Good morning, everybody, and welcome to the Smart Parking First Half FY25 Results Investment Results Investor Call, where we've also announced the acquisition of Peak Parking and an equity raise. I've got Paul Gillespie, CEO, and Richard Ludbrook, CFO, with me on the screen. The format of today will be Richard and Paul will present the pack we've released to ASX, and then we'd be happy to open the line for questions. If you could all keep yourselves on mute during the presentation, that would be appreciated. Thank you again for joining us, and on that, I will hand over to Paul.
Thank you, Michael, and good morning to everybody, and thank you for joining today's Smart Parking Investor Conference Call. I'm joined today by our Group CFO, Richard Ludbrook. We're both here in Sydney before heading out on the road to see some of our shareholders. On the call today, I'll present our exciting new acquisition in the U.S., Peak Parking, and the equity raise to fund the purchase. After that, Richard will take you through the financials of the deal and also cover our strong results for the first half of FY25.
What's going on?
That's a little blood running.
Yeah.
He wanted to water business.
Yeah.
I'll ask everyone to go to the meeting, please. Thank you very much. We've released a presentation today to the ASX, which has lots of details for you to look at. Following the presentation, we will open the line for questions. First of all, let's make a start on slide five, please. Thank you. Today, we announced the acquisition of 100% of Peak Parking, a boutique private parking operator based in the United States. We have been flagging our growth intentions in the U.S. for some time, so I'm pleased to announce this purchase. Peak provides a comprehensive portfolio of parking services to businesses and clients across 134 locations, predominantly in Texas, Georgia, Washington State, and Florida. Founded in 2016, Peak has quickly become one of the fastest-growing parking operators in the country.
It delivered over $9 million of revenue in calendar year 2024, with a CAGR of 45% since 2022. It has a consistent track record of profitability, with calendar year 2024 EBITDA of $3.3 million, up from $1 million in calendar year 2022. At over 35% last calendar year, its EBITDA margins are in great shape. The key point I'd like to emphasize is this acquisition is firmly in line with our growth strategy. Our strategy is to complement strong organic growth with disciplined, selective, accretive acquisitions. We are committed and on track to deliver our recently upgraded organic target of 3,000 AMPR sites under management by December 2028. That's effectively doubling the business over the next four years through organic growth. We then complement this strong organic growth with strategic acquisitions. We've made four successful acquisitions in the last three years.
Whilst these deals have been small, we've been diligent and thorough in making sure we execute well. They are all fully integrated and performing to plan, and we've delivered the full identified benefits for shareholders. Why do we make acquisitions? We have the capacity, the capability, and capital to execute these deals and enhance the value for shareholders. Disciplined acquisitions accelerate our growth. They increase our scale and expand our addressable markets. Acquisitions can help us enter a new territory, like the United States, which diversifies our portfolio, reducing reliance on any one jurisdiction. They provide opportunities to leverage our market-leading proprietary technologies, which provide a differentiated and superior offering for our customers. The acquisition of Peak Parking is firmly in line with our strategy. We can go to slide eight. We've been very thorough in evaluating the U.S. market in granular detail.
We've spent over a year understanding the competitive landscape and regulatory frameworks, both at the state and individual city levels. We've been engaging with Peak, getting to know the people, the business, and the opportunities. For over a year, I can say with great confidence, Peak is a fantastic opportunity for Smart Parking. The United States is the largest parking operations market in the world. We estimate the total market is around 2 billion parking spaces. Our immediate market opportunity is to expand in Peak's current operating territories of Texas, Florida, Georgia, Washington State, and Tennessee. There are 24 million registered vehicles in these states alone. We don't have to overstretch ourselves to generate strong returns. If we simply focus on Houston, Dallas-Fort Worth, and the state of Florida, we can access a population six times that of New Zealand.
While we're relatively recent entrants into New Zealand, we are already generating strong revenues with a long runway for growth ahead of us. If we drive six times that revenue from these specific U.S. markets, then the acquisition will have been tremendously successful, and it provides a base for further expansion into the US. On slide nine, I think we need to be clear. Peak is a high-performing business with high-quality revenues and growing earnings. This is not a broken asset at a cheap price. It is a fast-growing, consistently profitable, high-quality market leader with an impressive leadership team. Success in the U.S. requires local leadership and a great team on the ground. We are delighted to welcome Peak Parking's founder and managing director, Will Spielhagen, and his management team, SPZ. Will is staying on and will continue to lead the business.
He is highly motivated to continue to successfully grow the business for many years to come. Will has escrowed on the consideration and earned out shares, cementing our joint alignment. We can move to slide 12 now, please. What can we bring to Peak? These are some of the questions I always ask when we consider an acquisition. Can we make this business better? This is where we see clear and compelling synergies. Thank you. If we can ask everyone to go to mute, please. Thank you. This is where we see clear and compelling synergies. SPZ can leverage proprietary parking management technology with its superior recognition, reporting, and analytics to help Peak Parking target larger customer groups and site owners that historically were beyond them. We can supercharge growth. Peak does not have enforcement revenues today.
As we deploy our technology, we can provide a superior differentiated offering in the market that can build new revenue streams. We are excited by what we can do together. Where can we take this business? Our long-term plan is to grow the U.S. into becoming SPZ's largest business, outsizing our operations in the U.K. I'm not going to put a time frame on this ambition, but clearly, there is a tremendous pathway for long-term growth in this exciting market. On slide 13, does this acquisition stop us from exploring new markets elsewhere, such as Scandinavia and other mainland European countries? We clearly intend to grow further and capitalize on our technology advantage, but first, we'll focus on fully integrating Peak and delivering the anticipated benefits. We have a good execution track record and a clear and detailed plan of what we need to do.
This is certainly my number one priority, and I'll be spending a great deal of time in the U.S. with Will and the team to drive and support this business. If we move to slide 15 now, please, and let me take you through the highlights of the deal. We're paying an acquisition price of $36 million with upfront consideration of $32 million, $26 million in cash, and $6 million in SPZ script. There is a sliding scale earner capped at $4 million based on achieving calendar year 2025 EBITDA of $4.5 million, which will be paid in SPZ script. We're purchasing the business on the implied calendar year 2025 EBITDA multiple of eight times. It's a reasonable price for a high-quality business with great growth prospects. The multiple assumes calendar year 2025 EBITDA of $4.5 million is achieved.
Of course, if the earnings are higher, the valuation multiple will decrease. As I mentioned, the upfront and earned out shares are escrowed for 12 months post-issuance. This is effectively two years on the earned out component. We expect the acquisition to deliver over 25% EPS accretion on the pro forma basis in FY2025 pre-revenue synergies. We can see significant scope for revenue growth and efficiencies through the implementation of Smart Parking's technology platform. We are not including this in our models. To fund the deal, we are launching a fully underwritten AUD 45 million placement and an accelerated non-renounceable entitlement offer. We will use the proceeds of the raise, coupled with our debt facility and the consideration shares, to fully fund this acquisition. The new shares issued under the offer will be issued at AUD 0.88 per share.
I'd like to thank all of the existing shareholders for supporting our strategy and this exciting acquisition. To conclude, and before I hand over to Richard, we're very pleased with this acquisition. It is absolutely in line with our growth strategy and our stated plan to enter the U.S. market. While we've been cautious and conservative in determining the opportunity, we are delighted to partner with Will and his team to take this business to new levels of growth and success. I'll now hand over to Richard, who can take you through the results for the half year which we released today and the pro forma financials.
Thanks, Paul. The pro forma balance sheet includes the company's standalone balance sheet as at 31 December. Funding of the transaction includes the drawdown of AUD 4.8 million of the HSBC debt facility and the AUD 45 million equity raising less associated costs. The acquisition column includes the unaudited Peak Parking balance sheet as at 31 December 2024, and the company will adopt a first post-acquisition. The company will complete a purchase price allocation exercise following the acquisition to determine the split between goodwill and other intangible assets. Cash outflows for the acquisition are AUD 43.3 million, which includes the $26 million for the acquisition and other acquisition-related costs.
On a pro forma post-acquisition basis, the company will have a strong balance sheet that includes cash of AUD 13.4 million, along with AUD 11.2 million of undrawn debt facilities and an AUD 10 million accordion facility available upon request and the satisfaction of certain conditions. A strong balance sheet means the company is well placed to accelerate organic growth. Following the integration of Peak Parking, look at expansion into new territories and further acquisitions in line with the company's core growth strategy. Turning to slide 20, the company has today announced a fully underwritten equity raising for AUD 45 million, comprising an institutional placement to raise approximately AUD 32.2 million, a pro rata accelerated non-renounceable entitlement offer to existing shareholders to raise approximately AUD 12.8 million. The pro rata entitlement offer is strongly supported by directors. The offer price is AUD 0.88, which is a discount of 7.2% compared to the five-day VWAP.
Smart Parking expects the acquisition to deliver in excess of 25% EPS accretion in FY25 on a pro forma basis, with future identified revenue and margin expansion opportunities through the implementation of Smart Parking's technology platform. Slide 22 shows the sources and use of funds. The total source of funds is AUD 65.8 million, which includes the equity raising, partial drawdown of the HSBC debt facility, and the script consideration at closing and the earnout. The use of funds includes the $26 million cash at closing and the $6 million of script at closing and assumes the earnout is achieved with a further $4 million of script, which in total is AUD 57.5 million. The schedule includes costs related to the acquisition and equity raising, with the balance being for working capital.
The HSBC debt facility we announced in November has been amended from a AUD 10 million revolving credit facility to a $10 million facility. Moving to the FY25 half-year results, if we look at page 24 of the presentation, H1 FY25 was another successful period for Smart Parking. We made significant progress in all territories and delivered record results. Since H1 FY21, we have grown revenues by over 200%, and we've added well over 1,000 AMPR sites to the portfolio that we manage. We have demonstrated that we can scale profitably in multiple international markets through a combination of organic growth and selected acquisitions. Let's make a start with some of the key highlights. First, we're pleased to deliver another set of strong results. We delivered 26% growth in adjusted EBITDA and a 60% rise in free cash flow.
SPZ is a fast-growing, profitable, and cash flow-positive company that can scale in large markets. Compared to the prior competitive period, EPS of AUD 0.0112 per share is up 70% on the prior period. Revenue is up 20% to AUD 31.9 million. Adjusted EBITDA is up 26% to AUD 9.5 million, and margins have expanded 139 basis points to 29.8%. We generated AUD 6.4 million of free cash flow and closed the half with cash on hand of AUD 8.5 million. The growth investments included a AUD 900,000 EBITDA loss in Denmark, where we are seeing some good contract wins. We spent AUD 3.1 million on growth CapEx to support our organic expansion, and the remaining debt facility was fully paid down. On page 27, we highlight our progress in building scale in our selected markets.
Our focus is on building our business in existing territories and then, from this strong base, leverage our core technology and capability into new territories. We've been growing businesses in all territories outside of Australia. Revenue in the New Zealand business of NZD 3.4 million was up 61% on the PCP. This was on the back of a 64% increase in sites and a 34% increase in Parking Breach Notices. There was strong margin growth in New Zealand with the adjusted EBITDA margin of 41%, up from 26% in the prior competitive period. This was a result of the growth in sites, increase in the Parking Breach Notice charges from NZD 65 to NZD 85, and demonstrates the operating leverage in the business. Our compelling offer is resonating in the New Zealand market, and we are displacing and disrupting the industry. Revenue in the U.K. increased by 17% to GBP 25.4 million.
We issued 18% more Parking Breach Notices and closed the half-year with 1,194 sites under management, an increase of 22% on the prior competitive period. More sites under management will create increased PBNs and, in turn, generate higher revenues. The U.K. is clearly our largest market. It accounts for 76% of our sites under management and 80% of the group's total revenue. In Germany, we are making good progress. Revenues for the half-year increased by 83% to AUD 2 million. Profitability continues to improve with the adjusted EBITDA loss in Germany of AUD 0.5 million for the half-year. This compares to the full-year loss in FY2024 of AUD 1.7 million. We started operations in Denmark in February 2024. At 31 December, we had 21 sites generating revenue and in excess of 30 signed contracts. We are pleased with the progress in Denmark.
Moving to slide 29, where you will see the group achieve record adjusted EBITDA of AUD 9.5 million, up 26% on H1 FY24. This was a result of an increase in revenue from organic site growth and revenue contributions from the LPS acquisition. Revenue of AUD 31.9 million is up 20% on the prior year. This was the result of a 22% increase in Parking Breach Notices driven by organic growth and sites under management across all territories, with the exception of Australia, where the Queensland operations are currently paused and contributions from the acquired businesses. Further detail on the revenue increase is included later in the deck. Overheads are up 7% compared to the prior competitive period. This is a result of increased activity, ongoing expansion into new territories, and the acquisition of Local Parking Security.
The adjusted EBITDA margin increased 139 basis points to 29.8%, which is really pleasing given the newer territories' margin diluted. The amounts excluded from adjusted EBITDA include foreign exchange gains of AUD 0.7 million, and this was a loss in the previous period of AUD 0.3 million. Secondly, a AUD 0.9 million EBITDA loss related to the new Denmark business, which was launched in early 2024. This has been excluded to enable comparison on a like-for-like basis, given that Denmark launched in January 2024. While early days, Denmark is performing in line with our expectations. Depreciation and amortization increased following the installation of an additional 183 organic sites and DNA related to acquired businesses. The company incurred a tax expense of AUD 0.7 million compared to the tax expense of AUD 1 million in H1 FY24. H1 FY25 included the benefit of tax losses for New Zealand.
The company is a further unrecognized deferred tax asset of AUD 1.2 million related to losses in New Zealand, which it will recognize in the future. EPS grew 70% to AUD 0.0112 per share. Slide 32 shows the group has cash on hand of AUD 8.5 million as at 31 December. The company generated record adjusted free cash flow of AUD 6.4 million, up 60% on H1 FY24. The strong cash generation and cash reserves have enabled the business to invest, which will lead to future revenue and earnings growth. The company made a substantial investment in future growth, with AUD 3.7 million spent on CapEx and intangible assets. Just a reminder that CapEx isn't included in the free cash flow as it relates to future growth rather than maintenance CapEx. The company is well capitalized to fund future growth. Slide 33 shows the group maintains a strong balance sheet.
Obviously, the balance sheet will change following the equity raising and the U.S. acquisition, as previously highlighted on the pro forma balance sheet. During the year, during the half, the company fully paid off the coronavirus business interruption loan and established debt facilities with HSBC, which were undrawn at 31 December 2024. I'll now hand back to Paul to discuss the business update.
Thank you very much.
Okay,
if we can move along, please, Stacey, to slide 38. Thank you. I'll conclude our presentation by outlining our priorities for the second half of FY25 and also beyond. First, it's important to remind shareholders that H1 has been a record result across the group, as Richard just highlighted. We've expanded the footprint of our AMPR estate, delivered growth in our new territories, and continued to develop our technology in order to keep us ahead of the competition.
This level of execution gives us complete confidence in reaffirming our site growth target of 3,000 AMPR sites under management by December 2028, essentially doubling the business from where we are today. Second, in line with our expansion strategy, we are delighted to announce the acquisition of Texas-based Peak Parking. Entering the largest parking operators market in the world has been an objective of SPZ for some time, and we're focused on making this transaction a huge success. Finally, with the equity raise we have announced today, the expanded debt facility with HSBC, existing cash, and, of course, a strong cash generative business, we've strengthened our balance sheet and positioned SPZ for future growth that will continue to deliver for our team, our customers, and our shareholders well into the future. That concludes my presentation. We'd like to open the lines for some questions.
Michael, would you like to kick things off?
Yep. Thank you, Paul. That's very kind of you. Let's open up the Q&A session. If you'd like to ask a question, please put your yellow hand up, and we will endeavor to get to you. Our first question today comes from Owen Humphries. Owen, please fire away.
Thank you, Tammy, and well done on the first-half result. Obviously, strong growth. Just a couple of questions for me. Just to understand, the last couple of years, Peak Parking has had a pretty strong step up in the site growth. Can you just talk through some of the drivers there? There have been greenfield expansion. Have they been taking it off a competitor? Some of the secret sauce there. Number one, number two, can you talk a bit about the CapEx within this business? How capital-intensive is this business?
I've got a couple more, but just start there.
Okay. I mean, yeah, I think it's fair to say Will and his team have at least started the business eight years ago, right? As you can see from the site profile growth, they've gained confidence. They've done what they said they were going to do, delivered that against their plan. Of course, customers hear about that. Like anything, people want to be part of a winning team. Will does a great job in delivering a fantastic service to his clients. The majority of his customers today tend to be commercial real estate property owners, property agents, those sorts of people. Some of them have multiple locations. Some of them obviously talk to one another.
I think he's really driven the success he's had has come from delivering and doing what he said he was going to do, just delivering a great service. That's led to more project wins.
In terms of CapEx, do you want to talk through?
Yeah. A lot of these management contracts mean that the landowners pay for the CapEx, and that will continue as we roll out the enforcement model in the U.S.
CapEx is zero, basically, in the business at the moment.
Correct.
Yep.
Can we talk about a little bit around the working capital? There's an investment in the working capital you put through as part of the uses of funds. AUD 5.4 million working capital. I'm guessing that's just the capacity post the raise relative to the debt facility of AUD 4.8 million. Just to clarify, there's no working capital investment required inside Peak Parking?
Correct. A nominal amount, but yes, that's absolutely correct.
Gotcha. How long does it take now to roll out your enforcement technology now that that's part of the accretion story, if you can do the upsides case here? Is there regulatory hurdles to get through?
No, no. We can start right away. I mean, obviously, today we signed. We are finding agreement where we are off and running, if you like. Ultimately, there's still some work to do, Owen, in terms of setting this up. Clearly, we are introducing something that this team has not done before. There is going to be a period of integration, a period of training. I suspect we are going to sit on some of our team from the U.K. in particular to assist with the process and make sure we set that up.
Of course, the training on the smart cloud solution. All these things need to happen. There is a bit of time that it's going to take to get that done. This is not like throwing some cameras up and letting it happen. It's not that straightforward, even though it might make it sound that way at times. There is a lot of work to do. We're conscious of that. Yeah, it's a great opportunity ahead of us, and we're excited about it. The team are ready to go.
Just a last question for me. Just to understand the earnout structure here, you put in there about $4.5 million. That is to get the earnout. Is it a bullet earnout, or is it around upside, downside? Just understand how much of a stretch target that is.
What's the site growth going from 130 or thereabouts to what number needs to get to to hit that?
Yep. It's a sliding scale earnout, Owen. The earnout's capped at $4 million. Obviously, if the EBITDA is more than $4.5 million, then the effective multiplier will be lower. The business should achieve that just based on historical run rates. Obviously, on top of that, we're overlaying our enforcement technology, our enforcement offering, but also looking to turbocharge sales and expand into the likes of Houston and Florida as Paul talked to earlier.
Okay, gotcha. Just the earnout, is it the price today at $0.88, or is it strike at the future VWAP when it gets issued?
It's based on a future VWAP, yep.
Okay. Good one. Thanks, guys.
Our next question comes from Larry Gambler. Larry, please go ahead.
Thank you, guys.
Just taking off mute. Just continuing on the U.S. Paul, you mentioned something that's kind of interesting about the customer paying the CapEx. I don't think that's the case in your other markets. Is the business model the same in the U.S. for enforcement, where maybe in other instances you'll be paying the CapEx? How does that work in the U.S. again?
You're right. It is different, Larry. The way it works today is, remember, they're more of a traditional parking operator today. They'll go to a particular car park and talk to the landowner or the property agent in order to get the contract to manage that site.
Now, of course, the way they operate right now is they might say, "Well, actually, for this particular location, we think you should use some boom gates or something like that." If that is the case, then they'll price it all up to the customer. They'll do the installation, but they'll say, "That's the bill. You pay that." Then, of course, you pay as a management fee afterwards. That's why there's no CapEx today. Now, moving forward, where we're talking about implementing the enforcement opportunity and enforcement capability, it's really for us to talk to the customer first. I mean, I believe going with our current model that we have in the U.K. and elsewhere where we provide the CapEx solution, I think that's completely unique in the U.S., right? It doesn't happen today.
That's one particular area that we're looking to exploit. Of course, also, there might be cases where the customer does want to cover the CapEx. These are conversations that we're not going to keep to one particular thing, Larry. Like you say, it has to be this model or nothing. We're taking a flexible approach because it's a new market. It's a new area for us. Right now, what we're seeing with the existing sites that Will has or that Peak has, he's already lined up 20 of these customers who want the enforcement solution. Of course, that's getting to a point where there's an extension to the contract, an addendum to the contract, where we can provide these services.
That is really going to be the asset test, which we believe is going to be fantastic, where we can open up a whole segment of customers that Peak cannot talk to today. They just do not have the technology, the process, the understanding, the experience to deliver that service. That is what we offer. That is the exciting bit, Larry. There is a massive market out there today that is totally untapped.
Okay, got it. It is still maybe a hybrid with regards to the CapEx. With regards to unit economics in these various jurisdictions in the U.S., can you give us a feel for what it would cost to access keeper data in some of these markets? Just order of magnitudes.
Yeah, sure.
I mean, that can vary by state, but on average, because we can actually use today, we can use a third party to access that data on our behalf. It is a sliding scale depending on volume, which is sort of similar to Germany. Today, the price that we have already gained is $1.25 U.S. of course, to access those keeper details. We believe there will be a lower ticket value. We are actually very mindful and cognizant of the fact that in some areas, this might be quite new. We want to be attacking this in a way that is going to be more acceptable, if you like. The research we have done, I think coming in under that sort of local authority number is the right thing to do in terms of value of parking breach notice.
What I'd say is these are things that we're going to be starting off at this level. Of course, we're going to evaluate it in a step-by-step process. We're very mindful of this approach, very mindful of the area we're in. Starting off in territories, as I mentioned in my briefing around Houston, for example, or Dallas-Fort Worth, has got very good, very positive regulatory frameworks in place. Local laws and cities allow these sorts of things, as well as the state of Florida, which has got state law that's allowing private parking operators to operate in this fashion. These are the areas we'll start. That's the sort of start of the tent.
Are most of the areas you're going to be targeting regulated by case law or by state law? Case precedent or state law?
It's state law. State law.
In some cases, Larry, there are different rules or local laws in the cities or counties. The research we have done tells us this, which is why I mentioned those two cities in Texas in particular, but also the state of Florida, which had some positive regulatory change last year, which is like a rules of engagement or a code of practice almost in that state.
Okay, great. I will leave it to others. Thank you, guys.
Thank you.
Thank you, Larry. Let me prompt for more questions, please, if you would like to ask a question.
There are a couple of questions in the chat room. Firstly, Germany's sites growth slowed down. Are you still confident calendar year 2025, if it does break even for the segment?
Yes, we are. Stella, good to hear from you.
You might remember, Stella, at the full year we talked about, and also the AGM. We talked about we've changed the leadership in our German business. We felt prior we've made some really good progress, but things had slowed down. Of course, the site growth wasn't what we liked. We made a change in that area. The gentleman we've taken on has got a fantastic track record of sales in the parking industry. Already, we're seeing new sites coming and obviously the pipeline growing, which is pleasing to see. Yes, we're confident of that. There's another question here from you, Stella, which says, "Regarding Peak Parking acquisition, was that a competitive process?" The answer to that question is no. Is 8 times EBITDA what we should expect for further acquisitions and use in the U.S.? Are Peak sites mostly manual ANPR-based?
How many questions do you want, Stella? We've got quite a few here. Let's start with the competitive process. No, it wasn't a competitive process. What we've done, Stella, over the last 12 months is through an advisor who we've met and had some contact with, met a number of potential opportunities. Some really interesting, some not so interesting. Peak Parking for us was, I believe, the best asset because it met all our criteria of being in terms of the location where they're based, the fact that they have no proprietary technology, and we have a real impact with our technology. It's a management team who are high quality, who want to stay with the business and were prepared to be escrowed on script, things like that. All those things stacked up.
They had a number of other people approaching them about selling, but of course, that was all from other U.S.-based companies, some private equity, which would have meant the management team would have been a synergy. Of course, for them, they want to stick around. They want to be part of this journey. They understand the vision. They share the same point of view on where this market could go and how large it could be. As a result, that's why they went with us. In terms of the valuation, U.S. is expensive. What can I say? I mean, I would say we've been quite fortunate in some cases. We've done a great job negotiating previous deals, but they're all much smaller. This is a much larger asset that we're dealing with in a much bigger addressable market.
Other acquisitions, there was one early last year, which we had a look at, but was a bit early for us. It was a company called Platinum Parking based out of Dallas. That went for 8.5 times. It was a bigger asset. I think we've done well with what we've got. I think we need to expect probably to be similar pricing for others in the future. Besides our manual, yes, there's no ANPR at the moment. Has it grown by acquisition or organically? It's grown organically. You must have about 15 questions in there, Stella. Okay, we've got another one here from Peter Luenberg. Some of the components of the acquisition are different to SPZ core business. Will SPZ be looking to incorporate these services into other countries or selling only in the U.S.? Good question, Peter.
Yes, they've got a diverse range of products and services they offer. This is really interesting to us. Now, are we going to start doing valet parking in the U.K.? No, we're not. It culturally doesn't work. Of course, in the U.S., culturally, valet parking is a thing, right? We need to maintain that service. As I said during my briefing, I don't want to stop Peak Parking doing what they're doing. I want them to continue to grow on this trajectory whilst we also add the ability to open up a much larger pool of customers with the enforcement platform. That is really what we're looking to do. You've got another question here. How many individual parking sites will be added to SPZ and capable of adopting SPZ technology?
We will not add any of the 134 Peak sites to our graph to start with because none of them are ANPR. We only ever count the ANPR sites. As a result, none of them get added to start with. As we add certain things, we can add them in the future. That was it through Michael.
Another one from Paul,
actually. Okay, got another question here from Benjamin Melody. Slide 14, Peak Parking's customers tripled in 2023 from 15 to 43. What happened?
The customer base did not triple, Ben. What is happening is those are the net additions each year. What you are seeing is as they have grown and added more customers, they have got more referrals, they can point to more reference sites, and that is what has led and driven the pipeline.
Michael, did you want to keep managing things?
Thank you for that.
There's a question from Julian Mulcahy.
Paul, with the 20 sites that they've identified, is that part of their 134, or these are extra sites?
Yes, part of the 134. Sorry, the pipeline off the back of that as well. In the short term, from their existing customer base, they've already got 20 customers who want to go ahead with enforcement service.
Right. What sort of sites are they that require something like that? Are they free sites currently, or are they paid?
They're paid sites. There'll be service lots. There'll be monastery car parks, but they're all paid sites. You might remember in the U.K., for example, two-thirds of the sites we manage are paid—sorry—are time-limited parking, so maximum stay time. The other third are all paid. We do an awful lot of paid parking. New Zealand's the same.
We have a number of paid parking sites. That's relatively common.
Right. Also in the U.S., what's the sort of compliance rate typically for people actually paying their fines? I mean, it does vary quite a bit across your group.
Yeah, it does vary. I mean, we believe it's going to be similar to the U.K.. Yeah. Of course, time will tell, and I suspect it'll be different by state, by city, to different areas. These are things that we're—I mean, the information we've gotten during our research from other competitors and also from the vendor himself and his experience is it's going to be around that 45-50%, maybe just over mark. Again, I think it just comes down to making sure we do things correctly, right?
One thing we pride ourselves on in all of our areas is that we have the correct signage in place, right? It is very, very important that we do that correctly. That the appeals process is administered correctly. That we treat customers fair and reasonably in our appeals process. We have to make sure this gets implemented. These same values, these same processes get implemented into our U.S. operation, which, of course, has got to happen. Has not happened yet, right? These are things we are going to be doing, implementing to ensure we operate in that same way. Those things will drive the compliance rate and drive the payment ratio.
Right. Finally, you mentioned that you will start with a lower ticket sort of price. What is that sort of number?
At the moment, I think because the first place we're going to be focusing on is the customers in Houston, right? It's going to be coming in around about $50, $50 .
Right. Okay. Thanks, Paul.
Thank you, Julian.
There's another question from Larry in the chat. What is it about Peak's core business that explains its success? Paul, one for you.
For me, their service offering is first class. Their wellness team have adopted a culture of, I think, on the first email I had from him, it has this email footer of founder, managing director, and then below that, whatever it takes. Which sort of struck a chord with me because it means that you're not afraid to stop rolling your sleeves up and get on with it and have a good crack at things. That kind of is what we're about.
We're a pretty lean business. Richard and I are involved in the business day-to-day as well as the corporate side of things, which, of course, as we grow, that will change. I guess what I'm getting to is the people, the service, doing what you say you're going to do, right? Say we're going to do it and then doing it, doing it to a great standard continually, consistently. That really has helped the wellness team with their growth aspirations, taking on new customers, being able to win new business, right? Is having great reference sites, having great existing customers who are happy to act as a reference. Those sorts of things are very important. That's been a big part of his success, is him, which is why it's very important that he's aligned with our visions.
Why it's very important he stays with us for a long period of time. That's why it's very important his team stays with us for a period of time. We have taken the right steps to secure these individuals, to motivate them and incentivize them in the way that they want to be. Yeah, I would say it's down to very much service people and reputation.
Thanks, Paul. Let me prompt for more questions. You can use either the chat function or raise your yellow hand.
I suppose if we've got no more questions, I'm not sure if they're happening anymore or no one else has raised their hand. I think if it's okay with you, Michael, we will wrap up. Before we do close out this call, first things first, I want to thank everyone for joining.
I think it's hard to see how many people actually joined, but I think I saw a number of over 100 people at one point, which is exciting for us. It's great to see the engagement getting on these phone calls. However, before I do close, I just want to leave three points and just really reiterate to shareholders the importance of these issues, these points, which is first, number one, we need to remind people that the first half has been a record result across the group. And we continue to deliver record results. And we've done that by expanding the ANPR footprint of the estates. We've delivered growth in all our territories and continue to develop our technology that keeps us well ahead of the competition.
As I pointed out earlier, this execution gives us complete confidence in reaffirming our site growth target of 3,000 ANPR sites under management by December 2028, which doubles our business. The second point, obviously in line with our expansion strategy, we are delighted with this acquisition of Peak Parking in Texas. Entering this market, the largest parking operations market in the world, has been one of our objectives for a long time. We focus on making—we will focus on making this transaction a huge success for our shareholders. Finally, with this raise, the equity we've announced today, the equity raised today, the expanded debt facility with HSBC, and of course, we have a good cash-generative business. We've strengthened our balance sheet and positioned ourselves for growth well into the future that continues to deliver for our staff, our team, our customers, and of course, for our shareholders.
Thank you very much again. Appreciate everybody taking the time to join us. I'm sure there'll be more questions as we go along in the future. Richard and I are on the road this week and next week seeing shareholders. Thank you very much. Speak to you again soon.