Kia ora. Tēnā koutou katoa, and welcome t o the 36th annual meeting of Tourism Holdings Limited. My name is Cathy Quinn, your Chair. After several years of online meetings, we're glad to be able to welcome shareholders in person. For those of you joining online through our virtual meeting platform, you're still able to vote and ask questions online, and I will provide you with further instructions as we progress through the meeting. If you encounter any issues, please refer to the virtual meeting online portal guide or call the helpline on 0800 200 220. To ask a question, you will need to click Ask a Question within the online meeting platform. Select the item of business, type in your question, and click Submit. I advise that we have a quorum present, and as it is 2 P.M., I will declare the annual meeting open.
I am joined by my fellow directors, Debbie Birch, Gráinne Troute, and Rob Hamilton. We're also joined by our Chief Executive, Grant Webster, Chief Financial Officer, Nick Judd, and Company Secretary, Amir Ansari. We also have in the room today representatives from PwC, our auditors, and from MinterEllisonRuddWatts, our solicitors. We also have representatives from our financiers, Westpac and ANZ. I also welcome other members of our executive team. Ollie Farnsworth, Juhi Shareef, and Nick Voss are with us in the room today. Kate Meldrum, Gordon Hewston, Matt Harvey, and Chris Devoy are attending online. As indicated on the screen, we have 54.9 million valid proxies and postal votes, representing 35.2% of the ordinary shares on issue. Of those, 49.2 million have identified me as chair of the meeting as proxy.
I intend to vote all discretionary proxies I have received in favor of the two resolutions set out in the notice of meeting. During today's meeting, I will provide a brief overview of the business and then hand over to our Chief Executive, Grant Webster. We will then open for general questions relating to our business and then conclude with the formalities of the meeting, including the resolutions as detailed in the notice of meeting. This is my first annual meeting as chair, and I look forward to working with Grant and my fellow board colleagues in leading THL through the next phase of growth as we move forward from the recovery from the pandemic. First, I must acknowledge and thank Rob Campbell, our previous chair, for leading THL so effectively for nearly 10 years.
The important role that Rob has stepped into at Te Whatu Ora, Health New Zealand reflects his extensive experience and exceptional skills. I'd also like to thank Dr. Gráinne Troute for his active contribution to the THL board over recent years. THL has a strong management team and board of directors who know the business well. Our focus is on returning the business to profitability and growth in the coming year. It is our aim to reward our shareholders for their commitment to THL over the last period. We appreciate your support for THL over this challenging time. This is a momentous meeting for THL. Not only have we reached significant milestones on the Apollo transaction, but we believe, with a degree of caution, that the COVID-19 pandemic impacts are now in the rearview mirror for tourism on a global basis.
There may be further outbreaks, but we believe that most of the world has decided to live with COVID-19 and operate in a more normal manner. We do not expect to see international border closures anytime soon. Economic conditions globally mean there are still headwinds which we face as a company, including labor shortages, inflationary pressures, and supply chain disruption. In saying that, I'd note that tourism is likely in a better place relative to other industries. To be frank, we've been on the floor but have picked ourselves up as an industry. While these global issues may impact on the rate of recovery in FY2023, we expect that growth in this business will continue over the coming 12 months and beyond. Throughout the pandemic period, the business focused on how to protect shareholder value, how to protect our crew, and engage with new customer segments.
This continuous focus on what is possible, finding new opportunities and business improvement activities will drive the positive balance sheet position and speed of recovery. It is noteworthy that THL did not raise capital during this period, protecting your investment. This reflects that the balance sheet and debt has been effectively managed by your board and management team. The proposed merger will be a historic moment for both companies from a growth and resilience perspective. The expanded global footprint will create a business which is a leader in the RV category with a global position in rentals. A regional position in manufacturing and sales. We do believe this is a transformational opportunity that will create significant value for shareholders, both through synergy realization and greater business resilience.
Apollo and THL are two highly complementary businesses which have brought together to create a diversified leading RV travel company across the key markets of Australia, New Zealand, North America, Europe, and the United Kingdom. In December 2021, we announced the proposed THL and Apollo merger. In September this year, we obtained clearance from the New Zealand Commerce Commission and ACCC. We understand that this was one of the longest successful processes with these regulators. There are lessons for us and also for the regulatory bodies to improve processes to provide timely certainty for businesses. While there remain other conditions to the proposed merger to be satisfied, clearance from the New Zealand and Australian competition regulators were considered the most significant. We now have much greater confidence that the merger will proceed.
As recently advised as part of Apollo's Replacement Scheme Booklet, the merger is expected to create material synergy opportunities that could deliver a steady-state pre-tax cash tax synergies of NZD 27 million-NZD 31 million per annum. This is an even higher quantum of potential synergies than originally expected earlier this year. In addition to the synergy benefits, the combined group will benefit from greater business resilience through geographic diversification and additional locations in the northern hemisphere. If the merger is approved, the board will be keenly focused on ensuring the merger integration plan and synergy opportunities are achieved. We'll be reviewing progress monthly and have high expectations that management will deliver according to plan. FY22 was another transition year, and we are pleased to have moved on from those losses. It was a year with two distinct halves.
The first half saw significant impacts from the Delta wave. Travel border restrictions lifted later than initially expected. The global supply chain was increasingly challenging. We saw a significant turnaround in the second part of FY2022. Throughout, THL continued to adapt, identify, and grab hold of new opportunities. Revenue from non-tourism activities and vehicle sales has been maximized. The Australian result, in particular, is outstanding given the challenges in the first half. Action Manufacturing has also performed strongly and continued to grow in the first year of 100% THL ownership, including laying the foundations for the early FY23 acquisition of the Freighter business. The USA business has remained profitable throughout the pandemic period. Overall, the result for FY22 was a loss, so no dividend was declared. A question you may have is what's next for THL.
The merger is obviously a major focus for the coming year. The business is focused on meeting all the regulatory obligations around the transaction. Under the current timeline, we expect to complete the transaction at the end of this November. Work is underway to get ready for change, including integrating key systems and looking after people to provide clarity and certainty through the process of integration, and Grant will provide more detail on this. While our primary focus will be successfully integrating THL and Apollo, we will continue to look for further growth opportunities. The Apollo merger is a large transaction, but it also creates more capacity and capability within the group to focus on growth as opportunities arise. Discipline of balance sheet management remains key, including achieving an appropriate return on funds and having a flexible balance sheet for opportunities should they arise.
From a profitability perspective, we continue to expect that THL's net profit after tax for FY2023 will be above NZD 30 million. As we advised in our release last month, that guidance reflects THL as a standalone entity and includes the impact of approximately NZD 3.5 million on Apollo related transaction costs occurred within this financial year. Assuming the merger with Apollo proceeds, we hope to be able to provide guidance on the FY2023 profit expectations for the merged group in February, around the time of our half-year result. COVID has provided THL with one of the toughest challenges we hope that it will ever face.
It is pleasing to see that the board and management that's focused on business fundamentals and been determined to make sure that THL emerged stronger, is now showing through in a rapid return to profitability as global tourism reopens. As THL and the industry recovers, we hope that governance in all jurisdictions we operate in continue to support this industry. Tourism has been a key driver of economic prosperity and should be in the coming years. Here in New Zealand, we do hear situations where local and central governments consider tourism is back and doesn't need any further support, or even become a target for increased levies and taxes. We operate in a competitive market globally, and we need to see complementary ongoing support. From a THL perspective, we remain excited about what we can offer this industry, and this industry can offer to all our stakeholders. Thank you.
I'm now going to pass over to Grant. I look forward to working with the new board post-final approval and completion of the Apollo merger to move the business forward in the coming year through the recovery and growth phase.
Thank you for adjusting that, Cathy. Tena koutou katoa. Thank you very much, Cathy, for your support and for the effective transition into the chair role. It's been superb. The COVID-19 period has been extremely challenging. Once again, the resilience of the THL crew and business has been superb. It's hard to find adequate words to describe how proud, inspired, and appreciative I am of our amazing people. Our crew did a great job delivering for our customers, seeking new opportunities, and supporting each other. However, we are well aware that we lost money for two years running, as did most tourism businesses globally. We believe our actions as a company minimized that impact, and more importantly, we continued to focus on the future in a manner which will set us up for significant growth into the future.
As the chair noted, the year ending 30th of June 2022 was a year of two halves. The first half remained strongly impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic, particularly for our Australasian businesses due to the ongoing domestic and international travel restrictions. The fleet at the end of FY2022 totaled 3,858 vehicles, a low position compared to previous years. We will look to grow from here. In Australia, our results rebounded strongly. After a first half EBIT loss of NZD 1 million, we achieved a second-half EBIT profit of NZD 7.6 million, an exceptional recovery. Action Manufacturing also had a positive year with an EBIT of NZD 4.9 million before eliminating the margins generated by the THL manufactured vehicles.
The business had strong activity for specialist vehicles for customers, including St John Ambulance New Zealand, New Zealand Defence Force, and other organizations in the heavy transport sector. The US business continued to be profitable throughout the COVID-19 pandemic and with an EBIT result of NZD 12.7 million. The 2022 calendar year high season was impacted by supply constraints, particularly our ability to purchase new fleet. The delivery of 200 vehicles originally scheduled to go into the fleet in quarter four of FY2022 were delayed into Q1 , FY2023. It reduced our peak fleet size and impacted the summer period. In New Zealand, with a domestic only environment for the majority of the year, we incurred an EBIT loss of NZD 9 million. I note that's a NZD 5.7 million improvement on the FY21 loss.
While a loss is never impressive, we do believe that it was a really positive achievement in the context and environment. Vehicle sales performance remained strong, both from a sales quantity and margin perspective across New Zealand, Australia, and the USA. High demand, combined with constrained supply due to the impacts of COVID-19, created the conditions for THL to deliver record vehicle sales margins in all three countries, well above historical norms. We retained appropriate talent for the regrowth phase to be ready to respond to the tourism resurgence as the pandemic impacts recede. We've also maintained a strong balance sheet. Our banking partners that are here today continue to be supportive of our business and understand the need for us to increase our investment in fleet.
When we look at the THL investment thesis published by analysts, we acknowledge the positive situation that we're in today with growth in revenue and opportunity for cost reduction through the merger synergies in both inorganic and organic new business opportunities that we've created over the last few years. Alongside delivering the FY2022 results and preparing for the coming recovery period, the last year has seen some extensive M&A activity beyond the Apollo merger. Changes to our travel technology business include THL acquiring 100% ownership of TripTech, the sale of Mighway and SHAREaCAMPER, and the sale of our remaining interest in the Togo Group. I note the strong performance by Action over the last year as well, our first full year under 100% THL ownership. The Freighter acquisition for Action Manufacturing has created a more streamlined, stronger manufacturing base with greater diversification beyond motorhomes.
It will enable us to be more stable in our long-term performance and leverage the expertise in supply relationships for both tourism and non-tourism products. We've also recently acquired 100% of Just Go in the U.K., building on a long-term successful joint venture partnership. Just Go is the leading commercial RV rental business in the United Kingdom, and we believe there's real opportunities for future growth in this market. In addition to the M&A activity, work on numerous initiatives to improve the business and the experience we deliver to customers is ongoing. We share these stories throughout the integrated report, and I'll highlight a few examples. The TRX25 customer experience development and improvement program has been rolled out across New Zealand and Australia. We have continued to invest in new fleet designs for our current fleet and new fleet models for the future.
At RVSC, a new business expansion project started this year, and it's already in FY22 delivering revenue growth of over 42% on FY2021. R&D work continues for our future fleet program to address our greatest Future-Fit sustainability challenge, the carbon emissions from our fleet. The closure of the Albany site has also created opportunities for us to improve efficiencies in these activities as we've consolidated them into other sites, including Action Manufacturing in Hamilton and the Auckland Airport Rentals and Sales location. Work's also continuing on the planning and development of our new Auckland branch. With all these developments, we've come out of the pandemic period with a better-rounded business. The chair outlined the expected synergies and opportunities in relation to the merger, and the comprehensive Replacement Scheme Booklet, which was released last week, contains details on the merged group.
We encourage any shareholder that hasn't yet had a chance to read the booklet to do so. In particular, given it's a large document, go to section nine. That provides the overview of the merged entity. The conditional clearance of the proposed merger by the NZCC and ACCC has given us confidence to start to get ready. There are still some steps required for the transaction to complete, including the Apollo scheme meeting on the 11th of November and the final Supreme Court of Queensland approval, which is expected on the 18th of November. Integration work required to bring the businesses together to realize the global opportunities and synergies is already underway. Importantly, it will give us the ability for greater global diversification and scale to invest in the things that matter and create greater efficiencies.
We have the opportunity in this merger to bring together the best of both businesses. We know that a well-managed transition and integration stage will be critical for our crew, our customers, and importantly, our investors. This will be the largest integration project in the history of both companies. We're fortunate that between both businesses, we do have significant experience in this space. We've learned the lessons from past mergers well, and it's helped guide our approach for the future. We're also using appropriate external resources and expertise to ensure that our processes are robust and efficient. To manage the complex task of the integration, we've established a project aptly named Project Orange, given the prominence of that color in both THL and Apollo. We see Project Orange as having five distinct phases, as you can see on the screen. Currently, we're operating in phase two, the road to completion.
We're highly focused at the moment on addressing all the items needed to ensure that we get the expected completion at the end of November. The two key milestones for the remainder of 2022 include completing the divestment to Jucy, which also involves combining THL and Apollo sites in Perth, Auckland, Hobart, Darwin, and Alice Springs. Following that, the financial, people, and systems integration planning becomes the next strong focus. Australia and New Zealand rentals and group services are the initial areas where synergies will be realized. Phase III will focus on operations over the summer period, ensuring that we deliver for all our customers. We are committed to giving our crew as much clarity and certainty as possible so that a team's focus can be on delivering great experiences for our customers.
There will be opportunities for our crew globally with a more diversified collective business, enabling new training, development, and career pathways. As always, I'm confident that our amazing crew will respond really well. We know that they'll be open, positive, and productive through the change process. Moving on to sustainability. THL is focused on our highest priority sustainability issues being the emissions related to the use of our vehicles and operations. We continue to work with a Future-Fit mindset and methodology to provide us with direction as we embed our global sustainability goals into operational activities at a country, business, and branch level. Decarbonizing our fleet depends on technology and infrastructure that is not yet readily available. We are seeing shifts in OEMs, the auto industry, governments and society, and infrastructure providers, particularly in Europe and the USA, but that's not fast enough.
An exciting new Future-Fit development in the FY2023 will be Action Manufacturing's work on the design and development of a new electric RV product that will build on the lessons from our previous ERV pilots. FY2022 was our first year reporting on the Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures, a year ahead of the reporting requirements. We have set a science-aligned carbon emission reduction target. Committing THL to absolute reduction of Scope one and Scope two greenhouse gas emissions by 50.4% by FY2032. This target, importantly, is consistent with the aim of limiting global heating to 1.5 degrees Celsius. Further work, however, is still underway on how we appropriately manage Scope three targets. Tourism's about connections. Travelers are increasingly seeking deeper, more sustainable, and authentic connections with people and place. Creating these unforgettable journeys is our purpose.
The growing focus on responsible and regenerative travel by the industry is very welcome. We continue to work with industry partners to create positive community and destination impacts as travel rebounds. We work with programs like the Tiaki Promise in New Zealand, Travel with Heart in the U.S., and our Reconciliation Action Plan in Australia. Long-term trends for more sustainable travel suit the experiences associated with our vehicles, and we remain positive that we will see growth in this category. In terms of outlook, we recognize that we're coming out of a loss-making year. It's more important as a result, for us to give guidance to our shareholders on our expectations. As such, I'll briefly speak to the outlook for our businesses, which we've already touched on in recent market announcements. I should note again that our guidance relates to THL as a standalone business and excludes Apollo.
Within Australasia, our rentals businesses have performed above expectations to date and have a stronger outlook for the upcoming high season than we anticipated some months ago. Rental yields have been positive, up by more than 35% on FY2019 levels in New Zealand, and by more than 70% in Australia. This has set up the Australian business well to deliver a record EBIT result in FY2023. For the New Zealand RV business to have a strong recovery into profitability. Vehicle sales margins in these regions are holding up well, but as previously indicated, we do expect to see some reduction through the remainder of this financial year. The USA rental season has extended to a strong shoulder season. Despite the ongoing economic uncertainty, we continue to see international demand for the U.S. into the 2023 calendar year.
However, I would note that the key booking period we expect is late January, early February. RV retail sales in the U.S. are declining across the industry, particularly for towable products. Vehicle sales pricing for motorized vehicles, however, has remained higher than anticipated because of the ongoing shortages in supply. As a result, we expect our used vehicle sales margins to decline at a slower rate than what we previously expected. Chassis supply and vehicle delivery dates continue to remain uncertain on a global basis. While there are indicators in some vehicle categories in the U.S. that these are easing, we are yet to see such signs in Australasia. The Waitomo business has, in the last few weeks, seen the return of coach tours and the first customers coming from cruise ships.
Overall, the Waitomo business has continued to face a challenging environment and is facing recruitment difficulties leading into the upcoming summer, given the remote location of Waitomo. Kiwi Experience is having a very positive return to operations, with strong yields on bookings for the upcoming period. Pleasingly, both tourism businesses are expected to deliver a positive EBIT in FY2023. From a group perspective, as highlighted by the chair, our expectations for FY2023 net profit after tax remain above NZD 30 million. In summary, over the last year, we've tidied, reviewed, refocused, and refreshed across all of our business operations and developed exciting new opportunities. We are well set up for the future and ready to grow. The successful completion of the THL and Apollo merger will create transformational opportunities.
We're excited by the opportunity, but we're staying sharply focused on the integration plan and making sure that both businesses grow together successfully. We won't stop here. It's in the DNA of THL to always be looking ahead, focusing on continued growth. After a challenging few years, we do see a bright future full of opportunity. Thank you, all. I'll pass back to the Chair.
We haven't had a joint photo standing beside one another. He'd have to sit, maybe on the floor. Thank you, Grant. I'd like to open up the floor for questions and online. Please note we are restricted about what we can say about the Apollo merger. We can really only repeat what is said in the Replacement Scheme Booklet. That's not because we're seeking to be difficult or less than open. It's simply that that's what the court process requires. It has been something of a journey to get to this point on this transaction, so we really don't want to foot stumble here. If you're attending the meeting online, you are able to ask questions by clicking on Ask a Question within the online meeting platform. Select the item of business, type in your question, and then click Submit.
To ensure questions on the resolutions being asked online make it to me as we go through each resolution, I'd ask that shareholders who are attending the meeting online submit those questions now, please. For those who are in the room, we have microphones available, and I'd ask you to wait till a microphone comes to you before you pose your question. Please put up your hand with your admittance card if you'd like to raise a question. When you speak, please tell us your name and whether you're a shareholder or proxy holder. Following any questions from the floor, we'll answer any questions submitted online that have not been already answered. Starting with questions from the floor. Yes, if you just wait, we'll get a mic brought.
I've got more comments than questions.
You can have a couple of comments.
My name is Ken, and I'm a shareholder. First I'd like to add to what Grant Webster said. The company owes a lot of thanks to the workers who battled through this couple of years. Unfortunately, it's a tough world, and the only reward we can offer is years more hard yakka. A few years ago, I brought up the subject of diversification, and it went down like a lead balloon. There has been a chance to learn through this pandemic where many companies needed transfusions of public funds to keep on going. The specialization of THL Campervan Co does make it much more competitive. On the other hand, diversification can maybe hedge against extinction. Maybe the public won't be able to help so much in a future event, and tourism will always be discretionary spending.
I can see okay that Camper Van Co, through vertical integration extension into something like tornado-resistant camper van sites, could become a bit less dependent on tourism. As Tourism Holdings Limited implies, the company at the moment lives or dies on tourism. Maybe there's adversity to learn, and maybe diversification will be listened to now. Something like going into used car trading in the U.S. would have synergies and on the other hand, not dependent to any great extent on tourism. My main interest over many years with THL now is that Camper Van Co is a good, solid division of a potential significant company. What my interest is now is, and/or has been for many years, is can it get into diversification? Thank you very much.
Thank you, Ken. Thank you for your comments. Just on diversification, of course, we're diversifying our business by expanding into new regions, which is part of the reason for the Apollo merger. We don't have a business currently in Canada, and with the Apollo merger, we will, and we will have a bigger business in Europe. We're not really in Europe at the moment. THL does. So that gives us diversification in terms of geography. Your point about diversification more generally, we certainly have seen that as an opportunity during COVID and the pandemic. You would have seen some of our camper vans, which are converted to Jaba, mobile Jaba minibuses. They're also used for supporting people in relation to flood victims in Australia and in New Zealand.
We certainly have looked. We see that emergency support and support to government agencies and some of the things they do is a very sensible part of the business too, and we see that potential. We don't see that going away as tourism rebounds. Other questions? Are there? Oh, yes. Just if you could just wait for the mic.
My name is Farida, shareholder. You have painted a rosy picture about the COVID disappearing, but at the same time, recession is coming in. I would like the board to let us know what action you will be taking to cope up with this recession, because I don't see the tourism picking up that fast because of the world inflation everywhere. How do you propose to tackle that front?
Thank you. I'll make some comments, and then I may ask Grant to elaborate further. Yes, I guess what, as I said in my opening remarks, one of the things we see with tourism, unlike the rest many other parts of the economy, is we've gone from here, you know, no, basically no tourists, no, very little tourism, very low, to here. You've seen from the early parts of the performance of the business in FY2023, fantastic performance in terms of revenue and profitability out of our business. You see, there are challenges ahead, but we think we are very well positioned, compared to where we've been to deal with those. Do you have any additional comments you'd like to make, Grant?
No, I think that's exactly right. We are seeing demand into 2023, despite the pricing, despite inflation. Basically, there are two terms that have come alive in recent times in tourism. Ones that we know as pent-up demand, and there is two years of pent-up demand, and the second is revenge travel. People around the world that are feeling the effects of being isolated and restrained for two years are keen to travel. Yes, we would acknowledge that there is a group of travelers that may not have the discretionary income to travel, but we do see long-haul travel as one that is in the higher wealth group. We definitely see that there are still those people that are very resilient.
I think the last thing that I'll just say without getting into the economics of the world is whilst we see unemployment at the levels that it is as low as it is, we still see people keen to travel domestically or internationally.
Thank you for the question. Any other questions? Well, if not, we'll go to questions online. Are there any questions online?
We've got a question from Shareholder Peter Truman. The question is: Does THL have access to adequate funding to regrow the vehicle fleet as tourism recovers? Do the directors envisage that any additional share capital may be issued?
Well, obviously, as part of preparing for the potential merger with Apollo, we have been. One of the conditions is that we have put in place appropriate refinancing for our business and the merged business, which we are in the process of finalizing. We think that we are in a good position in relation to that. We don't have any intentions to be asking our shareholders for capital at this point. Yeah. That's that. Anything additional, Nick, do you wanna add?
No, I think Grant touched on the support we've had from ANZ and Westpac. In the scheme booklet, section nine, there are some further details on the merged entity financing structure that I would refer people to view.
Is there any other questions, Amir?
We've got a second question from Peter Truman. The question is: How compelling is the proposed Apollo merger for existing THL shareholders, given the vehicle divestiture required to get regulatory approval?
We still see the Apollo merger as being in the best interest and positive for our shareholders. We wouldn't have proceeded with the transaction if we did not think that that was the case. In relation to the Apollo merger, yes, we have to divest a number of vehicles and certain sites to Apollo. We probably would've sold down vehicles in any event, which we're now actually probably in some ways accelerating by having a sale to Jucy. Yes, we absolutely believe that this is still in the best interests of our shareholders. The whole strategic rationale is to have a more diversified geographically diversified business and make us more resilient if we do have further tough times.
We're confident that this is in the best interest of our shareholders.
No further questions, Chair.
Okay. Thank you. We'll move on to the voting. Just if you give me a minute. We'll move to the formal items of business on the agenda. In accordance with the requirements for director rotation included in the NZX Listing Rules and the company's constitution, we have one director stepping down by rotation this year, and that is Rob Hamilton. As indicated, we are operating a poll vote for both resolutions today. Either eligible shareholders or proxies will have been given a voting card. For each resolution, you need to tick the box indicating whether you're voting for or against the resolution or abstaining. Link Market Services representatives will be here and will collect the voting cards at the end of the resolutions prior to general business.
The votes will be counted and collated with the postal and online votes. For those attending the meeting online, you're able to cast your vote by clicking Get Voting Card. Further instructions can be found on the online portal guide. Voting will remain open until five minutes after the conclusion of the meeting, and the results of the vote will be announced on the NZX website. Each resolution set out in the notice of meeting is to be considered an ordinary resolution. As such, must be approved by a simple majority of the votes cast by shareholders entitled to vote in voting on the resolution. First, turning to the reelection of Rob Hamilton. Rob was appointed as a director of THL in February 2019 and appointed chair of the Audit and Risk Committee in November 2019.
The board considers Rob to be an independent director and is unanimous in recommending that shareholders vote in favor of his reelection. I'll now invite Rob to address the meeting. I'll just let you know.
Thank you, Cathy. Kia ora koutou. Good afternoon, everyone. For everyone in the room, isn't it great to be here in person? My name's Rob Hamilton. I'm standing for re-election to the board. As Cathy said, I first joined the board in early 2019 and was elected to the board at the 2019 annual meeting. I'm currently chair of the Audit and Risk Committee and a member of the Remuneration and Nomination Committee and the Market Disclosure Committee. In addition to being a director of THL, I'm a Director of Oceania Healthcare, Westpac NZ, and most recently, NZX. I also have my own consulting business, and have been working closely with Synlait Milk over the past 18 months. Prior to embarking on a governance and consulting career in early 2021, I was Chief Financial Officer at SkyCity for six years.
Prior to that, I led the investment banking team at Jarden for 12 years, where I worked with numerous clients across a range of industries, including the tourism sector, and developed significant capital markets and merger and acquisition experience. As Cathy and Grant have already outlined, the last few years have been rather challenging for THL. However, I believe the management team and board have navigated these unprecedented challenges successfully, and hence, THL is now in a good position to return to significant profitability in the current financial year. I'm genuinely excited about what lies ahead for THL, especially given the proposed merger with Apollo being expected to complete at the end of this month. The merger will be transformational for THL, in particular, by expanding our global footprint and enhancing our customer offer as tourism markets globally continue to recover.
As a result, I believe stability and experience at board level will be important for THL over the next few years as we proceed with the merger implementation and as THL continues to grow. Given my background and experience, I believe I can continue to serve THL effectively as a Director for the next three years. In particular, my capital markets and merger and acquisition experience means that I have a strong focus on how we allocate our capital and on improving shareholder value. Furthermore, my broad governance and industry experience means that I can bring insights from other companies and sectors for the benefit of THL. Thank you for your consideration of me as a Director of THL. I look forward to your support and ask for your vote. Thank you.
Thanks, Rob. I now propose that Robert David Hamilton, who retires by rotation and is eligible for re-election, be re-elected as a director of the company. Are there any questions for Rob from the floor? Are there any questions online for Rob?
No questions online.
Excellent. Thank you. As there's no further questions, we will next, I'm going to ask you to please cast your vote on the voting card or online in relation to resolution one. Just give you a minute to do that. Moving to the second resolution relates to the auditor remuneration. Resolution two relates to the directors setting the remuneration of our auditors. PwC is the auditor of THL and has confirmed its willingness to continue as an auditor of the company. I propose that the directors are authorized to fix the remuneration of the auditors for the ensuing year. Are there any questions from the floor on this resolution? Are there any questions online?
No questions, Chair.
As there are no questions, I ask that you complete your voting card and online in relation to that resolution. Now, for those of you who are in the room, representatives of Link Market Services will now begin collecting your voting cards. For those of you online, please submit your votes online. Voting will close five minutes after the conclusion of the meeting. Thank you. We'll now move to general business. Are there any other items shareholders would like to raise from the floor? Yes. Could we just wait for our mic at the front here?
Sorry to be a nuisance again. A belated question for Rob. In the company reporting, all this new stuff is beyond me, but the ESG as a whole lump of hundreds of pages is of no interest to me. A single page on new initiatives in the area each year would be okay for me. Now, as an apparent financial and reporting specialist, is it feasible to have the printed company report in two parts, one financial, which I'm interested in. One ESG that the touchy-feely types can be interested in. It would save a lot of paper, et cetera, et cetera. I'd. I'm one of the nerds that gets a printed one every year. It would save a lot of paper and so on if the ESG could just be missing from my post.
Thank you. Rob, would you like to answer that question?
Yes. Thank you, Ken, for your question. Yes, it is possible to have two reports. We did actually consider that for FY2022. We thought it was better to have one comprehensive integrated report, which covered all matters pertaining to the company. I certainly appreciate that different shareholders and different stakeholders in the business will look to the annual report for different information. I also haven't actually looked at a printed annual report for any company for some years. So while I appreciate you like to have the written copy in your hands, and many people still do, I also think there's a number of people out there who are comfortable with the online version. We take on board your comments.
There will be some expanded disclosures we need to make, have started to make, from FY2023. We've already started to make them in FY2022. There will be further particularly climate impact disclosures that we need to be making. I think that logically sits in the integrated report, but we will take on board your comments and think further. Thank you.
Thanks. Thanks, Rob. Some of these things are also determined by regulation and so forth, so I understand your feedback. We also have shareholders who are very keen for additional ESG reporting matters, but we get your point. I think we're ready at the point. Is there any other general business? Yeah.
I've just got a comment online, not a question, from Peter Truman again. He'd like to commend Directors and Management on the outstanding job they've done navigating the impacts of the unprecedented times we have lived with over the last two and a half years.
Oh, thanks, Peter. We appreciate it. We also very much appreciate your support as shareholders during that period. Are there any other questions from the floor? If not, I will close the meeting. I believe there is no further meetings, so I will close the meeting, and invite anyone in the room. You're very welcome to stay for a cup of tea. Thank you for attending.