Michael Hill International Limited (MHJ) Earnings Call Transcript & Summary

Welcome to the Michael Hill Full Year '26 Investor Presentation. [Operator Instructions] I will now hand over to Jonathan Waecker, Chief Executive Officer.

Thank you, and good morning, everyone. Thank you for joining us today for Michael Hill International Limited's FY '26 Full Year Results Webcast. My name is Jonathan Waecker, and it's a pleasure to be speaking with you today as Chief Executive Officer. Today's webcast marks my first full year results presentation since joining the business just over 1 year ago in August of 2025. Joining me today is our Chief Financial Officer, Elodie Guillaumond, who joined the group in February of this year. Elodie has now spent significant time with our teams, our operations and our financials, and I'm very pleased to have her with us today to take you through this year's results in detail. I'll begin with a review of the group's performance for the full year. I'll then hand over to Elodie, who will take you through the financial and segment results in more detail. I'll return after that to outline our strategy and priorities for FY '27, to provide a current trading update, and then we'll open the line for any Q&A. I'll start by providing an overview of the group's global performance for FY '26. I and other new members of the leadership team joined the business this year. And one of the first things we did was spend real time with our people, our customers and our stores to understand what makes Michael Hill special and where we could sharpen our focus. Michael Hill, our international brand, was founded on a simple belief that everyone deserves to wear quality jewelry, to feel special wearing it, and to feel genuinely welcome when they walk into one of our stores. That belief has never gone away. It's what our teams have carried through every store, every day for decades. This year, we got back to that. And we made that our clear singular focus once again. We listened closely to our customers and our people. We simplified the business and put our energy back where it matters most, on growing our international brand, Michael Hill. We sharpened our product offer. We renewed how we go to market, and we gave our store teams a much stronger voice in how we run the business. Most importantly, we are getting back to what makes Michael Hill, Michael Hill. For us, that's everyday modern luxury, beautiful quality jewelry that people can feel confident wearing, giving, and celebrating with. It means holding a high bar on quality from the jewelry itself through to the packaging it comes in. And it means delivering an outstanding customer experience with the warmth and genuine hospitality that comes from our uniquely New Zealand heritage. And it's a renewed focus on execution. This year, we sharpened our product curation and our personalized ranges. We tailored our go-to-market market by market. We clarified our price architecture, and we improved our promotional discipline across our range. And across the entire Michael Hill network, we strengthened the customer experience. At Bevilles, we've taken a similar approach. We listened to customers and our teams. We brought in new leadership. We simplified the proposition, and we reset the business with a clear focus on winning in the value segment. After a difficult start to the year, Bevilles returned to growth in the second half, and we are encouraged by the progress we are seeing. The final results for FY '26 give us confidence that the turnaround is working. Sales grew in every market this year, and we made progress against every one of our growth engines. EBIT is up 57%. We have materially strengthened the balance sheet, and we have restored the dividend. There is still plenty more to do. We're not even a full year into this reset yet, and I still see significant opportunity ahead of us. So turning now to the top line numbers behind that story. Total group revenue reached a record AUD 655.7 million, up 4.1% in constant currency and up 1.9% in Australian dollars. Same-store sales were up 5.2% across all markets in constant currency and up 3% in Australian dollars. Gross margins held flat at 60.5%, demonstrating the group's ability to offset elevated precious metal costs while consumers continue to navigate cost of living pressures, and comparable EBIT increased 57% to AUD 24 million. We also materially strengthened our balance sheet. Net debt reduced to AUD 5.5 million, down AUD 36.3 million on the prior year. Inventory also reduced to AUD 189.7 million, down AUD 9.4 million on prior year, with inventory productivity up 13% over the same period, a very pleasing result. In FY '26, our cost of doing business was down 70 basis points to 57.1%, and the Board has declared a final dividend of AUD 0.02 per share. These results reflect real progress against the growth engines we set out at our Investor Day back in April, and they're already gaining traction. I'd like to share a few highlights with you now. In Canada, we delivered growth on growth and a record year, largely enabled by introducing a country-specific go-to-market approach across our marketing, our promotions, and our product ranges. And as a result, same-store sales were up 7% and online sales were up 22%. We also opened 2 new flagship stores in Canada during the year. In Australia and New Zealand, we lifted the productivity of our existing footprint with Australian same-store sales up 4.8% and New Zealand same-store sales of 3.6%. We opened new flagship stores in Australia, and I'm pleased to say that the refit program is delivering stronger performance improvements, which Elodie will touch on for you later. In digital, we realigned our growth teams to sharpen our focus and to engage customers better in the largest store in our entire business, our e-commerce store. And Michael Hill online sales grew 10% in constant currency. In product, we sharpened our pricing and our go-to-market flexibility and launched newness across our ranges. Custom and personalized products continue to grow in importance for our customers and now represent over 15% of our Michael Hill sales via our Made for You personalized and custom product ranges. As I mentioned earlier, we've made solid improvements in our inventory productivity, which was up 13% year-on-year across the group. We advanced our services-led differentiation. We digitized the Michael Hill Diamond Warranty. We formed a dedicated services team, and we relaunched our bespoke service offering, which is now live in more than 40 stores across Australia and Canada, generating average bridal transaction values well above the Michael Hill bridal average. We also know that customer engagement is paramount, and our Brilliance loyalty program, Michael Hill grew to 3.3 million members with gross profit dollars from those members up 14%. The Bevilles reset is also underway and gaining traction within our Australian segment. New leadership and a clear customer focus on the value segment saw that business return to growth in the second half with same-store sales improving from a year-on-year decline of 4.6% in the first half to year-on-year growth of 5.8% in the second half, with gross margin growing 660 basis points between the 2 halves as well. And we made real progress on becoming an AI-powered retailer, including this year launching our proprietary Retail Assist AI across our network, giving all of our store teams instant access to knowledge so they can focus more on our customers with this new tool now supporting over 50% of all retail support inquiries. In short summary, the turnaround is taking hold, and I'm very proud of what our teams have delivered so far. With that, I'll now hand over to Elodie to take you through the financial results for FY '26 in more detail.

Thank you, Jonathan, and good morning, everyone. For the full year, group revenue increased 1.9% to AUD 656 million with same-store sales up 5.2% on a constant currency basis. Sales were up across all markets in local currency and profitability improved in both halves. Gross profit increased 1.9% to AUD 397 million with gross margin flat at 60.5% as a stronger product mix and disciplined pricing execution offset elevated input costs, particularly in gold and silver. Cost of doing business as a percentage of revenue reduced by 70 basis points to 57.1%, reflecting disciplined cost management in an inflationary environment. The reduction in operating costs across the group enabled the business to reinvest in store teams, which supported stronger sales performance. Comparable EBIT increased 57% to AUD 24 million, representing 3.7% of revenue, up 130 basis points on the prior year. Statutory net profit after tax was AUD 10 million, up on the prior year. In the second half, the comparable EBIT loss improved by AUD 1.8 million to AUD 6.9 million from $8.7 million in the prior comparable period. This improvement was achieved despite recognizing a AUD 4.6 million lower release of deferred revenue from Professional Care Plans, largely due to updated FY '25 assumptions, including changes to repair patterns and cost indexation. Professional Care Plans performance remained positive with in-year value of plans sold increasing 1.2% in FY '26 versus the prior year, although accounting standards requires this revenue to be recognized progressively over the life of each plan. PCP income remains a key strategic lever and an important part of our services-led growth engine, supporting deeper customer engagement and increased lifetime customer value. As part of our strategic simplification announced at our Investor Day in April, we took decisive action to focus on our 2 core brands, Michael Hill and Bevilles. This resulted in noncash write-off of AUD 6.1 million, largely relating to the closure of Medley and TenSevenSeven, which have been excluded from comparable EBIT. This simplifies our operating model and allows management to concentrate resources on driving profitable growth across our core brand. Our work around store network optimization continued as we closed unprofitable stores, modernized our strongest location and opened new store locations. All up, the store network reduced by a net 6 stores during the year to 281 stores at year-end. Moving now on to segment results. In Australia, including Bevilles, revenue increased 2.5% to AUD 372 million with same-store sales up 4.8% and second half growth of 4.4% on the prior comparable period. Gross margin increased by 130 basis points to 60.7%, driven by disciplined pricing and improved product mix. Higher sales and margin drove a healthy uplift in gross profit and together with a 100 basis point reduction in the cost of doing business resulted in a 34.4% increase in segment comparable EBIT to AUD 36.3 million. Within these results, Bevilles reset is underway and gaining real traction, as mentioned by Jonathan earlier. During the year, we invested in the network, including a new flagship store at Bondi Junction in Sydney, a refurbishment at Rundle Mall in Adelaide and a relocation at Castle Towers in Sydney. Our refit program is delivering improvement in average transaction value, margin and conversion rates above the network average. The Australian network finished the year with 157 stores, including 36 Bevilles stores. Canada delivered another record performance. Revenue increased 7.3% to CAD 174 million with same-store sales up 7% and second half growth of 7.6% on the prior comparable period. Gross margin improved by 20 basis points to 60.3%, achieved through differentiated go-to-market activities and supported by improved margin in diamond fashion and colored stone categories. In addition, strong bridal sales growth also contributed to improved gross profit performance in Canada, driving higher average transaction values and attracting premium customers with greater lifetime value. Comparable EBIT increased 16.3% to CAD 21.9 million. Canada remains our fastest-growing market by sales and our clearest growth opportunity. Our Canadian cost of doing business was impacted by increased security costs following a series of security incidents and robberies, which have since slowed down. During the year, we invested in our flagship network with the refurbishment at Yorkdale in Toronto and a new store at Pacific Centre in Vancouver, reflecting our confidence to invest further in the strong performing market. The network finished the year with 81 stores. We currently operate the second largest fine jewelry store network in Canada and continue to target an optimal footprint of 85 to 90 stores. Looking ahead to 2027, we plan to modernize 5 of our top 6 stores, extending our refreshed network across every major Canadian market, including Toronto, Vancouver, Calgary and Edmonton. New Zealand delivered a marked acceleration with same-store sales up 3.6% for the year as the return to growth over Christmas was sustained through the second half. Revenue increased 3.1% to NZD 112 million. This performance reflects a deliberate decision to redirect investments into teams and customer-facing initiatives, enhancing the local customer experience and supporting sales growth. Gross margin was 58%, reflecting an intentional focus on adapting our offer to the trading environment, balanced by a stronger contribution from Bridal. Comparable EBIT increased 2.4% to NZD 14 million. During the year, 2 stores closed, resulting in 43 stores at year-end. We also relocated our Auckland CBD flagship store in July 2026 and plan to open 1 new store in the half 1 of FY '27. Turning to the balance sheet. Disciplined cash and working capital management drove a stronger position and reduced debt. Inventory reduced by AUD 9.4 million to AUD 189.7 million. Importantly, this improvement was achieved while gold traded at successive record highs throughout the year, meaning the underlying productivity gain was greater than the dollar reduction alone suggests. Inventory productivity, or GMROI, improved 13% over the year. This productivity gain gives us the confidence to reinvest. Management now intends to increase capital selectively in our most productive inventory to support sales growth, and we expect inventory to rise but at a lower rate than the sales it is planned to support. This is a deliberate growth investment made from a stronger and more disciplined base. Net debt closed the year at AUD 5.5 million, down from AUD 41.9 million in the prior year, an improvement of AUD 36.3 million with significant liquidity headroom ahead of the peak seasonal inventory build for Christmas. Trade and other payables increased during the year, supported by favorable supplier terms, higher incentive accruals and increased deposits received for Made for You custom orders. The net right-of-use liability reduced by AUD 3.2 million to AUD 16.7 million, mainly driven by store closures. Intangible assets decreased during the year with part of the movement reflecting a non-cash write-off associated with TenSevenSeven. This balance sheet strength gives us the flexibility to selectively invest in inventory, refresh store fit-outs and support our teams, positioning the business for profitable sales growth. Capital expenditure and SaaS implementation-related projects remained disciplined and in line with the prior year. FY '26 investments totaled AUD 19.7 million, well below the elevated cycles of FY '22 through FY '24. In FY '26, we made a shift in capital allocation from technology investment towards store fit-out, supporting the measured rollout of our new store format across the fleet with the refit program delivering performance improvements as previously mentioned. During the year, we built and refreshed 14 stores, including 4 flagship stores, which enhanced customer experience and brand presentation. Looking ahead, management expects FY '27 capital expenditure and SaaS implementation-related projects to increase to around AUD 25 million, supporting further store refreshes and the delivery of our AI-enabled inventory planning project. Our capital allocation remains disciplined and returns focused, prioritizing high return investment in stores, inventory tools and customer experience while maintaining strong cash generation and balance sheet strength. As a result of the improvement in operating performance and the strength of the company's balance sheet, the Board has declared a final dividend of AUD 0.02 per share, partially franked at 50% for Australian purposes with partial New Zealand imputation credits at 50% and with foreign income. That completes the financial and segment overview, and I'll now hand back to Jonathan.

Thank you, Elodie. I'll now turn the conversation to FY '27 and the plan ahead. Like any good strategy, we need to be clear about what success looks like for our shareholders. As we shared at our Investor Day back in April, we believe good looks like an EBIT margin of at least 10% in the medium term, 3 to 5 years out. Our strategy is built around 4 levers to sustainably get us there. Fundamentally, improved profitability will come from 4 areas. First, our footprint, improving store productivity across the network. Second, sales, driving sustainable top line growth. Third, gross margin, strengthening product economics and profitability. And fourth, operating leverage, reducing our cost to serve as the business grows. The current global environment remains highly unpredictable. Geopolitical tensions, commodity volatility and political cycles will all continue to create disruption. So we're very clear in the direction of travel and the outcome we're targeting. We also know that we'll need to stay agile in how we navigate market conditions while remaining focused on long-term goals and the things we can control. In FY '26, we made tangible progress against each of these levers, and I want to quickly connect the results we presented back to each of them. On footprint, our gross profit per store was up 4% and inventory productivity improved 13% across the group. We're also seeing promising early signs from the store refit program with average transaction values, margin and conversion rates improving above the network average for our refit stores. On sales, online sales grew 10% in the Michael Hill brand and same-store sales across the group were up 5.2% on a constant currency basis. On gross margin, they held flat at 60.5%, demonstrating our ability to manage headwinds in a challenging macro environment, notably in a year when precious metal prices like gold continued to hit record highs. And on operating leverage, our cost of doing business was down 70 basis points. And as shared at our Investor Day, we are starting FY '27 with a focused 2-brand portfolio, down from 5, built to drive profitable growth. Michael Hill is our international brand with operations across 3 markets and Bevilles is our value brand with operations uniquely in our Australian market. This means we enter the next phase with a simpler portfolio, a sharper customer proposition and stronger alignment across brand, product, stores, and go-to-market. The turnaround is taking hold, but there is more work to do. Our priority remains consistent execution and on rebuilding sustainable, profitable growth. To deliver against that ambition, we know we're broadly better off focusing on doing fewer things very well, and that's exactly what we're doing. The positioning for our Michael Hill brand is best captured by a simple idea, making modern luxury accessible. It reflects who we are as a brand, and it connects our team, our customers and our strategy in a way that can truly drive growth. It signals that we are a brand defined by relevance, premium quality craftsmanship, ease and value. Internally, we reinforced this with 2 additional commitments. The first is that our jewelry is made to be worn and given with confidence. This reflects why many customers choose Michael Hill, and it means maintaining strong quality standards and ensuring our products and packaging are something customers feel proud to wear and proud to give. Second, that our experience is shaped by the warmth of our New Zealand heritage. This reflects the enduring nature of the brand and the legacy we carry. And for many of our customers, our brand story matters because it connects with their own sense of identity and occasion. So having covered why we exist, let's now turn to how we win and where the real choices, trade-offs and investment decisions sit for each of our 2 brands. We believe the best way to deliver on this for Michael Hill is by focusing on 3 priorities. Growing customers, growing profit and growing engagement. All 3 are underpinned by a strong foundation of people, culture, and operating discipline. Growing customers means expanding our reach across channels and across markets. Growing profit means growing in a disciplined way, strengthening our margins while keeping a clear focus on costs. And growing engagement means deepening our relationship with customers through expanding our investments in services, loyalty and driving better customer experiences, both in-store and online. Together, these 3 priorities form the core of how we measure success across the Michael Hill business. Delivering them means raising performance standards across the group and using our data and emerging AI capabilities to make stronger decisions faster. And it's important that our incentives reinforce this. Our group executive incentives are aligned to our EBIT ambition and to the strategic outcomes we are driving. Turning to Bevilles. Our purpose is clear, deliver the look for less. Following the reset this year, our strategy to do that is intentionally simple. To win on value, to move fast and to run lean. Winning on value means delivering unmistakable customer value through strong promotions and disciplined margin management. Moving fast means maximizing inventory velocity and return on capital through rapid sell-through and a simplified range. And running lean means building structural advantage in the category through a highly competitive cost of goods, strong sourcing and spend discipline and improvements in inventory productivity. And all of this is supported by a cultural reset in how we operate, raising performance standards and strengthening decision discipline across the business. Product quality and focus remain key to both brands. For Michael Hill, we operate in accessible luxury. That means we are design-led, emotionally driven products delivered with a luxury experience at an accessible price point. We're not competing on price. We compete on experience and value where value comes from design, craftsmanship and brand. We are focused on creating products that drive demand and excitement through value-driven categories, limited releases and focused product storytelling. We are innovating at scale across key growth areas, including men's, basics, bridal and Michael Hill watches. And we are expanding personalization, custom and bespoke experiences to create emotionally driven product journeys. We are also focused on capturing the full diamond opportunity with premium lab-grown diamonds capturing growth and natural diamonds reinforcing our premium positioning while continuing to drive inventory productivity and agility across the range. Bevilles plays a very different role. There, we are engineering value and reacting fast to customer needs. The focus in Bevilles is the look for less with opportunistic buying and sharp price competition, taking on competitors through pace, efficiency and disciplined execution. So building on FY '26, our priorities for the year ahead remain sharp. In Canada, we are increasing investment in marketing and inventory to build brand awareness and to capitalize on productivity gains. As Elodie mentioned, we also plan to refit 5 of our top 6 stores while exploring new sites in the country. In Australia and New Zealand, we are refreshing stores with lower-cost fit-outs, including a new Auckland CBD flagship and another new store opening in New Zealand later in the first half. We are resetting marketing and go-to-market with increased investments in productive inventory. In digital, we are continuing to invest in the online channel and customer experience, including expanding buy online, pick up in store capabilities, making key purchase journeys more experiential and emotional and enhancing clienteling to equip our frontline team to have deeper, stronger customer relationships across all channels. In product, we are focused on capturing the full diamond opportunity, strengthening design leadership with clear creative direction and strong color launches. We are also introducing more newness and availability through value-driven categories, limited releases and focused product storytelling. In services, we are expanding personalization, custom and bespoke experiences across the network and improving high engagement services, including aftercare experiences and product care plans. The Bevilles reset continues under new leadership with an updated go-to-market approach for the value segment. And to support becoming an AI-powered retailer, we are continuing to focus on a people-first approach. This means we are mindset first, skill set second and tool set third, using AI as a force multiplier for our teams. We've also activated a partnership with Impact Analytics and are building an AI-driven demand forecasting and planning capability to support further improvements in inventory productivity and agility, which we expect to go live during the second half. Turning now to current trading. We are seeing a year-on-year sales improvement through the first 8 weeks of FY '27 despite an uncertain macroeconomic environment with gross margins also strengthening during the first 8 weeks and over the prior year. Group same-store sales grew 4.4% on a constant currency basis, flat in Australian dollar terms. And in local currency, same-store sales have increased across all markets. They are up 9.8% in Canada, up 1.7% in Australia and up 3.3% in New Zealand. Our focus from here remains on profitable growth, including the sustained growth of gross profit dollars and maintaining tight cost discipline. Before we move into Q&A, I'd also like to note that as a part of our broader reset, we are also refreshing skills and capability across both the executive team and the Board with succession planning a key focus. From a Board perspective, Rob Fyfe has advised the Board of his intention to retire as a Director and Chair of the company effective later this year on the 28th of November, while appointing current Non-Executive Director, Claudia Batten, to succeed him as Chair. Rob will remain Chair until Claudia assumes the role on the 28th of November 2026. In addition, the Board is also pleased to announce the appointment of 2 new nonexecutive directors, Karen Bozic and Mark Bayliss, who bring highly complementary retail transformation, audit and risk experiences and who will strengthen the Board's capability and support our long-term succession planning in the process. To conclude, FY '26 represents a significant step forward for Michael Hill. The turnaround strategy has delivered record group revenue. Same-store sales are up in every market. EBIT is up 57%. We have a materially stronger balance sheet, and we've restored the dividend. There is still plenty more for us to do, but the turnaround is taking hold. Thank you for your continued interest and for your continued support. I'll now open the line for any questions.

[Operator Instructions] Our first question comes from Kieran Carling from Craigs Investment Partners.

First, a couple of questions from me just on your outlook commentary. It looks as though Canada and New Zealand same-store sales are fairly flat on FY '26 levels through the first 8 weeks, but Aussie seems to have drifted off a little bit. Can you just talk to what trends you're seeing in that market and whether trading is stable or getting progressively worse?

Yes. So I think a couple of things on the outlook. First, we're seeing growth on growth in Canada and Australia, which we're really pleased about. And in addition to top line sales growth, seeing the margin grow at the same time gives us a lot of confidence in both markets. And then New Zealand this time last year was seeing a decline and has turned to growth. So across all 3 segments, we're definitely encouraged. Where they diverge a little bit and one of the big tenets of our strategy is obviously allowing the markets to kind of tap into their respective strengths while also supporting them to attack any potential challenges. New Zealand remains a highly promotional market for us, and we see continued pressure to continue showing up for customers with real value there. Australia is definitely a market where we're seeing continued strength across both the Bevilles and Michael Hill brands to varying degrees depending on the state. But on average, right now, the Australian market continues to be supportive. In Canada, we're just facing into a market with an incredible amount of opportunity, largely driven by the resilience of that market as far as we can tell and our respectively small market share, which we're growing into quite nicely, and that includes both stores and online. I mean 22% online growth in a market like Canada is quite excellent.

Okay. But just on Aussie in particular, I mean, are you seeing the -- I mean, we've heard from a couple of retailers recently who have sort of shown that trends have been getting worse in that market in sort of recent weeks or months. So I'm just wondering if you're seeing that same trend, or whether the trading is fairly stable?