CVS Group plc

Good morning, everyone, and welcome to this live stream of CVS Group's full-year financial results following the publication of those earlier this morning. I'm Richard Fairman, CEO, and alongside me I've got Robin Alfonso, our CFO, and Paul Higgs, our Chief Veterinary Officer. We have delivered further growth across our group. in the past year with improved UK operations and continuing expansion of our platform in Australia. Revenue increased by 5.4% to £673.2 million. We faced some challenges particularly in the first half of the year with softer market conditions in the UK. But it was pleasing to see a significant improvement in the final quarter leading to a positive full year performance with like-for-like growth of 0.2% across the group and 1% in our core practice division. And that improved trading continued into the first quarter of the new financial year. Adjusted EBITDA increased by 9.4% to £134.6 million from both acquisitions and continued disciplined cost management. And adjusted EBITDA margin increased by 70 basis points to 20%. Adjusted operating cash conversion was 76.9% for the year, ahead of our stated ambition of circa 70%. And in light of these strengthened operating cash flows and also the proceeds from the sale of our crematoria business at a 10 times EBITDA multiple, we finished the year with leverage of 1.18 times. We completed a further seven practice acquisitions in Australia. And we've completed a further two acquisitions comprising eight practice sites so far this new financial year. And that brings our total footprint in Australia to 51 sites. We're coming towards the end of the CMA market investigation. And whilst it was disappointing to face a further delay in the announcement of their provisional decision, we do look forward to receiving that very shortly. Now, the strong market fundamentals remain attractive and we are well positioned for further growth. We've strengthened our company and we're confident with the future growth prospects. So with that, I'd now like to open the call to questions from analysts. Now, given this call is being live streamed, when you ask a question, please state your name and firm. And I think that will be helpful. Charles.

Charles Wolfe from Peelhunt. Richard, can we start on Australia and can you just give a feel for how the market is trending there? Now you've got plenty that have been under your belt for over a year. Also discuss the synergies you're starting to see and a little bit on the cost of acquisitions and the pipeline.

Yeah. So if I start with the overall performance in Australia, we've been quite selective, as you know, in terms of the acquisitions we've made. We're looking for high quality, typically larger practices with four or five vets or more. And we're buying practices consciously in areas of high population and therefore areas where there are lots of pets. They also happen to be the areas where vets want to work and live. So, that disciplined approach has served as well. We're pleased with the performance in Australia and we've seen continued growth and the practices are performing in line with business cases. In terms of the market, demand has been good. The margins of those practices are above our group margin. And in terms of investments and financial returns, I'll probably pass over to Robin to comment.