I would now like to hand the conference over to Mr. Mark Teperson, CEO. Please go ahead.
Good morning, everyone. My name is Mark Teperson, and I'm the CEO of Baby Bunting. Thank you for joining us today as we present Baby Bunting's first half results for FY25. Darin Hoekman, Baby Bunting's CFO, is also here. We'll be going through the presentation that was lodged earlier today with the ASX, and there'll be time for questions at the end. The first half of FY25 has been a step change for us. Our new strategy has stabilized the business and set us back on a growth trajectory. At the core of this strategy is our vision to be the best start for the brightest future. This articulates our intent to the market and helps customers understand why Baby Bunting should be their number one choice in this space.
Our mission is to support and inspire confident parenting from newborns to toddlers, and by delivering on this, we will drive sustainable growth for our shareholders. Moving to slide four, our financial highlights demonstrate that our strategy is translating into earnings growth. For the first half of FY25, pro forma NPAT was AUD 4.8 million, up 37% on the prior period, with sales up 2.4% and comparable store growth at 2.2%. Gross margin increased 260 basis points to 39.8% and is tracking well towards our 40% target for this year. Cost of doing business is up on last year, largely reflecting our strategic investments and inflationary impacts on our operational labor. To counter this, we are undertaking initiatives that are seeking to address variable cost leverage. On the balance sheet, our net debt finished at AUD 9.1 million for the period, with ample covenant headroom available.
Given our near-term growth focus, the board has determined not to pay a dividend. Looking at second half trading to date, the first seven weeks has delivered a 2.8% comp sales growth result. Whilst moderated against what we achieved on Q2, this is on the back of changes to our promotional offer relative to the prior year, evidenced by strong margin improvement of 570 basis points. Our exclusive product launches continue to drive larger basket sizes and margin. A great example of this is the Maxi-Cosi Halo 360. This is the only fully rotational car seat in Australia at the moment, and it is exclusive to Baby Bunting. With a robust pipeline of new products landing in the second half, in addition to margin improvement initiatives, we reaffirm our FY25 pro forma NPAT guidance of AUD 9.5-12.5 million. Moving to slide five.
In the context of a challenging consumer environment, the successful execution of our strategy is delivering growth. Our focus on driving sales through range innovation and new customer acquisition is having an impact. Newness in our range continues to resonate with new customer acquisition up 12% on the prior period. We expect this momentum to continue into the second half. Alongside sales growth, we've also delivered margin expansion in a retail environment where margins are under pressure.
During this half, in addition to more exclusive products, we took decisive actions, simplifying price architecture, renegotiating trading terms, and advancing supply chain initiatives, all driving our gross margin result. As we continue to pursue these initiatives in the second half, we remain confident in achieving our 40% gross margin target for the full year. For our retail media business, we'll also be completing the foundational work to scale it into FY26.
We're advancing our store network expansion and redesign. In the first half, we opened two new stores and relocated another. Our first major store format update in 17 years is underway, with Maribyrnong set to reopen in April, followed by two additional refits in the second half. We also expect to sign leases for three small format stores shortly, set to launch in early FY26. Exclusive branded products remain a key traffic driver. We have a strong pipeline of exclusive launches and babywear private label expansion planned for 2H. We've seen a lot of newness launch recently, and in the first seven weeks, Plex, our private label and exclusive products, represents 48.4% of total sales, up 330 basis points against the PCP. Our focus on building exclusive brand partnerships is a key enabler for our growth in this area.
We have a long-term exclusive partnership with Nuna, one of the world's leading baby goods companies. We are the exclusive partner for Bugaboo in New Zealand, and we have recently signed a new five-year Australian exclusive partnership with Edwards & Co., a great New Zealand brand known for innovative design in the travel category with prams and strollers. We believe we have a lot to offer brands in terms of our network, our platform, and our reach, and this will be an area of ongoing focus for us.
During the period, we completed a New Zealand supply chain and distribution network assessment, which identified approximately AUD 1 million in annualized savings, which we'll begin to see from Q4. In the second half, we'll be making further investments to grow brand awareness in New Zealand, reviewing our product range and refreshing our car seat and pram go-to-market strategy. We also have a new store in Auckland opening in Q4 of FY25, which will be in the new store format. I will now hand over to Darin to provide additional detail on our financials.
Thanks, Mark. We're on slide seven, which provides more detail on the company's sales performance and some relevant drivers. Comparable store sales grew 2.2% and accelerated through the half from 0.6% in Q1 to 4.5% in Q2, highlighted by strong consumer activation through Black Friday and Boxing Day-related promotional events. Within these events and across the first half, as Mark has highlighted, range innovation has been a key growth driver, with newness fueling sales momentum across our top seven categories.
Online sales, including Click and Collect, grew 2.8% year-on-year and now represent 22.4% of total sales. Pleasingly, since launch, our on-demand delivery partnership with Uber has been well received and has accounted for around 7% of all online delivery orders, lowering our net delivery costs and improving the customer experience. Marketplace GMV reached AUD 2.5 million, up 184% year-on-year.
Marketplace continues to be a capital-efficient incubator for new brands and categories, delivering strong early results in its first 12 months. Moving to slide eight. As Mark mentioned, we are tracking well towards our 40% gross margin FY25 target. In a challenging retail margin environment, we have delivered a 260 basis point improvement in margin through multiple initiatives, including improved supplier trading terms, simplified pricing architecture, and lowering our supply chain fulfillment costs to both stores and our online customers.
We have also been busy progressing opportunities in both private label and exclusive products, which will deliver both sales and gross margin benefit in the second half of FY25 and beyond. Turning to the P&L on slide nine. Again, we saw total sales of AUD 254.4 million, up 2.4% compared to the PCP, and gross margin dollars grew 9.5% on the back of the margin initiatives just discussed.
Our cost of doing business was AUD 87.2 million for the half, up AUD 5.4 million from the previous year. Store expenses have increased from the investment in two new stores added during the first half, in addition to the annualization of the four stores opened for part of the prior year. Store sales, store wages, our biggest cost line, increased 3.75% in line with the annual fair work wage increase. We have invested in additional marketing to drive new customer acquisition and sales in a tight consumer environment.
Our administrative cost increases reflect wage CPI and investment in our data and analytics capability platform. To counter these cost increases, management has been focused on countering inflation through multiple productivity initiatives across a number of fronts, specifically with a focus on lowering our variable cost base.
Online fulfillment from all stores has improved our net labor productivity by 1.5% year-on-year, as well as lowering the fulfillment cost by being closer to the customer. Eliminating price beats on items less than AUD 50 has significantly reduced call center traffic, in addition to the margin benefits achieved. We've taken cost out of our tech infrastructure stack, with further initiatives planned to lower these costs through 2H and into FY26.
As part of our plans to return the business to 10% EBITDA, we want to deliver 200 basis points of leverage on our cost base. Driving asset and execution productivity will therefore continue to be a high priority for management. On to slide ten. Our balance sheet reflects our continued focus on working capital management. In the first half, we achieved an AUD 2.6 million reduction in comparable stores inventory, partially offset by an AUD 1.6 million investment in new stores inventory. Our net debt balance stands at AUD 9.1 million, an improvement of AUD 4 million from June, and with ample banking covenant headroom. Moving to the cash flow statement on Slide 11.
Our cash conversion ratio of 63.1% is in line with our expectations. We've spoken about the gains we made in inventory productivity in the first half, which have been an ongoing focus and were delivered on the back of significant improvements made across the prior financial year. Investment expenditure for the half totaled AUD 4.4 million, which includes investment in two new stores, design and pre-opening build costs in relation to the store refurbishment program, and ongoing operational system and hardware infrastructure CapEx. In the second half, we expect our CapEx to be between AUD 6 million-AUD 9 million, fully funded from our operating cash flows. The board has decided no dividend will be paid as we prioritize the company's ongoing strategic investments and future growth initiatives. I'll now hand back to Mark to provide a strategy update.
Thanks, Darin. We're now on Slide 13. As a reminder, our growth strategy is focused on three key pillars: driving growth in our market share, our EBITDA, and our return on invested capital. We are committed to restoring confidence in Baby Bunting's long-term potential, with clear initiatives to achieve a 10% EBITDA margin, including 500 basis points of gross margin expansion and generating 200 basis points of incremental headroom through network growth and enhanced productivity. Moving to slide 15. Over the next three slides, we provided our scorecard to showcase the progress against our growth strategy. Appreciating I've already covered a lot of this content, I'll speak through these slides quickly. Market share growth this half has been driven by the introduction of new brands, marketplace expansion, and the launch of Uber same-day delivery.
On Slide 16, EBITDA growth has been driven by gross margin gains, the launch of our retail media business, and improvements in our New Zealand operations. These include renegotiated supplier terms, the introduction of dedicated New Zealand functions across marketing, merchandise, and supply chain, and a comprehensive review of our supply chain and distribution network. Additionally, we have reshaped our core team structure to align with customer shopping behavior, enhancing operational efficiencies across the business. Over the page, we've increased return on invested capital through network expansion, including progressing three small format deals, improving inventory productivity, and reducing our aged stock. Now to Slide 18. We are confident in building on our strong momentum driven by the effectiveness of our strategy.
In the second half, we'll continue to drive product innovation in our top-performing categories and elevate customer engagement through the launch of our Store of the Future, scaling on-demand delivery and advancing our loyalty initiatives. We are further investing in our team with a new learning management system, which will be in place this half. We will help drive skills uplift and enhance our team's product knowledge, which supports the customer experience as we flow more new products across our key categories.
I've spoken to our focus on exclusive brands and will increase our exclusive brand relationships in the future. These ensure great products and experiences for our customers and contribute to our gross margin objectives. To support earnings growth, we'll continue executing gross margin initiatives, optimizing freight, and expanding brand awareness and go-to-market efforts in New Zealand. We'll also drive further operating leverage through freight efficiencies.
Underpinned by a disciplined capital management framework, we'll open three refurbished stores, open one new store, which will be in Auckland, complete the design phase for small format stores, and advance inventory efficiency initiatives. As we look to our future deliverables for FY26, in addition to the annualization programs delivered in FY25, we expect to add AUD 2-3 million of gross margin, or around 50 basis points, to our retail media business. We will deliver an annualized cost out in New Zealand of around AUD 1 million. For our network, we intend to refurbish 8-12 existing stores, target 5-8 new stores, and open three small format pilot stores. We look forward to keeping you updated on our progress. Moving to Slide 19.
One of our most transformative strategic initiatives is the Store of the Future, a game changer in driving comp sales growth as we revitalize our store network. During the period, we finalized our Store of the Future design with the G store, and our first refurbishment in Melbourne is underway. With three stores set to relaunch in the second half, we are bringing our vision to life at pace. Why does this matter? Because this new store design is the physical manifestation of our strategy, where customers, team members, and partners experience the future
of Baby Bunting in action. Our stores are experience hubs where parents engage, learn, and shop seamlessly. They are fulfillment powerhouses driving omnichannel convenience and brand showcases where partners launch innovation and inspire customers. By creating dynamic, immersive spaces that elevate brand storytelling, we deepen our value to our partners and drive stronger connections with parents.
At the same time, we are reinventing our internal service model, moving from a category-led layout to an activity-based design that better aligns with how parents shop. By designing the stores around different parenting activities like play, eat, and travel, we will showcase more of our range and meet more of our customers' needs. This is an exciting opportunity to reimagine the customer experience and set a new industry benchmark, all while remaining self-funded through operating cash flows.
I've touched on our strong trade leading into the second half of FY25, and looking ahead, we're expecting our FY25 pro forma impact to be in the range of AUD 9.5 million-AUD 12.5 million on the basis that comparable store sales growth will be in the range of 0-3%, our gross margin is at 40%, and cost of doing business increases, reflecting some wage inflation, higher store costs, additional roles, and marketing to support our strategy execution.
As we've stated, our capital expenditure for FY25 of AUD 10 million-AUD 13 million will be fully funded through operating cash flow. Comp sales have started the second half on plan, and we're confident of our gross margin target for the year. We'll continue to optimize our market-leading position through our new strategy, future-proofing our business, and delivering for our customers and investors. Thanks for your attendance this morning. We'll now open the line for questions.
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 cancel your request, please press star two. If you're on a speakerphone, please pick up the handset to ask your question. Your first question comes from James Bales from Morgan Stanley. Please go ahead.
Hi, guys. Thanks for taking my questions. I guess, firstly, cost of doing business. You're making great progress on sales growth and gross margin improvement, but CODB has increased materially as a percentage of sales over the past few years. Do you see that as structurally higher and why? Secondly, can you maybe rank the levers that you've got there to improve that?
Thanks, James. I'll take that one. Obviously, there's been significant wage inflation over the last three years, 3.75%. The prior year was 5.7%. The prior year to that, it was 4.5%. We have been rolling out new stores during this time, and they have been sort of elevating the primary driver of the increase in the cost of doing business, and these have been contributing positive earnings. The challenge has been in the cost of business delivery, which has occurred through the existing store set, through the decline in sales. I think if you reflect on what Mark's talked about with regards to the strategy, these are the elements that are going to materially elevate cost of doing business leverage in the outlook. Refurbs and then beyond that, sort of further store rollout and potentially the small format stores as well.
In terms of what are we driving at, we talked about variable cost productivity. We did a cost out in the head office two years ago. That's not something that we're contemplating, but it is around lowering our variable cost bid across the freight lines and all the other elements within the business that sort of move as we sort of transact with customers.
Okay. Got it. Maybe just on the comments on the 50 basis point gross margin improvement from retail media, can you just—I just wanted to clear up the timing expectations there of the AUD 2 million-AUD 3 million.
James, that is for FY26, as was outlined on the slide. We have launched it this year in FY25. What we've said is that we expect it to be earnings neutral in FY25 as we scale the team and the operations that's required to drive that. As we look to FY26, our expectation is AUD 2 million-AUD 3 million.
Got it. Maybe just one last one. New Zealand pathway to break even, do you have any metrics in mind in terms of timing, required sales, or store numbers to sort of help us understand the roadmap there?
Yeah, absolutely. We're targeting FY27 for break even. A big step forward has been made with regards to the cost of doing business and the benefits that we'll start to see flowing through from Q4 with regards to our supply chain. Beyond that, we've got two of our stores running at break even at the moment at around AUD 4 million of sales per annum. We need to get those two up to around AUD 5 million.
The other two stores that we've got running as well, they need to elevate a little bit further than that. Plus a couple more stores of rollout, and then we're there. There's also work that we're doing with regards to gross margin. We have made gross margin gains in the first half year on year. That's another stream of work. I think that with regards to the go-to-market in the second half, and Mark may want to comment on this, but I think we've got some good progress about to launch there as well.
Yeah. Just further to Darin's comments, this last half, we've really been focusing on making sure that the foundations in New Zealand are set right. We've made some changes to our pram and our car seat go-to-market. In the fourth quarter, we'll be launching a brand awareness campaign in addition to some retail marketing that will further drive and stimulate, particularly in those categories. That underpins the work that we've undertaken with our supply chain, as Darin mentioned.
The margin improvements that we have been driving in Australia and New Zealand, about 80% of our cogs are supplied from Australia for our New Zealand business. There is a slight time lag on margin flowing through the New Zealand business relative to Australia, as you would appreciate weighted cost of inventory and then supply chain timelines. We can see that starting to flow through into the New Zealand market.
Perfect. Thanks, guys. I appreciate the help.
Thanks, James.
Thank you. Your next question comes from Sam Teeger from Citi. Please go ahead.
Hi, guys. Good morning. Besides for the refurbs next year, which at AUD 800,000-AUD 1 million per store, what other major CapEx programs will you be doing in 2026, and roughly how much will you be spending on them?
Thanks, Sam. I'll take that one. I suppose outside of new store rollout, and we sort of named a range there as well, we will start the project on ERP in point of sale replacement. I do not think that we'll see the material component of that investment occur during FY26. It's a two-year project. I think when we get a little bit closer to when we get to August, I think we'll be able to provide better clarity on that one. That is really it. What I like to refer to as sustenance CapEx is a number that sort of runs between AUD 2 million-AUD 4 million on a per annum basis just to maintain the overall business's operations. I mean, they are the key callouts.
Based on how you see it right now, you think CapEx in 2026 is going to be quite a bit higher than 2025?
Yes. Based on us achieving the targeted refurbishments and new store rollout, as we've described, there will be a delta.
Okay. Thanks. Just on the retail media opportunity, really exciting. Maybe if you can talk to us a bit more about it. When you say AUD 2 million-AUD 3 million, are you referring to revenue or EBITDA? Because it's super high margin, it does not really matter. It's the same thing. Will we see this more online and in store and just the interest from suppliers to that? Thanks.
Yeah. Thanks, Sam. Just to be clear on that, the $2 million-$3 million is, as we think about it, in relation to gross margin impact. That is predominantly driven by the way in which we are bringing our extensive retail assets to market for our supply partners. That includes the use of our store and our store environments in addition to our digital assets and own channels like CRM, like our social channels, and also our web and web assets.
Thank you. Once again, if you wish to ask a question, please press star one on your telephone and wait for your name to be announced. Your next question comes from Wei-Weng Chen from RBC Capital Markets. Please go ahead.
Hi, guys. Just a couple of earlier sort of macro questions just to start off with. I guess, what are you seeing in terms of competition at the moment? Also in terms of the consumer, you're doing positive comp growth now, but is that a better consumer or is that just better retailing on your end?
Yeah. I might take those two. Just as it relates to competition, the market has been relatively unchanged over the course of the last 12 to 18 months that I've certainly been in the chair. In a tight consumer market, providing value to customers remains the most critical element of connecting and making sure that you are maximizing opportunity.
All competitors in the space are active in that environment. We've certainly been very active in that space but approached the necessity differently in terms of simplifying our price architecture to be clearer to our customers. We've also worked very heavily on driving exclusivity in terms of newness and product innovation that's coming through.
As it relates to the consumer and our results, the success of that program in driving new customer acquisition into the business has been the key differentiator because fundamentally, nothing in the macro environment has changed for young parents in terms of their affordability. The work that we have done has really been off the back of driving extensive new customer acquisition and expansion and then driving increase in sales through the capacity of some customers who really do seek out new product innovation and have the capacity to spend.
Yeah. No, thanks. That's helpful. Just a question about cash conversion. 63%, you said that that was in line with the plan. Wondering if you could share the plan for 2H and for the full-year cash conversion. Yeah. Maybe start there.
Yeah. Thanks, Wei-Weng. That's not something we're going to share. I suppose the clarification really is that in the prior year, we had a 120% cash conversion. There was a material reduction in our same store inventory number of around AUD 8 million over the course of the year and significantly in the first half. What you're seeing in the first half is a number that when we've performed well, it's been a number around this level. We are certainly expecting to drive further inventory productivity through the second half. We're targeting another AUD 2.5 million. We've got some high fixturing in store. We're going to sort of make a correction with regards to that. We'll continue to work on it. In terms of being specific around cash conversion, that's not something that we're going to provide a detailed update on.
Yeah. Just a quick follow-up. I just wanted to understand. I mean, all your responses there kind of related to more inventory. It seems like it is more inventory related, right? It is not at all related to sort of your renegotiated supply terms or anything like that?
Actually, just reflecting a bit further, I can help you a little bit further. I mean, you can assume that our accounts payable number relative to inventory will be a relatively constant variation. We're opening one further store in the second half. I have referenced the inventory productivity that we've talked about. I mean, they're the key variables. We saw a moderate increase in our other assets in the first half. That was just in relation to the timing of prepayments and then also some other income that we received from the government in relation to a store relocation for one of our stores, which was compulsorily acquired. That's all the relevant detail.
Okay. Cool. No, thanks so much.
Thank you. There are no further questions at this time. I'll now hand back to Mr. Teperson for closing remarks.
Thanks. I just wanted to thank everybody for joining us today. We look forward to showcasing our new Store of the Future, which will open in April, and updating the market later in the year. Thanks for joining us.
That does conclude our conference for today. Thank you for participating. You may now disconnect.