Morning and welcome to Chorus' 2026 Annual Shareholders Meeting. I'm Mark Cross, Chorus' Chair. As you've just seen, our new marketing campaign captures the vibrancy, energy, and excitement of what fibre makes possible for New Zealanders, even in the simplest everyday moments. That reflects what our customers tell us they value most about fibre. It simply works seamlessly and effortlessly. We're happy to be returning to a hybrid meeting, joining you in person here in Auckland and online. It's great to see many of you here in the room today. First, some housekeeping for those in the room with us today. In the event of fire, a siren will sound. Please follow the directions of our staff using the exit behind you and follow the signs to the exit. Staff will direct you to the assembly areas. If you need assistance, please meet at the back of the room. Bathrooms are located next to the lifts on my right. We have a quorum, so I declare the meeting open. The minutes of the last annual shareholders meeting have been approved. The Notice of Meeting, including the explanatory notes, has been circulated to all shareholders, and I intend to take it as read. We have a fairly short agenda today in terms of the formal business of the meeting, and on to today's agenda. I'll start today's meeting with a short summary of the year and some of the things the Board has been focusing on to deliver value to shareholders. Chief Executive Mark Aue will then cover what's happening at an operational and market level. After that, we'll move to resolutions, questions, and voting. First, some information on how to ask questions and vote. For those of you joining the online meeting platform, shareholders and proxies have the ability to ask questions and submit votes. If you have a question to submit during the live meeting, the Q&A is always open, so please feel free to submit questions throughout the meeting, and these will be addressed at the relevant time. To submit a question, simply select the Q&A tab on the right half of your screen, type your question into the field, and press submit. Please be as concise as possible and ensure they relate directly to the matter being considered. We will not aggregate or edit questions unless inappropriate language is used, and we'll provide plenty of opportunity for follow-up questions. We will address all questions, whether submitted online or from people here in the room, at the relevant times later in the meeting. For those of you in the room with a question, please raise your hand, and we'll bring a microphone to you. This meeting is being webcast, so please remember you will be heard by an audience outside this room. Any questions not answered in time will receive an email response after the meeting. Voting today will be conducted by way of a poll on all items of business. For those of you online, I'll shortly open the voting for all resolutions. You'll be able to cast your vote on all resolutions under the vote tab. Your vote has been cast when the tick appears against the available options. You can change your vote up until the time I declare voting closed. Simply select change your vote to do so. I now declare voting open on all items of business. I will give you a warning before I move to close voting near the end of the meeting. If you need assistance at any time, simply type your query into the question field via the Q&A tab, and someone from Computershare will respond. Or you can call Computershare on 0800-650-034. For those of you in the room, voting will be by poll using the proxy voting forms provided with your Notice of Meeting. I will call for voting once I have given an overview of each resolution and each director standing for re-election or election has addressed you. I and my fellow directors intend to vote all undirected proxies we hold in favor of the resolutions. I would firstly like to introduce your directors to you. Joining us here on stage are Sue Bailey, Neal Barclay, Miriam Dean, Will Irving, Kate Jorgensen, and Paul Reid. Kate is standing for re-election, and Paul is standing for election today in accordance with the NZX Listing Rules. We also have with us today key personnel, including most of our executive team who are based here in Auckland, as well as representatives from our auditors, KPMG, and our legal provider, Chapman Tripp. Before I cover off the FY 2026 year in review, I would like to thank and acknowledge our customers, our partners, and our people. At the heart of what we do is ensuring the high performance and reliability of our network as digital connectivity becomes increasingly essential to daily life. As we noted in our August results announcement, Chorus delivered a strong result. Our fibre connections continued to grow, up 3% versus FY 2025, and we continued to see improvements across all our key financial metrics. EBITDA was NZD 726 million, up from NZD 705 million last year. Net operating cash flows of NZD 740 million were strong, up 4% on the prior year. We are also pleased with the results we delivered across all our stakeholders during the year. Across our three purpose pillars of resilient, equitable, and future-fit connectivity, which Mark will talk to shortly, we show that we are continuing to deliver value beyond just financial performance. Network reliability is of utmost importance. Our network is monitored 24/7, and we have disaster response plans in place to help maintain or restore services in an emergency. Fibre performance measures are reported to the Commerce Commission, and we also track fault restoration at a customer level. We continue to target improvements with our service companies and retailers, and we are driving more proactive intervention to prevent and resolve faults. With climate, we have reduced Scope 1 and 2 emissions by 43% from our FY 2020 baseline. Electricity consumption was reduced by 7% compared with FY 2025, despite data traffic growing by 9% year-on-year. Our people remain central to our success as we build the skills and mindsets to meet tomorrow's needs. Employee engagement remains strong, with employee Net Promoter Score of 56 and within the top 10% of the technology industry benchmark. We also continue to compare favorably with industry on our safety performance. Digital inclusion has been an important focus for us this year as we reflect on the role we play in connecting New Zealand. As Mark will explain, our new digital equity product is helping make equitable connectivity a reality, with more than 3,000 connections in place at the end of FY 2026. Alongside this, we've continued to invest in building digital capability and supporting online safety through our partnerships with Netsafe and Digital Seniors to help people navigate the online world safely and confidently. The Board's fundamental responsibility is to act as stewards of your investment. Our role is to oversee management, set the strategic direction, ensure appropriate risks are taken and well managed, and hold management accountable for performance. Ultimately, we're here to protect and grow the long-term value of your company, and we see four areas as central to achieving that. Firstly, fibre leadership. Our priority is ensuring fibre remains future-proofed, supporting continued uptake, and managing the transition away from copper. The goal is a modern, resilient network that will serve New Zealand for generations to come. Secondly, growth and customer value. We want Chorus to be an active wholesaler, making the most of our fibre network while continuing to promote digital equity. We're also taking a considered approach to new opportunities where they can create additional value. Thirdly, financial discipline. This remains fundamental. The Board is focused on maintaining an appropriate capital structure, prioritizing dividends, and applying clear investment criteria to allocating any remaining capital. Finally, people and capability. Delivering on all of this requires a diverse and skilled workforce that is empowered to execute our strategy. Together, these four areas guide the Board's stewardship of the business and support our objective of delivering sustainable long-term shareholder value. Moving on now to look at some of this in more detail. To achieve that shareholder value objective, the Board remains firmly focused on disciplined capital allocation. That's underpinned by the strong free cash flow generated by our essential regulated infrastructure. Maintaining a strong balance sheet is central to that approach. We consider a credit rating of at least BBB or equivalent, appropriate for Chorus, and our capital management and financial policies will continue to support that position. A sustainable and growing dividend remains the core part of our capital management framework. We intend to grow the dividend at least in line with inflation while remaining within our policy range of 70%-90% of net operating cash flows after sustaining capital expenditure and net interest. At the same time, we'll continue to invest where we see opportunities to create value. We'll use the balance sheet to fund capital investment where it meets our investment hurdles with a clear discipline. Growth investment must create greater value for shareholders than returning that capital to them. The importance of dividends to the Board is reinforced on this slide. 11 years of steadily increasing dividends with a compound annual growth rate of 11%. Growth in dividends reflects steady results and increase in cash generation as we've transitioned from building to operating the fibre network with confidence in future cash flows. It also reflects our disciplined approach to using our balance sheet to invest without sacrificing dividends. Our strong FY 2026 financial results enabled total unimputed dividends of NZD 0.60 per share for the year, an increase of NZD 0.025 or 4.3% from the prior year. As we look ahead to FY 2027, we've provided dividend guidance of a minimum of NZD 0.62 per share and partially imputed. At NZD 0.62 a share, this would be an increase of 3.3% over FY 2026 and maintains our policy of a growing dividend in real terms. Standing back now to look at where we've been and where we're going. A bold vision got us to where we are in New Zealand today, and we want to continue that momentum. The benefits of fibre are real, measurable, and highly scalable. From a board perspective, our direction is clear and consistent. We are sticking to our core, owning and operating critical infrastructure and driving connectivity across New Zealand. The UFB build established that infrastructure platform. The focus now is on maximizing the return on that investment, continuing to grow fibre uptake from 76.2% today towards our 80% target by 2030, while managing the retirement of the copper network. For the Board, this is about overseeing that transition in a disciplined and considered way with no surprises. We want to ensure the business remains focused on what it does best while maintaining the resilience, reliability, and long-term capability of the network. As AI becomes increasingly embedded in our economy and everyday lives, the importance of that high-quality, reliable digital infrastructure like Chorus will only grow. The networks that enable the movement of the vast amounts of data are becoming ever more critical to economic productivity, innovation, and connectivity, reinforcing both the strategic importance and the long-term value of digital infrastructure. As we look ahead, the Board's focus is straightforward. Stick to our core business, continue driving connectivity across New Zealand, and maximizing the long-term value of this infrastructure for our customers, communities, and all of you as shareholders. To wrap up, I would like to thank all of you, all of our shareholders, and my board colleagues for your ongoing support, and I will now hand to Mark Aue for the CEO's address. Thank you, Mark. [Non-English content] Greetings and a warm welcome to all our shareholders online and those of us here with us in person. As Mark noted, we are pleased with the strong FY 2026 financial and operational performance, reflecting the resilience of our business model and a disciplined execution. Having reset our strategy in mid-2024, I am pleased with the progress we have made and the momentum of change that we continue to create. To recap this reset embedded an overarching purpose, reflecting the intergenerational role that we see Chorus plays in unleashing potential and enabling better futures for both our people and country. That purpose is supported by a clear aspiration in becoming a simplified all-fibre business with 80% uptake by 2030. Underpinning the strategy are four strategic pillars as LEAP that frame our priorities across Chorus. All are outcome-based and have provided the clarity and the specificity to guide Chorus over multiple horizons to a simpler, more efficient, and increasingly valuable infrastructure business. We are now firmly in Horizon 2 of that strategy. It is a four-year program through to the end of 2030, with a focus on growth, simplicity, and efficiency. Over the year, we have refined our view on adjacent growth opportunities. We have taken further steps to simplify the business, streamlining our plan suite, introducing new retail incentives, whilst continuing to use our core IT infrastructure to harness the benefits of AI-driven efficiencies. The decline of legacy copper network continues, and given the availability of alternative products, we now forecast a full retirement by 2028. We are confident our Horizon 3 outlook to 2030 as a simplified all-fibre business remains on track. This will be a significant achievement, having looked at other benchmark countries that remain well behind on both fibre deployment and uptake, and the simplification of legacy technologies that are no longer fit for purpose. As Mark highlighted earlier, while our financial results are important, they also reflect something deeper. Our overarching purpose isn't tokenistic. On the contrary, it drives decision-making and initiatives through Chorus. During the year, we clarified the purpose-led areas that matter most, as three interconnected pillars for connectivity, being future-fit, resilient, and equitable. Together, these bring the needs of our wider ecosystem and where we can create the most meaningful shared value. One example is our focus on driving digital inclusion with the launch of our Equity Fibre product. Fundamentally, we believe everyone deserves to benefit from the potential that fibre connectivity unlocks. By combining affordable fibre access with retail services capped at a maximum of NZD 30 per month, and having worked alongside community partners, we're helping to remove barriers to digital participation and creating lasting benefits for New Zealanders. Feedback to date has been incredibly positive, and we now have almost 4,000 connections on the plan and growing. Fibre uptake has continued to progress, reaching 76.2% at the end of September, and we see a clear pathway to achieving our ambition to reach 80% fibre uptake by 2030. The growth opportunity now sits with around 200,000 premises where a fibre ONT is already installed, and we can win the customer back. Another 200,000 brownfield and infill addresses where fibre is technically available, but the fibre ONT still needs to be installed to the premise. Our customer mix remains a strength, with 85% of our customers on plans of 500 Mb or higher, and 25% of our customers on 1 Gb plans. Our Hyperfibre plans of 2 Gb-8 Gb speeds also continue to gain momentum as our premium platform, with the growth in connections reflecting increasing demand from customers with higher data needs and the growing relevance of symmetrical speeds and low latency. We expect ongoing growth in those higher-speed services to be supported by increasing household data usage and emerging AI-driven upload requirements. Our ambition is to reach 80% address availability with around 70,000 Hyperfibre connections by 2030. In parallel, data consumption continues to grow strongly, reinforcing the importance of high-capacity fibre infrastructure. Average monthly fibre usage reached 741 GB per connection per month, continuing a multi-year trend of rising demand. Heavy usage is also increasing, with 21% of customers consuming more than 1 TB of data per month and 5% of our customers consuming more than 2 TB per month. More broadly, we continue to see the shape of consumer and large enterprise consumption evolving, and this only further plays to fibre's superior strengths. Beyond our core fibre network, we're continuing to expand and diversify our infrastructure portfolio, creating growth across connectivity, transport, and edge services. Several new products were launched through the year, including Unified Transport and Express Connect, which is available now in eight data centers. With the intent of expanding further through FY 2027, these services are designed to simplify our offering and speed to market for our customers. We continue to expand the fibre footprint where there is clear demand. During the year, we passed another 22,000 lots in new property developments, and we continue to target between 20,000 and 25,000 lots per year as we see the economy improving. Beyond these, we are assessing three new specific infrastructure opportunities. First, feasibility work is underway for a new subsea cable connecting the North and South Islands with greater high-speed capacity. Second, construction of our TimeSync network has also begun and will make New Zealand the first country to build a wholesale precision timing network of this kind. Third, we are establishing a trial of battery energy storage systems across selected Chorus sites that will help energy lines companies in managing demand during peak periods. Now, these initiatives are at different stages of development, but they all share a common approach, using our existing infrastructure and expertise to identify new sources of long-term value while remaining disciplined about where and how we will invest. Progress also continues on several initiatives across our legacy network. Copper connections declined by 48,000 during the year, with less than 40,000 connections in total now remaining across all of New Zealand, almost all of which are in areas where fibre is not available. Again, we estimate full retirement of the copper network by 2028. Given the pace of decline, we estimate that retirement by 2028, and this will continue to unlock efficiencies. In tandem, copper recycling has transitioned from a successful trial to a scaled operational program, contributing NZD 4 million in EBITDA for the FY 2026 year. With metals pricing at historic highs, our estimates for cumulative returns have been updated and are now in the NZD 50 million-NZD 70 million range from where we started the program of recycling back in FY 2025 out to 2030. Also, as the copper network is retired, we are progressing our property optimization program. This includes the potential reuse of property and new adjacent revenue streams, and the focus is not only on value realization, but also on reducing future operating costs and avoiding unnecessary capital expenditure. In regulation, we have made a material step forward. The final report from the government telco sector review highlighted 22 opportunities and recommendations to simplify legacy regulatory settings, including the removal of prior shareholder caps. This is an outcome that we have been advocating for some time and will remove an unnecessary layer of complexity. Today's meeting enables us to work through the required formal steps, including seeking shareholder approval through one of the upcoming resolutions. We continue to push for change in copper services, actively working with government and industry stakeholders to establish a clear and efficient pathway for retiring copper services in areas where fibre is not available. This obviously has a cost benefit to us, but equally provides certainty to both the market and to customers. Following the New Zealand general election, we will continue our engagement with government and industry stakeholders to advance this change. Meanwhile, planning for our next regulatory reporting period is well underway. Given it is our third and has been extended to five years, the regulatory regime is clearly maturing. The verification process has started with a proposal due to the commission in August next year, with the final decision in August 2028. Looking forward, data centers and AI are creating the next major wave of demand for network connectivity, and these long-term drivers continue to support fibre growth opportunities. While AI isn't yet a significant contributor to traffic volumes in New Zealand, it is growing exponentially and is estimated to equate to 30% of all global traffic over the coming decade. We're seeing growing investment here in local data center development and compute capacity. Equally, we expect growing AI adoption will drive a material shift in upload-intensive data traffic, demand for resilience, low-latency throughput, and scalability. This makes Chorus' fibre network footprint a strategic asset, able to meet the next generation of digital demand, and one that is difficult to replicate. To close, our FY 2026 result demonstrates the strength of the Chorus business model, with growth in fibre connections, solid earnings and cash flows, an increased value of our asset base, and returning more value to our shareholders through a higher dividend. As we move further into Horizon 2, our focus remains clear: driving fibre uptake, simplifying the business, improving efficiency, and pursuing disciplined growth opportunities. We have a clear view of where future growth can come from, and we're building a pipeline of opportunities beyond our core business, but we'll remain disciplined. Any investment must leverage our capabilities, be strategically aligned, and deliver scalable returns. We're increasingly an all-fibre business. With copper retirement firmly in sight, we're unlocking new opportunities to simplify our operations and realize further value from our asset base. Our FY 2027 guidance remains unchanged, and we remain very confident in the long-term outlook as demand for high-capacity, low-latency connectivity continues to reinforce the advantage of scalable fibre networks. The future itself is increasingly digital, AI-enabled, and dependent on fibre, and Chorus is uniquely positioned to power that digital future. On that note, I'll pass back to Mark. Thank you. Thanks, Mark. We've now come to the resolutions outlined in the Notice of Meeting. We have Kate Jorgensen retiring by rotation under the NZX Listing Rules and standing for re-election. We also have Paul Reid standing for election. The Board unanimously supports the re-election and election of each of those directors. A brief bio for each of them was included in the Notice of Meeting. The third resolution relates to the fixing of the fees and expenses of our auditors, KPMG. The fourth resolution is a special resolution and relates to changes to Chorus' constitution. Voting today will be conducted by way of a poll on all items of business. As a reminder for those of you online and eligible to vote, you can cast your vote by clicking on the vote tab and selecting your voting directions. Your vote is cast when the tick appears. There is no need to hit a submit or enter button, as the vote is automatically recorded. You do, however, have the ability to change your vote up until the time I declare voting closed. I will give you a warning before I move to close voting. If you wish to ask a question, please press on the Q&A icon. This will open a new screen. At the bottom of that screen, there is a section for you to type your question. Once you have finished typing, please hit the send button. You can also ask general questions that will be addressed at the end of the meeting. We now move to resolution one, the re-election of Kate Jorgensen as a Director. She retires by rotation under the NZX Listing Rules and offers herself for re-election. I now invite Kate to address the meeting. [Non-English content] Good morning, everyone. [Non-English content] Kate Jorgensen [Non-English content]. My name is Kate Jorgensen. I am pleased to have the opportunity to seek your support for my re-election as an Independent Director of Chorus. I was first elected in 2020, and a great deal has changed since then. Over that time, digital connectivity has become an increasingly important part of everyday life in New Zealand, reinforcing the critical role Chorus plays as an essential infrastructure provider. We can see that in the continued growth in connections and data usage, with average monthly data usage on Chorus's fibre network up some 70% since 2020 and 11% year-on-year. Our fibre network positions us strongly for the next wave of digital demand from AI and data centres, while continuing to support a connected, thriving economy and a more sustainable New Zealand. As our world becomes increasingly digital, we have an opportunity to help more New Zealanders benefit from the connectivity that fibre provides. I believe Chorus has an important role to play in helping people and their whānau participate fully in being a digital citizen and in our digital future. In March 2026, we launched Equity Fibre 100, an affordable wholesale broadband product for eligible low-income households, and this reflects our ambition to contribute to positive intergenerational change across New Zealand. It is in that context I would like to reflect on the experience and perspective I bring to Chorus. I bring significant financial, audit, governance, and commercial experience to the Board, working within the telecommunications, infrastructure, and financial sectors in New Zealand. I am a current Director of Kiwibank and Suncorp New Zealand, as well as a trustee for the Harbour Hospice Trust. I have also had extensive executive career, including CFO roles at Vodafone New Zealand, KiwiRail, and at Fletcher Building's Infrastructure Division. These roles have given me a fundamental understanding of the strategic and financial discipline required to efficiently operate large-scale infrastructure businesses. Building on that experience during my time at Chorus, I was appointed as Chair of the Audit and Risk Management Committee in 2022. The Audit and Risk Management Committee plays a crucial role in maintaining the financial discipline to support growth and deliver sustainable shareholder value, as well as ensuring Chorus is well-placed to navigate existing and emerging challenges, both in New Zealand and offshore. I see my experience as adding strategic value and institutional knowledge to Chorus as we focus on operating and maintaining its world-class fibre network. With your support, I look forward to continuing working with my fellow directors and the Chorus team to achieve our purpose of enabling better digital futures for Aotearoa. [Non-English content] Thank you very much. Thank you, Kate. I now open up to questions in the room for Kate. Kristel, have we received any questions online for Kate or about resolution one? No questions have been received on resolution one. Thanks. I now move as an ordinary resolution that Ms. Kate Jorgensen be reelected as a Chorus director. The Board fully supports Kate's reelection. If you've not already done so, I ask that shareholders vote on resolution one. We now move to resolution two, the election of Paul Reid as a Director. The Board fully supports Paul's election, and I now invite Paul to address the meeting. Thanks, Mark. [Non-English content] Good morning, shareholders. Having recently joined the Board of Chorus, it is a privilege to stand for election and seek your support as an Independent Director. I would like to briefly cover two things, what I believe I can contribute and bring to Chorus, and a little bit about myself and my background. First of all, why Chorus? Much of my governance career has been spent on boards of businesses that New Zealanders rely on every day. Christchurch Airport is a good example, New Zealand Post, and more recently, Foodstuffs South Island. Chorus sits squarely in that category. Its fibre network is a critical national infrastructure. It underpins so much of what we take for granted, whether it is from working from home, running your business, critical healthcare and educational services, staying connected with your whānau and friends. Chorus is part of a global infrastructure that connects New Zealanders to the rest of the world. For a director, being part of those decisions that shape that infrastructure economically, socially, and technologically is both a privilege and a real responsibility. Secondly, what do I bring to a Chorus board? I have more than 30 years of commercial experience, including three CEO roles, more than a decade in governance across publicly listed, Crown-owned entities, cooperative, privately owned, VC, PE-backed, family office, friends and family-backed, all in, several of them in highly regulated industries. I have mortgaged my house to build a business. I know the value of a dollar and how you need to be careful how you deploy that money. I also have a mathematical background, and who would have thought programming back in 1994 and self-learning algorithms would today be called AI? That has led me to some interesting career paths, including executive roles in MetService, Air New Zealand, and Carter Holt Harvey. So I bring a depth of governance experience in growth technology companies, having chaired and led a number of software businesses. These include ASX-listed Volpara Health Technologies, where I was Chair, and Virsae Limited, which operates in the unified communication space. I have also served on the boards of Datacom, Software Education, and NZX-listed Comvita. Together, this experience provides me with a challenger growth mindset, along with the financial and commercial acumen that is required. On my current board roles, I have been a Director of Christchurch Airport since 2018, where I chair the Property and Commercial Committee. That role has given me really deep understanding and appreciation of how long-life infrastructure assets are governed and funded and grown by balancing the interests of shareholders, customers, regulators, and communities. As Deputy Chair of New Zealand Post, I am working closely with the business through a major operating model transition, moving from a legacy network while maintaining our social license and delivering for our shareholder. Those are challenges that Chorus understands really, really well. Together, that experience gives me a practical understanding of the infrastructure, tech, capital discipline, and what shareholders in a listed company rightly expect. Finally, I am confident I can complement, sorry, the Board's existing capability and bring a fresh perspective. Chorus has a clear strategy, a strong management team, and with your support, I look forward to working alongside my fellow directors to deliver predictable and growing returns for shareholders and better outcomes for all New Zealanders. Thank you. Thank you, Paul. I now open up to questions in the room for Paul. Question down here, Oliver. Thank you. Thank you, Mark. I am Oliver Mander from Investors Association New Zealand. Paul, you have highlighted your experience really well in that summary in terms of your connections to other boards of other major organizations in New Zealand. What assurance can you provide shareholders that, from a workload perspective, you will have the capacity to operate effectively in the context of Chorus, given the significant changes underway at New Zealand Post and the growth experience at Christchurch Airport? Assuming this is working. Yes, a really good question. I have actually been in the process of rebalancing my portfolio too, because I recognize that as an issue. in May next year, I actually rotate off Christchurch Airport after nine years on the Board, so I have got a little slight transition in there. It was kind of one of those decisions, I really wanted to join this board and organization, but six months' time would have been perfect, but you cannot actually control those situations. Yes, it is a fair point, and it is well under control, and I would like some of my time back as well, with grandchildren and children, et cetera. Appreciate that. Thanks, Oliver. Thanks, Paul. Kristel, have we received any questions online for Paul or about resolution two? We have one question online from Stephen Mayne for Paul. "Which recruitment firm assisted with recruiting Paul? Was it a competitive process, and did Paul know any of our directors or KPMG before engaging with the recruitment process?" There are several questions in there. I think Mark might better answer the actual recruitment process part. I can answer KPMG. I do not think I know anybody from KPMG. I am sorry, I am not being offensive to KPMG in there, but there are no prior relationships in there. I am Chair of Virsae Group for the last five years or six years, and Mark used to be a Director of Virsae. So I have professionally been involved with Mark Cross before, but that is the only relationship with any of the current directors, or none with the current management team either. Mark, I will let you. Yeah, no, it is actually, thanks for the question, Stephen. It is probably a good opportunity to give some insight to all shareholders on our election process. So we used an external search firm, Propero, and the way the process starts is we as a board look at our skills matrix and look at what skills might we need for the next five, 10 years of Chorus. So we go through quite a process, and then we craft the profile of the type of director that we think best suits the needs of the company. That profile then goes to the search firm who help to craft an external brief to potential candidates. Then they put together a long list, a very long list of the type of people that might fit that profile, which we contribute to and review and narrow down. Then we go to a shorter list that is then qualified by people, whether they might be interested in the role. Then we narrow down to a short list of people that we interview. It is very much a competitive and detailed process that ends up with a preferred director that then all the directors meet. Then we selected Paul in this regard. So it is very much an independently run with board input, but the key point is starting with the type of director that we think Chorus needs over the next 5-10 years. Any more questions? Yes, we have another question for Paul from [Michael Heliger]. Paul, what is your vision for Chorus moving forward? That is a fairly big question, and Mark has outlined the company strategy, and I would really just like to lather it up a little bit more. I look at Chorus as a two-sided platform. It is a critical piece of infrastructure that is connecting two parties, whether it is B2B or B2C. For me, I see it is a key enabler of the fabric of how we live and operate, both from a personal perspective and as a company perspective. That creates value, both socioeconomic value, financial value, et cetera, for New Zealanders. Being part of that is just a great opportunity and a great strategy to be part of. How I play that out is, when I think about AI and I think about everything that is happening, it is just more than connectivity. Us being able to build an ecosystem in New Zealand that takes advantage of this new technology and leads the world, like we do in many sectors, is for me a key part of our strategy. We may not be the ones actually doing it, but we have the knowledge and thankfully the financial capability to help build out all of these different sectors in New Zealand, whether it is in Christchurch, in the med tech facilities that are being built down there, or the hubs that are going into the technology space into Auckland or down in Stratford in Taranaki, where I am originally, whānau is from Waitara. We are part of that, and we are part of that strategy, and we help enable that. That is part of the vision that I share with the team, and really looking forward to being part of. Thanks, Kristel. Any other questions? No further questions. Great. Thank you for the questions. I now move as an ordinary resolution that Mr. Paul Reid be elected as a Chorus director. If you have not already done so, I ask that shareholders vote on resolution two. We now move to resolution three, the auditor's fees and expenses. In accordance with the Companies Act, Chorus's current auditors, KPMG, have been automatically reappointed as Chorus's auditor. Under that act, auditor fees and expenses must be fixed in the manner determined at the annual meeting. Do we have any questions in the room about resolution three? No? Kristel, have we received any questions online about resolution three? We have one question online from Stephen Mayne. "KPMG has audited Chorus for 14 years, having served as the company's external auditor since its establishment. We ran a competitive tender last year and then chose to reappoint KPMG shortly before the confidentiality and whistleblower issues engulfed the firm in Australia. Did all of the global Big Four auditing firms tender, and does the Chair think we may have made a different decision if the tender was conducted 12 months later? Also, how did both KPMG and Chorus respond to the issues in Australia as they came to light?" Okay. Just, I think it's been touched on that we ran a full tender process for our external and internal audits in 2025, and that was run as a professional procurement exercise with our colleagues in the procurement area and involved the finance team. I will not comment on who tendered in that, but that was a very thorough process where everyone was examined closely, and we did appoint KPMG again, noting that one of the unique things about Chorus is that we both have a financial audit need and a regulatory audit need, and there are a lot of synergies in having the same firm do both because there's a lot of connection. So we appointed that after a very thorough process, and we also appointed EY as new internal auditors. Again, I think it's good to have two separate firms doing external and internal. That was a very thorough process. Now, when it comes to the latest, the news about KPMG in Australia, we have had very fulsome and transparent discussions with KPMG here in New Zealand, which is a separate firm, shares the same name, and we are very comfortable with the responses and the assurances we received from KPMG. So for us, it was important that we did that, but otherwise, we just continue on with KPMG as our external auditor. Thanks, Mark. No further questions. Thank you. I now move as an ordinary resolution that the Board be authorized to fix the fees and expenses of KPMG as auditor. If you have not already done so, I ask that shareholders vote on resolution three. We now move to the final resolution four, the special resolution regarding the replacement of Chorus's constitution. To give some brief background, resolution four relates to the removal of shareholder restrictions in our constitution that were put in place when we separated from Telecom 15 years ago in 2011. One of the recommendations from the government's Telecommunications Regulatory Review earlier this year was to allow removal of those legacy restrictions as they place an unnecessary layer of regulation on top of existing legislative frameworks like the Overseas Investment Act or the Takeovers Code. We are now seeking to replace our existing constitution with an updated version that both removes the shareholder restrictions and makes a minor change to allow more flexibility for the appointment of proxies. More background detail was provided in the Notice of Meeting. Do we have any questions in the room about resolution four? Kristel, have we received any questions online? We have one question online from Stephen Mayne. "A New Zealand public company holds an AGM, and there are four items of business to vote on. This is both exciting and unusual. There have been a surprising number of defeats of constitutional amendments proposed by ASX-listed companies in Australia, including 17 failed attempts to amend constitutions to allow for virtual-only AGMs, which have all been opposed by the proxy advisors." Did any proxy advisor raise concerns about our proposed new constitution, and has there been a material against vote on the proxies? If not, well played and enjoy your future ownership freedom. Thanks, Stephen. No, I can say that in any discussions or recommendations from proxies, there have been no concerns or recommendations against, and certainly in my discussions with major shareholders about this, nothing but full support. In fact, the way I would put it is, if we were putting out to you today a special constitution that had the shareholder cap in it, I could imagine there may be some resistance and concern. Actually removing it, to me, puts us on the same footing as any other NZX, ASX-listed company, because in fact, at the moment, we do have a non-standard constitution for that reason. Okay, I now move as a special resolution to revoke Chorus' constitution and replace it with the replacement constitution described in explanatory note three of the Notice of Annual Meeting, with effect from the day that is three business days following the annual meeting. If you've not already done so, I ask that shareholders vote on resolution four. I now invite shareholders to raise any other questions, comments, or discussion, whether related to any of the presentations, the financial statements, or the governance or management of Chorus. While we're waiting for people to raise any items of general business, an email address for your feedback is here on the screen. We welcome your feedback at any stage. Kristel, have we received any general questions? We do have a couple of questions from Stephen Mayne. The first one, "An article in BusinessDesk in August on the recent government debt sale stated that we still have NZD 3.2 billion in debt, which seems high when our market cap is only AUD 2.81 billion. Once we've bedded down the new constitution, why don't we do an equity raising to pay down the debt, potentially to a strategic cornerstone investor who might even be prepared to pay a premium now that the government veto has been removed? Do you think Telstra or NBN Co across the ditch might be interested?" Okay, so there's two different currencies mentioned there on the debt and the market cap, but I won't recalculate. What I would say is I'd repeat the capital management policy that we've expressed before, which is that we're currently a BBB rating, which is as you may know, from external rating agency Standard & Poor's, which rates our ability to service our debt. And BBB is an investment-grade rating, so that gives some sense of where we're at in terms of the amount of debt that we've got. As you'll also be aware, Standard & Poor's have reviewed their criteria for that rating and indicated that we have a lot more headroom on that debt to maintain a BBB flat rating. And Moody's are in the process of revising theirs and will be coming out in due course with changes to that. So for now, we're very comfortable with our debt. We obviously look at both debt in proportion to our earnings, and we also look at debt in terms of the interest on that debt in relation to our earnings. And we're very conscious, obviously, we're in a rising interest rate environment, so we need to make sure our debt costs are hedged. But otherwise, we're very comfortable with that rating, and any policy changes will be notified to shareholders in due course. Do we have any other questions? Thank you, Mark. The second general question from Stephen May. "I've raised the question of New Zealand companies introducing an Australian-style remuneration report voting resolution at more than 60 New Zealand public company AGMs over the past four years, and still only have Fletcher Building to show for all that lobbying. Chair Mark Cross didn't rule it out last year and said they would have an open mind going forward. Is he prepared to really open his mind and commit to do it for the first time in 2027? Surely the proxy advisors and our largest shareholder, Australian industry fund UniSuper, would welcome such a move. If we are 18.5% owned by the super fund for Australian university employees, why not adopt Australian-style remuneration voting reporting?" Thank you. Yes, this does come up from time to time. It came up last year, but I think at the moment, we're a New Zealand domiciled company. We're obviously dual- listed. We're very comfortable and are very open to feedback from proxies and shareholders as to what they would like to see. Generally, what we've tried to do is each year to respond to any suggestions or requests on disclosure to continue to enhance the disclosures of our remuneration structures, and we've done that over the years and will continue to listen to shareholders in that regard. We generally don't have any concerns about that. We don't have concerns. We get often some positive feedback on our structures. We don't have particularly complicated remuneration structures in this company, so for now, we don't intend to do that. I also note that the Investors Association New Zealand is actually, or does not support that for New Zealand companies for a whole variety of reasons, one of which being the general, the different context that New Zealand companies operate under that don't necessarily need a remuneration report to support. We'll continue to do that, but as I say, very open to feedback on how we can improve our remuneration reporting. Thanks, Mark. We've got another general question online from [Michael Heliger]. "Chorus has done a great job with the UFB network, and as you state, it is a compelling marketplace offer. There has been no announcement this year around UFB network build, and you appear to have pivoted to data centers and business-centric offerings. Can you please explain where you see the UFB network build moving forward for expanding to further established areas?" Yes, this has come up in the past, and I think our position in the past is we are very interested in taking the fibre network further. As everyone would appreciate that obviously the costs of taking out that network all the way to 100% of the population get increasingly expensive. There comes a point at which we as a company on shareholders' behalf can't sustain, can't support the returns that we'd get on that. So we have looked to government to support that, just as they did in UFB, and obviously the government at the moment has other priorities. We will continue to push for that, but as I say, going back to the theme of financial discipline, we couldn't justify on your behalf taking the network much further. Instead, we are actually focused on filling up the network that we have to maximize the return that we have on that investment. Thanks, Mark. There is no other general questions online. Great. Thank you. Thank you, Mark. Oliver Mander from Investors Association. You have obviously got a good story to tell in terms of how you have sustained the board capability over the years i n terms of skills and how those skills have evolved for the company strategy as it has evolved. My question is that at the moment, you disclose a collective skills matrix that doesn't do justice to the individual skills that each of your board members has. Can you commit to reconsidering that for next year in terms of disclosing those individual skills, better telling the story, and providing better assurance for shareholders as to the individual skills of each director and the role that they play? I can commit to reconsider, but not commit to doing it. How's that? That's fair. I think, as I say, we've always taken, I think, your feedback and other shareholders' feedback and will continue to evolve our reporting. I guess we'd have to think about what's the problem we're trying to solve in going individual. Not that any individual director has any concerns with it's just saying collectively, the Board is a collective. So there'll be some who will be stronger, some will have less experience in those areas, but collectively it's stronger, which I think is the more important picture. We'll certainly keep that in the front of our mind. Thank you, Mark. While we understand the collective responsibility, of course, as shareholders, we elect directors individually. Yes. There is some balance around that as well. Thank you for your comment. Okay. Thank you. Any other questions in the room? No? Okay. We will just get you the mic there, sir. I saw that there were some 700 employees and 900 technicians you have. Why do you not convert the technicians into full-time employees? My question is this, actually. Mm-hmm. So you— And how, why you need that type of different structure for them, that they are identified as technicians? Yes. You talk about our contracted workforce. Yes. That has always been the approach of Chorus over the years. One, because obviously the amount of build ebbs and flows, so it is better to go to a contracted workforce that can be flexible with that rather than retaining a whole permanent block. Particularly as you have seen our business transition from build to operate now, our needs are different. As we exit out of the copper network, our needs are different, and obviously as we go to all fibre. To work with some top-class contractors to help us manage that ebb and flow is an important part for us. Actually, my brother worked as a technician for Chorus in the Wellington region. The next question is because he wanted to know, that Chorus had a phase two for the rural access, rural fibre network. Are you happy with your phase two, or is phase two complete, properly covered, rural areas of New Zealand? I might look to Mark in terms of the phase of that build-out complete of the rural fibre. Thank you. Thanks for the question. If I just step back for a second. 87% of population and premises are covered by fibre today. As one of the earlier questions also covered, that ability to expand further, the further we get out of urban, the costs for deployment and installation per premise get exceedingly high. We made a proposal to the government to go to 95% of population coverage, and that had a framework that almost is a shared cost, effectively, again, a replication, if you like, of UFB, of a public and private partnership. As Mark alluded to, I think given the election, the priorities are different at the moment. We will always be the biggest advocate for fibre expansion. We see a use case definitely out to 95% of that population. To your point around that rural expansion, at the moment, we have finished what we would do. We would like to go further. That does not need to be 95% straight away. That could be going from 87% to 90%, and that would cover another 120-odd thousand homes. Again, we will be the biggest advocate for it, and I think, hopefully on the other side of an election, we can have another conversation with the government, because the benefits of expanding fibre are really clear. Thank you. Welcome. Thanks. Any other questions in the room? If not, ladies and gentlemen, I think that concludes our discussion on the items of business. I will be closing the voting system shortly. Please ensure that you have cast your vote on all resolutions. For those in the room, please make sure you have ticked the appropriate box to vote on each resolution, being for, against, or abstain for each item, and sign the form. Please do not tick the proxy discretion box. If you are unsure how to complete your form, raise your hand and someone will help you. Once you have completed and signed your form, please place it in the ballot boxes that are being passed around. I will now pause briefly to allow you time to finalize those votes. Okay, voting is now closed. The results of these votes will be released to the stock exchanges after this meeting. There being no other matters of business, I thank you for connecting with us today. I now declare the meeting closed. For those of you here with us in Auckland, I now invite you to meet the directors and executives over some light refreshments. Thank you for joining us today. Much appreciated.