Heartland Group Holdings Limited (HGH) Earnings Call Transcript & Summary

Thank you for standing by, and welcome to the Heartland Group FY '24 Half Year Results Conference Call. [Operator Instructions] I would now like to hand the conference over to Mr. Jeff Greenslade, CEO, Heartland Group. Please go ahead.

[Foreign Language]. Good morning, and welcome. I'm Jeff Greenslade, the Chief Executive of the Heartland Group, here to present our first half results for FY 2024. I'm joined here by Chris Flood, who is the Deputy CEO with his oversight of our Australian businesses, Leanne Lazarus, who is the Heartland Bank CEO; and Andrew Dixson, who's the Chief Financial Officer for the group. So kicking off on Page 5 of the deck. The first half results reflect both some adverse performances, which were of a largely one-off nature, but alongside that, some very positive performance, which by way of contrast, were of a sustainable nature. Starting first with the adverse aspects of the half year. In December, we gave a reforecast to guidance. It's one of the first times we have had to do that. And it was a result of a confluence of mostly unrelated one-off components. I'll just run through that the 4 elements that gave rise to that reforecast. Firstly, there was the previously signaled impact on costs of the anticipated acquisition of Challenger Bank in Australia. Secondly, in operational sense, there was a slower start by the finance in New Zealand and in Australia lifestyle finance for economic reasons and climatic reasons respectively. And we also saw increased competition through the refinancing of the funding for lending program by the major banks, which contributed to a higher cost of funds again flowing through to margin. We also, for a variety of reasons, had some challenges in terms of resourcing our collections activity in Motor, which resulted in a subset of the portfolio becoming long-dated in arrears. In short, not enough phone calls were being made and the longer customers aren't called the harder it is to connect. So there's something that Leanne will talk to in more detail. We also had another subset of legacy business loans that have been with us for a long period of time, an area where we're no longer active loans that we're struggling, but viable going into COVID and coming out of COVID, they took a rapid of no time in terms of either their ability to be connected or recovery values in terms of their assets. So against those last 2 categories, we're taking a collective provision and still hopeful of working those assets hard, but we are prudent to take that collective. Alongside that, we saw quite solid, remarkable growth coming through in a number of areas. So we saw 18.7% growth in New Zealand Reverse Mortgages, 20% growth to be in Australian Reverse Mortgages and Asset Finance in New Zealand, up almost 9%. And even Motor, which was behind our expectations, did grow by 6.4%, and that was in a market that went back by 12%. So I think it would be fair to say you'd be hard-pressed to find anywhere in the financial services in New Zealand and Australia that is achieving that sort of growth in the part of the cycle that we're currently going through. In a strategic sense, a lot of our activity was focused on becoming a bank in Australia. It has progressed very well and positively, and we are confident that we are in the final stages. And I know some of you will ask the question, why is it taking so long? But believe it or not, the pace at which we are moving is effectively lightning speed in terms of how these things go. Usually, the time frame for these things is 2 to 3 years. And I think we're on track to be sort of just north of a year. So thank you for your patience. It is what it is, and we're working just as hard as we can to expedite it as fast as possible. Chris Flood will cover some of the issues around some of the constructive things we're doing in advance of the license, including Challenger Bank is raising deposits, and that's going very well and indicates that the cost of fund savings that we are going to get through being a bank in Australia is quite substantial. So the half year demonstrates that the growth story is still part of our future. It is evident by the growth rates we're getting in those core areas. We do expect Motor and Livestock Australia second half to pick up and do better. And we are also positioned around the margin in terms of economic recovery. As inflation eases and interest rates come down, we'll start to see that margin correct itself. And of course, the scope that Australia offers us is quite substantial, and that's something that we're very keen, the [indiscernible] and [indiscernible]. Moving to Page 6, just going through the results. Andrew Dixson will go through in more detail. One of the things he will explain is the difference between reported earnings and underlying earnings. Underlying excludes some of the factors I've just referred to, but there are others as well. So in reported sense, we saw $37.6 million, which was 22.7% down $52.7 million underlying, which was 3.6% down, reflecting those business performance issues that are referred to in terms of motor, livestock and margin. Whilst the CTI and impairment expense ratios were up in an important sense, in an underlying sense, the impairments actually improved by 6 basis points and OpEx which is a contributor to the ratio of company in the CTI actually went down by $400,000. So reflecting our dedication to efficiencies through digitization. Obviously, the deterioration and then the CTI came entirely from the top line. NIM was down at 3.67%, down almost 30 basis points. The main driver of that, there are a number, which Andrew will take you through, but the key one really is cost of funds. As I said, impacted by a number of factors, including the major banks refinancing the funding for lending program. And as I said earlier, as we see the economy improving as rates come down, that will begin to correct itself. Turning then to Page 7. I won't do on this [indiscernible] long. I've probably covered the key points, and Leanne will go through more detail. But really, the message is really good strong growth in core areas other than motor and livestock. We believe that there are opportunities to grow in those areas in the second half the pipelines will look good. And the other area is where we underperformed have typically been areas which are no longer strategically, I think, important to us. So turning to Page 9, even in a tough environment and it has been a tough year, we performed pretty well. And our ambitions remain intact in terms of those aspirations that we articulated when we last reported that NPAT of $200 million within 5 years of FY 2028 and a CTI of less than 35%. What we need to do to drive that is to get our businesses -- all of our businesses back up to the historical rates of growth and as the economy improves, capture the improvement in margin and capitalize and execute in Australia. We have a 41% market share position in reverse mortgage in Australia and livestock, we're going to merge in what has been a really tough 18 months for the livestock financing industry as the only provider with a bank cost of funds, and we will seek to utilize that to an advantage. At this point, I'll hand over to Andrew Dixson, who will take you through the financial results in more detail.

Thank you, Jeff. Good morning, everyone. So I'm on Slide 10, which summarizes financial performance and position of the first half of FY '24. This is presented on both a reported and underlying basis, which excludes the impacts of significant one-off items. So net profit after tax on a reported basis was $37.6 million for the half, which was a decrease of $11.1 million compared to the prior period. And on an underlying basis, profit was $52.7 million, which was a decrease of $2 million. I'll cover each component of the financial result in subsequent slides, but first wanted to note the key impacts of the $15.1 million difference between reported and underlying impact. Firstly, other operating income was $2.5 million higher on an underlying basis, and this was due to 2 items, which partially offset. Firstly, a $4.3 million loss contributed by the derivatives that were de-designated from their prior hedge accounting relationships in FY '22. And for those that are interested and may ask how much longer will we see this item and here, we've got about $2.3 million more to go in the second half of FY '24, and then about $1.3 million in FY '25 to come through, and that is weighted primarily to the first half '25. Secondly, there was a $1.9 million fair value gain recognized on Heartland's equity investment in Harmoney, which was measured at a fair value of $0.49 per share, which was the last traded price of Harmony shares on the Australian Stock Exchange on the 29 of December 2023. Secondly, operating expenses were $3 million lower on an underlying basis, and this is primarily due to $2.3 million of transaction and other costs on in relation to the potential acquisition of an ADI in Australia, an additional $3.3 million of costs directly attributable to clients to become an ADI has been capitalized as an intangible asset. And finally, in terms of adjustments, impaired asset expense was $16 million lower on an underlying basis. Out of prudence, loan provisioning was increased $16 million in December 2023 to proactively provide cover against, firstly, increased arrears in a subset of longer-dated motor finance loans, resulting from operational challenges in the Heartlands collections and recoveries area, and this is no reflection of any underlying issues with credit quality of the portfolio. Leanne will pick this up in terms of both causes and remediation in more detail later in the presentation. Secondly, a cohort of legacy loans and segments Heartland no longer lends to where economic conditions have reduced confidence and collectibility. For the remainder of the presentation, I will talk to the result on an underlying basis and Appendix 3 of the bank provides further details and a reconciliation between reported and underlying results. Moving to Slide 11, growth and profitability. I'll step through the components which bridge impact half-on-half in terms of '23 and '24. So firstly, net interest income, underlying net interest income was $158.7 million, a decrease of $2 million or 1.4%, this was driven by a 34 basis point reduction in net interest margin to 3.6%, largely offset by $563 million higher average interest earning assets. I'll cover the reduction in some more detail in the subsequent slide. Since the 30th of June 2023, receivables have grown $144 million, excluding the impact of changes in FX rates, which is a 4.2% annual growth rate. This will be covered by Leanne and Chris respectively later in the presentation. Underlying other operating income was $6.8 million, and this was down $2 million on the prior year. Operating expenses on an underlying basis were $63.5 million, and this was down $0.4 million on the prior comparative period, reflecting continued strong cost discipline and while the cost of income ratio has increased, this was a function of the reduction in net operating income rather than operating expenses. Finally, underlying impaired asset expense was $8 million, which was down $1.2 million on the prior comparative period. Underlying impairment continues to perform as expected under current economic conditions and Heartland's asset quality continues to shift towards loans with lower risk exposures. Moving to Slide 12, net interest margin. So underlying net interest margin decreased 34 basis points to 3.67% during a challenging environment of high interest rates in both New Zealand and Australia. The contraction in NIM was primarily caused by a significant increase in cost of funds due to heightened deposit competition in New Zealand, particularly as banks continue to refinance the lending under the Reserve Bank's funding for lending program. And this was combined with a widening of wholesale margins in both countries. At the same time, individual portfolio yields have been challenged to keep pace, and this has mainly been in 3 areas. Firstly, as part of the social responsibility underpinning the reverse mortgage product. Interest rate increases on reverse mortgages were not passed on as quickly or in full to customers during the period. This was combined with some regulatory capital relief of the Reserve Bank introducing a lower risk weight of 40% below LBR reverse mortgages. Secondly, livestock, Australia, a sustainable approach was also taken to pricing in the livestock finance market, given the underlying market conditions impacting StockCo Australia's orders during the half. And finally, in terms of asset finance and motor lending, we have seen prepayment rates in both asset classes continue to lengthen as customers take longer to refinance assets in this high interest rate environment. This has particularly impacted a legacy low-margin cohort across both portfolios, which are taking longer to refinance on to current rates. Finally, general portfolio mix has continued to shift toward high-quality assets and a corresponding impact to them. This was amplified by the exceptional growth of reverse mortgages during the period, and exacerbated by unfavorable market conditions, which impacted StockCo Australia's growth, which is a higher NIM portfolio. Careful pricing and margin management is in place to balance NIM in growth and is expected to show improvement into FY '25 as we see -- expect to see cost of fund increase is slow as deposit competition eases and wholesale funding spreads stabilize. We expect to see a continued replacement of low-margin motor and asset finance loans, and we expect an improvement in market conditions and corresponding growth in StockCo Australia. Moving on to Slide 13, cost-to-income ratio. Underlying operating expenses decreased $0.4 million from the prior year with tight FTE management, reducing staff expenses by $2.1 million. This was partially offset by general cost inflation across other operating expense line items. The underlying cost-to-income ratio increased 0.93 percentage points to 43.7%, which is a function of the reduction in net operating income half-on-half rather than any increase in operating expenses. CTI is expected to return to its downward trajectory as NIM improves and asset growth returns in some portfolios. Moving to Slide 14, loan provisions. Underlying impairment expense was $8 million, which was down 2.1 -- I'm sorry, $1.2 million on the prior comparative period. And the underlying impairment expense ratio was 23 basis points, which is 6 basis points lower than the prior year. While underlying asset quality continues to show resilience to prevailing economic conditions, a $16 million increase in loan provisions was taken in December 2023 to proactively deal with 2 portfolios. Firstly, $5.5 million was applied to legacy business and relationship lending with $4.5 million applied in specific loans and segments Heartland no longer lends to where economic conditions have reduced confidence in ultimate collectibility, combined with a $1 million general provision. Secondly, a $10.5 million increase was made to motor collective provisions to prudently increase coverage against a subset of longer-dated motor arrears stemming from operational challenges and the collections and recoveries area. Moving to Slide 15. Shareholder return. Underlying return on equity of 10.2% increase reflecting higher average capital carried following Heartland's equity raise in the first half of FY '23, combined with lower profitability with a similar impact to earnings this year. Our fully imputed interim dividend of $0.04 per share has been declared, reflecting payout ratio consistent with current earnings and does not reflect the change in dividend policy, a 2% discount will apply to the dividend reinvestment program. Moving to Slide 16, funding and liquidity for New Zealand. Heartland Bank increased its borrowings by $217.3 million, which was an increase of 4.6% and increased to just under $5 billion. Excess liquidity was taken into the half following the $100 million Tier 2 capital issuance of April 2023, enabling a lower requirement for deposit growth at a time of elevated competition. Heartland max motor vehicle securitization program was utilized. Heartland Bank also launched a new Digital Saver product in October 2023, which is gaining good traction. Overall, Heartland Bank holds liquidity well in excess of regulatory minimums and maintain strong regulatory liquidity ratios. Moving to Slide 17, Australian funding and liquidity is funding. Australia significantly increased liquidity and access to funding during the period with aggregate reverse mortgage facilities, increasing by $200 million and $105 million medium-term note issuance made in December 2023. A number of initiatives are in the late stages of progress in relation to the potential acquisition of Challenger Bank, which will see maturity dates of all facilities extended and some structural features amended. Moving on to Slide 18, capital. Heartland remains well capitalized with Heartland Bank, in particular, retaining a strong capital ratio of 14.07% as of December -- 31 December 2023. This position was elevated at 30 June 2023 following the $100 million Tier 2 issuance in April 2023. So to summarize, despite challenges in some markets, excellent growth in core receivable portfolios has continued. Additional prudent coverage has been taken against legacy portfolios with underlying asset quality continuing to prove resilient. Margin is expected to correct as cost of funds pressures ease. The group has a very sound funding liquidity and capital profile. And these factors position Heartland well to meet its FY '28 ambitions. I'll now hand on to Leanne to cover the New Zealand divisionals.

Good morning. Turning to Page 20 and starting off with the New Zealand household portfolio. Reverse mortgages experienced strong growth of 18.7% and with accelerated growth expected in the second half of the financial year. The reverse mortgage portfolio has a strong pipeline in place. Debt consolidation, supplementing everyday expenses with additional income and home renovations are the main reasons for those vintages. In our Motor Finance portfolio, in a market where total new used car sales in New Zealand were down 12.2%, Heartland experienced growth of 6.4%. Pre-election announcements to repeal the clean car discount scheme and the consequent removal of internal combustion engine taxes on new vehicles from the 31st of December of 2023, is believed to have caused consumers to delay new vehicle buying decisions until the 2024 calendar year. We've started to see evidence of this turnaround with yesterday being one of our biggest performing days of this financial year. Turning to Page 21. Motor finance and our collections position. The economic conditions will impact more severely on a subset of longer-dated arrears, which arose primarily from operational issues as we've said on the collections arrear of our bank. This is a resourcing issue where collection efforts were constraint is being addressed. COVID 19 impacted high levels of employee illness. We experienced increased employee turnover, particularly with experienced collectors and once the Board has opened, a number of our employees embarked on the OE. In addition to illnesses and turnover, employees within the collections area were also involved in the implementation of the new core banking system, which has now gone live. In essence, there was not enough phone calls being made to our customers in the early stages of their arrears within this subset, which they have compounded into longer-dated arrears. We are actively addressing resourcing. It will remain a challenge in the short term, particularly as it does take time to train new employees and upscale existing employees for them to become experienced collectors. Concurrently, we have a number of automation activities that are underway, which will create internal efficiencies. Turning to Page 22, the Reverse Mortgage portfolio analytics. The center portfolio that performs well and is one that we are proud of. The page highlights key statistics, noting that the average origination at 9.6% and the weighted average LVR at 22.8%. Turning to Page 23, the New Zealand business. I'd like to highlight the Asset Finance portfolio, having experienced growth in the first half of 8.9% with a good pipeline for growth in the second half, Lower-margin loans have taken longer to roll off as customers take longer to refinance assets. We will start to see an improvement in the net interest margin of this portfolio once those loans roll off. Turning to Page 24, the New Zealand Rural portfolio, livestock finance receivables for the first half of the year's performance was driven by seasonal fluctuations. Rural relationship saw the continued reduction in receivables as Heartland transitions away from large complex lending. Turning to Page 26 and to conclude the New Zealand divisional summary. As you can see, strong growth in the Reverse Mortgage portfolio as well as Asset Finance portfolio, a pleasing result is the Motor Finance portfolio in a market where new and used car sales in New Zealand were down. In portfolios where there were decreases in performance, plans are either in place to turn around these in the second half and a good example of that is livestock financing or there's been deliberate action on Heartland's part to not actively originate or to run off. And a good example of that is the unsecured portfolio. I will now hand over to Chris Flood to talk through the Australia business performance.

Thanks, Leanne, and good morning, everyone. I'm on Page 28. Jeff and Andrew, both mentioned the money we have spent on setup costs in the process of becoming a bank in Australia. Principally, the spend has been on people, premises and advisers and much of that spend has been one-off in nature. The constitute about 75% to 80% of what we expect to spend. So we're a long way through the program and good progress continues to be made. Jeff also noted Challenger Bank is now growing its deposit base ahead of our acquisition, and we'll continue to do so through a tool acquisition. What has been achieved in 7-week period commencing at January is unprecedented Challenger Bank context and [indiscernible] Heartland's expectation, both in terms of volume and importantly, cost, which at 1.34% is below Heartland's current cost of funds in Australia. To give decimal point in the right place, it is 1.34% below Heartland's current cost of funds. So as you can imagine, I'm very much looking forward to getting access to those funds, not just in terms of the $2 billion of assets we had today in Australia, but also from [indiscernible] growth in the reverse mortgage and livestock businesses. Turning now to Page 29 and the Australian Reverse Mortgages, once again, outstanding growth in the first half of 20% as New Zealand borrowers are drawing down funds, the traditional reasons, although in Australia, we are seeing trades starting to come back into the mix, and that was previously one of the high [ atoms ]. But like New Zealand, funds drawn on a regular basis, the supplement to come is a growing trend. Pipelines continue to grow, and we expect to maintain this momentum for the foreseeable future. You will see the portfolio analysis on Page 30, which notes conservative LVRs at origination and average weighted basis across the book as well. Turning now to rural on Page 31. First half of the financial year was a very difficult period across the livestock industry and for those who fund it for reasons outside of anyone's control. That period is now behind us. Rural Australia is largely wheat and green in the right places. And importantly, stock prices are now back up above a 10-year average. The December, February period from a balance sheet perspective is the low point of the year. However, the pipeline is building quickly as farmers traditionally buy stock in the autumn this year will be and exception. And of course, excess cost of funds at 1.34% lower current cost will support faster organic growth and open up some -- potentially open up some consolidation opportunities within the industry. Lastly, on Page 32, it sets out the current business mix that the Challenger acquisition will change that modestly, and I'm looking forward to standing up a motor business and followed by an Asset Finance business to add a little more color to this chart. We'll hand back to Jeff.

Thank you, Chris, and thank you, Andrew and Leanne. So just to quickly sum up before we hand over for questions. It has been a tough year in some respects, but it's also been a year of showing great resilience and sustainability in terms of the underlying business. So we've had some dramatic issues, some economic issues. We've seen some of the impacts directly and indirectly from COVID and post-COVID, have created some setbacks that they will pass and what remains is a business with very strong underlying growth. . However, we've got a working out for us for the remaining part of the year. We need to get that [indiscernible] license now down. It's clinical. We continue to grow at those current levels and get a pickup in motor and auto and be positioned for the margin to improve as the economy changes. And also alongside that, we maintain our commitment to digitization, extracting efficiencies through information in a number of areas, including [indiscernible]. And finally, I'd just like to confirm guidance at current levels before I hand back for questions.

[Operator Instructions] Your first question comes from Stephen Hudson from Macquarie Securities.

Just a couple from me. Just in terms of the NIM progression since June, can you give us a feel for how much of that is asset yield versus cost of funds changes? And then just secondly, just with the changes next year on the deposit protection legislation in New Zealand. I just wondered if you can give us a feel for how much of your deposits by value are above the 100,000 guarantee level? I think, the system is about 73% above that level. So I'm assuming that you might be that sort of level or even above.

I'll take the first part of that, Steve. So in terms of NIM compression without putting a percentage weighting, it is largely due to cost of funds pressures, which I outlined in the presentation. That's less so about the asset yields. As to the deposit question.

I'll take the deposit questions. At this point in time, we don't know the specifics of that. We're currently working through what that regulation looks like.

You would know how many of your deposits are above $100,000?

[indiscernible] don't get that statistic to hand, but we could respond in writing [indiscernible].

[Operator Instructions] Your next question comes from [ Andrew Hodge from ACC ].

Two questions. One is -- both kind of related for Challenger, you guys have booked a $3.5 million loss, which matches what Challenger has said that they lost in the half just gone. They also said that you guys are responsible for all losses going ahead. Given that the bank has lost about $4.5 million a half to sometimes [ $8 million ], does that -- are we to kind of assume that you guys are not expecting any further losses within guidance? And then my second question is, I guess, kind of tied into that and the cost of funds that you guys commented on. I'm just kind of curious how you're proposing to be able to try and fund the $200 million NPAT target by FY '28?

I'll take the first part of that. So there's 2 distant parts. So this part of the $3.5 million loss that you mentioned that is in relation to the expected impact for FY '24 with the transaction to complete in this financial year. So obviously, that has not happened yet, but that amount has not been booked. The second part of your question around coverage of losses. That is an agreement in relation to the deposit taking that is currently being undertaken, as Chris referenced, that is going to be added to the purchase price. So it's not going to be booked through the profit and loss, it will be seen as an increase in purchase price.

Yes. I'll pick up the second question. Just wanted to clarify, you're asking how we're going to fund the book growth to get to $200 million?

Yes. I guess like is it essentially trying to get to that number? Is it basically that you're assuming that you can use the cost of funds in Australia? Or is it coming hard into -- yes, actually, I'll let you guys can talk about.

Yes. So the $200 million obviously is at a group level. And one of the drivers of our expected growth going forward are indeed contributing to things like CTI and ROE is going to be the improved cost of funds that we expect to get out of Australia. So that will be a component of driving the pace at which we get to that number. But in terms of funding, we will remain across the board, both in Australia and New Zealand. Probably, Andrew run about 80% deposit funded.

Yes, absolutely.

Okay. I guess just as a sort of kind of a slide [ addendum ] to that, I mean, if I look at APRA's data for Challenger, it looks as though that it's like household deposits have fallen by 30% since you guys made the acquisition and it's entirely been financial and nonfinancial institutions. Like is that, I guess, kind of where we should see you guys seeking funding in Australia?

No, more at the sort of the retail end is where we want to be. We don't -- we try to -- we will attract every now and again a little bit of a small institutional money, but we don't want the some concentrations that, that brings. So our focus is really going to the [indiscernible].

Your next question comes from Mark Robertson from Forsyth Bar.

Just a question on the reverse mortgage side of things in Australia. You've got a market share of 41% now. Where do you sort of view or what are your sort of view as stable long-term market share that you guys can capture there?

Well, it's a difficult question to answer in terms of market share looking forward. What I know is that opportunities to grow the book is enormous. The -- we've got pipelines are full, the demographics that we're lending into are asset rich and cash poor and you've got this. You've still got baby boomers in employment. And typically, we've put somebody in nearly 70s. So the opportunity over the next, I'd say, sort of decade is really significant. In terms of market share, look, I would actually welcome more competition in the strategy, because the real issue we have, Mark, is awareness, and we advertise on television and one other entity does as well. So it is awareness. The awareness is growing, and the product is much accepted across Australia, but it's getting to the people at the right time when they need it. So one way to look at it is, if you look at our history, we've grown market share by about 3% or 4% each year. And that's not being driven by competition. It's been driven by us taking a larger share of the new customers coming in, so applies expanding. So -- but at this stage of the game, is the size of pie and how fast this is expanding, which is driving growth. We're not really seeing strong competition. There's only one other competitor that we have in the market, household capital. And I imagine this year of new business would be quite high, but we believe would be higher, but that's really what's going to drive market share growth is just how fast that pie grows.

Appreciate that. I guess secondly, the NPAT target for FY '28, I think it was double the $110 million when you announced at your FY '23 result, what sort of changed in terms of that $20 million decrease now that you talked to greater than $200 million? Is it a starting point that you guys are at now? Or is something fundamental change further out?

For us, the target is very much aspirational and ambition to give you an idea of what is possible. So it's not something that we are kind of -- not like a forecast or guidance. So if it's more than $200 million, then great, then we won't be complaining. But that's what we see possible given the factors that I mentioned earlier.

I guess just one more. In terms of your divi, obviously cut that at the half year here. Is that a reaction to short-term factors? And can we expect that to grow again pretty quickly? Or is this more of a long-term fundamental cut and when you expect a lower base going forward?

It really is a reflection of where we're performing currently, because another way to look at it is the payout ratio is very consistent with where we are in the past. And obviously, the full year dividend. I can't speak for the Board, but I can say that the Board will be open to all possibilities, depending on how we perform. But there is no change in policy.

There are no further questions at this time. I'll now hand back to Mr. Greenslade for closing remarks.

Thank you very much for everyone attending. We appreciate your attendance and your support. We remain available over the next few days for any questions that you have, if you could feed them through to Nicola Foley, We are very much grateful. But thank you very much, and have a good day. [Foreign Language].

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