Good afternoon. I'm Jeffery Cheetham, Chairman of the Board of Directors of SDI Limited. Ladies and gentlemen, it's now over 2:30 P.M., and being a quorum present at this virtual meeting, I declare the 2025 AGM of SDI Limited open. As the meeting is being conducted entirely online this year, I want to cover some important procedural and technical matters. Details about how shareholders can participate have been set out in the notice of meeting and online virtual meeting guide, which has been made available to you. Both documents are also available to view and download at the bottom of your screen. If you haven't already done so, you may find it helpful to download the online guide and keep it handy. Voting in today's virtual meeting will be conducted by a poll by virtue of the virtual voting platform.
All polls will remain open until the consolidation of today's meeting. As we move through the items of business, I'll respond to questions from the shareholders. To register to vote and get a voting card, click on the "Get the Voting Card" box at the top of your screen, and enter your shareholder number and postcode or country if outside Australia. To vote, click for the "For," "Against," or "Abstain" voting buttons for the relevant items. Once you have completed your card, click on the "Submit Vote" button. You may edit your voting card as many times as you would like during the course of the meeting. Shareholders can submit written questions at any time by clicking on the "Ask a Question" box, which is also at the top of your screen. Shareholders, if you do have questions, I encourage you to submit them as soon as possible.
If we experience any technical issue during the meeting, we may need to take a short break. If there's a significant technological issue, we may need to adjourn the meeting to another time and date. Please keep an eye open on your email box and our AGM website for updates and further details. We'll also lodge details with the ASX. I'd like to introduce my fellow directors. Ms. Samantha Cheetham is our Managing Director and CEO. Mr. John Slaviero, Director of Finance, CIO and Company Secretary. Our non-executive directors, Dr. Geoffrey Knight, Mr. Gerald Bullon, Mr. Cameron Allen, and Mr. Jared Kennedy. Also present is Ms. Rachel Smith from the company's auditor, Deloitte. Ms. Smith will be available to answer questions you may have about the conduct of the auditor. The Chairman and the CEO's speeches have been released to the market this morning.
You'll be able to follow the presentation on the webcast as the presenters speak. I'll now commence my Chairman's address. The 2025 financial year presents to us with challenges, with continued changes in the European market registration requirement, instability in some Middle Eastern markets, and underperforming Asian markets. Despite this, product margins increased and operating expenses were well managed, giving us solid normalized after-tax profit of AUD 10.5 million, which was up 0.1% on last year. Our sales of AUD 110.4 million were led by growth in aesthetic products, improvement in whitening products, and strong growth in the European market. The ongoing focus on aesthetic and whitening products continues to be our strategy for the future direction of our portfolio. We continue to see declining sales of amalgam products, which are offset by other products, and in particular, our newest product, Stellar.
Stellar, our exciting amalgam and a restorative replacement, was released in most of the key markets during the year, showing good sales, growth, and positive market feedback. The new European Union medical device regulation, the MDR, continues to be a major emphasis for our teams, and they have secured the registration. As a consequence, much of our research and development resources have been allocated to achieve registration for our legacy products. However, we still aim to release one to two new products each year. Globally, product registration is becoming more difficult to achieve, but SDI is well equipped to sell all products in all major markets around the world. Our planned new 6,500 sq m factory in Montrose is an exciting project, which will increase production capacity and efficiency. We expect construction to commence in early 2026 and move our manufacturing plant in 2027.
In the 2026 financial year, we will continue to focus on changing our amalgam customers to Stellar, the building of our new manufacturing plant, and ensuring our MDR registration is fully complied with. These are great goals for the year to ensure the company is well placed to achieve increased market share for the future. Additionally, we believe our management, our environmental, social, and governance risk position for sustainable growth at both the corporate and product level. While these factors have always been a focus for SDI, we'll continue to follow our ESG roadmap, which is in line with our overarching corporate strategy. I'd like to thank the board, management, and the staff of SDI and our distributors, both in Australia and all over the world, for their hard work and total dedication to SDI's global success.
Lastly, I'd like to thank our shareholders for their ongoing support and investment in SDI. I'll now hand over to the CEO, Samantha Cheetham.
Next slide, everybody. Slide five. Thank you very much, Jeff, and good afternoon, everyone. I, too, would like to thank all attendees for joining us today at the Annual General Meeting for 2025. I'm very pleased with the progress we have made, delivering world-class products into a highly competitive market and gaining market share. Our winning strategy is underpinned by the reliable supply of high-quality dental products to our customers. In the FY 2025 sales, in the FY 2025 year, sales were AUD 110.4 million, or down 0.7% on FY 2024. With product margins increasing and well-managed operating expenses, we have resulted in a record profit for the year.
I'd like to thank the entire SDI team and our customers and suppliers, both in Australia and all over the world, for their hard work throughout the year, delivering a good result and continuing to maintain a high level of energy as we enter the next financial year of 2026. We have delivered on our FY 2025 objectives and continue to focus on our winning strategy. I'd also like to thank our loyal shareholders for your ongoing support and investment in SDI. Next slide, slide six. FY 2025 saw sales of AUD 110.4 million for the group, down 0.7% on the prior corresponding period. Gross profit margin increased 80 basis points to 62.9% due to stronger performances in our higher margin products, as well as a stronger regional mix and increased efficiencies across production.
EBITDA fell by 2.7% to AUD 21.6 million on the prior corresponding period, with operating expenses well managed in the period. A final dividend of AUD 0.019 per share was in line with the prior corresponding period, with normalized net profit after tax of AUD 10.5 million, an increase of 0.1% on the prior corresponding period. In terms of our business updates, revenues were flat with a mix of regional performances. The gross margin improvement of 80 basis points was largely attributable to product mix and increased efficiencies in production. As we move into FY 2026, we expect this trend to continue with the new machines becoming fully operational. During the second half of the year, Pola, the tooth whitening product range, undertook a branding upgrade and was well received in the market.
Stellar, a posterior restorative product that forms part of our aesthetic product range, continues to reach broader acceptance in the market with continuing strong take-up. Finally, we have made significant progress on our Montrose site relocation with the permit process, the last step before we begin construction. Let's now turn to sales by business unit. Next slide, slide seven. This slide shows sales by business unit. During the year, we saw good growth in Europe but was offset by weak direct exports. The Australian unit sales, which also captures the Australian direct export markets, was down 10.5%, with Australian direct exports decreasing 15.3% when adjusted for currency movement. These sales were materially impacted by a reduction in sales from the Middle East and Asian region. The North American market was down 3% in local currency, primarily due to a 16.6% decline in amalgam sales in the region.
The European unit sales were up 5.8% in local currencies, driven by demand for aesthetic products in most European markets. Brazilian sales increased 9.7% in local currencies due to a major distributor returning to normal business after reducing inventory in the prior period. Now onto our sales by regions. Next slide, slide eight. This slide details our sales by category. In local currencies, aesthetic sales continued to show solid growth of 4% in local currency terms, with growth across most regions partly offset by a decline in Australian direct export sales, which were down 10.2%. Whitening product sales were up 2% in local currency terms, with good increases in North America and the Australian domestic market. Equipment, which is largely a complementary product and represents our smallest product category, was down 2.2%. However, Brazil and Europe saw good growth with 4.4% and 18.3%, respectively.
Finally, amalgam sales continued recent declines, falling a further 21.9% in local currency terms. The declines were in most markets, particularly in North America, which was down 16.6% over the year. In local currencies, aesthetic sales continued to show solid growth of 4.5% for the year, with growth in aesthetics largely driven by market share gains, supported by the release of new products in prior periods gaining momentum. Next slide, slide nine. Project Montrose. The tendering process began, and we have received construction tenders for around AUD 26 million. The next stage will be the due diligence on the preferred tender. The planning permit for our project has been well received. As recently shared, the project will be fully funded by the combination of the sale and lease balance of the current premises plus debt.
We're excited about the project, including the capacity it will add and the efficiency that will generate for the business. Next slide, slide 10. Here we see the approximate updated timeline of Project Montrose. We are currently still on track to be relocated by December 2027. Next slide, slide 11. Over the past year, we've continued delivering our ESG roadmap while also preparing for the new Australian sustainability reporting standards. For SDI, being a Group 3 reporting entity means that by FY 2028, we will publish a sustainability report integrated with our financial results, covering climate-related risks and opportunities that could reasonably be expected to materially affect the company's financial position, as well as how our governance, strategy, risk management, and metrics and targets will be used to monitor and manage them.
ESG has always been part of how we run the business, both in our operations and in our products, and we're ensuring this approach positions us well for the future and for meeting these new requirements. We look forward to continuing to share our ESG journey and progress with you. Next slide, slide 11. Here on slide 12, slide 12 is our priorities. Priority one, high-quality market leading product. Priority two, business excellent, and priority three, premium positioning and awareness. Our company continues to follow that strategy, and our whole team is committed to it. Slide 13, strategy and outlook. The company's strategic priorities remain unchanged. Aesthetics and whitening continue to be our focus for new product development.
Stellar and Riva Cem Auto mix were the latest product launches, and I look forward to updating you all throughout the year of the positive progress of these products, particularly Stellar, given its unique characteristics. We continue to focus on improving operational manufacturing efficiencies via automation and Project Montrose, expanding our sales capacity to over 200 million. The R&D team will remain focused on product development with the aim to have one to two products released to market over the next 12 months. We attended the International Dental Show in Germany. It was a great success as we were able to showcase some of our new and most innovative products. Slide 14, our awards. SDI is committed to product innovation. Our strategic goal to launch at least one to two new products per year is contributing to our key focus category of aesthetics and tooth whitening.
SDI products are recognized around the world for their exceptional quality and innovation. Each year, we continue to earn an increasing number of industry awards, reflecting our commitment to excellence and our ongoing drive to help pioneering solutions. We're a dedicated exporter, proudly receiving the 2025 International Health Victorian Export Award, adding to our list of awards in prior years. These achievements highlight our strong global presence and our ongoing commitment to delivering exceptional products to international markets. That concludes my presentation. Back to you, Chairman. Next slide, slide 15.
Thank you, Sam. We'll now turn to the formal business of this meeting. The notice of meeting dated October 24, 2025, was circulated to members, and I will take the notice of meeting as being read. Turn to slide 16, please. The 2025 annual report contains the financial report, the director's report, and the independent auditor's report. A copy of the annual report was made available on the company's website and was sent to those directors who requested it. The financial statements have been approved by the directors and audited by Deloitte. Please ask any questions that you have of our auditor on the virtual meeting platform. Voting is not required. This is a discussion item only. Are there any written questions on SDI Limited financial statement, report, director's report, or the auditor's report? Montrose.
There are no questions.
Thank you. Are there any further written questions?
No further questions either. Look down to. No, Mr. Chairman, there are no further questions.
Are there any further phone questions?
Chair, there are no questions from the phone.
With no further questions, I'll move to the next item of business, which is the election of directors. Slide 17, it's the election of Gerald Bullon. The resolution is for the re-election of Mr. Gerald Bullon as a director of this company. The directors, with Mr. Bullon abstaining, unanimously recommend shareholders vote in favor of the re-election of Mr. Bullon as the director of SDI Limited. Are there any written questions on this item, please?
Yes, Mr. Chairman, we have one written question from a shareholder. The question is, how old is Gerald Bullon, and is he planning to serve a full three-year term? Having first joined the board in 2013, is it fair to assume that this will be his last term, or could Mr. Bullon re-nominate for another three-year term in 2028?
I'll ask Mr. Slaviero to answer that question.
It's really a question to the board and to the chairman. I think it's a discussion between the board and the chairman to further assess it.
Thank you, Mr. Slaviero. I find Mr. Bullon is an excellent director for the company and a great person to discuss the matters of the company. I will fully endorse his re-election. Any further questions, please?
There's no more further questions.
No more further questions. With no further questions, the details of the total valid proxies of this item for this item are displayed. I'll be casting the undirected proxies given to me as Chair of the meeting in favor of the resolution. I'll now move to the next item of business, which is resolution two, the re-election of Dr. Geoffrey Knight as a director. This resolution is for the re-election of Dr. Geoffrey Knight as a director. The directors, with Dr. Knight abstaining, unanimously recommend the shareholders' favor of the re-election for Dr. Knight as director of SDI Limited. Is there any written questions on this item?
Yes, Mr. Chairman, we have one written question to a shareholder. How many more years is Dr. Geoffrey Knight likely to serve on this board? Having first joined the board in 2013, conventional governance would see Dr. Knight retiring after 12 years of service at today's AGM. Is he planning to serve a full three-year term? Could Dr. Knight and the chair please outline their approach to board renewal and comment as to whether any new directors with a fresh perspective will be added to the board before the next AGM?
Thank you. My response is that Dr. Knight has been an enormous contributor to SDI and to the management of the company. As for how long he'll stay on as a director, I think it's up to Dr. Knight. Does that answer your question? Thank you very much. There's no further questions for the item. No further questions.
No, no further questions.
I'll be casting the undirected proxies given to me as Chair in favor of the meeting, in favor of the resolution. I'll now move to the next item of business, the remuneration report. Are there any written questions on the remuneration report?
No, Mr. Chairman, there are no written questions.
Okay. With no further questions, the details of the total valid proxies for this item are displayed. I'll be casting the undirected proxies given to me as Chair of the meeting in favor of resolution three. The directors recommend shareholders to vote in favor of this resolution. Are there any written questions on this item?
Yes, Mr. Chairman. Any other business?
Yes, I have some other questions, Mr. Chairman. I have a question from Andrew Tang. Can you please provide an update of the general trading conditions across each of the product segments and geographies for the year to date? Has the implementation of your new production machinery resulted in margin improvements in the year to date? Is the Stellar product accelerating in gaining market acceptance? Thank you.
In terms of year-to-date updates, we at this time don't really give updates, Andrew. It's the way we've sort of done it in the past. In terms of the machinery efficiencies and contribution to the margin, they certainly are. They're not contributing huge amounts yet, but as it moves through the production line, they certainly will. I think there'll be certainly improvements by the end of the year. Stellar, apologies. Stellar is definitely gaining market acceptance. We have key opinion leaders in many, many countries talking about it. They recognize the innovation and the opportunities for posterior or back tooth filling, plus for the side teeth as well. It's a super strong product that will last a long time. Our sales of that are certainly increasing all the time. Very, very pleased with the result. Thanks, Andrew, for your questions.
Thank you, Samantha. Are there any further written questions?
Yes, I have a further written question from Peter Storer, shareholder. What percentage of revenue do you expect to allocate for R&D in the next two years?
R&D, we do not really look at it like that. It is really not a fixed cost. It has increased a bit, a significant amount in the last financial years due to the European registration costs. Generally, it is quite a fixed cost. It does not vary hugely as what you see in the financials because all our scientists and chemists are all full-time employees. We do not push increase employees just for a project. They all work on, they are all experienced scientists and chemists. They have all been here quite a while. It is more or less, I see it as a fixed cost.
Thank you, Mr. Slaviero. Are there any further written questions?
Yes, Mr. Chairman. I have another question from Stephen Lane. At last year's AGM, I pointed out that Deloitte had been our external auditor for more than 20 years and asked about audit tender history. The Chair, Mr. Cheetham, refused to provide any detail and said this was a matter for the Board. Could the Chair and the Audit Committee Chair please comment on whether last year's AGM exchange prompted any discussion about the merits of conducting a competitive tender for the audit? Once again, I ask, when was the external audit last tendered and when is it next likely to be tendered?
Yes, I can answaer that on behalf of the Chair of the Audit Committee. We didn't go out to tender last financial year. We had quite a bit on our plate, so there wasn't time. Certainly, I believe and it is an Audit Committee decision that this may well happen in the next financial year, in 2026.
Are there any further written questions?
Yes, Mr. Chairman. I have another question from Peter Storer. We are now about five months into the first half of 2026. Can you give us an idea of how we are tracking compared to the same period in 2025 or against the management budget, if that is more appropriate?
Peter, no, we don't give out that information until the half-year which comes out. I think we give an update, trading update around January, first or second week of January. We will not too far away. Hopefully, you can wait till then.
Yeah. Can I add just a bit to that too? One of the reasons why we do that, because normally we find in our November, our second quarter sales are quite strong. We haven't quite finished November sales figures yet. December's usually quite strong. It's a bit, how would you say, we'll see the trend when we've got December sales figures. Then we'll announce in January. Are there any further written questions?
Yes, Mr. Chairman. We have another question from Brett Westbury.
Thanks from.
Brett Westbury. Shell. I'm sure we all value the collective experience of our board members. However, it is also healthy to have a regular renewal for fresh ideas and networks. With all board members having been in place for over 12 years now, have there been any discussions on renewal or chair succession?
I'll answer that. There has been no serious discussion about renewal. I would add that the existing board members make very realistic contributions to the future of the company. I refer basically to the contribution from Dr. Knight, who was a practicing dentist and who actually contributes to the research and development activities that we do. I refer also to Samantha, who is very in tune with the market requirements. There is constant discussion about the future of the company as far as research and product development is concerned.
Thank you. Are there any further questions?
Yes, Mr. Chairman. I have another question from Brett Westbury. He asks, could we please hear from Dr. Knight regarding his re-election and his views on the business direction?
Thanks for that question. My feeling is that SDI is extremely well positioned in the dental market at the moment. We have a situation in the United States where they're pulling fluoride out of the water supply. We have sort of people in Queensland doing the same thing. SDI focuses mainly on restorative products. That is going to be the future trend of dentistry. People now realize that dental disease is a bacterial disease and SDI has introduced a number of very innovative processes. I think one of the first, well, the first company globally that was able to produce a form of a chemical called silver fluoride that would actually stop tooth decay, but also turns the teeth black. SDI have now got a product which also silver fluoride, but also prevents the tooth from going black. It makes it a much more aesthetic restorative treatment.
We've got Stellar, which I think is a world-leading situation. A lot of composite resins actually shrink away from the tooth. Therefore, a lot of the technology in the past has been making the filling materials actually very strongly bond to the tooth surface. Whereas our Stellar product, which is fascinating, actually sort of moves the adhesion towards the tooth. You get a really tight seal. This is a sort of a world-leading situation. I think it requires a lot of dentists to sort of sit down and just become aware of what's happening. The dental profession is very conservative. It takes a lot of time and hard work to do that. I've seen that SDI in a global situation have gone out and they've got key opinion leaders and we've talked to them.
I am very excited about the future of SDI and of all the products we provide in the market.
Thanks, Dr. Knight. May I quickly add that our competitors are also trying to develop an alternative to amalgam replacements. They have not come anything near the properties of our Stellar. We are very, very encouraged by the fact that our research appears to be well ahead of them. Can I ask, are there any further written questions?
Yes, Mr. Chairman. I have another question, again from Brett Westbury. Could we hear from Mr. Bullon regarding his re-election and his views on the business direction?
Mr. Bullon?
Yes. Good afternoon. My early involvement with the company was very much because I'd been involved in financial markets. I was familiar with all the brokers who were covering the stock and all the institutional investors who were interested in health as an area of investment. I continue to have those relationships with the financial markets. I have had the pleasure of watching the growth of the company, the growth of these new products, and their reach out into the global markets. I think I'm still in a position to contribute to the board dynamic and participate in the fairly robust discussions that we have around the board table.
Thank you, Mr. Bullon. Are there any further written questions?
There are no further written questions.
Thank you very much. Is there no further written questions? I declare the poll for all items will be closed in five minutes. A five-minute countdown will be displayed on the top of the virtual meeting screen. The results of the poll will be released to the ASX as soon as possible, which is expected to be later this afternoon. Thank you, ladies and gentlemen, for your participation at today's meeting. I now declare this annual meeting, general meeting of SDI Limited closed. Thank you very much.