Released to the market this morning, investors and research analysts will have an opportunity to ask questions. There'll be a choice of two options. First, analysts and investors can either raise your hand via Zoom should you wish to ask a verbal question of the management team, or you can also submit a written question via the Q&A function at the bottom of your screen. We will endeavor to get to the majority of questions asked, in some cases, combining questions on the same or similar topic. For analysts asking verbal questions, we would kindly ask that you please limit yourself to no more than two questions on today's call. Thank you, and over to you, Alice.
Good morning. Thank you, Sam, and thank you all for joining us today. Ethan and I are pleased to report that our team has delivered strong FY 2026 first half results. I'll open with a quick summary of what's included in the pack before going through the individual slides to ensure that we have enough time to have plenty of time for good Q&A. Alongside the operational work of driving sales results, we've continued to shape the organization and invest in our future. Some examples are: we have broadened the scope of our HR function with this, an appointment of a new GM, allowing our team members with high levels of specialist capability to focus more deeply on critical governance areas such as safety, payroll integrity, recruitment, and technology enablement. This is providing deeper insights into drivers of results to support continued strong execution across the business.
We've also strengthened our approach to security across cyber and loss prevention, and are currently working on a plan to reform our technology teams to drive higher standards of delivery. While we're not rushing to broadly adopt every new technology, including AI, we are preparing carefully and thoroughly for how these tools can be integrated in a way that enhances the customer experience. Our focus remains firmly on value, not technology for its own sake. The appointment of George Do as Divisional CEO, US and PS, has brought elevated and renewed energy. George, along with our Chief Customer Officer, heads of Retail Design, Buying, and HR, brings strong, deeply aligned, customer-first mindset, driving momentum behind new initiatives.
At the same time, we're building an even stronger retail operations capability, deepening bench strength, refining leadership, as well as exploring ways to further enhance our warehouse management capabilities and systems to continue to drive efficiency and scale. The Perfect Stranger business is benefiting from the deliberate investment in talented people, focused exclusively on a single brand. This dedicated focus ensures that the brand handprint, vision, and customer service continue to evolve with clarity and precision. Sales growth being driven by on-trend, differentiated products, complemented with a premium pricing strategy, disciplined inventory management, and focused customer service. Meanwhile, our other vertical brands continue to thrive, with our expert team ensuring each brand's unique identity remains clear and fully aligned with the customer. While wholesale remains challenging, our CTC team is developing stronger retail capability and a sharper, faster to market, on-trend product focus.
Retail bricks and mortar performance is showing encouraging growth as we map out the right time to accelerate this opportunity. Pleasingly, the actions we have taken are delivering encouraging results today and building a business that is well-positioned for the future. If we move to Slide 4, I'll call out a few highlights on this slide that Ethan will provide a bit more detail to later in the pack. The group delivered increased EBIT and GP improvement. Group sales up 14.2% over the prior corresponding period to AUD 209.6 million. Underlying EBIT of AUD 43.6 million, up 23.2%, and gross profit of 62.1%, up 150 basis points on PCP, reflecting improvements in both US and CTC.
Cost of doing business increased 50 basis points, driven by investment in our future growth in both team and systems capability. Universal Store sales, H1 FY26 sales, 174.8 million, up 11.9% on PCP. Like-for-like sales, up 8.7%, which is growth in some challenging last year numbers of PCP up 14.4%. Four new stores opened during the half, taking Universal Store to 87 physical stores. Perfect Stranger sales for the same period, AUD 17.8 million, up 41.5% on PCP. Three new stores opened for the half, and that brings us to a total of 22 stores. Like-for-like sales growth, up 14.8% on an elevated 25.3% like-for-like growth.
CTC total sales of AUD 23.2 million, up 4.8% on PCP. One new store opened, totaling nine stores, and retail like-for-like sales increased 9.5%, reflecting growing confidence in our retail strategy as execution continues to strengthen across the network. Wholesale remains challenged, down 2.4%, as we reduced exports to the US and navigate softer trading conditions, while actively building new retail partnerships within Australia to support a more sustainable platform. The group delivered a strong closing cash balance of AUD 38.4 million, with nil borrowing outside of lease liability, and we're happy to announce a fully franked dividend of AUD 0.26 per share. I think this slide is a really good recap slide for key measures. I'll call out a few additional highlights. Underlying NPAT, AUD 28.3 million, up 22%.
Underlying EBIT of AUD 43.6 million, up 23.2%. EPS up 21.5% to AUD 0.368 . Slide 6, I'll take a moment to call out some of the trends highlighted on the graphs on this slide. Notably, a five-year sales CAGR of 12.2%, and our six-year like-for-like sales growth of 7.9%. At December 31, the group had 118 physical retail stores. Perfect Stranger contributed 8.5% of total group sales, compared to 6.9% in the prior corresponding half, and you'll see a five-year underlying EBIT CAGR of 6.6%. Slide 7, reflecting the three businesses and their positions in the market.
The group's core strategy is to scale and grow our premium fashion apparel brands and retail formats, delivering compelling customer experiences while capturing the youth market and driving sustainable growth. Each of the three businesses has a distinct position in the market and a clear understanding of its stage of maturity as a retail-focused business. Universal Store being the original retail business, Perfect Stranger emerging strongly, and Thrills and Worship brands beginning to gain real retail momentum. We underpin our strategy with solid group capabilities across a number of functions, including data analytics, ESG, safety, IT, and POS, that seek to support the growth while retaining key design and marketing separation to ensure each brand retains a unique handprint and customer proposition. I'll now hand over to Ethan to give some more in-depth look at financials and run us through the updates.
Thank you, Alice, and good morning, everyone. It's my pleasure to walk you through our financial statements for the half, and I'll start with the group P&L. Half one sales of AUD 209.6 million were up 14.2% on prior year. Pleasingly, all three retail banners were in growth. US sales grew 11.9%, Perfect Stranger sales grew 41.5%, and CTC, direct-to-customer sales, grew 25.5%. CTC wholesale sales were down 2.4%, driven by lower USA export sales due to increased tariffs. Gross profit % grew 150 basis points to 62.1% for the half. This growth was driven by strong private brand and third-party assortments. In addition, on-trend ranging in inventory management supported our disciplined pricing and a reduction in clearance sales mix on prior period.
Cost of doing business increased 50 basis points to 31.4% as we continued to invest in team and system capability. An increased LTI and bonus expense has been recognized in line with stronger trading results. Underlying EBIT of AUD 43.6 million was up 23.2% on prior period and represents a pleasing 20.8% of sales. We'll now take a look at the long-term sales trend. The graph on this slide shows the six-year sales trend by business. From this, we can see the steady growth of Universal Store, which has a six-year average like- for- like sales growth of 7.9%. We can also see the sales benefit of Perfect Stranger's growing network and strong like- for- like results. Perfect Stranger now represents 8.5% of total group sales.
In addition, CTC has returned to sales growth, driven by its retail network. Let's now take a deeper look at gross profit. The graph on the right shows the group's six-year gross profit trend. Half one gross profit percent increased 150 basis points to 62.1% of sales. This increase was driven by three factors. The growth in PS and Thrills retail formats has delivered a favorable gross profit mix to the group. Secondly, strong assortment ranging has supported disciplined pricing and full price sell-through. Thirdly, a reduced clearance sales mix on prior year was delivered due to strong inventory management. It should be noted that currency had a slightly adverse impact in the half. We'll now move to cost of doing business. The graph on the left shows the cost of doing business movement on prior year.
From this, we can see four impacts. Wage inflation and investment in team capability resulted in a AUD 3.4 million cost increase. New roles were added to support future growth and strategic projects. New stores and like-for-like growth resulted in an additional AUD 4.7 million of costs relating to incremental store wages, rent, and other variable costs. This growth fractionalized cost of doing business as a percent of sales by 160 basis points. An increased LTI and bonus expense has been recognized in line with strong profitability for the half. The other cost of doing business line includes costs relating to our new point of sale, which is being implemented from quarter four, FY 2026. During the half, we've renewed two leases, with three currently in holdover. In aggregate, cash rental costs increased circa 5% on prior period.
We will now move to the group balance sheet. The group continues to have a strong cash position, with cash on hand of AUD 38.4 million and nil debt bank borrowings at the end of the half. Inventory of AUD 33.5 million increased 18% on prior period due to a combination of increased store numbers and investing to support customer demand. The increase in other current liabilities reflects higher income tax payable associated with higher earnings and seasonal timing. Let's now look at the group cash flow. The group delivered robust cash flow from operations of AUD 72.1 million, up 3% on prior period. This increase was driven by strong profitability, partially offset by working capital timings. EBIT to cash conversion remains a solid 112% for the half.
Half one CapEx relates to the opening of eight new stores, store refurbishments, relocations, and IT hardware. We will now move to the business updates, starting with Universal Store. Half one sales of AUD 174.8 million were up 11.9% on prior period, driven by strong like-for-like growth of 8.7% and new store openings. Gross profit percent increased a robust 190 basis points on prior year. This increase was driven by strong private brand and third-party assortments, favorable category mix, and disciplined price management. Private brand sales mix increased 55%, versus 52% in prior period. This increase includes a strong activation of the Common Need brand, and Neov ision continues to resonate with customers, contributing 19% of Universal Store format sales.
Underlying US and PS EBIT was AUD 41.3 million for the half, up AUD 7.9 million, or 23.7%. four new stores were opened, and as planned, one store closed while its center undergoes refurbishment. US ended the half with 87 physical stores. One store is confirmed to open in quarter four 2026, and we continue to explore further opportunities. We anticipate two store relocations and two to three store refurbishments over the next 12 months. We'll now move on to Perfect Stranger. Perfect Stranger continued to deliver solid growth, with half-year sales of AUD 17.8 million, up 41.5% on prior period. This increase was driven by new stores and like-for-like sales growth of 14.8%. Our focus remains on building brand awareness, range elevation, and expanding our store network.
Due to the operational integration with Universal Store, a meaningful view of Perfect Stranger EBIT cannot be provided. Three new stores were opened for the half, bringing our total network to 22 physical stores. We have four stores confirmed to open in quarter four FY 2026, with other opportunities being explored. I'll now move on to CTC. From a strategic perspective, the retail strategy is progressing well with improvements in store execution, product curation, and fast-to-market mindset. Brand positioning and product design has been realigned to the historic brand values. From a trading perspective, directed customer sales were AUD 7.2 million for the half, which is up 25.5% on prior period. This growth was driven by new stores and robust like-for-like growth of 9.5%.
Wholesale sales were down 2.4%, which includes the planned reduction in USA exports as a result of the increased tariffs. Increased third-party customer sales have offset reduced intercompany sales to Universal Store. The Thrills and Worship brands represent circa 9% of Universal format sales. Gross profit percent was 46.8% for the half, which was up 150 basis points on prior period. This increase was driven by higher retail sales mix and improved price management. Underlying EBIT for the half was AUD 2.3 million, up 25.2% on prior period, reflecting improved gross profit and cost efficiencies. One new store opened in the half, bringing our total store network to 9 physical stores. We continue to refine retail execution and store design to support future store rollout. I'll now hand back to Alice to provide a half two FY 2026 trading update.
Thanks, Ethan. Group FY 2026 to date, direct-to-consumer sales are up 13.5% on the prior corresponding period, broken down by brand, all brands cycling strong comps in the PCP. Universal Store, total sales growth up 11.4%, like-for-like growth up 7.1%. Perfect Stranger, total sales growth up 39%, and like-for-like growth up 4.9%. CTC direct-to-consumer sales up 14.6%, and like-for-like growth down 10.2%, and this is attributed to the drop in online, which is down 31.7%. Conversely, bricks and mortar stores had the highest growth in the group, up 18% in the PCP. Online was cycling elevated markdown activity from January 2025. Our store network is on track to deliver previous market guidance of 11-17 stores in FY 2026.
Gross profit continues to have customer-led approach to product mix between third party and private brands. Rest assured, management maintains focus on macro factors such as interest rate increases and Australian dollar exchange rates. We are taking a very disciplined approach to hedging foreign currency risk and product pricing. Cost of doing business is being managed carefully, while we still commit to making smart investments in team capability and systems implementation to ensure we are best placed to continue our growth trajectory. I want to thank the entire Uni Group team across our offices, our distribution centers, and our store network. The critical ingredient driving our success has been the passionate teamwork and commitment to collaboration. I also want to recognize our board for their continued support and guidance. Finally, thank you to our investors for your ongoing support. Thank you, Sam. We'll hand back to you and open for questions.
Thank you very much, Alice and Ethan. As a reminder, you may ask questions via the Q&A function at the bottom of your screen. For those wishing to ask verbal questions, please raise your hand, and I'll endeavor to get to you shortly, ideally keeping to no more than two questions. There are a couple of pre-submitted questions. Firstly, just on gross margins, a couple of questions here. How sustainable is the gross margin expansion, particularly in the context of foreign exchange movements and the reliance on private brands like Neov ision?
Yeah. I guess the first thing to answer that question will be, we don't set explicit targets on private brand mix, so we're always led by the customer and what the customer demands. As a result, we're not—we can't really comment on the private brand ratio. However, it is fair to say we continue to have really on-trend private brands that resonate with our customers. From a currency perspective, we called out some risk at the start of the year with currency. That's played through in the first half, but we are seeing a tailwind going into half two. However, given the rate really only went up on the 20th of January, most of that benefit will really be in quarter four. So we'd only see a material shift to margin in FY 2026, but assuming the rate stays around AUD 0.70 , we'll see a benefit in FY 2027.
Just sticking with private brands, can you talk to the current landscape, really, the fluidity of brands and how you're navigating these brand cycles or life cycles, as inevitably the youth consumer preferences evolve?
Absolutely. Data, data, data. We've been doing this for a very long time. We've had brands cycle in and out of the business for 15 years, and, you know, we watch that data like a hawk. And it's not on a monthly basis, it's not on a quarterly basis, it's on an absolute week-by-week basis that we check and see how brands are trending. Because we've got a close-to-market strategy, once we notice a brand is really starting to grow, we can hop on that train and go a bit deeper, and once we notice a brand is starting to soften, we can pull back very quickly and reduce.
So, that close-to-market strategy keeps us from being too exposed to fashion risk, but staying very close to customer and close to data. That's how we've done it for a long time, and we've done it, I think, brilliantly. That team is extraordinary.
Also, doing business with CODB rising due to team and system investments, what sort of ROI do you anticipate on these for future profitability?
Yeah. I think looking at the Perfect Stranger results, that's a good test case. One of the investments we've made over the past 12 months is really having more dedicated resourcing in retail, marketing, and product in Perfect Stranger, and I can see from the sales results, and us being able to open more stores, the benefit of that. It's really supporting that growth of the business, like we mentioned. Yeah, I think the proof is in the first half results on that investment.
Okay, great. Thank you. First analyst question comes from Sam Haddad at Petra. Sam, please go ahead. Thank you.
Yeah, thanks, Sam, and congrats, Alice and Ethan, for a strong result. Can I just circle back on the FX tailwind that's emerging? Can you provide sort of... just to remind us about your hedge profile and any sensitivity you can share on an unhedged basis, like for every AUD 0.01 increase in Australian dollar, what do you see in terms of basis point benefit on gross margin?
Yeah, maybe I'll talk about the policy first. We have a tiered policy that progresses over a 12-month period. We maintain, you know, that 12-month cadence. At the moment, we're looking at about half our spend for FY 2026 will be hedged, the other half being spot rate. That will obviously adjust as we go through the half. We've already entered into some hedging for FY 2027, within policy as well. You may recall last time we did the update, we called out 42 basis points of headwind, sorry, for currency. We've seen that play through, as we expected, in half one, but we will see a slightly stronger FX rate than that previous comment in half two. So, we're now seeing FX on a full- year basis being, like, a pretty much no impact. So, negative impact in half one, but almost an offsetting impact in half two.
Just, just on a AUD 0.70 spot rate, what would the tailwind be gross margin if it was to stay at these levels for 2027 basis point, just on that assumption?
Yeah, look, we're not really kind of giving guidance on 2027 yet. Yeah, so I think, I think I'll defer on that question, until we get closer to the full- year announcement.
Okay. And just on the, just on the, you've done a few, re- re- renovations and refurbish- I mean, relocations. What are you seeing in terms of the uptick on that, on those perform- on those stores that have, that have, once they've refurbished and relocated? And, just, yeah, just want to see, what, what the, opportunities are for, for the opportunities that, that you have in your network.
Yeah, overall, from the history of the business, every time we have relocated a business, the uptake has been exceptional. So we don't move just for the sake of moving, we move because we realize that there is a better opportunity in a better location in the center where the mix might have changed, or that we've got more confidence within that center to take on a better location. Refurbishments, you know, we do get a number of years of, or a number of rental increase, or rental lease expiry. We do get a number of lease terms out of our shop fits because we build a fairly robust shop fit across all brands.
However, when we have to, upgrade them and we stay in the same location, we definitely notice an uptick. We haven't got a concise number to share with you, but I can tell you we've never gone backwards when we've relocated or refurbished.
Great. Thanks for your, thanks for answering my questions.
Your very long answer.
Thanks very much, Sam. Next question comes from Christian at Jarden. Christian, please unmute your line and go ahead, please.
Thank you for taking my questions. Can you hear me?
Yeah, go ahead. We can hear you.
Just first question on the like, the likes. In the first seven weeks, the Universal Store and Perfect Stranger combined did 70%, but I think 24%. For the rest of the half, combined comps are looking a bit lower, around 8%. Does that mean like-for-like would accelerate further throughout the half?
So you were cutting out a little bit. I think you're asking about, have comps gone a bit weaker in the, as the half progressed? Is that—
Yes, and would we expect then the Like-for-Like growth to accelerate as well?
Yeah. I'm just-- I think what you're saying is what do we expect for like-for-likes for the second half? Maybe if we talk to the first half. As Alice mentioned, we were cycling some strong results in half one last year. We had a really good Christmas in both periods. Look, I guess we would note that like-for-likes are moving within sort of a normal sort of tolerance. You're never going to be exact period to period. Sometimes you have phasing of events, festivals, et cetera. All in all, we didn't see the like-for-like really shifting that much once you adjust for those factors in the first half. I think for the second half, as Alice mentioned, we're aware of the interest rate increase.
We don't believe that's gonna be a material impact to us in half two. We are still cycling a good half two last year. So all in all, we still expect some good growth in half two. You know, we're not at the point where we're gonna be giving specific guidance on half two like-for-like. So I think that's the way we'll answer that first question.
Yeah. Thank you. And definitely seeing the margin go through up due to some reinvestment. Any color on the second half, and if any more reinvestment would have impact on the margin and any increases there as well?
Yeah. So again, just cutting out. So I think what you were saying was, we saw margin go up, and it's being reinvested into custom and business. I think that's the question. Look, I think the problem with looking at, say, sales margin and cost of doing business in isolation, is you don't see how they interact with one another. And what I mean by that is, we've invested—some of that cost of doing business investment has been in the product, marketing, and retail space, and that's allowed us to get that sales and gross profit increase. So is it a reinvestment? I think it's more of a cause and effect. You know, because we have the capability, we're now able to open more stores and deliver on that top line of gross margin increase.
The other investments we're making, such as Alice mentioned, human resources as an example, that's really to make sure we can scale as a business, and culture is so important to us here at Uni. It allows us to scale and grow that as well.
Thank you.
Thank you, Christian. Just as a reminder, any other research analyst that would like to ask a verbal question, please feel free to raise your hand, and we'll endeavor to get to you. The next question, just on CTC Thrills. Alice, you've spent a lot of time out on this business since you've moved into the group CEO role. Any additional color you'd like to share on some of your focus initiatives?
I'm really impressed by the way that we're getting fast-to-market product out to stores, out to the market. We're doing more capsule drops, as opposed to the long kind of lead time. So we've really exercised that muscle, and the team are doing an exceptional job at increasing speed to market. That's a huge piece, and we're seeing that play out beautifully in retail. Meanwhile, we're unpicking some of the extraordinarily deep discounting that the online store was doing, and so we're accelerating the capability of the team and unpicking some legacy. However, there are many more things that we can be doing in the online space, 'cause I know people have questions about that.
That is a one-month isolated period of time that we took the pain to— While we're still quite small, reminding you that this is about 1.3% of the overall business, let's not extrapolate more meaning out of that than actually exists. We're planting seeds for good future growth in that business. Excited about changes to marketing that are just about to get underway. Product is definitely progressing the way that we wanted it to. Retail is progressing much more soundly. Overall, I'm impressed with what we've been able to achieve and, you know, still cautious, as we were with Perfect Stranger. Everybody wanted us to open a bunch of stores really quickly. I like to make sure that we are well-placed to do so, so we're applying the diligence required. Looking forward to getting stuck into the second half with that team.
Great. Thank you. And just on the international opportunity, can you please talk to the opportunity outside of Australia, for example, in New Zealand, as well as potentially growing that online presence offshore?
Yeah, that is something that the team are focused on. It's a, you know, New Zealand is still a challenging marketplace, I think, and we believe that we have quite a lot more work to be doing with onshore, that we could be optimizing our delivery to customer better. We're looking at ways that we can run our own online business at Universal Store and Perfect Stranger better, sharing some of that knowledge with the CTC team. I think we've got-- after our after-action reviews, we've got plenty of things to be doing onshore, while we do continue to look at how we could, you know, trade better overseas. It's still in the pipeline, it's just not being accelerated at the moment.
Sure. Thank you. Next verbal question comes from Emily Porter at Morgans. Please go ahead, Emily.
Hey, guys, congratulations on the result. I just had a question around Perfect Stranger. You know, you spoke a little bit about elevating the brand, and I'm just interested in how you're sort of seeing your customer respond to that price point, and do you feel like you've kind of got the right balance, now?
I think we're comfortable with the balance that we've struck. I think that, you know, no retail fashion apparel brand, I think, ever arrives. I think it's you're constantly polishing that diamond and refining and discovering how your customers' moods are changing. Valentine's Day was a real event this year. It fell on a Saturday, fantastic. That's the planets aligning. Lots of pink and red went out the door, lots of dresses, and we saw lots of Instagram posts of people wearing our clothes on their special moment dates. So I think, yeah, I think that the brand is heading in the right direction, doing all the right things, elevating in the way that it needs to, without sort of overreaching customer grasp and hitting that beautiful sweet spot. You know, customers feel that the value is higher than the price. That's what you're always aiming for.
Yeah, okay. That's great. And maybe just, a view on the sort of, I guess, the macro environment, sort of shifting the narrative with interest rates, you know, potentially already gone up and maybe going up further. I guess your customer's kind of less, I would think, less sensitive to this, given they don't generally have a mortgage. But I'm just interested in how you're sort of seeing the general landscape for the consumer moving, you know, over the next six to 12 months.
Yeah, we haven't been impacted by that shift as of yet. When it hits rents is when it tends to be a bigger problem. But again, I think most people have right-sized from the last few ups and downs. I think we're kind of more desensitized to it. In our market, it's not as much of an impact. You're absolutely right. If it hits the rental line, that's when we'll feel it.
Yeah.
Anything to add to that?
Well, also, it's worth mentioning just the currency is a bit of a tailwind, so that takes a bit of pressure off needing to raise prices, as well. So I think there's the kind of counteracting in some respects.
All right. Thanks, guys, and congratulations on the result.
Thanks, Emily.
Thanks, Emily. Next question's from Peter Drew at Carter Bar. "Can you provide some more color on the drivers of like-for-like growth in Universal Store and Perfect Stranger in Q2 and Q3, specifically in terms of basket and customer count, please?
Look, I think it's just getting the right product in for our customer because in the marketplace, discounting was outrageously rampant. It was very heavy. And much of the research that I pick up and read says that the youth consumer is so much more inclined to buy the item that they want, not just something that's cheap, and I think that we've hit that market really well. So when we've got the right brands, the right shapes, the right styles, we're aware of the events that our customers are going to. We have drops that hit those events. We market to that event. We talk about it, that we're aware of it. We're the go-to destination that you can trust, that we'll have the thing you need for the event you're going to. Meanwhile, next door is 40%-50% off for eight months.
I think that discount fatigue, you don't get pride about wearing a new outfit to an exciting event that you had to dig through a pile of, you know, discarded, unwanted product. So this is the challenge that we've faced for a number of years, and we've held strong, and we continue to hold strong. I think, you know, we continue to get the right product in for the right events, the consumer will vote the way they have been.
Great, thank you. And just a follow-up question from Sam Haddad at Petra. Sam, please go ahead.
Yeah, thanks for taking my follow-up. Just on... I know you're testing a larger format store for Perfect Stranger in WA. I just want to get an update on how that's performed and opportunities for that larger format across the network.
Yeah, really well. We just had this conversation yesterday, great timing. Where it's appropriate, where the lease term is, allows us to have the kind of flexibility, we're going to continue to test and trial different formats, different ways of doing things. Are there a few stores that we opened that I wish we got a few extra square meters in? Yes. Will we potentially be upsizing some of our current stores at the right time? Probably. But it really comes down to, the store has to wash its face. We've never been an ego-driven brand that just opens big stores and with big lease terms that are onerous, that drive a lack of profitability. We don't think that that's a marketing expense. We think that's just bad management.
So, yeah, we will continue to expand that format where it's the right location. We do the same for Universal Store, where it's the right kind of center with the right kind of traffic that can get the turnover, and we can get a good lease deal, we'll take a few extra square meters. Where we don't think so, we need to do that, we'll stick to that to 250 sqm.
Just final follow-up for me, just the line of sight you have for new site availability in terms of leases and just, you know, dynamics with landlords?
Look, centers aren't. There's not a lot of new centers opening, and centers aren't growing. So a lot of them are quite tightly held at the moment. However, we are seeing the reduction of some of the department store space, which is opening up some square meterages in centers. And so we're constantly and actively working out with our landlords where we want to be. If we're not in the center, which centers do we want to be in? They're aware of that. If we're in the center and we'd like a little bit more space or we'd like a better location, they're aware of that, and we're constantly chasing that opportunity.
Yeah.
Anything-
I'd also just say with, Perfect Stranger in particular, there's more landlord awareness of Perfect Stranger, and they really now understand how Perfect Stranger can help the center as a whole. So everything Alice said was, is correct, I think, but we're also now getting a bit more opportunities kind of brought to us for Perfect Stranger as well.
That's true.
Yeah.
Thanks. Very helpful. Thank you.
Great. Thanks very much, Sam. I think that's it, all the time we have for questions today. If there are any follow-ups, please feel free to email them through, and we'll endeavor to come back to you. And maybe with that, I'll just pass it back to Alice and Ethan if there's any closing comments. Thanks.
Look, closing comments are, it was an exciting half. Every time we face into Christmas, I hold my breath and think, "Can we possibly beat last Christmas?" And this team does it again and again. So just hats off to the team, really. I think we have to give credit where credit is due, and that is, you know, within the hands of the people that do the hard work every single day. We do our best to navigate and help, you know, help guide, but it is a team effort at Universal Store across all three businesses. So hats off to every one of those team members, again, to our board. And again, thank you very much for continuing to support us, and we hope that we've made you proud in your investment.
Thank you very much for joining today's Universal Store first half 2026 results. Enjoy the rest of your day. Goodbye.