Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen, and fellow shareholders. Thank you for joining us today for the annual meeting of Oceania Healthcare. Today's meeting has been held both in person here at the Park Hyatt Auckland and also online. The online meeting allows shareholders, proxies, and guests to attend the meeting virtually. Shareholders and proxies who are attending the online meeting have the ability to ask questions and submit votes online. I would encourage you to send your questions through as early as possible, as that will allow us to answer the questions at the appropriate time during the meeting. If you have any issues with voting or asking questions, please refer to the virtual meeting guide or use the Q&A tab to ask for help, and a member of the Computershare team will assist you.
I am pleased to advise that this meeting has been properly convened and the notice of meeting duly given. There being a quorum of shareholders present, I declare the annual meeting open. I am Elizabeth Coutts, Chair of Oceania Healthcare. To begin with, I would like to take this opportunity to introduce those people alongside me today. On my left is Brent Pattison, our Chief Executive Officer. To my right is Alan Isaac, an independent director. Next to Alan is Dame Kerry Prendergast, an independent director. Next to Dame Kerry is Sally Evans, an independent director. Next to Sally is Greg Tomlinson, an independent director. Next to Greg is Rob Hamilton, an independent director. And next to Rob is Peter Dufaur, an independent director.
Also in attendance today are members of our executive team: Kathryn Waugh, our Chief Financial Officer; Andrew Buckingham, our Chief Property Officer; Anita Hawthorne, our Chief Operating Officer; Claire Fisher, our Chief Legal and Risk Officer; and Tracy Taylor, our Chief People Officer. We also have in attendance today our newly appointed Chief Executive Officer, Suzanne Dvorak. Also in attendance with us today are representatives from Chapman Tripp, our legal advisers, and Ernst & Young, our auditors. Voting. When we come to the formal business of the meeting, I shall put various motions to the meeting that need to be seconded. Where appropriate, I shall give an opportunity for discussion and then put the motion to the vote. In accordance with the NZX listing rules, voting will be by poll, and I would ask only shareholders and/or proxy holders to vote, please. Computershare will act as scrutineer.
The results of the meeting will be published to the market later today. For those shareholders and proxies attending the meeting online, I will shortly open voting for all resolutions to provide you with enough time to vote. At that time, if you are eligible to vote at this meeting, a vote icon will appear. Selecting this icon will bring up a list of resolutions and present you with voting options. To cast your vote, simply select your voting direction from the options shown on the screen. You may vote for all resolutions at once or by each resolution. Your vote has been cast when the tick appears. To change your vote, select Change Your Vote. You have the ability to change your vote up until the time I declare voting is closed. I now declare voting open on all items of business.
For those of you attending the meeting online, please submit your votes using the vote icon at any time. I will let you know before I move to close voting. For those of you attending the meeting here in person, you should all have a voting paper, which was given to you when you registered. If you do not, can you please indicate that by raising your hand and a member of the Computershare team will assist you? For those attending the meeting here in person, should you wish to address a comment or question to the chair, please raise your hand and we will bring a microphone to you. By way of introduction, please advise your name, whether you are a shareholder or, if a proxy holder, the name of the shareholder represented. For those attending the meeting online, questions can be submitted at any time.
To ask a question, please select the Q&A tab on your screen. This will open a new screen. Please 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 questions until the relevant time in the meeting. Please also note that your questions may be moderated, or if we receive multiple questions on one topic, those questions may be combined. Finally, due to time constraints, we may run out of time to answer all of your questions. If this happens, we will answer them in due course via email or by posting responses on our website. The notice of meeting was mailed or emailed to all shareholders and contains the business to be dealt with at this meeting.
May I ask, are there any apologies that anyone would like recorded, please? No, there does not appear to be. A number of shareholders have appointed proxies to cast the vote. 475 shareholders holding 330,458,791 shares, which represents 45.63% of the shares on issue, are represented by valid proxies. The board is holding a number of discretionary proxy votes. I will advise on the number of proxies held by the board to be voted in favour of each resolution that will be put before the meeting today. The minutes of the previous annual meeting were reviewed at the first meeting of directors of the company following the annual meeting and were confirmed as true and correct record of the meeting. The minutes are available for review on the company's website.
The Chief Legal and Risk Officer also has copies available should any shareholder wish to review them at the conclusion of this meeting. Now, the first item of business is to consider and receive the annual report and financial statements for the year ended 31st March 2024 and the audit report thereon. The annual report containing the financial statements and the auditor's report for the year ended 31st March 2024 is available to shareholders on the company's website and was circulated either electronically or in a hard copy form to all shareholders on the register at the time of mailing. We shall take the annual report as having been read. Before seeking your comments on the annual report, I will provide you with an update on the company's performance. This will be followed by an address from Brent Pattison and our Chief Executive Officer.
Let me now share my own insights and reflections on the past year and where we're headed. I want to begin by thanking our team, our partners, and our shareholders for their support shown to the business. I would like to acknowledge that our team of almost 3,000 team members across our sites have worked extremely hard to continue to deliver outstanding services to over 4,100 residents. We also want to thank you, our shareholders, for your continued support. Consistent with the approach taken at the time of the interim results, the directors have resolved not to pay a final dividend to provide for ongoing investment in Oceania's growth and portfolio transformation after taking into consideration cash flow, market conditions, and continued growth opportunities. Strategic capital management remains a core focus for the board and the management team.
Oceania holds sufficient headroom in its NZD 725 million debt facilities, with the headroom at the time of the annual report release more than NZD 100 million and complying with all banking covenants. The two retail bonds issued in 2020 and 2021, with a blended interest rate of 2.7%, represents 35% of the total drawn debt at 31st March 2024. The total debt blended average interest rate for syndicated facilities and retail bonds was 6.1%. Over the last 12 months, the industry has been subject to a review by the Ministry of Housing and Urban Development of the Retirement Villages Act. The public and industry participants were asked to comment on changes to the act. In addition to the ministry's review, there has been a recent focus from the Commerce Commission on potentially unfair contract terms used in the industry.
While Oceania welcomes the reviews and scrutiny, we've always adopted best practice in business operation and contracting. Oceania will continue to provide the best levels of retirement and aged care living services in support of raising overall industry standards for the benefit of residents. Oceania's position remains that weekly fees cease on vacation, the capital sum is repaid when a resident moves into a villa or apartment, and that further management fee does not continue to accrue after the resident leaves. While under Oceania's terms, residents do not share capital gains, they do not bear the risk of capital loss on resales and the costs and risks of refurbishment to prepare the property for resale. In recognition of the increasingly complex and at times uncertain environment in which Oceania operates, board and management have embarked on a program of work to uplift and mature the company's approach to risk management.
This includes deeper consideration of and resilience measures for emerging and escalating risks such as climate, cyber threats, extreme weather, and the use of generative AI technologies. We also have a continued focus on the more traditional and core business risks such as care for our people and residents, development risk, and innovation risk. To assist the board in undertaking this work in March 2024, the board established a risk committee to ensure that Oceania has an appropriate and effective risk management framework in place. Oceania is continually improving its reporting practices, and this year marks a significant step in the journey towards integrated reporting, deepening Oceania's commitment to transparency and sustainable value creation. As part of this journey, Oceania incorporated enhanced metrics in its annual report to measure progress against the sustainability framework introduced last year.
Oceania has met all three of the sustainability-linked loan and performance targets this year. We exceeded our construction waste diversion targets, exceeded our key resident wellbeing target, and have had our targets for GHG emissions validated by the Science Based Targets initiative, as well as seen a reduction in Scope 1 and Scope 2 emissions. In relation to the offer pillar, Oceania now has 10 projects, a total of 495 units certified to Homestar 6 and are aiming for our first Homestar 7 project under the more stricter V5 at our site in Pukekohe, Auckland. The Oceania Resident and People pillars have also seen significant wins this year, with both our key resident and employee Net Promoter Scores statistics increasing. While all of this has been happening, the team has also been working hard to understand climate risks and opportunities over the short, medium, and long term.
Oceania is designated a climate reporting entity under the Aotearoa New Zealand mandatory climate-related disclosures regime. During the reporting period, Oceania has made significant progress in identifying and understanding the risks and opportunities associated with climate change and has invested considerable effort in enhancing its knowledge of potential climate impacts. In Oceania's first year as a climate reporting entity, the groundwork has been completed in relation to identifying and assessing physical risks and transitional risks and potential implications. Oceania released its first climate risk disclosure statements last week, and the greenhouse gas emissions report is available on our website. The board wished to acknowledge and thank Brent Pattison for his resilience and tenacity in the execution of strategy over the last three years, including leading the sector to deliver new forms of innovation. We are pleased to welcome Suzanne Dvorak to the team.
Suzanne has been in the Australian aged care and retirement living sectors for the past decade and will be joining us as Chief Executive Officer on 22nd July. I would now like to invite our CEO, Brent Pattison, to present his report to you. Brent.
Firstly, thank you, Liz. Good afternoon, everyone, and a very warm welcome to you all. It's been a privilege for me to be the Chief Executive Officer over the last several years, but this will be my last annual general meeting. It's been an absolute honour to join you each year and to see how the business has changed and adapted and succeeded in a tough market. Oceania is a team, and it's our people's daily efforts that make this business so great.
There are so many moments of brilliance, empathy, and innovation where our residents truly feel the outworking of our belief in better promise. Today is an opportunity for me to share with you the great strides we've made in embedding our five-year strategy and repositioning our portfolio and being well placed in the market with a leading offer. It's pleasing to present financial results that demonstrate a positive direction of travel, transformation of our property portfolio, and the execution of our strategy. Our team has worked very hard to achieve these results. At the P&L level, we're pleased to report an increase in total comprehensive income of NZD 70.5 million, up 104%, while our non-GAAP measures of underlying EBITDA of NZD 82.6 million and underlying NPAT of NZD 62.1 million are up 3% and 6% respectively on the previous corresponding period.
Included in the underlying EBITDA are development margins of NZD 35.4 million and resale margins of NZD 32.5 million. Operating cash flow and new cash from sales of occupation right agreements have been strong performers at NZD 85.4 million, up 22%, and NZD 226.3 million, up 27% on PCP. For our annual sales recognition, we have applied a consistent approach with previous years. For a sale to be recognized, we require an unconditional ORA contract to be in place. Where the resident was not in occupation at 31 March, we require those residents to have taken occupation within a two-week period following our balance date. We've continued to add to the quality of the Oceania portfolio with the delivery of 182 units and care suites in the 2024 year and are well advanced on next year's pipeline.
Consistent with previous years, units and care suites will be recognized in our development delivery numbers if they are capable of occupation within a set period post-balance date and for work to be substantially complete at balance date. Our divestment program has been successful with 6 assets sold or under contract above book value and aggregate at 31 March, providing circa NZD 40 million of cash proceeds for deleveraging Oceania and supporting our new growth. It was satisfying in FY24 to not only deliver favorable financial results, but to continue to make progress on our strategy to deliver future value.
Since the IPO in 2017, we have grown our total assets by over 200% to nearly NZD 3 billion, operating cash flows by more than 100% to NZD 85.4 million, and delivered over 1,350 new units and care suites across the full spectrum of property typologies, with the greatest weighting towards high-quality premium apartments and care suites. At 31 March, over 90% of our total assets are property assets, which are carried at fair value as independently assessed by CBRE. No directors' valuation adjustments were made in the period. Colliers were also engaged to perform a review of CBRE's valuation of certain sites in the portfolio, comprising 43% of the total value of our property assets.
This review supported the CBRE valuation. People often hear me say we deliver critical infrastructure and essential services, and we set about modernizing and transforming the portfolio of properties to the highest levels of Homestar certification.
We pioneered the introduction of the nurse practitioner model, and this provides a dual benefit for Oceania. Firstly, career pathways and retention of our clinical staff, and secondly, personalized high-quality care for our residents, while traditional New Zealand GP practices have been in decline. We've made staying together and later life possible with the introduction of a couples care suite and have taken the next step of providing a private, personalized care offering at the wonderful The Helier. We ambitiously tied our five-year NZD 500 million linked loan to performance targets, which includes canvassing views from our residents about their well-being. We've had an active M&A agenda, having completed over 21 capital transactions since IPO, six acquisitions, and 15 divestments or closures. Oceania is well underway with the next year development program. Excuse me.
We have circa NZD 147 million of development debt work in progress, and by December 2024, we will have completed circa 85% of these units across the three locations you can see on the slide in Auckland. This allows time for new sales and pre-sales cash collection in full year 2025. I have to apologize, I've got a sore throat. Our development land is fair valued by CBRE at our work in progress and held at cost until such a point that the development is substantially complete and capable of being fair valued by our independent valuer. I'll just grab some water. We will conclude the last stage of our development at The Awatere Village in Hamilton with 68 apartments.
At our Meadowbank Village, we are well advanced with a 40-room dementia building, clinically researched, with the resident at the heart of the design, and this completes our 10-year development program at this key village. At our greenfield site in Pukekohe, with site works complete, we are well underway with the construction of a multi-year, multi-stage development of a wonderful new Oceania community. Around 85% of our total independent assessed portfolio valuation is represented in 21 of these village and care properties. These 21 are either brand new or have had major development within the last 6-7 years and have had an average building age of 3 years. These are new and modern and resident-inspired buildings with minimal ongoing maintenance capital required, delivering exceptional resident service and quality outcomes. They have been built with a 50-year lifespan.
As previously communicated, we have rebalanced the overall product mix with 44% independent living, 56% care. We have a stated intention of getting to 50/50 as we build out the rest of our portfolio. Oceania has an attractive, well-positioned land bank across 16 sites in the Golden Triangle, Central North Island, and populated South Island locations. These 16 are already part of the Oceania family and provide over 1,500 units and care suites for future stages of development. In 2024, we opened the first premium private-paying care service in New Zealand at The Helier. Oceania invested heavily in the care suite model to offset the inadequate funding received from the government and to maintain acceptable returns on capital. Excuse me.
At 31 March, 43% of Oceania's total care residents and care suites licensed to residents under an occupation right agreement model. Care suites deliver additional capital and deferred management fees to the business and improve our free cash flow. Care suite DMF has grown from NZD 7.8 million in 2020 to now NZD 16.2 million in 2024 and will continue to grow as the pipeline grows. The care suite model is now well accepted by the market, and we are continuing to see high levels of demand for our care suites, with 258 care suites sold in the year ended 31 March. Looking ahead to 2025 and beyond, we will continue to prudently manage our balance sheet as we navigate short-term uncertainty, volatility in the property market, and potential disruption in the broader economy, with the impacts of inflation likely to be felt for some time.
We continue to invest in our portfolio strategy and transition, knowing not only that this is delivering results for the business, but it is the key to our future growth. Our key audiences, our target customers, are growing and more than doubling by 2050 and becoming more discerning. The baby boomers are redefining aging. The demographics are compelling. By 2030, a mere 5.5 years away, the proportion of the population over 65 will be at least 25% of New Zealand's total. New Zealand will have become an older dominant population profile. Life expectancy is also on the increase. On average, we will be living to 90 years of age with better health. The housing market in New Zealand is also on the turn. If we think about the latest ANZ economic forecast, it updated the OCR as likely to come down in February 2025 rather than May 2025.
There has been significant investment and repositioning in our business, and this puts Oceania in a strong position to capitalize on these undeniable trends that will shape New Zealand's future. Lastly, from me, I love this business, and it has been an absolute privilege to lead Oceania. Our team of 3,000 are the most dedicated, driven, and enthusiastic individuals, and every day they work tirelessly to deliver to our promise of believing better. Thank you, our shareholders, for your support.
Thank you, Brent. Are there any questions arising from the annual report or my address and the presentation from Brent? If you wish to ask a question, please raise your hand, and we will bring a microphone to you. Please advise your name, whether you are a shareholder or a proxy holder. If a proxy holder, the name of the shareholder represented. We have a question over here.
Good afternoon.
Yeah, I've been in shareholder meeting for several years. Every year, you guys just paint a very beautiful picture for us, but unfortunately, the share price at all times is low, and I'm just wondering, are you board member or something? You feel sorry or something like that? But also, what's the steps you guys to adapt to rescue the share price? I remember last year, the share price was NZD 0.70-something. This year, NZD 0.52. Probably next year, also well below NZD 0.10. Thank you.
Thank you. I think all of us are frustrated with the share price, to be honest. I think it has to be seen in the context of the New Zealand market landscape. For some time, we have had buoyant housing growth, and that has fuelled some relatively inexpensive debt, which has led to an asset appreciation.
Oceania has been the beneficiary of that, but when that market turned, we're also—that has been part of the detriment of our share price. Sentiment around the housing market, sentiment around our sales. People have also moved out of equities and taken the advantage of growing interest rates that we haven't seen in New Zealand for some time. I can assure you that at a board level and at an executive level, we think very carefully about how we can restore confidence in the market and confidence with our share price. Part of what we know is that we are investing for future growth. The investment that we've made in our portfolio allows us to be confident about the free cash flow that will accrue from the investments that we've made.
We've done that at a time when our cost of debt was at its lowest, and we've done it at a time to have product coming into a recovering market. So we are all hopeful that the trend is different as you have painted, that the share price does have appreciation as that strategy is embedded and as we see a recovering New Zealand sentiment.
Thank you, Brent. Are there any? Oh, we have a question at the front here. Thank you.
Good afternoon. My name is Rob Chamberlain, and I'm a shareholder. Firstly, I just want to thank you. Firstly, I just want to start by thanking you, Brent, for your leadership over the company over an extremely tumultuous four years. I can offer feedback from my many site visits I've done of the Oceania villages that you are incredibly well respected by the whole team.
Now, my first question is about the divide nd. We should be well past peak debt and should be falling nicely now. So looking at the current trading of what you're seeing with the sales and the trends of the last few months, and knowing the vibe of the board, what's your thoughts on when it might resume?
We will assess that at the September results. As I say, we have not changed our dividend policy this year. We just suspended it. So we're just watching to see how the market develops and what happens to the OCR.
Yeah. Okay, but you've had a couple of months to see how things are going.
That's correct, but we need some more certainty.
And I think, Rob, it's fair to say that a couple of years ago, we brought to market about 519 units, and we were doing that across eight locations.
We had COVID and a few other things that interrupted us, so we would have liked to have seen a more linear pattern of our development spend coupled with the cash that comes from that. You're right to say that we are looking through the peak of the debt, and that's part of what our divestments program has been about, deleveraging the balance sheet, getting back to healthier gearing levels. So that gives some confidence around cash coming out of the business for payment of dividends. But it is a board matter. We haven't changed our policy, and I think we're right at that moment in time where we're all wanting to see some more or further signs of recovery in the marketplace as part of that contemplation.
Okay, thanks. The next question is about The Helier.
I see you continuing to buy up more The Helier neighbors, and I guess you're going to be spending NZD 20 million-NZD 25 million bucks to secure the land you're after. So the first of a couple of questions is, have you fully collected the set yet? And for curiosity, what do you actually do with these empty mansions once you've got them?
So I think Oceania has always had a focus on growth, but it's also had a focus on delivering fantastic product to the market. Rob, I know yourself and other shareholders have had the benefit of going to The Helier. It's just something magnificent. It's in a great location, and we have wanted to protect the views, and we've wanted to create the best resident experience we can there.
So we've been quietly, and as soon as you knock on one neighbour's door, the other neighbour knows about it, but quietly securing key sites for further development. The market recognition that we've had for The Helier has been outstanding. The residents that we have in situ love living there, and we're hoping that that word of mouth leads to a full building as quickly as we can make that happen. But also, we want to protect and be able to develop down to the Glover Park Road access way. So that's been part of it. It's a strategic acquisition. It's an opportunity for a bit of land banking to continue to add value to The Helier site.
It's also consistent with our strategy over many years where we've got key sites. We have acquired adjoining land and developed that. So we've been doing that for many years now.
Okay, but are yo u nearly there? And what do you do with the houses when you've got them?
Well, the houses for us, we've come to different arrangements for each of those landowners, which gives us an ability to manage our cash flow and our balance sheet. So some of those are deferred settlements. Some of them are with the tenants still in occupation, but eventually, those homes will be replaced with a new stage of development for The Helier.
Okay. And so my last question is, looking at the size of the land and the cost of it, I figure you'll eventually be building another 50 or 60 apartments. My concern is the current 79 The Helier sites at the current sales rate seems a little slow. I think somebody said 19 apartment sales as of 31st of March.
Then to make things even more difficult for your sales is Summerset up the road about to open in November.
Yeah. It's good that you've pointed out our competition, Rob. The Summerset opportunity up the road is something very different. It's 400 apartments, and it's a mess. The Helier is boutique, bespoke, 79 apartments. We are now, as of today, 24 sold of those 79. We've opened private paying care, and we're 6 sold of the 30-odd rooms that we have there, and we're seeing real momentum. We recently received Best in Category award at the Property Council of New Zealand for The Helier and a merit award for The Bellevue that we have in Christchurch. We're very confident about what we've delivered there. It's not competition for Summerset, St Johns, nor is there site competition for The Helier.
It's a totally different offering, totally different price point.
Okay. So the 24 that you've now sold currently, they're living in them now, or are they still their houses?
So we had 13 that we'd recognise through to May 2024, and we've had a further 11. So we've got people that are in the process of moving in, and some have already moved in. Excellent.
So my last question from me is about my concern for the oversupply of the high demographic target, specifically The Helier, but also Hobsonville Point. Can you offer your insights and experience to date, which is partially done, that helps me understand why Oceania think building another 50 or 60, say, at Helier will be sustainable? What gives Oceania the confidence that there is enough demand for so much high-end and future product when current sal es seem pretty average at the moment?
Can you include in your answer the current sales situation, what you've just done? Thank you. Any expectations of Waterford when that opens, I presume, at Christmas?
Waterford has been a tremendously value-accreted acquisition for us. We bought Waterford off a highly respected property developer, but they actually realized the complexity of the operating model, and that's something that Oceania has a lot of expertise in. Since acquiring that site, we have sold all of the apartments that we had that were unsold when we acquired it. We have in occupation 100% of the villas sold. We're about to commission a new building, and that comes to market, and you can imagine that there's really strong pre-sales demand that has accrued for that. It's the last of the apartment development phase on the site.
We have a commitment to care over time, but people want to be in that location. It's right at the entry to Hobsonville Point for those people that are unfamiliar with it, and it's in a master plan community that people thoroughly enjoy living in. So we've got strong expectations of sales momentum at The Waterford when we open those new properties. And what we do is we design product that is right product, right place for the right target market. The Helier is a one-off. The Helier is something unique. Waterford is obviously still a very premium product, but it's for a slightly different demographic. And so we ensure, Rob, that across the portfolio, we've got the optionality to suit residents from all walks of life and all different sets of circumstances, whether it's villas, whether it's apartments, whether it's care suite.
That's the benefit of being a portfolio company. 40-odd sites, 22 very newly built, purpose-built properties for our residents.
Lovely. That's all from me. And just to finish up, I wish you all the best, Brent, for where it is you are going.
Thank you, Rob.
Thank you, Rob. Thanks for your questions. They're good questions. Do we have any further questions from the floor? Can I ask, have there been any questions submitted? Oh, is there? Sorry. John.
Yes. I have a number of questions. My name is John Boscawen. I'm a proxy holder for Hobson Enterprises, the shareholder in the company. I might start with a flippant remark. Sir, I remember the share price was NZD 1.50, not 75 cents. But I'd like to raise the issue of parking at some of the company's villages.
If you would allow me a few minutes just to give you a bit of history, because I did actually raise this issue at the 2021 AGM, and I think my comments were largely ignored. So I just want to take a bit of extra time. I came to invest in this company in October 2018 when I heard a presentation by the previous executive, Bill Gasparich, who outlined a program for redevelopment of the Oceania sites. Over the next couple of months, I visited over 40 of the company's villages, including sites in Feilding, Picton, Tokoroa. So far-flung all around New Zealand. And I have to agree with you, Brent, in your report. The changes that this company has made have been absolutely transformational.
When I first went to the Melrose Village in Tauranga, prime CBD location in Waihi Beach, there were some rooms in Melrose you wouldn't want to keep a dog, let alone human beings. The Trevellyn facility in Hamilton wasn't much better. I saw in 2018 the major redevelopment of Meadowbank, two-storey atrium, high-quality facilities. I've seen over the last six years you redeveloped some of those sites I initially saw. But my concern is parking. Having visited your sites regularly, the issue I raised at the 2021 AGM was the fact that you started by building the care suite facility. You had built the first independent apartment block, but it probably only had underground parking for about a third of the residents who were in that first building.
And when I go back and look at that Tauranga village, as I do regularly, I see the southern side of those independent apartments largely empty. I could be wrong, but whereas on the northern and the sunny side, you will see patios with furniture and people activity. But it seems to me on the southern side there's been virtually no sales over the last two years. You then developed a second independent block in Tauranga, once again, once occasion with no underground parking. And you are asking people, the point I made three years ago, you're asking people in their late 70s and 80s to spend the last active years of their life going shopping, bringing their cars back, unpacking their groceries. If it's in the rain, it's in the rain, and walking to the units in the rain.
Now, I mentioned a number of sites, and I particularly recall mentioning the Christchurch site, Bellevue. And the point was made, we've got liquefaction in Christchurch. So I guess I was made to look a fool because there was a legitimate reason for not building underground parking in Christchurch, albeit I know Ryman can do it down at Riccarton, but that's a few kilometers away. So my point is this. I'd really like an assurance because you have plans to build a third and fourth independent block in Tauranga. You're building one in Hamilton. You mentioned 68 units in Hamilton. As you and I both know, the one that you previously built has also got no underground parking. And my point is this. We have, or you have, this company has transformed your investments, but you're selling yourself short. There is a missed opportunity there.
If I'm sitting on NZD 1 million and I'm 80 years old, I have a choice. Do I want to either have my if I want to have a villa, I can go park my car 5 minutes from my lounge. But if I'm an independent apartment, I expect to go down the stairs, go down the lift into an undercover car park. And if I'm confronted with situations in Tauranga, in Awatere, in Hamilton now, and potentially at Lady Allum on the North Shore, I won't consider Oceania. I won't consider Oceania. And I totally agree with your comments on Summerset and St Johns. It is a different market. And you said that Summerset have got 400 units. But I'll tell you something, every one of those independent units has got a basement car park, and I don't know if that's the case in St Heliers.
So my first question is to the directors. Does car parking concern you? Do you see it as a lost opportunity? Your comments, both the chair and the chief executive, I'd appreciate those comments.
Thank you. Thank you, John. It's much appreciated. First of all, parking does concern us. To that end, the board has asked management to address those parking issues, as we did, I think, in Christchurch. We couldn't resolve it because of liquefaction. But we did put carports in, and so we did improve the aesthetics of the car parking area as well as put carports in. In terms of Tauranga, we are looking to put additional car parks in there. They won't be underground, but at that site, we also offer valet parking. So your car can be delivered to you. Brent, you might want to put some more detail.
But you are right. Car parking on some of those sites has been too tight. There is insufficient for today.
Yeah. I think, John, these are relevant considerations. If we look across the portfolio, we've got about a 70% resident-to-car parking ratio. Oceania, by its very nature, has had an older resident population, and so that's been part of how we've got to our car parking ratios. So Oceania has a population that's about 83.6 on average if we think about residents. I'm pleased that you have raised this because it is a key question, and it's a difficult question in terms of making the appropriate commercial returns. Underground car parking is incredibly expensive to build and maintain and deliver. So we've spent a lot of time talking to our residents about what their needs are.
As Liz said, part of that is changing the service model so that we play a role of satisfying their transportation woes. If we think about The BayView in particular, with the addition of Andrew to our team, Andrew Buckingham, who's our GM of sorry, he's our Chief Property Officer, we've actually taken a really good look at every single property. And so much so that as it relates to The BayView , we've considered how we can deliver a lot more car parking at that site and potentially even slow down some of the future stages of development on that site to ensure that we have fully occupied apartments. I do know a couple that Bill and Judy, who are on the southern side of that The BayView , and they love being on the southern side. It looks out towards where their farm was.
So we've got to find those people that we can accommodate, whether it's view, whether it's aspect, whether it's car parking. At Awatere, we've done the same. So we took an area of the site that was unused, and we put a bunch of on-grade car parking there. We put in some security. We put in some car parking on the ground floor under the building to allow for a better resident vibe, if you like. We've tried to clean up our concourses so that they are free of staff parking so that there's adequate visitor parking. But it is something that everybody wrestles with in terms of getting that ratio right. But we have been undertaking a very targeted approach to improving parking. Full stop. So I'm pleased that since 2021, you've been raising it. You will see it manifest in the developments that we're actually doing.
I guess it concerns me that I don't. So we will see it at the Bayfair. When you go down there next, there's a section where you come up to the concourse that will be turning into car parking. Awatere is something that we've done at the apartment end of the property. As Liz mentioned, we've done car parking and sheltered car parking at the Bayfair, as well as adding additional parking down the side of the building. So I visit your sites regularly, so I've got a pretty good idea of what's there. So to clarify for the other shareholders, when you say 70% car park to units, just to clarify, that's undercover car parks and open car parks. Correct. It's a combination of car parking on the site. Thank you.
So when you talk about covered car parks and carports at Bayfair and Christchurch, I'm correct in saying that the carports are not connected t o the main building. And so in the rain, you would have to walk out through the rain to get to your carport. Am I correct?
That's correct, but it's a very short walk from the entranceway to a car park. But it is open for a small stage of that walk. Yes. Well, I'll just give notice to the chairman because when the directors come up for re-election, I intend to ask each of them, if they were confronted with the choice of walking, albeit just a short distance in the rain, whether they would consider Oceania as a village to buy into. Moving now to The Awatere, you said, once again, 70% car park coverage.
Tell me, how many car parks, undercover car parks in the basement, are there in that second, that final building of 68 units?
Yeah. So it's about 50/50. So they're all on-grade, but some are under the building and some are out in the open. So it's about 50/50. So half of 68, you say 34 would be undercover and 34 would be out in the open?
Yeah. Around those ratios. Okay. Thank you very much. That's my questions at this stage.
Okay. Thank you, John. Are there any other questions from the floor? Look very dark there. Oh, yes, we have another question here. Thank you.
My name's Wally Smale, and I'm a shareholder. I'd just like to put emphasis on what John's just said. And I can perhaps, to some degree, speak from a bit of experience.
The question that do you people I mean, I've been to The Helier, and I'm most impressed with most of what there's at The Helier. It sounds great to live there, and I would like to do it, but my wife and myself went there. I would have loved to have. But there are a couple of things. One, the car parking. The unit that we looked at, there was one I mean, you probably know there's got an air conditioning thing right down the harbor that you see, and we were looking at that unit. I think it was a 2- or 3-bedroom 3-bedroom unit, I think, which, to me, destroyed ultimately that place. Okay? We weren't offered anything else. Now, I don't that's fine because that's what we sort of looked the actual layout was fantastic. We had a question on the car parking.
One was, I said, "Well, could we get two car parks?" And it was a straight-out, "No." So as far as I'm concerned, I still drive. My wife drives. We do different things. I mean, as I think, I mean, I'm a sports person. My wife's into the arts and does artwork, guiding, and stuff like that. So that was an issue. One of the other things about The Helier, in my mind, and I just want to say again, it's a fabulous place. It would be great to live there, but the actual access for cars is not that great. It was a hell of a long way from that apartment that we looked at. A long way. So I would have needed a big trolley somewhere to put it to take it up there. I don't know where I'd do it.
And if I took it up there, I'd have to take it down again. I wondered where I would put my wine. Okay? I do have a bit of a wine cellar at home, and I don't expect to transport it all. But if you have a look at where you've got to put your wine, well, and you want to go down and get a bottle, it's almost like going, "But to St Heliers Bay to buy one." But so John, what John says needs serious consideration. So I would suggest that, well, I ask the question, do you do soft questioning of people that go in there and look at your place, places, your apartments, whatever, and ask them why they didn't buy? Because we ultimately are looking for a place to go. But I've just told you the things, the reason why we wouldn't go there.
So I went back, and my wife and myself, we talked there. I slept the night, and I thought, and I worked, and we get up and walk in the mornings at 7:00 A.M. That's an issue there, really, because there's no flat areas to walk, or very few. And we both woke up, and I looked at my wife and said, "Look, I don't think we can do this. There's too much going against us." But that said, again, I just want to emphasize a fabulous place. But more attention to this sort of detail, I think, is critical.
So that is wonderful feedback. The Helier was designed with resident feedback. So we spent a lot of time thinking about what we've developed over many, many years now, thinking about what residents enjoy, what they don't enjoy. We've made it so that it is a wonderful place to live.
So thank you for your comments about that. There is an apartment there to suit everyone. So I know exactly the apartment that you're talking about, and its views of the city. We've been in a situation where, at The Helier, as you might know, we put in a wine library so that we could actually store your wine. And you'd be able to drive up to the concourse and point to the copious amounts of bottles in the back, and we'd be able to have our staff house that for you and look after it. Part of The Helier has actually been about running almost like a hotel service to take the hassle out of everyday living, to make it convenient, to make it relevant.
We have a great team of people that have come from a background of serving people and understanding what good service looks like. Part of solving for car park is also the changing transportation needs of people. There's a lot more rideshare that occurs now. There's a lot more concierge driving. So we acquired two EV cars to allow those to be used by the residents or allow us to take them to the various things that they wish to do. So that's all part of trying to get this right. So we do listen to our residents of today, and we listen to our residents of the future. As both myself and Liz have said, we are sensitive to getting this exactly right.
So we do think about car parking, but we also think about the size of apartments, and we also think about the commercial outcomes that you require of us as shareholders when we make those decisions. Thank you. Thank you, Brent. Yes, another question. Just a quick comment. Not everybody wants to own a car. Many people use buses. I use buses quite a lot of time. And I think if it's cheaper for people to get an apartment without a garage and they're saving NZD 50 thousand or NZD 100 thousand,
That's great. Thank you.
Thank you. Can I say that New Zealand's got the unenviable record at the moment of being the country with the most highest car ownership in the world? We love our cars. Yes, I have another question down the front here. Sorry, some of you are in the shadows. I can't always see you.
My name is Haley Ching. I'm a shareholder. I don't have a question, but I have a solution. That's great. Just listening to this, I now understand why the share price of Oceania has held so low. I just suggest for each village that doesn't have sufficient car parks or garages, etc., to just buy a car, not too many. Then it's for sharing for those people who live in the village. So they have those cars. It's very common already about more than 10 years ago in Toronto, Canada. Yeah, which I have investment there, so I know it's very trendy there. So it may be useful here to solve the problem and then have more sales in the village. Yeah. Thank you.
Thank you. Thank you for that suggestion of car sharing.
I have a question that's been submitted online, and it's got, "Would Oceania consider a share buyback program considering the depressed share price?" Look, the board considers all options in relation to capital structure, deployment, and distributions. But at this time, while we have considered it, the board is opting to retain capital for ongoing investment and growth, taking into account where we are at the moment with cash growing and the market headwinds and the growth opportunities ahead. So we certainly do consider it, but at this stage, we prefer to just keep the money in the company for future growth and development. Are there any more questions in the room or online? I don't see any online. No. Thank you. No. Look, great feedback. We really appreciate it. We now move to the formal part of the meeting. All items of business are ordinary resolutions.
To be passed, they require approval by a simple majority of more than 50% of the votes of shareholders entitled to vote in voting on the resolutions. Voting will be by polls. Each share held by a shareholder confers one vote. For those of you attending the meeting in person, please cast your vote. Please complete your vote paper by ticking for, against, or abstain in the appropriate place for each resolution when I invite you to vote on the resolution. Voting papers will be collected by Computershare after the voting on the resolution is closed. If you have any difficulty, please raise your hand, and a member of the Computershare team will assist you. For those of you attending the meeting online, as I mentioned before, to vote, please select the vote icon. This will bring up a list of resolutions and present you with voting options.
To cast your vote, simply select one of the options. There is no need to press submit or enter button as the vote is automatically recorded. So I move to re-election of directors. The next item in business, which relates to re-election of a director under rule 2.7.1 of the NZX Listing Rules, a director must not hold office without being re-elected past the third annual meeting following that director's appointment or three years, whichever is longer. In this case, Alan Isaac, Dame Kerry Prendergast, Sally Evans, and Greg Tomlinson are offering themselves for re-election as a director of the company. The first resolution. The board has determined that in its view, if re-elected, Alan Isaac will continue to be an independent director for the purpose of the NZX Listing Rules. Alan Isaac stands for re-election with the support of the other directors of the company.
A brief biography regarding Alan is included on the website and in the notice of meeting. I now invite Alan to briefly talk in support of his re-election. Alan.
Thanks, Liz. Good afternoon, everyone. I welcome the opportunity to speak briefly to you today. As you will have noted in my bio, I'm a chartered accountant, but I've also had significant commercial experience with a number of leadership roles, both in New Zealand and internationally. I mention the commercial experience because, in my opinion, experience is being undervalued today in the interest of a greater focus on diversity in many aspects of our life. In my governance roles, I either chair the board or the audit and risk committees. Oceania has maintained an enterprise-wide risk management policy supported by regular executive and board reporting on risk management since 2016.
Recognizing the increasingly complex environment in which Oceania operates, the board has created a Risk Subcommittee, which I've asked the chair to provide an even sharper focus on our risks. As chair of the Audit Committee, I led the tender process for the appointment of our external auditors. As you are aware, we appointed Ernst & Young, who have undertaken the audit for the 2024 financial year. This change of auditors has provided a valuable, fresh look at Oceania's accounting policies and disclosures. Pleasingly, they have endorsed our approach, which we've applied consistently to the complex accounting requirements in the sector. Specifically, I'd like to comment that we value our properties based on independent valuations undertaken each six months, some of which we get peer-reviewed.
On the odd occasion in recent years where we have applied a director's valuation to a property, it's been to lower the independent valuer's value and has been appropriately disclosed. As you are aware, we've sold a number of properties in recent times as part of our strategy to transform our portfolio, and the total monies received in aggregate have been in line with book values, which we consider supports our approach to valuing our properties. Like you all, I'm a shareholder in Oceania with a beneficial interest in more than 400,000 shares. In fact, I've purchased 50,000 of those shares in the last couple of weeks, and I look forward to contributing to Oceania's future. Thank you.
Thank you, Alan. I now move that Alan Isaac be re-elected as a director of the company. Can I have a seconder, please? Thank you, Kieran. It's hard to see.
Hard to see in front of me with the lighting. Thank you. Is there any discussion? John.
Mr. Isaac, you heard from Wally a short time ago saying he likes directors who've got a close eye for detail. I'm also one of those. You have a very successful commercial background. You own 400,000 shares in the company. I imagine you're successful financially, probably have a nice car. Would you be happy parking, let's say, a late-model European car in a carport for the last five or six years of your active life?
John, you're obviously referring to the value. I think car parking is one of the factors that I'd consider when I was looking at changing my residence. So it wouldn't be ideal, but it might be that it has all of the other factors.
So sometimes you have to make trade-offs, I think, when you're making those sorts of decisions. But it's not ideal. And just perhaps I could take the opportunity to reinforce the responses that Liz and Brent gave to you. We're often discussing the challenges that we have around car parking, particularly at The Bellevue and Tauranga. So it's something we give a lot of attention to. We don't have a perfect solution, but it does get a lot of consideration.
Thank you. The Bellevue's in Christchurch. It's Bayfair and Bay. Sorry, I meant Tauranga and The Bellevue and Christchurch. But there are carports in Christchurch. And I think they're proposed to be carports in Tauranga. But thank you for your answer. We have looked at other solutions in Tauranga as well. It's something that gets a lot of attention, the point I was trying to make. Thank you.
Thank you, John. Are there any further questions? Yes, we have one at the back.
Derek Tan, shareholder. I've got a question for you, Alan. Would the floor be privy to know how much you actually pay for the shares?
Well, perhaps it's private, but my average cost is about NZD 1. And what I would say in response to the question that was made earlier, if you look at the. What are the recent shares that you bought? The recent ones were public. I think they were bought at NZD 0.52 or NZD 0.53. All right. How long ago was that? Pick a button. How long ago was it? Two weeks ago. The announcement is on the NZX. You can see specifically.
Thank you. Are there any further questions? Okay.
I now put the motion and invite you to vote by marking Resolution 1 on your voting card and selecting one of the options in the vote icon. I advise that the board is holding a total of 335,266 discretionary proxies, which will be voted in favor of the resolution. The next resolution. The board has determined that in its view, the re-elected Dame Kerry Prendergast will continue to be an independent director for the purposes of the NZX Listing Rules. Dame Kerry Prendergast stands for re-election with the support of the other directors of the company. A brief biography regarding Dame Kerry is included on the website and in the notice of meeting. I now invite Dame Kerry to briefly talk in support of her re-election. Thank you.
Thank you very much. Good afternoon. I'm Kerry Prendergast, and I've been on the board of Oceania since 2016.
My expertise is in the clinical health and safety area. I commenced my general and obstetric nursing in 1970, completed an intensive care diploma in 1973, and was a midwife in public and private capacities, including in management, from 1976 to 2001, so 25 years. I spent 24 years in local government, culminating in the last nine years as mayor of Wellington City. And then subsequent to that, so since 2010, the last 14 years, I've been a company director with a diverse range of directorships, mainly in the public and the not-for-profit sectors. This included being on the first WorkSafe board set up after the Pike River disaster. I have chaired Oceania's Clinical and Health and Safety Committee for several years now, and it's pleasing to see the great achievements that Oceania has made in these areas.
The intentional investment in the model of clinical excellence over the years has resulted in significant improvements to policies and procedures in both the clinical and health and safety spaces. When Oceania entered into a sustainability-linked loan two years ago, the team set a very ambitious target around improvements to care resident well-being. At the time, it was so ambitious that it was thought the target would not be met until the fifth year. We're thrilled that this year, the second year of the loan term, that target has been exceeded. This is a direct measure of the great work that the people at sites undertake each day, our people. It's great to be on the board of a company that is continuously looking to innovate and providing governance advice in relation to that is very rewarding.
The most recent innovation, private care at The Helier, has been a great step forward, and it's been really lovely to meet with the first foundation residents. I'm also an Oceania shareholder, and I ask for your support in my re-election to the board for a further term. And John, you're going to jump up again? Shall I comment now before I sit down? All right. I'll wait.
No questions. Sit down, Madam Chair. Thank you. Thank you. All right. I now move that Dame Kerry Prendergast be re-elected as a director of the company. Can I have a seconder, please? Alan, thank you. Thank you. Is there any discussion? John, thank you.
Madam Chair, the reason I'm pushing this point is I raised these issues three years ago, and I think my comments and, I guess, concerns were really ignored at the time.
And yes, we talk about the share price, we talk about profits, but this is more than just a this is more than just a business. This is actually an opportunity to provide high-quality care and facilities to people in the later years of their life. And that's actually one of the issues, one of the reasons I invest in the sector. It's not just money. It's actually creating opportunities and lifestyles for people. However, I don't want to overstay my welcome, so this will be the last question I ask. The third and fourth directors get off easily.
Was looking forward to your question, John.
And Dame Kerry, if you've been a director since 2016, you have been there through the entire time of the transformation that Brent referred to in his comments, and the company has transformed.
The facilities are far, far superior to what they were eight years ago. But my question, have you been to Bayfair, The BayView , since the last independent apartment building was completed less than 12 months ago?
So this green light isn't coming on. Oh, they've turned it on. Yes, I have. And I can assure you that along with my fellow directors, the issue of car parking and, from my perspective, a swimming pool, is raised every time that we look at new developments. Christchurch was specifically difficult because of the issue of the earthquake and liquefaction. So the site, we couldn't go underground. So therefore, it had to be upgraded. And we acknowledge and we're doing more work around the fact that there is an area where you have to walk and you're not completely undercover.
At Bayfair, we also acknowledge it, but we have to take into account the cost of providing, whether it's underground or upgraded, and the market. So you add on an underground car park at NZD 50,000, that has to go onto the cost of the apartment. If the market in Christchurch won't be at that cost, there are the trade-offs that Alan talked about we make. But it is certainly something I've had elderly family in care for years. It won't be long before I'll be making those decisions for myself and my husband. Upgraded covered car parking or below-ground car parking will be essential for my decision-making.
Thank you. That's me. Done.
Thank you, John. They're good questions. It actually helps the board because it's a board action item, and it's on Andrew's and Anita's agenda, and it's not going off until they fix it.
So thank you. So I now put the motion and invite you to vote by marking Resolution 2 on your voting card or selecting one of the options in the vote icon. I advise that the board is holding a total of 342,370 discretionary proxies, which will be voted in favor of this resolution. I now move to Resolution 3. The board has determined that in its view, if re-elected, Sally Evans will continue to be an independent director for the purposes of the NZX Listing Rules. Sally Evans stands for re-election with the support of the other directors of the company. A brief biography regarding Sally is included on the website and is in the notice of meeting, and I now invite Sally to briefly talk in support of her re-election. Sally.
Welcome, everyone, and thank you for considering my re-election to the board of Oceania.
It is indeed a great privilege to represent you in this fantastic company. As you have heard today, Oceania has been expanding their measures for success and taken a step towards Integrated Reporting. This has been particularly helpful to align investors' strategy and subsequently design the remuneration and incentive frameworks to deliver these outcomes. This approach is showing up through positive cultural change, something that I also had visibility of through my role as chair of the People and Culture Committee. In my role as committee chair, I have seen the establishment of the role of Chief People Officer on the executive team, an increasing Employee Net Promoter Score, improvements in staff engagement, and a broadening of bench strength generally. That transformation of this portfolio we've been talking about has included not just our properties, but the way we do everything at Oceania.
Oceania is investing in people capability and implementing best practices around remuneration benefits to ensure we have the workforce required to meet our commitments to residents and continue to develop a successful and sustainable business for investors. Thank you for considering my re-election to the Oceania board.
Thank you, Sally. I now move that Sally Evans be re-elected as a director of the company. Can I have a seconder, please? Thank you. Is there any discussion? No, there appears to be no questions. I now put the motion and invite you to vote by marking Resolution 3 on your voting card or selecting one of the options in the vote icon. I advise that the board is holding a total of 352,370 discretionary proxies, which will be voted in favor of this resolution. I now move to Resolution 4.
The board has determined that in its view, if re-elected, Greg Tomlinson will continue to be an independent director for the purpose of the NZX Listing Rules. Greg Tomlinson stands for re-election with the support of the other directors of the company. A brief biography regarding Greg is included on the website and in the notice of meeting, and I now invite Greg to briefly talk in support of his re-election. Thank you, Greg.
Thank you, Liz, and welcome all. Thank you for the consideration of my re-election. So since 2017, the original IPO, the total assets of Oceania have grown significantly to almost NZD 3 million. Sorry, NZD 3 billion. I better get that right. The portfolio today looks very different to what it did back in 2017.
There has been substantial investment in new developments with a focus on future-proofing for resident needs and notably the care suite model, which we originally introduced in 2013 at the Eden Village, Mount Eden. As a member of the group, I bring my experience to the robust discussions around appropriate use of funds and well-considered business case. Management ran a thorough process which has resulted in positive cash returns on our projects to date. This will continue in the coming years where management will continue to appropriately execute on our pipeline building, the right product at the right time. It is pleasing to see that The Helier received recognition at the recent property awards in Auckland, being judged the winner of the Retirement Living and Care Property Award. This is truly a one-of-a-kind product, an example of innovation from Oceania in the market.
Over the last 24 months, we have accelerated the build of our care suites, adding 168 in FY23 and 87 in FY24. We also have 106 care suites and 40 dementia beds currently under construction, and we're experiencing good acceptance of the care suite model, including the regional areas of the country. It was very pleasing to see the expansion of the Redwood Village in Blenheim with another 55 care suites, which has been extremely well received in that market, with a total of 20% sell-down in a matter of weeks. So I thank you very much for having the time here with this business, and if you're kind enough to vote for me, I'm happy to serve you for another term. So thank you. John, no doubt you've got a question for me or two, so. Thank you very much. Thank you, Greg.
I now move that Greg Tomlinson be re-elected as a director of the company. Can I have a seconder, please? Thank you, Peter. Is there any discussion? No, there appears to be no questions. I now put the motion and invite you to vote by marking Resolution 4 on your voting card or selecting one of the options in the vote icon. I advise that the board is holding a total of 319,556 discretionary proxies, which will be voted in favour of this resolution. I now move to the fifth resolution. We now move to the resolution regarding the remuneration of the auditor. I now move that the directors be authorised to fix the auditor's remuneration for the ensuing year.
As stated in the notice of meeting, the current auditor of the company, Ernst & Young, will be automatically reappointed as the company's auditor under Section 207T of the Companies Act 1993. Under Section 207S of the Companies Act 1993, the auditor's fees and expenses must be fixed in the manner that is determined at the annual meeting shareholder approval. Therefore, approval is sought for the directors to fix the auditor's remuneration for the following year. Can I have a seconder, please? Thank you, Alan. Is there any discussion? There appears to be no questions online and no comments in the room. I now put the motion and invite you to vote by marking Resolution 5 on your voting card or selecting one of the options in the vote icon.
I advise that the board is holding a total of 325,474 discretionary proxies, which will be voted in favor of this resolution. Thank you all. That concludes the meeting's formal resolutions, and we will shortly close the voting system. Please ensure that you cast your vote on all resolutions. I will now pause to allow time to finalize your votes. The results will be published to the market later today. Computershare will now collect your voting papers. Please ensure that your voting paper has been signed. It's very important. For those of you attending the meeting online, I now declare voting closed. As Computershare collects those votes, are there any items of general business that haven't previously been covered within the meeting that our shareholders now wish to raise?
If you wish to raise a question, please raise your hand and we will bring a microphone to you. Please advise your name whether you are a shareholder or, if a proxy holder, the name of the shareholder representative. There appears to be no further questions. Now, in closing, I would like to invite our incoming CEO, Suzanne Dvorak, just to say a few words, introduce herself. So as we enjoy having an afternoon tea together, you can chat to Suzanne and you know who she is. So please give Suzanne the microphone, and she'd just like to say a few words.
Thank you very much, Liz. I'm Suzanne. Hopefully, I look the same as my photo. I've certainly got the same suit on. Anyway, look, it's been a great opportunity to be here today ahead of my official start date.
It's great to hear directly from you, both your positive comments and your opportunities for improvement. I have been to a number of our villages around the place already, and I certainly intend to get out to all of them to see what you're talking about as soon as I start. So thank you for that feedback. It's also a great privilege to be appointed to the CEO position and to follow in the footsteps of the great work and the transformation that you've talked about that Brent and his team have undertaken. And I look forward to meeting you at afternoon tea and having a cup of tea. Thank you.
Thank you, Suzanne. And thank you all very much for your attendance. It's such a pleasure to actually have so many of you come and join us today.
Rather than you go to annual meetings, it's just a few people. I really appreciate the effort that you make to come the day afternoon before a long weekend. It's really appreciated. I now declare the meeting closed and invite those of you who are here in person to join the directors of management for afternoon tea and refreshments. Thank you very much.