EVT Limited (EVT) Earnings Call Transcript & Summary

Good morning. It has gone 10 o'clock. Firstly, I'd like to begin by acknowledging the traditional owners of the land on which we meet today, The Gadigal people of the Eora Nation and pay my respects to elders both past and present. Friends, I welcome you to the Annual General Meeting of Event Hospitality & Entertainment. I would like to also extend a warm welcome to our shareholders who are participating through our online platform. A quorum is present, and I declare the meeting open. I'd now like to introduce to you my colleagues on stage starting from my right, Mr. Richard Newton; Ms. Valerie Davies; David Grant; Jane Hastings, our outstanding CEO; David Stone, our Company Secretary; Peter Coates; and Patria Mann. We also have with us today, both in person and online, a number of our senior executives. Cameron Slapp from KPMG, the group's auditor, is also with us today and will be available to answer questions. Just a few procedural matters, if I may. Every effort has been made to ensure the meeting runs smoothly. However, if any technical issues arise when it becomes necessary to provide procedural information in respect of the meeting, updates will be provided via our website and also through the ASX. I'll begin the meeting with an address from myself and our CEO, Jane Hastings, will follow. We will then go to the formal proceedings. Resolutions will be decided by a poll. Voting on the resolutions is now open, and you can vote any time during the meeting, and voting will also remain open for 10 minutes after the conclusion of the meeting. Would you please note that only shareholders, proxy holders or authorized shareholder representatives may vote. For those attending using the online meeting platform, the voting icon will appear on the navigation bar. Once you click on this, the resolutions will appear on your screen. You should see for, against or abstain for each resolution. You can also change your vote at any time until the poll is closed. For those attending in person, if you are entitled to vote, you will receive either a blue or a yellow voting card. Please ensure that you complete your voting card and hand it to one of the representatives from Computershare at an appropriate time. If you need any assistance, simply raise your hand and one of our attendants will assist you. As Chair of the meeting, I hold a number of open proxies. As set out in the notice of the meeting, I will be voting all available proxies in favor of each part of business. I now appoint Maria Dzopalic of Computershare Investor Services as our returning officer. We will answer questions and comments from shareholders later in the meeting. We encourage you to start submitting written questions and comments online now, and we'll address them later on. If you have any difficulties in asking a question, please refer to the user guide, which can be addressed through the online platform. To ask a verbal question, please follow the instructions on the online meeting platform. For those of you attending in Perth, you may ask a question or make a comment, if you hold a blue or yellow card, simply raise your hand when I start taking questions, and one of our attendants will be with you. We will take questions and comments at the end of the meeting. And all of the items -- on all of the items of business, which have been presented to you. And this will include any questions that may be directed towards the auditor. And to ensure that shareholders have a whole -- as shareholders as a whole have a reasonable opportunity to be heard, I'll ask you to limit your questions or comments to 2 at any one time. Questions and comments should relate to the business under consideration at this meeting. Turning to the ordinary business. The first item deals with the financial statements of the group, the directors' report and the external auditor's report for the year ended 30th of June 2022. The financial statements and report were approved at a meeting of the Board of Directors in August this year, and are contained within the annual report. I have pleasure in presenting these to the meeting. And in doing so, would like to make a few comments. The annual report, which includes the financial statements for the year ended June '22 was released to shareholders in September of this year. The group's total net profit after tax for the year was $53.3 million, whilst the normalized profit after tax was $46.2 million. Whilst the first half of the financial year was materially impacted by lockdowns and restrictions across much of Australia and New Zealand as COVID-19 restrictions eased. The second half demonstrated the strength of demand for all of the group's operating businesses. We have also seen the benefits delivered by the transformation initiatives undertaken during the COVID impacted period with margin improvements in cinemas when compared to pre-COVID trading months, the success of our new business model in Thredbo and unprecedented growth in room rate in our hotels. The Board continues to review, assess and monitor appropriate capital management initiatives and strategies and desires to maintain a strong balance sheet that will support the further development of key assets and maximize sustainable and long-term earnings for the shareholders. Since the group's total cash balance at the 30th of June was $175 million with total debt outstanding of $386 million. This provides significant headroom in terms of available liquidity with the group's core debt facility of $650 million. This facility will be maturing in July next year, and the refinancing process is underway with the group's lenders. The group has always prided itself on the strength of its balance sheet, which is underpinned by property holdings. The Board is pleased with the results of the group's noncore property divestment strategy on which the targeted proceeds of $250 million has been exceeded as sales prices is significantly above the most recent valuations for the relevant properties. As foreshadowed last year, to assist liquidity, the group did not pay an interim or final dividend for the year. Yesterday, we announced that the board had declared a fully franked special dividend of $0.12 per share in recognition of the success of the aforementioned property sales. Future dividend payments will remain subject to the Board consideration, having regard to all relevant circumstances including lender gearing requirements and, in particular, the group's trading performance. We have continued to make significant progress with the approvals process for major redevelopments of properties located at 525 George Street and 458 George Street, which our CEO will update you on further in her address. The group is considering various funding options and structures for these major developments. 525 George Street, the property we are located in today is expected to be the first of the major developments, incorporating a retail, a cinema at 292 room hotel conference center and 115 residential apartments. We anticipate retaining 100% ownership of this development with the success of a partner of sales, providing sufficient funding to support the project. In relation to the other major development of 458 George Street, we are clear that it is not our core expertise is not property commercial development. In this regard, the commercial office tower component of this project will require a partner in some capacity. For both major developments, the Board will assess and consider market conditions prior to commencement to ensure that appropriate value will be able to be delivered to shareholders. I'd like to now briefly comment in relation to our German investment. Today, we announced that the group has agreed a financial settlement with respect to its allegations of breaches by Vue International and Vue Netherlands on the sale and purchase agreement for the acquisition by Vue of the group's German cinema operation, CineStar. In agreeing the settlement, the group knows that Vue is currently implementing a significant balance sheet restructuring, whereby the secured lenders will take over all of the equity in the Vue Group in a debt for equity swap. Under the terms of this settlement, the group will receive an amount of GBP 6.5 million, equal to approximately $11.6 million. With the parties agreeing a mutual release on all claims relating to the SPA, that being the share purchase agreement and to discontinue the arbitration, which was [offered]. Your Board considers this settlement to be in the best interest of shareholders in the circumstances. The group has been guided by the fourth edition of the ASX Corporate Governance Council's Principles and Recommendations during the year, and the corporate governance statement has been published on the group's website. This statement sets out the government practices and procedures and should assist shareholders in understanding and appreciating the importance we place upon good corporate governance. Your Board also focuses on maintaining an appropriate approach to remuneration and details of this are dealt within the annual report. In particular, the group's policies are designed to as far as possible ensure that the remuneration packages reflect an employee's duties and responsibilities and enable the group to attract, motivate and retain high-caliber executives. We are mindful also of the tenure of directors and earlier this year commenced a Board renewal process. Mr. Richard Newton has advised the Board of his intention to step down as a Director of the conclusion of today's meeting. Friends, I'd like to take this opportunity to thank Richard for his contribution to the Board over the last 14 years. Director search process is at an advanced stage, and I anticipate making an announcement regarding a new appointment to the Board in the coming weeks. Richard, thank you very much for your guidance and support over that period. Shareholders would also be aware that there is a resolution to change the company name, which will be considered later in the meeting. The proposed new name, EVT Limited, far better reflects what we do and how we do it, following the transformation initiatives undertaken by the CEO and for her team. This new name positions the group well for the future. Jane will be commenting further on this matter in her address. We have also focused on optimizing the group's position through the pandemic and the Board considers that the group is well positioned to be able to take advantages of appropriate opportunities as and when they arise in the recovery period and also into the future. Friends, I in particular, would like to acknowledge the outstanding efforts of our CEO, especially in the leadership shown in responding to the impact of COVID-19 on our operating businesses. I'm confident the actions of Jane and her team have provided a strong platform for the future. For the rest of the executive team and all group employees, I extend our thanks for your collective and personal efforts. We are proud to have such a depth of experience and recognize the contribution you have made, which has been and will continue to be invaluable as we embrace the opportunities that arise into the future. As I stated last year, difficult decisions have seen many of our valued employees leave us. And to them and their families, I express my appreciation for the past support. And I also acknowledge the difficulties that many have faced with stay-at-home orders, and I thank you for your perseverance during these difficult times. Finally, I'd like to thank my co-directors for your efforts during the year. And in particular, thank our 6,500 shareholders for your ongoing support. Ladies and gentlemen, thank you very much. I'll now ask Jane to present her address. Thank you, Jane.

Thanks, Alan, and good morning, everyone. The results for the year ended 30th of June 2022 represented a significant improvement on the prior year despite the first half impact of materially greater lockdowns and restrictions in Australia and New Zealand, the end of JobKeeper in Australia in June 2021. Normalized revenue was $953.8 million, up $300.6 million or 46% and normalized EBITDA was $138.3 million, up $111.1 million. Excluding the benefit of the German government's bridging aid programs, which principally related to losses in the prior year period associated with mandated COVID restrictions, group revenue was $890.8 million, up $237.6 million or 36%, and EBITDA was $75.3 million, up $48.1 million. As lockdowns and restrictions ease, the second half result demonstrated the strong demand for each of our brands. The entertainment businesses benefited from strong pent-up demand for the cinema experience, a growing preference for premium experiences and our new initiatives resulting in customers spending more on food and beverage. This is underpinned by the release and performance of key blockbuster titles, including Top Gun, Spiderman, which are now 2 of the top 5 highest grossing titles of all time in the Australian market. The hotel's result was a tale of 2 halves, with the first half materially impacted by lockdowns and restrictions followed by a strong recovery in the second half. Record rate growth was achieved with the average room rate for the group's owned hotels up 5% on the pre-COVID financial year '19 and the fourth quarter of the year up 23.3% on the comparable period in FY '19. While Thredbo was materially impacted by the foreclosure of the resort in the 2021 winter season, this was followed by a strong second half result with normalized EBITDA of $6.3 million, up 6% on the prior year. The second half result reflects the success of the Thredbo growth strategy, including the expansion of the mountain biking experience and the new business model, which has maximized the strong June 2022 preseason snow fall. Unallocated corporate costs increased $7.5 million due to an increase in insurance premiums and the end of JobKeeper. Underlying unallocated costs were 3.7% below financial year '19 unallocated costs. As a group, we have transformed from new business models, delivering margin improvements, insights led design and decisions, smarter procurement and greater adoption of customer and business technology. We have overcome many of the industry people challenges with our focus on ELEVATE. Our people program focused on building our culture. Moving forward, we are now an agile group with a strong foundation for future growth. The group's property portfolio at 30th of June 2022 has been independently valued at approximately $2 billion. The group exceeded its target to realize the total gross proceeds of $250 million from the sale of noncore property assets following the sale of Rydges North Sydney, which settled in July 2022. This hotel has been rebranded as the Miller Hotel and retained under a management agreement within the independent collection by Event. Total proceeds from noncore property sales to date are $275.3 million, which represents a premium of approximately 28% above the recent valuations. The group's net debt at 30th of June 2022 before the settlement of the sale of the North Sydney property was $210.4 million, below pre-COVID-19 net debt levels and significantly below net debt of $355.5 million at 30th of June 2021. The combination of our strategic initiatives, improved trading and the sale of our noncore assets has placed us in the best position to invest for growth and capitalize on opportunities that may arise in the future. We are very pleased with the progress on our hotel growth strategies. We continue to invest in our key hotel assets, including an upgrade of QT Gold Coast, which is nearing completion. -- and an upgrade of Rydges Melbourne, which is currently closed and due to reopen later in this financial year. Upgrades of Rydges Queenstown, including seismic strengthening of the wings are currently -- which are currently closed and QT Canberra are all at the preliminary planning stage. The group's hotel strategy has evolved to ensure we can best leverage our capabilities and provide a solution for all segments of the market from luxury to budget accommodation. This evolution has been enabled through acquisition of key city assets, new management agreements for existing brands, acquisition of the innovative budget lifestyle brand, Jucy Snooze, now rebranded as Lylo and the creation of the independent collection to better leverage the group's expertise by introducing new and innovative hotel management and service models. The independent collection offers solutions to independently branded luxury to budget hotel owners and has grown to 12 hotels with the addition in the year of HotelMOTEL in Adelaide, The Terrace Adelaide, The Kennigo Hotel in Brisbane and the more recent addition post year end of the Miller Hotel formerly Rydges North Sydney, Arawa Park Hotel Rotorua formerly Rydges Rotorua and Hotel Totto located in Wollongong. A new flagship Lylo property will also open in late November in Auckland this year. In terms of cinemas, our strategy to rightsize the cinema portfolio with fewer and best locations, and a targeted investment and proven premiumization concepts is delivering double-digit growth in key performance metrics. During the year, we exited leases of underperforming cinemas in Coolangatta and Morayfield. The BCC Toombul complex was flood damaged in February, and the lease was terminated in June. In addition, the cinema at Lismore is currently closed after being flood damaged in February, and the Wollongong cinema is also closed after sustaining significant storm damage in February. In terms of investment and premiumization, we completed the upgrade of the Shellharbour complex and key locations at Chermside in Brisbane and Innaloo in Perth are well underway. In New Zealand, the Queensgate site will reopen later this year with premium cinema options after closing in 2016 following the Kaikoura earthquake. In relation to Thredbo developments, major upgrades to the snowmaking system included the installation of 10 snowmaking fan guns on Friday Flat were completed in time for this winter season. As part of our property development strategy, we unlock the value from unutilized bid rights at Thredbo, realizing revenue of $7 million in the year. Further initiatives are in progress to unlock more opportunities in the space. Construction of a further 3 new beginner mountain biking trails, and the cruise area has commenced and now open in the summer season. Looking further ahead, the proposed Alpine Coaster installation is expected to add a further year-round attraction to the resort and is scheduled subject to the required approvals to be completed for the 2024 winter season. We have also started preparatory work for the replacement -- for the replacement of the 2-seater Snowgums chairlift with a new 6-seater chairlift with construction scheduled for completion subject to approvals for the 2025 winter season. As part of our strategic goal to maximize assets, we continue to make progress on our major property developments. We expect the first of our major property developments to be 525 George Street where you're sitting today, which currently forms part of this complex. This is a mixed-use development, and we lodged the Stage 2 DA in May. Detailed interior design work is well underway, and we expect the Stage 2 DA to take between 8 to 12 months for approval following which we'll commence the marketing of the apartments for presale subject to market conditions. The intention is to partially fund this development via the sale of the apartments and the group will retain the hotel cinema and retail areas. Subject to a successful residential presales process, construction is targeted to commence at the end of financial year '24 or early financial year '25. We also submitted a Stage 1 development application for the commercial office tower component of the 458-472 George Street property, which we expect will take up to 12 months for approval. The intention remains to introduce a partner into the 458-472 project at the right time. As you know, we are seeking shareholder approval at today's meeting to change the name of the company to EVT Limited. I wanted to take a moment to explain the reason for the name change and what it means for the group moving forward. Event Hospitality & Entertainment has been a bit of a best kept secret. When we say Event, people immediately think we are Event Cinemas, which is a great brand. But what some people don't know is that Event stands for more than cinemas and is behind some of the best brands and experiences in the market. So our name is the most obvious part of the problem. It hasn't quite fully told our story like the strength of our property portfolio and development plans. Thredbo, the fact that we operate 150 restaurants and bars that we have extensive conference and events network with over 1,500 indoor and outdoor venues. Greater recognition of our company brand is an important part of attracting talent, especially in a highly competitive market that we are facing today. So we needed a better sale of what we do. We had to solve this and move forward in a way that amplifies our inherent strengths and sets us up for the future. And it turns out the answer was right in front of us. Most people were calling us EVT, simply because it was our domain name, evt.com and our ASX code. So we have embraced it and amplified it. E is for entertainment. We have an extensive portfolio of entertainment experiences. And in the eyes of our customers, this includes indoor and outdoor cinemas, restaurants and bars, any of our businesses seeking customer discretionary time and spend. V is for ventures. From hotel management opportunities, media partnerships to property developments. T is for travel, covering our luxury to budget hotel accommodation options and Thredbo. In launching EVT, we are demonstrating what we do with more impact. Our customers are at the center of everything we do. An example of a change that is more customer-focused is the new way we are presenting our food and beverage experiences under entertainment. To date, we've included our restaurants and bars under hotels. By repositioning our restaurants and bars under entertainment, we can better showcase the experiences we offer in a way that the customer thinks about a dining experience. When you decide to go out for dinner, you not naturally look to search under hotels for a restaurant and bar because it's an entertainment experience. And so that's where it can now be found on evt.com. Under ventures, we now have a way to showcase our extensive property portfolio and developments like never before. Under travel, we now have a way to showcase our luxury to budget hotel experiences alongside Thredbo. Entertainment Ventures Travel. It's in our name. It's what we do through the eyes of our customers. But how we do it is what makes us unique. It starts with responding to what customers want and our vision is to be leaders in creating experiences that escape the ordinary. That means changing the game, making an impact, being bold, never been cookie-cutter. How we bring this to life is through our 3 strategic goals: firstly, to grow revenue above market; second, to maximize our assets; and thirdly, business transformation projects to improve our margins. Each of these 3 goals is only successful if our customer satisfaction is growing at the same time. This is why we've invested in listening to what our customers think via our Net Promoter Scores and e-sentiment tracking and aligning our actions and capital improvements. However, our success is not measured on profit alone. At the same time, we are responsible for constantly improving our workplace and employee engagement. We'll give back to the communities we operate in and for taking responsibility for our part in creating a better tomorrow for the environment. This is what we define as our ELEVATE program, elevating our people, communities and environment. Every pillar has a clear set of goals and are relevant across every part of our business. We have come out of one of the most difficult trading periods in our history as a stronger company, and there is no better time than now to position ourselves in the best way for the future as EVT. I'll now comment on the current year performance over the first quarter. On a normalized basis, excluding the impact of AASB 16 leases, the group's EBITDA was $70.6 million, a turnaround on the loss of $15.5 million in the prior comparable quarter and up 32.5% on the $53.3 million profit for the first quarter of the pre-COVID financial '19 year. This result was achieved despite quarter 1 revenue being relatively flat, down 0.3% on the pre-COVID FY '19 year. This strong result was a direct outcome of the effort of the team at EVT over the COVID period in transforming our business. Our Thredbo business model was completely redesigned and refocused. To summarize, we are better maximizing our inventory and delivering a more premium experience for customers. As a result, despite variable snow conditions, quarter 1 revenue was $74.3 million, up 27.7% on pre-COVID and normalized EBITDA was $42.3 million, $12.4 million or 41% above the first quarter of FY '19. This was achieved on fewer skier days and customer feedback reinforces that the Thredbo experience has never been better. For the Entertainment division, the film release schedule is still experiencing the impact of the COVID disruption on film production. However, we have confidence in our new business initiatives. In July, we benefited from the key blockbuster titles such as Thor, Minions and Top Gun. August and September were quiet months with no major films released. Despite this, normalized EBITDA for the Entertainment Group, including CineStar Germany, was $10 million, up $5.3 million on the first quarter of financial year '19. This is a good result in a disruptive period with our key metrics continuing to maintain growth with average admission price up 22.3% in Australia and 39.7% in New Zealand, while spend per head was up 53.4% in Australia and 50.4% in New Zealand and 30.2% in Germany on pre-COVID levels. The hotel division is recovering well, and our hotels continue to outperform their competitive sets. In quarter 1, the hotels division generated positive EBITDA of $21.3 million, up 5.7% on the first quarter of financial year '19, a particularly pleasing result given the current closure of Rydges Melbourne for upgrade works and our recent divestments. Once again, a strong result due to the positive impact of our transformation initiatives and the hotels expansion strategy. These results have been delivered in a market with increasing wage costs, other inflationary cost pressures and continued rises in insurance premiums amongst other cost challenges. Looking ahead, the group's performance will continue to be subject to the release and appeal of blockbuster films, weather conditions at Thredbo and airlines returning to pre-COVID capacity to normalize customer behavior for hotels. For the Entertainment Group, this year will have more films on our screens than prior year, but not yet at pre-COVID release levels due to the COVID disruption impacting the studio's ability to create and complete films. The key blockbuster for the first half is Avatar: The Way of Water, and I encourage everybody in the room to go and see this. It will be incredible. And this title will determine the strength of the second quarter. In the second half since the full year results, Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom have moved out of the financial year, and Shazam! has moved from January to March. At this stage, we have only partial visibility on the second half release fleet and anticipate more titles may be confirmed in the coming months. What we do know is that when blockbuster titles are released, the group expects to continue to benefit from its new operating model with improved margins as we've seen today. Demand for the group's hotels is expected to continue to grow, and a continued recovery in corporate travel is expected to assist our recovery for the remainder of the year. We have seen continued promising trends in hotel occupancy and further rate growth in the first quarter. We expect occupancy to continue to improve incrementally over the course of the year, whilst rate growth may moderate as lower-yielding segments of the market recover. The upgraded Rydges Melbourne is expected to reopen partially in quarter 3 and fully by the end of quarter 4. However, it is anticipated that a full recovery of all segments of the hotels market will be dependent on the recovery of the international travel market. And we expect subject to airline capacity that the hotel industry will recover to pre-COVID levels in financial year '24. In Thredbo, summer performance is expected to be relatively in line with financial year '22, subject to weather conditions. The Property segment result will continue to track below prior year following the successful divestment of noncore property sales. We continue to face headwinds, including energy cost increases, particularly in Germany and other inflationary cost pressures. But as a team, we will continue to work on finding ways to try and mitigate some of the impacts. From a corporate perspective, the investment required in compliance and risk management continues to grow, whilst we're also investing in our sustainability initiatives. Our maximized assets plan will see capital expenditure in the full year return to pre-COVID levels at around $120 million to $150 million. Overall, we can see a pathway to getting back on track to reestablishing 2019 revenue levels, and we are pleased with our progress. I'd now like to take the opportunity to thank the EVT team who have dedicated themselves through the most challenging period in the company's history. We have emerged as a stronger business. The positive results experience -- we are experiencing on our growth strategies and transformation initiatives as a credit to you all. Your commitment to ensuring the best possible outcome for shareholders and customers whilst making EVT a great place to work is second to none. I know that this has, at times, taken more hours than usual. And I'd like to recognize and thank your families, partners and friends for their understanding of the time you've committed to EVT. Times like these certainly demonstrate how important a strong culture is. One that is prepared to challenge conventions and innovate, always looking for ways to make the day better than yesterday. We call our people daymakers and you've all certainly risen to that challenge. I'd also like to thank everyone here today for your support and interest in attending and participating both in person and online this morning's meeting. Thank you.

Thank you, Jane. Friends, there is no -- on this item of business. But as I mentioned earlier, I will call for any discussion later in the meeting. I'll now move to the resolutions to put before the meeting today. The remuneration report is set out on Pages 30 to 40 of the 2020 annual report and explains the structure of and rationale behind the group's remuneration practices and the link between the remuneration of senior executives and the group's performance. It also sets out details for each director of the company and for each member of the group's senior executive team during the year and makes it clear that the basis for remunerating non-executive directors is distinct from the basis for remunerating executives, including the CEO. Accordingly, I now move that the members adopt the remuneration report for the year ended 30th of June. Thank you. The next item concerns the reelection of Mr. David Campbell Grant, who retires by rotation in accordance with the constitution. Mr. Grant's background and qualifications have been outlined with the explanatory notes of the notice of meeting on Page 3 of the annual report. Accordingly, I move that Mr. David Campbell Grant being a director who retires by rotation in accordance with Rule 8.1(d)of the Constitution and being eligible reelected a director of the company. The fourth item concerns the reelection of Mrs. Patria Maija Mann, who retires by rotation in accordance with Constitution. Mrs. Mann's background and qualifications have been outlined in the explanatory notes to the notice of this meeting and also on Page 3 of the annual report. I now move that Patria Maija Mann being a director who retires by rotation in accordance with Rule 8.1(d) of the constitution and being eligible, is reelected a director of the company. Moving on, the award of shares to our Executive Director under the Executive Share Plan. This relates to the award of performance rights to our Chief Executive Officer. The plan provides an incentive for the CEO, together with other executives who are honored with this plan to achieve above average performance for the medium to long term in the group's businesses, which will be reflected in higher growth earnings and also higher growth rates. The plan enables the company to grant rights to executives and senior managers of the group, each right, representing a right to receive 1 fully paid ordinary share in the company. The rights best and ordinary shares are allocated to the participant on the satisfaction of performance criteria as set out in the notice of the meeting. The Board considers the incentive to management under the plan to be an important tool in attracting, motivating and retaining a talented employee base. I now move that shareholders approve for all purposes, including ASX Listing Rule 10.14, the award of up to 200,000 performance rights to the Chief Executive Officer, Ms. Jane Megan Hastings, on the terms set out in the explanatory note to the notice of this annual meeting. Thank you. Incidentally, in moving this resolution, I'd like to say that the Board wholeheartedly supports the resolution and wholeheartedly supports the recognition of our CEO in this way. It's an important tool, which circumstances to date have not let our CEO or for that matter, many members of our executive team with participation in this plan for many years. We hope now that we'll be able to have a plan that recognizes and in fact, goes on to reward all those who are participants in it. I thank you for that. Sixth item concerns the change of the business aim to the proposed name of EVT Limited. The group transformation during the COVID period and is ready to leverage that significant improvement that is made. This includes repositioning the group as mentioned by the CEO to better reflect extensive expertise across the entertainment businesses, ventures for growth and the travel business. The Board considers that the proposed new company name will better reflect the group's strategy and its operations. The new corporate identity will assist in raising awareness of the group's ELEVATE program including its people, community and environmental strategic initiatives. In accordance with the Corporations Act, if approved today, the change of name will take effect when ASIC offers the details of the company's registration. The proposed new name has been reserved with ASIC. I now move the following resolution as a special resolution. That for the purposes of Section 1571 and 1362 of the Corporations Act 2001 and for all other purposes, approval is given to change the company's name from Event Hospitality & Entertainment Limited to EVT Limited and to replace all references to Event Hospitality & Entertainment Limited in the company's constitution, which reflects with reference to EVT Limited. Hence that was the last item on the Notice of Meeting. And I'd now like to invite questions or comments relative to any of the matters that have been put before us, including any questions one may have of our auditors, and any other general matters to give questions for management of the company. I open the poll for discussion. I hope that indicates we've done a very good job of communicating with you. Dave, is there any material that has been raised online?

No, we don't have any online questions at this point, Chairman.

Okay. Thank you.

Mr. Chairman, it's a comment I have as opposed to a question, if I may. I've had the privilege of being associated with the organization for more than 50 years. And during that period of time, there's been numerous challenges that have been facing the organization. But I think nothing like the challenges of the last 2 years. And that being the case, I think the result of the last 12 months has been exceptional. That, together with the initiatives that have been outlined by the CEO makes one as a shareholder, very comfortable in the time ahead. I congratulate the CEO and the team. I congratulate the Board for the support that they've given them to ensure that the positive outlook continues. Thank you.