Hello, and thank you for holding. We will now begin The Reject Shop's results call for the first half of FY25, and thank you for joining us today. Today, all participants are in a listen-only mode. Following the presentation, we will open the call for questions from analysts. If you wish to ask a question at that time, you will need to press the star key followed by the number one on your telephone keypad. I would now like to turn the conference over to Mr. Clinton Cahn, CEO of The Reject Shop. Please go ahead. Thanks, Chris, and good morning, everyone. I'm Clinton Cahn, The Reject Shop CEO, and it's my pleasure to welcome you to our 2025 half-year results conference call. Also on the call this morning is Amy Eshuys, our Chief Operating Officer, who will join me in answering questions during the Q&A section of the call. I'll start by walking you through the company's first half 2025 results, which are summarized on slides three and four. We have again presented our financial results on both a pre- and post-AASB 16 basis, which will assist you in comparing the result with historical performance. Our results include sales of AUD 471.7 million, which are up 2.9%. On a pre-AASB 16 basis, gross profit was AUD 196.3 million, which was up 6.1%. Gross profit margin was 41.6%, up approximately 125 basis points. EBITDA was AUD 29.1 million, up 13.9%. EBIT was AUD 22.6 million, up 16.2%. Net profit after tax was AUD 16.4 million, up 14.6%. For completeness, statutory net profit after tax was AUD 15.9 million, which was up 10.1% on the prior period. We are pleased to have again finished the half with a strong balance sheet. At the end of December 2024, we had cash of AUD 74.9 million and no drawn debt. In terms of dividends, the board has determined to pay a fully franked interim dividend of AUD 0.12 per share, which is up 20% on the interim dividend declared in the prior period. Turning to slide five, comp store sales for the year were up 1.5%, with the first quarter up 0.3% and the second quarter up 2.5%. Improved second quarter performance was driven by a well-executed Christmas trading period, which saw strong sales growth and gross profit margin improvement compared to the prior period, particularly in Christmas categories. Sales growth during the half was driven by basket growth as well as further customer transaction growth. What was most pleasing was that the result was driven by growth in both general merchandise and consumables products, with general merchandise sales growth outpacing consumables. As we have mentioned previously, growing general merchandise sales has been a key focus of our strategy, and this result demonstrates that our new and improved product offering is resonating well with customers. Moving on to gross profit on slide six, gross profit was AUD 196.3 million on a pre-AASB 16 basis, which was up 6.1% on the prior period. Gross profit margin was 41.6%, which was up approximately 125 basis points on the prior period. We have been very focused on improving gross profit margin, and pleasingly, during the half, this was achieved without a material improvement in the product sales mix. As mentioned previously, over time, we are targeting to favorably shift the product sales mix as the general merchandise and seasonal offerings continue to improve and gain traction with customers. As a reminder, high-margin general merchandise, including seasonal, is expected to represent approximately 50% of sales in FY2025 compared to approximately 60% in FY2019. There is a potential future margin improvement opportunity if we can shift the mix back towards historical levels over time. Turning to slide seven, consistent with many Australian retailers, the company is facing a number of inflationary cost pressures, which were well managed during the half. The cost of doing business, which comprises store expenses and admin expenses, increased to 35.5% of sales. This compares to 34.8% in the prior period but is materially lower than the 37.2% back in first half 2020 before the business turnaround commenced. Store expenses increased to 30.6% of sales compared to 30.3% in the prior period and 32.2% in the first half of 2020, while admin expenses rose to 4.8% of sales compared to 4.5% in the prior period and 5% in first half 2020. In terms of store expenses, store labor, which was as high as 14.9% of sales back in first half 2020, increased from 14% in the prior period to 14.4% this half. Store occupancy costs, which were 12.7% of sales back in first half 2020, were well managed during the half and again remained flat at 12.3% of sales. Store expenses also include the operating costs associated with opening and closing stores. These costs totaled approximately AUD 0.8 million during the half, which is down from AUD 1 million in the prior period. Finally, depreciation was AUD 6.5 million, which was up AUD 0.4 million on the prior period. This resulted in pre-AASB 16 EBIT for the year of AUD 22.6 million, which was up 16.2% on the prior period. Onto slide eight. We continue to expand our store network, having opened nine new stores during the half, most of which opened during the second quarter. We are pleased with the performance of our new store openings and continue to look for new locations where we can conveniently serve more Australians. We expect to open a further seven new stores during the second half and have already built a pipeline of approximately 15 new stores to open in FY2026 and beyond. The company closed one store during the first half, closed one store during January 2025 subsequent to half-year end, and we expect to close a further three stores during the second half. Each of these store closures are candidates for potential relocation, with two of these stores already confirmed to reopen this calendar year. At the end of the half, The Reject Shop's national store network included 393 stores, up from 383 at December 2023. This also compares to 354 stores at June 2020, which was around the time when we began to more meaningfully expand our store network. Turning to slide nine, the company's balance sheet remains strong with a cash balance of around AUD 75 million and no drawn debt at the end of December 2024. This compares to a net cash position of AUD 49.9 million at the end of June 2024 and AUD 80.7 million at the end of December 2023. Noting that since the end of December 2023, approximately AUD 7.7 million in cash was returned to shareholders via ordinary dividends and a non-market share buyback. Inventory closed at AUD 143.1 million, which was down from AUD 146.4 million at the end of June 2024. Turning to slide ten, in August 2023, the company reinstated its previous dividend policy to maintain a minimum dividend payout ratio of 60% of net profit after tax. Our board retains flexibility in deciding how much of the annual dividend is declared as an interim or a final dividend. I'm pleased to announce that the board has determined to pay a fully franked interim dividend of AUD 0.12 per share, and the dividend is expected to be paid to shareholders in early May. Onto slide eleven, sales during the first seven weeks of the second half were up 3.6% on the prior period, noting that January sales were up 2.5%, while February sales, month-to-date, were up 6.1%. Comp store sales were up 1.4% on the prior period, with January up 0.4% and February up 3.8% month-to-date. Pleasingly, during the second half to date, both general merchandise sales and overall gross profit margin have continued to improve on the prior year. To conclude, and as set out on slide twelve, I'm pleased to share that during the first half, the company generated record first half sales. General merchandise sales returned to growth as our customers continue to respond positively to our new and improved product offering. Gross profit margin improved by approximately 125 basis points. Nine new stores were opened, with at least 20 stores in the pipeline to open over the next 18 months, and we reported the highest net profit after tax results on a pre-AASB 16 basis since the first half of 2018. All of this would not have been possible without the hard work and dedication of each and every one of our committed team members. I'd like to thank all of our team members across stores, DCs, and store support centers for their contribution and efforts during the half. We are acutely aware that The Reject Shop plays a critical role in supporting Australians who are currently faced with significant cost of living pressures. We do this by helping our customers save money on branded everyday essential items such as cleaning products, toiletries, personal hygiene products, kids' lunchbox snacks, and pet products. In addition, our team continues to work hard to offer our customers exciting and new general merchandise and seasonal ranges at incredible value. We are focused on offering products that bring joy to our customers during challenging economic times while also making it more affordable for Australians to celebrate seasonal events with their friends and family. I invite you to refer to slides 13 to 17 of our presentation, which includes some images of our Halloween and Christmas ranges from the first half, our amazing homeware ranges that have been on offer to customers during the second half to date, as well as our branded low-priced everyday consumables range. As Australia's largest discount variety retailer and with a track record of helping customers save money for over 40 years, we are committing to ensuring that every visit to The Reject Shop brings joy and savings to our customers. That is the end of our prepared presentation. I'll now hand back to Chris to open the call up for questions. Thank you. As a reminder, if you wish to ask a question, please press star one on your telephone and wait for your name to be announced. If you wish to cancel your request, please press star two. If you are on a speakerphone, please pick up your handset before you ask your question. We will now pause momentarily to assemble our... Today's first question comes from Ksenia Chetyeva with Jarden. Please proceed. Thanks for taking my questions. The sales improvement yesterday that you mentioned seems like it's driven more by transactions versus selling price. Are you planning any price increases, and do you feel your pricing is competitive enough versus other discounters in the market? Sorry, Ksenia, it was a bit hard to hear you there. Do you mind just asking that again just a bit further? Yes, sorry. Sales improvement yesterday, it seems like it's driven by transactions versus selling price. Are you planning any price increases, and do you feel your pricing is competitive enough in the market? Sales growth is driven by both basket growth and transaction growth, but basket growth was the predominant driver. Within basket, we did have pretty solid ASP growth. ASP growth sat between both the consumable product and the general merchandise product. I think our business model is to be competitive, especially on everyday consumable products. On general merchandise, we are very focused on being differentiated, having a very exciting product, but the value and price of that product is absolutely critical. It is a key focus of ours. The sales growth during the half was driven by predominantly basket growth, which was driven by ASP growth. Thank you. Also, on gross margin moving forward, can you give us an idea of what some of the moving parts you're expecting? Yeah, sure. I mean, I'll just talk to this financial year. We talked eight to six or so months ago about targeting a gross profit margin of about 40.5% for the financial year. We're on track for that. What was probably most pleasing about the gross profit margin performance is most of the improvement in gross profit margin was underlying gross profit improvement on our product. We also saw some gross profit improvement from our domestic supply chain that was far less material. I think, as I called out during my presentation, mix was a very—we did actually see a slight improvement in mix, but it was highly immaterial. Naturally, the headwind to gross profit margin at the moment is shrink. We expected it to be a headwind. We expected it to deteriorate, and it has deteriorated further. Despite that, gross profit margin improved during the half by 125 basis points, and we think we're on track to hit our target this year. Okay. Thank you. Thanks, Ksenia. The next question is from James Casey with Ord Minnett. Please proceed. Hi, good morning, Clinton. Just on that shrinkage that you mentioned there, how much further did that deteriorate in the most recent period above the first half 2024 rate? We haven't disclosed it, James. There was a deterioration in shrinkage. I think probably what I come back to is, despite that deterioration, the margin improvement was very strong, and we're on track to hit our target. As we said six or so months ago, we assumed there would be a deterioration. The deterioration is slightly worse than what we expected, but we have a number of initiatives in place to mitigate shrink. It is still early days, and we have just completed our stocktake. Coming out of stocktake, we will do the full analysis and kind of get a bit of a sense for what's working well, what needs to change, and we will just continue to address the challenge. I think what I can say confidently is that this is not a Reject Shop challenge. This is an Australian retail challenge, and it is a global retail challenge. It's just something we're dealing with, and at this stage, I'm feeling good about the way we're dealing with it. Okay. Fair enough. Just on freight rates, can you just remind me of, I think, your contract ends in April, from memory. Can you just remind me how that may land as you're looking at it at the moment? Yeah. Look, I think there's been a bit of noise in the market around freight rates over the last kind of six months. I'd say the impact of higher international freight during the first half and during the start of the second half has been relatively immaterial to The Reject Shop, despite spot rates increasing quite materially, particularly through the first half. They have come off a little bit into—well, they've come off quite materially in the second half. You're right. Our freight rates, our international shipping contracts do come up for expiry soon, and we are in negotiation on them. It's too early for me to comment around where they'll land. I think, as you know well, James, over the last five years, between FX rates, shipping rates, shrinkage, cost of goods, this is part of what we do. The most important thing is that we're prepared for them, which we are, and we adjust our prices, and we push our suppliers on cost, and we look at all the levers within our business to manage those macro issues. We're just very focused on what we can control. Yeah. Finally, just in your trading update, I guess consistent with other retailers, the sales are bouncing around a little bit. January seems a little bit weaker, and February seems a little bit stronger. Can you just provide a little bit more color around just how you're seeing foot traffic levels at the moment and sales within your stores? Yeah. If I maybe just step through, the first quarter looked softer than the second quarter, just starting with the first half. In the first quarter, we were cycling some very strong consumable deals last year that were quite lower margin. We have been a bit more disciplined on margin. That partly explains the softer comp in the first quarter. Second quarter, we had a very strong December, which was really pleasing, both in comp and gross profit margin. January, actually, two of the five weeks in January looked quite a lot like February. There were, if you do not, we kind of do not want our team speaking this way, but I am going to point to weather. In January, we did have some weather impacts in some of the weeks, extreme heat and some of the flooding up north and other impacts that did have a bit of an impact in January. February's been very strong, and particularly in the general merchandise space. We've got some very compelling home offers on at the moment that the customer's really liking. Okay. Thanks, Clinton. Good luck for the rest of the half. Thank you, James. The next question comes from James Bales with Morgan Stanley. Please proceed. Hi, guys. Thanks for taking my questions. I guess, firstly, on gross margin, you sort of made the comments around shrinkage and potentially some seasonality, but you were well ahead of target in the first half. Is there any reason why you shouldn't end the year better than that 40.5% target you set at the start of the year? There's always things that can happen that can flow either way. I'd say, James, I'll agree with you and say at the moment we're tracking just slightly ahead of that target. I guess the main driver would be mix and just seeing where the mix lands in the second half. The seasonal event in the second half is Easter. It's not as big an event as Christmas is, so I think it's just waiting to see where the mix lands. The start of the second half has been positive in that regard. Got it. I guess the other trend that you sort of pointed out is just the cost inflation that you guys are facing. When you think about what to extrapolate in the CODB lines in the second half, have you got any thoughts on the expense growth that we should be factoring in there versus what we've seen over the last couple of halves? I'm not going to go into too much detail here, James, other than to say in the second half, I think we're working hard to keep the CODB flat year on year, so second half versus second half, or very slightly above that. That's our focus. Great. Thanks, Clint. The next question is from Emily Porter with Morgans. Please proceed. Yeah. Hi, team, and congratulations on a solid result today. I guess my question firstly was just generally at a macro sort of level, how are you seeing your consumer sort of at the moment? Are you sort of seeing any of that trade down? I guess just any changes you've sort of noticed through the half? Thank you. Oh, hi, Emily. I'll take that question. Look, I think we don't have specific customer data or research around trade down. What we do know is that we are very pleased with our seasonal results throughout the half, that being Christmas and Halloween and spring. As we said, we are very pleased with our home and general merchandise sales as well and our consumable sales. Whilst we have improved margin on that product there, we are also pleased with that result. I think what that tells us is that the customer recognizes that we have great value product and that we are offering uniqueness and newness, and they are coming to us consistently to look for that product. It is a challenging macro environment as it relates to competitors and, as we know, the customer and their wallet. I think our focus continues to be offering that great value, having convenient store locations for our customers, and making sure that we really play into the unique and differentiated product. From that, we are feeling good about our Easter coming ahead with us, just based on our last half-year results as well. That's great. Thank you. Maybe just another question which sort of flows on from your comment around it being a competitive market. I guess, have you seen any sort of changes from this time versus last year? Yeah. I think what we are really pleased about, as I said, is that even though it is a highly competitive market with both new entrants and a lot of price competitiveness, we are seeing growth in both sales and units and, as we said, ASP in our general merchandise and seasonal business. That is really pleasing in the fact that we are famous for seasonal and our customer continues to come to us to shop for that even with new entrants to the market. We are really focused on being an everyday low-price retailer. Even though, again, there is a lot of price competitiveness in the market, the customer really has trust with us that we offer great value every single day. That's great. Thanks, guys. Thanks, Emily. There are no further questions in the queue at this time, and I would now like to turn the call back over to Mr. Cahn for any closing remarks. Thank you, Chris, and thank you to the analysts for your questions and for joining us today. We look forward to updating you again at our full year results announcement in August. Have a good day, everyone. Thank you.