Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. My name is Alan MacGibbon, Chair of CAE's Board of Directors.
... Management Team, it is my pleasure to welcome you to the 2024 Annual Meeting of Shareholders. We're holding the meeting once again in a virtual format. This format allows all shareholders and appointed proxy holders, regardless of their geographic location, to attend, participate in real time, and vote at the meeting online through a web-based platform, and helps us reduce the carbon footprint of our activities. Guests are also welcome to attend and listen to this meeting. The meeting will be conducted in both French and English. You can listen to the webcast and view the presentation slides in either French or English. If you wish to change languages, click on the language icon shown at the top of the right side of your screen.
Fiscal year 2024 was a year of meaningful progress for our company, both in terms of addressing challenges, as well as continuing to grow and invest in our core markets. As we have for years, we further strengthened our competitive position and demonstrated market leadership with the introduction of new technologies and solutions for our customers around the globe. Our civil business continued to perform exceptionally well, with continued growth in revenues, record margins, and strong order intake. During the year, we took decisive actions to rebaseline our defense business. These actions, which include leadership changes, organizational structure simplification, and the appointment of a Chief Operating Officer, Nick Leontidis, give us confidence in an improved performance profile for this segment. Additionally, we completed the sale of CAE Healthcare, a decision that reflects our commitment to streamline our portfolio to focus on our core businesses.
CAE continues to focus on board renewal to ensure that the company and shareholders benefit from fresh perspectives. Five new directors have joined the board since 2022, and a sixth new nominee is up for election today. This is the result of a regular evaluation by the board to ensure that it reflects the appropriate skills and experience necessary to effectively oversee execution of CAE's strategy today and into the future. Over the past 12 months, CAE has made substantial progress on its sustainability mandate. Our aim is to continue delivering long-term business value through our built-in environmental, social, and governance pillars. Climate change is one of the biggest global challenges of our time, and CAE is committed to supporting the decarbonization of our customers and our industry.
CAE's fiscal year 2024-2028 strategic roadmap reinforces our commitment to sustainability by enhancing our influence and performance where it matters the most. Now for introductions. I am here in Montreal, Quebec, on [Foreign language] Territory, along with members of our executive management team. Marc Parent, our President and Chief Executive Officer and Director, Mark Hounsell, General Counsel, Chief Compliance Officer, and Corporate Secretary, who will be acting as the secretary of this meeting. Samantha Golinski, Vice President, Public Affairs and Global Communications, will be acting as moderator with respect to any questions that you may have. Of course, our shareholders and guests are calling in from across the country and across the world. As outlined in the agenda, we have a few business items to cover today. In addition to tabling our financial statements, there are four motions for consideration.
Once all four motions have been voted on, we will announce our preliminary voting results. Immediately following the formal agenda, the President's report will be presented by Marc Parent. An opportunity will be provided at the end of this presentation for shareholders to raise general questions. Before we begin, I'd like to remind you that today's remarks, including answers to questions, contain forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements represent our expectations as of today, August 14, 2024 , and accordingly, are subject to change. Such statements are based on assumptions that may not materialize and are subject to risks and uncertainty. Actual results may differ materially, and listeners are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements.
A description of the risk factors and assumptions that may affect future results is contained in CAE's annual MD&A, available on our corporate website and in our filings with the Canadian Securities Administrators on SEDAR+ at www.sedarplus.ca, and with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on EDGAR at www.sec.gov. I would like to now proceed to the formal portion of today's meeting. I now call to order the annual meeting of the corporation shareholders. Mr. Mark Hounsell will act as Secretary of the meeting. Our corporate secretary has received a certificate of our transfer agent, Computershare Trust Company of Canada, indicating that proper notice of the meeting has been given in accordance with the Canada Business Corporations Act and the bylaws of the corporation.
I direct that a copy of the notice with proof of service be kept by the secretary with the records of this meeting. With the consent of the meeting, I appoint Martine Gauthier, representative of Computershare, as scrutineer of this meeting. Let us now turn to the meeting procedures. CAE's bylaws provide that a quorum of shareholders is present at a meeting of shareholders if two or more persons, holding not less than 25% of the shares entitled to vote at the meeting, are present or represented by proxy. The scrutineer has advised that we have the necessary quorum present. I now declare that this meeting is regularly called and properly constituted for the transaction of business. I would now ask the corporate secretary to explain the basic features of our virtual meeting platform and how you can vote at our meeting.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. When you are logged in as a shareholder or as a guest, you can see the info screen display. Here, you can read information about CAE, and you can ask questions. To see the slide presentation while you're listening to our webcast, simply click the broadcast icon or the arrow.
When you wish to ask a question, please select the messaging icon and type your question in the message box at the bottom of the screen. Click the Send button, and you should receive a confirmation that your message has been received. You may ask your question in French or in English. Note that only registered shareholders or validly appointed proxy holders are permitted to ask questions. Mrs. Samantha Golinski will be monitoring all questions being submitted and will relay them to the Chair or the relevant executive team member.
Shareholders will also have the opportunity to ask questions verbally over the phone. If you wish to do so, enter your phone number and the subject of your question instead in the text box and click the Send button. A technician will call you. Once you have answered our call, you will hear the meeting from your phone. We ask that you mute your computer and listen to the live feed from your phone. This will prevent any delay or noise annoyance. When called upon to ask your question, you will be unmuted. If there are many similar questions on the same topic, Samantha may pick one question or summarize the nature of the questions. I'd like to remind you that questions should relate to the business or affairs of CAE that are being put forth for consideration at today's meetings, and not those of a personal nature.
In the event that we are unable to address your question during the meeting, or if your question is related to a personal matter, a CAE representative will follow up directly with you after the meeting.
The four resolutions will be conducted by an online poll. Only registered shareholders or validly appointed proxy holders may vote on the four items of business. You will see a voting icon on your screen, and the resolution wording will be displayed. To vote, select one of the voting options. Your response will be highlighted, and a confirmation message will appear to show that your vote has been received. To change your vote, simply select the other option. In order for your vote to be properly recorded, it is important that you remain connected to the internet at all times. If you're not connected, your vote will not be recorded. The polls are now open on all four items of business. This will give you ample time to vote while we introduce each resolution. The Chair will remind you of your choice for each item.
After the last item in business, the Chair will close the poll and provide a reminder to input your vote if you have not already done so. You should know that while each of the ballots cast today will be accounted for in the final results, proxies lodged with our registrar and transfer agent before this meeting allow the Chair, as proxy holder, to determine the outcome of each of the motions that will go to a vote today.
When each item of business is completed and the ballots have been completed, as a result of the proxies received in advance of the meeting, the Chair intends to declare the motion carried or defeated, even though all the votes may not have been counted or a final report may not have been yet available.
In order to facilitate the flow of the meeting, since the meeting is conducted in a virtual format, the Chair has asked me, as a registered shareholder, to vote all motions. The Chair will call on me at the appropriate time. Mr. Chair?
Thank you, Mark. I hereby table the minutes of the annual and special meeting of shareholders held on August 9th, 2023, which will be inserted into the minute book of the corporation. Copies of the minutes will be made available upon request. The next matter is to place before the meeting the financial statements and auditor's report therein for the year ended March 31, 2024. Copies of which were made available to shareholders in May. I will entertain questions with respect to the financial statements of the corporation in the general question period. We will now turn to the first item of business for which shareholders are asked to vote, the election of directors. The management proxy circular contains a list and biographical profile of the 13 nominees recommended for election as director.
Each nominee was elected at our 2023 annual shareholders meeting, except for Patrick Decostre and Ian Edwards, who are first-time nominees this year. I've already introduced myself and our CEO, Marc Parent. The other director nominees are the following: Ayman Antoun from Ontario, Margaret Billson from New Mexico, Sophie Brochu from Quebec, Elise Eberwein from Arizona, Marianne Harrison from New Hampshire, Mary Lou Maher from Ontario, François Olivier from Quebec, General David Perkins from New Hampshire, Patrick Shanahan from Washington State, Patrick Decostre from Quebec, and finally, Ian Edwards from Quebec. Mr. Decostre is President, CEO, and a Director of Boralex Inc, a provider of affordable, renewable energy in North America and Europe. He joined our board in May 2024, bringing with him an extensive experience as a CEO and nearly two decades of experience building Boralex's business from the ground up in Europe. Mr.
Edwards has been President and CEO of AtkinsRéalis, formerly SNC-Lavalin, since 2019. He joined AtkinsRéalis in 2014 and led initiatives to simplify, focus, and grow the business while implementing measures to improve operational performance. Both Mr. Decostre and Mr. Edwards bring the board many decades of international experience, delivering on long-term, complex infrastructure and resource projects. I would also like to take this opportunity to recognize Michael Roach and Andrew Stevens for their service on the CAE board. Mr. Roach first joined our board in 2017, and most recently served on the Audit Committee and the Governance Committee. He retired from the board in May of this year after almost seven years of service. Andrew Stevens was first elected to the board in 2013, and he served on several committees over the years, including serving as Chair of the Governance Committee.
He is not standing for re-election at today's meeting. I wish to extend a warm thank you to both Mr. Roach and Mr. Stevens for their insights, collaborative spirit, and significant contributions during their time as directors, which have helped position CAE for continued success. We wish them all the best going forward. Pursuant to a resolution adopted by the board of directors, the number of directors has been set at 13, and 13 eligible candidates have been nominated. Mark, may I ask you to move to elect each of the 13 nominees as directors?
I so move.
For the election of the directors, you will see the names of all 13 nominees, and please scroll down to make sure you voted on all 13 nominees. To cast your vote for a nominee, please select For or Against. If you do not press either For or Against, as applicable when voting is open, your vote will not be recorded, and you will be regarded as having abstained from voting. Preliminary results will be announced later today, and final results will be posted to our website. The next item on the agenda is the appointment of auditors. I will ask Mark Hounsell to introduce a motion to appoint PricewaterhouseCoopers as the auditors of the corporation to hold office until the close of the next annual meeting of shareholders and for authorization for the directors to fix their remuneration.
I so move.
For the appointment of the auditors, to cast your vote in favor, please select For, and to withhold your vote, please select Withhold. The next motion is to approve, on an advisory basis, our approach to executive compensation. CAE's executive compensation is fully disclosed in the proxy circular made available to all shareholders in advance of this AGM. During fiscal 2023, CAE's management and board of directors conducted extensive stakeholder outreach, seeking shareholder input on our compensation programs. This resulted in changes to our compensation programs to further align CAE's performance and compensation outcomes for CAE's management. We continued our shareholder outreach in fiscal 2024, and the CAE board of directors believes that the company's approach to executive compensation remains appropriate and aligned with the interests of our shareholders.
We value your direct feedback on our executive compensation approach, and the board will consider the results of this vote when evaluating future compensation policies, procedures, and decisions. We will now vote on the following resolution: Resolve that the shareholders accept the approach to executive compensation disclosed in the management proxy circular. I understand that Mark Hounsell wishes to propose a motion for approval.
I so move.
To cast your vote for the executive management compensation, please select For, and to vote against the resolution, please select Against. The last motion is to approve the reconfirmation of the Shareholder Protection Rights Plan. The rights plan, which has been in place since 1990, will expire today unless shareholders vote to continue its operation for an additional term ending on the day immediately after CAE's annual meeting of shareholders to be held in 2027. CAE believes that the rights plan preserves the fair treatment of shareholders and is consistent with current best Canadian corporate governance practices and addresses institutional investor guidelines. You can find the principal terms of the rights plan described in Appendix E to the management proxy circular. I will ask Mark Hounsell to introduce a motion to approve the resolution to reconfirm the rights plan as set out in Section Two of the management proxy circular.
I so move.
To cast your vote for this reconfirmation of the rights plan, please select four, and to vote against this resolution, please select against. We will now continue with the voting. If you've not already done so, please vote on all four items of business, and I will give you some additional time now to finalize your voting selection. If you have already voted or sent in a proxy, there is no need for you to do anything unless you would like to change your vote. I declare the polls now closed on all four items of business. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Chair.
The scrutineer's preliminary report, preliminary report indicates that 76.96% of the eligible shares have been voted at this meeting. The results with respect to the election of directors are: a substantial majority of the votes cast at the meeting were voted in favor of 13 out of the 13 nominees named in the management proxy circular, with each nominee receiving in excess of 92.6% in favor, except Mr. Shanahan, who has received 74.65% in favor. The result with respect to the appointment of auditors is 95.03% voted in favor of PricewaterhouseCoopers.
The result with respect to the advisory vote on the approach to executive compensation is 94.77% in favor of the resolution, and with respect to the election of the Human Resources Committee Chair, it is 93.39%. The result with respect to the vote of the reconfirmation of the shareholder rights plan is 94.47%, voted in favor of the resolution. Final detailed results will be publicly available on sedarplus.ca in the coming days.
The next item on the agenda is the president's address to the shareholders. Before I turn the floor over to our CEO, Marc Parent, let's watch CAE's fiscal 2024 year-end video. This short clip demonstrates all that we have accomplished for this year and our hopes for the future.
... Good morning, everyone, and welcome to CAE's Annual Meeting of Shareholders.
2024 was a year of really bold moves to position CAE for success. With very strong trends that we see both for civil aviation and our defense and security markets, we continued to consolidate our unmatched position as the world leader in aviation training, and to fulfill what's our noble purpose, which is to prepare people in critical roles for the moments that matter. And as shareholders, we have every reason to be very excited about the future of this great company. So let me tell you why.
In civil aviation, if you've flown recently, I'm certain you've noticed how busy airports are. Passenger traffic is on the rise, and so are global fleet sizes, with the number of commercial jets expected to almost double over the next two decades. To keep up with this growth, it is estimated that 1.3 million new pilots, aircraft maintenance technicians, and cabin crew will be needed over the next 10 years, and CAE will play a critical role in their training.
Across our whole Civil segment, our competitive position remains unparalleled in the industry. In fiscal 2024, we saw record momentum in orders from both new and existing customers with a book-to-sales ratio of 1.24 times and an adjusted order intake of CAD 3 billion, including 64 full flight simulator sales. I think it's safe to say that CAE is continuing to win the lion's share of global orders. As testament to the continued demand for our solutions, Civil reached a record adjusted backlog of CAD 6.4 billion in fiscal 2024, and as we announced this morning, it reached CAD 6.6 billion in the first quarter of fiscal 2025. This year, we continue to deepen our strong competitive moat, with many marquee airlines now outsourcing their training for the first time in their history.
Air France-KLM Group, Air Europa, and ITA Airways, just a few of the iconic air carriers turning to CAE to meet their training needs. In the United States, we're proud to say that that four of the five major U.S. airlines have now outsourced a part of their training to us, versus zero prior to COVID. Around the world, we expanded our partnerships with OEMs and airlines. As examples, we established a joint venture with Aegean, the largest Greek airline, to build the first advanced flight training center in Athens, and in a few weeks, we'll inaugurate a state-of-the-art pilot training center in Sydney for Qantas. On the business aviation side, global activity continues to trend higher than pre-pandemic across all regions.
You know, as a pilot, I can tell you that I regularly train in CAE's facilities myself, and I can personally tell you that parking lots are full. We're very busy. In our ongoing quest to meet customer demand where they live, we expanded our network by launching new business aviation training centers in Las Vegas and Orlando, as well as our first Gulfstream-dedicated center in Savannah that we just recently opened. In 2025, we'll open CAE Vienna, our first in Central Europe. We also reinforced our long-standing relationship with Boeing, officially becoming a Boeing-authorized training provider, initially in India. As part of this partnership, CAE is going to deliver Boeing's competency-based flight training curriculum while leveraging our unique expertise and technology to advance the forefront of aviation safety.
With over 77 years in the industry, CAE's brand, our leadership position, and our expertise are also creating opportunities for us to expand into adjacent markets. A great example is our configurable flight operations solution software, which enable end-to-end flight operations management, operational performance, profitability, and enhanced passenger experience for airlines. And a growing number of airlines are turning to CAE's industry-leading digital ecosystem, including marquee airlines like Air India and Wizz Air, with whom we recently signed multiyear contracts.
Another example is a recent partnership with NAV CANADA. Similar to the need for pilots, we are seeing growing demand for air traffic controllers and flight service specialists. As a natural extension of our core expertise, this partnership is expected to support training for over 500 additional students by 2028 across Canada to meet this demand.
First of its kind, this air traffic controller training contract, to me, is a foray to a brand-new market for CAE, which paves the way for other similar partnerships around the world. In defense, we took bold, decisive action this year to rebaseline our business, leveraging the lessons learned and enhancing our processes to create a clear path forward that will allow us to thrive in this segment. We appointed Nick Leontidis, a 35-year CAE veteran, to the newly created role of Chief Operating Officer. Nick is ideally positioned to further strengthen our execution capabilities, drive additional synergies between defense and civil, and promote collaboration across the company, bolstering our unique one CAE culture. This new organizational structure brings sharper focus, sharper vision, and it will undoubtedly unlock additional value.
With these changes behind us, we're poised to meet the rapidly increasing demand for our expertise and training solutions. In defense, driven by geopolitical tensions, governments around the world are prioritizing defense modernization and readiness, causing defense budgets to rise across NATO and allied nations. As in civil aviation, demand for trained critical personnel is a trend that's common across our markets. In the defense sector, the lack of uniformed personnel is leading governments to turn to industry partners for training, solutions, and technology, and that's a trend that CAE is uniquely and ideally positioned to meet. Just as one noteworthy example, today, we're proud to train all 43,000 aircrew across all branches of the U.S. military at some point in their career.
As a testimony to our unique position in the market, this past year, our leadership position was further reinforced by the largest win in CAE's history, the CAD 11.2 billion, 25-year Future Aircrew Training, or FAcT contract, awarded to our SkyAlyne joint venture to develop a comprehensive training and support system for the Royal Air, Royal Air Force.
Is the Canadian government outsourcing their military training to us for pilots. And FAcT is what we call a generational program and meaning that it represents literally decades of work for CAE employees. It's also a testament to the public sector's confidence in CAE as a trusted long-term partner. And as we look at the performance of our defense segment, last year, we reached CAD 1.9 billion in adjusted order intake with a book-to-sales ratio of 1.04x . This contributed to a CAD 5.7 billion defense backlog, and as announced this morning, the addition of the FAcT contract in the first quarter of fiscal 2025 has nearly doubled our backlog, which is now at CAD 10.4 billion.
In the last few months, we saw several other large strategic wins for CAE Defense, including a 12-year contract to provide flight school training support services to U.S. Army. As well, our teaming agreement with Boeing to deliver P-8 Poseidon training solutions for Canada, Germany, and Norway reinforced CAE's position as the exclusive provider of simulators for the P-8 worldwide. We're also awarded a contract by General Atomics to support the MQ-9B SkyGuardian remotely piloted aircraft system, or RPAS, acquired by the government of Canada, and which solidifies our position with General Atomics as their exclusive international partner for training on this very prolific platform. CAE also won a contract to support the U.S.
Army's High Accuracy Detection and Exploitation System program, or HADES, by providing training services at our Dothan Training Center in Alabama for Army pilots flying the Bombardier Global 6500 aircraft. So the impending ramp-up of all these programs and more, and large strategic wins that we anticipate in fiscal year 2025, points undoubtedly to strong growth outlook and further improvement in our margin rates in defense. And Carol Galde, so-
And altogether, these wins are a result of relentless innovation, a spirit that has always been at the core of CAE's identity, and that propels us to the forefront of our industry. From advanced air mobility, training solutions, to deep cloud integration, we continue to invest in technology to move the world forward safely, faster, and more sustainably. This year, under our technology organization, we have once again brought groundbreaking innovations to market and accelerated the development of next-generation technologies such as CAE Prodigy and CAE Rise.
As the undisputed leader, CAE delivers 1.3 million hours of flight training annually. With CAE Rise, we've been able to gather and analyze 2.8 PB of data, which allows us to provide unique and objective database insights to our customers, leading to greater training efficacy. Nobody else can do this, and that's why customers choose CAE. We continue to define the industry standard in that regard and in synthetic technologies, and our latest success is CAE Prodigy, our new visual system. This technology, deployed for the first time in a full flight simulator, is the first of its kind, powered by a gaming engine image generator at Level D qualification, which is the highest level of qualification available in the aviation industry. It delivers an unparalleled level of realism, further reinforcing CAE's core technological strength and expertise.
We're also leveraging technology to bring our customers' experience to the next level. A prime example is our newly launched CAE Connect platform, which allows us to deliver a digitally connected experience to delight our customers.
CAE's noble purpose is to make the world safer. As such, we have long been working hand-in-hand with regulators to advance aviation safety and harmonize standards across the industry.
Today, there's no doubt that CAE's brand is synonymous with safety, and that's something that we're very proud of. And as testimony to our leadership in this area, I was honored to be asked to present the keynote address at the IATA World Safety and Operations Conference, taking place in Morocco in October. I'm going to be very proud to do so on behalf of our company.
Making the world safer extends to continually reinforcing a sustainable future in everything we do. At CAE, those aren't just words. Sustainability is deeply embedded in how we operate. We are committed to decarbonizing our own operations and our value chain, and we are stepping up to the plate to lead meaningful change in our industry by supporting our customers in their decarbonizing effort. These investments are a key long-term value driver, integral to our both ability to attract talent and capital, and to maintaining our competitive edge.
As a Canadian company, CAE strives to build enduring, meaningful, and mutually beneficial relationships with our indigenous communities. You know, it's with great gratitude that I'm able to share that our efforts have been recognized by the Canadian Council for Indigenous Business, achieving committed status in Progressive Aboriginal Relations certification for the first time. These are just a few of the highlights of the many actions that we've taken on our sustainability journey this year. To learn more, please, you know, read our fiscal 2024 Annual Activity and Sustainability Report. You know, as we reflect on the year that has brought both challenges and triumphs, what I see is a company that's thoughtful, ambitious, and unafraid to take bold action. I've been very proud of what we've been able to do by working together.
Building on the lessons learned, we reshaped CAE in meaningful ways to drive greater focus, efficiency, and optimization across the portfolio. Today, we enjoy a solid financial position that's bolstered by strong and recurring cash flow. We've given CAE a clear path forward that positions us very well for future success. And as we look ahead, we're going to continue to identify opportunities to work smarter and enhance synergies between our civil aviation and defense and security businesses for further growth. We're continuing, in that regard, to focus on outgrowing our markets, leveraging our absolutely unmatched position and our investments in technology and infrastructure to deepen our competitive moat and execute and delight our customers every single day.
On behalf of CAE's management, I want to thank our 13,000 employees around the world who work tirelessly every day to develop and deploy the technological solutions of tomorrow. I am incredibly grateful to be part of this team, and it is a privilege for me to lead this unique company. I also want to take a moment to express my sincere thanks to Sonia Branco, who will be stepping down from her role as CFO at the end of the month to pursue interests outside the company. We and I have all benefited greatly from Sonia's stewardship, her insightful mentorship of her colleagues and, and, me, and her deep commitment to the company. We wish you, Sonia, the very best in your future endeavors.
Constantino Malatesta, or Dino, will step in as interim CFO, providing continuity, stability within the finance function as we move forward with our selection process for the permanent CFO role. I also want to welcome our two new board members, Patrick Decostre and Ian Edwards. We're really excited to work with them and, and really value the experience that they're going to bring to the board. I'd also like to take a moment to thank our outgoing directors, Andrew Stevens and Michael Roach, who have both become great friends, and we're very grateful for their dedication and invaluable contributions to CAE. They will be missed. In closing, I also want to thank Alan MacGibbon, our board Chair. Allan, your leadership and commitment to our shared vision for this company are truly valued.
Finally, I'd like to thank all members of our board for their advice, their support, and of course, our shareholders, for your trust. I appreciate all the opportunities I've had this year to engage, to listen, and understand the evolving needs of all of our stakeholders. You know, as a company, we have a lot to look forward to. Our markets are growing, our competitive position remains unmatched, and our technology and our people continue to set the standards of excellence and safety worldwide.... So building on those foundations, we have the tools to propel CAE to new heights. And to me, the skies are clear, future's bright. Thank you.
Thank you, Mark. Inspiring and a great future, and the skies are clear. Great way to end. Thank you. Now, at this time, I invite shareholders of record and proxy holders to submit your questions online, if you have not already done so. As noted earlier, you can select the messaging icon on the bottom of your screen and type your questions or comment in the chat box at the bottom of your screen. Samantha, do we have any questions from shareholders?
Thank you, Mr. Chair. We have a question for our CEO, Marc Parent, from shareholder James Williams Evans, and the question reads as follows: How many legacy projects remain to be completed? How many years will it take to complete them? And what is being done differently to avoid creating new legacy projects?
Okay, thanks for the question. Look, if and when I hear legacy contracts, the question, I'm thinking we're talking about the eight contracts that we kind of ring-fenced last year, and we talked a lot about. And so we focused on those contracts. So we said these contracts will play out over the next four to six quarters before they run down. I can tell you we're making excellent progress on those contracts. I see two of them ending in the very near future, probably in the next quarter, and the rest right on schedule to the plans that we set out and we presented to market last quarter.
To me, and how we do things differently, I think it's a combination of the usual suspect: strategy, people, process. I mean, strategy, I mean, starts about being very disciplined in, in what kind of contracts we're going after, not going after everything. A very, you know, a modification of our strategy to the types of contracts we're going, going to go after. If we go back to some of the, you know, issues that we, that we had, that are common to all of those eight contracts, that they all had a certain amount, a certain amount of risk in some areas, that, you know, risk that became compounded by, you know, issues that occurred during COVID.
But in the end, there was lessons learned that somebody, some contracts, we just basically are not going to take the amount of risk, because of the type of contracts they're on, or maybe the geography that they're in, specifically. I think that would be the strategic part of things. Then, of course, the people. People, people matter. The leadership of those programs, we've made many changes throughout the business, both internationally, in the United States and overall. And as I mentioned, one of the big, big moves is to bring a proven leader in the organization, which I know very well from all of my time at CAE, Nick Leontidis as Chief Operating Officer. And Nick not only has an excellent track record in our civil business, but actually, he actually started his career in defense.
And some of our biggest contracts that we have in defense still were actually, you know, contracts that Nick worked on when 20 years ago, literally. So that's the people side. And I think we have a very, very strong team across our business and indeed in all elements of our business defense, to make sure the lessons have been learned, and we're executing strong, flawlessly on those contracts. And finally, process. And process, lots of change here, changes there. I would start by, you know, I talked about selecting what kind of contracts we go after. Then after that is be disciplined. Be disciplined. We won't necessarily accept some terms that we might have accepted in the past because of lessons learned on the type of risk.
We will not accept, you know, contracts that there's not sufficient amount of escalation, just to highlight, one specific issue where we got on the wrong side of during the periods of runaway inflation. So be disciplined, very important, and then following that is rigorous governance on execution. Making sure at the bid phase that we have a proper characterization and identification of the risk, provisioning for those risks at the individual risk level and at the contract level as a whole, and then having, again, a rigorous, you know, governance and an escalation of any risk, any. If we would have any kind of schedule issues or cost issues, that any kind of movement on those requires the escalation in the management change, so the proper resources or attention are given.
So I think those are, would be the main elements. Of course, many lessons learned, but dare I say that I think that I'm very confident in the execution of all of those contracts and indeed, all of our contracts in defense.
Thank you, Mark. [Foreign language] . Any additional questions in the platform?
Okay, thank you, Samantha. Before closing this meeting, I want to recognize and thank Sonia Branco, CAE's outgoing CFO. During her tenure, Ms. Branco was instrumental in the transformation of CAE into the world's largest civil aviation training partner, which, combined with defense and security, makes CAE a company of highly recurring sources of revenue and cash flow. She presided over a period of significant expansion, involving more than 20 acquisitions and their integration. Ms. Branco also planned and executed a capital allocation strategy, balancing accretive growth with maintaining a strong financial position and investment-grade profile. This allowed CAE to successfully navigate the COVID pandemic and beyond. I wish to express my sincere appreciation to Ms. Branco for her numerous contributions to CAE's success over the last 17 years. We wish her the very best in her pursuit of the future and her passions.
Thank you, Sonia. I'd also like to thank CAE employees for their dedication and commitment to the company's core values and strategy to ensure continued success going forward. You've heard from Mark today, and you've heard through his voice, the leadership of the executive team, the management team, and all of our employees, and a very grateful thank you to Mark and all of his team. Thank you, Mark. And to our shareholders, thank you for your ongoing support and confidence in our noble mission to make the world safer. The board values the input and insights of our investors. We appreciate the importance of engaging with our shareholders to better understand their views, concerns, and priorities related to our business operations, performance, and executive compensation programs. We look forward to continuing that dialogue.
CAE's excellent reputation, strong technical capabilities, long-standing customer relationships, and global presence position us for continued success and value creation. On behalf of CAE, thank you for having participated. This officially concludes the meeting. Thank you. Thank you for having participated. Until we meet again, we wish good health to you and your families and your communities. This officially concludes our meeting.