I would now like to hand the conference over to Nathan Blackburne, Managing Director. Please go ahead.
Good morning and welcome to the presentation of the first half FY 2025 financial results for Cedar Woods. My name is Nathan Blackburne, and with me is our CFO, Leon Hanrahan. In this presentation, we will provide a brief overview of the company, a review of the financial results for the first half, we'll discuss current market conditions, then provide some commentary on our portfolio, and finish with the outlook for our business. Starting with a company overview, Cedar Woods is an experienced property development company with a driven team that has proved its success in acquiring and delivering projects over the last 35 years. In our portfolio, we have 9,700 lots, dwellings in the pipeline, which is made up by 37 projects across Victoria, South Australia, Western Australia, and Queensland. Diversification is key to our strategy. Our products include land estates, townhouses, apartments, and commercial developments.
In recent years, we've been delivering around 1,000 dwellings and lots per year, and we are known for the quality and sustainability of our developments, with many awards for design and sustainability. We have an excellent long-term track record in growing earnings per share, and we remain very growth-focused. The new housing sector has a bright future, which bodes well for our business. Government policy is supportive. There is a chronic shortage of supply, which will take many years to address, and our business has good leverage to the country's more affordable capital cities. And finally, our strategy is well proven, and we have a long track record in the disciplined execution of it. In the first half, we delivered a net profit after tax of AUD 15 million and revenue of AUD 196 million from 479 settlements.
This was a strong improvement over the first half of last year and resulted in earnings per share of AUD 0.182, up 468%. The board has declared an interim dividend of AUD 0.10, fully franked, which is up 25% on PCP. Over the half year, we contracted net sales of 654 lots compared to 529 last year, and at the end of the half, we held pre-sale contracts with a value of AUD 642 million. This is up on the AUD 525 million in pre-sales for this time last year and is a record for our business. We expect about 40% of the pre-sales will deliver revenue in FY 2025 and the balance in later years. More detail on the financial position of the company will be covered shortly.
Our strategy is to grow and develop our national project portfolio, diversified by geography, product type, and price point, so that it continues to hold broad customer appeal and performs well in a range of market conditions. The strategy is proving successful with the strong relative financial returns that we've been able to deliver over the longer term. Cedar Woods has multiple product types in four states and different price points appealing to varying buyer profiles. As part of our strategy, we are supplementing our portfolio with projects that are undertaken in partnership. Our partnering strategy is a strategic pivot that will see a greater portion of future earnings coming from partnering arrangements.
Partnering allows us to further leverage our existing development skills, access larger scale and a greater number of development sites, which in turn supports our diversification strategy, generate regular fee income and thereby smooth our earnings profile, and to grow our earnings in a less capital-intensive way. Further diversification and greater scale allow the company to perform more consistently through the cycles. We are now working in partnership with QIC and Tokyo Gas, which provide exciting opportunities for Cedar Woods to participate in projects of scale without committing to the entire capital requirements. QIC and Tokyo Gas are both substantial and experienced partners. The QIC partnership offers us access to well-located sites in major town centers for developing apartments and townhouses at a time when those housing forms are in short supply.
We have three projects underway with Tokyo Gas, being an apartment development in Subiaco and two apartment developments at Glenside in South Australia, helping fulfill their plans to deploy AUD 600 million into property globally, particularly Australia. The intention with both partnerships is to expand them with more projects, and we continue to evaluate opportunities. We continue delivering the ESG strategy with significant investment in climate-responsive developments, including the 8.5-star NABERS energy-rated elegant apartments at Glenside in SA and the energy-efficient microgrid at Eglinton Village in WA. At Eglinton, we recently commissioned the microgrid. Over 50% of the total energy demand at that project is expected to be supplied by renewables through rooftop solar and community battery storage, for which the first two stages are now in place.
Over the last three years, we've mapped our corporate carbon footprint, and we are well on the way to preparing for mandatory climate reporting, which is expected to impact us from FY27. Cedar Woods continues its national partnership with The Smith Family, Australia's leading children's education charity. Our flagship community grants program is another initiative we are very proud of and which sees a portion of our profits from projects given back to small community groups in the various regions that we operate. It was also pleasing to see that our latest staff survey recorded strong satisfaction scores and that our staff cherish the rewarding workplace that we've created. I now wanted to hand over to Leon.
Thanks, Nathan. Now looking at the half-year result in a bit more detail, higher revenue and consistent margins in the half have resulted in a much improved profit result compared to last year. Revenue was 59% higher in the half due to 15% more settlements and at higher values than the prior year. Gross margin was stable at 26%, although gross profit overall was much higher due to the higher total revenue. Project operating costs fell after the disposal of the Williams Landing Shopping Centre last year, as the running costs were previously included in this category. We also had savings on marketing costs and landholding costs. Higher admin costs in the first half of 2025 were a result of increased headcount as we gear up the business for growth, reflecting our strategy to accelerate acquisitions.
Finance costs expense were higher, notwithstanding lower debt in the half due to borrowing cost capitalisation, reflective of the stage of our developments. Now taking a look at the balance sheet, total assets at 31 December of AUD 779 million was up 5% on June's balance of AUD 744 million as we progressed the development of our projects in the first half. Net assets and equity were in line with the June balance, reflecting the half-year earnings, less significant cash dividends that were paid during the period. Net bank debt of AUD 185 million was up from 30 June, and gearing, measured by net bank debt to total tangible assets less cash at 24% and net bank debt to equity at 40%, reflect our investment in inventory in the half and will contribute to a stronger profit result in the second half.
Gearing while sound is expected to improve as we retire debt in the second half. The company extended the tenure of its three and five-year corporate finance facilities shortly after the end of the half, ensuring continued secure long-term funding availability with the average debt maturity of approximately 3.4 years. We maintain a solid liquidity position with sufficient facility headroom available at the end of the half and interest cover at 6.2 times, well above the prior year and comfortably exceeding facility covenant of two times. I'll now hand back to Nathan to talk to market conditions.
Thanks, Leon. I now wanted to touch on the conditions we are experiencing and talk more about our sales. This graph shows our gross sales by quarter going back to Q2 FY21. Recent sales results have shown a strong trend across our portfolio, although there are variations state to state, which I'll touch on soon. We have record pre-sales in hand of AUD 642 million at the end of H1 FY 2025, which is up 22% on the prior corresponding period. National inquiry levels were steady for the half, but importantly, a 30% plus above five-year averages. National sales volumes for H1 are at good levels, and for context, they are marginally above five-year averages. State sales conditions do vary, with WA and South Australia experiencing moderate sales volumes, Queensland experiencing very strong sales volumes, and Victoria, which has, you would say, low sales volumes.
Sales fallover levels for H1 are the lowest we've seen in the past five years, indicating that buyers are performing on contracts due to the tightness of supply and low vacancy rates. All buyer categories were active, but with first-home buyers and investors well represented. Sales growth is a positive forward indicator as these sales translate to settlements and revenue in future periods. There is a significant shortfall in housing across Australia. Dwelling supply is tracking well short of the federal government's target of 1.2 million dwellings over five years. 240,000 new dwellings are required to be completed each year, and these are currently tracking at only 180,000 dwelling completions in the 12 months to September 2024, indicating a shortfall of some 60,000 dwellings. The dwelling shortfall is expected to persist for several years as the shortfall accumulates. The supply of housing also affects the rental market.
Nationally, the rental market continues to be tight with low vacancy rates in all capitals. This is going to take many years to fix and position Cedar Woods well with our significant number of shovel-ready projects, long pipeline, and our strategic partnerships. Interest rates have started to reduce with a 25 basis point cut just announced, and a further cut widely expected to occur during 2025. Reduced interest rates, of course, increase the amount that people can borrow for housing and catalyse buyers that have been holding out for a rate cut. Rate-cutting cycles historically have resulted in material surges in dwelling sales volumes, and looking at the last nine cycles, volumes have on average risen approximately 26% over the ensuing cycle.
While there are a number of variables to consider, reductions in interest rates should support both owner-occupier and investor demand across our products, but especially first-home buyers, which many of our projects appeal to. I'll now provide some insight into our portfolio and, in particular, the composition of our pre-sales. These charts demonstrate the geographic and product diversification in our portfolio. The first chart on the left shows the proportion of our portfolio in each state and a reflection of our geographic diversification. The middle charts show our pre-sales by location, and as you can see, we have good pre-sales in three of our states. Queensland is running a little behind because of the timing of some stage releases, but we have acquired a number of new projects in Queensland in recent times, and as these come to market, that will be reflected in future charts.
The charts on the right show the mix of product in the pre-sales number that we talked about recently, with residential land still being the largest sector, but townhouses and apartments together accounting for over 50% of our pre-sales by value, and offices being 8% of our pre-sales. We continue to boost this diversification with the joint venture at Robina in Queensland, which will add a large number of townhouses and apartments to the portfolio. In Western Australia, we have 12 residential projects and 4,800 lots or dwellings in the pipeline to deliver. Our WA portfolio is comprised of residential lots and apartments, and we are in a good spread of locations north and south. Our newest projects at Ariella, Henley Brook and Eglinton up in Perth's north recorded strong sales. Millers Landing in Baldivis also achieved strong sales, as well as significant price growth over the half.
Across the portfolio, sales price growth has stabilized after a period of strong growth, in particular FY 2024, and this has resulted in good margins across our WA projects. We recently acquired a new site in Subiaco next to our Incontro project, where we intend to develop apartments in joint venture with Tokyo Gas. We now have over 300 apartments to deliver in Perth, over four separate buildings. In Victoria, we currently have 11 projects which offer a wide range of products, including landlots, townhouses, apartments, and offices. Our suburban office projects continue to do well, with Hudson Hub experiencing continued high demand for Strata offices in Melbourne's west. Over 13 hectares of mixed-use and high-value land at Williams Landing remains undeveloped and is expected to accommodate a further 1,000+ dwellings and Strata offices, which are to be delivered over the next, say, eight to 10 years.
At Noble Park, we contracted the sale of an affordable housing project comprising 97 apartments and six retail tenancies, and we sold those in one line to an affordable housing provider. Construction is due to commence in H2 FY 2025, with settlement due in H1 FY27. Sales conditions are weak overall in Melbourne, but that is expected to improve notably in 2025, especially as interest rates drop. In Queensland, we have six projects and a total of 1,600 lots and dwellings to deliver. There's a mix of land estates, townhouses, and apartments in this portfolio, and our joint venture with QIC to develop 414 apartments and townhouses is adjacent to the Robina Town Centre, and that project is progressing well through town planning. Given Southeast Queensland's relative affordability and strong inbound migration, we expect this market to continue to perform well over the medium term.
The construction sector in Queensland continues to experience capacity constraints. However, we expect a medium-term recovery. Our projects in Queensland are performing well, and we continue to regularly increase prices, improving margins further. In South Australia, we have eight projects, including four within the Glenside estate. In total, we have around 900 townhouses and apartments yet to deliver, a pipeline which will keep us busy for a further seven-plus years. Our South Australian projects are well established, with strong reputations for quality and sustainability, and will continue to make meaningful contributions in coming years. The market has continued to be good in the first half, and we've seen continuing price growth. The shortfall of new housing, especially apartments, continues to be pronounced in this market. And now to the outlook for our business.
Currently, the conditions for the housing sector are favorable in the states that we operate in, except for Victoria. I expect Victoria to improve during 2025, given it has now developed an affordability advantage. Cedar Woods starts 2025 in a strong position with a record AUD 642 million in pre-sales, expected to settle over FY 2025, FY 2026, and FY 2027. The balance sheet is in good shape, with low gearing and significant liquidity to fund our developments and further acquisitions. We are accelerating our acquisitions efforts and boosting acquisitions resources in support of our growth strategy. The partnering strategy is progressing well, with three underway with Tokyo Gas and one underway with QIC, and plans with both partners to do more. The company is targeting a minimum of 10% growth in NPAT for FY 2025, and further growth is anticipated in FY 2026.
Notably, we have secured more than half of the pre-sales we need for FY 2026 at this early stage. In the medium term, the company is well placed, with a pipeline of more than 9,700 undeveloped dwellings, lots, and offices across four states. This brings us to the end of our presentation. Thank you for your interest in our company. I'll now hand over to the operator to handle any questions.
Thank you. If you wish to ask a question, please press Star 1 on your telephone and wait for your name to be announced. If you wish to cancel your request, please press Star then 2. If you're using a speakerphone, please pick up the handset to ask your question. The first question today comes from Larry Gandler from Shaw and Partners. Please go ahead.
Hi guys, am I off mute?
Hi Larry, your line is open if you'd like to ask your question.
Oh, great, thank you. Yeah, well done on the result and the upgrade to guidance. I guess, Nathan, can you just talk to, with the joint venture partners, do you, I guess, how do you sort of structure them? Do you fund the investment as needed, and is that what we see in the cash flow statement? How does that sort of work?
So the two joint ventures are slightly different. With QIC, they already own the land because it is surplus land adjacent to existing shopping centers, and we secure approvals, pre-sales, line up a builder, then the site is valued, and then Cedar Woods contributes half of the assessed value, and then the parties co-fund the development along the way and equally share the profits. Tokyo Gas is slightly different in the sense that we are out there trying to identify and buy sites, which we will do 49%-51%, with 51% to Cedar Woods. We'll have a development management and sales agreement in place, and we will take that project forward again, funding the development side of things equally and sharing profits close to equally.
With the most recent Tokyo Gas JV, so we will identify the site, contract the site in an SDV, and ahead of settlement, Tokyo Gas will come in and take their share of that entity and so that both parties are there for settlement of the land.
Are the inventory that you, I guess, identify in those joint ventures, that's included in your total inventory of $9,778?
Existing joint ventures, including the Robina project with QIC in southeast Queensland and the three announced projects with Tokyo Gas.
Right, okay. And I think you guys have been running over 10,000 lots in inventory for some time. I don't know if that's a threshold, but I imagine you are quite active in trying to secure more inventory. Should we expect to see that inventory in lots increase, or do you think your selling activity will result in it staying below 10,000?
The first thing I'd say, Larry, is that we are confident in our ability to achieve earnings growth in the current year, and as we've stated for FY26, without the need for further acquisitions to support those years. We'd like to think that acquisitions that we make now, in fact, support FY28 onwards. There's a chance for FY27, but that is limited. So we're feeling pretty good about the medium term without the need for acquisitions to support those years. And anything else on that, Leon?
Yeah, so 10,000's not a particular number we're trying to have there. As Nathan said, we want to see around three years of profit growth from our existing portfolio, so we're never in a position that we're under pressure to make acquisitions. But we are seeing lots of opportunities at the moment, and we're very active at the moment, so we'd hope that some things transpire over the next 6 and 12 months, and some of those things could be on deferred terms and deferred settlements. Some of those will be upfront. Some of those will be JVs. Some of those will be balance sheet.
Okay, thanks. Last question for me, just in terms of FY26, will that year have more built form and higher margin profile because of some of the deliveries from South Australia?
We're expecting to grow settlement volumes and grow revenues into FY 2026, and that will have contributions from a number of built form projects, including apartments in South Australia, both Glenside and Fletcher Slip. We're expecting to grow margins in FY 2025 above what we did in 2024, and we're expecting to grow margins in 2026 above what we're anticipating for this year.
Okay, thanks guys. I'll let somebody else ask questions.
Thank you once again. To ask a question, please press Star 1 on your telephone. The next question comes from Edward Day from MA Financial. Please go ahead.
Hi, Nathan and Leon. Thanks for your time. I'm just getting to understand the composition of earnings in the first half. Does your revenue number include the sale of the excess land at Williams Landing and Eglinton?
Eglinton, no. We didn't get there on that one. That's settling in a couple of weeks' time. It does include the two sites at the Williams Landing Shopping Center, so the sum of those is around about AUD 6 million.
Okay, so Eglinton will help you skew in the second half. Can you just maybe give some color on some of the other key contributors to the second half skew?
Yeah, so we've got lots going on in the second half. Bloom Apartments in South Australia is expected to settle late in the year. We have some stages at Fletcher Slip. We also have a number of stages in Queensland at our projects, Flourish and Ellendale. In the first quarter, we have some things that have a number of lots at Mason Quarter in Victoria, large increase sold, and WA, while it did a decent number of settlements in the first half, it will grow its production in the second half, and Eglinton will be a factor.
But there's quite a mix there, Ed, across states and across projects. So whilst there's a couple of bigger contributors, it is quite widespread.
Thanks for that. And just another one, if I may, just on your gross sales number. So obviously a good result for the second quarter. That I presume includes the apartment sales in Victoria. I guess if you adjust for that as being a bit of an outlier, what are your expectations for sales volumes going forward?
Across the business, across the country, as a general rule, sales and inquiry are at good levels with variation state to state. Queensland, by far, being the current strongest performer, followed by WA, followed by SA, and then weak conditions in Melbourne. So the shortfall of supply is across the capital cities and across the product types, and that is showing continued demand for our products, and we expect that to persist not just for the current year, but for the medium term because it will take many years to address that supply shortfall. I think affordability has pulled back sales volumes a bit in WA, and the easing interest rate environment that we're heading into will somewhat help that, though there's usually a lag between interest rate announcements and sales volume improvements. So we really have an expectation that the good conditions that we're currently experiencing will persist.
It's possible that a couple of markets could slow down off the highs, and Victoria could come back, and that is my base case expectation that Victoria now has an affordability advantage. Its population is still growing, and we have good exposure to that market with lots of shovel-ready projects ready to go and capitalize on any improved conditions.
Thank you both. That's all.
Thank you. Once again, to ask a question, please press Star 1 on your phone. The next question comes from Connor Eldridge from Bell Potter Securities. Please go ahead.
Yeah, hi Nathan, I'm Leon. Thanks for your time today. Just on the AUD 642 million in pre-sales, it looks like about AUD 250 million of that will settle this half. Can you just give us an idea on the product mix across this AUD 250 million and I suppose the timing of these settlements between the third and fourth quarter?
Yeah, sure. The biggest contributor is WA, actually. Sort of around about AUD 100 million of that is just across all the WA land projects, and so that's probably 40% of the total. And then the other items, we do have some bigger projects in those numbers, as I mentioned earlier, the Bloom Apartments at Glenside. We have some stages at Greville and Ellendale in Queensland and some stages at Mason Quarter in Victoria as well. But the big part of it is those WA various projects and stages across WA.
Yeah, okay. And just on the timing, do you expect it to be roughly even between the third and fourth quarter or more so skewed towards the third quarter?
A bit more in the fourth quarter than the third quarter.
Right, okay. Cool. And is there scope to achieve, yeah, sorry.
There are some things that are early FY 2026 as well that still have a possibility of landing in 2025 as well, so we're sufficiently comfortable notwithstanding that skew to Q4 to sort of reconfirm and upgrade our guidance.
Yeah, okay. So is it best to think about FY 2025 revenues mainly will largely be covered by pre-sales, and then incremental sales from here will most likely settle in 2026, or is there still scope that they could?
FY 2026 and FY 2027, with the land projects having a shorter delivery timeframe, predominantly settling in FY 2026, and the built form projects that we're selling now predominantly settling in FY 2027 and even FY 2028.
Great. And just one more from me, if I may. I know you called out price stabilisation in WA. It looks like the sales rates have slowed down quite a bit at some of the WA projects like Ariella and Bushmead. I'm just curious if that's a trend of slowing demand, or is that just down to timing of stages?
It's a little bit of both. So the timing of stages, yeah, we've got new releases coming up in both Queensland and in Western Australia of product that we think will meet with strong demand. You've got Queensland, which despite our prices being increased over 30% in that market over FY 2024 and recently, the sales rate continues unabated, particularly at Flourish, but also at Sage. And that's an affordable first home, relatively affordable first home buyer product. WA sales volumes have come off, but it's important to note that those sales volumes were at very high levels when you look at the five-year average sales volumes. So the sales volumes we're doing now in WA are still above that five-year average for WA, and we're happy. Also, might point out that we are still increasing prices at a couple of projects in WA because the sales rates are strong.
But the general rule is that prices have stabilized and sales rates have come back a bit. Millers Landing in WA is an outperformer at the moment, and we're in the process. We've got over 1,000 lots yet to deliver there, and that Baldivis suburb is really coming into its own, and we are progressively increasing our prices as we will do over the next couple of weeks again.
Great. Thanks, guys.
Thank you. The next question is a follow-up from Larry Gandler from Shaw and Partners. Please go ahead.
Yep, thanks, guys. Just in terms of the balance sheet, a couple of line items, Leon, maybe if you can just comment on: the other financial liabilities, which I guess is vendors in both current and non-current, had big movements. Can you just give us some color around that?
Yeah, sure. So the prior year other financial liabilities that are gone, they are land acquisitions that we've paid for and settled. So the big one there at AUD 37 million, that was the final installment on the final site at Mason Quarter in Victoria. And in the current period, the one that's come on, the AUD 33 million, that is the Corio site in Victoria, which we've unconditionally contracted now.
Okay, great. Thank you very much.
Thank you. The next question comes from Shane Bannon from PAC Partners. Please go ahead.
Hi, good afternoon, guys. Or good morning in your case. The greatest aspect of the state of the construction industry has been the number of defaults of builders over the course of the last year or two or three. I'm going to focus on three, so we'll ask you to address it on three levels. One, in terms of the constraints on your own performance in the period that we're talking about and going into the next 18 months or so. Secondly, any projects that may come loose as some of these things start to wallow, and therefore the opportunity that might present for a group such as yourselves. And thirdly, any exposure you might have in managing that sort of risk.
Okay, thank you, Shane. Yes, the construction sector is still under pressure for a variety of reasons, but to varying degrees around the country. Victoria, as you would expect, construction conditions are quite good. While costs are rising modestly, there's plenty of builders there, and they do have capacity to undertake the work that we're engaged in: civil construction and apartment construction. And in one case, an office building that Hacer Constructions is delivering for us. And so we're comfortable in that market. The builders that we're tending to work with around the country, we have deep relationships with. And by deep, I mean we've been working with them for many years, and we have several projects with them.
For those builders and new builders that we take on, we do considerable work, both independently outsourced and internally, in understanding their balance sheet, their financials generally, and their forward order book. And we get as comfortable as we can around their capacity to undertake our work and complete our work. I'm not concerned about any particular project within our portfolio. Yes, you would say there is elevated risks over what you might have considered usual five or six years ago. But we've been pretty lucky to date, and I can't see any issues in our portfolio on the horizon at this point in time. There are certainly opportunities out there where developers and lots of syndicated developers have purchased sites and paid too much for them, have got a build cost that is more than they expected, and they're not delivering those projects.
And we're certainly running the ruler over a few of those around the country. And with the chronic shortfall of particularly apartments, we see that as an opportunity going forward. But with a bit of caution, because in some markets we could do with greater builder capacity, which essentially means more labor. And then I think that really answers your three prongs there, Larry, unless you wanted me to expand upon anything else there.
No, Nathan, you've done very well. Thank you.
Thank you. At this time, we're showing no further questions. I'll hand the conference back to Nathan Blackburne for any closing remarks.
Thank you, everyone, for listening in to our FY 2025 first half results. We're very pleased with those results, and hopefully you can see that we're feeling confident about the medium term for our business. Thank you for listening in.
Thank you. That does conclude our conference for today. Thank you for participating. You may now disconnect.