Aussie Broadband Limited (9JI.F) Earnings Call Transcript & Summary

Okay. Good morning, everyone. My name is Adrian Fitzpatrick, and I have the privilege of being the Chair of your company and will be the Chair of today's meeting. It's my pleasure to welcome you to the 2025 Annual General Meeting of Aussie Broadband. It's now 10:00. And as we have a quorum, I declare this meeting open. Before proceedings begin, I would like to start by acknowledging the traditional owners of the country on the many lands we are meeting from today throughout Australia and recognize their continuing connection to lands, water and communities. We pay our respects to the traditional custodians and elders of this nation, both past and present, and the continuation of the cultural, spiritual and educational practices of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. I'd like to recognize, in particular, the land that I'm standing on today, the traditional land of the Wurundjeri people of the Kulin Nation. Today's meeting will be held as a hybrid AGM and has been convened in accordance with the Corporations Act and the company's constitution. Shareholders have the choice of participating in today's meeting in person or online via the Computershare meeting platform. The agenda today is on the screen with addresses from myself and our Group Chief Executive Officer, followed by the items of business being consideration of the financial statements and the items requiring shareholders' votes. It is my duty as Chair to ensure the shareholders in attendance as a group have a reasonable opportunity to discuss the management of the company and the items of business before the meeting. There will be plenty of opportunity for questions during and towards the end of the meeting. Voting today will be conducted by way of a poll on all items of business. Only shareholders, validly appointed proxies and corporate representatives are entitled to vote at today's meeting. Holders attending in person today need to obtain the yellow voting card or blue nonvoting card when they registered. Please see the registration desk just outside if you have not received your yellow or blue card. Those shareholders attending online, please refer to the instructions contained in the virtual online meeting guide and on the screen. If you're eligible to vote, once voting opens, press the vote icon and all resolutions will be activated with voting options. To cast your vote, simply select one of the options. There is no need to hit a submit or enter button as the vote is automatically recorded. You will receive a vote confirmation notification on your screen. You can change your vote up until the time I declare voting closed. I now declare voting open on all items of business. Only shareholders, validly appointed proxies and corporate representatives are entitled to ask questions at today's meeting. If you are participating virtually and did not submit a question before the AGM, you will be able to submit questions at any time during the meeting by registering as a shareholder or proxy holder and selecting the Q&A icon. To ask a verbal question, follow the instructions below the broadcast window. I will request questions from the phone attendees first, followed by the online questions and then invite questions from the floor. If you would like to ask a question in the room, please approach the microphone at the appropriate time and display your yellow or blue attendance card. When I call for questions, state your name and the organization you represent, and please keep questions courteous and concise. Questions may be merged if we receive multiple questions on the same topic. Please note that there will be time for shareholders to ask general questions after we have dealt with the formal business of today's meeting. I would now like to introduce my fellow directors: Sue Klose, Director and Chair of the People and Community Committee; Patrick Green, Non-Executive Director; Sarah Adam-Gedge, Non-Executive Director and Chair of the Audit, Risk and Compliance Committee; Phillip Britt, Non-Executive Director; Graeme Barclay, Non-Executive Director; and Michael Omeros, Executive Director. Our Company Secretary, Cheryl Cai, is also present as well as the company's auditor, KPMG, represented by Simon DeBoer and the auditor will be available to answer questions on the conduct of the audit and the audit report for the year ended 30 June 2025. I'd also like to welcome Michael Hutchison from our share registry, Computershare, who will be the returning officer for the poll to be taken on the resolutions at today's meeting. Before I start with the formal part of this year's meeting, I would like to take a moment to reflect on the past 12 months for Aussie Broadband. FY '25 was another year of growth and innovation for Aussie. The company delivered 104,000 new connections, improved technology, new digital tools and provided exceptional service to our ever-growing customer base, ranging from Australian households and small businesses to large enterprises, governments and other telco providers. We continue to grow our market share across multiple segments and invested in our infrastructure network and future capacity. We are very proud of where Aussie is today and are excited for the growth that lies ahead. The company's FY '25 financial results were strong with 18.7% growth in revenue with underlying EBITDA of $138.2 million, a result at the top end of our guidance, which was upgraded during the year. The company paid fully franked interim and final dividends together with a fully franked special dividend, all totaling $0.064 per share for the FY '25 year. A share buyback program was activated with 9 million shares purchased at an average price of $3.97 per share. This program is available until 27 November this year. The company remains committed to growth and retains financial flexibility for growth through strategic accretive acquisitions. The company enjoyed success across all segments with continued strong growth in residential, while our business enterprise and government team continued to win new customers with further success expected in the current year driven by a strong pipeline of opportunities. We're continuing to leverage our existing Aussie fiber infrastructure network and have made early progress in growing its utilization. The Wholesale segment maintains key competitive advantages through its 2 Tier 1 voice networks and our innovative proprietary platforms. In August 2025, we announced a major 6-year wholesale services agreement with -- more Telecom. This agreement will see Aussie Broadband host an estimated 290,000 more and Tangerine connections on its network by the end of this financial year. The agreement will deliver a material uplift to our earnings from the beginning of the FY '27 year and being selected as a wholesale partner by Moore Telecom further validates Aussie's position as a strong, innovative and capable player in the wholesale market. Importantly, the migration of the Moore Tangerine customer base onto the Aussie Broadband network is powered by Nitrogen, our new proprietary wholesale platform, which was first used to migrate Symbio's NBN services to Aussie earlier this year. The nitrogen platform is a game changer for our wholesale segment and our clients, and we look forward to onboarding more partners in the future with the simplicity and power of the platform's new tool set. The NBN market context has evolved in the residential segment since I spoke to you 12 months ago. We have continued to see challenger brands take market share from incumbents, and that trend is continuing after the launch of NBN's new Accelerate Great plans. The NBN speed bestowal and new speed plans have been live since the middle of September, and our team have been working for over 12 months to ensure our customers saw no disruption when the speed upgrades launched. The technical magnitude of such a change, this cannot be understated. And I want to thank all who worked tirelessly to ensure a smooth transition for our customers. Aussie was well positioned to be a leader in the new high-speed world, and we are already seeing great uptake of the new plans from our existing customer base. The company continues to mature and grow as a responsible corporate as indicated by the upcoming launch of Aussie's inaugural sustainability report, which enhances our previous climate-related disclosures. The work will also support our B Corporation recertification, which will take place later in the year. In March 2025, the Aussie Broadband leadership transition from Founder and Managing Director, Phil Britt, to Brian Maher, who took on the role of Chief -- Group Chief Executive Officer. Leading up to this transition, Brian led a detailed strategic planning exercise, which resulted in a sharpened focus on our core business and the launch of our look to '28 strategy and 3-year ambitions, all unveiled at the April '25 Investor Day. Also announced was the restructuring of the business into 3 segments, which are now in place and effective from 1 July 2025. The Board is very pleased to have retained Phil's deep industry knowledge in a meaningful manner through his roles as a Non-Executive Director and a special adviser to the management team when required. I'm delighted to welcome 2 new members to the Board with Graeme Barclay and Sarah Adam Gedge joining as nonexecutive directors. Both Graeme and Sarah were appointed after a comprehensive recruitment process established and completed by the Nominations Committee supported by an executive search firm. Graham's extensive background in telecommunications, together with his strong financial and commercial acumen and experience in complex digital transformations have already seen Graham as a valuable addition to the Board. Sarah complements the Board's skills with her global perspective, experience in developing complex technology solutions and a particularly strong expertise across financial, cyber, risk and compliance. I would like to thank Vicky Papachristos for her contribution to the Board. Vicky retired as a Non-Executive Director in April this year, having played an important role on the Board, especially in chairing the Audit, Risk and Compliance Committee for 5 years, including through the IPO process. I'd also like to acknowledge Patrick Green, who retires as a Non-Executive Director at the conclusion of today's meeting. As a co-founder of Westvic Broadband, which formed Aussie Broadband through the merger of Wideband Networks in 2008, Pat, along with Phil and those other brave founders, have been instrumental in the company growing to what it is today, a $1.7 billion market cap company. I would like to wish Pat health and happiness with family and retirement, and we acknowledge and are grateful for his ongoing support as a fellow shareholder. Finally, all of these great outcomes could not have been achieved without the collective dedication and commitment of the 1,500-plus staff that make up Aussie Broadband today. Your drive and determination is what has helped make Aussie the success that it is today and that culture of team commitment will continue to serve us well as we strive to be the telco people love well into the future. On behalf of myself and the Board, I would like to thank you, our shareholders, for your continued support. I will now hand over to Brian Maher, who will take you through our performance for FY '25 and the outlook for the year ahead. Thank you.

Good morning, everyone. I'm Brian Maher, and I'm pleased to be standing in front of you at my first Annual General Meeting as the Group Chief Executive Officer of Aussie Broadband. Our success in FY '25 was a testament to the hard work and diligent approach of our team to drive positive outcomes for our shareholders, customers and communities. In addition to delivering another set of strong financials, we continue to build on our legacy of high-quality products and customer service excellence, which has been validated by Aussie Broadband recently being named Australia's most trusted Telco for the fifth year running and ranked 36th most trusted across all sectors. Also, our team worked tirelessly throughout the year to prepare for NBN's accelerate great upgrades, which is already seeing great uptake by our customers, but more on that later. As already mentioned by Adrian, in August, we were delighted to announce the 6-year wholesale services agreement with -- more Telecom, which will see 290,000 more and Tangerine connections hosted on the Aussie network, powered by our new nitrogen wholesale platform. Earlier this year, we unveiled our look to 28 strategy and our ambition to be the telco people love. And we've already made great strides towards some of these longer-term ambitions. It is my pleasure today to take you through an overview of our FY '25 results and to provide an outlook into the year ahead. So moving to Page 9. Aussie Broadband delivered robust financial results in FY '25 with revenue up 18.7% to $1.2 billion, driven by continued market share gains in residential and solid growth in enterprise and government following several major customer wins. Underlying EBITDA, which came at the top end of our upgraded guidance, reached $138.2 million, up 14.7% on the prior year. And this included $11 million in operating cost savings delivered through cost management and productivity initiatives. In its full year of ABB ownership, Symbio contributed significantly to the group's result, adding $39.4 million to EBITDA and achieving 35% growth on a pro forma basis. This result included $6 million in realized synergies that exceeded expectations. Symbio is a cornerstone of our future growth in the Wholesale segment. Operating cash flow before interest and tax was $117.3 million, down 8.5% on prior year, but more comparable when adjusting for working capital timing differences and payments related to the employee share trust. Our cash conversion for the full year improved to 84.9% from 74.9% in the first half. It is also worth noting that the company is now in a taxpaying position with $34.8 million of tax paid in FY '25. Overall, our current performance and future outlook for underlying cash flow and cash conversion remains strong. Underlying NPATA rose 6.5% to $55.8 million. EPS, which is calculated here on underlying NPATA was down by $0.03 to $0.19, noting that the weighted average number of shares was influenced by several changes over the course of the 2 years. Our goal is to deliver at least 20% annual growth in EPS going forward based on underlying NPATA. Looking now at Page 10 to see how we've diversified our revenue streams over the years. On this page, the charts on the left showcase our consistent growth across revenue and the underlying EBITDA over the past 5 years. The charts on the right show our revenue and gross profit by segment and product. Since FY '21, Aussie has achieved compound growth in its revenue of 36% with revenue for FY '25 almost $1.2 billion, while underlying EBITDA has a CAGR of 64% over the same period. FY '23 saw a step change in both gross margins and EBITDA margins as the completion of our fiber core fiber network replaced the majority of our lease backhaul links. The EBITDA margin of 11.6% in FY '25 was a slight decline on the prior year due to the impact of the net investment in Buddy. But if you exclude that, the EBITDA margin continues its improvement trajectory. FY '25 also saw a focus on productivity improvements following the loss of a significant wholesale contract. Material improvements in our staffing ratios were created in FY '25, and we believe we can do better yet. In the revenue and gross profit segment charts, you can see that residential remains the engine room of Aussie with 57% of total revenue and nearly 50% of gross profit. Our ambition is to continue to grow our market share in residential while growing at least equally fast in other areas to maintain our revenue diversification. With Symbio fully consolidated, the weighting of the higher-margin products of Symbio and NetSIP means Voice now represents 29% of gross profit for the group. Looking at our operational metrics on Page 11. In terms of our relative market positioning as an NBN reseller, our share of the fixed broadband NBN market continued to grow, up 1.1 percentage points to 8.4%. At the time of our IPO, this was 4%. Today, we estimate it to be 8.6%. In FY '25, our total net on-net broadband connections across the group grew to 788,000, up 104,000 from the prior year, representing 15% growth inclusive of the migration of approximately 17,000 Symbio connections. With the announcement of our wholesale services agreement with Moore and Tangerine, our total broadband connection numbers is expected to exceed 1 million subscribers following the migration. We also saw some strong momentum in mobile in FY '25 with services growing across the group to 216,000, up by 35,000 or 19%. Our own Aussie Fiber network grew to almost 2,000 kilometers with 896 connected buildings and opening up more than 2,600 near net buildings in our immediate footprint. With this network, we're able to bypass the NBN and directly service businesses at significantly higher margins. Our connections per building for Aussie Fiber is at 1.2 connections. Growing that ratio represents a significant opportunity for us, and we're already seeing modest improvements towards our goal of 2 to 3 connections per building by FY '28. We have around 8.2 million numbers hosted across our Symbio and NetSIP Tier 1 voice platforms with a total of 8.7 billion call minutes across our domestic networks. On Page 12, we'll look to the road ahead. We outlined our look to '28 strategy at our Investor Day in April with a renewed focus on growth and customer service. We outlined some key organic ambitions for FY '28, revenue beyond $1.6 billion, an 11% plus share of the NBN market, our residential segment accounted for no more than 60% of revenue and more. When we set these ambitions out, they were all organic in nature, and this still holds true. However, we will refresh these ambitions at our half year results in February to ensure that they reflect our recent success with winning the wholesale services agreement with more telecom. As part of the 3-year strategy, we also reorganized our business into 3 functional segments. We'll look at that more closely on Page 13. Prior to this year, Aussie has grown with a functional structural model. From July this year, our structure has changed to create a model based on customer types. The business is now being residential, business and E&G and wholesale, with each segment led by group executives, Jonathan Prosser, Aaron O'Keefe and Michael Omeros, respectively. The segments are then supported by the other functional heads. For FY '26, our residential team will continue to benefit from our position as the leaders in high-speed plans. NBN's accelerate great speed upgrades are live, and we've already seen an increase in sales and plan upgrades since the change. We're continuing to work on converting users from legacy copper technologies to full fiber connections, and we're actively consulting with regulators and NBN on the migration process for the millions of Australian households that can't yet take advantage of the speed upgrades. We combine the business and E&G segments together under a single group executive to enable a greater focus on removing customer friction points between sales, provisioning and ongoing service operations. It also enables us to offer an enhanced level of service to both cohorts of customers and a broader service offering as our customers grow with us. With a simpler product offering and better outcomes for delivery, support and the customer experience, we're looking forward to growing average revenue per customer and an acceleration in customer acquisition in FY '26. The combined segment will continue leveraging our strong brand proposition to land major clients and contracts. The Wholesale segment, which is being led by Mo, is already benefiting from some strong tailwinds, including the M Tangerine arrangement. That agreement is a significant win for us, and we'll just talk a bit more about that on Page 14. As we announced, we've signed an exclusive 6-year agreement to provide wholesale services to Moore Telecom and Tangerine Telecom. Separately to this agreement, we also agreed to sell the Buddy Telco brand and assets and customer base to Tangerine. The unsold Buddy customer accounts will stay on the Aussie Broadband network as part of the deal. Moore and Tangerine will continue to manage the retail customer relationship and experience, and Aussie will provide Layer 3 connectivity to NBN. We are expecting around 290,000 connections on our network by the end of the migration, which will lift our total connections above 1 million. The agreement is estimated to contribute $12 million in annualized EBITDA from FY '27 before amortization of contract incentives and based on only the migrated volumes. There is no expected material financial impact from the agreement in FY '26. Powering this deal is the creation of our new nitrogen wholesale network platform. More and Tanger users will be migrated onto the Aussie Broadband network over the second half of FY '26. As part of the agreement and upon signing of the contract, Aussie Broadband issued approximately 5.9 million shares to more. These shares are subject to escrow arrangements. Before we get into the items of business, I want to take you through our trading update and guidance for FY '26. Looking at our performance year-to-date, we're encouraged by our start with net growth of approximately 22,600 connections at 11th of October, and this includes 3,600 growth since the end of Q1. The period up to the speed upgrades were relatively soft for ABB as other RSPs prelaunched the 500 products and the price change impacts following the July increases. However, since the 14th of September, there's been a marked step change in activity with net growth accelerating significantly and our share of NBN orders for both residential and small business at their highest point in the last 12 months. We've also seen growth in our share of fiber connect orders in recent times. Included in these orders were almost 34,000 service modifications, of which 87% were speed upgrades and approximately 290,000 ABB customers received automatic speed upgrades on the 14th of September. We remain positive about our growth prospects within E&G with strong delivery and sales pipeline set to drive further growth in FY '26 and beyond. We've already signed new blue-chip customers this year, including Accor Hotels, which we announced with our results. And I can also announce today that we've signed our largest ever enterprise contract to service Bakers Delight across its domestic and international network for the next 5 years. In wholesale, we are very excited about our new partnership with Mo and Tangerine and believe we are well positioned for further growth within the segment across both voice and data. FY '26 is set to be another year of growth for Aussie Broadband, and we anticipate growth of between 14% and 21% in underlying EBITDA to a range of $157 million to $167 million. Our CapEx guidance has moderated from last year's high back to $55 million to $60 million. Finally, I just want to leave you with 4 key takeaways from the year. FY '25 was a strong year for Aussie with solid financial results and growth in our core business. We introduced a new leadership team after the retirement of our 2 co-founders, and the business developed its new 3-year strategy and realigned to function 3 operational segments, which will facilitate delivery of that strategy. We anticipate continued strong growth into FY '26 with over 14% growth in EBITDA. We will continue to perform well in a high-speed residential world, leverage our developing reputation in the business and enterprise and government space. And in wholesale, we'll launch our new platform for Media Australia and work towards a successful migration of more and Tangerine customers onto our network. Finally, we will continue to maintain a strong capital management framework that has allowed us to invest in our growth and deliver returns to shareholders. We will continue to optimize our capital allocation for return on investment. I would like to finish another thanks to my executive team for all their hard work and support and the entire staff of Aussie who delight our customers every day and who are fundamental to driving Aussie to become the telco people love. Finally, thank you to you, our shareholders, for your ongoing support. I'll now hand over to the Chair, who will go through the items of business.

Thank you, Brian. I'll now turn to the business of today's meeting. Notice of this meeting and explanatory information has been sent to all shareholders, and I propose to take the notice of meeting as being read. I can confirm that I propose to vote those proxies left to my discretion as the Chair in favor of all resolutions. Proxy votes received prior to the meeting will be shown on the screen for each item of business to be voted on today. Please note the voting exclusions apply to the company's KMP and their closely related parties for items 2, 4A, 4B, 4C and 5 as outlined in the Notice of Meeting. The first item of ordinary business is the consideration of the financial report, directors' report and auditor's report for the year ended 30 June 2025. These were circulated as part of the annual report, which members received via printed hard copy if they so elected or were able to access on our website. There is no requirement for shareholders to vote on these reports. However, you have the opportunity to now ask questions about the financial statements and the reports for the year ended 30 June 2025. Please state your name or organization you represent before doing so. As a reminder, I'll request questions from the phone attendees first, followed by online questions and then questions from the floor. Phone operator, are there any questions on the financial statements?

There are no questions via the phone lines.

Thank you. Are there any online questions on the financial statements?

There is [indiscernible] Whittington, who is a volunteer from the Australian Shareholders' Association and an Aussie Broadband customer. I'll read out the question. Today, I hold proxies from ASA members and nonmembers for over 260,000 ABB shares. Our thanks go to you, the Board and all Aussie Broadband employees for producing another strong result. The exit of Phil from day-to-day operations has been a significant change to the business given he was such a visible figurehead for both staff and customers. So losing such a figurehead makes the company more anonymous and more corporate. What have been the main challenges in this transition?

Thanks, Cheryl, and thanks, John, for the question. I'm not sure it relates directly to the financial statements, but I'm happy to provide an answer at this stage. I think the transition has gone extremely well, and I'd put that down to good people dealing with each other. Phil and I have had discussions over a period of time. There was a plan established and it worked through very well. Phil, part of that included a sabbatical that gave the opportunity for Brian and other ELT members to really step forward during that absence. And there's nothing that really comes to mind that I can see that really caused any angst along the way. And Phil, I don't know whether you would like to speak to that briefly at this stage, but I think it's gone extremely well.

No. Look, I think the transition has gone incredibly smooth. And as Adrian said, it was -- the wheels were put in motion a long time ago, and I had a real clear direction of how I wanted the company sort of to proceed in that, and I've been very happy with how that's gone. And Brian and the team have done an excellent job. And I think the results and the deals that you're seeing on the table there, all of those came about after I moved on at the end of February. So I think that's a really good start, and I'm quite sure there'll be plenty more to go. So yes, I'm very comfortable with the transition, and I think the team has done an excellent job, and we'll continue to do an excellent job as we go.

Thanks, Phil. Finally, I'd say that Phil is clearly not an autocratic founder as some founders might be prone to be. And ever since listing, Phil was very keen to build and put a leadership team in place. so that any transition from a founder, which inevitably happens as seamlessly as possible. And I believe that's what we've been able to achieve. Thanks, Cheryl.

There is one further question from John Whittington in relation to Resolution 1. One of the bans of the retail shareholders is being diluted without compensation in capital raisings. Will you commit to retail shareholders that if Aussie is to raise capital in the rest of your tenure, the preferred method of capital raising will be a renounceable entitlement offer such as Prio. Such offers are the only offers that treat retail shareholders fairly and equally.

Yes. We'll continue to consider that request. I think it's not an unreasonable one, and we'll consider that at the time if and when a placement is required during my tenure. Thanks, Cheryl. Are there any questions from the floor? If there are no further questions or comments on the financial statements and reports, I will declare them as considered and received. We'll now move to items of business on which shareholders are being asked to vote. This item is a nonbinding ordinary resolution and relates to the adoption of the remuneration report for the year ended 30 June 2025, as set out in the Notice of Meeting and displayed on the screen, which is as follows: that the remuneration report for the year ended 30 June 2025 be adopted. The results of proxies received prior to the meeting are displayed on the screen. Phone operator, are there any questions on this item?

There are no questions via the phone lines.

I love the voice coming through the ceiling. Are there any online questions, Cheryl?

Yes, there's a question from John Whittington from the ASA. The report is generally clear and understandable, and we particularly commend your new Table 4. But it has 3 major emissions. One, it does not disclose sufficient information about LTIs, which is essential information for a remuneration report. Two, the report does not clearly state the value of STI and LTI awards as a percentage of total fixed remuneration; and three, 50% of the STI should be in deferred equity. Will you commit to addressing these issues?

Thanks, Cheryl. Thanks, John. Remuneration is an ongoing journey, and there's been a number of changes made over time, including disclosure. We will continue to improve disclosure and deal with the issues that John's raised. The question around deferred STI, again, as part of the journey. The goal has been to -- 5 years ago, we were dealing with a public -- a private company that received discretionary bonuses to move into a public environment and the introduction of STI and LTI is a journey. We're 5 years in. And the goal has been to move remuneration towards the median. We're just about there. And having achieved that position, the issue regarding STI and deferral of STI either in cash or equity will certainly be a consideration in the coming 12 months. I think that deals with John's 3 points. Thanks, Cheryl. Are there any questions from the floor? If not, I now formally put the resolution to the meeting. Item 3a relates to the reelection of Michael Omeros as a Director. The results of proxies received prior to the meeting are displayed on the screen. I invite Michael -- as to address the meeting in relation to his reelection. Michael?

Thanks, Adrian. To just tell you a little bit about myself. So firstly, I've actually been a company director for over 20 years, and 10 of those years have been as a public company director, actually starting initially when we took over the wider IPO in late 2015. My academic background includes a bachelor of electrical engineering and a bachelor of information technology. In terms of the skills I specifically bring to the Board, it's telco and technology experience, M&A experience, strategy, sales and building strong customer relationships, specifically in the wholesale and enterprise areas. With your support, I look forward to continuing as a Director of Aussie and seeing our company continue to achieve its future growth and success. Thank you.

Thank you, Michael. And operator, are there any questions on this item?

There are no questions via the phone lines.

Thank you. Are there any online questions, Cheryl?

There is a question from John Whittington from the ASA. The ASA expects Boards to be at least 40% female and at least 40% male. Aussie 2 females in a Board of 6 doesn't meet this level. What are you doing to address this issue?

Again, this is a journey. We're 1/3 of the way there, and we'll continue to push on. When you're talking with a small Board, one position makes a big difference to the percentages. And as I say, we'll just work with that going forward. Very happy to be at 1/3 and happy to look to increase that as and when we can. Thank you. Are there any questions from the floor? I now formally put this resolution. Item 3b relates to the election of Philip Britt as a director as set out in the Notice of Meeting and displayed on the screen and which is as follows: that Philip Britt being eligible, be elected as a director. The results of the proxies received prior to the meeting are displayed on the screen. I now invite Phil to address the meeting in relation to his election.

Thanks very much, Adrian. Yes, I'd like to thank you for the opportunity to continue on the Board. I've been involved with the company for 22 years now, having been one of the co-founders. I bring a deep technical expertise to the Board as well as background in M&A and now obviously having built the business to date. So I look forward to your support, and thank you.

Thank you, Phil. Phone operator, are there any questions in relation to this item?

There are no questions via the phone lines.

Thank you. Are there any online questions, Cheryl?

There are no online questions.

Thank you. Are there any questions from the floor? If not, I now formally put this resolution to the meeting and move to Item 3C. Item 3C relates to the election of Graeme Barclay as a director as set out in the Notice of Meeting and displayed on the screen and which is as follows: that Graeme Barclay, being eligible, be elected as a director. The results of the proxies received prior to the meeting are displayed on the screen. I now invite Graeme to address the meeting in relation to his election.

Over that period, I've led numerous M&A transactions, along with sourcing the requisite capital to be able to close these deals. Many of these were in the public market. A good example is the experience I had as Chairman of Uniti Group Limited, which went through an IPO under my chairship and as an ASX-listed company between 2019 and 2022, undertook 10 acquisitions in that period, and we sold the company for $3.8 billion in a successful exit for investors. I'm currently Chair of Industrial Technology Company, Codan Limited, ASX ticker CDA, and we have undertaken 7 acquisitions over the last 4 years, transforming the business into a defense electronics and leading global detector business and grown the market capitalization of this company organically and by acquisition to $5.8 billion. So far. I'm also a chartered accountant with a finance background. Therefore, I have a decent commercial understanding and a keen focus on commercial metrics, operational performance and risk-adjusted returns on capital invested. So my contribution to your Board is a combination of industry and public market experience, coupled with the M&A, capital markets and commercial skills that I have. I'm here to contribute value for investors, working closely and collegiately with my Board colleagues and with Brian and the management team. Thank you for your support.

Thank you, Graeme. Phone operator, are there any questions in relation to this item?

There are no questions via the phone lines.

Cheryl, any online questions?

There are no online questions.

Are there any questions from the floor? If not, I now formally put this resolution to the meeting and move to Item 3D. Item 3D relates to the election of Sarah Adam-Gedge as a director as set out in the Notice of Meeting and displayed on the screen and which is as follows: that Sarah Adam-Gedge being eligible, be elected as a director. The results of the proxies received prior to the meeting are displayed on the screen. I now invite Sarah to address the meeting in relation to her election. Sarah?

Thank you, Adrian, and good morning, everyone. And I appreciate also the opportunity to address the meeting and to outline my background and experience. And I'm delighted to have the opportunity to join the Aussie Board and bringing over 30 years' experience in digital and technology, operational leadership as CEO and MD for organizations locally and globally as well as diverse governance experience to the table. From a digital and technology perspective, the last 20 years of my prior executive career was in large-scale roles in global IT companies such as IBM and Publicis Sapient. This has involved helping companies improve their customer service to businesses and their customers. and improving operational performance through the use of technology. This is relevant to Aussie as it continues scaling its operations and managing increasingly complex digital infrastructure. I'm a chartered accountant fellow and have a keen interest and currently studying cybersecurity governance and risk, which, together with my early career at PwC and Arthur Anderson, brings strong commercial, finance and risk expertise. I have significant Audit and Risk Committee experience, which will be beneficial as incoming Chair of this committee at Aussie Broadband. I'm a full-time professional nonexec director, and I currently serve on 3 ASX-listed Boards, which are Codan Limited, Emeco Holdings Limited and Bravura Solutions Limited. Prior to joining the Aussie Board, I retired as Deputy Chair of the Global Defense contractor, Austal Limited after 8 years on that Board. And as recently announced in the months ahead, I'll transition from the Board of Emeco, which is a Perth-based mining services company to join the Board of GrainCorp. I have extensive experience in international markets, which in both my executive and in my Board career. This global perspective, together with my digital and cyber expertise, strong commercial finance and customer relationship management skills and my diverse Board portfolio experience, I hope will be areas that I can contribute to Aussie. And I look forward to contributing to the future success of the telco that people love, working alongside my Board colleagues and with Brian and the management team. and thank shareholders for their support.

Thank you very much, Sarah. Phone operator, are there any questions in relation to this item?

There are no questions via the phone lines.

Cheryl, any online questions?

There are no online questions.

Are there any questions from the floor? If not, I now formally put this resolution to the meeting and move to Item 4A. Item 4A relates to the acquisition of securities under the long-term incentive plan as set out on the Notice of Meeting and displayed on the screen, which is as follows: that approval be given for all purposes for the grant of 13,794 0 exercise price options, to Philip Britt under the FY '25 LTI plan. The results of the proxies received prior to the meeting are displayed on the screen. And operator, are there any questions in relation to this item?

There are no questions by the phone lines.

Thank you. Cheryl, are there any online questions in relation to this item?

There is a question from John Whittington from the Australian Shareholders' Association. You are now assessing 1/3 of the LTI against relative TSR of the ASX Small Ordinaries Index. What has been Aussie's performance against this comparator group in the past? If it is an index that Aussie has typically outperformed, then it is not an appropriate benchmark.

Okay. And this question is not directly related to the resolution, but it will come into play for the coming year. But I will ask Sue Klose, Chair of our People and Community Committee, to address John's specific question in relation to the future treatment of LTI.

Thanks, Adrian. We did look at a number of different alternate indices that we could have used for the RTSR, and we found the correlation with the small ordinaries to be the closest, which is why we chose it. Looking at the last 3 years, we did see the Aussie Broadband share return outperformed the index for FY '23 and '24 and was just below for '25. And so we feel it is a valid comparison.

Thanks, Sue, and that's something, obviously, the committee will continue to monitor on an annual basis. Are there any questions from the floor in relation to this item? If not, I now formally put this resolution to the meeting and move to Item 4B. Item 4B relates to the acquisition of securities under the long-term incentive plan as set out in Notice of Meeting and displayed on the screen, which is as follows: that approval be given for all purposes for the grant of 51,892 depots to Michael Omeros under the FY '25 LTI plan. The results of the proxies received prior to the meeting are displayed on the screen. Phone operator, are there any questions in relation to this item?

There are no questions via the phone lines.

Thank you. Are there any questions online, Cheryl?

There are no online questions.

Thank you. Are there any questions from the floor? If not, I now formally put this resolution to the meeting and move to Item 4. Item 4C relates to the acquisition of securities under the long-term incentive plan as set out in the notice of meeting and displayed on the screen and which is as follows: that approval be given for all purposes for the grant of 67,700 to Michael Omeros under the FY '26 LTI plan. The results of the proxies received prior to the meeting are displayed on the screen. Phone operator, are there any questions in relation to Item 4C?

There are no questions via the phone lines.

Thank you. Cheryl, any online questions?

There are no online questions.

Are there any questions from the floor? If not, I now formally put this resolution to the meeting and move to Item 5. Item 5 relates to the approval of an increase in the nonexecutive director fee pool as set out in the Notice of Meeting and displayed on the screen, which is as follows: that the maximum aggregate annual remuneration that may be paid by the company to all nonexecutive directors be increased by $350,000 from $850,000 per annum to $1.2 million per annum. The results of the proxies received prior to the meeting are displayed on the screen. Prior to asking for questions, I'd just like to add some more context in relation to this resolution. In December 2024, the Board commissioned an external consultant to undertake a review, a benchmark review of ASX 150 to 300 companies, which Aussie at that time was around 230 with a view to understanding where our director fees sat and keeping in mind that at that time, we were just going into market to recruit a new director, which turned out to be Graham and then a subsequent director in relation to Sarah. That review showed that we are well under market. We're at about the 40th percentile. As a consequence, and that information was based on FY '24 published data, -- as a result of that review, we adjusted directors' fees effective from the 1st of January 2025 and adjusted that benchmark information because it related to FY '24 by a CPI type element to bring it into line with FY '25. So it's a little bit of background as to what was done in relation to addressing our fees. And directors' fees for GAIN has been a little bit of a journey. There have been a similar adjustment 2, maybe 3 years earlier, and we believe that we're now in line with the benchmark. The other thing that happened during the year, Phil obviously came on to the Board and became then a part of the NED pool. Prior to that, Phil was paid as an executive as Managing Director. And the reality is that -- if our esteemed colleague, Patrick Green, wasn't stepping down this year, we would have been over that pool. And hence, the need to increase the pool and provide some capacity for the next few years. Having said that, we will review fees again 1 January 2026 and would anticipate something in the order of a CPI type adjustment may be appropriate that we'll consider at that time. So having said all that, I'll now ask the phone operator if there's any questions in relation to this item.

There are no questions via the phone lines.

Thank you. Cheryl, are there any online questions in relation to this item?

There was an online question from John Whittington. However, your comments have addressed it.

Thanks, Cheryl. Thanks very much. Are there any questions from the floor? Please? Sure. It's a bit of a walk.

Peter Collier, I've been an Aussie Broadband shareholder for 4.5 years or thereabouts. So I've been to a few AGMs. Look, just some clarification about the increase in this pool. As this company grows, it might also require some additional skills or additional members of the Board, maybe not immediately, but in the future. Does this give scope for us to increase the numbers of the Board if we need to do it?

Yes. Good question. Thank you very much. It does. As we sit today with Pat's retirement, I think the numbers, Sue, I think we're around about the $800,000 mark. So we've got $350,000, $400,000 in capacity going forward. We've obviously had some change in the Board over the last 12 months. You've heard from our new appointees that most impressive and great new candidates for the Board. We see the next short term being a settling period, but that's not to say that in the medium term that we might look to add to the Board. But certainly, in the short term, we've got plenty of capacity. Does that answer your question? Thanks for the question. Any other questions from the floor? If not, I now formally put this resolution to the meeting and move to Item 6. Item 6 relates to the ratification of prior share issues as set out in the Notice of Meeting and displayed on the screen, which is as follows: that the issue of 5,876,944 shares fully paid ordinary shares pursuant to the agreement with More telecom Proprietary Limited is approved for the purposes of ASX Listing Rule 7.4 and for all other purposes. The results of the proxies received prior to the meeting are displayed on the screen. Phone operator, are there any questions in relation to this item?

There are no questions via the phone lines.

Thank you very much. Cheryl, any online questions?

There are no online questions.

Thank you. Any questions from the floor? If not, I now formally put this resolution to the meeting. Before I open up to final questions, a reminder to shareholders and proxy holders in the room to complete the voting instructions on your yellow voting card. Shareholders and proxy holders attending online, please ensure your votes are entered via the Computershare platform. I now open the floor for general questions. Phone operator, any general questions?

There are no questions via the phone lines.

Cheryl, any questions online?

None relevant to the business of the meeting.

Thank you. Are there any questions from the floor? Thank you. Sorry. I didn't bring that down quickly enough.

Again. About Buddy Telecom, now have we formally parted ways with Buddy Telecom have we already sold? Or is it still in process?

[ Roy ], maybe best that you answer that one.

So the agreement is executed for the sale, but there are conditions precedent that we have to go through to get that -- to complete the deal. They center around having the platform ready that we're working on with more telecoms. -- until that's ready, we can't really migrate onto their system. So the anticipation is that the migration and the deal will complete in the first quarter of next calendar year, so by March.

Okay. Now the sale price was $8 million. Is that right?

It depends on how many connections there are at the time. So that was indicative on 18,000 connections.

Okay. Now the whole exercise cost us, what, $12 million...

Probably $13 million by the end...

13. So it roughly cost us about $5 million overall. That was my clarification...

There are other benefits it brought along the way, but yes, that's the raw cash.

Thanks, Brian. Are there any other questions? Okay. That concludes the questions section of the meeting. I would like to advise that voting on all resolutions will close shortly. For those attending in person, please complete your yellow voting card and lodging with the Computershare staff member, Michael, who's now circling the room. And I'll just wait for a minute or 2 for that to take place. All done, Michael. Thanks very much, everybody. I now declare the poll closed with the results to be announced on the ASX later today. That concludes the formal business to be considered at this meeting. Thank you so very much for your attendance. Most welcome to join the Board and management present for our what's becoming famous KPMG provided morning tea. So please stay on and look forward to catching up, having a chat to recover. Thank you very much.