I must advise you that this conference is being recorded today, 21 August, 2024 . I would now like to hand the conference over to your speaker today, Mr. John Cullity, CEO, EBOS Group. Please go ahead, John.
Thank you, Daniel, and welcome everyone to EBOS Group's Full Year 2024 Results Presentation. As Daniel said, my name is John Cullity, CEO of the group, and I'm joined this morning by both Leonard Hansen, our CFO, and Martin Krauskopf, our EGM for M&A and Investor Relations. I'm very pleased to report that EBOS has achieved another year of strong growth. The key financial headlines for FY 2024 are: revenue increased by 7.8% to AUD 13.2 billion. Underlying EBITDA increased by 7.3% to AUD 624 million. Underlying net profit after tax increased by 7.7% to AUD 303 million, and underlying earnings per share increased by 6.8% to AUD 1.579.
Our balance sheet continues to remain strong, with a leverage ratio of 1.89 times, and the board declared a final dividend of NZD 0.615 per share, which brings the full-year dividends to NZD 1.185 per share, representing an increase of 7.7%, and we are also today providing positive guidance for FY 2025 for the group to reach EBITDA of between AUD 575 million-AUD 600 million. Before we go through this morning's presentation, I should point out the following: The results are expressed in AUD, unless otherwise noted, and the presentation refers to both statutory and underlying results. The underlying results exclude M&A transaction costs, restructuring and site transition costs, and costs associated with the non-cash amortization expense attributable to the Life Healthcare acquisition Purchase Price Accounting.
The commentary this morning will be predominantly based on our underlying results, and we have included in the appendix a reconciliation between the statutory and underlying numbers. Moving to Slide 5. The group once again saw strong performances from both the healthcare and animal care segments, and we continued our strategy of investing for future growth. Our healthcare segment increased underlying EBITDA by 6%, and this was driven by particularly strong growth in the Australian business, which grew underlying EBITDA by 9.4%. Key highlights of our healthcare segment performance were strong organic growth across both our Australian and New Zealand pharmacy businesses. The TerryWhite Chemmart franchise network continued its store expansion, reaching 600 stores across Australia, and strong growth from our Symbion Hospitals and medical technology businesses.
Our Animal Care segment increased underlying EBITDA by just over 13%, which was driven by double-digit growth in our branded business as a result of ongoing resilience in the pet food category, and the contribution of the Superior acquisition, as well as several new product launches. In terms of other group highlights, we recorded a solid ROCE result of 15.3%, and reflecting our continued focus on cost management, we achieved a 24 basis point reduction in operating expenses as a proportion of revenue. On Slide 6, you can see that both our healthcare and animal care segments recorded strong underlying EBITDA growth, contributing to the solid overall group performance.
Our community pharmacy, institutional healthcare, and animal care businesses all contributed to an uplift in GOR, and this was partially offset by a small reduction in contract logistics sales, which I will comment on later. Slide seven provides further details on the group's financial performance on both a statutory and underlying basis. This slide is included for your information, and I won't comment on it in any detail. When normalizing the group's EBITDA growth to exclude earnings from the Chemist Warehouse Australia contract, which concluded at the end of FY 2024, underlying EBITDA growth for the year was higher at approximately 8%. Similarly, if we normalize for the uplift of COVID-19 antiviral sales, EBITDA growth was 8%, highlighting the strength of the underlying businesses and our diverse sources of growth.
Consistent with our strategy of investing for growth, FY 2024 has been another period of active investment. As previously announced, we have increased our shareholding in our Southeast Asian med tech business, Transmedic, to 90%, and we've completed the acquisition of Superior, a leading New Zealand manufacturer and supplier of premium dog rolls. In addition, we have recently completed four small bolt-on acquisitions, two within the medical consumables business in New Zealand, and two within the medical technology business, with one in Australia and one in Southeast Asia. We continue to see a healthy pipeline of future consolidation opportunities. We have also continued investing in our operational infrastructure across our healthcare businesses, all for the purposes of capturing future growth.... FY 2024 continues our long-term track record of delivering strong and consistent results.
Over the last ten years, we've grown both earnings and dividends per share at a CAGR of more than 10%, while maintaining a ROCE consistently around or above our 15% target, and a conservative leverage ratio generally below two times net debt to EBITDA. On sustainability, our key initiatives continue to progress. This year, we electrified our new 500-kilowatt roof-mounted solar array at our pet food manufacturing facility in Parkes, New South Wales. Our focus is at Parkes has now turned to the installation of a ground-mounted array that is expected to generate approximately 5 megawatts of clean energy. We continue to aim to generate electricity equivalent to our forecast Australian electricity requirements during FY 2027. We will also be releasing our first climate statement by the end of October, which will contain further information on our climate strategy.
There are many other ESG initiatives that the group is progressing within each of our five sustainability pillars. A comprehensive summary of these initiatives is contained in our latest sustainability report, which was also released today. Moving now to our segment performance. Healthcare generated revenue growth of 8% and underlying EBITDA growth of 6%. The strong performance was driven by organic growth across each of our community pharmacy, TWC, and institutional healthcare businesses. In terms of our geographic regions, our Australian healthcare business grew revenue and underlying EBITDA by 8% and 9.4%, respectively. New Zealand's performance was impacted by a decline in non-recurring COVID-19 activity within our contract logistics division. Despite cost pressures during the year, healthcare's underlying EBITDA margin remained broadly in line with the prior year, with the business benefiting from operational efficiencies.
Moving now to the divisions within healthcare, and starting within community pharmacy. The community pharmacy business continued its strong performance, recording revenue growth of just under AUD 500 million, or 6.8%, and GOR growth of AUD 31.8 million, up 4.9%. There were several key drivers of the result, including strong performance from our retail brands, including TWC, new pharmacy wholesale customer wins, which led to segment share growth, and increased sales of high-value medicines. Our TWC business continued its impressive growth, further strengthening its position as Australia's largest health advice-oriented community pharmacy store network, recently opening its 600th store. The impact of 60-day dispensing, which came into effect in September 2023, was broadly neutral by virtue of the increase to the CSO funding pool.
The Eighth Community Pharmacy Agreement commenced on 1 July , 2024, and it was pleasing to see the new funding arrangements established for the pharmacy sector in Australia. In addition, the CSO deed has been recently extended, while the industry finalizes discussions with the Australian government regarding the first-ever Pharmacy Wholesale Agreement. Institutional healthcare generated double-digit revenue growth of approximately AUD 414 million, up 11.5%, and GOR growth of approximately AUD 41 million, up 7.2%, largely due to growth in both Symbion Hospitals and our MedTech businesses. Symbion Hospitals had another strong year, with revenue growth of approximately 16%, predominantly due to market share gains and increased sales of high-value specialty medicines. Our MedTech business delivered GOR growth of 10%, driven by our spine, implant, aesthetics, and allograft channels.
Recognizing the growing contribution of the institutional healthcare division to the group, we have provided additional disclosure of the various components within this division. As mentioned, our MedTech business recorded strong GOR growth of 10%. Revenue growth was lower at 6%, reflecting that we rationalized a number of lower-margin, non-strategic product portfolios to streamline our business. The ANZ and Southeast Asia businesses both recorded broadly equivalent revenue growth rates for the year. The combined hospital medicines and consumables business recorded revenue growth of 12%. Specialty medicines continued to drive growth in this segment, and medical consumables delivered organic growth, despite headwinds associated with the unwind of some COVID-19-related sales and a weaker flu season. In contract logistics, the GOR decreased by AUD 4.5 million, down just under 3%.
In Australia, the business continued to generate strong growth through new and existing principals, and our recently completed second warehouse facility in Sydney will accommodate ongoing growth in the business. In New Zealand, the business experienced a reduction in GOR due to the reduced activity for the storage and servicing of COVID-19-related products. Turning now to Animal Care. Animal Care generated double-digit EBITDA growth of AUD 13 million, up 13.2%, driven by the strong performance of our branded businesses. The branded business was supported by ongoing resilience in the pet food category, the contribution of the Superior acquisition, which has performed strongly during its first year under our ownership, and new product development launches. This growth was partially offset by softness in discretionary categories such as accessories and the wholesale business.
The underlying EBITDA margin for the segment improved again, reflecting the relative performance of higher-margin businesses, production efficiencies, and the successful mitigation of cost inflation. Demonstrating the continued strength of our brands, Black Hawk and VitaPet continue to either grow or maintain share leadership in their respective segments, contributing to our branded businesses growing sales revenue by 10%. Our vet wholesale business, Lyppard, was negatively impacted in 2024 by one particular supplier deciding to bypass the wholesale channel following the acquisition of it by another large direct supplier. This resulted in a 4% decline in wholesale revenue. In line with our animal care growth strategy, several new product launches occurred in FY 2024, including the Black Hawk Healthy Benefits range, the relaunch and extension of our Black Hawk cat food range, and more recently, the launch of our VitaPet food range in the grocery channel.
Our NPD strategy is designed to leverage the strength of our brands, manufacturing capabilities, and retailer relationships to expand into new product categories where we see growth potential. Moving now to slide 23 on cash flow. Underlying cash flow from operations for the twelve months to June 2024 was AUD 367 million. This reflects underlying EBITDA of AUD 624 million, partially offset by net interest of AUD 94 million, tax payments of AUD 103 million, and net working capital and other movements of AUD 60 million. The reduction in the group's underlying cash flows of just under AUD 38 million is attributable to the timing of net working capital movement.
Capital expenditure for the period was AUD 118 million, primarily due to investments in new facilities, including sites in Auckland, covering our contract logistics, pharmacy wholesale, and medical consumables distribution businesses, as well as our new contract logistics facility in Sydney. Net debt for the group, excluding leases, was just over AUD 1 billion at 30 June, an increase of just over AUD 250 million compared to the prior year. The increase in net debt largely reflects the group's M&A investments during the year, with the acquisition of Superior and the increased ownership in Transmedic totaling approximately AUD 209 million. Our gearing level at just under 1.9 times net debt to EBITDA remains conservative and within our target range, providing capacity for further acquisitions growth investments, with approximately AUD 300 million net debt headroom available.
Our investment in net working capital of AUD 414 million is up AUD 59 million from June 2023, reflecting the AUD 952 million growth in sales revenue for the year, with the average cash conversion cycle of 17 days consistent with prior periods. Underlying EPS for the year is 157.9 cents per share, up 6.8%, and the EBOS board have declared a final dividend of 61.5 NZD cents per share. That's New Zealand 61.5 NZD cents per share. This will be fully imputed to 25% for New Zealand tax resident shareholders, and fully franked for Australian tax resident shareholders.
Total FY 2024 dividends are NZD 1.185 per share, an increase of 7.7 on FY 2023, and represents an underlying payout ratio for the period of just under 70%. The group's Dividend Reinvestment Plan will be available for the FY 2024 final dividend. Shareholders can elect to take shares in lieu of dividends at a discount of 2.5% to the volume-weighted average share price. As outlined at the half-year results, the group is focused on several near-term strategic initiatives to increase our earnings. We are well progressed with these strategies, and we're confident of our momentum going into FY 2025. First, as demonstrated this year and over the long term, both our healthcare and animal care businesses continue to record positive organic growth, supported by well-established strategies, which are highlighted on slide 28.
Second, in light of the changed dynamics in the Australian community pharmacy industry, we are targeting AUD 300 million in new pharmacy revenues, and thirdly, we're well advanced with our group cost efficiency exercise that has identified between AUD 25 to AUD 50 million of cost savings over the next 1 to 2 years, and finally, we will continue to pursue strategic acquisitions, and we have an active pipeline of additional opportunities across our healthcare and animal care sectors. On slide 28 and commenting further on our base business growth, you can see on this slide that each of our divisions has achieved attractive levels of growth over the long term. For example, since FY 2018, our community pharmacy division has achieved compound GOR growth of approximately 5%, excluding the Chemist Warehouse Australia contract.
Our institutional healthcare division has achieved compound GOR growth of 21%, and our animal care division has achieved compound GOR growth of 10%. This growth track record is underpinned by diverse and well-established strategies across the group, which are summarized on this slide. On slide 29, with respect to costs, we expect our cost base to continue growing in FY 25, reflecting ongoing investments in our business to support our growth. Drivers of this increasing cost base includes some volume growth, investments in growing businesses and new products, and IT costs. The primary cost areas we have identified and where savings will be realized are freight, packaging, labor, cost of goods sold, and general administration costs. In commenting on our acquisition activities, which is a core strategy for the group, and as mentioned previously, we've completed six acquisitions since July last year.
We continue to see an active pipeline of opportunities that would be value accretive to shareholders. These opportunities across both our healthcare and animal care businesses, and across our geographic regions of Australia, New Zealand, and Southeast Asia. We're focused on pursuing opportunities that strengthen our core businesses or extend existing businesses into adjacent segments. In conclusion, we're very pleased with the group's performance for FY 2024, which demonstrates that we have diverse sources of organic growth and opportunities for acquisitions. The Chemist Warehouse Australia contract generated AUD 2.2 billion of revenue in FY 2024, and as has been well flagged, this contract concluded on 30 June 2024. To assist investors with their analysis, we are providing guidance for FY 2025, that we expect to generate underlying EBITDA between AUD 575 million and AUD 600 million.
This guidance implies normalized EBITDA growth on the prior year of approximately 5%-10%, excluding the CWA contract, and will be driven by the near-term growth strategies set out and discussed on page 27. Our trading in July 2024 demonstrated positive growth, excluding the CWA contract, and is supportive of this full-year guidance, and we'll provide a further trading update at our annual meeting in October. That concludes the formal part of the presentation, and I'll now hand back to Daniel, our operator, to facilitate any questions.
Thank you. As a reminder, to ask a question, please press star one, one on your telephone and wait for your name to be announced. To withdraw your question, please press star one, one again. In the interest of time, we ask that you please limit yourselves to one question. Please stand by while we compile the Q&A roster. Our first question comes from Matt Montgomerie with Forsyth Barr. Your line is open.
Thank you. Good morning. Good morning, John, and well done on a solid result. My first question is just in relation to the working capital release from Chemist Warehouse. I think from memory, back in February, commentary was around AUD 75 million of working capital release. But I guess, given sort of now in the midst of the process, I'd be keen just to hear your updated thoughts there.
Yeah, good morning, Matt. No, that's still the number. That's, that's still a valid number. That's-
Okay, thank you.
Mm-hmm.
And then second question is just in relation to the pharmacy customer acquisition. Clearly, did a good job in the second half. So, first part is, could you please provide a sense of what you think your growth was in the second half, ex-Chemist Warehouse? And secondly, how we should think about the phasing of the AUD 300 million over the next one to three years, whatever it may be.
So first question is growth in the second half of pharmacy business?
Yeah, yeah, like...
About 5%. About 5%, Matt, I believe. Yeah, about 5%, Matt.
And relative to market?
How much? Probably slightly ahead.
Sorry.
Probably slightly ahead.
Yeah, and, and then just on the phasing of the AUD 300 million over the next, you know, one, two or three years, how are you thinking about that?
Our target is AUD 300 million in FY 2025, Matt.
Perfect. Thank you.
Okay.
Thank you. And our next question comes from Stephen Ridgewell with Craigs IP. Your line is open.
Yeah, good morning. Yeah, good, good result, guys. Well done. Just first question on contract logistics. You know, we saw a, you know, ramp up - sorry, sorry, bit of a ramp up in the second half, post the opening of the new Sydney facility. But just interested, if you can give us a bit of color in terms of, you know, customer wins during the half. I think you mentioned you'd picked up three big at the Feb result and the utilization of that facility, you know, kind of by the end of the, the second half, please.
Okay, Stephen, just might ask Brett Barons, who's joining us, head of Symbion, to assist us with that question in terms of second half and customer wins.
Yeah. So it's a combination of our existing customers, where we've got growth from them, particularly due to the new government regulations in Australia. And then, yeah, we've had a couple of wins as well, and then a couple of others that start in the new financial year.
Utilization, Brett, of the Sydney facility, % utilization?
It's, yeah, 35.
35 approximate %, Stephen?
... Great. Thank you. And then just a point of clarification on the cost out, which, you know, so the AUD 25-50 million over the next one to two years. I'm just curious, has EBOS sort of already realized some of that 25-50 in the FY 2024 year? And then what are you, you know, within the guides, so what are you hoping to realize in the FY 2025 year, please?
Yeah, some portion has been realized in 2024, Stephen, around, particularly around the some of the administration costs. And in the 2025 year, we expect AUD 25 million to be realized. Some of that will come through cost of goods sold, so through the margin, right? And the balance is in expenses. But the expectation is AUD 25 million in 2025.
Great. Thank you. I'll jump back in the queue.
Okay. No worries. Bye.
Thank you. And our next question comes from Saul Hadassin with Barrenjoey. Your line is open.
Yeah, morning, John. Just a question for me as it relates to the guidance for that EBITDA growth, excluding Chemist Warehouse. Can you just give us any sense of the materiality of the acquisitions you've made in fiscal 2024 to that growth, in maybe in percentage terms? Is it immaterial, or is it contributing a couple of percentage points to that? And I guess separately, does that growth incorporate-
Sorry, Saul. Sorry, Saul, just sorry, Saul. Can I... Sorry, Saul, just quickly, what are you exactly asking? The growth in 2024 of acquisitions?
What's the contribution to your guidance from acquisitions made in FY 2024?
Oh, it's minimal.
And are you including any further acquisitions in that growth that you might make in FY 2025?
No.
Great. That's all I had. Thanks.
Okay.
Thank you. And our next question comes from Marcus Curley with UBS. Your line is open.
Good morning, John. Could we just start with the costs again? You mentioned AUD 25 million of cost savings. The presentation also mentions, you know, overall costs up this year. Could you just talk a little bit to what's happening outside of, you know, the cost savings program in terms of the underlying costs in the business?
Yeah. So, Marcus, what's happening? Because most of the group, basically all the group, excluding, say, pharmacy, right, which when you include the CW business, is still growing, right? And we've probably been surprised by the growth rates that are coming through in, you know, our institutional healthcare business, our contract logistics business, excluding New Zealand and also, say, the animal care business. So that growth needs to be funded, and so some of the costs going into the business are things like additional marketing costs, right? And but also funding some of that growth, right, as well. And then there's another area of cost that probably reflects that maybe we had an underinvestment in prior years being IT costs.
So there's been a significant increase in IT costs that's coming through the back end of 2024 and also into, will continue into FY 2025. That's why you don't see an absolute reduction in costs going to FY 2025.
Uh, understood.
Okay.
Absolutely. And then if we just turn to community pharmacy, could you talk a little bit about, you know, the potential buckets or sources, you know, of those market share gains of AUD 300 million? Does it include growth in Terry White? And is there, you know, any big contract wins, you know, you've got your hands on within that number?
I probably won't go into details on that, Marcus, because it's commercially sensitive, but it does include continued growth in Terry White. So typically, in any year, we target new stores, 35 to 40 new stores, and we see that continuing again in FY 2025. So that's included within that new growth.
Maybe just to help, could you give any color in terms of what TerryWhite growth was in terms of retail sales in the previous year, in the 2024 year?
No, I can't provide that, Marcus. That's commercially sensitive.
Okay, maybe I'll just try a different style of question then. You know, you mentioned you're still negotiating the new deal, or the industry is still negotiating the new deal, for you know, community pharmacy with the government. You know, any color you can provide on, you know, what your expectations are, you know, and the timing of when we might hear about a final deal there?
Look, I think our expectation is that that agreement will be successfully concluded and successfully concluded within the, you know, the ask of the industry on the government, to ensure that, you know, the sustainable supply of medicines into the community, and I think in the Australian environment at the moment, you can see that there's some headlines around certain shortages, re: IV fluids, et cetera. So I think it's in everyone's interest that, you know, the supply chain is adequately funded. If you asked me probably two months ago, we had an expectation that the agreement would have been finalized by now, but what we now really understand is that because this is the first ever pharmacy wholesale agreement that's been negotiated, it's taking probably longer within the government circle to conclude that agreement. And that's just because-...
No, no disrespect, but we are dealing with government. We're not dealing with corporate enterprises here. So because it's the first ever one, it's just taking a little bit longer. Our expectation is, though, that agreement will be concluded within, say, the next six to eight weeks.
Okay, thank you.
Bye. No problems.
Thank you. Our next question comes from Gretel Janu with E&P. Your line is open.
Thanks. Good morning. My question is just on animal care, and margins, particularly. So you've had another very strong period, and have transformed the business in the last two years, but how should we think about the margin trajectory from here? Can we see further margin expansion, or is this now the new norm? Thanks.
Hi, Gretel. No, I think we continue to see margins around the current level, right? I wouldn't be factoring in any uplift in margins.
Understood, and then just in terms of the branded products, how much of the results that you delivered today was price versus volume?
Most of that was volume, Gretel, and also the inclusion of the Superior acquisition, right? So of that 10%, I'm not sure we have remembered that 10% growth. How much was Superior? Oh, eight out of the 13. Yeah, so of the branded revenue growth, so it's not 13.
Oh, sorry, it's several.
Oh, we don't even know the revenue, though, so the Superior. We've got a number for the Superior. For the branded revenue growth, how much was Superior? So AUD 25 million of that 29 were Superior, Gretel.
Right. Understood. Thanks very much.
Okay. Bye, bye.
Thank you. Our next question comes from Lyanne Harrison with Bank of America. Your line is open.
Yeah, good morning, all. I might come back to the community pharmacy, and ask that question a little bit differently. You mentioned some new pharmacy customer wins. Could you give us an indication of what the total annual revenue contribution for those new pharmacy customers might be? And, you know, if you could provide any color on who you are winning those customers from.
If I've understood the question correctly, Lyanne, we're targeting AUD 300 million of new pharmacy revenues in FY 2025. So that's the target, and that's just across the whole industry.
Okay. And then, another thing on community pharmacy. Are you seeing any changes in foot traffic to your pharmacies and any softening of, I guess, sales with retail products, given cost of living pressures?
No, we're not seeing any declines in our business, but I would point out, Lyanne, that our business is more heavily oriented towards the medicines and not the front of shop categories. So, really, any upwards or negative declines in the front of shop is not gonna have a significant impact on the business. Because as I say, our business is more very heavily on the medicine side. Okay?
Okay. Thank you very much.
Thank you. Our next question comes from Tom Godfrey with Ord Minnett. Your line is open.
Good morning, guys. Thanks for taking my questions. Can I just circle back to the cost out phasing question? So you sort of acknowledged AUD 25 million of the AUD 25 million-AUD 50 million sitting in FY 2025. Can I just sort of ask, what are the key initiatives that will help you deliver the additional 25 the year after? What are the sort of longer-dated cost out initiatives?
They're pretty much across the same product categories, Tom. So like there's initiatives in freight, further savings in cost of goods sold, further initiatives around the labor side, right, packaging, that will just... You know, we won't get a full run rate of those cost savings in FY 2025, and therefore they'll kick in, they'll contribute into FY 2026.
Got you. So you should have a reasonable lens on the total number at some point in this financial year and what should annualize into FY 2026?
Yeah, so what we're saying is, you know, we've got an expectation that, you know, the whole project will generate cost efficiencies of AUD 50 million to take us through 2025 and 2026 to be on that level and on that run rate.
Perfect. Understood. Next one I have-
Uh?
was just around the medical technology division. You sort of called out rationalization of some underperforming product categories. Could you provide us with the revenue that they contributed in 2024, just so we can sort of understand the headwind in 2025?
So if you've excluded those legacy products that we've rationalized, then med tech revenue growth would have been around the 10%, so in line with the GOR growth of 10%.
Got it. That helps. Thanks for taking my questions, guys.
Yep. Just on that, Tom, you might recall last year we took a charge against the MedTech division, right? For rationalization, the costs in the MedTech division. So that, that's flowing through into the revenue line in FY 2024. Okay?
Got it.
Thanks.
Thank you. Our next question comes from Matthieu Chevrier with Citi. Your line is open.
Good morning. Thanks for taking my question. My first one is just on the impact from the new wholesaler agreement that you may or may have not included in your guidance.
We haven't included any real upside on that, Matthieu, right? We've included just a status quo. And we haven't.
And-
Also, if it goes against us, that's also not in our guidance, so.
Yeah. Yeah, and would your expectations be that once this is signed, that would be an upside to your margins? Or will it just help to kind of offset inflation pressures?
No, I think all we're really, I don't think there's gonna be any upside, Matthieu. We're just, we're seeking an agreement that basically can assist us in absorbing the cost pressures and the demands on the business. But, you know, satisfying the supply arrangements that the government requires around medicine.
Mm-hmm. Understood. Just on the institutional side of the business, do you think that that sort of 10% growth is sustainable? Because it, it's, we've seen a few periods now of quite high growth with those specialty medicines, especially that that have that were, you know, accretive to growth in that division.
We'd like to think it continues, Matthieu. It's certainly, you know, they're very strong revenue growth rates. Our hospital business has had for a couple of years now, like double-digit growth. So we'd like to think it continues. And the, you know, the market did rationalize somewhat in 2024 with Sigma exiting the hospital business. So that's also assisted, you know, in generating a 10% growth rate.
Yeah. And then just the final one on animal growth. You know, the top line's been obviously lower this fiscal year. Do you expect that to kind of go back to high single digit on a sustainable basis from FY 2025?
I think mid-single digits, Matthieu
.
Yeah.
Right. I think hopefully, you know, the animal care business has come off some, you know, come off the COVID highs, if you like. We didn't take any price on the brand of our key products in FY 2024. We'll take some price adjustments in 2025. We need to do that. And we had a headwind in 2024 on the overall revenue for the segment, because of the wholesale, the business, with one supplier going direct, so we'll cycle through that. And, yeah, but we've largely cycled through that, so I wouldn't expect that to be a negative headwind into 2025. We'd expect some minimal growth in that business in 2025, right? So, but the wholesale business, if we can get growth out of that of 2-3% for the year, then that's pretty much what that business could do, I think.
Mm-hmm. Excellent. Thank you so much.
Okay.
Thank you. This concludes the question and answer session. I would now like to turn it back to John Cullity for closing remarks.
Well, thank you, Daniel. Thanks for everyone's time this morning. Thanks for your interest in the business, and that concludes the formal presentation. So I wish everyone good morning. Thank you. Bye-bye.
This concludes today's conference call. Thank you for participating. You may now disconnect.