I would now like to hand the conference over to Mr. John Cheston, Global CEO. Please go ahead.
Thank you. Good morning, everyone, and thank you for taking the time to dial in today. On the call today, you have our Executive Deputy Chairman, Mark McInnes, our Group CFO, Chris Lauder, and myself, John Cheston, Global CEO. As you are aware, this morning we published our half year results to the ASX, and we would like to talk you through them now. I'll do a page turn through the highlights of the presentation, and we then have to take questions at the end. If we first of all turn to page three, we will talk through some of the highlights of the year.
I'm pleased today to present a strong result for the first half of FY 2026, a true milestone for the business, with sales exceeding AUD 500 million for the first time, which is again evidence of strength in the team, the product, and the potential of the business. Our store rollout maintained the momentum from the second half of FY 2025, opening 85 new stores for the current half, taking the store network to 1,095 stores at half-year end. This allowed us to deliver strong growth in total sales of 23.3%, which included comparable store sales up 2.2% on the prior half year.
As you will all know, we opened the first trial stores of our potential new global brand, Jewells, in the U.K. in June, and the results of the Jewells business are included in our first half reported results for the full period. As Jewells is a strategic startup, we will not be talking about it as part of today's results, and to assist with comparability with prior periods, we've presented underlying financials in our ASX announcement today, which exclude the effects of Jewells on both the current and prior half year. So when I refer to underlying metrics on today's call, it represents performance of the Lovisa business, excluding Jewells.
Our underlying total sales were up 22.7% for the half year, with our underlying gross margin a real highlight at 82.9% for the half, up 50 basis points on the prior half year. We continue to invest in the cost structure of the business to support ongoing growth in stores and online, and the investment in the Jewells startup phase. With all of this combining to deliver an underlying EBIT of AUD 109.1 million, up 20.4%, and underlying NPAT of AUD 69.6 million, up 21.5%, which has allowed the board to announce an increased interim dividend of AUD 0.53, up AUD 0.03 on prior year, to be paid in March.
If we turn to page five, you can see the sales performance for the period that shows the benefits of our continued store network expansion, with strong sales growth for the half year. Looking to our regions, growth was again strong in the European and Americas markets, with those regions providing the majority of new store growth. The APAC regions continue to be our biggest opportunity through a renewed focus on operational excellence, with structural changes to our operations team now in place and starting to deliver benefits. I'll now hand over to Chris Lauder, our CFO, to talk through our financials.
Thanks, John. Morning, all. Turn to page six. Underlying gross profit was AUD 412.9 million at an 82.9% gross margin, up on the first half of last year by 50 basis points, which was achieved on top of the 170 basis point increase achieved in the first half of FY 2025, and 220 basis points higher than the first half of FY 2024. This result has been delivered from tight management of supplier cost prices, promotions, and our focus on keeping our inventory healthy, as well as improved performance in management of shrinkage across the business. Continue to focus on the efficiency of our inventory position, and are very pleased that we've been able to maintain our inventory shape. Going to page seven, I'll talk to, profit.
As you can see, we have again been able to deliver strong growth in both underlying EBIT and NPAT, while continuing to invest into the business with a focus on service and management structures, technology, and supply chain to support our constantly growing business. As a result of all this, underlying NPAT was up 21.5% compared to the prior half year, AUD 69.6 million, with higher interest expense and depreciation on store leases having an impact as a result of the ramp-up in new store openings in the past year, our constant focus on keeping our store network strong. This enabled the investment in the Jewells startup phase, after accounting for which, saw a recorded NPAT at AUD 58.4 million. Turning to page eight, you will see that the cash generated by the business has again been a highlight.
Cash from operations before interest and tax of AUD 183.8 million for the half year, up 30.3%, reflecting tight management of our working capital. Cash capital expenditure for the period was AUD 31.7 million, predominantly for new store fit- outs, as well as store refurbishments and investment into new technology. Cash interest and lease payments were also higher than the prior year by a half year due to the growth in the store network and higher borrowings and interest rates. Turning to page nine, you will see that the balance sheet remains strong, with a clean inventory position and significant liquidity available to fund growth.
The solid profit result for the period and continued strong cash flow and balance sheet position has allowed the board to announce an interim dividend of AUD 0.53 per share, up AUD 0.03 on the prior half year, representing a distribution of 100% of earnings. As we said previously, the board will continue to assess dividend levels each period end and determine the appropriate level of dividend based on profitability, cash flows, and future growth CapEx requirements in the context of prevailing economic conditions. I'll now hand back to John.
Thank you, Chris. If we turn to page 10, a quick update on store numbers. The key driver of future growth for Lovisa continues to be in our global store rollout. We finished the period with 1,095 stores trading in over 50 markets, with 85 new stores open for the half year and 152 more stores trading than the same time last year. We remain focused on continuing to grow the store network globally, and we're pleased that we're able to maintain the momentum gained in the second half of FY 2025 through the first half of FY 2026. The strong base we have built in the European market allowed that market to deliver the largest share of new store growth for the period, with 39 new stores, and provides us with a very strong base to continue to expand from.
In the Americas region, we were able to continue the momentum in our U.S. and Canadian store rollout, with 18 new stores open in the Americas during the period. We also were able to open two new franchise markets in Ghana and Reunion. Turning to pages 11 through 18, you will see some images of our latest store fit-out concept, which we call Series 5. We've begun to roll out to new and refurbished stores across the world, this concept. This concept is designed to give a more refined and elevated feel to our stores and adds a new piercing studio store-in-store concept, along with new elements such as digital screens. On page 19, I'll talk to the trading update for the second half to date.
Trading for the first seven weeks of the second half saw total sales up 21.5% on the same period in FY 2025, with comparable store sales for this period up 1.6%. We continue to focus on opportunities, expanding both our physical and digital store network, and our balance sheet remains strong, with available cash and debt facilities supporting continued investments in growth. So to summarize the half year on slide 20, we were able to again deliver strong sales growth for the period, with store network growth combined with a comp sales up 2.2% to deliver total sales growth of 23.3%. Our global expansion delivered 85 new stores open in the period, finishing the half year with a total network of 1,095 stores.
Gross margins were again outstanding at 82.9%, an improvement of 50 basis points on the prior half year, which was achieved along with a clean inventory position. This combined to deliver strong profit growth with underlying EBIT of AUD 109.1 million, up 20.4% on the prior half year, and underlying NPAT of AUD 69.6 million, up 21.5%, with our strong cash flow and balance sheet position, allowing the board to announce an interim dividend of AUD 0.53 per share to be paid in March. We're pleased to be able to announce a solid start to the second half, with total sales up 21.5% and comp sales up 1.6% for the first seven weeks.
I'd like to thank our entire global team of over 7,000 employees for the outstanding work they are doing to deliver these results. With that, I would like to thank you for joining us today, and we're happy to take questions. Just to remind you, on the call, we have our Executive Deputy Chairman, Mark McInnes, myself, John Cheston, and Chris Lauder, our CFO, and any of the three of us would be happy to take your questions. Thank you.
If you wish to ask a question, you may press star one on your telephone and wait for your name. If you wish to cancel your request, press two. If you're on a speakerphone, please pick up the handset to ask your question. Your first question comes from Shaun Cousins at UBS. Please go ahead.
Thanks. Good morning, John, Mark, and Chris. Maybe just a question regarding the Americas. Sales per store increased well in the first half, 26 more than other markets. What's driven that increase in sales per store? Was it the U.S. tariffs driving higher prices with no volume headwind? Was it a stronger consumer, market share gains from Claire's or just improved execution? Could you maybe, just dig deeper into what's driving that performance there in the Americas, please?
Yeah, for sure. Thank you. I think you've actually answered your own question, and I'm saying that with the utmost respect. There is definitely a buoyant consumer, the consumer is out there and spending, and we're pleased for that. I think the team over there have done an exceptional job in terms of execution. There's been a big focus on that, and we've got a strong team who are delivering. I would really put it down to product excellence in terms of delivery of store standards, and a buoyant consumer.
So it wasn't, if I was to be unkind, it wasn't just all tariffs? Like,
No.
Like that, that would be an inaccurate assumption? Okay.
Yes, that would be inaccurate.
Yep, yep. No, no, that's sort of fine. So maybe just secondly, just on Jewells, thank you for the disclosure. There were the losses in the second half 2025? How do we think about them relative to the first half 2026, just in that, I got the size of the Jewells losses wrong, a little bigger than I thought. I just want to get a better understanding there of maybe where the second half 2025 might have been, and just more generally, what's the path to reducing losses in this business place?
Yeah. I mean, we look at Jewells as a modest investment to potentially find a second global brand. And if you look at the market cap of Lovisa at AUD 3 billion, I mean, that's how we should look at it, and that's how we would urge you to look at it. A modest investment to potentially give us a second global brand. We're not going to give any color at the moment in terms of what the second half looks like. We've obviously been experimenting with that brand. You know, we've been refining the product proposition, we've been refining our pricing and all of the things you would expect us to do.
But we've called it out, as you know, as we would expect to give you the clarity of where we're at. But it's a pretty low cost to hopefully give us a second brand. And in due course, as we progress, obviously into the second half, we'll obviously give you more color in terms of where that potential new brand is going.
Sorry, pardon, maybe just to clarify, what were the losses in the six months ended June 2025? The history. So, sorry, can we compare them? Are they the same as what you did in the six months ended December 2025, or is it-
Oh, yeah.
Just if you've got that reference, please.
They were pretty insignificant because the brand didn't commence trading until early, early mid-June. That was when we commenced trading. So it was a little bit of OpEx in terms of salaries and team members, but it was not particularly significant, really.
Got you. Okay, fantastic. Thanks, John, for answering my questions.
The next question is from Sean Xu at CLSA. Please go ahead.
Morning, John, Mark, and Chris, thank you for taking my question. Based on my calculation, your global comp sale has materially slowed down from the 3.5, printed for the first 20 weeks of the first half to a -2.1 for the last six weeks during the holiday trading period. Could you please give me some color on the reason why, and then which region ended up performing the last six weeks of first half 2026, please?
Yeah. I mean, we don't give comp sales by region. We've obviously called out the headline comp sales, and we've called out the first seven weeks. I think we would say in AusPac, we've introduced some new team members. We're excited about the new product, which is dropping down now. So there's been a lot of effort and focus on product. Early sales that are coming through on new products are exceptional, so we're excited about that. And we felt it was necessary to make some changes in our retail teams in the AusPac area, and we've done that, and those people are onboarded and are delivering.
You know, we're not in the business of making excuses, but I think if you follow the market, in the last seven weeks, there's been unprecedented weather issues in the northern hemisphere, particularly the snows in the U.S., and particularly the snows and the ice and terrible conditions in Europe and the U.K. And as you well know, there's also a timing issue with Chinese New Year. I mean, CNY fell yesterday this year, whereas it fell at the end of January last year. So there's a little bit of noise in terms of weather and a little bit of noise in CNY, but we're doing what we can do in terms of what we get paid to do, which is product and retail execution, and I'm pleased to say that that's what we're focused on.
All right, thank you. Can I please do another follow-up on the impact for our Claire's exit today? Specifically for the U.S. or the U.K. market, is there any incremental same-store sales uplifting you can see from Lovisa, within the overlapping catchment where Claire's closely at shop?
Yeah. Look, we focus on our sales in terms of what we take in terms of LFL, by store and in total, you know, what we're not desperately working on is, are we seeing an uptick because of Claire's going? I mean, from our point of view, Claire's is an opportunity in many, many of the territories, because if they're going and they have a piercing business and we have a piercing business, we can obviously take that market share. As you probably know, in the U.S., some of the Claire's stores are being saved. They didn't all go. And up until only a few weeks ago in the U.K., Claire's were still trading. It's only been in the last couple of weeks that they've announced that they are officially going back into administration.
What we do on a weekly basis is do a store sign-off. We're being selective about the Claire's sites. Some of the store sites were good, and some of them were not so good. Some of the rents they were paying were too onerous. So we are being very selective in the sites that we're taking, as we see the opportunity to take market share away from them.
Thank you.
But if you ask us, Sean, it would be true to say that the Claire's opportunity is real and emerging in those markets based on when they're closing. And those opportunities are coming our way. But as John quite rightly says, we're being very selective about the property deals because one of the reasons they went into administration in those markets is that they had too much rent for poor locations.
The next question comes from James Wilson at Macquarie. Please go ahead.
Hi, guys, and thanks for taking my questions. Just firstly, on Australia and New Zealand, it looks like revenue per store fell about 8% in the first half. Are you able to just give us some color on how much that was driven by closures for refurbishment of those stores? And maybe if you're seeing any competitive dynamics emerge there, that could be a drag on that number, such as, say, Harley and Harper.
Look, it's fair to say that we're definitely reinvesting in our fleet of stores in Australia and New Zealand, so that's a fair comment that we did have some time where stores were closed, pending refits into our Series Five store concept. And Series Five concept is being rolled out more here in Australia and New Zealand than in other markets, because, of course, our business is mature over here, whereas in some of the other markets, we've still got stores that have only been open a year or two years. So there is something in that, I would agree. Look, we have competitors everywhere. I mean, you know, Mark and I were in Italy and Spain and the U.K. two weeks ago, and when people talk about competition, there's competition in our category everywhere.
We have to deal with that, we have to navigate that. I think, you know, what Mark and I talked to is, have we now got a team that we're confident in terms of resale execution in Australia and New Zealand than we have? Have we made changes to our product lineup? Yes, we have. Is that product coming out and hitting, hitting stores now? Yes, it is. And are we confident in that product and those team of people that we've hired? Yes, we are.
Great. Thanks for that color, and just another quick one. In terms of the revenue contribution from Jewells over the half, are you able to give us a little bit more color on that? I appreciate you've given us some helpful disclosure when it comes to EBIT and cash.
Yeah, I mean, we've-- you can calculate it from the presentation. We're, as John said earlier, we're not gonna be talking about Jewells' performance in, I mean, presentation because it is just a, in a startup phase. You can work it out from there, from the slides.
Okay, great. And sorry, just one more from me then. Just on those Claire's closures and, you know, the locations that have come up for grabs after some of those stores have closed, you're able to tell us what the number of Claire's locations you guys decided to open in over the first half was? Like, what percentage of, say, net new stores or the raw number came from former Claire's locations.
Well, the number is increasing now, as opposed to in the first half. There were some, that's for sure. I don't have the exact number with me, but we look at it site by site, location by location. Some of the Claire's, I mean, Mark said this, but some of the Claire's stores were in poor centers, and some of the Claire's stores were in poor locations within good centers. So we've been very selective, you know, we've not taken this approach of, you know, there's 50 available, let's take them all. We're being very selective, but certainly, we are on our sign-offs, you know, signing former Claire sites off on a weekly basis, and we believe that momentum will pick up in the forthcoming half.
Thanks, guys.
Next question is from Sam Teeger at Citi. Please go ahead.
Hi, Mark, John, and Chris. I think when you strip out Jewells, delivering over 20% earnings growth is a really strong result here, so, so well done. I want to just talk a bit about the rollout. How come the business has moved away from providing updates on store numbers in the trading update? Some of the research we did suggested January was a softer month for rollout. I know, I know rollout is never linear, so we shouldn't extrapolate it, but how confident are you, you can open at least 64 net new stores in the second half like you did in the first half?
Yeah. Well, Sam, it's John. We're confident. We're confident. We didn't not announce it for any particular reason. As Chris always says, there's always a bit of lumpiness in January. We opened, as you've seen, a significant number of stores with growth on the previous year in the last six months. That momentum continues into this six months. I definitely wouldn't read anything into that. You know, as I said, January is a bit lumpy, and we got a lot of stores away back in September, October, November, and into December. But we are feeling very confident about the rollout for the next six months and beyond, and beyond.
Okay, great. And just on Jewells, I don't want to go into the details because I know that's commercially sensitive at this point in time, but, you know, clearly, looking at the share price, the market doesn't like the investment. So maybe if you can just share with us how patient you're gonna be with Jewells, given how significant these losses are at this point in time.
Mark, do you want to take that, Mark?
Yeah, Sam. Yeah, no, look, it's a great question, Sam. Look, I might quote Jeff Bezos, if that's okay, Sam?
Sure.
The worst that can happen is our operating margins will go up. The best that happens is we find a second global brand that can rival Lovisa in terms of store numbers globally and market capitalization globally. So in that sense, there's no downsides.
I appreciate that, but like, if you're still making these type of losses in a year or two years or three years, at what point do you think enough is enough? Let's stop this for now, and we can revisit this or another concept in the future?
Oh, I think, I think that's a fair question. I think the board and, you know, and John, myself, and Chris will be very sensible when it all comes to that. We're looking at, you know, daily sales, daily metrics, store profitability, all those types of things you would expect us to look at. But the way you should look at this, Sam, is this is a trial for a second global brand.
If we're successful obviously, this is how Lovisa started, right? If you go back to when Brett first started Lovisa, and then when he floated Lovisa in 2014, if we find that second global brand, well, that's outstanding from a overall company perspective. In all the markets we operate, nearly 1,100 stores. If it doesn't work out the way we want, our operating margins are what they are reported today, and they're gonna go up. You should expect us to be sensible about that, Sam.
Okay. All right. And just the last question for Chris. Just given how much currency volatility we've seen recently, maybe if you can just talk us through how currency has impacted the first half results and how we should expect it to impact the second half results, both on the translation and sourcing perspective. Thank you.
Yep. Yep. I mean, two valid points, Sam, in that the sourcing tends to go the opposite direction of the translation impact. So, and a big chunk of our revenue and profit is denominated in U.S. dollars now. So, you know, there's a lot of natural hedge going on amongst all that and different exposures offsetting each other. So there's a bit of upside in terms of exchange rates year-on-year for this half. You guys can look at the rates comparatively between the periods and work that out. What it will look like in the second half and going forward remains to be seen.
Obviously, some of the rates from a translation perspective have gone against us in recent times, but others will not move by as much. So, and when, say, the AUD versus USD strengthens like it has, then on the sourcing side, that gives us a benefit. So, you know, they, they'll all net out in the wash and be what they will be. I'm not gonna call out what that might look like for the second half, specifically, but it's a good call out.
Okay. Thanks, Chris.
The next question is from Garth Francis at MST Marquee. Please go ahead.
Good morning, John, Chris, and Mark. Maybe we could delve just into that sales growth components of, you know, Sam highlighted the FX move. It seems like there's also as you're opening new stores, you're getting an uplift as well. Is that as a result of the stores that mix component, where the stores that you're opening are better than the ones that you have historically?
Look, I think, you know, we're, we're incredibly selective about the sites that we sign off. We're pretty ruthless in terms of the expectation on, in terms of the return on investment that we demand from these stores. And I think it's fair to say that we have been pretty good in terms of the store sign-offs in the key markets that we know are very profitable and have got a big runway. We've been very selective about the location of the site and very demanding in terms of the ROI, and we've been negotiating hard with the landlords to make sure we've got, you know, compelling deals. So I would take it as a positive, the fact that the stores we've been signing off have been very accretive.
Perfect, thanks. And then just maybe on gross margin, in terms of the... Was there a one-off benefit just related to better sourcing from the Claire's closures? And is that something that you, that new pricing deal that you've established, do you feel like that's something which will hold into the second half?
No, I wouldn't read anything into the Claire's demise in terms of giving us better sourcing. I would prefer you to look at it in terms of good product, good buying, and what we haven't got caught up in is buying business and heavy discounts and heavy promotions. I mean, you can see the margin growth of 50 basis points is a pretty impressive number, where we've seen, you know, there's around the world, retailers have been discounting heavily to buy the business. We've not got caught up in that. We're focused on product, good negotiations with our vendors, and doing as limited promotions and offers as we need to.
But I would see it more to do with a good focus on product and buying than anything to do with, you know, economies of scale because of Claire's demise.
All right. You mentioned shrinkage, which you've not called out before. Is that a significant problem in the prior period that you've managed to mitigate?
Well, we always have a focus on shrinkage. You know, we're a global business in 50 markets. I mean, we have to have a very close lens on shrinkage. And we've made very significant improvements in terms of our shrink results, and we're very pleased with those, and we see those continuing.
Perfect. Thank you.
The next question comes from Allan Franklin at Canaccord Genuity.
Good morning, guys. Thank you for your time. Just hoping to have a quick look into employee cost growth and the other cost growth, maybe to just aggregate that a little bit, please. Just the extent to which there's store growth at a store level, can you sort of define, have you changed staffing or remuneration structures at store levels? The extent to which the investment into team structures may be behind us, please?
Yeah. I mean, the investment in, you know, that salary wages line, most of the growth is driven by the new store rollouts. Obviously, every new store you roll out, you got to staff it. Yeah, we make changes to staffing levels and the like on an ongoing basis to try and optimize service levels, but there's not a consistent program across the world that's impacted on that number. It's just normal day-to-day management of labor. Obviously, inflation in wage rates has an impact and pushes up the hourly rates around the world. And, you know, we've had to mitigate that, but we're happy with how we've been able to do that through the course of the first half.
Perhaps just then on some of the technology investments, just sort of defining where that is playing. Is that more just back-end systems? Is there an extent to which you are gonna push harder into e-com and omni-channel, or do we continue to view this business as a store-forward footprint?
Well, I think you should view it as an omni-channel business. You know, we're committed to digital, and investment in digital is ongoing, as is our investments in capital for the store rollout. You know, digital is more important in some markets than others. You know, in the U.K., it's an important factor. In Australia, it's an important factor. In some of our emerging markets, you know, digital is still in its infancy. But I would look at the capital investment we're making in a considered way in both digital and online, and stores.
Noted. Thanks.
The next question comes from Aryan Norozi at Jarden.
Hi, guys. Just on the gross margins, the extra was 82.9%. Just notwithstanding that for the first half, second half seasonality, where the, the second half is lower than the first half, any other drivers into the next 12, 18 months? We obviously talked about FX, but any positives or other positives and negatives, for example, have you been discounting less stock than you in sort of liquidation mode and, and stepping back, and what that's why the comps are a bit softer, but your G- GP dollars are good. Just any other things that we should sort of factor in the next 12, 18 months, please?
Yeah. Not specifically, Aryan. I mean, you know, we obviously don't like to talk too much about what we think is gonna happen in the future, particularly not around gross margin. So, we'll just manage all the different levers that drive that outcome the same way we always do.
Right. And can I confirm, just factually, the LTI targets for the LTI targets, is that based on the statutory EBIT? And is that based on year-on-year growth each year, or is there a high watermark where in one year you've got a sort of you miss it, you got to recall back? How do they work, please?
I think we might let Mark answer that one.
Yeah, the way that the LTI is structured with a group are on the statutory EBIT and their year-on-year growth figures.
Great.
That's all published in our annual report.
Yes, perfect. Thank you. Last one, just how many... Just the point around ANZ sales per store, can you just give some color on how many stores are closed for refurb this, this, this half? Just so we can look at what the underlying sales, because the sales per store fell about 8% or 9%. Just to get an idea on what that underlying number is, please.
Yeah. I mean, we would typically have, you know, one or two stores close monthly as they are refitted and refurbished. I mean, that's normal course of business. We've got 188 stores over in Australia, and, you know, we continue to invest. I think it's fair to say, and I'll just reiterate what I said earlier, we probably started to deploy more capital in Australia and New Zealand because the fleet is a little older over here. So there's probably been more stores closed in the first half than there have been previously as we've started to introduce Series 5 and refit and refurbish the fleet. You know, so I would say it's probably more were closed for a period of time to refit it in the first half than probably in the previous years, I would say that.
Great. Thanks, guys.
The question comes from Wei- Weng Chen at RBC Capital Markets.
Hey, guys. Thanks for taking my question. Sorry. So the lease costs, they look like they've gone up about 43%, but your store count's kind of only gone up about 16% year-on-year. So just wondering if you could speak to what the discrepancy is between those two numbers?
I'm assuming you're talking about the number in the P&L? Yeah.
No, in the cash outflow.
Right. Yeah, I'm not sure how to answer that one in a simple way because it's impacted by the way we have to account for these things under the new accounting standard. So obviously, the biggest, biggest driver in that number is new stores and growth in the network. But, but yeah, I, I actually can't give you a breakdown of it, of it today. I'm sorry. We generally don't go down to that level of detail. But, yeah, I can come back to you with that one if you like.
Okay, cool. Thanks. And then, the AUD 10.8 million of losses in the Jewells business, how much of that was, if any, a write-down of inventory? I just noticed there was some pretty large discounts on your Jewells site from about October onwards. It doesn't necessarily look like it's fully reflected in your gross margins, if I'm reading slide four right.
I'm not sure what you mean when you say fully reflected in the gross margin.
As in, like, if I'm reading your Slide 4 right, you can kind of imply a gross margin for your Jewells business, but it looked like there was a pretty big reset going on on your Jewells website. So I was just wondering how much of that AUD 10.8 million in losses was relating to kind of a write-down of the inventory?
Yeah, I mean, there'd be normal provisioning that we have to do when inventory, you know, is gonna be sold below cost. That, that's all on the, the gross margin line in the, in the P&L. So there's, it, it's all there. You can see the margin if you do the back count.
Yeah, just to clarify-
And just to our earlier point, it's we're not really breaking that down because we're in the startup phase of that business, and you know, that's what it takes to start it up, and we've disclosed the cost of that, which demonstrates the underlying health of the Lovisa business, and we've disclosed the cost because we firmly believe there's an opportunity for a second brand for Lovisa.
Yeah. Okay. But can we—should we be thinking about this 10.8 as a kind of a run rate when we think about next year, next half, or it won't be like as large as it is this half?
I don't think that's how you should think about it. I think John made that point earlier. I think, I think you should consider this an investment that the company's making to find a second global brand, and the board will be very sensible, and the underlying Lovisa performance is very strong.
Yeah. And then just last question, appreciate the discussion earlier about store closures impacting the ANZ business. There is a boycott petition out there online. I was wondering whether you consider that at all to have had an impact on the business?
John, are you happy if I answer that?
Please.
Yeah, no, not at all. We don't think that's had any impact on the business at all. We understand it's come as part of the court case, and that's part of the process, and we've had none of that feedback from our team.
Cool. Yeah, thanks. That's all for me.
The next question comes from Raymond Jang, private investor.
Thank you. This is just a question about the ANZ market. Just wanted to see if you could point to any particular regions where sales declined.
Look, it's John here. We don't go into that level of detail in terms of specific states or territory or region. You know, I think I was pretty candid earlier. You know, we know we've had work to do in Australia and New Zealand from a retail excellence, as in operational standards point of view. We've made some rehires. We've got some team members who've onboarded in the last few months, and they're starting to kick some goals. So we, you know, we're focused on what we can focus on inside our cage, which is product and retail excellence. I've mentioned, you know, there's a lot of new product that's hitting down that we're excited with, and we're seeing some, you know, good results.
So I think you've got to look at it as ANZ is, AusPac is one of our three regions. We, you know, we've got EMEA, we've got the Americas, and we've got AusPac . We're focused on all of our territories. I've mentioned that we've been spending money on the fleet of stores over here. You know, we probably didn't invest as much capital in Australia and New Zealand previously. We're doing that now, and we're focused on products and, and retail excellence, and I think that's what we would say on that.
No worries. Appreciate the response, John. Just one more question. How are you finding the competitive dynamics in the Americas market compared to Australia?
Well, I, it's the category we play in, there's competition everywhere. I mean, there's an abundance of competition in North America, you know, in every single shopping center, you know, be it kiosks or be it listed retail jewelry retailers or be it, you know, independents. It's no different the world over. You know, it's on us on what we need to do in terms of product and retail operational excellence. It's all within our view, it's all within our hands, and that's what we're focused on. So, you know, I think it's a competitive industry, but like I said to some recently, you know, you wouldn't go into the jeans business if you were petrified of, you know, Levi's, Wranglers, you know, Mavi, you name it.
I mean, you wouldn't go into white shirts with a range of white shirts that are out there for a guy to buy. I mean, competition's here to stay. It's not gonna go anywhere. It's not gonna go away. It's on what we can do in terms of our product, our price proposition, our hierarchy, our good, better, best, our pricing, our sell-through, our quantification. You know, we're focused on what we can focus on, which is all within our hands and our capabilities.
No worries. Thanks a lot, John.
The next question comes from Shaun Cousins at UBS.
Thanks. Just to follow up, just on the rollout of the new format, should we see a step up in the broader rate of CapEx? It's, I think, it was AUD 61 million last in full year 2025, 31-32 this year. Excuse me, this half. Will the new format see a step up in CapEx, or that should broadly be captured under the existing sort of CapEx range that you've done?
Yeah, when the early stages of rolling out any new store concept is more expensive than the old concept. So that, you know, impacted on the CapEx in the current year. But as we do more stores, get better procurement, that should be able to offset a bit. Obviously, with the, you know, marquee stores, prime locations, we'll spend a little bit more and because it, it'll get the return on investment. So you may see a little bit, but we'll just continue to invest where we need to keep the store network looking as sharp as it can.
But in short, we shouldn't anticipate a dramatic step up in overall CapEx. Is that what you're saying there? Sorry, Chris.
Yes. Yeah. I mean, there's no program to go out and get a massive number of stores outside normal leasing timelines. So, you know, our process is as a lease is coming up for renewal, we'll do a refit at that point rather than mid-lease. So, it should be the same sort of cadence as we normally have.
With that, just given that normal cadence, how does that help you address a somewhat underinvested ANZ network in terms of that they tend to be sort of older? Like, there, can you make more dramatic changes in that you've got... You know, it's a competitive market here in Australia, as it is in other sort of places, but you've got probably newer competitors that are presenting better-looking stores than your historic competitors. You know, do you not need to go a little faster in Australia, and hence there, you know, you need to be a bit more urgent on that?
Yeah, I mean, wherever we need to, we'll invest the funds, John. I think is the answer to that. So if there is an urgent need, then we'll find a way to get it done. Otherwise, it's the normal process, which, to be honest with you, that is-
Fantastic. Okay.
We have competition everywhere in the world, and we have to adapt to it and take whatever actions we need. This is not just an Australian thing.
Understood. Great. Thanks, Chris.
Operator, are you there? I don't think so.
Okay, it seems there's no further questions. So if you're still on the line, I think on behalf of Mark, Chris, and myself, thank you for joining us today and asking those questions, and we look forward to speaking soon. Thank you.