Hello, everyone. Thank you for joining Metcash announcement today. At this time, all participants are on a listen-only mode. After the speaker's presentation, there will be a question-and-answer session. To ask a question you may dial star one and one on your telephone and wait for your name to be announced. To cancel your request you can press star one and one again. Please be advised that today's call is being recorded. I would now like to hand the call over to your first speaker today, Mr. Doug Jones, Group CEO. Thank you. Please go ahead.
Thanks, operator, and good morning, everybody. I hope you had a good weekend. Thanks for joining our call. As you know, today, we put an announcement out, sharing some key details on our FY 2026. The highlight of which is that, net profit after tax is expected to be AUD 268 million- AUD 270 million, following a strong second half. Firstly, I thought I would deal with why we've put this announcement out. As you know, there is significant uncertainty in the markets right now, driven primarily by the macro environment and the potential flow-through to financial performance. A number of our peers have updated the market on the impacts, and we've received significant inbound queries about our own position.
Further, some of those updates by market participants have led to conclusions about independent networks and about our business, and this announcement adds clarity and balance. At a group level, the result is in line with consensus, which is Visible Alpha. On the buy side, the share price certainly suggests market expectations might be below that official consensus. Before I get into the numbers, some obvious set-up comments. The information that we provide today is limited and unaudited. The FY 2026 year-end was only closed two weeks ago, and this naturally limits what's available and what's useful to share at this point. Given the breadth of our group, we have provided more than a single group number to be appropriately informative and helpful. My request is obvious. Please don't ask me for data that's not included.
I can't provide it today. I do want to reassure you that full detail will be provided in the June 22nd results announcement and presentation. Turning now to what is included. As you can see, the diversified group delivered a solid set of results following a stronger second half to the year. The key drivers were the diversification of our portfolio, the resilience of our operations and business models, and strong execution by the team and our independent partners. This has been underpinned by a focus on providing differentiated value to our consumers. The EBIT numbers in the table include the once-off strategy and integration costs we told you about last year. I want to reaffirm that these are once off. Adding to the segment highlights.
In both Food and Liquor, the businesses delivered pleasing outcomes, and this is consistent with the markets that they serve and their wholesale operating models. In Food, margins continued to improve in the second half, supported by a lower tobacco sales mix. The Extra Specials program continues to be effective, and it's now at 120 stores. Outside of online, the IGA network is as competitive as it's ever been, and we'll share more detail and significant analysis on this in June. In Foodservice & Convenience, strong sales growth reflects new customers, one, mainly in the P&C and QSR channels, as well as growth from existing customers. Looking at Tobacco, the trend is still negative or the growth is still negative, but the trend is improving, and we're seeing encouraging signs in areas with enforcement action, particularly in Queensland.
In Liquor, EBIT margins returned to 2% in the second half, following an improved operational and gross margin performance. Even though there's been no material change in the Hardware and Tools market, the pillars delivered sales growth through decisive constructive action that includes range and price initiatives to ensure our customer value proposition remains strong. Along with our cost out programs, this is evidence of that team making their own weather. In Hardware, wholesale sales have accelerated, even though sales through our owned and partner store network haven't, this has had a natural damping effect on margins. That pressure has been mainly in Victoria and, to a lesser degree, Tasmania, which have been a drag on performance both in sales and profits. As you know, we are disproportionately indexed to Victoria.
In Tools, sales continued to improve through the year, with second half growth stronger than first half. While residential construction remains subdued and has been further impacted by recent interest rate increases, meaning that we assess recovery will be delayed, we do remain confident that it will occur and that we're well-positioned when it does. As you can see, we're not waiting for external conditions to improve. Operating cash flow was strong for the year, and cash realization is expected to be above guidance. While our debt leverage ratio expected to be at the lower end of the 1x to 1.75 x target range. This is after investing in AUD 80 million in precautionary inventory, given current supply chain uncertainty, which is mainly in Liquor.
Capital expenditure, excluding acquisitions, will be in the range, will be around AUD 170 million, which is about AUD 30 million below guidance, following proactive cost management and careful capital allocation under the current conditions. After successful cost out programs over the past few years, we're going again. We see this as a regular and ongoing discipline and not something to be done every five years. For us, it's not just about cost out, though. It's about aligning our capabilities and resources where the growth is too. In FY 2027, we expect annualized savings of at least AUD 25 million, AUD 15 million of which will be from labor restructuring and AUD 10 million from non-trade procurement initiatives. We expect restructuring costs of around AUD 6 million with payback well under 12 months.
This work is underway already. We're confident that the majority of the labor savings will be delivered in FY 2027, with the benefits weighted to Hardware and Tools. We're restructuring parts of the retail and trade distribution operational management structures to drive efficiency and simplification. Given the ongoing uncertainty associated with the conflict in the Middle East and the associated impacts on fuel, packaging, fertilizer, as well as other products and product availability, our focus has been working closely with our retailers to help offset those cost impacts on their businesses and delivering value to our evermore cost-conscious customers. That said, in FY 2026, which is the year ending April, there's been no material impact from freight, packaging or other product costs. This has been achieved through effective management and mechanisms such as fuel levies.
In summary, this is a very solid set of results that again shows the strength and resilience of our pillars and their business models. Food and Liquor have again demonstrated their ability to deliver in competitive markets. Hardware and Tools have done well in a tough environment, where we've taken appropriate action to further strengthen the business and position ourselves well given the state of the market. The cash flow results are strong, inventory and CapEx have been well managed. Given the ongoing uncertainty, including potential impacts from the conflict, we have increased inventory levels marginally as a precautionary measure. As I said at the start of the call, we'll provide full detail and context in the June 22nd results announcements. Now I'll turn it back to the operator to take questions.
Thank you. As a reminder, if you'd like to ask question, please dial star one and one and wait for your name to be announced. One moment for the first question. Our first question comes from Michael Simotas from Jefferies. Please go ahead.
Good morning, everyone, and well done on driving the business performance through a difficult environment. The first question from me is on Liquor, and I think that's probably where the biggest positive delta relative to the market was today. Can you help us with a little bit more color on what happened with margin in the first half and how you managed to lift margin back to sort of more normal levels in the second half? Just whether that second half run rate is sustainable if sales growth remains fairly subdued given the difficult environment.
Thanks, Michael, and thanks for your kind words. As I explained in the first half when we went through the results, we essentially had the perfect storm in Liquor where we both had subdued volume and very, very low inflation. I mean, I described it as a once in a decade experience. Certainly, you know, it can happen again. We're pleased that this half though, through a combination of intense management action, operational discipline and improvements, as well as improved opportunities for strategic buying, we're back on the long-term trend and, you know, we certainly see that as our ongoing target, and that's what we're working towards.
Yep. Okay. Well done. Then the second question from me is on Tools. Can you give us some, and I don't need the number, but just some color on the like-for-like sales trends in the stores, and in particular, whether you saw any customer reaction to the spike in fuel prices and the increase in interest rates over the last two or three months.
Just remembering that our year-end is April. I made that point in my speaking notes for a reason. The increase in fuel really took place from middle of March, there's a relatively small period in our financial year. That said, we didn't see an immediate reaction from in terms of customer behavior in terms of Tools customers. I'll give you like-for-like network growth obviously in June. I won't give it to you now. The trend is positive throughout the Tools business into the second half.
Okay. Thank you. We'll wait for the numbers in June.
Thanks.
Thank you for the question. Please hold for the next question. Our next question comes from the line of Caleb Whitley of Macquarie. Please go ahead.
Morning, Doug, and thanks for taking my questions. I was just keen to dig into particularly the pricing mechanisms and active management that you call out in the announcement, just in terms of across the business and, yeah, appreciate we're in sort of a month and a half into the fuel cost lift in particular. Yeah, more specifically, what have you sort of seen and, what specifically are those sort of mechanisms to sort of see that pass through as you sort of work through some of those inflationary issues?
Yeah. Thanks, Caleb. I mean, you know, generally across our networks, our job is fundamentally to keep our independent retailers competitive in all circumstances, and we work very hard with our suppliers to do that. You've heard me talk many times about the fact that our engagement with suppliers is focused on that point, keeping retailers competitive rather than arguing about price increases. Of course, we're very strict and strong and disciplined about the way that we talk to them about price increases, but the focus quickly shifts to keeping them competitive. That said, we don't only rely on supplier support. We have multiple mechanisms working with our retailers. It really is a process of working with them.
We have national pricing committees, for example, across Food and similar bodies across all of our networks that look at on and off promotional mix, category strategies, shelf layouts, micro and macro shelf space management. All of those things are done at a basis point level with the lens on our independent networks margins. Certainly right now, during times of potential uncertainty, but as it was a couple of years ago, as inflation ratcheted up, those processes and disciplines come to the fore.
Across all of our networks, while we do pass on in varying ways and with various levers, supplier costs, whether they're fuel or products, and while we are circumspect and disciplined about how we engage and accept those, our focus is always on keeping our retailers competitive. You know, in Food, in particular, as I said a few minutes ago, the IGA network has never been more competitive and, you know, we'll be sharing more and more detail about that certainly at our next results update.
Okay. That's helpful. Thank you. Just on the CapEx, so yeah, it came into the year circa AUD 30 million lower. Can you talk to where specifically that sort of variation was compared to expectations, six or so months ago? If there is any potential catch-up that might need to come out of that AUD 30 million or is that purely just a beat this year?
I want to avoid giving you guidance going forward because we'll do that in June as we always do. What I will say is that there's nothing we've done in this year that is going to require any significant catch-up. I mean, with some maintenance projects, you have a little bit of timing, but that happens every year at the start and the end of the year. Nothing unusual. This is really about disciplined project management. You've seen us kind of focus heavily in the last couple of years on non-trade procurements, and that includes capital expenditure. We're very pleased with the results of that.
We've been circumspect about where we invest in what we would call growth CapEx which isn't M&A, but it's things like expansion of DCs or capabilities. You can essentially bank these savings.
Okay, great. Thank you, and well done.
Thanks, [Caleb].
Our next question comes from the line of Adrian Lemme from Citi. Please go ahead.
Good morning, Doug. I just wanted to focus on Hardware. It looks like the margin has deteriorated something like 75 basis points year-on-year in the second half. I think in the first half it's down about 30 basis points. Can you talk to what's materially changed there? Is it just more of the same things, or is anything new driving that margin deterioration, please?
Thanks, Adrian. No, nothing new. We continue to see real pressure in the owned and partner network in our trade distribution. That includes our frame and truss plants. As I said, the pressure's greatest in Victoria, where we have the highest exposure.
Okay. Thank you. With the cost out program that's been announced, is that about minimizing the further margin decline into 2027 or do you think you can actually recover margins here?
I mean, it's a tough one to answer that because, you know, there's some uncertainty as to how long it might last. We're, you know, you've seen us in the last few years take out significant amount of costs from our frontline labor spend in Hardware in particular and tools to a degree too. This focus is on management structures within the retail and operations, but it's not really frontline. Everything we do is focused on making sure that we generate appropriate returns while ensuring that we have the right structures to support our growth and to support our retailers. It's kind of an unhelpful way to try and answer it to say yes, it will offset all of the margin or a proportion of it.
You know that we integrated the two businesses last year. I told you at the time it wasn't done for direct cost benefits. Having done it now 12 months ago, we do have the opportunity to take out some of the costs on that integrated management structure.
Thank you very much.
Questions. Our next questions will come from the line of Shaun Cousins from UBS. Please go ahead.
Great. Thank you. Two questions just around Food. I think Metcash has been quick to pass on these higher fuel costs to the IGA retailers, but you've also noted, Doug, that your price position's never been better. I'm just trying to square that.
Does that suggest IGA retailers are under some margin squeeze? I'm just trying to work out how they maintain such a very strong price position, with dealing quite quickly with the higher fuel costs.
Thanks, Shaun. We have a number of programs going back many years that are designed to make sure that our shelf prices continue to improve relative to the competition. It's not like we switched these on a few weeks ago. You know, in response to, I think it was Caleb's question, we have very mature structures and processes working with our retailers that are beyond just product and price. They're about mix, and that's both product category, fresh, non-fresh mix that are designed to provide retailers with a series of opportunities to improve their margins. Frankly, the reality is that the best retailers grab those faster than anyone else.
You know, I wanna acknowledge that our independent retailers absolutely are feeling the pressure as every small business and large business, quite frankly, in Australia is right now. What's exciting for me, Shaun, has been that, particularly in Food, you've seen a real determination by the network not to revert to price increases in the face of this pressure because there's recognition that maintaining competitiveness and a strong customer value offering is the best thing that you can do in difficult times. Our consumers would not respond to price increases well. This is a highly nuanced and complex set of forces and actions that we're taking, and it's a mistake to try and oversimplify it.
I wanna reassure you that all of those levers and those nuances are being actively managed right now. As I said, Shaun, we will give you in June more detail on price competitiveness than we ever have before, and we're looking forward to that.
Great. My second question is just around, we've had Coles and Woolworths talk about some pantry stocking, particularly in regional areas. The independent network is probably overweight regional areas relative to sort of some metro markets, particularly Sydney. Was there any benefit that your IGA retailers or other independent customers saw around pantry stocking?
Sure. There was a little bit of that. It was sort of slightly higher growth in some core lines, pantry, et cetera. What we actually saw is that that settled down quite quickly after the start of the so-called crisis. You know, we were able to restock shelves quickly. We saw stronger pull-through in areas that we expected. So we yeah, we got some benefit on it. I can't tell you how big that is right now, but I wouldn't say it was material.
Fantastic. No, that's great. Great. Thank you, Doug.
Scott. No problem. I am gonna ask you to try and stick to one question each. We do have a number on the lines. Operator, if you can just put the questioner on mute as soon as they've asked their first question.
Certainly. Our next question comes from Peter Marks from Goldman Sachs. Please go ahead.
Good morning, Doug. I just wanted to come back to the, to the Hardware margins in the second half. Are you, are you able to give us a bit of a sense of the trajectory? Like, did things get worse in the, in the fourth quarter as, like, macro conditions deteriorated just on that Hardware margin? Then I guess I'll turn it into one question. Into FY 2027, obviously there's some pretty significant price inflation coming through in building materials, and you guys are holding significant inventory in your Hardware business. Should we expect like stock profit benefits in FY 2027 in terms of margins in the Hardware business?
Nicely played. Two questions in one. Well done. The question about intra-half margins, I'm not gonna go into detail on that. Sorry. You know, you've seen the trends. We are working very hard and have been working very hard through the year on those what I call decisive and constructive actions around ranging and pricing. The effect of that has essentially, you know, I guess gathered momentum through the half, but it's been up against a kind of a worsening outlook. You know, we've seen most recently an increase in interest rates just a week ago. What was the second part of that question? Stock profits. Sorry.
No, I mean, obviously I can't comment on that right now. I think Peter, what we'll see when we talk to you in June, we'll be able to give you a trading update between now and then, so you'll see some more sales trends.
Thank you for the questions. One moment for the next question. Our next question comes from Phil Kimber of E&P Capital. Please go ahead.
G'day, Doug. My question really just mainly the Hardware business, but also somewhat Liquor. Are you seeing your customers starting to buy up and inventory up ahead of, you know, potential price rises, and you know, possibly supply constraints? Just trying to understand, you know, the momentum in your sales line looks positive, but I wasn't sure if some of that was, you know, your customers inventorying up, for want of a better word, ahead of potential issues in FY 2027. Thanks.
Thanks, Phil. I just wanna provide the clarity on your question. I'm assuming you mean when you say customers, you're talking about our retailers, I'm gonna answer the question in that way. We have seen some buy up from Liquor retailer customers into their business. Frankly, ANZAC Day was the very last day of our financial year and they were building inventory as they normally would for that. In short, there's been no material change in our retailer stock holdings in Liquor nor in Hardware. That's because we give really strong visibility to our retailers of our own supply position and our suppliers do the same thing. They haven't really seen any necessity to increase their stock levels in any material way.
Thank you for the questions. One moment for the next question. The next question comes from Francis Brown from MST Financial. Please go ahead.
Good morning, Doug. Thank you for taking the question. Just in Foodservice & Convenience, I was wondering if you can provide any color on the contributions of acquisitions and contract wins to the sales growth.
Thanks, Francis. From an acquisitions point of view, we pointed out that Superior's in this year for 52 weeks versus 47 last year. We provided you with the Foodservice & Convenience growth at 7.3% on a like-for-like basis. We've won a few new customers in the QSR channel and in the petrol and convenience channel. We'll give you more detail about those in June. As I said when I was making my introductory comments, we've also grown nicely with existing customers and we, and we're really pleased. So some of our P&C, larger P&C customers have experienced strong growth and we've been able to grow alongside them.
Obviously, we've now cycled the Ampol customer win from about 20 months ago.
Thank you for the questions. Our next question comes from Bryan Raymond of JP Morgan. Please go ahead.
Morning, Doug and team. Great update. Just on the fuel price side, I understand it's only March and April we're talking about here. Just with the Fair Work Ombudsman ruling around fuel cost pass-through, interested as to how that might impact Metcash. Does that protect you from much exposure there and is there a real ability there just to be insulated from a cost perspective given your business? Thanks.
Yeah. Bryan , thanks for the question, mate. I mean, from a structural perspective, our ability to pass through all increases is very clear because we're able to separate all of those costs out and very clearly and defensively show what they are. We don't make a margin on anything like that. We don't see it as a material risk to the business.
Thank you for the questions. As a reminder to ask question, please dial star one and one. Our next question comes from the line of Tom Kierath from Barrenjoey. Please go ahead.
Oh, morning, Doug. I noticed that you're saying that Victoria and Tassie is pretty weak in the Hardware side. Can you maybe provide some comments just on the rest of the country? I noticed back in December you said there were some green shoots out there, but has kind of the rest of the country softened as well with the hikes and some of the fuel price increases going through?
Thanks, Tom. Yeah, I mean, I don't think I said green shoots. Not a note to subscribe to me. Certainly the trends that we saw at half year have continued on a state-by-state basis. We haven't seen a material softening in the last few weeks of our year end. In no particular order, Queensland, WA, and South Australia are stronger than the rest of the country. Yeah.
Thank you for the questions. Allow me to take a follow-up questions. We have questions from Bryan Raymond from JP Morgan. Please go ahead. Bryan Raymond, your line is open. Please go ahead.
Oh, thank you. Sorry, I didn't know that was my follow-up. Thank you. Just a quick one just on Tobacco as well, just on the month-on-month growth trends. Some of your convenience competitors have called out some stability there on that sort of month-on-month basis while still being down similar to you on a year-on-year basis. Is that how you're seeing the market in Tobacco at the moment?
Yeah. Hey, Bryan. We're seeing it's very variable across the country and it's variable literally on a local area by local area basis, so it's a regional town by regional town. Fundamentally, where there is enforcement and illegal tobacconists are closed, we see a very quick response in that retailer's sales as they regain sales that were rightly theirs. We obviously get a benefit in non-tobacco sales as well because foot traffic gets that benefit. Certainly we're encouraged that in states like Queensland, which is certainly the leader, in areas where there is enforcement and it is sustained, month-on-month, we see stability. That's a great, that's a great word.
Dare I say, sometimes we see a week-on-week growth, which is pleasing.
Thank you for the questions. Our next question comes from Francis Brown of MST Financial. Please go ahead.
Hi, Doug. Thank you for taking the follow-up. I'm just wondering if you can give us any insight into the teamwork score year- on- year in supermarkets.
Yeah, Francis, I'll go into that in June, mate. That's a data point we haven't shared now, so I can't go in there, I'm afraid.
Thank you for the questions. At this time, there are no further questions on the line. Allow me to turn the call back to management. Please go. Continue.
Thanks, operator. Thank you, everybody, for your time. I know there's a lot going on, we appreciate you joining the call at short notice. As always, we appreciate the questions, I'm sure that there will be follow-up conversations in the next few weeks. I'm looking forward to seeing you all in person later this year in June. Take care.
That concludes today's conference call. Thank you for your participation. You may now disconnect your lines.