Thank you for standing by, and welcome to the Vicinity Centres' annual general meeting 2024. I would now like to hand the conference over to Chairman Trevor Gerber. Please go ahead.
Good morning, security holders, fellow directors, employees, and guests. My name is Trevor Gerber, and I'm the Chairman of Vicinity Centres. On behalf of my fellow directors, it is my pleasure to welcome you to the 2024 Annual General Meeting of Vicinity Limited and meeting of the unit holders of Vicinity Centres Trust, which I will refer to together as the meeting. It is just past 11:00 A.M., and as there's a quorum, I declare the meeting open. In doing so, I would like to acknowledge the traditional custodians of the various lands on which we meet today and pay my respects to their elders, past and present.
I recognize and respect their cultural heritage, beliefs, and relationship with the land, which continue to be important to the traditional custodians living today, and I extend that respect to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples on the call today. Today, I will share my reflections on the 2024 financial year at Vicinity. I will then ask our CEO and Managing Director, Peter Huddle, to address you. After Peter's address, I will take any questions you may have on Vicinity or today's presentation before we move on to the formal part of the meeting. Joining Peter and I today are your directors: Tiffany Fuller, Tim Hammon, Mike Hawker, Peter Kahan, Janette Kendall, Georgina Lynch, and Dion Werbeloff. Clive Appleton is unable to be with us today. I would also like to welcome Angus McNaughton, who is seeking election at today's AGM.
Some of you might remember Angus as the CEO and Managing Director of Vicinity Limited between 2015 and 2017. Angus's nomination as a Gandel Group representative follows the decision of Clive Appleton to retire from the Board, effective from the conclusion of today's meeting. Clive has played a key role in the stewardship of Vicinity for more than six years, and it has been a privilege to have Clive's depth of industry experience and sound judgment on our Board. I would like to thank him for his invaluable contribution and commitment, and on behalf of my fellow directors and the entire team at Vicinity, we wish Clive well in his next endeavors. In addition to the Board here with us today is Rohan Abeyewardene, our Group Company Secretary. The signing audit partner for our FY 2024 financial report, Michael Collins of Ernst & Young.
Noting Michael has rotated off our audit engagement following the FY 2024 reporting period. Michael, I'd like to thank you for your contribution and constructive challenge over the last few years. Our incoming audit partner, Kylie Bowden, of Ernst & Young. Kylie, we are looking forward to working with you to uphold the continued quality and integrity of our financial reporting. Jane Kenny, our General Manager, Investor Relations, who will relay any online questions to me today. You've got to raise your hand higher. There you go. Various other members of Vicinity's management team. The Returning Officer for today's meeting is Jim Kompogiorgas from Link Market Services, our security registry. Before we proceed, I have a couple of quick housekeeping points. As a courtesy, I would appreciate it if all mobile phones in the room could be turned to silent mode.
Recording devices and cameras must not be used during the meeting, and in the event of an emergency, please follow the emergency exit signs and instructions of the venue staff. Today's meeting is being held in a hybrid format. We are pleased to have some of our security holders here in person with us today at Hotel Chadstone in Melbourne, and to offer our online meeting platform to those who can't be with us in person. Instructions on how to participate in today's meeting are included in the notice of meeting and online meeting guide, which are both available on our website. We will address any security holder questions during the discussion on relevant items of business. Questions submitted online may be moderated to avoid repetition, and in the interest of time, lengthy questions may be summarized.
I encourage online participants to submit your votes and any questions you may have earlier in the meeting via the online platform to ensure they are received, and questions can be addressed at the relevant part of the meeting. If you are a Vicinity security holder and would like to ask a question via the online meeting platform, please click on the Ask a Question button on the meeting webpage and follow the instructions. Alternatively, if you would like to ask a question via the dedicated phone line, please follow the instructions on page five of the online meeting guide. For those in the room, if you were issued a yellow or blue card, you're entitled to speak at the meeting. If you need assistance, please see a Link Market Services team member at the registration desk.
Should those security holders attending online encounter any technical difficulties during the meeting, please check the online meeting guide, which you can access through the Download section at the bottom of your screen once you're in the platform or from Vicinity's website. The webcast will subsequently be made available on our website. If we experience any technical issues today, a short recess or an adjournment may be required, and if this occurs, I shall advise you accordingly. The notice of meeting outlines the items of meeting before the meeting today and has been made available to all security holders. I will take the notice as read. Voting on all resolutions today will be decided on a poll, and I now formally open the poll on all resolutions.
The poll will remain open for five minutes after the conclusion of the meeting, with the results of the meeting to be announced to the ASX as soon as possible following the meeting. I would like to formally thank security holders who are participating today, and also those who have submitted their votes ahead of the meeting. Following the conclusion of today's meeting, I would like to invite the security holders here today to join the Board and executive leadership team for some light refreshments just outside this room. The FY 2024 was a successful year at Vicinity, characterized by not only the delivery of our operating and financial objectives, but also the momentum of strategic execution led by Peter and his team.
Despite the cumulative impact of monetary policies tightening and inflation-led cost of living pressures for Australian households, the retail sector continued to show a level of resilience in FY 2024, particularly in the first half. As expected, however, over the second half, we observed a softening in consumer demand for more discretionary categories such as apparel and footwear, jewelry, and homewares. We also saw an increase in shoppers looking for value and lower price points, highlighted by the strong performance of our asset portfolio. Despite the relatively flat retail sales growth environment over the year, retailer confidence to lock in leasing deals remained robust, with the team negotiating more than 2,000 deals during the year. Leasing spreads for the year were positive.
We finished the year with occupancy nearing pre-pandemic levels at 99.3%, and our team maintained our disciplined approach to negotiating new leases, where the structure, tenure, and value of rents written strengthens our current and future income growth portfolio. In terms of near-term outlook for the retail sector, consensus is that interest rates will start to ease in 2025, which, together with a resilient employment market, should provide a meaningful impetus to the resumption in consumer spending. Further to this, as we look longer term, the fundamentals of the Australian retail property sector continue to be favorable, supported by population growth, strong employment, the increasingly symbiotic relationship between physical retail stores and online, and with limited investment in new retail supply.
In this context, we are making meaningful investments in the quality and future resilience of our retail asset portfolio by investing in important developments at our existing flagship centers here at Chadstone and at Chatswood Chase in Sydney, and concurrently driving a portfolio shift by strategic acquisitions and divestments. Preserving our strong balance sheet and credit metrics remains a guiding principle for us when deploying capital and is a discipline we know our shareholders value. In this context, with a diverse asset portfolio, Vicinity has been investing in its future growth profile by recycling capital out of smaller, non-strategic assets where market liquidity and pricing is currently robust, and in reinvesting into premium fortress assets that present greater long-term growth potential.
These transactions, together with developments at Chadstone and Chatswood Chase, are driving a meaningful uplift in the overall quality of our asset portfolio with a relatively limited impact on Vicinity's credit metrics. I am particularly pleased to highlight that the strong results delivered by Peter and his team, together with increasing optimism that bond rates have peaked globally, have provided Vicinity shareholders with a total shareholder return of 34%. I'll repeat that, 34% since I addressed you at last year's AGM. There's no doubt that that 2024 was a good year for Vicinity and its security holders. Touching on the results themselves, Vicinity delivered net profit after tax of AUD 547 million for the 12 months. Funds from operations, or FFO, as we call it, were slightly below the prior year at AUD 665 million.
But when adjusted for prior year one-offs and higher lost rent from our major developments, FFO was actually up 3.2%. This equated to FFO per security of AUD 0.146, which was above our guidance range, thanks to our strong leasing outcomes and other positive portfolio metrics. The Board was pleased to declare a final distribution of AUD 0.059 per security, bringing the full year payout to AUD 0.1175, representing 95.2% of adjusted FFO. At all levels of Vicinity, we share a strong belief that how we deliver our results is as important as the results themselves. Naturally, it was pleasing to see that the improvement in our employee engagement score during FY 2024 went from 66% to 70%.
Building on this positive momentum, Peter and his executive team led an enterprise-wide initiative to redefine and co-create Vicinity's purpose, vision, and values. Organization culture is owned by everyone, and I believe it's important to emphasize the importance we place on Vicinity's culture being one that is diverse, inclusive, safe, and one that engenders excellence, high performance, and importantly, opportunity. You've heard me say before that strong and sound judgment, passion, experience, and diversity of thought are what I believe to be fundamental attributes of a healthy Board of directors. As a Board, we continue to have lively and robust debates, and I speak on behalf of all directors when I say our partnership with management remains as strong as it has ever been, anchored by our shared pursuit of creating value and driving increased return for security holders and indeed for everyone connected with our company.
Another important component of how we execute our strategy and deliver results is sustainability. Our sustainability journey continues to evolve and progress. Vicinity remains on track to achieve net zero for Scope 1 and 2 emissions for common mall areas across wholly owned assets by 2030 . In fact, relative to 2016 , our baseline year for measuring progress, we have reduced emissions by 38%. There is always more work to be done, and I know Peter and the team are looking forward to share more on the next phase of our sustainability strategy and targets in the coming year. Before I hand over to Peter, I would like to acknowledge him, his leadership team, and everyone at Vicinity for an outstanding year of progress, strategic execution, and delivery.
I extend that gratitude and acknowledgement to my fellow directors for their contribution and to you, our security holders, for your continued support of Vicinity. I'll now hand over to Peter.
Thank you, Chairman, and good morning, everyone. Once again, it's my privilege to share with you, our security holders, the progress we've made against our strategic, operational, and financial objectives, and to provide an update of the first quarter of FY 2025. As I said at our FY 2024 results, delivering predictable, growing income for our security holders and at the same time, driving capital growth over time, remain at the core of all our business and investment decisions. Since becoming CEO, I've been particularly focusing on increasing the momentum across, momentum of execution across our organization and ensuring that we are simultaneously working on immediate, medium, and long-term strategic priorities that support earnings resilience and sustained value accretion over time. With this in mind, FY 2024 was a productive and successful year at Vicinity.
As the Chairman has outlined, we made substantial progress against our strategic initiatives for FY 2024, and while we presented this slide at our recent results announcements in August, let me briefly share with you what I consider to be the highlights. With a strong balance sheet and disciplined approach to capital management, we are well positioned to invest in the quality and vibrancy of our retail assets, both large and small assets. We know that premium fortress-style assets located in great trade areas, that importantly, are well managed by retail property experts, and given the limited supply outlook, have the potential to deliver superior income growth and value accretion over time. To that end, over the past 12 months, we've been able to make two premium acquisitions.
We acquired the remaining 49% interest in Chatswood Chase, giving us full control to transform the asset into Sydney's fashion capital, with redevelopment now well underway, and we also acquired 50% of Lakeside Joondalup in Perth, and also secured the property and retail development management rights, enabling us to further unlock the asset's future growth potential. Also, in the context of curating a stronger, more resilient asset portfolio, we divested seven non-strategic assets, four of which were part of our strategy to rightsize and strengthen our portfolio in Western Australia. Across the seven divestments, we delivered a blended 9% premium to book value, which was an outstanding outcome.
Another highlight for me was the reinforcement of Chadstone as the destination for retailer headquarters or offices, with the asset welcoming the corporate offices of top-tier retailers Kmart and Adairs, filled our new office tower, named One Middle Road, which I'll show you later. It's to the left of the large crane outside of the windows today. In a challenged office market, attracting such top-tier retailers to our flagship retail asset and enabling their teams to engage, typically with their best-performing store nationwide, was especially pleasing. In April, we took advantage of market dynamics and issued a 10-year, AUD 500 million bond, which further diversified our funding mix and lengthened our weighted average maturity profile. And lastly, I remain keenly focused and extremely passionate about ensuring Vicinity continues to be a responsible, safe, and sustainable business, while importantly, being a great place to work.
Turning now to the acquisition of a 50% interest in Lakeside Joondalup, which we concurrently exchanged contracts and settled on Monday, the nineteenth of August. We also secured the property and retail development management rights for the asset, which fundamentally was even a harder transaction than the asset acquisition itself. Lakeside Joondalup is Vicinity's second-largest, largest asset after Chadstone. The acquisition represented a major step forward in our pursuit to reposition our retail asset portfolio towards fortress-style premium assets and selectively reducing our exposure to non-strategic assets with fundamentally lower growth profiles. Combining the acquisition of Lakeside Joondalup, our divestment activity over the last year, and upon stabilisation of our significant development activity at Chadstone and Chatswood Chase, our weighting to premium assets will increase from around 50% of our portfolio to just under two-thirds.
Further to this, the acquisition of Lakeside Joondalup, the forthcoming redevelopment of Galleria, and the divestment of four non-strategic assets in Western Australia, was a strategy to recycle and redeploy capital to rightsize and strengthen our asset base in that region with the right assets for long-term growth. To emphasize this, our portfolio exposure to Western Australia by value remains broadly unchanged at 10%. However, that capital is now invested in fewer but much better quality of assets. Lakeside Joondalup is located, for instance, in Perth's northern growth corridor, which is emerging as a major activity center outside of Perth that boosts strong population growth. The asset itself generates AUD 800 million in annual retail sales, is proximate to bus and rail transport, and importantly, we have identified opportunities to enhance the retail mix and grow the asset over the short, medium, and long term.
In this context, at a purchase price of AUD 420 million, that's for a 50% share, with an initial property yield of 6.5% return, we believe we acquired well. And adding to this, including the management fees which we purchase, our total investment yield lifts to AUD 0.069 and immediately adds AUD 5 million just in this year, FY 2025, to FFO. The last major development of this asset was in 2014, 10 years ago, which means a large number of specialty leases are coming up for their second renewal, and therefore, while the leasing task is high, it is also a big opportunity. Our immediate priority is to drive higher occupancy at the asset, improve the tenancy mix, and negotiate higher rents. It all sounds logical.
It's with ensuring that we put the right retailers in the right locations, in their right store sizes for this asset. The asset has extensive sales productivity and is under-rented at the moment. The addition of Lakeside Joondalup into Vicinity's stable, when combined with the redeveloped Galleria and DFO Perth, significantly strengthens our portfolio offer to new tenants that want to enter the Western Australian marketplace. Being located on a 24-hectare site with Perth's largest rail access outside of the CBD, and on the major highway access in Perth from the north, there is further value to be unlocked from potential retail and importantly, mixed-use additions over time, but that is not our focus for right now.
Before I turn to our first quarter update, I would add that the response that we've had from our security holders, both locally and overseas, over the last few months since the acquisition, has been overwhelmingly positive, and I'd like to very much thank everyone at the Vicinity team who worked tirelessly to execute such a compelling and complex transaction. Turning now to our update on our first quarter of FY 2025. From a high-level perspective, our first quarter is very much a continuation of FY 2024 in terms of our strategic focus areas, the retail sales environment, and our portfolio metrics. From a strategic perspective, we were delighted to welcome Lakeside Joondalup team. We only commenced the management of that asset from the first of October.
To date, the integration has been seamless, and our plans to drive increased asset performance and earnings accretions have been mobilized, and I look forward to sharing more on this on our first half results in February. The major developments, redevelopments here at Chadstone and at Chatswood Chase are progressing, with Chadstone's new One Middle Road office tower, again, to the left of the crane outside, and significantly revitalized fresh food precinct are on track, for grand openings from March of 2025. At Chatswood Chase, the major retail precinct is currently under really substantial construction activity, and we continue to expect Sydney's new fashion capital to commence openings from late 2025. Despite the closure of the upper levels of Chatswood Chase, the redeveloped lower ground fresh food and dining precinct is open, and we've had a very positive feedback from our customers on the elevated offer.
Both projects represent a major transformation and elevation of these strategically important assets, and once again, support the premiumization of our asset portfolio and the resilience of our future earnings growth profile. Representing both an important funding mechanism as well as another lever to increase the quality of our asset portfolio, we remain confident about achieving our targeted AUD 250 million of additional divestments of non-core strategic assets this fiscal year. While we are by no means on an acquisition spree, we will continue to assess acquisition opportunities that support portfolio premiumization, where we can overlay our retail asset management capability platform and add operational and financial value.
You've heard me say before, and as the Chairman has reiterated in his address just now, our portfolio investment strategy is premised on the medium to long-term fundamentals of the Australian retail property sector being increasingly favorable from both a supply and demand perspective. Focusing now on the more immediate term, as I said earlier, the first quarter has very much been a continuation of FY 2024, where retailer sales continues to be broadly flat as Australian households contend with major cost of living pressures, largely driven by quite a number of years of elevated interest rates and the impact of the housing crisis on residential rents. Also, akin to FY 2024, our CBD and outlet businesses continue to outperform. CBDs, thankfully, have returned to their former vibrancy.
As tourists arrive to near pre-pandemic levels, international students return en masse, and now with greater expectation of workers to return to offices, at least in a flexible office environment. Weekend visitation to our CBD assets now exceed pre-pandemic levels, and occupancy in the CBD assets leads our portfolio at 99.4%, which is something that I wouldn't have believed in the middle of the pandemic. Our outlet portfolio has proven very resilient through economic cycles. Outlets are purely discretionary retail assets. However, their appeal to value-conscious shoppers makes conversion to sales much higher. What's more, outlet shoppers are mission-focused. They know their brands. When they're visiting in at our outlets, they know what they want. Also, supporting the strong performance of our outlet portfolio was a really clever marketing campaign, which we launched this year, titled Those in the Know DFO.
On the retailer side, our retailer partners consider outlets to be a critical component of their distribution network. They are naturally attracted to the comparative or comparably lower cost operating model, as well as the opportunity to clear excess stock, thereby reducing their waste, important for their own ESG strategies. For those of us in the room here at Hotel Chadstone, you'll have observed the magnitude of the construction underway at the center. With a number of important tenant remixes in progress and with a substantial section of the center being redeveloped, retail sales are naturally being impacted at Chadstone. But of course, we expect sales to rebound strongly from March 2025, post the opening of this redevelopment. Leasing spreads in the quarter were positive, driven by continued demand for stores, again, in our premium assets.
Our expectation that leasing spreads for FY 2025 will be broadly in line with our leasing spreads for FY 2024 holds, as we have a good view into the pipeline of leasing activity for the rest of the fiscal year. At 99.2%, occupancy remains robust, with the 10 basis point movement since June attributed to the acquisition of Lakeside Joondalup, which is trading at lower occupancy than Vicinity's portfolio average, hence underlying our opportunity at that asset, and also one larger mini major retailer, which we have a substantial renegotiation presently underway, and we are pleased to reaffirm earnings guidance for FY 2025, with FFO and AFFO per security expected to be within the guidance range of AUD 0.145-AUD 0.148, and AUD 0.123-AUD 0.126 per security, respectively.
Before I hand the meeting back to the Chairman, let me close by thanking the Vicinity Board for their partnership, counsel, and support, and especially to my executive leadership team and indeed all members of the Vicinity team for their hard work, passion, and commitment. And I extend my gratitude to you, our security holders, for your support, your endorsement of our strategy, and your faith that the work we are doing will create long-term value. Thank you, and I'll now hand back the meeting to the chair.
Thanks, Ryan. We will shortly move to the formal business of the AGM. Forgive me. Thank you, Peter. A reminder that only security holders who hold a yellow or blue card may ask a question in the room. To do so, please raise your yellow or blue card and wait for the microphone, then identify yourself before asking me your question. I note that we have not received any questions from security holders ahead of the meeting today, and we'll now move on to the formal part of the meeting. The items of business are described in the notice of meeting. There will be an opportunity for any general questions at the end of the meeting.
The first item of business is to receive and consider the financial reports of Vicinity Centres and the reports of the directors and auditor for the year ended thirtieth of June, 2024, which were included in the 2024 annual report, which is available on our website. There is no requirement for security holders to vote on this item of business. As I mentioned earlier, Michael Collins of Ernst & Young was the signing audit partner for our FY 2024 financial report, and he's present at today's AGM to answer any questions relevant to the conduct of the audit, the preparation and content of the auditor's report, the accounting policies adopted by Vicinity Centres, and the independence of the auditor. I'll now open up the room for any questions on item one.
[Henry Stevens] from the Australian Shareholders Association. Look, I've got just a couple of fairly general questions, but I'd like to congratulate the Board and the CEO on buying Joondalup. That's a fantastic acquisition. So well done. I'm just wondering where we are in the property cycle. The company's property valuations improved in the second half of 2024, and you've been very successful in selling seven centers during the year. Does this mean that we're at the bottom of the company's retail property valuation cycle, or are we on the way up? It looks to me that we're on the way up, so it looks pretty positive. I've got another question for you.
The company's doing a lot of extensive developments, including revamping food halls and the like. I'm just wondering, will tenants be able to use their gas appliances in these new developments, or are you banning gas from all future developments?
Thanks, Henry, for those two questions. As to the property cycles, I would probably agree with you that we've seen by far the worst over the last few years of this property cycle. And remember, like it or not, they are very closely correlated to the fundamental basis on which everyone measures their own investments, and that is government bonds. So if you can buy a government bond at 10%, why would you invest in anything less than that when one has no risk and the other one has risk? So therefore, movements in these bonds creates the property cycles substantially that we see. The second thing is, if I truly knew where the property cycle was, Henry, I'd probably be hovering above you somewhere. I don't have that capability.
But it's important for us, obviously, to be aware of these issues, to have rigorous debates about them, but we don't necessarily make critical decisions and big decisions based on assumptions and what we think might happen. We base it on fundamentals, which is often colored by our perspective of where things are. But critically, our balance sheet, which has got conservative structure in terms of our borrowings, is designed to ride through those cycles without any significant concerns. The second aspect of development, I'll throw to Peter Huddle.
Henry, again, most of the... If you're looking out at Chadstone as a good example here, Chadstone has gas in the property. Gas runs a lot of the heating, et cetera. So a lot of our developments are not new to industry developments. They're extensions to existing shopping centers. We're on the 40-odd extension of Chadstone at the moment. What we've typically done, there's been two developments in Chadstone over the last four years. The Social Quarter, which had a small extension of gas leading into that. But typically, where possible, we're electrifying our shopping centers, which, where possible, we're removing gas.
They also have a number of other ESG standards that we put into our development briefs, including what's being built out there, the office tower and the fresh food precincts, will be at a very high sustainable rating. So it's not removing gas absolutely everywhere, primarily because it's already embedded in terms of operation of these large existing shopping centers today. But where possible, we're electrifying our assets.
Thank you. I'll now ask the operator if there are any questions on the phone line. I assume the silence is no. Do we have confirmation there were no questions?
Chairman, there are no questions on the phone.
Oh, wonderful. Thank you for that. Jane, any questions online?
We have no further questions. Thanks, Chairman.
Thank you. The voting exclusions that apply to today's resolutions are described in the notice of meeting. All items are ordinary resolutions. Ordinary resolutions are passed if more than 50% of the votes cast by or on behalf of security holders entitled to vote on the resolution are in favor. Proxies received on each resolution before the meeting will be shown on the screen when each item is being considered. As set out in the notice of meeting, as Chairman of the meeting, I intend to vote undirected proxies in favor of each resolution, and I now formally vote all undirected proxies in this manner, and all directed proxies in accordance with the directions instructed by those security holders.
Moving to item two, the remuneration report for the company was released to the ASX on the twentieth of August, 2024, as part of our 2024 annual report, which is available on our website. As outlined in the notice of meeting, the remuneration report outlines Vicinity's reward, principles, and framework, Vicinity's performance for FY 2024, and the link between Vicinity's FY 2024 financial performance, strategy execution, and the remuneration outcomes for our executive key management personnel, or KMP, as we call them, and the remuneration received by non-executive directors in FY 2024. The vote on the remuneration report is advisory only and does not bind the directors, the company, or the responsible entity. However, directors will obviously take into account the outcome of a vote and any security holder feedback when considering relevant remuneration matters in the future.
The Board recommends that you vote in favor of this non-binding resolution. The words of the proposed resolution are displayed on the screen. The summary of proxy votes received before the meeting will now also be displayed on the screen. I'll now open up the room for any questions on item two. As there are no questions, I'll now ask the operator if there are any questions on the phone line.
Chairman, there are no questions on the phone line.
Thanks, Operator. Jane, any questions online?
No, we have no further questions online. Thank you, Chairman.
Thanks, Jane. Item three A seeks your approval for the re-election of Tim Hammon as a director of Vicinity Limited. Tim is eligible as a director and offers himself for re-election accordingly. The Board, with Tim abstaining, recommends that you vote in favor of this resolution. The words of the proposed resolution are displayed on the screen. Tim will now speak to his proposed re-election.
Thank you, Chairman, and good morning, all. I am Tim Hammon, and I stand before you today seeking your support for my re-election to the Board of Vicinity Centres. It has been and remains a privilege to have the opportunity to serve as a director on this Board. The energy and passion expected of a director by all stakeholders is, for me, as high today as it has been throughout my tenure. The company has excellent retail assets, talented executives, and a diligent, cohesive Board, and is well supported by its many other stakeholders. Good progress has been made in delivering on its strategy, and if I am re-elected, I will be doing my absolute best to see that continue. I currently chair the Risk, Compliance, and ESG Committee, and I'm also a member of the Remuneration and Human Resources Committee and of the Nominations Committee.
I am very aware of the responsibility that these roles carry. I sit on one other listed company Board. I also sit on the Advisory Boards for two significant privately owned businesses, both of which have extensive property interests. I am the chair of one of those Advisory Boards. These roles help me see different perspectives and provide opportunities for cross-fertilization of ideas and opportunities.... I endeavor also to keep abreast of the rapidly changing world in which Vicinity operates. Evolving customer and community expectations, rapidly evolving new technologies, new business models, new risk and compliance challenges, and to understand the strategic implications of all of these for Vicinity. I respect your support for my re-election, and also respect the responsibility that goes with that to work diligently with your Board and management for the benefit of all security holders. Thank you.
Thanks, Tim. The summary of proxy votes received before the meeting will now be displayed on the screen. I'll now open up the room for any questions on Item 3A . As there are no questions in the room, I'll now ask the operator if there are any questions on the phone line?
Chairman, no phone questions.
Thank you. Jane, any questions online?
Yes, we have one, Chairman, from Natasha Lee. Her question is: There is a company commitment to at least 40% Female Board representation, but there is no commitment to achieving other forms of diversity. I ask that the Board be mindful of needing other forms of diversity on the Board so that it better reflects the community in general.
Thanks, Natasha, and welcome back to the AGM. I think, as I noted in my address, diversity of thought is a fundamental tenet of being a director on the Vicinity Board. It's an attribute which is very keenly sought, and one which I believe we have in spades with the directors on our current Board. I believe the Board has a depth of lived experience, sound judgment, which are all drawn on when we deliberate on various matters of risk and return. Importantly, at the property levels, our management teams constantly attempt to reflect the community around them and keep shaping the asset and the aspects in them to reflect the community around them. So in summary, I believe we have considered diversity. The key issue for us is diversity of thought, and as I said, I believe we have that in spades. Thank you.
Jane, any other questions online?
No further questions. Thanks, Chairman.
Thank you. Item 3 B seeks your approval for the re-election of Janette Kendall as a director of Vicinity Limited. Janette is eligible for election as a director and offers herself for re-election accordingly. The Board, with Janette abstaining, recommends that you vote in favor of this resolution. The words of the proposed resolution are displayed on the screen, and Janette will now speak to her proposed re-election.
Thanks, Trevor, and good morning, everyone. Thanks for the opportunity to address our AGM today. It is certainly a privilege to serve as one of your directors and seek your approval today to continue as your Board representative. I've been a non-executive director of Vicinity since 2017. I'm also a member of the Remuneration and Human Resources Committee and the Risk, Compliance and ESG Committee. I'm an experienced company director with a depth of experience in governance, strategy, and risk management, having served on a number of public, private, and not-for-profit Boards for over 20 years. I'm also a fellow of the Australian Institute of Company Directors. My past executive experience was in retail, property, hospitality, and tourism industries, working both in Australia and overseas, and includes experience in property development and funds management.
As a result, I bring to the Board a depth of experience in understanding, together with a rich customer perspective. I also have a deep understanding and firsthand experience of digital transformation, having worked with a number of organizations facing digital disruption since the mid-1990 s. As a director, one of my core responsibilities is ensuring that we are not only pursuing growth, but doing so in a manner that is aligned with long-term value creation and sustainability. I understand the importance of building a strong culture with a focus on good governance and proactive risk management to help protect our company's reputation and deliver long-term sustainable value for our shareholders. I have been and will continue to be deeply committed to maintaining this focus, particularly as new risks emerge and our operating environment evolves.
I'm committed to working hard and in the best interests of shareholders, supporting initiatives that drive innovation, operational efficiency, and value creation at Vicinity. Thank you in advance for your support.
Thanks, Janette. The summary of proxy votes received before the meeting will now be displayed on the screen. I'll now open up the room for any questions on Item three B. As there are no questions in the room, are there any questions online, on the phone line, operator?
Chairman, no questions on the phone line.
Thank you. Jane, anyone online?
No. Thank you, Chairman. No questions.
Thank you. Item 3 C seeks your approval for the election of Angus McNaughton as a director of Vicinity Limited, as a representative of major security holder and co-owner of Vicinity's largest asset, Chadstone Shopping Centre, the Gandel Group. Angus is eligible for election as a director, having been nominated by the Board, and offers himself for election accordingly. Angus has deep knowledge and experience across both listed and unlisted property investment, development, and asset management, and more than thirty years in a variety of Board, executive, and senior leadership roles in Australia, New Zealand, and Singapore. We are pleased to have Angus seek election to your Board today. The Board recommends that you vote in favor of this resolution. The words of the proposed resolution are displayed on the screen. Angus will now speak to his proposed election. Angus?
Thanks, Trevor. First, congratulations to the team on the process improvement. They made me actually write some notes, so I don't go completely off piste, so I think that's a really good improvement. Thanks, Trevor, and good morning, everyone. I appreciate the opportunity to address this AGM to seek your support for my election as a non-executive director. I'm not considered independent, as I'm also director of The Gandel Group, as Trevor mentioned before, who's also Vicinity's major shareholder. I do believe, however, that this relationship provides really strong alignment with the interests of all security holders, particularly with the Gandel's interest and its joint ownership of Chadstone Shopping Centre, where we sit today. By way of background, and again, probably just repeating a little bit what Trevor said, I'm an experienced director and CEO.
More than 30 years' experience as a director in leadership positions within both listed and unlisted real estate markets in Australia, Singapore, and New Zealand. I was previously a non-executive director of The GPT Group, and some longer-standing security holders who are here today may remember me from when I was the CEO and Managing Director of Vicinity Centres a number of years ago. So I bring broad governance, strategy, and operational excellence across all investment development and asset management functions. I look forward to using this experience to create value at Vicinity on behalf of all security holders. If you elect me today, I look forward to working on your behalf. So many thanks in advance for your support.
Thank you, Angus. The summary of proxy votes received before the meeting will now be displayed on the screen. I'll now open up to the room for any questions on item 3 C. I'll ask the operator if there are any questions on the phone line.
Chairman, no questions on the phone line.
Thank you. Jane, anything online?
No. Thank you, Chairman. No questions.
Thank you. On to item four. This resolution seeks your approval for the grant of performance rights to our CEO and Managing Director, Peter Huddle, under the Vicinity Centres Equity Incentive Plan. The Board, with Peter abstaining, recommends that you vote in favor of this resolution. The proposed words of the resolution are displayed on the screen. The summary of proxy votes received before the meeting will now be displayed. I'll now open up to the room for any questions. Operator, any questions?
No questions, Chairman.
Jane?
No questions, Chairman.
Thank you. That brings us towards the end of our meeting. So before I close the meeting, I would like to provide an opportunity for any general questions and check if there are any remaining questions. Are there any questions in the room? We have one there. The microphone's on its way to you.
Thank you, Chairman. My name is Patricia Smith. The Chadstone Shopping Centre is Vicinity's flagship shopping center. Yet, on the twenty-first of June, 2024, the post office at the center closed. This was a vital asset that countless local residents relied on for their essential services. Can you explain why the PO closed? Was the rental charge by Vicinity too expensive? And doesn't Vicinity have a social obligation to local residents to provide a post office? So what are Vicinity doing to entice an Australia Post outlet back to Chadstone?
Peter?
Good morning, Patricia. Correct, it did close. The team has facilitated a negotiation with Australia Post, and a new post office will be open as part of the opening of the fresh food precinct in 27th of March, 2025. We would never say the rent's too expensive. The rent is a market rent, and typically, this post office are in locations that are non-primary and would be comparatively low rents compared to the rest of the shopping center, and that would be the case in most assets across our country, and we're very mindful of the service that Australia Post creates for communities, so therefore, it is important for us to have representation in our assets. It doesn't always work out that way.
For Chadstone, we also received some communication from the community around Australia Post. We re-engaged in negotiations, and they'll come back as part of this development.
Thank you for your question. Any other questions? Operator, anything online?
No phone questions.
Jane?
No further questions. Thanks, Chairman.
Thank you. Now that we have considered all items of business, that concludes the formal business of today's meeting. I now declare the meeting closed, subject to completion of the poll, which will remain open for five minutes to allow any final votes to be submitted. If you have not yet submitted your votes via the online meeting platform, please do so now. The final results of today's meeting will be released to the ASX and placed on Vicinity's website as soon as possible following the meeting. On behalf of the Board, I thank you all for your participation and continued support of Vicinity. The meeting is now closed. Thank you.