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

All right. Good afternoon, everyone. Welcome to the ninth Annual General Meeting of Future Generation Investment Company. This is a hybrid meeting, both online and here in person and thanks for those who are in line. We appreciate you joining as well. But before we begin, I'd like to pay my respects and like to acknowledge the Gadigal people of the Eora Nation and obviously, pay my respects to elders of past, present and future, who are the custodians of this land on which I stand and have been for tens of thousands of years. So I'm joined today obviously as the Chair, but joining me are the fellow directors, who you can see there. We have Stephanie. We have Geoff. We have Gabriel and Kate and David Leeton as well. David Paradise is, an apology. And obviously, we have the CEO with us, Caroline, and also the Joint Company Secretary, Jesse Hamilton, together with Sandra McIntosh from Acclime, Australia and Sylvia Wallace is a representative from our auditors, Pitcher and Partners, and they're going to be available to address any questions relating to the financial statements, and Jesse will also act in the capacity of a moderator or regulate anything I don't do wrong in proceedings. So as it is 2:30, I'll announce a quorum is present, declare the meeting open. The notice of the meeting has been circulated to shareholders. And in the absence of any objection, I will be proceeding on the basis of the notice be taken as read. And I also encourage you to read the Chairman's address, and I'll talk to that in a minute. Those of you who logged on to the webcast with your user name and password, you also had the opportunity to submit questions online as well as vote on the resolutions. If you are joining online, the questions can be submitted at any time. To question, please click on the message icon, type your message as you can see there, into the ask-question-box and click the arrow symbol to the right-hand side of the message box. And an audio question line is also available to members and appointed proxy holders to use this service, click on their request to speak button at the bottom of the broadcast window and ensure your browser can access your microphone, please enter the requested details and click submit request to join the audio questions queue. You'll hear the meeting while you wait to ask your question. Voting today will be conducted by way of a poll on all lines of business. And when I open the poll, the voting icon will appear on the navigation bar. Once you click on this, the resolution will appear on your screen, simply select one of the options to cast your vote. For those in person, you complete your vote on the poll card you received when registering with the Boardroom and the poll card must be signed and collected at the end of the AGM by the returning officer from Boardroom. So I now declare voting on all items -- voting open on all items of business. And just now, you can vote at any time during proceedings until I declare the voting closed, and I'll make sure I give you a clear prompt to do that. In relation to the Chairman's address, just a couple of points to note. It is listed on the Australian Stock Exchange, and I encourage you to read this. You've heard that it has been, and we know that '22 was a challenging year for investors, marred by equity volatility and rising cost of living and rapid interest rate hikes. But despite this, I think it's important to point out that the directors were pleased to announce an 8.3% increase in the fully franked full year dividend. And on top of that, we're also grateful for our work on the pro bono fund managers and service. So through that, their work, we were able to put $5.9 million in high-impact charities, which are focused on children and youth at risk. You can see the company's pretax NTA again, $1.31. So we do see opportunities there. But that is the key elements from the address, and I do encourage you to read it more fully. The profit reserve was 27.2%. So now we will conduct the formal part of the meeting, and there are 5 items of business for the AGM today as set out in the notice and 4 which are to be voted on. The notice of meeting and the explanatory memorandum is circulated to shareholders and in the absence of any objection, I'll be proceeding on the basis of these items are taken as read. While you're working to submit questions as we move through the resolutions, if you do already have questions there, please submit them now. When writing a question, please state at the start of your question whether it relates to our financial reports or type the number of resolution it relates to. Certain rules will be excluded in accordance with the Corporations Act and ASX listing rules and the proxy votes will be shown after discussion of each individual resolution. The Board recommends approval for each resolution. And as Chair I'll be voting, all open votes provided to me are for each resolution. And we'll advise the ASX as soon as the results are determined, which will be a little later today. So we move to the financial statements and reports. You may submit any questions on these. The first line business is received and considered the financial report, the directors' report and the auditors report for the year ended 31 December '22 and Sylvia Wallace from Pitcher Partners is here to answer any questions if required. There's no resolution, but I will pause to see if there are any questions that have been submitted to be seeded on our end. No questions. If there are no questions in the room, I'll take them as noted, and we come to the [indiscernible] where a vote is acquired. So Resolution 1 relates to the adoption of the remuneration report. Again, you may submit any questions or comments you have on that now. The company -- you can see the proxies. I think there they are. And there's 3,366,192 open, of which 2,822,925 being granted to the Chair, and I'll be voting in favor of those. So I will pause to see if there's any questions in relation to the Rem Report. None have come online, none in room. Okay. So if there's no further questions or comments, I'll put the motion. The resolution will be approved as set out in the notice of meeting. And if you are a shareholder or proxy holder as it a vote, could you please complete your vote for Resolution 1, just wait a few to make sure. Okay. Great. Now we move on to Resolution 2, and that relates to the election of myself as a director, and as such, I'll call on Geoff Wilson to handle this resolution. Geoff, are you coming up?

Thank you, Mike. So what resolution are we up to?

2.

Beautiful. The -- as you'd see the resolution is to elect [ Mike Baird ] as a Director. In terms of the proxies, if you look behind me, you see the full resolution there? And then can we just put the proxies -- the numbers up. They are the proxy numbers. The -- if anyone has any -- does anyone in the room have any questions? If anyone online has any questions, please submit them now. I know there's no -- any questions in the room? No. As you know, this is -- this will be a poll. So I now put the resolution that [ Mike Baird ] be reelected as set out in the notice of meeting. I'll hand back to you. Sorry, Mike, would you like to say a few words? Before I put it, of course, I ...

I'll be quick, Geoff.

I'll put it. Sorry, too late. Would you like to say a few words after I've put it?

I'll just quickly say before you put it, just 2 seconds. Look, for me, this is a fantastic opportunity. I've worked in banking for a big part of my career from a graduate all the way up to an executive level at NAB, Deutsche Bank and HSBC. Markets, wholesale and retail banking, various roles. I've been in public life as a Member of Parliament and a shadow minister, Treasurer and a Premier. Currently as the CEO of HammondCare, which is an aged care and health provider, been on various boards, including the Australian Business Growth Fund, the ANU and Cricket Australia. But most importantly, keen to use those skills and experiences for FGX to have a capacity to take a corporate idea to provide great investment returns but to also have a social impact, particularly for youth at risk. There's something I'm very passionate about. So it's a pleasure to be [indiscernible].

Thank you very much, Mike, for that. I'll now put the resolution that Mike be reelected as set out in the notice of the meeting. I'll now pass back to you, Mike. Thank you.

Thank you. You should do more votes, Geoff. So the second -- well, the third resolution, Resolution 3 rates a reelection of Gabriel as a director. And would you like, Gabriel, to make a short speech on your reelection.

Thanks, Mike. When Jeff was running through, I thought I'd get away with not saying anything [indiscernible] to spoil things. Look, I've been on the board for quite some time since the beginning. I'm also on the Investment Committee, and I'm the -- I guess, the Principal Chief Investment Officer of one of the probono managers. So I'm probably most conflicted second only to Geoff in this thing. Most of my experience at board levels are of boards that don't function, of boards that are failing, of boards with lots of problems. And so it's a real pleasant change to be involved in the Board that functions as well and as effectively as the Future Gen Board. It's diverse. It brings up issues that are real, relevant and it's great to be part of. For me, probably the most important thing about standing for election today is the fact that all these people are actually happy to have me continue on -- well, they've recommended that I continue on the Board, subject to the shareholder approval. And that's probably the most important thing to me. And I think as shareholders, rather than what I say about myself, you should probably pay attention to what the other directors are effectively saying about me. But look, I'm if elected, I'd be very grateful for another opportunity to serve on this Board. It's certainly one of the highlights of my professional life.

Great. Thanks, Gabriel. I confirm the director is strongly endorsed. But are there any questions. I see no questions have come in. Any questions in the room? No, great. As there are no further questions, I now put the motion that Mr. Gabriel Radzyminski, be reelected as set out in the notice of meeting. But those are online in person, could you please vote on resolution 3. Next resolution, is Resolution 4 relates to the reelection of Geoff Wilson AO as a Director. And Geoff, would you like to make a short speech on your reelection as a director.

Geez, I thought if I let you off, everyone gets let off and then I get let off. Look, thank you, Mike. And thanks, everyone, all the shareholders for your support. Future Generation always a concept, probably 10 or 12 years ago, which ended up becoming a reality. And it's only possible because of the shareholders and the fund managers that support this entity and obviously, the individuals that work there. Obviously, as someone that's worked in the investment world for a long time, I think it's a great opportunity to be involved in an enterprise where other people that I've worked with in that investment world are actually rather than putting that dollar in their pocket, they're actually giving the dollar -- now these are the fund managers to Future Gen that allows it to support children at risk. So I'd love to stay on the board and serve you. And even though I've probably exceeded my term as a -- from the Australian Shareholders Association, I'll -- what do I do? I'll try myself down at your mercy, what do you -- no. I'll throw myself down on the mercy of our shareholders. No. Thank you, Mike.

Thank you, Geoff. You just renominate -- sorry, renominated. And Jesse, any questions, any questions in the room? Geoff, the news is good. And there's the proxies, as you can see, strongly endorsing. So with no further questions, proxies noted. I now put the motion that Mr. Geoff Wilson be reelected as set out in the notice of meeting. For those who are online, could you now please vote on Resolution 4. Terrific. Okay. Well, the last resolution, which is Resolution 5 relates to the change of company name from Future Generation Investment Company Limited to Future Generation Australia Limited. And it's included in the AGM today, so the company's legal name aligns with the name that the company is commonly referred to. So it's a pretty simple proposition that makes sense. But were there any questions, Jess, that have come in relation to this, have anyone got any questions here in relation to it. No? You want to just -- do you want to come forward, I think, just to the microphone, yes, so people online can hear.

Hello. I'd just like to complement the Board on the way they run the company. I'd just like to complement the Board on the way they keep the shareholders informed about what's going on. Most of the results are good, and we hear about those. Most -- very few of the results are bad, and we hear about them as well. So congratulations. On this matter, however, I felt that the Board was ineffective in making the shareholders aware of the nature of the change. And of the papers that were sent out by mail, information relating to the change was not mentioned. It was only when further papers were obtained, was it able to find out what the name was for. When I rang the company, I spoke to a lovely lady, young, I think she was and pleasant as well. And she informed me exactly why the name was being changed, which I found totally logical. Therefore, I did not find it totally logical that I was not informed in the first place. And I also noted that a number of other possibly older people like myself who rang up and ask the same question and have been given the same answer. So my friendly recommendation to the Board is try not to miss those 1% issues on the end that just somehow get lost.

No, no. Well, thank you. I don't know if anyone wants to add, but certainly, that's good feedback. And notwithstanding, it might seem relatively simple. We have to treat the communication like any issues. So I appreciate your perseverance in ringing the company, I'm not sure who you rang, but everyone I speak to it due to generation seems to be happy and friendly. So I'm glad that you've had that. But we'll certainly take that on board and note that future piece of communication. And Geoff will pick it up afterwards. Yes, please, please come forward.

My name is Darius [indiscernible]. I wonder with the change of the company name, do you have an estimated cost for doing this operation?

Jesse, you going to...

Very little. So as you would note, the majority of all sort of branding correspondence has Future Generation Australia already. So there are very few instances where the full company name is used. So letterheads, design, everything that normally would change is pretty much said already. And hence, why the name change and it could have been sort of more properly explained in the notice of meeting, so we appreciate the feedback. Yes, in dollars and cents, wouldn't have the exact amount, but there is very.

Wouldn't it be close to 0?

Yes.

Yes. I can't think of anything. So we'll keep any of the business cards, but they all have Future Gen Australia already on them.

Yes. So thank you. Thanks for the questions. If there are no further questions or comments, I now put the motion, the company's name be changed to Future Generation Australia Limited, as set out in the notice of meeting. You can see the proxies there. For those online, again, could you now please vote on Resolution 5 also a little bit. So there's none others. Well, thank you. We've now addressed all 5 resolutions. And while some of you may have completed voting during the meeting, I'll now give you a few minutes as we wrap up. As mentioned earlier, Boardroom, Future Generation Australia's share registry will conduct the poll via online votes that you submit and combine these votes for those cast online before the meeting, which we've seen. So I'll just wait for 30 or so seconds. [Voting]

Great. Okay. I now declare the poll closed and formally change -- charge Boardroom to count the votes for shareholders and proxy holders joining us in person, the poll card must be signed to be collected from -- by the returning officer and Boardroom, and the results of today's AGM will be released to the market and made available on the website as soon as possible. So we're now moving to the close, and we will take general questions from shareholders. So any questions which are unable to be addressed during this time, if time constraints get us, will be answered following the meeting, but we will take the questions now in the room firstly before we kind of move online. I don't think there is any online as they're just in. So there's no online. So are there any questions in the room. Well, the ASX codes change, no, I didn't think so. No. So they're unchanged. Any other questions? Well, if there's no other questions, ladies and gentlemen, there is no other formal business in the meeting. I declare this closed -- this AGM closed. I do want to thank a number of people. Again, we've spoken about our fund managers and service providers. This wouldn't be possible without them. They do an incredible job for us, enable us to make that contribution to youth at risk, my fellow directors who are here and committee members who all generously give their time, skill and considerable experience. Obviously, Caroline, our CEO, who's doing an amazing job and very excited about the future. And thirdly, the team at Wilson Asset Management. You would have seen some of them around. I know that they do a huge amount to support Future Generation, and it's really appreciated everything they do and they go above and beyond. But most importantly, I just want to thank our shareholders. Shareholders provide the opportunities that deliver through both the investment returns we provide them, but also those that we're giving to use that risk. So we thank them. Obviously, it's been a challenging period, but there continues to be determination from the Board to provide those good investment returns and also make that social impact. So ladies and gentlemen, thank you for joining us on the AGM. I call over to a close.