The a2 Milk Company Limited (ATM) Earnings Call Transcript

Good morning, everyone, and welcome to The a2 Milk Company's 2025 Annual General Meeting. My name is Pip Greenwood, and I'm honored to serve as the Chair of the Board. It's a pleasure to have so many shareholders joining us here in the room and online. I can confirm a quorum is present, and I now formally declare the meeting open. Before I start -- before we start, I would like to introduce my fellow directors and management who are here with me today. To my right, we have David Bortolussi, our Managing Director and CEO; David Muscat, our CFO; Kate Mitchell, our Chair of Audit and Risk Management Committee; and Jaron, I hope to get this right. Jaron's got the longest title in the company, Chief Legal and Sustainability Officer and Company Secretary. And then to my left, we have Sandra Yu, the Chair of our People and Remuneration Committee, Lain Jager, Grant Dempsey and Antonio Rivera, who was known to us as Tonet. Also present today, we have our auditors from Ernst & Young, our external legal advisers and our share registor MUFG Pension and Market Services. Today, you will hear from me as Chair of the Board and from our Managing Director and CEO, David Bortolussi. After this, we will then put forward the resolutions as described in the Notice of Meeting and respond to questions put to us by shareholders. With the formalities taken care of, it is now my pleasure on behalf of the Board to update our shareholders on The a2 Milk Company's progress over the last year. 2025 marks a significant milestone of the company's 25th anniversary. This is a moment to reflect on our journey, celebrate our achievements, and look ahead with ambition. From pioneering the A2-type protein proposition to becoming a trusted brand across China, Australia, New Zealand, the U.S.A. and emerging international markets such as Vietnam, our commitment to quality, innovation and sustainable growth continues to define us. FY '25 has been another year of strong execution. Despite ongoing macroeconomic challenges and evolving market dynamics, we remain focused on delivering against our growth strategy and our results continue to reaffirm the strength of our brand, the quality of our execution and the dedication of our very talented team. Our financial performance was outstanding with group revenue up 13.5% and earnings per share up 20.9% in FY '25. We continue to make meaningful progress against our medium-term financial and non-financial goals and remain on track to achieve the vast majority of our targets. This year, we saw the introduction of a dividend policy. Total dividends of $0.20 per share were announced in FY '25, representing a payout ratio of 71% and equating to approximately $145 million being returned to our shareholders. In sustainability, we continue to advance our goals of protecting the planet, caring for our cows, rethinking packaging, progressing towards net zero and contributing to a nature positive future. We are committed to supporting the planet and the communities in which we operate. Our people are the heart of our success. We continue to foster a safe, diverse and inclusive environment where our teams feel valued and supported. On behalf of the Board, I'd like to thank our incredible team across Australia, China, New Zealand and the U.S.A. for their dedication and hard work and contributing to our strong FY '25 results. Since the end of the financial year, we have made significant progress in our supply chain transformation strategy with the acquisition of a world-class nutritional manufacturing facility in Pokeno and the divestment of our interest in MVM. The Board actually had the privilege of visiting Pokeno yesterday, which was a really exciting time for us all. David Bortolussi will speak about these transactions in more detail in his address shortly. These transactions strengthen our strategic position and provide us greater certainty over future capital needs. As a result, the Board was pleased to announce its intention to declare a special dividend of $300 million, subject to regulatory approvals and connection with Pokeno's two existing China IMF products. We expect to provide further details on the special dividend within the next 12 months. Turning to governance, Board renewal and succession planning have been a key focus since I commenced my role as Chair. Last year, we welcomed Tonet and Lain to the Board, bringing deep expertise and global IMF supply chain and international agribusiness leadership. More recently, Grant joined the Board, bringing extensive strategic and financial leadership experience. Lain and Grant will be standing for election today, and you will hear from them later in the meeting. These changes reflect our commitment to ensuring the Board has the diverse perspectives and capabilities needed to support the company's strategic execution. My fellow Directors and I remain focused on growing shareholder value and serving our shareholders with purpose. Before I close, I'd like to address my own reelection as a director, as I am standing for reelection today. I've had the privilege of serving on the Board since 2019 and has chaired since November 2023. I'm proud of the progress we've made and excited about the opportunities ahead. I bring extensive commercial and governance experience including my current role is Chair of Westpac New Zealand and Director of Westpac Banking Corporation. I've previously served on the Boards of Spark New Zealand, Fisher & Paykel Healthcare, Vulcan Steel, and Russell McVeagh, where I also served as Chair and Interim CEO. I remain committed to realizing the company's strategic ambitions and representing the interest of our shareholders. Thank you for your continued support and the investment in The a2 Milk Company. I now invite David to address the meeting. Thank you.

Good morning, everyone, and thank you for joining us today at our annual meeting. My name is David Bortolussi. I'm the Managing Director and CEO of The a2 Milk Company. Over the past year, we've continued to deliver strong financial results and made substantial progress on transforming our supply chain. These outcomes are driven by execution of our growth strategy and the exceptional work of our talented teams around the world. Today, I will share with you our operational and financial highlights from the past year, a slight adjustment to our strategy following the recent transactions, progress on our supply chain transformation, and an update to our FY '26 outlook. Before I do that, let me recap on a2's journey to date. From humble beginnings in the year 2000, when the company was formed in New Zealand by scientist, Dr. Corrie McLachlan, and his business partner Howard Paterson to focus on the A2 Protein difference. We've grown into a global business operating in Australia, China, New Zealand, North America, South Korea and Vietnam. And we have a product portfolio that spans all life stages from infant and kids through to adults and now seniors. It is therefore fitting that we celebrate our 25th year since formation by: acknowledging the achievements of our team, past and present, that have built The a2 Milk Company into what it is today; reporting record sales with sales growth across all of our markets; and categories and recently announcing a major step forward in our supply chain transformation that I'll speak to later. It's been a remarkable journey to date, which all of us should be proud of, and I want to thank our shareholders that have supported the company along the way, including those here today with us. More recently, we reported a strong FY '25 results to the market in August. We continue to execute our growth strategy, which saw us deliver record sales of $1.9 billion and double-digit growth in revenue, EBITDA and EPS. We moved from a top 5, to a top 4 brand position in the China infant milk formula, or IMF market, driven by strong performance in both English and China label. We launched new products for infants, kids and seniors and we expanded into new markets. As shareholders, you will be aware that last year at our annual meeting, we introduced a dividend policy for the first time in our company's history. Since then, we declared and paid dividends totaling $0.20 per share with a payout ratio of 71%. This marked an important milestone in our journey to deliver sustainable returns to our shareholders. Moving to our FY '25 financial results. We delivered full year revenue growth of 13.5%. And importantly, earnings grew at a faster rate. So EBITDA was up 17% and net profit after tax and EPS were up 21% with strong cash conversion. On the right-hand side of the slide, you can see that we have driven significant growth since FY '21 when we refreshed our growth strategy, achieving a compound annual growth rate in revenue, EBITDA and EPS of 12%, 22% and 27%, respectively. Looking at our geographic segment and product category performance on the next page. Our growth continues to be driven by our China and other Asia segment, led by English label IMF and Other Nutritionals. Since FY '21, we've grown our other -- China and other Asia segment sales by a compound annual growth rate of 22%. Our ANZ segment sales were flat with growth in our Australian liquid milk business, offsetting declines in the Daigou channel. Our U.S. business continued its strong growth and MVM experienced significant increase in external ingredient sales, mainly driven by higher GDT pricing and milk volumes. From a category perspective, our total IMF sales grew by 10%, with English label the standout performer, up 17%, driven by growth in our CBEC and O2O channels. and a shift towards the English label category. China label was up 3.3% with record market share, which was actually a very good result in a market that declined by 5.6% and also having to manage significant supply constraints. Liquid milk sales grew by 14% in total, with ANZ up 10% and the U.S. up 22%. Other Nutritionals continued to grow at a fast rate of 23% and supported by our new kids and seniors milk powder products launched during the year. Turning to market share. Our overall China IMF market share continued to reach record levels, resulting in a2 rising to the #4 brand position in the world's largest IMF market with 8% overall market share. This is a major milestone for our company, which launched its first IMF product only 12 years ago, competing against the global leaders in the category and very capable strong domestic players. We continue to ramp up our innovation with key new product launches during the year in the infant, kids and seniors nutrition segment. Our early results are encouraging, and we are hopeful that a2 Genesis, Kids Advance and our Seniors range features on this page here will continue to drive key growth drivers in our FY '26 results and beyond. As we look ahead, we remain committed to investing in product innovation as a core pillar of our growth strategy to deliver benefits to our consumers at every life stage from the infant and toddler years, to healthy aging. We progressed our emerging market strategy, expanding the reach of our English label products into Vietnam through the launch of a2 Platinum in the first half and a2 Gentle Gold in the second half. The launches are showing positive early signs driven by our focus on building brand awareness, expanding our distribution across mother and baby stores, and activating and trade to remote trial and adoption. As we continue to expand our footprint in emerging markets, we're also deepening our relationships in the most established and strategically important market being China. I'm pleased to share that recently, we expanded our long-standing strategic partnership with China State Farm, to now include English label IMF products in the cross-border e-commerce channel, starting with a2 Genesis from early next year. This marks a significant milestone in our relationship with China State Farm, which began in 2013. Over the past 12 years, we have worked closely with China State Farm to build our China label IMF business, helping us to grow to over 100 distributors, and reach around 30,000 mother and baby stores across China as well as key online platforms. China State Farm's expertise and operational capability have been critical to our success in China. This expansion has been well over 12 months in the making, and was formally recognized with a signing ceremony at China International Import Expo, a couple of weeks ago in Shanghai. It reflects not only the strength of our partnership with China State Farm, but also the strong relationship between China and New Zealand. Moving now to our investment in the A1 protein free science, which is central to our a2 Milk brand proposition. Over the past year, we have continued to build on that foundation with the results of three new studies released in relation to maternal and infant nutrition and seniors cognition, further expanding knowledge of the unique benefits of a2 Milk. We actually have our Chief Scientific Officer -- adviser, Dr. Andrew Clarke, here with us today. So if any of you have any further questions around those studies or the A2 protein difference, feel free to catch them after the meeting closes. Shifting focus to sustainability on the next page. We have a clear road map in place to guide us towards achieving planet positive outcomes and net zero by 2040. Over the year, we've reduced emissions significantly supported on-farm initiatives and improved packaging performance. Moving now to a brief strategy update. We have updated our growth strategy after completing our supply chain transformation transactions. Firstly, we have adjusted our Transform Supply Chain priority, to focus on execution of our important transformation program at a2 Pokeno, and on building capability to support our innovation and growth. Secondly, we placed more emphasis on entering new markets and called this out as one of our key strategic priorities. Moving to the next slide. We are tracking well towards our medium-term financial and non-financial goals, and remain on track to achieve the majority of our targets. Our strong FY '25 performance has brought us much closer to our medium-term revenue ambition of $2 billion, and our supply chain transformation will support a more significant increase in EBITDA margins in FY '26. Our English label IMF and ANZ liquid milk businesses are back on track, and our emerging market outlook has improved following the launch of IMF in Vietnam this year, which we're excited about. I'll now turn to the progress we've made in transforming our supply chain, which is a key enabler of our future growth. In August, we announced two transactions that will transform our supply chain and market access, enabling us to build a better, higher growth, lower risk end-to-end business with significant value creation potential. The first transaction relates to the acquisition of a fully integrated nutritional manufacturing facility, located in Pokeno, here in New Zealand that I'll refer to as a2 Pokeno. Importantly, as two existing China label IMF registrations and already produces two of our English label IMF products. The second transaction we announced related to the divestment of MVM to Open Country Dairy to optimize our asset footprint following the acquisition of a2 Pokeno. There is a clear strategic rationale for these transactions. In essence, the combined transactions: enable growth and share gains in China through market access and innovation; accelerate the development of a world-class nutritional manufacturing capability; and they capture attractive financial returns through vertical margin capture and incremental brand contribution. In terms of financial returns, by FY '30, the combined transactions will deliver over $100 million of incremental brand sales and over $60 million of additional EBITDA through incremental brand contribution and vertical margin capture. We've been working on this strategy for several years and considered many options. Without doubt, the transactions we've completed are our preferred strategic, operational and financial outcome. Turning to our newly acquired a2 Pokeno facility, which is strategically located in the Waikato region. This world-class site, which has proven capability in IMF manufacturing and is already producing two of our English label products. Importantly, we have secured a long-term agreement with Fonterra, for A1 protein-free milk ensuring supply flexibility and supporting our long-term growth ambitions. We will be investing significantly in the facility and expanding our team to enable the growth. The next page highlights a key aspect of the strategic rationale for the acquisition of a2 Pokeno. Of the top 10 players in the China IMF market, a2 is the only brand in the top 10 with a single China label product, with the competition having between 5 and 21 registrations. It's obviously challenging to capture the full potential of the market -- in a market in China that's so large and complicated with only one product available to us. The acquisition of a2 Pokeno is expected to increase our China label IMF product registrations from one to three in the near term, which will enable us to expand our product portfolio, develop differentiated consumer and trade propositions to increase market share, including in lower-tier cities. An expanded China label portfolio will help us maximize our IMF opportunity in China by providing greater access to the largest segment of the China IMF market, with the China label segment of the market accounting for approximately 80% of the total market. In the short term, we'll transition existing products to our A1 protein-free milk base, and we're in the process of seeking regulatory approval to bring them under the a2 brand, while planning for future innovation and a third registration slot. Since announcing these transactions, we've made significant progress. We successfully completed the acquisition of a2 Pokeno facility and the divestment of MVM. We're advancing the regulatory processes to bring the existing China label registrations under the a2 brand. And more specifically, we have achieved MPI's approval of our updated RMP and have applied for GACC approval, that's customs approval in China. The next step beyond that is applying for SAMR approval of the amendments to the registrations. We've already completed some blending and counting batches for a2 Platinum at the Pokeno side in collaboration with Synlait ahead of transition in the first quarter of '27 and have commenced short-term and long-term product development trials. We have made strong progress in our capital investment program at Pokeno and awarded several key contracts and have commenced our IT integration and ERP upgrade projects. We've been hiring people and manufacturing leadership and operational roles over time. We'll add more than 100 new roles to the facility, providing significant development opportunities to our existing and future team members. And at the same time, we've ensured a smooth operational separation of MVM. So to conclude this section, we are excited to secure a world-class asset to help us build our supply chain of the future. And at this early stage, our transformation program is tracking in line and in some cases, ahead of plan. Turning now to FY '26 and the company's outlook. I'm pleased to say that we've started the year strongly with IMF, Other Nutritionals and Liquid Milk product categories, all trading ahead of expectations. In addition, changes to actual and forecast currency rates reflecting depreciation in the New Zealand dollar expected to inflate sales and expenses with the impact on EBITDA not expected to be material. Having regard to both of these factors today, we have increased our FY '26 guidance for revenue growth from high single-digit percent to low double-digit percent. We have also reconfirmed our EBITDA margin guidance to be approximately 15% to 16% and increased our net profit after tax guidance to now be slightly up on FY '25 reported. Lastly, we increased our guidance for capital expenditures to reflect the accelerated progress of our a2 Pokeno capital investment program. Finally, turning to capital management. The transactions discussed today provide us with clarity in relation to our future capital needs. As noted by our Chair in her address, the Board intends to declare a special dividend of $300 million, subject to obtaining regulatory approvals to bring the new China label registered products under the a2 brand, which is expected to take up to 12 months from when we announced the transactions back in August. Special dividend is expected to be unimputed and fully franked. So that brings me to the end of my presentation. In closing, we've delivered a strong FY '25 result, executed two transactions and a milk supply agreement that substantially supports our growth strategy and have demonstrated disciplined capital management. It's been a massive year for our team, and I do want to thank them all publicly for their exceptional contribution and impact. We're only a small team at a2 of just over 500 people and the teams achieved remarkable things this year, and I really want to thank them for that. So for our shareholders, I look forward to answering any questions you may have after the formal business section of the meeting or afterwards after the meeting closes, whatever suits you. So anyway, thank you very much for your time. I'll now hand back to our Chair.

Thank you, David. We now turn to the measures that require resolution, as outlined in the notice of meeting with a poll to be conducted for each resolution. The poll will be conducted at the end of each resolution and your ballot papers and online voting cards will be collated by our share registry. The resolution set out in the Notice of Meeting are considered as ordinary resolutions. To be passed, that requires the majority of a simple -- sorry, that requires the approval of a simple majority of votes by the shareholders entitled to vote and voting on the resolution. Shareholders here in Auckland will be able to cast your votes by filling out the ballot form that you received at the registration desk, and they -- and which will be collected at the end of the formal part of the meeting. Those attending the meeting online will be able to vote by clicking the, get a voting card, box on the online portal. If you require further information and guidance on the voting process please refer to the Notice of Meeting. There will be an opportunity for shareholders to ask questions both on the resolutions being put to the meeting today and more generally at the end of formal business. When I call for questions, for those of you who are attending in the room, please raise your hand and wait for a microphone to be delivered to you. Please clearly state your name prior to asking your question. We will also be responding to questions from shareholders attending virtually via the online portal. [Operator Instructions] I would like to take this opportunity to remind everyone that this meeting is being webcast, so you will also be heard by an audience outside of this room. If we are unable to get through all the questions today within the time allocated, we will respond individually after the meeting. We will now move to the resolutions. Resolution 1 relates to the auditors' fees and expenses. Pursuant to the Companies Act, the company wishes to authorize the directors of the company to fix the fees and expenses of the company's auditor, Ernst & Young, for the ensuring year. Are there any questions with respect to this resolution? Do we have any questions in the room? No? Do we have any questions online?

There are no questions online at this time.

I now propose that the directors of the company be authorized to fix the fees and expenses of the company's auditor, Ernst & Young, for the ensuring year and I put the motion to vote. Thank you. The next resolution concerns my reelection as a director. I've asked Kate Mitchell, the Chair of our Audit and Risk Committee to chair this part of the meeting. Thank you, Kate.

Thank you, Pip. Pip is retiring by rotation in accordance with the company's constitution and the NZX listing rules and offers herself for reelection. The Board recommends Pip to you as a nonexecutive independent director and unanimously supports her reelection. You have already heard from Pip as our Chair earlier in the meeting where she also addressed her reelection. I now propose that Pip Greenwood be reelected as a Director of the company. Are there any questions from shareholders concerning this resolution? Do we have any questions in the room? No? Do we have any questions online?

We do not have any questions online at this time.

Thank you. I now propose that Pip Greenwood be reelected as a Director of the company, and I put the motion to vote. Thank you.

Thanks, Kate. The next resolution concerns the reelection of Sandra Yu as a Director, Sandra is retiring by rotation in accordance with the company's constitution and NZX listing roles and offers herself for reelection. The Board recommends Sandra to you as a non-executive independent director and unanimously supports her reelection. I will now invite Sandra to address the meeting.

Good morning. I'm honored today to stand for reelection to the Board. Over the past 3 years, have heavy opportunity to contribute to the company's journey through a period of strategical evolution, particularly in strengthening our position in China and progressing the company's supply chain transformation. As Chair of the People and Remuneration Committee, I've worked closely with my fellow directors to ensure executive remuneration frameworks are fair, performance linked and aligned with shareholder interests, as well as supporting the company's focus on diversity, inclusion and talent management. As an experienced company Director and Global Executive I bring over 2 decades of experiences in consumer goods and infant nutrition, including the leadership roles in Johnson and Unilever, where I focused on global brand transformation, innovation and modernizing go-to-market strategies through digital platforms. I believe my experience in China and across Asia continues to be highly relevant to the company's ambition. And I look forward to continuing to support the Board and management in the years ahead. Thank you, [Foreign Language]

Thank you, Sandra. I now propose that Sandra Yu be elected as a Director of the company. Are there any questions from shareholders concerning this resolution? Do we have any questions in the room? No? Chante, do we have any questions online?

There are no questions online at this time.

I now propose that Sandra Yu be elected as a Director of the company, and I put the motion to vote. Thank you. The next resolution concerns the election of Lain Jager as a director. Lain joined the Board in December last year and is retiring in accordance with the company's constitution and the NZX listing rules and offers himself for election. The Board recommends Lain to you as a non-executive independent director and unanimously supports his election. I now invite Lain to address the meeting.

Thank you, Pip. Good morning, and thank you for the opportunity to introduce myself as I stand for the -- for election to the Board. My background is an international agribusiness, most notably as CEO of Zespri International, where I led the company through a decade of global growth, innovation and strong financial performance. Since stepping down from Zespri, I've remained active in the sector through private investments and governance roles, and I'm excited by the opportunity to bring that perspective to The a2 Milk Company. I believe the company is uniquely positioned in the global infant formula business, particularly in China. And I'm passionate about contributing to the company's continued success. I look forward to working with the Board and management team to support company growth and value creation for all shareholders. Thank you for your support.

Thank you, Lain. Are there any questions from shareholders concerning this resolution? Any in the room? No? Any online?

We have no questions online at this time.

I now propose that Lain Jager be elected as a director of the company. I put the motion to vote. Thank you. The next resolution concerns selection of Grant Dempsey as a Director. Grant joined the Board in September this year and is retiring in accordance with the company's constitution and NZX listing rules and offers himself for election. The Board recommends Grant to you as a Nonexecutive Independent Director and unanimously supports his election. I now invite Grant to address the meeting.

Thank you, Pip. Good morning. It's a privilege to be standing here for election following my recent appointment to the Board. My career spanned senior roles in finance, strategy and governance, including investment banking and most recently as CFO of 2 ASX companies. I've worked closely with Boards and executive team throughout my career on complex transactions, capital management and strategic transformation. Since retiring from my executive roles last year, I focused on governance. I currently serve as Chair of Firmus Technologies and a small number of other ASX and private nonexecutive directorships across infrastructure, industrials and technology. I'm focused on ensuring strong financial discipline and transparency. I bring a deep understanding of strategic oversight and risk management. I believe my experience will complement there are already significant skills on the Board. And I look forward to contributing to the company's next phase of growth. Thank you.

Thank you, Grant. Are there any questions from shareholders concerning this resolution? Are there any in the room? Looking around, No? Chante, any online?

We have no online questions.

Thank you. I now propose that Grant Dempsey be elected as a director of the company. I put the motion to vote. Thank you. Resolution 3 seeks shareholder approval to increase the Nonexecutive Director fee pool by $310,000 from $1,365,000 to $1,675,000. This adjustment reflects the increased scope and complexity of government responsibilities, the expansion of the size of the Board and benchmarking against peer comparators. The proposed increase will provide flexibility to fairly compensate current and future nonexecutive directors over time, while maintaining alignment with shareholder interests. Further details in relation to this resolution have been outlined in the notice of meeting and the PwC benchmarking report, has also been made available to shareholders on the company website. As noted in the Notice of Meeting, a voting exclusion applies to this resolution. Are there any questions from shareholders concerning this resolution? Is there any in the room? No? Are there any online Chante?

We have no online questions.

I now propose that the Nonexecutive Director fee pool be increased by $310,000 from $1,365,000 to $1,675,000 and I put the motion to vote. Thank you. On to our next resolution, Resolution 4, to align with recent practices for New Zealand and Australian executive remuneration. The Board has committed to submitting the CEO's long-term incentive plan grant as a resolution on an advisory basis for the purposes of the NZX listing rules to the annual meeting, which is subject to this resolution today. The company's LTI plan is designed to reward performance in support of the achievement of the company's growth strategy by targeting profitable long-term revenue and EPS growth. which requires appropriate investment. An overview of the key terms of the proposed grant rights to David is set out in the notice of meeting. The Board considers the performance hurdles of the LTI plan sufficiently challenging and aligns with shareholder value creation. The Board recommends you vote in favor of this resolution, and we unanimously support this grant of performance rights to David Bortolussi. As noted in the Notice of Meeting, a voting exclusion applies to this resolution. Are there any questions from shareholders concerning this resolution? Any in the room? No? Right? Chante, any online?

We have an online question from [indiscernible]. Can you please explain what on an advisory basis means in this resolution?

That means that it's nonbinding on the company that will be taken into account in any future consideration. Any other -- are there any other questions?

We have no other online questions.

I now propose that the acquisition of 324,606 performance rights by the company's Managing Director and CEO, David Bortolussi, by grant under the company's long-term incentive plan be approved, and I put the motion to vote. Thank you. That concludes the resolutions and there were a few of them presented to the shareholders for vote. Please now submit your vote for each resolution. Please select for, against, or abstain. For those attending in person, representatives from our share registor will now collect your voting cards. For those attending the meeting online, voting will close shortly. The results of the polls will be released to the NZX and ASX following the meeting. [Voting]

Okay. I think the voting is complete. We'll now move to general business. I'd like to offer you the opportunity to raise any general questions. Please make your questions concise so that everyone who wants to raise a question has the opportunity to do so. If we're unable to get through all the questions today, as I mentioned earlier, within the time allocated, we will respond individually after the meeting. I'd now like to open the floor for any questions from shareholders.

Do we have any questions in the room? We've got one up here.

John Clearwater, a shareholder. I'm very excited to see the results from the scientific study of the improvement in cognition for seniors, and with the big increase in numbers of seniors around the world, I feel that this should be the base for a really determined push in this region expanding to other countries and building further research. And please, I have a request. Please, please, when you have publications and good research to report, please give them at least space for an abstract or better a whole page for each of these studies, because I think they are very important for the understanding of the shareholders in the wider world.

Thank you, John. Yes, we're excited about the research. And for Andrew. Andrew, our Head of Scientific Research, which David introduced earlier. Do you want to just talk to the study very briefly, and then I'll comment on that.

It's good to see you here again, John. I see you on a regular basis. And so thanks for your attendance. Look, 2025 has been a great year for a2 Milk Company's research, not only have we had 3 clinical publications that have been supported by the company, but a number of other groups around the world independently been publishing studies as well. So on top of our three, there have been another three that talk towards the benefits -- digestive benefits and lower inflammation that A1 protein-free milk and parts compared to conventional milk. But talking to the three studies that were presented earlier, the maternal nutrition was very much a breakthrough study. It demonstrated that a mother consuming a2 Milk transferred the benefits through to infant, which was breast feeding. Now what was very comforting about this was, we first got reports anecdotally, with testimonials received from parents. And so it was a great pleasure to be able to explain to people. We now have the underpinning science for this benefit that's been reported over the years. Looking at the Stage I infant formula study. Once again, it was a case of scientifically demonstrating something that was witnessed by consumers that a number of infants who consume A1 protein-free milk based infant formula, have better digestive comfort which is reflected in their crying, sleeping and -- which is great for the parents. And the final study, which was presented, the MCI or mild cognitive impairment, demonstrated that removing A1 protein from milk enhance the benefits that the elderly enjoy from dairy owing to improved cognition as measured by the Montreal Cognitive Assessment, which is a gold standard measurement of cognition in the elderly as well as audio verbal learning tests. But I'd be happy to talk to you further afterwards.

Thanks, John. But as you pointed out, we do see the senior nutritionals as an opportunity for growth. And there are actually the three products we've launched over the year. So you can have a look at the product packaging. There's three different types of products. I don't know, David, if there's anything you want to add.

I think Andrew covered it.

[indiscernible]

I don't think it's actually available in New Zealand but hopefully, in the future, yes. Any other questions? So we have one over here. Just wait for a microphone.

I've been a shareholder for quite a long time in a2 and have appreciated all the works being done with over a few traumas that we've had. But one of the things is -- and to support a2 other than the dividends that you give me, I drink your milk. And I'm just -- and I've found it increasingly difficult to buy a2 Milk. It used to be in limited numbers in all the supermarkets. But today, there is -- it's not there. So I'm forced to drink another one, which my wife doesn't appreciate because she says it's much too creamy than one I do. But I want to know where -- when is it going to be available if at all?