Good morning, and welcome to ASX's results briefing for the first half of the financial year ending 31st of December 2025. Thank you for taking part in this virtual presentation, and I hope you're well wherever you're joining us.

My name's Helen Lofthouse, and I'm the Managing Director and CEO of ASX, and I'm pleased to be presenting these results today along with ASX's Chief Financial Officer, Andrew Tobin. I'd like to acknowledge the Gadigal people of the Eora Nation, who are the traditional custodians of the country where I'm speaking today.

We recognize their continuing connection to the land and waters, and pay our respects to elders past and present, and we extend that respect to any First Nations people joining us today. Before discussing the results, I wanted to address the CEO transition.

On Tuesday, we announced that I'll be stepping down as Managing Director and CEO of ASX in May this year. It's been a privilege to serve ASX for 11 years, almost 4 of which as CEO at an organization that's at the heart of Australia's financial markets.

It's been a challenging time for ASX, with some tough decisions along the way. I'm particularly proud of the achievements we've made on our transformation journey during my time as CEO.

It's been a rewarding, but also demanding journey with enormous personal growth. Having reflected on what ASX needs for its next phase, together with the Board, I've agreed that this is the right time for a new person to bring fresh energy to the work ahead.

We've made great strides, even as we've faced challenges. I want to thank everyone at ASX for their dedication and support, and our customers for their partnership.

As you'll have seen in the announcement, a comprehensive process is now underway to identify the next CEO. Moving now to today's presentation, it'll cover 6 areas, and then Andrew and I will take your questions.

I'll begin by talking about highlights from our first-half results, before Andrew provides a more detailed view. The main focus of my presentation will be on the outcomes and commitments arising from the ASIC inquiry panel's interim report, and an update on our transformation strategy.

I'll then provide an update on progress on some of our customer-driven growth opportunities, and conclude with some observations on market outlook and its implications for ASX. We'll finish with Q&A.

Let's begin with some highlights from our first-half results. As you may have seen, we announced the headlines of our unaudited first-half results on the 28th of January, alongside updated FY '26 total expense growth guidance.

Today, I'm pleased to provide a more detailed view of our results. ASX delivered a solid financial performance in the half, with particularly strong revenue growth.

We reported operating revenue of $602.8 million, which is up 11.2% compared to the prior corresponding period, or PCP. Underlying net profit after tax increased by 3.9%, and was impacted by the growth in total expenses.

Statutory profit was up by 8.3%, noting that significant items impacted the PCP. The Board has determined a fully franked interim dividend of 101.8 cents per share, reflecting a payout ratio of 75% of underlying NPAT, which, as we flagged in our announcement in December, is at the bottom of our updated guidance range.

Our EBITDA margin decreased by 180 basis points to 61.4%, primarily impacted by the growth in total expenses, including the cost of our response to the ASIC inquiry. Underlying return on equity was stable at 13.5%.

Moving now to the ASIC inquiry. The ASIC inquiry panel released its interim report in December last year.

The interim report represents a critical inflection point for ASX. It contains some serious interim findings, and we've taken the time to reflect deeply on the primacy of ASX's stewardship role as an operator of critical market infrastructure.

For us, stewardship means that we are trusted custodians who are accountable for delivering long-term, sustainable outcomes for the Australian economy, supporting innovation and growth. Every day, we run critical market infrastructure that sits at the heart of Australia's financial markets and supports the stability of our financial system.

Our markets help direct capital to where it's needed, driving Australia's economy and helping our customers and investors grow. With this role comes significant responsibility to manage risk well, build resilient systems for the long term, and continue innovating to prepare Australia's markets for the future.

ASX has enjoyed a history of solid financial success and notable commercial and service innovation. This has been an enduring strength for us, but it has not always served as well.

At times, it's allowed a level of complacency and insularity to surface, instead of benchmarking ourselves to the highest standards. In more recent years, we've had too many instances where our customers and regulators have had their confidence tested.

Our challenges have been many years in the making. While there've been material changes over the past 3 years, we're taking immediate steps to make further changes, which will likely require a multiyear effort.

We're committed to building an ASX that is sustainably different into the future. The ASIC inquiry panel's interim report is tough reading, but it's fair.

The inquiry process and the interim report have prompted us to carefully consider why some parts of our transformation strategy haven't progressed as quickly as we would have liked, and what cultural factors have made it challenging to achieve. The panel's interim report states that it contains the substantive conclusions that will comprise the basis of their final report, which is to be released by the end of March this year.

ASIC proposed a strategic package of actions for ASX to address the recommendations that the report contained. We've committed to delivering these actions, and I'll talk about how we're doing this in a bit more detail shortly.

Importantly, the inquiry panel also identifies the need for a new supervisory approach, which places greater emphasis on delivering outcomes that can benefit the whole market, with open, constructive engagement from all parties. Implementing our commitments to ASIC is a high priority for us.

As we said at our announcement on the 28th of January, we'll deliver our commitments plan to ASIC by the end of this month, and we're already getting on with delivering the outcomes. First, we're creating a clear, dedicated governance structure for our clearing and settlement functions.

It will promote the independence of and responsible investment in each of the clearing and settlement facilities to support financial system stability. All ASX Limited directors have now stepped down from the clearing and settlement facility boards, which now comprise only independent non-executive directors.

These boards will also be supported by dedicated resources, as well as clearly defined shared services support from ASX Group. Our aim is to bring greater independence while maintaining the benefits for these entities and our customers of being part of the ASX Group.

Our second commitment is to reset the Accelerate program. This is a vehicle delivering long-term, enterprise-level change to enhance how ASX delivers on its stewardship of critical market infrastructure, embedding risk management excellence, resilience, and sustainable business operations as standard practice.

We are conducting a strategic reset of this program to align with our regulators, to set appropriately aspirational work stream target states, and with an additional governance and independence work stream to address key findings from the interim inquiry report. Work on this reset is underway, and we'll aim to agree our final plan with our regulators by the end of June this year.

I'll talk in more detail about our approach shortly. Third, ASX will accumulate an additional $150 million above our current net tangible asset value by the 30th of June 2027.

This capital charge is expected to be funded by lower dividend payments for at least the next 3 dividends at 75% of underlying NPAT, the bottom end of our revised payout ratio range. We also intend to operate a discounted dividend reinvestment plan for at least the next 3 dividends.

This work is being delivered as part of a strategy, investment, and capital work stream as we refresh our strategy and ensure that we have the right investment plans in place to support it. It's important that our people demonstrate behaviors and decision-making that are aligned with our role as a steward of critical market infrastructure.

ASX's leaders are expected to model these behaviors, which are now part of our performance and remuneration structures, to ensure that these are deeply embedded and enduring in our organization. Our Board have an intense focus on this area of uplift, which we're delivering as part of the culture, capability, and capacity work stream in the Accelerate program.

Finally, we welcome the inquiry panel's recommendation for a revised regulatory approach that provides strong alignment to deliver outcomes that can benefit the entire market. This involves uplifting our own regulatory engagement, too.

The ASIC inquiry panel is expecting to publish a final report by the end of March, and we welcome further insights that it may provide. Now I'll focus on some important milestones that we've achieved in the past 3 years as part of our transformation.

So 3 years ago, we launched our strategy to transform ASX, and I'm proud of the progress that we've made in many areas during my time as CEO. The inquiry panel's interim report underscores an even greater urgency to the transformation that we're pursuing.

The investments we've already made in ASX through each of our strategic pillars have been important, I want to focus on some key ones today. We've significantly reduced our technology risk, and are building future-ready technology by delivering our modernization roadmap.

This includes the delivery of key ASX-wide capabilities, such as our data, digital, and observability platforms, as well as cloud services. These provide reusable capabilities for our critical services that are delivering scalability, resilience, security, and best-in-class technology for ASX and our customers.

We're partnering with our customers to evolve our offering and shape the future of financial markets. I won't list all of these new customer-driven initiatives, as there are many, but some examples include the increase in trading opportunities from the creation of a post-auction trading session for our cash markets, and the delinking of the bond roll, driving greater liquidity in our rates futures market.

We've also added environmental futures and debt market data products to our offering. We've been undertaking some key reforms in our listings market, as we look to play a leadership role in strengthening Australia's public markets.

We're enhancing our data and digital capability with a new platform that makes trusted data accessible, securely managed, and integrated with analytics. Over time, we aim for all of our key data to be on this platform, with AI to provide new insights for our customers to help them make decisions.

Finally, as part of our commitment to invest in our people and ASX's culture, we now have a modern workplace experience here at our new head office in Sydney. As I said earlier, the ASIC inquiry panel's interim report is a critical inflection point for ASX.

It comes at a time when markets and technology are changing fast. As a Board and executive team, we are reflecting on our strategy, and where changes may be needed to reflect the changing environment and our future aspirations.

It's an opportunity to focus on the next horizon, and on innovation for a future-ready exchange to power a stronger economy, while also incorporating learnings and feedback from our stakeholders. Our strategy refresh will reflect our special position in the Australian economy, and in supporting financial system stability.

We run critical market infrastructure every day, and the financial markets depend on us. We'll continue to focus on partnering with our customers, and innovating to deliver the solutions that they need to prosper.

An important part of our strategy refresh is our role in shaping and stewarding the future of Australia's financial markets, and how we deliver them to the world. Tokenization of assets, digital currencies, real-time trading and settlement, and instant movement of collateral around the world are all important developments which we're exploring.

The Board and executive team are taking this important work forward together, and I know it will continue to evolve with the contributions of a new CEO in due course. ASX's technology underpins the daily operations of our markets and services.

We've taken a strategic approach to our long-term investment in technology, and this is delivering the enterprise capabilities we need now, as well as supporting innovation and scale into the future. Our technology strategy is centered on core enterprise platforms, which provide our key ASX-wide services, and are delivered as part of the major projects in our modernization roadmap.

These projects are not just about replacing the technology that we have; they're building our future capability, flexibility, and speed to market as markets evolve. We're leveraging leading global capability through our technology partnerships, so that we can keep pace with emerging trends, innovation, and best practice.

We partner with a leading global cloud provider, delivering scalability, security, and resilience for our new clearing and settlement services. We're also using cloud services for our new data platform, which, as I mentioned earlier, will enable new insights for our customers to help them make decisions.

Our partnerships deliver the security, availability, and recoverability that are important for critical market infrastructure. We're also implementing an end-to-end observability platform to accelerate our detection of anomalies that could disrupt our services, improving our resilience, and supporting our ability to operate through disruption.

We're also partnering with specialist industry providers for business-specific applications, and this includes Nasdaq and TCS, who are delivering modern trading, clearing, and settlement platforms with us. These best-in-class offerings benefit our customers with leading capability and ongoing, globally driven product evolution for the future of Australia's financial markets.

Our investments in technology mean that we're making product and process enhancements in some areas without some of the constraints of a legacy technology environment. As we look forward, these platform capabilities can provide the foundation for us to shape the future of financial markets.

We'll consider global trends, and explore innovation opportunities, such as scaling our adoption of AI, end-to-end digitization for our customers, and the digitization of financial markets for Australia. Let's focus on our technology modernization delivery roadmap, which we published at our AGM in October.

Since then, we've commenced our rollout of new network equipment to customer sites as part of our Trading Networks Infrastructure Replacement project. When that's complete, it will deliver upgraded, resilient customer connectivity with current trading platforms, but also for upcoming cash market trading platform enhancements, and for the new derivatives market trading platform.

For the derivatives market trading platform, our previous target window for go-live was late FY '27 or early FY '28. As you can see on this roadmap, this has been updated to target late FY '28.

Once it's in place, customers will benefit from a contemporary platform which is aligned with global industry standards. It will deliver enhanced features and functionality, including new order entry and market data protocols, and improved integration with our customers' pre-trade risk management systems.

ASX will continue to invest in technology to support the evolving needs of financial markets now and into the future. For Release 1 of the CHESS project, ASX is targeting go-live in April 2026.

This is a significant milestone for ASX and for Australian financial markets. The production parallel test is currently underway ahead of final preparations for all approved market operators for go-live.

Release 1 will mean that we're delivering our clearing services on a contemporary platform, supporting resilience and security, as well as growth in market volumes. Release 1 is an important step in the delivery of ASX's technology strategy.

It leverages the new cloud and data platforms, which provide improved resilience and secure access to high-quality data. Work on Release 2 continues in parallel with Release 1, with the first code release to the external industry test environment targeted for March this year.

Our primary build is targeting to be completed by the end of 2027, and we've allowed a significant amount of time for industry testing and readiness preparation ahead of our targeted go-live in 2029. As we've previously announced, Clive Triance, our Group Executive of Securities and Payments, will be retiring.

I'd like to sincerely thank him for his contribution to ASX. He'll be stepping down at the end of this month, and Andrew Jones, who's currently General Manager of Equities, has been appointed as Interim Group Executive.

Andrew's instrumental role in the CHESS project ensures continuity as we move towards Release 1. The Accelerate program is the other key element of the great fundamentals pillar of our transformation strategy.

The objective of this program is to enhance how ASX delivers on its stewardship of critical market infrastructure. It's embedding risk management excellence, resilience, and sustainable business operations as standard practice.

We'll achieve this through a series of work streams, many of which we've talked about before. Since launching midway through last year, we've delivered key milestones, including uplifted core enterprise-level risk frameworks and controls, remediated key technology risks, and launched a leadership program to develop our capability to drive our transformation.

As we said earlier, we are undertaking a strategic reset of this program. We're carefully reviewing the target states for each work stream to make sure that they're appropriately aspirational.

This program is a high priority for us. We're aiming to agree the scope and target states of Accelerate with our regulators before the end of June.

I'll now hand over to Andrew to provide a detailed view of our financial results.

Thanks, Helen, and good morning, everyone. As announced on 28 January, we delivered strong operating revenue in the first half, demonstrating the quality of our portfolio of businesses.

Operating revenue was $602.8 million, which was an increase of 11.2% compared to the prior corresponding period, or PCP. Total expenses for the half were $264.3 million, which is up by 20%.

Excluding the additional expenses relating to the ASIC inquiry, total expenses growth was 12.1% for the half. Net interest income was down by 6.7% to $40.2 million, impacted by lower earnings on ASX cash balances due to cuts in the RBA target cash rate.

This was combined with higher interest expenses from the commencement of the lease at our new head office in Sydney. Underlying net profit after tax was up 3.9% compared to PCP, as the strong revenue growth was partially offset by higher total expenses and lower net interest income.

ASX's statutory net profit after tax was up by 8.3%, noting that significant items impacted the PCP. Our EBITDA margin was 61.4%, a decline of 180 basis points.

Our underlying earnings per share of 135.7 cents is broadly consistent with the trend in underlying net profit after tax. Underlying ROE generated in the half was stable at 13.5% compared to the PCP.

Now turning to the business unit revenue outcomes, starting with Listings. Total Listings revenue grew by 1.4% to $106.4 million compared to PCP.

Annual listing fees make up just over half of total revenue for Listings, and are driven by market capitalization as at 31 May each year. Higher market capitalization in May 2025 supported revenue growth of 3.2% to $57.3 million in the period.

We recognize the revenue derived from initial listings and secondary raisings over 5 years and 3 years respectively, and so the revenue outcomes reported mainly reflect prior-period activity. As shown in the bar charts on the slide, this amortization profile was the primary driver of lower initial listings revenue recognized in the half of $9.1 million, down 3.2%.

Secondary raisings revenue was $34.3 million, down 1.7% compared to PCP. Investment products and other listing fees were up 11.8% due to a higher number of ETF listings and growth in funds under management.

Total net new capital quoted for the half was $27.3 billion, compared to a net decline of $9.2 billion in 1H '25, due to stronger activity across our listing markets, particularly secondary raisings and dual listings. Moving now to the Markets business.

This business generated revenue of $192.7 million, up 14.4% compared to PCP. Futures and OTC revenue of $142.9 million was up 13.1%, supported by a 10.5% increase in total futures and options on futures volumes, as global interest rate market conditions in the period drove strong activity across the curve.

Strong growth was observed across all major products, including 90-day bank bill futures, and 3- and 10-year Treasury bond futures, with traded volumes up 14%, 13%, and 10% respectively. Commodities revenue was up, primarily driven by higher trading activity in electricity derivatives.

Cash market trading revenue was $41.6 million, up 24.6% on PCP, driven by a 22.7% increase in the total ASX on-market value traded. This was also supported by auctions traded value, which was up by 19.2%.

ASX's share of on-market cash market trading averaged 88% for the period, which was consistent with the PCP. Equity options revenue was $8.2 million, down 4.7%, reflecting lower trading activity in single stock options, which was partially offset by an increase in index stock options.

Now looking at the Technology and Data business. Today, we have published several new drivers that give a clearer view of the key revenue drivers for this business, which I will now outline.

Technology and Data had another strong period, with total revenue of $142.9 million, increasing by 7.5% compared to 1H '25. Information Services generated revenue of $89.3 million, up 8.6%, supported by strong demand for data across equities and derivatives markets.

This drove real-time display and non-display data, with the latter reflecting the growth trend in machine-readable data that we have seen in recent years. Technical Services revenue of $53.6 million was up 5.7%.

Growth was primarily driven by an increase in connectivity services, which provide access for participants to our markets. The number of ALC cabinets declined in the period, primarily due to customer consolidation and a shift in mix towards higher-powered cabinets, which attract a higher average fee for ASX.

Finally, moving on to our fourth business segment, Securities and Payments. This business generated revenue of $160.8 million, up 18.5%.

Issuer services and equity post-trade services are subject to the new building block pricing model, which was implemented from 1 July 2025. Under this model, ASX's revenue requirement is arrived by applying a regulated return to the efficient cost of providing these services.

The revenue figures announced today are net of any over- or under-return experienced in the period, and we have accrued an over-recovery rebate of $7 million in the half. We provide a more detailed breakdown of this revenue calculation in the appendix of the investor presentation.

Issuer services revenue was $34.8 million, up 15.6%, driven by primary market facilitation fees and a higher number of CHESS statements issued, reflecting higher activity in cash markets. Equity post-trade services revenue also benefited from higher activity in cash markets, increasing by 22.2% to $81.5 million.

Austraclear generated revenue of $44.5 million, up 14.4% compared to last year. It benefited from strong debt market activity during the period, leading to a 13.2% increase in transaction volume and 8.9% growth in the balance of issuances to $3.2 trillion at 31 December.

Austraclear revenue also includes the net operating contribution from Sympli, ASX's property settlement joint venture. ASX's share of Sympli's operating loss was $4.4 million, compared to a loss of $5.3 million in the PCP, following a further restructure of their cost base.

There remains ongoing uncertainty around the timing of interoperability between e-conveyancing platforms, and we continue to review the strategic value of this investment. Turning now to expenses.

Total expenses for the half were $264.3 million, up 20% on the PCP. Operating expenses relating to our response to the ASIC inquiry were $17.3 million in the period.

Excluding these additional costs, total expense growth was 12.1%, or 7.8% excluding depreciation and amortization. Employee expenses were up by 3.8%.

Average permanent and contractor headcount increased from 1,265 in the PCP to 1,354 at the end of this period. The growth in project-related headcount primarily relates to our technology modernization program, and opex headcount growth primarily relates to the investment in the Accelerate program.

Technology expenses were higher, primarily due to higher licensing fees and costs related to the technology projects. Growth in administration expenses was driven by investments in the Accelerate program.

We reported depreciation and amortization of $31.9 million, up 54.1%, as more elements of our new technology systems started to go live. This reflects our expectation of D&A increasing by approximately $20 million each financial year for the medium term.

Turning now to total expenses growth. On 28 January, we announced an increase to our FY '26 total expense growth guidance range, from between 14% and 19% compared to the PCP, to be between 20% and 23%.

Excluding the costs related to our response to the ASIC inquiry, we are guiding for total expense growth of between 13% and 15%. There are 3 key drivers of the higher range.

We are increasing investment in the capacity and capability of resources to uplift risk management and support our major technology platforms. We have progressed the development of our commitments plan to respond to ASIC as part of the inquiry's interim report.

Finally, we have updated forecasts associated with trading volumes, primarily postage, and timing of various legal actions. We also announced that we expect costs related to our response to the ASIC inquiry to be at the upper end of the previously provided $25 million to $35 million range, which now includes the expected commitments plan costs.

We intend to provide FY '27 total expense growth guidance by the end of the financial year. Now moving to capital expenditure.

Capex for the first half was $83.1 million. We are guiding for FY '26 capex to be between $170 million and $180 million, and between $160 million and $180 million in FY '27.

This reflects the multiyear delivery profiles of our major projects, but noting the inherent delivery risks in the technology program may impact this guidance. We also expect an average depreciation and amortization schedule of 5 to 10 years for these major projects once they go live, noting that the CHESS project is expected to be amortized over 10 years.

Moving now to net interest income. Net interest income consists of net interest earned on ASX's cash balances, and net interest earned from the collateral balances lodged by participants to meet margin requirements.

Total net interest income for the half was $40.2 million, representing a decline of 6.7% compared to the PCP. Interest income on ASX Group cash of $26.8 million was down 16.8%, impacted by a lower RBA target cash rate in the period.

Financing interest expense was 10.7% lower, largely driven by lower financing costs related to the corporate bond. Lease interest expenses primarily relate to the lease for our new headquarters in Sydney, which commenced on 1 October last year, and also equipment leases.

Net interest earned on the collateral balances was $26.1 million this half, up 16.5% compared to the PCP. This reflects an increase in the average collateral balance to $12.3 billion this half, due to growth in activity across our markets.

This was combined with a 3 basis point increase in the average investment spread on these balances to 18 basis points, driven by higher returns on government securities and overnight reverse repos. We expect this spread to stay around the current level for the remainder of the financial year.

The average collateral balances subject to risk management haircuts increased from $7.7 billion to $8.5 billion this period, as overall collateral balances increased. As at 31 January, average collateral balances of $10.3 billion and balances subject to risk management haircuts of $6.8 billion were below the first-half average, primarily due to the netting impact in index futures combined with a reduction in open interest.

ASX's balance sheet continues to be strong and positioned conservatively, with an S&P long-term rating of AA-. From a shareholder return perspective, underlying ROE for the half was 13.5%, which was stable compared to the PCP.

An increase in reported underlying profit was offset by an increase in total equity over this period. As Helen mentioned earlier, we will accumulate $150 million above our current net tangible assets, in line with our commitments to deliver ASIC's strategic package of actions.

As part of this capital accumulation, the Board has declared an interim dividend of 101.8 cents per share for the half, which, as previously indicated, is at the bottom end of our dividend payout ratio range of between 75% and 85% of underlying NPAT. In addition, we're also introducing a 2.5% discount to our existing dividend reinvestment plan.

Depending on the participation rates in the DRP, we also have the flexibility to partially underwrite the DRP to achieve our capital targets over time. Our balance sheet and capital management options provide the flexibility to support ASX's future funding requirements.

We currently hold available cash and short-term investments in excess of $200 million above the financial resource requirements for our licensed entities. This includes default and non-default requirements to support our clearing and settlement licenses, as well as financial resources to support the group's 5 other licenses, including its 2 financial markets licenses.

We increased our default fund contribution by $50 million during the period to support the cash equities and exchange-traded options clearing business. Other financial resource requirements, which are calculated primarily based on revenue and expenses for the licensed entities, also increased by a similar amount.

As mentioned previously, we will be accumulating an additional $150 million above the 31 December 2025 NTA position by June 2027. To summarize our results, the strong operating revenue we reported in the half reflects the strength of ASX's diversified businesses.

Our medium-term underlying ROE target range of between 12.5% and 14% reflects our focus on our ongoing investment in the organization, as well as delivering the right products and services for our customers. With that, I'll hand back to Helen.

Thank you.

Thanks, Andrew. I'll now provide an update on our customer-driven growth opportunities, before finishing up with outlook and guidance.

Growing and improving our offering by listening to and partnering with our customers remains a priority, by improving market quality and pursuing new initiatives. Today, I'll provide an update on the progress of some of our near-term opportunities.

Market quality is about ensuring that our markets have the right settings to create transparency and liquidity, and drive capital allocation to the right opportunities. As I mentioned earlier, we recently announced the appointment of 7 members to the newly constituted Advisory Group on Corporate Governance, which replaces the ASX Corporate Governance Council.

Chaired by Dr. Philip Lowe, this advisory group has been appointed to act in the interests of the market as a whole, with members bringing deep expertise in listed entity governance, investment, superannuation, markets, and stakeholder engagement.

We also have an ongoing review into potential changes to the listing rules, which relate to shareholder approval requirements for dilutive acquisitions and changes in admission status for dual-listed entities. We've received 45 submissions, and we look forward to providing an update later this half.

These activities are examples of how we make sure that our market keeps evolving to remain attractive to companies and investors in Australia and around the world. New initiatives are about adding new products and services in partnership with our customers to give them what they need to prosper as the global economy evolves.

In the first half, we launched options over gold ETFs, which extends our ETF options offering into the commodities asset class for the first time. We also added morning and peak electricity contracts to our environmental futures product suite, as our customers' risk management needs evolve.

We've had our first customers use our ASX Colo OnDemand service, which we launched in late June as part of an expansion of our technical services offering in our Technology and Data business. This is a fully managed Infrastructure-as-a-Service solution within the Australian Liquidity Centre data centre.

It enables rapid client onboarding and scalability, allowing access to ASX's trading and clearing and settlement services without the need for on-premises equipment. Looking now to outlook, and starting with our Listings business.

There was solid momentum in listings activity in the first half. During that period, there were 62 new listings, including the IPO of BMC Minerals, as well as several dual listings, including Channel Infrastructure and Ryman Healthcare.

We're seeing a higher level of inquiries from entities considering a listing compared to this time last year. As I just mentioned, market quality is a key focus for us.

Net new capital quoted is an important metric to measure the quality of our listings market, because it takes into account delistings, new listings, and secondary capital raisings. Net new capital quoted was $28.7 billion in the first 7 months of the financial year, which was driven by this new listings activity, as well as secondary capital raisings.

We also saw significant growth in the number of international listings, with 13 in the first half, which demonstrates our strong global value proposition. Strong cash market activity continued into the second half, with total value for January up by 47% compared to the same month last year.

We've seen volume growth continue to be driven by volatility caused by geopolitical events, as well as expectations around local and global central bank monetary policy. Strong passive manager flows are also driving growth in auctions activity, particularly during index rebalancing events.

Total futures and options on futures volumes were also strong in January, increasing by 31% compared to the prior period. The current rates futures environment remains supportive, with activity across the curve.

At the short end, activity is being driven by changing market expectations around RBA monetary policy settings. At the longer end of the curve, volumes have been driven by domestic and foreign issuance of Australian debt, and global economic dynamics and their impact on central bank rates and currencies.

Moving now to guidance. As announced on the 28th of January, total expense growth for FY '26 is expected to be between 20% and 23%.

This includes the operating expenses associated with our response to the ASIC inquiry and development of our commitments plan, and is expected to be at the upper end of our $25 million to $35 million range. Excluding these additional costs, we expect total expense growth of between 13% and 15%.

FY '26 capital expenditure is expected to be between $170 million and $180 million, and for FY '27, between $160 million and $180 million. As the majority of our capex spend relates to the major technology projects as part of our modernization plan.

Future investment by ASX, which will be considered as part of our strategy refresh, will reflect aspirations for innovation, findings from the inquiry panel, and change load on ASX and our customers. Given the CEO transition, we'll no longer be holding our Investor Forum in June.

Instead, we intend to provide our FY '27 total expense growth guidance, together with capex guidance for FY '28, by the end of the financial year. Finally, underlying ROE remains a key metric as we continue to focus on growth opportunities while increasing our investment in the organization.

We're targeting between 12.5% and 14% in the medium term. Thank you, and I'll now invite questions.

Good morning, guys. Just a couple of questions from me.

Just firstly on the spread, just on the participant balances, that continues to improve, 18 basis points. Can you just help us understand better that trend has been consistently improving over the last few halves?

Just want to get a sense whether there's been conservatism here or just in terms of the outlook, how should we expect that to track? Thanks.

I'm sorry, Julian. Did you catch that, Andrew?

The spread movement. Julian, if I understand your question, it was the 18 basis points on the spread that we reported.

We are expecting to see that extend into the second half of this financial year. Beyond that, at this point in time, we haven't provided any guidance.

To your point, though, it has been expanding. We have seen changing in dynamics with the reduction in cash in the overall system that is providing further opportunities to increase that spread slightly.

We're really focused at this point in time on the second half, which is to continue with that 18 basis points spread into that second period.

Has that spread been improving over the course of the half? Is that how we should be thinking about it?

Julian, I think the prior-period comparison, it went up by about 3 basis points, it can move around a little bit in any given month. We're talking 1 or 2 basis points here in the scheme of things.

But 18 basis points for the half, and that's expected to continue in the second half.

No, that's clear. Then maybe just on the Markets futures average fee per contract, so that improved to about $1.40.

Can you just understand just the mechanics that's driving that improvement? Also just your expectations around that going forward?

Thanks.

Do you want to field that one? Happy to.

We've seen a significant increase in volume over the period. Also a change in mix.

Commodities is part of the answer here, that we've seen an increase in the commodities futures contracts over that period of time. We've also seen the rebate process or outcome change over that period.

It's a combination of mix, higher commodities volumes coming through, and sort of a lower rebate rate per contract over the period that's led to that $1.40. We haven't given guidance going forward, but you can see sort of that moves around depending on the mix of products there and that rebate mix.

Got it. That's clear.

Then maybe touching on the settlement and clearing business here, I just want to understand, strictly speaking, this expense allocation to that division. Feels like there's been an increase in expenses based on the management accounts that were published for FY '25, and what you're giving us here for FY '26, say, that it's about $20 million, $25 million.

It's about probably half the expense increase of the operating costs for the ASX Group, ex the ASIC inquiry costs, etc. Just want to understand that the expense allocation between the two and how you're comfortable that that increase is the right increase that should be allocated to the settlement and clearing business for pricing purposes.

Julian, sorry, it's a bit muffled and difficult to hear you, but I think the question was going to the clearing and settlement allocation of costs. Is that correct?

That's right. Just also understanding that, to be clear, the increase in expenses into FY '26 is in the order of about $22 million in terms of what's been allocated to the settlement and clearing business for pricing purposes.

Yeah. To determine the expense base allocated to clearing, settlement, and issuer services, we go through an activity-based allocation process.

Depending on where those resources are allocated, that will determine the expense outcomes allocated to clearing, settlement, and issuer services. On an annual basis, we actually publish the budget number for the year ahead.

Following the end of this financial year, once we've concluded our budgets, we will be publishing the budget allocated to the clearing, settlement, and issuer services, you'll be able to pick it up at that point in time.

Just to be clear, so that number at the bottom in the appendix, the 147 for FY '26, is that just the budgeted number for

That's correct. That's a budgeted number for FY '25 FY '26.

Yeah. Just to be clear, so that's a $20 million, $25 million increase from last year based on the actual expenses for last year.

I just want to be clear, because it's about 50% of the increase in ASX Group costs that's been allocated here, if I compare like for like. Just want to make sure that that's consistent with how you're thinking about the cost allocation between the group versus settlement and clearing at this stage, pending that impact.

That's correct. It's based on, as I mentioned, that activity-based allocation of costs to those particular activities.

Got it. Then maybe just the last question is just on the ROE.

You've given us a fair bit of numbers there in terms of the capital in the business and the expenses, etc. In terms of the ROE that you're seeing within settlement and clearing at the moment for the first half based on activity levels, where would that be?

Thanks.

Julian, sorry, it's a bit muffled. I think you're asking about the group ROE target?

Apologies. I was asking about just where would settlement and clearing be at the moment for first-half '26 on ROE?

You've given us a fair few numbers in terms of the capital in the business, the D&A, etc. It's not clear, giving activity levels in the first half, where would the ROE be for the first half '26?

Let me try and capture it. I think we've clearly stated our ROE targets at a group level, the 12.5% to 14%.

I think your question was also going to the clearing and settlement activities. Really, the way to think about the return in that business, it's a targeted return that determines the revenue allocation, if you like.

If you look at the slide in the back of the investor pack, the BBM slide, it talks about a targeted rate of return of 11.44%. That's the regulated cap, if you like, cap and floor, for that business activity.

I think that answers your question, hopefully, Julian. Oh,

sorry, Andrew. I know I was asking what would have been the ROE for the first half of '26 for settlement and clearing?

It's targeted to that return. So 11.44% is the regulated cap.

We mentioned today that we've included a rebate of $7 million in the clearing, settlement, and issuer services revenue. That really aligns that outcome with that 11.44% return.

Got it. That's clear.

Thank you. Thanks for that.

Okay. No problem.

Thank you.

Thanks, Julian.

Thanks for taking my questions. A couple from me.

Just the first one, just a clarification what you were just running through then on just a regulated return. Have you over-earned $7 million in the period, so that is accrued, therefore, if you under-earn on the return, whether in the second half, you can then book that revenue?

The second part to that is, can this be continued to accrue, or can it be over multiple years, or can only be accrued for a year?

That's a great question, Ed. We've published our pricing policy that goes into a lot of detail around this.

Effectively, it is an accrual based on our estimation of what will be paid out as a rebate to our customers. We need to let the full year complete.

It will be determined based on the 30 June 2026 position. In the pricing policy, there are certain sort of, I suppose, tolerances around an under- or over-accrual.

For example, if there's an over-earning of a number beyond 5% is paid as a cash rebate to customers immediately. If it's between 0% and 5%, it's really retained by the organization to offset potential ups and downs or variances into the future periods as well.

If I just draw your attention to the pricing policy, and it sets out the tolerances around how the mechanisms work.

This 7%, I imagine, is within the 0 to 5. Just to clarify, you have booked this in the period.

Yes.

There could be a swing factor where if you over-earn in the next period, you may not be able to book as much.

That's correct. Think about it as the regulated rate of return, the 11.44% that we've got in the example, really sets that outcome.

We sort of monitor that on a regular basis. The true measurement is 30 June each year.

At 31 December, we've booked a best estimate of that $7 million accrual.

As I said, but that accrual has gone through the P&L, or that is sitting there outside that hasn't been booked through the P&L?

It could go up or down.

It could go up or down. It's gone through the P&L, Ed, it's a net rebate against the revenue we've recognized in the period.

No worries. Thank you.

Second question for you, Helen. In the speech today, you talked a number of times about aspirational targets and work streams.

Is this a potential issue for ASIC, because surely they want realistic work streams and targets, not aspirations. Are your aspirations realistic?

They're actually hard targets as opposed to aspirations.

Look, I think as we reset the Accelerate program, those are exactly the questions we'll be focusing in on. I think that there's a balance to be had here, right, because the work streams absolutely need to be practical and deliverable and realistic, but they also need to really be couched in a deep understanding of our role as a steward of critical market infrastructure.

When we talk about them being aspirational, we're really talking about being aligned with that, and what are our aspirations for both resilience, for example, for Australia's financial markets, but also how do we make sure we're future-ready and supporting innovation across the markets. We will be going through exactly those types of questions with ASIC to try and make sure we're aligned.

Just to be clear, our target states definitions will be clear and measurable. As we consider what those target states are, one of the questions we'll be asking ourselves is, do they have the right level of aspiration in them given the important role that we play in Australia's markets?

Okay. Just to clarify, you're not expecting any material changes from the interim report to the final?

Look, I clearly don't know what's in the final report. I guess the things I would draw your attention to is the fact that in the interim report, they clearly state that the substantive findings from the inquiry panel are there in the interim report.

I'm sure there'll be a lot more detail in the final report, but based on their prior comments, our expectation is that the substantive findings have already been identified.

Okay. Thank you.

Morning. Just have a two questions.

First one on costs. Following on, I guess, from that comment there, Helen, if ASIC's interim report is a substantive view of changes required, how should we think about, I guess, the information you've already put out to market in terms of the second-half opex outlook?

Obviously, it's stepping up 12% to 13% relative to first half. I think there was talk of various factors in there, such as legal costs and volumes, but a key driver presumably is some of that response and bringing on additional people to enact that change.

Just wondering sort of how much of what you think is required to be done is going to be there in the second half, given all of that as they take time to sort of get all those people and processes in place? Is that a reasonable guide of the cost base as we look into '27 second half, or is sort of that run rate in terms of the ASIC response going to step up further in '27?

Look, it's a really understandable question, Kieren. Obviously, to really give a good sense of what FY '27 is going to look like, we need to make sure we've done the planning to substantiate that.

Obviously, when we considered the updated guidance for FY '26, clearly we considered the factors that we laid out and made sure that there was some flexibility as well, because, of course, we haven't done our final submission of the commitments plan with ASIC, and we're still liaising with them to make sure that our plan's in line with expectations. We've made sure that there's some flexibility there for adjustments that we might need to make during the half.

The planning and the detailed guidance for FY '27, I'm afraid, will come by the end of June.

Yeah. Don't want to sort of try and draw you too much on the '27 number.

Maybe just to understand what you've allowed for in second-half '26, or maybe you can just explain, I guess, are a lot of the cost responses that are coming through in second half in relation to the ASIC inquiry, are they people? If they are additional heads, given you only announced that change sort of last month, I presume the exit run rate at the end of second half in terms of headcount is that going to be particularly different to sort of where we sit today?

Happy to provide a comment here, Kieren, as well. I suppose there's an exercise to reset the Accelerate program, and that's part of what we need to do.

As Helen mentioned, that will also be informed by the final report once we receive that. That's due to be delivered to ASIC by the end of June.

Really then, I think about sort of the ongoing cost base to be part of the Accelerate delivery program, and a large part of that program is built into our cost base. I think about the nonrecurring costs in this particular year will be the ASIC inquiry costs in total.

That guidance of $30 million to $35 million that we've provided to the marketplace, I do think about that as a one-off or nonrecurring cost.

Yep. Okay.

Second question, sort of on a different subject, on Sympli. We've seen ARNECC release a couple of reports on interoperability and sort of cost-benefit analysis across the system that showed, I guess, only a couple of scenarios that would drive a net positive economic contribution to the country over the next 20 or so years.

Has that altered your view or your commitment to that business?

Kieren, happy to take that one as well. As I called out in the speech this morning, we are considering that position and considering sort of the strategic investment that we've made in Sympli.

Fully aware of the sort of ARNECC reports, but ARNECC are yet to sort of, I suppose, announce a date for interoperability, and that's the key uncertainty at this point in time.

Okay. All right.

Thank you.

Good morning. A couple of questions, if I can.

Firstly, Helen and Andrew, I was hoping you could just provide some color on the very strong growth we've been getting on the revenue side in cash markets and also futures, and just their sustainability into the future. Maybe if you could just break down retail versus insto versus offshore, what are you seeing?

Maybe just whatever color you can give about the strong growth we've seen and your expectations on sustainability in the short and medium term.

I think the comment I'd make there, Sid, is obviously volumes for us are driven by a couple of different things. One of them, of course, is the work we do with our customers to ensure we have market quality, to add new products, new services, new trading opportunities, make sure we've got the market settings right.

Of course, also a big part of it is global markets and volatility and what's happening more broadly. As you'd expect, the drivers of growth that we're seeing are both of those things.

I think we've made a series of really important investments in capacity, in functionality for our customers, in the structural settings for our markets that are all supporting part of the volume increase that we're seeing. Part of what we're seeing is also a globally observed broad increase in market activity in both rates and cash equity markets.

There are both kind of global macroeconomic and volatility factors there, as well as the work that we've been doing to invest in and continue to grow and improve our markets to support that, and make sure that we're benefiting from that increase of activity when it comes. If you look at long-term trends, and I'd encourage you to do that, we do have some good information, I think, on multiyear trends, then you can see that there are always ups and downs, and that's the sort of global market factors.

What we're seeing is broadly consistent with a long-term growth trend, notwithstanding that because of the ups and downs in different periods, you sort of have to draw a bit of a line of best fit there. I think that this kind of level of volume growth is something that we've seen consistently over the years, but with some fluctuation up and down sort of in individual years given whatever market factors there are at the time.

Did that answer your question, Sid?

Not fully. I was just hoping you could give some color around just the composition, retail versus offshore.

Just also domestic just on the futures side, just I understand the long-term growth drivers and you think it's consistent. Just where we are today,

just what's been so

much higher than the long-term growth. The recent trend has been extraordinary.

Just what's driving it, how sustainable is this as a base?

Maybe we might follow up separately and update you on the retail percentage, because I don't think I have it handy. What I would observe is that we have seen good diversification of participation in both markets.

Seeing a range of different users very active in both the cash equity market and in our futures market. I think that our futures market has become an attractive market to trade on a global basis.

We're certainly seeing the diversified participation being evidence of that.

Yep. Okay.

Thank you. Just a second question, just on the strategy refresh, which I think you alluded to in your presentation.

Just wanted to understand what is within the remit of what the Board is considering as worthy of a refresh. The financial targets, I presume, are not going to be changed.

You've obviously reaffirmed them today. I'm just wondering, when you do a strategy refresh, you could look at all sorts of things.

You're still privy to what is being considered. Just keen to understand exactly what is being considered in that strategy refresh and whether all the financial targets are likely to stay and not be addressed.

Look, I think we'd absolutely intended anyway to do a significant refresh at this point, because halfway through what we originally set out as a 5-year strategy, what that means is that our current horizon for what we've currently laid out really only goes for the next couple of years. I think it's very important for any organization that we have a longer perspective than that.

I think the factors that I would add from an ASX perspective are, firstly, that markets and technology around market infrastructure are changing fast. We are seeing, just as one example of that, all around the world, we're seeing significant changes in how regulators and organizations around the world are dealing with things like tokenization and digital currency.

We've seen things like the GENIUS Act in the U.S., in the UK, the Bank of England's sort of sandbox for digital currency. These are significant changes on a global basis and are really important for us to consider for ASX, and think about what does that mean in terms of the services that we need to be offering, making sure that our strategy is supporting innovation and new services for Australia, and that our technology strategy is taking account of those things as well.

In a fast-moving environment, there's really a desire to make sure that our lens is looking, not just at the transformation that's underway at the moment that's really foundational, but also what does that mean for the future? How do we make sure we're delivering future-ready market infrastructure?

Of course, added to that, we have lots of stakeholder feedback, including the ASIC inquiry panel's report. I think there's important feedback from that in both how we make sure that we're really articulating our critical role in shaping and stewarding Australia's financial markets, and making sure that we're very clear about how that feeds into our strategy and the investments that we're making.

Okay. Yep.

The financial targets are not part of the consideration. It's all about the future in terms of where financial markets are heading.

As we develop the strategy, we've obviously given some financial targets and guidance. The FY '27 expense guidance and the FY '28 capex guidance that we're intending to give will, of course, be informed by some of the strategic refresh that we're going through.

Yep, but the ROE targets, etc., are medium term. Oh,

I see. That's medium term, Sid, and just had a comment that that's the appropriate target at this point in time.

Okay. Thank you.

Hi, good morning. Thanks for taking our questions.

Just on the new pricing policy for clearing and settlement, so that was implemented 1st July 2025. Is there any need to review this, or is it consistent with the criticisms and recommendations of the interim report that we got?

Do you want to take that one, Andrew?

Sure. Thanks, Freya.

The new pricing policy went through an extensive consultation process with industry prior to its implementation. It's not part that we can see in terms of the recommendations out of the interim inquiry report at this point in time.

Okay. Then I guess given the big uplift in resourcing you expect in clearing and settlements, has this already started to be reflected in pricing?

Or does that follow?

Freya, probably goes back to a prior question, that effectively, the pricing policy really regulates the absolute return for those business activities, clearing, settlement, and issuer services, that goes into sort of considering the capital base. That would include the capex in relation to the CHESS Release 1 and Release 2, for example.

It would include our costs allocated to those activities, and that really determines a revenue target that aligns to that overall return target for those business activities. All of those go into determining what the appropriate return is.

Okay. I guess my question is because you've increased the resourcing to the clearing and settlement facilities based on ASIC's recommendations, they should automatically flow into the pricing just to inform the return.

Is that fair?

To the extent that it impacts the specific licenses that are part of the pricing policy, and that's the ASX Clear and ASX Settlement licenses, those are the two entities that provide the cash market clearing, settlement, and issuer services, then yes, that would be true. The greater independence of clearing and settlement does capture other licensed facilities as well.

Great. Then just a question on the interim report, and what's really changed.

I guess the report was quite critical of ASX, but also critical of the uncoordinated approach of regulators, which has contributed to what you called a defensive culture at ASX. Since the report, do you sense there's been any change in the working relationship that you've got with the regulator?

I think that certainly from our interactions so far, we can see that our regulators have taken that feedback very seriously and are very committed to having a very outcomes-focused approach. It's also important to note that part of that is ASX improving our own regulatory engagement, too, and making sure that we are really clear on what it is that our regulators need in order to fulfill their important function, and trying to make sure that we deliver the right information at the right time as well.

I think there's a genuine commitment on all sides for that to be an important factor.

Okay. Thank you.

Look, thank you. This concludes our first-half results presentation.

Thank you very much, everyone, on what I know is a busy day, for joining us today. Goodbye.

Thank you.