I advise you that this conference is being recorded today, the 17th of February, 2021. I'd now like to hand the conference over to you for our speaker today, Mr. John Cullity, CEO of EBOS Group. Please go ahead, John.
Thank you, Kevin, and welcome everyone to EBOS Group's half year 2021 results presentation. My name is John Cullity. I'm the CEO for EBOS Group, and I'm joined this morning by Leonard Hansen, our acting CFO, and Martin Krauskopf, our GM for Investor Relations. I'm very pleased to report that EBOS's strong performance has continued with another record result in double-digit earnings growth, driven by both our Healthcare and Animal Care segments. Before we go through this morning's presentation, I should point out the following points. The results are expressed in AUD unless otherwise noted. The presentation refers to both statutory and underlying results. The underlying results exclude one-off costs related to M&A activity. Both statutory and underlying results include the impacts of IFRS 16 for both the reporting period and the prior comparative period. The commentary this morning is predominantly based on our underlying results.
For those who closely follow our company, you will note that this period we focus on EBIT as our preferred measure of operating earnings, which is a departure from our historic focus on EBITDA. This change has been made as a result of the move to IFRS 16 reporting. The appendix to this presentation contains additional disclosures and reconciliations to assist you. Moving to the key financial headlines for our first half, which are revenue increased by 6.3% to AUD 4.7 billion. Underlying EBIT increased 11.5% to approximately AUD 148 million. Underlying NPAT increased 14.2% to AUD 94 million. Underlying earnings per share increased 12.7% to AUD 0.578. In light of the Group's performance, the board has declared an interim dividend of NZD 0.425. That's NZD 0.425, representing an increase of 13.3%.
We are very pleased to continue to deliver strong and increasing dividends to our shareholders in a low-yield environment. The Group's double-digit earnings growth was driven by strong performances from both the Healthcare and Animal Care segments. This again demonstrates the benefits of our diversified portfolio of market-leading businesses and our strategy of investing for growth. Our Healthcare segment increased underlying EBIT by 11.2%, driven by our Community Pharmacy, TerryWhite Chemmart, Institutional Healthcare, and Contract Logistics businesses. The key highlights were really above-market growth from our major community pharmacy wholesale customers. The Seventh Community Pharmacy A greement did provide the Group with increased CSO funding. The TerryWhite Chemmart network continued to grow its network with 22 new stores added in the period. Our Institutional Healthcare business benefited from increased demand for specialty medicines and medical consumables.
Our Animal Care segment had an outstanding result, increasing EBIT by 26%, driven by the continued strength of our key brands, Black Hawk and VitaPet, as well as our Australian vet wholesale business, Lyppard. Each of these businesses achieved double-digit revenue growth and was supported by very strong tailwinds in the Australian and New Zealand pet care market due to established trends that were further accelerated by COVID-19 restrictions. At the Group level, we reported an excellent cash flow result, a record return on capital employed, and we further strengthened our balance sheet. Leonard will take you through each of these points later in the presentation. Consistent with our strategy of investing for growth, we completed two acquisitions during the period for an aggregate investment of approximately AUD 23 million. In November 2020, we acquired the vet distribution business of CH2.
This business has been successfully integrated with our Lyppard business and further consolidates our position in the Australian vet wholesale market. As previously announced at our annual meeting in October last year, we also acquired Cryomed, which is our second medical device acquisition. We are now generating an annual revenue of approximately AUD 60 million in this sector, and we intend to continue to expand our presence with the objective of creating a significant new business division for the Group. Both of these acquisitions are EPS accretive to EBOS shareholders in their first year. We have an active M&A pipeline, and we will continue to explore opportunities for inorganic growth across our businesses. Some comments now on ESG. As flagged in our 2020 annual report, EBOS is progressing the implementation of a formal ESG program.
We acknowledge that , as Australasia's leading healthcare and animal care company, we have a responsibility to our stakeholders and the community to conduct our business in a socially responsible manner and act as a good corporate citizen. Our ESG program will measure and report our progress across a range of ESG areas that are important to EBOS. The areas listed on the page have been identified through a comprehensive international benchmarking and stakeholder engagement process. Our work is ongoing in this area, and we look forward to providing a further update at the time of our FY 2021 annual results announcement. This slide provides more details on our Group financial performance for the half on both a reported and an underlying basis. The increase in underlying EBIT of AUD 15 million or 11.5% reflects an increase in revenue of 6.3% and an expansion of our EBIT margin to just under 3.2%.
With respect to the impacts of COVID-19, there are a range of positive and negative impacts across our businesses. On an overall basis, we estimate that the impact on the earnings was positive by just under 2% at the EBIT line. Our strong balance sheet with net debt of 1.0x EBITDA places us in a flexible position to pursue our growth strategy for the remainder of FY 2021 and beyond. This slide illustrates that each of our businesses, with the exception of Consumer Products, contributed to the Group's earnings growth. Institutional Healthcare, Community Pharmacy, and Animal Care were the primary drivers of increased earnings, and Contract Logistics also grew at double-digit levels. This slide illustrates that our first half growth was very strong by historic standards.
Group underlying NPAT growth of 14.2% builds upon our previous record result in FY 2020 and was approximately double the compound average growth rate recorded in the three prior half year periods. Healthcare's double-digit earnings growth this period is particularly pleasing as it cycles the significant step-up in earnings we recorded in FY 2020 on the back of significantly increased wholesale revenues. As you can see from the chart, Animal Care has undergone a step change in its growth this period as a result of our market position, supported by strong tailwinds in the pet care market. I'll provide further comments on those dynamics later in the presentation. We now move to the individual segment performances in Healthcare. Healthcare generated revenue growth of 5.9% and underlying EBIT growth of 11.2%. Our Australian and New Zealand Healthcare businesses contributed equally to this earnings growth in relative terms.
Our New Zealand performance is pleasing as it represents a rebound following a softer result in FY 2020. At a high level , in reviewing the performance of our Healthcare business, its growth was primarily driven by increased wholesale and CSO revenues, continued growth within our TWC business, strong demand for specialty medicines and medical consumables, and further productivity improvements within our operations. EBIT margins for the Healthcare segment expanded to 2.92% from 2.78%, with improved margins across both Australia and New Zealand. Moving now to the specific components of Healthcare. We occupy the leading market position in community pharmacy wholesaling in both Australia and New Zealand. The Community Pharmacy business recorded a 4.8% increase in revenues and a 4.7% increase in gross operating revenue, or GOR. This result cycles a full period of the Chemist Warehouse medicines distribution contract, which commenced on July 1, 2019.
Key drivers of the result were continued above-market growth by our major customers and productivity improvements across all of our wholesale distribution sites, reflecting the benefits of the capital investments made in our networks in prior years. The result also reflects increased CSO funding as a result of the commencement of the Seventh CPA agreement, partially offset by PBS pricing reforms. The TerryWhite Chemmart business, which is reported within our Community Pharmacy result, has further strengthened its position as one of Australia's leading community pharmacy networks. It is over two years since we acquired full ownership of TWC, and the strategic initiatives and investments since then are enabling excellent performance by our store network partners. Pleasingly, we welcomed a further 22 new stores to the TWC network during the period, with the majority of these stores migrating from competitor banners, reflecting the attractive proposition TWC offers pharmacists.
Network sales increased by 5.8%, and like-for-like sales grew by 4.2%. This performance was driven by new store growth, continued increases in media spend, which was up by 40% in the first half, and continued improvement in promotional and category initiatives. As recently announced by the government, Australian pharmacists will play an important role in vaccinating the community against COVID-19. TWC is proactively supporting its network partners to prepare for this program, and it represents an excellent opportunity to further endorse our capabilities. Our Institutional Healthcare business has continued its strong performance and was the largest contributor to the Group earnings growth in the first half. Within this business, we occupy the leading market position in hospital wholesaling in both Australia and New Zealand, and we further increased our market share during the period. The Institutional Healthcare business recorded an 8.7% increase in revenues and a 15.5% increase in GOR.
Key drivers of the result were increased sales of specialty medicines, continued strong growth in the medical consumables market, and our growing medical devices business, which is the key driver of the increase in GOR margin. Moving to Contract Logistics, which had another strong period with GOR growth of 12%. Growth during the period was primarily driven by existing customer growth and increased volumes in New Zealand, mainly for protective equipment. In this business unit, we are an important part of the medical supply chain for over 160 pharma manufacturers. We occupy the leading market position in New Zealand. Our Australian business is a more recent entrance, where we see market share upside over the medium to long term. Our Consumer Products business, which represents 4% of Group GOR, continues to be impacted by COVID-19 as a result of both lower demand and product supply issues.
Revenue and GOR decreased by 10.1% and 6% , respectively. Demand for our Consumer Products has been impacted by COVID-19 in a range of ways. For example, a number of our products, including Red Seal toothpaste, are exposed to the daigou channel, which has softened due to border closures. Other products have suffered reduced revenues this half due to stay-at-home and social distancing practices , such as our Pharmacy Choice cold and flu medicines and our Quitnits head lice treatment. Despite these challenges, we are pursuing a range of measures to turn around performance, including expanded product range in Asia, investments in marketing and new product development, as well as optimizing our manufacturing and supply chain to drive additional improvements. Turning now to our Animal Care segment.
The market strength of our key brands, Black Hawk and VitaPet, and our Australian vet wholesale business, Lyppard, ideally positions us to take advantage of very strong tailwinds in the pet market. As a result, there has been a step change in earnings for the segment, with EBIT growth of 26%, more than AUD 30 million for the half. Globally, there are tailwinds in the pet care market, which are well established due to factors such as the humanization of pets and the premiumization of products. Our Animal Care segment has been benefiting from these trends for several years now. However, it has been evident that COVID-19 has further accelerated these trends, as restrictions have resulted in people spending more time at home with their pets. Each of our Black Hawk, VitaPet, and Lyppard businesses generated double-digit sales growth for the period.
Black Hawk remains the leading dog food brand in the pet specialty channel in Australia and continues to increase its market share in New Zealand. VitaPet remains the leading dog treats brand in the grocery channel in both Australia and New Zealand and further increased its market share in both countries. Both of these brands continue to benefit from substantial marketing investment. Our Lyppard business also experienced strong growth from customers in the vet and online channels. The acquisition of CH2's vet distribution business has made a contribution for approximately one month during the half. This concludes the commentary on our segment performance. I'll now hand over to Leonard to cover off on the financial information.
Thank you, John. Statutory cash flow from operations for the six months to December 2020 was AUD 98.7 million. This represents an improvement of AUD 24.5 million on the prior corresponding period to the earnings growth while maintaining our disciplined approach to working capital management. Capital expenditure for the period was AUD 10.1 million. This comprises spending on minor capital projects. CapEx for the half is down on our own internal expectations , attributable to operating in a COVID-19 environment and seeking to restrict access of non-essential workers to our facilities across the Group. We've also invested approximately AUD 23 million for the first half of FY 2021 on acquisitions. Both of the acquisitions undertaken during the period only commenced trading under EBOS ownership in the last month of the period. Working capital management remains a key focus for the Group.
Our investment in working capital of AUD 339 million is up AUD 34 million from June, but consistent with that reported at December 2019. Our cash conversion cycle of 16 days as at December 2020 is also consistent with December 2019 and similar to that reported at June 2020, which was 15 days. Return on capital employed as at 31 December 2020 of 17.5% is a record for the Group and well above our internal target rate of 15%. The improvement in return on capital employed from the 17.1% reported at June 2020 is attributable to a continuation of our strong earnings growth and disciplined capital management.
Net debt for the Group, excluding IFRS 16 leases, was AUD 309 million as at 31 December 2020, favorable to both December 2019 and June 2020 by AUD 83 million and AUD 18 million respectively, as a result of the strong cash performance by the Group for the period to 31 December 2020. Our net debt-to-EBITDA ratio was 1.0 x, a further improvement on the 1.11 x we reported at June 2020. Our low gearing also provides significant capacity for further acquisitions and growth investments. In August 2020, we also extended the tenor of our AUD 400 million securitization facility by a further three years. Subsequent to 31 December 2020, we've also refinanced AUD 443 million of current debt facilities, increasing the finance facilities to AUD 465 million.
EBOS now has no debt maturities until the second half of FY 2023 and has achieved an improvement in our maturity profile spread from our existing debt facilities with this refinancing. Underlying EPS for the half is AUD 0.578 per share. Growth upon the same period for FY 2020 of 12.7%. The EBOS board has declared an interim dividend of NZD 0.425 per share. This will be imputed to 25% and fully franked for Australian tax resident shareholders. The FY 2021 interim dividend is an increase of 13.3% on the FY 2020 interim dividend and represents an underlying payout ratio for the period of 69%. Reflecting on the Group's operating performance, cash flow, and balance sheet, the DRP will not be available for this interim dividend. Thank you, and I'll now hand you back to John.
Thank you, Leonard. In conclusion, we have recorded a strong financial performance in the first half with double-digit earnings growth, excellent cash flow and returns on capital, and a further strengthening of our balance sheet. The robust trading conditions that drove our first half FY 2021 performance remain in place. In January of 2021, we recorded Group earnings growth at levels consistent with our first half FY 2021 growth. We continue to closely monitor COVID-19 developments. However, the Group is not presently experiencing any associated material negative financial impacts. Given our scale and market-leading positions in stable industries, as well as our strong balance sheet, we are well-placed to respond to any challenges that may arise. With that, I'll conclude the formal part of the presentation. I'll hand back to the operator, Kevin, to facilitate any questions.
Thank you very much. Thank you. At this time, if you wish to ask a question, please press star one on your telephone and wait to be announced. If you wish to cancel your request, please press the pound or hash key. Once again, it is star one if you wish to ask a question. Thank you very much. We have multiple questions in the queue. Our first question is from Chelsea Leadbetter from Forsyth Barr. Please ask your question, Chelsea.
Hi, John and team. I guess just starting off with the margin side of the result, obviously , a pretty good period. If I think back six months ago, you were sort of, I guess, guiding to fairly stable or flat margins through the period. Just kind of interested in, one, what's changed versus then? I'm guessing some of the , or at least most of it , may be volumes, certainly surprising on the upside. Also, interested in the sustainability or, I guess, how you're thinking about the outlook from margins going forward, particularly in the healthcare segment for the second half.
Okay. I'll refer to EBIT margins, Chelsea, which I think you're referring to. We did have an expectation at the conclusion of our FY 2020 results that we would hopefully see some margin expansion. It's not unexpected for us. The key drivers are really, there's a benefit to the EBIT margin from both Healthcare and Animal Care. If I concentrate, say, on the H ealthcare part of the business, you can see the benefit of the extra volumes coming through from our devices business is assisting in that margin. We've also been able to improve our margins or get some margin growth from volume growth in the medical consumables side of things. Our HPS business has also made a contribution to that margin expansion. Within our operations, we've also had further benefits from the economies of scale.
We continue to generate additional productivity improvements throughout the operations network, which is pleasing. All of those factors are really contributing to that margin expansion you see.
If I'm kind of hearing you right, these all sound like relatively sustainable benefits , and therefore, I guess, is there still upside to come from here? Is that the way I should be taking that or thinking about things?
We certainly think the margin's stable from here. We'll always drive for further margin improvement, as you know. That will depend upon if we can continue to generate the growth in those particular categories that I just referred to. We're confident we can. We're confident we can continue to build that. Certainly , as a management team, we'll certainly be striving for further margin improvement.
Okay. No, that's clear. Then , just in terms of the corporate cost line in this particular result, just interested in what's driven the uplift. It is fairly substantial on a percentage basis. Also, how should we think about the second half run rate? Is this sort of a new normal level to think about?
I'll probably defer to Leonard on that one. Are you okay to handle that, Leonard?
Yeah. I'll take that, John. Yeah, the increase really is in relation to a couple of factors, Chelsea. If I break it down, there are some additional insurance costs that are coming through. The insurance market, as our broker describes it at the moment, is a bit of a bloodbath, particularly the D&O market. There's been an increase in insurance costs as they come through. We've also expanded our LTI program to more participants within the Group. More employees are now participating in that, and it's coming through in those results. We've also introduced an employee share scheme to all employees across the Group, as well as contributing. We've included or resized, I think, the corporate team structure and also looked as part of that support initiatives such as ESG.
If you're looking forward to the full year, I think the first half will probably going to be consistent in the second half. Maybe a little bit down with the profile of the cost that's included in the corporate area in the first half. I wouldn't expect it to be any higher. Noting also that the second half, I think, last year was a bit higher as well. I wouldn't expect the same sort of increase in the second half. That the cost should be broadly in line, if not a little bit lower , in the second half.
Okay. No, I appreciate the color. Just one last question from me for now. In terms of the balance sheet, and obviously , the free cash flow results very strongly through the period. I'd just kind of appreciate that you like to keep headroom and firepower for M&A, and you have said there's an active pipeline, but it is getting quite low in terms of your gearing profile. How are you thinking about debt, I mean, in terms of your acquisition outlook, but also , is there a potential here that we start to think about lifting the dividend payout further if you don't manage to find big opportunities?
Chelsea, that's a good question. As you know, we're very, and have historically been very acquisitive. We see no change to that strategy. There are always a number of opportunities that we work upon in the pipeline. We recently, over the last 12 months, we've added another two people to our M&A team within the corporate team. We're confident that we will continue to add to the business. At this point in time, we'd like to just prefer to keep that firepower up our sleeve. At a point in time, if due to the ongoing strength and the cash flows of the business, we can combine both with an active M&A, continued M&A program, as well as a higher dividend, then that'd be a nice outcome for shareholders. We're probably not at that point right now.
Okay, thanks. Appreciate the color.
Thank you.
Thanks, Chelsea.
Our next telephone question comes from Andrew Paine from MST Marquee. Please ask your question, Andrew.
I actually think it might've been myself, Andrew Goodsall. I don't know if you can hear me? Sorry.
Hi, Andrew.
You got the two Andrews. I was just gonna quickly ask, just on one of the standouts , I thought was the GOR on your institutional sales. Just trying to understand, there was a big gap between your top-line sales and your GOR. Was just sort of what the driver of that was? I'm guessing it was volume-based purchasing and being able to get better pricing. Is that the right way to think about that?
There are those types of businesses , like devices, our devices business, and also our HPS and consumables business sort of can generate what we call other income, Andrew.
Right.
Right. That's the key driver in that particular line item.
Is that delta likely to continue? I guess, whether volume is a factor or not, is the structure likely to continue where you can outpace your top line there?
We'd like to think so.
Yeah?
We'd like to think so. I suppose each period's gonna be different. It's a bit hard to forecast that, but we certainly like to think so.
I was just going to ask you around , just getting a bit of flavor on the second half, just sort of you mentioned that TerryWhite is getting ready for vaccination, but I imagine that's just vaccination at the shop front. Whether you're involved in either Australia, New Zealand , or any other country in the vaccination distribution chain. I know DHL had a star role, whether the AstraZeneca one, whether you've got a role , and just any other flavor in the next six months that is perhaps different. This time last year, hospitals were stockpiling quite significantly. Just whether you have any thoughts around those sorts of trading items.
Yeah. On the vaccine. In New Zealand, we do have involvement in the distribution of the vaccine. However, that's subject to fairly strict confidentiality, so we can't expand more upon that. In Australia, at this point in time, we have no direct involvement in the distribution of the vaccine other than what I mentioned on the call , with being our pharmacy customers. We'll have, of course, a role in the administration of the vaccine. That's a positive for our TerryWhite Chemmart network members and increases, hopefully, the footfall traffic that goes into those stores. We benefit indirectly from that. No, to answer your question, no direct involvement in the distribution of the vaccine in the Australian market at this point in time. Your latter question was, I think was on the hospitals and the stockpiling themes or trends.
Certainly , what we have seen over the last two years, really, Andrew, was a very strong performance in the hospital segment, and that continued in the first half. Although towards the end of the first half, we did see that starting to come down, so off its highs. That decline also came through in January as well. Not too early to tell what that means for the next half or into even FY 2022. Certainly , in the most recent months, the hospitals business, in terms of revenue, hasn't been as strong as what it was in the majority of the first half.
Okay. I guess we'll try and think of that in the sequence of stockpiling for COVID and recovery from COVID, perhaps. And the final question from me-
I was going to say that's probably what it was. It's probably that stockpiling thematic, and maybe that's winding down a bit.
Then, just on the outlook for PBS, you called out some AUD 39 million worth of impact. I imagine, obviously, that's ongoing, but just where there's any sort of big-name drugs that you think are going to be coming through that price reduction process this second half , or any other movements in PBS , or thoughts around underlying PBS?
I think in terms of trying to get insight into that, it's always very difficult in terms of what the actual numbers are. The impact of PBS reforms, for the benefit of everyone on the call, the impact of PBS reforms had a negative impact on revenues of about AUD 40 million. We'd expect that to continue at that rate into the second half. We'd expect a full-year impact of reforms of about AUD 80 million, which , of course , offsets the benefit we're getting through the additional CSO funding that came as a result of the Seventh CPA. There's no single item that I'm aware of or drug, Andrew, that I'm aware of that's sort of leading to that AUD 80 million impact. It's on a broad range of drugs.
If I look at government outlooks for PBS, you'd think roughly similar in terms of the outlook just for the underlying growth?
Always hard to determine. You always ask me, and I never really enlighten you much, I don't think, on that.
It's the million-dollar question for all, even for the government.
You think I know more than you. I don't think I do. Look, we have been in our business, and as you can see in our numbers, we've been quite pleased with the ethical volumes we've been getting in that wholesale business, and a lot of that's driven by our major customers, and some will think that's just CW, but it's not just CW. We've got a lot of major customers, and they've all been driving fairly strong ethical growth. Look, we would like to think that that can continue into the second half at around about the 3%-4% mark, and if it can do that, then we'll be happy with that. I can't really share with you any insights beyond that.
Pretty forward of where we were. I think even at those levels, again, it seems you're taking a share. That's great. Thank you.
Once again, ladies and gentlemen, if you wish to ask a question, it is star one. Our next telephone question is from Saul Hadassin from UBS. Please ask your question, Saul.
Yeah, thanks. Good morning, John, Leonard. John, just a quick question on the gross margin in Community Pharmacy. Just noting that it has been pretty stable this period versus last. You obviously called out the PBS price reforms versus the benefits you are getting through the CSO. In essence, in terms of outlook for that division, do you think that gross margin effectively is now sort of fairly stable as you look out? Do you see any potential either upside or downside risk to that margin from anything in particular?
Hi, Saul. Yeah, look, as you noted, that has been stable, and the expectation is it would be stable. There are so many sorts of moving parts with respect to that margin, as you pointed out. We've got increased CSO funding. We've got the impact of PBS, which is a positive, and the impact of reforms, which is a negative. What we've seen in our business, though, is this particular period , a high proportion of the revenue growth has been based on the ethical lines and not on the FMCG goods. As you know, we earn a lower margin on the ethical lines and gross margin than what we do on the FMCG. The FMCG was particularly impacted by the decline in volumes across the cough and cold segment.
That was sort of like an industry impact, and that acted as a major decline, if you like, on that GOR margin. You might have reasonably been expecting the GOR margin to go up. With those two impacts, PBS reforms and the lower cough and cold and other FMCG categories because of COVID, it's been relatively stable. Our expectation is hopefully we can hold that at the current levels.
Thanks, John. Just one last one from me. On the Consumer Products business revenues, just noting that decline into 1H 2021, do you think that revenue base has now reached some sort of floor? Do you see that revenue continuing to decline sequentially because of those pressures that you've called out?
I'd like to think that it's reached its base. It's hard to tell in this COVID environment. As I said on the call, some of our products, say in Pharmacy Choice and Quitnits, have been affected by COVID and supply chain difficulties, et cetera, as well as the fall- off in daigou. I think we've probably got the full impact of the daigou in the numbers. If there are other impacts as a result of supply chain disruptions, et cetera, then that could impact it further. I'd like to think that it won't going forward. I'd like to think we've reached a base.
Thank you, John. That's all I had.
Okay. Thanks , Saul.
Our next telephone question is from Adrian Allbon from Jarden. Please ask your question, Adrian.
Good morning, John. Just wondering if you can comment on, given you're capturing above system growth and your ROCE is at a record level, can you just help us understand what sort of level of investment is required on the rest of the facility side for the next little while if that trend continues?
Adrian, you're very hard to hear. I think your question was on ROCE and the level of investment required. If I interpreted that correctly. I think Adrian-
Yes?
Is that right?
Yes. Against the backdrop of capturing above system growth.
I didn't catch that part of the question. I'm sorry. You're very unclear. If I can talk about at least the ROCE level of investment in our warehouses, in the first half, we had a relatively low CapEx spend of AUD 10 million. As Leonard pointed out in his call, that was probably under our expectations , mainly because of COVID restrictions and having people access sites, et cetera. You'll probably see an increased spend in the second half , and maybe some catch-up spend into FY 2022. Look, we continue to evaluate the whole network across both Australia and New Zealand and cater for the significant growth in the business that we have generated, particularly over the last couple of years.
Suffice to say that it's a point where we'll continue to monitor, but any investment that we have to make in the future, then we certainly look to have that investment at least target our internal return on capital of 15%. I think your question might be, and if I'm talking about just what I'm assuming here , you talked about, I think, the system being above-market growth. Apologies if I haven't interpreted this correctly, but in our view, and what's backed up by the data, we have generated market share gains in both our Community Pharmacy business and also our hospitals business over the first half. It's been pleasing that we have continued to grow our market share.
As you know, we've got a significant presence in both markets, and the alignment of our customer base is continuing to grow. If we can continue that growth in the second half, then we're well-placed. I trust that's answered your questions.
Yes, it does. Is that easier to hear now?
That's a bit better, Adrian. Yeah.
Oh, perfect. I apologize for that.
No, that's okay.
Can I just ask a follow-up question, just on the TerryWhite Chemmart side of things? Obviously, you call out in the presentation record network add. How much more opportunity do you see for that network?
On network growth? Look, the whole TerryWhite Chemmart growth is really important to us. It's a key strategy for the Group. As I mentioned in the call, since we've moved to full ownership, we've really invested heavily in that business. It's about network stores at about 450. We have a target to push through 500 stores. We believe we can do that within the next 12 months. If we look out three years, we have a target to get to 600 stores, I believe the business can do that. We continue to invest in the business, in terms of the media spend, in terms of the promotions, in terms of the category. I think it's starting to resonate really strongly now within the industry. The like-for-like sales are very strong when you compare them to our competitors.
It's a key fundamental strategy for the Group, and we're very positive on it. The numbers are heading in the right direction for us. There's no reason why we can't readily go through 500 stores. There's no reason, sitting here today, why in three years' time we can't go through 600 stores. Right? There's plenty of growth in our view still to come there.
Okay, understood. Thank you. Apologies for the call , and well done on the good result.
No problems. Thanks, Adrian.
The next telephone question is from Stephen Ridgewell from Craigs. Please ask a question.
Good morning, guys. Congratulations on a good result. Just following up on that, Adrian's questions on TerryWhite Chemmart. Each store , one, I mean, roughly how much kind of revenue does that add to the wholesale business? Approximately kind of EBITDA, like how material are those store ones to the broader Group performance?
I can't talk EBITDA, Stephen. In terms of revenue, each store probably adds well, depending on the size of the store, of course, and they're all varying sizes. Depending on the size of the store, it might add AUD 1 million-AUD 2 million in terms of wholesale revenue annually, sometimes more than that.
Okay. That's helpful. Thanks. Just a bit of a commentary on-
Sorry, go on. You go.
Oh, sorry. Just kind of different kind of topic . There's been a bit of discussion about, kind of, COVID already, but at a Group level, do you have an estimate for perhaps how much the first half results benefited from COVID? There are obviously some parts of the business with overs, perhaps some with unders. On a kind of net basis, do you see the Group as a beneficiary of COVID? I know the second half of last year , you thought it was net zero. I guess that sort of speaks. Do you expect a bit of an unwind for the Group as we come out the other side of COVID?
Yeah. I said on the call, Stephen, that when you add up all the ups and downs of it, and that's not an easy exercise because it does impact on so many parts of the Group. In essence, we thought it probably added up to somewhere probably just under 2% in terms of the growth, right now , on the EBIT growth. For the period. What we have is EBIT growth of 11.5% or so. We think probably about 2% of that was, or just under 2%, was probably related to COVID. The benefits are that we handled some PPE equipment during the period. We certainly got some significant growth coming out of also the Animal Care business. In areas like Consumer Products, a lot of this decline is due to COVID.
Also, as I mentioned earlier about the falloff in the cough and cold category, which is a high-margin category within our Community P harmacy business, it had a really substantial decline. It's not a precise science, but that's our view. Just under the 2% mark.
Yeah. No, that's helpful. Thanks. Just one last one from me. Just interested in whether you can call out whether the Contract Logistics business in Australia saw share gains , in particular in light of some of the high-profile challenges one of your competitors has faced , and whether you're optimistic to see some share growth into the second half?
We didn't see any share gains in the first half. We came off quite a solid period of growth in FY 2020. We didn't see any share gains in the first half of FY 2021 and probably won't in the second half. What we're seeing as a result of the environment we're in is that manufacturers are generally reluctant to change service providers, just from a risk perspective. We certainly expect that business to start taking further share gains into FY 2022.
That's great. Thanks very much. That's all for me.
Okay. Thank you.
Once again, it is star one . Our next question is from Mathieu Chevrier from Citi. Please ask your question, Mathieu.
Good morning, John and Leonard. Thank you for taking my question. I just had a big picture question for you on the Community P harmacy side of things. We saw the other players reporting kind of, I guess, above historical average growth in their distribution businesses and retail pharmacies. I was just wondering, what do you think is the sustainable kind of growth level going forward? Because it used to be around 1% to 2% a year, and it seems like the whole market's growing faster, and I just wanted to know whether you had a view on that , and how long it's going to last for?
Hi, Mathieu. Look, that's a fair question. I think we're all probably different, in terms of our businesses, and it really is reflective of the customer base that you've got , that's going to drive the overall growth in that particular category. What we have seen is an uptick in our revenue growth in that particular area , largely because of the alignment we have with our major customer groups. Within that, of course, is the performance, increasing performance , and improved performance of TerryWhite Chemmart. We would expect to see sort of above-market growth in that particular market segment. We know we've improved our market share there in the first half. We would expect to see that continue. Does that mean that the market grows at four to five or one to two in the future? That's always very difficult to tell.
What we would have an expectation is that we would always , or we would like to think that we will generate above-market growth because of that alignment we have with our customer base, whether it's our major customers or whether it's our independent customers. We'd like to think that we can generate above-market growth there.
Yeah. Understood. I guess a similar question on the Animal Care side of the business. Obviously, you're seeing extraordinary growth. How long do you think that can last ? It will become hard at some point to grow your market share , given that you have such a high market share in some of those businesses.
Yes. I acknowledge the question. I'm very positive about what we can do in Animal Care. I think if you look at its track record, what we have been able to do over the last five years or so, we've had strong growth. There's no doubt that business , as a result of COVID-19 , has gone to a new level. Certainly not sitting here today expecting that business to continue growing EBIT at 25%. We still expect probably higher growth coming out of Animal Care, a higher growth rate than what we see out of our Healthcare business going forward. I still think there are some really fantastic opportunities for us to embark upon in Animal Care, into the future.
Therefore, while there might be a slowing in terms of the headline growth rate, once again, we've got real confidence in what we can do in this particular market segment.
All right. Thanks very much.
Okay. Thank you. I think that concludes the questions, Kevin. So-
That's correct. Please go ahead.
Thank you , everyone , for your participation in this call today and for listening to us and for your ongoing support for the Group. We look forward to catching up with you all in the near future. Thank you very much. Bye-bye.
Thank you.
Ladies and gentlemen, that does conclude the call for today. Thank you for participating. You may all disconnect. Have a great day.