ImpediMed Limited (IPD) Earnings Call Transcript & Summary

Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. My name is Christine Emmanuel-Donnelly, and it's my pleasure as Chair of ImpediMed Limited to welcome everyone joining us today for our Annual General Meeting. I do respectfully acknowledge the traditional owners of the land in which we meet, the Gadigal People of the Eora Nation, pay my respects to their elders past and present and also to any Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people here today. So I wish to advise that today's AGM is being recorded and the recording will be made available to our website after the meeting. It's now just past 11:00 a.m., the nominated time for the meeting, and I've been informed that a quorum is present. And I note that the meeting has been validly constituted, and I'm pleased to declare the meeting open. So let me begin by introducing my fellow directors who are present with us here today. So Dr. Parmjot Bains, Managing Director and CEO. You'll hear from Parmjot a little bit later with her presentation. McGregor Grant, Executive Director, and CFO and COO. We've got Fiona Bones, Nonexecutive Director and Chair of our Audit and Risk Management Committee You'll also hear from Fiona a bit later as she's going up for election today. And we've got Andrew Grant and Janelle Delaney, both Nonexecutive Directors, both of whom are going up for reelection today. We've also got our Company Secretary, Leanne Ralph. We should have representatives from -- well the company's share register Link Market Services and our Audit Partner from EY, Madhu Nair. I think he might be online to respond to comments and questions in relation to the audit. So there's 4 components to today's meeting. I'll give you an update on the last year of ImpediMed's business. And then we'll have a detailed overview from Parmjot, our CEO. And then we'll open the meeting for questions on general business after my address and Parmjot's presentation. And then following the general business questions, we'll move to the formal business of the meeting, where the items set out in the notice of meeting will be put to shareholders. And we will also allocate time for questions on each of the items of business when they are considered. So to the Chair address. So it's a privilege to address you here today as Chair. I'd really like to acknowledge our shareholders, our team, our health care partners, the patients whose lives we aim to improve this year a very significant change for the company, but also a year of significant progress and achievement for ImpediMed. Our commitment to advancing patient-centric innovation continues to drive what we do, reinforcing our position as a leader in the diagnosis and management of lymphoedema. So the role of the Board to provide strategic leadership governance ensure that the company is acting in interest of its shareholders and stakeholders. So we actively engage in this oversight role and ensure the company operates with integrity and accountability. When elected, in September last year for some of us, the newly constituted Board announced it would review ImpediMed's overall strategy, ensure it was maximizing the potential opportunities to transition to a high-growth and profitable business. We were delivered an endorsement for change with shareholders wanting increased confidence in the governance and strategy of the company. So the Board completed a thorough analysis and we've identified a very capable core management team, an excellent product and an undeniable opportunity. However, different skills were required to move from the R&D focused company to 1 with a more commercial focus and commercialization focus. So while this required a significant cultural shift, it was critical to have the patient remain at the core, but greater emphasis on developing more robust execution plans, a nimble approach and increased focus on expense management, and appropriate incentives for key management personnel were required of the companies to be successful and generate long-term value for shareholders. So as a result, a number of changes were implemented starting with the senior management team. Dr. Parmjot Bains, who's appointed CEO and Managing Director, joining from Pfizer and bringing deep commercial experience. McGregor Grant, stepped down as Chair and took on the responsibilities of CFO and COO. McGregor is known to many investors through his 13 years as CFO and Company Secretary of Nanosonics Limited. So combined, Dr. Bains and Mr. Grant for extensive Med Tech, healthcare, financial and operational experience to ImpediMed and have ensured stability and continuity of the business operations. They work quickly with the management team, extraordinarily quickly, I might add, to focus on 2 initial objectives to drive the company toward cash flow breakeven. Implementing sales and marketing processes that will grow the opportunity pipeline and accelerate sales and examine the company's cost base and ensure the long-term sustainability of the business. The Board recognizes the significant talent within the broader senior management team. They have a breadth of experience and proven track record of commercialization and creating long-term value. Cultural change can be difficult, and we commend the team for this ability to unite and focus on the objectives. We congratulate all who have been promoted, or have taken on new roles and welcome new employees to ImpediMed. As a team, they quickly developed comprehensive plans to fulfill those objectives and are now focused on execution. We have tremendous confidence the team can deliver against the clear metrics and targets that have been set and we will continue to monitor progress against these benchmarks. We are seeing an improvement in the metrics and clear momentum in the business, giving the Board confidence that sales will accelerate with the increasing levels of reimbursement. I will leave Parmjot to discuss and provide those details in her presentation. And cost control can be maintained, and McGregor Grant and his team are laser-focused on this, resulting in improved financial results and better returns for our shareholders. From the aspect of the Board, I'm pleased to report that it is functioning extremely well. Although we came together quickly, we went in well prepared and have all made positive contributions over the past year. We have diverse complementary skills and everyone has utilized their experiences to support the management team. Janelle Delaney has brought her risk and IT focus visiting not just the team in the U.S., but also in Greece. Andrew Grant stepped into the business for the last 6 months to map out a product road map for potential new applications. And I've personally reviewed the company's IP portfolio and provide oversight and insight into the management of creating value. We also wish to welcome Fiona Bones as the new Independent Director. Fiona has a wealth of finance experience while working in senior finance roles at Google for the last 20 years and is now fulfilling the role of Head of ImpediMed's Audit and Risk Committee. So we really appreciate the contributions of all of the directors in that regard. And when you think the company now has senior executives from Google, IBM and Pfizer, and start-up Med Tech commercialization experience from PolyNovo, Nanosonics and ResMed. So collectively, this experience covers finance, sales, marketing, engineering, medical, clinical, IT and IP. The Board is committed to bringing all this experience together to ensure the company is positioned to maximize the commercial opportunity available to us and value to its shareholders. In terms of governance, it was pleasing to read the assessment from 1 of the global proxy advisers. We received positive recommendations on all proposals. There's very few concerns. The Board has worked hard at striking a fair balance in incentivizing key personnel while overseeing an overall reduction in salaries, sign-on awards and notice periods. Further, the report rated ImpediMed just outside the top quartile to cybersecurity and compared with over 5,000 Med Tech companies globally. Given the relative size of the company, this is a really pleasing result. The Board has obviously also reviewed all of its charters and policies as is usual for the year of work that the Board does. But this is not complete. We have a minimum shareholding policy for directors to introduce as well as a couple of additional policies going forward. We've stepped up both the frequency and duration of board meetings to ensure more appropriate review and oversight. The Board will continue to engage with shareholders and other stakeholders. Through this process, we have gathered more insight into areas that we can address. We remain very open to feedback. We appreciate it and continue to aspire to best practice. As we look to the future, we're more optimistic than ever about the opportunities that lie ahead for ImpediMed. We remain focused on accelerating the adoption of SOZO across key markets, enhancing our technology offerings and expanding our footprint. The positive clinical outcomes and patient benefits continue to validate our technology, and we're proud of the contribution SOZO is making to improving patient care. SOZO has gained growing recognition from the pinnacle of industry bodies and fast establishing itself as the standard of care in the detection and ongoing management of lymphoedema. As a company, we're committed to leveraging this technology, which is a true platform to solve many healthcare challenges. And although our initial focus remains commercialization through breast cancer-related lymphoedema, we're very acutely aware of the opportunities presented by the platform technology with multiple clinical applications, some of which we already have FDA clearances and applicable medicare payment codes. Once we're more advanced with commercialization of breast cancer-related lymphoedema, we will look to expand our offering into new clinical areas. This focus on innovation is a core pillar of our strategy, and we're excited about the possibilities ahead. We're also committed to ensuring that our solutions remain patient-centric. At ImpediMed, we believe that technology must not only be scientifically sound, but also easy to use and deliver tangible benefits to patients. The feedback we received from clinicians and patients continues to shape our product development efforts and inspire us to achieve more. So I'd like to take this opportunity to express my deepest gratitude to all of our stakeholders, our shareholders, for your continued support, our employees for your dedication and hard work and the healthcare professionals and patients who trust our technology. Together, we're making a meaningful impact on healthcare. The company is well positioned for long-term success and I and the Board are very excited about the journey ahead. So thank you for your time and interest today. Look forward to addressing any questions you may have during the meeting. And I now invite Parmjot for a more detailed review of the operations and the company's strategy to break even.

Great. Thank you, Christine. Good morning, everyone, and thank you for joining us today. The next slide is just on the agenda. So agenda for the presentation today, we'll start with an overview of the FY '24 financials, touch based on the IPD strategy going forward, run through the BCRL indication, overview of the team, which is executing on our strategy and look at our forward indicators and then finally touch base on our value proposition for the company. Next slide. Just to recap, as Christine mentioned, FY '24 was a big year of change from ImpediMed but really on the right track as an organization. So when we looked at our financials for the year, our total revenue was down 9%, driven by the AstraZeneca clinical trial revenues, but that decreased really below the underlying strength of our business. So when we factor out the impact of the AstraZeneca contract, revenue finishing in the clinical trial business, just focus on our core SOZO business, you'll see a very different story. And that's the true strength of this business as a Software as a Service. So our core business revenue rose 14% to $9.7 million, and the SOZO core business annual recurring revenue went up 18% to $11 million. The profit margin remained healthy at 87% and patient testing continue to rise. So if we look at the chart, just graphically illustrates the impact of the AstraZeneca clinical trial revenue winding down, which is at full strength in FY '22, finishing FY '23 and FY '24 was the first year with the minimal impact for ImpediMed. And as you can see, the core business that's represented by the dark blue lines continue to grow. And this growth is predominantly in the U.S., where our SaaS business model operates and it's also an area of focus and where me and the executive team spend a significant amount of our time. The next slide, just to touch base, I think came out in our annual report. The next chart demonstrates the growth in our annual recurring revenue. So solid growth of 3-year compound rate of 22% and 18% in FY '24 over FY '23. I think just a key thing to note, just on both those patient testing and the ARR, we only got reimbursement a year ago. There were 0 covered lives the year ago and this business still continue to grow, and so we are expecting to see significant growth going forward. So next slide, patient testing. Also again, solid growth compounded 24% over 3 years and 18% this year over last year. Patient testing is a key driver of renewal increases. So if we can show set aside customers with successful programs are more likely to renew and also add devices on renewal. So it's a critical metric, and we actually track this very, very closely within the organization. In terms of our immediate strategy, as Christine outlined, this has pretty much been a strategy that we set back in February, so within that month of arriving the organization and visiting out the market. And we've been very consistently focused on achieving the strategy and the strategic objectives. As healthy as the underlying business was, we really need to change sales to accelerate and ImpediMed is to move to cash flow breakeven. So the new board and management team recognize the need to implement a focused sales and marketing strategy in BCRL while very stringently managing our cash burn. It's taken time and effort to realign the culture and permit the new strategy and fill the new team, while ensuring our business continue to move forward while undergoing this transformation. As we've highlighted, breakthrough -- breakeven will only come through increasing sales while managing our cost base. And that's the crux of the strategy. How do I accelerate sales while keeping my costs under control and what is effectively a launch asset. The costs are the easier of the 2, we implemented a 10% reduction on year-on-year cash expenditure to keep this more in line with what a sales-focused start-up should be. Most of the cost savings came from senior management compensation or like-for-like executive remuneration has reduced the cost by about 30%. But it can't be all about cost, we are in product launch phase, and we are a growth business. And to reach breakeven, we need to increase our sales. So while reducing costs, we actually invested in increasing our customer-facing staff by 15% with a number of customer-facing roles now representing half of the business. We've actually had -- with Tim coming on in April as the new VP of Sales have had an extensive focus on the team, upskilling the team, moving them into a pod structure and making sure they are effective executors of sales. It's not just about sales, it's not just about NCCN and reimbursement. You need all of the elements into place and the new management team and Board have been focused on doing that. So as we look for the strategy, you'll see all the elements that are coming together. ImpediMed has an experienced Board. We have an executive team that I have a lot of confidence in, and they are executing. We have a clear strategy, an aligned culture in all of the regulatory clinical requirements, growing reimbursement footprint and a fundamental sales and marketing team and processes required to achieve sustainable growth. If we go to the next slide. So the first indication for us is breast cancer-related lymphoedema. What I've actually noted on the slide is that we've actually -- we aren't just about lymphoedema, we're breast cancer survivorship. If you look at the breast cancer survivors, lymphoedema for the long time was something of 4 million -- that's something in the 4 million survivors had to endure. If they are the unlucky 1 and 5 were inflected with debilitating condition. There's a big number, 4 million breast cancer survivors. And despite the improvements of detection and treatment, there will be a further 300,000 newly diagnosed breast cancer patients in the U.S. this year and 82% of those are at risk of lymphoedema. And something to note is not just about surgery, right? So they don't just get lymphoedema from surgery, you'll get it from radiation therapy or taxane therapy. So it's not just the ones at risk from surgery. So 20% of those will progress to getting chronic lymphoedema. [ Taxane ] is a solution for these patients. For the PREVENT randomized trial show that 92% of patients did not progress to chronic lymphoedema when utilizing ImpediMed's best technology for early detection and treatment, and that's a 59% relative reduction over the current standard of care. Next slide. Breast cancer survivors is critically pushed on to become the recognized standard of care and reduce the care burden that affects so many. We have all of the elements in place for SOZO lymphoedema to become a new standard of care. Number one, we have a positive global randomized clinical trial that demonstrates a strictly significant reduction in lymphoedema. We have FDA clearance and CE Mark. We have over 1,000 active devices and lymphoedema prevention programs globally, and we have reached over 1 million tests conducted. We reached that a couple of weeks ago. SOZO and BIS technology have been endorsed by numerous industry groups included in many industry guidelines and standards. The most -- 2 most influential being NCCN and the recently NAPBC standards. So NAPBC is a quality program of the American College of Breast Surgeons (sic) American Society of Breast Surgeons, and the authors are leaders of U.S. cancer care and a highly influential for clinicians and health care systems who seek to be accredited for breast cancer care in the U.S. These guidelines support clinical adoption and payer coverage. And even more so than ever, payer coverage is a necessity as the customer face a most challenging economic environment in the U.S., while hospital budgets are stretched with costs rising faster than revenue. Payer coverage is now are the most important factor to significantly accelerate sales, and I'm pleased to report that our U.S. payer coverage has now more than steadily increased. As you note, we now covers 73% of covered lives in the U.S. Time will ultimately tell, but it really feels that we are close to that point. So what is -- next slide. So BCRL, what's the current standard of care? And what are we up against? Really, it's a tape measure, which is used to calculate volume measurements. There are other volumetric measurements such as promise and water displacement, but tape measure as the main one. It's inaccurate, it's time consuming and readings vary from clinician to clinicians, if it's done at all. Most importantly, all of these volumetric measurements have the same issue. They don't capture lymphoedema at that slab clinical phase, i.e., before you can see it. Net fee only phase where you can achieve 100% resolution if you put a sleeve on the woman early. So this is objective, fast, supported by industry guidelines, reimbursed and detects lymphoedema early enough that it can be resolved. Let's talk about the team overseeing the new strategy. As Christine mentioned, we have a tremendous thought with a unique and valuable set of experiences, and I am highly appreciative of their input. It's hard to -- truly hard to imagine you find a group better footed to existing ImpediMed to navigate not just the journey to reach cash flow breakeven, but to actually oversee the development of the platform technology and achieve long-term growth. The Board has supported me and the management team throughout the year. They've been generous with the time and their experiences as Christine noted. The guidance, advice and assistance has been invaluable. And as a company, we are lucky to have such a dedicated directors and a highly functional Board. In terms of the executive team, it's a family story with the team. Now different skills are required to transition from a research and development-focused organization to 1 with a more commercial focus. So most of this team is pretty new. And as you can see, pretty much all of them except one have been on the executive team since October last year. Now some of the team have been reported from new roles, but we're also welcomed new employees, such as Tim Benkovic, who's our VP of Sales; McGregor Grant, who both came from the Nanosonics as well as myself coming in from Pfizer. The team have a breadth of experience and proven track record for commercialization and creating long-term value. As Christine mentioned, the Board set the management team 2 initial objectives to drive the company's cash flow breakeven: One, implementing our sales and marketing processes that will grow the opportunity pipeline and accelerate sales. But also closely looking at our sales team and our sales teams capabilities and developing our pod structures and really making sure that they are out there developing the pipeline opportunities and executing to growth. Secondly, examining our cost base and ensuring the long-term sustainability of the business. The team is united and focused on our objectives. They have quickly developed comprehensive plans to fulfill these objectives and the team is very, very focused on execution. And all the metrics, as a result, are heading in the right direction. As I mentioned earlier, we continue to make very, very solid headway with reimbursement coverage. As of today, we're up 23 states at critical mass, which is over 80% coverage within those states. That's up from 16 states at the beginning of the quarter. So reimbursement for SOZO now covers 255 million people in the United States or 73% of the population. Now just to explain that jump in numbers. Historically, we've been reporting coverage of the top 5 payers in each state. But we've had a lot of smaller payers adopt recently, of which they can be up to 50 in each state. California, as an example, has 147 payer plans that cover the state of California. This prompted us to reanalyze all of the policies and payers in each state at a detailed level and has resulted in a significant increase in the calculated total coverage. Clearly, it's very positive, but there's still a long way to go with a number of critical payers still assessing SOZO. These are those at national level. We want all of the states to go to critical mass. This helps us with our IDN strategies for IDNs often straddle across multiple states. We are very confident that we'll continuously coverage increase as it's just so important to the survivals of breast cancer and that using SOZO measurement clearly address an unmet need. Next slide. So another pleasing aspect was a recently quarterly change in our TCV with 4.8 million in TCV. The TCV trend that had been going down, has been concerning and it's great to see the turnaround in the last few quarters. One of the key to increasing sales starts with initiatives that drive awareness, support clinical adoption, increased lead generation. So the new ImpediMed marketing team has updated customer messaging, revised customer pricing, initiated lead capture tools. We've done a significant change to our website and optimizing search engine optimization and permitted an extensive outbound marketing campaigns each time we get reimbursement changes. You can add TCV guidelines in the current e-mail blast going out, and we will do another 1 with this new change in payer coverage, media engagement and content schedules. Last weekend the entire team was out at a conference somewhere in the United States. I was in New York at the B3B conference. The slide demonstrates the effectiveness of these programs now in place in driving leads and building the opportunity pipeline. The pipeline has seen a strong increase in the prior quarter, up 34% to 585 units. And this pipeline will continue to grow as we initiate these outbound marketing campaigns I mentioned, targeting NAPBC centers, of which there are 570. As you can appreciate, it has taken time and required a lot of hard work to get us to this position to be able to achieve sustainable growth. We are not happy here. I still need to see a sizable lift in those unit sales to meet our goals and that's a sizable lift in our sales pipeline. But we are very confident that we can achieve this, given the processes and the team now in place that remains a focus of the whole business. I often get the question, what gives us the confidence that we will truly see a significant lift in quarterly unit sales? Well, this confidence comes from a number of fronts. First, the new Board and the new executive team. We have all come from companies that have had successful programs in place. We've got the experience and then model that we know works and we have confidence that will work here. We are also all executive, we will deliver. Secondly, we know what's in the pipeline, and we know what it will take to convert into sales. So a large number of multi-device deals in the pipeline that are waiting for reimbursement. As I mentioned, there are a handful of significant positives are still yet to publish positive coverage. We remain confident the evidence guidelines and the recent standard inclusions, it will only be a matter of time. And with broader coverage, you should see the size of unit sales that unlock the past breakevens. Final slide. Just some final thoughts on the value proposition that ImpediMed represents. And really why I think a number of us joined this company. Right now ImpediMed has a market cap of around $110 million with $18.6 million in cash. We're in a product launch phase with all of the critical elements in place. We're very, very unique in the Australian healthcare landscape. They had clinical trials, regulatory and clearance, guideline inclusions, all take time, and it can be easy to overlook what has been achieved and those light of how uniquely paced ImpediMed is. We have a platform technology that's applicable to multiple indications, providing significant growth options. We have clinicians coming to us asking to use those other indications. That is market pull and clinical pull. It is FDA approval, not just in lymphoedema, but in heart failure and protein-calorie malnutrition. It has positive results and even 1 guidance, global clinical randomized controlled trial for lymphoedema. We have multiple guidelines and industry standards, including NCCN and NAPBC at the heading list. We've now got grant reimbursement with almost all half of the states in the U.S. at critical mass and 3/4 of the U.S. population covered. We have over 1,000 devices deployed globally with a very low churn rate, suggesting a high level of satisfaction with the device. And finally, there is a large pipeline with an opportunity to value that more than exceeds the company's breakeven target. That makes me excited about the future of ImpediMed. And with that, I'll pass on to Christine.

Thanks, Parmjot. I'd like now to open the meeting to general business questions. You'll have the opportunity to ask questions pertaining to each resolution when we get to the formal business of the meeting. Before we begin, visitors, a reminder that this is a shareholder meeting, and therefore, only shareholders, proxy holders, body corporate representative or attorneys are able to ask questions or make comments at this meeting. Question procedures. I'll briefly outline the 3 ways to ask a question or make a comment by your attendance in person here today by submitting a question on the online platform or via the web phone. Asking a question in the room, shareholders and proxy holders present in the room will be holding a yellow or blue card. If you need assistance, please ask 1 of the registry staff in the auditorium or the forayer. To ask a question, please raise your card. And when indicated by me, identify yourself and ask your questions. Online questions. Turning to online participants. The information I'm about to provide is contained in the online meeting guide available in the Download section on your screen. You will see at the bottom of your screen 3 boxes: Ask a Question, Get a Voting Card and Downloads. To ask a question, click the Ask a Question button, a box will appear with 2 sections as shown on the screen. Select from the drop-down menu the item of business to which your question relates, then type your question in the space provided. I'm sure all of this seems very common sense to you, but that's a formality. Online questions relevant to our business will be read aloud by our Company Secretary during the relevant item of business. Fourth, you can also ask questions via the web phone. Click on the go to web phone option and follow the instructions. [Operator Instructions] When at this time to ask your question or make your comment, the moderator will introduce you to the meeting. Your line will be unmuted and you will be prompted to speak. Order in which questions will be addressed. The order in which we will address questions for each item of business will be: First, questions from shareholders present in the room, and then questions received by the online platform. Slide 25. I now invite questions or comments from shareholders or proxy holders present in the room. I ask that you please state your name and then ask your question.

And what I'd like to ask is today, I see a lot of good thoughts about the company improving sales and fancy diagrams about where we're going. But in all -- since I am a shareholder, which is a year or so, I never see the word profit mentioned at once. Not once. And I'd like to know -- you're talking about aiming to get breakeven and it comes out of the regular faces. Just a surprising way to run a company. Some company I've been investing for many years. So it's something I've never really experienced before that the only objective stated other than when you took when it was taken over last -- September a year ago where the profit was mentioned once. But the objective was to breakeven and eventually get profits -- the profit has never mentioned. So there's measurement tools about the performance of the company, which will suggest it looks pretty good in all these charts. But the stock market is the ultimate measure of performance. Since July last year, the company has gone down 1/4 valuation that it was there and it now hits the many recovery despite these results -- presentation yesterday, which should suggests [ the policy or which ] suggests you're presumably very proud of how you're going when the stock went down yesterday. So I'm an interested shareholder, how are you going to go back -- get the [ foreign advantage setting ] where we were last year in terms of the value of this company. It's okay to say we're making large increases in sales in many areas, but how does that translate to profit as ever been mentioned. And despite these rapid increases in sales, and the performance has never been increased or move towards profit between that whole time despite this. So 1 question might be is, we've got all this suggestion to sales going forward, how we regarded up to 73% of the U.S. market. And well, how much further can we go -- we're making profits now because that's sort of percent of the U.S. market. How much more can you get therefore when do we get the profits? It should be the ultimate measure of any performance and the ability to expand more quickly comes from [indiscernible] with staff do more R&D. And surely that must be very limited when the sole objective is to not just say a lot and achieve some breakeven thing, which has been determined as to when are you going to go and to make these profits? I just wonder if you could cover some of those areas I've mentioned, please.

Well, I'd certainly say that it is our intention to reach profitability. That is clearly why we're all here. I think you can see from the work that has been done through the year, there's been a big shift in that R&D focus to commercialization focus. The pipeline is really healthy and the conversion of that pipeline takes time. It's been getting faster. But I think all of the things that the company has been doing has been very much in the right direction towards profitability via cash flow breakeven. Perhaps if there's more detail in that, Parmjot, if you want to add to that, but -- and perhaps McGregor in your understanding of the time, but the team has undergone a huge amount of change. Their sales process, the expertise that they've got at hand is all kind of there and the work that they're doing towards it just -- I think Parmjot said, perhaps a pivot right now with the increased number of states that we're noticing. And all of the indications are there. So...

And Peter, I'll take that on board. Just a cash flow breakeven profitability, I mean, growth thereon. So we'll take that -- obviously, that language is not coming through. So that's good thing that we'll take that on board. And we look at our numbers, we need to write another 500 devices to get to that point, often being profitability, and so I mean, clearly, that is not all we're going to do. So we're looking at capturing that $600 million market turn. I will do the U.S. market, which is based on the reimbursed market. So absolutely, we're 100% focused on growth. All of the team wants this business to grow, and we're 100% focused on -- and hopefully that drive will then lead to share price increases for the business as the share markets return on the business.

Based on the latest cash flow that I've seen presented, no matter what you do, profit is almost impossible because in fact, sales were 200% of the gross income in cash flow, that's an incredible lack of profitability in terms of the employee you got to reduce employment despite all these dramatic increases in sales, wages [indiscernible] sales improvement profitable because there's no clear evidence of that in terms of wages as a proportion of the gross income of the whole business, it's untenable with the expansion.

Well, I think that McGregor and his team and the executive team have worked really hard on dropping the cash outflow from the team that we previously had. So everything is being reduced when it comes to cash outflow. And that's not an easy thing to keep a company live whilst you're minimizing your cash outflow the whole time without a mass exodus. I think they've done a terrific job in managing it in a controlled manner. So reducing cash outflow whilst increasing sales is the key and it's taking time, but all of the pointers we have are definitely in the right direction. We've had $18.6 million at the end -- cash at the end of the last quarter, and that's equating to 4 quarters' worth of operating cash flow available. So we're there, we're operating and increasing sales as much as we possibly can, whilst at the same time reducing cash outflow.

Just one last question here. Just time will be put on in the reports come out about -- suggest there is work towards -- they're working towards balanced cash flow. It doesn't say really clear way that when this is going to happen and when profits might be expect. So we look at when statements are made cash flow breakeven should be expected in 3 months or so whatever, then profit and where that profit -- not just profit, but it's a profit that's clearly in terms of expansion and where this company is going.

Absolutely. Look, I could ask McGregor to talk very specifically about that. But just in terms of a much higher level, the work that's been done by the team, the focusing on the IDNs, you can anticipate a cash flow, you can forecast your cash flow. But at the same time, we are expecting that all of this work in commercialization will lead to much higher sales figures. And so I'll let McGregor go into the detail of the timing, but there is a hell of a lot that the company is doing about targeting those higher sales figures.

Thanks, Christine. I think there's a couple of points to add. One is if you go back a year or so and look at where the business was at that time, we had just received -- started to get -- with the guidelines came on Board, we started to get reimbursement. So the environment for the business has changed significantly, but only quite recently. There were a number of changes, obviously, as we've talked about to the Board and the management team that's occurred in the last year, and that's to address the concerns that existed a year ago about the way the resources of the company were being directed. So we've made changes to our cost structure. A year ago, I did say that we didn't think that we would cost cut our way to success with this business. We need a certain amount of infrastructure to support and grow the business. But with the confidence coming from the commercial changes that have occurred and seeing the steady growth in our pipeline and all the other sort of metrics that we use to track the business, we're confident that the business will reach that point of breakeven and go beyond that into profitability. So I think in some ways, this is -- it's a bit of -- we've been a bit of a start-up phase. There's been a turnaround, and we're actually really just effectively launching the product properly for the first time. So I think these factors all need to be taken into account when thinking about where the company is at. And as we've said, we believe that all those signals are heading in the right direction. As to the point around timing of profitability, we've said that in order to get to cash flow breakeven, assuming around about $1,800, $1,900 per month per device sold, around about 500 units needs to be sold, so doubling of the U.S. installed base. And the timing for that will depend on the rate at which we are able to make those sales. We have that number of units in our pipeline right now, which is continuing to grow, and we're continuing to work on shortening the sales cycle for that. So we're not able to say precisely when that will occur, but we can see that these -- all these data points are coming together and this point of profitability is approaching.

Question with multiple parts around the sales and from that. But we have 585 devices, and you've clarified with reporting from leads to actual device leads. So has that been a step change in what the company has provided previously? With those number of leads, is that a, say, new vetted or high-quality number? Are those leads currently in the lead, call it, progression program? Are there numbers of those that are currently in the IDNs that you've flagged that are ready to sign once they get reimbursement? How many IDNs do you have that are already ready to sign up when they get reimbursements? And there's more, but I'll leave it there for the moment.

Let me answer that one. So 585 is the opportunities that have been validated. So they validated lead in the pipeline. And as I noted, they were 34% higher on the previous quarter. So they are ones that the sales team is now working through to take through fruition. They won't all come through. And so that's why that pipeline needs to be a lot bigger. There are a number of IDNs. We've got mature master services agreements with 23 out of 26 of the larger IDNs in the U.S. health care system. So they do have devices. A number of them, there are sales, and they are in the pipeline. They are waiting for power coverage. So I can't give you a number, but they are our key focus. And Lisa Prom, who is our VP of Sales, is now VP of [indiscernible] renewals. And so we have got very clear plans to target those IDNs, and we'll continue to look at kind of our capability and resourcing and making sure we are getting to those, especially with that payer coverage now increasing in those states that financial proposition for this technology for these IDNs is a lot more positive.

With the new states that have come on board, is that enabling you to unlock any of these IDNs now that there are 7 more states with coverage?

Definitely. There's a couple of big IDNs that some of them are statewide that this will definitely help us that there's already dialogue with them. And of the others, it varies. But yes, definitely...

Can you name any of the states that you're really happy with that are part of that new 7 that have come on board?

What I am, but then I will give away the name of the payer, and I'm not allowed to do that. There are some states where we haven't published positive policies yet. So there are some states with very significant health care systems that have now tipped over positive coverage. Give me a month once I've got the published policy, and I'll put that out into the public domain. But yes, there's a number in there. And we've got states like California at 77%. So they're super close. We've got -- so really, there is a material change and cover a number of states. So we didn't put California in the list, but they're [indiscernible].

Sure. In PBC, you said you were fielding inquiries from them at the 4C. So has that stepped up and there are multiple of those organizations in the new states have come on Board?

Yes. So there's 570 across the country of these in PBC centers, so accreditation centers across the U.S. We have been out at trade shows. So the whole team, there's been about 15 trade shows this quarter. So the team has been out there and had a number of doctors and clinicians come up to us and say, yes, we are looking at these new standards, and we are interested in taking this device. So it has definitely driven outreach. We have just started the in blast out to the IDNs, both within these states in PBC centers existing within the states and not within these states because a number of them -- some of them may adopt without the coverage.

Unsurprisingly, I'm going to ask about this chart because really, as you say, it's a top line question. It's getting machines out the door. And this chart is the predictor of what's happening. But just talking about something as being an opportunity is probably correct in that you're saying these are customers that are interested in purchasing. But are you able to narrow it down a bit more to -- there are customers where you've actually got a proposal that's up for consideration, customers that are in the advanced stages of wanting to go to that proposal stage. And at the bottom of the pile, those that are just -- they're validated, but they're still expressing interest in asking a lot of questions?

We do have -- we do look at that, and so we actually look at it by each quarter. So like there's someone coming in this quarter, some coming next quarter or how far away are they? Because each of these will require different things to come into place for budgeting cycles. So you need to hit the budget cycle for the system. So they will all vary by that stage. They're all validated leads. So they're all areas where the sales team genuinely believes there's an opportunity and had a lead outreach from a trade show or some -- the website and have gone back out and have confirmed, yes, that system is interested or that doctor clinician is interested in buying it. Where they sit in that pipeline really just varies from do they need to get to the budgeting process, do you still need to get buying from other clinicians? Do you need to it really varies. And so we kind of -- all the way through each of these, yes, the clinicians bought in, but now we actually need to get the IT system approach because we're a cybersecurity for the cloud. We need to get [indiscernible]. So they all vary. So it's really hard to kind of break it because you want to know that and then by time, right? So it's overlaying stage by time. So we do track it and do we watch it. We're trying to get more in earlier, and that's why that in PBC is critical to get that in. We're also -- as part of that, just relooking at the sales team with Tim going out there and with the new VP of Sales, how do we get them to convert faster, right? Because that's the key issue for us is getting these convert.

Look, I understand the budgeting thing, and you've got to work in with the budgeting process. I guess what I'm really asking about is the commitment of the decision makers to actually say, yes, we want to have this. And when the budgeting process fits, then we'll be able to get it across the line?

Yes. And it varies and it's really kind of hard to pull that out, right, because we've got one area where the clinicians and the hospitals are saying, yes, we absolutely want it, multiple system deal, we want it. But then the coverage isn't good enough. And so then we have to go back to the payer in that local state and get a specific policy program coverage. So really, there's multiple factors. So we can't really break it out like that, but we are -- they will vary [indiscernible] 585 is not big enough because it will need to be significantly larger to get that conversion because they're all at different points -- 6-month sales time.

Of that 585, how many of the 294 of a year ago are still in there?

They get cleaned out and updated. So they get reviewed and revalidated and cleaned out. So I can't give you the exact, but we're basically constantly revising it.

So what would be the rate of lead attrition.

Yes. I come back on that one.

Is it a big number or small number?

No, it's not a big number. And right now, it's getting less because there's more reason to take the device, right, because payer coverage is up. So all the -- and now it's on the guidelines that if you want to be accredited as a cancer center, you should be using the device. So there are now more reasons to do the device from a clinical decision perspective and also from a financial sustainability perspective. So it is growing. But a year ago, there was 0 payer coverage. So it was very hard to convince the system other than those that had cash or they were like top entity incentives the United States to rebuy the device. We now it's more of a financial sustainable decision with clear clinical drivers to adopt. So now that's why the pipeline is growing, right? It's not flat we're not losing as many.

Okay. The [indiscernible], I can't remember it, but the NAPB, something.

National accreditation program of breast cancer.

Yes, that's an accreditation process. So hospitals that are part of that are actually committing to a certain level of care, which would include SOZO?

So within that, the Section 5 15, the survivorship guideline that says that these hospitals should have survivorship programs in like the lymphedema expansion program with an objective measure of lymphedema, which is this. So they have specifically stated this is a way for them to build their LPP programs in.

And you've got about 1/4 of those facilities on board now. So there's quarters that, I guess, are a fairly hot opportunity to convert.

High opportunity. Even though that are in there, they've got on average 2 devices. So we grow within the ones we're in, and then we could also grow the ones we don't have.

Robinson, private investor. I'll direct this towards Dr. Bains. So you stated the goal of shortening the sales cycle. And 3 weeks ago, you said that you had done that. But I'd like to hear more detail about what measures -- what metrics or anecdotal evidence you have confidence that, that's actually succeeding?

Yes. No, we actually track our sales cycle on a monthly basis. So we look at a number of these metrics. And it can vary, right? Right now, we're seeing a bit of up and down because there are some sales that have been there for like 1,000 days. I think we've had some crazy outliers when we take those out. This current cycle we're actually seeing some significant shortening. So right now, talking the sales -- total number of devices up, it's still a little bit messy, right? Because we've got to outlies that affect our data. But what we are doing is seeing what we can do to change that sales cycle. And so one of that is seeing if we can help from an OpEx budget perspective to go to a CapEx budget just an OpEx budget perspective. And so we're looking at our contract terms to see if there are ways that we can avoid some of the snags that we see and the budget cycle is probably our biggest one. And so we have got initiatives. And because we look at this monthly, we literally go through with what can we do to the cycle.

So you're measuring it from when the lead gets qualified to a certain point until the sale is closed.

Yes, exactly. And [indiscernible].

Okay. I think -- thank you. I think that's it for the questions from the room. So sorry more?

So I'm not sure that I introduced myself before. I'm Peter Gregor. I want to talk about contract renewal. Every month we -- sorry, every quarter, we see the net contracts or the net increase in machines. Can you give us an indication of how many are up for renewal in each quarter and how many are not renewed?

Don't have precisely those numbers. But overall, the contracts are relatively evenly distributed over the 3 years. So a proportionate amount of contracts are up for renewal in each period. We have a very high level of renewals. So there are very few contracts that do not renew. So -- and we are also being able to get very nice price increases as we renew because the reimbursement landscape is improving. So look, that's a very important and positive aspect of the business. Last quarter, the percentage increase was a little lower because of a very important customer with 14 units that renewed in that period. But if you take that out, the percentage increase was in the mid-20s, I think, and 39%, I think it was the 37% of the quarter before. So we are enjoying good price increases. And as I said, the majority of those contracts are renewed.

And the churn rate shows the ones are done. So globally, the churn is around 3%.

The reason I'm particularly interested in that is their customers who were on Board 3 years ago, early adopters, probably key influencers to lose some of those people, I think, is important to watch?

Exactly. And we do -- we actually have right now -- it's one of my key strategic goals in the -- we've had as we need -- we're working on helping those customers with better analytics on their programs, right? So the help of the programs, how many patients are they testing how many they've seen through. And so just really helping support from a technical perspective that program help to drive that renewal. So as what patient testing is a key metric.

Can I ask about patient testing and whether you monitor that by machine?

We do. We monitor it by machine. We monitor it by CPS leads like the clinical support person. So they've all got regions in the United States and we say what's your testing look like? Is it going up, going down and why it's part of our monthly review.

Okay. So as well as the testing going up, the testing per machine is going up also?

Yes, yes, exactly. And so then we find why it is low. And then we've got a list of low utilization devices, and we send the team out to say, look, why is that one lower? And it might just be because it's not in the right facility they've got. So -- and that per test will vary by each device because if you want to implement a true model of care, you need one at a high test place like a breast cancer clinic, but then you might need to have a couple in the rehab or other areas, you won't necessarily capture that whole volume they split, right, between the next set of patients. So they won't all be even, but they're not meant to be even. We just meant to have the test that capture that patient on care. But we do track what they're doing, up, down, low, what's happening.

Can I also ask about the OUS business, which I believe is predominantly in Australia and predominantly in New South Wales?

Across ANZ.

Okay. It's significantly lower margin business. Is that correct?

It's a capital sale. So what historically, we've got a distributor. So Regional does our sales in this market, and it's predominantly done on a capital sale with a small annual renewals. And so Tim and I are right now just reviewing that whole model here. And pretty good penetration across this market but meeting them tomorrow, just to go through and look at -- we're looking at how we can shift this to a SaaS business. The challenge for us here is we don't have reimbursement, right, Medicare reimbursement in the U.S. it's covered.

Okay. Do you know if any of those devices sold into Australia are winding up in the U.S.?

Yes. [indiscernible] we track each device [indiscernible].

Yes. Just back on the Australian model, you did say before that you had to pull some levers. Can you run through what -- sorry, change over to SaaS model. Can you run through what those levers are and have any indication as to when you might be starting to work on those?

Yes. No, we've been working on it. Well, the U.S. has been the priority. So Tim has been in since April and we transition Tim to get take the whole rest of world as well. So he's got ownership of that. So we're working on it now. It's one of the key U.S. 90% of our business and our revenues. Australia is less than 10%, but we do need to optimize it. So we are working on it with the distributor now.

Sure. Okay. With the 78 dormant devices you said have been withdrawn from the numbers last quarter, is there any progress on that 30% you said you hope to get back on board and financial?

Reactivation? Yes, they're on the list. And we just -- the ones that we keep on the sales team's target to reactivate those.

So it's work in progress and nothing yet to report?

Yes, exactly. And so -- and there's different reasons why they changed off. And so each one is power coverage goes up. So they're on the sales team for project recovery.

Sure. Looking to the future, any news update on bilateral and leg segments?

Yes. So we're just working on those. So bilateral device in progress. So no update to the market on those. Important -- bilateral is important probably under 10% of women have bilateral lymphedema, but it is high priority for us and working on that.

Sure. Sorry, I'm jumping around a bit trying to cover everything. But with sales now to new hospitals, is there -- I know it changes from hospital to hospital, but we're talking on average, say, 2, 3, 4 devices per hospital?

No, it varies. So some systems have got 11 to 14, some hospital systems have got 1 or 2, it really varies.

That is chop and change. It would be good if you could publish in due course the average number of devices per hospital clinic coming up, so people can get a sense as to as it fills into the market, just what the opportunity is to so people can put some numbers to it because at the moment, it's still a bit of a black box. So if something could be done around that would be great. On to the margin so as sales grow, we're on 80% gross -- 87% gross margin. Is there room for that to increase, McGregor?

I think at this stage, obviously 2 ways to improve margin. One is through price. And as we're getting improved pricing through the renewals, that will always put positive pressure on that. The other opportunity is through cost out on the machine itself. Until we have more significant volumes, I think our ability to adjust cost there is probably fairly limited, but that's something we're continuing to look at.

Sure. But there is room for that to improve.

Okay. I would kind of just caution against putting too much information out there. We are in a market where we could potentially have a competitor, et cetera, we're creating. And so just providing information that might put us in a difficult position is something that we think about. So it is a trade-off about what sort of inflow to put out there and what to keep.

Sure. I understand. And perfect segue to my next question. Protecting the company's position, IP and barriers to entry, new entrants. If somebody just developed SOZO B, besides developing the machine, what regulatory steps, et cetera, do they have to go through because I can't -- I assume that they can't just make a machine and say, here we are me too, and just get it out there. So some details around what they would have to do to get to, say, our level currently?

So they would need FDA clearance. So they could use us as a device, but they would need to go and get FDA clearance to make a claim against lymphedema with the data that shows what they'll do. I would say it would be very difficult for them to create the same kind of [indiscernible] measure because our device is a precise and it's actually quite difficult to make. So if they were going to come in, which we're not seeing at the moment. We do have competitors that have a VAA device like anybody who has been claiming medically that they have all these therapeutic claims. But the FDA has just recently made them remove all of those claims off their website. So you need to go get FDA and show the data for your devices equivalent.

Any idea as to the time line for that, sorry?

Sorry. We constantly monitor that. So there's protection that we have through registered forms of protection. There are trade secret. There's algorithms, et cetera, behind the registered technology and there are obviously all of the registrations around FDA and clearances, et cetera. So never say never, but I think doing everything that you can as a company to ward off potential competitors, yes.

Sure. Okay. And lastly for you, Christine, with the IP and the work you've done there, that's essentially locked up as tight as it can be with your reviews?

IP is an ongoing thing, and it's a tool that you use. So yes, it's a very broad set of protections. It goes all the way through to 2039. We've got lots of layers of protection underneath the registered protection. So I'm pretty confident. Okay. Great. So going to the online platform, Leanne. Any questions?

Yes. We have a few here. The first one -- I'll just do these in order of receipt so no particular order. First question is from [ Paul Bagard ]. Thank you for your time. How many SOZO machines do you need to sell to reach breakeven? What time line do you have in mind for reaching breakeven? And how does that align with avoiding the need for a capital raise?

Yes. Thanks, Leanne. I think we've really addressed that question just briefly, it's around 500 machines, assuming around $1,800 a month, continued renewal rates and similar cost structure.

Yes. As I was reading some of these, some of them you already may have addressed, but I'll read them out for completeness. Second question comes from [ Roylord Jones ]. Noting in the most recent quarterly investor call, Dr. Bain stated the company has prepared quotes for the supply of approximately 20 units. However, the customer is waiting for approval of reimbursement before proceeding. The most recent investor noted covered lives increased by $100 million or 70%. A, is this advancing covered lives related to states in which these quotations are for -- and b, given the monthly fee for the sale of 1 unit is approximately USD 2,000, what kind of volume discounts are being offered for sales of 20 units?

So yes, some of those multisystem deals are across larger systems where the investment coverage has changed. So that's positive. We aren't revealing discounts because it's competitive information. But clearly, we make it attractive for systems to purchase on a multisystem deal turn them into program offering.

The next question comes from Stephen Mayne. There is no sign of any archive of the webcast of last year's AGM on our website. The annual report says that we have 5,173 shareholders, but less than 100 will be watching live today. As the one event of the year focused on retail shareholders, what are we doing to ensure as many shareholders as possible have access to the full AGM debate? Will the Chair undertake to publish a full archive of the AGM webcast on our website, just like with regular earnings releases. Even better why not lodge a transcript with the ASX.

I think it's a practice to have it on our website, so we'll continue to do that.

Another question from Stephen Mayne. Could the CEO provide some early thoughts on what the second Trump administration will mean for our business, including the proposed appointment of [indiscernible] Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to run the all-important U.S. Department of Health and Human Services?

Yes. Good question. And really, I don't know. I don't think anyone knows the U.S. health care system. So I don't think right now, we just -- health care remains really important. Medicare coverage payer coverage remains really critical. And we remain confident that these technologies will continue to operate to patient -- to address patient needs.

And it doesn't mean that we don't monitor it and try and find out and do as much as we can to put ourselves in a better position, but I think we and the rest of the world is probably wondering.

I was in the U.S. for the last few weeks, post election. It's not seeing a lot of feedback from hospitals around.

Another question from Paul Bogard. Parmjot, you've mentioned that hospitals are interested in SOZO, but the challenge lies in the private payer environment. Given that we already have coverage for 255 million lives, could you clarify whether the issue is with the reimbursement consistency, hospital confidence in the coverage or something else entirely? How could we better address those barriers to accelerate hospital adoption?

Yes. So I think it's one of the questions I got yesterday. What's the #1 -- one of the key questions hospitals ask or clinicians ask because it is payer coverage because they don't want to charge other pockets of patients because legally, you have to bill every patient. If you're going to build one, you've got to build them all. And so you can't not build someone that's got -- that doesn't have coverage. And so payer coverage remains really important for the systems. So that's key. And [indiscernible] we've got a whole market access team, [indiscernible] drive coverage. And as I've noted, there's a couple of large payers that hopefully, once they come on Board, will help address that issue.

Two more questions, both from Colin McArthur. Are there plans to change sales in Australia to the SaaS model being used in the U.S.? Otherwise, there will be little growth in revenue in Australia. Yes.

Absolutely. So I think I highlighted at the last quarterly, 50% of our devices in the U.S., but only 10% of our revenue. So we really sorry, Australia. So we really do need to have a look at what is feasible in those models going forward. Clearly, the ones that have been sold have already been sold for capital sales. So it's difficult to kind of change the terms and conditions. So looking at those going forward or as they need new devices or growth. So we are right now.

And the second question from Colin. Are there any opportunities for joint ventures as a way to reduce our share cost?

Look, probably not from a cost perspective. We're always looking at a range of levers of how we grow our business. Top line is really critical for us right now. The cost price we try to manage as [indiscernible] possible. And we do look at those opportunities for how -- are there other partners that parties we could go out to increase sales. On the cost base, I can't really see it because not from a cost perspective.

Okay. No other questions?

No other general business question.

So thank you. Thank you all for your questions, your comments, your feedback. We really appreciate them. And we'll now progress to the formal business of the meeting. So the notice of meeting was sent to all registered shareholders within the notice period required, and I will take the notice convening this meeting as read. So to Slide 27, voting procedures. Turning now to voting. I've been advised that all proxies received for the meeting have been checked, and we declare them valid for voting. Voting on all resolutions will be decided by a poll, which I now declare open. The poll will be taken at the end of the meeting, and the final results of voting will be released to the market as soon as they're available. There are a number of voting exclusions that apply to the resolutions being presented at today's meeting. These were outlined in the Notice of Meeting. So we will display on the screen the number of direct and proxy votes received prior to the meeting when each resolution is put to the meeting and prior to asking for questions or comments. So the figures shown are as recorded at the closing time for receipt of proxies, which was 11:00 a.m. on Sunday, 17th of November 2024. We -- where undirected proxies have been given to me as Chair of the meeting. I confirm that as set out in the notice of meeting I will vote the undirected proxies in favor of all resolutions. I will vote all directed proxies given to me as Chair of the meeting in accordance with the directions provided. If you are eligible to vote, there are 2 ways you can pass your vote in person or via the online platform. If you are present in the room, you will have a yellow voting card, which you will be asked to complete and hand the registry staff. I will advise you when it is time to complete your voting card. If you need assistance, please ask for assistance. If you have a yellow voting card and need to leave early. You may, if you wish, hand your completed voting card to the staff at the registration desk as you leave. Online voting to cast your vote using the online platform, please get the get a voting card button. Click that button and follow the pumps. You may cast your live vote at any time during the meeting. I will give you a 5-minute warning before we close the online voting platform. You'll see a red bar appear along the top of the online platform with a countdown timer of how long you have remaining to cast your vote. So Slide 29. The first item of notified business is to receive and consider the financial report, the directors' report and the auditor's report for the year ended 30 June '24. There is no formal resolution required for this item, but I invite shareholders to ask questions or make a comment on the financial report or the reports of the Directors and Auditors, ask questions to make a comment of the management of the company or ask any questions of the auditor relevant to the conduct of the audit, the preparation and content of the auditor's report, the accounting policies adopted by the company in relation to the preparation of the financial statements or the independence of the auditor in relation to the conduct of the audit. I will now take questions on this item of business. First here in the room. No questions. Leanne, any questions online?

No, we have no questions.

I'll now move on to the next item of business, the remuneration report. I put the resolution to the meeting as displayed on the screen. I now open this item for discussion. Are there any questions or comments shareholders or proxy holders present in the room? Questions online, Leanne?

We have one question from Stephen Mayne. Why didn't we disclose the proxy position to the ASX with the formal addresses as many other companies now do to allow for a more fully informed AGM debate. Also, have there been any material protest votes against any of today's 11 items of business, starting with this remuneration report item?

So we comply with the Corporations Act and the ASX listing rule requirements. We also disclose our proxy results and our voting results prior to any discussion taking place on that item, and we released our results of the meeting immediately after they've been finalized by [indiscernible], which is the requirement.

And the second part of the question, has there been any material protest folks against any of the 11 items of business today?

We'll soon find out that. Okay and item 3, election of Andrew Grant as Director of the company. So the next item is. So I put the resolution to the meeting that's displayed on the screen. And before opening this item for discussion, Andrew will say a few words about his election.

Thank you, Christine, and good afternoon, shareholders. As many of you know, I joined the Board in September '23 following the Annual General -- the Special General Meeting. More recently, from mid-April through mid-October and this year of 2024, I had the opportunity to lead the product development activities of the company and to work extensively out of the ImpediMed office in Carlsbad in California. This firsthand experience allowed me to develop unique insights into customer needs, the skills and capabilities of the broader U.S. team and ImpediMed's competitive position. During my time in the U.S., I also had the privilege to meet several clinicians who are leaders in their fields and who are using the SOZO device for not only breast cancer-related lymphedema, but also from a broader range of clinical areas. These conversations with key clinicians convinced me of the clinical need and the commercial opportunity for the SOZO device and were important and highly motivating factors in my decision to stand for reelection for the Board. Also, I believe my 20-year experience across various senior roles in medical device and hospital sectors across Australia, the U.S. and Asia provides me with highly relevant health care and commercial experience to uniquely contribute to the governance and strategic direction of the company. It's a privilege to return to the Board as a Nonexecutive Director and the associated responsibility to bring long-term shareholder value is a task I take very seriously. Thank you for your support in reelecting me as a Director.

Thanks, Andrew. That extraordinary contributions to the Board. So thank you. Leanne, are there any questions in? Yes.

Andrew, thanks for that. I guess, technically, if you look at the Board charter, which says 50 -- at least a majority of Independent Directors, in theory, you ought be standing. But if I can put it to you that just from what you've said and from my understanding of what you've been doing, it's probably -- that experience has probably given you a greater understanding of what the business is about and probably gives you an ability to perhaps be even a little more independent than you may have been without that knowledge. Would you agree with that?

Yes, I would. I think that's a question that's obviously in people's minds. I think having the knowledge behind the PowerPoints and the numbers of what's really happening in the market is fundamental to be having an independent view on things and being able to question and challenge what we're hearing at the Board. So as of coming back to the Board as a non-exec director, so my links to the business has now been cut and I only respond or only do have contact via the Chair or Palmjot, or McGregor. So I'm no longer in contact with individual team members.

We have no online questions, right? So we're now at the reelection of Fiona Bones. So we're going to do the election of Fiona Bones as a Director of the company next. So I put the resolution to the meeting as shown. And before opening the item for discussion, I welcome Fiona to say a few words about her election.

Good afternoon, everyone. Thank you. As you've heard, I joined the Board in June of this year, and I was subsequently elected as Chair of the Audit and Risk Committee. I considered ImpediMed a very interesting opportunity, both in terms of its current space and the long-term potential of the technology. Very excited to be on the Board to take the position very seriously. I have -- my experience as a senior finance professional and accountant specializing in global market operations, compliance and governance at one of the world's largest companies, I feel has provided me with strong and pertinent experience in the space. And I'd also like to say that my confidence in the company has really grown and as I work with such a talented group of professionals on this Board and this management team. And with that, I'd really like to thank you for your support.

Thank you, Fiona. So we'll open the item up for discussion. Any questions in the room? Any questions online?

We have no questions online.

Thank you. Welcome to Fiona. Let's go to the next one, which I gather will relate to the reelection of Ms. Janelle Delaney, as the Director of the company. I put the resolution to the meeting as shown on the screen. And before opening the item for discussion, I ask Janelle to say a few words about the reelection.

Thank you. Hi, everyone. So as an investor, I'm on the ImpediMed journey with all of you, and I really remain passionate about ensuring that our technology can change the lives of so many breast cancer survivors and beyond that, whilst at the same time, bringing value to our shareholders. So over -- since joining the Board a year ago, I've been able to bring my own experiences from my more than 30 years in IT consulting to bear in many ways, including refinement of the risk management framework, undertaking a software development review in Greece, while I was over there on a recent trip to Europe as well as inputting into the external cybersecurity review. So we had a fantastic induction in Carlsbad and got to meet with the Australian team along the way. And so it's really been fantastic to get that comprehensive view of the company and especially to be able to see in the areas where I can bring the most value. So I'm really looking forward to continuing to work with our talented management team. And over the last year, working with the Board and the Management team, I really think that, as you've heard today already that we've got some strong foundations in place. So I'm really confident that we can make a positive impact on the company as we work together to continue to drive its success in the future. So it's really a privilege to be a director of our company and I really take that responsibility very seriously. And so I'd like to really thank everyone for their support in reelecting me as a director.

Thank you, Janelle. Any questions? Leanne, no question online.

No questions online.

Wonderful. Thank you. Thanks, Janelle. So really appreciated all of your input on the Board in spite of questioning from Janelle's perspective. Okay. So to the next item, approval to issue securities under the ImpediMed Employee Incentive Plan. So I put the resolution to the meeting as shown. And yes, the proxy votes are already also shown. Are there any questions in the room? Any questions online, Leanne?

We have no questions online.

Okay. Great. Thank you. I'll pass to Fiona, Head of Audit and Risk to consider the next item, which is the grant of shares under the nonexecutive director share plan to nonexecutive directors and in particular, the grant of shares to myself.

So this item of business is for the grant of shares to Ms. Christine Emmanuel-Donnelly, and I put the resolution to the meeting as shown on the screen. The direct and proxy votes for this item received prior to the meeting are also shown on the screen. And I now open this item up for discussion. Are there any questions from the room?

We have one question online from Stephen Mayne, which deals with all item 7. So I'll put the question at this time, if that's okay. So it refers to options. So I've just got that a little bit wrong, but options are not regarded as good governance for independent directors. You should be paid either cash or regular ordinary shares and certainly shouldn't be on a similar equity incentive program to the incentive team. Why not move to a conventional pay model for our NEDs commencing with the next AGM? Please don't come back and ask for more option grants approvals for NEDs next year. So I think she's got that -- the question of resolutions about the resolution is to grant shares to nonexecutive directors in lieu of 30% of their remuneration.

So preserve cash for the company. Yes. No, no, that's fine. Okay. So we can then move to the next item, which is similarly the grant of shares to Ms. Janelle Delaney. Slide 37. So I put the resolution to the meeting as shown on the screen and now open the item for discussion. Any questions from shareholders? Or proxy holders? No. Any online?

No online questions.

Great. Lovely. And the next item, 7.3, similarly grant of shares to Mr. Andrew Grant. I put the resolution to the meeting as shown on the screen. And I now open this item for discussion. Any questions from the shareholders in the room? And online.

No online questions.

7.4 grant of shares to Ms. Fiona Bones, put the resolution to the meeting as shown on the screen and open the item up for discussion, assume there are no questions in the room or online.

No questions online.

Lovely. Thank you. Renewal of proportional takeover provisions. The final item of business concerns, the renewal of proportional takeover provision. I put the resolution to the meeting as shown on the screen. and open this item for discussion. Any questions from anyone in the room? Any questions online?

No questions online.

Great. Okay. Ladies and gentlemen, this concludes the formalities of the meeting. I ask that you now complete your voting card if you have not already done so, and Link will collect them. For those attending online, you should now submit your votes. The poll will remain open for a further 5 minutes to allow you to complete your voting on your electronic voting card -- electronic voting card with the poll closing after that time. As I mentioned earlier, the results of the meeting will be announced to the ASX as soon as they've been counted and verified. I now declare the meeting closed. I'd just like to take this chance to thank my fellow directors and Parmjot and her management team for their commitment to this business. I'd like to thank the shareholders for your continuing support, your patience and for your participation today. I look forward to meeting you again at the next year's Annual General Meeting.