Operator Good day, and thank you for standing by. Welcome to Metcash FY 2026 full year results briefing. At this time, all participants are in the listen-only mode. After the speaker's presentation, there will be a question and answer session. To ask a question during the session, you need to press star one and one on your telephone. Please be advised that today's conference is being recorded. I would now like to turn the call over to your first speaker today, Mr. Doug Jones, Group CEO. Thank you. Please go ahead. Doug Jones Thank you, operator, and good morning, everybody. Welcome to the Metcash Limited FY 2026 full year results presentation. As the operator said, my name is Doug Jones, Group CEO, and I am joined this morning in Sydney by Deepa Sita, Group CFO, Grant Ramage, Food CEO, Kylie Wallbridge, Liquor CEO, Scott Marshall, CEO of the Total Tools and Hardware Group, and for the first time, Danielle Jenkinson, Chief Growth Officer, as well as Steve Ashe, EGM, Investor Relations. Given we issued a results pre-release in early May on the 11th, and given the final results are in line with those, I am going to start today with a strategy update before I get to the results detail. Before I begin, though, I would like to acknowledge the traditional custodians of the land on which we are meeting today. We are in Wallumedegal country, and I pay my respects to elders across country, past, present, and emerging. I want to start with our investment thesis and a couple of comments there. If you step back, the investment case rests on a few simple points. Firstly, we operate in large, growing, essential markets. We hold leading positions in supplying independent and non-chain food, liquor, and hardware businesses. We have unmatched supply chain and logistics capability and flexibility, and we sit in the middle of the value chain as an indispensable link between suppliers and customers. Why does that matter? Because it is what drives resilient quality cash flows, supports steady shareholder returns, and does so with moderate and controllable capital requirements. The message on this page is not that we are simply large, it is that our scale and platform translate into attractive economics. What supports that investment case is the Metcash system or platform we have built over time. There are three mutually reinforcing elements to this platform: scale, trusted capabilities, and competitive networks. The scale is clear, just as important is how those elements work together as the Metcash platform. We combine wholesale, retail, services, and customer networks across food, liquor, and hardware and tools. These capabilities reinforce each other and make the model stronger than any individual part would be on its own. This is what gives us a sustainable competitive advantage and creates room for incremental growth opportunities around the core. We operate across three large and attractive markets, and in each one, we have got a strong position. In food and liquor, we are the leading supplier to independent retailers in essential categories. In hardware and tools, we hold leading positions in key trade and professional segments, supported by a growing retail network. Diversification is built in. We're not reliant on any single category or earning stream. That gives the group both resilience in the short term and multiple avenues for growth over time. Across the group, the operating model is consistent, and alongside our purpose, this is what links our pillars and is what sits behind the construction of the portfolio. We share the same core strategic objectives in each pillar: a scaled supply chain, strong supplier services, competitive networks, and a diversified customer base. That consistency drives efficiency, supports margin resilience, and allows capability to be leveraged across the group. This is not three separate businesses. It's one repeatable system driving performance at scale, and it's designed to help us deliver honest value by combining the benefits of scale with the agility and community connections of independent retailers. I want to be clear that we've got a long way to go and much to work on. We're not claiming perfection. There's significant opportunities ahead of us in opening new stores, increasing our teamwork score, and growing new channels, by way of example. There is clear progress on our core strategy. The business today is structurally stronger than it was a few years ago. First, competitiveness is improving. Pricing is strengthened across all pillars, and the IGA network is more competitive than ever. We're going to talk about that in some detail. Second, the earnings mix is evolving with greater diversification, with retail and food service and convenience now a larger part of the group. That matters because it reduces volatility, improves the overall quality of earnings, and presents new growth options. Third, we are strengthening the platform itself. We're not changing it. This is not cyclical. It's a structural shift in how the business is built and where the earnings come from. In hardware and tools, we've completed the merger, removed duplication, and reset the business. We're progressing with a clear eye on a return to mid-cycle economics. Where market conditions are weak, the disciplined work to make our own weather is still progressing, and it's being done ahead of the upturn as we try to recover faster than the market. A big part of all of this is the technology platform. We're building a modern, AI-ready operating environment in partnership with Microsoft. The rollout is well progressed, with Horizon nearing completion in food and liquor. The benefits are already clear: better inventory, improved service levels, and stronger data capability. This is about improving how the business runs and lifting performance over time while lowering the cost and risk of future upgrades and development. Horizon is nearing completion and is currently in user acceptance testing phase. We're planning for the first of two final deployments in the last quarter of 2026. If we're in a position to go ahead with the second deployment this year without assuming unreasonable risk, our cost guidance will remain unchanged. We'll continue to balance cost, time, quality, and risk in these final stages of the program. We haven't been sitting idly. We've been investing to extend our competitive advantages, and those investments are now clearly delivering. They're driving three outcomes: scaling our networks, improving efficiency, and strengthening our ability to serve customers and suppliers. You can see that in Total Tools with strong network and earnings growth. You can see it in food service and convenience, which has scaled quickly and is now a more meaningful contributor. You can see it operationally, where productivity improvements are increasing capacity and supporting growth. These investments are improving performance today and making the business more scalable for the future. This is not just supporting earnings, it's building a stronger earnings profile that includes higher margin businesses. Speaking of which, around the core, we're also building additional growth drivers, and they're contributing, and importantly, they're scaling. In retail media, we've built a national network with meaningful revenue and strong momentum. I'm excited to share for the first time this morning the news that we've recently signed a partnership agreement with QMS and the Nine Network, which will accelerate our growth by providing access to a much bigger pool of advertisers and to their scaled network and sales teams. For their clients, it broadens the range of media available. The Sorted B2B online products and service marketplace at AUD 5.9 billion revenue is now a significant part of how we operate and engage with customers and supports the modernization of our core wholesale revenue stream. In retail ownership, we've taken the first steps in food, deliberately building our capability and asset base in a disciplined way. We've big targets here, we'll be guided by disciplined capital management frameworks that mean that each store or group of stores must fit strategically as well as financially. The common theme is clear. These are margin-accretive opportunities that broaden the earnings base. I'll move into the group overview and step through the results in more detail. The key message here as we go through this section is one of distinction and consistency: a resilient core, a diversified portfolio, and a business that continues to generate strong cash. At an operational level, the result is clear. Food and liquor, again, provided a stable base of earnings, performing well in a competitive and value-conscious consumer environment, and all this in the face of the continued decline in tobacco sales. Hardware and Tools improved sales momentum through the year, despite weak trade markets, reflecting targeted operational actions, and the group maintained strong financial discipline. We kept tight control of costs, working capital, and capital expenditure. We continued to execute the Metcash platform strategy, extending into more products and services while protecting and strengthening the core. The results reflect solid execution with the factors impacting performance understood and actively managed. The key material pressure in the results sits in Hardware, that's cyclical, which is why we're working hard to address it. The financials reflect all that. Revenue was AUD 19.6 billion and grew 3.8%, excluding tobacco. EBITDA and EBIT both grew on a normalized basis, operating cash flow was strong at AUD 558 million. The three-year cash realization ratio remains at around 104%. Leverage is at the lower end of the range, dividends were maintained at around 70% payout. The takeaway is resilient earnings, strong cash conversion, and balance sheet flexibility. Looking at the result by pillar, the portfolio is doing its job. Food and liquor did the heavy lifting in a tougher consumer environment once again. Hardware and Tools revenue accelerated in the second half, earnings still reflect weak trade markets, with pressure in retail margins. The strength in food and liquor provides stability while Hardware gives us upside when markets improve. That's why the diversified portfolio matters. This is a new view. If you look at the business by revenue stream, you can see the same story in a different way. We introduced this view at the half-year results, but now we show earnings as well as revenue. We'll continue to disclose this in addition to the pillar view, which will remain our primary segmental analysis. A dependable, high-quality wholesale base remains the core earnings engine, while higher growth and higher margin streams are broadening the shape of the business. It's important because it improves resilience today and expands earnings opportunities over time. It also informs how the business should be viewed, not as a single channel wholesaler, but as a more diversified platform. I really want to bring this to life in this next slide. It shows the progression over time. We've maintained a stable wholesale base while building higher growth streams like food service and convenience and retail. The direction is consistent across both revenue streams and pillars. We're not replacing the core. We're building on it to improve diversification and earnings quality. Since FY 2019, earnings from wholesale have grown by 35%. The proportion of the total earnings base has reduced from 91% to 76%. I also want to use this slide to get ahead of a likely question about the low growth in total earnings over the last few years. It's important to remember that since FY 2021, we've lost AUD 1.8 billion in tobacco sales. Our estimate of the single year earnings impact between then and now from tobacco itself and the lost associated products to be around AUD 25 million. To be clear, that's AUD 25 million lower earnings than we had in FY 2021. During this period, the food pillar earnings have grown by 35%. In the same period, as the Hardware cycle has turned, Hardware retail earnings are off by AUD 30 million. What this means is we've offset at least AUD 65 million of earnings by growing the rest of the business. These facts highlight the point that our core is larger and more profitable than it was. I'll now hand over to Deepa to take you through the financials. The headlines are straightforward: resilient earnings, strong cash generation, a disciplined approach to capital. Deepa Sita Thanks, Doug. Good morning, everyone. I'll build on Doug's overview by stepping through the group financials, focusing on the quality of earnings, the cash generation, as well as how disciplined capital management continues to support both resilience as well as future growth. Starting with the financial overview slide, FY 2026 reflects another year of resilient earnings, strong cash generation, and balance sheet flexibility. Revenue for the year was approximately AUD 19.6 billion, up 3.8% excluding tobacco, reflecting solid underlying momentum across the core businesses. At the earnings level, the business delivered growth excluding strategy and integration costs, which are one-off in nature. Importantly, cash conversion continues to be a standout. The three-year cash realization ratio is 104.2%, well above our target range, reflecting consistent working capital discipline, with the three-year measure providing the most meaningful view across the cycle. The balance sheet remains strong, with leverage at one times, which is at the lower end of our target range. The board has declared a final dividend of AUD 0.095 per share, reflecting a moderate increase against the annual target payout ratio and have suspended the DRP. We have maintained a disciplined approach to capital allocation, moderating investment, and prioritizing high return opportunities aligned to our framework. This reflects a consistent approach through the cycle, adjusting investment in line with conditions, while maintaining a strong focus on the core business and sustainable returns. As a result, we have delivered strong free cash flow and preserved balance sheet flexibility. Overall, the group enters FY 2027 from a position of growth and strength with high quality earnings, strong cash generation, and financial capacity to support both returns and growth. Turning now to the capital management framework. This framework underpins our track record for strong cash generation, disciplined investment, and consistent shareholder returns. While the framework has been refreshed to improve clarity, the underlying philosophy remains unchanged. At its core, it is focused on maximizing long-term shareholder value through disciplined capital allocation and delivering returns above the risk-adjusted cost of capital. The framework is anchored in cash generation with a target three-year cash realization ratio of 80%-90%. Supporting this is a clear and consistent approach to how we invest, built on three elements: clear capital allocation priorities, rigorous assessment of returns, cash generation, and risk, and strong governance, including board oversight and post-investment reviews. With that foundation in place, capital is deployed in a clear and consistent sequence. First, investing in the core business, thereby maintaining and strengthening operations. Second, maintaining financial strength and operating within our leverage range. Third, delivering consistent shareholder returns through a fully franked dividend aligned to our payout ratio. Finally, investing in growth and, where appropriate, return surplus capital to shareholders. The sequencing is key. It ensures we invest from a position of strength, maintain balance sheet discipline, and deliver sustainable returns with growth investment focused on strategic fit, returns, and execution. Turning now to the FY 2026 outcomes, which demonstrate this framework in action. Investment spend moderated to approximately AUD 244 million, with the prior year including the Superior Foods acquisition. Leverage remained at the low end of the target range at around one times, preserving sufficient financial flexibility. The total annual dividend declared amounted to AUD 0.18 per share, reflecting a payout ratio of approximately 74% of underlying NPAT. The key dates for the dividend are provided in the appendix section of the deck. ROFE was approximately 20%, with the moderation reflecting the expected impact of recent acquisitions and investment in long-term capability, as well as the softer earnings in hardware. The net debt remained well controlled over the period, with levels broadly stable and consistent with our disciplined approach to capital management and target leverage settings. Overall, these outcomes demonstrate disciplined capital deployment, strong cash performance, and retained capacity to support growth. Turning to the P&L. Revenue and EBITDA remained stable, supported by the strength and diversification of the portfolio. EBITDA before strategy and integration costs increased 3.5% to AUD 774 million. Depreciation and amortization increased year-over-year, driven by prior acquisitions and ongoing investments. The step-up was noted at the half, with the second half broadly in line with the first. Looking ahead, depreciation and amortization is expected to increase by a low double-digit percentage in FY 2027 as Project Horizon and other assets come on stream. Notwithstanding the increased depreciation and amortization, EBIT before strategy and integration costs grew by 1.6% and underscores our continued emphasis on cost management as well as operational efficiency. Corporate costs are expected to be in the range of AUD 20 million-AUD 22 million per half in FY 2027. This reflects ongoing investment in growth and capability initiatives, as well as variable employee entitlement costs normalizing to target levels. Net finance costs were AUD 123.7 million, in line with the prior guidance. Looking ahead, FY 2027 net finance costs are expected to be between AUD 130 million and AUD 135 million, assuming a moderate increase in rates. The year-on-year change in underlying EPS at AUD 0.245 is largely attributable to the one-off strategy and integration costs, which are reflected within EBIT. Excluding these costs, underlying EPS is in line with the prior year. Turning to the cash flow, cash generation continues to be a key strength of the group. Operating cash flow increased to AUD 558 million, supported by solid trading and continued focus on working capital. Investing cash flows reduced significantly, reflecting lower acquisition activity, while capital expenditure remained well managed at AUD 175 million. More broadly, capital has been actively managed, with investment directed to high return strategic initiatives and core platform capability, while overall spend moderated following a period of elevated investment. This disciplined approach has been a key contributor to the strong free cash flow this year, while supporting continued investment in the business. Looking ahead, FY 2027 CapEx is expected to be approximately AUD 150 million, excluding acquisitions, and will continue to be assessed in line with the capital management framework. The group retains a strong balance sheet flexibility and remains well within the parameters of the capital management framework. Working capital continues to be optimized, with average working capital days improving to 12.7 days. Total funds employed increased in line with strategic investment priorities, while net debt and equity positions remained well balanced. The increase in intangible assets reflect acquisition activities during the year, including goodwill arising from business combinations. In addition, ongoing investments in capitalized software continue to build out core platform capability, partially offset by normal amortization. Together, these investments are strengthening the platform and supporting sustainable growth over time. Finally, on debt and funding, the group maintains a strong and well-balanced funding position, with total committed facilities of AUD 1.57 billion and approximately AUD 967 million of undrawn capacity at year-end. Closing net debt was AUD 616.6 million, while the average net debt amounted to approximately AUD 835 million, providing a more representative view of leverage through the year. Leverage remains well within the target range, supporting continued financial flexibility. The weighted average cost of debt reduced to 5.2%, supported by active treasury management. We are currently progressing refinancing activities as part of the normal funding cycle, with strong lender support reflecting confidence in the group's strategy and cash generation profile. In summary, the group has delivered resilient earnings in a challenging environment. Cash generation remains strong and reliable. Our disciplined capital management framework continues to support both returns and growth. Thank you. I'll now hand back to Doug. Doug Jones Thanks, Deepa. Let's turn to the operating pillars now. The focus from here forward is how the platform strategy and execution this year showed up in these results. Turning to food, the key message here is one of resilience, competitiveness, and the benefits of that diversification strategy. Food again demonstrated why it's such a resilient and important part of our portfolio. Supermarkets remain competitive in a highly contested grocery market. A diversification into food service and convenience continues to support growth and reduce our reliance on supermarkets. Helps offset the impact of tobacco. In tobacco, we are seeing the early signs of improvement where enforcement has actually taken place and on the back of strategic actions we've taken. I'll get there in a moment. These strategies and the resulting earnings mix shift is now clearly flowing through into the results. Food EBIT increased to AUD 261.8 million, up 5.4%, or 7% on a normalized basis. EBITDA grew by 8.5% to AUD 374.8 million. EBIT margins improved to 2.5%, up 14 basis points, supported by a lower weighting of tobacco. This is high-quality earnings growth supported by diversification, improved mix, and disciplined execution, and founded on the sustainable competitive advantages. The improvement in food earnings has occurred over a long period, demonstrating the resilience over time, and reinforces that Metcash's core food business is a larger and better business than it was a few years ago. While tobacco remains a headwind in reported sales, it's not reflective of underlying performance. That impact is being offset in a few ways, including better tobacco procurement, the food service and convenience strategy, and other growth streams. While reported sales are affected, the earnings base is becoming more diversified and more resilient over time. Let's turn to tobacco. The data shows a clear link between enforcement and our tobacco sales, as evidenced by the fact that Queensland was actually in growth in the second half. Our total sales were higher in the second half than in the first. You can see this in the channel graph. It's pleasing to see other states following Queensland's lead. The reality is that much, much more work needs to be done. We're not standing still though, as you'd expect. In food service and convenience, have established new distribution agreements with the three major tobacco suppliers and signed new contracts with BP and Ampol. Together, these are worth around AUD 170 million per year. Price competitiveness has improved materially across the IGA network. That's a statement you've heard from us for a few years. The price gap for large stores has narrowed to just 2.1% from 3.4% a year ago. Across the total network, it's come down by a full percentage point. I'll point out that this comparison includes all IGA stores, from metro to regional, large to small. This improvement has been driven by a combination of factors and years of hard work, including supplier support, targeted promotional programs, and improved retail execution, and has been accompanied by a stronger focus on price perception. Importantly, the most competitive IGA stores are now close to parity in key markets. All of this supports both volumes and the health and competitiveness of the network. You've heard us say for a while that retail ownership is a key lever for the food business, and a structured plan strategy, not a shift away from independence. We're acquiring high-quality IGA supermarkets in a disciplined way. We've taken the first steps through the initial supermarket acquisitions announced this year. We've got ambitious targets, as I said earlier, and we'll be balanced by disciplined capital management using the refreshed capital management framework and investment discipline and governance that Deepa spoke about. Acquisitions must both meet strategic and financial hurdles. Store ownership enables faster rollout of initiatives such as loyalty, retail media, and e-commerce, and provides exposure to retail margins, strengthens alignment across the network, and improves execution through hands-on operational insight. It also supports the network continuity by providing succession pathways for independent retailers. Over time, this strengthens competitiveness, improves execution, and lifts earnings quality across the network. All of these improve our structural competitive advantages. Turning to liquor. The business is stable and continues to take share. The variability this year is in margins, not demand. Liquor delivered sales growth and our independent networks continued to gain share. The model works. The multi-channel offering across retail and on-premise, enabled by a unique combination of flexible supply chain and scale, continues to capture demand. Earnings were softer year-over-year, reflecting margin pressure in the first half from lower volumes and muted inflation. As I mentioned at the half, both of these occurring at the same time has historically been very unusual. That pressure eased in the second half, with margins recovering to historical trend levels. Volume on the back of share gains and new supply agreements were steady. The movement this year sits in the lower first half margin. Over time, the business has operated within a margin range of around 1.8%-2.1%, and we expect it to continue to operate within that range across the cycle, although we do expect it to be at the lower end of the range in the first halves going forward. While margin can move in the short term, underlying earnings range is stable. The strategy has delivered share growth in what has recently been a low-growth market, evidenced by consistent delivery of market share gains, with 570 basis points earned since FY 2020. Continued share gain over multiple years is strong evidence of both competitiveness and the attractiveness of the independent convenience and localized offer. 6.7% revenue compound annual growth over six years has been supported by those share gains and by a positive mix, which is really ALM growing in categories where growth matters most. That in turn is independent retailers meeting the needs of their customers in their communities. These gains are not luck or chance. They reflect strong program design and execution, pricing competitiveness, and the strength of the network. Just as in food, are founded on the Metcash platform advantages. Let's turn to hardware and tools. Demand is holding up across the business and we continue to perform well in our key markets. The earnings movement this year sits in hardware retail margins. In sales, momentum is improving in what remains a weak and uneven trade market. Revenue including charge-through was AUD 3.7 billion, up 4.3%, and we saw positive like-for-like growth across both hardware and tools, with momentum improving into the second half. Market conditions remain uneven. Trade activity is soft and lumpy, particularly in Victoria and Tasmania where we're more exposed, while performance has been much stronger in other states, particularly Queensland and WA. The external environment remains challenging, but the business is taking action to improve its own performance through network strength, improved customer propositions, and targeted interventions. Momentum is improving ahead of any broad recovery in end markets. On earnings, the outcome is below where we'd like it to be, and that reflects where we are in the trade cycle. Tools delivered earnings growth reflecting the strength of the network and the model. Hardware, particularly retail as I've said, remains under pressure due to weaker building activity and softer margins. Wholesale performance remains more stable, reinforcing the underlying resilience of the business and of that revenue model. The variation in EBIT is cyclical, not structural. We are not waiting for the market to improve, however. We've reset the strategy and we're acting to improve retail margins and execution ahead of any recovery. Total Tools and Hardware Group has two revenue streams, wholesale and retail. The wholesale base is relatively stable, with steady margins and volume linked to network DIY volume. The retail component is more cyclical, being directly exposed to housing activity. Note that when I say retail, I'm including distribution from our trade sites. Single dwelling commencements or residential building activity is a useful lead indicator for retail margins, as you can see in the graph. When building activity slows, margins come under pressure, and when activity recovers, we expect margins to move back. While the wholesale base remains resilient, retail leverage to market condition introduces more variability. That's why restoring retail margins matters and why we're taking action in retail now. I like to think of this slide as the control what we can control slide. Like the idea of making our own weather and not waiting for it to change. We've reset the strategy with a clear focus on retail standards, leveraging our full network, supplier partnerships, and trade customer experience. Each of these improve our competitive advantages, and the early indicators are encouraging. It gives us confidence that we're improving the business ahead of the cycle turning. The current TTHG results sit below potential, and we continue to see this business operating at mid-cycle margins over time. There's a clear upside in both market conditions and our own actions. This is a business with a resilient base and a cyclical upside. In hardware, wholesale provides a stable base with consistent margins that grow with volume across the network. Retail is more cyclical, driven by trade activity, mix, and pricing. In tools, the franchise roll model adds another layer of stability, with the income linked to network sales and benefiting from operating leverage. Tools retail margins are impacted by market conditions, sales mix, promotional mix, as well as competitive pricing pressures. Let's turn now to the trading update and outlook. Group sales for the first seven weeks have been steady, with May softer in food and liquor, but bouncing back well in June. In food service and convenience, we've cycled the Ampol contract win, but we expect to see contribution from new tobacco contracts starting later this half. We expect food earnings to be impacted by approximately AUD 10 million from the removal of the accelerated tobacco excise program. I want to spend a moment on this. Last year, you'll recall that we flagged AUD 5 million, this year, we improved the contribution, hence the higher number. While we don't foresee much change in market conditions in hardware, it's pleasing to note the continued momentum in hardware and tools in both our sales and network like-for-like numbers. In summary, we remain well positioned with sustainable competitive advantages, clear strategies, and healthy retail networks. Our balance sheet retains capacity and flexibility to support our plans, and we will continue to target delivery of resilient quality cash flows. Thank you. I'll now hand it back to the operator for questions. Operator Thank you. We will now begin the question and answer session. To ask a question, please press star one one on your telephone. Please stand by while we compile the Q&A roster. One moment for the first question. The first question comes from the line of Tom Kierath from Barrenjoey. Please go ahead. Tom Kierath Morning, Doug. Morning, team. Just a question on the retail hardware margins. How are you kind of seeing that right at the moment, and how should we think about that for 2027? I can see that they've come down quite a lot in the second half. You've got slide 43, which is showing they're obviously well below mid-cycle. How are you seeing them? Are they starting to bottom? Just be interested in some commentary on that, please. Doug Jones Hey, Tom. Thanks for the question. That slide that you just referred to, I think you said 43, that really gives you everything you need, and I hope that it's well-received. Obviously, we can't give you guidance as to when the market will return. I think I said it probably six different times in the last half an hour. We're not waiting. We're taking action to improve our performance. I'll point you to the restructuring that we spoke about when we did the May 11th pre-results announcement. We told you that we were going to take out approximately AUD 15 million of people costs weighted towards hardware. That would be included in that. We're working very hard to restore those mid-cycle margins, the reality is that we're not seeing a lot of improvement at a market level. Tom Kierath Great. Thanks. Just secondly, really quickly, you're saying you had a weak May and a better June. Was there some sort of benefit you had in the FY 2026 results from pantry stocking, and is that part of the reason that May was a little softer? Just thinking about lapping that in 12 months' time. Doug Jones Yeah. When we did that pre-results announcement, I spoke about the fact that we didn't see a material uplift in sales towards the end of the period in that pantry stocking. You saw a little bit of shift in terms of dry grocery, but it wasn't material. No, I don't think so. Our read on it is that the consumer environment was very low confidence following the outbreak of the Iran conflict. There'd just been an interest rate increase. The federal budget had just been released. We saw a small pullback. Anecdotally, we're seeing that across the market. Obviously, our competitors haven't released results. We're really pleased that it came back in June. I think I'd probably leave it at that. It was fairly short-lived. Tom Kierath Great. Thanks, Doug. Operator Thank you for the questions. One moment for the next question. Our next question comes from the line of Shaun Cousins from UBS. Please go ahead. Shaun Cousins Great. Thanks. Good morning. Doug, can you just discuss the long-term target to own 25%-30% of IGA network revenue? This is on slide 33. Maybe just how do you consider the shareholding in Metcash, pardon me, in Ritchies that you have, then does that give you a share of IGA network revenue already? Does that step up in CapEx to AUD 40 million-AUD 60 million per annum by fiscal 2030? Does that help you get part of the way? Just curious around when you think you might be able to get to this 25%-30%. Is it an aspiration, or are there an expected date when that could be achieved or some of the markers there, please? Doug Jones Hey, Shaun. Thanks for the question. Firstly, no, we don't include that Ritchies minority holding in that calculation. Just to be clear, that chart on whatever slide it was that we showed you indicates a steady progression of approximately 10-15 stores per year, and that would take us to the 25%-30% in around five to six years. The reality, though, is that we would expect what will actually happen is that it'll be much more lumpy than that chart shows, depending on what we faced. We'll assess every opportunity on its merits. If a larger opportunity came before us, we'd assess it. We're planning, as we've shown in that chart, for a steady, disciplined, clear progression. Shaun Cousins Great. My second question is just around your sort of one-off cost. I think it was AUD 12.4 million in strategy and integration costs in 2026. What's the outlook for those costs in 2027, please? Doug Jones Those are one-off. One-off means one-off. We won't repeat them. We've told you that we're going to have some restructuring costs already, but they're of a different nature. The reality is, as I said when we spoke to you guys in May, cost out and making sure that we invest people, time, resources in the right places is an ongoing discipline for us, not a once in a five-year event. No more strategy and integration costs called out in that way. Shaun Cousins Sorry, that might have been a poorly worded question. What other sort of costs, maybe they're not called strategy or integration or there are other costs that we should look for. Just curious to get a quantum there. I mean, we had this situation last year, I think, where they were quantified at the AGM in, say, during 2026. Just if you could provide us some sort of guide to what that number will be, that would be sort of helpful. Doug Jones Yeah. I want to do my best to answer your question, tell me if I haven't. There will be no further strategy and integration costs of the same nature as last year. Secondly, for a few years now, we've been investing in various growth and capability, including retail media. We've been improving our cyber posture. We don't call those out as significant. They sit within our corporate costs. I think we've said we expect those to run in the AUD 20 million-AUD 22 million a half, which should be unresolvedly unsurprising. Finally, as I mentioned a moment ago, the restructuring costs that we told you about, all of that will be above the line. There's nothing new of that nature. Remember, all of that is to deliver those targeted AUD 25 million of cost savings: 15 in people and 10 in procurement costs. Shaun Cousins Okay. All right. Thanks for that. Operator Thank you for the questions. One moment for the next question. Our next question comes from the line of Craig Woolford from MST Marquee. Please go ahead. Craig Woolford Good morning, Doug. Can I just clarify a bit more about that retail store ownership in supermarkets? In terms of the motivation, you said you'll be financially disciplined, how do you take into consideration retailers that may want to close stores or retailers that may want to leave the network or choose to leave the network? Are you thinking about some broader perspective there on the risk of reduced volumes through the Metcash wholesaling business? Doug Jones Absolutely. It's not a new risk. It's something that we faced into for many years now. As I said, one of the motivations is to provide a succession pathway to protect the network. I think let me call Grant in to talk in some more detail about the rationale, including succession pathways. Grant Ramage Thanks, Craig. As Doug says, it's not a new challenge for us to manage succession planning in the network. We do it all the time. We still see many likely situations where retailers that are choosing to exit will sell their stores within the network to other independent retailers. I expect that to continue to be probably the biggest source of churn in the network. We will focus on looking for stores that fit the profile that we think is going to be successful under our ownership, work in a disciplined way to acquire them at the right price and operate for the benefits we've outlined on the slide. I just think it's good to call out that this wholesale and retail piece really is mutually reinforcing. It's another example of strengthening the platform, whereby owning retail stores that actually is very helpful to us as a wholesaler and the things we want to drive, as well as clearly having more exposure to the retail margins. Craig Woolford Okay. What we're seeing in the Metcash result today with some of the disclosure on Ritchies is just a bit of pressure on profitability for IGA retailers. The concern that I would have is that you're having to stump up on retailers that need to exit or have chosen to give up on running their own business, which may not be the best stores to acquire. Doug Jones Yeah. I just want to remind you that in those numbers, last year we had a benefit on the sale of our share in the joint venture, Dramet, of AUD 3.2 million. You've got to take that out. You're right, some of the retailers are facing store pressures. We've got a lot of exposure in Victoria, in food as well, where the market is certainly tougher. When we talk many, many times about disciplined capital management, it's also about making sure that we pay the right price for what we believe are maintainable earnings in current market conditions. Craig Woolford Okay. Makes sense. Can I just clarify the comments from Deepa just on, depreciation and amortization will increase by double digits in FY 2027. Just want to clarify that. Then Doug, your point on the AUD 10 million excise figure, tobacco excise figure, you're saying that'll be AUD 5 million in FY 2027. Is that how I should interpret that? Doug Jones I'll let Deepa go first and then I'll answer that. Deepa Sita Cool. Thanks, Doug. The comment around depreciation and amortization is low double-digit percentage growth in FY 2027 versus 2026. Craig Woolford Got it. Thank you. Deepa Sita Thank you. Doug Jones Craig, the point we're trying to make on the guidance we're giving you on the net effect on food earnings of the removal of the accelerated excise is that this time last year, we told you that we expected it to be AUD 5 million. We actually did better than we did in FY 2025, in FY 2026. That gap, while we assess the impact to be the same, the gap from FY 2026 is AUD 10 million. The flip side of that coin is that there was a benefit in FY 2026's earnings from improved strategic procurement of tobacco. I don't know how to say it any more clearly than that. Craig Woolford I think just to clarify that in FY 2027, because of the way the excise is operating, there may not be that AUD 10 million benefit. Doug Jones Correct. The government has removed the accelerated excise, so excise will move up now only by AWOTE and not by an additional 5%, as has been happening for the last three years. Craig Woolford Understood. Thank you. Operator Thank you for the questions. Please hold for the next question. Our next questions comes from Ben Gilbert from Jarden. Please go ahead. Ben Gilbert Resilient quality cash flows? Morning, Doug and team. Just answer for me, just online, your competitors across grocery and hardware and liquor are investing pretty aggressively behind it. You've got Coles sourcing upwards of 20%. Obviously Bunnings is pushing pretty hard now as well. How do you position yourselves better to monetize this opportunity? If suddenly we're going to have 1/5 of the market online in a few years and appreciate your structure's a bit more challenging, but how do you put yourselves in the best position to capture this profitably while also supporting your members to do so? Doug Jones I know Grant wants to take this question. Grant Ramage Thanks, Doug. Look, I think what you can see from the numbers we've disclosed around the high growth rates in rapid delivery is that the market is actually shifting to shorter and shorter delivery times. It's probably more analogous to our bricks and mortar shopper missions, which are intra-week and needed now for earlier consumption. We're pleased to see growth in rapid delivery, but we certainly believe we can do more in this space, and we're working on that with our customers. I think it's important to remind ourselves, though, that we haven't deployed significant capital in this space. It's almost been a no-capital exercise for us. A small amount on our proprietary website, but mostly it's just driven through existing resources. Ben Gilbert Do you need to do something more fundamental on a CapEx standpoint? Your competitor set's obviously doing a lot. You guys have got a great supply chain. You have a lot of single-pick small capabilities. Do you need to lean into this more aggressively? I'm concerned that we look around in five years and 20% of the market's moved online and you're still playing rapid through DoorDash. It's capped a little bit, particularly how profitably you can actually do it. Doug Jones Hey, Ben. Yeah, let me take that. I think the short answer is yeah, absolutely. We are working hard on it. Our unique network of stores across not only food, but also into liquor and hardware, have thousands of points of forward deployed inventory that is uniquely positioned to take advantage of that. Yes, we agree with you. Ben Gilbert Okay, thanks. There is a final one from me. Just on the mid-cycle hardware margin aspiration of that sort of three and a half to four, or three to four rather, why isn't it higher? You've got your biggest competitor that's generating margins of sort of 3x that. Appreciate a bigger retail mix, but why wouldn't you be aspiring for a higher mid-cycle margin? Because I would have thought your vertical margins, when you put your wholesale customers together with that, would be well about three to four, at least for the good operators. Doug Jones Yeah, a couple of things. Firstly, that's an average across the network. You will see some of the larger stores having higher margins than that. Secondly, we have a significantly higher trade contribution than, I assume, the competitor you're referring to. Third, Ben, that's our retail margins only. You would have to add the wholesale margins to that to have a fair comparator. Ben Gilbert Okay, that's just retail. If we then put your vertical margin, because you're operating retail as well, you could add a wholesale margin plus a retail, which would then get you to a bigger number. Doug Jones That's right. Ben Gilbert Okay. That's helpful. That makes a lot more sense. Thanks, guys. Doug Jones Thank you. Operator Thank you. For the questions, please hold for the next question. The next questions will come from the line of Bryan Raymond of JPMorgan. Please go ahead. Bryan Raymond Thanks, and good morning, all. I want to just back again on the retail strategy and food. Just wanted to confirm the 10-15 stores, I think, Doug, you mentioned earlier per annum correlates with that AUD 40 million-AUD 60 million of per annum CapEx. We're talking kind of on average pool. I guess, the question is: Is that an AUD 4 million per store type cost? Or is there other CapEx that we should be thinking about in the context of refurbishing or reinvesting in those stores along the way? I'm just trying to get some rough numbers around the sort of how much you're acquiring and then how much earnings that might contribute. Doug Jones Yeah. It's always difficult when you use averages because there are going to be some that are bigger stores, more profitable, that are going to be more, and obviously some less. We don't anticipate that there would be material capital beyond what you would do as a retailer, which is make sure that you keep your store base refreshed. We'll execute the DSA program, et cetera. If we were to acquire a store that needed a refurbishment immediately, we would include that in the acquisition capital. Bryan Raymond Right. Okay. Just to confirm then, the sort of 25%-30% of the network that you're referring to, you're going to have a skew towards larger stores in that rather than Because the sort of store numbers would take you longer than that. You mentioned before four or five years, or five or six years to get to that target, if you just do it on the 10-15 per annum. Obviously, if you then look at your entire network, it would require more years than that. Is that a sales mix or a mix shift towards bigger stores in that? Doug Jones Yeah. Absolutely. That's a revenue number, not a stores number. Bryan Raymond Yes. Yep. Higher revenue per store is what you acquire. Doug Jones That's right. Bryan Raymond Okay. Just another one, just quickly on food for me is just around the price gaps. Encouraging to see some pretty low price indices there at 101 and 102 for the larger stores. Could you help us understand how it's flowing through just sales growth for those respective networks? Obviously you've got pretty good value position sitting there. How are those stores performing versus the broader network, are you seeing better sales performance on the back of better value position? Grant Ramage I'll take that one. From the beginning of the high-compete program, we've seen the stores on that program growing at about double the rate. Extra Specials is what you see as a shopper. Growing about double the rate of the rest of the network. From a wholesale point of view, about double that, about four times. They are outperforming. That's the first of our clustered approach to targeting activity to, in that case, stores that are up against full competition in metro markets. We see more opportunity to do that. Bryan Raymond I guess, sorry, just one follow-up is just there's 121 stores on Extra Specials based on that chart. I just wanted to understand if there's an opportunity to sort of roll that out more broadly given your overall large store fleet. I think you got 243 based on your disclosure at the back of your pack there. Can you go more broadly with that Extra Specials program? Grant Ramage Yep. That 243 includes Foodland and large IGAs. Yes, we think there's a few more stores that will go onto the Extra Specials program. It's targeted to the stores that will get most impact from it. I think that's the point I'm making about clustering is we're investing in technology. We're focused on delivering value in meaningful local ways, and working hard with suppliers to make sure that that promotional investment's really focused on where it needs to be. We see more opportunity with a more sophisticated program to deliver that value locally. On that basis, I think we'll continue to drive growth outcomes for each cluster of stores. Bryan Raymond Okay. Excellent. Thanks. Operator Thank you for the questions. Please hold for the next question. Our next question comes from the line of Caleb Wheatley from Macquarie. Please go ahead. Caleb Wheatley Morning, Doug, Deepa, and team. A follow-up question on the IGA price gap. Keen to sort of explore how you're thinking about, I guess, the opportunity to continue to drive that down. How you think about sort of private label as a lever to continue to drive that gap. Are you kind of happy with the 106%, or do you think there's kind of more opportunity across the network, please? Grant Ramage I think as Doug said, when you consider the distribution of IGAs around the country, from metro to ultra remote locations, you look at large stores, but also medium and really small stores. The progress we've made to get to that 106.4% gap is really quite impressive. I think to the point about can you continue, well, that spread of stores and that mix of stores means that our focus is really more on getting credit from shoppers. Driving our price perception, really getting our messages home through campaigns like Can't Believable Prices. Obviously, Price Match is well-established. Rather than thinking that we can continue to lower those prices forever, I think we're at the point where we're providing fantastic value locally. In the largest stores, we're really close to parity, of course, there's lots of other benefits that come from shopping independent and shopping local. Caleb Wheatley Sure. More specifically on the private label front, appreciate the 390 top-selling SKUs that you're calling out. Yeah, how much more of a role do you see that playing? Grant Ramage I think the role for private label can be bigger, it's going to come from more prominence, more distribution around the network. I think, again, if you look at owning stores, that's where one of the things that we would look to do in the stores that we own is make sure that those private labels have the right level of positioning and prominence in the stores and reflecting what shoppers are expecting and the value that they're looking for. Caleb Wheatley Great. Thank you. That's clear. Then just the second one might be for Deepa. How do we think about the pathway to CapEx? I know that you've obviously guided to a number in 2027, but it is quite a meaningful step down. You sort of saying that AUD 80 million-AUD 100 million worth of sustaining CapEx. Do we think about it sort of normalizing back up over time from 2027? Deepa Sita Thanks for that question. I think we've obviously been very diligent in terms of taking cognizant of where we are in the market, what the required CapEx is, investment required in terms of our growth and capabilities as well as our core business. We believe the AUD 150 million mark is reasonable. You would've seen AUD 175 million this year. Important to call out that that's obviously excluding the M&A spend, and obviously a lot of questions around the retail ownership that we're talking about now. That would be additional CapEx that we would be required to invest. Again, just calling out the capital management framework, the disciplines around that, and that certainly drives the decisions that we take around investment in the CapEx. Doug Jones Caleb, I would add that you must remember we're getting towards the end of Horizon. We've done Gepps Cross in South Australia as a mega DC. We've done Truganina in Victoria. I think I regularly flag that we'll continue to invest in the core of our wholesale business. We'll upgrade technology, et cetera. It won't be zero spend, but we expect it to be less lumpy, at least for the next few years. All of that plays into why we feel we're pretty comfortable with that approximately AUD 150 million level for the foreseeable future. Caleb Wheatley Okay, great. That's clear. Thank you. Appreciate the time. Operator Thank you for the question. Our next questions will come from the line of Peter Marks of Goldman Sachs. Please go ahead. Peter Marks Good morning, Doug and team. Just one question from me on liquor. Slide 37's got some good data there. It looks to me like the independents are winning market share from the majors through providing better range, particularly in some of those niche categories. Is that how you're seeing things in the liquor market? If so, I guess, are you confident you can sort of hold onto that market share gains that you've made versus the majors, given it looks to be driven by range rather than anything that's happening on the pricing side? Doug Jones Hey, Peter. Thanks for the question. I'm gonna invite Kylie in in a second, but without wanting to sound like I'm stating the obvious, that is at the core of good retail, is making sure that you meet the market where your consumers want to be met. Certainly, by sharing where we're doing well, it shouldn't be a surprise to anyone, our competitors included, they have access to the same data that we do. I think it's a difficult question if you say, are we confident of holding onto it? Well, absolutely, because we're gonna continue to execute those same habits, but we know that we have a series of very competent and fierce competitors that we've been competing against for a long time now. Our confidence is based on historical performance, and our committed strategy. Kylie Wallbridge Yeah. Thanks for the question, Peter. I think we are really pleased this year to have gained share again over the year, and particularly since October when we saw elevated levels of pricing activity in the market. So I think that gives great confidence, and I hope to you also that the ongoing share gains that our ALM-supplied independents have consistently realized over the past six years are actually resilient and repeatable, even in light of elevated pricing activity. The independent channel in liquor is actually run through a series of very well-organized and really sophisticated banner groups, which are investing really heavily in the shopper experience and the suppliers understand the value of that and appreciate it. So it means that they are well-positioned, not just through range and the scale that ALM and Metcash provide, but in terms of that supplier leverage and negotiation as well. Peter Marks That's great. Thank you. Operator Thank you for the questions. One moment for our next question. Our next questions comes from Adrian Lemme of Citi. Please go ahead. Adrian Lemme Hi. Good morning, Doug and team. I just wanted to pick up on Craig's earlier question about the supermarket retailer margin. Can you confirm what degree the store wages for the independent retailers are linked to that Fair Work Commission decision of the 4.75% increase in 2027, please? Doug Jones Sorry, Adrian, you asked wages? Adrian Lemme Yeah. I know you guys don't have the direct impact there, but the independent retailers, are their agreements for their store wages tending to be linked to the Fair Work Commission, or do they have, I don't know, their own store-level type agreements, please? Doug Jones Yeah. Grant will comment. Grant Ramage Yeah. Often they'd be linked to the general retail award. Even if they're not, then those broader market-wide changes tend to flow through in the stratification of wages across the market. Yes, they will be feeling that. Adrian Lemme Okay. I guess I'm just trying to square off, obviously, that the top line is a bit challenged. It's a tough market at the moment. They've got growing costs. Are you seeing any requests from them for support, or what are you trying to do to help them, please? Grant Ramage No, nothing unusual. We're seeing them under some pressure, fuel's been part of that. That's abated by now. Generally speaking, there are parts of the country, and Doug mentioned Victoria already, where they're feeling a bit more pressure. Overall, no, not seeing anything unusual really. Adrian Lemme Okay. Thank you. Can I just ask another one, just on the private label? Thank you for the extra disclosure. I noticed the growth rate was 1.4% this year, down on where it was in 2025 of 7.4%. Is that reflecting the price investment into to match the competitors, or has there been a decline in volume growth there, please? Grant Ramage I think it reflects the high growth in the year before. We pushed private label distribution pretty hard in 2025. Some distribution gains as a result of that, which led to that increase. What you're seeing is we're cycling that. Those gains have generally held, and private label's still growing modestly in the share of the store mix. Adrian Lemme Thank you. Can I just ask, do you have a sense for what the share of private label is of the supermarket network sales? Just a rough guide, if you could provide that, please. Grant Ramage Yeah. It's low to mid-single digits. Adrian Lemme Thank you very much for that. Operator Thank you for the questions. Please hold for the next question. Our next questions comes from Richard Barwick of CLSA. Please go ahead. Richard Barwick Good morning, team. I've got another question on the food retail strategy. I guess, firstly, I think you first talked about that back at that Melbourne strategy day, which is a few years ago now. What happened for the decision to move now? What tipped the scales in favor? Just in terms of what the stores you'd be going after or where it makes sense, how do you think about that on a geographical basis? What I'm getting at here is, if you own stores spread over vast distances across different states, does that not create inefficiencies for you as the owner of those stores? I guess the flip side of that, do you think about that and will be trying to own stores in closer proximity to each other from a management perspective running those stores? Doug Jones Hey, Richard. Yeah. I can answer both of those. The first one about why it's taken us so long, my words, not yours, is, as I've said a number of times facing this question, is that, as Grant alluded to, often when stores come available for sale, there's a lot of competition from other store owners, which we see as very healthy. It talks to the confidence that store owners have in the network and the proposition that they're looking to invest in, and we're not looking to drive up pricing. As I think we've all said maybe 10 times this morning, we have a very disciplined capital assessment process. That would be the first two reasons. In terms of your outline of the strategy, regional clustering, spot on. Doug Jones That is our strategy, and it's going to be really difficult for us to add real value or it's harder for us to be effective in far-flung individual stores. You've heard me talk about this as a replication of the hardware strategy. They have clusters of groups that have shared capabilities and common management structures, which allows us to leverage scale. Yes, we agree with that entirely. Richard Barwick Okay. Almost by definition, as you make these acquisitions, they're going to be the small groups at a time. Again, those small groups that already have some sort of geographical synergies in place. Doug Jones I really want to be cautious about making commitments that I can't meet because we're going to play what's in front of us to a large degree. I would say, I'd repeat back to you what you said in a slightly different way, which is that small groups would be more attractive to us all other things being considered and equal. Richard Barwick Can I just go back, a bit of a clarification, Doug. At the start of the call, you were talking about the impact on tobacco. Can you just talk through some of those numbers again? Because you talked about AUD 1.8 billion of lost revenue and AUD 25 million of EBIT. You mentioned some other impacts or numbers then. Would you mind repeating what you had said then? Doug Jones Just to step you through the logic, it's AUD 1.8 billion, with a B, of lost sales since FY 2021 to FY 2026. The earnings impact by estimate, including the lost sales of what we call associated products that would've otherwise been in the basket, is approximately AUD 25 million. That earnings would've been in FY 2021 and they're not in the FY 2026 earnings. It's not a FY 2025 to FY 2026, it's since FY 2021. The other point I mentioned when I was talking about that was the impact on retail hardware earnings, which are off AUD 30 million. You just have to look in our accounts and you'd see that. The point I was making is that despite a AUD 65 million earnings headwind, we've delivered consistent earnings growth. It's not to say that we want those earnings headwinds. It's not to say that we're not working incredibly hard. The point about the model is that they absorb those and, as a result, the core takeaway here is that the platform is essentially operating at a higher base. Richard Barwick Yeah. Okay. That's good. Thanks, Doug. Doug Jones No worries. Operator Thank you for the questions. Our next question comes from Phillip Kimber of E&P Capital. Please ask your question. Phillip Kimber Oh, good day, Doug. Two questions. The first one was just a follow-up on that retail strategy. You mentioned that it's taken a little while because you didn't want to effectively get into bidding wars with your customers, and your capital discipline. Has something changed on that front then, in terms of you're now prepared to be a bit more aggressive and compete with your retail customers when these stores come up? Or did I sort of misunderstand that? Doug Jones I don't think that just because we've now concluded the first acquisitions, you would say that there's a lower appetite from the rest of the network or something's changed. It's really just we've assessed and been presented with a number of opportunities over the period, and the confluence of events is such that this group of stores, the Daly's stores, were available and met our criteria. Nothing's changed. No. Phillip Kimber Okay. Sorry, because I know you tried to answer it with Craig, but I was getting confused on this AUD 10 million excise impact. Is that, just simplistically, I was interpreting that that is a headwind for earnings in FY 2027. Have I got that right or is it actually a tailwind? Doug Jones It's a headwind. Phillip Kimber Yeah. That's what I thought. Sorry, I just wanted to clarify that. Thank you. Doug Jones Okay. Operator For the questions. One moment for the next question. Our next question comes from the line of Michael Simotas from Jefferies. Please go ahead. Michael Simotas Morning, everyone. First question from me is on the sales trends in both hardware and tools. They're now running at a fairly reasonable clip, notwithstanding some of the challenges that are out there. You've spoken to soft margins in retail hardware. Are you actively investing in margin in either hardware or tools to reinvigorate that sales line? Doug Jones Yeah. I'm going to call Scott in to give you some more detail, Michael. We trade. We make a price, so to speak, as is common in the market. You meet the market where your customers will conclude the deal. Yeah, this is not new. That's how it works. Scotty? Scott Marshall Yeah. Thanks. Nice to hear from you, Michael. We've called out in the pack some of the things we're doing to improve the offer, and I think we're starting to see increased customer transactions on the back of that. We've called out where we're improving our retail standards. In the cycle of the market, you absolutely have to be competitive. I think that undercurrent to what you're asking is, are we buying sales? No. The market's competitive. We think we've improved our offer in that market, and I can point to things we've done around ranging, both in tools and hardware, to improve the offer for our customers. Michael Simotas It's more about meeting the market and improving your offer rather than investing in price to try to drive sales? Scott Marshall Absolutely right. Michael Simotas A question for Deepa, if I can. This business in recent times has delivered much better operating cash flow outcomes than we've seen for a long time. How much more can you do? Is there more working capital that you can pull out of this business? Can you continue to deliver cash realization at these sort of rates, or should we expect it to sort of head back to more historic levels? Deepa Sita Thanks for that question. As I've said before, we continue to look for opportunities to optimize working capital, et cetera. I think the important message and takeout from this morning is that we haven't adjusted the range. The reality of it is, we do have fluctuation in terms of timing and seasonality with our working capital, and we believe that the ranges that we've called out and guided towards are appropriate and factor those into account. Bottom line is, we'll continue to look for opportunities to optimize working capital as they present themselves. Doug Jones Michael, I just want to add to this because it comes up a lot. There's no doubt that the investment we've made in some of the systems to support our inventory management have paid off. It's not just deeper in the finance community, it's the operators, the merchandise leaders who've really dived in, and we're seeing better customer outcomes with less inventory. Why that's really important from a market perspective is because it gives us more flexibility to take positions in inventory where we have the opportunity to do so. I always think about this idea of how much capacity have you got in the shed and how much capacity have you got on your balance sheet. You want to maximize those while making sure that you deliver for your customers. That's what a healthy wholesaler does. Michael Simotas Yep. That makes sense. Thank you. Operator Thank you for the questions. Please hold for our last question. We have our fourth lot of questions from Tom Kierath from Barrenjoey. Please go ahead. Tom Kierath Thanks. Just a really quick one on the D&A guidance, the low double-digit increase. Is that based on the AUD 258 million of the right of use, which includes the right of use assets, or is it on the, I guess, ex right of use assets, the AUD 100 million, please? Deepa Sita It's actually a combination. You're absolutely right. There's a portion of it which relates to the right of use assets of AUD 258, so that's bang on. The other element of the increase is also going to come through as a result of assets like Project Horizon coming on stream during the year. There's also an element of that going to contribute towards the increase year-over-year. Tom Kierath Sorry. The low double-digit increase is on the base of the AUD 258? Deepa Sita Yes. Tom Kierath Yep. Cool. Okay, thanks, Deepa. Deepa Sita Thank you. Operator That concludes the Q&A session. I would now like to hand the call back to the management for closing. Doug Jones Thanks, operator. Thanks to everybody that took some time out of their day to share this call with us. We really appreciate your interest and your questions. No doubt we'll be seeing many of you through the course of this week. With that, I'll close the call. Thank you.