Charter Hall Retail REIT (CQR) Earnings Call Transcript & Summary

And on behalf of the Board of Directors, it's my pleasure to welcome you all to the 2021 Annual Unitholders' Meeting of Charter Hall Retail REIT. My name is Roger Davis, and I'm the Chair of Charter Hall Retail REIT Board of Directors. It is now 2:00 p.m. Eastern Standard Time. And as the necessary quorum is present, I declare this meeting properly constituted and open. I would like to commence today's presentation with an acknowledgment of country. Charter Hall is proud to work with our customers and communities to invest in, develop and create property assets on land across Australia and New Zealand. We pay our respects to the traditional owners, their elders past and present, and value their care and custodianship of these lands. This afternoon, I will provide a brief overview of the fund's strategy, some observations on our business achievements during financial year 2021. Retail CEO and Executive Director, Greg Chubb, will then provide an update on the operational and financial performance for 2021 and an update of the first quarter of the financial year 2022 period to date. We will then move to the formal business of the meeting and the resolution for your consideration. As there is only one resolution today, and that involves my reelection as Chair of the Board, I will say a few words at that time, providing some personal background and reasons I believe I should be reelected. I would now like to introduce my fellow Board Directors: Sue Palmer, Independent Director, who is Chair of the Audit, Risk and Compliance Committee; Michael Gorman, Independent Director and a member of the Audit and Risk Committee; Greg Chubb, Charter Hall Retail CEO; and David Harrison, Charter Hall Managing Director and Group CEO. Also present today, and I welcome Christine Kelly, our Head of Retail Finance and Deputy Fund Manager of CQR; Mark Bryant, our company secretary; and Ryan McMahon from our auditors, PricewaterhouseCoopers, who will be available to answer any questions about their audit of the financial unitholders' statements. It's my pleasure to address this meeting today. CQR's strategy is to be the leading owner of property for convenience retailers and, in doing so, provide investors with a resilient and growing income stream. FY '21 saw a strong demonstration of the resilience of the CQR portfolio. In FY '21, we saw net operating earnings grow, portfolio occupancy improve, positive leasing spreads, valuation gains and, importantly, NTA growth. The portfolio remains in a strong position to continue delivering resilient and sustainable income and valuation growth in the future. This was demonstrated in FY '21 as the impacts of COVID-19 continued to be felt across the retail landscape with mandated store closures a feature during the first half of the financial year. Thankfully, across most of the country, there were periods of reprieve with normal trading and reduced restrictions seeing sales and trading activity recover quickly across CQR's portfolio. Our focus on being the leading owner of property for convenience retailers saw our centers remain open due to the essential role our centers play in servicing local communities. With nondiscretionary retailers making up the majority of our tenant customers, trading volumes remained relatively high during lockdown periods, whilst trading conditions for impacted tenants recovered quickly following the easing of COVID-19 mandated closures and trading restrictions. Importantly, the processes, systems and procedures put in place in late FY '20 and enhanced further in FY '21 continued to support those who work in, shop at and visit our centers. This ensures the ongoing health, safety and well-being of our communities as COVID-19 continued to be present. Our transactional activity during FY '21 continued to enhance the portfolio quality by focusing on the resilience and defensiveness of CQR's income. To this end, we divested West Ryde Marketplace and recycled capital into expanding our bp partnership with the addition of 70 locations in New Zealand and increased our partnership with the Coles Group through the acquisition of Coles Adelaide Distribution Centre. Importantly, these 2 new investments have shown resilience throughout the year that was challenging for the broader retail market. This resilience has been reflected in the strong valuation gains on these recent acquisitions with both valued significantly higher than at acquisition. They are also an example of the value of the management platform provided by the Charter Hall Group with both acquisitions secured off-market and delivering growth in earnings and net tangible assets for CQR unitholders. Moving forward, in a very competitive environment, we remain focused on a disciplined approach to executing on accretive and strategic acquisitions leased to market-leading convenience retailers in strong and growing population catchments. CQR's strategy is to provide investors with a resilient and growing income stream by being the leading owner of property for convenience retailers. Central to this strategy is partnering with major convenience retailers to meet their property needs across their value chain. Our major tenants include market-leading businesses such as Coles, Woolworths, bp, Wesfarmers and ALDI. We continue to provide and actually manage the portfolio to increase the percentage of CQR's earnings and extend WALE with our major tenants, thereby improving the resilience and dependability of income for CQR unitholders. We've been active in reshaping the portfolio to deliver this objective by increasing the percentage of major tenants' income from 51.4% of portfolio income in FY '20 to 53.5% in FY '21 with a majors WALE of 11.4 years. Coles are now the equal largest portfolio tenant customer at 16.6% of rental income following the acquisition of the Coles Acquisition Distribution Centre. Sustainability remains a critical part of enhancing our portfolio quality and is central to our approach to property management. We continue to explore opportunities to introduce sustainability initiatives to deliver long-term outcomes that are positive to our unitholders, tenants and the communities in which our assets are located. In this regard, we are pleased to announce that we have brought forward our commitment to 100% net 0 emissions, Scope 1 and 2, across our portfolio to 2025 with electricity supply across the portfolio to be 100% renewable by 2025. We continued to make significant progress towards this goal over the last 12 months. We now have 16.7 megawatts of solar installations commissioned across 23 centers with a further 3 megawatts across 4 assets to be completed and commissioned early in FY '22. In addition, we continue to partner with our major tenants, all of whom have also set net 0 or renewable energy targets. As part of this, we've seen Coles and Woolworths install a further 2.9 megawatts of solar at our centers to meet their own targets. Our ESG commitments also extend to recognizing the important role our centers play within their respective communities, and we continue to undertake a range of community initiatives, supporting 16 local community programs and donating over $500,000 to local fundraising activities. We are committed to ensuring that our people, systems and practices reflect the high standard of corporate governance and, as such, are constantly looking at what more we can and should be doing to ensure we are meeting best practice. We also recognize the importance of scrutinizing and actively managing modern slavery risk across our entire supply chain. We've adopted the Modern Slavery Statement and have established a working group to monitor our modern slavery and human rights risk. In line with our efforts to ensure a robust modern slavery strategy, we participated in the pilot of the Property Council of Australia's supplier prequalification tool with our top 100 suppliers with a further 100 to be added in CY '21. I would like to extend, on behalf of the Board, our thanks to the dedicated team that manages our portfolio on a day-to-day basis. I'm proud to see how the team has continued to navigate the challenges that the pandemic has presented and the support they have shown to our tenant customers, our communities and each other. This was reflected in an increase in tenant customer satisfaction to a 5-year high, as measured by Monash University in our annual Net Promoter Score survey. I would also like to acknowledge the achievements I have outlined today in enhancing portfolio quality, active asset management and prudent capital management. These have all been achieved as a result of the management of the REIT by the Charter Hall Group. Investors in CQR receive the benefit of the quality and experience of Charter Hall's capabilities, including acquisitions, asset management, property management, development, finance, legal and treasury services. Finally, I'd like to thank our unitholders for your continuing investment in CQR. Our dedicated team, along with the Board, are here to protect and enhance your investment by delivering long-term sustainable growth in earnings. We remain committed to this goal. I will now hand over to Greg Chubb, Charter Hall Retail CEO, to review the year's financial and operating performance and to discuss the outlook for FY '22. Greg?

Thank you, Roger, and good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. As Roger has outlined, financial year '21 was a year of challenges but one that also demonstrated the resilience and defensive characteristics of the CQR portfolio. The operating performance of our portfolio was strong in FY '21. We experienced strong MAT growth, an increase in portfolio occupancy, continued positive leasing spreads and a significant increase in portfolio value and net tangible assets. Supermarkets are the foundation of our portfolio and achieved MAT growth of 4.3%, continuing their very strong sales growth across our portfolio. Total comparable MAT growth across the portfolio when including specialty sales was 5.4%, and that's up from 3.9% at June 2020. Over the year, we've had a record leasing activity with 457 specialty leases completed in the period, achieving positive leasing spreads of 1.6%. This actively translated into improved portfolio occupancy with the convenience retail portfolio occupancy lifting to 98.3%, and that's up from 97.3% at June 2020. Additionally, specialty sales per activity rose to more than $10,000 per square meter, and specialty occupancy costs decreased to a very sustainable 11.2% in FY '21. As Roger has outlined, during the year, we expanded our partnership with bp via the acquisition of an interest in 70 long WALE convenience retail properties across New Zealand, and we also grew our relationship with Coles with the acquisition of the Coles distribution center in Adelaide. Both of these acquisitions delivered significant valuation gains, materially increasing in value over the year while providing a capital-efficient, secure and growing income stream that has been unaffected by the COVID-19 pandemic. These acquisitions, combined with valuation gains, saw the portfolio value increase 12.1% over the year to $3.647 billion, and net tangible assets increased from $3.75 per unit to $4.01 per unit. These results translated into operating earnings of $156.2 million for the year, up 9.5% on the prior comparable period. Operating earnings per unit were $0.273, down 10.7%, reflecting the impact of the April 2020 equity raise. Distributions for the year were $0.234 per unit and more than 100% covered by operational cash flow. As we entered the financial year, we're also pleased to announce the acquisition of Butler Central Shopping Centre in Western Australia for $51.2 million on a 6% cap rate. Butler Central is a convenience center located 40 kilometers north of the Perth CBD and was developed by Woolworths in 2018. The 9,000-square-meter center is anchored by a Woolworths supermarket with BWS, Best & Less, The Reject Shop, mini majors, 30 specialty stores and 452 on-grade car parking spaces. The low site coverage at 25% provides optionality for the introduction of future uses to enhance the overall offering and associated returns. The center benefits from being located adjacent to the Butler transport interchange with direct rail links through to Perth. This acquisition was secured and negotiated off-market with Woolworths as a direct result of Charter Hall Group's strong relationship with Woolworths. As the dominant convenience retail center in a large and growing catchment, Butler Central is an excellent addition to CQR. Now just looking at an operational performance update for the first quarter of the financial year '22. The first quarter of financial year '22 has seen trading conditions continue to demonstrate the resilience of the CQR portfolio with strong trading performance despite the impacts of mandated lockdowns and trading restrictions in New South Wales and Victoria. Supermarket sales have been strong with 5.1% sales growth for the September quarter, 3.1% MAT sales growth over 12 months and 11.1% MAT sales growth over 2 years to September 2021. At the heart of lockdowns during August, 428 or 10.8% of the CQR's specialty tenants by total monthly portfolio income were closed. Following the relaxation of lockdown and trading restrictions in New South Wales, due to the vaccination status of staff, all but 5 of our New South Wales specialty stores have now reopened and are currently trading. Pleasingly, since reopening, traffic to centers across New South Wales is returning to pre-COVID-19 levels. And communities, importantly, are observing COVID-19 safe plans. In metropolitan Melbourne, as trading restrictions have been progressively lifted, all of our specialty tenants in the 2 impacted CQR centers have reopened and recommenced trading. And similar to previous lockdowns, trading conditions have rebounded quickly with a strong return to foot traffic and sales. Portfolio occupancy has remained stable at 98.3%. Specialty leasing has temporarily been affected by lockdowns with new lease activity slowing during the first quarter. Pleasingly, renewal activity has continued to be positive with many tenants opting to take lease extensions during COVID-19 lease support negotiations. Charter Hall's in-house retail leasing team has been focused on prioritizing lease support to impacted tenants and rental collection across the portfolio. Rental collections for the period have continued to be strong, reflecting the resilience and defensive characteristics of the CQR portfolio. $67.3 million or 90% of rent billed for the period has been collected with $5 million or 6.7% provided as tenant support, leaving $2.5 million or 3.3% of rent remaining for collection. Despite the operational challenges provided by COVID-19 mandated shutdowns and closures, the CQR portfolio continues to demonstrate its resilience. Our focus on being the leading owner of property partner for convenience retailers provides a solid underpinning to income growth and capital values. It's our expectation that supermarket and convenience retail sales will continue to be strong, driven by customer preferences to shop closer to home and focus on everyday needs. CQR remains well positioned to benefit from this trend. Across the portfolio, visitations have normalized in most regions, highlighting essential need associated with convenience retail. We will continue to focus on improving the resilience of CQR's income and growth. Opportunistic divestments will be used to fund acquisition opportunities that further enhance the portfolio with a focus on partnering with nondiscretionary convenience retailers. Barring any further unforeseen events, FY '22 earnings per unit, or EPU, is expected to between -- to be between $0.278 and $0.282 per unit, representing growth of 1.8% to 3.3% on FY '21 earnings per unit. Distributions per unit, or DPU, is expected to be between $0.239 and $0.243 per unit, representing growth of 2.1% to 3.8% over FY '21 distributions per unit. It is expected that the second half of FY '22 distribution will be greater than that of the first half of FY '22 distribution, reflecting the timing of impacts associated with COVID-19 tenant support. I'll now hand back to Roger. Thank you.

Thank you, Greg. I'll now pause to ask if there are any questions from unitholders. I'll take questions from the conference line first of all. Moderator, are there any questions on the line?

There are no phone questions, Chairman.

Thank you very much. The following questions were also received from securityholders prior to the meeting.

I'll take the questions, Mr. Chairman. So a question here from Mr. Stephen Mayne. "As a former independent director of pokies giant, Aristocrat, could Roger outline his personal view on gambling harm and whether he has any reflections on whether the industry faces headwinds from ESG-conscious investors or greater regulation? What is his view about Charter Hall Retail owning shopping malls with attached poker machine venues?" Roger?

Thanks, Greg. Well, I think at this stage, there are 2 parts to that question. Certainly, I'm not sure my prior experience at Aristocrat is relevant to a discussion of Charter Hall Retail's portfolio and performance, but I am a strong supporter of harm minimization in the gaming industry, as Mr. Mayne well knows. We have no exposure to gaming in Charter Hall Retail. We own no pubs. We have no gaming machines, and I think that basically closes that question off. Thank you. Is there another question?

Yes. Another question from Mr. Mayne. "Did any of the 5 main proxy advisers in the Australian market, namely ACSI, ASA, Ownership Matters, Glass Lewis and ISS, recommend a vote against any of today's resolutions, of which we know there is one? And why aren't we getting a vote on the remuneration report? Which of the proxy advisers are covering us? And has there been a material proxy protest vote against any of today's resolutions? Would you disclose the proxy votes before the debate on today's resolutions so shareholders can ask questions if there have been any protest votes?"

Well, thank you very much for those questions. I'll try to go through them in order. The only proxy adviser that I'm aware of that voted against us, and I'm not sure whether investors of those proxy advisers were advising accepted their recommendation, was ACSI. And they voted against my nomination as Chairman on the basis of diversity and gender. In terms of the other questions, Glass Lewis cover us. ACSI covers us. Ownership Matters cover us. The ASA obviously are involved and ISS. So we're covered by all the main proxy advisers, I believe. We don't get a vote. They're not -- there's no vote on the remuneration report because we're externally managed, although we do pay attention to those votes. But there is no remuneration report for the people in the company, frankly. We will disclose the proxy result -- proxy votes as is normal for Charter Hall. Are there any more questions?

There are. There's another question from Mr. Mayne. "Dexus' Chair, Richard Sheppard, recently told its AGM that its exposure to the gambling sector was tiny. Why is Charter Hall moving so aggressively into gambling with the proposed acquisition of ALE Group? And what is Charter Hall Retail's exposure to the gambling sector? Do we have a policy on where the pokie venues can operate at our retail centers? Would we be interested if an opportunity arose to purchase some of the Crown Resorts' retail operations if the casino company decided to spin off its property holdings?"

This is really a gaming question. I think as I indicated before, we have no exposure to the gaming industry. And at this stage, we have no plans to be involved. The questions that you're asking really are best asked to the Charter Hall Group.

Okay. Another question from Mr. Mayne. "Property sector practice in relation to JobKeeper was mixed with Scentre Group shunning the opportunity at vicinity claiming tens of millions. What was the CQR position on JobKeeper? And how did our manager, Charter Hall, handle it? Will CQR be putting out an ASX announcement clarifying its JobKeeper position as is required by every listed company or a managed trust excluded?" I'll take that question. So CQR nor Charter Hall took JobKeeper. And yes, we'll be putting out an ASX announcement clarifying this position. And another question from Mr. Mayne. "Do we have an ESG position in relation to tobacco sales and petroleum? Or do we aim to maximize revenue from both segments? Do you have any data on how important tobacco and petroleum is in the overall sales mix of our tenants? Would both be in the top 10 sales generators? And are we comfortable with this?" And I'll take that question. So neither of those categories would be in our top 10 sales generators. We do have a very effective partnership with bp in the petrol and convenience space. And tobacco is sold predominantly at our supermarket venues, namely Coles and Woolworths. But they are not significant elements of our top sales generators. So hopefully, that answers that question. And another question from Mr. Mayne: "Roger, what do you think about including tobacco sales and petroleum sales in the broad discussion on ESG and sustainability issues in company reports going forward, similar to the focus on issues like modern slavery and renewable energy? Also, please outline the full history of your dealings with Charter Hall."

Why don't you answer the first part, and I'll do the second.

Yes. So again, we do not receive separate sales with regards to tobacco and petroleum. So it's very difficult for us to do that. But what we are very focused on are the ESG elements associated with our portfolio, and sustainability and ESG is a very considered platform for the CQR portfolio. So hopefully, that answers that question. And issues such as modern slavery and renewable energy are in clear focus with regards to our ESG and sustainability policies.

With regards to the full history of my dealings with Charter Hall, I assume this means employment, not shareholdings. But I was Chairman of Charter Hall Office, as Stephen well knows, 10 years or so ago. And when that company was taken over and delisted, I went elsewhere into other sectors, which I will talk about when I make my address, and returning 3 years ago to be Chairman of Charter Hall Retail.

Okay. And another question from Mr. Mayne. "Councils and state governments never seem to stop when it comes to dipping into the property sector to increase tax revenue, whether it be rates, stamp duty, land tax, fire services levies and a range of other charges, which are often skewed against commercial owners given exemptions or lower rates applied to residential. Given that all states are now badly in structural debts after the pandemic, what is our view on the risks around ongoing property tax increases?" And a disclosure from Mr. Mayne, he's a local government councilor in Manningham. So we have seen, in various jurisdictions, an increase in various rates and taxes. We do have the ability under a good proportion of our leases to recover those costs from our tenants. But in the overall scheme of the operating expenses associated with our properties, we believe it is manageable. Do we have a view on -- if there will be further increases? That's something that would just be speculation, and it's probably not appropriate to comment on. And I'll just check if there's any other questions from any other parties because we do have a number from Mr. Mayne. So there is another one. "What, if anything, has the Endeavour Group demerger from Woolworths effective from 1 July this year meant for Charter Hall Retail? Is it correct that this reduces the Woolworths' negotiating power over landlords because 15% to 20% of their Australian business is now separately controlled by Endeavour? Did we have to approve a whole bunch of complicated subleases and lease assignments as part of this demerger process?" I will make a comment that we have approximately 1% of portfolio income from Endeavour subsequent to its demerge from Woolworths. The demerger was effected by way of a court order, and no action was required by CQR. And we have an effective and what I would believe to be equitable relationship with Woolworths. And it's a landlord-tenant partnership that we value. So we do not see there being any imbalance in that relationship in any way, shape or form. "It is great that CGR, which I would think is CQR, shares are currently trading at $4.26, a healthy premium to June 30 NTA of $4.01. How much cash did we pay our manager? And is there a risk that our independent shareholders could rise up in an attempt to internalize management, similar to what has happened at many other externally managed listed entities?" I would point you to the financial statements, Mr. Mayne, where the related party fees are very clearly spelled out on a line-by-line item. And I can't really pass comment around independent shareholders attempting to internalize management. And just a final one here from Mr. Mayne. No, there's more coming through. "Thanks for reading out all my written questions today. Could Chair Roger and the manager please comment on whether a full archive of today's webcast will be available on the Charter Hall Retail website and whether a transcript could be provided, similar to other companies such as Woolworths, Crown and the ASX did after their recent AGMs?"

The webcast will be made available in full on the website.

Okay. "And finally, please disclose the proxy position on Roger's election. And is both Roger and Charter Hall committed to addressing the gender imbalance of the Board ahead of next year's AGM?"

Look, we're -- the answer is yes on the proxy position. That will be disclosed. And in terms of addressing the gender imbalance, clearly, the issue there is the performance and skill set of the directors we have and the need to reconcile with the gender imbalance with the small number of directors that we have on the Board. We only have 5 directors, 3 independent. And those 3 independents, 30% are female. So we do not see the value in increasing the size of the Board to address the gender issue, which would cost unitholders substantially to address that balance. So at this stage, barring any unforeseen resignations or changes, we would expect the Board to remain relatively constant going forward.

Okay. And one final question. "Why hasn't Charter Hall ever done a PAITREO capital raising, which is the fastest, fairest way to raise capital?" And I'll just respond to that on the basis that all capital-raising structures are considered at the relevant time. So that ceases the questions, Mr. Chairman.

Thank you very much. And thank you, Stephen, for your assiduous attention to detail and your comprehensive questions. Much appreciated. I will now proceed to the formal business of the meeting. As today's meeting is being conducted online, I would like to ensure you are familiar with the way we will proceed today. There is one resolution for today's meeting, which we'll come to shortly. Securityholders may vote and submit questions using the online platform. The resolution to be put to the meeting today will be decided on a poll. I now declare the poll open. For those securityholders participating in the meeting via the online platform, you can cast your direct vote using the electronic voting card that you received when you validated the registration. If you have not, at the bottom of the web page, you could see that there are 3 boxes: Get a Voting Card, Ask a Question, Downloads. To register to vote, click on the Get a Voting Card box at the top of the web page or below the videos. You will need to register by providing your details as either an individual or proxy. Once you have registered, your voting card will appear with today's resolution to be voted on. Securityholders and proxies can either submit a full vote or a partial vote. You can move between the 2 tabs by clicking on full vote or partial vote at the top of the voting card. Once you have finished voting on the resolution, scroll down to the bottom of the box and click the Submit Vote button. If you wish to ask a question, you will only be able to ask a question after you have registered to vote. [Operator Instructions] And if you would like to view the notice of Annual General Meeting, click on the Downloads button. With those procedural matters out of the way, I'd now like to move to today's formal business. I now table the Notice of Meeting dated the 13th of October 2021, which contains the resolution up for consideration today. A copy of the Notice of Meeting would have been made available to you by e-mail or, as previously mentioned, is available to view on the web page. I will now take the Notice of Meeting as read and move to resolution 1 in the Notice of Meeting, the reelection of Independent Director, Roger Davis. The only item for consideration today is the reelection of myself as a director. As I'm the only director standing for reelection, I will now hand over the running of this item to Mr. Michael Gorman. Michael?

Thank you, Roger. As Roger explained, the only item for consideration today is the reelection of Director, Roger Davis, which will be decided by a poll. Before I open the poll, I would like to ask Roger to say a few words detailing his background and the experience for the benefit of unitholders. As explained in the Notice of Meeting, only the directors or shareholders of Charter Hall Retail Management may appoint a director. Accordingly, it is noted that today's resolution is advisory only and nonbinding. Notwithstanding this, directors will, of course, give due consideration to the results of the resolution. Roger?

Thank you, Michael. Well, ladies and gentlemen and fellow unitholders, I'm indeed delighted to be here today before you as a candidate for election to the Board of Directors of CQR Investments and to ask you all to view my candidature positively. This is the second time I've stood for election to the Board, and it behooves me to say I'm both delighted and excited about the prospects of serving you all as a director, especially as I look back over the last 3 years and seen what we have achieved together. For those of you who are not familiar with my credentials and as per the Notice of Meeting, prior to my joining the Board, I worked in an executive role for CHR for 10 years in treasury and resources and then spent over 20 years in the banking industry working for Citigroup as a Managing Director in Australia, Japan and the U.S.A. before returning to Australia in 1999 when I joined ANZ as a Group Managing Director. Post my executive career, I've had the privilege of being on the boards of several major Australian companies, including, as per previous discussions, my time on the Aristocrat Board, as Chairman of Bank of Queensland Trust Company, AIG Australia as Chairman, Ardent Leisure and, importantly, was Chairman of Charter Hall Office for many years before it was taken over. Today, I'm a certified public accountant. I'm engaged as a senior adviser at Rothschild, the global investment bank, and also serve on the Board of Argo Investments, a very large listed investment company. Given my financial experience and broad Board and executive background, I believe I bring a unique set of competencies to the company as a director, which will readily complement the credential of my fellow directors. In particular, I believe that my broad Board experience gives me invaluable insights into contemporary corporate governance standards and the increased focus it brings on the choice of strategy of being fit for purpose in all we do, of being disciplined in the search for growth, the importance of good risk management and the assurance that appropriate talent is in place to execute the agreed portfolio strategy. This broad experience also provides me with different perspectives on the economy, especially in real estate, a bellwether segment of the economy but, just as importantly, provides some invaluable learnings regarding some of the all-important governance issues influencing Board conduct and behavior today. Critical here is my long-standing real experience with Charter Hall Office first as Chair and now at Charter Hall Retail as Chair over almost 10 years. I have no hesitation in saying I have been well schooled. I also believe that it's the risk management skills that I've learned as a banker, especially knowledge of financial markets, credit and operating and regulatory risk management, that truly differentiate and are arguably invaluable in today's often volatile real estate market. Whilst I'm passionate about real estate and successful shareholder engagement, it's a discipline of good risk processes that define the boundaries and the speed with which you can deliver profitable and sustained growth in shareholder value. In summary, I believe I bring to the Board critical skills, leadership, global experience, which are increasingly relevant as CQR moves to New Zealand, strong investor and IB skills and knowledge, good governance, property management skills, courtesy of my long tenure at Charter Hall, commitment, passion and Board experience in critical capital markets and investment banking and risk skills that I fervently hope will continue to ensure that we have the right culture, strategy, experience and knowledge to position CQR as the preeminent Australian REIT in the retail and convenience sector. I'm excited about the opportunity to continue to be actively involved as a director of CQR, and I would be honored if you would endorse me for a further term as one of the nonexecutive directors. Thank you.

Thank you, Roger. This resolution is an ordinary resolution and, as you can see, is displayed on the screen. Securityholders who have not already voted or submitted their vote via a proxy can review the resolution currently displayed on the screen. I will now display the respective proxy votes received on the screen. The results of the proxies received are now displayed on the screen. If you haven't already done so, I would encourage you to submit your vote now. While vote -- final votes of the resolution won't be known until after the conclusion of the meeting, it is clear from the proxies that Roger Davis will be reelected. Given this, I will now hand back to Roger to continue chairing the meeting. And thank you.

Well, thank you, Michael. Appreciate it. As there is no other business to be considered, I now declare the formal business of the meeting closed. The poll will remain open for a further 5 minutes, and securityholders who have not already voted may lodge their online votes during that time. The results of the poll will be made available to the ASX and put up on our website later today. I thank you for your attendance today and for your ongoing support of CQR. Thank you very much, and good afternoon.