Ampol Limited (ALD) Earnings Call Transcript & Summary

Good morning, and welcome to the 2025 Annual General Meeting of Ampol Limited. Good to see so many people here today. My name is Steve Gregg, and it's an honor to be your Chairman. As a result of the proxies I hold as Chairman, we have a quorum present, so I declare this meeting open. I'd like to begin by welcoming Uncle Craig Madden to the stage for a welcome to country. Welcome again, Craig. Thank you.

Thank you very much, Steven. [Foreign Language] My name is Craig Madden. I'd like to start by thanking Ampol for inviting me down here today to welcome you on to country. And when I welcome you on to country, I welcome you on to land only of our Gadigal people, where my ancestors and my family is from. So as a proud Gadigal man and as a member of the Metropolitan Local Aboriginal Land Council, I'd like to welcome you all on to Gadigal Land, Aboriginal land. [Foreign Language] This land is Gadigal. I'd like to pay my respects to our ancestors. And I'd also like to pay my respects to elders past, present, for those other knowledge holders and the storytellers of our people. Our Gadigal clan is 1 of the 29 clans which make up the Eora Nation, a nation that's bound by 3 distinct landmarks. The Hawkesbury River to the north, the Nepean River to the West and the Georges River to the South. Within the boundary of those mighty rivers lay our Gadigal people and the Gadigal clan is 1 of the 29 clans which make up the Eora Nation. For those guests who travel from across the seas today, and if anyone has traveled from across our great country, great states this beautiful city of ours, welcome to Gadigal Land, I hope you all enjoy the AGM today. I know I say that every time, and I'm not sure if you can enjoy an AGM, So, yes, I get myself confused on that. But anyway, we'll go -- we'll move on from that. Have a wonderful day, hope it's productive. And on behalf of the Metropolitan Local Aboriginal Land Council and Gadigal mob, please, everyone travel safely this afternoon. And once again, welcome, welcome, welcome. Thank you.

Thank you, Craig, and I'll aim to make it a fun AGM as always. Thank you, Craig, I'll now outline some of the procedure on technology matters for this meeting. Today's meeting is being held in person at the Mint here in Sydney and the online via the MUFG online platform. The online platform allows shareholders, proxy holders and guests to attend the meeting virtually, in addition to receiving votes and taking questions from the room here in Sydney. Shareholders and proxy holders joining through the online platform also have the ability to ask questions and submit votes. Our virtual meeting online guide for today's meeting is available on the Ampol Investor Center on the website. [Operator Instructions] For questions online, Jeff Etherington, our Deputy CFO, is here with me today and will read out the name of the shareholder and the question. We'll undertake best efforts to honor and address all questions. However, in the interest of the limited time we have, we may choose to merge some online questions together where there is clear duplication in the subject matter. [Operator Instructions] If we do run out of time, we will look to provide direct responses to outstanding questions and post these responses on our website. Voting today will be conducted by way of a poll on all items of business. In order to provide you with enough time to vote, I will shortly open voting for all resolutions. For those shareholders participating in the meeting via the online platform, you can cast your direct vote using the electronic voting card that you received when you validated the registration. If you have any questions about casting your vote online, please refer to the virtual online platform guide or call us on the help number set out in the guide on the screen in front of you. We do have the ability to change your vote until the time that I declare the voting is closed. If we experience any technical issues today, a short recess or an adjournment may be required, depending on the number of shareholders being affected. If this occurs, I shall advise accordingly. If you are attending the meeting in person, you would have been given an attendance card when you registered on arrival. If you have a yellow voting card, you are a voting shareholder, proxy holder or corporate representative and will be voted by filling out the paper voting card. You are also entitled to speak at this meeting. If you have a blue card, you are a nonvoting shareholder. While you're entitled to ask questions and make comments, you are not entitled to vote at this meeting. If you have a red card, you are a visitor and are not entitled to speak or vote at the meeting. At the conclusion of the meeting, please return the completed paper voting card to an MUFG share registry team member. If anyone with a yellow card wishes to speak, please raise your hand for the microphone at the appropriate time, and identify yourself to me before asking me your question. Thank you. I'll consider the questions submitted online via the web phone after I've taken questions from the floor. I now declare voting open on all items of business today. For online attendees, please submit your votes at any time. I'll give you a warning before I move to close the voting. Let me start the meeting today with some introductions. Here with us today is our Managing Director and CEO, Matt Halliday, who will soon join me on the stage. Also joining me in the room today are non-executive directors, Melinda Conrad; Gary Smith, Simon Allen, Mike Ihlein, Betsy Donaghey, Penny Winn and 3 new directors all seeking election today, Guy Templeton, Helen Nash and Stephen Pearce. Penny has informed the Board that she is retiring from the Board effective at the close of today's meeting. And on behalf of the Board, and I believe all shareholders, I would like to thank Penny for a significant contribution to the development, the organization and the Board since 2015. She has been a valued Chair of a Safety and Sustainability Committee and a member of the Audit Committee and Nominations Committee. We thank Penny for her service and we all wish her the best for the future, which I know will be bright. Gary Smith succeeds Penny of the Chair of the Safety and Sustainability Committee. Gary has been a member of that committee since joining the Board and brings a wealth of experience in his previous roles in the oil and gas industry. Today, Betsy and I are seeking reelection as directors of Ampol, Helen, Stephen and Guy are seeking election as directors of your company. These directors will bring significant experience to the Board and support management as Ampol executes its strategy into the future. Please note that with the departure of Penny and last year's departure of Mark Chellew, this is only an increase of one net additional director to the Board of your company. Also here today is our General Counsel and Company Secretary, Faith Taylor and Company Secretary, Yvonne Chong, welcome. Leaders of -- members of the Ampol leadership team are in the room today, having 2 new EGM, Michele Bardy and Brad Blyth. Michele was appointed as EGM Infrastructure in July 24, with the background in chemical engineering, Michele brings a wealth of experience from roles across the oil and gas industry. Brad was appointed as EGM Technology, Digital and Data in January of this year. Brad brings rich experience in the digital and IT in both B2C and B2B environments. Brad joined Ampol from Kmart and Target Australia and New Zealand, where he was the Chief Information Officer. Welcome to you both. Also in attendance at our today's AGM are representatives of our auditors KPMG, welcome, gentlemen. Before we get to items of business, I will provide a review of the 24 performance and recent progress in our corporate strategy. I'll then hand over to our Managing Director, Matt Halliday, who will provide an update on the operational drivers behind our '24 results as well as our trading performance over the first quarter of 2025. I'll begin with safety, ladies and gentlemen, performance in safety and environment continues to be a major priority at Ampol and a key input to achieving operational excellence at your company. I'm pleased to report that in 2024, Ampol's personal safety performance was close to our best on record across all divisions, with key injury frequency and days away from work metrics trending down. Some initiatives that have supported this good performance are significant investments in contractor safety and training and our secure risk framework across all Ampol sites. On the process safety front, 2024 was a challenging year with 2 Tier 1 process safety events resulting from losses of containment at both Lytton and Kurnell. Ampol operates in a complex and hazardous industry. And as a group, we hold ourselves to a high standard of performance when it comes to the process safety and our license to operate critical infrastructure. Effective management of process safety risks is a priority for Ampol to ensure the protection of people, assets and the environment. Teams across the group are committed to continuous improvement as we manage our various operational risks. Moving now to the financial performance of the company. At Ampol, we use a profit measure called replacement cost operating profit, otherwise known as RCOP which adjusts for the volatility in crude and oil product prices during the year. Matt and I will be referring to these earnings metrics throughout this morning's presentation, unless otherwise stated. Following 2 years of record financial performance, supported by unprecedented high at refiner margins and favorable international trading conditions in 2024. The financial performance from our Lytton refinery saw earnings decline as margins hit the bottom of the cycle. Despite this, I'm pleased at how Ampol faced into significant global and economic headwinds at a challenging operating environment. Importantly, our retail division reported record profits and pleasingly, our New Zealand operations Z reported very solid earnings in 2024. Group RCOP EBITDA was AUD 1.2 billion and RCOP EBIT was AUD 750 million. RCOP net profit after tax was AUD 235 million, excluding significant items and statutory NPAT was AUD 123 million. Our total fuel sales volume was 23 million -- sorry, 27.3 billion liters. These results were achieved against a backdrop of economic shareholders, cost of living pressures, on consumers and geopolitical disruption, which has continued to enter this year, with additional concerns surrounding the impacts of global trade and tariffs that we are struggling to see. For 2024, Ampol declared a total fully franked dividend of $0.65 per share, representing a 66% payout ratio of RCOP NPAT, excluding significant items towards -- this is towards the top end of our payout range. This includes a final dividend of $0.05 per share declared in recognition of the importance of dividends and franking credits to our shareholders. This was a prudent decision taken in accordance with our capital management framework, and reflective of our responsible approach to capital management and management of our balance sheet position. As we move through 2025 and beyond, we are focusing on enhancing our core business expanding from a rejuvenated fuels and convenience platform and evolving the energy offer for all our shareholders and customers, I should say. We, the Board have confidence that our strategy will help Ampol to realize the embedded value of the business. We also have confidence in the executive team's proven ability to execute the strategy. In 2024, growth in Convenience Retail and the good performance from Z Energy were excellent outcomes, considering the economic conditions both Australia and New Zealand. Our results can largely be attributed to the quality of our networks and a strategic segmentation approach. We are leveraging our site locations to develop a right offer and attract the right customers all while delivering attractive returns. We've been on a journey of growing our retail capability for the last 7 years. This includes the execution of several initiatives to deliver growth with segmentation, a key theme. Z Energy is deploying a similar retail strategy to that in Australia. The resilient performance from Z despite the weaker New Zealand economy was particularly pleasing to me. We have realized the post-acquisition synergies we set out to achieve and continue to see further opportunities. The management team have demonstrated the value of this acquisition and have successfully integrated Z Energy into the group's fuel supply chain and the development of our future energy offerings. Another strategic focus area for Ampol is to continue building on an efficient fuel supply chain. This includes focusing on the resilience of our fuels and infrastructure businesses, noting the recent changes in the refining and market challenges for F&I International. We are focused on completing the ultra-low sulfur fuels project and expect to realize a quality premium in refining associated with the manufacturer of 10 ppm gasoline to meet Australia as new fuel quality standard. While we continue to support domestic fuel security, we are also committed to playing a role in energy transition, on-the-go public fast charging network rollouts are progressing in New Zealand and Australia with a total of 144 EV charging bays across 59 sites in Australia, and 171 EV charting bays across 53 sites in New Zealand as at 31st of December 2024. EV uptake trends have been slower than we anticipated, so we will adjust the pace of our investment to ensure we provide a quality network for our EV charging customers, balanced with our focus on achieving returns. Ampol is also assessing the role we play in establishing Australia's renewable fuels market, including the potential for renewable fuels refinery at Lytton having progressed to the pre-FEED stage with our MOU partners IFM and GrainCorp. We are also acutely aware of the operating dynamics of Lytton refinery and the impact of its profitability and contribution to Ampere, particularly in the context of the current geopolitical volatility. In this regard, we recognize that it's critical. We get the balance right in terms of capital investment and timing with a continued focus on delivering returns for shareholders. None of these strategic focus areas are possible to execute without leveraging the key strategic enablers that underpin them. As such, we are strengthening our in-house capabilities across technology, digital and data because we see value in investing in the enabling technology landscape underpinned by quality data and AI to serve our strategy. The final item I would like to draw your attention to is the very purpose of Ampol. At Ampol, we are connected by our purpose to power better journeys today and tomorrow for all our customers, in which the communities in which we operate, providing approximately 25% of Australia's fuel needs and more than 40% of the fuel needs to our New Zealand customers. We are committed to playing an active and positive role in a way that goes beyond product offering. Across all our geographies, we continue to serve the communities in which we operate and ensure we are having a positive and meaningful impact in service of our own purposes. On behalf of the Board, I would like to commend Matt Halliday, our CEO and the Ampol leadership team at all Ampol employees for achieving this result amid very challenging conditions. I also want to thank the team for their strong response to Cyclone Alfred earlier this year. We prioritized safety and ensured fuel supply to emerging services in affected areas. Our response to the cyclone reinforces the key role we play in supplying essential goods to communities in which we operate. I'd also like to thank our customers and stakeholders, including our suppliers and joint venture partners who remain vital to our continued success. And lastly, I would like to thank you, Ampol's shareholders for your continued support of the company. We're confident that we have the right strategy and the right team that can deliver for you as shareholders. I'll now hand over to our Manager and CEO, Matt Halliday, to address the meeting. Thank you.

Thank you, Chairman, and good morning, everyone. There's no doubt that 2024 was a challenging year for Ampol but our foundations continue to strengthen as we progress our strategy and it remains a great privilege to lead this great Australian company. I'm proud of the team and the resilience that they have demonstrated in the face of weaker refining margins and challenging operational performance at Lytton compounded by a weaker economy and cost of living pressures being faced by our customers. As the Chairman noted, in the last year, we are focused on building the Ampol leadership team to support the delivery of our strategy. I will also take this opportunity to thank Andrew Brewer for his deep commitment to Ampol over many years, most recently as EGM Infrastructure and Penny Winn for her significant contribution to Ampol as a Non-executive Director. On safety, 2024 saw some of our best personal safety statistics, and it is critical that we continue to prioritize the safety of our people. In terms of operational performance, 2024 was a mixed year as our teams navigated planned and unplanned outages at the refinery and a period of weaker refiner margins. Overall, the refining result was disappointing in 2024, given Lytton operated at a loss for the full year. We're very conscious of the importance of the fuel security arrangements that we have in place with the federal government, providing some downside protection and intend to work with them with the aim of ensuring that arrangement can deliver against that objective. We also saw our Fuels & Infrastructure international business impacted by lower volatility levels, which in turn led to fewer trading opportunities in well-supplied oil and freight markets. It is worth remembering that the core purpose of our trading and shipping team is to manage and optimize supply into our demand short in the Australian and New Zealand markets. And this remains one of our most important competitive advantages and the earnings associated with this report into the Australian and New Zealand P&Ls, respectively. What was most pleasing about the 2024 result was the continued strong delivery in retail across both Australia and in New Zealand. As the Chairman mentioned, the acquisition of Z Energy and the substantial improvement in our Australian retail business over the past number of years has substantially enhanced the quality of Ampol's earnings. This is particularly the case considering 6% compound growth in Australian convenience retail earnings over the past 5 years. And the growth rate in shop gross margin dollars sitting at 9%, that's excluding tobacco. And that's due to growth in higher-margin categories like bakery, coffee, confectionery and beverages. As interest rates hopefully continue to come down and the economy improves we see scope to continue building on these trends. The Chairman previously referenced the conviction we have in our retail segmentation strategy to deliver growth and strong returns in both Australia and New Zealand. And I'll now provide some further details on our new unstaffed offer, U-GO. The unstaffed U-GO sites operate 24/7 and are quick and easy for customers to operate with no shop offer. U-GO is tailored to our value-driven price-sensitive customer segment, delivering competitive fuel pricing. It involves the conversion of a site rather involves relatively low CapEx at around $300,000 per site with a very rapid 1-year payback. While it is early days, so far, we have seen at least a 50% uplift in total fuel volumes at these converted sites. And I think this is yet another proof point that our retail segmentation strategy is working well. In New Zealand, in addition to U-GO, Z is focused on delivering its Convenience Retail growth types by refreshing the premium Z branded network, where it is seeing earnings growth of around NZD 100,000 per site. During 24, there were a total of 58 refreshed sites with another 25 being targeted for 2025. And we plan to refresh at least a further 60 sites in subsequent tranches. Earlier this year, Z launched its new loyalty program, Z Rewards. Z Rewards offers customers points for almost all of their spend at Z service stations across fuel, convenience and EV charging. And although it's early days, we are already seeing promising indicators such as good customer uptake and sentiment. The Z team is delivering very strongly and reinforcing the success of this acquisition in delivering attractive returns for Ampol shareholders. Looking at our other strategic priorities. Earlier this week, we announced the simplification of our Energy Solutions businesses. specifically the exit from our electricity retailing businesses in both Australia and New Zealand to AGL and Meridian, respectively. Ampol will receive pretax cash proceeds of approximately $65 million and reduce operating expenses of the Energy Solutions business across Australia and New Zealand at an exit run rate of approximately $30 million per annum by the end of 2025. These savings are in addition to the $50 million nominal cost reduction program that we announced in the third quarter trading update last year. I want to commend the efforts of our impacted teams across Australia and in New Zealand, and we're committed to supporting them through this time. On behalf of Ampol, we are focused on progressing a smooth transition for our electricity customers across to both AGL and to Meridian. As we look ahead, we are evolving the business to support customers through the energy transition. The on the go public fast charging networks are progressing in both Australia and New Zealand and we will adjust the pace of our rollout according to the update trends that we see for EVs, which despite policy support has been slower than expected. In 2024, we made good progress by way of alliances with key third parties, including Mirvac, Stockland, ISPT and Volkswagen. Through these alliances, we've been able to expand our EV charging offer beyond our own forecourts. For example, in October last year, we unveiled 6 new EV charging bays at Mirvac's East Village Shopping Center in Zetland here in Sydney. We're also exploring solutions for hard-to-abate sectors with a focus on renewable fuels, which is an industry term for fuels such as sustainable aviation fuel and renewable diesel. These fuels are made from nonpetroleum-based renewable feedstocks such as purpose grown biomass or from waste materials such as tallow or used cooking oil. We are already making progress in our import supply chains for select B2B customers, including our recently announced import of 1.7 million liters of SAF to Qantas here at Sydney Airport. We've also progressed to the pre-FEED study phase for a potential biorefinery at Lytton as part of the MOU arrangements we have with our partners. As is the case in other country -- countries, the establishment of a renewable fuels industry in Australia requires effective policy to support both local demand and local supply. And this is an area where we will continue to work with the government together with our partners and our customers. Moving now to Ampol's other priorities for 2025 and our performance so far this year. Productivity is a key focus area for Ampol, and we're making good progress on our program that will deliver at least a $50 million cost reduction across the group by year-end. The announced changes on electricity retailing and across our Energy Solutions business to focus principally on EV charging and renewable fuels delivers a further $30 million per annum from 2026 beyond the originally announced program. Another key priority for the team is the completion of the ultra-low sulfur fuels project at Lytton. During the first half of 2024, we declared FID on the project, and we expect to realize a premium for this product, as the Chairman mentioned. We're focused on completing the project by the end of this year. In terms of performance so far this year, last month, we published our first quarter trading update. Convenience Retail and New Zealand have continued to perform well with mid-single-digit headline percentage growth in earnings over the first quarter of last year. I think this performance further reinforced the success of Ampol's retail strategy including the quality and geographic spread of our segmented network supported by our execution capabilities and reduced tobacco exposure. F&I Australia traded broadly in line with the first half of last year, with wholesale volume growth slightly favorable. And F&I International continued to operate at around breakeven levels in a well-supplied market that limits arbitrage supply and trading opportunities in the near term. The Lytton refiner margin for the first quarter of 2025 was USD 6.07 per barrel, mostly due to weakness in Singapore refined product cracks across the quarter. The LRM also included the impact of Cyclone Alfred in March, including increased demurrage costs and reduced production while the refinery was operating in a safe mode to ensure the safety of our people and our assets. Looking beyond the first quarter, after a softer start to April in light of the expected impact of tariffs on global oil demand, refining product cracks have improved by around USD 3 per barrel from around late April, driven mainly by supply side disruption and a slightly more optimistic view around tariff impact. In closing, we remain focused on delivering safely, reliably and efficiently for our customers and local communities. And I would like to thank our employees who have demonstrated their ongoing commitment to the business and resilience in the face of challenges. We continue to work hard to deliver on our strategy to strengthen, grow and evolve the business in order to provide strong returns for our shareholders. And I look forward to providing further updates on the delivery of our strategy as we move through this year. I'll now hand back to our Chairman, Steven Gregg.

Thanks, Matt. Well spoken. I would like to now open the meeting up to general questions, if I could. There will be an opportunity to ask questions about each resolution later in the meeting before going to the voting outcomes of each resolution. A reminder, we will first take questions here in the room. We will then go to the online platform for questions. And finally, we will take questions from the phone if we have any. We have received a few questions in advance, obviously meeting which I will answer now before inviting questions from the room, it might be helpful. The question we received was, Ampol share prices dropped markedly in the last 12 months, what is the Board's strategy to stop it's further decline and to bring up our share price. I think we all share that view. There are a number of reasons for the share price decline. These include the macro factors, including geopolitical disruptions and the demand concerns driven by the tariff wars. Secondly, the overall decline of the energy sector due to the decline in oil prices on demand concerns; and thirdly, concerns about the outlook for Convenience Retail, given challenges faced by our main competitor. The Board believes we have the right strategy to grow our earnings over time and the right team to execute on that strategy. And our plan is to grow the less cyclical parts of our business are working. The next question we have received was when are dividends going to increase, we all want that, we recognize the importance of dividends to our shareholders. Our dividend policy is clear where we have a payout ratio of between 50% and 70% of RCOP NPAT, excluding significant items. As our earnings grow, so should our dividends. So we're all aiming to get that for you. The next question we received was, does Ampol expect earnings to grow faster with more EVs appearing on the roads? Or is most of Ampol's growth expected to be with hydrocarbons. Thank you for that. It's difficult to predict the pace and the form of energy transition, which is why we're monitoring our EV rollout a little bit. At present, most of the Ampol's earnings are derived from the sale of hydrocarbons and the Convenience Retail sales, over time, as the penetration of EVs grows, and we see opportunity to grow earnings from our network -- our charging network, we'll take that. But it's also important to remember that approximately 70% of our sales are of diesel and jet, which will not really be transitioned away from. The next question received was, where is Ampol's future growth and earnings expected to come from? We touched on that a minute ago. Ampol's strategy focused on all our areas of business, improvements in the reliability of the refinery and recovery in global margins and our productivity improvement program, accelerating growth of the retail businesses reduction in losses from our existing retail, electricity business and offerings for customers as they transition with a focus on e-mobility and renewable fuels are some of the areas that we're concentrating on. Next question. When will the Board stop the extortionate allocation of shares and rights to KMPs? Time to reward shareholders and investors share rights instead. So just on that one, the allocation of performance rights to our leading team is consistent with market practice amongst all the ASX 100 companies to ensure that the remuneration of our team is strongly aligned with the shareholder experience over the longer term. This is the right thing to do. The amount of performance rights allocated to KMP has been determined based upon independent external benchmarking, which is overseen by the Board. We received a lengthy inquiry from a shareholder, we have paraphrased in 2 separate questions, if you don't mind. The first question was noting the lower dividend in '24, is there an opportunity to provide for a dividend reserve build from undistributed profits from the previous bumper years? The answer is no, there's not really. But Ampol is conscious of the importance that shareholders place on the dividends, the franking benefits. I'm very conscious of our franking bank there. Ampol is a well-established and respected capital allocation framework and dividend policy, which is linked to the company's earnings. In the record years of '22 and '23, we distributed significant capital back to shareholders by way of fully franked ordering and special dividends. However, the lower is driven by cyclical parts of our business, predominantly Lytton, dividends will reduced in line with the policy of distributing 50% to 70% and of the RCOP NPAT, excluding significant items. The '24 final dividend was $0.05 per share, taking the total dividend for the year to $0.65 per share, 66% payout ratio -- percent payout ratio. We note your comments about other potential structures for dividends. However, it's the current Ampol dividend policy that we'll be sticking with. And the Board will show judgment in how it allocates capital with an eye on getting as much dividend -- franked dividend back to shareholders when we can. Second question as part of that one note from shareholders was, does Ampol have plans to invest in a greater truck stock offering and network. I'd just like to say that Ampol has one of the most comprehensive, if not the best in the country of highway site networks, and we have invested in facilities for heavy transport vehicles across our country, control network, including leading offers at Pheasants Nest in the south of Sydney and on the 2 big M1 stores north of Sydney as an example of that. Now that I've answered those questions received before this meeting, I would like to invite any other questions on the general business from the room, if we could, please. Who's first?

Mr. Chairman, a question from Donald Adams representing Australian Association.

I had 2 questions about Lytton, but having listened to Mr. Halliday's address, I now have a third, did he say that we're planning to -- you're planning to sell Lytton?

No.

No? I misunderstood. The other -- the questions I had were about the refiner margin, the LRN. We're pleased to hear that it's going back up again. What drives that? What are the factors in the world that are causing that? Is it something to do with output from China, what's caused the reduced volatility that's made the trading operation less attractive? And the other question is your government support for Lytton, do you expect that to continue? Will you -- do you expect that the government will provide more for capital improvement at Lytton perhaps refurbishment or renewal of the facility?

Matt -- I'll let Matt answer both those questions. But on the support from the government, that is through 2027, and we're reviewing it in due course. But Matt, why don't you have a chat to the shareholders about refiner margin, if you could, please?

Sure. Thanks for the question. So a lot of factors around supply and demand and cost curve ultimately determine where refiner margins or product cracks sit, the big factors have really been around the demand side. So globally, the economic environment has been soft. China has been soft in particular. So that's been a factor in terms of global demand. China has also been transitioning faster in terms of both light passenger vehicles, so EVs and heavy transport in terms of mainly LNG trucking. So that's been another factor in the demand equation. On the supply side, which I think has been the most significant contributor to cracks coming down or margins coming down, we've seen some big new refineries that have been on the books for a while, arrive into the system, and that's put a lot more pressure on the supply-demand balance. More refineries are now starting to close in the Western world. So we're looking closely at that demand supply balance. But there are a few of the big factors that are at play. The fact that we've got oversupplied markets or as we term it, well-supplied markets has meant there hasn't been as much volatility between in the cracks and product freight, which is important -- is an important tool that we use to deliver arbitrage opportunities in the international part of the trading business has not been as significant. So well-supplied markets, softer freight means there just aren't as many arbitrage opportunities out there for us to realize. So there are some of the main factors at play. Sorry. Yes, in terms of the arrangements with government, they were put in place in 2021 to ensure that we could continue refining, and to protect against the market downside around cracks. I would say, when you look at the money that Lytton has lost over the last 12 months, it's important that we reengage with government around how we can evolve that arrangement to ensure that it delivers against that intent. But we also need to acknowledge that over the past 3 quarters, we have had a planned shutdown. We've had an unplanned shutdown in the fourth quarter, and we've had the impact of the cyclone and the shutdown that, that triggered in Q1. So a lot of the impact on Lytton has been driven by operational or other factors.

Thanks, Matt. Thank you, Natasha.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. It's good to see you again, Steven. Yes, it has been quite a challenging year. And as I've noted that a lot of it has been driven by Lytton. I suppose I wanted some advice about -- you had your planned shutdowns, but also the unplanned ones like how sort of foreseeable was the unplanned and what sort of contingencies have been put in place to either eliminate or reduce future and expected shutdowns?

Yes. So thanks for the question. Look, a lot of investment and effort is being made at Lytton to improve and invest in the reliability of the plant. When you look at the unplanned shutdowns that we've had in Q4 last year and Q1 this year, Q4 last year, we decided to go into the FCC, the catalytic cracker to proactively conduct some maintenance so that we could ensure greater reliability or at least investing greater reliability this year. Margins were very low. So we took that decision because of the circumstances and the context that we saw. And then in terms of the cyclone itself, that was -- as I think the Chairman and I both mentioned, it was really a case of putting the refinery into a safe mode to protect the safety of our people and our assets, and that's what we'll always prioritize.

You -- the sort of final inspection is not due till next year. So what are the risk that something could go wrong between kind of now and...

There are always -- there are risks in running a refining asset, and we have a team and processes that seek to ensure the reliability of the refinery. But as you see through the global refining system, there are upsets that occur from time to time, and we are -- we have the people and the processes in place to minimize those risks and ensure we're ready to respond to them should they occur.

Actually, I think I got to introduce myself at the beginning. Just sort of record, since you guys know who I am, Natasha Lee, shareholder. My next question concerns the MOU of GrainCorp and IFM to explore integrated renewable fuel industry. Now you mentioned about use of tallow and nonfood biomass materials. Is that part of that mix and I wouldn't like to see kind of like food quality stock going into it. So what sort of products or what sort of the outcome you're expecting from that MOU?

So yes, that's exactly right. So the intended feedstocks would come through arrangements with GrainCorp. Australia currently exports a lot of its canola oil that gets used in biofuels manufacturing overseas. But a convention of tallow used cooking oil and canola is part of the feedstock mix that we would envisage for that plant. Ultimately, what's going to be really critical here is what government policy is in place to support the investment in a plant -- in a domestic manufacturing plant for renewable fuels, but they are the feedstocks that -- in which Australia has some advantage and would need to be the feedstock mix if a plant was to eventuate.

Just a final question in the area. There was mentioned about the $50 million cost reduction program. I get the impression that you've already achieved that, I suppose it revolves around -- that seemed like a fairly big target, and you seem to have achieved it fairly easily, but ongoing, are you expecting to achieve $50 million next year and so forth. How did you achieve the $50 million this year? And ongoing what are the expectations?

Sure, So in terms of some of the key areas that we are delivering on the $50 million we mentioned, in terms of technology data and digital, our EGM who's been appointed Brad Blyth, is bringing together that function as a -- across the whole group and delivering some synergies as part of that. So for example, when we acquired Z Energy really focused on integrating the fuel supply chain and now the technology data and digital areas and bringing them together is delivering savings. At demurrage costs through some investment and some systems to optimize our supply chain in a more sophisticated way is driving some savings opportunities in demurrage. And then there are other areas around the refinery and the distribution supply chains where we're also focused on delivering savings this year. Our intention is to continue delivering more productivity as we work through the coming years.

But you haven't got targets or...

So our target that we will deliver on is our $50 million nominal savings for this year. And the next step in that program was the Energy Solutions savings and the exit from retail electricity, which will deliver an exit run rate of $30 million by the end of this year. So that's this target, if you like.

Other questions, please. Okay, if you want to -- Don.

Yes. It's about the electricity. About 3 weeks ago, I signed up for Ampol. But based on the recommendations of the government website, your tariffs were quite attractive, particularly the $0.07 solar feed-in tariff and I know a couple of other people who did as well, and now we're going to AGL. This is not going to last. But anyway, that's a personal comment. But I was a bit surprised that you're doing that. And I've also -- I know you're lagging against your targets for the installation of EV chargers. And I think you've commented that you're not seeing the demand there. I know you've got a target of 500 EV charging bays, I think by the end of 2027 in one of the convertible subordinated notes that you've got. Are you abandoning that target?

I'll get Matt to handle most of this, but I apologize that you've signed up and then fairly soon afterwards, we've decided to move on. I think what we felt was, we're the companies at the moment, we had a focus on our core business and save money and just buckle down. And this was just a byproduct of that to a degree. I think we've taken a much longer-term view and had more resources to keep it. We probably would have. But it's the right decision at the moment. I apologize if you have to go to AGL.

No, that's okay. I was surprised to see you there.

But Matt, when don't you answer the question, if you could please just about that as well.

Yes. So in terms of EV charging, we continue to progress our plans. In fact, the Energy Solutions changes are really us focusing on the areas where we feel that we can make the biggest difference for our customers, EV uptake, as I mentioned in my comments, has been slower than anticipated. There is policy support in place, and that policy support continues to build. And we are about making sure we can deliver a reliable offer for customers in the right locations. And when we pick the right locations, we are increasingly confident that we can deliver strong returns from those assets. So that's what we remain focused on. We're not at all walking away from our target. We will, in fact, commit to and meet our target. And the other kind of -- the other part of the conversation, I think that's important. When you think about how fast are EVs -- is EV uptake going to occur is how fast can the infrastructure arrive. And that's where we believe that the right sites where you can achieve the connectivity to the grid, which is going to become increasingly challenging, is going to be very valuable because we have not seen charging sites or fast charging sites arrive in excess of the arrival of the EVs.

Have you abandoned the AmpCharge program, has that gone to AGL, the one you're doing with Volkswagen?

AmpCharge and our charging networks in New Zealand, absolutely core to our strategy and what we're doing, and we continue to roll out those sites. Yes, yes, and business charging is an area where we are also very interested in making sure we can provide a network to our business customers as they transition their fleets and that will in turn -- that means some private charging on their premises. But all businesses pretty well are going to need access to a public network and so by securing them for fuel, securing them for their own charging needs back at depot or back at premise is then going to tie them back into our public charging network as part of an integrated solution.

Don, I think it's worth noting that it cost us $250,000 to $350,000 per charging bay we put in. It's not insignificant, and therefore, we need to be very judicious in where we put them, how we put them in and how fast we roll them out to make sure that we get the right return for shareholders, but it is still a commitment to roll it out.

[indiscernible]

The $0.10 will be honored through to the end of the 12 months cycle as part of the handover. So we are working closely with AGL to ensure, Don, your experience and mine is going to be a smooth one.

One more question. Thank you.

Mr. Chairman, a question from Steven Fonte, a shareholder.

I know we got $65 million for the electricity retail business. Did we make money on it or lose?

On the retail electricity business. And so a source of the savings that we're going to be delivering the $30 million, if you like, is because those businesses were losing money. And it's really important to get to scale. And that's why we believe that working with the partners that we're working with to achieve a scale solution is going to be a much better pathway forward.

Not really what I was directing my mind to. It would have cost X to set it up. We got $65 million. Did we get our money back, make a profit or a loss?

I haven't actually run the numbers on that, but it wouldn't have been far off sort of breakeven with the money that we received, yes.

We've made profit on that. Okay. Thank you for the question. And if there are no other questions in the room, what I might do if that's okay, is turn my attention to the online platform and see if there are any questions from that, Jeff.

There are. The first question comes from Stephen Mayne. The question is, I've asked questions at more than 1,000 AGM since 1998. And last year's Ampol AMP was the first time I've raised racial diversity as an issue given that our Board and management team lacks any people of color. Since then, we've appointed 3 new directors that have maintained this lack of diversity. Beyond gender, did we have any other diversity measures in the frame when sourcing 3 new directors, including Helen Nash, who's first up today?

Thanks for the question, Stephen. For me, the most important thing that Ampol shareholders need at the Board is diversity of thinking. And the smart people, who have different backgrounds, different experiences and have a diverse view point, and when I look at new directors for the company and the Board looks at -- appoint new directors, that's the main thing we look at. Yes, of course, we would like diversity of all sorts. But I think for me, the most important thing is we get the right caliber of intellect and experience on the board. So that's my main priority.

The next question also comes from Stephen Mayne. The question is, we delisted Ampol from the New Zealand Stock Exchange in August last year. How much did this move save shareholders? And has it caused any change to our share register or reduced any of our reporting requirements?

It's certainly in our reporting requirements, and it will have certainly saved us money. And I don't believe it's affected our shareholder base at all. But Matt, would you have a view on that?

No. So it was sort of tens of thousands of dollars of cost savings, but it was highly illiquid. So no impact to shareholders.

The next question is also from Stephen Mayne. The question is, thanks for getting with the program and disclosing the proxies to the ASX along with the formal addresses, well done for receiving strong support on all resolutions, we have almost 40,000 shareholders how many of them voted. When disclosing the poll results today, including on this rem report item, please advise the ASX how many shareholders voted for and against similar to with a scheme vote. This will provide a better gauge of retail shareholder sentiment and insight into the chronically low retail participation rate.

Thanks for the question. Why don't I take that on notice, and I'll speak to our secretary and see if that's the right thing to do. If it is, we will. If not, then we'll reconsider that.

The next question comes from [indiscernible]. The question is, in light of global volatility, geopolitical tensions, crude price swings and the energy transition, how is the Board positioning Ampol to adapt and find new opportunities? Does the Board see strong potential in Australian gas demand and which sectors are key? Also, with recent supply chain disruptions and changing crude quality, what steps are being taken to improve the efficiency and profitability of the Lytton refinery. Are upgrades or changes in feedstock strategy planned?

There's quite a lot to unpack in that one. And I might just do it briefly, but maybe we get back to the call with a bit more detailed answer a bit later. Clearly, geopolitical uncertainty and volatility is at the forefront of the Boards and the management's mind. It is a daily discovery for us and the whole world as to where things are going with the U.S. tariffs, oil demand, China. So we're very on top of that. One of the things that sets Ampol aside from everybody else in this country is our 125 strong trading sourcing operation in Singapore. That enables us to have a window on a lens into where the markets are moving, where the volatilities can be contained, where the product and the crude can be sourced from. So that is a unique thing to Ampol our competitor does not have that, they have outsourced that to somebody else. So we are, I think, very well placed to deal with volatility. It doesn't mean we suffer from the consequences, but we're very well placed to deal with that. But be clear, it also affects the refiner margins, Matt, very well put a few minutes ago. With regard to Lytton itself, as Matt went through as well, we have got the low sulfur fuels project underway at the moment, which will lead to a different and probably better product, which will also be more profitable for us. So that, combined with continuous upgrades, improvements is something that drives our Lytton operations. It's an old plant. It requires maintenance constantly. And so that's our -- and the management's, I guess, positioned to look into that. With regard to feedstocks, gas and other forms of energy, we don't look at that particularly. We are sticking to our knitting at the moment. But Matt, would you have a view on that, particularly?

No, I'd say, clearly, the trading and shipping capability in terms of managing the volatility and optimizing our sourcing into Lytton is key, and we are always focused on that. In terms of growth, we're really focused on the noncyclical and the retail -- including the retail part of our business, and that's where we continue to focus to grow earnings in addition to productivity.

There are no more questions.

Thank you, Jeff. That's very good. Following that, are there any questions on the phone that we need to address?

There are no questions on the phone line.

As we have no further questions, we will now move to the formal items of business, ladies and gentlemen. As notified to the ASX, all resolutions will be decided today by poll, and I thank all shareholders in advance for their efforts to submit proxies in advance of the meeting, a lot of the shareholders have appointed the Chairman as proxy for today's meeting. Where these proxies are open, I intend to cast votes in favor of each resolution. The first item of business relates to the 24 financial reports Ampol's '24 annual report has been released to the ASX and is available on our website for the purposes of today's meeting, the financial report, the directors' report and the independent auditors report for the year ended 31st of December 2024, are put before the meeting. I would now like to open the meeting to questions on the financial reports. There will be an opportunity to ask further questions on other items of business a little later. And a reminder, we will first take questions here in the room and then go to the online platform for questions and finally, questions from the phone, if there are any. So just quickly first, any questions from the room? Okay. As there are no questions in the room, we'll go to the online platform, Jeff, to see if there's anything from your side.

No questions.

Thank you, Jeff. Any questions on the phone, please?

There are no questions on the phone line.

I can see that we have no questions on this item of business. We'll now move on to the following matters to be voted on by shareholders today. The adoption of the 2024 remuneration report, the reelection of myself as a director, Betsy Donaghey as a Director, Helen Nash as a Director; Stephen Pearce as a Director and Guy Templeton as a Director. The grant of the '25 performance rights to the MD and CEO, the reinsertion of the proportional takeover provisions and the refresh of the company's 15% placement capacity under the ASX listing rules. The proxy results of the poll on each resolution will be displayed on the screen before we move to the next item of business today. And the final number of votes will be advised to the ASX and will also be available on our website after the meeting. The next item of business is a rem report. The vote on this resolution is advisory only and does not bind the directors of the company. However, I'd be very willing to take answers on this item of business. If there are any questions in the room, please, let me know. Natasha.

Thank you, Natasha Lee, shareholder. You're not displaying what the results are beforehand, proxy results?

I can think about that in the future. Would you like to put the results up now? I don't mind.

Okay. Now that's -- I think it's helpful to sort of get a perspective on these sorts of things beforehand. But my actual question was, whilst we can sort of discern parts of the rem report, I felt that the -- what I would classify as sort of as some of the softer measures like cultural health, strategic priorities, et cetera. You had your little graph on whether to target with met and what the contribution to the overall result. But there was no -- it was difficult to know if you met the target, did you award yourself 10%, 15% that sort of final figure, which made up the total. I know you had the aggregate total. But, it would be helpful to know what the individual scores were on those, rather than just trying to discern it from the graph. So that was my main concern with the report and the way you scorecard things.

Thanks for that. Yes. It's a hard one, the level of disclosure we make because the scorecards are often very complex, and there's a lot of aspects that go into each measure and then a lot of aspects that go into giving a rating on each measure and how that adds up. So why don't we take it on board as to what we can disclose further to what we already do disclose, to see that it can help you.

Yes. But as I was saying, is that, can I say for cultural health, that's a 5% contribution to the overall result. And you had your little chart, which showed whether the target was met or not. But we couldn't work out, okay, were you awarding yourself 5% or 10% on that measure or somewhere in between.

Leave it with me to talk to the guys about that and see if we can give you more. Thank you. Any further questions, please? Thank you for the question on that one. As there are no further questions in the room, I will now go to the online platform. Jeff, are there any questions from you?

There are no questions.

Thank you, Jeff. And I'll now go to the phone and ask whether any questions from the callers.

No questions on the phone line.

Thank you very much. As there are no further questions, please now select for, against or abstain next year resolution 2 on your electronic voting card or your paper voting card. The proxy results for the voting are now on the screen, been here for a few minutes. And we'll have to review where we do it like this going forward. The next item of business for this meeting is my reelection as a Director of Ampol. And in this regard, I'm going to hand over to Mike Ihlein, Senior Director to run this, and I'll give you a little address in a minute. Mike?

Thanks very much, Steven. We will now consider and vote on the reelection of Steven Gregg as a Director of Ampol. Steven Gregg was appointed as a Director of Ampol on the 9th of October 2015, since like only yesterday, Steven. And as Chairman on the 18th of August 2017. Steven brings to the Board more than 35 years' experience in global financial services, strategy consulting and professional services across Australia, Asia, Europe and the United States. Steven has served as Chairman and Director for companies across various sectors and is currently Chairman of Westpac Banking Corporation. Steven has been a Director of Ampol for approximately 10 years now, and the Board considers Steven's experience as Chairman, his strong leadership and deep understanding of the company's strategic objectives and business are valuable to the Board. And the Board unanimously supports Steven Gregg's reelection as an independent Non-Executive Director. And I'll now ask Steven to speak to his reelection.

Thanks, Mike. And good morning, ladies and gentlemen in this context. It's a pleasure and an honor to put myself forward for reelection as a Director of your company today. I have been, as Mike said, on the Board of Ampol for 9 going on 10 years. And while seeking election as a director today, I would see this as being my last term serving on the board. Given this, it's my intention to retire from this board at some stage within the next term. And upon this happening, I would be looking to pass on the baton as Chairman of Ampol to a suitably qualified director, and of course, this will be the decision of the remaining and ongoing serving directors of your company. If you can please just indulge me for a minute because I think it's worth reflecting on the progress of Ampol over the last 10 years, which I've been on the Board and a few thoughts on the future possibilities of this wonderful company. Over the last 10 years, Ampol has achieved, I think, a number of important and significant milestones. Firstly, it has in 2014, '15 become a totally publicly listed company in this country following the sell-down of the U.S. oil giant, Chevron from a 50% ownership. So we're now totally Australian-owned and that in itself is a major achievement to have got through that. It has successfully changed its name from Caltex back to original and iconic name of Ampol. I believe, one of the most successful rebrandings undertaken in this country. It has also established a major sourcing and trading hub in Singapore starting in 2014, '15 with only 5 people. Today, it has 125 people and is successfully sourcing all of Ampol's needs for Australia and New Zealand and in parts of the Pacific. Importantly, keeping control of supply into Australia in Australian hands, which is essential for fuel security. And we are the only ones that do that. Ampol has also undertaken a successful acquisition of Z Energy in New Zealand. That's becoming the largest retailer and provider in New Zealand and cementing Ampol's place as the leading fuel provider in Australia and New Zealand. Ampol has also developed and grown a successful, substantial and highly regarded retail business in Australia, operating nationally. And as we've talked about today, we also operate 1 of only 2 refineries in the country. We are very proud of its history and safety and security and then providing of refined product to Australians. Ampol today, ladies and gentlemen, has turnover of between $35 billion and $40 billion, sourcing globally around 27 million to 30 billion liters of crude and refined products per annum. And very importantly and not widely known is responsible for raising and payment of tax revenue back to Australian governments of over $7 billion per year. Ampol is indeed an iconic Australian company that is integral to the operation of this country and it's continuing to be the only major downstream fuel operator owned and controlled by Australians, a very unique company. In my 10 years at Ampol, I believe the company currently has its best and strongest management team led by Matt and the entire team. Congratulations to you, Matt. You put together a fantastic operation, and is ably supported by a highly qualified, interested and very committed Board of Directors. So I believe the future of Ampol is bright and exciting with numerous opportunities to grow on these prior successes and its core businesses in both Australia and New Zealand and regionally. And most importantly, is very well placed to participate in the inevitable energy transition. Ladies and gentlemen, I am very proud of this organization as you should be. Its culture, its sense of purpose, embodied in what we have achieved and what is now qualified to do in the future. And I would like to thank you for your support of Ampol and for your continued support of my role as a Director and Chairman of your company.

Thank you very much, Steven. I will now answer questions on this item of business. Are there any questions from the room, firstly. Natasha.

I think I need to be taller to wave out to be seen, that's okay. Natasha Lee, shareholder. Look, I'm happy with Steven and I support his reelection of course. Just going back to Stephen Mayne's point he made about diversity I think I've said it before. I don't often agree with Stephen Mayne, but on that point, it is something that resonates with me. I think the comment you made, Steven, about diversity of ideas whilst every director has -- brings to the Board a divisive ideas and various skills, which is strengthened. I think that it's important that having greater ethnic diversity brings a different perspective based on life experience as well as me personally think that it's -- I think that it's important that a board should be reflective of the community in general. And that is something which sadly isn't reflected in the current Board.

Yes. And I think everybody would agree with that. And obviously, the principle we adopt is, let's get the best qualified Directors firstly. But ideally, yes, we would have a Board that would also reflect the diverse nature of the Australian population as well. So we'll keep that in mind.

And you are an international company, so, you need to bear that in mind. .

Any more questions from the room? As there are no further questions in the room, let's now go to the online platform. Jeff, are there any questions online?

There are no questions.

No questions online. Any questions from the phone?

There are no questions on the phone line.

Thank you. As there are no further questions, please now select for, against or abstain next to resolution 3(a) on your electronic voting card or your paper voting card. The proxy results for the voting are now up on the screen. And I think it's clear from those numbers that Steven will be reelected, and I think we're all very pleased to have Steven continue in this role leading the Board. Congratulations, Steven. I'll now hand back to Steven to chair the rest of the meeting.

Thank you, Mike and thank you, shareholders. The next item of business is the reelection of Elizabeth Donaghey. Betsy, as we call her. As a Director of Ampol, Betsy was appointed a Director of Ampol on 1st of September 2021. And she brings to the Board over 30 years of experience in the energy sector, including technical, commercial and executive roles at Energy Australia, Woodside Energy and BHP Petroleum. She's currently a non-executive director of the Australian Energy Market Operator, AEMO and Cooper Energy Limited. The Board unanimously supports Betsy's reelection as an independent non-exec director. And I'll now ask Betsy to speak to her reelection. Thank you.

Thank you. My 30 years experience has started when I was 4 years old. Today, I seek your support for reelection as a director. I have both broad and deep energy experience as Steve mentioned, currently at the AEMO and at Cooper Energy. Like Steven, I think Ampol is a wonderful company with great people, great assets, and we have a significant impact on the community every single day. It's been an honor to serve as a director. And I hope that today, you'll allow me to continue to contribute to Ampol delivering sustainable shareholder value today and in the future. Thank you.

Thanks, Betsy. I'll now answer questions on this item of business. Are there any questions in the room, please? No? Okay. As there are no questions in the room, we'll now go to the online platform, Jeff?

There are no questions.

And I'll now ask whether there are any questions on the phone.

There are no questions on the phone line.

Thank you very much. As there are no questions, please now select for, against or abstain next to resolution 3(b) on your electronic voting card or your paper voting card. The proxy results for the voting are now up on the screen. And it's very clear by that, that Betsy has been reelected. And so congratulations to Betsy, well done. The next item of business is the election of Helen Nash as a Director of your company. Helen was appointed as a Director of Ampol on the 1st of March this year. Helen has had a big career in marketing, spanning more than 20 years and 3 industries: consumer packaged goods, publishing and media and quick service restaurants. Helen is currently the Chair of the Inghams Group and a Non-Executive Director of Metcash Limited. She was formerly a Non-Exec Director of Southern Cross Media, Blackmores Limited and Pacific Brands. And the Board unanimously supports Helen's election as an independent non-exec director. I'll now ask Helen to speak to her election. Thank you.

Thank you, Chairman, and good morning, fellow shareholders. I'm very pleased to present myself to you today for election to the Board of Ampol. Since joining the Board in March this year, it has already been a really rewarding experience continuing to contribute to the development of Ampol. My background is originally in consumer marketing. I've had extensive experience as a senior exec both in the U.K. And then in Australia, particularly with McDonald's, where I was both Chief Marketing Officer and then Chief Operating Officer. This experience, in particular, I believe, will serve me well in contributing to Ampol's growth plans within convenience and retail. I do serve on 2 other ASX-listed Boards which provides me with additional perspectives that assist my insights and my contribution to your Board. I'm very committed to Ampol. I believe I have the energy, the time and the passion to devote to your company. I present myself today for election and it would be an honor to have your support for my ongoing role as a director. And thank you very much for the opportunity to address you today. Thank you.

Thank you, Helen. Well spoken. I'll now answer questions on the site and from the room, please. No questions. we'll go to the online platform, Jeff, any questions online?

There are no questions.

Thank you. And are there any questions on the phone, please?

There are no questions on the phone line.

Okay. As there are no questions, please now select for, against or abstain next to resolution 3(c) on your electronic voting card and/or your paper voting card. The proxy results for the voting are now up on the screen. And I must say an overwhelming support for Helen being elected. So congratulations to you. Thank you. The next item of business is the election of Stephen Pearce as a Director of your company. Stephen was appointed Director on the 1st of March '25. He has over 30 years of financial and commercial experience in the mining, oil and gas and utilities industries and more than 20 years' experience as a director of public companies. Stephen is currently an independent Non-Executive Director of BAE Systems, South32 and the Wyllie Group. And the Board unanimously supports Stephen's election as an independent director. I'll now ask him to speak to his election. Thank you.

Thank you, Chairman, and good morning, shareholders, yes, still good morning. Very pleased to present myself here today for election to the Board of Ampol Limited as an independent Non-Executive Director. Like Helen and Guy, I joined the Board more recently in March and have enjoyed getting to know the company, management and the Board. My background is originally in finance, but I've also had extensive experience as a senior executive of major Australian and international listed companies, most recently as the Group Finance Director of Anglo American plc. My responsibilities have covered the traditional finance areas in addition to shipping, procurement, IT, logistics, marketing and trading, all areas that are highly relevant to Ampol in the years ahead. I'm currently a Non-Executive Director of 2 listed entities being South32 Limited and BAE Systems plc. I present myself today for election and it would be an honor to have your support for my ongoing role as a Director. Thank you.

Thank you. Thank you, well put. I'll now answer questions on Stephen's election, please, from the room. No? Okay, any questions -- I'll go to the online platform. Jeff, any questions there?

There is a question. The question is from Stephen Mayne. The question is, which headhunter ran the Board recruitment process. And did the full board interview candidates as a group or individually. Could Stephen Pearce also comment as to whether he knew any of our existing directors before engaging with the recruitment process and what he thought of the recruitment process?

Thanks for the question, Stephen. We're not going to talk about which headhunting firm and which suppliers generally have been advising Ampol but there was a very senior headhunting firm that was involved. There was a process that was run and Stephen was a part of that process. So all done very well. Yes, every director of Ampol met Stephen beforehand, I believe that all director should be part of a process to select new directors. As to Stephen's happiness or otherwise of the process, I'll leave that to him to talk about it.

Thank you, Chair, and honored to have a question. Thank you. These things are always a 2-way process, right? So it's really important for me as an incoming director to have that opportunity to meet the full board, and that opportunity was provided. It was done in a group of sort of small meetings over a period of a couple of weeks, which is great because then it enables a really free-flowing conversation because it is a 2-way process, both for them to get to know me and for me to get to know them. And that's really about fit, skills, but in particular, values. Is it kind of work for me coming on to the board from my perspective and what I can bring to the company but also for me and how I fit into the existing Board and reflect those values around the Board table. And that process was thorough, enjoyable, and I was pleased to get an invite at the end of it.

Good. Thank you. Make me feel better. Any more questions online, Jeff?

Yes, there is. The next question comes from [indiscernible] the question is, with your involvement across multiple corporations as a nonexecutive director, how do you find the energy, clarity and discipline to manage such a demanding and diverse portfolio. What guidance would you offer for aspiring leaders looking to build a similar multi-board career whilst maintaining impact and integrity?

Thank you, Chair. Thanks for the question. There's only 2 other listed entities, and I really do believe it's important not to be overboarded, particularly as you're coming in and stepping from an executive career into a Board career. So really happy with that balance. Again, you have choices, I suppose, as you're moving from executive life into non-executive life. So again, really feeling that you can add value to the companies that you're involved in and as I said earlier, particularly the values and how you feel around the table and your ability to express your views, hopefully, add value, challenge and some direction and experience in the process. So comfortable with the workload, really comfortable with the companies that I'm involved with. It's not always easy sailing with these things. Companies have challenges from time to time. But hopefully, that's part of the skills that I can bring as well to the Board.

Thank you. Well spoken.

There are no more questions.

Thanks, Jeff. Thank you for that. Any questions from the phone, please?

There are no questions on the phone line.

Very well. Thank you. As there are no further questions, if you could please select for, against or abstain next to Resolution 3(d) on your electronic card or your paper voting card and the proxy results for the voting are now on the screen. Is he winning? Yes, okay. I'm feeling very out of town here. It's clear from these numbers that Stephen will be elected, and I do congratulate him, well done. The next item of business is the election of Guy Templeton as a Director of your company. Guy was appointed as a Director of Ampol on the 1st of January this year. He brings to the Board over 35 years of engineering, commercial and his leadership experience and is a chartered professional engineer. Guy was most recently CEO of Asia Pacific at WSP, a global engineering and environmental firm. Previously, he was CEO and Managing Director of MinterEllison and a Managing Partner of PA Consulting where he advise on strategy, acquisitions, technology and operational improvement across more than 25 countries. The Board unanimously supports Guy's election as a director, and I'll now ask Guy to speak to his election. Thank you.

Thank you, Chairman, and good morning, shareholders. I'm honored to stand for election to the Ampol Board and having joined as a director on the 1st of January, and I've thoroughly enjoyed the process between then and now. My executive background includes 12 years as CEO for Asia Pacific at WSP, which is one of the world's largest engineering and environmental services firms. And during that time, I was responsible for delivering thousands of projects, including significant work in the energy sector. Before that, I served as the CEO and Managing Partner MinterEllison, the law firm and that provided broad commercial insight in that role. So my career has taken me to more than 30 countries. That's our through leadership roles, project delivery or being resident in other countries. And I believe that's valuable to Ampol given its international nature. At heart, I'm an engineer, and I bring that mindset very much to my role on Ampol Safety and Sustainability Committee. I also contribute as an honoring member of the Business Council of Australia, where I chaired transportation, infrastructure and construction committee. That provides inside international policy, investment and importantly, I think, around energy transition. So I have the time, definitely have the energy and the commitment to serve Ampol with a clear focus on delivering value for shareholders. And I'd be very grateful for your support.

Thank you for that. Again, well spoken. Any questions from the floor, please about Guy's election. Okay. Jeff, any questions online?

There are no questions.

Thank you. And any questions on the phone, please?

There are no questions on the phone line.

Very good. Thank you. As there are no further questions or any questions, please now select for, against or abstain next to the resolution 3(e) on your electronic voting card or your paper voting card. The proxy results for voting are now on the screen. It's clear from those numbers that Guy is going to be elected, and we do congratulate him, mate. Well done. The next item of business is the grant of the performance rights to the Managing Director and CEO. Ampol is seeking shareholder approval for the grant of performance rights to Matt, Ampol's MD and CEO under the Ampol Equity Incentive Plan as his long-term incentive award for 2025. It is the current intention of the performance rights awarded to Matt, how they vest, we're satisfied with the shares purchased on market, which does not require shareholder approval under ASX listing rules. However, the Board considers it appropriate to seek shareholder approval as a matter of best practice and the key terms relating to the grant of the performance rights are in the notice of meeting. Are there any questions on this item, I'll be happy to take them from the room, please. Okay. There doesn't seem any questions. So Jeff, any questions from online?

There are no questions.

Thank you, and are there any questions from the phone, please?

There are no questions on the phone line.

Very well. Thank you. As there are no questions, I'd ask you please to select for, against or abstain next to resolution 4 on your electronic voting card, or your paper voting card. The proxy results for voting -- votes are now on the screen. Comfortably pass, Matt, well done. It's clear from those now. Matt will gain those rights. So that's well under Matt. The next item of business is a special resolution being put to shareholders to reinsert the proportional takeover provisions of the company's constitution as Clause 81 in the same form as those approved at the 2022 Annual General Meeting. The provisions set out in Clause 81 of the constitution are designed to assist shareholders to receive proper value for their shares if a proportional takeover bid is made for the company. This is best practice. Under the Corporations Act, these provisions must be renewed every 3 years or they cease to have an effect. And these provisions expire after 12th of May 2025. If approved by shareholders, Clause 81 will operate for 3 years from the date of the meeting unless earlier renewed, and further details into this item of business are set out in the notice of meeting, and I will please take questions from the floor if need be. Jeff, any questions from you online?

There are no questions.

Thank you, and are there any questions from the phone, please?

There are no questions on the phone line.

Thank you very much. As there are no further questions, please now select for, against or abstain next to resolution 5 on your electronic voting card or your paper voting card, and the proxy results for the votes are now on the screen. Thank you very much. I think it's passing that. That's best practice, I believe. The next item of business is one of almost an administrative function, which is a refresh of the company's 15% placement capacity of the ASX listing rules. On December 11 of last year, Ampol raised $600 million through an issue of 60,000 direct unconditional unsecured subordinated convertible notes, $10,000 per note. This forms part of the company's capital management strategy, including to support its credit profile and to provide financial flexibility. Net proceeds of the issuance have been used for the refining -- sorry, the refinancing of debt maturities and for general corporate purposes in line with our capital allocation framework. And the issue of the notes was within the limits of the company's 15% placement capacity under the ASX listing rules and therefore do not require shareholder approval to proceed. If shareholders ratify the issue of these notes today, these shareholders will no longer be counted towards the company's 15% placement capacity under the ASX listing rules. And the company will, therefore, have greater flexibility as to how it manages future capital requirements, including the potential of any early refinancing of capital, Ampol's subordinated notes, with the first call date being in March '26. I confirm to you today that Ampol now has currently no intention to raise equity to deleverage the balance sheet. And the Board remains confident in Ampol's deleveraging profile, which is supported by a normalization of Ampol's earnings as well as several capital and operational initiatives, including our recent sale of interest in channel infrastructure and the agreement to exit electricity retailing in Australia and New Zealand, as examples. Ampol continues to maintain a Baa1 investment credit rating from Moody's with a stable outlook. This is vital for our firm. A summary of the terms of this notice was set out in the meeting and I will now answer questions on this item of business. If there are any on the room, please? Don?

Thank you. Don Adams, Australian Shareholders' Association. We have a policy to not vote for these 15% elimination motions because we don't -- we like to protect private -- retail shareholders who generally don't participate. But we are voting for this motion because, a, it's very rare that these hybrids do convert to equity, but also if they do convert to equity, they're converting at the market value, less 1% at the time of conversion. So they're not particularly dilutive. The question is what -- you've got a fairly large CapEx expenditure this year. You've got to refinance the December '21, I think it is, notes which you may redeem in March 2026, although you could let it not redeem and let them go on because they do have a long maturity. And you just said -- to answer part of my question that you don't plan any equity issue. Are you planning further hybrids as capital raisings?

I don't know the answer to that one, Don. It's more in Jeff's bailiwick and Greg's bailiwick, the CFO and Deputy CFOs remit. We have a very sophisticated balance sheet and capital raising, and I guess, different forms of debt on our balance sheet. And the guys are incredibly vigilant about where there's best value, best opportunity, best flexibility and obviously, the best treatment for our credit rating. So traditionally, the hybrids have been a very important form of finance for us because they give you equity treatment, they give us good terms and flexibility. So I'd imagine that would be something the guys would be considering, but I have no idea of that at the moment, no further plans. Thank you. Jeff, any questions from the online?

Yes, there's one question. It's from Stephen Mayne. The question is, why did you need to refresh the placement capacity. Doesn't this send a message that you might do a monster placement before next year's AGM when best practice is to raise capital in a pro rata renounceable fashion? Preferably through a patrio, will Chair, Steven Gregg promised and never put up another placement refresh resolution, again, out of respect to retail shareholders who get endlessly shafted and diluted by big end of town placements by listed companies?

Thank you for the well-thought-out question. Well, first, I'm not going to give any guarantees about anything in the future. But this is more housekeeping than anything to give the company flexibility to raise capital when it wants and how it wants going forward, nothing more than that. We have no interest in shafting our shareholders. They are the bedrock of the company, and that will always be first and forefront of mind. Thank you.

There are no further questions.

Thanks, Jeff. Any questions on the phone, please?

There are no questions on the phone line.

Thank you very much. As there are no further questions, please now select for, against or abstain next to resolution 6 on your electronic voting card or your paper voting card, and the proxy results for votes are now on the screen. And I'm very pleased to see that being passed. Ladies and gentlemen, that concludes our items of discussion today. In a couple of minutes, I will close out the voting system. And please ensure that you have cast your vote on all resolutions. And I will now pause to allow you time to finalize these votes. I'll wait for a minute. Thank you. [Voting]

Okay, ladies and gentlemen, voting is now closed. And as I indicated earlier, the final results of the polls will be provided to the ASX today, and will be placed on the company's website. Thank you all for your patience in working through this hybrid AGM, and thank you for your support this year. On behalf of Ampol Board and management, I sincerely thank our shareholders, employees, customers, partners for your continued support of our great company. And we look forward to updating you as we continue to execute our strategy. Thank you very much.