CVS Group plc

Welcome to this live stream of the CBS Group analyst presentation following the release of our full year financial results earlier this morning. I'm Richard Fairman, CEA, and alongside me are Robin Alfonso, our CFA, and Paul Higgs, our Chief Veterinary Officer. The results we've announced this morning demonstrate another year of growth and strategic progress. We deliver results in line with market expectations, with Improved like-to-like revenue growth versus the prior year, further strengthened the business and we enhanced our platform for future growth. Revenue increased by 5.9% to 712.8 million, reflecting positive momentum across the business with all three divisions driving growth. and that was despite softer market conditions in the final quarter as a result of continued softer consumer confidence in the UK and the exceptionally hot spells of weather at the end of May and again at the end of June. Adjusted EBITDA increased by 5.1% to £141.5 million with margins being maintained despite continued inflationary pressures in the financial year. Adjusted earnings per share increased by 6.9% to 85.6 pence benefiting from the improved financial performance and also from the reduction in our average number of shares following shares which were cancelled as a result of our share buyback program. We further increased our presence in Australia completing six acquisitions in the financial year comprising 14 sites for consideration of 43.3 million pounds and in the new financial year we've completed a further two acquisitions in Australia. We've signed a further two contracts for acquisitions in Australia and I'm delighted to announce that we've signed a contract for our first acquisition in the UK for some time. We will continue to be selective in our acquisition approach. We now have certainty following the conclusion of the CMA process with a number of remedies implemented and others in hand. We've seen a solid start to the new financial year and expect to perform in line with market consensus and we remain confident in our ability to drive growth in shareholder value over the coming years. I would now like to open the call and invite analyst questions. As this event is being live streamed, as you ask your questions it will be helpful if you can state your name and firm. Pace

Good morning, Cain Slatsky in Deutsche. Just quickly on the sort of start to FY27, you sort of say it's positive. Could you give us a little bit more than that, given we're three months, nearly three months in, Robin? Maybe just sort of some view as to what the exit rate could be by the end of the half. That would be the first one.

I think for what we said at the back end of last year, we delivered light flight growth of 2.1%. We saw a stronger first half than we did second half and the second half was mainly impacted in the final quarter by extreme weather that we experienced particularly in the UK. The extreme weather continued into July so there was some impact from weather in July but pleasingly we saw August's performance back in line with what we were seeing in the first half of last year. The first half. So closer to 3.7.