I must advise you that this conference is being recorded today, the twenty-fourth of August 2022. I would now like to hand the conference over to your first speaker today, Mr. John Cullity, CEO, EBOS Group. Please go ahead, John.
Thank you, Dilem, and welcome everyone to EBOS Group's full year 2022 results presentation. My name is John Cullity, CEO for EBOS Group, and I'm joined this morning by Leonard Hansen, our CFO, and Martin Krauskopf, our GM for M&A and investor relations. Before presenting our results, I'd like to start by highlighting that in 2022, EBOS is celebrating 100 years of its history. From the commencement of operations in 1922, Early Brothers Trading Co., the founding corporation of today's EBOS, provided a broad range of products and wholesale services that catered to the needs of communities across New Zealand. It is with a great deal of satisfaction that 100 years later, through our diversified range of healthcare and animal care businesses, EBOS continues to serve and provide for communities across New Zealand, Australia, and now Southeast Asia.
Our annual report contains further information about our story and provides readers with an insight into how we became the company we are today. We are very proud of our heritage, and we thank all of our stakeholders who have been part of our journey, and we look forward to the next 100 years. It is therefore fitting that in our centenary year, we are able to announce another record result, including revenues exceeding NZD 10 billion for the first time. Our FY 2022 results has been driven by strong organic growth in both our healthcare and animal care segments, as well as strong growth from acquisitions.
Key highlights of this year's results include double-digit earnings growth, the acquisition of Life Healthcare, as well as four additional bolt-on acquisitions, continued investment into our operational infrastructure to support our growth, maintaining a strong balance sheet within our target gearing range, and increasing dividends to shareholders. Before we go through this morning's presentation, I should point out the following. The results are expressed in Australian dollars, unless otherwise noted, and the presentation refers to both statutory and underlying results. The underlying results exclude AUD 25.6 million of one-off costs after tax related to the significant M&A activity undertaken during the period. My commentary this morning is predominantly based on our underlying results, and we have included in the appendix a reconciliation between the reported and underlying numbers.
The key financial headlines of our full-year results are. Revenue increased by 16.6% to over NZD 10.7 billion, underlying EBIT increased by 20.5% to NZD 355 million, and underlying net profit after tax increased by 21.3% to NZD 228 million. In light of the group's performance, the board has declared a final dividend of NZD 0.49, which brings full-year dividends to NZD 0.96, representing an increase of 8.5%. The group once again saw strong performances from both the healthcare and animal care segments, highlighting the benefits of our diversified portfolio of market-leading businesses and our strategy of investing for growth. Our healthcare segment increased underlying EBIT by 24%, driven by our community pharmacy, TerryWhite Chemmart, institutional healthcare, and contract logistics businesses.
Key highlights of this performance were the growth in community pharmacy was driven by customer and market share gains, increased sales of high-value medicines, and the return of Pfizer products to the wholesale channel. TWC store network now exceeds 500, and the network delivered total sales growth of 13.9% and like-for-like sales growth of just under 12%. Our institutional healthcare division continued its strong performance driven by sales of specialty medicines as well as organic and inorganic growth in medical consumables and medical devices. During the financial year, we completed 5 acquisitions, which contributed to the growth of the institutional healthcare division. Our animal care segment delivered EBIT growth of 15% as it capitalized on strong pet care market conditions. Our key brands, Black Hawk and VitaPet, continued to increase or maintain their leadership positions in their respective markets.
I'm pleased to announce that we have now completed the commissioning phase of our new state-of-the-art pet food manufacturing facility in Parkes, New South Wales. We continue to see increased consumer demand for Black Hawk, and in response, we are currently preparing to commence a third shift at that site earlier than initially projected. Therefore, the site will operate 24 hours a day, five days per week. At the group level, we recorded underlying operating cash flow of NZD 291 million, return on capital employed of 18.6%, and we ended the financial year with a net debt to EBITDA ratio of 1.94x, well within our target gearing range. Leonard Hansen will take you through each of these points later in the presentation.
As you're aware, the macroeconomic environment is one of material uncertainty due to COVID-19, supply side constraints, and cost increases. I will provide a brief overview of how each of these items has affected the group. COVID-19 continues to both positively and negatively impact on our various businesses. Overall, we estimate that COVID-19 has had a positive net impact on our earnings in FY 2022. The key positives include stronger foot traffic in pharmacies due to COVID-19 related products and service demand, continued demand for medical consumables and PPE within our institutional healthcare division, growth in demand for contract logistics services associated with COVID-19 related products, and our animal care segment benefiting from increased consumer spending on pets.
On the other side, the key negative impacts include a reduction in the number of elective surgeries impacting on our sales to hospitals, a higher rate of supply out of stocks across our wholesale consumer and animal care product ranges, and operational inefficiencies due to COVID-19 safety measures and labor constraints. Despite our strong performance like many companies, EBOS has been impacted by supply side constraints and cost inflation. In terms of supply side constraints, our businesses have been impacted by some manufacturer out of stocks, as well as availability of staff and other key inputs. In terms of inflation, we've seen cost increases in cost of goods sold, labor, freight, and rent. Each of our businesses has strategies in place to mitigate these cost increases, and to date, we have been able to successfully preserve our margins reflected in our EBIT margin, slightly increasing in FY 2022.
On this page, you can see that each of our divisions has contributed to our growth, with institutional healthcare being a particularly strong performer as a result of both organic growth and acquisitions. This year saw a higher than usual M&A activity with five acquisitions completed. The acquisition of LifeHealthcare was completed on the 31st of May and firmly establishes EBOS as one of the largest independent medical device distributors in Australia, New Zealand, and Southeast Asia. I'm pleased to report that since completion, integration into our broader medical devices distribution operations has been progressing well. In June 2022, the first month of our ownership, LifeHealthcare contributed EBITDA of AUD 9.5 million, which was in line with our expectations. As our organic growth has continued, we took the opportunity to reinvest into our operational infrastructure.
These investments included completing the construction and commissioning of our new pet food facility in Parkes, New South Wales, completing the construction of two new medical consumable distribution centers in Sydney and Perth. We also expanded our pharmaceutical wholesale distribution centers in Brisbane and Melbourne, and we have commenced the construction of new contract logistics distribution centers in both Sydney and Auckland. These investments are consistent with our strategy of investing for growth and will position the group to continue expanding services to our customers. In terms of sustainability, EBOS continues to make progress on its ESG program, and this year we have developed strategies for several high priority matters that are important to our stakeholders. This includes setting targets, milestones, and KPIs for areas including environmental stewardship, consumer packaging, ethical sourcing, and our people.
Our board has recently approved the scoping of an 18.8 MW solar array to demonstrate the group's commitment to cutting carbon emissions. This array will be sized to meet the current and estimated future electricity needs for all of the group's Australian operations. Further information on our sustainability and community initiatives is available in our 2022 sustainability report, and I invite all our stakeholders to have a read of that document, which is now available on our website. This slide provides further details on the group's financial performance on both a reported and underlying basis. The increase in underlying EBIT of AUD 60.5 million or 20.5% reflects an increase in revenue of 16.6% and a slight expansion of our EBIT margin from 3.2%- 3.3%.
During the period, underlying net profit after tax grew by NZD 40 million- NZD 228.2 million, representing growth of 21.3% and underlying earnings per share grew by 12.2%. The difference between NPAT growth and EPS growth reflects the mismatch in timing between the Life Healthcare capital raising and completion of the acquisition at the end of May. As I mentioned earlier, we saw a higher level of M&A activity during the year, and as a result, we incurred NZD 25.6 million of one-off M&A costs post-tax. These costs are excluded from our underlying earnings. FY 2022 continues our long-term track record of delivering strong and steady performance with a focus on earnings and dividend growth, cash flow generation, return on capital, and maintaining a strong balance sheet. Moving now to our segment performance.
Healthcare generated revenue growth of 17% and underlying EBIT growth of 24%, with both our Australian and New Zealand healthcare businesses growing for earnings at broadly consistent rates. This performance was driven by strong organic growth across our pharmacy wholesale, TerryWhite Chemmart medical consumables distribution, and our contract logistics businesses, supplemented by the completion of the five acquisitions. Moving now to the specific components of healthcare and starting with community pharmacy. In community pharmacy, we occupy the leading wholesale market position in both Australia and New Zealand. The community pharmacy business built upon the strong growth we saw in the first half and recorded a 19.5% increase in revenue and a 14% increase in gross operating revenue for the year.
There were several key drivers of the results, including increasing our market share as a result of above-market growth by our major wholesale customers, as well as winning business from our competitors. Strong performance was also seen from our community pharmacy retail brands, including TerryWhite Chemmart. Ethical sales were particularly strong, growing at 19%, in part due to the increased sales of new high-value medicines and the return of Pfizer to the wholesale channel. OTC sales grew by approximately 26%. This represents a return to growth in our OTC product category following previous year declines due to COVID-19, with key categories such as cold and flu, natural medicines, weight management, children's health, and pain relief all performing strongly. The GOR margin percentage reduced slightly here, reflecting product mix and increased sales against the fixed CSO income pool.
Our TerryWhite Chemmart business, which is reported within community pharmacy results, achieved a significant milestone, adding 51 new stores to exceed 500 total stores in the network, reinforcing its position as one of Australia's leading community pharmacy networks. Total network sales increased by 13.9% and like-for-like sales grew by 11.9%. A really strong result that was driven by new store growth and continued investment in marketing and media, maintaining our position as the second-largest advertiser in the Australian retail pharmacy sector. Additionally, the TWC Pharmacy Network has been responsible for delivering approximately 20% of all Australian community pharmacy-delivered COVID-19 and flu vaccinations, respectively, highlighting the important role our pharmacists have played during the pandemic. Our institutional healthcare business saw a strong period of growth, increasing gross operating revenue by AUD 122 million- AUD 378 million.
Key drivers of the result were increased sales of new specialty medicines into the hospital network, continued strong demand for medical consumables, including PPE, benefits from the five acquisitions mentioned earlier, including the one-month contribution from LifeHealthcare, and an uplift in the GOR margin due to higher contributions from our expanded medical devices and medical consumables businesses. To support the ongoing growth of this division, two new medical consumables distribution centers were opened in Sydney and Perth. Contract Logistics has delivered another very strong performance with GOR growth of 40%. In this division, we saw our Australian business continue to grow its market share. The business also grew as a result of increased demand for the storage and servicing of protective equipment, testing kits, and COVID-19 vaccines in New Zealand.
As flagged in previous reporting periods, we're investing in a new contract logistics distribution center in Sydney to cater for our market growth, and we're also pleased to announce that we've commenced development of a new contract logistics center here in Auckland. We anticipate that both of these new facilities will be operational in 2023. Turning now to our Animal Care segment. Our Animal Care business also had a strong performance for the year, with revenue growth of just under 9% and EBIT growing by 15.3% as we continue to benefit from strong pet market conditions. These strong trading conditions are a result of the combination of an increased pet population, the humanization of pets, and the premiumization of pet products, which we have highlighted in our past results.
Pleasingly, our key brands, Black Hawk and VitaPet, continue to either increase or maintain their leadership position in their respective market segments. We're also pleased to announce that we've launched a new range of Black Hawk treat and puppy food products consistent with our strategy of leveraging this strong brand into new product categories. In relation to our new pet food manufacturing facility, we successfully completed the construction and commissioning of the facility, and we are steadily increasing our commercial production rates. The completion of this facility has been very timely in an environment where global supply chains have been challenged. Having our own local manufacturing capability provides us with a real competitive advantage in a market where supplier out of stocks have been commonplace.
As mentioned earlier, in response to the increased consumer demand for Black Hawk, we will be shortly commencing a third shift at our facility, which is earlier than initially projected. Black Hawk, VitaPet and Lyppard all demonstrated solid growth during the period. Black Hawk, our premium dog food brand, capitalized on its leading position to continue to take market share in the pet specialty channel across both New Zealand and Australia. VitaPet remains the leading dog treats brand in the grocery channel in both Australia and New Zealand. Lyppard also experienced strong growth at the core line, with lower revenue growth being a function of reduced exposure to lower margin business. That concludes the commentary on our segment performance. I'll now hand over to Leonard Hansen, our CFO, to cover the financial information. Thank you, Leonard.
Thanks, John. Underlying cash flow from operations for the twelve months to June 2022 was AUD 291 million. Underlying cash flows exclude one-off payments of AUD 42.2 million in relation to M&A transaction costs for the year. The decrease in underlying operating cash flows of AUD 11.2 million compared to the prior year is attributable to the additional investment made in working capital to support the sales growth for the year and higher tax payments made, partially offset by the higher underlying earnings, up AUD 70 million compared to the prior period. Capital expenditure for the year was AUD 89.2 million, comprising of business as usual CapEx of AUD 55.2 million and a further AUD 30 million to complete the construction of the new pet food manufacturing facility that commenced operations in the second half of FY 2022.
We also invested approximately AUD 1.3 billion on acquisitions and deferred consideration payments for prior period acquisitions. The majority of the spend in relation to our acquisition was in relation to the acquisition of the LifeHealthcare Group for AUD 1.15 billion, which was announced in December 2021, with the transaction completing in May 2022. Moving on to working capital. Working capital continues to remain a key focus for the group with a cash conversion cycle of 15 days as at June 2022, similar to that of prior periods. Working capital has increased by AUD 140 million on the prior year, largely attributable to the working capital acquired from the acquisitions undertaken during the year, which added approximately AUD 120 million of working capital to the group's balance sheet.
Return on capital employed for the year was 18.6% and is a record for the group and above our 15% return on capital employed target and also last year's reported growth rate of 18%. This is on the back of our strong earnings growth and continued disciplined approach to managing capital. Net debt for the group, excluding leases, was NZD 860 million as at 30 June 2022, an increase of NZD 589 million on the prior year. This is primarily attributable to the group undertaking acquisitions of NZD 1.3 billion during the year less proceeds from associated capital raisings of NZD 787 million. Our net debt-to-EBITDA ratio was 1.94x .
It is higher than 0.85x that we reported last year, but within our target leverage range and well-positioned after the LifeHealthcare acquisition. Our conservative gearing also provides capacity for further acquisitions and growth investments. In conjunction with the acquisition of LifeHealthcare in May 2022, the group increased committed bank funding facilities by a further NZD 540 million, split evenly over three and four-year maturity tenor. At 30 June, the group has combined undrawn debt facilities of over NZD 900 million available. As at 30 June 2022, EBOS's weighted average debt maturity profile is 2.6 years. Turning now to earnings per share and dividends. Underlying EPS for the year is 129 cents per share, growth upon FY 2021 of 12.2%.
The EBOS board have declared a final dividend of NZD 0.49 per share, and this will be imputed to 25% and fully franked for Australian tax resident shareholders. The total dividends for the year are therefore NZD 0.96, up 8.5% on last year, with a payout ratio for the year on an underlying basis of 74%. The group's dividend reinvestment plan, which was strongly supported by shareholders previously, will be available for the 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. Thank you, and I'll now hand you back to John.
Thank you, Leonard. In conclusion, we are pleased with our strong performance in FY 2022, which included revenue exceeding NZD 10 billion for the first time, double-digit earnings growth. The acquisition of LifeHealthcare as well as four additional bolt-on acquisitions. Continued investment into our operational infrastructure to support our growth. A strong balance sheet within our target gearing range, and increasing dividends to shareholders. Looking ahead, we expect another year of profitable growth in FY 2023. Our portfolio of businesses have proven to be very resilient through COVID-19 pandemic. However, given the global economic and geopolitical environment, there are material uncertainties that may impact upon the group's future trading performance. We expect capital expenditures for FY 2023 to remain elevated as we embark on facility expansions and upgrades to support the growth in the business.
Our balance sheet is well within its target gearing range, and we remain well positioned to support the capital expenditure requirements and pursue our growth opportunities. With that, I'll conclude the formal part of the presentation and hand back to the operator to facilitate any questions. Thank you.
Thank you, sir. As a reminder to ask a question, you will need to press star one one on your telephone and wait for your name to be announced. Please stand by while we compile the Q&A roster. I show our first question comes from the line of Daniel Hurren from MST Marquee. Please go ahead.
Oh, good morning, and thanks very much for taking the question. If I have this right, you can back out the gross operating revenue for animal care. I don't think it's in the presentation, and it appears to be down sharply on FY 2021, which compares to very strong EBIT growth on FY 2021. Could you talk about any changes there that have driven that gap?
Sorry, Dan, can you just repeat that question? What, you were talking about backing out the gross operating revenue for animal care, which is in the presentation.
No, no. Sorry. The gross operating revenue for animal care is not in the presentation as far as I can see, but if we have it right, we can back it out, and it's down quite sharply versus FY 2021. Yet you've got quite strong EBIT growth for animal care.
No, no.
That's not right?
No, that's not correct. No, no, Dan, in the presentation on page eight, under the business and segment performance. It's headed business and segment performance. You can see that the animal care gross operating revenue is up NZD 20.3 million or 14.8%.
Right. My apologies.
Sorry.
I've got a lot going on this morning.
No, that's okay. That's okay.
I'll just rather than waste my question, I'll sneak in another one. Look, you've talked about COVID impacts there. I was just wondering if you could talk about, you know, the big impacts like rapid antigen tests, Paxlovid, et cetera, and how they sort of fared first half versus second half and what the impact was across divisions or segments.
Maybe to provide a little bit more insight into the profit performance of the group, because this will probably come up in additional questions as well. If you take the EBIT growth for the group at, say, 20.5%, we estimate that COVID provided a net positive impact to the group's growth rate of about, say, 2%-3%. We also estimate that acquisitions provided a contribution to the growth rate of about 8%, and that therefore the organic growth rate for the group is about 10%. Right? I don't have the splits on that first half, second half, but we would have communicated that the first half. I would. Yeah. Does that help, Dan?
Yeah, sure. Just across the divisions, I mean, if they've been fairly even across divisions, across the segments.
That COVID impact is really concentrated in the healthcare division, right? Because there was, you know, additional activity around, particularly in New Zealand, around distribution of vaccines, PPE equipment, et cetera. So that was the benefit. Also the higher foot traffic going into pharmacy, right? The downsides we also called out, which affected both divisions, healthcare and animal care, which is supplier out of stocks, inefficiencies within operations. It's a real mix of things.
Okay. Thanks very much, John. Sorry about my error there.
Okay. No problem.
Thank you. I show our next question comes from the line of Saul Hadassin from Barrenjoey. Please go ahead.
Thanks. Good morning, John. Good morning, Leonard. Can you hear me?
Yes, we can, Saul.
Great. Thanks, John. Just two questions from me. The first one, just looking at the healthcare divisional operating costs, particularly in the second half, just noting the material step up both sequentially and also versus PCP. I think they're up 40% versus second half 2021. You touched on some of the cost pressures in your commentary, John. Just wondering, as we move into FY 2023, I mean, is that an expectation that that second half cost base is now the base to work off into 2023? Or do you think you can achieve a degree of leverage in that cost line into FY 2023, particularly with the integration of LifeHealthcare? Just wondering how you see that operating cost line moving into the next fiscal year. Thanks.
Yeah. No. It's an interesting question. I think in terms of the cost base, of course, when you're looking at a run rate for this year, you've got a significant impact with the acquisitions that we have undertaken, and we also had a heavy spend in our marketing line, particularly in the second half of this financial year. Probably broadly speaking, if I can provide us maybe some insight with the major cost variables that will impact on the business going forward, right? They are the ones that typically we called out. We see labor probably increasing around the 3%-4% mark going forward. We see freight probably up around about the 5% mark, and then you've got rentals around about the 3% mark.
Basically, those three line items would make up, I'd estimate, probably about 90% of our costs, right? So that's, you know, what we would expect to see in any given year, or say into FY 2023, excluding, say, the impact of acquisitions that, you know, have been impacted on the prior year base. All right?
Thanks for that color there, John. Second question, again, just on working capital and that slight increase in cash conversion days, just cognizant of sort of what medical devices does to your overall working capital and particularly cash conversion. Is the expectation there that you can get those days back down slowly? Or is this sort of the new normal based on the LifeHealthcare transaction?
I'll start that one, Leonard.
Sorry. It's Len here. I would expect we would see a deterioration further on our cash conversion cycle in regards to bringing in LifeHealthcare to the group. It's on a proportionate basis, what you saw in FY 2022. I think what we're gonna see is the days go from 15 to sort of maybe 17, 18 days, as we see the impact of Life Healthcare and their devices business. That's really just to accommodate the customer base to service those customers over that period of time.
What I would say is that we're probably looking at a working capital impact year-over-year of approximately sort of NZD 40 million-NZD 50 million in regards to an increase of working capital to support those sort of the group's customers, including the LifeHealthcare devices businesses.
Thanks very much. That's all I had.
Thank you.
Thank you. I show our next question comes from the line of Matt Montgomerie from Forsyth Barr. Please go ahead.
Hey, John, just checking you can hear me okay.
We can, Matt. Yes.
Perfect. Well, thanks for taking my questions, and well done on another solid result. Maybe just firstly on broader market conditions within the pharmacy business. I appreciate you've outlined the issues you're seeing on the supply side and cost increases within your business itself, but just wondering if you could make any comments on impacts, I guess, one step further down at the pharmacy and consumer level, and if you're seeing a normalization in industry conditions as a result of broadly similar factors?
Matt, what we've seen and probably what we continue to see is that the pharmacy, at the pharmacy level, it's still very strong. You know, these type of growth rates that we've had now for a couple of years are certainly well above norm, no doubt assisted by the, you know, the outbreaks of COVID. What we've seen in the business is when we have the outbreaks of COVID, like we did in Australia early in the new year, January, et cetera, through to February, then we had another outbreak around June, July. You see, you know, the pharmacy distribution business is very strong. Another outbreak around June, July, you see, you know, the pharmacy distribution business is very strong.
On the other side, you'll see our sales into med and sales into the hospital network soften up a bit, and that also includes the devices piece. You know what happens throughout FY 2023, time will tell. We can't really predict that. What we are very confident about is our ability to continue to, you know, increase our market share, grow our TerryWhite Chemmart business, and therefore we should, you know, in ordinary course of events, deliver a growth rate that's above market. You know, that's what we strive to do.
Great. Thank you. That's good color. Secondly on animal care, clearly another strong full year performance. It appears to me as if revenue was down half on half sequentially. Just wondering if there's anything you can talk to here, if that's a function of, you know, broader pressures at the consumer level or, you know, if there's anything in particular.
Yeah. No, that's really a factor, Matt, and you can see it in, like page 22 of the slide presentation. That's really a factor of our slower growth or lower growth in our Lyppard vet wholesaling business. The wholesaling business from Lyppard comprises about 50% of the revenues in the animal care segment, right? In fact, the branded business, the higher margin business, still had a very strong second half, right? From a revenue perspective and also from a profit perspective, we lost some lower margin customers in that vet wholesaling business, so that affected the revenue growth rate in the second half, but wasn't detrimental basically to the profit from that business. That's what's going on there.
Great. Thank you. I might just leave it there for now, but I appreciate that.
Yeah, no problem, Sam. Okay. No problem.
Thank you. Our next question comes from the line of Mathieu Chevrier from Citi. Please go ahead.
Good morning, John. Good morning, Leonard. Thank you for taking my question. I hope you're well. My first question was related to LifeHealthcare. You have previously guided to calendar year 2022 EBITDA of AUD 110-114 million. I was just wondering how has that evolved since December, and obviously you had Omicron and whether that's impacted your ability to meet with customers.
Hi, Mathieu. We said at the time of the capital raising, and correct me if I'm wrong, that we believed that the Life Healthcare business would deliver that EBITDA on a CY 2022 basis or in effect on a twelve-month post-acquisition basis. We've reported one month's result since ownership, which we've highlighted in the presentation. It contributed EBITDA of NZD 9.5 million. We sit here today comfortable that that guidance is still appropriate and that business is performing in line with expectations.
Just looking at your, the community pharmacy revenue growth was again very strong in the second half. Do you expect that run rate to be sustainable going to FY 2023?
We're not really commenting, Mathieu, on FY 2023, and I did provide some flavor in on the previous question. We all note that, you know, the run rate and the strength in community pharmacy has been very strong for, you know, a couple of years now. COVID's had a large contribution to do with that, as well as the sales of high value drugs. Also we will start to cycle the inclusion of the Pfizer volumes in FY 2023. It would be unlikely, I think, that we would continue to sustain that type of revenue growth rate.
If I give you some flavor into that growth rate for FY 2022, of the revenue growth of just under 20%, then we assess that the contribution of Pfizer and high value drugs into that growth rate was about 9%. Right? If you take that out, you're talking about sort of like an organic growth rate of 10%, which is still very high compared to historical norms. At some point, that's going to level off, right? What that point is, we don't know.
Understood. Maybe just one for Leonard on the D&A and interest that we should be expecting in FY 2023, with now the acquisition of LifeHealthcare being included in the result.
Yeah. LifeHealthcare, that should add about approximately sort of NZD 15 billion-NZD 20 billion of additional D&A to our numbers, based on carrying through what they've got. What I would call out though is that we do have to go through the quirks of acquisition accounting under accounting standards. We will need to do that process, and that will potentially include additional amortization that comes through, which will be non-cash, that will be reflected in our numbers. We will call that out separately as we go forward in reporting.
Understood. Thank you. That's all I have.
Thanks, Mathieu.
Thank you. I show our next question comes from the line of Adrian Allbon from Jarden. Please go ahead.
Oh, good morning, team. Can you hear me okay?
Yep. I can hear you.
John, I think you've spent a bit of time, I guess, trying to address, I guess, the organic growth rate at the profit level. If we turn to slide 10, which is like your CapEx additions, if you like. Coming into 2023 and 2024, is it right to assume you've got NZD 80 million coming from the pet food, which is gonna be commissioning right now into 2023? Then if I come down through those other two categories, there's another NZD 20 million coming through in the new medical consumables distribution and the addition of the wholesale distribution centers.
I might let Leonard probably comment on that one, Adrian. He's better to give you the advice there.
Oh, okay.
Adrian, if we're thinking about 2023, then what we should be thinking is a number that's pretty similar to this year, Adrian. We're going through a CapEx program across both Australia and New Zealand. And obviously at the moment in FY 2022, we've got Kelpie. Obviously, I forget the official name, but we've got our pet food manufacturing facility which should close out and completed in the current year for another NZD 30 million. In our minds, we've got CapEx that will be at a similar level to FY 2022 that will come through to FY 2023. That should complete the project work that we are undertaking.
If I think further out to FY 2024 and further beyond, then we're probably thinking of a CapEx profile that sort of drops down to, so it's circa NZD 65 million, but that does include the Life Healthcare business as well, and the 110 sites we now have across the group as a result of that.
Okay, that's helpful. Just in terms of, like, just helping us think about, I guess, the earnings contribution coming through in 2023 from the stuff that you're commissioning, I guess. Would it be right to sort of like apply your target return on invested capital to what looks like about NZD 100 million of prior investment now coming through into 2023?
Yeah, that'll be phased. Obviously, what we're doing is currently looking to invest for future growth. That will come through over time. I wouldn't say straight through next year, but over the sort of 2-3 years, yes.
Okay. Is there like, just in terms of, like, just what I've got you, Leonard, on slide 26, I mean, you've got a lot of cash on hand, I suppose. Is there any signal in that? Or will that be sort of
That's purely timing, Adrian. That's just aligning our debt tranches and paying down debt. That's a big number at June, but it's really timing. It'll keep getting lower than it is right today. Just aligning debt.
Okay.
profile.
Okay. Like, another sort of healthcare-related one. I think in the details of the accounts, like you outline, I think, is it like a deferred consideration for Life Healthcare of about NZD 137 million?
Yeah, that's.
You've created some. Can you just explain how that works? You've created the liability on the balance sheet and, presumably you'll look to pay that out, like, in what, 12-18 months time? If you have the mind to.
Yeah, that's recognition of an estimate of what the payout will be based on how the mechanics of the calculation work in regards to the vendors of the Transmedic business who currently own 49%. There is an option over that amount. That's the value that we have attributed to the value to close out in acquiring the full 100% of the Transmedic business as part of the Life Healthcare position.
Okay. Would you expect that to happen at the end of sort of 2024? Is that the sort of timing of that?
Yeah, that's right. Sorry, during FY 2024.
Okay. Just coming back to your working capital, just comments again for you, Leonard. Are you sort of saying like, with the integration of Life Healthcare in particular, was the additional working capital that you had to take onto the balance sheet about AUD 120 million out of an increase overall of sort of AUD 140?
Yes.
Okay.
That's right.
As we track forward to 2023, we should expect another sort of NZD 40 million-NZD 50 million just to reflect, I guess, probably the higher inventory holdings of that kind of business. Is that right?
I would typically think the base business would, so EBOS pre-Life Healthcare, you'd normally expect to see an increase in working capital of sort of AUD 25-30 million. LifeHealthcare, the devices business, you're probably thinking another AUD 10-15 million. That's where I'm sort of coming my numbers from.
Okay. In terms of days, you're sort of signaling more like 17, 18 from 15 that you've just sort of reported in terms of cash conversion days.
Correct. Yeah, that's right.
Okay. Very good. Thank you, guys.
Thank you.
No worries.
Thank you. I show our last question comes from the line of Marcus Curley from UBS. Please go ahead.
Good morning, John. Just a couple of questions on community pharmacy, if I can. Yeah, could you talk a little bit to what you're seeing with the market share gains that you've picked up in the broader market through Sigma's issues, you know? Are you holding on to those gains? What's your expectation, you know, in terms of that element of the revenue growth last year?
Yeah. Hi, Marcus. Look what we did pick up some market share gains, as you noted. We think it was probably just under a couple of percent for the year in FY 2022. That wasn't all, you know, that wasn't all Sigma, et cetera. But we don't expect in any year, Marcus, that our market share will go backwards, right? We don't expect to lose share. We have, you know, got a very solid orientation of the business to some of the larger pharmacy groups, including our own TerryWhite Chemmart business that's growing very strongly, and is also a major contributor to that increase in market share that we've got. We're certainly very confident what we can continue to do going forward, in driving that business, its revenue line and also its market share. Okay?
Sorry, John, the 2% you referred to, was that outside of, you know, Chemist Warehouse and TerryWhite Chemmart?
No, that's total business, Marcus. That's total business. Right.
Okay. Collective market share 2% within community pharmacy.
Within community pharmacy, yes, collective aggregate share.
Secondly, you know, obviously with your operating costs going up, you know, probably a chunk of that sits within community pharmacy. What do you think the prospects are of passing some of that back on to customers in FY 2023, you know, with higher pass-through rates?
We're certainly not anticipating doing that. We anticipate that so long as we're getting strong volume growth coming through the business, that we're getting the benefits, if you like, in terms of the contribution to earnings from that. We'll be able to successfully absorb any further cost increases coming through the business. We've been able to do that, as you can see in the results for FY 2022. We don't see any change in our approach there. We don't think we need to change anything on the pricing lever in community pharmacy. In our animal care business, it's different. There's significant cost increases coming through on, you know, raw materials and cost of goods sold, there, and buying of, you know, products like meat meal and chicken oil and things like that.
We are putting through retail floor price increases into the channel there to offset those. Once again, we've been able to sort of maintain our EBIT margin. We believe the strategies we've got in place in terms of that whole cost dynamic and contribution to margin, that we're managing very well at this point in time. That's why we see it sort of continuing as well into FY 2023.
Okay, thank you.
Okay.
Thank you. I show we have a question in the queue from the line of Stephen Ridgewell from Craigs Investment Partners. Please go ahead.
Hi, Stephen Ridgewell here, from Craigs Investment Partners. First of all, congratulations on a very strong result. But most of my questions have already been asked. Just have two more. First of all, on the COVID net benefit, which is called out at 2%-3%. I mean, do you see potential for, you know, this to reverse to a degree in FY 2023? I mean, are there any signs at this point in the year that that kind of tailwind is perhaps starting to become a headwind? Or do you. You know, just given the phasing of when, you know, you're probably seeing that COVID tailwind later and, yeah, quite late in calendar year 2021, maybe it sort of evens out over the year.
Just interested in your thinking on the COVID net benefit, how that might play out in 2023?
Very hard to tell, Stephen. It's almost impossible to tell, right? That's why we say in our outlook, you know, about the material uncertainties that happen. You know, whether it's a tailwind or a headwind into 2023, we really don't know, right? On that. I just think the way we've now got the business balanced and diversified, that, you know, whatever it is, I think we've got a very robust business that can, you know, operate through those type of conditions, right? With our, you know, wholesale business and our devices business and the animal care business, I just think whatever it is, we're very well placed. I can't give you any more insight on that in terms of the impact in that 2023.
That's fair enough, John. Just one final one from me. Just on the impact on earnings from the pet manufacturing facility. I mean, you walked us through that result a third ago, but just noted your comment that you're adding another shift to that facility earlier than previously planned. Is there any change to how you're thinking about the earnings impact in the FY 2023 and 2024 in terms of when you see those benefits coming through? Is it perhaps being brought forward a little bit?
No, I wouldn't say that, Stephen. At this point, I think we're still. We've made great progress at that site in ramping up for production from when we first commissioned it. We really only started producing, you know, food in January, you know, commercial grade food in January, and we're now August and, you know, we're moving on to a third shift. I still think that, you know, previous guidance on the benefits of that investment are still, you know, FY 2023 and then, you know, more again in FY 2024. I think what we are seeing, though, is a real endorsement of our strategy to invest in that facility with the whole, you know, disruption in supply chains around animal care food.
You know, what we're really, you know, very pleased about is the competitive advantage we believe we've now got. The ongoing demand that we see for our Black Hawk premium food in both Australia and New Zealand is very strong. I think what they're probably saying is that, you know, by moving to a third shift is that we're very confident in that demand continuing into 2023 and beyond, right? But I don't think it changes what we previously communicated in terms of the, you know, the earnings benefit that we get from that facility.
That's very helpful. Thanks, John.
Okay. Thanks, Stephen.
Thank you. I'm showing no further questions in the queue. That concludes our Q&A session. At this time, I'd like to turn the call back over to Mr. John Cullity, CEO, for closing remarks.
Thanks, Dilem, and thank you everyone for your listening to this morning's call and your ongoing support for the group. With that, I'll say bye and wish you all a good day. Thank you. Bye-bye.
Thank you. This concludes today's conference call. Thank you for participating. You may now disconnect.