Perpetual Limited

Welcome to Perpetual's full year results briefing 2026. Following the formal presentation, there will be a Q&A session where participants can ask live audio questions. To ask a live audio question, press the request to speak button at the top of the broadcast window. The broadcast will be replaced by the audio questions screen. Use the dial-in number and access pin provided to ask your question via the phone. Alternatively, for those on a home or personal network, you can ask your questions via the web by pressing Join Queue. If prompted, select Allow in the pop-up to grant access to your microphone. If you have any issues using the platform, dial-in details can also be found on the homepage under Asking Audio Questions. Press the Documents icon to see today's files. Select a document to open it. You can still listen to the meeting while you read. The audio queue is now open. I will now hand over to Suzanne Evans, Chief Financial Officer.

Fantastic. Thanks, Michelle. Good morning, everyone, and good afternoon and evening to those joining us from other parts of the world. Welcome to Perpetual's four-year results briefing for 2026. Before we begin, I would like to acknowledge the traditional owners and custodians of the land from which we are presenting today. Here in Sydney, that is the Gadigal people of the Eora nation. We recognise their continuing connection to land, waters and community and pay our respects to elders past and present. We also acknowledge the traditional custodians of the land on which participants are joining us from today and extend our respect and welcome to any Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander people joining the call. Presenting today are our CEO and Managing Director, Bernard Riley, and myself, Suzanne Evans, the Chief Financial Officer. As Michelle, our operator, has indicated, there will be an opportunity for questions at the end of the presentation. Now, before I hand over to Bern, I would like to just draw your attention to the disclaimer that is up on screen now on page two. With that, Bern, over to you.

Thank you, Suzanne. Good morning, everyone, and thanks for joining us today. Before I talk through Perpetual's FY26 results and further to our ASX announcements, I'd like to provide a brief update on the proposals we received from EQT. Subsequent to our announcement on the 29th of July, Perpetual entered into an NDA with EQT and is providing access to limited non-public information on a non-exclusive basis to determine whether an improved proposal can be formulated. the Board remains willing to engage constructively with third parties where doing so is in the best interests of shareholders. Moving now to our results. FY26 was a year of solid delivery and meaningful progress against our strategic priorities. We've delivered earnings growth through a year of geopolitical and economic uncertainty, supported by a disciplined cost management and strong cash generation. We have strengthened our financial position, providing greater flexibility to continue investing in growth opportunities. As you can see from the table, our headline results showed total operating revenue of $1.37 billion in line with FY25, underlying profit after tax of $217 million, up 6% on FY25, Diluted EPS on UPAT was 186 cents, 3% higher than FY25, and the Board will pay a final dividend of 63 cents per share, unfranked, representing a payout ratio of 70% of the second half of UPAT. The full-year dividend increased 6% on FY25 in dollar terms, as shown here on the slide. Our teams have delivered strong progress against our priorities through a year of significant corporate and strategic activity. A key focus remained our simplification program, which has now delivered $72.6 million in annualized savings. This disciplined approach to cost management has improved profitability and created capacity to reinvest in growth initiatives. In asset management, while the year included an impairment charge related to our TSW boutique, overall earnings improvement was supported by stronger equity markets and continued cost discipline. We saw stronger contributions from Barra Hanley, Perpetual and Pendle, partially offset by net outflows. Corporate Trust performed well, delivering strong growth across all three business lines, reinforcing its importance as a complementary earnings engine for the group. The business benefited from strong securitisation markets, continued client growth, and investment in new capabilities, including the acquisition of Indify Systems. Finally, in March this year, we signed a binding agreement to sell wealth management to Bain Capital. Subject to satisfaction of the remaining conditions precedent, this represents an important step to creating a simpler, more focused group positioned for our next stage of growth. Turning to the next slide. We made tangible progress across each of our strategic priorities. Simplify the group, improve operational excellence and investing for growth. On Simplify, the sale of wealth management remains on track and I'll provide more detail on that shortly. The simplification program continues to deliver meaningful efficiencies with further benefits expected to be realised in FY27. And we continue to evolve our business model to drive end-to-end business accountability while retaining appropriate group oversight. On delivering operational excellence, cost discipline remained a key focus, with the group cost-to-income ratio improving by 119 basis points to 78%. We executed succession planning across our boutiques, with leadership appointments at JL Hambro, TSW and Trillium. We will organically strengthen the balance sheet, reducing gross debt by 15%. And finally, on investing for growth, Corporate Trust completed the acquisition of Interfire and Income Asset Management's term deposit broking business. During the year, we launched the Perpetual Diversified Income ETF, which has already grown to $295 million in AUM and successfully raised a further $268 million for the listed Perpetual Credit Income Trust. We also seeded four new products across international and thematic equity strategies globally. I'll expand on some of these shortly. Turning to the next slide. The sale of wealth management is a key strategic priority and remains on track to complete within the final quarter of the 2026 calendar year. We continue to make progress towards satisfying the conditions precedent with Perpetual obtaining the required AFSL variations from ASIC and Bain Capital receiving ACCC approval. Court proceedings have also commenced to facilitate the transfer of certain assets, liabilities and undertakings related to the wealth business. Under the sale agreement at completion, Perpetual will receive an upfront cash payment of $500 million subject to customary adjustments. There is also the potential for a further $50 million at settlement based on the performance of the advice division and a further amount of up to $50 million payable two years later related to the performance of the accounting and wealth operations. Throughout this period, wealth management continues to attract advisors and stay focused on delivering client outcomes. Net proceeds from the sale will be used to repay debt. Following completion, we expect to move to a net cash position, taking into account expected transaction and separation costs, tax and other adjustments. Updated assumptions, including a lower expected tax outcome from what was originally estimated, further strengthen this position. Following completion, Perpetual will comprise two complementary businesses, Asset Management and Corporate Trust. Together, they give shareholders a resilient earning space, a stronger balance sheet, and improved capital flexibility. Turning now to the next slide, simplification. Since we launched the simplification program in August 2024, we have delivered tangible results. As at the 30th of June, 2026, annualised savings were $72.6 million, well ahead of our FY26 aim and already within our FY27 target range. In FY26, we realised $60.8 million of gross savings. The majority of these savings have been delivered through operating model efficiencies, such as removing duplication and back-office simplification. For FY27, our key focus areas include closing out finance systems transformation and middle office simplification. We remain on track to deliver annualized savings at the upper end of our 70 to $80 million target range with total costs to achieve this remaining unchanged and approximately $55 million. We'll be in a better position to assess further efficiency opportunities following the completion of the sale of wealth management. Turning to the next slide, Moving now to our balance sheet where we've made good progress this year. Strong cash generation and disciplined capital management strengthened our financial position with gross debt reduced by 15% to $629 million as at the 30th of June, 2026. Our gearing ratio fell to 28.8% with approximately $200 million of available liquidity at year end. Reflecting this stronger position, the Board declared a final dividend of 63 cents per share, unfranked, delivering a higher cash dividend to shareholders than in FY25. Our global footprint will limit franking levels. However, we expect franking credits to return gradually. Looking ahead, a stronger balance sheet gives us greater financial flexibility and allows us to assess capacity for capital management opportunities over time. With that, I'll now outline how we've allocated capital across the business, starting with asset management on the next slide. Our multi-boutique model brings diversity across capabilities, clients and regions. Total assets under management at the 30th of June was $224.4 billion. Net outflows of $25.1 billion remained a headwind during the year, with a further $7.6 billion reduction in AUM from adverse foreign exchange movements. While these impacts were largely offset by stronger equity markets, we recognise that flows remain challenging across the business. That said, we continue to attract new client money across a range of strategies and regions. We also recognise we need to do a better job in delivering investment performance. Throughout FY26, underperformance was concentrated in select strategies, particularly within Joe Hambro, where we are taking appropriate steps to strengthen investment teams and operations. While market conditions and flows can be cyclical, our focus is on executing the levers that are within our control. We're driving growth through product development and leveraging our global distribution platform to broaden our reach and client access. turning now to distribution and growth initiatives. One of the key advantages of the global platform already in place across our boutiques, including established investment capabilities, improving structures and longstanding distribution relationships, really is a key benefit for Perpetual. Importantly, this platform opportunity extends across our boutique portfolio. Our Australian distribution platform remains a significant strength, providing deep client relationships, especially in the intermediary space where we have relationships with over 11,000 of the 15,000 advisors, helping connect investors with specialised capabilities across the perpetual group. Combined with our global reach, this gives us multiple avenues to broaden client access and support growth. Developing new products and vehicles is an important part of this approach. Active ETFs remain a significant growth opportunity, reflecting growing client demand for actively managed strategies through new distribution channels. Following the launch of the Perpetual Diversified Income Active ETF, we're seeing encouraging demand from Australian clients for active investment solutions from Perpetual. Building on this momentum, we are also progressing plans for additional active ETF offerings, targeting demand in the US wholesale market. We're also expanding our ICAV based products across the UK and Europe, providing greater flexibility to deliver our investment capabilities to new client segments. The opportunity now is to better leverage the capabilities already embedded within to the business, extending successful strategies into new channels and markets. As part of that effort, we seeded four products during FY26 across international and dramatic equity strategies globally. These investments create a pipeline of future opportunities and support the expansion of our offerings into areas where we see client demand and long-term potential. Taken together, these initiatives strengthen our distribution reach, broaden client access to capabilities and position the business to capture future growth. Turning to JL Hambro. Restoring JL Hambro to its heritage strength will help drive our growth ambitions. Today, the business remains a differentiated equity specialist with a strong brand and established distribution platform. As at the 30th of June, the business managed around $33 billion in assets. However, it's relying on a small number of strategies, some of which have experienced challenging flow patterns. Under the new leadership of Bill Street, we have a clear plan to build a more scalable and resilient business with an ambition to grow AUM to around $55 to $60 billion by FY30. Our priorities are focused on adapting our products and strategies to meet evolving client demand, such as seeing the new climate transition strategy in Joe Hambro, improving investment performance across our core capabilities to deliver better outcomes for clients and support sustainable long-term growth, and underpinning all of this, identifying opportunities to simplify our operating model. The work is underway, and these priorities will continue to guide our focus in FY27. Now moving to Corporate Trust. Corporate Trust delivered another year of strong growth in FY26. Debt market services benefited from the Australian securitisation market growing at a near record pace. Managed fund services grew through higher funds under administration and new client wins across property, infrastructure and credit funds. Momentum continued in Singapore, where the business became the trustee for three new REIT listings on the Singapore Exchange. Growth in ETFs, LITs and other investment structures continue to support demand for the administration, governance and fiduciary services that we provide. Digital markets grew assets under administration by 14%, supported by growth in our perpetual intelligence and fixed income portfolio management offerings. This reflects the increasingly importance of specialised data, governance and administration solutions in an evolving regulatory environment. Turning now to the next slide. While market conditions will vary over time, corporate trust remains an integral part of Australia's capital markets infrastructure. Its services support funding, lending and investment activity across the financial system. underpinning a resilient business model built on long-standing client relationships and a long-duration asset base. We continue to invest in capabilities that strengthen our client offering and position us to capture growth opportunities. During the year, we acquired a majority interest in InterFi, which expands our loan servicing and digital capabilities to complement our core debt market services offering, particularly Perpetual Intelligence. Endify supports the full loan lifecycle for non-bank lenders with approximately $55 billion in assets under administration. It broadens Perpetual's exposure to a growing segment of the lending market and creates opportunities to deliver more integrated client solutions. Turning to wealth management. As I mentioned earlier, the sale of wealth management remains on track for completion in the final quarter of 2026 calendar year. Throughout the year, the business stayed focused on delivering for clients. Revenue moderated this year with market-related revenue benefiting from stronger equity markets, although growth was more modest than in prior years. This was offset by softer non-market revenue, particularly within the accounting and wealth operations. Underlying profit before tax was $44 million, $7.5 million lower than FY25, reflecting lower non-market revenue and continued investment in staff and technology to support the business. Funds under advice increased 3% and the business achieved a record high net promoter score, highlighting the continued commitment, client outcomes, service quality and engagement. Achieving this result during a period of significant change reflects the strength of our client relationships and the discipline with which the team has remained focused on delivering for clients. I'll now hand over to Suzanne to walk you through the financial results in detail.