For the Year Ended 30 June 2022

The directors of Synergia Energy Ltd (formerly known as "Oilex Ltd") present their report (including the Remuneration Report) together with the consolidated financial statements of the group comprising of Synergia Energy Ltd (the "Company" or "Synergia Energy") and its subsidiaries (together collectively referred to as the "Group") for the financial year ended 30 June 2022 and the auditors' report thereon.

DIRECTORS

The directors of Synergia Energy Ltd in office at any time during or since the end of the financial year are:

Mr Jonathan Salomon (B App Sc (Geology), GAICD)

(Executive Chairman)

Mr Salomon was appointed as a Non-Executive Director in November 2015, Managing Director on 18 March 2016, and Interim Chairman on 5 May 2020. Mr Salomon continued as Managing Director and Interim Chairman until he was appointed as Executive Chairman on 16 June 2021. Mr Salomon has over 36 years of experience working for upstream energy companies. Further details of Mr Salomon's qualifications and experience can be found in the Executive Management section of the Directors' Report.

During the last three financial years and up to the date of this report, Mr Salomon has not been a director of any other ASX listed companies.

Mr Roland Wessel

(Chief Executive Officer and Director)

Mr Wessel was appointed Chief Executive Officer and Director on 16 June 2021. Mr Wessel is a geologist with over 40 years' experience in all of the world's major oil and gas regions. Further details of Mr Wessel's qualifications and experience can be found in the Executive Management section of the Directors' Report.

During the last three financial years and up to the date of this report, Mr Wessel has not been a director of any other ASX listed companies.

Mr Colin Judd

(Chief Financial Officer and Director,

 appointed in each role 1 July 2021 and 27 January 2022 respectively)

Mr Judd was appointed as Chief Financial Officer on 1 July 2021 and as Director on 27 January 2022. Mr Judd is a chartered accountant with over 40 years' experience in corporate financial management. Further details of Mr Judd's qualifications and experience can be found in the Executive Management section of the Director's Report.

During the last three financial years and up to the date of this report, Mr Judd has not been a director of any other ASX listed companies.

Mr Mark Bolton (B Business)

(Non-Executive Director, appointed 1 July 2021)

(Executive Director and Chief Financial Officer until 1 July 2021)

(Company Secretary until 25 August 2021)

Mr Bolton was appointed Chief Financial Officer and Company Secretary on 3 June 2016, and as Executive Director on 26 March 2020. Mr Bolton continued as Executive Director and Chief Financial Officer until 1 July 2021, when he was appointed as Non-Executive Director. Mr Bolton resigned as Company Secretary on 25 August 2021. Mr Bolton has significant experience in the development and financing of new resources projects, particularly in emerging economies. Further details of Mr Bolton's qualifications and experience can be found in the Executive Management section of the Directors' Report.

During the last three financial years and up to the date of this report, Mr Bolton has not been a director of any other ASX listed company.

DIRECTORS (CONTINUED)

Mr Paul Haywood

(Non-Executive Director)

Mr Haywood was appointed as a Non-Executive Director in May 2017. Mr Haywood has over 18 years of international experience in delivering value for his investment network through a blended skill set of corporate and operational experience, including more than six years in the Middle East, building early stage and growth projects. More recently, Mr Haywood has held senior management positions with UK and Australian public companies in the natural resource and energy sectors including oil and gas exploration and development in UK, EU and Central Asia. Mr Haywood's expertise stretches across UK and Australian public markets, with a cross-functional skill set encompassing research, strategy, implementation, capital and transactional management. Mr Haywood is currently Chief Executive Officer of Block Energy Plc.

During the last three financial years and up to the date of this report, Mr Haywood has not been a director of any other ASX listed companies.

Mr Peter Schwarz (B Sc (Geology), M Sc (Petroleum Geology))

(Non-Executive Director)

Mr Schwarz was appointed as a Non-Executive Director in September 2019. A former director of BG Exploration and Production Limited and CEO of independent exploration company Virgo Energy Ltd, Mr Schwarz is an AAPG Certified Petroleum Geologist and business development professional with over 40 years' experience in the oil and gas industry. Mr Schwarz has previously held various senior management roles with Amerada Hess, BG, and Marubeni and is currently a director of Finite Energy Limited, an oil and gas consultancy business he founded over 15 years ago, specialising in strategy and business development advice in the UK and Europe.

During the last three financial years and up to the date of this report, Mr Schwarz has not been a director of any other ASX listed companies.

COMPANY SECRETARY

The Non-Executive Director, Mr Mark Bolton, was appointed Company Secretary on 3 June 2016. He resigned as Company Secretary on 25 August 2021. Mrs Suzie Foreman (FGIA, CA, BComm) was appointed as Company Secretary on 25 August 2021. Mrs Foreman was the Company Secretary from 25 August 2021 until her resignation on 17 May 2022, when Ms Lisa Wynne, Synergia Energy's current Company Secretary, was appointed.

Ms Wynne (BCOMM, CA, FCIS) is a Chartered Accountant and Chartered Secretary with 16-plus years of experience in CFO and Company Secretary roles, and has Board level experience including with ASX and TSX listed companies and significant experience in the exploration and mining industries. Ms Wynne is a Member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants, a Fellow of the Governance Institute of Australia and a member of the Australian Institute of Company Directors.

CORPORATE GOVERNANCE STATEMENT

The Corporate Governance Statement, which reports on Synergia Energy's key governance principles and practices is available on the Synergia Energy website.

In establishing its corporate governance framework, the Company has referred to the recommendations set out in the ASX Corporate Governance Council's Corporate Governance Principles and Recommendations 4^th edition.

The Company has followed each recommendation where the Board has considered the recommendation to be an appropriate benchmark for its corporate governance practices. Where the Company's corporate governance practices follow a recommendation, the Board has made appropriate statements reporting on the adoption of the recommendation. In compliance with the "if not, why not" reporting regime, where, after due consideration, the Company's corporate governance practices do not follow a recommendation, the Board has explained its reasons for not following the recommendation and disclosed what, if any, alternative practices the Company has adopted instead of those in the recommendation.

The Corporate Governance Statement provides detailed information on the Board and committee structure, diversity and risk management.

DIRECTORS' MEETINGS

Directors in office and directors' attendance at meetings during the financial year ended 30 June 2022 are as follows:

	Board Meetings (1)		Remuneration Committee Meetings (1)
	Held (2)	Attended	Held (2)	Attended
Non-Executive Directors
M Bolton (3)	12	11	5	5
P Haywood	12	11	5	5
P Schwarz	12	12	5	5
Executive Directors
J Salomon	12	12	-	-
R Wessel	12	11	-	2 (5)
C Judd (4)	6	12 (4)	-	3 (5)

⁽¹⁾        The full Board performs the role of the Audit and Risk Committee. Up until 24 November 2021, the Board also performed the role of the Remuneration Committee. On 24 November 2021 the Board established a Remuneration Committee comprising Paul Haywood (Chair), Peter Schwarz and Mark Bolton. The Company does not have a Nomination Committee.

⁽²⁾        Held indicates the number of meetings available for attendance by the director during the tenure of each director.

⁽³⁾        Executive Director until 30 June 2021, appointed Non-Executive Director 1 July 2021.

⁽⁴⁾        Appointed Executive Director 27 January 2022. Mr Judd also attended (by invitation) Board meetings held prior to his appointment.

⁽⁵⁾        Attended indicates attendance by invitation. Where a director is not a member of a committee but attended meetings during the period, only the number of meetings attended, rather than held, is disclosed.

 

 

 

EXECUTIVE MANAGEMENT

Mr Jonathan Salomon (B App Sc (Geology), GAICD)

(Executive Chairman)

Mr Salomon was appointed as a Non-Executive Director in November 2015, Managing Director on 18 March 2016, and Interim Chairman on 5 May 2020. Mr Salomon continued as Managing Director and Interim Chairman until he was appointed as Executive Chairman on 16 June 2021. Mr Salomon has a Bachelor Degree in Applied Science and is a member of the American Association of Petroleum Geologists and the Society of Petroleum Engineers, and has over 36 years of experience working for upstream energy companies. Mr Salomon has worked for a number of oil and gas companies in various senior positions including General Manager Exploration and New Ventures at Murphy Oil Corporation and Global Head of Geoscience at RISC PL, in addition to a number of Executive Director roles including Strategic Energy Resources, Norwest Energy and Nido Petroleum. At several times in his career, Mr Salomon has acted as an independent consultant for various oil and gas companies, including New Standard Energy and Pacrim Energy. Mr Salomon first worked on Indian projects in 1994 while at Ampolex and since that time has maintained a connection with the Indian industry, at various times bidding in India's exploration and field development rounds and working with Indian companies as joint venture partners, both in India and internationally.

Mr Roland Wessel

(Chief Executive Officer and Director)

Mr Wessel was appointed as Chief Executive Officer and Director on 16 June 2021. Mr Wessel is a geologist with over 40 years' experience in all of the world's major oil and gas regions. Mr Wessel founded and built Star Energy, the UK onshore operator of 25 oil and gas fields, through to its listing on AIM in 2004 and its sale to Petronas in 2008. During its evolution, Star Energy grew rapidly through acquisitions and diversification, culminating in it becoming a major gas storage developer and operator. During his career, Mr Wessel has founded and managed a drilling services company and has developed and patented several key oilfield technologies. He has extensive experience in both project and corporate management.

Mr Colin Judd

(Chief Financial Officer and Director,

 appointed in each role 1 July 2021 and 27 January 2022 respectively)

Mr Judd was appointed as Chief Financial Officer on 1 July 2021 and as Director on 27 January 2022. Mr Judd qualified as a chartered accountant with Price Waterhouse in 1979, where he fulfilled various professional accounting positions in the UK, Europe and the Far East. Mr Judd joined Christian Salvesen plc in 1987, undertaking senior financial management roles culminating in the position of European Financial Controller. In 1994, Mr Judd moved to Aberdeen where he undertook Chief Financial Officer roles for two private-equity-backed oil service businesses. In 1999, Mr Judd joined Star Energy Limited as a founder member and Chief Financial Officer and was instrumental in the company's successful listing on AIM in 2004, various subsequent share placings and the company's ultimate sale to Petronas. Mr Judd cofounded Trans European Oil & Gas Limited, a company backed by KKR, with the strategy to develop a pan-European oil and gas business.

Mr Ashish Khare
(Bachelor of Engineering (BE in Chemical Engineering, including petroleum management))

(Head of India Assets)

Mr Khare was appointed Head of India Assets on 8 November 2016 and is based in India. Mr Khare has over 21 years of experience in the petroleum industry. Mr Khare's area of expertise include upstream oil and gas, as well as midstream and downstream project implementation and operations management. Mr Khare originally worked for Synergia Energy Ltd as GM Operations & Business Development, and has experience working for various Indian companies including Cairn India Ltd and Reliance Petroleum.

PRINCIPAL ACTIVITIES

The principal activities of the consolidated entity during the financial year included:

·   exploration for oil and gas;

·   appraisal and development of oil and gas prospects; and

·   production and sale of oil and gas.

There were no significant changes in the nature of the activities during the year.

OPERATING RESULTS

The loss after income tax of the consolidated entity for the year ended 30 June 2022, from continuing operations, amounted to $2,061,924 (2021: $1,710,917, which was reduced to $614,345 after taking into account the profit after income tax from discontinued operations of $1,096,572). The Group had no income or expenses from discontinued operations during the current financial year.

On 4 February 2022, the Government of India approved the sale and transfer of 55% of the participating interest ("PI") in the Cambay PSC associated with the Cambay field ("Cambay Acquisition" or "Acquisition"). Following the Acquisition, $3,187,168, of expected credit losses ("ECLs") relating to the share of balances directly receivable from the Cambay operation to the Group were reversed (refer to footnote (11) of Note 9 of the Consolidated Financial Statements for further details).

This reversal of $3,187,168 of ECLs relating to the Cambay operation (2021: $622,216 mostly relating to amounts agreed to be paid and received from GSPC in September 2021) has been offset during the year by increases to ECLs related to the JPDA joint operations and other receivables of $40,263 (2021: $121,551) and $15,623 (2021: reversal of $25,720) respectively. As a result, results from continuing operations include a credit to the provision for ECL of $3,131,282 (2021: $526,385).

Since the completion of the Acquisition, the Cambay operations contributed $703,222 of losses to the results of the Group. This includes $438,371 in production costs, $113,556 in care and maintenance costs and $134,958 in exploration expenditure.

The impact of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic up to 30 June 2022 has been financially negative for the Group. This is largely due to its general impact in India where significant delays were experienced with the completion of the sale of GSPC's 55% PI in the Cambay Production Sharing Contract ("PSC" or "Cambay PSC"). The sale was completed on 4 February 2022, as mentioned above. As a result, Indian operations continued to be maintained on a 'care and maintenance' basis for a longer period than originally anticipated, until April 2022 when production recommenced following the receipt of environmental clearance and consent to operate, as further detailed below.

Following the Group's receipt of the new Environmental Clearance Certificate issued by India Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change on 17 March 2022, and the receipt of the Consent to Operate from the Gujarat Pollution Control Board on 8 April 2022, production recommenced on the Cambay field together with gas sales. Gas sales revenues during the year (since the recommencement of production) amounted to $141,435 (2021: $nil), which was from the Group's sole customer during the year, Enertech Fuel Solutions Private Limited. Cost of sales including production costs (since the recommencement of production) amounted to $754,365 (2021: $nil), which included re-fraccing costs (including those related to re-fraccing preparation) of $687,184 (2021: $nil).

Care and maintenance costs from continuing operations of $441,338 (2021: $140,259) included re‑fraccing costs (including those related to re-fraccing preparation that was incurred prior to the recommencement of production in April 2022) of $335,717 (2021: $nil).

OPERATING RESULTS (CONTINUED)

Included in exploration costs related to continuing operations of $937,181 (2021: $822,825) are amounts written off of $616,374 (2021: $309,703) to impair the exploration and evaluation asset to $nil (2021: written down to $549,778). The current year exploration write-off costs of $616,374 was the result of an internal assessment of the Cambay field exploration and evaluation asset at year-end (following the Acquisition), which showed that these assets were unlikely to recover costs capitalised to date (2021: the exploration write-off costs of $309,703 was related to the relinquishment of the P2446 exploration licence in the UK). Refer to Note 12 of the Consolidated Financial Statements for further details.

No impairment charge has been applied to the Cambay field development assets during the current financial year (2021: $nil).

The increase in employee benefits expenses to $1,023,136 (2021: $503,643) reflects increases to employee benefits expenses since the appointment of Roland Wessel and Colin Judd as CEO and CFO respectively, as well as reflecting remuneration increases to other staff from 1 September 2021. The administrative expenses also included net debit adjustments in accrued recoveries of prior period operating costs from external parties to $111,805 (2021: net credit recoveries of $569,552), an increase in bank charges to $94,851 (2021: $12,505) and an increase in other administrative expenses to $1,348,526 (2021: $1,129,115). The increase in bank charges is attributable to the bank charges incurred and relating to the bank guarantee related to the Acquisition. The increase in other administration expenses is mainly due to the Group's increased expenditure on external consultants during the period. These increases collectively resulted in the increase of total administration expenses to $2,578,317 (2021: $1,075,711).

Net finance costs of $377,812 (2021: $150,450) includes a loss of $254,117 (2021: $68,123) resulting from the fair value revaluation of listed shares held in Armour Energy Limited. It also includes interest from the unwinding of discount on the Group's site restoration provision of $76,753 (2021: $nil) and interest expense from the Group's loan facility relating to the repayment of the Group's termination penalty payable of $19,836 (2021: $nil).

FINANCIAL POSITION

The net assets of the Group at year-end include cash and cash equivalents of $4,838,459 (2021: $4,310,767). The level of cash and cash equivalents has been maintained at similar levels to the prior year, mainly due to two capital raisings undertaken during the year to fund the re-fraccing and other developmental activities undertaken by the Group during the year, and also to fund the Group's other working capital requirements during the year.

As mentioned under the previous Operation Results heading, the Cambay Acquisition was completed on 4 February 2022. As a result of the Acquisition, the net assets of the Group increased by $6,312,288 (refer to Note 26 of the Consolidated Financial Statements for further details of individual assets and liabilities taken up). This increase was mainly offset by $616,374 which was written off from the balance of the exploration and evaluation asset (refer to Note 12 of the Consolidated Financial Statements for further details). Overall, this net increase contributed to the net assets of the Group increasing to $14,583,598 (2021: $8,982,903).

DIVIDENDS

No dividend was paid or declared during the year and the directors do not recommend the payment of a dividend.

REVIEW OF OPERATIONS

A review of the operations of the Group during the financial year and the results of those operations are set out in the Review of Operations on pages 4 to 10 of this report.

SIGNIFICANT CHANGES IN THE STATE OF AFFAIRS

The Review of Operations details those changes that have had a significant effect on the Group. 

Other than those matters, there have been no other significant changes in the state of affairs of the Group that occurred during the financial year.

LIKELY DEVELOPMENTS

Additional comments on expected results on operations of the Group are included in the Review of Operations on pages 4 to 10.

Further disclosure as to likely developments in the operations of the Group and expected results of those operations have not been included in this report as, in the opinion of the Board, these would be speculative and as such, disclosure would not be in the best interests of the Group.

ENVIRONMENTAL ISSUES

The Group's oil and gas exploration and production activities are subject to environmental regulation under the legislation of the respective states and countries in which they operate. The majority of the Group's activities involve low level disturbance associated with its drilling programmes and production from existing wells. The Board actively monitors compliance with these regulations and as at the date of this report is not aware of any material breaches in respect of these regulations.

The Group also has an active program of education, monitoring and reporting within the Group's business to identify and mitigate any other environmental risks.

SIGNIFICANT EVENTS AFTER BALANCE DATE

The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic is ongoing and while it has been financially negative for the consolidated entity up to 30 June 2022, it is not practicable to estimate the potential impact, positive or negative, after the reporting date. The situation is constantly evolving and is dependent on measures imposed by the Australian and Indian Governments and other countries, such as maintaining social distancing requirements, quarantine, travel restrictions and any economic stimulus that may be provided.

After year-end, the Company was advised that its efforts to regain a participating interest and control of the West Kampar PSC in Indonesia have been unsuccessful. The Company understands the West Kampar PSC has been awarded to a third party. This marks the end of the Company's activities in Indonesia.

On 13 July 2022, following shareholder approval, the Company released its Employee Incentive Plan. Shareholders approved the issue of up to a maximum of 388,559,703 shares under the Company's Employee Incentive Plan.

On 21 July 2022 and on 3 August 2022, following shareholder approval on 13 July 2022, the Company issued 174,831,394 shares (69,932,558 shares and 104,898,836 shares respectively on each date) at £0.0020 ($0.0035) per ordinary share for Tranche 2 of the May Placement (refer to Note 21, footnote (5), for further details).

On 26 July 2022, following shareholder approval on 13 July 2022, the Company, which was formerly known as "Oilex Ltd", changed its name to "Synergia Energy Ltd".

On 12 August 2022, following shareholder approval on 13 July 2022, the Company issued the following unquoted options to the Company's executive directors:

·      88,311,688 options to Mr Joe Salomon;

·      136,363,636 options to Mr Roland Wessel; and

·      100,000,000 options to Mr Colin Judd.

The options are exercisable at £0.0022 ($0.0039), are subject to vesting criteria and expire on 12 August 2027.

SIGNIFICANT EVENTS AFTER BALANCE DATE (CONTINUED)

On 17 August 2022, the Company made a repayment to JX of US$140,414. This repayment was followed by one more final draw down of US$250,000, which was made on 7 September 2022 to settle the final instalment of the termination penalty payable to ANPM (thereby fully extinguishing the Group's obligations to ANPM). Following the repayment and drawdown, at the date of this report, the balance of the loan is approximately US$429,114, with no further loan facility available to be drawn from JX.

On 13 September 2022, following shareholder approval on 13 July 2022, the Company issued 30,000,000 unquoted options to Novum Securities Limited ("Novum"), pursuant to the capital raising advisory agreement relating to the May Placement. The options are exercisable at £0.0020 ($0.0034) and expire on 30 April 2024.

There were no other significant subsequent events occurring after the year-end.

FINANCIAL POSITION

Capital Structure and Treasury Policy

As at 30 June 2022 the Group had unsecured loans at face value $451,355 (2021: credit balance on unsecured loans of $215,274). Refer to Note 17 of the Consolidated Financial Statements for details of the carrying amount, terms and conditions, repayment schedule, and options attached to the loans.

Details of transactions involving ordinary shares during the financial year are as follows:

	Number of Shares Issued	Value of Shares $	Gross Amount Raised $
August 2021 -       Non-Executive Director Remuneration	2,458,785	9,835	-
November 2021 -       Non-Executive Director Remuneration	1,930,860	9,654	-
December 2021 -       Share Placements ("Tranche 1" and "Tranche 2" of December Placement)	571,518,804	-	1,485,195
January 2022 -       Share Placements ("Tranche 3" of December Placement)	851,071,499	-	2,260,857
March 2022 -       Share Placements (Exercise of Options)	54,839,185	-	136,393
May 2022 -       Share Placements (May Placement)	1,075,168,606	-	3,757,564
Total	2,556,987,739	19,489	7,640,008

 

In accordance with the ASX Waiver granted 2 November 2020 the Company advises that the number of remuneration shares that were issued to non-executive directors during the year totalled 4,389,645. This represents 0.05% of the Company's issued capital as at 30 June 2022.

As at the date of this report the Company had a total issued capital of 8,417,790,704 ordinary shares and 1,091,180,560 unlisted options exercisable at weighted average price of £0.0026 (A$0.0044) per option.

 

DIRECTORS' INTERESTS

The relevant interest of each director in shares and unlisted options issued by the Company, as notified by the directors to the ASX in accordance with Section 205G(1) of the Corporations Act 2001, at the date of this report is as follows:

	Number of Ordinary Shares		Number of Unlisted Options Over Ordinary Shares (1)
	Direct Interest	Indirect Interest	Direct Interest	Indirect Interest
Non-Executive Directors
M Bolton	-	-	-	-
P Haywood	12,933,513	-	-	-
P Schwarz	10,611,250	10,611,250	-	-
Executive Directors
J Salomon (2)	14,987,013	-	88,311,688	-
R Wessel (3)	-	-	136,363,636	-
C Judd (4)	-	-	100,000,000	-

⁽¹⁾        Exercisable at £0.0022, expiring 12 August 2027. One third (1/3) of these options were exercisable at reporting date.

⁽²⁾        As per point ⁽¹⁾ above, 29,437,229 of Mr Salomon's options were exercisable at reporting date.

⁽³⁾        As per point ⁽¹⁾ above, 45,454,545 of Mr Wessel's options were exercisable at reporting date.

⁽⁴⁾        As per point ⁽¹⁾ above, 33,333,333 of Mr Judd's options were exercisable at reporting date.

 

SHARE OPTIONS

Unissued Shares under Option

All options were granted in the current financial year.

At the date of this report, unissued ordinary shares of the Company under option (with an exercise price) are:

Expiry Date	Number of Shares	Exercise Price
Unlisted Options
Issued in 2022:
31 December 2022	711,295,152	£0.0028 (A$0.0052)
31 May 2024	25,210,084	£0.0024 (A$0.0045)
Issued Subsequent to Year-End:
30 April 2024	30,000,000	£0.0020 (A$0.0034)
12 August 2027	324,675,324	£0.0022 (A$0.0037)
Total	1,091,180,560

These options do not entitle the holder to participate in any share issue of the Company or any other body corporate.

 

SHARE OPTIONS (CONTINUED)

Unissued Shares under Option that Expired during the Year 

During the financial year, the following unlisted options expired:

Date Lapsed	Number	Exercise Price
30 June 2022	603,403,361	£0.00476 (A$0.009)
Total	603,403,361	£0.00476 (A$0.009)

Shares issued on exercise of unlisted options

During or since the end of the financial year, the Company issued ordinary shares as a result of the exercise of unlisted options as follows (there were no amounts unpaid on the shares issued):

	Number of Shares	Amount Paid on Each Share
During the financial year	54,839,185	£0.0014 (A$0.002)
Since the end of the financial year	-

 

INDEMNIFICATION AND INSURANCE OF DIRECTORS AND OFFICERS

The Group paid a premium in respect of insurance cover for the directors and officers of the Group. The Group has not included details of the nature of the liabilities covered or the amount of the premium paid in respect of the directors' liability and legal expense insurance contracts, as such disclosure is prohibited under the terms of the insurance contract.

PROCEEDINGS ON BEHALF OF THE COMPANY

No proceedings have been brought on behalf of the Company, nor has any application been made in respect of the Company under Section 237 of the Corporations Act 2001.

NON-AUDIT SERVICES

The Company may decide to employ the Auditor on assignments additional to their statutory audit duties where the Auditor's expertise and experience with the Group is important.

The Board has considered the non-audit services provided during the year and is satisfied that the provision of the non-audit services is compatible with, and did not compromise, the general standard of independence for auditors imposed by the Corporations Act 2001. The directors are satisfied that the provision of non-audit services by the auditor, as set out below, did not compromise the auditor independence requirements of the Corporations Act 2001 for the following reasons:

·   all non-audit services were subject to the corporate governance procedures adopted by the Group and these have been reviewed by the Board to ensure they do not impact the impartiality and objectivity of the auditor; and

·   the non-audit services provided do not undermine the general principles relating to auditor independence as set out in APES 110 Code of Ethics for Professional Accountants, as they did not involve reviewing or auditing the auditor's own work, acting in a management or decision-making capacity for the Group, acting as an advocate for the Group or jointly sharing risks and rewards.

Refer Note 29 of the Consolidated Financial Statements for details of the amounts paid to the auditors of the Group, PKF Perth and their network firms for audit and non-audit services provided during the year.

ROUNDING OF AMOUNTS

The Company is a company of the kind referred to in ASIC Corporations (Rounding in Financial/Directors' Reports) Instrument 2016/191 and therefore the amounts contained in this report and in the financial report have been rounded to the nearest dollar, unless otherwise stated.

LEAD AUDITOR'S INDEPENDENCE DECLARATION

The Lead Auditor's Independence Declaration for the year ended 30 June 2022 has been received and can be found on page 34.