Good morning and welcome, ladies and gentlemen. Welcome to Worley's annual general meeting here at the Radisson Blu Plaza Hotel, Sydney. I'd just like to take a few moments to go over some important safety and courtesy announcements. Firstly, in the event of an emergency, you will hear a beep-beep tone followed by some instructions from our security team on whether to evacuate or remain while the situation is assessed. The exit from this room is clearly marked, and the main exit from the building is via the 66 Pitt Street entrance that many of you may have come through. Our team members will, of course, be on hand to assist if required. If evacuation does become necessary, we kindly ask that you proceed in an orderly manner to the designated evacuation area, which is located across the street at Australia Square, until emergency responders arrive to assist.
Please note that smoking is prohibited within the hotel premises and near the exits. For your convenience, bathrooms are located at the end of the corridor, straight out the doors. Thanks again for your attention.
Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. My name is John Grill, and I'm the Chair of Worley Limited. On behalf of the board, I'd like to welcome you to the 2024 annual general meeting. We are pleased you've taken the time to attend, and thank you for your interest in and support of Worley. Please ensure your mobile phones are switched to silent or off for the duration of the meeting. We do not allow the use of personal devices, including cameras, video, or sound recorders, to record the meeting. This annual general meeting is webcast live to shareholders. Firstly, Aunty Norma Ingram will provide a Welcome to Country.
Oops. [Foreign language] everybody. Good morning. Greetings in the local Aboriginal language. So I want to acknowledge that we're on the traditional land of the Gadigal people of the Eora Nation. So we acknowledge the Eora Nation is the Hawkesbury River to the north, the Georges River, and the Nepean River. So within those boundaries, we've got 29 small clan groups or family groups. And so right here in Sydney, where the tall ships came in, this is Gadigal country. I'm not sure if any of you know or were about the Tank Stream. This is why the English came in on the tall ships. They came here because it was fresh water. But that big motel in Martin Place, it runs from Centennial Park right out here to the harbor.
I'm Norma Ingram, but Aboriginal protocols acknowledge us respectfully that Aboriginal Elders, or all elders actually, but Aboriginal Elders are acknowledged as aunt or uncle. So feel free to call me Aunty Norma if you like. What I just did with the clapsticks, it's again, Welcome to Country is an ancient, ancient protocol of welcoming people to our country. And so you make noises when you're on Aboriginal land, which is the whole of Australia. So you make noises. You just let Mother Earth know, and you let our ancestors know that you are safe in a safe place, and you're here to protect Mother Earth and not to damage. And so we make a lot of noises. The clapsticks are very important in our culture as well.
They can be musical instruments when we do our corroborees and getting people to come together, and it's fantastic if you work in a preschool. Maybe for your husbands as well. I shouldn't say that. So I'm actually Wiradjuri, which is Midwest, New South Wales on the Kalari Lachlan River. So I was born and raised on the Aboriginal reserve there under what was known as the Aboriginal Welfare Act. My mother came down to Sydney to Gadigal country when I was quite young, and so I've lived on Gadigal country most of my life, gone to school here. Whilst I always, always acknowledge Gadigal country, I am Wiradjuri. My totem is Sand Goanna. With the Gadigal people, they are sunrise people, salt water. I'm fresh water from the Lachlan River. They are salt water. Every morning the sun comes up. This is the Gadigal people.
And so these, I guess, issues. These are very important to us as Aboriginal people to identify. We've got over 200 different Aboriginal language groups. We don't call ourselves tribes. We're actually Aboriginal cultures or language groups. And we acknowledge 65,000 years that our people ride across this country, east to west, north to south, and we acknowledge our Torres Strait Islander brothers and sisters to the north. We have been practicing culture. We've been here for over 65,000 years. And those stories, because this is a main part of who we are, our culture is storytelling. And so we pass our stories down, and they've been handed down. We didn't have pen and paper, so these stories have been handed down verbally. And it's about acknowledging Mother Earth as well. And we do that in a number of different ways.
We tell our stories in our art, our songs, our dances, our stories, our storylines that connect us up right across this country. We have trade routes that connect us up right across this country. And so that's the way that we can also make sure that our next generation knows those stories and then it's passed on and it's passed on, and we don't lose it. That's one of the most important things that we do. So if we're going into somebody's country, we'll do the clapsticks, we'll make noises. But what we'll do, we'll have a message stick. And so with the message stick, we'll have a design. This one doesn't because it's mine, but it will have a message on it through designs to respectfully ask permission to move on to somebody else's country.
It's for me going out to Gundungurra, which is the Liverpool area. I would say, "Could I please enter your country with respect?" Lovely word in my language is Yindyamarra , which is respect. What we will do, we will ask permission. We never ever just wander around. We're not nomads. But if we need to go to somebody else's country, it will be mainly for exchange, something. We may not have ochre, for example, to do our ceremonies, our big corroborees. We'll ask permission. We'll let them know that we're coming, and then we will wait until we're invited in. This ancient protocol is continued, as I said, for 65,000 years. We will continue to do that. It's really important that we do Welcome to Country, and I welcome you all to Gadigal Country as an Aboriginal elder. I am committed to do that.
So it's about making sure that we are acting in a respectful manner while we are on ancient, ancient, ancient land. I'm so proud that I can say that I belong to the oldest continuous practice culture on the entire planet. The culture you see today, and I tell you, my friends, I walk up Redfern Street, and I can see Aboriginal cultural protocols still being practiced. You know, they are respectfully, "Hello, Aunty Norma. Hello, Uncle Jim," or whatever it may be. It's just one of those parts that's about respect and culture. So we still practice. You don't need to go to the Northern Territory and say, "Oh, the real Aborigines are in the Northern Territory." We are right here in this city. And we will continue to tell the stories. We will continue to do our dances.
I absolutely acknowledge our elders, our elders who have passed on, and we always regard them as our protectors as we walk on this ancient land. We acknowledge our elders who are here today. They are very important in our culture. And as I said, it's not just about Aboriginal Elders. It's about that respect for the wisdom that our elders have, the stories that they pass on to us. And so we'll always do that. And I'll tell the next generation, the younger generation, yes, we do need our future leaders. Yes, we do need our future elders, but it needs to be done in a respectful manner.
So I keep on saying to our elders, "Please talk to your grandchildren, your great-great-grandchildren, and continue to tell them those stories." And likewise, I say to the next generation, you know, if you're really lucky enough to have grandparents and great-grandparents, sit down and just ask some permission to ask their story. Ask them to tell you that story. And so we are 3% of the Australian population. That means 97% of all other peoples who have come here to make this country their home. And so respectfully, I always say, "Let's walk together. Let's talk. Let's share our stories." Because by doing that, we become closer. You know, we're not strangers. I do a lot of welcome to country, and I just meet so many beautiful people. And we continue to tell those stories, and let's share those stories.
Aboriginal culture should not just be here for Aboriginal people. You know, we're learning them in the schools. I was just talking earlier. I never learned anything about Aboriginal culture when I was at school. I learned that from my old folk. But today, they're learning in the school. They're learning languages. So I say to parents and grandparents, you know, talk to your children. Ask them what are they learning, because they are learning, and they will love it if you just talk to them and say, "What are you learning about this ancient, ancient culture?" So good luck, everybody. I know the board will make some fantastic decisions that will benefit everybody who's involved in your organization. So good luck. Have a great day. Make those great decisions. And yeah, I just wish you all the best and good luck. So once again, welcome to Gadigal Country, folks.
Thank you.
Thank you very much, Aunty Norma, for the welcome to country. On behalf of the board of Worley, I'd like to acknowledge the Gadigal people of the Eora Nation, upon whose sacred land we gather today. We pay our deepest respects to the elders, past, present, and emerging of all the lands where we live and work. Our respect also extends to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people who join us today, whether here in the room or via our webcast. We're committed to walking alongside First Nations people in their journey towards meaningful reconciliation. We wholeheartedly continue to support the Uluru Statement from the Heart, and we want to reassure our Indigenous colleagues, partners, and communities that your voices are not just heard, but deeply valued. Worley remains committed to reconciliation.
Guided by our First Nations participation director, we are continuously developing our reconciliation action plan, but more importantly, striving to make significant and lasting changes through having positive impacts on the lives of First Nations people. Together, we are committed to building a future that honors and respects the rich heritage and contributions of First Nations people. The group company secretary has confirmed that we have a quorum present, and accordingly, I declare this annual general meeting open. I'd like to introduce your board of directors and group company secretary. Starting from your left is Nuala O'Leary, the group company secretary, Chris Ashton, Andrew Liveris, Emma Stein, Tom Gorman, Kim Gillis, Alison Kitchen, Martin Parkinson, Juan Suárez Coppel, Sharon Warburton, Joseph Geagea, and Roger Higgins. A warm welcome to our newest board members, Alison Kitchen and Kim Gillis.
Chris Dodd from PwC, the company's auditor, is also in attendance today and is available to answer your questions. As you know, at Worley, we start every meeting with a safety moment, and I'd like to introduce you to one of our key people, Ian Wall, the Group R3 Director, who will present our safety moment.
Good morning, everyone. As mentioned, my name is Ian Wall. I'm the company lead for security and resilience. Currently, we find ourselves navigating a world that's increasingly complex and unpredictable. The past few years have been marked by an unrelenting series of crises, often referred to as a polycrisis era, that have tested our resilience and adaptability. From the global pandemic that redefined our way of life and work to the escalating impacts of climate change manifesting as devastating wildfires, hurricanes, and floods. We've seen geopolitical tensions intensify significantly, most notably the ongoing conflicts between Ukraine and Russia and that between Israel, Hamas, and Hezbollah, with its potential for regional escalation. Coupled with this has been domestic political divides leading to unrest and uncertainty in multiple countries.
Of course, the ever-present insidious cyber threats that can attack directly through supply chain partners or impact critical infrastructure or services on which we rely. While this dynamic threat environment can have far-reaching implications for global security and economic stability, our immediate focus is on ensuring the safety and well-being of our people wherever they are in the world. Meeting this objective requires a significant commitment and investment in active risk management. Our principal vehicle for this is our Ready Response and Recovery Program, commonly known as R3. R3 is an integrated management system encompassing security, crisis management, business continuity, and overall business resilience. R3 is heavily weighted to risk identification, prevention, and mitigation, but also ensures that we can act expeditiously when our people are actively threatened or harmed or our operations are imperiled.
The R3 process commences with understanding our people's risks across the full breadth of our operation: our travelers, our domestic home and remote workers, our expatriates and their families, our company locations across the world, the many projects we're executing in the customer sites on which our people are located, even our volunteers undertaking humanitarian projects. We match this understanding with investment in a specialist R3 corporate group of crisis security and crisis and security practitioners who work alongside our operations. That group includes a dedicated intelligence function, which, together with various external risk intelligence partners, can actively monitor for and provide us with rapid information on evolving threats and realized events as they occur, as well as provide detailed risk consequence analysis and undertake future scenario planning. A good practical example of how we keep our people safe is our approach to travel risk management.
Each year, our people undertake many thousands of trips to over 100 countries. To ensure our people can make informed decisions and feel confident as they embark on their travels, each traveler is provided with country-specific risk information and insights on health and safety issues, as well as information affecting specific groups such as the LGBTQ+ community. Each trip is assessed for specific challenges and bespoke mitigation and contingency plans documented when needed. All aviation is assessed against exacting standards. All travel is tracked. We ensure our people have ready access to effective communications, which enables changes occurring in the operating or security environment to be expeditiously relayed to them. All travelers can access assistance via the Worley 24/7 Emergency Hotline. Travelers proximate to a security or emergency situation are automatically accounted for.
A comprehensive global travel medical support program comprising our R3 corporate group, our external medical partners, and our insurers ensures premium healthcare is provided as required. For our in-situ businesses, each location is supported in their day-to-day operations by a dedicated member of the corporate R3 group. Their principal task is to provide advice and support with current people safety issues, as well as being actively engaged with assessing and planning for potential risks associated with future work assignments. Over and above this, each location maintains emergency and business continuity plans and local R3 response and recovery teams that are regularly trained by the corporate R3 group to be ready to step up should things go awry. Each of these teams, in turn, is supported by a regional and a corporate crisis team.
For higher risk locations or where security or operating environment is deteriorating, more comprehensive preparation and planning is undertaken. This could involve such things as evacuation or natural disaster planning, as the case requires. In these higher risk environments, our daily risk monitoring also increases in line with the perceived threat. As you can tell from this, at Worley, the safety of our people is woven into the fabric of our operations. It's an essential component of our company DNA. In a world that's constantly changing, we remain steadfast in our commitment to protect our most valuable asset, our people. Through rigorous planning, advanced technology, and dedicated support teams and structures, we're ensuring that every member of the Worley family can perform their best work, knowing that their safety is our top priority. Thank you.
Thank you, Ian. I'll now turn to my formal chair address, which will be followed by an address by Mr. Chris Ashton, our Chief Executive Officer. After Chris's address, you'll have the opportunity to ask questions during the formal business of the meeting.
As we reflect on the past year, I'm pleased to share our progress and achievements. Central to our success is our people. They embody our purpose of delivering a more sustainable world by finding solutions to our customers' most complex challenges. Our customers seek us out every day to deliver that ambition. Macroeconomic trends continue to reshape the energy, chemicals, and resources sectors, influencing our markets and our customers' strategies and investment decisions. In response, Worley is well positioned to capitalize on these changes, driving growth and innovation while working with our customers through the transition towards a more sustainable future.
Despite the headwinds we face, we delivered consistent growth, showcasing our strategic positioning across emerging and diversified markets and the depth of our experience. Some customers have been rebalancing their capital allocation, which led to some project scope reductions, delays in decision-making, and cancellations. While we note these dynamics continue into financial year 2025, we are still expecting moderate growth. We remain committed to bridging two worlds as we transition to lower carbon energy sources while providing the energy, chemicals, and resources society needs now. We are in the midst of a generational change in our markets, society, and geopolitical landscape. The last year has seen many significant elections globally, creating a dynamic policy environment that will further shape our industry and the pace and scale of the energy transition.
We are working closely with our customers on monitoring and adapting to the new political and policy landscape and enhancing our relationships and reputation with governments as a world leader in sustainability solutions. I take pride in our role in facilitating solutions that support the energy transition. I'm confident that our ongoing efforts will yield long-term value for our shareholders and create social value for our customers, partners, and stakeholders. With our early mover advantage and the significant growth ahead in traditional, transitional, and sustainability investment, we are poised for profitable growth over the years ahead as the energy transition proceeds. As a proud Australian company, Worley stands as the world's largest provider of engineering, project, and asset solutions to our sectors.
Our company has matured into a critical asset for the Australian national interest and is positioned across the world as a leader supporting the global shift towards a lower carbon future. With homegrown capabilities and global expertise, we are uniquely positioned to help both Australia and the world meet its priorities. Our strategy remains focused on value creation for our customers, shareholders, and a broad range of stakeholders across the countries and communities in which we operate. We partner with customers to deliver infrastructure and integrated solutions that drive economic growth in Australia and in 44 other countries. During financial year 2024, I had the opportunity to meet with many of our customers, partners, and shareholders, as well as to visit project sites in Australia and around the world. Our people embody an innovative mindset and a culture of shared success with our customers and partners.
These qualities set us apart as we work to make a positive impact on the environment and society at large. Our commitment to the safety and well-being of our people remains steadfast. This past year, our total recordable case frequency rate improved to 0.1 across the group, down from 0.14 at the end of financial year 2023. Providing a respectful, safe, and healthy environment for our people and communities will remain our top priority. A notable event this year was the sell down of shares by Dar Al-Handasah Consultants Shair and Partners Holdings Limited, known as Sidara and formerly known as Dar Group, who ceased to be a substantial holder in Worley Limited in accordance with the substantial holding notice filed on the 2nd of May 2024. As of the 31st of July 2024, Sidara is no longer a shareholder in Worley Limited.
Shifting to performance, we delivered on our expectations in financial year 2024, achieving growth in revenue, earnings, and margins. Our disciplined capital management resulted in above-target cash outcome and a very strong balance sheet. We actively invested in key items for growth, and as a result, more than half of our revenue now comes from sustainability-related work, an important milestone in our history. Our earnings base remains diversified across geographies and sectors. We operate responsibly. Our governance and operational controls foster a culture of lawful, ethical, and responsible behavior. We uphold the highest standards of integrity, transparency, and accountability through a robust governance program, including charters, codes, policies, and committees that oversee key aspects of our operations. We train our global workforce on requirements and best practices and hold everyone accountable to always doing the right thing.
Our data protection office ensures our cybersecurity program complies with global data protection requirements, maintaining the integrity and security of our operations. Beyond this, we continue to evolve and strengthen our systems and operations to stay ahead of this curve in the ever-dynamic landscape of cybersecurity. Turning to board and committee governance, as we concluded this financial year, we bid farewell to Wang Xiaobin and Anne Templeman-Jones, who have decided to step down as non-executive directors. I sincerely thank them for their contributions to Worley since their appointment to the board. We welcome Alison Kitchen, AM, and Kim Gillis, AM, to our board of directors, effective as of the 1st of July 2024. Their breadth of experience in Australia and overseas will enhance our existing capabilities. Alison and Kim are members of the nominations committee, and with Alison also joining the audit and risk committee as chair.
The board continues to incorporate insights from an independent board performance evaluation undertaken by consultants in September 2023. This reinforces our commitment to board succession and renewal. In conclusion, we are proud of our progress and remain dedicated to driving sustainable growth and delivering value to our shareholders. Thank you to our shareholders for their continued support, trust, and confidence. We extend our gratitude to our directors, leadership team, customers, partners, and especially our people for your contribution to our success. Together, we will continue to shape a more sustainable future for the generations to come. Before I hand over to Chris, in light of shareholder feedback, the board has decided to withdraw resolution seven from the agenda of the board today. The board believes the changes to the constitution were appropriate to reduce the maximum board size to a level that we considered right for the company.
However, we have decided to withdraw the resolution as it does not have the support of the requisite majority of shareholders. Additionally, while the majority of shareholders have supported the award of the financial year 2025 LTI grant to the CEO, we acknowledge that some investors have concerns about some elements of the award. We are committed to a remuneration framework that supports our complex global business. It needs to be aligned with the global markets in which we operate and compete for talent, recognizing that over 90% of our revenue is generated outside Australia. The majority of our senior executives are also based outside Australia. We will carefully consider the feedback received and assess implications for the future. We will continue to provide transparent and meaningful reporting on our remuneration framework and reward outcomes through our remuneration report. Thank you again.
I would now like to ask Chris Ashton, the Chief Executive Officer, to address the meeting.
Thanks, John. And look, thank you and good morning, everyone, shareholders, both in the room today and those who have joined us online. Worley achieved a strong result in FY24. Our key financial and, importantly, non-financial metrics delivered growth for a third consecutive year through the disciplined execution of our strategy. And in fact, our revenue and earnings are the highest they've been in our history despite the headwinds in our markets. Delivering on our commitments has come from the strength of our globally integrated teams and our ability to rapidly deploy our global workforce to align with the needs of our customers. We continue to win high-quality work, providing our people with a myriad of opportunities to utilize their skills gained from over 50 years delivering complex projects around the world.
We've positioned ourselves to take advantage of what we believe is a prolonged upward cyclical move in the market. With the right strategy, with the right structure, and we've got an incredible team around the world, and we're partnering with our customers to help them transition to a lower carbon future. Like John, I'm confident we'll continue to play a critical role in delivering innovative project solutions which are lower carbon, more efficient, and digitally enabled, supporting our customers around the world deliver what they need to do in the traditional, transitional, and sustainable investment space. Our energized and empowered people are the backbone of our success. We're cultivating a values-driven culture which fosters brilliance through the belonging, the connection, and, of course, innovation, so important to a company today. And our purpose, underpinned by our values and behaviors, inspires our teams in everything they do.
Keeping our people safe and well remains our highest priority and is the heart of our culture. And Ian talked about some of the challenges and the risks that the world is facing today. And nothing is more important than keeping our people safe. We're dedicated to creating a secure and supportive environment which enhances the mental health, engagement, innovation, and productivity of the organization. And I'm proud to highlight the launch of our well-being hub, which focuses on mental health and includes more than 400 Worley Ambassadors around the world committed to keeping those in need and, of course, looking after each other. Additionally, we published our global respectful workplace behavior policy, reinforcing our respect at Worley program. The disciplined execution of our strategy is reflected in our results and, importantly, our earnings are growing at a higher rate than our revenue.
Our aggregated revenue has increased by 18% compared to that of FY23, with growth across our regions and sectors, particularly in energy and resources. Our underlying EBITDA has risen to AUD 751 million, up by 24% compared to that of our performance in FY23. We continue to drive margin expansion through effective project delivery, automation, streamlined operations, and enhanced use of the skills and capability of our global integrated delivery teams in both India and Bogotá, achieving EBITDA margin, excluding procurement of 7.9%, an increase from 7.3% over FY23 and within our forecast range for FY24. This year, our sustainability-related revenue reached a milestone, as John referenced, making up 52% of our total aggregated revenue. Sustainability-related work in our factored sales pipeline, importantly, is now 85%, with 56% in our backlog.
And we remain absolutely committed to achieving our aspiration of delivering 75% of our aggregated revenue from sustainability-related work by FY26, subject, of course, to market conditions. We're building on our strong capital management position structured around funding our growth and delivering increased value to shareholders. We delivered a strong cash result, and leverage has reached a new low of 1.5x , down from 2.2x in the prior corresponding period. We've prudently used free cash flow to reduce risk, increase liquidity, and provide appropriate funding for business growth. This gives us capacity to not only invest in our future and reward our shareholders with an appropriate dividend stream, but also, should we choose to do so, the ability to undertake other capital management activities to drive EPS accretion, including organic and inorganic investment aligned with our growth strategy. We're building a consistently performing business for the future.
We're focused on enhancing our delivery solutions and reinforcing our already differentiated position. Our strategic investment of AUD 100 million, announced three years ago, gave us an early mover advantage in many emerging sustainability markets and has yielded substantial returns. In fact, since the program's inception, we've secured AUD 7.6 billion in new work in key growth areas, and while this initial program has concluded, we'll continue to evaluate organic investments annually, where we see the potential for accretive returns. We're investing in a number of strategic levers to drive value creation for our shareholders and customers, including investing in new horizons for growth in emerging markets, as well as expanding our global project delivery centers in India and Bogotá, growing our consulting and process technology solutions businesses, and accelerating our development and adoption of digital solutions and platforms.
We're investing to accelerate our digitally enabled processes and systems to enhance productivity and reshape the world of project delivery. Our advanced development lab, our artificial intelligence center of excellence, develops, tests, and deploys AI solutions and broader digital initiatives. We're developing use cases across a range of opportunity areas to enhance operational efficiency, boost labor productivity, and support margin accretion. We've established a responsible AI council aimed at fostering AI growth and innovation while managing AI-driven risks. The council will consider how we leverage AI ethically, securely, strategically, and enable our people to deploy AI responsibly, adhering to ethical standards and ensuring transparency, privacy, and, importantly, security. I should note that we don't view AI as a strategy to reduce the size of our workforce.
Given the scale of projects our industry needs to deliver to meet the world's net zero ambitions, we view AI as an amplifier of our global workforce, which will support our medium-term growth plans. I'm pleased to announce with the progress we've made in fulfilling our ESG commitments. This year, we've established our Human Rights and Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Committee to drive continued progress in these areas. Modern slavery, an increasingly important area, and the human rights remain a focal point for our business. This year, we received an A rating from Monash University for our FY23 Modern Slavery Statement. We're committed to making further progress in the representation of women in our business. In FY24, 56% of our graduate intake were women, and this was an increase from 48% in the previous year.
Additionally, while we definitely have more work to do, and I, as the CEO, was committed to that move, the representation of women in senior leadership positions has risen to 18% in 2024 compared to 16% the prior year. We've submitted our workplace gender equity equality report, which is also available on our website, should you wish to choose, should you choose to go and look at it. We're on track, as our own organization, to meet our net zero Scope 1 and 2 greenhouse gas emissions reduction targets. For the first time, we've disclosed our complete Scope 3 emissions across all relevant categories, and that's a first for our organization. We maintain a focus on governance processes, controls, and monitoring. Our code of conduct is fundamental to our values and underpins everything we do.
We do not and will not tolerate actions which undermine the trust we've built over many decades. Earlier this year, I addressed the concerns regarding arbitration associated with our historical services in Ecuador. Our transparent approach was well received by stakeholders and the broader market and demonstrated our commitment to building trust. Importantly, Worley did not breach any anti-corruption or bribery laws. Our business practices are grounded in robust ethics, and I hold our teams accountable to uphold the highest standards of ethical behavior. As I've shared in the past AGMs, our values are not part-time applied some of the time; they're full-time applied all of the time. And we're committed to continually improving our governance processes, risk management, and monitoring measures to ensure this message is never lost.
I'm confident the controls we have in place are appropriate and supported by our values, maintain the trust we've worked hard to achieve and earn from our customers, shareholders, and, of course, the communities, but also our own people. Turning to our outlook, at the macro level, Worley is managing three key risks: attraction and retention of highly skilled people to meet the demand, inflation, and supply chain disruption, as well as their impact on the economics of business, ongoing geopolitical tensions affecting normal operations of global markets. We mitigate these risks through the strength of our diversified global business, together with our focus on project assurance and our ability to rapidly deploy our people to align with our customers' needs.
Turning to global political and policy dynamics in respect of the U.S. election, the result and outcome from the change in government that will come into force in January is a different profile, we believe, around the timing of capital allocation between traditional, transitional, and sustainable investment. Worley sees significant opportunity, and we're well positioned strategically to win a competitive share of all work coming out of the new administration's policy, particularly around the important area of LNG as a transitional fuel. And we're talking with a number of customers as they continue to look at developing their LNG facilities. Looking across the rest of the globe, we've seen policy settings of many governments, including those policies which support investment in the energy transition, be impacted as a result of the major election cycle that the world's seen in 2024.
As these geopolitical dynamics continue to evolve, we expect FY25 to be a year of moderated growth compared to that of FY24. And we said this at the full year results in August. And as I've mentioned, there've been some project scope impacts, and we know since the release of our FY24 results, our customer's Northvolt project in Sweden has been canceled. However, it's important to note that Northvolt's project in Canada continues to progress with the support of the Canadian government. Our progress in FY25 shows we've won more work than we've delivered, demonstrating our agility and resilience across the broad and diverse markets we serve. The number of wins in sustainability-related work in the first quarter of FY25 is higher than the last quarter and the prior corresponding period.
This includes strategic wins such as Liquid Wind's flagship NorthStarH2 project, a new methanol project which is located in Sweden. Venture Global's CP2 project remains a significant project for Worley, and we continue to work closely with Venture Global to mobilize on site for phase one during FY25, and we continue to progress discussions with Venture Global for our involvement in phase two of that project. The global commitment to net zero has created a prolonged cyclical upturn of activity in all our key sectors of energy, chemicals, and resources, and while there are expected to be peaks and troughs through any cycle, we believe as we transition to the future, the overall trend remains positive. Even in a challenging market and market macro environment, global net zero commitments remain in place, and many of our customers are navigating their pathway to net zero.
We continue to support those customers across their traditional, transitional, and sustainable work, and we acknowledge today that the economics of some of the sustainability-related projects face challenges without some form of policy intervention from government, and we're collaborating with our customers to lower the levelized cost of these projects. It's important to note energy demand globally continues to grow, and we're committed to helping our customers on their journey to meet their net zero commitments. We note 90% of our top 20 customers have stated net zero targets, with many noting the importance of two things: an orderly and, importantly, an affordable energy transition. The energy transition has reached record high. Bloomberg New Energy Finance reports global spending has exceeded AUD 1 trillion at the end of calendar year 2023, and it's clear investment in the energy transition is just at the beginning, and significant growth is still anticipated.
We're positioned to play a critical role in this as Worley, and we hold a significant competitive and comparative advantage in the markets in which we see low carbon growth opportunities and, importantly, low competitive intensity. Additionally, we see industries and policymakers embrace resource circularity to secure vital materials, diversity of supply, and reduce emissions. Worley's global presence and diversified business enables us to support our customers to deliver, importantly, their projects wherever they're located. Looking ahead, the outlook presented at the full year result remains consistent with that which we're experiencing and expecting for FY25, subject, of course, to no deterioration in the current market conditions, and to remind everyone, we're targeting low double-digit EBITDA growth and expect the underlying EBITDA margin, excluding the impact of procurement, to be within the range of 8%-8.5% in FY25.
Typically, in our markets, we see the second half of our financial year to be stronger than the first half, and we expect to see this in FY25. We expect some growth on procurement volumes due to the project mix and timing, but we also expect this typical split between first half and second half to remain for FY25. As a leading global solutions provider in the markets we serve, we're encouraged by the new work we continue to win as we support our customers across their traditional, transitional, and sustainable work. In closing, we have a clear vision for the future. We have a powerful strategy, and it's driving our success. We're unlocking long-term value across our diverse markets and maintaining a strong comparative advantage, focused on high-value services, including consulting, engineering, and full delivery solutions, which foster innovation and project delivery efficiency.
I want to extend my gratitude to our dedicated people for their commitment in delivering sustainable change and for keeping themselves and those around them safe, and I thank our shareholders, our customers, and our partners for your ongoing support. Without this, we couldn't do what we do. John, I'm going to hand over to you and let you take over his chair again. Thanks again, everyone.
Thank you, Chris. Ladies and gentlemen, we now come to the formal business of the meeting. There are a number of procedural matters to which I must draw your attention. This is a shareholders' meeting, and only shareholders, their attorneys, proxies, and authorized company representatives are entitled to speak or vote. I ask that questions be confined to the business of the meeting and shareholder issues.
You'll have the opportunity to ask questions on each item of business, so please save your questions on individual items until we reach that item. Any question should initially be directed to me as Chair, and I will determine who is best placed to answer the question. To ensure that shareholders as a whole who are attending have a reasonable opportunity to ask questions, it would be appreciated if you could limit yourself to two questions or comments at a time and then allow others to ask a question. All resolutions will be determined on a poll. You would have been issued with a blue poll card on entering the meeting if you are eligible to vote. Please complete the voting section on the poll card. Please place the completed poll card in the ballot boxes when you leave the meeting.
I'll open the poll now so that anyone who needs to leave the meeting early can vote before they leave. The poll will remain open for five minutes after the close of the meeting to allow you to finalize your votes. I appoint Mr. Paul Lutwyche of Computershare Investor Services to conduct the poll as returning officer. If you have any questions about the polling process, please see Paul or his team. Before moving on, I confirm that I hold a number of open proxies as chair of the meeting. As set out in the notice of meeting, I will be voting all available proxies in favor of each item of business.
The first item of business listed in the notice of meeting is to receive and consider the financial report, which includes the director's report and the auditor's report, as set out in the company's annual report for the financial year ending 30th of June 2024. There's no resolution for this item. This item of business provides shareholders with the opportunity to ask questions about the financial report and the business and management of the company in general. In addition, Chris Dodd of PwC, the company's auditor, is present today and is available to answer questions in relation to the conduct of the audit, the preparation and content of the auditor's report, the accounting policies adopted by the company in relation to the presentation of the financial statements, and the auditor's independence in relation to the conduct of the audit.
We have again provided shareholders with the opportunity to submit questions before the meeting. We have not received any questions from shareholders prior to the meeting. I would now like to invite you to ask questions about the financial reports or the management of the company. Any questions in relation to the company's remuneration policies should be raised when we consider the remuneration report later in the meeting. If you have a question or wish to make a comment, please raise your hand, and the attendant will bring you the microphone. I ask each of the microphone attendants to raise their hand so you can see where they are. When asking a question, please state your name. Are there any questions about the financial reports or the management of the company?
My name's Gary Barton. I'm a company monitor with the Australian Shareholders' Association.
I hold proxies on behalf of the members, and I'm also a shareholder myself. Despite the aggregate revenue increase of 6% from last year, the dividends remain unchanged over the last five years. Why has the increased revenue not transferred to the bottom line? And secondly, Chris alluded to when Trump got re-elected, that this would be good for the company, but how will that go with transferring personnel from around the world into the Americas if you get more work?
Yeah, okay. Let me answer your first question. The answer to your first question, we have a strong capital management position which supports our growth plans. We have provided transparency on how we are apportioning the cash we generate. This includes dividends, organic investment, debt reduction, and other EPS accretive activities.
Our AUD 100 million organic investment yielded over AUD 7.6 billion in new awards over the three-year period of the investment. We use our liquidity to support our dividend payout ratio, which we've articulated to the market and can be found in the broker toolkit. So I think we're actually managing our dividend well in the moment. In answer to your second question about moving people to the U.S., we over time have moved people around the world quite a lot. I mean, that's a feature of our business. It's too early to tell whether we will need to move people to the U.S. because of the changes or not, but time will tell. We've given our guidance on what we see at the moment, but certainly, it'll be some time before we know exactly what it'll mean for us and what we'll have to do.
But moving people around is part of Worley's business. Any further questions?
Hello, John Marston, shareholder. The dividend has remained at AUD 0.50 for the last five years. The company's doing a lot better now. When can we look forward to the company looking at increasing the dividends, or should this matter be raised during the remuneration section? Other people get benefits. Shareholders need to be considered too. Thank you.
Yeah, I've sort of answered the question in the answer to the first question, but I mean, we look at. We're still, as a proportion of our profits, the dividends were, in fact, quite a high percentage of our profits to start with in the early first few years of the five years you're talking about, and they've grown to up to at the moment.
Part of the and we're certainly looking at options and looking at what we do with our capital for the future, and we think that is an option. It's an area that gets a lot of consideration at our meetings to decide the dividends, and we're aware of the needs of the shareholders.
Hello. My name is Ameer. I'm the newest shareholder of the Worley Group. I come from India, and I know the Worley Group, formerly known as Worley Parsons, is a very respected name in India, particularly in the chemical engineering and process engineering community. What kind of strategic leadership initiatives in terms of the brand's growth, as well as in the sustainable development sector, I should be looking forward to as I continue this journey with you fine folks?
What kind of initiatives, as shareholders, can we offer you other than just putting up capital and supporting through the shareholder meetings?
Let me answer the second part of your question first. I mean, we're always valuing input from shareholders, and certainly, if you're prepared to write to the company secretary with any assistance or advice that you may have to Worley, particularly in relation to operating in India, which is a country where Worley is extremely important to Worley. We've seen very strong growth in India in the last year. We're expecting it in the future as well. It's a key part of the company, and a lot of our engineering around the world is done through our Indian office, so it's very important to us.
I mean, as Chris said in his speech, we continue to have a strong focus on growing the proportion of sustainability-related work that Worley is doing, and certainly, it's a changing environment in that area. We're monitoring it closely. We're pursuing the areas that we have a particular niche in, particularly the ones that have process complexity, and I think we plan to continue growing the company in that area as our preference. Any further questions?
Thank you. Michael Coburn's my name. Just one request and one question. Just the request relates to annual meetings. One good thing that came out of COVID was virtual meetings, and Worley is doing that, as I understand it today, and people getting it at home. But most of the major companies in Australia also allow people to question the board at the time contemporaneously with a meeting and also vote.
I don't believe that's happening here. I might be wrong. Excuse me. But if it isn't happening, I find it a very good thing to be able to do at the time, especially with voting on directors and things when they're presenting at the meeting. It's better to vote at that time, which you can do here, but you can't do at home with Worley today. Just a question, just fleshing out a little bit more if I could, of Mr. Ashton's comments about the change in the political situation in America. To me, this is a major shift, obviously. As you say, you're traditional, you're transitional, you're sustainable, and the sustainable push has been great, and from a number of points of view, everybody's happy with that. However, maybe there's going to be more traditional perhaps coming through, and I can see the extra potential Mr.
Ashton has said about the AGM. But on balance, does it matter, this change? Because on one hand, you get traditional, on the other hand, if you know what I mean. If we could get some sort of feel about what the potential changes could be here, pluses and minuses, you might say. Thank you.
Yeah. I mean, to answer your first question, which I mean, during the election process, you will get the chance to ask questions of the directors who are standing for election today. I think your point is that people from home won't be able to do that. I think if they wanted to do it, they could have put a question in writing before the meeting. I think they have to do that.
I think the logistics of trying to do questions from home, I mean, we haven't looked at doing that, but we will see whether that's a possibility. But it complicates the meeting, and let's consider that for the future. I mean, I think in relation to the balance, it's too early to tell how the balance between not so much traditional work, but certainly what we're calling transitional work, the particular importance of gas in the market. I mean, gas is a very important commodity for Worley to work in, is in their current results and will continue to be in the future. Whether it will be more because of the decisions that have been made or will be made in the U.S. in relation to gas development, particularly, is too early to tell, but it's likely it will be to Worley's benefit. Any further questions?
One further question.
The share price seems to be sort of stuck between AUD 13 and AUD 14 at the moment. I think if you really do improve activity and profit, it sends a message to the market. If you increase the dividend, I'll leave that to you.
Yeah, we're certainly, I mean, we've had a few things that haven't helped our share price over the last year, and certainly the sell down by Dar, certainly there was a lot of shares that transacted on one day, and that had an effect on our market price for some period of time. We're working hard to get our share price up. We think we're underpriced. We're doing our best to change that as best we can. Any further questions? If there are no more questions, we'll move to the next item of business. Five of the company's directors are standing for re-election or election today.
Item 2A, the first resolution on the agenda today, is the re-election of Mr. Thomas Gorman. Thomas appointed to the board in December 2017. He is a member of the People and Remuneration Committee, Health, Safety, and Sustainability Committee, and the Nominations Committee. I'd now like to give Tom an opportunity to address the meeting.
Well, thank you very much, John, and good morning all. And thank you for the privilege of putting myself forward to ask for your support to re-elect me to the Worley Board of Directors as a non-executive director. I have been a member of the Worley Board for the past seven years. I have, on several previous occasions, when standing for re-election, shared with you my professional credentials. In summary, I have had a long professional career managing many different facets of complex multi-jurisdictional businesses.
I believe my skills and experience in leadership and governance, external stakeholder engagement, and sustainability, climate, and ESG add value to Worley Board's skills matrix and experience. After having lived in Australia for approximately 14 years when serving as the President of Ford Australia and then the CEO of Brambles, I now reside in the United States, where I live just outside of Boston, Massachusetts. Without a doubt, serving as a Worley director is one of the highlights of my post-executive career. Working for our chair, John Grill, over the past seven years has been an honor. Thank you very much, John. John's leadership has been instrumental in guiding Worley through myriad challenges and opportunities. I believe I've played an important role in supporting John and my fellow directors on this journey. Equally, working with our CEO, Chris Ashton, has been a privilege. Chris has keen strategic capabilities.
He has an incredible work ethic, which, when combined with his unflappable moral compass, makes him a uniquely capable leader. I believe Chris has built an incredible team, and he has positioned our company to deliver sustainable value for many years to come. I am deeply committed to my role at Worley. I am supportive of our strategy, and I look forward to continuing to bring my experience, knowledge, perspective, and passion to the Worley Board. I greatly appreciate your support for my re-election. Thank you.
Thank you, Tom. The board recommends that shareholders vote in favor of item 2A. The resolution before the meeting is displayed on the screen behind me. Are there any questions on this resolution?
Yeah, thank you for this summary there, Tom. Just one question. You're on a number of other boards.
How are you going to manage your workload between each of them at the present moment?
Thank you very much for the question. You're correct to identify that I sit on two other Australian-listed boards, Orora Limited and Sims Limited, and I've been doing this now for a number of years, and uniquely, all of the boards actually coordinate quite well for me, and to that, I have to thank all of the company secretaries. So to give you an example, I've had the privilege of being in Australia for the last three weeks. During that time period, this is my second AGM, and it'll be my third board meeting. So all the companies coordinate, which is enormously helpful to me as I manage the workload. I am retired. I don't have any executive roles, and I have plenty of time, I believe, to make the commitment.
And to be honest with you, over the past seven years, I've become far more organized without having a personal assistant, and I think I am more than capable of managing the workload that I've taken on. Thank you.
Are there any other questions on this resolution? If there are no more questions, I'll now put the resolution of the meeting displayed on the screen and details of proxies received for Tom's re-election. You should now mark your poll card if you had not already done so. Moving to item 2B, shareholders asked to consider the re-election of Mr. Andrew Liveris. Andrew was appointed to the board in September 2018. He is deputy chair, lead independent director, and a member of the Nominations Committee. Andrew also chairs the Transformation Strategy Committee, which is a special purpose committee to provide guidance for the development and implementation of Worley's transformational strategy.
I'd now like to give Andrew an opportunity to address the meeting.
Thank you, John. Chair, directors, shareholders, ladies and gentlemen. As already mentioned, I am deputy chair of Worley and lead independent director. I joined Worley as a director in September 2018, shortly after my retirement from Dow Chemical. I'm very pleased to offer myself up for re-election. I come to my role at Worley with a number of common touchpoints. Born and bred in Australia, I found my progress and development in roles around the world. As an engineer, chemical engineer, I found my expertise both constantly valued and constantly tested in evolving challenges and technological innovation in all sorts of roles. I worked for Dow Chemical for 43 years, and in those roles, I had close engagement with a great many of the technical and creative challenges faced by Worley staff each and every day.
So in many ways, I find myself a natural fit for this great company. One element of my background, in particular, is relevant today and to the questions already asked. I was appointed CEO of Dow Chemical in 2004 on the basis of a strategy to transform our company to this era, to this century. While there were a number of large investments and quite a few divestments in that process, the heart of it was to pursue a highly valuable and relevant product for customers in this century, a business driven by science and engineering. The transformation was indeed delivered, and I'm pleased to say that today, Dow Chemical is in a strong position and a market leader.
As you know, Worley has embraced, as you heard from Chris, and of course, the transformation has been embraced by Worley to meet these amazing and great opportunities, but challenges in sustainability and most obviously in the efficiencies and fuel sources that we use for energy. I believe that my experience and expertise is highly applicable to these particular demands and one of the many areas where I contribute to Worley's board skills and experience matrix. I also bring my experience with emerging technologies to the board. As a board member of both Saudi Aramco and IBM, I am very highly engaged with those companies and with each of them separately building strategies and managing events that are aligned with Worley's needs to meet the drivers of the energy transition and all the associated policy and technological challenges that come.
I also have a very strong presence in the e-mobility ecosystem with board memberships at Lucid Motors and an investor in a battery materials company called Novonix, and in digital technology as an advisor to Salesforce and a board member at a new company called Global AI. Worley's critical role in delivering the global energy transition is in the advocacy of policy. Delivery of solutions will be complex and often uncertain. This is what Worley does best, but we also work very closely with other stakeholders, notably governments, to reduce the risks and maximize the effectiveness of solutions in this rapidly evolving technological environment. I have worked closely with governments all around the world. In many countries throughout my career, I've advised multiple U.S. presidents as well as many Australian governments and countries in Asia and the Middle East.
Having been myself a CEO sitting in Chris's chair leading a strategic transformation at Dow, I'm very conscious of the role that the board plays and executive management play and that interface. Clarity around those roles is something I regard as critical to the success of any corporation, notably ones involved in a high period of transformation like ours. I will continue to have the time to dedicate myself to my duties as director of Worley and fulfill my roles as deputy chair and lead independent director. In summary, I believe that my experience and expertise are a good fit for the board of Worley in what is a time for opportunity and challenge. Thank you very much.
Thank you, Andrew. The board recommends that shareholders vote in favor of item 2B. The resolution before the meeting is displayed on the screen behind me.
Are there any questions on this resolution? If there are no questions, I'll now put the resolution to the meeting. Displayed on the screen are details of the proxies received for Andrew's re-election. You should now mark your poll card if you have not already done so. We move on to item 2C. Shareholders are asked to consider the re-election of Ms. Emma Stein. Emma was appointed to the board in December 2020. She is the chair of the People and Remuneration Committee and a member of the Health, Safety, and Sustainability Committee and the Nominations Committee. I'd now like to give Emma an opportunity to address the meeting.
Thank you, John, and good morning, shareholders. Of course, it is a privilege to be here today and seeking your support for my re-election to the board of Worley.
I'm once again reminded of that position of trust you place in me and my fellow directors to serve your interests. Our primary responsibility is not only to uphold our fiduciary duties, but also to ensure that Worley is managed with the highest standards, fostering its growth and increasing value over time. In my experience as a non-executive director on the boards of Australian and New Zealand companies, this core responsibility has remained unchanged. However, the broader global social and business landscapes are continuously, constantly evolving. Worley has strategically positioned itself to meet the challenges of climate change and decarbonization. As the world continues to raise its expectations for resource stewardship, waste reuse, and the associated societal impacts, the journey of energy transition is increasingly complex. This, coupled with global geopolitical tensions, introduces new risks.
As shareholders, you understandably seek sustained growth, strong performance in this dynamic environment. So I hope my background and business experience can be of value in this context. Having led a number of fast-evolving U.K. and European energy sectors, I've navigated through the peaks and troughs of commodity cycles. I've worked with industries that are considered hard to abate and have helped shape strategies and investments in innovative energy systems and lower carbon supply chains. This experience and my time as the Chair of Worley’s People and Remuneration Committee has equipped me with the skills to add, I would like to say, value with respect to Worley’s board skills and experience matrix, particularly in the areas of organizational culture and strategy. But ultimately, I remain excited about business and its place in the world.
I bring an inquisitive mindset to my work, which I believe will complement the efforts of the wider Worley team. So thank you for considering my candidacy, and I look forward to earning your continued support.
Thank you, Emma. The board recommends that shareholders vote in favor of item 2C. The resolution before the meeting is displayed on the screen behind me. Are there any questions on this resolution? If there are no questions, I'll now put the resolution to the meeting. Displayed on the screen are details of proxies received for Emma's re-election. You should now mark your poll card if you have not already done so. For item 2D, shareholders are asked to consider the election of Mr. Kim Gillis AM. Kim was appointed to the board in July 2024. Kim is a member of the Nominations Committee.
I'd now like to give Kim an opportunity to address the meeting.
Thank you, John, and welcome to our shareholders. My name is Kim Gillis, and I'm seeking your support for the election to the Worley Board of Directors. In July, I visited the Worley Joint Venture Projects in Morocco. The visit was just a small example of the amazing work that this company does across the globe. Working with our joint venture partners, Worley is delivering nationally important change programs that are influencing economic, educational, and cultural outcomes for that country. Even with my brief experience to the company, I've concluded that Worley is a global engineering company of excellence that is delivering sustainable change and transition programs to our customers across the globe. My career started 40 years ago in the Australian Customs Service.
I was the national operations coordinator and the program manager for the delivery of the customs Bay-class patrol boats. After 20 years with service and customs, I was recruited by Austal Ships, a great Western Australian company, as the vice president of military projects. At the conclusion of that five-year period, I had built the Austal defense business into a multi-billion dollar enterprise, which now boasts the fourth largest shipyard in the United States. I led Boeing Defense's International Business and grew the Australian operations fourfold in five years. I was then the vice president and managing director of Boeing's international operations. I also served as the Australian National Armaments Director in my role as the deputy secretary of defense in acquisition and sustainment. My public service boss at the time was Martin Parkinson, who I look forward to collaborating with him again.
I retired from full-time work at the age of 57 and have since then worked as a board member for two international private equity firms, Advent International based in London and Ancala Partners. I currently chair Avincis, Europe's largest aeromedical, firefighting, and search and rescue business. I'm on the board of Ultra Maritime, the largest supplier of undersea warfare, sonobuoy, and underwater countermeasures to the AUKUS community. I also serve as the Australian board advisor for Maxar, a global satellite-based intelligence service business. I've worked in complex projects across the globe and bring a wealth of experience in working in diverse cultures and regulatory environments, both in the private sector as well as government. I bring experience from my private equity roles in how best to improve shareholder value and how to increase company financial performance both in the short and longer term.
My government, international, and private equity experience in setting up new businesses and projects across the globe will bring new insights to the board. I'm confident I can manage my other board roles alongside my commitments to Worley and to effectively make a valuable contribution to the board. Together with the other Worley directors, I'm committed to working constructively with the management team and employees to deliver company strategy and to create significant shareholder value. Thank you.
Thank you, Kim. The board recommends that shareholders vote in favor of item 2D. The resolution before the meeting is displayed on the screen behind me. Are there any questions for this resolution? If there are no questions, I'll now put the resolution to the meeting displayed on the screen and details of proxies received for Kim's election. You should now mark your poll card if you've not already done so.
Moving to item 2E, shareholders are asked to consider the election of Ms. Alison Kitchen AM. Alison was appointed to the Board in July 2024, is the Chair of the Audit and Risk Committee, and a member of the Nominations Committee. I'd now like to give Alison an opportunity to address the meeting.
Thank you, John, and good morning, ladies and gentlemen. Having joined the Board of Worley in July 2024, I'm seeking your support to confirm my appointment to your Board. The services Worley provides both here in Australia are essential to the global energy transition.
I aim to contribute my knowledge, skills, and experience from working in global and national leadership roles in professional services, together with my external audit experience in other complex organizations to Worley, enhancing the experience, independence, and diversity of the board as a whole, and contributing to the mix of skills and experience represented by Worley's board and skills matrix. I believe my skills will be useful to Worley in continuing to develop and deliver leading-edge services as we support one of the biggest challenges facing the world, the transition to net zero. I qualified as a chartered accountant at KPMG and had a 40-year career as an external auditor, alongside which I served in various governance and management roles. Most recently, I was national chairman of KPMG Australia and a member of the global and regional boards of KPMG until 2023, roles that I held for six years.
As chairman of KPMG, I ran our board education program, which advised directors of ASX-listed companies on current and emerging governance issues. I serve as a non-executive director at National Australia Bank and Australian National University, two institutions of national significance, as well as AirTrunk Australian Holdings Proprietary Limited. I've been privileged to be part of purpose-led and values-driven organizations that all play their part in contributing to Australia. My external audit career spanned industries including mining, oil and gas, energy, and industrial products. I've served as lead external audit partner for other global companies with a geographic footprint similar in complexity to Worley, including Oracle, Ansell, and Toll. My qualifications and experience give me the appropriate financial expertise to chair the Board Audit and Risk Committee, and I'm well placed to contribute to the board's deliberations on a range of other matters.
I'm confident I have the time to devote to the requirements of serving Worley, and I look forward to using that time to contribute constructively to Worley's agenda. I'd like to thank you, John, and the rest of the board for their support of my appointment, and I would welcome the privilege to represent you, the shareholders on the board of Worley. Thank you.
Thank you, Alison. The board recommends that shareholders vote in favor of item 2E. The resolution before the meeting is displayed on the screen behind me. Are there any questions on this resolution?
Thank you, Alison, for your description. You're on a number of other boards, three boards, and you're co-chancellor of the ANU. That's a very big workload with four companies and that. I think that's pretty much the maximum.
So how do you manage your workload if there's a crisis in one company or the university?
Look, thank you for the question. It's actually three companies and the university, just to be clear. And it's very different being in a non-executive role to an executive role. I'm used to a very busy workload. Like Tom, I have good support to enable me to juggle my work. It would be fair to say we've had some difficult circumstances at the university recently, and I've had no trouble balancing the workloads. I would also say I left KPMG a year ago, and I've staggered my appointments because as you come into a new board, as you would know, you spend a significant amount of extra time with management coming up to speed and understanding the business.
And so I've been able to do that progressively over time, and I feel very comfortable that I can manage the workload. But thank you.
If there are no more questions, I'll now put the resolution to the meeting displayed on the screen and details of proxies received for Alison's election. You should now mark your poll card if you've not already done so. The next item, we now come to item 3, the adoption of the company's remuneration report for the financial year ended 30th of June 2024. As required by the Corporations Act, the vote on this item is advisory only and does not bind the directors of the company. However, the board will take the voting results and discussion into account when considering the company's ongoing remuneration strategy.
I'd like now to ask Emma Stein, the Chair of the People and Remuneration Committee, to briefly address the meeting.
Good morning. Good afternoon. Good evening, everyone again. So my name is Emma Stein, and as Chair of the People and Remuneration Committee, I have been the lead non-executive director responsible for the development of this year's remuneration report. This report explains in detail how we approach remuneration at Worley and the remuneration outcomes for financial year 2024. So along with my fellow non-executive directors, I'm pleased with the performance and reward outcomes this year and believe that they are reflective of our progress and continued strong performance towards our ambition to be recognized globally as a leader in sustainability solutions. There are 49,700 people at Worley who are at the center of what we do.
We operate thousands of projects in over 45 countries, and over 90% of our revenue is generated outside of Australia. So attracting, motivating, and retaining the right talent is absolutely critical to delivering our strategy. Global talent markets continue to be competitive, and it remains crucial that we recognize reward and recognize our people appropriately. Our remuneration and governance framework supports our people's strategy. It drives our performance and holds our leaders accountable for living our values, building our culture, and keeping our people safe. We're committed to environmental, social, and governance principles, or ESG, with multiple ESG measures, including safety embedded in our short-term STI plan. Our executives must achieve individual key performance indicators, or KPIs, that measure performance and leadership in their areas of responsibility and demonstrate our values and behaviors.
Our board has discretion over final remuneration outcomes and reviews our results to make sure payouts are appropriate. They reflect performance, and are in line with our values and strategy, and any unintended remuneration outcomes are avoided. So I'd like to now provide an overview of the performance and remuneration outcomes for the year. Despite the headwinds this year, we've delivered strong growth in revenue, earnings, and margins for three years in a row. Our disciplined strategy execution has delivered a strong FY24 cash result and earnings growth at a higher rate than revenue. Despite volatility in Worley's share price, our dividends payments have remained consistent over the past four years. So we also performed strongly against our FY24 STI performance measures.
In relation to this, our FY24 business scorecard results include an underlying net profit after tax, excluding amortization, NPATA, result of AUD 416 million, which is a 19.5% growth on FY23. The cash conversion ratio was at the top of our target range, and strong safety outcomes measured by our serious case frequency rate was 0.03, which meant it was holding steady on FY23. Ongoing reductions in net Scope 1 and Scope 2 carbon emissions, meaning we're on track to meet our FY25 reduction targets. Good progress was made in diversity and inclusion, and we increased women senior leaders to 17.7%, which compared to 16.3% in the prior year. Exceeding our target for sales and sustainability-related work was measured through gross margins sold.
So our executives delivered strong leadership outcomes, creating value for our customers, and this was reflected in the STI payouts of 83% of maximum for the CEO and between 76% and 83% of maximum for other executive KMP. The board considers the FY24 STI outcomes to be a fair and reasonable reflection of executive performance and the results delivered for our shareholders. We did not exercise any discretion to adjust incentive outcomes, including in relation to Ecuador. Turning now to the DEP plan, the performance outcome for the FY23 deferred equity plan, or DEP, was 1.465 billion in gross margin delivered from sustainability-related work. This was 4.6% above the 1.4 billion target and represents growth of 72% over two years. The board approved a vesting outcome of the DEP of 100%.
Turning to the FY21 long-term incentive, or LTI, this consisted of two equal tranches subject to TSR, total shareholder return measure, and a third one in terms of earnings per share growth, and both of these were measured over a four-year period. The board determined that 43.4% of TSR rights will vest, but the EPS compound annual growth was below the performance threshold for the period, so as such, no EPS rights. Sorry. There are a lot of letters in remuneration. As such, no EPS rights will vest. The overall vesting outcome for the grant was therefore 21.7%. The board continuously reviews the remuneration framework to ensure that it is fit for purpose, including an annual review of the CEO's remuneration. After careful consideration of the external market data and the CEO's performance, skills, and experience, the board decided to make the following changes during the year. Excuse me.
The board increased Mr. Ashton's fixed remuneration by 5% from the 1st of December 2023, and his maximum STI opportunity was increased from 150 to 172.5% of fixed remuneration. For FY25, his maximum equity targets will increase to 100% of fixed remuneration for DEP and 175% for LTI. Sorry. All these letters. Following this change, 82% of his remuneration will be subject to achieving performance hurdles, and 50% of his maximum opportunity will be delivered in equity, creating strong shareholder alignment over the longer term. We benchmarked Mr. Ashton's remuneration considering the size, nature, and complexity of our business and the global markets in which we compete. These changes were necessary to move the CEO's remuneration closer to an internationally competitive remuneration package with a higher weighting towards equity.
We also reviewed remuneration for our other executive KMP roles this year with increases to fixed remuneration as outlined in the remuneration report. In looking ahead to FY25 and beyond, attracting and retaining the right talent remains critical to delivering our strategy. So with this in mind, we reviewed the executive remuneration framework during FY24 and plan to make changes in FY25. We will change the executive remuneration mix to increase the at-risk variable remuneration components. For our LTI plan, we will change our TSR comparator group and increase our EPS targets. Again, these changes are outlined in the remuneration report. The board is satisfied that the changes to executive remuneration and our framework have been well considered, reflect the global market for talent in which we compete, and reward our executives competitively. They're aligned with the interests of our shareholders in driving long-term growth and rewarding high performance.
There were no changes to the non-executive director fees in FY24, and they were last changed in July 2019. Our results reflect the dedication and hard work of all our talented people. We're focused on creating value for all our stakeholders, customers, shareholders, partners, and communities, so I'd like to close and reiterate finally our approach to remuneration. Although our heritage is proudly Australian, we are a global business competing for talent in a global context. Our remuneration structure needs to attract and retain talented people with the right skills in the right locations to deliver our ambition. The board believes our remuneration framework is aligned with this goal and is fit for the purpose of attracting and retaining the right global leaders who will drive the next phase of growth for our shareholders.
As referenced earlier by our chair, we acknowledge that some investors have raised concerns, and we will consider carefully the feedback we received. We remain committed to a remuneration framework that supports our complex and global business. I look forward to your ongoing engagement with us on these topics and very much welcome your feedback. Thank you.
Thank you, Emma. The resolution before the meeting is displayed on the screen behind me. Are there any questions on this resolution?
Given the good result the company had, they've got an increase in bonuses despite a decrease in share price, negative total shareholder return, stagnant dividends at AUD 0.50, which is below the inflation rate. The ASA will be voting against this resolution. We also consider the performance hurdles too linear and disapprove of the short-term incentives that do not have an equity component.
I mean, thank you for your question and your thoughts. The board considers that the financial year 24 reward outcomes to be the appropriate reflection of executive performance and the results delivered for shareholders. We take great care to ensure that the remuneration framework includes challenging targets which align performance with shareholder outcomes. But we listened to your question and we'll consider the suggestions you've made. Any other questions? If there are no more questions, I'll now put the resolution to the meeting. The board recommends that shareholders approve the adoption of the remuneration report. It's displayed on the screen. Details of proxies received for item three, the setup, and the notice of meeting of voting exclusion applies to this item of business. You should now mark your poll card if you've not already done so.
We now come to item four, which relates to the grant of deferred equity rights to Chris Ashton. If the grant is approved, the rights will make up one of the at-risk equity components of Chris's variable pay arrangements. The resolution before the meeting is displayed on the screen behind me. Are there any questions on this resolution? If there are no questions, I'll now put the resolution—oh, sorry. Got a question?
As the items I mentioned before about the TSR is negative, dividends have remained below inflation, and we consider the hurdles a bit too low. The ASA will be voting against this resolution.
Okay. We certainly hear that. The DEP target is set over the medium term, taking into account business plans and forecasts, expected business outlook, and the appropriate level of stretch year on year.
It is a key strategic target for Worley to transform our business. But certainly, again, we'll listen to the—we will take notice of the points you've raised. Any further questions? I've heard no more questions. I'll now put the resolution to the meeting. The board recommends that shareholders vote in favor of this resolution. Displayed on the screen are details of proxies received for item four. The setup and the notice of meeting of voting exclusion applies to this item of business. You should now mark your poll card if you've not already done so. We now come to item five, which relates to the grant of long-term performance rights to Chris Ashton. The resolution before the meeting is displayed on the screen behind me. Are there any questions on this resolution?
As I've mentioned previously, the shareholders are disappointed in the dividend and will be voting against that.
Yes.
Okay. We note that. We acknowledge that some of our investors have concerns about some events of the award. We are committed to a remuneration framework that supports our complex global business and will carefully consider the feedback received and whether any changes should be made in the future. Thank you. Any further questions? If there are no more questions, I'll now put the resolution to the meeting. The board recommends that shareholders vote in favor of this resolution. Displayed on the screen are details of the proxies received for item five. It's set out in the notice of meeting. A voting exclusion applies to this notice of business, this item of business. You should now mark your poll card if you've not already done so. We now come to item six, which relates to the approval of the company's employee share plan and equity securities issued under it.
The resolution before the meeting is displayed on the screen behind me. Are there any questions on this resolution? If there are no questions, I'll now put the resolution to the meeting. The board recommends that shareholders vote in favor of this resolution. Displayed on the screen are details of proxies received for item six. It's set out in the notice of meeting. A voting exclusion applies to this item of business. You should now mark your poll card if you have not already done so. As I mentioned earlier, resolution seven, which proposes changes to the constitution to reduce the maximum board size from 12 to 10, has been withdrawn because it is clear that it does not have the support of the requisite majority of shareholders. When considering and approving each of the resolutions included in the notice of meeting, the board always considers our shareholders' interests.
The feedback from investors over several years has been that the board is too large. Having listened to this feedback, this year we undertook benchmarking, which clearly showed that a maximum board size of 10 rather than 12 would be more aligned to market practice for a company of Worley's position in the ASX 100. The board proposed resolution seven to align Worley's constitution with market practice. However, we've decided to withdraw the resolution as it does not have the support of the requisite majority of shareholders. Worley's AGM track record shows a strong commitment to board renewal and succession planning, which has been and continues to be in the interests of shareholders. Now that we've completed discussion of all resolutions put to the meeting, please ensure you've marked your poll cards as required. The poll will close five minutes after the end of the meeting.
Please ensure you place your completed poll cards into the ballot boxes held by Paul Lutwyche and his team. The results of the voting will be notified to the ASX in accordance with the Corporations Act and also be placed on the company's website as soon as they become available. Ladies and gentlemen, as there's no further business, I declare the meeting closed, subject to finalization of the poll. I thank you all for attending the AGM. Thank you.