Good morning, everyone, and welcome to Gentrack Group Limited's Annual Shareholder M eeting. My name's Andy Green, and I'm delighted to be attending this annual shareholder meeting as chair of Gentrack Group Limited. Today we're very pleased to welcome you as online participants through our virtual meeting platform provided by our share registrar, Link Market Services. As we've advised previously, given the global nature of our business, we're holding a virtual meeting again this year. Our Chief Executive Officer, Chief Financial Officer, and other key executives, as well as some of our board members, are located in the United Kingdom or Australia. Their attendance in person at the meeting would result in significant costs for Gentrack, as well as other logistical challenges. You'll hear a bit more about where we are today later in the meeting.
We have prerecorded the introductory messages for each of the directors who are standing for re-election. This is to minimize the risk of technical issues interfering with the smooth running of the business. You can vote and ask questions online. To vote, you'll need to get click voting card within the online meeting platform. You'll be asked to enter your shareholder or proxy number to validate. Please then mark your voting card in the way you wish to vote by clicking for, against, or abstain on the voting card. Once you have made your selection, please click Submit V ote on the bottom of the card to lodge your vote. Please refer to the Virtual Meeting Online Portal G uide or phone the helpline on 0800 200 220 if you're in New Zealand, or +64 9967 7751 if you're outside New Zealand if you require assistance.
I'll provide you with a reminder of these instructions as we progress through the meeting. I would encourage you to send your questions as soon as you can through the virtual meeting website. This will allow us to answer these questions at the appropriate time of the meeting. To ask a question, you will need to click Ask a Question within the online meeting platform, select the item of business, and type in your questions, and click Submit. Before we formally begin, I'm attending the meeting from Australia. I would like to introduce you to my fellow board members, Fiona Oliver and Stewart Sherriff, who are attending from Auckland, New Zealand. Nick Luckock, who is attending from the U.K. Darc Rasmussen, who is attending from Australia. And our Managing Director, Gary Miles, who is in Asia.
Details of the background and experience of all directors are contained in the annual report and on the website. You'll hear more about the background of myself, Gary, and Stewart, all of whom are standing for re-election as director during the formal business of the meeting. I'd also like to acknowledge that this is the last annual meeting Nick Luckock will attend as a director of the company, as he has decided not to seek re-election after serving on the board since February 2018. Nick has played a significant role in the turnaround at Gentrack, including leading the search for Gary Miles our CEO. I'd like to thank Nick sincerely for all of us, on behalf of all shareholders, for his contribution to setting Gentrack back on a firm, great trajectory.
In addition, from the management team, we have our Chief Financial Officer, John Priggen, who is attending from the UK. Also with us today are Grant Taylor from our auditors, Ernst & Young, and Toby Sharpe from our solicitors, Bell Gully. I'd like to take this opportunity to thank our auditors and lawyers for the work they have done for Gentrack. The company secretary has confirmed to me that the notice of meeting has been sent to shareholders and other persons entitled to receive it. The company's constitution prescribes a quorum requirement of three shareholders having the right to vote at the meeting. This requirement has been met. On that basis, I am pleased to formally declare the meeting open. Details of proxy voting are now available on the screen. I'd like to thank shareholders for their participation in today's meeting.
My fellow directors and I, other than myself in respect of resolution one, Gary Miles in respect of resolution two, and Stewart Sherriff in respect of resolution three, due to our interest in those resolutions, intend to vote all discretionary proxies we have received in favor of the resolutions as set out in the notice of meeting. The financial statements for the 12-month period to 30 September 2023, together with the auditor's report, are set out in the company's annual report. The annual report was made available on Gentrack's website in December. Let's look at the agenda. The order of events for this morning meeting will be the chairman's introduction, which I've just done, then the addresses to shareholders. We will take questions and then go through the resolutions.
Voting on all the resolutions will be conducted by way of a poll, and you'll be able to ask questions online through the virtual meeting website. I encourage shareholders who are attending online to send their questions through as soon as possible, please. We'll now move to the first agenda item, which is my chair's address. Gentrack delivered impressive growth in revenue, EBITDA, and cash in the 2023 financial year. We continue to win new customers, including our first contract signings in the Middle East, as well as delivering against recent wins and expanding services with our existing customers. We have strong net people growth, with staff turnover during the year at an all-time low, and at the same time, our employees are highly engaged and recommending Gentrack as a great place to work.
Finally, we are proud to be working with leaders in the sectors we serve to help them innovate and move to sustainable solutions. Strong revenue results were driven by a 36.7% increase in the utilities business to NZD 147.9 million for the year. Our underlying growth in the utilities business, excluding insolvencies, was up by 47% over the financial year 2022 number. Bulb and other U.K. insolvencies represented NZD 27.6 million of the financial year 2023 revenue, and we do not expect further revenue from these customers in financial year 2024. We believe that the historical occurrence of supplier insolvencies in the U.K. B2C energy sector is no longer a material threat to our customer base, as many of the weaker players have exited and the U.K. regulator has instituted a more business-friendly regulatory approach.
The Veovo airport business also grew strongly, with revenue up 21.3% to NZD 21.9 million, with growth in both recurring revenues, which was up 15.8%, and non-recurring revenues up 32.2% over the financial year 2022 number. EBITDA performance was at NZD 23.2 million, NZD 15.1 million higher than it was in financial year 2022. EBITDA growth has been achieved while continuing to invest in strategic R&D and increasing our sales and marketing spend to support international expansion. With strong cash conversion from EBITDA, net cash at the 30th of September 2023 was NZD 49.2 million, an increase of NZD 21.8 million over the end of the last fiscal year. As a result of this strong financial performance, financial year 2023 marks a return to a net profit of NZD 10 million against the loss that was made in the prior year.
Our underlying growth in utilities is a result of doing more with both new and existing customers, particularly in the energy markets that we serve. In November 2023, we were pleased to announce that Genesis Energy selected our new G2 solution with Salesforce Energy and Utilities Cloud embedded. Genesis' decision to go with G2 is a strong vote of confidence for our product investment strategy. It also creates the opportunity to sell this market-leading product to new customers looking to modernize away from legacy systems, as well as to upsell it to our existing customer base. In March 2023, EnergyAustralia went live with Gentrack to launch its innovative, groundbreaking product, Solar Home Bundle, on our distributed energy management solution. This exciting solution is at the forefront of how people worldwide will generate and consume electricity in the future.
In the UK, we have added 3 more customers to our managed services offering, where we help customers deliver improvements in their operational excellence and cost to serve. These are just some of the examples of how we work closely with leaders in our core markets to modernize their businesses and help them meet sustainability and cost targets. In November 2022, we announced our plan to expand our international footprint beyond our core markets of the U.K., Australia, and New Zealand. During 2023, we opened an office in Singapore and we've grown the local team there to support the migration to our platform at one of Singapore's energy retailers and to target new business in the wider Southeast Asian region. We have also built our European business development team based at our London office, and are pleased with the business development activity across Europe.
We're making good progress in building a qualified pipeline across several countries in both those regions. In 2023, we established our Middle Eastern regional hub in Saudi Arabia and booked our first utilities contract win there in October, covering both energy and water. This win, where we'll be working alongside Salesforce, demonstrates the strength of this relationship, an essential part of the G2 platform. To support growth in both our core markets and in new markets, we have invested in building out our center of engineering excellence in India. We opened our Pune office a little over a year ago, and we now have over 100 people there. The aviation recovery has gone from strength to strength. Many airports are at or near to pre-pandemic passenger travel levels, driving a strong demand for digital transformation that can bring improved passenger experiences and a better operational experience.
For Veovo, this has meant new tier one and tier two customers in the Middle East and in Europe. Strong demand remains for our latest platforms for air billing and airport operations for current customers, as well as an expansion of opportunities for passenger flow solutions at several of our major customers. We believe that these contract wins, combined with the strong pipeline we have built over the last year in Veovo, sets us up for another year of vibrant growth in financial year 2024. Our first customer migration to G2 and our first win in the Middle East in both utilities and Veovo are both important strategic milestones. We continue to build our pipeline in Southeast Asia and in EMEA and to sell new products to new and existing customers.
We're excited about the transformation required by the industries we serve and the opportunity that that represents for us here at Gentrack. For airports, we are seeing pent-up demand being unleashed in modernization programs that are now following through into contract wins and upgrades. For utilities, no other market requires the level of modernization that the IT systems in both the energy and water markets require. Our new G2 solution is now established. We have the delivery track record to make customer transformations that are necessary and make them successfully. We have positioned Gentrack as a leader in innovation. It's an exciting time to be in these dynamic markets. On closing, I'd like to thank our customers and shareholders for their continued support and the entire Gentrack team for their achievements this year and their commitments to Gentrack's future. Thank you for your attention to my Chair's address.
We'll now move to the CEO's address from Gary Miles.
Thank you, Andy. As Andy mentioned, I'm in Asia at the moment. I'm actually in Singapore, where I'm visiting our people, our customers, and our prospects. It's great to be out here. Everything's good about it besides maybe the hour. But anyway, it's fantastic to be here at the ASM. I just want to say that, as we mentioned in the November financial update to the markets, that we started the year strong with the Genesis and NEOM wins. We recently closed our Amber win alongside our investment in Amber. For those of you that are in Melbourne, there were pretty volatile markets recently and some energy price spikes, and Amber navigated that very, very effectively, some of the Amber customers making AUD 500 on the day. So I think that resilience plays well towards the thesis for that investment.
I would want to underpin that I remain very confident in our industry that we're in, that it is transforming. The competitive landscape is still something that we're really comfortable with, although we take seriously. Our pipeline's progressing, and I think we're going to have. I look forward to having a continued long-term success of the business as we transform it. Andy gave a lot of the details, so I won't go into those here on this call other than to say that I want to thank our investors that have been with us for quite some time. We have several new investors also that have joined our register. Welcome those and prospects that are looking to join us. So we look forward to that, and we look forward to continuing to transform both the utilities industry of water and energy and airports.
With that, I'll hand back over and say thank you once again.
Thank you, Gary. We'll now move on to questions. I'd like to give you the opportunity to ask questions whether related to the presentations, the financial statements, or the management of the company. You can continue to provide questions online, but we'll first address questions already submitted. If we run short of time and are unable to answer your question online today, we'll turn to the formal part of the meeting business and endeavor to respond to you after the meeting. So over to you, John. Have we got any questions online?
We have not received any questions from shareholders online.
Okay. We have further opportunity to ask questions against each of the items, the ordinary resolutions, as we go through them. So I'll move on to those ordinary resolutions. If you do have questions, please do submit them. So ladies and gentlemen, we now come to the formal part of the business, matters requiring resolution, which are outlined in the notice of meeting. You may ask questions on each matter being put to shareholders through the virtual meeting website. Now, moving to the resolutions, I propose to call a poll on each of these resolutions. As I mentioned, shareholders will be able to cast their vote using the electronic voting card received when online registration was validated. The votes, you will need to click Get Voting Card within the online meeting platform. You'll be asked to enter your shareholder or proxy number to validate.
Please then mark your voting card in the way you wish to vote by ticking For, Against, or Abstain on the voting card. Once you have made your selection, please tick Submit Vote on the bottom of the card to log your vote. Please refer to the virtual meeting online portal guide or use the helpline on 0800 200 220 if you're in New Zealand or +64 9967 7751 if you're outside New Zealand should you require assistance. Voting will remain open until five minutes after the conclusion of the meeting, and the results of the vote will be announced by both stock exchanges this afternoon. Each resolution set out in the notice of meeting is to be considered as an ordinary resolution, and as such, must be approved by a simple majority of the votes cast by shareholders entitled to vote and voting on the resolution.
The outcome of proxy votes will be displayed for your information on the slide for each of the resolutions. As I'm personally involved in the next agenda item, I'm going to hand over to the chair, the chair to Fiona Oliver, for the next item.
Thank you, Andy, and good morning. The first resolution this morning is related to the re-election of Andy Green as the director. Andy Green joined the board as a non-executive director in November 2020. He retires by rotation and offers himself for re-election this year. Andy's credentials are set out in the notice of meeting. I now invite Andy to address the meeting on his proposed election, which is in the form of a pre-recorded video.
Hello. I'm Andy Green, and I've been chair of Gentrack for just over three years. I'm pleased to put myself forward for re-election at today's meeting. Over the last three years, the board have supported the management in re-energizing Gentrack and creating growth despite the turmoil in the U.K. energy market. We are now focused on setting Gentrack on a sustainable growth path, taking advantage of the global shift to green energy. I've been working in the global tech sector for many years, formerly as a CEO and more recently as a chair and non-executive director. I also advise the U.K. government on long-term infrastructure policy. I hope to bring my understanding of global markets, my passion for the green energy transition, and my long experience as a chair and non-executive director in many markets to bear on our journey.
I would be delighted to serve a further three years if that was the wish of shareholders. Thank you.
The board has determined that Andy is an independent director for the purposes of the NZX Listing R ules. Andy himself has also determined that he is independent in accordance with the new provisions recommended by the Corporate Governance Code. The board unanimously supports the re-election of Andy. I now propose that Andy Green be re-elected as a director of Gentrack Group Limited. Are there any questions for the board concerning the motion from shareholders in attendance online?
There are no questions on this matter from shareholders joining online.
Thank you. Please now select either For, Against, or Abstain for resolution one on the voting card. I now hand the chair back to Andy.
I'll mute while blowing my nose. Apologies for that. Thank you, Fiona. We now move on to resolution two, the re-election of Gary Miles as Director. Gary Miles joined the board as Managing Director in October 2020. He retires by rotation and offers himself for re-election this year. Gary's credentials are set out in the notice of meeting. I now invite Gary to address the meeting on his proposed election, and again, it will be done by video.
Hi. My name's Gary Miles. I'm standing for re-election as a Gentrack board representative. I've served on Gentrack's board for three years. I think we've achieved a lot as a board team, but we have amazing things to do in front of us to grow and scale this business globally and to continue to provide long-term value for our shareholders, our people, and our customers. And so I would like to get your support for this next term in Gentrack, and we look forward to delivering continued long-term value. Thank you.
The board unanimously supports the re-election of Gary. I now propose that Gary Miles be re-elected as director of Gentrack Group Limited. Are there any questions for the board concerning the motion from shareholders in attendance online?
There are no questions on this matter from shareholders joining online.
Thank you. Please now select either For, Against, or Abstain for resolution two on the voting card. We'll now move on to resolution three. Resolution three is the re-election of Stewart Sherriff as a director. Stewart Sherriff joined the board as a non-executive director in 2020. He retires by rotation and offers himself for re-election this year. Stewart's credentials are set out in the notice of the meeting. I now invite Stewart to address the meeting again by video on his proposed election.
Good morning, everyone. I've been on the board of Gentrack now for just over three years. I also served on the People and Culture Committee. It really has been an exciting journey, both with the opening of new offices in India and Singapore and then also the development of our new product, G2, soon to be deployed in New Zealand. But to me, the biggest unsung hero within the organization has been the transformation of the culture. I'm a huge believer in great culture leads to great results. And so if I'm re-elected, I would continue to strive to create an environment that allows everyone to reach their potential within the organization and contribute to the success. So I'd like to thank you in advance for endorsing my nomination for re-election for another three years. Thank you.
The board has determined that Stewart Sherriff is an independent director, and he himself has done so as well for the purposes of the NZX listing rules. The board unanimously supports the re-election of Stewart. I now propose that Stewart Sherriff be re-elected as director of Gentrack Group Limited. Are there any questions for the board concerning the motion from shareholders in attendance online?
There are no questions on this matter from shareholders joining online.
Thank you. Please would you now select either For, Against, or Abstain on the voting card? We now move on to resolution four, the final resolution, which is authorization to fix auditors' remuneration. Resolution four concerns the remuneration of Gentrack's auditor. The Companies Act 1993 provides that Ernst & Young continue in office as auditor. However, a resolution is required in respect of their remuneration. Details of the proposed resolution are outlined in the notice of meeting. I now propose that the directors are authorized to fix the remuneration of Ernst & Young as auditor of Gentrack for the ensuing year. Are there any questions for the board concerning the motion from shareholders in attendance online?
There are no questions on this matter from shareholders joining online.
Thank you, John. So thank you. Please could you now select either For, Against, or Abstain for resolution four? That concludes the formal part of the meeting. You should now have submitted your votes, but if you haven't, there is five minutes' grace period at the end of the meeting. Ladies and gentlemen, we thank you for your attendance at Gentrack's general meeting and for your continued support of the company. We'll be announcing the results of the formal business of the meeting on the stock exchanges later today. I now declare the meeting closed.