Thank you very much and thank you to everyone for joining the call for Vulcan Steel half year FY 2026 results. [We] have our CFO Kar Yue, our COO Adrian Casey our New Zealand business, and we've also got our company secretary Sarah-Jane.

If we could turn to the agenda, in the call this morning we'll cover the overview of the results, we'll have a look at financials and operations, priorities and outlook, and then we'll [open for questions?] .

If we go to page 6 and to cover off a few points on the performance of our business, revenue was up at $535 million, up 8.6% for the three months of sales from the acquisition of Roofing Industries. Our adjusted [EBITDA?]

and again included the impact of Roofing Industries from the 1st of October. Gross percent reflecting the impact of mix and also margin pressure to 33.9%.

The Vulcan board also approved the interim dividends of 2.5 [cents?] , flat with last year.

If we go to page [7?] , strategic and operational highlights, Roofing Industries on 30th September, the integration of the business is on track, and the highlight has been the [culture?]

. We've also continued to focus on our delivery in full on time metrics, ensuring we have the right stock in the right location at the right time.

We continue to execute on our hybrid rollout strategy with three sites completed in the first half of FY 2026. We recorded sales growth year-on-year with an improvement in our steel division, and the first half 2026 also included the three months impact of Roofing Industries.

Cost management with investment into hybrid sites and increasing capacity where we've required it. We continue to generate cash flow and managing working capital to support investment in our business and reduce our debt levels.

If we turn to [page 8?] , the Vulcan's highlights, with the purchase of Roofing Industries we [have] four divisions under our steel segment, which now [includes?]

, and three existing divisions under our metals. 39% of our sales with Australia 61%, and Australasia at 23% of total sales.

If we turn to page [9?] , the map of our current footprint across Australia and New Zealand, and with the addition of Roofing Industries we now have 81 sites across Australia and New Zealand serving over 25,000 customers.

Page 10, we have our growth strategy, and we've had them now for a long time on our focus on growing the business. We'll continue to look at opportunities to improve and expand and also to grow.

If we turn to page 12 and we'll have a look at [H1?] FY 2026, in Australia with some activity increasing in our steel division, particularly in the second [quarter?]

, albeit what has been off a low base. Industry profitability is still at [lows?]

. At this stage, we've seen no Olympic project or activity in Queensland, and this is unlikely to impact in this current year, and likely be pushed out to FY 2027 and beyond.

In New Zealand, with a reduction [in interest rates?] , green shoots of an economic recovery is starting to emerge, and we've seen some positive signs of improvement in activity over Q2 of FY 2026, but still a challenge.

From a global economic perspective, uncertainty in steel prices have remained subdued, but we are seeing some pressure on pricing with aluminium and nickel both increasing over the last couple of months. In costs in Australia, with a pickup in the economy, the Olympic projects likely to place further pressure on labor costs.

I will hand you over to Kar Yue, who'll take us through the financial performance.

Thank you, Gavin, and good morning. Our 8.6% year-on-year revenue growth in the first half was combination of three things: one, first [time contribution from Roofing Industries?]

; two, improvement in underlying volume in our [steel division?] ; three, lower revenue per ton, which offset the first two.

Earnings before interest, tax, and depreciation and amortisation, or EBITDA, for the half on a year-on-year basis at $57 million was offset by continued industry pressure on other parts of our businesses. Some participants traded off margin for volume.

Despite our earnings hovering at the bottom of the industry cycle, our cash flow and return on capital encouragingly remain at sound levels. Compartmentalising the key drivers of our earnings change in the first half, [rollforming?]

and 11% higher overall volume [contributed?] million to profitability, $18 million.

This was offset by lower gross profit per ton and higher operating costs, which is partly driven by our investment for growth. Segment level on the next slide, please.

Steel segment results in the first half was ahead of a year ago. Revenue, GP dollar per ton, inclusive of rollforming as well as [distribution?]

. In our metal segment, the performance was mixed across Australia and New Zealand.

Segment EBITDA year-on-year to $37 million. This reflected a combination of volume and margin outcomes earlier on.

Now turning to our cash flow on the next slide. Our business generated from operations after paying capital expenditure and also lease liabilities generated $16 million in free cash flow before including capital raising, the initial payment for acquisition, and also any dividend payments.

Including [guidance?] for capital expenditure between $30 to $35 million for the full current financial year.

$2 million final settlement for Roofing Industry acquisition was paid in January of 2026. Now turning to slide 17, as Gavin mentioned, [dividend?]

has been set at 2.5 cents per share. This will be fully franked and imputed.

Our net debt finished at $202 million for the first half year, with a net debt [to EBITDA?] 2.9 times, and as you expect, that's conventionally done on a pre-IFRS 16 basis calculation purpose in terms of the debt covenants.

Handing [back to Gavin.] Now turn to page 19 and we'll run through our priorities: focus on our delivery in full on time and supporting our customers, whilst focus on [costs?]

. We'll manage through the recovery in the economic cycle in both Australia and New Zealand, Roofing Industries and to continue to build on our aspirations of growth in that space.

We'll continue to develop our people across all levels and explore opportunities to further grow our business. If we turn to page 20, whilst conditions are still challenging in both countries, we're beginning to see some signs of recovery.

In New Zealand, the low interest [rates?] , and we're expecting to see a gradual recovery of volume into the second half, although industry profitability [remains subdued?]

. Activity in Australia has also started to pick up, but with inflation to watch, and increasing activity with Olympic volume unlikely to impact us into FY 2027 and beyond.

With that done, we'll now open up to [questions].

Hi guys, thanks for the update on the results. Just a quick one on the Roofing Industries [performance in] H1 2026.

Is it better for us to take the [run rate?] off the first half of the three million, or if you had of used the full [half?]

, and then a follow-up question around the

[guidance?]

if you could just offer some commentary around that. Thanks.

Thanks Torren. I'll hand across to Kar Yue, who'll take us [through that].

Thanks Torren for your question.

If you think about the numbers before we actually dive into what it looks like for the second half, just note that we're very early [in our ownership?] of this business, and so we're still building our understanding for things like seasonality, commercial versus residential, which in itself has got its own differences in terms of seasonality.

I would be cautious extrapolating just one quarter for the rest of the financial year. The performance was encouraging, no doubt, wanted to be clear on that.

Certainly the December quarter typically, from what we [understand?] , represents a slightly higher contribution in terms of volume to [the

full year]. Right, thank you.

Am I right in saying that that's shifted higher, [the capex guidance?] ?

For clarity, the previous capex guidance was in the range of [unclear]. That increase really reflects additional capex we will now have going forward with Roofing Industries.

Awesome, thanks very much.

Good morning, thanks. Just wondering if you could provide your thoughts on the recent news flow around [unclear] into allegations of dumping in the steel industry with reference to fabricated steel imports.

If safeguard measures are found to be justified and implemented, how material the benefit could be, maybe, how long would that take? Thanks.

Yep. It's been well-publicized around the Safeguard Mechanism and Australian Steel.

There was a proposal submitted pre-Christmas that is now [with the Commission?] , and we're not expecting anything to come back till later this year.

I think it's quite [unclear]. What that in essence means is that pre- [unclear] offshore fabrication coming into Australia the base is about 300,000 tons.

It jumped to about 700,000 tons over the last 18 months to potentially cap that and look at putting a charge or putting a tariff on top of 300,000 tons. Now if that happens, then clearly there's going to be some action.

The impact of that is unknown, but I think it's really important from an industry perspective giving the Australian fabricators to be able to compete in a level playing field. I think some of the product coming in from offshore at lower prices.

So [later] this year we'll watch it closely, but yeah, we haven't got any forecasts or directions to give you at this stage.

Understood, thank you. I'm just wondering if you could provide an update on some of those competitive pressures you've [seen in New Zealand?]

and Australia in both steel and metals, anything in the industry in either region and maybe what you would need to see change for that to subside?

Look, if I start in Australia first. I think some of the competitive landscape, particularly in Australia, we've seen one of our competitors close down some locations in each of the markets.

Initially the impact of that was seeing some additional volume to clear out stock, but that is now starting to rationalize and sort itself out. We are still seeing some pressure in some of the markets in Australia, and those pressures will come from both mining and other [end markets?]

, a little bit slower than what we've seen in the past. From a New Zealand perspective, again we're seeing some price that we really talked about, I think, when we released our full year results back in August, has changed.

I think there is both a pressure on working capital in [the market?] , but there's also a drive to grow volume and impact that continue to play out here.

Look, we stick to what we do, we manage our business, and we continue to look at how we provide great customer service and delivery.

That's great, thank you. Could we discuss working capital requirements through the balance of the year relative to your improved net debt?

I'll give a brief overview, then I'll throw across to Kar Yue who [can add more]. We're absolutely focused on, and you've saw it in the comment, having the right stock at the right location at the right time, and I think that's making sure we understand as this economic activity begins to [pick up], the stock we need, we understand our customers' requirements.

That's a balancing act. We know, but it's also making sure that we understand the stock and the requirements that we need to have in location focus for us.

Kar Yue, do you want to talk about some of the working capital needs?

Sure thing. Really, just to echo Gavin's point around optimisation of stock, we hold ourselves to a high standard with customers rings us for certain SKUs.

That's not just category stock, but individual stock unit. In terms of overall directionally over the next 12 to 18 months, you should expect some increases in overall working capital, in no small part because, earlier on, material prices are starting to rise, whether it's aluminium, stainless product, copper, steel, and then on top of that, when the cycle recovery [is in] full flight over the next 12 to 18 months, we would expect, in terms of stock that we wanted to meet those ramp-up in demand.

That's a very managed and gradual process, [not] a short and sharp movement.

Yeah. Just remember the lead time [is] quite a few months, the impact of this financial year won't be substantial.

Great, thank you. Your next

Gavin, just a question first of all on numbers. It looks like the revenue [was?]

similar, if you look at the 6-month versus 3-month ownership stats and the NPAT kind of goes from 6 to 3. Is that an issue in terms of you have seen some margin, just given your comment on higher quarterly volumes in the December quarter?

Oh yeah,

I'm happy to take that call. Good morning, Rohan.

Thanks for the question. We took ownership obviously of the business effective 1 October.

The accounting standards provide some commentary around the basis if had ownership effective from 1 July. In that respect, there was some synchronization policy that we needed to go back and rework the historical data that was, and as a result of that, that contributed to what appeared to be [contribution?]

in the September quarter. Also as I mentioned earlier on, there is some numbers here, or certainly seasonality during the year in any given year for [Roofing Industries].

Thanks. Then just in New Zealand competitive environment, have you changed or any attempt to increase prices?

I've heard there's been a few price increase notices potentially in the market, but I just wondered if there is anything that you can point to there around prices hitting higher domestically or also a view on what happens in terms of potential rationalisation?

Coming on the pricing, I think there has been the intent throughout the first half of this year. I think the execution has been mixed.

I think we haven't always seen [it in the marketplace?] , and some of that's just a focus on capability and discipline to make sure you do that.

In regards to consolidation, how it plays out over time, it's not something that we'll comment on here.

Then in Australia, just long steel pricing had been something that had been suppressed with

Yep.

Tie-up, have you seen long steel prices return to normal or margins yet?

They're beginning to. What we're seeing is that probably about May, June last year, and we're seeing the sort of consistency in the cost base.

Seeing, I think, apart from one of our competitors began to exit some locations, and we had some excess stock floating around for a while, we've seen probably a [better market?] over the last 6 months.

We've seen, I think, a little bit more, which has been I think a positive tick. We're still seeing some changes with how it will still to play out obviously over time and also again

Cool, thanks. I'll let someone else have a go.

Thanks.

Congrats on what seems like a really good result. Just on Roofing Industries, the potential step down this year due to it being late cycle and just where the kind of market was at that point in time, didn't seem to eventuate, at least on my notes.

The broader market probably being a bit better, or was it more did you gain some share there?

Look, I think from my perspective on Roofing Industries, I think clearly we've only had it for a couple of months. [Integration has] been really well-managed.

Probably just wanted to do a shout out. I think the culture and the capability of the team has been excellent on those opportunities through consolidation about how we actually invest in the business.

One thing I probably just need to shout out is that I think Doug [unclear] and the team have always invested in the business and as part, it's almost been seamless for us. I might see if Adrian just wants to comment quickly on the quarter results.

Yeah.

Thanks, Gavin. Just reiterating Gavin, the business is well-set for the future.

If we have a look at the people and the culture and the values, they're 100% aligned to what we saw when we did DD. If we look at the trading environment, take up this quarter, it's more the market is slightly better.

Have a look at the footprint: 15 sites, seven of them they've moved into in the last 18 months. See with increased capacity.

You put all that together and we've owned the business, but very encouraging.

Then just on the opex, rollforming stepped up the largest amount, bunch of that's probably due to just a step up in volumes that you experienced as well. Cost inflation, or just like you've referenced, is positioning the business for growth?

Both, as we look at our cost base. Clearly there's inflation to manage, and that will continue, I think, into the future.

Particularly as we see, I think there's going to be some pressure in Australia as we see some labor shortages and where that's going to come through. You've seen some of the inflation prints in the last month or so there, I think.

Another point is we are absolutely focused on continuing to invest where we need to invest, and that's both from a capacity perspective, but also as we make sure we've got the right people in the right roles. There are opportunity which we've seen we've invested back in the business and we want to invest to make sure we run and build on our business.

Awesome, that's all for me for now. Thank you very much.

Appreciate it.

Thanks, Will.

Thank you very much. Look, I just wanted to thank everybody for dialling in, and yeah, hopefully to continue to grow our business and move forward.

Thank you very much.