I would now like to hand over to the conference call hosts, SunRice CEO Mr. Paul Serra and Group CFO Mr. Dimitri Courtelis. Please go ahead.
Thank you, and good morning everyone. Welcome to this morning's investor call and webcast for our half-year results for the 2025 financial year. My name is Paul Serra, Group CEO and Managing Director of the SunRice Group, and I'm here in Sydney with our Group CFO, Dimitri Courtelis, to provide an overview of our half-year results, highlight some of our key achievements, and provide an outlook for the group. We'll then open for questions to all participants who have joined online or dialed in. We have lodged an investor presentation with the ASX, which we'll display during this webcast. Please note the important notice and disclaimer on screen, which also includes important information about our corporate structure. Moving to our H1 FY25 performance, the SunRice Group has had a positive start to the first half of 2025, delivering a solid financial performance which was largely in line with expectations.
Compared to the first half of last year, we have consolidated revenue, increased Group EBITDA and net profit after tax, and strengthened our business model despite challenging market and geopolitical conditions. As you can see on screen, we've delivered top-line revenue of AUD 912 million, EBITDA of AUD 67.9 million, and net profit after tax of AUD 31.9 million for the first half of FY25. These results were supported by a favorable product mix, successful new product launches, the realization of manufacturing and logistics efficiencies, and strong cost control initiatives. During the first half, we also completed the acquisition of SavourLife and Simply Delish, bolstering the CopRice and Riviana Foods segments here in Australia, respectively.
I'm also pleased to share that a fully franked interim dividend of AUD 0.15 per B-class share has been declared, and that this and the increased liquidity in our B-class shares over the last six months has qualified RiceGrowers Limited for inclusion into the S&P/ASX Agribusiness Index. We note that the dividend reinvestment plan remains suspended. As we can see, over the last five years, SunRice has delivered an outstanding total shareholder return of over 408% compared to the S&P/ASX 300 Accumulation Index of 122%. That represents an outperformance to the index of 286%. Over the first half of financial year 25, SunRice has delivered a total shareholder return of 48.2% versus the S&P/ASX 300 Accumulation Index TSR of 17.2%. The SunRice Group has experienced profitable growth over the last three years.
Since the first half of FY23, revenues have increased by AUD 154 million, and net profit after tax rose by AUD 12.3 million. This growth has been driven by organic development, strategic acquisitions of SavourLife and Simply Delish, and the launch of new product innovations. When compared to prior corresponding period, EBITDA increased by 7.3%, and basic earnings per share rose by 0.6% to AUD 0.422 per B-class share. Significantly, this represents an EBITDA margin improvement, 49 basis points to 7.4%. We incurred a higher effective tax rate in the first half of FY25, which reflects a greater segment contribution in higher tax jurisdictions. Looking at revenue and EBITDA for the period, revenue declined by 0.7% or AUD 6.3 million compared to the first half of FY24, and this was primarily driven by pricing pressure in global tender markets.
Nevertheless, EBITDA grew AUD 4.6 million or 7.3%, supported by an improved product mix, new product launches, and realization of efficiencies and cost control measures across the group. Then, into capital management and our balance sheet, we continue to exercise discipline in capital management. Over the last six months, we have invested AUD 21 million in capital expenditure and a further AUD 21 million in acquisition of Simply Delish and SavourLife, both of which were funded from existing cash reserves. Our core debt was fully repaid in April 2024. All remaining debt relates to seasonal debt facilities to support working capital and near-term marketable inventory in our supply chains. Seasonal debt, including bank overdrafts and lease liabilities, increased by AUD 22 million. Our net debt reduced to AUD 202.1 million, reflecting the strong EBITDA generated and reduction in net working capital over the reporting period.
The group's leverage and gearing ratios reduced to 1.4x and 25% respectively, compared to 1.6 and 27% as at the 30th of April 2024. Those healthy positions associated with the headroom of undrawn facilities available mean that we maintain our balance sheet flexibility to support further strategic investment opportunities. Further, our return on capital employed increased to 13.5% compared to 12.7% as at the 30th of April 2024. As we can see, the SunRice Group is a truly global food business, and this slide showcases our global presence and scale. As you can see, 53% of group revenues for the first half of Financial Year 2025 were generated outside of Australia through sales to over 50 countries. Notably, approximately 70% of our sales were achieved through branded products, a proportion we drive as part of our 2030 strategy.
I'll now hand over to Dimitri, who will walk you through our segment performance in more detail.
Thank you, Paul, and good morning, everyone, on today's call. Looking at our segment snapshot, you can see the significant role that our International Rice segment plays in supporting the SunRice Group, as well as the contribution that our segments make to the overall group revenue, EBITDA, and net profit before tax. I n the first half of FY25, our Rice Food, Riviana Foods, and CopRice segments delivered some solid margin improvements. I'll now discuss the performance of each of our segments in a bit more detail. L et's look at the Australian Rice Pool business first, and this is aligned to our A-class shareholders and deals with the receival, the milling, the marketing, and the selling of Australian Riverina rice. The Crop Year 24 harvest delivered 618,000 paddy tons, which underpinned strong branded and traded sales across both domestic and international markets.
This performance was further supported by the weak Australian dollar that enhanced the contribution of U.S. dollar-denominated rice exports to our total group revenue. However, there were some challenges in key markets, particularly in the Middle East, where our volume growth has slowed a little bit, and this was in some parts due to the local geopolitical situation and the flow-on effects on shipping and some customer creditworthiness, in particular in some of those markets. Declines in global tender pricing over the last 12 to 18 months to more historical levels also significantly impacted the Australian Rice Pool business and primarily drove the 6% downturn in its revenue to AUD 183 million compared to the first half of last year.
With consideration of the dynamics from the first half, as well as the lower whole grain yield mill-out rates from the CY24 crop that we have milled to date, the CY24 paddy price range has been updated to AUD 380 to AUD 420 per ton for medium grain. Turning our minds to the international segments, which sources, processes, and markets rice in Australia and to over 50 markets globally, overall volumes in the segments grew during the first half, and this was in part due to some ample northern hemisphere rice supply, which did underpin a significant increase in our U.S. export volumes, as well as category share gains in Papua New Guinea due to our strong brand position in that market.
However, the significant fall in global tender and export pricing offset volume gains, and together with the ongoing high cost of internationally sourced rice on the back of the Indian export ban on non-Basmati rice impacted the top and bottom line performance of the segments during the period. Revenue for the first half of FY25 was AUD 418.8 million, and that was slightly below the prior corresponding period by AUD 2 million. EBITDA decreased by 5% versus the prior period to AUD 25 million, and our net profit before tax was down 6% to AUD 18.5 million. Now looking at our Rice Food segments, which manufactures, markets, and distributes value-added rice-based products, revenue coming in at AUD 65.5 million, which was 11% up on the prior period. EBITDA increased by 69% to AUD 7.7 million, and net profit before tax up 105% to AUD 7 million.
The uplift in revenue was driven by the additional ranging and distribution of rice cake products in Australia, as well as new export markets for the rice flour business. It was also supported by new product launches and increased investment in our brand building. Trade spend efficiencies and the implementation of pricing strategies in the prior period to partially absorb inflationary pressures also supported revenue growth and increased profitability in the first half. The segment's profit margins were further enhanced through the realization of our manufacturing efficiencies delivered in that business unit. Within Riviana Foods, which is our brand-led specialty gourmet food business, our top-line revenue grew 5% on the prior period to AUD 117.3 million.
This was driven by the growth of the Toscano brand in the bakery category in particular, where our volumes were up 20% year-on-year, and also from the Hart & Soul portfolio of products, which benefited from a successful soup season. Riviana Foods did encounter some challenges with lower priced offerings and cost of living pressures impacting the premier biscuit, pickled vegetables, and the food service categories, which affected top-line performance in the first half. The segment achieved profit margin growth during the first half of FY25, supported by operational changes in our logistics network and savings in our distribution costs, and as a result, EBITDA increased by almost 100% from the prior period to AUD 3.6 million, and net profit before tax increased 124% to AUD 1.7 million.
During the half, Riviana Foods also completed the acquisition of Simply Delish, which is a branded manufacturer, and this acquisition is expected to expand Riviana's presence in the chilled product channel through its own vertically integrated supply chain. Looking now at our animal nutrition business, CopRice's performance in the first half was supported by its companion animal division, which grew both in its branded and contract manufacturing businesses in particular. O f course, the acquisition of SavourLife, which is a highly differentiated, purpose-driven brand, also bolstered CopRice's performance and its participation in high-growth, higher-margin branded categories. Challenging trading conditions in the equine feed and the ruminant stock feed category drove a 3% decline in the segment's revenue on the prior period to AUD 126 million.
Now, despite these challenges, CopRice was able to achieve improved profit margins through cost control initiatives, optimized manufacturing and logistical processes, and a favorable shift towards branded companion animal products. P leasingly, as a result, EBITDA was AUD 11.9 million, which was up 50% on the prior period, and net profit before tax coming in at AUD 8.7 million, which is 85% up on the first half of FY24. Finally, turning to our corporate segments, which captures the cost of holding and financing the assets that are utilized by both the Australian Rice Pool business as well as the profit businesses. It also includes cross-segment charges for the use of the SunRice brands and the access to the milling and the storage assets, all of which are owned by the B-class investor.
The lower asset finance charges received from the Australian Rice Pool business due to the reduced net asset base and the cost of capital directly impacted Corporate segment's performance in the period and resulted in EBITDA of AUD 19.7 million, which was down nearly AUD 3 million from the prior period. This reduction in EBITDA was magnified by the AUD 1.1 million worth of property sales that were recorded in the first half of last year. I'll now hand back to Paul to discuss our strategy and outlook for the group.
Thank you, Dimitri. I f we turn to our future now and our 2030 strategy, we continue to refine our strategy on a page, which you can see here on the screen, as we progress the work under each of these work streams. Since we last presented the strategy at our AGM in September 2024, we have simplified our SunRice Group values and redefined what they mean to us in the context of our updated strategy. We have also further clarified our commercial strategies and enabling strategies, which are underpinned by a focus on our consumers having rice at our heart and adopting a more global mindset.
In addition, we have defined what successful implementation of our strategy would look like, which includes aspirational targets of growing our revenue to AUD 3 billion and, importantly, expanding our margin and realizing value for our shareholders, becoming one of Australia's most valuable food companies, creating significant opportunities for our talented workforce, having a strong portfolio of brands which delight our consumers and are underpinned by innovation and quality, continuing to drive sustainable outcomes for our consumers, communities, and planet through low-emission rice and a diversified, resilient, and increasingly traceable supply chain. We have commenced work on a range of initiatives to lay the foundation as we look to achieve our ambitious growth targets. Due to their transformative nature, many of these large initiatives, well if realized, contribute to the group's performance over time.
However, concurrently, our portfolio of strategic initiatives also includes projects which we expect to deliver benefits over a short time frame, especially in relation to continuing growth in existing markets, unlocking efficiencies and effectiveness. Moving to our outlook, looking ahead similar to the first half of financial year 25, the group expects full-year results to show revenue broadly consistent with FY24, moderate growth in EBITDA on the back of improved margins and impacted by a higher effective tax rate. We are confident in our ability to deliver for the second half by remaining focused on driving branded product sales, positive mix, and delivering cost and procurement savings, and implementing operational and manufacturing improvement initiatives across the group.
Having said this, the headwinds I mentioned earlier remain relevant for the second half of financial year 25, particularly the ongoing impacts of the northern hemisphere rice availability on both volume and price competition, geopolitical tensions in the Middle East affecting shipping and sales opportunities, ongoing competition from lower-priced offerings, and conditions in the ruminant and equine markets here in Australia. As I mentioned earlier and as communicated at the full year, the SunRice Group has reviewed its growth strategies to identify new opportunities, and we look to evolve and build on the momentum created in recent years. We look forward to updating the market as this work progresses. Our commitment to sustainability is an important part of how we create value for our employees, customers, consumers, shareholders, and stakeholders.
It's also critical to our 2030 growth strategy, and we are focused on achieving lower-emission rice and a diversified, resilient, and increasingly traceable supply chain. In terms of the progress we have made, I'm pleased to share that our Science Based Targets initiative was validated and reduction targets in December of 2024. Our commitment is aligned to reaching net zero by 2050 and includes a forestry, land, and agriculture target. We further progressed the development of our net zero roadmap, including modeling initiatives against our emission reduction targets, and we'll publish this net zero roadmap in mid-2025. We enabled the group's business to assess suppliers against our supplier sustainability code, including human rights and deforestation, and commenced drafting a new code that clearly outlines the expectations of suppliers.
We undertook further social and ethical audits using the SMETA protocol of our domestic and international operations, including further embedding our training on the ETI-based code. More information on our progress on the modern slavery in FY24 can be found in our 2024 modern slavery statement, which is available on our investor website. In terms of sustainability in action, we look more closely at our near-term science-based emission reduction targets, which was approved by the SBTi this month. We have committed to reducing absolute Scope 1 and 2 greenhouse emissions and Scope 3 industrial emissions by 54.6% by financial year 2033 from a base year of 2023. We've also committed to reducing absolute Scope 3 forestry, land, and agriculture emissions by 39.4% by 2033, again off a base year of financial year 2023.
We have also committed to reach net zero across our value chain by financial year 2050, and our long-term targets include a 90% reduction in absolute Scope 1 and 2 greenhouse emissions and a Scope 3 industrial reduction by financial year 2050, and 72% reduction in Scope 3 FLAG emissions by financial year 2050. Having our emissions reduction targets validated by the SBTi is a significant milestone in our sustainability journey, and SunRice is one of only four companies in Australia to have had approved the near-term and long-term Scope 3 FLAG target. As I mentioned in the previous slide, we'll publish our net zero roadmap in mid-2025 in line with the requirements of the SBTi. Finally, turning to our outlook for the Australian rice pool business. The crop year 24 Riverina rice harvest was another strong crop at approximately 618,000 paddy tons.
However, several factors continue to weigh on the anticipated pool returns, the most significant of which are the prevalence of lower whole grain mill-out rates from the crop year 24 crop observed to date, similar to those experienced in crop year 18, and recent global tender pricing lows. Together, these elements are expected to negatively impact the CY24 pool returns in the order of approximately AUD 70 per ton when compared to CY23 crop. However, despite these factors, SunRice is effectively managing costs and working to maximize opportunities arising from a weaker AUD against the USD to help minimize their impact on crop year 24 paddy returns. Accordingly, the crop year 24 paddy price range has been updated from AUD 370 to AUD 430 per paddy ton to AUD 380 to AUD 420 per paddy ton of medium grain.
While the recently planted Crop Year 25 is slightly smaller than the Crop Year 24, pleasingly, volumes are in line with our production capacity and will ensure a full milling program for FY26. We remain focused on driving grower returns in the Riverina as we manage the transition to a deregulated market for New South Wales-grown rice with the end of rice vesting in July 2025. This work includes modeling contracting options and other initiatives to help secure volume in the Riverina in line with market demand. A number of these options will be explored with growers in the new year in order to seek input before they are finalized. Next year marks SunRice's 75th anniversary, and our Riverina growers, who originally founded RiceGrowers as a cooperative in 1950, will continue to be front and center as we celebrate this milestone and look forward to the future together.
Thank you, and I'll now hand back to the operator.
Thank you. If you wish to ask a question via the phone, you will need to press the star key followed by the number one on your telephone keypad. If you wish to ask a question via the webcast, please enter into the ask a question box and click submit. We will take phone questions first and then move to the webcast questions. Your first phone question comes from Ellen Franklin with Canaccord Genuity. Please go ahead.
Good morning, Paul. Morning, Dimitri. Hope you're well. Thank you for your time. Perhaps just a question on CopRice, please. Pleasing to see that margin improvement coming through. Just hoping for a bit more detail to the drivers around that. J ust same business, different topic, just a bit more detail around how the Pryde's business is performing call it a year and a bit into that acquisition. Thanks.
Yeah, so I'll give a little bit of color and let Dimitri add to that if necessary. I think in the CopRice business, it's really kind of been two main drivers to the increased profitability that we see year on year. The first is, I think in the ruminant business, it's been quite difficult with quite heavy natural feeds available in New South Wales and Victoria, but the teams remain really focused on driving sort of profitable growth, so not chasing volume, but really driving profitable mix of businesses. T hat's been really important in light of the market conditions, and that's certainly something we'll continue to do. The second piece is really the growth of the companion animal business there, both in terms of the branded play and the contract manufacturing business. T hat obviously comes at an incremental margin mix to the business.
It's really been those two, and then underpinned by strong, obviously, executional discipline and cost control. I think in terms of Pryde's, the business is largely continuing well. I think, however, the different factors than the ruminant business, however, the commercial outlook in equine has been impacted by the cost of living, particularly we see in recreational horse owners. T here's been a little bit of a slowdown in the category, but we're still quite comfortable in terms of our market share and driving that business. Yeah, and I'll just add to that, Alan, the Pryde's business, to Paul's point, the leisure segment slowed down, but the racing segment is still tracking well. W hen we think of CopRice, it's really a 60 to 40 split.
60% of the revenue coming from the ruminant side, that's only delivering 40% of the profit, and then 40% of the revenue delivering 60% of the profit, which is from our animal nutrition and the more branded pet food market. Again, aligned with the strategy and where we've been in the past, really helping to step change this business away from that pure bulk ruminant feed into that more branded play. That's evident with the SavourLife acquisition that we made earlier this year.
Helpful. Thank you. M aybe just on Rice Food, yeah, again, good to see some sort of margin improvement there. Just hoping for a bit more detail around what those manufacturing efficiencies were. T hen just second part of that question, just in terms of further plans for export growth in that business, how can we view that optionality into the medium term, please? Thanks.
Yeah, I think Rice Food is a similar story to the overall group. We've been very focused on growing our margins, and we'll continue to be so. T hat's just really three key levers that we're focused on in terms of that. The first is the innovation and new products that we're bringing to market. The second is really the mix of the business and driving parts of our organization that are more profitable. T he third is a combination of pricing efficiencies and operational efficiencies. A ll three of those levers working together is really what helps to drive margin accretion. R ice Food in particular, we've had really good growth in parts of our business, such as rice flour. We've opened up new customers in Japan where we're working those assets to almost full capacity now. T hat's coming at a positive margin mix to the business.
We've also helped with some great innovation that's come to the market that's helping to drive both growth and margin growth in that business.
Helpful. Thank you.
Your next question comes from John Burgess with Rice Research. Please go ahead.
Hi, good morning. A couple of questions. Just I noticed through most of the divisional commentary that efficiencies in logistics and manufacturing is pretty prevalent. I guess my question is, has there been an increased focus for you guys or just business as usual? Is there more of sort of efficiencies that you see that you can extract from the various businesses?
Yeah, I think I'll start it broadly. Again, I think I always look at those three levers as a way of driving margin growth. T hat's innovation, new product launches, and achieving margin accretion with those programs. The second is the mix of business, and the third is the efficiencies. On the efficiency front, which is your question, I don't think it's an acceleration. I think the team have always been very focused on this. As we've grown in scale and complexity, it opens up opportunities for us to drive efficiencies off the back of that growth, and we'll continue to be maintaining our focus in that space. There's absolutely more to come. Every year, there's more to come in operational efficiencies, and we remain very focused on that.
However, growth is our top focus for the organization, but we obviously need to make sure we do that as efficiently as possible, and I'll let Dimitri comment on some of the individual programs.
Yeah, so that's particularly across logistics, warehousing, and procurements in particular, where we're looking at a lot of existing contracts and also new contracts, and also our shipping opportunities and inland logistics in particular are ones where we've had some key focus on in the last six months and look to underpin some of that cost control over the next six months and into driving that momentum into FY26 as well.
Presumably, some of the sort of latent upgrade is part of that efficiency program?
It is longer term, although that didn't impact the half. T hose programs are still very much in place. But yes, we see the packaging in particular that we're looking to put into Leeton as the major investment will continue to unlock efficiencies and also give us flexibility around packaging to achieve our sustainability goals as well. I t opens up new product formats as well. I t touches on all three of those levers I mentioned earlier.
Thanks. I'm interested in your views on the Indian rice export bans being lifted. In theory, that should be a net positive for you guys, but I'm just interested in, I guess, is it and then the sort of timing of realizing some of the benefits that flow from those export bans being lifted?
Yeah, we certainly. I f we break it down into, I guess, from a sourcing perspective broadly into long grain versus medium grain. F rom the medium grain perspective, the market's been relatively stable for a period of time now since the California industry's come back to full capacity more than 12 months ago. T he pricing dynamics in that part of the global rice complex, if you like, have remained fairly consistent. The long grain pricing post the lifting of the non-Basmati ban from India have certainly started to come down. We expect them to continue to come down for a period of time as we have quite healthy inventory levels across the world. T his helps to offset some of the risk that we were having in the business.
Y ou can see some of that has flowed through into the international rice segment, as Dimitri commented on earlier. W e do expect some relief in that space. But we also expect an increase in competition as that product becomes cheaper and more readily available for competitors to source as well. But overall, we see that as a net positive for the international rice segment in particular as we move forward.
Okay, thanks. J ust a final one. You mentioned the agribusiness index. Have you seen increased investor interest after being included in that index?
Yes, that was very pleasing to see that announcement a few weeks ago now, and we have seen a tick up in activity, which is something that, again, we're quite pleased about, and it's been a long journey and a lot of work over a number of years, but I guess last week is a good example. I think it was Wednesday or Thursday. We had our single largest trading day since we listed on the ASX with over about 100,000 shares traded, so that was about AUD 1 million of daily liquidity on that particular day, so great to be in that index.
T hen, of course, when investors look at us amongst the peer set and want to have that exposure into that segment in their portfolio, hopefully, they can see our metrics compared to theirs and see the offering that SunRice brings to that table with particularly the levels that we're trading at. H opefully, that's just another stepping stone in the journey of SunRice. But that agri index is certainly one of the positive developments in the last six months for us.
Okay. Great. Thanks for your time, guys.
Thanks, John.
Your next question comes from Finola Burke with Rice Research Group. Please go ahead.
Thank you. Good morning and congratulations on the great result, Paul and Dimitri and team. Just a couple of questions from me. You've reduced debt to almost 3x, and it's now pretty much seasonal debt relating to working capital needs. With the balance sheet in such good shape, are you tempted to look more at acquisitions as they present, or are you more focused on capital management initiatives?
Thanks, Finola. Yes, both are absolutely a core focus for us, and that hasn't been a change if I reflect on the previous strategy and certainly the forthcoming one. M&A has always been a core component of the strategy, and a good lens into that has been the acquisitions of SavourLife in particular over the last few months. W hilst the core debt is back to zero, we were able to pay off that acquisition essentially out of existing cash reserves. We've also got the upgrade of the leads and packing hall plant, which is also coming out of existing cash reserves. W e're primed to go after opportunities as they present themselves, and that's exactly as has been the case in the past. T hat will certainly continue.
I f we look forward into our strategy, that growth is certainly going to be complemented from an organic perspective, but equally from an inorganic perspective. S omething that we're watching very closely.
Yep. I 'll just add one point to that, which is we will look to absolutely invest behind our strategy in line with our strategy. I think as we now have that clearly defined, not just here in Australia, but across markets globally, we have that balance sheet flexibility to invest both organically and inorganically.
Just to follow on from that capital management, I mean, obviously, the company last year raised the dividend, the final dividend, quite substantially. Is that something that you're also looking to as well?
Yes, the board turns their mind to that very, very closely. A gain, the track record hopefully starts to speak for itself from a consistency of earnings perspective, not just through the cycle, but also as we navigate through the performance of the business and into the strategy going forward. The AUD 0.15 interim, obviously consistent with prior period. Last year's final was a big step up from where we were in the past. A gain, as I mentioned, the board's extremely mindful of rewarding the B-class investor and balancing the needs between the A's and the B's. A gain, track record hopefully speaks for itself on that front.
Just on the tax rate, a tick up to 28%. Can we expect to see it stay at these levels? H ow much of that rate's been impacted by the mix of international business?
Yes, there's been a bit of noise in the tax front in the first half. I f I just reflect on the segments in particular, we've got this year almost 60% of our net profit before tax has been generated in the segments that are exposed to more of the Australian tax rate. B etween the Rice Food group, CopRice, Riviana, and corporate, that's all coming in at 30%. T hat's compared to about 50% in the prior period. I t's not that the international segment has materially moved backwards. It's more so that we've generated more profit in jurisdictions with a higher tax rate. But also internationally, we've also used up pretty much all tax credits, particularly in markets like PNG, which is also now a 30% tax regime. I t's just that balance.
Y ou can expect the tax rate at the half year to be more reflective of how we think we'll come in for the full year. A gain, from a moving forward perspective, we'll keep guiding the market accordingly on where we're generating revenue across the group. But that's a bit more color to what's happened this year, well, the first half, and certainly for this year.
I guess finally from me, we've seen some significant volatility in the A dollar against the US. What impact is that going to have on SunRice in return?
F rom the rice pool perspective, that would be a positive because we export rice into US dollar denominated markets. A s you translate that back into Australian dollar, that helps the rice pool. But having said that, we've got a hedging strategy. It 's not like we're riding on spot and can take opportunities left and right. But on the import side of the business, that is a bit more pain that's expected, particularly Riviana, RFG on the import side as we import products, whether it's euro or USD denominations. But then equally with that, as we make a big chunk of our revenue, as Paul said, over 50% internationally, and that's all in USD, as we translate that back into Aussie dollars, that would be a helpful benefit that helps to offset some of those previous impacts that I've mentioned.
Okay. Thank you.
Thank you. I'll just move to webcast questions. Your first webcast question is from Mark Topy with Select Equities. Can you comment on inflation costs in the domestic market in terms of impact and what has been the price momentum achieved in the last two years? What is the outlook on costs in FY25 in Australia and globally in context of the lower pricing and pressure on margins?
Yeah, good question. L et me go back to those three levers I talk about in terms of new product innovation, a positive mix, and overall cost and efficiencies. We focus on all three of those. I n terms of offsetting inflation, you need to have all three of those working well. It's not a pure price play. It's not a pure price efficiency play. It's not a cost savings through supply chain, but it's the combination of all of it that we look to really help to offset the input cost inflation coming through, whether that's here, whether that's in overseas markets and wherever that comes from in terms of shipping or input cost inflation of raw material or energy and the like.
I think the group's been very focused on looking at it like that and looking at the suite of tools that we have available to us to offer product to the consumers at the most effective price and a convenience that the consumers are willing to pay for. In terms of that and how it's played out in Australia, specifically to the question, we continue to see that cost of living pressure here in Australia, and that is driving people to lower products, lower cost products such as private label. That's why it's really important to have those three levers. If we rely just on pricing or pricing efficiency and not innovation and not offering new products to consumers, then we will struggle.
But we've been able to do that, and I think we've been able to effectively offset the impacts or at least mitigate the impacts of that to our business.
Your next webcast question is from Lionel McFadden with Bell Potter Securities. Can you explain impact on excess paddy tons grown on NPAT?
I'll take that one. F rom the perspective of excess paddy tons, the way that it works in our system is we store the rice and the paddy in our storage network and sell that through, and any profit or loss on that goes to the growers in the form of the paddy price. I n terms of the impact on NPAT, it's not so much the excess paddy. It's more, and what is evident in the first half is a good example of what's happened in our corporate segment. Due to the mill-out rates and the milling yield of our paddy in the first half of the year from the CY24 crop, we've actually ended up with less inventory than we otherwise were expecting in the system. T hat's reduced the net asset value that our asset finance charge is calculated on.
That's impacted the corporate segment to the tune of about AUD 2.5 million in the first half. T hat will repeat in the second half because we're still dealing with the same milling program. But we're dealing with extremes from a milling yield perspective. This certainly isn't the norm, and this is one of the lowest milling yields we've experienced over the course of the last probably 10 or 15 years. I t's more treated as an outlier. But otherwise, if you have more normalized yields, the question in terms of the size of the paddy on the NPAT is not material.
I think just further to add to clarify for all on the call, we don't have excess paddy. I think we're in a really balanced position across our Australian rice crop at the moment in terms of the crop for last year and the crop that's in the ground for this year. We expect to be able to really keep our full milling programs and full efficiencies that we've been generating from that in the B-class of the business as well as through to the paddy price for the A-class.
Next question is from Julie Taylor with JMJT Investments. Can you elaborate on group sensitivity to a stronger US dollar and also on your comments regarding the opportunities arising from a weaker AUD versus USD?
Sure. O n the import side of the business, as I mentioned, we import products from Europe in our Riviana segments, and those are euro denominated and also USD denominated. A s the USD strengthens, those products become more expensive for us to procure in Aussie dollars. B y the time you've brought them to Australia with shipping rates that are again denominated in USD, that landed price is at a premium compared to when the Aussie is stronger. T hat's something that affects our import book, which is Rice Food in certain products like some of our microwave cups that we import out of Asia and predominantly the Riviana segments that we import out of Europe. T hen on the export side of the business, where we export our Australian crop, that's the reverse as we sell those products into US denominated markets.
T hat would be a benefit for the export book, but that goes to the paddy price within the Australian Rice Pool. I hope I've clarified the difference on those fronts.
We have another question from Lionel McFadden. What is the impact of the PGK Kina up or down 10% against the Aussie dollar on NPAT?
Yes. The Kina is an interesting one. As we know, it's not a tradable or marketable currency globally. If we look at what's happened to the Kina over the course of the last probably 18 months or so, it's depreciated somewhere around 15% against the US dollar. Our access to currency in PNG is essentially critical. We work very closely with the central bank in PNG. Selling rice is one of the core products and certainly core businesses that we get access to currency compared to other non-critical businesses, particularly on the food supply side of things. If you look at the financials in the expenses note, we've got about AUD 6.5 million of an FX loss in the half year. The lion's share of that would be PNG related. But again, it's not just directly related to the depreciation.
It's also the speed of access to how quickly we can get currency and then therefore translate that currency back into the group. Another nuance on what's happened in PNG, while the Kina has depreciated against the US dollar, it's actually appreciated against the Aussie dollar. T here's been a bit of a one-off double impact there because we've had a depreciating Kina. But then by the time we translate that back into Australia, it's been the opposite effect because the Kina has appreciated. But again, this is something that we've navigated for the better part of over 50 years that we've been operating in PNG. It used to be one of our most material and significant markets. But as the rest of the group has grown, we've been able to absorb those impacts in PNG. I t still remains a core market in the group.
But I mean, we really are operating on a number of fronts globally, and that helps to offset that. I t's literally just a one-off item there.
Yeah. T o add, the fundamentals of the business are performing very well. T he in-country execution and the market share is very healthy and has slightly grown. I think to Dimitri's point, from an outlook perspective, we're factoring in continued devaluation of the Kina. W e're able to balance that.
I have another question from Julie Taylor. Can you please elaborate on the issues affecting the equine and ruminant markets?
Yes. I think as we discussed earlier, really two big factors at play. The first is there's lots of natural feed, lots of grass, so to speak, in the ground, and so farmers are turning more to that natural feed solutions when it comes to the ruminant business, and that's really driving volumes in the ruminant business down across the sector, so in that scenario, we remain very focused on keeping the right balance of overhead efficiencies through volumes through our plants with the customer mix and the profitability of our business, and we've been able to largely offset those volume declines through that kind of program. The equine is slightly different. As Dimitri mentioned earlier, I think the main dynamic at play to think about here is that the leisure industry has declined slightly as sort of more leisure horse owners are looking at cheaper feed options.
A gain, there's more natural feed options available through most of the market. T hen the second piece that we're driving to offset that is our partnerships with the racing and more commercial industry. A great example of that is the Ciaron Maher partnership that we have together and using that to help drive our penetration into the racing industry. T hat's how we've been offsetting some of that leisure decline in the equine business.
Your next question is a follow-up from Mark Topy. Can you please update on the India production and restrictions on export changes? What are the implications you see going into FY25 in India coming back into the export market?
I think as I've managed earlier, again, if I try and simplify it down as much as possible, I think we'll start to see long grain pricing normalize to more historical levels as the sort of complex settles itself down around the different markets. In terms of the India export ban, we have no indication that India would take action to ban again. However, that's always a possibility. W e always keep that in the back of our mind with our positions. But we're managing quite well in terms of procuring rice now at a lower point than we were, say, six months ago. W e do believe that is overall a net positive for the group moving forward.
Thank you. There are no further questions at this time. I 'll hand back to Mr. Serra for closing remarks.
Thank you all very much for joining us for our half-year 2025 results. We look forward to talking at the full year. Thank you.
That does conclude our conference for today. Thank you for participating. You may now disconnect.