Thanks, Sari. Good morning and welcome to the IPH results presentation for the year ended 30 June 2022. My name is Andrew Blattman, and I'm the CEO of IPH. With me today, as always, is John Wadley, our CFO. Thank you for, of course, joining us for today's presentation and as always, your continuing interest in IPH. You will have seen we launched a number of announcements with the ASX this morning. In addition to our FY 2022 results, today, we've also announced Canada's leading IP firm, Smart & Biggar, will be joining the IPH group. It's a big day for us. It's exciting and a transformational day in the eight years, almost eight years of IPH's history. Together with Smart & Biggar, we've expanded the IPH network beyond Asia-Pacific for the first time into another significant secondary IP market.
This provides an excellent platform for IPH to participate in further growth opportunities. We'll talk more about this in the course of this call. Moving to slide 3, in terms of the contents, I guess we'll have two components for our presentation today. Firstly, I'll speak to the FY 2022 results. I'll provide an overview of the operational highlights for the year, and John will discuss the financial results in more detail. We'll then present the details of the acquisition of Smart & Biggar. John will then discuss the financial aspects of this transaction. I'll conclude with a summary of our priorities for FY 2023. As I said, we've included full presentations of both our FY 2022 results and Smart & Biggar joining IPH on the ASX and on our website.
Given time constraints, we will refer to some of these slides on today's call, but you can, of course, reference those presentations for full details. Moving to slide four and five, to highlights. Let's step through some of the highlights for our FY 2022 result. We delivered a strong result in FY 2022. Once again, this demonstrates the power of the IPH network, which delivers ongoing organic growth in Asia. Meanwhile, we continue to deliver synergy benefits from the integrations we've undertaken in Australia and New Zealand. On an underlying basis, we reported a significant increase in earnings with underlying EBITDA up 11% to AUD 137.4 million. Underlying NPAT was up 14% to AUD 86.7 million.
This has come from solid organic growth and cost synergies captured from integrations, but also assisted by currency benefit in FY 2022 compared to a foreign exchange loss in the prior year. We continued to harness our network, which has again resulted in increased case referrals into our Asian hubs, up 4.5% for the year. We experienced continued momentum in patent filings across our Asian network outside of Singapore, with our filings up 9% across key Asian jurisdictions. China again stands out. Patent filing growth of 15%. Our robust financial position and ongoing excellent cash flow generation has enabled a 3% increase in the full-year dividend to AUD 0.35 per share, 50% franked. In summary, very pleasing FY 2022 result.
Not just the numbers, but also in the progress we're continuing to make to strengthen the network, which is enhancing our client and employee offering and generating increased returns to shareholders. That strategy has been further delivered with today's announcement that Smart & Biggar will be joining IPH. I say we'll talk about this in a few minutes. Closer to home, we continue to leverage our domestic offering with the successful integration of Spruson & Ferguson Australia and Shelston IP. This integration is delivering synergies as planned, and the combined firm can strengthen its position as the largest IP firm in Australia. As we always say, our people are central to our success, and we made a record number of principal promotions in FY 2022, including a 50% increase in female principal promotions compared to FY 2021. A particularly pleasing result.
In summary, I'm very pleased with our progress. It's been a good year and capped off wonderfully well with this announcement, this morning. Very strong financial result, good progress on our strategy and the transformational transaction as we take IPH to the next stage of its evolution. I'll hand over to John, and he'll step us through the financial details.
Thank you, Andrew, and good morning, everyone. I'm referring to slide seven, the financial overview. Just to reiterate the strong result of an 11% increase in our underlying EBITDA for FY 2022, which reflects the continued organic growth of our Asian business, as well as an improved EBITDA contribution from the Australian businesses as a result of business integrations. As we called out on the slides and also as we pointed out at the interim results in February, the FY 2022 results will also be reviewed with an understanding of the foreign exchange impacts. The average AUD/USD for FY 2022 averaged 72.6 cents versus 74.7 cents in the prior year, and this effect was more pronounced in the second half.
As we have previously advised, a 1% weakening in the U.S. dollar equates to a 1.9 reduction in our service charge revenue. As also indicated in February, our results exclude FX gains recorded in our P&L, i.e., those derived from the revaluation of the U.S.-denominated cash and receivables, as well as by banking receipts at a more favorable rate than booked. For FY 2022, this was a $5.9 million gain compared to a $200,000 loss in the prior year. You'll notice that the statutory results in FY 2022 include a number of one-off items. I will address these in a subsequent slide. Underlying NPAT has grown by 14%, with underlying diluted earnings per share up by 12% to 39.5 cents per share.
Our ongoing strong financial position and continued cash generation has enabled a further increase in the final dividend, which is up 3% to AUD 0.16 per share and 50% franked. Taking a look at slide eight in our like-for-like revenue and EBITDA. The like-for-like basis eliminates the impact of acquisitions, and more importantly for this year, the foreign exchange impacts I discussed earlier. Once again, Asia was the standout for the group, with double-digit increase in like-for-like revenue and EBITDA as a result of filing growth and the continued increases in client referrals. There's a slight decline in like-for-like revenue in the ANZ business. We called out previously some short-term disruption from the integration of Spruson & Ferguson and Shelston IP, which was announced in September 2021.
Revenue was also impacted by significantly reduced filings by the largest filer in the Australian market, which impacted IPH Group's total patent filings in FY 2022. The prior year's results in ANZ also included revenue and earnings related to a significant litigation matter which was not repeated in FY 2022. Revenue of this type is of a different nature to the annuity-style revenue from our patent and trademark business. Despite the declining revenue, like-for-like EBITDA has shown growth as a result of integration-related cost reductions. Groupwide revenue increased by 2%, and EBITDA grew by 2% on a like-for-like basis. The increase in corporate costs reflects the consolidation of various business support functions into the corporate office in FY 2022, and a foreign exchange loss of AUD 0.48 million, compared to the gain of AUD 1.9 million in FY 2021.
Let me look at slide 10 and our underlying results. Slide 10 shows the calculation of the underlying result, which is on a consistent basis with prior periods and reconciled these to the recorded statutory FY 2022 results. As I mentioned earlier, there are a number of adjustments to the statutory results in FY 2022. The items which represent a significant difference from the prior year include costs related to business acquisitions of AUD 3.7 million, primarily the Smart & Biggar transaction. I mentioned the integration of Spruson & Ferguson Australia and Shelston IP, which is resulting in earnings accretion from synergies. The associated one-off costs associated with this integration include the non-cash write-down of the intangible value of the Shelston IP brand of AUD 4.6 million.
The write-down in office fit-out and the exit of the lease related to Shelston IP are AUD 2.4 million, and restructuring costs of AUD 1.4 million. We also announced the sale of WiseTime or Practice Insight earlier this year, which will result in a profit uplift from FY23. Costs include AUD 2.2 million for the impairment of the carrying value of the WiseTime asset and the related sales costs. IT SaaS implementation costs. These were previously capitalized but now expensed under the change in accounting standards interpretation were AUD 1.9 million. Finally, accounting charges for the share-based payments for staff incentive plans are AUD 4.9 million.
As we have detailed in the results presentation released to the ASX in a further slide in this presentation, consistent with market practice, we will no longer include share-based payments as a non-underlying expense, but included in underlying EBITDA from FY 2023. Amortization of acquired intangibles has marginally increased to AUD 22.8 million as a result of the finalization of accounting for prior acquisitions. The underlying effective tax rate was 26.7%, reflecting greater proportion of results recognized in lower tax jurisdictions. Moving on to the cash flow statement. In the cash flow statement, cash conversion remains strong at 100%. Strong cash flows resulting in a reduction in leverage to 0.3x net debt to EBITDA, which also continues to support a higher dividend payout, which is reflected in the payout ratio of the full-year dividend of 87% of cash income.
Of course, this strong financial position has enabled the group to fund the strategic Smart & Biggar transaction, primarily through debt facilities and cash reserves, which I'll discuss shortly. As I'll also detail shortly, post the Smart & Biggar transaction, our leverage ratio will be below two times. On the next slide, we talk about share-based payments. As mentioned, the share-based payments expense will be included in underlying EBITDA from FY 2023 onwards, reflecting market practice. I'll remind you that the group operates two plans, an executive LTIP based upon a three-year EPS compound annual growth rate, as well as one for the IP practitioners whereby half of their annual STIP is paid in shares, which are then locked for a further two years. I'll now hand back to Andrew to discuss that acquisition in detail.
Good on you, John, and thanks very much for that. I'll now move on to the second part of today's presentation, starting from, I think, slide 13. As I've indicated earlier, we're pretty excited about this whole transaction. We're excited to announce that, you know, what I think is, and others, Canada's leading IP firm, Smart & Biggar, joining the IPH group. For those of you who've been following IPH for a while, you'll appreciate that our strategy has been clear and consistent from the time we first listed almost eight years ago, and that is to be the leading IP services group in IP secondary markets. Today's announcement is very much consistent with that strategy. It's a significant acquisition for IPH. It's our biggest since listing and one which expands our presence beyond the Asia-Pacific for the first time.
Smart & Biggar is highly complementary to IPH. They have a leading market position in Canada, number one patent filer, high-quality professionals, an exceptional reputation, and a rich heritage. This is a 130-year-old firm. They will become the first IP agency firm in Canada to join a public listed IP group. The Canadian IP market is very similar to Australia in terms of its size, governance, and its legal system. Indeed, Smart & Biggar is very similar to current IPH member firms, which again highlights the complementary nature of the transaction. We believe this will be a very positive outcome for all our stakeholders, rather, including our clients, people, and our shareholders.
The transaction is expected to be underlying EPS accretive at approximately 10% in the first full year of ownership, and it gives us a strong platform to participate in further growth opportunities in Canada. Just briefly, we expect the transaction to complete late next month. Slide 14, transaction summary. As I just said, this is a compelling opportunity for all of our stakeholders. Let's dig a little bit deeper into Smart & Biggar. They are Canada's leading IP firm by number of patent filings, filing over 6,200 applications a year, over 1,800 trademarks in 2021. They're a full service IP firm servicing large multinational corporations, universities, startup companies, and Canadian entrepreneurs. Their revenue for the 12 months to 32 in 2022 was CAD 88.4 million, which is AUD 96.3 million.
I'll just draw your attention to the note on this slide that the way Canada records revenues on a different basis to IPH, and therefore it's not a completely direct comparison. Slide 15, realizing our vision. As I said earlier, we've been clear and consistent about our strategy, and we've lived it for the last eight years. It continues to be the leading IP services group in secondary IP markets and today accelerates our plan to realize this vision. IPH is now truly one of the largest IP services groups in secondary IP markets, and our presence has been expanded beyond Asia Pacific to include the North American aspect of Canada. We're the number one patent filer in Australia, New Zealand, Singapore and now Canada. We're the number one filer of trademarks in Australia and New Zealand.
Combined with Smart & Biggar, we will have more than 1,200 employees and operate in nine jurisdictions. As you can tell, I'm very excited about the future and as I like to say, we're only just warming up. I'll now hand over to John to discuss the financial details of the transaction.
I'll spend the next few slides starting on slide 16, providing some of the transaction funding and key metrics. The consideration for the transaction is CAD 348 million or AUD 387 million. That represents a multiple of approximately 10x pro forma adjusted Smart & Biggar EBITDA for the 12 months to June 2022. Pro forma Adjusted EBITDA is calculated or is adjusted for partner salaries and an estimate for leases captured under IFRS 16. The consideration comprises an upfront cash consideration of CAD 241 million, an initial issue of 5.3 million new IPH shares to the value of CAD 41 million, escrowed for two years.
This represents 2.4% of existing shares on issue and a deferred issue of new IPH shares up to a value of CAD 66 million, further escrowed for two years. The earn-out consideration is payable depending on Smart & Biggar's earnings in calendar year 2022 or calendar year 2023, outperforming agreed thresholds broadly in line with its pre-COVID earnings levels. The earn-out will be payable in an amount of 11x the excess earnings up to the cap of CAD 66 million. Additionally, there's a potential for a further share-based payment of CAD 2.4 million to certain non-vendor sellers contingent upon the same conditions as the earn-out, including continued employment. Having a look at slide 17, the financial impact and funding. First one I will highlight is the accretive nature of the transaction.
It's expected to deliver underlying EPS accretion approximately 10% in our first full year of ownership. As we have demonstrated with other transactions we've completed, we should generate cost efficiencies. We expect to deliver cost savings of approximately CAD 4 million-CAD 6 million over the first three years. As we have also demonstrated previously, these transactions also provide IPH with a platform to pursue growth options, and that includes further potential consolidation opportunities. Transaction consideration will be funded by our debt facilities, cash reserves, and issuing new IPH shares to the vendors. We have agreed amended debt facilities with our existing bank financiers as part of the transaction. Our total debt drawn post-transaction will be approximately AUD 390 million. Following the transaction, IPH's pro forma group leverage ratio will be 1.8x.
At completion of the transaction, we intend to enter into interest rate hedging for the equivalent of AUD 350 million of our drawn debt with varying maturity profiles. As well as the high level of facilities and the uncertainty in debt markets, we think this measure is prudent and this provides greater certainty for our interest rate expense in the near term. As I mentioned earlier, we will issue 5.3 million new IPH shares, about 2.4% of our existing shares on issue to the vendors. These will be escrowed for two years. Additional new IPH shares are expected to be issued in the first quarter of calendar 2023 or the first quarter of calendar 2024 if the earn-out consideration is achieved. These will also be escrowed for two years.
Looking at Smart & Biggar financial performance on slide 17. Table on the left provides a summary of Smart & Biggar's financials for the 12 months to 30 June 2022. On this table, we've shown an adjustment for partner salaries and also an add back of lease costs, which is in line with IFRS 16. That gives us an Adjusted EBITDA of CAD 34.4 million for the 12 months to 30 June 2022, which is consistent with the 10x multiple I mentioned earlier. I'd also note that Smart & Biggar have a larger proportion of IP legal revenue than IPH, which can be subject to greater variability. Finally, I would note in the report the Canadian IP services market has experienced similar growth to Australia and is a mature IP market. I'm going to hand back to Andrew.
Thanks, John. I'm moving to slide 19 in terms of vendor alignment, issues. Let's make some early comments about the integration of Smart & Biggar into IPH. As you will recall, IPH has a long and we think successful track record of acquiring and integrating businesses into the group and in doing so, generating earnings accretion. Smart & Biggar's leadership team has an outstanding international reputation, and they are well-known to us. We will appoint one of their senior people to the IPH group leadership team, recognizing, of course, the scale of their business. One of the benefits we've found in the last few years of being a public listed group is how we can reward staff with equity ownership opportunities to align performances with shareholders. This is something that's simply not easily achievable through the private firm structure.
As part of that, Smart & Biggar's eligible principals and professional staff will join the IPH Group Incentive Plan, providing opportunities for IPH equity ownership and alignment of all of Smart & Biggar's professional staff on an ongoing basis. We'll, of course, leverage our existing international network to expand the offering available to Smart & Biggar's clients. We will have clear alignment with Smart & Biggar's vendors. Vendor partners may be entitled to earn-out consideration payable to the extent Smart & Biggar's adjusted earnings for calendar year 2022 and calendar year 2023 outperform agreed thresholds broadly in light of its pre-COVID-19 earnings in calendar year 2019. Partners will receive IPH shares as part of the upfront and potential earn-out consideration, and these will be escrowed for two years. Smart & Biggar vendor equity partners will generally enter into four-year minimum term employment agreements as part of this transaction.
Final slide, summary and priorities for FY 2023. Let me conclude with some final comments. IPH is now one of the largest IP services group in secondary IP markets with an expanded international platform. We will consolidate and grow our position in core geographies, including Australia, New Zealand, Asia, and of course now Canada. We'll continue our investment in business development initiatives to support our member firms to achieve growth targets. The acquisition of Applied Marks last July has enabled us to build our digital services function, and we'll look to harnessing this expertise to generate great efficiencies for our teams and clients in each of the regions we operate. The future landscape of IP is changing, and we are investing ahead of the curve by ensuring we have the digital expertise and capability to respond to these challenges.
Our balance sheet remains strong, and we'll continue to assess growth opportunities in adjacent areas of IP to complement our core IP services. Of course, we will continue to operate a disciplined management focus on generating further shareholder value. In closing, I would like to acknowledge the support of the IPH board over the last few years on this transaction, including our past chairman, Richard Grellman, and most importantly, the hard work and contribution of all our people across the group. We look forward to welcoming the staff of Smart & Biggar to the IPH network when the transaction completes. We see significant opportunities ahead of them as part of this team. Many thanks to all of you for your continued interest and support, and Sari, over to you for questions. John and I are happy to take a few questions in context of this call.
Thank you. If you wish to ask a question, please press star one on your telephone and wait for your name to be announced. If you wish to cancel your request, please press star two. If you're on a speakerphone, please pick up a handset to ask a question. In the interest that everyone has a chance to ask a question, please keep it to one question per person. Your first question comes from Marni Lysaght from Macquarie Capital. Please go ahead.
Good morning. I do have a lot of questions, so I might try and amalgamate them into one, given the guidance. I'm just kind of interested to understand, I guess, we're thinking about this business, any seasonality and kinda what did pre-COVID look like and how do you get to the pre-COVID levels? Could you talk through the impacts of COVID and even potentially the recent inflationary pressures on the business in the economy on the business?
Sure, I can talk to that. In terms of the agency part of their business, I think their seasonality reflects pretty much ours, and it's generally even spread across the year, perhaps a little tiny bias to the second half as a result of those North American summer holidays in July and August, as we've experienced here. Where probably there's a little bit of difference in perhaps seasonality is the wrong word, but I did describe in the presentation the variability of their legal revenues. As opposed to the rest of the IPH group, where legal revenue might be circa 3%-5%, the Smart & Biggar business, it's approximately 30% of their business. They do get a little bit more variability in that revenue stream.
That's clear.
Marni, can I just-
Yeah.
Can I just add to this? Yeah, from my perspective, this is a business that we're familiar with in the context. It's similar to the ones already in the group. It's an agency business with a legal overlay. You know, the agency practice, its whole nature is recurring, and that's the beauty of it. The legal revenue that John talks about, what gives us the great comfort in that is that the bulk of it comes through the agency practice in terms of the introduction to those litigation type clients. It comes through as a part of the agency practice and then into litigation opportunity. It's a style of business we're familiar with, albeit one with a little bit more legal revenue.
That's understood. Just around the earn-out or the deferred consideration, I guess when we're looking at those pre-COVID levels and the hurdles there.
Yes, I think we're all reasonably comfortable that those can be achieved. They were a steady business as we are here. It is a mature market with not a significant decline throughout the COVID period as we saw in the IPH Group. Like us, they're kind of coming out of that period.
That's all for me. I'll hop back in the queue.
Good on you, Marni.
Thank you. Your next question comes from Nicholas Peach from Goldman Sachs. Please go ahead.
Oh, hi, Andrew and John. Congratulations on the result and the transaction. Just question around the sort of short and long term for this business. Just firstly, on the client mix, you know, how much crossover is there with your clients in Australia and Singapore? Is there a benefit there maybe for clients that you don't file for in those other regions picking up that business? When I'm thinking about the sort of IPH branding opportunity that you're looking at. Then sort of looking down the track, would we expect further acquisitions in Canada if we're thinking about a three-year time horizon?
Oh, good on you, Nicholas. Thanks for the question. Look, I guess Smart & Biggar is the number one agency practice in Canada at 16% or so of the market. There will be, of course, some crossover in client base from the IPH group. But there's enough opportunity there for us to, we think, to leverage a few more into the network, and that's certainly the plan. Certainly in the context of their domestic clients in Canada that Smart & Biggar act for, we'd love to introduce them into the network of IPH and certainly into Australia, New Zealand and Asia. We think that's a pretty good opportunity first up. We'll be looking at that. That's all, of course, with the permission of the client. That's always how these things run.
You know, in terms of future acquisitions, who knows? Nicholas, we've been, you know, our experience is the first one's often the hardest, and we've got there with that. You know, we're certainly open to talking to, you know, other firms which we also know in this profession and have been professionally intertwined for decades. Really our focus in the immediate term is successful integration and enjoying the benefits of a business that I think is the number one player in Canada. We're lucky to have it and looking forward to welcoming you into the group. That's where our focus is initially.
Great. Thanks, Andrew. Appreciate the answers.
Thank you. Your next question comes from Scott Murdoch from Morgans. Please go ahead.
Morning, Andrew and John. Well done on the acquisition. Just a couple if I can. Just a bit of clarity on the key person retention. Obviously, you've explained a bit there, but can I just clarify how many people and partners are involved in the retention and if that retention mechanism has anything past calendar year 2023?
Yeah, thanks. Thanks, Scott. There's, I think there's about 28 managing partners in the that are equity vendor partners in the group. Generally their employment contracts are four years. There's a few that may, you know, a couple may retire earlier, given their age and stage, but really, we're wonderfully pleased to see they're agreeing to four-year positions, showing their faith in the broader business, which is terrific. Of course, a transaction like this also gives opportunities to the next generation. There's a few more partners that are coming into the business or principals as they are now coming into the business, with a variety of retention positions.
The other thing that we're doing a little bit different from the previous acquisitions we've done is bringing in the incentive plan immediately for all those professionals, principals and beyond. That's a change for us and we'd like to align everyone as quickly as we can in a transaction of this nature. I guess that's a change. We're bringing in the Employee Incentive Plan of that principal group at transaction, which we haven't done before. As John indicated, it's a combination of cash and scrip in the deal, which more cash than we've done in the past, of course. That scrip on a two-year escrow too for those vendor partners.
As I say, they're the majority of it, but there's a whole lot of new principals coming through that comes with these kind of opportunities and have also got varying levels of retention agreements, let alone the employee incentive plan coming into those guys from day one.
Okay. Thanks. Andrew, if you can allow me a second question. Otherwise we're gonna be going around in circles here, 'cause there's a lot to get through.
Yeah, we'll give you one, Scott. We'll give you another one.
Okay. Thank you. Just on the performance of the business, I think John said there it's steady. Can I just confirm the 16% filings market share, has that declined or increased over the last five years? Also on the performance of the business, the IP legal revenue, John mentioned it was volatile. The number that you're presenting there, is that volatile on the high end of volatility or the low end of volatility?
Oh, they've been good questions, Scott, ones you expect someone to ask who knows the industry. The beautiful thing about this whole agency business we're all in is it moves. I won't say a glacial pace, but it's pretty steady. That's the nature whether you're in Australia, New Zealand, Singapore or Canada. These are longstanding clients that Smart & Biggar have had for generations. Like a lot of the firms in the IPH group, these are intergenerational clients, so that 16% is pretty steady. In terms of the legal revenue.
Look, legal revenue by definition, you know, is made up of kind of commercial advice and commercialization advice but primarily IP litigation, whether it's pharmaceutical extensions of term or just litigation and depending on patents or trademarks. That is by nature more variable. I wouldn't say it's volatile. It's more variable.
I think I said variable not volatile.
We don't have too much volatility in this business, Scott, but you know, it makes it pretty boring. It's probably too boring for people. Anyway, I love a bit of boring, and it's been good to me for a long time. What we like about the agency practice and the trial of that legal revenue is a lot of that legal revenue comes up through the agency practice in terms of there's so many multiple touch points between the client, whether it's from the agency to start with and then getting the further opportunity with litigation further down the track, which by definition of being a North American market, is probably a large part of the business and what it would be in Australia.
Okay. Thank you, Andrew. Thank you, John. Well done.
Thank you. Your next question comes from Sam Haddad from Petra Capital. Please go ahead.
Yeah. Good morning, Andrew and John. Congratulations on the results and transaction.
Good on you, Sam.
Just my question on the Canadian IP market. It's very similar to how Australia was pre-consolidation, but one of the differences is that you've got some more international players there, like Gowling WLG, Norton Rose Fulbright, Marks & Clerk. What's their appetite to acquire businesses in that market? I'm just trying to work out the competitive backdrop for assets to make acquisitions.
As I say, our focus is pretty much on the task at hand initially, but we do think there's opportunity beyond Smart & Biggar. You're right in that there's a couple of corporate firms in there, but there's also a plethora of agency type practices sitting around the 3%-5% mark that we'd love to talk to in time, but none of that's in a you know immediate future. We take these things pretty steadily, as you know. This one didn't happen overnight. As I say, the first one's the hardest and we'll be certainly looking at that opportunity going forward. You know, we've got plenty on our plate to start with.
I might just pick up the ball, Mike, with a second question, if I may. The synergies that you called out, of AUD 4 million-AUD 6 million, that'll take the margin of that business to around 35%. That's sort of at the top end of your margin spectrum of your underlying agents in your group. What's that? Do you think that's sticky with that margins? Is that a reflection of them being more leveraged to international clients and more leveraged to automation of filing applications? Can you just sort of clarify their margin profile, please?
Yes, I think it's about 30% at the moment, Sam. I think through those synergies, we have the potential to increase that margin. I think you're right. The factors you put on the factors which guide the margin are the amount of inbound work versus local work. They do have that inbound international work that we do. Probably the same factor between getting it from there to maybe one of the higher margins in our particular group might be that legal piece which impacts the overall revenue business, the overall margin, sorry.
Okay. Thanks. Thanks for answering my questions.
Once again, if you wish to ask questions, please press star one on your telephone and wait for your name to be announced. You have a follow-up question from Nicholas Peach from Goldman Sachs. Please go ahead.
Oh, yeah. Thanks, Andrew and John. Follow-up question. Just any guide you can give us on interest costs, John, in terms of either percentage and also mixture of what's gonna be hedged from fixed versus variable. Just a second part to the question, revenue in this business that you've acquired. Is it at a U.S. dollar billing like you do here in Australia or is it predominantly Canadian dollar billing?
I can answer the second part first. They're predominantly the Canadian dollar biller. 95% are even in excess of that in terms of their profile being invoicing in Canadian dollars. Actually that gives us. We've always talked about our exposure to U.S. dollars across the whole group. Actually in terms of our weighting, that's gonna reduce the weighting of our exposure to U.S. dollars. That's potentially a good thing. The first part of the questions on the hedging profile is looking to hedge up to AUD 350 million of that particular piece.
Looking at the curve at the moment, and we'll be entering some hedges closer to the date of completion, but probably looking at around between 4.5% and 5%, the interest rate we'll be paying.
Okay, great. Just to follow up on the Canadian dollar, is it your intention to keep it at Canadian dollar billing or, I mean, you got an uplift when you switched to U.S. dollars, if I remember rightly a while back in Australia. Is it your intention to keep it Canadian or switch to U.S. dollar?
No, I think that they bill in Canadian dollars reflecting the strength of position in the market. I don't think we'll be looking to change that.
Okay. Thank you.
Thank you. You have a follow-up question from Sam Haddad from Petra Capital. Please go ahead.
Yeah, thanks for taking up my follow-up question. Just in terms of inflation, what are you seeing in terms of wage cost increases and rent increases that may be linked to CPI? Have you put in price increases across your business to mitigate that? What level of increase have you put in? Do they offset those inflation pressures? Thank you.
Sam, of course, there's a bit of inflation in rent, salaries, and, you know, we never go into great detail, but we tweak the price where we can. It's a lot of our hourly rates and rate cards. You give us a chance to make some minor modifications on those lines to try and offset that. Our history in the last few years on rent has been one of consolidation, and we're taking advantage of the themes of the new world's end, and that we're taking less space rather than more in terms of the existing assets, and that's something we'll continue to look at in FY 2023, both in Australia and ultimately look at also in Canada as well in time.
Certainly, that's something that this whole new world we're living in has given us an opportunity to reduce our real estate footprints across the group, and we're doing it as we speak.
The increases that you've put through, are they more than previous years in terms of prices?
Yeah, I guess they're. We're acutely aware of the inflationary environment we're in, and we're reacting accordingly, Sam.
Okay. Thank you.
Thank you. That wraps up our question and answer. I would like to hand back to the conference to Dr. Blattman for closing remarks. Thank you.
Oh, thank you, Sari, and thanks, everyone, for your ongoing interest in IPH. It is a big day for the company when I think about where we were, and many of you being on this journey since from day one with us in 2014 when we listed this thing. We always said we wanted to do this. We wanted to consolidate Australia. We've done that. We've expanded our Asian presence with a good business up there and a bit of an acquisition on the side in Hong Kong and China. Now, we've gone into a whole new area in Canada. At the same time, we've got good stories in Australia. We've got a wonderful story in New Zealand going at the moment and great credit to that business.
I think we've earned the right to play in the acquisition, integration of businesses, and that's what we're gonna try and do with the Canadian opportunity as well. Look, across the board, we thank you for your support, and we look forward to this opportunity. Thanks very much.
That does conclude our conference for today. Thank you for participating. You may now disconnect.