3P Learning Limited (3PL) Earnings Call Transcript & Summary

Welcome, everyone, and good morning. I'm Matthew Sandblom, Executive Chairman of 3P Learning Limited. On behalf of the Board, I welcome you to the 3P Learning's 2023 Annual General Meeting. The Company Secretary, Joyce, has advised me that a quorum is present, I formally declare the meeting open. For our agenda, I will present my address and then our formal business will follow. I propose to take the meeting -- notice of meeting and the items of business as read. An audio recording of today's meeting will be on our website shortly after the meeting. Today, I'm joined by my fellow directors. Here we have our independent nonexecutive directors, Allan Brackin, Belinda Rowe, Craig Coleman, Kathy Ostin, [indiscernible] and Mark Lamont. We also have our offices, our CEO, Jose Palmero; and our CFO, Anton Clowes. We are also joined by Renay Robinson from Ernst & Young, our company auditors for the '23 financial year. There will be an opportunity for shareholders to ask the auditor questions about the conduct of the '23 audit during the meeting. We also have representatives from our Share Registry, Link Market Services to assist us with shareholder votes. On behalf of the 3P Board, I'm pleased to present shareholders our performance for the '22/'23 financial year. The focus of our teams has been to deliver a full suite of products -- programs that aim to be the best possible offering for the key academic skills of reading, writing and, [ maths ]. While bringing the joy of learning to students, parents and teachers, I think this -- and we've really gained some true momentum in this plan over the last 12 months. We are a board supported by teams that understand our vision and the effort of our people has been noticed by our customers. We have also increased our investment in the new programs, kept our strong cost discipline to deliver a good level of profitability and cash flow. As I previously outlined, we have made large investments both in existing programs, Mathletics and Reading Eggs, and new programs Writing Legends and Brightpath Progress. We are now in the process of presenting these new and improved programs to the market. First, in Australia, with the other markets to follow in the next 6 to 12 months. The early response to these new programs has been very positive, and we should see this response turn into sales over the next 12 months as they are added into school budgets and teaching programs. We are also pleased to see the market responding well to the updates and improvements to Mathletics even at this early stage in a build that will take at least 18 months to complete. In a direct-to-consumer market, we are still growing our revenue, even as parents budgets are under pressure due to the rising inflation and interest rates. 3PL develops all its programs in-house as we believe this is the best way to produce the quality of programs we aspire to. We have one of the largest in-house development teams in the English-speaking world that are purely focused on programs for the schools market. This is a very experienced team that is inspired by our mission of ensuring our students have the key learning skills for educational success. Overall, our staff survey results showed significant improvements in all areas that put us in the top quartile of peer education technology companies worldwide. We're also increasing our investment in our sales and marketing teams in all markets to ensure that our new programs get every chance to succeed and generate significant revenue needed to justify the significant investment that we have made in these programs. Even in this heavy investment phase, 3PL still is profitable, and we reaffirm our earnings and revenue guidance. The whole company and board are very aligned and motivated by our strategy and goals over the next few years. We have the people, products and passion to achieve some great outcomes. We will now move on to the -- and complete the formal procedures of our 2023 AGM. During this meeting, shareholders will have the opportunity to ask questions in relation to each resolution before voting is conducted on that resolution. Your voting and attendance cards indicate whether you can ask questions or vote at this meeting. If you have a yellow voting card, you are a voting shareholder, proxy holder or corporate representative, you are also entitled to vote and speak at this meeting. If you have a blue card, you are a nonvoting shareholder. You're entitled to speak at this meeting. However, you are not entitled to vote. If you have a red card, we welcome you as a visitor. However, as you are not a shareholder or proxy, you are not entitled to speak or vote in this meeting. When I call for any questions, if you hold a yellow or blue card, you can ask questions. At that time, just raise your hand and let us invite you to say your name and ask your question. Please confine your questions to matter relevant to the particular resolution. As set out in the notice of meeting, the voting on each resolution at this meeting will be conducted by a poll. I now declare the poll open. Voting will close 5 minutes after the close of the meeting. At this meeting, shareholders will be asked to vote on the adoption of the 2023 remuneration report, the reelection of Mark Lamont as a Director and the appointment of KPMG as the company auditor. These resolutions are ordinary resolutions and will be passed by a simple majority of the members present and voting in person or by proxy. If you hold a yellow card, the instructions and resolutions appear on the front of this card. To cast your vote, during the meeting, mark whether you vote for, against or abstain for each question. If you mark abstain, your vote will not be counted for that resolution. If you need assistance in voting during the meeting, please signal one of the representatives of Link Market Services. The first item business to lay before the meeting the financial report of the company and its controlled entities for the 2023 financial year and the reports of the directors and the auditors of the company. These reports have been made available to shareholders, and they are also available on the ASX and the 3P Learning website. No vote is required on this item of business. Are there any questions on these reports, the company's business or questions for the auditor? As there are no other questions, we will move on to the second item of business, the adoption of the remuneration report. Resolution 2 is to adopt the remuneration report, which is included in the directors' report for the 2023 financial year. The vote on this resolution is advisory only, and the outcome is not binding on the Board. The remuneration report gives the shareholders details in relation to the company's remuneration framework in the 2023 financial year. [indiscernible] the interest disclosed in this report, the Board recommends the shareholders vote in favor of this resolution. Are there any questions from shareholders on the remuneration report? If there are no more questions, the direct vote and proxies for this resolution are now shown on the screen. The proxies open at the Chairman's discretion, I intend to vote in favor of the resolution. I think that's pretty conclusive. We will pause for a moment to give shareholders a moment to vote on their yellow voting cards. [Voting]

I don't think we need to leave that much time. All right. So moving right along to the reelection of Director, Mr. Mark Lamont in Resolution 3. Mark was originally appointed to the Board of 3P Learning in March 2018. To this Board, Mark contributes his long-standing experience in the K-12 education market and the edtech sector in both the Australian and global markets. The directors with Mark abstaining unanimously recommend the shareholder vote in favor of this resolution. Are there any questions relating to this resolution? The direct votes and proxies to this resolution are now shown on the screen. The proxies open at the chairman's discretion, I intend to vote in favor of the resolution. We will pause for a moment to give shareholders a moment to vote on their yellow voting cards. [Voting]

Appointment of auditors. The final resolution to consider today is the appointment of KPMG as the auditor. During the year, the Audit and Risk Committee and the Board reviewed the audit arrangements for the company. After a competitive review process, the outcome of the review recommended the appointment of KPMG as the company's auditor. The directors unanimously recommended that shareholders vote in favor of this resolution. Are there any questions relating to this resolution? The direct votes and proxies for this resolution are now shown on the screen. For proxies open at the Chairman's discretion, I intend to vote in favor of this -- of the resolution. We will now pause for a moment to give you an opportunity to vote on your yellow voting card. [Voting]

If you have completed the voting on your yellow voting cards, please allow representative from Link Market Services to collect them, voting will close 5 minutes after the close of meeting. The results of the polls will be declared and released to the ASX later today. As there is no other business, I will now declare the meeting closed. Thank you.