Good morning, everyone, and welcome to Codan's first half FY 2024 results webinar. My name's Sam Wells from NWR Communications, and joining me from the company today is Managing Director and CEO Alf Ianniello, as well as CFO and Company Secretary Michael Barton. Following a brief summary of the results released to the ASX this morning, investors and research analysts will have an opportunity to ask questions of the management team. There will be a choice of two options. First, you can submit your written questions via the Q&A function at the bottom of your screen. Alternatively, research analysts may raise your hand should you wish to ask a verbal question of the management team. We would kindly ask that you limit your questions to two per person, and we will endeavor to get to all questions asked, in some cases consolidating questions on the same or similar topic. Thank you, and over to you, Alf and Michael.
Thanks, Sam. Good morning and welcome to the first half FY 2024 results investor presentation for Codan. Thank you all for joining. My name's Alf Ianniello. I'm the CEO of Codan. Alongside me, I have Michael Barton, the Company Secretary and CFO. Before we begin, would you please take note of our standard notice and disclaimer. The format for today's presentation is for Michael and I to provide some key highlights around our H1 FY 2024 results, touching on each of Codan's three business units: Tactical Communications, Zetron, and Minelab. Following the results-specific detail, we'd like to take some time to reiterate some of our key ongoing strategic initiatives as part of our broader strategy. We'll finish today's session by providing some comments around the outlook for the remainder of FY 2024. Building on the positive momentum we achieved in FY 2023, we're pleased to report these H1 results.
Specifically, our business continues to grow in a more predictable and sustainable manner. During the first half, our revenues grew 26% to approximately AUD 266 million, while our first half EBIT increased 31% to AUD 54 million. In short, this result is a solid improvement on the first half of 2023, reflecting strong organic growth and complemented by contributions from the newly acquired businesses. At a segment level, communications performed in line with our targeted 10%-15% revenue growth range, while metal detection revenues were up nearly 50% versus the prior corresponding period, with all metal detection divisions contributing. Pleasingly, we achieved a statutory EPS of AUD 0.209 per share, resulting in an interim dividend payable of AUD 0.105. I'll now pass it over to Michael to run through our P&L, balance sheet, and engineering investment.
Thanks, Alf, and good morning, everyone, and thanks again for taking the time to join our results call today. As Alf touched upon, the group achieved a strong result with a balanced revenue split between both communications and metal detection. The group delivered a net profit after tax of AUD 38.1 million, which was up 24% on the first half of FY 2023. And the chart on the left just shows that it was the third half in a row where we've delivered improved performance. Other than a slight increase to our tax expense due to some changes to the U.K. tax rates, our profit margins were largely consistent with the prior period. During the half, the group had increased spend on expenses, primarily due to acquisition and integration costs relating from the recently announced Eagle and Wave acquisitions.
We also had some higher variable remuneration linked to the improved financial performance of the business. And we invested in our sales teams across all business units and also strengthened our people, processes, and systems that are required to deliver on our strategic growth initiatives. Turning to our balance sheet, in light of the recently announced acquisitions, our net debt did increase during the half to AUD 82.5 million as at the end of December. This is following the payment of $30.3 million in upfront cash consideration for those two acquisitions, Eagle and Wave, as well as a AUD 17.2 million dividend for the final dividend for FY 2023. As expected, we also experienced a AUD 3 million reduction in our inventory balance to AUD 118 million as at the end of December.
The underlying inventory reduction for the group was actually AUD 6.5 million, primarily as a result of the continued sell-down of Minelab's overstocked African gold detectors. This was somewhat offset by the impact of the inventory held by our new acquisitions. This slide shows the change in our net debt position from 30 June to 31 December and summarizes some of the points I've just mentioned on the earlier slide. As we look forward, we would expect inventory to further decline in the second half, and therefore we expect stronger second-half cash generation and a reduction to our net debt position come 30 June 2024. Whether you've followed the business for an extended period or you're actually listening for the first time today, it should be evident that our focus remains on innovation and the new products and solutions that add value for the customers that we serve.
During the half, we invested in our engineering projects, totaling AUD 28 million. This was across all segments to ensure that we continue to build on our competitive position. This equates to over 10% of group revenues being reinvested back into future product development and innovation. Importantly, the recent acquisitions have also added AUD 3.8 million in incremental engineering investment, and the integration of these engineering teams is ongoing. Equally, 74% of total engineering investment is now directed towards our communications segment, which is consistent with our future growth strategies. Continuing to invest in product development remains a key strategic initiative for Codan, and our technology roadmaps support short, medium, and long-term growth opportunities. Now I'll hand back to Alf, who's going to take us through the three business units.
Thanks, Michael. For anyone new to the Codan story, our communication business designs and manufactures mission-critical communication solutions for the military, public safety, law enforcement, unmanned systems, and broadcast markets. These solutions allow customers to save lives, enhance security, and support peacekeeping activities worldwide. As the slide indicates, our communication business continues to perform well, with revenues increasing 12.5% to AUD 153.6 million in the middle of our 10%-15% target range, with Zetron delivering a strong half, complemented by the Eagle and Wave Central acquisitions. As you can see from the footnote, after normalizing for the impact of the large communication project we delivered in H1 FY 2023 of approximately AUD 12 million, the normalized growth rate was more like 14% versus PCP. The communication segment profit grew 9% versus PCP to AUD 37.8 million, and reporting a 25% segment profit margin similar to the prior corresponding period.
As at 30 June, our communications forward order book was AUD 183 million, 12% up versus 30 June 2023. As I outlined at our FY 2023 results in August, the continued success within our communication business reflects the strategic shift to enter large and growing addressable markets, namely military, law enforcement, public safety, unmanned systems, and broadcast. As a result, we now have an increased portion of communication revenues derived from the developed markets and government customers, in turn enhancing the quality of our revenues and stability of our business more broadly. We've also supplemented our organic growth efforts by a targeted acquisition strategy as we continue to aggressively pursue opportunities in key growth markets. Turning specifically to Tactical Communications, Tactical Communications experienced geopolitical and market disruptions primarily impacting African HF sales, while achieving growth in other key markets.
As you can see from the slide, some notable first-half customer wins across key markets include an AUD 8.5 million European-funded unmanned program, a AUD 7.1 million Korean mesh communication solutions in the military market, AUD 3.6 million Botswana vehicle communication system in the law enforcement market, and AUD 1.2 million electric boat racing series order for the broadcast business. These wins demonstrate the key strategic points mentioned on the previous slide. Outside of our organic success, the acquisition of Wave Central, completed in December, is consistent with Codan's growth strategy to acquire complementary businesses, leveraging radio and wireless technology to build scale in key target markets. Wave Central has been a 15-year partner of Codan's Domo business and is the leading North American systems integrator of wireless broadcast equipment. They create industry-specific products integrated with Domo Broadcast technology for sports, cinema, and broadcast applications.
Their product portfolio consists primarily of wireless video camera links and high-quality broadcast products using core Domo Broadcast technology. As a result, the acquisition significantly strengthens the Domo Broadcast business, providing instant geographic expansion benefits into North America and immediate exposure to a growing list of high-quality customers, including the National Football League, Major League Baseball, and the National Hockey League. In summary, the acquisition is consistent with our growth strategy to acquire complementary businesses and to leverage our radio and wireless technology to build scale in the markets we target. The combined strengths of Domo Broadcast and Wave Central increase opportunities in coverage for live events, college and professional sports, film production, and unmanned applications in the growing global remote broadcast market. More importantly, the acquisition is also immediately EPS accretive.
Zetron achieved significant growth during the first half due to delivered revenue synergies from its expanded business and securing major command and control system contracts in utilities, transport, and public safety markets. Pleasingly, this diversity of customers is highlighted by some notable first-half customer wins shown on the slide, including a $9.5 million contract awarded with Wisconsin Energy, a $3.5 million upgrade with Kitsap County in Washington State, U.S.A., and a $3 million London Underground support extension contract. Within the Zetron business, our Eagle acquisition announced in August 2023 will significantly strengthen our U.K. public safety presence. The integration of this business, including the successful rebrand to Zetron Limited, is tracking to plan. Within the first half, Zetron Limited delivered solid results, completing the London Underground Connect project, the Phase One and Two rollout Oman police project, and the U.K. Home Office Emergency Services Network transition.
In line with the acquisition case, it is expected to contribute marginally to FY 2024 profitability after expensing year one integration costs. Again, for anyone new on the call, Minelab is the world leader in handheld metal detection technologies for the recreational, gold mining, demining, and military markets. For more than 30 years, Minelab has introduced more innovation than any of its competitors and has led the metal detection industry to new levels of technological excellence. During the first half, Minelab revenues totaled AUD 110 million, growing 49% versus PCP. As a result of operating leverage, Minelab's segment profit margin increased to 34% from 31% in the first half of last financial year. The rest of the world revenues remain remarkably resilient despite what largely has been characterized as a challenging macroeconomic environment.
A key driver of this rest of the world strength has been the continued revenue contribution coming from the newly released products being Manticore, X-TERRA PRO, EQUINOX 700, and EQUINOX 900 detectors. With the first anniversary of the release dates of these products, these revenues are expected to normalize over the second half of this financial year. In light of this, rest of the world revenues are targeting high single-digit growth versus FY 2023. Turning to our African market, African gold revenues during the half totaled AUD 30 million, increasing both half-on-half as well as versus the prior corresponding period. This largely reflects improvements within Northwest Africa despite continued disruption in the Sudan region.
At this stage, it is too early for the company to determine whether seasonality improvements will apply in FY 2024. The first-half Countermine result was excellent, with delivery of several government contracts to support humanitarian efforts in Ukraine. As outlined on the slide, this is not expected to be repeated in the second half. On balance, we expect a similar second half as experienced in the first half, which we anticipate will result in full-year FY 2024 revenue growth of 20% for Minelab versus FY 2023.
From here, we'll move into the strategy update portion of the presentation. Many of you will have seen this slide. I would, however, like to emphasize the quality and consistency by which the entire senior leadership team have executed against this renewed growth strategy, focusing on these three pillars to drive long-term and sustainable value for shareholders. The first, investing in ourselves. This is what I term doing everything right internally. Here, we seek to focus on investing in technology, innovation, and new product development.
And as a global business with a large international workforce, it is important for us to have the right systems in place. We are currently implementing a human resource information system across all our offices. We continue to invest in our employees to ensure we have the right structure, people, and roles to deliver the company's strategic plan. Second, strengthen our core business. This is where we seek to improve the quality of our top line, pursuing geographic and business unit diversification while seeking to expand our suite of products and services to address and enhance addressable markets. A key component of this is building more stable and predictable revenue streams and extends to our focus and investment in key technological partnerships to enhance medium to long-term market opportunities. A great example of this is our recently announced TrellisWare partnership. The third, discipline capital allocation.
Here, our inorganic growth strategy around pursuing acquisitions that create value, specifically strategically aligned opportunities offering enhanced scale or increased market penetration. In many cases, as per the more recent GeoConex, Eagle, and Wave Central acquisitions, we'll execute against bolt-on opportunities complementing existing technologies or pursuing emerging technologies that strengthen our competitive position. This slide elaborates on our earlier strategy slides, delving into each of the business units in a little bit more detail. Given this isn't the first time we've presented this slide, we'll largely take it as read. Suffice to say, we're consistently focused on each of the initiatives and objectives outlined in this slide, although I like to draw out a key element within each business unit. So, within Tactical Communications, we are targeting long-term military programs, which we refer to as programs of record.
Our TrellisWare partnership will allow Tactical to provide a superior solution, which offers greater interoperability and flexibility for military operational requirements. We are optimistic of what this partnership can bring in the longer term. Within Zetron, a key focus will be the ongoing integration of the recently announced GeoConex and Eagle acquisitions in our pursuit to become a high-quality full-service command and control solutions provider. Lastly, within Minelab, we'll continue to lean into growth within our recreational market, expanding our retail and e-commerce capabilities and channels into the US and Europe. Now for some high-level outlook comments. When considering the outlook for the balance of FY 2024, firstly, within our communications business, we continue to target full-year revenue growth between 10%-15% versus FY 2023.
To reiterate, this is after normalizing for the impact of the large communications project we delivered in H1 FY 2023 of approximately AUD 12 million, as well as excluding contribution from recently announced Eagle and Wave Central acquisitions. Once we include the benefit of these completed acquisitions, overall communication growth is expected to exceed the 15% revenue for the full year. Secondly, in light of the comments made earlier, Minelab is targeting a second-half result similar to what we experienced in the first half, representing over 20% growth over FY 2023. Beyond these comments, we'll continue to keep shareholders updated as the second half progresses. That largely brings us to the end of our formal presentation this morning. In closing, I'd like to recap a couple of key points, particularly as we continue to strive to become a stronger Codan and generate sustainable value for our shareholders.
We're a global business and continue to expand into new and adjacent markets and geographies. We're focused on more diversified earnings across our key markets. We continue to invest heavily into product development, which will have us well-placed for the future, enhancing our core suite of products and solutions. We're also focused on delivering sustainable revenue, profitable growth, and cash generation. We are confident the strategic initiatives currently in place will position Codan for further success. On the right-hand side of the slide, our goal is to develop an exceptional organizational culture stemming from our core values and through our strong leadership and culture of accountability. We are building a stronger Codan to ensure sustained growth, innovation, and lasting impact. I'll hand back to Sam now for Q&A.
Thanks. Thanks very much, Alf and Michael. As a reminder to the audience, you can ask questions via the Q&A function at the bottom of your screen. Alternatively, for analysts that would like to ask a question verbally, please raise your hand, and I'll endeavor to get to you shortly. First question we have coming in is from Elijah Mayr at CLSA. Elijah, please go ahead.
Thank you. Congrats on the result, Alf and Michael. Just the first question, are you able to step through some of that increase in unallocated corporate costs? You mentioned there were some acquisition and integration costs in there. Can you maybe call out what that was for the first half?
Yeah, Elijah. There were really three core reasons for those unallocated costs to increase, which are largely our corporate costs. The first one was costs related to the acquisitions of Wave and Eagle, and these buckets roughly a third, a third, a third on the increase. We also had some higher operating costs due to variable remuneration given the improved results. If you remember last year, there were no incentives paid. So, improved results, we had some higher costs as a result of that. And then we had investments in areas like business development, like IT, like HR, really as the businesses continue to grow. So, we've got some capacity in those areas to support the growth objectives that we have. And those three reasons are the core, the core of why those in the segment note, those unallocated costs went up versus the first half last year.
No problem. So, when you're saying if it increased sort of AUD 7 million year-on-year and a third, a third, a third, so we can attribute a little over AUD 2 million to each of those buckets? Broadly?
Broadly.
Excellent. And just on the communications segment, margins were flat-on-flat, and that includes, I guess, the Eagle and Wave businesses. Are you able to give us an underlying segment margin for comms and sort of comment on the timing and target of that 30% segment margin over the medium term?
Yeah. So, certainly the objective is to expect that contribution, that segment margin to continue to increase. That remains the objective. The numbers were consistent half-on-half. And one of the main reasons for that was we've made reference to this large contract that we were successful in delivering in the first half of last year. That was a profitable contract for Codan. Obviously, that wasn't repeated. That did have an impact on our segment margin in that part of our business. A lot of the integration costs that we've referred to sit below those segment margins that you're referring to. They are more in the unallocated bucket rather than sitting up in the communications or the metal detection business units.
I think it's fair to say, Elijah, we're probably looking at that expansion that kick in into FY 2025 from a margin perspective.
To reach the 30% by FY 2025 or sort of the kick in and then that's more a longer-term target?
Obviously, we've been consistent. It's a journey. We'll start seeing an improvement through FY 2025, and I think it's more like an FY 2026 target.
No problem. Just want to be clear. I'll let some others ask some questions. Thanks, guys.
Yeah. Thanks.
Thanks, Elijah. Next question from James Lennon at Petra Capital. Can you just talk to what drove the three times increase in finance charge for lease liabilities, please?
Yeah. Sounds like your voice is going there, Sam. So, it really is just an accounting matter. In the first half of last year, we had our two major Zetron locations in Seattle and Victoria in British Columbia. They were on short-term rental agreements. So, all of that cost goes through a rent expense line. We have moved both locations and signed long-term lease agreements now for those two sites. And as a result, under the new accounting standards, you have to sort of recognize an implicit interest charge in those lease costs. So, really, it's more of just an expense has moved from a rent to an interest and a depreciation under the new leasing standard. Net impact on profit, minimal, just amounts in different line items in the financials.
Great. Thank you. Next question coming from Jason Palmer at Taylor Collison. Are you able to expand on the TrellisWare partnership in any way?
Yeah, we can. I think some of the key elements of the TrellisWare partnership, we're in development at the moment with TrellisWare. That will enable us. The strategic significance of this is that we'll have a radio with dual waveforms on it, hence the ability to create far greater options for the user. The TrellisWare waveform for people that aren't aware, it's a U.S. sort of baseline waveform. So, it actually enables you to get into a lot of programs, and it's also quite complementary with our waveform.
We believe that product should be—we'll have prototypes within nine months, and then we'll have a product ready for market within the 12 months. At the moment, it's been fielded with many of the groups or the defense groups that we deal with, specifically in the U.S. There's a bit of engineering work going on at the moment just to port the waveforms onto our hardware. Hopefully, that answers the questions. But what it does do, it just enables us to enter programs that already have the TrellisWare waveform in place, and then our waveform, which is a far more higher-end waveform, which disperses far more data quickly, and that complementary nature will assist. Instead of having two radios, you have one with dual waveforms, which is a little bit different.
Right. Thanks. And the next question from Jason. Any additional color you can provide on the first six weeks trading across Minelab, rest of world, and Africa?
Well, I think it's quite consistent with what we're speaking about. We've seen a consistent run rate from H1 at the moment. Africa is still in line with we're sort of coming into the Ramadan period, I think, in March. So, we'll get some visibility post that on how that kicks into gear. But at the moment, it's quite the comments we've made in the presentation, I think they reflect the first six weeks and sort of closer to what we can see for February as well.
Okay. Great. Thank you. Next question coming from Mitch Sonogan at Macquarie. Please go ahead, Mitch.
Yeah. Hi, Alf and Michael. Can you hear me?
Yep. Yep. Thanks, Mitch. All good.
Sorry, Mitch. I think you're on mute. Can you unmute yourself?
Sorry. I just got muted there. Can you hear me now?
Yes.
Yep. Just in terms of the metal detection outlook, we'll count Minelab for second half to be similar to first half. Should we also be expecting broadly similar segment margins if that's the outcome there?
Yeah. I think that comment is for the broader Minelab group. H2 should equal H1 because Minelab Countermine division, it was fairly much a H1 story due to just the nature of the programs that he had to deliver on. And the margins should be consistent.
Yeah. Okay. Perfect. And just in terms of the comment there, obviously, you've got a fair few different things Countermine coming back a little bit, a little bit of growth in rest of world, but you do make the comment on the new products approaching their first anniversary date. What have you sort of factored into your thoughts on the outlook from that perspective? Is there anything historically on other products that you see, say, a 5%, 10%, or 15% drop in sales, typically, in the second year? Just trying to understand what your thoughts are with that comment specifically. Thank you.
Yeah. I don't know that we've got a lot of data as we go into year two. So, it's more just reflective of how our people are seeing the market. And we would ordinarily expect a level of normalization in year two, but it's different across all the different product range that Minelab have. So, for these markets that are largely going into the first world, history would say there is a level of normalization in year two. And we're just going into that period now. So, we're watching it closely.
Yeah. Yeah. Okay. And just final one, just following on from Elijah's question on the unallocated, yeah, whether it's AUD 6 million or AUD 7 million increase there, but obviously, the acquisition costs won't be repeated. But just in terms of the high operational costs and other investments across the business in BD, IT, HR, etc., in terms of how we should think about that in the second half specifically, is that just sort of are you indicating that we should just take out a couple of million on the integration costs, or are they going to be remaining in the second half?
So, yeah, just trying to understand where that AUD 21 million trends to next half and on a sort of sustainable run rate into FY 2025. Thanks, guys.
Yeah. So, we've still got some we're still working on integration on both Wave and Eagle, predominantly Eagle. Some of those costs will go into the second half. We won't see a full saving on those costs, which in H2. The other increases are largely the new norm because they're largely headcount and systems related. We would expect those costs to continue.
I think a key extension to that, Mitch, is we have been acquisitive, and we made investment into that structure with capable people. But also, for people that look back, our headcount globally and where we exist globally over the last 24 months has significantly changed. You need the right HR structures. But more importantly, you need people to be deployed to make sure the integrations of Eagle and Wave and GeoConex are exemplary. Otherwise, we won't generate the returns that we require. So, I think those costs, they're here, and they won't be removed at this point in time.
Yep. Thanks. And Sam, while I've got you, just the final one, Michael, just in terms of the actual interest paid, AUD 3.7 million, just expectations for second half, obviously, net debt crept up a little bit on that, but you've also talked about better cash conversion, inventory reduction, etc. So, just with the moving parts there, what should we be expecting in the second half? That's all from me. Thanks, guys.
Yeah. No worries, Mitch. I think if we're hoping to achieve a better net debt result, so we would expect a reduction in that interest line. Really, it just depends how the rest of the year plays out. But our expectation is we will have positive cash generation in the second half, which would mean interest costs should come down.
Thanks, Mitch. Just a follow-up question from Jason at Taylor Collison regarding TrellisWare. Can you help us think about possible timing of when these technology might translate into order book and program of record drawdown?
24 months.
Okay. Great. Thank you. Next question on Minelab. Historically, you've tended to release one to two new products per year. Can you just talk us through why it was four new products last year?
I think it was just really occurred that we had a whole group of technologies come out in the recreational sector that we hadn't released technology in that space for such a significant amount of time. And that's what the product roadmap pushed out. So, this year, we heavily focus on the next generation of probably the gold products, which need a refresh, and we'll probably see those in FY 2025. So, it's really the focus.
Technology is one key thing that's definitely assisted Minelab to be a powerhouse in this space. A lot of the work they're doing at the front end with e-com and B2C, I think that technology spend, although not released as a product, is also increasing market share for us in a different channel than what we're used to. Although we haven't released a product, I think we've been spending money in other technological advancements to help sales in Minelab.
Got it. Thank you. Just a couple more questions to get through here. If there's any other research analysts that would like to ask a question verbally, please raise your hand. The next question is on engineering. You mentioned 74% of engineering spend will be directed towards comms, consistent with your strategy. Can you just elaborate on the actual dollar spending trend on engineering investment across metal detection, please?
Yeah. So, the increase in the spend in comms is where the change has come. Minelab spend is largely consistent. So, as we've been buying businesses, we've bought GeoConex, we've bought Wave, we've bought engineering from NEC, we bought Eagle. All those acquisitions have come with engineering capability, and they've all been in the comms part of our business.
Thank you. And just into comms segment margins, can you just please talk to your current targets for that segment, both medium and longer term?
Yeah. We would hope we edge up on the 25 by the end of this financial year. But there's a lot of moving parts in that. And if we could exit FY 2025 closer to the upper end of the 20s, I think we're doing quite well. So, that's our targets. I think we've been consistent in saying FY 2026 should be a year where we've been able to get that margin up to the 30%. Things change. We've had NEC come in, so that's been a 1% hit. But next year, we'll rebuild out of that. But that's the key focus at the moment.
Thanks, Alf. Just turning to Africa. Given the continued geopolitical uncertainty in the region, are you confident in continued future demand for product?
Yeah. So, I'll split that question into two. So, from a metal detection perspective, from what we see today, we are confident. So, the Northwest African market and other surrounding markets that are far smaller, but they're contributing to the AUD 30 million first half sales, the demand has been there. It's still that Sudan area that's locked down. So, we're okay there.
Where we've seen, I'll talk about HF, our traditional products, which were really heavily sold in Africa. With the removal of the UN from some of the high-risk countries, that's been an impact for us. And secondly, a lot of the foreign military funding or the aid that's come from the Western world into Africa has been redirected into the Ukraine. So, some of those funding streams have impacted our HF sales into the African market. So, there's still opportunities there, just the funding's not there to back it up. So, comfortable on metal detection. I think on the HF side, there's still opportunities there, but it is a little bit tougher than it's been in the last couple of years due to things that we just don't control that we're reacting to.
Great. Thank you. Another follow-up from Jason at Taylor Collison. Eagle seems to have been flat for many years under NEC's historic ownership. Can you just talk to us around why you think Codan can grow this?
Yeah. I think it's not dissimilar to the DTC story and the Zetron story where we bought organizations that were flat for many years. Again, it's our way we go to market. It's the way we our disciplined approach to sales and sales planning, our ability to leverage our current relationships in Europe. And the other thing we've done with these comms businesses that includes NEC is NEC was a very small bolt-on to a very large group. But for us, it is core to expansion in Europe, and it's core for us to get to our recurring revenue targets.
So, our focus on NEC and the way we manage it will be far more rigorous and will be far more aggressive than it's been managed previously. So, I think leveraging our command and control suite that we already have in Europe with some of the NEC opportunities and then some of the cross-sell back into the US of some of their products, I think it will grow the top line. I think FY 2025 will be a pivotal year for NEC or Zetron Limited, and we've got pretty good plans to say that we're able to lift the top line in that 10%-15% range. So, that 10%-15% range, Jason, applies to anything we buy, right? So, we go into the investment thesis with that in mind, and we plan accordingly.
So, I believe Scott and his leadership team will definitely do the same thing they've done with Zetron and push it forward.
Thank you. And just on the acquisitions, and this will be the final question for the session, can you provide any update around expected profit margins or contributions from Eagle and Wave Central into the second half and beyond?
Yeah. I think we would say they're both, I mean, they're both relatively recent acquisitions. And when we announced them, we did give some guidelines around what our expectations were. I would say they're unchanged. So, both businesses are integrating well into the Codan group, and we're still sitting here confident that we will hit our investment thesis for year one and as we go into year two next year.
Okay. Great. And sorry, just one final question. Alf, you talked about the 30% margin in comms. What sort of revenue run rate do you think you'd have to get to to achieve that?
It's a simple math, guys. If we keep growing at 10%-15% and we can control the inputs of cost, that's what gives you the 1%-2% year on year or the 2.5% year on year. So, that's how we look at it. So, if we can keep that going, we should drop more to the contribution margin.
Okay. Great. Thank you. I think that's it for questions today. Should you have any follow-up questions, please feel free to send them through to either Kay or myself, and we'll aim to get back to you. I'll now pass it back to Alf and Michael for any closing comment.
Yep. All right. Thanks, Sam. Just a couple closing comments from myself. So, hopefully, you'll agree that Codan's come a long way in the last 18-24 months. Today, we've got all business units contributing to revenue growth, profitability, and cash. We, as a collective leadership team, have been focused on diversifying the business to build a stronger Codan. Most importantly, we believe we've been disciplined in our approach, executing well against our overarching strategy of building a more sustainable business capable of generating lasting shareholder returns. We remain focused on expanding our global business and strengthening market share across our key markets. So, really, thanks again for joining the half-year presentation. Thank you for your ongoing support. As a management team, as a CEO, we're really excited about the future of Codan and where it's going. And we look forward to updating you as the year progresses. So, thank you for your time this morning.
Thanks very much for joining. That concludes today's webinar. Enjoy the rest of your day. Thank you.