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Allan Lockhart: Well, good morning, and welcome to NewRiver's Half Year Results. I'm pleased to say that NewRiver continues to deliver disciplined growth, underpinned by an experienced and scalable platform. Our focus remains on sustainable expansion by maximizing value from our assets and ensuring we are ready to act upon accretive opportunities as they arise with capital discipline at the heart of our strategy. We recognize that our share price does not reflect the underlying progress that we have made, and we share the frustration of our shareholders. That said, we are confident in our platform, our assets, our strategy and the market outlook as we continue to build operational momentum. The first half was a period of strong operational performance, during which we completed the integration of the Capital & Regional portfolio. We unlocked net annual synergies of GBP 6.2 million and grew cash profits by 31%, enabling an increase in our first half dividend to 3.1p per share, which is fully covered. We maintained strong occupancy and our leasing activity has been robust with double-digit increases in new rents. This strong leasing performance underpinned by another consecutive period of positive valuation growth. Our balance sheet is strong with comfortable gearing, healthy cash reserves and ample liquidity. These highlights, strong rents, greater scale, consistently high occupancy and a robust balance sheet position us well to capitalize on an improving retail market. Retail parks and shopping centers, which make up 94% of our portfolio are outperforming broader discretionary retail, supported by resilient consumer demand and improving fundamentals. Looking forward, we have identified a pipeline of attractive investment opportunities, ranging from single asset deals to larger transactions, which gives us confidence in our ability to achieve greater scale through earnings and value-accretive transactions over time. At an operational level, we are optimistic about the outlook for the retail real estate market. Recovery in the U.K. retail sector continues. Retail spend is up, driven by a resilient consumer base, a broadly stable labor market and elevated consumer savings. While overall retail spend continues to grow, online-only retailers are losing share to those with physical stores. We believe this reflects consumer preferences and the essential role physical stores play for retailers seeking to build brand awareness and drive multichannel sales. Current data shows that vacancy rates in retail are at their lowest level in years, driven by increasing occupational demand and with supply tightening, rental growth prospects are improving. With a focus on convenience-led retail and omnichannel outlets, our assets are strategically positioned to benefit from these positive trends of a resilient consumer, improving occupational demand and a tightening of available supply of retail space. Our tenants are reporting stronger sales, and we're seeing that through increased demand for space across our assets. These fundamentals underpin our confidence in future rental growth and long-term portfolio resilience. With increasing retail consumer spend and improving occupational demand for space, the data suggests that investor appetite for retail assets is growing. This is underpinned by the attractive total returns with supermarkets, shopping centers and retail warehouses outperforming other areas of the real estate market. Capital values and ERVs are rising and liquidity in the capital markets is improving. We're seeing competitive bidding for quality assets and the risk-adjusted returns that retail offers remain compelling compared to other commercial real estate sectors. We've been able to take advantage of the improving investor demand with the sale of 3 shopping centers for GBP 71 million, in line with book and a further GBP 40 million of asset disposals either under offer or completed since period end with a diverse range of investors, including institutional capital, REITs and private investors. I'm now going to hand over to Will, who will take you through the financials. William Hobman: Thanks, Allan, and good morning, everyone. It's my pleasure to be taking you through our half year results, starting with the key highlights. The first of which is that we've completed all of the Capital & Regional post-acquisition work streams, including integrating the assets onto our platform and systems and unlocking the GBP 6.2 million of admin cost synergies identified during our diligence, in line with planned time lines, i.e., within 12 months of completion on a look-forward basis. We've demonstrated our disciplined approach to capital allocation, selling GBP 70 million of assets at pricing close to book value and recycling a proportion of the proceeds into our own shares at a 26% discount, proactively facilitating Growthpoint's exit from our share register. Lastly, we've increased the scale of the business while maintaining balance sheet strength and working ourselves into position to commence refinancing in the first part of '26. These highlights have culminated in a first half total accounting return of 5.4% and leave us well positioned as we look forward. I'll have more details on these areas in the coming slides, starting with the balance sheet and specifically loan to value. This slide shows that we started the year with LTV of 42%, in line with the pro forma communicated on completion of the C&R acquisition a year ago. At the time of completion, we explained that we remain committed to our LTV guidance and that we were confident in our ability to return to the 40% level through a realistically achievable amount of asset disposals, which we more than achieved during the first half. First, with the disposal of the Abbey Centre in Belfast for just under GBP 60 million and then with 2 smaller disposals in Leith and Wallsend, bringing total disposal proceeds during the half to over GBP 70 million, which reduced LTV to 38%. In mid-August, Growthpoint announced its intention to sell at least 10% of its 14% holding in NewRiver. And we facilitated their exit by buying back 10% of our share capital with the remaining 4% acquired by new and existing shareholders at 75p per share, representing a 6% discount to the price at which we raised equity last year and a 26% discount to March '25 NTA per share. We did this primarily because the transaction was accretive to UFFO and NTA per share, but also to clear a potential overhang on our shares. And following the buyback, LTV increased back up to 42%, which is modestly above guidance. But importantly, during the first half, we demonstrated financial discipline and the liquidity of our portfolio in disposing GBP 70 million of assets at close to book value. And our LTV position is supported by a stable portfolio valuation, which again showed modest growth in the first half. Furthermore, we remain very comfortable with the strength of our overall financial position because we consider LTV alongside our net debt-to-EBITDA and interest cover ratios, which remain among the best in the listed peer group. And lastly, post period end, we've already reduced LTV on a pro forma basis through further sales, and we're currently progressing disposals, which we expect to complete in the coming months. Next, more on the balance sheet and our refi plans. Our cash position remains strong and has increased since March because proceeds from asset disposals in the first half outweighed the cash cost of the buyback. Gross debt is the same as in March, with the main component still the GBP 140 million Mall facility and GBP 300 million bond. EPRA NTA per share has increased, principally due to the buyback, offset slightly by disposals. And our overall debt metric position remains strong, as I've just explained, which was recognized by Fitch in September when they reaffirm NewRiver's investment-grade credit ratings at BBB with a stable outlook and BBB+ on the bond itself. Moving on to refinancing. We expect the first phase of our plans focused on The Mall facility to commence soon. And during the first half, we focused on getting into a position to execute by maintaining maximum flexibility within our current structure, exercising a plus 1 option on The Mall facility to extend maturity to January '28 and extending the plus 1 window on the GBP 100 million undrawn RCF to March '26. Looking ahead, we recognize that right now, we're still very well positioned with a low cost of debt and a predominantly unsecured debt structure. In addition, due to our elevated cash position, which we expect to increase further as we complete disposals to reduce LTVs within guidance, our total refi requirement is likely to be less than the GBP 440 million of drawn debt we currently have. And we're clear that in any refinancing, we want to make sure we extract maximum benefit from our current position, which we're aware has inherent value given where rates are today. But we're keen to begin to manage our maturity profile. So we plan to be active in the debt market in the first half of '26, and our preference is to remain as an unsecured borrower. Before I move on to H1 UFFO, I'd like to spend a moment on C&R, specifically the progress we've made on the synergies post acquisition and what this means for earnings accretion. As part of our diligence, we identified GBP 6.2 million of admin cost synergies, which were the key driver of the UFFO per share accretion expected as a result of the transaction. And we said that we expected these synergies to be unlocked within 12 months of completion on an annualized basis. We've made good progress by the end of FY '25, which continued into HY '26 as we completed the migration of C&R property management and accounting data onto our systems over the summer, which was the final major step in integrating the 2 businesses. And we've continued to make great progress on the cost savings, which are now fully unlocked. The chart on the slide translates this into accretion. Starting with HY '25 UFFO per share of 3.7p, which is the baseline pre-acquisition position. Number one shows the impact of funding the transaction on UFFO per share, being the equity placing, cash and share consideration and transaction costs. Number two shows the level of profit contribution unlocked, ignoring Snozone seasonality. Number three shows the benefit of the final synergies, the majority of which will come through in FY '27. And number four shows the expected benefit to come from near-term leasing activity in the C&R portfolio, including the reversal of the impact of retailer restructuring in H1. Lastly, as shown as #5 on the slide, after factoring in disposals to reduce LTV to guidance and the upcoming Mall refi, we remain on track to deliver the mid- to high teens UFFO per share accretion outlined at the time of the transaction. Next, first half UFFO, which in pounds million increased from GBP 11.5 million in the prior period to GBP 15.1 million this year, principally because of the scale added via the C&R acquisition. The bridge on the slide focuses on the per share movement, which is important as it forms the basis of our dividend policy. This reduced from 3.7p in the first half of the prior year to 3.3p in the first half of this year. And I'll now walk you through the key moving parts, firstly, on a look-through basis, excluding phasing. Starting with the C&R impact, where you'll recognize the figures from the previous slide, being dilution from acquisition funding and then C&R accretion, which is shown on the slide as 2.1p on a look-through basis, ignoring Snozone seasonality, which I'll discuss in more detail on the next slide. Disposals reduced UFFO on a per share basis by 0.4p, reflecting the impact of disposals in the prior year and the first half of the current year, principally Newtownabbey. Next, the buyback, which we completed in mid-August. The slide initially shows the look-through impact on H1, assuming the buyback had concluded at the start of the half. On to operational matters, starting with core NPI, including AM fees, which have added 0.1p per share, principally reflecting a full half of contribution from Ellandi versus a partial contribution in the prior year, which gives us 4.4p per share on a look-through basis before then reflecting H1 timing. Continuing with operational matters. The portfolio has performed well in H1, but we've seen some temporary income disruption from retailer restructurings, principally Poundland, but also River Island, Claire’s and Bodycare, which have impacted H1 through increased provisioning, and we expect will result in some income disruption in the second half as we negotiate the best possible terms or seek alternative occupiers. Next, we strip out the benefit of the share buyback, which will benefit H2 in the first half of FY '27 because of the timing late in H1. And then the impact of Snozone seasonality, which gets us to the 3.3p we've reported today. On to Snozone, which you'll remember we acquired in December '24 as part of the C&R transaction. It's an operational business with 3 sites, 2 in the U.K. and 1 in Spain. Our observations after a year of ownership are that it's a high-quality leisure operating platform and a very well-run business that makes a meaningful contribution to UFFO on an annual basis. But as flagged in our full year results 6 months ago, its contribution is seasonal, which is more pronounced under NewRiver's ownership because we have a March rather than a December year-end as C&R had, which means Snozone's controlled loss period falls squarely into H1 and peak trading falls into H2. This is why when we presented our full year results back in June, we highlighted that the EBITDA recorded in our first 3.5 months of ownership of GBP 3.7 million exceeded Snozone's annual trading output because this initial period encompass Snozone's peak trading season without any of its period of controlled loss. So the result in H1 of a loss of GBP 1.6 million is in line with our expectations, as is the level of profitability delivered in H2 to date. This H1 performance means Snozone delivered EBITDA of GBP 2.9 million over the 12 months ended 30th of September, which is relevant when we come to look at the first half dividend. As you'll know, we pay dividends twice per annum, announced within our half and full year results and based on 80% of UFFO. Today, we've reported UFFO per share for H1 of 3.3p. As explained on the previous slide, this includes Snozone's controlled loss period. If we adjust for this seasonality in order to smooth our in-year earnings profile, by assuming Snozone's profits accrue on a straight-line basis over the year and using the EBITDA generated over the 12 months to September as our basis, this increases UFFO per share by 0.6p, giving an adjusted UFFO per share of 3.9p. Taking 80% of this gives an H1 dividend of 3.1p per share, which is fully covered by H1 UFFO per share of 3.3p. In the second half, we will, in effect, apply the equivalent seasonality adjustment because the full year dividend will be calculated as 80% of full year UFFO per share, less the H1 dividend of 3.1p. Meaning the blended payout for the financial year will be 80% of our FY '26 UFFO, in line with our policy. Thank you all for listening. I'll now hand you back to Allan. Allan Lockhart: All right. Thank you, Will. We believe that our consistently high occupancy and tenant retention rates, combined with affordable rents will drive sustainable rental growth. We've achieved strong leasing volumes with retention rates improving year-on-year. New leasing rents are growing from a highly affordable base, ensuring our assets remain attractive to both new and existing tenants. This approach minimizes void risk and supports stable income growth. Evidence of our success can be seen through our leasing activity, which consistently outperforms with new rents at 11.3% above ERV and 24.2% ahead of previous rents. And our long-term rental compound annual growth rate has been steadily improving over the last 4 years. I would highlight that our portfolio today has delivered a compound annual growth rate in rents of 1% per annum over the last 9 years based on 3 years of aggregated leasing during a period where retail was highly disrupted by COVID and peak online. This affirms our portfolio positioning, our leasing strategy and the quality of our asset management. Our high level of occupancy is supported by active and diverse demand for space across our portfolio. We have a broad tenant mix, which reduces concentration risk and enhances income stability. As you can see, no retailer represents more than 3.5% of our portfolio rents. Leasing volumes are high with a strong pipeline, allowing us to capture inherent rental reversion in our portfolio. We have a strong pipeline of new leasing deals, which will help offset some short-term disruption from recent tenant CVAs. Retail is a highly competitive and dynamic sector. And while our occupational market has been steadily improving, we have had some recent disruption from the CVAs of Poundland, Bodycare, Homebase and River Island. Now there's no indication that these CVAs are a reflection of the broader retail market, and we're expecting there to be no material impact to our operations over the medium term as we make good progress in mitigating the disruption. Already, we have replaced Homebase with superior leasing deals to Sainsbury's and The Range, and we're making good progress on mitigating the impact from Poundland, and we're in negotiations with the new owner of Bodycare. We are seeing strong underlying consumer spending growth and both our occupiers and assets are benefiting. We're located in areas with strong local demographics and high frequency of use, which helps drive outperformance in customer spend. Retailers in our portfolio consistently exceed national averages for sales, whether in our shopping centers or our retail parks, demonstrating the quality of our locations and the resilience of our occupiers. We focus on convenience and omnichannel retail, ensuring our assets are integral to the communities that they serve. Evidence of our outperformance is reflected in our tenant sales data and the continued interest from leading retailers securing space within our assets. Active asset management is central to our value creation strategy. We continuously target improved tenant profiles, enhanced asset quality and seek to drive rental growth through our strategic initiatives. Our hands-on approach enables us to unlock and identify opportunities for income enhancement and capital appreciation. Our Retail Park in Dumfries is a great example of our active asset management, where we have improved tenant quality with the introduction of Sainsbury's, Tapi, Food Warehouse and Next. We increased rents with the introduction of drive-thru restaurants, the new letting to Sainsbury's, which was secured at a significant increase to the previous passing rent, and we negotiated a much higher rent with B&M at lease renewal, having created positive rental evidence with the new lettings to Food Warehouse and Next. All this activity has delivered positive income and capital returns. Snozone, the U.K.'s leading indoor ski operator, is a business that we acquired as part of the Capital & Regional transaction, and it presents an excellent opportunity for growth within our portfolio. Snozone has a high-quality management team with extensive operational experience in leisure beyond just skiing. It is a highly profitable, well-run business, and it holds a dominant position across the markets it serves. However, as Will said, it is inherently seasonal. And so we are actively exploring opportunities that utilizes the management team's experience and our expertise in asset-backed operations to deliver further earnings growth. The leisure sector is growing, evidenced by increased demand for leisure space in our retail assets. Snozone's performance has been strong and provides confidence of the potential for further expansion and diversification of our income streams. We're always looking for opportunities to grow earnings. We have been able to utilize our specialist asset-backed operating platform to pursue capital-light growth through strategic partnerships. In the first half alone, our net fee income from capital partnerships grew by 40% compared with the same period last year. Over the past 5 years, net income from our capital partnerships has grown almost 20% per annum. There are ample opportunities for further partnerships with no shortage of partners looking to leverage the value of our platform and operating expertise, and we hope to maintain a similar run rate over the next 5 years. We have a diverse range of partners and are actively discussing a number of investment opportunities across retail parks, regeneration projects and shopping centers. Capital partnerships allow us to scale efficiently in a capital-light way, share risk, access new markets and collect valuable market data. Capital partnerships are central to our strategy for sustainable long-term earnings growth and will provide attractive recurring and growing income streams that will continue to scale. To summarize and bring it back to the start, we are in good shape. We have a well-positioned portfolio that is performing, a supportive market backdrop, a balance sheet that provides flexibility and optionality and a market-leading platform ready to capitalize on growth opportunities. As we explore these opportunities, we believe that increased scale will result in a lower cost of capital, improved cost efficiency and better liquidity for our shareholders. Our pursuit of growth comes with strict capital and financial discipline. The outlook for retail remains strong, and we will continue to build on our momentum to deliver value for our shareholders. Allan Lockhart: Well, thank you. We will now move to Q&A, beginning with live questions from the room before taking any questions that have come through online. So the first question, Tom? Thomas Musson: It's Tom Musson from Berenberg. Just first question on debt. Can you help quantify the earnings impact of higher debt costs, not just from The Mall facility, but the corporate debt, too? And if you think about the need to refi both pieces of debt fairly soon, do you expect to be able to continue growing the dividend in each year going forward, given not just the requirement of those refinance headwinds, but also further disposals that you point to as well? William Hobman: Yes. Thanks, Tom. So I would say on debt, we've sort of this morning laid out our plans for refinancing. So we're probably going to look at The Mall facility initially. If you remember, that was a facility that we inherited as part of the C&R transaction, GBP 140 million facility, 3.45% coupon. And the refinancing of that debt was always in the underwrite of the C&R transaction. So if you remember in my slide earlier on, I talked about the accretion that we've unlocked to date. But then I said we had to sell assets to get below 40%, and we had to refi The Mall. So the benefit of the accretion from the C&R transaction is we were able to wrap up the impact of that refi into the accretion effectively. Now the other point to make, I think, is we have GBP 90 million of cash at the moment. We've said we want to sell -- we've said if we sell GBP 30 million of assets, we'll get below our LTV guidance. So obviously, that cash number will increase. And if you look at that versus our GBP 440 million of debt, we don't need to refinance GBP 440 million of debt. So it's difficult to talk about the exact phasing of the refi and exactly when the impact will come through. That kind of depends on -- we've got a couple of our banking friends in the room, how our discussions go in 2026. But what I would say is that we're in a really, really good position. Fitch has just reaffirmed our ratings. The C&R Mall refi was factored into the accretion. And actually, our gross debt requirement is significantly less than it's showing on the balance sheet. The reason we've never compressed the 2 numbers, the cash and the gross debt is, of course, because of where rates are and because of how much we're paying on our debt, we've been able to get more than that in the bank. So there's never been a need for us to do that before. But actually, we're moving into a point where depending on what's said on the 18th, it may well be the case that actually we're no longer making a turn, and that's why I think the timing of the refi's work is well timed. Thomas Musson: Okay. And you mentioned in the text of the release to expect a little more income disruption in the second half. Can you help quantify that impact? Allan Lockhart: Can you [indiscernible] that, Will? William Hobman: Yes. I mean, we're talking about 4 retailers really around 3% of rent. Most units are still occupied and trading. At the minute, there is some short-term impact. In the second half, it could be anywhere up to, I don't know, between GBP 0.5 million and GBP 1 million, but it's very difficult to say at the moment, Tom, because we're kind of in live discussions with those retailers. Ultimately, we think once we've got through that period of disruption in the medium term, we'll be confident of getting those rents back up to where they are or where they were before the restructuring. But I think you're quite right, you've picked up on the wording. I think there could be a little bit of disruption in the second half. Really hard to quantify exactly at the moment, but it could be GBP 0.5 million and GBP 1 million, something like that. Allan Lockhart: I think it's fair to say, isn't it, that we really are making good progress around some of the CVAs. I think on the slide, you will have seen that excluding Homebase because we've already sorted them out with the deals we've done with Sainsbury's and The Range. So they've gone, which is great. But in terms of sort of Poundland, Bodycare and the River Island, we have about 250,000 square feet that are subject to CVAs. We're about 85% in advanced negotiations or deals already agreed. So it's really more of a sort of timing aspect. The other thing that's really encouraging is just the pipeline of our leasing that we've got going on at the moment, and we're really encouraged around that in terms of the new leasing deals versus previous passing rent. So our team is like super focused on getting those sort of deals sort of wrapped up. You will have seen a slide -- one of the slides, I think we've got something like 950,000 square feet of leasing deals that we're currently sort of processing under offer in legals, and that's really positive as well. So I think that sets us up nicely for FY '27. Bjorn Zietsman: Bjorn Zietsman from Panmure Liberum. Just a quick question around the leasing performance. It is striking that how far above ERV leasing transactions are coming through. Do you think this more accurately reflects the true reversion potential of the portfolio? And do you have a sense of why value ERVs are so far below where the market is? Allan Lockhart: Well, I think the most important thing is to be looking at our compound annual growth rate when you aggregate up all your leasing, and we're really positive that, that is now trending in a positive direction. We're now moved into 1%. Six months ago, that was plus 0.7%. Twelve months prior to that, it was minus 0.3% and minus 0.4% in the previous year. So this is moving in the right direction, which is reflective of what we've been saying, which is an improving market outlook. But look, I mean, if you look at our valuations, the values are expecting reversion to come through over the next sort of 5, 6 years, and we're confident that we will be able to sort of deliver that, which will be obviously positive around our P&L and future valuations, we believe. Bjorn Zietsman: And then you mentioned you've identified an attractive pipeline of assets. Can you give us a sense of the size of that pipeline? Allan Lockhart: Well, we never really give a running commentary on what we're doing and what we're looking at. But what we said was that we're seeing opportunities that our single asset deals to larger transactions to corporate opportunities, not just in the public equity markets, but in the private markets. And we also have the flexibility to either think about doing those ourselves or to do those in partnership. And as I mentioned on the slide in terms of our capital partnerships, we are in active discussions on investment opportunities across retail parks and shopping centers and also regeneration projects. Do we have any questions online, Lucy? Unknown Executive: No questions online. Allan Lockhart: Great. Okay. Well, thank you very much for attending. And so it's been hopefully a good presentation from your perspective and look forward to seeing you next year. Thank you.
Jakob Sigurdsson: Those here in the room at JPMorgan in London and those joining us online as well to Victrex's full year results presentation for 2025. I'm Jakob Sigurdsson, CEO of Victrex. Before we turn to the results summary in what has been a particularly challenging year for Victrex and of course, the chemical industry at large, I do want to highlight a couple of slides on Slides 2 and 3 in the presentation, and we'll call them out as we go along to put things in perspective. And I also tell you a little bit about how we are addressing the challenges we faced in FY '25 and continue to face, but underline that the long-term prospects and opportunity for Victrex remain very strong. We are addressing these ongoing challenges, and we have been doing that in the past couple of years as well. We're also announcing a profit improvement plan today that builds on our self-help in 2025, but also leverages the recent investments in infrastructure, foundational investments like digital and other things to make us more efficient. We've now concluded those investments, as you clearly see in our CapEx profile and are now continuing to drive improvements on the back of these in many different areas. But it is very important to note that we do remain a world leader in PEEK. Nobody has more experience with application development in PEEK. Nobody has more data on how PEEK is produced, how it processes and what needs to be considered when converting it into performing parts and forms. We have a large addressable market, probably 5x what we're seeing being sold today and very well aligned to strong megatrends, whether they are metal replacement or striving for clinical benefits on the behalf of patients. And with a very differentiated portfolio around which we've built a good intellectual property estate that will give us a sustainable competitive advantage going forward as well. In what has been a particularly challenging year, it is important that we don't overlook the long-term potential of this business. Turning to Slide 4. Ian Melling, our CFO; and Andrew Hanson, our IR Director, are with me here today. A copy of our presentation is on our website at www.victrexplc.com under the Investors tab and by clicking on Reports and Presentations. In terms of format, I will call out the slide number when we are speaking. I will start the presentation with a headline summary of the results. Ian will then cover the financial results in detail, our profit improvement plan and our outlook summary. And towards the end, I will summarize business performance. And finally, we'll finish with a Q&A. Questions from the room first before we take any questions from those that are on the call. So headlines for FY '25 ever so briefly, strong volume growth in the year. Sales volume up 12%, primarily driven by value-added resellers and Energy and Industrial. Momentum was maintained during the second half at volume level overall. Underlying PBT was impacted by currency, which Ian will cover in detail later on by sales mix with stronger [ RAS ] and also within Medical, weaker medical spine and also impacted by the annualized start-up costs from our new China manufacturing facility. It is worth noting that we did deliver half 2 profit before tax in line with half 1 and in line with our latest guidance. On cash conversion, we delivered another strong performance, reflecting strong working capital management, resulting in operating cash conversion of 121%. And this obviously was impacted by a significant reduction in our capital expenditures as well, which have been coming down ever since FY '23, and we've talked about it in the past in detail. Ian will cover our profit improvement plan with a headline of at least GBP 10 million savings being targeted. This further builds on the self-help actions we've implemented in FY '25 and the recent foundational investments in infrastructure and technology to make us more efficient. We've also reviewed our capital allocation policy, and Ian will cover that in greater detail as well. And finally, our outlook for FY '26 is that we're targeting, I would say, solid progress on the top line as well as the bottom line, and we will add more color to that as well when we cover the presentation to Ian and myself. So I'll now hand it over to Ian for the financial outcomes. Ian Melling: Thank you, Jakob, and good morning, everyone. We'll start on Slide 7 with the financial results in detail, and then I'll cover our profit improvement plan and the additional actions we are putting in place as we look to drive operational and financial improvement. And finally, we will conclude with our FY '26 guidance and outlook. I'll then hand back to Jakob for the business review. So starting on Slide 7 with the income statement. As Jakob has noted, it was a particularly challenging year for Victrex at a profit level despite delivering strong sales volume, up 12% at 4,164 tonnes. The volume growth was driven primarily by VARs and Energy & Industrial. As a consequence of a softer mix and a weaker performance in Medical Spine, revenue was up 1% at GBP 292.7 million or up 3% in constant currency as currency weighed on our full year revenues. I'll come back to sales mix shortly. The divisional revenue summaries are shown in the appendix on Slide 26, with Sustainable Solutions revenue up 2% and Medical revenues down 5% driven by much weaker Medical Spine. Non-Spine revenues were up 7% with broad-based growth and a much more diverse range of applications. Moving on to gross profit, which was 1% lower than the prior year at GBP 132.6 million. This is after the effect of the gain on currency contracts of GBP 3.7 million. Gross profit in constant currency was up 5%. Gross profit was impacted by currency, by the softer average selling price and by the annualized costs from our new China manufacturing facility as well as wage inflation. Our Panjin facility in China accounted for a GBP 3.7 million higher loss year-on-year, reflecting the annualization effect with this facility coming online in H2 2024. For the year as a whole in FY '25, this was an GBP 8 million loss, in line with our latest guidance. I do want to call out how we saw a lower cost of manufacture elsewhere in our asset base, driven by higher asset utilization, along with some raw material savings. I'll cover the detailed movements on the next slide. Gross margin was down 90 basis points at 45.3%. I'll come back to this shortly with China plant costs, mix and currency being the key items impacting gross margin. Turning to overheads. Overheads for the year were up 14% or 2% when excluding the impact of wage inflation, the employer national insurance increase, partial bonus payments based primarily on strong cash conversion, the first for 3 years. The largest element was noncash charges for employee share schemes and employee retention. We retained tight cost control, including on recruitment and discretionary spend with the areas that did increase focused on customer programs. Interest was an expense of GBP 2 million in the year compared to GBP 1.2 million in the prior year as our China loan interest was capitalized in H1 FY '24. We expect interest expense will be at a similar level in FY '26. After the GBP 8 million impact to PBT from currency, the resulting underlying profit before tax was GBP 46.4 million, down 21% and down 10% in constant currency. Reported PBT was GBP 33.8 million, up 44% as our exceptional items were materially lower than the prior year at GBP 12.6 million. These comprise the final part of our ERP investment, business improvement costs aligned to Project Vista, which saw strong volume growth as well as sales pipeline growth and procurement savings and a noncash impairment of GBP 4 million for our Surface Generation investment. Underlying earnings per share of 43.9p was down 15%, slightly better than the movement in underlying PBT. The resulting effective tax rate was 23.9% versus 22.2% in the prior year. This reflects the lower proportion of profits being eligible for the Patent Box rate when profits are suppressed. This rate is above our midterm guidance of 15% to 19%. And the effective rate in FY '26 is again expected to exceed the top end of this range, unrecognized tax losses in China and the proportion of profits available for U.K. Patent Box being the key drivers. Turning finally to our dividend. The Board are pleased to maintain the final dividend of 46.14p per share. I'll come back to our updated capital allocation policy later. Slide 8 shows the underlying year-on-year PBT movements. Looking at the key movements beyond currency, which was GBP 8 million adverse. Thanks to an increase in production volumes through the plants, asset utilization saw a GBP 6 million benefit. FY '24 saw a significant inventory unwind, which explains the materially lower production in the prior year. Raw materials saw a year-on-year benefit of GBP 4.7 million. Sustainable Solutions growth drove a GBP 2.5 million year-on-year improvement to profit net of price and mix. Operating overheads I already touched on, with the impact of wage inflation and partial reward being the main element impacting profits by GBP 4.8 million. Employee retention-driven share schemes were an incremental GBP 3.7 million following the prior year where release of previous accruals meant almost 0 net cost. Our China plant start-up and the annualization effects, including depreciation and costs being expensed for the full year was a GBP 3.7 million adverse impact versus FY '24. Medical was a year-on-year adverse profit impact of GBP 2.4 million, driven by Spine declining as the continued effect of titanium regaining share in the U.S. caused by 3D printed and expandable spinal cages as well as some of the volume-based procurement challenges in China impacted us. Jakob will expand on this later, along with the positive progress in non-spine, which is an exciting area for us as we open up even more new applications. Growth investment of GBP 2.6 million was principally supporting our customer-facing functions as well as some incremental investment in our medical acceleration program with our product development center in Leeds. With the resulting annualization of interest expense, this led to PBT of GBP 46.4 million with H2 PBT being in line with H1 as per our most recent guidance. Turning to Slide 9 and ASP. We can see the movements in average selling price, which was down 10% in the year from GBP 78 per kilogram to GBP 70.3 per kilogram, driven by sales mix, end market, product and customer mix and currency. Constant currency ASP was down 7%. Approximately 80% of the total year-on-year movement was due to mix and currency, with mix most heavily impacted by the strength in VARs within Sustainable Solutions and the weakness in Spine within Medical. VARs and Energy & Industrial were the source of the majority of the price impacts, whilst like-for-like pricing in other key end markets remains robust. Where price did decline, this reflected some incremental price competition in VARs as we signaled earlier in the year or where we targeted regaining business in the likes of Energy and Industrial. Jakob will cover the key role that VARs play in our value chain to drive new uses for PEEK later. A very brief word on midterm pricing as shown on Slide 10, with mix and currency being the main drivers on ASP in FY '24 to '25. If we look over the past 5 financial years, we see a very similar picture with a very small impact from price, customer and end market mix, offset by a positive change in divisional mix. In summary, a medium-term view of our business shows that mix and currency have been the key drivers on our average selling price. Whilst we have been successful at price pass-through to customers, particularly following the energy price crisis, we have also retained or regained business within specific end markets with some impact on price. Moving to gross margin on Slide 11. Starting with the prior year of 46.2%, currency was a 150 basis points adverse impact to gross margin, reflecting the sizable headwind we saw this year. Our China plant start-up impacted gross margin by 120 basis points. Remember, we've seen some gradual operational improvements in this facility during the year, but production volumes were still only around 50 tonnes, so a very low level of utilization. Mix and price within Sustainable Solutions dragged on gross margin by 90 basis points with the adverse mix in Medical being an impact of 60 basis points. On the positive movements, raw material cost savings added 130 basis points with the higher asset utilization helping us by 200 basis points. A brief word on the gross margin, excluding our China manufacturing facility. This was 47.7% versus the reported 45.3%. So overall, the China plant is a 240 basis point drag on gross margin for the group, which we will look to overcome in the coming years. Finally, the chart does show the indicative drivers for our gross margin in FY '26 based on latest assumptions. I'll cover the overall guidance summary shortly. Moving on to cash flow, which is shown on Slide 12. The main headline is a strong cash conversion at 121%, a key measure of our cash flow efficiency and a positive result for our business. This is one of our key strategic objectives in the organization, which employees are fully focused on. Looking at the key movements from operating profit or EBIT of GBP 48.4 million, we incurred depreciation of GBP 25 million, an increase of GBP 1.7 million on the prior year, driven by the new China plant. Working capital was an inflow of GBP 7 million, driven by a further inventory reduction of GBP 5.4 million. Remember, we had a much higher inventory position at the end of FY '23, GBP 134.5 million. So the reduction in inventory this year, whilst pleasing, was not as sizable as FY '24. We do have an opportunity to further reduce inventory whilst noting that our reputation for delivery is valued by our customers and that we have a broader geographic base and portfolio than we have historically. On CapEx, we tightly managed key capital expenditure this year and continue to do so. We're obviously pleased to move beyond the period of heavy investment in capacity and capability. CapEx was GBP 21.8 million, a reduction of 33%, meaning that CapEx represented 7% of revenues, below the lower end of our guidance of 8% to 10%. This resulted in operating cash flow of GBP 58.6 million compared to GBP 68.5 million in the prior year. Cash tax totaled GBP 4.4 million, similar to last year. Cash exceptional items of GBP 9 million were marginally lower than FY '24 and primarily related to our ERP system, which includes ancillary systems such as CRM and Project Vista costs. Our digital investment is supporting a number of business process improvements and an ability to support and serve customers better, for example, through digital approaches to R&D. As a result, free cash flow was slightly lower than FY '24 at GBP 49.3 million versus GBP 51.4 million in the prior year. Of the other movements on dividends, we maintained the FY '24 final dividend and paid the FY '25 interim dividend, which represents the GBP 51.8 million shown on the chart. With exchange movements, our closing position saw us with cash of GBP 24.2 million versus the prior year at GBP 29.3 million, giving a net debt of GBP 24.8 million, GBP 3.7 million higher than the prior year. Net debt to EBITDA was 0.34x at the end of '25, an increase of from 0.25x at the end of FY '24. Finally, on our RCF, although we did have to draw on these facilities during the year, we repaid the facility back by the end of FY '25. Slide 13 covers our updated capital allocation policy, which I'd like to spend some brief time on. Firstly, we're reflecting all of our stakeholders' interest by targeting a new net debt-to-EBITDA range of 0.5x to 1x. This is a commitment to the strong balance sheet Victrex is known for. As a result, we are pleased to maintain the FY '25 final dividend at FY '24 levels of 46.14p per share. Dividends will be maintained at the current level as long as we do not exceed the 0.5:1 net debt-to-EBITDA range. Any excess cash can be returned via share buybacks or special dividends when net debt-to-EBITDA moves sustainably below 0.5x. We will secure additional term debt prior to payment of the final dividend in February 2026 to reduce the reliance on the RCF to pay the dividend. As shown on the chart, we will also maintain CapEx at 8% to 10% of revenues, though in the short term, we expect to be at or below the lower end of this range. Investment remains focused on growth or capability with medical acceleration, a recent example of where we've invested to support specific growth programs or to support customer scale-up. Overall, we believe this offers a resilient capital allocation framework suited to our business. This allows us to maintain balance sheet strength, noting the interest of all stakeholders. Turning to Slide 14. Alongside our revised capital allocation policy, we will be taking more extensive and incremental actions in FY '26 to improve operational and financial performance. In FY '25, we focused on self-help through our Project Vista go-to-market programs, primarily helping us to improve our sales efforts, including through the use of digital tools with customers and sales excellence, delivering strong sales volumes to record a record annual increase in our sales pipeline, which was up 16 -- sorry, 18% in the year to focus on operating efficiency, where we drove a lower cost of manufacture, including GBP 2 million of annualized procurement savings in addition to those on raw materials. Cost control remained tight, including on CapEx and for discretionary spend. So for FY '26, we will be going further, focusing our profit improvement plan around three main areas. How we can simplify our portfolio. How we can drive an even better operational performance, not just through volume leverage and efficiency, but by transforming our operational processes and through our overhead cost base alongside leveraging our D365 ERP system and thereby reducing SG&A costs. Overall, we're targeting at least GBP 10 million of savings with the majority of these to be delivered as full year benefit in FY '27 coming from these three areas. We will start to implement these actions through FY '26 with some early benefits in H2 2026. Wrapping up on Slide 15, I'd like to summarize our guidance, which mirrors our outlook statement within our announcement. Firstly, on volumes, whilst we're mindful of the wider economic environment, we are targeting low to mid-single-digit growth. ASP, we expect to be similar to FY '25 based on current trends. Medical Spine remains weak and Sustainable Solutions is seeing a similar end market mix as we saw in the final quarter of FY '25. At the margin level, we will be targeting some additional inventory unwind, meaning that production volumes will be broadly similar to FY '25 based on our current sales plan. We will continue to see some modest benefit from continuous improvement and procurement initiatives, including those from Project Vista. The China plant will not be a big driver of margin as it remains significantly underutilized despite sales starting to ramp. Consequently, gross margin percentage, we anticipate being flat to slightly ahead. On OpEx, we continue to retain discipline with a lower pay rise in FY '26 and then starting to see some small benefits from the profit improvement plan in the second half. On cash flow, we are targeting continued strong cash conversion with CapEx discipline and inventory reduction. In summary, we are mindful of the macro environment, particularly after a challenging year. We're targeting solid progress versus FY '25. And based on our current assumptions, we would anticipate this being second half weighted, reflecting the usual seasonality in H1 alongside a slightly higher currency headwind in the first half. With that, I'll hand back to Jakob. Jakob Sigurdsson: Thank you, Ian. So moving to Slide 17. Sustainable Solutions, good progress in the year, driven by VARs and Energy Industrial, with notable progress on milestones in other end markets as well, even if some of these end markets do remain challenging. So let's look at them individually. Aerospace. At the half year, volumes were up 7%, but we did see supply chain challenges in the second half at the 2 key OEMs, consequently facing off some business into 2026. So volumes for the year were 2% down in Aerospace. As we will cover shortly, the outlook for aerospace is optimistic for FY '26. Build rates are forecasted to increase in some models, particularly at Boeing with 737. We also note that COMAC deliveries in China have been slower than anticipated this year. They build 25 planes versus 75 as a target. And remember that Victrex has a sizable set of volumes in each 919 aircraft. The deliveries have been reined back for the current year. We see these factors as short-term supply chain driven and note that COMAC is expected as an example, to increase deliveries over the next couple of years significantly. And on Advanced Air Mobility, I do also want to flag that we won new business in this area during FY '25. This is all based on our composite technology as well as our parts capability at our Rhode Island facility. All of which are driven by our low-melt PEEK technology in several applications where especially designed polymer for easier processing has really been getting very strong attention. The potential in Advanced Air Mobility using Victrex PEEK and the aim of some of these being launched in time for the Los Angeles Olympics in 2028, as an example, the certification progressing well in different global regions, positioning ourselves exceptionally well for future technology developments in the area. Turning to automotive. As most companies have signals, we know that uncertainty driven by tariffs and global demand has had an impact in this market. Our volumes were down 1% after a better second half in auto for us. Half 2 volumes were actually up 1% but reflecting some of the challenges in the industry. If we look at the market data, I think S&P is forecasting a production of around 91 million cars in 2025, a modest increase on the year before and a similar increase going into 2026. This is in contrast with 2018 when you had roughly 96 million cars being produced. So we are quite far away from that peak yet. We do remain closely aligned to auto growth in China, particularly. And just as a recap, our auto business in China in 2019 was around 11% of our overall volumes in auto that year. It's now close to 27%. And if we include Korea and Japan, the corresponding figures between 2019 and 2025 have moved from 43% to 55% and our auto business in China has roughly tripled since 2019. So we remain well placed across a number of different platforms and applications, but also in the geographic shift that we're seeing in the automotive industry. Briefly on e-mobility, we didn't see the quicker adoption of the new 800-volt platforms this year. So e-mobility revenues were actually down slightly year-on-year. The long-term opportunity to increase PEEK penetration across this new platform does remain strong, however. And in fact, we've got qualifications on several new platforms during the year that will be coming through to support midterm growth. If we then move to Energy & Industrial, volumes here up 17% and the activity levels have increased in this space during the year, particularly in the second half. It's worth keeping in mind that energy is around 40% of this end market overall with industrial being the majority. As it relates to energy, rig count was actually down at a global level by around 101 or around 10% since October '24, but we have continued to enjoy good business across oil and gas, gas equipment, whether it's in valves, pumps, ceilings and the like. On the industrial side, PMIs have remained just above 50 for both China and the U.S. for the year, and this is a good sort of correlating factor with our end demand in the manufacturing side. It dipped a little bit in Europe, below 50 in November, but still indicated an improvement in business conditions for the 10th time in the past 11 months. PEEK benefits from being in all kinds of machinery on the industrial side, whether it's food processing, chemical processing, and we continue to see good progress and growing interest in replacing PFAS in various applications, both on the industrial side that's reported in this segment and on the medical side as well. On Electronics, good progress here despite the softer second half in semiconductor, volumes were up 2% for the year, which is in line with JPMorgan's own semicon forecast of 2% growth in CapEx in 2025. Remember that PEEK has good exposure to semicon and smart devices where durability and reliability remain key drivers. On the smartphone side, we are part of a number of innovation in smart devices, which offer good medium-term growth opportunities, particularly around the move towards 6G, for example, or how metals are used differently in handsets. If we look at industry data, JPMorgan forecast demand to be around 3% in 2026 and a significant growth as it relates to CapEx in semicon as well. Moving on to VARs. So I'll cover a recap on their very important role the VARs play in the value chain in my next slide. But VARs were up 21% in volumes and 13% in the second half. And remember, their business is highly correlated with conditions in both manufacturing, engineering and Energy and Industrial as well as semicon. And finally, on sales pipeline, up 10% in the year, record annual increase. If you look at the key driver of the increase in the pipeline, they are coming from aerospace and energy industrial were the key drivers of the increase. With aerospace around 1/3 of the total sales pipeline right now. This is based on mature annualized revenues, which we would need conversion of all the pipeline. We delivered the $404 million in revenue numbers. Conversion rates are typically much lower than that. And over the cycle, we're used to be seeing around 30% to 40% conversion of this particular number. But it gives a good outlook of the scale of our sales pipeline and the opportunities that we have for growing the business. On value-added resellers on Slide 18, spend a moment on those because they do play a key role in our supply chain. You already heard that our VAR volumes were up 21% during the year. They are a key part of growing the market for Victrex PEEK. They serve aligned end markets like auto, energy and electronics, as I said before. They do process high volumes of PEEK for compounding with other materials or into stock shape to sell to other manufacturers and they actually carry a wide range of polymer in those forms as well. The key message here is that VARs get a significant pool for the customer for Victrex PEEK. If you go on to the website of some of the larger ones there, you'll see that they do brand Victrex 450G as a main grade and often leverage our brands in their promotional activities as well. These were Victrex's first customer when Victrex went into market, and they've been a very valuable set of customers for us all along, and they spent a significant time on innovation and market development as well. Customers are specifying Victrex PEEK, as an example, 450G from value-added resellers, and that supports how we're building the peak market. Remember also that VARs do see cyclicality. If we look at the 5-year growth CAGR, it's around 6% on volume. So healthy growth rates even if we see variability to the cycle. Within VARs this year, we have continued to build on our long-term standing relationships that's built on quality, security of supply and a well-respected brand to name a key factors. Turning on to Medical on Slide 19. Some clear headwinds here in Spine, but continuing good progress in non-spine. And we're now a much more diversified business than we used to be. Just to put it into context, in 2015, we were 75%, 75% of our revenues were coming from spine and 25% non-spine. That's pretty much reversed in 2025, where we're now 74% non-spine and 26% spine. A quick recap. In 2023, our Medical business achieved a record year post-COVID and when surgeries -- elective surgeries rebounded. Meanwhile, in 2023, the Chinese government implemented its volume-based procurement, or VBP, as it's called, policy with the spinal industry, within the spinal industry aimed at controlling health care costs. This policy had already impacted other sectors on the medical device industry, where a small number of domestic companies won government tenders that guaranteed high product volumes, but at average pricing -- average selling prices that were significantly lower. In 2024, many large medical device companies began to signal concerns around profitability in general, while revenues continue to grow, rising interest rates and inflationary pressures, particularly in staffing and raw materials, led to declining profits. In response, companies took decisive action reducing inventory levels and containing costs. What is clear, though, is that industry destocking appears to be over in non-spine -- but in spine, titanium-based 3D printing has been significantly more advanced than PEEK-based methods, enabling U.S. companies to develop porous cases using titanium, and this has been happening all the way back to 2018. We have seen our first approval for our Polar 3D case last year, and we expect to see them in the market over the next year. PEEK remains -- PEEK has still strong evidence of clinical benefit and imaging in spinal devices, but 3D printed methods gained more traction in the U.S. at the expense of PEEK, and we have the opportunity now to start to reverse that with our 3D printed cases having been approved. Remember that the U.S. has been our main region since starting our medical business back in the early 2000s. As I said before, spine was around 75% of our revenues in medical in 2015 versus 26% today. So clear headwinds for growth. The good news is that we are now a much more diversified medical business with more applications, including great opportunities in pharma and cardio. And we noted that J&J, as an example, report that PEEK was already used now in around 500,000 heart devices. What do we need to see from medical revenues to grow again? Well, some stabilization in spine, number one. And remember, this is principally impacting the U.S. together with continuing non-spine growth, offers the opportunity for medical growth to restart. And then obviously, that will be layered on to with the progress of the knee program on one hand and trauma plates on the other. On Slide 20, a brief one on knee. We now have 85 patients that have gotten PEEK-based knee implants over the past 4 years, including 20 in the U.S. So really, really good progress. We continue to work towards additional collaborators and partners and are in active conversations with some of the top 4. We're also preparing regulatory pathway in other regions beyond the submission in India and should expect good progress and potential registration in Europe in FY '26. Slide 21 on Magma , as a quick recap. At the half year, we communicated that TechnipFMC had secured a technological contract from Petrobras. This enables them to develop qualification pipes that are the route to full commercialization of the hybrid flexible pipe. Remember that a hybrid flexible pipe is 50% lighter than steel and water based on Victrex's PEEK and know-how and our pipe -- and our composite tape as well, all specified Victrex materials. And to put this in perspective, every kilometer of 6-inch pipe contains around 8 tonnes of PEEK, so this is a very sizable long-term opportunity. Our facility in Portsmouth will be key for the scale-up and has been busy during the final qualification stages. The vision is that longer term, the production will be shifted to Brazil, and that will be done then in Technip's facilities. So we will not be incurring CapEx into those scale-up phases. We've developed several 2-kilometer sections of pipe with TechnipFMC over recent months, and we'll wait a new flow in 2026 for the next steps towards commercialization from TechnipFMC and Petrobras for their ongoing requirements. Slide 22, end market summary. I think Ian has already covered the main outlook on the guidance. Slide 2 provides an indicative view of the end market as we see them currently. And then also briefly Aerospace, optimistic based on forecasted build rates and new business win. On automotive, like the rest of the industry, we are neutral to cautious in this end market, given the supply chain risks and demand uncertainty. Electronic neutral with semicon and smartphone forecast being positive for 2026, but likely to be second half weighted. On Energy & Industrial, neutral to optimistic. We do see some additional opportunities on the industrial side and energy activity remains very positive. Activity and growth here is very much evolving around PFAS replacement and robotics. On VARs, neutral. It reflects that we saw a strong year in FY '25 and demand across some of the aligned markets is still uncertain, although they should be exposed to the same drivers that we see for Energy Industrial and Electronics as well. Finally, on Medical, clearly, Spine remains challenging for the reasons we discussed. So we're cautious there. Non-spine, we're optimistic. It was up 7% in FY '25, and we do see further opportunities across a very attractive range of applications. Pricing will reflect a broader range of ASPs now, but very high-value applications in cardio and active implantables alongside with some nonimplantable business in pharma. And non-implantable revenues were up 12% actually in FY '25. So this concludes the formal presentation, and I will now hand it over to Q&A. We'll start in the room here, and I'd be grateful if you could state your name for the benefit of those that are listening in on the line and will be asking questions later on. Vanessa Jeffriess: Vanessa Jeffriess from Jefferies. Just wondering if you could clarify what's going on in China. So I guess a year ago, you thought you'd do 100 to 200 tonnes and then you have the start-up issues. I know you've done 50, which is in line with customer demand. I guess in '26, it feels like you should be doing 200, but it will still be loss-making. I mean has the demand profile changed? Or are those start-up issues is ongoing? Jakob Sigurdsson: I think we're working well through the start-up issues. So we delivered what we said we would deliver in FY '25. We do still need to scale this up with customers as well and then getting used to materials being shipped from that plant. I do want to take the opportunity as well to put this in the broader context also in the sense that China is the fastest industrial market in the world these days. We have grown China almost 2.5x since 2019, 12% of our revenues or of our volumes back in 2019. It's around 18% right now, and it grew 18% last year. So the plant is incredibly important from a strategic perspective. All the business that we have been growing has been imported into China until now. But this allows us to expand our product portfolio and bolster our position as we're building -- we've been building up systemically since 2018, first by adding to our technical service capabilities, augmenting the sales force as well, then building this plant and that compounding facility as well. So both of these facilities that we have built along with the infrastructure and the human capital that we've invested in, in the labs as well, I think position ourselves very well to compete in a rapidly growing market in a tough competition as well. But to your point, I guess we are modest in our outlook for China this year. We're still working through the issues, but we are aiming at always being a step ahead of demand, and I think we're progressing well on that journey. Vanessa Jeffriess: And then ASPs, you're saying broadly stable for '26 and down 7% this year. You talked about reducing pricing to regain share and in response to competitive activity in Energy Industrial. But from everything you're saying about '26, the mix would be similar and then medical will reflect a more diverse range of prices. So I guess I'm just wondering like why would pricing not be down 7% again? And why is it stable? If you could just... Ian Melling: So the majority of the 7%, Vanessa, was mix, right? So stable -- if we have a more stable mix, which is what we're forecasting this year compared to last year, then we wouldn't expect to see that significant mix impact that we saw this year. There is some price pressure out there, particularly in the VARs space. And I think the actual overall piece that we end up with may be somewhat dependent on the volumes, right? The stronger the volumes tends to drag the mix down because it tends to mean higher VARs, Energy and Industrial. But based on a similar mix, I think what we said on ASP is deliverable. We also don't have the big currency headwind, at least at current exchange rates that we had last year on ASP. Vanessa Jeffriess: And then sorry, just one quick one. In VARs, you just talked about it being the lowest cost to serve on the slide and -- but there's that pricing pressure as well. Would you say that there's opportunity to reduce that cost to serve? Because I guess if it's the lowest across the business, that would suggest to me there's less opportunity in other segments. Ian Melling: So I think the cost to serve is very low with VARs. They -- we don't have a big sales force that supports VARs. It's a very small number of people, very close relationships. So I think the opportunity to reduce cost in serving VARs is limited. That being said, we do work with them given the significant volumes that they buy, we do work with them on how they take that volume, how we do that most kind of operational efficient -- the most operationally efficient way. And that does bring us small benefits as we go forward, but not ones that you'd want to call out in terms of the overall margin for the group. Jens Lindqvist: Jens Lindqvist at Investec. A couple of things on medical, if that's okay. First of all, on the knee. 85 patients recruited so far into the program, 65 back in July. Those 20 all in the U.S., if I understand it correctly. Is there anything that can be done to accelerate that recruitment rate a bit? I mean it's 20 in 6 months. It's a relatively high volume procedure. And also on the knee, could you remind me just what number you need to get to for U.S. and European approval? You're talking about a filing in Europe? Jakob Sigurdsson: Right. So I think it is sort of a phased start in the U.S., and this is clearly sort of [ max ] thing to comment on. So we have a limited ability to influence that, but it is a relatively slow start with an expected ramp-up probably in 2026. So I think you'll see increased recruitment rates in 2026 compared to what we've seen here. And the bigger picture is we are awaiting approval in India, and Max is expecting that to happen relatively soon. That clinical trial was a huge success, I would say, without any interventions after 4 years. And on the back of some of that data and data that has been developed in Europe, the plan is to launch in Europe in 2026 or file for registration in Europe in 2026 as well. But to answer your question bluntly, can we impact the recruitment rate? No, we can't. And this is sometimes one of our dilemmas with the mega-programmes that we're not the ones all the time that can control the rate of adoption, and this is one example of that. But there is a relatively slow phase in the early phases of the trials in the U.S., and then that's expected to ramp up probably in 2026. Jens Lindqvist: Okay. Just one on the trauma plates. It seems to be lagging a little bit, both in terms of business development in the U.S. and the regulatory process in China. Again, in China, is there an option to partner with the Chinese orthopedics business? I mean is that the... Ian Melling: Yes. So I think if I look at trauma, I think you're right, Jens. I think it's been a slow year and certainly in terms of revenue in trauma, having had approvals previously in the U.S. and having launched products in the U.S. I think 2 things to speak about there. One in the U.S. our launch partner, which was In2Bones was acquired. And that certainly had an impact in terms of kind of their focus on kind of growing into new plates and the like. Whenever there's an acquisition, then strategy comes into focus and people are thinking about whether -- which way they go going forward. So that's been an impact, and we're looking pretty hard for new customers in the U.S., and we have some promising leads, but too early to talk publicly about new customers in the U.S. for trauma plates. China, you're right, regulatory has been the big hurdle. We're pretty confident that we will get over that hurdle in the next few months here, and then we should be full speed ahead with the launch with -- I think we talked in the announcement about 6 plates in China, which is a broader range than we have today in the U.S. through a significant player in the Chinese orthopedic trauma space. Jens Lindqvist: Sorry, just one quick one. Just on R&D expenditure, you're talking about 5% to 6% of sales, I believe. I mean, is that a realistic number to assume also going forward? And how does that split between medical and sustainable solutions, please? Ian Melling: Yes, I don't have to split medical to sustainable solutions to [ Hanyens ], but we do spend a good amount, particularly as a result of the medical acceleration program on the medical R&D kind of focused on knee and trauma, but we do have other programs in medical as well. We also have a core piece of R&D, which supports our kind of core manufacturing facility kind of capability, which would support the whole business. So it's not -- it's kind of medical sustainable solutions agnostic. So there is an important part of manufacturing kind of R&D there that we shouldn't overlook in terms of making ourselves more efficient. But I think the number in terms of a target going forward, is a sensible one. We will -- we've obviously got the profit improvement plan where we'll be looking at things going forward, but I wouldn't expect us to be spending materially less on R&D going forward. Chetan Udeshi: Chetan from JPMorgan. I had a few questions. Just one on -- you mentioned record increase in sales pipeline. When do we see record earnings for Victrex? In other words, when does that translate into proper earnings inflection at Victrex? Maybe we take one by one. Jakob Sigurdsson: Yes, I'll take this one first. So the metric is derived as follows. So this is the mature annual revenues of the opportunities that we have identified. So that's the totality of that sum. If you look at historical conversion rates, they can be somewhere between 30% and 40%. But they clearly in the first year will not translate into the maximum annualized revenue for each of them. But I think that's a good proxy for how this should be flowing through the pipeline. There's probably some cannibalization in those numbers as well. So you got to account for that also. But I think the good news is that we continue to find new opportunities that are sizable magnitude that should underpin the core business that sort of drives the business above and beyond what we see as an upside potential from the mega-programmes. So headline, it's material, annualized revenues, conversion time probably between 2 and 3 years, conversion rate somewhere between 30% and 40%. And then it depends on the ramp-up profile and the cannibalization as far as what the end number out of that formula might be. Chetan Udeshi: So that's a gross number without cannibalization impact basically. Jakob Sigurdsson: There could -- that's a gross number, but there could be cannibalization in that to some extent. Chetan Udeshi: Okay. Good. The second question maybe for Ian, your second half gross margin was 46.5%. You're guiding for full year next year to be between 45.5% to 46.5%. We would have hoped that there will be progression from second half into next year. So was there any one-off in second half, which is not recurring into next year? Or you just want to be cautious, not extrapolating that second half improvement? Ian Melling: Yes, I'm a CFO, so I always want to be cautious, Chetan. But I would say, half-on-half, yes, there's some relatively modest impacts in there. The majority of the increase that you see in the second half versus the first half is coming through from the manufacturing and procurement efficiencies that we've delivered this year as we -- in the second half, we started to sell products that we made in the first half. In the first half, we were selling primarily product we'd have made in the second half of last year when we had lower volumes. We're not forecasting a significant -- really any volume increase through the plants next year as we continue to hold on inventory. So I think that's part of the caution. Obviously, there's -- we talked about some of the price pressure in VARs and places as well. So we've got to be a little bit cautious about that impact on the margin. So I think a margin between our full year number this year and our second half number this year, which is kind of the range you talked about is a sensible place to be. Chetan Udeshi: Okay. The last question I had was anything on current quarter? Typically, it tends to be sequentially lower versus the September quarter. Would you expect normal seasonality? Or is there something that you see particularly in any of the end markets? And just last point, sorry, on your comments on pricing. We saw raw material benefit. Do you expect any more next year? Or you now see raw material prices flattening out basically? Ian Melling: So I think there's a little bit of raw material benefit still to come based on what we've negotiated in the last 12 months, but I don't think it will be as dramatic as it was in FY '25, albeit we continue to push, obviously, for everything we can get on that front. Jakob Sigurdsson: I think you know us better than most, Chetan, and you're right, seasonality is there. Q1 is always historically the lowest quarter, and it will be the same this time around. So there will be a drop off from Q4. But nothing that is dramatic, I would say, in terms of Q1 versus Q1 comparisons year-on-year. So we had a good Q1 last year. And we will have a reasonable one for sure this year, although there's plenty to go yet. Christian Bell: Christian Bell from UBS. I guess just following on from the previous question. Your volume guidance for low to mid-single digit. Can you just give a sense of what the growth phasing might look like across the first half and in the second half across each segment? And what gives you the confidence that you are expecting a stronger second half? Jakob Sigurdsson: I think we're seeing reasonable momentum heading into the year to begin with. And that's on back of weak aerospace as an example, and relatively weak electronics as well. But I think if we look at industry forecasts, which have been pretty reliable as it relates to electronics as an example, chip growth production expected to be around 3% year-on-year. CapEx sort of starting to come up again for semicon as well based on JPMorgan's forecast I referenced here. I think that gives us confidence in the fact that electronics will rebound as we head into the new calendar year. VARs are correlated with the electronics picture also, remember. So we're not expecting the growth that we saw in VARs this year, but we're expecting modest growth for VARs in the year overall. On the medical side, we'll see a better year there than we had last year as well. So when you look at these key drivers, I would say, the aerospace getting back to normal, I think there's, I would say, good confidence in the fact that with growing build rates at Boeing, the supply chain issues easing at Airbus and also with the new Advanced Air Mobility contract, we'll see growth there that is visible and reliable. If I can phrase it, if anything, it's reliable these days in this world. And then as I said, on the electronics side, I think we've got a reason to believe based on forecast and how they've correlated with business in the past, and that should be picking up as we head into the new calendar year. Ian Melling: Sorry, just to add, I think it's worth saying when you get into a kind of business area and a quarterly forecast, our order book is relatively short. it's a little bit of a mugs game getting into trying to forecast. I certainly wouldn't want to sit here and say this is going to grow by that and this by that quarter-by-quarter for a year. We present a view for the year as a whole, and there'll be some ups and downs is that we have an order book typically of around 6 weeks in this business. So it's not like we know what we're going to have through this year sat here today. And I think it's worth bearing that in mind when you look at how we position our forecast. Jakob Sigurdsson: That's why I'm also pinning my comments on sort of expected demand based on statistics from aerospace in terms of build rates on one hand and then the outlook for CapEx and chip production for the coming year as well, which have historically not been too bad. Christian Bell: If I could just push a little bit harder on that to get to your sort of full year low to mid-single digit very general sort of ballpark type of thing. Is the profile kind of like a negative positive 7% first half, second half? Is that the type of profile that you're expecting? Or is it more like a negative 1%, 4% type of thing? Ian Melling: I would say -- listen, I would say it's not that -- in volume terms, it's not that skewed between -- in terms of growth between the first and second half. So I would say we had some strong growth in the first part of last year as we were recovering from a depressed period. I think we've had more stable volumes over the last year. So I don't think we've got a significant skewing to the second half. When we talk about the profit being skewed to the second half, that's more due to profit-related pieces rather than volume, I would say. Christian Bell: Okay. Cool. And just one final question, if I could. I think I saw in your commentary talking about a more sort of focused business going forward. Does that -- should we read how should we read into that in terms of prioritization over your end markets capacity thinking going forward? Is there any sort of -- is there a reprioritization of your end markets? And are you thinking -- how are you thinking about your capacity? Jakob Sigurdsson: I think if you look at it over almost the entire lifetime of Victrex, Victrex has at times invested in downstream capabilities to drive the adoption of PEEK, sometimes with the intention of staying in that function. And sometimes looking at it as a catalytic activity means proving that things can be done. And then once you've proven that and you generate end demand, you might exit that production step as an example with that downstream activity. So I think we might simplify our downstream portfolio a little bit in light of that. We will definitely stay with our current positioning in certain aspects, but we might pare down our presence in others as we go forward. As it relates to mega-programmes as an example, the allocation of resources for the mega-programmes is a dynamic process. And building on Jens' point a little bit before, where we see opportunity to potentially spend more, if that correlates with faster adoption, we will. If we see that almost regardless of what we can spend, we're not able to accelerate that, we will not do that. So we do allocate our resources based on the -- what we can do to shorten the time to commercialization, what we can do to eliminate barriers to adoption and at the very least, make sure and ensure that we are not the barriers for adoption, having been the ones that have been pushing these innovations through for a long, long time. So we very much sort of manage our portfolio in a dynamic way in that sense, and we regularly capture the essence of that by saying where is there a return to spend. And if we can spend more, we will. If we don't, if we see that we're not going to be impacting the time to adoption, we won't. So that's a dynamic portfolio allocation decision. But I do think you will see us simplify our footprint in some downstream activities going forward. So maybe taking questions from the audience online, if there are any. And please state your name before asking the question. Operator: [Operator Instructions] Our first question comes from the line of Kevin Fogarty of Deutsche Numis. Kevin Fogarty: Just if I can start just with a couple. In terms of the mix within Medical, I appreciate the kind of revenue and volume shift towards sort of non-spine. Could you just remind us of the sort of value contribution, spine versus non-spine, my assumption that spine was much more valuable to you guys? And secondly, from a planning perspective, I just wonder if there was any sort of change in your kind of visibility or guidance you're getting from customers this time of the year compared to perhaps 6 months ago? Is there anything that gives you a bit more confidence in terms of the outlook? So if I could just have just those 2 questions, please. Ian Melling: Sure. I'll start with the first one, Kevin, if I can. So firstly, I would say our whole medical business is incredibly valuable to us, right? I think it's really important for everyone to understand that our ASPs in medical right through from the most -- the highest ASPs which are actually not in spine, they're in other applications, all the way down to the lowest ASPs, which are in non-implantable medical applications. They're all accretive to our group ASPs and drive high-margin business. Yes, the non-implantable business is a bit lower than the implantable business. But certainly, within the implantable space, it's all hugely valuable. Typically, gross margins on implantable medical business will run 70% plus up into much higher numbers. So yes, there's huge value in all our medical business. I think I gave an example previously, but I'll just repeat it because it bears repeating. If you look at, for example, a spine, spine procedure versus CMF procedure, that's craniomaxillofacial procedure, which is a procedure where you're making a plate out of PEEK to repair the skull. In terms of the amount of PEEK we sell for one procedure in CMF can be 10x what it is for -- more than 10x what it is for a spine procedure. The ASP per kilogram might be 1/3 to 1/2 of what it is in spine, and the gross margin will be correspondingly a little bit lower. But because you're selling more than 10x the volume, the actual gross profit generated from one procedure will be higher in CMF than it is in spine. So it is important to think about the medical business from a revenue point of view and from a gross margin point of view and focusing too much on the ASP per kilogram can miss the point. Some of our highest ASPs in Medical, which I repeat again, are not in the spine space, are actually in applications where a fraction of a gram is used per device or per procedure, whereas, as I said, in something like CMF, you could be selling hundreds of grams into one procedure. So there's a huge broad range of medical procedures. And I think that's what's really positive about our medical business going forward that we have that breadth and range of opportunities. Jakob Sigurdsson: On the second question, visibility is probably [ whistle seeking ] in many ways these days, and Ian has alluded to it, that our order book -- our tangible order book is relatively short and always has been, and we have sort of a high service model, if you wish, in the sense that we do offer short lead times, which is of high value to most of our customers. But I get back to the point that we discussed before, the fact that we are targeting moderate growth next year is very much based on these key contributors or sectors reversing of 3, you could say. The aerospace forecast and build rates, and we see the improvement in build rates starting to happen, and they are relatively reliable. Secondly, the forecast for electronics and semicon in particularly broken down into chips on one hand and then CapEx on the other. And thirdly, we will continue to see positive momentum on the medical side. But as it relates to detailed visibility, Kevin, it's not there, and it never has been. Operator: There are no further questions on the conference line. I want to hand back over to management for closing remarks. Jakob Sigurdsson: So thank you all for coming and joining us here today, those on the line as well and wish you all a very happy ending of the year and a peaceful holiday period. I want to say as well, this is my last one, and I want to thank you all for your interest over the years and intense interest in Victrex and our company and what we do and what we have to offer. It's been a pleasure to engage with all of you, and I thank you for that. Thank you all.
Operator: Thank you for standing by, and welcome to the Collins Foods Limited HY '26 Results Conference Call and Webcast. [Operator Instructions] I would now like to hand the conference over to Mr. Xavier Simonet, Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer. Please go ahead. Xavier Marie Simonet: Thanks very much, Harmony. Good morning, everyone. I'm Xavier Simonet, the Chief Executive Officer of Collins Foods. With me on the call here in Brisbane, I've got Group Financial Officer, Andrew; General Manager, of Australian Operations, Krystal; and General Manager of Europe, Chris Johnson. We're presenting the first half '26 results announced to the ASX earlier this morning as well as providing a trading update and refreshed outlook. As always, we will go through the presentation, and then we will take questions. Slide 2, executive summary. I joined the business just over 1 year ago. And to start today, I would like to touch on the main highlights of the past year and what our priorities have been. We have a strong focus on operational excellence across our businesses and the results we are presenting today show the progress we are making. We are sustaining growth momentum and achieved record revenues this first half with earnings and margins up on last year. We are delivering strong cash flow, resulting in a significant reduction in net debt compared to prior year and broadly in line with the position at the end of FY '25. Together with the debt refinancing we announced a few months ago, this means we have significant capacity to fund future growth initiatives. We continue to invest in our core businesses, both in our restaurants and in technology to enhance customer experience. Our focus on operational execution has resulted in a strong underlying performance in HY '26 in a challenging market, demonstrated by our results today. We are, therefore, pleased to announce a favorable upgrade to our full year outlook, and I will come back to this in more detail towards the end of the presentation. With strong cash flows and a robust balance sheet, we remain open to organic and inorganic growth opportunities, particularly in Germany. Moving on to Slide 3. I would like on this slide to give an update on our growth priorities. If we first look at Australia, we are showing strong same-store sales growth in KFC in Australia, outperforming the overall QSR market due to product innovation and strong execution. We made good progress on productivity and waste improvement, which has contributed to margins improving, and we remain disciplined on costs while continuing to invest both in our restaurants, our brand and our digital channels. On the Taco Bell exit process, discussions continue, but we have no firm update to give you yet. Looking at Europe, Germany is our second growth pillar and is now coming to life. We opened our 17th restaurant in Karlsruhe during the period and have several sites approved for development with the pipeline building. We are also encouraged in Yan's approach to building the brand in the German market, people capability is lifting and purposeful investment in brand initiatives is benefiting KFC. Finally, on operational excellence, we are laser-focused on driving same-store sales, margins and customer service levels. We have new operational leadership in place for both Australia and Europe, and their deep market experience is helping us execute on our plans. Portfolio optimization in the Netherlands has commenced with 2 new restaurants opening since half year-end, replacing restaurants which are underperforming from a profitability perspective. There has been one closure in November and a further planned closure in January. Moving on to the financial highlights on Slide 4. So Slide 4 provides an overview of HY '26 performance. Financials are presented on a post-AASB 16 basis, unless stated otherwise. For those of you more accustomed to pre-AASB 16 numbers, we have made them available in the appendices to the investor presentation. Andrew, will shortly take you through more detailed financials. So I will focus on some of the highlights for the first half. In summary, Collins Foods delivered record level of revenues and strong improvements in profits and margins. This was achieved despite a consumer environment that, in particularly for our target demographic remains challenging. The results highlights from my perspective are: first, we recorded the highest first half year revenue in the company's history, up 6.6% compared to last year. Second, underlying EBITDA grew by 11% and our underlying NPAT by 29.5%. Pleasingly, our return on equity increased by 190 basis points to 14.1%, which is good news for our shareholders. As a result of strong cash flows, and balance sheet, the Board declared a fully franked interim dividend of $0.13 per ordinary share. Moving on to Slide 5, ESG. Our progress on sustainability is highlighted on Slide 5. We are on track with preparing for our first mandatory ASB S2 climate report this year, having recently completed our risk and opportunities assessment. While recent developments in Europe have resulted in our entities there being out of scope for mandatory reporting, we will continue with our voluntary disclosures beyond climate. Actions across our ESG agenda are tracking well. with some first half highlights, including our food waste reduction program is tracking well with an 8% reduction delivered in Australia and 25% in Europe compared to FY '25. We installed our largest solar installation yet in our new German restaurant in Karlsruhe. We launched a pilot to support restaurant leaders' career development with certified leadership and management diplomas. Our First Nations preemployment program was launched, enabling unemployed use to obtain hospitality skills experience and job opportunities. Investments in safety culture resulted in a 12% drop in recordable injury frequency versus FY '25, and we participated in the inaugural QSR industry roundtable on modern slavery. It's pleasing to report on progress with respect to our sustainability agenda. And with that, I'll now hand over to Andrew Leyden, our Group CFO, to take you through our results for the first half. Andrew Leyden: Thanks, Xavier, and good morning, everyone. Let's move to our group results overview on Slide 7. Revenue in the first half of financial year '26 was up 6.6% over the prior period to $750.3 million. That's a record for Collins, as Xavier stated earlier. This was driven by growth in both Europe and Australia. In addition, the result benefited from favorable currency translation relative to prior year, which contributed $12.7 million to the current year. Our revenue performance overall underlines the benefits of operational execution, of the investment being made in our networks and in technology, the advantages of healthy brand equity and also the resilience of our business at a time where consumers and especially our consumers are still grappling with cost of living pressures. Underlying EBITDA was up 11% to $113.9 million, with margins up 59 basis points. This was a result of a return to same-store sales growth in addition to productivity gains. Underlying EBIT was $63 million, up 20%, reflecting the growth in EBITDA and stable depreciation compared to the half year in financial year '25. And underlying NPAT was $30.8 million, up 29.5% on the prior period. Underlying EPS was $0.261 per share, up from $0.202 per share in the prior period. As Xavier highlighted earlier, we are now publishing return on equity measures on an underlying basis, and this measures the quality of shareholder returns. Return on equity was 14.1% on a trailing 13-period basis, up 190 basis points on the prior corresponding period. Statutory NPAT was $27.2 million, and that compares with $24.1 million in the half year financial year '25. In HY '26, total restaurant impairments were $3.1 million as well as a $1.3 million provision top-up for potential wage underpayments relating to prior years to $10.5 million. With respect to the provision for potential wage underpayments, Collins is committed to meeting its obligations under the Fair Work Act and takes wage compliance very seriously. The company has been reviewing historical employment and wage data to determine whether employees may have been entitled to additional payments. We are constructively and proactively liaising with the Fair Work Ombudsman in relation to these matters and are committed to fully remediating any impacted team members. The process of remediation commenced in November 2025. In September, we announced that we have successfully refinanced our debt facilities, where we also adjusted the blend of Australian dollar and euro borrowings to further support our growth strategy in Australia and moreover, in Europe with more euro-denominated facilities. Net operating cash flows were $69.1 million, down on the prior period due to higher tax payments in the period. Net debt was reduced by $20 million to $138.9 million compared with the half year '25 with strong cash flows funding capital investment, dividend payments for shareholders and also debt reduction, further adding to the group's investment capacity for the future. As referenced earlier, as a result of a strong fiscal position, the Board declared a fully franked interim dividend of $0.13 per share, which is an increase of $0.02 per share on the prior corresponding period. The dividend record date will be the 8th of December 2025 with a payment date of the 5th of January 2026. Now moving to the income statement on Slide 8, which outlines the reconciling items between statutory and underlying results. The most material item impacting the difference between statutory and underlying performance was a $3.1 million impairment on previously impaired restaurants. The group also provided an additional $1.3 million for potential wage underpayments relating to prior years as referred to earlier. Other reconciling items include a small gain on the previous debt refinancing modification and a small gain on the settlement of a Taco Bell lease liability. Underlying EPS was $0.261 per share, whilst basic statutory EPS was $0.23 per share. Now turning to the cash flow on Slide 9. Strong cash generation remains a highly attractive feature of the Collins Foods business. In the half year of '26, net operating cash flows were very strong, a little lower than the prior year by $6.2 million to $69.1 million, with the reduction due to higher tax payments in the first half compared with the first half in the prior year, a result of timing impacts relating to capital expenditure and other deductions, which differed for accounting and tax purposes. Cash conversion was again very strong at 92%. Operating cash flows were applied to fund disciplined investment, dividend payments and net debt reduction. Investing cash outflows were $26.9 million, mainly reflecting capital investment in the store network and digital technology. New restaurant investment was $5.1 million. remodels, including supercharge remodels were $7.3 million and digital and sustainability investments were $1.6 million. Asset renewal spend was $8.9 million. Additionally, contingent consideration of $2.9 million was paid as a result of the acquisition of 8 restaurants in the Netherlands in May 2023. Financing cash outflows were $59.9 million, which included $17.9 million in bank debt repayments, dividend payments of $17 million and lease principal payments of $27.1 million. Net cash movement was an outflow of $17.7 million for the half year compared with a $4.6 million inflow in the half year '25, most of which reflected debt repayment. Now moving to the balance sheet on Slide 10. Collins Foods balance sheet is in exceptional shape and provides capacity for investment in growth opportunities. Net debt was broadly unchanged from the end of financial year '25 at $138.9 million, with cash generation strong and allocation of capital disciplined. Cash balances were down $17.5 million to $101.6 million due to paying down debt since the end of the last financial year. Bank debt fell from $257.2 million at the end of financial year '25 to $238.9 million at the end of the half, a reduction of $18.3 million in the period. Property, plant and equipment was down $7.4 million from financial year '25 to $240 million due to impairment, net of additions and depreciation. Right-of-use assets of $516.1 million and total lease liabilities of $643.3 million, both increased on 3 net restaurant additions and lease renewals. The net leverage ratio ended the period at a very comfortable 0.89, down from 0.93 at the end of financial year '25. And now having covered the financials, I will hand over to Krystal, who will take you through the results and the commentary for KFC Australia. Krystal Zugno: Thank you, Andrew. Moving to Slide 12. Brand strength and improved operational execution saw momentum build in the first half of FY '26, continuing on the strong momentum that we exited FY '25 with. Revenue increased 5% over the prior period to $563.8 million, driven by new restaurants, strong digital growth, product innovation and operational excellence. Same-store sales were up 2.3%, which represents a material positive shift compared to the negative 0.1% same-store sales performance recorded during half year '25. Restaurant-level EBITDA increased by 8.7% to $121.8 million due to stronger store sales and the focus on productivity improvement. This was partially offset by investment in value for our customers through the promotional calendar. EBITDA was up 9.4% to $111.8 million, with margins up 80 basis points on the prior corresponding period to 19.8%. EBIT was 11.6% higher to $75.5 million on the back of increased EBITDA. Turning to Slide 13 and KFC Australia's brand health. Consumer spending remains soft across QSR. However, the KFC brand continues to build on its very strong foundations, positioning itself for continued growth. KFC has delivered several successful limited time offers and strong brand moments like the Christmas in July campaign. These have contributed to the growth in sales and brand health metrics. KFC brand is leading the category across key brand health metrics like consideration, which is a measure of willingness to buy, satisfaction and brand modernity are strong, especially with our Gen Z customers. Today is the launch of Kwench by KFC trial in 7 of the Collins restaurants Cairns. Kwench by KFC is a range of innovative beverages, including lemonades, refreshes and shakes that will not only offer our customers a broader beverage choice, but also upside opportunities and different education for KFC. Slide 14 shows the KFC brand is continuing to outperform its QSR peers. The charts show the impacts of brand campaigns, digital investment, product innovation and everyday value. These have helped continue to build KFC's position ahead of key QSR competitors on brand index, which comprises results across quality, value, reputation, satisfaction, recommendation and impression. This work, combined with back-to-back innovation across items like Habanero Chicken, Zinger Kebab and Sweet Tokyo Hot & Crispy have increased our brand buzz results. Results for Gen Z population remained significantly higher with improved cut-through with these consumers. Turning to Slide 15, where I will provide more details on what we are doing on operational excellence and network investments. With regard to investments in our restaurants, we are still targeting 7 to 10 new restaurants annually and have a development pipeline of now over 50 restaurants. In calendar year 2025, we opened 8 new restaurants and have more to come before the end of 2025. We will have remodeled 37 restaurants, including 4 supercharge remodels by the end of this year. The work we've done across the other 2 columns of the slide has driven an increase in the customer overall satisfaction metric by 5 percentage points over the prior corresponding period. We have elevated performance through delivering innovation across restaurant layout design, driving productivity and increasing capacity in peak periods. This includes things like dual-lane drive-thrus, T-lines kitchen layouts and connected kitchens. We have implemented rostering tools to drive labor efficiency and optimizing our restaurant investments. And all restaurants now have AI-powered forecasting to better predict demand, which in turn will allow us to optimize our customer experience, drive sales and better manage waste and labor. In terms of modernizing the customer experience, we continue to invest in digital, which helps to improve the accessibility to the brand and optimize operational efficiency. We achieved an 8 percentage point uplift compared to last year with 42% of sales now coming through our KFC app, kiosk and delivery channels. Our kiosk rollout to the remaining 87 restaurants is expected to be completed within the next 12 months. Delivery fee for aggregators have been lowered to $395, which is providing customer value as well as helping lift our transaction value. Previously, I spoke about 3 key areas us prioritizing that align with our strategic focus on operations excellence. Firstly, our focus on optimizing operational processes to leverage our digital investments; secondly, unlocking opportunities with AI, particularly through increased sales forecasting accuracy; and lastly, elevating the customer experience. With a solid half year '26 result, I will continue to drive impact across these 3 key priorities moving forward. Our positive start to the second half, which Xavier will outline later in the presentation, reflects a healthy brand and improved operating disciplines. I'm very proud and thankful to our operational team's commitment to operational excellence and delivering great customer experiences reflected in the financial results we are delivering. I'll now hand over to Chris to cover the performance of KFC Europe. Chris Johnson: Thank you, Krystal, and good morning, everyone. Turning now to KFC Europe on Slide 17. Our HY '26 performance reflects a challenging economic environment in Europe, particularly in the Netherlands, which is still experiencing cost of living pressures and inflation. Revenue of $162.9 million was up 14.6% from the same period last year, with same-store sales up 1.4%. There was also a currency benefit in the period, which Andrew took you through earlier. Netherlands same-store sales increased by 0.4%, while Germany was up 4.8%, reflecting improved brand and in-restaurant execution and compare favorably versus the same period last year when same-store sales were in decline in both markets. Leadership and management of the German market reverted back to Yum! -- directly in mid-December last year, and their teams have been fully focused on rebuilding team structures, processes and importantly, are focused on building the brand with significant investments. Pleasingly, we're now seeing positive results of this and our collaboration with Yum! continues to move from strength to strength. EBITDA was up 19.6% to $20.4 million, with margins up 53 basis points to 12.6% due to the return of same-store sales growth and favorable fixed cost leverage. Avian flu-related poultry cost inflation held back the margin improvement, and we expect the effects of this to start to dissipate in early 2026. EBIT of $6.9 million was up 142% over the prior period, reflective of the higher EBITDA. On Slide 18, I'll touch on some of our key priorities in KFC Europe. We're investing in training and people capability, which is improving the team and customer experience in the Netherlands. Pleasingly, we're seeing the result of this with customer satisfaction scores and Google ratings at all-time highs. Similarly to Australia, T-Line kitchen layouts have been well established in the Netherlands, which is improving both speed and accuracy of order with both increasing customer satisfaction. We'll be trialing this initiative in Germany during 2026. We're continuing our digital investments, which is driving transaction volumes with positive customer outcomes. We've increased menu innovation in the Netherlands, which has supported market share gains. Initiatives such as Kipsalon and Kaas Kaas Kass, Cheese Cheese cheese in English have driven consumer engagement. We have also been strong supporters of the marketing calendar pivot in Germany, which continues to drive insight-led innovation. Similar to what Krystal was describing, we are focused on improving sales forecasting in both our European markets to reduce food waste and to improve labor productivity. Finally, we're expecting that poultry prices will ease as the market recovers from the impacts of Avian influenza. Moving to Slide 20 and a more detailed look at our Netherlands operations. We're seeing early positive signs of our efforts to restore higher profitability in the Netherlands. We have a refreshed leadership team and the necessary operational experience and a clear cost focus. We are completely focused on driving same-store sales, improving the team and customer experience, increasing labor productivity and reducing food waste. Through continued investment in marketing, digital and menu innovation, we're elevating the KFC brand and KFC value perception to continue to drive sales. We've also started with portfolio optimization with 2 new developments replacing some of our poorer performing restaurants. In the second half of FY '26, we've opened 2 new restaurants and 1 underperforming restaurant was closed with another to close in the near future. Slide 21 looks at KFC's growing brand strength in the Netherlands. Awareness increased to 72% and our QSR market share increased by 0.3 percentage points to 9.4% over the same period last year. Our improvement in modernity was pleasing, particularly with consumers recognizing KFC as a brand that stays on top of trends. Product innovations, such as the collaboration with Netflix's Squid Game tapped into current pop culture trends and drove engagement with younger consumers. In 2026, we will build on the success we've had in 2025 by using the local insights we've developed to further innovate products, collaborate with the right partners and accelerate the everyday value we offer our customers. Digital channels remain a key contributor to growth, representing almost 67% of all sales in the Netherlands, up 6.5 points on the prior period. This has been driven by investment in kiosks and growth in third-party delivery aggregators. And now turning to Slide 23. I'd like to make a few key points about the German opportunity and how it's progressing. Germany is a significant growth opportunity for Collins. It's the largest economy in Europe where QSR spend is outpacing overall GDP growth. KFC as well as the broader chicken category is significantly underpenetrated in Germany compared to other categories. During the half, we opened our 17th restaurant and are actively building a significant pipeline of development opportunities, including several already approved developments for 2026. We are targeting between 40 and 70 new restaurants over the next 5 years with mid- to single-digit build target for the 2026 calendar year. To enable delivery of this pipeline, we're investing in people capability, especially in the areas of development, construction, area coaches who help us run clusters of restaurants and training to support restaurant operations. We're also open to acquisition opportunities in Germany that can help us drive scale, penetrate complementary geographies and accelerate development in a market that will become our second strategic growth pillar. Back to you, Xavier. Xavier Marie Simonet: Thanks, Chris. Turning now to Taco Bell Australia on Slide 25. Revenue of $23.6 million was down 3.9% over the prior year, with sales impacted by a weaker consumer environment. Due to stronger cost control, the small loss from operations reduced slightly despite lower revenues. The network remains unchanged at 27 restaurants. Discussions regarding transition to new ownership continue, but firm decisions have not yet been made. We will update the market as soon as we have further news to report. Slide 27, which is the outlook. I'd like to provide an update on our outlook for FY '26 as set out on Slide 27. While overall consumer sentiment remains challenging, our stronger performance in the first half continued into the early weeks of the second half with total sales in the first 7 weeks increasing in all markets. We continue to benefit from increased operational focus across the group. KFC Australia's total sales rose 5.3% in the first 7 weeks, while same-store sales were up 3.6%. Operational initiatives and a growing network are expected to drive sales and enhance customer experience. However, performance in the second half will compare with a much stronger performance in the prior period, where we saw a material improvement versus the first half of FY '25. We expect to see continued investment in value for consumers who continue to face cost of living challenges. We also expect to see a return to cost inflation across key commodities, such as poultry after a period of deflation. And inflation continued to be a feature of the Australian labor market. And of course, we are a labor-intensive business. Capital and construction costs also continue to inflate, reflecting an imbalance of supply and demand in the sector, which we are, of course, exposed to. Total sales in the Netherlands for the first 7 weeks increased 5.6% with same-store sales slightly down by 0.5% as a result of tight consumer conditions as indicated by Chris earlier. Improving profitability is a key priority here for us, and we expect operational excellence will improve sales productivity and efficiency in this market. Margins are expected to benefit from improving poultry prices in the second half as the effect of Avian flu dissipates. We'll also focus further on waste and labor optimization and keep G&A tight. Labor inflation remains prevalent in the Dutch market. Total sales in Germany increased 7.8% in the first 7 weeks, while same-store sales were up 2.3%. We continue to focus on operational excellence and good work is taking place on brand and menu innovation, simplification and optimal pricing strategies. Market management capability also will further improve under Yum! stewardship. As in the Netherlands, we expect poultry prices in Germany to reduce in the second half. We expect VAT to fall in early 2026 as a result of the government decision, which will stimulate sales and margin. Yet while there are margin tailwinds, we continue to see pressure on labor costs, which are likely to rise above CPI in 2026. As a result of all those factors and a solid first half result, we are targeting year-on-year group underlying NPAT post AASB 16 growth in the mid- to high teens on a percentage basis, up from the low to mid-teens range previously announced. Finally, I would like to thank our Board for its guidance, our shareholders for their trust and support, our management team and all our team members, particularly our restaurant teams for their motivation, energy and unwavering commitment to our business success. And I'll now pass to Harmony for questions. Operator: [Operator Instructions] Your first question comes from Sean Xu from CLSA. Sean Xu: Can you hear me okay? Xavier Marie Simonet: Yes, very good. Thank you. Sean Xu: It's great to see your Australia same-store sales growth for the 7 weeks into second half is doing even better, very strong this half. My question is around given the cost of living pressure remaining with consumers, I'm just curious to know what sort of the overall promotion intensity in the market you're seeing? And I wonder if the acceleration of the sales growth in the second half come in expenses of profitability. This is referring to the Australian market, please. Krystal Zugno: Sean, I might take off this is Krystal here. What we see in the first 7 weeks of the second half is our continued investment in value, and we will see that continue for the rest of this financial year. But that's been supported by strong LTO offers as well that have really driven transaction driving transactions into the business as well. So it is true that we are investing in value still, but the LTO calendars are quite strong in innovation plays. Xavier, Do you want to add something? Xavier Marie Simonet: No, just defining LTO. Krystal Zugno: Sorry. LTO is limited time offer. Stop there. Sean Xu: Maybe, If I can add, If I can add... Xavier Marie Simonet: If something, Sean -- we've also done a lot of work on everyday value and making sure that we deliver to customers everyday value, which means avoiding big peaks and troughs, but focusing on bundled deals and activities that deliver value for our customers in the restaurants every day. Sean Xu: Yes. That's very clear. If I can just follow up, this is more about your medium to longer-term outlook in Australia. I'm just curious to know what's your approach to drive additional growth in Australia in a quite penetrated market. The recent industry feedback is some of your competitors are paying very, very expensive rent for quality sites. I'm just curious to know how sustainable is your annual store opening target while maintaining a similar margin profile? Andrew Leyden: Sean, Yes, look, I think the long-term projections for our business, I mean, we think about same-store sales growth is critically important, I think, just for the overall health of the network. So that, both from a brand perspective and from an operational perspective is a real -- it is the main focus for our business, always should be. Other elements, of course, are really making sure that the margin structures remain healthy, whether that be labor, whether that be cost of sales. And then capital expenditure, of course. And yes, we've been competing with competitors for sites for a long time. I mean that's not a new trend. It's with us, it's present. We compete the sites with other QSR operators. In fact, we often compete together for the same sites. We often co-reside on the same sites. And in fact, we quite like that because those sites become a destination for QSR-centric consumers. So I think it's just kind of business as usual in our -- in the sort of -- in the QSR segment that we operate in. I think the good thing is that we offer value, we offer affordable value. We appeal to a lot of consumers. We have scale in our business. We've got repeatability. We have an extremely strong brand. And if you think about the long-term trajectory of the brand, there's clearly a lot going on in terms of improving brand health. That's evident in the numbers now, but that focus won't dissipate. And there's a lot that we're looking at in terms of what news we can bring to the brand. We talked about Kwench a little earlier. We talked about the fact that we don't compete in all the dayparts around -- and this is an international issue. We don't compete in all the dayparts, which some of our competitors do. So there's upside for us. And I think managing the financial structure of the business and managing capital expenditure and making sure all those things remain in balance is critically important to us. Xavier Marie Simonet: And Sean, if I can add a couple of things. What has driven sales and margin growth for us in the first half of FY '26 is operational excellence and the focus we're putting on executing really well in the restaurants. It's about leadership, it's about processes. It's about driving all the KPIs in the restaurants and enhancing customer experience and unlocking capacity as well. So that's one, and we'll continue doing that. The second aspect is, of course, product launches and activities around motivating customers to come to our restaurants and getting them excited through social media and digital marketing, which we're doing particularly with Yum!. Product launches, new product launches is, of course, a big lever as well. Operator: Your next question comes from Tim Plumbe from UBS. Tim Plumbe: Two questions from me, if that's all right. First one around KFC Australia, it's a bit of a continuation from Sean's question. So obviously, a lot of moving parts within the business. But very high level, is it fair to say that it sounds like you're kind of seeing a continuation of the same sort of consumer environment and the competitive environment that you experienced in the first half of '26 and a similar COGS environment? And if that is the case, if we look back historically, pre-AASB 16 EBITDA throughout the years, the first half split has kind of been between like 46% and 48% of the full year. All else equal, are there any factors that we need to take into consideration that would materially change that kind of 47% first half skew, like a bigger uplift to marketing than you would usually have in the second half? Xavier Marie Simonet: So I'll make a comment on consumer sentiment and then hand over to Andrew. Consumer sentiment is lifting a little, but we do not see a meaningful change. And we're concerned about interest rate increases or the fact that interest rates are not continuing to go down at pace. So I don't think in the first half that an uplift in consumer sentiment has actually driven much for us. I think our sales growth and margin growth results more from the focus on operational excellence and successful product launches. I don't see much improvement in consumer sentiment to tell you the truth. Andrew Leyden: Yes. And maybe just to follow on, Simon. I know you and I had a brief conversation earlier. I think if you look at what's happening first half to second half, I think consumer sentiment is actually one of the things that's playing out in terms of implied assumptions within our outlook. We think consumers are still struggling with cost of living. We continue to provide value as a consequence of that. Typically, as well, we do have a bit of seasonality in our business. So we talked about the long-term outlook for the brand with Sean's question earlier. But first half, second half, we would typically see a bit of a dip in margins H2 to H1. It's primarily driven by the number of public holidays. It sounds like a strange thing, but we have a lot more public holidays in the second half and we pay premium rates. in those periods, and that affects our restaurant profitability in the second half. I mentioned as well that cost inflation will become a feature again. I'm not suggesting it will be pronounced. I'm talking about normal modest levels of cost inflation. And we expect that to start to impact the business at the end of the first quarter. And remember, at the same time in the prior year, we started to see cost deflation. So we do see that reversing a little bit as well in the second half. So -- and of course, labor inflation continues to prevail across the QSR industry. That's -- the reason why we focus on productivity is because rate is an issue that we have to deal with in all parts of our business. So I think the long-term prognosis around balancing same-store sales and productivity and the economics of restaurants and capital expenditure is, as I mentioned with the question we responded to with Sean, I think there is clearly a first half, second half change with respect to some of those factors that I just mentioned there. But overall, it's good to -- it's been good to sort of upgrade our guidance for the full year. I think appropriately, we've reflected that in our announcement this morning as well. Tim Plumbe: Great. That's useful. Then just the second question around KFC Europe. Again, a more challenging top line. The European business comes up against marginally tougher comps in the second half of '26. But then offsetting that, you guys have got cost relief, as you mentioned, particularly in terms of chicken. You've spoken about year-on-year margin improvement. If you take all of that into the mix, is it still the intention to get EBITDA growth year-on-year? So is the cost improvement enough to offset the slightly more challenging top line? Chris Johnson: Sean, it's Chris. Thanks for the question. Short answer is yes. We -- sorry, Tim, yes, we definitely do, and that's in both Germany and in the Netherlands. The VAT reduction in Germany is anticipated. And we've modeled with Yum! scenario where it will be in play from January 1 and what that means for menu board pricing and margin and what if -- and if it's not in place for January 1. So outside of that externality with near flat year-to-date same-store sales growth in the Netherlands as poultry prices glide down, we do foresee margin expansion, and that's true in Germany as well. Operator: Your next question comes from Tom Kierath from Barrenjoey. Thomas Kierath: Just on the trading update, I noticed there's a bit of a slowdown across Europe, Netherlands and Germany. Can you maybe just talk to what the drivers are there? Is it kind of broader market or whether you think it's kind of specific to your business? Chris Johnson: Tom, it's calendar driven. So in the German context, it's the 7 weeks that we've provided for H2 to date spans the back end of Window 7 and Window 8 has just started. And then the same holds true in the Netherlands, although in the Dutch context, cost of living pressures and the QSR category under overarching pressure is the main driver. As I said earlier, of course, we're quite happy that KFC has grown its market share even though QSR as a whole is under pressure. But we do see both in the German context with Yum! now back in the market and also just a different view on the length of calendar windows and LTO -- sorry, limited time offer introductions in the Netherlands that we're well placed to take advantage of the January windows that start with value across both markets. Thomas Kierath: Yes. Okay. Cool. And then like reading between the lines, you're saying Netherlands margins will be up or you're targeting them to be up and the same with Germany, but you're not actually saying that in Australia in the second half, and you're actually commenting about commodity inflation. Like is it fair to assume that maybe expanding margins in the second half is going to be difficult? Like is in -- is that the right interpretation of that [indiscernible]? Andrew Leyden: Yes. Tom put simply, yes. I mean we -- seasonally, we tend to see lower margins in the second half than we do in the first. That doesn't change our long-term trajectory, of course, that remains, as I mentioned earlier, where we're focused on driving same-store sales revenue entering dayparts, focusing on beverages, that sort of thing. But in the short term, yes, we do seasonally see a bit of a dip in margins in the second half. It's primarily driven by the timing of certain events, but also things like commodity changes, but also the number of public holidays. It just affects the labor rates that we pay, and we tend to see a bit of margin contraction in the second half as a consequence of that. So yes, I mean, your assertion is correct. Thomas Kierath: And what about sort of year-on-year, like I get the whole second half versus first half, what about second half versus second half. Andrew Leyden: I think as we mentioned earlier, we're just a little cautious about how the consumer is feeling right now. We had a good second half last year. We're just a little -- fluid is probably too strong, but we're just keeping an eye on consumer sentiment. We are going to have to support the limited time offers with investments in value. We found that as we -- towards the late part of the first half as well, we've seen more investment in value. So we're just looking and watching to see how the consumer is responding to promotion. And then obviously, there's a degree of flexing that takes place in terms of investments in value. Operator: Your next question comes from Caleb Wheatley from Macquarie. Caleb Wheatley: My first question on this value discussion, which has come up a few times already. But just keen to hear if you had any additional comments on how your peers are responding to the environment from a competition point of view? And any additional comments you can make on pricing or promotional intentions going into the second half, i.e., is it potentially going to get worse before it gets better in terms of the value that you're trying to offer to your customers, please? Xavier Marie Simonet: Maybe I'll start. got a few key focus areas. One is we still see immense value in driving operational excellence, and there are still improvements we can make across Australia and Europe. So we see immense value, and we've shown that over the last few months. The second point is we've got exciting product launches happening also in the second half. This is -- as we've experienced in the first half, this is delivering strong potential sales growth as well as engagement with customer and good customer experience. In terms of value, as Andrew mentioned, yes, we're cautious about consumer sentiment and how things are going to evolve in terms of macroeconomics, particularly with interest rates because this will have an impact positive or negative on our activity and we'll adjust also the value we need to deliver to our customers. So we don't know how it's going to pan out. We're just very cautious. But with a strong focus, again, on the value we can still deliver through operational excellence and through successful product launches. And Krystal mentioned Kwench. So we're launching Kwench as a new product platform for trial in 7 stores in Cairns with Yum!. This week. It's really exciting. We'll see what that outcome is, but the focus on launching new platforms, new products, new dayparts is something we're focusing on with Yum!, and we'll see how it goes in Cairns. Caleb Wheatley: Yes. Do you get the sense that your peers on the more sort of value end of the QSR channel are also pushing quite hard on price? Just sort of trying to get a feel for if there's sort of broader pricing pressures or this is more just a deliberate internal decision from Collins. Krystal Zugno: Caleb, it's Krystal. I think the QSR landscape has been highly value-driven for quite some time now considering the consumer sentiment. I don't see -- I don't think that our competitors have changed direction from what they had been doing the last 6 to 12 months. However, we are seeing price increases taken from our competitors at different points in time and what they see fit. The decision on how we structure our calendar and how we approach value is not done by Collins, that's done by Yum!, and we sit on the council to help assist with those decisions. We've got a customer-first mindset on those sorts of decisions. So anything to do with pricing, anything to do with value plays and our innovative calendar is all driven by what we think the consumers are saying they want to need in that time period. And we can be agile, as i said before. So if we need to, we can pivot on those decisions to kind of go with what the trends are coming through in the numbers. Andrew Leyden: Caleb, the only thing I was going to add was value means different things to different consumers. And some consumers want abundant value, others want a sharp price. Others want really interesting bundles that stimulate them. It means different things to different people. I think it's more of a nuanced conversation than just making an assumption that we're dropping prices because that's really not the case. It's a complex set of conversations that ultimately leads to the way that we present LTOs, or limited time offers and then how we support them with value-based promotions. Xavier Marie Simonet: And Caleb, if I can add something. Yes, we're cautious about consumer sentiment. But the backdrop is we've got a very strong brand and brand health metrics for KFC in Australia and Europe are very, very strong. Engagement with consumers, social media and digital marketing advertising is very strong. We're launching new exciting products and going to continue doing that. In the first half, they've really shown success. We're testing Kwench. We're focusing on operational excellence and customer engagement, unlocking capacity. So there's a lot going on that gives us confidence that we can make a difference, of course, within the context that consumer sentiment is still a question mark. Caleb Wheatley: Okay. That's clear, very detailed. And just a final very quick one, maybe one for Chris. avian flu benefit called out seems like it's going to be quite meaningful. Can you just give us a sense for what the impact was of avian flu when it first started to hit in terms of the cost increase there? Just trying to get a sense for kind of what the leverage is as we're now rolling out of it on the other side, please? Chris Johnson: Caleb, thanks for the question. We haven't shared what the impact was. It was different across our 2 geographies. It was more pronounced in Germany, and that's purely given source of supply from Polish poultry was higher in Germany. In terms of restitution, the glide path is starting in terms of pricing coming down. Yum! working really hard, and they run and manage the system supply chain across Continental Europe, working really hard on not only pricing for the existing supply but also -- diversification Caleb, which is probably the one big learning that came out of this whole process was there are other low-cost producing markets out there that KFC should or could target from. We're not, at this stage, sharing where we'll end up in terms of the avian flu upside, but it started and will continue into early 2026. Xavier Marie Simonet: Okay. Great. Thank you. We've got a few more questions. We've got 5 to 10 minutes max. So we'll try to answer your questions as much as possible. Operator: Your next question is from Ben Gilbert from Jarden. Ben Gilbert: So I try to be quick, just two questions. So I appreciate all the comments we made around macro. But it feels to me, looking at the numbers, looking at the NPD pipeline in terms of new menu launches there the case to be more optimistic today for the outlook for Australian 6 months ago. Is that fair? Because that's how Yum!'s comments for the other day with the update talking to Australia as well. Andrew Leyden: Just repeat that. Sorry, I didn't quite catch the question. Ben Gilbert: I'm just -- there's obviously a bit of discussion around macro. My -- if I look at your numbers and then I tie that in with the numbers that Yum! -- has put out and you talk to the pipeline of products coming through, it feels to me there's a case to be more optimistic about the next 6 months for Australian QSR and KFC space than there was probably, say, 6 to 12 months ago. Is that fair? Andrew Leyden: I'm going to invite Krystal to talk to the Australian position. I think if you look at the strength of the brand, I think we'd all love to see higher levels of same-store sales growth because the brand is in really good health. And if you think about the opportunities ahead of us, we talked about Kwench, we talked about dayparts and coupled with the strength of the brand, which has been -- that's a trend that's been in place for quite some time. We'd all love to see same-store sales growth. You can see that we're still hovering between 2% and 3% at the moment. So despite all the good news in the LTOs, and we're still running at that level. In the first 7 weeks are at that level. We feel optimistic and confident, but I think we've still got to convert that into same-store sales performance at a higher level. I don't know whether that's something that you want to talk to, Krystal? Krystal Zugno: Yes. I think just to add to that, then, something that we might have said a little bit earlier, but the same-store sales growth that we've experienced in the first half and even in the first 7 weeks of this half, it has come as a mixture of the innovative calendar that we are excited about, but also our continued investment in value. And while that continued investment in value will always be there in the everyday value calendar, there have been times where we needed to really add that up with the consumer sentiment being where it is. And that's where the hesitancy comes in for what's to come in the next couple of months. So while we're confident in the innovative calendar, we also haven't seen it -- we haven't had the opportunity to remove the level of investment in value yet, and we don't see that coming in the foreseeable future. Ben Gilbert: That's really -- that's helpful. That's clear. And then just second one quickly. Just with the VAT change in Germany, it's obviously a pretty material part. Is the view in the market because some of your competitors seem to be talking about the ability to take some price and not necessarily pass the full reduction through. Do you think that's sort of where the market is going to be leaning in Germany from Jan 1st? Chris Johnson: Ben, so we don't know. It would be the short answer is we don't have clear line of sight into what the big 2 players are doing. From a KFC perspective, like I shared earlier, we have modeled with a third-party, Simon Kocher, who -- Yum! have engaged to help us with a country-wide view on pricing and tiered pricing, what it could mean for us. I think it would be fair to say that we don't anticipate brands being able to take the full price to the bottom line. And that I think consumers, as it's highly publicized, as you can imagine, that consumers would be expecting for something to be given back. What that looks like, we'll all have to wait and see until January 1st, KFC included. But it wouldn't be fair to model the full flow-through of the VAT decrease. And again, just as a reminder, it's only on the dine-in portion of the sales mix. And yes, the government have proposed it moves from 19% to 7%. Operator: Your next question comes from James Ferrier from Canaccord Genuity. James Ferrier: Maybe one for Chris to start with in relation to Germany. You're referring to bolt-on acquisitions there to broaden the geographic presence. Is that within the 2 existing states that you're currently focused on? Or are you looking to move into other states with that comment? Chris Johnson: James, thanks for the question. I think primarily, we're looking for acquisitions that would make sense. We have, of course, our 2 hubs in North Rhine Westphalia and Baden-Württemberg. We'd be open to states that would open up significant geographies for us to further build out. and not acquisition just to sit on our hands. However, that being said, our primary focus, of course, is organic growth, and that's what we've shared. We're well underway in terms of building out that pipeline and the new build numbers for next year. James Ferrier: And is your pipeline only focused on those 2 states, i.e., would you need bolt-ons to go into new states? Or are you looking at greenfield in new states as well? Chris Johnson: As it stands, we're focusing solely on North Rhine Westphalia and Baden-Württemberg, so the 2 states where we're in today, and that allows us to leverage our current operational expertise and the resources that sit within those markets. James Ferrier: Understood. And then second question, maybe for Krystal. It's been a few months now since the change in the delivery fee structure in Australia. I'm interested in what sort of change you've seen in the sales growth for that channel, in particular? Is it just the basket going up given the menu price adjustments that have been made? Or have you seen transaction growth accelerate as a consequence of that lower delivery fee? Krystal Zugno: Yes. Thanks, James. So we've seen a few things happen since the first transition for DoorDash was 1st of July and then Uber came a little bit after that. In both instances, we did see transactions go up as well as the basket size increase, which what you alluded to is correct through the pricing increase on the platform as well. So we've actually seen both. Our mix in delivery has increased around 2% since both DoorDash and Uber move the pricing. So we're excited by those changes actually and how that's transforming our business and operations are being able to cope with those delivery orders coming through the channel. Xavier Marie Simonet: Thanks, James. I'm afraid Harmony, we've got to wrap up. And unfortunately, close the meeting. Thank you very much for joining and looking forward to the roadshow this week. Operator: And that does conclude our conference for today. Thank you for participating. You may now disconnect.
Jakob Sigurdsson: Those here in the room at JPMorgan in London and those joining us online as well to Victrex's full year results presentation for 2025. I'm Jakob Sigurdsson, CEO of Victrex. Before we turn to the results summary in what has been a particularly challenging year for Victrex and of course, the chemical industry at large, I do want to highlight a couple of slides on Slides 2 and 3 in the presentation, and we'll call them out as we go along to put things in perspective. And I also tell you a little bit about how we are addressing the challenges we faced in FY '25 and continue to face, but underline that the long-term prospects and opportunity for Victrex remain very strong. We are addressing these ongoing challenges, and we have been doing that in the past couple of years as well. We're also announcing a profit improvement plan today that builds on our self-help in 2025, but also leverages the recent investments in infrastructure, foundational investments like digital and other things to make us more efficient. We've now concluded those investments, as you clearly see in our CapEx profile and are now continuing to drive improvements on the back of these in many different areas. But it is very important to note that we do remain a world leader in PEEK. Nobody has more experience with application development in PEEK. Nobody has more data on how PEEK is produced, how it processes and what needs to be considered when converting it into performing parts and forms. We have a large addressable market, probably 5x what we're seeing being sold today and very well aligned to strong megatrends, whether they are metal replacement or striving for clinical benefits on the behalf of patients. And with a very differentiated portfolio around which we've built a good intellectual property estate that will give us a sustainable competitive advantage going forward as well. In what has been a particularly challenging year, it is important that we don't overlook the long-term potential of this business. Turning to Slide 4. Ian Melling, our CFO; and Andrew Hanson, our IR Director, are with me here today. A copy of our presentation is on our website at www.victrexplc.com under the Investors tab and by clicking on Reports and Presentations. In terms of format, I will call out the slide number when we are speaking. I will start the presentation with a headline summary of the results. Ian will then cover the financial results in detail, our profit improvement plan and our outlook summary. And towards the end, I will summarize business performance. And finally, we'll finish with a Q&A. Questions from the room first before we take any questions from those that are on the call. So headlines for FY '25 ever so briefly, strong volume growth in the year. Sales volume up 12%, primarily driven by value-added resellers and Energy and Industrial. Momentum was maintained during the second half at volume level overall. Underlying PBT was impacted by currency, which Ian will cover in detail later on by sales mix with stronger [ RAS ] and also within Medical, weaker medical spine and also impacted by the annualized start-up costs from our new China manufacturing facility. It is worth noting that we did deliver half 2 profit before tax in line with half 1 and in line with our latest guidance. On cash conversion, we delivered another strong performance, reflecting strong working capital management, resulting in operating cash conversion of 121%. And this obviously was impacted by a significant reduction in our capital expenditures as well, which have been coming down ever since FY '23, and we've talked about it in the past in detail. Ian will cover our profit improvement plan with a headline of at least GBP 10 million savings being targeted. This further builds on the self-help actions we've implemented in FY '25 and the recent foundational investments in infrastructure and technology to make us more efficient. We've also reviewed our capital allocation policy, and Ian will cover that in greater detail as well. And finally, our outlook for FY '26 is that we're targeting, I would say, solid progress on the top line as well as the bottom line, and we will add more color to that as well when we cover the presentation to Ian and myself. So I'll now hand it over to Ian for the financial outcomes. Ian Melling: Thank you, Jakob, and good morning, everyone. We'll start on Slide 7 with the financial results in detail, and then I'll cover our profit improvement plan and the additional actions we are putting in place as we look to drive operational and financial improvement. And finally, we will conclude with our FY '26 guidance and outlook. I'll then hand back to Jakob for the business review. So starting on Slide 7 with the income statement. As Jakob has noted, it was a particularly challenging year for Victrex at a profit level despite delivering strong sales volume, up 12% at 4,164 tonnes. The volume growth was driven primarily by VARs and Energy & Industrial. As a consequence of a softer mix and a weaker performance in Medical Spine, revenue was up 1% at GBP 292.7 million or up 3% in constant currency as currency weighed on our full year revenues. I'll come back to sales mix shortly. The divisional revenue summaries are shown in the appendix on Slide 26, with Sustainable Solutions revenue up 2% and Medical revenues down 5% driven by much weaker Medical Spine. Non-Spine revenues were up 7% with broad-based growth and a much more diverse range of applications. Moving on to gross profit, which was 1% lower than the prior year at GBP 132.6 million. This is after the effect of the gain on currency contracts of GBP 3.7 million. Gross profit in constant currency was up 5%. Gross profit was impacted by currency, by the softer average selling price and by the annualized costs from our new China manufacturing facility as well as wage inflation. Our Panjin facility in China accounted for a GBP 3.7 million higher loss year-on-year, reflecting the annualization effect with this facility coming online in H2 2024. For the year as a whole in FY '25, this was an GBP 8 million loss, in line with our latest guidance. I do want to call out how we saw a lower cost of manufacture elsewhere in our asset base, driven by higher asset utilization, along with some raw material savings. I'll cover the detailed movements on the next slide. Gross margin was down 90 basis points at 45.3%. I'll come back to this shortly with China plant costs, mix and currency being the key items impacting gross margin. Turning to overheads. Overheads for the year were up 14% or 2% when excluding the impact of wage inflation, the employer national insurance increase, partial bonus payments based primarily on strong cash conversion, the first for 3 years. The largest element was noncash charges for employee share schemes and employee retention. We retained tight cost control, including on recruitment and discretionary spend with the areas that did increase focused on customer programs. Interest was an expense of GBP 2 million in the year compared to GBP 1.2 million in the prior year as our China loan interest was capitalized in H1 FY '24. We expect interest expense will be at a similar level in FY '26. After the GBP 8 million impact to PBT from currency, the resulting underlying profit before tax was GBP 46.4 million, down 21% and down 10% in constant currency. Reported PBT was GBP 33.8 million, up 44% as our exceptional items were materially lower than the prior year at GBP 12.6 million. These comprise the final part of our ERP investment, business improvement costs aligned to Project Vista, which saw strong volume growth as well as sales pipeline growth and procurement savings and a noncash impairment of GBP 4 million for our Surface Generation investment. Underlying earnings per share of 43.9p was down 15%, slightly better than the movement in underlying PBT. The resulting effective tax rate was 23.9% versus 22.2% in the prior year. This reflects the lower proportion of profits being eligible for the Patent Box rate when profits are suppressed. This rate is above our midterm guidance of 15% to 19%. And the effective rate in FY '26 is again expected to exceed the top end of this range, unrecognized tax losses in China and the proportion of profits available for U.K. Patent Box being the key drivers. Turning finally to our dividend. The Board are pleased to maintain the final dividend of 46.14p per share. I'll come back to our updated capital allocation policy later. Slide 8 shows the underlying year-on-year PBT movements. Looking at the key movements beyond currency, which was GBP 8 million adverse. Thanks to an increase in production volumes through the plants, asset utilization saw a GBP 6 million benefit. FY '24 saw a significant inventory unwind, which explains the materially lower production in the prior year. Raw materials saw a year-on-year benefit of GBP 4.7 million. Sustainable Solutions growth drove a GBP 2.5 million year-on-year improvement to profit net of price and mix. Operating overheads I already touched on, with the impact of wage inflation and partial reward being the main element impacting profits by GBP 4.8 million. Employee retention-driven share schemes were an incremental GBP 3.7 million following the prior year where release of previous accruals meant almost 0 net cost. Our China plant start-up and the annualization effects, including depreciation and costs being expensed for the full year was a GBP 3.7 million adverse impact versus FY '24. Medical was a year-on-year adverse profit impact of GBP 2.4 million, driven by Spine declining as the continued effect of titanium regaining share in the U.S. caused by 3D printed and expandable spinal cages as well as some of the volume-based procurement challenges in China impacted us. Jakob will expand on this later, along with the positive progress in non-spine, which is an exciting area for us as we open up even more new applications. Growth investment of GBP 2.6 million was principally supporting our customer-facing functions as well as some incremental investment in our medical acceleration program with our product development center in Leeds. With the resulting annualization of interest expense, this led to PBT of GBP 46.4 million with H2 PBT being in line with H1 as per our most recent guidance. Turning to Slide 9 and ASP. We can see the movements in average selling price, which was down 10% in the year from GBP 78 per kilogram to GBP 70.3 per kilogram, driven by sales mix, end market, product and customer mix and currency. Constant currency ASP was down 7%. Approximately 80% of the total year-on-year movement was due to mix and currency, with mix most heavily impacted by the strength in VARs within Sustainable Solutions and the weakness in Spine within Medical. VARs and Energy & Industrial were the source of the majority of the price impacts, whilst like-for-like pricing in other key end markets remains robust. Where price did decline, this reflected some incremental price competition in VARs as we signaled earlier in the year or where we targeted regaining business in the likes of Energy and Industrial. Jakob will cover the key role that VARs play in our value chain to drive new uses for PEEK later. A very brief word on midterm pricing as shown on Slide 10, with mix and currency being the main drivers on ASP in FY '24 to '25. If we look over the past 5 financial years, we see a very similar picture with a very small impact from price, customer and end market mix, offset by a positive change in divisional mix. In summary, a medium-term view of our business shows that mix and currency have been the key drivers on our average selling price. Whilst we have been successful at price pass-through to customers, particularly following the energy price crisis, we have also retained or regained business within specific end markets with some impact on price. Moving to gross margin on Slide 11. Starting with the prior year of 46.2%, currency was a 150 basis points adverse impact to gross margin, reflecting the sizable headwind we saw this year. Our China plant start-up impacted gross margin by 120 basis points. Remember, we've seen some gradual operational improvements in this facility during the year, but production volumes were still only around 50 tonnes, so a very low level of utilization. Mix and price within Sustainable Solutions dragged on gross margin by 90 basis points with the adverse mix in Medical being an impact of 60 basis points. On the positive movements, raw material cost savings added 130 basis points with the higher asset utilization helping us by 200 basis points. A brief word on the gross margin, excluding our China manufacturing facility. This was 47.7% versus the reported 45.3%. So overall, the China plant is a 240 basis point drag on gross margin for the group, which we will look to overcome in the coming years. Finally, the chart does show the indicative drivers for our gross margin in FY '26 based on latest assumptions. I'll cover the overall guidance summary shortly. Moving on to cash flow, which is shown on Slide 12. The main headline is a strong cash conversion at 121%, a key measure of our cash flow efficiency and a positive result for our business. This is one of our key strategic objectives in the organization, which employees are fully focused on. Looking at the key movements from operating profit or EBIT of GBP 48.4 million, we incurred depreciation of GBP 25 million, an increase of GBP 1.7 million on the prior year, driven by the new China plant. Working capital was an inflow of GBP 7 million, driven by a further inventory reduction of GBP 5.4 million. Remember, we had a much higher inventory position at the end of FY '23, GBP 134.5 million. So the reduction in inventory this year, whilst pleasing, was not as sizable as FY '24. We do have an opportunity to further reduce inventory whilst noting that our reputation for delivery is valued by our customers and that we have a broader geographic base and portfolio than we have historically. On CapEx, we tightly managed key capital expenditure this year and continue to do so. We're obviously pleased to move beyond the period of heavy investment in capacity and capability. CapEx was GBP 21.8 million, a reduction of 33%, meaning that CapEx represented 7% of revenues, below the lower end of our guidance of 8% to 10%. This resulted in operating cash flow of GBP 58.6 million compared to GBP 68.5 million in the prior year. Cash tax totaled GBP 4.4 million, similar to last year. Cash exceptional items of GBP 9 million were marginally lower than FY '24 and primarily related to our ERP system, which includes ancillary systems such as CRM and Project Vista costs. Our digital investment is supporting a number of business process improvements and an ability to support and serve customers better, for example, through digital approaches to R&D. As a result, free cash flow was slightly lower than FY '24 at GBP 49.3 million versus GBP 51.4 million in the prior year. Of the other movements on dividends, we maintained the FY '24 final dividend and paid the FY '25 interim dividend, which represents the GBP 51.8 million shown on the chart. With exchange movements, our closing position saw us with cash of GBP 24.2 million versus the prior year at GBP 29.3 million, giving a net debt of GBP 24.8 million, GBP 3.7 million higher than the prior year. Net debt to EBITDA was 0.34x at the end of '25, an increase of from 0.25x at the end of FY '24. Finally, on our RCF, although we did have to draw on these facilities during the year, we repaid the facility back by the end of FY '25. Slide 13 covers our updated capital allocation policy, which I'd like to spend some brief time on. Firstly, we're reflecting all of our stakeholders' interest by targeting a new net debt-to-EBITDA range of 0.5x to 1x. This is a commitment to the strong balance sheet Victrex is known for. As a result, we are pleased to maintain the FY '25 final dividend at FY '24 levels of 46.14p per share. Dividends will be maintained at the current level as long as we do not exceed the 0.5:1 net debt-to-EBITDA range. Any excess cash can be returned via share buybacks or special dividends when net debt-to-EBITDA moves sustainably below 0.5x. We will secure additional term debt prior to payment of the final dividend in February 2026 to reduce the reliance on the RCF to pay the dividend. As shown on the chart, we will also maintain CapEx at 8% to 10% of revenues, though in the short term, we expect to be at or below the lower end of this range. Investment remains focused on growth or capability with medical acceleration, a recent example of where we've invested to support specific growth programs or to support customer scale-up. Overall, we believe this offers a resilient capital allocation framework suited to our business. This allows us to maintain balance sheet strength, noting the interest of all stakeholders. Turning to Slide 14. Alongside our revised capital allocation policy, we will be taking more extensive and incremental actions in FY '26 to improve operational and financial performance. In FY '25, we focused on self-help through our Project Vista go-to-market programs, primarily helping us to improve our sales efforts, including through the use of digital tools with customers and sales excellence, delivering strong sales volumes to record a record annual increase in our sales pipeline, which was up 16 -- sorry, 18% in the year to focus on operating efficiency, where we drove a lower cost of manufacture, including GBP 2 million of annualized procurement savings in addition to those on raw materials. Cost control remained tight, including on CapEx and for discretionary spend. So for FY '26, we will be going further, focusing our profit improvement plan around three main areas. How we can simplify our portfolio. How we can drive an even better operational performance, not just through volume leverage and efficiency, but by transforming our operational processes and through our overhead cost base alongside leveraging our D365 ERP system and thereby reducing SG&A costs. Overall, we're targeting at least GBP 10 million of savings with the majority of these to be delivered as full year benefit in FY '27 coming from these three areas. We will start to implement these actions through FY '26 with some early benefits in H2 2026. Wrapping up on Slide 15, I'd like to summarize our guidance, which mirrors our outlook statement within our announcement. Firstly, on volumes, whilst we're mindful of the wider economic environment, we are targeting low to mid-single-digit growth. ASP, we expect to be similar to FY '25 based on current trends. Medical Spine remains weak and Sustainable Solutions is seeing a similar end market mix as we saw in the final quarter of FY '25. At the margin level, we will be targeting some additional inventory unwind, meaning that production volumes will be broadly similar to FY '25 based on our current sales plan. We will continue to see some modest benefit from continuous improvement and procurement initiatives, including those from Project Vista. The China plant will not be a big driver of margin as it remains significantly underutilized despite sales starting to ramp. Consequently, gross margin percentage, we anticipate being flat to slightly ahead. On OpEx, we continue to retain discipline with a lower pay rise in FY '26 and then starting to see some small benefits from the profit improvement plan in the second half. On cash flow, we are targeting continued strong cash conversion with CapEx discipline and inventory reduction. In summary, we are mindful of the macro environment, particularly after a challenging year. We're targeting solid progress versus FY '25. And based on our current assumptions, we would anticipate this being second half weighted, reflecting the usual seasonality in H1 alongside a slightly higher currency headwind in the first half. With that, I'll hand back to Jakob. Jakob Sigurdsson: Thank you, Ian. So moving to Slide 17. Sustainable Solutions, good progress in the year, driven by VARs and Energy Industrial, with notable progress on milestones in other end markets as well, even if some of these end markets do remain challenging. So let's look at them individually. Aerospace. At the half year, volumes were up 7%, but we did see supply chain challenges in the second half at the 2 key OEMs, consequently facing off some business into 2026. So volumes for the year were 2% down in Aerospace. As we will cover shortly, the outlook for aerospace is optimistic for FY '26. Build rates are forecasted to increase in some models, particularly at Boeing with 737. We also note that COMAC deliveries in China have been slower than anticipated this year. They build 25 planes versus 75 as a target. And remember that Victrex has a sizable set of volumes in each 919 aircraft. The deliveries have been reined back for the current year. We see these factors as short-term supply chain driven and note that COMAC is expected as an example, to increase deliveries over the next couple of years significantly. And on Advanced Air Mobility, I do also want to flag that we won new business in this area during FY '25. This is all based on our composite technology as well as our parts capability at our Rhode Island facility. All of which are driven by our low-melt PEEK technology in several applications where especially designed polymer for easier processing has really been getting very strong attention. The potential in Advanced Air Mobility using Victrex PEEK and the aim of some of these being launched in time for the Los Angeles Olympics in 2028, as an example, the certification progressing well in different global regions, positioning ourselves exceptionally well for future technology developments in the area. Turning to automotive. As most companies have signals, we know that uncertainty driven by tariffs and global demand has had an impact in this market. Our volumes were down 1% after a better second half in auto for us. Half 2 volumes were actually up 1% but reflecting some of the challenges in the industry. If we look at the market data, I think S&P is forecasting a production of around 91 million cars in 2025, a modest increase on the year before and a similar increase going into 2026. This is in contrast with 2018 when you had roughly 96 million cars being produced. So we are quite far away from that peak yet. We do remain closely aligned to auto growth in China, particularly. And just as a recap, our auto business in China in 2019 was around 11% of our overall volumes in auto that year. It's now close to 27%. And if we include Korea and Japan, the corresponding figures between 2019 and 2025 have moved from 43% to 55% and our auto business in China has roughly tripled since 2019. So we remain well placed across a number of different platforms and applications, but also in the geographic shift that we're seeing in the automotive industry. Briefly on e-mobility, we didn't see the quicker adoption of the new 800-volt platforms this year. So e-mobility revenues were actually down slightly year-on-year. The long-term opportunity to increase PEEK penetration across this new platform does remain strong, however. And in fact, we've got qualifications on several new platforms during the year that will be coming through to support midterm growth. If we then move to Energy & Industrial, volumes here up 17% and the activity levels have increased in this space during the year, particularly in the second half. It's worth keeping in mind that energy is around 40% of this end market overall with industrial being the majority. As it relates to energy, rig count was actually down at a global level by around 101 or around 10% since October '24, but we have continued to enjoy good business across oil and gas, gas equipment, whether it's in valves, pumps, ceilings and the like. On the industrial side, PMIs have remained just above 50 for both China and the U.S. for the year, and this is a good sort of correlating factor with our end demand in the manufacturing side. It dipped a little bit in Europe, below 50 in November, but still indicated an improvement in business conditions for the 10th time in the past 11 months. PEEK benefits from being in all kinds of machinery on the industrial side, whether it's food processing, chemical processing, and we continue to see good progress and growing interest in replacing PFAS in various applications, both on the industrial side that's reported in this segment and on the medical side as well. On Electronics, good progress here despite the softer second half in semiconductor, volumes were up 2% for the year, which is in line with JPMorgan's own semicon forecast of 2% growth in CapEx in 2025. Remember that PEEK has good exposure to semicon and smart devices where durability and reliability remain key drivers. On the smartphone side, we are part of a number of innovation in smart devices, which offer good medium-term growth opportunities, particularly around the move towards 6G, for example, or how metals are used differently in handsets. If we look at industry data, JPMorgan forecast demand to be around 3% in 2026 and a significant growth as it relates to CapEx in semicon as well. Moving on to VARs. So I'll cover a recap on their very important role the VARs play in the value chain in my next slide. But VARs were up 21% in volumes and 13% in the second half. And remember, their business is highly correlated with conditions in both manufacturing, engineering and Energy and Industrial as well as semicon. And finally, on sales pipeline, up 10% in the year, record annual increase. If you look at the key driver of the increase in the pipeline, they are coming from aerospace and energy industrial were the key drivers of the increase. With aerospace around 1/3 of the total sales pipeline right now. This is based on mature annualized revenues, which we would need conversion of all the pipeline. We delivered the $404 million in revenue numbers. Conversion rates are typically much lower than that. And over the cycle, we're used to be seeing around 30% to 40% conversion of this particular number. But it gives a good outlook of the scale of our sales pipeline and the opportunities that we have for growing the business. On value-added resellers on Slide 18, spend a moment on those because they do play a key role in our supply chain. You already heard that our VAR volumes were up 21% during the year. They are a key part of growing the market for Victrex PEEK. They serve aligned end markets like auto, energy and electronics, as I said before. They do process high volumes of PEEK for compounding with other materials or into stock shape to sell to other manufacturers and they actually carry a wide range of polymer in those forms as well. The key message here is that VARs get a significant pool for the customer for Victrex PEEK. If you go on to the website of some of the larger ones there, you'll see that they do brand Victrex 450G as a main grade and often leverage our brands in their promotional activities as well. These were Victrex's first customer when Victrex went into market, and they've been a very valuable set of customers for us all along, and they spent a significant time on innovation and market development as well. Customers are specifying Victrex PEEK, as an example, 450G from value-added resellers, and that supports how we're building the peak market. Remember also that VARs do see cyclicality. If we look at the 5-year growth CAGR, it's around 6% on volume. So healthy growth rates even if we see variability to the cycle. Within VARs this year, we have continued to build on our long-term standing relationships that's built on quality, security of supply and a well-respected brand to name a key factors. Turning on to Medical on Slide 19. Some clear headwinds here in Spine, but continuing good progress in non-spine. And we're now a much more diversified business than we used to be. Just to put it into context, in 2015, we were 75%, 75% of our revenues were coming from spine and 25% non-spine. That's pretty much reversed in 2025, where we're now 74% non-spine and 26% spine. A quick recap. In 2023, our Medical business achieved a record year post-COVID and when surgeries -- elective surgeries rebounded. Meanwhile, in 2023, the Chinese government implemented its volume-based procurement, or VBP, as it's called, policy with the spinal industry, within the spinal industry aimed at controlling health care costs. This policy had already impacted other sectors on the medical device industry, where a small number of domestic companies won government tenders that guaranteed high product volumes, but at average pricing -- average selling prices that were significantly lower. In 2024, many large medical device companies began to signal concerns around profitability in general, while revenues continue to grow, rising interest rates and inflationary pressures, particularly in staffing and raw materials, led to declining profits. In response, companies took decisive action reducing inventory levels and containing costs. What is clear, though, is that industry destocking appears to be over in non-spine -- but in spine, titanium-based 3D printing has been significantly more advanced than PEEK-based methods, enabling U.S. companies to develop porous cases using titanium, and this has been happening all the way back to 2018. We have seen our first approval for our Polar 3D case last year, and we expect to see them in the market over the next year. PEEK remains -- PEEK has still strong evidence of clinical benefit and imaging in spinal devices, but 3D printed methods gained more traction in the U.S. at the expense of PEEK, and we have the opportunity now to start to reverse that with our 3D printed cases having been approved. Remember that the U.S. has been our main region since starting our medical business back in the early 2000s. As I said before, spine was around 75% of our revenues in medical in 2015 versus 26% today. So clear headwinds for growth. The good news is that we are now a much more diversified medical business with more applications, including great opportunities in pharma and cardio. And we noted that J&J, as an example, report that PEEK was already used now in around 500,000 heart devices. What do we need to see from medical revenues to grow again? Well, some stabilization in spine, number one. And remember, this is principally impacting the U.S. together with continuing non-spine growth, offers the opportunity for medical growth to restart. And then obviously, that will be layered on to with the progress of the knee program on one hand and trauma plates on the other. On Slide 20, a brief one on knee. We now have 85 patients that have gotten PEEK-based knee implants over the past 4 years, including 20 in the U.S. So really, really good progress. We continue to work towards additional collaborators and partners and are in active conversations with some of the top 4. We're also preparing regulatory pathway in other regions beyond the submission in India and should expect good progress and potential registration in Europe in FY '26. Slide 21 on Magma , as a quick recap. At the half year, we communicated that TechnipFMC had secured a technological contract from Petrobras. This enables them to develop qualification pipes that are the route to full commercialization of the hybrid flexible pipe. Remember that a hybrid flexible pipe is 50% lighter than steel and water based on Victrex's PEEK and know-how and our pipe -- and our composite tape as well, all specified Victrex materials. And to put this in perspective, every kilometer of 6-inch pipe contains around 8 tonnes of PEEK, so this is a very sizable long-term opportunity. Our facility in Portsmouth will be key for the scale-up and has been busy during the final qualification stages. The vision is that longer term, the production will be shifted to Brazil, and that will be done then in Technip's facilities. So we will not be incurring CapEx into those scale-up phases. We've developed several 2-kilometer sections of pipe with TechnipFMC over recent months, and we'll wait a new flow in 2026 for the next steps towards commercialization from TechnipFMC and Petrobras for their ongoing requirements. Slide 22, end market summary. I think Ian has already covered the main outlook on the guidance. Slide 2 provides an indicative view of the end market as we see them currently. And then also briefly Aerospace, optimistic based on forecasted build rates and new business win. On automotive, like the rest of the industry, we are neutral to cautious in this end market, given the supply chain risks and demand uncertainty. Electronic neutral with semicon and smartphone forecast being positive for 2026, but likely to be second half weighted. On Energy & Industrial, neutral to optimistic. We do see some additional opportunities on the industrial side and energy activity remains very positive. Activity and growth here is very much evolving around PFAS replacement and robotics. On VARs, neutral. It reflects that we saw a strong year in FY '25 and demand across some of the aligned markets is still uncertain, although they should be exposed to the same drivers that we see for Energy Industrial and Electronics as well. Finally, on Medical, clearly, Spine remains challenging for the reasons we discussed. So we're cautious there. Non-spine, we're optimistic. It was up 7% in FY '25, and we do see further opportunities across a very attractive range of applications. Pricing will reflect a broader range of ASPs now, but very high-value applications in cardio and active implantables alongside with some nonimplantable business in pharma. And non-implantable revenues were up 12% actually in FY '25. So this concludes the formal presentation, and I will now hand it over to Q&A. We'll start in the room here, and I'd be grateful if you could state your name for the benefit of those that are listening in on the line and will be asking questions later on. Vanessa Jeffriess: Vanessa Jeffriess from Jefferies. Just wondering if you could clarify what's going on in China. So I guess a year ago, you thought you'd do 100 to 200 tonnes and then you have the start-up issues. I know you've done 50, which is in line with customer demand. I guess in '26, it feels like you should be doing 200, but it will still be loss-making. I mean has the demand profile changed? Or are those start-up issues is ongoing? Jakob Sigurdsson: I think we're working well through the start-up issues. So we delivered what we said we would deliver in FY '25. We do still need to scale this up with customers as well and then getting used to materials being shipped from that plant. I do want to take the opportunity as well to put this in the broader context also in the sense that China is the fastest industrial market in the world these days. We have grown China almost 2.5x since 2019, 12% of our revenues or of our volumes back in 2019. It's around 18% right now, and it grew 18% last year. So the plant is incredibly important from a strategic perspective. All the business that we have been growing has been imported into China until now. But this allows us to expand our product portfolio and bolster our position as we're building -- we've been building up systemically since 2018, first by adding to our technical service capabilities, augmenting the sales force as well, then building this plant and that compounding facility as well. So both of these facilities that we have built along with the infrastructure and the human capital that we've invested in, in the labs as well, I think position ourselves very well to compete in a rapidly growing market in a tough competition as well. But to your point, I guess we are modest in our outlook for China this year. We're still working through the issues, but we are aiming at always being a step ahead of demand, and I think we're progressing well on that journey. Vanessa Jeffriess: And then ASPs, you're saying broadly stable for '26 and down 7% this year. You talked about reducing pricing to regain share and in response to competitive activity in Energy Industrial. But from everything you're saying about '26, the mix would be similar and then medical will reflect a more diverse range of prices. So I guess I'm just wondering like why would pricing not be down 7% again? And why is it stable? If you could just... Ian Melling: So the majority of the 7%, Vanessa, was mix, right? So stable -- if we have a more stable mix, which is what we're forecasting this year compared to last year, then we wouldn't expect to see that significant mix impact that we saw this year. There is some price pressure out there, particularly in the VARs space. And I think the actual overall piece that we end up with may be somewhat dependent on the volumes, right? The stronger the volumes tends to drag the mix down because it tends to mean higher VARs, Energy and Industrial. But based on a similar mix, I think what we said on ASP is deliverable. We also don't have the big currency headwind, at least at current exchange rates that we had last year on ASP. Vanessa Jeffriess: And then sorry, just one quick one. In VARs, you just talked about it being the lowest cost to serve on the slide and -- but there's that pricing pressure as well. Would you say that there's opportunity to reduce that cost to serve? Because I guess if it's the lowest across the business, that would suggest to me there's less opportunity in other segments. Ian Melling: So I think the cost to serve is very low with VARs. They -- we don't have a big sales force that supports VARs. It's a very small number of people, very close relationships. So I think the opportunity to reduce cost in serving VARs is limited. That being said, we do work with them given the significant volumes that they buy, we do work with them on how they take that volume, how we do that most kind of operational efficient -- the most operationally efficient way. And that does bring us small benefits as we go forward, but not ones that you'd want to call out in terms of the overall margin for the group. Jens Lindqvist: Jens Lindqvist at Investec. A couple of things on medical, if that's okay. First of all, on the knee. 85 patients recruited so far into the program, 65 back in July. Those 20 all in the U.S., if I understand it correctly. Is there anything that can be done to accelerate that recruitment rate a bit? I mean it's 20 in 6 months. It's a relatively high volume procedure. And also on the knee, could you remind me just what number you need to get to for U.S. and European approval? You're talking about a filing in Europe? Jakob Sigurdsson: Right. So I think it is sort of a phased start in the U.S., and this is clearly sort of [ max ] thing to comment on. So we have a limited ability to influence that, but it is a relatively slow start with an expected ramp-up probably in 2026. So I think you'll see increased recruitment rates in 2026 compared to what we've seen here. And the bigger picture is we are awaiting approval in India, and Max is expecting that to happen relatively soon. That clinical trial was a huge success, I would say, without any interventions after 4 years. And on the back of some of that data and data that has been developed in Europe, the plan is to launch in Europe in 2026 or file for registration in Europe in 2026 as well. But to answer your question bluntly, can we impact the recruitment rate? No, we can't. And this is sometimes one of our dilemmas with the mega-programmes that we're not the ones all the time that can control the rate of adoption, and this is one example of that. But there is a relatively slow phase in the early phases of the trials in the U.S., and then that's expected to ramp up probably in 2026. Jens Lindqvist: Okay. Just one on the trauma plates. It seems to be lagging a little bit, both in terms of business development in the U.S. and the regulatory process in China. Again, in China, is there an option to partner with the Chinese orthopedics business? I mean is that the... Ian Melling: Yes. So I think if I look at trauma, I think you're right, Jens. I think it's been a slow year and certainly in terms of revenue in trauma, having had approvals previously in the U.S. and having launched products in the U.S. I think 2 things to speak about there. One in the U.S. our launch partner, which was In2Bones was acquired. And that certainly had an impact in terms of kind of their focus on kind of growing into new plates and the like. Whenever there's an acquisition, then strategy comes into focus and people are thinking about whether -- which way they go going forward. So that's been an impact, and we're looking pretty hard for new customers in the U.S., and we have some promising leads, but too early to talk publicly about new customers in the U.S. for trauma plates. China, you're right, regulatory has been the big hurdle. We're pretty confident that we will get over that hurdle in the next few months here, and then we should be full speed ahead with the launch with -- I think we talked in the announcement about 6 plates in China, which is a broader range than we have today in the U.S. through a significant player in the Chinese orthopedic trauma space. Jens Lindqvist: Sorry, just one quick one. Just on R&D expenditure, you're talking about 5% to 6% of sales, I believe. I mean, is that a realistic number to assume also going forward? And how does that split between medical and sustainable solutions, please? Ian Melling: Yes, I don't have to split medical to sustainable solutions to [ Hanyens ], but we do spend a good amount, particularly as a result of the medical acceleration program on the medical R&D kind of focused on knee and trauma, but we do have other programs in medical as well. We also have a core piece of R&D, which supports our kind of core manufacturing facility kind of capability, which would support the whole business. So it's not -- it's kind of medical sustainable solutions agnostic. So there is an important part of manufacturing kind of R&D there that we shouldn't overlook in terms of making ourselves more efficient. But I think the number in terms of a target going forward, is a sensible one. We will -- we've obviously got the profit improvement plan where we'll be looking at things going forward, but I wouldn't expect us to be spending materially less on R&D going forward. Chetan Udeshi: Chetan from JPMorgan. I had a few questions. Just one on -- you mentioned record increase in sales pipeline. When do we see record earnings for Victrex? In other words, when does that translate into proper earnings inflection at Victrex? Maybe we take one by one. Jakob Sigurdsson: Yes, I'll take this one first. So the metric is derived as follows. So this is the mature annual revenues of the opportunities that we have identified. So that's the totality of that sum. If you look at historical conversion rates, they can be somewhere between 30% and 40%. But they clearly in the first year will not translate into the maximum annualized revenue for each of them. But I think that's a good proxy for how this should be flowing through the pipeline. There's probably some cannibalization in those numbers as well. So you got to account for that also. But I think the good news is that we continue to find new opportunities that are sizable magnitude that should underpin the core business that sort of drives the business above and beyond what we see as an upside potential from the mega-programmes. So headline, it's material, annualized revenues, conversion time probably between 2 and 3 years, conversion rate somewhere between 30% and 40%. And then it depends on the ramp-up profile and the cannibalization as far as what the end number out of that formula might be. Chetan Udeshi: So that's a gross number without cannibalization impact basically. Jakob Sigurdsson: There could -- that's a gross number, but there could be cannibalization in that to some extent. Chetan Udeshi: Okay. Good. The second question maybe for Ian, your second half gross margin was 46.5%. You're guiding for full year next year to be between 45.5% to 46.5%. We would have hoped that there will be progression from second half into next year. So was there any one-off in second half, which is not recurring into next year? Or you just want to be cautious, not extrapolating that second half improvement? Ian Melling: Yes, I'm a CFO, so I always want to be cautious, Chetan. But I would say, half-on-half, yes, there's some relatively modest impacts in there. The majority of the increase that you see in the second half versus the first half is coming through from the manufacturing and procurement efficiencies that we've delivered this year as we -- in the second half, we started to sell products that we made in the first half. In the first half, we were selling primarily product we'd have made in the second half of last year when we had lower volumes. We're not forecasting a significant -- really any volume increase through the plants next year as we continue to hold on inventory. So I think that's part of the caution. Obviously, there's -- we talked about some of the price pressure in VARs and places as well. So we've got to be a little bit cautious about that impact on the margin. So I think a margin between our full year number this year and our second half number this year, which is kind of the range you talked about is a sensible place to be. Chetan Udeshi: Okay. The last question I had was anything on current quarter? Typically, it tends to be sequentially lower versus the September quarter. Would you expect normal seasonality? Or is there something that you see particularly in any of the end markets? And just last point, sorry, on your comments on pricing. We saw raw material benefit. Do you expect any more next year? Or you now see raw material prices flattening out basically? Ian Melling: So I think there's a little bit of raw material benefit still to come based on what we've negotiated in the last 12 months, but I don't think it will be as dramatic as it was in FY '25, albeit we continue to push, obviously, for everything we can get on that front. Jakob Sigurdsson: I think you know us better than most, Chetan, and you're right, seasonality is there. Q1 is always historically the lowest quarter, and it will be the same this time around. So there will be a drop off from Q4. But nothing that is dramatic, I would say, in terms of Q1 versus Q1 comparisons year-on-year. So we had a good Q1 last year. And we will have a reasonable one for sure this year, although there's plenty to go yet. Christian Bell: Christian Bell from UBS. I guess just following on from the previous question. Your volume guidance for low to mid-single digit. Can you just give a sense of what the growth phasing might look like across the first half and in the second half across each segment? And what gives you the confidence that you are expecting a stronger second half? Jakob Sigurdsson: I think we're seeing reasonable momentum heading into the year to begin with. And that's on back of weak aerospace as an example, and relatively weak electronics as well. But I think if we look at industry forecasts, which have been pretty reliable as it relates to electronics as an example, chip growth production expected to be around 3% year-on-year. CapEx sort of starting to come up again for semicon as well based on JPMorgan's forecast I referenced here. I think that gives us confidence in the fact that electronics will rebound as we head into the new calendar year. VARs are correlated with the electronics picture also, remember. So we're not expecting the growth that we saw in VARs this year, but we're expecting modest growth for VARs in the year overall. On the medical side, we'll see a better year there than we had last year as well. So when you look at these key drivers, I would say, the aerospace getting back to normal, I think there's, I would say, good confidence in the fact that with growing build rates at Boeing, the supply chain issues easing at Airbus and also with the new Advanced Air Mobility contract, we'll see growth there that is visible and reliable. If I can phrase it, if anything, it's reliable these days in this world. And then as I said, on the electronics side, I think we've got a reason to believe based on forecast and how they've correlated with business in the past, and that should be picking up as we head into the new calendar year. Ian Melling: Sorry, just to add, I think it's worth saying when you get into a kind of business area and a quarterly forecast, our order book is relatively short. it's a little bit of a mugs game getting into trying to forecast. I certainly wouldn't want to sit here and say this is going to grow by that and this by that quarter-by-quarter for a year. We present a view for the year as a whole, and there'll be some ups and downs is that we have an order book typically of around 6 weeks in this business. So it's not like we know what we're going to have through this year sat here today. And I think it's worth bearing that in mind when you look at how we position our forecast. Jakob Sigurdsson: That's why I'm also pinning my comments on sort of expected demand based on statistics from aerospace in terms of build rates on one hand and then the outlook for CapEx and chip production for the coming year as well, which have historically not been too bad. Christian Bell: If I could just push a little bit harder on that to get to your sort of full year low to mid-single digit very general sort of ballpark type of thing. Is the profile kind of like a negative positive 7% first half, second half? Is that the type of profile that you're expecting? Or is it more like a negative 1%, 4% type of thing? Ian Melling: I would say -- listen, I would say it's not that -- in volume terms, it's not that skewed between -- in terms of growth between the first and second half. So I would say we had some strong growth in the first part of last year as we were recovering from a depressed period. I think we've had more stable volumes over the last year. So I don't think we've got a significant skewing to the second half. When we talk about the profit being skewed to the second half, that's more due to profit-related pieces rather than volume, I would say. Christian Bell: Okay. Cool. And just one final question, if I could. I think I saw in your commentary talking about a more sort of focused business going forward. Does that -- should we read how should we read into that in terms of prioritization over your end markets capacity thinking going forward? Is there any sort of -- is there a reprioritization of your end markets? And are you thinking -- how are you thinking about your capacity? Jakob Sigurdsson: I think if you look at it over almost the entire lifetime of Victrex, Victrex has at times invested in downstream capabilities to drive the adoption of PEEK, sometimes with the intention of staying in that function. And sometimes looking at it as a catalytic activity means proving that things can be done. And then once you've proven that and you generate end demand, you might exit that production step as an example with that downstream activity. So I think we might simplify our downstream portfolio a little bit in light of that. We will definitely stay with our current positioning in certain aspects, but we might pare down our presence in others as we go forward. As it relates to mega-programmes as an example, the allocation of resources for the mega-programmes is a dynamic process. And building on Jens' point a little bit before, where we see opportunity to potentially spend more, if that correlates with faster adoption, we will. If we see that almost regardless of what we can spend, we're not able to accelerate that, we will not do that. So we do allocate our resources based on the -- what we can do to shorten the time to commercialization, what we can do to eliminate barriers to adoption and at the very least, make sure and ensure that we are not the barriers for adoption, having been the ones that have been pushing these innovations through for a long, long time. So we very much sort of manage our portfolio in a dynamic way in that sense, and we regularly capture the essence of that by saying where is there a return to spend. And if we can spend more, we will. If we don't, if we see that we're not going to be impacting the time to adoption, we won't. So that's a dynamic portfolio allocation decision. But I do think you will see us simplify our footprint in some downstream activities going forward. So maybe taking questions from the audience online, if there are any. And please state your name before asking the question. Operator: [Operator Instructions] Our first question comes from the line of Kevin Fogarty of Deutsche Numis. Kevin Fogarty: Just if I can start just with a couple. In terms of the mix within Medical, I appreciate the kind of revenue and volume shift towards sort of non-spine. Could you just remind us of the sort of value contribution, spine versus non-spine, my assumption that spine was much more valuable to you guys? And secondly, from a planning perspective, I just wonder if there was any sort of change in your kind of visibility or guidance you're getting from customers this time of the year compared to perhaps 6 months ago? Is there anything that gives you a bit more confidence in terms of the outlook? So if I could just have just those 2 questions, please. Ian Melling: Sure. I'll start with the first one, Kevin, if I can. So firstly, I would say our whole medical business is incredibly valuable to us, right? I think it's really important for everyone to understand that our ASPs in medical right through from the most -- the highest ASPs which are actually not in spine, they're in other applications, all the way down to the lowest ASPs, which are in non-implantable medical applications. They're all accretive to our group ASPs and drive high-margin business. Yes, the non-implantable business is a bit lower than the implantable business. But certainly, within the implantable space, it's all hugely valuable. Typically, gross margins on implantable medical business will run 70% plus up into much higher numbers. So yes, there's huge value in all our medical business. I think I gave an example previously, but I'll just repeat it because it bears repeating. If you look at, for example, a spine, spine procedure versus CMF procedure, that's craniomaxillofacial procedure, which is a procedure where you're making a plate out of PEEK to repair the skull. In terms of the amount of PEEK we sell for one procedure in CMF can be 10x what it is for -- more than 10x what it is for a spine procedure. The ASP per kilogram might be 1/3 to 1/2 of what it is in spine, and the gross margin will be correspondingly a little bit lower. But because you're selling more than 10x the volume, the actual gross profit generated from one procedure will be higher in CMF than it is in spine. So it is important to think about the medical business from a revenue point of view and from a gross margin point of view and focusing too much on the ASP per kilogram can miss the point. Some of our highest ASPs in Medical, which I repeat again, are not in the spine space, are actually in applications where a fraction of a gram is used per device or per procedure, whereas, as I said, in something like CMF, you could be selling hundreds of grams into one procedure. So there's a huge broad range of medical procedures. And I think that's what's really positive about our medical business going forward that we have that breadth and range of opportunities. Jakob Sigurdsson: On the second question, visibility is probably [ whistle seeking ] in many ways these days, and Ian has alluded to it, that our order book -- our tangible order book is relatively short and always has been, and we have sort of a high service model, if you wish, in the sense that we do offer short lead times, which is of high value to most of our customers. But I get back to the point that we discussed before, the fact that we are targeting moderate growth next year is very much based on these key contributors or sectors reversing of 3, you could say. The aerospace forecast and build rates, and we see the improvement in build rates starting to happen, and they are relatively reliable. Secondly, the forecast for electronics and semicon in particularly broken down into chips on one hand and then CapEx on the other. And thirdly, we will continue to see positive momentum on the medical side. But as it relates to detailed visibility, Kevin, it's not there, and it never has been. Operator: There are no further questions on the conference line. I want to hand back over to management for closing remarks. Jakob Sigurdsson: So thank you all for coming and joining us here today, those on the line as well and wish you all a very happy ending of the year and a peaceful holiday period. I want to say as well, this is my last one, and I want to thank you all for your interest over the years and intense interest in Victrex and our company and what we do and what we have to offer. It's been a pleasure to engage with all of you, and I thank you for that. Thank you all.
Allan Lockhart: Well, good morning, and welcome to NewRiver's Half Year Results. I'm pleased to say that NewRiver continues to deliver disciplined growth, underpinned by an experienced and scalable platform. Our focus remains on sustainable expansion by maximizing value from our assets and ensuring we are ready to act upon accretive opportunities as they arise with capital discipline at the heart of our strategy. We recognize that our share price does not reflect the underlying progress that we have made, and we share the frustration of our shareholders. That said, we are confident in our platform, our assets, our strategy and the market outlook as we continue to build operational momentum. The first half was a period of strong operational performance, during which we completed the integration of the Capital & Regional portfolio. We unlocked net annual synergies of GBP 6.2 million and grew cash profits by 31%, enabling an increase in our first half dividend to 3.1p per share, which is fully covered. We maintained strong occupancy and our leasing activity has been robust with double-digit increases in new rents. This strong leasing performance underpinned by another consecutive period of positive valuation growth. Our balance sheet is strong with comfortable gearing, healthy cash reserves and ample liquidity. These highlights, strong rents, greater scale, consistently high occupancy and a robust balance sheet position us well to capitalize on an improving retail market. Retail parks and shopping centers, which make up 94% of our portfolio are outperforming broader discretionary retail, supported by resilient consumer demand and improving fundamentals. Looking forward, we have identified a pipeline of attractive investment opportunities, ranging from single asset deals to larger transactions, which gives us confidence in our ability to achieve greater scale through earnings and value-accretive transactions over time. At an operational level, we are optimistic about the outlook for the retail real estate market. Recovery in the U.K. retail sector continues. Retail spend is up, driven by a resilient consumer base, a broadly stable labor market and elevated consumer savings. While overall retail spend continues to grow, online-only retailers are losing share to those with physical stores. We believe this reflects consumer preferences and the essential role physical stores play for retailers seeking to build brand awareness and drive multichannel sales. Current data shows that vacancy rates in retail are at their lowest level in years, driven by increasing occupational demand and with supply tightening, rental growth prospects are improving. With a focus on convenience-led retail and omnichannel outlets, our assets are strategically positioned to benefit from these positive trends of a resilient consumer, improving occupational demand and a tightening of available supply of retail space. Our tenants are reporting stronger sales, and we're seeing that through increased demand for space across our assets. These fundamentals underpin our confidence in future rental growth and long-term portfolio resilience. With increasing retail consumer spend and improving occupational demand for space, the data suggests that investor appetite for retail assets is growing. This is underpinned by the attractive total returns with supermarkets, shopping centers and retail warehouses outperforming other areas of the real estate market. Capital values and ERVs are rising and liquidity in the capital markets is improving. We're seeing competitive bidding for quality assets and the risk-adjusted returns that retail offers remain compelling compared to other commercial real estate sectors. We've been able to take advantage of the improving investor demand with the sale of 3 shopping centers for GBP 71 million, in line with book and a further GBP 40 million of asset disposals either under offer or completed since period end with a diverse range of investors, including institutional capital, REITs and private investors. I'm now going to hand over to Will, who will take you through the financials. William Hobman: Thanks, Allan, and good morning, everyone. It's my pleasure to be taking you through our half year results, starting with the key highlights. The first of which is that we've completed all of the Capital & Regional post-acquisition work streams, including integrating the assets onto our platform and systems and unlocking the GBP 6.2 million of admin cost synergies identified during our diligence, in line with planned time lines, i.e., within 12 months of completion on a look-forward basis. We've demonstrated our disciplined approach to capital allocation, selling GBP 70 million of assets at pricing close to book value and recycling a proportion of the proceeds into our own shares at a 26% discount, proactively facilitating Growthpoint's exit from our share register. Lastly, we've increased the scale of the business while maintaining balance sheet strength and working ourselves into position to commence refinancing in the first part of '26. These highlights have culminated in a first half total accounting return of 5.4% and leave us well positioned as we look forward. I'll have more details on these areas in the coming slides, starting with the balance sheet and specifically loan to value. This slide shows that we started the year with LTV of 42%, in line with the pro forma communicated on completion of the C&R acquisition a year ago. At the time of completion, we explained that we remain committed to our LTV guidance and that we were confident in our ability to return to the 40% level through a realistically achievable amount of asset disposals, which we more than achieved during the first half. First, with the disposal of the Abbey Centre in Belfast for just under GBP 60 million and then with 2 smaller disposals in Leith and Wallsend, bringing total disposal proceeds during the half to over GBP 70 million, which reduced LTV to 38%. In mid-August, Growthpoint announced its intention to sell at least 10% of its 14% holding in NewRiver. And we facilitated their exit by buying back 10% of our share capital with the remaining 4% acquired by new and existing shareholders at 75p per share, representing a 6% discount to the price at which we raised equity last year and a 26% discount to March '25 NTA per share. We did this primarily because the transaction was accretive to UFFO and NTA per share, but also to clear a potential overhang on our shares. And following the buyback, LTV increased back up to 42%, which is modestly above guidance. But importantly, during the first half, we demonstrated financial discipline and the liquidity of our portfolio in disposing GBP 70 million of assets at close to book value. And our LTV position is supported by a stable portfolio valuation, which again showed modest growth in the first half. Furthermore, we remain very comfortable with the strength of our overall financial position because we consider LTV alongside our net debt-to-EBITDA and interest cover ratios, which remain among the best in the listed peer group. And lastly, post period end, we've already reduced LTV on a pro forma basis through further sales, and we're currently progressing disposals, which we expect to complete in the coming months. Next, more on the balance sheet and our refi plans. Our cash position remains strong and has increased since March because proceeds from asset disposals in the first half outweighed the cash cost of the buyback. Gross debt is the same as in March, with the main component still the GBP 140 million Mall facility and GBP 300 million bond. EPRA NTA per share has increased, principally due to the buyback, offset slightly by disposals. And our overall debt metric position remains strong, as I've just explained, which was recognized by Fitch in September when they reaffirm NewRiver's investment-grade credit ratings at BBB with a stable outlook and BBB+ on the bond itself. Moving on to refinancing. We expect the first phase of our plans focused on The Mall facility to commence soon. And during the first half, we focused on getting into a position to execute by maintaining maximum flexibility within our current structure, exercising a plus 1 option on The Mall facility to extend maturity to January '28 and extending the plus 1 window on the GBP 100 million undrawn RCF to March '26. Looking ahead, we recognize that right now, we're still very well positioned with a low cost of debt and a predominantly unsecured debt structure. In addition, due to our elevated cash position, which we expect to increase further as we complete disposals to reduce LTVs within guidance, our total refi requirement is likely to be less than the GBP 440 million of drawn debt we currently have. And we're clear that in any refinancing, we want to make sure we extract maximum benefit from our current position, which we're aware has inherent value given where rates are today. But we're keen to begin to manage our maturity profile. So we plan to be active in the debt market in the first half of '26, and our preference is to remain as an unsecured borrower. Before I move on to H1 UFFO, I'd like to spend a moment on C&R, specifically the progress we've made on the synergies post acquisition and what this means for earnings accretion. As part of our diligence, we identified GBP 6.2 million of admin cost synergies, which were the key driver of the UFFO per share accretion expected as a result of the transaction. And we said that we expected these synergies to be unlocked within 12 months of completion on an annualized basis. We've made good progress by the end of FY '25, which continued into HY '26 as we completed the migration of C&R property management and accounting data onto our systems over the summer, which was the final major step in integrating the 2 businesses. And we've continued to make great progress on the cost savings, which are now fully unlocked. The chart on the slide translates this into accretion. Starting with HY '25 UFFO per share of 3.7p, which is the baseline pre-acquisition position. Number one shows the impact of funding the transaction on UFFO per share, being the equity placing, cash and share consideration and transaction costs. Number two shows the level of profit contribution unlocked, ignoring Snozone seasonality. Number three shows the benefit of the final synergies, the majority of which will come through in FY '27. And number four shows the expected benefit to come from near-term leasing activity in the C&R portfolio, including the reversal of the impact of retailer restructuring in H1. Lastly, as shown as #5 on the slide, after factoring in disposals to reduce LTV to guidance and the upcoming Mall refi, we remain on track to deliver the mid- to high teens UFFO per share accretion outlined at the time of the transaction. Next, first half UFFO, which in pounds million increased from GBP 11.5 million in the prior period to GBP 15.1 million this year, principally because of the scale added via the C&R acquisition. The bridge on the slide focuses on the per share movement, which is important as it forms the basis of our dividend policy. This reduced from 3.7p in the first half of the prior year to 3.3p in the first half of this year. And I'll now walk you through the key moving parts, firstly, on a look-through basis, excluding phasing. Starting with the C&R impact, where you'll recognize the figures from the previous slide, being dilution from acquisition funding and then C&R accretion, which is shown on the slide as 2.1p on a look-through basis, ignoring Snozone seasonality, which I'll discuss in more detail on the next slide. Disposals reduced UFFO on a per share basis by 0.4p, reflecting the impact of disposals in the prior year and the first half of the current year, principally Newtownabbey. Next, the buyback, which we completed in mid-August. The slide initially shows the look-through impact on H1, assuming the buyback had concluded at the start of the half. On to operational matters, starting with core NPI, including AM fees, which have added 0.1p per share, principally reflecting a full half of contribution from Ellandi versus a partial contribution in the prior year, which gives us 4.4p per share on a look-through basis before then reflecting H1 timing. Continuing with operational matters. The portfolio has performed well in H1, but we've seen some temporary income disruption from retailer restructurings, principally Poundland, but also River Island, Claire’s and Bodycare, which have impacted H1 through increased provisioning, and we expect will result in some income disruption in the second half as we negotiate the best possible terms or seek alternative occupiers. Next, we strip out the benefit of the share buyback, which will benefit H2 in the first half of FY '27 because of the timing late in H1. And then the impact of Snozone seasonality, which gets us to the 3.3p we've reported today. On to Snozone, which you'll remember we acquired in December '24 as part of the C&R transaction. It's an operational business with 3 sites, 2 in the U.K. and 1 in Spain. Our observations after a year of ownership are that it's a high-quality leisure operating platform and a very well-run business that makes a meaningful contribution to UFFO on an annual basis. But as flagged in our full year results 6 months ago, its contribution is seasonal, which is more pronounced under NewRiver's ownership because we have a March rather than a December year-end as C&R had, which means Snozone's controlled loss period falls squarely into H1 and peak trading falls into H2. This is why when we presented our full year results back in June, we highlighted that the EBITDA recorded in our first 3.5 months of ownership of GBP 3.7 million exceeded Snozone's annual trading output because this initial period encompass Snozone's peak trading season without any of its period of controlled loss. So the result in H1 of a loss of GBP 1.6 million is in line with our expectations, as is the level of profitability delivered in H2 to date. This H1 performance means Snozone delivered EBITDA of GBP 2.9 million over the 12 months ended 30th of September, which is relevant when we come to look at the first half dividend. As you'll know, we pay dividends twice per annum, announced within our half and full year results and based on 80% of UFFO. Today, we've reported UFFO per share for H1 of 3.3p. As explained on the previous slide, this includes Snozone's controlled loss period. If we adjust for this seasonality in order to smooth our in-year earnings profile, by assuming Snozone's profits accrue on a straight-line basis over the year and using the EBITDA generated over the 12 months to September as our basis, this increases UFFO per share by 0.6p, giving an adjusted UFFO per share of 3.9p. Taking 80% of this gives an H1 dividend of 3.1p per share, which is fully covered by H1 UFFO per share of 3.3p. In the second half, we will, in effect, apply the equivalent seasonality adjustment because the full year dividend will be calculated as 80% of full year UFFO per share, less the H1 dividend of 3.1p. Meaning the blended payout for the financial year will be 80% of our FY '26 UFFO, in line with our policy. Thank you all for listening. I'll now hand you back to Allan. Allan Lockhart: All right. Thank you, Will. We believe that our consistently high occupancy and tenant retention rates, combined with affordable rents will drive sustainable rental growth. We've achieved strong leasing volumes with retention rates improving year-on-year. New leasing rents are growing from a highly affordable base, ensuring our assets remain attractive to both new and existing tenants. This approach minimizes void risk and supports stable income growth. Evidence of our success can be seen through our leasing activity, which consistently outperforms with new rents at 11.3% above ERV and 24.2% ahead of previous rents. And our long-term rental compound annual growth rate has been steadily improving over the last 4 years. I would highlight that our portfolio today has delivered a compound annual growth rate in rents of 1% per annum over the last 9 years based on 3 years of aggregated leasing during a period where retail was highly disrupted by COVID and peak online. This affirms our portfolio positioning, our leasing strategy and the quality of our asset management. Our high level of occupancy is supported by active and diverse demand for space across our portfolio. We have a broad tenant mix, which reduces concentration risk and enhances income stability. As you can see, no retailer represents more than 3.5% of our portfolio rents. Leasing volumes are high with a strong pipeline, allowing us to capture inherent rental reversion in our portfolio. We have a strong pipeline of new leasing deals, which will help offset some short-term disruption from recent tenant CVAs. Retail is a highly competitive and dynamic sector. And while our occupational market has been steadily improving, we have had some recent disruption from the CVAs of Poundland, Bodycare, Homebase and River Island. Now there's no indication that these CVAs are a reflection of the broader retail market, and we're expecting there to be no material impact to our operations over the medium term as we make good progress in mitigating the disruption. Already, we have replaced Homebase with superior leasing deals to Sainsbury's and The Range, and we're making good progress on mitigating the impact from Poundland, and we're in negotiations with the new owner of Bodycare. We are seeing strong underlying consumer spending growth and both our occupiers and assets are benefiting. We're located in areas with strong local demographics and high frequency of use, which helps drive outperformance in customer spend. Retailers in our portfolio consistently exceed national averages for sales, whether in our shopping centers or our retail parks, demonstrating the quality of our locations and the resilience of our occupiers. We focus on convenience and omnichannel retail, ensuring our assets are integral to the communities that they serve. Evidence of our outperformance is reflected in our tenant sales data and the continued interest from leading retailers securing space within our assets. Active asset management is central to our value creation strategy. We continuously target improved tenant profiles, enhanced asset quality and seek to drive rental growth through our strategic initiatives. Our hands-on approach enables us to unlock and identify opportunities for income enhancement and capital appreciation. Our Retail Park in Dumfries is a great example of our active asset management, where we have improved tenant quality with the introduction of Sainsbury's, Tapi, Food Warehouse and Next. We increased rents with the introduction of drive-thru restaurants, the new letting to Sainsbury's, which was secured at a significant increase to the previous passing rent, and we negotiated a much higher rent with B&M at lease renewal, having created positive rental evidence with the new lettings to Food Warehouse and Next. All this activity has delivered positive income and capital returns. Snozone, the U.K.'s leading indoor ski operator, is a business that we acquired as part of the Capital & Regional transaction, and it presents an excellent opportunity for growth within our portfolio. Snozone has a high-quality management team with extensive operational experience in leisure beyond just skiing. It is a highly profitable, well-run business, and it holds a dominant position across the markets it serves. However, as Will said, it is inherently seasonal. And so we are actively exploring opportunities that utilizes the management team's experience and our expertise in asset-backed operations to deliver further earnings growth. The leisure sector is growing, evidenced by increased demand for leisure space in our retail assets. Snozone's performance has been strong and provides confidence of the potential for further expansion and diversification of our income streams. We're always looking for opportunities to grow earnings. We have been able to utilize our specialist asset-backed operating platform to pursue capital-light growth through strategic partnerships. In the first half alone, our net fee income from capital partnerships grew by 40% compared with the same period last year. Over the past 5 years, net income from our capital partnerships has grown almost 20% per annum. There are ample opportunities for further partnerships with no shortage of partners looking to leverage the value of our platform and operating expertise, and we hope to maintain a similar run rate over the next 5 years. We have a diverse range of partners and are actively discussing a number of investment opportunities across retail parks, regeneration projects and shopping centers. Capital partnerships allow us to scale efficiently in a capital-light way, share risk, access new markets and collect valuable market data. Capital partnerships are central to our strategy for sustainable long-term earnings growth and will provide attractive recurring and growing income streams that will continue to scale. To summarize and bring it back to the start, we are in good shape. We have a well-positioned portfolio that is performing, a supportive market backdrop, a balance sheet that provides flexibility and optionality and a market-leading platform ready to capitalize on growth opportunities. As we explore these opportunities, we believe that increased scale will result in a lower cost of capital, improved cost efficiency and better liquidity for our shareholders. Our pursuit of growth comes with strict capital and financial discipline. The outlook for retail remains strong, and we will continue to build on our momentum to deliver value for our shareholders. Allan Lockhart: Well, thank you. We will now move to Q&A, beginning with live questions from the room before taking any questions that have come through online. So the first question, Tom? Thomas Musson: It's Tom Musson from Berenberg. Just first question on debt. Can you help quantify the earnings impact of higher debt costs, not just from The Mall facility, but the corporate debt, too? And if you think about the need to refi both pieces of debt fairly soon, do you expect to be able to continue growing the dividend in each year going forward, given not just the requirement of those refinance headwinds, but also further disposals that you point to as well? William Hobman: Yes. Thanks, Tom. So I would say on debt, we've sort of this morning laid out our plans for refinancing. So we're probably going to look at The Mall facility initially. If you remember, that was a facility that we inherited as part of the C&R transaction, GBP 140 million facility, 3.45% coupon. And the refinancing of that debt was always in the underwrite of the C&R transaction. So if you remember in my slide earlier on, I talked about the accretion that we've unlocked to date. But then I said we had to sell assets to get below 40%, and we had to refi The Mall. So the benefit of the accretion from the C&R transaction is we were able to wrap up the impact of that refi into the accretion effectively. Now the other point to make, I think, is we have GBP 90 million of cash at the moment. We've said we want to sell -- we've said if we sell GBP 30 million of assets, we'll get below our LTV guidance. So obviously, that cash number will increase. And if you look at that versus our GBP 440 million of debt, we don't need to refinance GBP 440 million of debt. So it's difficult to talk about the exact phasing of the refi and exactly when the impact will come through. That kind of depends on -- we've got a couple of our banking friends in the room, how our discussions go in 2026. But what I would say is that we're in a really, really good position. Fitch has just reaffirmed our ratings. The C&R Mall refi was factored into the accretion. And actually, our gross debt requirement is significantly less than it's showing on the balance sheet. The reason we've never compressed the 2 numbers, the cash and the gross debt is, of course, because of where rates are and because of how much we're paying on our debt, we've been able to get more than that in the bank. So there's never been a need for us to do that before. But actually, we're moving into a point where depending on what's said on the 18th, it may well be the case that actually we're no longer making a turn, and that's why I think the timing of the refi's work is well timed. Thomas Musson: Okay. And you mentioned in the text of the release to expect a little more income disruption in the second half. Can you help quantify that impact? Allan Lockhart: Can you [indiscernible] that, Will? William Hobman: Yes. I mean, we're talking about 4 retailers really around 3% of rent. Most units are still occupied and trading. At the minute, there is some short-term impact. In the second half, it could be anywhere up to, I don't know, between GBP 0.5 million and GBP 1 million, but it's very difficult to say at the moment, Tom, because we're kind of in live discussions with those retailers. Ultimately, we think once we've got through that period of disruption in the medium term, we'll be confident of getting those rents back up to where they are or where they were before the restructuring. But I think you're quite right, you've picked up on the wording. I think there could be a little bit of disruption in the second half. Really hard to quantify exactly at the moment, but it could be GBP 0.5 million and GBP 1 million, something like that. Allan Lockhart: I think it's fair to say, isn't it, that we really are making good progress around some of the CVAs. I think on the slide, you will have seen that excluding Homebase because we've already sorted them out with the deals we've done with Sainsbury's and The Range. So they've gone, which is great. But in terms of sort of Poundland, Bodycare and the River Island, we have about 250,000 square feet that are subject to CVAs. We're about 85% in advanced negotiations or deals already agreed. So it's really more of a sort of timing aspect. The other thing that's really encouraging is just the pipeline of our leasing that we've got going on at the moment, and we're really encouraged around that in terms of the new leasing deals versus previous passing rent. So our team is like super focused on getting those sort of deals sort of wrapped up. You will have seen a slide -- one of the slides, I think we've got something like 950,000 square feet of leasing deals that we're currently sort of processing under offer in legals, and that's really positive as well. So I think that sets us up nicely for FY '27. Bjorn Zietsman: Bjorn Zietsman from Panmure Liberum. Just a quick question around the leasing performance. It is striking that how far above ERV leasing transactions are coming through. Do you think this more accurately reflects the true reversion potential of the portfolio? And do you have a sense of why value ERVs are so far below where the market is? Allan Lockhart: Well, I think the most important thing is to be looking at our compound annual growth rate when you aggregate up all your leasing, and we're really positive that, that is now trending in a positive direction. We're now moved into 1%. Six months ago, that was plus 0.7%. Twelve months prior to that, it was minus 0.3% and minus 0.4% in the previous year. So this is moving in the right direction, which is reflective of what we've been saying, which is an improving market outlook. But look, I mean, if you look at our valuations, the values are expecting reversion to come through over the next sort of 5, 6 years, and we're confident that we will be able to sort of deliver that, which will be obviously positive around our P&L and future valuations, we believe. Bjorn Zietsman: And then you mentioned you've identified an attractive pipeline of assets. Can you give us a sense of the size of that pipeline? Allan Lockhart: Well, we never really give a running commentary on what we're doing and what we're looking at. But what we said was that we're seeing opportunities that our single asset deals to larger transactions to corporate opportunities, not just in the public equity markets, but in the private markets. And we also have the flexibility to either think about doing those ourselves or to do those in partnership. And as I mentioned on the slide in terms of our capital partnerships, we are in active discussions on investment opportunities across retail parks and shopping centers and also regeneration projects. Do we have any questions online, Lucy? Unknown Executive: No questions online. Allan Lockhart: Great. Okay. Well, thank you very much for attending. And so it's been hopefully a good presentation from your perspective and look forward to seeing you next year. Thank you.
Operator: Thank you for standing by, and welcome to the Collins Foods Limited HY '26 Results Conference Call and Webcast. [Operator Instructions] I would now like to hand the conference over to Mr. Xavier Simonet, Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer. Please go ahead. Xavier Marie Simonet: Thanks very much, Harmony. Good morning, everyone. I'm Xavier Simonet, the Chief Executive Officer of Collins Foods. With me on the call here in Brisbane, I've got Group Financial Officer, Andrew; General Manager, of Australian Operations, Krystal; and General Manager of Europe, Chris Johnson. We're presenting the first half '26 results announced to the ASX earlier this morning as well as providing a trading update and refreshed outlook. As always, we will go through the presentation, and then we will take questions. Slide 2, executive summary. I joined the business just over 1 year ago. And to start today, I would like to touch on the main highlights of the past year and what our priorities have been. We have a strong focus on operational excellence across our businesses and the results we are presenting today show the progress we are making. We are sustaining growth momentum and achieved record revenues this first half with earnings and margins up on last year. We are delivering strong cash flow, resulting in a significant reduction in net debt compared to prior year and broadly in line with the position at the end of FY '25. Together with the debt refinancing we announced a few months ago, this means we have significant capacity to fund future growth initiatives. We continue to invest in our core businesses, both in our restaurants and in technology to enhance customer experience. Our focus on operational execution has resulted in a strong underlying performance in HY '26 in a challenging market, demonstrated by our results today. We are, therefore, pleased to announce a favorable upgrade to our full year outlook, and I will come back to this in more detail towards the end of the presentation. With strong cash flows and a robust balance sheet, we remain open to organic and inorganic growth opportunities, particularly in Germany. Moving on to Slide 3. I would like on this slide to give an update on our growth priorities. If we first look at Australia, we are showing strong same-store sales growth in KFC in Australia, outperforming the overall QSR market due to product innovation and strong execution. We made good progress on productivity and waste improvement, which has contributed to margins improving, and we remain disciplined on costs while continuing to invest both in our restaurants, our brand and our digital channels. On the Taco Bell exit process, discussions continue, but we have no firm update to give you yet. Looking at Europe, Germany is our second growth pillar and is now coming to life. We opened our 17th restaurant in Karlsruhe during the period and have several sites approved for development with the pipeline building. We are also encouraged in Yan's approach to building the brand in the German market, people capability is lifting and purposeful investment in brand initiatives is benefiting KFC. Finally, on operational excellence, we are laser-focused on driving same-store sales, margins and customer service levels. We have new operational leadership in place for both Australia and Europe, and their deep market experience is helping us execute on our plans. Portfolio optimization in the Netherlands has commenced with 2 new restaurants opening since half year-end, replacing restaurants which are underperforming from a profitability perspective. There has been one closure in November and a further planned closure in January. Moving on to the financial highlights on Slide 4. So Slide 4 provides an overview of HY '26 performance. Financials are presented on a post-AASB 16 basis, unless stated otherwise. For those of you more accustomed to pre-AASB 16 numbers, we have made them available in the appendices to the investor presentation. Andrew, will shortly take you through more detailed financials. So I will focus on some of the highlights for the first half. In summary, Collins Foods delivered record level of revenues and strong improvements in profits and margins. This was achieved despite a consumer environment that, in particularly for our target demographic remains challenging. The results highlights from my perspective are: first, we recorded the highest first half year revenue in the company's history, up 6.6% compared to last year. Second, underlying EBITDA grew by 11% and our underlying NPAT by 29.5%. Pleasingly, our return on equity increased by 190 basis points to 14.1%, which is good news for our shareholders. As a result of strong cash flows, and balance sheet, the Board declared a fully franked interim dividend of $0.13 per ordinary share. Moving on to Slide 5, ESG. Our progress on sustainability is highlighted on Slide 5. We are on track with preparing for our first mandatory ASB S2 climate report this year, having recently completed our risk and opportunities assessment. While recent developments in Europe have resulted in our entities there being out of scope for mandatory reporting, we will continue with our voluntary disclosures beyond climate. Actions across our ESG agenda are tracking well. with some first half highlights, including our food waste reduction program is tracking well with an 8% reduction delivered in Australia and 25% in Europe compared to FY '25. We installed our largest solar installation yet in our new German restaurant in Karlsruhe. We launched a pilot to support restaurant leaders' career development with certified leadership and management diplomas. Our First Nations preemployment program was launched, enabling unemployed use to obtain hospitality skills experience and job opportunities. Investments in safety culture resulted in a 12% drop in recordable injury frequency versus FY '25, and we participated in the inaugural QSR industry roundtable on modern slavery. It's pleasing to report on progress with respect to our sustainability agenda. And with that, I'll now hand over to Andrew Leyden, our Group CFO, to take you through our results for the first half. Andrew Leyden: Thanks, Xavier, and good morning, everyone. Let's move to our group results overview on Slide 7. Revenue in the first half of financial year '26 was up 6.6% over the prior period to $750.3 million. That's a record for Collins, as Xavier stated earlier. This was driven by growth in both Europe and Australia. In addition, the result benefited from favorable currency translation relative to prior year, which contributed $12.7 million to the current year. Our revenue performance overall underlines the benefits of operational execution, of the investment being made in our networks and in technology, the advantages of healthy brand equity and also the resilience of our business at a time where consumers and especially our consumers are still grappling with cost of living pressures. Underlying EBITDA was up 11% to $113.9 million, with margins up 59 basis points. This was a result of a return to same-store sales growth in addition to productivity gains. Underlying EBIT was $63 million, up 20%, reflecting the growth in EBITDA and stable depreciation compared to the half year in financial year '25. And underlying NPAT was $30.8 million, up 29.5% on the prior period. Underlying EPS was $0.261 per share, up from $0.202 per share in the prior period. As Xavier highlighted earlier, we are now publishing return on equity measures on an underlying basis, and this measures the quality of shareholder returns. Return on equity was 14.1% on a trailing 13-period basis, up 190 basis points on the prior corresponding period. Statutory NPAT was $27.2 million, and that compares with $24.1 million in the half year financial year '25. In HY '26, total restaurant impairments were $3.1 million as well as a $1.3 million provision top-up for potential wage underpayments relating to prior years to $10.5 million. With respect to the provision for potential wage underpayments, Collins is committed to meeting its obligations under the Fair Work Act and takes wage compliance very seriously. The company has been reviewing historical employment and wage data to determine whether employees may have been entitled to additional payments. We are constructively and proactively liaising with the Fair Work Ombudsman in relation to these matters and are committed to fully remediating any impacted team members. The process of remediation commenced in November 2025. In September, we announced that we have successfully refinanced our debt facilities, where we also adjusted the blend of Australian dollar and euro borrowings to further support our growth strategy in Australia and moreover, in Europe with more euro-denominated facilities. Net operating cash flows were $69.1 million, down on the prior period due to higher tax payments in the period. Net debt was reduced by $20 million to $138.9 million compared with the half year '25 with strong cash flows funding capital investment, dividend payments for shareholders and also debt reduction, further adding to the group's investment capacity for the future. As referenced earlier, as a result of a strong fiscal position, the Board declared a fully franked interim dividend of $0.13 per share, which is an increase of $0.02 per share on the prior corresponding period. The dividend record date will be the 8th of December 2025 with a payment date of the 5th of January 2026. Now moving to the income statement on Slide 8, which outlines the reconciling items between statutory and underlying results. The most material item impacting the difference between statutory and underlying performance was a $3.1 million impairment on previously impaired restaurants. The group also provided an additional $1.3 million for potential wage underpayments relating to prior years as referred to earlier. Other reconciling items include a small gain on the previous debt refinancing modification and a small gain on the settlement of a Taco Bell lease liability. Underlying EPS was $0.261 per share, whilst basic statutory EPS was $0.23 per share. Now turning to the cash flow on Slide 9. Strong cash generation remains a highly attractive feature of the Collins Foods business. In the half year of '26, net operating cash flows were very strong, a little lower than the prior year by $6.2 million to $69.1 million, with the reduction due to higher tax payments in the first half compared with the first half in the prior year, a result of timing impacts relating to capital expenditure and other deductions, which differed for accounting and tax purposes. Cash conversion was again very strong at 92%. Operating cash flows were applied to fund disciplined investment, dividend payments and net debt reduction. Investing cash outflows were $26.9 million, mainly reflecting capital investment in the store network and digital technology. New restaurant investment was $5.1 million. remodels, including supercharge remodels were $7.3 million and digital and sustainability investments were $1.6 million. Asset renewal spend was $8.9 million. Additionally, contingent consideration of $2.9 million was paid as a result of the acquisition of 8 restaurants in the Netherlands in May 2023. Financing cash outflows were $59.9 million, which included $17.9 million in bank debt repayments, dividend payments of $17 million and lease principal payments of $27.1 million. Net cash movement was an outflow of $17.7 million for the half year compared with a $4.6 million inflow in the half year '25, most of which reflected debt repayment. Now moving to the balance sheet on Slide 10. Collins Foods balance sheet is in exceptional shape and provides capacity for investment in growth opportunities. Net debt was broadly unchanged from the end of financial year '25 at $138.9 million, with cash generation strong and allocation of capital disciplined. Cash balances were down $17.5 million to $101.6 million due to paying down debt since the end of the last financial year. Bank debt fell from $257.2 million at the end of financial year '25 to $238.9 million at the end of the half, a reduction of $18.3 million in the period. Property, plant and equipment was down $7.4 million from financial year '25 to $240 million due to impairment, net of additions and depreciation. Right-of-use assets of $516.1 million and total lease liabilities of $643.3 million, both increased on 3 net restaurant additions and lease renewals. The net leverage ratio ended the period at a very comfortable 0.89, down from 0.93 at the end of financial year '25. And now having covered the financials, I will hand over to Krystal, who will take you through the results and the commentary for KFC Australia. Krystal Zugno: Thank you, Andrew. Moving to Slide 12. Brand strength and improved operational execution saw momentum build in the first half of FY '26, continuing on the strong momentum that we exited FY '25 with. Revenue increased 5% over the prior period to $563.8 million, driven by new restaurants, strong digital growth, product innovation and operational excellence. Same-store sales were up 2.3%, which represents a material positive shift compared to the negative 0.1% same-store sales performance recorded during half year '25. Restaurant-level EBITDA increased by 8.7% to $121.8 million due to stronger store sales and the focus on productivity improvement. This was partially offset by investment in value for our customers through the promotional calendar. EBITDA was up 9.4% to $111.8 million, with margins up 80 basis points on the prior corresponding period to 19.8%. EBIT was 11.6% higher to $75.5 million on the back of increased EBITDA. Turning to Slide 13 and KFC Australia's brand health. Consumer spending remains soft across QSR. However, the KFC brand continues to build on its very strong foundations, positioning itself for continued growth. KFC has delivered several successful limited time offers and strong brand moments like the Christmas in July campaign. These have contributed to the growth in sales and brand health metrics. KFC brand is leading the category across key brand health metrics like consideration, which is a measure of willingness to buy, satisfaction and brand modernity are strong, especially with our Gen Z customers. Today is the launch of Kwench by KFC trial in 7 of the Collins restaurants Cairns. Kwench by KFC is a range of innovative beverages, including lemonades, refreshes and shakes that will not only offer our customers a broader beverage choice, but also upside opportunities and different education for KFC. Slide 14 shows the KFC brand is continuing to outperform its QSR peers. The charts show the impacts of brand campaigns, digital investment, product innovation and everyday value. These have helped continue to build KFC's position ahead of key QSR competitors on brand index, which comprises results across quality, value, reputation, satisfaction, recommendation and impression. This work, combined with back-to-back innovation across items like Habanero Chicken, Zinger Kebab and Sweet Tokyo Hot & Crispy have increased our brand buzz results. Results for Gen Z population remained significantly higher with improved cut-through with these consumers. Turning to Slide 15, where I will provide more details on what we are doing on operational excellence and network investments. With regard to investments in our restaurants, we are still targeting 7 to 10 new restaurants annually and have a development pipeline of now over 50 restaurants. In calendar year 2025, we opened 8 new restaurants and have more to come before the end of 2025. We will have remodeled 37 restaurants, including 4 supercharge remodels by the end of this year. The work we've done across the other 2 columns of the slide has driven an increase in the customer overall satisfaction metric by 5 percentage points over the prior corresponding period. We have elevated performance through delivering innovation across restaurant layout design, driving productivity and increasing capacity in peak periods. This includes things like dual-lane drive-thrus, T-lines kitchen layouts and connected kitchens. We have implemented rostering tools to drive labor efficiency and optimizing our restaurant investments. And all restaurants now have AI-powered forecasting to better predict demand, which in turn will allow us to optimize our customer experience, drive sales and better manage waste and labor. In terms of modernizing the customer experience, we continue to invest in digital, which helps to improve the accessibility to the brand and optimize operational efficiency. We achieved an 8 percentage point uplift compared to last year with 42% of sales now coming through our KFC app, kiosk and delivery channels. Our kiosk rollout to the remaining 87 restaurants is expected to be completed within the next 12 months. Delivery fee for aggregators have been lowered to $395, which is providing customer value as well as helping lift our transaction value. Previously, I spoke about 3 key areas us prioritizing that align with our strategic focus on operations excellence. Firstly, our focus on optimizing operational processes to leverage our digital investments; secondly, unlocking opportunities with AI, particularly through increased sales forecasting accuracy; and lastly, elevating the customer experience. With a solid half year '26 result, I will continue to drive impact across these 3 key priorities moving forward. Our positive start to the second half, which Xavier will outline later in the presentation, reflects a healthy brand and improved operating disciplines. I'm very proud and thankful to our operational team's commitment to operational excellence and delivering great customer experiences reflected in the financial results we are delivering. I'll now hand over to Chris to cover the performance of KFC Europe. Chris Johnson: Thank you, Krystal, and good morning, everyone. Turning now to KFC Europe on Slide 17. Our HY '26 performance reflects a challenging economic environment in Europe, particularly in the Netherlands, which is still experiencing cost of living pressures and inflation. Revenue of $162.9 million was up 14.6% from the same period last year, with same-store sales up 1.4%. There was also a currency benefit in the period, which Andrew took you through earlier. Netherlands same-store sales increased by 0.4%, while Germany was up 4.8%, reflecting improved brand and in-restaurant execution and compare favorably versus the same period last year when same-store sales were in decline in both markets. Leadership and management of the German market reverted back to Yum! -- directly in mid-December last year, and their teams have been fully focused on rebuilding team structures, processes and importantly, are focused on building the brand with significant investments. Pleasingly, we're now seeing positive results of this and our collaboration with Yum! continues to move from strength to strength. EBITDA was up 19.6% to $20.4 million, with margins up 53 basis points to 12.6% due to the return of same-store sales growth and favorable fixed cost leverage. Avian flu-related poultry cost inflation held back the margin improvement, and we expect the effects of this to start to dissipate in early 2026. EBIT of $6.9 million was up 142% over the prior period, reflective of the higher EBITDA. On Slide 18, I'll touch on some of our key priorities in KFC Europe. We're investing in training and people capability, which is improving the team and customer experience in the Netherlands. Pleasingly, we're seeing the result of this with customer satisfaction scores and Google ratings at all-time highs. Similarly to Australia, T-Line kitchen layouts have been well established in the Netherlands, which is improving both speed and accuracy of order with both increasing customer satisfaction. We'll be trialing this initiative in Germany during 2026. We're continuing our digital investments, which is driving transaction volumes with positive customer outcomes. We've increased menu innovation in the Netherlands, which has supported market share gains. Initiatives such as Kipsalon and Kaas Kaas Kass, Cheese Cheese cheese in English have driven consumer engagement. We have also been strong supporters of the marketing calendar pivot in Germany, which continues to drive insight-led innovation. Similar to what Krystal was describing, we are focused on improving sales forecasting in both our European markets to reduce food waste and to improve labor productivity. Finally, we're expecting that poultry prices will ease as the market recovers from the impacts of Avian influenza. Moving to Slide 20 and a more detailed look at our Netherlands operations. We're seeing early positive signs of our efforts to restore higher profitability in the Netherlands. We have a refreshed leadership team and the necessary operational experience and a clear cost focus. We are completely focused on driving same-store sales, improving the team and customer experience, increasing labor productivity and reducing food waste. Through continued investment in marketing, digital and menu innovation, we're elevating the KFC brand and KFC value perception to continue to drive sales. We've also started with portfolio optimization with 2 new developments replacing some of our poorer performing restaurants. In the second half of FY '26, we've opened 2 new restaurants and 1 underperforming restaurant was closed with another to close in the near future. Slide 21 looks at KFC's growing brand strength in the Netherlands. Awareness increased to 72% and our QSR market share increased by 0.3 percentage points to 9.4% over the same period last year. Our improvement in modernity was pleasing, particularly with consumers recognizing KFC as a brand that stays on top of trends. Product innovations, such as the collaboration with Netflix's Squid Game tapped into current pop culture trends and drove engagement with younger consumers. In 2026, we will build on the success we've had in 2025 by using the local insights we've developed to further innovate products, collaborate with the right partners and accelerate the everyday value we offer our customers. Digital channels remain a key contributor to growth, representing almost 67% of all sales in the Netherlands, up 6.5 points on the prior period. This has been driven by investment in kiosks and growth in third-party delivery aggregators. And now turning to Slide 23. I'd like to make a few key points about the German opportunity and how it's progressing. Germany is a significant growth opportunity for Collins. It's the largest economy in Europe where QSR spend is outpacing overall GDP growth. KFC as well as the broader chicken category is significantly underpenetrated in Germany compared to other categories. During the half, we opened our 17th restaurant and are actively building a significant pipeline of development opportunities, including several already approved developments for 2026. We are targeting between 40 and 70 new restaurants over the next 5 years with mid- to single-digit build target for the 2026 calendar year. To enable delivery of this pipeline, we're investing in people capability, especially in the areas of development, construction, area coaches who help us run clusters of restaurants and training to support restaurant operations. We're also open to acquisition opportunities in Germany that can help us drive scale, penetrate complementary geographies and accelerate development in a market that will become our second strategic growth pillar. Back to you, Xavier. Xavier Marie Simonet: Thanks, Chris. Turning now to Taco Bell Australia on Slide 25. Revenue of $23.6 million was down 3.9% over the prior year, with sales impacted by a weaker consumer environment. Due to stronger cost control, the small loss from operations reduced slightly despite lower revenues. The network remains unchanged at 27 restaurants. Discussions regarding transition to new ownership continue, but firm decisions have not yet been made. We will update the market as soon as we have further news to report. Slide 27, which is the outlook. I'd like to provide an update on our outlook for FY '26 as set out on Slide 27. While overall consumer sentiment remains challenging, our stronger performance in the first half continued into the early weeks of the second half with total sales in the first 7 weeks increasing in all markets. We continue to benefit from increased operational focus across the group. KFC Australia's total sales rose 5.3% in the first 7 weeks, while same-store sales were up 3.6%. Operational initiatives and a growing network are expected to drive sales and enhance customer experience. However, performance in the second half will compare with a much stronger performance in the prior period, where we saw a material improvement versus the first half of FY '25. We expect to see continued investment in value for consumers who continue to face cost of living challenges. We also expect to see a return to cost inflation across key commodities, such as poultry after a period of deflation. And inflation continued to be a feature of the Australian labor market. And of course, we are a labor-intensive business. Capital and construction costs also continue to inflate, reflecting an imbalance of supply and demand in the sector, which we are, of course, exposed to. Total sales in the Netherlands for the first 7 weeks increased 5.6% with same-store sales slightly down by 0.5% as a result of tight consumer conditions as indicated by Chris earlier. Improving profitability is a key priority here for us, and we expect operational excellence will improve sales productivity and efficiency in this market. Margins are expected to benefit from improving poultry prices in the second half as the effect of Avian flu dissipates. We'll also focus further on waste and labor optimization and keep G&A tight. Labor inflation remains prevalent in the Dutch market. Total sales in Germany increased 7.8% in the first 7 weeks, while same-store sales were up 2.3%. We continue to focus on operational excellence and good work is taking place on brand and menu innovation, simplification and optimal pricing strategies. Market management capability also will further improve under Yum! stewardship. As in the Netherlands, we expect poultry prices in Germany to reduce in the second half. We expect VAT to fall in early 2026 as a result of the government decision, which will stimulate sales and margin. Yet while there are margin tailwinds, we continue to see pressure on labor costs, which are likely to rise above CPI in 2026. As a result of all those factors and a solid first half result, we are targeting year-on-year group underlying NPAT post AASB 16 growth in the mid- to high teens on a percentage basis, up from the low to mid-teens range previously announced. Finally, I would like to thank our Board for its guidance, our shareholders for their trust and support, our management team and all our team members, particularly our restaurant teams for their motivation, energy and unwavering commitment to our business success. And I'll now pass to Harmony for questions. Operator: [Operator Instructions] Your first question comes from Sean Xu from CLSA. Sean Xu: Can you hear me okay? Xavier Marie Simonet: Yes, very good. Thank you. Sean Xu: It's great to see your Australia same-store sales growth for the 7 weeks into second half is doing even better, very strong this half. My question is around given the cost of living pressure remaining with consumers, I'm just curious to know what sort of the overall promotion intensity in the market you're seeing? And I wonder if the acceleration of the sales growth in the second half come in expenses of profitability. This is referring to the Australian market, please. Krystal Zugno: Sean, I might take off this is Krystal here. What we see in the first 7 weeks of the second half is our continued investment in value, and we will see that continue for the rest of this financial year. But that's been supported by strong LTO offers as well that have really driven transaction driving transactions into the business as well. So it is true that we are investing in value still, but the LTO calendars are quite strong in innovation plays. Xavier, Do you want to add something? Xavier Marie Simonet: No, just defining LTO. Krystal Zugno: Sorry. LTO is limited time offer. Stop there. Sean Xu: Maybe, If I can add, If I can add... Xavier Marie Simonet: If something, Sean -- we've also done a lot of work on everyday value and making sure that we deliver to customers everyday value, which means avoiding big peaks and troughs, but focusing on bundled deals and activities that deliver value for our customers in the restaurants every day. Sean Xu: Yes. That's very clear. If I can just follow up, this is more about your medium to longer-term outlook in Australia. I'm just curious to know what's your approach to drive additional growth in Australia in a quite penetrated market. The recent industry feedback is some of your competitors are paying very, very expensive rent for quality sites. I'm just curious to know how sustainable is your annual store opening target while maintaining a similar margin profile? Andrew Leyden: Sean, Yes, look, I think the long-term projections for our business, I mean, we think about same-store sales growth is critically important, I think, just for the overall health of the network. So that, both from a brand perspective and from an operational perspective is a real -- it is the main focus for our business, always should be. Other elements, of course, are really making sure that the margin structures remain healthy, whether that be labor, whether that be cost of sales. And then capital expenditure, of course. And yes, we've been competing with competitors for sites for a long time. I mean that's not a new trend. It's with us, it's present. We compete the sites with other QSR operators. In fact, we often compete together for the same sites. We often co-reside on the same sites. And in fact, we quite like that because those sites become a destination for QSR-centric consumers. So I think it's just kind of business as usual in our -- in the sort of -- in the QSR segment that we operate in. I think the good thing is that we offer value, we offer affordable value. We appeal to a lot of consumers. We have scale in our business. We've got repeatability. We have an extremely strong brand. And if you think about the long-term trajectory of the brand, there's clearly a lot going on in terms of improving brand health. That's evident in the numbers now, but that focus won't dissipate. And there's a lot that we're looking at in terms of what news we can bring to the brand. We talked about Kwench a little earlier. We talked about the fact that we don't compete in all the dayparts around -- and this is an international issue. We don't compete in all the dayparts, which some of our competitors do. So there's upside for us. And I think managing the financial structure of the business and managing capital expenditure and making sure all those things remain in balance is critically important to us. Xavier Marie Simonet: And Sean, if I can add a couple of things. What has driven sales and margin growth for us in the first half of FY '26 is operational excellence and the focus we're putting on executing really well in the restaurants. It's about leadership, it's about processes. It's about driving all the KPIs in the restaurants and enhancing customer experience and unlocking capacity as well. So that's one, and we'll continue doing that. The second aspect is, of course, product launches and activities around motivating customers to come to our restaurants and getting them excited through social media and digital marketing, which we're doing particularly with Yum!. Product launches, new product launches is, of course, a big lever as well. Operator: Your next question comes from Tim Plumbe from UBS. Tim Plumbe: Two questions from me, if that's all right. First one around KFC Australia, it's a bit of a continuation from Sean's question. So obviously, a lot of moving parts within the business. But very high level, is it fair to say that it sounds like you're kind of seeing a continuation of the same sort of consumer environment and the competitive environment that you experienced in the first half of '26 and a similar COGS environment? And if that is the case, if we look back historically, pre-AASB 16 EBITDA throughout the years, the first half split has kind of been between like 46% and 48% of the full year. All else equal, are there any factors that we need to take into consideration that would materially change that kind of 47% first half skew, like a bigger uplift to marketing than you would usually have in the second half? Xavier Marie Simonet: So I'll make a comment on consumer sentiment and then hand over to Andrew. Consumer sentiment is lifting a little, but we do not see a meaningful change. And we're concerned about interest rate increases or the fact that interest rates are not continuing to go down at pace. So I don't think in the first half that an uplift in consumer sentiment has actually driven much for us. I think our sales growth and margin growth results more from the focus on operational excellence and successful product launches. I don't see much improvement in consumer sentiment to tell you the truth. Andrew Leyden: Yes. And maybe just to follow on, Simon. I know you and I had a brief conversation earlier. I think if you look at what's happening first half to second half, I think consumer sentiment is actually one of the things that's playing out in terms of implied assumptions within our outlook. We think consumers are still struggling with cost of living. We continue to provide value as a consequence of that. Typically, as well, we do have a bit of seasonality in our business. So we talked about the long-term outlook for the brand with Sean's question earlier. But first half, second half, we would typically see a bit of a dip in margins H2 to H1. It's primarily driven by the number of public holidays. It sounds like a strange thing, but we have a lot more public holidays in the second half and we pay premium rates. in those periods, and that affects our restaurant profitability in the second half. I mentioned as well that cost inflation will become a feature again. I'm not suggesting it will be pronounced. I'm talking about normal modest levels of cost inflation. And we expect that to start to impact the business at the end of the first quarter. And remember, at the same time in the prior year, we started to see cost deflation. So we do see that reversing a little bit as well in the second half. So -- and of course, labor inflation continues to prevail across the QSR industry. That's -- the reason why we focus on productivity is because rate is an issue that we have to deal with in all parts of our business. So I think the long-term prognosis around balancing same-store sales and productivity and the economics of restaurants and capital expenditure is, as I mentioned with the question we responded to with Sean, I think there is clearly a first half, second half change with respect to some of those factors that I just mentioned there. But overall, it's good to -- it's been good to sort of upgrade our guidance for the full year. I think appropriately, we've reflected that in our announcement this morning as well. Tim Plumbe: Great. That's useful. Then just the second question around KFC Europe. Again, a more challenging top line. The European business comes up against marginally tougher comps in the second half of '26. But then offsetting that, you guys have got cost relief, as you mentioned, particularly in terms of chicken. You've spoken about year-on-year margin improvement. If you take all of that into the mix, is it still the intention to get EBITDA growth year-on-year? So is the cost improvement enough to offset the slightly more challenging top line? Chris Johnson: Sean, it's Chris. Thanks for the question. Short answer is yes. We -- sorry, Tim, yes, we definitely do, and that's in both Germany and in the Netherlands. The VAT reduction in Germany is anticipated. And we've modeled with Yum! scenario where it will be in play from January 1 and what that means for menu board pricing and margin and what if -- and if it's not in place for January 1. So outside of that externality with near flat year-to-date same-store sales growth in the Netherlands as poultry prices glide down, we do foresee margin expansion, and that's true in Germany as well. Operator: Your next question comes from Tom Kierath from Barrenjoey. Thomas Kierath: Just on the trading update, I noticed there's a bit of a slowdown across Europe, Netherlands and Germany. Can you maybe just talk to what the drivers are there? Is it kind of broader market or whether you think it's kind of specific to your business? Chris Johnson: Tom, it's calendar driven. So in the German context, it's the 7 weeks that we've provided for H2 to date spans the back end of Window 7 and Window 8 has just started. And then the same holds true in the Netherlands, although in the Dutch context, cost of living pressures and the QSR category under overarching pressure is the main driver. As I said earlier, of course, we're quite happy that KFC has grown its market share even though QSR as a whole is under pressure. But we do see both in the German context with Yum! now back in the market and also just a different view on the length of calendar windows and LTO -- sorry, limited time offer introductions in the Netherlands that we're well placed to take advantage of the January windows that start with value across both markets. Thomas Kierath: Yes. Okay. Cool. And then like reading between the lines, you're saying Netherlands margins will be up or you're targeting them to be up and the same with Germany, but you're not actually saying that in Australia in the second half, and you're actually commenting about commodity inflation. Like is it fair to assume that maybe expanding margins in the second half is going to be difficult? Like is in -- is that the right interpretation of that [indiscernible]? Andrew Leyden: Yes. Tom put simply, yes. I mean we -- seasonally, we tend to see lower margins in the second half than we do in the first. That doesn't change our long-term trajectory, of course, that remains, as I mentioned earlier, where we're focused on driving same-store sales revenue entering dayparts, focusing on beverages, that sort of thing. But in the short term, yes, we do seasonally see a bit of a dip in margins in the second half. It's primarily driven by the timing of certain events, but also things like commodity changes, but also the number of public holidays. It just affects the labor rates that we pay, and we tend to see a bit of margin contraction in the second half as a consequence of that. So yes, I mean, your assertion is correct. Thomas Kierath: And what about sort of year-on-year, like I get the whole second half versus first half, what about second half versus second half. Andrew Leyden: I think as we mentioned earlier, we're just a little cautious about how the consumer is feeling right now. We had a good second half last year. We're just a little -- fluid is probably too strong, but we're just keeping an eye on consumer sentiment. We are going to have to support the limited time offers with investments in value. We found that as we -- towards the late part of the first half as well, we've seen more investment in value. So we're just looking and watching to see how the consumer is responding to promotion. And then obviously, there's a degree of flexing that takes place in terms of investments in value. Operator: Your next question comes from Caleb Wheatley from Macquarie. Caleb Wheatley: My first question on this value discussion, which has come up a few times already. But just keen to hear if you had any additional comments on how your peers are responding to the environment from a competition point of view? And any additional comments you can make on pricing or promotional intentions going into the second half, i.e., is it potentially going to get worse before it gets better in terms of the value that you're trying to offer to your customers, please? Xavier Marie Simonet: Maybe I'll start. got a few key focus areas. One is we still see immense value in driving operational excellence, and there are still improvements we can make across Australia and Europe. So we see immense value, and we've shown that over the last few months. The second point is we've got exciting product launches happening also in the second half. This is -- as we've experienced in the first half, this is delivering strong potential sales growth as well as engagement with customer and good customer experience. In terms of value, as Andrew mentioned, yes, we're cautious about consumer sentiment and how things are going to evolve in terms of macroeconomics, particularly with interest rates because this will have an impact positive or negative on our activity and we'll adjust also the value we need to deliver to our customers. So we don't know how it's going to pan out. We're just very cautious. But with a strong focus, again, on the value we can still deliver through operational excellence and through successful product launches. And Krystal mentioned Kwench. So we're launching Kwench as a new product platform for trial in 7 stores in Cairns with Yum!. This week. It's really exciting. We'll see what that outcome is, but the focus on launching new platforms, new products, new dayparts is something we're focusing on with Yum!, and we'll see how it goes in Cairns. Caleb Wheatley: Yes. Do you get the sense that your peers on the more sort of value end of the QSR channel are also pushing quite hard on price? Just sort of trying to get a feel for if there's sort of broader pricing pressures or this is more just a deliberate internal decision from Collins. Krystal Zugno: Caleb, it's Krystal. I think the QSR landscape has been highly value-driven for quite some time now considering the consumer sentiment. I don't see -- I don't think that our competitors have changed direction from what they had been doing the last 6 to 12 months. However, we are seeing price increases taken from our competitors at different points in time and what they see fit. The decision on how we structure our calendar and how we approach value is not done by Collins, that's done by Yum!, and we sit on the council to help assist with those decisions. We've got a customer-first mindset on those sorts of decisions. So anything to do with pricing, anything to do with value plays and our innovative calendar is all driven by what we think the consumers are saying they want to need in that time period. And we can be agile, as i said before. So if we need to, we can pivot on those decisions to kind of go with what the trends are coming through in the numbers. Andrew Leyden: Caleb, the only thing I was going to add was value means different things to different consumers. And some consumers want abundant value, others want a sharp price. Others want really interesting bundles that stimulate them. It means different things to different people. I think it's more of a nuanced conversation than just making an assumption that we're dropping prices because that's really not the case. It's a complex set of conversations that ultimately leads to the way that we present LTOs, or limited time offers and then how we support them with value-based promotions. Xavier Marie Simonet: And Caleb, if I can add something. Yes, we're cautious about consumer sentiment. But the backdrop is we've got a very strong brand and brand health metrics for KFC in Australia and Europe are very, very strong. Engagement with consumers, social media and digital marketing advertising is very strong. We're launching new exciting products and going to continue doing that. In the first half, they've really shown success. We're testing Kwench. We're focusing on operational excellence and customer engagement, unlocking capacity. So there's a lot going on that gives us confidence that we can make a difference, of course, within the context that consumer sentiment is still a question mark. Caleb Wheatley: Okay. That's clear, very detailed. And just a final very quick one, maybe one for Chris. avian flu benefit called out seems like it's going to be quite meaningful. Can you just give us a sense for what the impact was of avian flu when it first started to hit in terms of the cost increase there? Just trying to get a sense for kind of what the leverage is as we're now rolling out of it on the other side, please? Chris Johnson: Caleb, thanks for the question. We haven't shared what the impact was. It was different across our 2 geographies. It was more pronounced in Germany, and that's purely given source of supply from Polish poultry was higher in Germany. In terms of restitution, the glide path is starting in terms of pricing coming down. Yum! working really hard, and they run and manage the system supply chain across Continental Europe, working really hard on not only pricing for the existing supply but also -- diversification Caleb, which is probably the one big learning that came out of this whole process was there are other low-cost producing markets out there that KFC should or could target from. We're not, at this stage, sharing where we'll end up in terms of the avian flu upside, but it started and will continue into early 2026. Xavier Marie Simonet: Okay. Great. Thank you. We've got a few more questions. We've got 5 to 10 minutes max. So we'll try to answer your questions as much as possible. Operator: Your next question is from Ben Gilbert from Jarden. Ben Gilbert: So I try to be quick, just two questions. So I appreciate all the comments we made around macro. But it feels to me, looking at the numbers, looking at the NPD pipeline in terms of new menu launches there the case to be more optimistic today for the outlook for Australian 6 months ago. Is that fair? Because that's how Yum!'s comments for the other day with the update talking to Australia as well. Andrew Leyden: Just repeat that. Sorry, I didn't quite catch the question. Ben Gilbert: I'm just -- there's obviously a bit of discussion around macro. My -- if I look at your numbers and then I tie that in with the numbers that Yum! -- has put out and you talk to the pipeline of products coming through, it feels to me there's a case to be more optimistic about the next 6 months for Australian QSR and KFC space than there was probably, say, 6 to 12 months ago. Is that fair? Andrew Leyden: I'm going to invite Krystal to talk to the Australian position. I think if you look at the strength of the brand, I think we'd all love to see higher levels of same-store sales growth because the brand is in really good health. And if you think about the opportunities ahead of us, we talked about Kwench, we talked about dayparts and coupled with the strength of the brand, which has been -- that's a trend that's been in place for quite some time. We'd all love to see same-store sales growth. You can see that we're still hovering between 2% and 3% at the moment. So despite all the good news in the LTOs, and we're still running at that level. In the first 7 weeks are at that level. We feel optimistic and confident, but I think we've still got to convert that into same-store sales performance at a higher level. I don't know whether that's something that you want to talk to, Krystal? Krystal Zugno: Yes. I think just to add to that, then, something that we might have said a little bit earlier, but the same-store sales growth that we've experienced in the first half and even in the first 7 weeks of this half, it has come as a mixture of the innovative calendar that we are excited about, but also our continued investment in value. And while that continued investment in value will always be there in the everyday value calendar, there have been times where we needed to really add that up with the consumer sentiment being where it is. And that's where the hesitancy comes in for what's to come in the next couple of months. So while we're confident in the innovative calendar, we also haven't seen it -- we haven't had the opportunity to remove the level of investment in value yet, and we don't see that coming in the foreseeable future. Ben Gilbert: That's really -- that's helpful. That's clear. And then just second one quickly. Just with the VAT change in Germany, it's obviously a pretty material part. Is the view in the market because some of your competitors seem to be talking about the ability to take some price and not necessarily pass the full reduction through. Do you think that's sort of where the market is going to be leaning in Germany from Jan 1st? Chris Johnson: Ben, so we don't know. It would be the short answer is we don't have clear line of sight into what the big 2 players are doing. From a KFC perspective, like I shared earlier, we have modeled with a third-party, Simon Kocher, who -- Yum! have engaged to help us with a country-wide view on pricing and tiered pricing, what it could mean for us. I think it would be fair to say that we don't anticipate brands being able to take the full price to the bottom line. And that I think consumers, as it's highly publicized, as you can imagine, that consumers would be expecting for something to be given back. What that looks like, we'll all have to wait and see until January 1st, KFC included. But it wouldn't be fair to model the full flow-through of the VAT decrease. And again, just as a reminder, it's only on the dine-in portion of the sales mix. And yes, the government have proposed it moves from 19% to 7%. Operator: Your next question comes from James Ferrier from Canaccord Genuity. James Ferrier: Maybe one for Chris to start with in relation to Germany. You're referring to bolt-on acquisitions there to broaden the geographic presence. Is that within the 2 existing states that you're currently focused on? Or are you looking to move into other states with that comment? Chris Johnson: James, thanks for the question. I think primarily, we're looking for acquisitions that would make sense. We have, of course, our 2 hubs in North Rhine Westphalia and Baden-Württemberg. We'd be open to states that would open up significant geographies for us to further build out. and not acquisition just to sit on our hands. However, that being said, our primary focus, of course, is organic growth, and that's what we've shared. We're well underway in terms of building out that pipeline and the new build numbers for next year. James Ferrier: And is your pipeline only focused on those 2 states, i.e., would you need bolt-ons to go into new states? Or are you looking at greenfield in new states as well? Chris Johnson: As it stands, we're focusing solely on North Rhine Westphalia and Baden-Württemberg, so the 2 states where we're in today, and that allows us to leverage our current operational expertise and the resources that sit within those markets. James Ferrier: Understood. And then second question, maybe for Krystal. It's been a few months now since the change in the delivery fee structure in Australia. I'm interested in what sort of change you've seen in the sales growth for that channel, in particular? Is it just the basket going up given the menu price adjustments that have been made? Or have you seen transaction growth accelerate as a consequence of that lower delivery fee? Krystal Zugno: Yes. Thanks, James. So we've seen a few things happen since the first transition for DoorDash was 1st of July and then Uber came a little bit after that. In both instances, we did see transactions go up as well as the basket size increase, which what you alluded to is correct through the pricing increase on the platform as well. So we've actually seen both. Our mix in delivery has increased around 2% since both DoorDash and Uber move the pricing. So we're excited by those changes actually and how that's transforming our business and operations are being able to cope with those delivery orders coming through the channel. Xavier Marie Simonet: Thanks, James. I'm afraid Harmony, we've got to wrap up. And unfortunately, close the meeting. Thank you very much for joining and looking forward to the roadshow this week. Operator: And that does conclude our conference for today. Thank you for participating. You may now disconnect.
[speaker 0]: Good morning, and welcome to the Signet Jewelers Third Quarter Fiscal twenty twenty six Earnings Call. Please note this event is being recorded. Joining us on the call today are Rob Ballou, Senior Vice President of Investor Relations and Capital Markets JK Semantic, Chief Executive Officer Joan Hilson, Chief Operating and Financial Officer. At this time, I would like to turn the conference over to Rob. Please go ahead. [speaker 1]: Good morning. Welcome to Signet Jewelers Third Quarter Fiscal twenty Earnings Conference Call. During today's discussion, we will make certain forward looking statements. Any statements that are not historical facts are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties. Actual results may differ materially. We urge you to read the risk factors, cautionary language, and other disclosures in my annual report on Form 10 ks quarterly reports on Form 10 Q, and current reports on Form eight k. Except as required by law, undertake no obligation to revise or publicly update forward looking statements in light of new information or future events. During the call, we will discuss certain non GAAP financial measures. For further discussion of the non GAAP financial measures as well as the reconciliation of the non GAAP financial measure the most directly comparable GAAP measures investors should review the news release we posted on our website at ir.signetjewelers.com. With that, I'll turn the call over to J. K. Thanks, Rob, and good morning, everyone. I'd like to start the call this morning by thanking our team. Your efforts to date are delivering meaningful progress to this first year of Grow Brand Love, while driving near term momentum in our performance. Thank you for your hard work and commitment to our customers as we enter our critical holiday season. There are three key takeaways I'd like to leave you with today. First, we delivered our third consecutive quarter of positive same store sales and grew adjusted operating income double Q3 of last year. Second, our efforts to expand merchandise margin are delivering meaningful and sustainable results that have worked to drive operating margin expansion and offset pressure from tariffs and commodity pricing. [speaker 0]: Third, [speaker 1]: we believe we're well positioned for the holiday season with a focused assortment aligned to key categories and price points supported by a modernized marketing approach. Turning to the quarter, we delivered 3% same store sales growth to this time last year. Our three largest brands, Kay, Zales, and Jared, delivered a combined same store sales performance of 6% to last year. That reflects our intentional focus on the core of our business with growth in both bridal and fashion categories. The results that we delivered this quarter are also a reflection of our brand equity work. Assortment strategy, and a refined approach to pricing and promotion. Further, the reorganization under Grow Brand Love has empowered brand leaders to act swiftly on decisions that drive brand equity. Fueled by a strengthened center of excellence that leverages our scale. Building on that, I'd like to highlight a few of the more significant in our Q3 results. Within merchandise, we delivered growth across all categories. Bridal, fashion, and watches. This performance underscores the strength of our assortment architecture and ability to respond to evolving consumer preferences. In bridal, continued focus on differentiated offerings and strategic pricing resonated most for mid tier consumers, with Kay, Zales, and Peoples all delivering high single digit sales growth or better. This strong growth was led by long standing brand collections, like Neil Lane, Dara Wang, and Monique In fashion, Jared delivered 10% comp sales growth reflecting strong performance in diamond, gold, and men's jewelry bolstered by strength of recent collections like Italia de Oro. Alongside that, we continue to see runway in the fashion category. Particularly in lab grown diamonds or LGDs, which expanded penetration to 15% of fashion sales this quarter. Roughly double last year's rate. In marketing this quarter, we are making progress on modernizing our playbook. This includes a more robust full funnel media strategy amplified social media and digital first led content, as well as brand ambassadors like Antonia Gentry and Chloe Fineman to drive buzzworthy campaigns. We continue to see double digit growth in impressions off a low to mid single digit increase in spend from this updated approach. At Jared, we're using story led marketing to drive results. This quarter, Jared launched its storied diamond collection in partnership with De Beers. This collection uses blockchain technology to track a stone's journey from its origin in Botswana all the way to its final setting in Jared's collection. Alongside this, we premiered a diamond is born, a documentary by Academy Award winning Luc Chaquet. This documentary details the diamond's journey as well as the lives that it enhances along the way. We look forward to seeing the impact of this campaign over the holiday as early results are driving traffic. My second key takeaway today relates to our efforts to expand merchandise margin. Year to date, we have delivered 50 basis points on merchandise margin expansion with 80 basis points for Q3, despite a significant impact from tariffs and increases in gold costs. We have been carefully rolling out a refined pricing and promotion strategy. While this has included select price increases, it's a much more fulsome playbook. We are carefully turning the dials on how many days our brands are on promo, what items are eligible, and depth of discount. Particularly periods where there is no preexisting consumer expectation for value shopping. Promotion can be an effective traffic driver, but overreliance on it can impact brand equity and ultimately leave money on the table. Brand equity also helps drive margin expansion. Jared is furthest along with its brand identity work and overall pricing and promo strategy. Leading to 25% reduced discounting to Q3 last year. Lastly, our high margin services business is also growing faster than merchandise. And helping expand margins. It's the overall combination of these efforts driving year to date results despite pressure from tariffs and notable increases to gold costs. With regards to the current tariff landscape, and specifically India, we believe that we have mitigated a majority of the higher rates through strategic sourcing and the merchandise margin actions I've detailed. And will be the same levers we look to as we set our sights on the year ahead. Turning to the holiday season. Based on customer insight and preferences, as well as learnings from last holiday, we have taken a decisive inventory position in key gifting items at targeted price points. This strategy includes on trend categories like LGD fashion, men's fashion, gold jewelry, and colored stones. For example, we've made a material investment in LGD fashion at price points below $1,000 compared to last holiday. We're also being strategic in our marketing spend this holiday. More than 70% of adults now stream as a primary way to watch video. So we continue to rebalance the channels we spend into in order to drive efficient reach. This work will be even more important as we navigate a period of lower US consumer confidence. We've taken action to meet the more pronounced value expectations of consumers this season with a well balanced assortment and promotional cadence. Delivering on holiday is our highest near term priority, and our grow brand love strategy continues to set the stage. For sustainable long term growth. Summarizing my key takeaways today, first, we delivered our third consecutive quarter of positive same store sales and grew adjusted operating income double Q3 of last year. Second, our efforts to expand merchandise margin are delivering meaningful and sustainable results that have worked to drive operating margin expansion and offset pressure from tariffs and commodity pricing. Third, we believe we're well positioned for the holiday season with a focused assortment aligned to key categories and price points, and supported by a modernized marketing approach. With that, I'd like to turn it over to Joan. [speaker 0]: Thanks, JK, and good morning, everyone. Revenue for the quarter was approximately $1,400,000,000 with comp growth up 3% to last year. This reflects the expansion of average unit retail of 7%. Unit performance improved sequentially, while still down to last year, driven by a better performance at Banter and Zales. Fashion AUR grew 8% largely on assortment mix to LGD fashion, which carries a higher AUR, as well as higher gold prices. Bridal AUR grew 6% in the quarter, reflecting a growing mix of LGD wedding and anniversary bands which also carries a higher AUR than other bands. Importantly, services grew high single digits in the quarter, with nearly five consecutive years of positive comps We saw growth in extended service agreements or ESAs which saw attachment rates up over 1.5 points in the quarter. This reflects higher attachment online for bridal and higher in store attachment in fashion. Moving on to gross margin. We delivered a rate expansion of a 130 basis points to last year. This was led by merchandise margin expansion of 80 basis points, which JK detailed a moment ago. We also delivered 30 basis points of occupancy leverage reflecting the efficiency within our operating model to expand margins on a slightly positive comp. Lastly, we drove a 20 basis point improvement from distribution efficiencies, taking advantage of higher gold prices by accelerating scrap recovery, as well as better shrink performance. The SG and A rate for the quarter was nearly flat despite a 70 basis point impact from higher incentive compensation. Excluding the incentive compensation, SG and A improvement reflects more efficient marketing spend and store labor planning as well as favorability in transaction fee costs. Adjusted operating income was $32,000,000 for the quarter. This result is ahead of our guidance equally on higher sales and operating efficiencies across gross margin and SG and A. The combination of our capital allocation strategy, further tariff mitigation efforts, the improvements in our operating model, and the focus on the three largest brands led to a more than 2.5 times increase in adjusted EPS. Turning to real estate. The work to refresh stores this year is already delivering mid single digit sales lift to stores recently renovated at k, Jared, and Sales. Additionally, early results from the repositioning of Kay Stores are also showing positive traction. Pacing towards just over a two year payback as we continue to relocate high performing doors away from declining venues to better locations in otherwise strong markets. Now turning to the balance sheet. Inventory ended the quarter at $2,100,000,000, down 1% to last year despite a nearly 50% increase in gold costs and higher tariffs. Cash ended the quarter at $235,000,000 with total liquidity of approximately $1,400,000,000 with an undrawn ABL. Free cash flow improved by more than $100,000,000 for the quarter and by more than $150,000,000 year to date, from timing of receipts that will shift payment to the fourth quarter and inventory discipline. We repurchased approximately $28,000,000 or rough 300,000 shares in the quarter. Bringing our year to date repurchases to nearly $180,000,000 or 2,800,000.0 shares. Which represents more than 6% of a diluted shares outstanding. Our remaining repurchase authorization is approximately $545,000,000. Turning to guidance. We are modestly updating our expectations. This includes raising the low end of our full year guide to reflect our beat in the third quarter, further tariff mitigation efforts and a measured outlook for the fourth quarter. This measured outlook reflects external disruptions since late October and potential continued softness in consumer confidence. We believe it prudent to have a cautious approach to guidance given we've seen softer traffic in the past five weeks particularly among brands with more exposure to lower to middle income households. We are raising our full year same store sales low guide to down 0.2% and maintaining our high guide of plus 1.75% and introducing a fourth quarter same store sales range of plus 0.5% to down 5%. With just over 70% of the quarter to go, we're well within that range. Our guidance assumes merchandise margin rate to be roughly flat to a slight increase in the quarter providing some flexibility for the current macro environment. We are raising our full year adjusted operating income low guide by $20,000,000 to $465,000,000 and maintaining our high guide of $515,000,000. This translates to an increased adjusted EPS range of $8.43 to $9.59 per diluted share inclusive of share repurchases to date. Lastly, we're introducing a fourth quarter range of $277,000,000 to $327,000,000 of adjusted operating income. We also continue to expect 145 to $160,000,000 in capital expenditures for the year inclusive of pulling forward real estate spend to take advantage of the strong returns we've seen today. Before we turn to Q and A, I'd like to thank the team for your dedication, resilience, and focus this year. I wish a happy and healthy holiday season to you and to your families. Operator, let's now go to questions. Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, we will now begin the question and answer session. You will hear prompt that your hand has been raised. Should you wish to decline from the polling process, please press star followed by the two. If you are using a speakerphone, please lift the handset before pressing any keys. One moment please for your first question. [speaker 1]: Your first question comes from [speaker 0]: Paul Lejuez with Citi. Your line is now open. Curious if you could talk about what you've seen quarter to date [speaker 3]: and specifically over the Thanksgiving weekend, how that might have informed your comp guidance for 4Q? And if maybe you could just dig in a little bit more about the external disruptions since late October that you referenced. Just wanted to understand what you were referring to, if that was a traffic comment that you just made or if it was something else. Thanks. [speaker 1]: Yeah, Paul. Thanks for the question. You know, I think we've been we've been pretty cautious as it relates to Q4, all year long. And I you know, our guide, we're we're we're maintaining a little bit of of softness at the the November, which, you know, obviously, you you've seen everything from confidence surveys to [speaker 3]: issues with government shutdown snap. You know, the our consumers [speaker 1]: are dealing with a lot. And what we saw, you know, quarter to date is is really, you know, seeing that play out a little bit, most notably in the brands that have you know, a greater density of lower and middle income customers. Outside of The US, consistent trends in those brands of ours that have exposure to high income customers. We're still seeing, you know, spends be consistent. And so while we've watched, you know, moderation of that and really believe that you know, the holiday is is gonna happen per normal and and that you know, we've got confidence in our plan moving forward. We also didn't feel like that you know, that prudence around Q4 was was wrong. We've pretty consistent in that guide all year, and, I think this is a reflection of that. I as far as as far as the weekend, you know, we don't I don't know. I I what I what I've learned is I've looked through our data and and seen play out is, first of all, Black Friday to Cyber Monday is just not as as big of a of an impact on our quarter. You know, if you look at the month of November, it's it's 25% of our total, quarter. So for us, December is a whole lot more important, and you know, good Black Friday, bad Black Friday in between really has has you know, very little bearing on on our results. Our overall performance so much more tied to those ten days leading into to Christmas when you when you look at at the volume, those days are are are more important than than the whole month that we just that we just finished. I I think we've seen fairly consistent results quarter to date, you know, from all the way through Black Friday. So no know, no big no big change there and and no you know, call for for pessimism, but I think we're right to be, you know, guarded. And and I do think we've got a custom customer that is is gonna be more intently focused on value as they come through the through the holiday and our guide is and our actions are really focused on that. [speaker 0]: The only thing that I would add to that, JK, Go ahead, John. Sorry. Well, I was gonna add that the the guide that we've given and what we said in our prepared remarks is that we believe we're well within, the top line guide for the fourth quarter, which is important And to JK's point, we have 70% of the quarter ahead of us. And, so at this position, we believe it's prudent to be conservatively positioned and provide for variability in consumer spending. [speaker 2]: Got it. And then I guess [speaker 3]: just to follow-up on the the ten days leading up to Christmas, obviously, I think you kinda had a miss there last year. So was it your expectation that once we get to that point that you would see an acceleration in sales as we move to to that period in the within the quarter? [speaker 1]: No. We think we're well positioned for it. I mean, I I would say we you know, the if you recall, the the opportunity that we had last year was we really were under under inventoried relative to the sub 500 and sub $1,000 price points, particularly in the fashion side and know, I I mean, depending on what what bucket you're looking at and what what brand you're looking at, we we've got anywhere from five to eight times the the inventory there. Well positioned on trend. Same you know, same investment, particularly in LGD fashion. At those lower price points that that has been driving improvement all year, and and we're really ready, for the business and I think have the right you know, the right promotional cadence set up to be able to support what's gonna resonate with customers. So we're certainly building towards that, and I think you know, that we're we're positioned to be able to deliver value to customers during that time period, which also should represent an opportunity for us to to drive performance. Different than last year. [speaker 2]: Got it. You. Good luck. [speaker 1]: Yeah. Thanks, Paul. Appreciate the question. [speaker 0]: Your next question comes from Lorraine Hutchinson with Bank of America. Your line is now open. Thank you. Good morning. So last quarter, spoke to the low end of guidance. The India tariffs remained. What were the key mitigating factors that had the biggest impact to allow you to raise that low end today? [speaker 1]: Yeah. I I appreciate the question, Lorraine, and and maybe more importantly, appreciate the work our team has done to to deliver that. You know, we've we've we've never fully dimensionalize a number as it relates to tariffs in part because it moved around a lot. You know, I I think one of our challenges has always been if if if I gave you a number on Tuesday, on Wednesday, it might might look a little bit different just based off of the volatility there. And even though even though we haven't seen, the India tariffs pull back, you know, we through a combination of of a number of things. A lot of moves as it relates to country of origin to to really partner with our supplier. When I talk about our teams, I'm I'm not just talking about our merchants and supply chain folks who've worked hard, but upstream, our supplier partners have really been nimble and, you know, we've we've moved some production to The US. We've moved some production to other countries. We've you know, found ways to to build efficiency in the supply chain. You know, in this environment, given the commodities, there is a little bit of price that has moved through, and I think you know, we've we've been able to to mitigate that and and mute it, to try to protect value for our customers along the way. And and know, given what our team has worked through, particularly over the last couple of months, not [speaker 3]: not only does that position us well, [speaker 1]: for the holiday, but, ultimately, these are the same levers that that we will use to drive the businesses next year. But [speaker 3]: I I'm [speaker 1]: I I I love the asked question because I think it it really does point to the fact that know, despite we this this disruption and and moving from you know, effectively a low of of 5% tariff to north of 50% tariff in in in India. Our team's been able to to do that, grow the business, [speaker 3]: and actually raise the bottom side of guide and and take that downside off of the table. [speaker 1]: Which I just think is is great work across our business. And [speaker 3]: you know, also [speaker 1]: puts us in a position of strength as we're moving into this next year. [speaker 0]: Thanks. And then can we just talk a little bit more about pricing? With gold prices and tariffs, it sounds like you are pulling the pricing lever a little bit. How do you tread carefully enough, given that you're seeing that pressure at the low income consumer? I guess, how how do you balance the need to offset some of these cost pressures with, the consumer struggles that you're seeing? [speaker 1]: Yeah. It's you know, thank you. I I I I think that's the the art and science of of of running a retail business right now. And and for us, you know, I'll break it into to two parts. Gold as a as a straight commodity is and when you think about that, think about, you know, more gold forward pieces, or or you know, things like gold chain, for example. That are that are all about gold. I think historically, we've seen that customers understand that's commodity market. They understand the value associated with it. And as as we as we pass along the fluctuations of price on the that are purely commodity driven, [speaker 3]: We generally see [speaker 1]: customers recognize that value, and and, you know, we're we're obviously tethered to a market and look to leverage our scale and and strength of supply chain to make sure that we're offering the right value proposition relative to the rest of the market. I think our team does that well, and, historically, we've we've every time we see what we think may be a ceiling, we we recognize the consumer understands that commodity price and and tends to be resilient because of the residual value of what they're buying. And so we may see a little bit of a drop off in units in gold as a result of some of those price increases. But from a [speaker 3]: that [speaker 1]: you know, that plays out across the market and and we know how navigate that pretty well. In the case of you know, tariffs and or you know, other the other side of that coin, [speaker 3]: that's where it really becomes important for us to think about design, you know, [speaker 1]: all of the elements of of of a piece of jewelry and and how do we leverage [speaker 3]: design and our supply chain and and [speaker 1]: supplier partner base, to really drive sharp adherence to some of these key price points. And and I think that [speaker 3]: is more important this time of year than ever, you know, if if if I look at a a business like you know, k, for example, sub $500, we're you know, we're significantly higher in inventory of positioning than than where we were last year because we know that's going to be critically important to that customer. That customer [speaker 1]: will will understand those key price points whether it's you know, that item that I buy for $1.99 or [speaker 3]: $2.99 or $500, and we work hard to to engineer product that still delivers value proposition and and carries that emotional value, but can stay within the price point ranges [speaker 1]: that makes sense for the holiday. [speaker 2]: Thank you. [speaker 0]: Your next question comes from Randy Konik with Jefferies. Your line is now open. [speaker 3]: Great. Thanks a lot. I guess, Joan, maybe what would be helpful is to kinda hindsight fourth quarter last year and maybe give us a little bit more color on if not quantitatively, more qualitatively, how the quarter played out and kind of how you think about that as it pertains to fourth quarter this year. I think you said that the days, fourteen days, whatever it was before Christmas last year were pretty difficult. Providing opportunity just be helpful to kinda get some perspective on you know, how everything kinda played out last year to give people some perspective how things should you know, maybe play out this year. And then as a follow-up to that, commentary, maybe JK can give us some perspective of what you're kind of constructing teams to do you know, to execute, you know, the holiday season to make it a success. You've done a good job or done work around marketing and merchandising. Just kind of just give us your your thoughts on what your is instructing everyone to kinda get done over the next you know, thirty to sixty days. Thanks, guys. [speaker 0]: So, thanks, Randy. With the respect to last year, I mean, it's it was clear that we had assortment gaps in key gift giving price points, particularly under a thousand and even more so under 500. And we did not have the lab grown penetration in fashion that, particularly in fashion somewhat in bridal, but we didn't have that last year. This year, lab lab diamonds are roughly 40% of our of our bridal business. And they're up to 15% double last year in our lab grown fashion business. So we've closed that gap and really responded to what the customer is, was asking for last year that we didn't have. And we we've now bridged that gap. So we feel strongly about the assortment architecture that we were we've been able to put forward. Importantly, Randy, the next step of that is we need to be in-depth position and key price points in key styles. The team has worked very diligently to ensure that as we progress through the holiday selling period and we approach the, you know, last ten days before Christmas, which we know is critically important important. We're in stock in the key items that the customer is responding to. One of the things that we're seeing that gives us confidence is that our conversion, from quarter to [speaker 2]: quarter has been relatively consistent. [speaker 0]: So we believe as we get closer to the holiday selling period, we're seeing strength in our traffic and brick and mortar, stronger, will bode well for us. On top of the the conversion metric that has remained relatively consistent. So that speaks to for us, the strength to our of our assortment in closing that gap. We also have fortified post holiday selling. It's, as as you recall, we lead up to Valentine's Day in the month of January. It's not as in big of a holiday for us, but it's an important holiday for us. And we've ensured that we are in in stock and have receipts flow, you know, post the holiday selling season, which will will bode well for the first quarter of next year. [speaker 1]: I I think as far as the next thirty to sixty days, I mean, Joan Joan touched on it. I December is is a critically important month, and and, you know, it is [speaker 3]: particularly important because that's when [speaker 1]: that's when customers that shop our category you know, really do come more into the mindset of of of making a purchase. And and, you know, we're [speaker 3]: we're a great last minute option whether that's because [speaker 1]: you know, people save for it or or because it's a simple solution at the end. [speaker 3]: I think it's incumbent on us to to make sure that we make that as frictionless for customers as possible. And, you know, I think if if of of anything, you know, this category can be a little bit intimidating to customers. And you know, at a time period where where I think there's a little bit more going on, [speaker 1]: little bit more uncertainty, and and and and our lives leading up to the holiday as as consumers. The more we can simplify and focus our message, for them, I think the better off we are. And and to Joan's point, that really does mean you know, honing in on simple value propositions, trying to really streamline you know, promotions so that it's less complex and we're much more straightforward with customers around what the value proposition is. I I think that's a that's a risk. And and, you know, one of the things we one of the things we've learned as we've looked at the the consumer response this month is simpler is better. And so the more we can simplify that, and and be straightforward, the better off we are. And then, you know, from a from an operational standpoint, it is about making sure we've got inventory in the right place that that we maintain depth, and and in particular, you know, have product available not only for for shipment online, particularly in the first half of the month, but as we move towards [speaker 3]: the end of the month, it's about having product available in store, so that we can focus on the biggest opportunity we have, which is conversion. You know, what we're overseeing is some modest improvements in conversion. So if we and and that was really that was the opportunity last year. [speaker 1]: You know, if I if if we're really honest about, you know, our shortfall, particularly in those ten days, [speaker 3]: it was not a traffic opportunity for us. It was a conversion opportunity. There was a very clear message from from customers that that that we were not as good at delivering the merchandise [speaker 1]: that they needed to solve that you know, the the gift that they were looking for. We're much better positioned today to do that. I think you see that you know, playing out and our Q3 results when you look at strength across all categories. And so you know, now it it really is about making sure that we get that message in front of people simply where we're executing, tightly and and have that that inventory we've invested in available at the point of purchase. And then ultimately, we're doing what we can from an operational standpoint within all the brands. To to convert and and you know, get them on their way to to celebrate in the holiday with loved ones. [speaker 2]: Great. And then [speaker 3]: when you think about the bridal category versus the fashion category, just as an industry, how do you think how do you feel about those two different sectors And then when you think about architecting the business over the and changes to it over the next you know, twelve to twenty four months, you you know, are you thinking about changing, you know, the balance between bridal and fashion at all? Any changes you're contemplating, you know, thoughts on the portfolio? You keep talking to a distortion of capital. Towards the mega brands of Kay's, Zales, and Jared. Just kinda curious on how you're thinking about the next twelve to twenty four months of kinda moving things around the the chessboard. [speaker 1]: Yeah. It's a it's a great question. I'll I'll I'll answer part of it probably push part of it till after the holiday because I I you know, the the last I wanna do is introduce a a lot of hypotheticals to to our team as we should be really focused on closing closing with customers and and really delivering the holiday. You know, to your point, we we [speaker 3]: we love the balance of the two, honestly. [speaker 1]: And and, you know, I mean, given the the share we have in bridal, we wanna maintain that dominance, but we recognize that you know, that it is it is harder to gain outsized growth there because we do set a position of dominance. We certainly don't wanna see that. We we love that [speaker 2]: that [speaker 3]: that balance within our business. We love, you know, being there for customers at that important point in their life, and and we're gonna continue to be dominant and bridal across across the business. No question about that. We talk a lot about fashion just because [speaker 1]: it's underdeveloped relative to our business, and that's where the opportunity for outsized growth is. [speaker 3]: So so mathematically, you know, that that may change the mix over time. It it isn't about a pivot away from fashion. It's absolutely about a pivot or, excuse me, a a pivot away from bridal. It's more about a pivot into the opportunity that that fashion presents for our business and the overall lift that that can provide, to the total portfolio. And I think [speaker 1]: the work we're doing [speaker 3]: to further delineate and position our brands to be in that regard, give us degrees of freedom to lean a little more heavily in some brands into fashion and and also you know, stay a little more staunchly in the the bridal focused area for for other brands. As far as the portfolio is concerned and and capital, I I think once we get through the holidays, it's a great time for us to to talk about [speaker 1]: know, some of the other [speaker 3]: strategic opportunities that we have. We've alluded to a few of them and and I I think know, given as we've said all along with some of the other you know, noncore brand decisions as once we get through Q4, we'll we'll be in a position to lay out, you know, thoughts. But I I I think the the focus we've had on our core brands to really reignite growth across our business is [speaker 1]: is what gives us [speaker 3]: not only confidence, but the degrees of freedom to really think a little more aggressively around how we deploy capital strategically across the business [speaker 1]: to continue to generate growth [speaker 3]: Super helpful. Thanks, guys. [speaker 1]: Thanks, Randy. Appreciate it. Happy holidays. [speaker 0]: Your next question comes from Ike Boruchow with Wells Fargo. Your line is now open. [speaker 1]: Hey. Good morning, everyone. Two for me. The first question is really just about promo. [speaker 4]: Maybe JK or Joan, could you talk about the Black Friday week? What your strategies were? Did you deviate from those at all? And then kinda how does promo play into the comment the cautious commentary? So, you know, understanding the the comp guide, just kinda curious how your markdown strategy is planned for the holiday today. [speaker 2]: So I [speaker 0]: over the weekend, the Cyber five, we stayed on on plan. We were terms of our promotional strategy, we were pleased with how we, you know, were able to lean out some discount in the appropriate places within our business and, really believe that that strategy served us well, from particularly from a margin perspective. As we head into, the holiday selling season, I would say that we are into peak peak selling We are we have a plan that gives us flexibility. You know, I I noted that our guides for the fourth quarter is gives us some very allows for some variability in consumer spending. And, I believe, and we believe, as a team that that's a prudent measure just as we navigate our way through the next 70% bit of business in our quarter. So, it's important that we retain that the the discounting, as we think about it, one of the things from an earlier is our assortment architecture that we've, created for the fourth quarter gives us those price point buckets, Ike, that really, allow us to serve customers at different levels under $1,000 and it provides for you know, the variability in consumer household incomes. That our portfolio spans in terms of the mid market. So our strategy allows for that not only in promotion but in assortment architecture. We believe that's just as important. We have a nice assortment in what we would consider wild price points in, with depth in those styles that can serve customers under $1,000 and under a $100. So it's it's really about understanding the customer for each of the brands. [speaker 4]: Got it. And then within that, could you maybe for 4Q specifically, the gross margin plan and could you kind of intertwine your promo plan along with whatever the tariff headwind is. Like like, basically, you stack the puts and takes for April gross margin that's embedded in the in the EBIT guide. [speaker 0]: Uh-huh. So for the fourth quarter, our GMM rate our gross merchandise margin rate, considers flat to flat to a slightly up view and that's what's giving us the flexibility that we may need. Depending on those consumer spending patterns. You'll recall, like, leading into the the third quarter, we had an expansion of 50 basis points. And again, you heard our results this quarter were very good in terms of margin expansion. Some of that came from pricing. And a, large part of it also came from architecture. Within the assortment. So we're continuing through that, but giving our our continuing with the architecture, but giving ourselves that pricing flexibility So that's that's the, overall view of the GMM. As you know, and we've said in the past that our gross margin, we're able to leverage gross margin on a slightly positive comp. And so that considers just some of the work that we've been doing in our operating model efficiency within our distribution centers. We actually took advantage of and will continue to do so in the fourth quarter. We took advantage of the gold pricing and accelerated some planned scats scrap recovery, that we typically do in our business, but we accelerated it to take advantage of the pricing. So we're taking all of those measures, in hand and bringing those forward into the fourth quarter as well. [speaker 4]: Just so I'm clear. So the the the merch margin flat to up, but but the comp is negative with gross margin be down due to deleverage on fixed costs? Within COGS? [speaker 2]: Yes. That's that's accurate. Okay. [speaker 4]: Alright. Thanks, guys. [speaker 0]: Your next question comes from Dana Telsey with Telsey Group. Your line is now open. Hi. Good morning, everyone. Nice to see the progress. [speaker 5]: I think you had mentioned about some of the smaller banners like James Allen or Banter. So second half of the year, a guide towards the 60 to 90 basis point margin drag Is that still in place? Or has anything changed there? And two other things, given the upcoming holiday season and the opportunity for this year, what is the percentage of newness that you're thinking about in the assortment whether for bridal or fashion? For this for this fourth quarter. And Joan, any updates on the real estate optimization plans? Thank you. [speaker 0]: So I'll start with James Allen. Right our guide would assume that we are it would negatively impact comps by a 120 basis points. It's been relatively consistent. Throughout the back half. We've seen some slight improvement in certain periods of time, but overall, that's the negative impact that we would see on overall comp in the we saw it in this quarter, and we would expect [speaker 2]: the same. [speaker 0]: In the fourth quarter. With respect to newness, [speaker 2]: we [speaker 0]: target roughly 30%, Dana. The the most important part of that is what is the content of the newness and the depth in styles. And so in the past, we may as we saw last year, we had a breath of assortment, but weren't deep enough in styles that were resonating with the customers. So while the percentage is important, it's the content and depth of the key item that's most important. And then the real estate update, I I mentioned it in in my prepared remarks, but we're very pleased with the results in our refresh program. And, you know, it's up mid single digit comps from the the brands that we've refreshed and largely are our largest brands. And the renovations have been particularly strong for us just over a two year payback. And you can really see the results of that within our Jared business. The team has done a a terrific job in bringing to the customer a a more modern view of that brand and upscale the interior to meet the product assortment that has been leveled up from an offering perspective but, obviously, while maintaining the right assortment architecture to you know, cover a wide range of price points. So really, pleased with that. We we still intend to close you know, up to a 100 stores, this year. Over the next two years, we think it's roughly one hundred and stores. Several of those, Dana, are in Banter, which are you know, have been in declining malls, and we'll understand if there's a reposition strategy for the those locations. Banter is a highly productive brand for us, and it has a a strong store four wall contribution. And so we'll really evaluate where that future might be in terms of newer locations for that brand. [speaker 2]: Thank you. [speaker 0]: Your next question comes from Jeff Lick with Stephens. Your line is now open. [speaker 3]: Good morning. Thank [speaker 4]: taking my question. Yeah. I was wondering if you could maybe unpack a little bit more You know, I think those must have been following the story. You know, we've all looked at Q4 as this kind of this battle between the consumer versus the improvements you're making. [speaker 3]: Know, if I use last year's EBITDA of, you know, $3.94 and then the high end of your EBITDA this year at $3.74, you know, it it kind of implies that [speaker 4]: almost no matter what [speaker 3]: the consumer element is a bigger factor [speaker 4]: than, you know, the the improvements that you're making. It kinda seems like you know, your improvements are, you know, whether it's the fashion or just, you know, the lab and diamonds of, you know, could you maybe just unpack Are we is that how it should be read, or is it, you know, is it possible that [speaker 3]: you know, things could come in much better? [speaker 1]: Because it you know, from the get go, it seems like [speaker 4]: the the the consumer element seems to be a much bigger factor than the know, what what was thought to be pretty sizable improvements. Potential for Q4 this year. Yeah, Jeff. I I [speaker 6]: maybe maybe John and I can tag team this one. I I I think there's there's there's two things to to unpack there. You know, as far as as you know, any sort of guardedness on Q4, you know, I I do think from day one, you know, of of this year, we have despite the opportunity for improvement and and top line for four. We've been a little bit guarded just knowing that the some of the consumer uncertainty, what that may mean to the competitive landscape. We wanna retain the flexibility to be responsive in the market to their needs, as well as you know, some of the curveballs as it relates to cost, not on the commodity side, but especially with tariffs. Those have all been considerations and and, you know, led to what has been a actually a pretty consistent guide for Q4 from day one. When you when you're looking at at you know, EBIT for that quarter, incentive comp's pretty big factor when you start thinking about you know, the the reload of incentive comp and how that plays out. And so it's you know, you've gotta got a little bit of apples and oranges that that that may be going into the comparison there, but I listen. I I I think this is an environment where you know, we we also wanna retain the ability to be responsive to the you know, to the consumer at a at a time period where they have been dealing with a lot. And we feel like, you know, maintaining that flexibility to continue to drive momentum is is really important for us. And and I think our guide reflects that. And and so I don't know. Joan, if there's anything you wanna add to it, but that's that's if if I were trying to summarize or give you a synopsis of of maybe how to to square up those two parts of the story, that's the intersection that makes sense to me. [speaker 0]: The only thing I'd add is that, you know, our Q3 momentum, we feel the business has momentum, has We, are seeing a stronger, We're seeing a slightly increase a slight increase in conversion rate, which to us speaks to the the architecture and the assortment that we're bringing forward. We are able to [speaker 2]: know, reset [speaker 0]: some of the with respect to tariffs, we've been able to offset those while driving in this the assortment architecture that continues, to aid us in merchandise margins. So that's positive, Jeff. And then I think some deleverage on fixed costs that the lower the lower end of our guide is part of that. But to JK's point, in almost at the high, we expect a deleverage in SG and A. But it's entirely, you know, related to the incentive comp reset. Much of what we saw in third quarter And at at the low end of the guide, it's really to a lesser degree, incentive comp, but also that fixed cost to leverage. So we we we'd like the assortment. We'd like the position. And just responding to what might happen at the at the range of our guide. [speaker 2]: Oh, yeah. Don't don't misunderstand the question. [speaker 4]: I think it's prudent to give the guidance that you gave. We're just trying to, you know, handicap those two kind of opposing forces [speaker 3]: One quick question on the Indian tariffs Is there any chance you can give us a sense of the dollar amount if what's say [speaker 1]: tariffs were to go back to, say, 25%, 20%, which is kind of what the [speaker 4]: other countries are getting, you know, how much of a eventual obviously, it won't be instant because of way inventory turns. But how much of a get back? Or how how much dollars have you absorbed or could you get back? [speaker 6]: That's a I that that that is in this world, that is a a what should be a simple question, but but is is actually much harder. Only because you know, in some cases, we made decisions around relocating to different country of origin or even potentially changing design and what we would buy to to you know, to maintain [speaker 3]: not just [speaker 6]: assortment architecture, but margin architecture and some of those, you know, some of those things. So it's it's I would say the you know, the [speaker 2]: gosh. [speaker 6]: It's because we haven't dimensionalize a headwind, I can't, you know, I can't as easily articulate what the the giveback may be. I would say, you know, the the plus of of that pullback would be you know, the the range of product and the predictability of of supply chain relative to really being able to into top line driving performance is is greatly aided by a reduction in tariffs. I I I think one of the challenges that [speaker 1]: you know, that [speaker 6]: many retailers, not just us or or know, facing as it relates to to the timing of some of the tariff announcements is literally running out of runway relative to Q4 and having to make decisions on what do you pass on, what do you absorb, what do you not do that that maybe you would have considered before? And and so, above all, I mean, listen. I I think our team has done a a a an exceptional job of navigating that uncertainty and positioning us to be there for the consumer, not just for Q4, but but delivering this performance throughout the year. [speaker 3]: And [speaker 6]: honestly, some of what we've had to develop in terms of nimbleness and responsiveness within the supply chain, that's gonna carry a benefit for us moving forward. I mean, the better we are at controlling our inventory and and really mastering all of the input costs that that come along supply chain for a scale player like us gives us a a competitive advantage. And and so, you know, in the in the classic sense of you know, that which does not kill you makes you stronger. Like, this is this is one of those things that you know, we're we're finding the blessing in it and and, you know, gonna leverage that to our benefit moving [speaker 2]: forward. [speaker 6]: But that uncertainty and and the short runway leading up to Q4 certainly hamstrings some of the degrees of freedom relative to assortment planning and and, you know, would would only benefit from stability, particularly if that stability comes with a more moderate tariff than than what we've been dealing with. And so I I I know I didn't answer your question relative to dollar amount. It's hard we never gave you a dollar amount on the front side, but I at least wanna convey to you that we're thoughtful around what levers there are for us to pull that can be accretive to the business you know, ultimately, when we land at a little more normalized state relative to the tariff environment. So I guess to close that in a as a from a qualitative basis, [speaker 1]: the only thing [speaker 3]: in the tariff landscape that changes next year is that the Indian tariffs go down [speaker 4]: obviously, because the other tariffs seem to be a little more [speaker 3]: set at this point. So you can kinda have an idea of of the landscape, but [speaker 4]: if the Indian tariffs go down, all things being equal, that's gonna be a positive for 2027 and beyond. [speaker 6]: Yeah. It should. I mean, I I I think inherently, you know, quantifying quantifying the you know, the the overall, you know, dollar impact I think it's a little bit harder thing to do. But absolutely, that gives you more more opportunity to play offense. [speaker 3]: Awesome. Well, best of luck with the fourth quarter and look forward to catching up soon. [speaker 1]: Thanks, Jeff. [speaker 2]: Thank you. [speaker 0]: Your next question comes from Mauricio Serna with UBS. Your line is now open. [speaker 2]: Greg, good morning. Thanks for taking my questions. Just point of clarification on the [speaker 3]: Q4 guidance. You know, when you said that you know, you are within well within the range, does that mean you are the top end, you know, midpoint? I'm just trying to understand that part of the guidance. And then also on Q4, thinking about the promotion environment, can you talk about what you've seen so far in terms of, like, you know, in the industry level, what you've seen in promotions, and do you expect that to maybe year over year be more intense, be in line, just any thoughts on what what you're thinking about the the promotional environment will be great. Thank you so much. [speaker 0]: So we articulated that we are well within the rate range of our top line guidance, Mauricio. And the reason that we can, you know, position ourselves with that statement is that historically, when you think about the fact that the Black Friday weekend is a very small piece of of the overall quarter and that from the run rate of the November, month to date into, the the holiday selling period even last year as well with some of the assortment gaps that we've had, we see run rate historically from November to to December as historical, and we've seen over the last several years. So it's really it it's more pertinent to think about the overall guide and understanding the variability in in the range. Just giving us, you know, a a range of outcome that gets flexibility, for some of the pricing actions. Particularly with EBIT. So, without being specific, we we feel that our business has momentum. And as we look into December based on our assortment, we we are cautiously optimistic about the outcome. [speaker 6]: I think as far as promotion is concerned, you know, I I I just think in this kind of consumer environment, it's it's wise for us to be prepared for it. You know, we've seen a little bit more promotional response, I think, you know, with with some of the consumer confidence questions that have emerged in November. And and I think we're well positioned to be able to deliver on the right value proposition as as we get into real crunch time for our business. So, nothing know, exceptional that I would quantify at this point. Mauricio, but I think anytime you've got a a consumer that's dealing with uncertainty, it's it's wise for us to to plan for it and and to remain you know, flexible to be responsive so that we can drive top line during during a really important time of year. [speaker 3]: Thank you so much, and and good luck on Q4. Yeah. Thanks, Mauricio. [speaker 2]: Your next question comes from [speaker 0]: Jim Sanderson with Northcoast Research. Your line is now open. [speaker 1]: Hey, thanks for the question and congratulations on a great third quarter. Wanted to dig in a little bit more to the fourth quarter guidance, the lower range, the negative 5%. Given the strength you've had in average unit revenues to date, what would it take [speaker 3]: with respect to average unit volume declines to get to that negative 5% in fourth quarter, both in bridal and in fashion? Just trying to get a sense of where the greatest risk or weakness [speaker 1]: can emerge for the fourth quarter. [speaker 2]: Mhmm. [speaker 0]: I'll take that, Jim. I I with three respect to the low end of our guide, bridal units, would be down roughly mid single digit. And which would also fashion units would also be down you know, similarly. So that's the the view of units. We feel that even at the at the high end of the guide, bridal bridal can be down low single digit in q Q4 and achieve our guidance. And so we feel very good about the performance that we're seeing in bridal, particularly in our large brands. We're seeing a, you know, high single digit comp in bridal in, you know, case sales and and Peoples. Is not one of the larger brands, but, you know, they're it's doing quite nicely. So feel good about the positioning of of of where the guidance is is positioned relative to bridal and and to fashion. [speaker 1]: Alright. So but to to make sure I [speaker 7]: understand it, even at the higher end, you would expect units to be down let's say, low single digits for the bridal category. That's the [speaker 0]: kind of right way to look at it? [speaker 7]: Okay. Understood. And just [speaker 1]: no. Thank you. Thank you. And just a question on the promotional environment. [speaker 7]: Are you satisfied with your price position, promotional price position relative to peers as you entered in to the December holiday season? [speaker 6]: Yeah. It's a great question. We we we are, but I would also tell you this is a time period where as people adjust, we also scrape the market and and make sure that we're really well positioned. I think the the dynamic nature of this environment and and just given the not not only what we've talked about relative to consumer, but just the the you know, the compression that happens between now and the holiday. I I think we were focused on staying vigilant. And particularly when when everybody is dealing with some input cost changes. I think that, you know, that that creates a little more focus certainly on our part to make sure that, you know, in these commodity based categories or in in any of the the key price point offerings [speaker 2]: that [speaker 6]: that we really maintain the kind of competitive positioning that that makes sense. And so, you know, we've I think we balanced that really nicely over the course of the year being less promotional, you know, more broadly, focusing promotion where it makes sense, but also not being, gratuitous and eroding know, brand equity in the process. And and I think the other benefit of that is it enables us to really focus our our value messaging, to customers in a in a stronger way. We obviously watch the landscape and wanna make sure we're know, we're we're maintaining that momentum as we go into such critical time period, also not not losing the progress that we've made relative to to some of the discipline around pricing architecture. That's paying dividends for us. So that's that's where we're focused. I think, you know, more than not, we feel like we're in the right position, and when or if we have have, found any categories or or know, subcategories within a brand where we don't like, then then we've got the flexibility to also remix and and manage it accordingly. So we're delivering the right value value. Alright. Thank you very much. Yeah. Thank you for the question, Jim. [speaker 0]: There are no further questions at this time. I will now turn the call over to JK Simancic for closing remarks. [speaker 6]: Okay. Thank you, everyone, for joining us today and for your interest in our business. We are fully focused on the critical holiday selling period, and we're confident in our strategy and our team's commitment to deliver results [speaker 1]: However, [speaker 6]: you celebrate, I wanna wish everyone, our employees, partners, shareholders, all of you a holiday season full of joy, peace, and of course, love. Look forward to speaking with you next quarter. Goodbye. [speaker 0]: Ladies and gentlemen, this concludes your conference call for today. We thank you for participating and ask that you please disconnect your lines.
Operator: Thank you for standing by and welcome to the United Natural Foods, Inc. First Quarter Fiscal 2026 Earnings Conference Call. All lines have been placed on mute to prevent any background noise. After the speakers' remarks, there will be a question and answer session. If you would like to withdraw your question, again, press 1. Thank you. I'd now like to turn the call over to Steve Bloomquist, Vice President of Investor Relations. You may begin. Good morning, everyone, and thank you for joining us on United Natural Foods, Inc.'s first quarter fiscal 2026 earnings conference call. By now, you should have received a copy of the earnings release from this morning. The press release and earnings presentation, which management will speak to, are available under the Investors section of the company's website at www.unfi.com. We've also included a supplemental disclosure file in Microsoft Excel with key financial information. Joining me for today's call are Sandy Douglas, our chief executive officer, and Matteo Tarditi, our president and chief financial officer. Sandy and Matteo will provide a business update, after which we'll take your questions. Before we begin, I'd like to remind everyone that comments made by management during today's call may contain forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements include plans, expectations, estimates, and projections that might involve significant risks and uncertainties. These risks are discussed in the company's earnings release and SEC filings. Actual results may differ materially from the results discussed in these forward-looking statements. I'd like to point out that during today's call, management will refer to certain non-GAAP financial measures. Definitions and reconciliations to the most comparable GAAP financial measures are included in our press release and the end of our earnings presentation. I now ask you to turn to Slide six of our presentation as I turn the call over to Sandy. Sandy Douglas: Thanks, Steve, and thank you everyone for joining us this morning. In 2026, United Natural Foods, Inc. delivered solid results, including adjusted EBITDA and free cash flow, meaningfully above prior year levels. While net leverage declined approximately one turn compared to the prior year quarter. Importantly, we delivered these results amidst an operating environment that remains highly dynamic. Our first quarter net sales performance was driven by sustained natural and product growth, new business projects, and strong retail execution across our customer base. Positive sales in our natural products segment largely offset declines in our conventional product segment consistent with our expectations. As part of our accelerated network optimization efforts most notably at Allentown, which have proceeded ahead of schedule. As we improve our network, we're focused on continuing to improve service levels for our customers and suppliers in a growing $90 billion target market and on further increasing our long-term profitability. Our adjusted EBITDA growth in the first quarter continued to be driven by improving execution. Effectiveness, and efficiency across the business. This reflects actions taken within our value delivery office, to help support gross margins as well as continued progress managing shrink. Free cash flow results improved by over $100 million compared to last year's first quarter. Even as we took necessary steps to stock up on the inventory our customers need, in advance of the high volume holiday selling season that is now well underway. This performance enabled us to both improve fill rates and reduce net leverage, sequentially compared to the end of fiscal 2025 and from prior year levels. As a result of our solid Q1 performance, we're firmly on track to achieve our full year outlook, and we remain focused on executing our strategy adding value for our customers and suppliers, while becoming a more effective and efficient company. During the first quarter, we continued to make progress in both areas. I'll start with how we're adding value for our customers and suppliers. At United Natural Foods, Inc., we aim to do more than safely receive, store, and transport food. We're working to bring our customers the products, insights, programs, and services that will help them execute their strategies and successfully differentiate themselves in a highly competitive environment. We know this environment is increasingly challenging. Especially for traditional grocers. This is why we aren't stopping with what we can do for our customers and suppliers today. We're focused on what we can do to help them succeed for years to come. Our commercial organization is working to revamp and strengthen our merchandising capabilities. As a competitive advantage for our customers. Because we believe tailored merchandising and competitive pricing on key items is critical to helping retailers more effectively differentiate and compete. This focus also helps our suppliers successfully build their brands across the diversified 30,000 plus retail locations that we serve. A critical part of our broader merchandising capability is supported by our private brands portfolio. During the quarter, we appointed a new leader for this business with deep knowledge of how private brands can help retailers differentiate and drive value. For consumers. We also continued taking action to improve the experience for independent customers and emerging suppliers. Who are critical to the vitality of our industry. In fact, an early focus of our lean management kaizen workshops has been to troubleshoot some of the areas that suppliers have told us are important to them. Such as time to shelf, Following a recent Kaizen continuous improvement workshop, we took swift action to improve item setup forms and processes to streamline the new item setup process. This type of action not only directly helps our suppliers, our customers by ensuring that they get access to innovative products that their shoppers want. Turning to our focus on improving effectiveness and efficiency. In the first quarter, we took additional steps on our operational road map to pair advanced supply chain technologies with processes and capabilities that empower United Natural Foods, Inc. Associates to champion operational excellence. We recently deployed the supply chain technology, RELEX, across about half of our distribution network. With the second half expected to be completed by fiscal year end. This solution is helping us partner with our customers and suppliers to make smarter procurement decisions by using an AI based platform to predict demand, avoid waste, and reduce out of stocks. It is helping to deliver improved fill rates and inventory effectiveness as we expected and we anticipate further benefits as we complete the rollout this year. At the same time, we continue to scale lean daily management across our distribution network. With 34 DCs now onboarded, through first quarter's end. In these DCs, we continue to see encouraging improvements in our KPIs for safety, quality, delivery, and cost. All as a result of empowering our associates to see and solve problems faster more effectively. Together, Relax and Lean are driving effectiveness and efficiency across our network. Our customer fill rates have improved. And are now trending above fiscal 2024 and 2025 levels on average. We still have work to do. But we see even more opportunities to improve as we continue to scale these initiatives in the months ahead. During the first quarter, we also continued to optimize our network. Following the actions we took last fiscal year to streamline parts of our footprint. While also strategically investing to support future growth. These actions were completed at an accelerated pace relative to our initial expectations expectations. Our optimization efforts are enabling us to serve customers and suppliers through strategically located facilities. With broad assortments while removing redundant and wasteful costs. These actions have enabled us to continue to make network improvements and contributed meaningfully to our improved results. During the first quarter, we ramped operations at our new automated natural product distribution center in Sarasota, Florida. Which is expected to help address strong demand in that area. By combining the power of an optimized portfolio, with the right mix of technology, processes, and people, we are building a more responsive and resilient supply chain to support customer and supplier needs today and into the future. At next week's Investor Day, we'll provide a closer look at the key capabilities that we're building to add more value for customers and suppliers and continue to drive effectiveness and efficiency across our business. We also look forward to giving everyone a chance to hear directly from several of the talented United Natural Foods, Inc. leaders who are leading this important work. Together, all of us at United Natural Foods, Inc. remain focused on becoming the food retail industry's most valued partner. Our first quarter performance reinforces our confidence and our ability to continue to create sustainable long-term value for our customers, suppliers, associates, and shareholders. With that, let me turn it over to Matteo to provide more detail about our first quarter performance. Matteo Tarditi: Thank you, Sandy. And good morning, everyone. Our first quarter results reflect our focus on building capabilities to better support our customers while simultaneously improving profitability and free cash flow resulting in meaningful progress on our deleveraging efforts. We're also affirming our annual outlook for all key financial metrics. Today, will provide additional insight into our first quarter results, our financial position and capital structure, and our fiscal 2026 outlook. With that, let's review our Q1 results. Starting with slide eight, our first quarter sales came in at $7.8 billion roughly flat to last year. This includes natural segment growth of 11%, reflecting strong unit growth which outperformed the market. This growth, as Sandy mentioned, driven by the performance of our customers some new business projects for existing customers, as well as the continued secular strength in our natural organic, and specialty products. In conventional, as we anticipated and previously discussed, sales declined about 12%. Primarily driven by our accretive transition out of our Allentown distribution center. Which was completed ahead of our expectations. While this move pressured the top line, it supports improved profitability and free cash flow. Overall, wholesale inflation was about 3%. Unit volumes declined about 5% driven primarily by network optimization, mix was a positive during the quarter. In retail, total sales fell 5% in the quarter. Partly due to store closures over the past twelve months reflecting our strategic decision to strengthen the store network and improve future free cash flow. Same store sales declined 3%. But we are optimistic about the impact that David Best and his strength and leadership team will have on this business. Moving to slide nine, let's review profitability drivers in the quarter. Our gross margin rate in the first quarter was 13.4%, up 20 basis points versus the prior year quarter. This rate represent continued progress in to optimize our portfolio our event supplier programs, and higher levels of temporary procurement gains resulting from vendor price increases. Our operating expense rate was 12.7% of net sales compared to 12.9% last year. This improvement reflects the benefit of our effectiveness and efficiency initiatives driven by our value delivery office, network optimization, including continuous strategic automation investments, acceleration of lean daily management across United Natural Foods, Inc. In addition, throughput, a key indicator of supply chain product productivity measured by cases moving through the DCs over an hour, increased by over 2% compared to last year's first quarter. By nearly 10% from Q1 2024. Adjusted EBITDA for the first quarter was $107 million up nearly 25% year over year. On a rate basis, adjusted EBITDA was 2.1% of net sales, up 40 basis points year over year. All in adjusted EPS for Q1 was 56¢, compared to 16¢ last year. This was driven by higher profitability including the benefit of lower net interest and depreciation expense, partially offset by a higher tax rate. Turning to slide 10. Free cash flow in Q1 was a use of $54 million. Which was an improvement of about $105 million compared to last year's first quarter. This was the result of higher adjusted EBITDA more efficient working capital investment, and lower levels of year over year capital spending. We continue to expect capital investments to accelerate as we move further into the year, based on the expected project schedule. The free cash flow performance in Q1 coupled with the higher adjusted EBITDA, enabled us to lower our net leverage ratio sequentially to 3.2 times and by one full turn compared to this time last year. Historically, we have seen net leverage increase as we move from Q4 to Q1 and build inventory heading into the holiday season. However, our focus on customer service combined with improved procurement processes and early benefits ReLex, have led to higher average fee rates while we've continued to reduce net leverage. With a strong first quarter performance, we remain confident that we will further reduce net leverage to our target of below 2.5 times by the end of the fiscal year as we enter the seasonally higher free cash flow generation quarters. Flipping to slide 11, we continue to deepen lean practices to drive benefits across safety, quality, delivery, and cost. We have now implemented a lean daily management in 34 DCs as of the end of the first quarter. A sequential increase of six facilities in the quarter. We're actively working to eliminate waste and improve distribution center effectiveness and efficiency. All driven by our strategy of adding value to our customers and suppliers. As Sandy stated, we continue to focus on building enhanced capabilities including customer stewardship, merchandising, supply chain, and technology. These builds and work done over the past few years to better understand the needs of all customers and suppliers. And would be an important part of the content at the next week's Investor Day. Looking at slide 12, our performance in Q1 keeps us solidly on track deliver our full year outlook for fiscal 2026. To review, our guidance ranges and increases compared to fiscal 2025 include sales of $31.6 billion to $32 billion, This includes the year over year loss of sales from our transition out of Allentown, which will improve profitability and free cash flow but suppress the growth in consolidated net sales by about 3%. Adjusted EBITDA of $630 to $700 million, representing a year over year increase of about 20% and an average annual growth rate of close to 15% the midpoint relative to our reported fiscal 2024 results. This implies about 35 basis points of margin expansion at the midpoint of our outlook. And then adjusted EPS range of $1.50 to $2.30 per share increase of about $1.20 per share at the midpoint compared to last year. Our outlook for capital spending remains at $250 million. Reflecting our focus on safety, modernization, and continued prioritization of investment for growth. Finally, our free cash flow expectations remains at approximately $300 million. We will continue to prioritize reducing net debt improve our net leverage ratio to 2.5 times or less by year end. While it's still early in the year, we remain confident in delivering our plan as we move through the balance of fiscal 2026. As highlighted on slide 13, the strength of our customers, and a focus on continuing to improve execution across our operations including the benefits from lean our network optimization efforts, have led to a solid start to fiscal 2026. We are encouraged by our sustained progress on improving free cash flow deleveraging our balance sheet, our net leverage ratio decreasing by one turn versus this time last year. We remain committed to our strategy of adding value to our customers and suppliers while making you unified more effective and efficient as a business partner. As we suggested on our last call, our goal this fiscal year is to accelerate the momentum and we're on a path of doing just that. We look forward to sharing more with you at next week's Investor Day. With that, operator, please open the line for questions. Operator: Thank you. We will now begin the question and answer session. We ask that you please limit yourself to one question and one follow-up. Your first question today comes from the line of John Heinbockel from Guggenheim. Your line is open. John Heinbockel: Hey. Sandy, two related questions on natural growth. Right? So growing 10%, market's growing, right, maybe mid single digit. So can you talk to drop size? Right? Or know, new new account distribution versus existing growth? Is that sort of the fifty fifty split by drop size up mid single digit as well? And then you also mentioned fill rates. And I know the fill rates in natural are are not where they need to be. Some of that's structural, but how big of an opportunity is that? Sandy Douglas: Yeah. I think John, good morning. I I would say the general trend in our drop sizes have been positive largely because the a lot of growth has happened with some of our larger customers who are at the same time, and this is premise of your question, giving us more to do. I think as as that dynamic happens, obviously, that makes us more efficient down through the line. But at the heart of it, it's strong growth it drops to EBITDA. And and the you know, the the fill rate issue? Yeah. Fill rate fill rate's been solid in and we're very heartened by it, actually. We've taken a number of steps to improve fill rate. It's obviously a key metric to our customers. Between the reintroduction of technology and the new implementation of ReLex, on a bed of lean daily management. And then driven by a more localized management structure that was put in place couple years ago is giving us sequential improvement in fill rates 25 versus 24, and then this year, 26 versus 25. And we continue to see opportunity to improve in that area, and it's an area that's very important to us and to our customers. John Heinbockel: And then my quick follow-up is, if I look at EBITDA margin in the conventional business, right, so this quarter, is up over a 100 base or almost a 100 basis points, right, north of 2%. How do you look at the potential of that business? Right? It may not grow, but how much more profitable can it be? Matteo Tarditi: Yeah, John. Good morning. If think about it conventionally in Q1, the EBITDA reflected the benefit of the accretive network optimization. The supplier programs and then a little bit of temporary procurement gains that, again, we continue to view as secondary and and temporary to our strategy. The conventional outlook for adjusted EBITDA for the rest of the year largely reflects the network optimization the growth of the supplier's funds, the continuous work that we do on shrink, and then the initiatives that we have deployed between lean lean data management and indirect cost management all kind of helping on the on the operating expenses and the leverage. So Q1 may be a little bit heightened by some temporary procurement gains. But in general, our strategy remains consistent of creating new capabilities to keep our customers competitive merchandising professional services brands, while working the benefits of the network optimization and the lean daily management and indirect cost actions. Sandy Douglas: John, just one one sort of strategic overlay there. Around EBITDA margin as we look ahead our view is that the opportunities and, in fact, the mandate to create value for customers in this environment is a very long term opportunity for us to continue to get better. Whether that's execution, whether it's services, whether it's programs, whether it's merchandising, then if you look at our cost base, we have a huge amount of cost related to what we do, we see a very long runway of continuous improvement opportunity there. So we would expect EBITDA margins to continue to edge up the effectiveness and efficiency areas as well. Operator: Thank you. Your next question comes from the line of Ed Kelly from Wells Fargo. Your line is open. John Park: This is John Park on for Ed. For taking our question. I guess just kind of given the gross margin strength in the quarter, can you kind of talk about the sustainability of that and maybe parse out like how big of a benefit the network optimization efforts were? In Q1? Matteo Tarditi: Good morning, John. The gross margin rate ex Life from the quarter was at 13.6% versus last year of 13.3%. So we were up about 30 basis points. The key drivers, you know, within the gross profit growth, obviously, we had strong natural growth that brings, gross profit and operating leverage based on their efficient business model. We had suppliers' funds and shrink continuing to help and accrete within the the gross profit And then we had some level of procurement gains that, again, we continue to view as temporary and secondary. Both in our financial construction and in the strategic partnership with our suppliers. The EBITDA of $167 million if you consider the large driver of productivity, the growth in natural, is basically a fair representation of the quarter in our run rate. So you can think about the $167 million as a normalized kind of EBITDA for the quarter. Even if we had temporary procurement gains in a $32 billion business in a given quarter, you have a number of puts and takes So that that $1.67 is a good kind of recurring run rate that we plan to sustain. And then relative to incremental opportunities for gross profit, the capabilities that we're gonna discuss next week at the Investor Day between merchandising, professional digital services, brands, all help keeping our customers competitive, strengthening the relationship with our suppliers. But also helping on on mix, which is an important component of our gross profit. John Park: Got it. And then just kinda switching gears a little bit. You talk about the competitive environment at retail for both conventional and natural? I know you seeing any changes out there more recently? Sandy Douglas: You know, at at a at 200,000 feet, one of the one of the fun things about being in our seat in the industry is we get to see a lot of retailers work their magic and this is no exception at this time. I mean, clearly, given the stress that a significant percentage of the consumer base is feeling right now, discount is very competitive and compelling. But that has stimulated a lot of innovation in retail, and we see it across our customer base, whether it's in the play natural and organic folks or customers who are beginning to rethink what they do to continue to bring different, better, and special offers in their market community based retailers, multicultural focused retailers, and if you if you took the the part of the of the industry that's innovating and differentiating and winning, they're growing very strongly. And so it really is a market by market customer by customer strategic and operational battle, and there's lots of winners. There are people that are challenged as well, and I I think from our end, least, we're busy trying to figure out how to help them win. And, but it's very competitive out there. But that's creating a lot of innovation and we continue to view the broader industry as very healthy. John Park: Great. Best of luck, guys. Operator: Your next question comes from the line of Mark Carden from UBS. Your line is open. Mark Carden: Good morning. Thanks so much for taking the question. So you continue to generate quite strong growth in Natur Organic. How would conventional have shaken out ex the Allentown transition? It sounds like the impact there may have been more than expected just given you completely ahead of your expectations And then what are you seeing with respect to the health of the consumer in both your natural organic segments of the business? Sandy Douglas: Good morning, Mark. Yeah. What I would say is the lion's share of our weak weakness in conventional is because of network optimization. Obviously, the Allentown exit is the largest factor there. But there's been other tweaking across the country. Beyond that in conventional, there's it's been a bumpy quarter for the consumer with the shutdown creating general sentiment challenges with Snap delayed for a while, created some issues in those weeks. And and now retailers are coming back as that all comes back online. So very competitive and conventional and it sets up a mandate for us. It's the principal kind of north star of our merchandising reboot is to figure out how to get our customers in a place where they can be competitive in any scenario. And then in the natural, environment, obviously, been very strong growth in that segment across the different retailers, the largest of which all are our customers. And we're getting the opportunity to serve them. We continue to believe over the long term that the natural business is a as an industry, is a mid single digit grower, and we hope to be able to compete support the retailers that are competing in that environment. Mark Carden: That's great. And then as a follow-up, just at this stage, have you guys seen much incremental customer attrition following the cyber attack? You guys seem to be weathering it quite well last quarter. Just how was it compared to what you may have expected at the time of your last quarter call? Sandy Douglas: Yeah. Mark, I I don't think it's any different. My answer would be exactly the same as I answered it last quarter. We had one southern customer that joined us and we had one Upper Midwest customer leave us. But the I think the the core answer is that we and our entire network, our sales, our merchant our supply chain teams are busy serving customers as well as they possibly can. And we we continue to to to manage through a couple situations there, but as far as customer retention, we've been extremely fortunate and we're working very, very hard to earn that. And and hope to continue to be the best choice for customers going forward. Mark Carden: Thanks so much. Good luck, guys. Matteo Tarditi: Thanks. Operator: Your next question comes from the line of Kelly Bania from BMO Capital Markets. Your line is open. Kelly Bania: Thanks for taking our questions. Matteo, just wanted to follow-up first follow-up on the procurement gains. I guess that helped Q1 a little bit. But if I heard you right, that's there's nothing there in the plan going forward. So wondering if you could just confirm I heard that right. And then can you help us understand you know, did those procurement gains drive some upside to your plan, your internal plan for the quarter? And was that specific to any categories that you can help us just understand what was happening there? Matteo Tarditi: Yeah. Good morning, Kelly. So, answering the, the first part of your question, we have not, modeled any procurement gains in our 2026 or 2027 outlook. So we continue to describe those as temporary and and secondary. They they happen in the first quarter, but as I was saying before, in in a given quarter, we have puts and takes until some of the upside from the procurement gains were offset by by other dynamics. In relative to kind of how we are thinking about the the procurement gains, our strategy is always to work with the suppliers and build strong relationship with them, making sure that through that kind of strategic partnership, we keep our customers, you know, competitive keep our prices low, stable, and and predictable. So we we don't rely on procurement gains, you know, in order to achieve our financial targets. And, again, we continue to do them as temporary. Relative to, you know, specific specific categories, it's been a little bit of a combination of many as you can imagine. Partly related to tariffs, partly related to kind of the general inflation, that is still in the 2.5 to 3% range. So modestly up versus 2025. Kelly Bania: Okay. That's that's very helpful. Now I was also wondering if I could just ask a couple of questions about top line on the two sides of the wholesale business. So first, on conventional, I guess, excluding that optimization, it looks like those were down in the mid single digit range. You called out some of the factors, I guess, going on during the quarter, but I guess, can you continue to hit you know, your targets with that magnitude of of kind of core sales pressure in in conventional? And are you seeing or hearing suppliers in those categories? Becoming more promotional to to help maybe drive some volume? In that in those categories. Sandy Douglas: Yeah. Kelly, this is Sandy. I what I would say is the general environment in conventional get out of our optimization, which is the large majority of our decline. By the way. So more of the decline that I think you're your question framed. But be that as it may, there is pressure in conventional, and it seemed broadly And the major source of that pressure comes from the consumer situation, the bumpiness with Snap, and then the the efficacy of a discount positioning in that environment. And so retailers are responding to that in in, obviously, different ways. But if you were to draw broad themes, it's to respond by getting more competitive on key value items to start for sure, Secondly, it's to look at product assortments and and and seek to innovate in a way that fits the retailer's positioning and minimizes comparability. And then the third area is kind of the secret sauce of the retailer, whether it's food service or customer service or community or local sourcing or whatever it might be. And you can see evidence of that formula working in conventional across the country. You can just think of the of the retailers that might fit that. Many of whom are customers of ours in one way or another. So we see a great opportunity to try to continue to help retailers break that code and manage through the kind of consumer stress. Which as it abates will continue to favor them, particularly those who've executed that formula well in their businesses. Kelly Bania: You, Sandy. Can I just also ask about the natural side and obviously, very strong there? Just wondering if you could comment a little bit more about how widespread that growth is. You talked about getting kind of more business with large customers, but are you seeing kind of more broad based adoption of natural and organic? Because there has been some some signs of a slowdown. It seems like you have a different point of view there. So wondering if you could just elaborate. Sandy Douglas: Sure. I think the very much like the conventional business, it's a retailer by retailer story. Our business, as you know, is slightly different than just a pure mirror of retail. We we also do project work. We do market entry services as an example of project work. And so sometimes we have business in in a particular channel or with a given customer that might be temporary as they make a transition in their business. So if you look at our report, you'll see strong growth You'll see, a number of customers performing very well you see a component of it that is project related where we're helping customers execute against short term initiatives. Then you'll see the ongoing secular health of the natural organic and specialty categories. The way we think about it is that the category based on the same information you all have looks like it's a mid single digit grower. And we'd like to believe that we'll punch our weight strongly in that industry going forward. But, certainly, our performance in the last quarter and over the last year and a half or so because of the project work we've been doing has been very strong. Kelly and Cindy, let me maybe after two or three questions on sales, helicopter up and say a couple of words on how we're thinking about the the sales outlook So in in Q1, sales were roughly flat compared to the prior year. And the midpoint of our output, 31.6 to 32,000,000,000, is also flat. So Q1 has been consistent with the outlook. The the outlook reflects the expectation that the underlying natural growth for the year will be similar to the long term industry average, which is MSD. Now when we think about the rest of the year, into doing conventional, we'll have the full top line impact as well as the full adjusted EBITDA benefits of the Ellington Fort Wayne billings and Bismarck optimizations. Versus Q2 twenty five when we were just in the early innings of the network optimization. When we think about the the third quarter, will we be ramping down some of the critical customer project base that we started twelve months ago, but then we know that also can ramp up very quickly and that is part of the solution that we offer to our customers and how we create value. And then in the fourth quarter update, have a an easier comp we will have the the no repeat tailwind for the $400,000,000 of cyber related losses. So it it is a full year framework. We don't you know, guide by quarter, but wanted to offer a little bit of a helicopter view on how we're thinking about the next nine months, through that kind of framework of flat and midpoint. Kelly Bania: Very helpful. Thank you so much. Operator: Your next question comes from the line of Chuck Cerankosky from Northcoast Research. Your line is open. Chuck Cerankosky: Good morning, everyone. Great quarter. As we look at the margin improvement, going forward, that we anticipate. What what's left realistically left in the shrink area and where might that come from? Is it is it lower inventories leaning less spoilage, less breakage, but can you talk about that in some detail, please? Matteo Tarditi: Hey. Good morning, Chuck. So on on margins, the current outlook calls for 35 basis points of margin expansion. In 2026. And then if you think about 24 through '27, it's about 60 basis points of of margin expansion. And that is really rooted into large productivity programs the benefits of the network optimization, the supplier programs, and then there is still a contribution from from shrink. Now if you think about, 25 to 24 shrink was a very important contributor. In the end, our goal is to continue to improve and eliminate weight. I mean, it's a main principle of lean that is now at 34 of 49 distribution centers. So there will be a relentless effort on on reducing shrink. We closed pretty well at the end of the first quarter. We are pleased with the progress, so we'll probably see less of a large dollar contribution compared to other productivity programs and some of the capabilities that will help on mix. But our focus on eliminating waste and inventory related waste will continue for a very long time. Chuck Cerankosky: Alright. Thank you. Operator: Your next question comes from the line of Leah Jordan from Goldman Sachs. Your line is open. Leah Jordan: Thank you. Good morning. Sandy, you talked about new business projects in the prepared remarks, and it sounds like you're doing more with your largest customer. So just need to get an update on your new business pipeline. What are the opportunities between new versus existing at this point? And then I think, ultimately, more importantly, how do you view the competitive environment for winning new business across wholesale what are the differences really between conventional versus natural in the current landscape? Thank you. Sandy Douglas: Sure. Let me comment on projects and then just to make sure that I'm being precise in the way I'm defining them and distinguishing them from general pipeline type either expansion with an existing customer or a new customer. The way we talk about projects is imagine a retailer is moving into a new region. And they're building a DC. They might hire us to be their distribution for a couple of years. That's a project. We know it's a beginning, and we know it's an end. And we're happy to facilitate their strategy and happy to to earn that business assuming it's profitable. That we would call that a project. Whereas a customer might hire us to start to handle their culinary or a different category that we haven't carried before, that would be pipeline. And, obviously, a new banner would be a pipeline expansion. So just getting the definitions right. From our perspective, the pipeline is strong on both natural and conventional. What I would say to you that's enhanced is we have a very disciplined review process where we assess all of those programs and deals for profitability, for sustainability, for operational sense and for value for the customer, and we're very disciplined. We do not pursue business for business sake. That's what our network optimization is unwinding right now. So there's a a highly disciplined underwriting process that our presidents and Matteo very carefully review. But pipelines are are strong in both sides. Our basis of competition typically is when it's a product, a service, or a program that helps the customer differentiate. As opposed to price for price sake. We have to be very competitive. Make no mistake. Our customers expect that, but we try to bring a whole package and that it it allows for us to have a win win. And it fits the customer because the things some of the things that we can do, we do better. And, we're continuing to work as we'll explain next week at investor day. We see a significant opportunity to continue to improve the offer, and, we'll be talking about that next week. Leah Jordan: That's very helpful. Thank you. And then one thing that stood out in the deck, you really were highlighting a refocused effort, it seemed, on private label. There seems to be new leadership there. Just see if you can provide more detail on your updated strategy. You know, what are the opportunities in natural versus conventional for that category? What are the points of differentiation you're providing? And I don't think we've had an update. Where are percent of sales on on private label today as well? Thank you. Sandy Douglas: Okay. Thanks, Leah. Yeah. I mean, broadly speaking, you all see it. The natural brands are strong and strengthening relative to the whole store for consumer value reasons. But increasingly, there's opportunities to build them across good, better, and best. So all three tiers. We did strengthen our leadership there with a veteran of private brands from another wholesaler who, she's absolutely outstanding, and we're thrilled to have her join the team. We see a significant opportunity to increase penetration here. This is not our our penetration of private brands is not at industry levels. And we see it as an opportunity for growth and an opportunity to create more value for customers. And so we're very focused on achieving it, and it's a a long term opportunity. Again, I'll say this a few times today, but we'll talk more about it next week. So but that that's the long and short of it. It's a great opportunity across good, better, and best, and we're working on all three. The other thing that I would say for a little more color is the portfolio of private brands is segmented. It's not the same portfolio going into a traditional grocery store as it is to a store. So there's opportunities on both sides. Leah Jordan: Great. Thank you. Operator: Your next question comes from the line of Scott Mushkin from R5 Capital. Your line is open. Scott Mushkin: Thanks, guys. Appreciate the time to ask some questions. So I wanted to we've been spending a lot of time on sales, and I think the reason is is you guys especially on the organic, national organic side, surprise the heck out of a lot of people. So it seems like, you know, the incremental growth is organic growth with your you know, what the industry is doing, and I think we all have seen it slow across even your customers. More store openings, winning more business. I think you've talked about incremental projects. So taking the other side of the sales slowdown idea, if if the industry were to Sorry about that. If you Accelerate again, could we expect your business to accelerate? So, Scott, I'm gonna paraphrase the question because we lost you for a couple seconds there. You you were commenting that you'd seen the industry slow down and you're wondering if our our sales would accelerate if it accelerated? You wanna rephrase that one more time? Scott Mushkin: Yeah. I mean, I guess what I'd say is so we've seen some of your customers slow down, their organic growth, their comp. Your business you know, moved you know, I think, higher, surprised us, probably surprised the Street. So what I was wondering is, taking the other side of it, could we actually see your sales accelerate in natural organic if the growth rate returns to some of these customers? On a comp basis? Yeah. So let let's try to look at the pieces. We we don't give guidance by division. But what we said earlier is that our external analysis points to kind of mid single digit growth in the natural organic and specialty categories. Then how I might look at that if I was trying to think about United Natural Foods, Inc.'s growth is how would United Natural Foods, Inc.'s customers tend to perform against that average and how effective is United Natural Foods, Inc. at doing more to serve those customers or gaining more customers. But you know, from a a print of plus 10%, which has a significant amount of of project work that will annualize in the next couple months. You you you can develop your own forecast What we would say about our business is we continue to expect to compete and perform strongly in those categories. Alright. Perfect. And then the other question is turning now towards the conventional side. I think Sandy you mentioned that it's gotten tougher. We've seen that. We our research has seen that. But that also spurring more promos from manufacturers. So just walk us out, like, six to twelve months and say the industry continues, the conventional side continues to deteriorate from a competitive standpoint. Does that impact your business? I mean, obviously, it would slow the sales a little bit. But overall, how does that impact your business if we kinda take the line down and continue take it down in the competitive environment? Deteriorates further. Sandy Douglas: So Scott, first, let's let's talk about the pieces of the industry. Because I think this is really important. The it is a well well documented, well talked about fact that the biggest four have been taking share for decades in the so called conventional part of the industry. What what doesn't get talked about though is there aren't only two piles of customers in that segment. There there's many piles. And if you take a third pile and say, I'm gonna put the innovative retailers who've been aggressive in keeping their center store cost down that have been innovative relative to assortment and avoiding unnecessary comparability with the big four and then have their own secret sauce, whether it's food service, prepared food, great customer service, local associates, whatever it might be, and you put that group in a pile, they're outperforming everybody. And our strategic work is first and foremost to try to be the partner of choice for that pile. That's why we took our addressable market from $150 billion down to $90 billion. As we just said, we're probably not gonna be good at folks that are just trying to find a drayage partner to try to duke it out on price alone. We've gotta be sharp on price, but we've gotta be good in helping customers implement a more let's call it, differentiated strategy. So the I I would encourage everybody to look at the industry in a more segmented way. The the next comment I'd make relative to promotions, and this is our the commentary about merchandising. We're gonna talk about this a little bit. Next week. But we actually think that as I mentioned when I went through that set of things that we're seeing the winners do, that wholesale supported retailers need more help and need to work together with their wholesaler to negotiate better costs relative to EDLP. It's not just promotional dollars. That that game is not working very effectively for a lot of people. It does that's not say it doesn't work for anybody, but it so our merchandising effort now is going to work backwards from the shelf and say, what conditions have to be there so that our customers have a credible center of the store. And what programming is there for that suppliers might want to invest in because they do with the big four. How can we get them to invest through to help and continue to build a robust supermarket channel? So lots of work going on there. But macro trends are macro trends. But within them, there are winners, and it's a sizable chunk. And, that's a lot of what's on our work desk right now of some of which we'll be able to give updates on work in progress updates next week in New York. Scott Mushkin: Perfect. And just to just to clarify, it was a great answer, but so I guess your expectations that the industry continues to deteriorate, you guys should be okay. Is that a is that a good summation of what you just said to me? Sandy Douglas: Well, I I I don't wanna accept the premise. I I believe that in tough times, people that partner with an industry have to step up That that's as far as I'll go in my crystal ball. Scott Mushkin: Alright. See you guys next week. Sandy Douglas: Look forward to it. Operator: And your final question today comes from the line of Peter Saleh from BTIG. Great. Thanks for taking all the questions. I just had one question. On capital allocation. I know you're at 3.2 turns now on leverage, and that's down pretty substantially from last year. And while on your way to two and a half turns by the end of this year, so how should we be thinking about or modeling out your capital allocation strategy, capital returns going forward? You get to two and a half, will you continue to focus on you know, deleveraging, or should we consider more capital returns to shareholders? How do we think about that going forward? Thanks. Matteo Tarditi: Hey. Good morning, Peter. So 2026, our goal is to deleverage to 2.5 times or lower And in the last earning call, we also affirmed that in 2027, we want to deleverage to, two terms or, or less. So our capital allocation and our application of the free cash flow that we generate remains solely focused on deleveraging and and reducing debt. If you think about the cash performance in the quarter, we improved by about a $100 million year over year combination of better EBITDA and better working capital management. For the rest of the year, we continue to see the EBITDA at the midpoint, obviously, accreting more than a $100 million for the full year. And then that implied math would be at 2.5 times, would be basically free cash flow performance closer to a two twenty five, two fifty, and we have an outlook at 300. So there is clearly multiple ways to achieve the 2.5 turns and and less. And the same carries over into 2027 where again, we plan to print another $65 million of EBITDA at the current outlook. And generate another $300 million of, of free cash flow. The the only comment that I wanted to make today in the first quarter is CapEx was low by design. In the end, we focused on regular maintenance and some of the technology investments but we have a a very tight monthly steering committee with the business presidents that review both the new projects, but also the cadence of spending. So within the $250 million outlook, we still have all the projects and all the schedule lined up to consume that envelope. In the usual three partition of maintenance and modernization, safety, technology, and then automation and growth investments. Thank you very much. Operator: And that concludes our question and session. I will now turn the call back over to Sandy Douglas for closing remarks. Sandy Douglas: Thank you, operator. We remain focused on executing our strategy. To add value for our customers and suppliers while becoming a more effective and efficient company. As we continue to strengthen our operational execution, we're steadily improving our service levels, profitability, free cash flow, and capital structure. We have a long runway of opportunity to continue improving in these areas while building capabilities to help our customers and suppliers differentiate compete, and grow profitably in a dynamic marketplace. We look forward to providing more details on our journey to create long term shared value for all our stakeholders at our Investor Day next week. To our customers and suppliers, we thank you for your continued partnership. Collaboration, and support. We look forward to serving you during this busy holiday season. To the United Natural Foods, Inc. associates listening today, our thanks for all that you continue to do for our customers, our suppliers, our communities, and each other. And to our shareholders, we thank you for the trust you continue to place in us. Thanks again for joining us this morning, We look forward to updating everyone on our progress and I hope you'll join us at our Investor Day next week. Operator: This concludes today's conference call. Thank you for your participation. You may now disconnect.
Operator: Greetings, and welcome to the Citi Trends Third Quarter 2025 Earnings Conference Call. At this time, participants are in a listen-only mode. A question and answer session will follow the formal presentation. We ask you to please ask one question and one follow-up, then return to the queue. If anyone would require operator assistance, please press 0. As a reminder, this conference is being recorded. It's now my pleasure to turn the call over to your host, Nitza McKee, senior associate at ICR. Go ahead, Nitza. Nitza McKee: Thank you, and good morning, everyone. Thank you for joining us on Citi Trends third quarter 2025 earnings call. On our call today is Chief Executive Officer, Ken Seipel, and Chief Financial Officer, Heather Plutino. Our earnings release was sent out this morning at 06:45 AM Eastern Time. If you have not received a copy of the release, it's available on the company's website under the Investor Relations section at www.cititrends.com. You should be aware that prepared remarks today made during this call may contain forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Management may make additional forward-looking statements in response to your questions. These statements do not guarantee future performance. Therefore, you should not place undue reliance on these statements. Nitza McKee: We refer you to the company's most recent report on Form 10-K and other subsequent filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission for a more detailed discussion of the factors that can cause actual results to differ materially from those described in the forward-looking statements. I will now turn the call over to our Chief Executive Officer, Ken Seipel. Ken? Ken Seipel: Thank you, Nitza. Well, good morning, everyone, and thank you for joining us for our third quarter earnings call. I am pleased to report another quarter of consistent performance demonstrating disciplined execution and progress across every area of our business. Our transformation strategy is gaining significant momentum. Our operational capabilities are advancing, and our customer connection is strengthening. As I shared at a recent investor conference, we're in the early stages of what I believe to be a compelling transformation for Citi Trends. We've established a clear line of sight to achieve $45 million of EBITDA in 2027, which represents a $60 million increase from the 2024 levels. The substantial growth trajectory will be driven by our continued focus on consistent comparable store sales performance, gross margin expansion, operating expense leverage, and strategic new store expansion. Today, I'll walk you through the drivers of our third quarter results and provide additional details on how we're executing against this exciting long-range roadmap. Ken Seipel: Turning now to our results. In the third quarter, we delivered comparable store sales growth of 10.8%, which represents a 16.5% growth on a two-year basis. This marks our fifth consecutive quarter and fifteenth straight month of strong comp growth, with total sales up 10.1% as compared to last year in the quarter. Consistent with our year-to-date performance, the majority of our Q3 sales results were due to increased customer traffic. We began the quarter with a strong back-to-school season, and we finished the quarter with an equally strong late fall fashion and pre-holiday product performance, with particular strength in children's, men's, and basic apparel categories throughout the entire quarter. Our Q3 performance brings our year-to-date comp to 10% or plus 12.3% on a two-year basis. We're seeing positive sales increases across all store volume groups and geographies, as well as across all product categories, underscoring the breadth of the top-line improvement across the business. Plus, I am pleased to report that our holiday is off to a good start, and our strong two-year stack sales momentum has accelerated into the fourth quarter, where we are poised to generate our sixth consecutive quarter of year-over-year growth. Ken Seipel: Gross margin rate in Q3 was consistent with the operating plan expectations and year-to-date 2025 performance. Our merchants have done a nice job of managing product cost while delivering amazing prices in the ever-changing landscape of tariffs. Due to the macro disruptions, the off-price deal flow continues to be robust, which allows us to have confidence in continued margin performance in the foreseeable future. I should also note that we made a tactical decision to pull forward some of the product originally expected in early Q4 into late Q3, which created a purposeful shift of freight expense from Q4 to Q3 this year. And as noted in our press release, the prior year gross margin rate results in Q3 2024 were artificially high last year due to Q2 strategic inventory reset activity, actions that ultimately jump-started the company's top-line turnaround last year. SG&A leveraged 130 basis points compared to last year, which includes the incremental funding of performance bonus programs for our employees this year. We're making good strides in improving execution consistency in all areas of the business, which in turn is having a positive impact on expense control. Looking ahead, we're focused on efficient execution to enable us to continue to leverage expenses as we grow the top line. As a result, we achieved better than planned EBITDA in the quarter, giving us confidence in raising our EBITDA guidance for the year. Ken Seipel: Now turning to customer dynamics. Our turnaround is rooted in a clear, unwavering focus on the needs of our African American customer, who's at the center of everything we do. As I mentioned on prior calls, I believe the primary reason for the quick turnaround in our business is our laser focus on the needs of our African American customer and our highly differentiated competitive advantage of neighborhood-based locations. Our stores are embedded in communities that we've served for years. In proximity, combined with word-of-mouth service, powerful traffic drivers. Citi Trends has built a truly differentiated competitive position in this high-performing off-price retail sector. We're really the only off-price retailer specifically focused on the African American consumer, delivering styles, brands, and trends at compelling prices that resonate with this underserved demographic. Our cultural relevance is a significant competitive advantage. African American consumers are trendsetters and early adopters, and understanding this dynamic allows us to curate assortments with immediate appeal to our core customers. We also know that our customers are discerning. They understand that value is not just about price. They're willing to spend more when the style is for them, the fashion is on trend, and the quality is right. Our consistent strong traffic and basket performance in the third quarter provides clear evidence demonstrating the strength of our uniquely loyal high-frequency customer base. We continue to strengthen this connection by elevating the cultural relevance of our assortments and refreshing the shopping experience to better align with our brand voice. Our brand promise says it all: Styles that see you, prices that amaze you, and trends that tell your story. This holiday, we are launching and have launched the rebranded Citi Trends Joy Looks Good On You holiday campaign with an updated social media presence under the we are at Citi Trends tagline. We've also implemented city bus wraps and shelter marketing in key markets to strengthen our local presence. All of this reflects a more refined, culturally relevant, modern brand voice. Ken Seipel: Looking forward to further enhance our customer relationships and drive deeper engagement, we're making strategic investments in our technology infrastructure, including the design and implementation of a new CRM and loyalty platform. This work will deepen our interaction with our most frequent customers and enhance long-term customer value. While we're in the early stages of this initiative, we're excited about the opportunity to create a more meaningful brand interaction with our best and most loyal consumers. Before diving into this quarter's product performance, let me briefly remind you of our three-tiered product strategy. What's important to understand is that we're serving customers across all income levels, and we have a significant portion of average and higher-income customers, which creates tremendous opportunity for our assortment of recognizable brands at exceptional prices that align with their style and trend preferences. At the opening price point, we offer value-focused basics through our city score program for budget-conscious customers. The core of our business is our better tier, typically priced between $7 and $12, which offers a broad selection of on-trend styles that drive loyalty and consistent performance across women's, men's, kids, footwear, and home categories. At the top end, we're expanding our best tier through two distinct approaches. First, trend-relevant fashionable styles priced well below specialty retail. And second, extreme value opportunities featuring well-known brands at steep discounts, often up to 75% off MSRP. We're targeting this extreme value segment to represent an incremental 10% of total sales as these branded treasures drive both traffic and basket growth while delivering strong margins. Ken Seipel: With this strategic framework in mind, now let me walk you through our Q3 product performance, which was broad-based and balanced in all categories. Strong results were driven by both apparel and non-apparel categories, and all divisions posted increases. But first, I'd like to congratulate our children's team on their strong double-digit growth in back-to-school and throughout the quarter. As our children's team continues to improve style curation and product in stocks, our customers continue to respond positively. Children's is the cornerstone of our business and a model of consistent execution this year. Equally, basic product for kids, men's, and women's had a strong quarter driven by better styles and improved inventory position in store. Our men's division had another strong quarter of growth reflecting the team's work to increase trend for our younger male customer while also tending to the fashion sensibilities of our mature male consumer. We're excited about this more comprehensive approach to our male customer, and based on the positive initial customer reaction, we have significant growth ahead in this particular category. We also saw momentum in women's footwear, which is an area we've been working to regain lost market share. Still more work to be done in this category, but we're encouraged with Q3 results and customers' response to our branded product at extreme values. Looking ahead in product, we're focusing on strengthening product offering in all categories. Our creative director has significantly raised the bar and is focused on curating trends to ensure our product is always trend-right. From the opening price product to our best-branded fashion, our merchant team is finding ways to elevate trends and styles at amazing prices. In Q4, we're repositioning the men's store presentation to highlight increased emphasis on young men's trend apparel while maintaining our core and classic portions of the assortment. We're in the early stages of repositioning our women's area to better reflect the style, trend, and sizing opportunity that we see for the business and plan to introduce an improved assortment to our customers in Q1 of next year. As I've mentioned before, we're continuing our focus on growing our anticipation classifications, which includes big men's, plus sizes, and family footwear, all of which have significant upside potential in the future. Ken Seipel: Turning now to operations. As I've discussed in the past, our transformation is guided by a three-phase framework designed to deliver sustainable, profitable growth. The repair phase focused on restoring fundamental business practices to ensure a strong foundation for growth, including sharper clarity around our African American consumer, three-tiered product assortment, and implementation of AI-based allocation software to improve in stocks, reduce markdowns, and accelerate inventory turns. We are now firmly in the execute phase, focused on implementing best practices across all areas of the business to improve productivity and enable SG&A leverage. This includes increasing supply chain speed, reducing working capital cost, and aligning our teams around KPIs and performance-linked compensation to drive continuous improvement. From an operational standpoint, we made continued progress on these phase initiatives in the third quarter. I want to congratulate the entire team, specifically our senior leaders, for improved business execution in Q3. One of the keys to our success was consistent execution of a detailed plan that emphasized tactical excellence to win the quarter. We continue to improve our inventory efficiency, supporting a 10.8% comp with overall 3% less inventory than the prior year. Due to speed improvements in our supply chain, we were also able to execute a 4.5% higher average in-store inventory. In the supply chain, improved work processes, productivity standards, and day-to-day leadership enabled us to efficiently reduce in-process inventory. This improved efficiency drives working capital optimization and provides flexibility and speed to react to sales trends while protecting gross margin. In the quarter, we finalized implementation of our AI-based allocation system across all merchandise categories. We remain pleased with the results. Now turning our attention to an AI-based planning system to help streamline sales and inventory planning processes for our merchant teams. As I said before, retail is detail, and execution without measurement is just guesswork. Our use of KPIs and dashboards across all key functions provides the visibility that helps our team stay on track and drive continual operational improvement, which is the core element of our execute phase strategy. Looking ahead, while we've made good operational progress, as I said earlier, we recognize a significant opportunity remains to improve execution in many areas of our business. As we advance through our execute phase and improve consistency, we expect continued SG&A leverage to enhance flow-through of sales to profit. Ken Seipel: Now turning to our growth strategy. We remodeled 24 stores in the quarter, including 15 high-volume stores. Year-to-date, we've remodeled 62 locations and now have about 30% of our fleet in an updated format. These refreshed stores inspire our teams, elevate brand perception in the community, and send a strong signal that we're investing in local neighborhoods. In the third quarter, we opened three new stores in Jacksonville, Florida, Columbia, South Carolina, and Bainbridge, Georgia, bringing our store count to 593 locations across 33 states. In addition, we remodeled five stores in Columbia, South Carolina, and four stores in Jacksonville, Florida. And in support of these new stores and remodels, we added local marketing, which included wrapping city buses with a Citi Trends brand message. These openings are part of our pilot market backfill approach, where we are opening new stores in conjunction with remodeling existing locations to increase market share by strengthening our store presence and reinvigorating our brand. In the first few weeks of business, the new stores and markets have responded above expectations. I look forward to giving you a more thorough update on our next call after we have a full holiday season of results in these markets. These market investment tests will inform our approach as we accelerate growth in 2026, when we plan to open about 25 new stores, followed by at least 40 stores per year in 2027 and onward. This expansion strategy will take our store count to around 650 stores by 2027, focusing on backfilling existing markets where our brand awareness and performance are proven while selectively entering new markets with strong demographic alignment to our customer base. Our positioning of Citi Trends for strategic new store growth is guided by a disciplined data approach. Our new store expansion combines advanced AI-driven analytics, local market expertise, and strict financial criteria. Using AI tools, we have analyzed three years of actual transaction data from every store location, combined with comprehensive geolocation studies to understand the specific market characteristics that drive our success. This data-driven approach has demonstrated about 90% accuracy in predicting sales, helping us identify and replicate our most successful store profiles while minimizing risk. We're applying disciplined financial hurdles to every new store decision, targeting mature store averages of about $1.5 million and mid-teens four-wall contribution. Ken Seipel: Looking ahead, we continue remodeling about 50 stores per year as a part of our ongoing fleet maintenance and market investment strategies. This disciplined approach allows us to progressively upgrade our store base while achieving planned returns on invested capital and positioning us to expand intelligently while maximizing return on investment. Longer-term growth in early October, we had a chance to share our multiyear growth plan at an investor conference. The presentation we shared is available on our investor relations website. But I do want to take a minute just to review some of the key objectives of our long-range plan. The first objective is to grow sales to $900 million or more in fiscal 2027 with consistent comp store sales growth plus the addition of about 25 new stores in fiscal 2026 and 40 stores in 2027. We plan to achieve a gross profit rate of 42%, a 400 basis point expansion compared to fiscal 2024. And we plan to leverage expenses by 200 basis points to a rate of approximately 37% or less. Resulting EBITDA is expected to be $45 million or more in fiscal 2027, a $60 million improvement to 2024, and an EBITDA margin rate of approximately 5%. These are not distant goals. They're achievable outcomes driven by the actions we are actively executing to drive the turnaround of this important business, and with our fiscal 2025 results today, I think it's fair to say that we're off to a pretty good start. With that, I'd like to turn the call over to Heather to discuss our financial performance for the quarter in more detail and our outlook for the fourth quarter. I'll return after Heather for some closing remarks. Heather? Heather Plutino: Thank you, Ken, and good morning, everyone. I'm pleased to walk you through the details of our third quarter performance, which demonstrates once again the consistency and effectiveness of our transformation strategy. That clear strategy plus the foundational improvements made to date have created remarkable momentum across the business, and we are delivering measurable progress across key operational metrics. Starting with the top line, Q3 total sales were $197.1 million, up 10.1% compared to Q3 2024. Comparable store sales increased 10.8%, 16.5% on a two-year stack basis. Ken said this already, but it's so good it warrants repeating. Our Q3 performance marks our fifth consecutive quarter and fifteenth straight month of strong comp growth. A remarkable feat, particularly in the current retail environment. We delivered strong comps in each month of the quarter and saw consistent year-over-year growth in both traffic and basket as our revised merchandise assortment, including off-price deals and more branded extreme value products, continues to resonate strongly with our customers, enabling us to gain market share. We also saw positive results across all climate zones, across all store volume groups, and across all product categories, demonstrating the broad-based nature of our improving results. Heather Plutino: Third quarter gross margin was 38.9%, while 90 basis points lower than Q3 2024, these results were in line with our expectations. Recall that in the second quarter of last year, we incurred significant markdowns from our strategic inventory reset, allowing us to exit aged and slow-moving product while freeing up open-to-buy for our revised product strategy to fuel our top-line growth. As a result, markdowns and shrink in Q3 of last year were unnaturally low, creating an unfavorable comparison for the current year period. As Ken mentioned, early in the third quarter, we decided to shift inventory and the related freight expense from Q4 into Q3 to better manage freight flow for the distribution centers. Doing so drove additional freight expense in Q3, about a 40 basis point impact to margin rate while accomplishing the smoothing we wanted to achieve, protecting the holiday and delighting our customers with earlier access to holiday goods. Importantly, product margin was consistent with results from the first half of the year due to the hard work of our merchant teams, as Ken remarked on earlier. Heather Plutino: Third quarter adjusted SG&A expense totaled $79.5 million compared to $74.6 million in the prior year period. The increase to last year was driven by $3.2 million of higher incentive compensation accrual and store and DC expenses to process higher sales. As we've shared in previous calls, we reinstated an incentive compensation accrual at the beginning of this fiscal year after incurring very minimal related expense in fiscal 2024, causing the bonus to no bonus comparison again in the third quarter. In addition, due to improved expected financial results for the year, we set the bonus accrual to the max payout, driving a catch-up accrual in the third quarter. On a rate basis, Q3 adjusted SG&A was 40.4%, 130 basis points lower than last year. Adjusted EBITDA for the quarter was a loss of $2.9 million, in line with management expectations and better than a loss of $3.3 million a year ago. Heather Plutino: Before turning to the balance sheet, let me provide a few details on our performance through the first nine months of fiscal 2025. Comparable store sales for the first nine months increased 10% with a two-year comp stack of 12.3%. Comps were driven by a 6% increase in transactions. This is the metric we're most proud of as it is evidence that our loyal customers are responding positively to the changes we've made in our assortment strategy and to the in-store experience. Adjusted nine-month EBITDA was a loss of $100,000, an increase of more than $21 million to last year. EBITDA growth was driven by more than $47 million in incremental sales, 290 basis point margin rate expansion, and 100 basis points of SG&A leverage. So improvement across the board. Heather Plutino: Now turning to the balance sheet. Total inventory dollars at quarter-end decreased 3.1% compared to last year, with average in-store inventory up 4.5% as we strategically positioned ourselves for holiday sales, including the pull forward of inventory receipts from Q4 into Q3. As Ken mentioned, our success in driving double-digit sales increases with a modest increase in in-store inventory reflects our work to improve inventory efficiency through higher turns and improvements in supply chain speed. As we enter the important Q4 holiday selling season, we remain pleased with our inventory level, composition, and freshness. At the end of the third quarter, we remained in a healthy financial position with a strong balance sheet, including no debt, no drawings on our $75 million revolver, and $51 million in cash. This financial strength continues to give us the flexibility to invest in our growth initiatives while ensuring operational stability throughout our transformation. Heather Plutino: Now turning to our fiscal 2025 outlook. Based on our results through the third quarter and our confidence that the effectiveness of our turnaround plan will continue through the fourth quarter, we are pleased to update our outlook for 2025 as follows: With sales momentum of the first nine months of the year continuing into early Q4, we now expect full-year comp store sales growth of high single digits, at the high end of our previous outlook. We now expect full-year gross margin expansion of approximately 230 basis points versus 2024, also at the high end of previous outlook due to continued progress on inventory efficiency and planned supply chain improvement. 2025 SG&A is expected to leverage approximately 90 basis points versus last year, reflecting continued expense control. Once again, this is at the high end of our previous outlook of 60 to 90 basis points leverage versus 2024. With these updates, we now expect full-year EBITDA to be in the range of $10 million to $12 million, an increase to the $7 million to $11 million range in prior guidance. The revised guidance is $24 million to $26 million above fiscal 2024 results. There is no change to our effective tax rate of approximately 0% for the year. For the year, we will open three new stores and will remodel 62 locations. Both of these targets have been achieved as of the end of the third quarter. In addition, we are planning to close four stores in the fiscal year, just above our previous guidance of three closures. Heather Plutino: And finally, full-year capital expenditures are now expected to be approximately $23 million, at the lower end of our previous outlook of $22 million to $25 million. While we don't provide quarterly guidance, given where we are in the fiscal year, we want to offer thoughts on our expectations for the fourth quarter. Q4 comps are expected to be up high single digits with a two-year stack in the mid-teens. Q4 gross margin is expected to be in the range of 40% to 41%, up to prior year. SG&A is expected to be approximately $82 million, and Q4 EBITDA is expected to be in the range of $10 million to $12 million. Before I turn the call back to Ken, I want to emphasize that our third quarter results reflect more than just three months of strong execution. They demonstrate the durability of our business model, the effectiveness of our strategic initiatives, and most importantly, are a continuation of the improvement we've achieved across the last several quarters. As we look toward the fourth quarter into fiscal 2026, we remain committed to our disciplined approach while maintaining the flexibility that has served us well throughout transformation. The foundation we've built gives us confidence in our ability to deliver sustainable profitable growth while continuing to create shareholder value. I'm excited about the opportunities ahead as we continue to execute against our strategic plan. With that, I'll turn the call back to Ken. Ken? Ken Seipel: Thank you, Heather. Before I turn the call back to the operator to facilitate Q&A, I do want to emphasize that the transformation of Citi Trends is well underway. We remain guided by our three-phase framework designed to deliver sustainable profit growth. The first phase, repair, is about restoring fundamentals and establishing a strong foundation for growth. The second phase, execute, focuses on hardening consistent best practices to drive reliable, predictable performance. The final phase, optimize, leverages the work of the first two phases to accelerate our EBITDA growth. As a result of our efforts in the first two phases of this transformation, we've made meaningful improvements, including an improved product assortment strategy, a better in-store shopping experience for our customer, and improvements in many processes and systems. Our five consecutive quarters of comp store growth is a proof point that our strategy is working, our execution is getting better, and our customer connection is stronger than ever as we firmly establish ourselves as a leading off-price retailer for our customers. While we're proud of our results so far, we fully recognize there is significant opportunity ahead. I want to emphasize that we're in the early stages of this transformation. There's still work to do, processes to refine, categories to optimize, and systems to build. But the path forward is clear. We are confident in our ability to deliver continued transformation, drive shareholder value, and expand our role as the leading neighborhood retailer for African American families. I want to thank the entire Citi Trends team for executing with discipline, driving quickly toward our stated goals, and most of all, for delivering results. The team is doing the hard day-to-day work to unlock sustainable growth and shareholder value. And we are just getting started. Thank you, everyone. And now I'd like to turn it over to the operator for questions. Operator: Thank you. We'll now be conducting a question and answer session. If you'd like to be placed in the question queue, please press 1. You may press 2 if you'd like to remove your question from the queue. As a reminder, we ask you please ask one question and one follow-up, then return to the queue. Our first question is coming from Michael Baker from D.A. Davidson. Your line is now live. Michael Baker: Great. Thanks. Great quarter. So if I think about the two-year plan to get to about $900 million, you know, it probably implies another $85 million or so in sales growth in '26 and '27. You talked a lot about some merchandising opportunities and categories, but a little bit more detail on where the biggest holes are in your merchandising right now, either by product category or by good, better, best, or however you want to articulate, you know, where do those incremental sales come from? Ken Seipel: Yeah. For sure, Mike. Thanks. As I mentioned in the script, we are seeing broad-based growth throughout all the categories. And so at the top level for all categories, we've really sharpened our focus on better trend product, and we've seen good reaction to that this year and continued reaction. I mentioned briefly that we have just implemented a young men's category. That's actually just setting in the stores right now. We're seeing good reaction to that. And as we begin to understand a little bit more about that dynamic, there's significant opportunity there. Equally, across the aisle in our women's category, we've always had a pretty strong junior's business, but we recognize that there's a missing component of that as well as plus sizes that need to be fully matured. And then on top of that overlay, trend product in those categories as well. And so that's a little bit of a new business for us, relative to those two categories getting reset. And then, across the fleet, we're just getting going in shoes in our footwear category. The team, as I remarked, had a pretty good Q3 in women's. We're off to a good start there. But we have significant opportunity, multiple millions of dollars of opportunity to grow our shoe business back to even historical levels, let alone to catch up to where we are in the overall store. So there's significant opportunity there. And then I would highlight, and I don't mean to make this so broad-based, but really truly is how we're looking at it. In kids, for example, as we continue to build that business, it gets stronger and stronger and stronger. We've been executing quite well in kids. But as we continue to invest in inventory, we need to get growth. So there's areas throughout the store that we see that just offer us tremendous opportunities for growth. And then I guess I'll put at the punch line for all this, the other piece of it, don't forget that we have the extreme value opportunity, and we're doing a fairly small percentage of our business in extreme value right now. It's working quite well. And we see significant growth there. All of that actually totals up to, in my mind, a very obtainable $900 million. Michael Baker: Great. Thanks for the detail on that. If I could ask a follow-up, I suppose by virtue of the 10.8% comp, your trends were probably consistent throughout the month. You talked about consistency by product category and store cohort. Can you talk about the pace through the quarter? And if there was any impact from the government shutdown, SNAP, anything during those few weeks? Thanks. Ken Seipel: Yeah. I'll make some high-level comments, and then Heather can fill in any specifics here. But, you know, the good news about our consumer right now, they've shown remarkable resiliency with all of the macro changes around government SNAP and different programs like that. Candidly, we've really seen no major impact. The shopping patterns have remained consistent throughout the quarter. As I mentioned, we got off to a really good start in August. August was tremendous for us, led by our kids division. All divisions did well, but kids really had a tremendous back-to-school period. And then I was really pleased with how we finished the quarter. October, particularly the last three weeks of October, really accelerated quite well. We have mentioned in the script that we advanced some of our freight from Q4 into Q3. When that hit our stores, we actually saw a really strong consumer reaction. Heather Plutino: Yeah, Mike, the only thing I would add to that is that it was a pretty tight band. Looks a little bit like a barbell, stronger in the beginning, first month, third month, middle month was a little softer, but the range is, like, 9.5 to 12. So it's not like a severe dip in the middle or severe spike. So yeah, pretty consistent. Michael Baker: Great. Thanks. I'll pass it on to someone else. Heather Plutino: Thanks, Mike. Operator: Thank you. Next question today is coming from Jeremy Hamblin from Craig Hallum. Your line is now live. Jeremy Hamblin: Thanks, and congrats on the impressive results. I wanted to just come back to the point, Ken, that you were making on some of these extreme value deals, which, you know, we saw some of those drop towards the end of the quarter. Some notable deals with products like UGG, HOKA, Timberland brands, you know, Jordan brand, etcetera. And that did seem to be a big driver of your strong traffic. But where are you in terms of extreme value as kind of a portion of the product inventory and sales today? And I think you mentioned that you're expecting over the next couple of years to get that up to about 10%. You know, how do you expect that to progress over time? And, you know, what type of visibility do you have on continuing to drive deal flow, you know, across, you know, kind of major name brands? Ken Seipel: Yeah. Good. Thanks, Jeremy. A couple of things on our current status. Extreme value deal flows, as I mentioned, continue to be very robust for the team. And we're being pretty discerning about what's being brought into the business right now. I guess we probably passed on a three-to-one ratio of adoption of deals that come across the desk, maybe even more. And as a result of that, the current sales performance of extreme value deals is probably in the two to 3% of business range, and that'll just give you a broad range right now. It varies a little bit by category. And back to your point, we've seen a path to getting that closer to 10% as we continue to mature. So there's a significant opportunity there. We're learning a lot as we're bringing some of these deals in. Many of them have really responded much better than anticipated. A few have been a little bit slower than anticipated. A lot has to do with consumer acceptance and reaction to it. But as we're getting better and understanding how to do extreme value deals, particularly with our supply chain processing, we see that, and I believe that remains to be a competitive weapon for us going forward. Jeremy Hamblin: Thanks for the color. And then switching gears here to talking about the store fleet. And as you are rolling out stores for '26 and seeing a nice uptick in your unit growth, what do you expect the cadence of openings to be in '26? And then you mentioned 2027. You know, is that going to be, you know, kind of consistent in terms of, you know, store openings now that you've got visibility on the number of units that you're planning to open? Ken Seipel: Yes. I'll give you a little bit of color on the process going forward. Our real estate team right now is working on a number of deals in the pipeline. And our goal will be going forward to open up our stores really at three distinct times of the year. We'll be opening up stores in early spring, going into the spring period, the tax season. We'll be opening up stores in July, going into back-to-school, and we'll open up a group of stores in October going into holiday. And so I would expect of that fleet going forward, the 40 stores that I mentioned earlier, you can probably divide that equally by three into those time frames and probably have a really good view of how we're looking at the business from our side. In 2026, we'll have lighter openings in the spring. We're just getting caught up there. Most of those openings will be more in July and August, probably equally split there. Excuse me. July and October equally split between those two months. Again, give you an idea as we get caught up and get this engine moving forward and do store growth. Jeremy Hamblin: Great. And then just one more for me. I know that you've got a lot of initiatives that are going on, technology initiatives. But I wanted to ask about your shrink mitigation efforts. I know this is something that you've been working on very diligently, and I think you had a pretty decent gap to close of where you wanted to get that to. But any color you can share on the progress on those efforts, what the impact is to your gross margin, and what you expect to pick up from that kind of in 2026? Heather Plutino: Hey, Jeremy. I gotta grab that one. So we've rolled out new camera systems in about a third of our stores in 2025. And these new camera systems not only provide what you would expect, visibility into the store, but they're AI capable and allow for our loss prevention team to use facial recognition, which you can imagine is helpful not only to protect our stores but to engage with local law enforcement and to help the community, not just our Citi Trends stores. So we're excited about that. Those cameras also have, outside of loss prevention and shrink prevention, they have heat mapping capability, which will help us understand customer shopping patterns, and they have traffic counting capability, which obviously is an important component as well. So we're excited about that. We're going to roll out to more than two times that number of stores into 2026 so that we can leverage that very, very quickly. You and I talked about this before, but our shrink rate in 2025 still remains what I understand to be in line with averages for retail, but we're not satisfied yet. And that means that it's less than 1.5% of sales. Right? So still higher than we want it to be. Less worried about the rate than I am about the dollars. I think we still have a few million to give back to the company on shrink mitigation over time. Now as I look at 2026, our plan assumes a decrease in both dollars and rate in 2026. Based on technology, based on talent, we are upgrading and updating our talent in our loss prevention teams, and based on processes, we are training regularly our store management teams and our district managers on shrink mitigation. So all of that comes together to say that we expect a decrease in 2026 and a further decrease in 2027. Jeremy Hamblin: Fantastic. Last one for me. So you also noted the implementation of technology, improving CRM. Can you elaborate at all in terms of how you plan to use that, as the company continues to gravitate to using a bit more digital marketing efforts? You know, is there a thought around a loyalty program that you're leaning into? But any more color you might be able to share on the timing of when the CRM update is happening and what you expect the outcome to be from that? Ken Seipel: Yeah. For sure, Jeremy. We are in the process, as I mentioned, of really getting it out, testing, and developing the systems and the processes that go along with that. Our goal will be to launch a CRM in Q1 of this next year. And we don't have an exact date yet, so trying to pin down some stuff on the technology and its readiness and so forth. But think about a phase one implementation in Q1, and then there'll be a phase two implementation in the fall of 2026. The way I want you to think about CRM and loyalty for our business is we're actually going to be calling it, quote, unquote, the insiders club. We'll have a much better title, I'm sure, by the time we get to it. But it's effectively going to be a way for our customers to tap into emerging trends and deals. You think about the value of being a part of our loyalty club and being one of the first ones to know about some of these amazing extreme value deals that are coming down the pipeline. Well, we have the ability to notify our best customers. They can come in and shop first and best and be kind of in the know, if you will, around emerging deals that are coming to the store. We believe that there will be significant interest in that. And that actually has the ability then to drive incremental traffic with some of our best and most loyal consumers. So beyond that, we're also trying to build in additional tools to make the shopping experience easier for our best customers. As an example, one of the things that they'll gain is actually the ability to have electronic receipts. And so, quickly, they can have that stored and be on their phone, and eventually, we'll have an app on there that they can just simply access that. Also, layaway programs and things of that nature will have digital access. So the goal here is to make it an insider's club and then to find ways to make the shopping experience a little bit easier and more convenient for our consumer. And then, as you mentioned, the intangible value for us is we're going to have a pretty significant database of consumers that are highly engaged that we can speak to with regularity via these marketing ideas. Jeremy Hamblin: Great. Thanks for all the color, and best wishes. Ken Seipel: Thanks, Jeremy. Appreciate it. Operator: Thank you. We've reached the end of our question and answer session. I'd like to turn the floor back over for any further or closing comments. Ken Seipel: I'd like to thank everybody for attending today's call. We look forward to talking to you next quarter. Operator: Thank you. That does conclude today's teleconference. You may disconnect your lines at this time, and have a wonderful day. We thank you for your participation today.
Operator: Welcome to the American Eagle Outfitters, Inc. Third Quarter 2025 Earnings Conference Call. All participants will be in listen-only mode. Please signal a conference specialist by pressing the star key followed by zero. There will be an opportunity to ask questions. Please note this event is being recorded. I would now like to turn the conference over to Judy Meehan, Head of Investor Relations and Corporate Communications. Please go ahead. Judy Meehan: Good afternoon, everyone. Joining me today for our prepared remarks are Jay Schottenstein, Executive Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Jen Foyle, President, Executive Creative Director for American Eagle and Aerie, and Mike Mathias, Chief Financial Officer. Before we begin today's call, I need to remind you that we will make certain forward-looking statements. These statements are based upon information that represents the company's current expectations or beliefs. The results actually realized may differ materially based on risk factors included in our SEC filings. The company undertakes no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements whether as a result of new information, future events, or otherwise, except as required by law. Also, please note that during this call, and in the accompanying press release, certain financial metrics are presented on both a GAAP and non-GAAP adjusted basis. Reconciliations of adjusted results to the GAAP results are available in the tables attached to the earnings release which is posted on our corporate website at www.aeoinc.com in the Investor Relations section. Here, you can also find our third quarter investor presentation. And now I'll turn the call over to Jay. Jay Schottenstein: Thanks, Judy, and good afternoon. I hope everyone had an enjoyable Thanksgiving weekend. I'm extremely pleased with the trend change we've seen across brands, reflecting a number of decisive steps we've taken from merchandising to marketing to operations. These deliberate actions are having a positive impact on near-term results and also serve us well for the long run. We delivered record revenue in the third quarter and very strong momentum has carried into the fourth quarter. We're seeing an encouraging response to the newness the teams are delivering. With each new collection gaining steam, most notably, Aerie and Offline are generating exceptional growth across categories. As discussed last quarter, we have made incremental investments in advertising which is contributing to stronger demand while better positioning our business for enhanced long-term brand awareness and overall customer engagement. At the same time, we are focused on operational improvements and cost efficiencies to drive higher profitability in what continues to be a dynamic macro environment. Turning to the quarter, total revenue increased 6% to $1.4 billion, a third-quarter record. Operating income of $113 million exceeded our guidance of $95 to $100 million, fueled by higher-than-expected demand and well-controlled costs. As previously noted, our results also included about $20 million of net impact from tariffs. Diluted EPS for the quarter of $0.53 increased 10% compared to the adjusted EPS last year. The strong top line reflected a return to positive comps which increased 4%. This was a meaningful acceleration from the 1% decrease last quarter. Improvement was made across both brands and channels, all posting positive comps. Aerie's 11% comp in the third quarter was a real standout, where strong demand was broad-based across all categories. Growth accelerated throughout the period, which has continued into the fourth quarter, where we are seeing exceptional demand so far. As we look to the future, we continue to see untapped opportunities within Aerie and Offline, which are rapidly emerging as important customer destinations. At just under $2 billion in revenue, and less than 5% market share, this indicates a significant runway for future expansion, underscoring our ability to capture a much larger piece of the market as we execute our strategic initiatives. American Eagle's comp growth of 1% marked a sequential improvement from last quarter. Strength in jeans, coupled with better results in men's, were among the drivers. As Jen will review, AE's business strengthened with greater in-stocks and our strongest sellers and new product flows. Positive trends have continued so far in the fourth quarter, including a terrific Thanksgiving weekend. Beyond product, our results have benefited from the success of our recent marketing campaigns, which have driven engagement and attracted new customers. We are encouraged by the impact of the campaigns and collaborations with Cindy Sweeney and Travis Kelce, and now holiday gifting with Martha Stewart. We see measurable benefits especially across our digital channels. Looking forward, we will build on this momentum with more exciting campaigns ahead. All in all, I'm very pleased with the progress and meaningful turnaround from the first half of this year. Now the holiday season is upon us, and the fourth quarter is off to an excellent start. We are seeing a clear acceleration from the third quarter, including a record Thanksgiving weekend, with strong performance across brands and channels. As a result, we are raising our fourth-quarter outlook. We remain well-positioned with exciting new collections centered on gift-giving and events planned throughout the season to continue to delight our customers. Before I turn it over to Jen, I want to take a moment to acknowledge our incredible team for all their hard work and tremendous dedication. Their efforts have fueled a meaningful trend change across our leading brands. Great work continues, and I couldn't be more optimistic about the long-term outlook for our business. We look forward to driving more success as we head into 2026 and beyond, driving profitable growth and enhanced value for American Eagle Outfitters, Inc. Let me turn it over to Jen. Jennifer Foyle: Thank you, Jay, and good afternoon, everyone. I am very encouraged by the stronger performance across our brands, marking a significant turnaround from the first half of the year. This demonstrates the resilience and product leadership of our portfolio of iconic brands. The increasing customer demand, which has accelerated in the fourth quarter, is spanning new and existing customers, fueled by a well-coordinated effort across both merchandising and marketing. Compelling product collections combined with higher engagement and expanding brand awareness are driving our performance. And the teams are executing very well, leveraging our expertise in key categories and most importantly, by listening to our customers. Let me walk you through a few highlights in the third quarter, beginning with Aerie. The Aerie brand continues to exceed expectations. We achieved record revenue with the third-quarter comps up 11%, fueled by strength across all categories, including intimates, apparel, sleep, and Offline. Aerie and Offline's performance has been especially impressive with a meaningful acceleration in demand since the spring season. In fact, comps have strengthened with each new delivery. The resurgence in intimates has been very encouraging, with solid growth in both bras and undies. Greater depth and breadth of our signature fabrications, strength in new fashion across bralettes and bra tops, and fun prints with matchbacks to apparel are just a few highlights fueling the brand's double-digit growth. Aerie apparel remained consistently strong driven by bottoms, fleece, tees, and sleep, which has emerged as a powerful growth category. Offline by Aerie also continues to gain meaningful mindshare as we expand awareness and move into newer markets. We remain highly focused on growing the activewear segment. We are building on our signature fabrics and franchises such as our core leggings, while also launching newness with updated fashion silhouettes. Needless to say, we are very excited about our future for both Aerie and Offline. We are well-positioned for the remainder of the holiday season and continue to believe in the substantial long-term opportunities ahead. Moving to American Eagle, which posted a positive January comp, demonstrating a meaningful improvement from the spring season. Positive demand was fueled by trend-right new fall collection combined with bold marketing and exciting product collaborations. Underpinned by our dominance in denim, our strategies to reset the brand and firmly position American Eagle at the center of culture are beginning to yield results. The quarter marks an improvement in our men's business, where we saw nice wins across tops, sweaters, fleece, graphics, and knits. All areas we have been working to recapture. Bottoms provided a stable foundation with jeans and non-denim pants trending positive. And favorable trends have continued into the fourth quarter reflecting the positive reception of our new product. In women's, although we had a very good back-to-school season, the quarter in total was not as strong. Robust demand early in the period led to a number of out-of-stocks in some of our best-selling items. Non-denim bottoms, shirts, and dresses proved more challenging, while knit and fleece tops as well as jeans were positive highlights, where we continue to see strong demand. And importantly, better in-stocks late in the quarter drove positive results which has continued into the fourth quarter. AE is a true holiday destination with amazing gift-giving focus combined with fun fashion and party dressing. The response to date has been highly encouraging. Now shifting gears to marketing. This fall season, American Eagle launched its largest, most impactful advertising campaigns ever, which are delivering results. By collaborating with high-profile partners who are defining culture, we are attracting more customers and have more eyes on the brand than ever before. Combined, the Sydney Sweeney and Travis Kelce partnerships have garnered more than 44 billion impressions. Total customer counts are up across brands, and customer loyalty grew 4% in the quarter. AE is clearly building long-term awareness and desirability, and has captured the attention of both new and existing customers. Traffic has also increased consistently throughout the quarter, which is most evident within our digital selling channels that include both AE and Aerie. Although it's still early days of our renewed marketing strategy, we know that having the right talent amplifies our brand and product at key moments. We are very encouraged by our progress and expect to continue fueling brand excitement into 2026 and beyond. Our recent holiday campaign with Martha Stewart is yet another example of how we are creating fun moments to delight our customers while reinforcing our position as the go-to gifting destination. The holiday season's in full swing, and as Jay mentioned, we are encouraged with the results so far. We are heads down and focused on the rest of the year to deliver long-term sales and bottom-line growth. Thanks to our amazing teams, and thanks to all of you for your ongoing support. I wish everyone a happy and healthy holiday season. And with that, I'll turn the call over to Mike. Mike Mathias: Thanks, and good afternoon, everyone. I'm pleased to see the steady progress throughout our business, which led to strong revenue and profit above our expectations in the third quarter. In addition to generating a meaningful top-line improvement, we successfully controlled costs, created efficiencies, managed promotions, and navigated through a highly dynamic sourcing environment, minimizing the impact of tariffs. Consolidated revenue of $1.36 billion increased percent to last year fueled by comparable sales growth of 4% with Aerie up 11% and AE up 1%. We saw growth in transactions across brands driven by higher traffic. The average unit retail price was flat to last year. Gross profit dollars of $552 million increased 5% reflecting higher demand. The gross margin declined 40 basis points to 40.5%, compared to 40.9% last year. Net tariff pressure was as expected at $20 million or 150 basis points. Higher markdowns were largely offset by positive sales growth and lower non-tariff costs, including favorability in freight. Buying occupancy and warehousing leverage 20 basis points due to higher sales and a continued focus on operational improvements. For example, we drove lower cost per shipment within our direct business, which has been an area of ongoing focus. SG&A increased 10% due to investment in advertising as previously discussed. With our focus on long-term brand benefits, the campaigns are already delivering results and helping to advance our goal of expanding our reach and generating growth across brands. The balance of expense is leveraged reflecting our ongoing cost management program. Operating income of $113 million was above our guidance of $95 million to $100 million driven by stronger-than-expected demand. The operating margin of 8.3% declined from an adjusted margin of 9.6% last year. Consolidated ending inventory cost was up 11%, with units up 8%. Inventories balanced across brands, reflecting better in-stocks for American Eagle jeans, new store openings, and the demand acceleration at Aerie and Offline. The increase in cost includes the impact of tariffs. Third-quarter CapEx totaled $70 million bringing year-to-date spend to $202 million. We continue to expect CapEx of approximately $275 million for the year. As a reminder, this includes a one-time spend of about $40 million to relocate our New York design center. As we previously disclosed, we're on track to open 22 Aerie and 26 Offline stores which are coming out of the gate quite strong. We'll complete about 50 AE store remodels with full upgrades to our modern design. A few great examples of recent store upgrades are the Aventura Mall and Sawgrass Mills in Miami, and our new SoHo location in New York City. All of these A-plus stores are among our best and we want to ensure the customer experience is unmatched. The upgraded footprints have allowed us to showcase our signature brands, AE, Aerie, and Offline. We're utilizing new technologies to elevate the shopping journey, create a cohesive and modern retail experience. Overall, our remodeling program is generating comps nicely above the average. As we continue to position our fleet for profitable growth, we're also on track to close about 35 lower productivity AE stores. Our capital allocation priorities remain unchanged, and we're focused on prudently investing in growth to continue to build our brands while returning excess cash to shareholders through dividends and share repurchases. As a reminder, during the first half of this year, share repurchases totaled $231 million and year-to-date dividend payments have totaled $64 million. We have a strong balance sheet and ended the period with cash of $113 million, and total liquidity of approximately $560 million. Now turning to our outlook. The fourth quarter is off to an excellent start. As the team noted, we're encouraged by the broad-based strength across brands and channels, with particular strength in Aerie and Offline. Our inventory and product offerings are well-positioned to deliver a successful holiday season, and we're all focused on achieving a strong fourth-quarter result. Based on quarter-to-date sales trends and the recognition that we have important selling weeks still ahead, we are raising our fourth-quarter operating income guidance to a range of $155 million to $160 million based on comp sales growth of 8% to 9% with similar growth in total revenue. Guidance includes approximately $50 million in incremental tariff costs. Buying occupancy and warehousing costs are expected to increase due to new store growth for Aerie and Offline, and increased digital penetration. SG&A is expected to increase in the low to mid-single digits driven by investments in advertising. Given the top-line strength, we expect both BOW and SG&A to leverage in the fourth quarter. The tax rate is estimated to be approximately 28%, and the weighted average share count will be roughly 173 million. To wrap up our prepared remarks, clearly, we're very encouraged by the progress made across our brands. We're highly focused on delivering the remainder of the year, driving strong profit flow through, and sustaining this momentum into 2026. Now we'll open up the call for questions. Operator: We will now begin the question and answer session. To ask a question, you may press star, then 1 on your telephone keypad. If you're using a speakerphone, please pick up your handset before pressing the keys. To withdraw your question, please press star and then 2. Also, please limit yourself to one question and one follow-up. Re-queue to ask additional questions. The first question comes from Jay Sole with UBS. Please go ahead. Jay Sole: Great. Thanks so much. My first question, I think, is for Mike. You talked about the acceleration fourth quarter to date. And you raised the guidance, the comp guidance, I think you said 8% to 9%, that's pretty significant from where you ended Q3. Can you just talk about where you're trending for today to be able to guide to that level? And what's driven the acceleration? And then maybe Jen, you mentioned strength in denim, if you could elaborate a little bit. If people aren't wearing skinny denim like they were, like, what are the new silhouettes that are working? And how durable are those trends? Do you think the trends that you're seeing can last, you know, well into 2026? Or beyond? And if you can help us on that, that'd be great. Mike Mathias: Yeah. Thanks, Jay. I can talk you through the guidance. So the 8% to 9% comp increase includes nice improvements or acceleration for both brands quarter to date what we just reported in Q3. I would say if when to break it down by brand, we'd be looking for the AE brand to be in the low to mid-single digits. And Aerie in the high teens. Mixing to that 8% to 9% comp in both brands are ahead of that quarter to date. But we know we've got, you know, some big weeks ahead of us. It's only about half a quarter in. But definitely pleased with how November turned out and where we are quarter to date through Thanksgiving weekend. Jennifer Foyle: Yeah. And denim has been very strong. In fact, particularly in women's, we saw acceleration throughout the quarter. Getting into the back half of Q3 and into black. It's been our number one Black Friday as far as denim is concerned. The jeans are certainly winning for us, and as you know, that's our key competency business. Look. Silhouettes are changing faster than ever, and you know, I always reemphasize that our team strategically do just extensive testing, and scaling. And, you know, we did have some out of stocks, particularly in women's Q3. KneeSweeney certainly accelerated some of that, and we needed to move swiftly to get back into business. And, I like what we're seeing in the denim business. So we're excited, you know, at the end of Q3 and headed into Q4. Operator: And the next question comes from Matthew Boss with JPMorgan. Please go ahead. Matthew Boss: Great. Thanks, and congrats on the improvement. Jay Schottenstein: Thanks, Matt. Matthew Boss: So, Jen, at Aerie, maybe if we could dig a little deeper. Could you speak to the drivers of the same-store sales improvement over the past two straight quarters? And with that, I guess maybe could you break into customer acquisition trends that you're seeing initiatives in place to sustain double-digit comp growth in your view? Jennifer Foyle: Yeah. It's certainly exciting to see Aerie back on track. You know, coming off of Q1, we definitely needed to pivot as a team. And we really hunkered down and really, you know, thought about our strategy and what we needed to get back to win. Not only coming from our core competency businesses, which all accelerated and have been accelerating, starting in Q3 into Q4, but also there's new businesses in town. You know, sleep is doing quite well for us, and it's proving to be a year-round business for us, so a new category there. So, obviously, we have Offline too, which is, you know, our secondary business. Coming off of the Aerie, and that business is proven where you're hearing some desal in the athletic apparel areas. We're holding our own, and our leggings are still tried and true and winning for us. The customer acquisition has been strong. Our customers are spending more. We're seeing even so. So coming off of Q3, their actual acquisition has been accelerating. As we head into Q4, last week was an incredible week for Aerie where we saw a huge amount of customer acquisition. So we are taking advantage of our traffic. We're winning our customers. I think we're showing up really proudly. You know, we launched our new 100% real campaign. Which is tied to our core competency of how we launch this business, what our platform is. And it's talking to our community. It's speaking to her. It's playing off of no airbrushing our models. And now we've leveraged some of that into the AI world and thinking about how we approach that differently. So Aerie does things differently. We always think, you know, into the white space that sometimes can be scary, but we're so proud of what we do in this brand. And I think the team is doing an incredible job leveraging our community, amplifying marketing, but also it's 100% about our product. What we do every day is about our product and winning our customer. Matthew Boss: That's great. And then, Mike, could you speak to expectations for markdowns in the fourth quarter relative to the third quarter, just overall health of your inventory and how best to think about gross margin levers remaining into next year? Mike Mathias: I can start with inventory, Matt. I mean, we're very pleased and comfortable with the plus 11 in total dollars, plus eight in units. It's positioned well to continue to fuel this Aerie and Offline trend. We definitely, as Jen talked about in her remarks, kinda resetting some denim inventory to make sure we're continuing to be in stock and, you know, don't miss a sale within the AE jeans category. And, again, that plus 11 cost includes the impact of tariffs along with, you know, just supporting those businesses. On the markdown front, look. We competed in the third quarter. Markdowns are up a little bit in terms of, you know, the total impact of the quarter. Expect Q4 to be similar. We're just gonna ready to compete in these big days. We competed over the weekend. This November to trend that we've seen or the quarter day trend includes a little uptick in markdowns to compete, but definitely winning in terms of the top-line growth and the overall margin dollar growth is a testament to that. And it is in a couple places. I mean, Aerie is similar markdown rate to last year. So you're we're driving this trend on yeah, on markdown rates similar to history. We're not driving it through promotion. And then it really is competing in jeans more than anything from a category perspective that's adding to the markdown a bit. But we're you know, we think that's the right strategy from here. Gross margin then in total, really pleased with the third quarter results. We talked we disclosed the or we hit the $20 million guidance roughly on the tariff impact. That's about 150 basis points. But as you can see, gross margin only deleveraged by 40 on the four comp. So the team is doing a great job not only just mitigating tariffs on the front end, but then finding cut-off opportunities and efficiencies on other non-tariff impacted line items within our cost. We highlighted freight but there's more work than just on the freight line. So Q4 is similar. I mean, we're guiding to a $50 million impact in the kind of the net absolute value or the net impact of that absolute impact of that would be about 300 basis points. But we're obviously not guiding gross margin down that much. So we expect to see the same opportunities in terms of offsets and other line items. And then just on an eight to nine comp, obviously, we're leveraging a lot of expense lines that are up in gross margin, including NBOW, so including rent, digital delivery, distribution, cost, compensation up there as well. But other cost line items within our product costs are being leveraged too. Continue to expect to do that go forward. Operator: And the next question comes from Paul Lejuez with Citi. Please go ahead. Paul Lejuez: Hi. This is Kelly on for Paul. Thanks for taking our question. First question for you guys, just could you talk about why you know, given you've had these very splashy and high-profile marketing campaigns that were more kind of you know, more based on or were American Eagle marketing campaigns and why you didn't see that accrue more to AE versus you know, what you're seeing in Aerie where it seems like you're benefiting a lot from whether that's the product assortment or maybe some of the marketing campaigns. Just help us kind of understand what's happening there. And then just secondly, on the tariff impact, I think you said $50 million impact in the fourth quarter. Is that the right net tariff impact that we should be thinking about for the 2020? Thanks. Jennifer Foyle: Sure. You know, as a company, we're leaning into advertising. We need to compete, you know, when we see what our competition's doing. You know, there was definitely opportunity for us to lean in and certainly, Sydney Sweeney and Travis, I mean, with the 44 billion impressions, really it was, you know, something that we did not expect. And certainly, you know, I mentioned some of the out of stocks in women's particularly, but men's certainly turned around, in the mid-single-digit comp zone, and that was really we were we were so pleased to see that. And I just wanted to say sometimes there's a halo effect in marketing. Right? So as we saw the as we got into in stock as denim, you know, we got our stock in stocks back to, more normalized levels towards the end of the quarter. We saw acceleration particularly in women's and into black, as I mentioned. It was, an incredible week for us, Thanksgiving week, and you know, Friday was amazing. So, we're seeing the results now. And, look. This is important for our future. We need to remain strong and competitive, and we need to amplify our product. The teams have been working tirelessly on, this, you know, price value equation that I think American Eagle does better than anyone. And, and we're leaning in. And this marketing will certainly amplify. Jay Schottenstein: Okay. Then Jen, I'd like to also add. We also seen a significant increase in our loyalty members too. Saw over a million more loyalty members join us. In these past NBA in these past few months. And as Jen said, you don't see it right away. And she also pointed out that it's interesting with Cindy Sweeney, the jeans that we had made specifically for Cindy Sweeney, they sold out, like, within two days. They boomed right out right away. Mike Mathias: Then I can take the tariff question? I think maybe the best way to provide some color is just to give the quarterly impact. So we'd expect to go forward if tariffs hold as is in terms of the impact. We'll see how that continues to progress. About a $25 to $30 million impact in each of the first and second quarter. So call it somewhere between 200, maybe 225 basis points of impact in Q1. Same impact in Q2. $40 to $60 million, call it, in the first half. Next Q3, on the $20 million we just incurred in Q3, we expect Q3 on a full basis to be about a $35 to $40 million. So call it $15 million to $20 million impact incrementally next year. And then we'd anniversary the roughly $50 million that we're guiding to this fourth quarter. So it's about a 200 to 225 basis point impact on a full-year basis. But, again, with continued offsets in work, we'd expect the gross margin to not be impacted to that level just like we've seen here in Q3 and Q4. Jay Schottenstein: Really, Mike, there may be, like, a Supreme Court ruling coming on shortly too. Like, you know, and, you know, it may have changed everything right away. Who knows? Paul Lejuez: So the assumption then would be that you would be taking some like-for-like pricing into next year? Mike Mathias: Yes. I think, I mean, on the pricing front, we definitely do not have a specific strategy to pass through the impact of tariffs to our customers. We continue to take shots where we know we can, where we're making price moves that, you know, we still fit within our price value equation that the customer expects, and we don't see any resistance to those price changes from the customer. And just ticket changes that allow us to create a little more room on the promotional front too to make some decisions within our lease lines. So continue to do that. I think we're seeing success doing or approaching it that way in the back half right now. We'll continue to do that next year. Paul Lejuez: Thanks, Pete. Thank you. Best of luck. Operator: And the next question comes from Jonah Kim with TD Cowen. Please go ahead. Jonah Kim: You mentioned strong customer acquisition across both brands. Maybe you can give us a little bit more detail around who those customers are and if you're gaining more higher-income cohorts. Just curious on who you are gaining share from as you acquire new customers? And then another question as a follow-up to that is what are your strategies around retaining those customers you gain in the last two quarters? Thank you so much. Jennifer Foyle: Look. Both brands have, you know, our customer file is stronger than ever. And we certainly have seen acceleration, as I mentioned, with some, you know, really high it's going into even leaving Q3, you know, exiting Q3 and going into Q4. It's really high-end problems here that we're seeing. Look. It's what we do every day. Our teams need to certainly focus on the retention, and we've been all year long. That's what we've been up to. Our retention is not even we're winning on retention. We are winning on customer acquisition. The teams have strategies. You know? Those tend to not share publicly, but the strategies are already, you know, paying off. You can see it in the news that we're reporting today. You know, we're getting talent. We're working on our influencer programs. But we're also working on our communities. And that is the most important thing. You know, we have powerful brand platforms that we stand for something. And it wears the test of time. And when that works and we have the great product attached to it, we can win and show up in a new way. And the teams have very many strategies, whether it's, you know, upper funnel, getting out there and bringing in new customers or working on our performance marketing spend and our influencer strategies. So it's not only it's never about one part of the strategy. It's about getting the product right first and making sure that our tactics will amplify that strategy. Certainly, Sydney you know, an example, Sydney and Travis, but even the more recent Martha, I mean, that is talent that's upper funnel. You know, that is you know, us getting our brands out there in new ways. But if you let lean into Aerie and how they're working, their marketing strategy, they're leveraging our community in a new way and showing up with how do we go from not airbrushing our models, I just mentioned, into what does AI mean to, such a pure brand as Aerie with such an amazing platform. So it is about we have two different brands. We have a portfolio of brands at the same token that we leverage our brands. Certainly, we share platform, but it is about making sure that we play up each brand DNA in the right way and it's working. That strategy is working. I can just I can say that now, and there's work to do always. As we look ahead, we have exciting collaborations, new talent, and just new ideas. We're constantly thinking of new ideas. Jonah Kim: Got it. Thank you. Operator: And the next question comes from Rick Patel with Raymond James. Rick Patel: I wanted to double click on your expectations for AUR in Q4. As we think about the company remaining competitive with promotions, but also factoring in some product and perhaps some pricing wins, where do you see AUR landing in the fourth quarter? And then second, what are your expectations for where inventory will end the year, both in terms of dollars and units? Mike Mathias: Eric, yes. The AUR for the third quarter is flat even with a bit of a markdown increase just the mix of the mix of the businesses between the brands, category mix, our AURs relatively flat at company level. We're expecting a similar thing in Q4. November to date here, we saw it play out that way. Aerie's actually driving these comps on some uptick in AUR. Know we're spending a little more markdowns in the jeans category in AE to drive the business. So the mix for the quarter we'd expect right now to be similar. Around a relatively flat AUR for the fourth quarter. And I think, you know, way we'd really expect to plan the business go forward. Rick Patel: Great. Any thoughts on inventory? Mike Mathias: Q4, we're not providing specific guidance. But, at the end of the day here, with the uptick in the trend, exceeding plans, we're definitely in chase mode here. Which is a good thing. So when we make a we we we have we see a lot of profit flow through when we're doing that. Especially on the Aerie side of the house. So we expect, you know, inventory in line with sales. You know, we're guiding to the plus, eight to nine comp. And as of now, I'd expect similar kind of, you know, inventory line with sales or lease units in line with the sales growth knowing there'll be a tariff impact. Ongoing. But we're not not providing specific guidance at this point, but that's what we'd expect to see. Rick Patel: Thanks very much. Operator: And the next question comes from Chris Nardone with Bank of America. Please go ahead. Chris Nardone: Thanks, guys. Good afternoon. So first, can you just refresh us on how we should think about plans for both the Eagle and Aerie store fleets heading into next year? And if the recent results of both businesses have changed, how you're thinking about that versus maybe ninety days ago? Mike Mathias: Yeah, Chris. I think for the AE brand, we talked about closing roughly 35 stores at the end of this year. You know, we're looking forward into plans next year, and we expect that to slow down as we've largely closed, I think, over the last three, four years kind of the lower productivity stores in the fleet. On the in the mainline AE fleet. So 35 at the end of this year here in January, maybe something lower than that, I would expect next year. On the Aerie and Offline growth front, we talked about 22 Aerie 26 Offline openings this year in 2025. We're looking at a similar 40 to 50 store count at the moment. Probably similar waiting Offline, a little higher count Offline than Aerie. But we are looking at this tremendous growth, and if we did anything, we'd maybe accelerate some openings on the Aerie and Offline side, but those plans are still in work. Right now, a similar 40 to 50 count is what's in the plan. Chris Nardone: Okay. Got it. And then just a quick follow-up. Think you alluded Aerie comps are running above the high teens for the quarter, quarter to date. And if AUR is roughly flattish, can you just unpack a little bit further? It sounds like you're seeing inflections across the product suite. But are there particular channels, whether that's digital versus retail, or certain categories where you're seeing the biggest inflection? Just trying to understand a little bit better what has changed so drastically over the last six months. Mike Mathias: Yeah. Look. Correct. The guidance we're giving at the eight to nine comp I'll just reiterate, American Eagle low to mid-single expectations, Aerie high teens, both brands are running ahead of that trend November to date or through the Thanksgiving weekend. Digital ahead of stores. And I think you know, the marketing campaigns that Jen and Jay are talking about, the traffic we're seeing digitally off of those campaigns, is significant, and that's where we're seeing a lot of the gains from those efforts and from the effectiveness of those campaigns. So digital was both channels were positive in Q3, but digital was on a the high end or the high single-digit level for Q3. And we'd expect for Q4 at a plus eight to nine, same kind of outcome that digital would really outpace stores, and we've seen that through November and especially over the holiday weekend here where both channels were positive, and we're happy with success in both channels, but digital is where we're seeing the outpaced growth at the moment. Jennifer Foyle: And in Aerie specifically, I mean, as I mentioned before, men's, we saw an incredible turnaround. In Aerie specifically, all categories are working. Look. The team when you have to pivot coming off of Q1, we focused on our product and winning that customer back and ensuring that we could get that momentum, that we deserve again. This brand is incredible. And I did want to say, I need to remind everyone on this call that Aerie's brand is only at 55 to 60%. So when I think about our opportunity as we, you know, build into February 2026. We have an incredible runway in front of us. So we're pulling in product as we speak. We're chasing and the team's working fast and furiously so that we can continue this momentum into next year. Jay Schottenstein: And also, Jen, I think our merchandise is better too. Which helps. Jennifer Foyle: I'd like to say that. Yes. Chris Nardone: Alright. Thank you, guys. Best of luck. Operator: And the next question comes from Alex Straton with Morgan Stanley. Please go ahead. Alexandra Straton: Thanks so much, and congrats on a nice quarter. On these big campaigns that you guys have pursued, you just give us some context on where you think you'll end the year on marketing expense as a percentage of sales versus typical. Like, are you investing more than history? And then as we think about next year, should that line item continue to move higher? Or how do you think about kind of that flywheel between the marketing investment and growth? Mike Mathias: For this year, yes. We're I mean, obviously, we made a significant investment in Q3. Q4 is up as well within our guidance, not anywhere near the increase on a percentage basis to Q3 was. Really pleased with the SG&A leverage we'll see in Q4 off of this comp guide. Advertising is still deleveraging a bit, but we're leveraging all other expense categories as intended pretty significantly in the fourth quarter. For the year, we're gonna wind up somewhere in the mid-fours as a percentage. And historically, we've been more in the like, last year, for example, around 4%. So we're definitely resetting a baseline for advertising spend at the moment. It's working. We're continuing to monitor it. Jen and I have and our teams are working very closely and cross-functionally on really on a week-to-week basis, how we're pulsing the spend in advertising on top of the campaigns that are obviously planned well ahead of time. I'd expect we expect in our initial plans here for next year is to continue this in the first half. Possibly passing more toward a 5% type of rate to reset ourselves and then leverage all other expense lines, funnel some expense some investment toward advertising. An anniversary this come next, you know, next year around this time in the third quarter. I think that 5% is a good sweet spot that we'd like to maintain over time. So as we're kinda resetting the baseline, we're passing toward 5%. Like the top-line growth we're seeing from it, again, just to reiterate, anniversary it come next year and start to just maintain that type of rate, and we'll evaluate things from there. Jay Schottenstein: And, Mike, can we have some other we have some tricks in the bag too? We're not saying, but we have more tricks in the bag. Mike Mathias: Yeah. There's more to come. We'll talk we've seen things on our fourth-quarter call in March probably to talk about more exciting things to come. Alexandra Straton: That's great. Maybe one follow-up for you, Mike. Just kinda zooming out here. I know there's been some wrenches in your medium-term outlook since you provided it a couple of years ago. But maybe as we move into the final year of that plan and excluding some of the non-controllable headwinds like tariffs, can you just like big picture talk about where you've made the most progress versus that plan and where there's still more work to be done in this final year here? Mike Mathias: Yeah. I mean, I'll stop on starting the top line. I know it'd be obviously had a few missteps here in the first half of the year in the first quarter, but the net result of this year with this guide is actually gonna wind up kind of in that low to mid-single or, you know, within the algorithm we talked about wanting to achieve every year. So, you know, we'll be at a kinda low single-digit trajectory on a full year with this back half being, you know, kinda mid to high mid to high single-digit range. So I think that's the continued focus. I'd also say we made a lot of headway in just the culture change around expenses in total. We continue to control costs across the P&L. I think the leverage that we see that we're seeing here in BOW this back half of the year and then SG&A in this fourth quarter is a testament to that. Even with the significant increase in advertising this year, you know, you just asked about, I just provided the color on, all the other SG&A line items are leveraging in this year. And SG&A in total will be relatively flat. On the year at the kind of low single-digit total year outcome. So that's a big change for us over the last several years. It's been a massive focus to have a different mentality around controlling expense, allowing us to funnel some of these dollars toward advertising. And so we'll continue to do that. Yeah, to your point, you know, the tariff headwind is something we can't control, but mean, our goal is still this 10% aspiration. Tariff's gonna set that back a little bit. But we're gonna continue down the path that we're on on controlling all other costs. Investing some dollars in advertising, fueling Aerie and Offline, you know, hitting that kinda low single plus trajectory in AE. And, you know, pathing back toward that 10% that is still our ultimate goal. Jay Schottenstein: Yeah. And, Mike, you know, as a general thing, this team, after the first quarter and, you know, Jen couldn't emphasize it enough. Really took a hard look at everything. We went through all the different areas of the business. Every single area, every opportunity, the merchandise, to the operations, looking where, you know, where you know, what you know, what's important, what's not important to the company. The dedication of the associates has been amazing the last few months. And I'm so proud of this team because that first quarter, we got kicked very hard and nobody quit. Nobody cried about it. Nobody quit. Everybody went to figure out how can we do things better. Transformational, looking for where the real opportunities are, looking for where we should go in the future, where the opportunities are, and what's it gonna take to be the best. And one thing I'm very proud of, if you go into our stores, we have the best-looking stores, the best-maintained stores in the mall. If you walk in the mall, our stores look the best. If you don't look at our new store, stores, you go to down to Soho, and you look at our new store we just opened in Soho, you go to Aventura down in Miami, you'd be very impressed by the stores. They're very, very impressive stores. They're very functional stores. And so, you know, I think that, you know, that we're very excited. I know what we have planned for marketing next year. Know where the merchants are focused. I know the excitement that everybody has in this company. And it's gonna be great. Operator: And the next question comes from Janet Kloppenburg with JJK Research Associates. Please go ahead. Janet Kloppenburg: Hi, everybody, and I'm glad congratulations, and Jay, I agree the stores look terrific. Aerie in particular, but American Eagle as well. I just wanted to ask about I think you had to chase product earlier in the year. As well. Jen. And I'm wondering what's going on there. And if that situation is resolved now. With the comps being as healthy as they are, and then for Mike, on a 4% comp, you weren't able did did you leverage buying an occupancy? I think you may have. And what is the is the target point on that? And in terms of price increases, are they all behind you now? Have you taken them all? Or are there more to come? Thank you. Jennifer Foyle: Yes. For sure. Thanks, by the way, Janet. It's primarily, it's been in women's denim. To be frank. We've been sort of on in chase mode since Q1 and, you know, quite frankly, we haven't been able to keep up with the demands. And, you know, as you know, we have a huge short business, and that business never really turned on. You know, we expect shorts to turn on and that never happened. So then we continue to see as we enter Q2, you know, back half of Q1 into Q2, this demand in long legs, and we really couldn't keep up with that demand. So moving into Q3, we felt like we were in a better position, but we wanted to be prudent as well with our inventories as as you know, denim is probably our higher cost of goods as well. But it's our biggest business. So it's always an art managing that business. And, with the launch of the Sydney Sweeney and actually Travis, you know, we couldn't really keep up with that demand. The team's worked swiftly. We were definitely in the right businesses. We definitely had the right silos and the right investment in silhouettes. Which led to some of that out of stock. Good news there. Bad news, we needed a little bit more inventory to carry and to and to get that business move you know, to get women's in total, because of the penetration of denim. So good news is, certainly in the back half of Q3, we saw nice, levels of inventory getting back into our key silhouettes. The top five jeans, just to give you some perspective, we planned at up this is, you know, just top five jean styles in women's. We planned up 25%. They were up 50% on demand. So, we had a lot of work to do. We feel better as we head into Q4. And nodding to what Mike mentioned, we're going to look at denim a little bit differently so that we're all you know, we're maintaining that business while we grow new categories. Mike Mathias: And, Jan, on 20 basis points in the third quarter on the four comp. And then, you know, that's a good target for us, that low to mid-single-digit result to leverage expense really across the board other than this advertising reset we're talking about. And then the fourth quarter on the eight to nine comp, we'd obviously definitely expect a large BOW with that kind of result as well. And SG&A will leverage significantly on that kind of result for the fourth quarter. Janet Kloppenburg: Okay. And then just on pricing. Mike Mathias: Yeah. We talked about a little earlier. We're not I mean, AOR is flat for Q3. We're expecting similar AUR in Q4. We're not passing through the impact of tariffs to the consumer purposely. We are taking our shots on price moves where, you know, as Jen has said, keeping maintaining that price value equation that our customer expects and making sure we're not impacting conversion. And give ourselves a little room on the promotional side when we do that as well. So we'll continue to kind of optimize that, take our shots, but you know, net AUR similar to last year, is the intent. Operator: And the next question comes from Janine Stitcher with BTIG. Please go ahead. Janine Stitcher: Hi. Thanks for taking my question, and congrats on a great quarter. With this quarter-to-date acceleration, it sounds like a lot of it's been driven by traffic and new customer acquisition. Just wondering what you're seeing on conversion, particularly with some of the product improvements you've made. And then maybe if you can just share your thoughts on the Gen Z consumer. We've certainly heard a lot about that consumer potentially being pressured and pulling back, but does it seem like you're seeing that at all in your business. So I'd just love to hear your thoughts on kind of where the consumer is and how they're spending. Mike Mathias: Yeah. I think on the metric side of things, traffic was definitely a driver in Q3. We continue to see that here in the fourth quarter through November. With AUR flat, it's been a mix of sort of traffic and then ADS or, you know, the UPT part of the ADS equation. AUR flat, some uptick in UPTs, and then traffic with conversion being relatively flat. With AUR being relatively flat. That's sort of your mix of metrics that, we saw in the third quarter and, you know, early days here in Q4. Obviously, a big traffic uptick that we've capitalized on through November and through Thanksgiving, and we'll see how that continues to play out, but with AUR relatively flat. Would assume a similar kind of mix of metrics. Traffic being a driver, ADS being a driver with AUR flat, conversion relatively flat. And we'll see how it pans out through December. Jennifer Foyle: Yeah. We are we're not feeling that you know, we're entertaining Gen Z in all of our brands. So, even when you look at Martha Stewart, that might be a question mark. Right? Why Martha Stewart? But Martha Stewart resonates with Gen Z. That's a perfect example of what we're up to. We're seeing momentum in all age groups. We do have still some opportunity on the lower age scale in AE women's in particular. And we're up to, you know, invigorating some product to entertain that age bracket. But, honestly, you know, we're not seeing it. And, also, this is a critical time too for giving too. So we see mom and dad out there purchasing as well. Operator: We have time for one more question. Last question comes from Corey Tarlowe with Jefferies. Please go ahead. Corey Tarlowe: Great. Thanks for taking my question. Mike, I just wanted to ask on SG&A for Q3 and Q4 and just kinda how to think about it next year from a dollar perspective. Is there anything that either comes in or goes out, whether it's marketing, I think you talked maybe you talked about incentive comp in prior years, how to think about that. Just structurally understanding on a rate basis, obviously, with Q4 sales being so strong. Gonna be a bit of a delta there, but curious what you could unpack for us. Thanks so much. Mike Mathias: Sure. Yes. I think, as I said, we'd expect to see continued investment in advertising through the 5% rate annually. So we'll anniversary things in the back half that we're doing currently. Incentive comp's a bit of a TBD. We're still setting plans for 2026. Those annual plans are based on our EBIT target is the success metric. So we'll probably we'll give more color in March around 2026 SG&A and how we think that'll pan out by quarter. With advertising and possibly a bit of more incentive comp in the mix. The more to come in March. Corey Tarlowe: Great. Thanks. And then just a quick follow-up on Aerie. The momentum has been very, very strong. Curious what you think is specifically working there versus the competition when you either walk the mall or view kind of the competitive set? How you think about your market share gains and the opportunity there? Thanks so much. Jennifer Foyle: Yeah. I did mention the brand awareness still is, you know, we have opportunity there. We're still only at 55% to 60%. So as we gain, you know, and look towards the future, we have a lot of opportunity there. You know, it's never about one thing. Certainly, we double downed on the product. The design team and merchant team really came together. And thought about our future strategies and where we were seeing some, you know, losses and how we recalibrated all of our categories. And the team did an excellent job from launching new ideas to, you know, rebuilding old franchises, i.e., undies. Undies is a fire starter for an or for, you know, any order, any basket. And, our undies tables have never looked better. So it's all about the product. But, strategically, we built into promotions that make sense. But we pulled back in other areas where it doesn't make sense. And then you layer on this great marketing campaign that we've had in Aerie, which it's been really resonating, 100% real. It's what we're all about. And you know, the team's doubled down. And our influencer campaign getting our clothes on our influencers, has been a real win. And, there's more to come. We have so many great new ideas, innovations for the future. The team's 100% locked and loaded on thinking about each category, new fabrications, new ideas, new launches, newness in general, has been a win for Aerie. Our new drops, and that's been really working. So, we have a lot in store for 2026. But in the meantime, we're pulling goods in for to pull out Q4. We're excited about what's happening right now. Operator: The conference has now concluded. Thank you for attending today's presentation. You may now disconnect.
Operator: Good day, everyone, and welcome to today's GitLab third quarter fiscal year 2026 conference call. At this time, all participants are in a view and listen-only mode. Later, you will have the opportunity to ask questions during the question and answer session. If you would like to ask a question, please use the raise hand feature located in the menu at the bottom of your Zoom toolbar. In addition, ensure your Zoom name reflects the full name and firm you are with. If you are joining via phone, you may press 9 to ask a question. Please note this call is being recorded. And it is now my pleasure to turn the conference over to Yao Chu. Yao Chu: Good afternoon. We appreciate you joining us for GitLab's third quarter 2026 Financial Results Conference Call. With me are Bill Staples, our CEO, and James Shen, our Interim CFO. During this afternoon's call, we will provide an overview of the business, commentary on our third quarter results, and guidance for the fourth quarter and fiscal year 2026. Before we begin, I will cover the Safe Harbor statement. I would like to direct you to the cautionary statement regarding forward-looking statements on Page two of our presentation and in our earnings release issued earlier today, both of which are available under the Investor Relations section of our website. The presentation and earnings release include a discussion of certain risks, uncertainties, assumptions, and other factors that could cause the results to differ from those expressed in any forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act. As is customary, the content of today's call and presentation will be governed by this language. Additionally, during today's call, we will be discussing certain non-GAAP financial measures. These non-GAAP financial measures exclude certain unusual or non-recurring items that management believes impact the comparability of the periods referenced. Please refer to our earnings release and presentation materials for additional information regarding these non-GAAP financial measures and the reconciliations to the most directly comparable GAAP measure. I will now turn the call over to Bill. Bill? Bill Staples: Thank you, Yao, and good afternoon, everyone. Thank you for joining us today. I am pleased to report strong third quarter results. Revenue grew 25% year over year to $244 million, two points above our Q3 guidance. Non-GAAP operating margin reached 18%, a full five points above our Q3 guidance. It is my first anniversary as GitLab's CEO, and I wake up every day feeling incredibly lucky to build upon the foundation that Sid and the team have created. When I first got here, I said three things. There has never been a better time to serve developers. We are in the early stages of how software gets transformed through AI. And GitLab sits at the heart of the software development life cycle and has the best and most comprehensive platform to enable this transformation. My conviction in the company and our opportunity has only grown stronger. A year into this journey and hundreds of customer conversations later, I can confidently say that we are stronger today than even one year ago. We have built the foundation to deliver more value through AI in the coming year, architecting GitLab and Duo Agent platform to remain mission-critical and delivering increasing value as LLMs and markets evolve. I truly believe there has never been a more exciting time to be at GitLab. We are seeing the rise of AI expand our total addressable market. AI has drastically reduced barriers to entry of software creation and is driving the marginal cost of code generation towards zero. However, software is more than just code. Software with all its embedded business processes and sensitive data is business-critical. The global economy runs on software. Human lives rely on software. Businesses cannot afford negligence in their quality assurance, security, compliance, or governance of their software development and delivery practice. I believe what we do becomes even more critical in a world where teams want to take advantage of agents to author code given the nondeterministic nature of AI. For decades, I have watched my own teams and countless customer teams struggle to stay on top of bug backlogs, technical debt, and business requirements all while innovating. The pattern is universal and long-standing. The tools for building software are technically pretty good, but things consistently break down wherever people and processes are required. GitLab has been solving this problem by providing teams an opinionated view with proven ROI. The key differentiator we automate the end-to-end software delivery flow, including quality, security, compliance, and governance, in a single process flow as part of our unified platform. Ironically, as we have studied teams using agents and new AI tools, we see the familiar pattern. Agents act eerily like humans. Sometimes they follow prompts. But sometimes they do not. Sometimes they write secure code, but sometimes they do not. Why is this? Because LLMs will always be nondeterministic. It is the nature of the algorithms used to build them. And every business has unique requirements that LLM simply cannot guess. Even if LLMs become superior at code to humans, external validation of that code which will also be driven agentically with human oversight, will be required to ensure they meet the complex human requirements of doing business. We believe LLMs will continue to improve in accuracy and cost but they will always require systems that can validate they are supporting complex business requirements. Let's take a look at how that shows up today. IDE tools like Cursor, Copilot, and Cloud Code have contributed to an explosion in code generation. The downstream effects are now clearly visible to us in our business. GitLab engagement has grown significantly across our gitlab.com SaaS customer base. In the first ten months of 2025, key activity metrics CI pipelines, deployments, and releases, are up about 35% to 45% year over year. Similar to what peers are seeing. For customers paying us more than $5,000 in ARR, usage proxies like deployments and CI pipelines on a per seat basis are up 20% to 40% annually. Simply put, more code means more of a need for GitLab. Our 2025 global DevSecOps report shows that while AI accelerates coding, more code does not necessarily mean better outcomes. We call this the AI paradox. We believe long-term winners are not the vendors who can generate code the fastest, but those who can maximize the customer's ability to deliver high-quality secure software to the consumers of their business and drive meaningful business outcomes through software. GitLab is in position to do that better than anyone else. How? We have extended our end-to-end platform which already powers full life cycle actions for more than 50% of the Fortune 100, and hundreds of thousands of organizations across 100 different countries around the world, and now provide that same set of capabilities natively to agents along with shared context for both humans and agents. This not only facilitates greater trust and accuracy, but will help accelerate the end-to-end software process required to win. Instead of just building new AI assistance tools, and agents to solve specific use cases, like our competition we have extended our platform to provide intelligent orchestration across the software life cycle, enabling our partners, customers, and ourselves to solve any engineering problem across the life cycle. GitLab Duo agent platform is our answer to the AI paradox most companies are experiencing today as they adopt new AI tools and will be a driver of new revenue stream beyond seats. The context we have is rich. It includes semantic understanding of the code and dependencies across repositories, granular changes to it over time, quality assurance tests, planning and issue tracking, and collaboration on those plans, security and compliance checks, and build, integration, and deployment pipelines, just to name a few. Our underlying platform becomes more valuable as the volume of code explodes regardless of whether a human or agent made the change. I believe the primitives of code collaboration will prove to be powerful moats. And with Duo Agent Platform, we are in a great position even as LLMs improve and the market evolves. I am pleased to share that Duo Agent platform is on track for general availability in the coming weeks. Turning to the quarter. The highlights this quarter were continued strength in GitLab Ultimate, which is now 54% of total ARR. And was in seven of our top 10 net ARR deals this quarter. Ultimate represents one of the best value propositions for companies who need a single DevSecOps platform. Ultimate drove expansions at customers like Indeed, SBI Securities, and Currys. We executed well on the initiatives we discussed last quarter that served to strengthen the foundation of the company. I am pleased with the steady progress we are making on our first order build-out, and rollouts of GitLab Duo Agent platform. We also saw stronger international results. Overall, sales cycles and win rates remain consistent. However, softness in the US public sector offset part of that performance. GitLab continues to be viewed as the preferred software factory and trusted partner to leading US agencies. But slower decision-making related to the subsequent government shutdown created some new headwinds in the quarter. Our differentiated platform approaches seeing strong third-party validation, as GitLab was named a leader in the 2025 Gartner Magic Quadrant for DevOps platforms, for the third consecutive year. And a leader in the 2025 Gartner Magic Quadrant for AI coding assistance for the second consecutive year. Now let me turn to our key growth objectives. Our first objective is to add more new paying customers, especially in the mid-market and enterprise segments. We are starting to see some cases of AI mandates catalyzing enterprises to look for a future-proof solution. GitLab's approach to a cohesive workflow on a unified platform across developer, security, and operations teams has never been more relevant. Mediametry France's leading media measurement company needed to accelerate their internal development processes and had an AI mandate to reduce maintenance costs. While they were already using a free version of GitLab for source code management, this first order, Ultimate, and GitLab Duo win saw us replace seven different other tools out of the gate. While maintaining ISO 2701 compliance. Duo will enable secure AI-powered development allowing media metric to deliver new measurement products and data analysis at a much faster base. We won a landmark deal with a global consumer tech platform this quarter, to our dedicated offering. They had grown frustrated after experiencing critical reliability issues with their incumbent source code management provider. This customer has over 5,000 developers, is well known for world-class engineering, and has exacting standards on reliability responsiveness, and technical excellence. GitLab dedicated was chosen to provide the environment for their most mission-critical code repositories, ensuring business continuity and operation resilience. While our mix of first order versus expansion improved slightly this quarter, it is still not where I would like it to be. We are expanding our go-to-market capacity and have hired a new business leader to build out our global first order team with a focus on acquiring new logos. It is important to note that resourcing and ramping up this team will take time, I believe the payoff will be worth the investment. Every new customer we win today matters. Given their lifetime value. We are operating with urgency. We work every day to earn the trust of our customers, which is reflected in our best-in-class gross retention rates and demonstrated cohort growth across multiple cycles. We see a long runway for growth in our core DevSecOps opportunity as our TAM continues to expand and our competitive position remains strong. We offer choice, neutrality, and openness in ways that others do not, and that message is resonating. Our competitors are actively choosing to limit choices for their customers in the form of hyperscaler infrastructure, or self-managed versus SaaS options. Indirect contrast, we recognize that every customer journey is different. And make active efforts to meet our customers where they are. Our second objective is to help customers realize the value of our platform more quickly thereby driving revenue expansion. Our biggest expansions this quarter share a compelling pattern. They are all spending on some form of AI tooling in their engineering org but they continue to use GitLab as the back of their SDLC. We continue to see strong potential for up-tiering and attach within our existing customer base. Which the following customer stories help illustrate. A leading financial SaaS provider for small businesses has been a happy GitLab customer since 2017. This quarter, they have created from premium to ultimate across almost a thousand engineers. GitLab's approach to scanning the code at the point of commit before it ever leaves developer's hands allows us to replace multiple fragmented security tools. GitLab will help this customer reduce false positives cut down manual overhead, and empower their developers with AppSec results immediately. A large European public sector organization expansion demonstrates the potential within our existing customer base. Like many large enterprises, they had multiple silo deployments across different groups, and 4,000 developers. This meant maintenance complexity and inconsistent developer experiences. After working closely with them for years across more than 120 stakeholders, they chose GitLab dedicated and Duo this quarter as a foundation of a modern and secure SaaS-based software delivery platform. GitLab meets the highest customer standards in regulated industries and critical national infrastructure. Our third objective to accelerate customer-focused innovation. We continue to invest across three pillars, core DevOps, security, and AI. In core DevOps, we delivered a redesigned interface and a new intelligent pipeline repair flow that helps developers resolve issues faster. Directly translating to increase the development velocity and reduce troubleshooting time. Security and compliance are mission-critical customer priorities, as companies deploy AI toolkits and remain key drivers of ultimate adoption. We introduced new security capabilities, including static reachability analysis, secret validity checks, and diff-based scanning to bring security directly into the development process. The new security analyst agent also introduced this quarter simplifies access to these sophisticated tools and can provide recommendations for engineers on where to focus. And with DuoAgent platform, we launched the AI Catalog. A central place where teams can discover foundational GitLab Duo agents best-in-class external agents like Claude, OpenAI Codex, Google Gemini CLI, as well as create, share, and their own custom-built agents for any software engineering task. Customer feedback has been strong. Many now tell us that GitLab is ahead of our peers in our vision and rapidly evolving capability. We closed our first few GitLab Duo agent platform-based expansions this quarter. Even before general availability. While our progress is rapid and early results are promising, we are at the very start of our journey on this massive opportunity. Pricing and packaging will likely be an iterative process as the platform matures and we discover the most effective ways to deliver value to our customers. And a reminder for any new investors much of our customer base remains on self-managed solutions. And may be slower to adopt some of these solutions. We will be live streaming a product-specific event in February where more details will be made available. As the only pure-play cloud and model-neutral independent public company, delivering DevSecOps we offer true independence. Bill in the cloud you choose with the vendors and tools that you like best. While giving your engineers the very best possible experience. The world needs GitLab more than ever. I want to thank our team members for living our values and our mission and to our customers for their trust our partners for their support, and the broader GitLab community. Before I turn the call over, I also want to thank James Shen for his contributions during this period of transition at GitLab. He is one of the rock stars of this company and has done an amazing job rising to the occasion as interim CFO. I am excited to welcome our new chief financial officer, Jessica Ross, who will be starting in January. Jessica was most recently CFO of Frontdoor and has more than 25 years of experience in finance, accounting, and operational leadership at companies like Salesforce and Stitch Fix. You will all have an opportunity to get to know her in the coming months. With that, I will turn it over to James. James Shen: Thank you, Bill. And thanks again to everyone for joining us today. I am happy to report that we beat our guidance across the board as the team executed through a dynamic environment. Third quarter revenue reached $244 million. An increase of 25% from Q3 of the prior year. We now have 10,475 customers, Our larger customer cohort with ARR of at least $5,000, which contributed over 95% of total ARR in Q3. of $100,000 plus in ARR increased 23% year over year and reached 1,405. Our customer base is well diversified across industry, and geography. And no single customer accounts for more than 2% of ARR. On the expansion front, we ended the quarter with a dollar-based net retention rate, or DBNRR, of 119%. Total RPO grew 27% year over year to $1 billion while CRPO grew 28% year over year to $659 million. We remain pleased with this very healthy growth rate. Non-GAAP gross margin was 89% for the quarter. The team continues to do a good job of driving operating efficiencies even as our SaaS business has become a greater portion of our mix. Driven in part by the continued strength in GitLab dedicated and 31% of total revenue and grew 36% year over year. Q3 non-GAAP operating income was $43.7 million, compared to $25.9 million in Q3 of last year. Non-GAAP operating margin was 17.9% compared to 13.2%. In Q3 of last year, an increase of approximately 470 basis points year over year. We are making steady progress on building out a dedicated first order team and increasing our quota-carrying capacity. Q3 FY 2026 adjusted free cash flow was $27.2 million, with an adjusted free cash flow margin of 11.1%. Compared to $9.7 million in the prior year. We ended the quarter with $1.2 billion in cash and investments. Our strong balance sheet and predictable business model give us the flexibility to continue to invest in our AI capabilities, platform enhancements, and go-to-market organization. As we deliver strong margins and cash flow for our shareholders. Separately, I would like to provide an update on Jihue, our China joint venture. In Q3 FY 2026, non-GAAP expenses related to Jihoo were $3.3 million compared to $3.5 million in Q3 of last year. Our goal remains to deconsolidate Jehu. However, we cannot predict the likelihood or timing of when that may potentially occur. Thus, for FY 2026 modeling purposes, we forecast approximately $16 million of expenses related to Jehu. Compared with $13 million from last year. Now turning to guidance. While we are encouraged by our strong year-to-date performance, the SMB softness that we called out last quarter persists. Additionally, the lingering effects of the recent US government shutdown are likely to impact deal dynamics in our US federal business into Q4. These dynamics are factored into our guidance. For the '26, we expect total revenue of $251 million to $252 million representing a year-over-year growth rate of approximately 19%. We expect a non-GAAP operating income of $38 million to $39 million. And we expect a non-GAAP net income per share of 22¢ to 23¢. Assuming 172 million weighted average diluted shares outstanding. For the full year FY '26, we expect total revenue of $946 million to $947 million, representing a growth rate of approximately 25% year over year. We expect a non-GAAP operating income of $147 million to $148 million and we expect a non-GAAP net income per share of 95¢ to 96¢ assuming 171 million weighted average diluted shares outstanding. While we are not providing guidance for FY '27, I would remind you for modeling purposes that the April FY '24 premium price increase has now been largely implemented. And will not be a discrete tailwind in FY '27. In summary, I am pleased with our third quarter results. We are building GitLab for healthy growth at scale. Investing strategically against opportunities that drive long-term value, and enhancing profitability and delivering free cash flow. GitLab is positioned for long-term success and to take advantage of a rapidly transforming market from a place of strife. Thank you for joining today. With that, I will turn the call over to Yao who will moderate the Q&A. Yao Chu: At this time, if you would like to ask a question, please use the raise hand function located on your Zoom toolbar. Or if you have joined by phone, please press 9. We request to limit yourself to one question in the interest of time. Take our first question from Koji Akeda from Bank of America. A following question will be from Matt Hedberg from RBC. Koji, go ahead, please. Koji Akeda: Yep. Hey, guys. Thanks so much for taking the question. My one question here is on the guide, the fourth quarter guide. And specifically on subscription revenue growth. You did grow subscription revenue in the third quarter 27%. That is pretty darn good for a, you know, primarily a seat-based model. But it is a deceleration from 30% last quarter and I do hear you on the public sector softness. I get that. And so I wanted to ask on the implied fourth quarter total revenue guide of 19%. Can you help us walk us through a little bit more on the demand environment, any sort of Fed sector catch-up that has already happened? Pipeline coverage into the fourth quarter, and any additional color on how to think about what the guide means for fourth quarter subscription revenue growth. Thank you. James Shen: Thanks, Koji. You know, our guidance approach this quarter was fairly similar to the one we took last quarter. We developed independent roll-ups across the field. Across CRO leadership teams. And across the finance team. You know, the prudence that we called out last quarter for both the SMB weakness and the go-to-market disruption were well warranted. And some of that remains into Q4. Additionally, as you called out, we will see some lingering effects from the recent US government shutdown. Guidance, you know, at the end of the day, reflects our best view of the business today. With what we know, and we feel good about the guidance heading into Q4. Yao Chu: Next question, Matt Hedberg followed by Rob Owens from Piper Sandler. Matt, go ahead, please. Matt Hedberg: Great. Thanks, Yao, for the question. Bill, in your prepared remarks, you noted progress on the first order business was better than last quarter, but I think you said it is still not where it needs to be yet. Understanding this is probably a multi-quarter trend, could you provide a bit more color on from your perspective, what is left from the team? And perhaps how long we think to see some of the full benefits from that? Bill Staples: Yeah. Thanks, Matt. As we shared last quarter, we decided to hire a global leader focused just on acquiring new business reporting to the CRO. I am happy to share that we closed that search and hired the individual. Exceptional executive that has now joined us and is onboarding. We are beginning the hiring ramp for that team. Which again will be a global team reporting to him directly into the CRO. Expect that hiring ramp to take a couple of quarters with results in the back half of FY 2027. In addition, I will share on the product-led growth front. Manav, our chief product and marketing officer, has now been in seat for a quarter. Has begun digging in there. Looking really at two things with regard to product-led growth. First, tightening the feedback loop with customers who are earlier in their journey with GitLab, as well as removing friction in the customer journey to make it easier to go from a free into a paid product with GitLab. And the early results there are really promising. It is exciting to see the efficiency in the funnel improving. Very early results. But here again, I would expect, you know, these kinds of incremental gains to aggregate over time. And would expect to see that show up in terms of new customer acquisition acceleration the later half of FY 2027. Yao Chu: Great. Next question, Rob Owens from Piper Sandler followed by Sanjit Singh from Morgan Stanley. Rob, go ahead, please. Rob Owens: Great. Thank you guys for taking my question. I was hoping you could drill down a little bit more into the Fed impact that you spoke about, you know, since it probably impacts the license line. Anything you can do to quantify that would be great. And then was that something that impacted your retention rate as well, or are there other things at play in that metric, ticking down a couple points sequentially? Thank you. Rob, any important thing to keep in mind here is that our long-term public sector thesis remains very much intact. You know, we are the preferred software factory to a lot of these countries. Leading federal agencies. PubSec is about 12% of our ARR, Haven't quantified specifically the headwind that we saw in Q3. What I would say is that we did see disruption from both the shutdown and the ongoing effects of Doge that are rolling through the government and we are very much partnered with our customers and these agencies. In helping them overcome these challenges. Yao Chu: Next question from Sanjit followed by Shrenik Kothari from Baird. Sanjit, go ahead, please. Sanjit Singh: Yeah. Can you hear me? Bill Staples: We can. Sanjit Singh: Awesome. Thank you. Bill, I think we can all agree that no matter what the debate is around seat-based models, there is tons of software being developed and created particularly right now. And, again, you pointed to some of the metrics around activity and usage in the platform, which is well above the revenue growth that you guys are delivering at least for right now. And so it is kind of a longer-term question, Bill, but what is the ultimate, you know, ultimate sort of answer solution on how to get activity in the platform to converge with the revenue growth that you would like to see. Is that is the answer there sort of dual agents, or is there anything beyond that? That we should be thinking about over the medium term? Good question, Sanjit. Yes. Bill Staples: I believe the medium to long-term answer there does lie in our shift from a pure seat-based business model to more of a hybrid seat plus usage-based business model, as we introduce Duo Agent platform I mentioned in my prepared remarks, that we are on the cusp of that in the coming weeks, declaring general availability and introducing pricing. So that will help monetize the activities downstream from AI code generation. By bringing AI acceleration across the software life cycle and solving that AI paradox that we talked about in our prepared remarks. In addition to that, we are looking at incremental innovation on top of our premium and ultimate SKUs which, you know, provide customers additive value at an incremental cost, which would also be part of our FY '27 road map and provide new monetization opportunities as well. Yao Chu: Great. Next question, Shrenik Kothari from Baird, followed by Raimo Lenschow from Barclays. Shrenik, go ahead, please. Zach (for Shrenik Kothari): Hey, guys. This is Zach on for Shrenik. Thanks for taking the question. So one on Duo for me. You know, you have consistently emphasized Duo's arch importance and its mission-critical value. But how are you really tracking the monetization of Duo-specific capabilities? Today versus just core DevSecOps or CICD functionality? And then maybe what percentage of new ACV includes Duo or Duo-related features? Thanks. Bill Staples: Yeah. Today, in our Duo Pro and Duo Enterprise products, they are monetized with seat-based add-ons. And we have not shared the specifics of the revenue contribution of those products. But they have been in the early stages. What we did earlier this year is shift or pivot from a use case-driven innovation agenda around AI to a platform-driven agenda. Meaning, we have augmented our core platform with AI capabilities at every layer, unlocking an agentic approach to AI that can help customers solve any number of challenges across the software life cycle. It allows them to choose the best-in-class AI tools, like those from Amazon, Google, OpenAI, and Anthropic. As well as create their own agents using Duo technology to solve, again, any class of engineering problem across the software life cycle. That has been in beta now for a couple of quarters. And is reaching general availability. And will introduce usage-based pricing once we reach general availability. So the very early stages of both the innovation and introduction of that monetization stream but it is the tone and the conversation with customers I have engaged over the last year on the topic of AI just continues to grow stronger and more excited about the platform approach that we are now taking. So I am really excited about the future opportunity. Do see that as expanding our TAM and incredible new value to customers. Yao Chu: Great. Next question, Raimo Lenschow from Barclays. By Howard Ma from Guggenheim. Raimo, go ahead, please. Raimo Lenschow: Hey. Thanks. Thanks for squeezing me in. Bill, one for you. Like, the, you know, the SMB weakness is obviously something that impacts everyone. And it is just, you know, it is, you know, you cannot control that. But is there anything that you could do, for example, from a SKU perspective? Etcetera, to kind of help kind of play better in market? Anything is doable, or do we just have to wait for the kind of improvement in the overall market sentiment there? Thank you. Bill Staples: Yeah. SMB is a very small share of our overall revenue. And not something we optimize for from a business, you know, strategy and go-to-market perspective. However, it is in particular, business, you know, start-ups and smaller companies that are on a growth path. Are important for us to, you know, drive awareness and early adoption. On. I would say, primary approach there has been to deliver a really great free product in the form of our open-source packages and free tier on gitlab.com. Which we have seen healthy adoption of in a very, very broad community. I do think Duo Agent platform brings new opportunities for us to convert those free customers into a first paid engagement with GitLab as we deliver AI on top of those free products in the coming year. Obviously, that has not been in a path that we have pursued to date with the Duo Pro and Duo Enterprise add-ons. But it is something that I think we will look seriously at Duo agent platform reaches GA. And I do think it plays into customers of all sizes who want to start their GitLab journey on a free DevSecOps platform but are willing and excited to pay for AI because they understand incredible value and the cost associated with delivering that. Yao Chu: Great. Next question, Howard Ma Guggenheim followed by Mike Cikos from Needham. Howard, go ahead, please. Howard Ma: Great. Thanks. Last quarter, you shared a stat that seat count is double digits year over year and has been accelerating. My question is, does that trend still hold? And what does seat count growth look when you exclude Duo seats? Howard. James Shen: That was a one-time disclosure that we gave last quarter to help you think through and understand the seat dynamics in the business. We are happy with the seat growth. This quarter, but we will not comment on the specifics that we gave last quarter. Yao Chu: Great. Next question, Mike Cikos followed by Needham followed by Kingsley Crane from Canaccord. Mike, go ahead, please. Mike Cikos: Great. Thanks, team. I just wanted to come back to the public sector element for a second, and I appreciate the disclosure in the headwinds from that shutdown. Can you help us parse out when we think about the 4Q guide that we have versus the 3Q results that you guys just posted? Are you expecting the public sector headwind from the shutdown in Doge to actually compound or increase in magnitude when we think about this January? And, again, I know we are getting to, I guess, a fine-tooth comb here, but just wanted to see how you guys are thinking about your assumptions here as we look at this forecast. Thank you so much. James Shen: Yeah. Thanks, Mike, for the question. You know, I comment on the specific magnitude and whether larger or smaller quarter over quarter. What I would say is that we are seeing lingering effects from the shutdown. You know, the US federal government does not turn on overnight. And we are working with our customers through these deals and renewals that have pushed from Q3 into Q4. Yao Chu: Great. Next question, Kingsley Crane, Canaccord, followed by Derrick Wood from TD Cohen. Kingsley, go ahead, please. Kingsley Crane: Great. Thank you. And it was nice to hear about the Duo agent expansions even pre-GA. I know investors are eager to see the impact of '27? Thank you. James Shen: Kingsley, could you repeat your question, please? You have cut out on our end. Can you hear us? Kingsley Crane: Yes. Can you hear me? James Shen: Yep. We lost you at Investors. Right? Excited, and then you cut out. Please repeat the question. Kingsley Crane: Sure. So investors are excited about the impact of DuoAgent in the market, the eventual impact. Just want to know more about the product proof points that you are evaluating signal GA readiness and then how to think about the ramp in twenty-seven. Thank you. Bill Staples: Yeah. We have said a number of criteria to evaluate readiness. You know, first and foremost, being the reliability, the performance, and the overall stability of the platform in meeting our customers' expectations. Also measuring the quality of the responsiveness and the responses of the agents that we are building and our customers' ability to build their own custom agents and get quality responses. And then finally, you know, we obviously must ensure that we meet our own high-security standards. And avoid shipping vulnerabilities or exposing our customers to any kind of vulnerability. So a number of quality-related criteria that we are measuring in addition to customer adoption and usage. And we think we are reaching the point of meeting all of that criteria as I mentioned in the coming weeks. And once we do, we will be declaring general availability. In terms of adoption and usage, you know, in the quarters ahead, it is hard to forecast exactly how fast that will go. I will just repeat what I have shared previously, which is you know, 70% of our revenue is based on self-managed customers who do require an upgrade to take advantage of Duo Agent platform, and that does take often multiple quarters to get a majority of the customer base onto a new version. So, you know, we will see some slowness there versus a pure cloud SaaS business. And you know, I will also share I am pretty excited about the opportunity to deliver the Duo agent platform into the public sector since that has been a topic of conversation today. Unlike many AI tools, in the market today, which rely completely on cloud-hosted models, DuoAgent platform delivers both cloud-hosted models, but also the ability to run-in completely air-gapped environments against custom self-hosted models which many of our public sector customers have as a configuration today. So we look forward to delivering that into those environments as those customers are able to adopt. Yao Chu: Great. Next question. Derek Wood from TD Cohen followed by Cyrus Nautica from Wells Fargo. Derek, go ahead please. Derek, are you on? It looks like your phone is muted. Derek Wood: Sorry about that. Okay. Can you hear me? James Shen: We can. Derek Wood: Yeah. Okay. Thanks, guys. James, can you give us the mix within the net revenue retention rate of seats versus tier upgrades versus price yield? And I think last Q4, you guys had a very large seat expansion deal. Any color, to provide on how to think about the impact on NRR? As we anniversary this large deal in Q4 this year? James Shen: Derek, I am happy to share the mix of DB NRR this quarter, and I also want to talk about this specific disclosure more broadly. So Q3 was similar to Q2, where seats contributed slightly over 80% of the mix. Yield was about 10% and the remaining from up-tiering. As our business evolves, this disclosure will become less relevant, both because we have evolved from a two SKU company into multiple SKUs but also because we are augmenting our seat-based business with a usage-based business that Bill referred to. And so we will look to share more in the quarters to come on this topic. Yao Chu: Great. Next question, Cyrus from Wells Fargo followed by Jason Celino from KeyBanc. Cyrus, go ahead, please. Ryan McWilliams (for Cyrus Nautica): Hey, guys. It is Ryan McWilliams on for Cyrus. So now that you are past the price increase, and you are adding more features, onto your more premium plans, and since you have seen competitors for their higher-end plans, like Cursor and Cloudcode come in at $200 a month for those plans, think there is an opportunity to take price on GitLab's higher-end plans? As AI becomes more integral, to DevOps overall? What do you think, capturing that through usage is more likely? Bill Staples: Yeah. Our plan is to capture through usage. I believe, you know, the right long-term approach to monetization is to have a pricing plan that provides an equal exchange in value for cost. And what I see competitors doing with AI pricing is really all over the place, and it has been rapidly evolving. I expect some evolution with regard to our price. But rather than introduce another seat-based price, as I shared earlier, we will be moving to a more usage-based pricing model where customers can pre-commit upfront for usage, to earn the very best rates. But that commitment is a pool of usage that could be shared across all users. And as we have tested that and introduced it to customers, they are very excited about that approach. And I believe, ultimately, when customers are excited and see the value they buy more over time. Yao Chu: Great. Next question, Jason Celino from KeyBanc followed by Steve Koenig from Macquarie. Jason, go ahead please. Jason Celino: Perfect. Thank you. Bill, you in your prepared remarks, you talked about some interesting stats. On the deployment activity you are seeing across the platform. You know, I forget the exact percentages, but how much of this elevated activity you think is from, you know, customers developing applications, you know, for AI. Like the underlying development activity. Or do you think it is from more, you know, better productivity from, you know, AI going tools? Hope you understand kind of the difference in the question, but curious you are seeing. Bill Staples: Yeah. It is exciting to see the downstream effects of AI coding on the platform. And I think it is driven through a mix of things. Probably both of the dynamics that you described. But, you know, ultimately, what a software team is doing is not just thinking about the code they are generating. They are thinking about the innovation they are delivering to customers. That is really, you know, the full software life cycle that is required. Everything from, you know, planning those changes, to testing them, to integrating deploying them, making sure that they meet the security and compliance standards. And that is what GitLab does. And because the code volumes are increasing, because engineers are able to take on more projects faster we see that acceleration in the rest of the stages of the software life cycle. To date, none of those have been AI accelerated, That is what we are doing with Duo Agent platform. And once we bring that full life cycle acceleration, I believe, we will begin to see the monetization benefits that we have talked about on the call. Because customers want to take advantage of those as well to accelerate not just the cogeneration, but the entire software delivery process. Yao Chu: Great. Next question, Steve Koenig from Macquarie. By Miller Jump from Truist. Steve, go ahead, please. Steve Koenig: Okay. Thanks, Yao. Can you guys hear me okay? James Shen: We can. Steve Koenig: Great. Okay. Yeah. So maybe building on the last question, you know, Bill, I understand, like, the platform, the value there is holistically throughout the software development life cycle. I am wondering, as you begin to deploy Duo Agent platform, is generally available, and it starts to be adopted. What where do you think it is going to make the most immediate impact in terms of improving productivity of the various aspects of the life cycle? And then if I could just sneak in, I am wondering more color on the SMB softness. Is that more of a macro or execution on your part? Thanks a lot for taking my question. Bill Staples: Yeah. I will answer the first part on Duo, and maybe, James, you can take the SMB one. So on Duo Agent platform, the important thing to understand about it versus other AI tools is that it is really a platform approach to AI, meaning customers can take advantage of the capabilities of the platform that is now AI native to orchestrate actions with AI tools for any class of engineering problem. So we have seen customers take advantage of it, for example, in terms of helping them plan and document what they are going to go work on upfront before the code even gets generated. To help analyze bugs and help triage and prioritize the work that needs to be done in code. We have also seen them take advantage of Duo Agent platform to author and to review the code. We have seen them take advantage of Duo Agent platform to do security analysis. To do prioritization, based on the advanced characteristics that we capture as part of our security scanning capabilities. We have seen them take advantage of it in terms of troubleshooting pipelines that are failing when, you know, code is not passing the quality standards, security standards, or other compliance guardrails that a company has put in place. So it is really across the board. And that is what is so exciting because, you know, having spent many decades now, software engineering, the process of software engineering is very complex. And there is any number of ways that things can break down. What customers will be able to do with dual agent platform instead of waiting for a human to engage in a manual process to recover from any one of those failure classes or any of those work tasks, they can now apply an agent that can automatically work on their behalf to triage, to analyze, to debug, and to recommend a fix or even automate a fix. And we believe that is what is going to bring incredible value to our customers. James, on the SMB question? James Shen: Yeah. Just quickly on SMB. This is segment-specific weakness that we have called out for a few quarters now. What I would say is a few things. One is we have a very strong free offering as you heard Bill talk about, and we see price sensitivity in this so both price and overall spend sensitivity. And as these are coming up for renewal, there is a lot of scrutiny and auditing around license usage. SMB is a small part of our business. It is roughly about 8% of ARR. And we are assuming that this weakness continues into Q4 in our guidance. Yao Chu: Great. Next question from Miller Jump from Truist followed by Mark Cash from Raymond James. Miller, go ahead, please. Miller Jump: Hey. Great. Thank you for taking the question. You all mentioned in the prepared remarks that all of your largest expansions in the quarter were with customers using some form of AI tooling. I guess, I am wondering, are most of your customers using AI tooling at this point? Or is that indicative of a smaller subset of the group? And, you know, was there any difference in the growth drivers for those accounts between the seats, customer yield, and up-tiering that you talked about for the broader business? Thanks. Bill Staples: Yeah. I think I shared last quarter, we did a customer survey where we analyzed a few different questions around customer AI tool usage, there. Forecast in terms of, you know, increased GitLab usage, as well as seats. And we did see in that survey fairly pervasive use of AI tools, along with GitLab. It is important to remember it is an and and not an or. Many times, I have heard investors refer to some of these other AI tools as competitors. And while it is clear there is some overlap in terms of what we are doing and what they are doing, ultimately, customers see them as complementary because they serve a variety of different use cases and support one another. So, yes, I believe AI tool usage is pervasive across our customer base. Many of them implementing multiple AI tools as part of their current AI strategy. And, I believe we are in a good position with Duo Agent platform to capture our fair share of that demand because we are solving inherently different problems than other AI tools on the market. Yao Chu: Great. Final question will come from Mark Cash of Raymond James, and I will pass it over to Bill for closing remarks. Mark, go ahead, please. Mark Cash: Yeah. Thank you. Yeah. Bill, maybe building on that last question. So we have seen some larger players like OpenAI and Google add more DevSecOps functionality alongside the smaller AI natives this quarter, and just kind of curious how you are considering deploying that $1.2 billion of cash and really strong free cash flow we are seeing maybe help further wedge GitLab's differentiation that spans this software development lifecycle against those guys. Appreciate it. Thank you. Bill Staples: Yeah. There is probably two parts to that question. You know, how do I think about what Git how GitLab competes with small and large vendors? And then there is, you know, deployment of cash. Maybe, James, you can take the second part. I will take the first part. Yep. Really, you know, when you think about what agents are made up, there are really four ingredients to every agent. There is an LLM, and we provide, like, almost every vendor access to all of the major foundational LLMs on the market. And the cost of those is going to continue to go down. The quality of those is going to continue to go up. Not a lot of differentiation to be had there. It is just, like, electricity for any kind of electronic system. Second part of an agent is the prompt that steers the LLM into solving the problem. And that is, you know, defined with human language, and, again, here, the IP value is fairly shallow. There are many, many libraries of open-source prompts. Out there and available. There are only so many ways you can tell and then allow them to solve the problem. And, you know, we provide dual agents with great prompts out of the box, but we also allow customers to customize and extend those prompts. So a little level of extensibility beyond what competitors offer today. But those two ingredients, would say, largely are commodity, and it is really the second two ingredients that make GitLab stand out and that even the large AI vendors cannot match. The first is context. We provide not only the system of record for all of the source code that our customer store, but all of the changes to that source code over time all of the testing and quality validation of that source code, the security of that source code, all of the related plans, and bug tracking, and everything else. That context all goes into feeding agents the ability to reason and make good decisions. And, virtually no other competitor has the breadth of context that we have as part of our unified platform approach. And we believe that is a durable differentiator over time. The fourth ingredient that agents have or are made up of is tools to actually action on behalf of users various actions. And here again, our unified platform really comes out as a strength because anyone can generate code. It basically involves generating streams that get written into text files. Right? But when it comes to full life-size cycle software engineering, you are talking about much more sophisticated operations, everything from planning and testing and securing and integrating and deploying code that requires a rich set of capabilities that have to be integrated one with another. We have delivered that to humans for now more than a decade. But with Duo Agent platform, we are unlocking all of those rich capabilities for agents as well. So agents can take those actions. And that is the really exciting differentiator and value that we provide our customers that I really do not think either small or large AI competitors can match. James Shen: Yep. On the cash position, you know, the $1.2 billion of cash and investments really puts us in a position of strength. In this market. And, you know, we have a strong track record of fiscal discipline here, and we are constantly looking at the most optimal avenues for capital allocation. That best deliver value both to our customers and to our shareholders. Yao Chu: Great. With that, that concludes our Q&A. I would like now to turn the call over to Bill for closing remarks. Bill, go ahead, please. Bill Staples: Hey. Thank you everyone for joining today's call. One year into my journey with GitLab, and I believe we are executing stronger than ever with a blueprint towards scaled responsible growth. As we shared, we are expanding our sales capacity in our field, investing behind a dedicated first order team in order to take advantage of our growing TAM. Product innovation and differentiation are also accelerating, and we are earning our right to define the future of software development with AI. We are now on the cusp of declaring general availability for our Agentic AI platform which will evolve our business model from a purely seat-based model to a hybrid seat plus usage-based model as we create new pathways to deliver value for our customers. These are all really significant structural improvements to GitLab. One thing that is not changing remains committed to investing and building for responsible growth, to drive shareholder value. I will close the call where I started off. There has never been a more exciting time to be at GitLab. James and I are in Phoenix, Arizona this week, and we will be speaking at the UBS Global Technology and AI Conference. We hope to see you there or elsewhere during the quarter. Thank you again, and good night.