Woolworths Group Limited

Thank you for standing by and welcome to the Woolworths Group F24 Half Year Earnings Announcement. All participants are in a listen-only mode. There will be a presentation followed by a question and answer session. If you wish to ask a question, you will need to press the star key followed by the number 1 on your telephone keypad. I would now like to hand the conference over to Mr. Brad Banducci, Managing Director and CEO of Woolworths Group. Please go ahead.

Good morning, everyone, and welcome to Woolworths Group's High Peer Results for the 2024 financial year. Joining me today are Stephen Harrison, our CFO, who will present our financial results a little later, Matthew Davis, Managing Director of Woolworths Supermarkets, Amanda Weigel, Managing Director of Woolie Jacks, Von Ingram, Managing Director of W Living, Spencer Sondheim-Lewine from New Zealand, Managing Director of Woolworths New Zealand, Dan Haig, Managing Director of Big W, and Guy Wendt, the Managing Director of the Woolworths Food Company. We also have our Chair, Scott Perkins, with us today, who will make some brief remarks shortly. Before we begin the results presentation, I think you all will be aware at this stage of today's announcement, confirming my intention to retire from the role of Managing Director and Group CEO of Woolworths Group at the end of August of this year. After eight years literally to the day of the role, and as we go into our centenary, it felt the right time to pull aside the baton And I'm proud to inform you that the new CEO designated for this group is Amanda Bible, the current managing director of WillysX. More on this in the upcoming months, but I want to share a hot dog thanks to all of you for both your support and challenge over the years. Thank you very much. And over to you, Scott.

Thank you, Brad. Look, I think this is a big day for Woolies and in particular a big day for Brad and Amanda. We don't do this often as a company, Brad being the 12th Chief Executive in our 100-year history. I first do want to acknowledge Brad's contribution. While he remains very firmly in the seat and charged with delivering our full-year results and working with Amanda through to 1 September, it is natural to reflect on what he's achieved and it is remarkable. Despite Brad's insistence on a low key approach, we will of course internally mark all of that in due course. The board is thrilled with Amanda's forthcoming appointment. I believe she's everything that we look for in the next leader for Woolworths. We think about the vision she has for the business, her proven ability to carry a team with her, and as you all know in retail, the need for a relentless execution. We are very excited by the prospects of her leadership. CEO succession has been an important element of our board work ever since I joined the Woolies board when I took over as chair in 22. We refreshed our future CEO criteria and have been working with our internal venture talent on their development towards that goal. And throughout that time, we've been in discussions with Brad about what his plans were and what was in the best interest of Woolies timing-wise. In the middle of last year, we decided to move into a different phase and commence the planning for CEO succession with today's date in mind. Throughout this, Brad has been flexible. The board's subcommittee first met on this in May, actually, and working with two external advisors, we proceeded to do an external search and continue with our internal development. We did conduct an extensive international search, and I interviewed a number of world-class retailers, as you would expect this role does attract that caliber of leader. And against that group, the board was delighted to appoint Amanda as the best person for the job, and we're confident an outstanding choice. typical Swillies fashion, we're all back to work, focused on our customers and long-term value for our shareholders. Thank you, Brad, and I'll hand it back to you.