Good morning, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to the ARB Corporation 2024 Full Year Financial Results Presentation. My name is Lachlan McCann, Chief Executive Officer at ARB, and joining me is Damon Page, ARB's Chief Financial Officer and Company Secretary. Today, Damon and I will take you through a financial update on the full year results, and I'll present an update on ARB's domestic and international sales and general business operations. Some housekeeping before we commence.
During the presentation, questions can be made through the chat box. At the lower right-hand corner of your screen, you'll see a blue circle with a hand icon. By clicking this, it will open a chat box for you to enter your questions. At the conclusion of the presentation, Damon and I will answer as many questions as possible.
Before I hand over to Damon, we've had a progressive 2024 financial year at ARB and continually remind ourselves of the fantastic industry we're in. ARB helps make our customers' dream getaways a reality and enable remote area, vehicle-based travel in Australia and around the world. This brief introductory video helps our guests on this call visualize some of these great adventures ARB enables.
Thank you, Lachlan, and good morning and a warm welcome as we release ARB's results for the financial year ended 30 June 2024 this morning. We lodged all of our year-end documents with the Australian Securities Exchange earlier this morning, along with a copy of the presentation that we will step through today. All of the documents, including the annual report, the chairman's letter to shareholders, and the dividend notification, can be downloaded directly from the ASX sites. On the far left of slide...
AUD 93.2 million for the financial year ended 30 June 2024. This represents an increase of 3.3% or AUD 22 million compared with last year's sales revenue of AUD 671.2 million. Sales growth was stronger in the second half of the financial year at plus 6.4%, compared with growth of only 0.2% reported in the first half.
Sales revenue was achieved in both the Australian aftermarket and original equipment channels, while difficult trading conditions internationally, particularly in the U.S. and in New Zealand, resulted in a decline in export sales across the year. Sales CAGR of 8.8% has been achieved across the last 10 years. In the middle of the slide, the company grew profit before tax by 15.8% to AUD 141.4 million.
This is an increase of AUD 19.3 million, compared with last year's profit before tax of AUD 122.1 million. A profit before tax growth of 15.8% exceeded revenue growth of 3.3% and was driven by improved gross margins, reflecting reductions in freight and the impact of sales price increases and some operating efficiencies.
While the profit growth this year is particularly pleasing in a higher inflationary environment, the prior year comparable profit was negatively impacted by the early stages of inflation, when offsetting sales price increases trailed cost increases and took a number of months to mitigate those cost increases. Slightly ahead of sales, the compound average growth in profit before tax over the past ten years is 9.5%.
Now, to add context to the reported result, we're calling out two adjustments relating to the final payment for the Truckman business and a gain on the sale of a tire factory, which are non-operating and would otherwise have seen the company report profit before tax of AUD 142.7 million, an increase of 17.1% over the prior year. I'll talk more to these two adjustments and their impact on slide seven. Profit before tax reflects 20.4% of sales, compared with 18.2% of sales last year.
Across on the right-hand side of the slide, profit after tax of AUD 102.7 million was achieved. This compares with AUD 88.5 million last year. The growth in profit after tax of 16.1% is broadly in line with the 15.8% growth in profit before tax. The effective tax rate was comparable at 27.4% versus 27.5% in FY 2023. Finally, earnings per share of AUD 1.249 grew by 15.7%. Slide 6 presents the sales performance of our three sales channels, being sales into the Australian aftermarket, export sales, and sales to the original equipment manufacturers or OEMs.
Sales into the Australian aftermarket continued to grow and reached AUD 404.1 million, an increase of 5.4% over last year. Pleasingly, growth of 7.1% in the second half was stronger than the first half, following disruptions caused by industrial disputes across Australian ports in the first half, and the impact of initiatives to relieve fitting constraints successfully taking effect in the second half. Exports achieved sales of AUD 229.4 million, which is a decline of 6.5% compared with last year.
However, the full year decline is an improvement on the 13.6% decline reported at the half year. Trading conditions internationally have been challenging, particularly in the U.S. more generally, and in New Zealand, where sales were significantly impacted by the introduction of the ute tax. Since the removal of this ute tax on 1 January 2024, ARB's business in New Zealand has slowly recovered in line with new vehicle sales, which has picked back up.
Pleasingly, sales in the U.K. also rebounded across the financial year with improved new vehicle supply. Sales revenue of OE to OEs of AUD 59.6 million for the financial year ended 30 June 2024 was up 40.5% compared with FY 2023, which recorded sales of AUD 42.4 million. It also compares to sales revenue of AUD 52.1 million two years ago in FY 2022. Sales into the OE channel can be more volatile depending on the timing of multiyear contracts.
New contracts are already in place with the OEs, which will underpin growth in this sales channel in FY 2025. Sales to OEs now represent 8.6% of total sales, compared with 6.3% last year. Slide seven provides an overview of the company's profit and loss statement, including year-on-year movements against last year and expenditures shown as a percentage of sales in each year. Having spoken to sales already, the key item to focus on is the materials and consumables used, found in the fourth line of the table.
This particular cost component highlights the improvement in sales margins, with materials and consumables used decreasing to 43% of sales in the financial year ended 30 June 2024, compared with 47% in FY 2023. I spoke earlier to the key items driving the improvement in sales margins being sales price increases put through to counter cost inflation and reduced freight costs as shipping costs return to more historical levels.
We note that employee expenses grew by 5.8%, i.e., higher than current inflation levels and ahead of the 3.3% growth in employee expenses reported at the half year. Employee costs and headcount management is a key area of focus for management. Depreciation expense remains consistent at 4% of sales, and the increase of 9.9% across the year reflects the company's recently increased capital expenditure program, particularly over the last three years.
While advertising costs increased 15.9%, this particular cost is maintained at 1% of sales revenue. Occupancy costs increased 15.9% over the period, reflecting new sites, rental increases, and higher electricity and gas power costs. We call out the new line in our profit and loss statement being equity accounted share of profit and loss.
We reported at the half year that the company made two investments in associates during the first half of the financial year at a total cost of AUD 11 million. Firstly, ARB acquired a 30% interest in ORW USA Incorporated for $5 million. ORW currently operates 11 retail stores in the U.S., and ARB's investment will accelerate its plans to expand its retail network. And secondly, ARB acquired a 49% interest in Nacho LED for $2 million.
Nacho was recently established, and ARB's investment will facilitate the development of innovative lighting solutions for the four by four and automotive industries. The equity accounted loss shown on the profit and loss statement of AUD 670,000, recognized this financial year, predominantly reflects ARB's share of losses relating to the Nacho start-up business.
Other expenses increased 17.3%, driven by IT costs related to security and licenses, higher audit costs in the transition to Deloitte, a return to domestic and international travel, and the inflationary impact across most cost categories. Overall, the company's underlying profit before tax of AUD 142.7 million increased 17.1% compared with the underlying profit before tax of AUD 121.8 million reported last year.
Now, we've called out two non-operating transactions realized this year. Firstly, the reported profit before tax includes an expense of AUD 2.5 million related to the Truckman acquisition purchase price made back in 2021. The Truckman acquisition included a deferred payment contingent on prospective earnings over the three years following the acquisition.
New vehicle supply into the U.K. decreased significantly during the COVID period, and Truckman's profit results declined significantly, initially indicating that the deferred payment was unlikely to be paid, and the company wrote the provision back to profit last year with a corresponding reduction in goodwill.
We are pleased to report, however, that Truckman's business rebounded very strongly in FY 2024, and the final amount paid in March 2024 was AUD 2.5 million. In accordance with accounting standards, the final amount paid was expensed rather than adjusted against goodwill. Secondly, the reported profit before tax also includes a gain of AUD 1.3 million relating to the sale of one of its small factories during the financial year.
Accordingly, in reflecting these two non-operating transactions, on the bottom line of the table, the company's reported profit before tax of AUD 141.4 million increased 15.8%, compared with AUD 122.1 million profit before tax last year. Over on Slide 8, the company generated cash flows from operations of AUD 125.3 million. This compares with profit after tax of AUD 102.7 million.
Cash flows from operations broadly equal profit after tax, plus depreciation, with working capital increasing slightly from last year. The company invested AUD 48.1 million in property, plant, and equipment, with AUD 33.1 million spent on property and AUD 15 million spent on plant and equipment. The company's taken on significant property expansion over the last three years.
Notably, the company completed its development of the Hamilton, New Zealand site, which consolidated the Proform and Beaut Utes businesses and established a flagship retail store in the North Island of New Zealand. The major project still ongoing is the development of the company's corporate head office in Melbourne, which will be completed later this financial year.
The company paid AUD 44.7 million in fully franked dividends during the year, being last year's final dividend paid in October 2023, and this year's interim dividend paid in April 2024. The company has announced a fully franked dividend of AUD 0.35 per share to be paid in October.
This takes the total dividends for FY 2024 to AUD 0.69 per share, which is up 11.3% or AUD 0.07 per share from last year. And just in conclusion of the financial highlights, the company held AUD 56.5 million in cash at the end of the financial year and had no debt. Thank you, and I'll hand back to Lachlan.
Thank you very much, Damon. Okay, let's start with a look at the Australian sales of vehicles core to ARB's business. In the year, we saw strong demand and supply of new vehicles in Australia, particularly four by four pickup models. The top three pickup models in the Ford Ranger, Toyota HiLux , and Isuzu D-Max four by four recorded strong growth in the year of 35%, 15%, and 32% respectively. In the four by four SUV class, the Ford Everest had a stellar year, with sales growing 88%.
A couple of low volume, high accessory attachment rate vehicles, and the Toyota Land Cruiser 300 Series and the 70 Series, both had strong years with 21% growth and 20% growth, respectively. In recent months, we have a watch on the Toyota Land Cruiser Prado, which is an important model to ARB, but has all but ceased sales pending an imminent model change. We expect this new model to market in September, however, vehicle supply dried up around June.
Now moving on to domestic and international sales. ARB's aftermarket business in Australia is comprised of sales through corporately-owned stores, independent ARB stores, stockists, and various forms of wholesale resellers, new vehicle dealerships and fleet companies. Also included in these numbers are ARB subsidiaries, Go Active Outdoors, representing Thule in Australia, Kingsley Enterprises, and SmartBar in South Australia.
As reported by Damon, the Australian aftermarket business recorded modest growth of 5.4%, with the second half of the year being stronger than the first half. There were particularly strong sales in fleet and motor vehicle dealer channels, and the company's wholesale business remained very resilient. The flagship store development program remains an absolute focus for ARB.
In the 2025 financial year, we expect to see the opening of nine flagship site redevelopments, six independently owned and three corporately owned, and five all-new sites, four independently owned and one corporately owned. The investments being made, particularly from our independent store owners, reflects the confidence in the brand, strength in the ARB product portfolio, and the scope for future growth.
Beyond the 2025 financial year, ARB and our partners continue to explore new development sites in key metropolitan and regional areas. As touched on by Damon, the 2024 financial year was a milestone for the flagship program, with our first store opening outside Australia. This new site in Hamilton, New Zealand, opened on the thirteenth of April this year and has been warmly received by outdoor enthusiasts, four-wheel drivers, and the broader industry.
Trading has kicked off well, and we're excited to see this investment grow in the new financial year. While metropolitan areas are a key focus for ARB, we've also heavily invested in regional cities around Australia.
Our flagship store development program in Albury, New South Wales, Bundaberg, Queensland, Mornington, Victoria, and Toowoomba, Queensland, clearly demonstrates ARB's investment in development of regional business. Bundaberg, Queensland and Mornington, Victoria, are both nearing construction completion and are due to open in the first half of the new financial year.
In a new update, ARB Wollongong owner has kicked off the development of ARB Mittagong in the Southern Highlands, a territory that has fantastic catchment and a territory we believe will flourish. This all-new site is expected to open in the new half of this financial year. Moving on to Toowoomba, and on July the first, ARB took on ownership of the privately held store of ARB Toowoomba. Dave Archer, the owner, has built an excellent business over many years and has cemented ARB as the brand of choice in Toowoomba.
Dave has recently decided to retire, and we've taken a very collaborative process to bring Toowoomba into the ARB business, inclusive of 19 fantastic team members and the extensive PMA that encompasses the territory, highlighted by five Ford dealerships and four Toyota dealerships. Now, an update on our national sales and fitting performance. The order bank remains strong and continues to be an opportunity for both ARB corporate and independent stores, constrained by access to consistent labor for fitting.
The significant effort to improve engagement and performance in ARB's workshops is starting to bear fruit. Total fitter numbers are at record levels, with fitter tenure also improving. Our Fitter Pathway and Fast Track induction programs remain a focus and help the business bring new technicians into the business, and then once they're in, give them the tools and the direction they need to develop a career at ARB.
And obviously, we have seen this, as commented by Damon, in improved domestic results in the second half of the financial year. The Ford Licensed Accessory Program is where ARB has partnered with Ford Australia and Ford globally to deliver in excess of 180 branded accessory products for the Ford Ranger and Everest platforms, available through Ford dealerships with Ford's full five-year warranty.
Ford and ARB are very happy with the program and continue to look at opportunities at both sides to expand the collaboration. Ford dealer engagement continues to improve, and as all new products are brought to market by ARB, we collaborate with Ford to go through an extensive engineering assessment for Ford's approval and adoption into the program. There are currently an additional 10 new product lines in review to add to the FLA program.
The depth of the partnership will continue to present during the year with two all-new announcements. One we can discuss today is the addition of ARB products to the MyFord Finance program, whereby ARB products purchased through the Ford dealership can be packaged with new vehicle financing through MyFord Finance.
And then finally, on the FLA program, and indicative of the current and future state of the partnership, Ford and ARB are currently negotiating a five-year extension to the FLA program. Onto the export business. Asia, New Zealand, and the Pacific Islands recorded a decline in revenue of 18.2%. The Green Car Tax, coupled with a weak economy, provided a number of challenges in New Zealand in the 2024 financial year.
As demonstrated by the opening of our Hamilton flagship store, ARB remains very confident in our future in New Zealand and will continue to invest in this market. Notably, the full year result was an improvement on the first half result, where revenue was down 25.6%. Asia has also had a challenging financial year, 2024, where we lost ground in some key Southeast Asian markets, particularly due to lower vehicle sales, and in some markets, customers working through overstocks from the prior financial year.
China also had a challenging twelve months. However, a solid plan is in place to recover the growth in the new financial year. Europe, Middle East, and Africa performed well in a challenging environment, and Truckman was a real highlight, which I'll speak to a little later on. While the full year result in the U.S. was disappointing at a 6.5% decline, we've seen an important recovery from the first half of the result, which was a recorded sales decline of 17.5%.
Broad disruption of the automotive industry has impacted the year, from union issues at the Detroit-based OEMs to a changing landscape of independent business ownership in the four by four aftermarket. It's been a different year for the whole industry, but in response to this, and particularly in the US market, ARB has broadened its wholesale customer base, both geographically and by product segment.
Demand for ARB products in the U.S. remains strong. Structuring the right channels to market, continued marketing investment in the ARB brand remains our absolute focus. The second flagship store outside Australia, our store in Seattle, Washington, remains on schedule and is due for construction commencement shortly. A combination of council delays and builder delays has slowed our progress. However, we remain very excited about this initiative.
And then finally, on the U.S., representative of the trajectory in the U.S., 10 years ago, ARB had one 3,500-square-meter distribution facility in Seattle. We bolted on a further 4,000 square meters in Jacksonville, Florida, and our recent expansion DC at Midlothian, Texas, is in the process of being upgraded from 4,000 square meters to 10,000 square meters.
Servicing mid-U.S., including important territories such as Denver, Colorado, and customers such as Toyota USA, this Texas location is a very important hub for our US growth. In addition to this, we've also taken a small distribution center in Corona, California, to help service Southwest customers, including ORW, and support the expansion of our burgeoning e-commerce business. Onto our Toyota US program. The wheels are now in motion on the Toyota Trailhunter, a defining partnership for ARB in the US market.
This partnership represents Toyota's vision of the future growth in the overlanding market, and also their belief in ARB as an overlanding partner of choice. In late April, ARB commenced the supply in limited volumes of products for the Tacoma Trailhunter program through a combination of in-line, port installed, and dealer-installed accessories. These accessories included the ARB branded rear bumper, recovery points, bed rack, sports bar and Old Man Emu branded suspension.
More recently, Toyota have launched the 4Runner Trailhunter, which includes an ARB branded roof rack and Old Man Emu suspension. Toyota has over 1,200 dealerships in the U.S., and the feedback so far from this group has been overwhelmingly positive. An extension of the partnership is the inclusion of the Earth Camper in the launch of their 4Runner program, which we believe will help build demand for the Earth Camper ahead of its release to market in the U.S.
To help the audience understand the depth of the relationship, we've grabbed two reels from the Toyota marketing team that depict their vision of ARB as a brand partner. I'll now play these videos. Okay, we're back. And obviously, the first video was the 4Runner and the second. There we go. The second video was the Tacoma Trailhunter. Onto our minority investments in the USA. Off-Road Warehouse is in the growth and reinvestment phase.
In the second half of the 2024 financial year, we opened two new retail outlets, one in Glendale, Arizona, and then on the 22nd of June, the first Colorado location in Denver. This is the eleventh retail site. Despite weak consumer confidence, we see consistent customer traffic in all our stores, and the ARB business is returning a profit. ARB product sales in ORW stores is growing at double-digit pace in line with expectations. Also, in a development phase is Nacho.
Despite being small, this business is exceeding expectations in both order intake and sales. We have a fairly heavy focus on new product development and have now launched the Grande Light globally, a large nine-inch light with great technology and a similar architecture to the Quatro. OEM opportunities are now presenting, as are further growth markets in the USA and globally. Now heading east to the U.K.
The Truckman business in the U.K. has returned to growth after enduring a very challenging 2023 financial year. We were consistent in our reporting of the challenges in new vehicle supply and confident in the recovery when new vehicle sales came back. We're delighted with the business recovery and see growth opportunities continue through the U.S. for potential geographical expansion, growth in e-commerce and expansion of ARB product sales through the four by four aftermarket....
Our efforts to create more awareness in the ARB brand can be seen in collaborations such as that with Isuzu U.K., with the introduction of the ARB Hub Dealer program. ARB's OEM business has recorded a record year sales revenue, just shy of AUD 60 million, representing a 40.5% increase. OEM development programs have a 2-4 -year cycle, and we currently have a great pipeline of new work in the wings.
Just as a reminder, sales to OEMs are forecast to grow in 2025 , noting that sales to Toyota USA for the Trailhunter program will be recorded as a US sale, not an OEM sale. Importantly, further contracts with Toyota USA will be announced in the 2025 financial year. Unfortunately, for today's presentation, no further details are available, but we look forward to bringing that information to market as soon as possible.
Now on to products and operations. ARB is 70% of the way through a AUD 25 million redevelopment of our head office. The Engineering Center of Excellence is complete, as is a good portion of the administration building. A new flagship showroom will be complete in the coming months, with the broader project due for completion in the second half of the 2025 financial year. It's also important to note that we have our Kilsyth-based manufacturing business on site at head office, which employs just under 300 people.
The manufacturing facilities will also be getting an upgrade, and these are due to kick off in 2025. We had the Minister for Jobs, Industry, Women, Treaty, and First Peoples, the Honorable Ms. Natalie Hutchins, MP, visit head office in support of local engineering and manufacturing in the region. I'd just like to take the time to thank the Victorian government for their support of our head office redevelopment and broader business through manufacturing and engineering global products for supply to market.
On to a handful of product updates and a short update on the Earth Camper. Demand for this product in Australia and in international markets remains positive. Significant changes in the manufacturing line in Thailand are now complete. We've made important investments in new jigs, fixtures, and quality gates. The good news is these upgrades are done and production, albeit at a slower rate, is moving, and product is being shipped from the factory every month.
We are holding back orders in Australia and in some international markets, which we are continuing to fill. The previously mentioned exposure through Toyota USA marketing of 4Runner will support our launch into the program within 2024 , following the completion of our US compliance program. Originally designed on the Bronco, the ARB Zenith bar has received great market feedback for its shape, design, and integrated vehicle looks.
The expansion of Zenith to a number of other platforms, particularly the full-size US pickup truck, is well underway, and you can expect to see more Zenith applications go to market in the coming months. For those of you intending to visit Melbourne 4x4 Show this weekend, you'll see the Zenith featured on the Ford F-150 at the ARB booth. Now, touching on electric vehicles. Through ARB's OEM partnerships and internal initiatives, ARB is exploring and understanding the future of accessories on electric vehicles.
We emphatically believe that the world of vehicle personalization and upfitting, regardless of powertrain, will remain strong as people look for new and unique ways to upgrade their vehicle. One example of this investment is the import of a Rivian vehicle to Australia. ARB holds a Tier 1 supply contract with Rivian, but by extension of this was to bring the vehicle to Australia, the Australian Engineering Center of Excellence, to help us understand the end-to-end of vehicle accessories - electric vehicle accessories.
And then finally, on products. A number of years ago, we made the strategic decision to move away from our long-term supplier of the Nitrocharger shock absorber. The new supplier selected by ARB is a global leader in the design and manufacture of shock absorbers. This multi-year change program encountered early production issues, which materially impacted sales both to the domestic aftermarket, and made a real dent in our export business.
These issues are now resolved, and supply of the Nitrocharger to global markets is improving month on month. Continuing with the theme of new product development and engineering, to grow the US market, we recognize that product development and speed to market is pivotal to our success. In the last six months, we've had two very important vehicles to ARB USA launched, the Toyota Tacoma and Land Cruiser 250, otherwise known in Australia as the Prado.
With our key engineering resource being based here in Australia, we air freighted both of these vehicles from the U.S. to Kilsyth, to fast-track product development. Both these vehicles are being beavered away on as we speak, with the aim of having end-to-end product to market as quickly as possible. Air freighting vehicles around the world is obviously not sustainable, so to focus on new product development in the U.S., we've approved a US-based R&D facility.
We anticipate the R&D center to commence work in the next six months, and recruiting for the engineering team there is well underway. A brief update on some promotional activities, and although promotional activity through COVID-19 was subdued, given the demand on both product and fitting capacity, as we recover as a business, we need to remind ourselves that we are a sales-led company, and as such, we've launched a premium product promotion by partnering with Weber.
Where the customer is gifted a high-end Weber Q with the purchase of an ARB bullbar, winch, and driving lights. The promotion has boosted our order intake and given the marketing team a great lever to reengage on important brand awareness through the Australian and New Zealand aftermarket. And now on to a new product that we've recently released.
With the growth in overlanding and increased levels of remote area vehicle-based travel, the rooftop tent has become commonplace on the roof of a four by four vehicle. Commercially, the rooftop tent market has become incredibly crowded, with dozens of brands and manufacturers piling into this product. Over the last four years, our engineers have been designing and refining the Altitude Rooftop Tent, which was recently released in global markets.
The Altitude Rooftop Tent is a larger footprint tent designed for comfort and ease of use, and includes numerous innovative features, most specifically, automatic electric opening and closing. This great new product is manufactured in-house by ARB in Thailand. The launch has been incredibly successful, and as referenced by the marketing statistics on the screen, has resonated with consumers globally. Supported by great marketing videography, I'll run through a short video for the audience to see this great new product.
Awesome! Really good stuff. And we know among the investor group, we've got some great customers out there. Okay, and now on to the outlook. The headline message is: the business is in great shape. ARB's aftermarket order book remains strong. The company's seen improved workshop efficiency in recent months following a considerable focus in this area. ARB expects these improvements to continue.
ARB's export order book is trending positively, and as new products come to market, the business overcomes key supply issues with its Nitrocharger product, and ARB continues to expand international distribution. FY 2025 is expected to return to growth. The US market outlook is positive despite continuing short-term market pressures. The Trailhunter program will have a full year in market, and additional Toyota USA programs will come online. Management anticipates growth in wholesale aftermarket, e-commerce, ORW and Nacho.
Sales to OEMs should continue to grow in FY 2025 , based on contracts already in place, and then in addition to organic growth, ARB will consider strategic acquisition opportunities focused on product and distribution expansion, and in a very positive sign, sales in Q1 of the new 2025 financial year have begun positively.
Before finishing up, I'd like to take the time to thank the entire team at ARB for their efforts in 2024 , particularly the senior leadership team, our state, international, and business unit managers. The business is very ambitious for continued growth, which comes with hard work, some good laughs, and great engagement.
We've got a very capable senior leadership team that are up for the challenge and continue to drive the business forward. Well, thank you very much for listening. That concludes today's presentation. We'll now move on to our Q&A sessions for questions raised through the chat box during the presentation, and I'll hand over to Damon.
Yeah, thanks, Lachlan, and I've just been perusing the questions that have come through, and perhaps I'll take these first three questions, and then we'll hand some operating questions over to Lachlan. So the first question's in relation to Slide 7. In the bottom right-hand corner, it states that, "Gross profits are cycling consistent levels in Q1 FY 2025." And the question is whether those gross profits whether it's referring to gross margins or to gross profits?
In the outlook, Lachlan mentioned that sales have trended positively in the first month and a half of this new financial year, July and August. So what we're referring to there is the gross margins. The percentages are tracking in line with where we were for FY 2024. They're being applied against the sales, which are trending positively.
We'll report more on that, on the first quarter, when we come to the annual general meeting on October the eighteenth. So gross margins trending in line with FY 2025 against the current sales levels is the answer. Secondly, how do we expect profit before tax margins to trend in FY 2025, i.e., at the level of 20%? Historically, ARB's profit before tax used to trade at about 17.5% to sales. In more recent years, in 2021 particularly, in 2022, we were trading up above 20%, and we're at just over 20% in FY 2024.
We are, we're certainly targeting to stay just slightly ahead of 20%. That's where we anticipate being for FY 2025. This, of course relies on us achieving sales growth. We do have a cost base that's still under pressure in terms of headcount and also the inflationary impact. But you know, with sales growth, we anticipate remaining above 20% profit before tax to sales. Another question in relation to price rises in the Australian aftermarket, whether we've put any through in the last six months.
We have put through a very small price increase in the Australian aftermarket of on average 0.5%, that went through in April, probably only taking effect at the moment, but only a minor increase in the aftermarket over the last six months. We did put through a number of price increases through calendar 2023, in the second half of last financial year, and in the first half of this financial year.
Which of course take a few months to filter through our order book through to our invoicing, so we have been relatively quiet on price increases over the last six months, having put through a number to counter inflation last calendar year.
Okay, I don't know how this works. Dave got three questions, I've got seven, so thanks, Dave. Okay, I'll work through these, so the first question is, when you talk about strategic acquisitions in product and distribution, what regions would you consider most likely? Look, it's a great question.
I don't know that there would be any specific region where we would necessarily focus. I think if we look at the past, you know, we've made investments in New Zealand and had a good opportunity and then persistent focus on that market. We obviously took the UK market, which has been a great success story for the business, so I would certainly say, not only domestic, but then you take ARB Toowoomba as another example, which is a territory we took back from an existing distributor.
I would say from a territory perspective, we are both looking at opportunities internationally and domestically, but of course, we do have ambitions in the U.S. . I think our ORW investment is one that is consistent with our growth expectations in the North American markets.
Obviously, North America is clearly on the radar. And then in terms of product, the market moves very quickly and certainly, you know, ARBs and our peers' success in the four by four aftermarket space, the growth in pickup sales, not only in Australia, internationally, means that there are more products coming to market faster. In most cases, our, you know, 120 , 130 -strong engineering team can develop products and bring them to market.
But from time to time, there are products that, we can't get to market as quickly as we'd like, and in those cases, there are certainly acquisition opportunities in products, which either have a manufacturing capability that we don't have in-house, or products that we'd like to fast-track and get to market without going through an R&D investment, th at we will consider.
The next question is: Are Nacho and ORW combined expected to return profitable in FY 2025? Look, I think the materiality of that question means that I don't know that that's a focus at the moment. We have heavy investments in R&D and tooling in the Nacho business so that we can expand their product portfolio as quickly as possible.
They've got a small but really ambitious engineering design team that has a real focus and vision on what they want to do, and so there's a real focus on investing in new product development as quickly as possible in Nacho. And then, we've already previously mentioned through the presentation that ORW is currently profitable and has returned to profit, well, is returning a profit this calendar year and also did so at acquisition. The Australian...
The next question: The Australian four by four technicians has turned up markedly in the last six months. Do you consider you are now relatively right-sized in terms of fitment, fitment capability in Australia? The answer to that is no. We still have growth and are continuing to recruit fitters. What I would say is that it is very territory-specific, so we're probably right-sized in Victoria and Tasmania.
We're not too far away in South Australia, New South Wales and WA, we have still opportunities to add heads, and we are actively recruiting in those markets. And then Queensland is reasonably right-sized, so a very market-specific question, that one. The next question is on M&A. Some more color on product categories and whether there are any specific distribution locations you're looking at?
I think if that's okay, I've covered that off in the first answer. Two questions is the next one on the Texas distribution center expansion. How much revenue can 10,000 square meters support? And this also is a result of product category mix, maybe towards the larger items like bull bar and OEM. We won't be able to talk about revenue out of the 10,000 square meters, but we'll leave that to your imagination, given we're at four. But also, you know, we've got- we're considering products like Earth Camper coming to market.
The Altitude Rooftop Tent is a large-scale products and needs space. And obviously, with the introduction of our R&D facility in, in the U.S. , we are looking to bring more products to market, and particularly the Zenith product, which we had presented.
And so hopefully, that's enough color with that question around the Texas distribution center. The next question is regarding our hourly rate for fitters in Western Australia. Look, our national fitting rate and charge-out rate is something that we monitor very specifically. We have detailed benchmarking in each region and each state as it relates to fitting rates. WA is obviously a really challenging state for recruiting.
Potentially with, you know, mining going backwards a little bit, we'll see some pressure coming off in that territory, but I, I'm not gonna be giving specifics on this call, but it is consistently under review and consistently being benchmarked to both our competitors and industry peers, such as motor vehicle dealerships and the like.
Then the final question I have, although there might be some more coming through, is: Could you add some color to the comment on slide 15, sales to independent stores increased in FY 2024, but sales to corporate stores were flat. What drove the difference, given they are similar channels? Okay, the correct answer there is, they are similar channels, but an independent distributor is also acting as a wholesaler in their territory.
So I think if we refer to the Toowoomba slide, you'll see the large, expansive PMA that Toowoomba had to sell into. Now, typically in an ARB-owned territory, we'll call it, that business does limited wholesale work.
Usually, our wholesale work is captured at our state head office, where we push the product out from our various distribution centers, whereas our independent operators control and own sales into the PMA, which not only includes their retail sales, but also includes wholesale sales to motor vehicle dealership, fleet, and various other, specialty stores. So the answer to that question is definitely that the independents control a scope of wholesale business as well as the retail business within their PMA.
Okay, Lachlan, I'm just gonna pick up a couple of questions here on our order book.
Okay.
There's some questions around whether the order book remains at an elevated level, where it's been sitting at about three months' worth of sales for the aftermarket over the last couple of years. And the order book's slightly come back, but for all intents and purposes, it's still sitting at around about that three months' worth of sales despite the improvement in the number of fitters and the efficiencies there with a strong sales order still coming through.
There's a question as to whether the order book has degraded, and we keep a watchful eye on the orders in terms of cancellations and ensuring that they remain relevant with consistent follow-up with customers to ensure that we're chasing down all opportunities.
So the order book's still at a similar level to where it was six and 12 months ago, at three months worth of sales, and we don't believe that it's degraded in any way, that there's still live orders in the system for us to be fitting over the coming six months, really underpinning the aftermarket's results for the current financial half.
Okay, so some more questions: What is the long-term view about ARB's working with EVs? Will that change ARB's core business? Look, the right answer is that we see an absolute appetite for new EVs, as well as, you know, the pre-eminent car companies around the world, who are moving towards an electric strategy, that there is absolutely demand for the products. I mean, I think, you know, one of the great successes, which we haven't spoken a lot about, is our contract with Rivian.
Which really shows our focus and commitment on engaging with EV platforms around the world. Without, you know, going into details, we have demonstrated and presented to market the extensive relationship we have with all OEMs around the world. And certainly, their vision for vehicle modification and personalization, regardless of dr ivetrain, is consistent with that.
Now, products like locking differentials and snorkels are gonna really be challenged to sell in a future market on EVs, but there's a heap of other accessories and really, probably, a more diverse range of accessories and complex accessories that the aftermarket are going to have some great opportunities with going forward. So we really see the outlook as being positive and, you know, punctuated by SEMA last year, where at that show, we had a number of EVs presented to market with all sorts of different modifications being presented.
Sorry, SEMA is the US large aftermarket show that occurs every November, and again, we saw EVs particularly showcased in that show last year and expect to see much more of that, this year. So the next question is just around a deepening of product for ARB and regarding the R&D investments in the U.S. , and it's a great question, and the answer is yes. I mean, I think there are definitely characteristics of our products that resonate across both markets.
There are definitely products in the North American market, one being lift kits, that are entirely illegal in Australia, but are really well suited to the North American market. And so, as we continue to grow and evolve our presence in North America, we will see customization of our existing lineup. You know, really still focused on premium and quality, to design and develop products for those US platforms. I'd take the time to point out that we've previously announced Rick Botello, as, you know, senior leadership within the North American market.
Now, Rich comes to us with 30 years' experience running all sorts of different types of the Transamerican Auto Parts business, and he's got a really great vision for success in this space, and he's heavily engaged with our Australian engineering team to make that vision of success a reality. Okay, do we have any other questions?
Yeah, I'd just like to pick one up here. Question in relation to Note 10 in the accounts and the CGU testing. The growth rate assumed for ARB Australia is reduced from 4%-6.5% reported previously to 3%. And the question is: Is there anything to read into that reduction in the growth rates in the cash-generating unit, or is it just a level of conservatism?
What I would suggest to the listeners is that the models prepared for the CGU testing are done for very specific purposes and do not reflect what management's aspirations or expectations in terms of growth going forward.
Certainly, our expectations, our drivers, are all to achieving greater than 3% growth, which was used purely for the model testing to support the underlying goodwill and... Which was reviewed and by our new auditors. So certainly, the expectations are for higher growth into the short, medium, and long term.
Excellent. We are at the top of the hour, and I'd like to take the time to thank everybody who's taken the time to join the call this morning. Thank you very much for your time, and we look forward to talking to you again at the AGM. Thank you, and have a good day.