Welcome to Peet Limited's FY 2026 results call. Following the formal presentation, there will be a Q&A session for investors and analysts. Participants can ask both text and live audio questions during today's call. To ask a text question, select the messaging icon, type your question in the box towards the top of the screen, and press the send button. To ask a live audio question, press the Request to Speak button at the top of the broadcast window. The broadcast will be replaced by the Audio Question screen. Use the dial-in number and access PIN provided to ask your question via the phone.
Alternatively, for those on a home or personal network, you can ask your questions via the web by pressing Join Queue. If prompted, select Allow in the pop-up to grant access to your microphone. If you have any issues using the platform, dial-in details can also be found on the homepage under Asking Audio Questions. Text questions can be submitted at any time and the audio queue is now open. I will now hand over to Brett Fullarton, Chief Executive Officer.
Hello, everyone, and thank you for joining our webinar to present our FY 2026 financial results. With me today is Peet Chief Financial Officer, Mark Winkworth. Can I say at the outset that I recognize many people may have joined the webinar today expecting further details about a potential corporate transaction involving Peet following media speculation over the weekend and our resultant trading halt. As I'm sure you have seen, we haven't made an ASX announcement today in relation to that matter, and our trading halt will continue today. I won't be providing any commentary today in relation to the trading halt, and the presentation will be solely focused on our FY 2026 financial results. I appreciate there's great interest in the reasons for the trading halt.
However, I do ask that you respect that until we have made an ASX announcement, I won't be in a position to answer any questions on that topic today. We hope to make an announcement in relation to this matter in the very near term, and I will ensure I'm available to answer all of your questions at that time. On that note, let me move to the presentation that was lodged with the ASX this morning, and present our FY 2026 financial results. Let me start with the highlights that are on the screen in front of you now. It is fair to say we've had a very good year. The earnings outcome for FY 2026 is an all-time record profit for the business and by some margin. So, AUD 103.4 million of net operating profit for the year. That's up 77% on last year.
We provided guidance back in May of AUD 98 million - AUD 100 million, and we've achieved just a little over the top end of that guidance, which is a terrific outcome and it's a great contribution by all of the Peet team in delivering that outcome. As a result of that, we have declared a final dividend of AUD 0.065 that takes the total dividends to the year to AUD 0.13 per share. Last year, total dividends were AUD 0.0775 per share, so that's an uptick of 68% on FY 2025. Very importantly, the EBITDA margin for the year was 36%. Last year, it was 24%. So materially up on last year, 50% up on last year. We would typically aim for the high 20s, 30% EBITDA margin. So 36% is a very strong result, principally driven by price increases across the portfolio.
Because of the profit outcomes and the cash that's come from that, which we'll have a look at in a minute. Gearing is 24.8% at 30 June. It was 27.5% a year ago. We now sit very comfortably in the midpoint of our preferred gearing range of 20%-30%. Total sales, just under 3,000 lots. Again, I'll cover that in a little bit more detail shortly. Sets were just under 2,700. Importantly, contracts on hand at AUD 851 million, at 30 June 2026. That's up from AUD 612 million 12 months prior, which does give us a lot of confidence with respect to FY 2027. Again, I'll cover that in a bit more detail shortly. If I move forward. Just quickly, we remain master-planned communities business. We've reinforced that late last year through our strategic review. It is the core of the business.
We have geographically spread portfolio, very low cost base, and strong embedded margins, which has become very apparent in the FY 2026 results. A land bank that is over 14 years of age, on average, and great capability across the business to deliver good outcomes for shareholders. The pipeline or the land bank itself, we have based on around 3,000 lots per annum in our over eight years of production in the current land bank.
Gross development value of that land bank is AUD 11.5 billion, and you can see the spread across company-owned projects and those in the funds management part of the business. The geographical spread of the projects is the bottom part of that slide, and you can see that Western Australia and Queensland is where we have most exposure, and these are the two states that have performed best in recent years. We are a significant residential developer.
We understand our responsibilities with respect to environmental, social, and governance requirements. We remain very focused on those matters. We want to deliver great outcomes for the communities we create, and the people that we employ, whilst at the same time delivering attractive returns to our shareholders. Let me just look at the results in a little bit more detail. So on operating profit, you can see sales and settlements. Sales up strongly, settlements similar to last year. Fair to say there is always a lag. Obviously, we need to sell the lot before we settle it, so we would expect growth in settlements as we move into FY 2027, given the lot sales number in FY 2026. EBITDA are a few lines down, AUD 162 million against AUD 105 million, so very strong EBITDA growth.
Much of that attributed to margin growth, as I said before, 36% EBITDA margin against 24% in the previous year, which delivered operating profit of AUD 103.4 million, up from AUD 58.5 million. Yes, a record profit for the business and by some margin. The previous best profit result was AUD 70 million a few years ago. In that number, we did have the sale of a project in Queensland that contributed about AUD 20 million of that AUD 70 million.
So AUD 103.4 million is a very strong outcome and driven, as the commentary says on the right-hand side of the page, principally by price increases in the company-owned projects and higher prices in the funds management part of the business, delivering higher management fees and higher equity accounted profits. As I said, dividends per share of AUD 0.13 for the year, up from AUD 0.0775 in the previous year.
Looking at cash flow in a little bit more detail. We have rebased the company in some respects around cash flows. Very strong correlation operating cash to profit. You can see operating cash a few lines from the bottom, AUD 107.8 million. Similar number in the previous year, so our expectation is we run it around that AUD 100 million operating profit level. Some things to note. Obviously, the more profit you make, the higher taxes you paid, so there is a significant uptick in tax paid, but we've still maintained over AUD 100 million operating profit. The line above that, distributions and dividends from associates up AUD 20 million on the previous year. Principally, the Western Australian syndicates, where volumes are up, margins are up. So we have higher project management fees out of those entities and higher profit distributions. Also, a few lines above that, borrowing costs.
An important reduction in borrowing costs driven by some of the things we've done within the debt stack. We did talk about this at the AGM last year, coming out of the strategic review, and very deliberate actions to reduce cost of debt. So we have done that through the year. We've introduced a third bank into the syndicate, which brought some pricing tension into the equation, which delivered a good outcome. We repaid AUD 75 million of our bonds six months early, reducing the cost of debt through that. I'll mention that again over the page. Next slide, just to focus a little bit on our balance sheet. As I said, Peet notes halfway down that page, AUD 150 million down to AUD 75 million. So we took advantage of repaying those AUD 75 million of those notes early without any penalty.
Importantly, net debt at the end of June 2026, AUD 201.3 million, down from AUD 243.6 million at June 2025, resulting in a good reduction in gearing. You can see there 27.5% last year down to 24.8%. Interest cover materially improved. Combination of factors. Obviously, higher earnings and lower debt has a material positive impact on the interest cover ratio. As we say on the right-hand side, a couple of boxes down, because of that great outcome, we currently have cash and debt facility headroom of around AUD 260 million. That obviously places us very well to fund future activities. With respect to shareholder returns, since FY 2018, we have returned AUD 293 million of cash to our shareholders, combination of both dividends and the share buyback. I've spoken about the dividends.
You can see the bar graph on the top right-hand side of that page, a really strong upward trend, coming to AUD 0.13 per share for FY 2026. Really strong cash returns to shareholders through dividends. Those dividends are all fully franked. The buyback has been important to us. The buyback is currently turned off as we sit here today, given share price and other factors. The buyback has been very good for us. We have bought back around 4% of our own stock through that buyback period, and the average buyback price was AUD 1.07. Some great returns to the business in that regard in buying back our shares. As I said, the buyback is currently turned off. Just a little bit more detail again on the operating performance.
Firstly, where did our earnings come from a business type perspective and from a geography? The donut on the left-hand side, earnings by business type, that is development or company-owned projects and our funds management projects. Development 44%, funds management 56%. Funds management outcome driven heavily by Western Australia. Most of our projects are in funds management structures in Western Australia. That mix last year was 49% development, 51% funds management. We have been tracking to this close to 50% development weighting or balance sheet weighting. Development at 44% is a little less, really because the pool is bigger. The absolute contribution by development is greater than last year. Because the contribution by funds management is even greater, again, that gives us the outcome from a percentage perspective. Understanding EBITDA last year was AUD 105 million. FY 2026 it was AUD 162 million.
From a geography perspective, where did our earnings come from? The donut more to the middle of that page. Again, you can see the dominance of Western Australia and Queensland. Collectively, those two states contributed 76% of our earnings in FY 2026. If you look back to 2025, it was coincidentally exactly the same number. It was 76% of EBITDA, slightly different mix, a slightly greater skew to Queensland than W.A. But for the last couple of years, three-quarters of our earnings has been from Western Australia and Queensland. From a sales and settlements activity perspective, again, from a geographic point of view, where were our sales and settlements? Sales at just under 3,000, up 8% on the previous year. If you look a year prior to that, in 2024, we did just over 2,500 sales.
Over the two-year period, we have gone from 2,500 sales to 3,000 sales, a 20% uplift in that two-year period. Where were those sales in the year just ended? That is the left-hand donut. Again, you can see the dominance of W.A. and Queensland, 24% Queensland, 53% in W.A. last year, so that is 77% all up. Last year, W.A. and Queensland contributed around 73%. Worth also mentioning, the other states, albeit materially smaller than the contribution by Queensland and Western Australia, are very important to us, and we did actually have good outcomes year-on-year in Victoria and the A.C.T. Victoria did about just under 200 sales in FY 2025. That number was about 300 in 2026. In Canberra, we did around 100 sales in 2025. That number was just over 160 in FY 2026.
Smaller numbers in the context of 3,000 sales, but still important contributors to the overall picture. Just to comment quickly on contracts on hand. As I said right at the start, because of that activity in Western Australia and Queensland, we are sitting on a very, very strong bank of contracts on hand. When we started the year, FY 2026 just ended, we started the year with AUD 612 million of contracts on hand. We start the new year, FY 2027, with AUD 851 million of contracts on hand across the portfolio. That gives us a lot of confidence with respect to FY 2027, and I will make some comments about our outlook shortly. Cancellation rates have remained relatively low. They were about 12% for the year just ended.
If you look back over the last three years, cancellation rates have averaged around 16%, so cancellation rates have come down, which is obviously very positive. If I turn to some commentary, our view with respect to outlook and where to from here, it is fair to say, and the industry has said this already, as you will have seen, there has been moderation in the market. This graph shows the Peet portfolio. The bars are our sales by quarter and by states. The different colors are different states. The red line are inquiry levels or our leads. You can see a reasonably severe drop-off of inquiries in the last quarter, but off some pretty high starting point. We think things are reverting to normal in some respects.
The inquiry levels are also driven to a degree by sales releases and where we are at with projects in their life cycle and in their development program. We have seen pretty good outcomes for the month of July. We do not want to get too excited about one month, but we have seen some stabilization is probably where we are at, and continued demand, particularly across the key states of W.A. and Queensland. Our short-term, for that matter, and our medium-term confidence is driven by our portfolio, and we have shown this picture in the past. These are the 14 key projects across the portfolio. Understanding we have over 30 active projects, but these are the 14 key projects and where they are at in their life cycle. You can see that as we look forward, we have very high activation across almost all of those key projects.
We have three new projects starting in FY 2027 to add to the sales and settlement activity. The portfolio and where major projects within the portfolio are at in their life cycle gives us a lot of confidence as we look forward into the short term and through the medium term. Just to close with an outlook statement, and we have said this in the ASX release as well. Notwithstanding there are clearly some pressures in the marketplace, three interest rate rises, cost of living pressures, et cetera. The market fundamentals remain very supportive of our business. This has been well-publicized by the sector and by the media. We do have sustained population growth running at about 1.5%, and a net overseas migration is forecast to be over 240,000 in FY 2027. There will not be any change to the demand dynamics as we see it as we move forward.
Housing supply remains constrained. We are well below government targets for new housing, and it is going to take quite some time for those to catch up. They are not things that can be fixed quickly. Labor markets are good. Unemployment rate at 4.4%. Our buyers and the profile of our buyers, typically first-time buyers, they need to have certainty, job security before they go and borrow money, commit to a mortgage, buy a block of land and build a home. A stable labor market is very favorable for us.
That is another factor contributing to our confidence. Markets specifically across the states in which we operate, key markets in W.A. and Queensland, are remaining resilient. South Australia has been good for us, albeit it is a small contributor, but it remains good. Victoria and A.C.T., as I said, small contributors at the moment. They have historically been much bigger financial contributors.
We see those two markets as upside as they normalize and improve. Given all of that, given the strength of the contracts on hand, the highly supportive macro factors, we feel very confidently about our business as we move forward, and subject to markets and settlement timings and the usual caveats, we target earnings growth on 2026 in FY 2027. Happy to stop and take a breath there and hand back to our moderator, David, to field any questions you may have for me or for Mark, our CFO.
Thank you, Brett. If you have not yet submitted your text question or joined the live audio queue, please do so now. I will introduce each caller by name and ask you to go ahead. You will then hear a beep indicating your microphone is live. Our first question today is a text question from Mark Eaglesham from Eagle Eye Equities. Mark asks, what do you think the NTA would be using current market values rather than historical cost?
Thanks, Mark, for the question. Yes, a good question. We do get asked that question often. We do not have a stated position with respect to current market values. We do not publish it. There are various reasons for Peet not doing that. We do not want to get on the treadmill of doing it. There are confidentiality requirements with joint venture partners and the like. The best response I can give you is that we think it is higher than book NTA. Book NTA obviously is based on cost. That is what the accounting standards require us to do, record our inventories at cost, and our current investments in joint ventures are effectively at cost, plus our share of profits. Our view is we are worth more than our book NTA, but unfortunately, I cannot be more specific than that.
Thank you. The next question is an audio question from Gavin Allen from Euroz Hartleys. Gavin, please go ahead after the beep.
Good morning, Brett, Mark. Thanks for that, guys. Just a quick one for me. You did mention that inquiry levels have softened. I am just wondering with that as context, and perhaps despite it, is it fair to say that you are seeing or are able to sell what it is that is available to be sold? Or is titled stock starting to ramp up?
Thanks, Gavin. Titled stock is not ramping up. In Western Australia and Queensland, we have definitely seen moderation of demand, but off incredibly high levels of demand, where if we were to release 20 lots, we would have a reasonable multiple of that number of people looking to buy. That multiple now is a lower number, but we still sell everything we are looking to sell. In Western Australia and Queensland, we are not seeing stock levels grow, and we are selling everything we are looking to sell, notwithstanding that the demand is not as deep as it has been throughout the year. If you are happy with that, in the smaller markets, it is not so significant. We manage development spend, we manage money in the ground, and we are not sitting on stock.
Yeah, got it. That is very helpful. And just one other one from me. Just perhaps remind us of the leverage you have got available in Vic and the A.C.T. So maybe that is in terms of products that is there, but also in terms of the cadence-
Yeah.
-that you're selling in those markets versus what you perhaps sold in the past.
Sure. Let me talk about Canberra first. The major operating asset is Googong. Googong sold about 150 sales, thereabouts, in FY 2026. Sold about 100, maybe a little under that in FY 2025, so good improvement. Googong, just in terms of what is achievable, a few years ago, and this might be a bit of an aberration, we don't want to just use the bookends as a guide, but Googong has sold over 400 in a year. So it's a big project. Its capacity to deliver into a buoyant market is strong.
I'm not saying we're going to do anything like that, but in terms of what is possible, that is possible, and that's a high-margin project, 50/50 JV with Mirvac. So that's Canberra. University of Canberra obviously is a major project in Canberra. We won't be selling in FY 2027 and won't be settling, therefore, for some time after that. It's really Googong. That's the story-
Yeah.
-and the upside in Canberra. In Melbourne, again, as I said, we did about 200 sales in 2025, 300 in 2026. There is upside, subject to market, in our Newhaven project, which is large, which is a 50/50 JV with Supalai. And we have a new project, Aston, in the north of Melbourne, north of the airport, which started selling in July, literally. Has only just started.
Yeah.
That's a 1,000-lot project. In a normal market, and I'm not suggesting this is FY 2027, that project should do over 200 sales per annum.
Got it.
There's-
Perfect.
-upside in those two markets.
Yeah.
Yep.
Beautiful. Thanks, guys. Leave you to it.
No worries.
Thank you. The next question is another text question from Mark Eaglesham. Mark asks, "What portion of the pre-sales would you expect to settle in FY 2027 versus FY 2028?
Good question. Thanks, Mark. We typically don't sell more than 12 months ahead of title, which is our normal practice. We would try to actually make it a bit tighter than that and get closer to nine months ahead of title. Given the activity levels, particularly in Queensland, we have stretched that closer to the 12 months. If we're selling no more than 12 months ahead of title, theoretically, that means any contracts on hand at 30 June should all settle in FY 2027. We would expect, and that won't be the case, but we would expect a very, very high proportion of lots under contract to 95% or better to settle in FY 2027.
Thank you. Just as a reminder, to ask a text question, select the messaging icon, type your question in the box towards the top of the screen, and press the send button. To ask a live audio question, press the Request to Speak button at the top of the broadcast window. Follow the instructions on screen to join the queue. I will just pause there to allow time for any further callers to dial in. Okay. Thank you. There are no further questions. I will now hand back to Brett.
Thanks, David. Well, let me wrap up by saying thank you all for joining the call. We appreciate your interest in the company. It has been literally quite a remarkable outcome financially, and we are really pleased to be able to deliver such record outcomes to our shareholders. As I said right at the outset, I have not been able to make any comment at all about the reason for the trading halt. But we do hope to make an announcement in relation to that matter in the very near future. As I said, I will be available to answer any questions you might have in that regard at the appropriate time. So thank you all for joining us, and I look forward to seeing some of you, many of you, soon. Thank you.
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