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Welcome, ladies and gentlemen, to The Reject Shop's 2023 half year results briefing. All participants are currently on mute. Following the presentation, we will open the call for questions. To queue for questions, you may press star 1 on your touchtone keypad. I will now hand over to Clinton, Chief Financial Officer and Acting Chief Executive Officer, to take you through today's briefing.
Good morning, everyone. I'm Clinton Crighton , The Reject Shop CFO and Acting CEO. It's my pleasure to welcome you to our 2023 half year results conference call. Joining me on the call is Sean Hodges, our COO, who together with the team, has been working hard on our enhanced merchandise range, which will include more newness, variety and value for our customers. Sean will join me in answering questions during the Q&A section of this call. I'll start by walking you through the company's first half 2023 results, which are summarized on slides 3 and 4. We have again presented our financial results on both the pre and post AASB 16 basis, which will assist you in comparing the result with historical performance.
Our results include sales of AUD 439.7 million, which are up 3.5% on the prior period and up 2.4% on a comp store basis. On a pre-AASB 16 basis, the cost of doing business improved by AUD 2.6 million, representing a reduction of 1.7% on the prior period. EBIT was AUD 23.1 million, which was up 12.9%, and NPAT was AUD 16.4 million, which was up 14.1%. Statutory NPAT was AUD 16.3 million, which was up 6.2%. We're pleased to have again finished the half with a strong balance sheet. At the end of the half, we had cash of AUD 83.9 million and no foreign debt. Turning to slide 5.
Comp store sales for the half were up 2.4% on the prior period. During the half, customers gravitated towards low price consumables that represent great value. We saw strong sales performance across a number of consumables categories where we offer our customers compelling value on branded products. General merchandise sales were softer than the prior period, but there were three main reasons for this. First, the long lockdowns in Victoria and New South Wales during the prior period had a favorable impact on last year's general merchandise sales as non-essential retailers were closed for a large part of these lockdowns. Second, as cost of living pressures increase, customers appear to be favoring non-discretionary low price consumables ahead of more discretionary products.
Thirdly, the general merchandise and seasonal product we offered during the first half, which was purchased before the implementation of our improved merchandise strategy, was not optimal in terms of newness, variety, and value for our customers. That being said, despite this, we were pleased to have had our strongest Christmas trading period on record. Under Amy's leadership, a new merchandise strategy has been developed and is currently being implemented. This new merch strategy is expected to result in an improved product offer, which is more closely aligned to our traditional core customer. We are pleased that this new product has started to hit our shelves over the past few weeks and the customer response has been positive. Our team is excited to showcase this new product to our customers during the second half of FY23 and into FY24. Moving on to gross profit on slide 6.
Gross profit was AUD 178.7 million on a pre-AASB 16 basis and in line with the prior period. Notwithstanding gross margin percentage being down by 145 basis points to 40.6%. The most significant factors that adversely impacted gross margin percentage during the half were, first, the shift in sales mix towards low-margin consumables that I referred to earlier. Secondly, domestic supply chain costs were higher than the prior period, driven by higher D.C. labor costs, increased domestic freight rates, elevated fuel surcharge levies, as well as additional unbudgeted offsite storage and demurrage costs, which were required due to higher than anticipated stock levels during the half. Additionally, during the half, we continued to incur elevated international shipping costs as well as cost price increases due to higher input costs.
Where possible, selling prices were raised in a targeted way to offset these cost pressures. While domestic supply chain costs remain elevated, we've made good progress in lowering our international shipping rates, which have recently reduced by approximately 80% from their peak. For context, the goods sold during the first half that were sourced internationally were mainly shipped during the fourth quarter of FY22 and the first quarter of FY23 at international shipping rates that were at an all-time high. These rates were approximately 3x the rates paid in the prior period and approximately 6x higher than the rates paid pre-COVID. Therefore, there was minimal margin benefit from reduced international shipping rates during the first half. Rather, the benefit from improved shipping rates is expected to flow through to gross profit margin in the fourth quarter of FY23 and more materially into FY24.
I note that gross profit includes approximately AUD 852,000 in other income, which is income from insurance claims relating to the four stores that were flood damaged during FY22. Further flood-related insurance income is expected to be received during the second half of FY23. Turning to slide seven. Pre-AASB 16 EBIT was AUD 23.1 million, which was up almost 13% on the prior period. The cost of doing business continued to be well-managed and improved by AUD 2.6 million, which represented a reduction of 1.7% on the prior period. The reduction in the cost of doing business during the half comprises a saving of AUD 3.3 million in store expenses, offset by a small increase in admin expenses or head office costs of AUD 0.6 million.
It is worth noting that savings have been achieved in both store expenses and admin expenses since the first half of FY20, when our turnaround began, with those half-year costs down approximately AUD 12 million and AUD 0.4 million respectively. Store labor, which was 14.9% of sales back in the first half of FY20, reduced from 13% in the prior period to 12.9% this half. We also saw a reduction in store occupancy costs from 13.5% of sales in the prior period to 12.3% this half. The reduction in store occupancy cost was mainly driven by the lower rents negotiated in both FY22 and the first half of FY23, as well as the rent savings achieved following the closure of poor performing high rent stores in FY22.
We are proud of the work that our operations and property teams have done over the past three years to significantly reduce our cost of doing business. I also note that store expenses include the operating costs associated with opening and closing stores. These costs totaled approximately AUD 0.7 million in the first half, which is down from AUD 2.5 million in the prior period. For context, the prior period included costs associated with opening 11 new stores compared to 8 this half. It included the non-cash write-off of assets associated with 5 store closures, compared to just 1 this half. The prior period also included a provision for stores expected to close during the second half of FY22. Finally, depreciation was AUD 6.2 million, which was in line with the prior period. On to slide 8.
We continue to make good progress in expanding and optimizing our store network. During the half, we opened 8 new stores and consistent with our future growth strategy, these new stores are predominantly in neighborhood and strip locations in both metro and country areas. We continue to look for new locations where we can more conveniently serve more Australians and are targeting to open at least 5 new stores during the second half. This is fewer than the number of new store openings initially anticipated for FY23, as a number of new store openings have been delayed into FY24 due to construction industry challenges relating to labor and materials. Pleasingly, we already have a pipeline of approximately 15 stores which are expected to open in FY24 and beyond.
We closed 1 store during the half, which was a relocation, and expect to close a further 4 stores during the second half. All 4 of these stores are expected to close due to center redevelopments or changes in tenancy mix. At the end of the half, The Reject Shops national store network included 376 stores, up from 367 at the end of December last year, and up from 356 at the end of December 2020. Moving now to our distribution centers or DCs. The leases at our DCs expire progressively over the next 4 years, with Perth coming up for renewal in August 2024, Brisbane in February 2025, and Melbourne in November 2026.
We are in the process of developing a long-term plan for our DC network, having regards to our expanding store network and the lease expiry profile of our DCs. Turning to slide 9. The company's balance sheet remains strong, with a cash balance of AUD 83.9 million and no drawn debt at the end of the half. This compared to a net cash position of AUD 77 and a half million at the end of June 2022, and AUD 106.4 million at the end of December 2021. Inventory closed at AUD 140.3 million, which is up from AUD 113 million at the end of June 2022, and AUD 98.9 million at the end of December 2021.
We are actively managing our inventory levels and expect the inventory balance to reduce and stock turn to improve during the second half of FY23. Turning to slide 10. In terms of capital management, as you already know, the company announced an on-market share buyback of up to AUD 10 million, which commenced in September 2022. During the first half, we purchased and canceled approximately 600,000 shares at a cost of around AUD 2.6 million. We are currently reviewing our capital management strategy, having regards to our strong balance sheet, the future capital requirements of the business, as well as our franking credit balance of approximately AUD 66 million at the end of the first half. If trading during the second half of FY23 is in line with our expectations, the board intends to resume paying dividends, which could potentially include a special dividend.
We will provide an update on capital management in our full year results in August. On to slide 11. Pleasingly, comp sales growth during the first seven weeks of the second half is up 9.4% on the prior period, noting that sales in the prior period were adversely impacted by Omicron. We are focused on generating comp sales growth in the second half and into FY24, supported by an improved product offering with more great deals on branded consumables, as well as new and exciting general merchandise, all at great value. We look forward to offering our customers compelling value, more special buys, improved newness, and greater variety throughout the second half, which is expected to become more apparent and meaningful in FY24. We remain focused on opening new stores and managing the impact of inflation on gross profit margin and operating costs.
We anticipate potential ongoing margin pressure from product mix shifts, higher labor costs, potential increases in debt, volatility in FX rates, and elevated domestic supply chain costs. We also expect to receive the benefit of international shipping rates reducing by around 80% from their peak, which as I mentioned earlier, is expected to flow through to gross profit margin in the fourth quarter of FY23 and more materially in FY24. Consistent with prior periods, we have determined not to provide specific profit guidance for the second half or the full year. I'd also like to note that the company's first half performance should not be used as an indicator for the second half of the financial year, as the company typically generates a higher proportion of sales in the first half. Turning to slide 12. Our priorities for FY23 are simple and remain unchanged.
Our number one priority is to continue to evolve our merchandise offer by further enhancing our low price position and continuing to differentiate our offer through more special buys, newness and variety. This will in turn drive comp sales growth through bigger baskets and more frequent visits. I invite you to refer to slides 13 and 14 of our presentation, which includes some images of our exciting new products for autumn, garden and Easter. We will continue to expand our national store network with a focus on providing customers with even more convenient locations throughout Australia where they can shop and save. We will continue to manage gross profit margin and the cost of doing business in a high inflation environment. Finally, we will continue to explore and invest in strategic projects across the business which minimize risk and enable efficiencies and growth, particularly in supply chain and technology.
This now takes us to slide 15, where I'd like to share with you my key takeaways from this result. First, we are pleased with the solid sales growth generated during the half and the ongoing positive momentum achieved during January and the first half of February. Second, consistent with other Australian retailers, we continue to navigate various gross margin pressures. We will continue to manage rising costs, but we also expect some future gross margin benefits from the recent significant reduction in international shipping rates. Third, the cost of doing business continues to be well managed. Having removed AUD 2.6 million of costs during a period of high inflation. Fourth, the combination of sales growth and CODB reduction resulted in EBIT growth of almost 13% on the prior period. This is a pleasing result, given we are yet to see the benefits of our enhanced merchandise offering.
Finally, our balance sheet remains strong with almost AUD 84 million in cash and no drawn debt at the end of the half. To conclude, as we have said before, there is a significant opportunity for The Reject Shop to play an important role in helping our customers save money during a time when so many Australians are facing significant cost of living pressures and are seeking great value. As Australia's largest discount variety retailer, I believe The Reject Shop can have a meaningful impact during this difficult economic time by offering our customers low prices on both branded consumables as well as exciting general merchandise.
I'm pleased to report comp sales growth and EBIT growth in a challenging and uncertain macroeconomic environment. I'm proud to have the opportunity to lead a team of over 3,500 dedicated and committed team members who have worked really, really hard to ensure that The Reject Shop delivered these results for our shareholders. I would like to thank all of our team members across stores, DCs, and our store support center for their contribution and efforts during this half. To our shareholders, thank you for your ongoing support and long-term commitment to our business. We are determined to continuously improve The Reject Shop's performance and deliver sustainable long-term value for all of our shareholders. That is the end of our prepared presentation. I'll now hand back to the operator to open the call up for questions.
Thank you, Clinton. If you wish to ask a question, please press star one on your telephone keypad and wait for your name to be announced. If you wish to cancel your request, please press star one again. If you're on a speakerphone, please pick up the handset to ask your question. Our first question comes from Shaun-Lovell Harrison of Goldman Sachs. Please go ahead, Xavier.
Hi, Clinton and Amy. Thank you for taking my questions. Just firstly, with regards to the merchandise strategy, how happy are you with the product range now, and how far along do you think you are in terms of refreshing it? Could you give us a little bit more detail as to where you wanna be in terms of the mix between general merchandise and consumables and where we are now?
Thanks, Xavier. I'll take that question. I think in regards to the first part of your question, which is how happy we are with the merchandise offering now, I think we've made it pretty clear that we feel that there is a lot of opportunity in the merchandise offering. It does take time to change this. We are seeing significant growth in our consumable businesses, and that has contributed to the relationships that we've been able to build with our national branded vendors. We are seeing the positive results in that. In regards to the general merchandise and seasonal part of our offerings, really, we're in the infant stage of improving that. We will see, and you will see those new ranges come through for Easter, and we are very excited about that Easter range.
The majority of what you will see come through will be for the Q4 and into FY24. The second part of your question was really around the mix, and I think in this inflationary time period, it is important that we really support our customers with our great deals in our consumable businesses. As we continue to improve our general merchandise and seasonal offerings, it is our desire to grow those and to increase the mix on those businesses as well.
I think that's very helpful. Maybe Clinton, just a related one on the gross profit margin decline. Could you remind us how much of the impact you think was mix versus cost headwinds just on that shift to consumables?
Yeah, sure. If we look at the 145 basis points decline, roughly two-thirds of that is mix. The remaining third is really domestic supply chain costs.
All right. Just a final one from me. Just on the comp store sales for the half and then the first two weeks. Just knowing the big step-up in the first six weeks, sorry, five weeks. Could you remind us just on the quantum and timing of those price increases, just so we can kind of get a rough idea on volume versus price coming through into the second half of the year?
Yeah, it's a bit of a difficult one to answer. I'll give you a couple of data points. I think firstly, both in the first half or in the first half, we were comping lockdowns that were both favorable and unfavorable. The shorter lockdowns in July and August were favorable from a comp perspective, whereas the prolonged lockdowns in Sydney and Victoria last year had a unfavorable impact on comp because we had strong performance last year. The impact of Omicron in December and January was favorable to comp this year. There's quite a bit of noise in the prior period. That's starting to wear off now.
Just in terms of ASP was up almost 10% during the first half on the prior half. That was pretty constant through the period. We expect it to be around that for the remainder of the year.
Great. That's very helpful. That's all for me. Thank you.
Our next question comes from Alexander Mees from Morgans. Please go ahead, Alexander.
Oh, thanks very much. Thanks, Clinton, Amy. Just a few questions. Firstly with regard to the store labor costs. Down as a ratio of sales. I'm just wondering how you've achieved that efficiencies and what your outlook is for labor costs and, I guess labor availability in the second half of the year, please?
Thanks for the question, Alex. We're really pleased with what we've done with store labor. Like most others in the economy and particularly retailers, the cost of labor during the first half increased somewhere between 3.5% and 4% just at a wage level. A lot of the efficiency work was done prior to this year. I think what we're benefiting from is getting our sales up to a level that I think we'll say is reflective of where the business should be at this stage. I think there's an opportunity to grow that further.
I think that improvement is reflective of holding out, holding a labor cost by and large, putting aside new stores and being more efficient in terms of sales. I think a lot of the efficiency work had been done previously. I might just use that, Alex, as an opportunity to talk through a bit of the cost of doing business, and where we think we'll land for the full year. From a store labor perspective, the guidance we gave at the FY22 result was that we're targeting about 13.6% of sales for full-year labor. We're right on track for that. I think we'll hit that target this year. 13.6% of sales for the full year.
Rent, and we can talk about first half, the first half rent outcome, which I think was outstanding. We can talk about that separately. The guidance we gave for the full year, at FY22 was about 14% of sales, and I think we're gonna beat that and we'll be closer to 13.5%. Admin costs, we talked about AUD 47 million for the full year. I think we're still on track for that. Then opening closing costs. We talked about AUD 3.5 million for the year. As you can tell, we're opening fewer stores than we expected. I expect that cost will be half of that.
That's great. Thank you. That's gonna be my next question to ask you to run through costs in business. Thank you. Just on the DC plan, I know it's early days and you are working through a plan as to what to do when your various DCs come up for renewal. Just wondering what your options are. Are you thinking potentially consolidation or are you thinking relocations?
Alex, buddy, we'll update you on that, further down the track. We have a new GM of supply chain who started in December. He's working hard on that, so I think we'll update you once we've spent a bit more time on it. I guess what we pointed out is there's a fair bit of flexibility. There's also an opportunity to potentially reduce cost, in the event that we stay in some of those facilities. I think we'll come back to you in August around that.
No, that's good. Just very quick on inventory, obviously, up reasonably significantly, but you have said that it's going to come down in the second half. I guess there's some seasonality there. Just wondering whether you still expect it to be above the level from June 22 when we get to June this year.
I suspect we'll be around June 2022, potentially slightly higher. really depends on a number of factors, but our expectation is it starts to come back in line with June 2022.
Great. Thank you. Just the last one, just with regard to the comp sales growth in the first period of the year, obviously very strong at 9.4%. I'm just wondering, clearly that was against soft comps affected by Omicron. As you got to the end part of that period, what was the exit rate looking like? It must have come off a little bit from there.
Yeah, we're probably just starting to get to that period. I'll give you some context. January was up 11%, February was up 5%, roughly 5.5%. You can see that normalization coming. I think that's still pleasing growth in February. I'm not gonna give any guidance as to the remainder of the half. January, we knew there was a big impact. We called that out at our full year results in August last year. That is starting to normalize a bit.
Thank you very much. Great set of numbers, guys. Thank you.
Thanks for your questions, Alex.
Your next question comes from Keegan Booysen of Jarden. Please go ahead, Keegan.
Good morning, team. First one from me. Amy, you talked to improving relationships with the vendors of consumables within Australia. Can you just talk to what opportunity you see to improve the margin in your consumables offer, particularly as you know, as you grow and you get scale. Would this come via sort of terms of deals, or is there an opportunity to take a bit of margin with the price increases similar to what the major supermarkets are doing as well, please?
Sure. Thanks, Keegan. I think all three of those things that you said is an opportunity for us. Working more closely with the national brands directly will help improve margin. Working through deals with them, and how we price those deals will also help us improve our margin. As you said, we really will strategically, and very closely always look at our retail price points and ensure that we can optimize margin, but still really ensure that we're offering our customers exceptional value, particularly as we go through this very challenging time period. All those three things are important for us to look at to improve our margin and also still get the customer the best consumable offer.
How are you seeing your pricing relative to the major supermarkets? I mean, generally you've had about a 30% discount, broadly speaking, across consumables. Is that kind of the target that you look at when you look at relative pricing to them to stay competitive?
Yeah. It is very important for us to be more competitive than the supermarkets. That is how we believe that we will win. We do have different rules that we use around our pricing, but it is important for us to be under them anywhere from up to 30% lower than what they are. We do that, as I said, through those three ways: direct relationships, deals, and then just managing the retail price points.
That's great. Maybe Clinton, one for you. When we look at the inventory build, into the 1st of 2023, it's pretty sizable, but can you just talk to what stock's in there and then also how much of the increase has been COGS inflation versus volume build? I remember last year you had stock that arrived late, so I just want to understand if you sort of normalize the stock arriving late into Jan, Feb, what the actual underlying growth for the inventory balance is please.
Yeah. Keegan, it's a mix of both physical stock and cost increase. It's actually predominantly physical stock. That being said, cost increase is material. The stock we have in there's always gonna be stock that we wanna move through quickly, but we don't expect a discount outside of the normal course. Our usual plan around markdowns will take place. There's nothing in there that is deeply problematic. I think there's some stock there that we would like to sell through and bring in newness, that's okay, we'll just work through it. The reason we got into this position was there was a slowdown in general merchandise sales, there was greater demand for consumables.
We were effectively filling our stock up with consumables on top of what we had already bought, so to make sure we could meet the demand. Now we've kind of got that right. We've got a sense for where the what the demand pattern looks like. We feel very confident that by the end of Easter, it'll start to be more normal, and then by June it'll look really normal.
No, that's great. Just last one for you, Amy. Obviously coming from your previous experience overseas, keen to see if there's any similarities you can see playing out in Australia similar to what you saw with the U.S. dollar stores and if you can make any comments around how the consumer is trading with respect to that, please?
Sure. Look, I think there's a lot of similarities. I think that the customer, the trend that we're seeing from the customer is fairly similar. We've also seen that in categories in which we are selling well, which was similar to what the U.S. and around the world were selling well, and then categories that are slowing down. I think there is a lot of learnings that we can take from the rest of the world and the fact that they are quite ahead of us. I think that, you know, The Reject Shop specifically has the opportunity to benefit as other dollar stores have around the world based on our product mix and our great values that we have.
Keegan, I'd probably add to that. I'd say both you, yourself, Ben, and your economists have written quite a bit around the strength of the consumer in Australia during the first half, and that trade down hasn't really materially hit. I think that rhetoric through the results season has started to shift through January and February. I think when you look at the, you look at the fixed mortgage cliff, you look at further interest rate rises and stubbornly high inflation. We think there's a really great opportunity for this business over the next 6 to 12 months. We're quietly confident. I think when we get to August, we expect to be able to say more about that because we would have seen it in the results is our hope and expectation.
Yeah. Well, I think even if you look at what Woolworths and Coles were saying yesterday as well, you know, they're noting consumers are trading down not only within store, and price points, but also from sort of eating out to moving more to in-home consumption. It sounds like all those trends are starting to materialize now.
Yeah. Thanks. Thanks, Ed.
Thanks, Ed. Your next question comes from James Casey of Ord Minnett. Please go ahead, James.
Good morning. Apologies if you've mentioned this. I just wondered what you're cycling in the first period of this year. What was your sales growth last year?
In February. James, I'll have to come back to you on that.
January. Yeah.
It was soft. It was soft at the start of last year. January, I think the call out we made in our FY22 result was that January sales were down AUD 5 million from a comp perspective. I know that's not a %. Omicron had a really deleterious impact on our customer. Customers chose to stay home. That adversely impacted Christmas and back to January and the start of February. We're starting to see that ease now from a comp perspective. I'll give you context on Christmas. We called out in our results that we had a record Christmas. I'll try and give you round numbers and try and index this.
If a typical Christmas is 100, Christmas in 2021 to December 2021 or Christmas in FY22 was 95, and Christmas this year was 105. Not only were we better than where we've been historically, we were quite materially better than where we've been, where we were in FY22. It was a good Christmas.
Okay. With regards to your comments on average selling prices, do you think you're achieving volume growth in the first period of this year?
We are. We are. Units are up in the first period of this year. It's not hugely up, but it's up.
Okay. Just finally on the dividend, did go a bit through that a little quickly. Could you just repeat what you said with regards to the dividend and the timing?
The timing, we'll give an update. We'll give an update in August. We're assessing our capital management strategy, that includes assessing the potential for a special dividend. The other part of that is we've said that if the second half performance is in line with our expectations, the board intends to resume paying dividends.
With the FY23 results?
We've said we'll provide an update in August.
Yeah. Okay. Good stuff. Thanks, Clinton.
Thanks, James. Your next question comes from James Bales of Morgan Stanley. Please go ahead, James.
Oh, hi, guys. just another question on comps. Trying to sort of tease this out a little. The growth looked really good, but you didn't call out what that was cycling last year. Maybe if we look at a two-year stack for the entire second half, what would the current momentum imply there?
Yeah. Why don't I give you this stat, and I've probably said this to James, is the first seven weeks were flat on FY19 from a comp perspective.
Okay, that's helpful. Gross margins bounced around a bit. I think your message previously has been along the lines of you are looking to sustain 40% and potentially then reinvest back into price to drive comps. There's obviously a lot of water's gone under the bridge since that messaging. How should we think about your intent on pricing and management of gross margin from here?
Yeah. Thanks for that question, James. You're right. At the full year, we said we were targeting gross margin in FY23 of about 40.5%. It looks like this year will be closer to 40 based on what we're seeing at the moment, and that's predominantly driven by product mix shift and high costs in the domestic supply chain, and then a benefit from shipping that's gonna come through later. I think when we look through to FY24, and I'm not gonna start talking about FY24 right now, but I think there's an opportunity to improve margin into FY24 through both the product improvement story, but also the shipping cost story and hopefully some normalization in domestic supply chain costs. I think we're some way away from seeing that.
I think just to give you a sense of scale of the shipping costs. We've just got to be careful here because shipping costs, and I tried to point this out in my earlier remarks, there's a difference between what we spend during the half, there's the cash impact and then the P&L impact because it does take some time for the stock to sell through and then hit our gross profit margin. Just in terms of spend on shipping, in FY22, we spent about AUD 30 million on shipping costs. Pre-COVID, that number was about AUD 6 million. In FY23 I suspect we'll spend between AUD 15 million and AUD 20 million, there's a reduction. Looking forward into FY24, based on what we can see at the moment, I suspect it'll be around AUD 8 million-AUD 10 million.
That benefit flows mainly into FY24, not so much into FY23.
Yeah. Got it. Okay. I mean, that's a pretty material move, and it sounds like most of it is into FY24. You guys have previously sort of given the target of second half breakeven or profitability. How are you thinking about that in terms of second half of 2023?
Second half 23 won't make it to breakeven at EBITDA, not this half. We would've liked it to have. I think with the margin pressure, it's gonna be hard. It's possible, but I don't think we'll get there this half. I think FY24, when we're talking in August, I think we'll be saying that we expect EBITDA to be breakeven. In the second half, that is.
Great. That's really helpful color. Thanks, guys.
Thanks, James.
As there are no further questions at this time, I'll now hand back to Clinton for closing remarks.
Thanks, Lachlan. Thank you to the analysts for your questions, and thank you all for joining us today. We look forward to updating you again at our full year results in August, and have a great day. Thank you very much.
That does conclude our conference today. Thank you for participating. You may now disconnect.
The conference is now in moderator only mode. Call recording is off.