Right, good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. My name is Stuart McLauchlan, and I am the Chair of the Scott Technology Board. I would like to welcome you all to the 29th Annual Meeting of Scott Technology Limited. Today's meeting has been conducted both in person and online. We're very pleased to welcome those of you participating online through the virtual meeting platform provided by our share registrar, MUFG Corporate Markets. I'll provide you with further instructions as we progress through the meeting, but if you encounter any issues, please refer to the virtual meeting online portal guide, or you can phone the helpline on 0800 200 220. For those of you here in attendance, firstly, can I ask you that you please put your mobile phone on silent, which I've already done. In the unlikely event of an emergency, please follow directions from staff.
Exits are clearly marked, and the assembly point is Britomart . Before we formally begin, I would like to introduce you to my fellow board members who are here today: Derek Charge, John Berry, Brent Eastwood, and John Thorman. Alan Byers is joining us online from the United States. Finally, I'd like to welcome Andrew Dick from Deloitte, our company auditor, and to the team from our share registrar, MUFG. They will help conduct the voting on the formal business later in the meeting and act as scrutineer. As with the normal annual meeting, anyone in the room or online will be able to ask questions and vote. I encourage you to do so.
For those of you online, you can send through your questions at any time through the online portal by clicking the Ask a Question button, and I would encourage you to do so as early as possible, as this will allow us to answer these questions at the appropriate time of the meeting. For those in the room, a Q&A session will take place after the CEO's closing statement. The notice of meeting has been sent to shareholders and other persons entitled to receive it. I have been advised that there is a quorum present, and therefore I declare the meeting open. Proxies have been appointed for the purposes of this meeting in respect of approximately 57.9 million shares, representing over 68.87% of the total number of shares. I'd like to thank shareholders for their level of participation in today's meeting.
My fellow directors and I intend to vote all discretionary proxies we've received in favor of the resolutions as set out in the notice of meeting. The agenda for this afternoon's meeting will be as follows: Chairman's Address, CEO Update. Mike Christman will provide an overview of FY 2025 performance, strategy, and health and safety. CFO Update. Mark O'Malley will present the FY 2025 financial performance. People and Organisation Update. Group GM of People, Hayley Hindmarsh, will give an overview of some of the key transformation initiatives. Looking forward and closing comments, CEO Mike Christman, and then we'll have questions, voting, and resolutions. Additionally, joining us from the Scott Technology Executive Team is Andrew Arnold, Director of Innovation, and Anthony Wesney, Director of Transformation. Andrew and Anthony. I wish to note apologies received from Lynn McLauchlan, my mother, Karen Thompson, my wife, and Jack Allen, all the way from Christchurch.
We welcome New Zealand Shareholders Association as a regular attendee of our annual meetings and the feedback and questions put to us from their members. I understand that Alan Best is the representative attending. On behalf of the Board of Directors, I'm pleased to welcome you to Scott Technology's 2025 Annual Shareholders Meeting, present the results and highlights of Scott's financial year. Today, we celebrate the achievements of the past year and share our vision for continued growth and value creation under Scott's new direction and strategy, Destination 2030. This has been a defining one in Scott's journey. With Scott ID25, our inaugural Investor Day held in Auckland, and now the annual shareholders meeting also being hosted here. Under the leadership of our CEO, Mike Christman, we launched Destination 2030, a bold five-year step within Scott's longer-term transformation.
It sets our path towards becoming a customer-first organisation, united by one global system, powered by leading-edge technology and sustained by high-performance teams. Destination 2030 provides both clarity and ambition, charting our growth to NZD 530 million in revenue by FY 2030, supported by an EBITDA margin target of 14%. Its four enablers, customer-first, One Scott, leading-edge technology, and high-performing teams, all carry clear multi-year milestones. While that target sits five years out, Destination 2030 is already driving results faster than expected, and Scott's evolution is unmistakably underway. Since its internal introduction at Scott's half-year, the Destination 2030 strategy has already begun to transform the business. The second half of FY 2025 delivered record earnings, with EBITDA reaching an all-time high of NZD 31.5 million, an early sign that this strategy is not just a document but a catalyst for real performance. The signs of acceleration are clear.
Just last month, Scott secured a landmark $44 million deal across two appliance contracts in the Americas. Big congratulations to Mike on an outstanding first year and to the entire Scott team for bringing this strategy to life. Strategic clarity is critical as we continue to operate in a nuanced global environment. At last year's annual shareholder meeting, I spoke about how Scott is well positioned to respond to a growing complexity in the global environment. One year on, that environment remains challenging, and many of the trends I highlighted then are still very much with us today. The outlook continues to be blurred by uncertainty, but we're seeing some gradual shifts in key global indicators. Global inflation is easing, though unevenly across regions, and many economies are still running above their targets.
As a result, interest rates are starting to come down but remain higher than before the pandemic, with central banks cautious about moving too quickly, and the possibility of additional increases is not completely off the table. These conditions mean that economic growth remains modest and uneven, with stronger momentum in some emerging markets while advanced economies expand more slowly. At the same time, trade policy uncertainty continues to elevate risk, with the potential for tariff settings to shift sharply if negotiations falter, a reminder that protectionist pressures could reemerge quickly. Yet, despite this hazy horizon, Scott is demonstrating that it is well positioned to achieve sustainable, profitable growth. We're supporting our customers on their journeys to become more competitive as they navigate cost pressures, supply chain shifts, and ongoing uncertainty.
Our footprint across key markets gives us the agility to support customers wherever they choose to grow, turning reshoring into opportunity. As businesses increasingly bring production closer to their core markets, Scott's automation solutions remain a critical asset in enabling efficient, competitive, safer localized operations. This year, we also delivered significant innovations from first-of-type modular automated guided vehicle, NexBot, launched in Chicago to the best-in-class BladeStop, K800 Safety Bandsaw, unveiled in Frankfurt. We also introduced Accutable to the North American market, already trusted by leading manufacturers across Europe. Accutable is built to solve some of the toughest challenges facing FMCG producers today: labor shortages, space constraints, complex product lines, and the pressure to increase throughput without adding cost. Additionally, we have progressed key developments across our lamb and beef modules.
These innovations show that Scott is forging markets, positioning itself at the forefront of industry, and our customers are noticing. Whatever the future may hold, Scott is working to ensure it is at the forefront of it. Remaining at the forefront means thinking ahead. Destination 2030 is about more than hitting financial milestones. It's about how we get there. Embedding environmental, social, and governance into our strategy ensures that as we grow towards our NZD 530 million revenue, we do so in a way that protects people, empowers customers, and supports a more sustainable industrial landscape. Good governance and responsible business practice remain at the core of Scott's success. The board is committed to the highest standards of transparency and accountability, with ESG integration deepening into Destination 2030. We've now fully integrated the sustainability report into the annual report, aligning with global best practice.
Last year, we set a goal to reduce our Scope One and Two carbon emissions by 30% by 2030, using 2022 as our baseline. From 2022, revenue has grown by nearly 25%, yet emissions have reduced by 9%, an early and encouraging sign that we are beginning to decouple growth from emissions. This is only the beginning, and further initiatives in renewable energy, logistics optimization, and life cycle services will accelerate progress. ESG at Scott is not only about carbon. Our broader commitments to people, purpose, and place extend across our workforce, customers, and industries. These commitments are embedded across our Destination 2030 strategy. Our people are the foundation of our performance, and ESG reinforces that by ensuring we invest in retention, development, and well-being. Through focused training and clear career paths, we're equipping our teams with the skills and systems needed for a digital, automated future.
At the same time, our safety-first mindset and inclusive culture help create workplaces where people feel secure, valued, and empowered. This year also brought a sobering reminder of our responsibility. The loss of a dear colleague, Michael Sherry, at our Dunedin site in April 2025 has deeply affected the Scott community. Safety remains our highest priority, and the board is united in its commitment to ensuring every employee returns home safe and well each day. As we reflect on both the progress we have made and the responsibilities we hold, it is also important that we maintain disciplined capital management and deliver appropriate returns to our shareholders. With that in mind, I will now turn to our dividend for the year.
In line with our commitment to delivering consistent returns to shareholders while supporting reinvestment for long-term growth, we have declared a final dividend of NZD 0.05 per share, bringing the full year total to NZD 0.08 for the FY 2025. Looking ahead, we are confident in Scott's ability to maintain sustainable, profitable growth, bolstered by Destination 2030. With a forward work pipeline of NZD 169 million and strong global customer interest across all domains, we're seeing enhanced demand for our market-leading products and solutions. We enter FY 2026 with solid momentum, a reflection of both strengthened core capabilities and our focus on new avenues for value creation. On behalf of the board, I thank our shareholders for your continued support of the company, the board, and management. I also thank my fellow directors for their wise counsel and steadfast support.
We have a clear direction with set milestones to unlock future growth, and I'm excited to build on this momentum as we move forward together. Thank you, and I will now pass over to our CEO, Mike Christman. Thank you.
Thank you very much, Stuart, and good afternoon to everybody. It's lovely to see you here today. Before I update you on our performance and the work ahead, I want to start by acknowledging what this past year has represented for Scott. I'd also like to express my appreciation to the Board of Directors for your support in my first year, to my executive management team, and of course, to all employees of Scott Technology around the world. When I joined the company a year ago, I spoke about Scott's heritage, over 110 years of engineering excellence, resilience, and problem-solving.
What I've seen is that those strengths are very much present in our people. What we needed, however, was greater alignment, more clarity of our markets, strategic direction, and speed. As you will have already seen, our new strategy, Destination 2030, is starting to give us that. The results we delivered this year show the early impact of our new strategic direction, record EBITDA driven by disciplined focus on higher margin work and modularisation, a clear strategy that puts customers at the heart of everything that we do. Early positive signals of acceleration as the strategy takes hold, and a stronger forward work pipeline, as Stuart mentioned, now at NZD 169 million. This gives us confidence that we are on the right path and moving towards the pace that we require.
FY 2025 was a year of strong performance and stronger discipline, and I want to thank the entire team for this achievement. As you can see, revenue remains steady at NZD 275 million, but behind that is a mixed shift towards higher margin work focused on key account management and life cycle services, and a record seven-half that has pushed us towards this result. Group margins improved by 2% to 29%. EBITDA reached NZD 31.5 million, up 19% on last year's reported number. Service revenue grew by 1% to 29%, reflecting our shift towards life cycle services, relationships that create value beyond a single project. Forward work strengthened to NZD 169 million, supported by wins across multiple domains and regions. As Stuart mentioned, underlying earnings per share increased to NZD 17.40 , and the board has confirmed a dividend of NZD 0.08 per share for the year.
These are strong foundations heading into financial year 2026, and they reflect the combined result of disciplined execution and strategic clarity. Our new vision is simple but ambitious: to be the trusted partner that puts our customers first. Everything that we have done over the past 12 months has been about evolving the business and making this possible. Destination 2030 gives us a long-term strategic horizon. In the next slide, I will share what we call our cycle of success, which embeds continuous improvement into everything that we do. Our long-term targets are ambitious and clear, and we know where we are going. Finally, the action roadmap ensures that this is not just theory, but we have actionable plans within all of the four enablers, which have multi-year specific milestones.
We now have a defined plan, a shared ambition, and the early results indicate that our teams are stepping into this next chapter with real momentum. This is Destination 2030. It begins with customer first at the heart of everything that we do, deepening relationships through life cycle services, putting customers at the heart of everything, and anticipating their needs rather than just responding to them. To deliver on that promise, we need One Scott, unifying our global people, global processes, and global systems so that we operate as a single, highly efficient global company. This is about breaking down silos and moving to enterprise thinking, strengthening collaboration, and building a shared sense of purpose across all geographies.
Our growth also depends on leading-edge technology, shaping and refocusing R&D to strengthen our innovation pipeline, and delivering automation solutions that set benchmarks across industries with the ambition to forge the market rather than just follow it. In other words, positively disrupt the market. None of this is possible without high-performing teams, a commitment to maximizing talent by refreshing our core values and embedding a high-performance culture and behavior so that our people have clarity, skills, and energy to drive and deliver on our ambition. Each enabler has a clear role, but their real impact comes from how they connect to form the cycle of success. As I have already mentioned, customer first deepens our market understanding, ensuring we know our customers' challenges before they arise. One Scott creates enabled teams, unified by shared systems and data that allows us to scale seamlessly.
High-performing teams build trusted relationships both within Scott and with the customers that we serve, and leading-edge technology drives innovation, transforming insight into solutions that set new benchmarks. The cycle self-perpetuates. It enables innovation, innovation strengthens trust, trust empowers teams, and teams create exceptional customer experience. This is the engine that will take Scott to where we are heading, Destination 2030. Now that we've looked at our four enablers, now we've looked at how the four enablers work together as our cycle of success, it's worth reminding ourselves of the destination that they're designed to reach. When we launched Destination 2030, endorsed by the board and aligned with my executive management team, I set a clear dot on the horizon: NZD 530 million in revenue, 35% of revenue from services, and an EBITDA position of 14% by FY 2030.
These aren't just abstract numbers; they represent sustainable, profitable growth, growth built on stronger customer partnerships, higher margin services, and repeatable, scalable solutions, not volume for volume's sake, but value for value's sake. To get there, we focused on four key levers: growing service through revenue, deepening that life cycle engagement, partnering with key accounts to understand their long-term needs, scaling modular and repeatable solutions across our domains, strengthening execution in protein, mining, appliances, and MHL. With the enablers now in motion, we've moved from aspiration to action. These FY 2030 targets aren't just a vision; they are now a guide, prioritisation, investment, and decision-making ability across the business. In other words, Destination 2030 isn't simply an aspirational strategy to double our revenue, but it's a clear strategy with a roadmap and an operational plan for getting there.
Before I move to the outlook, I want to acknowledge the most important part of our business, which is our people. As Stuart mentioned, this year we were deeply affected by the tragic loss of Michael Sherry, a colleague based at our Dunedin site. That loss will never leave us. We are reminded in the strongest possible way that safety must always remain our highest priority. FY 2025 saw significant work to strengthen the integration of health, safety, well-being, and environment into everyday work: 450 safety engagements, a 59% increase from the prior year. 815 hazards or potential hazards were identified and fixed. That is a 96% resolution rate. Updated global health and safety and well-being standards align with international best practice.
We also achieved ISO 45001 recertification across multiple sites, with assessment gaps currently being conducted in the remaining facilities, with the aim to gain certification over the coming years. In FY 2026, we will take this further through the modernized One Scott Health and Safety Platform, a real-time risk assessment for all employees and a stronger behavioral safety approach. Safety is not just a metric; it is a culture, and one that must anchor everything that we do, now and into the future. With that, I'd now like to pass over to our CFO, Mark O'Malley, who will take you through the financial year 25 performance numbers. Mark?
Thank you, Mike, and welcome all. My name is Mark O'Malley. I'm the CFO of Scott Technology, and we'll give an overview of Scott's financial performance over the last 12 months. I'll begin with an overview of group performance before stepping through each domain. FY 2025 was a year of strong financial delivery and disciplined execution across the group, particularly off the back of a soft first half following a period of reduced order intake across 2024. We continue to focus on proven technologies, higher margin opportunities, and a lower risk delivery model. This resulted in NZD 275 million revenue for the year, in line with prior period.
During this period, we fully exited out of our legacy businesses. We've seen continued net margin expansion to 29% through an increased modular approach, reset cost base, improved project governance, scale, and improved business mix with increased service. FY 2025 was a year of recovery and momentum for protein, a year where we strengthened our global footprint but also expanded into new markets. We achieved a 16% increase in revenue and maintained strong margins driven by a standout second half. BladeStop revenue was up 12%. Lamb and beef had a strong close to the period, with JBS Cobram lamb primal project progressing well and an installation for an existing lamb primal secured for Dawn Meats in the U.K. While in poultry, we expanded our trussing technology into the Canadian market, securing a contract with Maple Lodge Farms.
We're focused on four key growth levers: expanding our lamb portfolio into new markets, accelerating BladeStop adoption, scaling poultry automation, and deepening service and data integration across our installed base. Mining domain achieved 4% growth, driven by a strong year for RockLabs standard equipment, supported by favorable gold and copper prices. Our automated modular solution continued to gain momentum, and we secured a contract with Kinross Gold in Alaska. FY 2025 saw the completion of the first phase of the automated energy transfer system for Caterpillar and kick-off of phase two, which includes early learner sites. Net margin improved to 37%, with a target to trend back towards 40%. While top-line revenue for materials handling was down 3% due to project timings, our margins lifted by 4 percentage points, driven by disciplined execution and a stronger service mix.
Across Europe, we continue to grow our presence with key customers like EcoFrost, Claerbout, Cranswick, and McCain. Forward work remains strong with a mix of orders across Europe and North America, and MHL will build on this foundation with a focus on replicating the success we've had in Europe to expand further into North America, helped by having two large reference sites going live in the first half of FY 2026, scaling our NexBot AGV globally, and accelerating life cycle services through our Maestro software. For appliances, despite a revenue decline caused by cycling a large project from prior year, it was a solid year delivering a meaningful net margin contribution. Our China-based centre of excellence marked its 10-year anniversary and continued to drive success, delivering a project now in its final commissioning phase with a leading global whiteware manufacturer.
We're already starting the year off strong, securing two contracts across the Americas worth a total of $44 million, with revenue of this to be recognized across the FY 2026 and FY 2027 periods. That brings me to how this played out across the year. FY 2025 was a year of two halves, a very soft first half, but a record second half as momentum returned, supported by the introduction of the new strategy. This slide clearly illustrates the strong second half performance to FY 2025, off the back of some key contract wins, improved standard product sales, and increased operational efficiency. The second half provided record revenue and EBITDA performances for the group. This provides good momentum into FY 2026 and confidence that we can deliver strong earnings and generate operational leverage when we have volume through the business.
A look at our summary P&L: net profit increased 84%, reflecting both improved operating performance and a reduction in the below-the-line expenses. We delivered record EBITDA driven by a higher margin contract mix, improved business mix, and the benefits of resetting our operating cost base over the past 18 months. This was supported by a disciplined approach to expenditure while still investing in the areas that matter, particularly our new European ERP platform and Destination 2030 initiatives. Below the line, our finance costs reduced as our cash position strengthened and interest rates eased. Amortization was lower with several assets reaching the end of their cycle, and our effective tax rate was lower through the utilisation of historical tax losses and geographic mix of earnings. Overall, FY 2025 reflects solid execution on projects, improved quality of earnings, and strengthening of some of our key financial foundations as we move into FY 2026.
Alongside operational performance, disciplined capital management and shareholder returns remain a priority. As mentioned by Stuart, the directors declared a final dividend of NZD 0.05 per share, taking the total dividend for FY 2025 to NZD 0.08 per share. This returns our full year dividend to recent historic levels, following two half-year periods of reduced dividends in line with softer earnings. At Scott, we have a goal to increase dividends on a consistent and stable basis as the business becomes more profitable, while seeking to keep within the bounds of our target payout ratio and make targeted investments into the business. We will seek to look through any volatility that may arise by being measured in our payouts to balance shareholder returns, a level of consistency, and our cash requirements.
With our financial performance covered, I'll now hand over to Hayley Hindmarsh, our Group GM of People, to talk through the work underway to support, develop, and enable our global teams.
Thank you, Mark, and good afternoon, everyone. For those of you who have not met me yet, my name is Hayley, and I'm the Group GM of People for Scott Technology. As you've heard today, Destination 2030 is reshaping how we operate, therefore reshaping how we support, develop, and enable our people. We continue to strengthen our culture, our leadership, and global systems that underpin Scott's performance. I'll touch briefly on three key areas that have been central to this: One Scott, high-performing teams, and talent and engagement. Over the last decade, Scott has grown through expansion and acquisition, gaining world-class talent, domain expertise, and access to new markets.
This growth has brought business complexity, each acquisition and new market often bringing differing systems, platforms, and ways of working. While effective individually, this has created a system landscape that is disconnected. This is providing challenges in our ability to scale efficiently, collaborate seamlessly, and deliver a consistent experience for our customers and for our teams. We needed to rethink how we operate effectively on a global scale to ensure that we can reach Destination 2030. This led us to One Scott, unifying our platforms, harmonizing our processes, and driving operational efficiency through consolidation. This year, we have taken important steps to unify global systems under the One Scott vision. We are aligning systems such as ERP, HRIS, CRM, and PLM, reducing duplication, removing inefficiency, and standardizing how we work globally.
In the people space, the groundwork for our new human resource information system is well underway by our global HR team. As we roll our new system out over the financial year, we will gain consistent people processes, clearer people insights, and greater development into our team, creating a more connected experience for our global employees. It is a significant step forward in building capability and alignment and unlocking our collective strength. Moving now to high-performing teams. This year, our executive team came together in New Zealand to lay the foundations for a high-performance culture across Scott. We plan to roll out high-performing teams programme throughout the rest of the organization before the end of this financial year.
By embedding this across Scott, we will build a culture that maximizes talent, strengthens collaboration, and accelerates execution, and in turn, will support higher customer satisfaction, stronger sales results, and build a stronger organizational reputation. Last but not least, talent and engagement. Our focus firmly remains on attracting, developing, and retaining great people. We are a team of more than 620 people across 10 countries and four generations. Diverse in our global makeup, we plan to harness this and utilize it for the strengths that it offers us. We will continue to focus and invest in pathways and capability programs that feed our diverse talent pipeline and build future leadership and technical strength, as we currently do with our women in engineering solution scholarships and internships.
Internally, our talent and engagement strategies are also coming to fruition, with five senior leaders promoted internally this year and strategic external hires deepening our capability in key growth markets, ensuring we have the right expertise in place for the next phase of Destination 2030. Understanding our people and their experience has been a major priority. More than 85% of the organization participated in our first benchmarked global employee survey. Nearly 2,000 comments were provided to us. The strengths from our team were clear: trust, clarity of role, and a strong connection to purpose. Our people also told us where we could improve, and we now have over 45 culture change actions across the globe underway, responding directly to that feedback.
Additionally, a significant focus for the coming year is our refreshed global employee value proposition, defining what we offer our team in return for their significant contribution to our success. A robust EVP will further support us in attracting top talent, reducing staff turnover, and increasing our employee engagement, all of which are critical to ensure that we can deliver on Destination 2030. For our shareholders, the value of this transformation is clear. One Scott lays the foundation for an efficient and agile operating model that supports profitable growth while reducing unnecessary complexity and cost. We are investing in systems that will benefit both our customers and our people. High-performing teams is the cultural counterpart to our system's foundation. It is how we lift clarity and accountability and execution across the organisation, ensuring our people have the alignment, empowerment, leadership, and collaboration needed to deliver on 2030.
Through our talent and engagement, we are building our pipeline, our capability, and our people experience required to sustain the momentum over the long term. Together, these people initiatives form the engine room of Scott's transformation and support our talented team to reach Destination 2030. I'll now hand over to Mike for his closing comments and the outlook for 2026. Thank you.
Thank you, Hayley. It's clear that people are the engine behind everything that we've talked about today. Your update really brings that to life. Thank you. I'd now like to take you through the final section of today's presentation, a look at what is ahead for Scott. When we look ahead, the momentum we've built over the past years gives us both confidence and clarity. Financial year 2025 was about alignment, discipline, and execution.
Financial year 2026 is about embedding and accelerating, but we are realistic and clear that our journey will not be an easy one. Over the past few months, our teams across the world have delivered meaningful early signals that Destination 2030 is having positive impact. Since our inaugural Investor Day, we have secured more than $44 million across two major appliance contracts in the U.S. and Brazil, as Mark mentioned. We have also won multiple MHL projects across Europe, adding a further EUR 19 million to our order intake. We have also secured our first U.K. install for protein with a LEAP system in Wales for a company, Dawn Meats. These are not just isolated wins. They reflect stronger customer engagement, better market analysis and alignment, a simplified organizational structure, and places accountability where it drives most impact.
We are progressing well, securing several. We are progressing well towards securing seven other strategic opportunities as well. We expect to be able to announce these in the first half of FY 2026. As we enter the new financial year, we do so with an improved order momentum, a solid pipeline of secured work, and growing demand for our automation solutions across all of our domains. Over the coming year, we expect revenue growth, continued earnings leverage, and incremental gains across projects and life cycle services. At the same time, we need to ensure that we remain disciplined as the custodian of Scott's unwritten future. Macro market volatility is still a factor, and we must continue to monitor this and its impact on our business, our customers, and the markets, and ultimately the investment horizon.
Through our new strategy, we are doing this with far more clarity, capability, and confidence. Let me close with the key messages that I want to leave you with today. Record EBITDA. This was driven by disciplined focus on higher margin, modular projects, and a more deliberate approach to value. Destination 2030 is now fully in motion. It gives us the strategic plan, the ambition, the operating rhythm to deliver sustainable, profitable growth. Customer first, this culture shift is reshaping how we work from an engineering-focused organisation to a customer-focused one, from our life cycle services to the way that we partner with customers across the entire value chain. Acceleration is happening. The second half of financial year 2025 was the strongest in Scott's history. Forward work is strengthening with NZD 169 million in contracted activity and a growing pipeline of high-quality opportunities. Our market outlook is positive.
We are heading into financial year 2026 with momentum, alignment, and a clear path forwards. Finally, many of you who follow Scott closely will have seen just how quickly our brand presence has expanded over the past year through targeted efforts by our global team. Our inaugural Investor Day in Auckland was a major milestone. It was our first in New Zealand and a clear signal of the alignment and momentum building behind us. We've also strengthened our investor visibility through platforms like Sharesies. We fronted podcasts and proactively driven national media exposure. Globally, our brand is gaining greater exposure from global product launches as we unveil multiple products around the world. Scott Technology has featured in more than 100 media stories across our key markets.
We are becoming a recognised global automation company, and that growing presence is helping us win customers, attract talent, and position Scott Technology for the future. I would like to thank you again for your continued support, your confidence, and your partnership. With the right strategy, the right structure, and the right people, Scott Technology is exceptionally well placed to lead and grow in the years ahead. We are building strong momentum, and I look forward to updating you on our progress as the year continues. Thank you very much, and I'd now like to return the meeting to Stuart to lead us through the voting resolutions and the next steps.
Thank you, Mike. I would now like to give shareholders the opportunity to ask questions whether related to the presentations, the financial statements, or the management of the company. Shareholders online can continue to provide questions through the portal, and we will also address questions from the room. When I call for questions, can shareholders present in the room please wait until a microphone is provided to you and clearly state your name before asking the question? I'll take questions from those present in the meeting first before moving on to any question from shareholders online. I ask that in the interest of fairness to all shareholders attending this meeting, that anyone wishing to ask questions be as concise as possible and be considerate to other shareholders wishing to ask questions. Media will be given the opportunity to ask questions after the meeting. Are there any questions from shareholders?
Thanks, Tom Bruce, shareholder. Destination 2030 seems a great idea. Why has it taken the board 105 years to work out the customer comes first?
Very good question. I'll hand to Mike. He's the author.
I'm definitely not 106 years old, okay? I can't go back 105 years. I think Scott has a strong heritage of engineering, and I think that has served us well in the past. I think as we start to move into the future, that customer focus and that real integration and customer intimacy about the pain points for each of the customers, how to develop their business, how to move forward, and really partner. Move from a supplier to a partner in all aspects of the relationship, I think, is the key thing for us. I can't go back 105 years, but I think for me, proven background of implementing such a customer-first regime, customer-first relationship has proved very successful. In discussing it with the board, all very supportive, all very much behind it.
That's the reason we've implemented it. If any of my colleagues here can go back 105 years, I'd be very impressed, but you're more than welcome to try. You're not too longer than that. I think we're 112 years. I've been 112 years old now.
Thank you. The second half of my question is, what's been done to upskill your engineers to become customer-focused?
Hayley touched on, briefly touched on earlier on the high-performing team. This is a cultural thing. Engineers are great at designing things. Then we ask questions, who would like to buy it? What's the market size? Actually, it's about a behavior of culture and how we implement that. It's about reteaching, retraining people that actually, when we do something, there must be a bellwether of data behind that, a fact-based reason rather than, I think this is the best way to do it. It's more sharing, talking, caring. That's really the way to implement it. You're very welcome.
Yeah, thank you. One of the back there.
My name's [Chris Weaver]. I've been a shareholder since I owned [shares in Doneguies], so that's how long I've been around. On page 87, there's two companies called QMT New Zealand Limited and QMT New Zealand Limited Partnership, which is Scott has a majority holding, but there's a small shareholder elsewhere. What's part of A-Play in the Scott business? And who's the other shareholder?
Yeah, I forget the name of the guy just escapes me, but yeah, that's our China operation up in.
[Henry Pang]. Yeah, that's right.
Yeah, [Henry Pang]. Yeah. You just triggered me.
Yeah. One comment that hasn't come up today is AI. How's it having an impact on the Scott business?
Once again, Mike.
Yeah, thanks, Chris. AI is already embedded within the business. AI is not a fad. AI is here to stay. We already use AI within some of the systems that we implement, be those LEAP systems. We already use AI in terms of some of our finance systems. It will also be in terms of our HR system. It goes without saying that we've got to increase the implementation of AI within our technologies, within our software. It's not just about customer side. It's about internal processes as well. It's here to stay. Whether people like AI or not, we've got to start using it. We were or are an early adopter of some of those technologies already in some of our platforms. We will continue to implement.
Yes.
One question. Oh, sorry. One question, Mr. Chairman. Your marketing team, have they looked at the Japanese market?
Yes, I can give a direct answer there. It was through Miller's Mechanical. They did quite a bit of work up in Japan. Through that conduit, I met with people in Japan, especially around their Blade Stop. We went, Andrew, you were involved in that. They felt that the products were too expensive for their market, for the scale of their market. Yes, we have tried. Thank you. Okay. Are there any questions from shareholders online?
Yes, this is a finance one from David Tennyson. Given New Zealand and RockLabs look to be the two most profitable segments on a revenue-generated basis, I'm surprised to see nil imputation credits attached to the dividend. Why is this? Is there a path to partially imputed dividends in the future?
I'll ask Mark to.
Yeah, our imputation credit account is low due to the taxable income in New Zealand for the period. The New Zealand and RockLabs segment note in the financials may infer that there's higher taxable income in New Zealand than there is. We have a high proportion of the unallocated cost on New Zealand base. That offsets the New Zealand and RockLabs income there. A portion of the RockLabs income is actually spread across New Zealand and Australia. Taxable there. In terms of future, we have historically partially imputed dividends, and we expect to be able to attach imputation credits into the future, probably more likely FY 2027 and beyond.
Thank you.
All right, thanks, Mike. This is from Alan Best. He's got three questions from the Shareholders Association. The first one, a finance-oriented one. We wish to congratulate the company on its improved disclosures, particularly the strategy presentation and the overheads issued with the FY 2025 results. In the CFO's summary of the revenue and contributions of each segment, appliances, materials handling, mining, and protein, there's another category showing strong growth and potential. Please confirm what is included in that segment.
Yeah, not sure, Anthony, on that because we broke our revenue and our presentations down by the four domains and our other category cycled off to zero in FY 2025 unless I'm misinterpreting the question. That other category was our legacy business units, which was our mining systems, or old mining systems, and industrial automation.
That's right. It was about NZD 4 million, I think, yeah, in the previous year from memory.
Yeah, Alan, we've sent you a note about that if you want to follow up. Please respond to the comment. Second question. Mike, this might be for you. In early meetings, we were promised some attention to the major risks faced by the company. There was an indication of cybersecurity risks. Can you explain what might be involved in this, especially since the software involved in automation is so important to Scott Technology?
Yeah, with the cybersecurity, we've really started to invest or further invest in our cybersecurity over this year and last year, continuing into next year. I think from a risk point of view, we are increasing our focus on cybersecurity. With regards to any other risk in the business, we actively manage those as we would through the commercial platform with Mark and Michael Barker. Yeah, very proactive risk management across all areas of the business, unless there's a specific one over and above cybersecurity that's listed, Anthony.
No. All right, third question, Stuart. Now that the CEO has established, can you give the meeting some guidance on board diversity and strengths, especially regarding independent directors given the three positions held by one major shareholder?
Yes. We at the moment are down one director. We've been looking in the market for a female director. That'll be, and I've explained that to Oliver Mander, who's the CEO of the Shareholders Association. We're looking for the person with the right skill sets that we're looking for. As the board, we're always looking at succession, and certainly that's our first priority at the moment.
Okay. This is a question from [Coralie Van Camp]. Mark, I think might be related to you. What were the legacy assets disposed of?
Legacy assets. I don't think there were any assets disposed of again . The legacy businesses were exited out of and discontinued in industrial automation and mining systems, which was actually probably the prior year before that, but primarily industrial automation out of Australia.
Okay. Alan's back, actually, but not with a clarifying comment. It's a different one. Mike, quantifying the markets for each division is difficult but important for future growth. Have you been able to estimate these targets?
Yeah, absolutely. Thank you for the question. One of the activities that we've really focused on this year is understanding detailed market analysis. We're going through that exercise to conclude at the moment. We are referring to bellwethers of industry data to ensure that we have the right data and not just looking forward, but we're also looking backwards as well to ensure that any bellwether that we use has a high degree of accuracy historically, which gives us the confidence to look forwards as well. We're looking across areas within those market opportunities that are also white space for us. We're finishing the exercise of clarifying market analysis, including white space at the moment.
All right, that is all from online.
Okay, there are no further. Oh, sorry, another. Yeah, there we go.
Thank you. Yeah, my name, [Hayley Cheng], have been a shareholder of this company continuously for 10 years. Very good. I like the technology, like the food processing. McCain is a customer of Scott Technology. I wish to know, is it the McCain New Zealand? I like its frozen vegetables and also. They are really better than other brands because they are cut really neatly when compared to other brands. I wish to know whether it is Scott Technology doing the job in New Zealand.
Scott Technology is working with McCain's globally. Our biggest footprint is McCain Europe, followed by North America. With regards to McCain New Zealand, I will have a look on the back of a packet this evening. I think we work globally with McCain's, madam.
Yeah, I know that McCain is actually owned by Canadian.
Yes.
Yeah, do you do job for them or?
Yes.
Oh, that's good.
We work with McCain's all across the globe, madam.
Oh, in Canada? Oh, I'm very happy to know that. Yeah.
Thank you for the question.
If New Zealand one, you can try the New Zealand as well. Yeah, they are a very good employer in New Zealand. I read the New Zealand business news and know about that. That will be our good customer in the future.
Thank you.
Yeah, not at all.
It was pleasing to know we've got one satisfied shareholder. So that's good.
Jenny Howard, shareholder. I'm a very recent shareholder and possibly come out of your media thing, which has started things off. My question is around retaining staff. You're pushing yourself on a global scale, and the world wants good people. How are you working to, A, recruit these people? Because obviously they're well paid or need to be. It's one thing. But then, and you're training them. You've already mentioned you're training them.
You have got to keep them. There is nothing that I can see as to what your tenancy of employee is. You have four generations, but has somebody been there? Are there lots and lots of people that have only been there for six months, and you have trained them up and off, they have gone somewhere else? Is there a real sort of incentivizing program for them to stay in this company that is going to the world?
Good description. Yeah.
I guess that really comes down to our employee value proposition that I talked about through my speech. As you talk about talent, attraction is hard, particularly in a technical industry. We are really looking at our global employee value proposition that is going to attract top talent into our organization, as well as retaining the top talent that we have already.
What about in terms of your tenure of people that are already in the company?
Yeah, look, I can't answer that. One of the main reasons is not having a human resource information system. That is one of the beauties of the new system that we're going to obtain, which is to be able to have that data. We have long-standing team members within our business.
I've got Charles in the front row here. Andrew, how many years? Forty-six years.
We are celebrating frequently 20 and above years tenure within Scott. We have a good staff retention strategy already, but obviously the EVP will add to that.
Just on getting talent, Mike, we employed out of the U.K. after extensive search. It is an attractive business for offshore people.
It's New Zealand.
There you go. He can answer himself.
We've had many conversations on this. Yes. If you look at the state of the United Kingdom at the moment, yes. And weather. Yeah, that's one positive. It only rains here.
Okay, any other questions? If not, shareholders joining us today here, you will have been given your shareholder voting card. If you're a shareholder and did not register on arrival and wish to vote, please make your way to the registration desk, and staff from MUFG will assist you. Please mark your voting intention for each resolution, and the voting cards will be collected at the conclusion of the meeting. Shareholders joining online will be able to cast their vote using the electronic voting card received when online registration is validated. To vote, you will need to click "Get Voting Card" within the online meeting platform.
You will 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" against each resolution on the voting card. Once you've made your selections, please click "Submit Vote" on the bottom of the card to lodge your vote. Voting will remain open until five minutes after the conclusion of the meeting. Results of the vote will be announced via the exchange. 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 the proxy votes will be displayed for your information after voting on all the resolutions.
Ladies and gentlemen, we now come to the formal part of the business matters requiring resolution, which are outlined in the notice of meeting. There will be an opportunity for shareholders to ask questions on each matter being put to shareholders. For the sake of good order, shareholders' questions raised should relate directly to the matter being considered. Now, moving to the resolutions, a poll will be held on each of these resolutions. Resolution One, re-election of John Berry. That John Berry, who retires as a director and being eligible, offers himself for re-election by shareholders to be re-elected as a director. I'll now hand you over to John to give an introduction. John, if you can.
Thanks, Chairman. Good afternoon, everyone. My name is John Berry. I'm head of corporate and regulatory for JBS Australia. We're Australia's largest, Australia and New Zealand's largest food company. We also are a major shareholder in this company and also an extensive user of their technology. I've been in the meat and processing and food industry for over 25 years, and I have a number of key functions that I have responsibility in business support terms for JBS Australia and New Zealand. I have detailed those in my application. I think the other important point is that we, through the use of Scott Technology, have got a really key understanding of where opportunities are, and we see strong growth opportunities in the 2030 strategy.
Led by Mike and the Scott team and supported by a focused and coherent board, we believe that there will be strong success for the company. Thank you, Chair.
Thank you, John. Please now vote as you see fit. Are there any questions from shareholders on this resolution? Are there any? We've got one here.
Yeah, John, I wish to inquire about some financial news that I read from the New Zealand Herald about, I think, two years ago. Yeah, and then JBS Australia wished to list in the U.S. stock exchange market. Had it been successful or not?
Yeah, that happened. That happened in May of this year.
Oh, is May this year already?
Yeah, so JBS is listed on the New York Stock Exchange.
Oh, what is the share price yesterday?
I don't know if I can—I don't know if I can give advice like that. $14.92.
$14.92, there you go. $14.92 .
Really big amounts of price. What about the issue price then? What were they issued at?
We didn't float. There was not a float. It was a listing. We were originally listed in the Bovespa at a Brazilian stock exchange, and we still are, but we've moved the primary listing to the U.S. It was not a float as such. There was not an initial price. It was just the starting—the daily price moved across to the U.S. Yes.
What percentage is the free float for people?
The free float percentage, I'm not 100% sure. JBS, it's probably in the vicinity of 30%. 30%, yeah. 30%.
You can buy on the New York Stock Exchange.
You can buy.
I wish to know that because from the financial news, there was an offer of this company, Scott Technology, but then JBS said that the offer price is too low. We reject the offer. May I ask that? What about the offer price so that you rejected the offer?
I'm not 100% sure what you're referring to.
That was when we were looking at a review, the company.
Oh, it's Scott Tech, and Stuart can answer that. Undertook a review, strategic review two years ago. You can answer that one, Stuart.
Yes, we went through a review. We looked at the value of Scott. We did some investigations, and we felt that the price that maybe got was inadequate.
What was the price offer?
Not enough. Not enough.
Yeah. Good answer.
At least the shareholders have the right to know.
If we'd gone forward, you would have known, yes. It was below the levels of where we are at present.
Oh, it's too low.
Too low, that's right. That's why the directors—Really, really low. That's why the directors took the decision that we would not, and we're onward and upward now.
Yeah, because I was a shareholder of—is it MMH?
Oh, yes. Out of Christchurch. It was the old Broadway.
Yeah, yeah, automation. Because I just bought them, and then after maybe two years' time, it was taken over by the U.S.
They paid, in my opinion, way over what it was worth.
They offered double the price of the market price. Yes. Yeah.
On that basis, our share price should be about $15.
Yeah, yeah. Yeah, thank you.
Okay. Any questions from online? Okay, we will move to resolution two, re-election of director Derek Charge. The Derek Charge, who retires as a director and being eligible, offers himself for re-election by shareholders to be re-elected as a director. I will now hand you over to Derek to give an introduction.
Thanks very much, Stuart. It's been my privilege to serve you, the shareholders of Scott, as a director, as an independent director since 2018. While I self-evidently don't bring either gender or cultural diversity to the board, I do bring a significant diversity of background and view to the discussions that we have at the board, and I can assure you that I robustly put my perspective on behalf of all shareholders, but especially minority shareholders. My background for the first half of my career has been as a corporate and commercial lawyer in a number of firms across Australia, but principally with a large national firm in Australia, and then as an in-house lawyer. The second half of my career has been in the manufacturing industry, and I've worked extensively in Australia and New Zealand in manufacturing and mining roles, including running both of New Zealand's largest mining operations.
More recently, I'm in the beverage manufacturing industry, so you can't really—I’m sure no one will begrudge me having moved back to Australia, to Tasmania, to run a whisky distillery. I was hoping you'd come clean on the whisky. Yeah, I did come clean on the whisky, but I've also worked in—and I guess my experience across the board has been—brings a very, very significant focus on safety and on operational efficiency, as well as that background in corporate law.
I'll endorse those words. Please now vote as you see fit. Are there any questions from shareholders on this resolution? Are there any questions from shareholders in attendance online? Nothing. Okay.
Sorry, Stuart, I should just add I am also a New Zealand citizen, despite the answer. That's just natural.
Resolution three, auditor. To record the reappointment of Deloitte as auditor of the company and to authorize the directors to fix the auditor's remuneration. Please now vote as you see fit. Are there any questions from shareholders on this resolution? Are there any questions from shareholders and attendants online? No. That completes voting on the resolutions. At this time, I'd like to advise the outcome of proxy votes that were lodged in respect of each of the resolutions. I will now read the proxy results. We're getting that on the screen for each resolution. There we go. They're not on the screen. Okay. No. The registrar at MUFG will now move through the room to collect your voting cards. For those shareholders online, you can now submit your vote if you haven't done so already. Voting will be open until five minutes after the conclusion of the meeting.
We will now open the floor up for any questions for our board and the executive team present. Are there any further questions? No more online? On that basis, I will call the meeting to an end, and thank you very much for your attendance, and it's been an enjoyable meeting, so thank you.