Calix Limited (CXL) Earnings Call Transcript & Summary

2024 Annual General Meeting of Calix Limited. My name is Daniel -- Darren Charles. Hi, Daniel, how are you? No, I'm the Company Secretary. That's Darren Charles, not Daniel Charles or Camilleri. Today's meeting is being held as a hybrid meeting. We are pleased to be joined by shareholders in the meeting room here in Sydney, and welcome those of you participating online and in audio and video format via the Lumi platform. We hope that the hybrid format allows as many of our shareholders, proxy holders and guests to attend the meeting as possible. For online attendees, written questions can be submitted at any time during the meeting. You can also ask questions directly during the business of the meeting when each resolution is being considered. To ask a written question online via Lumi, select the Messaging icon, type your question in the box towards the top of the page and click send. A copy of questions you submit, along with any written responses, can be viewed by selecting My Messages. Please note, while you can submit questions from now, they will not be addressed until the relevant time in the meeting. Please also note that your questions may be amalgamated if we receive multiple questions on one topic. Finally, due to time constraints, we may run out of time to answer every single question. If this happens, we will answer these questions via e-mail or by posting responses on our website as soon as possible. To ask a question verbally using the online system, click, Request to Speak in the broadcast window. The audio questions interface will now be displayed. You'll be prompted to confirm your name and enter your question topic. Please submit these details and select Join Queue to be connected. If prompted by pop-up, select Allow to grant access to your microphone. The agenda for today's meeting will see our new Chair, Alison Deans, provide her address to the meeting; followed by a business update from Managing Director and CEO, Phil Hodgson. After Phil's update, we will hold a short Q&A session on the updates to be followed by the formal items of business of the meeting. There will be multiple opportunities for questions and answers, including after Phil's update, after each formal item of business and before the meeting closes. Shareholders and proxy holders who are attending online have the same ability to ask questions and vote as those attending in-person. To help facilitate the business of the meeting, for each individual item of business we will invite people in the room to ask questions before then inviting people attending online to ask questions via the Lumi platform. I will now hand over to Alison Deans for her address.

Thanks, Darren. I'd also like to welcome you all to Calix's 2024 Annual General Meeting. Calix acknowledges the traditional owners of the land on which we meet, the Cammeraygal people, and we pay our respects to their Elders past and present and also to their emerging leaders. We also extend that respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, including those who may be attending today. We continue to hold our AGM in hybrid format and are pleased to have shareholders joining us both in-person and virtually. I'd like to introduce the Board members attending the meeting in the room today: Non-Executive Directors, Helen Fisher; Sarah Ryan; and Peter Dixon, apologies wrong order; Managing Director and CEO, Phil Hodgson; and Executive Director and Chief Scientist with Mark Sceats. I'd also like to welcome Calix's auditor, Daniel Camilleri, of KPMG. And from our legal advisers, James Delesclefs of Hamilton Locke is available online. Finally, I'd like to acknowledge Peter Turnbull who joins us online as a friend and shareholder, having previously Chaired this meeting since the company's listing. At last year's AGM, I listened to Peter describing the levels of climate change recorded in 2023. Unfortunately, 2024 is again setting new records. The World Meteorological Organization's State of the Climate Report published that the opening of this year's UN Climate Change Conference, COP29, found that not only are the past 10 years, the warmest on record. But 2024 will be the first year where global temperatures averaged more than 1.5 degrees of Celsius above pre-industrial levels. This means that just 8 years on from signing the Paris agreement, the first target limit for global temperature rises is set to be exceeded. This brings even sharper focus to the urgency with which the world must act. And of course, this means that Calix's mission is more relevant and more urgent than ever. And we're not alone in this mission. Pressure for industrial decarbonization continues to build. Around the world, organizations have made Net Zero commitments to their shareholders and communities. Rigorous and transparent reporting standards will hold these commitments to account. And government support is moving from strategy to implementation and impact. In Europe, the EU's Emission Trading System currently offers free carbon permits for hard-to-abate industries like cement and steel. But half of these permits will be removed by 2030, and all permits will be removed by 2034. This means that cement and steel producers in Europe or those importing to Europe will need to pay the prevailing carbon price for each ton of CO2 they emit. To balance this penalty and further support producers in reducing their emissions, the EU has committed to introduce a clean industrial deal, which will include further investment in clean technologies. In Asia, multiple countries continued to progress emission trading schemes. Most notably, this includes the Chinese government's recent announcement that it will add cement, steel and aluminum to an expanded Chinese carbon market by the end of the year. In the U.S., the prospect of a Trump administration has been weighing heavily on sentiment towards decarbonization efforts. But for Calix and particularly for our subsidiary, LEILAC, there are some reasons for optimism. 45Q is the critical incentive for carbon capture, use and storage or CCUS projects. It significantly benefits oil and gas companies, which have many projects in Republican states, and it has enjoyed bipartisan support. Indeed, 45Q was enhanced under the first Trump administration before being enhanced again under the Inflation Reduction Act. Here in Australia, the safeguard mechanism will provide increasing incentives to decarbonize. At the same time, the future made in Australia package, including its innovation fund, as well as the critical minerals facility and the National Reconstruction Fund, all have the potential to support scaling and deployment of the clean technologies, which are needed for Australia to compete in a globalizing -- in a global decarbonizing economy. But despite these policy drivers and opportunities presented, it is taking time for industries to mobilize and turn strategy into action. In particular, decarbonization of hard-to-abate industries requires deep change. In many cases, it requires fundamentally changing the way materials have been made for hundreds of years and significant investment in capital as well as coordination across supply chains. In 2024, financial markets have reinforced these challenges and clean tech share prices have been impacted. And clearly, Calix has been no exception. However, while momentum has slowed, it hasn't stalled and the world does remain committed to the journey. The current slow rate of progress means that greater pace will be needed in the future, and Calix is focused on being ready to accelerate. We have a unique technology platform. One that has the potential to deliver leading solutions to support decarbonization in some of the world's largest and most carbon-intensive industrial sectors. Indeed, this was recognized earlier this week at COP29 in Baku, where our Zero Emission Steel Technology or ZESTY, was announced as the winner of the Net-Zero Industry Award for outstanding projects. ZESTY was chosen from decarbonization projects across all member countries. Countries that account for over 50% of global industrial emissions and with a combined annual investment in research, development and demonstration of USD 13 billion. This award reflects the impressive progress to date and the potential for Calix to deliver a global leading solution for green iron and steel. For each of our target sectors, we have a path for stepwise scaling and commercial demonstration. And we're building world-leading partnerships to work with us to develop, prove and deploy the technology. As such, Calix remains well positioned to create significant shareholder value while addressing some of the most significant challenges of our time. As we navigate the challenging capital markets and adapt to the pace of decarbonization in each industry, Calix has renewed its focus on 2 key dimensions. First, 2024 has seen a significant focus towards the financial stability of Calix's core operating business. This includes a sharp focus on costs and cash runway. In the 2024 financial year, we improved cash burn from $27 million in the first half to just $5 million in the second half. More recently, we've implemented further cost reduction measures, which have released an additional $6 million of annualized savings. And importantly, these savings have been achieved while maintaining core organizational capability. At the same time, there has been an increased focus on immediate revenue generation and margin growth in the core business. This includes organic growth in our magnesia business and a focus on paid engineering studies in LEILAC. Secondly, we've refined our prioritization of projects. As a result, we've paused development against longer-term opportunities in agriculture, biotech and magnesium metal. This is in addition to the previous pause of activity in batteries. And it's enabled clearer focus on progress in our most prospective industry sectors. These are cement and lime including its application in direct air capture of carbon dioxide, iron and steel, lithium and alumina. Phil will talk more to the prioritization, progress and funding model for each of our key projects within these sectors. We also continue to deliver on other important aspects of sustainability in our operations. This includes safety, people, environment and governance. And I'm pleased to report that 2024 has seen significant progress on each of these fronts. Providing a safe, equitable and inclusive workplace remains a primary focus. Continued improvement in 2024 included an enhanced health and safety management system and new measures to support diversity, equality and inclusion. Our people are fundamental to realizing the potential of Calix. Their commitment, resilience and determination are more important than ever as we navigate the path from concept to commercial deployment. Environmental sustainably -- environmental sustainability is core to who we are. We recognize the role our company plays in advancing positive change, and we also recognize that this begins with our own carbon footprint. We continue to improve the way we measure our own Scope 1, 2 and 3 emissions. Our FY '24 footprint will form the baseline from which we will set quantifiable emission targets in line with the 1.5-degree pathway. And then we will track our progress. In terms of Board renewal, since last year's AGM, we've welcomed Dr. Sarah Ryan and Peter Dixon to the Board and they both stand for election today. We also farewell Peter Turnbull after more than a decade of dedicated service to the company. Peter joined the Board in 2009, became Chair in 2013. And together with our CEO, Phil Hodgson, he oversaw Calix's transformation from a small Australian R&D company to a publicly listed and global organization. This journey included establishing Calix's first commercial operations, a successful IPO, world-leading projects and partnerships and a thorough Board renewal process. We thank Peter for his diligent service and stewardship. He leads Calix with strong foundations from which we can deliver significant global impact. For our founder, Dr. Mark Sceats, this AGM will be his last as an Executive Director as he retires from the Board at the end of this meeting. I'm pleased to say that Mark continues in his role as Chief Scientist and that his passion, innovation and creativity show no signs of slowing. Mark's contribution to Calix is immeasurable, and we sincerely thank him for his service and wise counsel as a Board member, and we look forward to his continuing contribution as creator and disruptor in chief. The retirement of Mark Sceats and Peter Turnbull, along with the appointment of Sarah Ryan and Peter Dixon concludes the current phase of Board renewal. I'm delighted to Chair this renewed Board through Calix's next phase of growth. For more information on our governance and reporting, I invite you to visit the Investor Center of our website. So in conclusion, our ambition is unapologetically bold. It's driven by the potential of our core technology and the urgency of the challenges we seek to address. At the same time, we're taking pragmatic and disciplined steps to navigate the challenges of the existing environment. On behalf of the Board of Directors, I'd like to thank our senior management colleagues and the whole Calix team for their dedication to the goals Calix has set. I'd like to thank our customers and partner for their continued commitment and collaboration. And finally, on behalf of the Calix Board, management team and all staff, we'd like to thank each of our fellow shareholders for your ongoing support, particularly through more challenging times. This is very much valued and appreciated. So thank you all for your attention. And I'll now hand to Calix CEO and Managing Director, Phil Hodgson, who will give a presentation on the company's FY '24 results and the priorities for FY '25. Thank you. Thanks, Phil.

Thank you very much, Alison, and welcome to your first AGM as Chair and welcome, of course, to our new Board members, and personally a huge thanks to Mark Sceats for his last AGM, but Mark will be bothering me from his position as Chief Scientist for many years yet, I'm sure. As Alison said, in terms of strategy and priorities for FY '25, we're very, very focused around getting revenues up and getting costs down in the light of the current economic climate. There are tough times out there for clean tech stocks. There's no doubt. And we're one of them. But what we have to do is make sure that we have the runway through for when the tide turns. And I'll talk a bit about the tide, and what is really factoring into that and why we think that will turn. So strategy is really about, as I say, getting our revenues up and our costs down. On the revenue side of the business, we reported at our full year results that we've started to see material revenues come through for engineering services. And so those revenues are important growth areas of revenue for us. And of course, the other area where we're earning revenues is in our water business, where we've been since 2013. And that business is growing very nicely for us and still continues to grow nicely for us both in terms of top line revenue and margin. So the company, if you like, in terms of its key revenue opportunities is growing nicely. Just in terms of cost reduction, as Alison mentioned, we've taken recently about 20% headcount down in the business, realizing annualized savings of about AUD 6 million. And so that in and of itself is significant. We have not taken out the core capability of the company. We've just taken out some capability that was there ready to do projects. And as a result of the strategy, our strategy to prioritize projects, we've been able to reduce headcount without reducing capability. So just in terms of the next slide, these are the projects I outlined at our full year results presentation in August this year. These are the projects we are focused on. If I go from the top down, and there's more detail in the slide packs that are there. But certainly, just in terms of the overview, Leilac-2, obviously, a key project for us. We hit a snag with Leilac-2 in January where Heidelberg had to move to close down the facility that we designed the Leilac-2 plant for. And -- but within the space of a couple of months, identified a new facility and commenced engineering on the implementation of the Leilac-2 project at that facility, which is at a town called Ennigerloh in Germany. Ennigerloh actually happens to be a little closer to some of the CO2 infrastructure that is being planned for Germany. And so while annoying because it's a delay for us, it's sort of serendipitous in a way as well because the CO2 infrastructure and projects that are being developed around that area are a little closer than we were at Hanover. That particular project will require some capital. It requires working capital to get us through the construction phase of the project. We do have an agreement with Heidelberg. It's commercial in confidence, but Heidelberg are contributing capital to that project. There are also other members of the LEILAC group, a consortium, I should say, which includes CEMEX, includes CRH, TARMAC, it includes Lhoist. So big lime and cement companies are also contributing to this project. But some of the heavy lifting in terms of working capital despite being part lifted by these fellow companies also needs to be lifted by us. There is some European grant funding that is there to help with that heavy lifting but we've made no secret of the fact that come about mid-'25, we need to start to do the heavy lifting on this project. And the strategy was always there to raise capital within the subsidiaries. So the LEILAC subsidiary is an area that we're looking to raise capital in and that is -- there's no change from that strategy. And so basically, sort of mid-'25 is our target to have started the heavy lifting there and commenced site works. If we run down the list, Zeta is the next project down. That's a project we recently announced in July that the government was going to be contributing $15 million in funding for. So at about a 50% rate, for a project that is targeting production of CO2 for use in making e-methanol. Project partners there include Mabanaft, which is a big German distributor and trader in oil products who are making a play into the e-methanol space and Vast Solar who are going to be providing the renewal electrons and the hydrogen. So that particular project there is really about taking the CO2 and using it somewhere. So a lot of questions come back about what to do with CO2. Sequestration is one of those options. In fact, the IEA acknowledged that probably about only about 15% of CO2 that's ever captured from cement plants will ever be utilized. But that utilization is potentially a high-value option to -- for that particular -- for CO2. So that project there commences its heavy lifting phase around 2026, in mid-'26. And so again, that will require some capital from us, and the strategy remains to raise that capital within the subsidiary for that particular project there. So that's moving ahead nicely. We're in pre-FEED stage right now. And that project is revenue accretive for us at this point because we've been paid by the government to get -- move through this pre-FEED and FEED stage. And so that particular project there is currently revenue accretive for us. If I go down to the next projects down, full-scale LEILAC. So I'll talk a little bit more about this further down. But these particular projects are paid projects. I talked about the revenue that was coming in -- that started to come in last year's financial results. There's a whole lot of focus we have now on generating revenue from paid projects. It's important for us from our cash perspective, but it's also important because as we're already starting to be paid, and we continue to pursue that strategy, it's a validation, if you like, of the technology. Although the technology is not fully commercialized. We touched on the need by these large companies to start their decarbonization journey. And the fact that we've developed the technology to where it is today, and that other companies and end users of the tech ultimately are willing to pay us to help develop these projects is an important verification step and validation step for the technology. So full-scale studies, we've got 3 that we want to commence this year, and that will be revenue accretive. The next 2 projects down are the Heirloom projects. We're able to announce these more fully during the course of this year. There are 2 projects there. One is targeting the first 17,000 tonne per annum CO2 sequestration associated with direct air capture in the States. And the second is a scale-up version of that, moving up to 300,000 tonnes of CO2 capture and sequestration in the States. I'll talk a little bit about the recent election in the States and the impact that may have. And Alison did mention the Trump administration coming in, but there's every reason to be optimistic. And low risk with respect to these projects associated with the change of administration in the U.S. Just in terms of the next project down there. You can see there the PLS project. Obviously, recently, we were disappointed to announce we had to put that project on pause, pending market conditions around lithium. There's no secret that lithium was USD 80,000 a tonne, I think, lithium concentrate 2 years ago. It's now around $10,000. So it's come down quite significantly, and that's impacted, obviously, the margins that we were targeting to make from this project. And we agreed with Pilbara to put this in pause. However, what I will show you when I get down a little further in the pack is the state of readiness we're at with this project. So from a push button start, we can get this project assembled in 4 months and start commissioning. So we're agreeing with Pilbara that we're both still very enthusiastic about the project as and when market conditions start to change, and we can look forward and see that project assembled very quickly. Just on ZESTY, I'll give a quick update on ZESTY. If my brain is not quite with it today, it's because I've been to Baku in Azerbaijan on Monday and Tuesday and flew back Wednesday. So hopefully, I can survive to the end of the AGM with the tricky questions. But we were lucky enough there as Alison has covered off -- well, I said, lucky enough, we were very privileged to have been awarded the Mission Innovation project, Best Global project. And I'll talk about why that's important. It's a highly prestigious award and puts ZESTY right up there on the flag pole in terms of solutions for green iron and green steel. And lastly, just in terms of the part of our business that we call the bread and butter. This is the water part of the business, still growing very nicely for us. So that business continues to grow in both top line revenue and margin, as I said before. And I'll cover a little bit off there because we've recently won a tender up in Queensland that's going to be a nice additive to that business. And so the business, both here in Australia with that Unity Water win in Queensland and in the U.S. continue to grow nicely. If we move to -- I might jump a couple of slides here because I don't want to -- these are all going to be available on the website and on the ASX platform. But if we move through to Slide 22, which is the U.S. market update. So this particular one here, it's important we get a lot of questions about what the new administration in the U.S. means for our decarbonization efforts. And as Alison had covered, the 45Q, which was, in fact, put in place and then enhanced by the Republican party, enhanced a bit more by the Democrat party remains in place. That particular part of the Inflation Reduction Act is a tax credit system. It pays for the sequestration or utilization of CO2 for projects in the U.S. and makes them financeable. And so you can see there the amount of tax credit that can be earned by different projects to decarbonize a power plant or a cement plant both and also for direct air capture. So for direct air capture, you can see tax credits up to USD 180 a tonne. Now our project with Heirloom that already had they will get the benefit of this, if you like, but they've also been forward paid for their CO2. So Microsoft during the course of the year, forward paid over USD 600 a tonne to Heirloom for direct air capture of their CO2. So there's a significant revenue that's coming in behind technologies such as direct air capture, and we're very happy to ride those coattails. Heirloom is, of course, a revenue-generating project for us. We're being paid for engineering and we'll get paid a minimum of USD 2 per tonne of CO2 that they capture. So very happy to be riding those coattails in direct air capture. But of course, the other thing is cement. Although there's only 100 cement plants in the U.S. out of a pretty big global population. The great thing about the U.S. is that those cement plants, there's quite a few that sit on or near what is current CO2 infrastructure. So the U.S. [indiscernible] built our pipelines to capture CO2 and use it for enhanced oil recovery. Those pipelines are there today being utilized both for enhanced oil recovery, but increasingly being looked at for direct air capture and other CO2 capture opportunities for things like cement plants. So those CO2 pipelines are there. And we're targeting with our customers, potential customers for the LEILAC technology. Those cement plants are approximate to CO2 infrastructure. But you also see here overlaid in sort of the light blue areas, areas that have been targeted for sequestration. And you can see there, they're quite extensive geographically. And so there are cement plants even though they may not be proximate to a pipeline, those cement plants, we can also look at local sequestration. So we believe that the opportunities remain in the U.S., that the new administration is low risk and given the bipartisan support to date for the 45Q tax credit system. Okay. One other thing I'd touch under the LEILAC section of my talk is what I call the hybrid solution. This is quite new. And this is part of why we've been investing in the technology to date. The technology is what we call energy agnostic. And so what we're trying to say is that we can use different forms of energy to power the technology, which is pretty unique for the kiln. What we've been able to do is start to move towards being truly energy agnostic as in the ability to shift between different energy sources in the one plant. So over on the right-hand side of this slide, you'll see a new version of the technology. We've completed Bacchus Marsh commission earlier this year. We nicknamed this one [Thor's Hammer]. You can sort of see why, I guess, there's the handle sticking up and the big hammer head down the bottom. But that actually is holding a tube, the core of our technology, and that tube is what we call direct -- directly electrified. So rather than toaster elements around the outside of the tube, we're actually putting electric current through the tube, very low voltage, very high current. So you can imagine your old stove tops that had the electric stove tops that had those elements that when you turned on after about 5 minutes that were glowing red. Well, basically, it's a similar principle that we're using to heat our kiln. What's the advantage of that? Well, you can directly electrify our tube. But then also you can look at having traditional burners that can burn fossil fuels or waste or biomass around the outside of the tube. And so you do start to move into true hybrid energy technology. And why is this important for us? It's very important that we develop the value proposition for this technology outside of pure CO2 capture. So one of the challenges that I mentioned before is that what do you do with the CO2? You wait for the infrastructure or utilize the CO2 in methanol. But just imagine, you have something that can actually have value to a customer and the CO2 comes as the cherry on top down the track as and when the infrastructure is there or the CO2 utilization is there. The advantage of having this hybrid technology is just that. You can connect a facility directly to a renewable power source. So that intermittent power can be utilized by the facility, along with traditional ore biomass type firing or waste firing or you can connect this thing to the grid, and you suck down electrons when electrons are real cheap. So if you have a look at electron -- sorry, electricity production in Australia today and electricity prices, you'll know this cycle that comes through. That cycle represents the fact you've got a whole lot of renewable energy that's hitting the grid, the sun is shining, the wind is blowing. So that is electrons hitting the grid. That really drives down the price of electricity. And so during the day, when all of that capacity is being generated to actually suck down those electrons when they're cheap is a really cheap way to run. And then, of course, you just switch across. As those electrons become more expensive, everyone gets home turns on their TVs and air cons, those electrons actually become quite expensive. So the ability to shift the one plant across to a different energy source is a big source of potential value. And so this particularly part of the technology we call hybrid is getting a lot of interest from counterparties. And as I mentioned, the CO2 capture part of it is still there. But that capture part is emerging as a cherry on top down the track and the ability to utilize and develop this hybrid option is one of those things that's very attractive for customers. And to give you an idea of what it looks like on a full-scale facility. This facility here, it's a rendering of what a Leilac-2 facility looks like in blue. And then you add the new technology in terms of full-scale capture and they're the green bits. So you can see the impact this particular technology will have on the footprint of the cement plant. And obviously, also those green bits are going to be hybrid units. So very important development. We haven't stopped developing. And this particular aspect of the technologies, as I said, really garnering a lot of interest in the cement and lime space. So, yes. Basically, yes. So the blue is 20% of the throughput of the cement plant and the green is the other 80%. Yes. So very important development. I'll keep moving. Just in terms of -- will run through the next couple. I think people are aware of the Heirloom project. I've covered that off. Let's go to the midstream demonstration project. Again, what I wanted to highlight here is the assembly readiness of the project. Obviously, we were disappointed to announce a pause but we are moving that project -- continuing to move that project to December when all equipment will be on site and basically ready to assemble. You can see there some elements of our equipment already on site or on their way. The truck there, which looks like, I guess, a North Korean missile. That one there is our tube. That's being -- that was transported up to the Pilbara a few weeks ago. Yes, looks Mars is for Quitters or maybe people thought [Musk] was making his way down to Australia or something, but that particular tube there is now up on site at Pilbara. And you can see there in the photos on the right-hand side of this particular slide, various elements of the tower, various elements of heat exchange. You can see the site layout. So the pads have been put in place. And so this really is an assembly-ready project. So as I mentioned, as market conditions improve, we're 4 months away from commissioning. And people have asked what does market conditions improve me? Does that necessarily mean a certain lithium price? No. Pilbara have traditionally invested out of cycle. We've seen that in the past. And what we're looking for are the green shoots in the demand-supply balance around lithium. So we're not waiting for a specific lithium price per se. So that particular project, we don't know when we might push the start button again. But rest assured that as those -- if we do push that start button, we could be up and running very quickly. Okay. Let's move through to ZESTY and we'll run straight through to the pictures. That's me in couple of days ago, I hopefully don't look quite that jet lagged today. But certainly, I just want to give people a sense of what this award actually means because Net-Zero Industry Award. It's presented by Mission Innovation. We've sort of said that. But Mission Innovation is 23 countries who came together and several big institutions like Breakthrough Energy, the Bill Gates Fund, the European Investment Bank. They came together and thought, how can we accelerate decarbonization of technologies? And so each of those member countries have committed to decarbonization funding. In Australia, that's manifest in things like ARENA, the National Reconstruction Fund, et cetera. And so that funding is starting to be committed by all of these member countries, including Australia. And of course, on the private side as well. So with Breakthrough Energy there, the Bill Gates company, the European Investment Bank, not necessarily private, but starting to look at earlier stage investment in technologies. But a technology like ours to be recognized globally from over 70 entrants of very high quality as the #1 says something about ZESTY technology. So Zero Emission Steel Technology is what ZESTY is. This is about decarbonizing iron and steel. And if you read the paper, you cannot help but have noticed the government or both government, both the government and the opposition, talking about the importance of manufacturing here about converting more here onshore. So iron ore, one of our biggest, in fact, probably segmentally our biggest exporter is under threat. It's under threat because the quality of that ore is not sufficient to go into electric arc furnaces. And so if you take what is a significant portion of national income and over the next few decades, have that significant portion of national income at risk. That's a significant existential threat for this country. Hence, the reason why our government is a part of a Net-Zero Mission Innovation and a supporter of this award. And basically, technologies like ZESTY sits right at the center of the target for this particular government and its policies. So watch this space. But this has certainly hoisted the technology and Calix up the flagpole, not only in this country, but globally. And so a very, very significant achievement. And it's not -- wasn't possible. And certainly, when Mark first contacted me said, I've got an idea about iron -- Phil, green iron, well, he contacts me every week with 10 ideas. I don't know whether -- I think I was pretty receptive, Mark? I was very receptive. Yes. But that was only in 2020, I think, Mark? 2020. And so I think the patent was filed in 2021, and we've progressed from lab to significant pilot at Bacchus Marsh, so 500 to 1,000 tonne a year type capacities in the space of 3 years. And in the space of 3 years, we've moved to test multiple different iron ores from Australian iron ore producers who are all part of the HILT CRC. We recently won this HILT CRC award with the HILT CRCs, the Heavy Industry Low emission Transition Cooperative Research Center. You can see there the names of the members of the HILT CRC, and some pretty big names there in terms of iron ore production. And so the ability, I guess, for the company to go from 2021 to 2024 today, having piloted at significant scale. And so there aren't too many in iron -- Green Iron Technologies at similar scale. We're pretty equal with where a lot others are in a space of 3 years is, I guess, recognized in this Net-Zero Industries award. And so yes, huge thanks to well, Mark. Thanks for your mention. And of course, thanks to all of the Calix staff who've worked tirelessly on this. It's been a huge effort to do all of the testing and to get us to this point where we've won this award. We've had great support from ARENA in this as well. So ARENA helped fund half the development and the testing program. So great support from ARENA and with ZESTY. As we've mentioned before, the key thing we've got to do, key thing we want to do is to get this project to financial investment decision. And the strategy there is the same as it was in LEILAC. We want to get capital raising into an entity called ZESTY, that ultimately builds the project and commercializes. So that is a core focus for us right now. Okay. If we move through -- I've touched on Magnesia I said the Unity Water project was a nice win for us there. That's a material difference as that project starts to roll out in Australia for us, but on to sustainability. One of the things that Alison touched on was certainly ESG. ESG has been in and out of favor somewhat, I guess, in the capital markets. But I can tell you in the corporate space, it is only increasing in importance. And it's important for us to have our house in order. And so we have some sustainability targets that we've set, and we've outlined in the annual report. And those targets, we're working through very diligently. Why? Well, apart from the fact that we have our house in order because that's exactly what we're trying to help our customers do. We are actually required to start reporting Scope 1, 2 and 3 and have them audited according to us both an Australian standard, which is subset, if you like, of the international standards in 2028. Now 2028 sounds a couple of years off. What they will mean is our annual report, we'll need to have audited sustainability guidelines and targets, progress. But for big companies, that's going to be much, much sooner. So it's sort of 2026 is where larger companies are going to need to start reporting their Scope 1, 2 and 3 and their progress in terms of reduction. And so why sustainability important? It's another driver that will take big companies -- that big companies have to take seriously with respect to reduction in their emissions. Ultimately, that flows through to our business. While we've talked about a bit of a pause, what we've talked about a bit of a malaise in capital markets around decarbonization. We have to think when will the tide turn. Policy settings are there. The incentives are there, and now increasingly, the reporting requirements will be there for big companies to move. And so our strategy, as we stated before, is to make sure we're in a position to accelerate when these companies move. So sustainability, very important for us as a company internally, but hugely important externally as well and for our ultimate customers. Lastly, very quickly, just in terms of our KPI dashboard that we update during the year, we set this one and published it in August. So what we're trying to achieve this year. Obviously, the little red dot, unfortunately, is there on the PLS project. But as I say, that's something we can push a button on and start and assemble within 4 months to start commissioning. So that there is currently red. We're hoping to turn that green as soon as possible, but we cannot name a date just yet. Just in terms of the pipeline, in LEILAC, we want to get these engineering studies and revenues flowing through LEILAC. We've already got a couple of projects in there, as I mentioned, the Heirloom projects. We want to get 3 more this year. There's been a bit of a pause as the U.S. sorts out its administration, and we're hoping to get some acceleration in that area as we move into the next half year. As we mentioned earlier, in terms of costs, we've taken quite a bit of cost out of the business through prioritization and focus. And that is meant in our magnesia business. We've put a pause around biotech, ag and magnesium metal. Those particular applications of the technology remain prospective, but are not near-term revenue. And so in pause mode, we save a lot of costs, and we can start those opportunities up again as and when we can. So otherwise, we're pushing ahead quickly on everything else with a pretty hard focus. And I look forward to the next half year, which is going to be very exciting for us. As usual, there's a lot going on, a lot we can't talk about. It's like a duck with peddle -- paddling furiously out of the water and is very calm surface here that you can see in front of you. But I can assure you, there's a hell of a lot on and I really look forward to the next half year and delivering on a lot of these targets for us. So on that note, I might just conclude there. Obviously, again, this slide back will be available on the ASX platform. We'll move into a Q&A session now. So thank you very much for your attention, and we will open the floor to questions. So I might ask Darren, if there are any questions online. And certainly, we're happy to take questions from the room as well.

Thanks, Phil. So we might start just by asking if there's any questions in the room, just on the results or anything that we've said so far. Question?

[Brian Elson], shareholder. Actually, you've raised a couple of questions for me. So you've talked about Trump in America, but there's very likely going to be a change of government here shortly. And a lot of the support that you're getting now is going to be harder to come by, I believe. So I don't know whether you want to comment on that or not, I'll just take it as a comment. The other thing I'm looking at is that you're testing this -- these technologies all around the world. How do you protect your intellectual property?

Yes. Both excellent questions. Look, obviously, the opposition has not released any details on policy yet. What I will say is we -- there is bipartisan support to halt and if possible reverse following out of manufacturing and to add more value onshore. So the programs may change. But that core focus is very much aligned with what we're trying to achieve in our ZESTY opportunity with green iron. So yes, we'll await the details, but I think philosophically, both there's bipartisan support for doing more onshore. So until we get the policies, it's a bit hard to comment further.

Yes. Good one.

But just in terms of your second question, which was...

Intellectual property, how you protect it?

Yes, look, excellent question. It is the core value to the company is our intellectual property. There's no doubt about that. Again, I'll look at my Chief Scientist and defer not necessarily the question, but in terms of expertise, the ability to write a patent, I think Mark has written over 130? Something like that. The ability to write a patent is the ability to craze as much, elbow space is possible without revealing what you do. And so -- but seriously, we have patents that cover both the core technology and each application. So we wrap 2 layers around them. And in terms of taking that to market, for example, the LEILAC business has put in place 2 full license agreements around our core technology, one with Heidelberg Materials and one with Heirloom. And the way we protect the intellectual properties wrapped into those particular license agreements. So regardless of patent, we have commercial arrangements that protect our core IP on different levels. There's core IP, there's peripheral IP and then there's general. And so those particular license agreements, they're modeled around what needs to be known as the old ConocoPhillips method for protecting IP. There's black box sections of plants that get delivered only by specialist suppliers. So it's very difficult to reverse engineer. And so despite the fact that everyone's friends and they're our customers and those sorts of things. We are taking steps to make sure that there's no reverse engineering as best as we can. So the other way we protect IP is our people. So apart from the fact that there's patents in place, that we have license agreements to protect our IP. There's a lot that resides in the heads of our people. So part of the reason we have important retention schemes like shareholder schemes. Every single one of our staff member qualify for shares after a certain period of time. And as they grow in seniority in the business and importance to the business, then obviously, the amount of options available to them as they move through their career grows. And so it's a very important retention strategy with respect to, let's call it the know-how part of IP. So -- and the other thing is, I think when I even first joined the company, one of the things I asked Mark was, well, how long if someone really wanted to pull apart our tech and copy it, how long would it take them? And how much money would they spend? If we think about how much money we've spent developing the tech, it's probably well over $100 million over the course of probably 16 years now. It would take them probably at least half that if there were from a standing start and they'll try to copy us, but it probably wouldn't be a whole lot less in terms of dollars. So if you were a person who actually wanted to sort of copy the tech, your sort of choices are, well, I'll spend $50 million to $100 million and try and develop myself or I'll pay Calix a few million a year in royalties. So we're hoping that, that sort of incentive tips most that way to play by the rules. Hopefully, that answers your question.

Yes. Thanks. Can I have one more?

Absolutely.

Alison, in her address said that we need to accelerate and of course, that requires capital. So what are your thoughts on future capital requirements and how you might raise it?

Yes. Would you like me to take this one? Okay, yes, absolutely. So I think we've got to be clear that we have to be ready to accelerate. When we did a capital raise, I think 2 years ago, we were in acceleration mode. And that was because the capital markets were very frothy behind decarbonization. Everyone thought the industry would move real quick, and they started to, but then COVID, inflation, the usual economic factors that cause corporations to perhaps lose a view of a 10-year horizon and bring it to a 1-year horizon. And so what we wanted to do is to make sure in doing a cost-cutting exercise that we have to go through, unfortunately, because the industry had slowed that we had the core capability from which to grow and accelerate again. So we need to be able to have the cash runway for when these companies start to move and accelerate at that point in time. So we're pretty confident we can -- we've pruned and we can grow back again quickly when we need to.

Yes, to raise capital from the market, I think you need a much higher profile. I think the interest you can see the crowd is a lot smaller this year. But hopefully, they're watching online. But yes, it would be difficult at the moment.

It is -- look, there's no doubt, and it's not our core focus. The core focus is to look at getting capital into subsidiaries, much the same way as we did in LEILAC. And there, we're tapping into a different type of investor. In LEILAC, we had Carbon Direct come in, in 2021. And Carbon Direct is what's called U.S. impact fund. These are funds specifically set up by -- there's some institutional money in there, but high net worth, very high net worth. And these funds are specifically there to look at things like and themes like decarbonization. They typically don't invest in public companies. So with our public company as a head company, but with potentially private companies to attract investment in there. That's the core focus for us with respect to getting the money we need to accelerate those particular applications. So that remains our strategy. There's no doubt that, obviously, as a head -- with the head company as a public company, there are options there as well, but the core focus is really about into the subsidiaries. We feel there's better value that will be generated for our shareholders by looking at it in that way.

I think you covered it, but I just want to really clarify. What I said is that the -- in order to meet the targets that have been set globally and particularly when you start taking away free permits, heavy industries will have to accelerate. So that's going to be a need that will come at some point. We need to be ready for when that acceleration does happen. There's a limit to how much we can accelerate until those conditions are sort of favorable for doing that. And you're absolutely right. Part of that is around how you generate -- how do you attract capital into these projects for demonstration, which do have capital...

Yes. Well, you seem to have been fairly successful in creating partnerships there to date. But if you're accelerating, that's a whole different story, yes.

That's what try, [Brian]. We need to be ready to accelerate.

Yes. I've got questions in the room?

I may be wrong, but I've seen announcements where BHP have gone into a joint venture with India on green steel. And BlueScope have also gone into joint venture targeting some of that sort of stuff. Would you like to comment on whether or not we are involved in discussions there? Or...

We can't talk about specific companies and discussions. But obviously, we're in discussions with players in the industry. If you take BlueScope, for example, it's doing several things. It's making several bets as any company would about its decarbonization, same with [Rio], same with BHP. And in fact, BHP, and Rio and BlueScope are working on what they're calling a smelter technology. Now a smelter technology takes iron and makes steel. And they're looking at that particular technology to take a lower grade iron and make steel from it. Now with that particular project, they need a green iron if they're going to make a green steel. So even that project is something that ultimately our direct reduced iron could be feeding. So yes, these companies are doing some stuff. Are they moving quickly enough? We can have a debate about that. But in terms of the companies we can talk about, anyone in that HILT CRC sort of slide that I've shown before are absolutely the companies that we're working with.

Thank you. If there are no more questions in the room. We do have a couple of questions online, and we also received some written questions and we'll work through those now. Maybe just start with the 2 questions we've received online, both from Robert Clark. So thank you for your questions, Robert. The first question, you mentioned in the announcement for the PLS Midstream option. The technology is potentially lower cost and lower target. Can you comment on how difficult it is for non-Chinese lithium supply chain technologies to establish themselves within the global battery supply chain?

Thank you very much, Darren. Yes. So look, I don't think it's any secret or I don't think it's too controversial to sort of state that the current lithium pricing, which is extremely low is driven a lot by lithium that's -- and ores to produce lithium that are based in China. And so we've seen sort of similar sort of things before. Rare earth, for example, alumina, even magnesium metal production. China has been able to establish pretty dominant positions in those through really setting very low prices. And so with respect to the current lithium price, a lot of that is driven by oversupply coming from Chinese sources. How long can that go? Because ultimately, the quality of the ores that are being mined there, the producers of lithium are generally lower than the quality of the ores that we have here in Australia and often through the Americas for hard rock lithium. So with respect to how difficult it is for new projects to get up in that environment, I'd say it's difficult. That's not to say that they're not progressing. Have they moved through into production yet? No. But if you have a look at Pilbara Minerals themselves, for example, they've taken advantage of these low prices to make an acquisition in South America with significant potential lithium resources. Why is that important for a technology like ours? Well, apart from the fact that we're partnering with Pilbara Minerals on our technology and its application in lithium processing at the mine side. These particular resources that Pilbara purchased. When you look at the map, I think it was about 300,000 to 350,000 in from the coast where this mine is located. I think that's as the crow flies. I think a truck is going to drive nearly twice that to get from the mine site to the coast. Now when you're taking an ore out that's 94% waste, that's a hell of a lot of money to transport waste to the coast and then ultimately on a ship to be processed somewhere else. So we remain optimistic as do Pilbara, the ability to apply our technology to process at a mine site is -- has significant value. The other thing that's interesting about South America, and particularly Brazil, is you look at the availability of renewable or alternative energies there. So hydro power and biomass are very big sources of renewable power in Brazil. And so again, the ability for our technology to be energy-agnostic, to take advantage of energy sources at the mine site is a key advantage for it. So hopefully, I've answered the question as best I can. I can't comment too much more on the global economic situation in respect to lithium. But hopefully, we've helped to clarify where we see our technology fit into that.

Thanks, Phil. Another question comes from Robert Clark. Does Calix see opportunities to enter the Chinese market for its technologies in sectors like cement, steel and aluminum or are the challenges in navigating that market being too significant?

So it's an excellent question. When people say, what about China? It's at least half the world cement, it's half the world steel. My initial response is usually, yes, but the rest of the world is the other half, and there's plenty we can do there. Having said that, of course, China will be a very important market for us. It's not an area you go into lightly. The strategy that we have around China is develop the technology first where we have, let's say, really good access, really good protection of our IP and then work with Chinese companies who are also on the global stage to implement the technology where we see opportunities there. So China is absolutely on the radar, but it's not tomorrow.

Thanks, Phil. We've also received 4 written questions from [Neil Jagger], one of our shareholders. So I'll start with the first one. With the delays in both the LEILAC and PLS projects. Income from these projects has also been delayed and this could result in a cash flow problem in the near future unless the Board significantly reduces costs or increases income. How does the Board intend to address this issue?

Excellent. Thanks very much, Neil, for the question. And hopefully, we've helped answer that a little bit today in both the Chair's address and my own address. We've talked about the focus we're putting in on revenue-generating projects and revenue-generating opportunities and also the cost reduction measures we have implemented, targeting over [$6 million] a year in savings. And these savings have been achieved, as I mentioned before, while maintaining core organizational capability. So that's the way we do it. We're going to focus on increasing those revenues. The first quarter, we saw some nice growth. We'll obviously itching to report the half year results in February, where we can talk about the numbers. And then, of course, we're starting to see the benefits flow through in terms of cost reduction as well. So revenue and costs.

Thanks, Phil. Another question.

I think the question is absolutely spot on, and it's the one we've been focusing on for some time now. So as well as the $6 million this year, I would go back to that. It's been a focus of the Board and the company for a good 12 months around how we preserve cash and prioritize projects.

Thanks, Alison. So another question from Neil. Why were the key executives of Calix granted equity benefits during 2024 when the market cap of Calix at the end of June 2024 was almost 1/3 of that at first of July 2023.

I'd take that one. So I would say, first off, the EIS is under the old system is very hard to understand and hopefully, the new one will be an improvement on that and more typical. But what I would say is that any grants that were coming up for assessment in FY '24 did not meet hurdles and did not vest. And that was also true for FY '23. The equity grants that you see being received in FY '24, actually related to performance hurdles that were in FY '22 and then was also on FY '21. So then those ones which did vest based on performance were then held for another 2 years. So it's not related to FY '24.

Thanks, Alison. So another question from Neil. Calix has 8 business streams, of which only 2 generate positive cash flow. Has consideration been given to focusing our investments on these 2 business streams or 2 or 3 of the business streams that should generate cash earliest? And if so, which streams?

Yes. Again, hopefully, we've moved to try and address these in today's -- the Chair address and also my address. And look, absolutely, there's an increased focus on immediate revenue generation. The projects you see there on one page are the ones we're focused on. And everything else, as we mentioned before, and batteries from February. Biotech and ag are on pause. So a lot of focus on revenue generation. So the revenue generation, both within LEILAC from engineering income and other sustainable processing. We're looking at how we generate some revenue in terms of income there for testing and these sorts of facilities. And then obviously, also the growth that we're seeing in the magnesia business in water are the areas we're focusing there. So the basic answer is, yes, and it's those projects that were up there that we're focusing on.

Thanks, Phil. One more question from Neil...

So the other thought on that is absolutely what Phil said. But also when we look at the projects, there are a number of factors that determine how we prioritize those. It's both around the opportunity, the time to value and also the availability of capital to support those projects that will be needed to demonstrate. So those are the things going into the prioritization we saw.

Yes.

Thanks, Alison. Last question from Neil. The impression that I have from the Calix website and newsletters is that apart from the executive management group, we have a very young team. This has significant benefits in terms of energy and new ideas. However, I wonder if we have sufficient experience to execute all of our projects?

Yes. Thanks again for the question, Neil. I can assure you we have a highly diverse and experienced team as well as young, energetic, passionate people that have come into our business. If I have a look at sustainable processing, for example, the average number of years experience in that team is over 20. So these are seasoned professionals. We've had 2 joiners recently with long careers in metal processing, iron ore, and general mineral processing. And if you have a look at the track record in terms of our delivery, the PLS project before it was put on pause, despite the fact that we priced that project 18 months ago is still on budget. We're still on time, subject to the pause that just occurred. But in terms of project delivery, that was absolutely going to be delivered on time and budget should the pause not have happened. If I think back to our Leilac-1 project delivered on time and on budget by the very core team who is still with us. And so I would argue we have passionate, young and experienced workforce that have a track record of delivery.

Thanks, Phil. So one more question popped up online. So we might quickly address that before we move to the items of business. This is from [Ms. Margaret Sally Ann Watson], and thank you for your question. Are there other collaborations on your radar for CO2 conversion to other products, methanization, for example, and downstream uses?

Absolutely. They're on the radar. But as I mentioned before, the project list that's there, are the ones we're focusing on. Should a project emerge that is revenue generating and starts to fit a chemical application of the CO2 or other potential applications of CO2 we'll absolutely consider it in terms of the way we look at and ultimately prioritize. So we're not ruling out, but certainly, revenue generation is the top priority for any new project we would put on a slate.

Okay. Thanks, Phil. There are no more questions at this time. And obviously, there's still more time to ask questions during the business of the meeting and also at the end, we might move to the formal business of the meeting now. So the voting for the meeting is being conducted by way of a poll on all items of business. To provide you with enough time to vote, for those joining virtually, polling on the resolutions is now open. For those in the room, polling cards handed to you on arrival can be completed anytime during the meeting and before voting closes. If you are attending online and eligible to vote at this meeting, a voting tab will be visible on the Lumi platform. Selecting this tab will bring up a list of the resolutions being put to the meeting and present you with voting options. To cast your vote, simply select one of the options presented. Your vote is automatically recorded, so there is no need to click a submit or enter button. If you are able to change -- sorry, you are able to change your vote up to the time that the Chair declares voting closed at the end of the meeting. For those in the room, once your voting cards are complete, they will be collected by staff from Boardroom and tabulated with the online votes. The results of the polls will be published on the ASX platform later today. I'll now hand over to Alison for the commencement of the formal items of business for the 2024 Calix AGM.

Thanks, Darren. I can advise that 150 -- that I'm not as tall as Phil. I can advise that 158 valid proxy forms have been received by the cutoff date totaling 68,922,023 shares being equal to 37.8% of the shares on issue. There were no invalid proxy forms received nor were there any proxies lodged by security holders with a nil balance. Each resolution before the meeting for consideration will be decided by a poll. We'll now move to the first item, which is to consider the financial report and the report of the directors and auditors for the year ended 30 June 2024. There's no formal vote on this item, and I note that the company did not receive any questions on this item of business prior to the meeting. We now invite those in the room or online to ask questions on the accounts, either of the Board or the auditors who are present in the meeting with us today. So first, are there any questions in the room? Thank you. Are there any questions online, Darren?

There are no questions online at this time.

Thanks, Darren. Okay. I'll now move to the 6 resolutions before the meeting that are open for voting. Starting with Resolution #1 around the remuneration report. The resolution is to consider and if thought fit to pass the following resolution as an ordinary resolution. That the remuneration report of the company for the financial year ended 30 June 2024, which forms part of the Director's report be adopted. Please note that the vote on the remuneration report is advisory and doesn't bind the directors or the company -- of the company. Noting that each director has a personal interest in their own remuneration as described in the remuneration report, the Board unanimously recommends the adoption of the remuneration report. As Chair of the meeting, I intend to vote undirected proxies in favor of this item. This resolution is subject to the voting exclusions outlined in the Notice of Meeting. The proxy votes received for Resolution 1 are presented on the screen. If you have any questions on the remuneration report, please ask them now. Are there any questions in the room? Thank you. Darren, are there any questions online?

No. There are no questions online.

Thank you. If you've not yet done so, please vote using the online tool as indicated earlier or by completing your voting card. We'll now move to the next resolution, the election of Peter Dixon. The resolution reads to consider and if thought fit to pass the following resolution as an ordinary resolution. That Peter Dixon, who retires after having been appointed by the directors as a director to fill a casual vacancy under Clause 13.10 of the company constitution, and being eligible, offers himself for election be elected as a Director of the company. The Board unanimously recommends the election of Peter Dixon, who is considered by the Board to be an independent director. As Chair of the meeting, I intend to vote undirected proxies in favor of this resolution. The proxy votes received for Resolution 2 are presented on the screen. And I now invite Peter to speak to his election.

Thanks, Alison. I'm still not as tall as Phil. Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. It's great to be here, and I'm pleased to offer myself for reelection today as a Director of Calix. My relationship with Calix goes back a long way. I was originally engaged by the company in 2011 to raise much-needed funds to build our first demonstration plant at Bacchus Marsh. We successfully raised that money. Didn't come without its challenges over time, but I've enjoyed a very positive and constructive relationship with Mark, Phil and Darren since then. I'm really excited that I can continue my contribution to Calix's future growth and play a small role in the very substantial impact Calix will have on our world. During my professional career, I started out as a capital markets and M&A lawyer working with Mallesons in Australia and Linklaters in London. I've worked in Corporate Strategy and Investment Banking at Macquarie, and I've also been a senior executive at MA Financial Group. I'm an experienced Non-Executive Director, I sit on the Board of Johns Lyng Group, an insurance building and Strata management business based in Melbourne, and I've been sitting in that role since 2020. At JLG, I Chair the Risk and Compliance Committee, and I'm a member of the Audit Committee. I'm excited to bring my experience in the capital markets, in governance, strategy and business development to the Board of Calix. I feel honored and very privileged to work with an incredible group of committed and passionate executives, and a very experienced seasoned Board in colleagues, Alison, Helen and Sarah. Thank you.

Thanks, Peter. If you have any questions on the election of Peter, please ask them now. Are there any questions in the room? Thank you. Are there any questions online?

There are no questions online, Alison.

Thank you. If you've not yet done so, please vote using the online tool as indicated earlier or by completing your voting card. We'll now move to the next resolution. The election of Dr. Sarah Ryan. The resolution reads to consider and if thought fit to pass the following resolution as an ordinary resolution. That Dr. Sarah Ryan, who retires after having been appointed by the directors as a director to fill a casual vacancy under Clause 13.10 of the company constitution and being eligible, offers herself for election, be elected as a Director of the company. The Board unanimously recommends the election of Dr. Sarah Ryan, who is considered by the Board to be an independent director. As Chair of the meeting, I intend to vote undirected proxies in favor of this resolution. The proxies voted received -- sorry, the proxy voted received for Resolution 3 are presented on the screen. And I now invite Sarah to speak to her election.

Little bit tall. So hello, everyone. I'm Sarah Ryan, as Alison mentioned. Very pleased to be with you here today. So my background is broadly across energy and natural resources and heavy industry. I have more than 30-year global career, mostly around energy and oil and gas technology, research, engineering, manufacturing, commercialization and then moving on to operations, operations management, the C-suite and then Non-Executive Director around the world. I then spent about 10 years in Investment Management. First season analyst, an investment manager and a Portfolio Director around energy, natural resources, again, very, very broadly chemical, shipping, rail and you get the drift. I then moved to be a Non-Executive Director. I'm currently also on the Board of Transurban, Aurizon and Viva Energy and the Future Battery Industry's Cooperative Research Center. And until last year, I retired off the Board of Woodside Energy and OZ Minerals. By training I'm a geophysicists, I hold a PhD in petroleum geology and geophysics, and I'm a fellow of the Australian Academy of Technology and Science -- sorry, technology and engineering, where I'm Chair of the Energy Forum. I was very pleased to be asked to join the Board of Calix. You've heard today from Alison and Phil, the technology is the real deal. It's needed in the world, and I can't think of a better team to be pushing forward across a really impressive range of opportunities and portfolio projects around the world to turn this into a great company in the medium -- short, medium and long term. So thank you very much.

Thanks, Sarah. If you have any questions on the election of Sarah, please ask them now. Are there any questions in the room? Are there any questions online?

There are no questions online, Alison.

Thank you. If you have not yet done so, please vote using the online tool as indicated earlier or by completing your voting card. We'll now move to the next resolution. Resolution 4 reads to consider and if thought fit to pass the following resolution as an ordinary resolution. That for the purposes of ASX Listing Rule 10.14 and for all other purposes, the issue of 117,856 performance rights under the Calix EIS to Phil Hodgson be approved. By way of background, the Board is committed to ensuring that Calix's remuneration framework and the associated reward outcomes continue to align its key executives and the company's business objectives, performance and shareholder expectations. The Board's approach to developing the remuneration framework is designed to ensure significant alignment between senior executives and shareholders. While ensuring that Calix remains competitive in the global markets in which it operates and able to attract and retain top talent despite the relatively small size. By benchmarking our compensation packages against industry standards, the Board and company aim to offer fair and attractive remuneration that reflect the value and expertise the employees bring to the company. Accordingly, the People, Culture and Nominations Committee engaged an external remuneration consultant to assist with the design of a new framework to be implemented for FY '25 and beyond. Based on this advice, the Board has determined that a new remuneration framework be adopted for FY '25 year and future years. The framework is a more typical structure applied in listed companies. It comprises a short-term and long-term performance component that can be earned by key management personnel and senior executives in addition to fixed pay. The issue of performance right that's the subject of this resolution relates to the long-term performance incentives component of this new structure and their associated hurdles are set out in the notice of meeting. The Board unanimously recommends that shareholders vote in favor of Resolution 4 and as Chairman of the meeting, I intend to vote undirected proxies in favor of this resolution. The proxy votes received for Resolution 4 are presented on the screen. And if you have any questions on the issue of performance rights to Phil Hodgson, please ask them now. Are there any questions in the room? And are there any questions online?

There are no questions online, Alison.

Thank you. If you've not done so already, please vote using the online tool as indicated earlier or by completing your voting card. We'll now move to the next resolution, Resolution 5. The resolution reads to consider and if thought fit to pass the following resolution as an ordinary resolution that for the purposes of ASX Listing Rule 10.14 and for all other purposes, the issue of 70,457 performance rights under the Calix EIS to Mark Sceats be approved. The Board unanimously recommends that shareholders vote in favor of Resolution 5. And as Chair of the meeting, I intend to vote undirected proxies in favor of this resolution. The proxy votes received for Resolution 5 are now presented on the screen. If you have any questions on the issue of performance rights to Mark Sceats, please ask them now. Are there any questions in the room? And are there any questions online?

There are no questions online, Alison.

Thanks, Darren. If you've not yet done so, please vote using the online tool as indicated earlier or by completing your voting card. We'll now move on to the next resolution. I have a personal interest in one of the next resolutions, so I will pass to Phil Hodgson to Chair this part of the meeting.

Thank you very much, Alison. And this Resolution 6 is considering the approval of issue of shares to the directors in lieu of fees. The resolution reads to consider and if thought fit to pass with or without amendment each as a separate ordinary resolution the following, that pursuant to and in accordance with the Listing Rule 10.11 and for all other purposes, shareholders approve the issue of director shares as follows: up to $107,500 worth of director shares to Alison Deans; up to $67,500 worth of director shares to Helen Fisher; up to $67,500 worth of director shares to Dr. Sarah Ryan; and up to $67,500 worth of director shares to Peter Dixon or their respective nominees on the terms and conditions set out in the explanatory memorandum. In terms of explanation, Non-Executive Directors have elected to forgo a portion of their cash fees over the next 12 months to receive equity in the company at market value, to increase their personal shareholding and thereby further align their interest with the company's shareholders in the belief that at current market prices, the company shares represent good value, and also to preserve cash within the company and enhance the company's balance sheet by an aggregate amount of $310,000 before tax while the company continues to pursue development and commercialization of its technology. The Board declines to make a recommendation in relation to each of these resolutions, which form part of Resolution 6 due to their personal interest in the outcome of this resolution. I intend to vote undirected proxies in favor of this Resolution 6a, b, c, and d. The proxy votes received for Resolution 6a, b, c and d are presented on the screen. If you have any questions on the approval of issue of shares to directors in lieu of fees, please ask them now. Are there any questions in the room? Are there any questions online?

There are no questions online, Phil.

If you've not yet done so, please vote using the online tool as indicated earlier or by completing your voting card. This, I believe ends the resolutions before the meeting, Darren, I'll pass back to you.

Thanks, Phil. If you have not yet done so, please vote using the online tool as indicated on the screen. That concludes our discussion on the formal items of business. We will now close the poll voting system -- we will close the poll voting system in a minute. However, I will pause to first allow you to complete your votes. Please ensure that you have cast your vote on all resolutions. [Voting]

Darren, where are the -- are there any undirected proxies for later?

No.

No? Okay.

Thank you. Voting is now closed. The results of these votes will be released to the ASX later today. I'll now hand back to Alison.

So that concludes the business of the 2024 Calix Annual General Meeting. Before closing, we would like to provide one final opportunity for any questions and answers. Are there any final questions? Okay. Well, look, that concludes the business of the Annual General Meeting. Thank you for your attendance. And on behalf of the Board and the whole team at Calix, I sincerely thank you for your ongoing support of Calix's goals and ambitions. We look forward to providing you with regular updates during the 2025 financial year. Thank you.