Helia Group Limited (HLI) Earnings Call Transcript & Summary

Thank you for standing by, and welcome to the Genworth Mortgage Insurance Australia Limited General Meeting. [Operator Instructions] I'd now like to hand the conference over to Mr. Ian MacDonald, Chairman. Please go ahead.

Good morning. I am Ian MacDonald, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Genworth Mortgage Insurance Australia Limited. I would like to welcome you to our General Meeting of Shareholders. It is now 11:00 a.m., and I have been informed that the necessary quorum of shareholders is present at the meeting. Therefore, we declare the meeting open. We are holding a hybrid meeting. While there is no video broadcast of this meeting, shareholders attending virtually will be able to listen to the meeting, ask the question and participate through the online platform. The Notice of Meeting and the virtual meeting online guide released on ASX and posted on our website on the 13th of October 2022 set out meeting procedures to enable attendance and participation in this meeting by virtual means. I will take the notice of meeting as read. You can find the CEO's address, which was released to the market this morning on our website. I will now explain some process for this meeting. You'll be able to ask questions on the resolution to be voted on today. The shareholders and proxy holders attending the meeting in person. You may raise your hand to ask a question at the relevant time. For shareholders attending online, you will be able to ask questions and cast your vote once you have registered for an electronic voting card. Please click on the Ask a Question box and follow the prompts. I encourage you to start typing now instead of waiting until later in the meeting. Any questions must be relevant to the business of the meeting, which is the proposed change to the company's constitution to change the company name. All relevant questions will be read out to me. We may aggregate questions if we receive multiple questions on the same topic. Shareholders attending virtually can also ask a question by phoning the number on your screen now. To do so, you must enter a unique PIN issued by Link Market Services. If you don't have a phone PIN and wish to ask a question over the phone, you must call Link on 1 (800) 990-363 to get a PIN. If you experience any technical issues using the online platform, please ring the help line number displayed at the top of the page, that is 1 (800) 990-363. If we have any technical issue today, I may need to call a short adjournment, and I will inform you by way of a market announcement, virtual attendees will be notified by text. I will now hand over to our CEO and Managing Director, Pauline.

Thank you, Ian, and good morning, everyone. I'm Pauline Blight-Johnston, Genworth's Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director. Before I commence, I'd like to acknowledge the Cammeraygal people of the Eora Nation on his land who are hosting our meeting today. I pay my respects to the elders past, present and emerging and to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people here today. I'm pleased to bring before shareholders today a proposal to adopt the name Helia Group Limited to take our company into the future. Following our separation from Genworth Financial Inc., we are required to stop using the Genworth name. Our trademark license to use Genworth will shortly expire, and therefore, we're required to adopt a new name and with it, a new brand identity and trademark. This will create a separate identity for our business and better reflect our activities and strategy going forward, and our purpose to accelerate financial well-being through homeownership. We have approached the process of selecting a new name with great care and consideration, and I'm very pleased that we've been able to secure Helia Group Limited to represent us now and for the future. Helia inspired by the sun, reflects who we are and how we use our expertise, experience and understanding to show people possibilities, shine a light on solutions and create better outcomes. We believe it represents our strategic intent as a company to build on our uniquely strong foundation to continue to find better ways to help Australians achieve the dream of homeownership. Although our name is new and aspirational, our core strengths and ambitions aren't going to change. Our commitment to being a forward-thinking leader that creates value for our customers, people, communities and for you, our shareholders, remains unwavering. Thank you for your time today and for your continued support. I hope that you'll join me in embracing this new name as we move towards the exciting chapter ahead. I'll now hand back to Ian.

Thank you, Pauline. The Board is fully supportive of Helia Group Limited as the name being presented to our shareholders today. I will now briefly run through the formalities for casting your vote. If you did not vote prior to the meeting, you may do so using the online platform, please click on Get a Voting Card and follow the prompts. Shareholders eligible to vote or their appointed proxies will be able to vote at any time during the meeting by using the electronic voting card on your screen. Live voting on the online platform will close 5 minutes after the meeting closes. Once voting is closed, all voting cards will automatically be submitted and cannot be changed. Please note that you cannot vote over the phone. As a significant number of our shareholders vote by proxy and direct voting, and we have received proxy votes or direct votes in respect of around 68% of our total shares, we must recognize that both of those attending this meeting and those who have already voted by proxy or direct vote. Accordingly, a poll will be called for the resolution being voted on today. I now declare the poll open. We will display the proxy and direct votes that have been cast after the resolution has been moved, where I, as Chairman, have been appointed as proxy with a discretion on how to vote, I intend to vote all such shares in favor of the resolution. There is only 1 item of business to be voted on today being Resolution 1 which seeks shareholder approval for the company to change its name to Helia Group Limited and to make consequential changes to the company's name in its constitution. As a special resolution, at least 75% of the votes cast must be in favor of the resolution for it to be passed. If shareholders pass Resolution 1 today, Genworth will lodge the prescribed forms with ASIC and the name change will take effect when ASIC alters the details of the company's registration. The company will then make an ASX announcement upon the change of name taking effect, and ASX will update the company's listing code from GMA to HLI in due course. The directors unanimously recommend the shareholders vote for the resolution. The wording for Resolution 1 appears on your screen along with the proxy and direct votes received in relation to this resolution.

I will now pause briefly for shareholders attending in person to ask any questions on this resolution.

[indiscernible], shareholder. Just in your choice of name, did you consider the possibility of confusion with Helius?

We could -- we compared a lot of names. It's a long process to actually select the name, but we were quite satisfied with Helia has been separate from Helius. But do you have a concern with the proximity to...

Oh no, it's just that they're very close and I can see that, that might cause some confusion at some stage.

I think what's important is they operate in, obviously, different industry. And also, it's actually very -- there are a lot fewer words in the English language than there are companies. So it's very difficult to get a name that is not somewhere close, but we are comfortable with the sufficient differentiation between the businesses and the brands.

[indiscernible] naming your first child.

Any much harder.

No further questions from the room. I'll now pause briefly for shareholders attending virtually to ask any questions on this resolution using the online platform.

Chairman, there have been no questions received through the online platform.

Thank you. I'll now take questions on this resolution received over the phone.

There are no further questions at this time.

There being no more questions, we will move to voting on Resolution 1. To submit a full vote in respect of all your shares, please ensure you are in the Full Vote tab and record your vote by clicking either the For, Against or Abstain box against Resolution 1 on your electronic voting card. To submit a partial vote, please check that you are in the Partial Vote tab. You will then be able to enter the amount, the number of shares you would like to vote for the resolution. The total amount of votes you can vote will be listed under the resolution. If you're a proxy holder with open votes, you'll need to click either the For, Against or Abstain box against Resolution 1 to indicate how you wish to cast any votes. I'll pause briefly to give you time to cast your vote. Thank you. As there is no other business to be brought before this meeting, I would like to ask the shareholders to finalize and submit their electronic voting cards. [Voting]

Poll results will be released to the market via the market announcements platform and will be available on the company's website as soon as possible, which will occur later today. I now declare the meeting and poll closed, and thank you for your attendance at this general meeting of the company. Thank you.

Thank you. That does conclude our conference for today. Thank you for participating. You may now disconnect.