Winton Land Limited (WIN) Earnings Call Transcript & Summary

Thank you for standing by, and welcome to the Winton Land Limited FY '25 Annual Results. [Operator Instructions] I would now like to hand the conference over to Mr. Chris Meehan, CEO. Please go ahead.

Thank you. Good morning. Thank you for joining us today for Winton's FY '25 Annual Results Call. Alongside me here today is Jean McMahon, who is Winton's Chief Financial Officer. We'll start with a business update followed by the financial overview with Jean. I will then finish with the ESG highlights and a few slides on the market and outlook. We'll then take questions at the end. However, investors and analysts connect themselves to the question queue at any time. So before I speak to the results, I just want to acknowledge the landscape that we're operating in. The property market has remained subdued in many parts of New Zealand, most particularly Auckland, and the economy has struggled, impacted by low growth, excessive bureaucracy, the challenging property market and higher unemployment as well as the ongoing wider global uncertainty. While much of this is beyond our control, we do control Winton's response to the economic conditions and how we strategically position the company for long-term shareholder value. With that being said, Winton's long-standing presale strategy has continued to serve us well and will continue to do so over the coming years. In FY '25, we settled 266 units compared to 345 in FY '24. Revenue decreased 10.5% to $155.4 million in FY '25 compared to $173.6 million in FY '24. EBITDA for FY '25 was $21.3 million, a 27.9% decrease compared to FY '24 and net profit after tax was $10.3 million, a 34.4% decrease compared to FY '24. As of June 30, we had a landbank yield of approximately 5,750 units, cash holdings of $20.3 million 20 current projects across 12 masterplanned communities and a presales book of approximately $248 million. Outside the financial results, we delivered a number of business highlights, which we will cover in more detail over the next few slides. Our landbank pipeline has an expected yield of approximately 5,750 units, including 877 retirement units. Revenue for FY '25 from residential development was $130.3 million, delivering a $21.9 million EBITDA. This is attributable to the 266 units that settled during the period, of which 90 units settled in the first half of the year and 176 units in the second half. The main FY '25 settlements included land lots in Stage 3 and Stage 4 at Lakeside, Te Kauwhata and the Jimmy's Point apartments at Launch Bay in Auckland. At Northlake Wanaka, the remaining also Villa townhouses settled and land lots within Stage 17 and Stage 18 also settled. While the product mix in FY '25 included fewer apartments, dwellings and commercial units compared to FY '24, the product settled in FY '25 was of higher value, driving higher average revenue per unit. As a result, the average revenue per unit increased by 4% to $489,000. In February this year, Winton submitted its detailed application for the Sunfield Project under the Fast-track Approvals Act 2024. The project has since been accepted into the Fast-track process and the panel has been appointed. It's encouraging to see the New Zealand government making progress, and we commend them on the process to date. Currently, we've used the ability to suspend the processing of our Sunfield application to allow time to provide all the technical responses required. This seems to have caused a bit of confusion, but put simply, the Fast-track Act allows a period of only 5 working days for the applicant to respond to questions from submitters regarding technical aspects of our proposal. Our team expects the realistic time frame to collect these technical responses to be somewhere in the order of 15 working days. So therefore, we've used our ability to suspend the processing of the application and are confident in formalizing all technical responses to the panel within this time frame, at which point the suspension will be lifted by us. We're hopeful to have a positive outcome on Sunfield around the end of the calendar year. And if approval is granted, it's Winton's intention to commence development of the Sunfield project immediately. Recently, Winton's Ayrburn Screen Hub was also accepted into the Fast-Track process under the Fast-track Approvals Act of 2024. The Ayrburn Screen Hub is planned to be an all-inclusive film studio, enabling users to work and stay onsite during filming, production and post-production accompanied by studio buildings, work rooms, office space for film departments, dressing rooms, a screening room and meeting spaces and a 185-room accommodation facility for film work is also planned, which will be available as visitor accommodation when there aren't any films in production. The facility will be located adjacent to the Ayrburn Hospitality Precinct and Northbrook Arrowtown. Should the project receive resource consent, it will be a valuable part of the Ayrburn masterplan and generating significant recurring revenue from the screen hub and incremental revenue growth for the hospitality precinct. On a separate note, last week, we reached an agreement with Kainga Ora in respect of the High Court proceeding brought by Winton, alleging anticompetitive conduct by Kainga Ora and another proceeding regarding Lakeside Developments Limited Housing New Zealand Limited and Kainga Ora Homes and Communities. Winton is satisfied with the outcome and feels that the confidential commercial settlement that was reached is beneficial to both parties. In addition to the residential settlements during FY '25, we continued momentum on site at some of our larger neighborhoods. In addition to the 183 land lots that we settled at Lakeside, Te Kauwhata, construction work is ongoing. Works are continuing at pace on the balance of Stage 4 with services, drainage, roading and landscaping. The Stage 1 reserve area is being progressed to the extent -- to extend the walking network within Lakeside and the Scott Road intersection upgrade is nearing its completion, which will improve the access to the overall development. At Northlake, Wanaka, the 20 ALTA Villa Townhouses were completed, along with the final Stage 17 Land lots. The first Stage 18 land lots were also completed, titled and settled. Works continue on the balance of Stage 18, including drainage, roading and landscaping and a proposed private plan change is well underway to expand Stage 19. At North Ridge in Cessnock, proprietary works continue for planning approvals for Stage 7 and beyond. Turning to Northbrook. The first stage at Northbrook Wanaka officially opened in May 2025 with the first residents moving in and starting their Northbrook lifestyle. After years of careful planning, design and construction, it is incredibly rewarding for us to see this vision come to life. Revenue from deferred management fees and village service fees has commenced and will continue to grow as the village matures and reaches stabilization. The Northbrook Wanaka Wellness Spa is a luxurious amenity with a 14-meter heated swimming pool, a sauna, a boutique fitness studio, a hair salon and various treatment rooms. Construction is progressing at pace and is on target for completion by the end of this year. We look forward to opening this [ opulent ] facility as an addition to Northbrook Wanaka. At Northbrook Arrowtown, excavation services and piling works have continued as have the high number of visitors to the display suite. We are operating with discipline as we prepare for Stage 1 of construction using the timing of the property cycle to the project's advantage. Construction tenders have now been received, and we are working through final contractor selection and contract documentation. During FY '26, Northbrook will continue its momentum and welcome more residents, introducing additional luxurious amenities and enabling current residents to live the life they love every day. Our commercial projects include Winton's investment properties at Lakeside and Cracker Bay as well as the operating businesses at Ayrburn and Cracker Bay. Revenue for this segment includes rent and hospitality revenue. In FY '25, commercial revenue was $24.7 million, up from $11 million in FY '24. The renovation and the refurbishment of the Cracker Bay office building is almost complete, offering premium waterfront office facilities for tenants across 4 levels. Leasing has progressed well with 71.4% of Cracker Bay lettable area now leased as at June 30, 2025. The last of the council resource consent approvals were also received for the wider Cracker Bay and Northbrook Wynyard Quarter precinct and the timing of construction will be determined once market conditions improve. Turning to Ayrburn. Our Ayrburn masterplan is coming together well. Ayrburn is situated in the best part of the most expensive street in New Zealand and is very much a key long-term asset for Winton. We continue to -- we intend to continue to maximize the value for the entire masterplan for shareholders over the years. We expect to welcome at least 1 million visitors to Ayrburn over the next year, and it is on track to become the most visited attraction in Queenstown. In FY '25, we completed and opened several new venues, unlocking further opportunities, particularly event opportunities across the precinct. These openings included The Bakehouse and R.M. Produce as well as our most recent opening, Billy's. In March, Ayrburn hosted the inaugural Ayrburn Classic, a two-day celebration of motoring featuring vintage, classic and modern luxury cars. Thousands of people attended and whether they are car enthusiasts or not, everyone had a fantastic time. We look forward to the second Ayrburn classic in February 2026, which promises to be significantly bigger and better than the first. Looking ahead to FY '26, the focus at Ayrburn is on visitor growth, gaining further operating efficiencies from the multi-venue site and continuing to build the event pipeline. We intend to deliver the high-end Ayrburn experience to every visitor, whether they come at day or night. The construction of Billy's restaurant and the adjoining conservatory were completed in June this year when we welcomed our first customers. Billy's offers a modern and refined Cantonese-inspired menu and drinks list, a deliberate and thoughtful diversification of cuisine and one well suited to Ayrburn in the wider region. Billy's is situated in the last heritage building to be recreated at Ayrburn, the Ayrburn Homestead and the adjoining conservatory. The vision was to maintain the original look on the exterior while transforming the interior into another world, a celebration of both old and new. We're grateful to everyone involved in bringing this vision to life and for their patience and craftsmanship in delivering this complex project to such a very high standard. Now I'll turn to Jean for the financials. Thank you.

Good morning, everyone, and thank you for joining us. As Chris mentioned, we are pleased to report our results for FY '25. Winton has delivered revenue of $155.4 million, 10.5% down from $173.6 million in FY '24. A total of 266 units were settled, a decrease of 79 units. Cost of goods sold of $95.9 million is lower than FY '24 by $7.4 million or 7.2%. Although there was a lower proportion of built product settled by volume in FY '25, the cost per unit was higher as the built product was of higher value than the book products settled in FY '24. Commercial revenue increased by $13.7 million in FY '25 due to Ayrburn contributing 12 months of trading compared to the previous period when it was only open for 7 months. A fair value gain of $5.1 million resulted from the revaluation of commercial assets and retirement land within the investment properties portfolio. This compares to a loss of $1.7 million in FY '24. Employee benefits expense increased by $3 million in FY '25, with Ayrburn trading for an additional 5 months compared to FY '24. Administrative expenses increased by $2.7 million with an increase in legal costs of $2.4 million and other administrative expenses of $2.3 million due to the growth of Winton's operations. This was offset by a decrease in establishment costs of $2.2 million. Establishment costs are those costs incurred in relation to the pre-opening of Ayrburn venues, and these include branding, marketing, recruitment and employee training. Net interest income was $2.2 million lower due to a decrease in average cash reserves and interest rates. The resultant net profit after tax in FY '25 is $10.3 million, a reduction from $15.7 million in the prior year. An increase in investment properties of $80.9 million represents progress at Northbrook Wanaka and Northbrook Wynyard Quarter. Winton entered into an $18.3 million debt facility secured against the completed office building and Marina complex at Cracker Bay in November 2024. The facility has a term of 12 months with the ability to extend for a further 2 years. In February 2025, Winton entered into a new borrowing facility in respect of its Sunfield project. The facility limit is $22.5 million, including accrued interest with a term of 18 months. In March 2025, Winton entered into a new borrowing facility in respect of its Northlake Stage 18 project. The facility limit is $22.5 million, including accrued interest with a term of 2 years. Winton has no recourse debt at the group level and all other properties, excluding those mentioned and Lakeside across the group remain unencumbered. Winton enters FY '26 with $20.3 million in cash reserves. Winton Fund Limited and MaxCap New Zealand Limited agreed to terminate and deregister the partnership WMC Development Fund LP with effect 1 August 2025. This terminates the joint venture capital commitment of $50 million. Pleasingly, we experienced no settlement defaults during the period. As at FY '24 results, the Board paused paying a dividend to maintain financial discipline during softer market conditions, which remains the Board's view for FY '25.

Thanks, Jean. Moving on to the ESG. During FY '24, our most significant ESG progress relates to meeting the additional requirements of year 2 reporting of the climate-related disclosures and GHG emissions inventory measurement. This year's climate-related disclosures have been published today alongside our annual results. It contains the transition planning aspects of Winton's strategy and externally assured GHG emissions for Scope 1, Scope 2 and Scope 3 emissions. This year, we reduced our reliance on spend-based emissions factors, improving accuracy and therefore, reducing emissions reported. Just to mention a couple of other key contributors aligning with Winton's sustainability framework. We funded nearly $5 million in development contributions, which improved the infrastructure and support the communities that Winton operates in. We improved Winton's health and safety TRIR from 3.0 in FY '24 to 2.2 in FY '25. We implemented further initiatives to continue to improve the water quality at Mill Creek at Ayrburn. And we sponsored a number of initiatives in the communities that Winton operates in and supported local businesses as much as possible with 93% of onsite works going to local contractors. As I mentioned earlier, we completed the recreation of the last heritage buildings at Ayrburn, which is the original Ayrburn Homestead. Turning to the market and outlook. Obviously, the property market has remained subdued in many parts of New Zealand, most particularly Auckland and the economy has continued to struggle. Unemployment continues to increase, and we maintain our view that the residential property market is unlikely to substantially turn around until some time after unemployment has peaked. In addition to unemployment continuing to rise, net migration is at its lowest level that it's been over the last 10 years and ready-made concrete volumes are below the 10-year average. However, there are some positive signs in Winton's operating environment, including a declining Official Cash Rate, increased competition amongst suppliers, lower labor costs and a rise in the number of houses sold compared to the prior year, with the Queenstown-Lakes District outperforming the rest of the country. In our view, given the current economic environment and the property market, it is a prudent time to avoid taking risks as we conserve our resources until the economy and the market begin to turn around. We will continue to operate with discipline and have appropriately resourced the team to reflect the current project pipeline. In the near term, this means focusing primarily on Winton's Sunfield project and Winton's South Island operations and developments, where the market has remained buoyant. We will be judicious in committing further capital to projects until we have some further conviction that the market has a positive outlook. And as I said on the prior slide, we maintain our view that we don't expect this to occur until after unemployment has peaked. We move into 2026 cautious but confident, and I'm very grateful for the dedication of the Winton team and their ability to continue excelling through what's been a very tough property cycle. We'd like to extend our appreciation to our trade partners, our contractors, our suppliers for their continued hard work as well as our community of stakeholders and shareholders for their continued support. So thank you. That brings our presentation to an end, and happy to move to any questions if anyone has any.

[Operator Instructions] Your first question comes from Nicholas Hill with Craigs Investment Partners.

Congratulations on another year in a soft market. Just a few from me. Can you hear me, sorry?

Yes. All good. Thanks...

With regards to the pausing of the Northbrook Wynyard Quarter development, what kind of market evidence do you think you'd need to see for the next stage of development to commence?

Look, it's an ongoing consideration for us, Nick. And I think it's a combination. We're confident that the demand for the product is there, but we really want to see a clear evidence of contraction in the build cost. And we are starting to see that. So I think that's the main consideration, and we're monitoring that pretty closely on a monthly, if not weekly basis.

Would you also be looking at, call it, residential sales in sort of the high end of the market because I guess if the resident needs to move in, they need to sell their current place, right?

Yes. That's true. But at this end of the demographic, we're finding a lot of the buyers that are still keen to transact. They don't have that requirement. So it's not necessarily the whole driver. We are looking at -- if you recall, there was a residential apartment component of that project called the Villard, and we are looking at whether we convert that into a hotel because the demand for hotel seems to continue to rise.

That's very interesting, I believe. [ Precinct ] just announced this morning that they're intending to have a component of the downtown hotel or downtown car park as a hotel as well. Just on the Cracker Bay, what would be the [indiscernible] you need to see there? I guess, you're still seeing quite strong premium office in Auckland on the waterfront. Is it just mainly a build cost story as well?