Coles Group Limited (COL) Earnings Call Transcript & Summary

Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. My name is Helen Kapalos, and I'm your emcee for today's Annual General Meeting of Coles Group Limited. My role is to help you understand how the meeting will work, how you can ask questions and how you can vote and to put your questions to the Chairman at the relevant time. I would like to begin by thanking the Coles team members for that wonderful acknowledgment of country. Coles is extremely proud to be Australia's largest private sector employer of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. I would also like to take this opportunity to acknowledge the traditional custodians of country throughout Australia and pay my respects to elders past, present and emerging. I'd like to extend that respect to all indigenous Australians joining us today. In light of the evolving circumstances regarding the COVID-19 pandemic and the state and federal government's health advice and guidelines, Coles made the decision to conduct its Annual General Meeting virtually this year in the interest of health and safety. While we will not be able to meet in person, a virtual meeting enables all shareholders, regardless of where you live, to participate in the meeting. I will explain how this will work shortly. Before I hand over to the Chairman to formally open the meeting, I would like to explain the technology we are using to conduct the meeting and the procedures, which will be adopted for this meeting. Coles' team members, together with our share registry and technology providers, have worked hard to ensure that Coles provides you with a seamless virtual experience. Along with the Notice of Meeting, Coles has prepared an online meeting guide as well as answers to frequently asked questions to help you. These documents can be found on the AGM page of the Coles website, a link to which is on the left-hand side of your screen. If you experience any issues watching or participating in our meeting today, please call our share registry, Computershare Investor Services, on 1 (300) 171-785, that's within Australia, or +61-3-9415-4078, if you are outside of Australia. Both these numbers are also shown on the left-hand side of your screen. Now if we experience a major technical difficulty, which results in it being impracticable to continue the meeting, we will adjourn the meeting and make an announcement on the ASX regarding further details of the meeting. Now to questions. At the top of the left-hand side of your screen, there are 3 icon buttons. An icon with the letter I for instructions, a middle speech bubble icon representing questions and an icon at far right representing a voting, which will appear when the Chairman opens the poll. [Operator Instructions] If we receive a number of questions that are similar, we may answer those questions collectively. If the questions are too lengthy, we may need to summarize them in the interest of time. When questions for each proposed resolution are ready, I will, where possible, identify the shareholders who have asked the relevant questions so that shareholders are aware that we are addressing their question. I will then read the questions for the Chairman to answer. As there is a short time lag in the broadcast of these proceedings to you, we will pause at the end of discussion time for each item of business to check if any further questions have been submitted before moving on to the next item. Questions must relate to a nice business under consideration and to the company as a whole. If your question is of a personal nature relating to your shopping experience at any Coles group business or in relation to your personal shareholdings, these questions will not be put to the meeting. Coles will instead contact you after the meeting to separately ensure that you receive individual support. Coles' customer care number is also available and shown on your screen if you wish to call them for questions in relation to your personal shopping experience. Representatives from Coles' share registry, Computershare, are also available for questions in relation to your personal shareholdings. The numbers to contact Coles' customer care and Computershare are shown now on your screen. We encourage you to please submit all of your questions now to assist us in getting through as many of your questions as possible. We will ensure that there is a reasonable opportunity for shareholders as a whole to ask questions and make comments at this meeting. However, there may not be time to answer every question or address every comment received. Shareholders were encouraged to submit their questions prior to the meeting. Thank you to those shareholders who have done so. We have sought to address common themes in these questions throughout the formal Chairman and Chief Executive Officer's addresses, which will be made shortly. Coles will also contact some shareholders who submitted questions of a more specific nature. Now to voting, once the Chairman has opened the poll, a voting icon will appear at the top of the left-hand side of your screen, each proposed resolution will be shown on the screen. Click on this voting icon to submit your vote on each proposed resolution. You can then vote for, against or abstain on each proposed resolution. Once the Chairman formally declares the poll open, you may vote on a proposed resolution at any time during the meeting. You do not need to wait for the proposed resolution to be considered before submitting your vote. And please note there is no submit or send button and your selection is automatically recorded. You may change your vote at any time prior to the poll being closed. If you require any assistance, please contact Coles' share registry, Computershare Investor Services, whose contact details are again shown on your screen. The contact details are also available at any time during the meeting, if you click on the information I icon on the left-hand side of your screen. And just another reminder to please submit your questions now. Remember, there is a limit of 1,000 characters to your question. It is my great pleasure to now introduce you to James Graham, your Chairman.

Thank you, Helen, and good morning, ladies and gentlemen. My name is James Graham, and is the Chairman of Coles Group Limited. It is my pleasure to welcome you to our 2020 Virtual Annual General Meeting. Certainly, a first for Coles. As we have a quorum, I declare the meeting open. The notice of today's meeting has been distributed, and I would take it as read. Voting on items 2 to 5 will be conducted by a poll. I am declaring the poll now open to allow shareholders for maximum time to vote and so that shareholders who cannot stay for the whole meeting have the opportunity to vote. You can vote at any time until the meeting closes. Before introducing my colleagues on the Board, I would also like to acknowledge all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples as the traditional custodians of our lands and pay my respects to elders past, present and emerging. Joining me from the Board here in Sydney this morning are Richard Freudenstein and Jacqueline Chow. And attending in Melbourne are Wendy Stops, Paul O'Malley, who we were very pleased to welcome to the Board in October of this year. And our Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, Steven Cain, together with our company Secretary, Daniella Pereira. And also Abi Cleland, who is joining us from Darwin via teleconference line. And David Cheesewright, who is joining us from Toronto, Canada also via teleconference line. We will separately hear from Paul, Wendy and David later in the meeting. I also note that Fiona Campbell, representing the company's auditor, Ernst & Young, is attending by telephone and will be available to answer questions. The 2020 financial year of Coles has been a year like no other. Starting the year with severe floods and droughts adversely affecting many of our suppliers; then extraordinary bushfires threatening many communities and our supply chains during the summer months; followed by the national and international impacts of the global pandemic, it has been quite an extraordinary year. Through each of these events, with the exceptional support of our 118,000 team members, we have adapted our business to support our communities, our suppliers and our customers, as we seek to fulfill our purpose of sustainably feeding all Australians to help them lead healthier, happier lives. This 2020 year was our first full financial year as an ASX-listed company and marked the commencement of many new processes and strategies as we sought to advance our vision of becoming Australia's most trusted retailer and growing long-term shareholder value. With the support of all our stakeholders, we have been able to respond to increased customer demand, whilst improving our safety performance; changing processes in stores and distribution centers to ensure that our health and hygiene processes were aligned with the best advice on minimizing the risks of virus transmission; and responding to elevated levels of need for community support, especially through our long-established relationships with food rescue organizations, SecondBite and Foodbank. In coordinating our responses, we have worked closely with the governments and particularly through the Supermarkets Taskforce, an early initiative of the Home Affairs Minister, Mr. Peter Dutton. For the 2020 financial year, it was pleasing to report that despite these elevated pressures, we saw a 6.9% increase in group sales, and we reported the first increase in earnings before interest and tax in 4 years, with an improvement of 4.7%. As a result, we were able to declare fully franked dividends totaling $0.575 per share for the full year, comprising the interim dividend of $0.30 per share and the final dividend of $0.275 per share. These results were struck after our record levels of direct and indirect support to communities across Australia, totaling some $139 million; the net hiring of over 5,000 additional team members year-on-year; providing support to over 6,000 rural fire brigades whose dedication and courage was so evident during the year; and substantially expanding our online capacity to meet increasing customer demand and to ensure food availability to those in special need through our Coles Online Priority Service. During the year, we also saw considerable progress on our 2 significant step out technology commitments with Witron in automated distribution centers in New South Wales and Queensland; and with Ocado through our commitment to 2 highly automated online customer fulfillment centers in Melbourne and Sydney. Across all elements of what we do, we recognize the need to adapt our operations by increasingly the using digital information and advanced technology to lower our cost of doing business and improve our product offering. As a large Australian company, we recognize that we have a responsibility to demonstrate high standards of business practices and to measure and reduce our impact upon our environment. Since our 2019 Annual General Meeting, we have worked closely with our suppliers, unions and industry bodies to improve the transparency and effectiveness of all elements of ethical sourcing in our supply chain; we have achieved further reductions in our Scope 1 and Scope 2 greenhouse gas emissions; we have focused upon minimizing the amount of waste we generate and we have continued to improve the recyclability of packaging in our own brand products, which now account for more than 30% of our total supermarket sales. These are important areas of our business, where continued focus will remain and where we will transparently report on our initiatives and our progress. During the year, your Board has worked as a cohesive team in support of management, and this has required high levels of engagement from my fellow Directors, to each of whom I express my appreciation. On September 30, just passed, Zlatko Todorcevski stood down from the Board in the context of his appointment as Chief Executive Officer at Boral Limited. Over the last 2 years, Zlatko has made a most significant contribution to the Board and as Chairman of our Audit and Risk Committee, he has worked closely with our management team overseeing the establishment of our robust finance, accounting and risk management functions. On behalf of the Board and shareholders, I record our special thanks and best wishes to Zlatko. Pleasingly, on the 1st of October, we were able to welcome Paul O'Malley to the Board to fill this vacancy, and Paul's election will come before the meeting under agenda item 2 later today. In this most demanding year, I would particularly like to express my appreciation and that of the Board to the leadership of our Chief Executive and Managing Director, Steven Cain, his executive team and to all of those Coles team members upon whom we have relied to step up, sometimes in periods of great uncertainty, and whose collective efforts and goodwill have underpinned our responses to the extraordinary community events which we have experienced. The impacts of COVID-19 have continued into our 2021 financial year, whereas we noted last week we saw our total group first quarter sales increased by 10.5% above those of the previous year. Whilst the patterns of community activity have been fundamentally changed by the pandemic and there remains considerable uncertainty as to future impacts, at least in the short term we seem likely to see the maintenance of high levels of community awareness of the importance of health and hygiene standards; higher levels of home consumption of food and liquor; increased focus upon online purchases and digital recipes; and an increase in population numbers during traditional holiday traveling periods, so long as international travel is restricted. In these circumstances, we will continue to adapt our business model at pace. I would now like to invite our Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director, Steven Cain, to provide us with his further insights on the year and the business. But before we hear from Steven, I would like to share with you a brief video presentation, highlighting some of our sustainability achievements over the past year. [Presentation]

Thank you, Chairman, and good morning to our shareholders and guests joining us online today. Last year, we laid out our refreshed strategy to become the most trusted retailer in Australia and grow long-term shareholder value for you, our shareholders. As part of that strategy, Coles declared that our purpose is to sustainably feed all Australians to help them lead healthier, happier lives. We could not know at that time how immediately important that purpose would soon become, not just to Coles, but to the Australian community as a whole. As James said, the year presented us with a number of unforeseen challenges, including worsening drought, devastating bushfires, floods and, of course, the ongoing global pandemic of COVID-19. As now a designated essential service, Coles has played an important role, not just in keeping Australian safely supplied with food, beverages and fuel, but in supporting the national economy through the employment of our 118,000 team members and hundreds of thousands more who work for the businesses who supply and support us. We pride ourselves on our ability to adapt at pace. And this year, we had certainly plenty of opportunities to demonstrate just that. As demand for food surged in early March to levels that surpassed even Christmas trading levels, we increased our supply chain capacity in a matter of days by establishing pop-up distribution centers. At the same time, we worked with suppliers to prioritize the production of the most in-demand items, and through the federal government's Supermarket Taskforce, we were able to work collaboratively with governments and other stakeholders to formulate industry-wide hygiene and distancing protocols to keep our customers and team members safe and remove barriers to increasing deliveries to our stores. To help us manage demand, we introduced Community Hour to serve the venerable and emergency services workers. After product availability issues led us to suspend Coles' online services in March, we reopened in April with almost double the capacity to serve our customers across home delivery and contactless, Click & Collect. As well as the new Coles Online Priority Service, aimed at those most in need, including the elderly and those living with disability. As the initial rush of panic buying subsided and government restrictions were introduced, many customers adapted to the new normal. Working from home, sanitizing the home, home schooling, a daily walk from home, home improvement and MasterChef inspired cooking from scratch, also at home, supplemented by the odd cocktail, also at home. Whilst travel restrictions meant fuel volumes were down at Coles Express, its role as a local convenience store saw shop sales increase. Throughout it all, safety has been our #1 priority and I'm very proud of the way our team have worked to support our customers, safely serving more than 0.5 billion of them with pride since the pandemic began. Despite the many challenges we faced in the 2020 financial year, I'm pleased to report that we have made substantial progress against each of the pillars of our transformation strategy. It's also important to note that we were beginning to see some early benefits of the strategy prior to the first wave of COVID, and that rather than abandoning our transformation plans while we dealt with the more immediate concerns of daily operations, we actually accelerated the pace of change so that Coles will emerge from the pandemic as a better, more sustainable business, including record team and supplier engagement. In the past year, we have executed one of the largest range updates in Coles' history, using data-driven ranging tools to tailor our customer offer and introduce more than 1,600 new product lines. With value more important than ever for customers, our campaigns to help lower the cost of breakfast, lunch and dinner introduced more than 1,500 new products at everyday low prices, while sales of own brand grew by 10% to exceed $10 billion for the first time, more than 31% of supermarket sales. Customer demand for online shopping was already growing strongly before COVID, and this has only accelerated since the pandemic began. In liquor, our exclusive liquor brands continue to collect accolades, bringing home a total of 372 medals and awards during the year, and we have begun the process of transforming our stores to become simpler, more accessible and relevant to the needs of local customers. It is testament to the dedication of our team that in some of the most difficult trading conditions in living memory, we recorded an improvement in customer satisfaction across supermarkets, liquor and express in the fourth quarter. As part of our smarter selling strategy to reduce costs by $1 billion, we are increasing our use of technology to manage our business more efficiently. Last year, we delivered cost savings of more than $250 million through a number of initiatives, including streamlining our store support center and implementing new systems in our financial and procurement functions. Transport, too, became more efficient as we made increasing use of trucks to carry both inbound and outbound loads, rather than making their return journey empty. We also rolled out new technology underpinned by artificial intelligence to help our store teams order the right amount of stock, reducing waste and improving availability for customers. And reduced energy consumption by installing LED lights and refrigeration control systems in our stores. We renewed 70 of our stores, tailoring them to the needs of the local community, including 10 Format A stores, 31 Format C and 3 Coles Local supermarkets. One of these was our first Coles Local for New South Wales, our Rose Bay store. For those of you who are Sydney, we're also opening another Coles Local in Chatswood next week and another in Manly prior to Christmas, so I hope you get a chance to take a look. I'm also hoping to take a look myself soon, particularly with the New South Wales border reopening. As you will have seen in our sustainability video, we have made much progress on many fronts. I would like to recognize the work of our dairy team who now have long-term own brand contracts in place directly with around 70 dairy farmers in Victoria, New South Wales, WA and SA, which means these farmers can now plan for a sustainable future. As many of you will know, we have an incredible 8 Coles team members who have worked for Coles for more than 50 years each. I salute them and in particular, Brenda, who received the Order of Australia medal in June for 53 years' service to the Malvern community here in Victoria. I am also proud that Coles continues to be the largest private employer of indigenous Australians, with our focus now on creating pathways to management and leadership positions for them. I will turn now to our financial performance. It is pleasing that the full financial year of our operations under our refreshed strategy, and the first full year is a listed entity in our own right, should also mark a return to our first year of group profit growth in 4 years. I am also happy to report a total shareholder return, or TSR, of 32% in the year, one of the highest in Australian retail and, indeed, supermarkets globally. Supermarkets, which remains our largest contributor of sales and earnings, increased sales by almost 7%, driven by increased own brand penetration and the rollout of tailored ranges as well as greater at-home consumption and pantry stocking seen in response to COVID-19. Supermarkets EBIT increased by almost 11% as increased sales in smarter selling savings were partially offset by COVID, health and safety costs. Coles Online grew sales by 18% and would have been stronger if not for the temporary suspension of operations in March and April. This was necessarily due to limited product availability, and so we could reset the business to meet the needs of the most vulnerable in our community with increased capacity and priority service. Our Liquor business reported sales growth of 8% as customers responded to our refreshed range in high-growth categories as well as a shift to home consumption in response to COVID. Liquor EBIT was stable at $120 million as stronger sales were offset by ongoing clearance activity and mix changes associated with COVID. Coles Express reported a 6 -- almost 6% increase in sales from our convenience stores, driven by customers stocking up on items such as toilet paper in the second half of the year. While they are not included in sales revenue, commissions received from our alliance partner, Viva, on fuel sales were down in the second half as a result of the stay-at-home restrictions. This led to Express reporting a loss of $16 million for the year. We continue to maintain a very strong balance sheet, which will provide the flexibility to invest for future growth and take advantage of opportunities as they arise. Over the course of the year, we reduced our net debt by $158 million to $362 million, and we diversified our debt portfolio and leveraged our average -- lengthened our average debt maturity to 5.6 years by issuing $600 million of unsecured fixed rate Australian dollar medium-term notes during the year. The funds were used to repay bank debt, and at the end of the financial year, we had undrawn facilities totaling just over $2 billion. On the 28th of October, we released our sales for the first quarter of the new financial year, with sales remaining elevated across all segments, particularly in online and in Victoria under lockdown. This included comparable sales growth of 9.7% for Supermarkets, 17.8% in Liquor and 10.2% in Coles Express convenience stores. Pleasingly, fuel volumes are beginning to recover as restrictions ease. Coles Online sales growth of 57% and Liquor online sales growth of 80% and the launch of Coles And Co to replace more than 4 million hand-delivered paper catalogs per week demonstrate that we are committed to a digital and sustainable future. Since our last AGM, our executive leadership team has been strengthened with the arrival of Darren Blackhurst as Chief Executive of Liquor; Ben Hassing, Chief Executive of E-commerce; and George Saoud, Chief Executive of Emerging Businesses. We presented our refreshed liquor strategy at the full year results earlier this year, and we'll present our refreshed e-commerce strategy at the interim results in February 2021. Christmas and summer 2020 will be like no other. The impossibility of overseas travel has prompted forecasts of more than 1 million additional Australian spending the holidays at home this year. Meanwhile, the ongoing need for social distancing mean large celebrations are likely, in many cases, to be replaced by many smaller gatherings at home. Like the best Christmas guests, Coles is ready to lend a hand in the kitchen. We have more than 270 new or improved products to help our customers lower the cost of easy entertaining. And following on from our successful Spiegelau crystal glasswork give away last year, we are rewarding customers with stainless steel, MasterChef kitchen knives to bring a little professional flair to their improved home cooking skills. As part of our commitment to looking after the mental health of our team members, we have continued to work with the Resilience Project. One of the practical techniques in this program is to write-down 3 things you're grateful for every day for 21 days. I am grateful for an outstanding Board and executive leadership team, their tireless commitment, innovation and agility to circumstances changing every day. I'm grateful to our 118,000 team members working to keep customers safe and fed. And I'm grateful to our suppliers and community partners without whom none of this would have been possible. To our customers, on behalf of Coles' team members, I thank you for your custom, your feedback and the respect you have shown and understanding you have shown during COVID. To you, our shareholders, I thank you for the opportunity to continue transforming Coles into the most trusted retailer in Australia so that we can deliver long-term sustainable returns for you and your families. As I hand back to our Chairman, I'd like to share with you our new Christmas advert, which forms part of our new Value the Australian Way campaign, celebrating the role we play at the heart of Australian families and communities. [Presentation]

Thank you, Steven. I certainly enjoyed that Christmas video, and I hope it brings a sense of cheer and optimism to all of our shareholders and to all of those who are joining us here for the virtual meeting today. I will now turn to the formal items of business at today's meeting. The Notice of Meeting set out information regarding the 5 items for consideration at today's meeting, covering the election of Paul O'Malley; the reelection of David Cheesewright and Wendy Stops; the adoption of the company's remuneration report; and the short -- and the approval of short and long-term incentives to Steven Cain as Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer. I will introduce each item of business separately and then invite questions for that item. Following discussion on that item, details of the proxies and direct votes received for that item of business will be shown on your screen. I will then ask the shareholders and proxy holders to vote on the item, noting that you may have already done so. Please note that as this is a shareholders meeting, only shareholders, their attorneys, proxies and authorized representatives are entitled to submit questions, comments and vote at this meeting. Item 1 is to enable any shareholder to raise questions or comments on the company and its performance, but does not require any vote of shareholders. Items 2 to 5 at today's meeting require a shareholder vote. Your Board supports each of items 2 to 5 and recommends that shareholders vote in favor of these resolutions. As set out in the Notice of Meeting, I intend to vote all undirected proxies held by me as the Chairman of the meeting in favor of items 2 to 5. If you leave the meeting early, please ensure you have submitted your votes. Voting on all resolutions can be done in advance online at any time until the meeting closes. Tim Heughan of Computershare will act as returning officer for the poll and will oversee the counting of the votes. The final results will be made available after the meeting to the ASX and will be displayed on our website. I now turn to the first item of business, which is to receive and consider the financial report of the company and its controlled entities and the reports of the Directors and auditor for the year ended 28 June 2020. These reports were circulated as part of the annual report and also published on our website. Whilst there is no requirement to put this item to a vote, this is an opportunity for shareholders to ask questions relating to the company's financial report and the reports of the Directors and the auditor. As previously noted, Fiona Campbell, the lead Audit partner with Ernst & Young, Coles' external auditor, will be available to answer questions. I would now like to invite questions or comments from shareholders regarding the financial report of the company and the reports of the Directors and the auditor. The text of this first item of business is now shown on the screen. I will now move to the first question. Thank you, Helen.

Thank you, Chairman. The first 2 questions on this item come from Mr. Stewart Burn from the Australian Shareholders' Association. I will now read Mr. Burn's brief introduction and then his first question. "Good morning. My name is Stewart Burn, and I'm a volunteer for the Australian Shareholders' Association. We would like to commend the performance of Coles Group under such difficult circumstances and the support it has shown to Australian communities during the pandemic, especially the initiatives in Coles Online, support of indigenous communities, community support and direct milk sourcing." Mr. Burn's first question is as follows: "The Liquor group has had poor performance, especially when compared to your direct competitors, i.e., sales, 3.2% versus 9.9% and EBIT, 3.8% versus. 5.7%. Can you detail the strategy to turn this group around?"

Thank you very much, indeed, Mr. Burn for your question and also for your kind opening comments. We very much appreciate the relationship which has been established with the Australian Shareholders' Association, and we're grateful for the support which you, through your members, provide to Coles. In relation to your question regarding Liquor, I think I need to perhaps clarify a matter. It was perhaps touched on by Steven in his address. And that is that the 3.2% sales growth to which you refer, is, in fact, the statutory growth rate for Liquor. That is inclusive of the comparable period when we owned hotels as part of the Liquor business. And as you will remember in our 2019 year, we sold the Hotels business or transferred the ownership and responsibility of the Hotels business to our joint venture partners, Australian Venue Corporation. The actual Liquor sales revenue, which we refer to as being on a retail basis, which is a comparable basis of 2020 against 2019, actually showed an increase of some 8%. In relation to your other questions about how are we addressing the strategy and making sure that Liquor moves to -- continues to be a very positive contributor to Coles, Steven mentioned that in January of this year, we were very pleased to be able to welcome Darren Blackhurst to be the new Chief Executive of our Liquor business. Darren is highly regarded globally, having had 25 years of significant international retailing experience, and on arrival in January, got to work with our team members to review the business in detail and to develop a winning strategy. That strategy has, in essence, meant looking at how do we make the business simpler? How do we make the business more accessible? How can we find ways of differentiating what we offer? And you'll be aware of our liquor -- exclusive liquor brands and our commitment to work closely with local suppliers in our business, and then to provide the business with the resources that it needs in order to be able to strengthen its operation and pursue growth. Steven has touched upon in his opening address the performance of liquor in the first quarter of the 2021 financial year. Now that -- those figures are, to some extent, a continuation of the staying-at-home habit of many Australians as a result of the COVID virus. But it was pleasing to see our increase in like-for-like sales in excess of 17% for this quarter compared with the previous quarter. And you will have also noticed, as Steven referenced, that we had a very strong growth in our online liquor business. We're very positive about the initiatives that Darren and the full Liquor team are taking and look forward to being able to update you further as we progress. Thank you, Helen.

Thank you, Chairman. I will now read Mr. Burn's second question. We understand the difficult position that the pandemic has placed on your Express Group with a 28% reduction in EBIT. Can you please comment on how you see the future of this group? And with changes in people's work practices, i.e., working from home, does Coles Group consider it will return to a growth scenario?

Thank you, Mr. Burn for your question on the business of Coles Express. You will recall that it was in March of 2019, we reset the Coles fuel business by a strategic alliance with our fuel partner, Viva Energy. Since that time, and Steven referenced this, our position has been in relation to the fuel business, we earn a commission. And in relation to the convenience stores that those are fully operated by us as Coles and the latter are included in our sales. As we were approaching the beginning of COVID, we were encouraged by working with our fuel partner, Viva, that we were seeing the price setting of fuel leading to an increase in market demand, and in fact, fuel volumes were approaching some 70 million liters a week. At that level, the earnings outcome for Coles Express would be very different. Regrettably, with the lockdown, inevitably, people were not driving their cars in any way near the same way. And we saw, in the first 4 weeks of the fourth quarter of our 2020 financial year, a reduction in fuel volumes down to 40 million liters per week. As we've started to see the restrictions ease and more normal travel within the state occur, we are starting to see a recovery. And by the end of June 2020, we were seeing fuel sales towards the low -- in the low 50 million liters per week area. We are encouraged by the way we're working with Viva Energy in setting the fuel price and, as we see further lockdown restrictions ease, that we will see a continuing recovery of those fuel sales. Hand in hand with that, you will have noted that, in fact, our convenience stores have been quite a beneficiary of the local shopping pattern of so many Australians. And so we saw in the 2020 financial year, our convenience store sales increased by 10.4%. So together with the store sales, the recovery in fuel, we have a positive outlook on the future of our convenience business. Thank you, Helen.

Thank you, Chairman. Chairman, we have received several questions on the continued use of plastic bags and packaging in stores. The questions are from shareholders, Mrs. [ Susan Scott ], Ms. [ Lenel Gibson ] and Mrs. [ Geraldine Bagwell ].

Well, thank you, Mr. Scott, Ms. Gibson and Mrs. Bagwell. This is a very important issue. And as hopefully, you would have noted in our sustainability video, we are very focused upon how do we, as a large supermarket, operate responsibly in relation to plastic and packaging in our stores. It's a bit of a dilemma. Because on the one hand, we don't want to, in any way, lead to waste or to contribute to any environmental residual issues. On the other hand, we have a responsibility to our customers to ensure that the product arrives undamaged, that the product has good availability, that it is safe and that it meets our customers' requirements. What we have done over the years, and we continue to work very much on this issue, is we're focused upon how do we reduce plastic and how do we reduce any residual impact of the packaging in our supermarkets. We've done quite a few things so far. There's more to do. You will recall that in 2018, we removed the single-use plastic bags. That 1 step resulted in a reduction of 1.7 billion plastic bags from the what -- which would otherwise have been used in supermarkets. We replaced the single-use plastic bags in 2 ways. Firstly, we felt it was necessary for a customer who comes to our supermarket, who for one reason doesn't bring a bag with them, they need to have a reusable bag. And so we produced what we call a Better Bags. These bags are available at the supermarket for $0.15. The Better Bag is made 80% from recyclable material, and of course, is multiple use and, in due course, is fully recyclable in the REDcycle bins included in each of our supermarkets throughout Australia. The second response was to introduce community bags. These have been a great success. The community bags are in fact have been designed by Australian school children. And part of the sale of these community bags is being used to provide support to schools, athletic groups, community groups, and they have been very well received by our customers. In relation to the packaging of the product itself, we are working with many of our suppliers to try and ensure that all packaging is recyclable. It's a big journey. We're on the way, and we're very committed to make sure that we are seen as Australia's most sustainable supermarket. We'll be working very hard on this issue. Thank you, Helen.

Thank you, Chairman. Chairman, we have received a number of questions in relation to the recent IT outage that impacted checkouts in cold stores. The questions are from shareholders, Mrs. [ Dal Harris ] and Mr. [ Darrell Wallace ].

Thank you, Mr. [ Harris ] and Mr. [ Wallace ] for your question. You can imagine how important an issue this was on the 18th of October when at 4:30 in the afternoon without any notice or warning, our point-of-sale, Australia-wide for all of our supermarkets, failed to function. What occurred was a very extraordinary technical malfunction in the software. We had many, many safeguards to make sure that technical malfunctions do not arise. But on this occasion, an extraordinary sequence of events caused it. Pleasingly, within 3 hours, we were able to identify the fault and fully rectify it and have the supermarkets back up and operating. But we know that, that causes massive inconvenience to our customers, for which we have apologized. And in fact, over the ensuing weekend, we offered all customers at our supermarkets a triple the number of flybuys points in relation to their purchases that weekend. And for those purchasing online with an order of $50 or more for the ensuing week, they had home delivery without charge. This matter is clearly important. It has been the subject of an independent review. And we are making sure that the issues that gave rise to it are understood and appropriate steps are put in place to ensure this or a similar activity doesn't occur. Your Board's Audit and Risk Committee, which has an oversight of all such risks, will be reviewing the details of the steps forward and ahead at its next meeting. Thank you, Helen.

Thank you, Chairman. And another question for Mr. [ Darrell Wallace ]. Can Coles detail its current market share of the Australian grocery business or supermarket businesses? Is Coles planning to gain, maintain or lose share in the coming years?

Thank you, Mr. [ Wallace ]. I hope you will not be surprised by my answer. The benefit of having 106 years of business in Australia addressing the needs of Australian customers through our supermarket activities has been that we have developed a very big footprint. In supermarkets today, we have some 830 supermarkets across Australia. And those are supported by 19 distribution centers. We serve approximately 20 million transactions through -- with customers a week. So we are a very significant participant in the Australian supermarket scale. We are not the largest participant. We are the second largest participant. And at the present time, we have in the order of 30% market share for our supermarkets business. We are heavily focused on strategies, investments, technology, product, service to make sure that in the years ahead, you will see that our ambition of ensuring that we maintain market share and, to the extent possible, take advantage of opportunities to enhance it. Thank you, Helen.

Thank you, Chairman. The next question is from Mrs. [ Catherine Rouse ] and Mr. [ Steven Gregory ]. 88.2% for customer satisfaction looks impressive. What is Tell Coles? Can you please provide more information about this process? What does this number actually mean? What was the score last year? And how do we compare with Woolies and ALDI?

Thank you very much, Mrs. [ Rouse ] and Mr. [ Gregory ] for your question. I think this is a really important issue in terms of our -- how we assess customer behavior. And I'm going to turn to our Managing Director and Chief Executive, Steven Cain, to provide a more informative insight on how all of this comes together at Coles.

Thank you, James. So Tell Coles has been running for a long time. What we do is every week, we solicit responses from 25,000 to 30,000 customers to find out how satisfied they are with their weekly shop. That information comes to us on a Monday morning, and it goes to every store manager as well. And every store manager knows his or her Tell Coles score when you go and talk to them. And that's really important because we serve the vast majority of our customers in our 800-or-so supermarkets around Australia. And so one of the first things I do whenever I go to a Coles store is ask the store manager, how is the Tell Coles survey going? And what are the customers saying that's really good about Coles? And what are the customers saying that we need to improve? And there are some things that we need to improve across the country, and there are some things that are very store-specific. The store manager is there to make sure that we continue to improve the store-specific things that need to be addressed. Sometimes that can be are the trolleys in the right place, the queues at the checkouts, availability of specific lines and so on. What we do in the store support center is then look at the Tell Coles results and think about what are the things that are common across the network that we need to help with. And as I say, this is something we look at and try and deal with every week. I'm delighted to report that we did improve our customer metrics in the fourth quarter to 88.2%, and that was up from 83.4% in the prior quarter. And what people are saying is that they do see improvements in our checkouts, and they say they were seeing improvements in our availability and they're also talking about improvements in our price position. Unfortunately, we don't run Tell Coles at Woolworths or ALDI. And so that one will have to be addressed to those companies. What we do, do is large amounts of research across the whole industry to look at how we stack up on lots of measures. And I'm delighted to say that on many of those measures, we continue to improve. Back to you, Chairman or Helen.

Thank you very much, Steven, for that reply. Helen, do we have another question?

We certainly do. We have another question from Mrs. [ Catherine Rouse ] and Mr. [ Steven Gregory ], and the question is, given the change in the increasing proportion of online shopping and other changes in how we shop, do you believe that sales per square meter is still a relevant measure?

Thank you very much, again, Mrs. [ Rouse ] and Mr. [ Gregory ]. The efficiency of supermarkets looking at sales per square meter is a really important one because we have a lot of involvement commitment in that 830 supermarkets across Australia, that's a really important part of our operation. But to the extent that we can support the growth of our online using those supermarkets, we can have a real winning together. But I'm going to again ask Steven to make some more specific comments in relation to that question.

Thank you, James. Whilst online is growing and we talked about it growing close to 60% in the last quarter, it is important to recognize that the vast majority of our online sales, whether they are through click and collect or whether they're through home delivery are all serviced by stores or the vast majority is. And therefore, it is still very much a relevant measure of the sales we're achieving per meter. However, it's not the only measure. It is important that as we move towards Ocado, where we will have 2 automated customer fulfillment centers in a couple of years' time, those will come under separate measures. We also need to make sure that from a sales per square meter point of view, that we keep moving that number forward because we know the costs continue to increase across the industry as well. So yes, it's relevant. We keep a close eye on it. We look at stores that, in particular, have a very low sales per meter because as well as opening new stores where we look for better-than-average sales per meter, we must always as well focus on the other end of the spectrum where we've got stores that are low sales per square meter. And if you've got a low sales per square meter store, and the sales are declining, then it's likely that at the next lease renewal that, that lease will not be extended. So we use it a lot to make sure that we are managing our store portfolio effectively now and in the years ahead.

Thank you, Steven. Helen, are there any further questions?

Yes, there are, Chairman. Chairman, the next question is from Mr. [ Henrik Kay ]. His question is last year, I raised the issue of the fuel discount being offered as an option on the flybuys card. Why are shareholders being discriminated against when staff have this, so why not the flybuys cardholders?

Thank you, Mr. [ Kay ] for your question and for bringing that matter to our attention again this year. The way we set prices across all aspects of our operation is that we try to make sure that we've got very competitive price points for customers. And those should be for all customers using our stores and using our Coles Express fuel stations. As I mentioned earlier, the Coles Express business, since March of 2019, our position in relation to that is that we only receive a commission. We are not setting the price of fuel, and we are not in the position of managing that process other than through our strategic alliance with Viva Energy. The discount card for team members is there as a part of their total compensation and part of their engagement and being inside Coles. The 118,000 team members who we are fortunate enough to enjoy, show a great sense of passion, a great sense of commitment, and as I said in my opening remarks, have stepped up remarkably in the period which we've just gone through as a community. I think that the issue of the card for team members is very much part of their remuneration. The issues for customers is that they should know that in everything we do at Coles, we try to ensure value. That's why we have the value, the Australian way as the way in which we are bringing our message to the market and to customers and to investors at the present time. Thank you, Helen.

We have another question from Mr. [ Henrik Kay ]. His question is, Mr. Chairman, I raised the issue of the lack of job opportunities for people with disabilities and those over 50. What is Coles going to do about this problem, so that the biggest cohort on Job Seeker can get back into the workforce. These jobs seekers need help urgently to get back to work. Please get the relevant staff member to contact me as I have some information for them.

Well, Mr. [ Kay ], we have an absolute commitment to assisting people with disabilities to become team members at Coles. We have special training programs for our team members to ensure that, that happens smoothly. And the ability of us to continue to offer employment to all members of our community is really important. During the height of the pandemic, when we had a lot of people who were very suddenly without a job, we went out of our way to work with those organizations who are in a different position to Coles to be able to provide offers to as many new team members as possible as the significant increase in customer demand emerged. We have undertaken those steps, we have a strong disability program. And I will encourage someone from the Coles Corporate Affairs office to make contact with you about any additional idea or way in which we can improve our engagement in that area because it's part of what we see as being Coles is that we want to be involved with the whole Australian community. Thank you, Helen.

Thank you, Chairman. The next question is from shareholder, [ Sofiya Fallor ]. She says congratulations on the recent signing of 2 major power purchase agreements for renewable energy Queensland and New South Wales. It's great to see Coles taking this leadership. Given that those 2 projects will supply 30% of Coles electricity in the next few years is Coles now in a position to commit to powering all its operations with wind and solar by 2025?

Thank you very much, Ms. [ Fallor ] for your question. The issue of our involvement in ensuring that we have renewable energy underpinning our business to the extent possible has obviously been a focus for some while. You're right that in 2019, we entered into 3 contracts with solar farm operations in New South Wales, which will come online in the current financial year, which in total will provide about 10% of our total electricity requirements. And more recently, we entered into a contract with CleanCo, the Queensland government sustainable energy generator and retailer. And with CleanCo, from 1 July 2022, we will be able to source electricity to meet 90% of our total requirements in Queensland. And together, as you rightly point out, these will represent approximately 33% of our total electricity requirements. This is an area of considerable focus by the Board and by the management team. We are constantly looking at how can we make sure that we are lifting our game in making our contribution in ensuring that we have a sustainable Australia and a sustainable Coles supermarket in the context in which we operate. We will be continuing to work along these lines, and at the right time, we'll be able to provide further clarification of how we can best progress. Thank you, Helen.

Thank you. The next questions are from Mr. [ Robert John Taylor ] and Mrs. [ Belinda Gay Taylor ]. Their question is, in the future, are meetings going to continue online to allow more shareholders to attend in a hybrid form, allowing the choice to attend the meeting in person or online?

Thank you very much indeed, Mr. and Mrs. [ Taylor ] for your question. It's clearly a question which many people are currently addressing. And I think the Commonwealth government, who we really are indebted to, because they provided us with the capacity to use this technology in the context of the pandemic, are undertaking a review of what is going to be the most suitable and the most appropriate way to ensure meetings with shareholders take place in a way which is constructive and efficient. I think it's a bit early and a bit preemptive for me to be certain in terms of how that review will unfold. But we certainly will work with the government and with shareholder bodies to make sure that our ambition of being transparently available and open to shareholders continues. Thank you, Helen.

Thank you, Chairman. The next question is from shareholder, Ms. [ Catherine Mary Broders ]. Her question is, what are Coles going to do to ensure that they reduce carbon emissions? And what will they continue to do?

Well, this is, to some extent, akin to the earlier question I addressed. The issue of all of our impact upon the environment is something which we are consistently focusing upon. Coles started down the journey of addressing carbon emissions in 2009. At that time, we set an ambition of making sure that we reduced our carbon emissions by 30% by 2020. I'm pleased to say that, in fact, we have reduced those emissions by 36.5% at the present time. And as I mentioned previously, we are putting in place new arrangements, which will come into effect in 2021 with solar panel source energy and 2022-'23 in relation to the CleanCo renewable energy. We're putting in place those arrangements as a component part of the journey we're on. There are issues that we address in terms of refrigeration. Refrigeration is an essential component part of a supermarket. It is fundamental to the safety and the presentation of product to our customers. So as we look at refrigeration, we look at ways in which we can enhance their efficiency, minimize their impact upon the environment. You would have seen in many supermarkets, we've redesigned the front of those supermarkets so that there are now doors and fridges to reduce the loss of the cooling and require more electricity. This is an area which is ongoing, is the subject of a detailed review, which will continue for a very long period of time as we seek to increase our efforts to be a sustainable supermarket in Australia. Thank you, Helen.

Thank you, Chairman. The next question is from Shareholder, [ Sarah Jagusiak ]. Her question is relating to the 2020 sustainability report recent polling showed 70% of Australian consumers would like to see major companies run on 100% renewable electricity. Major retailers, ALDI, Bunnings and Officeworks have all recently made commitments to run entirely on renewable electricity between 2021 to 2025. Given this consumer expectation and the movement from other companies in our sector, including direct competitors, will Coles be committing to 100% renewable electricity?

Thank you, Ms. [ Jagusiak ] for your question. I think it's an extension of that, which I was already saying. There's 1 additional element that I should bring to everyone's attention, and that is our commitment to increase solar power through putting solar panels on supermarkets. That is something which we've been committed to for some while. At the end of June, we had 69 supermarkets with solar panels, we now have 72 supermarkets with solar panels. We are very much on the journey of increasing our responsible engagement in relation to every element of how we impact the environment. And this is something where, together, we will be making progress. In due course, we will be able to provide more details of how that progress can best take place. Thank you, Helen.

Thank you, Chairman. The next question is from shareholder, Ms. [ Faye Blau ]. Hi, my name is Faye. I live in Melbourne and regularly shop at Coles, and I'm also a shareholder. I'm environmentally conscious and keen to champion positive steps to support a greener future and more circular economy. I was pleased to see that Coles have the softer plastics recycled, which is great to not negatively impact on the circular economy and continuing to explore more sustainable packaging alternatives such as with toothpaste and their packaging and your meat in plastics as well as fruit. I look forward to hearing about Coles plans to support a greener, more sustainable shopping solution. Her question is, what is Coles going to do to support an environmentally greener society for both consumers and shareholders to have more sustainable shopping solutions? What initiatives does Coles have in the process towards this global war that we're now experiencing? And when will Coles move away from all these plastics seen in your supermarkets and many of its products?

Well, I think Ms. [ Ballow ], you will have heard elements of my response in relation to a number of the prior questions. We are concerned about waste. We've been concerned about waste for a very long period of time. We've been very effective in eliminating food waste in our businesses through our partnerships with SecondBite and Foodbank and through partnerships with our suppliers and farmers in relation to their requirements where they can see food as an input for their business. We are working, as I mentioned earlier with a number of the multinational firms in relation to their product packaging. How can we work together to ensure that there is greater recyclability of all packaging. On our own brand, we have been very active in trying to ensure that we are reducing waste and that the plastic that is created is capable of being recycled. As I mentioned earlier, we've got REDcycle bins in each of our supermarkets. There is curbside recycling as well. This is an area which is a very big area. It's important that we handle it responsibly. And I can assure you that this is something which will continue to be a focus of our attention. Thank you, Helen.

Thank you, Chairman. The next question is from shareholder, Mr. [ Michael Yen Zhu ]. Although staff have done an amazing job at all Coles stores, when will the staff discount reduce from 10% to 5%. How much are these discounts costing shareholders?

The answer in relation to the staff discount, which was brought into all team members during the height of pandemic, Mr. [ Zhu ], is that, that discount ceased at the end of -- on June 30. In relation to the second wave of the pandemic in Victoria, the team member discount was reintroduced, but only for those team members in the Victorian market. This is something which is part of the total operating cost that we reported upon in terms of the increased COVID costs that we incurred during the height of the pandemic, which covered extra staff, extra cleaning, extra sanitizers, safety screens in stores, distancing arrangements. And we've worked with our team members to ensure that rosters were adjusted so that there was better and greater separation; ensure that team members, however, were recognized for what they were doing in very tough and very special circumstances. Those figures have been called out in relation to our 30 June year. And more recently, we have indicated that our COVID-specific costs are running at the present time of approximately $15 million to $20 million per month. Many of those will continue. Those are costs related to cleaning, health, safety and protecting team members. Thank you, Helen.

Thank you, Chairman. The next question is from shareholder, Mr. [ George Karolis ]. He says, I would like to congratulate the Board, Steven Cain and his entire team for their incredibly hard work and success during this difficult time. My local Coles is in Southland and your team on the ground here has been exceptional right through COVID. My question is regarding security. There is a noticeable lack of security in your stores. And I've noticed in many instances where young, often teenage team member is put in a position of trying to handle a big confronting irate customer. This was more noticeable during COVID, and I'm sure that you understand the duty of care all your employees deserve. Please, keep up the good work.

Thank you, Mr. [ Karolis ]. And I'd like to ask Steven if you care to comment because team member safety is fundamental to our business.

Thank you, James, and thanks for the compliment about Southland, which we will pass on to the store manager there. It is, in fact, one of our best stores, and it's a great team. From the outset in March of the panic buying, it became very clear to us that we needed to increase the security in our stores, and that was done quite significantly. In the first instance, some of that was provided by local police forces, and we thank them for their support in the early phases of the panic buying, when you will recall that toilet rolls were quite hard to get hold of. What happened post that is that police force were then redirected to work on various other matters relating to COVID, not least of all, making sure that people were isolating if they had caught the infection. We then significantly increased our security forces across the country to make sure that -- where we felt there was any issues that they were there to help. We might sort of get back to Mr. [ Karolis ] just to sort of double check what the dates are that he was talking about because it's certainly our view that when stores have required security that they should be there. Of course, security guards are not the only form of security, and I should highlight that we have put in place a number of security measures over the last year in our stores that are most impacted by these type of issues, and that's things like additional cameras, additional measures at the checkouts and all of those type of things to make sure our stores are most secure. What we should also recognize is in a center like Southland, which is one of the largest shopping centers in Victoria, if not Australia, is there are security guards from the center management as well, who should be on hand, if anything happens. But I'd like to reiterate what the Chairman has said, which is team member security and safety is our #1 priority. Thanks, Helen.

Thank you, Steven. Helen, are there any further questions?

Yes, there are, Chairman. The next question is from the Australasian Center for Corporate Responsibility. The question is, Ernst & Young predict a labor shortfall of 26,000 workers over the next 9 months due to COVID-related migration restrictions with the National Farmers' Federation claiming that growers are contemplating plowing harvest into the ground due to a lack of picking labor. New cohorts of migrant workers have been unable to enter Australia and undocumented workers who make up a large percentage of the workforce have been unable to move across state borders. Given that the majority of Coles list of fresh food is domestically sourced, has Coles analyzed the impact this will have on its supply chains and consumers? And what steps has Coles taken to engage the government on migration reform to address this shortfall?

Well, thank you to ACCR for their question. And also thank you to ACCR for their contribution in the discussions that we had at our Annual General Meeting in 2019, which focused a lot upon the question of ethical sourcing and how we ensured the protection of all persons in our supply chain, particularly those working in the Australian horticultural industry. In the intervening year, we have been working very actively with government, with unions, with industry bodies to try and address all elements that make up the safe and sure working environment for persons working in our supply chain with our suppliers. We have an enormous commitment to work with those parties. There was, in fact, a meeting only last weekend at Coffs Harbor with 3 unions with the SDA, the TWU and AWU, to address new entrants coming in to picking at this time of year Australian fresh produce. Because we know there's great pressure on people, so what we are trying to do is to work with government, work with industry and work with unions to ensure that the standards that need to be met are met and that, where possible, where we can enhance information and understanding of the entitlements of all persons coming into Australia, we do so. The extent to which the government has been able to provide some flexibility to allow some workers to continue to enter into the Australian marketplace clearly is helpful in ensuring that the produce that we need, our customers need, is going to be readily made available. Thank you, Helen.

Thank you, Chairman. The next question is from shareholder [ Annette Lindsey Suta ]. Her question is regarding Mr. Graham's response to the question on renewable electricity recently, is there a reputational risk to the company if it doesn't met ALDI's recent commitment to 100% renewable electricity?

Well, Ms. [ Suta ], the issue you raised about our reputation is absolutely fundamental. Our vision is to be the most trusted retailer in Australia and to grow long-term shareholder value. We know we can only be the most trusted reputation if in every element of how we operate, through our team members, through our policies, through our engagement with the community, we have to set standards that others admire and respect. So I can only say to you that I'm extremely conscious of the importance of this issue, and these issues are matters which the Board constantly is reviewing to ensure that we are moving forward in a way where we're able to build upon that commitment to be the most sustainable supermarket. Thank you, Helen.

Thank you, Chairman. We have another question from Mrs. [ Catherine Rouse ] and Mr. [ Steven Gregory ]. The question is, can you describe the role of the newly opened Shanghai office? And how will you manage the diversion of scarce line items to this market at the expense of local customers? Will having this office enable more control?

I think, again, this is a somewhat operational question, and I'll defer to our Chief Executive, Steven Cain.

Okay. Thank you, James, and thanks for the question. We've had a very successful export business at Coles for decades. It started by exporting cuts of meat that are not popular in Australia because quite often we buy the whole carcass for -- in relation to the abattoirs and so on. What then happens is they are exported. Over time, what we've seen is that export business grow as our meat business in Australia has grown. We recognize that the government is trying to grow Australian exports of farm products. I think they have a target of $100 billion, and we're right behind that program. China is one of our -- the Chinese market is one of our largest markets. And last year, we took the decision to open an office, as you say, in Shanghai. We will always make sure that the priority is, first and foremost, Australian customers in our stores. But equally, where we can get surplus, we will try and export as part of growing Australian exports overseas to make sure that more farmers can be more sustainable over time. Thank you, Helen.

Helen, are there any further questions on this item?

There are, Chairman. The next question is from shareholder [ Benjamin Sulte ]. His question is, Coles' recent sustainability report indicated the company will soon be setting new climate targets. When will these new targets be released? And will they include commitments to renewable electricity by 2025 and net 0 emissions by 2030 as other major retailers have recently done?

Thank you very much, indeed, Mr. [ Sulte ] for your question and again, your focus upon the importance of this area. As I have mentioned in my previous answers, this is an area which is constantly being evaluated very clear understanding of the issues around any commitments that we give because it's imperative that in making commitments, we understand what they mean and how we can deliver them. So we will responsibly address these issues together with the broader sustainability issues. And as I said, we will, in due course, make further statements. It would be totally improper of me to preempt that assessment and review process that continues, but we will take your interest in mind and appreciate you bringing the importance of it to our attention. Thank you, Helen.