Please be advised that today's conference is being recorded. I would now like to hand the conference over to your first speaker today, Mr. Peter Wilson, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Reece Group. Please go ahead.
Well, good morning, everyone, and thank you for joining us for our FY 2026 results call. Joining me today are Sasha Nikolic and Andy Young. I am going to start with an overview of the year and then a recap of our strategy. Sasha will then share how the business is tracking. Andy will then take you through the financials before I cover the outlook, and we open to questions. Before we begin, please note all figures are in Australian dollars unless otherwise stated. Turning to an overview of FY 2026, we delivered sales revenue of AUD 9.4 billion, which was up 4.5% on the prior year. EBITDA was flat at AUD 901 million, and EBIT was down 2.6% to AUD 534 million. In ANZ, sales was up 8% driven by higher volumes with a 2% inflation contribution. In the U.S., sales were up 6.5%, driven by network expansion and also a 2% inflation contribution.
Like-for-like sales in the U.S. were down 1.7% as weak new residential construction continued to impact demand. Earnings per share were AUD 0.495, and return on capital was 11.9%. Total dividends increased 2.6% to AUD 0.1884 per share, fully franked, with growth supported by the share buyback. Turning to recap our strategy. Everything we do at Reece is guided by a blueprint from purpose to promise. It shapes the decisions we make every day, both big and small. Our purpose and values are what we call the Reece Way. Our 2030 vision is a clear ambition to be our trade's most valuable partner by being easy to do business with in every branch, on every screen, every day. We bring this to life through our three strategic priorities, operational excellence, breakthrough innovation, and investing for profitable growth.
The blueprint culminates in the delivery of our customer promise, which is what we call customized service. Before I hand over to Sasha, it is worth reminding everyone on the call of our approach to building a stronger business through the cycle. Our ownership structure, balance sheet, and blueprint combine to allow us to take a long-term perspective and think in years, not quarters. Our ANZ business demonstrates how we have benefited from this approach over time, and in the U.S., we are eight years in, and this approach is helping us to build the foundations for success over the long term. I am going to hand over to Sash.
Thanks, Peter. Just further to what Peter said, for more than a century, through various cycles, we have been in business in Australia, and the scale of our ANZ network remains one of our biggest advantages. We have also continued to invest in and upgrade our network, improving standards and formats this year, including opening a next-generation showroom that I will touch on in a moment. We also continue to invest in our people, introducing a new long-term incentive plan and continuing to build capabilities through learning and development programs. In the digital space, we are focused on making Reece easier to do business with and freeing up more time to serve. This year, we cascaded Copilot to all levels of the business and launched proprietary AI tools, which helps us serve customers better.
Finally, our long-standing supplier partnerships and supply chain capabilities allowed us to maintain a strong in-stock position through recent supply chain disruptions, which continues to be a real competitive advantage for Reece. Turning to innovation, our new bathroom showroom in Rosebery in Sydney represents a vision for a digitally led space for collaboration. It was built on deep customer insights and supports designers, trades, and consumers to bring their dream bathrooms to life. We will open a second next-gen showroom in Armadale in Victoria in FY 2027. Finally, in the product space, we have been extending, optimizing, and innovating to continue delivering the highest quality range. Turning to the U.S., we continue to build the density and scale of the network, opening a net 25 new branches during the year, following the 24 branches which we added in FY 2025.
The performance of the new branches continues to improve, reinforcing our strategy to better serve customers with a differentiated proposition. We anticipate opening 15 - 20 new branches per annum as we continue to expand our presence in the U.S. We also continued embedding core capabilities across the U.S. business this year, with a particular focus on team development and digital initiatives. We launched a new version of our maX app with a more intuitive user experience, a version in Spanish, and enhanced self-service functionality for customers. In the U.S., we have also made progress extending and uplifting our range, which has been a key part of improving our customer experience. Finally, we are investing in our people.
Introducing the same new long-term incentive plan as ANZ and building capabilities from the ground up the Reece Way. Before I hand over to Andy, I wanted to reflect on the growth in the eight years since we acquired our U.S. business. In that time, we have significantly grown our network, grown our team, and improved the customer experience. While there is still a lot more to do, we are laying the foundations for a stronger business. The environment is what we get to operate in. How we respond and what we do is what is within our control. That is it for me. I will now hand over to Andy to go through the financials.
Thank you, Sasha, and good morning, everyone. Starting with ANZ, sales revenue for the year was up 8.3%, driven by higher volumes with a 2% inflation contribution. Costs remained elevated, reflecting continued investment in the business, including in our network, team capability, digital initiatives, and a new long-term equity program. Excluding discretionary investment, underlying costs continue to be tightly managed and are growing at less than the annualized rate of inflation. EBIT was up 6% to AUD 360 million, with our EBIT margin at 8.6%, down 17 basis points year-on-year. This reflects a AUD 10 million impact from the amortization of the Metalflex brand name following our decision to integrate the Metalflex business with our broader HVAC customer offer. Excluding this, ANZ's EBIT margin was up seven basis points year-on-year.
Turning to the U.S., sales were up 6.5% to $ 3.5 billion, driven by incremental sales from recent network expansion with a 2% inflation contribution. On a like-for-like basis, U.S. sales declined by 1.7% year-on-year, with the second half broadly flat. The residential construction segment remains soft, while the non-residential segment has proven more resilient. EBITDA declined 5% for the year, with our EBITDA margin decreasing 83 basis points. EBIT of $ 118 million was down 13%, and our EBIT margin contracted 76 basis points, primarily driven by new branches, which are continuing to scale. Turning now to look at the group's cash flow and balance sheet. The group generated net operating cash inflows of AUD 645 million for the year. Capital expenditure represented 1.9% of sales, which was down on the prior year.
This primarily reflects timing with a significant portion of capital spend for this year's branch expansion program incurred in the second half of FY 2025. Gross interest expense for the year was AUD 66 million, and based on current debt levels, we expect gross interest expense in the range of AUD 60 million-AUD 70 million in FY 2027. We also returned AUD 401 million of capital to shareholders through share buybacks, demonstrating the strength of the balance sheet and our disciplined approach to capital allocation. The group's net working capital to sales ratio was 19%, in line with the prior year. Inventory investment to support network expansion and our in-stock promise to customers was partially offset by favorable timing movements in other working capital balances. Net debt increased to AUD 744 million, reflecting ongoing investment in the business and partial funding of the group's share buyback program.
The group's net leverage ratio reduced in the second half, driven by stronger operating cash flow generation, exiting FY 2026 with net debt at 1x EBITDA, down from 1.5 x at December. Our return profile continues to reflect a combination of softer housing market conditions and the investment in network expansion in recent years. As Peter mentioned, we take it through the cycle view, and as market conditions improve and the impact associated with recent growth investments begins to moderate, we expect our return profile to strengthen over time. I will now hand back to Peter to take us through our capital management approach and the outlook.
Thanks, Andy. Our capital management approach, as everyone knows, is guided by a clear framework. Our first priority is to invest in the growth of the business through organic investments and strategic acquisition opportunities. Our second priority is to maintain a strong balance sheet, ensuring we retain the flexibility to invest through the cycle and capitalize on growth opportunities. Our third priority is to deliver returns to shareholders. Turning now to the outlook. If you looked ahead to FY 2027 in the ANZ region, we are entering the new financial year with a solid pipeline of activity, which should support first-half momentum. In the U.S., the residential new construction market remains challenging, and the timing of a housing recovery is still not clear. The non-residential segment in the U.S. has been stronger, supported by the data center build-out. Overall, we would expect modest growth in the U.S.
In both markets, consumers remain interest rate sensitive, and housing affordability challenges represent a risk for the outlook, making it too early to take a view on the second half. In summary, we remain positioned for success over the long term. We do have a trusted brand and a long-term focus. We are diversified and operate in large markets with attractive fundamentals, and we have a strong balance sheet and a track record of delivering through the cycle. Thank you. I will now open the line to questions.
To ask a question now, please press star one one on your telephone and wait for your name to be announced. To withdraw your question, please press star one one again. We will now proceed to take our first question. The first question comes from the line of Peter Steyn from Macquarie. Please ask your question. Peter, your line is open.
Thank you. Thanks, Peter, Andy, Sasha. Peter, just wanted to get your sense of how you are thinking about the unfolding of the ANZ environment over the next 12 months. You have spoken about the pipeline. I suppose history has shown us that pipelines often take a little bit longer to work through, but this one did not have much time to gain too much momentum. Just your perspective on how you are thinking about the support of that pipeline, through the course of the year and what your thinking is around the R&R market in an Australian context.
Thanks, Peter. If we start with the R&R part, as you know, that has been the Well, it is the most resilient part of our business and what the Australian business was built around. We have had a track record of working through all different cycles with that. The main drivers of R&R over the years, particularly the last 30 years, have been house prices. So, and obviously the age of the housing stock sentiment and all those sorts of things. My only caveat would be everyone knows that with the change to government policy settings, there has been a softening in house prices. We know that there is a reduction in the auction clearance rate. That would be the only caveat to what has traditionally been a very resilient part to our business.
In terms of the new construction, the residential part, we did finish the second half with fairly good momentum, and it looks like staying that way for the first half. Again, the only caveat is we had three interest rate rises, and that is a big driver of the residential housing market. Then the only other one there that everyone is talking about is the whole where we go with affordability. It is pretty complex and there is a whole lot of factors both on the demand and supply side. Look, we feel confident in ANZ in the first half. The second half, as we said it in the outlook, it is still a bit early for us to be overconfident there. Hopefully that answered the question, Peter.
Yeah. Great. Thanks, Peter. Then, if I may, very quickly, just on the U.S., your store expansion has been pretty solid and frankly, probably surprised generally on the upside over the last number of years. What you have spoken about now from a pace point of view is probably broadly how you have wanted us to think about it over an extended period of time. But keen to get your view just around the strategic aspects of this. Are you slowing down your intentions because you are getting to a place where you are happier with the network, or are you trying to just consolidate the rollout that you have done thus far, or have you got some other constraints organizationally that are bringing you back to that 15 - 20 number?
Peter, no, I would not say Well, because you followed us from the start, so I think at the start, whilst we are getting our feet under the ground, we were saying 10 - 15 actually as a rate that we thought we could do sustainably. Look, we have done more than that the last two years, and that is a function of sometimes elements of where you are in the property build-out and you are waiting for permits and fire regs and all that sort of stuff. No, I think if anything, we are far from where we want to be in the U.S. We are far from the finished product. In some ways, probably the 15 - 20 is a slight increase to the rollout.
But we are still a fairly minor player in the U.S. and we are only eight years into what we said was a multi-decade story and was going to take a long time, and we were in it for the very long time.
Perfect. Thanks, Peter. I will leave it there. Appreciate it.
Thanks, Peter. See you. Bye.
Thank you. We will now proceed to take our next question, and the next question comes from Keith Chau from MST Marquee. Please go ahead, Keith. Your line is open.
Good morning, gents. Thanks for taking my question. Simple one from me, just on the CapEx outlook. Andrew, I think you mentioned, obviously Reece takes a through the cycle approach to looking at return on capital employed. Then you talked about returns potentially increasing as CapEx moderates into the future. But I would have thought if there's growth opportunity in the U.S., that CapEx spend should remain reasonably consistent and, on a historical context, quite elevated for a while. But FY 2026 numbers came in lower than expectations. I think it was called out that timing was part of the driver of that. So in the context of the medium term, let's say, should we be expecting CapEx to return to that 2%-3% of sales profile and, given the lower outcome in FY 2026, should we expect a catch-up in FY 2027? Thank you.
Thanks, Keith. I'll get Andy to answer that.
Thanks, Peter. Hi, Keith. Look, I think you've probably just highlighted it. Most of that reduction this year was really the timing of CapEx. So if you looked last year, we were high in the range. We were about 2.9% last year. So that reflects the fact that we opened more of the branches in the first half of this year in the U.S. I'd expect that to normalize a little bit this year. But yes, I think it's not a target, but that 2%-3% range is typically where we've been spending historically. And I think there's enough breadth in that range for us to think about that being the right level going forward.
Thank you. And Peter, just as an adjunct to that, on the M&A side of things, are there any opportunities in the U.S. that the company's exploring at the moment? I know that's been a key part of the strategy. But is the intention to roll out stores organically, or are there parts of the plumbing distribution and HVAC distribution arena that you're looking at at this point? Thank you.
Thanks, Keith. Yes. I think, we've said from the very early stages, and it's in our capital management framework, it is both an organic and M&A play. We are planning to roll out new stores organically, and it's been a constant looking at M&A opportunities. Yes, definitely, it's part of the strategy now going forward. The only other build would be in the you're studying, you're seeing the U.S. There's a lot of activity happening in the U.S., and valuations are high and stretched. Multiples are very high. You have to be, which we are, very disciplined, and we're fortunate that if it looks like it doesn't stack up that way, you just pivot to having more on the organic space. So it's a dual strategy there, Keith, and will be for a long time.
Okay. Thank you. If I can, just one more follow-up on competitive dynamics in Australia and the U.S. I know this has been talked about tonight and for a while, given the changes in the U.S., and also for Australia. Peter, any change? I don't suspect the commentary from your side is going to change too much given industries don't move that fast. If you can give us an update on the competitive dynamics for both Australia and the U.S., that would be useful. Thank you.
Thanks. Keith, I thought you said you only had one question, but anyway, we're up to three, so it's good.
Thanks.
If I start with Australia has always been an incredibly competitive market. When we started, there was a lot of players. Obviously, we've done very well. There's still a lot of the market that are made up of independents, buying groups, and obviously you've got your big competitors that we respect enormously, like the Bunnings, and obviously, we've got the new owners of Tradelink. I think I mentioned on the last call, we know them exceptionally well and couldn't respect them more. The owner actually was a mentor for quite a period of time. So that's all still at play in Australia. The U.S., no, nothing has changed. It's definitely the biggest market in the world, and it's the market you want to be in, but it is very competitive, and you've got extremely big competitors that are well-resourced with a lot of history.
All the things that we've shared with you and everybody over the last eight years, and obviously, we've been going to the U.S. for 25, studying it deeply. We've certainly got a clearer handle on how it is day to day. Nothing has changed from what I shared at the last. I think both markets are very competitive, as you can see in our results.
Yeah. Thanks, Peter. Thanks, gents. Appreciate you answering all of my questions.
Thanks, Keith. See you soon.
Thank you. Our next question comes from the line of Lee Power from JPMorgan. Please go ahead, Lee. Your line is open.
Thank you. Morning, Peter, Sasha, and Andy. Peter, just on ANZ, the second half sales were up 13% year-on-year. I think in your preso, you talk about inflation of 2% for the full year, which is probably a little bit less than I would have expected. What can you tell us about what volumes actually were in the second half, and then is that a sensible starting point as we go into first half 2027, or is there anything else going on that we should be thinking about?
Oh, no, there's not. Look, I think you're probably surprised given where you got with the oil shock with the Iran war and then obviously the whole PVC piece. That brought demand forward, and it's flown through. But the rest of the market is in a space that's pretty competitive. There's always elements where you've got supplier costs increasing, and there's obviously supplier costs decreasing. So you're passing the costs through where they are there, and obviously where there are savings, you're passing those through. So, yes, that's where we landed with the 2% inflation. So, I think we've got good momentum now in the ANZ business. I think it's a function of us executing well and all of the segments are now performing pretty well. So, barring any external shocks, which you just never know, that's why we're confident in the first half with the momentum continuing.
I think you've still got to be. We'll clearly give an update at the AGM, which is three months away, and then we'll just keep the market updated as we go. But it's too hard to go out any further than that. But the ANZ has got a history of being an amazing model. It's got a great culture, great model, and I think the team's in a pretty good spot.
Okay, thank you. Just on the U.S., is there any more color around what in your mind modest growth means? I get it's clearly a tricky backdrop and you're more focused on the medium longer term than necessarily month-on-month. But what do you think we should be taking away from the commentary modest? Just confirm that would be based on your assumed store rollout numbers. So if the store rollout's greater or less than that or there's M&A or something, then that modest piece is obviously going to change.
Yes, Lee. Look, it's hard. You know us, how conservative we are. Unless things are really awkward, we don't normally give guidance unless it's really uncertain. So yeah, modest is definitely modest. We've got a big exposure to the housing market in the U.S., and it actually is exceptionally soft. COVID was very good for the housing market, but it is definitely stock frozen, whatever you like. There's a post-COVID hangover, and you can see over half of the mortgages still, they're under 4%. So if you get a new mortgage now, you're close to 7%. The whole affordability piece in the U.S., so something has to change for that to move. So it will be modest, so without giving guidance, we're not expecting that much growth in the U.S. this year.
Okay. Thank you. Appreciate the color, because it's obviously a pretty weird backdrop, so appreciate you doing your best to help us out as well. Thank you.
Yeah. Thanks, Lee.
Thank you. We will now take our next question from Niraj Shah from Goldman Sachs. Please ask your question, Niraj. Your line is open.
Morning, team. Thanks for taking my questions. Just the first one. How should we be thinking about discretionary investment in Australia in fiscal 2027, and I guess the implications for margin in the year?
Andy, do you want to take this? I think, again, we don't give guidance, but Andy, you can handle this question.
Yeah. I'll give a bit of color on the cost, Niraj, and answer your question that way. I think if you look at the total cost for the group, we said in the ASX release, we're up about 9.6%. That excludes D&A. The biggest driver of that, two-thirds of that is actually the network expansion impact in the U.S. So that obviously impacts the U.S. more than the ANZ business, but that's what's driving group result. Above that, we've got inflation sitting about 3%, and then you've got some investment over and above that's offset by some FX. Look, Niraj, we continue to look at that. The investment impact is larger in ANZ, network impact is larger in U.S. But we'll continue to look at what the right level of investment is.
We've got levers there, as we've said before, and we'll just continue to assess what's necessary to really support our strategic initiatives.
Got it. Thank you. The second one, just following up on Lee's question. It sounds like based on your answer, that you guys, there wasn't any discernible, I guess, pull forward impact on demand from rising input costs and higher prices.
In which market are you talking?
Oh, either one. I was more talking Australia, though.
Because you haven't heard from Sash, you can answer this one, Sash.
Thanks, Pete and thanks, Niraj. Whenever you have the challenges in the supply chain, the market does respond and the market has responded, and that's why it's a challenging time now. All we can say is that our pipeline, we've got a good line of sight for the first half. But beyond that, it's a little bit too challenging to predict.
Great. Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
We will now move to our next question. Our next question comes from Brook Campbell-Crawford from Barrenjoey. Please go ahead, Brook. Your line is open.
Yeah, thanks. Good morning. Thanks for taking my question. Listen, just back on ANZ, and sorry to just step into this again, but the second half volume performance really strong there, given you've seen a good pipeline for the first half. To Niraj's point, it sounds like government is going to pull forward. So it sounds like perhaps you've done better than the market in the second half 2026 on volume than ANZ. Maybe why, if you think that's true or not, and if so, any reason why that would be the case? I guess some of the feedback we've got is your big competitor here is being a bit more rational and de-emphasizing some of the lower margin segments. Any kind of color around Australia and improved second half following would be great. Thanks.
Hi, Brook. Look, I think we, in the call, tried to explain. You've been studying us for a fair while. I'd say we've got a really strong model, and I think the team, we're executing to our strategy really well. We've got really good alignment. We had a few challenges over the last few years in terms of unpacking a whole lot of things, but I feel like the team is in a good spot. I think our business is an exceptional business in Australia. So we've delivered well in the second half, and that's sort of what you expect when momentum starts to shift. The only thing that's the momentum was starting and then obviously you've got interest rate rises and then obviously you've got government policy changes.
That's the only caveat to it, but like we've always done in the past, you just got to adapt and whatever is thrown up at you adapt. I think the Australian business is an exceptional business.
Yeah, that is great. Thanks. Do you mind then, I guess you talked about modest growth in the U.S. Can you just confirm, are you talking like for like, sort of same store sales modest growth? Are you talking about modest growth on a fully loaded basis in terms of the benefits coming through from the store rollout and, yeah, just which of those two it is, like for like or sort of all in?
Thanks, Brook. Look, again, it is the guidance part. I think, look, the comment would be all in there because we are cautious about what we are dealing with in the U.S., and so in three months at the AGM, we will obviously give an update and then obviously at the half. Yeah, definitely, at this point all in and we are. Which I think is the right thing to do. We are cautious, but, yeah, still all in for that multi-decade story. We are far from the finished product in the U.S.
That is great. Let me just ask a quick one. You mentioned data center early on as obviously a bright spot across a pretty mixed backdrop as we all know. Can you just talk about how relevant that space is going to be for your business over the next couple of years across both regions and what are you doing there to make sure your teams get to capture most of that opportunity? Thanks.
Thanks, Brook. Yeah, definitely. Look, it definitely is very relevant to both regions. There is a lot of plumbing and HVAC waterworks product that goes into them. So if we are doing well, we are going to get exposed into the build-out in all regions. So, yeah, I think that is the. Yeah, so we are definitely very. The model is good. We are very fortunate to have exposure to the actual build-out.
All right, thanks.
Thanks, Brook.
Thank you. We will move to our next question from the line of Harry Saunders from E&P. Please ask your question, Harry. Your line is open.
Good morning. Thanks for taking my questions. Firstly, just to follow on these pull forward questions earlier. If I just look at that acceleration in the second half and end it to 13% from 4% in the first half, pretty impressive. But just wondering, given we have heard from some market participants about a pull forward of demand ahead of the price rises in the second half of the year, and then it subsequently hit volumes at the start of first half 2027. Just wondering if you are seeing that trend at all or anything you would like to call out there?
G'day, Harry. There was definitely, when you have those shocks, there was definitely pull forward in some of those categories like PVC, but it has worked its way through, and it is only one element of the whole picture. We are a very diversified business now, in Australia, not so much in the U.S. We were starting to see momentum and we have called it out. I think we are seeing the momentum that we exited Australia is continuing for the first half at this point. The only caveat is if we have another shock, which is highly likely these days. I think we are all used to that. I think what we said in the call is probably as much as we are going to say, but we see the reasonable momentum continuing at least for the first half.
Understood. Thanks. It does not sound like you are trying to temper that 13% sort of run rate, in the second half, I take it?
I am not giving any. I think I have shared enough. We are definitely not going to get into Harry, good question. No, there is a solid pipeline, but beyond that, it is too risky to say.
Understood. Thanks. Appreciate the color. Just on those U.S. outlook comments on modest growth, just wondering if that refers to sales or EBIT or both, just given consensus has got close to 10% sales growth and close to 20% EBIT growth. Presumably, this is sales, but just wanted to confirm.
Yep. No, definitely. In terms of the growth, that is the first part, get the sale and then you work the other parts after that. So yeah, definitely, I am referring to the, we are referring to the sales growth.
Got it. Thanks. Just to follow on on the slow-moving and obsolete inventory that sell about AUD 30 million in the second half. Can you just sort of talk through what drove that, please?
I am going to give that over to you, Andy.
Thanks, Peter. Hey, Harry. Look, a couple of things are sort of driving that. Firstly, some improved sell-through rates across both the regions. As we have seen some volume improvement, we have been able to revise the provisioning levels there. We have to take provision when we see that come off. So that has improved a little bit as we have seen a better second half, in particular. In the U.S., given the level of investment we have done, we are now up to 120 branches since 2019, you would have seen in the presentation. That has allowed us to just reassess the level of provisioning we are holding across the U.S. business as well. So there is a little bit of a benefit from that as well that is reflected in that provision adjustment.
Really helpful. Thank you. Just a quick follow-on as well. The impact in ANZ margin from the brand amortization, should we expect a similar ongoing impact in 2027?
Harry, I will pick that one up. That will be amortized across effectively the two years. So 2026 has got half of that. There will be another AUD 10 million impact in FY 2027.
Perfect. Thank you.
Thank you. Our next question comes from the line of Daniel Sykes from Jarden. Please go ahead, Daniel, your line is open.
Hi, guys. Thanks for taking my question. Andy, I just wondered if you could, you provided a helpful kind of cost bridge for the group. I was just wondering if you could do the same for ANZ specifically, because it looks like they're maybe below the line. You've seen quite a lot of cost increase in there. Obviously, the brand amortization is part of that. But even without that, it looks to be kind of a lot of cost increase. Can you help us just flesh out some of the color on that, please?
Hi, Daniel. Look, we don't break down the detail cost base by region, as you know. But look, to give you a bit of color back to the comments I made earlier, the ANZ business has seen a little bit more of that discretionary investment, things like our employee proposition, our digital and AI initiatives. They're probably a bit more impactful in the ANZ cost base, whereas the network expansion impact is more impactful in the U.S. base. So that gives you a bit of color, I guess, of the drivers at a regional level.
Okay, great. On the sales level, I mean, obviously, strong numbers for that second half. I was just wondering if there's anything you can say around whether the kind of temporary price increases that you've seen, how impactful they are and whether you've seen them starting to roll off or you expect them to roll off through the next year.
Well, I think we've shown you where the inflation is for the year in ANZ and the U.S. So it probably isn't as great as what everyone was thinking and obviously what the press and the media were reporting. But having said that, there's definitely supply cost increases in the last part of the year. There were some increased parts. So you would say that we exited with a slightly higher inflation rate than the year. So that's in Australia. The U.S. definitely doesn't have that dynamic at this point. So hopefully that helps a bit.
Okay, great. Yeah. Just one more, if I may. Just in terms of the new guidance around the store rollout in the U.S., if you just help us, is there any change in kind of the strategy or the outlook in the U.S. in terms of what opportunities you see? Just whether that kind of store growth is now linked to specific segment within the U.S., say HVAC or even more national exposure in the U.S. and focusing on a slightly different market than existing?
No, the strategy is really intact and in line and I think that network growth is really across all of the business units. But really with the focus on the Sun Belt. The strategy is intact. I mean, we've always been fairly conservative and everyone knows that I was quite, I don't know what the word is. I shared a fair bit at this time last year. But what we've shown is that, yeah, definitely the strategy is intact and this is a multi-decade play. And I think the slight increase to our store ambition I think demonstrates that.
Okay, great. Thanks, guys.
Thank you.
Thank you. Our next question comes from the line of Ramoun Lazar from Jefferies. Please ask your question, Ramoun, your line is open.
Good morning, Peter and team. Just a couple of quick ones from me. Maybe if you could give us a bit of a guide on the finance costs this year. I know you've given the net interest cost number or guide that's helpful, but given the increasing rate of stores that you're rolling out, just any sort of guide on what lease costs we should expect in that financing line?
Yeah. I'll pick that one up. Look, I think you can look at the second half run rate and you can see most of that network expansion impact has been built in there. So I think to the extent that you're looking at what moves into 2027, that's probably the better data point to use from a lease cost perspective.
Okay, great. Peter, one for you. Just on the U.S., I guess, margins are still very tepid over there, and I understand there's a degree of rollout impacting that. But just any sort of comments on the sequential margin declines in the U.S., how to think about that into 2027 as some of the stores that you've been rolling out over the last couple of years start to mature?
Good reminder. I might actually even get Sash. Do you want to take this?
Sure.
Yeah. He's just come back from the U.S. Over to you, Sash.
Look, there are a number of factors there. I think the market plays an impact there and reminding everybody that the residential new construction exposure is large in our U.S. business. But the point that I think you're making, and I think Andy made it in his, is as our new rollouts start to mature, and they do take time, we would expect to see the margin profile change in the U.S.
Should we expect that to start in 2027 just because the new store rollouts are slowing?
When you say we've already shared, we've shared actually more than we normally do. We're expecting modest growth. I mean, it's not that much different to what we're doing from what we have done in the past. If we look at how long it takes for these new stores, they do vary depending on the type of store. So we've got small, medium, and large formats across the different segments, and they vary from two to five years before they actually reach a break-even point. The ones that are more skewed towards the smaller R&R customer, you win them one customer at a time, and they take longer. I think we've signaled modest growth for the U.S., and I think that's the right thing to say.
Okay. All right. Great. Thanks. I'll leave it there.
Thank you.
Thank you. We'll go for the next question. The line comes from Sam Seow from Citi. Please go ahead, Sam, your line is open.
Good morning, Peter and team. Thanks for taking my question. Just a quick one on the result. It basically came in at the midpoint of your guidance, which I guess was given pre-war and pre-budget. I just wondering, were there any levers you had to pull to do that? Or really at a high level, did you not see that much impact from, I guess, all the noise in the fourth quarter versus when you gave that guide?
G'day, Sam. There was some noise and that's why we decided to give guidance. And obviously when those events happen, you do start thinking, "Are we going to have to update it again?" I think you've almost answered the question. I think maybe we didn't see as bigger impact as what initially was looking like. There was definitely some pull forward of some categories, but I think in all regions it sort of washed through reasonably smoothly. That's probably why we landed within guidance.
Got it. That's helpful. Then maybe on the second half, I think you've answered a few questions on it today, but just want to perhaps understand whether you think there was any contribution perhaps from a change in strategy from your main competitor in ANZ. It feels like they're shifting a bit in the markets they're targeting. So just want to understand if you thought there was a bit of a contribution there to your number, and particularly now, I guess, with your focus on what appears next generation showrooms. Any color there would be helpful.
I would say it's all too early. Cultural change and any change in getting foundations right, it's a multi-year story what they will be undertaking. So no, don't think there's any impact. Well, it might be slightly. And in terms of the new format, that's just one showroom that's only been trading for a couple of months. So definitely there's nothing there. So, no. I think ultimately, I think I mentioned it. It's always been a fierce contest. And all I keep saying is I couldn't respect the new owners more. So like every market, we have to be totally on our game. We've got to be totally continuing to get better every single day. We've got to keep investing. We've got to make sure we stay at the forefront.
Otherwise, what they do will actually have an impact in three to five years when everyone's forgotten about it. What they are doing now will be getting their business into a better position down the track.
Thanks, everyone. Appreciate the color.
Thank you.
Thank you. Our next question comes from the line of Joseph Michael from Morgan Stanley. Please go ahead, Joseph. Your line is open.
Good morning, Peter and team. Thanks for taking my questions. Just the first question I had just around data centers. Can you give us an update on how you are seeing the opportunity for data centers, in both the U.S. and Australia? Can you also make a comment on how material that end market is to the broader group?
Well, I think we did just mention that. We are definitely benefiting that end market. We are exposed in our plumbing HVAC and waterworks businesses across all our segments. Yeah, I think it is a positive. My analogy of this, it is a little bit like, I do not know if everyone remembers, and it might not go this way, but when we had the mining boom in Australia, we benefited from that while the mining boom went on. All these big infrastructure plays, companies like Reece, do benefit because we are going to supply the product of all the trades that are doing the work for the hyperscaler. Definitely exposed. It will be a positive for the business.
Okay. Great. Just the other question I had just around the waterworks business in the U.S. So it sounds like things have stabilized there. Is it still in a sort of rebuild phase? Are you sort of returning to growth for that business now that things have stabilized?
Yeah, thanks. Good question. Definitely, I think that is the right word to say, stabilize. Obviously this time last year, I did describe it as the perfect storm because we were in the middle of it and we did not have a leader. We have appointed a leader to the business from within, which has stabilized. We have rebuilt the team and continuing to rebuild and invest in that segment. It is a hot space. It is very contested. But look, I think we have done a pretty good job in the last 12 months to stabilize and if you like, fight back and I think I said this at the half and at the AGM. It made us think deeply, but our shareholders, we are 100% in this for the long term. I did make the comment, it will be interesting to see who outlasts who in this space.
I would say that, yeah, I think definitely stabilization is the right word and we are feeling a lot better about where we are. Albeit it is still unbelievably competitive and particularly in a couple of markets. But if you keep taking a long-term view and you think really long term, you can outlast anyone.
Great. We will leave it there. Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you. That was our final question for today. I will now hand back to Peter for his closing remarks.
Okay. Well, thanks everyone for joining us again today. We do appreciate your time and we look forward to speaking with you again at our next update. Thank you very much.
Thank you for your participation in today's conference. This does conclude the program. You may now disconnect your line.