Welcome to the KAL Group's F2025 financial results presentation. This is a pre-recorded webcast presented by myself and Graeme. We will be available at the end of the session for a live Q&A. If we are unable to handle a particular matter, we will get back to you personally, and you may start sending in your questions as soon as you are ready. The agenda is on the screen, and the presentation will cover key points of interest for investors and shareholders in terms of strategy and structure, key operational trends and indicators, an update on the TAR and Agriplas disposals, as well as investor information, our financial performance, segmental reviews, financial position, and concludes with an outlook to the extent possible.
Given that we confirmed the F2030 strategy with our Board last year, we start F2026 with a bit of momentum and a team that is ready to accelerate the growth pattern required to achieve the key financial outcomes of a compound average growth rate in recurring headline earnings per share of around 15% over the next five years, which we would like to achieve while delivering a 15% return on equity, a 14% return on invested capital, at a debt to equity of around 40%, and reducing our dividend cover to 2.5x . The recurring headline earnings per share growth is probably more important to watch than the profit before tax value. Both our core business segments aim to achieve these outcomes by executing a healthy balance of network growth, market share growth, exploiting efficiencies through further scale, while implementing digital innovations that support our growth objectives.
During the year, we consolidated our retail fuel and convenience structure into PEG retail operations, which at the end of the year has a direct black ownership of just over 52%. The structure of Agrimark business segment has not changed since our previous webcast, apart from the unbundling of Agriplas and TAR in order for a smoother disinvestment process, which shareholders were informed of by SENS in the last few months. As can be seen on the slide, we have already removed TAR from the information, given that at the end of September, the effective date of that transaction was reached. We are currently closing out on the transitional period with the TAR transaction, which for all intent purposes has been completed, barring further agreed steps on the property sale which is currently rented from us by TAR.
In terms of Agriplas, and as we informed the market by SENS, it is pending regulatory approvals, which when obtained should result in expected closeout on that transaction by latest early second quarter. After completion of the two transactions, the group will be focused on the two core business segments being PEG retail operations and Agrimark operations. The left-hand graph is a geographical heat map of all 268 KAL Group business units, and the annual business unit movement per segment per year is on the right-hand graph. In the bottom right, we give clarity on the past year's movements in business units, having opened one Agrimark, closed an Agrimark pet store, an Agrimark in Namibia also was closed, as well as a mechanization unit, while PEG retail operations has taken on three new sites and disposed of one underperforming site in Kroonsstad.
The group now operates 151 retail fuel license sites in South Africa and Namibia, of which PEG operates 75 in South Africa. Whilst the Agrimark footprint has largely been focused on water-intensive farming areas of South Africa, the PEG footprint has focused on clusters in specific provinces, as well as high-value highway sites. Overall, our footprint is biased towards mainly peri-urban, rural, and highway locations, with mostly lifestyle-orientated customers. We reiterate that a number of units per se is actually a poor indication of top-line impact in our business. As holistically, we would mostly disinvest in smaller underperforming sites and would most likely invest in high-quality retail sites when expanding the network. It is the quality of sites that's important, not so much the number of sites.
In the case of Agrimark, it is mostly a water-intensive high-value farming area with dense people demographics, which drives the quality of a site. Whereas in the case of PEG, it is the quality of the convenience offering, which drives the profit metrics of a retail fuel and convenience site. The last important point to note on the footprint is at the bottom right. We have stated in the past that Agrimark will focus more on growing market share than bricks-and-mortar site growth. This they will do by focusing on the top 200 and potential 200 customers in the country and continuously strive to serve more customers without branches by doing direct sales. More about the value of transactions of these direct sales and the movement thereof for the year later when we discuss the Agrimark segmental.
In terms of the key operational trends, we are pleased to report substantially more positives this year than negatives. Recurring headline earnings per share has grown by 11.2% after being down at half year by 3.7%. Like-for-like CapEx has been curtailed to ZAR 132 million compared to prior year, although we would have liked to onboard more sites in PEG. Only ZAR 13 million was spent during the year on acquisitions due to waiting for final license approvals to come through on the three onboarded sites in the second half. Given the net cash flows of ZAR 933 million from operating activities, which increased by 10%, we were able to reduce interest-bearing debt by ZAR 436 million for the year, bringing our debt to equity ratio down to 38%, the lowest in 15 years. I think Graeme would add that we told you so.
From a working capital point of view, stock levels have reduced due to concerted optimization efforts, and the debtor's book reduced, albeit partly from lower fuel prices, but more importantly, not within terms as a percentage of our debtor's book has reduced to the best level in five years. Furthermore, given the healthy state of the company, we are able to increase the dividend per share by 16.7%, giving us a 2.8 x cover, which is in line with our F2030 strategy of reducing the cover to 2.5x. Other standout points to mention are improved retail DC throughput and subsequent efficiencies in cost to serve, and like-for-like group upwards only growing 1.6%. We are also glad to announce receiving our first dividend from our 50% joint venture in Agrimark, Namibia, in the last year.
Lastly, from a positive point of view, we completed both disposals of Agriplas and TAR, with the Agriplas deal still pending some approvals. Graeme will give us some more detail on this on the next slide. Unfortunately, there are still some negatives which linger, being fuel deflation and the impact on revenue values in both Agrimark as well as PEG. This year, abnormal retail fuel reductions of 11.9 million liters were experienced throughout the PEG network due to road closures, site upgrades, and rebuilds compared to the prior year of 13 million L. Lastly, we're still experiencing subdued general retail trading due to pressures on consumers, especially in our building material categories. Could we have done better? Yes, for sure. Are we working on it? Definitely. Graeme will take us over the next few slides.
Thanks, Sean. Before we move on to the key indicators for the year, we just want to give an update on the status of our exit from manufacturing. As we've previously indicated, part of our F2030 strategy is to refocus our business on the core retail and ancillary offerings in our Agrimark and PEG segments. Both TAR and Agriplas are seen as non-core operations. The TAR disposal was effective 30 September and, as such, reflected in the year-end results. We have entered into a manufacturing agreement with TAR, whereby going forward, Agrimark will continue to purchase bins and crates to service the requirements of our customers. The property sale, although concluded, will become effective within a two-year period. As such, the cash inflow of ZAR 114 million from this transaction is spread between F2025, F2026, and F2027, and the total loss on disposal amounts to ZAR 26 million.
With regards to the disposal of Agriplas, this transaction is concluded with unconditional approval received from the South African Competition Commission. All that remains is Eswatini Competition Commission approval, after which the transaction will become effective. The full transaction value of ZAR 222 million is expected within the first half of F2026, and the profit on disposal of Agriplas will amount to around ZAR 105 million. Given the timing of cash inflows, these proceeds will be applied against group debt in the short term and will strengthen the balance sheet for future investments. This has also enabled the group to accelerate and increase in its payout ratio for dividends. The key indicators for the year reflect a strong performance, improved balance sheet strength, and increased shareholder returns.
Taking into account that fuel revenue contributes 53% to total group revenue and that both fuel revenue, being price regulated on petrol, and grain revenue, being SAFEX hedged, are not drivers or indicators of profitability, it is more appropriate to consider gross profit and fuel volumes when assessing performance. Increases or decreases in fuel or grain prices do not necessarily translate into improved or reduced gross profit, apart from one soft price adjustment in the case of fuel. It is, however, important to highlight that during the period, both retail and agri input channel revenue increased. Gross profit grew by 3.9%. Fuel price adjustments added 0.1% to year-on-year GP growth and were around ZAR 4 million higher than last year. Excellent margin management was achieved, with overall gross profit increasing by 3.9%.
This increase in gross profit was largely due to increased direct sales, assortment optimization in the general retail categories, and the increased contribution of high-margin convenience retail revenue. Increased central distribution center throughput, as well as several strategic supply chain imperatives, continued to grow retail trading margin. Agri input channel margins remained constant. When excluding the right-of-use asset impairments on two underperforming PEG sites and the loss on disposal of TAR, EBITDA increased by 7.5%. Considering the half-year recurring headline earnings per share decline of 3.6% compared to last year, the full-year reps growth of 11.2% highlights the group's exceptional recovery during the second six months of F2025. Fuel liter volume recoveries continued, with group volumes ending 0.8% up on last year and ahead of industry norms. Agrimark fuel liter volumes mainly focused on the agricultural channel grew by 3.7% off the back of market share gains.
Retail fuel volume increases are expected in the year ahead courtesy of lower fuel prices and robust convenience retail and QSR performance is likely to continue. Additional fuel sites added in F2025 and the new sites planned for F2026 in both PEG and Agrimark will positively impact group fuel volumes. ROIC calculated excluding the impact of IFRS 16 and right-of-use asset impairments increased from 12.6% to 13.2% this year and comfortably above the weighted average cost of capital in the business. Given the significant repayment of the PEG acquisition debt and KAL's strong trading performance and cash flows, the group improved its dividend cover to 2.8 x, in line with its communicated strategy. A total dividend of ZAR 2.10 per share has been approved, being a 16.7% increase on last year. Agrimark improvement is again a standout performance for the year.
The group's debt to equity ratio improved to 38.1% from 51.3% last year and is the lowest level in over 15 years. Net interest-bearing debt to EBITDA improved to 1.2 x from 1.8 x last year, with interest cover of 4.6 x, an improvement from the 4.1 x last year. Debt reductions are expected to continue in the short term but at a slower rate as footprint expansion gathers momentum. Yeah, we highlight some key investor-related information. The KAL share price closed on 30 September at ZAR 41.83, down 17.2% on last year. During the year, the share traded at a high of ZAR 52.01 and a low of ZAR 36.69. Subsequent to the voluntary trading update issued via SENS on 25 October, the share price has strengthened, with yesterday's closing price at just over ZAR 46. 18.2% of issued shares traded during the year.
The share also closed below the net asset value of ZAR 48.71, with a low price-to-book ratio. Important to note is that NAV is at historic cost. With regards to dividends, as mentioned, the full-year dividend of ZAR 2.10 per share has been approved, being a 16.7% increase on last year and reflecting a dividend cover of 2.8 x, an improvement from the 3x last year. Shareholding is well diversified, with 93% of all issued shares being publicly held. Non-public shareholding includes direct holdings of 2% of issued shares. From the graphs, you'll see that 30% of shareholders by number hold more than 1,000 shares and that the top 30 fund managers have increased their shareholding to almost 50% of issued share capital.
Looking forward, the F2030 strategic plan has been communicated and includes significant growth across our key Agrimark and PEG segments, with clearly defined outcomes as indicated by Sean on an earlier slide. Moving on to the income statement. As mentioned, when we looked at the key indicator slide, revenue is not entirely relevant when assessing performance due to the high fuel revenue contribution to total revenue and the impact thereof, given the regulated nature of fuel products. Fuel prices were, on average, 11% lower during the year. Gross profit increased by 3.9% with strong margin enhancement in the retail channel. Prudent cost management and increased cost efficiency remain key focus areas. Included in expenditure is the impairment of the IFRS 16 right-of-use assets on two underperforming PEG sites, as well as the loss on disposal of TAR. Excluding these specific adjustments, expenditure increased by only 1.6% during the year.
Profit from the pending disposal of Agriplas will comfortably offset the loss on disposal of TAR in F2026. When excluding the right-of-use asset impairments and the loss on disposal of subsidiary, as mentioned, EBITDA increased by 7.5%. Recurring headline earnings was up 10.1%. Recurring headline earnings per share of ZAR 6.2447 per share increased by 11.2%. Return on equity showed a turnaround in the year, with further improvements expected in the coming year. As mentioned earlier, our total dividend of ZAR 2.10 was up 16.7% on last year. The three graphs illustrate the strong performance of the business across the five-year period, albeit that F2024 performance was slightly constrained. We are looking at the balance sheet. Total assets remained relatively constant, with limited capital expenditure during the period.
Given that the PEG acquisition has been bettered down, CapEx will increase going forward as we pursue various market share and footprint expansion opportunities. Acquisitive spend was slower than anticipated during the year due to the time delay in fuel license approvals on newly acquired fuel sites. As you will see when we discuss cash flow, working capital was again very well controlled, with total net working capital reducing year-on-year. Trade debtors' balances reduced by 2.1%, with not within terms as a percentage of debtors improving. Our investment in centralized procurement and distribution and ongoing stock management initiatives continued to generate positive results, with inventory reducing by 6%. Creditors' days were down three days on last year. Net interest-bearing debt reduced by ZAR 436 million, with ZAR 268 million in term debt being settled during the past 12 months. Debt to equity improved to 38.1%.
Net interest-bearing debt to EBITDA and interest cover also improved. Net asset value per share continues to increase. As mentioned earlier, remember these assets are all at historic values. In summary, it's clear we continue to strengthen our balance sheet. We've repaid our debt in line with our commitments to do so, which puts us in a very strong position to take advantage of the expected improvement in trading conditions going forward, with footprint expansion plans expected to further enhance this upward trend. This slide reflects the recurring headline earning waterfall from F2024 to F2025. As mentioned, GP up 3.9%, outperforming turnover performance. Comparable expenses increased by 1.6%, an excellent result given average inflation across the period of roughly 3% and with numerous expense categories increasing by more than CPI, such as insurance costs, municipal costs, electricity costs.
Total interest received decreased by 12% compared to last year on the back of lower average debtor balances and the lower interest rates. Interest paid, excluding interest on lease liabilities in terms of IFRS 16, decreased by 19.6% due to the year-on-year reduction in average interest-bearing debt, assisted by scheduled term debt repayments and lower interest rates. Interest paid is expected to continue to decrease as the original PEG acquisition-related debt is serviced. Headline earnings adjustments relate to the right-of-use asset impairments at the two PEG sites, as mentioned, as well as the loss on disposal of TAR. In total, full-year recurring headline earnings grew by 10.1%. We include this slide to highlight the items impacting earnings to calculate headline earnings and recurring headline earnings. Headline earnings per share adjustments consist of two significant items this year.
Firstly, the loss on disposal of our investment in TAR, as well as smaller profits on the disposal of other non-core assets. Secondly, the impairment of the IFRS 16 right-of-use asset on the two underperforming PEG sites. Non-recurring adjustments relate to corporate transaction costs that do not ordinarily repeat. Our recurring headline earnings per share has grown at a compound annual growth rate of 9.2% over the last 10 years. Return on invested capital and EVA are key performance indicators used in our business to measure the efficiency of capital allocation. We have previously spoken about the ROIC trend over the past 10 years, highlighting the ROIC and EVA focus, the improvement in ROIC, and the significant reduction in debt levels.
This, together with the prudent approach to capital expenditure, the disposal of TFC properties, and the acquisition of PEG in 2022, led to the spike in EVA in 2023. Last year's performance resulted in a lower ROIC but still above the weighted average cost of capital. F2025 showed a strong improvement in ROIC, resulting in increased EVA for shareholders. Looking forward, we remain focused on driving ROIC and are expecting a continued improvement in the year ahead. We have a number of high-return opportunities in progress that will enhance earnings and ROIC in the coming months, and we continue to evaluate underperforming sites that do not meet our stringent return criteria for possible disinvestment.
Lastly, as a reminder, you'll read in the remuneration report for our AGM in February 2026 that 60% of executive reward in terms of the long-term share incentive scheme is linked to EVA as a performance hurdle, with management incentivized to outperform specific Roy Twite targets. I'll hand back to Sean for segmental reviews.
We have shown this slide before. Our group has diversified significantly over the last 10 years. The group is powering growth from farm to fork, a unique growth-focused lifestyle retailer providing best-in-value solutions, specializing in convenience mobility centers and doing around 6 million transactions per month. In the bottom right of the slide, we indicate the four main income channels we operate within. These four trading channels are interconnected with each other, and the common theme being lifestyle retail and convenience. After all, to farm is also very much a lifestyle.
The Agrimark business segment, although traditionally focused on the agri input requirements of farmers, farmers' post-harvest packaging requirements, and farmers' spend on farm expansions and general farm maintenance spend, this has changed quite dramatically over time, with Agrimark now boasting an A-store format including 20,000 active SKUs, while B-store formats carry approximately 8,000 SKUs, and other formats a tailored range. The retail in-store offerings have expanded to include garden, pet, pool, DIY, outdoor, liquor, and other general retail assortments. We have invested smartly in centralized supply chain capabilities like inventory management, warehousing, distribution, assortment planning, and optimization, as well as price and margin management. This has now all been done centrally and digitally. Our distribution center plays a critical role in enabling the Agrimarks to focus on customer-first experience.
Due to this investment, we are now able to offer a vastly improved product range to the Agrimark drivers' range of retail customers. Although Graeme has alluded to the disposal of TAR, we reiterate that we have maintained the tools to remain active in the fruit bin and agri crate markets. TAR, although now owned by an alternative party, we believe will bring more injection molded agri products to our stable of products over time. In terms of the Agrimark segmental review, the overall revenue for the Agrimark segment grew 6.4%, despite fuel prices being lower by 11% on average. Note, nine fuel and express market sites were moved from the PEG stable to the Agrimark stable.
As stated in the footprint slide regarding direct sales from the market share drive, direct sales actually grew by 8.6%, evidence that the strategy to drive sales without bricks and mortar is paying off. More specifically, agri input sales grew 5.6%, with deflation at 1% as of September. New Holland agency sales were down 8%, mainly driven by higher sales of smaller units in the fruit sector and lower sales of larger units in the grain sector. Retail grew by 1.1%, with inflation of 1.4% for these categories as of September. Driven by positive growth in hunting, gas, liquor sales, while paint, cement, and hardware, plumbing, and electrical, your typical building material categories were collectively down 1.6%. While fuel revenue will have been affected by the non-like-for-like nine sites moved from PEG on the one hand, on the other hand, fuel prices were 11% lower.
More importantly, like-for-like fuel volumes in the Agrimark and fuel DC space were up 3.7%, a good performance given that the overall sector is down. This has also been driven by market share gains in fuel. Margins have improved, being a combination of the lower fuel price, higher fuel price gains for the year, as well as managed retail margins in a time when consumers are looking for everyday value for money deals. Excellent stock and working capital management led to a 26% decrease in interest costs for the Agrimark segment, resulting in the overall segment performing well with a 12.8% growth in PBT. From an outlook point of view, we are very positive about the fruit farm conditions in 2025, which will relate to improved farm expenditure and expansions in F2026. Wheat harvests are forecast to be 18% higher in the Swartland area.
We continue to gain market share in all areas with our top 200 and potential 200 customer drive, both on direct sales as well as with footprint. We will be expanding our footprint in the peri-urban Agrimark space by two stores in the new year, as well as two filling stations. Our grain storage will also be increased in an area we were underrepresented in the Swartland area. We will also be expanding our everyday low price strategy in general retail. We have purposefully changed this intro slide to the PEG business segment to clearly show all the brands we operate in South Africa in the network of 82 business units. There are a few things to highlight about this. We are the largest independent operator of fuel, retail, and convenience in South Africa. We have successfully built a network with minority partner operators at most of the sites.
This entrepreneurial approach to the sites delivers the brilliant PEG basics, which you would have seen in the introductory video before we started. We successfully operate these brands within the operating environments of the franchisors, with a high level of respect to each brand, working closely with each franchisor to maximize offering and return. Finally, Hungry Lion, you will see in the top right, has successfully opened their first store at a fuel site in Global Johannesburg, and we have successfully opened our first Galitos at our Engine Global site. We are the preferred operator of sites and are well positioned for growth. In terms of the segmental review of PEG, please note there has been quite a bit going on in PEG. Firstly, nine sites were moved to the Agrimark stable, being more suitable to non-24 operations in the rural areas.
Secondly, fuel deflation of 11% was experienced during the year and obviously has impacted the revenue number. Thirdly, a few late additions to the network have hardly contributed to the overall picture. Fourth point to note is that there was one site disposal during the year. Another point to note is that there were a high number of revamps undertaken this year, abnormally high. Four QSRs were added, and furthermore, two impairments were raised at the end of the year. Due to all of the above, revenue numbers all the way down to the PBT numbers are actually non-like-for-like in the table. Revenue dropped 13%, but mainly due to site moves as well as low fuel prices. In fact, we probably did better on a like-for-like basis. Retail revenue increased due to additions to the business.
Remember, the nine sites were moved, so it actually was very positive. We are normalizing the above non-recurring items. Normalized PBT was a positive 10.95%, and fuel price gains were pretty much the same as the year before. When looking at the fuel volumes, PEG improved from last year's drop of 4.8% to this year's just below a flat of 0.3% on a like-for-like basis. This is very positive within the sector, which is still estimated to be down by 2%. The margin improvement is coming from higher retail convenience contribution, and obviously, the lower fuel price is dropping revenue while our fuel margin increased slightly. The 10 revamps referred to at the top are actually abnormal in terms of the high number, but are being driven by an aggressive upgrade rollout by Engen and Sasol retail teams.
A further analysis of like-for-like volumes shows an upward improvement during the year on volumes when comparing the quarterly volume movements with an upward trend quite clear over the last six months. From an outlook point of view, we are very excited about PEG's outlook for the new year. F2026 has five sites in the pipeline, of which three are expected to drop in the first half. I recall that the three late additions in the second half of F2025 will also have a full contribution during the year. We already have five upgrades confirmed for the year at this stage. This is less than F2025, and we should pick up the full benefit of the previous year's upgrades in F2026. We have one KFC confirmed at this stage, while two more in the pipeline.
Two very good sites, currently one semi-closed and the other totally closed, are scheduled to come back online in the first half of F2026, which will give us a good partial recovery in F2026. This all bodes well for PEG during F2026, added to which the last few months have proven volumes to be recovering. We expect a bumper Christmas and also expect a full Easter for the first time in a number of years. The Agrimark grain segment is reported on due to its relative importance in the Western Cape wheat production area and comprises just under 400,000 tons of wheat and canola storage facilities in the Swartland area north of Cape Town. Agrimark grain still intends to only be a regional play while expanding facilities on demand and where a high return on net assets is able to be obtained.
We reiterate here that revenue is not important, and we do not even report it in the segmental review, as it is a hedge price and does not drive profitability. The 2024-2025 wheat yield was below average, harvest 16% down on 2023-2024. The PBT was above F2024 with a lower wheat harvest. That was all achieved due to a record amount of alternative grains handled for the year. The September-October rainfall has cut off early this year, so we expect the 2025-2026 harvest to be just above average for wheat and canola, as we have indicated on the right-hand graph that it will be similar to the 2023-2024 harvest. F2026 is expected to be flat from a profit point of view, depending on alternative product import services we can offer.
Thanks, Sean. Looking at the cash flow performance for the year, the group continued to generate strong cash flows from operations through increased cash profits and stringent working capital management. The cash component of turnover, whereas 59%, slightly down year-on-year due largely to low fuel prices. Net cash interest received increased by ZAR 9 million for the period. Interest paid will continue to decrease as the PEG acquisition-related debt is serviced. Working capital was again very well managed, with net working capital reducing by ZAR 132 million. Both stock turn and debtors' days improved year-on-year. Capital expenditure, specifically on new fuel site acquisitions, has been slower than anticipated due to delays in fuel license approvals, but will pick up in the coming months. Group net interest-bearing debt decreased by ZAR 436 million, with existing term debt reducing in line with requirements.
The cash flow on dividends represents the 2024 final and the 2025 interim payments, and the increased 2025 payment will only reflect in 2026 cash flow. Overall, group cash flow and cash generation remained strong. With regards to capital expenditure, CapEx during the year was lower than anticipated, as mentioned, specifically relating to fuel site acquisitions. While three sites were acquired late in 2025, a minimum of five new PEG sites are on track for the coming year. During the year, ZAR 145 million was capitalized, down from ZAR 154 million spent last year. The spend was largely expansion and replacement related and mostly incurred in the Agrimark and PEG segments. Our spend on alternate energy generation continues, but limited to very specific earnings, enhancing, and risk-related projects. Acquisitions include the three new PEG sites as well as the acquisition of some site operator minority interest in PEG.
Agrimark grain storage capacity was increased, and in our corporate space, we incurred cost in terms of our ongoing long-term ERP modernization project. Capital spend is subject to stringent feasibility modeling and is allocated based on our strategic initiatives and always in line with our ROIC focus. Moving on to debtors, credit remains a growth enabler and is key to specifically the Agrimark segment. The debtors' book performed exceptionally well throughout the period and remains very healthy. Our strategy to grow the debtors' book supports our business model. We provide production credit to facilitate purchases from our various trade and retail offerings and not consumer credit. Our robust and well-entrenched credit vetting processes consider a range of variables, including financial as well as non-financial factors and the nature and value of securities provided.
The resulting credit rating is considered when determining the approved facility value and the interest rate to be charged. Across the book, we make in the region of 250 basis points net interest received on all accounts. Our debtors' book reduced by 2.1% during the year on the back of low credit sales impacted by average fuel price decreases and agri deflation, as well as improved out-of-term collection. Our debtors' book turns 4.3 x per year, significantly better than other players out there, and up from 4.2 times last year. The book consists of around 16,500 accounts, with about 20% of these accounts being seasonal and 80% being monthly accounts. Seasonal accounts have payment terms ranging from 3 to 12 months, depending on the cash flow cycle of the underlying product being produced, while monthly accounts are strictly 30-day accounts.
The contribution of debtors by product type at year end was very similar year-on-year. Our bad debt write-offs continue to be exceptionally low and reflective of our strong vetting and control processes, as well as the quality of the underlying accounts, with only 0.26% of the debtors' book being written off during the current year and the 5 and 10-year average write-off percentages remaining very low. Although our expected credit loss provision has increased as a percentage of debtors, it must be remembered that this provision is based on specific accounts with an additional overall contingency, and as such, the relationship between the decrease in debtors and the provision is not linear. As you will see in a further slide, not within term debtors' balances are at a five-year low.
This graph shows the monthly five-year trend of not within term debtors as a percentage of total debtors and highlights the following. Year-on-year trends are similar due to various seasonal account payment cycles. Year-on-year variances occur when payments are delayed due to specific events such as seasonal timing. Over the past five years, our book has remained healthy and our default rates have stayed low. The current year has seen strong collections of not within term accounts, resulting in a year-on-year improvement of ZAR 73 million, being 4.1% of total debtors. F2025 not within terms debtors are the lowest as a percentage of debtors when comparing against the five-year trend. We carry adequate provisions for expected credit losses, and agri conditions looking forward are encouraging, which bodes well for continued facility repayments.
Our book is and remains healthy and resilient, with continued low default rates and good securities in place. For those of you seeing these graphs for the first time, this graph reflects the debtors' balances by month by underlying product group from October 2024 to September 2025. As you can see, we provide input credit to a wide range of producers. The various product groups have different harvest timelines and, as such, different cash flow cycles, which collectively is positive for the group cash flow cycle and also reduces the risk of any single cash flow constraint event in the group. Important to note, the only significant product group exposed to dry land farming is wheat in the Western Cape region, and that the large table grape exposure during December to March is driven by harvest-dependent packaging material requirements.
Products such as vegetables have a quicker turnaround time from input to harvesting, which results in more constant debtors' balances. It's ultimately a good spread over the various product ranges, which reduces risks. We are actively pursuing numerous growth opportunities, specifically targeting more business with our existing top 200 customers, as well as growing market share with our new potential 200 customers. Our agri strategic focus revolves around water-intensive farming areas, and this graph shows the credit sales by month by river system from October 2024 to September 2025. The areas with the highest sales are the Berg and Hex river systems, which aligns to the wheat and table grape information on the previous slide.
The wide geographic distribution of the debtors' book is evident and ensures the impact of regional weather or other challenges is lessened, in addition to also smoothing the cash inflow from debtors due to different harvest times. We operate with decentralized credit teams in all the regions. We engage face-to-face with customers, supported by a centralized credit vetting office. During the second half of 2024, numerous areas were impacted by unfavorable weather events, with extensive flooding in certain core regions. This significantly hampered farming activities, which in turn negatively affected spend. Seasonal timing towards the back end of the year further reduced agri-related sales. Sales for the second half of this year returned to normalized levels, and although still negatively impacted by lower fuel prices, reflect a strong recovery on last year. As mentioned on the previous slide, good growth opportunities exist.
This slide sets out how long our customers have been with the group, as well as the risk profile of these customers. 56% of debtors by credit facility value have been with the group for more than 10 years, and 80% have been with us for five years and more. Only 5% of debtors have been customers for less than two years, although this number is slowly creeping up as we add new customers. It's clear the majority of our debtors have supported the KAL Group for a long time, which in turn speaks to the low default rates we are able to achieve. We value our close relationships with customers. We know them well, familiar with their individual operations.
With regards to the risk profile of the book, 60% of the book is considered to be low and very low risk, with less than 1% being seen as very high risk. In summary, the book is well managed, stringently vetted, diversified from a product and geographic perspective, and has an exceptionally low default ratio, as well as being suitably secured. I trust these slides on debtors provide good insights into why we are very comfortable with the quantum, the risk profile of the credit book, and why we will continue to leverage credit to drive sales. Sean will close out from here.
Thanks, Graeme. In summary, F2025, a phenomenal second half of the year, with an increasing upward trend at the end of the year as the quarters moved on. The lowest group debt ratio in 15 years, increased and very good cash generation, a healthy balance sheet, which bodes well for our ability to grow and invest in the future. Yes, revenue impacted by lower average fuel prices. Our margin improvements have continued, and we, as committed, have exited our manufacturing and non-core business. From an outlook point of view for F2026, the farm expenditure during F2025 and F2026 should remain healthy, off the previous year's good incomes that the farmers have achieved. Our AgriMark market share growth efforts are paying off, mostly with non-brick and mortar. We have two bi-peri-urban sites joining the fold. We have two additional filling stations we are adding in the AgriMark stable. As we have said, the grain storage in the Swartland, in an unrepresented area, is increasing.
In terms of PEG, we would like to see an acceleration of growth with five pipeline sites, three of which should happen in the first half, five QSR upgrades planned, as well as one QSR expansion and more in the pipeline. We have three closed sites that will be returning to service by the second half of this year, which is much healthier than the prior year. Road closures, disruptions, etc., should reduce further during the year. The lower interest rates will continue to improve overall economic conditions for consumers, and our only indications in the first quarter of F2026 are a continuation of the last quarter of last year in terms of growth numbers. Yes, we foresee that foot-and-mouth disease will linger for a lot longer in the country, being one of the agricultural sector's bigger risks at the moment.
Fortunately, the group has a very low exposure to the livestock sector, given our geographic locations and risk averseness and diversification that we have implemented over the last 10 years. Furthermore, we are glad to note the increased fuel volumes of late, as well as increased retail convenience sales, which we believe will continue. We will conclude with those remarks. We thank you for your time, and we will move forth with any questions that you have sent in.
Thank you, everyone, for a numerous number of questions that have come through. We'll deal with them between myself and Graeme. The first one being from Talia, "Why do we believe trading conditions will improve?" I think our last slide obviously covered some of the company-specific stuff, but from a macro point of view, we need to understand that farmers have had a very good, mainly the fruit farmers who we serve, have had a very good 2025 year. Their farm incomes have stabilized and been largely higher than the year before, which means that farmers for the year after that would increase their spending on expansions, upgrades, etc. That bodes well for us. The indications at this stage for the new year is that fruit harvests will again be pretty good. That is why, from an agricultural channel point of view, we expect improved trading conditions.
We have seen that as well in the last six months of our financial year and have also seen that continue into the first quarter of the new year. Secondly, what we have seen is an upward trend on fuel purchases or sales. A few things are playing out there. Firstly, the quarter three and quarter four of our financial year were certainly better than the first two quarters. Secondly, we're seeing an uptick in petrol sales, which we attribute to the sale of a lot more Chinese cars in South Africa, especially up in the north, which gives entry-level car purchasers, we believe, a better level to buy and purchase a vehicle. Therefore, we are seeing the petrol sales increase at our sites. We believe that will continue. With that, always, whenever you sell more fuel, you sell more convenience.
We are pretty positive about that. Obviously, in general terms, the lower interest rates will assist consumers and assist their spending powers. I'll just jump to another question that I'll quickly handle. Has there been a change in the strategy? On the strategy slide, we don't specifically mention the ZAR 150 million target for new business segments. Is that a change, or can we expand on the plans at all? Obviously, we can't give any detail on the specific plans. The ZAR 150 million for new business segments, let's rather say that new business segments are still part of our growth strategy. We believe it's the right thing to do. It brings supportive smaller businesses to our farm-to-fork value chain approach. At this stage, discussions and permutations on that are still at infancy stage. It's not been removed from the strategy.
What we have said in the last year to ourselves is that we will be able to judge our ability to grow and be able to actually accelerate or decelerate our growth quite comfortably by either pushing our teams harder in terms of network expansions or slow them down a bit as we go over the year. We will be able to judge this. If we see that the new business segments are not going to deliver on that ZAR 150 million, we will be able to accelerate, in any case, definitely the PEG side of the growth strategy. Graeme, maybe just for you, the PEG right of use asset impairments, what gives some more insight to the listeners as to what they were, what the reasons were?
Thanks, Sean. Okay, these are IFRS 16 right of use asset impairments, in essence, impairing the lease asset raised on these sites. It relates to two specific sites, one in Mpumalanga and the other one in the North West Province. The reasons sitting behind these impairments are site-specific, but both of these reasons have led to reduced volumes and these sites performing at levels that are below our expectation. In the case of the one site, there are three competitor sites that have opened in very close proximity to our site. That has obviously eaten into the volumes on our site. This is not supposed to happen, or the DMRE is supposed to, according to their own rules, assess the viability of existing sites when they are issuing or granting new site licenses. This is a challenge in that specific area. On the other side, the volumes on our site are down off the back of reduced economic activity in the area. It is an area where there is high coal mining activity.
With the reduction in that specific mining environment, the whole economic activity in that area has slowed down, and that has resulted in lower volumes. It is just to those two sites.
Thanks, Graeme. Another question is just some understanding around the revenue and profits from grain storage. Is it a ramp-and-down income that you have or a percentage margin? It is certainly a business which generates its income from first handling the grains into the silo and then charging a storage fee ramp-and-down per day for, on average, 100-120 days that it takes for the buyers of the grain to actually remove the year's harvest from the silos. Those are the two main income drivers in that business. That is why we do not refer to the revenue, because we do not make a margin on the grain.
I mean, you hedge it for the farmer on the sell side, and you hedge it with the buyer on the buy side. The in-between goes back to SAFEX. I hope that helps. We can refer to that. We can elaborate on that. Ramp-and-down is the way to measure that business. Just consider as well that in a year like last year, where the wheat harvest was slightly lower, we were able to offer space for alternative grains, which were imported through the Kirtan Harbour and then stored with us. It gave us additional income of alternative grains, and that's why we refer to the record alternative grains handling for the year. It isn't always possible. As soon as your silos are full, you obviously can't offer that service every year. It's a bit of an up and down.
Another question, yeah, a good question. Before I take my to Graeme is, we believe the impact of U.S. tariffs would be limited. Is this still our view? Are there any customs segments being meaningfully impacted by the tariffs? I will just answer again and reiterate on that. We must remember that only 4% of our agricultural exports go to North America, which is Canada and the U.S.A. That's why we've always said that we would probably be able to make a plan to a large extent where we were not able to absorb some of the tariff impacts. Since half-year results, obviously, there have been a number of products that have been exempted, like oranges, like coffee beans, macadamias for one, a very important one that was exempted, and a few others.
At this stage, the only customer segments that still will be impacted will be table grapes, which has not been exempted yet. I believe that in their assessment of their imports, they will probably get around to that. It's only about 3%-4% of the South African table grapes exports for the year. Again, probably able to make a plan. Fortunately, macadamias was highly impacted, but now is exempt. The only other that we'd really like to see being exempted is mandarins and clementines, which should happen as well, because instead of using the word citrus, I think they just used the word oranges. Graeme, for you, does given that 70% of the shareholders hold fewer than 1,000 shares, have we considered an odd lot share buyback program?
Thanks, Sean. If we just crossed our mind back about three years ago, we actually went through an odd lot process together with Zeta and the PSG unbundling. The 70% number is the 70% by number of shareholders. So there are a number of shareholders holding fairly low amounts of shares. It's definitely something we keep an eye on, and it's something we'd consider again down the line. It needs to be feasible to do it.
Okay, another question is, does PEG own its sites? And linked with that, obviously, does it have long-term security of tenure of key sites? We did mention, I think on the yeah, I mentioned on the PEG segmental, you can see the average site tenure there is 16 years at this stage. It is a measure we have. In any case, all rentals there are renewable.
We have never, as a group, had a renewal not executed on. In fact, we have already, a year before the current engine renewals, been indicated that the renewals will happen. It is an ongoing basis you must perform as a good operator. Otherwise, they will take the site away from you. More importantly, why do not we own the sites? That makes the site very capital-heavy. By not owning the sites and rather renting them from the oil companies is a capital light way of doing business. Therefore, one focuses rather on the cash generation of the retail and fuel convenience. We do not foresee any risks in terms of security of tenure on those key sites. It is a live matter. You rent from not only oil companies. You rent some sites from Sunroll, and you rent from third parties. It is a continuous management of that. Let's just check. Graeme, will you just expand on the more CapEx we'd like to spend next year and why?
Yeah, so if we look at the current year CapEx as per the slide, we mentioned we came in below the levels we wanted to, and that was really off the back of PEG site acquisitions coming through late in the year, licenses, license approvals falling outside of the financial year, and the bulk of that cash flow actually flowing in the new year. That said, together with the sites we have planned for the or the sites we have in the pipeline for the new year already, we could comfortably see CapEx, including acquisitions, being twice as much as it was in the current year.
The split of that would be around 2/3 of it going towards PEG and largely acquisition, new QSR, less so on upgrades on QSR and convenience stores, and then about 20% of that going into the agri market space. Yeah, we're definitely anticipating a fairly significant uptick in CapEx in the F2026 year.
Graeme, just a couple to that as well. Obviously, it's great to see our debt reduction. The last part of the debt or term loan is to be paid next year, is due as a bullet, as far as I know, and can remember for next year. The question is really, will the increased CapEx be funded from cash generated from operating activities or new debt instruments?
Yeah, what you've seen in the current year, we had two term loans that we settled on the final payments. For those who've been following us for a few years, that relates to about ZAR 450 million with the term loans we took out in 2020 odd. The remaining portion of the PEG acquisition debt, the last payment is July next year. That's about ZAR 260 million. We're already in the process of looking at refinancing that. On top of that, adding about another ZAR 100 million for new sites. Now, really, the reason behind that is, from an optimal gearing structure, our cost of equity comes in at a higher level than our cost of debt. We need to maintain a core debt level. Obviously, with interest rates coming down, it's also way more attractive to be incurring debt rather than using equity. We want to improve the returns to shareholders in the process in terms of our dividends.
Coupled with our anticipated increase in credit sales, which will drive our debtors' balances up, which will obviously eat into networking capital. I see networking capital being funded by our normal shorter-term overdraft type facilities and cash generation, and the more expansion and acquisition-related spend being funded by debt.
Thanks, Graeme. Just on the abnormal volume reductions we've experienced this year of 11.9 million L versus the 13 million L last year, the question is really, is this now a new consistent disruption? How much of this is abnormal, and what uplift could we see? To give you an indication, the 11.9 million L, 70% of that was only three sites, and clearly pretty good sites, which were unfortunately affected by severe road closures. Two of those three are expected to come online by the end of first half.
We will have quite a significant recovery out of those sites in the new year. A more, and I think I said it last year, a more normalized sort of disruption number would probably be in the region of 5 million L-6 million L per year. There is certainly a bit of upside for us coming out of that space. It is quite difficult to predict this. They do change their tenders quite regularly, and Sunroll is spending quite a lot of money in the country. You just sometimes hit it on your route. We are obviously not on all routes. This thing comes and goes. I think at this stage, we were obviously upside then downside. Another question is, in the long term, do we think that retail deliveries like Checkers 6060 will make c-stores at fuel stations less viable?
When one looks at the effect that Checkers 6060 is having at your peri-urban type site, fuel site, you cannot say that it is not having an effect. What we must just keep in mind is that after 8:00 P.M., Checkers 6060 is inactive. We are responding with after dark with Woolworths, offering a service out of the Woolworths on-the-go stores after 8:00 P.M. at night. That has been quite successful in the pilot. We are implementing our own delivery services from our stores, which will counter that to an extent. It is a great offering, and it is really efficient at this stage, and they are doing a really good job of it. Obviously, it will not impact highway sites and obviously will not impact rural areas where there is no Checkers close by. It is limited to the more peri-urban type areas.
A bit of a concern for us at this stage, but not a large concern at all. We are able to react to that and also offer our own services. I think that's about it. Any new stores opening at the moment? We're opening one today, an Agrimark urban store in Mbombela at the Matumi Mall. The team is out there having fun with the opening celebrations and everything. Is that it? Let's just see before we close off. Do a last refreshing. That seems to be it. Thank you very much, everyone that joined us. Thanks for all the questions. Always insightful. We always learn a lot from people asking us questions. It is always taken very positively from our side. Thank you very much, and that brings us to the end of the session.
Thanks all.