusion of today's B Class meeting. As the Chair mentioned, John has been a grower director on the board for nearly a decade, and I've had the pleasure of working closely with John over the last two years as he served as Deputy Chair since September 2022. He is also Chairman of our TrueCar Industries Limited Board, and John's appointment will ensure continuity of strong leadership for the Sunrise Group.
So in closing, it has been an absolute privilege and a pleasure to lead the Sunrise Group for a second year. And as we enter our seventy fifth year, we do so as a truly global business, shaped by our heritage, strengthened by our people and focused on long term performance and value creation. We remain confident in our direction and believe we will position to deliver ongoing value for the shareholders, the communities, customers around the world. Our purpose with Rice at Our Heart will bring people together through inspiring and delicious food, will continue to guide us through our next chapter of growth. Thank you for your continued support, and I look forward to your questions during the question and answer time of this meeting.
And I'll now hand back to our Chairman. Thank you.
Thank you. As the formal proceedings are about to commence, I will declare the poll on each of the resolutions open. As Kate mentioned, for the purpose of voting each A Class shareholder or their proxy, attorney or representative will have received one yellow voting card. If you are the registered holder of a shareholding of a first A class share or multiple first A class shares, you are entitled to one vote in respect of that shareholding. If you are the registered holder of a second A class share, you're entitled to vote one additional to one additional vote.
You will see that this voting card includes a space for voting on each of the resolutions. A class shareholders may use a yellow voting card and place an x in the relevant for or against or abstain boxes for each resolution. We now move to agenda item one. All members have been provided with the annual report including the financial report, directors report and independent auditors report for the year ended 04/30/2025. I note Eliza Penny, partner from our auditing firm PwC is with us here today in Griffith and available to answer any questions.
And Eliza is just sitting there for us. Thank you. You have heard from both Paul and myself. I'd now like to invite comments or questions from shareholders present with us today in Griffith on the annual financial report, directors report and independent auditors report. This will also be your final opportunity during the AGM to ask any general questions or comments about the management of the company.
Do we have any questions? Yes. Thanks, Joe. And I'd like to point out that Russell Higgins is a former director of this company and provided incredibly valuable service and was on the board when I joined eighteen years ago. Thanks Russell.
Thanks, Chairman. I'd like to ask a question about the international trade situation. Paul touched on it briefly in his report, but just looking for a few more remarks. We're seeing quite a disruption to international trade. I'm not sure how much of it is going to be ongoing. It's very hard to predict But one of the important things is, despite the fact of large tariffs being announced and some large tariffs being imposed by The US, The US is also negotiating non tariff issues, which, importantly for us, included the increased access to Japanese tariffs. Absolutely. So my general question is, could you talk a little bit more about the challenges you're seeing in international trade for a company that operates in 50 countries?
And are there opportunities arising for Sunrise out of it as well?
Thanks, Rosol. That's a really important question. And our CEO lives with this thing daily. And also Dimitri and the whole team, that's really front and centre of what we're looking at because the world is changing rapidly and very unpredictably. Paul, could you provide a little bit more highlight on that question? Excellent question.
Good question, and we sit here all day actually answering it. Geopolitically, the world is in a great state of flux. Post COVID, the geopolitical changes in the rule of trade and the free and open flow of products globally have become more challenged, and certainly with where The US is driving that on how they're behaving in quite a unilateral way, and with tariffs being used as part of that, that disruption has increased. I think as you rightly point out, are opportunities and threats in an ever changing world, and dealing with tariffs and markets that are not open freely for trade is not something new to Sunrise. Rice is quite a controlled industry globally, as you referenced with the Japan tender market, and so we keep a very close eye on what this means for the Sunrise Group.
In general, the tariff applications that the Trump presidency has implemented so far is not having a direct impact on our volumes globally. We manufacture in The US for The US the vast majority of products that we have, and so we're not caught up in some of those tariffs as much as other companies. The immediate impact has been more to the currency markets and the impact that's placed onto the group, particularly with the weakening Aussie dollar versus The US, that's placed pressure on our import businesses. So the net impact in the short term of those tariffs has been more in that currency area. As you referenced rightly, Trump is also using tariffs and other means to negotiate very much bilateral way with some governments, and Japan was one of those.
In terms of what it means for us yet, it's unclear what it means around The US supposedly gaining more access. We're trying to gain clarity on that through diplomatic channels here in Australia as well as in Japan. At this stage, there's no changes that have been communicated, but we'll certainly keep people updated if there is. But the opportunities that gives to us as an organisation is also quite interesting. As trading partners look to realign behind the new geopolitical norms across the globe, there's opportunities for us and we remain very much diversified across multiple markets, which enable us to be flexible in that changing trade environment.
Netnet, we are in a good position. We expect to continue to grow, but there will be some challenges and opportunities from it in an ever changing world.
Thanks, Paul. And I should point out that Paul is very well positioned. When we recruited Paul, he was living in Connecticut and he was running the ILM ingredients business internationally. And I think, Paul, you've been roaming around the globe for the last eighteen years until we finally got you to come back here.
Our family's happy we're back now.
So thank you. Yes, we also have Ian. Thanks, Ian.
Congratulations, Mr Chairman.
Thank you.
This is a true quite question. We always seem to have problem getting exchange currency out of the country at an attractive rate to sunrise. Do we really need TrueCai, especially with the civil unrest and we only own 66% of the company?
Yes. Thanks, Ian.
Good question. And I'll say that P and G has been a pivotal part of how Sunrise operates and we're very fortunate we have John Bradford and also we have Julian on the board of TrueCai. And I'll get Paul to talk about the still very, very important role that TrueCai deals for us. Thanks, Paul, if you could
address that one. I mean the short answer into the second part of your question around is it important to us? Yes, it is. TrueCo has been part of the group for a long time and will continue to be so. Whilst our growth strategy doesn't specifically call out TrueCo, we expect that business to maintain volumes over time.
Our growth is coming from more markets outside of Papua New Guinea, but still very importantly. In terms of the first part of your questions around currency, I'll let our Chief Executive Chief Financial Officer, Dimitri, answer that one.
Thank you. So yes, currency depreciation against the Kiena has absolutely been very painful over the years and continues to be the case. But when you roll back fifteen years, TrueCar contributed about 75% to our group profit. It's certainly not the case today as we have diversified our earnings away from that position. And as the group has grown internationally, we've delivered a lot more profit from a number of other areas.
But the trade between our sourcing locations through Singapore into TrueCar still remains very profitable. And as you can see from our segment reports, particularly under the revenue segmentation, about $400,000,000 comes from our Pacific markets and TrueCar is the lion's share in that position. So it continues to be an important market, but we are working very closely with the government to get access to currency and with rice being in a food security list, we're able to get those allocations easier than we have been in the past. So from that perspective, has been relatively okay to get currency out of the country. So it's not so much getting the currency out, it's more the depreciation of that currency that has been the case.
But that's something that we've essentially dealt with over the last decade plus and continues to be something that we monitor closely, but something that we're able to control accordingly.
Thanks for that. Ian, I think it's worth reflecting on the changing nature of what Sunrise deals with because I think the first thirty years I grew rice, all the rice I grew used to go through the Achuka mill and straight to Papua New Guinea. So they're the changes that we deal with and I'm very pleased to say that management and the board over the last forty years has done an incredible job in dealing with that changing nature of the world which will probably accelerate now not just continue, it will accelerate. Very important question, thank you. We have some more questions.
John. And I'd like to acknowledge John. John's one of our leading growers and one day I might get you, John, to actually calculate how many tonnes of paddy you've contributed to this industry over the last fifty years. It would be a big figure. Thanks, John.
I can tell you that we donated 65,000 to R and D this year.
Yep.
And so you can work it out for yourself. That's right. And also, my question's more related to which they've mentioned a few times about the quality of the rice. Straight from a grower's point of view
Next generation.
Yeah. From a grower's point of view, I'll only accept half the problem that we grow, crack grain. Yep. The other half is we just gotta come up with better varieties. I mean, 65,000 Tar and D
Yeah, mate.
And then we get penalized another 13,000 for not being up to the mark and growing 10 and a half thousand ton of rice. I don't know how you get that off in twenty four hours or forty eight hours. Yep. So please, can I say to you, put some of that 65,000 towards getting a better variety? And in relation to Papua New Guinea, just tap into the 600,000,000 that the government's given them for their rugby league Now
look, thanks John. You really make some good points there and I'm really pleased to say that with that money that comes from all of us and it's quite a significant amount of reinvestment into our future, there has been a very significant investment in that in future varieties. I might get Paul, if you could just highlight some of the things that are happening. It's a very good question and a very pertinent question, John.
Yes, very good question, John. If we break it down into its parts, the first part absolutely, the responsibility for improving quality across the industries, a combined one we've to take together. Sunrise working with our growers together, not just with varietals, but growing practices, dashboards, the evolution of technology and machine learning and AI and helping to predict kind of dry down rates and those things that are absolutely critical to the grains. It's going to take all of us working together to improve that in in the short term. There's things that we can do in the short term together to make that happen.
Longer term breeding is absolutely critical. It's it's been critical for success of the rice industry and will continue to be critical for the success of the rice industry. Those levied funds that you're referencing, John, they go towards the RDC, which is AgriFutures. AgriFutures now makes the decision on how they allocate those funds, of which a large proportion of them go to rice breeding Australia, and there has been a significant uptick in the breeding speed at which we are now progressing through. Varietals take time, and the biggest things that they are breeding for are cold resistance and quality.
They are making very good progress in the initial indications of the varieties that they are breeding, but they will take some time to come to market, three to five years to come to market. In the meantime, we have to work better together to drive up whole grain mill outs, to drive up yields, to bring down water usage and to increase on farm gate profits. And over the coming months, we'll be talking more to you about those things that we're doing, and we actually have received some help from the Government in this space as well, so we'll come back and talk more about that. But it is a collective and shared responsibility for us to bring those yields and that paddy price up, and we recognise that.
That's a pretty good point, John. I haven't got that many. How long have you been growing rice for, John?
Starting in 'seventy four.
Yeah. So that's an incredible commitment to it. I suppose the tough part about it hopefully your very capable sons will enjoy the day we actually managed to get aerobic rice happening here and make that quantum change in water use. I've seen that. No.
Very well done. Capable young men. Thank you. Do we have any further questions? Yes.
And as you know, look thank you for putting your hand up again Jeremy. We you've made a very significant contribution as one of our previous directors and I'd encourage you to you know, your important what you know about sort of water reform and your engagement, really encourage you to keep involved. Thanks, Jeremy.
Jeremy Morton, Mullerman RiceGrip. I noted you said this is the last opportunity to ask questions and things, so I'm not sure if this is the appropriate time or not. But from a personal level, I'd like to acknowledge your leadership, not just in the rice industry specifically, but in the agricultural industry and just provide a couple of insights from my perspective about you and your qualities. So the one thing that's always impressed me about you, Laurie, is your sharp commercial insights. But probably more importantly is your vision and your ability to see what needs to be done and how we get there and stay the course.
A world that's these days looking for quick outcomes, very reactionary, lacking in vision sometimes. It can be a challenge to stick the course. And I'll just provide a couple of examples to Lori's impact for those that some may not be aware. So Lawrie started to cut his teeth in the early days in water and there's a couple of things that I that stand out for me. And one was around water markets, the early days of water markets, it was really challenging and transparency around markets was it was difficult. Didn't have price discovery or market depth insights.
So Laurie drove the establishment of a water exchange, which is now the Murray Irrigation Water Exchange and that's a valuable, valuable tool for the water market. One of the other things that Laurie was actively involved in with others is the establishment of property rights for water, which is absolutely key to our security, to our ability to manage that important asset, to grow the rice that we do. So it's a there are a couple of ones. And I might bring it to the other end. It's already been touched on, but taking Sunrise from a cooperative and Laurie wasn't there at the corporatization, but those early days of corporatizing the going to a corporate structure, listing on the NSX and then eventually in 2019, listing on the ASX.
That was an incredible vision for Laurie but also earlier board members to basically capitalize a company that is what we see today. And it's not for the faint hearted. We think about 2019 at least that towards the end of 2019, the market cap was at $250,000,000 and we were having some interesting conversations about how on earth do we get the true value of the company recognized. For today, to be sitting at a market cap of $1,000,000,000 that's testament to under Lori's leadership taking us to that point. Just like to acknowledge your contribution.
That's very kind of you. Thank you. Thank you very much. And we will now move on to the next. If there are no more questions oh, yes, sorry. Russell, please do.
Yes, if I may, a second question which relates to the ANZ market.
Please do.
One of the sort of overriding economic themes that we've had to deal with in recent years is cost of living pressures on families. And that looks to me like it's going to continue for a little while yet. I'm really wanting to you touched on this briefly in your address, but I'd like you to talk a little bit more about it of how that sits with quite an ambitious strategy for growth within the ANZ market. And our position is in branded products, as you've talked about. It's not only in rice, but rice foods, in Riviana, in pet food as well.
But one of the things that we've phenomenon that we've seen happen with the cost of living pressures is the increasing presence and volumes of home or own brands from supermarkets and the like, which have become, I think, a much bigger market share. So I'd just like to know a little bit more about how you think you're going to cope with the cost of living pressures in delivering quite an aggressive growth strategy in the ANZ market.
Look, thank you for that question. And the real driver behind our 2030 growth strategy is Paul. So Paul is perfectly positioned to do that. And also notice we've got our team here today and I want to acknowledge and it's all been pointed out, I want to acknowledge that the real impact you're making and the new segments that I think is going to take us forward. So I'll hand to Paul and talk about really about our growth strategy because it's a very good question.
Yes, we're firmly grounded in the current reality of Australia's economic situation. Think as productivity has been declining for a period of time in this country and the currency declines in the geopolitical environment, we are taking as a planning stance that we're not expecting a significant strengthening in the Australian economy in near term and that the cost of living pressures you referenced will continue. Having said that, what we need to do as a branded company, and we are a branded company and we will continue to become more of a highly differentiated branded company is to focus on value for consumers. Our value for consumers from a private label stance is to price discount. That's the most, you know, blunt force value for consumers.
But having worked my entire career in consumer food goods, value to consumer is much more broad than that. An innovation product like our our ready to to, heat or ready to to make one pot risotto meals, for example, unlock the complexity for a consumer to make risotto at home. It's those innovations that consumers value because it releases time or it meets a need that they have. Increasingly, our product ranges and our innovations that we are launching are becoming more and more highly differentiated to just rice in a bag. It's very difficult for private label to copy those positions.
Need really strong R and D, you need really strong brands, you need really strong branding people in your organisation to do that. We believe that by continuing to differentiate our product ranges more and provide value to consumers in other ways than straight price, we will continue to grow the top and bottom line of this business. We expect the private label pressures to continue, but we expect to be able to offset those through those innovation pipelines and products that we have across the organisation. And then the final piece of that, if we think about rice as a meal, it's a really interesting stat. So in Australia, if you think about the top eight to 12 meals that are cooked at home every week, in general, only one of those is a rice meal.
And so there's still a lot of consumption growth in Australia to unlock the barriers to use more rice, and it's through that product innovation, through how it's been used, it's also through cut through campaigns, which, we might have a few coming up soon, that we'll start to unlock more of this over time. So yes, the pressures are there, but there's opportunities and we feel like those opportunities underpin that growth strategy.
Thank you for that question. Do we have any more questions? Well look, thank you for those. They are really pertinent questions and we do appreciate it. We'll move on to the next item of business now.
So we have Resolution one. All members have been provided with the remuneration report for the year ended 04/30/2025. As I outlined in the notice of meeting, the remuneration report performs part of the director's report and the vote on this resolution is advisory only and will not bind the directors or the company. However, the board will take the outcomes of the vote into consideration when reviewing practices and policies of the company. As described in the notice of meeting, a voting exclusion statement applies to this resolution.
I'd like to clarify that the intention of this resolution is to endorse the remuneration report for the prior financial year. I would also I would like now to invite the Chairman of the People Remunerations Committee, Independent Director, Ian Glassen to introduce the remuneration report. Thank you, Ian.
Thank you, Chairman. I'm pleased to present this year's remuneration report in the context of another year of strong financial performance. This year, the group again delivered a robust set of financial and strategic outcomes, including a net profit after tax of over $70,000,000 up 4% on the prior year and a total fully franked dividend of $0.65 per B Class share. As noted earlier by the Chair and CEO, the year was not without its challenges. The paddy price of $4.00 $6 per tonne was a disappointment for growers, reflecting softer international markets, tougher trading conditions and the lowest whole grain mill out rates in the past five years.
Despite these factors, in FY 2025, the company delivered well overall under Paul Serra's leadership as CEO. The board acknowledges Paul's significant contribution in driving operational and financial performance, refreshing the 2030 growth strategy and realigning the organisation to help better deliver on our strategic objectives. This was achieved while preparing for the transition away from regulated rice marketing in New South Wales, an important step toward a more flexible and grower aligned future. Our FY 2025 results also reflect the group's continued focus on creating value for both A and B shareholders, and were driven by disciplined execution across cost management, margin improvement and strategic growth initiatives. Total shareholder return for the year was 82%, significantly outperforming the ASX three hundred.
The remuneration outcomes for the CEO and key executives reflect this performance and are consistent with the changes communicated in last year's remuneration report and at the twenty twenty four AGM. We remain committed to a pay for performance philosophy that supports the attraction and retention of high calibre talent while aligning executive rewards with shareholder outcomes. The company ran the employee share sale plan, or ESSP, in FY 2025, which enables employees to sell their B class shares to the trustee. The company intends to run the ESSP again during the next year trading window. B class shares acquired under the ESSP can then be used for offers made to employees in the various Sunrise equity incentive plans.
This reduces the need for new B class shares to be issued and helps reduce the dilution of shareholdings. The People and Remuneration Committee continues to review our non executive director or NED fees to ensure the attraction and retention of high calibre board members, whilst balancing the spend due to the quantum of directors included in the fee pool. Over time, the number of directors has reduced from 11 to nine, but our Board is still considered large by peer standards. After holding the fee pool steady for the past six years, we're now asking shareholders to approve an increase in the pool of $500,000 to take it from 1,500,000.0 to $2,000,000 which will accommodate market related adjustments over the coming years, assuming no further changes in the size of the Board. Non executive directors are also continuing, where possible and at their own cost, to build their B class shareholdings, in line with our minimum shareholding policy, further aligning our interests with those of shareholders.
In closing, I too would like to add a personal note of thanks to Laurie Arthur, who, as you know, is retiring at the conclusion of the B class meeting. Following an incredible contribution to rice industry and to Sunrise. Many of you will know how much time he has spent engaging with our A Class shareholders and explaining the background to the AGM resolutions over the many years. So Laurie, thank you. And I commend the remuneration report to you.
And on behalf of the Board and management, thank you for your ongoing support. I'll remain for any questions.
I'd now like to invite comments or questions relating to the remuneration report from the shareholders present with us today in Griffith. Any questions on that REM report or anything relating to the REM? Okay. Thank you. We'll now move on to the vote for this resolution by way of a poll.
The valid proxy and direct votes for this resolution are on A class shareholders, if you haven't already done so, please cast your vote on resolution one of your yellow voting card. Thank you. The second item of business relates to the proposed increase to the non executive director fee pool. As outlined in the notice of meeting, the fee pool is the maximum value that non executive directors may be paid in total in any given year.
Sunrise is a $1,800,000,000 company listed on the ASX. An appropriately sized fee pool is important to ensure that we can attract and retain the high quality non executive directors and ensure effective succession planning. The last increase made to the non executive director fee pool was in 2019, six years ago when shareholders approved a total remuneration pool of $1,500,000 at the Annual General Meeting. Given that that was six years ago, as I mentioned, during the past year we've engaged expert remuneration consultants, Aon, to assist with a review of non executive director remuneration. This review took into account a range of factors including the remuneration practices of our peer companies and the increased workload and responsibility of our non executive directors given the group's expanded international operations and the increasingly complex regulatory and legislative requirements.
As a result, we are recommending the total fee pool be increased to $2,000,000 to enable directors' fees to be more closely aligned to the 50 percentile of the market remuneration relative to our peer group. Importantly, while the 500,000 increase would be would if approved today by you, will effectively will be effective from the 05/01/2025. The board does not intend to use the full 2,000,000 immediately. Rather, it's intended that that increased fee pool will provide headroom for gradual increases in actual payments over the coming years. Given the interests of the non executive directors in this item, the board makes no recommendation to shareholders as to how to vote in relation to resolution two.
I'd now like to invite comments or questions relating to this resolution from shareholders present with us today. Griffith, do we have any questions relating to the fee pool? Okay. We'll now move on to the vote for this resolution by way of a poll. The valid proxy and direct votes for this resolution are on screen.
A class shareholders, if you haven't already done so, please cast your vote on resolution two of your yellow voting card. Okay. We will now move on to Resolution three. The final item of business relates to the reelection of non executive independent director Louisa Catanzaro. Louisa has more than thirty years of professional experience in senior finance executive roles across a range of industries.
Louisa has been an independent director on the Sunrise Board since 2018 and is also currently a director of Harvey Norman Limited. And also the Big Cause Movement Foundation Limited and the Museum of Contemporary Art in Australia. Louisa is the Chair of our Finance Risk and Audit Committee, a role she executes with rigor, precision and insight. The Board with the assistance of the Nomination Committee has reviewed Louisa's performance with a particular focus on the skills, knowledge and experience that she brings to the board and her contribution to board discussions. Accordingly, my fellow directors and I with Louisa abstaining unanimously support her reelection.
I'd now like to invite Louisa to say a few words ahead of the vote. Thanks, Louisa. Thank you.
Thank you, Laurie. Good morning, everyone. And given we are in Griffith and with my surname, I also wanted to say. For those of you who don't know me, I've been It has been a privilege to be on your board since August 2018. And amongst other things, I chair your audit, finance and risk committee.
As background, I have a Bachelor of Commerce from the University of New South Wales. I'm a fellow of the Australian Institute of Chartered Accountants, Australia and New Zealand. I'm a graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors. I will briefly outline my relevant past experience and school base and the reasons that I believe I add still value to your board. After university, I spent twelve years at a large chartered accounting firm called Arthur Andersen in its audit division.
And amongst many audit clients, I was responsible for the News Corporation audit and for companies such as Ample Exploration, so across many industries. After leaving Arthur Andersen, I've had over twenty years of professional experience in senior financial executive roles across numerous industries, including agriculture and FMCG, and most importantly, number of those are with ASX listed companies. This experience included being Chief Financial Officer and Company Secretary of Australian Agricultural Company Limited, which I helped list on the Australian Stock Exchange, Chief Financial Officer and Company Secretary of Dairy Farmers, and was a member of Rob Gordon's team that helped to sell that business to National FoodsCuren. And I was Chief Financial Officer of Linus Corporation Limited, a rare earth business involved in its setups and start up and in numerous equity and debt raisings to get that going. With respect to my board experience, as the Chair noted, amongst various boards, I'm on the Harvey Norman Limited Board and I am a member of its Audit Committee and its Remuneration Committee.
I believe I continue to add value to your board. I can confirm that I have the energy and the passion to continue on your board if re elected, and that I have the time to commit to it. Finally, if reelected, I look forward to working with management and the board to deliver on the 2030 growth strategy for your company. Thank you.
Thanks, Louise, for your ongoing commitment to this company. I personally really appreciate your input. I'd now like to invite comments or questions relating to Louisa's reelection from shareholders present with us today in Griffith. Any questions for Louisa? Thank you, John.
So now it's been wonderful for you to have contributed. So we'll now move on to the vote of this resolution by way of a poll. The valid votes and direct votes for this resolution are on screen. A class shareholders, if you haven't already done so, please cast your vote on resolution three of your yellow voting card. Think everybody's done that.
I believe that those who wish to vote, in the poll have now done so. Please raise your hand and MUFG will now collect, come and collect your voting cards. So that'll take a little while, but please if you could hand your voting cards, just put your hands up and we've got MUFG team moving through the audience and collecting votes. And I'm awaiting a signal from MUFG that that's been completed. So I think you have have you Yeah, I think I'm confident looking from here.
Yes. I believe that MUFG has collected all the voting cards at today's meeting. Accordingly, I will now close the poll. That concludes the business of the day and I will now close the annual general meeting subject to the finalization of the poll. The b class meeting of rice growers limited will start at 11:30.
That should be good. Yes, that'll work out. For those of you joining us online, please note the B class meeting will be broadcast from the same link as the AGM. Please note that the results of the AGM will be announced on the ASX and posted on the Sunrise Investor website. Thank you for your attendance today.
We'll be back, Look, actually, probably what time do you think we'll be back? We probably need a About ten minute break. Yeah. We will go with a ten minute break. So that's 11:37.
Yeah. 11:37. So just a correction for you. Okay. So 11:37 we'll be back.
So we've got a video here for you to show and so thank you. 11:37. But those of you that would like to watch the video or grab grab something to drink or whatever, it's up the back.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Good morning and we welcome to today's b class meeting of the Rice Growers Limited. I'd like to begin by acknowledging the Wiradjuri people, traditional custodians of the land on which we meet today and pay my respects to their elders past and present. It's 11:30 no, it's not actually. It is 11:38 and I have advised been advised by the company secretary that we have a quorum and declare the meeting open. Please note the important notice and disclaimer on the screen.
This can also be found within the presentation lodged on the ASX and the Sunrise Investor website. I realize most of you are joining us from the AGM held earlier this morning. But for those of you who haven't met me, my name is Laurie Arthur, your Chairman. I'd like to reiterate how pleasing it is to be here in Griffith today with our growers and shareholders and I also extend a warm welcome to those of you joining via the live webcast. Said at the head of the table with me today are Paul Serra, our Group Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director Dimitri Dimitri Cortellis, our group chief financial officer and Kate Cooper, our company secretary.
Our other directors are also here and I ask them to stand once again as I mentioned their names. Deputy chair John Bradford who at the conclusion of the meeting today as today's formalities will become chairman. I look forward to John addressing you all at the end of our b class meeting. We have Louisa Catanzaro who stood for reelection in the AGM preceding this meeting. Doctor Andrew Crane, Ian Glasson, Melissa DeBortley, Ian Mason, and Julian Zenata.
As noted earlier, my retirement has created a vacancy for a grower director on our board. And I very warmly welcome Rachel Kelly who will be joining the Sunrise board tomorrow as elected by our A Class shareholders. Rachel, can I please ask you to stand? I note the president of the RGA, Peter Herman, is with us today. Thanks, Peter.
And I also particularly welcome all our rice growers and shareholders. In terms of today's agenda, Kate will recap on the procedural matters next before we conduct the formal business of meeting. After that, shareholders as a whole will be given a reasonable opportunity to ask questions or make comments about the management of the company during the question and answer time. Once the results of today's meeting are known, they will be announced on the ASX and the Sunrise website. I confirm that I am holding undirected proxies in my capacity as chairman of the meeting and I will vote those proxies in favor of each resolution.
I will vote all directed proxies in accordance with the directions provided by shareholders. None of the other non executive directors will be voting undirected proxies on resolution. I'd now like to hand over to company secretary Kate Cooper who will explain how to vote and ask questions during today's meetings. Thanks Kate.
Thank you, Chairman. Voting today will be by way of poll. The resolution in the notice of B class meeting is only able to be voted on by B class shareholders. There is only one resolution today and it is an ordinary resolution which requires a 50% majority of votes cast to pass. We will share with you the proxy and direct voting results before you vote.
Please note voting will close once MUFG has collected the voting cards at the end of today's meeting. As communicated in the notice of meeting, online proxy and other forms of voting ahead of the meeting closed at 11:30AM on Tuesday. B class shareholders present at the meeting here today are, however, able cast their votes using the voting card they received during registration this morning. Before we go any further, I need to check that everyone present at today's B class meeting is holding either a voting or admission card. B class shareholders and their proxies, attorneys and representatives will use the white voting cards for today's resolution.
B class shareholders who are not voting at the B class meeting, for example, in joint holdings should be holding a blue nonvoting admission card for this meeting. A class shareholders who are not also B class shareholders are not able to vote at today's meeting and should be holding blue nonvoting cards. And visitors have been issued with red admission cards and are not able to ask any questions today. Does anyone not have a card? Okay.
A representative of MUFG will conduct the poll as returning officer. At the end of today's meeting, the MUFG team will collect your voting card. If you have to leave after the poll is opened but before the end of the meeting, please leave your voting card in the poll box on the registration table. I should note that if you have already voted by proxy, your votes cast here today will override your previous proxy direction. As the Chairman noted, there will be time for questions from shareholders.
However, as with all shareholder meetings, I ask you to confine your questions or comments to the matters under consideration today. If you have any comments or questions relating to the long term incentive award for the group CEO, please ask your questions or make your comments during our discussion of the resolution. If you have any general comments or questions about the management of the company, please make your comments during the general question and answer time. In order to provide shareholders as a whole a reasonable opportunity to speak today, I ask you initially limit the number of your questions or comments to two. If time permits, we may allow you to ask further questions or make further comments once other shareholders have also had an opportunity to speak.
I note shareholders who were unable to attend today's meeting were able to submit questions in advance as outlined in the notice of meeting. These questions will be responded to first before we open the floor to questions from shareholders present with us in Griffith. For those shareholders who'd like to ask a question or make a comment at the right time, just a reminder to hold up your white or blue card and wait for a microphone. And if you could please also state your name for the room. Thank you. And I will now hand back to the Chairman.
Thanks, Kate. As the formal proceedings are about to commence, I will declare the poll on the resolution open. As Kate has just mentioned, for the purpose of voting, each b class shareholder or their proxy attorney or representative will have received one white voting card. B class shareholders are invited to place an x in the relevant for or against or abstain box for the resolution. Resolution one, similar to last year and as outlined in the notice of meeting, we are seeking B class shareholder approval for the grant of the group CEO's long term incentive or LTI.
Awarded under the Sunrise Group's LTI scheme, SunShares. The LTI award is designed to create long term value for the company and our shareholders. The LTI is an equity based plan whereby eligible participants are allocated rights that vest over a three year period. Subject to the achievements of a mix of service and performance criteria. The performance period applies to Mr. Sarah's LTI award is one May 2025 to the 04/30/2028. The board has determined the performance conditions that apply to rights and has selected selected hurdles that are aligned to the group's strategic objectives and financial performance. The performance conditions for Mr. For Mr. Sarah are structured around maximizing Riverina grower returns, value creation for investors, strategic revenue growth and sustainability metrics aligned to the net zero roadmap.
The LTI award is a significant component of the group's CEO remuneration package and is designed to reward performance that is in line with performance of the group of the company and returns for both classes of shareholder. Accordingly, the board with Mr. Sarah abstaining recommends shareholders vote in favor of this resolution. Kate, were there any comments or questions relating to the long term incentive award for the group CEO submitted in advance.
No comments or questions have been submitted in advance.
Thank you. Thanks Kate. I'd like to invite comments or questions relating to the long term incentive award for the group CEO from shareholders present with us today in Griffith. Do we have any questions regarding this resolution? Thank you.
We will now move on to the vote I'm sorry I missed that. Thanks, Peter. Sorry I missed you. And as you know, Peter's the president of the ADA.
You did miss me, Laurie, because questions and comments. So questions weren't forthcoming. This is more a comment to Paul and to the team. I want to point out that the incentive that's been offered to you in terms of the paddy price is a critical part of the return for this industry's heart being Riverina Growers, for the directors whom a significant number of A Class shareholders themselves, and for our CEO who understands I believe understands this industry very well, being a North Queenslander and a country boy himself. So I congratulate the Sunrise Board for this balanced approach to the long term incentive. And I'm really encouraged that we're looking at how we can return money to growers for the effort and for the risk as John Bonetti has pointed out at the A Class meeting for the risk that's taken. So congratulations on that and carry on the good work.
Good on you and thanks for that reminder because our growers and our shareholders are incredibly important and they're fundamental to the success of this company. So we'll now move on to the vote for this resolution by way of a poll. The valid proxy and direct votes for this resolution are on screen. B class shareholders, if you haven't already done so, please cast your votes on resolution one of your white voting card. I believe that those who wish to vote on the poll have now done so.
Please raise your hand and MUFG will now come and collect your voting cards. So they're moving around the meeting now, collecting those cards. Got a few more over here to be collected. We're getting there. Yep.
Great. We've got a couple more here. Nearly there. Thank you. I believe that MUFG have now collected all the voting cards at today's meeting.
Accordingly, I will now close the poll. As I mentioned at the start of this meeting, we will now consider any questions or comments from shareholders about the management of the company. Kate, have we received any general comments or questions about the management of the company submitted by shareholders in advance?
Yes, Chairman. We have one question from a B Class shareholder, Graham Christie, as follows. Can the Sunrise Board outline the steps they have taken over the last year to improve the sustainability and environmental credentials of the rice industry and what plans they have for the coming year?
Thanks, Mr Christie. Paul, would you like to take that question?
Yes, thank you, Chair. So as I said in my address, we've really had, I think, a landmark year embedding sustainability within the group. And we've got four key pillars in which we're focusing on as part of that strategy, so thriving people, planet, communities, and inspiring products. And each of those are quite specific in nature of being embedded within the organization's metrics and milestones to achieve. Very significantly, we also had approved our SPTI targets by the science based target initiative program, and within that, we've developed our roadmap and published publicly our roadmap to delivering both the near term goals in 2033 and the long term goals of net zero by 02/1950.
Importantly, the way we're integrating this through the business is not just from a compliance perspective. Sustainability, we believe, is a commercial advantage, particularly of Australian rice growers as they produce some of the best rice in the world at the lowest carbon emissions. And so getting financial benefits from our sustainability credentials is also something that we've worked hard to do in ensuring that they be achieved. So I believe we've made very good progress in this space over the past twelve months.
Thanks, Paul. I'd now like to invite any general comments or questions about the management of the company from shareholders present with us today at Griffith. Any questions? Thank you. That concludes the business of the day and I will now close the B class meeting subject to the finalisation of the poll.
The results of today's meeting will be announced on the ASX and posted on the Sunrise Investor website once they're available. Before we break for refreshments, I'd now like to invite your new Sunrise Chairman, Mr. John Bradford, to say a few words. Well done, John.
Many thanks, Laurie. It's a great privilege today to be appointed as Chair of the Sunrise Group, and I look forward to work continuing the excellent work with Lawrie has led in delivering returns for both A and B class shareholders. As many of you know, Lawrie has been on the Board for eighteen years and has been the Chairman for more than a decade. He has played a pivotal role in the Sunrise Group's transformation and growth, overseeing major milestones, including the company's listing on the ASX in 2019 and its expansion to operations across 10 countries. Throughout his time, he has remained committed to Sunrise growth, grower base and regional communities providing steady leadership through periods of economic, climatic and geopolitical change.
On behalf of the board, I wish to make a vote of thanks to Laurie for his outstanding contribution to the business, our growers, and shareholders, and the Australian rice industry. If I can ask someone to be upstanding and, applaud Laurie for his great work. Well done, Laurie.
I'll now hand back to Laurie to officially close proceedings. Thank you, Laurie.
Thanks, John. Good on you. I'm sure you'll do very well. And look, thanks again to everyone for your attendance and participation, particularly to those shareholders who attended both meetings. I wish you all a good day and look forward to joining you at future meetings in my ongoing capacity as a Sunrise grower and shareholder.
For use for those of you here in Griffith, please join us for refreshments and thank you very much. Thank you everybody.