Pick n Pay Stores Limited

Okay, we're almost ready. Okay, good morning and welcome everybody to our HYN FY26 results presentation. Special warm welcome, Mr. Ackerman, Wendy, good morning. Welcome, Gareth, and all my colleagues from Pick and Pay, and everybody both online and here in the auditorium. It's great to have you with us this morning. As part of the introduction, I just want to quickly flip over and just give a little bit of an overview of where we find ourselves now on our journey in Pekinpe. It's been quite an interesting 24 months since I returned, and it's been a bit of a compacted time period. In some dimension, it feels like I never left Pekinpe, but the last two years have really, really flowed and gone by fast. And the great thing for us is that if we have to sit and really be truly honest with ourselves and we cast our minds back about 18 months ago, not even 18 months, maybe 15, 16 months, when we put forward the business plan in May of what we were going to do in terms of restoring the fortunes of Peckinpah, I can say with all honesty that there is not much that we would have done differently. And for me personally, Honesty, as you know, is the only thing that you can deal with in life. And we continually are asking ourselves the question, are there any other levers we can find? Are there any other levers we can pull? And there certainly are not. So all of the levers that we have identified, all of the levers that we are busy pulling and pushing and juggling are absolutely on track at this stage. Would we like things to be faster? In fact, I was sharing with my colleagues when we were here yesterday preparing for this, I would rather have been racing up the hill in Cape Town than the hill climb and been in the room over here because that's how I like life. I like things to be much faster. But certainly one needs to be considered as well because otherwise you don't get to the top of the hill. And that's our journey that we're on. So I think very importantly, let's jump straight into the numbers. So I'd like to call in Lorena. Please come up, Lorena. Thank you.

Thank you, Sean. Good morning, everybody. And thank you for joining us here in person and also online. Following the completion of the successful recapitalization program in our previous financial year, our focus is now squarely on operational execution. So I'm very happy in this result to focus on operational metrics. The group delivered a solid result for this half. we have successfully executed across various strategic priorities. The group's turnover grew 4.9%, 4.7% on a like-for-like basis. We delivered meaningful improvements on all of the key metrics. We've improved our headline loss by 45%. This improvement was driven by a trading profit improvement of $227 million, coming from both Boxer and Peckinpay. And it was definitely supported by the positive swing in interest of $537 million. We ended on a balance sheet that is strong, with $537 billion of cash. We've again increased our segmental disclosures in this result. We've expanded some lines on the P&L that we do per segment. And we've also added for your benefit into Appendix 1, EBITDA and trading profit after leases per segment. For the purpose of this result, Boxer has already presented their results two weeks ago. So I will briefly touch on Boxer, but the focus will be pick and pay. Both Sean and I will focus on the pick and pay result. This is our primary goal, to turn the business successfully around. Our strategic priority remains growing our like-for-like sales growth across both our franchise and our own stores. For this half, our company-owned stores grew 4.8% on a like-for-like basis, and our franchise business, 1.7%. What is important is that we now have three consecutive periods of continuous growth improvement. We've delivered positive like-for-like growth of 2.2%, and our internal selling price was contained at 2.1%, well below CPI food of 4.6%. I'm also happy to report that this momentum does carry through into the second half. Of specific importance for me is the improvement in our franchise issues, up 1.7%, compared to the decline of 1.4% in the preceding half. Our franchise business is extremely important to us. They remain a critical growth driver for us. And the improvement in franchise issues reflects the improvements we are making in our franchise model. Our omnichannel grew 34%, 44% up in ASAP and Mr. D. Our clothing business continues to grow. They're up 12% in a very, very tough market. Hazel and her team opened nine more stores in this half, bringing the total estate to 424 stores. The pick and pay segment itself delivered 36.3 billion rands worth of turnover. That is the same number than last year. This is notwithstanding the closing of 59 stores as part of our store estate reset program. Sean will give more detail on this, but this is now largely completed with only a few more stores coming through in the second half. The actual turnover achieved reflects our relentless focus on operational and customer facing initiatives. The pick and pay business is not smaller year on year. And as the store closures are now largely in the base, we will continue to grow into the future. As I've mentioned in my opening remarks, we have again submitted Peckinpah and Boxer and will be presenting the results separately in this presentation. I will now take you through the results of each of them individually. The group now owns 65.6% of Boxer, post the IPO in November 2024. Our Boxer business grew turnover by 13.9%. and delivered a trading profit improvement, as consolidated by the group, of 16.2%. They maintained a trading margin at 4.1%, aligned with the business philosophy to reinvest any gains in their custom offer. Marek and David presented this results on the 13th of October, and I would really like to congratulate them on a job well done. They are now looking like seasoned results professionals. The full Boxer result is available on their website. There we go. The pick and pay key metrics reflects progress across all our strategic initiatives. All of these are needed to achieve our goal of getting the business back to profit and cash flow break even. There were two main drivers of the improvement in the pick and pay result. There is an interest benefit year on year as a result of the recapitalization program. The number in the pick and pay segment is $598 million. And we had an improvement in our trading loss of $97 million. I will unpack these two individually in the following slides. The $97 million improvement in a trading loss delivered a trading loss of $621 million. Our trading margin improved by 30 basis points. This was supported by a 40% improvement in our gross profit margin, and I will impact that in the next slide. A slight increase in our trading expenses, up 20 basis points as a percentage of turnover. and a pleasing increase in our other income, up 2.7%, supported by our increase in commissions and other income of 6.3%. This is very pleasing for us, given the fact that the group's turnover was flat year on year. We have successfully executed our store reset program. There's only a number of stores that will still come in the future. We have avoided losses of close to 100 million in this result. These were reinvested to support building the muscle we need to create retail excellence for our pick and pay turnaround plan. It is very important to note that to achieve this remarkable like for like improvement, we needed to make sure that we've got the right skills on a store and operational level. That is what we need to ultimately deliver on our turnaround plan. In this half, we've delivered on the like-for-like sales growth. We've delivered on our gross profit margin improvement. We have reinvested the savings we've made out of the successful store reset plan in key retail skills in our business. As a result, our like-for-like expenses grew 6.2% compared to our turnover of 4.4%. That is the reason why the progress on the strategic plan is not yet making a material improvement on the trading loss in the business. We have made great progress, but we have more to do, and it will take time. We are focused on building a sustainable business, We will not chase quick wins just to make the results stronger in the short term. We are building a long-term profitable business. As a result of this, the improvement in the trading expenses will come, but it will take time as we execute our future-fit strategic initiatives. The gross profit margin increased by 40 basis points, as I've mentioned, up to 16.9%. This was supported by key improvements in category mix, specifically in general merchandise, clothing, and our fresh range. We had a notable reduction in our waste, specifically in fresh, as in-store operations improved. We've also improved our buying and our logistic efficiencies. Notwithstanding these improvements, we also made investments. Pick and Pay is price competitive. We have achieved this while improving our customer offer. We now offer an increased range at better prices without compromising on our inventory control. We have also invested in our franchise model. We have reduced the sales margin to our franchisees to ensure that these very important partners improve their underlying profitability. The improvement of the 40 basis points on this line item is therefore a very strong achievement, considering the investments that we made during the period. Our trading expenses are up only 0.9%. This reflects the impact of the store reset plan. On a like-for-like basis, the increase is up 6.2%. The increase in like-for-like expenses were driven by the building blocks of the future fit business. We continued selective hiring in key skills to drive turnover. We have increased store training in a focused and effective manner. We've increased brand investment. I'm sure most of you would have noticed. While we are focusing on spending in the right areas, the remaining expenses remains well controlled. As I've mentioned before, we are acutely aware of the need to ensure that our like-for-like expenses increases by a rate less than our like-for-like turnover growth. And this remains a key focus area for us. Pick and pays net finance costs reduce by 60% for the period. This as a result of the FY25 debt pay down. This alongside a reduction in our net lease interest of 2.2%, reflecting the successful store reset plan, has really supported the year-on-year profitability of this result. The group's headline earnings per share showed significant improvement, up 56.2%. This, as I've mentioned before, was supported by the interest swing on a group level of $537 million. Two additional items impacted year-on-year comparability. We've got a 25% increase in our weighted average number of shares as a result of the rights offer in August 2024. We also now have a controlling interest of Boxer of 34.4% post the IPO in November last year. Not last year, November 2024. Excluding these items, alongside the interest saving, our headline earnings per share increased 27.8%, reflecting the trading result improvement in both Boxer and Peck & Pay. Pick and pay ended the half with 3.9 billion rands of cash on balance sheet. The cash utilized from operations of 0.8 billion is in line with what we've done last year. The improvements delivered through the store reset plan were reinvested, and therefore it's reflective in the year-on-year EBITDA number being flat. To build retail excellence, we need to deliver this plan. We absolutely have to invest in these skills to drive top line across FY27 and FY28. Interest received for the year was just over 100 million rand, reflecting the improvement of 0.5 billion year on year. The working capital and CapEx movements I will unpack in the next slides. The net result was a free cash flow utilization of $0.3 billion for the year, in line with our plans. I guided at the full year FY25 result that we are aiming to half the cash burn for the pick and pay segment of last year of $2.6 billion. We are now forecasting that the cash burn for this year will be approximately $1.6 billion. The group released working capital of 1.7 billion for the half. This is across both Boxer and Peck & Pay. This is in line with our normal H1, H2 seasonality, and this benefit will be absorbed during the second half of the year. There is some cutoff as well, but both the cutoff and the seasonality will unwind in the second half of the year. What is important to note is Peckinpah's continued working capital improvement. Our inventory declined by 3.5%, notwithstanding the fact that our turnover year-on-year were flat and we reinvested in our ranges. There has been a continuous focus on optimizing inventory in the business. We've also seen a continued improvement in our franchise debt as the impact of the new franchise model is supporting our franchisees. I am very comfortable with the working capital levels of both Pick and Pay and Boxer. The group invested 0.9 billion during the first half of this year. Both Boxer and clothing continues to invest to support their growth ambitions. Pick and Pay's forecasted spend for the full year is just under, apologies, Pick and Pay's forecasted spend for the full year is 0.9 billion. This is an increase from the $500 million of last year. The pick and pay spend remains measured. We are spending on key revamps where we know we can get the maximum ROI and critical repairs and maintenance. Our focus remains on investment in OPEX and the skills we need to drive our like-for-like turnover growth. The group ended with cash reserves of $5.1 billion. 3.9 billion in pick and pack, and 1.1 billion in Boxer. Pick and pay itself has got three billion rands worth of working capital facilities. These are unutilized, unsecured, and not guaranteed by Boxer. Our balance sheet is strong. It will support Boxer's growth and pick and pay on its turnaround path. I now hand over to Sean to take you through the operational review.

Thanks, Serena. So as we see, it's definitely work in progress. And as I've said, it's a case of just steadily putting one foot in front of the other as we continue in our journey. And there are just a couple of specific call-outs that I would like to make in this regard. Here we are. Sorry. So we said that in terms of strengthening our core customer offer, that we would apply a lot of our energy and effort in terms of ranging in the store. And we can see that the ranges are dramatically improved and enhanced at store level. And it's one of the reasons why we are driving our like for like sales growth. Because when you look at our absolute numbers in the total stores that we've closed over the period of time in the last two years, 18 months that we've been going at this project, We have, while we've been taking some sales out of the business in the closed stores, we've managed to re-inject like-for-like sales growth back into the stores again with enhanced ranging. On a quality basis, we've applied a lot of our energy and attention as to what happens at store level operationally with skills and injecting knowledge back into the business again. We can see that on the value front from a marketing perspective that we have really, really put our strong foot forward in terms of marketing. Our relationship with FMB eBucks continues to be a fantastic relationship that we have. And all of the work that we've been doing with the Burger Fridays and the work that we do on Saturdays and Sundays and all of these promotions that we're doing has really been driving a good value proposition across the business. And then on the service front, we have been applying a lot of our energy and effort into training of our people again and actually getting and creating schools for blockmen, bakers, and re-getting these skills back into the company again because these skills are not just freely available. It takes time to train these people up. A lot of focus. And, you know, if you go back, pick and pay was always known as the fresh food people. And to a large degree, we had lost that. And this is one of the major journeys that we're on at the moment is reinvigorating a whole fresh offering in the company and getting back onto this virtuous circle. And we're starting to see the rewards coming out of this now in terms of the work that's been done under Peter and the fresh food team. In terms of online and what we do with ASAP, we relaunched the ASAP app this year, and we have consolidated everything into the one app to make it far more user-friendly, and we now have to arrange 35,000-odd products in ASAP. ASAP continues to be a very important part of the offer that we have in the company, and for those customers who want their goods delivered home, we will do it gladly with the greatest of pleasure. But our primary focus as a retailer still remains, number one, on having great stores with great product, great people, and great shopping experience as the backbone of what we do. Franchise. I'm pleased to report that our franchise has moved positively. into, I think this one was about minus 1.4, now up to 1.7, like for likes and franchise, and that's moved forward strongly. And we had a fantastic franchise conference two weeks ago in Johannesburg, and I'm pleased to say that our relationship with our franchisees today is as strong as it's ever been. The changes that you've made on the franchise model are working very, very well. And just in general, you just get a good feeling when you go around the company and you visit with the franchisees. And it's just extraordinary. You know, we had two of our great franchisees this year that won the awards came from Stutterheim. And if you look at Stutterheim, I mean, our franchise family in the area of Stutterheim, they almost run that town in terms of the work that they do with council and community and everybody. It's just extraordinary to see how these families really, really operate in these marketplaces. It's just too beautiful. Our hypermarkets is another key area of focus for us, where we are really putting... the real essence of hypermarkets back into hypermarket again. And we're seeing great success in this regard. So some of our larger stores where we've sort of got a 6,000 square meter, not GLA, we've got 6,000 square meter trading on the floor, 5,000 square meters on the floor, that we're converting these over to hypermarkets. We're putting enhanced GMG ranges back in there again. And we're getting extraordinary success with this format. And I see Jared sitting over there. Well done. We're really getting good traction there. So if you look at where we are and we have a look at our acceleration in like-for-like sales, it really is extraordinary in a very, very constrained market. And I think one needs to be realistic in life about the marketplace that we do operate in. And it's interesting in this marketplace because At the moment, we have a retail space where we're still seeing a lot of doors being opened by our competitors. One of them alone was over 300 new doors in the last year. And you take that against us closing 50, 60-odd stores over 18 months. So if you just have a look at the dynamic of optionality for consumers to shop elsewhere, It really is extraordinary that we managed to grow the like-for-like sales to the degree that we have. And I'm always realistic about these things. If you ask me what is one of the real pleasant surprises, it's really surprised me. It's actually been our ability to show this level of like-for-like sales growth. And again, I'm realistic about these things because you can never, ever fool yourself and end up in this sort of a fool's paradise because people tell you what you want to hear. Sometimes when you sit with suppliers, vendors, landlords, they also tell you what they think you want to hear. So you need to keep your feet in the ground. But we have various ways that we can read markets. There's certain market surveys and stuff that are done out there. And I'm just really so astounded by the fact that our continual market share decline that we were in has in fact bottomed out. started to solidify and starting to move in the right direction again. And that's in the market, and that's total market. And that's moving into a market where we're just seeing so much other optionality that's available out there. So it's extraordinary in this regard. And hopefully this trend will continue to move forward in this direction. We obviously have some challenges in this marketplace as well. We are now coming to annualize on the two-pot release that happened last year. So it's going to be interesting to see what effect that's going to have in the next weeks and months as that starts to annualize and move through. And then obviously a very tough market that we're in. But in terms of establishing a future-fit business, as I said at the opening, if we went back with the benefit of hindsight and looked at what we've done in the company, what would we do differently? There would not be much that we would actually be doing differently. And so in all of these metrics that are over here, there are two that I'd like to specifically call out. And the first one is the store of state reset, which is nearing completion. Now, it's always fascinated me how pick and pay closing stores has predominated in all of the media and everything you read is pick and pay is closing, pick and pay is closing. No, we got rid of stores that were no good. That's just the simple truth of it. And it is something that every single retailer does. We hadn't done enough for a long, long period of time. The journey is done. There will be a few more left that we mop up at the end. The great thing here is if you have a look at 27 of the stores that were originally identified have actually either turned to profit or coming back, getting close to turning to profit again. And even at a break-even level, at a store level, it still contributes to the center. So this thing is a very dynamic process, and it's not necessarily linear or binary. So this journey is done. And from here on in, as we review leases as they come up, we will continue to assess each lease on a store-by-store basis. Because in some places, demographics change, the center of what's happening, the taxi rank moves, stores now are rendered no longer in the right place, and that will just be part and parcel of what we do. So I'm pleased to say that this is basically done, which is fantastic. The other really great one is our strategic supplier partnership that we have here. And as we know, our Eastport Distribution Center, which is the most extraordinary facility. And as I said to Marcel, I think Marcel I saw you walking in earlier. There's Marcel sitting there. As I said to Marcel in the beginning, don't be defensive of this, Marcel, because in the brief that you were given, you achieved 11 out of 10. You built a magnificent facility there, unfortunately for the wrong company. It was too big, way too big. So I'm pleased to say that we've signed our MOU with DP World, and the eSport facility has now moved off to DP World, and we will be getting those savings and start to get those savings almost with immediate effect. So it's an extraordinary job of work that has been done, and I'm pleased to say that eSport is now currently almost fully utilized because they have the ability to put some of their existing resources clients that they have into the building, and some of those people are in fact pick-and-paste suppliers, so it's even more efficient because the stock is now actually in the building. So it's a win-win across all the pieces of work that we're doing there. So that's another fantastic, huge piece of work that we've got done and ticked off. a digital transformation. And the reason why I call this out is just simply that there is a lot of talk around what is going on in this marketplace in terms of digital transformation and retail media and all of this. We have been in this for ages. In fact, we started selling our data the end of my days in my previous life at Pick and Pay already. So this is nothing new. It continues to evolve. It's a very, very important part of the business, and we will continue to grow this. But in all of these areas, retail, media, and data analytics for our suppliers, this we will continue to grow. As we do, Smart Shopper, very, very important to us. It's a key part of our business, as I said before, and then obviously our value-added services. We've received quite a lot of rewards and awards and accolades for the advertising and marketing that we've done. I think you will see in the company that our marketing is a lot crisper, it's a lot clearer, and it's a lot more targeted and directed than it used to be. Clothing. Our clothing continues to perform fantastically and just extraordinary. We're pick and pay has really found a segment in the marketplace that Hazel and her team have clearly really been able to identify what it is that their customers are looking for in terms of value and in terms of fashion, and it continues to grow strongly. Boxer, Marek and his team, they've just done the most extraordinary job of work. As you say, Lorena, they are now experienced results and roadshow presenters. Marek phoned me this morning to wish me well because he had a week like I'm going to have two weeks ago. But Boxer truly is an absolute, absolute gem. I mean, they're just in the right spot and their virtuous circle is incredible. So to Marek, to you and your entire team, all I can say is well, well done, my friend. We're very, very proud of you. Very privileged to have you as a part of us. supporting our communities, notwithstanding the fact that we are busy working our way back into the sunshine and busy working our way back into profit, we have doubled down in our efforts in terms of what has always made pick and pay what it is. When Raymond and Wendy started pick and pay, There was always the fundamental belief that this is a company for the people, by the people, and that you invest in society, you invest in community, and it is something that we have doubled down. We have a CSI WhatsApp group, and I'm just astounded every week, every weekend, during the week, at the updates that just continually get flicked through. We're right across the length and breadth of this country. Our people just do the most extraordinary acts of help, of reaching out to community and supporting people in need. It's really magnificent. This has been one of the really wonderful things for us and a great privilege for us to have been able a sponsor of the Spring Box and you know at the start it was always a case of the Spring Box being the one thing in this country that unites South Africa and pulls South Africa together because if ever this country needed to start pulling together it's now and that's why for us in the first instance of the Spring Box it was more than just about sponsoring the Spring Box it was a symbolism of actually taking what it is that unites this country and brings it together and also making a statement that pick and pay is here. Pick and pay is going nowhere. And as we say, South Africa, we've got your back. And hopefully South Africa's got ours. And it's starting to show in the footfall in the stalls. But more importantly, it's not just about sponsoring the Springboks. It's about the work that's been done at grassroots level in rugby. We don't realize just how important rugby is amongst the youth in this country today. And you can go across the length and breadth of South Africa and see how rugby is really becoming a force for good and a force for getting the country together. So we're massively involved down at the grassroots level in rugby as well. So it's fantastic. So just a couple of closing remarks here. And as I said in the beginning, you know, our strategic priorities that we put in place, we've kind of working our way through them. And we've got most of it ticked away. You know, when we look at leadership and people, there's still obviously the issue of succession. I'm still here for another two and a half years. And it is something that is top of mind for us. And we're busy working at all of our succession programs in that regard. And then also about building leadership within the company from within the company again. Because that's what retail is. It's about growing your own people. Accelerating our like-for-like sales. As I said, we're still working hard at that and we'll continue to work hard at that. We continue to strengthen our partnerships across the board and to work with our landlords very, very importantly and to make sure that that moves in the right direction, as well as our supplier base. We reset the store estate. That's kind of done. And the future for its structure is still work that is underway. And that's having a look at what is our store office structures, what are our support office structures. And those are things that are just work in motion as we go forward day to day. So I really just want to thank all my colleagues in the company that I'm privileged to work with and to be a part of. I can feel, you know, I had an interview with Alec Hogg before I came here earlier this morning, and Alec asked me, you know, what does it feel like, Sean, when you go into the company, when you go into the stores, compared to when you came back two years ago? I think that I can say without any doubt without any fear of doubt that this is a different company today. Are we where we want to be? Hell no. But are we well on the way on this journey? Absolutely. And I've said before, this is like climbing Mount Everest. I said our journey is up Mount Everest. Alec asked me this morning, well, if you think of Table Mountain and not Mount Everest, where are you in Table Mountain? I said, Alec, we are solidly at the cable station at the bottom there. We've bought our ticket. and the cable cars on the way. We know where we're going, but we've got a journey to get there. But we know what it looks like. We know how to get there. And I want to thank everybody for their support, not only the people inside this company, but very, very importantly, the investors in this company who stay the long haul with us, the family, Wendy, Gareth, the Ackerman family for the support that they've given, both myself and the company. And it's a great privilege to stand here as the CEO of this wonderful organization. So thank you very much. I don't know if there are any questions. Yes, sir. yep yep so the whole issue of skill you know retail is It's a beautiful business. But when you ask yourself the question, where do you find retailers? I mean, you can't go to a college. You can't go to a university and go and find retailers. So, you know, retail by its very nature is something that you learn on the job. We had for a protracted period of time done away with all of our training modules and our training manager programs that we had in place. And Tembi's over here. Tembi hands up people for the group. So we've reinstated all of these things back in. And you know, one day, Wendy asked me the question, just put in sort of, not simple terms, Wendy, but Wendy said, Sean, just try and give me an understanding of what really happened in Peckinpah. And I said, you know, I'll give you an analogy that Raymond would understand because he was a keen golfer. You know, in years by, if we went to our stores, our leadership teams in store levels were all good single handicapped golfers. You know, today you're going to stores and there must probably 16, 18 handicaps, 20 handicapped golfers. Now, you can't blame the people. Because everybody starts, if you play golf, you start with the really lousy handicap and then you work on improving it. And it's exactly the same in retail. So it takes time to reinstall and reinstate these skills at store level. So it's an operational thing at store level. It's a case of ownership that managers truly understand. This is my store. I take total responsibility for it. But then you've got to find great bakers, great butchers, good blockmen. Because these are the skills and the artisans that one needs to put back into the business again. Otherwise, what are you? You're not really doing a great job. So we have to reinstate and rebuild all of those skills back into the business. And we're making really good, solid progress now of creating these bases where we've taken in every single region now we have identified stores. We'll be doing butchery training, bakery training. And so you've got to train these people, and then you've got to make sure that they stay. So you have to create an environment that makes sure that it's conducive for them not only to learn the skills, but that they don't get poached and leave. So you've got to create an environment where they want to stay as well. You know, somebody said to me once that, you know, you spend a lot of money on training. You know, is it like really sort of, you know, worth it? And I said, well, I think so. They said, well, what happens if you train them and they leave? Well, I said, what happens if you don't train them and they stay? So, it's an investment that one needs to make. And we're on that journey. Just on the franchise, the franchise is starting to come. We heard there was a new agreement that came in about a year and a half ago. Now there's another new agreement. What are the changes? So the changes fundamentally for the franchise in that agreement really is just dealing with widening their margin. So it's giving them more of a margin of profit for the individual franchisees and operators. And when we have a look at our aging debt and stuff in franchise, we've got hold of that. It's in a much better way around than it has been for a long, long time. And that's all to do with the health of their income statement at franchise level. So that's where we've been applying a lot of attention. No further questions, anything? Online, Tam, yes.

A question from Paul Stiergers. What is your outlook for peck and pay internal inflation for the remainder of the financial year?

So we're sitting at the moment at about 2.1%. Lorena, is that right? I think there are so many numbers in my head at the moment. So we're sitting at about 2.1% at the moment. I think that one may see that there are certain commodities like rice and maize are in fact coming down, which means that poultry prices should also come down. I think that inflation may actually go down. I think it may get closer to 1%. I think in some of the basic categories you may even see it getting closer to a bit of deflation. If you look at the GDP, what is the GDP? It's about 0.6%. 0.6. You clever people in the room should know this. And I think that the forecast was to be circa 2, 2.2 or 2.3. So we can look just from that perspective as well as not only inflation down, which obviously creates another level of challenge for us, but the GDP is also down. So I come back to this really, really constrained market. This market is tough. And here again, you know, when you sit and speak to the major manufacturers, and I spend a lot of time talking to the big suppliers, all suppliers, you know, for them, they look at the total markets. I mean, if you speak to the two sugar suppliers, you've basically got sugar done. And then when you have a look at the total market and the dynamics that are there, there are certain categories in this country where people are trading down dramatically. You know, we can see it in Boxer, where we can have a look at the profiles of what protein has been bought there, and you can see that things like Russians... Vienna's, Poloni's, you can see how those are just soaring in terms of sales because people are just backing to afford normal protein, red meat and chicken. So these are dynamics. The market is really constrained. And inflation, I think, will actually go down, not up, would be my prediction.

Another question from Paul Stegers. Please could you explain how you calculate your like-for-like growth for PICC? Do you strip out those stores that are to be closed or converted to boxes?

Yes, those come out, and like-for-like sales is purely like-for-like stores. So that gets stripped out. Sorry, Lorena. Correct, Sean.

You passed the test.

Checking with the headmistress here. Just checking with the headmistress. My chief sales prevention officer.

Question from Titanium Capital. The pick and pay gross margin is 16.9%. Can you please provide a separate gross margin percentage for corporate and franchise operations?

No. You know, there's levels. When we come to segmental disclosure, there's levels that one goes to. And I know that you'd like to have the P&L for every single service area and every single store and build it up from there, but that won't be happening anytime soon.

But note it.

From Reuters, could you please explain when the group expects to reach break-even and how this will be done?

I mean, our guidance is for us to get to those objectives by FY28. And it will be done through the initiatives that actually is still projected on the slide. It effectively looks to growing the business through like-for-like sales as a first step. As I think both Sean and I have mentioned, the store closures is now largely in the base. So from now on, one would start to see positive sales growth momentum. And we have just improved our gross profit margin, and we do believe there is more to be had as we go on the journey. And then there is the initiatives across the entire expense base. The MOA that we've just signed with DP World is a very, very important strategic pillar. We expect to see those efficiencies coming through over the next 24 months as they unfold. So it literally is driven by each of our FutureFit initiatives.

I think importantly, Irina, to add to that, our margin has widened this year by the amount that it has. We've given more margin to our franchisees and we're absolutely price competitive in the marketplace. So if you look at the independent pricing surveys that have been done, they all absolutely bear that out. So it's not us marking our own homework. Which would show you that when 18-odd months ago, when I returned here 24 months ago, our buyers and merchants in the company were more focused on recovering money than actually trading. And I said, this must come to an end. We must get back to trading and buying and selling. and doing what buyers should be doing. So I think that this is most probably the greatest manifestation of the success that's been had in that regard. We're just back to being good basic retailers again when it comes to buying and selling.

Question from David Fraser at Peregrine. From a strategic point of view, do you envisage holding onto the Boxer stake indefinitely or would you consider an unbundling down the line?

We are very, very happy with the Boxer performance, and we are very, very happy to own 65.6% of Boxer. As a matter of fact, you know, we would have loved to have still 100%. So we are definitely very happy with the performance and what the team is delivering for PIK shareholders.

Another question from . Post the completion of the hiring process, will the like-for-like employee cost growth revert closer to inflationary levels? Is there more enforcement required post this period?

I think the way you need to think about it is our objective to get our like-for-like expense growth below our like-for-like turnover growth. That is what our key initiatives will deliver, and that will include efficiencies in employee costs. Sean spoke to support office initiatives looking at efficiencies in store, et cetera. So as this unfolds over the period of the plan, you would see that like-for-like number coming down.

A question from Piotr Drozd from Verition Fund Management. Would you be willing to consider a pick and share buyback as the turnaround strategy continues delivering results?

I think where we are currently, we are focusing on our target to get the business to cash flow break even. And once we have achieved that, one will consider future options.

And I think one must also add to that, that as we get back into a stronger financial health and cash generative again, that we need to continue investing inside the company and getting our state back to the condition that it needs to be in.

Question from from Value Capital Partners. Wanted to know something about the overlaps between Pick and Pay and Boxer. Given the procurement processes for the two companies are independent, are there any specific important overlaps between the two entities?

No. It's one of the things that we did is drew a real clear line between what Boxer does and what Pick and Pay does. Boxer's philosophy, how they buy, how they go to market is so far away from what pick and pay does. And we don't want to mix. We don't want to confuse that in any way, shape or form. So on a piece of paper, sometimes these things look like they make sense. But in reality, when you actually come to implement it, it doesn't work.

Another question from Paul Stiergers. Please talk to the additional investments you have to make that cause PIC segment loss to not improve in FY26 versus FY25.

I mean, I think we have discussed them now in the Q&A. Largely, a lot of them will definitely be the key skills we need in an operational level to ensure that the in-store execution keeps on driving our like-for-like sales.

Question from Yaish Patel at SPG Securities. Please can you speak to the CapEx cadence in the Peckinpah stable? Is there not an element of underinvestment which could bite over the medium term? How should we think about this?

We are very, very careful to ensure that we spend where we get returns. I mean, the question is a very valid one. But we also need to make sure that our operational excellence on the ground level is established to ensure that we get the returns. So we are measured still in our spending, but we have got the $3.9 billion on balance sheet, and where we believe that it can unlock returns, we will definitely spend the money.

And I think another point to that, Lorena, is it's not just about spending money on stores. You know, you can build the greatest brand-new swanky store, but if you don't have the right people in the store and the product's not there, you're still not going to do the business. So it's not that the whole of the pick and pay real estate is broken, not at all. I mean, we have a lot of great stores in this company. Certainly there are some key stores that need some work done to them. That is an absolute fact. But I mean, there's also a big chunk of our estate that's great, so we mustn't have a look at pick and pay and think that the whole thing is broken. It ain't.

Another question here. What is your view on the amount that is being spent on online gambling and its impact on disposable income?

This is a really, really current topic, and one can see that there's been commentary from virtually every financial institution. There's been so much talk about it. But I think context is always important. So if we have a look at the, I don't know, 1.6 or 1.7 trillion that is churned over in the space of gambling in South Africa, There's somewhere north of about $70 billion that has been taken out of this market at the moment in terms of profits that have been taken in the gambling industry, the bulk of which is in the online gambling space, not in the casinos and horse racing and the like, where employment is created, at least in casinos. You've got hotel rooms and coopiers and cleaners and all of that. In the horse racing industry, you've got a whole industry there. If one looks at online gambling, they don't create any jobs. You know, these program writers are all sitting in other places offshore. 70 billion a year. I mean, if you think of 70 billion a year, that's basically Pick and Pay's total revenue. We're still a big company. It's the equivalent of everything that's sold by Pick and Pay. It's taken out by a few people in profit every year in a highly constrained market. It's over a billion rand a week. It's just been hoovered out of the economy. It's difficult. I mean, a lot of the research work that's been done by some of the institutions, it would appear that north of 20% of SASA grants are going straight into gambling. It's horrendous. It's horrendous. Now, how does one deal with it? You know, smoking was a cancer, and then one of the ways that they dealt with it was that they banned all marketing and promoting of cigarette products and tobacco products. I think we need to give serious consideration in this country to a similar move. That all marketing and advertising should be banned forthwith. The same as you did with smoking. It's not a crazy thought. You look in Europe, I mean in Belgium, Holland, Italy, there's no marketing of gambling. It's illegal. Even if you look in the United Kingdom from next year, now, it will be not possible to put a gambling... logo on the front of a soccer jersey. So even in countries like the UK, it's starting to move. So I think this is an industry that is totally out of control. I think that the poor and the vulnerable, and you know, even kids, I mean, all you need is your mom and dad's ID number, sign up on the app, put in the ID number, and you're off to the races. I mean, I speak to people that are teachers at schools and what have you, and they tell me, about the stress that's happening amongst kids, where kids are sitting at school gambling on their apps on the phone. It's a problem. It's a huge problem. So I think a serious consideration needs to be given to what is actually happening inside society in this regard. It's not just about the greed of chasing the profit.

A question from Nick Webster at HSBC. There's no mention of liquor performance in the presentation. Could you give us some colour here and if it's accretive to the pick and pay like for likes?

Yeah, our pick and pay liquor like for like sales continue at a similar pace as the rest of our like for like sales and liquor continues to grow. It's also a fantastic category for us. We just wanted in this presentation not to get too granular in terms of calling out everything and just really get to the headline stuff that really people want to know about. And that is what's happening to the core underlying pick and pay at a top line level.

Another question from Johannesburg. What is your opinion on Walmart entering the South African market? What do you believe will be the impact on SA retail in the short term?

I think they came about 17 years ago, 16 years ago, didn't they? They arrived here 16 or 17 years ago, so it's not like they've just arrived and cleared customs. I know it's quite slow to get through the airport, but they've been here for a while. It would appear at this stage, and one is never sanguine about these things, because they obviously are a mighty force globally. From the stores that we've seen that have been identified, it's more of a rebranding exercise than anything else. So it would appear that there's some of the real estate that they'll rebrand, and we'll keep an eye on them. But they've always been here, always been here.

And then another question from Raj Patel at SBG. Please, can you speak to any dynamics over the past six months in the chicken category? Any shortages for pick-and-pay experience?

Yeah, we had the problem with the MDM issue out of Brazil because, you know, a lot of product that comes into this country, MDM is the backbone of what happens for the lower end proteins, Russians, Viennas, Polonies and all of that. So that has a profound effect on that. Obviously, chicken feet as well is a massive piece of the market for boxer and the like. even in some of our pick-and-paste stores. And then on poultry in general, you know, we had the foot-and-mouth issue on red meat, so we had a spike in red meat prices, which obviously then put more pressure on poultry. Then we had poultry shortages. So the poultry market has been under a lot of pressure as well.

Question from Kenan at Investec. Are you seeing a highly promotional environment in pick clothing?

Uh... You know, the clothing market is interesting because obviously you've got our friends from Sheen and the like that are sort of playing silently in this space, but growing enormous volumes in this country, absolutely enormous volumes. But if we have a look at our clothing offer within Pick and Pay, We're really not that promotional because, I mean, when I say we're not that promotional, we have a value proposition and we present fair value to the consumer. So our clothing is not massively price driven. But the textile market, as you know, you can see from the results of the other retailers, has been under pressure in the last while. And it's going to be interesting to see, as I say, as we annualize through the two-part system now, because a lot of the two-part spending that actually went back into the market didn't really go into food. A lot of it went more into sort of clothing and housewares. So let's see how that annualizes out.

Question from Fish and Govender at Truffle Asset Management. Any guidance on when core pick and pay is expected to be free cash flow neutral? And what is the top line like for like gross profit margin and OPEX needed to get there?

Shall I just pull out my spreadsheet?

Yeah.

It's in the dictionary under N. Our guidance remain on the full cash flow for the pick and pay segment towards FY28. And ultimately, the way you need to think about it is that we need to get our trading profit after lease margin to zero. And to do that, about half, we believe, will come from our gross profit and the other half from our trading expenses.

A question from Siti. Can you provide some colour on clothing post-period trade?

Clothing post-period trade continues to show the similar trend pre. We haven't seen any marked drop-off from before. Yeah, we're really, really happy with the progress that Hazel's making, the new stores that are opening. From an excess merchandise markdown perspective, we've really done a great job of getting ourselves a lot more efficient and cleaner in that area. So we're very positive about where we are at the moment in our clothing business. And then obviously the Springbok apparel and merchandise is another great thing for us in that area. We do an unbelievable amount of business in Springbok apparel and merchandise.

I have two more questions. One from Daniel at Ashburton. Could you speak to the outlook for cost growth into H2, including Boxer?

Boxer will continue to grow as they're opening their store estate. So you will see similar levels of growth in the Boxer business, and I think the pick-and-pay shape will also reflect the first half.

And a last question from Nick Webster at HSBC. Could you comment a bit more on your enhanced private label offering in terms of categories and current penetration to pin pick-and-pay?

Yeah, certainly. We've done a lot of work in the last while. of cleaning out a lot of house brand product that was in store that was not particularly well conceived at the point in time when those ranges are put together. We've taken no-name brand again, and again, we've cleaned up the no-name brand range. We got rid of a lot of items that should never have been a no-name brand. No-name brand is always understood to be in certain categories and in certain commodity groups and present a certain value profile to our customers. So we're busy refocusing that again at the moment. We've got new packaging that's going to be coming forward that will be taking us and really putting No Name Brand back as the hero that it should be and a very, very well-known house brand in the country, one of the leading ones. And then on the Pick and Pay brand specifically and Live Well, there's work that's been done behind the scenes there as well. So as I say, we've been getting cleared. of a lot of product that was just, that was not really serving the purpose that it should serve. So I think within the next 12 to 18 to 24 months, you will see quite a radically revamped and repositioned house brand range in the market. But our front door always in this company has been branded goods you know at prices really low. That's always been It's a key hallmark of our success in the company, and that's our backbone. And then your house brand sits on the side of that and performs a very, very important function. And then obviously on the other side of that is fresh, which obviously a lot of that is house brand just by nature, but a massive amount of energy and effort going into fresh. So a lot of stuff happening.

Come in. From David Fraser at Peregrine. Is pick-and-pay core profitability during or at the end of 2028?

Morning, David.

Hi.

Hi.

If you consider the competitive environment you're faced with and your trading expenses as a percentage of sales of 22.2%, they're very high historically and they're high in relation to your GP of 16.9%. Are you not going to need to take more radical steps to get your trading expenses in line?

You see, the critical thing, and thanks to that question, because, I mean, that's the vital journey that we're on. So, you know, the two key metrics in this business, obviously, is your top line sales, and then your margin, and then obviously your trading expenses. But your trading expenses, okay, if you look at your trading expenses, a lot of them are not that variable. You know, when you take cost of occupancy and rates and taxes and rents and all of those kind of things. So a lot of that outflow, the only real variable you got there is kind of sort of your wages and stuff that you know you can flex. So yeah, it's absolutely the nub of where we are. And top line is everything because if you lose the momentum on the top line, there's no way that you can cut your expenses as a rate to offset loss of momentum at the top line level. And that's why one of the constraints currently in this marketplace is top line sales. Now, I don't sit here. We don't sit here in Kenilworth and have this set of circumstances, the macro economy looking at us. And our colleagues down over the hill over there or nearer to that side of the mountain on the other side over there, they have a different set of dynamics. They're operating in the exact same market that we're operating in. So these things are common to all. So the pressures we feel, they feel as well. So you see, our expenses, if we can get our top line growing at the rate that can continue to show these trends, your wage expense and your fixed cost expense all comes down as a proportion of it. So the work that we are doing currently to do the OPEX reset, to have a look at the store labor reset and all of that stuff that we're doing, this is all work that's happening quietly behind the scenes. And it's ongoing. It's ongoing. So, good luck. Thank you. We just need your support in the store shopping with us and then it will help us get there.

Sorry, Sean, one more question. Is the group break even including Boxer for the full year?

It's specifically focused on pick and pay.

Okay. And then the last question, can you clarify if the full year guidance for F26 is on the trading profit pre-leases level?

It is on the trading profit pre-leases level.

And that's it from Javik.

Okay. Yes, sir.

One of the important slides you presented are the social welfare benefits you bring to the country. Why isn't this more promoted? I mean, with all the problems you're resolving... Don't you think we should be more aware of the benefits you bring into the society?

A good question from one of our faithful long-term shareholders, private shareholders. We appreciate it. And I appreciate that question. You know, there's a famous saying in life that the hand of the receiver should never know the hand of the giver. And it's something that we also believe in in the company. So I think just to continually, quietly investing in community and And doing what you do creates far more long-term loyalty and sincerity with the communities that we deal with because they know that we're there for them. And it's always been a philosophy of ours and a belief of ours that we just quietly get on with it and we just change lives and communities. In fact, we've got Suzanne sitting here. She's been at the forefront of a lot of this, too. and a lot of that, instilling that culture into the company. And doing good is good business, as our chairman taught us. Chairman and founder. Okay, thank you very much indeed. Wish you all the best. Have a great week. Mine's going to be spectacular.

Thank you.