Straker Limited (STG) Earnings Call Transcript & Summary

August 24, 2022

Australian Securities Exchange AU Industrials shareholder_meeting 61 min

Earnings Call Speaker Segments

Grant Straker

executive
#1

Welcome, everybody. My name is Grant Straker. I'm the CEO and Co-Founder at Straker. I would like to welcome you all here to the AGM. Just before I hand over to our Chairman, just a couple of housekeeping notes. If there is a fire, just lead down at the bottom in front of the building and the toilets are just out through the door. So this is a hybrid meeting, which is a little bit different to your standards one and we are online and physically here. So yes, looking forward to taking you through this, and I will now hand over to Phil. If anybody is having any issues with the sound online, please just type in the chat and we'll see if we can address it. But hopefully, it's all good. Over to you, Phil.

Philip Norman

executive
#2

Thank you, Grant. Good afternoon to everybody who's joined us today, either in person or online. My name is Phil Norman, and it's my pleasure as Chairman to welcome you to this Annual Meeting of Straker Translations Limited, and it's our fourth meeting as a publicly listed company. Thanks for your attendance. It being 2:00 in Australia or 4:00 here in New Zealand, which is the nominated time for the meeting. And having been informed that a quorum is present, I declare the meeting open. I will now take a few moments to explain the hybrid meeting and voting procedures we're using today. I'd also like to remind those shareholders participating online that if you experience any issues with connectivity to the online platform for the meeting, please revisit the instructions provided on the Web page for the meeting. You can also refer to Link's online guide available on the platform under downloads, as this will assist you with the processes for voting and asking questions. Online voting. For those shareholders participating in the meeting via the online platform, you can cast your vote directly using the electronic voting card that you received when you validated your registration. To cast your vote, scroll to the bottom of the voting card and click the blue button cast vote. If you change your mind, simply select the edit card button. You can change your vote as many times as you wish up until the close of the poll at the end of the meeting. Please ensure that you submit your votes before the conclusion of the meeting as once voting closes, all voting cards, whether submitted or not, are automatically submitted and cannot be changed. You can vote at any time during the proceedings until I declare the voting closed. I will close the voting after all resolutions have been considered and once we have concluded the Q&A session. At the conclusion of the meeting, we will see a red bar with a countdown timer at the top of the webcast and slide windows advising the remaining time left for you to submit your votes. Please note that only shareholders, proxy holders or shareholder representatives may vote. In-person voting. For those attending the meeting in person, you would have been given an attendance card when you registered on arrival. If you have a white voting card, you are a voting shareholder, proxy holder or corporate representative and have chosen to vote using a paper voting card, you are also entitled to speak at this meeting. If you have a blue card, you are a nonvoting shareholder. While you're entitled to ask questions and make comments, you are not entitled to vote at the meeting. If you have a black card, you're a visitor and are not entitled to speak or vote at the meeting. If anyone with a white or blue card wishes to speak, please make your way to the microphone at the appropriate time and identify yourself to me before asking your question. Voting is now open, and I will close a few minutes -- and it will close a few minutes after the close of the meeting. Questions. We will provide shareholders with the opportunity to ask questions as we consider each resolution before the meeting. If you wish to ask a question, click on the Q&A function on Zoom, type your question and click the button. This will send the questions through to the Board and management. If your question has been answered and you would like to exercise your right of reply, you can do so by submitting another question. I will consider the questions submitted online after I have taken questions from the floor. So with that out of the way, I'd now like to begin the meeting by introducing my fellow directors and executives present today, both in person and online. Joining us in person today are Mr. Paul Wilson, a Non-Executive Director; Ms. Amanda Cribb, an Independent Non-Executive Director and also Chair of our Audit and Risk Management Committee; and Grant, our Chief Executive, who you all know. Participating online, Mr. Steve Donovan, a Non-Executive Director, who is currently in the U.K. So had some [indiscernible] getting up early. Mr. David Ingram, our Chief Financial Officer, who is in Poland; and Ms. Sally McDow, our Company Secretary, who's joined us from Sydney. I'd also like to acknowledge the attendance of Mr. Richard Croucher, who's representing our auditors, BDO; Ms. Louisa Di Bella from Talbot Sayer, our Australian lawyers, who is participating online; and Mr. Dean Oppenhuis from Bell Gully, our New Zealand lawyers, who's also participating online. We have one apology from Tim Williams, who's currently overseas. Tim is an independent non-Executive Director and Chair of our Nominations and Remuneration Committee. Agenda. Today's agenda will include a short address from me, followed by a presentation from Grant Straker, during which he will provide an update on the business. At the conclusion of Grant's presentation, we will respond to shareholders' questions, which have been submitted via the online platform or in person. Following the question-response session, we will deal with the formal business of the meeting, including consideration of the resolutions as set out in the Notice of Meeting. Each resolution will be considered in turn, and we will allow time to respond to questions regarding each resolution. I will take questions from shareholders in the room first, followed by questions that have been submitted online. The meeting will conclude at the end of the formal business. It's now time for me to provide my address. 2022 was another successful year for Straker as we continue to break down the barriers of language and communication on a global scale. We're pleased with the progress we've made and remain confident of our ability to realize the growth opportunities we see ahead of us. In the past year, we've seen improvements in revenue, gross profit and adjusted EBITDA. Last month, we announced our third consecutive quarter of positive adjusted EBITDA, and we are now focused on extending that record of earnings accretive growth. We intend to do this by continuing to execute on our strategy of gaining a greater share of translations from existing customers and bringing new customers to the business. We have a strong focus on the global enterprises who have the most to gain from our global reach and our proven ability to scale our technology to meet their needs. For the 2022 financial year, annual revenue increased 78.5% to $55.92 million. This was up from $31.3 million in the same period a year ago, a result that was ahead of guidance. For the first quarter of 2023 financial year, revenue was up 66% on the previous corresponding period and up 8% on the prior quarter. The growth is underpinned by growing sales to multinational organizations and the contribution from the Belgian-based translation provider, IDEST communications acquired in the third final quarter of 2022. As mentioned, we're very pleased to see adjusted EBITDA turn positive for 3 consecutive quarters with a full year result of $0.2 million and $1.5 million for the first quarter of the 2023 financial year. Gross profit rose to $30.4 million from $16.7 million with gross margins for the year of 54%, up on the prior year's 53%, a credible result given the dilution caused by lower margin revenue from the recent acquisition of IDEST and the on-boarding of IBM. We see continued support -- continued opportunity to improve margin as we integrate IDEST and other acquisitions. We are well funded and our $25 million capital raising in Australian dollars further strengthened our balance sheet. We also saw a strong rise to positive operating cash flows in the second half of the year. As reported for the first quarter of 2023, we have a strong balance sheet with no debt and cash of $11.4 million, a sum that gives us headroom to execute on our strategy. At Straker, we're committed to building a diverse and sustainable company that has a positive impact on the community. We have looked at how we can achieve this and decided that a B-Corp certification is the gold standard for environmental, social and governance credentials or ESG. So we've set a goal to become B-Corp certified in the 2024 financial year. A key part of this goal is delivering a strong and vibrant company culture. The past year, with its COVID-related lockdowns and constraints on face-to-face engagement with colleagues and customers around the world, has presented a considerable challenge to the company and its people. We've worked hard to overcome these stresses and have been inspired by how our global team has responded to the significant constraints the pandemic has imposed. In June, we announced that myself, an independent Non-Executive Director, Tim Williams, had decided to step down from the Board at this meeting. At the same time, we announced that Mr. Heith MacKay-Cruise and Mr. Steve Bayliss, had been nominated to replace them as independent nonexecutive directors with Mr. MacKay-Cruise assuming the post of Chairman. In line with this, Mr. MacKay-Cruise and Mr. Bayliss will both seek election to the Straker Board at this meeting. Mr. MacKay-Cruise and Mr. Bayliss are highly skilled and experienced directors and are well positioned to provide the oversight and guidance the company needs as it embarks on its next phase of growth. We will introduce Mr. MacKay-Cruise and Mr. Bayliss more fully in the resolutions section, and we will hear directly from them. After 8.5 years on the Board of Straker, it's the right time for me to step aside to make room for some new approaches and perspectives. I'm very proud, though, of what we've achieved over my tenure. Straker has grown during that time from $55.5 million in revenues in 2014, when I joined the Board, to more than $55 million at the end of the 2022 financial year. Over this time, we've also completed an initial public offer and a listing on the ASX, as well as 9 separate acquisitions that have extended the company's reach around the world. The Straker team has meanwhile grown from just 30 when I started to nearly 270 people at the present time. Straker is now growing while generating positive cash flows. It's a true New Zealand technology success story. Tim joined the Board in 2015 and has played a fundamental role in the successful performance of the Straker and has brought an entrepreneurial spirit and expertise to the Board. On behalf of shareholders and personally, I want to thank Tim for his contribution. Straker is well positioned for the new financial year to deliver on its strategic goals and establish the company as the transaction -- the translation ecosystem for global enterprises. With the easing of COVID restrictions and the virus becoming endemic, we expect to convert the growing recognition of our global reach and capabilities into deeper engagement with existing customers and the conversion of this interest into further sales and increased revenues. The next 3 years present huge opportunities. We're targeting earnings accretive growth, revenue growth of 20% for the 2023 financial year with a gross margin exceeding 54% recorded in the most recent financial year, and we're on track to deliver that. The outlook is supported by the latent opportunities in recent acquisitions, including IDEST, a strong sales pipeline among global enterprise customers and governance organizations, the company's technological leadership and the strength of its reputation as a changemaker in the global translation sector. This is the result of enormous dedication and focus by the entire team here at Straker, led by Grant and his executive team, both past and present. I'd like to thank my fellow directors, again, past and present, for an enjoyable, challenging and rewarding period with Straker. Finally, I thank you, our shareholders, for your continued support and the opportunity to be part of the Straker story. I'm now going to ask Grant to give us a presentation on the business. And at the end of that presentation, we will have time to respond to your questions. Grant?

Grant Straker

executive
#3

Thank you very much, Phil. And on behalf of the Board, the staff and the shareholders would like to thank you for your contribution and Tim. And I think there's one thing that really stands out is that we went from $5 million to $55 million in revenue. And I think if you look at New Zealand companies that have done that and remained in New Zealand, it's a very, very small single-digit that has enabled that. And I could think of Xero and Straker, where you've done it, and I'm sure there are others. So -- and that's not a mistake. That is because you do have an amazing skill set and passion and energy and drive and have been incredibly helpful. So thank you very much, Phil.

Philip Norman

executive
#4

Thank you, Grant.

Grant Straker

executive
#5

So look, first of all, just as a recap. Just talk about what we do. In essence, we are helping the world communicate. We are taking content in 1 language and multiple formats. We're using machines to speed up human translators. We are collecting all of that data. We're making it more efficient, and we're using automation to manage the whole process and push it back out. And so to give some context, if you could think of an IBM or a larger organization that has a product manager, that's selling a new server product, they need to get the product manuals into another language, maybe 10 languages. They need instruction videos in different languages. They need websites that are going to get translated. They need social media to help push it out. They need all of these things. And what we do is help automate that flow to make it really easy for them to do that to help that company go global. And we make it great value for them by using our technology to speed up the translators and to lower the cost. And while that may sound a simple process, it's not something that Google can do. It is something that takes a lot of people, a lot of technology and a lot of very sophisticated technology at that to make this happen. So for anybody new, that is what we do. Now it's been a pretty tough year for tech stocks. And I think really, when you look at it, while it's been a tough year, we've actually held up reasonably well. And the point of this slide here is really to show you that amongst the Board, the Executive, the management and the staff, there are actually a fair number of shareholders, right, somewhere between 25% and 30%. I didn't quite work out the exact number, but it's a good number of shareholders that are absolutely aligned with all the other shareholders to get the best outcome. So while it's been a tough year, it is a cycle. It's going to come out of that cycle, and we're going to be very well positioned to take advantage of that. And you have a team of people that are absolutely aligned with all the other shareholders to make that happen. Now if you look at our revenue, we have had 12 years of consistent growth. Again, never easy. That's 12 years where the foot's down on the accelerator and everybody is going hard. You're not have an easy rest years. We are driving for growth all the time. And there's some interesting facts that come out of our growth, maybe some people do or don't know. So one is $5 million of our revenue is SaaS revenue. This is contracted SaaS revenue. There's nearly $4 million of credit card transactions in our revenue. And then there would be SaaS companies that would love that type of credit card transactional stuff happening, right? So there's a whole bunch of things that happen in our growth. Now if you look at the growth that we have achieved here, where it's gone 90% over so 6 years and then 60% over 3. If you look at the run rate as we exited year 3, it's actually closer to 90% growth again or 80% as Phil was saying. So really high growth rate in a much shorter timeframe so compressed. And we have learned a lot in that time to make that happen. So our growth is really exciting. Again, it's also a mix of acquisitive growth and our organic growth. For many years, people have asked us, can we -- where's the organic growth? You're buying a number of companies to get your growth and how you're going to get there. And I think we did say at the time, and we have delivered on that. We said, look, we're going to have to change our model a bit, focus more on the enterprise, drop some of the smaller types of customers, and then focus on some of our innovation for those enterprises, build the right things, and you're now starting to see that organic growth come through as well. So a really exciting mix, I think, and really showing the way for the future around how we can grow. If you look at operating leverage delivered from our technology, this is a question I get quite often. You're growing, but are you actually getting any operating leverage? As you can see here, you can see the jaws opening between our cost base and our revenue. And one way to look at this is if you looked at our OpEx as a percentage of our revenue, so our sort of underlying cost base of our revenue. In Q4 FY '21, it was 70%. Q4 FY '22, it was actually 58%, so a significant drop. Now if you take out IDEST and Lingotek, it's 48% as a percentage of our revenue. And that's because, I'm just going to -- I'm suffering from a very blatant thing here. I've been in a Board meeting, and I need to plug my power in. Let's not run out of power team. Okay. So if you look at that, that's really significant. And as Phil mentioned in his address, over time, once we've acquired companies, we actually start to get some benefits as we start to get those companies more efficient, as we start to leverage what we're doing. So 1 simple way to look at this is if our OpEx say we could get our OpEx over time down to 45% and we're making 55% margin, there's 10% of basically cash dropping into the bottom line just on that sort of model. Now if we can hit our aspirational goals, get to $100 million, get to $200 million of revenue and keep that line down because we've figured out how to grow without needing to keep adding more and more heads and our technology is delivering huge efficiencies, we can become a very, very profitable business. And we're in a $50 billion market. So there is plenty of opportunity. And that just points to the smarts that our team have and some of the stuff that they're working on. Again, in terms of people. 78% revenue growth, 38% headcount and sales, 32% in production and an overall headcount growth of 23% over 78% growth. So again, really showing the efficiencies that we're getting. We've taken a production person from doing $340,000 of revenue, processing it up to $470,000. And we've taken salespeople from managing $730,000 up to $1.3 million. So again, just showing that we're getting these channels. We're getting these efficiencies coming through into the business as we grow. So this is really exciting, and it's just starting to show that, that operating leverage is really starting to come through and coming through at scale. In terms of our own structure, what are we -- what's going into our OpEx? What are we investing in? What's going to make a difference in the future? So you would have seen we announced yesterday, we won a new significant contract with United Nations. So one of the big things that we're working on right now is a global expansion of our data centers so that we can have GDPR and redundancy in Europe. Now that's not a cheap and easy thing to do. It's a significant change. But we can't be based in Europe, winning large European customers and not have that type of infrastructure, okay? So again, once we have that infrastructure, we can start moving more of those customers onto our platform and we can start to manage it. So the other sort of investments we're making, ISO-27001, which is the global standard for security and network data storage, again, is a big thing to achieve. It is not easy, and it's a fantastic credit to our team that they have been able to achieve that not just for the RAY platform, but for the Lingotek platform and the group as a whole. So really exciting. We've upgraded NetSuite over the last year, our financial system. And we've done that so that we can change to a SaaS billing model across our RAY platform. So this stuff is really important to set us up for the future as we start to change and look at the big opportunities. And we're integrating more of RAY and Lingotek, and we've been working on what we call Workplace Super Apps, which I'll talk a little bit about in a minute, and as Phil said, ESG. But a lot of -- I guess the point of this slide is really to say we have made a number of investments, one-off hits on the P&L in the last 12 months that are really needed to get us into a fantastic position going forward. So again, it's money that we have invested, and it just hasn't been there and spent and not going to deliver something in the future. It's a fantastic investment and great work from the team. So phases of innovation and growth. We're going to be a $200 million company, just picking a number that's aspirational out there that we've talked about now as we approach $100 million. As we have grown over the years, when you grow, there's a good book, a founder's mentality that talks all about the fact that, that growth adds complexity and complexity stops growth. So as we have grown, and we've had hard phases of growth, we've invested very heavily on our internal processes to make growth easier because stuff starts to break as you grow. And I'm not the only entrepreneurial business owner that knows this in the technology sense. And so you have less focus externally. Once you've ramped up, you then focus back on external innovation, new things to win more customers. That innovation allows you to win more customers. Therefore, you have a big on-ramp like we've just had, and then you focus very heavily on the internal. One of our big aims and the aims that I've set the team is to have 70% plus of our R&D and innovation externally focused because there's a massive opportunity right now, and that's what we're really going to focus on doing. So you can see this pattern and you will see us focus very heavily on leading this industry and thinking about things in ways that they haven't thought about it before. And we did it a decade ago and we did per hour stuff way before anybody had even thought about how to do it or why to do it, and we're about to do it again. And again, just more of a focus on R&D. We have -- we spent about $9 million on our R&D, $6.5 million of that wasn't capitalized. A lot of that went into projects that we can actually reuse, but we didn't actually capitalize. We have 56 people. And right now, we have -- when you look at where we're sitting from a financial viewpoint, we're generating this cash from our customers to pay for R&D to move us into the next level. So in terms of a business model that can achieve growth, profit and still invest in innovation, I think we're in a very, very good position. So what are we doing with all this? So the big opportunity, and this is just as I hit in the last couple of slides, a huge opportunity in the market right now is around the change that COVID has brought around in the way that people work. We are seeing it across the board in our customer base. We've seen it in the way that we use apps. We see it with our partners, how they use that. So just a couple of examples. You've seen the likes of Slack suddenly grow exponentially through the COVID period. You've seen Teams go from virtually nothing in 2019 to 300 million users today and growing exponentially. So just to give you an example of super apps and what we believe is that as these apps evolve, as the market starts to change, more and more people are going to interface with these apps. And we've got very large customers who are now asking us to integrate and not just to track things, but to build apps inside of these types of platforms. And there are a number of them starting to emerge in this category. So again, when we focus our innovation, we're focusing on this channel because if we look at how we're going to get from our current revenues, that sort of $60 million, $70 million, $80 million run rate up to $200 million, this is the sort of opportunity that comes along once in a decade to be able to achieve that. And so we have a fantastic relationship with some of our large customers who are asking to do this and very, very large users of Slack. We have fantastic relationships with other large corporates with the likes of Microsoft, where we can work with them around how we can build our technology straight into these tools and to this other marketing tools. So it's a huge opportunity. And I think if you look out over the next 6 to 9 months, you'll see this turn around. And again, it won't be a single sugar hit that drives this. It will be the fact that we have large enterprise sales teams out there working with people who are looking for this solution now. So we have all the pieces in place. We have large examples of the way we can scale. We have teams in market in 9 different countries who are there to sell and have enterprise sales and references. And now we hit them with exactly what the customer is looking for. We think that that's a really potent combination that will lead to a lot of value going forward. And just to show you a video of actually how that all fits together. This is just a video. Hopefully, it's playing there quite nicely. So this is our RAY platform. You can add the Slack connector in. This is already working. You can go, yes, I'll open up Slack and then you'll see the RAY translator inside. What we've actually done with this is connected it into the IBM Intelligence platform, and we've now got natural language being used to -- for command. So again, somebody wants to do something with a translation, they can do it right from inside of the tools that they are using every day and manage all of that and not have to go outside it. So here, you can see you can get a status of a job, that's cool, that's easy. Lots of people have used tools like Slack for that. But also with us, you can upload and create new jobs. You can see the natural language process happening there, translate this file. You can see that file has lots of other stuff inside it, lots of code. But our tools will figure out what text actually is to be translated and come back with the right quote. I'll just let this slide through. So again, we're translating 100-odd languages. So we're making it very easy for people to pick their workflows, pick what they need to do. That's been set up, should come back in a sec. It's come back with a quote, the reference number. And again, on the enterprise level, there's lots of stuff that happens in the background that our engine is taken care of, corporate account management, billing, invoicing, rates, reserve words, special terminology that a company might use. And so what we're seeing is that this is going to be a new way that people will work. And if there's one reason why I firmly believe that this will be the case, it is that you do not need a manual to operate this. You don't need to log into another app. People have had enough of too many apps. And that very fact, and there are some developers in the room that were not even back in the early 2000s, one of my favorite books was a book called Designing the Obvious by a guy called Robert Hoekman. We actually got him down to come to our offices and present. And the whole theory even way back then was that you should never need a manual and everything you do should be completely obvious. And the great thing about somebody like Teams or Zoom or Slack and a number of the marketing platforms is that people know how to work with it in them and they don't need a manual. So when we make it super simple, these things will get traction. And I think we'll see that as a developing workplace, an evolving workplace trend. So just in terms of the outlook and continuing on from what Phil said, we've got guidance of 20%. So really, when you look at it, from the start of last year, but for this year, we delivered 100% growth. That's pretty substantial, I think. And we've borne most of that growth on-boarding in the last 12 months in terms of what we've had to do as a company to get on top, and this is where we focus all of our resources on the next phase of growth. So that's called -- and again, focus on sustained profitability and high margins. So again, we've always been a high-margin business. My wife, Merryn and I knew that right from the start when we first started the company, as founders, that the best thing you can do is make sure you make high margins because it makes life much easier because you actually start to make some really good money as you grow. We've got an R&D innovation focused on the changing workplaces that we operate in, acquisition possibilities also still there. The market is very dynamic at the moment. I think just the global business market. So looking at that. And we're well funded. We've got decent cash reserves, good cash flows coming through. So look, we're in a really exciting time. I think the staff were excited. We're excited. I certainly want to thank all of our staff over the last 12 months, which has been not too many dull moments as we've on-boarded 80%, 100% growth, I can let you know. And I think they've done a fantastic job on behalf of all the shareholders. So I'd like to thank you, and I will now hand back to Phil.

Philip Norman

executive
#6

Thanks very much, Grant. We're now going to go to Q&A. So it's now an opportunity for shareholders to ask questions about the business generally, and that includes the content of both my address and Grant's presentation. And for those that have joined us online, submit your questions through the online portal. And for those that are in the room with us, raise your hand if you wish to ask a question and identify yourself by name. And I'll start by asking if there are any questions in the room and then give those participating online a chance to ask any questions they may have. So are there any questions from the room? No question from the room? Very quiet audience.

Grant Straker

executive
#7

Just for clarity, if you're online, just use the Q&A function in Zoom, please? I know that there's support for the voting portal. But any questions we just need to come through. And obviously, questions are reserved for shareholders.

Philip Norman

executive
#8

All right. So now I'm going to ask for questions from those that are participating online. Grant, are there any questions?

Grant Straker

executive
#9

There are some questions here, Phil. So the first one is from Stella Wang. Thanks for taking my question. I'm a shareholder. June quarter, $1.5 million must be a record. It's a bit bigger than $1.5 million, I think is your one big of project booked into P&L in the June '22 quarter. Because of the run rate, the company is well ahead of the broker estimates for FY '23. So to answer that, I think we -- just off memory, it's around about $17 million in that quarter, which did accelerate our run rate above the broker estimates. We haven't changed our guidance. We're still saying 20%. There was not particularly one-off, but from a range of customers in that quarter, there was quite a lot of work that came through, and it was actually a buildup from Q4 that we couldn't get completed in Q4 or the job -- the projects were lasting over several months. So that was more of a one-off quarter. It may continue. But look, we're not changing our guidance. We're keeping it where we are. We would expect to probably see that come down a little bit in Q2.

Paul Wilson

executive
#10

Grant, I think the $1.5 million is probably referring to EBITDA.

Grant Straker

executive
#11

EBITDA, okay, sorry. Yes. Thanks, Paul.

Philip Norman

executive
#12

Okay. Thanks for that question. Next question, Grant?

Grant Straker

executive
#13

Yes, it's from Richard Choe. Grant has said that you're achieving operating leverage with the decrease in OpEx as a percentage. However, why haven't we seen the operating leverage in your operating cash flow, which continues to be negative in 1Q '23? Operating cash flow was negative $2.26 million. Well, we do -- so one in that first quarter, we did say that there were a couple of significant payments that came in just after the quarter. We obviously had a very big period of revenue growth. As Stella just alluded to, there were a couple of big payments that were paid shortly after that, which would have made a difference. And the other thing is we do capitalize some of our revenue, again, not in terms of development. So that is basically the difference between the operating cash flow.

Philip Norman

executive
#14

Next question...

David Ingram

executive
#15

And Grant, if I can just jump in. The other thing is just on that statement. We have had 3 prior quarters of positive cash flow, operating cash flow as well.

Grant Straker

executive
#16

Thank you, David. Yes, that's a very good point. And the third one from Sean Zhang. Can you talk more about the recent UN contract? What quantum of revenue do you think is possible from that deal? So that's a great question. Sean, obviously, we released out yesterday that we had won a new contract with the UN, only the third one that IDEST have been able to win. It was a significant 1 in that he's the sole vendor in this. Now again, we can't talk about numbers per se, but I think it would probably add 10% to the IDEST revenue line, and we did announce sort of what that revenue was when we acquired IDEST. And again, it's a 5-year contract. But more importantly, it really points to the fact that we can win these significant contracts with the likes of the UN and that we have a great setup and team and ultimately a great offering for these organizations to get a lot of value in there. So that's there.

Philip Norman

executive
#17

Next question.

Grant Straker

executive
#18

It was Richard again. I'll let David answer this. Although cash was 15.1 at the end of June, but down to [ 11.4 ] at the end of 1Q '23, will the cash burn decrease and will you need to raise more capital?

Philip Norman

executive
#19

So we pass that to David.

Grant Straker

executive
#20

Yes, we'll pass to David. We don't need...

David Ingram

executive
#21

Yes, look, it's a very similar answer to the previous one where we have had 3 quarters of positive operating cash flow. In Q1, we did have a drop, and that was due to time of some cash receipts. We do have some very large customers. So depending on when they pay, that can materially impact our cash flow as to whether we look out target as positive revenue growth. So we're definitely targeting positive cash, and we do expect to see that.

Grant Straker

executive
#22

Thank you, David. So look, there's no further questions. I will hand back to Phil for the more formal completion of the meeting.

Philip Norman

executive
#23

Thanks, Grant. So now we come to the formal business of the meeting. The Notice of Meeting shareholders will -- we will now move to this formal part of the meeting. I'm informed that the Notice of Meeting was appropriately sent to all registered shareholders within the requisite time period. I also note that both the Notice of Meeting and the annual report are available for shareholders to download in accordance with the instructions given for attendance at this meeting. I now table the Notice of Meeting, and unless there are any objections, I will take this notice convening the meeting as read. The voting on resolutions. During the course of the meeting, I'll put each resolution to the meeting. May I ask that shareholders who wish to lodge questions related to the resolution at hand keep those questions as succinct as possible. Note, I will be voting all undirected proxies in favor of the resolutions. I will disclose proxy votes on the screen prior to the vote being taken for each resolution. These figures are as at the closing time for receipt of proxies, which was 2:00 Australian time, 4:00 New Zealand time on Monday, the 23rd of August. I've been advised that all proxies received for the meeting have been checked, and I declare them valid for voting. There are voting exclusions that apply to the resolutions being put to today's meeting, and these are outlined in the Notice of Meeting. Item 1, the financial statements and reports. The first item of notified business is to receive and consider the financial statements and auditor's report for the year ended March 31, 2022, all of which are set out in the company's 2022 annual report. The annual report was published in June and is also available to download on the online portal for this meeting. This is not a formal resolution, but I invite shareholders to raise questions or comments on the financial statements or the auditor's report or for the auditor. So I'm just going to pause for questions. Are there any questions from the room? Okay. I'll now go and inquire as to whether there are any questions online.

Grant Straker

executive
#24

None that I can see, Phil.

Philip Norman

executive
#25

Thank you. We will move on to Resolution 1, which is the auditor's remuneration. BDO is the existing auditor of the company and has indicated its willingness to continue in office. Pursuant to Section 207T of the New Zealand Companies Act 1993, BDO is automatically reappointed at the Annual Meeting as auditor of the company. The proposed resolution is to authorize the Directors to fix the auditor's remuneration for the following year for the purposes of Section 207S of the Companies Act 1993. Resolution 1 is on the screen, and I'll now put the resolution to the meeting to record that BDO Auckland continue in office as the company's auditor and to authorize the Directors to fix the remuneration of BDO Auckland as the company's auditor for the ensuing year. Are there any questions firstly from the room? I'll now go to the online group. Are there any questions from the online participants?

Grant Straker

executive
#26

None that I can see, Phil.

Philip Norman

executive
#27

Thank you. I'll move on. Resolution 2. This is the election of a director, Mr. Heith MacKay-Cruise. As outlined in the Notice of Meeting, I have tendered my resignation as a Director and Chairman of the Board with effect from today as I believe it's the right time to step down to make room for some new voices at the table and some new perspectives. In order to fill the outgoing Director role in accordance with Clause 20.8 of the company's constitution, Mr. Heith MacKay-Cruise is submitting himself for election as a Director. Heith has been involved in the media, education and technology sectors over the past 25 years. He is currently the Nonexecutive Chair of UP Education Limited in New Zealand, a Non-Executive Director of Southern Cross Media Group Limited, which is an ASX company, a Non-Executive Director of Orro Group Limited and a Nonexecutive National Director of the Australian Institute of Company Directors. Heith serves on a number of audit and risk, people and culture and technology and digital transformation committees for these organizations. He's a previous Nonexecutive Chair of Literacy Planet, Hipages Group, which was ASX listed, and the Vision Australia Foundation, as well as a previous Non-Executive Director of Life Care Health -- LifeHealthcare, sorry, and Bailador Investments, also ASX listed. In his prior executive career, he was the founding CEO of Sterling Early Education, the Global CEO and Managing Director of Study Group and CEO for ACP Media New Zealand. He also held senior executive positions with Australian Consolidated Press and worked in sales and marketing roles for PepsiCo around Australia. He is a mentor for Kilfinan Australia, a member of the Young Presidents' Organization and a fellow of the Australian Institute of Company Directors. Heith has a Bachelor of Economics degree from the University of New England. Having regard to the ASX corporate governance principles, the Board considers Heith to be an independent nonexecutive director. I'm delighted to introduce Mr. MacKay-Cruise to our shareholders and would now invite Heith forward to say a few words.

Unknown Executive

executive
#28

Thanks very much, Phil. It's an honor and privilege to stand before you today seeking election to join and lead the Straker Board of Directors. So why am I here? Well, the attraction of working with a founder-lead leadership team with global success, a significant addressable market with emerging technologies and an enterprise and SME customer base is akin to my own skill set. Of the past 25 years, I've become attracted to those organizations that have positive culture targeting international growth and a track record of success. My experience, leading global and local organizations in the media and education and technology sectors, with a true growth mindset has become my sweet spot. So what experience might I bring to this Board to complement the skills of my fellow directors? Firstly, my understanding of technology businesses, both as an investor and a director previously been on the Board as Chair of Hipages, Literacy Planet and currently Orro Networks, which is a cloud services and cybersecurity company in Australia. Secondly, my strategy and M&A experience comes from my time as CEO of ACP Media here in New Zealand, the CEO of Study Group and the current Chair of the Auckland-based Up Education Group. And thirdly, my exposure to capital markets having been exposed and involved in ASX and private equity-owned companies throughout my career. Finally, I believe that I have the determination, the passion and the capacity to assist the team to drive growth and shareholder value for Straker Translations. Thank you very much in advance for your support.

Philip Norman

executive
#29

Thank you very much, Heith. And it's noted in the explanatory statement that the Board unanimously supports the election of Heith. So Resolution 2 is now on the screen, and I'll put the resolution to the meeting that Mr. Heith MacKay-Cruise be elected as a Director of the company. Are there any questions firstly from the room. No. We'll go to online questions. Grant?

Grant Straker

executive
#30

No questions online.

Philip Norman

executive
#31

Okay. Thank you. We'll move on then to Resolution 3, which is the election of a Director, Mr. Steve Bayliss. As outlined in the Notice of Meeting, Mr. Tim Williams has tendered his resignation as a Director with effect from today. In order to fill the outgoing Director role and in accordance with Clause 20.8 of the company's constitution, Mr. Steve Bayliss is submitting himself for election as a Director. Steve is one of New Zealand's most experienced and awarded marketing professionals. His career started with international brewer Lion Nathan, where it culminated in an Australian-based role developing and teaching marketing best practice across Australia, New Zealand and China. Steve then moved to the United States, where he spent a few years in the FMCG sector before moving back to Australia. Steve returned to New Zealand to lead marketing and innovation at Air New Zealand in 2004. When Steve left that business 7 years later, Air New Zealand had been awarded World Airline over a year. Steve then moved to Foodstuffs New Zealand setting up the central function, serving the 2 cooperatives across marketing, public relations, customer experience, CRM, advanced data and analytics and electronic payment acquiring functions. Steve also served as Chief Creative Officer at SKY Television, helping the business move from a linear broadcaster to a data-rich modern digital business. Steve has been a Director on a variety of Boards through his career and is currently a Director of craft brewer Garage Project. I'm delighted to introduce Steve to our shareholders and invite Steve forward to say a few words.

Unknown Executive

executive
#32

Thank you, Grant, and thank you, Phil. And thank you for the invitation to introduce my candidacy to shareholders. I won't repeat anything Phil said introduce my background. But will maybe just highlight a couple of core beliefs and important things that I hope are of value to Straker. Our marketing innovation and sales certainly runs strongly in my career. But at the heart of that and perhaps the foundational belief is a patient for customer consumer advocacy. Deep insight, empathy, quality data bring a clarity to decisions that make businesses more accurate and help them grow. I'm an advocate for strong cultures and strong internal values. The way we treat each other will be effect similarly the way we treat our customers. And certainly, as I learned in New Zealand, great cultures yield superior customer and financial response. I bring a determination to unlock growth. This starts with a compelling and differentiated brand and product story, getting focused elements right in terms of the sales and marketing mix to drive organic growth, leveraging innovation to renew and expand leadership positions and the strategic use of partnerships and acquisitions to top up. I bring a curiosity even in inquiring minds to areas outside my core of competence. [indiscernible] problems from diverse angles, perhaps unexpectedly to test thinking and make sure [ current factuals ] are fully explored. I'm not afraid to answer dumb questions that sometimes yield surprising results of businesses. And finally, despite not having an IT industry sales and marketing background, [indiscernible] is in the AI space and a global partner of [indiscernible]. So I hope to bring those experiences and potential networks to strengthen the future. So with your support, I look forward to serving Straker and working hard to help drive the organization to the next level and build on what's already a wonderful and successful -- thank you.

Philip Norman

executive
#33

Thanks very much, Steve. It's noted in the explanatory statement that the Board unanimously supports the election of Steve to the Board. Resolution 3 is on the screen, and I now put the resolution to the meeting that Mr. Steve Bayliss be elected as a Director of the company. We'll take questions firstly from the room. Are there any questions? No. We'll move then to those participating online. Are there any online questions?

Grant Straker

executive
#34

No questions.

Philip Norman

executive
#35

No questions. Fine, we'll move along. Resolution 4, the approval of an additional 10% placement capacity. This item of business concerns the approval of additional capacity to issue equity securities under ASX listing rule 7.1A. This listing rule permits eligible entities to set shareholder approval by special resolution at an annual meeting to issue an additional 10% of an additional of its issued capital by way of placements over a 12-month period called the 10% placement capacity. The additional 10% placement capacity is in addition to the company's 15% placement capacity under Listing Rule 7.1. The resolution is on the screen, and it's a special resolution requiring 75% of the votes cast in favor for the resolution to pass. I now put the resolution to the meeting that pursuant to and in accordance with ASX Listing Rule 7.1A and for all other purposes, shareholders approve the issue of equity securities up to 10% of the issued capital of the company at the issue date or at the date of agreement to issue calculated in accordance with the formula prescribed in ASX Listing Rule 7.1A2 and on the terms and conditions set out in the explanatory statement. Are there any questions from the room? No. Are there questions from the online team?

Grant Straker

executive
#36

No online.

Philip Norman

executive
#37

Okay. Thank you. I'll move on again. Resolution 5, the next item of business is the issue of options and the issue of underlying shares to our CEO, Grant Straker. The proposed allocation of options forms part of Grant's performance-based remuneration for the past financial year. The Board has conditionally approved the option issuance at an exercise price of AUD 1.15 subject to shareholder approval at this meeting, and that's the 20-day VWAP immediately prior to the date of the previously held Remuneration Committee meeting. Resolution 5 is on the screen, and I now put that resolution to the meeting that for the purposes of ASX listing rule 10.14 and for all other purposes, shareholders approve the issue of 121,700 options and the issue of underlying shares in respect of the options to Grant Straker, the CEO of the company, or his nominee pursuant to the company's 2020 LTI employee share option plan on the terms and conditions set out in the explanatory statement. Are there any questions from the room? No. Any questions from the online group?

Grant Straker

executive
#38

None online.

Philip Norman

executive
#39

Thank you, Grant. I'll move on. Resolution 6. This is concerning the issue of options to a related party to a Director. The next item of business is the issue of options and the issue of underlying shares to a closely related party to a director of the company, Merryn Straker. The proposed allocation of options forms part of Merryn's performance-based remuneration for the past financial year. The Board has conditionally approved the option issuance at an exercise price of AUD 1.15, subject to shareholder approval at this meeting, being the 20-day VWAP immediately prior to the date of the previously held Remuneration Committee meeting. Resolution 5 is on the screen, and I now put the resolution to the meeting that for the purposes of ASX Listing Rule 10.14 and for all other purposes, shareholders approve the issue of 43,500 options and the issue of underlying shares in respect of the options to Merryn Straker, a related party of the company or her nominee, pursuant to the company's 2020 LTI employee share option plan on the terms and conditions set out in the explanatory statement. I'll now take questions from the room. Are there any? No. Any online questions?

Grant Straker

executive
#40

No online questions.

Philip Norman

executive
#41

Thank you. Well, that comes to the end of the formal resolutions. So we now deal with voting. A poll will now be conducted on all resolutions put to the meeting and voting will close in 5 minutes. So may I now ask shareholders participating by Zoom to complete their voting online and submit their votes. And if you're in the room, please make your voting card available for collection by the representatives from Link. So to all shareholders who have joined us for this hybrid meeting. This concludes the formalities for the meeting, and I declare the meeting closed. We appreciate your attendance today, and I thank you for your ongoing support of the company. On a very personal note, I'd also like to thank everybody for the support that you've given me in my 8-year tenure as Chair. Thanks very much.

Grant Straker

executive
#42

Thanks so much, Phil. I will now close the Zoom.

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