NZME Limited ($NZM)

Good afternoon, everyone, and welcome to the New Zealand Media and Entertainment's 2026 Annual Shareholders Meeting. My name is Steven Joyce, and I am the Chair of the NZME Board. Thanks to those of you who are joining us here in person today and to those who are joining us online through our virtual platform, which is provided by our share registrar MUFG. Shareholders that are here in person can vote with us here in the room today, and shareholders can also vote and ask questions online. If those who are joining us online would like to submit questions, please do so as soon as you can to allow us to answer them at the appropriate time during the meeting. So if you have some burning questions, get them down. [Operator Instructions] And we will also open the floor here to questions from shareholders joining us in person. We used to say in political gatherings there will be a small fine if the phone goes off during the meeting. So it's us and it's you. I will provide you with further instructions on questions as we come to that part of the meeting. For those shareholders that are joining us online, if you have any issues with the feed at all or with the virtual annual meeting online portal guide, please refer to it or you can phone the help line, which is 0-800-200-220 or Auckland, which is 649-967-7751, if you're calling from overseas. I'll now briefly outline what we'll be covering in our meeting today. We will review the company's performance for the financial year ended December 2025. We'll also be asking for your vote on 4 formal resolutions as part of our governance requirements before opening for general business and questions. Firstly, I'll be speaking about some key highlights across each of NZME's 3 main business divisions from the financial year last year as well as an overview of our overall financial performance. Chief Executive Michael Boggs will then take us through the financials in a bit more detail, along with a closer look at each of those divisions covering how they performed last year and future plans for each. We'll then move on to the formal part of the meeting, where we'll be voting on the resolutions outlined in the notice of meeting that you will have received. We'll be proceeding on the basis of these have been read. Bowen Pan, Kate Parsons and Benedict Ong will each speak to their nominations, and shareholders will have the opportunity to direct questions to them at that point. To conclude then, we'll move into general business where shareholders will again have the chance to raise more general questions. Could I begin, please, by introducing you to our NZME Board members who are here today. If I start first to my immediate right, we have Carol Campbell, then Jim Grenon, Guy Horrocks, Kate Parsons, Sussan Turner and also joining us from New York this afternoon is Bowen Pan. I think we're going to see him on the screen at this point. There he is. Bowen would hasten to point out that he doesn't live in New York. He's a local who just happens to be in New York on business. He is here 99% of -- well, 95% of the time. Also joining us on the front table are Michael Boggs, second from the end there; and Genevieve O'Halloran, who's General Counsel and Company Secretary. I'd also like to introduce you all to Jo Hempstead, who is just down the back there on my left, and she has joined NZME as its Chief Financial Officer at the beginning of this year. Also joining us today are members of NZME's executive team along the front as well as our legal advisers, Bell Gully, and our auditors, PwC. The Company Secretary has confirmed that the notice of meeting was duly sent to shareholders and all other entitled parties. I have further been advised that we have a quorum present. And on that basis, I formally declare the meeting open. For the purposes of this meeting, proxies have been appointed in respect of approximately 101,548,947 shares, and that represents 53.96% of the total shares on issue. My fellow directors and I will be voting all discretionary proxies received in favor of resolutions 1, 2 and 4, as outlined in the notice of meeting. We will be voting all discretionary proxies against resolution 3. The financial statements covering the 12-month period to 31 December 2025, along with the auditor's report, are included in the company's annual report, which has previously been distributed. Any questions relating to the financial statements will be addressed during the general business section at the close of the meeting. And a recording of today's meeting will be made available on our website once it has concluded. Let me now give you a few what I see as key highlights of the last year. I think it's fair to say that 2025 provided a challenging economic climate for many New Zealand businesses, and NZME was no exception. It was, therefore, encouraging to see each of our business divisions deliver strong results in 2025 despite those broader challenging conditions. The performance across our core businesses radio, print and OneRoof was pleasing, and it demonstrates the ongoing strength of our traditional product offering, while we continue to innovate and invest in areas where we see potential for future growth. The Board has worked with Michael and the leadership team to simplify the company's operations in the last year and ensure strong accountability for performance across the 3 businesses, and I believe that is starting to show results. As I mentioned earlier, Michael will be sharing some more detailed insights into those divisional performances shortly. Innovation remains a key focus with meaningful innovation being implemented across OneRoof through our product and engineering capability. OneRoof's new app launched very recently, offering buyers, vendors and agents a much more seamless and user-friendly experience. We also launched one of the country's first live new streaming platforms, Herald NOW hosted by Ryan Bridge, which has made a strong debut. It has regularly achieved 1 million unique viewers a month across the Herald app website. I'm sorry, the Herald app, the website and YouTube. We have recently partnered with Sky TV to expand the show's reach which now plays on ThreeNow and will shortly play on linear television later in this year. We have recently added a new business show to broadcast in the half hour leading up to the Ryan Bridge show, and that's hosted by well-known TV journalist, Garth Bray. In May of last year, we launched iHeartCountry to fill a significant gap in the local radio landscape. This station is designed to capitalize on a huge surge in country music's global popularity with sold-out shows from country artists, demonstrating a strong and growing appetite for the genre here in this country. Last year was defined by disciplined governance and financial management. The company kept a firm grip on costs while continuing to direct investment into areas central to our long-term strategy. Our balance sheet strengthened significantly over the course of the year with lower overall debt levels giving us greater flexibility to support appropriate capital investments should strong opportunities arise, while maintaining and growing returns to shareholders. Last year, of course, saw changes in governance at NZME. As you'll remember from last year's annual meeting, Jim Grenon and I were elected to the NZME board, and I was confirmed as Chair soon after. Bowen Pan was subsequently appointed as a Director and also the Chair of the OneRoof Advisory Board, and Kate Parsons has recently been appointed to the Board in February of this year. Both Bowen and Kate will say a few words later in the meeting in support of their reelection to the Board at this meeting. I think it's fair to say these governance changes have led to renewed energy in the boardroom with new directors bringing fresh perspectives, experience and skills to complement our existing Board members. We have strengthened capacity to navigate the opportunities and challenges ahead while maintaining our commitment to creating value for all shareholders. I'd like to take a moment to thank Carol Campbell, who is retiring from the Board at the end of May after 10 years as a Director of NZME. The intention is that Kate Parsons will be elevated to Chair of Audit and Risk, taking over from Carol. Can I, on behalf of the Board and NZME a whole, thank Carol for her sterling service over the past decade and wish you all the very best. Thanks, Carol. One of NZME's biggest strengths and what we believe sets us apart in the New Zealand media landscape is the unmatched breadth of our multi-platform offering. 9 out of 10 New Zealanders actively choose us for their news and entertainment. That is a genuinely rare and powerful position to hold. And what makes this reach so compelling is not just the scale, but the diversity of how it's delivered. From breaking news to music, podcasts, newspaper, real estate listings and other content, our platforms span audio, video, publishing and OneRoof with a mix of radio, digital and print channels. As I mentioned earlier and as Michael will cover off in more detail shortly, we continue to deepen that multi-platform commitment, ensuring people can access our platforms in the format and location and the time that suits them best. That makes us truly unique and gives us an edge over our competitors, providing a suite of opportunities for advertisers and audiences alike. It was pleasing to see NZME make a strong return to statutory profit in the last year with an NPAT of $13.1 million, a significant turnaround from the $16 million net profit after tax loss recorded in 2024. And that, of course, was heavily impacted by the intangible asset impairment at that time. On the revenue side, operating revenue of $345.1 million sits 1% below 2024 on a headline basis. However, that movement is explained by the company's strategic decision in late 2024 to exit 14 community newspapers that were largely unprofitable. The balance sheet continues to strengthen. Net debt has reduced significantly. This provides genuine optionality to pursue growth where it makes sense and to support shareholder returns while maintaining financial discipline. The Board declared total dividends of $0.09 per share in line with 2024. This sits within our dividend policy of distributing between 50% and 80% of free cash flow and represents a total payout ratio of 67%. This reflects the Board's confidence in business performance and our ongoing commitment to deliver value to you, our shareholders. As we look ahead to the remaining 8 months of 2026, the current global volatility is creating some uncertainty for the balance of the year. Business and consumer confidence has started to strengthen through 2025, but that has now tempered due to global events and domestic cost pressures. As you can see by those graphs, the stark changes to the consumer price index and REINZ house price index forecast shown on the screen. Movements over the last 6 months reflect that current volatility, which has led to a dampened outlook for the rest of 2026 compared with prior economic forecasts. However, we are confident that we are positioning NZME well to take advantage of any upside that occurs as the year progresses. We are also increasingly confident in the longer-term market position of the business. We believe NZME has the opportunity to create a distinct niche in the New Zealand media landscape, which will serve shareholders well into the future. There is one other matter I need to address at this point, if I may. In February of this year, the Board commissioned an independent workplace review following the termination of employment of 3 senior managers from 2 of our business units late last year. The review concluded that the departure of those 3 senior managers from OneRoof NZME addressed specific safety and welfare issues, which were identified at the time in those 2 businesses. More generally, the review found that NZME had more work to do in order to promote and maintain a supportive work environment in which employees and other persons are treated with respect and dignity. And the report found that in order to encourage people to report inappropriate conduct in the future, a number of company practices will need to be strengthened. The Board will oversee delivery of those changes and will receive regular reporting on their progress with staff also being kept updated. In closing, at NZME, we're focused on continually innovating, growing our offering and delivering value for both audiences and advertisers. Despite a challenging market last year, our team of 1,100 people continue to work hard to deliver profitability. And these results are a testament to their hard work and their dedication. I'd like to thank each and every one of them for their efforts. Thank you also to Michael and to your executive team for your leadership and support of the team through the year and also to our Board for their strategic guidance and expertise. Thanks also to the 9 and every 10 New Zealanders who engage with NZME as well as our advertising partners and, of course, you, our shareholders. Your continued support is much appreciated, and I look forward to answering any questions you may have a bit later on. And for those of you here in person, I look forward to speaking with some of you at the conclusion of the meeting. As we look to the year ahead, I'm confident that NZME is well positioned to continue building on this progress and delivering enhanced value to shareholders. I'll now invite Michael to present his Chief Executive's comments. Michael?

Well, thank you, Steven, and good afternoon to everyone here in the room and joining us online today. It is my pleasure to be able to take you through the financials in more detail, along with a closer look at each of the operating divisions that we have here at NZME. As Steven mentioned, our operating EBITDA was 15% higher than the year before. This is through momentum building through the second half of 2025. That performance reflects a sustained focus across the businesses on both growing our revenue and driving cost efficiencies right across the business. Now as Steven mentioned, although our total operating revenue was lower due to the closure of our community publications in December of '24, if we normalize for that, we actually had revenue growth for 1% year-on-year. Our operating expenses were 4% lower than the year prior. This reflected the savings initiatives from earlier in the financial year. And obviously, we'll continue to see that benefit as we flow through to 2026. Our statutory net profit after tax was $13.1 million, and that's an improvement on last year's loss of $16 million, which again, as mentioned, included a $24 million noncash impairment. This was due to the write-down of the masthead assets in the prior year. Our free cash flow was very strong at $25.4 million. That was an improvement of $14.1 million on 2024. Again, this reflects improved operating earnings, lower tax payments during the year. Also, our net debt improved to $15.4 million. That represents 0.3x EBITDA and is below our target leverage ratio. That highlights the strong balance sheet we have and that will definitely help support shareholder returns into the future. The next slide you'll see captures the scale of NZME's business and the reach it has across how that translates into revenue across our business. Each month, NZME reaches around 9 out of 10 New Zealanders. So that's across our audio, our podcast, our print, our digital and our property assets. That extraordinary reach really underpins a well-diversified revenue base that spans subscriptions, advertising and property listings. In audio, continued growth in streaming and podcast consumption supported an increase in our digital audio revenue year-on-year. In publishing, you'll see our digital subscription revenue grew modestly with subscriber numbers continuing to rise. Yield per subscriber was a bit lower. That reflects the mix of subscribers being onboarded and retained across our different price points. Our digital advertising was down year-on-year, and it's worth me being a little clearer about why that was. A meaningful part of that decline was a conscious decision to step back from low-margin digital performance marketing activity. So in the short term, this reduced revenue, but it strengthened our margin quality and it positions us for more sustainable earnings growth going forward. On OneRoof, digital listing revenue delivered strong growth throughout the year. So we saw higher upgrade rates and we saw improved yields and this drove the performance. This was even against a backdrop of soft overall listing numbers in the property market. With a focus on this strong audience scale and better quality revenue, deliberate decisions were made with long-term value for our shareholders in mind. As you'll see, innovation is at the very core of everything we do at NZME. We've accelerated our digital growth across all of our business divisions, while we also ensure we haven't lost focus on just doing the fundamentals right. That's right across our traditional platforms as well. They are still vital to our business, and they contribute significantly to our bottom line. As Steven also mentioned, our live video news platform, that's Herald NOW known as Ryan Bridge today, has been a large success in its first year. It's celebrating 1 million unique visitors each month. Our significant focus on ensuring our platforms are available for all audiences to engage with, wherever they are, whenever suits them and whatever format they prefer has been transformative for NZME. We've made substantial improvements to our digital platforms, including our apps across all 3 business units. So this has included a new iHeartRadio app that introduced a range of industry-first features for our New Zealand listeners. This includes custom presets for stations, podcast and playlist, a radio dial and scan function, access to trending content and the ability to follow lyrics, karaoke style of course, while listening to songs on live radio. The OneRoof app has also undergone a significant refresh just in recent weeks with a much improved user experience for all who engage with it. That's our vendors, our buyers, our agents, our landlords, our renters and its property news audience overall. It really does deliver an improved search experience, clearer value context through estimates and valuations and a more intuitive interface for people who use it. The changes to the app were made to an increased engagement and encourage higher value actions such as inquiries and ultimately support revenue growth in the OneRoof business. As you can imagine, mobile remains central to the OneRoof strategy, and this update is an important step as we move forward. In the coming months, we'll also launch a new New Zealand Herald app. This will not only have a modern new look, but more importantly, better customization and personalization of content to suit your needs and specific audience preferences. Let me now move on to our audio division, which includes our radio stations, our digital audio platform, iHeartRadio, and our leading podcast network. Audio delivered revenue growth across 2025. We had market share gains which became increasingly evident as the year progressed substantially in the second half of the year. On the demand side, agency revenues picked up as clients began returning to marketing investment in the second half of the year. This has been pleasing to see, although spin for small- and medium-sized businesses, they did remain cautious throughout 2025. Digital continues to be a growing part of the audio revenue mix, now representing 10% of total audio revenue. Podcasting has well and truly moved beyond its early-stage roots. It's now an established and meaningful contributor to the division and actually to NZME's overall bottom line, and it now accounts for 31% of our digital audio revenues. Pleasingly, revenue momentum built strongly through the second half of the year, and that positions us well as we started 2026. Growing our overall audience share and translating that into revenue share remains a key priority for us here at NZME, and there's work underway to make that happen. We're actively making changes across our music brands that we believe will meaningfully improve audience engagement, and we expect to see the benefit of those efforts come through over time. Newstalk ZB, our market-leading station, is also well placed to capitalize on what promises to be an interesting election cycle and leading up to the 2026 general election. Let's now move on to our Publishing division. This includes New Zealand Herald, all our print publications across the country. It also includes our digital news platforms, including New Zealand Herald online and Business Desk. Our total subscriptions continued to grow throughout 2025 with digital subscribers, including those who bundle our digital subscription with a print subscription now making up 86% of our total subscriber base. Digital subscription revenue grew by 3% year-on-year, and that was supported by a 10% increase in overall digital subscription volumes. This volume growth has been driven by using longer introductory offers. These are designed to help new subscribers build an engagement habit with us and engagement habit with our content. So as we look ahead, we will maintain that focus on volume growth while progressively shifting towards stronger revenue growth through yield management, particularly across our individual subscribers. This will mirror the approach we have taken successfully with the print business over many, many years. On print, subscriber declines did continue through 2025. Though encouragingly, the rate of decline moderated in the second half of the year and yield continues to improve. Now let's look to our OneRoof real estate division. OneRoof remains one of New Zealand's and NZME's most significant strategic assets. And it's playing an increasingly important part in our overall performance and the creation of shareholder value. So during 2025, OneRoof stayed firmly focused on its strategy. It prioritizes digital growth and yield management. And as Steven mentioned earlier, we head into 2026 with a strong emphasis on building out its product and engineering capability. Digital residential listings' revenue at OneRoof grew 19% in 2025. That's a strong result that stands in sharp contrast to the overall market listings growth of around 3% over the same period of time. New listing volumes were still to recover to what we have seen historically. This significant outperformance wasn't driven by volume. It reflects better upgrade conversion rates, a stronger product mix and improving yields across those products. It's a clear signal that OneRoof is capturing market share, and it's becoming more effective at monetization even when we're in a quieter market. So let me take a moment to focus on what we're seeing as we start the new financial year. Our advertising revenues are currently tracking to deliver approximately 3% growth over the first 4 months of this year. This is supported by stable demand across all the key market categories that we operate in. I'm pleased to share that the first quarter of 2026's profitability has improved year-on-year. This reflects the advertising revenue growth we are seeing and the run rate benefit of the cost-saving initiatives that we implemented during 2025. The OneRoof business has more direct exposure, obviously, to the property market conditions. While its long-term value proposition remains compelling, the pace of expansion may be moderated in the near term, given the softer property market conditions, the inflationary pressures we're seeing and the potential that may come for higher interest rates. More broadly, though, given the current operating environment, the outlook obviously remains subject to the heightened economic uncertainty and the global volatility. Management continues to closely manage costs. We're prioritizing returns on investment, and we're preserving our financial abilities and flexibility during this time. Thank you for letting me talk to you today. And let me now hand you back to Steven.

hank you very much, Michael, and thank you for your work leading the team. Right. We now come to the matters requiring resolution, which are outlined in the notice of meeting. If you have joined us in the iHeart lounge today and you would like to ask any questions on any of these matters being put to shareholders, please move to the microphone that is positioned in the middle of the room. If you're joining us online, you may ask questions on each matter being put to shareholders through the virtual meeting website. Please note that only shareholders and proxy holders can ask questions. Can I please ask shareholders who are asking questions to identify themselves before they do so. And can proxy holders please identify themselves and the shareholder they are a proxy for before they ask their question. And I will call a poll in respect of each of these resolutions. As I explained at the beginning of the meeting, shareholders joining online can -- will be able to cast their vote using the electronic voting card received when online registration is validated. To vote, you'll need to click Get the Voting Card within the online meeting platform. You'll be asked to enter your shareholder or proxy number to validate, then please mark your voting card in the way you wish to vote by clicking for, against or abstain on the voting card. Once you've made your selection, please click Submit the Vote on the bottom of the card to lodge your vote. Voting will remain open until 5 minutes after the meeting concludes, and the results of the vote will be announced via the NZX and the ASX. If you're attending online and require any assistance, again, please refer to the virtual meeting online portal guide or contact the help line on 0-800-200-220. Each resolution set out in the notice of meeting is to be considered as an ordinary resolution, and as such, must be approved by a simple majority of the votes cast by shareholders who are entitled to vote and are voting on the resolution. Okay. Ordinary resolution 1 concerns the election of current NZME Board Director, Bowen Pan, who was appointed as a director for the Board since the last Annual Shareholders Meeting. The Board recommends Bowen to you as an NZME director and unanimously supports his election. Now Bowen is online from New York. We'll get him to say a few words in support of his election. Bowen?

Thank you, Steven. So when I returned to New Zealand last year, joining this Board was a rather easy decision. NZME touches more Kiwi lives than almost any other company in the country, whether that's through the Herald, ZB, OneRoof or the many other brands across publishing digital audio and events. Serving on this Board for the past 11 months has been rewarding. I found that as Chair, Steven has set a really clear tone for this Board, focused, direct and ambitious. While Michael and the team had a strong 2025, returning the business to profit, keeping all divisions moving forward or through a rather challenging year. Over the past few decades, I've spent my career building digital platforms, where the line between winning and irrelevance can pretty quickly blur. And what I try to bring to this Board is that same sense of urgency and clarity, asking whether NZME is moving fast enough, being bold enough and whether it's making decisions today that will stand behind many, many years from now. I'm really excited about what lies ahead for NZME. I'd be delighted to continue serving on its Board, and I welcome your support. Thank you.

Thank you very much, Bowen. I'll now move to put to shareholders as an ordinary resolution that Bowen Pan be elected as a Director of NZME. But before we move to the vote, Kelly, could you please confirm whether there are any questions online for Bowen or for the Board concerning this resolution?

There's one online question. Could I turn your directors up for election today, Kate Parsons and Bowen Pan, along with the Chair, comment on the recruitment process that led to their appointment to the Board? Also do either Kate or Bowen have any political history with the national party?

Okay. Bowen, perhaps, if you answer that question now, we put the same question to Kate when she when she -- Bowen.

I do not have any political affiliation with any party. And my recruitment process was what I thought was a pretty typical process. I went through an interview process with different members of the Board and also met -- obviously, it was through a process where it was also over a time that when things were changing with both me, Steve and Jim joined the Board. But otherwise, there was really nothing out of the ordinary that I thought was to the process.

And I'll comment on Bowen now and then Kate's process will we get to Kate, but I can confirm that for the directors, that Bowen's capabilities just were an obvious fit for NZME as he mentioned, particularly as product development and product experiences through Facebook and so on, just seemed like a superb opportunity for NZME. And when we all met him, we thought this was a guy we really wanted to have on board for the company and that offer a complementary strength everybody else's skill set. And I'm pretty sure I can confirm that politics didn't come up at any time. So that's the answer to that question. Yes. Could you please go to the microphone on -- yes, that would be great. I think you need to walk to, if that's all right. Yes. Sorry. It's just to help everybody get the steps in.

Chairman, my name is Alan Best, and I'm a shareholder and also a proxy holder for members of the New Zealand Shareholders Association, and we welcome the arrival of Bowen to the company. The big problem that faces people who have been involved in the mounting and design of the major platforms in the world have not really been the accessibility, they have been ethical problems. And I think all governments in New Zealand and elsewhere have been rather slow to control the ethical standards that should be applied. And things that have been written about Facebook and others have suggested that the place was in complete shambles because of the drive for growth, constant drive for growth and the neglect of ethical standards. Bowen, could Bowen enlighten us on his view of this?

So Bowen, a question on ethics of places that you may have previously worked at.

Yes. So the context I should provide is my time spent at Facebook was away from the core business. It was very much building out what's called 0 to 1, i.e., new businesses, so building out Facebook Marketplace and various other entertainment businesses. And in fact, one of the things I'm most proud about is that a lot of the businesses like Facebook Marketplace, unlike lots of other parts of Facebook, really drove key functional value for people and drove important day-to-day needs as opposed to just pure kind of using your time when you may not have -- when you had a few free minutes in a day. And so that was my focus. And so I didn't have as much exposure to the core part of Facebook maybe that you were experiencing. But I'm proud to have played a role to at least build a product that is very useful for hundreds of millions and eventually billions of people around the world.

Thanks, Bowen And I think Roger, did you want to ask a question? Roger?

To Bowen, Roger Colman, I'm a shareholder, proxy holder here. Bowen, I want to thank you very much for joining this Board. We've been waiting for at for 10 years -- and you're right. I understand you're on a consultancy basis for the company. And how long do you intend to remain effectively the CEO of OneRoof?

Bowen did you...

Can you hear me? Okay. I'm not the CEO of OneRoof. So to be clear, we hired a fantastic and really competent Chief of OneRoof, James MacAvoy. I have been helping over the past few months on an advisory and consulting basis, especially for the OneRoof business. And the plan is for me to continue to advise James and his team as he ramps up. But I have the full confidence in James and the team that he's hired. I think it is a really strong team, and I'm really excited for the products and business that him and his team will be building out.

Right. If I look at the last year's accounts are available, we rose 18% of revenues. In the last fiscal year, it's not exactly 6 months earlier, but Trade Me Property did a 22% revenue rise. It's unbelievable after 10 years that we are losing market revenue share against the opposition. How do you intend to rectify that?

It's probably more a question, Roger, for Michael and James and the team. So perhaps bearing in mind Bowen's advisory role, if it's all right, we might keep that to the general business.

Okay. We'll do it for general business.

Yes, that would be great.

I'll circle back to that.

Thank you very much. Sorry, yes.

I Googled Bowen after the last meeting, and I liked what I read. And I thoroughly endorse you and I say welcome and you're young and vital, and I also think you've got a very nice face. And I judge people on their faces. That's why I like to come to Board meetings because I look at the body language of all the directors and decide whether I like them or not, and I like the look of you, okay?

Very good. Thank you very much. There you go, Bowen. That's definitely one vote in your favor. If there are no further -- sorry, one more, yes.

Charles Bird, sharholder. I'm not sure if this is the right place to ask, but I wanted to contact prospective candidates by e-mail and ask them a question. I was told I could not do that. Now I don't know if this is...

This is a good time to ask a question. Absolutely.

But asking a question, I'm very unhappy with the Herald's political stance on climate change. They've shown no balance, and I had it in writing. I can't read out the whole e-mail. Why I'd like to know why I couldn't contact the prospective directors to ask a question by e-mail.

Perhaps if I take this one. The process we'd agreed was to do so at the meeting, and we hadn't advertised the people to do that. So in fairness to everybody, we said that we'd do it at the answer to your particular question, I've been privy to the e-mail exchange with the Herald team. And actually, your e-mail has been helpful because I think Murray Kirkness is going to have a little look at the -- just the exact way that the Herald positions itself in response to your question in that our strong view is that we're reporting the news, not deciding the news, if you like. So I'd say watch the space. I think Murray and the team are just having a little bit of a look at the question you raised.

But yes, it seems like it's very political and...

We're not here to be a political organization. We're here to be a media organization. I agree.

The Herald...

Yes, totally agree. accept your view. Thank you. Okay. Now we're just going to -- any other questions? Yes, one more. Bowen, you're a popular chap.

My name is [ Heidi Chen ], shareholder and subscriber of New Zealand Herald for many years. Yes. Bowen, I have some succession for you because I was a shareholder of Domain from Australia, and Domain is mainly for property, what should I say, similar to OneRoof. And then it was taken over by a company just this year for AUD 4.50, and then it was delisted from the stock exchange. And you have more features than now OneRoof. They have like financing, insurance and utilities, these sorts of app more than the existing OneRoof one because you are an expert in IT, I just recommend those additional app for you to enjoy. Yes. Thank you.

Thank you very much. I don't think you need a particular response there, Bowen. But I think if we take -- we're definitely planning new features for OneRoof aren't we. And James is nodding, which is great because he's the guy running it. Excellent. On that basis, then we'll move to the resolution. Please now select either for, against or abstain for resolution 1 on the voting card. If you haven't already voted. [Voting]

And I thank you, everyone, for that. Ordinary Resolution 2 concerns the election of current NZME Board Director, Kate Parsons, who was appointed as a director for the Board since the last Annual Shareholders Meeting. The Board recommends Kate to you as an NZME director and unanimously supports her election. Kate will now say a few words in support of her election.

Thank you, Stephen. And good afternoon, everyone. Thank you for the opportunity to be here today. My name is Kate Parsons, and I feel very fortunate to be able to stand before you seeking election to the Board of NZME with the support of the current Board. I would like to start by providing a bit of background on me personally and on the career experiences, which have shaped the perspectives and value that I bring. I am a member of the Chartered Accountants of Australia and New Zealand and a chartered member of the Institute of Directors of New Zealand. During my executive career, I worked in a number of senior finance roles, both here in New Zealand and overseas, spanning a variety of industries. Following 8 years living and working offshore, I returned to New Zealand in 2003, forging a career path as a CFO with a passion for innovative New Zealand tech companies with a global focus. Along with the financial and analytical skills required, the experience gained within these roles enhanced my understanding of the complexities of growth and change and provided great lessons in managing periods of rapid innovation and market change. The ability to evaluate emerging opportunities at pace and unlock value through data and technology aligned with clear strategic vision was a key focus of those roles and of course, remains highly relevant today. I began the transition to governance with my appointment as a Director of Mainfreight in January 2017. Continuous learning and development, along with exposure to highly experienced directors and wide-ranging business challenges has allowed me to build on the foundation of skills and experience gained in my earlier leadership roles. I bring a very people-centric lens to governance, and I'm a believer that strong culture and a long-term vision leads to business resilience and commercial success. Alongside Mainfreight, I am also on the Board of 3 private companies as outlined in my bio in the Notice of Meeting. I am a member of the Mainfreight Audit Committee and Chair the Audit and Risk Committees of Entrada and Freedom. I am passionate about working with great companies who play a pivotal role in New Zealand, our economy and society as a whole. I look to align with companies that are doing great things, have great people and constantly striving to be better. Hence, my desire to join NZME. Media, journalism and entertainment are core to our daily lives. It is how we stay informed, how we build knowledge and form opinions and how we connect. With that comes immense opportunity and responsibility. Although I am not from the industry, I do understand and respect the crucial role that media plays and look forward to learning more from our highly experienced directors and leadership team. I assure you all that if elected, I will be fully committed in focus and energy and add value wherever I can. I will work collaboratively with the Board to see the realization of the strategic goals that have been set to drive the company forward and make decisions that support sustainable growth and increased shareholder value. I look forward to bringing fresh perspectives and complementing the skills and expertise that your current directors hold. I believe I am well placed to support NZME's next chapter, and I'm excited to be part of that journey if elected. Thank you. And did you want me to answer those couple of questions while I'm here or...

Have a seat, and I will thank you, Kate. And I'll just get Kelly to repeat the question in a second. But just before I do, so the Board is recommending, as I said, Kate as an NZME director. I'm now going to put to shareholders an ordinary resolution that Kate Parsons be elected as a Director of NZME Limited. Kelly, did you want to repeat that earlier question again?

Yes. And I should mention it was from Stephen Mayne. I don't think I said his name earlier. Could Kate Parsons, along with the Chair, comment on the recruitment process that led to her appointment to the Board? Also, does she have any political history with the national party?

Kate?

So no, no political affiliations now and never have had. In terms of the recruitment process, similar to Bowen, a fairly standard recruitment process that you would expect in terms of interviews with both Stephen and other members of the Board, including Carol as Chair of the Audit and Risk Committee, given that the plan would be for me to take up that role. I think importantly, I also had generous access to other members of the Board and also some of the executive team. So it was also the opportunity to reverse interview, if you like, and do my share of due diligence in terms of understanding the NZME business and the Board and how things were being run.

And probably the only thing I can add is again, that politics didn't come up in the process at all. Okay. Kelly, any other questions online?

No further questions online.

Are there any questions in the room for the Board from shareholders regarding this resolution to elect Kate? There are no questions from the room on this matter. Then please now select for, against or abstain for Resolution 2 on the voting card. [Voting]

Thank you, everybody. Ordinary Resolution 3 concerns the election of Benedict Ong as a new Director of NZME. Benedict has nominated himself for election as a director. He will now say a few words in support of his election. Benedict.

Thank you, Mr. Joyce. And I note that politics has been raised quite a number of times, but I will have to state upfront. I am, by definition, a local government politician, Dunedin City counselor serving Dunedin City. I am, by definition, a politician, but for local governments. And I have to say that when I go into a political event in my city, I think I hear politics raised more often in this corporate event than when I'm in a city event. My background is, prior to entering public service for Dunedin, I was an investment banker in M&A, equity fundraising, debt fundraising. I was a private banker and investment manager across multiple asset classes. I finished my banking career that was out in Singapore with leading global banks. And in my public service right now, I like to think that my money, as a shareholder in public listed companies, is working for me at the same time. I sleep maybe 4, 5 hours a day. I like to think that my money when I sleep in my public service for Dunedin City is also working for me in the same time. So that's how I've come to be a new shareholder in NZME. I do tremendously appreciate the recent direction that I see in the vision for the company. I appreciate that there is a new major shareholder. And I understand that NZME is -- to me, it's a very strategic media asset. It has served for generations across our communities and across the Dunedin City. Now I will say that in the context of what I do as a former investment banker and in the context of being a local government politician, I put out very specific proposals. So I'm going to look at a few proposals that I would like to put forth. But as it is for any type of election, this is the only election where I'm not concerned with the outcome. My public service elections, I'm most concerned about. In this case, I want to just state I appreciate that NZME as a media, digital and technology group. And I believe when we look back at the history of NZME, we know that 10 years ago, it was APN Media. And now NZME is a country-wide media institution. But if we look back 10 years ago, it was in a married relationship with what is now ARN Australia. And when I look at the outcomes of the 2 companies and I look at the strong balance sheet that NZME has and I look at the combination of both NZME as a strategic media and digital institution in our country and I look at across the Tasman and what was formally part of the consolidated group 10 years ago, and I say I think that there is an opportunity for NZME to become, once again, a Trans-Tasman media and digital group. And that's very simply that I look at the way the fortunes have diverged and NZME is twice -- more than twice the market cap of ARN Media. ARN Media owns 58 radio stations across the Tasman. And some of us may know that ARN Media has gone through a bit of a challenge shall we say fiasco because of an outsized one bet bit that it made -- on a long-term $100 million contract with 2 very renowned DJs across the Tasman, Kyle and Jackie O. But the point being, I look at the valuations, I look at the opportunity, and I say NZME is financially strong. NZME is trading at 2.1x price to book and 0.6x price to sales. And I look across the Tasman this sim-SX-listed company, ARN Media and is trading at a fraction of what it was 5 years ago, is trading at a price to sales of 0.19x and a fraction of book value. And then I say, there is probably a lesson to be learned here, but there's also an opportunity to be learned from the company across the Tasman. And that is, firstly, there's an opportunity for NZME to grow, possibly across the Tasman. And at the same time, there's also a lesson in traditional broadcasting. And that's also part of the vision forward that I see taking place at NZME, and that is traditional broadcasting and making very single concentrated bets, outsized bets that in the case of the company across the Tasman is seeing it face a greater of difficulty. It is no longer the traditional way to go. And very clearly, it is the complement of what we see with NZME, which is a diversified base of DJs. And at the same time, we know where the future is. The future is in digital media. It's in social media content creation. And rather than making one large bet for any international media organization to make on just one outsized talent, the future going forward is a diversified suite of DJs and start-up social media content creators who represent seed investments into start-up content creation because we can see around the world.

Benedict, I need you wrap it up. Sorry, yes. We're good. Final pitch. One last thing.

One last thing. Okay. I will say one last thing, and that is on OneRoof. OneRoof, as we know, is an independent adult child of NZME, and it's a growing child. And I have seen the headlines to say, it might go for IPO. That would be a very good thing because OneRoof can have adult children of its own, which would be, as one shareholder has mentioned, the potential in fintech, the potential that connects to real estate, digital. And in the same way, we look at the industry in New Zealand and our financial services is dominated by 4 banks across a dozen. It's an industry that's ripe for expansion for OneRoof to spread out in technology and digital financial services. Thank you.

Thank you. Thank you very much, Benedict. It's great to have your passion as a shareholder in NZME. I'd now like to put to shareholders as an ordinary resolution of Benedict Ong be elected as a Director of NZME Limited. Before we move to the vote, Kelly, could you confirm any questions have been received online for Benedict Ong or for the Board?

We have a question from Steven Mayne.

Yes.

Could external Board candidate, Benedict Ong, comment on whether he feels the Board ran a fair election? Was his platform centered in any way? And did the Board provide affordable access to the share register for the benefit of proxy solicitor? Does he agree that it would be better if contested Board elections at public companies were overseen by the independent New Zealand Electoral Commission given the obvious conflict of interest of incumbent directors running an election when their jobs are under threat.

Right. Did you have any difficulty with access to anything?

I am here as a new shareholder, a reason to sales I believe the in the vision of the company.

Just come up to the mic here.

I'm a new shareholder, and I'm here to serve as a new shareholder in whatever way doesn't have to be any form of representation that I serve as a shareholder to create value. And as a community member, because NZME has been serving our communities for generations, and it's a very important part of our community, it's a very important media institution that we have to be fair objective and right to serve our communities.

No issues with access?

No.

No. Thank you. Okay. Thank you, Benedict. Any questions from -- in the room?

I meant to give my name before [indiscernible] I'm a shareholder. Do I detect a very personal ambition on your part to drive acquisitions and mergers for this company, which has only just got back into profit dealing with our local issues. And you're a very new shareholder, so you haven't been coming to meetings and watching the history for very long. Do you have a personal ambition to drive acquisitions and mergers in Australia with this company if you were to be a Board member?

That's a big question.

I would be tremendously happy to drive shareholder value. And if we think about NZME at the moment and where it can be, well, if you think of it as value stock, then there is going to be a certain limit to the upside. But if you think of how it can grow as a technology, digital and vertical media and technology asset, then those who know growth, those who know technology know that there are outsized potential returns over a long time horizon for growth stocks versus what our traditional value stocks.

Mr. Ong, there are just a few other companies that I belong to. I remember in New Zealand taking over the second half of NZ and what a disaster that was. Fletcher Building have taken over Australian companies and being burnt. There are so many New Zealand companies who have had ambitions to dominate the Australian market [indiscernible]. Don't you think that perhaps Mr. Pan, Bowen Pan would actually cover the technical aspects that you're talking about? Your background is banking and acquisitions and mergers. And I don't know whether this company is actually up to the task or should even think about it.

Thank you very much for your question. Could you answer, Benedict?

That's a great question. My background as a banker and banking is very much more than a science in specific areas of M&A. It is an art that crosses all across global economies, finance, it's not to say, okay, I specialized in M&A, I specialized in investment management. And what does one do in investment management? One invests and studies companies in the media space, in technology and across multi-sectors around the world. And I will say now, my role very simply in what I do now is public service, local government politician. And that's to say that, that skill set that I've had in M&A and across the banking world, across private banking, wealth management, investment management, it cuts across in many other ways in what I'm doing very specifically now in Dunedin City as a city counselor. So I will say the skill set that one has, whether it's any part of global finance or global banking, it connects in a lot of other ways. And I have studied media industries and technology sectors around the world. That is why I have become a new shareholder in NZME. I am here to just serve as a shareholder and a community member, and I recognize that there's a tremendous opportunity here. And how one goes about it, you mentioned a few acquisitions. Those are in traditional and one could call it brick-and-mortar companies. Now the question is, were those companies of growth? Or were those companies that faced a cap in terms of their long-term value? In this case, this is a digital and technology company. We can see that very clearly going forward, where it can be. And then the question is, I think that's something the Board has probably thought about in a great way. There's one spin-off in time to come, those grown adult independent children of NZME like OneRoof and allow to grow with the expertise that's already there in time to come and expand into other verticals as one shareholders rightly pointed out because, well, property connects to what else, financial services, digital technology, everything else, and there's a lot of industries that are very complacent in those spaces. Very complex in our country as well.

Thanks, Benedict. That's great. Excellent. I can see you have skills as a politician. You're doing well. Speaking as a retired politician. Anyway, so we have -- I think that's all the questions. So we're now going to put the -- sorry, one more. Thank you.

Yes. I would like to say that I'm a shareholder of A1N. And because I have been reading its annual report every year, several years ago, it made a mistake because of an accounting system, it -- I think lost about $62 million that sort of thing accounting procedure. But NZME is doing much better because we have accountants like Michael, you're an accountant, and Carol, you're an accountant, so make sure that all the accounting procedures are followed very well. And I think at this stage, we missed a market. The Indian market actually is a very big market. The New Zealand Herald had mentioned a young novel writer, she's now only about 25 years old living in Auckland, and she had earned more than $10 million because her novel...

Is there a question? Sorry, I just need to get to that?

No, I just wish to point out the Indian market.

Yes, yes. Yes. We're taking on India next year.

I'd rather have an Indian female director. There are many examples of that, like the Australian market, the Real Group, which was owned by Murdoch more than 50%, and they have in their office for doing real estate, and we missed our opportunity. Actually, India is not like when Peter saying that like [indiscernible], they are many doctors, et cetera, here, yes. When he is sick, I don't know whether he would like to be treated by an Indian doctor. I'd just like to say India market is a big market. Thank you.

Thank you very much. Okay. We're now going to put the resolution for Benedict. So this is the -- just repeat the resolution for you, which is now put to the shareholders an ordinary resolution that Benedict Ong be elected as a Director of NZME Limited. So if you could please select for, against or abstain for resolution 3 on the voting card. Thank you, everybody. [Voting]

Okay. Ordinary resolution 4 concerns NZME Limited's auditor's remuneration. This motion concerns the fixing of the auditor's fees and expenses and seek shareholder approval, and the directors of NZME Limited be authorized to fixing the auditor's fees and expenses for the financial year ended 31 December 2026. I move as an ordinary resolution that the directors of NZME be authorized to fix the fees and expenses of the auditor for the financial year ended 31 December 2026. Kelly, do we have any questions online?

No online questions.

For this resolution. Any questions in the room for this resolution? Okay. There are no questions in the room. Please select now for, against or abstain for resolution 4 on the voting card. [Voting]

Thank you. That concludes the formal part of the meeting dealing with resolutions to be voted on by shareholders. You should now, if you haven't already done so, please submit your votes. As I mentioned earlier, voting will be open until 5 minutes after the meeting closes, and results of the poll will be announced on both the NZX and the ASX after the conclusion of the meeting. We now enter the general business part of the meeting. And I'd like to give shareholders the opportunity to ask any general business questions about the company's progress. Can I ask that any questions be related to today's presentations, the financial statements or the management of the company. Shareholders joining us online can continue to ask questions, and we'll also address any questions submitted already online. Please note again that only shareholders and proxy holders can ask questions. And once again, can anybody who's asking questions identify themselves before they ask that question. And if we do run short of time and we're unable to answer your question online today, we will respond to you after the meeting. Just before I go to questions in the room, Kelly, are there any further questions online?

Yes. We have had a question from a shareholder in advance. James Francis Gibson.

Yes.

Why does Newstalk Afternoon Talk need 2 hosts? It's not usual.

It sounds like a very accounting and performance question. Michael, why do we have 2 hosts in the afternoon show on ZB?

Good afternoon. As you can imagine, sometimes we do need to have 2 hosts to actually bring different perspectives. So our ZB afternoon show is very much an opinion show. It has people calling in to give their own perspectives. And so by having 2 people amongst that show, they could also drive off those and give further content. Not all of our shows can just have 1 person. Some have very big personalities who can fill a show themselves, but others do need to, obviously. In fact, some have 3.

As a ZB listener, can I recommend the Matt & Tyler show in the afternoons on ZB. We had a host before, I forget his name, who now works for another company. And I think the Matt & Tyler show is far better. Okay. Any other questions online?

We have one from Steven Mayne. I've attended many dual-listed New Zealand-based company AGMs and have asked them to commit to ASX-style remuneration report voting. I've decided to run for the Board of companies but refuse to offer this. If I run for the NZME Board at next year's AGM, will you undertake to do so?

Undertake to?

To do remuneration report voting?

This has actually come up a little bit recently, and I'm happy to say that we are going to have a little look at how we disclose, particularly CEO remuneration. The disclosures are accurate, but they're perhaps not as simply stated as they could be. There are 1 or 2 shareholders say to me they could be stated more simply. There has been some concern about proceeding to the full ASX bells and whistles suite because that can involve quite a large tome of information, which I'm not sure that a company of this size wants to voluntarily submit itself to. But we certainly believe we could just be a little bit clearer and simpler in that presentation, and we're having a look at that for the next year -- for this current year's report.

We have another question from Kaushik Patel. Please, can you provide some clarification of OneRoof as creating value for shareholders was mentioned at the last ASM. To date, we have not seen any share price growth. Has the OneRoof executive issue affected its valuation? And how far towards either a sale or demerger are we to create better shareholder value with the new Board and control?

Perhaps, Michael, if I get you to answer the question around operations and then I can mention in terms of any shares up.

Great. I'm very happy to talk about operations. And as was brought up in the question, there was some very inappropriate behavior by one of our executives who is no longer with us. What I'm pleased to say is that we do have James, and give a wave out James, who's joined us as Chief of OneRoof. What we did see during that time as we did see some change, we've gone to a much more product and audience focus. I've just appointed a new head from a revenue perspective. So we do start to see acceleration in the OneRoof business again. But it was a disturbing time in the business. It was disturbing for people in the business and we're very disappointed about that. We do continue to believe though that OneRoof is a very important part of our business, just like the audio businesses and just like the publishing businesses, but obviously, it's at its infancy, and we do believe we've got significant growth still to come on OneRoof, and we do believe there will be showing and shareholder value in the future.

And an answer to any question around the potential sale of shares in OneRoof. It's something the board will always keep under review. I think our view at the moment is strategically at the stage of OneRoof's development. We're happy to hold it 100%, and we can look at any point as to whether there's a better option. Interesting to note, though, that there are examples in the market where media companies and what you might call classified verticals are coming closer together rather than moving further apart at the moment. So we just keep a watching brief and review it on a regular basis. Okay. Any other online questions?

Yes, we have a couple of others.

Goodness, we'll get to you, Roger, sorry, we'll come to the room meeting questions in a minute. Yes.

Thank you to Carol Campbell. This is again from Steven Mayne. Thank you to Carol Campbell for her 10 years of service on the Board. It's always helpful for investors to have access to some exit perspectives from retiring independent directors. In her final contribution as NZME director, could Carol please comment on what you regards as the best 2 decisions NZME made during her time on the Board? And does she have any regrets?

No pressure, Carol.

No, I appreciate. I could have had this a little bit in advance rather than being put on the spot. I guess if I said my regrets, my regrets would be that I'm going to have to watch the company from afar because I do love being part of this company. And I can't believe I've had 10 years, although my friends that the shareholders association will tell me they've been taking every day off. I guess one of the best things is actually watching the growth of NZME and also the growth of some of the executives that are leading various parts of our business. We are a people business, and it's great seeing people of the management team coming to the Board in developing and Michael's guidance. So I'm a people person from that perspective. And it's -- the company has grown incredibly during my 10 years, and it's changed. And what's ahead of us is just amazing. So good luck to everybody on the Board because I know I'm going to be watching from afar.

Not too far.

No. I'm still a shareholder.

Very good. Yes. Thank you, Carol. I look forward to your questions next year.

I should actually say the appointment of Steven, the new fellow directors. That's what I should have said.

Thanks, Carol. Okay. Should we -- we've got one more question online.

Just 2 more online.

Okay.

One is from Chen Lock Yan. Will digital ad hub relaunch?

Sorry, what was that?

Digital ad hub.

Yes, Michael?

Just to explain that question, we used to have a product called Ad Hub. It was a way that we sold other digital products, in fact, third-party digital products. So as I mentioned in my address, we have reduced the number of third-party digital products because the margins on those are very low. So we actually had our sales teams focused on selling products that weren't our own where we can actually focus them on selling things that are much more profitable for us. Having said that, where it means we can win a customer, where we can win their digital business of our own, where we can win their audio business of our own, where we can win their OneRoof business, we will sometimes add on a third-party digital product because that can actually mean we can get much more revenue and profitability overall.

Thank you.

Just one more from Steven Mayne. Could Steven Joyce outline whether his attitude to editorial independence has changed during his first year as Chair.

The short answer is no. And I think there is a real meeting of the minds across the board and management about the role of our publishing division and to really be seen as a town square, which offers a broad range of views. And to paraphrase another media organization, it helps to explain what's happening in the world. And I think we're developing well in that respect. There's always more to do. But I think the publishing team is doing a good job. Okay. Questions in the room, starting with you, Roger.

It's been 11 months since Jim joined the Board. There's no hemophilia out there. So that's a good sign But of the $12 million cost savings, $9 million were supposed to be last calendar year and largely accounted for the profit left. I'm hoping that in my group of shareholders from -- who are committed investors in this company, hope there's going to be more cost savings found to keep driving the earnings. In that respect, we've been very happy with the fact that Jim has joined the Board that nobody is bleeding. There's no band aids. And on behalf of my shareholders, I'm awarding Jim a trophy.

Jim is getting a trophy for those of you that are not...

[indiscernible] how this performance continues.

Very good, Jim. It's an impressive ride. Do you want to say anything, Jim? Or you...

Well, I just wanted to say I went out for dinner with Roger on Monday, and he even picked up the tab and he bought this.

Very good. Thank you, Roger. At the back there.

I'm Jameson, a shareholder. We've heard a lot about digital transformation of NZME in the whole world. And I note that Trade Me has got a valuation of $3 billion. It has a number of different parts to it, one of which is building real estate online. And NZME has mimicked that by creating OneRoof and they're on the trajectory to max that. One of the other ones with Trade Me is automotive ads online. And I think that's a great potential. They mentioned they're making $125 million a year. NZME has a huge unique audience, a huge way to pull people in and to start getting the value from that reach. Are they pursuing the automotive ads? And if so, why not?

Thank you. Michael, did you want to make a comment on that initially?

Absolutely. And I think you pointed out that, that is the second largest vertical within Trade Me. And as you point out, Trade Me is worth a lot of money. Motoring is in our sights, and we continue to look at opportunities like that. There's some slight differences as you understand between motoring and real estate, but it's something we actively look at and we'll continue to do so.

And a follow-up question, if it's okay?

Go.

It's great that you're continuing to look at it. And one way is the first initial investment to get the knowledge and infrastructure started, and I know NZME's financial position may not have a huge amount of money to do that initially. Would you consider getting an investor to take some of the risk and then pay for that and then share the rewards with NZME, if it was one way?

It's something we'd always look at on an opportunity-by-opportunity basis. That opportunity doesn't yet present itself to us. We are interested, as Michael said, in the motoring vertical. The thing that we do want to do if we do it because there is some history there within NZME in that vertical is dealing such a way where we can offer real value to readers and users of the app straightaway. And that requires a bit of thinking through, which we're doing at the moment and talking to potential partners. So no commitment because we don't want to dive into something that we can't sustain, but certainly looking at opportunities as we are in other areas. Okay.

Thanks. And the final question is, obviously, Trade Me is mainly 3 things. It's real estate, vehicles and jobs and. Have you considered the jobs component as well? I know motoring might be easier to do, but jobs is another one that's a potential focus that adds to that $3 billion capitalization of Trade Me.

As you might recall, we did look at all 3 some years ago, and we went lightly into all 3. What we saw is that property was product that we could actually grow the quickest. And so we decided we'd actually put all of our focus on to property, but we absolutely think there is opportunity in the other 2 verticals. And as both Steve and I have said, we actively look at those.

Yes. The other thing is to think that we think a little bit more broadly than that even, and I appreciate your points about Trade Me, of course, they'll get a chance to test that valuation at some point. But the -- there's other areas. For example, Business Desk, which we're actively involved in. And I think -- I see Matt Martel around the room here he is, who's just taken up the role again as publisher of a Business Desk. That's another opportunity. So part of the challenge for the Board and part of capital allocation is determining when to ride the horses you're already on and when to look for more horses. And so we're certainly of the view that we've got plenty of opportunities right now to develop within the business that we currently have and explore other verticals over time.

Yes, that's great. I think you've got such an awesome unique audience and a high reach that you can start exploring those sort of things.

Excellent. Thank you. Any other questions in the room? Please sir.

My name is [ Joris from JS Alpha ]. Good afternoon, everybody. Can you talk a little bit about the Google revenues, please? We haven't heard anything about that. So for those in the room, we're not very strong into numbers. This is the single largest event risk for our shareholders as the revenues presented an estimated 20%, 25% of normalized earnings before tax. So I guess the first question we have on that one is, has the contract with Google preemptively prolonged in the meanwhile. And if not, how confident is the Board to be able to realize these revenues beyond expiry?

Do you want to go first?

Thank you. A good question. So as we will have announced just over 4 years ago, it was a 5-year contract with Google. The thing that's evolved in that time is obviously many platforms are now using our content, and it's not just for search, it's actually for AI as well. So while the Google contract is up at the end of this year, we have seen them around the world renewing contracts. Now nothing is guaranteed, obviously. But we actually think we've got a bigger universe of people now that we can be asking to pay for our content because they are taking it every day, and that's where our focus is.

So the answer to your question is that's certainly on our radar. Michael and the team are talking with Google. There is no guarantee it gets renewed at this point. But also they're prepared to have active conversations about it.

Okay. I have only one follow-up. In case there will be a complete omission of these revenues which are nearly 100% contributive, I would assume, how do you think you are committed and able to find a cost-cutting potential in the same vicinity of $4 million to $5 million revenues, I understand.

Well, I think maybe we go back to Roger's question and the lawnmower that was given to Jim, I can tell you it's very much a focus of Jo as our CFO and the fine talent you see here is our executive team. And you can imagine it's not just Jim who has the lawnmowers actually all these people that I turn up to report to every month. So we are very focused on how we are as efficient as possible, but we also want to make sure that, that doesn't come at the risk of revenue growth. And right now, as we've said, we are seeing 3% advertising revenue growth that's better than we've seen in the past. So it's a fine balance between cost and revenue, but we are absolutely focused on cost.

Merci.

And we do see opportunities on the cost side, not prepared -- not at a situation where we're prepared to quantify them before Roger asks. But yes, there is further opportunity. Roger?

Follow-up question and statement from some of my shareholders. The one in particular who asked me to ask it. He's examined the figures from 2016, and the amount of remuneration paid to the CRA has been $15.58 million, which was 11.3% of company net PAT. If you pretax that, it's 8.3% of net PAT. There's a bit of disquiet, I can say, straight away from a group of shareholders that hold between 15 million and 18 million shares in the company on the pretty poor market share performance of the company. I met with Barclays, I never thought I'd be in a joint venture with them in the outdoor advertising even a few years ago, they're doing over 30s and we're doing $20 million EBITDAs. Obviously, the figures of us versus Trade Me can be argued, but still 18% versus 22% irrespective of the 6 months time lag different is not a good performance. And I think the Board has to start looking. This is now my opinion from the voices I hear has to start looking at CEO succession in due course to the market share performance of the group have been inadequate.

Okay. Thank you, Roger. I think I've made a couple of observations there on behalf of the Board. Firstly that Michael has taken reduction in his remuneration in recent times, which is appreciated by the Board. Probably the bigger question is we feel that this is very much a report card on a first year of improving profitability for the company. And we believe there's plenty of work to do, both on the revenue growth side and on the cost reduction side. So I'd say let's see how the next year goes, subject to, of course, who's inviting who around the world. But we're feeling positive about the direction of travel, and we definitely understand the desire for improved performance. And I'd ask you to see the December year 2025 is the first step along that path. Yes?

As a former politician, Mr. Joyce, you will probably appreciate my difficulty in finding the least worst party to vote for this year.

Sorry, I -- yes. Go on.

Herald has been very good. I get my overseas news from the BBC.

Sure.

But I really appreciate good journalism on what's happening with New Zealand, politics and local body politics. And I'm very, very sorry that Bernard Osman has retired because he did a fabulous job taking up the baton from the activist groups who were opposing the intensification plans that Minister Cross Bishop was directing Auckland Council to impose upon us. So I think that has been well reported, and the fact that 10,500 submissions are received against -- mainly against what he was proposing and that it got scaled down. However, if I did not belong and be on the e-mail list from the Environmental Defense Society, I wouldn't know about Minister Bishop's revolting plans for the RMA reforms. In there is a clause that says, you don't need to have any regard to the visual amenities of the environment when you're developing. He is more or less imposing open slather on the environment visually and physically because they have lots of concerns about the waterways as well if there was open slather on development. And it's great that Sir Sam Neil was quoted in the Herald about his opposition to the Santana mines at Bendigo. And we all know what open cast mining can do to the environment. So that's great reporting. But why hasn't the Herald picked up on the nitty gritty of the RMA reforms and let us know just how dreadful they are.

Okay. Well, thank you. A couple of comments in response to you. Thanks for your question. Firstly, we're all sorry to see Bernard go as well. I think he's been a stalwart performer in the company, and certainly in my former career, a challenging interview, but always fair in my experience. So we wish him all the best, and we only wish he wanted to hang around for a bit longer yet. The -- in terms of your questions about the RMA Murray is here, I won't ask him necessarily to respond. You might catch up with you afterwards. But I can tell you this as somebody who was involved in previous attempts to reform the RMA, it is truly one of the most difficult things to achieve because everybody has a view on every clause, and it's not easy. But I'm sure the Herald will be taking an active interest in the development of those processes, which, as you know, have got a bit of a way to run yet before they get passed into law if they do unchanged. So that's definitely not something that will disappear out of the headlines, I'm sure. Is that right?

I think Minister Bishop's had a huge workload, but it has not been analyzed enough as to what he's doing by the Herald. I'm very happy, and I must congratulate you on reporting on Shane Jones and his Trump-esque approach to things. So look, there's brick bats and there's bouquets here. But right before the election, we really need to know what all these parties are doing. The secretiveness over the India deal that New Zealand first deposed and labor requestioning. I mean, you're reporting is great. Please get -- continue to have your very, very good journalists doing the great job they're doing, but we need a little bit more.

Excellent. Thank you. I'm sure that will be taken on board by the team. And I think that's the aspiration for the Herald is to hold up a mirror to all the things that are going on and make it clear not to take a view, I hasten to add, but to take -- to be clear about what's actually happening so people can come to their own view. Okay. Any -- yes one more?

Michael Schroff, shareholder. So the media landscape continues to be, well, let's say, buffeted all sorts of changes and what have you. So I wonder if Mr. Boggs, could give -- could give some general comments on how you see the lay of the land?

I see a very broad question, and I think the great thing is we, obviously, as we spoke about, get to 9 out of 10 New Zealanders. So I think that's a great place to start. We've got absolutely great access to people who can use our assets. We've also got a very broad set of assets as well so what we're seeing is that, that allows us to be much more competitive in the marketplace. I think there will be some more consolidation. We're seeing, for example, we all read in the media that Media Works is for sale. You obviously hear that Trade me for sale. And so I think, again, the strength of our business stands us well in those positions. We will continue to focus on growing all 3 assets of the business. We're seeing different amounts of change in each of those. And again, it did us well for, I think, future shareholder returns.

Okay. Thank you, Michael. Now I think that completes all questions. Can I say on behalf of the NZME Board and executive team, thank you very, very much for attending the Annual Shareholders Meeting today and also to those who have participated in the meeting and also for your continued support and confidence that shareholders of NZME. I think it's fair to say that all directors -- and I know the executive team see there's a real privilege to serve you as the shareholders. And we look forward to meeting in a year's time with hopefully some more progress on our key initiatives. I'll now declare the meeting closed. Thank you.