I would now like to hand the conference over to our speaker today, Metcash CEO Doug Jones. Please go ahead.
Thank you, Operator, and good morning, everybody, and welcome to the Metcash Limited FY25 Full-Year Results Presentation. As the Operator said, my name is Doug Jones, Group CEO, and I'm joined this morning in Melbourne by Deepa Sita, Group CFO, Grant Ramage, Food CEO, Kylie Wallbridge, Liquor CEO, Scott Marshall, CEO of IHG and soon-to-be CEO of Total Tools and Hardware Group, and Steve Ashe, Executive General Manager of Investor Relations. I'd like to begin by acknowledging the traditional custodians of the land on which we're all connecting from. This morning, I'm on the land of the Bunurong people of the Kulin Nation, and I pay my respects to elders across country, past, present, and emerging. As you know, we're proud of the purpose of championing successful independence in support of thriving local communities, and it guides our strategy and is an integral part of our culture.
Our contribution to communities across Australia is well documented and something we're proud of. The idea of making a meaningful difference in the communities our networks serve and operate in is part of our DNA. At the same time, we're energized by the opportunity to win alongside independence. This is a good time to be in partnership with independence in this country right now, and we recognize the privileged strategic positioning that this provides to support sustainable and meaningful value creation for our shareholders too. This year, we've made real progress towards our purpose. Our independent retail partners are healthy, competitive, and confident. As the leading wholesaler and service provider to independent businesses in Australia, the flywheel is the manifestation of our competitive advantage and how we create value for independent customers and for shareholders, and of course, also for suppliers.
It's exciting this year to have been selected by Chobani and by Lion as their route-to-market partner into the independent space, and more on that in a moment. Our flywheel is also the heart of the platform from which we can grow our services to independent businesses across the country, and it forms the foundation from which we can move closer to the shopper and through the value chain. I thought I'd just take a moment to share my thoughts on the year that's just gone by. While it wasn't an easy one, I'm incredibly proud of the way the business has delivered. This has been a year of growth and transformation, incredible execution, and growing confidence in the future that sets us up for accelerated growth. The Food business is a materially larger and better quality business now, not just because of the addition of Superior.
I think you've seen another year of the evidence of its resilience. Likewise, liquor is a high-quality, well-managed business, and the delivery of material market share gains for the third year in a row is evidence of this. It's been a tough couple of years for anyone in the building supply sector, and this is well documented. I am proud of the way the business and our network of member partners have managed, and I'm encouraged by some of the signs that we're starting to see and confident in our ability to take advantage of those. We've bettered down all the acquisitions, and our synergy programs are on track. We'll discuss performance in more detail shortly, but I want you to know that we remain confident that they are all quality businesses with material upside into the future.
You've heard me say that we've got two sets of customers at Metcash: independent retailers and suppliers. We've had a number of material supplier wins this year that evidence the trust that they have in us and our value to their businesses. It's all about the results, though, today. While we've missed our own targets, the growth in profits and, importantly, the quality of those earnings, as evidenced in the cash flow performance, is really pleasing. You've also heard me beat the execution drum in the past, and it's not just about operational execution, but about strategic discipline too. I feel we've had another good year of cost and working capital management, and under Deepa's leadership, this has really accelerated and broadened throughout the organization.
That the Food team have been able to once again grow earnings in the face of their largest category suffering multi-year double-digit declines deserves the highest recognition. A year ago, the tools market was in turmoil, and I'm pleased that that settled down and we've restored margins and held them into the new year. Building, fitting out, moving into, commissioning, and opening a new mega distribution center is a massive undertaking, and I'm pleased and grateful for the work that's been done by our colleagues who led each phase of this project. Most importantly, customers and suppliers were unimpacted through the move and are now enjoying the benefits and service from the new facility, and they tell us that. All of this sets us up to be confident about the future and our ability to accelerate the growth.
On the slide, I've noted some of the things that underpin my confidence. In the last 18 months, we've done a lot of work and implemented organizational changes to strengthen and reshape the business throughout the group. In addition to the large mergers in Food and Hardware, we've restructured the leadership of ALM and many parts of the rest of the business, including Finance, P&C, Legal, and several other group support functions. This is evidence of our ambition and of our willingness to make the changes required to fulfill that ambition. I do want to talk for a moment about this idea of the diversity of our revenue streams.
I think personally that Metcash is a fundamentally misunderstood business, often judged superficially as a pure wholesaler, when in reality, it's an integrated wholesaler and scaled logistics operator, a banner owner, a large and growing retailer, a franchisor, and most recently, a retail media owner. As each one of these revenue streams grows, the overall shape and balance of the business evolves. Resilience improves, addressable markets expand, and the opportunity for further growth extends. This is not new. It's been happening for a number of years now. Finally, it wouldn't be appropriate for me to talk about the confidence I have in our business without mentioning our independent partners and recognizing their health, their strong and differentiated competitive positioning, and their own confidence. I said just then, and only a little tongue in cheek, that Metcash is a misunderstood business.
What I mean by that is that thinking of it as purely a wholesaler materially underestimates both the quality of the business and the opportunity before us. I think this is best brought to life by firstly understanding the balance of the group as a wholesaler, a retailer, distributor of food and liquor to the on-premise and out-of-home market, and as a franchisor. Secondly, through a deeper understanding of how the shape and balance has changed in recent years. For example, in FY2020, wholesale revenue represented 81% of total revenue. Last year, this figure was 74% of total revenue. While that's a reduction in the proportion of total revenue from wholesale, it belies the strong growth in total dollars of 21%, which, remember, is inclusive of tobacco, mind you.
Retail, now at AUD 2.2 billion, is 11% of total revenue and has grown by 133% in the same period. Food and Liquor out of home is now a AUD 3.2 billion business and represents 14% of the total group revenue. Franchise income may be small in dollars, but it's highest in margin. In the future, retail media and additional services offer the prospect of healthy margins, and our plans are aimed at growing these revenue streams. We think about this idea of winning with independence in some part through the lens of operating businesses alongside them. We've done this for years now in Hardware and Total Tools, and we've signaled our intent to do the same in the Food business.
Thinking about this as moving closer to the customer and closer to the end transaction allows us to articulate our strategy in a way that perhaps brings it to life more effectively. What I hope is also being brought to life is the opportunity for material further growth that this continues to present. Each of these functional revenue streams have their own financial, operational, and cash flow characteristics, as well as differentiated capital structures and return metrics. As a wholesaler to thousands of stores, we're deeply connected to our customers, particularly those who are members of our bannered networks and who use our brands in their stores, and intrinsically reliant on one another. While wholesale EBIT margins may be at the lower end of the spectrum, the returns and cash flows are of a high quality, being predictable, reliable, and resilient.
Wholesale return metrics, return on capital metrics, are strong too, and that's evidenced in part by the Food ROFI metrics. Retailing presents the opportunity for improved margins, which can and do leverage with volume, as we know, and have a different capital investment framework. In addition, ownership of stores alongside our independent partners makes our network stronger. We've proven this already in IHG and Total Tools. Franchising allows us to invest in the network as a whole and to share directly in the returns from that investment. This is good for the network and good for shareholders. Equally, each of these revenue models opens a new series of addressable markets, and thinking about our business beyond wholesaling allows us to widen our ambition within that larger total addressable market. I'd leave you with this final thought on this slide then.
At the heart of our flywheel is our logistics capability, and at the heart of our business as a platform to support and win with independence is our wholesale business. Neither of these are the full extent of the Metcash Group or of our ambition. Turning now to the financial overview, I won't talk to the slide in great detail, but some highlights for me include the strong revenue growth and growth in both underlying group EBIT and reported profit after tax. The very strong operating cash flow on the back of a pleasing cash realization ratio stands out too. Deepa will talk about this in some detail, but I just want to remind you of the H1, H2 variability and that a focus on the three-year CR is more appropriate than the half result or even the full single-year metric.
You'll note that we've increased our target range for the three-year cash realization ratio to 80%-90% over that three-year period. As you can see, the company has a strong balance sheet with good flexibility. Underlying earnings per share were AUD 0.215, and the board has declared a full-year dividend of AUD 0.18, which includes a final dividend of AUD 0.095. This equates to just above 70% of underlying profit after tax payout ratio. I do want to point out that the group EBIT includes AUD 7.7 million of restructuring costs taken above the line. Looking at the pillar results, it's pleasing to see the strong revenue growth in all pillars, and this is accelerating in Food and Liquor and steady in Hardware. As you know, Superior is included in the Food results for 11 months of the year.
I noted the cash performance earlier, and it's good to see EBITDA, which we're sharing with you for the first time, up a healthy 8.6% and group EBIT up 2.3%. In Food, independents have maintained share in difficult trading conditions where competition continues to be intense. The differentiated value offer from our independents continues to resonate with shoppers, with foot traffic steady and volume continuing to grow in the face of moderating inflation. As noted before, assessing the performance of the Food business is best done on an exclusive of tobacco basis. I'm pleased to report store growth on a net basis of positive nine, and this is primarily of the medium-sized so-called sweet spot stores as Grant describes them. As you can see, the tobacco decline has accelerated, and I'll talk more about this in a moment.
In Campbell's and Convenience, this really is a reinvigorated business and one that's delivering growth, particularly in the petrol and Convenience channel. Following the Ampol win, which went live in February, we're now the leading supplier to the sector and partnering with all major petrol and Convenience brands. Superior sales have grown at 4.6% over the 11 months, and we've recently renewed major contracts worth around AUD 240 million per annum, representing approximately 20% of total turnover. This evidences the trust that major customers have in Superior. Competitive intensity in the independent or so-called street sector remains, and this has put pressure on margins, and I spoke about this at the half too. I'll come back to Campbell's and Superior in a moment. Total Food earnings were AUD 248.4 million, which is a growth of 18.2% and include AUD 2.5 million of restructuring costs.
It delivered an improvement in EBIT margins of 14 basis points, supported by a mix shift away from tobacco and a contribution from Superior. As I have said, this is indeed now a larger, more diversified, and more resilient business. I said I would comment a little bit on tobacco, and I want to dwell here for a moment. The effectiveness of the various law enforcement initiatives has been disappointing, to say the least, although there are some encouraging signs emerging recently. That said, we are a leading participant in the sector, and we believe it is incumbent on us not to look to others for a change in fortunes. We have been and will continue to take control of what we can control and influence in the interests of our shareholders and our customers.
Our strategy is clear, and I'm sure you'd agree that we now have a strong track record of managing the impact of the decline exceptionally well. This is best highlighted by the consistent earnings growth in supermarkets and Campbell's and Convenience over the last few years, despite a 40% decline in tobacco sales since the peak in 2021. To put that in dollars, we now sell approximately AUD 1.3 billion less tobacco than we did at that peak, but earnings are still well up in that period. Tobacco now represents just 17% of total Food sales.
In the spirit of making our own weather, our strategies are evolving, and are founded on growing our customer numbers and our sales as a key distributor for all tobacco suppliers, winning profitable market share, restructuring our commercials, and initiating a number of supply chain initiatives to make us more efficient and to enable us to take advantage of the strength of our leading position in this market. Finally, you'll be aware that the accelerated excise program comes to an end next year, and we wanted to provide some detail and some reassurance of our ability to navigate this as we've done in the past. We anticipate the net EBIT impact to be less than AUD 5 million in FY2027, and we have a high confidence in the continuation of our successful mitigation strategies.
Turning to Liquor, I really don't think it's fully appreciated just how well the Metcash Liquor business has performed over the last few years. This confidence is underpinned by the continued shopper preference for Convenience format and the quality of the differentiated independent offer. It is further supported by the preponderance in our network of the Convenience format liquor stores that offer incredible value across locally curated ranges located in multiple, easy-to-access places. As you can see, the growth accelerated in the second half and supported continued market share gains, which I'll outline shortly. The outperformance by independents has been led by our IBA network, underpinned by the focus on execution in store and partnerships with key suppliers. Today's exciting announcement of the acquisition of Steve's Liquor Warehouse from Tony Leon and his partners is a further step in this growth story.
This is an eight-store group in Victoria and Tasmania and will deliver around AUD 3.5 million of earnings. While small, it's immediately EPS accretive. Talking about growth, the Lion distribution agreement in South Australia is worth around AUD 100 million per year in turnover and has delivered results in excess of their and our own expectations. To give you a sense of the scale of what's involved, in the first week, the team moved the same number of kegs we'd normally do in a year. Most pleasing of all was that that was done without a single safety incident. The benefit extends to our customers who get one delivery, one invoice, and aligned terms, and they have been consistently telling us how pleased they are. They also extend to LLM, where the benefit is beyond just the Lion volume and has supported our winning new customers who buy across the range.
You will be pleased to hear that we see further opportunities like this one. I often speak about the multi-channel approach in Liquor and the diversification of our strategy between on-premise, contract customers, and IBA bannered customers, and this continues to support the growth and resilience of this pillar. We are grateful for the partnerships we enjoy with our contract customers, who themselves represent the best of local convenient value for shoppers, and we remain committed to and appreciative of these partnerships. While it is never ideal to go backwards in profits, the discerning analysis will reveal that this is an exceptional performance relative to the market in the face of materially lower wholesale price inflation, which impacts margin expansion opportunities. I said I would talk about liquor market share, and I wanted to share some of the facts with you.
Since FY2022, the LLM total share of the packaged liquor market has increased by 2.7% to 31.1% and notably has been achieved across all categories. This is evidence of that virtuous cycle in action, improved delivery for suppliers through better execution of agreed programs, leading to further support and investment from them. It also reflects the strength of the Convenience format as well as the execution of our independent partners. This all underpins my enthusiasm for and confidence in the business. Turning now to Hardware. The fact that this is a difficult market right now is well documented and understood, and I noted earlier the challenges of operating in the building suppliers, hardware, and professional tools markets. That said, we have a quality group of businesses, stores, and independent partners.
While the focus is in profit growth, as it should be, it shouldn't be lost to anyone that this is a large group that delivers material profits at EBIT margins well above 5%, even at this point in the cycle. I want to call out and recognize the strong execution in cost, inventory, and margin management. Pillar sales were up 2.4%. While trade activity remains subdued, there has been some improvement in Q4 and into the current year. The decline in charge free sales is because those categories are primarily trade-based, but it's great to see that timber and building suppliers are in growth in the first seven weeks of this financial year. From an earnings perspective, you should note the EBITDA result, which essentially represents cash earnings and are broadly flat with depreciation and amortization relating primarily to acquisitions.
While total pillar earnings were down, there is earnings momentum in both businesses, with Total Tools returning to earnings growth in the second half of this year, as we foreshadowed in December. In IHG, the impact of deleverage following lower volumes on retail and trade site margins and earnings has been discussed extensively and continued in the latter half of the year. That said, I do want to point out again the strong cash earnings result using EBITDA as a proxy. As building supplies inflation continues to moderate, we're seeing an improving trend in IHG, particularly in the last quarter. Trade is where the pressure is most concentrated, with DIY holding up pretty well. As I noted earlier, the IHG earnings performance was stronger in the second half, and this is evidenced in the improved EBIT margin.
Wholesale margins were very slightly up, and retail gross margins were stable through the year. As I've said, lower trade volumes do have a material deleveraging effect on our own sites, which are primarily trade sites. Equally, in Total Tools, lower trade activity and lower trade confidence and spending has had an impact on volumes. That said, franchise fee and other revenue grew, while a small decline in our JV retail stores is partly caused by the disposal of two of those stores this year. It's really pleasing to see the exclusive brand growth and a vindication of the decision two years ago to move the consolidation facility into the Ravenhall DC. This also provides a strong platform for the continued merging of the IHG and Total Tools supply chains to benefit both networks through lower costs, wider ranges, and shorter lead times.
You should note too the strong commercial sales and online growth trends. These are now multi-year trends. Looking now at earnings and Total Tools, as I've said before, I think the best way to understand it is to look at the EBIT relative to total network sales, and you can see the improvement from the first to the second half. The divestments I spoke about a moment ago had a AUD 2.4 million impact on Total Tools earnings. As you can see, the impact of lower volume on the JV earnings as that deleverage happens. It's pleasing to see the material improvements in exclusive brand earnings on the back of that strong growth I referenced a moment ago. As we noted in December, the decline in EBIT margins at store level reflects the margin pressure experienced in the first half.
As you know, a few months ago, we merged Superior with Campbell's and Convenience to form the Metcash Food Service and Convenience business unit. This was done to support the acceleration of a number of value creation initiatives, including bringing the merchandise team together, integrating the supply chains, and presenting a more aligned offer to our customers. Craig Phillips will be the CEO of that business, and we're confident that that's the right way to launch what we expect to be a very exciting venture. In the second half of the year, as I noted, we re-signed around AUD 240 million worth of major contracts, which represents approximately 20% of the total Superior turnover. Superior also recently won the Star Hotel Group contract worth between AUD 15 million and AUD 20 million a year.
You may recall that we identified between AUD 30 million and AUD 40 million worth of additional CapEx at the time of the Superior acquisition. I'm pleased to update that the AUD 10 million we had earmarked for spending this year has not been required and that we're revising downwards the guidance of that AUD 10 million-AUD 15 million a year to AUD 5 million this year and next. This is evidence of the quality of the business. As I noted in the first half, the competitive intensity and customer pressure for efficiencies and lower costs in independent or street business has increased with consequential pressure on margins, the value of which is around AUD 1.8 million. This has been more than offset by better-than-expected synergy realization. A bit like tobacco, we're acutely aware that it is our responsibility to control what we can, irrespective of market conditions.
As you can see, there's been a lot of work done to position this quality business for accelerated growth. A reconciliation of Superior's earnings is available in the appendix, and I draw your attention to the customer contracts amortization that arises as a non-cash cost following the finalization of the purchase price accounting, which was flagged in the first half presentation. In Hardware, Bianco is performing exceptionally well, while Alpine is feeling the effect of lower volumes in the very difficult residential construction market in Victoria, particularly acute in Metro Melbourne. Synergy realization for both businesses is on track. Before I hand over to Deepa, I wanted to point out a few new slides in the appendix to the pack.
In addition to the now familiar Total Tools earnings analysis and the Total Tools put option summary, we've shared how we're thinking about helping investors understand the merged hardware business and the new Food Service and Convenience business unit by outlining in detail the proposed disclosure. In particular, we anticipate sharing improved detail on the retail businesses within Hardware and Total Tools. As we merge them, we'll bring the supply chains together, and this means there'll be a single TTH Group wholesale result. Forming shared leadership and other shared group capability means that the allocation of costs between the entities is not useful. We look forward to engaging with the market on this. While I'm sure investors and analysts will agree that this is a meaningful improvement, I have no doubt we'll get some feedback during the week.
have also provided updates on a few key strategic initiatives, including ESG, where we continue to improve our impact and our credentials, on retail media, where we are making really good progress, and on Sorted, which is now an established, scaled, and leading digital B2B marketplace used by thousands of customers across supermarkets and Campbell's and Convenience on a daily basis. I am excited about the next step in the rapid growth of this platform, which will be the transition of the LLM business onto it in the first quarter of this year. We have also provided an update on Horizon, where we continue to make steady progress. There is no change to the cost guidance, with targeted finalization in the last quarter of the calendar year 2026. Finally, we have included some of how we are thinking beyond Horizon.
Our partnership with Microsoft and the decision to use Microsoft technology at the core of our tech stack has put us in an advantaged position in building momentum with the use of AI. We have several use cases already delivering value and a growing number in the hopper. We are receiving strong support and real investment from Microsoft, and we are confident that this relationship will stand us in good stead as we finalize Horizon and leverage the investment for growth and value creation. On that note, I would now like to hand over to Group CFO, Deepa Sita, to present the financials.
Thank you, Doug, and good morning, everyone. Building on Doug's update, I am pleased to provide an overview of Metcash's financial performance for the year. Despite challenging conditions, Metcash delivered a strong profit performance, achieving a 10.1% increase on prior year.
This was largely driven by 8.9% revenue growth, which was supported by acquisitions. The acquisition synergy realization ended ahead of market guidance, while cost initiatives also exceeded the annualized savings target by 60%. The year-on-year increase in finance costs was largely driven by acquisitions, which were funded through a combination of debt and equity. The finance costs were also affected by the impact of new leases, most notably the Truganina DC. The underlying EPS is reported at AUD 0.251 per share, which includes the impact of the equity raise. Disciplined execution drove the strong cash performance, which has resulted in a three-year rolling CRR of 94.7%. On the back of the sustained performance, we've lifted the three-year CRR guidance to a range of 80%-90%. As we've highlighted before, working capital fluctuates through the year and intramonth.
Because of this, we expect the six-month CRR at H1 FY2026 to come in slightly lower. This is consistent with prior periods and reinforces why we continue to focus on the three-year CRR as the more appropriate measure. As Doug mentioned, the board has declared a final dividend of AUD 0.095 per share, reflecting a moderate increase against the annual target payout ratio. The DRP will also remain in place with no discount. The FY2025 outcomes outlined on the right-hand side of this slide reflect a consistent and disciplined application of the capital management framework. The key highlights for the year include an 11.6% increase in operating cash flow to AUD 539 million, supported by stronger EBITDA. Metcash closed the year with a DLR of 0.96x , which was comfortably within the guided range.
The business also invested AUD 552 million in M&A, and capital initiatives focus on strengthening the core and advancing strategic growth. As previously flagged, the net debt increased year on year, primarily due to the Superior Foods acquisition, as well as increased ownership in Total Tools stores. You may recall that the prior year closing balance included an amount of AUD 354 million from the equity raise, and this was only utilized in the beginning of fiscal year 2025 to fund a significant portion of the Superior acquisition. The total annual dividend declared amounts to AUD 0.18 per share, reflecting a payout ratio of approximately 72% of underlying NPAT. The key dates for the dividend and DRP are provided in the appendix section of the deck.
The ROFI of 23% is reflective of the short-term impact of recent acquisitions, continued investment in long-term enablers such as technology, as well as new DCs, as well as the softer earnings in Hardware. This slide provides an overview of the P&L performance and other key financial highlights. The group delivered revenue growth across all pillars and is underpinned by a diversified portfolio and overall business resilience. The EBITDA grew 8.6% to approximately AUD 748 million. This was led by a strong momentum in the Food pillar, which was supported by the Superior acquisition. The result also reflects disciplined cost control and continued focus on operational efficiency across the business. The underlying EBIT increased 2.3% to approximately AUD 508 million, again largely driven by the Food pillar. The result was partly offset by softer performance in Liquor and Hardware.
The EBIT result also reflects a higher depreciation and amortization charge, largely linked to the recent M&A and the commissioning of the new distribution center in Truganina. The net finance cost for the year is reported at AUD 122.4 million and is in line with the guidance. Looking ahead, the FY2026 net finance cost is expected to remain between AUD 120 million and AUD 125 million, and this is assuming a broad offset between a moderate easing in the interest rates and higher average debt utilization. The significant items are of the same nature as disclosed in prior years, along with the gain from the reversal of a previously impaired loan to Dramet, as disclosed in H1. Further details are available on the slide and in the financial report.
As I said before, the underlying EPS at AUD 0.251 per share was primarily impacted by increased finance costs and the equity raise, and this was partly offset by higher EBIT. In terms of capital expenditure excluding acquisitions, that came in below guidance, reflecting a considered approach to investments in a challenging market. Some of this variance relates to network investments and is primarily due to timing delays, with Metcash continuing to evaluate growth opportunities. In the Hardware pillar, leadership changes during the year also contributed to some delays, as well as a reprioritization of spend. The updated guidance for FY2026 CapEx has been set at AUD 200 million, reflecting current planning as well as investment priorities. The put option resets for Total Tools JV stores were carried out both in FY2024 and FY2025 as part of the continued investment in the network.
That said, though, the significant year-on-year variance is primarily due to the AUD 101 million payment in FY2024 to acquire the final 15% stake in Total Tools Holdings. Metcash retains the balance sheet flexibility and remains well within the parameters of the capital management framework. The networking capital closed at approximately AUD 457 million, with the increase in inventory levels supported by favorable supply funding ratios. The increase in inventory was primarily driven by the Superior acquisition, as well as a deliberate uplift in tobacco stock ahead of the regulatory packaging change. This position, supported by favorable supplier funding terms, allowed Metcash to create value in partnership with key suppliers and ensure continuity of supply to customers during a period of uncertainty.
The average working capital days improved by 1.2 days, and optimizing working capital remains a key priority, and the business continues to actively explore further opportunities to strengthen the financial resilience and unlock further value. The intangible assets have increased to AUD 1.45 billion, and this is primarily due to the Superior Foods acquisition. As Doug mentioned, the purchase price allocation for Superior has been completed in H2, contributing to the increase in the customer contract amortization charge during the year. Metcash has a healthy, well-balanced, and carefully managed debt maturity profile, with total facilities of AUD 1.57 billion at year-end. The undrawn facilities totaled AUD 889 million, highlighting the strength and flexibility of the balance sheet to support both day-to-day requirements as well as strategic priorities. The closing net debt ended the year at AUD 577 million.
Given the fluctuation in networking capital throughout the year, closing net debt should not be viewed in isolation. Therefore, in line with the H1 results, we've again shared the average net debt position to offer a clearer picture of the financial leverage. For FY2025, the average net debt was approximately AUD 805 million, with a DLR of 1.33x , again well within the target range of 1x-1.75x . The weighted average debt maturity has increased to approximately 3.3 years, following the refinance of both five and seven-year syndicated facilities during the year. The weighted average cost of debt remains broadly in line with the prior year. While the cash rates have begun to ease, the recent rate cuts occurred late in the financial year and haven't yet flowed through the seasonal debt peaks. AUD 295 million remains hedged at a favorable rate of 3.8%.
On that note, I'll now hand back over to Doug.
Thanks, Deepa. I think this slide talks largely for itself, so I'll keep my comments fairly brief. It's really good to see continued momentum in Food and Liquor. I do want to point out that we're showing ex-tobacco sales here, and we've shown tobacco itself separately. In Liquor, the market was soft in May, and we've actually experienced continued outperformance and share growth. Pleased that in IHG, we've seen a continuation of the trajectory that was established in the last quarter with a number of so-called green shoots, including growth in timber and building supplies, as well as growing frame and truss pipelines. I'm particularly pleased with the recovery of the Total Tools margins, which have held into this year.
In summary then, we're confident, we're well positioned across all of our pillars, we've got clear plans, strong leadership, and healthy independent networks. I'll now hand over to the operator, who will take us through questions.
Thank you. As a reminder, to ask a question, please press star one one on your telephone and wait for your name to be announced. To withdraw your question, please press star one one again. Please stand by as we compile the Q and A roster. Our first question comes from the line of Caleb Wheatley from Macquarie Group. Your line is now open.
Good morning, Doug, Deepa, and team. Thank you for the presentation. My first question, just going back to the CapEx guide into 2026, it seems like it's a fairly material reduction from the AUD 240 million that was being called out at the strategy day, and I appreciate your comments on some timing delays.
Could you please talk to what's driven the reduction in FY2026 and how we should think about the pathway from here, given some of those timing shifts into the medium term?
Yeah, hey, Caleb, thanks for the question. I think it's fundamentally a re-evaluation of the opportunities in front of us and really implementation of a disciplined and clear approach to capital allocation, remembering that, as Deepa said, a number of the, or sorry, a number of opportunities that were anticipated this year didn't materialize, and I think that that's reflective of our willingness to hold the line on the returns metrics. We have reassessed that AUD 240 million, and we believe that AUD 200 million is the appropriate number. We're very confident that that's appropriate, and as we've always said, if there are material other investment opportunities, we'd update the market accordingly.
Yeah, and I think, Caleb, also maybe just to reaffirm Doug's comment around the Superior CapEx, which has also been reduced.
Okay, got it. That's clear. Thank you. Then second question, if I could, just on the hardware business and margins within that business more particularly. If I take the half-on-half move, it's an appreciation, there's going to be some seasonality, etc. Between the first half and the second half of the year, it looks like there was about 40 basis points worth of margin improvement. If I remember correctly, six months or so ago, you were saying that there was maybe some more limited opportunity on the cost side, just given the focus on service. Just keen for maybe more color on, I guess, the EBIT margin movement half-on-half and where that's come from, just given the materiality of that movement.
Yeah, sure, no problem.
You're right to perversely point out that there's some seasonal impact there, and that helps. As I said a number of times, the result of the cost-out programs that particularly the IHG team have executed and delivered is remarkable. I gave you some of the statistics around that in the call in October last year and at the half. Certainly that's paying off, as well as a renewed focus on the top line and really driving a culture of sales back into the business. I know Scott wants to tell you how excited he is about the future, so I'm going to give him an opportunity too.
Thanks, Doug. Thanks, Caleb. It's actually great to be back at Metcash, and the opportunity that we're having in Hardware is exciting.
I think, as Doug pointed to, the team had done a really good job resetting cost base, but coming in and challenging some of the thinking, I think we've decided to get a bit closer to the customers and drive some growth initiatives. They're pretty simple in that how we go to market with our trade activity and also DIY and home improvement, and we're starting to see some traction within that. Caleb, just Deepa's reminded me of something. I answered your question in the context of IHG. Obviously, if you included Total Tools in the first half, we had the material impact of the pricing dislocation, but I assume your question was about IHG.
Okay, I appreciate that. I guess in terms of that broader program, is there much more runway from here, given the materiality of the move?
Can you just be specific?
What do you mean by the broader program?
Sorry, in terms of the cost out that you mentioned, obviously a big delta that came through in the most recent half, just on a go forward basis, how much more scope there is or opportunity there?
Yeah, look, I'm pretty confident we're running what is a very, very lean business right now, and further opportunities are limited. I think I said this when we spoke a month or two weeks ago about the merger. We want to make sure that as volumes lift, we're ready to take advantage of that, and further cost cutting would probably put the business at risk.
Okay, got it. Thank you. Appreciate your time.
Thank you.
Thank you. Our next question comes from Shaun Cousins, UBS. Your line is now open.
Great, Doug. Good morning.
Just a question regarding the restructuring costs taken above the line, the AUD 7.7 million. Can you just sort of walk through how that's split across the divisions? You've called out, I think there's AUD 2.5 million in sort of Food, you've got AUD 0.3 million in Liquor, Hardware's got AUD 0.4 million, you've got some other amounts sort of there as well in terms of there's a supermarket inquiry cost, Dramet. Is the residual in Corporate and maybe so if you could maybe possibly help us walk through how you build the AUD 7.7 million, and should we anticipate effectively then that fiscal 2026 starts the year without those AUD 7.7 million in that there should not be any of those restructuring costs in that year, please?
Hey, Sean, thanks for your question. Deepa will give you the details.
I do want to point out that I think it's a sign of a healthy business that continues to look at the way that it's structured and refocuses on those areas that are strategically more relevant or value-creating. Obviously, we did this to generate value. I don't expect that we would have that scale going forward, but I think that there'll always be some restructuring that's happening. Deepa?
Thanks, Doug. The split of the AUD 7.7 million we've got AUD 2.9 million in Food, we've got AUD 300,000 in Liquor, AUD 1.3 million in total Hardware, and AUD 3.3 million in Corporate.
Great. We also should think about you've also got the benefit there of the Dramet gain on sale as well in your reported earnings as well.
Yeah, that's AUD 3.2 million in Food.
Yep, yep, perfect. Okay, that's fantastic. I guess my second question is just around Total Tools.
What's driving the like-for-like sales to be down again in the first seven weeks cycling negative comps? I'm curious around how much of this is the industry, how much of this is Total Tools, and how this sluggish sales momentum impacts the plans towards store growth, particularly towards that 170 target, please?
Yeah, so it's a combination of factors. You've heard me say for two years now, there's three things going on in the tools market, and I'm at the risk of repeating myself. There's the once-off dislocation of pricing, which we're largely through. There's general competitive intensity in the sense of more competitors, and then there's deeper promotions for longer. The latter two persist. I think that the primary driver really is confidence of tradies and their visibility to work going forward.
We would expect that that won't materially lift until the work starts to manifest. While it's obviously good to see pipelines filling and housing construction approvals going up, that construction needs to start happening. I've pointed previously to we saw and continue to see an increase in tradies repairing tools as opposed to buying new ones. I think it's a balance between those two things, Shaun.
The confidence then around the 170 sort of target, is that something that you still believe is on track, and this is just a temporary sort of sluggish trading environment?
Yeah, we do. We're committed to continuing to roll out stores that are complementary to the network. You always risk when you declare a kind of a broader program that the assessment is you're chasing a number. I just want to assure you, we're not chasing a number.
Every single store that gets put down is properly evaluated. It goes through the appropriate assessments, and that continues and is done in the context of the current and anticipated operating environment. I think broadly, we remain very confident that there are healthy opportunities for continued store growth in the network.
Fantastic. Thanks, Doug. Thanks, Deepa.
Thank you. Just a moment for our next question, please. Next, we have David Errington from Bank of America. Your line is now open.
Thank you. Good morning, Doug and team. Doug, I've got two questions on what looks to be very impressive numbers. You must be very pleased with the performance of the group the way it's going at the moment.
My first question is following on, I suppose, from Caleb and Scott's answers, where you've very pleasingly got good EBITDA performance in Hardware, which obviously cash performance, which means that you've worked your costs really well. You've executed very strongly in, I remember you saying some builders were saying it's one of the worst building cycles they've seen in 40 years or so, certainly in Victoria. On the flip side, we're starting to see some green shoots. I mean, you've called them out, others have called them out. We're starting to see green shoots. How is your business positioned? You touched on it, Scott touched on it, you touched on it, that you didn't want to go too hard in costs, but you went hard in discretionary costs.
Can you call out, can you give us some examples of where you may need to put some costs back in to meet your volume growth, but where in the past, say, six or twelve months, you've used this downturn to actually improve the underlying Hardware business? Is it the leverage that we can expect should be more manifest, if you like, in the next 12 months-18 months? I'm trying to get an understanding as to how you've improved the underlying Hardware business. Scott touched on it, although he's only early days back. If you can give us some examples as to how you've improved the underlying business so that we can expect stronger leverage once the market starts to turn and volumes start to pick up.
Sure. Thanks for the question, David.
Firstly, what I'd say is that you remember we're operating in an environment that is fairly inflationary when it comes to costs, particularly in Victoria where we are today, where there was a material increase in land and property-related costs as well as people costs. We called that out probably 18 months ago for the first time, and we're offsetting a number of those. Unfortunately, those are kind of sustained and continued. The really good execution has been in the face of that. The most obvious two places where we've adjusted costs has been in terms of people, and that needs to be done really carefully in this environment.
It's not like a simple retail business where you can bring people on and off on a casual basis who don't need, say, trade experience, whether it's in the trade sites in IHG or in Total Tools. The second area has been in property where we have managed to reduce some of our costs. I think it's a balancing act that Scott and his management team are going to need to lean into as they feather in additional capacity to meet the demand. They need to do it in a way that continues to deliver the leverage that we expect. Scotty?
Yeah. No, thanks, Doug. Just some basic things. I think the team have done really well. Doug's talked about the people costs. We've just got more focused in how we go to market. Greater sales activity online. I'll give you a really simple example.
We were running bi-monthly online digital catalogs. We're doing that monthly. We're getting in front of customers more in the right way. If you talk about runway, I think the other thing I think that gives me a lot of confidence, the team are really focused around range in our competitive position, and we're getting more targeted by location. I feel like that's a good reset. We'll continually have the right focus on costs and managing our costs as we build. Obviously, there's a deleverage impact in tough times. We all want to see the leverage in good times.
Yeah, yeah. No, it looks pretty promising. Thank you. Thank you. My second question, Doug, is I was really pleased on the Convenience side and Superior Foods.
I have a very helpful slide 33, but I'd like some explanations, please, because I'd like you to explain what's this AUD 1.8 million incremental customer contract amortization and the AUD 4.5 million incremental depreciation and amortization. Because when you strip that out, it looks like the actual cash earnings of Superior was up around 6.5%, which is very, very pleasing in my view, but you seem to have hit yourself pretty hard with these incremental depreciation charges. If Deepa could explain that, and also if you could give a bit more color on these great contract wins that you're making, is that a function of pricing that you're going harder, or is it a function that you've got more capability, that you've improved your capability, whether it be the new DC? Because the Lion contract looks to be very good. You've won another couple of contracts there.
If you could give a bit more color on that side of the business, because that to me was a very positive performance this year. Thank you.
Thanks, Dave. You have served it up. I will do my best to smash it, and then Deepa will volley you back on the amortization. Firstly, on the contract wins, I mentioned a number of AUD 240 million. I am certainly not, well, I am not going to go into the details of which customers those are for what I hope are obvious reasons. What that speaks to is the long-standing and very healthy relationships that Superior has built and continues to enjoy with their customers, and the fact that they have re-signed for a number of years is really pleasing. To be honest with you, it is not necessarily on the back of the supply chain things that we have done yet. That is still to come.
Certainly, that's our expectation. We sometimes look each other in the eye and say, "Okay, if we're going to win X business, we do need to operate as a joined-up network," and that puts some pressure on us, but we're up for that. Grant, did you want to add any comments there?
Yeah, all I would add is that in WA, we moved the QSR volume from Superior into Omega DC earlier than expected. We saw opportunity in costs in doing that, but we're also creating capacity in the Superior sites for them to go after these new customers and win them. As Doug says, we're feeling pretty good about the future opportunities to win.
As we put the businesses together into the combined Food service and Convenience business, we think that along with our colleagues in Liquor who service the on-premise, we're building a really compelling proposition for customers, and we're going to be really, really well placed to win for them and with them. I think when you look at the Ampol numbers, they started feeding in February. Obviously, there's a significant amount of that to continue to be annualized this year. And we're servicing all of those customers and looking to increase our share of their business.
Deepa?
Cool. Thank you. So David, thanks for that question. I must be honest, I feel like I have a master's degree in PPA with the crazy accountants around me. So effectively, what's happened is you recall at H1, we called out the provisional goodwill calculation for the Superior acquisition amounting to about AUD 334 million.
What we've had to do then, subject to the finalization of the PPA accounting, which we've got a 12-month window to get complete, and after many onerous discussions, like I said, with the accountants as well as with our auditors, we've now completed the split of that intangible asset between goodwill customer contracts, which is subject to amortization, and then you have something called non-branding or non-amortizing brand assets. It is the split of the goodwill that has resulted in an allocation to customer contracts, which is then subject to the amortization. The completion of that has now resulted in a total amortization for customer contracts of AUD 2.9 million for FY2025. The one thing I just want to remind everybody is that the FY2025 results only has 47 weeks in it, and when you annualize that for FY2026, that number is going to climb to AUD 3.2 million.
The reason also why we talk about an increment is the original Superior business did have customer amortization, so the actual increment in FY2025 was AUD 1.8 million over what was originally amortized in the Superior business. Hopefully, that explains it at a very high level, but happy to take more questions.
I just think that the underlying business is performing very well, so thank you for your answers.
Absolutely. Just a reminder that this has got a non-cash impact, but like I said, crazy accountants.
Yeah. Thank you for your answers. I really appreciate it. Thanks, Doug.
Thank you.
Thank you. Our next question comes from Bryan Raymond from JP Morgan. Your line is now open.
Thanks for taking my question. Just on Total Tools, I want to come back to that one.
Just in terms of the operating deleverage in the JV stores, I think you mentioned in the remarks a couple of JV stores were closed during the period, and that drove part of the decline there at the 1.4% in sales. I've linked those two correctly. Just trying to understand the linkage to the -21% earnings move, given you're cycling that competitive period as well in terms of pricing, I would have thought you'd bounce back a little bit better than that, but just trying to understand the moving parts of that operating deleverage in Total Tools.
Thanks. Yeah, sure. On stores, there was one store closed in the network during the year, but that was a franchise store. Sorry, I'm being told two stores closed during the year, and then two that were sold during the year.
The latter two have an impact on earnings, particularly. Yeah, I mean, your qualitative assessment that we should have bounced back, we can take you through the math if you like, but you do see material deleverage in a business that has very high gross margins and high fixed costs relative to its sales. It's the nature of the income statement. I'm comfortable that the work that's been done to offset that through cost management is appropriate. As I said in response to the earlier question about IHG, you have to be very careful in Total Tools not to take out too many costs. There are only really people costs that you can take out, and our team members are experienced professionals serving professionals inside of that business, and you really don't want to take too many people out.
Definitely. Yeah.
No, I understand the continuity of service that's required there. Just my second one's just on D&A and just trying to understand the sort of, obviously, a meaningful step up and understand there's been some DC and obviously acquisition impacts there. Maybe once a day. But just thinking, looking forward, is that sort of level AUD 240 million-AUD 250 million type range, a decent go forward level, or is there a further step up required as we annualize through some of those elements?
Yeah, I think just in response to the depreciation, again, just a reminder that the depreciation increase is coming through from the acquisition, Superior , which is only in our results for 11 months, so you would need to annualize the impact of that. And then Truganina also was only went live or operationalized during the year. We will have the, and that was actually went live in August.
Therefore, you've got to consider the annualization impact of that as well. I guess in a nutshell, you should expect an uplift in the depreciation in FY2026.
Is it possible to give us any help? Would that be on just annualizing up, or is it sort of towards AUD 300 million? Is that a fair assumption, or?
I think you can kind of plan on low double-digit percentage increase.
Ok`ay. That's very helpful. Thanks.
Thank you. Just a moment for our next question, please. Next, we have Adrian Lemme from Citi. Your line is now open.
Hi, good morning, Doug, Deepa, and team. Encouraging to see the improved frame and truss demand. Do you expect this to translate to better overall performance for hardware more generally in the second half of 2026, given the lag, or is this more of a FY2027 story, please?
Hey, Adrian.
Look, we're obviously encouraged that the pipeline is starting to look a little bit better. Without giving any guidance, I think it's logical that that higher set of volumes leads to more business, not only for our frame and truss plants, but as we follow the whole-of-house strategy for the rest of the build-out. It's up to us to take advantage of that and make sure that those customers that are buying frames and truss from us also buy everything else as we move through the five stages of build. Yeah, I mean, I think the short answer is we expect so. I'm not going to or able to give you specific guidance on it.
No worries. Can I just revisit a question I tried asking a couple of weeks ago on the Bunnings extended tool shop?
I'm just trying to understand how material this might be in terms of whether it might offset some of the cyclical improvement you see in hardware and whether you see any potential impacts on Mitre 10 or Total Tools, please.
Yeah, look, it's difficult to assess the impact at too granular a level, but anytime there's new competitors in the market or your competitors do something, it has the potential to have an effect. The team have done a pretty thorough job of understanding their strategy and making sure that we adjust accordingly where required or continuing to deliver our differentiated customer value proposition, which is really founded on, as I said earlier, professionals serving professionals. And we're very comfortable. I just can't give you an impact of what any of our individual competitors are doing because you're not able to do that.
No worries.
Just to be clear, obviously, you've got some stores that are trading nearer Bunnings that might have had a tool shop upgraded, so you're not seeing any impacts yet?
Not at a material level, no.
Yep. Okay. Thank you.
Thank you. Just one moment for our next question, please. Next, we have Tom Kierath from Barrenjoey. Your line is now open.
Oh, thanks. Morning, guys. Just one on the Food business. I know you've grown your Food earnings ex-Superior. We've tobacco down about 20%. Tobacco's now, I think, tracking down about 30%. How are you kind of feeling about the impact of tobacco in 2026 on the Food earnings?
Hi, Thomas. Grant. Look, I think you've seen over time now we've been able to manage the decline of tobacco.
It is a very challenging tobacco market, particularly for our customers who have greater exposure to the profit impact of declining tobacco sales into other integrated retailers in the market. We see opportunity to continue to mitigate in the way we have been doing. We've picked up some petrol and Convenience customers in the short term as the industry goes through some packaging changes. We continue to work hard with suppliers and see opportunities to partner with them to keep growing our share of the legal market. Obviously, we're hopeful in more regulatory action and enforcement action to stamp out illicit, but we're not betting and relying on that. We are continuing to focus on our own business. I think we've shown over time our ability to manage that decline, as Doug pointed out in his opening statement.
Yep. Great. Thanks, Grant. And then just a second one.
You picked up Lion and Chobani in the most recent period. Are there other contracts out there that you're looking at, or can you pick up other suppliers and put their volumes through your sheds, do you think?
Yeah. I mean, hey, Tom, that's what we do. As I said, we have two groups of customers, one on the demand side and one on the supply side. That's what all of the teams do on a daily basis is try and win more business, and we do that by being relevant and effective for them. They've got choices. They can go around us. I want to give Kylie an opportunity just maybe to give some more color to the way that Lion have responded and how pleased they are with what we've done with them.
Hey, Tom, thanks for the question.
We have a fantastic range of services that we partner with our suppliers on in Liquor, and an advantaged position is a really strong number two. Yet the opportunity still exists in that Liquor is a category where there are a number of significant suppliers that still maintain a direct route to market in some geographies. We have been partnering with both those suppliers over many years, and we have quite a strong position of being their route-to-market partner, and it does vary by geography.
South Australia was an amazing opportunity for us to partner with Lion and provide a really strong route-to-market offering there, which, where we started in February, and whilst it hasn't been very many months, is absolutely delivering for them and for us, and most importantly, for our shared customers who are reporting nothing but positive feedback from that and seeing value in it as well as in the efficiency that it offers. I think it's safe to say that there are partners that we're working with to extend that model into other sites.
Tom, that's great. Thanks, guys. If I could just add a couple of things to that on Chobani. Chobani entered the DCs right in the last few days of the year, so lots of upside of that in this year. Chobani joined that Metcash system after quite a lot of discussion and conversation over the years.
There would be the biggest remaining supplier outside of the system, so smaller ones from here, but they really joined on the back of other successful integration, what we've done. They are really happy with our results so far. We are really pleased that they've got access to our increased distribution and also building strong programs now to make sure that Chobani is really competitive in the independents, and we pick up some sales there.
Nice one. Thanks, Grant. Thanks, Kylie.
Thanks, Tom.
Thank you. Our next question comes from Richard Barwick from CLSA. Your line is now open.
Thank you. Good morning, Doug and team. I've got a question on the Superior Foods contracts as well. You mentioned that it's about 20% of sales being recontracted. Is that a normal level, Doug, as in should we be expecting about 20% per year, i.e., they're probably five-year contracts?
Hey, Richard.
It's a good question, but no, I don't think so because those were some pretty big customers. Those three customers were in the top five of their customers, which just naturally do not renew that often. No, you should not expect that. As they come up, they get renewed. I mean, [crosstalk]
where I was going with Doug is how much is at risk every year.
I can't give you a specific number just because I don't know it, and I'd have to come back to you. I think we talked about this at the time of acquisition. The nature of the industry is such that there actually are not that many long-term customer contracts in place. There are a large number of customers that have sort of de facto contracts because they've been working with us.
I do want to point, though, to the upside. We see a significant, I'll call it pipeline at the top of the funnel in the hundreds of millions of potential. How many of those we can close remains to be seen. As I said, when we bought the business together, the top three players are only 30% of this market. It is a highly fragmented market. It is not like we are trading customers among the big three. We are winning off and competing with a wide variety of customers, sorry, of suppliers in the industry.
Okay. The last one for me, I just want to query the DRP, obviously, still in place. I understand once you take into account your average level of debt across the year, the leverage ratio is not quite as attractive.
I think it goes from that 1 up to 1.3, but still within the range. What's the expectation around DRP? When can that be removed?
I mean, it's at nil discount now, so practically, it's not really very much in force. We saw very low take-up at the last dividend because we had nil discount. Practically, it's no longer there. I think for simplicity's sake, the board preferred to keep it in place in case they wanted to reactivate the discount. As you've pointed out, our balance sheet has sufficient flexibility for our current plans. We feel pretty good about it. I think you've seen us working really hard on our cash generation across the business and investment discipline, and we intend to continue that.
Okay. Just a quick one if I can sneak my ear on tobacco.
I mean, you've talked about the drag on sales or how much it's been down since when it peaked. Are you willing to give a little bit more color around the earnings impact over the same timeframe? Because I think doing so would allow us to just, I think, put into context the performance of this underlying Food business.
It's always difficult to break it out specifically. We have always told you that we make very, very low EBIT margins from tobacco. In part, it's something that we need to have as a competitive advantage for us. We do have opportunity to make some margin ahead of the excise increases which happen to us a year, not dissimilar to Liquor. We do not disclose that specifically purely because it's not something that you can ring-fence.
We invest a large portion of that back into the network and into competitive, making sure that our network stays competitive. As much as I say to you, you need to assess our sales performance ex-tobacco. Our earnings performance is inclusive of that, and I do not think there is a lot of value in trying to break it out, to be honest.
Okay. All right. Thank you, Doug.
Thank you. Our next question comes from Ben Gilbert from Jarden. Your line is now open.
Good morning, Doug and team. Just first one for me, just around Liquor. Just how are we thinking about the margin trends? It is obviously a low-margin business. It has always been pretty steady around two, second-half rate of margin to kind of draw out. Is that just around the line contract? How do we think about that outlook for margins?
Is there anything else playing into that?
Hey, Ben, thanks for your question. It's nice to have some focus on Liquor. As you know, I get excited about this business because I think it's an exciting opportunity, and we're really strong, and the team is in great shape. Primarily as a wholesaler, we need to keep our retailers competitive, and we do prioritize volume through the network, and you've seen us doing that. The Platinum program really has delivered value for us through increased sales through the network at steady margins. Certainly, this morning's announcement of the acquisition of Steve's Liquor, that's margin accretive. As we balance our customer strategy between IBA contract and on-premise, and as we move further through the value chain, we do see opportunities for margin expansion, but we need to execute on those. Kylie, did you want to add?
I'll just make a couple of comments. Thanks, Ben. I think those of you who follow the sector and liquor in particular will recognize these pressures that have come from a combination of mixed shift post-pandemic, a little bit of a shift towards beer, which you may have noticed on our market share slide. We've outperformed in all categories in terms of share growth, but obviously, the return to beer has also benefited our network and our revenue, although the mix of margin across category does vary slightly. There is a little bit of a driver there. The other factor, of course, is that we have had lower wholesale inflation in the year coming off a couple of years of quite strong inflationary numbers.
I'm sure you well know both wholesalers and retailers will, as part of normal practice, maximize buying opportunities where they present, and liquor is a little like tobacco in that it has structural increases built in at excise twice a year. We obviously saw that coming. That was not unexpected, and we're really pleased with the way that we've mitigated that considerably in the year. We are very focused on ensuring that margin is preserved and ultimately expanded, which is where the mix of portfolio that we have across our customer base, but also the services we supply both suppliers as a route to market, but our banner groups continue to improve and continue to attract increased supplier investment to continue that share gain.
Ben, just the last point, and I made it in my remarks.
If you look at the results of competitors that share their results, you'll see actually more significant margin compression there, which I think, despite the fact that we're actually a wholesaler with lower margins and more reliant on those margin expansion opportunities, talks to how well the business has performed, and it's supported in no small part by the share growth.
Superior, would Superior go into Liquor or Superior won't contract? Because it sounds obviously you had the opportunity around confectionery within Superior, but a lot of feedback in the trade suggests that that would be quite an attractive bolt-on or if Superior could do more on the Liquor side.
You said, will Superior go into Liquor? Did you mean Liquor going to Superior?
Sales, I think.
Yeah, either or.
Liquor and Superior.
Oh, yeah. I'm not sure what the question is.
Will Superior sell liquor?
Was it Superior Foods?
Go, Ben.
In Superior Foods distributing liquor products, given the reach that you've got into that side of things, is there an opportunity to do that?
Yes. Sorry, I misunderstood. There is absolutely an opportunity. Yeah, we're working on that. Grant?
Yeah. Superior is picking up licenses at the moment in order to facilitate that. As I said before, we'll work closely with Kylie and her team to show up as often as we can together with a full suite of service and product offerings for customers.
That's fantastic. Thank you.
Thank you. Just a moment for our next question, please. Next, we have Michael Zamota from Jefferies. Your line is now open.
Morning, everyone. Could I follow on on Total Tools, please, from one of the earlier questions? Can you talk about whether you're seeing much geographic variability in that business?
The reason I ask is it seems like some other players in the market that might have slightly different geographic exposure to you are performing quite a bit better than that sort of - 2.7% like-for-like. Any comments you can make on that and just generally whether you think you are keeping up with the market in tools at the moment?
Yeah. Sure. Thanks for the question. No problem. We are seeing underperformance, as you would expect, in Victoria, particularly as I referenced in Metro Melbourne, stronger in Queensland and Western Australia. I think that is true in IHG as well. We do believe we are keeping up with the market in short. Scotty, anything else you would add?
Look, the suppliers are certainly telling us we are keeping pace. I think it is a key call out to talk about the drag Victoria has had on both businesses.
Michael, I thought that. [crosstalk]. I do want to say I said it in the context of Hardware and tobacco. We're conscious that we need to be doing things to manage our own destiny. Certainly, you've seen us recently announce a significant merger in the Tools and Hardware business, and that's certainly part of it. We're not sitting around waiting for the market to improve.
Yep. Yep. Okay. The comments you made around sustained retail margin improvement in Tools, obviously, we're lapping the period where there was some fairly irrational pricing. When you talk about retail margins, are you talking gross margins or are you talking operating margins?
I'm talking gross margins, which ultimately talks to the competitive intensity. What happens at operating margins is as volume comes off, you have the leverage and deleveraging effect. I'm talking about gross margins.
Okay.
I mean, we can have a go at some maths, but are you flat on EBIT margin or are you down given that sales deleverage?
No, we're down. I think we disclosed that. We're down in our sites. We call them the JV sites because remember, all of our ownership of stores is through JVs. We're down. We've given you those numbers, and that's that deleverage.
Yeah. No, I guess I'm talking more about the trading update because that's where the comment is around the sustained recovery of retail margin. Should I just assume that that's a similar trend to what you saw in the second half for EBIT margin?
No, obviously, I don't give you earnings updates for the beginning of the year, so I'm not going to do that.
All right. Yep. No. Okay. Thank you.
Thank you.It looks
I'll leave it to the operator. I believe there are no more questions.
Hi, Doug. Yes, there's no more questions.
All right. Thank you, everybody. We, as always, appreciate your interest and support for our company. We look forward to engaging with many of you through the course of the week. All that remains is for me to close the call and wish you a good day. Thank you.
Thank you. This concludes today's conference call. You may now disconnect.