Mitie Group plc (MTO) Earnings Call Transcript & Summary

Well, good morning. May I welcome you to the Mitie 2025 Annual General Meeting. The time is now 11:30, and I therefore declare the meeting open and quorum. I am Derek Mapp, Chairman of the company, and I shall chair the Annual General Meeting. This will be my final address to you as Chairman. Over the past 8 years, I've had the privilege of watching Mitie grow in the face of unprecedented circumstances. As I step down today, I'm proud to hand over the leadership to Chris Rogers and do so knowing the company is in great hands. With the continued dedication of our Board and leadership team, I'm confident that Mitie will continue to thrive and continue to make meaningful impact on our communities and our environment. I'd now like to hand over to Phil Bentley, Chief Executive of the company, who will present Q1 of this financial year's update.

Thank you. Good morning. Thank you, Derek. Good morning, everybody. It's good to have everyone here, and welcome to our 2025 Annual General Meeting live from Mitie's headquarters here in the Shard. This is my ninth AGM as your Chief Executive. And as always, I would like to start by saying a very big thank you for everyone here today and those dialing in for your support as our shareholders. And on your behalf, I'd like to also thank the exceptional Mitie colleagues for their contribution to your company's success. We now have over 76,000 colleagues in Mitie, making us one of Britain's biggest employers. And without their passion and professionalism and commitment every day, we wouldn't be the company that we are today. Now if you're -- in case you're looking at the weave effect on our slide here behind you, this is our new corporate visual identity, representing the threads that connect people to the places they depend on and how Mitie with our national footprint is woven into the fabric of society as it were. Now the year just gone by ending March 2025, what we call fiscal year '25 was the foundation year of our new facilities transformation 3-year plan. And in our first year of this plan, the company has made a strong start. We delivered double-digit revenue growth to GBP 5.1 billion, significantly outpacing the wider facilities management market. We delivered double-digit operating profit growth to GBP 234 million. We had record contract wins and renewals and our order book and pipeline are also at record levels. We bought 3 companies in power and grid connections, in Fire & Security and a security business in Spain, all of which are performing strongly. And our free cash flow generation of GBP 143 million was also strong, and that enabled us to fund record shareholder returns, including GBP 100 million of share buybacks as well as increasing dividends, which, if approved today at 4.3p per share is also at a record level. So in summary, we are on track to deliver our 3-year plan ambitions, including the GBP 350 million acquisition of Marlowe plc, which will complete in the next 2 weeks. Now this slide shows that over a 4-year period and over a wide measure -- a number of measures, your company has been building momentum, momentum in our financial performance, momentum in growth and momentum in generating shareholder returns. And that momentum has continued, as Derek said, in the first quarter of our new fiscal year FY '26, the results of which we announced to the market this morning. Sales revenue is up by another 10% to GBP 1.2 billion in the quarter. And this is again significantly ahead of the market. It's only growing at 3%. We've made good progress on our program of cost savings initiatives to offset the GBP 50 million increase in employers national insurance contributions, which were announced in the last budget. And finally, the GBP 350 million acquisition. This is our largest ever deal in Mitie will give us leadership in facilities compliance to complement our leading position in both core facilities management and project-led facilities transformation. Now the deal should complete at the beginning of August, at which point, we'll be welcoming a further 3,000 new employees to Mitie and over GBP 300 million of new revenue. So in summary, your company continues to make good progress. Thank you, again, as always, for your support and interest. I noticed that the -- at the AGM this time last year, our shares were 119p per share. Today, just over 140p. And together with the 4.3 dividend to be approved later today, this represents a 21% rate of return for you, our shareholders, over the last 12 months. Now before I hand over to Derek to answer your questions and lead us through the rest of today's AGM proceedings, I would just like to take a moment to thank Derek, on your behalf, our shareholders, for his extraordinary contribution as our Chairman. This is his ninth as well, his last Annual General Meeting, and he steps down literally at the end of today's proceedings. Now when Derek joined us in 2017, Mitie was a very different company indeed. Revenue was just GBP 2 billion. Now we're at GBP 5.1 billion. Profits were only GBP 82 million. Now we're at GBP 234 million and employees numbered 29,000. And now we have, as I said, 76,000 employees. And that's how much progress we've made, and we've tripled the value of your company during Derek's leadership. We've also built strong foundations, building -- focused on improving customer service, building better employee engagement, divesting a number of noncore businesses and buying businesses, which really strengthened our competitive position. and our balance sheet strength. In short, Derek, your guidance, your strategic thinking has enabled the Mitie company to grow and grow profitably. Thanks to your vision, Mitie has emerged as the U.K.'s largest technology-led facilities management and facilities transformation company, delivering superior returns to all our shareholders. So on behalf of our shareholders, a huge thank you to Derek and for me personally and from the entire team, we wish you a very happy and healthy semi-retirement. And I think you all deserve -- we deserve a round of applause. We will miss you. Thank you.

Thank you, Phil. Now let's turn to the formal business of the meeting. The notice of the meeting was sent to all shareholders and made available on our website on the 20th of June this year. This can be found on Pages 3 and 4 of the notice of AGM booklet and will be our guide for the proceedings today. Printed copies are also available at the entrance of the room should anybody require one. Now with your permission, I'd like to take the notice of the resolutions 1 to 19 as having been read. I now formally propose resolutions 1 to 19, which are set out in the notice of the General Meeting. Resolutions 1 to 16 inclusive are proposed as ordinary resolutions, requiring a simple majority of votes to be passed. Resolutions 17 to 19 are proposed as special resolutions and do require at least 75% of votes to be passed. Now before we vote, shareholders have an opportunity to ask any questions that you may have. And we will take questions in the following order. First, we'll take questions from any shareholders in the room. And then secondly, we'll take questions from shareholders that we've received via e-mail. Now let me ask whether any of those shareholders in the room have any questions about the business of Mitie or the resolutions themselves. And on those questions, I will see whether it's Phil or our most appropriate person on this table to be able to answer your questions. If you could introduce yourself as well, that would be helpful.

Is that switched on? Just check that it...

Gary Dave, private shareholder. Just looking at your financials, the buybacks are almost double the dividend paid and they're greater than the profit for the year. So is there a policy of just you could just do buybacks rather against increasing the dividend?

I'll start by answering that and then perhaps Phil and Simon might wish to add further. The primary purpose of this company is to create shareholder value. and we look to the best and most appropriate way to do that. Share buyback is one way of doing it and maintaining an accretive dividend policy has been another. We see from surplus cash that we've created that we should share that with our shareholders, which is why we've triggered several share buybacks. I think the total amount of share buybacks to date, Simon, is...

GBP 100 million last year, and we've done over GBP 200 million.

So that, together with an increasing dividend, should give our shareholders the comfort of knowing that this is a Board that believes that shareholder returns should show a good increase. Is there anything else you want to add?

I think the only thing you could say is that our shares of GBP 1.40 today on an average. We paid just under GBP 1 for each of those shares. So our shareholders now own more of the company because those shareholders that sold are no longer shareholders. So you're essentially getting more of the company's future growth. And we're not alone in believing that a balance of dividends with buybacks is the right way to run the company and to increase a little bit of the borrowings level because we are generating cash and therefore, our borrowings have been quite low really relative to companies of our size.

Does that answer your question, Gary?

Well, it's all about opinion, basically, you could also look at quarterly dividends, but that might be more challenging. Looking at your -- what the work you're doing, I just wondered about -- you're talking about links and work that you're linking to the growth of the National Grid. I just wonder how the business dovetails with that because I've always had a concern about National Grid, the way it's operating in the U.K. and overseas and the problems that there are. I know there are issues about connections. I just wonder how this business dovetails with the work that used to be done on the national grid -- by the National Grid for the U.K. They're also focused on North Atlantic Seaboard, New York Coast up there, and they were overstretched. And I've always got a concern about the national grid. I have shares in them. They pay a nice dividend. They're very good. Your business is very good. I just wondered what the opportunities are in that area.

Two good stocks there then, Gary. Look, the whole national grid and source of energy is in dynamic change at the moment because of the source of generation fuel. Perhaps...

I mean, yes, it's a really good point because, as you know, we -- in the U.K., we import energy into the U.K. And many, many of our clients want more and more energy, even just putting EV chargers into, say, a hospital can overload the grid going into the hospital because hospitals through MRI scanners and all the different equipment that hospitals are using more and more energy. And that's true of whether it's our retail clients through refrigeration. We have a large number of high energy use consuming clients. What we're trying to do is help them with their -- firstly, to buy energy for them, but also help them reduce their energy consumption. So we have a company that does solar panels, for example, big solar panel arrays on roofs. We have companies that then connect some of those solar panels into the grid, so they can export. We have a company that does EV charging, and we're doing a lot of EV charging all the way from Lloyds Bank to the Department of Works and Pensions offices and car parks. And we have a battery energy storage company that will store surplus energy. So we've made the strategic decision to invest in energy and energy management for our clients. And last year, our revenues were about GBP 250 million and probably this year will be over GBP 300 million. So we see it as a really important part of what we do to help our clients reduce their energy consumption.

As we look for the future for Mitie, we look for growth businesses that we should invest in that take us to an opportunity for future growth and future shareholder value. We identified that the use and the requirements for connected electricity facilities and the ever-increasing demand that there is for electric is an opportunity. And we've carefully gone into that market but have invested confidently in those businesses that Phil has just articulated.

That photograph. Is that City Airport?

It is City of London where we provide services to City of London, yes.

The aircraft is going in a funny direction. They come back that way. They come back from the West and land in...

I'll take that up with our comms department. No other question? Are there any other questions? Are there any questions that we've had by e-mail, Kate? No further questions. Okay. So each of the resolutions that I referred to before will be voted on by way of a poll. Now before we take the poll, I'll briefly explain the procedure. For shareholders attending the meeting today, a poll card was offered to you as you entered the meeting. If you've already completed a proxy form and do not wish to change the way you have voted, there is no need to complete that poll card. The votes you've already cast will be counted. However, for those shareholders who have not submitted a proxy form or wish to change their votes already submitted, please complete that poll card. If there are any shareholders in the room who do not currently have a poll card and would like one, could you raise your hand? So I therefore assume that everybody has had a poll card. Now please complete your poll card by clearly printing your full name. And if you are a proxy or corporate representative, the full name of who you are representing. If you're voting on behalf of more than one shareholder, please complete a separate poll card for each shareholder. Please then indicate how you would wish to vote by inserting a cross in either the for or against box alongside each resolution or you may opt to abstain by inserting a cross in the withheld box. Please note that a vote that is withheld is not a vote in law and will not be counted when calculating the number of votes for and against the resolution. And then finally, if you could please sign and date the poll card. MUFG Corporate Markets will act as scrutineers and will count and check the votes against the register. And the final results will be made available on the company's website and will be announced to the London Stock Exchange as soon as possible. Does anybody have any questions on the poll procedure? As there are no further questions, we'll now proceed to vote on the resolutions, which are formally proposed at the meeting. Could those shareholders attending the meeting in person, please mark your poll cards with your votes for all resolutions and then raise your hand with your completed poll card and the registrars will collect the poll cards from you now. [Voting]

Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, that concludes the business of the Annual General Meeting. Whilst final votes have yet to be counted, I can confirm that based on the votes received prior to the meeting, all resolutions have been passed. The final results of today's meeting will be available on the Mitie's website later today as referenced earlier. In the meantime, if you would like a copy of the proxy votes received, these are available from request from our registrar, and that's the gentleman on the top tier on the right. I'd like to take this opportunity to thank you for your support as shareholders and for attending the meeting. And I'd also like to thank my Board and my talented Board on either side of me, my colleagues, the Board colleagues, executives and the wider workforce that I've worked alongside in the past 8.5 years. It is with mixed feelings that I'm leaving. I wish you every success and look forward to continuing my support for this great company by being a shareholder. Thank you, ladies and gentlemen.