Treasury Wine Estates Limited (TWE) Earnings Call Transcript & Summary

Great. Well, good morning, everybody, and welcome to the 2026 Annual General Meeting of Treasury Wine Estates. My name is John Mullen, and I am really delighted to address this meeting as your Chairman. A quorum is present, and I therefore declare the meeting open. Today's meeting is being held in person at the Park Hyatt Melbourne, and virtually for the Computershare platform. where shareholders and their proxies can ask questions and submit votes online. This meeting is also being webcast online. I will begin by introducing your directors and management who join me here today on the stage. On my left, first is I'm Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, Sam Fischer, who you will hear from shortly, Chief Financial Officer, Justin Pipito, and Non-Executive Directors, Colleen Jay and Mark Weldon. On my right, we have Hanne Frankel, Interim Company Secretary; Antonia Korsanos, Chair of our Audit and Risk Committee; Nigel Garrard, Chair of our Human Resources Committee, Non-Executive Director, Judy Liu, and finally, Chair of our Wine Operations and Sustainability Committee, Garry Hounsell. Nonexecutive Director, Leslie Frank, was unfortunately unable to join us in person here today, but she is joining online. Also in attendance in Melbourne are members of our executive leadership team as well as Penny Stragalinos, who is our lead audit partner from KPMG, and who will be retiring as our lead audit partner at the end of this meeting. Before we begin, may I ask you to make sure your mobile phone is switched to silent while the meeting is in progress. I also ask that you note where your nearest exit is in the unlikely event it becomes necessary to evacuate the building. In the event of such an emergency do please follow the instructions of the venue staff. I encourage shareholders to ask questions during the meeting. I will introduce each item of business and then take questions on all items of the business together at the end. If you're attending the meeting in person, only shareholders, proxies and corporate representatives who were given a blue or pink voting card are entitled to ask questions. When I go for questions, please move to a microphone and show your admission card to the microphone attendant, who will note your name and introduce you when it's your turn to speak. In order to ensure that all shareholders have given an opportunity to be heard, I do ask that you limit your questions to one at a time. For those attending the meeting using the online platform, who wish to submit a written question, you may do so at any time during the meeting via the speech bubble icon on your screen. We encourage you to start submitting your written questions now, but please note that I will not address them until the relevant time in the meeting. Shareholders were also invited to submit questions in advance of the Annual General Meeting, and I will also address those questions during the question period. In order to be as transparent as possible in this hybrid environment, questions will only be moderated in limited circumstances. For example, where the content is offensive or if the substance of the question is repetitive of a question already asked. Today, voting will be conducted by way of a poll to provide you with enough time to vote, the poll is now open. For those attending the meeting using the online platform, a voting icon is now available on your screen. Selecting this icon will bring up a list of resolutions and present you with voting options. And you are free to submit your votes at any time up until the poll closes. To cast your vote, simply select one of the options. There's no need to hit submit as the vote is automatically recorded, and you may change your vote at any time up until the poll closes. For shareholders, proxy holders and corporate representatives attending the meeting in person, you may also vote at any time up to the poll closures by completing the blue voting card that was provided to you upon admission. Before you leave the meeting, do please place your voting cards in more of the ballot boxes that you'll find near the exit. The poll will remain open for 5 minutes after the close of the meeting to allow you to finalize your thoughts. I'm also holding open proxies in my capacity as Chairman, and it's my intention to vote these proxies in favor of the resolutions that will be put to the meeting today. The final results of the polls will be available later today on the ASX website and the company's website. Should you have any difficulty in completing your voting card during the course of the meeting, Computershare staff are here to help you. Before we consider the items of business, I'd now like to reflect on the 2026 fiscal year and the decisive actions we are taking to position Treasury Wine Estates for long-term success. I will then invite our Chief Executive Officer, Sam Fischer, to address the meeting. As everyone is aware, fiscal year '26 was given significant change for our business and the global wine industry. I would summarize the impact on treasury as being driven by 3 principal factors. Firstly, the macro environment for alcohol beverage remains very difficult, reflecting the combination of structural changes to consumption as well as cyclical factors, including cost of living pressures. But in addition to the macro backdrop, several other factors then came together at the same time. Our largest distributor in the U.S., RNDC, went bankrupt, which impacted performance in California as we transition to a new distributor. Changes to large-scale banqueting in China severely impacted Penfold sales in that country with depletions dropping significantly. There are a number of other factors, including unauthorized parallel sales into China and our response to protect brand and channel health that also impacted the company. The combination of these issues resulted in excess inventory levels and a strong negative impact on our earnings. But the important question, obviously, is what are we doing about it? Well, firstly, we welcome Sam Fischer as our new CEO as of the 27th of October last year. Sam is an outstanding leader with a deep understanding of the industry and global alcohol beverage markets and he's already launched a number of critical initiatives to improve performance going forward. Sam has and will continue to reform his key executive team with the strong leaders he needs to help drive the very significant changes ahead. Secondly, following the completion of distribution changes in the U.S., our luxury depletions are again growing strongly and ahead of market led by Dow, Frank Family Vineyards and Stag League. Pleasingly, the luxury wine market continues to grow. And so GW has moved to rebalance the portfolio towards luxury as opposed to lower end wines where the market continues to shrink is bearing fruit. Thirdly, with strong action taken against parallel imports and a renewed focus by management. Very pleasingly, depletions in China are also again growing strongly. Fourthly, as you'll hear from Sam in a minute, Sam has introduced a major transformation plan called Ascent, which is driving a fundamental realignment of brands and assets, organizational and supply changes and $100 million cost-out program. Lastly, in the Americas region, we have announced a comprehensive strategic and operational review of the business, focused on improving shareholder returns on the capital that we have invested in that market. This process is underway with advisers appointed to support the review of all available options across the brand portfolio, operating model and asset base. And we expect to complete the review this fiscal year and we'll communicate the outcomes accordingly. Financial discipline is fundamental to our transformation and our immediate priorities are reducing leverage and maintaining the flexibility to invest in the long-term future of the business. As you'll hear from Sam, our leverage moved outside our target range due to all the impacts that I mentioned just now. But pleasingly is now declining again back towards our desired range. In that context, the Board suspended the F '26 dividend. We absolutely understand the importance of dividends to shareholders, and we did not make this decision lightly. The Board will consider resuming dividends just as soon as our leverage moves back towards our target level. Turning then to sustainability. We continue to make meaningful progress across our key priorities: building a resilient business, fostering healthy and inclusive communities and producing sustainable wine. We are directly exposed to the effects of a changing climate, but our diversified sourcing model, targeted adoption initiatives, and long-term investment in research and development are central to managing that exposure. We draw on a range of insights to inform future strategy, footprint and capital allocation. During the year, we maintained 100% renewable electricity across our global operations, reducing operational emissions and our exposure to energy price volatility. We secured 50% co-investment from the Australian Renewable Energy Agency for a large-scale decarbonization project at our Barossa Valley site. And we deepened our understanding of future climate risks across our viticultural assets. We also improved our 3-year rolling series safety incident frequency rate and achieved sustainability certification for all eligible owned and leased winery and vineyard sites. Our engagement with growers and bulk wine providers has also contributed to a significant proportion of our global sourcing being sustainably certified. Board succession planning remains a priority. In October 2025, Lauri Shanahan retired from the Board out to almost 9 years of service; and Mark Welton, joined the Board as a Non-Executive Director. We thank Laurie for his substantial contribution. Leslie Frank will also retire from the Board at the conclusion of today's meeting. Leslie has brought deep wine industry knowledge, brand experience and a valuable connection to the Napa Valley community. On behalf of the Board, I thank Leslie sincerely for her contribution and we share every success for the future. With Leslie's retirement, our focus turns to appointing an additional nonexecutive director to further strengthen the Board's capabilities. We're looking to add a director with deep industry experience and a proven track record in key markets, including the U.S. and Europe. And we are well progressed in this process, and we look forward to announcing an appointment shortly. In summary, we look to the future with great confidence. Wine has an enduring place in celebrations, shared experiences and everyday moments across cultures and generations. We remain very confident that consumers will continue to seek distinctive luxury wine experiences. And our focused portfolio, driven by our power brands and regional heroes is well placed to capitalize on this demand over the long term. On behalf of the Board, I want to sincerely thank our people for their energy, resilience and commitment during a year of significant change. I also thank our customers, growers, suppliers and partners for their continued support. And finally, importantly, I thank you, our shareholders, for your support. We are moving with pace, making difficult decisions where we need to and setting the foundation for a return to sustainable, attractive returns over the long term. With that, I will now hand over to our CEO, Sam, to outline the year's performance in more detail.

Thank you, John, and good morning, everyone. It's a pleasure to join you here today at my first Treasury Wine Estates AGM. This month marks my first anniversary as CEO and it's timely to reflect on the scale of progress we have made over the past 12 months as we build a more focused, market-centered simpler and financially strong Treasury Wine Estates. With that greater focus, our key brands are showing strong momentum. We've taken decisive action to strengthen our sales channels. We're progressing our Ascent transformation agenda with energy and discipline, and we're strengthening our balance sheet through disciplined capital allocation. It's a big change agenda that's founded on absolute clarity on where we're going and the decisive action we need to take to get there. I hope that days like today show the incredible energy of our team. and the focus we have on delivering sustainable high-quality returns. I'm grateful to you, our shareholders, for supporting us on this journey. Now turning to our F '26 financial performance, which was impacted by a number of factors, including the moderation of category trends and our deliberate initiatives to protect our brands and sales channels. These decisions are critical for the long-term health of our business, but which impacted short-term performance. NSR decreased 13% and NSR per case fell 3%, reflecting both the portfolio mix and in particular, our actions to reduce parallel activity and customer inventory in China. EBIT margin decreased to 19% driven by the NSR decline and a higher cost of doing business. We reported a statutory net loss after tax of $1.1 billion driven by the noncash impairment of U.S. assets. Prematerial items, net profit after tax was $275 million and EPS was $0.34. ROCE declined to 7.9%, driven by the decline in EBIT. Our dividend program remains suspended. This is a temporary yet important measure as we prioritize returning leverage to target below 2x. As John has said, the Board will consider resuming dividends as leverage moves towards this level. So our financial performance in F '26 was impacted by a number of short-term factors. At the same time, underlying consumer demand for our brands remains strong. Depletions grew strongly across our power brands and regional heroes, reflecting the fundamental strength of our business and giving us great confidence in the future. Brands like Penfolds, Dow and Matua are among the strongest in the global wine market. We are excited to further invest in this core portfolio to unlock its full potential. You'll see on the slide that our nonpriority portfolio declined, mostly driven by commercial brands, reflecting the divergent trends in our category and our portfolio. At our Investor Day in June, we introduced our Ascent transformation program, which has 4 priorities: first, focusing where we will win. Going after the most attractive segments of the market where we have a right to win. Significant growth opportunities continue to exist within the wine category. Luxury wine remains an attractive segment, supported by ongoing premiumization as consumers drink less but better. There's also increasing demand for lighter, more refreshing styles and moderation in better-for-you trends are another area of opportunity where we are well positioned to compete. This sharper focus will improve capital allocation, strengthen brand building and support improved long-term returns. The second Ascent pillar is about transforming how we operate. At the start of this month, we moved to a regional operating model structured across 4 regions, Greater China, emerging markets, Australia and New Zealand and Europe and the Americas. The model has some clear benefits, clearer accountability, faster decision-making, less duplication and streamline processes. It also means we are shaping our portfolio around customers and consumers in each region. At the same time, we're increasing accountability for performance with enhanced data-led management reporting and real-time tracking of key metrics, including depletions and inventory. It gives us the tools to make decisions and intervene faster and execute with more precision. Ultimately, we're building a culture where high performance is recognized and rewarded. The third pillar is shaping a future-fit supply chain that will support our portfolio and operating model objectives. The objective is straightforward, create a supply model that is more agile, more efficient and better aligned to our long-term demand outlook. In the U.S., we are urgently addressing structural misalignment within our supply chain by reducing grower intake, following vineyards, reducing wine-making capacity and divesting surplus assets. And fourth, delivering consistent high-quality financial returns. Ascent is designed to deliver sustainable, high-quality earnings growth over the long term with improved margins, return on capital and stronger cash flow. These principles will guide every major decision we make, all in service of delivering consistent quality returns. Turning now to our first quarter update, where we have seen a positive start to the year, with first quarter trading in line with our operating plan across all regions. Leverage reduced to 2.7x in the quarter, driven by strong operating cash flow as we continue to prioritize reducing the metric to below 2x. Pleasingly, the strong momentum behind our power brands and regional heroes has continued into the new financial year. In China, Penfolds depletion growth was slightly ahead of plan, driven by ongoing strong consumer demand and improved market conditions versus the prior comparable period and our ongoing actions to divert parallel product into authorized channels. China has always been an important market, and we remain confident about the long-term growth opportunity with Penfolds transcending the wine category as a true luxury brand. In the U.S., depletions for our power brands and regional heroes strengthened in the quarter, led by Dow, Frank Family Vineyards and Matua. We have now recorded 3 consecutive quarters of depletions growth for the luxury portfolio in the U.S., reflecting a significant improvement in performance through this calendar year. Australian power brand depletions growth was led by Penfolds, a highlight was the outperformance of the portfolio in independent retail. Improving performance in our home market is a priority and we've made a positive start in the quarter. We also continue to progress towards our key brand and channel health priorities. Customer inventory cover reduced in both China and the U.S. through the quarter and we are on track to meet our time line for a return to target levels. We remain focused on minimizing parallel product entering China, building on our work here in F '26 we took further action in the first quarter. We are absolutely committed to managing this issue to keep it under tight control. In the U.S., we will transition the remaining markets from RNDC this month. The transitions are progressing well with minimal disruption to performance. As I mentioned earlier, we have moved to a regional operating model this month, a key milestone in our Ascent transformation. We are on track to realize the full $100 million per annum cost reduction by F '29, with initiatives to deliver the benefit of $40 million in F '27 now actioned. We've divested brands and assets in the quarter, including Seppelt, a number of vineyards and Rosemont this week with approximately $50 million of proceeds confirmed to date. We are also finalizing a number of additional divestments, which we expect to have signed by the end of the first half. The strategic and operational review in the U.S. business is progressing, and we are currently assessing alternatives to improve shareholder returns. In August, we announced initiatives to rebalance our U.S. supply chain rightsizing production capacity to future growth expectations. Our supply chain has done an excellent job to reduce vintage make size, starting with lower intake for the 2026 vintage currently underway. Finally, we are pleased to reiterate the key elements of our financial guidance to the market. We expect F '27 EBIT to be at least equivalent to F '26 and strong depletions-led momentum for our power brands and regional heroes, offset by the continuation of channel health initiatives. We expect leverage to return to below 2x noting that this outlook excludes the benefit from brand and asset divestments. We remain focused on progressing EBIT margin expansion towards our long-term target of 25-plus percent. In summary, we enter F '27 with clear priorities and improved momentum as we make significant progress in our Ascent transformation. As I mark my first year leading this business, I'm energized by the opportunity ahead. We have a portfolio of extraordinary brands, a team of talented people and the right strategy to unlock growth. We are making significant positive change right across the business. I look forward to updating you on our progress as we create a more focused, market-centered, simpler and financially strong company. Thank you for joining us this morning, and thank you for your continued support.

That's great. Thanks very much, Sam. So I will now move to the items of business to be considered at this meeting. The first item is to receive and consider the consolidated financial report of the company as well as the Director's report, sustainability report and the auditor's report for the financial year ended 30th of June 2026. This item does not require a resolution to be put to the meeting but does provide an opportunity for discussion on these reports. KPMG, the company's auditor, is available to answer questions relevant to the audit. The next item of business then is the reelection of directors. So at today's meeting with the exception of Leslie Frank, who will be retiring from the Board following today's meeting. All nonexecutive directors are standing for reelection in accordance with the company's policy that all our executive directors will seek reelection annually. Details of each of the directors' qualifications and experience are set out in the Notice of Meeting. The company has adopted a process whereby 1/3 of the Board will speak to the election or reelection at each Annual General Meeting. This year, you will hear from myself, from Garry Hounsell and Colleen Jay. So Item 2A is the reelection of Nigel Garrard as a Non-Executive Director. Item 2B is the reelection of Garry Hounsell as a Non-Executive Director. And I'll now ask Garry to briefly address the meeting.

Thanks, John. Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. As John said, my name is Garry Hounsell, and I'm honored to seek your support for my reelection as a Director of Treasury Wine Estates. I currently chair the Wine Operations and Sustainability Committee, and the remit of this committee includes our strategic wine assets and long-term planning, sustainability, health and safety and industry and regulatory matters. I'm also a member of the Audit and Risk Committee as well as the Human Resources and Nominations Committees. By way of background, I'm a qualified chartered accountant and commenced my career at Arthur Andersen, a global accounting firm. I went on to become the firm's Australian Chief Executive Officer and Country Managing Partner are responsible for over 2,000 employees. I merged the company in early 2000 with Ernst & Young. I've been very privileged to serve on the boards of many grade companies, including Qantas, Orica, Nufarm, Dulux Spotless, it keeps going, but I'll stop there. and Helloworld Travel, and I'm currently the Chairman of Helloworld Travel and electro-optic systems. But wine has actually been a part of my life for a long period of time. I was involved in the industry since I was 16, when I began working in the school holidays at Brown Brothers in Northeast Victoria, I should say, working with wine not drinking it. although I did have a taste most nights after work. Don't tell my parents. In 1978, I purchased my first vineyard with friends near Beachworth. And in 1994, I purchased a property in the Ara Valley planning it predominantly to Shaden and Pino ear. And I was involved in all aspects of the business from planting the original vines, pruning, winemaking, sales and marketing, both in Australia and internationally. We sold the business in 2017, but I still remain active in the industry outside of Treasury Wine Estates and occasionally have wine made for me in Burgundy, France. I believe that this experience, together with my broader corporate and board career has allowed me to make a valuable contribution to the TWE Board, management and the company. Having been involved in the wine industry for many years, I know it is an industry that continually evolves. I have every confidence in our people, our brands, our management team and our ability to focus on -- focus our resources where they can create the greatest value for shareholders. TWE is a wonderful company, and I look forward to your support today. Thank you.

Thank you, Garry. Item 2C is the reelection of Colleen Jay as a non-Executive Director. And I will now ask Colleen to briefly address the meeting as well.

Thank you, Chairman, and good morning, ladies and gentlemen. I'm honored to stand for reelection as a Director of Treasury Wine Estates. I'm a member of the Board's Human Resources Committee and the Wine Operations and Sustainability Committee. As I said earlier, treasury wine is operating in a challenging and rapidly changing environment. Having spent my career leading global consumer businesses and brands, I believe that my experience is particularly relevant as TWE sharpens its focus and positions itself for the future. I've been privileged to lead brands such as Pantene, Oribe, Tide, Febreze, VIX, among other during my 32 years at Proctor & Gamble. That experience has shaped the perspective I bring to the TWE board in 3 important ways. Firstly, I'm a brand builder at heart, throughout my career, I've built brands from the ground up, some small and many others that are worth over $1 billion globally today. Putting the consumer at the center of the decisions you make is foundational to building brands, like Penfolds that continue to grow and endure over time. Secondly, I've led large complex global businesses with experience in supply chains and manufacturing due to innovation, sales and marketing. Strategic clarity, operational discipline and accountability have been hallmarks of my experience, particularly during periods of change. And finally, I bring deep international experience. I've lived and worked in Canada, the U.S., China and Europe and led global brands across 150 markets. When you live with consumers in a market and see firsthand how business is done, you develop a much deeper understanding of how the consumer thinks and an expertise across the different commercialization models around the globe. That experience is particularly relevant for our global business like Treasury Wine Estates. I believe my background in brand building and leading large global performance-driven businesses allows me to continue making a strong contribution to the TWE Board. You have an exceptional CEO in SAM, supported by a strong team. I have confidence in the direction they're taking the business and look forward to continuing to support and challenge them alongside the other TWE directors to deliver high performance and long-term growth for the business and for our shareholders. Thank you.

Thank you very much, Colleen. Item 2D is a reelection of Antonia Korsanos as a non-Executive Director. Item 2E is a reelection of Judy Liu as a Non-Executive Director and Item 2F relates to my own reelection as a Nonexecutive Director. So I'll now hand over to Antonia Korsanos to chair the meeting for this item.

Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. I am delighted to chair this section of the meeting for the following resolution. Item 2F is for the reelection of Mr. John Mullen as a Non-Executive Director. I will now ask John to briefly address the meeting.

Thanks very much. I'm obviously very pleased to stand for reelection today as a Director and also as Chairman of Treasury Wine Estates and a role that I've held down since October '23. During my career, I have lived and worked in Asia, Africa, the United States and Europe as well as here in Australia. I spent most of my executive career in the logistics industry, including 10 years at T&T in Australia and in Europe, the last 4 of those years, I was CEO of Gentex is worldwide based in Holland. I then spent 15 years at the DHL Express Group, the world's largest express logistics company, revenues of $30 billion, operating in over 220 countries and territories, and we had around 140,000 employees. I held roles there, including the CEO of Asia Pacific, CEO of the Americas region; and finally, Global CEO based in Europe. I eventually returned to Australia and spent 6 years as CEO of Asiana, Australia's largest rail and port logistics company. Since my executive roles, I was Chairman of Telstra for 7 years, and I'm currently also Chairman of Qantas and Brambles. Now I'm aware of some observers considering that my workload is too high, and I'd like to address this issue now. Firstly, I'd comment that I find my workload very manageable, but I nonetheless continue to steadily reduce other obligations, including retiring from Brookfield Infrastructure this year. Secondly, I have to say that many of the critics have not made any effort to understand what actually is my workload. And while some observers based their recommendations on research and merit, regrettably, some base their recommendations on predetermined academic formulary set elsewhere with no attempt to assess the individual or the context. Of course, this is their prerogative, but it does explain the divergency of opinion. On the Board, it's my job to review the performance of my fellow directors just as they judge me. And if one of my colleagues is doing a great job, then I believe that it is in shareholders' interest that this director has reelected irrespective of how many boards he or she sits on. Conversely, if a director is not doing a good job, than they should not be on our board, irrespective of whether this is the only board or they sit on several. And I would honestly hope that I, too, be similarly judged on performance and merit alone. Sadly, that's not always the case. Lastly, I've had a lifelong appreciation of the culture of win and the important role that it plays in our community as a connector of people and key industries that support regional economies. TWE possesses outstanding brands and a clear strategy, and I'm confident that together with the current Board, Sam Fischer and his outstanding executive team will realize the full potential of our portfolio. This is a truly wonderful company with a bright future ahead. Thank you so much for your support today, if I'm reelected, I will continue to work hard with management and my fellow directors to steward the company through its next chapter of transformation. -- and growth.

Thank you, John. I'll now hand the meeting back to your Chairman. Thank you.

Great. Thank you. Item 2G is a reelection of Mark Weldon as a Non-Executive Director. That covers all of the resolutions regarding the reelection of our directors and the Board, with each director abstaining as to their own reelection, of course, recommends the reelection of each of the nonexecutive directors. Item 3 on the agenda today is a nonbinding advisory vote for the adoption of the remuneration report for the financial year ended 30th of June 2026. The remuneration report is contained within the annual report, which is available on the company's website. It includes details of the company's policy on the remuneration of directors and executives, a discussion of the relationship between that policy and company performance and details of the performance conditions associated with the remuneration of the Chief Executive Officer and key management personnel. The resolution on this item of business is advisory and to not bind the company, although the Board's Human Resources Committee will take the results of the vote and the discussion on this resolution into account when considering the future remuneration arrangements of the company. The directors recommend that shareholders vote in favor of the resolution. I'll now move on to Item 4, which is for the grant of performance rights under the company's long-term incentive plan to our Chief Executive, Sam Fischer. A summary of the proposed grant is set out in the notice of meeting and the directors recommend that shareholders vote in favor of the resolution. Details of the proxies received on each of the resolutions are now displayed on the screen. Based on the proxy results, it appears that the resolutions will pass. So I'll now take questions on each of the items of business. I'll first take questions from those physically present at the meeting, followed by audio questions from participants who have joined the meeting online and finally, written questions submitted in advance of the meeting and from online shareholders. For those shareholders present in person today, if you'd like to ask a question, please move to a microphone and show your admission card to the microphone attendant, who will note your name and introduce you when it's your term to speak. Please limit yourself to one question at a time, if you can, to give other shareholders a chance to ask questions, too. For those attending the meeting online, I would like to submit a written question but have not yet done so. please submit your questions now via the speech but icon on your screen. A reminder again that the poll will remain open for 5 minutes after the conclusion of the meeting to allow you the opportunity to hear responses to the questions asked before finalizing your voting. I'll now take questions from the floor.

Mr. Chairman, we have a question from Peter Ed from the ASA.

Good morning, Mr. Chairman. At the recent Investor Day presentation, you indicated that you would reduce the number of brands under the TWE banner from to less than 30, as Sam has mentioned. You provided details of how this reduction would proceed. Given the difficulty you've had in the last 2 years of divesting brands, but noting that you have been successful in divesting Seppelt and resin -- Rosemount recently. Can I ask what has changed? And do you have a time line for completing this process.

Nothing has changed. Obviously, the market isn't easy, but we believe that the strength of the brands that we're divesting is strong. And therefore, there will be, and there already is a number of brands that we are marketing at the moment. There is a strong interest for them. So we are confident we will be able to continue the process that Sam outlined. I would say though, we're not going to just sell brands for a dollar to get rid of them. As they don't -- if they don't fit the portfolio, we'll seek to sell them, but we certainly won't sell them for unrealistic amounts. No time line?

No time line.

No. Obviously, it's work in progress. They've done how long it takes to get buyers interest, it takes a while, but it's -- the process is well underway. It's been managed by Sam and his team, and we're very confident that it will continue.

Thank you. You'll forgive me for a second one, if you don't mind. Shareholders will watch with interest the progress of the cent transformation. What measures should shareholders watch over the next to 2 months to assess a success.

I think the measures of the remuneration for Sam are in the notice of meeting. You can see there on the Ascent program, there's $100 million cost saving target. So that will be the main metric that Sam has mentioned and the team have visioned against, but there are also, of course, it's much more than just cost reductions. It's also a realignment of brands and all of the things we've just been talking about. So at the end of the year, we will give a more fulsome update on how the company performed against those Ascent targets. Uncharacteristically quiet. You've got some more Well, there's a surprise.

The company policy indicates that nonexecutive directors should have skin in the game. The annual report and my recent inquiries showed that Mrs. Liu has not -- does not hold any shares in the company after more than 20 months as a director. Does this show that she lacks confidence in the future of the company?

Most definitely not. Judy is an excellent direction. We're very lucky to have her. But you will note also from the various publications on the website actually has a number of years to achieve the target number of shares, which I'm absolutely confident she will do.

Okay. And lastly, we've been asking for some years that you published key executives actual take-home pay in addition to the rather confusing statutory remuneration. It's a simple way of showing that executives pay actually aligns with the business performance. And given that both Qantas and Brambles that you chair have published this data for some time, would you commit to doing so in 2027?

We're continuing to look at it. The problem is it sounds simple, but it isn't because if you look at the pay actually received by an executive in a given year, it will have a component that relates to the activity in that year, but it also could have LTI component from a 3-year period that happens to vest in that year, and that could have been a good year or a bad year. But overall, that has vested. So that then distorts the income from that year and makes it hard to say, well, what is actually this year versus last year. So for that reason, we've stuck to the Corporation's Act requirements. But I hear you, and we are doing it in other places I know. So we'll have 1 more look at that. We've got any more you. I was looking forward to a spring session on that one. Well, it looks like there are no further questions from the floor. So I'll now take any audio questions. Operator, are there any audio questions?

Mr. Chairman, there appear to be no audio questions on the line.

Okay. Thank you. As there are no further audio questions, then I'll now take written questions. And to start with, we do have a number of questions submitted in advance of the meeting, which I'll address first. I will then respond to questions submitted live during the meeting from online shareholders. So please proceed with the first question received in advance of the meeting.

Mr. Chairman, the first question is from shareholder, Mr. Martin in -- can someone explain to the shareholders how this company that once was a desirable company now has become a rundown has been company; and a second shareholder, Mr. Ian Fergus McWherter asked, why has such a great Australian company fallen so far?

Okay. Well, of course, no one is happy with the year that has just passed. And as I think I mentioned in my speech, the backdrop of reduced alcohol consumption globally, one-off events in both China and the U.S. materially impacted the company's results in FY '26. However, TWE was and remains a great company and it's far from rundown. We have introduced a wide range of measures to restore the company's performance, as you've heard from Sam, and we're very pleased to see that these are bearing fruit with markedly improved results now in both China and in the U.S.