Future Generation Australia Limited (FGX) Earnings Call Transcript & Summary

Hi, everyone, it's past 1:30 p.m. So a very warm welcome to everybody to the Eighth Annual General Meeting of Future Generation Investment Company. I'm Jonathan Trollip, I'm Chair of the Board, and I'll be chairing the meeting today. As was last year, it's a hybrid meeting. So we allow people to be here in person, and thank you very much, everybody, who's attending in person. It's great to see you and also online. Before we begin, I'd like to acknowledge the Gadigal people of the Eora Nation and pay my respects to the elders past and present being the custodians of this land on which I stand for tens of thousands of years. I also acknowledge the custodians of the land on which our shareholders and fellow Directors currently stand to view and listen to today's AGM from other locations. As you may have seen from the announcement this morning, this is my final AGM as Chair. I'll be retiring at the end of July, and I'm absolutely thrilled that Mike Baird will be appointed as the new chair effective July 31, 2022. I think that really speaks volumes for the success of Future Generation Australia so far, and I have every confidence that with Mike and Caroline, I'll address that a little bit later, and Geoff and the [ Nguyen ] team, it's really going to go from strength to strength from here. Joining me today, if we could have the slides that have the Directors on them, as you'll see on the Board there, and hopefully, on your screen. We've got fellow directors, Stephanie Lai, Geoff Wilson and Gabriel Radzyminski. And joining us online, we've got Kate Thorley and David Leeton. David Paradice is an apology as he is overseas. I'm very delighted also that we were joined by Caroline Gurney, who is our CEO, joined us in September and those of you who are here earlier will know everything you need to know about Caroline, but she's really taking the company to a new level. We're joined by Jesse Hamilton who is also going to act as a moderator here, and he's on the end. And we have Sandra McIntosh from Mertons who provide Pro Bono Corporate Services and Jesse, by the way, has also joined the Company Secretary. And from Pitcher Partners, we have our auditor, Sylvia Wallace, who's down here with her colleague, Richard King, and they're available to answer any questions shareholders may have on the financial statements. It's past 1:30 p.m. We have a quorum. I declare the meeting open. The notice of meeting has been circulated and unless any objects, I propose to proceed on the basis that the notice is taken as read. We'll do our best to make this technology work as well as possible. The Chair address was lodged early with the ASX. You'll be relieved to share. I don't plan to read it for better, but you may want to read it in your own time. And for those who are online, you will have an opportunity to submit questions online, and I'll come to the procedure for how those questions work. So if we can move now to the procedure for questions. It's pretty easy. You can ask a question either verbally or in writing. To submit a written question, if I can just see the screen here. I think you just click on the icon, you type in your question and you hit submit. And in that case, you should receive a confirmatory e-mail that your question will be addressed. Depending on how many questions we have, if we don't get through all the questions, we'll answer them afterwards. To speak in person, you can ask a question. And again, you just put an icon -- pause your broadcast, ensure your browser can access your microphone, click under the asking audio questions and into your name and the topical question in particular if it relates to a particular resolution, which you're going to address. And then you hit submit, and then we'll have your questions, and Jesse will tell me what questions we have. Moving now to the Chair address. As I said, the Chair address has been lodged with the ASX. So I don't plan to read through it. For all of you who've been here earlier, you've had a formal erudite and high-level, very impressive update from a range of speakers in the funds management industry on what's happened in the last 12 months. With social economic challenges, upheaval globally supply chains, inflation, lockdowns in China, war in Ukraine and our thoughts, obviously, with everybody affected by that. What we have seen from the Future Generation Australia perspective is that the pandemic and the consequent impact of that has had a major role in our charity partners who are interfacing all the time with young people and their carriers, and there's been a great surge in demand for their services and increased distress in the community. And it is really very humbling to see the resilience, ingenuity and commitment of all of our charity partners who continue to support young people. And the social footprint of our charity partners is widespread and goes to the heart of our purpose, and Caroline addressed that in her presentation earlier, which is to provide investment returns and changing for the better lives of children and youth at risk in Australia. If we can move now to the financial results. Obviously, this is a recap, they're all included in the annual report, and you will have seen that. 2021 financial year, which is the same as the calendar year was a really great year for Future Generation Australia from an investment performance perspective. The return over the year was 22.1%. That is before fees and expenses and taxes. But obviously, that enables us to compare our performance with the benchmark, which is the ASX Accumulation Index, and that was an outperformance of 2.4% over the year. So a real credit to our investment committee and all of our fund managers for that result. And since inception of the company, which was September 2014, the annual return on the investment portfolio has been 11.2% per annum. And so that's really a great result, I think. The total shareholder return for 2021 was 17.2%, so I'm sure you're aware that the total shareholder return is from a shareholder perspective, you take the share price at the beginning of the year, it's January 1, 2021. You look at the share price at the end of the year, December 31, 2021. You add in the dividends you received in that year and combining the increase in the share price and the dividends has generated for shareholders 17.2%. Also on the screen, you will see, and this is a very important part, obviously, of Future Generation Australia is the savings from fees foregone by particularly the fund managers but also the other range of service providers. And again, as always, we acknowledge the pro bono service providers, few sitting here and on the Board as has simply put without them managing this money for no fees, there would be no Future Generation. And the total amount of savings from that is $14.2 million, which I think it's a really amazing number. The profit overall before tax for the year was $110 million after tax was about $80 million. So we've got an additional $14.2 million from the contributions of everyone. And as you all know, 1% of the net assets goes to our charity partners and for 2021, that amount was $5.3 million. So if you can just pause there from a shareholder perspective, the savings that we generated of $14.2 million. The amount going to our charity partners is $5.3 million, and the rest of that accrues to the benefit of our shareholders. If one moves now to the current NTA position as at April 30, 2022, our pretax NTA was $1.42. The dividends that we've paid since inception have been $0.333 per share. And that is consistent with the objective if anybody wants to go back in history and look at the prospectus, which is to pay an increasing stream of fully franked dividends over time, subject to the usual caveats of profit reserves franking credits and being in prudent practice of business. And it's really gratifying that we've been able to accomplish that. And we currently have a profit reserve, which is before taking into account the bonus issue and what might be exercised by that, which is April 2023 is 4.8 years' worth of dividends at the current level. The fully franked dividend yield at the share price closing yesterday of $1.26 is 4.8% and then when you gross it up, it's a dividend yield of 6.9%. And I think Geoff, in answer to a question earlier on today made the comment that when people look at LICs and how they trend the yield on the shares is absolutely critical. So we're very conscious of that. So that really is the company position in a snapshot. But obviously, if you've got any questions, you're very welcome to ask them afterwards.

Jonathan, just for the people online, can we also just let them know that the voting is now open as well?

Thank you. I might have slipped that on my thing. Yes, I declare the poll open, and you may now vote. You can change your vote. You don't actually have to do anything. Just click on what you want at any time until the poll closes, you may change your vote. And Boardroom is our returning officer, the resolutions will be dealt with by web or poll, and they will collate the votes here today and the votes online, and we expect that will be announced to the ASX later on this afternoon. Have I covered that properly, Jesse? Thank you. Okay. Moving now to -- we've got the voting resolutions. So that explains how you do it. We now move to the agenda for today's meeting. It's a very simple meeting. We just have the financial statements laid before the meeting. That doesn't need any vote. But if you would like any comment or any questions, you welcome to make it. We then have the adoption of the remuneration report, Resolution 1, and then the reelection of 2 Directors, Stephanie Lai and David Leeton and they're both retiring by rotation in accordance with the provisions of the corporations law and the constitution. So I'll move now to the first item, which is the financial statements. And does anybody have any questions on the financial statements? So the law requires us to receive and consider the financial statements for the year ending December 31, 2021, and that obviously includes the Directors report and the Auditor's report. Does anybody have any questions on our financial statements for the year ended? Jesse, anything online? Okay. I will proceed on the basis that we have no questions if somebody has one online and comes in there, we can always revert to that. The next item of business on which a vote is required is the reelection of Stephanie Lai, and her buyer is in our -- in the notice of meeting, and she's been a director of the company since March 2019. She's had a stellar career being a former partner of Deloitte and KPMG. Her experience and buyer looks incredibly impressive. First hand, she's been an amazing Chair of our Audit and Risk Committee, and delighted to have you on the Board and hope you get reelected. I hand over to Stephanie to say a few words.

Thank you, Jonathan. And it's been a privilege to serve on the board for the last 3 years, and I thank my fellow directors and the shareholders for providing me that opportunity. I also wanted to briefly take this opportunity to thank Jonathan Trollip for his collaborative leadership and mentorship over the past 3 years. Jonathan's genuine passion and commitment to supporting children at risk and his professionalism has been an inspiration to me and I'm sure to many others. So thank you, Jonathan. I'm not going to say much about myself, except to say that I believe I'm well equipped to continue chairing the Audit and Risk Committee. I'm a chartered accountant. I'm a former partner of KPMG and Deloitte, a graduate member of the Australian Institute of Company Directors and an experienced listed company, Audit and Risk Committee Chair. So I hope that with your ongoing support, I can continue in the role of -- in that role for FGX as well.

Thank you very much, Stephanie. We might remove the suspense and have a look at the proxies on the screen. Well, it looks like there's a very good chance you're going to be reelected with 95% in favor already. And I confirm as Chair that I'm going to vote all proxies in favor of your reappointment. So thank you. The next item on the agenda is the reelection of Dave Leeton. Again, his brief bio is in the notice of meeting. David has been a Director of the company since April 2015. He's a senior executive with the Victor Smorgon Group. And over the past 22 years, he's been actively involved in all facets of the group's investment and also in philanthropy interests, and he's been very actively involved in Lighthouse Foundation, which is one of the foundation charities of Future Generation Australia. He was formerly CFO of the Victor Smorgon Group and responsible for all financial reporting and he's now got a co-investment business. He has served on the Audit and Risk Committee for a very long time chair briefly until Steph took over, really, that was geographic location because David is in Melbourne, but he's very across the risk issues and really added a lot of value in that, so I might hand over to you, David, to say a few words.

Thanks, Jonathan. To the rest of my fellow Board members and shareholders, I'm honored to be tabling for my reelection as a Director of FGX. As Jonathan said, my name is David Leeton, I've been a Director of FGX since 2015. I've been here from the start, and I'm proud to be part of the team, which will be able to -- we have been able to create an investment and philanthropy vehicle, which benefits all stakeholders. I look forward to continuing to serve and drive FGX. To be a fully functional Board requires bearing views, experience, expertise, skills and backgrounds. And when I look at our Board, I think we have all those attributes. From my personal perspective, I think I bring to the Board over 25 years of investment experience spread over a broad investment universe as well as insights and views from the perspective of an investor, fund manager, a qualified accountant and a charity provider. I'd also like to personally thank Jonathan Trollip for his outstanding leadership, and I welcome our new Chairperson, Mike Baird to the position. So thank you, and back to you, Jonathan.

Thank you very much, David. If we could now see the proxies running for David. And he and Steph are running neck and neck in terms of the total in favor but I think it's safe to say that you both will be reelected, and I think it's wonderful for the Board to have the 2 of you on it as well as my fellow Board members. So I might just -- Jesse, do I need to check if there are any questions or?

No questions, Jonathan. Can we just go back, we did accidently miss this resolution 1, which is the remuneration report. Whilst there's no remuneration paid to the Directors, you just need go back...

Thank you. I should have stapled my papers together. I'd find myself a Chairman as much as you love. Okay. We need to table the remuneration report. It shouldn't be controversial. But in accordance with the Corporations Law Section 250R, the remuneration report that you set out in the Directors' report and is proposed to be adopted. It's not binding on the company, it's advisory only. So does anybody have any questions on the remuneration report? And again, when we move to the proxies, you'll see the odd quirk that we still get people voting against us. And genuinely, if anybody did vote against us, I'd love to understand why, maybe we should pay ourselves something. But very good. Okay. If you could -- anybody online, if you could please vote now for that, and I will close the voting very shortly. [Voting]

And I've now moved my papers around, so just bear with me. The script says I should allow 30 seconds. Jesse, is that what you recommend or?

Yes, we'll give a little bit more time and see if any other questions come through as well.

The fact that nobody has any questions, I take means that all shareholders are happy. But maybe that's just my interpretation. Okay. [Voting]

I think it's probably safe to close the poll. And as I mentioned, Boardroom will tally up the results later, and they will be announced to the ASX on these 3 resolutions. And that concludes the formal part of the meeting and concludes the meeting formally. So I declare the meeting closed. I would like to, if I may, just say a few words as this is going to be my last AGM. It has been an absolute privilege and pleasure and incredibly humbling to serve all the shareholders and be involved with our charity partners and work with such great people on our boards and at the charities and with the WAM team. I'm absolutely thrilled that Mike Baird has accepted the position of Chair. And I think it is testament to the success and growth of Future Generation Australia over the past 8 years. Mike, as I'm sure you know, is passionate about family, sports and looking after the communities most vulnerable. He's currently CEO of HammondCare and sits on the Board of Cricket Australia and Surfing Australia. Prior to that, he was a member of the National Australia Bank executive leadership and obviously, Premier of New South Wales. He is remaining as an ambassador for Bear Cottage and Southern Youth Family Services but he's stepping down as Chair of the Australian Business Growth Fund Board, which is a very prestigious federal government appointment, specifically to take on that -- on this position. So that I think is a great contribution from him to accept this position. And I do believe that with Mike and Caroline providing the leadership supported by Geoff and the WAM team and the Board, this is going to take Future Generation Australia from strength to strength. There are a number of people that I'd like to thank, firstly, Gabriel Radzyminski, my fellow Director. We were just chatting earlier about how in 2013 Geoff and Gabriel effectively engineered the retirement of the Board of Australian Infrastructure Fund, which is what this company now is actually and Gabriel and fellow Director, Paul Janssen, looked at each other and pointed at me and said, well, you might as well be Chairman. So that started my journey. And thank you, Geoff, for having the faith and confidence in allowing me to be the first chair of Future Generation Australia. It has been an incredible journey, and I've been lucky to have worked with so many amazing people. During my time here, we've had 3 CEOs. We started with the inimitable Louise Walsh, and then Kate Thorley took over as acting CEO when Louis left us. Kate, I'm sorry, you're not with us today. She's not feeling 100%. But I don't know how you did that job of completing your day job as CEO at Wilson Asset Management and interim CEO of Future Generation Australia, but managed it, you did without missing a beat. So thank you for that. And Caroline joined us in September 2021, and you bought her own style, passion, insights into the role. She's also been very instrumental in persuading Mike Baird to take over the chair position. And I'm so confident that this company is going to go from strength to strength, and I wish you all the very best. I thank you to all my fellow Directors and investment committee members who again have given you time pro bono. And thank you also, as always, to the fund managers. I see Frank down here from Future Generation Global, but you represent fund managers. We had Phil King talking earlier, who's part of us. And as I said without you, there is no Future Generation Australia. I would like to acknowledge all of our charity partners. One of the most rewarding aspects for me of being involved is to get to know a number of our charity partners on a first-hand basis. We have Emily Fuller, who is our social impact manager. Emily is somewhere and she's doing an extraordinary job keeping us up to date, managing those relationships and helping them where we can. We know that the last 2 years has been extraordinarily difficult for them. And we've kept in touch with them. And I think all too often, when you look at society today, the unsung heroes are the people who are providing essential caring services. Aged care is obviously a major issue. But for us, youth, mental health, children at risk and our charity partners on the front line doing it are so dedicated and selfless and I thank each one of them. That's it for me, other than to say thank you very much to all shareholders, both online and present in person. And I look forward to seeing you next year at the AGM, when I will be here in my capacity as a very committed shareholder. So thank you very much, everyone.

Like company, and we had a sort of a plan that maybe we could raise $20 million and do some good things for a community and what under your leadership, this company has achieved. I think I just multiplied it out if I work correctly, you've increased it by 18,300%, from $3 million to $550-odd million. And so effectively, $5.5 million every year goes to support children at risk. And in terms of the journey, you're a high-quality individual. You're highly intelligent in terms of your leadership style is just -- it is excellent. And I don't think anyone on the Board, I mean we just can't think enough of how you've taken us through a period of exceptional growth and how you've guided. So I mean you're a true gentleman, on behalf of all shareholders, we just can't thank you enough for what you've done and you're the founding Chairman of FGX, you'll always be the founding Chairman of FGCX and thank you.

I know it went a bit right, but there's one group of people I had a big thank you and I'm afraid I missed, but it's very heart felt all of the team at WAM. And you guys, over the years, there have been a lot of you sliding, but you've provided all the support services. And the MOU is now working really well. I see Marty back there and a few others, but thank you to every one of you. It's been -- you've made my job so easy and it's really part of a big team. So thanks. That's enough.