Thank you, everyone, and I appreciate you joining us this morning for the Investor Presentation of the Financial Results for Autosports Group for the Full Year of FY 2025. As the moderator noted, my name is Nick Pagent. I'm the CEO of Autosports Group . Joining me today on the call is Aaron Murray, the CFO of Autosports Group . This morning, we'll start with a brief presentation on Autosports Group , covering our FY 2025 financial highlights, our operational highlights from FY 2025, and our outlook for FY 2026. I'll then pass on to Aaron, who will provide a summary of the FY 2025 statutory results and analysis in the shift in trading from the first half of FY 2025 through to the second half of FY 2025.
Aaron will then present an update on our margins and operating costs, an outline of our new improved funding model, and a summary of our key balance sheet and cash flow drivers for FY 2025 and into FY 2026. Following this, I'll give you an update on Autosports Group 's progress against our consistent but accelerating growth strategy. Part of this will involve the announcement of a number of material and immediately accretive growth initiatives with some of our brand partners. As we move through the presentation lodged this morning with the ASX and also on our Autosports Group investor site, I will, where possible, note the relevant slide numbers for those who are following the pack. If we start now at slide number three. Trading conditions throughout FY 2025 improved quarter- on- quarter. The first half was challenging. The market was down 7.4%, and the luxury market was retracted by 13%.
The second half of the year saw month-on-month improvements. The luxury market returned to growth with a 2.8% growth rate in the second half of the year as interest rates fell and consumer confidence increased. Within this framework, Autosports Group delivered a solid top-line result dominated by these improvements in the second half. Revenue was up 8% to AUD 2.86 billion. Net profit after tax of AUD 32.9 million was ahead of expectations, and the board approved a final dividend of AUD 0.045, fully franked, bringing the full year dividend to AUD 0.08 per share. On a normal and underlying basis, the EBITDA was AUD 118.4 million pre the impact of AASB 16, and net profit before tax was AUD 47.1 million. Operating cash generated in the business was solid at AUD 116 million. If we turn to slide four now to touch on our operational highlights.
As I mentioned in the opening, improvements in trading conditions through the year were material. Within the AUD 47.5 million normalized net profit before tax, the result in H2 was 33% higher than H1. The improving market helped, but as you will see in Aaron's presentation, we were also active in improving our stock depth and our stock mix. We were active in driving our OpEx ratio improvements, and we were active in setting up businesses to make use of the improving market conditions that we think will come through in FY 2026 and FY 2027. We added six additional greenfield sites to the business with Polestar and Zeekr. All but one were within existing established sites, driving up revenue per site and impacting our operating leverage. We entered a new AUD 350 million syndicated debt facility to improve our funding model and give us firepower to grow.
We completed and successfully integrated the Stilwell Motor Group, extending our collaboration with BMW and Volvo, adding in the FY 2025 financial year an additional AUD 241 million in revenue. Earlier this month, we announced the acquisition of the Porsche business in Canberra. This is our first Porsche dealership, and it will be settling on the 1st of September. We look forward to working with the team in Canberra and look forward to working with the new brand for Autosports Group in Porsche. We worked on expanding our collaboration with our existing partner OEMs, and later in the presentation, we will outline some growth with Mercedes-Benz in Canberra and in Southport. We'll also outline further growth within the Geely Holding Group group of brands with new greenfield sites with Volvo and Geely. There's a lot on, and FY 2026 will continue the growth theme.
If we move to slide number five, I'll give you a snapshot of the FY 2026 outlook before handing over to Aaron. The new vehicle market is expected to continue to improve, particularly if interest rates continue to fall. Our used car business, service business, parts business, and collision repair business are predictable and resilient. They're expected to continue growth on trend rates. Higher revenues and better site utilization are expected to improve the operating leverage through FY 2026, with revenue growth also being driven by the full year cycling of the Stilwell Motor Group acquisition and the new addition of Porsche Canberra, Mercedes-Benz Canberra, and the greenfield sites in Volvo and Geely. Further into FY 2027, we will see the launch of our new Mercedes-Benz site in Southport. Further growth opportunity remains, and we are currently assessing further on strategy immediately accretive acquisition opportunities. Finally, July has started well.
Revenues in July were up 13.5% on the prior corresponding period. New vehicle order rate was up 20.2% on the prior corresponding period. It's a good start. I'd now like to hand over to Aaron so that he can go through the statutory result, the first half to second half, normalised analysis, leverage opportunities, balance sheet, and cash flows. Aaron?
Thanks, Nick, and good morning to everyone joining us on the call. If you move to slide seven, I will talk you through the statutory result. The statutory result reflected in an 8.2% increase in overall revenue, primarily driven by the acquisition of the Stilwell Motor Group and improving new vehicle market. Interest costs were higher than the PCP, largely due to increased inventory levels and debt funding associated with the Stilwell acquisition. This acquisition also contributed to higher acquisition-related amortization and additional impacts under AASB 16 from acquired leases. Net profit after tax for the period was AUD 32.9 million. This was impacted by AUD 3.6 million in acquisition and restructuring costs, which related to recent acquisition opportunities and the successful completion of a new syndicated debt facility. The result also includes a AUD 5.7 million reversal of a prior period property impairment.
The chart on the lower left side provides a detailed reconciliation between statutory profit and normalised profit. If you turn to slide eight, I will run through the improving conditions in H2 FY 2025. The second half of FY 2025 saw continued improvement in the underlying market conditions. Combined with the H2's targeted acquisition strategy, this resulted in a 12% increase in new vehicle revenue in H2 compared to H1. This is a strong result, and it's pleasing also to see the VFACTS data show the luxury market returned a growth of 2.8% in H2, following a 13.2% market decline in H1. Our higher margin backend departments of service and parts also performed well, delivering a 6% growth in H2 over H1. Notably, approximately 90% of H2's revenue growth comes from lower margin front-end revenue streams.
Whilst this shift in mix led to a slight reduction in gross profit margin, down just 0.06% from H1 to H2, the increased revenue still contributed to higher absolute gross profit. This, in turn, drove improvements in operating leverage reflected in the stronger OpEx, EBITDA, and PBT margins. Importantly, the growth in the front-end revenue is expected to fuel further opportunities in our high margin backend departments moving forward. Overall, the combination of increased revenue and disciplined cost management is driving improved operating leverage. As a result, normalised PBT for the second half was up 33% on the first half. Encouragingly, early indicators for FY 2026 are positive, with July revenue up 13.5% on PCP and July order rate up 20.2% on PCP. If you turn to slide nine, I will talk you through ASG's historical operating leverage.
ASG's historical acquisition-led growth has successfully diversified the group's brand portfolio and consistently enhanced operating leverage. As shown on slide 18 later in the presentation, since listing in FY 2017, ASG has significantly broadened its brand mix, supporting overall maturation of the business. This diversification has driven improvements across all margin lines and helped insulate the group from fluctuations in individual brand performance cycles. Looking ahead, operating leverage is expected to continue improving through further acquisition-led growth. In addition, ongoing optimization of site utilization is expected to drive increased revenue through existing retail outlets while incurring minimal additional operating expenses. Our current inventory position, along with the integration of new Mercedes-Benz agency sites, is expected to continue to support strong gross profit margins. Any future interest rate cuts, as well as the full year benefit of FY 2025's rate reductions, will further support improvement in PBT margins.
If you turn to slide 10, I will talk you through ASG's new debt facility. At the end of June 2025, ASG entered into a new syndicated debt facility to the value of AUD 350 million. The new facility is funded by our existing OEM financiers, BMW Australia Finance, Mercedes-Benz Finance, and has been joined by major domestic banks, Commonwealth Bank and Westpac Bank. We're extremely pleased to have our OEM funders committed to this new facility and committed to ASG's future growth, and we look forward to building long-term relationships with the two major domestic banks that have joined us. This facility replaces the previous funding model where expansion was funded primarily through operating cash flows and short-term debt facilities. The new facility is agile and ready to supercharge immediate growth with AUD 110 million of funding available.
The facility's revolving structure removes the need for the aggressive debt paydown approach previously required. It improves future cash flows by AUD 25 million per annum. The negotiation has resulted in reduced cost of debt with savings of AUD 1.7 million per annum on like-for-like debt. The facility has improved covenants that are more aligned to the scale and profile-based ASG's business. All future acquisition-led growth will now likely be funded out of this facility, and the borrowings will be reflected as non-current liabilities on the balance sheet. ASG's planned FY 2026 capital management plan remains consistent with prior years, targeting acquisitions, facility improvements, strategic property investments, and shareholder returns. In FY 2026, we have AUD 40 million of planned capital expenditure with the acquisition of the Porsche Centre Canberra, existing showroom upgrades, and the acquisition of the Southport Queensland property.
This CapEx is expected to be funded with AUD 10 million in cash and the balance funded through long-term debt. If you turn to slide 11, we'll run through our balance sheet. ASG closed with cash of AUD 43.8 million, a corporate debt balance of AUD 240.5 million, with property assets independently valued at AUD 24.8 million. The property valuations were all completed in June 2025 and are currently sitting on the balance sheet at their written down value of AUD 215 million, leaving property equity of AUD 29.4 million not realized on the balance sheet. ASG's net debt moved from AUD 170 million in FY 2024 to AUD 197 million in FY 2025, largely due to the Stilwell Motor Group acquisition. As we discussed at the half-year briefing, we were not overly happy with our vehicle inventory position, and we had a plan in place to rectify.
The new vehicle stock holding has improved from 104 days of inventory to 84 days, and with new vehicle revenue growth of 12% in FY 2025 and July order rate up 20% on PCP, our new vehicle inventory is now in a great position for FY 2026 and will underpin stable margins in the new vehicle department. Our used vehicle supply remains strong, with fast-turning stock negating margin pressure in used vehicles. If you turn to slide 12, we'll look at the FY 2025 cash flows. ASG is a capital-light business that has generated strong and consistent cash flows. In FY 2026, operating cash reached AUD 116 million, with cash conversion ratios of 115%. The strength of the cash generation underpins ASG's capital management strategy. The net increase of corporate debt of AUD 33.9 million was mainly to fund the Stilwell Motor Group acquisition and the construction of the Macgregor Volkswagen site.
Dealership expansion and improvements of AUD 23.9 million to maximize productivity and customer experience and ultimately support organic growth. Acquisitions of AUD 59.9 million spent on acquiring the Stilwell Motor Group, the buyout of the prior minority shareholder in Alexandria Mazda, and the final settlement of Auckland BMW. Dividend payments of AUD 23.3 million were returned to shareholders. Looking ahead, ASG intends to remain consistent in its capital management approach, balancing growth with shareholder returns. Dividend payments will continue within the disclosed range of 55% - 70% of NPAT. With that, I'll hand back to Nick.
Thanks, Aaron. If we move on now to Autosports Group strategy, and it starts on slide number 14. This strategy has been largely consistent and predictable. It is, however, a live document, and we constantly test our strategy to check that we're heading in the right direction. All of our operational decisions in FY 2025 sit within this framework as we drive our business forwards. In FY 2026 and beyond, our shareholders can expect our actions to sit within this framework. Simply put, it's Autosports Group's strategy to represent the world's greatest luxury automotive brands in the best locations. If we move to slide number 15, the way we make ourselves attractive to these brands is all set simple. We become the highest market share, lowest cost, operationally excellent distribution source for our OEM partners and their customers. We do this by being the luxury OEM's partner of choice.
We do it their way. We're consistent, reliable, and low risk. We do it from the best locations, driving customer and OEM outcomes and improving our cost of doing business. We look after the OEM's customers with great facilities, great staff, and attention to customer outcomes. Operationally, we are excellent. We run strongly on the OEM scorecards. We do what we say we will do. We're able to invest in transformation, and we run a profitable business. If we move to slide number 16, slide number 16 articulates the drivers or levers, if you like, to our success. One is relationships. Our OEM relationships are longstanding. They're committed, and they sit within the platform of being a preferred partner. Our property decisions are key as well. The right location, the right cost base, and a flexible approach.
On the customer CRM capability, a business now with a 1.2 million person luxury car buyer database. Quality facilities, understanding the importance of the difference between the brands that we represent and how we deliver the individual brand experiences. Market knowledge, we're the biggest luxury player in the market. We have the largest luxury management team. We're informed and competent. We have capability on a funding basis, on a management bandwidth basis, and we have a flexible template to growth. If we move to slide number 17, slide number 17 shows our track record. It shows how our strategy has worked in practice. We outperform, we grow, we do it on strategy, and our runway is full. Our capacity to execute is enhanced by the growth and scale. The levers in this are very straightforward. On strategy acquisitions, complementary greenfields, and constant attention to the core business improvements.
Slide number 18. Since listing, Autosports Group has executed 39 acquisitions and opened 15 greenfield sites. If you think about what I said two slides earlier, we do what we say we're going to do. We said that we would grow and consolidate the business. We said we'd do complementary acquisitions within the luxury business, and we've done that. Our brand portfolio has increased, giving us geographic and brand-based resilience, but it's remained on strategy. Quality acquisitions with quality brands in quality locations. Over the last two years, our template has developed to include expansion within the Geely Holding Group's brands, and I'll speak to that a little bit later. Move now to slide number 19. Improvements to the core business are part of the strategy, and the constant attention to improvements is key to our strategy.
Multi-site and multi-brand synergies, the financing, real estate, senior management complexity, the CRM, as I spoke to earlier, with our 1.2 million database of luxury buyers. To give you an example of how this works in practice, Autosports Group has a headcount of 38 people in its marketing department. That's one person for every two dealerships, but no luxury business in Australia has the firepower to deliver 38 people in a marketing department and drive synergies. The same could be said on IT and transformation, where we have a 29 person headcount driving our systems and making efficiencies in our business realistic. Again, it drives operational efficiencies less than a third of a person per dealership, but 29 people in IT is significant. We have luxury super sites in our business, and it's a key part of our property growth strategy, which I'll touch on in a moment.
We can generate synergies in inventory with pooling of stock. We can move people in businesses with a huge talent pool of luxury qualified people inside our organization. If we move now to slide number 20, our property strategy, our growing strength has allowed us to gain the benefits from our property strategy, and we're starting to see them bear fruit at the moment. As Aaron mentioned earlier, the current market value of Autosports Group's property of just under AUD 245 million now exceeds our total corporate debt. This is the first time that our property portfolio has exceeded the total corporate debt of the company. That gives us enormous strength within the business. Owning our key properties has allowed Autosports Group to control the critically important sites that are attractive to our OEM partners. They have allowed us to build flagship luxury precincts driving our occupancy cost down.
Over the next 18 months, we will add another two properties to this strategy, and we can do this because of the support of our financiers with the syndicated debt facility that Aaron spoke of earlier. In Southport, we will buy a site for AUD 17.5 million, which will be anchored by our Mercedes-Benz brand. In Canberra, we will buy a site in the Phillip Automotive Hub again, which will be anchored with Mercedes-Benz, and it will settle in October of 2026. If I turn now to our accelerated growth strategy and move to slide number 22, we intend to use the combination of the improving market dynamics and the strong base our consistent strategic work has given us to accelerate our growth. We reaffirm today the growth target of AUD 250 million in revenue growth from acquisitions per annum.
This growth can be accelerated because of Autosports Group's scale in our luxury brands. It can be accelerated because of the increased funding capacity, and it can be accelerated because of our strong track record with our OEM partners. The growth parameters have not changed and remain compelling in terms of return on investment, return on capital employed, and EPS accretion opportunity. When we are acquiring businesses, we look to buy businesses at between four to six times net profit before tax in the right locations. For greenfields growth, we look for the right brands on a low-cost basis, reducing the timeline to full profit productivity of those businesses. In FY 2026 and FY 2027, we will add at the minimum Porsche Centre Canberra, Canberra Mercedes-Benz, Southport Mercedes-Benz, Geely Leichhardt , and Volvo Gold Coast .
To look at the first of those on slide number 23, the Porsche acquisition that we announced about six weeks ago. An on-strategy acquisition of the Gulson Group in Canberra strengthens Autosports luxury brand portfolio and signals Autosports entry into the Australian Capital Territory market. The new brand for us, not only a new brand, one of the great brands in the market, indeed, the highest value luxury brand in the world. The business has a high margin, and it comes within our acquisition matrices. We believe improvements can be added with Autosports scale. We believe there is an opportunity to grow our prestige auto traders' used car business in the ACT, and we now have a strong profitable base established within Canberra that can help grow our luxury business in the ACT. I'll move to slide number 24 and speak to some growth opportunities that we have with Mercedes-Benz.
Our opportunities for collaboration with Mercedes-Benz have been accelerating. These opportunities are driven by Mercedes-Benz's preference for agents that can deliver a hub and spoke multiple site representation, agents that can deliver strong customer outcomes, agents with the capacity to invest in Mercedes-Benz corporate identity, and agents with a track record of success. Our disciplined strategy has helped us position ourselves well here. Autosports provides an unrivaled luxury platform, benchmark customer outcomes, and a capacity to invest. In FY 2026 and through to FY 2027, Autosports Group plans to double its Mercedes-Benz sites, firstly in Canberra and secondly in Southport in FY 2027. If I turn to page number 25 to outline the matrices on the acquisition of Mercedes-Benz Canberra, which we're announcing for the first time today and exchanged into a binding contract last night.
The transaction has Autosports Group paying approximately AUD 3 million for the business and assets of Mercedes-Benz Canberra, and we expect the settlement of the business to be in October of 2025. The transaction is expected to be immediately EPS accretive for Autosports Group. Autosports Group will be entering a one-year lease at the current Mercedes-Benz site at Fyshwick for a cost of AUD 1.06 million per annum. We will also be purchasing an 8,000 sq m site within the Phillip Automotive luxury precinct at 158 Melrose Drive, Phillip, for AUD 16.25 million. We expect that settlement to occur delayed by a year in 2026 in October. The strategic rationale for this acquisition, of course, is it deepens our Mercedes-Benz relationship. It expands our business in the ACT post the Porsche acquisition and gives us two of the great luxury brands in the Canberra region.
The improved site location on an owned real estate basis provides the opportunity to grow and control costs while delivering a better outcome for the OEM partners. I'll move to slide number 26. Autosports Group is to expand its collaboration with Mercedes-Benz with a new site in Southport on the Gold Coast. The new Southport site will link with other Autosports Group sites in Macg regor and Toowong to deliver Mercedes-Benz increased synergies, a consistent hub and spoke model, and all new facilities in Southport. Initially, Autosports Group will operate its sales from a facility at 138 Ferry Road in Southport, commencing in the first half of the 2027 financial year. During this period, Autosports Group intends to develop a purpose-built Mercedes-Benz facility at 68– 74 Nerang Street, Southport. The combination of the Canberra and Southport businesses, as I noted earlier, is expected to double Autosports Group's Mercedes-Benz volume.
If I touch quickly on the property at Narang Street, just under 9,000 sq m in downtown Southport. Settlement's expected in October of 2025, and it sits with holding income of just under AUD 1.7 million. Price of the property is AUD 17.6 million. Development approval and development and the build process is expected to take approximately two years for the site, and the site is large enough to host other luxury brands as well as Mercedes-Benz. If I move to slide number 27 to touch on greenfields growth. In FY 2026, Autosports Group announced six new greenfield sites with Geely Holding Group brands Polestar and Zeekr. Today, we announce another two sites for Volvo and Geely. Autosports Group now has 14 Geely Holding Group sites across Australia. These sites have had no acquisition costs. They've been set up largely on existing footprints. They've been immediately profitable.
Polestar has tracked ahead of our expectations. Zeekr has tracked on our expectations. Zeekr, however, has its main volume car commencing deliveries in quarter two of FY 2026, and we're looking forward to that with some anticipation. For those of you that don't know much about the Geely Holding Group, I'll refer you quickly to slides number 28 and 29 to show the brand portfolio and the scale of Geely Holding Group. Geely Holding Group is currently the 10th biggest manufacturer in the world with 3.34 million cars produced a year. It runs across the brands in Australia: Geely, Zeekr, Volvo, Polestar, and Lotus. Those brands sit within Autosports Group's template, and we look forward to working with Geely Holding Group over the next years as it expands into Australia.
If I return to the FY 2026 highlights, the outlook, and then I'll open the call up for any questions that you have. In FY 2025, the business had a normalised net profit of AUD 47.1 million. We launched the greenfield sites with Polestar and Zeekr. We entered a syndicated debt facility. We completed the acquisition of the Stilwell Motor Group, expanding our BMW, MINI, and Volvo presence. We entered the agreement to buy Porsche. We continue to expand our collaboration with Mercedes-Benz in Canberra and in the future in Southport. We've announced today the further extension of our relationship with Geely Holding Group with the new Volvo and Geely site. On slide 32, our outlook to recap, we expect the new car market to continue its improvements. We expect our other divisions to grow at a predictable and resilient pace.
We see the higher revenues coming through from the increase in the new car market and the improvements that we're making with our facilities, particularly in relation to the greenfield sites being utilised by existing footprint to improve our operating leverage. Our growth will generate further revenue, as in Stilwell Motor Group, Porsche, Mercedes-Benz, Volvo, and Geely will add to our growth through the year. We continue to assess even further acquisition-led growth. As I said earlier, July started well, up in revenue and up in order rate. I'd now like to take the opportunity to open up the lines for any questions that anyone may have.
Thank you. If you wish to ask a question, please press star one on your telephone and wait for your name to be announced. If you wish to answer the question, please press star two. If you are on speakerphone, please pick up your handset to ask your question. The first question comes from the line of Sophia Mulligan with Macquarie. Please go ahead.
Hi, team. Congratulations on the result. I just had a few. Firstly, on gross profit margins, maybe you could just talk to your expectations over the next year or so. Obviously, the new car market had a bit of an improvement in the last half. You know, how could that affect the gross profit margin moving from here?
Thanks, Sophia. Excuse me, I've got a cold and I'm coughing away here. Let me start on that one. Firstly, in the second half of last year, new car revenue grew more than we expected. That has proven to be, I guess, the hero and the villain on gross margins. It's been the hero because, for the first time in a long time, we've seen a growing new car market. It drove 85% of our growth in revenue. New cars, as you know, is our lowest gross margin area of the business versus revenue. It actually pulled down our gross margins a tiny bit during the period. I can confirm to you that across every individual area of our business, through new cars, through used cars, through service, through parts, every individual division that we had saw increases in the gross margins that were generated and the gross margin percentages.
Through the period, new car growth actually improved. To get to the substance of your question, which is H2, traditionally, because we see a bigger part of the volume of the year coming through in the second half of the year, we expect our gross profit margins to tick up a little bit, but not massively during the period. We expect them to be certainly resilient, but ticking up a little bit.
Sorry, expect them to tick up a little bit in terms of 2026 or the full year 2026?
It'll be both.
Okay. Great. Thank you. Maybe if we could talk to your expectations for the new vehicle market from here. Clearly, we can see in the data that May through July have been really strong, and you printed a great trading update today for July. Do you think you are expecting those sorts of conditions to continue, with a few rate cuts hopefully coming through from here additionally to the ones we've had, or do you think things would start to slow?
We believe the rate cuts have helped the market along the way, and if they continue, we believe that consumer confidence will increase. That's the first point I'd make. The second point I'd make is we're actually coming across pretty weak concept numbers. The second half of last year saw the luxury market, particularly, which is the market that we operate in, 13% down. That was a pretty tough period. Do I expect to have close to double-digit growth opportunity in new car revenue during the period? Yes, it's an opportunity for us. I think that's a reasonable line to take through it.
Right. Maybe just last one quickly on acquisitions. You've obviously announced what's due today, which is exciting to see, and you're well-funded to continue from here. Maybe just in terms of that AUD 250 million target you have had historically, are you still expecting to hit that target this year, or do you think you might exceed it with the success you've had so far?
Look, we've had a terrific start. We've certainly got to hit it. There's enough opportunity around there on acquisition targets, which are right on strategy, the things that you'd expect us to be doing, and providing we can get to the right sort of deal levels on them, yes, there's a chance that we could be above that AUD 250 million. We're not there yet, though, Sophia.
Sorry, just one more, if I may. Just in terms of the 2026 outlook, obviously, there'll be the benefit of the rate cuts annualizing through that we've already had, plus any additional ones that we get. Is it a fair way, a very simplistic way, but is it fair to think of taking the second half PBT, adjusting for some seasonality and annualizing that through, or is that too optimistic?
No, I don't think that's too optimistic. I think there's some operating leverage, and we signal that in the outlook. We signal that operating leverage will run down to the PBT line if we are able to go and increase the revenue through the existing template that we have. That's what we're working towards. We're expecting and we're working the business to go and expand our net profit before tax margins through the year. We think that even the second half of the year, at 1.8% return on the sales at that margin, it's to the low end of the scale that we've had over the years. We want to improve it from where it is.
Great. Awesome. Thank you so much. Appreciate your time.
Thanks, Sophia.
Thank you. Next question comes from the line of James Ferrier with Wilsons Advisory. Please go ahead.
Thanks. Morning, Nick, Aaron. Thanks for your time. Can I follow on from Sophia's question there, first of all, around gross margins? I'm interested to know what your thoughts are around the quantum of improvement in gross margin that exists in the order book relative to what you printed in the second half 2025. I'm just talking about new vehicles here, not the group. Just within the new vehicle part of the business, what the margin improvement looks like within the order book versus what was printed in the second half, and whether or not you're continuing to see further margin improvement in more recent order rights versus what's in the order book?
I'll start with that. The first thing I'll say is I won't give you an exact of the margins in the order book. I won't do that for two reasons. One, I don't want to be disclosing it all the time. Secondly, it's actually going to give you a misleading approach because the order book always has significantly higher grosses. The cars that we sell off the showroom floor are generally the ones that they're discounted a little bit more, James. I won't say that. I will say that the grosses in the order book are materially higher than we printed. I will say that the new car grosses were flat through January and February. Through March, April, May, June, and July, every one of these months has seen improvements in the gross margins that were delivered in new cars.
Yep. Great. Thanks, Nick. That's helpful color. Looking into the outlook, you've given some really helpful color today on the operating leverage that exists in the business. You know what struck us is more of the top line. When you think about where the market and consensus is positioned, FY 2026 consensus revenue is basically flat on the annualized second half 2025 number that you've just delivered. Clearly, there's some organic growth that started the year strongly. The market can take a view on how that might continue or otherwise. Can you give us a bit of a rough estimate of what you think the revenue contribution is from the recent acquisitions and greenfield? There's been quite a bit of activity there. I just want to get a sense of what sort of contribution that might bring on top of whatever the organic growth is going to be.
Yeah, there's a little bit of work to do on this, James, over the next couple of weeks. One of the reasons is some of the growth is with Mercedes-Benz. Mercedes-Benz is an agency model, which won't carry revenue behind it. It won't be as strong in absolute revenue terms in terms of growth than you would expect for the profit that it can generate. For that reason, I think I've been thinking more in terms of the EPS opportunity than the revenue growth opportunity. We think that with all of these acquisitions in, they're conservatively looking at a region of 10%+ EPS growth.
Yep, you said on an annualized basis, 10%+ , or are you saying?
Yeah, on an annualized basis as well.
Yeah, and that's off this year's NPAT base.
Thanks, Aaron. Yeah, no, that's helpful color. Thanks for your time. Yeah, thanks for all the additional disclosures in your presentation today. Very helpful and pretty compelling message.
Yeah, thanks. Thank you. Thank you, James.
Thank you. Next question comes from the line of Tim Piper with UBS. Please go ahead.
Morning, Nick and Aaron. One on Mercedes. There's obviously a few slides in the presentation around the opportunity you see in Mercedes here. Without trying to get you into a very long-winded answer, where do you see Mercedes moving from a dealership consolidation model versus where BMW is now? Do you see it consolidating as much as BMW, and do you think you can replicate what's happened in BMW in Mercedes, and will that mostly be acquisition-driven?
I don't know the case. I don't know the answer to this. However, it's our group strategy to try and make it compelling for Mercedes-Benz to grow with us. It's our group strategy to make it compelling for BMW to grow with us as well because these are core luxury brands, and we're really humbled by the fact that both of those brands have joined into our syndicated debt facility. We think that's amazing. We think it's amazing that those two great brands are helping to fund our growth. We'd like to grow with both of them if the opportunity arises. It's my job to form a compelling case for that. That means that I've got to be the lowest cost, highest gross, easiest to deal with, best outcome distribution source for them. That's what our strategy is about, and that's what we're working on constantly.
I don't know the answer on what they're thinking, and I won't speak to it, but my job is to make it compelling for them to want to grow with us.
Got it. How about the multiples generally for acquiring Mercedes businesses versus, say, what you've paid for BMW and others?
Look, it depends on the site, the fixed expenses, the opportunity going forward on the way, and the longevity of the agreement. It's going to differ between any particular Mercedes-Benz site. I can say that the acquisition that we've taken in Canberra will be, in our view, immediately accretive, and we're happy with the deal that we've done there.
Got it. Maybe just one last one. I'm following on from James's question, just around the operating leverage within the business, taking note that more revenue through the top is going to deliver operating leverage at the margin line, and then also acquisitions, et cetera. Just on an underlying basis on the core business cost base, is there some cost-out opportunity? You've kind of called out property consolidation. It sounds like there's some opportunity to continue consolidating the property costs within the business. How material is any cost-out opportunity as opposed to operating leverage from higher revenue in terms of driving a lower OpEx margin?
Yeah, a lot of our margin is going to be driven by revenue, and it's going to be driven by revenue coming off existing cost bases. Our underlying business is geared right, and our OpEx is sitting at the right level for a company that wants to continue to grow.
Perfect. That makes sense. Thanks for taking the questions.
Thank you.
Thank you. Next question comes from the line of Christian Waked with Jarden. Please go ahead.
Thank you for taking my questions. This first question on gross margin, I understand that there was tailwinds from inventory and demand, but do you feel that there's any gross margin pressure for new entrants coming into the market and maybe more supply from them?
Look, there's no gross margin pressure coming in from new entrants unless they do the wrong thing. Gross margin pressure comes from bringing in more cars than the market's capable of delivering. That means that there becomes pressure to retain any margins on the way through. The businesses that we have in new entrants with Geely, Zeekr, and Polestar, we are seeing no evidence that any of those brands have any issues with their stock management on the way in.
Thank you. One other question. I understand, obviously, the demand for new vehicles is being strong, but in terms of used vehicles, do you feel that, I guess, as the demand for new vehicles picks up, there'll be a slowing or a less increase in demand for used vehicles, or do you feel that that will remain growing in the next periods?
We think it'll remain growing. We think that a higher new car market generates a higher used car market. There's a higher percentage of trade-ins that come through as a consequence of that. Our buying model works particularly well on trade-ins. There is some risk below our section in the marketplace, below the prestige and luxury segments in the volume segments that people may prefer a new low-priced new car entrant to a used car. I don't see those issues impacting the luxury and prestige markets.
Okay, thank you for taking my questions.
Thank you.
Thank you. There are no further questions at this time. I'll now hand back to Mr. Pagent for closing remarks.
Firstly, thank you to everybody for joining us this morning. I know it's a very busy day in the marketplace. I'd just like to take the opportunity to thank our team for the job that they did last year and the work that they're going to do into the next couple of years. Thank you to the team. Thank you to our OEM partners for supporting us on the way through and helping us to grow the business. Thank you to our shareholders for investing inside the business. Also, a particular thank you this year to our new partners in our syndicated debt facility. We look forward to a long relationship with you. Thank you very much, everybody.
Thank you. That does conclude our conference for today. Thank you for participating. You may now disconnect.