Okay, welcome everybody. Welcome to this analyst briefing presentation for our financial results ended the 31st of December 2025. From the outset, let me first, express some appreciation from the directors of the company, from management and probably from the company itself. Just like to take the time to thank, everybody, who's been involved in our operations last year in the production of these results. We'll appreciate it's been a big effort from our growers, from our suppliers, and our contractors and our own people. Let me start by thanking you all. Results are, again, a second year of record results. We don't take it for granted. It's been a big effort, and so well done.
Pleasure to present, let me tell you, a lot better than having to present, you know, more challenging information. In delivering on our strategy, we have had another year of excellent crop yields and quality. In many respects, the 2024/2025 growing and harvest season was excellent. It's out the gate, very good. 47 million trays, plus one trays of kiwifruit packed in New Zealand, up 10%. Australian volumes up 25%. Continuing rebound over there last year, really has helped us produce the numbers. In terms of the financials, earnings before interest, tax, depreciation, amortization, EBITDA, NZD 96 million. Profit before tax at NZD 47.5 million, so at the upper end of the range.
We'd advised the market that we expected the range to be between NZD 44 million-NZD 48 million at a profit before tax level, so NZD 47.5 million at the top end of that. After tax, NZD 32 million, well up on last year's NZD 8.8 million, understanding that last year's after-tax results were impacted by the deferred tax adjustment required after the government removed the tax deductibility of depreciation of buildings. Earnings per share, NZD 0.76 per share. Very good. We paid $NZD 0.30 per share in dividends, of which NZD 0.05 related to the year before. We'd actually paid interim dividends of NZD 0.25 for the 2025 year's earnings. Later in the pack, we'll, we've announced another NZD 0.25 to be paid, so full year dividends, NZD 0.50. Operational teams delivered excellent performance.
Our orcharding operations, very good yields. Our Post Harvest performance, low onshore fruit loss. Our game is to keep quality problems here onshore, not ship them offshore. We've had excellent offshore quality. Our premiums earned by delivering better fruit into the market has come back to us. We've given excellent service to all of our customers, our growers, our consumers, and to Zespri. Yes, we're very satisfied with what we did last year. We've invested in our growth assets. We've invested in New Zealand and Australian orchard developments. We've introduced Reemoon technology, which is packing technology, to three of our sites. One machine focused on citrus and two full kiwifruit solutions. We have leased a cool store expansion at Pioneer at Mount Maunganui, with Greensleeves, with Mr. Bass, which will give us extra cool store capacity, which is third-party farmers to release.
Our forward focus remains to maintain strategy, keep focused on what we do to make money. We are focused on driving efficiency gains through automation, and we are driven to deliver excellent operational performance. By way of an introduction to the year that we're heading into, we've got the infrastructure in place. We're actually delighted with where the capacity is at the moment. The systems and personnel are ready. We're just on the edge of the red harvest. We've taken a little bit. The Australian harvest underway. Understanding that Australia's been very hot. Nine days above 40 degrees is quite challenging.
Looking at the financials here, the group financial performance, NZD 440 million in revenues, up 7% on the NZD 411 million last year. Our group turnover, which is not reported on this slide, around NZD 500 million, up NZD 50 million. You know, starting to get up there now. NZD 96 million in EBITDA is up 26% on last year's number of NZD 76 million. NZD 47 and a half million dollars profit before tax is up 60% on last year's comparative number, NZD 29.7 million. As I said before, the top end of the guidance range, and you can see that the NZD 32 million dollars profit after tax is up 265% on the artificially low NZD 8.8 million dollars last year. Up 50% on a normalized profit after tax.
If we actually just put normal tax through and removed the deferred tax adjustment, well, the number would have been NZD 21.2 million. A return on capital employed, there's a slide coming later in the pack, 14.5%. Net tangible asset backing now NZD 6.31. Some people like to see these numbers as graphs. Here they are. You can see the graphs quite nicely going up. We had the blip in FY 2023. In every year. Outside of that, really the company remains on a growth trajectory. In terms of looking at the segments, the business units that we're operating at orcharding EBITDA, NZD 10.3 million is well up on NZD 6.2 million. Better yields, better performance, better margins, actually great returns from Zespri as the marketer. 19 million trays handled.
You know, remarkable performance for that part of our company. Post-Harvest, EBITDA, NZD 105 million, big numbers, up from NZD 90.4 million last year. This is the hotel for fruit. Great occupancy, well handled, efficient automation, driving and delivering, the returns that you would expect for the kind of investment we've got in that part of the business. SeekaFresh continues to build. This is our fresh markets, retail services part of our business, including the DNFC, the Delicious Nutritious Food Company, which we named so that you could tongue-tie me in these presentations. NZD 3.2 million in EBITDA, up from NZD 2.6 million last year, and having some momentum behind it. Team's done a great job.
Over into Australia, EBITDA at AUD 4.7 million, up from AUD 3.2 million last year. 5,600 tons of produce handled. Excellent performance in Australia and set to go forward. Of course, occasionally we might hit the odd weather-related speed bump, but orchards coming into production in Australia give it a pretty good look-outlook. Looking at the capital management for the business. NZD 17.7 million increase in capital employed during the year. NZD 24.6 million increase in plant equipment, property, plant and equipment, which is really around Post Harvest technology. We're investing to mitigate material damage risk. The number includes the accruals that we've got 'cause we've put in plant, and we're yet to pay for it. There is some deferred payment until it's all installed.
That NZD 24.6 million includes that. NZD 525.7 million total capital employed now. Company's continued to focus its investment on risk, plant rooms, switchboards, program maintenance, and automation. You can see the company NZD 525.7 million now capital employed. Hit the right button. We have focused on our debt. We have focused on building balance sheet resilience. NZD 100.3 million in net bank debt at the end of December, down NZD 37 million on the year before, and down NZD 72.1 million on two years ago. Quite a remarkable reduction, all funded from operations, all funded from normal cash flow. We've continued to enjoy a great relationship with our banking syndicate led by Westpac New Zealand, alongside Westpac Banking Corporation, ASB, BNZ, and Rabobank.
We appreciate their support. We've got extensive unutilized debt lines of approximately another NZD 100 million. We did finally sell that last orchard in Northland, 13.5 hectare orchard was sold in February. I think we've spoken about it before. Importantly, one of the key measures that we're focused on is the leverage ratio. Now at 1.3 x to one. That's the debt to EBITDA. At the bottom end of the board's range, actually below. I think we're reasonably satisfied with those numbers. We think it's prudent, and we're not worried about debt now. Earnings per share and dividends. As I earlier reported, EPS NZD 0.76. NZD 0.30 was paid in dividends last year, of which NZD 0.05 related to the year before.
We paid NZD 0.15 in October and then NZD 0.10 this January. It was declared last year. We've just declared a new dividend of NZD 0.25 to be paid in April this year. It's declared on 26th of February. Record date will be the 20th of March. It's paid, I think, on the 19th of April. Nicola. 15th of April, sorry. The DRP will apply to that dividend. In total of the NZD 0.76 EPS that we've had, we're distributing NZD 0.50. The board had a big debate about that. What was the right level of dividend to pay? Debt is well within its range. We're managing our capital well. We've got the ability to borrow more if we need to. We've delivered record earnings.
If this isn't the right time to pay at the top end or towards the top end of the arranged winners. That is the thinking behind the dividend. Looking at the segments, the orcharding business, it is a business led by Barry Penellum. NZD 10.3 million in EBITDA is up 66% on the previous year. We have got future investments we've been investing in. We have got 65 hectares developed with landowners and funding agencies, namely Kānoa. That is coming on stream up north in Ruakākā, up above Te Kaha. We've got NZD 6.3 million directly invested in long-term leased land, more locally, of which 12 hectares is in kiwifruit. Team's done a great job. 19 million trays of kiwifruit, all varieties packed. Yields are actually excellent. Team's done very well.
In terms of our PostHarvest business, led by Paul Crone. NZD 105 million in EBITDA, is up 16%. This is the hotel for fruit. Occupancy is up. We are a toll processor in this part of our business. All of the varieties were up. We've invested ahead of it. Team's done a fantastic job in delivering the efficiencies and delivering the margins, but also delivering excellent returns to our growers. Really got the ticks right across the board, no crosses. At the same time, they've focused on capital maintenance, capital management, and on our automation plan with the three new machine upgrades in place now finalized, ready for packing. 49 million trays in total, Class One and Class Two. 47.1 million Class One trays.
Nearly NZD 400 million in investments and assets in this part of our business, segment assets. In terms of retail services business, it's led by both Kate Bryant and Jim Smith. Dual led because Kate Bryant looks after our SeekaFresh business, and Jim Smith looks after the Delicious Nutritious Food Company, the DNFC. There's two general managers looking after these business units for us. NZD 3.2 million in EBITDA is up 24%. Strong growth in the tropical fruits. Our wholesale markets in Auckland has done an excellent job. It's the importing business, bananas, pineapple, papaya, as well as selling New Zealand grown produce, either domestically or by way of export. Well done. Good performance. Kiwi Crush and Kiwi Crushies are two products that we've got in the DNFC which are performing well.
Of course, last year we moved to rationalize what was happening in our avocado oil business, which culminated in us buying the assets of the previous Olivado business, integrating them into our own business, establishing a new brand called LUVO, and getting that underway. It is now in retail, experiencing some strong growth in demand, in sales, albeit it's a very small part of our business. These things are important because it does connect us through to retail. Segment assets quite small. You can see by way of comparison, only NZD 12.6 million invested in this part of the world, our world. Over into Australia. General manager leading this part of our business. This business for us, Jonathan van Popering, wonderfully experienced general manager, only ever worked for this company. AUD 4.7 million in EBITDA, up 48%.
Good pear and nashi yields. Great kiwifruit yields as well. Got good pricing and demand for Australian grown produce in that market. We only export a very small amount of fruit from that business and only really to manage capacity. We've got new orchard developments underway. We've got 18 hectares of kiwifruit entering production in 2026. We've got another 36 hectares of kiwifruit that will come into production by 2028. Our new Ruby Roo red nashi scheduled to start producing in 2027 is going well. We've got new jujube orchards producing in 2027 as well. That product has also got good demand and good pricing. The outlook is positive in Australia, although it has been very hot. There will be some impact because of that heat.
You've got to imagine nine days over 40 degrees, consecutively, is challenging for anything. I would wilt in it. Segment asset NZD 78 million. Team's doing a good job of building that business towards the required return on capital employed that we need really. If I look forward, the three Reemoon installations are commissioned and ready to go. Just final tweaking on those machines now and just dialing them in, getting the cameras calibrated, getting the last bits of automation to arrive. That automation drive will continue delivering an array of highly flexible pack houses throughout the regions and here centrally in Te Puke. Labor availability in the current year is excellent. Most sites are reporting that they are full with waiting lists.
A number of people sign up at different companies, so they'll appear. The same name will appear on three or four companies, so getting away early is important. We're focused on doing that. Even then, we've got waiting lists. I can't remember a year where it's been like this in terms of labor. All sites are ready for harvest. They're ready to go. Some fruit has been packed. Our first Zespri RubyRed has been packed. We expect to get going with Zespri SunGold sometime later this week. Some issues for us. It's a different growing year. The yields look pretty good. We're not worried about it. Certainly not a down year. Matters like the Waioeka Gorge, for example, some things we're having to deal with in terms of how we organize the harvest.
That's just the normal harvest. You get an issue or two along the way. It is too early to provide you with a reliable volume forecast, I guess you might be able to read into the conversation or the commentary that we're not concerned about it. We don't think it's a down year. We're just not quite sure how good it's gonna be. We'll see, and we'll be able to update you and give you some progress report should you attend the annual shareholder meeting, which is on the 15th of April, 2026 at 2:30 P.M. That being the case, do I have any questions from anywhere?
Yes. We have a question from Trevor. If the net leverage ratio is better than the board figure, why is the company continuing with a dividend reinvestment plan?
Well, that's a remarkable question, Trevor. Well, we think it's prudent that we do continue to keep debt down. We think it's sensible that debt is held low. The discount with the DRP is 2%. It's not a significant discount. It continues to keep some cash in the company. You know, the thinking around the dividend at NZD 0.50 was about rewarding shareholders who have stuck with us and been resilient. We've had record earnings. You know, the DRP gives everybody, all shareholders the opportunity to participate at a small discount and continue to be shareholders. It's a very good point, which we'll raise with the board when we talk to them at the next dividend.
Question from Tony: Is this year peak earnings, or do you see scope for further growth?
Is this year peak earnings? Well, I think capacity is a hard thing to understand and a hard thing to calculate, but we're not completely full. We are able to take more fruit, so that's important. We're probably not at the peak just yet. If we had the fruit, we could make more money. There are some inflationary pressures ahead of us. We do know that things like packaging, and electricity in particular, and the delivery of electricity are both inflationary pressures which we face, but the market will price for those. I expect that the margins that we've made, on the volume that we've handled will be maintained. If we have more volume, we can handle it. We can sensibly invest to handle more volume.
I don't think we're at the peak yet. We are a seasonal business. Volumes will go up and down. It's not like, you know, an engine that just produces cash. We are talking about, you know, a plant that may produce different yields in a different season with different weather events, with different growing challenges. This is not the peak, but that's not to say, we'll get to the peak this year or next.
A question from Jason Familton: Can you please give some guidance around capital investment in the coming 12 months and potentially beyond?
The guidance. Well, we are continuing to reflect about and consider our strategy around capacity going forward. You will have heard more recently in the press that Zespri is thinking about doubling exports, you know, in the next 10 years. You know, we're quite rightly thinking about do we wanna maintain market share or do we wanna run our capital, sweat our capital, and keep ourselves as full as we can? You know, in terms of an ongoing sense, our intention on a business as usual basis is to invest capital around depreciation, around that number. We've done a reasonably good job of that in the last two years in terms of limiting our spend to that which is necessary program maintenance, some automation and capacity expansion.
At some point, if we want to participate in the doubling of the industry, we're going to invest a bit more. At the moment, we haven't made that decision. It's something that the board will contemplate in the next quarter, I imagine.
No further questions.
Right. Well, we're happy to take any questions offline, understanding that we can only provide you with information that's been publicly made available. We thank you for attending the briefing. We thank you for your support and interest in the company. We hope that we've given you enough confidence to maintain it or increase it. We're here, and we're only as good as our last season, and our mission right at the moment is to do it all again and deliver great numbers this year to the maximum that we can do. Thanks very much for hopping on the call, and we will see you on the 15th of April, if we're lucky. Thanks very much.