Experience Co Limited (EXP) Earnings Call Transcript & Summary

Good morning, all. I am Bob East. On behalf of the entire EXP Board, I welcome all shareholders and guests to Experience Co's Annual General Meeting being held as a virtual meeting. All attendees will be able to watch a live webcast of the meeting. Shareholders and proxy holders will have the ability to ask questions and submit their votes. I've confirmed that a quorum is present and therefore declare the AGM open. I welcome my fellow directors who are also online, Anthony Boucaut, Neil Cathie and Michelle Cox; CEO and Executive Director John O'Sullivan. Also online are Company Secretary Fiona van Wyk; Cameron Hume from RSM, the company's auditor; and Boardroom Pty Limited and Lumi technology, who are facilitating the online meeting today. For voting, please refer to the instructions on the slide and as included in the notice of meeting. [Operator Instructions] You may submit questions online at any time during the meeting. [Operator Instructions] I will address questions as I move through the items of the business and consolidate questions that may relate to the same topics. I encourage shareholders to submit online questions as soon as possible. Voting will be conducted by poll on all items of business. I declare the poll open, and you may now vote on all the resolutions. I confirm that a representative of Boardroom Pty Limited has been appointed to act as returning officer for conducting and determining the results of the poll. The FY '23 annual report provided a comprehensive overview of the performance of the business in FY '23. And John will expand on this in his presentation. I will therefore only provide a high-level summary today. FY '23 was the first financial year since FY '19 that the business was not impacted by pandemic restrictions. The business experienced its strongest trading volume since FY '19, delivering a 95% increase year-on-year revenue and underlying EBITDA of $11.3 million. Tropical North Queensland and New Zealand were standout recovery markets in FY '23. As international inbound markets improved, momentum in the New Zealand and Australian skydiving segment continued to grow. Adventure Experiences benefited from the diverse portfolio and strong domestic trading and was the key driver of earnings recovery in the period. During FY '23, the business opened 2 new Treetops Adventure sites, Treetops Cape trib in the Daintree Rainforest and Taronga Zoo in Sydney. The construction of the Jabiru Suite expansion at Bamurru Plains, providing additional capacity, was also completed. The group acquired Australian Jump Pilot Academy Pty Ltd, providing a pipeline of pilot recruitment for our operations. And to diversify the group's aviation fleet earnings, we acquired the aircraft operator certification from Thereby Air Pty Ltd. The group endorses a rigorous safety and safety management culture, a fundamental value of our business. We continue to invest in employee well-being, career development and employee retention. The Board and management remained focused on business improvements relative to FY '19: organic growth, disciplined cost management and capital allocation. The planned construction of a new Trees Adventure site in Canberra, commencing in early 2024, will deliver organic growth in the adventure experiences sector. Increased inbound aviation capacity and international arrivals, combined with feedback from offshore trade partners, supports a continued demand for Australia and New Zealand as tourism destinations and for adventure experiences. Business performance in Q1 FY '24 provides confidence that increased international inbound tourists from all markets and particularly the Eastern market is positively impacting our trading performance. In our ongoing commitment to preserve the environment in which we operate, we are pleased to have launched the reef stars factory, in partnership with The Reef co-op, in September of 2023. The reef stars factory is a dedicated space for the manufacture and repair of reef stars, an initiative assisting in the restoration of the Great Barrier Reef and promoting reef health. This initiative also provides training for First Nations people to be involved in the restoration of the Great Barrier Reef. The Board is pleased to announce the appointment of Alexander White as a nonexecutive director of the company, with effect from 3rd of November 2023. Alex has agreed not to earn a fee for his services as a nonexecutive director. Alex is currently the Managing Director of Richmond Hill Capital, a long-term substantial holder and strong supporter of the company. [ He has over ] 15 years corporate and investment management experience, including previous roles as portfolio manager at Viburnum Funds and analyst at Cooper Investors. Alex is currently nonexecutive director of Coventry Group and was previously NED at HRL Holdings and MOQdigital. In closing. On behalf of the Board, I thank John O'Sullivan, our CEO; the senior management team; and all team members for their commitment and hard work throughout the year. We also acknowledge the support of shareholders, customers and all stakeholders during FY '23. The Board is confident that recovery from the growing international inbound market is now underway. And I look forward to the year ahead as the business continues its journey to recovery. I'll now hand over to John, who will take you through his presentation. Thank you, John.

Thank you very much, Bob. And good morning, ladies and gentlemen. Can I please ask that we start at Slide 7 of my presentation? Today, I would like to provide you with an overview of the business and, importantly, trading from quarter 1 and also addressing our strategic priorities. FY '24 represents a great opportunity for Experience Co as the business continues its recovery out of COVID-19 and the [ overall ] restrictions which were placed on its operating capacity. Our strategy is built around 3 things: returning our Skydive and Reef Unlimited business units to their pre-pandemic performance levels; ensuring that our capital discipline is maintained and we have a balance sheet that enables us to navigate the inbound recovery ahead; and of course, being mindful and cognizant of any accretive and shareholder value growth opportunities that may exist both organically and inorganically. Turning to the next slide. We are very encouraged of the fact that the international recovery in Australia is now well underway. Since the opening of borders back in January of 2022, we now have aviation capacity at near 90% of international capacity into Australia. [ We have it ] supported by a robust recovery in both inbound and outbound traffic into and out of the country. And all importantly, holiday markets into Australia have now returned to over 50% of pre-pandemic levels by the end of July 2023. Turning to the next slide. One of the most important markets for Experience Co and indeed the Australian and New Zealand visitor economies overall is that of the Chinese inbound market. And importantly, we've seen, since the reopening of this market in January of 2023, 43% of leisure visitation is now back to pre-pandemic levels, underpinned by a fast-returning "visiting friends and relatives and education" sector. Holiday travelers from China are now back to almost 1/3 of where they were at this time in 2029 (sic) [ 2019 ]. And very importantly, projections from Tourism Australia and other tourism authorities predict that the all-important aviation capacity into Australia from China will be back to 91% of pre-pandemic levels by the end of the calendar year. Turning to the next slide. Over in New Zealand, an equally important market for our business is that of the Chinese inbound tourists. And I'm pleased to report that, off the back of an 8-month head start on ADS arrivals into that market, it is somewhat ahead of the Australian recovery at about 53% of pre-pandemic levels. Increasingly also, we are seeing the expansion of Chinese aviation capacity into New Zealand out of the traditional port of Auckland with new services announced from Guangzhou into Christchurch most recently; and additional capacity from -- Guangzhou capacity into Auckland, which already supports robust capacity from Shanghai and Beijing. Turning to the next slide. These 2 previous slides support the fact that, off a limited runway, Skydive Australia and our Reef Unlimited business units were able to report an -- elevated activity levels of Chinese consumption during the all-important Golden Week. This was the first opportunity that the business had to experience a clean runway of Chinese traffic into our business. And increasingly, what we saw, particularly in New Zealand, was an over-indexation of the number of Chinese customers relative to 2019. This gives us, as management, optimism that the upcoming Chinese New Year period in February should be another good reference point to be able to articulate the recovery of this all-important market. Turning to our next slide. As we reported to the ASX recently, our trading in quarter 1 was certainly reflective of the rebounding inbound markets into our business. And certainly across the group, we had strong growth in our revenue of 25%, across the group, to achieve almost $30 million for the quarter. This was off the back of elevated trading in Australia and New Zealand from Skydive as well as our adventure experiences maintaining growth across Treetops Adventure and also the Reef Unlimited segments. Turning to our next slide. During quarter 1, we were particularly encouraged by the increasing volume, strong volume growth in Australia and New Zealand across the skydiving business unit, supported by a higher yield per passenger than pre COVID and also strong photo and video penetration across the business unit. The continued focus now on management will be on the cost base given the presence of inflationary pressures, particularly in aviation fuel, crew wages and also consumer demand. Turning to our next slide. In our other segment of Adventure Experiences, growth was achieved particularly out of the treetop adventures business unit and also our Reef Unlimited business unit, both of which recorded good growth in volume across the quarter. Wild Bush Luxury segment performed in line with management's expectation, but we have seen post COVID a correction in this segment from the peak trading periods of FY '22. These results do continue to reinforce management's decision to diversify towards adventure experiences in our business. Turning to my final slide of the presentation. Before I conclude today, a quick update on our October trading. As would be expected, October is a traditional shoulder month, and the trading levels that we saw within the business were reflective of this. Our Skydive business unit in both Australia and New Zealand continued its recovery. And Reef Unlimited continued to demonstrate the transition that we're seeing in this part of Australia between domestic and international tourism markets. We were pleased to see that Treetops Adventure recorded a slight increase on a pcp basis in terms of volume with continued good performances from our New South Wales Cape Tribulation and Belgrave sites in our network. The outlook for our business is still one that management maintains its view on the longer-term earnings potential of the business. However, we will continue to monitor this with the key sensitivities of the rate of international return of leisure visitors, the performance of domestic markets and the impact of inflationary events within Australia on consumer discretionary spend. Can I thank all of you, particularly our investors and shareholders; our customers; but most importantly the 1,100 staff across the Experience Co network who day in, day out contribute to this business' recovery ongoing. Thank you very much, ladies and gentlemen. And I'm now -- pleasure to hand back to our Chair for the conclusion of formal business of the meeting. Thank you.

Thank you, John. I have written advice that proxies received represent circa 87% of the issued share capital of the company. As Chair of the meeting, I intend to vote in favor on all open proxies on all resolutions to be put to the meeting. The notice of the meeting was made available to shareholders on the 29th of September 2023; and I will take the notice, including the explanatory notes, as read. I'll now move to the first item of formal business, to receive and consider the financial report, directors' report and auditor's report of the company and its controlled entities for the financial year ended 30 June 2023. A copy of the annual report was made available to shareholders on the 24th of August 2023 and is also available on the EXP investor website. There is no formal resolution to put to the meeting in relation to the adoption of the annual report. However, I will now respond to questions from shareholders in relation to the annual report. Cameron Hume of RSM is also available online to respond to any questions. Fiona, are there any questions?

Not on the annual report, no, Bob.

Thank you. On resolution 1, this relates to my reelection as a director. Neil Cathie is the Chair of the Audit and Risk Committee, and he has been nominated to chair this part of the meeting. And I will now hand over to Neil. Thank you, Neil.

Thanks, Bob. This resolution relates to the reelection of Kerry Robert East, Bob, as a director of the company. Bob's experience and attributes have been included in the notice of meeting. In summary: Bob joined the Board in April of 2018 and was appointed Chair of the Board in October 2018. During his tenure as Chair of the Board, he transformed both the Board and the senior management team, placing the business in the best position to implement and deliver its strategic objectives during 2019 and 2020. Under his leadership, he guided the Board and senior management through the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic, undoubtedly one of the most challenging operating environments particularly for the tourism industry. Bob's continued leadership will stand the group in good stead as it continues its recovery. I'll now respond to any questions. Fiona, are there any questions?

No questions.

Thanks, Fiona. As there are no questions, I will put resolution 1 for the reelection of Kerry Robert East as a director of the company. The valid proxies are displayed on the screen. Please cast your vote for resolution 1. I'll now hand back to Bob to chair the remainder of the meeting. [Voting]

Thank you, Neil. Resolution 2 relates to the adoption of the FY '23 remuneration report. The vote on this resolution is advisory only and nonbinding on the company. However, the directors recognize the outcome of the resolution as an indication of shareholder sentiment in relation to the FY '23 remuneration report. I'll now respond to any questions. Fiona, any questions on this matter?

No questions.

Okay, thanks, Fiona. As there's no questions, I'll put resolution 2 for the adoption of the FY '23 rem report opened. Valid proxies are now displayed on the screen, and you can cast your vote on resolution 2. [Voting]

Before I close the meeting, Fiona, are there any other questions we need to respond to?

Yes, Chair. We've received 2 questions. The -- they're more general type of questions. The first is from [ Toby Welford ]. His question is, with the swift change in the weather system to El Niño, how exposed is the business to the next few years of anticipated severe bushfire seasons?

That sounds like a -- meteorological questions. John, [ do you have appropriate views on it ]? I'll probably lead by saying that the -- as an overarching principle in this business, we do have diversified revenue streams. And we do have diversified geographical operations, but as is often the case, we are not immune to weather patterns and particularly severe weather patterns. I think it's incredibly difficult to pinpoint with any accuracy what macro weather patterns would be, how they would be impacting the operations given that a lot of our weather impacts are simple things like wind. And it's not necessarily the more dramatic events of cyclones and major weather patterns. Often it is literally just a windy month can impact our ability to operate Skydive, as an example. John, have you got anything else that you want to venture in here given that it's you're predicting weather?

Well, not really, Chair. I think you've answered that question pretty well. The only thing I'd add is just specifically to bushfire risk. We obviously take risks from natural events like bushfires and also cyclone activity very seriously. Our teams are very well versed in preparing drills for sites to be able to deal with that, but if you cast our mind back to the 2019, 2020 bushfires: Our teams were able to operate, by and largely, undisrupted, with the exception of a few sites; and were able to navigate that successfully. And we expect that to be the same for this coming season.

Fiona, can you mention the second question?

Yes, yes. I've actually got 2 more questions, and they're both from Charlie Kingston of Ocean Capital. His first question is, "Can you please comment on the target around the free cash flow you think the company can generate? We understand the $40 million EBITDA target. However, EXP has a large lease expense and maintenance CapEx, so EBITDA isn't a useful metric, especially under the current accounting standards. The last quarterly indicates you're still burning cash despite having a positive EBITDA. Your target, I believe, is to achieve FY '19 levels of profitability. Understood, the business has changed a lot since then with multiple acquisitions. However, you roughly made $10 million free cash flow that year. Is that a fair target then going forward? And when will this free cash flow finally be delivered, given you have lost cash for the last [ 3 ] years?"

Can I just say [indiscernible] comment? The business has not transformed markedly there, but there have been components, parts that have changed. I'll let management speak to cash conversion. There is guidance out there -- sorry, not guidance. There is EBITDA of $40 million nominated as a steady run rate potential in this business in a time period. In terms of looking at this business relative to its previous performance, I don't think the business is substantially transformed, albeit there have been costs out. There will continue to be more costs out given that the recovery is slow, but I don't think we should be viewing this business as a fundamentally different proposition in terms of relationship between EBITDA and cash flow. The finance team and John may have some comments around this.

No, nothing more to add to that, Chair, other than, that target of FY '25, FY '26, we still maintain. And as you've said, we are working towards improving operating efficiencies within the current business, noting that we still have some challenging trading conditions across the business units across the months as we recover.

I think it would be also fair to illuminate that now the business is starting to get into a recovery. The cash-burning component is -- has moderated. Or hopefully, we'll see accretion. And we are -- it does feel that the business has moved beyond that period of significant cash burn, pending the business demand flowing as we expect it over the next 12 months. Fiona, can you mention the final question?

Yes, one last question. EXP has grown significantly through acquisitions, [ thankfully ] funded through new equity rather than debt, albeit that those participated in those equity raise are obviously hurting today, with the last raising done at $0.33 versus the share price today of $0.21. "Can you comment on how you intend on growing the business going forward via acquisitions, if at all? The balance sheet is in good shape. However, can you rule out raising any further equity and diluting shareholders further so, at the very least, the share price is well above the last [ raise price ]?"

I don't want to get terribly specific here, but I think, as an overarching principle, the Board is in unison that we need to bed this business recovery. We need to rightsize this business to make sure there is not only growth at the EBITDA line but accretion of cash. We do have a number of levers to look at in terms of acquisition. We do have ongoing investigation around balance sheet management. There will be more details to come out of this. It is fair to say that we're cognizant of the desire for many shareholders. And I'm assuming a majority of shareholders want to see this business back on track and more evidence of significant recovery before any equity raise. We are very focused on that as a Board at the moment and very focused on improving the balance sheet. We are, as we sit here today, not in need of balance sheet repair, albeit there is balance sheet improvement and measures underway to improve our positioning. John, did you have any other comments in relation to balance sheet?

No, Chair.

Okay. Look. Fiona, are there any other questions?

No, there's no more questions.

Okay, the -- thank you. Thank you [Audio Gap]

Can you hear me?

Yes, we can hear you now.

Yes, yes. Sorry. It's Charlie Kingston again, Ocean Capital. Just a follow-up on that cash flow question. Just obviously there's a huge difference between EBITDA and sort of underlying free cash flow, $40 million of EBITDA. You've obviously got to take off about $5 million, I think, of lease liabilities. There's probably $9 million or $10 million of maintenance CapEx or depreciation, so that then drops you to $25 million. You've got to pay a little bit of interest. There's not all that much debt, but take out some tax, so shareholders aren't -- a huge difference between what shareholders are actually entitled to, assuming you hit that $40 million EBITDA target compared to the actual free cash flow for the business, so I was just hoping to understand further if that's a fair way of assessing it. It's $10 million to $15 million of free cash flow. Is that what we can expect, assuming you do hit those targets? And when I said you've had a few acquisitions, the walking business, et cetera, but -- I wasn't implying there was a huge transformation to the business but just appreciate any further comments specifically on that free cash flow figure. Is it, is that a fair way to think about it? Because again EBITDA is probably not a fair metric as to what shareholders can actually expect from their shareholding.

Yes. Look. I appreciate the question. Without actually nominating and forecasting an exact cash position on the business, even at stabilization: The -- it is -- look. EBITDA [ is ] the best measure of our business performance. It is certainly a measure that has good trackability and trend line analysis for us, but rightfully, you'd point out that there are other considerations, particularly as that translates down to a cash position. Some of those impacts of -- are as you are witnessing them. I mean they are the capital management and the maintenance capital and the growth capital as we see our way through this are [indiscernible] on the business, and -- but I'm not really in a position to try to pinpoint exact cash position. But I suppose your question is twofold. One, is EBITDA the best way of measuring it? Well, I think we'll probably stick to that given that we give up the detail around all the other, our cash flow, with some substance. So I still think that's probably an okay way to do the business. The second position is -- the second question, as I understand it, is really trying to pinpoint where the cash might sit. I won't go to that length of making assumptions on that, but clearly EBITDA does not translate directly to cash into this business. And some of those obligations are very real. And you're not incorrect in your broad assumption without getting in specifics of a final cash position. Did John or anyone else want to comment on that? Or are we happy to leave that as stated thus far?

I'm happy with that answer, Chair.

And sorry. Just a follow-up on the second question that I did ask. Can we, shareholders, assume that it really is about rightsizing the current business; and hitting those, the $40 million target, before any sort of acquisitions would be considered, especially where the share price currently trades? And a -- maybe even a buyback if that free cash flow starts to really be generated based on the current targets. But how should we think about growth going forward? Is it really restoring the share price, first and foremost, before any other acquisitions are considered or potentially buying back the stock? Just appreciate your thoughts on that.

I think it's -- in terms of share buyback or balance sheet management of that nature, it's certainly something that would be discussed at the Board, not now but into next year. And I don't want to sort of preempt that in any way. I think we've got a lot to -- I think we'll be very pragmatic. The management team is very pragmatic in getting restoration back into this business and maximizing the recovery, so I think it's fair to say that it's more pragmatic than it would have been if it was in steady state and a growing business with a very healthy cash balance and acquisition potentials on the horizon. The only thing I'll state is that, through COVID, it was really difficult to do acquisitions, not only because of the state of the balance sheet, but people were just not moving, so the market was very illiquid. It was very difficult to find good assets. That has now changed as people take a longer-term view of where they sit in their own portfolios. We are seeing lots of opportunities in the market. We will be letting most of these go through to other buyers. We are probably not well positioned to do major acquisitions at this stage, but I don't want to leave that off the table. And I don't want to start pinpointing exact -- I mean it would always be ideal to do a next raise north of where the last raise was, but the world is very complicated. There's many influencing factors. I think we've discussed that we'll be very pragmatic in our approach, very disciplined and actually quite conservative, but I don't want to put a long-term hold on opportunistic or strategic acquisitions given that some of these would not be very big in nature but very accretive in our earnings. And there's not only strategic acquisitions, but there's organic growth opportunities that may require funding, so I don't want to get to the position where we're not capitalizing on realistic opportunities, but I think it's fair to say that the discipline will be conservative and pragmatic and broadly in line with your desires to not do too much until we saw some accretion. But I don't want to put a flat, long-term hold proposition on this business because I think it's well run. It's got good management systems and processes and wonderful people. And in due course, there will be opportunities that we'll be, of course, looking at.

Yes, no. I appreciate that, but just finally but -- you obviously wouldn't -- if a cracking opportunity came across your desk tomorrow, you certainly wouldn't be funding that through equity given where the share price is currently trading. Is that a fair assumption?

Right at the moment, that is a fair assumption. Are there any other questions?

None from my side.

Okay. Look, everyone. That concludes the formal business of the meeting. If you've not already done so, please cast your votes now, as the poll will close shortly. The results of the poll will be released on the ASX company announcements platform as soon as they are available this afternoon. I want to applaud John and the management team for continuing to drive this business as effectively as they possibly can in somewhat challenging circumstances but, thankfully, improving operating environments. So thank you for attending the EXP AGM. I declare the poll and the Annual General Meeting now closed. Thank you.