Thank you for standing by, and welcome to the Reece Limited full year results. All participants are in a listen-only mode. There will be a presentation, followed by a question-and-answer session. If you would like to ask a question, you'll need to press the star key followed by the 1 on your telephone keypad. I would now like to hand the conference over to Mr. Peter Wilson, Group CEO. Please go ahead.
Good morning, thank you all for joining us on our FY23 results call. Today, we will take you through an overview of our result for the year, reminder of the Reece lueprint, a review of our operational and financial highlights, and then some high-level thoughts on the outlook for FY24. We've delivered another strong performance this year in a softening macro environment. Group sales are up 16% on the prior year, to AUD 8.8 billion, with a positive contribution from inflation, while demand softened from the peaks of recent years. ANZ sales were up 10% to AUD 3.9 billion, and US sales were up 12% in US dollars. Normalized EBITDA was up 16% to AUD 975 million. Adjusted EBIT was up 19% to AUD 668 million.
Adjusted NPAT was up 11% to AUD 405 million. The board has declared a final dividend of AUD 0.17 per share, bringing their total dividend for the full year to AUD 0.25. Turning now to recap on our strategy and blueprint. As we've outlined previously, our blueprint does guide what we do across all areas of our business. We are a purpose and values-led organization, and our 2030 vision is to be our trade's most valuable partner. Our three strategic priorities help bring our vision to life. Each of these elements come together to help us deliver on our promise of customized service. Today, we've got a clear customer proposition, a trusted brand in ANZ, and a growing presence in the US.
We've got a track record of delivering a sustainable level of profitability through the cycle, and we are a diversified business by geography, customer, and end market, with a long-term focus on the less cyclic R&R market. We operate in what we think are two of the most attractive regions, and we are well-capitalized to support our long-term approach of investing to build a stronger business. Turning to look at sustainability, where we are at the very early stages of executing our strategy. During FY23, we set emissions reductions targets in our first sustainability report, and we've made progress operationalizing our strategy, building out a roadmap to achieve our targets, and completing our first project in the Reece Foundation, an initiative that we're really proud of.
We know that we've got a lot more to learn in the area, but we are committed to playing a role in driving sustainable change. We will do this the Reece Way by always being customer-led. Now, turning to look at the strategic progress in our business this year. We've made good progress operationally in FY23. After a couple of years of trading at peak levels, we took the opportunity to go back to basics by focusing on our customers and our people. We've been bedding down the many changes and significant growth of the past five years and preparing the business to head into a phase of stability. We've focused on core programs like selling skills across both regions, this is an absolute fundamental for our business and requires constant attention to enable the continued success of the Reece model.
As labor markets remain tight, we've focused on both attracting and retaining new talent and rolling out a range of new development programs. This played a major role in helping us to bring the Reece brand to life through our people. Of course, we've continued to focus on strengthening our customer service proposition, both for today and into the future, through services and digital tools. Turning to ANZ, our network density remains a competitive advantage. It provides us with the scale that enables our market-leading position and helps us deliver our customer promise. We've increased the rate of store openings this year following COVID, opening 9 new stores, closing 2 branches, and acquiring 3 branches with a small bolt-on acquisition in the pool space, which we completed at the end of October. We've also refurbished 21 branches.
Turning to the US, we continue to upgrade and improve our existing network and roll out new branches in refreshed formats across our business units. We've remained focused on increasing our offerings to the more resilient R&R market. This is still a very small part of the US business today, but in time, it's an area where Reece can have a differentiated proposition for our customers. In FY23, we rolled out 15 new branches with a positive customer response. We have a clear pipeline of new stores for FY24, and we continue to see a sustainable rate of organic new branch growth, being around 10-15 stores per year. We also completed 10 refurbishments. We made a strategic acquisition of a small 12-branch refrigeration and air conditioning wholesaler in Texas, which adds refrigeration to our US HVAC business.
Finally, we began our brand rollout, with California now trading as Reece. The brand rollout is now heading east across Arizona, Nevada, North Carolina, and Georgia. Before I pass to Andrew, I think it's worth taking a moment to reflect on our journey so far in the US. Since we acquired Morsco 5 years ago, the team has systematically begun to uplift all aspects of the business. Some of this is very visible, like the physical upgrade of branches, the expansion of our network, rolling out the Reece brand, and the recent launch of our online platform, Max. Equally important is hiring, training, and developing our team to understand and embody the Reece Way, and are ready to deliver on our customer promise.
This is evident in the more than doubling of our senior branch team, who are now homegrown team members, setting the standard for serving our customers every day. There's still a very long way to go in the US, but we are putting in building blocks in place to help drive our success into the future. By 2030, we will be trading as one unified Reece brand across the US, with a bigger network and a deeper set of capabilities across our team, delivering our customer promise and enabling our vision of being our trade's most valuable partner in that market. 5 years in, the rationale for the acquisition is still intact. We are making good progress. I'm now gonna hand across to Andrew, who will take you through our financial result in more detail.
Thank you, Peter. In FY23, the group achieved sales revenue of AUD 8.8 billion and adjusted EBIT of AUD 668 million across nearly 900 branches in Australia, New Zealand, and the U.S. Over the last five years, the group has navigated significant macro challenges. Reece has benefited over this time by having a long-term lens and deeply disciplined operational culture. We continue to focus on our long-term investment strategy and a disciplined approach to capital management. One of our key metrics to measure long-term success is through return on capital employed, which is calculated using adjusted EBIT. This year, we were pleased ROCE increased 200 basis points to 15.3%, which is the highest level since the acquisition of Morsco in FY19. On to the financial highlights of FY23.
Despite softening product volumes throughout the year, Reece has delivered another strong result in FY23. Sales revenue for the group was up 16% to $8.8 billion, which was positively influenced by a favorable FX dynamic due to the strengthening US dollar and inflation across our product portfolio. On a constant currency basis, sales to the group were up 11% from FY22. Normalized EBITDA was up 16% for the year to $975 million, and adjusted EBIT increased 19% to $668 million. Adjusted EBIT excludes non-recurring BAC income of $16 million and a $29 million impairment recognized in the first half. Adjusted net profit after tax was up 11% to $405 million. Adjusted earnings per share for the year of $0.63 is up 11% on the prior year.
Our net leverage ratio as at 30 June was 0.9 times. Normalized EBITDA margin was maintained at 11%, with a small increase of 7 basis points. Operating expenses grew due to inflation across components of our cost of doing business and compensation increases. The board has declared a final dividend of AUD 0.17 per share, taking the total dividend for FY23 to AUD 0.25 per share. On to the ANZ region. The ANZ region delivered a solid result in FY23. Sales revenue was up 10% to AUD 3.9 billion. From a quality of earnings perspective, it is important to note that sales growth was positively influenced by product inflation across our range, averaging 9% during the period. Volumes were up 1% compared to the prior year, with demand moderating throughout the year.
Normalized EBITDA was up 9% to AUD 573 million, while normalized EBITDA margin decreased 8 basis points for the year. This was inclusive of BAC income, which is non-recurring, with no further BAC income expected in FY24. Reported EBIT increased 3% to AUD 408 million, whilst adjusted EBIT was up 11% to AUD 421 million. The delta between reported EBIT and adjusted EBIT relates to the exclusion of AUD 16 million of BAC income for the year and a AUD 29 million goodwill impairment relating to Metal flex. The Metal flex business unit services the heating and cooling sector and was impacted during COVID-19, and thereafter, by a regular cool weather experienced in Australia during the first half of FY23.
During the year, the ANZ region continued to experience inflationary impacts on our cost of doing business, including energy, transport, and logistics. Wage inflation was more pronounced during the second half of the year due to the timing of compensation increases. We remain cautious on the outlook for the ANZ region, and as such, we're prudent in assessing our inventory valuation and accounts receivable balances. Now on to the US region. The US region produced another strong performance for FY23. On a US dollar basis, sales revenue of $3.3 billion was up 12%. It is important to note that product inflation had a significant positive impact on US sales growth. Average product inflation for the year was 14%, which moderated progressively to an average of 6.6% in the second half, compared to the first half, where product inflation was 22%.
Volumes for the region softened progressively throughout the year and contracted 4% in the second half compared to the prior comparative period. Normalized EBITDA was up 19% to AUD 269 million. The US region increased its normalized EBITDA margin by 51 basis points. EBIT increased 26% for the year to AUD 165 million. In line with the approach taken in the ANZ region, the US region were also prudent in assessing inventory valuation and accounts receivable balances. Now looking at the group's cash flow. The group's net working capital to sales ratio improved 300 basis points to 19%, leading to operating cash inflows of AUD 766 million, versus AUD 222 million in the previous year.
As global supply chains continue to stabilize throughout FY23, we focused on normalizing inventory levels while remaining in stock across both regions. In line with our strategy, the group invested AUD 146 million in small bolt-on acquisitions and investments in the US and Australia. This included the acquisition of a pool supplies company in Australia and a refrigeration and air conditioning wholesaler in Texas. Capital expenditure was directed towards branch refurbishment, the Reece rebrand in the US, new store openings, fleet upgrades, and investment into our digital capabilities. Based on drawn debt as at 30 June 2023, we would expect interest expense to be in the range of AUD 65 million-AUD 75 million for FY24. We would expect the effective tax rate to return to 30% in FY24, noting this is subject to LIFO adjustments relevant to our US tax expense.
During FY23, the group generated AUD 690 million of free cash flow, a significant improvement from FY22. Looking at the balance sheet. The group closes the year with a strong balance sheet, which supports our long-term approach and allows us to continue to invest for profitable growth. Net debt was down to AUD 725 million. The net leverage ratio is currently under 1 times. Available liquidity at year-end was AUD 944 million, which provides the group operational and strategic flexibility. In FY23, we continued our disciplined approach to capital management, focusing on investment in organic growth, strategic bolt- on M&A, maximizing balance sheet efficiency, and the prudent payment of dividends. The group's net tangible asset ratio was 2.41 times. As mentioned earlier, ROCE for the year increased to 15.3%.
I will now hand back to Peter to discuss the outlook.
Thank you, Andrew. We know there is a heightened focus on the demand setting in our sector, looking ahead to FY24, but we want to be clear that it remains too early to tell where this will land. The complexity of the current macro environment is well understood, and I think this is reflected in our business today. Across our customer base, trading is mixed, with many factors at play. A clear trend line is not yet evident. We will not be providing further color on FY24, except to say that we are planning for inflation to continue to moderate and volumes to continue to decline. A period of consolidation after an extraordinary few years of growth will serve Reece well. It's an opportunity to recalibrate and bed down what we've put in place in the last few years in the US.
We do have a culture of continuous improvement, which helps us to run our business efficiently and allows us to take a long-term view, and we will continue to invest in our priority areas to build a stronger business, which will benefit us when conditions improve. In summary, we've delivered another strong result in FY 2023. We are well placed to manage a softening external environment in FY 2024, always maintaining our long-term focus and investing to deliver on our 2030 vision. Thank you for your time. We'll now take your questions.
Thank you. If you would like to ask a question, please press star one on your telephone and wait for your name to be announced. If you would like to cancel your request, please press star two. If you are on a speakerphone, please pick up the handset to ask your question. Your first question today comes from Lisa Huynh from JPMorgan. Please go ahead.
Hi. Morning, team. I mean, I guess, you know, the comment around trading being mixed across the customer base at the moment, I guess, can you just talk about where you're seeing the differences and I guess to what extent? Just a little bit more color on that comment would be great.
Lisa, thanks for the questions. Peter, look, I, I think everybody, you know, we don't give guidance, obviously not gonna do that now. I think what we're comfortable to say is, like what I just said then, is, I mean, we are expecting inflation to moderate, and we are expecting our volumes to decline. I'd say, we are in broad alignment with what our peers are saying about all the end market, markets across both regions, and we're expecting all our end markets to be in decline this year. It, it really is across the board. I mean, that's probably as much as we're gonna say on that. I do think there is potential for some margin pressure as well.
It's definitely, you know, it's definitely a different environment than what we've been experiencing in the last few years.
Yeah, sure, Peter. Appreciate that. I guess, you know, you did, I guess you kind of moved on to my next point around margin pressure. CO DB did pick up in the second half. It looks like it's largely due to training, but how should we be thinking about, I guess that line going forward for the next 12 months?
Yeah. Look, I'll take that one, Lisa. Just, I guess, just in terms of the half year cost analysis, you would have seen that, yeah, cost of doing business stepped up in ANZ, probably a little bit further than it did in the US, although it did step up in both markets. Really, the key driver in the second half was to do with wages and salaries. We have a one November pay rise cycle, so the second half effectively weighs all of the pay rises that came through on one November last year. A little bit of additional headcount, and because we've got higher EBIT in both markets, we've also got higher provisioning or I guess, accruals for our profit share. I guess that, that's the key driver of wages and salaries.
Really across other costs, as I said earlier, we've got inflation across all our costs of doing business. In particular, IT costs, consulting costs, effectively, everything's got inflation baked into it. That's why you saw that second half uplift in cost of doing business.
Okay, sure. I mean, I guess, following on from that, gross margins continue to step up. Can we talk about the contribution from mix and, you know, the potential, I guess, step up in private label as we kind of come into a tougher volume environment?
Yeah. So, if you look at the reported GP, Lisa, it's sort of gone from 27.9% to 28.4%, so I guess that's the 50 bits you're referring to. What we've got in the Australian, New Zealand business is a very well-established private label program. We call it VAP, Value Added Product. We don't disclose what percentage of the mix that is, but, you know, it, it is a differentiator for us in this market, and in the US, they've basically got very minimal VAP. That's a 20-year journey we've been on here in Australia and New Zealand. They're starting their journey there in the US now, but we wouldn't expect that mix to be material for quite some period of time.
Just to build on, Lisa, and we don't actually. Look, it's, the US is structurally different. The way the manufacturers are set up is different, so you cannot. It's what we've got in Australia will not actually be replicated in the US, even if you go fast-forward 20 years. That's just to build on that.
Yeah, sure. Forgive my ignorance, but why is it structurally different in the US?
Well, like, like if you look at Australia, in terms of most categories and industries, Australia is, is structurally different. Just dynamics are different. You've got lots of very large, dominant manufacturers that, control big parts of what goes on in the US.
Okay, sure. I guess-
Going right throughout the business. There is absolutely no doubt that we benefited from inflation. There's that's a positive, been a positive contribution for us. It's helped us with the growth, and obviously, with that, we've managed our costs pretty well and all the, it's come together to produce a, what is a pretty good result for the year.
Gotcha. From the comments you've made, it wouldn't suggest that the lack of inflation on a go-forward basis is a particular concern for you, though?
I, I think the dynamic we're really mindful of, Peter, it's, it's Andrew here.
Yep.
You know, the US is seeing a contraction of volume, so we've got a 4% average there for the half that we called out. We don't necessarily say that's the trend line. We think that that could continue to contract further in the first half, and inflation in that market is moderating very rapidly. We've had a 22% first half inflation number that came through for the second half at 6.6%. There is definitely downward pressure on that. If inflation gets closer to 0, whilst our volumes are continuing to contract beyond-
The cost, cost environment still, from your perspective, and productivity is, continuing to lift.
I think, I think, Peter, you need to be very just look, without giving too much away, there is.
Yep.
There is, there is cost inflation in both regions, and quite significant. We're not, we just signaled that we expect volumes to decline, and we see margin pressure. We do see significant cost inflation coming through in both regions this year.
Gotcha. Thanks, Peter. Just a really quick question on your interest guidance. Andrew, the 65 to 70-
Looking to just give some guidance around. The only two data points that we are willing to give guidance around are where we think that bank bill interest rate is, so our interest expense is going to be, and where our effective tax rate is likely to be next year.
Mm-hmm, mm-hmm. Would your leases be exposed to variable rate structures as well? Noting that, they went up a fair bit in cash expense.
Across the portfolio, we've, we've got a portfolio of some owned and, and obviously a lot of leased premises. We've got standard lease arrangements in place. The actual rent inflated dynamic is different by lease, but there is, there's inflation on the, on the, on the rental part of our portfolio as well.
Great. Thanks, Andrew. I'll leave it there. Appreciate it. Peter?
Thanks, Peter.
Thank you. Your next question comes from Brook Campbell-Crawford from Barrenjoey. Please go ahead.
Yeah, thanks for taking my question. Just on your comments around demand deteriorating throughout the year improved rather than getting worse throughout the course of FY23. Can you just give a comment really on-?
For the, for the upcoming year? We definitely- everything we're seeing shows that volumes are going to decline in ANZ, so this, we are-
We, we are consistent and in, in align with what everybody else is saying and seeing. We'll be in decline this year.
Okay, grounding that, particularly in California, as you, as you call out. Can you sort of bring to life a bit, perhaps what you're seeing there with those new store, stores? Some sort of metrics you can, you can share, just so we can better appreciate what sort of improvements in store performance you're seeing from all these investments that have gone into, to rebranding?
Well, look, I've just actually got back last week, so I've now seen all the stores in California. They've all now been certain standard, and that's obviously what we've committed to, and so it started in California. Look, yeah, the stores look good, the branding looks great. You feel quite proud when you're driving down freeways and you can see the Reece sign on some of the buildings. Yeah, definitely really pleased, and I think it's been great for our people. 4 brands now into 1 in California, and it just makes, from the long-term perspective, makes the business easier to lead and manage being under 1 brand. Ultimately, it's more the long term than the short term, Brook.
Yeah. Understood. Just to confirm, there's no sort of notable difference for-
Well, it's all, yeah, everything in the, it's all definitely long term. Clearly, just for what it's worth, we've rebranded a couple of times in Australia, and, you know, it's a, it's a big investment. There's no immediate benefit. It's not like we're not a retailer where you upgrade and you get a, a uptick straight away. It's, it is about the, the, the long-term standard and what we stand for.
Thank you.
Thanks, Brook.
Thank you. Your next question comes from Harry Saunders, from E&P. Please go ahead.
Morning, guys. Thanks for taking my questions. Firstly, just wondering if you could talk through a bit more perhaps, your volume and price trends, in July and August for the two regions or, or at least in the fourth quarter?
Yeah. Harry, currently expecting to contract further in the second half.
Got it. Just perhaps also, could you talk through your remodel market exposure in US versus new construction and the repair market? You know, those specific areas and just perhaps the new construction areas you're exposed to, given that's, that's most of that there.
Thanks, Harry. I, I think you're, you're new onto the part. I-- We've explained this over the, over the journey. Mo- most of the US is exposed to the, to the residential and commercial construction. We've got a small exposure to the R&R part, and that's obviously what we are wanting to pivot more to over the long term. What, what I've consistently shared, if I look-- if you look at, if you look at the end market where plumbing work is done, in the US, about 55% is in that R&R space. About 25% is in residential, and 20 is in commercial slash infrastructure. In our business, it's a, it's a, it's around the 20%, given where some of our other business units have been.
We, we, it's a, it's a so second half, look, most of it is in the second half, so, I'd probably have to give you the second half data point. I don't have it in front of me.
Okay, thank you. Just a final one. Could you outline the M&A pipeline in, in the US and perhaps what areas you might be targeting?
Well, the whole thesis that we announced 5 years ago that, obviously, the US is a large fragmented market, and for us, we're obviously in the Sun Belt, and there was an organic and through acquisition. We're comfortable both ways. Probably preference is organic because it, it's culturally better. We are constantly getting looks at different opportunities. We're really disciplined. You know, there's nothing on the agenda at the moment, but in the long term, there will be, there'll be lots and lots of little potential acquisitions. We're in a fortunate spot that it doesn't really matter which way it goes, but our preference, obviously, from a culture perspective, is the organic, is the organic way.
Great. Thank you.
Thanks, Harry.
Thank you. Your next question comes from James Casey, from Ord Minnett. Please go ahead.
Good morning, gents. Peter, can I just clarify the guidance you're providing, is that industry guidance or company-specific guidance?
James, I'm not giving guidance, just to be clear. We never have, and we're not going to at this point. All I'm just saying is that we are expecting it to get tougher, volumes to come off.
Adjustments you've made to inventory, are they now complete with kind of that removal of safety stock?
Yes. James, Andrew here. In terms of, you know, the increase to our stock obsolescence provision for the year, it's up AUD 37 million. You know, we, we had increases in the provision across both ANZ and the US. As you know, you would have seen our inventory levels have come down relatively materially. We're pretty happy about that, but we've actually had a really good look as we go into what we think are tougher conditions around what type of potentially slow-moving or obsolete inventory we've got in both markets. We had excess. We had their return policies, so we've decided just to increase our provision because we think it's the right thing to do the current conditions.
One, just on, on slide 17, you've got the group return on capital employed chart. Are you willing to split, split out the two numbers?
Not at this stage, James. I think what we, we're there. At a, at a very high level, and Andrew might add something. Traditionally.