The SPAR Group Ltd

good morning everyone and thank you for joining us before we turn to trading i'd like to personally address my situation and my decision to step down as group ceo after nearly 19 years with spa including leading the business through an exceptionally complex reset period i've taken the decision to step down for personal reasons the last five years in particular have required extraordinary focus and intensity While I've been deeply committed to the business, its people and our retailers, the role has come at a significant personal cost. It's time for me to prioritize my family after a demanding chapter. There's full alignment between myself, the board, and the incoming leadership team. I want to say clearly that both Megan and Reza are exceptional leaders. They've been integral to the portfolio simplification, balance sheet stabilization, and the development of our margin recovery pathway. I've worked alongside them through this reset phase, and I have complete confidence in their ability to lead the next stage of discipline execution. the next three months i'll focus on supporting the stabilization of kzn the optimization of our corporate store portfolio and undertake the structured handover in particular of key retailer relationships teresa as far as entering a phase of execution but the foundations on our strong the business is in a good place to take on this execution execution phase and with that i'll hand over teresa

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you, Angelo. Let me start by acknowledging Angelo's contribution over nearly two decades. The structural work completed over the last two years provides a platform from which we will now execute. The strategic framework remains clear, strengthening Southern Africa performance, improving margin resilience, maintaining disciplined capital allocation and advancing balance sheet resilience. What changes now is execution intensity. We will be appointing a dedicated MD for grocery and liquor, and that will be in the next two months. So we will be moving fairly quickly on that. And the role will be based in Pinetown, which will be close to operations. And this will be an internal appointment. So currently we have three candidates under consideration who have a combined 100 years So they bring institutional knowledge, they bring operational capability and deep retailer relationships. So this will allow me to be based in Cape Town while still traveling extensively to Durban and Johannesburg and of course to Ireland and Dublin in particular. So we operate a federated model. Our retailers are nationwide. Leadership must be nationally engaged and present across the network. And my responsibility is to ensure alignment, accountability, and execution across all regions. To reinforce delivery, we are also looking to appoint a chief marketing officer. There will be a renewed focus on a clearly defined competitive customer value proposition built around price competitiveness and improved price perception. differentiated and relevant range and leading convenience offers supported by partnerships such as Uber, which has worked very well for us. Consistent high quality in-store execution. Omnichannel and IT will remain under Megan as CFO. And I'm very pleased that Megan is taking on the role as CFO. And these are core pillars in the marginal recovery journey, particularly SAP integration, data governance, and, of course, cost discipline. so just turning to trading for the 18 weeks we've just released the sense regarding um our trade for for the 18 weeks ended uh 30th of january 2026 group wholesale turnover was up 2.1 southern africa grew 0.9 retail sales increased one puts 1.7 percent uh on a like-for-like basis or it was 1.9 percent And then the retailer loyalty in South Africa stands at 80.9%, with the balance of the distribution network averaging approximately 84%. The environment remains highly competitive with the sustained promotional intensity. And momentum improved in the November to January period after relatively soft October, which followed a very strong September as we close the year out with our retailer rebates for 2025. Margins remain under pressure as guided. And the KZN underperformance was concentrated, and it was operational. There were two primary drivers in the KZN underperformance, a volume-led overshoot which compressed margin, and logistics and warehousing inefficiencies affecting cost . A detailed review has been completed to unpack the inconsistent performance in KZN. We are now completing or implementing a 120-day stabilization plan based on the outcomes of the review. And further details will be communicated at the interim results in June. Retailer loyalty in KZN has improved slightly to 71.5% year-to-date, although still below targeted levels. So this is a structured recovery with defined accountability and timelines. I'll now hand you over to Megan.

Thanks, Risa, and good morning, everyone. From a financial perspective, our current margins reflect promotional intensity, cost inflation, and investment in systems transformation and SAP. We plan to reset our cost base, which includes looking at our distribution network and optimizing that, centralizing of our non-trade procurements, improved credit discipline across the group, strengthen commercial governance, and looking at logistics productivity enhancements. Savings this year will materialize progressively and are weighted towards the second half. Our leverage remains aligned to our one and a half times objective and there are no covenant concerns. On the disposal of AWG in Southwest England, our discussions have advanced and the transaction structure has been substantially agreed subject to final documentation and customary approvals. No further impairments are currently expected nor any cash injections anticipated. This will simplify the group and strengthen our capital allocation focus. We are also going to seek shareholder approval for share repurchase authority at the AGM next week. The timing and quantum of the share repurchase will depend on our leverage trajectory, our cash generation and our trading stability. Operational execution remains our priority. Back to you, Reza.