Hello everyone, thank you for joining Clean Seas Seafood's Half One FY24 Results Webinar. My name's Rob Gratton, Clean Seas CEO, and also on the call today is our CFO, David Brown. In the past, we've spoken about challenging market conditions and increases in feed prices, and in response to these challenges, in November last year we announced an operational review and a placement to be used for working capital to facilitate the right sizing of business operations and to execute on key focus areas of the review. In many ways, the half one result that we are reporting today reflects the reasons why we undertook the operational review and justifies the decisions that we've made. The result is therefore, as we expected, but encouraging in the way that pricing is held up at our 3,000 tonnes per annum target business. Having acted strongly and decisively is also encouraging that we're starting to see the benefits of the changes made, particularly in cash flows, and we expect these positive signs to continue over the next few months as we bed down our consolidated and simplified operational model. In my presentation today, I'll give an update on progress and outcomes from the operational review. David will speak to our half one 2024 results, and I'll finish up by looking ahead at our footprint going forward and what you can expect over the next few months. There's been a great deal of heavy lifting by the Clean Seas team, and we've made difficult decisions that have impacted some of our staff greatly. However, the operational review is on track to deliver a right-sized business with sales and production in equilibrium at circa 3,000 tonnes per annum. This balance between sales and production limits the working capital, expense, and infrastructure requirements of a growth strategy, and we've already seen the financial benefits of this in the last few months. The business at this size, 3,000 tonnes per annum, allows us to continue to focus on the more premium segments of the markets in which we do business and meant that we've been able to maintain resilient pricing in what remains a highly competitive trading environment. Prices for the first half of FY 2024 were AUD 22.53 per kilo compared to AUD 22.44 for half one FY 2023 and AUD 23.02 per kilo for half two FY 2023. Our operating profit remained positive despite high feed costs, but declined from AUD 1.04 per kilo in half one 2023 to AUD 0.11 per kilo in half one 2024. To facilitate the right sizing of the business operations and execute on key focus areas of the operational review, we've completed a placement for AUD 9.5 million, and following on from receiving that support from shareholders in December, we're able to renew our AUD 32.2 million bank facility with the Commonwealth Bank. I'll go into more detail in a moment, but the previously announced biomass reduction is now complete and is expected to save AUD 11 million in feed costs versus what it would have cost to grow these fish to harvest size over the next 14 months. Reducing our biomass and farming footprint allows us to reduce cost and complexity, and our targeted reduction in fixed and variable operating costs of up to AUD 5 million per annum is underway and also on track. While feed prices remain elevated, we do expect some respite this year with one of the main ingredients in our feed, fish meal, seeing its commodity price easing in Q2 FY 2024, and reduced feed prices are now expected in the second half of this financial year. As I mentioned in my introduction, the operational review was designed to offset input cost pressures, right-size the company, and create a more stable and resilient business with a faster pathway to financial sustainability. The process we have followed is to review the entire business, focusing on driving efficiencies and improvements. We've considered work streams related to investment, biomass, and growth ambitions and developed an updated strategy to achieve our profitability and cash flow aims in the short and medium term. In conducting this review, we've been focusing on biomass levels, operating costs, farming activities, and optimizing the production process to deliver a high-quality kingfish to the market at a strong margin. The objectives of the review were to reduce the funding required for farming infrastructure such as vessels and additional feed barges, and to save the working capital required to grow incrementally additional fish for future years. It was designed to reduce operating costs and improve margins by fully utilizing our farming leases and farming equipment, and to offset operational risk and reduce complexity by farming in a more controlled manner, leveraging existing infrastructure and deriving the full benefits of automation sooner, and leveraging Clean Seas' strength in premium markets to maintain strong pricing. We believe these initiatives will create a more efficient, stable, and resilient business and a faster path to positive cash flow, and I'm pleased to say we're starting to realize these benefits as the changes come into effect. There were five key actions that came out of the operating review, all of which are either complete or, as I said, on track. These actions are to reduce our biomass levels, to renew our bank facilities and complete the placement, to consolidate our farming activities and reduce our operational footprint, and to right-size our business to align sales and production at around 3,000 tonnes per annum and then commission the new feed barge to largely automate our entire farming operation. The planned biomass reduction has now been completed through an accelerated harvest and sale of around 550 tonnes into the fish protein market. This has already resulted in a saving of approximately AUD 2 million in feed costs in November, December, and January alone, and we expect to save around AUD 11 million over the next 14 months versus what it would have cost us to grow these fish out to normal harvest size. By managing feed and growth levels and achieving the biomass reduction quicker than expected, the reduction required was less than the 800 tonnes we had previously thought. This new biomass level supports sales volumes of approximately 3,000 tonnes in the most efficient manner and allows for the consolidation of farming activities. The final run of our Year Class 2024 juveniles was stocked in Port Lincoln in February, and the Arno Bay sea cages are due to be located to Port Lincoln this February and March. Farming, therefore, in the water off our Arno Bay site will cease in April, noting that R&D, breeding, and hatchery activities will continue in Arno Bay going forward. The consolidation of our farming footprint lets us focus on costs, and as such, we're on track to achieve a reduction in fixed and variable operating costs of up to AUD 5 million per annum. An organizational restructure is well underway, with affected roles identified and informed in January 2024. Redundant roles will exit the business in February, March, and April this year, and the go-forward employee and contractor costs are expected to be around 25% below FY 2023 levels, delivering cash flow and cost of production benefits in the years to come. The consolidation of farming activities and a reduction in the business operational footprint is also expected to reduce the requirement for future capital spend by approximately AUD 8 million per annum. Our new automated feed barge delivery is expected into Port Lincoln in May 2024, and our existing barge will be upgraded and relocated to another site within the Port Lincoln area. These two automated grow-out sites have a biomass capacity of up to 3,600 tons and will allow for around 90% of Clean Seas biomass to be fed remotely. Before I hand over to David for a look at the first half result, I'd like to give you an indication of what Clean Seas looks like financially as a result of the changes we're making. As you can see in the graph here, current feed prices have risen faster than inflation, where a CPI-adjusted feed price would be around AUD 2.90 per kilo. Prices have instead reached 3.65 a kilo in the first half of FY 2024, which reflects the volatile market for fish meal and oil and especially supply shortages in these key component ingredients. David will discuss in a moment what this has meant for our first half result. However, the scenarios in the table present an illustrative view of the financial and operating metrics of a 3,000-tonne farming footprint at varying feed prices and at a feed conversion ratio of 2.34. Scenario one in the table reflects his current feed price and shows that with the benefit of the restructured business in place and a 3,000 tonnes of sales and production, we expect Clean Seas to be profitable business, making EBITDA of around AUD 1.43 per kilo and approximately AUD 4.3 million in total. However, we do think that volatility appears to have peaked, and recent evidence supports our current expectation for feed pricing to now decline. Where this pricing ultimately lands remains to be seen, but what we can say is that with the benefits and cost savings of the operational review in place, we can see a faster pathway to EBITDA of AUD 2 and ultimately AUD 3 per kilo, and it is clear that these initiatives will reposition Clean Seas as a stable, more resilient business for the current market environment. Reduced operating costs, infrastructure, and working capital requirements will drive stronger free cash flows, and by eliminating the need for funding future growth, EBITDA to operating cash flow conversion is expected to improve. So I'll pause there and hand over to David for our half one FY 2024 result in more detail. Thanks, Rob. As Rob's touched on earlier, Clean Seas has continued to encounter persistent market challenges and rising costs leading to a decrease in profitability in the first half of FY 2024, resulting in an underlying EBITDA of AUD 0.02 million. Clean Seas' pricing strategy has provided some protection against cost increases faced, and pricing for the first half of FY 2024 rose by AUD 0.10 per kilo, reaching AUD 22.53. However, the increase only partially offset the AUD 0.50 increase in post-farm gate costs, which was primarily driven by higher air freight costs to Europe and North America. Production costs also experienced an increase to AUD 13.54, reflecting the sustained rise in feed prices. Despite these significant challenges, Clean Seas did, however, achieve a gross profit of AUD 3.71 per kilo and an underlying operating EBITDA per kilo of AUD 0.11. It's important to note that during this period, an impairment was recognized for AUD 12.2 million, approximately AUD 10.1 million related to the biomass reduction program as Rob touched on earlier. Additionally, frozen inventory was written down by approximately AUD 2.1 million, reflecting the decrease in frozen pricing experience during the period. While these are significant, these changes were necessary to ensure we can deliver the right-sized business following the completion of the operational review. The statutory loss of AUD 26 million, while very disappointing, was largely attributed to two main factors, one being the AUD 12.2 million in impairments and the other being AUD 11.4 million in SGARA losses, which is influenced by the seasonal growth profile of yellowtail kingfish, which is heavily weighted to the second half of the financial year, plus our decision to reduce feeding rates to cages impacted by the biomass reduction program, which ultimately reduced biomass growth. First half sales volumes reached 1,513 tonnes, which was down 1% from the corresponding period, reflecting the challenging market conditions, particularly in our frozen business. The decrease was largely translated into revenue, which declined by 0.4% to AUD 34.1 million. Despite the overall decrease in sales volumes, sales pricing remained robust at AUD 22.53, up AUD 0.10 on the prior period. However, farm gate revenue of AUD 17.25 per kilo experienced a decline, largely due to the impact of elevated air freight costs to Europe and North America. However, pleasingly, we have observed a decreasing trend in the cost of freight during the second Q2 of FY 2024, and we expect this to continue in the second half of FY 2024. Australian sales volumes decreased by 4% to 986 tonnes, which was influenced by a soft first quarter. Importantly, sales volumes accelerated in Q2, delivering the expected seasonal growth in demand during our warmer months here. Sales volume in Europe saw a 2% increase to 366 tons, which was driven by marginal growth observed in both fresh and frozen products. However, challenging economic conditions and heightened competition in the region resulted in lower-than-expected demand and pricing for frozen products, leading to Clean Seas recognizing an impairment to write down the value of frozen inventory. North America volumes declined by 16%, reflecting similar economic and competitor conditions as experienced in Europe. Over the past three consecutive half-year periods, sales volumes have remained flat, reflecting the impact of cost of living pressures on discretionary spending. Despite this, there remains sustained demand for fresh products in both domestic and international markets. Internationally, Clean Seas' fresh products continue to be sought after in high-end restaurants, with chefs expressing a preference for them over competitors' offerings. Domestically, while growth did slow due to the cooler months, largely as a result of the rise of the availability of cheaper alternative species, however, domestic volumes have rebounded year-to-date Q3 of FY 2024, and the domestic business has now transitioned into a 4% growth rate as opposed to the slight loss in the half-year while maintaining consistent pricing. Fresh pricing overall for the half-year declined by 1%, reaching AUD 22.88. Despite the marginal decrease, pricing continues to be at that very high attractive levels. Increased competition and the prevailing market sentiment led to a decline in frozen sales, while revenue per kilo for frozen products decreased to AUD 20.19 as discounting strategies were employed to stimulate demand. Despite price increases by AUD 0.10 per kilo, farm gate revenue decreased by AUD 0.40 -AUD 17.25. The downward pressure on farm gate revenue has been attributed to a sustained high air freight costs and a preference for fresh products over frozen in Europe and North America. However, as I mentioned earlier, we've observed month-on-month reduction in air freight costs coupled with growth in our domestic market, which will ultimately lead to better profitability in the second half of FY 2024. During the first half of FY 2024, feed costs further escalated, reaching AUD 3.45 per kilo, marking a 7% increase on June 23 and a 13% rise from the corresponding half-year. Consequently, production costs experienced an increase to AUD 13.54. The impact of heightened feed costs was partially offset by the adoption of the biomass reduction program. This initiative enabled Clean Seas to reduce feeding requirements to the selected cages. Inflationary pressures continue to be evident on our key input costs such as feed, labor, and energy, and we believe it's reached its peak in the first half of FY 2024. Pleasingly, key cost pressures are expected to decline in the second half. Importantly, we have now observed a reduction in pricing for feed, which is expected to flow through in the later half of the second half of FY 2024. Following the decision to implement the biomass reduction program, Clean Seas also reduced its monthly frozen production, decreasing from a peak of 110 tonnes a month in August to 20 tonnes in December. This has allowed frozen inventory to remain relatively stable at circa 500 tonnes. However, it is anticipated that frozen inventory production will continue to be constrained as the company manages its frozen inventory levels. Given the decline in sales demand for frozen products and pricing, there was a requirement to impair frozen inventory by AUD 2.1 million. Despite lower sales volumes, cash receipts for the period reached AUD 33.9 million, closely mirroring the performance of the prior period. The stability is primarily driven by consistent pricing and robust data collection practices, which has effectively helped offset the decline in sales demand. However, it is important to note that feed payments during the first half of FY 2024 saw an increase of AUD 8.7 million to AUD 18.1 million. This rise was primarily driven by the investment in future biomass, which was linked to the previous growth strategy, the increase in average feed prices, and the timing of feed payments. Additionally, payments to suppliers increased by 19%, reflecting the inflationary pressures, heightened freight costs, and increased frozen holding costs. The growth in feed and supply costs wasn't matched by an increase in pricing, and coupled with flat sales demand led to Clean Seas reporting an operating cash flow loss of AUD 8.9 million for the first half of FY 2024. During the first half, Clean Seas allocated AUD 2.9 million towards capital assets. Of this, AUD 1.5 million was assigned to growth assets, including the ongoing development of the new feed barge and the corresponding grid system. As of December 31, we have invested AUD 2.1 million in the feed barge and anticipate a further spending of approximately AUD 3.6 million in the second half of FY 2024. Following the completion of the new feed barge and in alignment with our new strategic direction, we foresee minimal ongoing investment in growth assets. With regards to our financing activities, Clean Seas opted to utilize short and medium-term debt, drawing a total of AUD 7.2 million in the first half and approximately AUD 6.2 million related to our working capital facility, which is due for repayment in Q3 of FY 2024. In November, Clean Seas announced that it completed the two tranche placements, securing AUD 9.5 million. As of December, the company had received payments for the first tranche, totaling AUD 6.7 million, while the second tranche for AUD 2.8 million was received in January. Net debt increased by AUD 6.2 million at 31 December. The increase was primarily driven by the operating cash flow loss of AUD 8.9 million and the utilization of short and medium-term debt. Despite these challenges faced in the first half of FY 2024, the cash outflow deficit was partially mitigated by the placement, which was successfully received in both December and January. In December, we took the strategic step of renewing our financing facility with the Commonwealth Bank, which reconfirmed our financing limit of AUD 32.2 million. As at 31 December, Clean Seas had cash and undrawn working capital funding of AUD 12.4 million and an additional AUD 4.5 million to fund the planned capital projects we have on train. I'll just hand back to you now, Rob. Thank you, mate. Sorry I jumped the gun there. Yes, we've spoken a lot about our ambition to consolidate our farming footprint, and so I thought I'd take a moment to show you what that looks like and to describe the benefits that this will give. The map you see on screen here shows the greater Port Lincoln area and our farming sites within this region. The first thing to note is that all of these farming sites are within 25 kilometers of the Port Lincoln Marina, providing access to wharf infrastructure and with an easy reach of Clean Seas' maintenance and feed storage facilities. All of these farming sites can be managed by a single set of people and equipment. Ahead of the restructure, we also farmed at Arno Bay, some 115 kilometers north of Port Lincoln, and in recent times, we have farmed at Fitzgerald Bay, which is 300 kilometers north of Port Lincoln. Both of these remote locations require a second set of farming infrastructure and support team, which is largely a duplicate of what we have in Port Lincoln. As we farm below the total capacity across our various locations, this infrastructure and therefore cost base is underutilized. This results in a higher cost of production than we think will be possible once we have a fully utilized single farming location in Port Lincoln. In consolidating our farming footprint, we've been able to set ourselves on a path to eliminate duplication, reducing our resource infrastructure and equipment requirements, and reducing the complexity that comes with managing multiple sites up and down the Eyre Peninsula. The new model is significantly more efficient operationally, as all activities, from the stocking of juveniles to grow out and then the harvest of our fish, are all conducted in the sites you see here on the map. Juvenile fish will be stocked into the top Louth Bay site or the bottom Bicker Isles site and grown out to harvest size, and when ready for harvest, relocated into the central and sheltered Boston Bay site. The Louth Bay and Bicker Isles sites will both have automated feed barges on site. In the case of Louth Bay, our new Eyre Spirit barge with our existing Kingfish 5 barge located at Bicker Isles. This will mean that some 90% of our fish will be fed remotely by these automated feed barges in the very near future and ahead of the next growing season, substantially bringing forward the benefits of automation versus our old farming model, which would have taken longer and required the investment in at least another barge in order for this to occur. The Boston Bay site is an ideal harvest location, being the most sheltered site and thus suitable for harvesting in both weather conditions, and being the closest to the marina, it allows for the quickest transfer of harvested fish to the wharf. So as you can visually see on this map, the go-forward farming footprint is compact, efficient, utilizes capacity, and allows us to deploy and effectively leverage our infrastructure and resources in a way that we think will give the best operational and financial outcome possible. For the rest of the year, our goal will be to continue to leverage our premium market channels and positioning in order to maintain pricing while ensuring that our investments in infrastructure and automation and our operational footprint are focused towards offsetting the impacts of competitive market forces and input cost pressures. We will continue to push our commercial positioning, building awareness and demand by highlighting the outstanding quality, culinary flexibility, and unique provenance story of our ocean farmed yellowtail kingfish to maintain premium pricing. Over the next couple of months, we will conclude the implementation of the operating review and complete the transition to our new farming footprint and lower adjusted cost base. We expect a significant reduction in the funding required for infrastructure and working capital as a result of the review, with reduced operational and financial risk and a faster pathway to profitability and free cash flows. The new right-sized business will leverage Clean Seas' competitive advantages, longstanding experience and scale, an exceptional sought-after product with a unique and differentiated provenance story that is only achievable by growing a native fish in its natural waters. The delivery and implementation of our new automated feed barge, the Eyre Spirit, is expected in 2024, and we believe this crucial piece of infrastructure will provide scalability while managing operational and financial risks on farm. With this new barge implemented, as I said before, complementing our existing barge, we'll have around 90% of our biomass fed remotely, realizing the broad benefits that this entails ahead of the next growing season. We'll continue to explore the development of alternate diets and novel feed ingredients with the goal of driving improved fish performance and identifying the options to offset our exposure to volatility in feed prices. Over the next few years, it is very important that we ensure that the decisions that we make with respect to investment in infrastructure and working capital, as well as our biomass and growth ambitions, are appropriate in the context of profitability and cash flows in the short and medium term. Once the operational review is complete, we'll continue to focus on driving efficiency improvements across the business. The benefit of these actions will be that they support our overarching goal of transitioning to positive free cash flows in the coming years, decoupling our business from input cost pressures. This will create a sustainable financial model for which we're striving. So I'll leave it there. Thank you for your time, and ask if you have any questions.
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