GWA Group Limited (GWA) Earnings Call Transcript & Summary

Thank you for standing by, and welcome to the GWA Group Half Year FY '24 Results Call. [Operator Instructions] I would now like to hand the conference over to Urs Meyerhans, MD and CEO. Thank you. Please go ahead.

Thank you. Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. Thank you for joining us on today's call for GWA's result for the half year ended 31st of December '23. My name is Urs Meyerhans, GWA's Managing Director. Joining me today on the call are Calin Scott, our Group CFO; and Craig Norwell, Group Executive for Sales. We are pleased to present the result today and we look forward to talking further with many of you over the coming days and weeks. For today's update, we will follow our standard agenda approach. First, I will provide an overview over the headlines for the 6 months to 31st of December, followed by an update on our continuous focus on safety. Calin will discuss the Group financial results for the period, including P&L, balance sheet and cash flow. Craig will then provide an overview of our business performance, including our end market and key Australian merchants. I will conclude today's presentation with an update on progress of our strategy and provide a summary and outlook for the second half. As always, we are happy to answer your questions at the conclusion of the presentation. Moving to Slide 5. In view of the uncertain economic times we are living in, I believe we delivered a solid result. This was driven by disciplined execution with our key focus on customer-first and profitable volume growth initiatives. Very pleasingly, we returned to volume growth in Australian business with volumes lifting by 2% compared to the prior corresponding period. Our proactive cost out program at the end of financial year '23 shows clear benefits. Earnings were up 9% with normalized EBIT margins of 18.1%, well ahead of both the prior corresponding half and the full year. We continue to generate strong cash with operating cash flow up 37% and cash conversion of 130% for the half. Our balance sheet remains strong with net debt and leverage ratio at the lowest levels in 5 years. This enabled the Board to declare an entering fully frank dividend of $0.07, representing a 17% lift on last year's interim dividend. Our strategy continues to gain momentum with good progress on several fronts, that includes: improved DIFOT and NPS with customers across ANZ; the launch of entry level products as customers look for value; and introduction of a suite of products, we call it the plumber bundle to service the need of the maintenance plumbers. These initiatives led to volume growth in Australia I referred to earlier. In summary, I'm very pleased with the half year results, both from a financial perspective, but also from the good progress we are continuing to make to strengthen the business for the medium- to long-term. Moving to Slide 6. Our increased focus on safety across the organization has led to a continued improvement in incident reporting. While our total injury frequency rate increased from financial year '23, it does not represent a change in our risk profile. In the last 6 months, we encountered 2 minor injuries, both relating to manual handling in our training business. We will use these insights as an opportunity to improve our injury management practices moving forward. During the second half, we will be undertaking a comprehensive chain of responsibility review. And with this, I will now hand over to Calin to go through the Group financial results.

Thanks, Urs. Slide 8 presents the results, first on a normalized basis, which excludes significant items, and then on a reported basis, which includes significant items. There were minus significant items of $200,000 after tax in the first half, which related to the cost associated to date with the implementation of the ERP system in our U.K. business. We expect the total remaining cost of this program to be between $1.8 million and $2.2 million, with a cost to be incurred over financial year '24 and '25. There were no significant items for the prior half. Revenue was broadly in line with the prior half where, notwithstanding the challenging conditions in the repair and renovation segment, we saw an increase in revenue in Australia. This was offset by a slight decline in the U.K. and a more pronounced decline in New Zealand, where that economy is in a recession. Craig will detail the key components of revenue in his section. On a normalized basis, EBIT was up 9% to $37.3 million, a good result in what remained a challenging market. In that context, we remain focused on what we can control. More specifically, that includes the proactive steps we have taken to realign our cost base at the end of FY '23, which has helped to lift earnings and margin. Normalized EBIT margin was up 1.6 percentage points, which reflects this continued operational and cost discipline. I will walk through the key drivers of EBIT on the next slide. Turning to Slide 9. This slide contains the waterfall chart we typically present to set up the key drivers of earnings over the period. As usual, this is presented on a normalized basis. Looking at volume, as Urs mentioned, we returned to volume growth in Australia following good traction with our market initiatives. These included the launch of entry level products and core segments, a focus on maintenance plumbers as part of our Win the Plumber strategy and the realignment of our sales organization to a state-based structure. Volume growth in Australia was offset by a slight decline in the U.K. and a more pronounced decline in New Zealand, with both markets experiencing declines in building construction activity. Looking at price mix, we implemented a price increase of roughly 4% across Australia and New Zealand in April 2023, primarily to offset cost increases. Looking at foreign exchange, the average Australian dollar-U.S. dollar exchange rate for the half was $0.69, which compared to $0.72 for the prior year. The lower rates had a negative impact on stock purchases and balance sheet revaluations. This was partially offset by hedging activities. For the remainder of FY '24, we are currently 57% hedged at USD 0.665. Looking at other costs, on this bar, you will see positive impact of cost reduction initiatives we implemented in the second half of FY '23 have had on EBIT. This included adjusting our operating model to align to market conditions and other cost saving initiatives. This was also assisted by lower ocean freight rates in the first half. Bonus, this refers to an accrual for expected payments of staff incentives in FY '24 related to financial performance. There was no accrual for the prior corresponding half. Moving on to Slide 10. Once again, this is a strong result. Operating cash flow was up 37% from a combination of improved profitability and a reduction in working capital, driven by an active program to reduce debtor days and the timing of payments for inventory. Cash conversion remained strong with a cash conversion ratio of 130%. Capital expenditure for the half was $1.7 million, which compares to $1.4 million for the prior corresponding period and was in align with our expectations. Total capital expenditure for FY '24 is expected to be in the range of $4 million to $6 million. Moving on to Slide 11, GWA remains focused on providing strong returns to shareholders and the dividend policy is to pay 65% to 85% of NPAT's dividends. As Urs discussed earlier, our continued robust balance sheet plus strong cash flow I just mentioned enabled a $0.07 interim dividend fully franked. That's up 17% on the prior corresponding half. Moving on to Slide 12, I will finish my section with this slide. GWA remains in a strong financial position. Net debt, as at the 31st of December 2023 was $97 million, which is 17% lower than the 30th of June 2023 and reflected the increase in earnings and reduction in working capital I mentioned earlier. Our credit metrics continue to improve and remain well within our target ranges. Indeed, our net debt and leverage ratio are the lowest in 5 years. We have total banking facilities of $220 million with significant headroom of over $123 million. I will now hand over to Craig to discuss our performance by market.

Thanks, Calin, and good morning, everyone. Today, I'll provide further context to our revenue by market, by state here in Australia and commentary on our key segments. Turning to Slide 14. This is the usual slide we present to show our revenue in our key end markets. I'll start with Australia, our largest market, which represents 83% of Group revenue. As Urs and Calin have already mentioned, we had a return to volume growth in Australia during the half, which was a pleasing result. We are benefiting from the decision to realign our sales organization to a state-based structure as opposed to previous segment structure, which is enabling us to respond more quickly to local sales opportunities with localized solutions and creating good momentum for us into the future. This momentum has been evident in the success of key growth initiatives, including the launch of new entry level products and our plumbers bundle. This momentum is also reflected in our commercial order bank of future sales, which grew by 11% in the half. In New Zealand, we saw a continued deterioration in revenue, reflecting the significant decline in local building activity. In that environment, we have seen customers prioritizing cash flow and stock management. In response, we remain focused on cost efficiency and that has helped us record a positive EBIT in New Zealand despite the challenging conditions. Sales in the U.K. declined by 1% in constant currency or 3% in Australian dollars, with an improvement in the second quarter on the prior corresponding quarter. Turning to Slide 15. This slide details Australian sales for the year by state. In New South Wales, we saw continued soft conditions for residential renovation work continue in the half, offset by builder and project growth from our sales pipeline in detached housing and commercial. In Victoria, we also achieved good growth in commercial and strong demand in detached housing towards the back end of the half. Queensland sales were in line with the prior corresponding half. The construction pipeline remained strong. In South Australia, we had good growth following the launch of several sales initiatives, while in Western Australia, we had ongoing demand in detached housing segment following a slower start to the year. Turning to Slide 16. While the last slide demonstrated sales by market, this slide illustrates sales through our main customers in Australia. We are seeing ongoing positive signs of traction from our Win the Plumber strategy and that is reflected in merchant sales during the half. We saw growth in 2 merchants in the range of 5% to 10%, while 1 other merchant was flat in comparison to the prior corresponding half. Part of our success has been in creating a specialized suite of specific products targeting the needs of our increased customer base of maintenance plumbers. We previously referred to it as our plumber bundle. We've seen good traction with this initiative, with bundle sales up 10% on the prior corresponding half. I'll now hand you back to Urs.

Thanks, Craig. Let's turn to Slide 18. Our new product development incorporates leading edge design and technology, very much in line with our strategic focus, innovate to design and partnership. This includes products for our new Contura II Hero Collection. We are also introducing a range of lead free taps in 5 core ranges, well ahead of the new mandatory code, which will come into effect from May '26 in Australia and a bit early in New Zealand. And we have expanded our product offering, including universal accessories technology, to our ever so important independent living range, Livewell. Let me turn to our strategy on Slide 20. We continue to make excellent progress in core areas of our strategy, which I will summarize on this slide. Win the Plumber, as we have said consistently, plumbers are the single biggest opportunity for GWA to grow volume and share in Australia and New Zealand. Extending our reach and engagement with plumbers, therefore, represents a core element of our strategy. We continue to make good progress here. During this half, we extended our reach with Australia and New Zealand plumbers to nearly 22,000 plumbers who are now signed up and categorized between new build and maintenance. In the last 6 months, more than 10,000 plumbers took advantage of our dedicated technical service outline. And we are assisting plumbers with technical training and to help them meet the CPD hours. During the half, we conducted training for over 1,200 plumbers and more training sessions are planned across Australia and New Zealand in the second half. On the innovate to design and partnership, a key focus for our growth strategy remains on product innovation. As I just mentioned on the previous slide, we continued to roll out of new products during the year. That has resulted in our vitality index, being sales from new product as a percentage of total sales, continuing to track ahead of our 10% target. Customer experience, our service level continue to improve. We've DIFOT in Australia and New Zealand increasing to 84% from 78% at the full year. Meanwhile, we continue to experience a steady improvement in our customer net promoter scores. As you may be aware, we will host a strategy update and site tour on the 7th of March at our Innovation and Distribution Centre in Prestons in New South Wales, where we will provide more details on our strategic initiatives. This will also be an opportunity for you to see firsthand our market-leading innovation capability, where we are designing the product for tomorrow, leveraging our unrivaled technical expertise in creating water solutions for the build environment. I hope we will see many of you in presence. If you need any details, please contact Martin Cole. Let me summarize on Page 22. We delivered a solid result. Our key focus on customer-first strategies achieved much improved DIFOT performance and customer NPS rating. Our focus in profitable volume growth with the introduction of entry level products and delivering targeted products to the maintenance plumbers delivered a return to volume growth in Australia. The cost reduction initiatives we implemented in the second half of financial year '23, plus our ongoing cost and operational discipline have resulted in improved earnings and increased margins. We continue to generate good cash, our balance sheet remains strong and net debt and leverage ratio are at their lowest levels in 5 years. And our strategy continues to gain momentum with good progress on several fronts and improved sales and engagement with plumbers. Moving to Slide 23. I will conclude with an outlook for the full year financial year '24. Assuming there will be no material changes to the current economic conditions, we expect continued demand for commercial new build in health and aged care and repair and renovation. The existing pipeline in residential detached housing should support continued momentum in that segment for the remainder of financial year '24. We expect increased activity in multi-residential, social and affordable housing and build to rent categories, although the timing remains uncertain. Our commercial order book has grown by 11% since June '23. Demand activity in residential, renovation and replacement is expected to remain subdued. Within that operating environment, we will continue to control the controllables. That means, disciplined execution of our strategy with continued strong focus aligning our cost base to revenue, matching inventory levels to market demand with continued targeted investment in new products and customer experience centers across Australia and New Zealand. Our strategy remains clear and consistent with a focus on customer-first initiatives targeting profitable volume growth. Ladies and gentlemen, that concludes the presentation. Calin, Craig and I are happy to take your questions.

[Operator Instructions] Your first question is from Ben Kairaitis from MST Marquee.

It is Ben Kairaitis just covering for Keith. So my first question was just on volume. So you've disclosed the BIS Oxford forecast is down 11% for FY '24, but Australia was up 2% in the half. So clearly a significant gap there. So just wondering how your internal view square up with these BIS Oxford's forecasts and if you expect volumes to continue to be positive in the second half.

To your question, just for consistency, we keep reporting in regard to what BIS Oxford economics predict. As you mentioned, in August they had 8% decline in Australia, now they upgrade or downgrade it to 11% decline. As far as we are concerned, we are very clear on our focus. And as I said in the presentation, we will continue to control the controllables and we have clear initiatives in place in regard to focus on the plumbers, new commercial bills. So I would hope that we can outperform the external forecast.

And then just on shipping rate. So clearly there has been a significant recent disruption in the global freight market. But I note that your ocean freight cost saving has been reiterated. So just going out, whether there is an expected impact from that maybe coming in later in FY '25?

Sure, Ben. So look, we certainly probably will see that more of an impact in quarter 4 of '24 and into '25. You may recall at the start of the financial year we obviously negotiate rates with our carriers and those rates carry for 12 months. 12 months ago the position was much better for us. And also, just keep in mind that freight gets capitalized part of inventory. So we will see the benefit of some of the lower freight rates through the first half still flowing through in the first quarter of this calendar year.

Your next question is from Guus Vreeburg from Macquarie.

Maybe just touching on the entry level product here and how are you going with that in terms of customer response and any sort of negative go forward impacts from a mix perspective?

Look, it's probably worth commenting, the entry level products, just want to be clear, that's not an offering to the consumer. The entry level product we introduced in response to our discussion with some of our builder clients and what you quite often see with builders when they quote to build a house for you, they want to include entry level products and then that gives them opportunity to upgrade within the same family of brands. So therefore, we have seen positive traction in that and we continue to see that as an opportunity for us going forward. But this is not in to jeopardize the overall Caroma brand.

Okay. That makes sense. And on cost reduction you mentioned as well, could you maybe call out some specific items that you implemented in the second half? And going forward, how much of that do you still have to go? And what you're doing into the next half?

Look, if you look at the second half of last year, I think we covered it in August, we clearly sort of were preparing for a market slowdown. So in rough numbers, we've taken about 10% of our support costs out of the business. Right at this moment, we don't then plan to have any further reductions. But as we said in the presentation, we obviously very closely align our operating model to the external market condition. So if we should see any substantial decline, we will jump into action very quickly.

[Operator Instructions] We have a further question from Guus Vreeburg from Macquarie.

Just on inventory or network of working capital in general, decent decrease there. Just on the sustainability of that, it's 50-50 driven by inventories and receivables, just look at that on a year-on-year basis. Just maybe touch on that, how sustainable that is in your view, that reduction?

Okay. So look, in the inventory, probably a few things. I think we mentioned some time ago, we are on a quest to tighten up our product offerings. So we are continuing to review our, what you call, SKU numbers. We're seeing good progress in reduction flows. What we've done, especially in response to some of the uncertain shipping conditions, we've increased some of the inventory levels of our, what we call, never to run out products. They are really in the Class A products. We usually see inventory building up towards the Chinese New Year, but we're comfortable with the levels we are at the moment.

And maybe just lastly on the Win the Plumber strategy, you mentioned, you're getting quite a bit of traction here, 21,000 sign ups and a hotline you've set up plumbers calling into. How -- what's sort of the process of that turning into leads and sales? And any sort of detail around that would be appreciated.

I can take that. So you're right, I mean, it's expansion of our customer base to the almost 22,000 now, mainly maintenance plumbers. From a sales perspective, we talked about the bundle. So part of the understanding the needs of those maintenance plumbers against our traditional strength in construction has included defining a range of products that meet their everyday needs. When you look at that range in terms of what's available in our merchant partners, when you look at that range and the knowledge and how we handle those calls to troubleshoot on our phone line that you referenced as well, or whether that's our own frontline sales team and the training of plumbers, our focus is all sort of centered on those -- on that bundle of products. And really that's where we reference that we're using that to define success. So we've seen growth of 10% in that bundle of products out of those touch points over the first 6 months this year.

We have a further question from Ben Kairaitis from MST Marquee.

I might just sneak one more in as well. So just on destocking, just noting that customer A's 1Q was down a lot more than the second quarter. So firstly, can we assume that this was some inventory management from this customer? And then secondly, do you guys see any lingering risk in the channel?

It's a good question. So probably 2 things come to mind. One is, we certainly saw a different type of stock management by our merchant partners pre-Christmas before last. So quarter 2 of last year. Since that period of time, I've seen very consistent focus on stock levels across all of our merchant partners to the point where it's been more consistent than I've seen in my 7 years with this business. So it's been quite a key focus area across all merchants. With merchant A, there was some specific focus on stock levels for them in quarter 1, and you start to see that normalized through quarter 2. But quarter 2 is also indicative of a lot of our volume drivers. So whether they be entry level or Win the Plumber initiatives and then sort of starting to get real traction through quarter 2. So I'd say it was more about those growth drivers than it was stock on hand levels, which I'm comfortable being actively managed by us and our merchant partners over the first half. What do we do to manage that? We have a joint business planning process with each of our merchant partners that's focused on growth drivers, on driving sales out. But part of that process is also ensuring they have the right stock levels of our key products in our monthly business reviews.

[Operator Instructions] Thank you. There are no further questions at this time. I'll now hand back to Mr. Meyerhans for closing remarks.

Thank you very much. Thank you for your attention, interest in our company, and we are looking forward to talking to many of you over the coming days and weeks. Have a good day.

Thank you. That does conclude our conference for today. Thank you all for participating. You may now disconnect your line.