Elders Limited (ELD) Earnings Call Transcript & Summary

Good morning, everyone. My name is Ian Wilton, and I am the Chair of your company. As it is now past 10:00 A.M. Adelaide Time, I would like to welcome you to the 2021 Annual General Meeting of Elders Limited. I'm advised by the Company Secretary that we have the required quorum for the meeting to proceed. I therefore declare the 2021 Annual General Meeting of Elders Limited open. Welcome, and thank you for attending. In the spirit of reconciliation, Elders Limited acknowledges the traditional custodians of country throughout Australia and their connections to land, sea and community. We pay our respect to their elders past and present and extend that respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples today. Before commencing the formal business of the agenda, I would like to introduce my fellow Directors and our Company Secretary. Though we are not meeting in person today, I'm pleased that we can come together virtually to update you on your company. With me at the desk this morning is Mark Allison, our Managing Director and CEO; joining us remotely, we have Robyn Clubb. Robyn is Chair of the Audit, Risk and Compliance Committee and a member of each of the other Board committees. Robyn is standing for re-election today; Diana Eilert, Diana is Chair of the Remuneration and Human Resources Committee and also a member of each of the other Board committees; Matthew Quinn, who was elected to the Board last year and is a member of each of the Board committees; and Raelene Murphy, Raelene was appointed to the Board in January this year and stands for election by shareholders at today's meeting. Raelene is a member of each of our Board committees. Also joining us remotely are Peter Hastings, our Company Secretary; Marcus Lojszczyk from PricewaterhouseCoopers, who is the company's auditor. Marcus is available to answer any questions you may have relevant to the conduct of the audit or the preparation and content of the auditor's report. Also, Tania Foster, our CFO, Tania joined us in May this year. I will now briefly outline how I propose to deal with the business of the day, beginning with how to vote and submit questions. Voting on all resolutions to be considered at the meeting is now open. Voting takes place on the Lumi platform through which you have joined this meeting. In the unlikely event that we experience a loss of signal with the webcast, please do not log out of Lumi. We have a backup webcast stream running, which will automatically appear in Lumi within about 30 seconds of the initial loss of signal. This will restore the video and audio. The voting icon is the 3-bar graph icon that appears at the top left of your screen. Please refer to the slide displayed on your screen for visual instructions. You do not need to push any button on your computer or mobile device to save or submit your votes. As you select for, against or abstain, your vote will automatically be recorded. Any change to your vote as the meeting progresses will be recorded automatically. This means if you choose to vote early in the meeting and you experience technical difficulties after you have voted, your vote will still be received and counted in the poll. You may change your vote at any time until I declare the polls closed, which will be at the end of the question time later in the meeting. I will pause briefly at the end of questions to allow time for you to finalize your voting. Votes cast today will be added to those already cast by shareholders who voted before the meeting using the direct voting facility. But please note, if you have already voted on the resolutions proposed today and choose to vote online again during this meeting, it is your final vote in a meeting that will be counted. Only shareholders, their attorneys, proxy holders and authorized company representatives are entitled to vote on each poll. To vote today, you must log in using the voting access code provided by our share registrar, Boardroom. If you are attending the meeting in multiple capacities, for example, as a shareholder and proxy holder, Boardroom will have either provided you with multiple voting access codes or instructions on how to log in and vote. If you have not obtained a single voting access code allowing you to vote simultaneously in multiple capacities, you will need to log in separately for each capacity in which you are attending. A voting access code may be used to log into the meeting on multiple devices. Anyone logged in using a voting access code can ask written questions and vote, but only the final vote that is entered for each resolution will be counted. Finally, anyone logged into the meeting as a guest is unable to vote. Shareholders, their attorneys and appointed proxies may also submit comments and questions from now. To ask a written question, click on the speech icon on your screen. This will open a new screen that has a section to type your question. Please refer to the slide displayed on your screen now for visual instructions. Once you have finished typing your question, please click the arrow icon to send it. Written questions and comments are limited to 1,000 characters. So, I encourage you to be succinct. If you have more than one question, do not hesitate to ask each of them separately. Alternatively, you may ask spoken questions by phone. Phone numbers for shareholders located in Australia and overseas are displayed on your screen now. You will be asked to provide your name, details of the entity holding your shares and the SRN or HIN for your holding. While you are on the phone waiting to speak, you will hear the live meeting, but your line will be muted. Please press star 1 to alert the operator that you are waiting to ask a question. Once your question has been answered, your line will be muted again. Please feel free to hang up or stay on the line. If you wish to ask another question, please press star 1 to alert the operator. At the start of your question, please state your name and whether you are a shareholder in your own right or an attorney, proxy or corporate representative of a shareholder. The phone numbers will be displayed on the slides as we address each resolution and are available in the meeting information tab in Lumi. You may submit questions and comments at any time until I close the question time. After the final item of business, we will answer all questions and read out comments that have been submitted. During this time, I will try to answer written questions on similar topics in groups. I will call for final questions towards the end of the meeting and we'll wait a short amount of time after the last question to ensure any shareholder still typing as an opportunity for their question to be answered. Finally, shareholders are attending today's meeting to discuss matters of interest to shareholders as a group. If you have specific questions specific to your own shareholding that are not relevant to the group, we're happy to take your questions after the meeting, either through Boardroom or our Company Secretary. Our meeting today involves 6 items of business and 5 resolutions. I will read out all resolutions as set out in the Notice of Meeting. The resolutions will also be displayed on the slides visible in the webcast. All resolutions in the Notice of Meeting will be decided by a poll. The polls for all resolutions in the Notice of Meeting will close at the conclusion of question time. In keeping with modern practice, I will not seek proposers or seconders for the resolution. Shareholders should note that it is my intention to vote all open votes available to me in favor of all items. I appoint Stacey Spence from Boardroom Proprietary Limited, who is connected remotely today as Returning Officer. The Returning Officer's duties are to arrange for collection of all votes having regard to the voting exclusions set out in the Notice of Meeting and to advise me of the results of the polls. Final voting results will be released to the ASX following the conclusion of today's meeting. I have been advised by the Company Secretary that the Notice of Meeting has been properly circulated. And with your consent, I will take the Notice of Meeting as read. A copy of the minutes of last year's Annual General Meeting held on Thursday, the 17th of December 2020, is available for inspection by shareholders. If you wish to inspect the minutes, please contact the Company Secretary after the meeting. Before tabling the financial report of the company for the year-ended 30 September 2021, I would like to make some comments. In the past year, we have been faced with a range of challenging circumstances. These include the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, supply chain disruptions and trade embargoes. The Australian agricultural industry has faced these challenges successfully and has continued to provide Australians with food security. It has also delivered its greatest ever contribution to the Australian economy. Elders has played a critical role in supporting our primary producers to achieve this all-time high production value. The outlook for the industry remains overwhelmingly positive. As the most trusted partner of Australian primary producers, we intend to support them to capitalize on this opportunity and to grow our own business into the future. For the year-ended 30th of September 2021, we recorded an underlying after-tax profit of $151.1 million, which was 41 -- sorry, 40% above the previous year. Our Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, Mark Allison, will go into more detail of our operational achievements in his address. From our Board's perspective, however, the results demonstrate excellent progress in implementing our third Eight Point Plan and realizing further improvements in growth initiatives. Key components of our Eight Point Plan are to capture more margin through optimized pricing, backward integration and supply chain efficiency. At the same time, winning more market share through both organic and acquisition initiatives. These ongoing business improvements and the successful integration of key strategic and bolt-on acquisitions have combined with favorable seasonal and market conditions to deliver outstanding growth. The improved earnings have allowed us to declare total dividends for the year of $0.42 per share, partially franked. This represents a substantial increase from the $0.22 per share paid in respect of the previous year. We remain committed and focused on continuing to improve the business with a view to consistently growing returns for our shareholders. Moving now to governance and culture. The Elders corporate governance statement summarizes the key elements of our governance framework and practices. Our One Elders values of integrity, accountability, teamwork, innovation and customer focus are put into action every day by our people. They are ingrained in our culture and are key reasons, Elders continues to be ranked as the most trusted agribusiness brand in Australia according to independent research. Elders is also proactively applying those expectations and values to third parties whom we deal with. This year, along with the launch of our first modern slavery statement, we launched our ethical contracting framework and responsible sourcing code. This provides an important framework to guide decision-making on procurement and third-party dealings, having regard to ethical contracting, human rights, environment and safety matters. Elders is also committed to being an industry leader in adopting the best governance and sustainability standards practiced in corporate Australia. Climate change is one of the most significant challenges we face. Action to address climate change is not only a corporate social responsibility, it is critical to ensure the sustainability of Australian agribusiness into the future. As an industry leader, we acknowledge the role we play in leading by example to accelerate the adoption of sustainable farming practices throughout Australia. We have committed to aggressively and transparently reduce the greenhouse gas emissions associated with our own activities to Net Zero through a staged emissions reduction plan. We will achieve full alignment of our climate-related reporting with the recommendations of the Task Force on climate-related financial disclosures by the end of our third Eight Point Plan in September 2023. Our second sustainability report is available in the Elders Investor Center on our website. Our business is built on relationships and our people are our most valuable assets. Their abilities, knowledge, experience and dedication are irreplaceable. We continue to support them to achieve their best. It was pleasing to receive the results from a detailed Korn Ferry survey, which ranked the engagement and enablement of our workforce above the high performance benchmark. I commend our leadership team for their ongoing commitment to attracting and developing the very best talent in our business and positioning Elders as an employer of choice. I would like to thank every member of the Elders team for their tireless work in supporting our clients throughout the year. Your hard work and commitment are greatly appreciated. I would also like to recognize my fellow directors for their contribution and support and of course, to thank you, our shareholders, for your continued support. And now here is our Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, Mark Allison.

Good morning, and thank you for joining us online today for our FY '21 Annual General Meeting. I'm pleased to be speaking to you following one of Elders most successful years to date, one where we have delivered an exceptional full year financial results and in partnership with our customers, continue to play a critical role in maintaining the consistent production and supply of quality Australian agricultural products during a period of disruption and volatility. According to Roy Morgan Brand Trust Research, Elders has maintained its strong position as the most trusted agribusiness brand in regional Australia. We'll this is an outcome that we are extremely proud of. It's not one that we take for granted. In fact, we see it as one of our key responsibilities to our communities over the last 182 years. In all of our activities across the business from front-line in our branches to head office, we work with our clients at the center of our thinking to develop services and initiatives that help to reinforce their trust in us to manage and support their agricultural businesses. In completing the first year of our third Eight Point Plan, we have continued success with the achievement of outstanding financial results. In FY '21, we reported statutory profit after tax of $149.8 million, up 22% from FY '20. Underlying earnings before interest and tax was $166.5 million and underlying earnings per share was $0.967, an increase of 38%. Financial performance improved across geographic and product areas in all areas in FY '21, with the exception of the feed and processing business, which was challenged by higher fee to cattle prices. This excellent performance reflects the methodical implementation of the Eight Point Plan, coupled with strong seasonal and market conditions. We have created significant value through successfully executing and integrating strategic acquisitions, including a solid contribution from our AIRR wholesale business and numerous smaller high-return bolt-on acquisitions. Our business improvement initiatives are generating solid results as well, including our ongoing rural products backward integration strategy and other margin increasing initiatives. We have not compromised our unflinching financial discipline in achieving growth with our commitment to cost and capital efficiency reflected in the underlying return on capital of 22.5%. This was up 3.6% on FY '20 and significantly exceeded the company's 15% minimum target as set in the third Eight Point Plan. Safety remains central to everything that we do at Elders. We reported 3 lost time injuries in FY '21 and continue to strive for a 0 injury workplace. In the past year, we've invested some $1.9 million in safety capital expenditure throughout the Elders network. In addition to our safety action framework, we've implemented a safety monitoring platform, which allows us to collect and analyze safety information across the business in real time, providing deep insights into our key risk areas. As a result, we have established 3 critical risk teams to focus on livestock handling, driving and manual handling. These teams have been tasked to identify further steps we can take to mitigate those risks and to keep our people safe. Sustainability is another key focus of the business. Our dedicated sustainability team has provided us the opportunity to thoroughly assess and measure our progress to this point. And then to examine the opportunities we have to mitigate our impact across the agricultural supply chain and put in place measures that will position us with an industry-leading sustainability program. I encourage you to read our FY '21 sustainability report for more detail. But of note is our continued work aligning our climate-related disclosures with the Task Force of Climate and Financial Disclosures. We have recently announced the following targets and are actively working to achieve them. Target 1, 100% renewable electricity in our Australian sites by 2025. Target 2, to achieve 50% reduction in Scope 1 and Scope 2 emissions by 2030 against the baseline year of 2021. This will be subject to commercially viable technology being available to address feeder cattle emissions and with the consideration of investment in carbon offsets. And finally, Target 3, Net Zero Scope 1 and Scope 2 emissions by 2050. Within the Elders Eight Point Plan, our 5 strategic priorities of winning market share, capturing more gross margin, strengthening and expanding our service offerings, optimizing our feed and processing business and further developing our sustainability program, all remain on track. Our 3 enablers for the third Eight Point Plan include the systems modernization program, developing the best people in a safe and inclusive environment and maintaining our unflinching financial discipline. Systems modernization is well underway with the goal of establishing Elders as a more customer-centric business with the digital infrastructure to enable better customer experiences and to achieve significant operational efficiencies. Our branch footprint has grown again in FY '21 with the addition of several rural products and real estate businesses to the Elders network, as well as welcoming many talented individuals to our business across the country. As we grow, it's imperative that we continue to invest in developing our existing team and maintaining our One Elders culture. We have numerous personal and professional development initiatives in the business, ranging from our traineeship programs all the way through to our senior leadership development program, known as the Thomas Elder Academy. Notwithstanding ongoing COVID-19 restrictions, we have successfully maintained engagement with our people as demonstrated by our high performance enablement and engagement scores. This is a credit to the leadership group throughout the business and I thank them for their commitment to our people during these very challenging times. With 2 years left in our current Eight Point Plan, I'm confident that we have the right infrastructure, people and resource prioritization in place to develop what we have set to achieve. We have made tremendous progress and we'll continue to work hard to improve and expand in our business and deliver on our growth ambitions for EBIT and earnings per share to increase by 5% to 10% per annum through the cycles. Our FY '21 results show that we are on track and our pipeline projects give me assurance that our business is growing and strengthening in the right ways. It's an exciting time to be in agriculture, as an industry responds to enormous increases in global demand for quality and safe Australian agricultural produce. I'm pleased to be leading Elders throughout this period of such growth and prosperity and it is a privilege to work for you, our shareholders and for Australian agriculture, its people, communities and industries. So, that concludes my report today, and I'd like now to hand back to Ian.

Thank you, Mark. I now table the Financial Report for the company, together with the Director's Report and Independent Audit Report for the year-ended 30 September 2021. I remind you that you may submit a question and vote at any time before the polls close. And now to the resolutions before the meeting. The first resolution relates to the Elders 2021 Remuneration Report, which can be found on Pages 51 to 68 of the Annual Report. The resolution is displayed on the slide now visible on the webcast. It is the same as the resolution in agenda item 2 of the Notice of Meeting. The resolution states that the Remuneration Report, which forms part of the Director's Report for the 12-month period ended 30 September 2021 be adopted. Please note that the Corporations Act provides that the vote on this resolution is advisory only and does not bind the company or its directors. Notwithstanding this, Elders and the Elders Board respect the views of our shareholders. We welcome your feedback about the Remuneration Report. Any votes by key management personnel and their closely related parties will be disregarded, except for votes exercised as a proxy for other shareholders who are entitled to vote. For information purposes, the proxy and direct voting tallies are displayed on the slides visible in the webcast. I now move to the second resolution, which relates to the re-election of Robyn Clubb as a Director. The resolution is the same as the resolution in agenda item 3 of the Notice of Meeting and states that Robyn Clubb being a Director of the company, who retires pursuant to Rule 8.1.5(b) of the Constitution of the Company and being eligible, is re-elected as a Director of the company. Robyn has been a Non-Executive Director since September 2015 and was most recently elected by shareholders in 2019. Her skills and experience are set out in the Notice of Meeting. Robyn is currently Chair of the Audit Risk and Compliance Committee and a member of the Work, Health and Safety Committee, Remuneration and HR Committee and the Nomination and Prudential Committee. Robyn is considered by the Board to be an independent director, and her nomination for re-election has the unanimous support of the Board. Robyn has prepared a statement regarding her re-election, which we will play for you now.

Thank you, Chair, and good morning to fellow Elders shareholders. My name is Robyn Clubb, and I am seeking your support for my re-election to the Board of Elders Limited as an independent Non-Executive Director. I have served on the Board since September 2015 and believe I will continue to make a meaningful and impactful contribution to Elders. It has undoubtedly been an honor and a privilege to serve on the Board of such a trusted and enduring company and particularly to work with such a talented and committed team of people led by Ian Wilton and Mark Allison. My commercial background includes a career of over 20 years as a senior executive in financial services with a transition to a full-time Non-Executive Director from 2004. My deeply embedded interest and commitment to agriculture derives from an upbringing on a sheep and cattle property in South Eastern New South Wales, a long-term involvement as a counselor and former treasurer of the Royal Agricultural Society of New South Wales. My ongoing interest in raising Angus cattle and the natural selection of my current and past portfolios of Board Directorships, strongly weighted to agribusiness and rural and regional Australia. It's an exciting time to be in agriculture with continuous improvement in productivity and sustainability, aided by rapidly evolving technologies and sciences, the adoption of new farming practices in response to climate change, the focus on safe and healthy workplaces, best practices in animal welfare and environmentally friendly farming. Elders is a prominent player in many aspects of this rapidly changing and increasingly technology-driven world. I believe I will continue to contribute as a member of the Board as Chair of the Audit and Risk Committee and as a member of the Work, Health and Safety, Nomination of Prudential and Remuneration and Human Resources Committees. I assumed the role of Chair of the Audit and Risk Committee in September 2019. The enduring focus on strong financial disciplines, risk management and audit oversight is a critical element of Elders turnaround, significant growth and future success. My knowledge and experience in the agricultural agribusiness sector and rural regions continues to deepen and broaden, which certainly benefits my role as an Elders Director. More specifically, my current directorships include in the wool industry as Chair of the Australian Wool Exchange; in the meat, chicken growing sector, as Chair of ProTen, a directly owned asset of Aware Super; in the horticultural sector as Chair of Fresh Country Farms, a subsidiary of PSP Investments, in the sheep beef, pork and seafood processing sectors as a Director of the Craig Mostyn Group and rural and regional connections as a Director of Essential Energy. Past directorship roles included businesses or government entities in the rice industry as a former Chair of the Rice Marketing Board for the State of New South Wales, water distribution through Murray Irrigation, Chair of the New South Wales Primary Industries Ministerial Advisory Council and as a Director of Rural Bank and a Director of Beef CRC Limited. These roles have included experience as Chair of Audit, Risk and Compliance and Remuneration and Human Resource Committees. Sitting on a selected group of Boards provides opportunities for transfer of ideas, enhance productivity, improve processes and controls and broader strategic thinking. Learnings from each Board certainly enrich the judgment and contribution I'm able to make to other Boards. I continue my lifelong interest as a beef producer, running Angus cattle in the Southern Tablelands of New South Wales. And until 2014, I was also with [ stone fruit growers ], supplying fruit to [ Sydney ] markets, supermarkets and export markets. I believe my commercial experience in other agribusinesses, together with my deeper understanding of the Elders business acquired over the past 6 years, my financial services experience of over 20 years as an executive, my long-standing involvement and passion for agriculture, experience as a Non-Executive Director and ongoing development of skills will enable me to continue to provide a significant contribution to the continuing growth of Elders Limited. Thank you.

Thank you, Robyn. The proxy and direct voting tallies are displayed on the slide shown in the webcast for you now. I now move to the third resolution, which relates to the election of Raelene Murphy as a Director. This resolution is the same as the resolution in agenda item 4 of the Notice of Meeting and states that Raelene Murphy having been appointed by the Board since the last Annual General Meeting, who retires in accordance with Rule 8.1.5(a) of the Constitution of the Company and being eligible, is elected as a Director of the company. Raelene was appointed by the Board as a Non-Executive Director in January this year. She is also a member of each of the Board's committees. Raelene's skills and experience are set out in the Notice of Meeting, and she is considered by the Board to be an independent director. Raelene's nomination has the unanimous support of the Board. Raelene has also prepared a statement regarding her election. So, can we please have a look at that now?

Thank you, Ian, and thank you, fellow shareholders. It is a great honor and privilege to offer myself for election to this great company, which has over 180 years of history and leadership in the Bush and again, this year was voted the #1 most trusted agribusiness brand. Elders has been part of my life for most of it, whether as a young girl in a small western district town and my father's pub was next to the Elders store or as an auditor with then Pricewaterhouse hauled up at the jam factory in Melbourne for many months of the year, waiting for John Elliott's latest venture, agricultural or not, or at the Bert Street office trolling over agency trust accounts over 35 years ago. Elders under the leadership of Ian Wilton as Chair and Mark Allison as CEO and supported by a fantastic and passionate team is partway through its third Eight Point Plan as a return to its rural services business. It has not lost any of its entrepreneurial flare, but has attached the discipline around strategy and execution to confidently commit to great returns in a great season and good returns in a challenged season. I could not be joining the Board of Elders at a better time. Number 1, the success of our backwards integration strategy and the AIRR acquisition increasing returns and underpinning us exceeding our current Eight Point Plan on its EBIT, EPS and ROC commitments with more to come. Number 2, the kick-off of our systems modernization project to improve the customer experience and drive process and administration efficiencies and all the opportunities that this presents. And 3, our people and sustainability programs ramping up considerably, including on diversity and inclusion and the commitment to interim targets for emissions and Net Zero by 2050. There remains many strategic operations for delivering increased shareholder value beyond the current Eight Point Plan and for leadership generally as one of Australia's leading rural services businesses with over 2,000 employees proud to wear the pink shirt. This leadership extends to all issues in the Bush, whether it be our support of the Royal Flying Doctor Service or one I am personally passionate about, increased connectivity for phone and Internet to enable those in the Bush to enjoy the same opportunities and convenience that technology brings as the communities in the city enjoy. Elders already has a strong and values-driven Board that has overseen significant change. As I've said, I'm honored to offer myself for office as a Non-Executive Director of Elders. I am confident I bring the right set of skills and values to the Board. I have a history of adding value, whether as a CEO, as a Managing Director at KordaMentha overseeing their turnaround division or as a Director of ASX-listed companies, where I had a keen focus on increasing TSR. I believe I bring the skills to this Board and to add value and enhance governance for shareholders, not only as an experienced ASX Non-Executive Director and Audit Chair, but through my experience as a CEO and professional advisor and as a senior executive across a range of disciplines and industries. This experience is detailed in the material. Thank you for those that have already voted for me, and I look forward to your continued support in the role as without that support, the role doesn't exist. Thank you, Ian.

Thank you very much, Raelene. The proxy and direct voting tallies are again displayed on the slide shown in the webcast. I will now move to the fourth resolution, which relates to the approval of the issue of securities under the long-term incentive plan. The resolution is displayed on the slide in the webcast and is the same as the resolution in agenda item 5 of the Notice of Meeting. The proposed resolution is that for the purposes of ASX Listing Rule 7.2, Exception 13 and for all other purposes, the issue of securities under the long-term incentive plan as described in the accompanying explanatory notes be approved. I believe the Notice of Meeting sufficiently details the rationale behind this resolution, so I do not propose to repeat it. However, this resolution seeks approval from shareholders so that securities issued under the Elders long-term incentive plan, which was adopted by the Board on the 18th of December 2014, are not counted towards the 15% annual placement capacity available under Listing Rule 7.1. This means that Elders can if this resolution is passed, issue securities under the long-term incentive plan for 3 years from the date of this meeting and preserve its annual placement capacity to make sure it is used in Elders best interest should the need arise. The proxy and direct voting tallies are displayed on the slide shown in the webcast. Votes cast by long-term incentive plan participants and their associates and key management personnel and their closely related parties will be disregarded. Exceptions to this are set out in the Notice of Meeting. I now move to the fifth and final resolution. This resolution relates to the proposed grant of performance rights to the Managing Director under Elder's long-term incentive plan. The resolution is displayed on the slide in the webcast and is the same as the resolution in agenda item 6 of the Notice of Meeting. The proposed resolution is that the grant of 102,400 performance rights to the Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, Mr. Mark Charles Allison, on the terms specified in the accompanying explanatory notes be approved. Your Board believes the incentive arrangements for our MD and CEO, Mark Allison, are an essential and key component to achieving our long-term goals. The terms of the proposed grant are set out in the Notice of Meeting. The Board believes the conditions of the grant are both balanced and challenging and are aligned to shareholder interests. If the rights proposed to be granted to Mr. Allison vest in their entirety, benefits will flow to shareholders by way of company growth and improved earnings. The proxy and direct voting tallies are again displayed on the slide shown in the webcast. Votes cast on this item by or on behalf of Mark Allison and any of his associates or by a member of the key management personnel and their closely related parties acting as a proxy will be disregarded. Exceptions to this are set out in the Notice of Meeting. Thank you, everyone. Your views as shareholders are very important to us and we are always eager to receive your feedback. With that in mind, we will now answer your questions and take comments on the management of the company, the Remuneration Report and other items of business before the meeting today. I would like to remind you that those logged in using a voting access code may also continue to submit questions online until I advise this question time is closed. I will endeavor to ensure that all relevant questions are answered prior to the close of this question-and-answer session. Written questions will be read out before they are answered, beginning with questions received in writing prior to the meeting. The Board received 4 submissions before the meeting for which answers have been prepared. Therefore, I would like to take this opportunity to advise that the polls will close in approximately 5 minutes, unless additional questions are received. As noted earlier, Mr. Marcus Lojszczyk of PwC, the company's auditor, is also connected remotely to answer any questions you have relevant to the conduct of the audit and the auditor's report. Prior to the meeting, no questions have been advised -- had been addressed to Marcus. Will the moderator, please read out the first question.

Chair, the first question comes from [ Ronald Dave ]. Ronald says the share price seems rather stagnant. What is the Board doing about growth of the company?

Well, thank you for your question, Ronald. I wish I understood the vagaries of share price movements, but perhaps I will comment on the share price specifically. Over various time frames, the share price has experienced significant growth. For example, growth has been 11% over 1 year, 67% over 3 years and nearly 200% over 5 years. Over each of these periods, this performance exceeds growth in the S&P/ASX 200 Index. In relation to the future, we believe our Eight Point Plan puts us in a strong position for further growth, targeting 5% to 10% annual growth in earnings through the agricultural cycles. This growth will come both organically and through acquisition. Our pipeline of future potential acquisitions is very strong. In summary, we aim to achieve organic growth through attracting, retaining and developing the best people and providing a safe and inclusive workplace. Our commitment to the communities in which we operate, which ensures we can improve our services and their delivery to the benefits of customers and our systems modernization project, which is aimed at improving customer experience and increasing efficiency. Hopefully, this has explained some of our strategic priorities and why we believe they will lead to greater returns for shareholders. Can we please have the next question?

Thank you, Chair. The next comment comes from [ Brent Busted ]. Brent says, I'm hoping we do not have flooding in mouse plague this season. Chair, would you like to respond?

Well, thank you for your question, Brent. And I obviously hope we don't either, and we understand how difficult these situations can be. Where Elders can help, we will. And I can add that I saw reports recently that the heavy rain we've experienced has helped eliminate the mouse plague. Let's hope that continues. Can we please have the next question?

Thank you, Chair. The next question comes from [ Helen Hassen ]. Helen asks, when is the company going to limit the remuneration packages for senior executives and the Board to no more than 10x the annual salary of the lowest paid worker or contractor. This will deliver much better outcomes for shareholders.

Well, thank you for your question, Helen. I believe you asked the same question last year. We do not specifically look to limit the remuneration of our Board or executives, but rather to align the remuneration arrangements of all our employees with our organizational goals and objectives. The remuneration arrangements for the Board and executives are benchmarked against our peers to ensure we attract and retain a high-performing team. Attracting, retaining and developing the best people is a key enabler of our current Eight Point Plan. As part of this, our remuneration framework ensures all employees are eligible for incentives based on attainment of corporate objectives. Salaries are also reviewed annually. In summary, we believe our remuneration framework is fair, consistently applied and in line with best practice. Helen, I trust that answers your question. Are there any further questions?

Thank you, Chair. The fourth question comes from Ken Wakeman of the Australian Shareholders' Association, representing 43 shareholders. Chair, I would like to thank you together with the CEO and Company Secretary for meeting with us prior to the AGM. We appreciate you taking the time to meet with us, thereby showing your consideration to retail shareholders. We note the continuing excellent results and congratulate the CEO and Board. We found the Remuneration Report to be clear and concise, an excellent report. We note that the former CFO, Richard Davey, who retired on 30 June 2021 was paid 100% of his short-term incentive. This amount was paid at the CEO discretion and was approved by the Board. Can you explain to the meeting why 100% was paid despite only part year of service?

Ken, thank you for the question. I'm sorry if this wasn't clear in the Remuneration Report. Richard Davey's STI was pro rata for his 9 months of the service to 30 June 2021, when he retired from Elders. Richard's maximum STI opportunity for the full FY '21 year, had he worked through that, was actually $272,000. The percentage stated in the report relates to the 9 months he worked for us. That is, he received 100% of the pro rata 75% available to him. Hopefully, that makes things a little clearer. Moderator, have there been any further questions?

Chair, there are no further questions.

Since there are no further questions, I will allow another 30 seconds for you to finalize your votes before I close the polls. While you do that, here is a short video. [Presentation]

I now declare the polls closed. Thank you for your support and we welcome your ongoing feedback. That concludes the formal business of the meeting. I will arrange for the results of all polls to be announced to the ASX. On behalf of your Board, thank you for your attendance this year. We trust you have found the virtual format to be both effective and easy to use. A replay of this webcast is available for viewing on the company's website. Hopefully, next year, we will be able to welcome some of you face-to-face in Adelaide. Please enjoy the rest of your day and stay safe. Thank you.