Shareholders and guests, welcome to Freightways Annual Shareholder Meeting. I'm Mark Verbiest, and I'm the Chairman of Freightways. I declare the meeting open. The meeting has been duly convened and a quorum is present. The minutes of last year's meeting are held by the Company Secretary and General Counsel. Today, given the COVID level in Auckland, we're running this meeting as a virtual meeting using the Computershare online meeting platform. Welcome to everyone joining us online, wherever you are based. Again, due to the COVID levels around New Zealand, the Freightways Board of Directors and Executive Team are also joining from a variety of locations around the country. As this is the first time we've held our annual shareholder meeting completely online, rather than as a physical and virtual hybrid, I'd like to specifically draw your attention to the procedures for asking questions and for voting.
As set out in your virtual meeting guide, any shareholder or proxy attending the meeting is eligible to ask a question. Please select the Q&A tab in the question category, and then type your question into the box at the bottom of the screen and press Send. Please note that while you can submit questions from now on, I will not address them until the relevant time in the meeting. Please also note that your questions may be moderated, particularly if we receive multiple questions on one topic, and then they'll be amalgamated together. Finally, due to time constraints, if we run out of time to answer all your questions, we will answer them in due course via email.
Should you require any assistance during using the platform, you can type your query and one of the Computershare team will assist with the chat function and reply to your query. Alternatively, you can call Computershare on 0800- 650- 034. When asked at the relevant times, resolutions are put, if you are eligible to vote at this meeting, you'll be able to cast your vote under the Vote tab. Once voting is opened, the resolutions will allow for votes to be submitted. To vote, simply select your voting direction from the option shown on screen. You can vote for all resolutions at once or by each resolution. Your vote will have been cast when the tick appears. If you want to change your vote, simply select Change Your Vote.
You have the ability to change your vote up until the time I declare voting closed. Voting today will be conducted by way of poll on all items of business. In order to provide you with enough time to vote, I will shortly open the voting for all resolutions. Persons attending the meeting who aren't shareholders, proxy holders, or corporate representatives of a shareholder cannot vote. I now declare voting open on all items of business. The resolutions will be open in the Vote tab, and you can submit your votes at any time. I will give you a warning before I move to close the voting. I will remind everyone again of these two processes when we come to the resolutions later in the meeting. Now just running through the structure of the meeting, I will begin first with procedural matters.
I'll introduce the Freightways board and some of the executive team to you, summarize some of our 2021 financial year highlights, and then I'll ask Mark Troughear, our CEO, to provide an overview of the company, an update on current trading performance, and a commentary on our outlook for the rest of this financial year. Questions about the performance of the company will be addressed after the close of Mark's presentation. Any questions relating to the formal resolutions outlined in the notice of meeting will be dealt with when we consider those resolutions. Following the CEO's presentation, questions relating to the management of the company. I will introduce the formal resolutions as outlined in the notice of meeting, and polls will be held in respect of them. The polls will be conducted following the meeting.
The notice of meeting, which sets out the explanatory notes as well, was circulated to all shareholders, and I will take it as read. Proxies have been appointed for the purpose of this meeting in respect of approximately 70 million ordinary shares. As indicated on the proxy form, where proxy discretion has been given, the directors and I as chairman intend to vote those proxies we have received in favor of the six resolutions set out in the notice of meeting. I also note that as set out in the proxy form, directors standing for reelection or election will abstain from voting discretionary proxies in respect of their own appointment. As requested by the New Zealand Shareholders' Association, we will not disclose voting of valid proxies received for each resolution before shareholders, excuse me, vote today.
As usual, we will declare the outcome of the polls after the meeting on the NZX. I would now like to introduce members of the board and management team joining the call. Your directors, Abby Foote. Abby joined the board in 2018 and is qualified in both law and accounting. She brings to the board over 12 years governance experience in addition to time spent in senior management roles. Abby is currently Chair of Z Energy and a Director of Sanford. It's also just been announced that she is joining the B oard of Kathmandu. Abby is retiring rotation and standing for re-election at this meeting. Fiona Oliver. Fiona is the newest Director on our board, having been appointed in July this year, and she stands for election today. Fiona brings a wealth of experience from her executive career in the financial services sector.
In New Zealand, her roles include Chief Operating Officer of Westpac's investment arm, BT Funds Management, and General Manager of AMP New Zealand's wealth management division. In Sydney and London, Fiona managed the risk and operations function of AMP's private capital division. Prior to this, Fiona was a senior corporate lawyer in New Zealand and overseas, specializing in mergers and acquisitions. She is a professional director, holding or having held governance roles across a range of business sectors, including renewable energy, natural gas, technology, and financial services. Kim Ellis. Kim was appointed a Director in 2009, having spent 28 years in chief executive roles in a number of sectors, including 13 years as Managing Director of Waste Management. Kim is Chairman of Green Cross Health and New Zealand Social Infrastructure Fund and has other directorships, including Port of Tauranga.
Kim will retire as a Director with effect from the end of this meeting, and I wish to personally and sincerely acknowledge and thank Kim for his commitment to Freightways. He's been a great Director representing your shareholder interests. Mark Cairns. Mark was appointed to the board in April of this year and stands today for election. Mark brings highly relevant experience to the Freightways board, having been Chief Executive of Port of Tauranga, New Zealand's largest and most successful port since 2005. He was previously Chief Executive of Toll Owens Limited and Owens Cargo Company Limited. He has extensive experience in logistics, infrastructure, contracting, and significant exposure to capital markets. Mark sits on a number of boards, including Meridian Energy and Sanford, and is the intended Chairman of 2degrees if its IPO proceeds.
Mark Rushworth. Mark was appointed a Director in 2015 and has extensive experience in the technology sector with a decade's governance experience, predominantly in the high-tech and innovation space. He has widespread operational and marketing experience. He spent four years on the senior executive team at Vodafone and has previously served as CEO of Pacific Fibre, ihug, and Paymark. Mark is currently CEO of private equity-owned UP Education. Peter Kean. Peter was appointed a Director in 2016, bringing to Freightways many years of senior executive experience with the Lion group of companies in both New Zealand and Australia. After retiring from Lion in 2014, he has developed a career in governance. He's also a Director of Sanford and a number of private companies. Peter is retiring by rotation and standing for re-election at this meeting.
In terms of myself, I was appointed a Director of Freightways in February 2010 and elected chairman in 2018. I am a lawyer by training and have widespread corporate legal experience, both in private practice and I've also spent over seven years on the senior executive team of Telecom New Zealand, where, among other things, I had executive accountability for two business units. I'm currently chairman of Meridian Energy and Summerset Group Holdings and a Director of ANZ New Zealand. I intend to retire from the board during the next year as part of our board's succession plan. The board is conscious of the need for both continuity of experience alongside board renewal. In terms of the management team, also joining us today are Mark Troughear, Freightways Chief Executive Officer, who was appointed to that role in January 2018.
Mark has been with Freightways in various executive roles for approximately 25 years and has a comprehensive knowledge of the group's operation across all divisions in New Zealand and Australia. Stephan Deschamps, Freightways Chief Financial Officer. Stephan joined the Freightways senior leadership team in the midst of the COVID-19 crisis in April of last year. He's previously held a number of senior finance roles, most recently as acting CFO of Air New Zealand. Stephan also spent 14 years at Fonterra, including two regional CFO roles in Latin America and China. Also on the call today are the company's auditors, PricewaterhouseCoopers, represented here today by Keren Blakey and Jack Worthington, and the company's legal advisors, Russell McVeagh, represented today by David Raudkivi.
The financial statements for the year ended 30 June 2021 are set out in the company's annual report that you will have received in August. The annual report contains, continues the practice of recent years in giving shareholders and other interested parties a lot more information about what we do at Freightways. COVID-19 remained a significant factor during the year in both New Zealand and Australia, although its impact on Freightways was more limited in the 2021 financial year. In the annual report, we provide information on how the company was impacted and how we've continued to respond. I'd especially like to convey how impressed the board has been with the commitment of each and every employee and contractor of Freightways, who rallied to ensure our staff, customers, communities, and shareholders were all well looked after.
We completed last year the acquisition of Big Chill Distribution, which has been an outstanding success. The 2021 financial year was much about consolidating this significant acquisition and giving time for our balance sheet to return to stronger levels. The addition of the Big Chill team into Freightways has been seamless. The intent is also with our reporting to continuously improve that to you, our shareholders, on matters we consider most relevant to the, to our business. I will now speak briefly to some of the financial highlights of our 2021 year, and then I'll ask Mark Troughear here to address you. The 2021 financial year saw very solid growth both at top and bottom line. Our revenue broke through the NZD 800 million threshold, a 27% increase on last year.
Part of this is due to Big Chill being included for the entire year, but even without Big Chill, revenue increased by 14%. This reflects the quality of the services we offer, which has allowed us to grow our market share, as well as the entrepreneurial nature of our people across the business. This has led to new business opportunities in medical waste, for example, and recycling. Our margins have also improved with EBITDA and net profit after tax, both growing at or more than 30% year-on-year. This excludes the impact of the accrual for the final payment on the Big Chill acquisition, which I will now come to. It was a NZD 23 million accrual that we made this year through the P&L.
To explain, when Big Chill was acquired in April 2020, we estimated its value at NZD 145 million, and we paid 80% of that, NZD 116 million, upfront. The final 20% is to be paid in August 2022, and will be based on the performance of Big Chill in 2021 and the 2022 financial years. Because its performance has been so much better than expected, we've had to revise upward what the final payment will be, and we now expect it to be roughly NZD 51 million. This means that we need to accrue NZD 23 million more than we'd already done, and to recognize this as a cost, we have to do this through our P&L.
I should stress that this only shows how well the Big Chill investment is performing, and it was a non-cash cost for us in 2021. These are positive issues, frankly, to have. Finally, in line with our formalized capital management policy that I will cover later, the board set a final dividend of NZD 0.18, bringing the total dividend for the year to NZD 0.335. This is 10% higher than the last full dividend we paid in the 2019 financial year, and is the highest dividend we've paid in the last 15 years or so. Our performance has also benefited our people. Thanks to such initiatives as Pricing for Effort, our couriers have seen an increase in their remuneration of 8% year-on-year on average.
We continue to invest in the safety of our people, and we've also seen a decrease in workplace injury. Beyond our current successes, we are actively planning for and investing in growth areas and new business opportunities. We're continuing to invest in medical waste in Australia, which we purchased first in 2017, and in different initiatives in relation to waste recycling in New Zealand. Our in-house ideas and company incubator, which is called The Startery, has assessed 32 different ideas, five of which are now being further developed. Finally, Freightways also want to do the best for our communities and wider stakeholders. We have committed to reducing our carbon emissions across our network by 50% by 2035. We're also making good progress to reduce the use of fossil-based plastic in our network.
As Freightways remains a very acquisitive company, the board did further work with management to clarify our capital management policy, including the way we set dividends. We haven't introduced any significant change, but we have made the order of priorities very clear. Our primary objective is to optimize our cost of funds so that we target a credit profile that would be equivalent to a BBB -rated company. One of the criteria we will use to assess this is our net debt- to- EBITDA ratio, and we want to maintain that in a range of 2x-3x . This influences how we manage the company. If the ratio is closer to 3x, then our focus will be on cash generation and debt repayment, and could extend to reducing CapEx.
If it is getting closer to 2x , meaning this means that we are either preparing for acquisitions or could consider a further return to shareholders. Corrected for non-cash exceptionals, the ratio in the 2021 financial year was 2.4 x. This will also guide how we set dividend. The first rule is that dividends will be set at a level that does not challenge our capital management objective, which I've just worked through. We will also set the dividend at a level that we believe is sustainable over time. Taking these two items into account, we will aim to set a dividend around 75% of net profit after tax and amortization, corrected for significant non-cash one-off items. I'll now ask our CEO, Mark, to address the meeting.
Thanks, Mark, and welcome again to all those shareholders joining us virtually for the 2021 ASM. Welcome also to those in the Freightways team that are joining us, and for the Freightways team, again, I'd like to express my thanks to you and your teams for the outstanding work that you've done over the past year and that you continue to do, as we ramp into Christmas and deal with pretty heavy volumes of freight through the Express businesses and through the Medical Waste business in Australia. I'll talk to a brief summary of Freightways' strategy, and that includes an update on two of our most recent investments. I'll also talk to our high-level ESG goals, which are tied to the UN SDGs, and providing a trading update for the first quarter, along with the outlook for the year. Excuse the heat.
Settle in for about 15 minutes. If you just wanna come back to the exciting voting part, it'll be about then. I've got a script here I've got to try and keep to, so I'll do my best to do that for you and give you a bit of a view of the company and trading update. The first slide you'll see here we call the Freightways blueprint. This helps tie the Freightways strategy together because we occupy a number of different market spaces across both New Zealand and Australia. Our purpose is to move you to a better place, and that applies to all of our stakeholders. If you follow me, I'll work my way up the triangle and give you a view of how we see things that operate here.
At our core, what we do is pick up, process, and deliver. We pick up, process, deliver items through four key divisions. Express Package, which includes our courier brands and Big Chill Distribution, and will include ProducePronto. Business Mail, which includes our DX Mail and Dataprint businesses. Information Management, where we're handling archives and media storage along with digital processing. Waste Renewal, which we used to call secure destruction, but now is much broader than secure destruction. It incorporates medical waste, and it's incorporating high-value recycling. Across all of those areas, we pick up, process, deliver, and we handle about 100 million items a year. On average, each one of those items is touched five times through its journey.
If you imagine an express package item being picked up in the far north to be delivered in the far south, it will go through at least five pairs of hands to be picked up, consolidated, flown on an aircraft, taken off the aircraft onto a truck, and eventually delivered at its destination. That's around 500 million individual movements every year. If you come up the next layer of the triangle, it's really critical that we strive for efficiency. Any delays and inefficient practices in handling 100 million items can easily have a significant impact on the business. At the heart of our business is efficiency and how we manage that. Delivering reliably for our customers is absolutely paramount. Again, it doesn't matter whether we're handling secure, confidential destruction or courier and mail items.
Delivering reliably is, again, at the heart of what we do. Thirdly, loving our customers. I'm always amazed at the tenure of customers that we have throughout our businesses. Retaining their loyalty, understanding their needs, both now and in the future, is critical to the success of our business. fourthly, acting like entrepreneurs. I think the wonderful thing about our businesses is that the people who lead them invest that money as if it were their own, and we're constantly searching for new horizons of growth. There's three core principles that guide how we operate. Those around taking ownership at every level by role, by department, branch, and brand. By acting and thinking commercially in all we do.
It's really critical that the deals we do with customers and the deals we have with contractors and with suppliers are done on a commercial basis, and they make sense, working as a family. I'm constantly amazed at how well our teams at department level, branch level, business level really adopt that family philosophy. It really is intrinsic to Freightways and has been over the 50+ years of operation. All of that helps us move you to a better place. If you're an employee, that means we're helping to grow career opportunities for our people. For contractors, it means we're attempting to increase incomes and move people into better runs with better levels of remuneration. Helping our customers grow and achieve their business goals, and of course, increasing returns for our shareholders.
If I speak to some of the specific points in and around the strategy for this year. They can be summed up in the bullet points on the screen there. The first one is really ensuring that the services we provide and the pricing at which we price those services is reflective of the effort that goes into them. I think what we've done really successfully over the last year is address what we call PFE, Pricing for Effort, for residential freight, in particular. This year, we have embarked on making sure that PFE for local movements in the courier business are priced at the right level. As we mentioned at the full year, we will assess what we do with the larger items that travel through our network. Again, make sure they're appropriately priced for the effort.
The second part of the strategy sits around e-commerce. E-commerce really is the flavor of the month, particularly when you're in level 2 and 3 lockdowns. Our strategy has been primarily to target small or medium-sized enterprises and to assist them by providing them a suite of tools and services to meet their needs. From what I see through our retail-facing teams, we're doing that really well. The third thing is leveraging the service advantage that we have, and that has become even more apparent through lockdowns. Through the media you will see other courier companies are really challenged by the volume that they have, and they have significant volumes flowing through networks, and it leads to delays. The service advantage we have across our brands, we transit test on a regular basis.
The latest transit test that I've received in the last couple of days show us performing by a margin of 50% better than our nearest competitor. That type of service performance is helping us gain market share. We're gaining market share where the pricing makes sense in both Express Package and Business Mail, expanding our temperature-controlled market share and developing a third horizon of growth in this market by capitalizing on the acquisition of ProducePronto. The Big Chill business, as Mark said earlier, has been a real success story. Big Chill, last year in April, added third-party logistics warehousing for frozen and chilled goods to their transport business. That was the second horizon of growth. The third horizon of growth is adding ProducePronto for the same day and 4PL offer, which we can bolt on to Big Chill.
Again, we're pushing that third horizon of growth for Freightways businesses to make sure that we are relevant for our customers. The next one is around Information Management, and it's growing our digital or business process outsourcing services for our clients in both Australia and New Zealand. Those customers trust us with their archives. They trust us storing media in our vaults. But increasingly, they're trusting us with processing data, typically from paper and into a digital format. Again, it's a real focus for that division to provide another horizon of growth. Executing our strategy to add high-value waste streams to our collection and processing networks is really important. In Australia, medical waste has grown at a rapid rate. It's helped offset the decline in secure destruction while cities like Sydney and Melbourne have been locked down.
We've added saveBOARD as an investment to grow that high-value recycling aspect, and I'll talk to that in the next slide. Then finally, we're using a division called The Startery. The Startery is a group of people who are focused on product development. It's a group of people that allow us, in a very structured way, to have a look at the opportunities in front of us that are adjacent to the businesses that we run now and make really good process-oriented decisions using data, using customer feedback, to decide whether we keep growing those services or kill them quickly and move on to the next idea. I'll talk to the two investments that we've made recently. The first of those is ProducePronto. ProducePronto, we will take ownership of next week on the first of November.
As I said, it's highly complementary to Big Chill. ProducePronto have a team of 40, and what they do is provide same-day delivery of fresh and frozen product around New Zealand. They deliver to well over 1,000 destinations, businesses, convenience stores, service stations, and the like. We're confident that their offering has a growth pathway that we can continue to exploit, and we can grow by leveraging Big Chill and Express Package assets. Specifically there, we will be able to leverage Big Chill line-haul, our storage facilities, as ProducePronto needs more capacity. We'll be able to utilize the Express Package air line-haul system to help with same-day and overnight delivery of fresh and frozen food. The purchase price for ProducePronto is NZD 10 million upfront. Again, it is based on an earn-out like many of the M&A that we do.
That earn-out has a potential of NZD 4 million maximum over three years. To achieve that, ProducePronto will need to step through some growth milestones. The second investment's also exciting, and it links into our Waste Renewal area of the business, and it's a business called saveBOARD. saveBOARD is a business which will take Tetra Pak type containers, so liquid paperboard containers, combine it with courier satchels and coffee cups and produce a building material. You're not all in the room, but I can wave this around in front of my camera as best you might be able to see it. But it enables us to make a building product which can be used as a rigid air barrier solution, as a roofing substrate or internal wall linings, and it's 100% recycled.
We currently have a 22% shareholding of saveBOARD business that'll increase to 36% in March next year as we set up a Sydney plant. We expect to produce the first boards around the end of this year. Again, we've been challenged by supply chain constraints, bringing equipment and machinery into New Zealand, and in fact, bringing the people that we need to assemble that equipment into New Zealand. In the last couple of weeks, that has been well underway, and we're confident that we can roll the first boards off at the end of this year. Those two sites are down in Hamilton, so in Te Rapa in Hamilton, and the second site will be in Western Sydney. It's highly complementary to our Waste Renewal business.
In that Waste Renewal business, our strategy is pick up products through the same fleets, processing through the same buildings and the same shredders, and then provide feedstock or add value to the material that we have collected. The other key initiative we've had in this area has been mental wellbeing and awareness training. We've conducted that in 2020 for over 250 managers through our business to help them recognize if their people are behaving differently, if they're under stresses and strains that we should be aware of and that we could assist them with. The second of those areas is in and around providing opportunities for career enhancement for our teams.
Again, for Freightways, it's really constantly moved people up and through the business by improving education, training, and so on, to improve their capabilities and help them succeed within the company. We've also done similar with our couriers to improve their incomes, improve the density, and to improve the performance of their runs. Thirdly, developing new adjacent business services which help grow our revenues and provide opportunities for our people. Again, I think saveBOARD, what we have done in medical waste and what we can do in Waste Renewal are good examples of that. The next one is around climate action, and it's around reducing our emissions. As Mark said earlier, it's really critical for us to recognize that we are an emitter. We run fleets of trucks and light vans through all of our business operations.
We've set our first science-based target to reduce those emissions by 50% by 2035. I think it's important to note we have a really strong track record in an industry where there's actually few viable alternatives to running vans and trucks. What we have done is successfully reduced our emissions by 5% pretty much year- on- year per unit, and we've reported on those emissions publicly since 2014. What we are confident of is that there will be viable alternatives in the next three to four years. The reality is that our contractors, and our own fleets are amongst the most modern fleets in New Zealand for both small vehicle and heavy transport.
Our couriers update their vehicles on average every seven years, and we're confident with the increases in remuneration that we're pushing through the contractor fleet, they will maintain that ability to move to EVs or alternative fuel cell as it becomes available. We're closely in tune with what that technology is doing, but only a very few models that are available here in New Zealand at the moment, and they're restricted by range, and they're restricted by weight in terms of what they can carry. You can see the pathway coming. Again, as I say, I think over the next three to four years, we will see a greater range and supply of those vehicles available to us. Heavy transport will be a bigger challenge, but we will monitor with interest the developments around battery, electric and hydrogen, biofuels, and any other technologies.
It's important to note the 50% reduction that we have forecast through to 2035 is achieved by addressing the light vehicle fleet. If we can address the light vehicle fleet and achieve a 100% change out by 2035, we will achieve that goal. The last goal we have there is around reduction of plastic packaging waste. Courier satchels, freight bags in particular, make up a big proportion of the waste that we have through our networks. By moving to recycled product and finding other ways of reducing what we use in the way of plastic, we're targeting a 70% reduction over the coming year. I'll now move to the quarter one trading update.
There are a couple of graphs here which paint a picture, not just on the quarter, but actually over the first 15 weeks of the year. The first graph on the screen represents those first 15 weeks of FY 2022. There's two lines on there. The lighter line shows growth on 2020, and then the darker line shows growth on 2019. The reason we've shown that is 2019, in our terms, was a normal year, largely unaffected by COVID lockdowns. 2020, pretty well known that there were a series of lockdowns, particularly in Auckland, that came and went of various levels of magnitude, and those lockdowns have a material impact on our business. The key points to note through that graph is that drop in overall activity through the blue shaded area.
That traverses a lockdown level 4, which commenced on August 18 and worked its way through September. Within that period there. Businesses were essentially closed and our B2B volumes fell dramatically. From a B2C point of view, only essential items were allowed to travel through courier networks. You can see the decrease at that stage. What's interesting to note is that decrease was not as great as we experienced in April 2020. You can then see that as we came out of the level 4 lockdown and went into level 3, the volumes began to increase pretty rapidly. In fact, over the last 4 weeks, we've been dealing with large increases in B2C and the return of B2B around most of New Zealand.
Those gains show an increase of 20% on the 2019 base and in excess of 10% on 2020 volumes over those last four weeks. The second graph talks to B2C volumes, so residential home delivery volume, again for our network courier business. You can see in the middle of the shaded period where B2C volumes began to increase rapidly. Again, this graph shows growth on a 2019 base, the dark blue line, and on a 2020 period, the light blue line. Again, the increases in here are material. Our businesses are feeling those as they transfer through the networks. As I say, really happy with the service levels that our teams are managing to achieve through that period.
In terms of a benchmark on 2019, you can see over a seven-week period that increase is in excess of 100%. On the 2020 base, around 35% over that seven-week period. We expect those types of levels to maintain, and as businesses are allowed to open again, particularly in Auckland, B2B will increase and B2C will come off as people are allowed back into retail outlets. In terms of the results for the first quarter, there are a number of things to note around these results. The first one is that we have one less week in FY 2022 than we had in the prior corresponding period. That's a function of Freightways adopting a four-week, five-week accounting month. Last year we had 13 weeks. We had an extra week in that period.
This year we had 13 weeks in that period. The second thing was New Zealand's level 4 lockdown, which was reflected in the Express Package graphs that we had previously. The third impact was Australia's lockdowns in New South Wales in particular, but also Victoria. As a result, in the first quarter, revenue was down by 4.1%, EBITA was lower by 9.2%, and NPATA and NPAT were lower by 5.7% on the prior corresponding period. The estimated EBITA impacts for the three points that I mentioned at the start of this slide. For the extra week, around NZD 2.1 million in EBITA. The level 4 impact in New Zealand has estimated impact of NZD 4.5 million EBITA.
For the Australian lockdowns versus the prior period, the impact was estimated at NZD 0.4 million EBITA. Total impact of around NZD 7 million for the extra week and the impact of lockdowns primarily in New Zealand but also in Australia. The next slide reflects Express Package. Currently, I'll get back to my script. In terms of revenue, a decrease of 4.7%, again, primarily contributed to by the effect of level 4. EBITA down by 8.1%. For Express Package specifically, the extra week is estimated to have cost us around NZD 1.9 million in EBITA. That's the difference between the prior corresponding period and this year. The level 4 lockdown in August and September had an EBITA impact of around NZD 3.9 million for Express Package and Business Mail.
For information management, revenue was impacted and 1.8% below the prior corresponding period, and EBITA 10.1% below the prior corresponding period. Again, the impact of the extra week in terms of the comparison was NZD 0.2 million in EBITA. The New Zealand lockdown affecting our TIMG New Zealand business impacted by around NZD 0.6 million. The Australian lockdown for both Shred-X and TIMG impacted by NZD 0.4 million over the period. In terms of the outlook, while quarter one has clearly been affected by that level 4 lockdown in New Zealand and the continued restrictions on businesses operating in New Zealand and Australia, we remain confident that we'll achieve earnings growth for the company in FY 2022.
We have been encouraged by the increase in volumes driven by e-commerce activity and market share gains in our Express Package business as we've moved to level 3, and as those restrictions have eased around the country. We're also very pleased with the growth that we've had in medical waste in Australia. Our teams have done an outstanding job in meeting the demand that the market has for medical waste collections in Australia. While we would expect that to ease up as the situation in Victoria in particular improves, it should occur around the same time as activity comes back into our Information Management businesses for archives, media and secure destruction. We do remain conscious, though, that there are a number of factors that we don't control.
Even our best laid plans may be influenced by macro factors such as a tight labor market, which put upward pressure on labor costs. Any further current and potential lockdowns in Australia and New Zealand, particularly if they drive back into a level 4 type environment. To a lesser extent, but still notable, a constrained supply chain, which could continue to disrupt the flow of goods coming into New Zealand and ultimately impact the volumes we receive from our customers. We are one step removed in terms of those supply chain constraints, but ultimately they can have an impact on the number of containers and the amount of goods our customers have available to ship through networks.
Again, we will continue to review the portfolio of services we provide through the businesses with a view to make sure that we deliver superior long-term returns to shareholders through both the short, medium, and long term. The company will also continue to consider acquisition opportunities that are complementary to our existing businesses, operations, and capabilities. Finally, I'd like to again just extend my thanks to the teams of people across New Zealand and Australia that work or derive an income from Freightways. You know, your work is outstanding. The performance I know of many of the business units in periods of high volume or adapting to lower volume has been quite exceptional. In closing, I'd also like to thank Kim Ellis. Kim, I'd like to extend management's congratulations on your tenure as a Freightways director, and thank you for your input into the business.
I think the things that you have brought to the business, primarily your experience. You know, you run an operational business, and you understand what it's like to run a business with a lot of moving parts. Your intuition on what is important and what is urgent has been really valued. Most of all, I guess your humanness. You know, you know how to have a sense of humor, I think, which is important in businesses like these. You've been highly relatable to the team here. We respect you. We've really enjoyed what you have contributed to Freightways. We wish you all the best, but know that you are part of the Freightways family now and forever. Thank you.
Great summary, Mark. Thank you. Yes, again, reiterating the contribution of Kim, it's been fantastic. Now I will open the floor to questions, comments, or discussions in relation to the financial statements, presentations, et cetera. If you just bear with me at the minute, 'cause I have to use some other technology here. Got a few questions showing up. The first one is from Bridget Baird. What are you forecasting for fuel prices and its impact on Freightways? What are you forecasting for rising inflation? I'll probably give that to you, Mark, to answer.
Absolutely. Look, in terms of fuel prices, they're at an all-time high really at the moment. The impact Freightways has mitigated. We implemented a fuel adjustment factor around about 15 years ago. What that means is Freightways prices rise and fall with the price of fuel. That system is designed to offset the increased costs we have. We can pass that on to our contractors, use it to pay for the jet fuel and the line haul fuel that we use within the business. Look, where fuel prices will carry on going, I don't know. I don't think anyone knows that necessarily. You can be assured that Freightways has a mechanism which offsets the increases that we have in fuel. In terms of inflation, look, I think the biggest thing we see is labor inflation.
Labor is our single biggest cost, be it being payments to contractors for the services they provide or for the teams that we have. It's certainly a tight labor market. There's no question around that. Minimum wage has driven the base level of wages up consistently in New Zealand by around about 5% year- on- year. As I say, I think more importantly than that, the tight labor market means you have to compete for talent. In some cases, you'll have to pay those people a little bit more than you do currently.
Okay, thanks. Another question from Bridget. Can you clarify the accounting treatment of the Big Chill purchase and its impact on the P&L rather than being a balance sheet only item? I hope I clarified that somewhat before. The additional amount of the earn-out payment, that we have to make in 2022, we've accrued an additional NZD 23 million, which is recorded as an expense in the P&L. I might ask, Stephan to just expand on that.
Thank you, Mark. Yes, you are correct. The reason we're recognizing that in the P&L and not on the balance sheet is because that final payment is driven by factors that were unknown at the time of the acquisition. Because of that, we cannot recognize it as part of the acquisition price and the goodwill that would be sitting on the balance sheet. Because it's driven by the impact of COVID and such factors, we have to recognize it as new information. It drives to the P&L and not the balance sheet.
Thank you. Question for Mark. How does board management view the supply chain bottleneck that's being experienced worldwide? Is it a threat or an opportunity? Is the company making or considering any operating changes on account of this? Very good question.
Yeah. As I said, we're one step removed from the primary impact of these supply chain impacts. I think, you know, general consensus is that these are likely to go on for at least another year yet. We're one step back. Our customers may, in some cases, rely on imported products coming into the country, which then they will stock into their warehouses, and then may use a courier or a bulk freight provider to ship down to their customers. There's a couple of potential impacts that we do see. Sometimes because of the congestion in the supply chain, those customers might choose to use a faster courier service domestically than a slower bulk freight service to get it to the final destination.
In other cases, it might mean that they have certain stock lines that they simply don't have to ship through the networks. We haven't seen a material impact over the last year and a half either way, but it's something that we're really well attuned to. In terms of opportunities, look, I think one of the key ones was one that we jumped on last year, where the constraint of international air freight capacity, particularly trans-Tasman, gave us an opportunity to divert our jets to fly Auckland to Sydney, Auckland to Melbourne, and provide much needed air freight capacity. We did that for a period of around about eight to nine months, that contributed to our results in the previous financial year.
The volumes are such in New Zealand at the moment that we need those aircraft all flying on a full schedule here in New Zealand. Look, the opportunities abound where customers have an urgent need. We will be there to help them. The threats will be if customers simply can't get product into New Zealand. On balance, those things seem to have balanced each other out, and we're not seeing a material impact.
Thanks, Mark. We now have a question from the Shareholders Association. Good question around our business. How many brands do Freightways operate, and does this cause an issue with the fragmentation of market presence? Well, I'll get Mark to answer the exact number of brands. But we do operate a number, and that is a deliberate strategy with different business units, for example, different courier companies within our fleet operating in different parts of the market with addressing different customer needs. But Mark, would you like to expand on that and also confirm how many brands we actually do operate under?
We've got heaps. Look, we run a lot of brands, and it's a strategy that we've had for a very long time, and I could talk to you about that all day. In summary, using various brands at the retail level allows those brands to focus acutely on what they do in that niche, and it allows them to price accurately for the niche. If you look in couriers, for example, New Zealand Couriers providing an overnight by 9:30 A.M. service can price the service for the level of effort it requires to get items there by 9:30 A.M. Castle Parcels operating an economy service can price at a lower level based on getting that product there the next day rather than overnight by 9:30 A.M.
The risk we see if you combine those brands at the retail level is that your pricing has a real risk of dropping down to the lowest common denominator, and we have seen that elsewhere. I think the second really important thing to understand is that behind the sticker on the van, so behind that retail front end, it's a consolidated network. Okay? So after taking every brand's rate, the branch network is consistent. The IT system for network couriers is the same IT system. So we're smart enough to make sure that we leverage all of those back-end pieces, and we don't duplicate. But in customers' minds, what they're getting is a brand that's absolutely expert at what it claims to do and does it for the right price.
Okay. All right. I'm not seeing any further questions, so I will move to the formal resolutions to be considered. Polls will be conducted at the conclusion of the meeting in respect of the resolutions. The conduct of the polls will be administered by Computershare Investor Services Limited, our share registrar, and also the auditors, PricewaterhouseCoopers, will act as scrutineers. As this is a virtual meeting, all voting will take place online. Please follow the instructions of the virtual meeting guide that was provided. A reminder of the voting process again, for those logged on as shareholders or proxies, the resolution and voting options will have appeared on your screen. You can vote for all resolutions at once or by each individually. For each resolution, please select the appropriate box...
As a reminder that any eligible shareholder or proxy attending the meeting remotely is eligible to ask a question. Please select the Q&A tab in the question category and then type your question into the box at the bottom of the screen and press Send. We will publish the results of the polls through the NZX later today. The first resolution relates to the election of Mark Cairns as a Director. Mark was appointed to the board in April 2021 and retires, and being eligible, will offer himself for election today. The board unanimously recommends that shareholders vote in favor of Mark's election. I will first ask Mark to speak in support of his election.
Good morning, ladies, and gentlemen. I'm delighted to have joined the board back in April, earlier this year. You have brief details on my background in the notice of meeting. I'm a civil engineer by profession and a Fellow of Engineering New Zealand. Earlier this year, I retired after 16 years as Chief Executive of NZX-listed Port of Tauranga to pursue a full-time governance career. From the port and previous roles at Fulton Hogan and Toll Owens, I bring extensive experience in senior management roles and business operations at scale, including significant exposure to capital markets. I've been around complex logistics operations for most of my working life. It is intended that I will chair the People and Remuneration Committee following Kim Ellis's retirement. I'm really passionate about sustainability.
We have only one planet, and I'm pleased that Freightways have moved beyond the typical corporate greenwashing and have set some pretty lofty goals for decarbonization and waste reduction for our operations, targeting a halving of greenhouse gas emissions by 2035. I'm proud that Toitū Envirocare have singled out Freightways as one of the top 10 carbon reducers in New Zealand. I consider that Freightways is a fantastic company with an outstanding management team and has a great future. I seek your support to serve you as a director.
Thank you, ladies, and gentlemen.
Thank you, Mark. Are there any questions or matters for discussion concerning the resolution to elect Mark as a Director? I'm not seeing any. I will put the resolution to a vote. Please mark your vote. The second resolution relates to the election of Fiona Oliver as a Director. Fiona was appointed to the board in July of this year and will retire, and being eligible, offers herself for re-election. The board unanimously recommends that shareholders vote in favor of Fiona's election. Fiona, I will ask you to speak.
Thank you, Mark.
Good morning. I was delighted to be asked to join the Freightways board and have the opportunity to work with a talented and committed group of people and contribute to the success of the Freightways business. For me, there are many attractions to being part of the Freightways team, principal amongst which is the central focus of Freightways and its customers. I have developed an interest, a passion, really, in manufacturing products and services that suit customer needs and deliver appropriate customer outcomes during my executive roles and more recently in governance. The concept of customer centricity has developed significantly since my times, and indeed continues to do so. It is exciting to be part of a business that has embedded within its processes, systems, and culture, the belief that customers should receive choice, value, and superior levels of service, and one that continually strives to improve on its offering.
The other key attractions for me are Freightways' strong focus on people, including ensuring the quality of their work and that they return safely to their families at the end of their working day, and its ambitious standards in ESG and managing non-financial risk. These are, I believe, vital ingredients of sustainable shareholder growth. As our Chairman, Mark Verbiest, mentioned, my governance experience has been gained across a range of business sectors. I'm currently a Director and Audit Chair of First Gas Group, Gentrack Group, and BNZ's insurance businesses. I will bring my varied and broad experience to benefit the already astute and effective governance at Freightways. Prior to my experience in executive roles in funds management and private equity, and which Mark Verbiest has also mentioned, I practiced as the senior corporate and commercial lawyer in New Zealand, New South Wales, and the U.K.
This professional legal experience has given me a deep understanding of New Zealand and key overseas regulatory frameworks and corporate and commercial laws, and a speciality in mergers and acquisitions transactions. I will contribute to maintaining the strong reputation and high level of trust and confidence the Freightways business has built with its stakeholders, including by maintaining a high standard of regulatory compliance. I bring my professional and commercial skills and experience and my understanding of the New Zealand and wider global business environments and their respective capital markets for Freightways. I would welcome your support for my election as an Independent Director to the board. If elected, I will bring my focus, which I know is shared by current board members and the senior management team, on delivering value and sustainable returns to you, the shareholders. Thank you.
Thanks, Fiona. Are there any questions or matters for discussion concerning this resolution to elect Fiona? The third resolution relates to the re-election of Abby Foote as a Director. This year, Abby is required to retire by rotation, and she will retire, and being eligible, offers herself for re-election. The board unanimously recommends that shareholders vote in favor of Abby's re-election. Abby, I'll ask you to speak in support, please.
Thanks, Mark. Good morning, everyone. I've been a Member of the Board of Freightways since June of 2018, and I Chair the Board's Audit and Risk Committee. As Mark noted in his introduction, I'm also a Director of Sanford, Z Energy, and Kathmandu Holdings. I've been a full-time professional director for over 10 years now. Although I have a background in law and finance with experience in large projects, M&A, and treasury, amongst other things, primarily I bring to this role deep and extensive governance experience. I've served on a mixture of listed and crown-owned entities, and I'm an experienced board and committee chair. That experience enables me to make a strong contribution across many areas.
I have particular expertise in the areas of strategy, risk, health and safety, and ESG, and I'm conscious of the need for boards and companies to stay abreast of the increasing expectations of a wider range of stakeholders. Freightways is a great company with engaged and committed people who are dedicated to performance outcomes and who treat the business as if it were their own. While the actions continue to support our growth ambitions. I'd be very grateful for your support for my re-election to the board today and very happy to answer any questions that you have. Thanks.
Thank you, Abby. Are there any questions or matters for discussion concerning the resolution to re-elect Abby as a Director? I'm not seeing any, so I'll put the resolution to a vote. Please mark your vote. The fourth resolution relates to the re-election of Peter Kean as a Director. This year, Peter is required to retire by rotation, and he will retire and, being eligible, offers himself for re-election. The board unanimously recommends that shareholders vote in favor of Peter's re-election. Peter, I'll ask you to speak in support of the motion.
Thank you, Mark. [Non-English content], and good morning to everyone, and also a big welcome and thanks for your ongoing support. If you're on this call today, you're very important to the Freightways business. My name is Peter Kean, and I've been on the Board of Freightways for five and a half years now. During that time, we have continued to achieve steady growth both in revenue and profitability. I believe the key areas that I can add particular value to Freightways are in sales, marketing, innovation, supply chain, and logistics. My previous experience in both New Zealand. More importantly on our customers, who, of course, are at the heart of everything we do. As well as being an experienced company director, I'm also a business owner, therefore understand all the intricacies that come with that, especially in these COVID times.
I look forward to being part of the solution to our challenges and opportunities, which we will continue to face in the coming years. I do hope I can rely on your support for my re-election on the Freightways board. Before I sign off, I would also like to just mention how much I've enjoyed having Kim work alongside me on the board and also to all the staff and management of the Freightways business. You are a pleasure to work with. Thank you all very much.
Thanks, Peter. Are there any questions or matters for discussion concerning the resolution to re-elect Peter as a Director? I'm not seeing any, so I will put the resolution to a vote and ask you to please mark your vote. The fifth resolution relates to the increase in the total quantum of the annual director fee pool by an aggregate of NZD 161,000 to NZD 857,145, such amount to be divided among directors as they deem appropriate. We regularly review fees, generally annually, to ensure the aggregate amount available for directors' remuneration is adequate so that they remain aligned to market levels. Last year, we did not apply lockdowns to New Zealand. Directors took a 20% fee cut for a quarter.
Since the last increase, the number of directors had also increased from six to seven, including the chair. This increase in number is actually the main driver in the available pool increase, with the actual fees to be paid, or the increase, being more modest. The board does consider the importance of ensuring diversity of thought and experience around an independence declaration from their engagement partner. The directors propose to apply an increase this year, which allows for non-executive directors to be paid at approximately or just below the median level of the peer group market data presented by EY.
The proposed increase also allows for members of board committees, in particular board chairs, board subcommittee chairs, whose workload is quite a bit higher than it used to be, to be paid at approximately or just below the median of their peer group. Please also note finally that the increase that we've gone for is. The present auditors, PricewaterhouseCoopers, will continue in office under the Companies Act 1993. Are there any questions or matters for discussion concerning the resolution? Not seeing any. I'll now put the resolution to a vote. Please mark your vote. As mentioned earlier, the results of the polls will be advised to the NZX later today. Ladies, and gentlemen, that concludes our discussion on all items of business. After a brief pause, I will close the voting system. Please ensure you've cast your vote on all resolutions.
I'll now pause to allow you a final time to vote. The votes will be verified by the company's auditors, PwC, and the results will be advised to the stock exchange later today. Thank you for attending our Freightways annual shareholder meeting online and indeed for your ongoing support for the company. It's appreciated. I now declare the meeting closed. Ladies, and gentlemen, thank you for voting. Voting will be counted by Computershare and scrutinized.