Thanks everyone for logging on today. I'm in the room with Fo. I plan to run through a few of the business highlights and then pass to Chris, who will talk through the numbers in more detail. Before we finish, we will have an opportunity for questions, both verbally and online. Map slide four. Over the past three years, WOTSO has moved through a period of deliberate scale. As shown graphically through our location map, in December 2022, the network consisted of 19 locations across Australia. Today, we've expanded to 35 locations across both Australia and New Zealand, representing an increase of 16 communities. This growth has not been about chasing footprints for its own sake. It reflects the continued execution of our strategy to build a scalable operating platform supported by a real estate backbone. I'm now moving to slide five.
The first engine of the group is our operating platform, the WOTSO FlexSpace business. Across the network, we categorize locations into startup, developing, and mature communities. What this slide demonstrates is the natural progression of the model. New locations initially dilute short-term earnings as they ramp, while developing and mature locations continue to strengthen contribution margins. Importantly, as the platform scales, our corporate overhead is stabilizing, and our expectation is that overhead remains relatively flat as the network approaches 50 locations, allowing incremental growth to increasingly translate to bottom line earnings. During the half year, we reduced head office overhead while continuing to grow the network. Importantly, we believe the current platform is lively built to support approximately 50 locations without a material increase.
As new locations move through their ramp-up phase and reach maturity, maturity, incremental contribution is expected to increasingly flow through to the bottom line. The dispute relating to the North Strathfield location is the reason we have shown the adjustment, as the problems being experienced on site are materially impacting the performance of the location. The dispute remains ongoing and is currently expected to be heard by the court around June, July this year. We will continue to update. If you move to slide six. A major shift that we've previously discussed and we're seeing across the market of landlords to contribute towards fit outs. Fit out costs have reduced to approximately AUD 450 per square meter, around 50% lower than historic levels. This is not simply a cost improvement, but it materially changes the economics of our operating business.
On to slide seven. Ancillary revenue continues to be growing and an increasingly important component of the WOTSO operating platform being delivered across the network. Revenue from meeting rooms, parking, Virtual Office, percent to AUD 2.8 million during the period. Ancillary RevPAD grew 22% to AUD 59 per desk, with ancillary income now representing 16.4% of total flex space sales, up 13.5% in December 2024. Sorry, from 13.5%. This growth highlights the continued diversification of revenue streams as communities mature and utilization deepens beyond core desk memberships. Virtual Office revenue reached AUD 600,000 January performance, annualizing at just shy of AUD 1.5 million, demonstrating strong early traction and reinforcing the scalability of low capital service-based revenue streams. To slide eight.
The second engine of the group is the property portfolio, which is closely aligned with the performance of the WOTSO operating platform. Unlike traditional real estate portfolios that rely on fixed rental income, a total of 38% of our property portfolio is occupied by WOTSO operating business, which operate under the 45 structures. As a result, some of the income generated by the properties is designed to grow alongside the maturity and performance of the operating business. Currently, WOTSO-operated spaces in our portfolio contribute approximately 30% of the total property revenue. Some properties presently reflect lower initial yields, where WOTSO occupies a substantial portion of the building and those communities remain in their startup or early development phase, and/or there are pockets of larger tenant traditional vacancy in the property.
These yields are not indicative of long-term performance, but rather the timing of operational ramp-up and vacancy letup. As locations mature income is expected to expand accordingly. We feel this structure reinforces the group's dual engine model, with the operating business driving utilization and growth, and the property portfolio positioned to capture that growth through increasing yield over time. If we move to slide nine. We enter the second half with continued momentum across both engines of the business. Recent network expansion, combined with stabilizing corporate overhead, positions the operating platform to deliver increasing efficiency as locations mature and contributions strengthen. Expansion remains disciplined, supported by growing landlord participation and a more capital-light delivery model. New locations are expected to continue progressing through their ramp-up phases, while mature locations provide an expanding base of recurring revenue and ancillary income streams.
Within the property portfolio, turnover-based leasing structures provide exposure to operational growth over time. While some assets currently reflect early-stage yields due to ramp-up or traditional vacancy, improving utilization is expected to support progressive income growth. Near-term focus- opened locations and supporting communities through ramp-up, progressing advanced pipeline opportunities across Australia and New Zealand, maintaining cost discipline as the operating business scales. Deploying capital from the Yandina sale into assets aligned with the continued expansion of WOTSO, and continuing to unlock capital-efficient growth opportunities alongside third-party landlords. We remain focused on building long-term earnings through scale, operational maturity, and the continued integration of the operating platform with the real estate portfolio. I will now pass to Chris, who will run through the numbers.
Thank you, Jesse. good morning, everyone. I am pleased to present WOTSO's financial results for the Fiscal 2026 half year. Turning to page 12, this half year, WOTSO has further continued the execution of its growth strategy, and the results reflect this. Following on from what Jesse has already spoken about, as I walk through the financial portion of this presentation, there are three key themes driving the results. First, our continued focus on growth developing locations have on our underlying earnings. Secondly, the deliberate and careful consideration to cost management, including the realization of operational efficiencies. Finally, increased focus on enhancing space utilization through ancillary revenue streams. Starting with the broad strokes, total revenue is up 3% to AUD 24.6 million, off the back of a 7% increase in flex-based sales.
Cost of sales, which includes rent expense, has increased 6% to $15.6 million. Overhead and administrative costs have decreased 7% to $3.9 million, and underlying EBITDA has increased 6% to $5.4 million. The growth in revenue is predominantly driven through our nine new startup locations, which increased desk inventory above 8,000 desks and added over $1 million of sales. Group RevPAD, which includes the revenue and desk figures of these startup locations, has remained flat at $363 a desk. A promising sign as an influx of desk inventory without a commensurate level of sales would impact RevPAD negatively until revenue catches up. Carving aside startup locations, same-location RevPAD has increased 3% to $375 a desk.
This increase is attributable to continued growth in occupancy of developing locations, improved pricing for both developing and mature locations, and an emphasis on such as meeting rooms and Virtual Office, which have increased 31% and comprised AUD 2.8 million of total flex space sales for the period. Shifting attention to cost of sales, rent expense on our lease portfolio of WOTSO FlexSpace has increased 14% to AUD 5.5 million, with the addition of new leased startup locations and increases in rental charges that are tied to a percentage of revenue levels. As our flex space sales increase, from rent, other operating expenses have only increased a modest 2%, with this increase attributable to new startup locations coming online.
Across the balance of the group, operating costs have seen a reduction of 7% as the group has focused on cost containment through expense reviews, supplier price negotiation, and identifying operational efficiencies. Similar comments extend to overhead and administrative costs, which have also decreased 7%. We believe our overhead is well positioned to maintain current levels with minimal growth while absorbing the continued expansion of the flex space business. Overall, the result of those efforts is an increase in underlying EBITDA of 6% to AUD 5.4 million. Looking at our balance sheet on page 13, the execution of our strategy to grow the flex space business is supported by strong property holdings with a healthy level of gearing.
Net assets are AUD 30, reflecting a decrease from June, primarily due to a reduction in the valuation of the Yandina property following the outcome of the sales campaign, as well as balance sheet denominated in New Zealand dollars. Fit-out property and equipment has also decreased as depreciation charges have outweighed actual CapEx spend, which has also been partly offset by landlord contributions on new locations. The sales campaign of Yandina saw the group divest from this asset in February, subsequent to the 31 December period end. The disposal for AUD 27 million reflected a discount to the carrying amount in June of AUD 29.25 million. Despite the decrease in book value, the sale is to support the growth of the WOTSO FlexSpace business.
Looking at the group's borrowings on page 14, there haven't been a material change in the level of borrowings during the period. However, it hasn't been a quiet six months with respect to capital management, as we were successful in restructuring and extending the AUD 44 million cross-collateralized facility held with NAB into three separate facilities, with an effective margin across the three facilities of 1.73%. This restructure resulted in carving the Dickson and Symonston assets out of the cross-collateralization and into completely separate standalone facilities. Current borrowings at 31 December sat at AUD 33 million, of which AUD 23 million reflects debt with upcoming maturities in the next 12 months, and the remaining AUD 10 million represents the Yandina facility, which was repaid subsequent to period end.
Of the $23 million in expiring debt, we expect to renew each of these facilities on similar terms with existing lenders, with the exception of the Hobart and Newcastle securely held with ANZ, as we are exploring shifting this facility to NAB in line with a number of our other facilities. Net gearing at 31 December sat just below 32%, this has decreased to 26% post-period end with the sale of Yandina and the termination of that $10 million facility.
The sale of Yandina has unlocked proceeds that has bolstered our cash position, which we will look to redeploy into growing the flex space business over the next few months. While we wait to deploy these funds, proceeds to offset debt in redraw facilities and earn interest on short-term term deposits in order to reduce our net finance costs. With that, I will now pass it back over to the moderator for any questions.
If you wish to ask a question on the phone, please press star followed by one on your telephone and wait for your name to be announced. That is star one, if you wish to ask a question on the phone. Once again, that is star one, if you wish to ask a question on the phone. Currently, there are no questions on the phone, I'll hand back to presenters for written questions.
There are no online questions either, for confirmation. We'll give it another 30 seconds for anyone to sort of ask any help, questions online or verbally. Oh! This question is from Brendan Harrington online. Hello, Jess, Stuart, and Chris. Hope you are all well, and thank you for the presentation. The CapEx per square meter reduction is fantastic. Do square meters be sustainable? How high do you think ancillary services can become as a percentage of total revenue? Can you please speak to how the absence of Yandina's net rental income will impact free cash flow?
And can you please speak to the type, size, location, and timeline for new property investments made with the Yandina proceeds. Awesome questions. I love these. Brendan, can I start with the, the CapEx question, maybe, in the market? The next deals that are in the pipeline, all have capital contributions from landlords. I think it is at this point in time, sustainable, to achieve that around AUD 450 a square meter.
Jess, it's, it's Stuart Glew here. Can I leap in and say that pretty much our position at the moment, 'cause we're being offered so many opportunities, is that if the fit-out contributions and the work is not there, then we're not taking up those locations. Certainly in the short to medium term, I would expect our costs to continue to go down. That may change, of course, once the market changes, but right now, we've got a lot of opportunity being pushed our direction, and we have to be a bit discerning. If the contribution's not there, then it's not getting my vote. We're pushing back.
I certainly feel landlords are choosing what they're looking for in terms of amenity to their assets. Flex space or coworking, whatever you, whatever you want to call it, is becoming an important mix, in particular in assets that we're looking at in the suburbs and the regions where we can be a feeder tenant to, to the balance of their assets. Yeah , I think it's becoming something that they're wanting to partner with, in
You could say they're seeing.
Yes, they are. Yes. The next sort of part to that question was, how high do you think ancillary services can become as a % of total revenue? To be honest, the Virtual Office revenue continues to astound me. It, it keeps growing month on month. We've recently introduced a new service, which is a registered business service. We've been able to attack that particular piece because of our AFSL and the new laws coming out around KYC. I think we've been a first mover on that, and we've seen the VO revenue continue to grow, and it continue to be a service that, you know, Australian and New Zealand businesses are seeking. To what portion of the, what % of the total revenue?
Well, I'll jump in. I think, Virtual Office fundamentally is, is different to, you know, our you know, office and desk revenue streams. Office and desk revenue streams are, are effectively capped, right? You've only got so much capacity to have X number of desks, X number of offices within a, within a location. Obviously, you're limited by how much you can increase pricing. Virtual Office, effectively has no capacity constraints, and so then it really just comes down to what the market appetite is. It's hard to say what % of revenue it could reach.
The other interesting thing with Virtual Office is it doesn't appear to have the same seasonality that office and, and desk revenue streams have, which often, as, as we have talked about quite a bit, all of our sales are on a month-to-month basis. As we enter, you know, December and January, holiday slowdown periods, we see a bit of a dip in sales of those periods on office and desk revenues, whereas Virtual Office doesn't seem to be impacted by that nearly as much. That's just two pieces of why Virtual Office is I think, fundamentally different than our other revenue streams, and ultimately, is really uncapped in terms of where it can go to.
Chris, maybe you'll continue on with the next bit, which is around how the absence of the Yandina net rental income will impact free cash flow.
Yeah, I mean, we, we will lose the, the top line revenue of, of Yandina and its costs. Obviously, we'll save the interest expense on the debt. You know, free cash flow in the short term will take a dip. It, you know, in saying that, you know, we've made a lot of improvements, as we've highlighted in, in the results here, in terms of cost management. We've reduced a lot of our costs, both operationally and at the overhead level. At the same time, we've got a number of new sites coming online that are currently driving. As Jesse would have, page five of the slide deck, you can really see how the impact that the life cycle of our WOTSO locations has.
Startup locations, startup locations will generally drive a loss, but then within one year, two years, they're breaking even, and then by third year, we're adding margin. Right now, we're sitting with nine new startup locations that are driving AUD 1,000 for the half year. We expect that over time, we'll be able to ramp those locations up, cut down on any lost revenue that from Yandina. Then we'll also be redeploying the capital we get from the sale of Yandina to invest in growing the flex space business, apart all of the WOTSO locations from there. You know, in the short term, I expect a bit of a dip that'll be offset by, you know, the ramp-up of that deal and cost savings on our expenses. Over time, I think we'll be able to recover that.
Chris, can I leap in there, too, and say that having a bit available on our books, I, I think is a valuable asset in itself. Yes, it, in, in the short term, it'll negatively impact earnings and free cash flow. I'm hoping that'll be more than offset by increases in revenue from the flex space, to having the capital there so that we can take advantage of opportunities as they come up.
In the past, we've from time to time, have had opportunity, and we've been, we will borrow the money to be able to grab it. I'm pretty comfortable with letting it, sort of, the cash sit idle for a while. I'm not in a rush for us to to spend it. Chris and Jess, Jess and Chris, are probably more eager to get the money out than I am, and I'm, I'm acting as a bit of a handbrake there, saying, "Just let's, let's sit for a while and let the opportunities come to us.
The final question or final part of that question is, location and timeline for new property investments made with the Yandina proceeds. I think it's-
It is totally opportunistic. Totally opportunistic.
There is a lot out there at the moment in suburban and regional areas that is interesting to us. This Friday, I'm heading up to Rockhampton to have a look at a proper. All sort of in that, The properties that we're looking at are sort of circa 1,500 to 3-
Yeah. The strength in the I guess the potential bargains in the property world at the moment are in the cities where there's a lot of vacancy. We don't have a lot of confidence in that. I mean, it might take a long time for inner city markets to recover, and they might have a bit more pain coming. We think in the suburbs and regions, the small buildings that interest us, they're a great opportunity that, you know, we can put multiple users, not just us, but, you know, gyms, coffee shops, childcare centers go with us pretty well if we find the buildings. The difficulty there is getting the owners to, to sell. In small buildings, there are some owners quite happy to sit with a vacant building for years. We'll just have to keep looking and, and, hope that a few fall our way.
Brennan, you've asked a second question there, which is, can you location and initial interest in CookSpace? Also, my apologies if this has been covered before, those washes to senior. Maybe we'll start with North.
Well, if so c an I, can I begin again? The relocation to, in North Strathfield, we're in the process of clearing out the top floor of the building that we own in that area. We'll be migrating WOTSO there in the second half of this year. O-one of the problems we, we have is that, like I thought that when the guys did the deal for us to go to Rhodes, I thought, well, that's gonna hol start hollowing out North Strathfield. They backfilled it pretty quickly. Rhodes is not very far from us. It may well be that we set up the, the new space, and it doesn't create a hole in the old space.
What happens from there will depend, our landlord is particularly difficult. This is not a small litigation for us and, and for them. They've now got state government approvals to put 50-story buildings where we are, my personal belief is they're doing everything in their power to try and get rid of us. At present, they have, we had a right to abate rent, which we did. If they damaged our premises or if the premises were damaged, they are arguing that because we abated the rent, they're being able to validly terminate the lease for non-payment of rent, so they say we're a monthly tenancy for that. They also say that we... Perfectly good condition, so therefore, we don't have a right to abate.
They followed that up with a termination notice, saying that the problems with the building are so great that the, the building is irreparable. We don't know how those two things sit together, and this, this could be a mess going on with them for some time beyond the, the court case date we've got. We've just set ourselves up so that we'll have our new business set up in the building next door. We'll have the business set up in Rhodes, and we'll let the, the North Strathfield thing run its course.
To the initial interest in CookSpace, Brendan, it's interesting. When we first announced the concept, there was a high level of interest. That was about two years ago, maybe three years ago now. Taken us that long to work through the town planning. We now have 10 kitchens, and we are responding to how the market is responding to the space. There is a lot of inquiries for day and weekly use, so day use of the kitchen, weekly use of the kitchen. One of the 10 kitchens has been let out and I think what's making it more challenging is that we our pricing is reflective of the CapEx that we deployed into that space.
We are holding firm at this point on that pricing for monthly deals, but the day pass and weekly pass, we're, we're meeting the market there. We'll continue to see how that, that goes, but it's been a really fun experience, and I'm looking forward to seeing the space up and running. If you do get a chance, when you're over here in Oz next, to pop out to North Strathfield, it's awesome. It, it looks great. The murals that we've done through the alleyway and the way that the, the kitchens can feed out in sort of an, an Eat Street concept is quite, quite fun. In terms of Hamlet, that is the, the company that holds our software platform, Hamlet. I think we pass back to the moderator now, as there are no further online questions. Perhaps if there's any further verbal questions.
As a reminder, if you wish to ask a question on the phone, please press star followed by one on your telephone and wait for your name to be announced. Currently, there are no questions on the phone lines.
Great. Thank you very much. I think we'll end it there.
Thank you.