From the CEO's desk: Reflecting on a year that connected agriculture in new ways

As we close out FY26, I want to take a moment to reflect on what I'm most proud of at AuctionsPlus, and it's not numbers on a spreadsheet, but the substance behind them.

This year, our app hit its stride and is now sitting at close to 40,000 users, with 85% of them habitual. That means people aren't just downloading it and forgetting about it, they're using it as part of how they do business, listing lots, checking market data, browsing sales, bidding, and reading APlus News, often all in the one sitting. That number matters more to me than the user count itself. It tells me the technology has matured to the point where it's genuinely embedded in how our industry operates, not just a nice-to-have. It's connecting ag in a way that didn't exist a few years ago.

One shift I'm particularly proud of is how we build new tools and find solutions. We used to develop products based on what we thought the industry needed. Now we ask first, and we build second. A+ Bloodlines is the clearest example of that approach paying off. It's been building buzz across the industry for months, and delivers something producers have long thought was out of reach: verification of bloodlines in commercial cattle and sheep lots. Stud owners selling through AuctionsPlus can now confirm or dispute bloodline claims made on commercial lots, through the app. Early results are already promising, giving buyers confidence that the premium they're paying for a bloodline is accurate, and rewarding producers who've done the work to put quality genetics through their commercial lines.

None of this happens without the right people. One thing I value about our team is that it isn't concentrated in one city. We've got people across the country who live and work in the same regions our clients do, whether that's Albury, Leongatha, Townsville, or elsewhere in rural Australia. That shapes how we make decisions, because those decisions are informed by people who see the conditions firsthand. It's matched by the depth of technical expertise in our North Sydney development team, whose work sits behind everything from the app to Bloodlines. Together, that combination is what makes AuctionsPlus work.

Here's to another year of connecting agriculture and delivering solutions that back producers where it counts.