Results presentation. I'm Alf Ianniello, Managing Director and CEO, and joining me today is our CFO and Company Secretary, Michael Barton. As announced this morning, after more than 22 years with Codan, Michael has informed us of his decision to retire at the end of August, following our FY26 full year results. Over that time, Michael has played a pivotal role in shaping Codan's financial discipline, capital allocation framework, and acquisition strategy. On behalf of the board and the broader team, I'd like to sincerely thank him for his contribution. I'm also pleased to confirm that Kayi Li, currently our Deputy CFO, will succeed Michael as our Chief Financial Officer. With nearly 19 years at the business, including senior finance roles at Codan since 2013, Kayi has played an integral role in our financial strategy and operational execution.
We are confident her experience will support a smooth and seamless transition. In addition, Daniel Widera, our General Counsel and Joint Company Secretary, will become Codan's sole Company Secretary upon Michael's retirement. Michael will remain with the business for a structured 12-month transition period from August to ensure continuity and stability. Before we begin, please take a moment to review our standard notice and disclaimer. Today, we'll begin with our H1 FY 2026 performance highlights, followed by a detailed review of each of our segments, being communications and metal detection. We also highlight two products that contributed meaningfully during the half, demonstrating how our engineering investment is translating into commercial outcomes. We'll then revisit our strategy and near-term priorities before closing with our outlook for the remainder of FY 2026. Following our remarks, we'll move on to a live Q&A session, which will be hosted by Sam Wells from NWR.
While Michael and I are working through the slides, you are welcome to submit written questions at any time using the Zoom Q&A function. Covering research analysts are also encouraged to raise their hand via Zoom if you would prefer to ask a question verbally. For those newer to Codan, we're a global group of technology businesses focused on critical communications and detection. Our technologies are designed for mission-critical environments, keeping people connected, informed, and safe in demanding and often remote conditions. We operate across defense, public safety, gold detection, and recreational markets, supported by a global footprint and strong engineering capability. At our core, we focus on reliability, performance, and long-term customer relationships, particularly in environments where failure is not an option. Our strategy to build a stronger Codan remains consistent and disciplined.
It is underpinned by sustainable organic growth, targeted and accretive acquisitions, and continued engineering investment and strong operational execution. Diversification remains a key strength, with Minelab delivering a strong cyclical performance and communications positioned for structural, long-term expansion, driven by defense and public safety demands. Over time, this approach is building a more resilient and diversified earnings base with improved visibility and quality. At a high level, our H1 results reflect consistent delivery against our strategic plan, underpinned by disciplined execution and favorable market conditions in several key regions. Communications delivered another period of consistent and high-quality growth, supported by strong defense demand and the integration of Kägwerks. Metal detection delivered exceptional performance, particularly in Africa, where elevated gold prices supported demand. Importantly, this performance was achieved while continuing to invest in engineering, systems, and people, ensuring that our growth remains sustainable and repeatable over the longer term.
Turning to the numbers, group revenue increased by 29% to AUD 394 million, reflecting strong organic growth and a full first half contribution from Kägwerks. EBIT increased by 52%, and NPAT increased by 55% to AUD 71 million, demonstrating strong operating leverage across the group. This reflects both revenue growth and improved product mix, particularly within Minelab. The board declared a fully franked interim dividend of 19.5 cents per share, up 56% on the prior corresponding period, consistent with our disciplined capital management approach. I'll now hand over to Michael to step through the financial detail.
Thanks, Alf, and thanks for the kind words at the start of your presentation. Also, just like to thank you for your support of the succession plan to Kayi and Daniel. Been much appreciated. And thank you for making the time under your leadership so enjoyable and so successful. On to the numbers. So, as highlighted, group revenue increased 29% during the half, and pleasingly, the growth came from both our communications and metal detection businesses. Our gross margins increased 58%, and all profitability metrics were increased. Operating expenses increased primarily due to a target investment in shared services, higher performance-linked expenses, which are reflective of our strong results, product launch costs, and the integration of Kägwerks for the full period. Tax expense was slightly higher at 25%, with more of our increased metal detection profits taxed here in Australia.
NPAT margin improved to over 18%, reflecting improved profitability and operating leverage. We continue to actively manage our foreign exchange exposure through our hedging program, with contracts in place to mitigate approximately half of the expected USD exposure in the second half. Overall, the financial result reflects both strong performance and continued investment in capability. We closed the half with net debt of AUD 88 million, an increase of AUD 10 million compared to June, largely reflecting working capital investment to support growth and our increased activity levels. Leverage remains conservative at 0.4 x EBITDA. With an undrawn debt facility of AUD 140 million, as well as an additional AUD 150 million accordion capacity, we retain significant financial flexibility to pursue inorganic growth opportunities.
This slide illustrates the key drivers of our net debt movement during the half, including the investment of operating cash flow into working capital to drive growth, our dividend payments, and continued investment in our engineering programs. Engineering investment during the half was AUD 36 million, representing approximately 9% of group revenue. This level of investment is consistent with our long-term approach and supports product development pipelines across both communications and metal detection. In communications, investment is focused on advanced tactical platforms, next-generation waveforms, and public safety applications. In Minelab, investment continues to support our product refresh cycles and our technology leadership. This sustained commitment to innovation underpins our organic growth trajectory. And back to you, Alf, to take a closer look at our business units.
Thanks, Michael. We'll now move on to the business units. Communications revenue increased by 19% to AUD 222 million. Segment profit increased 17% to AUD 58 million, with margins broadly stable at 26% as we integrate Kägwerks and manage the challenging trading period in Zetron Americas. The order book increased by 19% to AUD 294 million at the 31st of December, providing strong revenue visibility into H2 and beyond. We remain focused on progressing communications margins towards our 30% target by FY 2027 as integration benefits and scale efficiencies materialize. DTC delivered strong growth, supported by defense demand and increased adoption of our unmanned system solutions. Revenue from unmanned systems increased 68% to AUD 73 million.
Approximately half of this unmanned revenue during the period related to operational defense application in conflict zones, with the balance being driven by adoption of our technologies across non-conflict defense and security programs in Asia, the U.S., and Europe. Importantly, growth rates across both conflict and non-conflict markets were broadly consistent, reinforcing the structural expansion of the unmanned systems market. Kägwerks contributed in line with expectation and continues to integrate effectively, enhancing our position within U.S. military programs and strengthening our ecosystem offering. Our presence across the U.K., U.S., and Australia positions us well to capture long-term defense program across allied markets. The Blu SDR contributed meaningfully during the half and represents a strong example of our engineering capability translating into commercial success. It is an ultra-lightweight, high-performance, software-defined radio platform designed for long-range, secure connectivity across unmanned and mobile applications, and has proven particularly well-suited to drone-based deployments.
Its technical characteristics, including high output power, mesh networking capability, and low size, weight, and power, reinforces DTC's competitive positioning in mission-critical communications. Trading conditions for Zetron Americas were temporarily impacted by slower procurement cycles across the state and local agencies that we serve, which extended sales cycles and deferred order timing during the half. Early indications in the second half of the year are encouraging, with trading conditions showing signs of improvement as funding approvals progress. Outside the Americas, EMEA and APAC markets delivered stable performance. We continue to invest in next-generation 911 capability and the sales platform to enhance recurring revenue streams and strengthen long-term customer retention. Minelab's first half results were exceptional, with revenue up 46% versus prior corresponding period to AUD 168 million. Segment margin expanded to 45%, reflecting a higher mix of gold detector sales and improved operating leverage.
Africa delivered exceptional performance, supported by elevated gold prices and strong demand across West Africa. Rest of the world delivered high teens growth, which is an excellent result, reflecting continued strength across key recreational markets. Rest of the world performance was supported by product innovation, retail expansion, and the ongoing development of our direct-to-consumer platforms. This performance highlights both cyclical tailwinds and structural improvements in the business model. During H1, we launched the Gold Monster 2000. It delivers enhanced sensitivity to ultra-fine gold and improved depth and accuracy in mineralized ground, critical attributes in many of our core gold markets. Early customer feedback has been positive, supporting continued momentum as distribution scales up. Now, I'd like to move on to the strategy update section of today's presentation. Our strategy remains anchored in three core pillars. First, investing in ourselves, strengthening systems, process, people, and product innovation.
Secondly, strengthening our core businesses, which means expanding addressable markets, improving revenue quality, and increasing recurring revenue components. And thirdly, disciplined capital allocation, where we pursue strategically aligned and accretive acquisitions that enhance capability, scale, and market penetration. Together, these pillars support sustainable, diversified earnings growth. In DTC, we are expanding towards a full system solution provider model, continuing investment in the next generation of waveforms and ecosystem integrations. In Zetron, we are focused on increasing recurring service revenue and expanding support contracts, and also advancing next-generation command and control platforms. And in Minelab, we continue product innovation, retail footprint expansion, and channel development, with another new detector scheduled for release shortly. These initiatives support both near-term performance and long-term structural improvement. Now, turning to our summary and outlook on slide 23.
Tying today's presentation together, market conditions remain positive in both communications and metal detection, reflecting the diversified nature of the group's portfolio and the quality of our business. Codan's strategy is to continue to invest in engineering programs, to maintain product and technology leadership, and to underpin long-term growth. In communications, elevated defense spending and ongoing geopolitical tensions globally continue to generate strong demand for our unmanned systems products. Communications is on track to deliver FY 2026 revenue growth within a 15%-20% target range, supported by strong underlying demand and the full-year contribution from Kägwerks. Minelab revenue in the second half of FY 2026 to date is tracking in line with the strong first half performance.
Based on Minelab's current trading conditions, we expect the second half performance to be at least in line with the first half, supported by favorable gold market conditions and a full six-month contribution from recent product releases. With balance sheet capacity and a disciplined approach to capital allocation, Codan remains well positioned to continue investment in the business and pursue future acquisitions that fit our product and technology roadmaps, which enhance the quality, resilience, and the diversification of our earnings. The company will continue to keep shareholders updated as FY26 progresses. Back to you, Sam.
Thank you very much, Alf and Michael, for your remarks. As a reminder, the audience may ask questions of the management team. There's a choice of two options: you could submit written questions via the Q&A function, and you, covering research analysts may raise their hand should you wish to ask a verbal question, and we'll endeavor to get to you shortly, in some cases, combining written submitted questions on the same or similar topic. There are a few pre-submitted questions, so I'll kick off with those before getting to the analysts. Firstly, just on communications margins. You've talked about the moderating pace of margin expansion within communications. Can you elaborate on the path from current margins to the 30% target by the end of FY 2027?
Yeah. Thanks, Sam. Yeah, remains, w e've been very, very consistent that we remain focused on margin expansion. We did improve organically in the half, which was good. And we've been really consistent also on our revenue expectations for communications. The 15%-20% range remains the focus. As we deliver that, and we see further revenue growth to be within that range in the second half, we would expect to see more improvement at the margin line as well.
Thank you. And on, on Zetron, can you elaborate on the early encouraging signs in trading conditions in the Americas business? And are there any meaningful near-term opportunities, specifically in the U.S.?
Yeah, I think we've, we posted a, a really pleasing increase in our order book, at, at the half, so quite a, I think we're up 16% versus June 9 versus last December. So we do go into the second half of this year with a stronger order book than, than what we entered the first half, so that's pleasing, and, and sets us up to be within that 15%-20% range that I, that I mentioned. And I think we're also seeing, while not yet in the order book, we are seeing some increased, activity in the pipeline also, in the, in the U.S. market, at public safety market for us.
Thank you. And on Minelab, Africa, an exceptional set of numbers within the Minelab business. How should we think about the sustainability of this performance, particularly in the context of 45% segment profit margin?
I think, when you're looking at Minelab, I don't wanna make it just an African discussion. You know, we had a rest of the world, this high teens growth rate, really reflecting great execution from the Minelab team at a distribution, e-com level, and direct-to-customer approach and new releases of great product. And then when you look at Africa, you know, obviously, the gold price has been a tailwind for Minelab, and then our great products have been a tailwind for Minelab. So the 45% is an exceptional number in its own right, and we believe it's maintainable in the future.
Thank you. Just moving to unmanned. You've printed some extraordinary numbers within the unmanned business. Can you help us understand how sustainable these opportunities are, particularly within the defense landscape?
It's really interesting. You know, if you, if you wind back 12 months, 18 months, throughout these calls, we've, we've referred to an unmanned market growing at 30% per annum globally. This is just increasing, you know, the environment and the ecosystems in defense are very different today than they were previously. Our solutions back right into those unmanned platforms. And our ability to perform in conflicted environments well has really created a halo effect into other markets, hence highlighting the success of the Blu SDR- 90, which was really born over the last 18 months through very high exposure to very conflicted environments. So, we, we think, the unmanned space, over time will continue to be a significant tailwind for Codan.
We've got you. And just shifting to some of those non-conflict opportunities you referenced in the presentation. Can you just elaborate on those, and where are the bulk of the revenues coming from in terms of specific applications?
Yeah. So, I won't talk about the specific applications. I'll talk more about the market, the geographic markets that we are looking at. So if you look at, w e did call out, you know, we've started to see some positive work in the U.S., positive work in APAC, positive work in Europe. So if they're not in a conflicted environment at the moment, they're probably preparing for pre-conflict, I would say. So, and again, let's take a step back and just reflect on the technology that we put in market, and that technology fundamentally is selling itself in these other markets at the moment.
Great. Thank you. We'll move across to some of the analysts. First question comes from Josh Kannourakis at Barrenjoey. Josh, please unmute your line and go ahead.
Hi. Hi, Alf, Michael, and Kayi Can you guys hear me okay?
Yes.
Thanks, Josh.
Great. First, congrats, Michael, and wishing you all the best on the transition, your new steps, and congrats to Kayi as well on the step change in role. Good to see. Just jumping on to first question just around regional exposure. So you did mention a bit of a step up in terms of activity in the U.S. I know there's a lot of hoops to jump through in terms of getting in to, to those programs, and then historically, comms been dominated by a couple of those big local players. Is that a new incremental thing? Can you just give us some more detail on how recent that is, and maybe just specifically around the U.S., what you think the opportunity is across the broader comm space, and then obviously, specifically unmanned as well?
Yeah, I think when we look at comms in the U.S., you know, we probably look at the dismounted soldier solution within the Kägwerks acquisitions and the unmanned solution, you know, giving us some good dialogue with potential U.S. customers. So there's a lot of, as always, with these platforms, they're not plug and play, they require significant testing and evaluation, and then you get an order. So we are comfortable that we're having the right dialogue with the right organizations, either at a defense department level or tier ones into the defense department. So, that is positive.
The other areas that we're actually having positive traction is APAC, and I won't go into the specific countries, but also, you know, there's been an uptick in European defense spend, and there's been some sort of, you know, shadowing of that application or that funding into unmanned systems and the DTC product category itself.
Got it. That's really helpful, Alf. Just in terms of—so just to understand it within the U.S. specifically, 'cause I guess my understanding was more that a lot of your volumes and things historically have been outside of that region.
Yeah.
So you're sort of from a military perspective within the sort of evaluation phase at the moment for that, so that's probably, you know, in terms of potential upside, that's significant if you can get through that. And then from the other side, you're seeing traction in some of the non-military sort of settings also. Is that the way to sort of read it through?
Yeah, that's right. You know, if you look at what we've seen over the last couple of months, you know, we've been heavily involved in the border with our communications, so that's with government departments, not defense related. We are also heavily working with other sort of peripheral government departments in the U.S. that require our solution that, you know, in some ways isn't defense related. It's more public safety related in theory, keeping the American public safe. So, yeah, and that's the great thing with the product categories. You know, we can actually put it into dismounted soldier solutions, unmanned solutions, public safety solutions.
Great. And just in terms, I know you don't want to go into specific countries for obvious reasons, but there's been, you know, some very large funding packages allocated to areas like Taiwan and in that sort of region. There's also a lot more flagged in terms of progressive step-up. How early in the journey do you think you are? Are you sort of—do you have the right connectivity in place to capture what will obviously be, you know, a significant step-up in this broader region?
I would suggest, as we've said in the U.S., we are all part of the right conversations happening in APAC and in EMEA, and EMEA being Europe.
Great.
We definitely, yeah, we're definitely having the right discussions with the right levels of people.
Awesome. Final one from me, just on M&A. I mean, obviously, it's been a pretty tumultuous environment across the software space.
Yeah.
Defense on the other side has obviously been, you know, has been a lot more favorable, in terms of all the trends you've talked about. Can you maybe just talk about when you're thinking about it now, the lens, how you're sort of seeing that in terms of the opportunities within both maybe comms and, within comms, within the tactical side, but also Zetron, especially with some of the potential in software, you know, the AI-related disruption as well?
Yeah. I think, when you look at Codan and you look at our comms, the good thing, we make products with software on it.
Yeah.
So the AI, any AI application is just an enhancement to the product and the end user, and that's how we actually see that. But we have pipelines of M&A targets. As you clearly mentioned, you know, in the defense world, it's pretty hot at the moment. You know, people on the line would clearly know that we are very prudent when it comes to acquisitions about multiple and accretion levels. So, you know, we've been involved in processes. Some have worked and as in the past, and the ones that we've been unfortunate on has been really the fact that we didn't believe we could extract the right value for it. But the process continues.
You know, you know, we've invested heavily in structure at Codan, you know, so we've got the right people working on it. We're looking heavily on how to, you know, enhance our technology roadmaps and our market positioning. So, you know, it's, it's definitely a space where you just need to continue to be active in and, and ensure that you buy well when you can extract value for the future. So that's, that's where we're at, Josh.
Great. Thanks, Alf. Thanks, guys. Appreciate your time.
Yeah.
I'll hand over to someone else for the Minelab questions.
Thanks very much, Josh. Next question comes from Mitch Sonogan at Macquarie. Mitch, please unmute your line. Go ahead.
Yeah. Thanks, guys. Hi, Alf, Mike, and Kay. Can you hear me all right?
Yeah.
Yes.
Yep, great. And yeah, congratulations to you, Michael, and also to Kay as well, just echoing Josh's comments. Just the first one, just on the outlook for metal detection, Minelab's second half revenue expected to be at least in line with the strong first half. Just trying to get a little bit more color on that, 'cause obviously you had pretty strong sequential growth. You've got, yeah, as you said, good gold conditions in that market, and also still benefiting from new product releases. So just trying to understand what sort of visibility you have at the moment, how we should think about the second half potential upside risks.
Yeah. Well, it's interesting, if we talk about Minelab, that's probably the first time we've actually ever given a forward-looking, number in Minelab. So, yeah, we've had a strong first half, right? We got a lot of tailwinds, either from, a gold perspective, gold price perspective, new product introduction, great performance in recreational. We sit here today, and we never comment on seasonality in Africa because we don't know, so we're not gonna be fact-based about that. But we do sit here today that we're saying there's the same tailwinds that existed in H1, exists in H2. And, so I guess that's what our commentary was about. So, okay?
Yeah. Thanks, Alf. Just in terms of, obviously, you, you've called out Africa being quite strong, but do you mind just giving a bit more color on other regions where you might have seen some dig-out performance, and other areas that you are more positive on in the next 6 months-12 months as well? Thanks.
Yeah, I think, you know, I'll call out Australia. I think our work we've done in Australia has been exceptional on repositioning the way we go to market. Big tick, some great work in APAC, big tick, LatAm, big tick, and then you've got Africa and Europe. You know, we have been consistent in our approach, either at a recreational level with e-com, the marketplaces, the distribution point increases, and new product introductions. You know, when I look at Minelab, it's very hard to fault anything they're doing in any market at the moment.
The most important thing is, I'm as excited as with the gold detection and the gold sales as I am with the rest of the world sales, because, you know, that high teens growth in a fairly flat consumer market is fantastic. So it just shows that where we're spending our money away from product development, it's working.
Great. Thanks, guys. That's all from me.
Thanks, Mitch. The next question comes from Evan Karatzaz at UBS. Evan, please go ahead.
Great. Okay. Morning, Michael and Alf. Just can we dive into Zetron a bit here, one of your larger competitors, Motorola. I mean, they've been delivering some pretty consistent strong growth over recent quarters through their command center business. Can you maybe just speak to why you think there's such a discrepancy there to what you've seen in the U.S.? And anything you can, I guess, elaborate on around that order book for Zetron explicitly and how that's changed relative to six months ago, how you entered the year as well. Thanks.
Yeah, good question. I think when you look at Motorola in the command and control space, and you look at us, I don't think we're comparing apples to apples consistently on product offering. There's probably a bit more rolled up in that space for Motorola. And secondly, they're a tier one, tier two player. We're a tier three, tier four player. The way the funding and the grants work for tier three, tier four are slightly different than they are in tier one, tier two. So I think we also need to analyze Zetron. Over the last four years of Codan ownership, it's been well above market growth rates, so it's been an amazing acquisition for Codan. And so looking forward, what have we seen in January, February, when you know just going further than what Michael said?
Yes, orders are being unlocked, you know, so that they're pushing into the order book. You know, there's far more activity in the pipeline. So the activity levels have come up from H1. You know, it's a financial year. I think let's have a chat at the end of H2, and where these orders have rolled through. Let's not get away from the fact that, you know, we have entered H2 with an order book that is higher than most times. That's the marketplace, that public safety, it is. You know, also, let's not also, let's understand the fact that we've been doing well in APAC and EMEA, as well, from a Zetron perspective. So...
Yeah, okay. No, no, all fair points. And just sort of coming back around to the DTC, the tactical comms, just around those investments you've been making, especially for contested environments, some of those new product releases. Have they now been released into market? And then you can talk to about how early take-up or reception has been, and then also, you know, how that helps when you spoke about from a strategic sense with that expansion into your other growth regions, like in North America, Europe, Asia as well.
Yeah, from a, you know, from a product perspective, I think the DTC product category is quite set. You know, the feature content involves from market feedback, and that's the sort of the strength that we've had. We've been able to feed back those technical requirements from the field back into our product really quickly, either enhancing current product or creating new product like the SDR 90. So, you know, at the moment, you know, we're heavily focused on feature content for that SDR range. And also, we're heavily focused on feature content for the Kägwerks range as well. So probably less form factor changes, but more on feature content for the environment that these products work in.
Okay, thank you. Oops, go, Sam.
Sorry. Thanks, Evan. We might just move on to the next question, please, from Tom Tweedie at Moelis. Tom, please unmute your line and go ahead. Thank you.
Hi, team. Just want to check you can hear me?
Yes, Tom.
Yeah, thanks for taking my questions. Just the first one on Kägwerks. Are you able to give us a sense of the revenue contribution for the half of that business, and also just the color on the pipeline, for program of record RFPs?
Yeah, if I just give you the revenue range when we acquired that business, I think we were expecting, you know, high AUD 40 million into low AUD 50 million revenues, and I think we've commented, Tom, that, you know, it's been, it's met our expectations. So it's been in that range over its first 13 months of ownership.
Alf, you want to talk about pipeline?
Yeah. So when you look at, you know, we've been heavily invested in supplying the Nett Warrior program, doing some international BD on other army opportunities that we're looking at. I think what I've seen, which is very pleasing for us from a Kägwerks perspective, is there's an evolution of movement from the standard DOCK Lite product, which is the base version, to the DOCK Ultra product, which is the version with the radio and the AI technology and the edge computing technology. So that's what we're seeing happening in the Nett Warrior program itself, so that is significantly positive for us. And then, like everything, you know, we'll just keep doing the BD efforts with the other defense opportunities in the U.S. and internationally.
Thank you. Very helpful. Just on Minelab and that side of the business, you called out detector launches in the release. You've also mentioned one new detector to launch shortly. Just stepping back, can you remind us, what the expectations are in the pipeline there over, say, the next 12 months-18 months for further models to come to market?
Yeah. So, you know, we've released already an upgraded recreational detector, a new counter mine detector, and obviously, the Gold Monster 2000. Great launches, great tech, keep moving forward. We've got a high-end gold detector coming out in the next couple of weeks, which is the GPZ, GPX range updates. It's the first time in almost a decade, so it'll be anxiously being awaited by the users globally. Post that, the Minelab team has a roadmap on enhancing detection out 12-18, 24 months. And that's across recreational and gold and counter mine, which is really the key areas. So there's no shortage of ideas from our Minelab crew.
You know, they are, you know, very good at creating products that work exceptionally well in market. So, and like we always say, our ability to move that IP from an idea to a product is really the Codan superpower.
Awesome. Thanks. And then one final one. You made a comment earlier around the distribution for Gold Monster 2000 still expanding. Are you able to give us a sense of? Is that in terms of key markets that you've still yet to properly launch the detector in? Or, you know, is there still more distribution to go in the second half? Can you give us a sense of what that comment-
I think-
... related to?
Yeah, I think that comment relates to launching a product. You know, when you launch a product, we launched at the back of in Q, middle of Q2, so you're just ramping up supply chains, you're ramping up product to get into market. So at the moment, you know, we're just in the ramp-up stage of Gold Monster 2000. So the scale-up is to, you know, you just scale up production over time, and you get it into the supply chain, into your customer bases or markets, and that's what that comment's about. So, you know, we are well on the way now, and, and that'll continue over the next 12 months-18 months, I would suggest.
Great. Thanks, guys. Thanks for taking my questions.
Great. Thanks very much, Tom. Next live question comes from Cam Bell at Canaccord. Cam, please go ahead.
Thanks, Sam. Morning, guys.
Morning.
Guys, just a couple of quick questions. So the metal detection comments you gave in the second half, flat revenue, is it fair to say that with flat revenue, we can expect similar margins in the second half?
Think, think, Cam, we used the word at least rather than flat. Yeah, in terms of the commentary on H2, at these revenue levels, we think 45% contribution margin out of Minelab is outstanding. We don't, a t these revenue levels, that would remain our expectation. I think it's fair to say at this level of revenue and that level of profitability, we are looking to reinvest in that business to continue the revenue growth that we've seen. So 45, if that's what the contribution margin is in H2, that'd be a fantastic result.
Yep. Okay. I might stick with just two quick ones for you, Michael, to continue off on those. You might not miss these style of questions in a few months' time. Last half, you had a bunch of M&A costs in your unallocated. Is it fair to say there were some of those, you know, semi-potentially non-recurring M&A costs in this half?
Yeah, probably not to the same, same extent. But yeah, we did have M&A activity, and, yeah, ongoing integration costs across the business. We don't really call them out as one-off, Cam, 'cause they, you know, the business continues to evolve, and we continue to invest in different areas of the business to improve what we do. So, you know, the costs we've incurred in the first half is a fair representation of that cost base going forward.
Okay, sure. And then just last one from me, is 25% tax rate the new norm?
Yeah. I think in, with this mix of product, then yeah, we're gonna be in the mid-20s, whether it's 24, 25. But yeah, I think we're in that range. You know, our Minelab business performing at this level, highly profitable, all that IP is generated here in Australia. We pay all of our majority of our Minelab taxes here in Australia at 30%. So that, that caused that rate just to go up, a percentage point or two.
Okay, great. Thanks very much. And congratulations, Michael, on everything you've achieved over the last 22 years.
Two years. Yeah. Thanks, Cam.
Great. Thank you, Cam. And maybe just one last question here from James Lennon at Petra. Can we expect Codan's typical seasonal movement in working capital to repeat in FY 2026, i.e., a wind down of working capital as the financial year progresses?
Yeah, historically, that has been the case. Sam, look, we have had an increase in working capital over the first half. A lot of that was just activity related and the timing of that activity. Yeah, we have had a really strong start to the year, the second half, a really strong start from a cash collection point of view. Some of that has unwound to start the second half. Yeah.
Just one final question. What is DTC and Zetron revenue for the half, and would you consider disclosing DTC and Zetron revenue going forward?
I think, yeah, we get asked that question a lot, and I think, when we did the full year presentation, for 25, we started talking about, public safety ecosystems, defense ecosystems, unmanned, how it all comes together. If you see here today, as Codan, compared to four years ago, our comms divisions are converging with the products that we have and how they work in market, right? So, I guess a short answer to that is that we probably won't, because our, a lot of our thinking is around public safety, which is heavily linked to Zetron, but there is creeping in of DTC products for that, as that of, as that ecosystem evolves, and not dissimilar to, you know, the, defense ecosystem, where you have unmanned systems, you have dismounted soldier solutions, and you've got our standard core products in HF.
I guess the answer is that I see more converging rather than diverging today than I did probably four years ago.
Okay, great. Thank you. We're just going through the hour, so I think that's all the time we have for live Q&A. If there are any follow-ups, or unanswered questions, please feel free to reach out to us directly. And maybe with that, I'll just pass it back to you, Alf and Michael, for any closing comments.
Yeah. Thanks, Sam. First, I'd just like to thank everyone for joining us today and the continued support you have for Codan as an organization. I think today, you know, it just continually demonstrates our consistent approach to running Codan. You know, our consistent strategy, our investment in product development, our investment in people and processes. You know, we've actually steered very, you know, into very good markets through M&A. So, you know, we sit here today, highly confident in our strategy, highly confident in our skills and execution and delivery, and above all, that consistent approach. So just like to thank everybody, and we'll provide updates, as we see fit, for the rest of H2.
Great. Thank you very much for joining today's Codan's first half FY26 results call. Enjoy the rest of your day. Thank you and goodbye.