IDP Education Limited (IEL) Earnings Call Transcript & Summary

Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. It is now 10:00 a.m. And as there is a quorum present at this virtual meeting, I declare the 2021 AGM of IDP Education Limited open. Having regard to social distancing requirements and in the interests of the health and safety of shareholders, the AGM is being held as a virtual event. Details about how shareholders can participate have been set out in the Notice of Meeting and online virtual AGM guide, which have been made available to you. Both documents are also available to view and download at the bottom of your screen alongside the Get a Voting Card and Ask a Question buttons. I now formally open the poll on resolutions and encourage shareholders to submit their written questions online. Now shareholders are able to ask questions online during the meeting. Shareholders can also dial in and ask questions directly of me via a phone link. The phone numbers are listed in the Notice of Meeting. [Operator Instructions] Questions via the phone facility should relate to the relevant item of business being considered at that time. While we will endeavor to answer all questions today, if there are similar questions, we will answer one from the group. Also, if we run out of time, additional questions will be followed up after the meeting. Voting in today's meeting will be conducted via a poll by the online voting platform. All polls will remain open until the conclusion of today's meeting. As we move through the items of business, I will respond to questions from shareholders and proxies. So once again, welcome, ladies and gentlemen. Thank you for joining us for today's Annual General Meeting. My name is Peter Polson, and I am Chairman of your company and today's meeting. Also present at today's virtual meeting are Board members: Professor David Battersby; Ariane Barker; Professor Colin Stirling; Chris Leptos; Greg West; Andrew Barkla, our CEO and Managing Director; and management representatives: Julie Hutchinson, Group Financial Controller; and Ashley Warmbrand, our Company Secretary and General Counsel. Unfortunately, our CFO, Murray Walton, is currently on medical leave and could not be with us today. During the past year, as the world continued to navigate the pandemic, IDP strengthened its position as a global leader in international education services. COVID-19 presents a unique challenge for our industry. However, throughout this period, we have been able to provide support for our international students and our university clients. We have responded quickly to our customers' and clients' diverse needs, largely through the strategic investments we have made in our global teams and technology. I will shortly hand over to Andrew Barkla to discuss the operational highlights of the year. However, before I do, I would like to provide a short overview of IDP's performance in the financial year 2021. IDP's resilient business model and decisive management actions have ensured that the company maintained its strong industry-leading position throughout the past year. Despite ongoing significant challenges presented by the pandemic, our total group revenue was down only 10% against financial year '20 to $528.7 million. Andrew will provide further insights in the meeting into the operational performance of the business. But I'm pleased to note that our largest operation, IELTS, experienced resilient demand with overall volumes up 5% versus financial year '20. This performance demonstrates that people are emerging from the pandemic with their dreams intact and are both looking ahead and looking abroad. IELTS is a key enabler for students and migrants aiming to achieve their global study and career aspirations. To drive long-term growth, IDP maintained its investment in its people and ongoing product development during the year. This commitment to our teams and customers meant we did not fully adjust expenses to match the short-term decline in revenue. As a result, profitability for the year was impacted with adjusted EBIT down 35% to $71.8 million and adjusted net profit after tax down 36% to $45 million. Importantly, our disciplined capital management ensured that we finished the year with a very strong cash balance of $307 million. The solid balance sheet that we have built up has allowed us to navigate the pandemic and are now well placed to drive our sector's rebound with new opportunities. Our long-term customer-focused strategy, our investment in technology and our disciplined financial management underpinned a solid result in a heavily COVID-19-impacted period. The 58% increase in our share price during the financial year reflects not only an environment of asset price inflation but confidence in our strategic direction and the future opportunities for the IDP Group. I'm also happy to note that during the year, we were included in the S&P/ASX 100 Index, which is a significant milestone for your company. From a strategic perspective, IDP has remained focused on our vision to build a platform and connected community which helps international students achieve their career -- global career and study aspirations. We continue to invest in technology and build our data science team. This has enabled us to provide smarter course matching for students, leverage the insights of our global data set and improve the productivity of our expert advisers. It is this trusted human support, powered by leading technology and infrastructure, that sets IDP apart from other technology-enabled players in our sector. This rapid innovation is being replicated across all business lines. We have embedded global systems for virtual counseling, applications and events. And in our IELTS business, volumes are rebounding, boosted by our investment in technology and improving the customer experience. Throughout all the innovation and strategic programs of the past year, it was the strength, expertise and compassion of IDP's people that shone through. Our teams supported each other as well as our customers and our communities through the wide-ranging challenges of the pandemic. Now 12 months on, we are capturing new opportunities and, most importantly, supporting more people to reignite their global ambitions. To you, our shareholders, we are extremely grateful for your support as we strive to transform the company and our industry during these unprecedented times. I will now hand over to Andrew for his operational update.

Thank you, Peter. Good morning, everyone. It is my pleasure to present the operational update for the financial year of FY '21. As Peter has explained, we are emerging from FY '21 with a strong balance sheet and took critical steps to further strengthen our leadership position in preparing the industry for recovery. Importantly, we kept our talented teams together to fulfill on the industry rebound and continue to drive our product and service innovation. Customer intent to study, work and migrate abroad remains very resilient, and we're seeing that as we come into this year. Strategically, we are focusing on rebounding and accelerating our leadership position in the year ahead. We saw strong demand for IELTS with a 5% increase in test volumes versus FY '20. We administered 1.15 million tests last year, which reflects the resilience of our customers. And in fact, we were on track to deliver around 10% growth in IELTS but unfortunately were impacted by the devastating second wave of COVID-19 in India. Our customers, our staff and their family members were heavily impacted by COVID-19, and our thoughts are with those that lost loved ones during the past year. Despite the huge disruptions caused by the pandemic, I'm pleased to report that we are seeing a continued recovery in volumes across the network. We had a strong performance in the first quarter of FY '22 with IELTS volumes up 84% on the same period last year. Our growth is being aided by our ongoing strategic expansion of the IELTS network. During FY '21, we added an additional 100 new computer-delivered test centers, which has assisted in providing operational flexibility when government restrictions limited the delivery of paper-based testing in large venues. Understandably, given continued border restrictions, our student placement volumes were down 25% on the year prior, with the number of students enrolling in Australian institutions suffering the biggest decline. Northern Hemisphere study destinations fared much better, with the U.K. reporting a 4% increase in volumes with students traveling to the U.K. to commence their studies despite ongoing restrictions. Underlying demand for IDP's other key destination, Canada, continues to grow. However, border closures and delays in visa processing meant overall volumes were down 12% for the year. We are seeing strong signs of recovery, and we have started the year well with finalized student volumes to our Northern Hemisphere destinations up 120% in the first quarter of FY '22 versus the same period last year. Australia remains relatively weak with students waiting for clearer signs of border reopening. Finalized student volumes to Australia were down 24% in Q1 FY '22 versus the same period last year. Digital marketing performed very strongly through our IDP Connect business with revenue up 8%, which reflects the trust and the innovation that we have in our data insight services and our digital marketing services to help our clients prepare for the rebound that they are so eagerly focused on. Our data insights and consultancy services grew 110% year-on-year, and our leading Crossroads research proved a crucially important resource for institutions, industry and governments. This, again, highlighted the value of our unique global data set and research expertise. For English language teaching, we experienced a 22% reduction on courses delivered due to school closures during lockdown. However, the team seamlessly transformed the business from physical to virtual. As a testament to their efforts and success, our schools in Cambodia took home the Language Educator of the Year title at the recent PIEoneer Awards, and we are proud of how they have made online learning available to thousands of students during the pandemic. As we look ahead to the recovery, we have consistently seen through our research that the students are holding on to their study intentions with increasing determination. IDP Connect Crossroads research shows that 79% of students with current offers are holding on to their plans, and they are also warming to the blended model of online starts then moving to face-to-face. Students' determination to arrive safely and to commence their studies on campus is also reflected in their overwhelming willingness to comply with vaccination and quarantine policies. IDP is by our students' sides throughout this time. And together with our clients, we are confident that we will reignite opportunities for more of our students. IELTS has a phenomenal brand recognition as the #1 high-stakes English language test. We are now strategically positioned to help more individuals pursue their work, migration or study ambitions with IELTS. And by working collaboratively with the British Council and Cambridge, we are well placed to grow our market share. In FY '21, our IDP IELTS footprint grew with 100 new computer-delivered test centers. We added 50 new websites and have a real focus on improving the customer experience. A strategic breakthrough this year was our agreement with British Council in India, which saw IDP take on sole distribution of IELTS in that market. By doing so, we are able to provide an improved customer experience for test takers and bring IELTS to more people in India. India is the largest IELTS market globally by volume and has exhibited one of the highest country growth rates in recent years. Now with the united team of IELTS experts in India, a long-term strategy and a clear purpose, we are set to improve the customer experience in this key global region. A key milestone achieved this year was IELTS acceptance by 11,000 organizations. We continue to make significant investments in modernizing our IELTS platform, and we now have an opportunity to bring a portfolio of new innovative products and services to that platform, which will support our customers and recognizing organizations. We have now delivered the global platform that we set out to build, which has brought together human connections and digital innovation. In FY '21, we are proud that our global platform flourished and grew into a connected community. This means we are now home to the world's largest community of students, customers, trusted counselors and institutions. New community platforms and virtual and face-to-face services such as events and counseling and key human conversations that matter ensure our customers are heading into their international education journey with confidence and clarity. By combining IDP's trusted counselors with data-driven solutions, our customers will also get into their ideal course faster. The success of our technology is reflected in our customers' feedback with close to 9 in 10 students saying they would recommend IDP to family and friends. At the same time, our clients will more efficiently select the students that are best positioned to thrive at their institution. This rapid innovation was replicated across all business lines. We continue to improve our IELTS online support and preparation tools for IELTS to give test takers the confidence to achieve their best score. As the connections between our community continue to deepen, powered by leading data and technology innovation, we are excited to unlock opportunities for our customers and transform the international education industry. Before I hand back to Peter, I would like to take this opportunity to thank you, our shareholders, for the support you have given IDP this past year. Our teams have worked under challenging conditions as many grappled with the far-ranging consequences of the pandemic. What rose to the surface throughout the year was the IDP spirit. Our teams came together to ship oxygen concentrators from region to region, donated funds and led initiatives to show support, care and compassion. It was a true reflection of our global connected community. At IDP, we are driven by a strong sense of purpose. We are well positioned to drive this sector's recovery, and we are committed to setting the global standard. IDP will ensure that our new technology empowers our customers, partners and people and brings our communities together. We are committed to ensuring our data and insights continue to inform customer-focused strategies at IDP and across the industry and are a catalyst for positive change. With a team of experts in place worldwide, IDP is ready to respond to new opportunities and help our customers reignite their global ambitions. Thank you. Back to you, Chairman.

Thank you, Andrew. We will now turn to the formal business of the meeting. The minutes of the previous AGM were approved by the Board and signed by myself as Chair. The Notice of Meeting dated the 20th of September '21 was sent to shareholders, and a copy is available online on the ASX website. I propose that the Notice of Meeting be taken as read. I would just like to summarize the proxy and voting procedures for this meeting. Shareholders and proxyholders have the opportunity to consider and submit their vote on each resolution after the end of the meeting. Voting will close 1 minute after the meeting has been formally closed. Following discussion on each item, the proxy results will be displayed on the screen. Where undirected proxies has been given in favor of the Chairman, I will be voting those proxies in favor of all items. I've been informed by my fellow directors and the company secretary that they will also vote any undirected proxies given to them in the same manner. Please note, only shareholders and proxyholders may ask questions. Questions will be required to be entered on the virtual meeting platform using the instructions on the platform or in the virtual meeting online guide. All questions will be moderated to ensure they are appropriate to be put to the meeting. We will now move on to the items of business for this meeting as set out in the Notice of Meeting. The first item of formal business is to receive the IDP Education Limited financial report for the year ended 30th of June 2021. Let me introduce our auditor for the 2021 financial year, Gen Cavallo, from Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu. Gen is available to take questions relevant to the conduct of the audit and the preparation and content of the independent audit report. Please ask any questions that you have of our auditor on the virtual meeting platform. Voting is not required as this is a discussion item only. We will now take questions on the IDP Education Limited financial statements, directors' report and auditor's report. We will first take telephone questions followed by written questions submitted via the virtual meeting platform. Telephone moderator, are there any questions?

Chairman, we have no phone questions on this item.

Thank you. Do we have -- Craig, are there any written questions submitted via the meeting platform?

Yes. I do. We've got a couple of questions related to general business. The first is from Claudio Esposito of the Australian Shareholders' Association. Claudio's question, he notes, and I'll read it to you, Peter. "Good morning all. Congratulations to IDP in a good year, given the disruptions the world has been faced with from the pandemic. IDP demonstrated resilience from the rebound in revenues and the opportunities to seek acquisition of business in India from the British Council. Business in China has been very profitable for IDP, and we understand how government policy can impact university placements ultimately having a flow-on effect to IELTS. What is IDP doing to mitigate the risk of retaliative policy changes that could impact the business?" That's the question, Peter.

Thanks, Craig. A strength of IDP's business model is its diversification. We operate in over 50 countries and have multiple business lines. Whilst China is an important country for IDP, it represents only 24% of our total placement student volumes in financial year '21, which, in turn, represented less than approximately 15% of our total group revenue. In that context, we are comfortable with our exposure and will continue to look at growth opportunities in China with an appropriate risk/reward framework. Are there any other questions, Craig?

Yes. We've got a couple more on general business matters, Peter. The next again is from Claudio Esposito of the Australian Shareholders' Association. Claudio asks that, "IDP were fortunate enough to receive government financial assistance at the height of the pandemic. Understandably, this has prevented layoffs at this -- at the time. Given IDP's remarkable return to business, does IDP plan on handing back these funds, paying it forward, so to speak?" That's his question, Peter.

Thanks, Craig. Look, government wage subsidies were an economic lever designed to soften the impact of the economic downturn and incentivize employers to retain their stock. In addition to other proactive cost reduction initiatives taken by management, these wage subsidies gave IDP confidence to retain all of its staff over the past 18 months despite a 36% fall in profitability. As a result, we believe these subsidies delivered on their objective, and we have no current plans to return the funds.

Thanks, Peter. Another question here, general business-related, it's from Stephen Mayne, a shareholder. Stephen also asks around government wage subsidies. And he asks particularly, "Why didn't we pay the CEO a bonus," in his words, "when we were bailed out by the federal government through the JobKeeper scheme? How much JobKeeper did we claim?" he asks. "How much do we pay back? And why don't we pay back more, given that our business is going well? Shares are at $36, and we've got a market capitalization of $10 billion." So I'll just repeat that for you, Peter. It's JobKeeper. Why did we pay the CEO a bonus when we received that? How much did we claim? And are we planning to pay it back?

Thanks, Craig. Look, I think I partly answered the question with the previous answer. I mean, quite frankly, I think Stephen is missing the point that this was an economic lever pulled by the country's treasurer. It was really designed to stimulate the economy and not really specifically to deal with issues that occurred at individual companies. We didn't receive a great deal of funds. I think the total by way of subsidy was around $7.9 million. And actually, the amount was deducted from the results before we considered any bonus payments for the management team. I think what's lost on some people is that while the actual profits were down, the level of profitability that management achieved in the current circumstances was quite extraordinary, given, as I say, the circumstances we were operating in and the impact it had on the movement of students globally. And the amount of work that the management team and all of the staff had to do to maintain our position and improve the position in terms of volumes on the previous year was quite an extraordinary effort. So -- and the market capitalization is driven by our shareholders' view on the value of the company. It has nothing to do with government payments or anything like that. So I think there's a disconnect there. Thanks, Craig.

Yes. Thanks, Peter. A couple more questions, if you wouldn't mind, on general business again from Stephen Mayne, a shareholder. Stephen asks a question to you, Peter. He notes that you're 77 years of age, and he was interested in when you're going to retire from both IDP and Challenger, where he believes you've served more than 15 years. He was wondering whether the Deputy Chair or lead independent director could perhaps comment on your performance and any succession planning. But over to you, Peter, on your age, tenure and plans.

Well, just to respond to my age, I'm not 77 years old. That's a few years away. But -- so that was not correct. Any question around Challenger can be dealt with at the Challenger AGM. I think that the way we've looked at my tenure at IDP has really been to look more closely at IDP as a listed entity, and that has only been for the last 5, 6 years. So really, to look back at IDP, which was a very different organization prior to our listing, it had a different management team. The world has sort of moved on in the new sphere of IDP. I would be very happy. It would be difficult to orchestrate at this point on a virtual meeting for any of the directors to comment on my performance. There's been no indication from any of them that I should step down. I'm not up for election this year. I will consider my position when my election comes around, which I do believe is the AGM next year. Thanks, Craig.

Thanks, Peter. I think that's all the questions related to general business for the moment.

Thanks, Craig. All right. So I think we've dealt with that. Then the -- if there are no further questions, I'll move on to the next item of business, which is the election of Mr. Chris Leptos, Mr. Leptos AM, and Professor Colin Stirling will retire in accordance with the provisions of the constitution and, being eligible, offer themselves for reelection. Chris was appointed a nonexecutive director of IDP Education at the completion of its IPO in November 2015. Chris is Chairman of the National Heart Foundation of Australia and recently retired as Chairman of SEA Electric. In 2020, Chris was appointed by the federal government to conduct a statutory review of the National Housing and Investing -- Investment Corporation Act, reporting to parliament in 2021. In 2021, Chris was appointed by the federal government as the independent reviewer of the Food and Grocery Code under the Competition and Consumer Act. He's also a senior adviser to Flagstaff Partners, a member of the Advisory Board of The University of Melbourne Faculty of Business and Economics and the advisory council of Asialink. He was previously a senior partner with KPMG and Managing Partner, Government, at Ernst & Young, where he had national responsibility for leading the public sector and higher education practice. He is a fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants and a fellow of the AICD. Are there any questions on this item, firstly, on the telephone?

Chairman, we have no phone questions on this item.

Craig, any written questions?

Yes. I have, Peter. I've got a couple coming through on the Internet.

Okay.

First one is from Claudio Esposito from the Australian Shareholders' Association. Claudio asks that, "The ASA Group note the reelection of Mr. Leptos and Professor Stirling and that Education Australia has significantly -- and has been singularly unsuccessful in putting forward female candidates for election to the IDP Board. Given EA's equity sell-off, the Australian Shareholders' Association sees it as inappropriate to reelect either of these 2 directors, partly because of the EA Board majority will soon no longer be a requirement and because this was a missed opportunity to address gender imbalance. What is IDP's position on this matter? And how might you address it?"

Thanks, Craig. Look, we understand the issues you raise and acknowledge that our Board does not have enough diversity from a gender perspective. The sale by Education Australia presents an opportunity for IDP to refresh the Board before the next AGM, and greater diversity both in terms of gender and skills will be a core objective of our refresh process. Thanks, Craig.

Yes. Thanks, Peter. Another one on the reelection of Chris Leptos. This one comes from Stephen Mayne, a shareholder. Stephen notes that, "Since 2019, Treasury Wine Estates has voluntarily moved annual elections for directors, in line with best practice that occurs in both the U.S. and the U.K. And your company -- so listed companies like News Corp, BHP and Rio all do this due to the laws in the U.S. and the U.K. What does Chris Leptos think about this idea? And could the Chair comment on whether IDP will consider following suit to lead by an example on governance by being more regularly accountable to shareholders? Such a move would also assist with managing the Chair succession."

Well, first of all, quite frankly, I haven't seen the research on annual elections as being best practice. I actually believe that a director's responsibility revolves around helping set strategy for the organization. And in my book, strategy means a slightly longer-term time horizon than an annual election. So quite frankly, I don't know where, Stephen, you get your research from and how you have come to the conclusion that this is best practice. But we would certainly look at all of the governance issues that affect the company on a regular basis. And I will certainly put that on the agenda. I haven't seen many companies move in this direction. And as I say, I haven't seen any research that's been done by credible advisers, which would indicate that the company and the shareholders would benefit from annual elections. So we'll put that aside. With regard to Chris Leptos, I don't really believe that Chris should make a statement. But on that basis, we can talk to Stephen post the AGM if he feels very strongly about it.

Thanks, Peter. One last question on the reelection of Chris Leptos, this one again from Stephen Mayne, shareholder. "In the interest of full transparency, will Chris Leptos support the idea of IDP publishing a full transcript of today's AGM proceedings on its website? Could the Chair also comment on this request to follow the leads of companies like the ASX, Woolworths, Transurban and Westpac by publishing a full transcript of today's debate, not just a copy of the webcast?"

Well, that's an interesting question. I'm not sure that we would want to do that. I don't really see any reason why we wouldn't. We've got nothing to hide, but I don't know that all shareholders would want that sort of publication on the website. But certainly, I'll have a look at that. We can have a look at that, and we can decide as a Board whether we want to do that. As I say, I don't really see any major reason why we wouldn't.

Thanks, Peter. No further questions on this item of business, Peter.

Thanks, Craig. All right. If we could then move on to -- I think it's Slide #17, which is the election of Professor Colin Stirling. Colin was appointed as a nonexecutive director of IDP Education in February 2018. He is the President and Vice Chancellor of Flinders University and brings more than 30 years of experience in international education in Australia, the U.K. and the U.S.A. Colin is a director of Education Australia Limited and has held various other board positions across health, academic and community organizations. Educated at the University of Edinburgh with a PhD from the University of Glasgow, Colin began his award-winning scientific career at the University of California, Berkeley. Are there any questions via the telephone on the election of Professor Colin Stirling?

Chairman, we have no phone questions on this item.

Thanks, Bernadette. Craig, any specific questions that were written in?

Yes. Peter, we've got a couple on this item. The first one from Stephen Mayne, shareholder. He's asking around the fact that the University of Australia -- he refers to University of Australia, I'm sure he's referring to Education Australia. But he notes that they no longer control IDP and that why is Colin running again? What is the situation with the university Board representation? And how much of the company do the universities still own? He then follows on with, what does Colin think about the fact that we claimed JobKeeper when the universities were ineligible to apply? And should we pay that CEO's bonus when we had JobKeeper, which I think you've answered, Peter. So the question really is the reelection of Colin given Education Australia is sold down, how much do they own, and Colin's view on JobKeeper receipts.

That's it? I must say I would have thought Stephen, with his ability to analyze companies, would have known because we've made it public. But the universities have gone down to a holding of 25%. So they've sold down -- they still are major shareholders, but they hold the shares in the individual rights. The shares have been distributed to the individual universities in specie. They do have a period where they cannot sell the shares for the next 6 months, the balance of the 25%. So as I say, currently, the university is collectively -- are substantial on our register. And they will make their own decisions post the next 6 months whether to hold on as -- and remain as shareholders individually or to sell their shares. Does that cover the question, Craig? Have I missed anything?

It's -- probably the last bit, just about Colin's running again, given the sell-down, please.

Well, Colin is eligible to be reelected. He is an extremely valuable director with a -- as you can -- as I read out in terms of his CV, he's had terrific experience in education and many other organizations. So from that point of view, Colin is, as I say, a very valuable director to the IDP Board.

Thank you, Peter. Another one on the reelection of Colin, Stephen Mayne, shareholder. His questions are quite long, Peter, so bear with me. "IDP announced the $175 million placement of $10.65 last year and then lifted this to $225 million whilst retaining the cap on its follow-on share purchase plan at just $15 million. Macquarie collected a $5 million fee based on a 2.2% commission. The discount on the day was 7.9% against the previous closing price." So there's some facts there he's presented. He's now asked, "Universities Australia owned 49% before the raising and was diluted down to 46%. Does Colin agree its ill-considered dilutive placement effectively cost taxpayers via universities tens of millions, given where the share price is now sitting?" That's his question, Peter.

Great. I must say, it's very difficult to follow the tenure of that question. I'm not sure what are you getting at. I mean, the transaction we did and the fees we paid were in the market, and we negotiated the best fees we could for shareholders. So I don't understand the relevance to the universities and how this Board can be held accountable for any issues that the universities may have relative to the amount of money that was raised or the commission that was paid. Have I missed something, Craig?

No. I think that's a fair answer, Peter. Good -- sorry.