Excellent. Thanks, Peter, and thank you everyone for making the time to dial in. We will work through our full year presentation now. If we jump to the next slide, Peter. For those that are not familiar with MaxiPARTS, we operate in two operating divisions. MaxiPARTS Operations is a commercial vehicle spare parts business, predominantly road transport, and then we have a smaller segment with the Förch Australia business that is a workshop consumable business. If we can jump through to slide three, please, Peter. The investment case, we just thought it was worth outlining at the start. We are a leading commercial vehicle parts and workshop consumable distribution platform with an attractive growth profile. If we look at that investment case, we do operate in what we consider an attractive and growing market.
Road transport task in Australia continues to grow across the medium to longer term, generally made up of non-discretionary products, and we have been seeing an increasing share of aftermarket product that links into one of our key competitive advantages. If we look at the competitive advantages, certainly we have a broad product offering that goes across multiple equipment brands. We offer both OE and Aftermarket parts distribution, which is becoming critically more important for large customers, and we certainly own our own company-owned distribution channel that allows us to provide and control a consistent service level to our large multi-site customers. The business also has a number of growth opportunities as we move forward. We have had a history of successfully implementing strategic acquisitions.
Certainly in terms of organic programs, our Japanese parts program and our Förch Australian business both have been and are expected to continue to grow in low- double digit rates, and they offer a higher than traditional margin opportunity for the MaxiPARTS business, and we expect that growth profile to continue for a number of periods. We also recommenced some network expansion last year that we will talk about later, and we certainly think there is a significant opportunity for further network expansion over the coming periods. Certainly from an investment point of view, one of the key items is we have an extremely strong balance sheet position at the moment, and that allows us to both increase capital returns to shareholders, but also to fund these growth initiatives as we move forward.
With that, if we jump to the financial highlights on page four, and Anu will go into a lot of these financial metrics in more detail. Outside of highlighting, it is fantastic to see a full set of green results in what was a challenging half two period with the significant disruption caused by the Iranian conflict in March. If we just look at the operating environment, as I mentioned, we did see a significant step back in market activity during March, and that was certainly at the height of diesel pricing and uncertainty fears as we move forward. Obviously a bulk of MaxiPARTS customers are heavy transport users with diesel and fuel being a key cost base.
We did see a short-term setback, but I guess demonstrating the resilience of the transport industry, we did see a market recovery and stabilization through April, May, and June as we ended the financial year. In terms of capital management, we completed the acquisition of the Förch, or the minority holding of the Förch Australian business at the start of the year. We also communicated a change in dividend distribution policy at the 2025 AGM, and then successfully started to implement that through both the first half and second half dividend distribution rates. The financial results were driven by a number of key strategic initiatives that we implemented throughout the year. We started a greenfield store in Kalgoorlie that commenced trading at the very end of July.
That site was not only profitable in year one, it generated a strong return, particularly in the half two of the financial year. I touched on before in the growth opportunities in terms of the impact of the Japanese parts program in Förch, but both of those programs delivered low- double digit revenue rates, at margins that are traditionally higher than the MaxiPARTS business. Once again, they have a number of periods to go in terms of future growth. Certainly, a significant program that was implemented was a redistribution of localized excess and slow stock throughout the MaxiPARTS network, that drove significant working capital improvements and cash returns. That program is sustainable, and it certainly didn't come at the expense of any service level impacts.
As I said, Anu will go into the financials in more detail, but I guess just to touch on a couple, certainly, nearly 13% of EPS accretion was extremely pleasing in a difficult period. To end the year in a net cash position is extremely satisfying and sets us up as we move forward, and to see the full-year dividend distribution increase by over 55% on the prior year, is certainly a successful period. With the next slide, on slide five, what we did was look to just break down the last three financial years into halves to demonstrate the growth that we're seeing across that period. Certainly, in the operating net profit before tax, the EBITDA and the EBITDA margin rates. You can see from these slides, we actually take some very strong momentum into the new financial year in terms of half two performance.
Pleasingly, the confidence of the business and the Board, not only in what has been achieved, but what we expect to see and achieve in the coming period, gave us confidence to lift the distribution dividend distribution rates, which combined with the increased earnings, certainly drove that significant year-on-year increase in dividend distributions. With that, I will hand over to Anu to talk through a little bit more detail about the financial performance.
Thanks, Pete. Peter, next slide, please. I will take everyone through to the FY 2026 financial results, where the business has delivered profitable growth despite the short-term market contraction that we saw in March. At a top-line level, our revenue grew by 2.7%, taking our year-on-year growth to AUD 7.3 million, which is a pleasing result given the growth has come from all segments, including Förch and our contribution from the Kalgoorlie site. Despite the market contraction, our EBITDA actually grew faster than revenue by 5.5%, with margin expansion of 30 basis points to 10.5%. This margin improvement, it comes from a disciplined execution of our pricing strategies throughout the year as well as managing the cost profile of the business, specifically in the second half of the year where there were tough economic conditions in March.
The other factor that impacted our EBITDA growth is a favorable mix shift towards higher margin growth areas, and that included our Japanese product range and Förch. Pleasingly, these strategies have led to a direct flow-through of growth to the bottom line with Operating NPBT of AUD 14.2 million, which is 11.8% up on the prior year. Next slide, Peter. On our balance sheet, we have a really strong balance sheet that is supported by a net cash position of AUD 7 million at year-end, compared to a net debt of AUD 7.2 million in the prior year. This is an improvement of AUD 14.2 million. The significant cash generation for the business, it comes from working capital strategies and our growth in operating earnings.
From a working capital perspective, the year-on-year improvement is AUD 4.6 million, which I will talk to in the next slide, but it is largely driven by a lot of work that has been done in our network inventory optimization program, as well as improving our supply chain management processes. Next slide. This slide covers one of our key achievements in FY 2026. The chart tracks the monthly inventory value in the second half of the financial year from December 2025 to June 2026, which shows a consistent month-on-month decline of inventory with a total reduction of AUD 9 million across the network purely in the second half. This gradual reduction came from internal improvements in the underlying systems and processes that enabled our staff to better manage inventory effectively. This primarily focused on reducing our excess and slow-moving inventory across the network.
More importantly, our customer service metrics have been maintained throughout the period, given that the changes that we have made in the business relate to underlying systems and process improvements. We are confident that we have built a consistent operating discipline that is sustainable moving forward. Next slide. Our cash flow performance was a highlight of the year with continued strong cash generation from operations alongside record earnings. With the work done across our inventory network program and our working capital management, this translated to a cash conversion of 118%. If I look down towards the cash flow, we have also paid down further debt of AUD 6 million during the year to our lender, and we have been supported by our lender with an improved fee structure and lower interest rates, which will help us manage our finance costs going forward.
We also continued to maintain strong capital discipline and retain a capital light business model where we have spent a million dollars on CapEx in this financial year. Next slide, please. Underpinned by a strong cash flow generation and continued capital discipline, we have continued to progressively lift the dividend payout ratio from 40% of net profit after tax in the prior year to 50% payout ratio at the interim dividend and the final dividend at 60% of net profit after tax. We have declared a fully franked dividend of AUD 0.0546 per share, which brings our total dividend for FY 2026 to AUD 0.0961 per share, and that represents a dividend yield of 6.7%. That is up 55% on the prior period. On debt funding, we have AUD 11.5 million available for drawdown under our borrowing facility, and our leverage is zero.
This strong cash position gives us the flexibility to sustain higher dividend distributions as well as fund organic and inorganic growth initiatives. I will pass it back to you, Peter.
Thanks, Anu. I appreciate the update. If we just jump together, jump forward a couple of slides, we did think it was important just to give a little bit of an update in terms of some executive team changes that have been recently implemented. We think we have a really good mix of old and new, and balance in the executive team at the moment. We just heard from Anu, who recently joined the business, but certainly comes with a very strong, experienced background, both from KPMG services, working in large, top ASX-listed businesses, and also in a private equity environment. We also had Eddie Hanaphy join the business in June. Eddie actually rejoins the business. Very strong industry experience of 20+ years, and most recently was the General Manager of the Commercial Vehicle Group within the Bapcor business.
The combination of old and new, and the changes that have recently happened, we certainly think provides a capability lift within the business to not only execute on our current business strategy, but certainly work out ways to accelerate that growth program as we move forward into future periods. If we jump to the outlook, which I certainly know is topical for everyone this time of year. Look, to think we are not operating in a market that continues to have a high level of uncertainty would be a little bit naive based off the broader global and national events and sentiment that exists. But despite that backdrop, we certainly do expect and anticipate driving further growth and financial improvements through FY 2027 and beyond.
Certainly within FY 2027, we have the benefit of a full year of normalized earnings operating results from the Kalgoorlie store, as well as further growth that comes through there as it matures. We've talked fairly heavily about both our Japanese parts program and our Förch Australia business, but we do continue to expect to see both of those programs grow at low- double digit rates. As mentioned, they certainly do come with a higher profit margin than the traditional core MaxiPARTS business, providing both top-line growth, but also ongoing margin improvement. We do have a focus on growing market share through both customer wins, but we also anticipate implementing some further network expansion as we move through FY 2027, and we'll continue to be focused on maintaining or maximizing our supply cost benefits, pricing discipline, and cost-based controls.
As Anu outlined, we certainly do believe that the recent improvements that we're seeing in working capital levels are sustainable as we move forward into the new year. With where we leave in terms of that strong balance sheet, as well as that ongoing future strong cash generation, we certainly anticipate continuing to increase capital distributions, but also further exploring and implementing projects both of organic and inorganic nature to accelerate our financial growth and financial returns to shareholders. The pack that is online does have a little bit more detail about both the MaxiPARTS segment and the Förch segment, but I think this is probably an appropriate time, Peter, to take any questions.
Thanks, Peter. Thanks, Anu. We do have a few questions coming through. Congratulations on some really good set of numbers. There's increased percentages across all those metrics. One questioner congratulates you on the results and asks about the inventory optimization through the year. Do you think there is further room for improvement into the next year?
Look, everything's got room for improvement. But look, ultimately, we think a bulk of that improvement was achieved in half two. So we would expect the ratios between inventory and working capital and revenue to now maintain moving forward. Obviously, as we do have further business growth, there will be some working capital investments, but it'll be at the percentage rates that we finish the financial year at on a material level.
Thank you, Peter. In terms of new stores and broadening your footprint, what is your view for the expansion of perhaps new stores over the coming year ahead?
Yeah. Look, we are working through some active projects in terms of store expansion at the moment. Obviously, there are a few different factors that need to be worked through in terms of sites and leases and staffing, et c. At this point, we would expect to have a new store come online, probably towards the end of half one. Due to the commercial sensitivity, I probably won't disclose exactly where that is, but we certainly do expect to see one towards the end of this half and potentially a second towards the end of the financial year. But certainly at least one through half one.
We do think it's in a market that will allow us to generate maybe not exactly the financial returns we had from Kalgoorlie, because that was a fairly exceptional performance, but we do see it as a quicker-than-normal payback market as we enter.
Peter, the Förch business has grown quite strongly, a great addition, and in a sector, the mining sector, which has got a lot of momentum and strong winds behind it. Can you give viewers or shareholders a bit of an outlook on your view of that business over the next few months?
Yep. Look, it is a business that when we bought it was predominantly Western Australian with a very small footprint on the East Coast. So there certainly has been some investment and OpEx investment that we have needed to make to put the systems and structure and sales force in place on a national basis. But look, in terms of maturity, it is extremely mature. We are sitting at just over AUD 23 million worth of revenue out of FY 2026. The largest, most direct competitor in that high service workshop consumable space is north of AUD 180 million. So, we have been gaining share. As we grow, and we would expect to continue to see that as we move forward, the growth comes from both an expansion of sales areas through the sales team, but also the continued customer relationship benefit that we see with the MaxiPARTS business.
That has been fairly key in helping us secure some larger multi-site customers into the Förch business by sharing that group relationship.
Thanks, Peter. Another question asked regarding future growth opportunities. How do you see the landscape in terms of both organic growth and external M&A opportunities?
Yep. Look, I guess since we separated from the trailer business, we had a specific strategy to be focused on both. We are not a business that thinks we have to acquire for the sake of acquiring. Acquisitions need to make both strategic and financial sense. But likewise, there is also an ongoing strong focus on delivering organic programs, and some of those organic programs have come out of previous acquisitions, such as the Japanese product range and now the Förch business. So look, as we move forward in the outlook, we certainly highlighted a number of those organic programs that will continue on, whether that be network expansion, the Japanese parts program, or the Förch business. But we also do see the opportunity to add strategic and financial acquisitions that make sense.
Now, the nature of those, the timing is always a little bit different as we work through, but it certainly remains a strong part of our future strategic growth platform.
Thank you, Peter. A question regarding the guidance for the Japanese parts program. Can you discuss a little bit further the opportunities available there? Perhaps with Eddie now on board, does this all leverage existing sourcing and distribution infrastructure, or we need to make some more investment across that area?
Look, certainly Eddie's got a strong background in industry. Not just in Japanese, but in et c. So, he certainly adds into that program like he adds into a range of different programs in our business. It is more an evolution. So, we have been continuing to develop the product offering, the product cataloging, and the supplier base. We've been doing that for the last few years before Eddie joined, but Eddie certainly becomes a key part in driving that program forward into the future. So it would be nice if it was easy just to snap the fingers and get a step change in perception. But it does take a little while to continue to build customers association or product groups with MaxiPARTS, or any other competitor in the industry.
So, we have been growing that at low- double digits as we've continued to expand the product offering, increase inventory levels, improve the cataloging, and that is expected to continue. In terms of that space, we're still at the smaller end of market competitors, both with OE and other Aftermarket players. So we certainly see that as a multi-period higher than traditional growth project for us.
Thank you, Peter. Regarding industry, commentators have observed something of a rebound in Q1 in heavy commercial space with price rises sticking. Is this something that you are seeing across the board?
Yeah, look, obviously lots of people are operating in an environment that has some slightly inflated cost inflation, whether it be wages or freight, et c. We have been seeing supplier cost increases come through. As a business, we generally pass those through as and when they come through. So we have seen the industry probably stabilize a little bit in pricing, and certainly there has been some inflation coming through this calendar year. Look, we would expect that to continue. It's not abnormal. It's not at the rates that we saw coming out of COVID, but it probably has increased a little bit based off some of those larger global events.
Thanks, Peter. Just finally, a solid set of numbers, an attractive dividend yield, a business which seems to be growing at a sustainable rate at the moment. What is it that's exciting you for the business of MaxiPARTS for the year ahead?
Yeah, all of those things, I think. Look, we certainly go into the new financial year with some solid momentum. As I said, half two did see an unexpected activity step setback, but the market has seemed to stabilize, and we would expect to continue to be fairly stable as we move forward. So, we certainly have the financial capacity and the management capacity and capability to not suddenly, but to start to accelerate some of the projects that we have on the radar, whether they be new sites or continuing to grow the Förch or Japanese businesses, as well as hopefully find the right strategic bolt-on acquisitions to enhance the business moving forward. So, we think there's lots of things to be excited on. We don't think those growth initiatives will come at the expense of capital distribution to shareholders.
We think we've got the ability to continue to increase capital distribution, as well as get some accelerated growth in the short to medium term.
All right then. Thank you very much, Peter and Anu, for your presentation today. Thanks for everybody joining us. The recording of this will be available for distribution later on. If there are other questions that you'd like to ask the management team, please email them through to peter@nwrcommunications.com.au. Thank you very much for joining us, and we look forward to reporting to you again soon.