Thank you for standing by, and welcome to the PWR Holdings Limited HY 2024 Results Call. All participants are in a listen-only mode. There will be a presentation followed by a question-and-answer session. If you wish to ask a question, you will need to press the star key followed by the number one on your telephone keypad. I would now like to hand the conference over to Mr. Kees Weel, Managing Director. Please go ahead.
Thank you. Good morning, everybody. Yes, we're here again. We've been here a few times now. It just seems not long ago that we were here before. So I'll move straight into it. For our view, I think it's a cracking result. The half-year performance highlights, obviously, in our first half of our growth of revenue of 22% and our growth of NPAT a bit over 25%. Moving on from there, we're investing in growth. We're investing in the future and also concerned about the shareholder return. So investing in the future is investing now and collecting later. Roughly AUD 6 million of CapEx was spent so far and 50 headcount, an extra 50 headcount. And obviously, we all know about the new factory of 20,000 square meters coming up in 2025. Shareholder return of AUD 0.048 interim dividend, up 33% for the same period last year.
Our five-year CAGR is 24% share price and 25% earnings per share. Moving on to the next slide, our five-year performance trend for the half-year. It's very simple to read, and it's exciting to read that because it's over five years. It's not just one good year and then not another. But when you read through those percentages year on year, particularly, it's very comforting for us to have a slide like that. Performance overview, I guess the big key points are investing in capability to deliver on future opportunities. We've always said this, particularly over the last four to five years, we're certainly spending in the left hand and getting return on the right hand. That could be anything from six months to 12 months in between. Our revenue growth, our NPAT, very strong, and cash balance is also strong. Very good performance overview.
The revenue by market sector, some surprises there. We've always said that I always say that motorsport will be flat, and my flat's 10%. So good to see that motorsport has had a good half-year. There's a couple of drivers for that. OEM was reasonably flat, which we predicted. Automotive aftermarket has been great. And I guess the standout, particularly, is aerospace and defense. The aerospace and defense, the programs are certainly getting larger. Motorsport, the growth in F1 and particularly Le Mans and GT classes are very active now after COVID. Automotive OEM, our pipeline continues to develop, and also automotive aftermarket focus in North America and Europe. Revenue by currency for the half-year, I think that is very self-explanatory. Our FX foreign exchange is out to a little bit over GBP 11 million.
As we increase our manufacturing capability in Europe, we're certainly reducing our exposure to the pound, similar to what we've been doing in the US over the past years. Operating expenses, raw materials and consumable uses increased for a bit over AUD 3 million. Employee expenses, as we all know we've spoken about this before, that's our biggest expense increasing for future growth. Wage rises and bonuses and provisions and everything that goes with employing people these days, we all know what that's about. Occupancy expenses include the outgoings and other expenses as well as marketing, recruitment, professional fees, etc. The balance sheet, very strong liquidity and cash position. We spent nearly AUD 9 million in dividend in September. Inventory is increasing, plant and equipment, as I mentioned before, AUD 6 million of capital expenditure. We still have AUD 10 million of multicurrency and AUD 7.5 million of equipment.
Facilities remain undrawn, I should say. The balance sheet is very good. I'd also like to say that we still have no net debt. Working capital and cash flow certainly had a very strong sales period, particularly the second part of the first half in November and December. That certainly resulted in some net debt as compared to the comparative period last time. Inventory, which we've spoken about. CapEx, which we've spoken about also. Liquidity is still in a very, very strong position. Business outlook, I'd really like to emphasize and talk about our vertical integration. Our vertical integration is very important to us. We're one of very, very few companies that we are fully vertically integrated from raw material to customer. We don't send anything out to get reworked, and someone else puts a piece on it, and it comes back, etc., etc.
Organic growth, extensive opportunities, and certainly focusing and discipline on future pipelines. Aerospace and defense, go without saying, is certainly our largest growing area of what we're doing. Motorsports, very strong. OEM programs, as I said before, flat-ish. And automotive aftermarket is potential growth, particularly in North America and Europe. Our Europe manufacturing plant has really kicked on significantly for the first half. We're very surprised of how well that's gone. And we look forward to a very strong half, particularly out of the U.K.. Pipelines, I know there'll be probably questions on the pipelines of OEM and Motorsport technology programs. You'll see that there's quite a few more programs that we've entered into with being nominated and also in discussion. That is an ongoing thing that will certainly make sure our pipelines are very full for the next 5-10 years.
The pipeline, particularly in aerospace and defence, very similar to our motor programmes. It's all about timing and when these programmes hit. It's not if we get them, I think it's more so when they hit. So it's a little bit about timing. And I know everybody knows aerospace and defence can be a little bit slow and what have you. We've certainly increased that time of shortening their timelines and what have you. So I'm very certain that that's going to be one of our biggest drivers. I've said it before. I said that our emerging tech part of our business would be bigger than Motorsport. And I'm sure some people out there will hold me accountable for that because they do remind me from time to time.
But I think we're certainly creeping up to my comment, which will be correct, certainly in the next 12-18 months. We've appointed a new general manager in North America, David Proctor. He started in the beginning of January. He spent some time out here at the main office in Australia. And we have our strategy a couple of days in March, and he'll be coming back in March and what have you. So we've taken a fair while to get the right person for the right fit for that program over there. And he's certainly started to move the needle on what we're doing over there. Two new board members, Amanda and Kristen. I think it's self-explanatory. Amanda is a CEO of a company in Melbourne that obviously does involve in aerospace, etc.
So certainly a good person to have on site because she does know about how businesses run and how to make a dollar. And also Kristen with her background of lawyer background and senior exec with legal firms, etc. So investing in people, as you know, we are investing in a lot of people. And our biggest expenditure is certainly payroll. We're certainly investing in our headcount. We increased our headcount for the full year last year of a total of 50. We have over 36 apprentices at this time, which is a little bit low, I must admit. And that will be certainly increasing in the next 12 months. And we have a two-year graduate programme where we move engineers between here in the U.S. and the U.K.
We also have an exchange program for tradespeople that come back from the U.K. and the U.S. to be working in Australia. We're very involved with the work experience program with high schools, etc. We also have an engineering program with a couple of the universities here in Brisbane. Retaining our staff speaks for itself. We have all the usual things. Hopefully, we are a little bit better than others because retaining staff is not an issue, but it's a challenge today. With our LTI and STI, Wheelies Diner, etc., employee assistance program, career opportunities, and recognition and reward of their effort is a big thing that we do. This important notice. Make sure everybody reads that. I'll just move on to the next one. I'm not going to read that for everybody. Everybody knows that.
This slide is more about us, about what we do and where our future is and where we value add, etc. It certainly correlates a lot of the stuff that I've been speaking about the last 15 minutes. Our locations, we have a total of 535 staff globally. We've spoken about the new factory. CNC machines is an ongoing thing. Our 3D printing of aluminum is certainly a big thing we're doing for R&D for the future. Target markets, self-explanatory: Motorsport, aerospace, OE, original equipment, industrial, marine, aftermarket, which we've spoken about, and how we add value. Certainly, as I said before, our vertical integration from raw material to the end product to the customer is not many people do that. We're very bullish. We do sell that as a big thing for us that no one else does.
Certainly, spending a lot of money on R&D, looking at new prototypes and new areas of the business. We're very comfortable, I guess, with prototypes and certainly the low-volume production methods, but also some of the higher-volume production jobs that are coming through. Global manufacturing, it won't be long. It'll be the next 12-18 months, and we'll be able to manufacture exactly what we're doing here in Australia. We certainly can do that in America right now. Then we'll be able to do that in Europe as well. So manufacturing three different continents with the same products mostly being able to supply from each of those facilities. Our executive management team, you're dealing with the real people from top to toe, from the top office to the guys on the floor and the people that make it happen. We have a very strong team.
So that's the presentation. Thank you very much for listening. I'm sure there's quite a few questions. I'll be disappointed that there's not. So I'll open it up for questioning.
Thank you. If you wish to ask a question, please press star one on your telephone and wait for your name to be announced. If you wish to cancel your request, please press star two. If you're on a speakerphone, please pick up the handset to ask your question. Your first question comes from Alex Lu from Morgans Financial. Please go ahead.
Yeah, thanks. Morning, Kees, and morning, Martin. Efficient, as always, Kees with the presentation. Can I just start with EBITDA margin, please, and the 110 basis point improvement in the EBITDA margin? Looks like it was driven by improved sales mix and increased operating efficiency. Just wondering if you could just talk a bit more on that, please, and the drivers of that margin increase. Thanks.
Yeah, thanks, Alex. A good question. As we are getting more and more into the higher numbers and particularly revenue, etc., we're very cautious and very tight on costs. We spend a lot of time being more efficient than we were last month, if you like. Some of the efficiencies have certainly driven that. We have, I guess, probably a little bit of that is probably some of the foreign exchange. But you've got to take the good with the bad there. We've taken plenty of bad in the foreign exchange before. The foreign exchange has contributed a little bit, not everything. But that's the whole program of moving into the new factory in 2025. It's a bit over 20,000 square meters. The efficiency that we want to get out of that will be up again.
It's all about driving that bottom number on the bottom line. Yeah, as you know, we have a lot of key people in our business that are shareholders. They have skin in the game. I think it is a bit that also is a very big contributor to how we operate.
It's also helpful to notice the increase in emerging technologies across all markets. That's the higher IP parts of our business. That certainly helps when that's increasing.
Okay, great. Thanks, Kees, and thanks, Martin. Can I then just go to slide 12, please, and just that pipeline with aerospace and defense? Just wondering, are you getting more contracts or, I guess, discussions with existing customers? Or is the growth in the pipeline more with new or potential customers?
Probably 50/50, Alex. We're certainly getting a lot more programs with existing customers once people realize our capability and what we can deliver, particularly on a timely basis, etc. But also, the number of companies that we're dealing particularly in the U.S., we're starting to get some fairly positive inquiries, etc., out of the U.K. as well because we've done a show over there last year. So that's certainly starting to rattle the chain in the U.K. So yeah, but it's probably 50/50. Probably 50% of the new stuff would be of existing customers, and 50% would be of new customers that we're dealing with.
All right. Thanks, Kees. I'll leave it there.
Thank you.
Thank you. Your next question comes from Jack Dunn from Citi. Please go ahead.
Morning, Kees. Morning, Martin. Thanks for taking my questions. I'll just ask a couple, and then I'll jump back in the queue. Just firstly, I wonder if you could probably provide a little color on what sectors you've been more successful in expanding your A&D program pipeline into.
Probably, as everybody knows, our motorsports sector, particularly F1 and I don't want to throw that down everybody's throat, but F1 is a technology driver. We certainly spend quite a bit of money on R&D in F1. The other one is 3D printing because we 3D print aluminum, but 3D printing and also MMX. MMX is really starting to get into other categories such as aerospace and defense. I think the full potential of MMX will be sort of delivered over the next two to five years, particularly. Its growth trajectory is fairly rapid, particularly on some of the programs involved with aerospace and defense. Probably motorsports and aerospace and defense is probably where we are spending the fair margin of our R&D program.
Perfect. Thank you. And then just in the A&D program pipeline, I think, I'm not going to hold you to anything, but previously, you mentioned there may have been four to five going into production this year and next year. Is this still the same number, or have some of those programs you've added increased the number of programs going into production?
Certainly, it'll be probably more about the timing of some of these programs. Some of the programs that we have slotted in for this second half will certainly be there. I think we're going to have more color when we get to the end of our financial year to see how it all falls in for 2025. But 2025 and 2026 are really looking very, very strong for different programs that we've started to work on over the last two years. They'll be certainly coming into production in 2025 and 2026. What we can get into the last half of this year, I think it will be still very tidy and what have you. But I think more so in 2025 and 2026.
Sorry, and to answer your question in full, yeah, there's more programs that we've added into that over the last since last time we spoke five or six months ago.
All right. Perfect. Thank you. And just last follow-up one, and then I'll jump back in the queue. If you could give us the size of maybe the magnitude of some of these programs in terms of the potential earnings from them, are they large production ones? They can drive a serious increase in the earnings of the A&D segment?
Yeah, a bit early to tell. Well, it's a bit early for us to say because it's never done until the ink is dry on the page. So a lot of people know different OE companies and what have you. They'll start off with a fairly big number to get you excited. But then when it's in true reality, it's maybe half that. So it's probably a little bit early for that, but I think we'll certainly have a lot more color on that in the full-year Prezo.
Perfect. Thank you.
Thank you. Your next question comes from Tim Piper from UBS. Please go ahead.
Morning, guys. Just first one, apologies if you've actually covered this, but the motorsports revenue portion in emerging tech saw a really nice uplift. And there's obviously some stuff in the pipeline slides around hybrid and electric in motorsports. Can you just give us a bit more detail in terms of which motorsports teams you're seeing success in emerging tech? And then second part of that is obviously, if it's F1, there's a fair bit of seasonality, 1H, 2H, for that side of motorsports. Would you expect a similar kind of seasonality in the motorsports revenue line within emerging tech?
Yes. Yes, we would. Yeah, when you look at emerging tech, and I think the big driver for that is certainly MMX. That's driving a lot of that emerging tech business there. When you look at programs other than F1, particularly if you're looking at GT programs and WRC and LMP programs, particularly, they're all vehicles now that are very much going across to the hybrid side. And the hybrid part of it is certainly very interesting. I think there's a lot of projection around the industry right at the moment about a full EV vehicle. Is it the right thing? Is it not? A lot of the OE manufacturers have pulled back their expectations of what they're selling. So hybrid is certainly poking its head above the waterline, particularly now, and as a good alternative.
A lot of that R&D on hybrid stuff is definitely done in race cars before it's tested in race cars, and then it's referred back to OE programs. So I think you'll find that it'll be pretty much the same again for the second half.
All right. So same again as in AUD 6-odd million again the second half, or you're actually going to see a second half skew to seasonality in that line like you do in motorsports? So it can be bigger in the second half?
Which can be it, yes.
Got it. Thanks. And then when we think about that in the context of the broader emerging tech revenue for this year, I mean, your comments there around aerospace and defense, probably more of a ramp in 2025, 2026. So if we think about where the second half sits, some of that growth in motorsports can maybe offset a slightly flatter half-on-half in aerospace and defense. Is that the way to think about it?
I think aerospace and defense will be. I think it'll be certainly better in the second half than the first half of this year. And whether it's obviously, our skew is going to be 45-55 for the first half to the second half, I guess, across the board, if you like, when you're doing the numbers. Is it going to be lower than that in aerospace? I would think so.
That's helpful. Thanks. And so did you disclose the EBITDA tailwind from the FX in the half? You've sort of given the revenue number. Couldn't find an EBITDA. Can you give us what that was?
I can't give it to you right now, but I'm sure we'll be seeing you next week, and we'll give it to you. That's for sure. That's not a problem. We can give it to you.
Okay. Got it. Just one final one, if I can squeeze it in. Just around the headcount in the business, you've got the new facility in Queensland coming online in the end of FY 2025, I think it was. What's the progression of sort of adding headcount from now in terms of getting that facility set up through sort of progression phase and then online? How soon are you going to be sort of adding heads for that new facility?
We're actually adding heads right now, employing people right now, and procuring people from all parts of the world, really, to head that up. So yeah, by July 2025, that's when we want to be in and operating out of that facility, actually fully operating by 1st July 2025, so if not sooner. How many more people? I would think in the vicinity of between 50 and 75.
At the 1st of July 2025?
Correct. Yeah.
Great. All right. Look, thanks for taking the questions.
Thank you.
Thank you. Your next question comes from Sarah Mann from Moelis Australia. Please go ahead.
Morning, guys. Just another question on, I guess, the comment around emerging tech. You mentioned again that you expect it to kind of be bigger than motorsports somewhere in the next 12-18 months. Just wanted to clarify. Do you mean on a run-rate basis, or are you saying that by the end of FY 2025, emerging tech could be at least similar size to motorsports, given that motorsports also continues to grow? And then if that's the case, to hit that expectation, do you need to win any big, sizable contracts, or is it more just around kind of the smaller prototyping work or just ramping up into kind of production that should be enough to kind of get you to that number?
Those are long questions, Sarah.
Sorry. I hope it makes sense.
No, for sure. Look, to hit that number, we'll certainly need some reasonable contracts, which we're on the verge of right now. Yes. I did say emerging tech would be I think my exact words would dwarf motorsport in 3-5 years, and I'm getting close to that four-year period. So I still stand by that. We're very confident, particularly 2025 and 2026 will be, I think, massive years in aerospace and defense. And we have no shortage of opportunity, so I say. So I don't think we'll have any problem of hitting that number, for sure. And mind you, with motorsport, and say caught my flat of 10%, it looks like it's caught me out a bit again this year or this half. There's some things in there that's pushed that up a little bit for this half.
But if you can sort of rely on motorsport, it'd be an increase of between 10% and 15% year-on-year for the next few years. It brings that number up. But we're still very bullish on expectation for aerospace and defense. And I think everybody's got to understand that we have invested very heavily in equipment and know-how and people across the globe, but also equipment in the new factory in America. We're just doing a replication of that, what we have here in Australia, particularly for our vacuum brazing on that side of the business and also our anodizing plant that we have over there, particularly for a lot of the cold plates and projects that we do for aerospace and defense. So the equipment over there is exactly the same as what we have here.
Between the two companies today, we have good capacity to do that growth. I wouldn't be at all surprised if in two to three years' time, we're not doing a similar thing in the U.K. because of what we've seen of opportunity and the people we've spoken to over there over the last couple of years in the U.K. has tremendously ample opportunity over there as well. Yeah, I'll still stand by my comment of that it'll be dwarf motorsport in a few years' time.
Just to clarify that, Sarah, the motorsport, it's advanced cooling motorsport. So for the half, we did AUD 24 million, and the total emerging tech was AUD 15.5 million. So we're fast gaining.
Yep. That makes sense. Thank you. And then just you kind of touched a little bit on kind of the facility expansion and CapEx. From memory, I think at the full-year conference call, you guided to this year doing AUD 7 million of CapEx, and I see you spent AUD 6 million in the first half. Is it going to be? Is this just timing, or is there just more opportunity, and so you've decided to kind of invest ahead of it, or just interested in, I guess, how your thoughts on that AUD 7 million might have changed?
A little bit of both. A little bit of both timing and opportunity and also looking forward ahead to the new factory. We don't want to be bringing old machinery over there. Mind you, we haven't got too much old machinery, but we certainly have spoken about automation a lot and to provide efficiency through some of our programs. And we're very heavily in discussion about different ways of automation, and we have put on some staff members for that, for that side of the business. So the main investment that we'll be doing in the new building will be about automation and new equipment for future growth. So yes, the seven might be nine, particularly and it's a little bit about timing. And we've just ordered another furnace for the U.K. for some bar and plate programs that we're doing over there as well.
But that's just ordered in the last week or so, so it'll be delivered in six or eight months' time. So it's about timing and opportunity.
Gotcha. All right. Last question from me is just on the U.K. factory. So clearly, you'd kind of hived off 50% of the floor space for that OEM contract that you decided to walk away from. And yet, on your conference call, you're kind of talking to, yeah, the U.K. kind of really humming and looking like it's going to do even better in the second half. Can you maybe give us a little bit of color around what kind of work you're backfilling for that 50% of the factory that you had allocated to the OEM contract now?
Yeah. A lot of those programs, particularly in the U.K., there's some small OE programs over there that we're manufacturing in the U.K. now. And also, the GT classes, particularly, are very strong in the U.K. and Europe, more so Europe, and also the LMP programs over there. So a lot of that has certainly been a big driver over there for what we're doing. And we have and I think I did mention it at the start of the year that we have put an aftermarket manager in over there to see what aftermarket opportunities there are over there. And that's starting to bear some fruit, although it's early days. So between a few of those programs, and we're very, very happy of what we're producing out of that facility in its current state. And that's only going to increase.
As you said, the OE contract that we walked away from, I think we're still looking pretty good on that, as in why we walked away, because EV is not what everybody thought it was going to be. And sort of, I guess, that might have been a stroke of genius on our side to call that early. But there's certainly a lot of other opportunities besides EV in Europe. And there are some smaller EV programs that we're involved in and what have you. So we will make use of that second half of the business, second half of the factory, should I say, in good stead, but in good time, I should say. But we're not rushing around. We're very, as you know, we're very picky in the programs that we do. They've got to be profitable and to our type of profit margin.
So yeah, it's good to have the extra space there for growth, and we'll certainly make good use of that because the opportunities are there.
Great. Thanks so much, Kees. Appreciate it.
Thanks, Sarah.
Thank you. Your next question comes from Harry [Uncertain] from E&P. Please go ahead.
Hi, guys. Thanks for taking my questions. Firstly, just noticed you're flagging overall global factory space increasing by 42% in 2025. So we'd just like to understand what your current capacity utilization is overall, and what do you think the capacity increase is from this? Perhaps sort of how much growth or how many years of growth do you think this underpins? Thanks.
Well, the whole idea, Harry, is on the new factory. We're building this new factory for the next 20-30 years. And I think those have been to our current facility in Queensland. We'd see that we're struggling for room and our initial facility that we built in 2006. And then we purchased the property next door and then the property next door and then the property next door. So now we have a so-called rabbit warren, which is great, and it's been great for growth and what have you, but for efficiency, it hasn't been that great.
The whole thing is to build efficiency into our next building, no different to what we've done in Europe, in the U.K., and by using half of that factory space was certainly a great idea and will obviously fill up the rest of the factory space when that comes to fruition and the programs need to do that. So your question is how long it's going to last, or is that correct, is what you're saying, of the future growth? We're building this new facility with the right infrastructure to do the 20-30-year program.
Yeah. Got it. Thank you. Just also wondering, on the sort of 45-55 seasonality comment, I think you were talking about revenue across the group. Just wondering how that should drop through to margin compared to your first half. Margin was up, I think, 28.7% EBITDA. So how that could look in the second half given the sort of higher revenue.
Yeah. It'll be higher revenue, but our costs will be higher as well and what have you in the second half. So if we can have our NPAT margin in the 19s at the full year, I'd be very happy. And that's certainly our aim. And I think we can get there. So I think it's probably going to be around about that 19.5%-20% NPAT margin for the full year.
Great. Thanks. Just final one for me on motorsports overall growth. Do you see that sort of motorsports number as the new kind of run rate? And has there been sort of any pull forward, particularly in the advanced cooling side of that?
There's not too much being pulled forward. How do I see it in the future? Look, certainly this year and next year, we'll be in that 15% range ready. But in the year 2025, it's probably going to be a little bit more because they've got the F1, they've got the new car coming out, the new regulations and chassis coming out in 2026. And that new car in 2026 is very challenging. And we have got a lot of exposure into that car already, but it'll be certainly challenging. And when things are challenging, prices go up and what have you. So a little bit early to say, but if we can maintain that 15% growth year-over-year, particularly in motorsports today, or what we already have a very big saturation in that market, I think it'd be pretty good.
That's great. And just to clarify, the 15% is across emerging tech and advanced cooling and motorsports, the total number?
I missed that. I missed that, sorry. Sorry. Can you say that again? Sorry, I just had a bit of a blink on the line here.
Sorry. Just wondering, that 15% growth you're talking about, is that across everything in motorsports, so including emerging tech, your sort of total AUD 30.4 million?
Yes. Yes. Yes. Yep.
Okay. Thank you. That's all.
Thank you. Your next question comes from Claude Walker from A Rich Life. Please go ahead.
Hi. Thank you for taking my question. Given the confidence and optimism around the aerospace and defense sector over the next few years, I was just wondering, do you think there's any kind of political risk, for example, a change of government in the U.S. or anything like that? Are there any key programs that could be changed or defunded that might cause any kind of issues for the plants?
No. Yeah. To answer your question, no, I don't think there's any risk there. I've got to be careful how I answer that. I could have a personal view on it or a company view. No, the company view is that it'll be pretty much business as usual regardless of what government's in. My personal opinion is if Trump gets in, which people will say he might, he might not, but my personal opinion, if he does get in, I think the only way it'll increase, they will certainly increase a lot of their spending in aerospace and defense, without a doubt. I think one thing we're focused on is making sure we have a good spread of programs, and that's outlined in the pipeline, so we're not reliant on one big program that's overweight in the pipeline.
That's a very interesting detail. Thank you very much for that.
Thank you. Your next question comes from Jack Dunn from Citi. Please go ahead.
Thanks, guys. Just a quick follow-up. You mentioned before, Martin, that emerging tech is higher IP. So I'm assuming that means it's higher margin is what you're referring to there. So maybe give us a sense of how it compares to some of the advanced cooling?
As you can imagine, there's a whole broad range of products, but as you could appreciate, higher IP, higher expertise does allow us to charge a premium price.
Okay. And then with emerging tech to overtake motorsports and be the predominant source of revenue, does that not give upside potential to your 20% NPAT margin that you guys look at?
It certainly helps support, I suppose, the position of selling high-value product. The motorsport is, I suppose, a good product as well. So it probably supports maintaining and underpinning the work that we do. I wouldn't necessarily get too far ahead in any financial models as far as a step change in our margin, but this certainly helps underpin that.
Perfect. Thanks so much for taking my questions.
Thank you. Your next question comes from Chris Savage from Bell Potter. Please go ahead.
Hey, Kees. Hey, Martin.
Hey.
I guess I had a similar question to the one just asked because you've long held that 20% NPAT margin as your target. Is that still the target, or is it getting harder as the years go by just with the uplift in A&D?
Well, it's certainly more challenging, what have you. I think it comes back to what was said before, Chris. We certainly invest and spend a lot of money on personnel and resources and R&D and a lot of the stuff that we do. So we're spending a lot with our left hand, and then we're getting income on our right hand, and that can be anywhere from 6-12 months of that payback. I think you would know for sure that that's been our trend over the last five to seven years. So I see that still being like that in the future, but I think it might level out a little bit after in our new facility and what have you, call it 2026, 2027, that area.
Between now and 2026, we're going to certainly kind of have that continuous expenditure on R&D and development on programs before we get a proper payday out of that program.
Okay. And appreciating your earlier comments on that contract you walked away from as a stroke of genius, is it completely dead in the water, or is there a chance that it does come back?
Look, hey, there's always a chance to come back for sure. But our risk appetite, because we've got, and I've got to be careful how I say this, Chris, but I will say because we've got over an amount of opportunity of what we do, we don't need to take the risk. And I treat everything like my own money. And the board is risk-averse as well. So yes, as Rowan said in our board meeting yesterday, we look like geniuses. That's where that comment came from. But it was just the right decision. At the time, it was the right decision. And even today, it'd be still the right decision.
We have a lot of opportunity, and we certainly don't want to be bogged down with something that doesn't work or something that falls down on the other side of the world that's going to give us a damn good headache. So it's something I don't need, and I'm sure the shareholders don't want it to happen either. So yeah, there's always a chance that it might be still alive, but yeah, at this stage, we have no real appetite to revisit that on their current pricing.
Sure. Just last question. Just on the pipeline slide for aerospace and defense, I'm guessing or supposing there's a number of electric vehicle type tenders in there. Are you still at the prototype stage there, or have you actually got some contracts to start production?
Very close, Chris. Very close on moving from prototypes to first-off production. We actually have done some first-off production for a couple of those electric lift companies. And yeah, that'll sort of come in. That'll develop certainly in this next half of where we're at. So I think when we have our full-year delivery and the thing, I'm sure there'll be some contracts to speak about then. But yeah, it's very, very close. It's never done until, as you know, the ink is dry.
Sorry, just to follow up. Given there's four key electric lift companies, you own one, could this be F1 where you then dominate and be the principal supplier across all the key manufacturers?
We're certainly very, very involved in the four. And a couple of those four, it's not just coolers. It's a whole system that we're providing for them. So it's a whole cooling system, as in pipes and beddings and the whole lot. So in one box, there it is. That goes into that vehicle. No, don't have to get any from any other supplier, etc., etc. So some of those I'm thinking one of those aircraft do not hold me to this, but I think there's 170 different parts that we'll be supplying for that electric lift vehicle. So is it monkey see, monkey do? We're dealing with the four very heavily now. And are the four actually all going to get to production? Maybe, maybe not. But I think if one well, I certainly think that at least 50% will get to production, if not 75%.
Yes, we'll be busy for sure.
Good one. Thanks, Kees. Thanks, Martin.
Thanks, Chris.
Thanks, Chris.
Thank you. There are no further questions at this time. I'll now hand back to Mr. Weel for closing remarks.
Thank you. Yeah, thanks very much for everybody for dialing in. For us, it's been a very pleasing result. I look forward to talking to a few of you in the next few days. Let's concentrate on getting a great result for the full year. Thank you very much.
Thank you. That does conclude our conference for today. Thank you for participating. You may now disconnect.