L1 Long Short Fund Limited (LSF) Earnings Call Transcript & Summary

Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. My name is Andrew Larke, and I have the privilege of being the Chairman of your company and also of today's meeting. It is my pleasure to welcome you to the 2023 Annual General Meeting of L1 Long Short Fund Limited. This AGM is occurring virtually. It is now 11:00 a.m., and as we have a quorum, I declare the meeting open. I would now like to introduce my fellow directors, John Macfarlane, Harry Kingsley, Mark Landau and Raphael Lamm. Also present is Mark Licciardo, our Company Secretary; and Emma Reekie of Ernst & Young, our company's auditors. Notice of this meeting and the explanatory memorandum was sent to all shareholders, and I propose that this be taken as read. I'll now turn to my Chairman's address. Market volatility has continued over the last 12 months. For significant periods of time, share prices were driven by market sentiment rather than underlying company fundamentals, thereby creating difficult stock picking conditions for the investment manager L1. This decoupling was largely due to macroeconomic uncertainty around Central Bank monetary policies, global economic growth rates, the stability of the global banking system, China's COVID-19 policies and ongoing geopolitical tensions. Against this backdrop, however, the investment manager, through its stock intensive (sic) [ research-intensive stock ] selection process successfully leveraged a range of themes, including China's reopening, long exposure to energy stocks, shorting of unprofitable technology stocks and COVID winners and investments in the gold sector. As a result, the LSF portfolio produced a pleasing absolute return of 13.5% over the full financial year, resulting in an annualized 3-year return of 29.2%. On the back of this strong performance, LSF was honored to win the Best Listed Alternatives Investment Product for the second year running at the Australian Alternative Investment Awards in November 2022. During the year, senior management of the investment manager and your Board members have once again increased their investment in LSF by buying shares on market, a clear reinforcement of their commitment to the company's long-term success. In addition, the investment manager invested further in its investor relations and communications team, which now consists of 9 employees. An extensive market communications program is something that LSF prides itself on, which includes daily NTA disclosures, monthly and quarterly reports, 6 monthly investor webinars, periodic print and podcast appearances and over 500 meetings to shareholders, key advisory and wealth management groups. And more than 1,400 people have watched the latest investor webinar, which was hosted 2 weeks ago by Mark Landau. Having paid our first fully franked dividend of $0.015 per share in February 2021, the company has since paid a regular and growing stream of fully franked dividends each half year. The company paid an interim dividend of $0.05 per share fully franked in March 2023 and a final dividend of $0.055 per share in September 2023, bringing total dividends for the year to $0.105 per share fully franked, which was an uplift of 23.5% on the prior year. We expect total dividends to increase again in 2024. Lastly, on behalf of the Board and the investment manager, I would also like to thank all of our shareholders for their continuing support of the company. It is very much appreciated. I now turn to the business of today's meeting. I wish to advise that voting on the resolutions will be conducted by way of poll. Shareholders will be able to cast their vote using the electronic voting card. I also confirm that I propose to vote those proxies left to my discretion as in favor of all resolutions. Proxy voting received prior to the meeting will be shown on the screen for each item of business to be voted on today. Item 2 of this year's AGM is subject to voting exclusions as outlined in the notice of meeting. Only shareholders, validly appointed proxies and corporate representatives are entitled to ask questions at today's meeting. We will answer any questions at the conclusion of the formal business of the meeting, including questions for the investment manager. Please note, voting will remain open until 5 minutes after the conclusion of the AGM. At your convenience, I also invite you to listen to the recorded webinar and presentation, which Mark Landau gave on 2 November, which is available on the company's website. Now the first item of business is to receive and consider the annual report, together with the directors' and auditor's reports for the year ended 30 June 2023. I will now turn to the items of business for which a vote is required. The second item of business today relates to the adoption of the remuneration report. I will now table the outcome of voting -- of proxy voting received prior to the meeting. The next item of business today relates to the reelection of directors. Item 3.1 relates to the reelection of Harry Kingsley. I invite Harry to say a few words. Over to you, Harry.

Thanks, Andrew. Hopefully, you can hear me. Good morning, all. My name is Harry Kingsley. I'm standing for reelection to the Board of LSF. I'm a partner at K&L Gates, an international law firm with offices in 48 locations worldwide, including 4 in Australia. I practice in equity capital markets and represent corporates, private equity funds, institutional fund managers and other financial intermediaries in corporate transactions, both off-market, on ASX and other financial markets. In a previous role, I was also the General Counsel for Pacific National Rail, one of the largest transport logistics operators in Australia. I'm also the Chair of the Audit and Risk Committee and have a particular focus on governance and risk. Having been involved with LSF since prior to the IPO, I'd be delighted to continue to serve you as a Non-Executive Director. Thanks, Andrew.

Okay. Thank you very much, Harry. I'll now table the outcome of proxy voting received prior to the meeting. Item 3.2 relates to the reelection of Raphael Lamm, I invite Rafi to say a few words.

Thanks, Andrew. Hi. My name is Raphael Lamm, and I'm standing for reelection as a director of LSF. I'm the Managing Director and Co-Chief Investment Officer of L1 Capital, which I cofounded with Mark Landau back in 2007. I've been in equity markets for over 20 years, and I've been a Board member of LSF since the formation of the company. I believe that I complement the skill set of the existing Board with my perspectives on the global and Australian investment landscapes and opportunities for this company. Thank you for your consideration and your vote.

Thank you, Rafi. I will now table the outcome of proxy voting received prior to the meeting. The fourth and final item of business today relates to the renewal of takeover approval provision in the constitution. I will now table the outcome of proxy voting received prior to the meeting. That concludes the items of business to be voted on at today's meeting. Shareholders are reminded that they can submit their [ vote ] online until 5 minutes after the meeting closes. I appoint Mr. Daniel Reid from Link Market Services as returning officer for this poll, and the final results will be announced to the ASX later today. That concludes the formal business to be considered at this meeting. As I mentioned earlier, we now have the opportunity to address any questions from shareholders, and shareholders have the opportunity to ask questions of the investment manager. So I ask the moderator, Paulie, are there any questions on the phone lines?

Chairman, I can confirm there are no questions on the phone.

Thanks, Paulie. [ Jeff ], are there any questions on the online platform, please?

Yes, Chairman. This comes from Steve. Could you please advise whether LSF engages PwC for any consulting or other work, and if so, whether there are any plans to review these arrangements?

Thanks for the question, Steve. The answer is no. We do not actually employ PwC in any capacity at all.

There are no more questions.

Okay. Thank you. Thank you, [ Jeff ]. As there are no more remaining questions. I'd like to thank everybody for the attendance today, and I declare the meeting is formally closed.