But, July? Hello, everybody. Good morning, and welcome to the PSC results presentation for 2024. Hopefully, everyone's had a look at the presentation that we've sent out, and I'll open up and then quickly hand over to Josh to get into some of the details. Next. The year's been a really good year. I'd say a great year. The businesses are in really good shape. You know, the core areas of the business have all done well, a very even performance and even contribution. Each of the businesses is a better business at the end of the year than it was at the start of the year. You know, with the caliber of the people continuing to improve and the systems and processes continuing to improve. A great underlying EBITDA result, 127.1. We would have been probably slightly higher than that if we hadn't been distracted with the merger with Ardonagh. That slowed down the acquisitions a bit in the second half, and also the startups have been a bit more of a drag than we initially anticipated. In fact, if you adjust for the startups, it's the results are well over AUD 128 million at the EBITDA level. So a really outstanding year. No final dividend, that's part of the scheme of arrangement agreement, and but underlying earnings per share up 8% to AUD 0.24 per share. Not a lot more to add to the businesses. It is, as we keep saying, each year, you know, these are incredibly stable. This is an incredibly stable business. We know what we do, and we're continuing, you know, to do it. We're a broking and intermediary business and focused on continuing to grow and be the best that we can be. That's what we're intending to be going forward. The results, the consistency of result, you know, reflects the consistency of that approach to what we're doing. Josh? Yeah. Thank you, Tony. Just moving on to the next slide. This is a slide that we have in most of our presentations, and it shows that the group has a long and unbroken record of earnings growth since listing, you know, compound growth in sort of key metrics of revenue, EBITDA, and NPAT A, at around 24% or 25%. This has created real value for shareholders over that time. We've been nearly nine years listed now. Indeed, the scheme gives the shareholders the opportunity to realize that value. One thing you'll sort of see over the last two or three years as well, the group has increasingly been generating free cash flow, net of dividend, of a material and increasing amount, which has been driving up return on equity over the last few years, which again, is just a great sign of a strong business. Moving forward, specifically as it relates to this year, Tony has sort of touched on, but we were either within or at the top end of guidance, depending on whether you're looking at our EBITDA and or net profit up or NPAT A guidance. Specifically, operating revenue was up 16% to about AUD 344 million. Underlying EBITDA growth of 15% to AUD 127.1 million. Underlying NPAT A growth of 11% to AUD 87 million. Now moving on to the next slide. We'll sort of dive into a little bit more specifics across the group. Next one. Specifically, just looking at the segments themselves. So the distribution business in Australia, so that's, that's, the Australian broking and network businesses. Revenue growth of 15%, 12% earnings growth, and 7% of that being organic. So, a really strong foundation business of ours and, another strong period. With the agency businesses this year, good, strong revenue growth of 12% from a combination of acquisitions and organic, but there was, a smaller level of, or earnings growth was down, largely as Tony touched on. That was the main area where the startup businesses were. So we've started up three new businesses in there, being Chase Plant, Chase Credit, and Chase Accident and Health. Specifically, we are starting up in the second half, and also within that group, we purchased the Ensurance business in November, which is now being rebranded Chase Professional Risks, and that's starting to grow well. In the U.K., really good organic earnings growth there of 13%, 17% revenue growth, and 21% earnings growth. In particular, Paragon had a good second half, well up on its prior corresponding period, you know, notwithstanding, you know, they've still got challenges, at least in the rating environment, particularly in areas of like cyber and D&O. So an outstanding effort to grow the business there in the second half, and Carrolls had a really strong period as well. So, moving on, for Asia. This next slide again just shows you some of the numbers that I was just talking about them regarding the segments. So just moving forward, just in terms of the composition of the growth here. So acquisitions contributed AUD 7 million of incremental EBITDA. So of the AUD 16 odd million, seven of it was EBITDA. We did 14 acquisitions, most of those quite small bolt-ins in Australia. We deployed AUD 15 million of capital, which is probably a lower cadence than we would have otherwise been looking at, as Tony touched on, you know, particularly the second half. You know, a lot of group resources and thinking were focused on the merger with the Ardonagh Group and the set up of the scheme. So, that possibly dragged a little bit, just that lower cadence, what we otherwise maybe would have been hoping for, but that was for all positive reasons, as you'd all understand. Organic growth was good at 8%, approximately AUD 9 million. That was after the drag of about AUD 1.4 million from startup businesses. All of those businesses are in a good spot, you know, and we're, you know, increasingly confident about where they're all heading. Probably final point here: interest costs are up a little, as there's been higher interest rates, and you'll notice that our average tax rate for the year is up a little, which we've sort of been telegraphing for a while now. That's due to the increase in the U.K. company tax rate in April 2023. So that was factored and anticipated. And I'll hand back to Tony. Thank you, Josh. Not much more I can add that 2024 earnings were really good, and as I've said, you know, across each of the business areas. We've invested in each of the business areas to see them continue to grow and prosper. You know, sometimes that's, you know, an investment in IT and the Apex system, which goes on improving and helps on productivity in the broking business in Australia or startups, you know, such as we've got in you know, Ardonagh in the U.K. or other ones Josh mentioned, you know, in Chase. So in each of the areas, we've got a you know, continuing strong outlook in 2025 for each of the businesses. We're entering into a period where, leading up to the shareholder vote, on the Scheme of Arrangement, to merge with Ardonagh. That's set for the 26 of September, is the vote date. We're very excited about what the merger means, for our clients and our staff. It's a really positive step forward, and we've always aspired to, you know, form a, you know, a really significant broking group. You know, one of the top ten in the world has always been, you know, a quiet aspiration, and this merger is a real step to us achieving that, in conjunction with a group that, you know, is very like-minded, very similar skill set and capability and drive and ambition. So it's a very exciting outcome if shareholders support the vote. A very exciting outcome for our clients and our staff. And in the absence of that going through, the outlook for 2025 is, as I said, really solid. These are great businesses, and we're really excited about what each of them, you know, the outlook for each of them. We look forward to seeing you at the shareholders' meeting, and thank you for your support and open to any questions anyone might have on the 2024 results. Thank you. That comes in through the chat feature, doesn't it? So... Do we have any questions? I think that we've got absolutely no... I hope we've got an audience here. We've got no- Is anyone here? We've got no questions. It's a perfect investor call. Thank you, all. Don't hesitate to reach out if you do have any questions. Still no, still no questions. Again, on that basis, we'll end the call. Thank you, everybody. Thank you. Thanks. Bye.
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