CEO’s Report

I’m proud to be once again sharing a strong and pleasing set of results for FY24. Our portfolio of businesses is diverse, resilient, and performing well, and we have a solid platform for growth. Our purpose of Championing Successful Independents in support of thriving local communities continues to guide our decisions and actions and remains at the core of both our strategy and our operating model.

This year the Food and Liquor pillars delivered another year of superb results and are now structurally positioned for enduring growth. They sell products which are essential for everyday living, and they could be described as the defensive elements of our portfolio; and they’re poised for continued structural growth. The Hardware pillar is proving resilient in a volatile economic climate and continuing to maintain its strong market position. The Hardware and Professional Tools businesses are more cyclical, being more dependent on market conditions.

I am pleased that these businesses have held margins and protected profits in the current operating environment. They remain ideally positioned to benefit from an improvement in trading activity. Within our business we are responding to the economic climate in which we operate.  In that context, I am proud of our FY24 results; while we do not control the external environment, our team has controlled what we can superbly.

These results are an indication that our strategy is working and continues to deliver improved resilience and diversification in the portfolio. We have performed at or better than the market trends in the markets we compete in. The portfolio results are as planned and as we would expect in these conditions, if not better.