Significant Transactions

A key differentiation between Computershare and its competitors is in its ability to offer fully integrated services to issuers, shareholders and their employees. The list that follows contains transactions that include elements of our varied service offerings.

• BHP Billiton Group – integrated global service offering of investor services together with employee plans, analytics and document services
• Foster’s Group Limited – integrated global service offering of investor services, employee plan services, analytics and document services
• Selected as the preferred tenderer for the processing on behalf of Residential Tenancies Bond Authority
• MIM Holdings – processed in excess of 38,000 proxies in connection with the scheme of arrangement between MIM and Xstrata
• Promina – integrated service offering to one of the largest floats globally, including investor services, employee plans, document services and analytics
• Constellation/BRL Hardy merger
• CSR Limited demerger
• WMC Limited demerger
• Coles Myer AGM – complex action with over 260,000 proxies processed

We further developed our fixed interest business (both wholesale and retail products), and experienced a 50% increase in holders under management. Business wins included:

• South Australia Financing Authority – last of the Australian State Government borrowing authorities to sign with Computershare
• The rights to manage the debenture register for a large retail credit provider
• Consolidated penetration of our products within Commonwealth Bank of Australia (eg CBFC Ltd)

Priorities for the Coming Year

As we plan for the year ahead, our strategy will be to continue to deliver cost reductions where possible and to seek even greater improvements in the standard of our services to issuers, shareholders and employees. Crossselling to our base of 1200 issuers will also continue.

Debt instrument registration has provided growth and a good counterbalance to investment cycles and we will develop our capacity and services in this important arena.

Further areas of continued development are planned in the key area of electronic shareholder communications, including ComputersharePepper SRM.

Finally, we will further build on our human resource practices to develop ‘employer of choice’ platforms that will include family friendly work practices, increased staff reward and recognition programs set against defined goals and ongoing training and support.

The Year in Review

Coming into the year, our strategy was built around generating growth through new clients and moving existing registry clients onto our fully outsourced plan service platform. This strategy was complemented with a drive to further enhance our technology and to develop increased specialisation of job functions with our staff.

This strategy has proved successful and is reflected in our statistics. To begin with, there were no major withdrawals or decreases in the period, highlighting the continued popularity of employee share ownership despite the decline in market conditions. During the year client numbers on full outsource have grown by 31%.

Participants have increased from 73,000 at the beginning of the year to a total of 124,000 by financial year-end (an increase of 70%). The value of plans under management has increased by 22% to $475 million.

During the course of the year, Plan Managers facilitated over $100 million worth of share purchases on behalf of participating employees.

Going into the end of the financial year, we assisted 20 clients in respect of over 30,000 eligible staff, to either launch or re-offer their plans for the forthcoming tax year. Only 3 of these clients were with us at the same time last year.

To promote effective change in employee ownership rules, Computershare co-founded The Employee Ownership Group with other ASX listed companies and professional service firms. The group is actively involved in lobbying Government and has already met with Australian Senators Minchin and Alston and Minister Abbott.

Computershare’s Managing Director for Plans in Asia Pacific region, Mr Geoff Price has also been elected to the board of Global Equity Organisation (GEO). GEO is a nonprofit organisation that aims at providing a forum for an open exchange of the latest information about equitybased employee compensation in the global community.