Thank you for standing by and welcome to the Scales Corporation half year results conference call. All participants are on listen only mode. There will be a presentation followed by a question and answer session. If you wish to ask a question you will need to press the star key followed by the number one on your telephone keypad. I would now like to hand the conference over to Mr. Andy Borland, Managing Director. Please go ahead, sir.
Yeah, good morning, all. I'd like to welcome you to the Scales half-year results announcement for the six months ending June 30, 2021. With me today is Steve Kennelly, our CFO. Earlier this morning, we lodged our results with the NZX, which included a presentation pack, and we'll base our comments on this call. Steve, I'll run through the slides, and we'll take questions. On agenda, if we move on to slide two, showing the agenda. Moving to slide four and some first-half financial and operational highlights for the group. Despite a period with significant challenges, we're extremely pleased to report a half-year underlying NPAT of NZD 33.3 million and an underlying EBITDA of NZD 54.8 million, up 15.4% and 11% respectively on the prior period.
Please note that we've amended our definition of underlying in line with current market practice, so that it now includes the effects of NZ IFRS 16 leases. Steve will touch on this in more detail later. The reported NPAT was NZD 32.6 million, up 17.5%. Scales Logistics has continued to prove its strategic worth, managing to procure sufficient containers to allow its customers to export their product. This was a significant achievement in the current supply chain environment. Mr. Apple made an extraordinary effort to pick and pack its harvest, despite uncertainties around labor. Its forecast export volume of 3.6 million TCEs was affected by inclement weather during the key growing period. However, to date, it's achieved strong prices on those volumes. There was continued strong demand within Food Ingredients, with increased volumes resulting in an excellent outcome for the period.
I'll touch on each of the divisions in more detail shortly. Moving on to an update on both COVID-19 and sustainability. The subtitle of slide six says it all. Without our team, we wouldn't be able to operate either in or out of lockdown, so the safety of our people is our primary priority. As has previously been the case, our businesses are privileged to be classed as essential and so have continued to operate during this current lockdown. Whilst picking and packing of our harvest was completed prior to the lockdown announcement, our pandemic preparedness policies once again allowed the remainder of our business operations to transition smoothly to lockdown procedures. Notwithstanding the current situation, COVID-19 protocols had remained in place throughout the apple harvest and packing season. This included procedures such as increased sanitation levels, gloves, and masks.
We expect disruptions to domestic and international operations to continue, including labor availability, global supply, global markets, and supply chains. We've continued our focus on environmental matters together with the health and safety of our team members and market regulations. In terms of environmental projects, we're nearing the end of our carbon sequestration project in respect of apple tree plantings with Auckland University of Technology, AUT. We've seen some pleasing results and look forward to sharing more details of this in our annual report. The health and safety of our team continues to be of the highest importance, particularly given the recent COVID-19 outbreak. It's imperative that our people feel they are safe when coming to work.
Projects that we've worked on over the last six months included a pilot scheme with a number of industry participants, WorkSafe, and ACC to develop a multidisciplinary approach to injury prevention and reduction during the peak harvest period, and mental well-being strategies to support team members at all levels. Mental welfare is as important to us as physical health. We're keen to ensure there's a culture of overall well-being within our businesses. Meeting or exceeding market and customer requirements for food safety continues to be imperative to our businesses. We're pleased to be asked to take part in a pilot project with MPI and others to develop a produce-type digital supply chain. This with the aim of helping MPI build an end-to-end digital supply chain, allowing produce to be tracked and traced.
We also continue to ensure compliance with relevant certifications and audits and recently completed a China customs audit, ensuring continued access to China markets. I'll now pass over to Steve to discuss the financial results for the first half of the year.
Thanks, Andy. Turning to slide nine in our group financial performance. As Andy previously noted, group underlying NPAT for the first six months to June 30, 2021 was NZD 33.3 million, with underlying EBITDA of NZD 54.8 million. As shown in the table on this slide, we've included the effects of NZ IFRS 16 leases within our underlying results, and this is in line with current market practice, and we've restated our comparative figures accordingly. Also shown on this slide is the reconciliation of our underlying earnings to our reported results, and I'd also refer everyone to appendix one of the presentation for a more detailed reconciliation of the effect of IFRS 16, both on NPAT and on EBITDA. At a high level for the half year, the effect of IFRS 16 is to add NZD 5.5 million to underlying EBITDA, but to reduce underlying NPAT by NZD 200,000.
Moving on to slide 10, you'll see a summary of our divisional performance, highlighting the excellent results achieved by our Horticulture and Food Ingredients divisions. As Andy mentioned earlier, the Horticulture division benefited from strong prices on lower export volumes, resulting in a 2.9% increase in underlying EBITDA. Maintaining diversified markets and varieties has assisted the division to achieve this result. Food Ingredients continued to benefit from increased pet food demand together with changes in its product mix and margin, resulting in an increase of NZD 5.1 million in underlying EBITDA. Unfortunately, logistics was affected by lower export volumes, particularly stone fruit. However, its strategic value is difficult to quantify, and Andy will touch on this again later. Turning to our balance sheet on slide 11, our financial position remains strong.
Whilst net cash decreased by NZD 16.8 million -NZD 38 million, this was primarily due to two factors: CapEx spend, including investment in our new Whakatu coolstore and ongoing orchard redevelopment together with other projects, and an increase in working capital, specifically Food Ingredients inventories due to shipping delays at overseas ports. The value of our agricultural produce inventory at June 30, 2021 compared to the prior year remained steady. Whilst there was a lower volume of unsold crop at balance date, it was valued at a higher price compared to the prior year. As noted on the slide, around 27% of fruit remains to be sold as at today's date. I'll now hand you back to Andy, who'll give you a further update on each division.
Thanks, Steve. Turning to slide 13. As previously mentioned, the Horticulture Division delivered a strong result despite being impacted by a shortage of skilled RSE workforce, as well as increased labor and shipping costs. The RSE scheme is incredibly important, not only to the Horticulture Division, but also to the industry as a whole. Mr. Apple employed approximately 14% less RSE workers over the key February to April harvest period, compared to 2020. We're pleased to be able to supplement our workforce with New Zealanders and working holiday scheme workers. We're extremely grateful to the entire Mr. Apple team for their extraordinary effort to pick, pack, and export this year's harvest. At our ASM, Tim Goodacre noted the vital role that RSE workers have played in enabling our overall company growth.
A 37% increase in RSE workers over the period 2012- 2020 has helped Mr. Apple to increase its permanent staff numbers by 111%. We're also aware that the skills acquired and wages earned are highly beneficial to RSE workers, their whānau, and their home communities, and we're delighted to support the recent announcement by the government to allow additional workers into New Zealand from selected Pacific communities. Whilst continuation of the RSE scheme continues to be critical to our operations, the overall landscape around the availability of and cost of labor has changed. We believe efficiency and returns can be improved through automation, and as a result, we've commenced a 10-year investment in automation plan at Mr. Apple. Our initial focus is on post-harvest activities, with the first step being the commissioning of our new Whakatu coolstore earlier this year.
The cool store is already delivering a number of efficiencies, including reduced power consumption, decreasing the double handling of fruit, which lowers the amount of fruit damage, as well as labor cost, and reduction in transportation costs and carbon emissions. The next stage of our plan is to fully automate the Whakatu packhouse, a three to four year project that will significantly increase labor productivity, reduce the number of human touch points, and potentially lead to 24/7 packing, allowing greater freight and labor efficiency. Orchard automation and technology solutions, we're also actively being monitored and considered. These are likely to follow the packhouse upgrade project. Turning to slide 15 in details of Mr. Apple's volumes. As mentioned, this year's crop was affected by inclement weather during the key growing season, resulting in a lower own grown volume of around 3.6 million TCEs.
Our export packout is approximately 73%, also slightly lower than last year's rate of 76%, with our equipment efficiently grading the fruit for export. Importantly, non-export grade fruit does not go to waste, for they're sold domestically, juiced for Profruit, or sold for further processing. Premium variety volumes continued to grow with a 9% increase compared to last year, and there was considerable growth in the sales of our new premium Dazzle and Posy apples. There was a drop in volumes of traditional varieties this year due to a combination of our planned redevelopment program and weather impacts. Moving to slide 16. As in previous years, our strategy of varietal, geographical, and channel diversification proved to be of benefit during a period of worldwide uncertainty. To date, the Asia and Middle East markets and U.K. markets have been positive.
The European market has been impacted by the lower volumes of traditional varieties available, but a lower European crop is expected to both improve and lengthen the season for us. Pricing has remained firm, with prices being achieved that are mainly above or in line with last year. Fern Ridge Fresh continues to ship a pleasing level of alternative produce, including kiwi fruit and pears. Moving to slide 17. The Horticulture division continues to build its branding and marketing strategies, with one of its strategies being to maximize its appeal to consumers as well as wholesalers and retailers, particularly in the Asia and Middle East market. Some initiatives Mr. Apple has implemented are noted on this slide, including increased social media, increased store promotions, and packaging innovations to appeal to customers, as shown in the photos.
This has proven to be successful with their retail, e-commerce, and omni or multi-channel sales accounting for a significant 76% of China sales in 2020. To support these channels, our flagship Tmall store is now operational in selling a range of Mr. Apple products directly to China consumers and sales of Dazzle also being made through selective high-end Chinese retailers such as Hema. Moving to slide 18. The next slide demonstrates some of the social media activity carried out by our marketing team. Mr. Apple has a presence on a variety of social media platforms across Asia and has been undertaking campaigns since May that are designed to build our brand with consumers. These campaigns are expected to run through to September. Moving on to the Food Ingredients division on slide 19.
Food Ingredients experienced another strong performance in the first six months of the year, with 46% increase in profitability. Together with increases in volume sold compared to the same period last year, the division benefited from changes in product mix and margin within the individual business operations. Our Australian operations were somewhat affected by the publicized supply chain issues. Our geographical diversification again proved to be advantageous for Shelby benefiting from having a domestic customer base. ProGro also encountered supply chain difficulties for its export sales, strong domestic sales largely helped to offset these effects. Turning to logistics on Slide 20. The current domestic and global supply chain issues have been widely reported, Scales Logistics was not immune to these problems.
However, an exceptional effort by Kent Ritchie and his team to procure sufficient refrigerated containers for their horticulture and other primary sector customers ensured the successful shipping of all harvests. The team's expertise continues to pay dividends for all our customers. Whilst there is a slight decrease in earnings for the division, primarily due to reduced volumes of agricultural exports, the strategic value of the business far outweighs any financial benefit. Given the likelihood of ongoing supply chain disruptions, having an expertly managed and dedicated international freight services business is expected to be highly advantageous. Lastly, moving on to the full-year outlook on slide 22. Following a strong first half period, we're pleased to report that we've upgraded our previously advised guidance for the full year.
We now anticipate that our full-year underlying net profit will be between NZD 32 million and NZD 37 million, inclusive of the effect of the NZ IFRS 16 leases. This implies an underlying EBITDA range of between NZD 65 million and NZD 72 million, also inclusive of the effect of NZ IFRS 16. We expect that the Horticulture division will experience ongoing disruption in global markets and logistics, together with difficulties around the availability and cost of labor. However, as mentioned, we've commenced a significant investment in automation and technology in order to increase efficiency throughout the business. A positive full-year performance is expected from Food Ingredients. Whilst we incurred significant transaction costs following an unsuccessful acquisition of Villa Maria, we continue to proactively seek and review potential investment opportunities. We believe we're well positioned to take advantage of opportunities, although we'll continue to proceed with caution in the current business environment.
Looking forward further, we expect the 2022 financial year will continue to feel the effects of COVID and particularly in respect of the availability and cost of global supply chain logistics. We will obviously continue to monitor this situation and develop strategies to minimize its impact. That concludes today's formal presentation, although we would point you towards appendix one of the presentation pack, which provides additional financial information and reconciles underlying earnings to reported earnings for each of our divisions as well as the group. We're happy now to take questions.
Thank you. If you wish to ask a question, please press star one on your telephone and wait for your name to be announced. If you wish to cancel your request, please press star two. If you're on a speakerphone, please pick up the handset to ask your question. Your first question comes from Guy Hooper of Forsyth Barr. Please go ahead.
Yeah, good morning, Steve and Andy. Congrats on a strong result in what must have been a pretty challenging period. I guess the first question from me is just around margin expectations. I remember at the full year results, the FY 2020, you had a chart of EBIT margin sort of outlook, and for this year, the suggested EBIT margin was around 8%, give or take. You appear to be tracking well ahead of that for this full year. What's been different versus your expectations and what can we expect to see going forward?
Well, Guy, I think the main impact's obviously been, in the horticulture business, has been the prices. New Zealand had a reduced national crop due to that huge hail event in Nelson, but also we had some lost volume, and also there was less volume picked because of the labor shortage across the country. I think, yes, a lower New Zealand crop did help hold prices and lift prices across the apple sales season. Also hugely impressed by the Mr. Apple performance around seeking a premium for our premium apples and getting them there on time in a difficult environment. I think from that perspective, it's been a great outcome for the team.
Yeah. How are those premium varieties pricing compared to the expectations? I guess now you've got more commercial volumes there.
Very pleased with them. The Dazzle, Posy, even though we had a very strong year with Queens again this year. Yeah, very pleased with the way those premium apple prices are going.
Okay. I guess the other part of that question was just about the margin outlook. Is that track that you had at the last result, is that still relevant or have we kind of moved on from that?
Well, I think it is still relevant because the efforts we're putting into restoring margin are around the replanting, more efficient orchard, management practices through both the thinning, the pruning and the harvesting. Also, moving towards more automation, and also even the new Whakatu two cool store kicked in this year, operational from day one. Having a large cool store right beside our biggest pack house, has been a benefit. Absolutely.
Okay, thank you. I guess just one more. With the big, obviously big lift in volume from Food Ingredients, there seems to be a reasonable lift in EBITDA margin per kg. I guess mix changes are called out. Can you give us a little bit more color on the drivers of those?
Well, clearly the strong performer in Food Ingredients was the Shelby business. I mean, the team there have absolutely continued to operate under incredibly difficult COVID environment. Our Amarillo plants continued on and commissioned their Dodge City, the new Dodge City plant that got operating. Just strong demand coming out of all those big customers up there in the U.S., and Brett Frankel and all of his team, just continued to find good markets for the product that they were moving and very pleased with that performance. The rest of the business back here, the New Zealand and Australian international business has been strong as well.
With big demand, where's the supply coming from? Were you able to source product to beat that?
Yeah. Well, clearly, because that's where you've seen the big lifts in production, and the volumes traded. It was more volume, both out of New Zealand and Australia, but also significantly out of America, out of the U.S. market again. Felt strong connections with the meat packers and the ability to move more volume through likes of that Dodge City plant.
All right, thanks. I'll pop off here. Thanks for taking the questions.
Cheers, Guy.
Your next question comes from Joshua Dale from Craigs Investment Partners. Please go ahead.
Good morning. Just three questions from me. First one, you've upgraded underlying impact guidance at the midpoint by around 13%. A good part of the upgrade appears to be from Food Ingredients, which is partly owned by Shelby minorities. My question is, what is the upgrade to Scales equity holders?
Steve, do you want to answer that one?
Yeah. Good question. When we've advised guidance, we've only ever given the impact at a including minority interest level. We don't give guidance on the impact attributable to our shareholders. Yeah, it's inclusive of minorities.
Okay. Is it reasonable to look at, I guess, there was probably about an 8% lift in underlying impact to equity holders in the interim result. Is that probably fair for the full year, just sort of steering?
I would have thought it's higher than that, but I'd have to go back and work that out. Yeah, we haven't focused on that number.
Okay, thank you. The second question, is there any comment you can make on dividends given the upgrade?
What was that question again? Sorry.
Is there any comment you can make on dividends, either for the interim result or the full year, given the upgrade to guidance?
Well, I just think we'd continue to rein our policy of paying dividend at that, we've declared 65%-75% range, Steve, of impact?
Yeah, 65%-75%, having that minimum of 19% whilst supported by NPAT. We consider the dividend November, December. Yeah, I don't think the expectation is for any change to that.
Great. Thank you. Last question from me. You sort of talked about the feed ingredients that was in an earlier question, but obviously volumes have increased 30%, but I am curious about the pricing environment. Are you, for the most part, a price taker, or is there some scope to lift pricing as the pet food brands compete for your supply?
I think the point there is that we are a strong player in the market. We have very strong relationships with both the meat packing, freezing, the meat industry of Australia, New Zealand, and America, and very good customer base who looking for the proteins that we're sourcing for them. I just think, strong strategic positioning is assisting us to meet our customers' expectations and requirements.
Okay. That's great. Right. Thanks, guys.
The range of products we've got is, I think, advantageous to us as well.
Sure. Okay. That's all from me. Thank you, and well done on a strong half.
Thanks.
Your next question comes from Christian Bell of Jarden. Please go ahead.
Hi, Andy and Steve. Sorry, a number of questions from me, so please bear with me. First one, are supply chains now worse compared to earlier updates in the year? Does your guidance for the remainder of the year assume disruption as it is now, or do you assume some sort of easing at some point in the remainder of the year?
I don't know if they're getting worse per se. I think they just continue to be bloody difficult. That's our assumption that they carry on being difficult. We have got more, 27 odd percent of the apples to sell, probably less so to ship because some of it's still in the market. We've got to get those last apples across there. We've got to continue getting the pet food across there, and we've got to continue to servicing our customers across the Scales Logistics customer base. It hasn't stopped, the supply chain, so it just continues, but in a, I guess, a disruptive way. It's really probably a combination of, as you, without repeating it all, the extra demand, but also the disruption in the ports. We sort of factored in that continuing, but not deteriorating super further for the next half.
Cool. Thank you. It looks like the new Whakatu cool store generated some pretty decent savings. Would you be able to quantify that?
Probably haven't got it exactly down to the last dollar. Just the common rationale that we were used to be trucking bins into that area for packing, and now they can just be forklifted across the street, a concrete platform. It's like absolutely adjacent to the pack house. That has, as we said, it's probably helped lift our fruit quality, lowering the damage. You put a new plant in like that, it's way more electricity efficient, energy efficient. It's just Andrew van Workum's been asking for that building to be built for 20 years, probably 30. He finally got his way, and it was always a good idea. It was just finding the time and the capital to do it, and now we've done it. We're pleased.
Just as it's been, in terms of savings, like just NZD a few million or something like that before you consider the fact that it's creating better fruit?
Yeah. Oh, it would be in the millions, for sure. It's just a very good way to get more efficiency in our business.
Cool. Just on RSEs, I don't suppose you've got any more visibility over how many you're going to get next year? Any sort of update there?
Well, the inference we got from the announcement that the government made was that it would be a meaningful number, because they were obviously clogging up the MIQ system. The hope was that they would come across vaccinated, ready to go, and not having to go through a hotel in Auckland. Clearly, that's subject to current issues. From the workforce that we've got in the country, can get us through till early next year. Clearly we're hoping for a return to some sort of normalcy in the next few months.
The workforce you've currently got, they're happy to sort of stick around?
Yeah. Well, they can't go far anyway at the moment. They're keen to work. It's a great scheme because it's a win-win scheme. They work hard, they're paid well, and they take that money home when they go.
Great. Then just turning to the investment, the automation investment strategy. Has that become more of a focus? Given difficulty with the M&A stuff, has the automation and the horticulture business become more of a focus now?
I don't think it was anything to do with the M&A. I think it's more to do with the reality of that. The government announcements and policy that they're not going to encourage any agribusinesses to expand, expecting easy access to migrant labor. The RSE scheme has been fully supported by the governments here and in the Pacific Islands. It's a well-organized scheme. There's more plantings going on of apples. There's more kiwi fruit and other horticulture practices. I don't see the labor force from overseas increasing as those crops, extra growth in those crops. All the horticulture industries need to start thinking about automation and wherever they can. I just see this more necessary due to the rising or the shortage of labor. We've got to be realistic about that and the cost of it.
Just Sorry, where are you still going?
No, just the rising cost of labor for you.
The three to four year project in the Whakatu packhouse and then also the on-orchard investment, that was the first time you guys have mentioned that before. Just wondering, building off what Guy had asked previously, have those initiatives been built into your EBIT margin track? In the past, it was more just the Whakatu coolstore that had been mentioned. Is there an upside to those ones?
I do see them being built into that EBIT, the margin improvement or restoration, if you like. Absolutely. They're big initiatives, and we're going to put the capital to work to get that efficiency. Literally, we're just using our capital. For example, in that Whakatu coolstore, we haven't taken it out of there, but if we did find an opportunity of scale, they're highly likely to sell and lease that Whakatu packhouse, and that would just about fund the Whakatu automation.
So-
Sorry, sell the cold store and fund the automation. The M&A opportunity sort of remains real and full and not being, if you like, reduced by these initiatives.
Surely, there must be some upside to your existing margin track, though, given that there is a lot more planned automation in this part of the business.
Well, there will be when it is finished, but it is going to take, as we said, three to four years. Some of the equipment is coming from overseas. We just physically haven't got the time and resource to do it all in one big bang.
Oh, yeah. Cool. Fair enough. When you say you're monitoring the post-harvest technology, does that include things like robot pickers, similar to what T&G growers have got? I guess, are they just quite expensive at the moment?
T&G growers haven't got robot pickers.
Well, they've got some sort of machine that goes down the rows and sucks the apples off the trees.
Oh, you should send it to me because it's not what They've got platforms. They had a robot picker that the inventor's gone broke. There's a lot where unfortunately, the industry across the globe is quite a way away from having robotic pickers under current technology. This pressure across the globe may speed it up. Maybe Tesla's going to make us one. I've been watching him. He's building robots, isn't he? I think that on orchard, we're really looking at our planting style, and lowering a lot more of the apples picked by people standing up, not on a ladder. More efficiency is the first port of call, and then any sort of automation platforms or robotic pickers, that'll be coming down the track.
Okay. Just the, I guess, in case of your own interest, T&G growers just did their result last week. They said that they had bought eight more automatic pickers. Maybe it's something a little bit different, I'm not too sure. Just moving on from there. You mentioned more orchard development this year. I thought that phase 2 had finished last year. Have you guys started doing that again now?
It was the end of it. You've just got to, in the second year of the planting, you've just got to finish it off.
Okay.
It was really explaining the reduction in net cash.
Okay, cool.
That is currently just, we're having a pause there on that as we do go dive into this Block two automation.
Okay, sweet. I don't dispute that the current lockdown will impact you too much given the main part of the harvest is done now. Most of the apples are sold and in the market.
Yeah. That's our thinking, and that's where we've changed our guidance, because obviously, the way we record our half-year result, we have to put a value on all of the stock as though it's sold. We've assessed that. The risk is to someone's earlier point, can we get it to the market and get it sold for the money we think we can? That's all been factored in. We can't cover every risk, but we think we've given it all a fair consideration.
Yeah. Clearly, you've done it up till now, but. Just on Food Ingredients, have your volumes remained elevated to date?
Yeah. Look, it's seasonal business. In New Zealand, this is the off-slow season now. We have built that stock up. No, I think we're not expecting a materially different or slowdown.
Okay. Just on it, I guess, your guidance range, it looks like it's more reflective of the Food Ingredients performance with the toppings, like a repeat of what you've done in the first half.
Yeah, I think that's right. Steve, have you got a comment on that?
Yeah. No, that'd be fair. Certainly Food Ingredients has got the biggest outperformance. Just got to be a bit careful. I'd reiterate, just looking at the guidance, the fact that we are now including IFRS 16. It does look like a big step-up. NZD 10 million-NZD 11 million of that on an EBITDA basis is IFRS 16, and that's simply just doubling the effect at half year. Still a significant increase in guidance. Just be very conscious of the fact that we are now including the IFRS 16 effect in there.
Food Ingredients hasn't got any impact from IFRS 16.
No, you're right. It is, yeah, definitely an increase in our underlying guidance and of that Food Ingredients does have a good effect.
Yeah. Okay. Sorry, just if I could squeeze it in just to wrap it up. Just in respect to Horticulture, you're expecting a, I guess, a strong-ish second half given the support in the European market despite the ongoing trade issue?
Well, clearly, I think the second half for Horticulture's not a big impact because we put most, all of the crops sold in the first half result.
Yeah.
Steve, what is that impact? It's pretty minimal, isn't it?
It is very small. We've obviously estimated the value of the crop at half year on a selling price basis. We're using that based on what's happened to date and on our expectations. You'll see from previous years that the contribution from horticulture in the second half of the year is generally very small, if not, slightly negative. That really is dependent on how accurate we get that half-year valuation. We think we've been, as usual, pretty realistic with that valuation.
Nice one. Awesome. Thanks, guys. What awesome results. Thank you for taking my questions.
Cheers.
Yep.
Your next question comes from David Oxley from ACC. Please go ahead.
Good morning. I had a couple of questions, if I may. Firstly, I'm just looking back at my notes. When you bought Shelby a couple of years or so ago, it was doing about NZD 10 million of EBITDA, and you sort of set out an aspiration at the time of you were to spend another NZD 50 million, or you could maybe make it into a NZD 25 million EBITDA business. You're clearly going to obliterate that aspiration this year, as far as I can see, without actually spending anything. Is there any kind of upgrade or update you could give us as to what those aspirations might look like now in terms of the medium-term potential for that business?
Hi, David. Look, I think the aspiration to 25 was for the division, actually. Yeah, look, clearly the Shelby Foods business is performing incredibly well for us, and absolute credit to the team. Yeah, I guess we've helped the business with more people, a lot, bit more systems. Down at the end of the day, the core business is going incredibly well. We're in the process, clearly COVID has held us back from getting back up there. We're continuing to talk to a couple different players as an add-on, bolt-on sort of opportunity. We're also talking to Shelby Foods about, there's more room to expand, put more equipment into their Dodge City plant that we're operating out of. Also, we still haven't expanded at Amarillo Delta variant is in the community there in Amarillo, and haven't got the vaccination rates where they could be.
Those sort of things are disrupting us, there's no doubt about that. Yes, we do have an ambition to move the bar, David. We just haven't got the detail on that yet in terms of the NZD 25 million and the CapEx. Certainly looking at it as a very viable opportunity for investing more in that business.
Okay. Thank you. I guess, aside from the good execution, the fact that volumes have been presumably higher than you expected at the time you made the Shelby acquisition, aided, I think, from what you said in the past by more pets being acquired during lockdowns, et cetera. There's no risk that that's a kind of one-off type effect, that ought to be sustainable going forward as a kind of underlying volume base, you think?
Look, we sort of had a query on that ourselves this year, and we've just been very pleased with the continued demand. You just need to have a look. If you look at the American market, for example, and the Chinese market, there's huge more investment going into new plants in America. I think there's five new pet food plants planned, multimillion-dollar ones in America today, and in the process of being built. They are the plants that we're supplying.
Right.
The increased consumption of pet food is certainly, we're getting a benefit from that.
Right. Okay. Thank you. Second question, if I may. Am I right in thinking that your earlier guidance, when you were looking at the uncertainty around securing RSE workers and the cost you would incur in, I think, paying for them to come through MIQ, et cetera? At the time, you, I think, were assuming that you would wear the costs entirely of your workers, whereas the hope was that they would work for you during the apple picking season, then move on, and at the end, there'd be some kind of wash-up where all the companies that employed these guys would share in the cost. Has that panned out as I understand, and does some of your guidance upgrade reflect the fact that you now are not assuming the full cost of putting these people through MIQ?
No, we still accommodated in our first guidance. We were accommodating the fact that we would share them out. Yeah, for sure.
Oh, okay.
We'd had the extra cost of them factored in. I think the reality was that we didn't quite get as many as we thought we would. In a way, saved us money. There was an additional cost also, which we tried to factor in. We may not have accounted for all of it, though. This time last year, we still had 500 or 600 RSE workers that normally would have gone home, that we did carry through. We had them playing in volleyball competitions and doing odd jobs around the orchard. There's probably a bit of extra cost there that has been incurred. I think we did try and accommodate for most of it.
All right. Okay. Finally, in terms of full-year CapEx outlook, am I right in thinking double the first half will be about right?
Yeah.
Depends if we get started on this automation. Steve, what did you say, then?
Yeah, that should be about right. The initial spend on automation, because it's a three-to-four-year project, it won't be a hugely material number.
Yeah, not in the first half. No, definitely not.
I may have missed it. Have you said what that automation spend is like to be over the life of the three to four years?
It's in the order of NZD 25-NZD 30 with contingency included.
Right. Okay, cool. Thank you very much, guys.
Thanks, David.
Your next question comes from Christian Bell of Jarden. Please go ahead.
Hey, guys. Sorry, just something popped up. Just Food Ingredients. Are there any signs of more competition in your part of the market? I know there's a lot of downstream manufacturing plants opening up, but what about in your neighborhood?
Not that we're aware of. There's competition there, so we're sort of sitting there. No, probably not. It's competitive space, there's no doubt about that. In a way, Christian, the competition can come from the meat companies themselves using more of the product in edible. In New Zealand here, putting more product that could have come to us, like the meat on the last of the bones can sometimes be cartoned up and sent to China, for example. The real competition for us is the alternative use from the meat companies themselves.
Yeah.
We're not seeing them necessarily heading into the pet food area. In a way, we expect to export less out of New Zealand in the next few years, because if you've been watching, there's three or four new big pet food manufacturing plants being commissioned now. Ziwi, we are finishing one off, and there's another one going on, a China one in Taumarunui. Another China-based one going on in South Auckland. We'll be hoping to supply them before we export.
I guess, as more of these guys get built, the competition for supply actually gets tighter. It should be able to sustain pretty strong margins then.
That's the plan. Don't tell Lynn that, though.
Yeah. Cool. All right. Thank you.
Once again, if you wish to ask a question, please press star one on your telephone and wait for your name to be announced. There are no further questions at this time. I'll now hand back to Mr. Borland for closing remarks.
Well, thanks all for taking part in today's call. Clearly, we're very pleased with the results across all our group businesses, and through what was a very turbulent period of trading. We'd like to recognize the leadership and management of all of our teams. Wouldn't be talking about this result without their efforts this year and every other year. Thanks very much, and we look forward to updating you later in the year. Goodbye.
That does conclude our conference for today. Thank you for participating. You may now disconnect.