Nampak Limited (NPK) Earnings Call Transcript & Summary

Welcome. Thanks for joining us again this morning. We're fortunate to have a half decent set of results, so it's always nice standing up in front of a group of people. After the last couple of set of results; which was hard work and blood, sweat and tears on our balance sheet; it's nice to arrive at a meeting with a decent balance sheet and some improvement in margin and trading performance. I think you can see it in the color of the executives' faces. They look a bit better. So I'm not going to say too much, but it is a privilege standing up here after the hard work over the last couple of years to deal with a more normalized situation and a situation where I guess the results and the discussions are going to be focused on what's happening in the business and not on what's happening in the balance sheet. So Phil and Glenn will take you through that. I think we've seen Phil's announcement leaving us. So Andrew is going to do a bigger portion of our discussion and presentation today as part of our handover process. And the process of Phil and Andrew working together, I think, is firmly underway and it's going quite well. And as we indicated in our results, Phil will continue to be involved in our business and will continue to provide his advice, guidance and support to the management team, which we think is invaluable. So with that, I'm going to hand over to Phil and let him take you through the results.

Thank you, André. Good morning, ladies and gentlemen, those in attendance and also to those that are on our live stream. André, thank you for the introduction. And I'd like to commence my presentation by expressing my thanks to our shareholders, our lenders and our employees for your support over the past 24 months. The enormity of transforming a firm so deeply distressed to one that is not only stable, but one that has excelled on multiple fronts has been extremely rewarding. You will recall I previously stated that you have to go hard and act decisively under these circumstances, requiring the execution of multiple interventions concurrently. There was absolutely no way we were going to allow an organization like Nampak with residual brand equity and a critical linkage in a complex value chain to not be resuscitated. I'd like to cast your minds back by rolling back the clock 2 years. Nampak was classified as a distressed asset by all, undercapitalized balance sheet, which has transformed itself into a recapitalized state and energized. We had crippling debt running into billions and we now have a structurally sound balance sheet. The portfolio was fractured and it was risk prone. We now have a focused, as you know, metal substrate focused portfolio. There was no doubt that there was a stakeholder trust deficit on multiple fronts, our lenders, shareholders, customers alike. And that confidence I would like to believe has mostly been restored. The cost base was hideously bloated and we attacked that on multiple fronts and we now have a streamlined and consolidated operating model. The margins weren't much to speak about. The EBITDA margin in first half '23 was 4.6%, first half '24 it was 19.3%. I think that should read '25, but I'll show you those details later in my presentation. As you can imagine, internally we were dealing with depleted morale and the organization is slowly maturing into a high performance anatomy that we demand and there's now reason to believe and when you capture the minds and the hearts, the results usually follow. This is a capital-intensive industry with a massive industrial base and never in the history of mankind has the pace of innovation and technological acceleration been faster than it is today. The manufacturing sector is not a quick fix. It is centered on long-term value creation. X Grok 3 AI drew a comparison between aluminum 2-piece can manufacturing and other industries regarding speed, precision and complexity and interesting to note that the precision rivals aerospace, the speed outpaces automotive and the complexity matches semiconductors. We're at a global standard if you're producing 3,000 cans per minute with tolerances under 1 micron. Nampak has restored confidence on a broad front, however, the job is never done. We turn to Chapter 2 under the mantra of growth and optimization, which is a prerequisite to sustainability. The world around us is in turmoil and [ SA Inc. ] is rather precariously placed and increasingly requires a higher level of vigilance and agility in order to traverse a volatile economic and commercial landscape. The aforementioned notwithstanding, Nampak has sustained a positive growth and profit trajectory as evidenced from this slide. Saw our revenue for the first half up 11%, 2x operating leverage at a trading profit level growing 22% and the margin opening up again from 12.3% to 13.5% at that level. Not only has there been significant operating leverage, trading margins have expanded given the growth, cost and efficiency focus and this result is complemented by strong operating cash flow. The late installation and ramp-up rate of our new capacity impacted the full potential within Beverage SA. This was offset by stellar Diversified and Angolan performance. The slight EBITDA and operating profit margin regression is easily explained given the nonrecurring positive impact of the post-retirement medical aid benefit in the first half in the prior year somewhat offset by pension fund inflow as well as the first tranche that we received in respect of our COVID claim. Glenn will elaborate on the working capital which was consumed in the first half, which is temporary in nature. However, needs to be unpacked for you, but should be of no concern. This string of numbers is a sobering reminder of where we came from and how rapidly we have been able to correct the performance of the core business. Let's pause for a moment and compare the first half of '23 with the first half of '25 where you have a 9% compound increase at the top line. We made a mere ZAR 157 million in trading profit in that period in '23 and this first half we generated ZAR 764 million in trading profit. At an EBITDA level, an increase from ZAR 221 million to close on ZAR 1.1 billion providing an operating margin of 19.3% relative to 4.6% in the first half of '23. Portfolio optimization in particular was a driver and the successful rate [indiscernible] Nigeria was a 14-month epic and should not be underestimated in respect of its contribution. Cost management, which I mentioned, and changes to our initial manufacturing architecture and disciplines contributed greatly too. There was enhanced focus on customer management with senior leadership front-ending those interactions. We established building a culture of performance and there's now an organizational rhythm as I refer to it. And most importantly, we've rebuilt trust in the Nampak brand proposition on a broad front. I'd like to introduce you at this juncture to Andrew Hood, who we've appointed as Chief Operating Officer, we did so 2 months ago. Andrew has 30 years of wonderful experience across multiple industries in senior capacities; MD, executive roles. And he's also done business optimization and turnarounds. He's had the privilege, too, of working across multiple geographies. He was contracted some 2 years ago, at the same time I joined the company, to rectify our position within Diversified and the results speak for themselves and also worked very closely with myself. So Andrew's succession is critically important and that's why we're managing this transitionary process with precision and I remain with the organization as a Non-Executive Director post September so that we ensure the strategic continuity and so too the culture that we are embedding on a broad front. So it gives me great pleasure to introduce Andrew to you.

Thank you, Phil. Good morning. It's a pleasure to address you this morning in my new capacity as COO. Even though focused on the Diversified portfolio over the past 2 years, I've worked very closely with Phil within the corporate context. Whilst considerable progress has been made, we are of the collective view that a significant value remains to be unlocked, some of which is evidenced in that which I will present. If I could turn your attention to the beverage performance -- Beverage South Africa performance. South African Beverage delivered satisfactory results, increasing revenue 7% and trading profit 6% year-on-year. Margins were maintained and cash conversion was very pleasing. Overall performance could have been better had the ramp-up of our installed large format can capacity not been delayed. Beer, energy and ready to drink volume growth remained above trend. This growth has been fueled by the shifting consumer preference for the large 500 ml format pack, even after accounting for some cannibalization of the smaller packs. The consumer preference shift to value packs is starting to impact the soft drink category. Our beverage category has been actively working to maintain its market leadership position by expanding production capacity, especially of the large-format cans and optimizing operations to unlock trapped efficiencies and volumes. In regard to Diversified, despite constrained market conditions, the Diversified portfolio was the model performer, realizing excellent operating leverage. Revenue increased 14%, bolstered by new deciduous fruit and vegetable contracts and some organic growth. Fish volumes improved primarily owing to a key customer's extended maintenance shut in the prior year. Pricing and costs were well managed and together with the increased market share resulted in a trading profit increase of 49%, and expanded trading margins from 9.9% to 12.9%. Notwithstanding the aforementioned, there remains further scope for midterm growth and extraction of efficiencies enabled through newly appointed operational management and potential operational consolidations. It is important, however, to note that there is significant increased portfolio seasonality skewed towards the first half of the year. Angola performed well in a very difficult macroeconomic environment. Revenue was up 16% due to a key customer switching from PET and Tetra Pak to cans. This switch was driven by higher margins and consumer preference, notwithstanding the price premium to other pack formats in relative terms. The business generated very good operating leverage with trading profit rising 33%. The margins generated in Angola are testimony to our single supplier status in country and world-class efficiencies. Although growth is largely dependent on 2 customers, the current constrained can filling capacities are being alleviated by newly installed capacity in both Angola and the DRC. The metal can market is experiencing several key trends, including a strong demand for the 500 ml format, the rise of wine in a can, tactile innovations and a growing emphasis on sustainability. To meet these evolving needs, Nampak has been investing in large format capacity expansion and has a wide range of can finishes to offer. In regard to sustainability trends, there is a significant focus on can lightweighting, supplier recycle content and converting to coatings that comply to new global regulatory requirements. This is underpinned by a distinctive world-class R&D capability. Now 2 months into my transitionary role, the handover from Phil is progressing smoothly. Continuity is key through this period as we maintain intensity on our growth objectives and extracting further value through improved manufacturing efficiency. I've been heavily invested in the Diversified business the past 2 years. So I'm now busy engaging with beverage customers and suppliers and in addition, too, Nampak stakeholders. Nampak has undergone a cultural transformation. I fully embrace the renewed customer centricity and bias for action and I'm focused on ensuring that this permeates the entire organization. I'm particularly conscious of the step change we have achieved over the past 2 years. However, I believe we can continue this trend. The organization is in a space that affords category substrate growth and share gain opportunities. Generating operating leverage is simply nonnegotiable given that we have very clear value-accretive opportunities identified. These include resolving manufacturing efficiencies that are currently way off global benchmarks and potentially optimizing the manufacturing footprint. I am positive that we can maintain the momentum sought whilst being cognizant of the increased economic and structural challenges in South Africa and heightened competition. It certainly won't be a walk in the park, but we are up to the challenge. I would now like to hand over to Glenn, who will take you through the financials in more detail.

Good morning to everybody. Thank you for joining us. It gives me a great pleasure to take you through a set of extremely improved numbers. It has been the culmination of a tremendous amount of hard work and planning and execution on strategy. I think if you really can summarize this set of results in the summary that there's been a step change in the performance and a key metric that we've been looking at is trying to achieve a 2x operating leverage. From the slide, you can see we've generated a revenue of ZAR 5.7 billion, up 11% on the prior year. Beverages in South Africa have grown their revenue by 7%, Diversified 14% and Angola up 16%. Our trading profit of ZAR 764 million is up 22% so there's the 2x operating leverage and that's up from ZAR 626 million with Beverage South Africa up 6%, very pleasing leverage in the Diversified South Africa business where that's up 49% and Beverage Angola up 33%. Our operating profit of ZAR 952 million is up 7% from ZAR 887 million in the prior period. Included in that number is ZAR 100 million of an interim insurance settlement for the COVID claim. There is still potential upside on that number, but we will not be able to unpack that at this point in time. We are engaging with the insurers and expect a resolution on that matter in due course. There's a ZAR 65 million pension fund liability surplus that we've managed to secure in that period where the plan assets have exceeded the liabilities. And just a point to note, in the prior period, there was a ZAR 290 million post-retirement medical aid gain that wasn't repeated in this particular period. A significant feature is the net reduction in our finance costs to ZAR 282 million. That's a 38% reduction from the prior period, down from ZAR 458 million. There are lower interest rates in the new funding package and there's been a 33% reduction in our net debt post the disposal. So significant strides made in that area. Our profit before tax of ZAR 670 million is up 58% from ZAR 425 million. That profit after tax growth has been reduced to 15%. There's been an adverse swing in the tax line of ZAR 181 million where the tax charge is 24.9% for the period compared to a 3% tax shield that was offered in the prior period. This has translated into headline earnings of ZAR 471 million, which is up 5% from ZAR 448 million. And really the difference between the growth in the profit after tax of 15% and the 5% in headline earnings is an adjustment of ZAR 32 million, which was the capital profit on the disposal of one of our properties. That's translated into a headline earnings per share of ZAR 56.83, which is up 5% on the prior year. If we now look at the balance sheet side of the business and the cash flows, I think we can summarize this by saying we've made steady progress in the period. The disposal facility that was identified at the beginning of our asset disposal plan of ZAR 2.6 billion has been fully settled. The execution process of the asset disposal plan has been successful and there is further opportunity, which I'll demonstrate later in the presentation. This has contributed to future lower interest rates and the Bevcan Nigeria transaction has been a significant part of that and I don't think we can underplay the importance of how that disposal has reduced the risk in Nampak's balance sheet. A key point is that the asset disposal plan has been achieved ahead of schedule and that number has been fully settled. It resulted in net debt of ZAR 3.1 billion, excluding lease liabilities, which has reduced by ZAR 1.5 billion from the ZAR 4.6 billion in the comparative period. The proceeds from these asset disposals have been ZAR 1.5 billion in the period and we've also generated further cash and the net gearing has reduced to 149% from 258%. We've generated strong cash from our businesses before working capital where we've produced ZAR 1.2 billion in cash generation. That's up 38% from ZAR 905 million in the first half of the comparative period. In the period, there has been an absorption of ZAR 742 million from working capital. It's quite a complex number to understand because as you are disposing of businesses, portion of the funding that you required from previous creditors no longer is required, so on the face of it, it looks like there's an absorption from the exit of those businesses. ZAR 374 million of that absorption comes from continuing operations, some of which is not structural in nature at all because we had raised particularly the insurance debtor at half year and by the end of April, that cash had already been received. That's just a timing issue and ZAR 368 million is really from the discontinued operations. We've pleasingly reported a net debt-to-EBITDA ratio of 2.8x and that's down from 3x and I'll show you a glide path to where we think those numbers can get to once we conclude the balance of the Kenyan asset disposal and the Zimbabwe transaction and really that's been achieved through improved profitability and the lower debt post the disposals. This has culminated in a significant improvement in the return on shareholders' equity where that's increased from 48% to 60% and the return on invested capital at 21%. The key statistic here is that it is now exceeding our weighted average cost of capital, so economic profits are being made. If we now look at the more detailed income statement. This has been driven by volume growth and lower interest rates, which has really been the biggest contributors to our improved profitability. 11% growth in this market at a revenue level, we are very proud of. That's been driven by volume growth and price management within Beverage South Africa. The Diversified business has been supported through organic growth, very improved supply of fish cans and the new fruit contract. So there's been a very good performance there. And Beverage Angola has seen a recovery in its volumes and there has been currency stability in that market. Our trading profit, which has increased at twice the rate of our revenue up by 22%, has been achieved through very focused margin management where that trading profit margin has improved from 12.3% to 13.5%. There's been very, very keen focus on our cost control and our efficiency improvements to deliver that result. Our profit before tax, as I mentioned, is up 58% and that's a combination of improved trading positions as well as lower finance costs. The adverse swing in the tax line. Last year there was a tax asset raised on deferred tax assets, which was contributed to a credit in the previous year. It's a far more normalized tax position at this point at 24.9%, bearing in mind the statutory tax rate of 27%. The only adjustment between the earnings per share for continuous operations and headline earnings is essentially the ZAR 32 million that we've made on the disposal of one of our properties. If you look at the total operations, there is a significant profit on disposal; recycling of the foreign currency translation reserve associated to the Nigerian business. We bought this asset at an exchange rate of ZAR 10.79 to the dollar and the transaction was concluded at an ZAR 18.67 and that's been really essentially a recycling of a nondistributable reserve in the balance sheet back through the income statement in the period. So there's been a ZAR 2.4 billion credit through the income statement. Having a look at the performance of the operating companies. We've touched on the growth in the revenue. I think if you look at the trading profit, what's important is the growth in the individual segments. The Beverage South Africa has grown its operating profit by ZAR 26 million, the Angola by ZAR 31 million and then the Diversified business ZAR 88 million. And then the net reduction in contribution at the center is really the difference between the ZAR 290 million post-retirement medical aid gain last year offset by the ZAR 100 million insurance claim and the ZAR 65 million pension fund benefit. What's pleasing is the operating margin stability within our Beverage SA business as well as the significant improvement in margins in both Beverage Angola and Diversified in South Africa. The portfolio optimization has been key to our strategy and this has resulted in lower interest rates and this has driven the net finance costs down by 38%. You can see a reducing interest charge from ZAR 458 million to ZAR 282 million in the period. There are lower interest rates on the financing package. You can see our local interest rate range was from 12.6% to 13.9% in the comparative period. Those rates are now reduced to 10.8% to 11.5%. And there's a very, very small component of dollar exposure net of the bonds that we hold in Angola, there's no exposure to dollar denominated debt. So there's a significant derisk in this particular balance sheet. What is important is that in the process of disposals, we have shed ZAR 267 million worth of lease liabilities and the associated financing costs that are embedded in those lease payments have also resulted in the reduction of the component of ZAR 47 million down to ZAR 25 million for leases. But the key takeaway here is the core financing costs to run this business have dropped significantly. If we look at the value drivers that have contributed to the movement in the profit in the period from ZAR 439 million to ZAR 503 million. We made ZAR 138 million extra in trading profit, the capital and other items have reduced by ZAR 85 million and that's the net of the ZAR 290 million and the ZAR 100 million insurance claim and the ZAR 65 million pension fund liability. There have been lower impairments, in fact no impairments in the period reporting. ZAR 176 million reduction in finance costs and then the income tax expense has obviously been a big additional item in the period. But overall, that net profit has increased by 15%, which is very pleasing in the period. What we'd like to introduce is a concept of our clean HEPS just to try and show you a normalized position. And this is really just a picture that shows the reported HEPS adjusted for the impact of the pension fund surplus and the insurance claim, the after-tax effects of that and also in the prior period taking out the after-tax effects of the post-retirement medical aid. And what you'll see is a headline earnings per share of ZAR 41.51 compared to ZAR 31.74 and the core headline earnings of this business in the period has grown by 31% on a like-for-like basis. So very pleasing result for the period. There's been no material change in the weighted average number of shares in the period. So this is really a strong result in the period. Our balance sheet after a lot of hard work is structurally sound. There's a very real attempt to reduce the number of assets that we've got and we've done that through the disposals. You can see there's a 15% reduction in our total assets for the business, primarily because of the disposals. What we've achieved in the same period is a 17% increase in the total shareholders' funds. And from an operating point of view, the inventories have been well managed; very active management and improved forecasting has assisted us there. Our trade receivables, we have introduced a digital transaction processing center. Our overdue debtors have dropped significantly and there have been improved collections through enhanced systems. I would point out again that those receivables included ZAR 100 million of the insurance claim. That cash was received by the end of April. So it was a temporary position at that point. Our trade payables, the comparative period effectively had a higher trade payables position because in March last year we were impacted by the cyber claim and we couldn't pay all the creditors at that point. So it was a kind of elevated creditor position. So in the working capital of this period, there's a disproportionate position. I think the takeaway here is that we've got a strong short-term liquidity and it's improved from the comparative period. It's at 1.9x compared to 1.8x. The assets held for sale in the period, we targeted to complete the Beverage Nigeria business disposal and our Inspection and Coding Systems deals, both of which were done, and that has been utilized to repay debt. The only major assets left on the balance sheet in the assets held for sale are the Zimbabwe transaction. That's effectively $25 million and there's $2.7 million, it's the balance of the Kenyan disposed assets that are due to be received quite shortly. The net debt, excluding the lease liabilities, has been reduced in the period by ZAR 1.5 billion and very pleasingly, our gearing has reduced from 258% to 149%, and a return on net assets improvement from 21% to 28%. Capital expenditure has been a keen focus. It remains tightly controlled in the business. You can see ZAR 182 million spent last 6 months to March 2024. That's at ZAR 148 million now. There's a slight change in the mix of the expenditure. In the prior period, the majority of that was being spent towards the upgrade of Line 2 Springs. This 6 months, there's been more capital expenditure directed at the core business. These assets are well capitalized, are very well maintained. The Line 2 Springs project has been completed. It was fully capitalized and met management's expectations in December last year. There's an enhanced capital review process where we do not allocate capital unless it's been appropriately reviewed at the right levels. And I think a very key focus here, and I think Andrew and Phil have touched on it, but I'd like to just embellish upon it. Within this asset base, there remain tremendous upsides to utilize these assets better and unlock inefficiencies where we can unlock further capacity. So there is an ability to service growing demand in these markets through the use of the assets at a more appropriate level. If we have a look at the journey from the net debt, we started at ZAR 4.4 billion. We've used free cash flow of ZAR 399 million to repay debt. There's been an amount that's been required to fund operations of ZAR 423 million, which is primarily the interest costs. A significant move in the reduction of the debt is the ZAR 1.4 billion that has been used to repay debt. And then there's an adjustment for the amounts that we have paid on the lease liabilities. But indexing those numbers on the right hand side; we produced ZAR 1.2 billion from operations, we invested ZAR 742 million in the business for working capital, the replacement CapEx is at ZAR 106 million. So there's free cash of ZAR 400 million if you index that at 100%. Now bearing in mind if you look at the second 6 months, significant cash generation expected. The finance costs have been ZAR 322 million, so there's 81% index there, and the expansion CapEx and replacement CapEx of ZAR 106 million and ZAR 42 million. The key takeaway here is we've used all the cash that we got from our disposals to repay our debt and that's resulted in accessing a point on the ratchet interest costs that is significantly lower. If we look at the debt stack, we've really, really targeted minimizing the exposure to dollar debt in this business over time. And at the point of 31st of March 2025, on a net basis, we had no exposure to dollar debt. ZAR 3.1 billion is the net debt position and if we take the glide path of the receipt of the proceeds from the Zimbabwe transaction and the remaining Kenyan assets, we'd expect another ZAR 500 million from those assets and that would take the debt down to ZAR 2.6 billion. If we index that relative to expected EBITDA position of ZAR 1.6 billion, that results in a targeted leverage ratio going forward of 1.6x. To the extent that we are not able to conclude the Zimbabwe transaction within that time frame, that leverage ratio would still be at 1.9x, which is below the target of 2x that we had set. The cash flow statement, I think we've gone through the majority of that. I think the real engine room has been the production of cash from the operations. We will address the unpacking of that working capital, as I've spoken and I'll tell you about that in a second. And then the disposal proceeds have been a very meaningful contributor to the change. We are sitting with ZAR 735 million in cash, so there's a healthy cash position in the business as well. If we look at the working capital position, there's been an increase in the inventory of ZAR 21 million, the trade receivables of ZAR 232 million and then there's been a decrease in the creditor funding. Now remember, the cash flow statement is for total operations. When we unpack that, you can see on the right hand side the ZAR 374 million is attributable to continuing operations and ZAR 368 million to discontinued. And within the continuing operations, there's been a ZAR 570 million increase in revenue in the period. Now based on kind of debtors days of sitting around 60 days, you would need ZAR 190 million to fund that increase in revenue in the period. What we have done is we've improved our collection processes where we've got ZAR 78 million improved collections in the period and then there's the ZAR 100 million outstanding COVID claim. There is an increased level of funding required for the Diversified business and we funded those positions to the kind of level of about ZAR 100 million. In the discontinued operations, we no longer need funding for the Beverage Nigerian business and that has reduced the funding requirement there by ZAR 123 million and the other operations by ZAR 115 million. Then we were hoping to get the Kenyan proceeds on the 31st of March. There was a public holiday declared in Kenya because of Eid and we only received certain of that fund shortly thereafter, so it's a temporary timing difference. I think overall the message here is that working capital is being well controlled and whilst it looks like a big outflow, a lot of that is due to disposing of various assets. In conclusion, I think we focused very heavily on sustaining the investment thesis that was underpinning the rights issue at end of 2023. And I think key issues behind this are the full settlement of the disposal facility. It was a big ask when we set out to do that and that's been fully achieved. There's been a very real focus on the balance sheet and that resulted in a sound and efficiently derisked balance sheet with lower gearing. There's been very pleasing margin expansion in the period. Lower interest rates have resulted in reduced funding costs and all of this has culminated in a return on invested capital that now exceeds our weighted average cost of capital. So very pleasing result. And I'd like to hand over to Phil to take you forward.

Can I say thank you to Andrew and Glenn in the first instance? Glenn, I understood every single number you presented, so I assume there are going to be very few questions that you need to field after my closing. We have made good progress and the organization remains well positioned to unlock further value. Nampak has had a promising performance and the outlook remains the same and we acknowledge that there will be bumps in the road, which I'll elaborate on further. However, they should not be insurmountable. This is my final presentation as CEO to investors and the wider stakeholder grouping. However, as you are aware, I will revert to Non-Executive Director, that's where I joined, thereby providing the continuity that is critical. I would like to extend my thanks to André and Adrian from A2 who had the vision to transform this organization and to bring me in to assist them and for the confidence and trust that you placed in me to lead Nampak. Whilst this was an extremely daunting and energy-sapping experience, it was an absolute pleasure at this stage of my life to capitalize on the learning and growth opportunity. Kudos cannot only accrue to the CEO. I was ably assisted by so many talented people in our organization. Importantly, the firm is well capitalized and positioned to capture further market share as a primary source of growth. A fanatical focus on cost containment and reduction is an imperative so that we can preserve these eye watering beautiful margins. I would like to take this opportunity to also wish Andrew and the team great success in the future and every confidence that the company is poised for greatness. Don't write me off yet, Andrew, I'm here for another 4 months. Thank you to all our stakeholders, in particular our customers, for their continued support and so too our financiers. I'm convinced that you can all sleep with both your eyes closed at night from this point onwards. It would be remiss of me to not indicate, however, that there is a very, very tough market out there. Consumers are battling. There should be very little doubt about that. The beauty of our Nampak portfolio though and the participation spread that we have in our customer base gives us an aerial view and the opportunity to spread our risk as we do business. What gives me confidence is that there are very, very few organizations that can adopt a 2-tier approach or, let's say, twin objectives at their disposal and the first one is that we have growth runway. I continue to speak about 3 layers of growth. There's category growth in the beverage sector, something you don't find across many categories. Secondly, there is substrate growth within the markets that we serve, meaning the can substrate. And thirdly, we [ haven't ] nearly topped out on market share. Defensively, we hold market share positions with the big players in this country in excess of 70% market share. So not only can we still increase that position with these large customers, you catch the wave that's presented to you, you don't paddle out and try and catch another wave and another set, it takes too long. So we were very inadvertently or unconsciously privileged to be able to be doing business with large customers and capitalize on those that were growing, but to also have the ability to cobble together further opportunities of growth. This is an important aspect that I'd like it to resonate with you. So from my side to those that have attended via streaming and those in attendance, thanks for doing that consistently, I've really appreciated it. And as I've said to André on a more emotive context, that never did I think at this stage of my life that I would step back and truly see this opportunity that was presented to me as a privilege. You've never cornered the market on wisdom. You've never cornered the market on learning and growth. And the day you believe you've saturated on that front, I suppose you can revert to knitting or crochet work or whatever else excites you. So I've absolutely loved it, never been as stressed in my entire life, but what a fabulous experience. Broad-based exposure to so many elements of business and new ones that were introduced through this process. So thank you very much and I'm happy to field any questions at this juncture.

As an analyst and shareholder, I think I speak for many in this room and online to thank you for your energy, the tenacity in recovering, restructuring and positioning Nampak for future growth and I'm sure you've left your team a very good legacy to continue to grow. You're only a little bit older than me, not that much, so I'm sure in due course I'll see you running another company in the fullness of time. A few questions, if I may, 2 for you and 1 for Andrew. Perhaps for the audience, just a bit of added color to what's going on in Zimbabwe given it's held for sale. Secondly, if I may, just the line move from Angola to this country and how it's going. And then for Andrew, given that Tiger Brands has latterly sold its Ashton and Langeberg fruit operations to a co-op and to employees, the track record of such transactions has not been kind in the decades I've covered the food sector. Given on Page 11 on Diversified, you've got 30% of your business coming from that sector. What percentage of your business is allied to that Ashton and Langeberg canning business should anything untoward happen in the fullness of time? It's just a risk permutation question. Otherwise, thank you, Phil.

You're most welcome and thank you for those kind words, Anthony. In respect of Zimbabwe, you needn't be a rocket scientist to understand that the level of volatility is variable at best and hasn't been great over the past couple of months. We're in a very solid sector with the bulk of our business being tobacco through the Hunyani operation. As the transaction goes, I was quite taken a back that -- and positively so because you're never surprised on the upside, as André always tells me, people never stop to disappoint us on the downside or surprise us on the downside, in that the competition authorities, very soon after having made our submission, had their first set of direct interviews with ourselves and that was particularly encouraging. And more so, there are no horizontal or vertical transgressions in respect of competition law. There's a tiny, tiny overlap, 1% to 2% in tobacco wrapping material. So that's positive and that process continues. The most important caveat to the success of this transaction of course is will they have the money ready? Now we have a bank guarantee for $12.5 million already. They've sold another asset for circa $2 million. There's another asset being sold and the balance will be made up by operating cash flows. And there are some very prominent people on the Board of TSL. So I'm cautiously optimistic. I'm optimistic by nature, but I'm cautiously optimistic that we can bring this transaction to closure. I'm hoping though that we can sustain a decent level of performance with our businesses, they're such solid companies. So these aren't problems with our own organization, they're structural in nature as they have been in Zimbabwe for a long time. And just to preempt a lead-on question in Zimbabwe, we'll be going back to Zim in July for a third meeting with the Finance Minister to see if we can recover the $52 million that they owe us, effectively taken from us. So we'll make every effort to engage them as positively and constructively as possible again and continue to do so relentlessly until we have a breakthrough. What we don't want is treasury bills for the next 20 years. We want our money. The second question was apropos our capacities. And the organization's capacities in aggregate and we have fairly good intelligence on all of the statistics in industry capacity terms that have been assembled over many years, so too our market share positions, and we're confident with all of our capacity initiatives in place, Anthony, that we're good for the next 5 years once we've concluded all 3 of those building blocks that will serve as our growth engine going forward.

[indiscernible] But with Andrew's initiatives now, we think that our manufacturing standards improvement will give us significant production capacity increases. Those production capacity increases through efficiencies and with the better deployment of the assets which we've got in the group, we don't see significant capital expenditure required to meet, I'd say, the demand forecast which we plan for the next 5 or 6 years and that's despite the benefit that the category is getting from substrate movements into cans and certain changes to the 500 ml format, which we see as continuing. So we're pretty sensitive to that as a Board to make sure that we don't have to spend CapEx too far in advance of demand realization.

Could I just make one point around the Zimbabwe amount that they owe us. On our balance sheet, that is fully provided. There's no exposure, it's only recoveries upside.

Andrew, are you comfortable to deal with Langeberg and Ashton Foods?

Yes. So in regard to Langeberg, I think it poses a threat and an opportunity. The threat is circa 5% of our revenue of that order of the Diversified division here. So obviously we've gained at this last year, we don't want to lose it. But also the business has been minimized over many years. It's significantly less than what it used to be some while back. So there's an opportunity in time if it is successful to actually generate more growth.

If I could add to that, if you don't mind, Andrew, Anthony. It was one of the businesses that I ran during my tenure at Tiger Brands. And one must just not be overzealous as a new owner of the business in respect of the quantum of intake while the whole world is in somewhat of a turmoil. We have been very proactive. We can't get involved in preimplementation, as you would know, because this is with the [ comp com ]. But we've had interactions with the prospective buyers and with Tiger Brands and we really hope that there should be no hiccup with the competition authorities. The number of people, it's something to behold when you walk into those lines during season. There are 5,000 workers on the lines and you'd literally collapse the economy of Ashton. I mean it's such a critical part of what happens. So we're optimistic that, that will not pick up any hiccups in the competition authorities. I personally, having had experience with the business, can't foresee any. So we look forward to a continuation.

If there's any downside [indiscernible] cost of the fruit and the ultimate selling price is much closer. So the stress between the reduced selling prices you're seeing in the market in the category versus the acquisition cost of your raw material is really sorted out when you've got a co-op. So the members have to kind of balance back to themselves. So there is a natural safety valve in that process because that fruit can't go anywhere else, it's the whole essence of that transaction. So whilst there's downside, I do think there's upside to the transaction because there's better alignment with the producers.

And André, to your point, it's brilliant that Tiger Brands, and it's in the public domain, are also making such a massive contribution, which converts into a share structure for employees. So not only have you got a nice international fund, you've got a consortium through the farmers and the employees. So the collective interests are now very well catered for.

Just a question from Daniel Lee, Finway. Last year's earnings were heavily weighted towards the first half. Do you foresee a significant discrepancy between H1 and H2?

Thank you for the question. You're starting to see a more normalized split of our business. In the second half, we begin to stock build for the summer season, as you know, in beverages. Last year, we were hampered because we didn't produce as many cans as we hoped to. That suppressed our performance, but one has to counter that with market conditions currently. But in theory, we should be selling more of our beverage capacity from the second half than we did in the first half. The precursor to that is that our factories perform at the rate that they need to.

Another question from Ivan Soh of Sumitomo. Congratulations on the amazing results. Trading margin percent of Angola business has been notably higher, almost double of SA. What are the main reasons for such a difference and will margins be sustainable?

Such a wonderful question and it would be remiss of me not to introduce Peter Mashangu to you. I invited him here. He runs our Angolan business. Peter is a consummate business professional and he has a wonderful management team in Angola. There are a few things that bode well for sustainability and continuity of earnings in the country. Of course, we've been blessed with currency stability, so there's been no devaluation, but we've even put mechanisms in place to derisk ourselves significantly in that regard. As I think Glenn pointed out or Andrew, I can't recall, we have single supplier status and these are relatively high entry barriers. Ostensibly, there are 2 customers and they are enormous, it's like walking into cities, and we serve them particularly well. The efficiency rates that we generate through that facility in Angola, it's quite eye-watering and something that we only aspire to in South Africa. The amalgam of the workforce, which is local people, Filipinos, some of which we've imported into South Africa to help us get our own assets up to a higher level of performance, and the culture of that workforce in Angola one should not underestimate albeit an intangible. They just run a super slick show and there's growth. Now you've got the DRC and the corridor opening up, the filling capacity in the DRC plus additional filling capacity by Refriango in Angola. I really don't see why we should regress at all. Was it Ivan? Thank you for that question, Ivan.

[indiscernible] So those margins, while they're higher than South Africa, are required in order to be successful in Africa. So whilst they look higher compared to South Africa, compared to African peers, I think that those margins are required in order to maintain that business and I think Peter and the customers see it that way. Just on one point, I think it's not often that your African operations are significantly better than your local operations and Peter and his team there has really demonstrated to us what a well-run facility looks like. So we are learning a lot from Peter's team and the expertise that they've got in that operation. This is why we probably want to keep -- have decided to keep the Angolan operations. Thanks, Peter.

Best we don't make too much of these margins in the public domain. We'll have our customers after us in due course.

All right. A question from Nick Wilson. You're regarded as a turnaround specialist. Do you plan to use your skills elsewhere where needed in corporate South Africa?

I've elected not to think beyond next week. Still got 4 months left at Nampak and I'm going to continue to work very closely with Andrew and the Board at Nampak. I'd like to take some time out. And this whole notion of turnaround and being badged as a turnaround CEO is somewhat overrated because I've involved, in my career, in optimizing very good companies and more latterly, I've managed turnarounds in the sense of companies in distress like Adcorp and Nampak. So one should discern between optimization of good assets that are being run suboptimally and assets that are in distress. And there isn't anything special about it. There are certain universal business truths. You don't have to be too highly qualified to be able to do so. Focus on the fundamentals and businesses will respond. So I'm not sure, Teboho, when I've had a little bit of a rest; if I elect to do something challenging again, it will be up for consideration.

Phil, also congratulations from my fellow, Clark, over here to you and your team. It really has been for me a good ride and I'm very pleased to be a shareholder. I have 3 questions and hopefully, they're all positive if we turn them around. The first one is on Zimbabwe, how do you account for the income statement position at the moment with our shareholding in Zimbabwe? And the second one, has America in any way affected our business with their tariffs? And third one is, I believe we've got a wonderful company and I believe its future is well set to go well. Yet, I look at today's share volumes and the volumes are like 300 shares trading today on a company that has really put out a very positive set of results and a very, very positive presentation. And I wonder whether that isn't because we've all bought up the shares now and there's no one else selling at this stage. But it is interesting to see that there's such low volume in the share.

Ivan, thank you very much for the lovely words. I'll let Glenn speak to you because, as you know, we treat Zimbabwe as part of our discontinued operations, but he can give you a more comprehensive response. In respect of the tariff issue, there's no appreciable impact to date and we have the ability to pass on commodity prices to our customers. It's formulaic and it's built into our contractual relationships, so no risk to you as a shareholder. And then thirdly, the material flows will realize as these supply chains have more certainty, and that can be good or potentially negative. And I'm suggesting good because if this stuff is going to be more expensive going into America, consequent to their type of closed economy thinking, then this raw material has to go somewhere and Europe can't -- a surplus of anything normally leads to lower pricing. If that's the case; then that will be good for the category, it will be good for the consumer and good for Nampak. There was a third question. You want to get that, Glenn?

In the long form announcement, you'll see under Note 9.2, we separately set out the results of Zimbabwe and the portion that it contributes to discontinued operations. Nampak owns 51.43% of Zimbabwean listed company. So there's a minority of 48.57% and we account for it as a dollar functional currency business. So you can separately see the results, but it's in a discontinued operation. So it's within our total operations, not in our continuing operations.

So the trading margin performance that you see, 22% increase, excludes Zimbabwe.

There is 3 entities in Zimbabwe.

The Zimbabwe business made a ZAR 98 million profit for the period before tax.

[Indiscernible].

Yes. I find it equally depressing, but what can I say, Ivan? The stock's held quite tightly and relatively illiquid. And do we think it's representative of current and future value? I mean I'm not in a position to forecast, but I personally find it a little bit disappointing, but maybe people will come to their senses at some point.

Rajay here from Excelsia Capital. Firstly, congrats as well on a good set of results to you and the team. A couple of questions I think for me. First one, just think looking at Bevcan and just thinking about the revenue up 7% and trading profit up 6%, no operating leverage. Maybe you can just comment on those 13% margins and is that kind of the best SA can deliver? And maybe kind of also linked to that, just talk a little bit about Springs Line 2. There was obviously the delay, but maybe a little bit on the expectations for that line in terms of filling the capacity and ramping up. And then maybe the final one is just looking at the debt levels and the pro forma 1.6x, maybe just some thoughts around at what point dividends or buybacks may be considered.

Thanks so much for those 3 questions. I'll leave the last one to you, Glenn. So are we happy with almost 1:1 from top line to trading margin in beverages? Absolutely not. And it is symptomatic of the real difficulty of merging technologies, old and new, and that's what we did at Line 2. And we were performing wonderfully till the end of December. When I say wonderfully, on our way to 70% of what we would think an appropriate throughput or run rate is, and then we had difficulties again on the line and we brought in external help to assist that again. We've split functions in the organization to focus on technical and the balance of manufacturing. So I'm positive because we know that there's a growth category out there and we have the ability both through Angolan operation, bringing in some Filipino resource, external capability and our own internal capability that we're leaving money on the table. That's the bottom line. What we've done subsequently in conjunction with correcting Line 2 is we've commissioned, not commissioned, we've rejigged another line, which we alluded to, which will unlock quite significant capacity. That was commissioned about 6 weeks ago and we're already at about 60% of the ramp-up position. I get an SMS first thing every morning. So as we prepare for the summer season, we get that Line 2 functioning the way it should. Luckily we can augment with this Line 3, we should be in a good position for summer. We've also had to spend incrementally around installing these new assets because as you stop, that costs you money. Start-ups again cost you money, overtime costs you money because we have to put customer demand at the forefront of everything that we're doing. So I think we're well set for the growth and the demand that is out there. We really just have to make sure that we perform the way we should. Glenn?

Rajay, it's a very good question. I've been CFO for 10 years now and I think one of the tough decisions I had to make or recommend to the Board was stopping the dividend when the debt levels were at extremely high levels. And it's been a long and patient journey for shareholders waiting for the time that arrives for a dividend policy to be reinstated. I think the Board can consider that and I can't bind the Board. But once we've closed out the Zimbabwe transaction and we've consistently produced a good set of results, I think there is an opportunity for the company to resume dividends. I think it would be at a moderate position and the business certainly has got the cash generative ability to get the shareholders into that position in the medium term.

All right. Question from...

Perhaps something to also bear in mind, within that beverage performance, that entity converts approximately just over 90% cash conversion rate. You want that thing to function at 110% of its capability.

Okay. Question from Rowan from Chronux Research. Can you give an indication of capacity utilization in Angola and the plan to potentially bring one of the lines to South Africa?

So we're running at about 30% to 35% capacity utilization. Peter, would that be correct? 40%, he's corrected me, so it's 40% capacity utilization. At our peak, which was almost double the profits we're generating today, we were running at 60% of our installed capacity. So there's absolutely no reason for us to spend any more CapEx in Angola. Hence, the decision we made that we would be relocating. I don't want to call it a dormant line, that's never been used to our South African asset base.

Okay. Any more questions on the floor?

Just on the CapEx, assuming is there much more to be spent on Springs 2 in H2 or in that continued fixing it up or what is the CapEx expectation for H2 and moving to next year as well? And then secondly, for the $50 million in Zim, what is the expectation for your meeting with the Finance Minister [indiscernible] moving forward or is it going to be one lump of sustained cost?

First of all, on the CapEx relative to our capacity. We've given guidance to the market previously as to what quantum of CapEx you can expect. We haven't totally finalized our numbers in respect of the relocation of the facility out of Angola. It's a complex project and we'll give you guidance on that in due course. And there should be no further spend in respect of Line 2, neither Line 3. So nothing excessive in half 2.

I think we could say that we don't expect expansionary CapEx to exceed the number of ZAR 600 million to ZAR 700 million. That's at the top end at this stage. And our maintenance CapEx spend in the region of ZAR 300 million, I think, is the guidance and it will be in that range. And that type of spending is sufficient for us to carry on for the next 5 or 6 years [indiscernible] plus the expansion of the market in certain formats of the ZAR 500 million. So if you look at the numbers which you want to do, you spend not more than ZAR 700 million in expansionary CapEx, moving stuff around, et cetera, and ZAR 300 million a year at this stage in order to sustain the existing operations. The benefit really comes from improving the throughput through the line, which Andrew is working on. So we think that there's significant potential to improve the operating capacities in our current line formats. And to the extent we need to add additional line capacity to that, it should cost us no more than ZAR 700 million in simple terms.

André has just opened a bigger checkbook than I knew about, but he's absolutely correct. Any more, Teboho?

This is more a personal one. Just wants to find out the reason for your resignation.

Can you not see when I look in the mirror that I see a man of 80 as opposed to 60? Flippancy aside, I was brought into this organization as a Non-Executive Director. I had no expectation of being the CEO and that's in all honesty. And as you know, I became interim CEO and then I took on a more permanent role so that we could get through this very difficult 2-year period. Now the job is never done, as I've said, but the transformational requirements have mostly been completed and I do believe that there's a CEO for a moment in time. Businesses are cyclical, but more than cyclicality, this is where companies go wrong. They say we need a new CEO as opposed to saying what is the organizational need state and then matching CEO requirements to that. So I think I was well positioned at a moment in time opportunistically, but I think Andrew is going to do a stellar job in welcoming everybody to the grind at Nampak as we continue in our search and quest for further growth and further optimizing this business. And those are my reasons.

I think just a follow-up, we have 3 questions left. Rowan, can you give some color on pack share shift to 500 milliliter wide-body cans?

It's quite incredible to witness actually because the extent of the strong double-digit growth, I mean really strong double-digit growth of our 500 ml pack in the first half shouldn't be underestimated. Now this is indicative of a few things happening at the consumer end of the market. There's this constant search for value. People even speak about getting inebriated at a lower cost per ml. So the 500 ml definitely offers greater value and the consumers recognize that. Just shows you how elastic the market is. And everybody has followed suit. The beer and the energy guys led the charge and now Coca-Cola has converted into 500 milliliters as well. So that's what's happening on that front. What was the second part of the question?

I think you've answered that. Just wanted to know the pack share.

But what we've seen in our own business is the pack migration. So whereas you would have had a 400 ml or 410 ml or 440 ml, you've seen the migration into the more dominant brands into this 500 ml format. And Andrew also indicated unbelievable innovation. You might not be close to it, but it's demanding on us as a manufacturer, these tactile type finishes, the matte finishes. There's also a consumer trend that we glean from our customers where it's quite cool actually to drink out of a can and you can do all sorts of designs that resonate with consumers aside from the value proposition. It's also the storage and portability of it, the different size configurations that consumers can avail themselves to. And I know for one that this isn't only about trended growth fueled by the energy sector. Whilst you may see people drinking energy drinks very early mornings, this has to do with share of throat. You're also selling sweet stuff. It's not just an energy growth trend. So this is substitution from other products like the CSDs, hence you're seeing Coca-Cola responding accordingly. So we should not distinguish between those 2 behaviors that are happening in the market.

And Phil, the last question we will entertain is from Charles Boles, Titanium Capital. He says well done, Phil, to you and the team on the turnaround. Can you give us some insight to the growth rates you are seeing in the different drink categories in Beverage SA? Beer, energy, CSD, RTD.

So I don't want to misquote any of our customers, but you would have heard from Boris at SAB, let's call it AB InBev, recently that beer as a total category he alluded to 1% to 2% growth. Everyone's found the first quarter difficult, I must tell you. You would have seen statistically as well that there have been another 300,000 retrenchments in South Africa in the first quarter. We now have 12.5 million people unemployed. So 1% to 2% real growth in a very mature -- they say you don't get mature markets, only mature marketeers, but beer is well developed and it's difficult to get consumption growth. But that's not our issue. Our benefit is that within that category, canned growth as a format is growing faster than the category growth and that's what we should focus on. The energy sector is off the charts, and I've already said to you see that as an amalgam of sweet stuff and energy, sweet liquids. That is starting to take on the complexion in size terms of beer. And then in the smaller categories, they're small and fractured, but we used to say that about energy. But increasingly, we showed you some of those pics in our presentation, there's an adoption of ready to drink and wine and these various products innovatively and you'll only find them in the canned format. And I speak with absolute confidence when I tell you this because I spent time in the beverage category. I was Chief Operating Officer, as you may know, of Coca-Cola SABCO, that the quality properties of a CSD by way of example and it's no different in other formats or should I say in other categories or segments, the quality intrinsic of a product in a can is infinitely superior to the same product in PET. You have CO2 losses very quickly. The minute you expose it to heat and you cannot expose it to direct sunlight, you have a degradation of product quality. And I've said it repeatedly. Open a can of Coke, let it stand overnight, sip from it the next morning and you'll find you preserved 80% of the intrinsic quality of that product although it was open. So I can add to that the sustainability benefits and recyclability benefits of cans, but there's a consumer preference and it's growing. It's growing in contribution in Angola and it's growing in contribution in South Africa.

[Indiscernible] We see that trend continuing over time.

And think of the hassle of returnable glass, returnable packaging that you carry on your balance sheet and it's not so cool drinking beer out of a quart anymore. Okay? To sip on a sexy can is a hell of a lot better. So I'm not speaking up and adding spin to can as a substrate purely because we are Nampak. This is what our customers play back to us. But I've always said this company would truly have matured when it becomes consumer-centered, not customer-centered, consumer-centric, customer-obsessed and then a manufacturer although you're listed in the industrial space. And that's what I'm encouraging our customer management teams to adopt as a mindset and that's how we assimilate data.

All right. Chase, any questions from the conference call?

Thank you. We have no questions on the conference lines.

Ivan has 1 more question.

With Hulamin widening their -- I don't know the exact technical detail, but widening their sheets or whatever you call it. Does that help you on a gross profit margin in time, will it?

I will have to defer to either Andy or Ryan. They're in the room. Where are you, Ryan? Andy, you're going to field it? Andy, by the way, is our Head of Procurement Planning and whatever else we like Andy to do.

In the long term, it's likely that a wider material will allow us additional efficiencies on our line, but we don't expect material improvements in the short to medium term.

It would appear that, that concludes the question-and-answer session. And all that's left for me to say is that it's been an absolute privilege serving this organization and the wider community shareholders. Thank you to our lenders yet again. Without you, we would have really been at sea. And I certainly trust that you will continue to support the investment thesis and endorse the confidence that we have in Nampak as a revitalized and renewed company. So thanks so much for your attendance.