Thank you, John, and I would like to add my welcome, and good morning to this year's Annual General Meeting. As many of you would be aware, Peter Warren has been operating in Australia for over six decades, and we have expanded our footprint, building a reputation among customers, OEMs, and the broader automotive industry as a trusted dealership group, establishing a thriving network of over 80 dealerships across the eastern seaboard of Australia. As outlined in the company's full year results on 22nd of August, we were pleased to deliver a solid result. I would describe the period as one which demonstrated the diversity of our revenue streams, and one which also validated our position as a dealer of choice for both our customers and the OEMs we represent. It also demonstrated our sustainable income streams, despite some external factors influencing our ability to deliver vehicles.
Our total revenue for FY 2023 came in at a record AUD 2.07 billion, up 21% on FY 2022, AUD 1.71 billion. Remembering that this incorporates the added performance of the Penfold acquisition, which was acquired in the comparative period. During FY 2023, we have demonstrated a proactive approach to driving revenue with double-digit growth in all key revenue streams. Underlying EBITDA grew by over AUD 10 million, or 8%, representing a solid outcome in a period in which we absorbed a modest contraction in gross margin and the impact of cost inflation. Our profit before tax was marginally ahead of our expectations for the period at AUD 81.9 million. This was down around 7% on the prior comparative period, as we, like many of our peers, were faced with rising interest costs, but we are pleased with this overall outcome.
Statutory net profit after tax was consistent with the result from the prior year, equating to earnings per share of AUD 0.328. We paid an AUD 0.11 per share, fully franked dividend for the six-month period in the weeks after our announcement, bringing our FY 2023 total dividend to AUD 0.22. This is in line with the prior period's total dividend and is testament to our focus on delivering returns for our shareholders. We remain focused on delivering on our acquisition strategy and have the capacity to act when value-enhancing opportunities arise. At 4%, our net debt to property value, a key measure of our ability to acquire businesses, closed in a strong position, and our net debt to EBITDA is a positive signal of our strong capital management strategy.
On slide five, our highlights page for FY 2023 draws on some key themes in the current climate. Firstly, we are not immune to the higher cost environment, and we continue to focus on strong inventory management and cost reduction measures to offset rising costs. We are encouraged by our increasing penetration and growth in parts and service. This has come on the back of investment in our processes and technologies to ensure we can maximize our throughput on a per-order basis, as well as through efficiencies achieved as we scale our operations. At the same time, we continue developing our digital offering and building upon our out-of-dealership capability, allowing our assets to work for us while the physical sites are closed. We have invested in technology to enhance our current revenues and provide our customers with 24/7 access to our products and services.
This provides us with cost efficiencies and greater centralization. Our goal is to provide a consistent customer experience through all of our sales channels: in person, online, self-service, call center, and via our chat capabilities. Our order book remains very strong and continues to provide a buffer against gross margin contraction in new cars as inventory supply improves. We anticipate a slow and steady unwind of that order book going forward. The group has actively pursued our growth pillars throughout the year, and our management team worked tirelessly on our organic growth as we focused on strengthening our digital capabilities, embracing the adoption of New Energy Vehicles, and engaging with our suppliers in the shifting supply dynamics. I am delighted with the strength of the team and our collaborative approach to embracing these catalyst events that are changing the nature of the automotive industry, both in Australia and globally.
We expect growth from a range of capabilities, including consumer-focused initiatives, technology-based solutions, cost reduction programs, cost recovery measures, and an improving vehicle supply. Our group is well placed to take advantage of this market and continue to act as a consolidator of dealerships. We also have the capital management plan to execute acquisitions when required. We continue to adopt a disciplined approach to the evaluation of acquisition opportunities, as demonstrated by the Toyota and Volkswagen dealerships after year-end. This has been a significant milestone for us, and we're delighted to welcome Australia's market leader into our stable of brands, and we look forward to pursuing further opportunities. Our industry will continue to change and evolve, as will our customers' expectations. I expect the rate of change to increase further, and our ability to remain resilient and adapt is vital to our success.
This truly is an exciting time for our business, our partners, our people, and our customers. On the right-hand side of the slide, there is some commentary on our FY 2024 outlook. During FY 2023, we experienced improvement in new vehicle supply in some brands, which has been a factor in driving our revenue increase of around 21%, alongside growth in parts and service, as we embrace new technologies and achieve scale economies in these operations. Challenges related to inconsistency of supply, port congestion, and product mix remain, and while these are easing, they still hamper the accurate prediction of delivery schedules. In the 10 weeks since our update in August, we continued to experience a reasonable performance in an environment that is certainly tougher than 12 months ago.
New vehicle supply has increased across most of the brands, albeit inconsistently, leading to higher volumes of vehicles delivered to our customers. This supported the continuation of the revenue growth we experienced in FY 2023. Our customers have benefited from increased vehicle availability. However, increased inventory has also brought limited pressure on new car margins in some pockets as dealers manage stock and aim to match with customer demand. This is not across the board and appears limited to certain brands and models… From a demand perspective, interest rates are impacting customers with new vehicle orders, marginally below the peaks at this time last year. As outlined in August, we expect an increase in interest costs due to elevated interest rates and inventory levels. We continue to focus on inventory and cost management, with significant cost reduction programs continuing across our business.
These external factors are somewhat cushioned by the strength of our order bank and by other revenue streams, including a strong parts and service business, which continue to grow. As FY 2024 progresses, we'll continue to monitor and manage these external factors to maximize the trading outcome of the business. Our recent acquisitions are contributing to our revenue growth as these brands have enjoyed a period of strong supply. These dealerships are operating well, are largely integrated into our operating model, and are performing to our expectations. We also envisage FY 2024 will see further growth in the supply of New Energy Vehicles, with a new wave of products coming to market. Our focus is on supporting our OEM partners as these models are supplied, and we have a vast range of New Energy Vehicles in our current model lineup to service the needs of our wide-ranging customer base.
This range is expected to increase by around 90% in the coming 12 months, which will see our offering extend to 90+ models. I'd like to emphasize, we have a strong representation in each of the volume, prestige, and luxury segments. Peter Warren is well-positioned for the second wave, and we expect the early market leaders will be naturally diluted as the supply lag improves across a wider group of OEMs. Many of our facilities are New Energy Vehicle-ready, and we continue our focus on opportunities arriving from complementary consumer products and adoption of new revenue streams through strategic partnerships linked to this growth. In closing then, I'm confident the group is well-placed to take advantage of both organic and strategic acquisition opportunities that arise as the market conditions change.
I'd like to thank our team for their dedication and determination to keep delivering in this changing environment, and I'd also like to thank our business partners and our investors for their continued support throughout this period. Thank you.
John?
Thank you. I'll hand back to you.
Thank you, Mark. We will now move to the formal part of the meeting. The notice of meeting, updated the 28th of September 2023, was circulated to members, and I will take the notice of meeting read as read. Before moving on, the various resolutions to be considered today, I will now briefly outline the meeting and voting procedures for today's meeting. When you registered your attendance this morning, you would have been issued with an attendance card. Only those with a yellow card can vote at the meeting. All resolutions will be determined by poll, and I appoint Link Market Services to act as returning officer for the purpose of the vote today. I'll put each resolution to the meeting in turn, and shareholders will be given the opportunity to ask questions or make any comments in relation to those resolutions.
After that, I'll put each resolution to a poll. At the end of the resolutions, Link will collect the poll cards from you. As Chairman of the meeting, I intend to vote all available proxies in favor of each resolution. The first item of formal business is to receive and consider the company's financial statements and reports for the financial year ending 30th of June 2023. As set out in the annual report, a copy of the annual report was made available on the company's website, the ASX platform, and was sent to all those shareholders who requested it. This iIem of business does not require a shareholder to vote on the reports. I will take the reports as read. I would like to take any general questions or comments about the reports or questions for the auditor.
Are there any questions on the financial statements at this point?
Jim, I have some questions, more about the presentation. Sorry, Greg Hoffman, proxy holder. I have some general questions about the presentation today, but I don't know if you'd like to take them at the end or whether now is appropriate, or... They're just kind of general questions about-
At the end, we will have a general section for any of those general questions, but each resolution, you'll have the opportunity to ask any questions or queries that you might have. Thank you. The first item. Sorry. Are there any further questions on the financial statements? There are no questions. Firstly, as this will be the last AGM that Deloitte will be auditing our company, they have audited the company for the last 15 odd years. We'd like to, I should like to record the company's thanks to Tara Hill and the Deloitte team. Deloitte have been our advisors for many years, and we wish them all the best in the future and thank you for your professional service.
We appreciate it, particularly over the period of the last three years, the IPO and the first few years as a public company. So thanks, Tara. If there are no other questions, we'll move to the next item of business. We will now move to Resolution 1, which is for the re-election of Niran Peiris as a director and is set out on the screen. Are there any questions on the reappointment of Niran? Being no questions, there are, and here are the proxies as shown on the screen here. If there's no questions, we'll move on to Resolution 2. Is for the re-election of Paul Warren as a director and is set out on the screen. Are there any questions about the reappointment of Paul? The proxies are listed on the screen up behind me.
If there are no questions, please now complete your voting card. Resolution. We will now move to Resolution 3, which is the non-binding and advisory vote of the company's remuneration for the year ending 30 June 2023, and is set out on the screen. Are there any questions on the remuneration report? The proxies are shown on the screen behind me. If there are no questions, thank you. Please now complete your voting card. Resolution 4 is the appointment of the auditor. We will move now to Resolution 4, which is for the approval of the appointment of KPMG as auditor, and is set out on the screen. Are there any questions about this appointment? If there are not, the proxies are shown on the screen. Thank you. Please complete your voting card.
We will now move to Resolution 5, which is the approval of the equity plan, is set out on the screen. Are there any questions with respect to the equity plan? The proxies are showing... The proxy voting is shown on the screen for your information. If there are no questions, please now complete your voting card. As that was the final resolution to be considered at the meeting, I would ask you to hand your voting cards to the Link representative. That completes the formal part of the meeting. We now move to general business, where I'll open the floor to any questions from any of the shareholders.
I have a few, but I'm happy to take some of them offline if you want to wrap the meeting up at any stage. I'm only a relatively new shareholder, so I'm just still trying to wrap my mind around the business and the strategy. So that's really what most of these questions are about. Mark mentioned in his address about the recent acquisition providing further opportunities. Can you explain how that acquisition, in particular, is it just bringing the Toyota into the stable, or can you just flesh that out a little bit in terms of the other opportunities that acquisition brings that weren't there prior to that acquisition?
Yeah, sure. Was it Greg?
Yes.
Great. Morning, Greg. Sorry, I'll turn that on. Thank you. We were previously not able to bring Toyota into our stable as a result of having a significant private equity participant on our share register. So that was something that was a legacy issue from when we IPO'd.
Is that Toyota?
Toyota, yeah.
That's, that's Toyota.
Toyota.
It wasn't specific to Bill Warren. They hold that as a set of rules for who owns and who doesn't own Toyota dealerships across the country. Having seen Quadrant Private Equity exit the register, we were, of course, given the afforded the opportunity to go back to Toyota and ask for their consideration. So we acquired the business that was privately owned by the Warren family. So we acquired that business. There were two Toyota dealerships in there, one in Liverpool at Warwick Farm, where our sort of mothership operations are, and the other in Bathurst. The significance of that, the milestone event, is that that was really a passing through of Toyota's set of rules and standards.
Are we a suitable participant to go forward with them? So once you've opened that banner, then the opportunities with Toyota will carry on. So up until that acquisition, we weren't able to bring Toyota anywhere in the country. Now that the front gate are open, but now that opportunity set is much larger. And so both Paul and I who both works very actively in the acquisitive space in the management team, we're working very hard on looking at all opportunities in the market, but we're no longer prohibited from any of the brands that are represented other than those that are direct to market like Tesla.
I just add, Toyota is 25% of the market, so we did have one arm tied behind our back in our growth strategy as a result of that. So that cleared that log jam, and we think that's a very, potentially a very large improvement over the next two or three years we can make.
Now, this may or may not be appropriate, but I noticed the deal Eagers recently did, and I don't know the Warren family's position, but are there other dealerships that the Warren family owns, or are they all now within this group? Is there potential for more of those kind of transactions-
Yeah
- to come, you know, from this channel or?
I'll be able to answer that. So when we IPO'd, all of the Warren family's businesses, dealership businesses, were rolled into the IPO process, anything connected with Toyota. There was one Volkswagen business that sat alongside the Toyota business in Bathurst. They are now all inside the operations, and whilst they have other interests in property, et cetera, outside, all of the dealership interests are now inside the public company.
If anybody else has any questions, I'll stop, because I have a few, but, in the board's view or management's view, what are the pitfalls and risks that you've seen when you look at other industry consolidators that are, you know, following this path? You know, what are the worst-case scenarios with acquisitions? What are the problems people fall into? You know, I guess you've done some kind of industry review and study and thought. What are the things to sort of watch out for and be careful of?
I'll just answer that one for one area, then I'll hand it to Mark and Paul, who might have something to add to it. This is a very fragmented industry made up by families, not the Warren, but a multitude of small dealerships. We are in the hands, and we work very closely with our OEMs. The OEMs now are getting to a stage where they want consolidation to get some more discipline into the market. So there, that's why we believe consolidation around that East Coast stretch of market, particularly adding on to hubs where we have concentration, where we can leverage our distribution of parts and other factors and add value to the business. Paul, would you?
John, can I? Greg, it's [audio distortion], Greg. Greg, I would say the greatest risk would be falling out with an OEM. When I say falling out, them not liking our culture, our strategy, or management style, because they're very influential on the granting of those franchises and whatever. So I think to answer your question, I would say that the one of the greatest risk is absolutely not having a good relationship with an OEM, and therefore not having the opportunity of acquiring and getting approval. And I think, as I think Mark and John have alluded to, the family and the management of this company have had a long relationship with all our OEMs and continue to grow those relationships.
Again, performing, management's got to perform, but also as a, as a culture and looking after your customers, that's important as well. So hopefully that answers your question.
I guess just one other aspect.
Sure.
Valuation. Are the valuations of these things change end up fairly well established? Is that not typically a pitfall people fall into overpaying or?
Are you happy for me to answer this?
Yeah.
Okay. In the industry, there are established, I guess, parameters for what are the... So you talk about what you call sustainable earnings, the first thing. So we look at a business and we'd say, excuse me, what do we think sustainable over the next number of years? We probably don't worry about turnover too much. We think, you know, if you're granted the franchise, the turnover will gradually increase. So we look at the sustainable earnings, and then we look at a mixture of those franchises. In other words, what, you know, what the normal return on sales are, what their futures are, and then geographic positions, you know, in terms of the demographic and the management of that company. And that determines, I guess, the multiple you pay and how you get into that.
Yeah, and if I can add there as well, Paul, I think that's, that's good, a good summary. Yeah, there are some areas like, for example, we may represent Toyota in a certain location, but it's not a representation of Toyota on a national scale. So that local representation becomes very important and market share and concentration becomes very important. So if we're able to achieve another brand in one of our sort of automotive concepts, we can add 4%, 5%, 6%, 7% more market share to an existing operation. We get huge scales out of the back end of these businesses through the centralization of reconditioning and predelivery, yeah, our finance functions, et cetera.
So we're able to achieve a lot of economies that some of the other smaller, going back to John's point, more fragmented cottage industry, mum and dad investors just simply can't achieve. Of course, there's always, there's always a bit of execution risk as well. We do need to integrate, and that's important. But having now set up our sort of east ern seaboard strategy with major hubs in each of the key states, I think we're in a really good place to keep executing on the kind of acquisitions that Paul's referring to.
Just giving you one example there, Greg, you talk about parts. So all of a sudden, you grab another parts business. So you've got the one truck going out, you add another brand or two brands onto that. It's the same parts manager, it's normally the same warehouse, it's the same truck. So that gets your costs down or gets your economies of scale. So they're important as well.
When you look across the industry, when you're looking at acquisitions, is there a range of quality in terms of how some of these things are operated, that you can say, "Okay, we can add value to that. They're not doing this, they're not automated?
100%. 100%.
Yeah.
Go on, you go.
Certainly, and there are great operators, there are some weaker operators, and I think some of that depends on location. I mean, for example, the same brand could become available to us in a standalone town, we'll call it Newcastle, where we can't quite get the efficiencies as we would be able to in the Gold Coast or in Victoria, in central Melbourne, for example. So we would look at the strength of the management team. There's one of about eight criteria.
Yeah.
One of them is certainly sustainability of earnings, another one is the multiple that we're paying. But there's a lot of other things, the property set up, you know, the brand mix, the market share, et cetera, that we would consider in each of those. And there's about eight or nine different criteria that we would measure that against.
Other things being equal, would you prefer to own the property or not?
Look, that's an interesting question. We have come to market with a view of consolidating, and so property has been instrumental in our ability to do that. We brought property into our balance sheet on day one of the IPO. That's quite strategic property. The two mothership operations, 22 acres and 8 acres, 8.5 acres, 9 acres, so they're sizable operations. I think we'd like to have the ability to be able to consider properties in our acquisition journey if that was important to a vendor, but it's not necessarily, you know, a key significance of ours. We like to invest in where we are gonna get those scale operations in back of house, not necessarily in the standalone, you know, side of a major highway.
Greg, the only other thing I'd add to that is that there's no secret that bricks and mortar businesses, in terms of how it's set up now, will probably change in the future. So if you've got a real, what I call a hub in particular areas, I think that's an advantage, you know, in terms of, you know, the costs there. So I see that, but you've got to be strategic in terms of that, you know, that property acquisition.
Also the land usage.
Yeah.
Land usage charges, it can get too expensive to operate in those sites. So that's why the relationship with the OEMs is very important, knowing where they want you to be.
Yeah.
So you might actually go easy at one site to sell them more somewhere else, further out as a setup and give a wider range of products on that site.
So when you say land usage charges, what are you referring to, to rates or just the rent, or what it, what...?
Well, the OEMs have a plan themselves, a footprint. They want to make sure they're getting coverage in particular areas. We have to be aware of that and where we are and where the purchase is, and where the opportunities for real estate acquisition might be.
Got a couple more, but I'm-
Sure.
I don't want to tie it up. One was around just higher interest rates. You did mention it, Mark, in your presentation. I guess when I just think about it from the outside, there's the impact on the economy, the consumer tightening up and the flow on of that. There's the corporate level debt, and then I guess the floor plan-
Correct.
-finance. Are they the kind of major factors that play into it?
Yeah. They are. There's a fourth factor as well, which is how consumers are paying for their vehicles. So we're a provider of finance through a broker, essentially, to those individuals. That has an impact on how people might pay for their vehicle. But the largest impact... I mean, we have a significant inventory carry on our balance sheet. Now, vehicle, it all sounds perfect. Vehicles don't just arrive and a day later, they go out. Some need quite a bit of preparation, some need complete rebuild and fit out, and that could take three, six months in some instances, particularly some fleet business.
Yeah.
So the time when that's there, that's sat on our inventory, and we've got a floor plan balance. So the one thing we didn't anticipate going into FY 2023 was the number of interest rate rises that were going to impact. And on, in the case of floor plan, everything is variable. So we are at the behest of that. But we have a, and maybe Victor might come in here, we have a lot of programs around our inventory management and making sure we're scaling down the amount of time that we're holding vehicles and working with the OEMs [audio distortion] customer to reduce the holding time that we have.
But of course, as supply increases, you will naturally start to see a bit of available inventory, demonstrator vehicles, et cetera, coming into the market where we haven't had that during COVID. So those are the impacts that are largely cutting into that interest cost line.
When I think about the business, it has come off an extraordinary period. The industry's come off an extraordinary period in terms of margins and turnover and demand and all that. So that's normalizing from what you're saying. So in my mind, the margins are coming down off an extraordinary number. The margins are coming down to something more normal. Who knows, it may dip below normal, but at the same time, you are getting a push on that floor plan finance-
Yeah
-as well as, as-
Yeah, correct. So, the pre-COVID position was there was a lot of inventory held in Australia, full stock. So one, they were on the key side, two, they were sat with the OEMs, and three, they were in the dealer network. So, I'm not sure we're gonna quite get back to that sort of inventory levels that we saw pre-COVID. There's a much more orderly pattern to the way that the OEMs now produce and ship and logistically arrange for vehicles to arrive in our stock. And so I think that's improved, but the interest rate has been the counter effect of that. So, yes, we will keep measuring that very, very carefully.
As I said, we have 15 or 20 different monitors and measures in place to ensure that we can reduce the amount of exposure we have to it, especially sold inventory, for the minimum amount of time that we can, but by just improving the speed at which we can pre-deliver cars and get them to into customers' hands.
We are still receiving backwash from the COVID period where the supply chain hurts. All of a sudden, that started to clear, and that's caused this inventory issue that Mark-
Yeah
is talking about. And also, from moving from agency to franchise, there's been a few large companies doing that as well. So all those movements have been... come through.
Just elaborate on that, on that change. What does that mean, the agency to franchise?
Well, agency, they own the vehicle, and we just get a commission to sell it.
Yeah. It's the other way around. We've moved in some instances from franchise to agency. But the main bulk of our operations are still operated under a franchising model. We have circa 4% or 5% of our business, maybe a little bit higher, maybe 7% or 8%, operate under an agency model. So we don't actually hold the inventory in that case.
And you mentioned a number of your sites already. I forget the terminology, New Energy Vehicle.
Yeah.
Can you explain to me, what does the site need to be New Energy Vehicle- ready?
Yeah. So there's a few things in that. So being EV- ready is another bit of terminology you hear out there. So we need to have the charging capability inside our workshops and showrooms. That sounds quite straightforward. Some of these are what you would see on the side of a residential house, the wall box. The wall box is great, but it takes about eight hours to charge a car. So we have the super-fast chargers at our sites, and that often plays on the grid capacity, the amount of power we got to put through a distribution board, et cetera. So we've done a lot of audits and prepared ourselves for each of those occasions.
We're still working through some of those in our smaller sites, but our larger locations are ready for the supply that's coming, and we've got workshops and showrooms and car parking areas fully kitted out and ready to go for whenever this explosion in electric vehicles comes.
Not here yet.
No, not, not quite here yet. I mean, it is growing, it is growing. And, as we've seen around the world, it's grown and tapered, and we're not quite sure exactly where Australia will fit. Maybe the fuel efficiency standards will give us a steer on that. But, we're ready, and we're working with the OEMs, and you know, we're very, we're very sure to ensure that the OEMs know that we are willing to be pilots and drive this process forward. So we're certainly at the front of the front of the pack.
I'll make this my last one, so we don't go too long. But just in terms of what the board sees as the changes in the industry that are, that are risks or, or threats to the business, things that are going on more broadly out there, what's, what's on your mind and, and what are you concerned about?
I'll certainly start, and then I'll invite the others. I think there are a couple of catalyst events that are occurring at the moment. So one we've spoken about already, which is the change in the mix, the product itself, the move from internal combustion engine to electric. That sounds fairly inconsequential, and you're gonna go through time, you've had diesel and you've had petrol. What's the big deal? There's a bit of an ecosystem that exists around electric vehicles. And that means, you know, you've got to fuel your car differently. You might think about how you charge at home or at work. And that provides us with, I think, quite a great deal of opportunity going forward, that maybe we don't own that space in the petrol engine variant.
So, that's one, and that will change over time.
Sorry, what, what would that be? What, what is then the opportunity?
Well, the nature of... I mean, the concept of sort of parking your car in a car park downstairs, or you've got your car parked outside your house, tethered to your house, I think that changes the dynamic quite a bit to, one, the tethers themselves, two, the charging unit, three, how you think about how you're generating the power at home, your energy plans, et cetera, your insurance. All these things start coming to play, whereas previously it was a vehicle, and our job was to manage your mobility in that vehicle, transact at the point of transaction, and then keep you through parts and service. I think there's a different connection between the driver and electric vehicle going forward, given the fueling status of it. So that, that's interesting, something we keep exploring.
The other side is just the mass digitization of everything, and you only need to look at, you know, Uber and taxis to see, you know, what that does. People we are have transparency, et cetera, in the process they go through. I think that'll be a significant catalyst in itself going forward. You put that together with EVs, and that means we need to be at the, you know, the forefront and the cutting edge of the digital additional digital relationship with consumers, which gets outside of our localities and could spread, you know, right across the whole city, for example. And the last piece, which John already touched on, is the supply dynamic, and we've been through, you know, significant up... What's the word I'm looking for?
Upheaval in the last few years through COVID with zero supply. I think as we start to see that come back, and we're trying to find, as an industry, the balance of how many vehicles should we now hold to be able to service, you know, the poor person that's wrapped their car around a lamp post and needs a car tomorrow, versus the person that is naturally conditioned to say, "It's okay to wait eight to 12 weeks." I think there's a bit of balance to find there. In isolation, these three things are probably all very manageable together. I think, you know, the timing of them creates a slightly more, you know, catalyst event.
And so that's something we think about on a daily basis, and we're very well prepared and planned for the next three to five years.
I think Mark's...
Open it up.
I think Mark's covered it perfectly, Greg. The only thing I would add to it, each OEM has probably a different strategy, right? And just making sure you understand what that strategy is. So some OEMs previously used to incentivize you very much for volume, right? So you'd drop your gross to get the incentive. Now, with COVID and all that, some of them saying: Well, what are we paying that for? You know, in terms of all that money, let's sort of try and manage our inventory better so that we're not having to do that.
So, I think the other thing, too, is to make sure our management and our team are all over the strategy of the OEM, so that you're, you're fully aware of where they're going, how they're handling, and what you're doing, and you, you manage that brand accordingly. So-
How we've been the best brand ambassadors for them.
Yeah.
I mean, at the end of the day, our supply agreements with the OEM are critical to our business.
Yeah.
Going back to your point-
Yeah
65 years in business, it's only been two and a bit as a public company.
Yeah.
But the strength of those relationships are really, really important, and so we wanna be both pioneers-
Right
and good, strong ambassadors
Yeah
- for all the brands we represent.
So one other thing, Greg, I'd say is one of the advantages of a public company is, it's access to capital. And what we're seeing, and again, look at the family situation over the last number of years, this ability to go out and take that capital and expand with the OEMs. The OEMs like that, and I think that's a real strength for our business going forward. That if we're the right OEM partners, and we've got the right access to capital, there's a good story there.
I think it's a separate question then.
That's right
- that occurs to me around capital allocation and dividends versus all, all of that. But the other one I was just gonna ask on, and you may not want to comment on in this forum, but the Mercedes case, is that something on the-
So, I’ll comment-
Of course.
I'll comment briefly.
Probably answer.
On the Mercedes case has finalized, the OEMs won the case in court. We were one of the participants in that. We are a very large Mercedes-Benz dealer. We're still operating our operations around Sydney, and we think right now, you know, that we need to get back to doing what both the OEM and us as retailers do best, which is looking after our customers and making sure they're well looked after. That's been knocked around a little bit while we've been, you know, at each other in court. Now's the time for us to focus back on the customer set.
And then, do you want to come back to the capital allocation? You know, in terms of access to that capital, but then I wouldn't say there's a conflict or a tension with-
Yeah
... with the dividends, but how do you balance it? Is there, I should know, I guess, as a shareholder, but is there a stated dividend policy, or will you just look at it?
Yeah.
If you've got a big acquisition, you cut the dividend back, or, you know, how do you think?
We have a dividend policy. We've enunciated in the prospectus and every year.
As dividend policy is normally around a 60% payout ratio, but of course, with capital requirements and the cash flow at the time, we review that every six months when we declare a dividend. But we, you know, we're fully aware that it is a dividend stock as well, and we take that into account. But of course, if we, you know, made a big acquisition, we might have to fund it by some part from shares or issues. So, our dividend policy is pretty stable, subject to the cash flow of the company at the time.
I'll leave it there, so we don't blow out. Thank you. Thank you very much.
It's good being asked questions, Greg. Thank you.
Any other questions?
I'm also a new shareholder. I wonder if you could tell me what opportunities you see for the new Western Sydney Airport, given that your flagship is not that far away from there?
Yeah-
Would you like to tell us what you can see on the horizon?
I'll start with that one. The great news is we've seen good opportunities out of that. Our business operations in Sydney are centered around the Liverpool Warwick Farm area and down into the Macarthur region, Campbelltown, and Narellan. Both of those areas actually typically have that area within our PMAs already, and so we're well positioned with the OEMs. For those that have decided to carve that out or that aren't, we're in deep discussions with them about representation in that area. But we think there's a strong opportunity. I mean, the network of motorways alone lends itself to things like, you know, the way we think about distribution of our parts business, the centralization of some of our activities, et cetera.
So we're looking in that space. There's nothing to talk about today, but it's one, it's inside our PMAs, which is important. PMA, for those who aren't familiar, is the set of postcodes that the OEMs allow us to operate in. So we are very well positioned for Badgerys Creek and the surrounding area, and it's very much something we're looking at. In fact, it's very top of mind. We were talking about it just before.
You could open a greenfield site there, something like that.
Could, could-
It's possible.
Yeah.
It's possible.
Can I just add-
Yeah, Paul.
Sorry.
Yeah, Paul.
Can I just add one thing to that? I'll try painting it a really simple situation, that all of a sudden, if your business is there, and you've got these growing areas around there, but you've got dairy paddocks over here, and all of a sudden, those dairy paddocks are about to turn into a city called Bradfield, and probably our third biggest city in Sydney, you go, "Wow!" Because there's an opportunity, you know, whether you're school teachers, tradesmen, or whatever. So the point I'm trying to make is already growing areas. We've got dairy farms and, you know, market gardeners all here. I was out there. I just said to Mark, I was out there yesterday, you know, spent two or three hours. It's amazing. It's amazing.
All of a sudden, that changes from growing roses and cattle to whatever, and Bradfield becomes a city. You are gonna win anyhow. You are gonna win. Okay, so hopefully that answers your question.
Any other questions? Oops. Well, thank you for those questions. I think, I hope they've been useful to you. That ends the formal part of the Annual General Meeting, and I now declare the meeting closed. The results of the meeting will be announced on the ASX company announcements platform and will be available on the company's website as soon as possible after the close of the meeting. Thank you for participating in our meeting today and for your continuing support. I invite you to join the directors informally for tea, and coffee will be served outside. Thank you very much.