Thank you for standing by and welcome to the SDI Limited FY 2022 results investor webinar. All participants are in a listen-only mode. There will be a presentation followed by a question and answer session. If you wish to ask a question, please enter it into the Ask a Question box and click Submit. I would now like to hand the conference over to Ms. Samantha Cheetham, Chief Executive Officer. Please go ahead.
Thank you very much, Ashley. Good morning, and thank you all for joining us for our full- year FY 2022 investor webinar. My name's Samantha Cheetham, the Chief Executive Officer, and with me today is John Slaviero, our Chief Financial Officer and Chief Operating Officer. As we will discuss today, we have seen continuing strong momentum in our business with another record half of sales leading to a record full year sales result. While there were challenges we faced, I'm pleased that we have made further progress in our business, delivering world-class products into highly competitive markets and taking market share. As we spoke about at the half year results, the disruption to global supply chains has added some additional complexity to our operations, but our focus remains on making sure we meet customer demand.
While this meant some additional costs and some inefficiencies in the short term, we are now seeing the benefit of this deliberate strategic decision with share gains in our key markets and categories. Let's look at the results in more detail. Before we move on, I always like to recap on where we have come from, particularly for those that are less familiar with our business. Having been established in 1972, exactly 50 years ago this year, we have built this business into a successful manufacturing company, where today we are exporting to more than 100 countries. Underpinning this result has been our continuing focus on research and development, which I will share some additional context for you today. Through this, we have developed new and innovative products that will meet the needs of our customers.
Let me now turn to the agenda for today's presentation. I will begin with a summary of the full- year results, then spend some time talking about the product categories and the R&D process. Next, I'll move on to the key geographies we operate in. I will then turn over to John, who will run through the financials before returning to me to talk about our strategy, our commitment to ESG principles and the outlook, and we are certainly happy to take your questions at the end. I'm now on page 4. Let's begin with a summary of the results for the 12 months to June 2022. The year was a record sales for the group, with total sales of AUD 95.2 million, up 16.5% on the prior corresponding period.
This was driven by strong growth in all product categories in most regions with evidence of share gains. As I mentioned in my opening remarks, there were additional costs incurred in the period due to the disruptions in the global supply chain. Freight costs increased by AUD 3.3 million for the year and impacted our product margins by 3.8%. With operations returning to normal, the operating expenses increased 16.8% in the period, or up 9.2% after adjusting for currency and government assistance in FY 2021. Product margins were 55.8% for the year, negatively impacted by the elevated freight costs referred to earlier, but also a reflection of the product mix and the regional sales performance, which can vary in terms of product margins.
As a result of these conditions and other operational inefficiencies experienced, EBITDA fell 12.4% to AUD 14.7 million. The balance sheet remains robust with a good level of cash. It also reflects the strategic investment we made in inventory of AUD 4.5 million to ensure we were able to meet customer needs. Finally, the board has rewarded shareholders with the final dividend of 1.75 cents per share, up 6.1% on prior PCP, underpinning the board's ongoing confidence in the outlook for the business. Let's now turn to the product categories. Our core categories of aesthetics and whitening were once again the highlight for this period, with growth of 17.2% and 12.9% respectively in local currencies.
This result was driven by the release of new products, but also market share gains as mentioned, and evidence of the success of our strategic decision to prioritize service with additional investments in inventory to meet customer needs. Another highlight, although the smallest product category, was equipment up 11.5% in local currencies as we continue to have success with new products, seeing its complementary product range as essential to our engagement with dentists. Finally, the amalgam product sales, a relatively smaller product category for the group at 16.1% of SDI total sales, were up 21% in local currencies. The driver of this performance included the changing market conditions, with two large players exiting the market and secondly, the return of government tenders in some regions.
Turning to research and development. As I've spoken many times before, our commitment to research and development has underpinned SDI success over many years. We manufacture and sell world-leading products on the global stage with our core IP underpinning these advancements. I often talk about the sales cycle in getting product to market, but what you may not be aware of is the development cycle that precedes these product launches. Our team of scientists, marketing, engineering, production and quality teams follow a familiar path of development with a focus on the manufacturing readiness levels, MRLs. These levels begin at one with new ideas that may come from dentists, key opinion leaders, university collaborations, a new challenge identified by one of our team, or simply a new improvement to an existing product we have.
As these projects develop, they move through the MRL stages, starting at proof of concept, then to formulation stage, then validation and quality assurance before the pilot phase, then finally to full scale manufacturing. This cycle can be as long as five years, with the sales cycle to follow potentially a similar period of time as we engage dentists and the key opinion leaders in the industry. We operate in a highly regulated industry, and our investments in research and development are key to maintaining our relevance and advantages in the market. Let me now share with you an exciting new development. We, along with many in the dental industry, have been working on an amalgam replacement product. For many years, the amalgam filling was the most common filling, and while its durability is unmatched, the consumer preference has shifted to tooth- color fillings made from different materials.
In SDI's case, we made this transition many years ago with this older product now representing only 16% of total sales and with contemporary solutions, our aesthetics fillings comprising nearly half of all sales. The challenge for the industry was to develop a product that had the durability of the amalgam filling but was not tooth- colored. We were successful in securing a government grant and have been collaborating with several university partners in New South Wales to develop this breakthrough product. After five years of research, we are pleased to announce that this product, called Stela, is now ready to be launched with growing interest among our customers and we expect it to become another core product, offering for the group over the time. Let me now turn back to the numbers, starting with the key geographies we operate in.
This slide shows sales by business unit, as disclosed in our accounts. Sales by business unit were consistent with the record year we have achieved with growth in all regions we operate in. The European sales unit was up 21.7% in local currencies, driven by strong demand in its key markets and assisted by the U.K., where conditions continued to improve. The Australian unit sales, which also capture Australian direct export markets, was up 15.8%, with the domestic sales down 3.5% more than offset by direct exports, which were up 29.3% in the period. The domestic result is directly related to the lockdowns in the largest markets in the first half being New South Wales and Victoria.
Brazilian sales increased 26.1% in local currencies from market share gains and overall strength in the dental market. The North American market was up 5.8% in local currency, reflecting a relatively slower uptake with aesthetics products when compared to other regions. For a more detailed look at what was going on in the regions, let's look at customer behavior by region. This slide shows the regions where sales were in Australian dollars. All regions performed well, with particularly strong performance in South America, the Middle East, Africa benefiting from the return of government tenders and Europe, our largest region. These performances reflect the ongoing success with new product releases and significant market share gains. As shared, we made sure there was no unmet demand and saw the rewards in most regions.
I'll now hand over to John to talk through the financials.
Excuse me. Thanks, Sam. As Sam mentioned, sales were up 16.5% in the period, underpinned by strong demand in most regions in all product categories. On gross margins, the story bears some further explanation. The decline in the margin is partly explained by the increase of freight costs in the period, where the cost of transporting goods reached record levels. In addition, our strategy, as Sam shared, was to maintain service levels with customers, and while painful in the short term, we have seen evidence of the rewards of this strategy with strong gains in all markets. Excuse me. The other key factor is the mix of products and regions. As discussed previously, margins are not uniform across products and regions, with the influence of lower margin products in lower margin regions evident.
While unusual, this result is more a reflection on the remaining regions returning to normal operating conditions, and we expect to see margins normalize over time. On operating expenses, we saw a return to more normal levels and the absence of government assistance programs. Finally, on EBITDA and net profit after tax, the declines reflect the impact of the gross margins discussed earlier and the return of normal operating expenses. Turning to the balance sheet. The company's net cash position fell by AUD 4.2 million to AUD 6.3 million, following the planned investment in inventories of an additional AUD 4.5 million, plant and equipment of AUD 1.7 million, and product development expenditure of AUD 2.2 million. As discussed earlier, we actively manage inventory to ensure we meet customer needs and did our best to mitigate the ongoing delays in the global supply chain.
Finally, the company has unused bank facilities of AUD 10 million. Now turning to cash flow statement. There were a number of factors that impacted the operating cash flow in the half. The operating costs returned to normal levels in line with most of our markets. As mentioned earlier, we experienced inflated logistics costs. In this period, as discussed in the conversation on gross margin, we sold into markets where there are typically longer days of trading terms. No government assistance in this period. Finally, we made the payment of dividends for the financial year 2021 and the first half of 2022. I will now hand back to Sam to run through the strategy and the outlook for the remaining period of the financial year.
Thanks, John. Turning to our strategy. The company's strategic priorities remain focused on four things. One, the key product categories of aesthetics and whitening products. Two, further manufacturing efficiencies and driving sales and marketing teams. Three, the ongoing investment in research and development. Four, company's amalgam replacement product, Stela, which remains on schedule for release in 2023. In July, we purchased an adjoining 1.4- acre property where we will redevelop a new warehouse. We will then be able to expand our existing site with more manufacturing space. Our ongoing investment in automation continues, with several new machines due for delivery in 2023. Turning to the outlook. Along with many other organizations, we realize the importance of ESG principles in the ways impacting the environment and our community.
While relatively early in our journey as the board and management team, we're committed to making significant progress in the coming years, and we'll share our progress over time. Some current initiatives to share include the appointment of a qualified engineer to the role of environmental officer. This person will be tasked with ensuring we are meeting expectations and looking to make continuous improvements on the way we impact our environment. Other initiatives include a reduction of plastics used on the premises and complying with local EPA requirements in the management of hazardous waste. Further, as part of our membership with APCO, we are committed to waste reduction in our operations. We hope to share more in this important area as our plans develop and progress is made.
Looking ahead, I'm encouraged by the strong sales growth we have seen in our markets, and we see genuine momentum in our business underpinned by new product releases and continued increases in market share. While the challenges of elevated costs and the uncertainty of further lockdowns is still a reality, in time, these conditions will normalize, and we will see ongoing benefits from the strong base we have built in our markets. This is an exciting year for SDI. We are celebrating 50 years of the company, an Australian manufacturer and exporter committed to the future by investing in a solid research and development pipeline. Our new product launches at the IDS, plus being finally able to see our global teams, our distributors, and our dentists face- to- face at this very important trade show in Germany next year, means 2023 is going to be a top year.
Thank you for our presentation, and we are now happy to take your questions.
Thank you.
And-
If you wish to ask a question, please enter it into the Ask a Question box and click Submit.
Okay. Thank you. I do have some questions here. The first one is, can you please provide more details on the site, specifically financing of the site and timeline for when it will be operational? I think I'll hand that to John.
Yes. Thanks, Sam. Yes. The site will have a 4,000 sq m warehouse built on it. It will be financed through bank finance, the building and the actual purchase of the land. We expect this project to be finished within two years.
Okay. The next question. The amalgam replacement product, can you please elaborate on the timing of the rollout, and do you foresee a strong uptake by the market initially or slow to build? The rollout will actually start early next year. In about February, we'll start rolling that out. It will take some time to really get strong demand. We have to roll it out to key opinion leaders. Sorry, I should have started. It's actually going out to key opinion leaders in countries right now where you don't need product registration. So we're getting initial feedback. In the next couple of months, we'll get that. In terms of areas where we can actually sell it will start in February.
It'll take some time for that demand to start picking up. The key opinion leaders need to give their opinions. Researchers will have to do studies on it. I would say probably about two years we will get some initial good momentum starting. Can you comment on GP margin for Stela, which is the amalgam replacement product, compared to our current amalgam products? Do you expect amalgam sales to go from 0 to Stela and Stela to completely replace amalgam sales? If so, over what timeframe? Certainly I'll answer the first part. The GP margin for Stela will be possibly better than amalgam because amalgam is made up of you know expensive metals in particular silver.
Stela is not made up of metals at all. They're glass particles and resins and a few other secret ingredients. It certainly will be a higher margin, we believe. We've also just taken ownership of a new high-speed machine for this product, which will also fill other products into syringes. Which is a very fast one, very highly automated. There certainly will be more margin on that. In terms of expecting the amalgam sales to go to zero, no, it won't. That will take time. We have to convince those amalgam users that this is a super strong product, stronger than the metal product that they're using.
That will take time, and that will be the researchers that will help us prove that. Look, I would say it'll probably take about two years to really get some great traction on the Stela project. Next question is: Has all of the AUD 3 million of government grants announced in 2019 been received, or are there any further residual payments receivable?
Yes. There's one more payment to come of approximately AUD 150,000 , which will come in this current quarter we're in. Yeah, it's virtually all paid up.
The next question: Could you provide some insights into the significance of the new amalgam product over time in terms of both top and bottom lines? I think I've probably explained mainly that. Look, I think most important there is the significance will really start in about two years, and again, high- margin project, product. The next question is: When do you expect the freight costs to normalize?
Good question. Look, I think it's gonna be around still for another six months at least. We've just seen that the cost for containers, because we need specialized containers for our products, hasn't really reduced much. The air freighting, if we can get some sort of non-disruption on our containers, our air freighting costs should come down a bit. Yeah, I still see it quite significant for the next six months.
Which probably answers the question: Are you seeing freight cost reductions with the increased inventories and less air freight? Do you expect margin improvement in FY 2023?
Yes. Look, the increase in inventory certainly has helped. The biggest reduction is probably in the air freighting. It should lead to a better margin for this current financial year.
The final question: What is currently being used as a replacement for silver amalgam? Well, a silver amalgam is used for the back teeth, for the fillings required for the back teeth. There's also composite products which are white or tooth-colored plastic products, plastic fillings. Then there's also glass ionomers. They'd probably be the main two replacements. But still, there is a lot of amalgam being used, but that is declining. No more questions. Thank you, everybody, for your interest. SDI is gonna in 2022-2023 is really a super exciting year because first of all, 50 years is a great achievement.
I think, you know, the investments we've made over all the years is enabling us to compete in this very competitive market that we really have a strong foothold in. Thank you, everybody. Oh, sorry. There's one more question. How does the pricing of Stela compare to the current amalgam product? Will it be cheaper for the end user when it's on the market? Look, the pricing is for the end user, the patient, is always up to the dentist, and I would imagine it will be similar or maybe a little bit expensive. It's a bit more expensive. It's certainly got more advantages.
The amalgam currently for the end user is usually given to a patient that either doesn't really care what the back of their teeth looks like or doesn't wanna pay too much. The Stela will, depending on the clientele of the dentist, they will really define what those prices are, but it's really up to the dentist on the margin they put on. Oh, sorry, one more question.
Make this the last one.
This will be the last question. Any update on the research into childhood caries treatments in Melbourne? Thank you for that question. That was concluded about a year ago, and that came out with very positive results. In fact, the lecturer who completed that research spoke at a recent dental show in Melbourne on the weekend, and absolutely gave positive results. I'm sorry, I can't remember all the details, but basically it prevented children going under general anesthetic. It significantly minimized their risks and also minimized the cost for the health system.
Thank you very much, everybody, for yo ur interest in SDI, and certainly look forward to meeting with some of you over the next few weeks when we discuss more details. Thank you.
Thank you.
That does conclude.