Good afternoon, and welcome to this year's Good Business Journey investor session. As mentioned in our inaugural session last year, we've developed these engagements to share with you how deeply sustainability is embedded in our organization and across our value creation model. I look forward to sharing with you today the progress and the accomplishments we've made in this regard over the past year. We also want to use these sessions to take a closer look and do a deep dive into specific areas of our Good Business Journey, areas that we believe are not only topical, but of keen interest to all our stakeholders. The topic we've chosen for today is ethical sourcing. I'm joined by Lawrence Pillay, our General Manager of Sourcing and Technology, who will provide an in-depth insight into our approach to ethical sourcing, specifically as it relates to our apparel supply chain. In today's session, I'll provide you with some initial feedback on the progress we're making. Lawrence will then take you through our ethical sourcing strategy, and then we'll wrap up with a Q&A session. You're welcome to post any questions you may have online during the course of the presentation. Woolworths is, and always has been, deeply committed to our vision of being one of the world's most responsible retailers. We bring this to life through our Good Business Journey, our GBJ, as we call it. It is critical to who we are, to what we do, and what we stand for as an organization. Testament to the importance we place on sustainability, and our firm belief that sustainability is not something that is separate to the business, but rather integral to how we manage and operate our business, is the priority given to this by the WHL board. In fact, we have both a sustainability committee and a social and ethics committee at board level. Additionally, the full board regularly engages with both internal and external subject matter experts on a range of key sustainability issues affecting the group. This ensures that sustainability priorities are fully deliberated at the highest level in the company. In our first investor session last year, Belinda Earl, Chair of our Sustainability Committee, and Thembisa Skweyiya, Chair of our Social and Ethics Committee, shared with you the role and mandate of these respective committees, as well as their key priorities. Both committees comprise the group chairman and several members of the board, both executive and non-executive, which means that through their cross-membership, they work closely together to ensure effective oversight of the execution of our sustainability agenda. You'd also recall from last year that we announced our new GBJ strategy, what we call Vision 2025+, which outlined an ambitious set of goals to 2025 and beyond across eight key focus areas. Five of these focus areas, sustainable farming, ethical sourcing, packaging and waste, water and energy, and climate change, fall within the first two pillars of our strategy, a thriving and resilient environment and a fully transparent, traceable, and ethical supply chain. These are overseen by the WHL Sustainability Committee. The other three focus areas being people, social development, and health and wellness, collectively form the inclusive justice pillar of our Vision 2025+ and are overseen by the Social and Ethics Committee. In line with our strategy, we've set ourselves headline goals designed to really stretch and challenge ourselves even further. These include a fully transparent and traceable supply chain by 2025. This incorporates, among other things, publishing supplier lists on our corporate website and ensuring traceability of all our key commodities. By 2025, we're committing that all our private label fashion and home products will be designed to be reused, repaired, repurposed, or recycled. All our energy requirements will be met by renewable sources by 2030. Very importantly, we're committing to net zero carbon emissions from our direct operations by 2040. In addition, we have an approved Science-Based Target to half our Scope one and two carbon emissions by 2030, and have further committed to work with our top suppliers to set their own carbon reduction targets. In fact, we are one of only four South African-based companies, and the only South African retailer, to currently have approved Science-Based Targets. These headline goals are supported by others in areas such as water usage, food waste, packaging, regenerative farming, responsible sourcing of commodities, and our commitment to a just wage. Last year, I said that we were going to do more to keep you up to date on the key sustainability issues relevant to us and our industry, and the progress we're making against the targets we've set for ourselves, which is partly what today is all about. Here are just a few of our notable achievements over the past year. Almost 70% of Country Road Group's energy now stems from renewable sources. In South Africa, we were the first retailer to partner with Eskom on a renewable energy tariff program through which we are now powering six of our sites with wind energy. We're also the only and first national retailer to have announced the rollout of electric vehicles for home deliveries. This comes after a successful 10-month trial of these vehicles in Gauteng, which not only reduced carbon emissions, but also reduced operating costs. In a first for South African retail, we published a full list of suppliers that manufacture all our private label apparel products, not only just for Woolworths here in South Africa, but also for our Australian businesses. This is not only a vital step towards a fashion industry becoming more sustainable and more accountable, but it also serves to empower our customers to make informed decisions and therefore better choices. We've achieved three major sourcing milestones. We now responsibly source 100% of the palm oil, the cocoa, and cotton used in our various private label products. In fact, we are the only South African retailer to source 100% of our cotton through Better Cotton, previously known as the Better Cotton Initiative, or BCI. In the case of our Woolies private label products, almost 90% of food and more than 50% of fashion, beauty, and home products are now locally sourced. Country Road has introduced a traceability rating for selected products on their website. This enables product traceability through the supply chain from fiber to factory floor. They've also launched the Towards Circularity capsule, featuring fabric made from 50% recycled cotton fibers sourced from our own production runs. The Country Road Made in Australia campaign is a great example of how showcasing our transparency and traceability in the supply chain is not only the responsible thing to do, it also drives deep emotional connections with our customers. For the launch of menswear, we developed this chambray shirt because we saw it as a pivotal garment that would work back with all our other fabrics. Originally, the chambray shirt was all made in Australia. We had factories in Melbourne, a number of factories in Sydney, virtually making this shirt 24/7. Here we are at the local factory, just 20 minutes from the head office, and every single thing is actually made here in this building. It is really terrific to be working again with a factory in Melbourne that we have association with in those times. You know, we're expecting that we're able to build on this and be doing more and more under the Australian-made banner. I remember as a young schoolgirl seeing all the staff in Country Road stores in these beautiful shirts, and I think it's a very cool initiative to see the shirt coming back. It's very exciting to be making the shirt again in Australia in Australian cotton. Using the old sewing labels we made at Cash's in Leongatha. That's been a big thrill to see it being made again. Looking at it's a far better shirt than the original ones. It's very exciting. All finished. All done. I'd like to just confirm that having a look at this, we're in a very happy place. Following our partnership with GlamCorner and Re-Loop for fashion rental and resale, David Jones has partnered with Blue Spinach in an extension of our circular fashion commitment. 99% of all Woolworths Food private label products and almost 80% of both FBH and COG products now have sustainability attributes to them. I'm very pleased to report that all Country Road Group stores and all our Woolworths Food markets are now plastic shopping bag-free. Ezi Bags, the exclusive supplier of our Woolies reusable bags, has been producing bags for us for more than 15 years. As a result of our commitment to replacing all our single-use plastic bags with reusable bags, this Black-owned business has grown exponentially and now employs over 100 unskilled and semi-skilled workers, most of whom are women. We've also been recognized this past year, not only for the initiative we have taken in linking more than 80% of our debt to the delivery of specific sustainability targets, but also as the most sustainable brand in South Africa in the annual Kantar BrandZ. Looking beyond our own borders, we also maintained our listings on the FTSE Russell Responsibility Index, and also the FTSE4Good Emerging Index Series, achievements we are very proud of. While we often talk about the E in ESG, I don't think we spend enough time talking about the social component, which is just as important, particularly in the context of a country like ours with the challenges we face in terms of social inequality. To intensify our focus on the social and people facets of our Good Business Journey, we established our Inclusive Justice Initiative, which addresses issues of diversity and inclusivity and has a very strong focus on racism, gender-based violence, and the advancement of women across the group. As one of the first in this space, we are the only national South African retailer to become a signatory to the UN Women's Empowerment Principles, further reinforcing our commitment towards taking action on gender equality and the empowerment of women. In the area of inclusivity, one of the focus areas for us this past year has been the LGBTQIA+ community, where aside from our W.Pride campaign, we also launched our first voice platform, which provides a space where everyone is accepted, protected, and respected regardless of sexual orientation, gender identity, or gender expression. We've supported the creation of almost 400 new jobs through our Woolworths Supplier Development Program for small and medium-sized Black- and Black woman-owned businesses. The development of Black SMMEs is a key transformation and commercial strategy for us, and we are currently in the process of setting up a dedicated entity to support us in this regard, so that we can scale our impact, not just significantly, but sustainably. We've also supported our local communities with contributions of ZAR 1 billion in 2022, including the donation of over 15,000 tons of surplus food to charities in support of our food security initiatives. Our Woolworths Zero Hunger program was recognized at the recent Intercontinental Group of Department Stores awards as one of the best sustainability CSR campaigns of the year, reflecting the important outcomes a program of this nature delivers. In another food security initiative, Infinity Culinary Training, which operates out of our head office, has provided 2 million meals to the surrounding Cape Town CBD community. The ICT provides disadvantaged South African women and men with basic cooking and life skills necessary to find immediate employment in a professional kitchen. This center also provides a pipeline for candidates to join our business with more than 50 graduates from ICT currently working at Woolworths. In line with our Just Wage initiative and our ongoing investment to enable not merely a living wage, but a just wage, I'm pleased to report that our South African hourly wage rate is now 21% above the retail sector minimum wage and 58% above the SA minimum. In line with our commitment to the development of unemployed youth, and in particular, black unemployed graduates, the South African Graduate Employers Association announced Woolworths as the 2022 employer of choice in the retail sector and one of the top 20 aspirational employers in South Africa, bringing our total wins to nine out of the past 13 years. Finally, in something personally quite close to my heart, this past month, we celebrated the 25th anniversary of our My School, My Village, My Planet program in conjunction with the Department of Basic Education and the Department of Social Development. This innovative loyalty and CSI program has provided support to nearly 8,500 schools and NGO beneficiaries across the country since its inception, contributing almost ZAR 90 million this past year alone. In a world of uncertainty and challenge, we needed to step up. One small action can mean a significant impact for someone else. It began. One swipe at a time. One smile at a time. Thanks to you, South Africa, we've been able to add color, change lives, and make a difference together through My School, My Village, My Planet, and Woolworths with just one powerful swipe. 1.2 million supporters, more than 8,000 beneficiaries, over ZAR 900 million given back, over ZAR 80 million a year. 25 years of impact. 25 years of making a difference. As you can see, there's a lot we're doing in this space, and a lot that we've achieved. Turning now to the focus for today's session. As a multi-category retailer, we form part of a complex global supply chain with inherent potential human rights and environmental risks and impacts. It is critical for retailers to adopt an ethical sourcing approach which mitigates where necessary and positively influences where possible these risks and impacts. As part of our Vision 2025+ strategy, we have set ourselves the goal that by 2025, all our key commodities will be responsibly sourced and traceable. Simply put, we care for how products are made and are therefore committed to a fully transparent, traceable, and ethical supply chain. Today, we want to take you through our approach to ethical sourcing. Firstly, we only partner with suppliers who subscribe to our commitments around ethical sourcing. These commitments are laid out in our supplier contracts and codes of conduct, and we continuously work with our suppliers to deliver against these. Secondly, we measure our suppliers' progress and performance on an ongoing basis, and we also partner with leading institutions, such as through our membership of the Ethical Trading Initiative, to constantly strengthen our approach to ethical sourcing. Importantly, to drive progress in our ethical sourcing commitments, we train our staff and our suppliers in human rights, ethics, and responsible commodity sourcing. Given the focus for today's session, I'm now gonna hand over to Lawrence Pillay, General Manager for Technology and Sourcing, to take you through how all of this comes to life in our Woolies Fashion, Beauty, and Home businesses. Hello and welcome. Thank you for affording us the time to take you inside the difference. To share with you the intrinsics about our product that makes it so uniquely Woolworths. Before I get going, I'd like to set some context, and I would like to share with you some very important statistics. In the making of a conventional cotton T-shirt, 2,600 liters of water is used in the making of one cotton T-shirt. three kilograms of carbon dioxide is emitted into the atmosphere in the making of that T-shirt. 150 grams of insecticides and pesticides go into the making of that one T-shirt, and 20% of the world's industrial waste comes out of our industry, the clothing and textiles industry. In addition to that, the UN has quoted as of November 2021, that there are 89 million displaced people the world over, more than at World War II. Now, these individuals have been forced out of their countries for various reasons and often end up as exploited labor. Our industry employs almost 40 million modern slaves. Now, these are sobering facts and provide a burning platform for us to think about how we do things differently. We have built a sustainability strategy, and we launched that strategy in 2006, 2007, and it became the foundation upon which we have chosen to do things differently. The pillars within that sustainability strategy includes social and ethical compliance, radical transparency, sustainable fibers, green factories, water stewardship, and last but not least, localization and supporting local manufacturing. Let's take social and ethical compliance. At Woolworths, all of our suppliers are socially and ethically compliant. We make sure that we apply the most stringent standards available in order to ensure that our suppliers conform to those standards. We use Sedex and SMETA standards for both of our local and of our international suppliers. We audit them on a regular basis to make sure that they're fully compliant. In fact, we are so confident around the compliance of our factories that we have become the first retailer in South Africa to openly publish our list of suppliers. This suggests that anyone has access to these factories and can go into these factories and confirm the levels of compliance that we are truly proud of. Compliance is one aspect. The other is radical transparency, which I've shared with you, and there's much more work being done in that space, and we have more exciting news to share with you as we strive towards going to the level two, three, and four tiers of suppliers. In addition to compliance, we have driven sustainable fibers. We have become the first South African retailer to have 100% sustainable cotton being sold in our stores. All of our cotton is sustainably sourced. Only a handful of retailers across the world can make that claim, and we are the first South African retailer to make that claim. That means that all of our cotton is either sourced via the Better Cotton Initiative or the organic cotton. What is the Better Cotton Initiative? The Better Cotton program ensures that the ecosystems in the farms are maintained, that soil management is properly enforced, that water stewardship in the farms are properly applied, that the biodiversity in the farms are well-maintained, that there's reduced insecticides and pesticides applied on the crop, and that the farmers are paid a proper wage. All of those elements deliver the Better Cotton program, and we are proud that all of our cotton is sustainably sourced. In addition to that, we have begun the journey around recycled polyester, and we have driven more and more recycled polyester into our value chain. Since we've begun the journey, we have taken 32 million plastic bottles and have converted them into garments, from polar fleeces to puffer jackets, all the way to duvet inners, and we continue to drive that journey. The third-largest fiber that we use is viscose, and as you may know, viscose is produced from wood pulp. Now, the risk around deforestation is high in the manufacturing of viscose, and we know the impacts of deforestation on the ecosystems of the planet. We have begun the journey to make sure that all of our viscose is FSC certified. It means Forest Stewardship Council certified. We have started that journey two years ago. Currently, 97% of all the viscose in our store is FSC certified, and we aim to be at 100% by the end of this year. I have shared with you so far the intrinsics of social compliance, radical transparency, and sustainable fibers, and these are the pillars that sit within our sustainability space and makes us uniquely different as a brand. Let us now look at some products and understand how the other elements or the other pillars within our sustainability journey also further support the product. Let's take the basic cotton T-shirt. Now, we run cotton T-shirts in our womenswear range, in our menswear range, as well as our kidswear range. We sell about 7.5 million cotton T-shirts a year. What makes the Woolies cotton T-shirt truly different and unique from the rest in the marketplace? Firstly, it is made from 100% sustainable cotton. I've shared that information with you already. Secondly, our knitted fabrics go through a special process called combing. In the combing process, short fibers are removed, which makes the fabrics stronger, makes the fabrics look more beautiful, and makes the fabrics more durable. We've introduced a new innovation called StayNew technology in our dyeing and finishing process, and what it does, it allows the T-shirts to hold colors better. The Woolies T-shirt has been through 100 domestic washes to make sure that the color is consistent and that the fabric and appearance of the garment stays intact. Now that is the Woolies difference. Over and above the sustainability elements, we also have the quality elements. Greenpeace have identified 12 hazardous chemicals that sit within the value chain of the clothing and textiles industry. We've been on a journey to eradicate those 12 hazardous chemicals. All of our cotton T-shirts are OEKO-TEX certified, which means it is free of those hazardous chemicals. That is an incredible combination of different intrinsics that make our T-shirts uniquely different. Most of our T-shirts are made in two of our local-based factories, one in KZN and one here in Maitland. Now, both those factories have an incredible story to share. They were previously enterprise development, small operations that we have taken and developed them into centers of excellence. We have funded them, we have supported them with technical advice, we have supported them with production advice, and we've grown them into incredible enterprises that are able to give us unique products. Those factories are exclusive factories that service Woolworths. Let's take a look at one of those factories. The thread of denim, fleece, and single jerseys, it's all woven into me. You know, it's the same with dancing. Two imperfect people, the feeling of music come together. The rhythm gets into you and just explode on the dance floor. We use sustainable fabrics. All the content in that fabric is recycled plastic bottles collected throughout South Africa. I'm Lance, and I do different. That's the incredible story of Lance and Season's Find, who currently does all of our men's T-shirts. We have also collaborated with some incredibly talented young South African designers to add color and print to our basic T-shirts. A few examples, Athi-Patra Ruga, where we've launched We The People. Now, a few seasons ago, that was an incredible success for us. Currently, if you go into our stores, you'll find Karabo Poppy's range, an incredibly talented young designer that we're currently collaborating with. In summary, what makes a Woolies T-shirt a truly different T-shirt? It's the quality that we have built into it. It's the innovation, it's all of the sustainability elements, and all of that underpinned with it being made in a local-based factory. Those elements together give us a T-shirt that is truly Woolworths, that has all of the intrinsics. Often you may not be able to see, but it sits inside the difference. If you chose to wear one of our incredible T-shirts with a RE: Denim jean, let me share with you our denim story. The denim industry is an extremely dirty industry. You apply an indigo dye stuff, and then you're washing off that dye stuff to create an effect. There's an excessive amount of water used, excessive amount of chemicals, and an excessive amount of waste is generated, and chemical waste is generated in the process. We have chosen to do things differently at Woolworths, and we aspire to be one of the most sustainable denim brands in the world. 90% of our denim comes out of one factory based in Mauritius, and they have taken sustainability seriously. Our denim uses far less water, it uses far less energy, it uses far less chemicals. We have other new technology that has been introduced into the denim space that we apply. E-flow technology that uses mist, nano mist to clean up or to clean the denim and create the effects. We have ozone treatments, which uses oxygen molecules combined to use a gas effect to clean up the jeans. At Woolworths, we allow no sandblasting in the manufacturing of our jeans. Sandblasting creates these fine molecules or particles in the atmosphere that when breathed in, it can create serious respiratory diseases. A disease called silicosis is quite prevalent in this industry. The fact that we use one factory for most of our jeans, this factory is a vertically operated factory, which means they bring in the fiber, they spin the fiber into yarn, they weave the yarn into fabric, they dye the fabric, and then they manufacture the jeans. We have 100% traceability through the entire value chain of our denim jeans. We can say our jeans are truly sustainably made. Let's talk about our iconic chino. Be it the men's, the ladies' or the kids' chinos. Beautifully constructed garments with incredible handle and finish. The fabric, as we know, is sustainably sourced cotton. The dyestuff used, no hazardous chemicals, OEKO-TEX certified. It has a finish that is uniquely Woolworths finish, which is a soft emerizing, which gives it a truly incredible handle. All of the stress points in our garments are reinforced to make sure that the garment is a lot more durable. The chino is made in Madagascar in a factory that is a true center of excellence for chinos. The factory is situated in a little town of Antsirabe in Madagascar. Through all of its social initiatives, is able to support that town. They provide free meals for all their employees. They subsidize their groceries. They provide a healthcare center that provides healthcare for their workers. They have a primary school that is subsidized by the factory itself. The fire station of the town is also subsidized by the factory. As part of their programs through to go carbon neutral, the factory plants 10,000 trees a year on the island of Madagascar. Such an incredible and inspiring story that speaks to the values of Woolworths. This winter, we featured our recycled puffer jackets, another incredible sustainability story of where we've used a blend of recycled nylon on the outer of the garment as well as injection-blown recycled polyester filling on the inside. Our puffer jackets have wind and water resistance which drives the innovation elements within that garment. Even our polar fleece jackets have been made from recycled polyester. As stated, we have taken 32 million plastic bottles, and we've ensured that they have been converted into garments that can be reused through the value chain. Just moving over to other winter items. Our Heat Generation item also hold a great story. This is Japanese technology, groundbreaking Japanese technology, that is able to use your body temperature and regulate your body temperature to keep you warm. Originally, we used to import the fully made-up garments from overseas, but over the years, we've been able to create capability in South Africa to produce this garment. Currently what we do is we import the Japanese technology in the form of yarn into South Africa. The yarns are then knitted at a factory in Atlantis to make the fabric, and the fabric is then sewn into these incredible garments here in South Africa. An extremely inspiring story of how we're bringing groundbreaking technology back to home soil. Let's talk about the Walkmates, a homegrown kids' footwear brand that has truly become iconic in the marketplace. Every mom wants to have a kid in a Walkmates pair of shoes. What makes these shoes unique? They're approved by a research podiatrist, so the shoes are designed for little feet. They're leather uppers, which makes them extremely comfortable. The most incredible story about this iconic shoe is it's made in a little factory in Port Elizabeth. This factory is able to produce 15,000 pairs of shoes for us a week, and this is how big this incredible brand has grown. Woolies is famous for its beautiful baby wear. In addition to the quality, the incredible innovation, the sustainability elements that go into our baby wear, safety is at the heart of what we do as far as baby wear development is concerned. All of our baby wear factories are audited for stringent safety compliance. No pins are allowed anywhere across the factory. There is a stringent broken needle policy that ensures that if any needle is broken during the manufacturing of baby wear, every piece of that needle is reconciled so that we know the baby is safe. On top of that, we have a metal detector. Every garment is required to go through a metal detector to make sure that there's no risk to baby. All of the rivets and the poppers that go into our baby wear garments have to be nickel and ferrous free, which means that there's no risk of any allergies to baby. We believe that our baby wear are the safest baby wear products in the market. We're SA's only retailer to be 100% transparent about our factories and processes, so you know how your baby's clothes are made, from soft, sustainable fabrics and nontoxic chemicals to metal detectors checking every garment. We put care into every detail. That's the difference. Woolies Babes, made with love. We've shared with you the numerous sustainability stories of our products. What is evident is sustainability is not an initiative that we drive with a single product that sits in the corner of a shelf in a Woolworths store with a sustainability label. It is intrinsically linked in everything that we do. We have started this journey some time back, and we are proud of the milestones that we have achieved. Many retailers in this country have only begun the journey. In addition to sustainability, we have driven a localization strategy. 50% of everything that we buy comes out of Southern Africa. 30% comes specifically out of South Africa. In addition to driving a local agenda, we have built small businesses. 25% of all of our local suppliers are Black-owned suppliers. These are achievements that we are truly proud of. However, the work is not yet over, and we have set ourselves some aggressive targets. We will grow that 30% of local supply to 40% by 2025 as we continue to aspire towards our sustainability targets as well. You see the entire picture. It's in a holistic approach. It's about driving quality, it's about driving innovation, it's about driving sustainability, and all of that underpinned by a truly South African brand that supports South African manufacturing. Thank you, Lawrence. As an industry, the impact of our operations on people, communities, and on our planet is undoubtedly considerable. The opportunity to make a difference is even greater. As a leading retailer, and more broadly, as a responsible corporate citizen, I believe that we have a critical role to play in developing solutions to many of today's challenges, including the integration of sustainable choices into our supply chain management. The onus is on the sector. It's on us to significantly reduce the environmental impact and increase the positive socioeconomic impact throughout our value chains. We are clear that profound and sustainable impact requires conscious and active collaboration among all stakeholders. This philosophy of social compacting is core to the success of our Good Business Journey. It's only through collaboration and partnership with government, with NGOs and other industry bodies that we're able to deliver exponentially greater impact, that we're able to deliver enduring positive change. With that, I would like to open the floor to questions. Thank you very much, and welcome again to everyone. Joining Roy Bagattini and Lawrence in our Q&A session today is Feroz Koor, Group Head of Sustainability, and Zinzi Mgolodelo, Director of Corporate Affairs. Our first question: We've seen other retailers making acquisitions within their value chain to own their own manufacturing in the garment industry. Is this something you're considering, and if not, why not? Thanks for the question, Janine Estd. Yeah, our intent is to onshore and to play our role in supporting and developing our local industry. Our preferred approach is one of collaboration and integration, not through ownership, but through empowerment, actually broadening the economic base by supporting and building small business owners and true entrepreneurs, as opposed to just buying out their factories. That's proven to be very successful, not just for us, but for our suppliers too. We've seen that happen very successfully for us in our foods business. Roy Bagattini, thank you. Lawrence, is there anything else that you would potentially like to add? Yes. Thanks, Janine Estdale, and thanks, Roy Bagattini. I think just to build on on some of the points that Roy Bagattini has raised. It's our objective to drive localization and the onshoring of as much product as we can. We've set ourselves some aggressive goals. As stated earlier, we've come a long way on the journey. 50% of what we buy comes out of Southern Africa, and currently 31% comes out of South Africa. Our objective is to take that to 40% over the next three years. Now, in order to do that, we are driving an aggressive localization strategy that involves onshoring product that currently exists offshore or is currently produced offshore. To do that, we are creating the capabilities within our manufacturing base using small businesses and turning them into formidable centers of excellence. In that process, we are creating entrepreneurs who can build legacies for themselves and their families. We have a number of success stories. You know, we have seven exclusive suppliers who contribute to almost 12-13 million units to our total unit buy. They have incredible stories to share. Lance, whose video that I played earlier, is one such story. A gentleman who was a small CMT that has grown his business now to become one of our largest T-shirt manufacturers. We have an incredible story in Port Shepstone, where Jean-Marc Tostee, a small babywear supplier, has now built the capability to allow us to onshore underwear from China and India back to South Africa, and in so doing, he's been able to bring in next generations of his family into the business. We have chosen the route of building entrepreneurs who can build great legacies and great stories. Lawrence, thank you. Our next question: you're clearly making substantial investments behind your sustainability initiatives. In the context of South Africa, where a large proportion of the consumer base is highly price sensitive and living below the breadline, do you not think it would be more beneficial to put that investment into price? Well, I mean, we're certainly very alive to issues of pricing and affordability. I mean, that's why we're investing over ZAR 1 billion into pricing, both for our foods and our fashion, beauty, and home businesses. That's to make our products more accessible, and we're working with our suppliers to do this as well. Importantly though, we're doing it without compromising in any way quality and our sustainability efforts. You would have seen specifically in the case of foods, our level of food inflation is below headline inflation and in fact below that of some of our competitors as well. We're very mindful about affordability, notwithstanding the fact that we are an aspirational premium food player. Thank you, Roy Bagattini. While we're on the topic of food, you say that the majority of your food's packaging is recyclable, but as a customer, my own experience is not that. It seems like the bulk of your packaging is not recyclable. Could you comment on that, please? Yes. Yes, certainly. I mean, that's a good question, but it does, in part, I think, reflect the complexity around packaging, food waste, and waste management. 98% of our food packaging, in fact, is technically recyclable. This means that packaging can be recycled if appropriate recycling infrastructure was available or in place. In the case of South Africa, we still have some way to go in this regard, which is why we're really pleased with the new mandatory EPR legislation. Maybe, Feroz, you want to dig in a little bit deeper on that question please. Sure. Thanks, Roy Bagattini. As Roy Bagattini said, the majority of our packaging is technically recyclable. The constraints lie in the infrastructure available and the collection in South Africa, and which is why our labeling of the recyclability of product doesn't match the number we just stated. If you go in and buy a product, you won't see 98% of our products, packaging labeled as recyclable because we label it to reflect what the status quo is in the country at the moment. We're working with industry to support the increase in recycling and collection infrastructure. We believe the new EPR legislation is a good step in that direction. We're very happy to say, for example, that one of our biggest packaging suppliers for a particular type of packaging known as thermoformed PET, which has never been recycled in South Africa before, has just commissioned a plant that we're supporting and which will now start allowing for that type of packaging to be recycled. We'll benefit from that. Not only us, I think the broader retail industry will benefit from that. Over time, our packaging labeling will be changed to reflect that. It says not recyclable now, in a few months' time, it should start saying recyclable on these types of packaging. The whole idea is that in as much as we can make certain packaging choices to ensure recyclability, we're very dependent on the supporting infrastructure in the country for that recycling to actually happen. Thanks, Feroz. Our next question, you've spoken a lot about your Inclusive Justice Initiative. What is it really? Is it simply a philosophical approach, or are there tangible actions or outputs associated to it? Yeah. Thanks, Janine Es-Seddik. I mean, it's certainly not just a philosophical approach or a philosophical idea. It is way more than that. I think we acknowledge that, notwithstanding some of the good work that has been done in this area, there is much more that we need to do to address systemic issues of racism, inequality and marginalization in our company. Zinzile, do you wanna elaborate a little bit more on that? Definitely. Thank you so much, Roy Bagattini. Definitely not a philosophical discussion. It is real. In a country where inequality, marginalization and discrimination, in fact, the whole world, is so clearly out there and needing to be addressed, as an organization, we've decided to do something about it, take a stand. Maybe break it down a little bit. What does it mean? What does inclusive justice mean for us? In acknowledging the existence of marginalization, we've decided as an organization and as a brand to take a position of creating access, giving opportunity to marginalized sectors of our society and our economy, and moving further to make sure that there's diversity in our organization, in our supplier base, in our communities. The crux of it, I think the one that really shifts the dial is having an inclusive, you know, orientation, and making sure that on a daily basis, we challenge ourselves on making sure that we've got inclusive strategies, we've got inclusive practices. Because as they say, you can have diversity, but if people don't feel included, it really doesn't mean anything. The ultimate goal for us is to achieve equity, but at the heart of it is everyone feeling a sense of belonging, and we try to do that. It's an ethos. It's bigger than a philosophy. We're embracing it as part of our Good Business Journey, as an ethos that will drive and be pervasive in our business. We hope that you're gonna start seeing it and feeling it, as most of it is really intangible. It's going to change the culture of our organization. Yes, there are tangible things and there are tangible measures that we're gonna put in place as part of our Inclusive Justice Initiative, but we invite everyone, including our people, our suppliers, everyone in our value chain, to participate in this, and hopefully more organizations and more brands will take on this journey. Thanks, Zinzile. Another question related to the topic of IJI. You mentioned Woolworths recently became the first major retailer in South Africa to sign up to the UN Women's Empowerment Principles. As a brand with a largely female customer base, it's good to see you taking a stand on gender equality. What are your specific initiatives in this space? Thanks, Janine Estdale. I mean, yes, I mean, I think through our Inclusive Justice Initiative, we've called out the empowerment of women as a major focus area across the group. The Women's Empowerment Principles provide, for us anyway, a structured framework to develop very specific actions for us to go after that. Again, Zinzile, would you mind maybe just elaborating a little bit further on that? You were quite central to us getting that signed up. Definitely. Maybe with the question, let me first address the fact that the question states gender equality, but for us it is about women empowerment and gender equality. What's the difference? Gender equality really acknowledges that there's people have different gender identities, sexual orientation, and really show up and express different expressions. It acknowledges that part. Together with that is women empowerment, which really acknowledges that there's different treatment, and has been for decades, between men and women, and we need to be addressing women empowerment. Quite an exciting one. The Women's Empowerment Principles are there as a framework that will help us guide our strategies. More excited about today is the fact that we've just concluded our gap analysis, and we're waiting with anticipation how that looks like. What is that gonna do? It's gonna give us a sense of what our shortcomings around women empowerment and gender equality, and we'll be able, based on that, to have very concrete strategies, set targets, and really start a journey that will make sure that we address women empowerment and gender equality and contribute in a big world challenge. Thanks, Zinzile. Lawrence, our next question for you. How should we think about how customs duties impede onshoring? Are there any focus strategies by the DTI to drive down duties within the value chain in order to onshore manufacturing? Is there enough capacity to onshore targeted manufacturing? Is this at a textile level, cotton level, or end product level? Quite a lot there. Many parts to that question. So I think let's perhaps start off by saying, for the first time, and I mean as long as I can remember, we've seen, driven by government, a truly active collaborative agenda, to drive more jobs onshore and to drive more job creation in our industry, which is the clothing and textile industry. It was launched with a master plan, and the master plan is intended to collaborate between manufacturers, between the unions, governments and retailers, and jointly sit across the table and work through the agendas that are the obstacles to creating more jobs in South Africa. One of the challenges has obviously been the duties on fabrics. We really encourage that the first steps have been taken in that direction to try and address some of that issue. We've had the duties on woven fabrics, which, you know, broadly speaking, would normally cost a local manufacturer an additional 22-odd%. We've seen that being lifted, which gives the local manufacturers then the opportunities to now produce woven garments at a more cost-effective prices. The topic of knitted fabrics is now on the agenda, and it's currently there's engagement happening to see how we can address that. We are seeing active steps being taken by government to positively address some of the issues related to duties within the value chain. The next question relates to do we believe the capabilities set to manufacture more product locally. We absolutely believe in it. We believe that, as far as garment manufacturing is concerned, apart from a few category types, you know, footwear, which is limited, lingerie, constructed bras, where there's limited capabilities, broadly speaking, in many of the other categories, there are capabilities that sits in South Africa, provided that we as retailers engage with manufacturers and put plans in place to try and increase, the manufacturing capacities of some of these operations that are already well established. As far as garment construction is concerned and garment manufacturing, we believe there certainly is potential. Where the limitation starts to come up is in the molds and in fabric manufacturing, and we believe by and large, that industry is more or less decimated in the country. We would have to lean on other methods in order to facilitate more fabrics into the country. This may be, you know, specific dyeing operations, specific printing operations as we start to, over the years, build the capabilities. As long as you create a garment industry, you start to build a need for the value chain, and we believe by default, that will start to happen. You know, on the yarn side, again, very limited capabilities. You know, we have probably two or three recognizable spinning mills left in the country. I guess on garment manufacturing, yes, there is definitely capability for us to grow on it. On fabric manufacturing and yarn manufacturing, very limited industries left in this country. Thanks, Lawrence. Our next question, a little bit more operational, but I think very topical in the light of current load-shedding challenges. Roy Bagattini, how are your operations being impacted by load-shedding? Yeah, I mean, I think to say that you know, load-shedding is a serious challenge is obviously understatement of the century. Certainly, it's had a pervasive impact on all of us, and particularly on us running businesses in terms of how one best navigates through the challenges of you know, inconsistent supply of energy. It certainly fundamentally impacts our ability to execute our strategies consistently, and I think all businesses face challenges of that nature. The majority of our stores, though, do have standby generator power supplies. That keeps the equipment such as refrigeration, keeps our tools up and running, keeps the lights on, and so we can keep trading during load-shedding. That's for sure. We certainly have focused on various energy efficiency initiatives across our facilities, and we've reduced our energy consumption by over 40% over the last several years. There's no doubt that you know the impact that it's had on consumer sentiment is pretty pervasive. The fact is that when a shopping center goes dark, even if our lights are on and we're trading, customers simply just don't come to the mall. They cut back on buying fresh food in particular, particularly because they cannot rely on refrigeration or cooking meals at home. This does clearly have an impact on our business, particularly our foods business, which is two-thirds fresh. This is something we're having to manage quite carefully, particularly with regards to the way we manage excess product or waste, in this context. Thanks, Roy Bagattini. You mentioned more than 80% of your debt is linked to sustainability criteria. Could you please elaborate on what those criteria are? Sure. Well, we don't disclose the specific actual metrics, but they do include criteria that's related to energy consumption. For one, growing our proportion of locally sourced product, particularly on the fashion side of our business, and also driving sustainability across our entire food offering. Today, in fact, you may have seen, we actually announced that we've linked the deposit side of our balance sheet, as well to the achievement of certain criteria and targets. Now both the debt and the deposit sides are priced for sustainability. We've done this work with Standard Bank, and it really talks to the importance, I think, of collaboration in the space of sustainability and the importance of working together to genuinely deliver sustainable and impactful change. Thanks, Roy Bagattini. I think we're sort of running out of time. Perhaps take this as the last question. Do you believe your customers are fully aware of the sustainability difference between your products and those of peers? How can you communicate this better? Yes. I mean, we'd like to believe so, but clearly I think, you know, there's a lot more we can do in terms of communicating what we're doing in this space. I mean, we know that for many years now, you know, the quality attributes of our products is really what has created the difference and what sort of sets us apart, for sure. Increasingly we're seeing that customers, through their own informed choices that they're making, are making the correct choices and supporting brands and products that have been sustainably produced, sustainably made and marketed. I think Woolworths, as a company, inherently has all of those sort of intrinsics in place, but we perhaps have not done enough of a job of communicating, you know, more loudly the work we do in this space. You know, there's a number of small things one can do that may be symbolic of sustainability attributes. Our approach has been a little bit different. I mean, we've really worked on getting it right and absolutely have the opportunity now of talking a little bit more broadly about it, particularly to a receptive customer base that may not have been there several years back. Roy Bagattini, thanks very much. I think that brings most of our questions to a close. We're almost up on the hour. Perhaps any closing remarks before we end the session? Thank you. Again, I mean, thank you for the questions today and for your time. If there are any other follow-up questions, please feel free to shoot them across to us. We will for sure respond to those really quickly. We have covered a lot of ground today, and I really appreciate you all making the time to be with us today and to participate in what we have shared with you. You know, we've sort of felt that we've given you a good sense of what we've been doing, particularly against our plans in the space of sustainability. In line with the commitment I made to you last year, we'll continue to use these opportunities like this one to keep you up to date on the progress that we continue to make. We remain fully committed to pursuing profitable growth in a principled way. Thank you again, and we look forward to our follow-up session. Thank you.